Chapter 2

"Where are you going Gin?" Ginny had hoped to sneak out of the Common Room without anyone noticing, but that was next to impossible. Ron, Fred, and George had enlisted the aid of every single one of their friends to help keep an eye on Ginny. It had been a week since the forest, but there was no end in sight.

"I'm going to stop at the Library for a second, then I'm heading down to dinner." Ginny hoped it was an excuse Hermione would accept.

"I'll join you, I have to ... oh bloody hell Ginny." Hermione leaned closer and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I don't want to do this anymore than you want me to do this. So how about we say I didn't see you; none of them are around so there'll be no one to deny that."

"Thanks Hermione!" Ginny smiled and walked silently out of the Common Room. When she finally reached the Library, she let out a sigh of relief. Ron, Fred, and George were at Quidditch practice and everyone else was down at dinner. She was free, for the moment at least. She walked to the back corner of the Library; it was full of dusty books that no one ever looked at. They were out of date or misprinted encyclopedias, etc.

As she turned the final corner, she saw a flash of blonde hair. "It's only me."

"Only?" Draco got out from his hiding place behind a big bookcase and brought Ginny to him. He kissed her gently and then pulled her into a tight hug. "So no thugs chasing after you today?"

"No, not at the moment. Hermione caught me leaving the Common Room." Draco pulled away and looked at Ginny with big eyes. "No, no, it's ok. We're just lucky she sees that this all is an infringement on my free will." Ginny sighed and buried her head in Draco's shoulder.

"Well then we have one ... ally, of sorts, I guess."

"Not for long ... if she found out about us ... well it wouldn't be hard to guess where her loyalties would lie." Ginny sighed and kissed Draco on the cheek. "I have to get to dinner ... they're probably there already and it's only a matter of time before they come looking for me."

"Okay ... Astronomy Tower, tonight?"

"Yeah, midnight. Bye, love." With one final kiss, Ginny walked out of the Library, Draco followed a few minutes later.

"Oi! Ginny!"

"Yes, Fred, I see you." Ginny sat down across from Hermione, between Fred and George, looking glum.

"Why the long face, little one?" Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Please Ron, if you had someone tracking your every step wouldn't you be a little upset?" Ron turned three shades of red and Hermione stifled a laugh.

"Just because we are worried about your safety ..."

"Never mind Ron. The mood I'm in has nothing to do with you. I ... messed up a Transfiguration Essay and McGonagall kept going on and on about it," Ginny lied. This apparently satisfied Ron and they all started eating.

"Hermione said you were in the Library? What were you doing there?" Ginny shot a glare at Hermione, who shrugged her shoulders and gave her a sorry expression.

"Like I said, Transfiguration Essay. I had to look something up." Ginny sighed; she hated lying to her brothers. She had lost count of how many times she had ... stretched the truth in the past week. "I don't really feel like eating, I'm going upstairs. Besides, we have classes tomorrow and I want to get some extra sleep." This explanation greatly satisfied her brothers; they had been nagging her about her sleep.

"Come on, little one, I'll take you upstairs." (A/N: In case you haven't figured it out yet, "little one" is Ginny's nickname because she is not only the smallest but also the youngest of the family.) Ginny rolled her eyes, but let Fred escort her nonetheless.

"Something's wrong with her, Ron."

"You don't think I don't know that 'Mione? And she's not exactly happy with me at the moment, so the chances of her telling me are pretty slim." Ron stabbed his chicken several times before setting down his fork.

"I'd say I would help, but she's not even opening up to me anymore." Hermione sighed. "Why can't you just let her have some freedom?"

"That's what she had! And what did she do? She went and got herself lost in the Forbidden Forest! You can't even imagine ... if something ever happened to her ... we would never forgive ourselves." Ron shook his head and continued to stare at his massacred chicken.

"I dunno what we'd do without Ginny ... she's like ... what keeps us all sane, especially Mum." George looked down at his unfinished dinner with a disgusted look and pushed the plate away.

Ginny placed a silencing charm on her bed, so she wouldn't wake anyone up, and started to get dressed. She had 'borrowed' Harry's invisibility cloak and threw it on after she was dressed. She opened the Dormitory door, cringing as it squeaked on its hinges. Luckily, there was no one in the Common Room at this hour. She crept slowly through the halls, being careful to avoid Mrs. Norris and Filch. She reached the Astronomy Tower without incident, but found that she was the only one there. She sighed at sat down, still covered in the Invisibility Cloak.

Half an hour later, just as Ginny was about to get up and leave, she heard a noise. Shrinking into the shadows she waited; a few moments later, Draco appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked around hurriedly.

"Ginny? Are you here?" Ginny dropped the Invisibility Cloak to the floor, but stayed in the shadows. Draco saw her and his smile faded as he made out the angry expression on her face. "I'm sorry."

"Do you realize how much I risk coming here? My brothers would kill me if they found out ... and then you get here half an hour late ... why do I even bother?" Ginny glared at him; she was already feeling guilty enough about lying to everyone, but to think that he didn't really care about her and she was doing all of this for naught ... that was something she just couldn't handle.

"Ginny, I'm so so sorry! Crabbe and Goyle and Pansy were still awake. I couldn't leave until they went to bed, they'd get suspicious." Draco gave Ginny a pleading look and she sighed, defeated.

"I don't know how you do that."

"Do what?" Draco smiled and walked over to Ginny, hugging her.

"Make me feel like agreeing to anything." Ginny smiled and blushed. She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Draco lightly, then pulled him down to sit next to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her neck.

"Hey what's wrong?" Draco pulled away and studied Ginny's face, something was upsetting her.

"Nothing ..." She looked up at Draco, who raised an eyebrow. "Oh all right, what's going to happen when we see each other ... in the halls? I mean, classes haven't really started up yet since Halloween, but tomorrow's Monday. I have three classes with you ..." Ginny's voice trailed off; she had advanced Potions, Charms, and Divination with Draco, Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

"We'll just have to act ... like we used to." Draco sighed, wondering how he could possibly go back to treating Ginny like he used to. "I really hate this you know. Sneaking around like we've something to hide."

"We do have something to hide, Draco." Ginny sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "I hate it too ... but ... my brothers and Harry."

"I know ... I know. One day this will all stop and we'll be able to walk around and hold hands in public. And your brothers will ... well I don't think they'll ever exactly approve, but they'll put up with it at least." Ginny smiled and sighed contentedly.

"What about your family?"

"What about them? I don't have any siblings to stifle me and my parents couldn't really care less." Draco sincerely hoped that no word of his relationship with Ginny had gotten out; if his father did find out that he was seeing Ginny, there would be hell to pay. He and Pansy were already promised to each other, something he had yet to tell Ginny. A few minutes later, Draco and Ginny reluctantly said their goodbyes and headed back up to their Dormitories.

"Come on, Ginny! We're going to be late to Potions!" Hermione grabbed Ginny's hand and dragged her to her feet. "Snape will have a fit ... you know he's always trying to find ways to pick at you since you're only a third year."

"I know Hermione!" Ginny snapped. Hermione immediately dropped Ginny's hand and she, Harry, and Ron stared at Ginny, wide-eyed.

"What's wrong, Gin?"

"Nothing, nothing is wrong, Harry. Let's just get to Potions before Hermione bites my head off again for making her late." Ginny sighed and stormed out of the Great Hall. Hermione, Harry, and Ron exchanged confused glances before running after her.

When they reached Snape's classroom, Ginny was already seated. Ron stopped at the door and turned to Hermione. "Let me sit next to her, maybe she'll actually talk to me." Hermione nodded and went to the other side of the room to sit with Harry. Normally, Hermione and Ginny would sit together, but considering the morning's events that was not exactly the wisest arrangement.

"Hey, little one."

"Ron." Ginny didn't look up from her book until Snape entered the classroom.

"Sit down everyone!" He flicked his wand at the chalkboard and a list of ingredients immediately appeared there. "You will be making a very useful potion today. However, I will not be telling you its name or uses. Your homework will be to write an essay on the potion and its uses; a vial of the potion will be due from each pair at the end of the class."

Ginny headed to the cupboard and started gathering up the necessary ingredients. When she returned and started measuring them out, Ron asked, "What's up this morning, Gin?"

"What are you talking about Ron?" She didn't meet his eyes, but continued to stare intently at the ingredients in front of her.

"You know bloody well what I'm talking about." Ginny sighed; she needed to come up with an excuse and fast. That was it! What were all guys deathly afraid to talk about?

"Its just hormones, Ron." Ginny hid her smile, as Ron's eyes got very wide.

"Oh, oh ok. Sorry." Ron turned back to their potion and helped Ginny measure some things out.

As class ended Ginny hung behind, wanting to be the last one out of class. When she finally did get up, she walked out of class with her head down. As she turned the corner, she didn't noticed Draco coming around the corner. They slammed right into each other and were both sent sprawling on the ground.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley." Draco sneered as he got up and brushed himself off.

"Maybe if your ego weren't so big that it took up the entire doorway, people wouldn't run into you so much." Ginny glared at Draco and then bent down to pick up her books.

"Are you okay, Ginny?"

"Oh and look it's big brother Ronniekins to the rescue. Oh woe is me I dropped my books, here come Potter and Weasley to pick them up for me." Harry and Ron glared at Draco as they helped Ginny with her books. Ginny pushed Ron away and walked quickly out of the classroom.

"Ginny! I'm so sorry about what I said." Ginny smiled weakly as she sat down next to Draco. They were in a spare classroom; dinner was starting in 15 minutes and they had just enough time to see each other before Ron started getting suspicious.

"Don't worry about it ... we both said what we had to ... to keep up appearances." Draco sighed and bent down to kiss Ginny. She pulled away and smiled at him, "I think what you said got to my brother. He was having a fit about it in the Common Room." Draco and Ginny both started laughing.

"And why, pray tell, are two professors gathered around the window to the spare classroom?"

"Oh, Albus, look." Professor McGonagall stepped back from the window to let Professor Dumbledore look in. "I told you there was something different about Ginny."

"Indeed." Professor Dumbledore smiled knowingly.

"And with Draco even ... I think this will be good for him."

"Yes, as do I Severus. With his past and family life, he has had little to be happy about. But it seems, he has finally found something." Professors Dumbledor, McGonagall, and Snape took another look through the window to see Ginny and Draco giggling and Draco lean down and kiss Ginny lightly on the cheek.

"Some dinner, I think." Professor Dumbledore laughed as he and the other two professors headed to dinner.

A/N: Scared ya there didn't I? The whole thing with the professors knowing is kind of random, but it will play a part later. Hope you all liked this chapter, I wrote it while I was sick and out of school. So that would explain some of the less coherent parts. Please read and review.

Skybluepink: mucho thanko! Yes, I changed that little thing in the first chapter. Actually, I changed a lot in the first chapter, read the new one and let me know what you think! Hope you liked this chappie, drop me a review!

Marzcello: Mucho thanko! Hope you liked this chapter as well!

Shero: Thanks a bunch! Yeah, the fluff-o-meter was near its bursting point in the last chappie. Much more fluff to come. I can't really make Harry jealous because he doesn't end up with Ginny ... read my other story (Time to Burn). That has the romance of Harry. However, there's a big duel coming up ... but I'm not going to tell you anything more .... Mwhahaha!

Disclaimer: Me and the owning of Harry Potter ... not so much!