A/N: This was a REALLY tough chapter to write for some reason, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with it, so I would really appreciate any feedback you could give me. Also, I'm not going to put lyrics in the chapters anymore, simply because this story is going to be much longer than I originally intended. Anyhoo, more comments and thanks at bottom and PLEASE review, review, review!

Chapter Six

Ginny walked up the final set of stairs towards Gryffindor tower, willing her cheeks to cool down. She couldn't believe that she had kissed Draco. Draco Malfoy. It hadn't been on purpose. She had just been so pleased that he gave in that she had totally forgotten where she was and what she was doing. "What a mess," she thought miserably.

Ginny turned the final corner and opened her mouth to say the password, when someone behind her cleared their throat. Startled, Ginny turned to see Hermione looking at her, a somber look in her eyes.

"Hermione!," Ginny exclaimed. "You startled me!"

"Sorry," Hermione muttered quietly. Ginny looked at her more closely. Hermione seemed pale and confused, her freckles standing out brightly against her white skin.

"What's wrong? Why were you standing in the corner?," Ginny asked, approaching her friend.

Hermione cleared her throat again and Ginny realized that she seemed…nervous almost. "Where did you go, Ginny?"

Ginny looked at her, more confused than ever. "To practice flying," she replied. "But Ravenclaw was practicing, so I couldn't use the pitch." Hermione's expression did not change and she continued to stare at the younger girl. "Why?"

"Because I saw you," Hermione stammered.

"Saw me?," Ginny questioned, confused. Than it hit her and she let out a great gasp, covering her mouth with her hand. "No! It wasn't what it looked like, Hermione!," she exclaimed. "We were just…"

"Just what?," Hermione said stonily. "Just traipsing off into the topiary?"

"Why were you following me anyway?," Ginny asked, suddenly angry. She had told Hermione where she was going. Why was checking up on her?

"You said that you were going to practice flying and then when you left I noticed that you didn't bother to take a broomstick," Hermione said icily. "So I decided to see what was so important that you would lie about it. Apparently, that important thing is only your brother's worst enemy."

Ginny didn't know what to say. It was very stupid of her, really, to leave the dorm without a broom. She had just gotten so used to using Draco's that taking her own never occurred to her anymore. "Hermione, let me explain," Ginny sighed.

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, looking stern, but at the same time hurt. "Than explain it to me. Please."

Ginny ran her fingers through her hair, trying to think where to begin. She took a deep breath. If she told Hermione everything, that would be the equivalent of going straight to Dumbledore. As Head Girl, Hermione wouldn't hesitate to snitch on Draco. She hesitated before beginning to speak. "It all started back at our last match against Slytherin. Afterwards, I kind of lost track of time and when I left the stands, they were mostly deserted. Anyway, I ran into Malfoy and he was doing something he shouldn't have been doing." Hermione opened her mouth, as though to question the younger girl, but shut it quickly as Ginny continued to talk. "We agreed that if I didn't tell, he would teach me how to fly well enough to make the house team. We've been meeting up a few times a week, whenever he didn't have practice himself or we weren't too busy with other stuff. We were supposed to practice tonight, but Ravenclaw was practicing and Draco was just letting me know. Honest."

Hermione looked at her questioningly. "What did he do that was so bad that he'd agree to teach you?," she asked, feigning innocent curiosity.

"I'm not telling you, Hermione," Ginny replied quietly. "I can't."

Hermione was silent for another moment. "Ginny, why are you protecting him?
"I'm not protecting him," Ginny exclaimed. "I'm protecting me! I wanted to learn how to fly and he's teaching me! End of story!"

"Why did you kiss him?," Hermione asked abruptly.

At this, Ginny's cheeks grew very red. "I don't know," she admitted. "We were arguing about practicing tomorrow. He wanted me to practice, but the Hogsmeade trip is tomorrow and since we're allowed to stay there for dinner, I said that I couldn't practice. But he finally agreed with me and I don't know…I was just so excited, cause of my date with Seamus and all, that I hopped up and kissed him. I'd take it back now, if I could."

