Chapter 7- Harry, Ron, and Hermione

A/N: As you know, this continues from previous chapter, when Draco and Ginny gets sent to Dumbledore by McGonagall cuz they skipped school.

"Hello," said the Headmaster as he looked up. "What can I do for you?"

That was the thing with Dumbledore, Ginny mused. It was certain that he knew what they were here for, news travels fast and he was fast to catch it. But he just wouldn't say it, he wanted them to.

Ginny was about to answer, but Draco answered first. "We were sent by Professor McGonagall, sir."

Dumbledore gave them a small smile. "Yes, I know that. But for what reason?"

Draco eyed him. "If you know that she sent us, sir, wouldn't you also know for what reason?"

Ginny wanted to punch him. Didn't he know that getting him ticked off would get them a worse punishment?

The Headmaster leaned forward. "You have a clever tongue, Mr. Malfoy, but it will get you into trouble someday."

"It already has, sir,"

Dumbledore smiled. "Now, about this business. I have been informed, by Madame Rosmerta-" so that's how he knew, thought Ginny. "-that you two were down by Hogsmeade this afternoon, instead of your classes. And that you were together." The two of them were silent. "Now, I have seen many things in my years of teaching, but never a Slytherin skipped school with a Gryffindor. Would you like to discuss this matter?"

Ginny, with her hands behind her back, fidgeted nervously. She took a step towards Draco, who was staring at Professor Dumbledore, and her hand brushed his. She felt his hand close around hers.

"Obviously, you do not. But that is not of importance. What is of importance is the reason you did it. If you do not have one, I suggest you agree to your punishment. I will also be sending each of your parents a note."

Seeing that they had no objections, Dumbledore said, "Very well. You will each be serving detention, which helping Madame Pince at the library a week from now after dinner until bedtime. I expect you two to be on time, there will be no excuses."

"Yes sir," Ginny mumbled.

"You may go."

***

Ron, Harry, and Hermione sat in the empty common room.

"I thought it was over," Ron grumbled. "She's got detention, of heaven's sake. My sister has never ever gotten detention before. Never. Malfoy, well, he's gotten more detentions than I could count."

"Not more than me," said Harry with fake cheerfulness.

Ron eyed him. "Whatever. And Dumbledore's sending an owl to Mum and Dad telling them about it," he whistled. "She's gonna really get it. Even I've never skipped school. All I've ever done was get dragged along your crazy attempts to save the world. And I got a nice shiny trophy for it." Ron patted the gold cup, which he had displayed on his bedside table.

"Yeah, yeah, well, I've got a bigger one," Harry retorted.

Ron frowned. "It seems to me that Ginny doesn't really like Malfoy, she wants to be rebellious. Do something crazy. You know what teenagers are like, we were once teenagers-"

"We still are," Harry pointed out.

Ron waved his hands. "Whatever. The point is, she's rebellious." He started ticking off his fingers. "First, it was the refusal to dye her hair black-"

"That's not rebellious," Hermione snapped. "That's liking you for what you are. Even Fred and George stopped dyeing it and now their hair turned back to red."

Ron looked at her as he touched his black hair. "Since when did you join the We Love the Malfoy/Ginny Couple Club?"

"I didn't!" said Hermione. "Besides, there isn't one."

"You probably made one up," snickered Ron.

"I did not!" said Hermione hotly.

And then they were at it again, bickering until Harry stopped them.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," he said loudly.

Ron folded his arms. "I've told her and told her, Malfoy's going to get her into trouble. She just wouldn't listen. Fred and George wouldn't like it, either, I wonder what they would say?"

Suddenly, an owl fluttered from the room, and dropped a letter in Ron's lap. He ripped it open.

