Author's Note: I realized that the flow of this story is a bit too slow so after this chapter, I'm going to try to speed things up a bit. Anyway, I apologize for the really late update coz I'm really busy with exams so this one's a bit longer. Hope you like it!

Chapter 10

Of Plans and Feigned Friendships

"What in the name of Merlin is going on here?" Professor McGonogall screeched as she entered the classroom and as soon as she saw the bloody mess that was Ginny Weasley on the floor, she gave a very uncharacteristic shriek of horror. She rushed to Ginny, clutching the neck of her robes and feeling utterly terrified.

"Mr. Longbottom! Mr. Finnigan! Please bring Ms. Weasley to the infirmary at once!" she ordered rather frantically and the two were more than willing to oblige.

She turned abruptly to Professor Amycus, whose expression feigned innocence and sympathy as Neville and Seamus levitated Ginny's limp and bloody form out of the classroom.

"Did you have this done, Professor Carrow?" she asked in a high-pitched angry voice, her nostrils flaring. "Might I remind you, Professor Carrow, that this is not how lessons are taught here in Hogwarts!"

"Why, McGonogall, need I remind you that Hogwarts is no longer under the control of that lunatic Dumbledore but under the Dark Lord's," he retorted calmly while he tried to glare Professor McGonogall down but her cold and loathing glare fought him back just as strongly.

"You are Head of Slytherin House and you do not have the right to punish students outside of your house," she said in a low, dangerous voice.

"Have you forgotten, McGonogall, that my sister and I are the Disciplinarians of Hogwarts?" he asked. "We have every right." he said, smiling smugly.

Professor McGonogall sniffed and nodded tersely, reluctantly accepting defeat even if she knew she just had to. She could not lose her temper and cool now if she didn't want to be fired. She needed to be there for the students.

"Dismiss your class, Professor Carrow. I believe it is nearing dinner time," she said coldly before she walked out of the classroom.

Draco's mind was racing as fast as his heart was beating against his chest. He knew he wasn't the one who casted the spell. He didn't even know what spell had been cast on Ginny but he had an inkling that it was a dark spell and who else in the room other than himself could know dark spells like these but Professor Amycus? Draco knew without a doubt that it was him.

The rage that had been gurgling and bubbling inside of him ever since Ginny was struck felt like it was about to explode right then and there but he waited. Waited until the students filed out and emptied the classroom. He nodded for Blaise to not wait for him and at last, he and Professor Amycus were alone. Professor Amycus must have expected this for he was now face to face with Draco, smiling smugly.

Draco glared at him, his wand gripped tightly in his wand hand and his free hand fisted tightly, as if ready to throw a punch right then and there.

"Why didn't you let me finish the duel?" Draco asked, his voice low and coming out like a growl.

"Why, I would have thought you would be grateful for the favor I did you," Professor Amycus said.

"It was no favour. I could have finished her myself," Draco said. Without having hurt her as much as you did, he thought to himself bitterly.

"It appeared to me that you were losing, Draco."

"We were only just beginning."

"I'm a very impatient man," Professor Amycus said. "I'd rather you finished the duel quickly. Why are you so fussed about this, Draco?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing with curiosity. "Do you have, say, emotional ties to the poor, inbred witch?"

What the bloody hell? This was no time to be personal. Or was it? Draco didn't know. All he knew was that he was furious that he had hurt Ginny like that.

His mouth opened to say 'no' but no voice came out. What the hell was happening to him?

"Cat got your tongue, Draco?" Carrow asked, grinning knowingly. "If your father knew..."

"I don't have emotional ties to the witch," Draco said as calmly and as indifferent as he could. "All I wanted was to finish her on my own but you didn't let me," he added.

"Oh, you will get the chance soon, Draco," Professor Amycus said. "The war has already begun and you know it won't be long until it shall be brought upon Hogwarts and the Dark Lord brings down that idiot of a boy. Until then, you will have to wait," he said and with that, he walked out of the classroom and left Draco to his thoughts.

An involuntary shiver ran down Draco's spine as he registered everything that Carrow had just said. It was true. He knew it was true. The war began the moment the Dark Lord first cast the killing curse on Potter and he knew that the end of the war was near.

He also knew that one of them had to die in order for the other to live but this was a war. Many people are bound to be killed off and many of them will be killed by him. Killed by Draco Malfoy himself.

The thought rang through his head repeatedly, giving him a throbbing headache. But the worse thought in his head was, what if he killed Ginny?

He shook his head and let out a frustrated growl before running a hand through his hair and walking out of the now cold, dark and empty classroom.

