A/N: Now we start to see the side of Malfoy that was always previously hidden by a tough exterior. Sweet. Thankyou for reviews, I heart you guys!

Disclaimer: I am not lucky enough to as smart as to invent these characters myself. They are not mine. Too bad. –pout-

The Stone Speaks

Nine: Silhouette

GINNY

Ginny wasn't sure why, but, after Transfiguration, she had a random urge to see how Malfoy was doing. She felt bad, after all that had happened the evening before, and thought maybe she could be his first friend.

It made her laugh. Ginny, friends with Malfoy? Interesting new theory. The realization of her friend-possible being Malfoy, a Slytherin, a Death Eater, who had never missed a chance to mock, humiliate and anger her, made her suddenly stop.

No. I don't need to do or prove anything to Draco Malfoy. I can just turn around right now and go to the library. I'll read up on some Dark Arts and then I can hex Malfoy the next time I see him for everything's he's done over the past six years.

Then Ginny felt guilty and ashamed of thinking such mean thoughts, and headed towards the dungeons. She knew that he had potions – Harry and Hermione did, and they were in Malfoy's class.

Ginny reached for the iron handle of the door that lead to the dungeons, but before her thin fingers could wrap around it, it opened by itself. Hermione and Harry emerged, nearly running into Ginny.

Ginny stared at the pair of them – or, more importantly, the smiles on their faces, and Harry's arm around Hermione's small shoulders. She arched her red eyebrows pointedly at Harry's arm, hazel flickering up to meet green and brown.

"Oh, hi, Gin!" Harry said. He followed his girlfriend's gaze. "Oops," he said sheepishly, withdrawing his arm from Hermione, who turned pink. "How are you?"

Ginny shrugged. "Alright," she said, and then, very casually, "how was potions?" She scratched the grey paint on her fingernails, as if the thought had just come to her and hadn't really cared about what went on in their lesson.

Harry burst out laughing. "Oh, it was fabulous, it was amazing! Oh, Gin, you should have been there," he chortled, wrapping his arm around her slender waist, "Lavender waited until Snape and Malfoy weren't looking, and then POW. Whacked Malfoy's cauldron off the table. Potion everywhere, destroying the floor, destroying Malfoy's books. Lavender got a detention and points taken off, but I tell you, it was so worth it!" he looked as though he might continued, but cut short as he noticed the pained look on Ginny's face.

Hermione rolled her eye and elbowed Harry sharply in the ribs. She then smiled, "You want to come with us? We're just going to the lake."

Ginny looked at them both, and for some reason felt as though her heart was breaking a little inside. She knew how taken her brother was with Hermione, but him, the stupid, defensive idiot, would always just say, 'No, no, I won't say anything until I'm sure she likes me' and then, when she did like him, refuse blatantly to believe anyone, let alone ask her out.

Hermione so obviously fancied Harry, and Ginny knew that Ron would be destroyed. Ginny also knew that Harry probably didn't fancy Hermione back, which would complicate things a lot more than needed be.

Ginny sighed. "No," she said quietly, "I'm just going to wander around with my own thoughts for a while."

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, but then shrugged, bid their goodbyes, and skirted around Ginny. As the younger girl looked over her shoulder at their retreating backs, Harry's arm was on Hermione's shoulder again. Maybe Harry does fancy her, Ginny mused, though she was certain that this wouldn't make their situation any easier.

She spared them one last sad look, and then moved through to the dungeons. The dark and the cold struck her like a sledgehammer, as it always did when she ventured down, below the ground. How do the Slytherins survive, she wondered for the umpteenth time, shivering. She trotted down the steps, twin ponytails fanning out behind her and bouncing on her shoulders. She peered through the potions classroom door, but saw only Professor Snape, marking various flasks of disgusting purple solidified potion.

Ginny noticed a large, semi-frozen violet mess on the tiles, and winced, remembering Harry's laughter. She turned away, and was about to head back up the stairs, to join Harry and Hermione, when she saw a shadow stir in a corner, far down the corridor, and a glint of white flashed at her sensitive eyes.

Immediately curious, she moved cautiously down the hallway, each footstep echoing in the hard, damp walkway. As she moved closer, she stopped, seeing the silhouette of a human shape. Ginny had a terrible feeling that she knew who the silhouette was, and bit her lower lip, feeling awful pity welling up and threatening to drown her.

