A/N: It's been edited.
Chapter five:
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"So you mean that it's like a ... big box? And... you can push buttons, and things happens on the... screen?" Ron looked at Hermione with disbelief. She couldn't really be serious? Was she making fun of him?
Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, but tried to hold back a smile "Yes Ron! And we call it computer. C-o-m-p-u-t-e-r."
Ron shook his head. No way that he could believe that. He, Harry and Hermione were sitting in the great hall eating lunch, and Hermione was trying to explain some things they had in the Muggle-world. Harry wasn't a part of the conversation though. He was sitting in his chair looking puzzled. Something was wrong with Ginny. She had been acting really strange that night in the corridor. What was wrong?
"Hey, Harry, didn't McGonagall want to talk to you?" Harry shook his head but didn't look at him. He looked at the little red-haired girl entering the great hall. She smiled and walked over to them. "Hi."
Ron sighed. "Hi Ginny," Harry saw the smile on Ginny's face fade for a couple of seconds before it was there again. "I have to go to the library... catching up some of the homework," she said and hurried away without eating anything, but Harry could've sworn he'd seen tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Harry, you said only an hour ago that McGonagall wanted to discuss Quidditch. Didn't he, Hermione?" Harry sighed.
"Well, no I've already talked to her about it. But don't worry, I'll leave now. I'm going to the library, so you'll be alone with Hermione anyway." Harry answered and followed Ginny through the portrait hole. Ron sat in his chair, his cheeks its normal red colour and Hermione's hair fluffy.
~*~*~*~
Ginny walked into the library and sat down at a table. She looked down at her books and sighed. So much to read, and so little time. She closed her eyes and allowed her thoughts to wander of on their own.
'It was actually quite nice to sit out there and talk. He never interrupted me. He only listened to what I said and he didn't laugh. He just listened. Ok, so he pretended he didn't care, but his eyes told me otherwise. God, what am I saying? I hate him! This is Malfoy I'm talking about. He'd do anything to... to what? I'm fooling myself; Draco Malfoy doesn't have any feelings... '
She quickly opened her eyes as she heard someone sit down at the other side of the table.
"Don't look so scared. I promise I won't bite you... hard," Draco said quietly to make sure no one could hear him.
Ginny opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She stared at him with a blank expression and her mouth hanging open.
Draco sighed. "So I finally get to see the smart side of you." She closed her mouth and gazed him suspiciously, but still didn't say anything. After five minutes of looking each other in the eyes she finally spoke, her voice very hoarse. "Since you're still sitting here, I assume you want to talk about something."
Draco felt his heart skip a beat but he tried to look as calm as humanly possible "No, not really. Just checking how Hogwarts biggest loser is feeling this afternoon." Draco immediately regretted saying that as he saw her reaction. 'Wait a minute; I don't care about her feelings. So what if she's sad? She's just a damn Mudblood lover. A useless Mudblood lover and a Weasley. But then again, she's so much like me and I could really need someone to talk with... but no! Not her, not ever!'
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. She knew that tears were coming, but she wasn't gonna let him see it. She couldn't. 'So I was wrong after all... I almost thought that he might have some good feelings. But, we all know "almost" doesn't count, right? Or maybe...' she opened her eyes and looked into his. "I don't believe you. What's wrong, Draco?"
He turned away his gaze and tried to think of something sarcastic, but all he could come up with just slipped out before he could stop it "Everything is wrong and nothing is right. Just as always."
'If you pity me now, I'll kill you.' He cautiously looked at her again, and almost choked. She didn't look angry; neither did she pity him. But she looked really tired, and really... understanding. And understand she did. "But will things get better?" she asked quietly.
"If they only could... " he sighed.
"I know what you mean. Sometimes you just want to scream to the world to make it listen to you. But it never does," she hesitated "If you ever feel like it... " She didn't end the sentence, but he thought he knew what she was trying to say.
She didn't know why she didn't leave; it was the best thing to do, but she couldn't. He looked so lost, as if he was trying to understand where he was and why.
