A/N: Oh goodness, I'm not very good with time frames, am I? Well I hope the wait was worth it and that you all love the chapter! I tried to make it extra long with plenty of juicyness :) Enjoy and review! (Thank you to all of those who already have been)


Draco had to give himself some credit. After all, he had survived his first day with Astoria. It had been difficult, tedious, and down-right annoying; but he had survived. Thank Merlin. But that was just the first of many. The thought circled in his head, poking his nerves, making him want to go to sleep and never wake up again. That way he could just dream. More specifically, about Ginny. It didn't matter to him that she didn't feel the same way about him. Yes, it was extremely painful, watching her kiss that undeserving Potter (What was he talking about anyways? He didn't deserve her anymore than Potter did; probably even less). But at least he was satisfied that she was happy, really happy.

Although right now, he was not. Apart from the fact that his only possible true love was far from his pale hands, the girl he despised the most was much too close.

What did she really see in him anyways?

"Draco!"

Fantastic, he thought as Astoria's voice came echoing through the common room. What could she possibly want now? Draco turned around and saw all the rest of the boys eyeing him suspiciously. Even better.

"What is it, Astoria?" Draco asked dully.

"I want to go for a walk," she said perkily, smiling up at Draco's obviously bored and uninterested face.

"It's nearly midnight, aren't you the least bit tired?" he asked hopefully.

"Not when I have the opportunity to be with you."

Had she rehearsed this, or what?

"Er- well, you should get some rest anyways," said Draco awkwardly.

"But I want to go," she whined, pulling on his arm playfully.

Draco looked around the room for last minute help from any of the guys, but they all were ignoring him. What was their problem?

"Fine; we'll go on your stupid walk."

Astoria grinned with childish delight and, naturally, linked her arm around Draco's, leaning her head against his shoulder. Draco grimaced inwardly as he walked her out to the grounds. As they walked silently, the moon seemed to radiate on their faces, shining an almost eerie glow on the campus. Draco looked around, trying to find some sort of person. But of course, nobody was outside except them. Nobody sane would go out at this time; and they, both, of course, did not fall under that category right now.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Astoria, smiling.

"You wanted to walk. I'm walking. I don't know what else there is to do."

"Let's play a game," she declared, standing herself in front of Draco.

Draco groaned, not even bothering to hide his annoyance- maybe that would make her go away. "What game, exactly?"

"It's called Truth," she continued animatedly, "Me and my girls would play it all the time in my old school- I don't know if they play it here, I haven't gotten a chance to talk to them; I've been so caught up with you. You're so interesting. Anyways, it's as simple as the title, really. I ask you a question, and you have to tell me the truth. Get it? Truth." She ended with a wide and excited grin on that pretty little face of hers. Draco sighed deeply; well, it could be worse.

"Sure, why not?" he said glumly; why not humor her? He had nothing else to do.

"Alright, let's go over here," she said happily, pulling him by the sleeve. To his utter horror, though, she was leading him to the tree by the lake. That was his and Ginny's spot. Not hers.

He stopped abruptly.

"What is it?" asked Astoria.

"Er- there's an ant pile over there," he said lamely, "They'll eat us…alive. Yeah. They're not…good…ants, and er, they're poisonous. So, if we sit there…we'll er- die. Yes, we'll die."

"Oh. Well. I don't want to die," said Astoria, "Let's go sit on that bench."

So Astoria led him to an empty stone bench that somewhat overlooked the lake, but also had an incredible view of the valley behind Hogwarts. If Draco was here with someone else (Ginny) then he would have thought it immensely beautiful. But he wasn't here with someone else- he was here with Astoria Greengrass, the very last person he wanted to be sitting alone in a bench with. Playing the game of Truth.

"What do we do now?" he asked, hoping she'd say she was tired and wanted to go back.

"Well, now we play. I'll start off by asking you a question- I'll go easy on you, though, since we're just starting. Okay, ready? What's your favorite color?"

"Are you serious? My favorite color?"

"Just answer it," she said, slapping him playfully on the shoulder.

"Brown."

"Brown? Really? Why?" she asked, almost disgusted.

"Hazel, really. That's my absolute favorite color in the whole world."

"Well that's odd."

Draco shrugged, very amused. "I guess. Do I ask now?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"Easy question, right? Er- what's your favorite animal?"

Astoria grunted impatiently, "Ugh, this is so boring. Ask me more juicy ones, that makes it interesting."

Draco suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. "I don't know what to ask."

Astoria laughed a little, "Fine, I'll ask again, is that okay?"

"That's fine."

