A/N: Sorry for the delay, but you can trust me when I say you'll prolly have to wait a lot longer than this for more updates…Senior year is ending and graduation and everything is way hectic right now

I received a note this morning, asking me to make a detour from my patrols tonight to meet her up in the Astronomy Tower. I thought there was a class tonight, but I must have been mistaken—heavy clouds cover the sky, making it impossible to see anything but rolling gray as the wind swirls the haze around.

I've been waiting here for nearly ten minutes now; she must be running late. With her luck she's probably gotten stopped by Filch or Peeves. I contemplate returning to my patrols and am about to leave when the door swings open and she steps in, looking slightly ruffled and out of breath.

"What happened to you?" I ask, taking the girl in.

"Neville caught me on my way out of the Common Room and kept pestering me about the newest plant his grandmother sent him. As if I care, " she scoffs, "Thanks for meeting me, Hermione."

I shake my head. "Not a problem, Gin. That note sounded somewhat serious. Is something wrong?"

She hesitates. She's thinking something through, I can tell. That's the answer, right there—something is wrong, but she can't decide if she wants to tell me.

"No," she answers slowly. "Nothing's wrong, I just…wanted to talk."

I can feel my eyebrows tugging down over my eyes in suspicion and try to lighten my features. "Talk? Must be something pretty important, if you made me stopped my rounds and snuck out of Gryffindor in order to do so. We could have talked in the Common Room, or library, Gin," I'm not even trying to hide my annoyance now—the Head Girl's rounds are very important, and both of us, not just Ginny, would be in trouble if we were caught up here chatting. I'm not sure if students are even allowed up here if it's not for Astronomy work.

"I know," she looks away, trying not to meet my eyes—another tip off that something is bothering her. "I just thought it would be best if we discussed this away from…everything. It's not something any ears should catch wind of, if you get my point."

"What is it, Ginny?" I'm getting fed up with this conversation already, knowing which direction it's going in, and knowing that it's not good. "What's on your mind?" I attempt to lighten up and be cordial to the girl—obviously it must be important if she went to these measures to talk, so I should probably be a bit more supportive. I lean up against the balcony and wait for her to start talking. She walks over to the edge of the balcony, stopping a few feet away and facing the Forbidden Forest.

I study what I can of the expression on her face (the side I can see) and find that contemplative and conflictive thoughts must be running through her head. She's frowning, and staring at the dark forest; her eyes seem sad. I wonder what this is all about.

"I don't know where to start."

"Is it a problematic situation, or person?" I ask, moving in on my hunch that she's in some sort of conflict about something.

Her frown deepens. "Both."

"Well who is it?" I ask. Wrong question, for her frown deepens even more, and a new emotion has risen to her face.

Minutes of silence pass as I let her decide whether or not she wants to fess up and tell me everything. Knowing Ginny, I trust that she will. I'm right.

"Draco Malfoy," she says at last.

"Has he been giving you gruff again, Gin? Just tell Ron or Harry—they'll take care of him," Draco Malfoy bothering Ginny is not very common, but certainly not unheard of. Though I wonder if that might be the case, because Ginny never let anything about him affect her before this. We've all learned to ignore Malfoy; some days are harder than others, but Ginny has never really had a problem with the stupid prat.

She shakes her head slowly, propping her elbows up on the balcony and resting her head in her hands. "It's not so much like that," she says slowly. "It's more like…" she trails off, turning away from me completely. I can hear her mutter, "Merlin, if he found out," softly before she takes a deep breath and turns to face me. "He's up to something."

"Malfoy is always up to something, Ginny," I point out. "I mean we've all had problems with the git, but he's never really done anything terrible."

"Something big," Ginny elaborates. "Really big. Terrible, and big."

I frown, moving closer to my best friend's sister. "Terrible like how?"

She opens her mouth and closes it again. "He wants me to join him, Hermione. He said that there's a prophecy regarding him and I, and that I'm going to help him."

"Prophecy?" I push it aside for the time being. "Help him what, Ginny? What is he doing?"

She doesn't answer me. Instead, she turns back to look out at the Forbidden Forest, and then up to the cloud-ridden sky. I follow her gaze to find the dim light of a full moon shining down faintly, suffocated by the gray clouds. "I couldn't do it, could I? Betray everyone like that? I couldn't really join him, could I?"

I think on the answer. I want to say, 'No, of course not!' instantly, but hold my tongue, contemplating. It has been known to happen. Pettigrew betrayed his friends to join Voldemort, and he was a Gryffindor. But Ginny is a Weasley; she's stronger than that. Isn't she?

"I'll take your silence as a yes," she says bitterly.

"No, Ginny! No, I was just thinking, I mean really thinking about the question. I think you could—everyone could. But I don't think you would. I think you're stronger than that."

"Malfoy's pretty convincing," she says softly, closing her eyes. She's remembering something, I can feel it. Malfoy has already gotten to her; threatened her into joining the Dark Side. "Very convincing," she continues. "He had me brainwashed in fifteen minutes with his words alone," her head drops into her hands once more, and I can see that she's wiping at her eyes. Crying. "I'd like to believe you, I really would. But I don't know if I'm as strong as you think."

