A/N : The main problem with the story so far seems to be that there is no explanation for the Dementors being in Hogwarts. I thought I had explained it satisfactorily enough previously with the story that they had snuck into Hogwarts while the students were exiting it to go to Hogsmeade, and they had done so because Hogwarts being the seat of power for the 'good' - so to speak - wizards and witches, once tumbled, would prove devastating to the defence against Voldemort.(Spirits fall when people die, etc.) Maybe I didn't write it properly, or maybe there is some fundamental flaw within this logic which I -probably having lost my perspective - am unable to see. (?) If so, I welcome any suggestions on how to get myself out of this muck. Thanks for all the reviews. Review again?
Oh.
And no, I'm not Australian.
Disclaimer : Characters, setting is the property of JK Rowling.
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Harry looked over Ron's shoulder and saw Draco Malfoy talking to Ginny Weasley. Malfoy seemed to be talking rather intently, and Ginny was listening, her face expressionless. A moment later Malfoy stopped talking and Ginny, after a minute, smiled up at him and took his hand. Malfoy smiled back, and for once he didn't look like the stuck up prick he usually looked like. The smile vanished in the next instant, and Malfoy said something that made Ginny laugh. They parted and Ginny went to join her two best friends who were sitting a few seats away from Harry, Hermione and Ron. Harry fervently regretted not sitting closer to Coy Connie and Fickle Fran.
He looked back at his plate. Hermione nudged him teasingly. "Look, Harry. Cho just came in."
Harry looked up automatically, but it was a minute before he could see Cho's hair in the crowd. She had nice hair, Harry had always thought so. Long and black and shiny. There was a lot of it. But it didn't stand out in a crowd, you had to look for it, you didn't just spot it straight away, like you would red hair -
Harry gave himself a mental shake and pushed his glasses further up his nose in a hard gesture. So hard that the glasses squashed against his face, squelching his eyelashes. He turned back around and found Hermione rolling her eyes. Ron was muttering into his goulash. Harry didn't bother listening - he assumed it was about the same subject Ron had been on since he'd found Ginny kissing Draco - namely, Ginny kissing Draco.
"Good God, Ron!' Hermione burst out, slamming her hand down on the table, making Harry jump and his goulash hop happily onto his glasses. "Can't you talk about anything other than your little sister?"
Ron glared at her. "You wouldn't be so complacent if it had been your sister. Your sister, whom you'd looked after since birth, your sister, whom you'd rocked in her cradle, your sister, whom you'd helped with homework -"
"You helped Ginny with homework?" Harry asked, surprised.
Ron ignored him, majestically standing up, but his face turned red. "Your sister, with Malfoy!"
Hermione snorted. "I'd be acting a lot more reasonably, I can tell you that!"
Ron snorted back. "We Weasleys look after one another! If I let my little sister go out with that - that thing - I'd never forgive myself! We Weasleys know how to take care of our own! We Weasleys -"
"We Weasleys are going to be completely humiliated if you don't shut up, Ron." George growled, covering his face.
"Why isn't anyone taking this seriously?" Ron demanded. "Fred, you know what Malfoy is like! Why -"
"Maybe you're taking this a bit too seriously, Ron." Fred practically snarled. A few other Gryffindors were beginning to look at them. "For the love of God, would you sit down?"
Ron glared mutinously, but he plunked into his seat, staring hostilely at his two brothers. "Why aren't you listening to me?"
"Along with the rest of the table?" Hermione asked sarcastically.
Ron ignored her.
George moaned.
Fred growled impotently. "It had to happen sooner or later, Ron. Ginny isn't just our kid sister, she is a girl -"
"Did I say I minded that it happened? I don't mind that it happened. I never said I minded that it happened. I never even hinted that I minded that it happened -"
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Hush." Hermione hissed.
Harry subsided.
Ron continued as if he hadn't heard him. " - but why did it have to happen with DRACO BLOODY MALFOY?" he ended on a shrill shout.
All four of them kicked him under the table.
"I admit Malfoy wouldn't have been my first choice." Fred said slowly. "But he seems to like her well enough. We don't even know if he's going to do anything about it." He grinned at the thought of Malfoy "Besides, if he does anything wrong we'll give him a taste of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."
"How's it coming along?" Harry asked, grinning. Fred and George had been slowly expanding their collection of joke inventions for the past two years. They were planning to open up a shop in Hogsmeade when they finished at Hogswarts. They had declared open war on Zonko's, especially after the owner had refused to sell them any more jokes after they'd almost destroyed the shop with one of their jokes. They weren't even allowed on the pavement outside the shop.
George beamed. "It's coming along great!"
"Like a rabbit in May." Fred added.
Harry tried to puzzle that one out. He gave up.
Ginny was happy. Life, on the whole, couldn't have been better. Disregarding a few niggling details, everything seemed to be going perfectly. In public, Draco refused to do anything more scandalous than hold hands - in private, he was hot enough to make Ginny flush even at the thought of it. The reason for the former was probably because everytime Ron saw them together he growled deep in his throat like a mad cow and made as if to lunge at Draco. Draco usually stopped and smirked whenever he did this, usually because Hermione or Harry was on hand to chain Ron and drag him away. When they weren't around, Ginny growled back.
