Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (nor any of the other characters, sadly. Wouldn't mind a Draco!) Please don't sue me. I have nothing of value anyway.

Rating: T for now but will change to M later. Right now T is for language and occasional suggestiveness.

Spoilers: DH compliant, except epilogue. All seven books are fair game!

Pairing: Draco x Ginny.

Author's Note: Here's Chapter 12, and a bonus interlude. I almost never write in the first person, but George compels me to do the strangest things. Anyway, the first person perspective is confined to the interlude only, not the whole of the chapter, and overall this update is a little longer than usual to make up for it.

I'd also like to say, in response to concerns that I'm bashing Harry, it is not my intent to bash him with this fic. Rather, the perspectives from which I am writing are Draco-as-rival and Ginny-as-ex-girlfriend, and as such their perceptions of Harry are not always favorable (in Draco's case, almost never). This is just Harry from their point of view. However, I've included several viewpoints in this chapter in the hopes that it will add depth to the conflict of the story, and make clear that Harry is written in this story as he is for very good, plot-supported reasons, and that writing him this way is just well-intentioned fun rather than crossing a line into unwarranted bashing.

Thank you for reading, and please enjoy!


The Name of the Game

Interlude I

Why hello there, Fred.

I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing at the Quidditch training grounds, moving about in a manner that would suggest I don't wish to be spotted. You might guess that I'm here to play some prank on Ginny's competition, slip them some Puking Pastilles or some such thing, or that I think our sister can't handle herself and needs me to look out after her.

You couldn't be more wrong.

I'm here to spy, all right, but it's because of something I heard about from Ron last night. You see, our sister has a nouveau amour. At least, I think that's right. My French remains quite terrible, despite Fleur's patient efforts to teach me when she and Bill are visiting. She's turned out to be quite a bit of all right, that one. Who would have guessed?

Ron was on about last night's incident as soon as he got in. I honestly thought his anger might take physical form and spew out of him all over the kitchen table in a vitriolic mess. Mum even had to Scourgify his mouth at one point. Apparently, dinner with Ginny was quite a scene.

She brought Malfoy as her date, you see, but Ron had already brought Harry for her.

I'm quite sorry I missed it.

Anyway, the point is that love is in the air - possibly - and I'm going to get the dirt on the pair of them if it kills me. Which Ginny may very well do, if she catches me sneaking around like this. It's not that I want to see you again so soon, but…

What? No, of course I'm not going to blackmail them or harass them or anything! She's our sister! But it sounds like something we would do, you say? Well, I wouldn't want to be our sister then, would I? No, no nefarious scheming here. I just want to know. Because it's in my nature to want to know, that's why! But of course, you already know that.

Perhaps I should just ask? Really, Fred, death has matured you. How boring.

Besides, how can she give me an answer that she doesn't know herself? That girl hasn't had her head on straight where a man is concerned since… well, never that I'm aware of. I love her dearly, but it's the truth. She wouldn't give me a straight answer anyway, even if she knew one.

Besides again, I love sneaking.

Besides, a third time, I've already gleaned loads of information that she would never tell me otherwise.

She doesn't know that when she flies, he has a hard time keeping his eyes out for the Snitch, if you know what I mean. He's always watching her. He hides it carefully, though; to her, and to everyone else here, he never appears less than a skilled, focused, dedicated Seeker. I really think he's giving it everything he has, even while he can't help but look at her; he still gets to the Snitch as many times as she does.

When they're on the ground, it's the same story, with no Snitch. Malfoy is the type of bloke who's never walked behind anybody else in his life, except maybe his own parents. He's always been first, usually with a pair of hulking oafs just behind him, all the way through school. Not so with my dear sister Ginny. He walks beside her, really just slightly behind, at such an angle that he can always look at her and she won't catch him at it.

I was wondering about this myself, until Harry stepped out on the field. Harry… I don't know how I feel about him, honestly. He's always been a pretty good kid, and he certainly didn't do my sister any wrong, but… he doesn't know when to quit. Love is love, and not-love is… not. It's just that simple, and just that complicated.

Where was I? Oh, right. When Harry walked out onto the pitch, Malfoy just seemed to tense up all over. No surprises there. They've always hated each other. But then… he took a half-step closer to Ginny. Just a little half-step, but it left him standing just behind her shoulder, hovering right there in her personal space, which you know she hates, growing up as crowded as we did. But here's the funny thing: she didn't get mad. She didn't look at him, she didn't give the slightest indication that she knew he was there… except, she smiled. Just one tiny, crooked little smile, almost the spitting image of the smirk he always wears, right there on my sister's face. I don't even know if she was even aware of it herself.

And then it hit me: he was protecting her, just by being there. And she knew, well, that he was there, at least, if not what it means. And she was letting him do it!

