A/N: What's up all? It's been a while since my last update, but you'll
never believe what happened! I did have this chapter finished, it was eight
pages long on Microsoft Word and then when I went to save it, it fried my
disk! I think it's because I had like 50 pages of this story on it or
something. I don't know, so now I have to rewrite the whole thing, hoping
that I remember what I had. Sigh! I've also been uber busy with school.
Curse the moron that decided that Geometry was something we needed to
learn! I also finally finished the other story I was working on. Now I can
devote all my time to this! Silvermoon12, I'm sorry to disappoint you but
this is going to be a Ginny/Draco fic with some Ron/Hermione, and
theoretically Cho was tossed in the mix so that this could be a bit of
Harry/Cho too. I haven't done much to develop the Harry/Cho thing yet for
reasons unknown even to me, but I'll be sure to get on top of that. I
promise to one day write you a Harry/Ginny fic! Thanks for the reviews;
they keep me going!
~Chapter 7~
Harry slowly opened his eyes as the first rays of sunlight entered his room. He sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked out the window and saw the sun just starting to make its way up over the horizon. He stretched contentedly before climbing out of bed to get dressed. The new semester would be beginning the following day but today everyone would spend hanging out together. He was on his way to meet Ron, Hermione, Cho, and Ginny at the Quidditch Pitch for a couple of hours of play before breakfast and then after everyone would head off to Hogsmeade for the last time before classes began. Everyone was amazed that McGonagall was allowing the trip to happen considering what day it was, but everyone jumped at the opportunity to get away one last time before the students arrived.
Harry finished dressing, grabbed his Firebolt, and headed out of his room. As he stepped out on to the front lawns of Hogwarts he thought about how happy he was. Other than having to read all their textbooks and make lesson plans, this was turning out to be a truly enjoyable experience. He got to hang out with his best friends and they weren't doing anything to get into trouble. Life couldn't be better.
Harry was lost in thought as he crossed the dew-covered lawn and it wasn't until Cho had finally reached him that he realized anyone else was out there. "Sorry Cho, I guess I wasn't really paying attention."
"That's all right Harry." They started walking again in silence. Cho broke it first, "So, how are the lesson plans going?
"All right, I guess."
"That's good," they kept walking along. Harry didn't know what to talk about. This was actually the first time in the month they had been back that Cho was actually talking to him alone. Harry had never known how to talk to her and now that there was no one else to carry on the conversation, he didn't know what he was going to do. Cho reached out for his arm to stop him from walking. Harry turned and looked at her. "I'm sorry," she said.
Harry looked at her quizzically, "For what?"
Cho looked down at the ground, "For the way I've been acting this past month. I've been treating you horrible."
Harry didn't really know what to say to that so he figured he'd just put her mind at ease, "It's OK."
"No Harry, it isn't," she said looking at him again. "Since the first day back I've been ignoring you. It's just that I hadn't seen you in so long and when I got off the train there you were...with Hermione and I don't know," she looked down again, "I guess I just got jealous. But now I see whom it is that she's really interested in and I just wanted to apologize for my actions. I thought maybe we could just start over. What do you think?" she asked looking up at him again.
Harry wondered what Cho had seen to make her change her opinions of his and Hermione's friendship when his insistence was never enough. He thought about her offer. Starting over was probably a good idea, she wouldn't be suspicious of him and he still thought she was pretty cute; maybe it could work out this time. He smiled at her, "Sure Cho...that would be great."
She smiled back at him, "Thanks Harry, you're the best!" Harry was quite amazed when she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek but didn't have time to think on it because Ron and Hermione were just coming up behind them.
"Morning Harry! Morning Cho!" Ron called out, "Wonderful day for some Quidditch don't you think!" Hermione waved at the other two while they waved back.
"Honestly Ron," Hermione said turning to him, "I don't know how I ever let you talk me into this! I'm more happy to cheer from the sidelines."
Ron grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him, "Come on Hermione, this is going to be fun. Besides, you know you'd do anything for me." He took his hand off her chin and tapped her nose with his pointer finger, "And don't you ever deny it!" he said.
Hermione gave a frustrated huff, but didn't reply. He was right.
