Everyone must worship The Von Bondies. Because I said so. No, because their band is very good. And if anyone, anyone at all has heard of Cibo Matto or Pizzicato Five, smack me a word on your review! Sorry, no review replies because...TODAY WE NAME THE LAPIN-BLACK BUN-BUNS! I am ecstatic like hellions. And to Nickitjuh:Meh is a word someone made up, I think, and it fits in when you want someone to be sort of indifferent to whatever it is they're doing. Plus, I have a weird obsession with that word, bands no one has heard of (If you've heard of Mooney Suzuki, you tell me and I'll dedicate a chapter to you) and names. Normal, or weird names. Like did you know Ringo, a Japanese name, means Apple peace be with you? Meh.

Disclaimer: I repudiate. (And I wrote this while listening to God Put A Smile Upon Your Face by Coldplay. That was fun…) I also don't own Taking Back Sunday's "Cute Without The E' or the White Stripes' "My Doorbell". Damn.

life and meh-hiness.

issalee

When the sixth and seventh years returned to Hogwarts, they were all lectured on the nature of pranks that were appropriate and non-appropriate. Not one of them heard them, as they were all passing around pictures of Cho that Colin Creevey had managed to snap. November soon became a sluggish month, though.

With it came a change in Ginny Weasley. She was throwing herself into everything with either a burning passion or deep depression. In the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw game, she nearly bulldozed the Keeper through the middle hoop. Later the next day, several people pulled her aside to ask whether or not she needed to lie down.

Ginny had become even more of an enigma than before, and people had noticed the same change in Draco Malfoy. He seemed reclusive now, and unless it was for classes, he was rarely found.

Tessa, Colin and Ginny were sitting by the lake one windy Saturday. Ginny was sitting down, wearing a thick sweater and peasant skirt with cowboy boots, which had her friends looking. She never bundled up, claiming that the cold made her skin feel prickly in a good way. In her lap she cradled a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, while she held a tuna sandwich slightly away from it with her other hand.

Tessa was scribbling a last-minute essay for Charms, and Colin was dismantling his camera. They all looked up when a group of Slytherins trooped out, stopping just short of them. In the middle of the group, looking as if he had been forced out, Draco Malfoy walked slowly without the usual grace. Pansy Parkinson was clinging to his arm.

Ginny had calmly, and without a word, shut her book, stood up, and walked steadily back to the castle. Her friends had watched her go with surprised looks, but nothing more so compared than the looks on the faces of the Slytherins. Neither of them had ever managed to so much as make the youngest Weasley move an inch; it was a miracle in its own right.

Tessa had offered a scathing glare at Draco before standing up, Colin right behind her, and the two went after their friend. Pansy looked askance at Draco.

"What's with them?"

The silver-eyed Slytherin pushed her away, and with slow, plodding steps not befitting of him, he trudged to his own rooms. There was a Sleeping Draught there that was just screaming his name…

A week later, the Slytherins beat the Hufflepuffs in a rather easy match. Tessa decided that this was a good time to approach Blaise about the problem. She'd already told Luna, Carina, Harry and Hermione. Although all of them (Luna especially) had felt that Draco needed to have his head pounded into his stomach, she had stymied their advances, saying that Ginny would most likely kill them for killing Draco, the Wizarding World would kill her for killing Harry, and then there wouldn't be much left now would there?

So she met Blaise in the library the same day, and as he sat down, eyes shining, she didn't hesitate before spilling, and then waited. She didn't have to, for long.

"HE SAID WHAT! I'LL KILL HIM, THE SON OF A—"

Madame Pince suddenly shot a Silencing Spell at him, appearing suddenly from behind the bookshelves. "Be quiet, Mr. Zabini, else I'll have to forcibly remove you!" she hissed frostily. Blaise had glared at her until she'd lifted the spell and gone.

"He did what?" He whispered to Tessa. "How could he!"

Tessa shrugged. "I have no idea, but I know you've noticed! Ginny's gotten so dreamy she out-vagues Luna at times! Draco hasn't looked at anyone but her and you in the past few days, and—"

She stopped, and Blaise turned to see what she was looking at. Ginny had wandered in, and, seemingly oblivious to them, was flipping through a dusty tome. A first year tripped next to her, and she scarcely looked down as she held out a hand to help him. He whispered a timid thank-you, and as she looked up, she saw Tessa and Blaise.

