[[[Author's Note: Written directly after reading the seventh chapter of Harry Potter and Something-or-Other by Fausta Darcy and Astrid Ackerly. Consider that your warning of upcoming insanity. A hint of that chapter and what the first few bits of this one might be like: "I like mummy's blue dress the most!" Draco said, modelling said blue dress as he danced around in front of his mother's floor-to-ceiling mirror, "What do you think, Mr Snuggles?" Draco asked the legless bear. Mr Snuggles stared at Draco. "No YOU look like a whore!" the thirteen year old Draco yelled back at Mr Snuggles. Mr Snuggles stared at Draco. "Hmm, maybe we should burn all these dresses," Draco nodded, looking down at himself, "this one makes my butt look huge anyway." Mr Snuggles stared at Draco. "You don't have to AGREE with me, you uncaring son of a bitch!"  And! (Well. That just bumped the rating up to R. Astrid is so filthy. Hey - at least we didn't leave the typo. Astrid typed 'quicky' instead of 'quickly'. Can we say Freudian slip?) And! Anyway, Thursday at Quidditch practice, Astrid walked onto the field, carrying her (DAMNIT!!! What's the beater stick thing called? *breaks out 'Quidditch Through the Ages'* ... hee hee ... shuntbump. That sounds dirty. Okay, they're just called bats. But wasn't that worth it for the shuntbump thing? I bet Astrid would like to shuntbump Snape. Hee hee. *ahem*) carrying her bat and a vintage 1952 Swiftstick, (which also sounds so very dirty). And!  Fausta? Fausta promises you that it will be up within twenty-four hours, or she will sell her body over eBay. Ha ha ha. Okay, she really said soon. But whatever. I'm still selling her over eBay. Cardboard Hobbits don't come cheap. If you haven't noticed, I am commanding you to read it. It's beyond screwed up, but the most hilarious thing ever too. Okay, on to my just-as-random-but-not-as-hilarious-story!]]]

Sometimes
I wish I was brave
I wish I was stronger
I wish I could feel no pain
I wish I was young
I wish I would try
I wish I was honest
I wish I was you not I
'Cause

I feel so mad
I feel so angry
I feel so callous
So lost, confused, just mad
I feel so cheap
So used, unfaithful
Let's start over
Let's start over

--Box Car Racer, I Feel So

"Hogsmeade Weekend!"

"Hurry Gi-Gwen!"

"Hogsmeade Weekend!"

"Oh, I'm coming, you do know you can call me Gin, right?"

"Hogsmeade Weekend!"

"But Draco calls you Gwen!"

"Hogsmeade Weekend!"

"But that's like Aaron Schmudlach calling you 'Sugar Butt,' it's just for him to say! You want me to call you Sugar Butt?"

"Hogs-meade Week-end! Aaron Schmudlach called you 'Sugar Butt?' Hogsmeade Weekend!"

"Shut up, Leah!" Megan and I screamed at the same time, and she laughed loudly.

"Jus' wanted to make sure you knew… because it is a Hogsmeade Weekend, you know," she said with a sly grin.

Megan pondered this openly. "Gin, did you know that? I don't know, I think I did, seeing as we're on our way to Hogsmeade youstupidcrazybint," Megan said her own pet name for Leah very fast, and I giggled as Leah came between us, skipping merrily. "You're so childish."

"Der." Leah retorted quietly, now glancing down the road, licking her lips slightly. "Aaron really called you 'Sugar Butt?' I mean, I knew he was a total, absolute moron, but if he did…"

"He really did." I piped up, and Megan glared at me.

"Ooh, can I have him?"

I giggled again, then went to look for a ponytail holder in my pocket. Once I'd looked up, Leah was gone and Megan could be heard screaming at her to come back that instant or there would be bloodshed. I watched them for a short moment, smiling slightly, when suddenly my ponytail holder was snatched out of my hands. "Hey," I admonished, but as I turned I ended up in the same position I'd been just a weeks ago, facing Draco Malfoy's chest, my nose on his prefect badge.

