A/N Hello dear readers. I am so glad that people have been enjoying this story. I've made this update shorter than the other in an attempt to make it easier to read in one sitting, but I will also try to update the next chapter faster in return. I will be responding to reviews on my bio page, so if you care what I think about what you think, feel free to visit. Without further ado, enjoy the second chapter.
Cheers, Shadow

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Every other day, Ginny listened to Draco's journal entries. The more she got to know him, the closer she felt to him. Her dreams of him grew much more vivid. They were always similar. She stood just outside the walls that surrounded him, but now she could hear him as well as seeing him, muttering to himself about keeping himself protected, screaming—sometimes wordlessly, sometimes not—a few times she heard him singing to himself. He had a lovely baritone. As she had the dreams, Ginny began to be able to see patterns in them. She was able to judge how Draco would act the next day. Only on the few nights the walls were made of water, was she able to reach him at all. He could hear her voice on those nights. He knew that she was the presence he had felt before. Ginny sensed that he couldn't hear her voice as she heard his; he was only getting a whisper of sound, but he felt what she said in his mind. If she willed as hard as she could, he could sometimes she her through the water as a vague shape, and very rarely she could touch him for a moment.

It was these dreams that shaped the present Ginny made for Draco. She had read about it in her studies on dreams and linked magic. Ginny knew that it would be difficult to make. Only a few wizards and witches had been successful, but somehow, Ginny felt that she could do this. She found the spell and the procedure in the oldest book she had researched. Ginny was surprised that the book was not in the restricted section considering the difficult nature of the magic contained within it, but perhaps the teachers figured no student would be able to pull these spells off, and most weren't harebrained enough to try. Some of the ingredients would be difficult to obtain, but Ginny knew just the two red-headed twins to obtain them for her. It was lucky she had been doing some experimental work for their shop. They wouldn't question her need for some of the more interesting items.

It took Ginny the better part of January to procure her ingredients. She had little time remaining and only one chance to get the spell right. Fortunately, it could be done in an hour if the book was to be believed. The day before Draco's birthday was difficult. Ginny had trouble concentrating. She would try the spell tonight. If she didn't have success, she would just have to rely on the usual methods to reach Draco. He had been her potions partner that day. If he expected hostility and snarky remarks, he didn't get them. Although Harry and Ron kept throwing him warning looks, she and Draco worked together in perfect harmony. They were the first ones done, and their potion was the most successful. When Seamus' and Neville's cauldron didn't blow up, Draco even unbent enough to congratulate them. Seamus ignored him, but Neville gave him a genuine smile and thanked him. Draco looked surprised. So surprised in fact that he didn't react to Ron's comment about being wary of snakes in the grass. Ginny was so angry at her brother that she actually looked at Draco brazenly and told him, in a voice gauged to carry just far enough to Ron's ears, not to mind Ron because he was just jealous. Draco's eyes widened and a trace of a real smile teased the edges of his lips. He had a hint of mischief in his eyes when he responded.

"Well, Miss Weasley, coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment." He left Ron to figure out just what he meant by that, although he winked engagingly at Ginny.

All these things ran through Ginny's mind as she set out to make Draco's present. It was about 10:45 when she left the common room in Harry's cloak and hurried toward the Room of Requirement. Everything was already set up there, since she had visited the room earlier in the day. She seated herself before the grade A silver cauldron that shone as the centerpiece of the spell. This had been the hardest apparatus to acquire without uncomfortable questions. This type of cauldron was usually only used in very serious and advanced spells from the ancient books. It had actually been Luna who had procured this item for Ginny. Luna hadn't even asked her what it was for—she just smiled knowingly—which was maddening because with Luna that could mean anything. Ginny took a steadying breath and closed her eyes. Each of the ingredients would enter the cauldron at a certain time, and with a certain motion. Special words were to be said over each ingredient. She knew the entire spell inside out. An hour later, her present for Draco sat before her in a raw lump. It was time to find the shape of it.

In some ways, this was the hardest part of her work on Draco's present. The form had to embody him and his true spirit.

She ran her fingers gently over the surface of the spell. It was warm like a living thing, and responded to her touch with a humming noise not unlike a purr. Ginny decided at that moment to let the spell take its own shape. She closed her eyes, took the gently pulsing magic in her hands, and thought of Draco with the same focused clarity that allowed her to tap into his journal. She thought of his icy exterior and the immense self-control he exuded. Then she thought of the few times she heard him laugh, and the depth his journal entries revealed.

Then she shifted the focus to herself. She kept in mind memories of how she felt about Draco and her times with the twins and Luna. Those were the times that she felt most like herself.

When she opened her eyes, she held a perfectly formed satin-smooth teardrop in one of her hands. The color was astounding. At times it looked clear, but a small movement sent swirls of blues and greens spinning throughout the crystal before going back to icy clear again. In the other hand she held a fiery spiky gem, flecked with gold that seemed to burn and glisten contrary to the way the light shone on it. Ginny looped a black ribbon around the fiery stone and braided it into her hair, where it only served to accent the tousled flaming strands. For the teardrop she fashioned a necklace from silver and black leather, which she had brought for that purpose. Ginny certainly had reason to thank her Wizard Arts teacher, who had taken the extra time this month to teach Ginny the ways of making beautiful jewelry that could withstand having a close magical source nearby. Dean, always a quiet and hopeless romantic, had helped her with the design of the setting for the necklace with Draco's tastes in mind.

