He Called Me Ginny

'Romeo? Juliet? That's Shakespeare, that is. But isn't Shakespeare a muggle author? And the first night back at Hogwarts.... He knew I was singing a muggle song! Ooh, this is too good!' Ginny thought, gleefully, sending Romeo on his way.

"Hey Ginny!" Collin said, plopping down next to her.

"Hey Collin!"

"I'm glad to see that you're happy, again! I mean, it was really breaking my heart, seeing you so upset over your parents' death."

"Yeah..." She hadn't thought about her parents for a couple of days, now, and it was actually kind of a relief.

"I mean, I know exactly how you feel. My parents were murdered at the end of last year by V-Voldemort. Remember that?"

"Yes, I do." Ginny was with him when he got the news, just 2 days before school let out. Collin and Dennis had to move in with their Grandmother.

"Let me take a picture of you, Gin!" he said, suddenly, holding up the camera that was permanently attached to his hand.

"Okay!" Ginny said, grinning. Collin took a few pictures of her then left to go take some of unsuspecting, random people in the hall.

Ginny laid her head down on the table.

'I'll just rest my eyes for a second,' she thought, yawning.

"Ginny! Wake up!"

"Wha... huh?" She looked up and realized that Harry was shaking her awake.

"Harry, is something wrong?"

"No, but Ron sent me up here to tell you that if you wanted food, you'll have to go to the kitchens, because they've stopped lunch."

"Oh, for merlin's sake!" Ginny cried, standing up. "Harry, would you please go with me?"

"Ginny, I don't know if I have time. I scheduled a quidditch practice in half an hour."

"Oh, Harry. All you have to do is walk me to the painting of the fruit. Please!"

She stuck her bottom lip out in a playful pout.

"Okay. Fine."

"Thanks, Harry!" she said, throwing her arms around his neck.

""Okay, let's get going!" he said, grabbing her hand and leading the way out of the portrait.

When they got there, Ginny tickled the pear, thanked Harry by giving him a kiss on the cheek, and went inside.

"How may we serve Miss, today?" a house elf squeaked at her feet, surrounded by about 100 other house elves, bowing and curtsying.

"Excuse Dobby, but is you Miss Wheezy?" Dobby asked, making his way to the front of the crowd.

"Hello, Dobby!" Ginny said chuckling.

"What can Dobby get Miss?"

"I'll have a truffle, please, Dobby."

The other house elves began badgering Ginny as Dobby went to get her food.

"Can I get a drink for Miss?"

"Does Miss wish for some more food?"

"Does Miss care for dessert?" The last question was not asked by a house elf. The voice of the owner was far too deep for any house elf. It was definitely a human.

Ginny turned around. Only to find, yet again, the Prince of Slytherin towering over her.

"So, Weasley. What brings you here?"

"I took a nap through lunch, thank you."

"Ah, getting your beauty sleep. Although, I must say, it didn't help much."

"Don't you ever give it a rest?" she asked irritably. "Besides, what are you doing here?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I wasn't hungry at lunch."

"Here's Miss Wheezy's truffle!" Dobby said proudly, carrying the huge tray over his head.

"What can Dobby do for Sir?" When Dobby realized who Draco was, his large, green eyes widened in fear and surprise.

"Nothing. Miss Wheezy will surely be kind enough to share this delicious looking truffle with me."

Ginny looked at him, at Dobby, then at the truffle she held.

She sighed and said, "Yes, Dobby. Mr. Malfoy may share with me."

"I will get Sir a fork," Dobby said, walking away. He returned quickly, handed Draco the fork, and left again.

After Dobby left, Draco smirked at Ginny. "You're too nice for your own good. Wheezy."

"Don't remind me," she mumbled, stabbing the truffle with her fork.

"Excuse me, but I thought being kind was good for a Weasley."

"Don't get me wrong, Malfoy. I'm not saying kindness is a bad thing, but there's a difference in being kind and too kind."

"Like what?" It seemed that he was genuinely interested.

"Like kindness is where you help people; offer to do simple things for them. Too kind is being a pushover. Letting people take advantage of you."

