Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated this in awhile, I've kinda been focusing on Babysitting With the Dragon lately. Well, hope ya like the chapter!

If you like Severus/Hermione fics, check out my new fic called, Intelligent Conversation (Yes this is what you call a shameless plug in case you were wondering) You can get to it by clicking on my name right above where you're reading this…yes that's right, click on my name and read my new story! After I finish Babysitting With the Dragon, (Which won't take very long since it'll only have one or two more chapters, I'll be starting a new Ginny/Draco so be sure to check my name for new stories!

Draco was walking around the halls of Hogwarts aimlessly tinkering with the pocket watch Ginny had given him. He fingered it tenderly. Did he really want to go to Durmstrang and never see Ginny again? He saw a switch on the watch he'd never seen before. The back popped open, he held it up to the dim light coming from the window and read the engraving.

When you kiss me heaven sighs, and though I close my eyes, I see la vie en rose

There was a small heart with the letters G.W. barely distinguishable in it.

Draco's eyes lit up. Was it even possible? This was a line from the song, from their first kiss…He couldn't go to Durmstrang. Not after this! He had to find Ginny…Draco thought he was going insane. He heard…singing of the very song he was thinking about! It sounded rather melancholy now though. He turned a corner following the sound curiosity taking him over and momentarily making him forget about Durmstrang as he followed the lyrics of the song.

Hold me close and hold me fast the magic spell you cast, this is la vie en rose.

Draco came across Ginny. For some reason she looked…forlorn.

"Ginny," Draco called in good spirit, his soul uplifted by the face of the object of his affections.

Ginny looked up at him, sadness written all over her usual cheerful countenance.

"Ginny, what's wrong?"

Ginny merely looked down without saying anything, a tear tracing the curves of her face. Draco lifted her head up with his hand and gently wiped the tear away with his thumb.

"Come on now," he said to her, "Things can't be as bad as all of this." He gave her an encouraging half smile.

"But it is," she whispered.

"No, not today."

"Why is today so special?" Ginny asked, a little louder than before.

"Because, today I'm going to tell you that I love--"

"Don't say it!"

Draco was taken aback by her vehemence.

"You-you don't even hardly know what love is. Love is more than you think it is. You're just lonely because it's the holidays. You don't love…" Ginny trailed off not able to finish her sentence.

"How could you say that?" he asked angrily.

"Because you don't. You just think you do since we've spent so much time together," Ginny stammered on trying to convince even herself of what she was saying.

Draco took a step back. "Ginny-I"

Ginny cut him off, "Draco, I can't-I can't see you anymore…" Ginny managed to get that out without bursting into tears. She stood up, looked at him in sorrow, and walked away leaving Draco behind, staring at her retreating form in astonishment.

***

Molly Weasley was at home. She knew something was wrong. How she knew, she couldn't tell you, but she just knew. One of her children was very unhappy, and not the unhappy like it's raining outside or they didn't get what they wanted for Christmas, it was the kind of unhappy that made you cry all the time, the kind that only a mother's love could help. Molly had been sent home right after she'd arrived at Hogwarts. She had a rather violent cold so Dumbledore told her to go home, actually it was more of a demand than a request. Molly was grateful nonetheless. But that feeling wouldn't go away. She had a feeling it was Ginny who was so afflicted. She had to do something, but first she had to know what was wrong. How was she to find out?

***

Christine was worried about Ginny. (A/N: I know I did this last time, but in case you've forgotten Christine is Ginny's good friend in Hufflepuff, Danny is her boyfriend) No she wasn't just worried, she was downright scared. She had never seen Ginny like this before, not even during her period of pining for Harry. She knew it had to be about Draco.

"Christine!" Hermione frantically flagging her down in the hallway brought the girl out of her reverie.

"What is it Hermione?" Christine asked, more than a little surprised. Hermione and her didn't talk very much not being in the same house or same grade.

"I'm worried about Ginny," Hermione started off, "Do you know what's wrong with her? She hasn't been the same since Christmas a few days ago."

