Author's Note: Ginny suddenly grew a pair! *lol* I mean, she's slowly becoming a "bad girl" sorta...hmm...gutsier is more like it! Well, thank you all for reviewing this fic! I am so glad and your reviews are the ones that's making me continue on writing this story--the reviews plus that Shania Twain song that I left playing over and over in my discman! :::evil laugh:::

Disclaimer: I must've written this numerous times as it is and you know what? NOT MINE!!!

Summary: Ginny Weasley received the shocker of a lifetime when she entered her sixth year at Hogwarts. She fell in love with the last person on earth she thought she'd fall for. Now she has to do everything in her power to grab his attention and make him hers--even if she have to face the wrath of her six brothers and her parents, not to mention the wrath of Hermione and Harry when they find out what she was planning to do.

Setting: Ginny is in her 6th year; Draco is in his 7th year

~*~*~*~*~*~

IX. Working Together

Draco was roused early Saturday morning by the continuous pecking on his forehead. Some pesky owl got lose around the boys' dormitory and now it was picking on him.

"Damn blasted bird." he growled under his breath and grabbed the pillow he was using and placed it over his head, but the pesky owl didn't stop bothering him. This time it started pecking on his exposed hand. Angrily snatching the pillow from his head, Draco glared at the annoying owl and would've bellowed at it if he didn't notice the brownish-white owl waiting patiently for him to rouse had a small parchment between its beak.

Frowning he pushed himself up on his elbow and snatched the parchment from its beak. He unrolled it and read the elegant scribble:

Ferret Boy, Meet me out by the lake shortly after sunrise. I'll be seated on that big boulder near the Quidditch pitch. We need to start working on our project for Potions.

Draco looked at the bottom of the parchment and it was simply signed, Red.

Draco grinned when he read what she signed her note to him. So the weasel's using my pet name, eh? And bloody hell, meet her shortly after sunrise?! Is she out of her freaking mind? he glanced out the window of his dorm room. He had a vast view of the horizon from where his bed was placed and he saw that the sun was just rising. Damn Weasley! he cursed mentally and angrily shoved his blanket away.

Ginny must've been up at the crack of dawn. Her owl's timing was perfect. Angrily he trudged towards the bathroom and showered.

~*~

Ginny waited patiently for her Potions partner to arrive at their designated meeting place. After their class yesterday afternoon, and after Snape told them who their partners will be for the experiment, Draco pretty much ignored her. They didn't get the chance to discuss how and when they will start working on their report because as soon as Potions was over Draco was out the door.

"This better be good, Red, or else you'll be sorry you dragged my ass out of bed at this ungodly hour of the morning." Draco snarled at her when he reached their meeting spot.

Ginny turned towards the direction of her Potions partner's direction, an eyebrow raised and a smirk plastered on her face.

"You're late." she said and jumped off the boulder she was perched on. Today she chose to dress casually. Faded low-rise jeans that flair at the bottom, black, shiny combat boots, and a cream coloured long-sleeved V-necked blouse. Compared to her outrageous outfit the day before, she looked rather tamed today. She didn't bother wearing any make-ups and her hair remained straight--no time to curl them like the day before. Besides it would only get messed up by the wind since she and Draco would be spending majority of their study time outside.

Draco raised an eyebrow. He stood back and squared his shoulders, slipping his hands in the pockets of his snug fitting dark blue boot-cut jeans.

"No I'm not. You didn't give any precise time. All you said is meet you out here shortly after sunrise. And here I am."

"I still say you're late." Ginny insisted, "But nevertheless, we're wasting time. We need to work on our report and what a better way to do that than start off by testing the potion, don't you agree?"

"Test it, Red?" he questioned, "Are you out of your flipping mind?"

"No, as I matter of fact I am not out of my flipping mind, Ferret Boy." she jutted her chin high and met his gaze, "I took some samples from the potion we brewed yesterday when Snape wasn't looking. I thought it would be practical to do so instead of basing our report on 'what ifs' when we actually find out the results for ourselves before everybody else does." she pointed out matter-of-factly.

