A/N: Hmmm…I have mixed feelings about this chapter. Some parts of it I LOVE and other parts…not so much…Ron just wasn't cooperating. He had to be serious and I just can't write serious Ron…veeeeery difficult for me. But anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter and PLEASE review! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?!?! (More comments on bottom.)

Chapter 8

Ginny awoke the next morning with one thing on her mind: finding out who had sent her that rose. Oh, and avoiding Harry Potter at all costs. So two things, she amended.

After she got dressed, she made her way down to the common room, her ears perked for any mention of her name. The circular room was nearly empty though, most of the students already down at breakfast. Slinging her book bag over her shoulder, Ginny crossed the room and made her way out the portrait hole.

"Ginny! Hey, wait up!," a voice called just as the door began to close. She turned to see Seamus running towards her. He barely made it out before the door closed completely. He stopped in front of her, trying to catch his breath. "I just wanted to apologize again about canceling our date."

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "it's all right," she replied. "I understand. Dean's your best friend."

A relieved expression crossed his face. "Oh, good. So…can I walk you down to breakfast?"

Ginny grinned at him and nodded. Seamus's face lit up in a huge smile and he interlocked his arm in hers. They made their way down towards eh Great Hall and had just reached the entrance when Ginny spoke again.

"Hey, you remember that rose I got on Valentine's Day?"

Seamus nodded. "Yeah, an orange bud or something."

"Did you…erm…send it to me?," she questioned, honestly expecting him to say yes.

Seamus hesitated. "Well…no," he finally said. "But if it's roses you want I can give you a million."

Ginny just laughed and shook her head, but inside she felt extremely confused. Who else could it be?

---

"Draco, can I borrow your Defense Against the Dark Arts homework?"

Draco looked over and saw Pansy staring at him miserably. She really was an awful student. He tossed the parchment toward her and resumed his watch on the great double doors. Next to him, Blaise smirked.

"You know, just because you stare at the doors doesn't mean she'll come in and kiss you again," she drawled.

Draco looked over at her, his eyes shooting arrows. "Shut up, Blaise," he growled.

"You shouldn't have told me if you didn't want me to tease you," she replied, matter-of-factly. "I told you to stop moping and you didn't take my advice, so I'm going to make fun of you."

"I shouldn't have told you, period," Draco said grouchily.

Blaise just snickered and lowered her voice. "Aww, but then you'd have to keep your little crush all to yourself."

"I do not have a crush," Draco said loudly and indignantly , drawing the stares of several of his fellow Slytherins.

"Oh, are you in love then?," Blaise questioned, on the verge of laughter.

Draco looked scandalized. "In love? Are you mad? That's not even funny! And I'm not watching the doors for her. I'm just looking at the doors."

Blaise snorted. "Right. And I'm the heiress of Hufflepuff."

Draco rolled his eyes and took a sip of pumpkin juice. "Just be quiet."

"Such harsh words for a man with such a torrid secret," Blaise murmured.

Draco slammed his goblet on the table and looked at her, his gray eyes stormy. "SHUT UP, ZABINI!"

The Slytherin table grew silent. Blaise's face grew an unbelievable shade of scarlet before she replied: "Don't you ever talk to me like that, Draco Malfoy. You know I'll slap you straight across your smirking, pointy little face." She hissed this so low that only Draco could hear it. The other Slytherins returned to their food.

Draco didn't even look at her. "My face is not pointy."

"Yes it is…it's-," she broke off as she realized he wasn't paying a bit of attention to her. His eyes were on the red-head who had just entered the room. And she wasn't alone. Blaise recognized the guy with her as Seamus Finnigan, who she had often thought was far too good-looking to be a Gryffindor. But he did have all those lame Gryffindor qualities, which brought him down a great deal in Blaise's eyes. Their arms were intertwined and if the grin on Finnigan's face was any indication, they weren't exactly quarreling. "Well, would you look at that? A Weasel and the Celtic Casanova."

"That's not funny," Draco mumbled again. "Not funny at all."

Blaise dropped her fork onto the table with a clatter. "That's it," she exclaimed, grabbing her book bag. "I'm sick of this rubbish!"

Draco watched with astonished eyes as Blaise stood up and slid off of the bench and very quickly made her way towards Ginny. "Blaise!," Draco yelped, trying to get her attention, but not wanting to draw too much attention to himself. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him curiously. He ignored them and buried his face in his hands just as Blaise reached the red-head.

