A/N: Peki helped make it believable and freedachickens helped make it readable, and kept me from sighing too much.
Weeks passed and the weather turned cold. Snow covered the countryside surrounding Hogwarts like a pristine blanket, and coated each individual needle of the evergreens in the Forbidden Forest, making it look as if a winter faerie had magicked everything into a winter landscape overnight. The weather made Ginny squeal with delight and want to go play in it, but only made Draco grumble about the unfavorable Quidditch conditions. The pair had come to an impasse with the potion. They tried every realistic combination of ingredients they could think of, but none of them worked.
"I think the toads are getting wise," Ginny stated one afternoon as she watched her breath crystallize in front of her face in the freezing dungeons. Even warming charms didn't last long in the bitter cold.
"Really?" Draco asked absently. "Did more escape?"
Ginny sniffed. "I feel badly for them anyway. I'm kind of glad they got away."
"Ginny the benevolent," Draco said as he put an arm around her for warmth. "Concerned for all living creatures, even the lowly toad. Have you spoken to Granger?"
Ginny snuggled into him, getting under his warm winter cloak. "No, I haven't seen any of them for three days. They haven't come into Gryffindor Tower, or the Great Hall."
"As much as I'm loath to admit it, we could really use her help, seeing as it's her ruddy potion we're making." He scowled at the potion before pouting. "We'll have to take it back to formula. Scrap the whole bloody thing and start over."
Ginny breathed into her hands trying to warm them up. "That will take forever," she mumbled.
"Tiring of me so soon?" Draco drawled. "Keep it up, and I'll take my body heat and proper winter cloak over to the other side of the dungeon."
Ginny put her arm around him and burrowed in closer making a 'huh uh' noise. She looked up at him, her mind working furiously. The landscape of her mind was a jumbled mess, trying to work out the potion, understand Draco, and make sense of her own feelings, all the while trying to keep up with her schoolwork. Okay, Gin, she thought. What do you want? I want Draco to love me. I want this potion over and done with. I want Harry, Ron and Hermione to find whatever it is that they're looking for. I want… ooh, a piece of chocolate would be nice. I want Draco to do more than just hold me at night. I want him to have a nice time at the Burrow for Christmas. How do I get these things? She was still frowning when Harry, Ron and behind them, Hermione, who was loaded down with books, came strolling in the dungeon door.
Draco waved his wand and levitated the books onto the nearest table, relieving Hermione of her load. She gasped, surprised, and said, "Thank you, Draco."
Draco, whose face contorted immediately to look as if he'd just sucked a lemon, nodded curtly. "Right." He turned back to the cauldron he'd been stirring.
Ginny approached Hermione. "Have you given any more thought to this bloody arse of a potion?"
Hermione looked amused. "Yes, actually, I have." Ginny sighed and looked away. The older girl noticed the palpable tension in the air. "Ginny? What's wrong?"
Ginny frowned and looked at Draco's back before turning back to the brunette. "It's just that this is not working, Hermione. McGonagall said you'd be here to help us but we've hardly seen any of you."
"Sorry, Ginny," she replied. "We've been busy."
The redhead barely refrained from rolling her eyes. "Any luck?"
Harry and Ron walked over, joining the conversation. "No, not yet," Harry said dismissively. "We decided to take a break and come help you, Gin." He slung an arm companionably around her shoulders.
Ginny glanced at Draco. He was visibly tense, in direct proportion to her proximity to Harry. Perhaps I should move, she thought.
"Thanks, Harry." She smiled at Harry and discreetly manoeuvred away from him, towards Draco.
Hermione busied herself with opening and taking notes from several of the dusty tomes at once. Ron sat beside her, watching the quills that she'd bewitched to write the outlines of the books, to alert her if something important came up, so she could continue searching other books. They seemed to make great partners, Ginny noted. Amused, she saw they sat close enough to one another to allow their legs to touch. She smiled at her brother and looked up at Harry, and caught Draco watching her out of the corner of her eye.
When she turned her head, Draco looked away.
She watched Harry cross the room and pull down another empty cauldron off of the shelf, beginning to follow the instructions for the potion.
Draco looked at Ginny meaningfully. His eyes were impassive, blank. He glanced at Harry, and then brought his gaze back to Ginny.
"Er, Harry?" Ginny started, "Do you need help?
"What? Oh, no. This is really straightforward."
"Really?" Ginny asked. "I've been moved to NEWT level potions. I might be of assistance." She thought back to Ron's stories from his, Harry's and Hermione's classes with Snape. While he'd rarely failed things like poor Neville, Ginny thought he'd be hard pressed to produce a truly successful potion.
She moved to stand beside him. "Not so much belladonna. And you want to cut the daisy roots crosswise into smaller pieces, like this." She reached across him and took the knife out of his hand, remembering how he'd botched the job she'd given him the last time he 'helped'.
"I expect you think I'm hopeless, eh, Ginny Bean?"
She heard what she surmised was a snort from the general direction of Draco's cauldron.
"No, Harry," she said, "but there are right and wrong ways to do things."
