Disclaimer: I'm not JK, and none of the characters, etc. are mine.

Chapter 2

Draco Malfoy was kissing a girl. Not that this was anything new. However, the girl was. She was Ginny Weasley. Just as the thought crossed his mind that this was something new, she broke off the kiss and slapped him. A red handprint started to develop.

"What," she panted, "Did you think you were doing?" She was flushed red with anger. He felt vaguely triumphant. This was the first time in months he had managed to get her all riled up. He had thought he was losing his touch. Now he knew he wasn't. he just had to change tactics. He pushed the feeling to the back of his mind. He would think about that later. Now he had to deal with the situation at hand.

"I was kissing you," he said, seemingly unruffled by the resounding slap she had given him. "Wasn't that what you wanted? Or did you want something…else?" he smirked, enjoying the play of emotions across her face; embarrassment, anger, hate, frustration. She finally settled on icy resentment.

"No, that was not what I wanted at all. I wanted," here she paused, allowing him to mark the use of the past tense. A look of displeasure flitted across his face. "I wanted to draw you, but you seemed to mistake an artist's attention for interest of another kind altogether." She gathered her things and stalked out the door.

Draco sat down and leaned back contentedly. He had kissed a pretty girl and insulted a Weasley. The evening was looking up.



Ginny stood outside the door, shaking. Her self-discipline had totally deserted her. She had allowed…him… to get under her skin and all he'd done was kiss her. It had been a very nice kiss though and at least she'd had the presence of mind to break away before she collapsed totally into his arms. That wasn't part of the plan. Or, at least, it hadn't been. She mentally added in 'seduce Malfoy'. Who knew, it could be useful.

She gathered herself together with the knowledge that she had had the last word forefront in her mind and set off down the corridor. Her breathing finally back to it's normal rhythm, she rounded the corner and walked into none other than Blaise Zabini.

"Holy crap!" she muttered. Then louder, she said "Do you make a habit of lurking round corners, Zabini, or is this just for me?" the Slytherin looked down at her, amusement dancing in his dark eyes. He must enjoy being tall, Ginny thought to herself, he gets to look down on everybody. Zabini's smile broadened.

"As a matter of fact, I do enjoy being tall," he told her, as her eyes widened, "yes, you did say that out loud, and no, I'm not just here for you. I'm looking for Malfoy. You haven't seen him, have you?" she shook her head, cursing inwardly. Why, oh why, were all the handsome ones in Slytherin and could tie her tongues in knots?

"Because we were born that way," he said laughingly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I must find Malfoy."

Ginny cursed herself all the way to Gryffindor Tower. When she reached the Fat Lady, she was gently reprimanded for her language before giving the password. Inside, all eyes were on her as she crossed the common room. Hermione, Ron and Harry stopped her before she got to the girls stairs.

"Ginny, are you all right?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, you're muttering to yourself continuously, without moving your lips. And you can talk through it. It makes it very hard to talk to you." she broke off worriedly. "You're saying 'stupid Ginny, first you let them get to you like that and now you can't even shut up in front of everyone'."

"It sounds like her inner thoughts, but it can't be, can it?" Ron put in, frantically. Hermione's look brightened.

"Yes," she breathed, "I've read about this, it's a highly complex charm. We have to take her to Madam Pomfrey. Yes, yes, we know you're there Ginny; we're not talking around you."

Ginny's heart thundered as she was escorted back through the corridors to the Hospital Wing. 'Highly complex charm', eh? She was willing to bet that Malfoy had done this. After all, he was second in his year, only beaten by Hermione. He probably did it when she was stalking out of the room, the git.

"Ginny, stop thinking, will you? About half the schools behind us, they can all hear what you're thinking. Look if you can't stop it, I'll have to knock you out. Fine be that way."

And Ginny's world went black.



"Malfoy, why've you got a handprint across your cheek?" Draco's eyes opened. Zabini's interested face was hanging over his. He sat up.

"I was having a nice little daydream before you interrupted, y'know." He groaned. "How bad is it?"

"It's noticeable but not too bad." Zabini admitted. Draco smirked. Now Pansy would be fawning over him all evening. Oh wait, that wasn't a good thing. "Which girl was it?" Blaise asked, more than a little curious. Damn Zabini and his questioning nature. He didn't really want to confess that he had been fantasizing about the Weasley girl in a bikini. So he did the only possible thing; answered a question with a question.

"The slap or the daydream?" he said.

"Knowing you, it's probably the same girl." Blaise grinned as Draco grimaced. "I'm right, aren't I? Let's see, can I guess which one? Is she a Slytherin? No? Let's see, you've gone through all the Ravenclaws, and you'd never touch a Hufflepuff, so that leaves Gryffindor." Draco nodded, glum in the face of Blaise's merriment. "Well, Ginny Weasley's the best looking out of that lot, but you wouldn't touch her either, so I'm gues-"

"You'd be surprised." he interrupted. Blaise looked shocked. Draco nodded. "Yes, I know. I kissed a Weasley. Father's gonna kill me."

"Not before her brother does." Blaise predicted grimly.