Don't Call Me Weasel! By Jedi Tess of Gryffindor

I'd like to apologize in advance for the extreme shortness of this section, but it's an important scene and needs your undivided attention. Ginny doesn't exactly bitch, but she grows up a bit. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: !efil a teg ,egassem siht gnidaer er 'uoy fI (yes, this DOES actually say something!).

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Ginny's last day in the Hospital Wing started out normally.

Hermoine brought her breakfast, and tidings of great joy.

"For some reason, Dumbledore's suddenly decided we need a ball," she said brightly. However, this generalized news out of the way, her expression drooped a bit. "Problem is, we have to ask someone from another house, if we're going."

"Poor Ron, bet he's furious," Ginny grinned. "Are you going?"

"Of course - I have to, I'm Head Girl," Hermoine retorted. "I actually have it pretty easy. I just have to open the show with a dance with the Head Boy." She smirked. No one was entirely sure how Justin Finch-Fletchley had landed the honor, as his grades were average and he'd never done anything particularly amazing, but no one complained. He was a great guy, and the resident Hufflepuff hottie.

"Oh, what a bummer," Ginny sniggered at her.

"So, you'll come?" Hermoine asked, eyeing Ginny anxiously.

"If someone asks me," the redhead said primly. Provided, of course, that someone wasn't a blonde Slytherin. She had a nasty feeling Hermoine might try to talk him into it. Well, she wasn't going with someone who had to be convinced she was good enough!

In fact, several guys stopped by the Wing that day (none of them Draco, thankfully). Ginny finally decided on Jared Boot, a boy in her year and a Ravenclaw. He was nice, easy-going, and pretty cute.

Harry came later that evening.

"Hermoine told you about the ball, did she?" he teased, reclining in his chair. "Who're you going with?"

"Terry Boot's younger brother," Ginny said, blushing slightly. "You?"

"Padma Patil," he said, coloring faintly himself. "Pavarti kept nagging me. Said Padma really liked me or something."

"Well, you are one of the cutest boys in your year," she pointed out innocently. "How many people asked you before you gave in?"

"Five," he mumbled, his face positively burning now.

"Ooh, getting some action, Potter?" she drawled.

"Speaking of Slytherins," Harry said pointedly. Ginny fell silent. She no longer cried about Draco, but instead resorted to untamable temper tantrums. This never stopped Harry from asking after him.

"Didn't he come to see you today?" Harry pressed, watching her closely.

"No, he didn't," she snapped. "And if you don't mind, I'd rather not discuss him."

Harry was silent for a long moment.

"Anything I can do, Gin?" he asked simply. "Sometimes it helps to talk about it."

"Har-ry," she sighed, trying to glare at him and knowing it was a wasted effort. "I tried that. The bottom line is that he led me along to amuse himself, and then dropped it when I started to show genuine interest. That doesn't exactly make me feel like being all docile and forgiving - know what I mean?"

Harry sighed, glancing at his watch.

"Gotta run," he said, standing. "But, Gin, as your friend - brother, really - take my advice and wait for the bloody wanker to tell you how he really feels. He might surprise you." And before she could comment, or retort, he was gone.

Ginny spent a moment fighting down her irritation that Harry was actually standing up for Draco, and then called for Madam Pomphrey.

"Can you still release me tonight?" she asked hopefully. Harry had sounded as though he was expecting Draco to have showed up today and she did not want to think about what she might say - or do - to him if he came.

"Well, you're no longer contagious," the nurse said. "You should take two more days off school, though, just to be sure you're strong enough to cope with day to day strains. You have been gone for quite some time."

"Thank you!" Ginny gushed, earning a surprised look from the nurse. She clambered out of bed and pulled a pair of jeans and a tee shirt from her nightstand. Hermoine had brought them in view of her coming release. She went into the fully equipped bathroom and took a quick shower. Then she got dressed and braided her hair back.

Feeling very refreshed, she stepped back into the Wing.

And froze.

Draco sat in the chair by her bed, staring morosely through a window at the opposite end of the Wing. His back was to her, and Ginny decided to let him think she'd drowned in the bathroom, rather than face him. She began to turn -

"Don't bother," he said without turning. "I know you're there."

She halted again. She felt a thrill of excitement - of anger - at the sound of his hard voice. Her chest rose and fell in a quick breath.

"I have nothing to say to you," her reply was so quiet she wasn't sure he heard her.

"Well, I have something to say to you." Apparently, he had. He stood up and turned to face her. Ginny bit back a gasp. Draco had changed. His expression wasn't conceited, but rather, hardened by pain. His eyes bore into her and she couldn't look away.

"What?" she whispered, feeling tears fill her eyes. How did he do this to her? What right did he have to do this to her?

He crossed to her, leaving a few feet between them. He must have seen her brimming eyes and trembling lips, because suddenly he cupped her cheek in his hand.

"Please don't cry, Gin," he begged - yes, begged - softly. Had it not been for the building anger she harbored against him, Ginny might have yielded to the painfully gentle touch. But her sense of betrayal, her disgust with his casual dismissal and long absence, made her turn her head deliberately away from his touch.

"Why shouldn't I cry?" she croaked, the first tear spilling over. "I have every reason to."

"Not anymore," Draco offered, dropping his hand and taking another step toward her. "Look - Gin, I didn't mean what I said."

"Oh, you didn't really want me to get the hell away from you." She glared at him through her tears. "Well, for your information, I am not a roadside attraction that you can just use and leave at will. I'm a person, damn it! Get that through your thick scull! Maybe you don't understand how love works, but I do. You're not the only one involved anymore, Draco! I'm the other half. It's really too bad that you can't understand that. I was willing to love you and I was ready to accept that you had a lot to learn, but - " she broke off, with a sob, then continued - "you blew it."

His stare hardened.

"What makes you think I ever loved you, Weasely?" he snarled. Ginny was stung. She didn't think that she had ever hurt so much in her short life.

"Oh, well then, my mistake," she bit out. "Forgive me for not being a pushover. Forgive me for wanting more from you than a few kisses and some pick-up lines."

"I was about to offer you something else," he snapped, taking another step toward her. Ginny held her ground.

"After what you just said, I don't think you really understand what I want!" she retorted. She had never been so furious.

"And what, pray tell, 'don't I understand'?" he hissed, his eyes narrowed.

Ginny felt fresh tears flowing down her cheeks, but she didn't care.

"How much simpler can I make it?" she shouted, fighting back sobs. "God, if you were any duller, I could probably convince you to eat your own hand!"

"What do you want from me?" Draco finally growled, and she could tell, with a horrible sinking feeling in her chest, that he honestly didn't understand. And that made things worse. So much worse.

"All I want, Draco," she whispered, enunciating very carefully, her voice very soft, "is to love and be loved in return. It's so straightforward, why can't you just get it into your brain?"

"Sorry, Weasel. Next time you decide to throw a quiz, make sure to warn me so I can go study," he said sarcastically. Ginny just stared at him in disbelief. So that was it.

"Don't worry, Malfoy," were her icy words. "I won't put you through that kind of emotional trauma again. I'm sorry for bothering you."

Virginia Weasely, newly proclaimed woman, turned and strode proudly from the Hospital Wing, her heart all but shattered.

Not two feet from the place where she had just been, a young man watched as the consequences of a prideful heart disappeared out of the Hospital Wing.

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Well, I know it's short, but I wanted to get the confrontation out of the way. It didn't live up to my expectations, but I hope you're decently satisfied. Please hang in there, the conclusion'll come in the next couple of chapters or so.