24 September 2005

A word from Starry: HEY! Wow long time no see! I missed you all and I missed ff dot net a lot. Wow well I'm here to update this chapter and I apologize but I've been busy and so forth. So I decided to update today! Yay!

Thank you to all my reviewers! THANK YOU SO MUCH! -gives cookies to all of you who reviewed- I don't know when I'll update FF and ID or IWWYH but I'm hoping it's soon!

Have you guys seen the new trailers? OMG VIKTOR KRUM IS HOT! -drools- Ok I need to stop... Hermione looks so pretty and did you guys see Harry's expression when she was coming down? -screams like the fangirl that she is- I can't wait until November 18! -urges time to go faster- Please! Ok... on to the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Ginevra Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Echo and all those people from the HP world... I only own Johan from FF and ID... eww...

Chapter Five: Discoveries

Draco walked to breakfast with a not so good attitude. He had gone out the night before and waited for Echo so he could tell her what had happened with the littlest Weasley. To his disappointment though, she hadn't showed up and he spent half of the night waiting for her until he finally concluded that she wasn't showing up.

"Hey Draco!"

He ignored the greeting and continued walking. Why hadn't she appeared last night? Had he really scared her? Did something happen to her? And why did Weasley look so different? The questions kept on circling his head until he sat down and looked over at the Gryffindor table in search of her. She was sitting talking to Scar head, the Mudblood and Weasley.

He squinted his eyes to see if her freckles where still gone and if her lips were back to the chapped and thin lips that they were. Since he was across the Great Hall he couldn't really tell. He looked down at his food and stabbed his eggs. He was going to have to find out why she had looked different.

xoxoxoxo

"So you have detention with Professor Lupin?" asked Ron, who was now smiling because his sisters secret wasn't going to be discovered.

The redhead nodded and turned to Harry who was saying something.

"That's great! He won't give you something hard to do. You're lucky you didn't get Snape, he'd probably make you clean everything in his office and scrub the floors without magic."

"I know, I was relieved when Dumbledore said I was serving it with him. The bad thing though is that I'll have to miss Herbology but I don't think Professor Sprout will mind that. I am doing good in her class which is good or else I'd have to catch up and study for hours!"

"So when do you have to go?" asked Hermione, putting her copy of The Daily Prophet aside.

"After lunch."

"Well I hope this is a good lesson learned. In your condition you can't go around getting detention." Hermione peered over towards Harry and Ron to see if they agreed.

Ginny felt anger rise as she saw both boys nod and Hermione smile.

"Well it wasn't my fault! He called me a bitch! I don't take crap from anyone, especially a stupid Slytherin like him!" Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and continued to look at the Trio with a Don't-Tell-Me-Anything-Right-Now-Or-Else look.

Breakfast passed and so did Potions and Charms. Soon it was time for lunch and for her detention, and Ginny wasn't that disappointed as she was going to spend detention in Professor Lupin's room.

"Look Ginny, I wanted to apologize for what happened during breakfast. I know it seemed like we were against you punching Malfoy, but we weren't. We're just concerned for you because we don't want anyone finding about this secret of yours either. And you going off and getting detention won't help the situation. I just wanted to tell you to be careful next time, and if Malfoy continues to bother you then just breathe and leave him talking to himself. He's not worth getting into trouble."

Looking up from her meal, Ginny came into eye contact with Hermione who was looking at her with honesty and care at the same time. Her friends cared for her and she knew that what had happened earlier was only because they cared. She shouldn't have burst out like that to them, even if they seemed to have gone against her.

"It's alright Hermione, it's me who should be apologizing to you guys." She looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione and gave them an apologetic smile. "I guess I was all moody because I am getting very frustrated with this curse. I haven't seen anyone, besides my family, at night! I want to be able to go out on dates or with friends and not have to worry about coming home before eight! I'm sorry guys, and I also want to thank you for being there for me. Thanks."

"Oh Ginny! You don't have to say that! What are friends for?" said a tearful Hermione, before hugging Ginny.

