A/N: Hey everybody. I'm real sorry I didn't update sooner. Got real busy with the holidays and all. Anyway, heres the next chapter. I'm probably going to reveal Jessi's big secret next chapter because I'm out of ideas for things to happen before the big reveal. Anyone who wants to can guess what her big secret is in a review or PM and maybe win a prize! Okay, not a real prize, but I will mention anyone who can correctly guess it in the next author's note. So please review and leave guesses and maybe some constructive criticism, too. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Ginny was absolutely miserable. No matter what she tried, nothing seemed to cheer her up. Of course, it was hard for her to think of something to make her feel better when she didn't even understand why she was being affected so thoroughly.

Her problem was Jessi. Ginny couldn't explain why, but Jessi's refusal to even look at her hurt more than any rejection before. Ginny wasn't the type of person that felt that she had to make everyone like her; in fact she was glad that there were people that despised her because that meant that she had stood up against someone for something she believed in. But Jessi wasn't like that. Ginny had done nothing to her and still she refused to acknowledge Ginny's existence.

Harry had said that maybe she reminded Jessi of someone she lost and at first that idea seemed to fit. But when Ginny thought about it, that reason wouldn't be strong enough to explain Jessi's reaction. If Ginny only reminded Jessi of someone she lost, then by now Jessi would have dealt with it enough to at least be in the same room as Ginny.

So in other words, Ginny was no closer to figuring out Jessi's problem with her than when she started. She decided that the only way she would be able to find the real answers would be to ask Jessi. And the only way to do that would be to corner Jessi. Ginny didn't like the idea of bullying Jessi into giving her answers but felt like she had to solve this puzzle, no matter what.

Ginny's chance came a few days later after lunch when she noticed Jessi ducking into an abandoned classroom (probably to avoid passing Ginny). Ginny waited by the door for a few minutes until Jessi opened it to presumably check if Ginny was gone yet. As soon as the door opened Ginny stood in front of it and stuck out her foot to keep Jessi from closing the door on her.

"Why do you keep avoiding me Jessi?"

"Oh, uh, hi G-Ginny! I'd, uh, I'd love to talk but I've got to get to class. So if you could, uh, just let me through-"

"You don't have a class next. You have a free period with Harry and Ron. They told me you usually study with them in the common room right now."

"Oh, right. They told you that, huh? W-well…"

"Jessi, please." Ginny's voice became soft and almost pleading at this point. "I just want to know what I did to make you hate me so much."

"Ginny! I could never hate you! No matter what you did."

"Then why won't you talk to me? Harry, Ron, and Hermione all talk about what a good friend you are. I just want to be your friend too."

"… It's complicated Ginny. I don't think I can tell you all of it just yet. But believe me when I say that it has absolutely nothing to do with you."

"So what? It's not me, it's you? Isn't that a cliché usually reserved for breakups?"

Jessi looked rather shocked by that last statement, but she quickly covered it up. "It's not that. Not exactly, at least."

"Then what is it? What could be so bad that you won't even look at me?"

"I can't tell you Ginny. Not 'I don't want to tell you,' because I do. I'm not allowed to tell you. Not yet."

"Well whatever it is, you obviously have some kind of problem with me. I just wish you would give me a chance to prove you wrong."

Jessi thought about this for a moment before she agreed, though rather reluctantly it appeared. "You're right Ginny. I never gave you a chance and that was unfair of me. I have my reasons for being afraid to talk to you but that doesn't give me the right to hurt you by ignoring you entirely. I hope you'll forgive me."

Ginny sighed and her lips slowly formed into a smile before she answered. "Yeah, I'll forgive you. But only if you'll talk to me some now and give me a chance to get to know you."

"I'd like that," Jessi said with a small smile of her own. "Um, I know that I have a free period right now, but don't you have a class that you should be getting to?"

"Shit! How am I supposed to explain being late to McGonagall?"

"Give me your shoe."

"What? How is giving you my shoe going to stop McGonagall from being angry with me?"

"Tell her Peeves stole your shoe. You chased him and tried to get it back but he got away. By that time he'd led you to the opposite side of the castle from her classroom," Jessi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's bloody brilliant! You might be better than Fred and George at making up excuses."

"That's not too hard. Your brothers always tried to make up elaborate excuses. It's better to make up simple, realistic ones."

"How do you know about my brothers? Or even that they are my brothers?"

"Uh, Ron and some of the other kids will talk about them occasionally."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense." Ginny took off her shoe and handed it over to Jessi.

"If you want to make it really believable then you'll need to run as fast as you can to class so that you're out of breath when you get there," Jessi added, further impressing Ginny with her ability to cover up ever possible flaw in the lie.

The two girls came fully out into the hallway and Ginny was turning to say goodbye to Jessi when she saw her least favorite person in the entire school coming their way: Draco Malfoy. In fact, there was a good chance that he was the least favorite person of almost everyone at Hogwarts. It was even rumored that a large number of Slytherins couldn't stand him that much.

Draco walked up to them with his usual smug look on his face, the ever-present Crabbe and Goyle on each side of him. Ginny knew she was going to have to endure another verbal assault from the arrogant boy, but she was used to ignoring his insults so she was ready.

"Well if it isn't the littlest Weasel. What are you doing with the new girl? Thought I heard that she hated you. Heard that she was too repulsed by you to even be in the same room as you. Not that I can blame her. She isn't the only one to be disgusted by filthy little blood traitors."

