A/N: A little late, I know, I'm very sorry. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and new year, and I hope you enjoy this.

I apologize for the version of this chapter I had out for the previous few days. It had a line break in the wrong spot, and was missing punctuation because I guess fanfiction's document manager thought it would be fun to get rid of all my punctuation that was in quotes.So I fixed that, I hope, but it also isn't letting me double space, or indent...if anyone knows howI can get this to work, please, please tell me, I would greatly appreciate it!

Disclaimer: Check chapter 1.

Ginny rolled over in bed, only a dazed remembrance of what had happened to her the night before. She tried sitting up, her head hurt a little, but mostly she was fine. Ginny almost felt happy, but she wasn't quite sure why.

Thinking for a moment, Ginny recalled what had transpired. She collapsed, and he...he had saved her. Ginny closed her eyes. She tried to take herself back to how it felt being carried in his arms. Wonderful. But it was something else, more than Draco's arms...more than the way he laid her in his bed.

Ginny looked down at herself. Draped over her, besides the many covers, were Draco's jacket and sweatshirt. She sat up, and pulled his sweatshirt on. It was so big and comfortable over her slight frame. She breathed in deeply, and licked her lips. The scent seemed to reawaken her. Oh, she knew now.

He had kissed her.

She smiled, wrapping her oversized sweatshirt arms around herself. It was so nice, how could she have forgotten? Ginny got up, and looked at herself in the mirror. She smiled at the sight of herself in his sweatshirt. God, it smelled so good.

Quietly, Ginny opened the door and walked tentatively to the other room, a finger to her lips as if trying to see if they felt any different. "Hi," she said lowly as she saw Draco sitting on the couch in front of the fire.

He mumbled something Ginny assumed was a greeting, and she went to sit down next to him. He made no movement. "How are you feeling?"

"Better..." Ginny picked at a loose thread on the blanket she had pulled over herself. "Warmer."

Draco nodded but still hadn't looked at her.

"Thanks for bringing me back." She thought of how he had climbed into bed with her. How he tucked her in, and held her hand. The way his lips felt against hers... "And well...for..."

His voice was dry. "Well what else was I supposed to do?"

Ginny breathed in deeply, not holding back an annoyed huff. "You could have left me. You didn't. Thank you."

"Damn right you should thank me," he muttered.

Ginny's insides froze and she felt that familiar cold feeling come creeping back up her chest into her ribcage and then frosting up her lungs. "Excuse me?" She choked out.

"I said," Draco snarled, ignoring Ginny's hard stare as he glared into the fire, "You are damn right. Which is more than I can say for 99 percent of the time you open your mouth."

The happiness she had felt before drained out of her. "You're right, Draco, I am right in thanking you. But is it so hard for you to offer a simple you're welcome in return?"

He laughed bitterly and finally turned to meet her gaze. "No," he said slowly. "No, Weasley, you're not welcome to me saving you from you're idiocy. In fact you won't find yourself so lucky if another situation—"

"I was cold! I—"

"If another situation arises—"

"I collapsed! Is that—?"

"Where you are so moronic to l—"

Ginny jumped up in rage. "IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND? I WAS HELPL—"

Draco laughed. He stood up, and laughed at her. "Helpless. Helpless. Why is it you were helpless again?" Ginny's lower lip trembled slightly, and she bit down on it. Hard. "Because you didn't stay with me, Weasley. You thought you were better than me, so you went on your own." In his eyes there was a darkness, a sense of superiority, and something evil lurking inside him. "Idiot," he said.

Ginny put a hand over her mouth. She suddenly couldn't believe she let it touch his. She couldn't believe he could talk to her like this, couldn't believe she thanked him, or that she ever, ever thought she could actually not hate him. Because she did. She hated him.

"Don't you ever assume that you're better than me, Weasley." He laughed. "The next time that you act like such a moron that you think you're better than me, I guarantee you will die from it."

There were two beats of ringing silence following this statement in which Ginny never broke contact with this person, whom she did not want to know anymore, standing in front of her. Her voice quivered as she spoke. "When being a better person means leaving someone to die because it benefits yourself," she gritted her teeth, "then I swear to god Malfoy, I will kill myself instead of having to see that happen."

Shaking, Ginny stood up and calmly walked into the bedroom. She paused at the door. "Happy Christmas Draco." Then slammed it shut.

"Damn it," Draco muttered as hestared at the closed door. It glared back at him. "Shit."

He muttered a few more colorful words as he heard Ginny's muffled sobs escape through the door.

He didn't really know why he blew up at her. On Christmas. Merlin, he forgot. He had strong suspicion it was because he was trying to pretend he wasn't having all these feelings for her. He was trying to pretend he could just avoid telling her about the death eaters the more he fought with her. Trying to pretend that he was unaware of how much he adored kissing her last night.

And how much he wanted to do it again.

Draco took a step closer to the door, groaned and whirled around running his hands through his hair. This was Ginny. He couldn't be acting like this. She pissed the hell out of him. He walked across the room and sat down at the table. He hated her. Well for the most part. He put his head in his hands. He didn't really hate the way she bit her lip whenever she was nervous. That bit was kind of cute.

