Disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever owned Harry Potter or his universe. It belongs entirely to the Goddess J.K. Rowling. I only manipulate Harry and his world for my own enjoyment. I am not getting any money for this.

Times of Changes

Chapter One

Ginny Weasley sat silently in her first ever prefects meeting. She was sitting between her older brother Ron and her best friend Hermione Granger. They were listening to the Head Girl, Cho Chang, go over the new rules and passwords. Ethan Baker, who was Head Boy, was currently handing out patrol schedules.

"Professor Dumbledore has decided that this year, patrols will be done in pairs. You will see on your schedules who you are paired with. If you ever need to switch shifts, you'll need to tell Ethan or myself so we can make the appropriate changes. Now if there aren't any questions you're all free to go."

Everyone began to get up and leave except for Ginny. She was staring at her patrol schedule in shock. Nearly every shift she was paired up with Draco Malfoy. Granted the two of them had become almost friends the year before but she knew Ron wouldn't like her being paired with Draco. She was just about to get up and ask Cho if she could change that when Draco came storming back in.

"What is the meaning of this Chang? Why am I paired with Gryffindors for every shift?" Draco screamed waving his schedule in Cho's face.

"Mr. Malfoy. If you have an issue with who you're paired up with you'll need to talk to the headmaster. I can only change individual shifts every now and then not who you're partnered with. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got students to check on." And with that she left.

Draco stood there glaring after her for a moment then sat down at the back of the compartment.

"I can stand being partnered with the Weaslette but why did he put me with that Mudblood. What's he trying to accomplish with this?" Draco said to himself apparently not noticing Ginny was also there. "I mean Weaslette at least is pretty and she does know her Arithmancy. Maybe I'd be able to get her to help me with it when we do patrols together."

Ginny sat in her seat silently listening to Draco talk to himself. She could tell he hadn't noticed her sitting there so she just let him keep talking to himself. After five minutes of listening to Draco's muttering she decide she should alert him of her presence.

"You might what to stop talking to yourself Malfoy or people will start thinking that you've lost your mind." Ginny said quietly. "Also you should probably check that you're alone before you start talking to yourself."

"How…. how…. how long have you been there?" Draco stuttered nervously.

"Oh…since the start of the prefects meeting. I was about to talk to Cho about my patrol schedule when you came storming in. I didn't want to disturb you after she left so I just sat here quietly." Ginny answered.

"You heard what I was saying then?" Draco asked beginning to blush.

"Every word." Ginny saw Draco blush even more. "I did find it interesting that you can stand me. What have I done to disserve this honor?" Draco shrugged. "There's got to be a reason. I'd think you'd find me even more annoying than Hermione. I mean I was in quite a few OWLS classes last year and I'm only just starting my fifth year."

"That does bother me a bit but you've never acted like Granger does. She always has to show off but you…well you are more of the quite genius. Also you did help me with my Arithmancy a lot last year." Draco replied with a slight smile. "I never did properly thank you for that. If it hadn't been for you I probably wouldn't still be in the class."

"Well you're welcome then." Ginny said smiling back at Draco. Just as she was about to ask him about his OWL results, Hermione came in.

"Here you are Gin. Ron's been worrying about you. Thought you got lost or something. Why didn't you come back to our compartment?" Hermione asked then noticed Draco. "What are you doing here Malfoy?" She snapped.

"We were just talking about the new patrol schedules Granger." Draco responded snidely.

"Come on Ginny. We've got to get back to Ron and Harry before they begin to worry."

"Bye Malfoy." Ginny squeaked as Hermione pulled her out of the compartment.

"What were you doing in there with him?" Hermione demanded.

"We were just talking about the new patrol schedules and classes. I wasn't doing anything wrong. I am aloud to talk to people aren't I?"

"Yes…. Sorry Gin. I just wasn't expecting you to be talking to him. Was he at least being civil?"

"Well at first not so much but that's mostly because he had no clue I was there."

"What do mean?"

"I was sitting in the compartment about to talk to Cho about my schedule when Malfoy came storming in for the same reason. Cho told him if he had a problem with who he was partnered with he had to take it up with Dumbledore then she left. He must not have noticed me when he came in because he sat down and began talking to himself. After listening to him for five minutes I decided that he should know I was there."

"What was he saying to himself?"

"That he could stand being paired with me but he hated that he was paired with you. But of course in a much ruder way." Ginny replied.

"What happened when he realized you were there?"

"He got really embarrassed and blushed. Then I asked him why he was able to stand me but not you. He got even more embarrassed and explained that he hated how smart you were but that he could stand me because I'm smart but don't rub it in. Then he did something I never expected. He actually thanked me for helping him with his Arithmancy last year."

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"About half way through the year last year I went to the library to study. Nearly every table was full and the only place was across from Malfoy so I took it. He was working on some Arithmancy and was really lost. He asked for some help so I gave it to him. He also helped me with a potion for Snape. I never expected him to actually thank me for helping him but he did."

"Wow. Wonder what's gotten into him?" Hermione said in shock as they reached their compartment.

Ginny shrugged even though she knew what had gotten into Draco. "Best not say anything to Ron about this. You know how he is. He'll blow everything out of proportion." Hermione nodded.