A/N: Wow, got a few questions after that last chapter. Amanda, I'm sorry about the Cho factor. I myself think she is just a bit to high maintenance for our young Harry, but for now that's just the way it is ^_~. Zee, I know that I'm the author and it's however I say it is, but I feel that Parvati thinks she's just as good as Trelawney and if she were in that situation she'd play it up just to prove it. If she just so happens to have a good vision in her…well that's yet to be seen! La La, I'm sorry that I haven't addressed the Harry/Cho stuff yet! I didn't realize just how hard it would be to keep up with so many characters! I'm going to try though because Neville hasn't had much in this story yet either. A couple of you mentioned Ron's, er, authoritarianism over Quidditch. In his defense he just wants the best for the team! But you all have to admit there's just something about Ron when he's all take charge and stuff! LOL, I don't know maybe it's just me. Anyway, a big thank you to my other reviewers as well. I'm glad that people are starting to see Draco as having a beating heart under that cold, dark facade. Go Marlins! I know that had nothing to do with anything, but a girl needs to be happy when her state's team wins the World Series.
~Chapter 13~
"Hey, Neville. Where are you off to this morning?" Harry asked when he saw Neville opening the front door.
"Morning, Harry." Neville said stopping to look at Harry. "I'm off to get some Wormwood from the green house. Madame Pomfrey ran out of her Sleeping Potion. I'm getting some of the plants so Malfoy can make her some more."
"I'll go with you," Harry said crossing the foyer to where Neville stood, "Haven't had much time to chat with you."
Neville nodded in agreement and the two headed out of the castle. "How are classes going for you?" Neville asked.
Harry sighed, "I'm sure I could bring in a full grown Chimaeras and it wouldn't get the same looks of curiosity as I do. But it's only been a week. I'm sure I can't fascinate the student body for an entire year."
Neville laughed at his friend's predicament, "Sorry to hear it. But I have to admit meeting you for the first time is a pretty unnerving thing. It takes some getting used to."
"Come on Neville, you're a celebrity too. Do your students stare from beginning to the end of class?"
Neville laughed again, "No, but then again, I just wrote some books on Herbology, you're 'the boy who lived.' It's no contest really."
"If it'll make you feel better, I'll sit in on your next class and ogle you the entire time. Wouldn't want you to feel left out," Harry joked.
The two were still laughing as they entered the greenhouse. Potted plants were scattered everywhere. The smell of dragon dung compost filled their nostrils from the bags, which were lined up on the floor against the far side of the room. Hanging from the ceiling were giant umbrella sized flowers.
"It's back here," Neville said leading the way. He stopped at some pots, which contained what looked like a miniature tree with little brown stems with big green leaves hanging from them. "Just cut the branch at the base, near the stem," Neville told Harry handing him some pruning scissors.
"This must be such relaxing job, working with plants. Plus you get to travel," Harry said snipping a stem from the plant.
"I guess it is a bit tranquil, unless of course you're dealing with the highly poisonous plant life. It does get a bit lonely though," Neville said.
Harry looked at his friend as he efficiently trimmed branches. Life for Neville had been tough since childhood. His parents had been in St. Mungo's since Harry had met him. His grandmother, who wasn't the easiest person to get along with, raised him. At school other students had picked on him and life was hell for him in potions.
Although shy and reserved, Neville had been a great help in defeating Voldemort. The one thing he really excelled at had been Herbology and it led him down a lonely path. Harry felt instantly guilty about loosing touch with his friend.
"But I'm sure the chicks dig it," Harry said at an attempt at humor.
Neville gave him a very uncharacteristically cocky look and said, "Don't you know it!"
Harry couldn't help the laughter that followed that comment. They finished gathering the wormwood and headed back to the castle. They headed toward the Slytherin dungeons and Draco's door. Myra looked down her nose at them and went to tell Draco he had visitors.
"What do you want?" Draco asked stepping out of his room.
Neville thrust the wormwood at him, "This is the wormwood I told you I'd bring you." Draco snatched the plants out of his hands. "If you'd like," Neville said coldly, "I can grab you some Ginger Root so you can make yourself a Wit Sharpening Potion since you seem to be having trouble remembering things from one day to the next."
Harry's mouth fell open, 'Where did that come from?' he wondered. Draco stiffened slightly and retreated into his room.
"You're welcome!" Neville called out just before the portrait closed on them. Shaking his head, Neville turned back to Harry who was still standing there with his mouth hanging open. "What?" he asked innocently.
Harry quickly closed his mouth, "Nothing, guess I'm just impressed is all."
"Harry, I didn't go the places I went and make it out alive because I never stood up for myself. Besides, if I could stand up to Gran when she wanted me to stay home instead of go off to study plants, then Malfoy is nothing but child's play to me."
Harry grinned at the thought of Neville standing up to his grandmother; there was a time when Snape and his grandmother tied in what scared him the most. "I bet your Gran was thrilled with that," he said as they turned to head back to the staff room.
"Well, she wasn't about to pack my bags for me, but it's what I needed to do." Neville shuddered in spite of himself, "It was the scariest thing I've ever done."
"I can imagine."
~~~
Draco opened his door for the second time that morning wondering who was there to bother him now. A house elf was returning his robe to him. He noticed the note from Ginny in the folds of his robe.
Malfoy,
Thanks again for letting me borrow it.
