There is nothing in this world so sweet as love.

And next to love the sweetest thing is hate.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If someone had asked Ginny two days ago if she would ever be happy, no - ecstatic, to see Malfoy's face, she would have slapped them upside the head. But here she was, relieved to have someone, anyone, to remind her that she wasn't crazy.

He was standing in a line of knights, all dressed in identical scarlet and gold- except for him. Leave to Malfoy to stick out like a sore thumb she thought to herself. Before she could even try to communicate with him, let alone think of something to say- Harry stepped forward and blocked her view.

The priest was still going on about the legendary royal union that just taken place, describing how Merlot was now undefeatable! Ginny could see Harry nodding dutifully to each word the priest uttered- absorbed in what seemed to be thoughts solely regarding the welfare of his kingdom. It was a little disconcerting to see Harry acting so unlike himself and it finally sunk in that the real Harry wasn't going to save her this time.

The priest finally finished speaking and Harry awkwardly held her arm and lead her out of the room to the sound of resounding hurrahs and yells. After a series of confusing turns, they entered a stone cold hallway. Harry dropped her arm and bowed deeply.

"Til supper my lady" he said quickly and swiftly walked away from her- turning a corner before she could even call him back.

Ginny looked around helplessly. So much for holding onto her from this day forward she thought.

She turned around and tried to think of how to get back to the large hall. As much as she abhorred him, Malfoy could be her only chance to get back to reality with as little collateral damage as possible. Retracing her footsteps and caught up in debating whether she should have taken a left or a right at the last turn, Ginny didn't know what hit her when Parnell approached her. The Pansy look-a-like giddily began to drag her and instead of resisting this time, Ginny went along with her. Her grand escape would have to wait until she had a chance to talk to Malfoy.

As it turned out, 'supper' as Arthur had called it could have more accurately been called "a feast-at-which-perhaps-all-of-England-was-present-and-then-some." After forcing her into another suffocating dress, Parnell had led Ginny down to the banquet hall. It was perhaps the largest room Ginny had ever stepped foot in- and that included the main hall at Hogwarts. She didn't get a chance to truly appreciate its beauty however, because pseudo-Harry had once more appeared at her side.

He was awkwardly fidgeting with his sword handle, silently holding out his other arm for Ginny. Even if he did look every inch a king in perfectly fitted royal regalia he sure didn't seem to act like one. His behavior was especially unnerving for her because while he looked so much like Harry- he was nothing like the brave and fun-loving guy that she knew. In fact, if her memory served right, he was nothing like the famed King Arthur either. She couldn't help but wonder- how did guy who couldn't even look her in the eyes become such a powerful King?

As he led her down towards the front of the large room, Ginny scanned the crowd for Malfoy. She hoped he would show up tonight- he was probably more anxious than she was to get back. Harry guided her up to a high-seated table where the two of them would be the center of attention. Well, Ginny thought to herself, as hundreds of eyes stared at her- at least she had a great vantage point from here.

She had been starving and the food that was placed in front of her, plates filled with duck, pork and chicken were surprisingly delicious. Ginny sighed. If only she could cut off her wretched dress and properly enjoy the meal. As she tugged at her dress and scraped the last few potatoes off her plate, she noticed Harry staring at her. Ginny had thought at first he was choking but as she turned fully to face him, she realized that he was laughing.

Scowling, she muttered "What?" in between mouthfuls, which resulted in him snorting several times at her expense. Of course the one trait he seemed to have in common with the real Harry wouldn't be something helpful like courage- it was the ability to laugh at her no matter what the time period. To her surprise, pseudo Harry began to reach his hand over to hers. She could feel her body tense up unconsciously but before he could even touch her, someone approached Harry from his other side.

Without a second thought, Harry quickly got up and embraced the newcomer, gruffly clapping him on the back. It was obvious that pseudo-Harry and the stranger were close but then broke apart to shake hands, her curiosity turned to disbelief. Malfoy?

Not even in Ginny's wildest dreams would she have imagined Harry and Malfoy ever coming to terms with each other let alone hugging. Her fears were assuaged however when she saw the disgusted and pained expression on Malfoy's face. His eyes cut to her for a split second- but instead of responding to her meaningful glance or facial expression, he just glared and turned away and took a seat at a table in front of them. He was ignoring her.

Ginny scoffed. Who was he here anyway? Clearly King Arthur was fond of him and he seemed well loved by the people he was seated next to. Exactly the opposite of who he was in reality.

When Harry was seated again, Ginny poked his arm. "Who was that?"

