Chapter Six: Unexpected Depth

Harry strode proudly to the table where Ron was sitting and sat down. Feeling his stomach grumble, he grabbed the red bag. "What's up with you?" asked Ron between bites.

"Oh, nothing at all," Harry replied smartly. "Just that I've taken the upper hand in our little contest."

Ron swallowed. "Oh really?"

"Yup," Harry grinned. "You, my friend, have no chance." They turned to see Draco storming through the library. "Hey, Draco!" Harry called out cheerfully, "your advice worked like a charm, no way she's going to be able to resist me now. She even initiated contact! How'd it go with Ginny?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Draco growled, stepping into the bedroom and closing the door after him. Harry shrugged and started to reach into the bag, only to be whapped on the head by a freckled arm.

"You sold out Ginny? I can't believe you!" Ron stood, very upset. "You're supposed to be my friend."

"All's fair in love and war," replied Harry, "I just want to win the contest."

"Forget about the contest, this is my little sister here!"

Harry frowned. "We established long ago that I don't like Ginny, and you agreed to let me stew in my hate rather than constantly pester me about it. So this should be no surprise." He reached into the bag and pulled out a solid blue cube.

"Ginny!" Ron suddenly gasped, "I hope she's okay!" He ran across the library, in search of his sister.

Harry looked after him, shrugging once again. As he was lifting the cube to his mouth, Ginny herself rounded a corner, glancing at her brother. "Where's he off to?"

"Looking for you," muttered Harry shortly.

"Oh," Ginny took a seat next to Harry. He shot her a glare.

"Well, aren't you going to go after him?"

"I'm hungry." She reached into the bag and pulled out a red triangle. She looked from it to Harry's cube. "This thing must be faulty, it's only giving shapes now. We better tell Fred and George before it hits the market."

Harry rolled his eyes. "And how do you expect to do that?"

"I meant once we get out of here," Ginny stated with a frown. Neither said a word after that, they just glared at each other. Finally Ginny broke the staring contest and took a bite of the triangle. It was very refreshing, and tasted like a freshly picked pear.

Harry followed suit and bit into his cube. It was repulsive; the taste reminded him of the old socks that Uncle Dursley used to give to him as presents. "Yuck!" he stuck out his tongue and made a face. "That's disgusting."

Ginny smiled and looked at him, but said nothing. She took another bite of her triangle. "Mmmm," she said exaggeratedly. Harry glared at her and reached again into the bag.

"It's empty," he said, looking inside.

"No it's not, read the card."

Harry looked at it, reading out loud. "'The item pulled out must be eaten before the same hand can receive another flavor.' But that doesn't make any sense! The other night you took a handful!"

"Yeah, but it would only let us eat one thing at a time," Ginny replied. "I was eating something that was pretty gross, it tasted like liver, but when I tried to eat something else it tasted like liver too. Finally I finished the first item, and then the next one had a new flavor."

Harry frowned. "I don't like that." He looked from his cube to Ginny's triangle. "What does yours taste like?"

"My favorite, pear!" She smiled wickedly before taking another bite.

"Pear isn't your favorite, it's mine," shot Harry with a scowl. "Now give me that!"

Ginny held the triangle protectively. "No way!"

Harry leapt forward and grabbed it from Ginny's hand. With a grin of triumph he brought it to his lips. His triumph, however, quickly disappeared, as his mouth was once again filled with the sock flavor.

"I told you," said Ginny, snatching back her triangle. "It doesn't work that way, you just have to finish the nasty flavor to get a new one." She brought her eyes to his. "Besides, you deserve it."

"I deserve it?" spat Harry, "for what?"

"For selling me out to Draco," she responded. "There's no other way he would have known I was helplessly ticklish on my back, no chance that Ron would tell him."

Harry smirked at her. "You always were so squirmy about that, and just would not stop laughing. It makes you forget who you are, or how you try to portray yourself." For a short moment the hatred he had held onto for so long left Harry and he looked at Ginny, almost nostalgically. But soon enough his anger returned. "I only wish I was there to see you with him when he tried it, I bet it was hilarious!"

Ginny shook her head. "That's mean, Harry."

Harry snorted, "Sure, and you've been the model of niceness!"

They both fell silent, Ginny nibbled on her triangle and Harry set down his cube. Finally Ginny spoke, "Harry, maybe we should have a truce or something."

