a/n: thank you thank you thank you! for all the wonderful replies, I LOVE getting them. I'm glad you like it so far, we're gettng close to the end...sigh it's been fun, lovelies (this isn't the end, though, no worries)

Chapter Twenty Four, A Mess

"And you're gone now,
(Well, you know this would come, you've left me alone,)
And did it make you happier?
(You're lost and long gone - don't take it so seriously)
Got you this far,
(Go on, get going, I'm fine on my own)
Did what you had to.
(We got you this far, finally got it figured out.)" -'Happier', Guster

Ginny went about the next few days in silence. She snapped at anyone who talked to her, and was very angry. By Monday at breakfast, the whole school had been pretty well informed not to mess with her lately, and they left her alone. She went through the meal silently, glaring at people and staring off into space. At one point, she caught herself staring at him, and almost threw something. Pansy was hanging all over him, moreso than she had ever before, and he seemed to accept it. She was too angry, too hurt and too upset to look into his face and think about how it made him feel or how he really looked...just the sight made her sick. Ginny looked back down at her plate and stabbed her eggs with her fork, causing nothing but a mess...

Then, Monday afternoon, she had to go to Potions. She sat at her table next to Draco and pulled out a book, the same one she'd been looking at the week before, about potions ingredients and how they affect children.

"Miss Weasley! Just the girl I was looking for!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed as he made his way towards her. She looked up, "I had some time over the weekend to finish up those tests I mentioned last week - I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you earlier, with the N.E.W.T.s coming up I haven't had much time..." She hadn't even noticed he hadn't gotten back to her - she never really expected much from him.

"Oh, that's alright, sir. I completely forgot I'd given it to you," she smiled sweetly.

"Yes, well, I've run every possible test I could think of, and even sent a sample to a friend of mine who examined it, and we can't find anything wrong with it! It's wonderful! And it looks like the safest thing for an expectant mother, even though the effects might be a bit diminished..."

"Thank you, Professor." Ginny smiled. She looked back down at her book as class started, and shut it. She decided she'd read something else today. She didn't even bother looking at Draco becuase she didn't want to see whatever look was on his face. She didn't want to go there.

Class started, and Draco ran around gathering ingredients. Ginny just opened another one of her books.

"Plan on helping me, Weasley?" he drawled, seemingly annoyed.

"No." She said casually, continuing to read. She didn't even look up at him, but heard him start to measure out his own ingredients for once. Class went by and she finally decided to look up. She saw all the ingredients measured out perfectly, and he'd begun to put them into the cauldron. She saw daisy roots, hellesbore, sneezewort and salamander's blood among them. Then she saw him pick up the sneezewort and drop it in. She went back to reading, and a moment later heard the cauldron start to sizzle and sputter violently. She looked up, alarmed, and noticed that all that was left on the table were the daisy roots and salamander's blood. Before the potion had a chance to blow up, she emptied it.

"What was that for!" He cried angrily.

"Never put hellesbore in before daisy roots." She said mechanically.

"You could have told me that before." He growled.

"You didn't ask for my opinion." She said pointedly as she glared at him. They made eye contact, and she knew that he'd understood what she really meant. He looked a little hurt, but that was hard to see through his icy mask. Still, though, it was there.

She stood up and started gathering the ingredients again, and measuring them out.

"We don't need daisy roots or salamander's blood, because you already have them. So just measure out the sneezewort and hellesbore again and I'll help you."

"You'll what?" He sneered. She glared at him.

"Don't even start with me, Draco Malfoy. If it weren't for me, this entire room would be black with ash from that explosion." She hissed. She backed down immediately, though, because she just didn't want to deal with him.

They worked together on their potion, but class ended before they had a chance to finish.

"Professor Slughorn? Could we have just a few extra minutes to finish this up? It's almost done." Ginny asked sweetly. He told them to take as much time as they needed, he wasn't in a hurry, and this was the last potion they'd make before they took their N.E.W.T.s.

"Ginny..." Ron began as he, Harry and Hermione were on their way out.

"Ron, don't start. This is Malfoy's mess and I'm just helping him clean it up."

"I don't want to leave you here alone," Harry whispered to her, so no one else would hear. Hermione grabbed his arm, though, and started to drag him away.

"Stop it. If I have to tell you guys that I'm fine one more time, I might just scream. Seriously, everything's ok. We're almost done anyway, so I'll see you at dinner." Reluctantly, they left - Hermione dragging both boys out by their robes.

"You can leave, you know." Draco said casually. She rolled her eyes,

"If I leave, I'm pretty sure you'll have blown up the entire castle before dinner's over." He glared at her,

"You're not the only one who's good at potions." He snapped.

"I'm not good at potions," she snapped back, "I just try." They worked in silence, dropping in ingredients, stirring the cauldron and waiting for it to fully mature. Professor Slughorn wandered in and out occasionally, checking on them before he went up to dinner, and then they were left alone. It was eerily quiet, and Ginny really didn't want to be down there anymore. She was done crying, but she wasn't done being upset. As they waited in silence for the potion to finish, Ginny wanted to speak up. To say something, anything.

"Draco..." she began, in a pleading voice.

"Red, stop it." He said firmly. It broke her heart to be so close to him, and yet feel so far away.

"Look me in the eye." She said firmly, "Look me in the eye, and tell me that you don't care about me." He tensed and turned to her.

"Is that what you want?"

"Of course that's not what I want!" She cried, "What I want is for you to drop this crap and tell me what the hell's going on! But you seem to be stuck on breaking up with me. So look me in the eye and tell me you don't care about me, and if you can't do it, I want some answers." He looked at her.

"I'm not going to talk about it."

"What?"

"I'm not going to give you answers." He said through gritted teeth. His hand was gripping the edge of the table, and his knuckles turning white.

"Why not!" He looked at her with an expression she'd never seen on him before. One of malice and hatred, of fear. It scared her stiff.

"Because you don't want them. You're just naiive...you just think you do."

"I want the truth!"

"You can't handle the truth." he said quietly, but more viciously than anything else he'd said all weekend. She paused, trying to decide whether or not to pursue the issue. She started putting things away, well, she was really throwing them, but they were getting back to their places and that was the important part. She didn't want to deal with his crap any more.

He seemed to be of a like mind, because he began to clean up, too. As soon as their potion was finished he siphoned it out and put the vial on Professor Slughorn's desk, clearly labeled. He packed up his things, and she just sat there for a second, collecting herself. He began to walk out and she spoke up again.

"Draco," she said in a pleading voice. "Face me, and tell me you care about me." She forced it out, because she needed to know. He stopped in his tracks, just as he was about to walk out the door, but he didn't face her. As soon as he'd stopped, though, he started again, and walked out without another word. She took a deep breath to steady herself, picked up her books, and left.

She walked into the Great Hall quickly, knowing how late she was, and shoveled some ham onto her plate.

"Hey Ginny, how'd it go with Malfoy?" Ron asked as he shoveled some potatoes into his mouth.

"Honestly, Ron. You could at least wait until you swallowed." Hermione said, a little disgusted at his display. Ron just rolled his eyes. Ginny smiled,

"It was fine. We just finished up, then we cleaned and left."

"That's it?" Harry inquired all too casually.

"Of course that's it," Ginny said, giving him a surprised smile. "What did you expect? Him to kill me?"

"I wouldn't put it past him..." Ginny just rolled her eyes and smiled. She wasn't going to let these three - of all people - know that there was trouble in paradise, even if they didn't know who 'paradise' was with. She went through the rest of dinner without saying much more, nothing else about Draco, anyway. She really wanted to stop thinking about him so much, and it made her sigh unhappilyjust thinking that.

The next few days, Ginny succeeded in not talking to Draco. She had to speak to him a little bit during Potions, but that was all. She left the flasks of his potion outside his door one night, but that was the extent of it. She spent her evenings in the hospital wing, brewing potions for Tonks, mostly - once she'd heard about (and tried) Ginny's potion, she was thrilled. She said that although the taste was horrid, it worked wonders not only for her nerves, but her nausea as well. A nice side effect. Ginny brewed so much of that potion, she was convinced it would start coming out her ears any day now.

At nights, before bed, she returned to the library and sat on the windowsill. She basked in the serenity around her, the peace and tranquility of the night, but somehow it seemed empty anymore. It wasn't a very comforting silence, it even seemed to mock her sometimes. She didn't cry, though. She was done with that, it would do her no good and she knew it. She stared out the window wistfully, wishing on a dream that seemed far off, and imagining what could be.

But they were just dreams, and at the end of the night she always stored them away in her emerald, going back to bed. She didn't even realize she was wearing it anymore, but it was still there. She confided all her hopes into that pendant, it was her new best friend. It knew everything that had happened, all her hopes, desires, dreams and wishes. And it wasn't going to leave her.

Days turned into weeks, and soon enough May was about to end. It was only one week until their N.E.W.T.s when Ginny caught wind - completely by accident - of the next battle. Tonks had, again, rushed into the Gryffindor Common Room one night when Ginny just happened to be up doing homework instead of in the hospital wing.

"I'm going." She sad determinedly.

"You're kidding, right? Someone tell me she's kidding." Ron said to everyone in the room. Tonks and Hermione slinked back, as Ron and Harry advanced.

"Ginny, just wait for us in the hospital wing like you've been doing since..." Harry trailed off, and it made Ginny's blood boil. She'd only done that because Draco had asked her to, and now that he didn't care, well, neither did she.

"No." she said firmly. "I'll stay out of the way, but I'm coming."

"Alright, you four, let's go." Tonks said, trying to quell other protests. It didn't work, but she did manage to usher them all out.

They decided it would be best to fly to the scene because it was so close, and it would save them time. Turns out they just had to get to Hogsmeade tonight. Ginny felt awful - the attacks kept getting closer and closer, and it wasn't like anywhere really needed this trouble, let alone so close to Hogwarts. But they all got there ok, and the trio started out. Ginny held back a bit, hoping to really figure out what she was doing there before something happened.

She saw the two sides go at it, and it was just as she remembered - ridiculously unproductive. Houses and stores caught fire, curses flew everywhere. Tonks ran back to Ginny when a curse hit her that made her feet grow to an abnormal size - what an absurd curse to fling in the middle of a serious battle.

Ginny lingered on the sidelines, just watching the show and commenting on how silly it all was in her head. She nearly had to choke back laughter when a Death Eater threw a curse at Hermione and hit another Death Eater, making his front teeth grow. That had to be Draco - only he would fling that at Hermione. He already had, once before, and he'd thought it was a riot. But Ginny didn't know whether it was him or not, and she saw Hermione fling something back at him that looked like a Bat-Bogey Hex. Ginny was almost disappointed at the magic being used in the skirmish. She'd expected something more advanced than a Bat-Bogey Hex. And from Hermione of all people. The Death Eater it had hit seemed unaffected. He stumbled a bit back into an alleyway, but seemed to know where he was going. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but kept watching as Hermione turned around to look for someone new to spar with. Ginny watched the alley - he didn't come back, but what if he did? What if he came back and Hermione's back was turned? What if someone was in the bushes right next to her, ready to jump out and disarm her at any moment? She was seriously considering asking the trio where they'd learned to duel, because she found it almost pathetic. Speaking of people in bushes, though...

Ginny looked around frantically, scanning her own surroundings. She wasn't going to be caught unawares. Not again. She put her red and white hair up in a ponytail so it wouldn't get in her face, and crouched behind a hedge. She looked next to and behind her before crawling back into the alley by the Three Broomsticks. It hadn't been hit yet, and Ginny was thankful for that - she'd need a Firewhiskey when this was all over. She'd never had one, but she figured this would warrant one.

She stood off in the alley, half-hidden by a wall, watching the fight. She felt a hand grab her upper arm and drag her backwards into the alley. She immediately grabbed her wand, pointed it at the assailant and shouted

"Petrificus Totalus!" The Death Eater immediately stiffened like a board and fell over. As her heart rate slowed to a more normal rate, she took a deep breath and unmasked him.

And there lied Draco. Stiff as a board. She really thought about leaving him there to rot, or kicking him, but figured he had something to say, so they might as well get it out of the way. She muttered the counter-curse and he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. She sat down across from him, waiting.

"This is a really stupid way to try and get back at me." He said through gritted teeth.

"Who said I was trying to get back at you?" She challenged. "I think I proved right there that I duel better than Hermione. I saw her use a Bat-Bogey Hex on some Death Eater."

"I know. That was me." Ginny couldn't supress her laughter this time.

"You're telling me you sent a curse at her to make her front teeth grow? That's so ridiculous." Draco started to smirk, but cleared his throat and regained his composure too quickly.

"Look, go back to the castle. Get out of here and stay there." He said.

"Whatever, Draco. I'm not trying to 'get back at you'. I'm here and I'm staying."

"I know you hate my guts and all, but this is just plain stupid." He said, getting angry at her. She didn't care, though, she was mad at him, too.

"Who said I hated your guts?" She shot, "You don't even understand."

"I understand more than you think." He said, making eye contact with her. She saw something there...something deeper than she'd seen before. It made her shiver.

"I'm not going anywhere." She said quietly. "I'm staying here."

"You're leaving, now."

"No, I'm not."

"I'm not going to argue with you about this, Red. Get out of here before something happens." He growled.

"Something like what, Draco?" She shot, "Like I get tortured again? What's it matter to you, anyway? You don't care about me." She saw his eyes flash with emotion for a split second, with fear, anger and hurt before he had time to put his guard up again.

"Get out of here, Red, or I swear I'll take you out." He snarled, his icy walls threatening to break down at her insistence that he didn't care.

"Try me." She challenged. He grabbed her upper arm and started to drag her back to the castle, but she twisted out of his grasp. "I grew up with six older brothers who use the same tricks, don't underestimate me." She said slyly, but with venom. He grabbed her wrist and started dragging her away, but she twisted so that she had ahold of his wrist, and twisted it behind him. He winced in pain, but didn't say anything. "Now you listen to me," she hissed into his ear from behind him. "You were the one who left. You were the one who said this was over. So goddammit, leave it be." She shoved him away from her and stalked off without another word. She felt defeated and exhausted, so she made her way lazily back up to the castle. The fight wasn't even amusing anymore, it was just pathetic and she was bored.

She arrived back in the hospital wing not ten minutes later, more calm than she'd ever been during a battle. She wasn't worried about whether or not Draco or her family or friends were coming back. She wasn't sure why she hadn't seen the absurdity of the battles earlier than this - they really were...stupid.

She stayed up and waited, making more of Tonks' pregnancy calming draught. She made two whole batches before people started trickling in. This fight seemed to be lasting a lot longer than the others had, but she figured it was probably a bigger deal to somebody, somewhere. She rolled her eyes mentally before handing out the Calming and Sleeping Draughts to everyone.

"I never did thank you properly for this," Tonks praised as she took the sky blueliquid from Ginny, "it really does work wonders. How'd you figure it out?"

"Just read...a lot."

"Incredible. I was never good at potions, even in Auror training. In fact, I was abysmal." She laughed good naturedly before taking her potion and laying down on a bed.

"Yes, Ginny, thank you." Lupin whispered as he watched his wife curl up and fall asleep. Ginny smiled genuinely at him,

"You're welcome." Ginny stayed up all night doing various things. After about an hour everyone was back and in a bed somehwere, but she just wasn't that tired. She decided to take a trip to the library. She sat up, singing softly to herself and looking out towards Hogsmeade. She could still see some smoke rising, but everything looked quiet. She sighed and just kept watching the horizon, and the sun started to slowly rise. She watched it intently, realizing that Madam Pince would be around in an hour or two, so she should probably leave. She decided she'd watch the sun rise some other time, and made her way back to Gryffindor Tower. When she got there, even though she didn't feel too tired, she collapsed on her bed and fell right asleep.