Ginny was coming up a little father behind, dragging the chest with the Quidditch balls behind her. "Anyone care to help me? This chest is just as heavy as it looks!" Harry and Cho who were absorbed in their own conversation and Hermione looked as if she wouldn't notice a Bludger heading straight for her.
Ron looked over to where his sister stood and with a final look at Hermione ran over to help her. "Sorry about that Ginny, didn't notice you coming up," he said his face a light shade of pink. He picked up one side of the chest while she picked up the other and they headed off.
"Yeah," she said nodding her head in Hermione's direction, "I could see you were otherwise occupied!"
"Little git," he said affectionately while ruffling her hair with his free hand. They reached the top of the pitch with the chest. "Everyone ready?" he asked leaning down to flip open the chest. At everyone's nod he straddled his broom and opened the chest, "Here we go!"
~~~
About two hours later they were finally heading back into the castle, talking about their game, even Hermione had had a good time. As Ginny walked a movement caught her attention and she looked up to see Draco standing on his balcony looking down at them. Their gazed caught for a couple of seconds before Draco headed back into his bedroom. She looked in the direction from where they just came and wondered if Draco had been watching them play. Maybe he had wanted to join them. She wondered if anyone had bothered to invite him to go along with them to Hogsmeade and decided that the answer was probably no.
Everyone was heading off to their rooms to change and go down to breakfast. At the top of the stairs she stopped her brother and asked him about Draco. "Are you out of your mind? Why would we ask him to come along?"
"He's a teacher here too you know! We could at least try to be nice!" she said and then blushed because she knew she was defending him.
Ron caught the defense as well and looked at her skeptically, "It's not like he'd come even if we did ask him."
Ginny put her head down, defeated, "You're probably right."
Ron put an arm around his sister, "Hey now, don't get like that. I know you want to save humanity one person at a time, but not everyone can be saved you know." He gave her a little squeeze, "Don't let this get you down."
"You're right, I'm sorry. Well, I'll see you at breakfast."
At breakfast everyone carried on quite conversations around the table except for Draco. As usual he sat there quietly eating his food and then excused himself as soon as he was done to return to his room. Ginny decided then and there that she was going to make the attempt with Draco herself. It wasn't right for him to be left behind while everyone else was having a good time.
"Come on Ginny," Hermione said brining her out of her thoughts, "we're leaving now."
"Actually, I think I'm going to stay here."
"What?" Ron said walking up to her? "Why?"
Ginny thought quickly for an excuse, she didn't think that her brother would appreciate what she really wanted to do, "I still have some work to do before the students get here tomorrow. I'm not as ready as I thought I was."
Ron wasn't going to let it go that easily, "You can do that tonight. Besides, Fred and George are going to want to see you too."
Ginny felt a little guilty at that, but it was too late to change her mind now, "They'll understand." Her brother narrowed his eyes at her and she knew he was about to question her real motives. She spoke quickly, "Come on Ron! This is really important to me! I want to do a good job. Don't you want me to succeed?"
"All right, fine, but just know that I don't like this," he grumbled. With a sigh of relief, she walked them to the door and wished them all a good day.
At the top of the stairs she was about to turn and head for her room when she thought better of it. 'No time like the present to get this started,' she said to herself. She headed off in the direction of Draco's room. The black haired girl was looking at the snake wrapped around her hand when Ginny walked up. "I'd like to speak to Malfoy please," she said timidly.
The girl looked down at Ginny raising her eyebrow, "Didn't you get enough the last time?" she asked.
Irritation quickly overtook intimidation, "What's your name?" she asked.
The black haired girl looked down at her through narrowed eyes, "Myra," she said.
"Well Myra," Ginny said putting her hands on her hips, "this probably isn't the last time that I'm going to be standing here in front of you asking to see Malfoy, and this would probably go a lot easier if I didn't have to deal with your censure as well."
"Well," Myra said with a slight tone of approval, "you do have a back bone." With that she disappeared into the room. A moment later the portrait swung open and Draco came walking out.
"What do you want this time, Weasley?" He had to hand it to her she certainly was tenacious.
It was the moment of truth and she found herself floundering. If only he didn't have that aggravated look on his face. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to join everyone in Hogsmeade for the day."
"No," he said and then turned back into his room.
The portrait swung closed and Myra was back with a smirk on her face, obviously having heard the conversation. "Better luck next time, dear," she said in a singsong voice.