"You don't seem too kind, then. Just kind."

'Did Malfoy just actually say something nice to me?' Ginny thought, bewildered.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you don't really seem like a pushover, and I've never seen you let anyone take advantage of you."

"I'm not trying to be rude, Malfoy, but you have no right to judge me in the first place."

"Why is that?"

"You don't even know me!"

"You don't know me, either," he replied, quietly.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Haven't you judged me as well?"

With that, he got up and left without saying another word, leaving Ginny shocked.

"Where have you been, Ginny?" Hermione asked, petting Crookshanks, who was purring in contentment.

"Kitchens."

"Have a good post-lunch lunch?"

"Yeah. Had a truffle."

"All by yourself?"

Ginny nodded. "Yes." After all, it was part true. She ate most of it by herself.

"I was famished," she added.

"It's nearly 5 o'clock!" Hermione exclaimed. "What about dinner?!"

"I'll skip it," Ginny said, shrugging. "I'm just stuffed, now."

"Did you see Dobby down there?"

"Yes, I did. He kept calling me 'Miss Wheezy'. I'm guess I'm like Harry in a way when it comes to Dobby. He can be a bit annoying at times, but I love seeing him do things for me."

When she saw Hermione go stiff, Ginny had to explain. "No, not like that! He's really happy when he does things like that. It's really cute. Don't you think he's really cute?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Well, house elves aren't meant to look cute, Ginny. He's not a puppy or even a baby doll," Hermione, rather calmly, scolded.

"Let's change the subject, then!" Ginny said, clapping her hands together.

"Well, I think Ron said something about Gryffindor having to play Hufflepuff next week."

"In quidditch?"

"Yeah."

"'Mione?"

"Hm?"

Ginny sighed. "Never mind."

"What?"

"It's... nothing. Really."

"Okay. If you're sure."

"I'm going for a little walk outside," Ginny said, standing up. She went upstairs, grabbed her coat, and ran back downstairs and though the portrait before Hermione could say anything.

"Aah!" Ginny screamed, falling into a mud puddle.

'Disgusting!' Ginny thought, getting up. She started shivering and her teeth were chattering.

As she made her way slowly back to the castle, someone asked in her ear, "What happened to you?"

She turned around and saw Draco cocking an eyebrow at her, curiously.

"F-fell into a m-mud pud-d-dle."

"Give me your coat, Weasley."

"W-what?"

"Give me that filthy rag you call a coat," he demanded, holding his hand out.

Ginny obeyed, glaring at him.

Draco murmured a drying spell, holding his wand to it.

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'I could have easily done that.'

Draco then said another spell, turning her coat from a plain, patched, brown coat into an expensive looking black one.

Ginny stared, open mouthed. "Is th-that m-my coat?"

"Yes. Nice improvement, don't you think?"

Then, the unthinkable happened. Draco gave her an actual smile.

'He's got such a lovely smile.'

"Hold your arms up." Ginny was too shocked to argue, so she obeyed. He slipped the coat on her, said softly "Don't be so clumsy next time," and left.

"Hey Ginny!"

"Hey Collin."

"Who's coat is that? Why are you wet? Are you okay?"

"Huh?" She looked down and remembered that she had fell into a puddle. "Oh, I'm fine. I just fell into a puddle outside from all that rain earlier. And this is..." Her heart started racing. Who's coat could she say it is?

"This is, um, Kevin's old coat."

Collin looked at her suspiciously. "You're not dating him again, are you?"

"Oh, Collin. Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?"

"Good," he said, sighing in relief. "Of course, I don't think you're stupid, Gin."

"Well, I have to go upstairs and get out of these clothes."

"Alright, Gin. Goodnight, in case I don't see you later."

"Goodnight."

By the time Ginny had taken a shower, dried her hair, and gotten dressed, it was already almost 8 o'clock. She heard an owl hoot and glanced up.

'Oh, Romeo,' she thought to herself. 'Oh, goodness, Gin! Snap out of it! Malfoy is not that charming!'

She shook her head and walked over to the white owl, who was holding his leg out. As she rolled out the letter, she was surprised about how long it was.

