-1A/N: Comments on bottom. PLEASE review!

Chapter Two

The next day dawned bright and clear. Ginny yawned as she headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She was still sore from the night before. Landing on the cold, icy ground had not felt good, but if she went to the infirmary Madam Pomfrey would want to know what she had done to hurt herself, then she'd have to admit to the flying lessons, which would rat out Malfoy, which would mean he wouldn't give her lessons anymore. It was overall a terrible situation

"What happened to you last night?," Hermione asked as Ginny settled down at the Gryffindor table next to her. "I tried to find you after dinner to go over that Potion you were having trouble with, but you weren't in the common room or the library."

"Oh…," Ginny murmured, remembering suddenly that Hermione had promised to help her with her homework. "I got…erm…frustrated with it and went for a walk."
Hermione looked at her carefully, as if trying to figure out if she were telling the truth. "Well, okay. Do you want to go over it now?"
Ginny nodded and pulled her Potions notes out of her bag and tried to pay attention as Hermione attempted to explain to her how to make a potion to heal dragon bites. Unfortunately, her thoughts started to drift and by the time the mail came, she was totally off in her own little world.

She noticed a huge, hulking eagle owl and followed its progress as it dropped an envelope onto the Slytherin table. Ginny watched as Draco Malfoy, who had been laughing with his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, picked it up and ripped it open. His eyes scanned the parchment and the look of merriment on his face seemed to die. A moment later he pushed away from the table and hurried out of the Great Hall.

Ginny's brow wrinkled as she stared at the empty doorway through which he had just disappeared. Maybe someone else had found out! Maybe she wasn't going to be able to finish her flying lessons!

"Ginny? Ginny, are you okay?," Hermione asked, startled, looking at the expression on her friend's face.

Ginny however was oblivious as she hurriedly shoved her books into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm fine, Hermione. Thanks for the help!," she called as she hurried down the length of the table towards the exit.

She walked into the main lobby and looked around, wondering where Malfoy had gone. She didn't care why he was upset - she just wanted to make sure their lessons weren't off. Biting her lip, she started down the stone stairs towards the dungeons, where she knew the Slytherin common room to be. She was halfway down the first long corridor when the familiar, disgusting smell infiltrated her nostrils again. It got more pungent as she closed in on a door, left slightly ajar.

She hesitantly pushed it open and found that it was an old, abandoned class room. There didn't appear to be anyone else in the room, save Ginny, but she peered around anxiously. She was certain that the smell was coming from this room…

"Great Wizards," Malfoy exclaimed in frustration, suddenly stepping out from behind a dusty tapestry. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! Are you stalking me or something?"
"NO!," Ginny exclaimed, feeling disgusted. Her stalk Malfoy…honestly! The nerve of the little wanker. "I just…wanted to make sure that our lessons were still on for tomorrow."

"Well, I'll let you know if they aren't," Malfoy said, rolling his eyes. "What made you think I'd changed my mind already?"
"I…erm…saw you in the Great Hall reading a letter. I thought you were in trouble," she muttered.

"You ARE stalking me," Malfoy said, staring at her in amazement. "Honestly Weasley, I know I'm handsome, but that's a bit extreme. Save your stalking for Potter!"

"I'm NOT bloody stalking you," Ginny spat back at him, her cheeks going red. "And I don't stalk Harry." And you're not handsome, she thought to herself. Okay, that one was a lie. Malfoy was quite handsome. Gorgeous really. But his personality…yech.

"Okay, okay," Malfoy muttered, waving his hand as if to dismiss her.

"What are you doing in here anyway?," Ginny asked, suddenly feeling quite uncomfortable and not knowing how to make a very graceful exit.

"What does it smell like," Malfoy replied with a smirk. "Look, those lessons, they don't extend past the Quidditch pitch. Besides, what would your little bodyguards say if they saw you in an abandoned classroom with Draco Malfoy?" He stopped to consider this. "Actually, that would be quite funny. I do hope they walk in."

"You didn't answer my question," Ginny said.

"And I don't have to," Malfoy replied. "Don't you have a class to go to?"