Hermione nodded but still looked very confused. "Ginny…you do realize that you're hanging out with Draco Malfoy, don't you? The same guy who has made fun of your family since he knew how to talk? The one whose father almost got your father fired from his job? The one who's practically a Death Eater already?"

"He is not!," Ginny exploded. She took a step back, surprised by her own outburst. Hermione was staring at her in shock.

"I'd rethink where your loyalties lie," Hermione said in a very serious voice, turning and walking towards the portrait hole. "Nothing good can ever come from a Malfoy." She muttered the password and the portrait opened, the Fat Lady pretending that she hadn't been listening to the whole conversation. Ginny walked in behind Hermione and hurried up to her dorm room.

---

Ginny barely made it to the Great Hall in time to get a bit of toast for breakfast. Most of her fellow students had already come down and than hurried back up to their dorms to get ready for the trip to Hogsmeade. She sat at the table, her head propped up on her hand as she thought about her conversation with Hermione the night before. She was terrified that Hermione would tell Ron and Harry about what she had seen. Ron especially. He would flip out. Possibly murder Draco. She didn't want that to happen. As big of a spoiled brat Draco was, she didn't want him murdered.

"You all right there, Ginny?"

She jumped, startled, and her elbow slid, causing her to drop her toast and nearly knock her head on the table. She looked up and saw Seamus staring down at her, an amused expression on his face. "Hi," she said meekly, looking forlornly at her bit of toast. "How are you?"

He sat down next to her and gave her a grin. "Wonderful," he replied. "And you?"

"Super," she muttered, picking up another piece of toast. He looked a bit abashed at her unenthusiastic reaction, but just brightened his grin and continued on.

"Look Ginny, I know I asked you to go out for that butterbeer and all…," he began. "But I totally forgot that it was Dean's birthday today and I'd feel kind of bad if I didn't hang out with him. Can I take a rain check?"

Ginny looked at him, slightly stunned. As if the day wasn't horrible enough already, she had been dumped by her date before the date had even begun. She forced a smile to her face. "Sure," she replied brightly. "Next time."

"Right," Seamus said, standing up. "Thanks for understanding, Ginny. Definitely next time."

Ginny kept the stupid smile on her face as Seamus walked down the length of the table and out of the Great Hall. As soon as he was gone she tossed her piece of toast onto the table in annoyance, a scowl crossing her face. She stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, careful to go in the opposite direction of Gryffindor Tower. She wasn't in the mood to see Hermione or Seamus right at the moment. She didn't feel like going to Hogsmeade anymore and decided to avoid the Common Room until she was sure they were gone.

She wandered around the castle for nearly an hour and it was only when she could hear Filch's screechy voice reverberating through the corridors that she climbed the stairs back up to Gryffindor tower. But once up there, surrounded by the annoying underclassmen, she quickly grabbed her winter cloak and walked back out. She didn't feel like being around people right at that moment.

A few moments later she was walking along one of the huge stone archways that ran around the courtyard. The cold air ruffled her hair and stung her cheeks, but Ginny didn't notice any of this as a stray tear suddenly found its way down her cheek.

Ginny wasn't one to cry for no reason and she didn't know why she was crying now. It wasn't because Seamus had broke off their date- sure she was disappointed, but he had seemed sincerely sorry, so it wasn't that big of a deal. She realized that it probably had more to do with the situation with Hermione and Draco than anything else.

She reached up with a gloved hand and wiped away the tear as she leaned back against a pillar. The sky was a brilliant, sterling blue and the sun was shining against the freshly fallen snowfall. Suddenly there was a crunching noise and Ginny turned to see someone approaching her through the snow, their figure silhouetted by the sun behind them.

"What's wrong, Gin?," a voice asked gently.

