Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot!

Author's Notes: Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating that quick lately, school started and jeebus, the profs are absolutely evil…but I have the whole story planned out in my head so the minute I get the chance, I'll type them all up and upload them. And thanks for the reviews!

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Myrtle had woken up and after being explained what happened, she was exploring and relearning how to act being solid.

"I can touch things again," she said, wonder shining in her eyes. Then she looked at Snape and pushed him, hard.

"Excuse me Myrtle?" snapped Snape. "I think class is calling, I must leave." He looked dismally at Hermione and Draco who both looked right back and signaled him to stay.

"Why'd you do it, Myrtle?" demanded Hermione. "You got Draco into a lot of trouble." Myrtle sniffled.

"I don't care. From what I hear, I'm sure he deserves all the trouble he got." It took all of Hermione's self control not to throttle the girl standing before her.

"You always were a silly girl," said Snape, looking angry. "Draco's life may very well be in danger and he might be safe had it not been for your meddling."

"STOP IT!" she shrieked. "You were the one who drove me to do it!" Myrtle whirled around and threw herself on the dirty, bathroom ground, sobbing into the tiles. Snape, Hermione, and Draco exchanged a glance and finally, Draco sighed and walked towards the huddled figure of Myrtle.

"Myrtle?" he said, softly, putting a hand on her back. "We know you didn't mean any harm."

"How would you know that?" Myrtle barked. "Maybe I did mean harm."

"Either way, we have to know. You were the one, weren't you?" Myrtle wouldn't look up.

"Maybe I do deserve it," said Draco, continuing to talk. "Maybe I do. I don't know what stories you hear about me but I know that I may not always be the nicest person. But I genuinely love another person in this world and it'd honestly break my heart if that was taken away from me. And my father can do that, Myrtle. He has the power to take me away from the only person I ever loved."

He could tell by the movement of Myrtle's shoulders that she was crying. Hermione started to step forward but Snape stopped her.

"He's handling it just fine," said Snape. Myrtle finally looked up. Pearly tears were glinting behind her thick glasses.

"Fine," she whispered. "It was me. I told Lucius everything." Hermione drew a sharp breath. Suspicions were one thing, hearing it directly was another.

"Why'd you do it, Myrtle?" asked Hermione. When Hermione had walked into the bathroom at first, she was sure that she would yell, scream, do anything humanly possible to get rid of the anger inside of her, possibly hurting Myrtle along the way but now, looking at the chubby, crying girl, Hermione couldn't help but pity her.

"Why don't ask him," said Myrtle, with a pointed look at Snape. Snape shifted uncomfortably.

"You still remember," said Snape, voice faltering.

"Yes I still remember," snapped Myrtle.

"Well…" Snape looked oddly lost.

"What happened was," said Myrtle, not listening to Snape. "It was the Yule Ball. And it would have been my very first one too. I was a fourth-year and Snape was a fifth year." Myrtle paused to give Snape another glare.

"And," asked Draco, encouragingly.

"And Snape thought that it'd be terrifically funny to ask me to the ball with no intention of taking me." Hermione shot a glance at Snape. He looked extremely awkward.

"So he did. And I was so happy. Asked by a fifth year. A bad boy Slytherin too. He was like a Draco, back in the day, except not as cute." Snape scowled.

"And all week before the ball I was so excited then he told me that he'd meet me outside the Gryffindor common room on the day of the ball. So I waited and waited and he NEVER CAME!" Myrtle started to look angry, and her voice raised. "AND I WENT TO THE BALL AND WHO DO I SEE? I SAW SNAPE THERE DANCING WITH ANOTHER GIRL!" Draco put a comforting hand on Myrtle's back. She was shaking so angrily that she couldn't talk for a couple of minutes. Then she resumed.

"And then Hermione comes in and tells me that she's been asked to the ball by Draco and all these thoughts started to flood back. I did hear a lot about Draco. He sounded exactly like Snape. Hermione, I didn't want you to get hurt." Hermione's heart started to go out for Myrtle, after all, she was looking after her…right?

"And my heart bleeds eggnog," said Snape, sarcastically. "Don't lie, Myrtle. You have to tell the truth." Myrtle blinked rapidly, looking trapped. Her eyes narrowed and she blew her thin bangs out of her eyes.

"Fine," she said, through gritted teeth. "I was jealous, doesn't everyone have a right to be jealous once in awhile? I've always been 'good Myrtle, at least she's not any trouble.' And I'm sick of that."

"So you went and put an innocent life in danger?" questioned Snape.

"She didn't know I'd actually be in danger," said Draco. "Right?" When Myrtle didn't answer right away, Draco stiffened and stood up and away from her.

"Myrtle," said Snape in a warning tone.

