Oh my gosh, I am so sorry that this took so long! My laptop screwed up, we fixed it, but the motherboard was messed up, so we sent it across the country to get fixed, and when they shipped it back they didn't ship it right and it ended up in a parking lot somewhere in California. So they looked for it for two weeks, and then I got a new one, and it took us a week to get it loaded because they sent it completely blank and then everything was ok. But I had writers' block. It was heck. Plus I don't like this whole college thing. Not at all. But anyway, here's the next chapter, and I promise to start working on another RIGHT AWAY!

Disclaimer: I disclaim.

Chapter 12:

The Great Hall remained quiet for some time; no one could come to terms with the news they just received. The first person to make a sound was a Gryffindor–Ron. He looked at Hermione, then Harry. This continued until he just fell in the floor laughing.

"Malfoy–a Lockhart!?" he screamed, overcome by a gigglefit. Gradually, others started laughing, giggling, and making jokes about Draco.

Ginny looked over, wide-eyed, at the Slytherin table. No one was making a sound. Draco was sitting between Crabbe and Blaise, his head on the table. Blaise leaned over and said something, causing Draco to hit the table. He stood up and stormed out of the room. Snape followed, and Ginny began to, but Colin grabbed her arm.

"No, Gin, stay here with us. Snape will take care of Draco, and you needn't be alone in the hall right now," he said. She sat back down, putting her head on her hands.

"What have I done?" she wailed out loud to no one in particular. "This is all my fault!"

Lilac looked at her. "Of course it's not all your fault! Ginny, you had nothing to do with any of this!" Colin put his arm around the girl, trying to comfort her.

"Of course it's my fault! No one would've ever found out anything if I hadn't been in his room!" she cried out.

"So, you knew all this time that Draco's dad was Gilderoy Lockhart??" Jennifer asked her, still in awe of this news.

"No, of course not! The letter didn't say anything about who his dad was. I just knew he wasn't a Malfoy." Ginny thought for a moment. "So, wait! How did Pansy know?"

"Slytherins have their ways, little Weasley," said a voice from behind her. She turned to see Blaise Zabini standing with his arms crossed. "Meet me in the old potions classroom, in the dungeons. I think we have some things to discuss. You have fifteen minutes." "My friends are coming with me." Ginny gave him a cold stare.

"Fine," Blaise said, then turned and left, as the rest of the student body had done. Colin stared after him.

"Oh, stop drooling, Colin!" Lilac scolded the boy. "We've got much bigger things to deal with right now!"

Fifteen minutes later, Colin, Lilac, Jennifer, and Ginny were on their way to the dungeons. As they passed Snape's room, Draco saw Ginny.

"Ginny!" Draco called to her. The group stopped, and turned to him, his steel grey eyes bore into them. He strolled leisurely over to the group.

"Hey, Draco." Ginny gave a small smile.

"I can't talk right now. Snape's fuming. Pansy's in with him now."

"I can't believe she did that." Ginny said. "How did she find out? I didn't even know who your dad was."

"She did some type of spell. Snape didn't explain it to me. Listen, are you all right? No one did anything? Girls, you're taking care of her, right?" He acknowledged her friends standing beside her.

"Draco, I'm fine," Ginny insisted. "It's you I'm worried about. No one seemed to care about me and you. There are some horrible things being said about you. You're a Lockhart!"

"Yes, I am. Big deal. Gilderoy was a dufus. But he gave me good DNA, because I am just as irresistable," Draco smirked.

"Gin, we're going to be late." Colin tapped at his wrist, pretending he had on a watch. Anymore time with the Slytherin Prince was going to make him sick.

"I'm sorry, Draco, I have to go. I have someone to meet." Ginny looked up at him. "Find me later. I want to know everything."

"You can bet on it, Ginevra." He leaned down to place a kiss on her glossy lips. "Mmm...Watermelon." Ginny giggled a bit, then was dragged away by Colin.

As they got closer to their destination, and out of Draco's earshot, Ginny turned to Colin, stating, "Colin Creevy, you always ruin my fun."

"Sorry, Gin, but it was too sickening. And weird! If this were a fanfiction or something, I'd say Draco was completely out of character!"

Ginny stopped walking, and looked at him. "What the bloody hell is a fanfiction?" she asked.

"Never mind. We're going to be late. Wouldn't like that." Colin steered her in the direction of their meeting. Ginny's head was reeling with the information she had been recieving. Draco was a Lockhart? Well, it would explain his wonderfully shiny and soft hair. And Lockhart was quite pale, too. What a psychological study this could be!

They walked into their meeting right on time. Blaise, sitting seductively on his desk, smirked as they stood at the door.

"Won't you every one please have a seat?" He knew better than to believe the Weasley girl would come to their meeting alone. One could hope, though. Colin took a seat on a stool next to a deep blue bar in the corner, and Lavendar and Jennifer took seats on a couch at the back of the room. That left Ginny a seat directly in front of Blaise.

"Why am I here, again, Zabini?" Ginny asked, crossing her legs, and glaring like a true Slytherin.

"I thought we should have a chat. I know everything that has happened today and yesterday, Ginevra, and I want to help you out." Zabini stepped off the desk, and walked to the chair on the other side of it.

