Chapter 12

Ginny fought back a laugh as she leaned against a wall on the seventh floor, her amused eyes following Draco as he walked back and forth along the hallway with a look of pure concentration on his face. The scene was humorous to say the least, and when he stopped a brief moment later, she finally cracked a smile.

"You done?"

He glanced over at her with an expression of mild annoyance, and slight embarrassment, before returning his gaze to the wall. "Don't look at me like that. You know how this place works," he muttered.

"True, but it's still entertaining," she remarked blithely, appearing by his side as a large door formed on the wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Draco reached over and loosely took hold of her hand.

"Close your eyes."

Her lips quirked as she did as he said. "You'd better not be planning to take advantage of me, Mr. Malfoy. I don't think my brothers would be too pleased about that." She heard him scoff.

"Oh, I know better than to do something as stupid as that. You're scary enough as it is. Unless you've forgotten, I've been on the receiving end of your hexes before — a position I'd rather not find myself in again." The sincerity of his words caused a light laugh to echo in the corridor.

"At least you've learned your lesson," she teased as she felt him lead her into the Room of Requirement before stopping just inside.

Once she heard the door shut behind her, he said, "Okay, go ahead." She opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of a cozy little room with a pair of reclined chairs placed next to a fire that served as the only source of light. What was even more spectacular though was the ceiling, which had been replaced by a clear, night sky filled with stars that glimmered brilliantly against the dark expanses of the universe.

"Wow..."

Draco took a few more steps inside the room, his eyes also focused on the view above them. "Yeah, I didn't realize it could do this until last month."

"You know... We could've just gone outside." He glanced over his shoulder to see her still staring at the starry sky, though a smile was playing on her lips.

Mimicking her expression, he replied, "Do you have to be so unappreciative?" before turning back around. "Besides, it's cloudy tonight, but if you'd rather go outside and freeze, that's fine with me." Ginny suddenly thwacked him on the head as she walked by, causing him to rub the afflicted spot with a disgruntled look. "What was that for?" he snapped before she faced him haughtily.

"I never said I didn't like it. I was just making a comment," she declared before her eyes shifted back to where the ceiling should've been with a sparkle of admiration. "It really is beautiful..."

Draco flopped down in one of the chairs lazily. "It's pretty unbelievable what magic can do." He waited for her to respond, but instead she surprised him by sitting down in his lap and leaning back so her head was resting comfortably on his shoulder. "...There's another seat you know," he pointed out in an amused, yet rather awkward tone. She simply grinned, adjusting her self slightly before letting her eyes flutter closed with a sigh.

"I like it here better." She could feel his chest rumble against her back as he let out a chuckle, but was pleased when, instead of pushing her off with a complaint, he relaxed and wrapped an arm around her waist, leaving her to gaze at the stars in his warm embrace.

Ginny sighed happily as she felt the chill of the stone wall seep through her shirt to send a tingle down her spine, her hand wrapping Draco's tie around itself while she tilted her head up to keep her lips locked with his. He had one hand rest on the wall next to her as his other arm pulled her closer so her body was flush against his. Separating her lips from his, she brush a kiss along his jaw line before murmuring with amusement, "Someone's gonna see us..."

"I don't care," he breathed before pressing a kiss against her neck. She shivered, both from the cold and the warm sensation of his touch as she grinned. She placed a hand on his cheek, effectively causing him to pull away just enough to meet her eyes.

"I don't want you to get in trouble for this," she stated, her breathing a tad shaky but her voice deadly serious. He rolled his eyes in response, still holding her tightly in his arms.

"You don't have to worry about me."

She shrugged as she rose onto the tips of her toes so her lips were hardly an inch away from his — so close that he could feel her smile as she mumbled, "I don't want to see you get hurt either." He barely had time to register her words before her lips were on his once again, at which point he took his hand from the wall to place it on her hip instead. The bliss was short-lived though as the creaking of an opening portrait harshly knocked them back into reality. Ginny swore rather loudly as she wriggled out of his arms and turned to him with urgent expression. "You need to leave. I'll distract whoever it is." He didn't waste anytime arguing and disappeared around the corner, leaving her to spin around just in time to see two of her fellow Gryffidors climbing out of the portrait hole. Seamus Finnigan was the first to notice her, which he did with a bemused look.

"Oi, Ginny. What're you doin' out here?" he wondered as he helped another seventh year, Liete Katrae, through the Common Room's door. The older girl took one look at her messy red hair, which was accompanied by a faint blush, and grinned.

"I could take guess." Ginny shot her a stern look, to which she responded with a tinkling laugh.

Seamus ignored the odd exchange as he walked towards her. "Liete and me are goin' down to the kitchens for a snack. You wanna come?"

"I think I'll pass," Ginny answered, calmly raising her hand in an attempt to smooth out her hair.

Liete started to walk past her. "Your loss." After a moment, the red-head realized that the girl had gone in the same direction as a certain Slytherin had only a couple of minutes before.

"No, wait!" she blurted out, grabbing Liete's arm and pulling her back, thinking quickly. "I-I just saw Filch over there. Almost got caught myself, but something else must've distracted him."

"Thanks for tellin' us. Guess we'll have to go the other way, eh Liete?" Seamus began heading down the other hallway, but Liete lingered and turned to the younger student with amazement.

"I'd heard rumors... But really?" she inquired in a hushed tone.

