"Hey, I asked you to stop for a second." His breath was slightly labored and he couldn't understand why she would just take off like she did. All he could think was, 'She's nutters, absolutely off her rocker, running from people like a feral cat.'

She tried to struggle out of his grip but it was no use. He'd caught her 5 corridors and 2 flights of steps later, this boy who she didn't recognize had out run her and pinned her to the nearest wall looking at her as if she was daft.

"You aren't a prefect so why should I care what you want?" a swift look across him confirmed her suspicions; he had no prefect or head boy badge. But he still had an answer.

With a quick light slap across the temple he responded, "Because I'm a year older, you should respect your elders."

"Not good enough for me." Ginny ground out and kicked him in the shin. That gave her a split second to escape and she took it, but he recaptured her again, this time encircling her with his arms. Her back was pressed against his chest and he found this was a perfect opportunity to tell her what he wanted.

"Calm down! I just need to find Draco!" That made her stop struggling and listen more carefully. She, too, needed to find him. Maybe they could help each other.

"I haven't seen him either. But how did you know to ask me?" Not even her brother had confronted her about frequenting the not so desirable places of Hogwarts, so she knew she wasn't being gossiped about mercilessly, he would have heard.

"Are you civil now? Going to act politely to people who need your help?" he let her go with a little shove, then continued to speak as she turned around to him, "He's mentioned you once or twice, and I've seen you around with him. So, where is he?"

She looked him up and down a fare bit, maybe even more than what was necessary, and decided she hadn't a clue as to who he was. Black hair, brown eyes, tall and slightly mean looking. She'd seen him around but still could not place him. "What's your name?"

He looked bored and slightly pissed off. "No chit chat, just tell me where he is, I got something that he needs."

"Well, then, I dunno."

"You don't know?"

"That's what I said. Hard of hearing are we?"

"Shut your mouth for two seconds, alright?"

"Why? You're the one that started harassing me first. Which, by the way, I hope is over and I'm free to leave." Ginny turned to leave in the opposite direction, but he still needed to find Draco and she was the only one really around him lately.

"Just a minute, you were probably the last to see him. Are you sure you don't know where he is?"

She sighed then answered, "Yes I'm pretty damn sure I don't know where he is." Then after a pause, "Don't you share a dorm with him? Maybe he just closed his curtains and is still sleeping."

"I don't share a dorm with Malfoy, he has a private room. But we could check there."

"We?"

"Yes, we."

"Why 'we'?"

"You are going to help me find him. I saw you scanning every room you come across, don't try and tell me you were looking for some one."

"I could be looking for another person entirely, how could you possibly know…You were following me?"

"After a fashion. I thought you would lead me to him but you hadn't by afternoon so I thought I'd better help or at least get down what you knew. Neither was helpful I'll have you know."

Ginny scowled slightly at this. "Oh shut it. Fine I'll help. Do you know where this dorm room is, any ways? That's where I would look"

"Yeah, I know." He said and turned away, he was walking down the hall they'd come from. And though it was a good idea he hadn't bothered to check it out before, lately Draco had been out and about more often than not so why bother?

"The name's Blaise, by the way…and you are?"

Draco could have found a better place to hide than his first choice, the trophy room, but didn't particularly care if any one found him. He'd already gone and collected his homework from Magonagle and after getting nothing but a headache out of it he decided starring out the window would profit him just as much if not better than completing the assignments.

His ring, which was now missing because of his father, used to sit so comfortably on his thumb that he missed the familiar weight and often ran his index finger over the area just to make sure it was really gone. Part of him was in denial and another part of him had the 'I should have known better' tone. What had he been thinking? Yes, in a way, his habits had gotten a bit wilder. He wasn't concerned with grades or making it to classes on time so why should he stop drinking, or dosing, after 3 am. A flash of his fathers disapproving face almost turned his stomach; he couldn't face that man again so he at least had to make it look like he had everything in order.

