AN: OK this chapter is gonna be long and dedicated to reviewers cause you guys make the world go round.

Thanks to:

HyperSquishy-For being the best encourager (may not be a word) a writer could ask for...

Disclaimer: Claim no right to Harry Potter characters...just to my McNabb jersey and my Brian Dawkins jersey...Go Eagles! Sorry.

Note: A lot of characters will be acting highly OOC (Out Of Character) if you see one of the characters doing something they would never do, be assured it is merely for plot purposes. I promise that I will be as close to the series as possible. No unnecessary OOCness...like Snape tap dancing etc.

Chapter 5: Unexpected Allies

"GINERVA WEASLEY I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY EXPELLED YOU. BREAKING INTO SNAPE'S OFFICE? RECEIVED LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT. COULD DIE OF SHAME. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? SNEAKING AROUND WITH THAT MALFOY BOY! FATHER IS A DEATH EATER! BE SURPRISED IF HE DOESN'T BECOME ONE! WE DIDN'T RAISE YOU TO GET MIXED UP WITH MALFOYS! I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOR. WORST THING EVER! NONE OF YOUR BROTHERS DID ANYTHING CLOSE TO THIS! ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D BE THE ONE TO RUIN THE FAMILY NAME! THOUGHT YOU HAD MORE SENSE! DON'T COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS- DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU. MALFOYS!"

The letter burst into flames and the whole Great Hall breathed as one. Ginny, sitting alone at the end of the Gryffindor table got up quietly and left. She fled the Great Hall and found a broom closet nearby where she could sit and sob. It had been 3 days since that detention and life had been hell for Ginny. Her dorm mates gave her a bed by the door, farthest from them. Rather than shutting up when they saw her, they gossiped openly before her.

One of the most popular rumors was she'd seduced Draco Malfoy in the astronomy tower. Ron had avoided her since the blow-up at breakfast, and he'd tell anyone who listened that Ginny was adopted. Fred and George had sent her a temporary Dark Mark.

Hot tears stung her cheeks, rolled down her face and gathered at her chin. Was life worth living? She hadn't talked to a single person since Saturday morning. She had spent the last two days in bed, in fact, not even leaving for meals. Today she had been sorely tempted to skip classes but figured that that would prove she was being affected by the treatment she was receiving. Of course, it was affecting her; else, she wouldn't be hiding out in a closet right now, would she? It just seemed so hopeless, there was no guarantee that life would ever return to normal. Should she give up?

Suddenly she was aware of someone knocking on the closet door.

"Go away!" She shouted. How the hell had they found her?

Instead of walking away, the unknown person sounded as if they had seated themselves against the other side of the door.

"Weasel?"

'Oh God,' Ginny thought, it was Malfoy, Death Eater extraordinaire. One of the people she definitely did not want seeing her holed up in a broom closet.

"What is it Malfoy?" she said, praying he'd bore of this and find someone else to bother- like the Golden Trio.

"Well Weasley, I was going to have a good cry in a broom closet, but it seems you beat me to it," he drawled lightly.

Oh how she longed to punch him in that perfect face of his.

"Ha ha Malfoy, how do you do it?" She said.

"Do what?" He sounded mildly curious.

Ginny let herself smirked, unknowingly mirroring that a certain blond boy.

"Manage to be a world-class git every single day."

Ginny was delighted to note a long pause.

"Is this you acting sympathetic?" He replied.

"Sympathetic?" Ginny was baffled. What was he talking about?

"Well I heard you're a Death Eater sympathizer."

Hot anger surged in Ginny's chest. She wrenched the door open, happy to note that it had sent Malfoy face-first into the ground.

She started to drift down the hallway when he called out, "Weasley!"

She didn't turn around or stop, just continued down the hallway, his voice following her as she did so. "We need to talk."

Monday morning, Draco was regaling Blaise Zabini with Ginny's remarks.

"I followed her into the hallway after breakfast and I find her shouting to no one. She's screaming 'I'm better without you! Ron! How dare you insinuate that I knowingly unleashed the Basilisk and sicced it on...Mudbloods...like...Granger!' It was the most Slytherin thing I've ever heard a non-Slytherin say. This is gonna be a cinch. We can have her spilling her guts to Voldemort in no time!"

"Draco," Blaise cautioned, "That was nothing more than a moment of extreme emotional upheaval. Now that she's calmed down somewhat it'll be harder to convince her."

Draco thoughtfully bit into a piece of toast, he frowned, Blaise was right of course. His eyes swept the Great Hall. He spotted that Weasley girl coming into the hall. She looked drawn and pale. She was still upset Draco was pleased to note.

Blaise followed Draco's eyes and said, "So she's finally here. I thought she might've died. You know, we should definitely keep track of that girl."

"Why?" Draco said, looking disgusted.

"Well, she is probably privy to some important information that He would be interested in."

"Oh fine," Draco sighed, "Mobilus markus."

"What's that?" Blaise asked instantly.

"Well...you did say we needed to keep track of her, so I just put a tracking spell on her. If an occasion should arise when we should need to know where she is," Draco's expression showed exactly how often he thought that would be, "Then we just need to say Mobilus trakus and you'll see a red line leading straight to her...my father taught it to me. They used it on all the Death Eaters. It's old Dark Magic."