"Oh. Hi."

"Hi, Gin." Tessa said, with what was obviously a strained smile. "Tell me, what did the first year say to you?" She silenced Blaise's confused look with a glare, just as Ginny answered.

"He tripped and when I helped him up he said, 'May the Light shine upon you always.'" Blaise stared, and Tessa nodded.

"Did he really?" Blaise blurted. Ginny smiled, one that wasn't as full as it could have been. "Of course not. He said thank you, and I merely switched it for something that sounded better. Life's been a bit dull these days, hasn't it?"

Without another way, she walked away, still smiling benignly. Tessa raised her eyebrows like she had just seen something she was used to.

"Does that answer your question?"

Blaise looked stunned, then amused. "I never asked you one." Tessa rapped her knuckles on the table, startling him.

"Focus, Blaise. We need to find some way to help Ginny out. I'm spreading the word to the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws who were in on the objectives."

"But that's just Justin and Luna. Have you told We—Ron yet?"

Tessa sighed. "That step is reserved for the day we put this Objective into action. For now, he's out of the running. I need you to tell Carina, ok? Here's the plan—"

"Wait." Blaise held up a hand, eyes twinkling. "In the spirit of Ginny's well being, we have to name the Objective first. Have you got anything?"

Tessa started to argue, before she closed her mouth. She remembered the first time she had noticed the change between Ginny and Draco, when he and Blaise had stumbled upon them dancing in the classroom, and the peacock feather and what Ginny had said. A slow smile spread across her face.

"Blaise? We've got to work hard on this one." She scribbled something down on a piece of paper and stood. "Meet me with Carina in the Great Hall. I'll bring the others down. We'll work together on it." And she left.

Blaise took a look at the paper before smiling widely, and just barley managed to check his instinct to yell as he walked coolly out of the library in search of Carina. On the table, a piece of parchment fluttered to the ground. Written on it in Tessa's spidery, curvy handwriting were the words:

Objective: Defeathering The Peacock.

Ginny was sitting by herself, a rarity now that her friends seemed to think she needed extra protection. It was about two weeks or so since she had seen Blaise and Tessa in the library, and this weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend.

She, Colin and Tessa normally never went to Hogsmeade, preferring instead to set their pranks in place while everyone was out. This weekend, they both had dates.

Ginny didn't feel sad. On the contrary, she welcomed this chance away from her friends. She also knew that this was the last Hogsmeade trip before Christmas, and one of the last times she would ever be alone that year, so she spent it wisely.

Draco had also declined to go to Hogsmeade, and he had no idea anyone but him had either. He'd given up on trying to get the redhead alone, and today he just wanted some time unaccompanied. He found that wasn't so easy, though, when he heard a girl's voice, followed shortly by a male's.

Being careful not to make any noise, he approached the room (which he was sure he had never seen before, come to think of it) and let the door open a little. What he saw shocked him slightly.

Ginny Weasley was lounging in what was obviously a throne, surrounded by dozens of stuffed animals. A song was playing from a particularly large one, and he heard it quite clearly.

"I'm thinkin' about my doorbell when you gonna ring it, when you gonna ring it?"

Ginny was doing an odd swaying movement from the door, and Draco's blood boiled in his veins when he heard the male voice say, quite clearly:

"Your hearing is atrocious, if you listen to such music. Couldn't we think of a better way to spend our date?" Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Shut up. This is NOT a date. And this song is awesome! Would you rather I spend the day crying?" The male voice was quick to assure her that no, he did not.

A female voice joined them quite suddenly. "ARGH! GWINN, GET YOUR FAT ARSE OFF MY HEAD!"

The male replied indignantly. "Why don't you get your fat head out from under my arse? No one asked you to stick it there!"

"You sat on me!"

"Well, if Miss Ginny here hadn't let so many stuffed animals in, I wouldn't have mistaken you for one!" Draco had no time to decipher this strange comment before Ginny spoke up, amusement plain in her voice.