You know how Ginny is, Fred. This is absolutely mind-boggling. They've obviously grown quite close. It's rather surprising on Malfoy's end too, really. I doubt that he even knows what to do with himself anymore where she's concerned.

Oh, and speaking of what he's doing with himself, I also know Ginny slept in his room last night. Naughty Ginny, what would Mum say?

How do I know this? I greased a house elf serving in the dorm to tell me. Oh, I know what you'll say: that house elves can't be bribed, that their loyalty is absolute, that they're bound by magic and by nature not to reveal such things to the likes of myself.

Well, I've discovered differently. Your twin has learned a few new tricks since you've been gone, Fred.

House elves are far less bound than the wizards who employ them would like to believe. They have ways around their bonds if they really want to use them. The ones working in dormitories and such aren't trained to be quite so tight-lipped as those serving private residences either - please, do not ask me how I know this! All one has to do is find the elf with the gossipy nature. There's always one in places like these. And like every creature, they have their price.

What would I use to buy a house elf's confidences?

I'll never tell.

And Ginny will never tell, either, I'm sure. If I asked her where she was last night, she'd probably give me some story about how they were drunk but nothing happened, or how he needed some bruise-mending cream rubbed onto his back. As if I'd believe a word of that rubbish!

Ah! They're leaving for the dorm! Malfoy's in step right behind her, Harry's glaring daggers over something that was said, shame I didn't catch what it was, and Ginny… Ginny's looking smug, and proud, in a way I haven't seen her look in ages.

It's good to see that again.

If I hurry, maybe I can sneak into the dorm, where I'll… hell, you know I don't have a plan! I'll just go and see what happens, sneaky-sneaking oh-so-sneakily! But wait… someone's coming…

"George! I didn't know you'd be here today!"

BOLLOCKS! It's Oliver Wood! I've been caught, but it's not over yet. I can still save this!

"Well, if it isn't Oliver Wood! How have you been, mate?"

Yes, playing the innocent card is surely the way to go. I'm giving him my most jovial grin… wait… I think it's done me in. He looks suspicious now.

"Geooooorge…" he drawls.

"Wooooooood," I drawl back. You know how distracted he gets when people use his last name suggestively.

"These are closed practices, George."

Crap! He's not falling for it, Fred! I've been made! I guess he's gotten over that name thing. Well, it has been a while.

"You wouldn't, by any chance, be keeping an eye on your sister and a certain Malfoy, would you, George?"

This time, I'm grinning sheepishly. It's not a calculated manipulation or anything; I've always had this reaction when our old Gryffindor captain caught me at something I wasn't supposed to be doing. He's got a face that's difficult to lie to, you know that. Not impossible, just difficult… and it's hard to be mad at him for catching you, either.

"Come along then." He's smiling now, a good sign, because as you undoubtedly remember Oliver's a bit temperamental. "I have visitor privileges."

Score. I am so in.

If you'll excuse me, Fred, I have some sneaking to do. Not that you aren't good company, but…

It's good to have company that talks back.


Chapter 12: Skewed Perspectives

"Honestly, Ron, what were you expecting?" Hermione asked in consternation as she finished the note she was penning. "That Ginny would never find someone and she'd just go crawling back to Harry? This was bound to happen sooner or later."

"You think Ginny's really dating Malfoy?" Ron replied with a disgusted grimace. "Don't even joke, 'Mione. That's a wretched thought. She was only doing it to get back at me."

"Well, what if she was? Dating him, I mean. Would it be so horrible if it meant that your sister was happy?"

"Of course it would be horrible, it's Malfoy!" he growled. "Ginny couldn't be happy with that git in a million years. Harry would be better for her."

"Well… really, I don't think they're going out, at least not yet…" Hermione conceded. "But perhaps you oughtn't egg Harry on so much. Ginny's not the sort to appreciate meddling, no matter how well-intentioned it may be."

"That's rich, coming from you. You're not exactly the least meddlesome person I've ever known," Ron snorted. "I'm her brother. Meddling is my job when it comes to dating. Especially when its someone who's bad for her!"

"But you don't know that, Ron!" Hermione cried, exasperated. "It's been years, and Malfoy never even did half of the evil things you and Harry attributed to him over the years. Perhaps he's changed."

"People don't just change, not without reason."

"Overcoming an upbringing as a Death Eater isn't a reason to change?" she countered.

"It's a reason not to let him date my sister, that's for sure," Ron replied.

"But when all is said and done, it'll be Ginny's decision. You have to know that," Hermione said sensibly.

"As long as she decides on Harry, it'll be fine. And she will, you'll see. She'll see reason eventually," Ron stated confidently. "Merlin only knows why she left him to begin with. Bloody mental, if you ask me."

"She had her reasons," she replied vaguely.