G.W.

The rose was just a little something I thought you might like. And I changed my mind about writing letters to you. You're not as filthy as, let's say, a mudblood is. And, honestly, I don't think you've met everyone in the world, so how do you know I'm the biggest git in the world? I might only be the second biggest... Hey, you never know. By the way, as you can tell, I've dropped the initials Y.S. They just cramped my style.

S.B.G.

Ginny rolled her eyes and chuckled. She grabbed a piece of spare parchment from her book bag and scribbled:

D.M.

What does S.B.G. stand for, anyways? Stop saying mudblood. I hate that word. By the way, what happened to your two cronies? I haven't seen them around.

Ann

She tied the short letter to Romeo's leg and he flew off. In less than 10 minutes, Romeo came flying back.

G.W.

If you must know, S.B.G. stands for Second Biggest Git, thank you. Oh, you mean Crabbe and Goyle? They were murdered by Voldemort. Don't feel sorry for them. They deserved it. Now, if you will, please excuse me. I have to get to studying. Being an Auror takes a lot of work.

S.B.G.

Ginny smiled to herself. 'He's not that bad, I guess.' She shook her head. 'Oh, of course he is!' Ginny sighed. She just couldn't make up her mind about him. She also couldn't figure out why he wasn't upset over the death of his lackeys. 'I guess they weren't actually friends.'

Ginny was tossing and turning for what seemed hours until she finally gave up on trying to sleep. She got out of bed, slipped into a pair of slippers, and went down to the common room.

Nobody was there, not even the trio, so Ginny guessed it was well after midnight.

She sat down by the fire for a few minutes, then, after going back and forth, trying to decide if she should walk the halls, stood up.

'If I get points taken off, I'll get points taken off,' she decided. She sneaked out through the portrait and silently walked through the empty castle of Hogwarts.

Ginny went into classrooms, different corridors, and still hadn't got caught after about an hour. She decided she would go into the library, see if there was anything at all there that interested her.

After about 15 minutes of looking, she heard the door squeak open.

Her heart started racing. 'Oh no! Now I'm dead!'

She hid behind the bookshelf, listening for walking. She peeked around the corner and saw someone walking left, so she went onto the right side of it, pressed up against it as tight as she could. She sneaked silently until she got to the end of the bookshelf. She carefully peeked around the corner, seeing no one there.

Ginny decided that she would make a run for it to the door. Just as she was about to take off, someone roughly grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing here?" a voice demanded.

She whipped around, expecting Malfoy, but stared back at a total stranger. She saw, with no surprise, that he was a Slytherin.

"None of your business," she spat, coldly.

"Say, you're one of those Weasleys, aren't you?"

"Yes," she said, puffing her chest up. "Who are you?"

"Nott." Then, without any notice he grabbed her other arm and slammed her hard against the wall. She cried out in pain.

"Shut up, you stupid, girl!" he growled. He then did a spell on her, so her mouth was magically shut.

Ginny tried to scream, yell, anything, but the spell held her jaw in place.

"Now," he said, throwing her harshly to the floor. "I'll show you what I do to bad little girls who just won't mind their manners."

Ginny woke up in the library, with sun shining through. Remembering the event from the night before, she quickly stood up and looked down at herself. Her pajamas were torn.

Ginny slowly sat back down, burying her head into her knees, whimpering.

"Weasley?"

Ginny's head snapped up and she was face to face with Draco.

"Ginny, what happened?" he asked, urgently.

She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she was swearing inside, up and down, that she wouldn't cry in front of him.

"Ginny," he whispered. "You have to tell me."

She put her head down into her knees and started sobbing uncontrollably.

He then carefully picked her up and carried her to a chair. "Please," he pleaded. "Something happened. Who did this to you?"

Ginny couldn't control her sobs. "Nott... he... hurt... it... awful..."

Draco's face hardened. He stood up and said deadly, "Go to the infirmary, right now. It's still early, so no one will be up, yet." Then, without another word, he left.

Ginny watched him leave, wiping her face, wincing. She put her hand to her cheek and realized their was a cut and a bruise there. She slowly stood up and quietly followed Draco.