Draco mumbled something under his breath and Ginny shot him a look.
Harry smiled at Ginny. "So teach me."
Draco levitated a book in front of Harry's face. "Page sixty- four, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Chapter two. Preparing daisy roots for potions. Teach yourself," Draco snapped.
"Touchy, Malfoy?" Harry asked.
"No, but you may want to watch what you touch, Potter," Draco retorted.
All of a sudden, Ginny'd had enough of this. The seventh years, all four of them, could have this. She needed a bath and a rest.
She dropped the knife and said, "Good night, all. I'm a bit knackered and am going to have a bath and go to bed. Maybe this won't look as hopeless in the morning."
Draco turned and looked at her, a slight frown marring his pale forehead.
"You need someone to walk you," Ron insisted absently.
Draco and Harry looked at one another.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "No, I don't need anyone to do anything for me, thanks." She Dissillusioned herself and left the room quickly.
Hermione looked up from her research. "Go ahead, you two. Have it out."
"Have what out, Hermione?" Harry asked innocently, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
Hermione tutted. "You two are positively predatory around her and I expect," she glanced at the closed door, "that she's had enough of it." She lowered her head back to her note taking. Ron sat silently beside her, apparently fascinated with a burnt spot on the table in front of him.
Draco and Harry regarded one another. They were silent for several minutes.
"You don't deserve her." Harry stated flatly.
"I know," Draco replied. "But you've had your chance and mucked it up."
"I know." Harry looked at the floor and then back up at Draco. "If you-- I swear to you—if you hurt her—"
Draco looked at him levelly. "I won't."
"You'd better not. The Weasley brothers would be the least of your worries."
"Fine," Draco snapped. "I'd appreciate it if you'd quit touching her all the time," he growled.
Harry scoffed. "She's a friend. I won't snub her."
The Slytherin laughed mirthlessly. "You think of her as more than a friend, Potter. And I'm not suggesting that you snub her. Just keep your hands off of her. I don't see you groping Granger."
"I don't "grope" Ginny or Hermione!" Harry retorted.
"Too right you don't, mate," Ron interjected.
"Alright," Draco amended. "Poor choice of words."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Both boys turned back to their cauldrons. Hermione cleared her throat. "If I may?"
Harry turned around and looked at her. "No, Hermione. You may NOT."
Draco looked at Harry, the ghost of a smile on his lips.
Harry narrowed his eyes. "I'll stop purposefully flirting with Gin if you stop huffing every time I go near her."
"Fair enough," Draco returned. Although I promise nothing, he thought.
"But the minute you screw up, Malfoy, I'll be there. Know that."
"Won't happen."
"Oh, yeah? How do you know that?"
"Malfoys don't, as you so ineloquently put it, screw up."
"Ah, of course," Ron said jokingly. "We'll just add that to the list, then? Of things that Malfoys don't do?"
"Besides, Ron," Harry said, "I think he's wrong. The precedent's already been set for Malfoys screwing up."
Draco's wand hand twitched and Hermione cleared her throat again. "If I could just--" She fell silent at Harry's glare. Hermione then found she was a little surprised by Draco's, "Just what, Granger?"
She looked gratefully at Draco. "If I could just interject this thought into the testosterone fest you two are having, I'd say that Ginny left here, her whereabouts clearly defined. She probably wanted someone," she looked meaningfully at Draco, "to follow her."
Ron sputtered. "She said she was going to take a bath and go to bed. Neither of you gits need to go there."
Draco bottled his potion and cleared the mess with his wand. "I'm finished. You, however, are at the 'wait and see' portion of the brewing stage, Potter," he said as he indicated Harry's happily simmering cauldron. "Make sure it gets a full ninety minutes, stirred every ten."
Harry scowled and turned back to his project.
Draco left the phial on the desk and retrieved the robes he'd abandoned earlier.
"Hey, Malfoy?" Ron asked.
Draco turned around slowly. "Yes?"
"Doing anything for the hols?"
Draco eyed him warily. "Actually, your sister asked me to come to yours. Just for Christmas Eve and Day."
Ron smiled. "Good."
Harry turned around quickly, glaring at Ron while Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, go on, you two," Ron said easily, "just because I'm used to Malfoy and my baby sister being together doesn't mean the rest of my brothers will be okay with it." He grinned. "Come on, Draco," he continued, with emphasis on his name, "I'd hate to deprive them of interrogating you and threatening hexes every five minutes. I'm going to enjoy the show."
Draco paled slightly, but otherwise his face remained stony.
Hermione snorted. "Nothing will happen to you, Draco," she said airily. "Just make sure you get on Molly's good side first. She'll keep the rest of that lot in line," she muttered.
Draco scoffed. "I don't need protection." He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. He stepped through the dungeon doors and headed to the prefect's bathroom to talk to his girlfriend.
As the doors closed, Hermione turned to Ron. "Do you think he stands a chance?"
Ron was still grinning. "With all of us? At Christmas? Please. Even if he does manage to get Mum on his side, he's a goner."
Harry smiled.
