A/N: The requisite fluffy chapter. More to come, I'm sure. Let me know what you think! I heart reviews!

Chapter Eleven

Draco stood on the Quidditch pitch, watching as his teammates gathered up their things and carried them back to the castle. Trying to look as though he were doing something important, Draco busied himself with the box of Quidditch equipment.

"You coming, Malfoy?," Malcolm Baddock called over his shoulder, surveying the older boy with his customary suspicious gaze.

"Yeah, just wanted to make sure I have everything in order," Draco said. "I'll be up in a little while."

Malcolm nodded and gave a grunt in reply as he turned and resumed his walk towards the castle. Draco waited until he was a mere silhouette on the far end of the pitch before he took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. It was five after ten.

"I thought they were never going to leave," a voice said from behind him and Draco turned, startled to see Ginny walking out of the dark entranceway to the changing rooms.

"Yeah, well…," he trailed off, suddenly not able to say anything. He hated this. What had happened to him? He used to be able to think of mean, sly comments, but lately…it just hadn't been working out. He would take one look at the little red-head and all of a sudden all of his vindictive thoughts would suddenly be driven from his head. Like the other day, for example. Her and that damn rose. They had been sitting there and when he had first looked at the rose it had indeed been yellow with a red tip. But he had glanced over at her and felt something inside him twinge…something had changed.

She had merely been sitting there, surveying him with curious eyes. Her red hair had been down, fanning out around her shoulders a few spare strands floating behind her in the light breeze. Her brown eyes had glinted in the bright moonlight and Draco had completely fallen. He never would have recognized it, never would have known it if it hadn't been for the rose. Right there, in his hands, it had turned pink.

"So…," she trailed off, walking closer to him and sitting on top of the now closed box of Quidditch equipment. "What were you going to tell me?"

Draco looked around. He could still see the bulky forms of his fellow Slytherins up by the castle. "Let's go for a ride," he said out-of-the-blue.

Ginny looked hesitant but then nodded and stood up. "I don't have a broom," she pointed out.

Draco just rolled his eyes. "Don't be daft," he muttered. "You can ride on mine. You trust me enough, don't you?"
She looked surprised at this question. "Of course I trust you, Draco."

He turned to keep her from seeing the small smile that crossed his face. He picked up his Accelerina Maxima and looked over at her. A second later, she was behind him, her arms wrapped tightly around his abdominal. He quickly kicked off and flew up, but only around for a few seconds before coming down to rest in one of the top boxes where the teachers and announcers usually sat.

"I thought that we were going for a ride," Ginny said, looking at him curiously.

Draco shrugged. "Well, we did, didn't we?"

"Technically, I suppose," Ginny replied, a small laugh escaping her lips. She sat down on one of the wooden benches. "So…," she began. Draco's stomach twisted up. He had hoped that she would somehow, in the course of the last few minutes, forget what she had come there for. "What are these wonderful things that you said about me?"

"Hey, I never said they were wonderful things," Draco drawled, smugly pointing out her error. "I said good things."

Ginny just rolled her eyes. "Draco…," she whined, looking dolefully up with him with her dark eyes. "It's late and I'm cold. As much as I'd love to stay out here debating grammar, it'll just have to wait until another time if you're going to be difficult."

Draco sighed realizing that he really had no way of getting out of it, short of her leaving, and he definitely didn't want that. "You just wanted to know what I said about you that was so good, right?"

Ginny shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips. "It never hurts to hear affirmation of my greatness."

"You Gryffindors," Draco grumbled. "So needy."

"You Slytherins," Ginny returned. "So terrible at changing the subject. On with it now."

Draco sighed again. "All I told Blaise was that you weren't a bad flyer. That you were actually quite good, with a little training. Much better than that sorry excuse of a Keeper your team has."

Ginny stuck her tongue out at him, not for the first time. "That 'sorry excuse of a keeper' is my brother, Draco."

"Hence my inclusion of him in comparing your flying skills," Draco said smugly.

"So that's it?," Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows. "You made me meet you out here at ten o'clock at night so you could tell me that you told your friend that I was a better flyer than my brother? I mean, it's a compliment and all, but still…"

Draco didn't know what to say. He couldn't exactly tell her right then and there that he loved her. She'd slap him. Or kick him. Or perhaps even hex him. That wouldn't be fun. He still hadn't gotten over being covered in fungus back in fourth year. Damn Weasley's.

"I said that you were pretty smart for a Gryffindor," he continued. Ginny smiled slightly, but didn't look over at him and Draco noticed her shiver. He started to pull off his cloak, but paused. He didn't want to do the chivalrous thing. She might think that he liked her. "Stupid Malfoy," he thought to himself. "Of course you don't like her…you love her."