He was just about to talk to her when he looked around the library, and his eyes fell upon a certain black-haired boy, hiding behind a big book, but he could clearly see he was watching them.
'Get a life, Potter.'
"Hey, Weasel, we have an audience"
Discreetly, Ginny turned her head towards the big book, and the body belonging to Harry. She turned back to Draco. "I should go... " she took a piece of parchment and scribbled something on it before she stood up and gathered her books. He looked up at her, and he tried, he really did, to hide it, but he could feel some of his confusion reflecting in his eyes. She took a deep breath and slipped him the note before she turned her heel and walked away.
~*~*~*~
She gave him a note?! Had she gone crazy? Harry couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. He'd seen them talk, not scream, simply talk. Malfoy hadn't even said anything to him, Harry, when he saw him. 'He's up to something. I just know it! The hard thing will be to find out exactly what... ' Harry left his book and started to walk up to the common room again, with a plan beginning to take form in his head...
~*~*~*~
He looked down at the note and read it:
"I'll be out by the lake around 11 o'clock tonight."
"Hey, Handsome, what do you have there? A love letter?" Draco quickly put the note in his book and looked up at Pansy.
"No, it's a letter from my father. Anyway, it's none of your business. What do you want?"
Pansy sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulders. "Just wanted to say that my roommates will be sleeping out in the common room tonight, so my room will be empty... and I think I'll be feeling kind of... lonely... " Draco sighed.
'God, I'd rather die.' He leaned closer to her, so their mouths were only inches apart, and was shocked of her awful breath. Pansy smiled and leaned in closer, waiting for him to kiss her and then he said "So why don't you join them then... and leave me alone?" and with that he took his books and walked away.
"Hey, wait up! Draco!" Pansy came running after him and put her arms around his shoulders again.
Draco turned to her and pulled away her arm "If you don't leave me alone, I swear, I'll kill you, Pansy."
He walked away again, and this time she didn't follow.
'She must be the most annoying person in this world... I go with her to one dance, and she thinks I'll marry her!'
His next lesson was potions, so he started to walk down to the dungeons. He usually liked the dungeons; it always matched his mood. But today he just wanted to get out of there, especially since the Dream Team were there. He could see Potter watching him like a hawk.
"Hey Draco! Where have you been? We got some chocolate pudding from the kitchen!" Crabbe and Goyle came to him, carrying about five boxes of chocolate pudding and grinning happily. They handed over some of it to Draco and waited for him to compliment them. But Draco just sighed.
"Yeah, great," he muttered and handed it back to them. He walked in to the classroom, and spent the rest of his lessons starring down at a little piece of parchment.
~*~*~*~
Draco laid in his bed, listening to cold wind in the curtains. It was almost 11 o'clock now, and he still hadn't decided if he should go and meet her or not. If he did, he knew he would tell her everything that was on his mind. But if he didn't go... he'd probably regret it.
'To go or not to go... to be or not to be... stupid... I hate her. I really do... " He sighed and stood up. Of course he would go. He'd known it the whole time, but just didn't want to realise it. Silently, he sneaked out of his dorm and out through the big entrance and headed down to the tree where they had met the last time. No one was there yet, so he sat down and leaned against the big tree.
After ten minutes she still hadn't shown up. 'So she won't come. I'll kill her tomorrow... ' he thought and tried to ignore the feeling of disappointment.
~*~*~*~
Ginny looked at her watch, almost 11 o'clock. 'I'd better get going... ' she thought nervously and pulled away her blanket, revealing her school robe. She put some of her pillows under her blanket and arranged it so it looked like her body. Satisfied, she walked quietly towards the stairs leading down to the common room. She wasn't sure if he was going to be there, but she hoped he would. She had caught herself longing for this moment a couple of times during her lessons and it confused her. She didn't like Draco, but still... maybe he was the one who she could talk to, the one who would understand everything she couldn't understand.
