A/N: Sorry it took so long.

ooOoo

11. And with a love potion it ends

We went home to the Burrow for Christmas, even Charlie came along and brought his new girlfriend. She is from Switzerland and manages the dragon colony in Bulgaria. I like her; she's got a sense of humour and even gets along with Fleur.

Mum is not too happy about Fred being gay. On the other hand she hens all over Harry and tells him that it's quite alright and how he has never been 'normal' in the sense of the word. It was quite embarrassing but Melanie (Charlie's gf) took a clear stand opposing mum, saying that homosexuality is as normal as heterosexuality. Then she listed a whole lawsuit of facts to stress her point – something that impressed Hermione greatly. All Ron did was grunt that Fred was his brother and Harry his best friend, and that this was all he needed to know. I like his attitude.

Draco whispered into my ear that even if he formerly believed homosexuality to be something abnormal, something sinful and perverse he was grateful now that it existed because that way Harry was no longer an opponent. He can be such a persistent arsehole sometimes! Does he really have to remind me of his love all the time?

When we exchanged the presents in the morning everybody except me, Fred, George, and Harry gasped at the green gloves I had bought for Draco. Mum burst into tears hugging me while dad congratulated us and told me he'd always known it. They only stopped grinning madly when I smashed the trifle tart (Ron is still angry with me for doing that) and stomped out of the living room. I have absolutely no idea what they mean by it but my feeling tells me it's not something that I like. How will I ever make them understand me, and accept the fact that I don't like Malfoy in this way? You are not helping either, doctor. If you keep telling me that I secretly wish for what everybody is trying to prevail upon me to do I will end up smashing more than just a tart... see you next session!

ooOoo

I'm back at Hogwarts. It was unbearable at home; couples everywhere, pregnant women, too: Hermione, Fleur with her third, George's Muggle girlfriend Annie with her first. Fred and Harry are going to get married… I was right about Fred's plans. Mum and dad are flirting like teenagers and Percy and his ministry slut hand-feed each other just like Bill and Fleur still do. At least they all stopped pushing me towards Draco. He went to the mansion for a while to 'fix something up' and we didn't see each other on New Year's Eve. I wonder if he'll move into the Gryffindor dorms again this year.

ooOoo

When Draco arrived he went straight to where I was sitting and heaved his body beside mine. "You owe me twelve, Ginny." he said flat out. Then he put his right hand on my left jawbone, moved my head in position and gave me twelve very long kisses. I'm blushing as I am writing this, but that's exactly when I realised that I had really missed him. Not his kisses, not his presence, not his smell or taste, just him. Maybe this is good, maybe we can become friends now and at some point he'll move on from being in love with me.

I can't believe I just wrote this.

ooOoo

Maybe I should talk to him and tell him that I want to be friends with him now. It's weird but I don't even mind that he puts his arm around me wherever we are. He tickles me more often than he used to. Maybe because I don't mind anymore. It's actually fun and I like the way he laughs when I'm screaming for mercy. I have no idea what's wrong with me all of a sudden.

ooOoo

We are well into February and my latest sentiments have not changed a bit. Draco asked me if I wanted to spend the next Hogsmeade weekend with him and I said yes. I haven't talked to him about being friends, yet. But I've got a feeling that this will be a good opportunity.

I don't even care about spying him out anymore.

ooOoo

The day we went to Hogsmeade was extremely cold but I've got my own snuggly cloak now. It's Draco's Christmas present to me. It has my name written inside it in gold letters while the colour itself is a very warm tone of brown. He said it goes well with my eyes and that's why he chose it.

On the way to the village Draco kept pushing me into snow piles on the side of the road. I took revenge by making him trip into Hippogriff poop and then he tickled me for almost five minutes straight. Ah, that was fun! In the village we took an extensive shopping tour to all our favourite places and Draco always knew how to point out new and interesting things. I found several books which I thought he might like and when I drew his attention to them he was gleaming like a child that gets a large scone of ice cream. We had coffee at Madam Pudifoot's – snog free – and came back to the castle with our pockets full of candy. He bought so much that I had to carry some of his stuff!

As I'm writing this I know that he is waiting for me in the boys' dormitory. I told him after we arrived back in Hogwarts that I needed to talk to him and he said, 'Funny because I want to talk to you about something, too.' Before I go I just wanted to keep the memories fresh through my diary…

ooOoo

I went up the stairs to the 7th year dormitory. Draco was sitting on Ron's bed munching on some of his sweets. They were scattered all around him, but he brushed them into a pile to make room for me. I let myself fall onto the bed head first and he laughed his light, spontaneous laugh that I took a liking to some time ago. I curled up on my right side and thought I might as well get it over and done with, so I told him that I wanted us to be friends and that I was sorry I had formerly been so mean to him, and that I really enjoyed spending time with him now. He smiled at me. One of those smiles that spreads from head to toe and makes my stomach yearn for pasta with red sauce. Then he spread himself on the bed, too, snuggled in very close to me and reached up with his right hand to my face. He took a lock of my hair and while he was twirling it between his fingers he said,

'Ginny… I'm very thankful that you finally realise you don't hate or dislike me anymore. I know there has been a time where I was really upsetting you with my behaviour but then I didn't know what else to do. You were mean and insulting but I loved you so much!'

I wanted to apologise again but he shook his head and continued,

'You know, I felt bad about stalking you the way I did more than once. But I couldn't help it… it was as though the more you pushed me from you the more I was drawn to you. I got upset ever since we came back to Hogwarts last September because there was so much competition. And I think I stepped across the line with you as much as you did with me, so I need to ask for forgiveness just as much as you need to.'

Have you ever heard such a speech from somebody in real life? I hadn't. Hermione must have helped him.

'Anyway', he continued, 'then you did something and it took a good while until I could forgive you. I think you never knew how much you hurt me when you fed me that love potion, did you?'

I shook my head, surprised and embarrassed. 'Yes, this was a breaking point. After a while of sulking I realised that it was I who had made you become so ruthless, by being persistent where it was not wanted. Before this consideration entered my head, however, I was offended enough to use the same means against you…'

I must have stared at him in obvious surprise because he blushed and had trouble meeting my eyes. 'Yes, Ginny. That's what I prepared in the Room of Requirement. I questioned Ruber why you had appeared so expectant that morning in the Great Hall and he confessed. When I tried to get a love potion from Fred and George they said that even though they were on my side they didn't want their sister to be forced into something she didn't want. I was mad at every single Weasley that day when Harry slipped something into my bag and winked at me.

'It was the recipe so all I had to do was prepare the potion. I did it three times. After finishing it the first time Mareliza put it into your pumpkin juice at dinner. But you didn't respond to it so I thought I had made a mistake and did it all over again. And again when it didn't work the second time. At last I was sure something was wrong with the potion. I suspected Harry had been in league with Fred and George and that he had given me a wrong recipe on purpose, to share in a good laugh at me. When I confronted Harry with my accusations he grinned slyly while Ron hugged me and told me he had never been happier in his life. Hermione whacked him over the head and he added, except the time that he spends with his dear Hermione. Can you imagine how confusing all this was? Finally Harry let me know that the love potion only works on people who are not already in love with the person who gives the draft.' And he looked deep into my eyes.

I was stunned.

What could I possibly say? What could I possibly do to defend myself? I could not deny what he had said about the love potion for I had used it against him myself and it hadn't worked for the same reason. I was found guilty by my own dirty means. Which is funny because I was never as conscious that I love him as the second his revelation came upon me.

So I did the only thing that seemed to be right: I ran away.

Ha! Gotcha!

Of course I didn't run away. I kissed Draco, and he kissed me back. And then we snogged for a very long time, and then the sweets fell off the bed, and then Ron and Harry came in.

Told you Ron would pat his back…

Doctor's note: case closed