"A truce? With you? No way. You've already had your chance, Ginny, remember? Or do I need to refresh your memory?"

"Please don't," whispered Ginny, looking down. "Don't go over this again."

"This is all your fault, you know," shot Harry, vindictively. His eyes filled with emotion at the memory, and Ginny whipped up her face to meet his.

"If you remember correctly, Harry Potter, I apologized. But your ego was too hurt to accept it."

"And if you'll remember correctly, Ginerva Weasley, it took you quite awhile before you could even face me, let alone muster up a fake apology. You know it's all your fault, and you can't just 'I'm sorry' it away."

"Fine," Ginny stood, "there's just no reasoning with you, is there? You're Harry-bloody-Potter, you always have to be right! Well, maybe this time you're not. You were rejected Harry, and I know that over the past six years you've grown accustomed to everyone doing your every bidding, but I just won't pretend to get along with you just because you managed to defeat some guy when you were a baby." She stared at him, tears filling her eyes. "Would it hurt you even a little to be sensitive to other people for once? You refused to understand what I was going through, so there was no chance for us from the beginning." Ginny slammed her fist on the table with frustration. "I can't believe I ever thought you were special. In my book, you're just another Tom Riddle." With that, she stormed off.

"Whoa, Potter," Draco Malfoy was leaning against the bedroom door, and apparently had heard the whole conversation. "You really pissed her off. Now how am I supposed to get anywhere?"

Harry sighed, "First of all, she was already upset with you, so that's your fault. Secondly, she's been mad at me all year. It's not something that just happened." He took another bite of the repulsive cube, mainly because there was nothing else he could do.

Draco reached into the bag, pulling out a solid yellow sphere. "Boy this thing is losing its originality. Let's hope it doesn't break completely." He took a bite and chewed for a bit before nodding his approval. "Anyway, back to the point at hand. What happened between the two of you?"

"None of your business." Harry finished the cube, eager to get another taste in his mouth.

"Perhaps not, but I want to know." Draco took another bite of the geometric shape that tasted like peanut butter. He smiled. Knowing their history may help Draco in his seduction escapades. Not only that, but he was also genuinely interested. He leaned forward. "Tell me the story and I'll give you more advice."

"I don't need advice, thank you very much," Harry had pulled a piece of food shaped like a puzzle piece out of the bag, and was examining it as he spoke. "I did what you told me and it worked perfectly."

"For now," said Draco, finally sitting down across from Harry. "But what are you going to do next?"

Harry thought for a minute as he took a bite of the puzzle piece. Dirt. It tasted like dirt. This is just not my day, he thought to himself as he flung the item across the room. "Fine, whatever, it doesn't matter." He scowled at Draco, who tapped his fingers earnestly.

Exhaling in frustration, Harry began his story. "As I'm sure you know, Ginny had a little thing for me awhile back." Draco snickered, but didn't say anything, so Harry continued. "Well that was for her first three years at Hogwarts. Last year something changed. She finally ditched her fancy for me, and with that barrier gone, the door was open for us to have a friendship." Harry sighed. "It was great to be friends with her, but our friendship was never deep or anything, even when we battled at the Department of Mysteries together we were no more than casual acquaintances."

Draco's eyes suddenly sparked. "Speaking of the Department of Mysteries, what exactly went on there? I've only ever heard bits and pieces."

Harry looked at him, annoyed. "Do you want to know about Ginny and me or not? Because there's no way in hell that I'm revealing anything that happened in that place to you." Draco simply waved his hand, so Harry proceeded. "This past summer I spent a month at..." he looked suspiciously at Draco, "...at, ummm, a sort of hang out I guess. For the good guys. You know, I can't tell you any more specifics about that, because you are kind of the son of the enemy."

Draco's eyes narrowed and he gave a short nod, still not speaking. "So anyway the Weasley family had moved in at that place, because the Burrow-their home-is unsafe. It has actually been invaded three times in the past month. The Weasleys are pretty wanted in the Death Eater realm."

Draco rolled his eyes. Like he didn't know. "About Ginny?"

