A Restless Night

Disclaimer: The plot belongs to me, everything else is property of the great J.K.R. Oh yes, and Redneck Woman belongs to my idol - Gretchen Wilson!

Ginny Weasley sat hunched outside of a door to one of the private parlours of the Leaky Cauldron. Although an odd place for a 16 year old girl to be, most people passed by without a thought, but a careful observer would note a piece of flesh colored string stretching from ear under the door... Fred and George would be glad to hear one of their inventions had gone to such wonderful use, since Ginny figured they would be as curious as she was to what business Draco Malfoy had with the three friends.

Ginny got bored with they're slightly repitive and monotonous conversation. It was all arguements about wether or not Draco was telling the truth. So she did the obvious thing, she started singing a muggle tune she had learned earlier that summer under her breath...
Well I ain't never
Been the Barbie Doll type
I can't swig that sweet Champaign
I'd rather drink beer all night
In a tavern, or in a Honky-Tonk
I own a 4 Wheel Drive Tail Gate
Yeah I got posters on my wall
Of Skynr, Kid, n' Straight
I'm a Redneck Woman
I ain't no high class broad
I'm just the product of my raisin'
I say hey ya'll and yeehaw
(A/N: Sorry it was stuck in my head, I had to put it in somewhere, I will be developing Ginny as a total Gretchen Wilson fan, don't worry, hehe)

Soon she heard the voices begin to die.
"Thank you so much for agreeing to help me!" Draco drawled.
"We didn't agree to help you, we agreed to talk to Dumbledore," Hermione sounded slightly annoyed.
"That's all I ask."
Well then... they had agreed to help him, that was interesting. She couldn't imagine why, he had done so many horrible things to them, and he was probably just planning a trap. Imagine, Lucius Malfoy's son NOT a death eater, the idea was almost laughable. Although the boy was a bloody coward, that might be part of it, she'd heard it mentioned earlier and noted that Malfoy ignored Ron's comment; that could be important. She coiled up the extenable ear and headed slowly up the rickety stairs to the room her and Hermione were sharing. It was one of the nicer rooms, considering that Hermione's parents had paid for it, it overlooked Diagon Alley, during the day you could see all the hustle and bustle in the streets below, Ginny enjoyed it more than anything. A lot of time she would see friends emerging out of the crowd into different shops and would go sprinting down the stairs to greet them. Luna and Neville had both been through, it still amazed how much Neville had grown up since the Ball two years ago, she'd seen the change in him last year... but this year it was different. True, he was still clumsy, but somehow more composed, and he tended to whine a lot less. Luna hadn't changed a bit, she still was the daughter of the guy who published The Quibbler, that couldn't be overlooked, but Ginny had a new respect for her since the incident at the Ministry, and she knew she wasn't the only one.

Ginny's mind had started to wonder, causing her to fail to notice Hermione's entrance into the room.
"Gin, you okay?" Hermione sounded worried, she'd never seen her friend in such deep thought, for past years Ginny had been light hearted and young, but all three of the trio had noticed a change in her this year, she was growing up, but none of them would admit it in front of Ron.
"Yeah, just thinking."
"What about?"
"How much everyone and everything has changed since that night at the Ministry..." she allowed her voice to fade, wondering what response this would bring to Hermione. Ginny especially had avoided talking about it.
"Change happens, you just have to learn to take it as it comes."
"Yeah... I guess," suddenly Ginny's short term memory clicked back into place, causing her to sit up with a start and scare Hermione, "What about Draco?"
Hermione turned startled, true, Ginny had been there when they spotted Malfoy, but the three friends had been under the impression they had managed to slip away quietly without anyone noticing. Looking back on it Hermione thought, "Wishful thinking... Ginny and the twins, nothing can get by any of them, much less all three!"
"What about Malfoy?"
"What'd he want?" It was amazing how well Ginny could lie.
"You heard the whole conversation didn't you?"
"No, not a word."
"Remember Gin, I know about the extendables."
The battle of wits and words was on, "I know you know, what makes you think I would use them on you three?"
"The three of us went into a room with our arch enemy, I know I would listen in."
"You might have, but that doesn't mean I would."
"No, it doesn't mean you would, but you did."
"Prove it."
"Not worth my time, I'd rather tell you the whole conversation. You could of course save us both a lot of energy and admit you heard it."
"Alright, I heard it," Ginny shrugged, "I'd like to know why you agreed to take it to Dumbledore though."
"Well, it's simple really. We take it to Dumbledore for him to determine whether it's the truth or not, or we risk it being the truth and condemn an almost innocent teenager to a horrible fate."
"Hermione always was matter a fact and to the point, although not usually that blunt, I suppose that's what I get for asking though," Ginny sighed before drifting off into another train of thought.
"It's getting late," Hermione cut into Ginny's daydreams, "We should get to sleep, for all our shopping we still haven't gotten our school supplies, and the Hogwart's Express comes in 3 days."
"You're right, as usual, 'night 'Mione."
"G'night Ginny."
The room went dark and the two girls lay down in hopes that peaceful sleep would visit them tonight. For Hermione... that wish was granted.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ginny closed her eyes hard, trying to remember the dream that had woken her, she knew it had to a nightmare she was sweating, her red hair was matted to her back and she could feel herself shaking. She took a couple of slow, deep breaths then got out of bed. She walked across the creaking floor, trying not to disturb Hermione, making her way to the window that looked over Diagon Alley. There a pitcher of water and a bowl with a washcloth awaited her, after splashing some water onto her face she poured herself a glass of water and leaned against the window frame... but it wasn't something from the Alley that caught her attention, it was the other silhouette framed in the next window, it looked familiar. They didn't seem to notice her so she inched to the other side of the window and flipped on HER light to get a better look. It was Draco Malfoy. Now that she thought about it that didn't surprise Ginny to much, she supposed that if she had Voldemort hunting her she wouldn't be able to sleep either. That's when Ginny remembered the dream...

