A/N: A bit of a filler chapter. Sorry about the wait, guys.

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognise belongs to me. They belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury and who knows who else.

The Final Time

Chapter Thirteen

-Indecision

"I will never debase myself like that!"

Virginia wilted under the onslaught of Wilfred's glare, and Ginny felt a tremble of fear go through her as she stood between the two. Logically she knew that Wilfred could never hurt her, but it was still frightening to see him looking fiercely through her. If she blocked out Virginia from her mind it was easy to imagine that it was she who was the recipient of his anger. She felt pang of sadness for the slight girl hardly older than herself who would die at the hands of the evil man in front of her. 

She stepped to the side so she could see them both. Wilfred was dressed casually, but Virginia was obviously on her way somewhere. "My lord, they are my kin…" she whispered meekly, her eyes looking at the floor.

Wilfred sneered. "Dost thou think I am not aware of your lineage? Never will I dine with such filth!" His upper lip curled.

Virginia didn't say anything, but Ginny watched her hands curl into fists as she tried to control her own anger. Her lineage, Wilfred had said. Filth.  He must have meant Muggles, Ginny thought with a flash of insight. Virginia's grandparents or aunts or uncles, probably.

Virginia said something under her breath that Ginny didn't catch, but Wilfred did. His face turned a shade of dark red with anger. He stepped forward so quickly that Ginny didn't have a chance to jump out of the way, and she felt a funny sensation go through her body as he stepped through her. A bit like walking through a ghost, Ginny decided, but not as cold, and definitely more eerie. She turned to face the Elizabethan couple in time to see Virginia fall hard to the floor, landing on her arm so hard it made Ginny wince.

 Ginny tapped her quill nervously on the edge on the desk, trying not to wince as pain shot through her bruised arm from the dream from the night before. What in Merlin's name had possessed her to kiss Draco Malfoy? And why did he have to wake up at that very moment? She would never be able to look him in the eye again; that was, if he'd let her near him. He probably thought she was an absolute tart, just like Pansy. She gave a groan and through her quill down on the desk. She was such an idiot.

"What are you doing here, Gin?" Hermione's voice said from behind her. Ginny turned slightly to see the older girl clutching a load of books to her chest and looking at her curiously. "Nothing," Ginny lied. "I'm fine." At Hermione's disbelieving look she added, "I'm just worried about my Potions test, that's all."

"Potions?" Hermione's face cleared, and she placed her books down on the desk. "I know all about that," she drew out a chair and plonked herself in it. "What seems to be the problem? Perhaps I can help."

Ginny shook her head and looked down at the desk. "I don't think it's something you can help with, Hermione."

Hermione gave a tut-tutting sound, and regarded her keenly, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Gin, I know you're not worried about the Potions test. Snape always gives his assessments out at the same time every year. If I remember correctly, your next test is not for a fortnight."

"I like to be prepared," Ginny said weakly, shifting uncomfortably.

Hermione looked at her disapprovingly and Ginny gave a deep sigh. "It's nothing you would understand," she said at last.

"Try me." Hermione settled into a more comfortable position in the chair. "I don't just know about books you know."

Ginny smiled feebly at Hermione's attempt at humour and looked up to meet the older girl's worried gaze.

"Something's definitely happened to you over the last few weeks, Gin," Hermione said at last. "You're becoming withdrawn, more quiet." She wrinkled her nose as something else occurred to her, "and you're spending a lot of time with Draco Malfoy."

A slight blush rose on Ginny's cheeks but Hermione didn't seem to notice it.

"For a while there, Ron was getting quite worried. He thought Malfoy had you under a spell or something."

"Really?" Ginny asked with a slight smile. Ron would think that, the big git.

"Yeah…but last night when he came back from seeing you in the hospital wing he was in a foul mood."

Ginny didn't say anything. She had a nasty feeling that she knew exactly why Ron was upset.

"Apparently he seems to think that you and Malfoy have something going on."

Ginny sat up sharply. "Don't be idiotic, Mione!" she said shrilly. "Malfoy and I… that's just-" she waved her hands around for a moment, thinking of the right word, "inconceivable!" She nodded sagely. "Yes that's right. Completely and utterly inconceivable."

Hermione looked unconvinced. She raised an eyebrow archly and the corner of her mouth was twitching upwards in what Ginny was sure was the beginning of a smile. "I do suppose it's none of my business," she said rather reluctantly, even though Ginny could see she was dying to question Ginny further.

"Exactly right," Ginny replied promptly, hoping she would drop it.

"But I really do want to find out what's the matter with you, Gin," Hermione's smile faded and she was once again very serious.

"Hermione…"

"No, don't 'Hermione' me, Virginia Weasley," Hermione said vehemently, making Ginny jump. "I like to think I'm your friend, and I only want to try and help you."

It was on the tip of Ginny's tongue to tell Hermione that she had never shown an interest in her before, but she remained silent.

"I'm really, really worried about you," Hermione ended, her voice sounding like a plea. "Please…"

"Did Ron put you up to this?" Ginny asked coolly, saying something at last.

Hermione looked offended. "Of course not," she snapped, a bit miffed.

