Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to the extremely talented J.K. Rowling. I own nothing more than the plot.

Author's Note: I would like to apologize in advance if at any point in this story the characters are out-of-character as perceived through the Harry Potter series.

Chapter 2:

The truth was, Ginny didn't want to go see any of her friends, she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. She walked down the aisle, and saw Crabbe and Goyle walking together - Draco no where to be found.

'Hmmm, that's strange,' Ginny thought to herself, but kept walking.

Crabbe and Goyle opened a compartment only to see that no one was in there and walked out, still in search of Draco. As Ginny passed, she heard Crabbe say, "Draco was in there a minute ago..."

"Maybe he went to the bathroom or something," Goyle said, trying to find a solution as to why he wasn't in the compartment he had previously occupied.

Ginny opened the compartment that Crabbe and Goyle had left a minute ago. She sat down in a seat next to the window, looking out at the gorgeous view surrounding her.

Suddenly, she heard a voice come on the loud speaker, located inside each of the compartments. "STAY IN YOUR COMPARTMENTS! LOCK THE DOOR AND CLOSE YOUR WINDOWS! DO NOT OPEN OR LEAVE THEM AT ANY POINT FOR ANY REASON! PLEASE STAY CALM! WE ARE UNDER LOCK DOWN AT THE MOMENT. THERE IS DANGER REGARDING THE DARK LORD, WE ARE STAYING PUT UNTIL I GET FURTHER NEWS FROM HEADMASTER DUMBLEDORE OR THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC. AGAIN, PLEASE STAY CALM."

Ginny was open mouthed, and said to herself, "A lock down. . . danger. . . the Dark Lord?!" She looked around the small compartment and suddenly felt very alone. She wished that she had stayed with Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

She lay down, hoping to get some sleep, as she hadn't gotten much the previous night. As her eyes were beginning to close, a sudden force threw her to the floor. 'The train isn't moving... What's going on?!' Ginny thought, worry overtaking her. She got her answer a few moments later.

Suddenly, out of no where, Draco Malfoy appeared. "Get OFF of me, Weasley! Don't touch me with your filthy hands!" he said, coldly.

Ginny remembered the encounter she had with him the previous week and kept her cool. "I didn't see you," Ginny replied as she rolled her eyes. "How did you get in here anyway?"

"I was invisible, and either way, that's none of your business," Draco said, pushing past Ginny, knocking her to the floor again.

"Would you STOP doing that?!" Ginny exclaimed in a question, but meant it more as a demand.

"I won't do anything you tell me to do, Weasel," he replied. He tried desperately to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "WHY won't this door move?!"

"We're locked in," Ginny replied as if it were common sense.

"Don't get smart with me. I know we're locked in, but WHY are we locked in, and why do I have to be stuck in here with a pathetic little Weasel?!"

"It's not like I WANT to be stuck in here with you, either!" Ginny exclaimed.

"That wasn't my question, Weasley."

"Don't call me that. If you want to talk to me, you will address me as Ginny."

"Does it look like I care?" Draco asked, with his trademark sneer.

"Whatever. We're in a lock down. It has something to do with danger regarding the Dark Lord. Didn't you listen when the woman screamed it over the loud speaker?"

I was asleep, Weasley. Honestly, are you THAT slow?" When Ginny didn't reply, he continued, "You must get that from your brothers."

Ginny sent a death glare at him, "Don't say that about them, you insufferable git."

"Why not? I'm just telling you like it is. What, you don't like hearing the truth?" Malfoy sneered at her once again.

"I do, but that's not true!" Ginny exclaimed furiously.

"Well you know what is? Your family is dirt poor."

Ginny had always heard her brothers, Harry, and Hermione talking about how horrible 'Malfoy,' as they chose to call him, was and is. She could never comprehend why or how someone could be as horrible as the person they had described as Draco Malfoy. However, she was now beginning to understand.

"Don't say that about my family. Just because we have morals and we are good people gives you no right to stick your I'm-too-good-for-you-because-I'm-rich nose in my family's business. For your information, we're not 'dirt poor.' We get along just fine, thank you very much," Ginny said, glaring at him, her eyes full of hate.

"Hmmm, the little Weasley has a temper," Draco drawled.

"What's you point, Malfoy?"

"I was making a statement, smart one," Draco shot back.

'He's so awful!' Ginny thought. 'Ron was right, he is a git.

'She's so annoying! I'm going to be stuck here for who knows how long with her!' Draco shuddered at the thought.

Ginny saw him shudder and thought, 'What? Am I THAT repulsive?! Why doesn't he just leave my family alone?! We never did anything to the Malfoys... We're good people. We never say anything bad about anyone... Maybe that's why the Malfoys hate us.'

'How can she keep her cool after that? I guess she's just used to it...' Draco thought.

Ginny sighed and asked, "Why are you so mean to me and my family? What did we ever do to you?"

Draco was taken aback, he didn't expect her to say that. "You're poor... and a Weasley."

"I'm well aware of the fact that I am a Weasley, and I know that my family is not in the best financial situation, but that's no reason to hate us! I don't hate you because you're rich."

Draco was stunned for a moment by her straight forwardness, and then sneered, "What does it matter to you anyway?"

"I was just wondering, jeez."

"No you weren't. Why do you care? Obviously there has to be a reason why you would suddenly bring up my hatred toward you and your pathetic family."

"It's just that you are always so mean to my family, and I wanted to know why. It's like you've got something against us and all of the Gryffindors!"

"I do. You and all Gryffindors are worthless and don't understand authority," Draco shot back at her.

"Excuse me?!" Ginny exclaimed, shocked.

"What? Is my vocabulary too advanced for your abnormally small brain?"

"No, and we do understand authority!" Ginny said through clenched teeth, her face flushed a light shade of red from anger.

"In other words," Draco continued, as if he hadn't heard her, "Slytherins are superior to Gryffindors, and my family is superior to yours. NOW do you understand?" Draco asked, as if he were talking to a five year old.

"That's not true and you know it!" "There you again, not wanting to hear the truth."

"You know, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't talk to me," Ginny said, annoyed.

"Fine then, I won't talk to you. It's not like I WANTED to talk to you in the first place. YOU started talking to ME. I see you are forgetful, as well?"

"WHY do you have to do that?" Ginny asked.

"Do what?"

"Be so mean!" Ginny exclaimed, as if she were talking to a five year old in turn.

"Because that's who I am, I make fun of those who are beneath me."

"Excuse me?!" Ginny exclaimed, not believing her ears.

"Here we go again..."

"I'm BENEATH you?!" she repeated.

"Yes. So you DO hear properly..."

"You are just scared!" Ginny exclaimed, her hands shaking out of rage.

"Scared of WHAT? I am Draco Malfoy, I'm not scared of anything."

"See?! You are scared that you'll ruin your reputation, that you won't be the 'bad ass' that you come across as - the person that you want to be, but are not."

"That is THE dumbest thing I have EVER heard. Why don't you just mind your own bloody business?"

Ginny didn't listen to his last comment, she continued with her thoughts about him. "I think that YOU are the one who can't handle the truth! You are scared, and you know it!"

"No, I'm not. I just don't like people like you," Draco sneered at her.

"People like me?" she asked again.

"Yes, people like you who won't mind their own bloody business and have absolutely NO CLUE what they are talking about," Draco said, looking into Ginny's eyes. He was mesmerized by her brown, red tinted eyes for several moments, but then quickly snapped himself out of it.

'What am I doing?!' Draco thought. 'She's a WEASLEY - she's filthy scum, trash, worthless...' He reassured himself by calling her nasty names in his mind. Then he came to a realization and thought, 'The ONLY reason why I am talking to her is because I'm trapped in a small, cheap compartment of a train, for who knows how long. I must have just spaced out because there is no way that I, Draco Malfoy LOOKED - or would even THINK about looking - at a Weasley like THAT.'