Ginny stood there for a minute very tempted to call Draco out and try a few choice charms on him. Instead she sighed and headed back toward her room. Maybe Ron was right, you can't save those who don't want to be saved and Draco made it very clear that he didn't want her around. Ginny frowned thinking of her stupidity. She tried over and over again to no avail and now she was stuck at the castle while everyone else was out. She supposed that she could go meet them at Hogsmeade, but that she'd have to wait a while as she had told them she had some things to finish up.
She entered her room wondering what she would do to pass the time. She decided that she'd write some letters to her mother and friends. She had only written her mother one time since she had been there and she hadn't written her friends at all. Writing to that many people about what had happened in the past month would certainly be the best way to pass the time before she could join the others.
It was quite some time later when Ginny finished her last letter. Her hand was cramped from all the writing as she put her quill down. She got up and went to get Pig out of his cage. She'd send her mother's letter through Pig, but she'd have to make a trip to the Owlery to send off the others she had written.
Attaching the note to Pig she walked out onto her balcony. "All right Pig, now you take this straight to Mum. No dilly dallying." Pig gave a merry hoot and flew off. Ginny watched him as he disappeared into the horizon.
When she couldn't see him anymore she brought her gaze down to look around the grounds. It was quite and peaceful in Hogwarts. The wind blew gently though the trees. She looked down towards the lake and was a bit surprised to see Draco walking by it. This was the first time she had seen him out on the grounds. As far as she knew he spent all time between meals in his bedroom. The idea came quickly to her and she didn't stop to analyze it. Leaving the other letters on the desk to be sent later she ran out of the room. As she headed toward the kitchen she hoped that she wouldn't regret her actions.
~~~
Draco stopped walking and sat under a huge tree by the lake. He liked to come out here to walk around and think. At that moment he was thinking of Weasley and why she couldn't leave him alone. She certainly had a lot of nerve; she proved that to him on an almost daily basis when she asked if she could help him out or when she asked what he was up to. He heard footsteps coming up behind him and knew who it was without turning around.
"Hi," Ginny said coming up to him. She stood in front of him and he looked up, not able to see her clearly with the sun behind her. She knelt down in front of him placing a basket next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Well," she began picking up the blanket on top of the basket and putting it out between them, "I saw you walking out here from my room and I thought that you might like to have lunch so I went to the kitchen and got us something to eat."
Draco stood up, "Well then, you thought wrong." He turned and walked away.
"That is it!" Ginny said standing up. She ran in front of him holding out her arms, blocking his path. "You're not walking away from me this time Malfoy!" He glared at her and tried to side step her but she moved to block his every move. Quite beyond exasperation she placed her hands on his chest to keep him from moving. "I said that's enough! I'm so sick and tired of you constantly walking away from me. It's getting old!"
Draco stopped struggling against her and she put her hands down. She straightened herself up saying, "Now I don't know if it's because I come from such a big family and being alone was always the worst way to pass the time or maybe I've just gone completely crazy, but for some reason the thought of you spending day after day alone bothers me." She crossed her hands over her chest, "Now you can keep fighting me for the next year or just accept the inevitable, but I'm not giving up on this. I promise you my company is not that bad."
Draco started laughing and Ginny's mouth fell open, "Fine, I'll have lunch with you," he said turning back to the tree.
As they headed back to the blanket Ginny said, "You know I don't understand you." It was true, if he wasn't walking away from her he was laughing at her.
"Then I guess we're in the way of being even," he replied as they sat down on the blanket, "because I in no way understand you either." He leaned back against the tree and studied her as she unpacked the lunch basket. "Why do you care if I'm alone?" He didn't realize he'd asked the question aloud until she looked up at him.
"I don't know," she answered truthfully, turning back to her unpacking. She hadn't really stopped to think about why that was and she found she didn't have a ready answer. "I guess," she said after a moment, "I don't want you to be lonely."
Her straightforward answer wasn't what he expected. "It's not for you to worry about," he said softly.
She looked him in the eye, "If I don't worry about it, who will?"
He didn't answer her choosing instead to look away. She put a sandwich on his plate and placed one on her own. "So what have you been up to these last four years?" she asked reaching for the container of pumpkin juice.
"I didn't realize that conversation was part of the deal," Draco said leaning back against the tree taking a bite of his sandwich.
