a/n: I love you guys so much, your reviews make me so happy! Alright, so there's a bit of a warning here, emo!Ginny up ahead...but it's not too bad...yes?

Chapter Twelve, Someone To Cling To

"And when the sun starts sinking on your beautiful soul,
Make you cry, cry, baby, make you feel so cold,
Don't you know it's alright,
sometimes you just got to show how you feel,
cause that's you baby -
You're so real." -'You're So Real', Matchbox 20

Ginny's walk by the lake proved to be pointless. It was supposed to calm her down, make her feel a bit better about her mother's letter, but it didn't. She knew that this newfound 'love' of potions she had was only more reason for her mother to keep her locked up in a cellar or something.

She sat down by a tree and looked out over the lake. It was a cold day - it was January, so just about every day was 'a cold day' - but she didn't mind much. She just wanted to figure out a way to show everyone who she was, what she was capable of, what she wanted...but she wondered if anyone really cared about what she wanted. Her Mum wanted whatever was best for her, that was no doubt true...but does that include what Ginny really wanted?

"How're you feeling?" A soft voice came from behind her.

"Trapped." She sighed honestly. Hermione sat down next to her and she looked over. "I'm sorry, I'm just in a bad mood."

"You seem to be having those a lot, these days." Her tone wasn't accusatory, but the statement itself was enough.

"Yeah, well..." She wanted to rant about everything, about being protected, being hidden, being forced to do things she didn't want to do, but she didn't want to make it seem like it was Hermione's fault.

"Ginny, is there anything you want to talk about? You know, you can tell me anything."

"I don't know...I'm just having a hard time adjusting to...all this."

"All what?"

"Everything - with the War, my family being even more overbearing than they used to...you guys are all graduating this year, too. I'm not going to have anyone left come June." She thought miserably. She didn't have many friends in her year, she'd always hung around with Ron, Harry and Hermione, and now Draco. But they were all leaving, and she wasn't.

"Well, you'll see us over the summer, and at holidays..."

"Will I?" First of all, Hermione's 'we' didn't include Draco..."You three disappear all the time - no one knows where you go, when you'll be back, or if you're ok. I can't even come to school without my mother worrying to death, and yet you three run around like no one cares."

"That's a bit unfair, don't you think?"

"You want to talk about not fair? I hate the hospital wing. It has no personality, it's practically dead. I hate the dungeons, I hate potions, I hate people acting as if I have no clue what's going on, and I hate being treated as though I weren't there."

"We know you're there, Ginny, it's just that they don't want you to get hurt. They love you and they want to protect you."

"Please, let's not use that word. If they wanted to protect me, they would watch my back while we're fighting or something, not try and shove me away completely. I feel like I'm being shoved off to the side, like I don't matter to them at all, and I don't understand why no one will even listen to me. Not a single person has said, 'Hey, Ginny, is any of this ok with you?' Harry didn't ask me if I cared before we broke up, he just made up his mind. My Mum didn't ask me if I cared before she banned me from Quidditch and took my broom, nor did she ask me if I cared before she set up those healing sessions with Madam Pomfrey. Professor Slughorn didn't even ask me if I cared before he moved me up a year in Potions - they all just did it without considering me!" She was getting really agitated, and although she didn't want to yell at Hermione, she was coming dangerously close to that.

"Ginny, the reason all those people did all of those things is BECAUSE they were considering you, don't you understand? They - well, not Professor Slughorn - but your Mum and Harry love you, Gin." Ginny scoffed.

"Harry does not love me. Harry doesn't care about me at all. My Mum may love me, but she's being completely unreasonable and inconsiderate about it. She should talk to me - I'm not a child anymore and I deserve to be treated better than this!"

"I know, Ginny, but you have to understand. Harry just wants you to be safe, he and your Mum have already lost so many people to Voldemort, they just don't want you to be one of those people. They want you to live through this, and be happy."

"But I'm NOT happy, Hermione! I'm miserable, and I have been since the end of last year when this all began. I want to play Quidditch, I want to be an equal to you and Ron, and Harry, and everyone else, I want to know what's going on." Her tone had gone from angry to unhappy, and quickly. She shook her head in defeat, "You just don't understand what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No, Ginny, I don't. I can't understand why you want to know about death and destruction, or why you want to see it. We just want what's best for you - all of us. Not being able to play Quidditch seems like a small sacrifice to me to be safe and helpful."