"Alright, let me think…Oh, I got one. Have you ever snogged a girl that wasn't your girlfriend?"

Draco remembered when girls would actually come up to him and do that. Well, it was Truth, wasn't it? What was the worst that could happen?

"I have, actually."

Astoria giggled, "Ooh, okay, ask me one."

Draco struggled to find one that she thought would be "juicy," and he had to think of something- or else she'd keep asking him questions, and he hated being on the spot. "Have you ever had a boyfriend for more than a week?"

Draco had to hand it to himself; that was pretty funny since he honestly doubted she ever had.

"Never," she said matter-of-factly, "Except I would if I ever found the perfect guy that I would feel totally passionate about." She batted her eyelashes, and Draco felt very, very uncomfortable.

"Okay then."

"I have the perfect question for you, Draco. Have you ever been in love?" she asked, her tone bordering on flirtatious.

Draco literally froze. Ginny's face flashed into his mind millions of times; different angles, when she laughed, when she ate, when she thought, when she just looked at him- all at once as if on a super fast slideshow.

"I don't know," he managed to croak out.

Astoria leaned closer, "Well, maybe one day, you will."

"Alright; well I think it's time to go."

---

The next morning Draco woke up and got dressed especially early, taking all precaution in order to avoid Astoria. As he snuck out of the dormitory, though, he heard the voice of a girl.

"Hello, Draco."

His heart sunk as he turned around, but his dread turned more to confusion when he saw who it actually was: Pansy Parkinson, his ex-girlfriend who hadn't talked to him since the end of the war- much like everyone else. He remembered what she had said to him, and confusion turned to suspicion.

"What do you want, Pansy?"

She stepped closer, a small smile playing on her lips. "I just wanted to know how you are. I haven't talked to you in ages."

Draco's eyes narrowed, "Yes, because the last time you talked to me was when you told me you hated me."

Pansy's smile faltered. "Oh don't be silly, you know I didn't mean that."

"It sure sounded like you did. Goodbye, Pansy."

And so Draco walked over to the Great Hall, wondering why the bloody hell Pansy Parkinson would want to ever talk to him again. Had they all had a change of heart, or something? He denied it immediately, although his own heart couldn't help have a tad bit of small, precious hope.

When he got to the Great Hall, some Slytherin boys were already sitting down at the table. He hadn't imagined any of them waking up this early. What was even more surprising was that his old best-friend Blaise was signaling him to come sit down next to the group. Draco had to stop and just take it all in for a second. What was going on here? What had happened in the course of the eight hours he was asleep that would've made the whole Slytherin House change their minds about him? Draco, with this in mind, made his way cautiously over to them.

"Hey, Draco, are you going to sit down, or what?" Blaise said with a playful grin.

"Why'd you suddenly change your mind? For the whole first part of the year you never even spoke one word to me. What's the deal?" asked Draco, more comfortable with asking Blaise the truth than anyone else.

Blaise tried to look confused, but it came out fake and awkward instead. "What are you talking about, Draco? Okay, maybe I do kind of know what you're saying, mate, but its all in the past now, right?"

"I don't know if I can put all that behind me so fast."

"Come on, what's wrong? I'm you're friend, right?"

"I'm not sure yet, Blaise," said Draco, and then he left the Great Hall, deciding to skip breakfast today. Everything was just too weird.

---

As the morning dragged on, Draco decided to stay by his tree, hoping that Ginny would eventually sense something and come too. He was right, because she did.

"Draco, where have you been all morning?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

Draco looked straight ahead. "Something's different."

"What do you mean?"

He looked at her and Ginny saw confusion in his eyes, "Today my old friends have started treating me like a person again. They talked to me, asked me to sit down again, and claimed that it had all been a misunderstanding. I don't know what to think."

Ginny stared back at him and then shyly and carefully took his hand. "Do you believe them?"

Draco's eyes had locked on his hand, now intertwined with Ginny's. "I want to."

Ginny gave him a small smile. "Just do what you think is best."

"I don't know what I think is best, though."

Ginny sighed and took both of his hands in hers; Draco's gray eyes met her hazel eyes and he couldn't help but feel the leap his stomach gave. "Draco, let me tell you the one thing I'm certain of: you deserve more than this. You deserve better than how they have treated you for the past year. Really, you're one of the most honest, sincere, and caring people I know. And you deserve for people to be just as honest, just as sincere, and just as caring to you."

Draco's heart warmed and he couldn't help but feel happy, right here and now. It didn't matter to him if he had other friends, or if Pansy ever loved him again. He knew that now. All that mattered was that Ginny would be with him forever.

He just didn't know if that's what she wanted.