"Why's it Dark magic? It seems harmless to me," Blaise responded.

"Yeah," Draco replied with a twisted smile, "Except nobody needs such a powerful tracking spell unless...well, they have nefarious reasons for keeping track of people."

Blaise shivered a little, "You know Draco, you creep me out sometimes."

"Why thanks, and you Blaise—" What exactly Draco was about to say was cut off by a howler.

As one the two Slytherin boy's necks swiveled in the direction of the magnified voice. There sat Girl Weasel looking absolutely petrified, gazing up at the scarlet letter in fright. After a rant in which Draco was mentioned, indirectly, nearly half a dozen times, the voice finally stopped. The letter burst into flames, and a ringing silence met their ears. Draco and Blaise looked at one another, and turned back to look for the Weasley girl, but she was gone.

Blaise nudged Draco, "What?" Draco snapped.

"Go after her."

"Why?" Draco asked, appalled at the suggestion.

"She's upset, Gryffindors are so easy to convince when they're not thinking rationally."

"You mean that there are actually times when they think rationally?" Draco asked, shocked.

The other Slytherins dissolved into laughter.

Draco strolled out of the Great Hall, and muttered "Mobilus trakus" A line appeared before him, leading directly towards a tiny broom closet.

"Good God," he sighed, "How like a Gryffindork," he grimaced, what an awful insult, a travesty, surely he couldn't be losing his edge?

He approached the closet, but refrained from opening it- no need to look at the Weasel until it was unavoidable. He knocked instead.

"Go away!" Was her response.

"Weasel?" He called. He heard the girl sniffling, 'Oh please no,' he thought, 'I'm in no condition to deal with a weeping Weasel.'

"What is it Malfoy?" The Weasel demanded.

He eased himself down to the ground, acutely aware of his arm, which still had that thorn in it. He knew he had to remove it, and soon, but he didn't want to do it himself, Madam Pomfrey was out of the question and he sure as hell didn't want anyone in Slytherin seeing him maybe in pain, displaying weakness, something despised by Slytherins.

So for now he had a large thorn in his arm, and the wound was not healing well, in fact, it had turned a nasty shade of green. He dismissed his injury from his mind, and answered Ginny, smirking.

After delivering a relatively low blow to remind the Weasel that he was in control of the situation, he reclined against the door, expecting her to cry or something.

When she instead replied in like manner, making him look foolish-much to his chagrin, he realized that he honestly could not predict this girl whatsoever.

He sneered, he knew how to get even with the girl- hit her where it hurts – and he had.

"Well I heard you're a Death Eater sympathizer," he said, expecting waterworks, a stream of curse, anything but a face full of floor.

Shock set in, he, Draco Malfoy, the youngest Death Eater, and third richest wizard in the world had just been sent flying by a Weasel? How utterly embarrassing, yet, he had to admit it was a highly Slytherin way of getting even-none of that expounding on your emotions shit that you found in Gryffindor.

Ginny sat in Potions, she was already so very sick of school. In Transfiguration, the mouse she was supposed to be vanishing refused to vanish and she strongly suspected that someone had definitely placed a sticking charm on the mouse. In Charms, the crow she was supposed to be silencing ended up attacking her, while the other students laughed hysterically. Now what? She wondered. What would the Slytherins make her endure? She was sitting at a table by herself, Snape had, miraculously, acted as if she did not exist, she waited now for the Slytherins to spill a potion on her or...or something...but it never happened. One Slytherin girl even gave her something resembling a smile, and one boy whispered where they were supposed to be in the potion. Ginny was shocked at first but then figured that they believed she was a Death Eater sympathizer and thus a friend. As it was, anyone acting friendly was a vast improvement.

After class, Ginny decided to go to the library, no sense in letting the Potions homework wait until the last minute. Oh, Hermione would be so proud of her. Hermione. With a sick lurch of her stomach, Ginny remembered that Hermione now believed she was friendly with Death Eaters. No more would she be able to hang out with the older girl. Lost in thought, Ginny didn't realize that she was surrounded until too late.

"Hey! You're the Death Eater girl!" One boy said.

Startled, Ginny looked up; the boy seemed to be a sixth year Ravenclaw.

"You're the bitch who is in love with Malfoy!" A second said.

What?

"I heard she's a little whore!" Another added.

Ginny tried to disentangle herself from the group of boys; however, her efforts were in vain.

"So she's easy?"

"You bet- she did it with Malfoy in the Astronomy Tower."

"Can we get some then?"

Ginny backed away from the boy, only to bump into another one. They drew in close around her.

"She's pretty though," one said, reaching out to touch her hair.

"Touch her McGraw, and you will suffer more than just impotence!"

Ginny looked up startled, there stood Malfoy, looking striking in his green and silver robes. The group of boys dissolved, leaving only Ginny and Draco.

"Thank you Malfoy," Ginny said breathlessly.

He looked at her with scorn, "Well it's obvious you are incapable of taking care of yourself. I told you we needed to talk, so we'll do that now."