"...ask you again. Where were you last night?" Draco's booming voice echoed through the halls. Ginny hid quietly behind a statue.

"Why are you into my business, Malfoy?" Nott cooly asked.

"I already told you, Nott!" Draco yelled. "I came in after patrolling the halls last night and realized you were out of bed. Now what were you doing?"

"Not that it's any of you business, but I was teaching someone how to behave properly when talking to a superior."

From what Ginny heard from behind the statue, Draco lunged. Nott kept yelling, Draco kept saying things that you wouldn't call someone who was a friend, and you could hear a lot of noises that sounded like fists hitting a face.

Ginny quietly snuck away to go to the infirmary.

"Ginny? Is that you?!" Ginny heard someone running towards her and she turned around.

"Oh my... What happened?!" MacKenzie asked, staring at her face.

"It's.. it's nothing," Ginny said, trying to get away.

"Gin! Tell me!"

"No, Mackie, it's nothing."

"Where are you going? You better be on your way to the hospital wing!" she scolded.

"That's exactly where I'm going, thank you. Now, just do me a favor, Mackie. Please bring me some clothes and don't tell anyone how you saw me."

"Gin!"

"What are you doing up so early, anyway?"

"I noticed you were gone, so I came looking for you!"

"Oh, Mackie, just promise me you won't tell anyone."

"I can't, Gin. I have to tell Harry, you brother, someone! Anyone!"

"No," Ginny said. "You can't tell anyone."

"Ginny. You're hurt."

"I'm fine!" She started running to the infirmary, shouts from MacKenzie echoing after her.

"Madame Pomfrey?" Ginny called. "Madame Pomfrey?"

"One moment, dear!" the nurse called from a back room. Ginny looked around and saw a mirror. When she stood in front of it, she gasped.

She had a huge bruise on her cheek with a cut inside it, her jaw was swollen and lightly bruised, her bottom lip was busted open, and there was a cut just above her right eye. She had bruises that resembled fingers around her neck.

She looked down at her arms and realized there were a few small bruises on each.

"Miss Weasley?" Madame Pomfrey asked. Whenever Ginny turned to face her, the woman's face paled.

"Dear, what happened?" she asked, quickly, but easily, pushing her onto a bed.

"I..."

"Ginerva, you have to tell me. I need to know what all to check you for."

"It..." Ginny slowly closed her eyes and tried to keep her breath regular.

"You just tell me when you're ready," Madame Pomfrey said softly. "I need to get potions for your cuts and bruises, anyhow." The elderly lady went to making potions as Ginny tried not to think of the night before.

Tears slowly started to stream down her face as everything replayed through her head. Then she remembered the first person she saw this morning. She tried to keep her mind occupied on that.

She thought of how he held her in his (surprisingly) strong arms and carried her to a chair. She remembered the caring look he saw in his usually cold silver eyes. She remembered of how his look turned cold whenever she told him who did it. She remembered the soft voice he used to speak to her with. Then, she remembered something that she hadn't caught earlier.

'He called me Ginny.'

Author's Note: This is my longest chapter yet, so I'm proud of that! How'd you like it? I thought it was pretty good. ::squeals:: He finally showed how much he cared in this chapter! Finally! Okay, on with the shoutouts!

baby-in-a-blender- LoL, Thanks a lot!

MrsTomFelton007- Omg, thank you! And D/G pairings rock!

Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's- LoL, it made me happy, too! I know, it will be coming, I promise! Btw, thanks for being such a faithful reader!

restless-soul63- LoL, thanks! I know! But don't you think their blabbering mouths make for a better story? And thank you, also, for being such a faithful reader to this story!

Solana13- LoL, thanks for reading! And I love your story, so you need to update soon, too!

ArcticAngelzTx- Thanks! I hope this was what you were hoping for!

Dracosbaby7- Thanks so much!

And I told you all I would post the link up for the FictionAlley version of this story ((it's not any different, I'm just posting it up for those who have pen names on there!)), but it won't let me post it, so my pen name on FictionAlley is icekitten08 and the title of the story is the same (Hardships).