Chapter 11

Blaise looked up from his homework as the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room opened with a low creak, but he lowered his head with amusement when he saw that it was just a random student who promptly stumbled off to bed. Draco had been gone for nearly two hours — it was pretty safe to say everything had gone well, but with someone as spontaneous as Ginny Weasley, one could never be too sure. That's why, when the portrait opened to reveal his friend a few minutes later, he was glad to see a slight quirk to the young man's lips.

"You've been gone a long time," Blaise remarked, causing Draco to jerk his head in his direction with mild surprise.

"I didn't think anyone would be up at this hour..."

"Well, when you're best friend decides to sneak off with a girl for a couple hours, wouldn't you want to know how it went?" he laughed as Draco flopped down onto the leather couch beside him. "I'm guessing things went well?"

"Yeah," the blonde informed him casually. "I just dropped Ginny off at her Common Room."

"Oh, so it's just Ginny now?"

Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the other boy's taunting tone of voice as he leaned back and simply answered, "Yes."

"And how do you feel about her?" Blaise continued slowly with a growing grin.

He hesitated before exhaling softly. "Fine, I'll admit that I like her..." he crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, "a lot."

"Thank Merlin! I thought you'd never say it," Blaise exclaimed as he stood up, stretching his arms in front of him tiredly before grabbing his stuff from the coffee table. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna get to bed. As appealing as the idea of sleeping through Muggle Studies is, I'd rather not have to deal with that cow again." He started for the hallway leading to the dormitories, but Draco's voice from behind him caused him to pause.

"Hey, Blaise?"

Said boy turned around to see Draco staring at the ground in contemplation. "Yeah?" After a moment, he raised his head with a small smile, though his gaze was serious.

"Thanks for, you know... everything, mate. I really owe you."

Blaise grinned before turning away with false exasperation. "Just try to make it work, will you? I hate it when all my hard work goes to waste."

Draco watched as his friend disappeared in the darkness of the hallway before mumbling, "I don't think you have to worry about that."


A couple days later, Blaise was sitting across from Mandy Brocklehurst studying his notes for the upcoming Charms exam when she broke the silence in an attempt to start a conversation.

"So, did things go alright with Weasley the other day?" He glanced up from his papers with a grin.

"Yeah, though I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to anyone else." When she sent him a quizzical look, he added, "You know, with our Houses and all." To his surprise, she giggled into her hand.

"I think it's a little too late for that. Even in my House people've been talking about you two." She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "After all, it's not everyday students from Gryffindor and Slytherin date each other." Blaise considered her words for a moment before chuckling to himself.

"I'm sorry to say you're wrong about that. She fancies someone else at the moment."

"Really? Hmm... I could have sworn you two were going out, but I guess not." By her tone, he could tell she wasn't convinced.

"Well, either way, the rumor'll die out soon," he figured with a shrug. "But even if we're just friends, I'd rather not be the topic of people's conversations."

She took the hint and nodded with a sigh. "Point taken. I'll keep quiet." A grin appeared on his face, sending off warning signals in her mind that he wasn't going to let the topic drop quite yet.

"I'm wondering though... Why'd you bring it up in the first place?" he inquired calmly. "Not jealous, are you?"

Mandy looked away quickly, a light blush darkening her cheeks. "I just thought it'd be polite to ask," she grumbled, sinking back in her chair and holding her book up to hide her tinted face. Blaise couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh before a glimpse of red caught his eyes. Turning his head he saw Ginny approaching the table.

"Oh, hey Gin. We were just talking about you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? But shouldn't you be getting ready for your Charms test this week?"

"I'll have you know I've been doing a lot better lately," he replied proudly.

Unfortunately for him, this sense of satisfaction was shot down when Mandy muttered, "That'll change if you don't focus..." He frowned and opened his mouth to disagree, but Ginny cut him off.

"She's right. I'll let you get back to your studying, but I wanted to know if you could pass on a quick message."

With a mischievous glint flickered in his eyes as he returned his attention to the red-head. "It depends on what it is."

Ginny rolled her eyes, though the corners of her lips had lifted slightly, and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Tell Draco to meet me in the kitchens tomorrow night, okay?" He smiled at the message and turned to face her.

"Ten o'clock?" She nodded appreciatively.

"Thanks, Blaise." His eyes followed her as she left the vicinity before they shifted to meet Mandy's skeptical ones.

"...Are you sure you're not dating her?" she questioned with a furrowed brow.

Blaise rested his chin in the palm of his hand with a smirk. "Don't know... I could be. What's it to you?"

