Disclaimer: Credit for HP goes to JK Rowling and company.

Notes: This update is very late because I've been going through some very difficult times in life. Enjoy and review. There's kissing in this chapter. Hope it satisfies your hormones.


Unhinged: Chapter 5
Five days and nine hours later, his will power withered. Iron-minded he was not. It was just after breakfast and right before the first of the day's classes that he caught me. It was not exactly the perfect time for it, but it was his bony grip that caught my shoulder in the crowd of busy students nevertheless.

"Weasley," he greeted me breathlessly. His jaw was set rigidly. It meant that he was not ready to give up on his pursuit. "I can't leave it alone."

My heart soared and fell at once.


I pulled a Ron and skived off from lunch to meet him—in the kitchens, again. It seemed to be the most private area during a time when everyone was happily eating in the Great Hall. The house-elves, upon order, took no heed of our presence. They were too busy slaving over our next meal to pay us any attention.

"What is this really about?" I asked as I stumbled in through the portrait hole.

"Weren't you listening at the dinner?" he said. He tried to sound ferocious but failed miserably. Instead, he began to pace the floor. "I can't…I can't stop thinking any of it. Least of all her."

"She doesn't love you, Malfoy," I informed him bluntly. I had resigned to the fact that I could not do anything to hinder them. Either ambition was not something I had been given a lot of, or I had simply been given too much...Gryffindor. I found it extremely hard to be disloyal to my own sibling. And this could technically qualify as such.

"I don't need to be enlightened of that fact," Malfoy said sourly.

"Look—I don't like this any more than the next person. However, sometimes you have to realize the impossible. Deal with it."

"Don't patronize me!" Malfoy growled. He stopped pacing long enough to spin around and send me a staggering glare. "You wouldn't understand!"

I scoffed loudly. "What a classic line! You didn't tell me this was going to be a surprise pity party for you."

"I'm not bloody asking for a pity party," Malfoy spat venomously. "I'm asking why it is so difficult to right what is wrong. Why—" He stopped speaking. He looked disheartened, as if he was too tired to complete his angry sentence.

"None of it matters. I've changed my mind." In a flash, he was back to being a bossy arse.

"Malfoy—"

"Weasley."

"Malfoy," I repeated boldly, my voice rising above his. "I can't help you anymore."

"Why the hell not?" He still sounded enraged, but now there was also a note of apprehension. He didn't like operating alone.

"This has been disrupting my life." I hated how apologetic I sounded. "I need to focus on what matters again."

"This doesn't matter?"

"Draco, get over it!" I shouted. "You'll learn to love someone again. I hate this, but I can't drop everything else in my life for it. My brother will come to his senses in time. I have schoolwork that needs my attention. I have a life that needs my attention. Good-bye. Good luck." Then I left him there, alone.


"Ginny!" Shifting my book bag to my left shoulder, I turned around to face the one who called for my attention. It had been a few days since Malfoy and I had last spoken. I'd been quite positive it had been the last.

"Colin," I said, genuinely surprised. The small boy hurried after me. I had not spoken with him since…well, since the day Ron had 'disappeared.' "How have you been?"

"Listen Gin, you're one of the best writers we have on the paper," Colin began without replying to my question. Flattered, I smiled and started to mutter a thank you before Colin cut me off with an impatient wave.

"We're doing an article on some of the longer-lasted couples for the Valentine's issue. Harry and Hermione, Malfoy and Parkinson, Hannah and Ernie just to name a few. My hands are a bit full right now with all I've got planned for this issue. You're available to take the Hannah and Ernie article, aren't you?"

"Right, right sure," I said, inwardly groaning. I figured I would slap something sappy together a week before the deadline. I hated talking about the infamous Valentine's issue. I wondered why I had ever agreed to write for the unofficial paper anyway. It had been unknown to me that it would resemble The Quibbler in the nature of the articles. Colin had quite an...active imagination.

"You're the greatest," Colin oozed before flashing me a grin. "To make your job even easier, I've drafted up a list of questions you could ask them." He looked away to fiddle around in his bag for the list.

"S'around here somewhere," he muttered distractedly. He cursed as the other books in his arms tumbled to the floor. A scatter of papers fell. I bent down to help him retrieve them, when I noticed a few moving photographs. Photographs I had never seen before. Photographs of Draco and Pansy, both looking snug in each other's embraces.

"New ones," Colin nodded at the pictures I held. "Found them getting rather lovey-dovey last night." A surge of shock and insuppressible hope beat through me.

"Nice," I said weakly. "Well, I've got to go, Colin. Nice talking to you!"


"How did you do it?" I whispered as discreetly as I could. Draco lifted his face towards me.

"Do what?" he said obscurely.

"Ha. See? You're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to pretend that I'm a stranger."