~*~*~*~
Down in the common room, Harry sat in a big couch with his head in his hands. He had been trying to find out what that note was all about, but Malfoy had been holding it all day, protecting it with his life. And except the usual sneers, he hadn't paid much attention to Harry, Ron and Hermione, which was quite strange, since his favourite hobby was to make their life miserable.
He felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, and he had a big problem staying awake. He gathered his strength to walk up the staircase, which seemed very long at the moment, to his dorm, when he heard something. Something coming from the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory.
He held his breath and tried not to make a sound. Cautiously, he looked over to the stairs, where he now could see a little figure moving towards the exit. It walked very slowly, as to make sure no one could hear it. It walked past a window, and in the light of the moon Harry could see the bright red hair, and the little freckled face, and recognised it as Ginny.
"And where do you think you're going?"
~*~*~*~
Ginny froze and felt her heart beating faster. Slowly she turned around and met Harry suspicious eyes. She swallowed nervously, and put on her usual smile "Oh, hi Harry. I was just... going to get my... " Desperately she looked around the room and her eyes fell upon a red book laying on a table just beside her, she grabbed it and waved it in front of him, "Book!"
Harry didn't look amused. In fact, he didn't buy any of it. "That's my book, Ginny," he said with a low voice and watched as the panic started to take her over.
With the smile still glued on her face she forced a laugh. "Oh, silly me! If it's yours, it can't be mine, now can it?"
"Were you going to meet Malfoy?"
Ginny's smile faded, and was replaced by fear. "N-no... "
"Ginny, is he threatening you?" he sounded really serious, and almost concerned, but most of all as if he were trying to hold back a rage of anger.
Ginny shook her head. "No, Harry," she whispered, "He's not threatening me. He wouldn't do that."
"It's ok, Gin, you can tell me. Are you afraid of him?" he sounded more soft now, after all, he didn't want to make her upset. But if Malfoy was doing anything to her against her will, he'd kill him!
But Ginny just kept shaking her head, and tears were now streaming down her face "Don't you get it, Harry?" she whispered, "He's not the one that scares me, YOU are. Don't you get it?" and after that she turned around and slipped through the portrait hole and ran down the corridors. The tears in her eyes made it difficult to see where she was running, but she didn't care. Once again that castle made it hard for her to breathe, and she wanted out... out to Draco...
~*~*~*~
Draco looked up at the big entrance doors, and saw her. She was running towards him. His heart skipped a beat and he watched her coming closer. When only a few metres away, she stumbled and with a scream she fell to the ground. Before he could stop himself, he ran over to her and sat down on his knees next to her.
He helped her up to sitting position and heard her sob. Gently, he put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "What's wrong?" he whispered. And all the anger he had felt because she was late was gone when he saw her tear-filled eyes.
She sobbed again and looked into his eyes. His deep, grey eyes. They looked so beautiful in the moonlight. Why hadn't she noticed that before?
"It's... Harry," she whispered back.
Draco felt like he had just got hit in the stomach. 'Potter? She's crying over... Potter?' Was that jealousy he felt? No, of course it wasn't... "What about Potter?" he asked, and Ginny could hear the tone of anger in his voice.
"He... caught me, trying to get here. That's why I'm, so late. You should've seen him... "
"I don't think I would've want that"
Ginny ignored him "He scares me," she whispered and closed her eyes. She didn't see the look of surprise in Draco's face, or the flash of hope.
"He what?"
"Scares me. Every time I look at him, I remember-I remember what happened in my first year here at Hogwarts. I can still remember that pale boy claiming to be Tom, while in fact he was just... Voldemort. And that reminds me of what Harry told me, when he tried to explain how he was able to talk to that snake. He said that it was because some of Voldemort's power had gone over to him, to Harry. He thought that would comfort me, but it didn't. If Voldemort's powers are in Harry now, then doesn't that make Harry and Voldemort the same person in a way?" Ginny was crying uncontrollable now and Draco pulled her closer, and hugged her.
Ginny buried her face in his chest and cried out. She felt safe in his arms. She didn't know why he was sitting there with her, but she thankfully accepted it. She could hear him whisper comforting words in her ears, and after what seemed like forever, they pulled away from each other.
