Draco just stared after Ron.

Blaise turned to Luna who was humming as she knitted, apparently unaware of her surroundings. "Did he say anything I haven't been saying for the last thirty minutes?"

Luna looked up thoughtfully, "No, but I suppose if a blind, deaf, mute explained to you what an orchestra looked like as they played the most beautiful music he had ever heard you would pay a little more attention then when the conductor or composer did the same."

Blaise sighed. His wife was right, of course. She usually was. Turning back to Draco, he asked, "Well, do you believe him anymore than you believe me?"

Draco turned to stare down at his hands. After a few moments of silence, he just got up and walked out.

Blaise groaned loudly and threw himself flat on his back on the table.

Luna put her knitting away and walked over to him. Taking his hand in hers and gently pulling him back into a sitting position, she said, "Come on, we better go home." She wrapped him in her arms and hugged him until he began to get to his feet. He sighed and apparated home. She followed.

The next day, Ginny was up before dawn and working in the Great Hall. Most of it had been repaired fairly quickly and all that was left was the ceiling. She now lay on her back and stared up at the expanse above her. She began by waving her wand in intricate patterns and observing the result. To most, it would appear that she wasn't really doing anything at all, but there were traces and trails of magic that were relating very important information to her. The longer she lay there, the more intricate the patterns she wove and she began to mumble under her breath.

Mid-morning, Blaise and Luna arrived. They stepped in to say hello, but left without a word. She was so absorbed in what she was doing that she hadn't noticed their arrival and she looked more at peace than she had since she arrived. Instead, they moved to word in the anterooms.

A few hours after them, Draco entered the hall and froze when he saw her. She was stretched out flat on her back on the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables she had drawn together in the center of the room. Her red hair was spread out around her head and her silhouette was the most beautiful thing he had seen since she had disappeared seventeen years before.

Unable to find words to say, he turned around and walked out, opting instead to work on rebuilding the front staircases.

After he had stepped out of the room, Ginny dropped her wand. Her eyes closed, but tears still trickled out and down her eyelashes. She now knew it would be some time before the ceiling could be re-enchanted.

After a few moments, she got up and made her way out into the entryway. Without a word to Draco, she went into her office and recorded what she had learned in a book not unlike the one Draco had lent her.

Just as she finished, an owl flew in the window and dropped a letter on her desk. Picking it up, she read

Ginny,

I'm sorry about yesterday. I had no intention of threatening you. I'm sorry if that is what you heard. Please, allow me to make it up you. We need to discuss relations between the school and the ministry anyway, so allow me to take you to Nicolai's; I recall that it was once your favorite restaurant in town. It is strictly business, I just see no reason why we cannot enjoy ourselves as it is conducted.

Harry.

Sighing, she knew there was no way out of it. She scribbled an acceptance and gave it to the owl that was waiting patiently for a reply.

Knowing that she had absolutely nothing appropriate to wear and not trusting the Room of Requirement to make her decision for her, she went to find Luna.

"Hey, Luna? I need to step out for a while. You want to come with me?"

Blaise hung his head, but wisely said nothing. He knew something was wrong, but he also knew he had been pushing the boundaries of even his friendship with her.

Luna smiled, put her wand behind her ear, and said, "Sure!"

Once they were out of the castle and on Diagon Alley, Ginny told her what they were shopping for.

Luna got a thoughtful look on her face. "Ginny, you know it won't end well."

Ginny sighed. "I know, but at this point, I don't really have much of choice. Nothing I do or say can have a positive effect on either of them and I honestly believe that playing nicely with Harry as long as I can is what's best for the school at the moment."

Luna nodded and said, "Well, green always did look the best on you, what do you think of this one?"

After four hours of shopping, they finally found a dress in a suitable shade and fit.

Once she was ready, Ginny stared at her reflection in the mirror. She thought she looked rather beautiful, but she really did wish it was Draco she was meeting instead of Harry. As it was, she was dreading the evening. She had once fancied herself in love with Harry, but she had realized she was only in love with the idea of him. Once she saw him as a person, she gradually found herself falling for him all over, but with the reality instead of the illusion. When he ended their relationship at the end of his six year, she tried to understand, and was succeeding in the most part. Unfortunately, some of the comments he made at her brother's wedding that summer had led her to the realization that he was no more in love with her than she had been with him when she was eleven. He had this vision of her, the her he wanted, not the her she was.

Things had gotten worse when he returned in the middle of her plea for Snape. It wasn't something she liked to recall. She had Lupin convinced and was making ground with Shacklebolt. She knew she would have succeeded of Ron and Harry had walked in, heard her statement "Right now, Snape is our only option," and declared ridiculously, "Not anymore!"

After that, she was faced with illogical arguments and stubborn deafness as she tried to prove the validity of Snape's claims. It had ended badly. Harry had ended the meeting, declaring that it was too late and everyone should rest before it continued. Ron had called a meeting of the whole family, except her. Harry had supposedly been on her side, but his answer was to place her under house arrest until she saw reason. Fortunately for everyone, imprisoning his sister was something Ron could not do. No, he simply trusted that her bond with her family would win her over. He had been wrong, of course, but only because she had been right and knew it all too well. If there had been any doubt in her mind at all she would have stayed. Harry seemed more determined to believe her brainwashed, temporarily insane because of the stress of war, or somehow under a spell than independent.

She sighed and made her way out of her apartment. Harry loved her as well as he knew and understood her. This evening was going to be a disaster.