Howdy, all. Um… I know I said that I'd post another chapter quite a while ago, and then I totally failed to deliver. And I'm really sorry, because I hate it when the stories that I follow never get updated. I don't have any great excuses, like getting lost at sea or whatever. But here's the thing- it turns out that the website my friends and I run is a tremendous pain in the ass to keep organized, updated, and moderated. Who knew? Also, I play the cello, and after months of typing all damn day for Wordcandy, and then practicing my cello for what seems like hours, my fingers actually WENT ON STRIKE, demanding shorter hours and better pay. So instead of finishing this chapter, they've just been lying around, eating junk food and watching the phenomenal Veronica Mars, and it was only with the help of your very kind reviews and threatening e-mails that I convinced them to come back to work at all.

As always, please remember that this story is not OOTP-compatible, none of the characters are mine, and that I continue to be sincerely grateful to everyone for reading and responding. Thanks!

Chapter Thirteen

It all happened so fast.

One minute, Ginny was innocently standing there, exchanging a little light gossip with a portrait. The next, she was bewildered to find herself spun round, hissed at, manhandled, and dragged off toward parts unknown, yanked along willy-nilly by Draco's grip on her wrist.

Yep, Ginny had no idea what the hell was going on, but three things were clear: A) Draco was not happy, B) his anger seemed to be directed at her hair, if the look of pure rage directed at her newly shorn locks was any indication, although it was far more likely that he wanted to interrogate her about whether or not she'd told anyone about their misadventure, and C) much as she hated to admit it, she was still blushing up a storm at the sight of him.

Well, this is a depressing development, Ginny reflected glumly, as she stumbled along in Draco's wake. Damn it, she really, really, really wanted to be over her unnatural, unrequited… thing for Draco Malfoy. Why did she always fall for the headcases? An image of Tom popped into her head, but Ginny shut down that train of thought with the ease of long practice. And to be fair, Harry wasn't a headcase, exactly. He just had an adrenaline addiction, a king-sized hero complex, and all the tact and social grace of a gorilla. Draco, though, was clearly a complete nutjob, albeit a spectacularly good-looking one, with an extremely talented mouth, the ability to tutor her through sixth-year potions, and a rather amusing sense of humor. It was clear that continued exposure was only going to make her feel even worse then she did already, Ginny told herself sternly. It was well past time to get over him.

Starting now. Sighing heavily, Ginny dug in her heels. If Draco was hell-bent on finding a quiet spot to interrogate her, the dark, gloomy hallway they were charging through (where the hell was she, anyway? Ginny didn't think she'd ever even seen this corridor) was plenty isolated enough. She'd just reassure him that she hadn't said a damn thing to anyone, hightail it back to Gryffindor tower, and get back to work at forgetting all about him.

Thrown off balance by her sudden resistance, Draco staggered a few steps to the side. But he recovered himself almost immediately, turning on her. "What the hell is your problem, Weasley?" he hissed at her.

Ginny blinked at him. She had a problem? Well, of course she had problems, but she couldn't think of any that Draco Malfoy would care about.

"When, exactly," Draco snapped, "did the littlest Weasley suddenly grow up? And might one enquire as to why?"

Draco's eyes were accusing, and Ginny felt like she was missing something important. Like the slightest clue as to what he was in such a snit about. "I… I just got a haircut," she said uncertainly. "I didn't tell anyone about you, or anything."

"Just a haircut, huh?" Draco said sarcastically. "And yet suddenly you're everywhere. Marching through the halls like you own them. Flirting with that Irish idiot." His eyes narrowed. "Did you cut your hair for him?"

"For Seamus?" Ginny was still too confused to be really angry, but anger was definitely on the horizon. Why on Earth would he care if she were flirting with Seamus? Not that she was, or anything. "No, of course not. Look, Malfoy-"

"So, not getting pretty for Finnegan, eh?" Draco interrupted icily. "Potter, then? Tell me, did he agree to put out if you hacked off that rat's nest? No? Who, then?" He was very white around the mouth. "Just curious, you understand. After all, such a drastic change certainly had nothing to do with me."

Anger was very close now- Ginny's voice was still level, but her brows were lowering. "I didn't cut my hair for anyone, Malfoy." She hesitated, and then decided to tell him the truth, despite the fact that he would undoubtedly have plenty to say about her clumsiness. "Actually, I accidentally, er, lit it on fire."

"You set it on fire?" Draco paused. Suddenly, he sounded a little off his stroke. "Well…. It looks absolutely terrible, I hope you know."

Ginny Weasley was not a particularly vain girl. She had worn her brother's hand-me-downs for six consecutive school years without complaint. She continued to obey her mother's archaic rules regarding makeup charms. When a stray spark had ruined her hair, the hair that had taken her six years to grow out, she had taken it in stride. But listening to Draco Malfoy, whose criminally beautiful mouth she had spent the past week resolutely putting out of her mind, helpfully point out that she looked hideous was simply not to be borne. Torn between slapping him, bursting into tears, and storming out, she finally settled on all three.

ooooo

From the moment he grabbed her arm in front of that portrait, Draco knew things were going to get ugly.

And they did. He wasn't sure exactly what he had set out to do, but he was pretty sure that dragging Ginny out to some random corridor and drilling her about her haircut and raving about the routes she took to class wasn't it. Draco knew he was making an ass of himself; he simply had no idea how to stop. He didn't even understand why he felt so terribly angry. He just knew that A) he wasn't happy, B) Ginny's hair was looking particularly pretty today, and C) for some reason, the sight of that Irish git leveling his oily grin at her made Draco feel like throwing up. Not being an introspective sort of young man, Draco had no idea where these strange, unpleasant feelings came from, but he was certain of one thing: they were definitely Ginny's fault.

