Thanks to Nickitjuh, america sucks move to europe, PP Ruffie, remembrances (Not wrong, deliciously right) louey31, AnitaBlakeBuffyFan, youngwriter56, TheScarlettSecret (French was my first language, and my mom told me I have to practice it seeing as I speak way too much english now, so I guess if she asks I can tell her that yes, I was in fact doing some work with the French) siriusandharryluvr, loonysango, blackfox360, joanne, My Dream's Shadow, Acontiae Malfoy, brown-sugar3, bsktballchick45, and lil-miss-me119.

Eelie's back! Oh, joy, now I can start writing in earnest! (By the way, next to Nikki-chan, Eelie is like the best sort of beta thing I could ever have. When she's not here she lets me take care of her bunny, my muse, also named Eelie).

IssaLee: Say hi, Eelie.

Eelie: (Sulks) I just got back from South America. It's hot like hellfire here, couldn't I just—oh, holy hell, how many fics did you start while I was gone?

IssaLee: I was bored. Can we finish this chapter? I have others to work on and I want to go to the pool…

Eelie: Fine…look at those reviews! There are some nice people out there…

IssaLee: Too bad you aren't one. (Note: The author was temporarily waylaid after this conversation and had to wait until she got a splint for her finger until she could type again, which is why this comes out so late.) Days later:

Eelie: Right…sorry about that, peoples, but it looks like I' typing most of this fic. She'll do some of it, seeing as she can't be a lazy arse all her life.

IssaLee: I've got a broken finger!

Eelie: Shove off. You went swimming with me and Nikki-chan today at the pool, your finger can't be that ill. Come on, you were doing cartwheels!

IssaLee: (mumbles) shut up and start typing already.

Disclaimer:

This won't be mine, I know

Never with the deepest snow

Nor with the coming of the spring

As these characters belong to JK Rowling

vive la france

issalee

It was hours before Ginny finally got away from her brother and his friends, all of whom had been bugging her about various things. She had claimed sickness from the kiss and Ron, satisfied, had let her leave.

"Ginny?" Gwinn was suddenly sliding up her arm and on her shoulder. She was suddenly happy she had left the bracelet on the dresser as she changed. The redhead inclined her head to show she was listening as she climbed into the bed. Everyone had been assigned separate rooms (turns out Beauxbatons was huge and had underground rooms) and now as she turned the lights off she felt the calm hit her with startling force. There was always at least one girl sleeping in the same room as her.

"Ginny, that boy that kissed you—I'd like to learn more about him. Could I just skim your memories, please?" Ginny, tired beyond the point of caring, nodded wearily as she snuggled under the covers.

Gwinn clambered out of them and climbed on top of her chest. He closed his eyes and breathing deeply, plunged inside her mind.

It was several minutes (almost thirty) before he finally opened his eyes, and even then they were darkened. "Interesting," he said, and licked a claw absently. He felt a strange pit settling inside his stomach as though he'd done something wrong, but he settled down next to the already sleeping Ginny, let his tail wrap around his body, and fell asleep quickly, turning into ice as he did so.

She can still see the man's eyes.

They were red, and she knows she shouldn't have been running towards him but all she can see is his eyes and she's wondering why they can't be green anymore—no, she wants them blue—no, silver blue, almost gray.

He hisses something to her and although she's not supposed to understand she does and it tears at her very soul. "I know you're weak."

She can still hear the battle raging outside and Harry's voice and Ron's voice and Hermione's—they're shouting for her to come on, come on and get out. She knows she's not under a spell, but she doesn't move. There's something he's always wanted from her, and she wants to know what it is.

The doors slam behind her and someone's banging against them but she doesn't even flinch. All she can see are his leering eyes (she's not even supposed to be here, so she can't complain)as he moves closer and his robes rustle just like they did before, in the Chamber, but now they sound more brittle, like they'll crumble any moment.

