AN: Sorry for the length between updates...

Well thanks so much to:

louey31- Yep I'm still trying to keep them all in character to the best of my ability...thanks for reviewing louey31! It made my day. As for more witty banter etc., this might not be the chapter but I think the next chapter will (ch. 10 tentatively called "Fall For Me")

LunarianPrincess-Thanks so much...wow...you think my story is entrancing? I thought it was going pretty lousy to tell you the truth...anyway thank you so much I'm so glad that you are enjoying my fic enough to leave such a sweet/enthusiastic review!

Dedicated to louey31 and LunarianPrincess

Note about this chapter: It's a little slow (for example there is little in regards to funny comments etc.) but it's absolutely essential to pretty much answering questions...while the source from which this is all confirmed may be faulty e.g. Blaise Zabini's surmisings. The other characters will proceed under this assumption (what he believes the people who were actually trying to break in were after) so whether or not it is true the other characters (Draco, Ginny) will believe it...but I leave the reader up to making their own decisions/opinions.

Another Note: I'm being a total brat but I love to hear what people think about my chapters. I'm in no way requiring you review but it helps a lot to hear what people enjoy in my writing and what needs to be improved through your critiquing I hope to become a better writer so it means a lot to me to get constructive criticism (like Paprika30 always gives me)

Disclaimer: Yada yada I don't own any rights to Harry Potter (I tried to bargain with them – rights to only Draco Malfoy + Ginny so I could make them a canon couple but nooooo they didn't want my $30.) Don't own any rights to "The Usual Suspects" which is an amazing

Another FINAL note: At one point I say that Pansy friends with Pavarti Patil...it is a Canon fact that in the first book Pansy calls Pavarti by her first name (when she's like "Ooh sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Pavarti.") Well Ok...so that doesn't exactly spell friendship and most likely the use of Pavarti instead of Patil (as the Slytherins are apt to refer to anyone they consider below them by their last name or at least that's my belief) is nothing more than a way to distinguish the twin but I've decided for my fic to make them friends.

Ginny broke the kiss, "This is ridiculous, what do you want to talk about."

Draco passed a hand through his hair; an endearing nervous habit Ginny thought then realized with horror that she'd just connected Draco Malfoy with endearing- two words that should never be linked.

"Look how do I say this? I want to know what the heck these thieves were after. We are accused of a crime and we know nothing about what exactly we were supposed to be stealing."

"Well..." Ginny said, biting her lip in thought.

How could she have possibly have forgotten about the crime she was being ostracized for? It was all Draco's fault...their snogs had forced any other thoughts from her head. It was inane but she was gradually getting used to letting go of her inhibitions and plunging head first, into whatever came her way. Just think, last Friday she and Draco had been at each other's throats, now they were...well it was in a quite different way. They were even addressing each other by their first name for crying out loud! So much had changed since last Friday. Last Friday, the phrase tugged something in her mind. Last Friday, last Friday, last Friday, what the hell had happened last Friday? She'd gotten detention and then of course Draco had made some jibe about her parents being too busy begging to put food on the table to teach her any manners. No wait, she'd been doing something...oh! She'd been listening at the door, not purposefully of course but she'd overheard something. Now what was it? Who'd said it? Oh, yes. It was McGonagall and Snape talking about- what were they talking about? Something...something hidden in Snape's room. What could it have been? Oh...why couldn't she remember? It was terribly important!

Suddenly Snape's voice low and urgent filled her head, "But how did they find out about the prophesy?"

"Of course," Ginny said aloud.

"What?"

"Well I think I figured out what they were after."

"Tell me," Draco urged her.

"Well I'm not sure what it was about, the prophesy that is, but McGonagall said something along the lines of 'Someone tried to break into my office and it's no longer safe here.' So Snape replied, 'But how did they find out about the prophesy?' McGonagall didn't know but told him to safeguard it in his own office."

"So any ideas of what the prophesy is about?" Draco asked, unable to contain his excitement.

"I don't know – you interrupted before I could possibly hear what it was about," Ginny reminded him.

"Well it would have to be something huge for them to hide it in Hogwarts," Draco said, ignoring her, "Wonder what it could possibly be?"

"I'm more concerned with who was actually behind these break-ins."

"Right," Draco said, frowning. "Hey let's go talk to Blaise-he's really smart. I bet he could make a great guess at what the prophesy concerns and who would be trying to get at it. Stay here a second," he ordered, then without waiting for a reply he was off.

In a few minutes, he was back with a tall black boy.

"This is Blaise Zabini," Draco said.

"Hi, I'm Ginny."

"Pleasure to meet you," he said solemnly, then turned to Draco and said, "What's this about a prophesy?"

Draco briefed him and the other boy looked thoughtful.

"Well?" Draco prompted him.

