A/N: Hope y'all like…review, review, review! More at bottom!

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Chapter Ten

Ginny could hardly conceive an odder predicament. She was wedged in a corner, sitting on the dirty ground, next to quite possibly the most sinister of all the Slytherin seventh years.

What an odd sight they must have made. Ginny slumped uneasily against the wall, her long red-gold hair falling down her back over her worn second-hand robes. Next to her, Blaise lounged almost comfortably, as though she were used to hanging out in dank corridors, which Ginny surmised, she very well may have been.

Five minutes had passed and Blaise had not uttered a word since she had requested that Ginny stay. Ginny felt her stomach contract in hunger and she thought wistfully of the meal just ending in the Great Hall. She wondered idly what she had done with the roll she had snagged from the table, but realized she hadn't a clue. To her horror her bully suddenly lurched again and growled loudly. She stared head, hoping Blaise hadn't heard, but she the brunette suddenly snickered and Ginny glanced over to see an amused smirk on her face. Blaise pulled a box from the pocket of her perfectly tailored robe.

"Bean?," she asked simply. Ginny looked at the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans and hesitated before grabbing a few.

"Thanks," she murmured. She examined a red and white on and finally popped it into her mouth. "Yum…spaghetti," she said happily, temporarily forgetting where she was.

Blaise laughed. "That's Draco's favorite. He-" She broke off in mid-sentence. "Her…erm…likes them."

Ginny was surprised. She thought that Blaise and Draco were very close. Not close enough for Blaise to fell odd talking about him though, apparently. "So…," Ginny said slowly," do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"
Blaise shrugged, her normal scowl back on her face. "Not particularly."

Ginny sighed ruefully. "Then can I go?"

"No," Blaise replied shortly, as though the idea was out of the question.

"Why not?," Ginny asked, exasperated. "You don't want to talk and I'm sorry, but sitting in silence with a Slytherin is a bit unnerving."

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Oh, get over it already," she exclaimed.

"Over what?," Ginny asked in surprise.

"The whole 'Slytherins are evil' thing! We're sly. We're cunning. We're ambitious. But evil? Not really. Not all of us, anyway."

"I never said-," Ginny began to protest, but Blaise cut her off.

"You don't have to say it. I can tell. You should know that by now, anyway," she said in a know-it-all sort of voice that reminded Ginny vaguely of Hermione. Well, of Hermione with a vicious attitude.

"What do you mean?," Ginny finally asked uncertainly. "How would I know that all Slytherins aren't bad."
"Well, you certainly don't think that Draco is evil," Blaise said, cocking her eyebrows. Ginny's stomach twisted a bit. How much did Blaise know? "I mean, you kissed him."

Ginny felt her cheeks blaze bright bed. "How do you-?"

"He's my best friend," Blaise said, interrupting her again. "He tells me things." Ginny's eyes widened even further and she knew that she must have looked like a deer caught in wand lights. "Don't worry. Good things."

Ginny felt a twinge of surprise. "Good things?"

"Yeah, good things," Blaise said smugly.

"Like…like what?," Ginny stammered.

Blaise's lips curled into an entertained smirk. "I can't tell you! That's wouldn't be a very good friend, would it?"

Ginny frowned. "I supposed not," she reluctantly agreed.

"Although…," she drawled.

Ginny couldn't help herself. The curiosity was getting the best of her. "What?"

"If you must know…," Blaise continued.

"If she must know, I'll tell her myself," an icy-cold voice drawled suddenly, causing both girl's heads to snap up in shock.

---

Draco couldn't believe it. He had left dinner a few minutes early in order to go back to the common room and change before Slytherin Quidditch practice, but had suddenly heard whispered voices coming from behind a pillar in a corner and to his shock, his own name among the whisperings.

He had gone around the corner and felt a double-shock when he saw who was talking. Blaise sat on the floor and next to her, Ginny Weasley. He couldn't have imagined it- not even in his worst nightmares. The girl who knew all of his secrets sitting next to the girl who a lot of his secrets were about.