"No comment is it? I might have suspected as much," Ginny replied filling his glass. "Very well then, I'll go first." She took a bite of her sandwich before she started. "After Hogwarts I decided that I really wanted to go on to university before getting a job. I knew that with my O.W.L.S. scores I didn't really need to go on in order to get a good job, but I wasn't ready to settle in the work world yet. I'm really glad I went on to school because I met a bunch of great people there." She placed another sandwich on Draco's plate as he finished the first one. "I took a lot of accelerated courses in order to graduate early. I was thinking about a position in the Ministry very seriously. That would have made my Mum really proud. But I don't know, I guess I just didn't feel it then. I didn't want to be stuck in some boring desk job the rest of my life. I thought there had to be something better out there," she refilled Draco's glass. "Then I got the letter from McGonagall and it's exactly what I was waiting for. I feel like something big is coming. Don't you feel it?"
He looked at her skeptically. "Something is going to happen. Tomorrow a bunch of students are going to arrive here and we're going to be teaching them for the next year," he said finishing off his sandwich.
"Well, yes there's that obviously, but that's not what I mean." He held up his hand as she offered him another sandwich. "I mean something bigger is going to happen. This whole experience isn't happening for nothing you know. We're all meant to be here for a reason." She started putting the remnants of their lunch back into the basket.
"Yeah, to teach."
"Oh never mind," she said sighing. "OK, now it's your turn to share."
"I don't share," Draco said taking a drink out of his glass.
"Come on! I just shared!" She put her hands together in front of her, "Please?" He still said nothing. She started batting her lashes, "Pretty please? With sugar on top?"
Draco chuckled in spite of himself. He didn't know what it was about her that made him feel compelled to talk to her. She was more like Alison than he cared to admit. "I went to work after Hogwarts and did it until I got my letter from McGonagall. I'd say that brings us up to date."
"What? But that's not fair! I told you a whole bunch of stuff!"
"Yes you did, but that's about all you're getting out of me Weasley," he said patting her on the head.
Ginny giggled at his actions. "I'll accept that for now." They stood up and Draco picked up the blanket they were sitting on to fold it. Making sure they had everything, they headed back to the castle.
The others had just returned from Hogsmeade and were heading into the castle. Harry caught sight of Ginny and Draco and stopped walking just before he entered the castle. Ron and Hermione were walking up behind him and as neither of them saw what Harry had noticed they both ran right into him.
"Hey Harry! What'd you stop for?" He looked around and noticed his sister walking up with Draco. "Merlin's beard, this had better be a hallucination," he said staring at them.
As they neared the castle steps Draco noticed their audience of three and stopped walking. "What's the matter?" Ginny asked.
He handed the blanket back over to her, "I'd just as soon not deal with the welcoming committee," he said motioning to the top of the stairs. Ginny looked up and noticed her brother and friends watching them. "I'll see you later Weasley," he said and turned to walk away. He didn't even take a step before turning toward her again. "Thank you for today," he began hesitantly, "but I wouldn't expect too much from me." He headed up the steps past Harry, Ron, and Hermione without sparing a glance in their direction.
"Now Ron," Hermione started, knowing full well what Ron was about to do.
It was too late to stop him, "Just what in the bloody hell was that?" he asked as she came up the stairs.
"What?" she asked innocently. "We just had lunch."
"You just had lunch? Didn't we decide this morning that you were going to drop the whole Malfoy thing?" he asked when she reached them.
"No," Ginny replied, her anger starting to rise, "You decided that he should be left alone. I, however, believe that he should be treated with the same respect that everyone else expects."
"Ginny, I don't think you know what you're doing," Ron said, "I don't want him to hurt you."
Hermione entered the conversation, "Ron, Ginny is a grown woman and she can make her own decisions."
"Not if she's going to make stupid ones like this!" he snapped at her. Turning back to Ginny he said, "Leave it alone Ginny, you've had your fun, it's over now."
"How dare you!" Ginny said her anger boiling over, "If I want to talk to him that's my business! You can't force me to stop!" Ginny turned on her heel and left then.
"Nice going Ron," Hermione said, "She's not a little girl and neither am I. You don't have any right to talk to either of us that way!" Hermione turned and followed Ginny into the castle.
"What did I do?" Ron asked Harry.