"Here, Gwinn, come and sit in my lap and leave Aislinn alone. She's just upset because Tessa left her here."

Draco's knuckles turned white as his hands clenched into fists, but they soon relaxed as he saw something that looked exactly like a dragon, of all things, fly into Ginny's lap. She stroked its head as it pouted, and she smiled a little.

"There now, Gwinn."

"Your music is too loud."

Draco suppressed a laugh as Ginny unceremoniously dumped Gwinn from her lap as she stood. "Yeah, wait till you hear this!"

And she whispered into the stuffed animal's (it was a bear) ear. The song changed immediately to something loud and raucous, but with recognizable lyrics.

"And will you tell all your friends, you've got your gun to my head!"

"Taking Back Sunday kicks arse!" Ginny shouted gleefully as she dodged something Gwinn had blown her way. It looked like—ice? He was getting rapidly confused, until Ginny uttered a soft shriek as she ran through the door and straight into his body.

He caught a glimpse of a white dragon, just like the first one flapping above them with feminine curves. It offered him a toothy smile before taking a deep breath and blowing. He reflexively gripped Ginny around the waist as they went sliding down the hallway and toward the stairs.

But the first dragon was there, blowing ice over it so that it seemed like a slide. Ginny was alternately sneaking glances at him and attempting to grab onto something, while he simply stared at her.

Gods, he'd never missed a person so much before.

"Malfoy!" She shouted, bringing him back to reality. "Malfoy, grab that pole next to you! We have to stop!"

But he wasn't giving up so readily, not after having heard her address him after she hadn't spoken to him for such a long time. "Where do these stairs lead?"

She glared at him irately as they swung another corner unconsciously wrapping her arms around his neck for support. "I don't know!" But right after she said, "Right in front of the Great Hall, and if we kept going we'd go through the doors. Why?"

She asked why, as in why would you want to know?

But he heard why, wouldn't you like to know?

With a quick move, he had shifted slightly so she didn't notice. But it was enough, as at that moment, they slid from the edge of the stairs. As he had expected, there was only a narrow path of ice leading to the entrance. Those beings had given him a choice, and as the white one kept up her wind pushing, she winked at him.

The two flew out over the stairs, landing heavily on the grass and tumbling for a while before coming up at the edge of the lake. Draco opened his eyes first, and realized Ginny had hers shut, and she was trembling slightly.

"Ginevra?" He whispered. "It's over." Before she could say a word, he pressed his lips to hers, softly but insistently. Ginny didn't protest; she welcomed the warm feel of his lips, feeling as though she were drowning.

Draco pulled away first, and touched a hand to her face. "See this? That was what I wanted." He pulled himself to his feet and walked back to the castle, never once looking behind him.

Ginny watched him go, apprehension in her eyes. Gwinn and Aislinn were perched in the tree above her, watching with curiosity. Just as Ginny made to go, a lithe, red dragon (Think Haku from Spirited Away) landed just in front of her, its body moving in little rivulets. In its jaws was a roll of parchment.

Ginny patted it on the head and took the parchment. She fished about in her pocket for a moment before she came up with some little cutlets she had learned to carry around with her, either for the Elementals or the Carrier Dragons. The red dragon nipped at her fingers before taking the food and floating away.

"You could do without the wings, you know." Ginny addressed the two Elementals above her, and they both hissed. She ignored them, however, as two owls had just landed in front of her. Her face brightened.

"By the Gods, am I popular or what?" She picked one of the owls up and it nuzzled her face. "You're Fred's owl, aren't you? Fledge?" It hooted happily at her, and she smiled. The other owl was a normal barn owl, and she took the parchment from this one first.

Ginny,

In response to your letter, yes, I do understand what you mean.

I'm sorry, it's been almost a month since I've last written, but you have to understand, what you told me about wasn't exactly the best thing a mother could hear. Your father is still clinging to the hope that this is some cruel joke you'll laugh at us for being too old to understand. But my dear, if you plan on being friends with Draco Malfoy, who am I to step in? Besides, Tessa intercepted my first three Howlers and I hear she flushed them down Moaning Myrtle's toilet. She's a good friend, Ginny, I suggest you keep her. And about Draco? His mother and I used to be good friends, until Lucius caught up with her. I'm hoping to reestablish connections, but I don't know if I can. There's a little bit of Slytherin in all of us, you know. Every time one of your brothers does something wrong, you tell them that. Fred and George haven't heard it as much, surprisingly, but Ron tells me you've become used to it. I suppose that's what you get for being a girl and a Weasley!

Love,

Mum

Ginny smiled as she folded the parchment and hid it in her robes. She knew she hadn't made a mistake when she had sent that letter! With a much more confident air about her, she took the letter from Fledge.

WHAT!

What George means to say is WHAT THE HELL!

Gin? A Malfoy as a friend! Have you gone mad?

Have we taught you nothing!

Are you planning to prank him?

Forget that, we need to know now, what are your Christmas plans? Mum said you weren't coming to the Burrow; please don't say you're spending it in Malfoy Manor!

You could DIE!

YOU COULD!

But she won't. Because we're coming to follow you, Gin, and we'll stalk you all the rest of your life. We leave you for two or three measly years and you've already managed to screw with a hundred year old feud!

Isn't she precious?

FRED!

Oh. Right. Bad, bad Ginbug!

Much better.

So watch out for us Gin. Be very, very careful, and don't turn around!

And whatever you do, DON'T KISS HIM! We still aren't sure if Malfoy venom is more similar to a Basilisk's or just an adder's.

Right, so we're waiting for a reply. Reassure us that you're alive. Love much, Fred.

And Jorge. Which sounds much better than George, or at least Angelina thinks so—

SHE'S MY GIRLFRIEND!

And the rest of the paper was charred, so Ginny supposed Fledge must have made a run for it while he could. She quickly ripped off a piece from the top and, producing a quill from her robes scribbled two words: TOO LATE! Fledge took it and flew off. Whistling merrily, Ginny took the last letter in her hands.

Konnichi'wa, Ginny-chan!

Atsashi would like to say Arigatou for the Von Bondies CD you sent her. She says C'mon C'mon has gotten her brothers rabid! Nori is driving everyone crazy with his Quidditch practices, and he says that if I write anything like that again he'll snap my—wand in half. So vulgar! You will never believe this, but Reiko is going out with Yosuke! Kenichi's going on vacation to Okinawa, I'm sure he'll find someone there. We've got no more matches for the next two months or so, and that leaves me, Yuki and Nori with nothing to do.

Atsashi has been wanting to see Seamus again (ONEGAI, TELL ME HE'S DIED) and we have a nice flat in London. So we were wondering, would you like to spend a weekend with us over Christmas break? Your Headmaster informed us that he was making the holidays longer this year, you're not getting back till Jan. 8th. Chigau! We used to have Christmas and New Year's off, that was it!

So I bet you you sent Kaori back without giving her a reply, but don't worry, you can answer anytime. Bring some friends, guys ok? Atsashi and Reiko have started staying at my house, and I'm about to go kureejii! (That's crazy, by the way) Ok, so Stupid Saado wants us to practice now. I'm writing this at the pitch. WRITE SOON ONEGAI! Yoshihiro Suzuki

Another smile lit Ginny's face, and she suddenly knew exactly what she was doing for the Christmas holidays. All she needed to do was write a few letters and talk to Harry…Gwinn would be delighted. She looked up into the trees and saw her Elemental smiling back.

"Stupid mind link!" She called up, just as something fell onto her face. It was followed by several more somethings, and she laughed in surprise as she realized it was snow.

Visitors coming from Hogsmeade that day were rewarded with the sight of one Ginny Weasley dancing in the newly layered snow as though she had never lived before.

When Blaise walked in, he fully expected to see Draco sulking. Instead, he saw the Slytherin curled up in his window-seat, looking at something from the window.

"How was your day?" Blaise said curtly; he had nearly broken his arms with all the gifts he'd dragged over. Damn Draco and his common sense; the boy always bought his presents in the summer.

But all bad thoughts were forgotten as Draco turned to him, a genuine smile on his face. "Guess what, Blaise?"

The black-haired boy could only say a word, shocked as he was. "What?"

Draco turned back to the window, and his smile grew even wider. "Today, I kissed an angel."