Chapter Two

The remainder of the train ride was very uneventful. Harry and Ron were discussing quidditch while Hermione and Ginny discussed Arithmancy. Neville Longbottom came by for a while and he, Ron and Harry played a few games of Exploding Snap. Just before they reached Hogsmeade Station, Luna Lovegood came by followed shortly by Cho. Ron, Ginny and Hermione pulled on their robes and went to help the younger students get their stuff off the train.

As Ginny was helping a group of second years to the carriages she spotted Draco. He was helping a very freighted first year onto one of the boats. She began moving down the train towards the boats in hopes of getting to talk to him again. She had nearly reached him when Ron came up behind her.

"Well the train's all cleared so let's go find us a carriage up to the castle." Ron said pulling his sister after him.

They found Harry and Hermione waiting for them when they reached the carriages. The four of them rode up to the castle together. Harry kept trying to strike a conversation with Ginny but she was lost in her own thoughts. Just before they reached the castle gates, Ginny had an idea. She pulled a piece of parchment and a self-inking quill out of her pocket and wrote Draco a short note.

I want to talk. Will you meet me after the feast?

G.W

"Ron, I need to barrow Pig really quickly." She told her brother. He handed her the owl and she quickly tied the note to his leg and let him out the window.

"Who you sending a note to already?" Ron asked.

"One of the prefects had expressed some concerns about one of their patrol partners. I just wanted to know if they were going to go see Dumbledore to have them changed or not." Ginny replied receiving a questioning look from Hermione.

As they were getting out of the carriage Pig returned with a reply. Ginny grabbed the note and sent him up to the owlery. She put the note in her pocket quickly, planning on reading it once she got inside. Hermione gave her another questioning look as they walked into the great hall.

While the new first years were being sorted, Ginny took the note out of her pocket. She knew that everyone was paying attention to the sorting so she could safely read it. Carefully she unfolded it under the table and read Draco's reply. He had written his reply under her note.

Yes…in the library

D.M

Ginny reread his reply two more times just to make sure she'd read it right. She was glad he was willing to meet with her. She shoved the note back in her pocket as the sorting ended. All through the rest of the feast, Ginny kept sneaking looks over at Draco. He was sitting between Crabbe and Goyle but seemed to be ignoring them. He was actually ignoring all of the Slytherins it seemed.

"I'm going to go to the library. I'll be up to the common room soon." Ginny told them as Dumbledore dismissed them.

"I'll come with you." Hermione said getting up to follow her.

"Hermione." Harry whispered, grabbing the back of her robes. "Ginny can walk to the library by herself. Anyway, didn't you say you needed to talk to Professor Dumbledore about patrols?" She nodded with a sigh and went up to the head table.

The library was empty when Ginny arrived so she decided to find a table and wait for Draco to arrive. He arrived a minute later. They both sat staring at each other in silence until Draco began to lose patience.

"You said you wanted to talk yet you haven't said a word since I arrived." Draco snapped.

"Sorry." Ginny mumbled. "I did want to talk to you. I just got lost in my thoughts."

"Ok. Then talk." Draco prompted more kindly.

"Well…earlier on the train I had wanted to ask you about your OWL results. You had mentioned how I had helped with the Arithmancy so I was just wondering how you did."

"Oh…" Draco whispered with a slight tone of sadness. "Well I got eleven total."

"Eleven! Wow. I've gotten six so far but I'll be getting more when I take the rest of the OWLs this year."

"You already have six?" She nodded. "Not bad Weasley. Not bad at all."

"How many OWLs did you get for each class? As you can probably tell I got two in each of my classes so far."

"I got two each in Ancient Runes, Potions and Astronomy. Then I got one each in DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology and Arithmancy. Failed History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures. My mum wasn't too happy that I failed History of Magic but since Binns doesn't care about OWL results I'm still in the class." He said with a laugh. "Did you ask me here just to talk about OWLS or is there something else?"

"Draco…" Ginny whispered, startling him by using his first name. "Did you really mean what you said about me on the train?" Draco blushed so deeply that his face was almost as bright as Ginny's hair.

"Every word." He whispered back.