The following days went by slowly, everywhere she went people would stare at her and whisper things behind her back. Ron kept on asking her about what had happened, but she never answered.

Slowly the different rumours started to fade out and life went back to normal.

At their first Herbology class that week Ginny and Luna were working with their task while talking about the summer holiday. Luna told Ginny about her trip to the Himalayas.

"Father decided to go to Tibet to find a Verrert, a dragon like animal with a big horn on the forehead," said Luna. "And he let me come with. So we went to the Ministry to get us a Portkey. The Portkey took us to Sendong, a small village in the mountains from where we started our expedition. After two endless weeks... well they weren't exactly endless, but you get my drift... we finally found a sign of, well, something living. But it turned out to be just a eunuch living in one of the caves. Quite a character you know, very interesting. He really liked licking the walls of his cave, 'till his tongue started to bleed. Didn't talk much though, kept to himself most of the time."

"Did you find any Verrerts, then?"

"Well, not really, we had to return to England before we had a breakthrough. But we were close," Luna pointed out. "So, how was your summer?"

Ginny told Luna about her summer at the Burrow, including the whole Harry-walking-in-on-her-standing-nude-in-the-shower-thing. By the time she had finished Luna was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. They were interrupted by Sprout, telling them that the class was over.

One day Ginny was running down the stairs on her way to Potions. She was already late and feared what Snape would give her a telling-off. Her steps were echoing in the empty corridors. When she reached the last step of the staircase, she tripped over her own cloak, and dropped her book, which slid over the floor away from her. She ran to pick it up, but just as she bent down to take it, she saw someone else's hand reach for it and pick it up.

"Well, Weasel, I knew someday you'd be down on your knees kissing my feet," he sneered.

"Sod off, Malfoy," hissed Ginny. "Give me my book!"

"Now, now, ask politely." He held the book out of reach for her.

"You wish."

"The sooner you do it, the sooner I'll give it back to you."

"I don't have time with this, Malfoy! Just give it back!"

Ginny jumped at him and tried to grab the book, but he was too tall, so she couldn't reach it. Malfoy smirked and gave out a little laugh. She punched him in the stomach, making him crouch over and his arm sank, so she could take the book.

"You bloody...!" he cursed at her. "What the hell did you do that for, Ginny?"

Ginny became quiet, and stared at him for a moment in amazement. Malfoy too, became quiet and for a second he looked as confused as her.

"Bugger off, Weasley," he snapped and turned around and left.

Ginny stood there for a few minutes, trying to gather her thoughts. He had called her Ginny....

She started walking towards the dungeons; she was now fifteen minutes late for Potions. She was definitely going to get detention.

She opened the door and sneaked in, trying to be as discrete as possible.

"Miss Weasley," she heard Professor Snape say from the front of the classroom. "Twenty points from Gryffindor, and detention. Now, today we are doing the Draft of Peace. Here are the instructions, begin." The instructions appeared on the black board and the students began with their task.

Ginny placed her cauldron beside Luna's.

"Why were you late, Ginny?" Luna asked after a while.

"I ran into someone...." she answered.

"Who?"

"Just Malfoy," she said while avoiding Luna's looks.

"What did he want?"

"Er... nothing."

"Come on, Gin. What did he want?" Luna was eying her closely.

"Nothing. I just dropped my book and he picked it up. That's all."

"Oh, right. By the way, I talked to my father today, and he's coming to visit me during the Hogsmeade weekend. So I don't think I can come with you."

"Oh," Ginny was a bit disappointed. "Alright...."

They worked on their potions in silence, and when class was over, Ginny filled a bottle with hers and put it on the front desk. She left the classroom and headed for the Great Hall and dinner.

Ginny often found herself thinking and dreaming about a pair of deep, grey eyes. Every time she saw Draco Malfoy in the corridors she'd blush. Luna never said anything, but Ginny could see that she was wondering about what had happened that made Ginny blush every time she saw him.

Sometimes she got a strange feeling that she was being watched, and every time she'd look up she would meet the eyes of Draco Malfoy, who turned away every time she noticed it.