Draco could only stare at her in amazement. Was she serious?

"You are aware that what you're doing is considered cheating, right?" he questioned her.

"So?" she gave a careless shrug and opened her book bag which consisted of the small vial of their brewed potion from the day before. She placed it on the boulder she was perched on earlier along with a couple of pieces of parchment, her favourite quill pen and a bottle of ink.

"Is this how you passed Potions last year? By cheating your way through it?" he questioned, still stunned at finding out about this side of Ginny Weasley nobody would dare suspect she was capable of.

Ginny stopped busying herself with her stuff and looked up at Draco's confused and curious face.

"No, Ferret Boy, this isn't how I passed Potions last year. I just simply relied on my wits and intuition." she replied before adding, "Besides, how can you possibly formulate speculations about how this potion works if we don't try it? In case you have forgotten, Snape never mentioned what kind of potion it is that we're brewing. He just said that it's a very useful potion." she scrunched her tiny nose and cocked her head to the side, "Don't you think that's a bit too vague of an explanation from his part? I mean, we're talking about Snape here!"

"I do recall him saying that, but still--"

Ginny raised her hand to stop him from saying anything further, "Please. Based on the ingredients he provided for us, there's no way in heaven or hell that we'll be able to figure out exactly what kind of potion it was that we brewed! And don't you want to get full marks for this, huh?" she challenged.

"By cheating?"

Ginny rolled her eyes heavenwards and shook her head, "And to think you're a slimy Slytherin git." she muttered under her breath and continued unpacking the rest of her belongings.

"And what's that suppose to mean?" he demanded, insulted at her implication.

"Nothing, nothing, nothing." she shook her head and kept her eyes glued on the stuff she placed on the boulder.

Draco wanted to question her further regarding her remark, but he knew they were wasting valuable time arguing so against his will he stood beside Ginny and looked through the notes she took in class. She wrote down each ingredient and had the small vial of potion they brewed in front of them. Since Ginny was the one doing much of the analyzing of the potion for their report, this gave Draco the chance to actually study the brazen redhead he was unfortunate enough to be partnered with. He noted the way she dressed herself today; it was way more tamer than yesterday's attire! What the hell was she thinking wearing a skimpy uniform? Was she after guys ogling at her and chasing her? Hell, she already have half the male population of the school wrapped around her candle-like finger without having to resort to wearing trampy clothing, what did she want to prove by doing it anyway?

He stood back and studied the youngest Weasley offspring carefully. Whether dressed up or dressed down--or dressed somewhere in between--she still looked strikingly remarkable. That shock of red hair resting on her small head, cascading down her small, slender back, the soft morning breeze billowing her soft red locks and framing her elfin-like face was enough to drive any sane man crazy over. Her enchanting smile, a slow, come-hither smile that Draco knew was pure and genuine could light up the night sky.

And she's got brains as well as brawns. A very rare combination found these days.

Granger has a competition against Weasley. he thought to himself as he continued to watch Ginny pour out her entire concentration trying to figure out what the potion Snape asked them to brew the day before was.

Ginny knew she was being watched by Draco. She could feel the hairs at the back of her neck rising as Draco continued to watch her. Normally it would annoy her to have someone watch her intently, but in this instant she didn't mind being watched.

Mission one accomplished. she thought proudly, hiding a victorious grin as she continued to frown at the ingredients before her and tried to make sense of what it could possibly be. Expelling a frustrated sigh she addressed Draco without turning her gaze away from the notes she was reading:

"If you're done gawking at me would you mind lending me your brain in trying to figure out what this blasted potion is, hm?"

Draco glared at her then. "I wasn't gawking at you, Weasel." he denied.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." she teased, chuckling.

