Chapter Ten

Not inside

Draco glanced out the window, smiling as he watched the redheaded figure of his girlfriend walk around the lake. He stopped at the window to watch her. Ginny was beautiful, even from here.

He leaned against the sill.

Another figure came into the scene. The stride said it was a he. Draco frowned. Like him, the figure had pale blonde hair. He was very familiar, even from this far away. The boy, as though sensing his gaze, turned and Draco felt like the boy was smirking.

Draco suddenly realized why the figure was so familiar. It was a perfect duplicate of him.

He turned. He had to get to Ginny.

Two older boys barred his way.

"Where ya going Pretty boy?"

888

Ginny pushed her robe back and slid her hands into the pockets of her jeans. It had rained the night before and the air had crisped to a chilly late autumn afternoon. As result, Ginny had foregone her usual attire of shorts and a tee shirt and was in a pair of jeans and had wrapped her robe around her for comfort.

She felt the edge of a paper in her pocket and pulled it out. She smiled as she unfolded the sheet of notes. She had taken them the day before with Draco, in the library. They had started out as serious notes but had rapidly deteriorated into incoherent gibberish as Draco had charmed her paper to move everytime she tried to write. This had led to an ink fight that caused Madam Pince to kick the pair out when their laughter became too loud. Draco had helped her get the ink off of her before he scrubbed at himself. By then his ink was dried and hard to scrub off. The affair ended with them going to the Kitchen and asking Dobby to get it off her boyfriend.

Ginny smiled again and put the paper back in her pocket. She didn't know why she kept this kind of stuff, but in her heart she was glad she did.

She glanced up in time to see Draco approaching. She smiled at him and ran to him.

He caught her and spun her around. For some reason she couldn't explain, there was somthing off about him. She turned her head as he leaned in to kiss her, so his lips caught her cheek.

He set her down. "Hello pet."

Ginny felt a shudder run down her spine. Draco had never called her that before.

He took her hand in his. Ginny resisted the urge to frown. He didn't run his thumb over her knuckles. Draco always did that. What was wrong?

She gave him a smile, studying his face. There was something off here.

"How are you?" She asked.

"Just fine." He leaned in to nuzzle her ear. "Much better with you, pet."

Ginny felt her skin go cold. Suddenly she recognized the nickname. Only one other person had called her that before.

(A/N: And once again, Jules will be ready to kill me. It has been a while since I did a good Cliffie though. It was over due. I do feel a bit bad, as this was the second cliff in a row for this fic.