---

"Blimey, watch out," Seamus suddenly said, stopping in mid-sentence and pulling Ginny over a few feet.

Ginny looked up at him, startled, and then followed his gaze to Blaise Zabini, who was striding past them, walking directly where Ginny had just been standing. She was walking very quickly and gave Ginny a snotty smirk as she passed and then grinned, in what Ginny thought could almost be a flirtatious gesture, at Seamus. Then she turned her head with a snap and sauntered out the doors.

"What was that all about?," Seamus asked, shaking his head in incredulity. "Those Slytherin girls…real mental cases, they are." He glanced over at the Slytherin table. "Not that the guys are much better."

Ginny followed Seamus to the Gryffindor table, but peeked over at the far table. She could kind of see what Seamus was on about with the Slytherin boys. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be building a snowman from their breakfast food. Malcolm Baddock wasn't eating at all, but was glaring around the Great Hall, looking very suspiciously at a pair of Ravenclaw first years who seemed to be doing nothing more than eating their breakfasts. Graham Pritchard was viciously stabbing his toast with a very sharp knife, an angry scowl on his face. Yep, a right bunch of nutters, Ginny had to agree.

But then her gaze rested on Draco. He had his face buried in his hands and as she looked at him, he happened to glance up and meet her eyes. He opened his mouth and then looked past her at the Entrance Hall doors and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Then, to her utter and complete shock, he offered her a small smile before leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, and started talking to a sixth-year that Ginny didn't know.

"I saved you a seat, Ginny," a voice said. Ginny looked down and realized that she was already halfway along the Gryffindor table. Hermione was staring up at her, as if expecting Ginny to forget that they had made up and kick her or something. Ginny just smiled gratefully and plopped down next to her, her back to the Slytherin table. Seamus sat down on her other side, shot her one last grin, and then started talking to Dean about what they had gotten up to the day before.

"Thanks, Hermione," Ginny said, picking up her goblet of pumpkin juice and pushing all thoughts of Draco out of her head. She reached into her bag and pulled out a long, slender box.

"What's that?," Hermione asked, wrinkling her brow.

"The box my wand came in," Ginny answered, taking a bite of toast.

"But why are you carrying it around?," Hermione questioned, looking confused.
"Oh! I'm keeping the rose in it," Ginny replied. "So I can see if it changes color again."
Hermione nodded. "Good idea. I never did get a chance to look at that note. Do you have it with you?"

Ginny reached into her bag and pulled out the small piece of paper and then handed it to Hermione. "And by the way, it's not Seamus. I asked him," she added quietly.

Hermione nodded. "I figured as much. Seamus's idea of romantic would be tickets to a Kenmare Kestrels match." Ginny laughed and was about to ask Hermione what she thought about the note when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up to see Ron looking down at her, his face, for once very serious.

"Yes, Ron?," she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I…erm…would like to talk to you for a moment, please," he said, sounding as though he was trying very hard to stay calm. "It's important."

Ginny looked over at Hermione, a panicked expression on her face. She wouldn't have…couldn't have! She had sworn not to. But Hermione looked as puzzled as Ginny and when she caught her eye, she only shook her head and shrugged. Ginny reluctantly stood and followed Ron out of the room towards the Entrance Hall.

"What's wrong, Ron?," she asked, in what she hoped was an innocent tone.

"You know what's wrong," Ron said, looking very peeved.

"No…not really," Ginny admitted. She felt a stab of fear. Ron would kill Draco. Ginny had no doubt of that. "I mean…what…do you mean?," she finally stammered.

"I mean that you need to be careful with him! He's not the kind to settle down with a girlfriend," Ron exclaimed, his cheeks flaming. "Look, Gin, I know you don't want to hear advice on your love life from your older brother, but I just feel like I have to warn you."

"But…," Ginny stuttered. How did Ron know that she was starting to have feelings for Draco? Was it that obvious? "How did you find out?," she gasped.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Ginny, come on! I'm a bit dense, but not that much! You bloody walked into the Great Hall with him, looking all chummy!"

Ginny nearly fainted from relief. "Seamus? You mean Seamus!," she exclaimed.

Ron looked at her, bewildered. "Of course I meant Seamus! Who else would I mean?"