"Yes, Potions," Ginny answered. She still made no move to leave the room.

Malfoy glanced back over at her. "Well? Why aren't you going there?"

"They're not regular muggle cigarettes, are they?," she asked quietly.

Malfoy smirked again. "Nope."

"They aren't even cigarettes at all. Am I right?"

"Look Weasley, why do you care?"

"I don't!," she cried. "I just…wow."

"Go to Potions," Malfoy said, reminding her.

"Oh!," she exclaimed, readjusting her bag. "Well, tomorrow then."

Malfoy grunted in reply and Ginny walked out of the room, careful to shut the door behind her. That boy…he really wasn't the nicest.

---

"Ginny, what is that scratch?"

Ginny snapped out of the daydream she had been having at the dinner table that evening in the great hall. She had been imagining how shocked everyone was going to look when she flew out onto the Quidditch pitch in March. Ron was gaping at her and staring very hard at her neck.

"What scratch?," she asked self-consciously, reaching up to where he was staring. Sure enough, her fingers touched upon a raising in her skin. She hadn't even noticed it before. It didn't help that the rest of her body, the part that was covered in robes, was starting to bruise. Stupid, hard ground.

"That one," Ron replied, rolling his eyes. "You haven't been letting Pig sleep in your bed again, have you?"
"No," Ginny mumbled. "I guess it happened when I went for my walk yesterday." Ginny noticed Hermione looking at her suspiciously and quickly busied herself talking to another Gryffindor sixth-year on her other side.

Dinner was almost over when Ginny happened to glance across the Great Hall at the Slytherin table. She wondered vaguely what Malfoy had to do that was so important that he couldn't teach her that night. She got her answer almost immediately.

Blaise Zabini, a very pretty Slytherin in Malfoy's year came up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, before leaning over and whispering something in his ear. He grinned and said something back to her, than tossed his napkin onto the table and followed Blaise out of the hall.

"What are you staring at? Don't tell me you've suddenly developed a crush on Goyle," Ron said, snapping his fingers in front of Ginny's face. He had sat down across from her without her even realizing it.

"Goyle?," Ginny asked in shock. "Ron! That is disgusting!" He and Harry burst into laughter.

Hermione was also stifling a laugh. "You want to go work on that potion?"

Ginny nodded and the two of them gathered up their books and left behind Ron and Harry who were still sputtering with laughter.

---

"Where are you going tonight, Ginny?," Ron asked the next night as Ginny, clad in her thick winter robes, slipped out of the portrait hole just as he was coming in from dinner.

"Um…to the library," Ginny replied, hurrying away. She hated being such a bad liar. Surely Ron knew that something was up. Hermione certainly did. She had spent much of the time during their little tutoring session trying to find out where Ginny really had been the night before. Her 'going for a walk' excuse just didn't seem to be holding up.

Ginny pushed open the front doors of the Entrance Hall and strode quickly across the Quidditch pitch. Before she even got there she saw a small flicker of light and heard laughing. She considered turning back, but realized that if she stood him up, Malfoy wouldn't hesitate to cut off the lessons all together, even if he might get in trouble.

As she got closer she realized that one of the laughs was coming from Draco Malfoy himself, the other from Blaise Zabini, who was standing next to him on the Quidditch Pitch, and the flicker of light was coming from something, which Malfoy stamped out as soon as he saw Ginny approaching.

"Hello," Ginny said meekly, approaching the two. Blaise raised her eyebrows at Ginny, but didn't say anything to her.

"See you later, Draco," Blaise said airily, ambling away towards the castle. "Eleven O'clock, okay?"

"Okay," Malfoy mumbled. His attention was already focused on his broom, which he was inspecting for bent twigs. He looked up at Ginny. "Let's get this done with."
"I love how you always sound so enthusiastic," Ginny said sarcastically. "What was she doing here? I thought you wanted this all hush-hush."

"Blaise won't tell anyone," Malfoy said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Not if I tell her not to."

"That's a terrible thing to say about your girlfriend," Ginny said, thinking that Malfoy sounded like a caveman.