"Dear little bro Ronnie," Ron read out loud. "It's from Fred and George. Great news! Our budget from our joke shop was dropping, remember? And remember how we bugged you to buy some of our trick pencils and notepads? Well, guess what? You don't have to anymore! A few days ago, Malfoy and Ginny showed up at our shop and Malfoy broke the record for buying the most items! He also subscribed to Weasley's Jokes catalog (also filled with our homemade jokes) and made us rich, rich, rich! Malfoy is now our favorite customer, although we're wondering what Ginny has to do with anything. Anyways, they make a cute couple. Oh yeah, if you want to subscribe, just send us ten Galleons with the owl back. Ta-ta! Love from, Your favorite twins." Ron threw down the letter. "Arrgh! Is everyone in the world against me?" He glanced at the owl, who held a foot out as if waiting for a tip. "Shoo! Get back to your stupid twin owners!" It took off. "I am going to have a talk with Little Miss Ginny Malfoy!" He stomped off.

Harry picked up the letter. "Well, Malfoy is becoming pretty popular, isn't he?"

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "Too popular, if you ask me."

Harry looked at her. "You know something about them."

She sighed. "I don't really-"

"Spill," Harry commanded.

"Remember that time Ginny fell off her broom? And Draco…Malfoy tried to catch her, but didn't succeed?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "I did think it was kind of weird."

"Yeah, well, then he left, and I followed him."

"Why?"

Hermione shrugged. "Anyways, he was in the Great Hall, and he looked really troubled. I was going to ask him something-"

"What?"

She waved her hand impatiently. "That doesn't matter now. So then Pansy comes along, and they talk, and then for no reason, he kissed her."

"Why am I not surprised?" muttered Harry.

"Well, I was. Malfoy never showed anything for Pansy."

"That's Malfoy to you," Harry replied.

"No, 'cause see, I was thinking that, and I thought maybe he really did like Ginny, and kissed Parkinson because he wanted to get rid of his feelings for Ginny."

Harry shook his head. "That does not make sense."

"Okay, then, Pansy left, so I asked him if he loved Ginny,"

Harry's jaw dropped. "You asked him that?"

"Then he was all, in his Malfoy way, 'What do you think?' and I told him I think yes. Then he went, 'Then you give me too much credit for it.' I asked him what it meant, but he wouldn't tell me."

"And? Did you force it out of him?" Harry persisted.

Hermione blushed. "No. He told me he didn't know and just said it because he liked hearing himself talk. Then I left."

"So? What does it mean?"

She frowned. "I don't know. Somehow, I just know that Malfoy really loves her."

***

Ron found Ginny in the hallway, on her way to the library for detention.

"Ginny," he said, catching her wrist.

She whirled around. "What do you want?

"I want you to stop seeing Malfoy," said Ron.

Ginny started to walk away. "That's not possible."

Ron grabbed her arm. "It's not a matter of possible or impossible."

She looked at him fiercely. "Then what is it, Ron? A matter of suiting your needs and desires?" He didn't say anything. "Why can't you be happy for me?"

"Because the person you like is my enemy," said Ron simply.

"That doesn't matter," Ginny whispered. "Feelings can change. You can learn to like him. Do you think I thought it would have turned out this way when we first kissed? I never thought I'd like Malfoy, but the point is I did. You just need to find his good side."

"He doesn't have one," said Ron bitterly.

"Everyone has one. And turns out that, Draco's good side is stronger than his bad side. It's hard for him, you know? His father's a Death Eater, what can you expect from him? You just assume he's like that, but he's not. Why can't you just give him another chance? Deep down, he really is a good person."

"I've known Malfoy longer than you have, Ginny. And sooner or later, he's going to hurt you. Just please, can't you just stop seeing him?"

Ginny's eyes welled up and her voice trembled. "I'd do anything for you, Ron, but I can't do that." And she ran away, down the hall, tears spilling.

***

Ginny collapsed just outside the library, in a dark corner, crying. She didn't see a figure come up to her until he spoke.

"Ginny?"

She looked up. Draco's worried face looked back at her. "What're you doing?"