It wasn't until his cheek was stinging- the girl had a hell of an arm- and he was watching her dash away from him for what seemed like the millionth time, that the faintest glimmer of understanding broke through to Draco. He didn't like Ginny running away from him, or other boys noticing her, or the feeling he got in his stomach when she ignored him. He did like pestering her when she was trying to finish her homework, and kissing her in his kitchen, and he hadn't investigated nearly enough of the slender curves hidden beneath her enormous, ragged school robes. But if he didn't like her ignoring him but he did like kissing her… then that meant his tactics were going to have change. And fast, because she was about to disappear around the corner.

"Wait!" Draco called out, his brain working furiously. "Weas- Ginny! Just… wait a minute, okay?" Not quite running, he charged after her.

Slowly, Ginny turned, trying to surreptitiously rub a sleeve across her eyes. She knew she was going to regret this, but curiosity had always been her besetting sin.

"Look," Draco began awkwardly. "I'm, uh, sorry about what I said about your hair. It looks…" he hesitated. "Passable."

Ginny stared. He had stopped her to apologize? And say her hair looked okay? After he had apologized?

Draco eyed her. She hadn't fallen into his arms yet. Perhaps he needed to go one step further. "And… you probably weren't flirting with Finnegan."

Ginny's jaw dropped. She wondered if possibly she'd hit her head somewhere and just failed to notice.

Still nothing on the arm-falling-into front. Draco was beginning to get a little antsy. He had never had to spell things out for girls- he just smiled at them and waited for them to approach him. Then when he got tired of them, he simply sent them on their way. But Weasley was being difficult. Well, there was nothing for it- he was going to have to go all-out. "Fine," he sighed, and laid his terms on the table. "Listen, Weasley. We're good together. We both know it. So we should be together, right?"

Ginny's mouth snapped shut. She was suddenly very pale. He couldn't mean that. She was hearing things, she must be. There was no way that Draco Malfoy actually wanted to date her- no way that he would risk the mockery of his housemates and the wrath of her brothers just to make a public statement of his interest in her, not unremarkable little Ginny Weasley, youngest and least impressive member of a family that he despised. Not Draco Malfoy….

"But no one can know about us, you understand?" Draco continued, clarifying matters.

A-ha, thought Ginny faintly. Of course he didn't really want to date her. It was just that she hadn't fallen at his feet, so now she was a challenge. Ginny had seen her brothers respond to similar ploys countless times. Draco didn't truly want her, he was just piqued that she hadn't thrown herself at him. It was strangely comforting to realize that Malfoy was still a bastard to the core, she reflected. It made her feel as though the world was still safely spinning in its orbit.

Unfortunately, Draco appeared to have taken her silence as assent, because suddenly he was kissing her.

It was a gorgeous kiss. Draco's hands slid over her shoulders, up the curves of her neck and into her hair, fingers tangling with the coppery chin-length strands. His mouth touched hers, at first gently, but with ever-increasing enthusiasm. Ginny couldn't help but respond, her mouth opening under his and her hands settling against his ribcage. She'd be sane in just… a… moment, she assured herself dazedly. After all, what could a few more kisses hurt?

It was some time later- Ginny had no idea how long- before Draco lifted his mouth from hers. He kept his hands in her hair, though, tilting up her face to meet his gaze. She was almost beautiful in that instant, he thought, the flush of color of her lips and cheeks and the dreamy expression in her eyes transforming her normally unremarkable prettiness into something extraordinary. And now she was his, Draco thought, his mind fat with satisfaction. "Shall we meet back here, then? Say, around eleven tonight?"

Ginny's eyes cleared. Her mind was a little slower to follow suit, but the expression on Draco's face helped immensely. He looked revoltingly pleased with himself. Her eyes narrowed. "I am not going to be your bit on the side, Malfoy," she snapped, her voice tense.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said. "I won't date anyone else while we're together." He'd just tell his friends that he'd already had all the girls worth having at Hogwarts, Draco thought cheerfully. No sweat.

"That's not what I meant, Malfoy!" Did he really think that she had so little pride that she wouldn't object to him keeping her in the shadows, like a particularly embarrassing secret? Did she really seem so pathetic? Did everyone see her that way? Well, the hell with all of them, Ginny thought, suddenly furious. Jerking her head free of his grasp, she took several steps back, looking remarkably like her mother for a moment. "I am not going to be your bit on the side or your secret girlfriend or anything else, got that?"

And once he got Weasley out of his system, Draco was thinking happily, this bout of insanity would fade away, he was sure of it. Then her words filtered through to him. Draco blinked at the girl in front of him. "You're not?"

Her little flare of rage burnt itself out as suddenly as it had appeared. Ginny was abruptly exhausted. "No, I'm not." She turned, shoulders drooping, and slowly began to walk away. "See you, Malfoy," she muttered.

Quiet, mousy, unpopular Ginny Weasley was turning down the opportunity to date him? Draco's world spun. Him, Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts' gift to womankind? Everyone wanted to date him! He was good-looking! He gave expensive, yet tasteful, presents! He'd dated all the best-looking girls in his year! And yet there he was, watching, dumbfounded, as Ginny Weasley walked away from him.

He was still standing there, mouth hanging open, when he heard her scream.

ooooo

Ginny rounded the corner, too depressed to notice that she was heading in the wrong direction for Gryffindor Tower. She scowled down at her beautiful new boots, trying very hard not to cry again. He wasn't worth it, the rat bastard. It wasn't until she actually slammed into the black-cloaked figure huddled in the shadows that she noticed anything out of the ordinary, and it wasn't until he turned on her with a startled curse that she began to scream.

TBC