The door is splintering and both of them know someone will come through at any moment. She suddenly realizes something (I'm a witch, damn it) and she raises her wand. He flings it aside with a spell, and she realizes she's trembling as soon as he grips her hand, and jeers in her ear.

"You'll always be haunted by me…"

And the door breaks open but he's already said the curse. He let go of her a long time ago but she's still gripping to his arm, and she brings up the replacement wand everyone has to carry these days and she knows he's too strong and she's too weak now and all she can feel is the pain coursing through her body.

She stabs him in the eye.

And suddenly her robes are soaked in crimson and she looks back and there they are—a redhead is kneeling next to her (My God, they're still alive?) and telling her everything will be ok and the one with the black hair is doing something yelling something but all she can see is the red on her robes and her wand.

The redhead (Is that you, Charlie?) wraps something around her arm and she realizes that she was bleeding from there before. There's a brilliant noise and all this light and thennothingbutdarknessrushinginherears and then a loud thud. Harry's holding a box with magic radiating from it and he drops it and crushes it and then there's nothing else but the blood all over her body and someone's screaming her name but all she can see are his eyes, his red eyes—green eyes—blue eyes—gray eyes.

The ice dragon cracked, and as shook the crystals off him to he found Ginny trembling violently against him, with her face contorted. It was still dark, and he panicked. Feeling only slightly guilty, he ghosted the surface of her mind and almost reels back from shock.

"Hold on," he whispered, and took off, through the open window. The air outside was cool against his scales, but he was determined to ignore it as he tried his best to sense for the people he's looking for. Gwinn sent a mental image to Aislinn, hoping she'll understand, before he found the window he was looking for and dove into it.

Draco awoke with a start; something was jumping up and down on is chest. Years of training caused him to reach out and grab the thing. As soon as his vision cleared, he recognized it as a dragon, albeit a very small one.

"What are you doing here?" he said, and sat up. Something suddenly flitted across his mind, and it was followed by more and more images. When they're done, he looks down uneasily at the creature in front of him.

"Gwinn?" he says uncertainly. The Creature nods coolly, tongue flicking in between his teeth.

"In the morning you'll not remember any of this. Just follow me; Ginny is in trouble." Draco needed only to hear those words before he was out of bed, never mind the fact that he was only wearing boxers.

Gwinn sat on his shoulder and dictated the way quickly. When they got there, Draco opened the door to find Aislinn perched on the headboard of the bed and blowing softly, so as to cool the sweating girl.

Draco was by the bed in an instant, and as he looked down at the girl, he realized he was actually exercising self-control at the moment, as the only thing he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and kiss away her fears.

Was he getting soft? That sounded like a crappy love song…he could do better…

"Well?" Gwinn looked at him expectantly. "You have a connection with her—and shut up, I can tell you don't like it but that's too bad for you, seeing as I can't lose her and you sure as hellfire can't."

"And why is that?" Draco asked, more just to be a nuisance than actually wanting to find out. Aislinn suddenly flapped her wings, and he stumbled back. The white Creature bared her teeth at him.

"You stupid, stupid boy. And to think, we could teach you a lesson tonight but it wouldn't do much difference because you'd forget it all tomorrow anyway."

Draco glared at her as he moved forward again. "Excuse me? It's not me who pulled up one of her worst memories and has gotten her stuck in some kind of nightmarish memory loop!" Gwinn looked down at the ground, and Aislinn nudged him.

He looked up and pointed to the bed with a claw. "Just pretend I'm threatening you, ok? I'll freeze you to death if you don't climb into that bed and help her, so help me God." Draco rolled his eyes, but slid under the covers next to Ginny (if somewhat reluctantly) and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She whimpered and turned over so that she was facing him, placing her hands against his chest. Gwinn nodded approvingly. "We'll be going now. Don't worry, we'll be back to check, but it's best if we just leave you."

And the two were gone; flying so quickly Draco almost didn't realize they had flown out. Snorting lightly, he turned his attention to the redhead in his arms, whose breathing had steadied. He leaned his head down a little and buried it in her hair, inhaling her scent. What was it?

Mentally berating himself for turning into a Potter-wannabe (that almost scared him awake the whole night) and turning soft and gushy and starting to believe in fate, he fell asleep wondering what would happen if he and Ginny could love each other.

Would it be like this?

Ginny wrinkled her nose. Something was tickling it…it felt strangely like hair.

"Hey—hey! Ginny, unless you want Malfoy to have his—er, wand be snapped in half—" A male's voice interrupted.

"That won't do anything, Tessa, you know she wouldn't mind."

"For Merlin's sake, Colin, if they've taken to sleeping with each other than I've very sure she's at the stage where she'd mind! Just go hide the camera so she can't crush it when she wakes up."

"What's this about cameras?" Ginny said groggily, blowing lightly to move the offending object next to her nose away. There was complete and total silence, until a new voice spoke.

"Weasley, I'll never speak a word of this if you don't. Just—move, but not to—!" Ginny had opened her eyes as soon as she recognized the voice and automatically moved over to the right.

"Colin! The camera!" Ginny opened her eyes just as a flashbulb went off in her face. She made a mental note to burn Colin's trunk later on, storing it for later reference as she had just realized she was lying on top of someone.

"You really need to learn to listen, you know." Draco said lazily, smirking up at her. She was about to stick her tongue out before she realized that it was a bad idea, as, doubtless, it would end up seeming as if she was trying to lick him.

Ginny sat up and slid off him. "What are you doing in my bed, Malfoy?" Draco opened his mouth to reply, then frowned. He was sure he had an answer somewhere in the back of his mind; in fact, he'd even known somehow that Ginny wouldn't have been mad had she heard this excuse, but for the life of him, he didn't know.

"Did either of us get drunk last night?"

Ginny let out a snort of derisive laughter. "Even pickled to the toes I don't think I'd end up in a situation like this with you, Malfoy. Now, out of my bed!"

Draco remained where he was. "Maybe I like it here."

Colin smiled brilliantly. "Oh, good, then if everything's settled I'd like you to know Ron is coming here with Harry to find Ginny, so we can all sit down and have tea together if you wish!"

Draco sat up and swung his legs over the bed, glaring at Colin. "You're an evil little prat, Creevey." Colin shrugged.

"When you hang out with these two, it happens." Draco rolled his eyes, not noticing Ginny's wand being looped in circles behind him, and stood.

Then promptly fell back again.

"I'VE GONE BLIND! I'LL NEVER SLEEP WITH A WEASLEY AGAIN!" He screamed. Ginny started laughing maniacally, and Colin joined in. Tessa sniffed.

"Honestly, Ginny, an eye-sticking spell? His pupils were only staring at the roof of his head, you could have waited till they were in the back." Ginny couldn't even reply, she was laughing so hard. Draco writhed on the bed until the spell's twenty-second time limit came into play.

With his vision renewed, the blond stood and blinked rapidly. "You should all die." He informed them, before brusquely walking out.

"So this is how humans enjoy themselves?" Gwinn alighted on Ginny's shoulder from his hiding spot on the windowsill. Aislinn swooped down from a corner where she had been hovering.

"It was different during our day," she commented. "It involved decking huge monsters and running as fast as you could." Tessa raised an eyebrow to Ginny as if saying 'I told you so'!

Ginny smiled disarmingly at her Creature. "Gwinny-Gwinn-Gwinn, how are you this fine morning? I have a feeling that you may be involved in this somehow…"

Gwinn flapped his wings and floated gently in front of Ginny. "It's not like I would tell you. You sure seem well rested, though. Did you sleep well?" Ginny didn't detect the note of nervousness in his voice.

"No, actually. I remember something—I think it had to do with the war, and then it's all gone." She grinned. "I spent the whole night dreaming about Snow Glows, or at least what they feel like."

Gwinn seemed satisfied with this answer. "Good, good. Now, what are you doing today?" he turned to Aislinn, who had been mimicking his every word and scowled. "Heathen dragon."

She bared her fangs and growled deep in her throat. "Narcissistic dragon!"

Ginny picked the both of them up by the scruffs of their necks. "I think you both are acting like dragons," she said, picking up that it was supposed to be an insult to them. "So I suggest you stop bickering. And I'll be visiting a French village today, the equivalent of Hogsmeade."

She dropped them on the bed and, pretending not to notice the literal cold shoulder Gwinn gave Aislinn, and slipped of the bed. "I'm going to shower." Tessa's eyes flicked to the two Creatures, who were tussling wildly and in a way that they thought to be inconspicuous.

"It's only Saturday. How are you going to stand it?" Ginny sighed as she saw Gwinn send a crystal shard to the Air Creature, and Aislinn blow it back so that it struck him in the face.

"I think I may just lock them in a trunk and hope they suffocate." She said very loudly. Aislinn and Gwinn became very quiet after that.

Ginny stumbled down the stairs, still a little tired. The Beauxbatons dining hall was much more extravagant than the one at Hogwarts, sporting ice sculptures that looked almost like crystal (causing Gwinn to snort and mutter that he could do better inside of her head) which mean that Fleur's boasts during the Triwizard Tournament weren't all in vain.

In fact, wood nymphs were indeed gathered in a corner of the room, flitting about as they discussed what they would sing. The dining hall itself was decorated in light hues of blue and white, and there were large round tables that could fit up to twenty people all over the room. Ginny dragged Tessa and Colin over to one where Ron and Co. was sitting.

"Where's Luna?" she inquired as she sat down next to Hermione. Ron scowled, obviously still not happy with her. Harry shrugged, although he didn't have to as at that moment, Luna appeared in the doorway, talking in fierce whispers to Cho Chang (who had come back to Hogwarts to teach Remedial Charms as real life training so it would look good on her resume).

Ginny, who was sitting closest to them when they stopped right before the table, heard most of the conversation.

"…How can you say that!" Luna was saying, her eyes blazing. "You rejected him horribly, all because you were too caught up in your own self to notice that he never once LOOKED at Hermione, and was situated on you most of the time! He asked you to the Yule Ball, for Merlin's sake!"

Cho blushed a little, but she still looked adamant. "He's just using you, Luna, I know he is! He never once paid attention to me, and was always caught up in his little ways! I bet he's just using you to get to that ugly little redhead—Ron's sister! There are rumors, you know—" But Ginny leapt up, apparently the only person who had heard the comment.

"Now, listen here, you snide little—" She blinked, then lowered her voice, ignoring the looks she was receiving from her table and Luna. "You are a selfish, conceited and egotistical brat, Chang!" She drew herself up to her full height, which still wasn't that much and stared Cho in the eye.

"Luna is a beautiful person to know, with an open heart. She always looks at the bright side and she's the one person I can count on to ALWAYS cheer me up when I'm happy." Ginny hadn't noticed that her voice had risen and all noise had stopped. People were now staring, and Luna was watching her with rapt attention.

"You were always to stuck in your only little world filled with drama to understand that some people have gone through worst tragedies than yours." Her head was rushing now, and she realized that she was letting out years of anger on the Asian girl, but she didn't stop.

"Did you hear what happened in my very first year at Hogwarts, Cho? Hmm? I don't suppose so, seeing as you were too busy slathering buckets of makeup on your face, but the thing is, I was possessed by Voldemort—oh, suck it up." She said, as Cho flinched (followed by several others).

"And what did I do? I didn't cry every single day about it, every minute, every hour! I didn't antagonize a boy to the very edge of reason! I didn't use him just to find out if someone HE HAD WATCHED DIE HAD MENTIONED YOU!"

Ginny jabbed a finger at Cho's chest, her eyes narrowed. "Did you ever once ask him how he felt about it, Cho? Did you ever once asked him how he felt about seeing Cedric die? Just like now. Did you ever ask him if he really likes Luna or if he was using her? Did you ever ask him if he wanted to meet Hermione for any other reason? Did you ever ask him if he liked me?"

Cho stuttered, her eyes flickering between Ginny and Harry, who had a stony expression on his face. "N—no."

"Exactly." Ginny said. "And that's your problem. You're being to selfish to realize—other people have lives, and maybe they don't want you in them." But Cho's demeanor suddenly changed. She straightened up and glared at Ginny, who didn't bat an eyelash.

"You're a pompous brat if anyone, Weasley," she said, sneering. "I heard the Sorting Hat wanted to put you into Slytherin, but you begged so much it felt sorry for you." She smiled maliciously. "I bet you it just felt sorry for the rags you were wearing. Even those were too good for you."

Ginny had suddenly lost color in all her face. Some part of what Cho had said was true—she had begged the Sorting Hat not to place her in Slytherin. Cho seemed to notice this and smiling triumphantly, turned to go. But Ginny caught her wrist, opening her mouth to say something, then—

CRACK!

The sound echoed throughout the hallway. Ginny's hand reflexively went up to the red handprint on her cheek, stinging painfully. There was suddenly a murderous gleam in Luna's eyes. She turned to face Cho, her normally light voice hard.

"You shouldn't have done that." No one was exactly sure what had happened at first, but as Cho crumpled to the ground, her nose bleeding and a little squashed, Kevin Whitby of Hufflepuff said it in an astonished cry.

"Lovegood punched her!"

Luna retracted her fist; wincing slightly and looking a little shocked herself. Ginny stared at her, and then there was a rustle of clothing. Harry was suddenly next to Luna. He took her hand in his own, and wrapped an arm around her waist. He dipped her backwards, and kissed her right there in the middle of the hall.

It was quite a long moment before they came up, both grinning, and a little disoriented as people started clapping loudly around them. Ginny grinned, even as she felt Ron fussing over her cheek as soon as his stunned expression had left.

Gwinn's voice echoed in her mind. "Surely you capture these images somehow. They're like some sort of soap opera—I saw it in your memories. A Muggle thing, right?"

"Right." Ginny whispered, beaming as Luna and Harry made their way to her. "Luna, that was brilliant!" The pale blond hugged her tightly, whispering in her ear.

"No, Ginny, you were brilliant. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have you as a friend." There were tears shining in her eyes, and Ginny shook her head.

"No, Luna, it's more important for me to have you as a friend. And Harry—" She turned to the raven-haired boy, who was grinning lopsidedly. "Take good care of her, else you'll be living in a glitter free world." She threatened. Harry's eyes grew wide in horror, before he realized that Ginny was kidding, and he smiled nervously. Friends and such swept the couple away soon though.

Ginny felt something tug on her sleeve, and turned to see Draco looking at her in a way that almost stupefied her as she recognized it as worry.

"I came in just when she hit you." He said grimly. "She'll find it hard to live peacefully now." Ginny fluttered her eyelashes.

"Why, is Draco Malfoy telling me he's avenging me? I'm so flattered!" he scowled, but she laid a hand on his arm and smiled widely at him. Draco melted, but hid it under a gruff exterior.

"Yeah, well, she was wrong for hitting you when you weren't ready. I never liked her much anyway." Ginny winked.

"What, she came by for a quick one at the Shag And Go and you decided she wasn't all that great? I'd show you a thing or two," she said mischievously, enjoying the delicate red tinting Draco's cheeks.

"I've got to get back, else Pansy will wet herself." He seemed to be struggling between letting a glazed over look steal into his eyes and staying in reality. Ginny shrugged.

"Thanks for the concern. But Chang will get hers. Oh yes, she will." Her eyes were glittering. "I've been taught by the Terrible Twins—there's nothing I can't do." Draco said good-bye, but she waved him off absently, deep in plotting. Draco suddenly pitied Cho very much.