Disclaimer: All of the characters belong to the brilliant mind of J.K. Rowling. Only the plot belongs to me and quite honestly, I'm not selfish. But this is my first fan fiction that I've posted on so go easy on me if the formatting is terrible. Cheers.

"Father!" Draco Malfoy sputtered in surprise, shocked to see his rigid father standing in front of him. "I-I thought you were still in Azkaban." Draco's eyes nervously glanced up and down the hall but he highly doubted that anyone, alive or dead, would be walking the corridors after curfew during their Christmas Break. For the first time in his six years at Hogwarts, he was pleased to see that nearly the whole school had left to spend time with their families, now that the Dark Lord had truly risen.

Lucius Malfoy was standing half cloaked in darkness. His pale skin now a deathly parchment color instead of a soft white and his long slick hair now a matted mass about his skull-like visage. His usually elegant robes of emerald velvet were now black and made of wool, patched and torn in places and even thick clumps of mud on his old boots. Azkaban had turned his elegant father into a ragged looking beggar.

Draco took a worried step back, but his father followed him and Lucius fully stepped into the glow of nearby torch. Draco didn't have the faintest clue whether to feel elated that his father had escaped the dreaded Azkaban prison or fear the deadly look in his fathers cold gray eyes.

"Step closer Draco..." Lucius said in an unusually calm voice and held out a hand while motioning towards a room nearby that Draco knew was a storage room. Draco also knew better then to deny an offer from his father but he hated the flame of insanity that flashed in the man's eyes.

Lowering his head Draco stepped forward and cringed as a pale hand descended onto his shoulder and led him through the storage door which opened with a wave of Senior Malfoy's wand. "Let's go inside and have a little chat…" The door closed softly behind them and Draco wondered if he would be able to walk out on his own accord once his father was through with his little "chat."

Little did the two Malfoy's know but lurking behind a tapestry at the end of the hall was a Gryffindor who witnessed everything.

"Lucius Malfoy…" She murmured softly to herself as she turned and leaned her back against the cool walls of the hidden passage. "He was sent to Azkaban… But why…? How did he get here…" Apparation was impossible on the grounds of Hogwarts and Flitwick had bewitched the large front doors of the castle to spot any of the Death Eaters that had been captured in case they might escape like Dumbledore predicted. Dumbledore! Dumbledore knew nearly everything going on in the castle, why wasn't he gliding down the corridor right now?

Suddenly a faint slap pierced her thoughts and the Gryffindor snapped her head up, rigid as a board as she searched for another sound. Her ears were answered as five more sounded in fifteen seconds. She knew what that sound was even though it was her first time hearing it, whip slaps.

Her stomach churned what had to have been large stones in her stomach as she slid down the wall into a crouching position and covered her ears with her hands. In all her years of hating Malfoy, she never knew that his attitude came from beatings. Is that why his father was here? Did he come merely to beat his son despite the many Aurors sniffing the nearby town of Hogsmeade for him right now?

For an hour she sat there, unable to move, as the sounds from the storage room down the hall seemed to become more severe. Her body, even though she tried dozens of times to stand and move, seemed too scared to budge. She told herself that if she stayed and he happened to use this passage, he would find her. But what if she was about to leave and he comes out from that room and caught her?

Just shut-up and do something! Her legs were screaming as they cramped, and she finally was able to stand and stretch them.

"It's been a nice time chatting with you again Draco," Lucius said with a cold voice as he slipped his wand back inside the sleeve of his tattered robes.

Draco, who was breathing heavily and wincing with each breath, was on his hands and knees on the floor. As he panted towards the floor he could feel the tears of anger and embarrassment burning in his eyes. It was bad enough he succumbed to falling to the floor because of the lashings and punches but he promised to never give his father the triumph of seeing him cry. "You won't be seeing me for a while Draco but I will certainly be able to see you." Lucius said in a soft voice as he started for the door.

Draco shuddered and then heard the door open and close. After a moment or two he collapsed onto the floor, his cheek pressed against the cold stone of the ground. But he couldn't stay there, if someone found him… No, he couldn't even think of the consequences or the humiliation.

Struggling onto his hands and knees again he could feel the cool trickle of blood running over his sides towards his stomach. With each heartbeat the severe pain in his back from the gashes seemed to increase. His stomach was somewhere near his throat, at least it felt like it, as though it were still cowering from the barrage of punches and kicks there.

As he continued to struggle a soft whimper would escape past his trembling, pale lips as he crawled towards the door at a snail's pace. Five feet from the door he collapsed again, shaking from the loss of blood. With a jump of the heart he heard the doorknob turn and he tried to look up through the burning of tears in his eyes. "No… Please… Not him…" His voice was higher as he tried to swallow the enormous lump in his throat.

The door creaked open and a small fraction of light sliced through the gloomy darkness of the room, falling across Draco's hand. A soft voice, not his father's, floated through the crack, "Malfoy?"