He yanked off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up at him in surprise and then her face brightened in a larger smile. "Thank you," she whispered. "That was very sweet of you."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Draco mumbled.

Ginny clapped her hands shortly. "So? More good things about me! Back to it."

Draco couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "You're a trip, you know that?"
"Better than the Wizardjuana?"

"Yeah, even better than the Wizar-," he began, laughing, but broke off when he realized what she had said. "Oh, so I guess you figured that out?"

"Obviously," she muttered. He didn't say anything and moment later he felt her hand wrap around his forearm in an almost comforting gesture. "Draco, don't worry about it."

"I don't do it anymore, you know," he said suddenly. Why was he bloody telling her this? She didn't look surprised though.

"I figured," she replied with a small shrug. "Not that it's any of my business." He fell silent once again. Ginny sighed and started to tap her fingers on his arm. "You know, you're not the total scoundrel you think you are."

Draco shrugged and glanced over at her. "Well, don't tell anyone, ok? I've got my rep to worry about."

Ginny just started laughing and a moment later, Draco joined her. It reminded him of a few days ago when they had been in the window seat behind the tapestry. He hated how she could always do that to him. But at the same time he absolutely adored it.

There was a long silence between them after they had finished laughing. Ginny let out a lengthy yawn and stood up. She shrugged Draco's cloak off of her shoulders and dropped it into his lap. "I better go to bed," she finally said.

Draco nodded. "I'll fly you back down to the ground." He beckoned his broom and it flew into his hand. They both mounted it and a moment later were standing on the cold, hard ground. Draco flicked his wand at the box of Quidditch equipment and it floated lazily behind them as they made their way back up to the castle.

"So, tomorrow's our last lesson," Draco said, trying to break the silence that surrounded them.

Ginny nodded. "Yeah. Bet you're happy to be rid of me," she replied.

Draco just shrugged. "Well, I must admit. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm glad to know that I'm not that much of a pariah."

They reached the castle and walked inside, their footsteps echoing quietly in the dark, barren room. Draco started towards the dungeon stairs, but stopped suddenly and looked over his shoulder. Ginny was almost at the foot of the stairs leading up to the second floor. "What? No kiss on the cheek?," he asked in a loud whisper.

Ginny turned to look at him, her face reddening slightly. "Erm…did you want one?," she asked hesitantly.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Draco shrugged absently. He saw her eyes widen slowly in what he could only suppose could be complete surprise. She bit her lip and then walked over towards him. He stood completely still. He couldn't believe that she was actually going to do it. For the first time, Draco was grateful for her Gryffindor bravery.

He felt her hand on his shoulder and she stood on tiptoes, angling her head towards his cheek. At the very last second, just as her lips were about to graze his jawbone, he reached out, and in one deft moment cradled her jaw in his hand. He stared down at her and her brown eyes seemed to swim with uncertainty. "I think that this would be better," Draco said in an unnaturally husky voice and then, sucking up every bit of courage that he could, pressed his lips against hers in a soft, sweet, short kiss.

He straightened up and opened his eyes, looking down at her. She was staring back at him and for a moment he was afraid that she was going to smack him. But she didn't. She simply smiled and removed her hand from his shoulder.

"Goodnight Draco," she whispered. The flush in her cheeks was starting to grow, but Draco realized with increasing bliss that she didn't look at all displeased.

"'Night, Ginny." He watched her climb the stairs and then turn the corner, then turned and started down the dungeon steps, suddenly feeling as though everything in the world was right.

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Ginny turned the corner from the stairs blindly. She wanted to get back up to the tower, wanted to hide away in her room and pour all that she was feeling into her (non-evil) diary, but her legs were so weak that she could barely move. Not to mention that her head was spinning so quickly that she couldn't quite remember exactly where Gryffindor tower was at that moment.

All that mattered, Ginny thought, was that Draco had kissed her. She had known that her feelings for him had changed, that she was starting to like him, but she hadn't realized just how much until just then. She sighed deeply and leaned up against the wall, closing her eyes as she remembered the brief, but electrifying kiss. It had been like heaven. Never had she ever considered that kissing someone could be like that.

She had been kissed before, of course. There was that disastrous kiss out in the courtyard with Harry and the shy ones from Neville back in her third year. She had kissed Colin on numerous occasions, even thought that he was maybe the one to get her mind off of Harry - but she realized now how wrong she had been. Despite it's brevity, that had been the kiss to end all kisses.

She was so caught up in these thoughts that when someone hidden in the shadows across the hall cleared their throat to get her attention, she didn't notice. However, when they walked into the light coming from a wall sconce and threw a shadow over her body, she looked up startled, hoping that it wasn't Filch.