"I know, I don't know what's going on but I do know that it's about Malfoy."

"Yeah, I had deduced that much, since she's no longer seeing him all the time. But what about him? Why did it change all of a sudden?"

Ron had appeared a moment before at Hermione's side. "Oh, you want to know why Ginny's upset?" Ron looked only vaguely concerned for his baby sister's happiness. He was usually a caring brother, but when it came to his sister and dating, he didn't care how unhappy she was, there were just certain people she wasn't allowed to consort with.

"You know what's wrong with her?" Hermione asked incredulously. Ron nodded his head. "Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione hit Ron on the arm.

"Ow, You never asked!" Ron rubbed his arm where Hermione had hit him.

"Well out with it then!" Christine said impatiently.

"Dad found out that Ginny has been spending time with Malfoy, he got upset with her, told her to 'never see that boy again' and threatened that if she saw him again, he would get Malfoy kicked out of Hogwarts." Ron said all of this with a certain air of satisfaction.

"He can't do that!" Hermione said, "Dumbledore would never kick Malfoy out without proof of him actually doing something wrong."

"Yeah, but Ginny doesn't know that!" Hermione and Christine took one look at Ron and just walked away from him.

"So how are we going to get them back together? Obviously Ginny told him that she couldn't see him anymore."

"Why is that so obvious?" Christine asked the older girl.

"Because, Draco's been looking rather put out recently too."

"I think 'rather put out' is a vast understatement."

"I suppose you're right."

"Well then, what do we do?"

***

Molly was sitting home alone, bored out of her wits. She had nothing to do. All of her children were either at work or at school and she was too sick to actually do anything of use. Arthur wasn't supposed to come home from Hogwarts for two more days. A tawny owl swooped into the open window and landed neatly on Molly's chair. Molly looked at the envelope in surprise.

"Now what is this?" she asked, feeling more than a little silly for talking to the owl, but it was better company than just herself.

She slowly opened the envelope and read the letter inside.

Mrs. Weasley,

I don't know if you know this, but Ginny had been downright miserable ever since Christmas. Now, we've done a little bit of research and we have found out the cause of Ginny's distress. We don't know if you know this but your daughter has found an unlikely friend in Draco Malfoy. They've been tutoring each other (in potions and history of magic respectively) for a few months now. They've gotten close…at first it was just a friendship but now we're afraid it's something more. Don't take it lightly though, Ginny doesn't just switch up boys very often I'm afraid. When she fancies someone she really fancies them. But of course you would know all of this, Ginny being your daughter and everything. Anyway, they were just getting to a climax of sorts in their relationship (we believe that they were about ready to confess their feelings for one another) when Mr. Weasley, your husband, found out from Ron, that Ginny has been spending time with Malfoy. Mr. Weasley told Ginny that she could never speak to Draco again. He threatened to have Malfoy expelled if she ever talked to him again! I don't know if you approve the match Mrs. Weasley, obviously Draco Malfoy was not our first choice of men for Ginny but, if we're not going to far, we think they might actually love one another. You should see Malfoy now, it's almost as if Ginny's made him into a new, better version of himself. We really think that something needs to be done to straighten this whole situation out. We decided that you were the best one for the job. I hope you do something to help Ginny, she really is quite heartbroken over the whole thing. We've never seen her like this before! Please help!

Love,

Hermione and Christine

"Ooh, sometimes I could just kill the men in my family!" Molly said angrily to the owl before sitting down and thinking of the best way to handle the situation.

***

Draco had decided. He was going to Durmstrang. There was no reason for him to stay here now. Damn, Ginny's face kept popping into his head. Her voice kept whispering in his ear. 'How long will this last?' he asked himself. 'Should I stay here and have to see Ginny all the time? Or just go to Durmstrang and have her image haunt me all the time? The way I see it, it's a lose lose situation. Ah well, might as well go to Durmstrang. It will be a change at least.' Draco's thoughts had a mirthless humor to it that he would have found funny at the beginning of the year, but now when he thought something was funny he wanted to tell it to Ginny, but she wasn't there.

***

It was Saturday morning; Arthur was going home later that night. He was up at the crack of dawn, as usual, couldn't break those early rising habits even though he hadn't got much sleep last night. For some reason, he kept feeling bad for what he'd done to his little girl. All he wanted was for Ginny to be happy. Malfoy couldn't make her happy; he could only make her more distressed than she already appeared to be. But maybe he could make her vivacious again. He missed his old Ginny. Was it possible that Malfoy could bring his little girl back to him? He shook these thoughts from his head and told himself gruffly that he had done the right thing. He looked around at the nearly empty Great Hall, wondering when mail was coming. He was surprised as his thoughts were answered by a tawny owl swooping down and barely missing landing in the bowl of butter on the table. He picked up the red howler with trepidation, knowing that it could only be from Molly.

"Arthur Weasley!" it shouted at him in Molly's voice, "I am so ashamed of you! Yelling at our only daughter in that manner. Yes, I know all about it! Don't ask me how, mother's just know these things!" the howler nodded to itself matter-of-factly. "You must go and apologize to Ginny this moment and tell her that she may date anyone that she wants to! We trust our Ginny! She's a smart girl. Now GO!" With that the howler promptly tore itself up into little pieces leaving Arthur sitting there in silent amazement. How had she known?

***

Ginny was convinced that everything had worked out for the best, even if she wasn't as happy as she normally was. Draco wasn't good for her, they came from two different worlds, he didn't love her, he didn't even know what real love is! Ginny kept telling herself these things hoping they would make her feel better. She was even starting to believe a few of them, such as, 'he doesn't love me, he's just lonely because it's the holidays, everyone gets lonely around Christmastime.'

She was sitting on a bench, basically just staring at the wall, thinking. Something she had been found doing quite a few times in the past few days.

Draco was walking down the hall. He was leaving for Durmstrang right after dinner. He wanted to talk to Ginny one last time before he was going to sneak out. The only person who knew he was transferring was Dumbledore. Really, who else needed to know? They'd all find out soon enough. He was just going to leave quietly before the rumors about why he left started circulating.

Just then Draco came across the very girl he had been thinking about. Ginny.

"Ginny," Draco began tentatively.

"What do you want Draco," Ginny's voice was barely louder than a whisper.

"I want to tell you that…" Draco thought about everything he could say right now. He decided to say what he actually wanted to say for once. "I love you."

Ginny was about to say something but Draco cut her off, "And don't tell me that I don't, because I do. I love you, and it's not because it's the holidays, and it's not because we've been spending so much time together that I think I love you. I love you and I know it."

"How do you know?"

"I just do…I love everything about you Gin, I love how it takes you an hour to pick a single book out of the library, I love the you're so sarcastic in the morning, I love how when you get embarrassed your face becomes the color of your hair, I love how you won't take no for an answer, I love the way you love your family, I love that when you think I'm going mad, your eyebrows do that little crinkle thing, I love how when I bend down to your height, I can smell your shampoo, I love that I never want to kiss another girl in my life because I know that they only girl I'll ever want to kiss is you!… Gin, I love you."

"There you go again! Making me melt! Oh, I try so hard not to think about you, to erase you from my mind, and then when I think I've made some progress you go and do something like that! I can't…" Ginny trailed off, not knowing what to say, a thousand emotions rushing through her head. The bell rang for dinner. "We should be getting to dinner." Ginny said softly.

Draco watched angrily as Ginny made her way to the Great Hall. 'Well, then' he thought angrily, 'tonight I will leave for Durmstrang.'

***

Ginny sat down at the Gryffindor table, clearly shaken up. She looked nauseatingly at the food before her, her appetite just hadn't been the same lately.

Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table, picking pensively at his food. He kept glancing over at the Gryffindor table; it was as if he couldn't control his head, or his mind for that matter. His thoughts would inevitably drift over to the redhead. He found himself pondering why she had turned him down. She had kissed him! And she'd given him his watch…it just didn't make sense. But she'd made herself perfectly clear, she wanted nothing to do with him. Draco's watch beeped, reminding him that it was time to go. He had to fly to the train station where he would catch the train that would be taking him to Durmstrang. He grimaced at the thought of it. He silently got up to sneak out of the Hall quietly when all of a sudden Dumbledore stood up from the table and clinked a glass to get everyone's attention.

"Mr. Malfoy! You didn't think I'd let you leave without a proper farewell did you?"

Draco glanced at the man, well actual it wasn't as much of a glance as it was a glare.

"Mr. Malfoy here is leaving us to go to Durmstrang, while we're sad to see any of our students go, we wish him the best of luck at all he does! Draco, come on up here!"

Draco made his way resentfully forward. No one was supposed to find out until he left! This was throwing everything off.

Ginny sat in complete shock. Draco was leaving! It wouldn't have mattered if she had disobeyed her father, Draco was leaving anyway. Draco was leaving…Her mind flashed through everything they'd been through the past couple months. Everything they'd done…their first night in the room of requirement, when he got mad at her for wasting the tomatoes on the sandwich. She had to smile at that memory. She remembered when she'd asked him to tutor her, she remembered their first kiss, la vie en rose, she thought of her gift. She tenderly touched the necklace at her throat. She hadn't taken it off since he'd given it to her. She thought of the way he smelled, Ginny involuntarily took a deep breath in, as if he was standing right next to her. She thought about the way his touch sent chills down her spine, she thought about how she never wanted to kiss anyone but him, ever.

Ginny covered her mouth with her hand in shock. She was in love with him! She was absolutely head over heels completely deliriously in love with him! How had she not known?

"Let's all bid a fond farewell to Mr. Draco Malfoy." Ginny tuned in to hear the last of Dumbledore's speech.

Ginny stood up, almost knocking her bench over.

"No!" the next thing she knew she was running up to the front of the hall.

"Miss Weasley," Dumbledore greeted her in surprise.

Ginny didn't even acknowledge that he had spoken she only saw Draco.

"Don't go."

"What do I have to stay for?" Draco looked at her coldly. When Ginny remained silent he said, "That's what I thought." Draco was about to walk away when Ginny cried out, "Wait!" She ran up to Draco, threw her arms around him kissed him, full on the mouth, in front of the entire school. There were several cheers from the Gryffindor table, a few 'I'm going to kill him's coming from Ron, and a lot of quite taken aback students all around the room.

Ginny noticed something when she kissed him, he didn't seem to really be kissing back. They broke apart and Ginny said, "Don't go Draco,"

"Why not?"

"Because I love you."

This was the first time that anyone had ever seen a real, honest-to-goodness smile escape from the lips of one Draco Malfoy.

Draco smiled, the sexiest smile Ginny had ever seen and said, "That's what I was waiting for!" He kissed her in a passionate embrace that neither of them ever wanted to end.

Arthur Weasley watched his daughter and Draco Malfoy kiss. Well, at least now Molly wouldn't be mad at him. Ginny was happy, he could see it in her eyes as she took her seat at the Gryffindor table amid cheers and catcalls from fellow students. Her eyes kept falling on that Malfoy boy. Arthur gave up his anger and smiled. She was happy, that's all he could ask for. His little girl was happy.

"I guess you won't be going to Durmstrang then, boy!" Dumbledore smiled at Draco but he knew Draco didn't see. Draco and Ginny were too busy smiling at one another.

A/N: So, how'd ya like that? They're together, yay for happy endings! Anyway, sorry to tell ya but all that's left of this story is the epilogue! I'm going back and forth between being sad and happy. I want to thank all of my reviewers! You guys give me inspiration for my story! Look for the epilogue in a few days, I'm going to try to post it before I leave on my trip to L.A. (I'm going to L.A. for my sixteenth birthday which is on the 18th. I'm very excited! I'm going to be sixteen!) Anyway, I love all of you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!