Ginny noticed how their eyes locked, as if for a few heart beats they were looking into the other's soul. Ginny needed to snap herself out of the odd trance that she felt was magically put on her. She thought, 'He's evil, horrible, and unbelievably rude and annoying! But he has the most gorgeous grey eyes of anyone I've ever met...' Ginny trailed off, and then mentally slapped herself. 'SNAP OUT OF IT!' Ginny told herself. 'He's Draco MALFOY, the guy who's always been so horrible to me, my family, and friends - STOP THINKING OF HIM LIKE THAT.'

"What are you looking at?" Draco sneered.

"People like me," she whispered as if in a trance, not hearing his last statement.

"We've already established for the THIRD time what I said earlier," Draco said, mocking her. "Maybe you need to hear it a FOURTH time, too. I," Draco said, pointing to himself, "do not like you," he said, pointing at Ginny. Speaking very slowly and stressing every syllable, he said, "Do - you - understand - now, or do I have to say it AGAIN for you, Weasel?"

Ginny stood up, face red, and hovering over Draco, spoke very loudly, in not quite a scream or a yell. "People like me, who are KIND, GOOD people! You don't like people like that because you're afraid that if you are caught talking to someone like that, or even standing close enough to one of them, that it will soften you and your image, or maybe, just MAYBE, you're afraid that you will actually like them," Ginny said, looking into his eyes the whole time, keeping his gaze.

"Sit DOWN," Draco said, and Ginny did as she was told. "You have quite a temper, Weasley. However, you don't know what you're talking about," Draco said, and looked out the window.

"Whatever you say..." Ginny said, and looked out the window, as well.

Draco thought about the feud they just had, about how tempting, dare he say, Ginny was when she was all fired up. He noted the passion she had in each and every word she spoke and admired that quality about her, although he'd never admit it or say it out loud. He also realized that Ginny had changed quite a bit over the summer. He had surveyed her as she had hovered over him. Her flaming red curly hair framing her freckle-sprinkled oval-shaped face and her full red lips a shade or two darker than her hair. He looked at her for a few moments out of the corner of his eye and noticed how she was wearing clothes that accentuated her curves. He hadn't noticed any of her positive attributes before. He hadn't bothered before, for she was a Weasley after all.

Ginny was also thinking about the argument they had several moments ago. She was thinking about when she was yelling at him as she stood over him, her face mere inches from his. She had noticed his hair wasn't as blond as she had thought before, but had more of a dusty brown to it. His eyes were the most breath taking color she had ever seen before. She had always thought of them as a cold, steel grey, but up close, they were a warm, smooth silverish grey color that sent shivers up and down her spine as they had bored into her as they did for those few seconds, minutes ago.

Draco leaned back against the cushioned seat of the train and closed his eyes. 'She's a WEASLEY,' Draco kept telling himself. 'She doesn't know what she's saying. She's too stupid to understand - or is she?' Somehow, some part of him knew that he was kidding himself - that Ginny Weasley was different. He always knew she was different, but different in a special way.

Ginny sighed to herself and thought, 'Why do I even bother? He's too stuck up to even try and see my view of it. He IS scared, I know it.'

She looked at him through the corner of her eye. She saw him leaning back with his eyes closed and saw how peaceful and delicate he looked, which was so different from the expressionless look he usually had plastered to his face.

Please review. Tell me what you think of the story so far, what you would like to see happening in future chapters, and any criticism regarding anything that you have found in my story that you would like to see changed or improved. Thanks so much!

Thanks to: starlitestarbritelilsis, triquetraperson, LoveToDanceLiveToSing, Lily Dwarf, Depth of Soul, Dense, Lacey, Weirdgurl, ReeMarie Yukimo LeBeau, elisssssssssssa, kneh13, and TheOriginalM for reviewing!