Ginny wasn't sure what happened next. One second she was looking at Malfoy, getting ready to insult him right back. But then, in the blink of and eye, Jessi had him pinned against the wall with her wand pointed at his face. Jessi's eyes were filled with more anger than Jessi had seen before in anyone.

"Listen close, you stupid little prick," Jessi said in such a quiet hiss that it almost sounded more like Parseltongue than English. "From now on, if you so much as say something to Ginny in an unpleasant tone, then I will personally crush any hopes you have of ever creating a Malfoy heir." As Jessi was talking, she slowly lowered her wand until it was pointing at a part of Malfoy that most boys are usually very protective over.

Malfoy's face became pale, well paler than normal, as he realized what Jessi was implying. Jessi let him go and he immediately bolted down the hallway, leaving a confused Crabbe and Goyle standing around for a moment before they took off after the so-called 'brains' of their operation.

Ginny stared at Jessi in complete awe. She couldn't understand how the shy girl that barely talked could suddenly threaten someone so forcefully. She also couldn't believe that Jessi had been defending Ginny when she threatened Malfoy, despite the fact that she had been completely avoiding Ginny up until now.

"Jessi! Where the hell did that come from?"

"He insulted you. I was simply standing up for my gir-… I mean, friend."

"And I appreciate that, but don't you think you went a little overboard? Sure he called me some rude names but you practically threatened to castrate him!"

Jessi blushed as she seemed to realize what she had just done. "Yeah, I did kind of over do it, didn't I? Well, it's too late to do anything about it now. I'll meet you in the common room after you're class so I can give you your shoe back."

"Merlin, I almost forgot about class! If I don't hurry then even your shoe excuse won't be enough to explain my tardiness. See you in a bit Jessi," Ginny called out as she started sprinting down the hallways, both so she could make it before too long and so she would be out of breath, like Jessi suggested. Despite being late for the first time ever, Ginny couldn't help smiling all the way to class as she thought about how Jessi had said she was defending a friend.

Ginny had been amazed when McGonagall had bought her excuse. She had almost blown her story because she was so excited, but managed to keep her enthusiasm contained for the sake of the lie. As soon as class was over, Ginny rushed to get back to the common room so she could thank Jessi for the brilliant story and so she could get her shoe back. Running around the castle in only one shoe was incredibly awkward.

When Ginny got to the common room, she ran straight to Jessi and just about tackled the girl with a sudden hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you! McGonagall bought your story! You saved from getting into sooo much trouble!"

"Um, n-no… no problem Ginny."

Ginny heard how uncomfortable Jessi sounded and realized it was probably a mistake to hug Jessi so fiercely when she only got the shy girl to agree to talk to her earlier that day. Ginny pulled back but she kept smiling at Jessi gratefully.

"Hold on a minute, since when are you two talking? I thought Jessi hated you, Gin" Ron's question made Ginny realize how surprising the sight of Ginny hugging Jessi must have been for Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ginny wasn't sure how to answer his question, since she wasn't sure how much Jessi wanted to be revealed, but Jessi answered him before Ginny had a chance to.

"I never hated Ginny, Ron. I had my reasons for not wanting to talk to her but hate was never one of them."

"Alright, but if you didn't want to talk to Ginny, then why are you now?"

"I realized that it wasn't right of me to hurt Ginny because of my own insecurities. So we're talking."

"Well, I'm just glad that we can all be friends now without all the awkwardness," Harry added in. Ginny thought that Harry's eyes were practically shining with happiness at the fact that Ginny and Jessi were finally getting along. Ginny wasn't surprised that the look of happiness on Harry's face was giving her butterflies in her stomach. What did surprise her was that she was getting the same feeling from the look of happiness on Jessi's face.

Ginny was snapped out of her thoughts when Ron asked her why she only had one shoe on. She smiled proudly as she told her three other friends about the amazing excuse that Jessi had come up with to get her out of trouble for being late. They were all in awe of Jessi after Ginny had told them this. Even Hermione was impressed by her ability to come up with such a convincing story on such short notice, though she wasn't happy that Ginny had lied to one of her teachers. Jessi was of course embarrassed by all the attention and praise.

As the four friends spent the rest afternoon together doing homework and chatting, Ginny felt like she and Jessi had been friends forever. Jessi seemed to understand Ginny's sense of humor more than anyone else and at one point joined her in an attempt to see how red they could make Ron turn out of embarrassment. Jessi shared Ginny's fashion sense, with the exception of the hats. Jessi even excelled in the same subjects as Ginny, though Jessi did slightly better.

The more they talked, they more Ginny felt that she and Jessi would be friends for life. Ginny thought that Jessi must feel the same way because she was starting to loosen up and share more.

Ginny wasn't sure if this was such a good thing though. As Jessi loosened up more and more, Ginny started thinking about her in ways that she usually only thought about boys. Ginny found that she adored Jessi's laugh and would do anything to hear it again. She thought that Jessi had and unbelievably cute nose and wanted to plant a kiss right on the tip. She thought that Jessi's lips looked incredibly soft and delicious and she was sorely tempted to find out how they tasted. As Ginny started thinking about Jessi in more of a romantic way, she realized that she was thinking about Harry in less of one.

Despite Ginny's confusion over her changing feelings, she enjoyed the afternoon spent with her friends and learned a lot about the mysterious new girl. By the time dinner came, Ginny thought that she had Jessi pretty well figured out. She thought that nothing Jessi did could surprise her. She couldn't have been any more wrong.