Disclaimer: The chocolate in the kitchen is mine, Harry Potter is not.

-------------Chapter 8: More in Common than They Thought

"Jealous? Of what?" Draco sneered.

"That you don't have anyone! Don't try to argue!" she said cutting him off when he tried to dispute her words. "I can read you better than you think. You are a lonely person. You do not feel like there is anybody to go to about your problems. Your bastard of a father to guard your emotions with a face of stone probably raised you. Well, you are not fooling anyone!"

Ginny was sick of him. Malfoy had no right to say such horrible things, especially just saying them because he had problems. She knew what she said struck him soundly because it struck her too. She knew half the things she had just said about him, were also true about herself. She did feel alone. Sure, she had Colin, but there were somethings she could not bring herself to tell him.

"My father is not a bastard!" Malfoy yelled. Is he stupid, cruel or just does not know? She was thinking about how his father had given her Tom's diary, almost getting her and others killed and destroying part of her innocent childhood. Ginny decided that he must not know.

"If you do not think so I suggest you get to know him better!" she yelled. " I think you should rethink your life before you end up a cold, heartless, bastard like him."

"Better than being Voldemort's whore."

She froze. So many emotions ran through her head that she almost got nauseous. She finally settled on anger. She took all her might and punched him. Malfoy flew several feet back and landed hard on the floor. She knew she could not have done that with just a single punch. Fear racked her body, she ran.

A corridor away, she sat against the wall. Something was wrong. You will forever be mine. She was paralyzed. The voice she knew, the voice that haunted her was back. She passed out of consciousness.

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Harry stayed up, waiting for Ginny to get back from detention. He was pacing and wringing his hands nervously. He wanted to tell Ginny how he felt about her and how he was stupid not to have seen it before. He sat down in front of the fire to calm himself and ended up falling asleep.

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Draco woke still slumped against the wall in the corridor. He had a headache and was very groggy. After a minute of wondering what time it was and why he was there, the events of the previous night crashed back to him. He didn't quite know what happened with Ginny, but he knew it was weird.

He was still very tired so he decided to head to his dorm. He entered the Slytherin common room with a small stagger.

"Draco, where were you last night?" said a voice in a chair by the fire. Draco recognized the voice as Blaise's.

"What time is?"

"Six-thirty."

"Saturday, right?"

"Yes," said Blaise suspiciously, turning towards him. Then he gasped. "What the bloody hell happened to you?"

"Do I really look that bad?"

"Well, when I said 'bloody' I meant it."

Draco walked over to an old silver mirror that hung on the wall. He did look bad. His hair was extremely disheveled; he had bags under his eyes. On one side of his face was a large purple bruise and there was dried blood issuing from his nose. There was also blood smeared on his neck, although he could not think how that got there.

"Unless her hand was bleeding," he muttered.

"What?" asked Blaise. Draco ignored his question. "Come on Draco, you can tell me what happened. "

Draco turned to him remembering the words of Ginny last night. "Can I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can I trust you? Or am I destined to be alone, to hold everything inside until it all come gushing out of me, even if it is too late?"

"Draco, of course you can trust me. And, what is this rubbish you are talking about?"

Draco looked at Blaise skeptically, but decided that he could trust him. He told him the whole story, from when he got his task to last night, excluding that he had some sort of feelings for Ginny. Excluding those feelings was a bit difficult because he started to say "Ginny" instead of "That Weasley girl" some of the time.

"Wow," was all Blaise could say.

"Tell me about it," said Draco. "And I still have another detention with her, plus Snape will most likely go ballistic because we did not finish the last detention.

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Ginny woke intensely sore, with her face pressed against the floor. Why she was there was a complete mystery to her. She looked down at her hands and they were bloody. She was too muddled to remember what had happened the previous night, so she decided to head up to the Gryffindor common room. She glanced at her watch; it was seven in the morning on a Saturday, so most likely no one would be up yet. She reached the entrance, gave the password to the Fat Lady, and stumbled into the common room.

"GINNY!" she was greeted with right away. Ron, Colin, Hermoine and Harry were all up and sitting around the fire.

"Mornin'," Ginny replied dimly.

"WHERE THE BLAZES HAVE YOU BEEN," yelled Harry. Ginny might have expected this from Ron, but never from Harry.

"I—uh—" she started, but was cut off.

"YOU HAD US WORRIED SICK! WE WERE ABOUT TO GO LOOKING FOR YOU! YOU COULD HAVE DIED OR BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

"I am sorry to worry you all," she said sheepishly. "But, why didn't you just look at the map?"

This shut Harry up. Obviously, he had not thought to look at the Marauder's Map, which showed the location of everyone on the school grounds. Yet, Harry regained his anger quickly. No one had seen him quite like this; even Ron and Hermoine were shocked.

"WHERE WERE YOU?"

"I am tired and am going to bed, alright? We can talk about it later," said Ginny coolly, but Harry held her back.

"NOT UNTIL YOU EXPLAIN! THE LAST PERSON YOU WERE WITH WAS MALFOY! THE ENEMY! DON'T ACT LIKE I AM STUPID! I HAVE SEEN YOU TWO. FLIRTING WITH EACH OTHER AND SUCH THINGS! IF YOU WANT TO BE HIS WHORE, SO BE IT!"

This got Ginny going. She was in a furry.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH THINGS! FIRST, MALFOY IS NOT 'THE ENEMY.' SECOND I WILL NOT ACT LIKE YOU ARE STUPID IF YOU STOP BEING STUPID. THIRD, ME AND MALFOY? I HAVE NEVER HEARD SUCH A LUDICRUS THING IN MY LIFE. IF HEXING SOMEONE IS FLIRTING, THEN I GUESS YOU AND RON SHOULD COME OUT OF THE CLOSET WITH YOUR FEELINGS TOWARDS MALFOY!"

Ginny stormed up to her dorm, leaving a wake of abashed and dazed people. She then sat on her bed and got to work remembering.

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A/N: I feel like going on an update rampage. Perhaps it is all the sugar I have had. I may post Chapter 9 very soon. I might inten mintues if I am feeling especially giddy. Thanks for reading. Reviews would be appriciated...they make my giddy.

---Perplexity