Draco tried to tell whoever this stranger was to leave but only a groan left his lips and he collapsed again, this time unable to regain consciousness for a while.

When he came around some time later he was clumsily draped over the shoulders of a small girl with long rust colored hair. For a fleeting moment he thought it might have been Pansy but when she paused in her stumbling to pull his unbruised arm further over one shoulder he caught a glance of her profile.

"I need a place to hide you, where I can tend to your wounds in secret." She gasped even though she doubted that he was listening. With extreme difficulty she turned on her heel and stumbled past a large tapestry where some trolls had paused in their relentless clubbing of their ballet teacher and watched her curiously. She turned on her heel after a few strides and started in the other direction, mumbling the same thing over and over again.

A highly polished door suddenly materialized on the wall as she walked closer. The door, as though knowing her hands were occupied, swung open for her and she dragged Draco in, his feet dragging on the ground as she carried him draped across her back.

The room was large and comfortably furnished with a large bed and dozens of pillows stacked against the headrest. Enormous bookshelves nearby were packed with books on doctoring and a wooden cabinet was on the farthest side of the room, she figured that remedies were held within. Other medical supplies such as miniature metal gurneys with empty beakers and vials were stationed besides the bed and over in a corner was a flat sort of examination table with a pillow at one end. Another little gurney sat besides it with different sorts of potions and gauze's for mending his wounds.

Carrying him over to the flat examination table she carefully helped him onto it. His eyes were barely opened and soft moans were coming from his mouth. Incredibly he was able to stay in an upright position, slumped forward slightly in his seat with his back arched and body weaving very slightly.

His eyes suddenly flashed open and two pale hands shot out and enclosed around her neck. Their grasp was feeble but there was no mistaking the fire that flickered in his eyes.

Incredibly, the girl was calm and she was able to pry his fingers away. In a soothing voice she said, "Easy, easy. I'm not going to hurt you…" like she was talking to a frightened horse or some other beast.

As though he had suddenly been doused in ice water, Draco was aware of his surroundings and the girl who was standing in front of him, soothing him with soft sounds as though he were a child. Looking down at her he narrowed his eyes at her, for a brief moment forgetting his pain. "Weasley?"

"Malfoy." She said plainly then turned to inspect the items on the nearby stand. As she lifted a vial she peered at the purple liquid inside and lightly shook it.

Despite the pain he scoffed. "I am in no need of your assistance Gryffindor scum…" He slipped off the table but as soon as he was on his feet he became lightheaded and would have fallen forward if it wasn't for Ginny who caught him.

"Gryffindor or not, Malfoy, you're in no condition to be strutting around," her voice was stern as she forced him back onto the table. "Whether you like it or not I'm going to help you. Now hold still -" She started to reach for the buttons of his shirt, his robe had been left behind in the room in her haste to get him out. The front of the white shirt was now drenched with deep red blood.

Like white doves startled into flight, two pale hands fluttered up and gripped her wrists with a sudden surprising strength. "Don't you dare touch me." Draco snarled menacingly and gripped her wrists even harder. He could feel the warm pulse in her wrist and it made him feel powerful.

Jerking her wrists away from him she took a step back. He obviously was feeling better which was surprising since it had only been a few minutes. Regaining her composure, Ginny rubbed her wrists and narrowed her eyes at him. "Malfoy, unless you haven't noticed you - are - bleeding." Each word was spoken carefully and slowly. "We both have the same colored blood, house rivalries don't matter now."

Draco just starred at her, surprised at her sudden fierceness. He returned the look, despite the spinning of the room and the sharp pain in his back. He didn't care what color her blood was, she was a Muggle-lover and unfit to touch him.

"Don't make me jinx you Malfoy," Ginny whispered threateningly. Taking a step forward she pulled out her wand from her sleeve and pointed it at his chest, she raised her honey colored eyes to gaze defiantly into his cold steel colored ones.

She's got very pretty eyes, He thought but then snapped out of it. Eyeing her wand nervously he lowered his eyes to his lap, too weak to carry on with the fight.

"Good," slipping her wand back into the sleeve of her robes, she reached out, a bit hesitantly, and began undoing the buttons of his shirt. Very carefully peeling the blood stained shirt from the deep gash across his chest, she tossed it to a large garbage can nearby before taking a tiny step back to get a good look at the damage. Walking around to the back of him, a soft gasp escaped her lips. How he was able to endure that sort of pain was incredible.

Reaching to her left and grabbing the vile with purple liquid she poured some onto a wad of gauze and gently pressed it against a large section of gashes across his back. Swearing softly under her breath when he jerked away with a snarl.

"I'm sorry, it'll only sting for a bit."

A bit? Draco thought and winced in pain as he clutched the edges of the table. After what seemed an eternity, she stopped applying the stinging potion and set the nearly empty vial down. Just as Draco began to relax, he bristled again at the sound of her chuckles. "What are you laughing at?" He spat indignantly and looked over his shoulder at her, surprised at the absence of pain that was there before on his back, but the few deep gashes on his chest made him grimace.