"You didn't do it, man," Blaise said as they sat on the couch in front of the fireplace in Draco's headboy dorms after dinner that night. It had only been four hours since the incident and already Draco was looking like hell. He was pale and hadn't eaten anything at dinner and he hadn't changed out of his uniforms yet, which were now dishevelled.

Draco didn't look up from the fire. "I know."

"Then what's wrong?" Blaise asked as he took a swig out of his butterbeer.

"I don't know," Draco said, still not looking up from the fire.

"You want to go see how she's doing in the infirmary?" asked Blaise.

Draco looked up at him this time, surprised at his friend's question. Never in the world did Draco imagine that Blaise would ask him so casually if he wanted to see how a Gryffindor was doing in the infirmary; much less a Weasley.

When Draco didn't answer, Blaise put his bottle of butterbeer on the coffee table and got up on his feet.

"Come on then, mate," he said, rolling his eyes.

Draco stared at him, bewildered. He knew Blaise was the only friend that he could trust that understands him but never did he think that he would be able to read him so easily.

"Right then," relented Draco as he got on his feet. He eyed the bottle on the glass coffee table which was making a water mark and raised an eyebrow. "Not until you throw that bottle away and wipe my bloody table."

Twenty minutes later, they were face to face with a tired-looking Madam Pomfrey who just nodded for them to go inside. Draco was after all, Headboy, so he had the privelege of going anywhere, anytime, with absolutely free access.

Draco started to walk in but when he saw Blaise walk to a chair and settled himself into it, he gave him a questioning look.

"Go on, mate. I'll wait here," Blaise said and with a nod, Draco walked in.

He didn't notice the other sick students on the bed for he only saw one thing: red. He immediately saw her red hair and without realizing it, he was rushing to her as silently as he could.

He reached her bed and took in her sleeping form, her hair fanned about her head creating a halo of beautiful, dazzling red which, to Draco's opinion, made eerie contrast against her pale skin. Her eyelids were closed and her lips were just as red as her hair, suddenly making him want to feel them against his own but those thoughts were out of his head as soon as he saw the scratches on her neck and shoulders and some on her face and he felt like he knew there were even more longer and deeper wounds under her shirt and couldn't help but feel extremely guilty again.

He didn't know what he was supposed to do so he just stood there, looking at her, feeling all awkward even if he knew she was sleeping and couldn't see her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered softly before turning around and leaving the infirmary, his heels clicking softly against the white tiles.

Ginny let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and opened her eyes. She was feeling very puzzled at that moment and it only added to her throbbing headache but she didn't seem to care. All she cared about right now was the fact that Draco had just visited her here in the infirmary and apologized at that! She decided that he really was a walking enigma.

And she intended to figure him out once she got out of here.

The week passed by without further incident and Ginny finally got out of the infirmary. It was quite fun and relaxing being in the infirmary where she was in the good company of the lower year students that were still there because of the Virusion. She was always visited by Luna, Neville and Seamus and her bedside table was full of charmed singing cards and chocolates.

They were always laughing and joking around that you wouldn't think they had suffered earlier. They shared jokes and stories with each other and often stayed up late much to Madam Pomfrey's chagrin. All of their shared stories and secrets were interesting but it was one thing that Dustin told her that got constantly had her thinking about a certain blonde, annoying boy.

Ginny, Neville and Luna had also further planned how they could get information from Draco and their plan, much to Ginny's annoyance and reluctance, required her to get close to Draco for information. Much like their last plan but this time, they had the advantage of knowing that Draco was somehow feeling guilty and knowing Draco, who was so used to feeling nothing other than pride, ego and joy in seeing others suffer, he would probably do anything to get rid of the unfamiliar feeling.

Ginny groaned to herself as she thought about the plan. It was only a little after lunch time and she had the whole day off and wouldn't be attending classes until Monday so she went up to the dorms first to get ready to implement for her plan.

"At last, the last class of the week is over and the weekend is finally here," Blaise said to Draco as they walked out of the dungeons.

"Yeah," Draco said, his voice distant.

"Oh come on mate, don't tell me you're still thinking about the Weaselette," Blaise asked.

"You saw what happened to her. How can you not think about her?" Draco asked as he eyed his friend warily.

"Yeah but you've seen how she copes. She's strong. She'll pull through, mate," Blaise said as he patted Draco's back before muttering the password to Draco's Head Boy Dormitory and went right in but before Draco could get in himself, Blaise came running back to him with a a bit of a frantic expression on his face.

"You won't believe who's in here," Blaise said, his eyes wide.

Draco raised an eyebrow and pushed past him, wondering who the bloody hell had figured out his password and trespassed into his private dormitory.

He got his answer though, when he saw Ginny curled up on his couch, her face buried in a book. Apparently, she still hadn't noticed that they were in there.