"I'm glad someone knows what has happened," Colin muttered from his stool.

"I'll be more than happy to fill you in later, cheerleader," Blaise winked, the infamous smirk causing Colin's face to turn another shade of Weasley red. "But the matter of business at the moment, is you, Ginevra. I think you're exactly what Draco needs."

"What?" Ginny asked, looking about as dumbfounded as she'd felt all week.

"You know what I mean. Draco is scheduled for his initiation a week after graduation. He is a key to the Deatheater's plan for the war. The Order," Zabini heard the shocked gasp from the girl, "Yes, I know about the Order of the Pheonix. I..." he hesitated. "I have been in contact with quite a few members of the Order, and have been assisting them in their efforts. The Order has been adamant about getting Draco on the right side. They had no ideas how to, though, and I believed it was a lost cause. But it's not, Ginevra."

Ginny was still taking in that Blaise had been in contact with The Order.

"Ginny, you can make Draco deny his initiation. You can convince him that his life could mean so much more than being just a lackey for an evil overlord." Blaise kept talking for a minute or so more, then realized that Ginny's mouth had been hanging open and that she didn't look like she was hearing a single word he was saying.

"Ginny?" he asked. "Ginevra?" Again. "WEASLEY!" Still no answer.

"She does this sometimes, Zabini." Colin hopped off of his stool, and walked over to her. "Ginny, honey, Voldemort has come to power, and he stole the world's entire supply of chocolate."

Ginny screamed, then fell sideways out of her chair. "WHERE IS THAT EVIL MONSTER! I'LL KILL HIM!" she screamed as she jumped up, arms flailing about, and head jerking from side to side.

"Sorry, false alarm." Colin returned to his stool, receiving yet another evil stare from his best friend. "You know that doesn't bother me anymore, right?"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Don't stick it out unless you're going to use it," Colin stated, smirking. Zabini frowned. Maybe Draco's claim that Gryffindor had been holding 'smirking classes' was not as preposterous as he had once believed.

"Hey, back to this. You, Miss Weasley, are Draco's only savior; the Order's only hope to aquire the assistance of young Malfoy. Will you help?" Blaise looked intently upon her face. The entire room sat in silence, staring at Ginny's contemplating face.

Moments ticked away before Ginny answered, "I honestly don't remember anything you said after you told me you were a part of the Order. Could you repeat?" she asked in a sheepish manner.

"Oh, Gods, what did I do to deserve this?" Zabini threw up his hands.

"Zabini, take a seat. Let a professional Ginny translator to take care of this situation," Colin bragged as he stood from the stool once again. Zabini raised one eyebrow, but had a seat in his office chair behind his desk. Colin stood in front of Ginny.

"Now, Gin, listen to me." Ginny stared into Colin's eyes. "You care about Draco, right?"

"I think so. I mean, I haven't known him for very long. Well, I have, but not the him I know now." Her nose wrinkled in frustration. "This is making my head hurt."

"Ginny, listen, Draco is supposed to become a death eater. He still has time to be convinced otherwise, though. Do you think you can convince him to help out the good side?"

"Do you even remember my career choice, Colin? Of course I can!" Ginny cried out, unbelieving that her best friend could ask such a dumb question.

"All done," Colin said, turning to Zabini. "What's next?"

"We'll meet again at a later date. I can't take much more of this." Zabini stood to see his guests out.

"She's not usually like this. Too much shock for one day. I think she's a little tired." Colin apologized once more, leading Ginny out. He decided to take her up to her room, because this was all just too much for the poor girl.

Draco, on the other hand, was just sitting in Professor Snape's classroom, waiting for the teacher to be finished unleashing his wrath on Pansy. Draco was trying to figure out what had made him forget completely about his arranged marriage to the girl who had been his girlfriend since they were three. Of course, it was the Weasley girl, but what about her? She was. . .Well, he thought to himself, she just fit him so perfectly. He had no reason to feel so strongly for her, but it was there. He didn't know if she felt the same, but the same passion they had felt when they were fighting, he felt when they were kissing.

And he enjoyed kissing her much better than he enjoyed fighting with her. Pansy, on the other hand, didn't ignite any of those feelings. She was nothing to him, now that he had found Ginny.

He ran his fingers through his hair as he heard the office door click open. Pansy ran out crying, and Professor Snape stepped out right behind her.

"Draco?" the professor asked cautiously. "How are you doing?"

"It's not like I haven't been forced to take the stares and jeers of students at this school before. I can handle it," Draco stated confidently.

"Can you? Before, you were a Malfoy, a name that demanded respect and fear. Now, you're a Lockhart, a name that. . . Well, it's not a name I'd like for myself," Snape ended the sentence with a snort.

"I'm glad I'm no longer a Malfoy. I hated the name and the man that gave it to me. Now, I take it I'm no longer betrothed to that cow, and I don't have to hide feelings for others. I don't have to be the picture of perfection, and I never have to return to the hellhole they call the Malfoy Manor. I'm happy as an American in a fast food restaurant."

"I have just one question. The Weasley girl? Why?" Snape asked in confusion.

"Love," was the only reply as Draco walked out the door.

(END CHAPTER)

A/N: Reviews, please? I'll love you all forever!