"Stop it," he muttered, banging his head against the table. What normal guy wouldn't want to kiss her again? She was beautiful. Guys just like kissing pretty girls. There's nothing wrong with that. She was annoying, and too damn innocent for him to actually like her. Draco picked his head up off the table, looking out the frosted window. He could chalk this all up to male instinct. And he would. He did. He didn't like her. But in spite of coming to this conclusion, Draco's legs were carrying him to a place where he still wasn't quite sure what he was doing there.

Draco held up an arm, and made a fist. He brought it close to the bedroom door. His knuckles had just brushed the wood surface, when the door swung open.

Draco opened his mouth about to say something but abruptly closed it at the look on Ginny's face. "You," she said with pure loathing as if she had been expecting to see someone else when she opened the door. "I figured you had left. I was coming out to steal all the food." She was no longer wearing his sweatshirt, but her golden-brown sweater.

Draco's arm was still in the air, prepared to knock and when he realized this he quickly dropped it. "Where would I have gone?"

"I hoped you would have gotten so pissed that you'd leave to try to find a way out and leave me here. And when that failed, and it would have," her eyes, red from crying, glared daggers at him, "you would have come back and all the food would be gone." She seemed pleased with this plan, and with a sick smile she added, "And then you would die." She looked considerably happier.

Draco nodded. "And then I would have come in the bedroom and stolen it back."

Ginny shook her head, looking angry again. "Well I would have locked the door."

Draco swallowed. "Right." They stared at each other for another moment. This was the weirdest conversation he'd ever had with her, especially after a huge fight. And those seemed to happen frequently. She was still standing in the doorway.

So was he.

He was four inches from her face.

He swallowed again. Three inches.

Ginny licked her lips. Two inches.

He put a hand to her face, curled a piece of hair behind her ear, and leaned up against her. He breathed deeply. They were less than an inch apart. "I'm sorry," he whispered against her ear, and Ginny's breath hitched.

She opened her mouth to say something but he didn't give a damn. He didn't care. He didn't want to hear it. For one moment, he felt his lips brush against hers. And in the next moment he was knocked backwards with impressive force.

"Don't," Ginny snapped. She looked ready to kill.

Draco steadied himself. "What the hell was that for?" he yelled.

"I don't want you to ever put your mouth on mine, ever again, Malfoy."

Draco groaned, rubbing his forehead. "It's just a kiss, Weasley, not an effing life commitment."

"I don't care! You took advantage of me last night, and I don't want you to do it again!"

Draco's mouth dropped. "You make it sound like we did it, Weasley. I kissed you. You kissed me. You're not pregnant are you?"

Ginny laughed dryly. "Ha ha. Very funny. I think it's so hilarious that you acted like you didn't remember kissing me last night when I talked to you this morning, and now when you want to kiss me again, you'll jolly well discuss it! You think you can always get what you want!"

Draco ran his hands through his hair, "What is it with you? You are the most infuriating woman I've ever met! I save your life, and you throw a huge fit and run out of the room, then I come to apologize to you, and you think I'm taking advantage of you!"

"Oh, you're so noble, Draco! You didn't even mean that apology, you just wanted to kiss me again!"

"What!" Draco threw his hands in the air. "Don't flatter yourself, the apology was not any ploy to kiss you, Weasley. You were standing close to me, it was instinct."

"Oh, instinct, is that all? And was that it last night too? Instinct?"

He shrugged. "Yeah," he said easily.

For a moment, she looked completely deflated. "Fine," she mumbled, holding her head up. "Good, try to resist your instincts from now on, okay?" She walked over to the kitchen cabinet and rummaged through it.

He stayed rooted to the spot. He still hadn't moved by the time Ginny had found what she was looking for and walked back into the bedroom, a bag of chips clutched in her hand. She looked at him, shook her head and had almost slammed the door in his face again, but she stopped midway.

"What? What is it? You look possessed."

Draco wanted to snap at her, but he knew that every time he did wasn't going to make him not have to tell her, he was just prolonging it. His eyes flew to hers.

"What?" Color drained from her face. "What is it? This isn't about...last night, or just now, is it?"

Draco shook his head. "No, Ginny. It's...slightly worse."

Ginny put the chips on the dresser, and wiped her palms against her jeans. He knew he was making her nervous, but it was nothing compared to how she'd be in a few moments. She walked back into the other room. "Well, what is it then? No more firewood or something?"

"No."

"Well, what?" Ginny snapped.

Christ, she was annoying. He licked his lips. "There's...something you don't know."

He saw the irritation flicker out of her eyes. It was replaced with something new, something he wasn't sure of. "Is it...Is it bad?" And then he realized, it was fear.

She chewed on her bottom lip.

It was becoming steadily harder for Draco to look into her eyes. She was so full of innocence, and though she had experienced the impact of death eaters and Voldemort with her family and through her brother's death she had never known what it was like to be directly threatened by him. To be his direct target. Draco realized the second he told her it was going to change everything. And for just one more moment, he wanted her to not know.