"Yeah, well, you've never understood Quidditch, much, have you?" Ginny spat.

"No, I haven't, but I don't see why that matters! You need to focus on your studies anyway! I don't see why Ron and Harry are playing Quidditch this year, either, with N.E.W.T.s coming up, and all the work they're doing..." Hermione was talking cryptically, and she was being quite obvious about it. Ginny just rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Look, I'm going inside...breakfast should be ending soon and I still have to get ready for classes."

"Ginny, stop it! Get a hold on yourself! Do you see how you're acting? You're yelling at me like it's my fault! You're acting like a child!" Ginny looked at her, aghast.

"What are you talking about! I have done nothing but keep my mouth shut about this! YOU were the one who wanted to talk to ME! I came out here to be alone, Hermione. I came out here to get away from all that, you were the one who followed me. If you don't want to talk to me, then don't. That's fine. --"

"You can't just go on alone! You can't just not talk to anyone, Ginny! Everyone needs someone!"

"Yeah, Ginny, everyone needs someone." Draco drawled as he walked up to the two girls.

"This is so not the time for this," Ginny spat at him.

"Not the time for what?" he inquired, an eyebrow raised.

"Go. Away. Malfoy." Hermione spat through gritted teeth.

"Not the time for your sarcasm." Ginny said at the same time, but a little more calmly. Draco glared at Hermione, who glared right back at him, before turning his gaze to Ginny.

"I don't really care what you two think it is or isn't the time for, I'll say what I like." He shrugged, not moving a muscle. Ginny folded her arms across her chest.

"Fine. Have at it. What would you like to say to us, Draco?" She shot, challenging him. Ginny noticed Hermione's glance darting between her and Draco, and just hoped he went away soon.

"You should listen to Granger, Re--Weasley. She's right, you know." His tone was dripping with sarcasm, but Ginny saw a speck of sincerity in his eyes. She also saw Hermione stuck between anger and shock at his statement.

"Well, I'm glad you're so concerned about my well-being, but I'm fine just the way I am." She said bitterly.

"I'm sure you are,"

"What do you care?"

"I don't, but you wouldn't want the Golden Trio over there against you, now would you? Although, I must admit, at times it can be quite a riot..."

"Ginny, let's just go," Hermione whispered, edging away.

"No." Ginny said, defiantly, standing her ground. "I want to know what this prat wants, and why he felt the need to eavesdrop on our conversation. I want to know what possessed him to interrupt after eavesdropping. And I want to know why he won't go away."

"Ginny, drop it," Hermione urged.

"Yeah, Ginny, drop it." Draco mocked.

"I will not drop it! Why do you feel the need to mock everyone? It's ridiculous!"

"Whoa, no need to get all riled up," Draco said, backing away a bit. Ginny glared at him.

"Leave,"

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Draco shot accusingly at Hermione, who looked almost frightened at him. Ginny gave a frustrated cry and stormed off. Hermione ran after her, and caught up, but couldn't keep the fast pace Ginny was.

"Ginny...Ginny, would you wait up!" Hermione cried.

"No!" she shouted.

"Ginny!" Hermione finally caught up, and practically ran along Ginny's side as Ginny made her way into the castle and up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Go away, Hermione, I'm really not in the mood right now."

"What was up with that?" Hermione asked angrily.

"With what?"

"You and Malfoy!" They were in the Common Room now, and Ginny spun around to face her,

"What do you mean 'me and Malfoy'?"

"What's going on between you two?"

"What? Hermione, that's ridiculous. There's nothing going on."

"Oh yeah? Then where do you go every night? Why did you pay him so much mind? He's never gotten to you as much as he did there, and why did you call him 'Draco'?" She fired questions off like she was reading them off a paper, and Ginny just got angrier and angrier.

"Hermione, it is none of your business where I go every night! And 'Draco' is his name, right? And I'm a little upset right now, if you hadn't noticed! So if you would please just leave me alone!" With that, Ginny stormed off to her room and slammed the door. Later on she went to her classes in a huff, and didn't speak to anyone all morning. At lunch, she grabbed a sandwich and ate alone in the common room, and then after a free period, made her way down to Potions.

Professor Slughorn paired them off again, as the potions were getting more and more difficult. He apparently liked what Ginny and Draco had produced yesterday, so he paired them together again. Ginny walked to his table in a stony silence, and kept her gaze focused on the blackboard. When the class got to work, Draco went to get the necessary things from the cupboard up front while Ginny organized what they already had.