Now they were both staring up at him as though he were He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or something, identical expressions of horror on their faces. Blaise stood up and dusted off the bottoms of her robes. She looked at Draco with mild indignation. "Then why don't you?," she muttered and without another word, strode away.

He considered going after her, perhaps to apologize for being a terrible ass earlier, or at the very least to find out what she had told Ginny, but found that he couldn't move. He was rooted to the spot and little Ginny Weasley was staring up at him, her brown eyes slightly frightened and unsure.

He cleared his throat nervously and stood over her. He hadn't been able to get the previous night out of his head. The way that she had looked at him when they had been discussing her rose. Dammit, if she only knew that it was from him. But she had no idea, he realized. And if she did, it would ruin it for her. Nope, Draco decided, it was better for her to think that it was from some Prince Charming than from the Prince of Slytherin.

He extended a hand towards her to help her up and she looked at it a bit suspiciously before taking it. He wrapped his long fingers around her palm and pulled her to her feet. But when she was securely balanced, he couldn't make himself let go of her hand. "What did Blaise tell you?," he finally asked, staring down at her.

Ginny looked up at him and Draco could see the nervousness etched in her facial expressions. It was funny, he realized: Out on the Quidditch pitch, it was like another world. Another world where their families and obligations didn't exist. They could just be themselves…admit through actions that they didn't hate each other. But here inside the castle walls, it felt as though they were cursed.

"Nothing," she replied finally, her voice a bit shaky. She swallowed nervously and looked down at her hand, which was still enclosed in Draco's. He gently squeezed her palm and she seemed to visibly relax. "All she told me," she began, her voice now much smoother and less shaky, "was that you said good things about me. I just wanted to know what those things were."

"Then why didn't you just ask?," Draco asked, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "One, she just told me like five minutes ago. Two, wouldn't it be a bit odd for me to walk up to you and ask you what nice things you said about me?"

Draco just shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose."

"You don't just suppose," Ginny sighed. "You know that it would be weird." A small, wicked smile crossed her face. "So…did you say good things about me?"

Draco felt himself smiling back at her. He was helpless to control it. When she looked at him like that…he couldn't help himself…She was so beautiful. "Maybe," he replied.

"I hope you're not expecting me to beg, Draco," she said quietly, only half joking. Draco realized with a start that her face was only a few centimeters away from his. When had that happened?

He sucked in a deep breath, trying to look completely calm. He reluctantly dropped her hand and tried to ignore, but at the same time store in his mind, the disappointed look that crossed her face. "You're just going to have to," he replied, trying to sound snide, but only coming off as amusing.

Ginny just smiled at him. "I'm a Weasley. Weasley's don't beg."

"They do if they're talking to a Malfoy," he said, forcing himself to take a step away from her. It was just too tempting, standing that close to her. "Listen," he finally said, running his fingers through his loose hair. "I know we don't have your lessons tonight, but can you meet me on the pitch anyway? A little later. Around ten?"

"What for?," she asked, looking at him inquisitively.

"Well, you want to know the good things that I said about you, don't you?," he asked. She nodded. Draco turned and started to walk away. "See you at ten."

"See you…," she murmured.

---

Ginny sat in the Gryffindor Common Room, trying to concentrate on the Herbology book in front of her, but finding it very difficult. She was extremely curious to know what Draco was going to tell her.

"Ew, Herbology. I never really liked that class," a lilting voice said suddenly, breaking Ginny out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Seamus sitting across the table from her, a grin, as always, on his handsome face. "Doesn't he ever stop smiling?," Ginny found herself wondering idly. It seemed no matter what, the boy had a grin on his face. It was rather frightening.

"Yeah, I'm not really a fan either," Ginny replied conversationally, trying to be polite.

"So, Gin," Seamus murmured, leaning across the table towards her, presumably having gotten the 'casual hello' out of the way, "Do you want to sneak down to the kitchens and get something to eat a little later?"

Ginny bit her lip, trying to think of a good excuse. She realized that "No, afraid I can't. I'm going to sneak out by myself and meet Draco Malfoy on the Quidditch pitch," would not exactly hold up. Even if Seamus believed her, he'd tell Ron, who would try to forbid her from leaving the castle until she was sixty years old. That would be a definite hindrance on her plans. "Actually, Seamus…," she began, "I've got a load of homework and stuff to do. Maybe some other time though."

