Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all the characters, not me.

A/N: Wellllll, okay, this is where some VERY SERIOUS snogging goes on. Very. But most of you Draco fans will be happy . . . hee hee. So here's the next chapter . . .

Chapter Nine

Young and Foolish

Draco sat in his room, fingering the Locator ring he'd given Ginny. He'd taken it from the place where he'd found her and Harry and decided maybe he would pawn the jewelry. The more he stared at the rings, the more he realized they did look awfully expensive. Maybe they're not that ugly, he thought.

But he couldn't keep his mind from Ginny very long. He remembered all that had happened in the past few hours and his stomach gave a lurch.

When he'd first left Ginny alone with Slytherin in the library, something possessed him to go to his father's old office. He wasn't sure why, but he ended up there.

Of course, the Aurors had cleaned the whole place out. All books about dark arts, all parchments that had to do with Voldemort were gone. It was nearly empty.

Yet Draco had happened to find something.

One of the desk drawers was slightly open. A parchment was sticking out, as if it had been hastily shoved in there. Draco had taken the parchment out and looked at it.

It had an unmoving picture on it. At first, it looked almost like a Muggle photograph, but then he saw shimmering silvery-green letters on the top and realized it wasn't. Plus, the picture was of a rug. Rugs don't move very much.

Across the top of the parchment read, The Magic Carpet.

Draco inspected the picture closely before reading on. He had seen that rug somewhere . . . but where? He scanned the rest of the paper.

Guaranteed to make the one you love lust for you. Have your heart's desire stand on the Magic Carpet, and you both will have the most passionate night of your lives.

Those two sentences were all Draco needed to know before it dawned on him. He'd seen the rug in the bomb-shelter like building where he'd found Ginny and Harry kissing.

It was the carpet! Draco thought. Ginny wasn't acting that way, the rug was making her!

And so he'd immediately run back to the library to stop Slytherin from killing her. She had been telling the truth the whole time and he had just been too stupid to believe her.

But when he got back to the library, he did not find Ginny. Instead, he found Slytherin on the floor, stunned.

By then Ginny and Harry had left.

After Slytherin had woken up, however, he had instantly given Draco the most excruciating torture session he'd ever had in his life. Slytherin knew it hadn't been Draco who stunned him, but he knew that he had tried to get Ginny away from him before.

So now Draco's whole body was aching. He sat at his desk, still fiddling with Ginny's Locator ring.

This is pointless, he thought. Why do I even bother to live anymore? The one person who might've cared about me now hates me. Slytherin will probably kill me after he tortures me a few more times. There really isn't any point in being alive.

Draco shoved away from his desk and dropped onto his bed, meaning to think of the quickest way to kill himself. Instead, he fell asleep in a second.

When Ginny and Harry arrived back at the Burrow, they had only been gone a few hours. Ginny merely told Ron that she had gone for a long walk with Harry, and he had believed her.

She locked herself in her room and tried to think.

Lucius is out of Azkaban – why haven't we heard anything? Of course, he isn't Lucius anymore. But either way, not everyone could believe that he really is the spirit of Salazar Slytherin.

But Draco had.

Draco. Just thinking about him made her throat close up. The way he had spoken to her, the way he had looked at her had been so cold. He really hadn't forgiven her for what she'd done with Harry. He really was so mad he wanted her dead.

No he doesn't, she thought stubbornly. In the end he tried to get me out. He started to, but Slytherin stopped us.

And then he had left her alone with him.

Ginny sat and stared at her wall for the longest time, debating with herself. Draco had tried to save her, but hadn't tried very hard. He had left her there to die. This time, instead of him coming to her rescue, it had been Harry.

She let out a dry sob and grabbed her pillow, pressing it against her face. What should I do?

The only thing she wanted to do right then was visit Draco. She needed to see him and have him explain things.

But he might hand you right back over to Slytherin again.

Suddenly Ginny didn't care. She felt so strongly about him that she would rather die than not have him. Maybe one day, if she lived through it all, she'd regret it. I'm young and foolish, she thought, but I don't care. I'll never know if I don't go see him right now.

Her mind was made up. She crept downstairs, past Ron and Hermione who were making out on the couch, and went to the closet to get one of her brother's old brooms. Then she left the house as quietly as she could and started towards Draco's house.