Ginny just shook her head. "I have no clue. Just a bit tired still," she lied, grinning broadly. "Well, I had better go finish breakfast." She turned and left her brother staring after her, muttering something about 'mad girls'.

She sat back down next to Hermione and looked over at the older girl to tell her what had happened out in the hall, but paused just as she was about to open her mouth. Hermione's face was a bit pale and drawn and her brown eyes were widened in what could only be described as shocked. Ginny followed her gaze and saw that she was staring at the note that had come with the Mystique Rose. "Hermione? What's wrong? Do you know who the rose is from?"

Hermione seemed to snap out of it as if she just realized Ginny was there. "No!," she exclaimed. "I don't. I was just thinking about something else. But I need to go to the…erm…library," she stammered. She handed Ginny back the note and Ginny stared after her as she practically ran out of the Great Hall.

---

Draco left his last class of the day and yawned loudly as he made his way back to the Common Room to drop off his books before dinner. He had just rounded the last corner when someone stepped out of the shadows created by a looming pillar. He sneered.

"What do you want, Granger?," he snarled. The bushy-haired girl was standing in front of him, her lips pursed in a manner very reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. She didn't answer him and Draco just rolled his steely gray eyes and started past her. "If you're not going to say anything, why don't you go back into that dark little corner? That's the best I've ever seen you."

"I know, Malfoy," she finally said as he was about to say the password to open the wall and he turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

"You know that you look better in a dark corner? Wow, maybe you are clever after all!," he exclaimed, trying to sound like he was proud of her.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Granger hissed. "I know that you sent that rose to Ginny."

Draco tried to look as though he had no clue what she was talking about, but for one of the first times in his life, he failed miserably at controlling himself. He was in too much shock. "Very brainy of you, Granger. May I ask how you know?"

"I…I…," Granger stuttered and Draco realized with a smirk that she hadn't expected him to admit to it. "I help Professor McGonagall grade papers sometimes and I know your handwriting," she shrugged.

"You tell anyone and I'll make sure that you regret it. It's none of your business anyway," Draco said, hoping he sounded threatening. Apparently it worked, because Granger shuddered and took a step back from him. "I mean that, Granger." He turned to say the password, but Granger spoke up again.

"That rose…it said you were falling in love with her," she said feebly. Draco turned to see her looking at him questioningly.

He said the password quietly and the wall slid open. He smirked at her. "Well, what do you know?," he muttered. "I guess those roses really do work." Taking delight in Granger's horrified expression, Draco stepped into the Common Room, trying to forget what he had just admitted.

A/N: So, what did y'all think? Let me know, PLEASE! I LOVE long reviews, short review, medium reviews, and reaaaaalllllyyyy long reviews (wink, wink). I honestly love to hear your comments. They really make my day, as lame as that may sound.

Before my thanks, just to the people who are wondering how Ginny can be so dense…erm…well…she just is. Let's just say that Draco would be the last person she would expect it to be from really…not that she hasn't wished it on more than a few occasions.

Much thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: Jen (I see your point. Hermione still thinks that Draco is the devil incarnate though…haha. Thanks for the loooong review), The Marauder's Legacy, kristendotcom, KeeperOfTheMoon, Melanie Pointe, Kitty, MochaDream, hpangel (Thank you for your review! It really made me happy!), Baby, txt-eva, Ace Of Spades, sadie (say-dee, Imp, Lady Megan, kitkat87, Ginny001, Dracos gal, Sakura1287, Rainbow Dreamer, Missfizz (The rose doesn't really exist as far as I know…I wish it did though. Wouldn't that be nice?), Cassandra Sisenta or Krey-Zey, Rebuky, Xela, Dramaqueen, Draco's gurl (yes, I made up the rose…I am bloody brillian…bwa hahaha), Isadora, Red Magic Marker, karen, Pegasia Silverfeather, SeZzA, Sayo, slaveofkarma14, Butterflysky (I'm sorry…I'll try not to post during Smallville anymore…hahaha), Crystal, Eleoopy, frananddragon (thank you for the sweet review and for reviewing all the time), baby-grassie, and anyone else I may have missed.

So let me know what you think? Is the story moving too fast? Too slow? Do you love it? Hate it? Suggestions?

Also, if anyone has any questions, you can e-mail me at cassi0peia@hotmail.com . (That's a zero in the middle, just in case you're confused). Don't hesitate to drop me a line. Okie doke, now get to reviewing! Mwah!

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