"I have no idea," Harry replied. He quite agreed with Ron. Who knew what Malfoy could be up to?
A/N: OK, I finally got the chapter back and it's a lot longer than it had been originally. Maybe I was cosmically destined to lose it!! Hopefully, I won't fry the disk this time and I'll be able to upload it for you all. I'll try with all my might to get another chapter out this week. I can't make any promises though. I have a Geometry test next week and that's probably going to get most of my time. Until next time, review if you have time!
~Chapter 7~
Harry slowly opened his eyes as the first rays of sunlight entered his room. He sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked out the window and saw the sun just starting to make its way up over the horizon. He stretched contentedly before climbing out of bed to get dressed. The new semester would be beginning the following day but today everyone would spend hanging out together. He was on his way to meet Ron, Hermione, Cho, and Ginny at the Quidditch Pitch for a couple of hours of play before breakfast and then after everyone would head off to Hogsmeade for the last time before classes began. Everyone was amazed that McGonagall was allowing the trip to happen considering what day it was, but everyone jumped at the opportunity to get away one last time before the students arrived.
Harry finished dressing, grabbed his Firebolt, and headed out of his room. As he stepped out on to the front lawns of Hogwarts he thought about how happy he was. Other than having to read all their textbooks and make lesson plans, this was turning out to be a truly enjoyable experience. He got to hang out with his best friends and they weren't doing anything to get into trouble. Life couldn't be better.
Harry was lost in thought as he crossed the dew-covered lawn and it wasn't until Cho had finally reached him that he realized anyone else was out there. "Sorry Cho, I guess I wasn't really paying attention."
"That's all right Harry." They started walking again in silence. Cho broke it first, "So, how are the lesson plans going?
"All right, I guess."
"That's good," they kept walking along. Harry didn't know what to talk about. This was actually the first time in the month they had been back that Cho was actually talking to him alone. Harry had never known how to talk to her and now that there was no one else to carry on the conversation, he didn't know what he was going to do. Cho reached out for his arm to stop him from walking. Harry turned and looked at her. "I'm sorry," she said.
Harry looked at her quizzically, "For what?"
Cho looked down at the ground, "For the way I've been acting this past month. I've been treating you horrible."
Harry didn't really know what to say to that so he figured he'd just put her mind at ease, "It's OK."
"No Harry, it isn't," she said looking at him again. "Since the first day back I've been ignoring you. It's just that I hadn't seen you in so long and when I got off the train there you were...with Hermione and I don't know," she looked down again, "I guess I just got jealous. But now I see whom it is that she's really interested in and I just wanted to apologize for my actions. I thought maybe we could just start over. What do you think?" she asked looking up at him again.
Harry wondered what Cho had seen to make her change her opinions of his and Hermione's friendship when his insistence was never enough. He thought about her offer. Starting over was probably a good idea, she wouldn't be suspicious of him and he still thought she was pretty cute; maybe it could work out this time. He smiled at her, "Sure Cho...that would be great."
She smiled back at him, "Thanks Harry, you're the best!" Harry was quite amazed when she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek but didn't have time to think on it because Ron and Hermione were just coming up behind them.
"Morning Harry! Morning Cho!" Ron called out, "Wonderful day for some Quidditch don't you think!" Hermione waved at the other two while they waved back.
"Honestly Ron," Hermione said turning to him, "I don't know how I ever let you talk me into this! I'm more happy to cheer from the sidelines."
Ron grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him, "Come on Hermione, this is going to be fun. Besides, you know you'd do anything for me." He took his hand off her chin and tapped her nose with his pointer finger, "And don't you ever deny it!" he said.
Hermione gave a frustrated huff, but didn't reply. He was right.
Ginny was coming up a little father behind, dragging the chest with the Quidditch balls behind her. "Anyone care to help me? This chest is just as heavy as it looks!" Harry and Cho who were absorbed in their own conversation and Hermione looked as if she wouldn't notice a Bludger heading straight for her.
Ron looked over to where his sister stood and with a final look at Hermione ran over to help her. "Sorry about that Ginny, didn't notice you coming up," he said his face a light shade of pink. He picked up one side of the chest while she picked up the other and they headed off.
"Yeah," she said nodding her head in Hermione's direction, "I could see you were otherwise occupied!"
