A/N: This chapter was soooo hard to write…*sigh*. But I hope you all like it. Please review…it'll make this super-stressful day a little more cheerful…Happy reading…

Chapter Fifteen

"Draco, I know that the rose is from you," Ginny said, staring at the blonde boy in front of her. He looked at her blankly.

"What rose?"

She blinked, a bit confused. "The Mystique Rose! The one you sent me!"

He smirked. "Why would I ever send you a rose, little Weasel?"

"B-but…," she stammered at a loss for words. "You bought one! And you like me!"
His smirk deepened. "Yeah, I like you. Like to torment you. I bought the rose for my girlfriend."

Ginny felt as though she were about to faint from shock and dejection. "Girlfriend?"
"Yes. Millicent, my love, come over here for a second!"

~*~

Ginny shot up in her bed, sweat dripping down her face, eyes wide, trying to catch her breath. The sunlight poured through the windows making her eyes ache and she groaned and closed them again, pulling a pillow over her face as she laid back down in her bed. Needless to say, she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.

The enormity of it was beginning to set in. Draco had sent the rose to her. How had she not realized it before? It wasn't that she hadn't considered it before; on many occasions she had wished it true. But the very idea of Draco Malfoy sending her a rose was absurd. Ginny would have been less shocked to find out the rose was from You-Know-Who. She felt stupid just thinking about the time she had giggled and fawned over the rose in front of him. She remembered kissing him and holding back because she had felt like it wasn't fair to whoever it was who loved her - and all along it had been him. All along it had been Draco.

She reluctantly took the pillow off of her face and looked around the circular room, realizing for the first time that all of her roommates were gone. She squinted at her watch, trying to decipher what time it was. She gasped. It was nearly two-thirty! The Quidditch Tryouts began in just half an hour. She scrambled out of her four-poster bed and hurriedly changed and twisted her hair back into a ponytail and sat down on her bed, breathless, to lace up her boots. There was something else irking her about today too…What was it? March first…March first.

"Bugger!," she exclaimed, her eyes widening. Not only were the trials that day, but it was bloody Ron's birthday too. She had been so distracted lately that she had completely forgotten. "What a day," she whimpered, collapsing on her bed once more.

A moment later she reluctantly sat up and glanced at her watch again. She only had fifteen minutes now to get down to the Quidditch pitch before the tryouts started. She grabbed the Nimbus 2001, not even stopping to think of a viable excuse for where she had gotten it, before she raced out of her dorm room, through the common room, and through the vast, endless halls of the school.

She reached the pitch just as Harry was starting to explain how the try outs would be run. She stopped at the end of the line of Gryffindors who were all eagerly listening to the older boy.

"So, we're going to have all of those trying out for Chaser up against-," Harry was saying, but broke off when he saw Ginny standing there, her broom clutched in her hand. "Gin? Is there something wrong?"

She just smiled brightly at him, a bit pleased at his shocked expression. "Nothing at all Harry," she replied with shrug. "Just trying out like everyone else."

She could see her brother, who was standing next to Harry, gape at her. Even Madam Hooch, who was there to make sure that there was no cheating or such, gawked at her in surprise. "You don't know how to fly!," Ron exclaimed, looking at his baby sister as though she were insane. "You're terrified of flying!"

"No, Ronald, I'm not," Ginny said calmly. She smiled winningly. "Oh, by the way. Happy birthday."

"Thanks," he mumbled, looking distracted. "But Gin-"
She help up her hand to stop him. "Ron, I'm trying out whether you like it or not."

Ron looked around him and then walked over to her leaning his head in close to hers. "Ginny," he hissed in a serious tone, "I'm not trying to say that you can't try out, but I just don't want you embarrassing yourself."

Ginny raised her eyebrows calmly. "Who says that I'm going to embarrass myself?"
Ron looked a bit confused. "I don't understand."

She patted his arm comfortingly. "I know. You don't understand a lot of things. That's okay. We can't all be geniuses."

Ron wrinkled his brow as if he were trying to decipher whether or not he had just been insulted. "Well…okay," he finally said. Ginny just rolled her eyes discreetly. He was acting like she had needed his permission to bloody try out for a Quidditch team. "But I don't want you saying that I didn't warn you," he added in a paternal sort of tone.

Ginny nodded. "Ron…it's okay. I'm fine."

Ron looked worried, but after a moment he just shrugged his shoulders helplessly and returned to his post beside Harry. Harry went back to his explanation. Each of the Gryffindors trying out for Chaser would go against Ron, the current Keeper. They would be judged on how well they executed their shots and also how accurate they were. Ginny glanced around at all of the nervous students around her. It was a cinch, she knew. Half of them looked too jumpy to even stay on a broomstick, much less ride one and make goals.