"Ginny as your brother I want to tell you that I am here for you always and you don't have to say thanks to me. I want you to be happy and I'll do whatever it takes to make you smile." Ron stood up and walked all the way around the table just to hug her.

"Yeah Gin, we're doing this because we want to and because we want to help you so you can fulfill your dreams."

Ginny felt her stomach leap as she saw Harry getting up and leaning over the table to hug her. Immediately she got up as well and leaned in to meet him in the middle so that he wouldn't have to stretch all the way. She felt Harry's arms go around her and she did the same to him. They stayed like that for what seemed an eternity until she pulled away and smiled at him.

"Thanks guys! I feel all giddy now." Ginny giggled. "Well I better be going I don't want to be late for my detention. The sooner I get there the faster I'll leave! Hopefully…"

"All right, good luck Ginny. I'll continue my research for you during dinner ok? See you later."

"Bye Hermione"

"Bye Ginny."

"Bye Harry, Bye Ron."

"Bye Gin, take care all right?"

Ginny nodded before picking up her bag and swinging it over her shoulder. She walked towards the doors of the Great Hall, and she was almost out when she paused and turned to look over at the Slytherin table. Draco was not watching her and she felt relieved because that meant he had forgotten about the incident the night before, the one where he saw her right at the moment of her transformation.

Realizing that she was standing in the middle of the doorway staring at the Slytherin table, she shook her head and ran out as quick as she could. She had been worried that their encounter was going to mean the discovery of her secret. She figured out after not having any eye contact or verbal contact that he probably forgot about it. At least she hoped he did.

"So I guess I'll have Ginevra Weasley cleaning out my closet today eh?"

Ginny looked up to see Professor Lupin smiling down at her in his classroom doorway. He was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and right now she was thanking Merlin for it.

"Yes Professor."

"So what did you do?" he asked as he ushered her in.

Ginny walked in and sat down on a chair when he offered her a chair. "I punched Malfoy," she said triumphantly. 'It sure felt good… well kind of…'

Remus Lupin's eyes widened and a chuckle came out of his lips. "Don't tell anyone I just did that alright? Us teachers aren't supposed to cheer for student violence, but by golly you punched Malfoy! Well that's a first. What did he do to deserve that?"

"He was being a prat to Harry, Ron and Hermione and he called me a bitch," she answered bluntly.

"Oh I see, yes I do quite agree with you, he deserved that. Just don't tell anyone I said that…"

"I won't professor," she said while smiling.

Hearing the end of lunch bell, Lupin got up and motioned for Ginny to do the same.

"Sorry Ginny but you have a detention to serve. If this had happened in my classroom you wouldn't be serving detention," he said with a wink. "Now all you're going to do today is just clean my closet and then you're done. There isn't much to do, just organize it and that's it. Now off you go!"

Ginny nodded before running off towards the back of the classroom and closing the door behind her. She was glad Lupin was a friend of hers and didn't say it was bad to punch Malfoy. Plus, he had said the Slytherin deserved it!

Cleaning Professor Lupin's closet was fun for Ginny. Since this wasn't Snape, she could use her wand and use it she did! She was done in less than two hours and with time to spare, lots of time. Sitting down in a chair by a window she looked out and smiled. Being outside was freedom for her, whether it was during the day or night it didn't matter to her, just as long as she was outside.

A few owls flew by the window making Ginny get an idea. The idea was that maybe after getting a few things on her curse, she could send them to her parents and they could help out with the research as well. Smiling at this idea she got up, opened the door and walked out into Professor Lupin's class.

"So here we have— Ah, Miss Weasley are you finished?" asked the Professor with a smile instead of a frown or angry expression.

Ginny nodded while picking up her back and swinging it over her shoulder. When she did this she noticed the reason why she was in detention, sitting a few feet away from her.

'Draco has this class at this time? Great Merlin's beard! Why can't I just not see him for one bloody day! Why?'