Harry looked at her quizzically. "My lady, that of course was Sir Lancelot. Are you feeling all right? You know as well as I do that he is the greatest knight of this kingdom and the greatest friend of my heart- I would trust him with my life."

Her surprise was written all over her face and she quickly turned away before pseudo-Harry decided she was crazy enough to drag off to a medieval equivalent of a loony bin. Her best course of action Ginny decided, was to find a way to talk to Malfoy, alone. Unfortunately for her, he wasn't willing to oblige. Every time she caught his eye, she tried frantically to set up somewhere to meet. But for some reason, he just stared through her and continued to act as if he really was Sir Lancelot. Frustrated, Ginny finally gave up. What was she going to have to do to get his attention? Set off flares?

Angry that he was messing with her mind even when they were in such a dire situation, Ginny chose to ignore him as well. If he wasn't willing to help so be it. She'd figure out her own way home and leave that filthy ferret here to rot. How long would he be able to keep up the charade of being a brave knight anyway? There wasn't a courageous bone in Malfoy's body.

Ginny turned back towards pseudo-Harry. She tried to make conversation but it seemed that the brief moment between them had already passed and he was back to being as awkward as ever. Sighing to herself, she settled back in her seat and waited for the evening to be over. As it turned out, she didn't have to wait long. Not even fifteen minutes after her silent resolution, a harried looking man burst through the hall's large doors entirely out of breath.

"My Lord! There is trouble! Great trouble in the Southern Region of the Kingdom! Meleagant! Meleagant!"

The man then fainted from exhaustion or excitement (she couldn't quite tell which one) and before Ginny could even process what was going on, Harry jumped from his seat and ran to kneel next to the man. Gone was any trace of anxiety and instead was man that was clearly in charge. He quickly ordered several nearby men to carry the unconscious man into another room and began to briskly follow them out. After a few steps however, he abruptly stopped and turned to look at Ginny. After staring at her for a few seconds, he glanced towards Malfoy and nodded his head in her direction. Malfoy surprisingly returned the gesture and slowly stood from his seat as well. As Harry left the room, Malfoy approached her, paused, and then held out his arm without looking directly at her.

After a moment's hesitation, Ginny took the extended arm and silently followed Malfoy out of the hall. She was surprised to see that even though Malfoy had been here just as long as she had, he already had gotten the hang of the castle's twists and turns. She was also surprised that he wasn't saying a word-or rather screaming at her. As much as she hated to admit it, this whole debacle was pretty much all her fault. After a few minutes of silent walking, with Malfoy walking at least two paces in front of her- He suddenly grabbed open a door and shoved her inside what turned out to be a cramped closet.

"Malfoy!" Ginny began to scream but he muffled her screams with his hand.

He leaned in with his silver eyes flashing and growled back. "Shut up Weasley! Do you know what happens if we get caught here? Are you really that dense?"

Ginny shoved his hand away from her mouth and tried to step back from him. She realized too late that with her voluminous dress and the already small space, this just wasn't possible. Losing her balance, she tried to catch on to Malfoy, but this time he deftly avoided her flailing arms.

"You really think I'd let that happen again?" He barked at her.

Ginny looked up at him from the floor where she had landed and glared at him. "What did you pull me in here for anyway Malfoy? You were only too eager to avoid me earlier!"

He smirked at her and Ginny wished she could slap the annoying smugness out of him.

"Do you even realize what kind of situation you got us stuck in Weasley? Do you? If I recall correctly, your assignment was to silently observe history from the sidelines! NOT BECOME A PART OF IT! You think you're set because you finally bagged Potter eh? What if you change the world as we know it? Magic as we know it? Are YOU going to take responsibility for that? Are you planning to spend the rest of your life with these medieval imbeciles?" He wasn't quite shouting at her, but his tone was the scariest she had ever heard- worse than her mother after one of Fred and George's antics.

Ginny struggled to her feet and when she gained her balance, she jabbed her finger into his chest. He wasn't the only one with a temper.

"Now you listen to me Malfoy. I didn't ask for this! If you had just helped me LIKE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO- we would have never ended up here! Do you think I'd ever voluntarily choose to be anywhere with YOU? Let alone…" Before she could finish, Malfoy grabbed her finger with one hand and instead began jabbing her solar plexus with his other.

" DO. NOT. BLAME. ME." He jabbed. "For your mental incompetence. Did you think you were doing anyone favors by making those asinine faces at me during dinner? And here I was, thinking that my BLATANT IGNORANCE of your behavior would send you a message!"