Malfoy just chortled. "Girlfriend? Please, Weasley, don't make me laugh. Blaise isn't my girlfriend."

"But-," Ginny said confused, but broke off again. She didn't want Malfoy to know she had been watching him during dinner too. His head might blow up so big he'd just float away. Not that it would be a bad thing, per se.

"Here," Malfoy said, thrusting the Nimbus towards her. He mounted his own broom and quickly shot off into the night's sky, apparently waiting for Ginny to catch up.

She got onto the broom and kicked off, surprised at how quickly she was rising, but how slowly it felt. After riding on the Accelerina the other night, the Nimbus felt slower than her Shooting Star. Only a few seconds later, she was level with Malfoy. "How's that?"

"Better," he replied with a shrug. "I'm going to teach you how to turn today though."

Ginny nodded and for the next hour listened to Malfoy's instruction. He was impatient and haughty and insulted her flying skills every chance that he got, but by the end of the lesson, she was doing loops around the Quidditch pitch. She wasn't nearly good enough to play for the Gryffindor team yet, but the improvement was stunning.

"Okay, that's enough," Malfoy finally said and plunged out of Ginny's view to the cold Quidditch pitch below. She pointed the nose of her broom down and slowly descended until her feet hit the grass in a sort of rough landing.

Malfoy walked over and took the Nimbus from her and started up towards the castle, not even saying good-bye. Ginny hurried to catch up. She was still so elated from being able to turn without crashing into things that she even forgot to hate Malfoy for a moment. "Hey! Malfoy, wait up!"

Malfoy didn't stop, but did slow down, and threw a curious glance over his shoulder, which he tried quickly to hide. Ginny fell into stride beside him. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

He looked at her again, the surprise more evident on his place. "Did you just thank me?"

"I believe so," she said, trying not to laugh at his expression.

He shrugged. "Well, you're welcome." He started walking faster again.

"Malfoy!," Ginny exclaimed again, hurrying to stay with his footing.

"What?," he asked impatiently, though the malicious edge of his voice had definitely softened.

Ginny for some reason, maybe the cold air whipping through her air, suddenly felt very brave. "How come you're always with Blaise if she's not your girlfriend?"

Malfoy looked at her oddly. "That's really none of your business, nor do I see why you should care."

"I just…I just don't understand," she stammered. "She's really pretty and you're both in Slytherin, so you must have loads in common."

"Loads in common? Talking about You-Know-Who? Sharing Death Eater anecdotes from our fathers?," he asked, looking quite peeved.

"No!," Ginny exclaimed. "I mean-"

"I know what you mean," Malfoy retorted edgily. "If you must know, and honestly I don't know why I'm bloody telling you this, Blaise is not my girlfriend, because she's a complete airhead. She's fun to hang around sometimes, takes my mind off of serious stuff, because all she talks about is meaningless drivel. But she's definitely not worth hanging around all the time. Does that answer your question?"

Ginny shrugged. "More or less." They had reached the castle now and she didn't say another word to Draco as he turned to go down to the dungeons and she climbed the marble staircase to go to her dorm.

A/N I was SO floored when I saw the response that I got to the first chapter. I mean my mouth literally dropped open. I got almost as many for that one chapter than half of what I got for my whole last story combined (and that was 15 chapters).

Anyway, I just want to thank everyone who reviewed: Millefiori (I don't know if your review showed up too, but I totally agree with you and thank you for e-mailing me. I was so excited…hehe), Leo, Tara, Riana (You'll find out where he gets them in later chapters ; ) ), Annika Oie, Hermione-2113, Darco'sGirl, Simply Bewitching 1, stokely, Crazed Author, rose wonder (they're illegal at Hogwarts cause Dumbledore says so :D), Pegasia Silverfeather, jade-tiger, GinnyYvette, Crystal, Gambit Gurl Isis, Robbie Dobbie Doo Dah (love your name), Lady Rhiyana (something worse), Multiple Lilys, Fairly Fiendish Fairy (love your name too), Lauren, Ariel, and the two anonymous reviewers.

THANK YOU ALL SOOOOOOO MUCH

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