"Little git," he said affectionately while ruffling her hair with his free hand. They reached the top of the pitch with the chest. "Everyone ready?" he asked leaning down to flip open the chest. At everyone's nod he straddled his broom and opened the chest, "Here we go!"
~~~
About two hours later they were finally heading back into the castle, talking about their game, even Hermione had had a good time. As Ginny walked a movement caught her attention and she looked up to see Draco standing on his balcony looking down at them. Their gazed caught for a couple of seconds before Draco headed back into his bedroom. She looked in the direction from where they just came and wondered if Draco had been watching them play. Maybe he had wanted to join them. She wondered if anyone had bothered to invite him to go along with them to Hogsmeade and decided that the answer was probably no.
Everyone was heading off to their rooms to change and go down to breakfast. At the top of the stairs she stopped her brother and asked him about Draco. "Are you out of your mind? Why would we ask him to come along?"
"He's a teacher here too you know! We could at least try to be nice!" she said and then blushed because she knew she was defending him.
Ron caught the defense as well and looked at her skeptically, "It's not like he'd come even if we did ask him."
Ginny put her head down, defeated, "You're probably right."
Ron put an arm around his sister, "Hey now, don't get like that. I know you want to save humanity one person at a time, but not everyone can be saved you know." He gave her a little squeeze, "Don't let this get you down."
"You're right, I'm sorry. Well, I'll see you at breakfast."
At breakfast everyone carried on quite conversations around the table except for Draco. As usual he sat there quietly eating his food and then excused himself as soon as he was done to return to his room. Ginny decided then and there that she was going to make the attempt with Draco herself. It wasn't right for him to be left behind while everyone else was having a good time.
"Come on Ginny," Hermione said brining her out of her thoughts, "we're leaving now."
"Actually, I think I'm going to stay here."
"What?" Ron said walking up to her? "Why?"
Ginny thought quickly for an excuse, she didn't think that her brother would appreciate what she really wanted to do, "I still have some work to do before the students get here tomorrow. I'm not as ready as I thought I was."
Ron wasn't going to let it go that easily, "You can do that tonight. Besides, Fred and George are going to want to see you too."
Ginny felt a little guilty at that, but it was too late to change her mind now, "They'll understand." Her brother narrowed his eyes at her and she knew he was about to question her real motives. She spoke quickly, "Come on Ron! This is really important to me! I want to do a good job. Don't you want me to succeed?"
"All right, fine, but just know that I don't like this," he grumbled. With a sigh of relief, she walked them to the door and wished them all a good day.
At the top of the stairs she was about to turn and head for her room when she thought better of it. 'No time like the present to get this started,' she said to herself. She headed off in the direction of Draco's room. The black haired girl was looking at the snake wrapped around her hand when Ginny walked up. "I'd like to speak to Malfoy please," she said timidly.
The girl looked down at Ginny raising her eyebrow, "Didn't you get enough the last time?" she asked.
Irritation quickly overtook intimidation, "What's your name?" she asked.
The black haired girl looked down at her through narrowed eyes, "Myra," she said.
"Well Myra," Ginny said putting her hands on her hips, "this probably isn't the last time that I'm going to be standing here in front of you asking to see Malfoy, and this would probably go a lot easier if I didn't have to deal with your censure as well."
"Well," Myra said with a slight tone of approval, "you do have a back bone." With that she disappeared into the room. A moment later the portrait swung open and Draco came walking out.
"What do you want this time, Weasley?" He had to hand it to her she certainly was tenacious.
It was the moment of truth and she found herself floundering. If only he didn't have that aggravated look on his face. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to join everyone in Hogsmeade for the day."
"No," he said and then turned back into his room.
The portrait swung closed and Myra was back with a smirk on her face, obviously having heard the conversation. "Better luck next time, dear," she said in a singsong voice.
Ginny stood there for a minute very tempted to call Draco out and try a few choice charms on him. Instead she sighed and headed back toward her room. Maybe Ron was right, you can't save those who don't want to be saved and Draco made it very clear that he didn't want her around. Ginny frowned thinking of her stupidity. She tried over and over again to no avail and now she was stuck at the castle while everyone else was out. She supposed that she could go meet them at Hogsmeade, but that she'd have to wait a while as she had told them she had some things to finish up.