Draco thought for a minute that he should say something. Something mocking, like he always did, but it didn't seem... necessary. He could still hear his father's words echo in his head, 'Never show them what you really feel,' but this time he could hear another voice and it sounded like his own 'Why not? What do I have to lose?'
Ginny dried her wet cheeks. "Aren't you afraid of anything?"
'Yes.'
"No."
Ginny smiled. "I believe you are," she said shyly and bit her lip. She shouldn't have said that.
Draco shook his head, clearly annoyed. How did she do that? She always seemed to know what he was thinking! God he... didn't hate her... but he didn't like her... very much. "Since you seem to know everything about me, why don't you tell me what I'm afraid of?" he asked.
Ginny shrugged "Probably the same thing as I. You're afraid of being left alone with no one to talk to and no one to listen to you. The normal stuff."
"That doesn't make any sense! I'm already alone, with no one to talk to!"
"Then you're afraid of something else."
"Yeah, right."
Ginny looked at him. "You don't always have to be like this, you know."
Draco's face darkened. "Like what, if I may ask?"
"Like that! Always so... angry and defensive! It's not like I can hurt you anyway."
'Wanna bet?'
"I'm not acting defensive, and even if I was, you'd never understand why."
"If you explained it to me, I would."
"Since when did we come to this sharing everything basis? I don't have to tell you anything!"
Ginny blushed "I-I know that." Just a second ago she had felt secure about herself, but now... it was like normal. She was useless.
Draco laid down and rested his head in his hands and Ginny leaned against the tree and closed her eyes.
"I think my father scares me," Draco muttered so quiet he wasn't sure if she'd heard.
Ginny looked at him "Oh... "
"You know, my father has these rules for how I'm supposed to act. I still think he's right about Mudbloods and stuff, but... I'm starting to doubt the big Weasley-hate."
Ginny blushed again, "So, why do you hate 'Mudbloods'? What have they done to you?"
Draco thought for a minute. 'What have they done to me? Well... nothing, really. If you don't count Potter, of course.'
But before Draco answered Ginny interrupted him "The only 'Mudbloods' in this world are the Death Eaters."
"No, that's not true! Mudbloods makes us live like this. They force us to hide!"
"No, Draco, they don't. It's not their fault that they don't have magical powers, it's not like they can do anything to get it. So why punish them? Magic is a wonderful thing, Draco. And you're lucky to have it. But if Muggles knew about it, they would want to have it too, and that's just not possible. But Muggles have learned to live without it; they can do things you never will be able to do without your wand. They're the great ones. Not wizards." Ginny stopped and blushed. Maybe she had gone too far with that...
"But... it's their fault we can't do magic in the open... " Draco tried desperately to hold on to the opinions he'd been hearing all his life. She wasn't gonna take away the only thing he was sure about.
Ginny shook her head "No, it's the Ministry who has decided that. And that's mostly so that we, wizards, can live without being afraid."
She moved closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder "Please don't be mad at me."
No answer.
She sighed and moved away. The wind was playing fiercely with her hair, and she pulled her robes tighter around her. She had left her coat up in her bedroom; she never thought he would come, so she didn't think she'd be out here for so long. But they had been there for over an hour now, and she was freezing.
Draco watched her. He had that weird, annoying feeling again. That... guilt. He knew she was just trying to be helpful, but she took away everything he had ever believed in! But, somewhere deep inside, he knew she was right. He was just not ready to tell her. She was trembling from the cold and her cheeks were gleaming red. He hesitated but moved closer to her and put his coat around her shoulders. "You looked cold," he mumbled and looked down at his hands.
Ginny gazed him confused and put her hand under his chin and made him look at her. She searched his eyes for some kind of doubt, but when she didn't find any she smiled. A real smile. A smile that actually reached her eyes. He didn't smile back at her, after all he didn't know how to, but he didn't sneer either. She leaned against his shoulder and he put his arm around her. They really didn't need to talk anymore. They found comfort in just sitting there in the moonlight.
*~*~*