Dumbledore's dead body lay next to Voldemort's on the battleground where the war had waged for over 3 days, Voldemorts followers had retaliated after his death, bringing the downfall of the only powerful wizards left on the planet. Lucius Malfoy lay dead with his son standing over him – a look of determination on Malfoy's face, a few feet away Harry kneeled crying over a dead Mr. and Mrs.Weasley, Ron was sitting a few yards away – not having noticed the fall of his parents, helping Hermione who had become seriously injured not 15 minutes ago. Death Eaters bodies were strewn everywhere – it had been the final battle, and they had won. Ginny looked down over all this as if she were a god, she saw herself running over to Harry and spotting her parents – that's what had happened right before she awoke.

So according to her dream Malfoy was on their side, but did she believe her dream? What if he wasn't, if they weren't careful they could have a double crosser on their hands. Although why Voldemort would want to use a 17 year old as his spy into the Order of the Phoenix when Snape was there... She again tried to convince herself that Snape did NOT work for Voldemort but for Dumbledore. She snapped out of her thoughts as a large white owl dropped from the window above her, she glanced at it and recognized it immediately. She let the bird in, untied the short letter and quickly found a quill to reply:

Can't sleep either? -Harry

She wrote her reply directly below t he original message

Apparently not, meet down in the lobby?

She watched Hedwig flutter to the window above hers, she hadn't realized Harry and Ron were right there. A rather annoyed looking Hedwig dropped down through her window again with a note that simply said "Okay". She quickly threw on the closest robes she could find and brushed her hair a bit before sneaking quietly through the door and closing it behind her, but out in the hallway she faced someone she hadn't expected... she didn't even think he knew she was awake.

"Ginny isn't it?"
"Last time I checked..." She raised an eyebrow, Malfoy was being nice to her.
"Where are you going this late at night?" His tone was polite, it seemed he was asking out of pure boredom sparked curiosity.
"Harry can't sleep either, we're going to go hang out in the lobby for a while," she never understood what sparked her next question, she had been hoping for some alone time with her long-time crush, "would you like to come?"
The invitation seemed to catch Malfoy off guard to, but he quickly accepted and disappeared into his room to change into robes, agreeing to meet her and Harry down there.
"Harry..." She said upon entering the room, there was no one else down there. She found this rather odd, usually at least one creatured dwelled down here late at night, "Draco's coming down too, he has the room right next to me and was in the hallway as I walked out."
"Oh..." He looked a bit disappointed but quickly covered it, "Okay, maybe he'll be more likely to explain things to just two of us, and WITHOUT Ron or Hermione trying to punch his face out every ten seconds..."
Ginny took note of the way he said that, as if he wasn't all that sure of what he was saying, just trying to justify Malfoy coming down as a good thing to himself.
"Potter?" A familiar voice asked, without it's usual malice, "Look, sorry about earlier, this is just really hard for me. I'm not USED to being nice to anyone, much less you three, and to have to begging for help is just degrading, and between the lot of it... I'll try harder if you guys will try to be nice to me."
"Fair enough," Harry said with a shrug, "I'll try, but I can't speak for Hermione and Ron, but know that if you start being mean to me again I WILL retaliate."
Ginny wanted to laugh, somehow she found the words "mean" and "retaliate" being used in the same sentence hilarious, it was like a person with a small vocabulary trying to sound smart. She shook herself out of it and went back to listening to the boys.

After about 15 minutes of polite conversation with a few interruptions of insults, and the start of a couple fights the Ginny quickly quelled, Malfoy went back up to bed, stating that he felt much better and might even be able to sleep now.

"I wonder why he couldn't complete that last task..." Harry mused out loud, "I've never imagined him having trouble being violent toward muggleborns."
"Simple, he's a coward."
"Or he's lying," Harry said matter-of-factly.
"That could be to," Ginny admitted, she turned to face him, realizing for the first time how close she was sitting.
"We should probably be going to bed to," Harry said a slightly uncomfortable tone in his voice.
"Yeah," Ginny nodded, "See you tomorrow."
"Goodnight."
"Sweet dreams."
"You too," Harry finally turned and went up the stairs, Ginny followed closely, she would have to have some girl talk with Hermione tomorrow in a weak attempt to figure out what Harry thought of her.

(A/N: read and review purty please! Flamers will be listened to, although not appreciated, then used to make s'mores for the people who leave nice reviews!)

Leanne: thanks for being my first reviewer! I'm glad you like it so far!
Chanson Interdite: thanks... hopefully it will live up to that potential :) I'll do my best!