Ginny tried to step back from him, but he only gripped her hand harder and pulled her closer – his angled pale face inches from hers.

"Do you know what happens if they find out who we really are? These people burn witches at the stake for Merlin's sake! Your bumbling around like an idiot puts my life in danger and I'm warning you- if they hurt as much a single hair on my head you will pay. You and your filthy, mudblood-loving, circus of a family will all pay!"

Ginny bit back the urge to remind him that his father was rotting away in Azkaban and that Voldemort hadn't shown his face in nearly two years now. Because even though his words may not have borne any weight, the very real man in front of her whose eyes were flashing with anger certainly posed a threat.

He let go of the death grip he'd had on her finger and wiped his hands disgustedly on his robe.

"We need to finish up here." He said curtly- almost as if hadn't just threatened her life. "I need to get back to hall- Despite looking unfortunately like him, at least Arthur isn't half as stupid as the blithering idiot Potter you love so much." He turned and began to open the door to leave.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Ginny asked and Malfoy just shrugged coolly.

"I'll be in touch. In the meantime, try to act less like the immature girl you really are and more like the queen you're supposed to be." He slammed the door behind him, leaving Ginny alone in the dingy little closet.

The nerve of that asshat! Ginny fumed. Walking around like he was so high and mighty! Yes, she'd made a mistake and yes, she had acted rather foolishly earlier- but he wasn't free from blame either! She dusted off the bottom of her dress and tried to leave the closet as elegantly as she could and nearly tripped over her feet. Somehow, Malfoy had managed a much more suave exit.

Of course, Malfoy hadn't done her the favor of leaving her stranded in a closet even remotely close to her chambers. And to her eyes, every stone hallway looked the same as the last- until she finally stumbled on a large portrait she recalled was across from her room. It was of a quite hideous lady in a dark blood red outfit. She remembered it because the lady looked quite like Millicent Bullstrode- on one of her good days.

Gently pushing open the door, Ginny was relieved to see that the room was empty. Finally some peace! Maybe she'd be able to think of a plan, one that didn't involve any help from that jerk Malfoy. But before she could even prop herself on the bed, there was a knock on the door.

"Malfoy?" She inquired but there was no response. Lifting up her heavy skirts once again, Ginny opened the door to see Harry. Her stomach dropped in anxiety. She'd completely forgotten- it was late…and hadn't she just gotten married? Sweat beads began to form on her forehead and Ginny gripped the door tightly.

"I just came by to apologize for leaving you earlier my lady." He said his eyes on the floor. Ginny could feel the tension in the air.

"I myself am disappointed with the unfortunate timing of the dire situation that has come upon our kingdom. But I hope you'll forgive me…" he trailed off. He paused for a second, almost as if he was gathering strength. "because this wasn't how I was planning on spending tonight…"

His brilliant green eyes were staring into hers now and he leaned in. Ginny began feeling anxious for an entirely different reason. Now she was the nervous one.

"You.. you.. uh..don't worry about it! Not a big deal really!" Ginny said-or more so squealed. She tried to think of something clever to say- but even after years of dreaming of a scenario just like this, nothing came out. Instead, all she could think to say was "Well…it's getting kind of late and…you know, big day tomorrow!"

She internally winced before even finishing the sentence. Could she act any more pathetic? Here was the chance she was waiting for! But even though she knew that this version of Harry didn't love Hermione unconditionally- that this version of Harry had room in his heart for someone else, she couldn't do it. Harry held her gaze a little longer and then gave a little nervous laugh.

"Absolutely, I understand…"he started. "Well, I have to get back to drawing up plans for attack and such." He straightened himself up and started to walk away. She had been staring at his retreating back when he suddenly stopped and began walking in her direction again. Before she could even say a word, he kissed her. It was different from the last kiss- this one definitely wasn't just a peck. But was over almost as soon as it had started and when Ginny looked up at Harry he was red. Without saying anything at all, he patted her gently on the shoulder and walked off once more. She sighed and leaned against the door. It had been a real kiss this time- a real kiss with Harry! So why wasn't it making her dizzy? Where were the fireworks?

When Ginny had finally calmed her thoughts, she closed her door behind her and began to get ready for bed. Planning her escape would have to wait for a less confusing night. She heard a knock at the door and saw someone slide a note underneath. She finished up and fetched it.

Weasley-

The stables at the crack of dawn. Although it seems you'd rather not go back at all- considering you've finally fulfilled your favorite Potter fantasy? It's brilliant that you're so bloody good at prioritizing.

Ginny leaned her back against the door and sighed. What a jerk.