"Alright Miss Weasley, if you would please do me the favor of exiting my class? I need to continue with my teachings. I appreciate your help and stay out of trouble!"

Ginny smiled and nodded as she blushed. She knew he hadn't meant to embarrass her like that. All she wanted was to get out of there and get as far away from Malfoy as she could. He had seen her the night before and she hoped that he had already forgotten.

Making her way towards the door she suddenly slowed down when she saw that she had to go right by Malfoy in order to get to the door. Mentally groaning she tightened the grip on her bag and began walking fast. As she passed Malfoy she looked at the floor, held her breath and hoped that he hadn't looked at her face.

xoxoxoxo

'Why did she look like that yesterday?'

Draco droned out what the professor was talking about when Ginny passed by him. He had discreetly looked at her and noticed that she did not resemble the girl he had seen the night before. The Ginny he had seen last night did not have freckles and her lips had been so luscious and plump. This Ginny had thin lips and freckles all over her nose and face. 'Perhaps she has a twin?' If she did have a twin though, she would of have gotten sorted the same year she had. He didn't remember seeing another Weasley his second year, so she did not have a twin. He smirked, Ginny Weasley had a secret and he was going to figure it out.

Defense Against the Dark Arts soon ended and he had a break before his next class. Deciding to go and figure out what was up with Ginny, he turned around and began walking towards the library. He knew Ginny thought he had forgotten but she was very wrong.

xoxoxoxo

The rest of the day went smoothly for Ginny. Finding out that Malfoy did not remember their little encounter the night before, put her in good spirit. Looking down at her watch she saw that she had an hour before 8. If only she had gone and told Dumbledore about her curse in her first year, she could be sleeping and eating in her very own room.

"Ginny, I've found you!"

Glancing up, Ginny came face to face with a smiling Hermione.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Do you have a minute?" asked Hermione as she eyed a corner that was empty.

Ginny nodded before following the older witch.

"I found something that has a lot of things your curse talks about. I don't really know if it's your curse but it's start!" Excitement could be seen radiating from the bushy haired girl.

The redhead's eyes lit up and a big smile adorned her face. "What did you find out?" she asked eagerly.

"I found out that the curse I found is called 'The Changing of the Lady' and that it affects only one person of a family. That's all I found out, but listen to the name, it has the word 'changing' and it affects one person of the family. Changing of the lady so that means the person has to be a girl, so one girl is affected from the family. I think that if this is not it then with this one, we can track down your curse!" Hermione said as she hugged Ginny.

Ginny could not believe it! They were close to almost discovering her curse and how to break the spell, meaning that she could be pretty! Glancing down at her watch she remembered the idea from earlier and told Hermione about it.

"I think that's a great idea! You should go right now, everyone is going to be going to dinner in a few minutes so they won't be up there. I'll tell Ron and Harry, they're out practicing right now. Well I'll see you later, Gin."

"Bye Hermione."

She watched as the older witch disappeared through the crowd that was now making it's way towards the Great Hall. Perfect! All she needed to do now was write a letter to her mum and tell her what Hermione had found out and hope that they had better luck than they did.

With all her excitement, Ginny didn't notice a Slytherin blond following her up to the owlery.

xoxoxoxo

Draco was finally going to find out what Ginny was hiding, well that's what he hoped for. She had become a very mysterious girl in these last few days. He recognized those eyes, and what had happened the previous night was making him so damn curious. He just hoped he wasn't getting himself into something dangerous.

He decided to stay behind a bit so to not catch attention from the redhead who was walking quite fast ahead of him. She seemed very exciting while talking to Mudblood Granger and he wanted to figure out why.

'Why are you doing this Draco? Eh? What are you going to get out of this? She's a Weasley for Merlin's sake and she's ugly! No...'

Noticing that she had gone up the steps into the owlery he slowly followed quietly, drowning out his thoughts.

