I'm not gonna even bother apologizing for this one… I mean, I just sort of lost interest in this story for a while. But I'm not going to stop writing it. I did have somewhat of an idea, and I will stick with it.

Chapter 5

Draco stopped giving Ginny lessons for a while. Instead, they would sit by the lake and talk to each other. This went on for a good few weeks. On top of that, they hadn't had any strange dreams either. Ginny forgot about the red book after a while. She was simply too busy with school to read it. But she had finished reading the Phantom of the Opera, as did the rest of the Muggle Studies class.

Before anyone knew it, it was Christmastime- December 21st, the first day of winter, and two days before Christmas break. Hermione had agreed to go shopping with Ginny at a muggle store for a dress for the Ball. They found a brilliant red halter dress with ruffles that ended at the knees.

When they got back to Hogwarts, Ginny showed off her new attire to her roommate.

"I think it looks great, Ginny!"

"I know! It's perfect, isn't it?"

"It'll blow Harry away."

Harry. Ginny almost forgot about Harry. Of course, who did she think she was going to the Ball with? Harry Potter, the boy she'd had a crush on ever since- well, ever since she knew who he was. She looked at herself in the mirror. Gosh, she really did look great. The dress fit her figure well. She twirled around and admired herself for a few minutes, before changing into her regular clothes.

Ginny checked the clock; it was dinnertime. But before she left for dinner, she stole a glance out of the window; it was snowing violently. She smiled and sang a familiar tune as she made her way down to the Great Hall:

Weasley is our Queen,

Weasley is our Queen,

She always gets the quaffle in;

Weasley is our Queen.

When Ginny arrived at the Gryffindor table, she sat next to Harry, who smiled at her, but said nothing more.

"Um… so, the Yule Ball's tomorrow," she said nervously. Harry nodded.

"It is. Are you ready?"

"Yes, actually, Hermione and I picked out a nice dress and- oh, you'll have to wait and see." Harry and Ron exchanged glances, before putting some food onto their plates.

Ginny stole a glance over at the Slytherin table. Draco was talking with his friends, and seemed to be having a good time. He hadn't been talking to his friends that often until today. Ginny wanted to find out why there was a sudden change. She couldn't forget he was still Draco Malfoy, and he was still a Slytherin.

The sound of the headmaster clearing his throat echoed throughout the Great Hall. All eyes turned to the front of the room. Dumbledore was giving an announcement, or a speech, or rather saying something of importance to all of Hogwarts.

"As you all know, it is snowing at an unusual rate outside. Winter Break is in two days, and a lot of you are prepared to go home for the holidays. If it stops snowing soon, we can get all of you out of here safely, but if it continues to snow at this rate on Monday, we won't be able to hold off the snow with magic. We may be snowed in for the week," he exclaimed. Loud moans were heard across the room. "But do not worry! That's only if it keeps snowing so harshly! Hopefully it will clear up. Let's pray that it does. Now, enjoy your dinner," with that, Dumbledore sat down, and the students resumed eating.

Ginny's attention now returned to the large pile of food in front of her, and suddenly she was consumed with hunger. She devoured it all ravenously, licking the entire plate clean. She then realized how fast she had eaten, felt sick, and ran to the girl's bathroom.

Ginevra Weasley, you are an idiot! What were you doing, eating your food so quickly? Ginny stood in front of the sink, staring at her reflection in the mirror. With the expression she had, you'd think she was about to throw up. But she didn't. She felt really sick, and needed to lie down and sleep. And so that's just what she did.For the entire evening, until something startled and woke her.

It was pitch black. All Ginny could see when she sat up were her knees, bent in front of her. She couldn't tell what had woken her, exactly. It was sort of like a jolt through her entire body. She hugged her knees, shivering, and looked around her. When her eyes finally adjusted, she checked the bed next to hers. Her roommate was sound asleep. She checked the clock, which read 12:01 a.m. The one place else to look… The window was empty. Nobody peering into it, no Draco Malfoy tapping on it. Everything seemed so… peaceful. Ginny didn't have any strange dreams that night, had she? So why was she still waking up in the middle of the night? Those dreams hadn't come for a while. There had to be a reason…

Ginny got out of bed and pulled a long black robe over her clothes- which she hadn't taken off since that morning. She grabbed her broomstick. If Draco wasn't going to visit her, then she'd go visit him.

Ginny opened her window, only to have a burst of cold wind and snow erupt in her face. She immediately closed the window and, taking out her wand, put a charm on herself to keep the snow off. Then, opening the window again, she got on her broom and flew off.

The trip wasn't exactly short. Ginny hadn't gone from her room to Draco's before, but in order for Draco to have gotten to her room each night, he had to have flown all the way around the building.

