Chapter 5: Late Night Studying

Early in the morning Ginny was sitting at the Gryffindor holding a note in her hands. A black owl had just delivered it to her and she was curious who it was from. She bit her lip then slowly opened the letter and began reading it.

Red,

There has been a change of plans. We will not be able to study this morning. I've been called to Dumbledoor's office to discuss one of my classes.

Meet me tonight in Professor Snape's Potions class at 9:00. I have arranged for us to use his private library for our research.

Hermione OWLed me this morning and told me that Brad and her will be researching the first part of the essay and that you and I will be researching the second.

Draco Malfoy

P.S: Snape told me to also tell you not to bother coming to class today. He said you can take the day and catch up on other homework you have.

Ginny sighed then tucked the note into her Potions book. "Guess I won't be needing this after all." She thought to herself.

"Hello Gin." came the voice of her friend Katrina who just sat down next to her.

"Morning." Ginny said and sighed.

"Anything wrong, Gin?" Kat asked in a concerned tone while taking breakfast food and placing it on her plate.

"No, I just got a letter from Malfoy. I have to study with him tonight instead of this morning. He said something about him having a meeting with Dumbledore. So now we are going to be studying in Snape's class." she rolled her eyes. "I hope Snape isn't going to be there. Its bad enough I have to study with Draco tonight." she grinned.

"You know you can't wait to get Draco alone." Kat teased her friend then took a bite of her bagel.

"Oh shut it, you!" Ginny said while playfully punching her friend in the arm.

Trying to change the subject Ginny decided to ask Katrina about her classes. "So Kat, anything interesting happening in my old class?" she asked.

"Go on and rub it in, Gin. Make me feel worse that I don't have you to pass notes with in class anymore." she smiled then shook her head. "No, It's all mostly just reviewing last year."

"Sorry Kat. I wasn't planning on becoming this smart." she laughed. "Well everything I'm learning is all new since I didn't have 5th year classes." she sighed. "I hope I made the right decision skipping a year." she took a sip of her juice. "You think I did, right Kat?"

"Of course, Gin. You were way to bright for us 5th Years." she smiled at her best friend. "It was so obvious how bored you were."

"Yea, I guess your right." Just then Hermione sat down beside her and placed a stack of books on the seat beside her.

"Guess you talked to Draco about our essay. Right Gin?" she asked as she grabbed some food and put it on her plate.

"Yea, he owled me. That was real smart of you to spit the essay into groups. It will be easier to get done that way." Ginny complimented Hermione.

"I thought of it last night. So I immediately Owled Draco about it so I wouldn't have to talk to him until we both finished our parts." Hermione paused for a second. "So when you finish your part just give it to me and I'll make the final scroll essay to hand in to Snape."

"Alright, Mione." Ginny said as she stood up. "Well I must be off now. I have the next two periods off. So I think I'm going to head back up to my dorm and work on my Care of Magical Creatures homework." Ginny smiled and picked up her books quickly and headed out of the hall after waving bye to her friends.

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At 7:10 Ginny opened the door to Professor Snape's classroom and saw Draco already there and sitting on one of the tables. He looked up when he heard the door close. "Your late, Red." He said smiling over at her. "How is it that I had Quidditch practice till quarter to seven and still managed to get here before you did. And I even took a shower before coming here."

"I lost track of time. I was busy doing other homework. Sorry." She said walking over to him.

"Whatever. Lets just get started. I don't want to be here all night with you." He said getting up and heading over to Professor Snape's closet. "The books we can use are in here. This is Snape's own personal collection. So they will probably come in handy for our project." He opened the door, stepped inside and turned on the light.

Ginny followed him and looked around. She had never been inside this closet before. This one was always closed to the students. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a very long time and the light inside there wasn't very bright. The collection of books was very vast and would most definitely come in handy. "How did you get access to this?" she asked as she walked over to the book case and ran her fingers along the many books.

"I have my ways." Draco said grinning over at her. "What is the question that we have to answer, Red." He asked still looking at her.

She pulled out a piece of parchment from her pocket and began reading it. "Hermione and Brad have to answer 'How is the Truth Potion brewed and what are it's uses in the wizarding world.' We have to actually make Truth Potions, take them, ask each other questions and record what happens and what is said." She paused for a moment. "Snape has already prepared questions for us to ask each other." She looked up at him then looked at the books. "I don't really think we will need a lot of books to do this. We only need the instructions on how to make it."

Draco ran his finger over the books looking for something they could use. He stopped at a book titled 'Standard Book of Potions' and took it out to look for the Truth Potion inside it. "Here it is." He said taking it over to the table by the book case and laying it flat with the page they needed opened. He quickly copied down the ingredients then looked up at Ginny. "You go heat up a cauldron and I will collect the ingredients." He said then quickly went off to the supply cabenet.