"'Lo." He said, and I could hear the smirk in his words. I looked up and grinned.

"Where've you been?"

"Pansy had another fit. I left Blaise Zabini to deal with it."

"How sweet of you."

"Oh, I know. That's just the kind of guy I am." He tossed his hair back to prove his point, looking like a tonky male model. Suddenly, his eyes snapped to the side and Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately came toward us. Draco pulled himself into a typically Malfoy pose, and Ron looked ready to grab me and run for it. Hermione, however, tried to keep her smile steady.

"Hey, guys, we wanted to know if you'd like to walk around with us… you know, in Hogsmeade."

Draco looked at me. I shrugged to him and turned to Hermione. "Sure, it'd be nice for you guys to get to know each other," I finally said, hoping that Ron would ease on the death beams he was sending Draco. I coughed and grabbed Draco's arm with my left hand and Ron with my right. Hermione and Harry quickly scrambled to my right and we were off.

***

I suppose I was fooling myself if I'd ever really thought Ron or Harry and Draco would ever, ever even try to make small talk, let alone try to get to know each other. I'd have to say it was the quietest afternoon I'd ever spent anywhere at all, especially in Hogsmeade. I think Draco did once try to sneak his brand new dungbomb into Ron's Butterbeer Float, but that was the highest level of interaction the two had all day. The entire thing was blurred, however, because of what happened at about five o'clock, when Hermione suddenly grabbed my arm, going on tiptoe to look around.

"Ginny… Have you seen- where's Harry?" she asked quietly.

"What?"

"Harry's gone. Where'd he go?"

I looked around. He'd been so silent all day that I wouldn't have noticed if he'd slipped off. "I dunno. Think he saw Cho? I heard she's working in that nudie bar behind the Three Broomsticks—"

"Ginny! I'm his girlfriend! He wouldn't want Cho now, would he?"

"Rub it in my face why don't you," I muttered as quietly as possible under my breath as I turned away from her on tiptoes. "Ron, when did you last see Harry?"

"Dunno." He said curtly, still a bit upset about the whole dungbomb thing. Draco, however, also got on tiptoes and looked around. He actually seemed to want to find Harry. A new development.

"Ron, c'mon, look, we're due back soon."

"He probably already left, like I should now."

Hermione gave him a very upset girlfriend look. "Fine, go. Selfish git."

He glared back and flapped the side of his robe dramatically, causing Draco to stop his search and do a mandatory eyebrow-cock. I sighed and turned to Hermione. "Maybe he did go home." I suggested.

"He wouldn't go home without me." She said stubbornly.

"Hermione, he's your boyfriend, not your chauffer…"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine… fine. We'll go. But I don't think he left."

"He can find his way back to the castle, Hermione."

Hermione bit her lip and stared over her shoulder back at Hogsmeade most of the way back to Hogwarts. Draco kept his eyes unwaveringly on the ground ahead of him until he stopped to open the door for us.

***

"Gin."

"Whmmm." I answered into my pillow.

"Gwen…" the voice wheedled, and there was a prod to my rib. I grunted, ready for the fight to not get up. "Ginny… Harry isn't in his dormitory." Finally I recognized Hermione's quiet voice. I grunted again but turned over to face her. "What d'you want me to do?"

"Ginny, I'm just really worried," she admitted, and I could see it. Her skin looked rather pale against her dark hair. Her eyes were on the ground as she kneeled by my bed.

"Hermione…" I sighed. "He's a big boy, 'e can take care of 'imself."

"You don't get it Ginny, this is Harry Potter."

"Yes. Your boyfriend."

"No… the boy who lived, Ginny."

"Are you saying you think—"

She sniffled. "What if You-Know-Who got to him, Ginny? Right when we started going out?"