She entered her room wondering what she would do to pass the time. She decided that she'd write some letters to her mother and friends. She had only written her mother one time since she had been there and she hadn't written her friends at all. Writing to that many people about what had happened in the past month would certainly be the best way to pass the time before she could join the others.
It was quite some time later when Ginny finished her last letter. Her hand was cramped from all the writing as she put her quill down. She got up and went to get Pig out of his cage. She'd send her mother's letter through Pig, but she'd have to make a trip to the Owlery to send off the others she had written.
Attaching the note to Pig she walked out onto her balcony. "All right Pig, now you take this straight to Mum. No dilly dallying." Pig gave a merry hoot and flew off. Ginny watched him as he disappeared into the horizon.
When she couldn't see him anymore she brought her gaze down to look around the grounds. It was quite and peaceful in Hogwarts. The wind blew gently though the trees. She looked down towards the lake and was a bit surprised to see Draco walking by it. This was the first time she had seen him out on the grounds. As far as she knew he spent all time between meals in his bedroom. The idea came quickly to her and she didn't stop to analyze it. Leaving the other letters on the desk to be sent later she ran out of the room. As she headed toward the kitchen she hoped that she wouldn't regret her actions.
~~~
Draco stopped walking and sat under a huge tree by the lake. He liked to come out here to walk around and think. At that moment he was thinking of Weasley and why she couldn't leave him alone. She certainly had a lot of nerve; she proved that to him on an almost daily basis when she asked if she could help him out or when she asked what he was up to. He heard footsteps coming up behind him and knew who it was without turning around.
"Hi," Ginny said coming up to him. She stood in front of him and he looked up, not able to see her clearly with the sun behind her. She knelt down in front of him placing a basket next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Well," she began picking up the blanket on top of the basket and putting it out between them, "I saw you walking out here from my room and I thought that you might like to have lunch so I went to the kitchen and got us something to eat."
Draco stood up, "Well then, you thought wrong." He turned and walked away.
"That is it!" Ginny said standing up. She ran in front of him holding out her arms, blocking his path. "You're not walking away from me this time Malfoy!" He glared at her and tried to side step her but she moved to block his every move. Quite beyond exasperation she placed her hands on his chest to keep him from moving. "I said that's enough! I'm so sick and tired of you constantly walking away from me. It's getting old!"
Draco stopped struggling against her and she put her hands down. She straightened herself up saying, "Now I don't know if it's because I come from such a big family and being alone was always the worst way to pass the time or maybe I've just gone completely crazy, but for some reason the thought of you spending day after day alone bothers me." She crossed her hands over her chest, "Now you can keep fighting me for the next year or just accept the inevitable, but I'm not giving up on this. I promise you my company is not that bad."
Draco started laughing and Ginny's mouth fell open, "Fine, I'll have lunch with you," he said turning back to the tree.
As they headed back to the blanket Ginny said, "You know I don't understand you." It was true, if he wasn't walking away from her he was laughing at her.
"Then I guess we're in the way of being even," he replied as they sat down on the blanket, "because I in no way understand you either." He leaned back against the tree and studied her as she unpacked the lunch basket. "Why do you care if I'm alone?" He didn't realize he'd asked the question aloud until she looked up at him.
"I don't know," she answered truthfully, turning back to her unpacking. She hadn't really stopped to think about why that was and she found she didn't have a ready answer. "I guess," she said after a moment, "I don't want you to be lonely."
Her straightforward answer wasn't what he expected. "It's not for you to worry about," he said softly.
She looked him in the eye, "If I don't worry about it, who will?"
He didn't answer her choosing instead to look away. She put a sandwich on his plate and placed one on her own. "So what have you been up to these last four years?" she asked reaching for the container of pumpkin juice.
"I didn't realize that conversation was part of the deal," Draco said leaning back against the tree taking a bite of his sandwich.
"No comment is it? I might have suspected as much," Ginny replied filling his glass. "Very well then, I'll go first." She took a bite of her sandwich before she started. "After Hogwarts I decided that I really wanted to go on to university before getting a job. I knew that with my O.W.L.S. scores I didn't really need to go on in order to get a good job, but I wasn't ready to settle in the work world yet. I'm really glad I went on to school because I met a bunch of great people there." She placed another sandwich on Draco's plate as he finished the first one. "I took a lot of accelerated courses in order to graduate early. I was thinking about a position in the Ministry very seriously. That would have made my Mum really proud. But I don't know, I guess I just didn't feel it then. I didn't want to be stuck in some boring desk job the rest of my life. I thought there had to be something better out there," she refilled Draco's glass. "Then I got the letter from McGonagall and it's exactly what I was waiting for. I feel like something big is coming. Don't you feel it?"
