Disclaimer: Yeah. I'm still not JK Rowling or anybody at Warner Bros, so I have no rights to Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Wow! I'm so loving the response to this! Thanks for reviewing guys, and keep it up! And in this chapter I promise you'll see seeds of a Harry-Ginny romance! (P.S. Like this fic? Want to check out another of mine? Read "A Many Splendored Thing"!)

Review Responses:

Guitargurl – Thanks! I have a lot of fun writing as Ginny, so I guess that's at least part of it.

Sarunokona – Wow, you really think so? I'm flattered! Development of some real Harry-Ginny stuff is coming very soon, I promise!

Sangeeta89 – Why thank you! Don't worry, you'll see Draco again… won't tell you more than that, but he'll be back!

DarkFlower2113 – I'm going to respond to both of your reviews here, just since this story is currently progressing faster. Thanks for reading and liking both! I will definitely keep working on both, and I think I'll be putting up a new chapter of A Many Splendored Thing soon as well.

MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus – Haha, I love your penname! And thanks, I'm for sure going to keep going on this! Keep reading!

Mia Sedai – Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it. Keep reading and reviewing!

Harrysmom – Yep, Draco showed his true colors… but Harry's going to sweep in soon!

Carmel March – That scene just totally stuck out in my mind while I was planning the chapter! Thanks for reviewing again!

You guys rock! Keep reading and reviewing!!

Stepping outside, the frigid December air took some of the edge off of my mood. Before heading out, I briefly said hello to Penelope, who'd been out during breakfast. I had nothing against her, but she was so incredibly much like Percy sometimes it scared me. Just to sit casually in the living room, she was dressed in pressed white pants, clean white socks (which had been underneath polished black leather boots), a starched pink cardigan, and a white mock turtleneck. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head, and she wore a pearl necklace and matching earrings. At Percy's age, she was only twenty, but as she sat there complacently reading The Daily Prophet she seemed like she was about thirty-five.

Once I got outside, I saw that Fred, George, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all already busy making "fortifications" (to quote Hermione), or snow walls (if you asked anyone else). It appeared that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had already teamed up, so I, in turn, took my place by Fred and George. Once the walls were up and the snowballs made, our little war began. The thing about a snowball fight is that it has the distinct power to make one completely indifferent to being repeatedly hit with something cold and wet while having to run and jump and dodge because it's so damn fun. At least, this has always been my take on them. We realized we must've been out there for about an hour, because Bill and Clarisse peeked out of the living room windows at us, waving to say hi. Eventually, Hermione surrendered, heading inside to warm up.

"You know," I remarked, narrowly dodging a snowball Ron aimed at my head. "As much as we all love Hermione," I paused to smirk (and tried very hard – albeit unsuccessfully – to push thoughts of Draco out of my head) and let everyone throw pointed looks at Ron, "She never has been one for the great outdoors."

"I heard that!" Yelled Hermione's voice through the window.

"We love you 'Mione!" I yelled back. The fight continued for another forty-five minutes until we were all completely drenched, freezing, and very much ready for hot chocolate.

Everybody got dry and warm, and settled in the house. I had made it nearly five hours since I'd woken up – and nearly fourteen since the incident – before anybody had asked me about what had happened with Draco, but my luck was clearly about to run out. I was curled up in an armchair by the fire, reading an old issue of Witch Weekly when, surprisingly, Harry was the first to approach me.

"Hey."

"Don't beat around the bush, I know what you're going to ask," I remarked, trying to keep things light.

"Oh really?" He matched my attitude, but I knew he wouldn't give up. He sat down in the armchair next to the side-table adjacent to mine.

"I'll save you the trouble." I put down the magazine and turned to face him. "You want to know why I ran out yesterday night."

"Something like that, yeah," he admitted.

"Do you know Katie Manning?"

"Fifth year, Slytherin, blonde hair and blue eyes, a little trashy, hot for Dra- no. That's not what you're saying, is it?" Harry looked at me in shock.

"It depends what you think I'm saying," I replied. The amount of effort it was taking to remain calm was steadily increasing, but so far I was keeping my cool. Harry didn't say anything, so I decided just to keep talking.

"When I went to get a drink yesterday, on my way back to our table I saw Draco. I was on my way over to say hi, but I also saw Katie. They were talking, flirting… and then they started snogging and dancing and they were just all over each other! So I took off – he saw me, tried to apologize, didn't mean it." I heard my voice waver slightly, but decided to push on through the story. "And so today he sent this." I took the two halves of Draco's note and handed them to Harry. Putting them together, he read it, his eyes narrowing angrily.

"I'll kill him," he announced matter-of-factly.

"No! Please, don't be… brotherly. I have six of those, what I need right now is a guy friend." Call me crazy, but I could swear I saw an almost imperceptible change in his eyes when I said that. Then again, a second later it was gone, so I brushed it off.

"It's just, it's not like I was in love with him or whatever. But what we had… I thought it was really something, you know? Ah, that sounds dumb. I just mean I thought he really did care. I just feel so stupid! I just thought this was… different… or something…" I trailed off, feeling small. The whole thing was playing in my brain now – suddenly I felt like so naïve, so dumb. I'd fallen for the cocky, bad boy attitude and then discovered this new, softer, nicer layer. What I'd said was true, I hadn't been in love with him, but… there was something different. Or at least I thought there was. As hard as I tried to stop it happening, I felt my throat getting tighter and my eyes welling up.

Mum had once said that any guy worth crying over wouldn't make you cry – so given this, that disqualified Draco as a guy worthy of my tears, right? But I couldn't help it. With Harry still watching me silently, I started crying ever so slightly.

"And he dumped me for Katie Manning! But you know what, they're perfect together. Or at least, she must be better for him than… than… me," I said quietly. I hated this, I hated the whole thing. I felt so dumb for having fallen for him in the first place, and even dumber for feeling bad when it all ended, but I couldn't help it.

"Ginny, there's nobody better for him than you." I looked up at Harry in (watery-eyed) shock. He moved out of his chair and perched on the arm of mine.

"Not that I don't completely hate him more now," he added quickly. "Just that you can't say there's anybody who's better off with someone but you. You, you'll be over this soon enough – you'll move on because you're funny and smart and beautiful and any guy would be lucky to have you! But Malfoy? He's going to realize Katie Manning is a rather slutty girl who really wants to add him to her collection of high-profile Slytherin ex-boyfriends, and pretty soon he'll realize what he threw away to have her." I sat quietly trying to process this information when I felt Harry lightly rubbing my back. Oddly enough (and overemotional girlie girl that I am), this only made me cry more, but it wasn't entirely due to my being mad and sad – I really did find it touching that Harry, who I had such an enormous crush on when I was little and then got to be good friends with this year, was playing exactly the part of great, comforting guy.

"You're such a great friend, you know that?" I said, looking up.

"That's what I'm here for, Gin," he replied, smiling at me.