"Seamus!," she gasped. She scrambled to her feet, looking at the sandy-haired boy. He was giving her an odd look, his sapphire blue eyes stony and somewhat unreadable. He wasn't smiling, for once. "What are you doing here?"

He held up his hands, showing her the bottle of butterbeer and candy that he was carrying. "Just came back from the kitchens. Remember? I asked you earlier if you wanted to come? You said you had homework." He was staring at her, his face a display of hurt. "You could have just said that you'd rather go make out with Malfoy."

Ginny felt as though someone had just kicked her in the gut. "Um…what do you mean?," she asked dumbly, hoping that "make out with Malfoy" was just a term some of the Gryffindor boys had come up with. Something like "jump in a pool of grindlow", or perhaps "have a cup of tea with You-Know-Who." Seamus merely rolled his eyes. Apparently not.
"Ginny, I'm a bit dense sometimes, but I'm not blind," he said, a small, sad smile playing at the edges of his mouth. "I just wish that you had told me that you were with Malfoy before."

"I'm not with Malfoy!," she exclaimed adamantly. "I'm not! That was the first time-"

"Shhh," Seamus suddenly said, looking around wildly. He grabbed her by her shoulder and dragged her behind a wall-hanging into a tiny nook. Ginny looked at him in confusion. In the slight light she could see him lips move to form the most dreaded word at Hogwarts. Filch.

They sat with bated breath, waiting for the miserly old caretaker to amble past. "I know I heard something…hang them up by their toenails…," he intoned in his gravelly voice. Ginny's heart was pounding so hard that she was sure that Filch would be able to hear it, but to her utter and complete relief he didn't even seem to slow down. He simply passed by them. A moment later Seamus peeked out from behind the wall-hanging and gestured for her to follow him.

"All clear," he whispered. "We better get back to the Common Room though."

Ginny nodded. "Seamus, please don't-"

He interrupted her again. "Ginny, don't worry about it. This will stay between us." His face turned very serious, more serious than she had ever seen it. "Just know that Malfoy's a prat and he's not good enough for you. But I'm not your brother, nor am I your dad. I can't make your choices for you. Just be careful."

She stared at the Irish boy with a new level of respect. "Thank you, Seamus." It was all that she could manage. He just shrugged and led her back up to Gryffindor tower.

They crept into the Common Room. As it was getting late and they had classes the next day, the room was nearly cleaned out and Ginny noticed with relief that her brother, Hermione, and Harry were nowhere in sight. The only students still in the room glanced up, but seemed not at all surprised to see Seamus sneaking in with food and a girl.

Ginny bid Seamus goodnight and slowly made her way up the stairs to her dorm room. She opened the door and quietly made her way to her bed. Her fellow sixth-years were in bed and from the light snores and breaths she guessed that they were already asleep. She quickly changed into her pajamas and got into bed.

She lay there, thinking about all that had happened that night. She couldn't help but have a stupid grin on her face. But it immediately faded when she remembered something. The rose. What about the person who had sent that?

"Lumos," she whispered. The tip of her wand suddenly glowed and she grabbed the box on her night stand and pulled the lid off, suddenly wanting to look at it again. She gasped at the image illuminated by her wand light.

The rose was red.

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Aauugghh! The clichés caught me! Oh well. It had to happen. *Sigh*

So, what did y'all think? Like it? Hate it? Loff it? (As Victor would say…). What on Earth should happen next? Let me know. Reviews are great!

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Much Thanks To:

Miss. Charlet, Stacca, Missfizz (Harry is quite irksome.), Kylie, sCHEm, Dracos gal, KeaCerasiJade (That's a lot of reason. Glad you liked it!), Kitycat87, Imp, Jen, gohansfan, Rainbow Dreamer (Glad you like Blaise…she's sort of grown on me too), Isadora, hpangel (Sorry about the lack of comments last time!), August, SeZzA, Red Magic Marker, Pebble of Insanity, Kerry, Shyanne, dreamofTF, Dragon's Cat (soooo…you think Draco's hot?), frananddragon, Tigerlily Loamsdown, karen, KeeperOfTheMoon, charismatic (I want cheesecake! *pouts*), Rikku, Ariel Malfoy,

angel, Lyss, Sakura1287 (crème-filled Draco? Hehehe…oh, I'm such a dork), Space Lion, Crystal, Jade Stellar, MAD-Clown, Cassandra Sisenta or Krey-Zey, Silver Essence (Eeek…here's your monkey!), & Jenn (That's me! Eeeeevil. Just call me Slytherilla..bwahaha).


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Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review…pretty please?