Wearily, Ginny cleaned up the remnants of the spell and put the leftover components tidily in the cauldron. She knew if she needed it again, she would be able to find it here. She had labeled this room as Ginny's Workroom, and very few people would need to find it enough to get the Room of Requirement to pull it up. Besides, there wasn't much in here to broadcast that this was a witch's workroom. She left without trouble, and tiredly made her way to the owlery, where she found Draco's eagle owl sleepily settling down. He turned out to be a sensible bird, and hooted his agreement to deliver this present tomorrow. With that last detail taken care of, Ginny managed to make her way to her bed and sleep. She didn't even remember closing her eyes.

The next day, Ginny was up early and nervous. She viewed breakfast with trepidation. No one really noticed though because Ginny was usually quiet at meal times. Luna read during breakfast and the boys were often occupied with last minute homework. Ginny had to force herself not to stare over at the Slytherin table. When the flap of wings came, she jumped because she was so tense. With all of the commotion the mail brought, Ginny felt safe to turn her full attention over to Draco. The first thing she saw was that her package was not the only one that Draco had received that morning by owl.

The first package he opened contained the latest racing broom, the Firebolt 9.0. There was much oohing and ahhing over that, but Draco was frowning at the card and didn't look very pleased. She noticed that he and Dumbledore exchanged a look across the room. The other packages seemed to contain a multitude of chocolate frogs. Ginny could tell from Draco's exasperated but fond expression that they were from his mother, who had either forgotten about her son's allergies, or was sending him a message to watch his health. Crabbe and Goyle were practically wagging their tails in anticipation. Then he came to Ginny's package, and everything drifted away except for him. Ginny had to remind herself to breath several times as he stared at the card. It had been difficult to decide what to put, but Ginny had settled with 'She who once touched your face in the forest and stands just outside your dreams at night.' She knew that was somewhat cryptic and vague, but fairly accurate given the situation.

Draco carefully refolded the card and laid it gently to the side. He carefully unwrapped the stone amulet from the black silk in which she had draped it. His expression was a study. He stood up with the necklace and the card nestled in one hand, and picked up the rest of his presents. He then walked toward the waste bin, trailing a group of confused Slytherins.

Draco was going to throw the damn present away. Ginny felt the anger building up inside of her, but it was short-lived. He wasn't throwing her gift away; he was tossing all of the others. He dumped them, latest racing broom and all, into the waste bin. Crabbe and Goyle immediately fell to, digging out the chocolates Draco's mother sent. Blaise held himself back for a moment and then reached for the racing broom, which disappeared before he even touched it. Draco didn't even turn around. Ginny's eyes remained on Draco while everyone else watched Crabbe and Goyle make spectacles of themselves. Therefore, it was only Ginny who saw Draco smile as he put the amulet around his neck. In that moment, she learned more about him than she had ever learned from listening to his diary. She now knew why Draco always sneered. His smile gave him away. It lit his face in a way that would have told everyone not to take him completely at face value. Draco Malfoy had a sweet smile.

That evening, Ginny put the correspondence stone under her pillow. She didn't know if this would work, but she was willing to give it a try. The only way she was going to meet the real Draco and be able to talk to him was if she could sneak in behind his walls. The stones would work as long as Draco had his stone somewhere in the same room. It would work even better if it was touching his skin, but Ginny thought that might be too much to hope.

She lay down and entered the trance described in the ancient book that had been so helpful to her. It wasn't long before she saw the wall. Only this time, she was inside of it. Tonight it was made of blue flames. She turned slowly round and found herself face to face with Draco, who was looking searchingly at her. She knew he couldn't really see her features. This was his dream after all, and he didn't know who she was.

"You came."

"Yes."

They stood for a moment, staring at one another, until Ginny reached out and gently touched his face. He closed his eyes for a second, then reached up and took her hand, leading her to a comfortable seat. The dream environment was a strange mixture of luxury and nature. It was outside, but there was furniture and the temperature felt perfect. Ginny sat curled up against Draco like a cat, basking in the feeling of being so close to him, even in a dream. Draco began to talk. She could hear his voice rumbling up through his body, intertwining with his heartbeat, which gave his words a rhythmic backbeat. He told her things about him that weren't even in the diary entries she had heard. She could tell that he had held these things inside himself for a very long time. Some of the things he told her were horrible. Things about his father and how he had treated his wife and son. How Narcissa had loved her husband blindly, managing to ignore the fact that he didn't really love her. Draco was not so blind. He hated his father, and yet still admired him. There were many good qualities in Lucius Malfoy that had been twisted and warped in his service to Voldemort. Draco also did not hold that his mother was perfect. She was not strong. She hadn't been able to love her son as much as she loved his father. When Draco needed her after his father's imprisonment, she had just shut down. Ginny was amazed that Draco wasn't terribly bitter about this, but he had forgiven his mother long ago because he recognized her weaknesses. He smiled and said that it had become easy to forgive her for not being perfect as he realized how many faults he had himself.

They sat for a while in silence when Draco finished speaking. Then he turned to her and kissed her gently on the cheek, just a brush of warmth against her face.

"Thank you. I really needed to talk to someone…"

Ginny opened her eyes, Hermione still tugging on her hair to wake her up. Her cheek tingled. Ginny sighed and looked at Hermione.

"You can bloody stop pulling my hair out. I'm awake."