One-by-one Harry began calling forward the other people trying out. Being at the end of the long line, Ginny had a long time before she would be called, so she collapsed down onto the ground and lost herself in her thoughts as she stared around the Quidditch pitch, bored.

She squinted as she thought she saw a glint of silver over near the broom sheds. It was only momentary and Ginny realized that it was probably just a reflection of something from the lake, but she found herself thinking almost immediately of Draco. She sighed warily. She didn't know what she was going to say to him when she next saw him.

Yes, she liked him - a lot. She thought he was gorgeous, charming, and undeniably sexy. But on the other hand, he was a Malfoy. He was a Slytherin. He could be cold and cruel and cunning and downright mean. He was everything that her mother had told her to stay away from. He was only bound to hurt her. Even if he did love her as the rose proclaimed.

"Ginny?," a voice suddenly said, breaking her daze.

"Hmmm?," she murmured, looking up to see Harry looking down at her, his face a bit skeptical.

"You're up," he said quietly, gesturing up towards the hoops. She could see Ron looking down at her, his face a mixture of worry and plain confusion

"Oh, great," she said, flashing Harry what she hoped looked like a confident smile. In reality, her stomach had just begun trashing around violently. She realized with a start that she hadn't even paid any attention to any of the other people trying out - she had no clue whether or not she was terrible in comparison to them. She smiled one more time at Harry and then mounted her broom and then began the ascent up towards the golden goal posts.

"You sure about this, Ginny?," Ron said worriedly.

Ginny didn't say anything, just nodded. Ron shrugged and then tossed her the Quaffle that was clutched in his hands.

If Ginny had thought that her nerves would hinder her, she was wrong. As soon as she felt the soft leather of the red ball, all of Draco's instructions suddenly came back to her. She looped around the pitch a couple of times to get her bearings and then raced towards Ron, faked to one side and easily tossed the Quaffle into one of the hoops. Ron looked up at her as he swooped down to collect the ball, an expression of utter astonishment on his face. He didn't say anything though, only resumed his place and tossed the Quaffle back to her.

This time he was prepared; Ginny shot back and forth, waiting for him to be distracted. Ron seemed determined not to let her get the better of him. Ginny was glad for this - she would have hated making it on the team if she thought that her brother had gone easy on her. She suddenly pointed the nose of her broom down and dived towards the ground. Ron stayed in place and, quick as a flash, Ginny lunged back up and swerved past, hurling the Quaffle into the center hoop and missing Ron's ear by a centimeter.

The trial seemed to go on forever, but in the end, Ginny couldn't keep the smile off of her face. She had attempted a dozen shots towards the hoop and her brother had been able to block only two of them. After the last one went through the hoop, Ron grabbed the Quaffle again and nodded towards he ground.

"I don't know how you did it, Gin," he began, a bit out of breath at the effort he had just exerted, "but whoever has to play against you next year is bloody unlucky."

Ginny grinned even more brightly and flew down towards the ground, looking over at a very astonished Harry and a very impressed looking Madam Hooch.

"That was brilliant, Ginny," Emma Dobbs, a fourth year said adamantly, nodding his head.

"Yeah, where'd you learn that?," asked second-year boy who Ginny didn't know.

Ginny smiled slightly. "I just had a very good teacher," she said with a shrug. She settled back down on the ground again, watching Harry and Ron carefully as they conferred with Madam Hooch. They turned back to the crowd, Harry suddenly looking very official.

"Okay, I just wanted to thank you all for showing up," he said. "Unfortunately, though you all did brilliantly, we only have room for two new Chasers. So, erm…the new Chasers are Dobbs, Burke, and Weasley. If you're here to try out for Keeper, please line up over here and-."

But Ginny didn't hear any of the rest of what Harry was saying as she felt a sudden rush of excitement tear through her. Did he just say Weasley? She had…she had made the team? She gave out a great squeal and launched herself on the startled raven-haired boy, who was still talking to the next batch of Gryffindors trying out. He held her awkwardly, patting her back as though he were unsure what to do. "Congratulations, Ginny. You were great."

She pulled away from him and grinned and then hurled herself at Ron, who looked supremely surprised. "So…I take it you're not mad at me anymore?," he asked hesitantly.

She raised her head and looked at her brother. "You didn't go easy on me so that I'd make the team and forgive you, did you?," she whispered worriedly.