Ginny took another step, and then didn't move. She was now half-visible under the dim candle-light a few yards ahead of her and waited for Malfoy to see her; she didn't want to invade his privacy if he wanted to be alone, but if he wanted company, she felt like she should be close enough for him to see that he wasn't alone.

There was an uncomfortable hush as Malfoy sat and Ginny stood. There finally came a time when he could no longer pretend that she wasn't there and looked up. There was a hurt, forlorn look in his usually-sparkling blue eyes, and, once again, his hair was no longer immaculate.

"Weasley," Malfoy said, trying to regain some of his dignity (while sitting on the floor in a dark corner, it had to be admitted that this idea didn't particularly work).

Ginny smiled and took this a signal for it to be safer to move closer. She thought over her choice of words for a few seconds, thinking that it would be good to pretend that she didn't know what had happened in potions, but not as so-what-it's-not-that-bad as some of her speeches sounded. She selected her phrase, and, with a tilt of her head and a concerned but slightly teasing tone, said, "Why are you on the floor?"

Malfoy lowered his eyes to his hands. "Doesn't matter," he said quietly.

"Does," Ginny retorted, and sat down, cross-legged, in front of Malfoy. "What's wrong?"

He glanced up, too quickly, and while he swiftly masked his face of any give-away emotions, as he looked at her, Ginny saw the distressed and cheerless look in his eyes. Malfoy heaved a long sigh, and, as though he really didn't want to tell her, said softly, "I had a bad day."

Ginny watched him, her eyebrows only tilting up the tiniest fraction. "The day only began two hours ago," she pointed out.

Malfoy's mouth twitched, as though his smirk might return, and then shrugged slightly. "Potions," he said dully, as if that one word explained it all. "I got there late and everyone was staring and whispering. I had to sit next to this horrible, vain, conceited Gryffindor girl -"

"You don't need to sound so appalled," Ginny said, folding her arms. "Saying 'Gryffindor' like it's some kind of disease."

Malfoy's flicker of a smile dashed across his features, but, as always, was gone before Ginny could get a lasting impression of it. "If you know her, give her my thanks," he said darkly, "petite, skinny, straight blonde hair with sort of pink-y stripes and a very superior opinion of herself."

"Lavender," Ginny said. "My brother's ex-girlfriend. She isn't very nice. What did she do?"

Malfoy's face darkened again. "She… it was just the way she reacted when I sat down. Repulsed. Disgusted. Sort of… 'oh great, not him' attitude. And then, I handed my potion in to Professor Snape at the end of the lesson," he said, and trailed away, staring at the floor. "There was a bang," he said, now almost a whisper, "and then all of my potion and all of my things were on the floor, mixed together. My things were – are – will be - wrecked. Everyone laughed."

Ginny's stomach churned as she remembered Harry's near-inability to talk because of how 'hilarious' Malfoy's potion-tipping had been. She didn't mention this, but a guilty red tinge was growing up her neck.

"People were saying how stupid, I was." Malfoy looked up, straight into Ginny's eyes, and she could see, that, for some reason or another, at this particular moment, his feelings were in her hands – at this second, he completely and totally trusted her. It made Ginny feel strange, but also like she really mattered to someone.

"You're not stupid," Ginny interrupted automatically, like her mind and her mouth were on auto-pilot. "You're really smart, much more clever than I could ever be, and I don't think that you should ever let morons like those Gryffindors upset you."

Malfoy stared at Ginny, and suddenly what she had said rushed back to her. Heat filled her face, and she knew that her face must be on fire, matching her hair.

Malfoy let out a disbelieving laugh. "Weasley, do you have any idea how much you just sounded like a Slytherin?" he said amusedly.

Ginny blushed furiously. "Well… maybe the Sorting Hat placed me wrong. Just because my brothers were in Gryffindor. I had no say in the matter," she said.

Malfoy nodded. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. Then he tried again. "Weasley… thanks," he said at last, like those two words had caused him a lot of difficulty, and Ginny got the feeling that it had.

Ginny blinked at his openness, and then felt that maybe, just maybe, Malfoy wasn't such a bad person. "No problem," she smiled secretively, "…Draco."

A/N: And so, a pretty little seed of feelings is planted, and we shall watch it grow…

Lol that was corny. Please review.