Ginny didn't want to think about the scene Ron had made in the Gryffindor common room when she had told him - and Fred and George - that she and Draco were a couple. Ron had started screaming at the top of his voice - no words, just a sort of howl, making all the Gryffindors stare at him in shock. Everyone had started backing away from him, watching fascinatedly, until Ron was standing alone, in the middle of a circle the Gryffindors had formed around him. Then he'd started yelling at her, expounding on the evils of Slytherins. The evils of one particular Slytherin. The evils of one particular Slytherin named Draco Malfoy. The evils of going out with Draco Malfoy. The evils of a Weasley going out with Draco Malfoy. The evils of the sky being blue and the grass being green when a Weasley was going out with Draco Malfoy. Fred and George had finally had to put a binding curse on him so they could carry him up to his room while Ginny escaped to her own dorm. Thanks to her stupid mad cow arse of a brother every single Gryffindor knew about her and Draco.
Ginny scowled into her textbook. She was supposed to be studying for her OWLs, but she was supposed to meet Draco in a few minutes and she was too excited to sit still. True, it still hurt a little - maybe more than a little - to see Harry looking at Cho, but it didn't diminish her feelings - or hormones - when she was around Draco. Or even when she was thinking about Draco.
Ginny slammed her book shut and scuttled out of the library. Her step quickening she skipped lightly down the corridor. They were supposed to meet by the lake. She skipped around a corner and right into -
Harry Potter's chest.
"Ow."
"Ouch."
"Sorry." Ginny said, blushing. Damn her genes.
"It's OK." Harry assured her. He hesitated. "So - where are you headed?"
"The lake."
"Want me to walk you there?"
Ginny's eyes widened. Something was up. Harry had never offered to walk her anywhere. Ever. "Erm - s-sure."
Harry walked beside her. He seemed to be preoccupied. "So - why are you going to the lake?" he blurted out.
This was strange. Very strange. Why would he care? Maybe Cho was waiting at the lake. Ginny looked at Harry and compared him to Draco. Of course, Draco was a lot handsomer - you could see his potential even in this puberty-induced, unfinished state. Whereas Harry -well, Harry would never be considered classically handsome. He was cute, but not handsome. Still -
"Oh!" she said, startled, only then registering his question. "Oh. I'm - erm - meeting Draco."
Harry said nothing.
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Draco's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw who was with her. Ginny flashed him a smile. Harry handed her over with a mumbled, "I guess I'll see you later."
He walked off, that preoccupied air still around him. Ginny's heart tightened when she saw Cho appear in the door of the building and wave at Harry. Harry waved back after a moment and Cho ran lightly across the grass and took Harry's arm. Ginny almost gagged when she saw Cho smile sickeningly up at Harry. Damn. Damn. Damn.
She turned back to Draco and found him studying her coolly.
"What's up?" she asked lightly.
"You tell me." Draco returned coldly. "Why were you with Potter?"
"I bumped into him and he offered to walk me over." Ginny said. She smiled at Draco. He was jealous. Of course he was. She would have been jealous if he had walked over with - she didn't know - anybody, she supposed. She liked this. She knew she shouldn't, but she savoured the moment anyway. It was nice that he cared enough that he was actually jealous. Jealous. J-E-A-L-O-U-S. Ginny was convinced it was one of the greatest words in the English language. She could have rolled it over her mind over and over and over again. She filed the thought away, to be brought out and dwelled on later.
"Are you trying to make me jealous, Ginny?"
"Of course. Every girl likes her wizard to be a little jealous sometimes. It proves that he cares."
Draco sneered.
Ginny recoiled. He had never sneered at her before. Ron, yes. Harry, yes. Everybody, yes. Her, no.
She found herself putting out a hand to catch him by the arm. "Draco - I was just kidding. You know I wouldn't do anything with Harry."
"Do I? Can you tell me honestly that you don't care a fly's arse about him anymore?"
Ginny wondered what she should say. She decided to tell the truth. Honesty was the best policy, or so they said. "I do still - "
Draco snorted.
"But - I'm with you now. And I like y ou and I would never do anything like what you think I would do."
Draco seemed to calm down. He dismissed the subject. "I know. Eventually you'll figure out that Potter is a jackass." He grinned down at her and kissed her long and hot on the mouth. "And he can't give you that." He whispered into her mouth.
Ginny was breathing hard. "No. I don't think he can."
Draco pulled away. "My parents are coming on Saturday."
"What for?" Ginny asked.
"Just a visit. They're taking me out to dinner." Draco seemed to hesitate. "I want them to meet you."
Ginny recoiled again, this time mentally. She'd heard enough about Lucius Malfoy - mostly from her brothers and father, it was to be admitted - that she didn't ever want to meet him. After meeting him once that time in the book shop in her second year - and after finding out that he had been the one to give her Tom Riddle's diary - she really really didn't want to meet him again. She looked up at Draco. "I've met your father, remember?" she said, her bright brown eyes darkening.
Draco grinned, and caught her chin teasingly. "I know, I know. You've heard he's an all-out bastard, and that time you met him in the bookshop was horrid. But seriously, he's really a great person." Draco's eyes seemed to glaze over. "You don't know him." His tone was hero-worshipful. Ginny realized that Draco adored his father. He probably felt about his father what she felt about her father.
Damn.
"Come on, Gin-gin."
"All right, Drakey." Ginny retorted. She chewed on her lower lip. If Draco was there - on her side - how bad could it be? "All right."
Draco laughed. "Come on, Ginny, it'll be great."
"Why don't you convince me?" Ginny asked, sliding her arms around his neck and pulling his head down. Nagging Doubt Alert rang inside her head but it was lost in the sea of lust she felt for Draco. Mmmm.