Ginny pulled herself up, and felt Draco's arm around her waist. "Ron and I just had a fight." She said through sobs.

Draco grimaced. "He was talking to you about your first-ever time detention, huh?"

Ginny nodded meekly, as he wiped her tears away and led her into the library.

"C'mon, we've still got detention."

***

Hermione looked at the pair of them from over the top of her book. They were serving their detention, but they looked like they were having a good time, which is not what detentions were for.

She watched Madame Pince give them books to stamp 'Hogwarts School' on, and watched as Ginny accidentally stamp 'Hogwarts School' on Draco's hand. A lot of stamping and a short giggly argument followed (Ginny did all the giggling). Draco pulled Ginny close to him by her wrist, and then kissed her tenderly. Hermione held her breath. Honestly, she had never seen Draco Malfoy act like that towards anyone. She saw Draco say something to Ginny, that resulted in her smiling at him.

Hermione wondered if Draco's feelings towards Ginny were genuine, and whether Ginny should trust him. The Malfoy she knew was mean and nasty, who sneered all the time and gloated when he though Harry was sent a broom, not….this. Not this fun-looking guy who gave real smiles, not sneers, at her best friend's sister. What did he see in her? What did she have the rest of them didn't?

Her attention focused on the door as she saw Ron come in, spot them, and start to go over. She stood up and walked quickly to him.

"Ron," she said, catching his hand.

He turned, and looked down at her. "What?"

Hermione cast a glance over at Ginny and Draco, who looked like they were watching her. "Don't."

"Don't what?" snapped Ron impatiently, running a hand through his black hair, which looked like it needed dying again.

Hermione swallowed, and looked into the clear blue eyes she looked into so many times. Her mind wandered. What would it be like to kiss him? Her eyes cast over him, wondering what she should say to get him away from Ginny and Draco. She was pretty sure they were for real now, how was she supposed to convince Ron that? Hermione wondered why she was siding with them, and realized it was because she has never been in love before, and didn't want to ruin it for someone else.

She touched Ron's hair, and frowned. "Don't dye your hair again, I liked it better when it was red."

Ron softened. "Really?"

"Yeah," Hermione calmed down. "C'mon, I've got a spell that can get rid of it. Let's go to the common room, you go first, I'll just get my stuff."

Ron relaxed, and, not even looking at Draco and Ginny, left.

Hermione went back to her book, and closed it. She looked back at Draco. Ginny had left to arrange some books, and she approached Malfoy cautiously.

"Draco?"

He looked up, fixing her with a intense look. "Yeah, Granger?"

"Why do you like her?"

Draco raised his head and leveled her look.

Hermione got nervous. "I mean, what does she got that we don't?"

"We?"

"Me. And Harry and Ron and the rest of the Gryffindors."

Draco gave her a twisted smile. "It's the hair, I guess."

She glared at him. "Really."

Draco sighed an isn't-it-obvious sigh. "Look, Granger. Picture this. One day, after dinner, I come over to you and ask to walk you to your common room. What would you say?"

Hermione considered this. "Uh, get lost, you lazy scumbag?"

Malfoy smiled again, a nasty one, not like the ones he gave Ginny. "Right. But with Ginny it's different. She would say yes. And she did."

"But why Ginny? Why not Lavender or Pavarti?"

Draco looked up at her again. "It's different," he said softly. "You wouldn't understand. Ginny's special."

And he went stamping, ignoring her. Hermione tried to get something else out of him, but he didn't talk, so finally, she left.

A/N: Okay! So now, Draco and Ginny just served their detention, got letters sent to their parents (Mrs. Weasley isn't exactly thrilled that Ginny got detention) so they're both thinking that they should probably lie low for a while. And, next chapter: Pansy (Snotty) Parkinson arrives on the scene. When Draco is thrown in the snow by some ex-friends, Pansy comes along. And when she takes Draco for a few beers, who knows what a drunk guy can do! Stay tuned, and review!