Disclaimer: No I don't own any of the HP characters. If I did I wouldn't be writing on fanfic...duh!

Chapter 8: Forbidden Territory

Ginny slowly made her way back to her common room in no hurry to confront her angry brother and the rest of the 'Dream Team' who no doubt would have heard about the little scene with Malfoy by now. It was an hour after he had left her and yet his words echoed in her head, 'No Virginia Weasley, you are so much more.' Ginny wondered what he meant by those words. Had it been anyone else she would have thought it a possibility that he was interested in her. But it was Draco Malfoy.

So deeply was Ginny lost in thought that she walked several steps past the portrait of the Fat lady before she realized. Retracing her steps she muttered the password, "Phoenix feather" before taking a deep breath and entering her common room. All heads swivelled in her direction as though she was a magnet and Ginny noticed that their stares were far from friendly. Taking another deep breath, head held high, she strode through the common room making for the stairs that led to her dorm. She was hardly surprised when a voice from behind her bellowed,

"Stop right there Ginny!"

Ginny stopped and turned around unwillingly wanting nothing more than to be left alone. She knew what was coming; she'd been on the receiving end of it many times. Ron was going to lose his temper and yell till his voice was hoarse, and then he would shake his head; say how disappointed he was with her. Ginny felt her temper flare up at Ron. Half the time he acted as though she wasn't there and the other half he tried to control her life.

'That's not true' said a small voice in the back of her head, 'what about the other day when he said he was worried about you'. But Ginny was not in the mood to listen to that small voice. She watched as Ron stormed up to her, his face as red as his hair.

"Don't." She said softly and menacingly. Ron stopped a few paces away from her and stared, shocked at her tone. He opened his mouth to reply but Ginny cut him off first, "Just don't."

With that she turned and walked to her dorm, picked up her back with all her school stuff and walked back down, passing a still stunned Ron, and made her way out of the common room and to the library.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Draco berated himself. 'What were you thinking? Or were you even thinking at all? Why not just go back out there and drown yourself in the lake? You might as well 'cos if your dad even hears rumours about what you said you're as good as dead. Draco paced back and forth in his room muttering to himself. Luckily, being a prefect he had his own room where no one would barge in on the slightly crazed slytherin.

"No Virginia, you are so much more." He said to himself. "Next thing you know I'll be buying her flowers and giving her heart shaped chocolates for Valentine's" he said sickened with himself. Draco sighed roughly and sat on the edge of his bed tired of pacing. He wondered why he had said it. He hadn't meant it, it had just slipped out. At first Draco thought that it was because he felt sorry for her, sorry for all the shit she had to go through because of his blasted father. But then he realized that that was not the real reason. He liked her. God only knew how this had happened, but he liked her. A Malfoy liked a Weasley. Draco laughed humourlessly at the irony of it.

Now that he had admitted it to himself though, the question was what to do about it. He knew that it wasn't possible for them to be an item. No one would allow it. So he did the only thing he knew how and locked his newly found emotions away as far from his heart as possible. Angry with himself for letting it come to this he grabbed his school bag and made his way to the library to get some homework out the way.

"Ronald Weasley, you calm down this instant!" Hermione ordered earning herself a glare from Ron that would have made even Voldemort flinch. Hermione simply ignored it and carried on, "There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation as to what Malfoy was doing in the Ginny's dormitory at 10.30 in the morning." Hermione paused, "Okay maybe not. But Ginny is old enough to make her own decisions as to who she wants to go out with." She said quickly changing course after realizing a vital flaw in her argument.

"Not Malfoy. No slytherins" Breathed Ron.

"I've got to agree with Ron." Said Harry, shifting slightly under the vicious glare Hermione sent in his direction. "It can't be healthy for her to be in his company and come to think of it this really isn't like Ginny at all, I mean -"

"A spell!" Ron shouted in triumph "It's a spell, that's why she's acting so funny."

"Ron..." said Hermione in a patronizing tone, "Do you really think Malfoy could have Ginny under a love spell without even Dumbledore knowing?"

Ron's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Well...no....I guess not." He mumbled before sighing, "I guess there's only one thing we can do. Hermione, I hate to ask this of you but...we need to search Ginny's room, find out why she's acting so odd."

"I most certainly will not!" said Hermione angrily. "That's invasion of privacy. Sorry Ron but I will not go snooping through Ginny's belongings and if you intend to do it I want no part of it." She finished before storming out of the common room in much the same way Ginny had earlier on. Ron turned to Harry,

"Can you believe her? After everything we've done for each other and she can't even do this small favour for me." He said outraged.

Harry shifted uncomfortably again. Privately he thought that Ron was going too far, but after remembering how he had felt during the fourth year when Ron had stopped talking to him, he decided not to say anything.

"I mean we've been through so much together. We've battled trolls, saved Sirius, fought Death Eaters... Women! Well if she won't do it, I will."

"Um...but Ron...the stairs..." Harry began feebly as Ron made his way to the opposite end of the common room from the dreaded stairs. Harry looked on in shock as Ron lowered his head, full of determination and charged across the room and up the stairs. As was to be expected the stairs transformed in to a slide but Ron had enough momentum to keep running until he reached the door and burst through. Harry stood stunned as Ron turned around with a grin on his face before waving and disappearing in to Ginny's dormitory.

At first Ron entered cautiously in case there should be another trap or any girls waiting to ambush him having heard him charging up the stairs. Seeing the room was empty, Ron looked around for what looked to be Ginny's part. He noticed a picture full of redheads on one dressing that he recognized to be his family and made his way over. He grinned at the family photo before noticing that Charlie was shaking his head, and Ginny was scowling at him. With a frown he turned away and slowly began searching the area not sure what he was looking for and making sure he left everything as it was. He opened the draw of her dressing table and looked inside, finding an assortment of things which included spare quills, some sweets from Honeydukes and what appeared to be a jewellery box. Carefully he lifted out the jewellery box and opened it. As was to be expected it was full of jewellery. He shut it and noticed that the box had a draw. Curious, he pulled it open and blinked several times before fully registering what was in it. A knife, several razor blades and a few bits of glass. Looking closely Ron noticed there was still a spot of red one of the bits of glass. Horrified, Ron stumbled backwards before tripping on the edge of a rug. He tumbled down and while getting up saw the speck of blood that Ginny had dropped in her haste to get away from Draco. Ron jumped up, still not fully understanding what he was seeing. He shut the box and put it back in the draw before closing it and running out the dorm and sliding down the stairs. At the bottom he quickly got to his feet and watched the slide transform back in to a staircase hiding any sign that he had been up.

Pale as a ghost, Ron walked over to Harry, oblivious of the stares from the rest of his house.

"Ron, what's wrong?" Harry asked looking concerned.

"Ginny." Ron whispered so softly that Harry barely heard. His eyes were slightly unfocused as though he still couldn't believe what he saw. And then he fainted.

A/N Whee!!! Another chappie done. Every chapter I seem to apologize for the delay but after the 25th June I will have sooo much time to write as the dreaded GCSE's have arrived and they don't finish till then. Anyway I hope that this chapter was worth the wait.

Time to say thankyou to lots of reviewers! So thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou!!!!!!

And can someone please tell me, what does OOC mean? Coz lots of ppl are writing it in reviews and as this is my first fic I don't have a clue what it means.

Ciao. Titchy