When she got to the Slytherin Tower, Ginny wasn't sure which room belonged to Draco, so she flew to each window and peered in. The first window had a bunch of 3rd year girls sleeping in it. Another room had some 5th year guys. Finally, she found the 7th year guys, where Draco happened to be sleeping right near the window.

How could he be asleep? Ginny wondered this as she tapped on the window gently. Nothing happened. She tapped again, this time a little louder. Draco rolled over in his sleep. Finally, she took out her wand and used a spell to get the window open.

She was afraid to go inside. What if she got caught? Even though girls were allowed in the guys' dormitories… but it was after curfew, and…. What if she got suspended? She decided to take the risk. She climbed in and stood over Draco's bed. How would she wake him without disturbing the other boys? Ginny pondered over this for a few minutes, when someone startled her. Draco had woken up, and was amusedly watching her think to herself.

"You look confused," he said.

"Oh! Draco… how long have you, er, been awake?"

"Long enough. Now, what are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Um… I woke up in the middle of the night, and I looked out my window, and you weren't there. That's the first time that's ever happened. I didn't know what to do…"

"Eager to see me, are you?" He joked.

"No, of course not!" Ginny argued.

"Did you have another dream?" he asked.

"No…"

"Then what are you doing in my bedroom?" He raised a questioning brow. Ginny blushed.

"I, um, I don't know…" Ginny trailed off. Draco groaned, softly, but loud enough to hear.

"Come here, sit down," he ordered, pointing at his bed. Ginny was a little hesitant, but then decided she was too tired to stand, anyway. Draco stood up and examined her.

"Something's troubling you," he said. It was not a question, but a statement.

"That's not true!" She defended herself.

"Whatever," Draco shrugged, and took a seat next to her.

"So… why don't we go somewhere and talk? I don't want to wake your friends," Ginny eyed the two sleeping Slytherins. Draco groaned again, but then stood up and put on a robe to cover himself. Then he grabbed his broomstick and walked over towards the window.

When he opened the window, Ginny expected the snow to come in, but it didn't. In fact, it looked as if the blizzard had stopped. This put a smile on her face. They both got on their broomsticks and flew off.

Ginny headed for the quidditch post, deciding it would be good to practice for the next game, which would be in three weeks. But Draco headed for Hogwarts Hill instead.

"Draco?" Ginny called out, "where are you going?" He didn't answer her. He just kept flying. So she followed him.

He landed on top of the hill, and Ginny did the same.

"Draco, I thought maybe we could practice some quidditch…" she said.

"No quidditch today, Ginny," he said plainly.

"Why are we here, anyway?"

"Look." He motioned towards the sky, and Ginny looked up. The dark clouds were silhouetted against the bright, full moon, and the stars were sparkling in the sky.

"Wow," Ginny tried to say, but the beauty of the sky seemed to have taken her breath away.

"Come with me," he said, and taking her hands, led her towards a tree. And not just any tree, either.

The two of them stood underneath Lover's Tree.

Ginny was too busy staring at the sky to realize where it was Draco had taken her. When she finally looked around her, all she could see were branches surrounding them. It was then that she realized what Draco was doing.

Ginny shook her hands out of Draco's grasp. Suddenly, she felt very cold, and wrapped her arms around herself.

"You're shivering," he said.

"Yes, I know that," she said, "My body is cold."

Draco put his arms around her, the warmth of his body radiating onto her. She relaxed a little, still feeling somewhat awkward.

"Why are we here, under this tree?" she asked. Draco smiled at her, but kept silent.

"Draco, did you hear me?" she asked. Her teeth were chattering.

"Your teeth are chattering," He said.

"Yes, I know that," she replied, "My mouth is cold too." Then she realized she had said the wrong thing. For just then, Draco moved his face towards hers, and pressed his warm lips on top of hers.

Ginny's eyes flutterred closed, as Draco's tongue slid into her mouth. She just about melted in his arms. But she pulled back.

"Draco," she said.

"Ginny," he cupped his hand over her cheek. She pushed it away.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that," he responded.

"I didn't," she lied.

"You know I can tell whenever you're lying, right?" Draco asked.

"What? I wasn't lying, though," she said. Her lips were trembling.

"You keep doing that. Whenever you lie, your lip twitches like that," Draco said

"That's not true!"

"Yes, it is," he was grinning, seemingly pleased with himself.

"Draco, why did you kiss me?"

"I guess it was just a feeling I've had about you for a while. One that I couldn't hide from you forever, because when I saw you tonight," he moved in closer towards her, "I just knew that I wanted to kiss you so badly."

"It's not right," Ginny said.

"Of course it is. Why shouldn't it be?" He moved in even closer, so that their noses were touching.

"I don't know…"

"Is it because I'm a Slytherin?"