I was about to toss my Butterbeer. I know, it was my duty as The Best Friend of Poor Deprived Girlfriend to comfort her, but her devotion to this boy she'd been going out with for three weeks was a little much.

"Ginny, come on now, he's not just my boyfriend." She stated, leaning forward. "He's my friend too. I've known him for seven years, Ginny, what if something really has happened to him?"

Blegh. I sighed and reached forward, grabbing her hand firmly. It was all cold and clammy. "He's fine, Hermione, now go back to bed." I commanded with a squeeze. I barely saw her smile in the half-light. "You really think so, Ginny?"

"Of course. Harry can take care of himself."

"Thanks, Ginny." She said quietly, and finally left the dorm. I sighed quietly, knowing that Harry would be back before daybreak, and that he probably had just met Cho Chang at the nudie bar. Now… He Who Must Not Be Named, or Cho Chang… which would Hermione be more upset over Harry meeting up with?

I finally fell asleep after pondering this for about fifteen minutes.

***

The next day, Harry wasn't back.

I sidestepped a few squealing third-years going over their Hogsmeade souvenirs, Leah and Aaron Schmudlach snogging feverishly, taking up two benches, and Megan glaring at them angrily from across the breakfast table, to get to Hermione sitting with her forehead on the crook of her elbow on the table, looking like she was either horribly upset or in very deep thought, either of which would have been rather likely. Ron was across from her, looking like he was trying to find the right thing to say. He was staring up at the ceiling, his eyes unfocused. Hearing me approaching, Hermione glanced up. I wasn't surprised to see her face not tearstained, she actually had been thinking about what to do the whole time. "Ginny. Have you seen him?"

I shook my head, and upon hearing my name, Ron suddenly snapped to attention. "I know what happened." He snapped quietly. Hermione, obviously not trusting him at all, went back to her arm as she mumbled assent for him to go on. He didn't notice her lack of interest. Instead, he glared at me. "It was Draco." He said solemnly. At first I thought he was joking and almost started to laugh, but he looked very serious. "It was your damned boyfriend, Guinevere."

"What are you on, Ron?" I asked uncertainly.

"I'm not fucking on anything Ginny! Are you that stupid? Your boyfriend is a spy for You-Know-Who!"

"Shut up, Ron."

"I won't shut up, Ginny, he is! How else could Harry have gone?"

"How should I know, Ron? Bugger off, quit being so mean to Draco! He hasn't done a thing to you since we went out!" I yelled.

"What about the dungbomb?" He hissed, standing up and glaring over the table at me. I stood up too.

"That was a prank, Ron! You've never done one of those?"

"That isn't the point! He's only going out with you to get to Harry, he doesn't like you!" Ron bellowed with no apparent regard for tact. I stood there gaping at him until he finally realized what he'd said and his anger melted away reluctantly. "Aw, c'mon, Gin, it's not like you really liked him anyway—"

My lip quivered and I bit it until I tasted copper. "You… you… fuck off, Ron."

"Ginny—" he started, reaching out for my arm. I slapped it as hard as I could.

"Get the hell away from me." I muttered quietly, stood up, and sped out of the room as fast as I could while still retaining my dignity. Leah and Aaron even stopped snogging to stop and watch me storm past. The Great Hall was silent as I made my lonely way back up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, but then I stopped in the middle of the entrance hall, and made my way down to the dungeons, still not hearing any noise from the Great Hall except for the huge doors opening twice—the first letting two sets of footsteps run up the marble staircase, the second letting a clack of expensive shoes shuffle towards me in the dungeons.

I let him open the door and go past me, down a few steps.

"Is it true, Draco?"

He didn't even look surprised, just turned to face me, his eyes twinkling in torchlight, and then fading to the dull luster of ancient granite as he saw my face. My eyes welled up before I could do anything to stop it, however much I screamed at my overactive tear ducts to stop.

"Well… fuck me, I suppose," I mumbled to myself, then went back out the door, running the rest of the way towards Gryffindor Tower.

***