"Cut the crap Weasley. Oh, and its Severus."

"Uh, Okay...Severus, What crap?"

"You know, 'What a pleasssssant sssurprissse!' You don't want me here, and I don't want to be here so let's skip the pleasantries and get to the point."

"Which is?"

"Well, No.1 I am standing here in the cold and freezing my ass off!"

Ginny gingerly moved aside to let him in.

"And No.2 ...Ooooh! Is that a disucmen (diskman)???"

"Yessss....."

"Ooh, I used to love these! How do they make those noises, I'll never know! And there itty bitty liddle ear phones... Uh, Oh sorry. I mean, No.2 You need to talk to Draco because he is miserable."

"You think that I haven't tried?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you thought it!"

"Yes actually, I did."

"Oh."

"Hey, can I borrow your diskman?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Well..."

"What was the point to this conversation?"

"I'm not sure, but I think that it had something to do with Draco. You wanted me to talk to him..."

"Yes! That's it! You have to talk to him!"

"But I told you, I have already tried!"

"Well not hard enough!"

"But..."

"No buts! And if you will excuse me, I have a class to attend."

"Fine, Fine."

Severus walked out the door quickly and very similarly to his exit from Draco's room

It was then that Ginny noticed her Discman had mysteriously disappeared.

"SNAPE!!!!"

X..x..X..x..X..x..X

"I am aware that it is no where near Halloween yet but it soon will be so I have decided to give you fair warning about the up-coming ball."

Dumbledore paused and waited for the exited murmers to die down. Everyone was suspicious. Dumbledore wasn't a very 'fair warning' type of person.

"Ahem."

Everyone was silent.

"The ball will not be held in the great hall, it will be held on the roof. It will be a full moon on the chosen night so beware. Oh, and I think 18th century dress robes will do the trick. Very formal."

Everyone was speechless (except for a 3rd year Hufflepuff girl who gave a very excited squeak and started hyperventilating).

Draco did not react in any way. The words just washed over his head and had no effect on him. He would of course, chaperone the ball but that was expected of him anyway. No matter how much he tried to shut down his mind it all came back to the image he had invented of Ginny in 18th century dress robes. He shook his head and scolded himself.

He sat in that seat for what seemed like an eternity (in reality it was only about half an hour) and came to terms with the prospect of the ball. Could be interesting. He was the last to leave the hall that day.

X..x..X..x..X..x..X

The DADA teacher walked into his classroom quite a while after the students.

Lately he hadn't been a very good teacher to them.

He decided to skip 'good morning' and get straight into the class.

"Today I will be teaching you the Veritas curse and demonstrating how to defend yourself from it. It is a powerful spell that makes the victim tell the honest answer to any question asked to them. Yes Mary?"

"Um, Proffesor, we are first years. Not seventh."

"So? You are smart, aren't you? And for that comment you will be the one to perform it."

"Me?"

"Yes you. On me."

"YOU?"

"Yes. I have done this many times before and shall easily block it."

"Ok-k-kay." She stuttered as he hurriedly explained what she had to do."

She then slowly turned her wand on him.

"Veritas!" The spell zoomed towards Draco but he made no move to stop it. His gaze was fixed on the girl standing in the doorway.

She had beautiful red hair that looked somewhat uncontrollable and curly. She was a small girl with a delicate figure and had large, green eyes. She also wore glasses but they enhanced her look if anything. The word that immediately comes to mind would have been 'delicate'.

But Draco's eyes were further down (don't be gross!) and on her nametag.

Lillian Potter.

X..x..X..x..X..x..X

Proffessor Malfoy woke up in the infirmary with a headache the size of Aragog.

He felt something gently press against his forehead. Lips? His head hurt.

He could vaguely remember a glowing girl in the doorway of his class and he had felt distracted by her and so, unable to prevent being hit by the Veritas curse.

Stupid Hufflepuff.

Note to self: Never let an underage which or wizard perform dark magic on you. Ever. I probably look like hell. Who is that? Damn vision! Never in focus when you need it! Grr!

While Draco was adjusting his vision, somebody got up and excited the room.

"Wait! Who are you?" Draco cried in vain.

He fell back onto his pillow but decided that he didn't like hospital pillows so started yanking the feathers out. They flew about the bed.

He, he, he. SNOW!

Draco had been given some veeeeery strong drugs.

"Mr. Malfoy! What have you done to my pillow!?!" Cried Madam Pomfrey.

"It was tubby!" protested Draco, "Besides, I like the snow."

He then started giggling so harshly that Madam Pomfrey wondered if she should restrain him.

His giggles soon turned to tears.

"Hey, What's wrong?" asked the nurse sympathetically.

"The Pillow!" wailed Draco, "Its FLAT!!!"

Madam Pomfrey paused and then decided to be logical.

"Draco?"

"Whot?"

"Why did you wreck the pillow? What has it ever done to you?"

"Dunno." Sniff, sniff.

She sighed.

"Take your medication and I will visit you in an hour."

"Madam Pomfrey?" He asked innocently.

"Yes?"

"You are a kind lady, a nice nurse and ever so beautiful-"

"What do you want?"

"I want to know if there is a girl at this school called Lillian Potter."

"Well, there used to be, but that was in your fathers years here! She is long gone now. Didn't survive you-know-who I think."

"No, I mean Potter's daughter?"

"Ah, No. She wont be here for years to come. Why?"

"No reason. And Madam Pomfrey?"

"What do you want now?"

"Pillow." He said simply.

X..x..X..x..X..x..X

Draco's Journal

Dear Journal,

I remember when I started writing in you. After the defeat of Voldemort. After Ginny. After life.

I really leapt into that. You know the saying, Look-before-you-leap? But in this case its more like, Look-before-you-leap-because-if-you-don't-you-will-lose-a-girl-you-never-knew-you-had-to-a-handicapped-pothead.

Hmm.

Well at least I recovered from the Veritas okay. Yes, they finally got rid of the rashes. I mean, who knew that the curse put rashes in such...strange places.

I dont know why I saw 'Lillian Potter', nobody else saw her. Maybe it was just my imagination. I really should get that fixed...

She came to visit me in the Hospital wing. I pretended to be asleep. I just want to hear her side of the story. But I am scared.

Oh, that reminds me, I think that my students think I am crazy. It's not my fault really...

See, Ginny was taking my classes while I was in hospital and I had my first class this afternoon. I was just explaining the concept of defending yourself from Slithikers when a stuck up, bitch of a Ravenclaw, put up her prissy little hand and goes, 'Um, excuuuuuse me Sir, but professor Weeeeeeeeasly explained this faaaaasinating subject to us the otheeeeeeeeeer day.'

I mean, What a bitch!!!

So I accidentally put a curse on her. It basically means that whatever she is thinking, she says aloud.

Who would have known Erica Creevey had such weird fantasies about me...

Oh well, it will wear off by Thursday.

Thursday.

Exactly one week before the ball.

The whole school gets so excited over one night. It will probably rain. Or snow. Maybe I should enchant a blizzard...

Bye for now (got some planning to do...wink, wink),

Draco.

X..x..X..x..X..x..X

Ginny grabbed her favorite green quill and some pale cream parchment.

She had seriously thought about Snape's words. She had stayed awake at night, planned and then come up with an idea.

Now was the time for her to put that into action.