What he really needed right now, or what he convinced himself that he needed, was some X. Blaise had some of his, unmarked, that Draco had asked for. They always borrowed from each other, and even though Draco didn't trust any one with his stash or the like, he did trust Blaise to a point. They could borrow back and forth or ask for a loan and he knew he'd get every cent, or every pill back. Blaise knew Draco was good for it too, but now he wondered if his father was going to tell any one about his restriction. Yes, he was a bit put off by not being able to enter his favorite place in the school but he could still get the drugs from people around.

He knew of some one in the Ravenclaw house who started out on speed to help him study, then went into dealing coke for this no name, no face provider. Some say he was from Hogsmead and met the Ravenclaw kid when he was studying at a pub, no one knows because no one really talks about it. But Draco had seen the kits that were sold from this source. A fake wand filled with coke, and it also came with a travel mirror, razor blade and straw. Brilliant idea and the quality wasn't this sugar coated shit that was passed around down town London. There was always a scare, or a thrill, when he heard about some one turning up dead because a batch turned out to be more potent than expected. This was a flaw guaranteed never to happen when you buy from the mysterious source he'd heard about. It had to be flawless; any overdosing in the school couldn't be covered up with out too much damage done by nosey parents. An all in one a drug pusher's playground could go up in smoke, so every one had to be careful.

Draco paused his thoughts for a second to look as his hand. He didn't know why but he really just wished his father had taken the spell off the ring and let him keep it. But what's done is done and he couldn't even replace it now because he had no money. Just that thought alone killed him; Draco Malfoy with No Money, Ridiculous. But it was true. And as soon as his mind wrapped around that fact a heavy depression came upon him and settled there. He didn't even have a drink or two left in his dorm to cure him.

He felt tired, drained and slightly irritated at his situation. How was he supposed to enjoy life with out drugs? Does his father really expect him to just sit in his room, day after day, turning out grade A parchments until he graduated? Just thinking about obeying his father depressed him further. That fate was worse than any he could think of…well, maybe an arranged marriage between him and the Mudblood would be enough to make him shoot himself with a muggle gun. His fate was just one notch above that one.

Sighing Draco pulled him self up from the window sill he was slouching on and gathered the spilled parchments and few small books that had fallen into a pile beside him on the floor where he'd thrown them earlier. It was late afternoon now and his stomach ached with hunger at not being fed. He would have to wander down to the kitchens and torture the house elves for some food, a nice meal would have been good but he had to show up for dinner and it might as well be with an appetite. So for now he would just grab a small snack, maybe some kind of a drink as well…water would have to do. He'd heard that helps. Every time you want a drink, down water until you couldn't drink any more. He'd have to actually see if that worked or not, it might come in handy.

On his way down to the kitchens Draco made sure to keep in corridors that held little to no light, and away from any more than seldom used passages as he did not want to stop and talk with any one, or stop and fight, which ever. He hadn't gotten to impatient yet but he'd seen it happen. When Zabini tried to quit smoking he snapped at every one, including him, and was always irritable. Draco could only imagine his situation would be worse because even then Blaise was sneaking cigs every once in a while, while he had nothing to go back on. He could maybe complain to Ginny about head aches or something and get a few pills, but he wasn't sure if they would work well or not.

"He's not here…I know that, you know that…so why aren't we gone yet?" It baffled her how one boy could be as damn egotistical as Blaise was and still be found charming by girls, or so he claims. She'd seen him at the Underground, now that she'd had more time to place where she'd remembered him from. He had a sense of humor to some degree but mostly scowled at her, turned corners with out her knowing then yelling that she was totally daft because she couldn't do something as simple follow the leader and so on.

"I kind of wanted to wait. Besides, what do you care? Have anything to do this afternoon that is /so/ important?" At the moment Ginny was pacing lightly in the middle of the room, nervous. Blaise on the other hand had made himself comfortable lounging with a borrowed book on the small sofa facing the fireplace, opposite of, and his back was facing the door and her. To his right was a window where the drapes were drawn so he could see the time of day and to his left was his friends bed, where if Blaise got to bored he would just help himself to his friends stash of peppermint schnapps he knew was hidden by the head bored.

'Oh hell', he thought. 'Why should I even wait for boredom?' Blaise stood and walked over to the bed feeling down the side of the frame until a loose panel made its self know. Ginny had stopped pacing as soon as he moved. She wanted to know what he was doing but did not want to ask just yet, she would rather wait and see; besides she doubted he would have answered very nicely.

"Damn." He muttered.

"What is it?" Ginny walked cautiously toward him.

"Nothing…it's just…there's nothing here."

"What are you talking about?"

Blaise sighed. "You know his habits right?" he was of course referring to Draco's drinking/smoking/drug taking habits, so she nodded. "Well, usually he keeps a stash right here" he indicated the loose panel "and nothing is there so I checked another place by his bed side table, and it was empty as well…that is just very odd."

It sounded odd to her, even though she just found out herself where these stashes were. But soon her mind spun so many bad things she could hardly keep up.

He ran away.

He was in trouble.

Some one was stealing from him and might have hurt him if he found out.

He took all of his drugs and overdosed somewhere in the castle and she could not find him.

The last idea she'd thought of scared her more than anything else. It wouldn't have totally surprised her if that's what had happened. He'd tried it before hadn't he? What would be so different now?

Some one was talking to her so slowly her attention was pulled to the surface of her consciousness.

"Hey, I said, are you ok. You're shaking and look kind of pale. Not that you can get much paler than you already are." She looked at him with a haunted look and he could see she felt weak almost. "Alright, alright, I was joking, you have a very lovely complexion. Alright now?" He snapped his fingers in hopes of getting her out of what ever she had gotten into.

"I'm…I'm fine. It's just that…"

"Just, what?"

"Well, lately Draco has been taking a few less drugs that he used to…I was just wondering if maybe he went a bit overboard trying to make up for lost time…"

He understood, and he'd thought about that to but the space that held each hoard of drugs was also cleaned. Draco, if in a mood of his, would defiantly not care if the space was dusted when everything was removed. He tried to explain this to her, which only served to convince her more of her other theory…some one had hurt him; either way she wanted to know where he was now just so she could see he was all in one piece.

"He's probably just out smoking somewhere, calm down girl." It was the most comforting thing he'd said to her all day. "My cat is in the Underground waiting for him there and I've said around that I'm looking for him so he can send his owl to find me or something, ok? We'll find him soon."

Color had come back into her cheeks and she felt her stomach return to normal from its previous harboring of butterflies.

"God, if I'd of known you were so attached maybe I wouldn't have brought you along kid. I don't need you fainting at the thought of something happening to your beloved Draco…"

He was standing close enough for her to smack him, so she did. "Shut up, I'm not a kid and Draco is /not/ mine. I just...I need something." The last comment was more towards herself, but he'd heard it. And with a seemingly practiced flick of his hand a tin box appeared and a moment later she saw were little pills were inside under the tarnished lid.

"Well, Draco may be out, but I certainly am not."

She took a tiny one between her index and thumb, examining it. "Its…a little flame." She looked at him, eyes sparkling. "Blaise, flame, how clever." Her small smile and enjoyment of having found this out was almost irresistible. In his eyes she wasn't beautiful, not some one who caught your eye…but as time past she defiantly grew on you. She started out as Obnoxious Liability and now was rated as Potential Play Thing. Something he would not have minded.

"Come on, just take one and we can have a fare time waiting for him. By the time you get back down he'll be here and everything will be fine." His voice purred with persuasion, and she was tempted. Draco hadn't shown her anything new lately and these little pills were so cute, they couldn't be that bad if they were that small, right?

"I…"

But she never got the chance to answer…

(A/N): No promises about updating, but I will say this: an email from a fan really motivated me to get going on this. Reviews always help as well :o) thanks all.