I move to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she pulls away, taking a deep breath. "This is a bad idea. I should have left you out of this. If Malfoy finds out I'm done for."

Anger and disgust fills me as I realize what kind of hold that slimy git has on my good friend. She's scared of him. She is so terrified of him that she can't even tell me what's going on! I hate Draco Malfoy ten times more than I already do, and though I long to tell Harry and Ron about this incident so they can tear him apart, I know that I can't, for fear of what should happen to Ginny. He would obviously know she gave him up if those two brutes caught him in a hallway and pummeled him with all they had.

"I changed my mind," she says abruptly, turning away from me again. "I don't want to talk about it. You should go finish your rounds. I'm going back to Gryffindor in a minute, I just need some air."

I take a step toward her. "Are you sure, Gin? I could—"

"No, Hermione, just finish your rounds," I say curtly, becoming angry with myself for one, dragging her into it in the first place and two, being so rude to my friend. "I don't want to discuss it anymore."

I don't hear the door close, so I assume she's still there behind me, trying to interfere even more. "I don't want to discuss it anymore," I say again, more firmly this time.

"You shouldn't have been discussing it at all."

Terror flows through my veins, freezing me in place as if turning to ice inside of me. I somehow manage to turn, ever so slowly, to see my fear confirmed: Draco Malfoy is standing behind me, and by the look on his face, I can tell that he heard every word of my little chat with Hermione.

That little bint. It was all I could do not to throw off my Invisibility Cloak and throttle her on the spot, even with the Mudblood there. I was delighted when Granger left her alone, and it grew even more when it was so obvious that she was completely terrified by the sound of my voice.

I'm wondering how much more she can take. She seemed tougher a few nights ago, during my last little session of punishment. She's gasping at my feet, trying not to cry. Merlin, I love making her cry.

I crouch down in front of her, tilting her head up to make her face me. "Did I not tell you not to cross me again? You made a very big mistake, Weasley. And now look what's happened. Look at yourself, clawing around at my feet. How much more is it going to take before you learn your lesson?" I slap her across the cheek, hard as I can, eliciting another pitiful cry from those full, crimson lips of hers.

"I'm—I'm sorry," she gasps, attempting to slide away from me. Not happening. I take a hold of her bright, red hair and stand, yanking upwards, bringing her to her knees in one swift, painful move. "I'm sorry!" she cries again.

"Not half as sorry as you're going to be," I say softly, kneeling in front her again. "What did I say? Do you remember what I said? What did I say, Weasley?" I hiss angrily, yanking her hair again.

"N-not to do it again," she gasps softly.

"And what did you do?" I ask, tugging her hair a third time to bring her even closer to me. "What did you do?"

"Told Hermione."

"That's right, you did. I underestimated you, Weasley. You really are that stupid. Have you no sense of self-preservation? Did you somehow think that I wouldn't find out?" I release her hair and stand, using my foot against her chest to push her back down to the ground.

"I didn't tell her everything," she whimpers. How pathetic.

"I know, and how lucky for you that you didn't, or the consequences would be even worse for you."

"I'm sorry," she apologizes again. "I won't—"

"That's what you said last time, isn't it? Don't I recall you agreeing that you shouldn't cross me again?" I pull out my wand, deciding on a whim to bring her pain up to the next level.

She eyes it, having pushed herself up to a sitting position against the balcony. I contemplate throwing her over the edge, but I can't have her dying. Not when I need her to succeed. "What are you doing?" she asks as I step towards her, aiming my wand.

"As much as I love hearing you scream, I really can't risk you waking up the whole castle. Silencio."

She stares at me in mute horror as I ponder which spell to use on her. I decide to go with a classic, knowing that the commonness of it won't deter any of the effects. "Crucio!"

She's sobbing when I finish the curse, and I regret that I can't hear her pitiful whimpers any longer. "So much for lessons learned, eh, Weasley?"

I kneel in front of her, wiping at the tears that are streaming down her cheeks. She's shaking so hard it's a wonder her teeth aren't chattering. "Now will you please, for your sake, just stop this nonsense and keep quiet?"

She nods, though I have much doubt that the little bint will, in fact, be able to keep that trap of hers shut. "Weasley," I say softly, tilting her face up so her eyes are looking into mine. I make sure to put as much concern in my voice as I possibly can. "I don't give second chances, and I would never repeat a mistake like that, so you're really quite lucky that I'm being so kind to you. Don't," I wrap my fingers around that tiny neck of hers--I love choking her, "do it again," I growl. "I really would like to keep you alive, but you're making it very difficult for me."

The silencing charm is still in place, so it's a bit harder to tell how close she is to passing out. Usually I can go by those pitiful little gasps and squeals of hers. I release her just for the hell of it and take the charm off. "Can I trust that you won't be foolish enough to make the same mistake three times?"

She nods, holding her neck and blinking tears out of her eyes.

Another great night, as far as I'm concerned. Funny how dealing her with muckups are so irritating and entertaining all at once.

A/N: I know it's kind of short, but at least it's up, right? Right? Review please!