Her heart was pounding the whole time. She was practically walking right to death. No longer did she trust Draco, not after what he'd done to her. But she still believed that maybe he had some good in him, that she could turn him around. After all, he had started to take her away. He had tried to save her.

Since the Cleansweep Five was so slow, it took nearly three hours to get to the Malfoy mansion. When she got there, she wasn't sure which door to use. She knew that there were still hexes on each door. Finally, she decided on the one she had used to get in earlier that day. Draco had taken the hexes off and most likely they were probably still inactive.

Her theory was correct, and soon she was inside the large, cold house. Unfortunately, she had no idea where Draco's room was. She began to wish she'd taken Harry's Invisibility Cloak so she would be less likely to be caught wandering the halls.

For nearly thirty minutes she searched. The house was very big and most rooms proved to be empty. After what seemed like ages, Ginny came to a door that was locked. Oh, please let Draco be in here and not Slytherin, she thought. Then she took a deep breath and pounded loudly on the door.

There was no response, no noise. Frowning slightly, Ginny knocked again. Maybe it's just a locked empty room, she thought unhopefully.

And there still was no answer. She tried one more time before turning away and moving on to the next room.

But as she was turning, she heard Draco's voice say irritably, "I'm coming, hold on."

She tried to keep the smile off her face as she returned to her place in front of the door. The look on his face will be priceless, she thought, wondering how she could be so happy to see the one person who had tried to have her killed.

And then the door opened, and revealed Draco looking the dullest she had ever seen him. His normally sleek white-blond hair looked disheveled as if he had just woken up. And his eyes, that almost always had some sort of light in them, whether it was fire from anger or just amusement, were dark and unreadable. His shoulders were slumped slightly forward in a sort of dejected way.

When he focused on her, for a minute he could not look away. His expression was blank, but his eyes showed many things at once. She recognized amazement, sadness, anger, and other things she couldn't quite place. Holding her breath, she waited for him to say something, do something.

And then he reached forward and pulled her into his room, closing the door. Ginny opened her mouth to protest when he suddenly had his arms around her and was hugging her tightly to him. Not expecting it, at first she mouthed in surprise. Then she hugged him back, and could've sworn she felt him trembling. Or maybe that was her.

All of her earlier doubts were washed away as she stood there in his arms. He really didn't want her dead, he had tried to save her. He wants me, she thought, closing her eyes tightly.

For a long time neither of them moved but just held one another. Finally, Draco leaned his head back so he could look her straight in the eyes.

"You're even stupider than I thought," he whispered, and then pressed his lips against hers.

All of his frustrations and fears went into that kiss, and Ginny did not mind. She kissed him back just as hard, knowing that his comment hadn't been to scare her. He was just saying something that Draco Malfoy would say.

And then somehow they were at his bed. Draco stopped kissing her long enough to gently guide her down onto her back. Ginny's mind was totally blank as his lips returned to hers, and vaguely she felt his fingers unclasp her cloak. And then he was opening her blouse, carefully undoing each button. How he could see what he was doing she did not know, because his mouth never left hers.

Ginny felt her blood pounding in her head when Draco first touched her bare stomach. Her whole shirt was open, she knew, and yet no warning bells were going off in her head.

Unlike her experience with Harry, this time she actually felt. Before, it was like she could've been kissing anyone. Now, she knew she wanted Draco and only him, not anyone else. She didn't want to do it with anyone else and she realized then she never would.

Do what exactly? she thought, her head swimming. Draco pulled his mouth from hers and started kissing a trail from her belly button up. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. What are we going to do?

So many emotions ran through her that she didn't want them to end. But for some reason, Draco stopped and collapsed beside her. He didn't bother to button her shirt back up; instead, he just laid his head on her chest, breathing loudly and slowly.

Ginny had thought she wanted to go farther, but she was glad he had stopped. She twirled his hair in her fingers and watched as his head rose and fall with her every breath.

"I love you," she said softly.

Draco did not reply.

A/N: Are all you happy now? Ginny is back with Draco . . . I always knew she was going to be!! And now you know why Ginny was making out with Harry. Also, maybe – that's maybe – I will find a spot for Draco to wear leather. It would certainly help if I got encouraging reviews!! Anywho, if the next chapter doesn't come out for a little while please forgive me . . . I'm back in school and it's hard juggling homework, soccer, and writing! Review, please!!!