Friends Close, Enemies Closer

.:Angelgrl185:.

((I do not own the Harry Potter series of any of its components))

Thanks for the reviews of Chapter Three

Eve Granger: Thank you for the review! Sorry it took so long to get the next chapter out.

Twinsrthebest: Thank you for the review! Glad you like it!

Potts: Thanks for the review! I plan too.

Go Canada: Thanks for the review! I have no intention of abandoning this story, it just slowed down cause I was finishing my other story, which is now done. I'm just a little worn out so I might not be updating this as much as Viper's Poison, but I'll definitely be writing it.

Chapter Four: Deep Submerge

Ginny followed Blaise through the castle down towards the dungeons until she stopped before a large painting.

"Grindylow." Blaise said to the portrait causing it in turn to swing open. She turned to Ginny, "Grindylow is the password to get into our house. Each house has its own portrait guarding the entrance with its own personal password. You can't get into any other house that way." She explained as Ginny nodded pretending she didn't know that already.

Blaise turned around and walked through the portrait, Ginny following her. The Slytherin house wasn't much different than the Gryffandor one, Ginny observed, except for the colors. The floor of the common room was covered with plush emerald green carpet; the walls were cold stones of gray. Large torches burned in all the corners of the room and a trench of fire went around the outer walls. That was definitely not in the Gryffandor common room, as a matter of fact, it reminded Ginny a little of the Chamber of Secrets. Ginny shuddered involuntarily when she realized the similarities between the two places.

"No wonder though, he made them both." She murmured under her breath as she looked around.

"What was that?" Blaise asked turning towards her.

"I was wondering where my room was." Ginny lied.

"Oh it's up the stairs." Blaise explained, pointing to a set of spiraling stairs located on the right side of the room. "The boys' room is up that side." Blaise said switching to the opposite side of the room. Ginny nodded her understanding. She followed Blaise as she went up towards the girls' dormitory.

"Your bed is over there." She said pointing again, this time at a four-poster bed near a window. "Mine is right next to it." Blaise said pointing to the left. Ginny walked over to her bed and sat down on it.

The sheets were emerald green and satin with silver trim along it. A thick silver wool blanket was on top of the sheets with the Slytherin logo sewn on the front. Her bed had an emerald green canopy hanging down from the sides as well. Ginny lay back against the soft bed and let her head sink into the feather pillows.

"This is really nice." She said, her voice filled with awe, it was definitely nicer than the Gryffandor beds anyways.

"Yeah, we have the nicest house out of all of them. Salazar definitely liked to feel rich and built a really nice house. I guess that's what happens when you are used to being rich." Blaise said with a shrug.

"Blaise are you up there?" a voice shouted from down the stairs.

"Yeah Draco what is it?" Blaise yelled poking her head from out the door.

"I need you, I'm having trouble with this stupid homework Snape gave us." Draco shouted back.

"Why can't he just come up here?" Ginny asked innocently although she already knew the answer.

"Boys aren't allowed in the girls dormitory, there is some magical spell that prevents them." Blaise explained.

"Is it the same with girls going into boys." Ginny wondered.

"No, that's what's so weird." Blaise shrugged again and headed back downstairs with Ginny following her. Malfoy was waiting impatiently at the bottom and it was all Ginny could do to keep from glaring at the pompous idiot.

"What makes you think I can help you Draco? You are the best at potions in Slytherin, why don't you go ask Granger for help?" Blaise teased enjoying the startled look of disgust that appeared on Draco's face at the mention of Hermoine teaching him something.

"Just thought maybe your brain started to function today and see if you knew anything." Draco smirked nodding hello to Ginny.

"Let me see it." Blaise demanded rolling her eyes and holding out her hand. Malfoy dropped the instructions in her hands and she quickly read them.

"I can't get the potion to turn out the right color and I don't know what I'm going wrong." Malfoy complained.

"Yeah, yeah hold on." Blaise muttered as her eyes skimmed the page. She looked over at Malfoy's pot and ingredients.

"Well you got all the ingredients right, you must not have put them in the pot in the right order or something." Blaise said handing the papers back.

"I did, I checked and did it again, making sure it was in the right order, I even had Pansy check." Draco said running his fingers through his silvery blond hair in frustration. Ginny couldn't help but smirk at his predicament and covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a giggle. Malfoy shot her an irritated look.