"Ah, shut-up." he snapped and stood beside her again, he scanned the piece of parchment where she wrote down the ingredients and tried to make sense of it. "Got any ideas what this potion could be?" he asked after pondering on the ingredients and some of Ginny's notes for a few minutes.

"Nope. I have no idea." Ginny shook her mop of red hair and looked up at Draco, "I thought you might have the slightest inkling as to what it might be."

"Like hell I do." he muttered and turned to look down at her, "Now don't you think we should try out the potion we brewed yesterday to find out exactly what it is?"

Ginny scrunched her forehead into a frown, a very cute act that Draco found so amusing and wouldn't mind looking at for the rest of the day, and sighed.

"Let's put our heads together first and figure out what it is, write down a list of possibilities for this damn potion then we try it." she suggested.

Draco pondered on her suggestion for a minute or two. Crossing his arms over his chest, one hand scratching his chin as his forehead creased into a frown of deep contemplation. Ginny waited for him to make up his mind, crossing her arms over her chest as well and rolled her eyes at him.

"C'mon Ferret Boy, it doesn't take a whole damn day for you to decide on our next course of action here!" she pointed out rather annoyed at him for taking his damn time.

"Shut-up, Red." Draco drawled, glaring down at her.

Ginny merely shook her head and rolled her eyes at him once more. She returned her attention back on the notes and grabbed a quill, dipped it in the ink bottle and started scribbling down some of the possibilities of what their latest potion experiment could be. If Mr. High and Almighty would like to take his time, well she can't do anything about it, but she, on the other hand, cannot thus she was starting her guessing.

"What are you doing?!" Draco questioned when he saw what she was doing.

"Writing down possible answer to this mind-boggling potions experiment, that's why." she replied flatly, her tone laced with sarcasm with a tinge of boredom. Really, if she wasn't only interested in him she wouldn't be putting up with him like this! And if she wasn't only after him noticing her--which he already does, but that was besides the point, she wanted to see him as something other than a poor, pathetic Weasley--she wouldn't even bother spending time with him.

"I thought we should be brainstorming together?" he snarled angrily at her.

"Oh please. You call standing there tapping your chin with your index finger brainstorming while I stand here watching you?" she looked up incredulously at him then, her eyes wide in mock disbelief, "I'd rather start working on jotting down possible answers than wait for you to have a moment there and voila! You figured out what kind of potion we brewed yesterday."

Draco wanted to say something else to her remark, but he found himself backed up to a corner. She was right, of course. He wasn't really doing much brainstorming with her. He was more thinking of doing the experiment all by himself which was what he would have preferred if it hadn't been for Snape having one of his evil moments and decided to pair up Gryffindors with Slytherins for a certain project or report.

~*~

"Oh my God!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly, her eyes wide from disbelief as she stared at the piece of parchment that magically disappeared--well, part of the parchment anyway--after they put a couple of drops of their brewed potion on it. "It's an invisibility potion!" she exclaimed gaily and unknowingly she wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and started jumping up and down in glee.

Draco remained rooted where he stood, too shocked to feel Ginny Weasley's arms wrapped around him and she was jumping up and down, her svelte body sliding against his as she did so. They just discovered what the potion does after pretty much spending the entire morning pondering on possible ideas; the idea was somewhere down the long list they both have concocted in the near five hours they spent working on their report.

"Oh Draco, we did it! We did it!" Ginny kept on chanting, giggling as she continued to jump higher and higher, but her arms remained locked around his neck

Draco arm's went around her waist then, intending to stop her from jumping too much, but instead he found himself locking both arms around her waist, turning to fully face her. By then Ginny stopped jumping for joy and just remained locked in his arms, her green eyes (a/n: I know, I know, this has been pointed out ot me before that Ginny's got brown eyes according to the book, but since I started this fic giving her green eyes, I might as well continue on using it, alrighty? THANKS!) locking with his cool gray ones. Her smile remained arrested on her cute face while Draco remained holding her close, his breath fanning her face as their face were that close to each other's once again.