"I'm getting there," scowled Harry, "so I spent a month in this place with the Weasleys, among others. And I got so close to Ginny in those days. There really wasn't much to do in the house, so we talked all day long. I've known Ron and Hermione for so long that conversing with them has lost its appeal. But with Ginny it was different. It was new and exciting...and we had a different kind of bond than I have ever had with anyone. She and I shared something: we had both faced Voldemort. We both knew what it was to see him, to talk to him, to be controlled by him. Every word she said to me was unique, deep, special. I started to feel differently about her, and soon became convinced that she needed to know about these feelings."

Draco laughed loudly. "And we all know how smooth you are with those type of things, Potter."

Harry glared at him, but kept talking. "I guess I never expected rejection. She had been so infatuated with me before. And it seemed so obvious to me that we were meant to be together. Well, needless to say, it wasn't as obvious to her." He laughed—a bitter, scornful laugh. "I'll never forget the look on her face."

They were sitting on the floor of the master bedroom working on the never-ending list of housework when he told her.. Harry had chosen that moment to say what had been on his heart these past days.

Ginny stared at him for a moment, confused. A smile started to play at her lips. "Very funny, Harry." She shook her head, chuckling, as she continued to sort out the pile of clothes which used to be Mrs. Black's wardrobe.

Harry looked at her disbelievingly. "I wasn't joking."

She dropped the cloak she had been holding and slowly brought her eyes up to his. It hit her at once- he was serious! "Oh Harry, I'm sorry..." if only he had said something two years ago. "You're a great friend Harry, actually my best friend, and I treasure that friendship more than anything else." It pained her to say it, but she wanted their friendship to be built on honesty, so it was necessary.." But that's it. Friends."

"Friends," Harry repeated. He couldn't decide what he didn't believe more: Ginny's rejection or his stupidity at ever thinking she would accept him.

"Oh Harry," she moved closer to him, "I had no idea. I'm truly sorry, but I just can't be in a relationship right now." She raised a hesitant hand to his shoulder.

The walls went up, and Harry snorted. "You can't, huh? I guess you had enough in the past year." He glared at her, and Ginny looked perplexed. "What was it Gin, a new guy every week?"

"Harry..." Ginny pulled back her hand as if the touch of his skin had seared it. She fought back tears, hurt and confusion reflecting in her eyes.

"I guess if I hadn't said anything you would have eventually worked around to me, seeing how you almost used up all the guys in the school already." Harry spat, not thinking about what he was saying.

Ginny's tears quickly disappeared as her temper flared into action. She jumped to her feet. "Take that back."

Harry also stood. "I can't take it back, seeing how it's the truth. Deny it all you want, but you're nothing but a whore."

As soon as the word escaped his mouth, he knew he probably shouldn't have said it. It lingered in the air, and the room was silent. Ginny wordlessly drew her wand and pointed it straight between Harry's eyes. "Take it back," she hissed.

Harry was not about to give in; he was still burning from the rejection. "No."

Ginny's eyes grew narrow, she was breathing heavily and her knuckles turned white as she gripped the wand. "Then get out. Now. Before I do something I'd regret." Each word was spat with a measure of hatred, and Harry suddenly grew afraid. That look in her eyes... she wasn't kidding.

"Ginny...I...I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have said that, I just..."

"I told you to get out. Now go."

Harry looked at her, lost for words. Where would he go? It was past midnight, and London was dangerous, especially for him. He had needed extra protection ever since Voldemort had been seen at the ministry headquarters.

"Take your little broom and go," she said flatly. "And never come back."

It was now obvious that this wasn't a joke. Ginny was dead serious. She kept her wand pointed at him as he grabbed his broom and opened the window. The cool night air rushed in and encircled his body as he looked one last time at her, and a shiver went through his body as he saw how empty and cold her eyes were. Harry looked back out the window. He had no idea where he'd go, but right now he wanted to be as far away as possible. "Bye, Gin," he muttered before taking off.

Draco looked extremely amused. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Harry glared at him again. "Do you even realize the seriousness of that? She sent me to my death!"

"Obviously she didn't, because you're here today," Draco smirked. The story made Ginny both a bit daunting and more appealing at the same time. It was quite the electrifying combination, Draco determined.

"The next morning Mrs. Weasley noticed my absence and asked Ginny about it. She casually mentioned what had happened. The whole house freaked out and sent out a search party. I was found nine hours after she kicked me out. Luckily I was safe, but who knows what could have happened, with all the Death Eaters on the hunt."

