Ginny waited for Ron and Pansy to disappear through the front door, then turned to find Draco smirking at her. She arched an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Now can you tell me what's going on?"

"Your brother and I had a somewhat enlightening, if not unusual, bit of conversation while you and Pansy were gone." Ginny tapped her foot impatiently, making Draco chuckle.

"Well? I want to know what was said to make him behave that way. Ron has never been so polite in his entire life, and especially not around enemies."

"What?" Draco looked affronted as he moved forward and slid his arms around her waist. Her expression softened immediately. "Who said we're enemies?"

"I do."

"Why?" he murmured, watching her intently.

"Only because the two of you have hated each other since before you met," she offered weakly. His thumbs were tracing slow circles on the small of her back, making her shiver slightly.

"People change," he whispered, brushing his lips lightly against hers. "Especially when there's a loved one involved."

"Oh," she breathed, letting her eyes flutter closed. He dropped another light kiss on her lips, then another, and another. After several moments of this, she was starting to get light-headed and frustrated; the feathery kisses were wonderful, but she was starting to want one with a little more substance. Just as she was wondering if she should deepen the kiss, she felt his tongue sweep across her mouth, begging entrance.

She opened herself to him with a sigh of relief, then slid her arms around his neck. He groaned and kissed her hard before pulling away and burying his face in the crook of her neck. She could feel him trembling as he held her.

"We can't keep doing this," he whispered against her neck. Gooseflesh arose on her skin from the contact. "Every time we're alone, all I want to do is touch you."

"I'm sorry," she breathed, her eyes still closed. She was trying to savor the sensation of his breath tickling her neck as he spoke.

"Are you?" he asked, pulling away to look at her. He examined her face, then gave her a highly amused smile. "I don't think you are."

"Fine, I'm not," she admitted, smiling back. He chuckled, then let go of her to grab her hand. He turned and began walking down the hallway, tugging gently on her hand to indicate that she should follow him. "Where are we going?"

"To the library."

"And what exactly are we going to do in there?" she asked curiously. He turned and smirked at her as they walked.

"Nothing improper," he assured her. "A bit of light reading, perhaps? Or a game of chess?"

"The board is still set up for the game you were playing against Ron," she reminded him. He stopped and gave her a thoughtful look.

"Right, I'd already forgotten. I expect we'll want to continue the game tomorrow night, too." She squeezed his hand gently.

"Thank you." He looked confused.

"For what?"

"For being so nice to my brother," she explained quietly. "I know you don't have to, but it means a lot to me that you're doing it anyway." He reached out and stroked her cheek gently.

"You're welcome. He's really not that much of a sodding prat when you get to know him." She snorted.

"Yes, he is," she said. He laughed. "But that's why I love him. He and I have always been close – at least, until he and Hermione got together." Draco started walking again, and she followed him.

"Granger stole all of his time, did she?"

"More than I thought was possible," she nodded. "She was like a leech, sucking all of his energy and happiness away." At this, Draco stopped again and turned to look at her in surprise.

"He wasn't happy to be marrying her?"

"I think it's possible that he was, deep down. Things between them were becoming strained, though. At least, I think so. Hermione and Harry are both Ministry employees, and Ron wasn't able to get on at the Ministry, even with Dad's connections there, and I think it made him feel even more inferior to the both of him than he already felt." They were standing in front of Ginny's bedroom door, and she pushed it open and led him inside without thinking about it. He let go of her hand and sat down in a large, plush armchair, and she sat on the bed.

"It's not difficult to have an inferiority complex next to Potter," he said bitterly. She blinked.

"I don't understand why," she mused, shaking her head. "I mean, consider Harry's life. He was raised by an abusive family, and was lied to for the first eleven years of his life about who he really was. Then he was thrust into the Wizarding world with no prior knowledge of it, and was immediately hailed as a hero for something he didn't even consciously do." Draco stared at her.

"You sound as though you've given this quite a bit of thought."

"I have," she admitted, nodding.

"Well, don't expect me to feel sorry for him," he said, shaking his head. "He gets everything he wants handed to him, and he never has to worry about consequences when he does things."

"Of course he doesn't," she reasoned. "Not as long as Hermione and Ron are there to help back him up." Draco's eyes widened slightly.

"Are you trying to inadvertently discuss Potter's weaknesses with me?" His voice belied his amusement. She shrugged, smiling.

"Not really," she said. "I should think that anyone would be able to see his weakness without really trying to." Draco puzzled over this statement for a moment, feeling sure that she was trying to tell him something that he was overlooking, then shook his head in an attempt to clear it.

"Do you know how very tempting it is to be in your bedroom with you? And alone, at that?" She blushed.

"No more tempting than it is to be alone with you in a bedroom," she answered, forcing herself to meet his eyes. He arched an eyebrow, then moved to sit beside her on the bed. He lay back and rested his head on her pillow, then held his arms open, beckoning to her. Without hesitation, she curled up beside him, resting her cheek on his chest. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Does your brother have enough money to buy something suitable for the wedding?" Draco asked softly. Ginny closed her eyes and snuggled closer against him.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I can't imagine where he would get the money. But he can spend the money I have saved up." Draco frowned.

"The money you have saved up?" he repeated curiously.

"Mmm hmm," she murmured sleepily. "I have some money saved up in Gringott's. I saved it in case of an emergency."

"How much do you have saved?"

"Not much, only about three thousand galleons." Draco gasped.

"You don't consider that a lot of money?"

"Not when compared to what you consider a lot of money," she said.

"It must have taken you a long time to save it all," he commented, wondering if she'd always be so open when in a sleepy state.

"Not really. Once I realized that people would pay for an accurate Ceromantic reading, I started charging for them."

"You earned your money by doing readings?" he asked, even more astonished than he had been moments before. She nodded against his chest, then yawned. He smoothed her hair back away from her face, his mind racing as he listened to her breathing steady. She was turning out to be more of a surprise than he'd originally thought. She had her own money; no wonder she'd never asked to be repaid for the items she'd purchased for his mother last week. But if she had all of that money, why didn't she live in a nicer flat? Why didn't she have better clothes? She hadn't even owned a warm cloak when he'd seen her that night outside the café; he'd had to purchase one for her. Ginny Weasley was a mystery, indeed. He closed his eyes and rubbed her arm gently until he drifted off to sleep.

Hermione rubbed her eyes as she trudged to her front door to peek through the eyehole. Whoever it was that had woken her up from a happy dream about her wedding had better have a damned good reason for doing so. She cracked her eye open to peer through the hole, then unfastened the locks on her door.

"Harry, it's two o'clock in the morning," she said, yawning. He nodded and pushed his way into her flat, closing and locking the door behind him. She watched as he performed several silencing charms, and then flopped down on her couch.

"I know it's late," he said apologetically. "And I wouldn't be bothering you if it wasn't something important." She sat down wearily in an armchair and waited for him to continue. "I've been racking my brain, trying to figure out a way to get Ginny away from both Ron and the Malfoys so we can fix things."

"And?"

"We're just going to have to work on getting her out of the Manor as our first directive."

"Harry, you know we can't get onto the grounds. Lucius Malfoy has had the entire property charmed since before Draco was born so that Ministry employees can't so much as touch a blade of grass without him knowing."

"I know," he growled, massaging his temples. "So how do we trick Ginny into leaving, without bringing one of her new friends?"

"I don't know that we can," she answered back. Harry glared at her, and she shrugged. "You were there; you saw how Malfoy is romancing her! If she was starving for attention and he's somehow deluded her into thinking he cares about her, she's not going to want to leave him."

"We've got to make sure that we keep tabs on Ron, too. Got to make sure that he's nowhere near when she leaves the Manor, so he can't follow her and try to do something stupid."

"I can invite her to lunch or something," she suggested weakly. "But I'm not sure if she'd accept. She's got to have some kind of positive proof that you won't be anywhere near us when we're supposed to be getting together." He frowned.

"Would you be able to handle her if I wasn't nearby?"

"Of course I could," she said, stiffening. "Harry, don't talk down to me like that. I'm irritable and I'm just not in the mood for it. You know very well what I'm capable of."

He grinned at her. "I know. I just wanted to make sure you realized it, too. All right – you invite her to lunch, and I'll figure out a way to distract Ron. I'm going to have him followed for the next day or so, to see if there's a discernible pattern to his outings or anything, and then you can set a date to meet with her."

"Fine," she said, waving her hand dismissively. She stood and turned to go to her room, but he called after her.

"Hermione, you know that we're doing this for the good of everyone, don't you?" She turned slowly and stared at him.

"Are we, Harry? Are we truly thinking of everyone's best interests, or are we just thinking of ourselves?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm trying to tell myself that we mean well, but it's not working. I know deep down that I'm only doing it to get Ron back. What you have to ask yourself is why are you doing it, Harry? If Ginny is really happy where she is, why are you trying to end it all?"

She turned without waiting for his answer and went back to bed. He stared after her for several moments, and then headed out into the cold November night.

"I'm doing it to save my own ass," he muttered into the whipping wind. "And to save yours."