Ginny's eyes widened a bit. "Harry?," she asked uncertainly. Sure enough as he got closer Ginny realized it was the dark-haired boy…and he was looking at her in a way that she didn't recognize. She wondered vaguely if Hermione had told him about Draco, but decided that she must not have, for Harry would be yelling at her. "Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?"

He came to a stop in front of her and shrugged. "Novelty's worn off, I suppose," he answered. He seemed to be studying her face. "Were you crying?"
She quickly shook her head. "No! I had something in my eye," she lied.

"Oh…," Harry said quietly and moved a bit closer to her. Ginny sucked in a bit of breath and realized with a start that he was standing much closer than she deemed normal. "Why didn't you go to Hogsmeade?"

"Not in the mood," Ginny replied stiffly. She didn't know what to say. She had thought that her crush on Harry was pretty much gone. Sure, she had been as infatuated as ever at the beginning of the term, but over the last few weeks she hadn't really thought about him much at all. But now, with him standing that close to her, so close that she could smell his soap and see the tiny flecks of gold in his emerald eyes, she started to feel that funny, faint feeling all over again.

"You look really nice today," Harry said, not taking his eyes off of hers. She gulped nervously. What the heck was going on? Why was Harry Bloody Potter suddenly…hitting on her?

"Erm…thank you," Ginny replied, ever aware that with every second Harry was inching his way closer and closer to her. "I'm going to erm…go now," she said suddenly.

"No!," Harry exclaimed, grabbing her arm as she started to walk away. Ginny looked back at him, a questioning look in her brown eyes.

"Why not?," she asked, looking up at him. The faint feeling started to come over her once more. "Damn childhood crushes," she thought to herself.

"I just…," he stammered and Ginny couldn't move as Harry unexpectedly cupped her face in his gloved hands. "I just wanted to do something that I should have done a long time ago."

Ginny couldn't believe it as Harry slowly lowered his face and pressed his soft lips against hers. For a moment Ginny lost herself in his kiss. Her heart was beating so rapidly that she could barely stand up, but suddenly an image flashed in her head that was entirely unexpected and at the same time somehow right. A vision of Draco. And then she knew why Harry was kissing her.

She wrenched herself away from him and stared up at him, the faint feeling gone, only to be replaced by anger. "Why are you kissing me?"

"Because I want to!," Harry exclaimed. He was a terrible liar. You could see on his face that he was as uncomfortable as she suddenly felt.

"No! Because Hermione told you to," Ginny spat out. "You're just doing it to keep me away from Draco." Harry sputtered something in response, but Ginny ignored him and carried on. "Well, it's not going to work! And you wasted your time! There is nothing going on and there never will be anything going on between Draco Malfoy and myself!"

She turned on her heel and stomped away, unaware that across the courtyard, Draco Malfoy had seen and heard everything.

A/N: That was an impossible chapter to write for some reason. However, I would never, ever have gotten it done if not for my awesome reviewers: bebe-chrissy, karen, Silver Essence, Tuilindo (Blaise is kewl, isn't she?), Jen, Fizzleup, Mangolicious, sadie (flying purple cantaloupes? hahaha), Dracos gal, Eleoopy, Riauna, Aurora Noctifer, Lyss, Rainbow Dreamer (there was supposed to be more about the rose in this chapter…but…next one, I promise!), gohansfan, babytigercub14, Ginny001, Isadora, Jenn, Crystal, miss fizz (that's what's great about Blaise - we have an official name, but it can be anyone we want!), Spanish Eyes (it's gonna be a loooooong one…not entirely on purpose though..haha), & jumpinmunkie.

Also, several people have asked me where I got the information on rose meanings, and I FINALLY found the site where I got the info from originally: http://interrose.co.uk/

It's great and has some cool rose info that I took liberties with. More about the rose in the next chapter.

Anyway, PLEASE review! I'm so excited with the response this story is getting and your reviews are TRULY, REALLY the things that keep me motivated to write. So please, even if it's just a few words, review, review, REVIEW!