Weasley (Didn't think you'd know who it was if I just signed Ginny)
He smiled at how she had signed her name and was half disappointed that she didn't come to return it herself, but the other half felt relieved. He tossed the robe on his bed and grabbing his cup of tea headed out onto his balcony. Students were out on the grounds catching up with friends, studying under trees, and a group was out on the Quidditch pitch practicing. He looked across the lawn and saw Ginny standing outside on her own balcony. She didn't seem to be looking at any one thing in particular, just leaning on the railing lost in thought. The wind was blowing through her long red hair making him long to just reach out and touch it.
Draco took a drink of his tea. These thoughts would get him nowhere. He had been up most of the previous night thinking about it. Kissing her, however pleasurable, had been a mistake. He had just gotten swept up in the moment and acted without thinking. He had thought about it plenty when he returned to his room. He couldn't look at his wife's picture as if he'd somehow betrayed her. It had only been a little over half a year since he lost her for God's sake.
Ginny's head suddenly snapped up as if sensing that someone was watching and instantly looked in his direction. Their eyes met and she gave him a little wave. He took a step inside a little uneasy at having been caught staring. He crossed over to his desk and picked up the picture of his wife and daughter. They were captured for eternity here happy and joyous. He knew deep down that she would have wanted him to move on just as he would have wanted her to find happiness if the situation had been reversed. Allison would hate this sulking lonely Draco. It seemed that the only person keeping him from being happy was himself. He walked back to his balcony and looked across the lawn again but she was no longer at her window.
~~~
"Hey Hermione," Ginny said opening her door, "What brings you here?"
"Oh, I came to see if you wanted to have some tea," she said holding up the tray in her hands.
"Tea?" Ginny asked skeptically, stepping aside so that Hermione could enter her room.
"Yes. Well, that and some girl talk."
"Girl talk?" she said as they sat at the small table in her room. "And what do we girls need to talk about?"
"Well you seemed a bit troubled this morning at breakfast and I just thought that maybe there was something that you wanted to talk about."
"Does a certain brother of mine have anything to do with this need for a girls chat?" she asked taking the cup of tea Hermione was offering her.
"No, Ron has nothing to do with this," Hermione assured her pouring tea into her own cup. "So spill," she said leaning back in the chair and taking a sip of her tea.
Ginny sighed. She pulled her legs up on her seat and rested her head on her knees. "Malfoy kissed me last night."
Hermione sprayed tea all over the table. "Oh! I'm sorry," she said grabbing some napkins to wipe the table. Ginny made a move to help her, "No, don't worry, I've got this." She finished cleaning and sat back down herself. "All right, I think I'm OK now. Start from the beginning."
Ginny told her all of her attempts at talking to Draco and about their picnic at the lake finishing up with his unexpected kiss the night before. "That's the part that's kinda got me. I didn't exactly push him away. And he's made it clear on more than one occasion that he doesn't want anything to do with anyone. But then just before you got here I see him watching me from his room but when I waved he practically dove into his room." Ginny sighed, "I don't know, maybe I'm just reading too much into it."
"So you really like him," Hermione said in surprise, "That's why this is bothering you so much."
"Oh God, is it that obvious?" she asked desperately. "I had nearly convinced myself that I just felt jilted when I was just trying to be a good friend.
"You can't help the way you feel about it," Hermione told her. "Obviously it meant something to you and apparently it meant something to him if he had to run off. They only way to know for sure is to ask him about it."
Ginny laughed, "Yeah right, I can't ask him about the weather without him giving me some flippant remark and walking off. No, I think that I'm just going to forget about it."
"But—"
"So you and my brother," Ginny said interrupting and changing the subject.
Hermione blushed, "You guys saw?"
"No, it was just me," she reassured Hermione, "he'd already left by then. I wasn't in the mood to chit chat so I hid behind a tree until you guys walked past."
"Well, it's new and we haven't really spent much time alone together, but I guess it's going well," Hermione said.
"I'm glad. I hope it works out well," Ginny said. She looked away again feeling jealousy over Hermione and Ron's relationship. "Thanks for the girl talk and tea," she said, "I guess I feel a bit better now that it's out."
Hermione smiled, "Good, that's what I was hoping for. You know I'm here any time you want to talk."
Ginny smiled back, "Yeah, I know."
A/N: This chapter is REALLY short, at least compared to my other chapters. I guess that after all of last night's drama you needed some avoidance and reflection. Also, we hadn't heard from Neville in a while and I thought we should visit with him for a while. I also had a touch of writers block. I hope this chapter didn't suck too badly, I don't feel like I lived up to my potential here. To top it all off, I didn't want to get to far ahead of the game until we resolved a certain situation.
In the words of Zazu from Disney's The Lion King 'I think it's time that you and I arranged a heart to heart!' Here's the situation kiddies, I'm totally cool with this story going off in a bunch of different directions. Writing more of a storyline with the "new trio" is just fine by me. But I'm all about writing for the people a la choose your own adventure. So I propose a vote! This will also help me figure out how I'm going to make certain circumstances come to pass. Here is the question:
Should the newbies be more included in the storyline?
A) Yes! They rock!
B) Eh . . . a couple of cameos are OK, but stick to the original peeps.
C) Heck no! Get on with the story already!
So there are the choices. I'll go with the popular vote. Let's all rock the vote on this one! Plus it give people more of a reason to review! Yay double word score! So review and vote! Go crazy kiddies!