Draco cleared his throat to get her attention, wondering why and how she had gotten in here. Ginny looked up and she immediately brightened.

"Hey, didn't hear you come in," she said brightly.

Draco eyed the intruder warily.

"You're not even supposed to be here," he said.

"Oh, hello, Zabini," she said when she saw Blaise, completely ignoring Draco's comment. Blaise smiled at her, looking amused.

"What are you doing here, Weasley?" Draco asked, crossing his arms.

Ginny turned to him suddenly and looked at him for a moment as if she had forgotten he was standing there.

"Oh," Ginny said before shrugging. "I assumed that after you helped me out with the dementors, gave me chocolates and apologized to me that night in the infirmary that we had formed some kind of friendship and that I'm welcome here anytime I want," she said casually.

Blaise scoffed while Draco fought the blush that was creeping into his cheeks.

"Well you're very badly mistaken, Weasley," he said, feeling annoyed now.

"About what?" Ginny asked. "About us being friends or about me not being welcome here? Because I distinctly remember you telling me to stay here as long as I want," she finished.

Another scoff was heard from Blaise, who was grinning lopsidedly with amusement. Draco froze.

"How'd you even get my password?" he asked, trying to change the subject as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I heard you when you brought me here that night," Ginny said. "Electus semita? What does that mean?" she asked, tilting her head to one side and then shrugged. "Probably something raunchy."

Blaise snorted and gave out a sort of sudden shriek of laughter. Draco glared at her, all sympathy and guilt for her gone without a trace.

"Why are you really here, Weasley?"

Ginny took note of his low, deep voice that indicated that he was really annoyed now so she decided not to play at him anymore, for fear of being kicked out. She needed to get on his good side if she wanted this plan to work.

So she put on a sad and stoic face and slid back onto the couch. Suddenly, she burst out crying.

Draco and Blaise were very much surprised by this sudden outburst of emotion and Draco couldn't help but feel a tad bit annoyed at her unpredictable attitude. Draco looked at Blaise, who looked at Ginny and looked back at Draco who looked at Ginny and then looked at Blaise who shrugged and walked to his side.

The two friends looked at each other. Finally, Draco gave an exasperated sigh.

"Don't cry, Weasley," he said in a the most gentle voice he could speak in. Ginny's sobs only got louder.

"You made me think we're friends!" she shrieked in between sobs and coughs of tears. "But now, you say we're not!" She was acting as best as she could and she hoped that they would buy it.

Blaise's eyebrows shot up and Draco scowled. What the hell? He looked at Blaise who looked back at him annoyed. Blaise shook his head and went to sit down next to Ginny's crying form.

"Uhm... it's going to be alright, Weasley," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders carefully but Ginny practically jumped into his arms, an act which totally surprised both Draco and Blaise. Ginny kept crying, her tears soaking Blaise's uniform.

Blaise froze, unsure of what to do next. Draco gestured for him to pat her shoulder, which Blaise complied.

"You... you have friends in Gryffindor right? In fact you're really popular. Besides, I don't think you'd really want us to be your friends," Blaise said, still patting her shoulder. Ginny's cries turned to wails and heavy sobs.

Draco looked at the two in frustration as he furiously walked to the couch and crouched down so he was level with Ginny and Blaise. He closed his eyes for two seconds and took a deep breath.

"Look, Weasley,-" Ginny shrieked and wailed louder. "-Ginny," Draco corrected himself quickly, "If it would shut you up-" Blaise glared at him. "I mean, if it would make you feel better-" Draco took a deep breath. "-we'll be your friends."

Finally, Ginny thought as she immediately stopped crying and looked up at them with wide puppy eyes. Despite of himself, Draco felt his heart soften. He cursed himself for feeling that way.

"Really?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. "You guys will be my friends?" she asked, grinning widely as she pulled away from Blaise, looking from him to Draco repeatedly.

"As long as you don't tell anyone," Draco said, standing up. Ginny jumped up and hooked her arm in his and squealed. Draco looked at her as if she grew another head.

"Oh yes! I won't tell anyone, swear!" she said. She then grabbed Blaise's hand and pulled him up from the couch and hooked other arm in his. "Let's go have some ice cream!" she shrieked.

"How'd you know I had ice cream?" Draco asked, feeling rather uncomfortable at Ginny's vice like grip.

"I didn't," she exclaimed as she dragged the two reluctant boys into the kitchen.

He didn't know why and it surprised him that he wasn't feeling that bad about this whole thing. He knew he had just done it because of his guilt and because he just can't stand the sound of women crying but there was also something about Ginny that made him do it.

And it scared the shit out of him.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling.