Here's a new chapter! And bear with me. I know that Astoria Greengrass is two years younger then Draco, but in this fic she's in the same year as Ginny. It's fiction, people.

Disclaimer: I don't own pretty much ANYTHING!

"Can you get in where you fit in?" -The White Tie Affair; 'Scene Change'

Chapter Two: Mission

All throughout the Opening Feast, Ginny's mind was elsewhere. She paid no attention to Dumbledore's opening speech or the Sorting, she just kept replaying Malfoy's comments in her mind, and what the Golden Trio had to say about it.

And it didn't help matters at all that she had a direct view to the Slytherin table.

She had never gotten a really good look at any of the Slytherins, in case Ron had spotted where her gaze was directed and got ideas, but now she could look to her heart's content. She was too mad with Ron to care.

Malfoy was sitting right in her line of view, talking with a tall black Slytherin to his left. Ginny distantly remembered hearing his name before...

Blaise, she thought. That's his name. Blaise Zabini. Sitting beside Zabini was a girl Ginny almost disliked by sight.

Pansy Parkinson was a giggler, and her giggles were high-pitched and annoying. Ginny couldn't help thinking-

If I was sitting right there, I'd have to strongly resist the temptation to strangle her.

Sitting across from the rest of them, backs to her, Ginny recognized Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's large and brutish thugs. Sitting beside them were three backs that Ginny didn't recognize. One, a male, had spikey black hair, and the other two, females, one had long, curling blonde locks, and the other had shorter, straight blonde hair.

Too far away to hear their conversation, Ginny turned her attention back to her plate.

She couldn't help but become distracted, however, by the same matter that had plagued her before.

Why had Malfoy said something half-decent to her when he had never really acknowledged her at all?

Why were Ron, Hermione and Harry so quick to dissuade her from ever talking to him?

And why did she now feel an urgent need to do just that?

:SC:SC:SC:SC:SC:SC:SC:

Two days later, Saturday dawned, beautiful and sunny. Ginny made her way out of the Gryffindor common room, a girl with a mission.

She was going to have a talk with Draco Malfoy, whether he wanted it or not.

She headed toward the Great Hall, although she didn't really feel like having breakfast. Peeking in, she saw that at least two dozen Slytherins were occupying their table, but she didn't see the blond head she was looking for.

For the next thirty minutes, all Ginny did was Malfoy-hunt. And for the next thirty minutes, she had no luck at all finding him. She had searched everywhere, the Quidditch pitch, the Great Hall, by the lake... Anywhere and everywhere a self-respecting teenage wizard would go on a beautiful Saturday morning.

:SC:SC:SC:SC:SC:SC:SC:

"He's in the library," Zabini told her bluntly, not asking why a third-year Gryffindor was looking for Malfoy. "Transfiguration homework." She thanked him and ran, not paying attention to the many pairs of questioning Slytherin eyes on her.

Who would've thought that he'd stay inside and do his homework on a day like this? That sounds like Hermione, not some devil-may-care Slytherin!

Leaning outside the door to the library, she attempted to catch her breath and smooth down her red hair. She then wrenched open the library door and casually walked inside. It didn't take her very long to find Malfoy. Even though he was partially obscured by a tall stack of books at his table in the furtherest corner of the room, he was still the only person in the library besides Madam Pince.

Pulling out the only other chair at Malfoy's table, she plunked herself down, facing him.

"For the last time, Goyle, if I don't get this essay done, McGonagall's going to skin me alive, so I suggest leaving me to work in peace," he said all in one breath, not even looking up from the book he was holding; 'Transfiguration: An Art And A Science'.

Ginny made a small noise in the back of her throat; he mistook her for Goyle?

Realizing that whoever had made that noise that had come from across the table wasn't Goyle, Malfoy looked up in surprise.

"Who th-- why, Weaselette," he drawled. "To whom do I owe this pleasure?"

"Quit the act, Malfoy," she said harshly. "I want to know a few things."

"If you're coming to me for Transfiguration tips, I'm afraid I can't help you there," he said, looking dejectedly down at the open book. Ginny almost laughed at his expression, but composed herself in time.

"I want to know why you wanted to say hi to me the other day," she said hurriedly, not stopping to think. When the words were out of her mouth, she realized how incredibly stupid they sounded. It appeared that Malfoy also thought it amusing, as he didn't try to contain a smirk.

"I thought that Potter and his friends were doing a pretty thorough job of ignoring you, so I decided to make myself heard," he replied. "No evil intentions, no tricks up my sleeve. You can sleep easy now, Weaselette."

"They weren't ignoring me," she retorted, not knowing why she was defending them. "They were just..."

"Walking six feet ahead of you, lost in their own discussions?" Malfoy smirked again as he finished her sentence for her. "Do you have any friends, Weaselette?"

"Will you stop calling me that?" Ginny exploded, earning herself a disapproving look from Madam Pince and yet another smirk from Malfoy. "Okay, so I don't have many close friends. What do you care?"

"I personally don't care all that much," he replied. "It's just that I know someone who has a predicament similar to yours."

"Who?" Ginny asked, curiosity piqued.

"She's in the same year as you," Malfoy said as he opened his book again. "She's one of the only two Slytherin girls in her year. The other one's only interested in studying. Her name's Astoria Greengrass."

Greengrass... Greengrass...Ginny had heard that name before. "Isn't she in your year?"

"That's her sister, Daphne."

"So why doesn't she have any friends, if you know her so well?"

"She does hang out with us most of the time, but it's hard when your only friends are a year above you and you don't have any classes or anything with them."

Ginny nodded, understanding this Astoria girl's plight, but then shot up out of her chair.

"Why do you want me to be her friend?" she said, suddenly angry and suspicious of this boy of whom she had heard so many bad things. "My family's a bunch of poor blood-traitors, remember?"

"You just seemed the friendly type," he shrugged and unrolled a piece of parchment. "You didn't seem too judgmental. It was just a suggestion. Now if you'll excuse me..." Dipping a long quill into a bottle of ink, he began writing, and Ginny knew she wouldn't get anything else out of him.

She shook out her robes and exited the library without a backwards glance.

So there it was!

REVIEW!

:Hyperactive Lioness: