Chapter Eight: Confrontation

As Ginny sat in the Great Hall on Wednesday morning, eating her breakfast at the Gryffindor table, she couldn't help but notice that at the other side of the Great Hall at the Slytherin Table, Draco was looking very odd indeed.

He was usually either chatting with Blaise Zabini or showing off something he got from his mother and father back at home, but today was different. Draco was looking pale and was playing carelessly with his fork instead of eating his food.

Ginny was wondering what was wrong with him, and that maybe the stupid rumors Blanc had spread caused him to be emotionally stressed or something. No, that couldn't be it. Draco Malfoy, emotionally stressed? It had to be something else.

Right when Ginny was about to take another bite of her eggs, the Great Hall doors opened. She turned and looked to see who it was, and wasn't surprised to see Harry and Cho, hand in hand, talking animatedly.

Over the first week, Ginny always saw Harry and Cho together, and Harry was usually carrying her book bag. Yes, what a gentleman. Whenever Ginny saw them, she had to turn away. It wasn't that she was jealous; she simply couldn't stomach the sight of them together. It was nauseating having to watch Harry kiss her neck and hear her call him 'Honeycakes' every time she happened to pass by the inseparable couple.

Ginny scowled to herself and went back to her breakfast, feeling that today was not the day she wanted to get angry. Harry and Cho disconnected, and began walking over to where Ginny was sitting. Oh God, she thought.

Ginny turned back to the table and pretended not to notice that Harry was standing right behind her. She picked her fork up, preparing to put more eggs into her mouth, but her moment of innocent unknowing was ruined when Harry suddenly spoke.

"Hey," he said, making Ginny drop her fork with a clatter. She did not respond.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" he asked, not even waiting for an answer before taking the empty spot next to her.

Ginny laughed bitterly, shaking her head. "Well, yes, I do, but I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?" she said loutishly, looking at him with disdain. She picked up her fork again and started eating, hoping that maybe Harry would take a hint and instead decide to sit next to Ron and Hermione.

"Am I allowed to talk to you?"

"No."

Plain and simple. Ginny didn't want to go into having a conversation with Harry at the moment, especially when she was feeling particularly murderous against him.

"You have to talk to me someday," he told her, looking down at his hands.

"And why should I, Harry?" she asked, turning to him with a fake grin plastered on her face. "Because we're such good friends and we talk all the time?"

Harry looked at her with his eyebrows pinned together.

"Why are you acting so rude to me lately? What did I ever do to offend you so much? I mean, you're not even talking to Ron or Hermione, and I'm hearing all these things which I know aren't true -"

"And how do you know if they're true or not?" Ginny interrupted, looking at Harry with an arched eyebrow. "How well do you know me anyway, Harry? What, are we buddies now?"

Harry frowned.

"Ginny, you know what I mean," he said tonelessly.

"Actually, Harry, I don't. Now, why don't you go waste someone else's time?" she said to him.

With that, Ginny took one more bite of her eggs and started walking out of the Great Hall. What she didn't know was that Harry got up too and was following her, his strides even longer than her own.

"Ginny, stop!" Harry yelled, and he took her shoulder and pinned her to the wall.

"Get off of me!" exclaimed Ginny, trying to push Harry away. Harry was too strong though, and he held her back with his arm.

"Listen, I want - stay still! - I want you to talk to me, Ginny. Please, come on. What's holding you back?" he said.

"Your arm!" Ginny shouted, still fighting to get away. Harry rolled his eyes, but still didn't remove his arm.

"Come on, all I want to know is what's wrong!" he bellowed so loudly that Ginny snapped her eyes shut. Suddenly, she fell limp, and Harry eased his arm away from her. They both looked at each other hopelessly, neither of them knowing what to say.

"What makes you think I have a problem, anyway?" said Ginny angrily. "You can't help. You wouldn't even know if I didn't explain the story, which is way too long, so just leave me alone!" She tried to walk away, but Harry grabbed her arm again.

"All I want to know is why you won't talk to me!" Harry said.

"You never talk to me! What makes you think I'd want to talk to you now?" Ginny yelled at him furiously, pulling her arm away but staying where she was.

Harry sighed, obviously trying to think.

"I don't know. Maybe I care, unlike you who just blames the whole world for everything. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what I'm trying to do. Maybe it's like Cho said -"

"Who cares about what Cho said?" Ginny interjected. "I don't even know what you see in that girl. She's a pathetic, low-life -"

"Don't you talk about my girlfriend in that way!" Harry roared, even louder than usual. Ginny laughed resentfully.

