*note* I don't own these characters. Hopefully, this chapter will be a little more…

Chapter2: Pleading (Draco)

Draco continued to stare out the window after Ginny had long since passed. "What did Slughorn want?" he asked Blaise without looking at him.

"He was looking for well-connected people, trying to make connections for himself," answered Blaise.

Pansy looked at Draco, who had frowned a little, then back at Blaise with eyebrows raised. "Who else was there?" she asked greedily.

"Why? Looking to make your own connections?" he sneered. "Don't know what luck you'd have; there was Belby from Ravenclaw, and the Weasley girl, Potter, Longbottom, and McLaggen from Gryffindor," he ticked them off on his fingers. "But Belby lost props because he doesn't really know his uncle, so…" he trailed off with a shrug.

Draco slowly turned his head at the mention of Ginny. "Why was she there?" he asked.

But before Blaise could open his mouth, Pansy said, "A lot of boys like her," looking between Blaise and Draco and landing on the former. "Even you think she's good-looking, don't you Blaise?" she said sneering.

"I wouldn't touch a filthy blood traitor like her with a ten-foot broomstick!" flared Blaise; Pansy looked satisfied and glanced over at Draco. He was looking at Blaise and frowning slightly. Pansy watched him suspiciously.

Draco stood up. "Loo," he mumbled and slid out of the compartment.

He started down the corridor when laughter caught his attention. He stopped at the compartment next to his. It was her; Ginny, and Granger, that strange Lovegood girl, Weasley, Potter, and Longbottom. He looked around but there was no one in the corridor. He hid between the two compartments' windows and watched. The setting sun seemed aimed right at their window, lighting them all with a golden brilliance. He looked back at his own compartment. Someone had pulled the shade and it was dully lit by the overhead light. Pansy was leaning close to Blaise with her hand on his knee as she spoke, batting her eyelashes. Crabbe and Goyle had pulled down Draco's trunk and were carefully looking through it. He opened his mouth indignantly, but watched to see what they were going to do. They found his black leather money pouch and snickering, took out a few Galleons each then pulled the strings to close it again and replaced it in the trunk carefully. Then Goyle pointed out Draco's stash of sweets from home and they each took a handful and stuffed them into their pockets. Quickly, Crabbe shut the trunk and locked it, then hoisted it into the luggage rack. They both sat back down looking as though nothing had happened except for the smug look on their stupid faces.

Draco was disgusted. He looked back into the other compartment. Weasley said something funny and everyone errupted into gales of laughter. In mid-laugh, Ginny looked up and caught sight of him watching them. A look of determination stole over the smile on her face and she stood up. He turned to walk to the other end of the carriage.

"Loo," he heard her say after she opened the door with her wand down at her side. She caught up with him in front of the steps that lead down to an exit. "What do you think you're playing at?" she said grabbing his arm. When he turned around, she let go and tightened her grip on her wand.

"I don't know what you're on ab-" he began with a sneer, but his heart wasn't in it. It's the moment of truth, he thought, the ultimate fork in the road. With a furrowed brow and a deep breath he looked around again checking to see if the coast was clear; there was no one else but them. "You really want the truth?" he glared. "How much time do you have?"

They sat on the steps to the exit, swaying with the movement of the train. Draco had placed a Disillusionment Charm on both of them and another clever one called Muffliato he had learned over the summer that made a slight buzzing noise in the ears of anyone who got too close, so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

"So, what you're saying is," said Ginny trying to wrap her head around what Draco had just told her over the past twenty minutes, "is that Voldemort," she felt him flinch at the name, his knee bumping hers, "has recruited you, branded you with his mark, and you've been forced through intense Dark Arts training all summer with your Dark-Lord-obsessed Aunt, among others? And you have to kill Professor Dumbledore or Vol-"

"Don't say his name!" hissed Draco putting his hand on her knee. He felt her jump at his touch and he removed his hand. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Er, right," she said shaking her head trying to get back to her train of thought. "So- so You-Know-Who will kill your parents if you don't- don't finish the job?" she clarified, horror-struck.

"Well, yes, in a nutshell," he said.

"But, forgive me, why are you telling me this? Why should I believe you? No offense," she smirked skeptically, "but past experience says you're not exactly trustworthy." She crossed her arms.

