The first day of classes went slow. It was almost too slow for Ginny.

Ginny didn't particularly care, but was putting up with Professor Binns droning on & on was no easy task. The only thing that kept her awake throughout History of Magic was the thought that the next class she had was lunch.

Once lunch came Ginny could go to the library and get a head start on her homework, and look up what it was on. The class was generally just copying down endless notes and Ginny frequently found herself struggling to focus.

She couldn't forget how he looked right into her eyes. It was as if he was trying to figure her out. Ha. Good luck with that, Malfoy.

Walking out of her last class before lunch, Ginny saw Hermione walking swiftly ahead of her. Quickening her pace, she caught up with the older girl.

"Hey Hermione. I'm not gonna go to the Great Hall for lunch, so tell the others so Ron doesn't like freak out and start a search party. Okay?" Before Hermione could answer, Ginny was of at a full run toward the library.

"Looks like we just have a thing for running into each other. Don't we, Girl Weasel?"

The amusement in his voice incensed Ginny. Not bothering to look up, she attempted to slide past him. When he didn't acquiesce, Ginny shove harder against him and felt him move from the pressure. She stomped angrily past.

"Looks like someone's in a fit, aren't they?" came the taunting voice behind her.

"Bugger OFF, Malfoy," she growled, and with that she sprinted off, not exactly in the mood for any more verbal banter with the self-proclaimed Prince of Slytherin.

Less then a minute later she skidded to a stop in front of the library. Pushing open the doors, she hurried to a table in the corner. No one sat there, and no one would dare bug her lest they be castrated or, in the case they were female, severely bitch-slapped.

Most of the people who were usually at the library knew not to bug Ginny when she had a pile of books in front of her. For the few that didn't know, they got a small taste of her anger.

In the Great Hall

"So where's Gin, Ron?" Harry asked through a mouthful of food.

"What?" Ron wasn't terribly articulate.

"She's not here." Harry continued a little impatiently.

"WHAT?" Clearly Ron hadn't taken the news well.

"Swallow your food before talking, Ron," Hermione admonished.

Ron swallowed. "What do you mean Gin isn't here? She sits at the other end of the table, right?"

Harry looked to the other end of the table. Ginny's usual seat between Colin and her other friends was empty. "She's not there."

Hermione let this conversation go on for awhile before butting in.

"She went to the library. She told me 'cause she didn't want to you freak and start a search party. I get the idea she thinks you're a major pain or something. You are kind of overprotective."

Hermione finished her spiel. Harry and Ron gaped just at her, before they regained their ability to speak.

"What?" Ron asked, beginning to turn a shade of his characteristic purple.

"WHAT does she think I am?"

"A major pain," Hermione answered, somewhat oblivious to her tactlessness. "You are kind of a head case sometimes."

Across the Great Hall Draco looked over at Ron. "Looks like the Barbarian is pissed about something." he commented to Goyle, who gave a grunting laugh.

"I better leave before the place explodes," he continued, eager to leave. Pansy and Blaise weren't here to talk to and he was bored. They're probably shagging like rabbits somewhere in the dormitory, he thought sardonically.

Goyle didn't answer. Draco rolled his eyes as he got up and walked out of the Great Hall. After the initial few minutes, nobody even noticed he had left.

Draco made his way to the library.

It the only place were no would bug him, and as little as he liked studying, he could use some solitude right now.

Those who were there when he was knew to leave him alone in little corner, and he enjoyed the power he had over them.

Once he entered the library, out of custom he walked to his corner and sat down. It took him a while to figure out that some one else was sitting with him. The first thing he noticed was long blinding, (yet not altogether unpleasant) red hair.

It took while for his brain to register what he just thought, and who the person was. "You are in my seat, Weasel." he hissed.

Ginny looked up and almost jumped to see Draco Malfoy sitting in front of her. "Your seat?" she challenged.

"Yes," Draco said magnanimously. "So you can run along and play little games with your Gryffindor friends. Goodbye." There, he thought, that was relatively pleasant, wasn't it?

She looked over the chair. "I don't see your name on it," she said with a smirk. Draco's head shot up. Was she laughing at him?

It certainly looked like it. Her eyes were bright, and they sparkled with mirth.

"Your name isn't on it," he said, leaning over the table closer to her and fixing his half-lidded eyes on her

Ginny looked into his eyes. They were very nice eyes, she had to admit. They looked like the ocean that the Weasleys had visited in the South of France after a storm, yet in the light, they looked almost silver.

"For you information, my name is on this chair." she grinned at him, as she flipped the chair over. On the bottom, carved into the wood read: "Ginevra Rose Weasley."

Draco laughed. Ginny was bit surprised, but tried not to look too shocked.

The only thing even remotely close to a smile from Malfoy that she had seen on his face was a smirk, and those usually were designed to intimidate.

"Looks like the big bad Malfoy knows how to laugh, huh?" Ginny asked, snickering but blushing despite himself. He was kind of cute when he smiled.

Draco cocked his head and looked at her and his eyes grew cold. The smile was gone as suddenly as it had come.

She doesn't even break eye contact, like most people do under my gaze.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked neutrally, but Ginny could detect an icy undertone.

Ginny returned his glare. It was back to square one, apparently.

"Usually your too cold-hearted and so sure of your self that you are the most intimidating person in Hogwarts. People fear you." She looked at him squarely in the eye. "And I don't mean that in a good way."

Draco just looked at her strangely. He opened his mouth to insult her, then shut it quickly.

"Run out of insults Draco?" Ginny asked tauntingly sneering despite herself.

She didn't know how he did it and likely wouldn't ever know, but before she could move she was trapped between the bookshelf and Malfoy's unsettlingly close body.

"You act so bold around me," he murmured silkily. "Are you really that bold? Do you really think that I wouldn't be able to kill you if provoked?"

Ginny's throat constricted, and the bottom fell out of her world. "I'm not afraid of you," she choked out, paralyzed with terror by the likeness of this situation to her interaction with Tom Riddle years ago.

"Then you're a fool, Weasley. You should be."

He assumed a seemingly casual position, placing a hand next to her neck and leaning on it, but the close proximity still intimidated Ginny beyond belief.

He smirked deliciously at her, and Ginny, despite herself, felt a pang of latent desire course through her before she willed herself to stop.

"You're growing up, Weasley." He tugged on one of her red curls and his mouth slashed into a grin.

He moved himself a little bit closer. Ginny was helpless to resist, and knew that she couldn't deny that a part of her enjoyed his nearness.

His lips were nearly upon hers now, but he stopped himself just inches away.

Ginny's questioning eyes fixated upon his, and she saw him grin.

"I could kiss you right now," he said, his voice dropping an octave to a delicious growl. "I could kiss you, and you'd like it." And then he grinned at her. "But I won't. Not just yet."

And with that, he turned and swept out of the library, leaving a shaken and unsatisfied Ginny behind him.

In a twisted sort of stupor, Ginny went through the remaining classes of the day, preoccupied by the events that occurred in the library. She was left a little scared, and as much as she hated to admit it, with a newfound crush on the sarcastic Slytherin.

That night, as Ginny attempted to sleep, she found it harder than she thought. Her mind was still filled with thoughts of Malfoy's breath of her face as he leaned in closer.

Slowly, and not without a trace of giddiness, she slipped off to sleep.

Next Morning-

Ginny was awakened to an owl pecking her arm.

"Ow." Ginny pulled her arm away and shoved the unruly bird away. Refusing to be spurned, it repeatedly pecked her until she finally got up and retrieved the note from its beak.

It took a while for her eyes to adjust, but soon she could see the owl clearly. It was one of those fancy eagle owls that only seriously rich people could afford.

'Malfoy' Ginny thought. Ginny untied the scroll and read the letter eagerly.

Weasel-
Meet me today. Same place, same time.
-DM

Ginny wrote a terse response, confirming she would be there and tied it back on the owl's leg.

"Give it to him at breakfast," she instructed the owl firmly. Ginny could have sworn the owl nodded before it flew off. Ginny smiled. Maybe this year wasn't going to be spent hiding in the shadows of the golden trio.