Disclaimer: The characters in this story that are from Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling, if they aren't from Harry Potter, they belong to me. (Obviously)

A big thank you to all my reviewers. You guys are great. XOXOX

For Ace of Spades- to upload italics and bold you have to save the document as html. It took me ages to figure that one out but thanks to Catalina Royce for the assistance. Thanks for your review. ;)

Chapter 3

Ginny slipped into an empty classroom, closing the door behind her and leaning on it. Why all of a sudden was she having all these mixed feelings. Over the summer she hadn't thought about Draco much, because Harry had been there, messing with her head. But seeing Draco had brought it all to the surface. She tried to clear her head and remind herself of all the times that Draco had insulted her, hurt her, hurt the people she loved, but all she could remember was the tender kiss he had given her.

Suddenly a commotion outside caused her to open the door. Peeking into the hall she saw Peeves picking on some defenceless first years.

"Ickle, ickle firsties. You know I pickle firsties," he sang.

Ginny sighed and, after wiping her eyes, went to help the terrified eleven-year-olds.

***

Draco looked around the hallways, searching for some sign of Ginny. When he couldn't find her, he sighed. What was he doing anyway? There was no way that he should even be associating with a Weasley. His father would have a hernia.

Then he saw Ginny heading over to rescue some first years from Peeves. All his earlier reasoning flew out of his head and he started towards her. A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going, Malfoy?" Potter said coldly, a threat was evident in his voice.

Draco smirked at him and shrugged his hand off.

"Why do you care, Potter?"

Potter looked over Draco's shoulder at Ginny who was making a futile effort to get rid of Peeves. She was so intent on what she was doing she hadn't noticed them yet. Potter's face twisted into a smirk.

"She's sweet, isn't she? And she's mine. Stay away from her."

"You have no claim on her, Potter. You're with Parvati."

Harry sneered.

"Don't kid yourself, Malfoy. I've been screwing her for years. She's so in love with me, she doesn't even know you exist."

Draco clenched his fists and, shoving past Harry, stalked away. Harry looked at Ginny who had watched the end of the confrontation and grinned nastily. She glared at him and left.

No one is going near Ginny, Harry thought with satisfaction.

***

Ginny stalked through the hallways, anger pouring through her veins. How dare Harry Potter! He had no right to control her life, especially since he was the one who had ruined it. Not that she wanted Draco to… well… save her… or anything. Did she need saving? Ginny pushed the thought out of her mind. She needed to concentrate on something, anything.

Her thoughts swimming furiously in her head, she rounded a corner quickly, only to run into someone. Ginny gasped as she and the other person fell to the ground. She looked into the furious eyes of Hermione Granger.

"You bitch!" Hermione snarled at her.

Ginny winced at the harsh condemnation of her brother's girlfriend. Hermione pushed herself to her feet angrily, gathering her books together hurriedly. She made to walk away, but then seemed to think of something else and turned around.

"Listen, whore," she sneered. "You better stay out of my way this year. I don't like you. Keep out of my path."

Ginny flushed with anger and jumped to her feet, ready to defend herself.

"How can you call me a whore?" she protested. "Especially since you're fucking Harry and Ron."

Hermione turned pale. A look of fear filled her grey-blue eyes. Ginny felt guilty at using this against her but held her ground. For a moment Ginny thought she had won, but then Hermione straightened her shoulders and grabbed Ginny roughly by the arm, dragging her into a cupboard adjoining the hallway.

"Jealous, Ginny? I fucked Harry. So what? He obviously prefers me to your scrawny body," hissed the older girl.

"And that gives you the right to cheat on Ron? At least I loved Harry."

Hermione lashed out at Ginny, hitting her hard across the face with her open palm. Ginny's head whipped to one side and her mouth split open. Blood dripped from the fresh wound.

"How dare you diminish what I feel for Harry?" Hermione shrieked, out of control in her fury. "I love Harry more than I will ever love your pathetic brother."

On that note, Hermione whirled around and left Ginny lying in the dark cupboard in shock. Ginny brought her hand to her mouth, and in the dim light she saw blood smeared on her pale fingers. A lump formed in her throat but it seemed that she had cried all she could: no tears fell from her burning eyes.

***

Draco wandered the halls, thinking of his run in with Potter. He felt like kicking himself. Of course Ginny was still with Harry. She'd only been infatuated with him for six years. Well, it wasn't as if the Weasel mattered to him anyway. Looking at the time, he turned down the familiar hallway that led to the Slytherin dormitories.

A sound coming from a cupboard brought him to a halt. His silver eyes narrowed in suspicion. It was most probably some immature third years discovering the joy of… intimacy. He sneered and burst open the door. To his surprise there was only one person there. He was about to lecture them on the rules of going into empty rooms but then he noticed the red hair. His heart stopped as his gaze trailed to the blood on her hands and face.

"Ginny?"

A whimper emitted from the small girl on the floor. Draco thought she was crying but then she turned her brown eyes to him and he saw they were dry. He also saw the bright red hand imprint on her pale face. Rage filled him.

"Who did this, Gin?" he asked harshly, grabbing her arms roughly.

"You're hurting me," she whispered brokenly and Draco immediately let go.

"Who?"

Ginny brought her hand up to her face to cover the mark of her mistreatment. She avoided his gaze. It was obvious she wasn't going to tell him.

"It was Potter wasn't it?" Draco spat. He stormed out of the cupboard, vaguely hearing Ginny's call of "Wait!" echo behind him. Incensed, he stalked mindlessly to the Quidditch pitch where Harry was training.

"Potter!" he bellowed into the air.

Harry sailed gracefully down form the sky and landed next to Draco.

"What?" he sneered at the blonde boy.

Draco didn't even bother with answering him. He walked up to him and slammed his fist into the Gryffindor boy's jaw. Harry went down with one punch. Draco massaged his aching fist and strode away, knowing that he would pay dearly for his rash actions later. The funny thing was, he didn't even care.

***

A/N: Yeah I know, such a cliché but I do love a good punch in the face, don't you. *laughs evilly*

Read and Review plz- I love you for it!