This is it! Oh jeez this is it! Ginny's brain screamed excitedly as she watched, unblinkingly, as Draco's platinum blond head move closer and closer still. Automatically Ginny's eyes closed when Draco's lips were a mere fraction of an inch from hers, anticipating the first touch of his lips against hers.

Malfoy, what the hell do you think you're doing? his brain was screaming at him as his head kept on moving closer and closer, closing the gap between his lips and the alluring redhead's lips. Hello, reality to Malfoy, hello?! You're going to snog a Weasley, hello?! But Draco was beyond listening by then. All his concentration centered on feeling the soft petals of Ginny Weasley's lips crushed against his. If her soft, svelte body was anything to go by her lips would be as soft and tantalizing as the rest of her.

C'mon, just a few short friggin' inches and you're kissing me already! Ginny's mind practically squealed as she anticipated the touch of Draco's lips on hers. Taking a deep breath she braced herself for the inevitable and then...

"Oh no!" she exclaimed when a sudden strong gust of wind sent the parchment of paper they were working on flying about. "Damn wind!" Ginny muttered as she sprung away from Draco's arms and hurried after one piece of parchment flying away.

Draco was left where he stood, taking a few minutes to figure out what just happened, then he saw Ginny running after a piece of parchment flying towards the lake and realized that the wind picked up and now all their hard work was being scattered about. He bent down and grabbed a rock nearby and placed it on the remaining parchments on the boulder before joining Ginny in chasing some of the other parchments floating about.

My sentiments exactly, Red. Damn wind it is indeed! he thought savagely as he crushed a couple of parchments in his hands soon after getting his hands on them.

~*~*~*~*~

to be continued...

A/N: tun-dun-dun-dun...hehehe, another near-kiss spoiled! :::evil cackle::: am I mean/evil or what?! anyway, I am so totally enjoying this and...well, I am just enjoying making Ginny some sort of sex goddess, ya know what I'm saying? I admit my Ginny is very much unlike most of the Ginny's on ff.net, but don't worry, there's still a bit of that old Ginny lurking in her somewhere...again, thanks for the reviews & as usual, read, review, & enjoy!!!

Risquer: thanks for saying my story rocks, and now here's the next chappie!

Andie: no problem, you're welcome, hehehehe & here's the answer to your request, the next chapter! *grins*

mint-chan: thank you for reviewing my fic, and just to clear up why Ginny & Hermione are in the same class, I believe I explained it already in like the third chapter or second chapter (I can't really recall) that Ginny got promoted so instead of her taking Potions class with the sixth year, Snape promoted her to take Advanced Potions with the seventh year. and I totally agree, after watching CoS I just totally fell in love with Draco! *lol* and btw, don't you think Tom Felton is hot??? *grins*

Rebuky: well...they'll be lovers...they'll be friends...they'll be a couple...they'll be enemies...hehehehe, there's going to be a little bit of everything in their relationship--I think *winks*

MYSTIQUE: amen to that! *lol* If there was a Draco like the one I just described in my life, hell, I wouldn't even bother drooling over the Draco in the book or the Draco in the movies *wink* hehehehe

Orothoroniel aka Celena: uhm...okay, that has been mentioned to me twice, what is a Mary Sue? I am not quite familiar with that term. and yes, I am making Ginny act way out of character simply because...well, simply because I wanted her to shock everybody else--which I believe she did, hehehehe--and don't worry, it was just that one time that Ginny's gonna be dressing all slutty...I think, hehehehehe

Slytherin Child: I just want to make Ron suffer for being the brother of the suddenly "hot Hogwarts babe" hehehehe, I think it's kinda funny to make Ron go all protective of Ginny, sputtering here and there and just gettin bug-eyed whenever Draco and Ginny are near each other, hehehehe

[anonymous] thanks for loving the story and leaving your mark if not your name, hehehehehe

Kitycat87: wondered how she pulled what off? hehehehe

Isadora: thanks for leaving your mark, and here's the next chapter