"I guess- I don't know," he sighed, "I just- thought it would be, you know, cool," he grimaced at the word, "to be in the inner circle, but after this summer…" he trailed off, eyes unfocused, reliving the horrors in his mind's eye. He continued quietly, "I have seen atrocities done right in front of me. It changes a person. You think you'd like to see this person or that person hurting, in real pain when you're angry with them, but to actually do it, to see it- is wholly a different thing. Mudbloods, Blood Traitors, Muggles- they all bleed red- just like me." He sat for a moment, lost in his own thoughts, remembering the first time he had seen the Dark Lord torture and kill in front of him and felt himself shudder. "I don't want to be that. I don't want to be a-,"

"A murderer," supplied Ginny in a whisper.

"Worse. A murdering puppet," he spat the word, "with no free will." His shoulders dropped as though the weight of their conversation had become too heavy. He pushed up his white silk sleeves and then buried his face in his hands. Ginny glimpsed the Mark branded on his arm and stared at it as though mesmerized as he continued talking to the floor, his voice muffled by his palms. "And I'm telling you because-" he gave a short, humorless laugh, "who else can I tell? Everyone has taken a side; the Dark Lord or Dumbledore. Obviously, I can't tell my side, or I guess my former side, or they would kill me and my family. I do intend to confide in Dumbledore, I just thought it'd be easier to have someone on my side already. As it is, there really could only be you. Do you see?" he pleaded, finally lifting his head and catching her staring at his cursed Mark. He looked down, too and slowly pushed his left sleeve down, uncomfortable with her looking at it. He continued calmly, "Potter would sooner jinx me than listen to anything I had to say, same goes with your brother, probably more-so. Granger wouldn't trust me with her quill, and anyone else just wouldn't-" he stopped again. Frustration and desperation causing his brow to wrinkle. "See, if someone who is close to Potter, and therefore Dumbledore, was there to vouch for me, then it would make a stronger statement. Do you see now?" he asked looking her in the eye for the first time. Fear and uncertainty flitted across her features, making his heart clench. He held his breath while she sat there battling it out in her mind. Please believe me! he thought, leaning back on his elbows on the step above and tilting his face to the ceiling with his eyes closed.

They heard a compartment door slide open down the corridor and Hermione's voice saying, "I'm going to go check on Ginny, see if she's feeling alright. She's been gone for awhile."

"I'll come too," they heard Luna say.

At the sound of Hermione's voice, Draco and Ginny had both jumped up. He looked at her with panic in his eyes. She peeked around the corner as Hermione finished talking. She looked up at Draco, took a deep breath, and whispered hurriedly, "Ok, I'll go to Dumbledore with you, as soon as dinner is over, okay?"

"Yes!" he whispered, "and thank you- Ginny," he said, trying out her name. She looked at him with eyebrows raised. "Since we're, you know, on the same side now…?" he trailed off, hating how unsure he sounded. Ginny nodded.

She then pulled out her wand and whispered, "Finite Incantatem!" They reappeared in full-color. She turned to him, "Wait here until we're back in the compartment." He nodded. She stepped up into the corridor. "Here I am."

"What were you doing down there?" asked Luna as she slid the door half-shut, "Did Nargles get to you? I felt some floating around before." She started batting the air around her head as though trying to shoo a fly away.

"No," laughed Ginny a little too heartily, she cleared her throat, "I was coming back from the loo when I dropped my wand and it rolled down the steps, see?" she said, holding up her wand. At that moment the train took a sharp turn to the left and with a small gasp, Ginny started to topple back down the steps when Draco caught her round her waist and pushed her back to a standing position.

"Ginny! Are you alright?" asked Hermione, and then, "Wait a minute, who's down there?"

At the sound of Hermione's cry, Harry and Ron came out of the compartment and Neville stuck his head into the corridor.

Ginny sighed and looked over at Draco with an apologetic look and a half shrug. He stepped out and faced the small crowd with his hands up. "Er… me."

Everyone stared between him and Ginny with their mouths open. Neville raised his eyebrows and pulled his head back into the compartment and Ron growled, "Get away from her, Malfoy," as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at him.

"We were just talking, Weasley!" Draco growled back holding his still empty hands a little higher.

"It's alright, Draco. Just go," she said looking over her shoulder at him. She mouthed, "After dinner," and gave him a meaningful look. "I need to have a chat with my friends," she said as she turned back and motioned for them to go back into the compartment. She was the last to enter and paused in the doorway looking over at Draco as he stood at his own compartment door looking over at her. They nodded to each other and then turned to enter their respective compartments.