"What the hell is up with you, Red?" He asked in a hushed whisper after he got back, keeping his eyes somewhere between Harry and Ron at all times.

"Nothing." Ginny snapped quietly. She kept silent for the rest of class, even through Draco's snapping and prodding. As they began to clean up, Harry made his way over to their table.

"Hey, Gin...you ok?" Ginny just looked at him blankly,

"Sure, why?"

"Well, you've just looked...upset, I guess, all class. I was just wondering if everything was alright."

"See? I told you so." Draco said to her quietly.

"I'm not talking to you at the moment." Ginny reminded him sweetly. Harry just looked at them confusedly. "I'm sorry, Harry - I'm just having a really bad day, and I just don't feel like talking about it right now." Her tone was sweet, but firm. She tried to smile at Harry, but felt like it was too easy to do that - she didn't feel it.

"Alright, well...if you ever do feel like talking about it, just come find me, ok?" He said earnestly. She nodded, and he glanced up at Draco, then turned and went on his way. Ginny let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, and went back to gathering her things to leave. She stormed out of the room, and went straight to her common room. She didn't leave until it was time for her healing session. She went into her room off to the side, to begin working on the Veritaserum Professor Slughorn had asked for.

She found concentrating on the difficult potion took her mind off of everything else. She liked having to think about something else for a change. She was off in her own little world, when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called lightly, stirring the potion. It would take a long time before it was done, but at least she'd started it. To her surprise, Harry walked in.

"Hi," he said, as they walked to two chairs at the other end of the table and sat down.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"I...er...I know you said you didn't want to talk earlier, but I thought you might...you know...want to talk now...or something..." He was spitting out random phrases, and Ginny was only barely able to make sense of them. "What happened with Hermione?" He finally spit out.

"Look, Harry..."

"Because she's really upset about it, and she said that you don't..." He trailed off.

"What did she say?"

"Well, she told me you two a fight, and that it really upset her..."

"No, you said something about I don't - I don't what?" Ginny was getting impatient - talking to Harry was like pulling teeth sometimes.

"She...well...she told me...that...you don't think I care about you." Ginny sat there, stunned. She couldn't understand why Hermione would divulge something like that.

"She...she said what?"

"She said that you think I don't care about you." He said with a little more confidence.

"I...don't know what to say..." She whispered, looking down at the folded hands on her lap.

"Well is it true?" He asked, sounding almost impatient. She looked at him defiantly.

"Don't you take that tone with me, Harry Potter, yes it's true."

"Ginny that's ridiculous! How could you think that? I left you because I care about you! I can't be with you because I care about you!"

"And I suppose you can't talk to me because you care about me? Can't defend me or help me because you care about me?"

"Ginny, there's nothing I can do about the things that have happened with your Mum..."

"I'm not just talking about that! I've sat up so many nights, so lonely because you guys have all cut yourselves off from me! None of you - especially you - want to be around me anymore, and I don't understand why. --"

"We're trying to protect you!"

"Don't even talk to me about that!" She yelled, beginning to stand up. They were both so focused on the other, that neither of them noticed the door click open and then shut.

"Ginny, this is ridiculous!"

"Stop calling my feelings ridiculous!" She yelled, "What's ridiculous was you dumping me! What's ridiculous is you not speaking to me, trying to protect me, acting as though you're my friend when you don't even give me a second thought!" They were both standing now, and Ginny was fuming. She wanted to hit him, make him understand what she was saying, but he still looked indignant - he still didn't get it.

"I always give you a second thought!" Harry yelled, "We're in this situation because I gave you a second thought, and didn't go with my feelings! We're not together because I gave you a second thought! Gin, I always think about you..." His tone had turned from angry to pleading, and his eyes looked desperate. "Ginny, I --" but before he could finish his sentence, his chair hit the back of his knees and he fell down. It continued into the table, banging his chest and making him keel over.

"What the..." Ginny cried as she ran over, "What just happened?" It wasn't until she was right next to Harry that she felt a presence next to her - a very, very angry presence. She didn't know how, because she couldn't hear anyone or see anything, but something in her understood and went into cover-up mode.

"I don't know," Harry gasped - the wind had been knocked out of him. "The chair just...I don't know..."

"Look, Harry, I'm sorry." Her tone did a complete 180, "You should probably just go to bed, it's getting late. We'll get a good night's sleep and talk about this some other time, ok?" She heard a low growl come from next to her, but Harry seemed ok with that. He slowly pushed his chair out and got up, and looked at Ginny.