"Fine, I knew," said Myrtle. "But look, I'm already dead, right? And being dead isn't that bad. I just thought that…" Her voice trailed off.

"You wanted to kill a boy so he'd become a ghost and stay with you?!" roared Snape. "For your own selfish needs?!"

"I'm lonely, okay? I've always been lonely," said Myrtle. "Even when I was alive I didn't have any friends, so you can stop yelling at me. You have no right to yell at me."

"NO RIGHT?!" Hermione tugged on his arm to quiet him.

"Professor Snape, we are in a girl's bathroom." Snape quieted down.

"I have no right?" he repeated. "Myrtle, what has gotten into you?"

"That's what being dead does to you," snapped Myrtle. "You lose your mind." Draco rubbed his temples.

"I've had enough of this," he said. "I'm through here." He turned to leave but Myrtle clung to his arm, her fingers digging into his sweater sleeve.

"Please don't be angry," pleaded Myrtle. "I thought… I thought I'd be a much better girlfriend than Hermione ever could be." Draco shrugged her off.

"I'm leaving," said Draco. He looked at Hermione who bit her lip.

"We are done here," said Hermione. "So we'll leave you Myrtle. In less than five minutes, you'll start to turn back into a ghost and you think about what you've done for the rest of your eternal life." Myrtle shuddered.

"I'm sorry," she cried. They left the bathroom, Myrtle's sobs echoing the corridor.

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"You were good in there," said Hermione, softly, touching Draco's arm. He looked into the distance.

"I can't believe she did all of that and she knew the consequences. I was there, ready to defend her as soon as I saw her, as soon as I started to pity her."

"Me too," said Hermione. "But she had her reasons and she did it. Her actions can't be taken back."

"You think what we did was right? Back there? Myrtle's already troubled, we just added more problems."

"She deserves everything she got," said Hermione, simply. "And you know that. I know you know that. So don't worry yourself too much over it."

"She's a horrid girl, extremely hard to like. She'll only hurt you because she thinks you'll hurt her first," said Snape. Draco shrugged and Hermione held his hand and squeezed reassuringly.

"We'll somehow get through this," she said, hoping out loud. Snape frowned in thought.

"Lucius isn't an easy one to figure out," he said. "We have to make sure he doesn't do anything…drastic." Hermione shivered as the last word lingered in the air.

"You're right," said Draco. "We'll get through this." He leaned down and kissed Hermione.

"We better," she answered.

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Ginny was listless, almost as dead as Myrtle. She dragged herself from class to class, she barely ate, and dropped pounds that she couldn't afford to lose. Students whispered behind her backs and Ginny could sometimes hear snippets of their gossip.

"Well I heard that she's anorexic, I mean, have you seen her???"

"She's been this way ever since she tried to jump on Harry and he told her that she was a slut."

"I heard that she tried to go home but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let her without a medical problem."

Ginny didn't care what they said anymore. She didn't care about anything. She was walking slowly, dragging her feet, the common room when she saw on the ground ahead of her a pair of feet.

"Gin?" said a voice. It was so familiar, too familiar, but Ginny had tried to block that voice from memory, as hard as it might be.

"Please, talk to me," it said. Ginny felt her head lifting up against her will and looked into bright green eyes.

"Hey Gin," he said, softly. Ginny didn't feel the same prickling of tears behind her eyes, she didn't feel anything.

"I have to tell you something," he continued. "I don't know what's going on between you and Draco but I really have to tell you, yesterday was the longest night of my life." Ginny still didn't speak and her eyes only looked into the distance.

"Why?" Her voice sounded hollow and detached from her body and her mind.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you and Draco which made me think about more stuff. I tried to imagine life without people and I could imagine life without the Dursleys, without Hermione, even without Ron. But I couldn't imagine my life without you."

"Don't lie," she whispered. If Harry thought that he could charm her back just to spite Draco… Harry bent down and kissed her. Just like that. Without permission, without planning, without anything. And strangely…Ginny was disappointed. It wasn't like what she felt when she had kissed Draco.

"You're not my best friend's sister anymore," said Harry. "I want you to be more than that." Ginny looked up at him, his earnest face. And how could she say no?

"Okay," she finally said. Harry pulled her into a hug and Ginny still couldn't get rid of that disconnected feeling. This wasn't what she wanted, it really wasn't. She wasn't in love anymore with Harry. Had it even ever been love? Maybe just a silly infatuation that girls her age have. But it wasn't there anymore. But maybe it'd work out.

"I'm glad you said yes," said Harry. Ginny nodded. Her mouth tasted bittersweet.

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A/N: That girl sure has high expectations, lol…I hope you guys enjoyed, I'll try and update faster! Please R&R on your way out!