Ron looked a bit shocked. "No! Ginny, you were brilliant! I'm just wondering," he said, lowering his voice, "Where did you learn all of that?"

Ginny bit her lip, wondering what to say. She had kept it from Ron all this time that she had been getting flying lessons from Draco - why bother telling him now?

She shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. "I don't know. Practice makes perfect, I suppose."

He looked at her carefully. "Okay," he said after a moment. He glanced over at Harry. "Well, we have to go try out the people for Keeper. See you later."

Ginny nodded and slung her broom over her shoulder as she started back up the hill towards the school. She smiled at the person coming through the entrance to the Quidditch pitch: Seamus.

"How'd it go?," he asked, stopping in front of her.

She grinned. "I made it!," she exclaimed.

Seamus let out a great whoop and swept her into a huge hug and swinging her around. "I'm proud of you! Even with that dirty little-," he paused and seemed to reconsider his words. "Well, even with Malfoy for a teacher you made it."

Ginny chose to ignore this comment - she didn't really want to think about Draco at that moment. "Well, I'm going to tell Hermione the good news," she said, pulling herself out of Seamus's embrace. "See you later."

He nodded and gave her one last smile before jogging over to where Harry and Ron were standing.

Ginny started back up towards the castle. She had just walked out of the stadium, a smile playing on her lips, when she felt someone grab the back of her robes and pull her into the shadowy cranny between the broom shed and the entrance to the Hufflepuff locker rooms.

"Let me go!," she exclaimed, struggling wildly. The person clapped a hand over her mouth and spun her around. She stared up into the eyes of the very person she had been trying to avoid thinking about all day - Draco Malfoy.

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A/N: Yeah, I know cliffies are bad…but they keep ya coming back for more…hehe…

Many very sincere thanks to my reviewers *deep breath*: Lady Rhiyana (Can you imagine a sappy Draco? That would be even scarier than his normal personality), Excillian (Gotta love the sexy Draco!), Draco-lover (I loff REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW's…hehe…There are other rose stories? Where?), Eraserhead (Eeek, don't get in trouble to read these stories! That would not be good!), Riauna, Mocha Dream (Or should I call you The Mocha Masta? Thanks for the extra long review. I had a good five minutes reading it…REALLY made me laugh. I love the convo with Draco…lol), sadie (hehe…your review made me really laugh for some reason), Baby (YOU'RE WELCOME!), Missy, MelissaAdams, stokely (please don't hurt me *cringes*), Ariel Malfoy, opal.star (damn me), Rikku, Chocolat Elf (Purple mutant cows? Well, thank heavens I avoided that fate…haha), Ginny001, Sakura1287 (I'm glad that everyone doesn't hate me for making her find out from Parvati and Lavender…Update Water and Ashes soon, punk *scowls*), Luinthoron (I'm so good there aren't even words for me…hehe), Silver Essence (I'm sorry…I will respond from now on…I promise!), Stacca (Malfoy shocked? Maybe…just maybe), MissFizz (if using unpredictable character means I have JK's blood in me…more unpredictable characters it is! Hehe), Angel-Hiragizawa31 (You're welcome and thank you), bumblepuppy (yay for codeine!), Riverchic1998 (oops…you didn't want a cliffy, did you? Please don't kill me), Tuilindo, Random Artemis (yeah, they were a plot device, but I had to let Ginny know SOME WAY…glad you like it and very glad to know you're not going to bash in Ginny's skull), Sayo, VirtualFaerie, hpangel (don't drool on the keyboard!), Simply Bewitching 1 (not too sorry at all…*stares off in a daze*), Space Lion (don't worry…no Seamus for Ginny…), Miss.Charlet (he's an annoying git? lol), fyrechild, Mint (yay! One of the few people who doesn't think the chapters are too short…), Imp, Crystal, Red Magic Marker, slytherin-cool, GinnyYvette, Drue, dreamofTF, karen (*sigh* I'd love to be tortured in such a way also), ladybug, Ace Of Spades, karly, Pebble of Insanity (ouch…did you poke me? Hehe), frananddragon (Gemini's are scary…*sticks out tongue and ducks as you throw pointy things at me*), Brianna Darknight The Angel of Darkness (He is a sexy bastard, isn't he?), Jade Stellar (Yay for fluff!), charismatic, and several other reviewers whose names would not show up on my computer for some odd reason, even though the thing said they were signed in…ff.net is more annoying that Seamus sometimes…Thanks for your reviews though!

Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter! Should Ginny tell Draco that she knows or should she just let it go? What shall I do with Seamus…he just doesn't seem to want to disappear! Let me know what you think! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW