Chapter Thirteen

Ginny no longer had to worry about letters, so breakfasts weren't needed; furthermore, she dreaded having to see Harry sitting just a few seats away from her.

She couldn't tell anyone about what had happened. Not that she didn't try, but every time she started to tell Draco, she froze up and couldn't do it. Ginny didn't want to worry him; she didn't want to admit she felt powerless in front of Harry. She felt like her world was slowly falling apart. She was constantly paranoid about people finding out about her and Draco. It was almost to the point where she wanted to just yell it out to the whole school and rid herself of the burden.

No one seemed to notice her absences, save for Hermione. But even a few lies were able to clear up Hermione's interference in her life. It was too easy for Ginny to distance herself from the rest of the school.

Christmas break was lonely for her. Draco had to go back to the Manor for the vacation, and Ginny's family was away visiting Charlie in Romania. The majority of older Gryffindors went home; Harry, Hermione, and Ron all went skiing with Hermione's family. Ginny had been invited, but she decided to turn down the offer. She knew that she would be sorely disappointed to miss seeing Ron try out the Muggle sport, so she asked Hermione to take as many pictures as possible. So she was left alone at Hogwarts.

Christmas day was particularly lonely for Ginny. She felt an empty hole inside of her when she had to open her presents alone. But Ginny had had a few brief moments of cheerfulness when opening Draco's present. He had sent her a delicate gold hair pin, adorned with three tiny butterflies; their wings decorated with emeralds. But even that feeling of happiness was fleeting. The rest of the day Ginny spent solo, wrapped up in her Mum's warm Christmas jumper, staring aimlessly out the window at the falling snow.

The calmness that descended on the school after the students returned made Ginny uneasy. Nothing happened; there were no rumors to make her uncomfortable. She felt like she was in the eye of the storm, and sensed that something was coming. Her paranoid caused her to get torn apart by stress each day, and her anxiety caused a fluttering of butterflies in her stomach, which threatened to eat her alive. Finally the calmness broke one evening in March, during one of the few times she actually came to supper.

During the past few months the uneasiness between Slytherins and Gryffindors had been increasing. She didn't know what happened that night to set thing in motion; it really could have been anything. Before she knew what was going on, many of the sixths and seventh years on both sides of the Hall had stood up from their dinners and were hurling insults and the odd hex at each other.

She was virtually alone at the Gryffindor table, for her House-mates had all joined in with the fight. Ginny saw people screaming at each other, although their words were strangely muted in her ears as she was engulfed by the roar of the hundreds of voices. People she had seen previously treating each other with a dull indifference were now at each others throats, fighting for dominance.

Over against the walls, first years were crouched crying, a handful of older kids hovering about, comforting them. Ginny could see one flailing about hysterically in the arms of an elder, who was sullenly holding the small boy back from the battle. The child fought desperately to reach his older brother, who was being punched repeatedly on the floor a few feet away.

Suddenly, it was as if all the noise had suddenly ceased and she heard his voice clearly.

"You think you know enough of our world to judge us Weasley? As if you have any idea what is going on outside your sheltered little hole in the ground that you call a home. Your family, with their Muggle loving ways, don't even know the first thing of what it is like to be a wizard."

She could see the two of them in the middle of the Hall, circling each other like wild animals. Ron's face was flushed in rage, and Draco was glaring at him in utmost disgust.

Ginny couldn't take it anymore. She finally stood up from where she was sitting, and pushed through the crowds of students cluttering the Hall, running between the two of them circling in the center, before fleeing the Hall.

Reaching the empty Entrance Hall, she slumped against the far wall, tears stinging her eyes.

"Ginny!" he called, running out after her. "Gin, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean anything I said."

She sniffed through her tears, "Well that isn't what it sounded like to me."

"Look, Gin," he said, his gray eyes pleading with her, "I couldn't help it, he provoked me. I couldn't just let him off insulting my family!" Draco offered her his hand, and pulled her to her feet. "We have to keep this a secret remember?"

That was when something finally snapped within her. Pulling away from his grasp she backed away. "No," she whispered.

"What?"

"NO!" she screamed, her voice echoing off the high ceiling of the Hall.

He started walking towards her, as she had continued to slowly move backwards away from him. She turned silently to run away, but with a few quick strides, he caught her arm just in time.

Whirling around, she yelled at him through her tears. "What do you want from me, Draco?" she screamed, her hands tangled in his shirt collar as she shook him madly. "Do you want my word that I care for you, that I might just love you and that I will keep it secret for you until it is OK for us to be together?" Her voice began to rise in hysteria.

"I can't pretend; I can't go on everyday, afraid that Harry is going to try something new to ruin my life. I can't do this anymore!" Angry black streaks marked her face where were her tears created rivers of mascara. She looked ghostly pale; the white of her skin accentuated by the blackness. She swiped at the wetness with the back of her palm fervently; the black marks only smudged more, looking like an eerie type of blush on her cheeks.

Ginny continued to scream, her words leaving her lips faster and faster. "I can't look at you across the Great Hall; when I see you only a few dozen feet away from me, but it feels like you might as well be across an ocean! I can't meet in secret; I can't lie to the only friend I have left. I just CAN'T!" she finished, her voice cracking as she screamed it at the top of her lungs.

For the first time she looked about the room that she had presumed was empty. She saw that the hordes of students had been drawn out of the Great Hall by her yells, and were now circled around the two of them, a great mass of black robes. She began to turn around slowly, her eyes wide as she took in the sight. Faster and faster she spun until it was just a blur of blackness, white lights, and the occasional splash of colour.

She stopped suddenly, Draco's face just barely swimming into focus. She wobbled about slightly, swaying back and forth. Her face contorted in a look of confusion. "Oh," was all she could mutter, before Ginny dropped to the floor in a dead faint.