"Please don't say anything," Ginny whispered, hoping she would realize how important it was to keep things under wraps.

"Oh, I won't," she assured her with a chuckle. "I know what it's like to be talked about, and I wouldn't do that to you." The youngest Weasley let out a sigh of relief before offering her a weak smile.

"Thanks."

"Liete? You comin'?" Seamus called from the end of the corridor. The girl raised a finger to her lips in a 'shh'-ing motion, causing him to wince as he realized how much noise he was making, before nodding.

"See ya Ginny," she sang with a quick wave, following after Seamus before meeting up with him and turning the corner. At the same time, Draco came out from his poor hiding spot.

"So, Katrae saw me," he drawled, not sounding the least bit worried about the fact. Ginny whirled around with her lips curved into a frown.

"Yes," she hissed, placing her hands on her hips in a condescending manner. "I thought I told you to leave."

He smirked. "And when do I ever listen to you?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned away slightly and grumbled, "Well, maybe you ought to."

"Fine, I'll leave now then." Ginny's shoulders slumped in exasperation.

"You don't have to-"

"I've got an exam tomorrow anyway," he noted, the corners of his mouth lifting at her mildly frustrated behavior. "Blaise'll be annoyed if I score better then him without any sleep." She laughed softly at the thought.

"So... Good night then?" To her surprise, he stepped forward to plant a quick kiss on her lips before smiling.

"'Night, Ginny."

The next day, Blaise exited the Charms classroom with a heavy sigh. "Whew, thank Merlin that's over. That list of questions just went on forever." Draco scoffed from behind him.

"Don't make it sound worse than it actually was. You should've studied more," he berated dryly.

"Hey, don't get cross with me just because you haven't seen your girlfriend today," Blaise smirked. The other boy didn't say anything, leading him to believe his assumption had been correct. "Knowing you two though, you've probably already made plans to see each other this evening." He interrupted his statement with another sigh, though this one was far more dramatic. "If I'd known you'd both abandon me, I probably wouldn't have set you up in the first place."

"We get it," Draco snapped. "You don't have to keep reminding us."

Blaise grinned broadly. "Just making sure you don't forget," he quipped before someone up ahead caught his eye. "Oh, speak of the devil... Hey, Gin!"

At first, he thought she hadn't heard him over the noise of the crowded hallway, but a second later, her gaze finally fell on them and a smile lit up her face as she made her way over to them. "Hello," she chirped brightly. Turning to Draco with a mischievous glint in her eyes, she loftily added, "Malfoy."

He nodded with practiced indifference. "Weaslette." Ginny adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder as she suppressed a grin and shifted her attention back to Blaise.

"Did you just finish your Charms test?" When he confirmed that they had, but said nothing more, she rolled her eyes, prompting him to continue. "And how'd that go?"

"Brilliantly," he replied, causing Draco to face him with narrowed eyes.

"But you just said-"

"I didn't say it was difficult," Blaise shrugged, before turning back to a laughing Ginny. "So, do you want to do something later today?"

"Sorry, can't," she answered sadly, despite the fact that the ghost of a smile was still on her face from moments before. "I promised the others I'd play Exploding Snap with them tonight." Upon seeing Draco's slightly disappointed expression, she smiled apologetically and added, "And I can't back out. They've already asked me where I disappear to all the time; it'd only make them more suspicious."

"I guess it can't be helped. How about tomorrow?"

"I'm helping Demelza make up her Potions assignment, and I need to get my own homework done too."

Blaise frowned. "But that won't take you all day." She avoided both of their eyes and instead focused on the tapestry of frolicking gnomes behind them.

"And I've got detention..." she admitted in a low voice, but that didn't stop the two Slytherins from hearing her.

"What did you do?" Draco demanded, a hint of worry seeping into his voice that made her smile.

"It's just with Madam Pince," she informed them. "I got into an argument with Zacharias Smith and-"

"Hexed him?" Blaise finished with a grin. She nodded her head with an impish look. "Good, the prat deserves it."

"Someone had to do it," she agreed before back-tracking to the previous subject. "I'm free on Sunday though."

"Great, want to meet by the lake?"

"Sure. After lunch?"

"Sounds good to me," he said with a nod before continuing on his way. "Catch ya later, Gin."

"Alright." She flashed a small smile to Draco as he followed after Blaise, and when she saw him return the gesture, she continued on to her next class with a much more pleasant attitude and a slight fluttering feeling in her chest.

A/N - In case anyone is wondering about the random mentions of one Liete Katrae (since this isn't the first chapter she's been mentioned), I'll offer you a brief explanation. See, about two and a half years ago (waaaaay before I was posting anything on ), I thought it'd be fun to write some HP fanfiction, but I wanted to keep it canon and add my own little spin on it at the same time. So I filled in the two empty 7th year Gryffidor girl slots with OC characters, one of whom was Liete Katrae. (The other was the Sarisa Esteed mentioned in chapter 1 and chapter 8 in Blaise's conversation with Mandy after she spoke with Terry Boot.) So, I have like 30,000+ words of scenes involving those two characters throughout their Hogwarts years... Not that those will ever see daylight : )

Anyways, I love hearing your comments! I'll also answer any questions you guys have as long as you review non-anonymously (otherwise I can't respond...) As always, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please review : )

-Twilight-Songstress