"Yes, Cho is all the world to you. Everyone bow down to Cho Chang, queen of all that lives."

"What do you have against Cho, anyway? Are you jealous or something?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowed.

"No! I told you, Cho is nothing to me! She's nothing, alright?" Ginny was getting sick of talking about Cho. She couldn't even bear thinking about her. "Why don't you get that through your button-sized brain?"

"Well it certainly seems like you're jealous. You have no reason to hate her, the two of you have never even spoken," said Harry. "Besides, don't you have anybody else you like?"

"What do you mean, 'anybody else'?" Ginny said heatedly, looking at Harry with dark eyes, unlike her light brown ones.

"Come on, Ginny, I know you've liked me for years," muttered Harry. "It's not too hard to notice. You used to always follow me around; you never left me alone."

"Hey, why don't you look at what you just said?" Ginny whispered sarcastically, her head to one side. Suddenly she started shouting. "I USED TO! PAST TENSE! DIDN'T YOU EVER TAKE ENGLISH, YOU MORON?"

"Calm down, Gin, I bet everyone in the Great Hall heard that -"

"You're not licensed to call me Gin! Only Ron can, and I don't think you're him, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be going now!"

Ginny turned on her heel and began walking away again, this time even faster than before. There was no need for them to keep arguing, it would just make things worse. However, not even five seconds after finishing her sentence, Harry had already caught up to her and had jumped in front of her, not letting her take another step.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong with you!" he said shrilly.

"Do you want me to see a therapist or something?" said Ginny, rolling her eyes. She put her hands on her hips. "Honestly, Harry, you expect me to come running to you every time you think I have a problem? Even if I had one, so what? It's none of your business anyway! Now move!"

Harry didn't move. Ginny sighed heavily, thinking of what to do next.

"Don't make me do something drastic, Harry, you wouldn't want that. Believe me, Ron has had experience," she told him.

"If I can take on Voldemort, I can certainly take on you. Go ahead; try me, Ginny," Harry said stupidly, thinking that she was going to use magic on him.

"Okay," said Ginny. And, leaving her wand in her pocket, before Harry could move, she went up to him and kicked him in the groin.

Almost immediately, Harry yelped in agony and fell to the ground, groaning. Ginny smiled at him and looked down at him. "Well… You-Know-Who can't be worse than that, can he?" she told him, giggling quietly.

"G-ginnnnnnyy!!!" Harry cried.

"Goodbye," said Ginny, and she walked off, still laughing uncontrollably. Served him right, the stupid git.

&&&&&&&&&&

Draco was sitting in the Great Hall when he heard a loud and girlish scream in the distance. He looked around, wondering where it came from, noticing that a few others sitting in the Great Hall were looking around in surprise, too.

"What was that?" he asked a girl who was sitting beside him. She looked at him with droopy eyes.

"How the hell should I know?" she said.

Draco frowned at her and got up from the Slytherin table, only to find that Blanc was standing right in front of him. He nearly jumped; this girl was seriously frightening him. She always seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"What do you want?" he asked coldly.

"I need to talk to you. Let's go outside," she said.

Draco reluctantly followed Blanc outside and the two of them sat down on a bench that was similar to the one they had sat on when they had kissed. She had better make this quick, Draco thought. His first class was going to start in about fifteen minutes and he still needed to get his things.

"Listen, I know zat last night did not go well, but…"

"But what? Do you expect me to fall for you or something?" Draco said. "Okay listen, you're - pretty and all, but one thing you don't do is kiss a guy and then tell him that you're into his looks and his money." He pursed his lips and shook his head. "Big no-no."

Blanc looked confused. "I still do not understand why you got so upset… I sought I was giving you a com-plee-ment…"

"That's not the way it works," he said. "I'm sorry, but I just don't know you well enough to like you that way. I mean, we've never even really talked – wait, what was your name again?"

Blanc glared at him, and all of the sudden her eyes turned literally red.

"It's Blanc," she muttered in fury.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Draco asked confusedly. Blanc's eyes turned back to sea green, and she tucked a strand of her radiant brown hair behind one of her ears.

" I must go now," she said, and Draco saw tears falling down from her face. Blanc got up hurriedly and ran off, crying hysterically into her hands.

Draco had no idea what had just happened. He saw her eyes turn red, that definitely wasn't normal. He was very curious about that girl indeed…