Ginny went over to a nearby Cauldron and lit the burner underneath it. She then sat down and waited for Draco to return.

A couple minutes later Draco returned with all the ingredients, set them down on the table then took a seat next to Ginny. "Alright, lets start."

Over the next 25 minutes Ginny and Draco precisely administered the proper ingredients into their cauldron. When they were finished they bottled two small vials and set them down on the table.

Ginny looked over at Draco who was finishing up writing the steps they took to complete the potion. "When your finished doing that I'll go first and you can read the questions to me and record what I say, then I'll do the same when you take it." Draco just nodded and finished writing. When he was done he looked up at Ginny. "Ok, ready?" He asked.

She nodded and drank the contents of the vial. In a couple seconds Draco spoke. "What is your full name?" He asked Ginny then put his quill to his paper to begin writing.

"Virginia Elizabeth Weasley." She answered without any expression.

"How old are you?" He asked after recording her answer.

"15." She simply stated.

Draco nodded his head then continued. "What are the names of the people in your family?"

"Molly, Arthur, Charlie, Bill, Percy, Fred, George and Ron." she answered truthfully.

"What Hogwart's House are you in?" He asked

"Gryffindor." She answered flatly.

Draco recorded her last answer then put his quill down waiting for the potion to ware off her. "I should ask her if she likes me." He thought to himself, then shook his head. "No, I shouldn't take advantage of the situation." He then grinned. "Or should I." He was feuding with himself., but was suddenly snapped out of it by a hand waving across his face.

"Draco! You there?" Ginny asked trying to get Draco's attention.

"Uh, Yea. Sorry." He then passed the paper along to her and drank down his vial of the potion.

After a couple seconds Ginny asked her first question. "What is your first name?"

Draco answered flatly. "Draco Lucius Malfoy."

Ginny nodded. "Ok, How old are you?"

"16." Draco Answered without any emotion what so ever. Not even his trademark Malfoy smirk was on his face.

"What are the names of the people in your family?" Ginny asked him when she finished writing down his answer to the last question.

"Narcissa and Lucius." Draco answered looking straight at Ginny.

Finally Ginny asked him the last question on the paper. "What house are you in?"

"Slytherin." He answered and within a couple minutes he was back to his normal self. "So Red, lets see what I've answered."

Ginny handed over the paper to him. "Everything that I answered was truthful. How about yours?" she asked looking at him as he read over his answers.

"Perfect." He answered then gave the paper to Ginny. "Guess you should give this to the mudblood." He said standing up.

Ginny quickly stood up. "Why do you have to be so cruel?" she asked. "I mean its bad enough that you say it, but I've heard you call that to her face before." Ginny really didn't like Hermione all that much. She pretty much faked her friendship with her so she didn't cause any problems with her brother. But she would never call her a mudblood to her face. Maybe in her mind, but never to her face.

"Well she should be reminded of how unclean her blood is." he answered her back smugly as he walked into the closet.

Ginny followed close behind him. "Maybe her blood is dirty, but you shouldn't tell her." She said watching him put away the book they used. "It's so uncivilized." she added.

Draco spun around surprised at what this little red head behind him just said. He couldn't believe she admitted that Hermione's blood was dirty. "Didn't think you had it in you, Red." He smirked at her and moved closer.

"I don't know what your talking about." she said moving back as he advanced on her. The room wasn't very wide. So she really wasn't that far from backing into the wall.

"Oh I think you do." He pointed his finger at her while still moving towards her.

Just then she realized what Draco was going on about. For the first time in her life she actually admitted that she wasn't to fond of muggle borns. And who she admitted it to made it worse. She quickly panicked and backed up against the wall. She was convinced that by morning the whole school would know what she had said.

Once she was backed up against the wall Draco stopped right in front of her and looked at her. He could tell that she was definitely nervous. And she probably thought he was going to run back to Slytherin and tell everyone that she was a muggle hater just like they were, but he wasn't. Draco leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, Red. Your secret is safe with me." He pulled away from her ear and quickly left the closet.

Ginny didn't move for a couple minutes. She just stood there thinking about what had just happened and how she had felt a shiver go up her spine when Draco leaned into her body and whispered in her ear.

When Ginny finally came out of the closet she noticed everything was cleaned up, except for a small piece of parchment on the table they were using. Ginny walked over to the table and picked up the parchment. She noticed that it was Draco's handwriting and began reading.

Dear Red,

You continue to surprise me little Gryffindor. Let me surprise you this time. Meet me in the Astronomy Tower tomorrow night at 10:00.

Draco Malfoy

Ginny reread the note over and wondered why he would ask her to meet him there. She shrugged her shoulders. "Guess I'll just have to wait and find out." she thought to herself as she put the note inside her pocket. Ginny gave one final glance around the room then quickly headed back up to Gryffindor Tower to get some much needed sleep.

To Be Continued…

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