"Ginny...I'm really sorry...about everything..." he said, pain and concern clouding his eyes. She smiled at him sympathetically,

"Me too, Harry." He hesitated for a minute, and then made his way slowly out. She turned to the spot near the wall where she could feel the energy coming from and glared. "You can come out now." She stated dryly.

"What the bloody hell was that!" The air yelled at her.

"What was what?"

"That! I come in here, and I see Scarhead standing there, getting ready to confess his feelings for you! Fighting with you about why you aren't together! You don't actually care about that git, do you!" Draco finally showed his face as he threw his cloak onto the table.

"Of course I care about Harry." Draco's eyes flashed murderously, "I would be sad if he died, therefore, I suppose I care about him."

"Then maybe you should go run after him and confess your love," Draco hissed.

"Oh please, would you get over yourself! You're taking this way too seriously. I don't love Harry, in fact, I'm quite unhappy with him at the moment. I thought you might've picked up that much." Draco was breathing so hard, Ginny was almost surprised he didn't pass out.

"Could have fooled me, with the things you were saying." he spat.

"Draco..." she began calmly, "I don't love Harry. I don't like Harry. There's been a lot between us in the past, but I'm not that person anymore and you know it." They stood in silence for a moment, and she moved closer to him. "I'm serious, you have nothing to worry about." He still didn't respond, so she decided to just give up.

"Well next time, would you at least tell him you're spoken for?" he suddenly asked as she gathered her things and checked the potion. "Where are you going?"

"I'm spoken for, huh? I suppose I could do that," She tried to smile, but found she was just too overwhelmed. "And I'm going to bed."

"Why are you so mad at me?" He asked, suddenly sounding mad.

"What makes you think I'm mad at you?"

"Every time I said a word to you today you freaked out, and now I get here, and see you with Potter, and you act like everything's fine, only to leave to go to bed!"

"I'm not supposed to sleep tonight?"

"You know what I mean, Red."

"Draco, really...not tonight...I just want to take a hot bath and sleep for...well, forever, but I'll settle for through breakfast..."

"Not until you tell me what's going on." She sighed impatiently,

"There's nothing going on between me and Harry,"

"No, I mean with you - what's going on with you." She looked uncomfortably up at him - he had a knack for that kind of thing, knowing what she was thinking and feeling, without having to ask. It was weird, because although she knew Fred and George could do that...well...Fred and George were twins, they'd been together their whole lives. She and Draco had only known each other a few months.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You may be able to pull that crap with your so-called friends, but not with me." He said firmly as he moved a step closer, so that now he was almost hovering over her. She looked down miserably - it had been a terrible day.

"I just want today to be over..." she sighed quietly, wanting nothing more than sleep. He wrapped his arms around her, and she fell into him. She wanted to just get lost in his embrace - in his robes, his strength, his scent. She wanted to just forget about everything else, and her knees became weak. He supported her with one arm around her waist, until she got her footing again. Then he went over to the table, picked up his invisibility cloak and put it on.

"Come with me..." he whispered. She felt a hand hold hers, and tug her away. She left everything there and just followed him out. When they got out into the hallway, he took off his cloak and put it on her. She got confused, until he picked up her invisible body and carried her down to the dungeons.

When they got to his room, he shut and locked the door before placing Ginny down on the bed. He silently got out an extra set of pajamas -black satin pants and a t-shirt- and placed them on the bed.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." He put the invisibility cloak away and Ginny got changed. She didn't have the energy to fight with him, and his couch was much more private than even her own bed, so she figured she might as well. She got up, took a blanket and sat on the couch, staring intently at the fire. Sure enough, a few minutes later, he came out in another pair of black satin pajama pants and a t-shirt. She smiled, and he just smirked. He put out the fire, picked her up and took her back to the bed.

"What are you doing?" She asked quickly.

"You're not staying on the couch. And I'm not doing anything. Just go to sleep." He climbed under the blankets next to her, and hugged her close. After a second she softened, and just melted into him...

"So not fair..." she whispered as she was falling asleep.

"What is?"

"You get your own private room, and I have to share with four other annoying girls...so not fair..." She said quietly, she could feel him smirk, and for once didn't blame him. Here came the jab about how she was poor...she didn't even care. But he just kissed her forehead,

"Just go to sleep, Red...today's over."