Seamus leaned back in his chair, looking visibly disappointed. "Oh…well, that's all right. Next time then?"

"Of course," Ginny said brightly. Seamus and his damn next times. Seamus sat there for a few more moments, babbling incessantly about something that had happened in Snape's class that morning. Ginny tried to look interested, but she spent most of her time sneaking glances over his shoulder at the clock over the mantle, waiting for it to near ten o'clock. It was only eight-thirty now, she realized with a small pang of discontent.

Finally Seamus got up and left to join Dean on the other side of the room. Ginny reabsorbed herself in her homework, barely noticing as someone else sat across from her. She glanced up when she heard a small cough and saw Harry staring at her, his green eyes unusually somber.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Ginny?," he asked, almost shyly.

Ginny shrugged. "I suppose so. As long as you don't try to snog me again."

Harry looked shocked for a second and then saw the small grin crossing her face and laughed. "Oh, I promise I won't. I just wanted to make sure everything was all right between us." Ginny opened her mouth to reply, but Harry continued before she could say anything. "Look, I know I was a complete prick, but I only did it to protect you, Ginny. Malfoy is trouble and I was…just scared. I thought that he had sucked you into his little web of deceit."

"Little web of deceit?," Ginny repeated vaguely, raising her eyebrows. What was wrong with Harry. Sure, Draco didn't like him. But that was no reason to make him out to be a Junior You-Know-Who.

Harry's cheeks reddened a bit as he realized that his words must have seemed a bit over dramatized. "Well, you know what I mean. I just don't want you to do something stupid."

Ginny closed her eyes tightly and tried to concentrate on something other than the dark-haired boy across from him. She had to ignore him, because to her very great surprise, he was making her extremely angry. Who was he to judge Malfoy? It wasn't like Draco had done anything that Harry hadn't.

"Ginny, what are you thinking?," that annoying little voice pleaded. "Sure, Draco isn't as bad as you thought he was. But that's no reason to get all…sappy. He's still a Malfoy."

She finally opened her eyes again and looked across the table at Harry. "Thanks for the concern," she said in what she hoped was a calm and reasonable voice. "But everyone has to be a bit stupid sometimes."

She looked at the clock again. She could not wait until ten o'clock.

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A/N: So…hope y'all liked this chapter. It's starting to get sappy and I'm starting to get worried. *sigh* But oh well, I can't run from the clichés forever…

Oh, just in general, I can't really make the chapters much longer. I get worn out. Plus, I like them all to be around the same length. I'm big on symmetry. ;)

Thank you sooooo much to everyone who reviewed: Baby, Tara_Potter_Malfoy, karen, mochadream, seekerpeeker, Luinthoron, emma, Jen, Kilmeny, UMIFIRELY15, Space Lion, The Dragon's Angel, Quentin Blake, karly, sadie (say-dee, Rubyjuls1722, Sayo, Miss. Charlet, Kerry, Ashleigh, Lonley tenshi, Pebble of Insanity, Red Magic Marker, Kitty, Missy, Rainbow Dreamer, stokely, hpangel, angel, Marisa, gohansfan, Ginny001, Kitycat87, Azalea, charismatic, Riauna, frananddragon, Molly, dreamofTF, Tryx, Silver Essence, KeeperOfTheMoon, Wind and Ashes, Nupil, Missfizz, fang-gurlie, Zuzu, Anya, Cassandra Sisenta or Krey-Zey, Dracos Gal, Mystique, Crystal, SeZzA, Sakura1287, December's Girl, and anyone that I may have missed.

I'm sorry I didn't leave any comments, but I wanted to get this chapter out and I figured you'd want a new chapter more than a little message.

If you have any questions/comments/suggestions/erm…anything else, don't hesitate to e-mail me at cassi0peia@hotmail.com or to instant message me at Cassi0peia on MSN messenger. I'm happy to hear from you.

Hope you enjoyed and please review, review, review!