Draco nodded, appreciating the seriousness of the situation. "What a bitch," he commented, although he found that Ginny's actions were a bit admirable at the same time.

"You're telling me," Harry smirked. "So I went back to the hideout to find that she had moved into the basement of all places. She didn't talk to me or even face me again until we went to Hogwarts. Then, on the train, she stepped up to me and apologized, like everything would go back to normal."

"And I take that it didn't," Draco remarked.

"Oh no, I was mad. I had apologized, taken back what I called her, but she didn't care. First she rejected me and then she tried to kill me, and then expected two words to make it all better. So I gave a few more choice words about what I though of her."

Draco buried his head into his hands at Harry's stupidity. "You didn't."

"I did. I guess now I may regret some of it, but she met my insults and returned them tenfold. Ginny's a tough girl, as I said before, she can take care of herself."

Draco looked at Harry, at the anger in his eyes that mixed with something else. Of course he still had feelings for her, Draco figured, but his ego was bruised. Draco's thoughts turned to Ginny, and how wary she always was, how quick to defend herself. "She may be able to take care of herself, but you caused her to go back into her shell," he said. "She didn't open up to anyone before you, and now you probably ruined her chance of growing close to anyone else."

"Since when do you care?" snapped Harry. Draco just shrugged. "Anyway, I guess I'm sort of feeling guilty now. I'm still mad at her, and she's still mad at me, but something has to change." He leaned back, took of his glasses, and began to rub his temples. "I don't know."

"Neither do I."

Harry looked up at him. "You said you'd give me advice if I told you the story. So advise away."

"Hey now, Potter. I said that I'd give you advice about seducing the mudblood, not Ginny. She's my target."

"Did it ever occur to you that women are more than goals, Malfoy?"

"Funny coming from you." The boys glared at each other, but something had changed. They were actually talking like friends, not enemies. They were going to each other for advice, discussing girl problems. At that realization, Harry stood. He did not want a friendship with Draco Malfoy, no matter what. He left without a word.

Draco watched him walking away, reflecting on all that was revealed. This certainly changes things.

Ron stormed across the library, running right into Hermione, who was once again engrossed in a book. "Sorry," he muttered.

Hermione hopped to her feet and backed away. "It's okay, Ron." She eyed him with caution.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Hermione, I'm done with that. It was so dumb in the first place, I can't believe I agreed to it."

"Yeah, Harry said that he called off the bet."

"He did? I didn't know that. Oh well," Ron looked around eagerly. "Have you seen Ginny?"

"Not recently, why?"

"As you know, Draco's been after her. But now," you could practically see the steam coming from his ears, "he has ammunition. Harry sold her out to Draco."

"You're kidding me!" Hermione was shocked. She knew Harry was mad at Ginny, but couldn't comprehend him doing something like that.

"No, and I can't find her." The words had hardly escaped her mouth before Ginny came storming across the library, holding the flowing skirts in her hand. She stopped briefly by Hermione and Ron.

"Men are scum. All of them!" She let out a scream before continuing on her way.

Hermione smiled. Ron looked at her and his anger melted away, and a smile filled his face, too. "Well I guess she can fend for herself."

"Yeah," Hermione sighed, "but they had been such good friends. It's like they're lost without each other."

"Better off, I'd say," Ron said under his breath. They stood in silence for awhile, before Ron looked at the book in her hand. "What are you reading?" he inquired.

Hermione launched into a long monologue about wandless magic and Smudle VI. Ron hung on every word. "That's bloody fascinating!"

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, "I found books one through four of his memoirs, but it's in book five that he supposedly describes step-by-step instructions for wandless magic. And I can't find it anywhere!"

Ron scanned the ground. "No wonder."

"Help me look?" Hermione smiled at him hopefully.

"Sure!" Ron grinned ear to ear.

After talking with Harry, Ginny had retreated behind a bookcase and was in a position where he couldn't see her hiding spot, but she could peer at him between the books. She saw his conversation with Draco and had no doubt that she was the subject. She watched as Harry's expression turned from anger to nostalgia to sadness to betrayal and back to anger. Draco simply nodded continuously, interjecting a word once in awhile. Then the boys shared a few cross words, and Harry stood and quickly walked away.