"From what you're saying this prophesy seems like it would be very important to Dumbledore. That's the obvious factual part. Now we must delve into mere hunches. Something so important it had to be brought to Hogwarts for protection. The most valuable and most zealously guarded prophesies foretell someone's death. Therefore, I would hazard a guess that that's what this prophecy is about. I doubt it would foretell Dumbledore's own death- it would be more beneficial to him to destroy such a prophesy. Thus, I come to only one conclusion and if it is correct the list of suspects would be vast. Can you guess?"

"Harry's death," Ginny said instantly.

"The Dark Lord's demise," Draco said at the same time.

"Ginny, that was a good guess and it might very well be true but if I were Dumbledore I wouldn't keep such a prophesy. No sense in leaving something around that could spell the doom of Harry Potter. No, if I was Dumbledore I'd keep safe a prophesy about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"Well I'd guess it would contain information leading to his downfall. If I had to reason why he'd keep such a prophesy I'd take a stab in the dark and say he was saving it for Harry Potter."

Draco groaned, "If this is true, and I've never known Blaise to be wrong, then about, oh only half the school would have a reason to try and get their hands on this prophesy."

"Let's make a list of the most likely suspects," Blaise suggested, grabbing a quill and parchment.

"Harry Potter," Draco said with a sneer.

"Draco Malfoy," Ginny fired back, glaring at Draco.

"Ginny Weasley," Draco said, smiling coldly.

"Vincent Crabbe!"

"Ron Weasley!"

"Gregory Goyle!"

"Hermione Granger!"

"Neville Longbottom," Ginny said sadly.

"Blaise Zabini," Draco said in a queer voice.

"Cho Chang."

"Pansy Parkinson."

"OK, OK," Blaise said waving his hands in mock defeat, "I think we've got plenty to start on."

"So how do we do this," Ginny said, inspecting the list.

"Yes, she may have a point," Draco said dryly, "I hardly think Harry'll tell us the truth if we ask him."

"What makes you think Harry's responsible?" Ginny snapped.

"Oh dear me, how could I forget- I was talking about 'Darling Harry'."

"You're just as much a suspect as Harry," Ginny retorted, her face crimson.

"As are you," Draco reminded her.

"Really," Blaise interjected, "You two are leaping at each other's throats with total abandon." He dug his elbow into Draco, "Behave," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Look," Blaise said, talking normally once more, "How about we split up the list, I'll take care of all the people in Gryffindor. I'll have Pansy ask Pavarti who wasn't in their house at the time. Draco should take care of establishing the alibis of all the Slytherins and look into whether Ginny should be considered a suspect. Ginny I want you to do the same for me and Draco."

"What about Cho?" Ginny objected.

"Oh, I'll do her too," Blaise said.

"Ok," was Ginny's reply.

- - - -

Both boys left and Ginny heaved a sigh. Some things never changed- here she was in a different House, with a different set of people (different being an understatement of course) and yet she was still being given the easiest tasks. Granted of course she was overreacting, Ginny knew that it made sense to have Blaise take care of all the Gryffindors. After all, his girlfriend Pansy got along surprisingly well with Pavarti Patil, it would be no trouble at all for her to ascertain the needed information through one of their numerous chats. It was equally obvious that Draco would be more suited to extracting the information on the Slytherins themselves, as he was one of their own while she was a mere outsider. Still, it bothered her; she had thought that in Slytherin, everything would be different, yet somehow things had barely changed. She giggled suddenly, how furious would Ron, Harry and Draco be to hear that they were rather alike, in one aspect at least.

So what did Draco mean to her she wondered. Did their switch to a first name basis signify a change in their relationship? Did this mean they were now friends? Friends? Malfoy? Rather, Draco. He couldn't be a friend she argued, though she gave no reason. If they were not friends then what was he to her? He was an associate of course. As for the bursts of passion between them, that was nothing but pent-up emotion. It was merely frustration culminating in such flashes of ardor- wasn't it?

- - - -

"Blaise why the hell are we on the list of suspects?" Draco asked, furious. "For that matter why the hell did we make a bloody list in the first place?" He scowled furiously at Blaise.

"Once again I see we're gonna be playing catch-up for a second, eh Draco?" Blaise said smirking (insufferably Draco thought).

Draco ground his teeth, "Look Know-it-all, tell me before I smash your smarmy little face in."

"Draco you really ought to do something about that temper of yours," Blaise tutted.

Draco cracked his knuckes.

"OK, calm down, I'll tell you but you know, I was serious about your temper. Anyway, we're not really going to take this seriously, we'll pretend to ask around and then tell her something along the lines of, 'Oh what a coincidence, it seems Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were nowhere to be found the night in question. They could have been snogging in the astronomy tower or maybe they were hiding in the shadows near Snape's office, cursing as you two successfully bungled their plan'."

"So we're gonna frame Potter and the Mudblood?" Draco asked excitedly.

"We could, in fact it's a rather good idea to pick those two, she hates them –it'll just propel her that much more into our grasp."

Draco hit on a snag, "But what if she comes to the conclusion that one of us was behind it?"

Blaise's face darkened, "Well you'll just to win her over before that happens- won't you?"