Upon arriving at the top he surveyed her as she was writing something in a piece or parchment. She seemed to be nervous because she was shaking and her handwriting was squiggly. He moved his gaze from her hands down to her legs and up to her face. Deep down he felt something, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. She seemed so damn familiar, everything about her seemed so familiar.

Suddenly, he had the urgent need to run his hand through her raggedy hair and touch her freckled stained face. He didn't know why, but he just had to do it. Stepping out of the shadows he made his way towards her and stopped when she turned to stare at him.

"What are you doing?"

xoxoxoxo

When she arrived at the owlery, she quickly got a piece of parchment out and begin to write the letter. She needed to hurry because she only had little time left before she had to run back to Gryffindor tower and into her bed.

Ginny had finished writing it when she heard the rustling of clothing and looked up to see none other than Malfoy.

"What are you doing?" she asked with her voice trembling.

"What happened to your freckles yesterday, Weasley?"

Her panic was evident in her eyes and Draco almost laughed if he hadn't been so curious to find out why she was reacting like this and why he wanted to touch her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy." Ginny glared at him as she folded the letter in half. She didn't want him reading it, it would make things worse.

"You very bloody well know what I'm talking about. I saw you yesterday and your freckles were gone and your lips—You looked—You just didn't have your freckles and today in Lupin's classroom you have your freckles again! What are you doing Weasley?" Draco took another step towards her and smirked when he saw that she was up against the wall.

Ginny was panicking and at the same time she felt it to be a bit exciting. Here she was with Draco Malfoy alone in the owlery against the wall… 'Get your head out of the gutter you ignorant girl! He didn't forget, Merlin, I'm going to be dead!'

"I don't know what you're talking about ok! Now stop acting like a saucy cat and move out of my way." After having glanced down at her watch and noted that she only had twenty minutes to get to the safety of her dormitory, her courageous side had come out. She pushed passed Malfoy and before descending the stone steps, looked back and instead of glaring or smiling, a sad look dawned upon her face.

She was in such a hurry to get out of there that she hadn't noticed that she had dropped the letter to her parents. Thanking Merlin that the halls were empty, she said the password and sprinted upstairs to her room where she was going to stay the whole night. Draco knew something was up and probably find out she was Echo if she went out tonight. So Ginny decided to play it safe. It wasn't until she remembered why she had gone to the owlery that she remembered about the letter.

'Where is it? I know I had it in my hand before I pushed passed—Oh no! I dropped it! I hope he doesn't find it…'

xoxoxoxo

Draco sat in his bed holding the letter that Ginny had dropped. He didn't know why he was hesitating in opening it, it wasn't like he actually cared about finding something horrible about Weasley, right? He remembered the feeling that he had felt back in the owlery and scowled. Why had he felt the urge to kiss her? He recognized her, but from where?

He shook his head and unfolded the letter and began to read. What was written made him even more curious that he decided to not go out tonight, just so he could figure out what was up with her.

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Dear Mum and Dad,

I have a favor to ask you. I can't really say a lot in this letter, but can you look up information on 'The Changing of the Lady'? Hermione said that what I have and that could be connected. She says that, that might have the cure to it! I must go now because I am running out of time! I love both of you and hope you are well. Ron, Harry and Hermione say hi and they send their love as well. Bye.

Ginny

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Starry: WTF? Draco found her letter? Omg what is going to happen next! -in the TV announcers voice- ON THE NEXT GINNY AND ECHO... Draco has found the letter and then Ginny screams and finds Seamus in her window spying on her and finds out her secret. She screams and throws her broom at Seamus but Seamus says he loves her and Ginny falls in love with him. Then Pansy confesses to Harry that she has loved him all her life and they go off and get married. Hermione and Ron don't like each other and Hermione goes off and marries Viktor Krum while Ron goes off with Padma Patil and makes Parvati jealous! Draco finds out Ginny is in love with Seamus and decides to go and disturb her wedding but then he goes into the wrong wedding and ends up ruining Beast Boy and Raven's wedding! OH NO?

J/K!

Hehe scared? -cheeky- Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter! Thanks!