"Yeah? What's that supposed to mean?" Ron muttered. "That this is somehow Harry's fault?"

Hermione sighed, her thoughts turning to the ambiguity between Ron and herself as they often did in conversations about Ginny and Harry.

"No, I don't think either of them is at fault. It's just that… a woman can't wait forever for someone to become the man she needs him to be."

xxxxx

Ginny,

I was only just about to owl you when Ron showed up at my apartment. We've talked a bit, or rather he ranted at me for a bit, and there are some things I think you should know. Don't worry about him spotting me writing this - he's busy raiding my cupboards for food at the moment.

It seems that in addition to inviting Harry to dinner last night, your brother has been encouraging him to pursue you and insisting that you're just going through some "bloody mental woman thing" from which you'll eventually come around. It's rather difficult to make out all the details as he's been quite loud and not entirely understandable, but I do believe he's been giving Harry the impression that you're still in love with him. Merlin knows I don't want to make you any angrier at Ron, but it goes a long way toward explaining why Harry won't let go.

Ron also told me that Harry's volunteering to train Seekers at your Quidditch camp, something about "finding out what that slimy git Malfoy is up to." Ron's words, not mine, and there's no telling what Harry actually said on the subject. Perhaps I'll ask him later. But honestly, Ginny, I don't envy you the mess this is going to cause.

I'm here if you need me.

Love, Hermione.

Ginny sighed as she read over Hermione's note once more. It had been waiting for her since she got back to her dorm room, intent on showering before meeting with Malfoy again for dinner. It was a comfortable habit that she was glad wasn't going to be affected by their awkward morning.

Harry was going to be a problem, by the look of it. Hermione's letter at least shed some light on where he was coming from. She'd probably have to have a serious talk with him since he clearly wasn't going to take the hints she'd been dropping… but what was there to say that hadn't already been hashed out time and again, both during their breakup and since? She wasn't certain she could even get through to him, especially in light of what her brother had been telling him. Harry wasn't the most receptive person once he got a particular idea set in mind.

The problem was that when Harry got attached to someone, it was forever. In and of itself, it was an admirable quality; with Harry, friendships were permanent, and their relationship had been built on friendship. It wasn't until she had discovered his plans to propose to her that she had realized that permanence was not what she wanted, at least not with him. It was terribly unfair, and a betrayal, both of which she'd been reminded over and over again in the numerous arguments that had followed her ending it.

Neither of those things changed how she felt. Harry was like a son to her parents, like a sibling to her brothers, and, in many ways, like a brother to her. It was difficult to picture having a marriage and a family with him, or really, with anyone at this point in her life, but she couldn't deny that the prospect of marriage to Harry was distinctly uncomfortable. It wasn't that Harry wanted her to enter into a marriage that she didn't want, but rather, that he didn't understand how it could be possible that she didn't want it.

Malfoy's involvement was probably only adding fuel to the fire, loathe as she was to admit it. If Harry's friendships were forever, then his rivalries weren't far behind. He was capable of forgiveness, of course, but it usually helped when the object of his wrath was at enough of a disadvantage to trigger his sympathetic nature. Ginny doubted very much that Harry's charity extended to an individual he perceived as making a move on his girl, especially not when that individual was none other than Draco Malfoy.

There was nothing for it, she decided as she set the note aside and headed to the shower. She had never meant to use Malfoy as a means of getting back at Harry; there had been no need for getting back at him, after all, at least not until his rudeness today, and for that he'd been perhaps a little more than justly compensated. What had started out as revenge against her brother had turned into something else completely when Harry had shown up at dinner, and there really wasn't any way to take it back.

Harry could be offended if he had to be, but if Ginny took it back, it would mean denouncing Malfoy as her friend. Not only was she unwilling to do such a thing now that her brother, and therefore her entire family, knew about their involvement, which would involve sacrificing a tremendous amount of her pride in the process, she was also unwilling to put her friendship with Malfoy in peril.

It had become too important to lose.

She would have to talk with Harry about all of this, and sooner rather than later, but would he even hear her?

xxxxx

Harry gritted his teeth as he threw the door to his apartment closed behind him. He'd opted not to stay at the training dorm, which really only needed Gwenog and Oliver for administrative purposes, because he'd felt that being in such close proximity to Ginny for every hour of the day and night might be seen as coming on too strongly, which he'd still managed to do today…

Damn! If only he'd kept better control of his mouth, but he'd let himself get carried away, and Ginny was not given to responding favorably to pressure. She would never crack, but would lash out instead, and indeed she had. And then, of course, Malfoy had somehow managed to involve himself again as well. What had he meant by that crack about finding her wand under his bed, anyway? It couldn't mean what it sounded like, because Ginny had taken it in stride, and she did not enjoy having her dirty laundry aired publicly.