Ginny breathed heavily, trying to keep herself from crying. But the tears came anyway. All she wanted to do was take a nap and not have to deal with anything until she woke up. But Draco Malfoy was sitting right at the door to the bedroom, and she certainly didn't want to walk past him. Trying to get her sobs under control, she continued to watch and wait.

Polishing off his sphere, Draco decided that he had enough mystery food for the day. He contemplated what to do next. Harry had gone who-knows-where, and frankly Draco couldn't care less. Ron and Hermione were wading through books on the other side of the library, talking and laughing. And then there was Ginny.

Draco worked hard to contain a smile as he thought about her. Did she actually think that he couldn't see her? Of course Potter had been oblivious to her, seeing how his back was facing her hideout. But Draco kept on catching glances of her face and especially that bright red hair out of the corner of his eye. What was she doing? Why was she sitting there watching him? He suddenly had an idea. Making a big show of it, Draco stretched and yawned. Then he fluffed the red food bag and laid on it like a pillow. Within minutes the air was filled with his fake snores.

Ginny saw it all. He's sleeping. Perfect! She immediately got to her feet and tip toed past him, through the door to the bedroom. Collapsing on the large bed, she buried her face into a pillow and allowed herself to cry.

She didn't hear the door open, nor sense someone sit on the bed next to her. But suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. Ginny gasped, but didn't raise her head. She hated to have anyone else see her cry, even though she supposed that it was Hermione comforting her. The hand started to reassuringly stroke her back, and Ginny's sobs slowly subsided. Eventually she pulled herself up.

"Thanks, you're a good friend Hermio...Malfoy??" Her mouth hung open.

"The one and only!" He grinned pricelessly.

With a groan, Ginny once again hid her face in the pillow. Draco frowned down at her. He had come in expecting to tease her, to taunt her, and yes, to hit on her. But seeing her crying had left him not knowing what to do. He certainly hadn't expected to comfort her. But it had just happened, next thing he knew he was sitting next to her and stroking her back. Draco frowned deeper. Now that wasn't right. His mind raced with things to say, looking down at her form. Even though her face was buried in the pillow, he could see the blush spreading on the back of her neck. He remembered her face when she had looked up at him, red and blotchy, puffy bloodshot eyes, swollen mouth, it was all strangely beautiful. And here he sat on a bed with a girl who he had marked for his prey and he- Draco Malfoy- could not think of one lewd thing to say or advance to make. It just didn't seem right.

"Sit up, Ginny, I have something to say to you." Inside, he told himself to stop right there, but the words came out anyway, just as he had almost unconsciously reassured her a few minutes before. There was something so pure and innocent about her forlorn face that seduction was the last thing on his mind. For some reason, Ginny obeyed, drawing her head from the pillow where it left wet spots where her eyes and mouth had been. She inched herself away from him and stared down at where her hands nervously played with the sheets. Draco looked around the room anxiously, not sure where to begin.

"Now you have to listen, because I can guarantee that you'll only hear this from my mouth once. I'm not even sure why I'm telling you this. But if you ever try to mention it to me or anyone else again, I'll deny it all." She felt his eyes burning into her body, and looked up, their eyes locking.

"Being alone is no way to live, Ginny, I can tell you that from experience. If you try to keep it all to yourself, it will destroy you." He shut his eyes tight, reflecting on his own life, but forced himself to continue. "Now for some odd reason, Potter actually cares about you. I know that he does a crummy job of showing it, but it's the truth. Now if you two could put aside your pride and the past, you wouldn't have to deal with it all on your own, and neither would he."

Ginny watched him, awestruck. His eyes were closed, their light lashes almost blending into his fair skin. His skin was so pale it seemed devoid of any color at all, and had a strange purity to it. Ginny had always thought it odd that such light features would accompany such dark features. Draco opened his eyes and briefly met hers. He turned away quickly, as if he had changed his mind about what he was going to say, and stood. Ginny's gaze followed him as he walked to the door and opened it. He paused before exiting, but didn't turn around when he spoke. "Some of us are destined to live our lives alone. Others have something too special inside to keep to themselves. You're in the second group."

"And you?" asked Ginny, even though she had a pretty good idea of his answer.

He was taken aback, but still answered, although kept his face towards the door. "As I said, some of us are destined to be alone. We just learn to deal with it." With that, he walked through the door, slightly slamming it behind him.