"If my memory isn't failing, I remember it as you that left me. I have no obligation to tell you anything."

"So it's over?"

"Yes." He was acting very brisk. "I don't know if you know, but Pansy is a very flighty girl. Flighty, but at the same time, sensible. I'm the only one who understands her. She's realized this." Malfoy gathered his books and made a point of leaving.

"I'm going now," he said. He looked at me strangely, as if he were searching for some sort of reaction on my part.

"See you," I replied stupidly. He shrugged and walked away. I sank low in the seat he had occupied only moments before. It was so strange. I was happy, but it was strange. Pansy had seemed so convinced of herself only a week ago. It was rather unnerving to think that people were allowed to change their minds so quickly. Hypocrisy ran more rampantly than I had thought. Scooting back the chair, I leaned it against the bookshelf behind me. That's when I noticed that Malfoy had left something. It was a small piece of parchment—a note of some sort. I didn't hesitate to unfold it.

Pansy,

Someone knows. I'm sorry, but going public was never a part of the deal. I can't be with you any longer. Please don't talk to me again. I just want things to go back to normal. I want to right what is wrong—we were wrong. I'm sorry. I was stupid for starting this. I hope that the both of us will be able to forget this ordeal soon.

Sincerely,

R.W.


"Weasley, it's over. So why are you following me?"

"You wrote that note."

For a moment it seemed as if he was going to ignore me. He pushed his way through the dinner crowd. I attempted to follow him, but he had disappeared from sight. Until he grabbed me and pulled me under a small nook under the staircase.

"How do you know about that?"

"You carelessly left it at the library," I said. "And I know you wrote it. My brother's handwriting doesn't look like that."

"Yes, I suppose I should have written a little less legibly," Draco said. He was clearly amused by this. I was surprised to find that I was not.

"Did you honestly think it would work?"

"It has worked," he corrected me. "Why do you seem so…displeased? You filthy Weasleys can go back to being pathetic by yourselves, can't you? I've artfully remedied the situation. Stop bothering me."

"They'll find out. They'll wonder who did it. It'll end up worse for you," I warned.

"Kind of you to care, but I don't need your concern."

I bit my lip. "Fine. Have it your way. But don't come crawling to me when I turn out to be right. You are, as always, a tactless moron."


He did come crawling, however. He came squealing back. I shouldn't have received him. But he looked so pitiful, and I was feeling so triumphant at being right.

"The idiot tried to talk to her," he said. The idiot he referred to was my brother. "The secret's out."

"Is Pansy as furious as I imagine her to be?" I asked smugly.

"No. Ten times that." Then, with a yell, he kicked a nearby wall.

"Don't be stupid," I said. His head was hung low. I couldn't tell if he was crying or not. Crying would have definitely been awkward.

"I can't help but be stupid," he said with a small chuckle. "At the risk of sounding like a sap, I'll say this--I am blinded by…this need to have her."

"Territorial, aren't you?" I was feeling particularly sarcastic, and not so sympathetic.

"Yes, in fact. But you've never been in love. That's why you don't understand."

"You're not in love," I said bluntly. "You're in lust, Malfoy. Don't kid yourself into thinking that you know a thing about true love. That sort of thing is too above dirty people like you."

He had an unreadable expression on his face. It was not angry. It was not humored. It was simply incomprehensible. He took a small step towards me.

"Maybe. But I'm willing to do anything to fulfill these 'territorial' needs. That's a little extreme for lust, isn't it?"

"Listen." His voice was suddenly loud and clear again. There was large distance between us again, and he looked impatient to get out of there. "I'm—I'm going to leave now. But I still have things to talk about with you. There's a Hogsmeade visit this weekend. Why don't you meet me near the boundaries of the Shrieking Shack at noon?"

"Alright," I said. I supposed this meant that I was indeed helping him again. It seemed as if Pansy was not the only flighty girl around here.
On Saturday, I went to Hogsmeade. I walked towards the Shrieking Shack as he had instructed. But something strange was going on. Malfoy smiled slickly as I approached him.

"You look nice. Is that a new blouse?"

"No," I said. I felt discomfort.

"Right. Well, it looks new."

"Go on, Malfoy. I'm sure you have another brilliant plan up your sleeve. Hurry up and tell me so I can tell you if it's shit or not," I said impatiently. Secretly, I thought of what to order once I was done here and was allowed to grab a bite to eat. Perhaps I would stop by Honeydukes. It had been a long time. These idle thoughts didn't prepare me. Nothing could have prepared me.

"Well?" I asked a deathly silent Malfoy. Distracted, I peered in my bag to look for some lip balm. He answered.

"Ginny, look at me," he said quietly as his hands grabbed my face and pulled me into a kiss.