"Care to tell me when I said I had detention with Weasley, much less what we did?" Malfoy's words were pure ice and his eyes were sparking dangerously. He had grabbed Parkinson by the upper arm and practically drug her back to an abandoned classroom halfway across the castle. His knuckles were still bleeding, but he was ignoring them.

Parkinson was trying her hardest not to cower away from him but was failing miserably. No matter how much she squirmed or whimpered, though, she could not break eye contact with him. As afraid as she was to maintain it, she was more so to break it. "I…I don't remember."

He just sneered at her.

"I…I saw you leave the classroom with her. People were talking about why you had defended her. They were saying that…that you actually cared what people said about her. I…I had to shut them up. It was for your protection!" She was whining and it was grating on his nerves. "If…if word got back to Lucius…you could have been in danger! So…so…I told them you…"

He snapped his eyes away from her and growled "Get out!"

"But…but Draco…" she whined, stepping closer to him

"Get OUT! LEAVE MY SIGHT!" He took a menacing step closer to her and she fled.

As soon as the door was shut behind her he fell against the wall behind him and sank to the ground. He went to run his hands through his hair but when the strands pulled through his wounds he winced and grimaced when he realized what he had done. Great, now he had blood in his hair.

He held his hand out before him, propping his arms just above the elbow on his bent knees. After looking at it for a second he sighed and let it hang limp, slamming his head back against the wall.

She was right, after all. If Lucius suspected his son of caring about a Gryffindor, much less a Weasley, at all, his life could very well be in danger. It would earn him a crucio at least. He clenched his jaw so tightly it hurt. FUCK!

How was he supposed to apologize when he was supposed to gloat? The way she had looked at him though! First the day he had defended her, and then as she lay beneath him! That first day when he saw her fury…sure, he'd seen her angry before, but not like that. And when she had explained what had happened…she hadn't been angry with him for his comments, nope, she had still been angry with Thomas, and she had told him the truth, daring him to be decent about it. She had met his gaze and dared him to react like a gentleman, dared him. That meant she knew he was capable.

And then the detention... She really didn't have to do that, but she had. Even after he had refused to show her the least bit of gratitude for standing up for him. He had even been cruel about it like always. But there she was, saving him from who knows what tedious evening. And her book…he still had her book.

More than that, though, she knew not to ask any questions. She knew better than to ask for an explanation. She just let him be. No one had ever just…let…him…be.

Her eyes as she lay there…so hurt…so betrayed… She had placed trust in him. No one trusted him. She hadn't had any expectations, that was obvious, but she had simply trusted him to leave that one evening alone. She had trusted in what she had seen that night and believed he had been honest and real. He had been honest and real. That was ruined now. She would never trust him again because he could never apologize.

But what had that been in her eyes just before he had broken the gaze? There had been something…hope? No, Parkinson had killed that. But the anger and pain had softened. She had been looking for something. Had she found it? What could have been there to find? Surely not the truth…surely he had not let her see the truth…if she had seen the answer to her unasked question…

He stood with a frustrated roar and punched the wall again, nearly doubling over as the pain rain through his arm. Great, he had broken quite a few bones with that one, genius.

"Hey, Gin?" Ron touched her arm to get her attention.

"Huh?" she answered absentmindedly, still staring after Malfoy.

"Gin! You okay?" Ron was still trying to get her full attention. Harry and Hermione exchanged a worried glance.

"Wha…" she finally shook herself out of her reverie, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She tried to smile at them in reassurance but none of them bought it.

"Gin…what's goin' on?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean?"

"He means, what's going on? What happened? One minute Malfoy looks like he's about to kill you and the next he just…doesn't. And what did happen at that detention?" her brother queried.

"I don't know. I don't know why he just left." She shrugged. "And nothing happened at the detention. I did the Potions work I had to do and he read. It only took half an hour and we left. That's it." She looked back in the direction he had gone. "That's it."

Hermione gave her a suspicious look, but the boys looked at each other and shrugged. "Maybe he's finally lost it," Ron suggested.

"Maybe," Ginny said with a sigh and a shrug, "Shall we head for Hogsmeade?"

As they walked toward the town, Ginny was thinking about the questions she had been asked. What was going on? She could have sworn that she had seen something in his eyes as he knelt over her. Something…but what? Remorse? Pain? Longing? She sighed and caught up with the others. All she knew was that he was not who he appeared.

He had defended her. He had been civil to her. He had not betrayed her. He was angry that she had been hurt, angrier that it had been in his name. No, he was not who he appeared.