A tiny huff escaped her lips as she shook her head with irritation. "You're such a prat." He shrugged as his grin widened.

"So I've been told."


When a shadow cast itself over his paper, Blaise's quill paused in its path across the parchment as he looked up to see Draco standing before him. "Are you heading off to meet her then?" he asked, placing his quill down on the table.

The boy in front of him shifted his weight awkwardly as he responded with, "Yeah... Any advice?"

Blaise chuckled at his friend's behavior. "Just don't make a fool of yourself. And for Merlin's sake, quit messing with your hair."

Draco froze just as he was about to run a hand through his hair before lowering it. "Can't help it," he mumbled, shoving his hands in the pockets of his trousers to further prevent his anxious habit.

"You don't have to be so nervous," he noted with a grin. "It's not like this is the first time you've spent time alone with her."

"It's not the same..."
"How so? You were alone with her for nearly two hours just a few days ago. This can't be any different," Blaise reasoned.

The other Slytherin glanced away uncomfortably. "Well last time, we were caught up in the moment and everything... So, it was mostly snogging."

"Okay, definitely could've lived without that thought..." he uttered with a wrinkle of his nose before standing up and clapping his friend on the shoulder reassuringly. "You'll do fine, but I wouldn't recommend pissing her off by being late."

"Point taken." The blonde started to leave, and Blaise rolled his eyes as the other Slytherin ran his hand through his hair. He spoke up again after Draco had taken just a few steps.

"Oh, Draco?" The boy stopped and glanced over his shoulder inquisitively. "Don't stay out to late. We've got that Charms exam tomorrow," he reminded him. To his relief, his friend loosened up a bit as a smile crossed his face for the first time in their conversation.

"What? Trying to act like my mum?" Draco joked, causing Blaise to laugh before waving him away with his hand.

"Just go. It's too weird seeing you in a good mood for once." He chuckled slightly in response before turning back around and departing from the room. Blaise was about to return to his work when a dry voice spoke from behind him.

"So, Malfoy's going on a date with Weasley? Fancy that." He calmly faced the voice's owner with a look of mild distain on his visage.

"Nott, I know it's hard, but try to mind your own business," Blaise retorted in a clipped manner. Theodore Nott simply ignored his comment.

"Even if it's not Weasley, it certainly isn't a Slytherin," the weedy-looking boy stated with a smirk. "You know that won't go over well when the rest of the House finds out."

"How do you know he's going to see someone in the first place?"

Nott mimicked Draco's action of running his hand through his hair before quirking an eyebrow. "It's been seven years. I know how my dorm mate acts when he's nervous."

Mentally cursing the fact that his fellow Slytherin was as observant as he was, Blaise's shoulders slumped. "Fine, I won't deny that's he's going to meet a girl, but it's not Weasley," he finished sharply.

"It's not like I care. I just don't want him causing trouble," Nott replied nonchalantly. "You know how nasty the fights get in here, and if he doesn't want to be targeted, he shouldn't be so obvious about what he does with her in the library." Blaise's eyes widened with surprise as the only other person in the room began to walk past him. "Give him the message, will you? It may not be someone so apathetic who sees him next time."


Meanwhile, Draco was climbing through the large portrait of a fruit bowl in order to get to the scheduled meeting place. After scanning the vacant entrance area of the kitchens, he figured she must be running a little late, but a tug on his pant-leg interrupted that thought. Looking down, he was startled to see enormous green eyes staring up at him timidly.

"Draco Malfoy?" the house-elf squeaked as he connected the familiar face with a name.

"Dobby?" The elf nodded, causing the tea-cozies that were perched atop his head to wobble unsteadily.

"Missy Wheezy sent Dobby to tell you that she is waiting over there." He raised his hand and pointed a thin, bony finger towards an alcove off to the side of the kitchens where, sure enough, a sliver of red-hair could be seen from around the corner.

"Alright." He glanced back down to see Dobby gazing up at him once again. "Umm... Thank you, Dobby." A pleased smile appeared beneath the elf's long nose as he clumsily started for the alcove.

"Missy Wheezy has said Draco Malfoy has become a nicer person, but Dobby has not seen you since he was asked to follow you last year."

"Mm-hmm..." His eyes narrowed when he actually processed what had been said. "Wait, what?" Before Dobby could respond, Ginny had caught sight of them and offered him a brilliant smile.

"Hey, I was starting to think that you didn't get my message." She then turned her eyes to the little house-elf. "Thanks for bringing him over here."

