Author's Note: OK, I admit, I am soooo damn inspired after writing the previous chapter so now I'm sitting here typing the next chapter...I hope you all liked the previous chapter though. I have to admit I was gunning for a little bit of drama back there, did it work? :::grins::: I sure hope so! Anyways, be warned, MORE DRAMA to come (or not, just depends on my mood right now if I wanna continue on being dramatic with the next chapters or not)...

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

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XXI. Cold as the Winter's Chill

Things didn't get better between Draco and Ginny as the weeks progressed. Everyday they slowly drifted apart, with the both of them nursing a broken heart. Ginny earned the support of Harry and was the one who helped her get through the heart ache she was feeling while Draco masked his own feelings, going about his day to day life as if nothing happened at all; as if Ginny meant nothing to him at all but a one time fling that just won't go away.

Potions class was pure torture for the both of them having to sit side by side and often ending up being paired up or put together in a group by Snape. Neither one of them were happy about the arrangement and it was reflected in their work; their last collaboration nearly cost them an F, but thanks to Hermione (she has then forgiven Ginny for socializing with Malfoy after she noticed how hostile the two had become to each other in the recent weeks) they managed to salvage a presentable C-, but it wasn't the same as their previous collaborations in Potions.

Draco wasn't too happy about the mark he received, and he wasn't too shy to show his annoyance to Ginny, blaming her for screwing up their last potions project.

"Me?!" she nearly screamed as soon as Potions was done, "Look, I am not the only one putting the ingredients together, in case you have forgotten." she reminded him bitterly.

"No, I haven't forgotten, Weasley. But you were the one who was suppose to do the measuring not me." he pointed out acidly.

"My measuring was accurate, it was you who kept on screwing things up by saying it was wrong!"

"Me screwing things up?" he sounded incredulous, "My, my, Virginia, I think you got it wrong. It was you who screwed things up, not me."

"I--" she was about to protest, but Draco wasn't finished with his speech yet.

Placing his index finger against her soft, kissable red lips, Draco held Ginny's gaze for the longest time, fighting an inner battle against himself on whether to replace his index finger with his mouth or to continue berating on her.

"You know something, Weasley? My life was just plain ol' peachy until you came along and screwed everything up! You get to me. You got under my skin like some virus I couldn't shake off no matter how hard I tried. My marks weren't suffering as much as they are suffering right now before you came along and ruined everything." he hissed through gritted teeth, his gray eyes piercing right through hers.

Ginny sensed Draco was talking about something else entirely different. Sure he was referring to his marks, but he was also talking about something else.

"Draco--" again she was cut off.

"You blame me for screwing things up when in reality it was you who screwed every damn thing for me!" he accussed.

"I did no such thing!" she denied, "And are we even talking about Potions here or are you referring to something else?" she demanded.

Draco removed his index finger from her lips and stepped back, his gray eyes still glaring at her. "Just make sure you don't screw up the next time Snape paired us together."

Ginny would've had a nice rebuttal to say to him, but Draco already turned his back to her and started to walk away. Infuriated at being blamed for them getting a C- in their latest Potions project, she marched right back to Gryffindor tower to let off some steam.

And so it had been like that between them ever since, Draco only noticing her when he received low marks in Potions, berating on her for screwing things up then making other snide remarks about her and her relationship with Harry. Sometimes he would let their low marks slide, but most of the time he was adamant in pointing it out to her. He still ignored her once they were out of class, and he never called her 'Red' ever again. It was either 'Virginia,' 'Weasley,' or 'Weasel,' never 'Red' or when his tongue slips he called her 'Gin.'

Christmas came too soon. Hogwarts was being spruced up for the holiday season and students were getting all excited to go home and spend Christmas holiday with their family. Ginny wasn't particularly excited to go home to the Burrow this year. She wanted to be as far away from home as possible while she sort out her suddenly messed-up life. She needed to talk to Draco. She needed to find out what exactly happened and why he was acting indifferently towards her after all that has happened to them at the beginning of the school year.

Ginny was sitting by herself one Saturday afternoon before the Christmas break in the Great Hall minding her own business when someone decided to join her at the Gryffindor table, taking a seat right beside her and nudging her in the process.

Looking up from the book she was reading, she was ready to bite the head off her unwanted companion when she looked into a pair of cold gray eyes she hadn't gazed in to for quite some time now.

"Draco." his name slipped out of her mouth like a whisper, her green eyes softening and a slight hint of smile crossing her face.

"What are you doing all by yourself in the castle, Weasley? Where's your boyfriend and his friends?" he sneered.

"Harry's not my boyfriend. We're just friends." she defended.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be at Hogsmeade with the rest of the school?" she questioned.

"I was, but then I got bored so I came back here." he shrugged.

"And what's the point of you sitting here with me?"

"Nothing." he shrugged again and pushed himself off the chair, "I was passing by the Great Hall and saw you sitting in here, thought I'd stop by and say hi."

Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Since when in the last few weeks did you suddenly decide to stop by and say 'hi' to me, hm?" she looked up incredulously at him, not believing what she just heard.

"Just now." came his bland reply. "Anyway, here." he tossed a small gift-wrapped thing on the desk in front of her, "Goodbye."

Ginny picked up the small gift and held it in her hands, examining it carefully before calling out to him and asked, "What's this?" she fanned the gift in front of her for him to see, an eyebrow raised quesitoningly at him.

"What do you think it is, Weasel?" came Draco's snide remark.

"I know it's a gift, duh! But the question is, why are you giving me a gift?"

Draco took his time before answering, contemplating on how better to say what he wanted to say to her. "Oh, just consider it a payment for services well rendered." he dropped his voice to a mere whisper so only she could hear, a mischievous grin playing on his handsome face as he watched Ginny's face ashen at his innuendo before turning a bright shade of red that almost matched her famous red hair.

"How dare you--" but Draco cut her tirade off by straightening up and walking away, casually calling over his shoulder, "Have a nice holiday, Weasel."

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to be continued...

A/N: hmm...I dunno if my title for this chappie kinda made sense, but in case any of ya'll are wondering why I titled this chappie as such, I'm trying to refer to the way Draco's treating Ginny, ya know, cold...insulting...vindictive...well, guess this is another crappy/sucky chapter! *lol* damn this blasted writer's block--it's starting to get in the way again :-(

SeZzA: I'm glad I'm out of my writer's block binge :-/ but after this chappie I am out of ideas--again :::wails like a big baby:::

Arella Hallo: I had a hard time posting chapters last night and I thought the two chapters I uploaded wouldn't be loaded--glad it was (",)

Sharlene: I'm planning on having some one-on-one confrontation between Draco and whomever...just haven't decided yet who Draco's gonna be having a confrontation with

Missy: thanks for liking it that much! *laughs* and I'm doing my damnedest to post as many chapters as I possibly can whenever I have the chance, but then again ff.net often gives me a hard time logging on to upload new chapters, so it takes me a while before I could actually do it :-/

Rebuky: don't worry, it will turn out all right...in the end--whenever the end might be, hehehehehe ;p

Miss Marauder: I sincerely apologize for taking such a long time to post new chappies for this story, and yes, part of the reason why it took me a while was writer's block (not to mention me having to work my arse off a lot lately), but this weekend I think I am inspired and now here's the next chappie