"No, of course not! That has nothing to do with it, Draco…"

"Good," he said. Then he put his arms around her and landed his lips on hers once again. This time, Ginny didn't pull back. She did enjoy it when he kissed her. She felt a pang of ecstasy flowing through her the more he touched her. And she didn't want it to stop.

"OW!" Draco suddenly pulled away from Ginny and grabbed at his wrist.

"Draco?" Ginny was concerned. Draco sunk to the ground, wailing in pain.

"GODDAMMIT! It's the middle of the night!" He screamed.

"What's going on, Draco?" Ginny asked. But Draco didn't look at her. He kept clutching his wrist.

Then Ginny noticed it. The red glow emanating from beneath his fingers. She shuddered.

"Wha-What is that on your wrist?" she wanted to know.

"It's nothing. I have to go," he said.

"NO!" Then she took a hold of Draco's hand and pulled it away from his other arm. One glance at his wrist and she knew immediately what was going on. She frowned.

"How could you?" She asked.

"Ginny, I'm sorry!"

"Why did you keep this from me?"

"I said I was sorry!"

"How long have you had this? And don't say you're sorry to me!" she demanded.

"Since… well, since two nights ago," he said. Then Ginny remembered yesterday when Draco was sitting with his friends and talking to them. Was that what they were talking about? Had they all become death eaters too?

"I can't believe you would go and do this!" Ginny said.

"Do what? It's just a tattoo. There's nothing to worry about."

"Just a tattoo! Draco, it's the dark mark! You're a death eater now! I can't believe I even trusted you to be my friend!"

"Ginny, I am your friend. Maybe more," he said, taking her hands. She pushed him away.

"No! Get away from me! Isn't your Lord calling you?"

"I won't go, Ginny. Not if you don't want me to," he said.

"Draco, I don't want you to serve Him! Why don't you do that for me?" she asked.

"I have to. My father made me do this," he explained.

"With your consent, I'm sure," she argued.

"I couldn't just say no!"

"So, you care about your Lord more than you care about me. Is that it?" She asked.

"Ginny, I thought you of all people would understand me. You're a very understanding person. Remember, 5 years ago? You were the one writing in a journal to the Dark Lord! You talked to him, and you understood his feelings!"

"I… that was different. He was planning to take my life, whether or not I had a affiliation with him," Ginny said.

"So that's it? You think I'm trying to kill you?"

"Maybe," Ginny said. Draco looked hurt. And his eyes! His beautiful baby blue eyes were filled with sorrow!

"I wouldn't let any harm come to you," he said, truthfully.

"But, you wouldn't give your life for me. If it was you and I in a life and death situation, you'd save yourself first," Ginny said. Draco didn't answer her. He was afraid she might be right. He was too self-centered.

"I swear to you I will never let anybody hurt you," he said through gritted teeth.

"Do you?" Ginny asked.

"YES!"

"Even if it would risk your own life?"

Draco hesitated.

"Well?" Ginny folded her arms.

"Well, I can't promise you that. I… I don't know if I can put my own life at risk for somebody like you…"

"Somebody like me? What are you saying?"

"I… I have to go, Ginny," Draco stumbled backwards, "Today was a mistake." He turned his back on her and then left.

Ginny sat down underneath the tree, alone, and started to cry. How could she have trusted a traitor like him? How could she call him her friend? And why did she let him kiss her. Her mind lingered on his words for a while:

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it."

Because the thing was, Ginny did enjoy it. She enjoyed every second of it. She just wished she could've found out his secret before he kissed her. But it was too late. It was the same thing5 years ago,with that deadly diary she wrote in. She had given her soul to evil once before, and she had just done it again. For Draco Malfoy, she decided, was evil.

To everybody who mentioned it- yes, yes, the library book is important! Or, as they say in Mexico, importante. But it's meaning will not come in untillater. Much, much later. I believe this story will turn out tobe very long, but very good, if I ever remember to update it.

Aeyls- woah there, either u read my mind, or this story is too predictable! lol. Nah, actually, that was called foreshadowing. Hooray for foreshadowing:forgive me for being hyper:

BronzeToast- why thank you. You are a good person, and I am inspired. :)

Kerichi- Yes, Michael Crawford's voice makes me all jumpy, and therefore while I was writing the last chapter, I got all jumpy, and kept interrupting the story. I apologize. And that, my friend, is an example of a good excuse. But, oh, I am a bad, bad author. Forgive me. ;) also, the real Draco has blue eyes, as you might have noticed me mentioning it in this chapter.

missmee- yes, yes, again i am sorry. but at least tell me you liked this chapter. you did, didn't you?

bookluva629- i don't believe the red book has anything to do with the Phantom story itself, but it certainly is important to the characters, who, surprise, surprise, seem to have Phantom qualities to them.

TheFaytinPurple- Hope you did end up seeing that movie. It's always good to have a Phantom fan around.

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Thanks once again, to everybody.