"Yes, Ginny," he said.

"How bad?" She searched his eyes, and through his pained expression she must have read it. "It's...Voldemort, isn't it?" Her voice quavered slightly as she uttered the name. It took Draco a moment to realize he still wasn't speaking. "We're not going to win this if you don't tell me," she whispered.

"I don't think we're going to win, Ginny."

Ginny raised her chin with determination. She took a step closer to him. He could breathe her in. "Yes," she said steadily. "We are."

Draco was so amazed that she could just turn into this new person, devoid of fears, that he forgot what he was about to tell her. It was almost impossible, how many layers she was comprised of. He shook his head, he had been living with her for days, but he was only just beginning to learn her.

Draco suddenly couldn't take it anymore, he just wanted to tell her; he just wanted it to be over with. "When we were trying to escape," he said slowly, "I came across an entire campsite of death eaters."

"Death eaters," Ginny repeated numbly.

"I saw them yesterday."

"Yesterday." She licked her lips. "An entire campsite of death eaters. You—I mean, you're sure?"

He nodded.

Ginny staggered backwards slightly. Her back hit the cold wall, and she sank to the floor. Blankly, she stared at the other side of the cabin. Draco sat down next to her.

"Was Voldemort there?"

"I didn't see him."

Ginny felt a hot swoop of anger, knowing he knew whether he saw him or not. Her voice came out harshly. "Was he there, Malfoy?"

He said nothing for a long time, almost a minute until finally, closing his eyes he said lowly, "Yes, Ginny."

Draco heard the sound of her head rolling against the wood to face him. "He wants us dead, doesn't he?" her voice was dry as she bore her gaze into him with haunted eyes.

Malfoy breathed in sharply, looking away. When he went to open his mouth he found his voice was raw.

Wordlessly Ginny turned away.

She had already known the answer.

There was a cold air in the cabin. Draco and Ginny could both feel it. This air was not the result of the weather, as was usually the case. This cold, dead air was the knowledge that every minute that passed brought them closer to what was seemingly looking more and more inevitable to them.

Ginny had herself locked up in the bedroom since her talk with Draco. She hadn't moved from his bed. She stared at the ceiling. She counted the cracks. 73. She squinted, 74.

She rolled over, and sobbed.

On the opposite side of the door, Draco lit a fire. He stood up and looked around; taking in the environment he had tried to create. The moth-eaten bed sheets he had found in the back of the closet spilled over the table like a waterfall. The addition of the two candles he had pulled out from underneath the sink gave the room an orange glow that with the fire, already seemed to warm up some of the stale air he had felt before.

He even had to stare almost happily at the two bowls of steaming tomato soup he had heated over the stove. The wafting aroma seemed to liven up the house a bit more, and that with the water-filled champagne glasses he had found in the cabinet over the sink, added a nice touch.

Draco walked over to the door where he could hear her crying. He walked in, not bothering to knock, because he had done that before, and she hadn't answered.

Ginny sat upright, and wiped furiously at her eyes. "Get out," she whispered.

"I have to show you something."

"Oh, what now?" She snarled. "Is Voldemort standing at the front door?" Draco said nothing. Ginny shook her head. "Sorry, I...I shouldn't have...that was..."

"I don't care," he said. "Get up."

Ginny considered him. "I really don't feel like it," she said wearily.

"I don't care," he said again. "Come on, Ginny."

She sighed, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Fine," she mumbled. He led her out of the bedroom.

He walked over to the table, not daring to turn around to see her reaction. Draco knew she was well in the room by now, he could feel her near him, but he still heard no sound from her. He turned to find her a few steps behind him. In a half trance, she stared at what was in front of her.

"Draco...this..." Her chocolate eyes were so wide. "I can't believe..." She took a few steps closer, and fingered the red and green sheets he had draped as tablecloths. She swallowed hard. "Oh my god..."

"It's not much," he muttered. "I mean, it's not Christmas dinner with your family. But it's— "

Ginny had lurched forward, her eyes shining, grasping him in a hug. "Thank you, Draco." He didn't really know what to do, having never been hugged like this before. He only had sense enough to lightly hold her, before she let go. "I mean it," she said, as she sat down. "Thank you."

Draco said nothing, but merely sat down too. He watched apprehensively, as Ginny tried the soup. He briefly wondered if there had been an expiration date on that can.

"Mmm," Ginny closed her eyes as she brought the spoon to her mouth. "This is delicious, Draco."

He laughed. He knew she was lying. "It's only soup."

"But you made it," she said. "And I think it's marvelous."

The flickering light of the candle was reflecting in her eyes. It gave them this caramel color he loved. Draco held up the champagne glass. "Happy Christmas, Ginny."

She tilted her head to the side, as though trying to decide whom this stranger across from her was. She laughed a little, and nodded, clinking her glass with his. "Happy Christmas, Draco."

And though it was only water, Ginny decided nothing she had ever sipped before had tasted so deliciously wonderful.