Wow! Two chapters in one week, it could only mean one thing..I'm on break from classes! I hope you enjoy! Oh, yeah, by the way, I don't own these people (if I did, Draco would be locked in my basement..)

Draco helped himself to three cards - a six, three and ace - cards that gave him a straight. He had toyed with the idea of simply allowing her to have something amazing - like a royal flush, allow her to bet all her clothes on one hand, then give himself five of a kind (with the aid of a wild card, of course) but that sort of low brow stunt was too immature, to.Gryfindorish for him. He liked to think as a Sytherin he had elevated the manipulative stunt into the realm of art, in a class all its own.

No, this would be much more rewarding in the end if he was just patient.

"Well, are you going to show?" queried the redhead, drumming her fingers on the table. Ginny may have been excellent at keeping her poker face, but she was ill equipped to be patient.

Face impassive, Draco lay down his cards at the same time Ginny did, not taking his eyes off her heart-shaped face.

Ginny did a double take. 'What?!?! He beat me? How did he..calm down Ginny. It's just one hand. And it's not like you lost something important.just your socks and shoes.' She took a deep breath, looking from the cards to Draco, then back to the cards.

"Don't tell me you're getting shy on me, Vir-gin-ia."

'Damn him! Nothing fazes him! He just keeps that stupid mask in place.a great poker face. wait, poker face, as in poker.as in.he might be pretty good.as.in.' "Do you need some help, Vir-gin-ia?"

Ginny glared at him, then bent over to quickly tug off her shoes and socks in one swift motion. Tug - the right shoe and sock came off. Tug - the left shoe and sock came off. Straightening up with them in hand, she slammed the shoes down on the table with as much force as she could muster, knocking over her half-filled glass of butterbeer, soaking her cards in the process.

"Tsk, tsk dear. We really need to work on that temper of yours, Vir-gin- ia."

Ginny tried to remain calm, reminding herself that he was a prick, and as such was going to act like one. That being said she should just ignore it. Unfortunately, Ron wasn't the only one that lived up to his red hair.

Ginny shoved herself away from the table and stood up. Grabbing a shoe, she took aim and let it fly, all in one smooth motion. Unfortunately, it had the same outcome as before - Draco caught it easily.

"Nice arm. Good follow through.has someone been practicing, Vir-gin-ia?"

"Stop calling me that!!!!"

"What?" Draco asked, the picture of innocence, as he surveyed her clenched fists.

"Virginia!"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," he said, not sounding it in the slightest. "Here I thought it was your name. What is your name then?"

"It's not that! It's just.is. it's just..well,."

"Yes," Draco smirked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Ihatethewayyousayit." She whispered. There. It was out. She had told him.just not the reason why she didn't like the way he said it. He would have picked on her until the day he died if he knew.and probably would have hung around as a ghost to make her even more miserable.

"I'm sorry. Can you run that by me again?" He stood up and leaned over the table, as if he were a coconspirator.

'I don't like the way you say my name because it sounds personal.no one calls me Virginia, it sends shivers up my spine - the good kind. The kind that I definitely don't want to get from you.'

She didn't say that. Even in her angered state, self-preservation kept Ginny from telling the entire truth. Instead Ginny took a calming breath, sending a prayer to any higher power that would take pity on her. "Look. It really annoys me the way you .drawl out my name. I know it's just a way for you to make fun of me, and I'm asking that, just for tonight, you say it normally, or just call me Weasley."

Draco opened his mouth to tell Vir-gin-ia that that wasn't going to happen, but stopped when he saw the look in her eyes, pleading with him. Running a hand through his hair, messing it up (author's note - *sigh*) he sank back into his chair and carelessly threw a leg over the armrest. "Fine, whatever, Virginia. Can we just get back to playing?"

'Where did that come from?' he thought.

'Where did that come from?' she thought.

Ginny smiled and almost bounded across the room to give him a hug. Luckily (or maybe not.) she remembered who this was. Settling herself, she reached for her cards, then remembered that they were now soaked with butterbeer. Reaching for her wand in her robe pocket, Ginny tried to recall the cleaning spell that would clean and dry the cards.

Before she found it, Draco pulled his wand out of his sleeve and mumbled something under his breath. The glass righted itself, and the butterbeer dissipated, leaving the cards as clean as they had been before the accident.

Without a word, he slipped the wand back into his sleeve.

"Hey, thanks Dra-, uh, Malfoy! I was just about to. .Wait a minute.why is your wand up your sleeve. Have you been cheating!?!?!?"

Furious, she stood up again, trying to intimidate Draco by looming over him, a move that might have worked better if it hadn't put her chest at eye level with his scrunched up form, a move that had the opposite effect that Ginny had most likely intended, distracting Draco from what she was saying, or rather, shouting.

Blinking, he tried to grasp what she was saying. 'Eye contact.eye contact.'he chanted over and over to himself, trying to grasp at the shreds of self-discipline that had served him so well. Failing, he tried another mantra - 'Snape in a polka dot dress.Snape in a polka dot dress.' That one seemed to be disturbing enough to do the trick. Finally dragging his gray stare to meet her brown one, now blazing with anger, he asked, in the picture of calm reserve, "Huh?"

'Smooth, Malfoy. Very smooth.' he berated himself.

"Don't pretend to ignore me. You heard me. I think you're cheating!"