Wow...I took forever to update! Sorry! I haven't abandoned you. (Draco: Despite our pleading). Umm...I'm afaid to say this chapter isn't very good. It's kinda the result of two weeks off and on writing. I think it's a little...disjointed, but that's just me. It's also kind of a weird chapter...Anyway, school just let out so I promise the next chapter will be longer and come soner (and not suck, hopefully).

Just another note, I found out Ginny's full name about a week after I first started writting this fic. I do know her name is really Ginevra, I just didn't feel like changing it, becauseI think Virgina's prettier (and because I'm too lazy to go back and change it every time).

Disclaimer; I am J.K Rowling. I own Harry Potter. Everyone out there writting fanfiction is just wasting their time. (Anyone buying this? Anyone? Didn't think so.)

"Hey, what was with you today? Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just had a bad morning."

"A bad morning? You expect me to believe that's all that's been bothering you?"

"Nothing's bothering me, Blaise." Ginny said, all at once annoyed and touched by his concern.

"Listen, I know you Ginny Weasley, and I've seen your freak outs before. There are multiply levels of insanity."

Ginny looked at him questioningly.

"See, I like to rate them on a scale of one to ten. One being hexing anyone you see and forcing them to sing really bad show tunes for an hour, and ten resulting in an extended visit to the hospital wing. Reverting back to age five and begging for pie ranks pretty high up there."

"I'm just tired, okay?"

He looked at her. Why was it that all the sudden his friends were all keeping secrets from him? He sighed. "Okay, Gin. But if you ever want to talk…"

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "You're way too sweet to be in Slytherin."

Draco sat fingering the letter. He should have been more relieved, happier, but something was wrong. His initial relief when a black and white owl had delivered his mother's reply had been replaced by a subtle, but constant nagging feeling that something was amiss. The feeling had only become more concrete as he had reread her note. He sighed. There was nothing in the letter that should give him such a profound sense of wrongness, and yet it was there. Folding the parchment carefully he placed it under his pillow. He was probably so used to the idea of being paranoid that normalcy had become foreign to him.

He smirked. At least tonight's endeavor would take his mind off things. Draco had planned to seek revenge at a later date, but how could he refuse what was given to him so conveniently? There was almost ten minutes before her detention started. His smirk broadened as he sat down in Professor Snape's large, wooden chair, propped his legs up on the desk and just pictured what her reaction would be when she found that he was the one supervising her detention.

He had been brooding on the idea all day, and it had become more and more appealing every moment. He had almost given up the idea-because despite all its allure there was no way to go about getting alone with her without rising suspicions- when Snape had asked him if he could oversee detentions for the night. His excuse was that he had to run into town for some potion ingredients, but Draco was fairly sure Snape's motives were the same-or at least vaguely similar- to his own. Revenge. Slytherins were, as a whole, a very vindictive lot and Draco was pretty sure the professor had a few guesses as to who was behind the prank in the common room.

A slight, expected crash announced her presence moments later. She couldn't exactly be called graceful. He heard the distant sound of laughter accompanied by Creevey 's gratingly high voice.

"Ron almost had a heart attack when I told him you had detention with Snape. Apparently he's afraid that he'll drag you into a dark corner and have his way with you."

Draco couldn't see her, but he was almost sure she winced.

"I'm in a very bad mental place right now," He heard her say, "And it's entirely your fault. Besides, Snape may be a git, but that hardly makes him evil."

"No." Colin said. "That tattoo on his arm is purely decorative. In fact, he's thinking of getting another one. Maybe one with a big heart and Mom written on it."

Ginny laughed. "He's not that bad. At least…I don't think he is. Sometimes…"

"Sometimes what, Gin?"

"Nothing. We're here."

"Want me to go in with you." He asked quietly, opening the door for her.

"Colin, I've had detentions before."

"Yeah, but…"

"Well, well, well," Draco interrupted. "Isn't this sweet? The Weasel's got herself a puppy."

Colin looked vaguely insulted, Ginny simply looked annoyed.

"Oh very clever, Malfoy." Colin snapped.

"Thank you for noticing." Draco said, but he was looking at Ginny, gauging her reaction.

"Where's Snape?" She asked suddenly.

"He had to make a run into town." He answered.

Her face brightened "So…no detention tonight?"

"You wish. I'm supervising tonight. Part of my duties as head boy, you know." He puffed out his chest slightly, emphasizing the prominently placed Head boy badge. He sneered, eagerly anticipating her gasp of surprise or anger. Waiting for her face to turn its customary red. Neither happened. In fact, he could discern no visible change in her expression whatsoever, strange for someone whose emotions were usually so unveiled.

"I'm staying." Colin said firmly.

"I don't think so for two reasons. One: Detention is meant to be a punishment. Two: I don't want to have to look at your scrawny face for the next hour. So just run along now."

"No way. I'm stay- never mind, I won't stay. And neither will Ginny. Come on, Gin." Colin said, pulling on her sleeve.

"I-I…" For a moment she didn't move.

"Come on, Gin. Let's go." He tugged again.

"No Colin. It's okay. I'll stay."

"But-but-Malfoy…"

"Is just trying to make me mad. If I ditch tonight, I'll have another week. I might as well just get it over with now." She said with a sigh.

"But Ginny! I-"

"Colin." She said warningly. Draco smirked; and here he had thought she only spoke to him like that.

"Fine, but I'm not happy about this." He glanced in Malfoy's direction. "If you harm her in any way, shape or form and I'll beat you so bad that your small intestine comes out of your ear."

Ginny cringed. Colin paused, "That was a rather odd way of expressing myself, wasn't it?"

She smiled encouragingly at him. "You tried."

Draco patted his arm in mock sympathy. "Not everyone has the gift."

"Colin, really, I'll be fine. Go." She said, leading him forcefully toward the exit.

"Fine, but if you're not back by morning, I'm calling the Ministry." Colin said, giving her one last doubtful look before retreating through the classroom door.

"Do you really want to be alone with me that badly? I mean, I know I'm hot, but really…"

"Look, Malfoy. If this is going to work we're going to have to tolerate each other. I don't want to be friends with you, I'm not even saying I have to like you, but we're going to have to spend a lot of time together and-"

Draco didn't look terribly thrilled with that. He scoffed. She glared in response.

"Okay," She corrected. "We will have to spend some time in the same general vicinity. Whichever way, if either of us are actually going to be able to enjoy the holiday, we'll have to learn to be in the same room for five minutes with out something exploding or the loss of vital body parts."

"Weasley," He asked, "When exactly did you decide you were in charge? I own you as long as that necklace is on your neck. I'll do whatever I bloody well please and you'll be happy about it."

"Let's not fight. Why don't I just get started? What am I supposed to be doing tonight?" She was angry. She wouldn't let it show, but she was. He could see it. She must have really been making an effort to be nice to him. He had thought for sure that that last comment would have set her off, but she sat smiling still, albeit through gritted teeth.

When he didn't reply, she raised her head, almost defiantly, daring him to reject her offer. The motion was enough to loosen her, scarf slightly from its tight embrace, drawing his attention to the garment. It was cold in the castle; especially down in the dungeons, but even here there was no use for a coat. She wore no jacket or cloak or any other indication that she had just come in from outside. Why then, did the scarf remain?

"Why don't you sit down, take your scarf off, get comfortable?" He asked, attempting to sound amiable. It sounded strange to his ears.

He thought back. Had she been wearing it all day? The day before? He wasn't sure.

"No thanks," She said, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to another. "I chill easily."

Unconsciously, he took a step closer to her. Pointing his wand at the fireplace, he murmured a spell and watched as a bright green flame leapt hungrily from wand to wood. The flare died down, until only the heart of the flame burned blue.

"Better?" He asked, and without realizing it stepped closer still.

"I prefer to leave it on, thanks."

"What are you hiding, Weasley?"

One hand wrapped instinctively, almost protectively around the scarf, she replied, "Nothing."

He smirked. "Not as innocent as people assume? Has Potter taken to role playing, then?"

She stared at him in bafflement.

"Just a bit of advice, but next time your speccy little boyfriend decides to become Count Dracula, make sure he doesn't leave a mark."

Her eyes widened, as she finally understood his allegation. He was accusing her- innocent Ginny Weasley of all people- of having a hickey!

On the other hand, Draco was nearly praying it was as simple as that. But from her expression, he was pretty sure it wasn't.

"What are you insinuating Malfoy? Because if it's anything like I think your suggesting you're dead."

"Well," He said, sadly reprimanding her, "that doesn't sound very friendly of you."

"Malfoy-"

He didn't give her a chance to riposte. He took two more long steps, closing the distance between them. "The scarf, Weasley."

Not a request. She backed up, finding only the wall behind her.

She was going to refuse; he could see it in her expression. Tucking one hand discreetly into his pocket, he felt for the ring there and punctuated his non-request with a sharp jab from the necklace. She winced, nearly imperceptibly, but there nonetheless. Then, her bright eyes shining with anger, she slowly began to unwrap the scarf fold by fold.

He gasped as the final loop came unfastened, exposing her pale neck. It couldn't be…but it was. It had to be. It wasn't possible, and yet there it was. He carefully put his hand to her neck, not wanting to cause her pain by touching the bruise. Lightly, he allowed his fingers to wrap around her neck, following the pattern of the mark. It was, as he expected, the perfect shape and size of a hand.

The image of Tom closing his hand around her neck came crashing back to him. He closed his eyes, trying to dismiss the picture, but found it only more vivid in his mind. Her pale face, glowing with sweat, growing red with pain. The shallowness of her breathing, her gasping for air as her throat was released.

He wanted to say something, but couldn't seem to open his mouth. Then again, even if he had been able to, he had no word to comfort her.

He remembered waking once from a nightmare. Lucius had been away on business and Draco, no more than five years old, had snuck to his mothers room and curled up in the bed with her.

"Shush darling," She had said, wrapping an arm around his thin frame, "it's only a dream. It's not real. Nothing can hurt you."

Since when could dreams leave bruises? How could he console her when the only thing he could think to say was a lie. Tom could hurt her. He'd already proven that.

Her eyes, averted until now met his for a second. He was struck. He had never seen such emotion before. In her eyes he saw anger, sadness, regret, confusion, hatred, betrayal. Draco couldn't imagine possessing those emotions all at once. There was something so very tragically beautiful about her that moment that he felt the urge to reach out and pull her into his arms, to comfort her. They were only a hairs width apart, one step and he could close the gap and…

Too close, he thought backing away quickly, way too close.

His whole body rebelled at the thought moving from her, his whole mind trying to get as far away as possible. The impulse to flee won out and he retreated several steps, burning to get as far away from her as possible.

"Just go Weasley." He heard himself say.

She nodded, wrapping the scarf around her neck again. "Detention…?"

"Is over for the night. Just leave." He ordered, sitting down, not wanting to face her.

And with one final look at him, she did.

You managed to make it through yet another chapter, you brave, brave soul. We're actually getting pretty close to Christmas (and the climax) for anyone out there waiting for the end. coughDracocough. As always, thanks soooooo much for reading and reviewing! You guys make my day. stares blankly at computer waiting for reviews and drinking coffee Love 'ya!

Draco: looks around making sure no one is watching pulls out crazy dsco outfit

Suddenly, from the ceiling drops a heavenly disco ball and "Play That Funky Music White Boy" can be heard echoing through the author's mind.

Please review. (ignore the ramblings, just lil'ole' senile me)