"You relaxed," She stated softly, placing a cool hand against the gashes covered in purple goo on his back. He figured it would hurt but it didn't, on the contrary, the coolness of her hand was rather soothing.

"So?"

"I still have your front to do…"

She was right, and he watched as she grabbed a fresh wad of gauze and the vial and walked around to the front of him. "Would it be more comfortable for you to lie down or would you rather sit up?" Ginny asked, gathering some cleaner gauze and pouring the purple liquid onto it.

When he didn't move she sighed and took a step up to him and began dabbing at the few gashes across his chest and stomach. His sucked in a deep breath through his teeth and looked away as he winced. After a few more painful moments she set the bloody gauze down and the vial, he relaxed but kept his eyes averted.

As she wrapped gauze around his middle he cleared his throat very slightly. "How did you find me?"

"I was on my way to the kitchen's when I saw your father -" she turned his head towards her and he tensed again, narrowing his eyes at her but she was only inspecting a small scrap on his cheek. "I'm not like those sorts who turn and run just to save their own hide."

"Are you poking fun of me?"

"Oh shut up and stay still," said Ginny as she cleaned his cheek with some more of the purple liquid and then pressed some gauze there. Malfoy twitched and jerked away with a frown. "Stop being a child," Ginny snapped and she reached up for his face again with her gauze-free hand. Draco leaned back farther; she was too short to be able to reach his chin when he leaned back with his head turned to the side.

"Ooo!" Ginny growled angrily and stepped on the low shelf beneath the table to better reach him.

But just as her fingertips brushed his neck her foot slipped and she started to fall backwards. Draco quickly leaned forward and grabbed her wrist with one hand and his other arm curled around her waist, tugging her forward. It all happened so fast neither of them realized what had happened until then looked at each other. Ginny was still standing on the low shelf beneath the table but was standing between Draco's legs, her nose hardly reached his chin as she stared up at him in disbelief.

He looked down at her in shock, his gray eyes widened then quickly narrowed again as she looked away and carefully stepped down to the floor. Only then did he let her go as though she was covered in Stinksap. "You should be more careful." He said in a low voice, trying to sound as though he was irritated. But at the moment he was trying to ignore the feeling that had charged through his veins when he was holding her in his arms.

"Then stop fidgeting," She countered and reached up to cup his right cheek with her left hand and clean the scrape with the purple stuff on his right cheek. When she was done he jerked his head back and frowned.

She turned her back on him. He could hear the clink of glasses touching its fellows and he tried to see what she was doing. When she turned back to him, she was holding a small glass filled with a greenish-brown liquid that was bubbling and letting off a foul smell of rotten eggs.

"Right then," said Ginny, sounding cheerful as she set the glass on the table then handed him a clean white T-shirt. "I want you to spend the night here for tonight."

"No."

"Malfoy it's for your own good."

"No." He started for the door as he pulled the shirt over his head. But when he lifted his right arm a blinding pain shot through his right side. He grunted and fell to one knee, slowly lowering his right hand and rubbing his side.

"You've got a bruised rib, might even be splintered or worse. That's why you should stay the night over here." Ginny was at his side at once, helping him to his feet carefully and guiding him to the bed. "I can make you a potion to help you sleep and it will ease the pain."

He didn't respond, he merely sat down on the edge of the bed and winced as another, although lighter wave of pain shot through his side. She appeared in front of him and handed him the small glass filled with the nasty colored liquid, she swirled the potion before handing it to him and it changed to a muddy brown.

Draco raised his eyes to her briefly, questioning her potion making abilities. But something within in his muscles made them move before he could stop them and he tossed the potion back in one gulp. It burned his throat briefly then it felt as though he had swallowed red-hot needles. He gasped and coughed harshly, Ginny stood besides him, lightly patting the area between his shoulder blades thankfully where no scratches were. The hot needles disappeared as a wave of drowsiness washed over him and he fell into the darkness, trying to grab for anything to bring him back but nothing was there.

His eyes snapped open and he looked around in surprise, he no longer felt the pain of his ribs or wounds. He felt…good. He was able to raise himself onto one elbow and the fingers of his other hand brushed against his chest where the gashes had been the day before. They were gone, or at least nearly healed.

Something made a soft noise nearby and he looked around.

Ginny was sitting in a chair besides his bed, her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyes were closed as she dozed. A book was open in her lap and her head dipped slightly but than she straightened up with a murmur of something. Her eyes never opened and Draco's heart tightened at the lovely sight of her watching over him. It was then that he noticed it was very cold in the room and she had nothing on but her white school blouse and skirt. He tugged off the blanket and draped it around her shoulders then lowered himself back down on the bed to watch her. He owed her so much but he knew that after this, once they walked through the door, they would be back on their original footing: Hate.