Dobby bowed extravagantly, the tea-cozies flopping to the side of his head, which made Draco think they were sewn together. "It is Dobby's pleasure to help a friend of Harry Potter's!" he exclaimed before bouncing off to return to his work. Draco took the seat opposite the petite girl, and it was at that time that she noticed the frown on his lips.

"What now?" she sighed, letting her chin fall into the palm of her hand.

"Apparently Potter was giving orders to have Dobby follow me last year," he answered with annoyance. Ginny laughed softly, the action seeming a bit forced as she looked away.

"Does that really matter now though?"

He detected the wistful air that had suddenly filled the space and quickly changed the subject. Unable to think of anything better to say, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "You look nice today."

Ginny glanced down at her standard school uniform (minus the billowing black robes) before returning her gaze to the boy across from her with a questioning, yet amused expression. "I wear this everyday."

"That doesn't mean it doesn't look good on you," he countered as if his comment had made complete sense, though he was mentally berating himself for saying something so cliché. An awkward silence followed, which Ginny thankfully broke a minute later.

"Can you believe it's already been a month since Blaise trapped us in here?" He mulled over her question for a moment before finding it to be true.

"...It seems longer than that."

"Really?" she wondered, as if surprised by his answer. "Everything seems to be moving by so fast for me..." A broad smile interrupted her sentence. "And for some reason, it doesn't seem so odd that I'm sitting her with Draco Malfoy of all people." She was happy to see a grin make its way onto his face.

"And it's all thanks to Blaise," he murmured, which elicited a laugh from her.

"What would we do without him…? Hey, do you want something to drink? I could get us some butterbeer."

"That sounds good." As she stood from her seat, a memory from their last time in this particular room together brought a smirk to his lips. "Not going to pass out on me again are you?" he teased and to his surprise, she didn't seem the slightest bit embarrassed as she stuck her tongue out at him over shoulder.

"You know that wasn't because of the butterbeer," she called back as she disappeared for a moment into another part of the kitchen. When she returned, she had two bottles cradled in one arm and a place of cookies balanced in the other hand. She put down the butterbeers on the table, at which point he voiced a quick word of thanks, and plucked a cookie off the plate before offering the dish to him.

"Do you come down here often?" he inquired as he also took a cookie. It was pretty hard to find students who actually knew about the kitchen's location, but he couldn't remember ever running across someone who knew where stuff was located in the large cluster of rooms.

She took a bit of her cookie with a shrug and placed the plate down before taking the seat next to him. "Sometimes. It's a little depressing in the Great Hall and the Common Room this year... You know, with people not coming back and all."

"How many people are missing?"

Ginny pondered the question for a moment before answering. "Well, I'm sure you've noticed half of the seventh years have disappeared... There aren't as many missing from my year, but I'm guessing about a third of my House is gone." She continued munching on her sweet snack. "How about Slytherin?"

"It's not much different from usual."

"Things are crazy this year, huh?" she mused sadly. "I never thought it would get this bad."

Draco's eyes fell to the table as he closed his hand around his drink. "I don't think you've seen anything yet... It's just going to get worse from here on out." The girl took a sip of her butterbeer before grabbing another cookie. She'd almost finished the whole thing by the time she spoke in response.

"Draco... I need to know something."

He didn't like the way she'd said it, but prompted her to continue anyway. "What is it?"

As if she was unsure how to begin, she glanced at him shyly. "...With everything that happened last year... Are you-" She cut off her words when he rolled up his left sleeve to his elbow, revealing nothing but pale skin. Exhaling, she diverted her eyes bashfully.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's fine." He grinned slightly. "I'm surprised you didn't notice before."

Ginny returned his expression brightly. "It hasn't crossed my mind." He nodded in understanding before rising from his chair.

"Let's go somewhere else."

An impish glint appeared in her eyes as she stretched out languidly in her seat and picked up another cookie. "I'm quite happy here, thank you," she beamed, waiting for him to make his move. She didn't have to wait long, because a second later, he took her hand and pulled her up out of her seat. He brushed a kiss across her lips, enticing a small laugh from her. After he'd pulled away, she took a bite of the cookie and smiled mischievously. "Where to?"

"You'll see."


A/N - Hmm... I didn't plan on making this chapter as long as it turned out to be, but hey, what's done is done : ) I know it's not a particularly exciting chapter, but it sets up for a lot of stuff later on, so I had to write it... The only thing I really like about this chapter is Nott thought. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how the scene with him turned out : ) Haha, not to mention is really weird trying to write a canon Draco such an un-canon situation. -.-' How do you guys think I'm doing?

As always, please review! It totally makes my day : ) There'll be more Draco/Ginny goodness next chapter... So, until then!

-Twilight-Songstress