Ginny hesitated. On one hand, she would love to tell someone about what had happened to her besides Dumbledore, who didn't seem to have done very much at all to help. On the other hand, Hermione would probably disapprove immensely about her working with Draco Malfoy, and would probably tell Ron and Harry. The first would probably go and beat up the Slytherin and the latter would probably treat her like fragile glass. She made up her mind.

"If I tell you this, you can't tell anyone else, not even Ron and Harry," Ginny told Hermione firmly.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Hermione said ardently, "I won't tell a soul."

"Good." Ginny took a deep breath and began. "I have this friend…"

Hermione gave a snort, and Ginny glared at her. "Do you want me to say this, or not?" She demanded.

"Keep going," Hermione said quickly.

"I have this friend who's in a bit of trouble, " Ginny said diffidently. "You see, this friend and these other two students went somewhere they weren't supposed too. This friend, we'll call her-" Ginny hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with a name.

"Jenny," Hermione suggested.

Ginny frowned at her, but said anyway, "Jenny's buddy, we'll call her Annie, and her friend-"

"Danny."

"Jenny, Danny and Annie were in the Forbidden Forest when some Death Eaters appeared and killed Annie."

Hermione drew in a breath sharply.

"Jenny and Danny also found out that a student at this school is a Death Eater. Jenny and Danny managed to escape the Death Eaters, but only just. Danny was hurt, and fell into a coma. Jenny was so upset because she thought Danny was going to die that she kissed him while he was unconscious. At that very moment, Danny woke up and saw her, and now Jenny is very, very worried. To add to Jenny's troubles, no-one seems to be able to remember Annie." Ginny finished in a rush, and took a deep breath. She chanced a look at Hermione.

The head girl was frowning. "The Annie thing is a bit confusing," she said at last. "What about the Death Eater? Do you have any proof?" Hermione asked gravely.

"She practically told us she was one!" Ginny replied, and then hastily backtracked. "I mean, she practically told Jenny she was."

Hermione pretended that she hadn't heard Ginny's slip. "And you don't think any of the teachers will believe Jenny about her?"

Ginny shook her head. "They already think Jenny and Danny are a bit crazy."

Hermione thought for a moment. "Then we'll have to take matters into our own hands," she said at last, surprising Ginny.

"What?" she asked weakly.

Hermione shrugged slightly. "I have a feeling that Jenny is one of my friends," she answered calmly. "And I'm the Head Girl. All the students in this school are my responsibility, and I could never live with myself if I had the means and opportunity to stop a Death Eater, didn't, and then they hurt someone I was in charge of." Hermione's skin was flushed and her eyes were hard. Ginny knew Hermione believed every word she was saying unreservedly. "What's this Death Eater's name?"

Ginny hesitated for a moment about giving Hermione the name, but did anyway. "Sabine Roux."

Hermione looked shocked. "Are you sure?" she said incredulously. "She's a Gryffindor!"

Ginny nodded, and Hermione went quiet. "Unbelievable," she whispered to herself, and looked at Ginny again. "Are you quite sure? I met her older sister in France when we went on holiday and she's lovely." 

"Hermione, I'm positive." Ginny said sharply. "I wouldn't be telling you if I wasn't."

Hermione still looked as if she was in shock. "Sabine," she said in amazement. "But she…she can be a bit cruel sometimes, yes, but actual dark magic..."

"I know it sounds a bit fishy coming from me, what with those secrets she spilled and all, but I'm not that kind of person," Ginny said passionately. "I don't tell lies about people just because I don't like them."

"I know you don't," Hermione said at last. "Come back to me on this one," Hermione said suddenly, looking up at Ginny. "I need to think about how to handle this."

"Okay," Ginny said softly, her stomach twisting into knots. Hermione had to believe her. She just had to. Slowly Ginny collected her books and stood up to leave the library. She stood up and pushed her chair in. "Goodbye, then."

"Bye," Hermione replied absent-mindedly, lost in thought.

Ginny was just about to walk through the library doors when Hermione called out, "Ginny!"

Ginny looked back at her curiously. The brown haired girl had a slight smile on her face. "About Danny and Jenny…I think Jenny needs to go and tell him how she feels!" 

Ginny went bright red, and hurried out of Hermione's view as quickly as possible. She could never go up to Draco and tell him she liked him! She wasn't even sure she did like him. Sure, he was handsome, and sometimes he was nice, and charming, and caring… but only he with her. He was mean and selfish to other people, and she definitely could never take him home to meet her family. Ginny frowned. Since when did she think about taking him home to meet her family?

It was a passing crush, she decided. A simple infatuation that would no doubt pass with time, just like her crush on Harry had done.

That decided, she looked up to see if she was near Gryffindor yet.

She wasn't.

She was near the door to the hospital wing, and standing in front of her with a smirk on his face was Draco Malfoy.

Please review and tell me what you think!!

Thankyous go to:

Flava0ftheweek more d/g action coming soon! MelissaAdams thanks; Luna Writer I love writing cliffies; Estella Luna it's just like Sleeping Beauty, isn't it? Purple Aurora Lights I couldn't kill off the main character before the story had finished, could I? Rebekah1 thanks for your comments. I'm sorry you thought I was stereotyping some nationalities:( DnG4eVeR thankyou! Katerinarose24 I think those types of stories are so unrealistic; rainydaygirl4 thankyou! Happigolucki616 you couldn't really call that a real kiss…Arafel2 thankyou!