He looked at her skeptically. "Something is going to happen. Tomorrow a bunch of students are going to arrive here and we're going to be teaching them for the next year," he said finishing off his sandwich.
"Well, yes there's that obviously, but that's not what I mean." He held up his hand as she offered him another sandwich. "I mean something bigger is going to happen. This whole experience isn't happening for nothing you know. We're all meant to be here for a reason." She started putting the remnants of their lunch back into the basket.
"Yeah, to teach."
"Oh never mind," she said sighing. "OK, now it's your turn to share."
"I don't share," Draco said taking a drink out of his glass.
"Come on! I just shared!" She put her hands together in front of her, "Please?" He still said nothing. She started batting her lashes, "Pretty please? With sugar on top?"
Draco chuckled in spite of himself. He didn't know what it was about her that made him feel compelled to talk to her. She was more like Alison than he cared to admit. "I went to work after Hogwarts and did it until I got my letter from McGonagall. I'd say that brings us up to date."
"What? But that's not fair! I told you a whole bunch of stuff!"
"Yes you did, but that's about all you're getting out of me Weasley," he said patting her on the head.
Ginny giggled at his actions. "I'll accept that for now." They stood up and Draco picked up the blanket they were sitting on to fold it. Making sure they had everything, they headed back to the castle.
The others had just returned from Hogsmeade and were heading into the castle. Harry caught sight of Ginny and Draco and stopped walking just before he entered the castle. Ron and Hermione were walking up behind him and as neither of them saw what Harry had noticed they both ran right into him.
"Hey Harry! What'd you stop for?" He looked around and noticed his sister walking up with Draco. "Merlin's beard, this had better be a hallucination," he said staring at them.
As they neared the castle steps Draco noticed their audience of three and stopped walking. "What's the matter?" Ginny asked.
He handed the blanket back over to her, "I'd just as soon not deal with the welcoming committee," he said motioning to the top of the stairs. Ginny looked up and noticed her brother and friends watching them. "I'll see you later Weasley," he said and turned to walk away. He didn't even take a step before turning toward her again. "Thank you for today," he began hesitantly, "but I wouldn't expect too much from me." He headed up the steps past Harry, Ron, and Hermione without sparing a glance in their direction.
"Now Ron," Hermione started, knowing full well what Ron was about to do.
It was too late to stop him, "Just what in the bloody hell was that?" he asked as she came up the stairs.
"What?" she asked innocently. "We just had lunch."
"You just had lunch? Didn't we decide this morning that you were going to drop the whole Malfoy thing?" he asked when she reached them.
"No," Ginny replied, her anger starting to rise, "You decided that he should be left alone. I, however, believe that he should be treated with the same respect that everyone else expects."
"Ginny, I don't think you know what you're doing," Ron said, "I don't want him to hurt you."
Hermione entered the conversation, "Ron, Ginny is a grown woman and she can make her own decisions."
"Not if she's going to make stupid ones like this!" he snapped at her. Turning back to Ginny he said, "Leave it alone Ginny, you've had your fun, it's over now."
"How dare you!" Ginny said her anger boiling over, "If I want to talk to him that's my business! You can't force me to stop!" Ginny turned on her heel and left then.
"Nice going Ron," Hermione said, "She's not a little girl and neither am I. You don't have any right to talk to either of us that way!" Hermione turned and followed Ginny into the castle.
"What did I do?" Ron asked Harry.
"I have no idea," Harry replied. He quite agreed with Ron. Who knew what Malfoy could be up to?
A/N: OK, I finally got the chapter back and it's a lot longer than it had been originally. Maybe I was cosmically destined to lose it!! Hopefully, I won't fry the disk this time and I'll be able to upload it for you all. I'll try with all my might to get another chapter out this week. I can't make any promises though. I have a Geometry test next week and that's probably going to get most of my time. Until next time, review if you have time!