But… how well did Harry know Ginny, really? A year ago, he would never have believed for a moment that she'd leave him. He hadn't even known she was dissatisfied. Ron had told him repeatedly that it was just some phase she was going through, but what if it wasn't? What if she was really the type of girl who wanted to get drunk with someone like Malfoy and have a night of meaningless…

No, he wouldn't let himself think that. He believed they were meant for each other. He really did. And Malfoy was getting in the way. Harry had just about driven himself crazy trying to figure out what Malfoy wanted with Ginny, what angle he was trying to play, but it just didn't add up. Clearly Harry was missing something, and he was going to see for himself what it was.

He couldn't lose Ginny to someone like Malfoy.

xxxxx

Merlin, Potter pisses me off, Malfoy hissed inwardly after he parted ways with Ginny in the hall. Now that she was gone, he had begun to stew over the day's events. The nerve of that prat! 'Chosen One' or not, he wasn't entitled to say such things to the Weaslette, regardless of their history. Or did their history together make it even worse? Somehow, Malfoy suspected that he'd have found such remarks more tolerable had they been made by anyone else.

Was that why he'd felt the need to step in? He knew that Weasley was more than capable of defending herself, and yet… it was as though he was compelled. Acting on her behalf at dinner had been as much for himself; it was a point of pride, after all, to show up Potter, wasn't it? In the past, it would have just been an opportunity to get on Potter's nerves, yet when Malfoy had entered the restaurant and saw that Potter was already there and clearly meant to be the Weaslette's date, a part of him had felt like it was going to snap. He had been that angry, even though one look at her face told him that this was not part of some plot against him, at least not on her part. He'd realized immediately it was the result of her brother's meddling.

Worse, and by far the more confusing emotion, a part of him had wanted to crawl away and hide with his tail between his legs. Why should he feel such a thing, when it was all too clear to him that he and Weasley were the wronged parties? Yet seeing Potter sitting across from her at that table had felt like he'd been punched in the stomach, and underneath his anger and irritation had been a nagging and uncomfortable worry: what if Weasley had decided she wanted Potter there?

It was absurd, wasn't it? The very idea that she would prefer Potter over him… only, didn't everyone? Wasn't that how it had always been? His first year at Hogwarts had been something he'd looked forward to all his young life; it was to be a year of making friends and building connections that would serve his ends throughout his life, and even more so it was to be about finding what happiness lay beyond the still, suffocating chill of the Manor and escaping from the specter of whatever grim secrets his parents kept hidden, as well as those that were known to him. Yet from the very first, he had been cast as the villain to Harry Potter's heroism.

He had always been a bit of a schemer, to be sure; even as a child it was in his nature, but very seldom had he done anything that was actually bad. Much of what was attributed to him and his family was done by his father, at his behest, or on his behalf. 'Harry Potter will be in your year, if he attends Hogwarts,' his father had reminded him constantly in the months before he'd left for school. 'You will befriend him, for our family's reputation.' Then, once Potter had so thoroughly rebuffed him as a result of his mocking that other Weasley, a miscalculation for which he would be put through endless difficulties, his father's directive had changed. 'You will show Harry Potter what it means to refuse a Malfoy.'

The blame couldn't be laid entirely at his father's feet. As a child, little shit that he'd been at the time, he'd been all too willing to pay Potter back in spades for the slight, and his father's words had only given him permission. Nor would it have made much difference if Potter had befriended him. His father was still a servant to the Dark Lord, and that current would have swept them all away just the same even with the friendship of The Boy Who Lived… probably. Who could say for certain? And at any rate, his decisions had been his own, no matter the considerable duress under which he was placed. He simply hadn't the courage to stand up under such pressure. He wondered, had it been Potter who was forced to choose between committing acts of evil and losing his parents… but that choice had never been in Potter's hands.

Still… the idea that the Weasley girl might be swayed by Potter once more was a singularly unpleasant one. It hit him in a place he had never known he had, and therefore had never guarded; he was strangely vulnerable, and that was unacceptable. So, when Potter had appeared at dinner, and confronted the Weaslette today, Malfoy had intervened. Surely that was all it was, protecting one's weaknesses.

But when had Weasley become a weakness?

Regardless, the fact remained that he could not afford to allow Potter to gain so much as an inch of ground where she was concerned.

As Malfoy hesitated outside of his room, lost in thought and unaware of his surroundings, a heavy hand landed on his shoulder and clamped down with an iron grip, a sinister voice hissing unpleasantly in his ear.

"Well, well… if it isn't Draco Malfoy."


A/N:Uh-oh, suspense...

My thanks to Nutmeg44, Greenstuff, HJaneGranger, Princess Phoenix Tears, onebaddesire, shana rose, hannaht24, and Lost Enchanter for reviewing, and to all of my readers for reading. If you like this chapter, please review and show your love! =)