"What Angelina, think you can do better? Your other school make you an expert on potions or something?" Malfoy asked mockingly.

"No, I'm just not an idiot who can't follow directions." Ginny shot back causing Malfoy to drop his jaw at her insult.

"What did you call me?" he asked.

"Give me the paper." Ginny said holding out her hand. Malfoy just looked at her blankly. "Give me the paper Malfoy." Ginny said emphasizing his last name. Malfoy shook his head and handed her the parchment still awed by the fact that she had openly insulted him. Blaise too was staring in wonder at Ginny as the girl read through the parchment.

"It says here you were supposed to mince the fig, did you do that?" Ginny asked shooting her gaze at Malfoy.

"I cut it up." Malfoy nodded.

"That's wonderful, anyone can cut, now did you mince it?" Ginny said sarcastically.

"What's the difference?" Malfoy shrugged.

"The difference is that mincing is cutting up the fig into very tiny pieces and they all need to be equal in size, just cutting them it hacking it to pieces of various size." Ginny explained exasperated. She really hated it when people didn't do their potions right, just the way she was.

"Oh. I'll do that this time." Malfoy said grabbing the paper back and heading over to his cauldron. He quickly redid the potion and this time, instead of a dull gray it turned into a pale yellow.

"Nice job Angelina." Malfoy said nodding at Ginny. Ginny rolled her eyes and walked away muttering about idiot Slytherins. Blaise walked away from Malfoy and hurried to catch up with Ginny.

"Angelina, what was that?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny said confused.

"You called Draco an idiot!" Blaise reminded her.

"Yeah, so." Ginny said nonchalantly.

"I guess no one has told you, but Draco Malfoy can be dangerous, you don't want to insult him." Blaise warned her.

"I'm not afraid of him." Ginny said confidently. "Besides, you insulted him."

"I was just joking, Draco is my friend, that's how we are. You on the other hand are new and shouldn't take such liberties, besides, I have a feeling you weren't joking." Blaise said looking pointedly at Ginny.

"So what, hex me." Ginny said with a shrug.

"He probably will." Blaise joked. "That was pretty impressive though, I didn't catch the fact that he didn't mince. How did you know? It was just a pile of liquid."

"I really like potions, I can recognize the sign of a poor chopping job and let me tell you, Malfoy did a crappy job." Ginny grinned.

"Draco." Blaise corrected.

"What?"

"Call him Draco, not Malfoy, we are all Slytherins, we address each other by our names, only people that don't like us call us by our last names and vice versus. I suggest you start calling him Draco, you wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea now would you?" Blaise advised.

"No definitely not." Ginny said with slight sarcasm that Blaise didn't catch.

"Don't worry you and Draco will be friends in no time, he's actually a cool guy once you get past the stuck up rich kid demeanor." Blaise revealed.

"Can't wait." Ginny smiled faintly before heading up to her room to get some sleep.

The moon hung low in the dark night sky, the howling of the coyotes breaking the eerie silence in the graveyard. Many black hooded figures lined up against the gravestones like shadows of the night, melting in and out of vision as the apparated and disapparated. A tall lanky figure stood in the middle of the circle of cloaked figures, at its side a short round man was huddled looking nervously out of two black beady eyes at the surrounding figures.

"It is time my loyal servants, the dawn of the age of Lord Voldemort is fast approaching and you all will be awarded beyond your wildest dreams once is has reached us." The figure hissed in a low voice, eliciting low shouts of victory to erupt amongst his followers.

"There is but one thing left to do, the hunt begins."

Ginny woke with a gasp and immediately sat up in her bed, the silky green covers sliding off her tiny torso as she placed a hand to her head, pain erupting inside. Ginny squirmed in her seat, trying to prevent herself from calling out in pain as she grabbed fistfuls of her damp and sweaty hair. When the pain subsided, Ginny took a couple ragged breaths and slumped back into her bed staring up at the top of her canopy.

"It is coming back, the pieces are beginning to fit." She whispered before sleep consumed her again and she drifted off.

"Angelina wake up."

Ginny heard slight murmuring as she rolled over in her bed and shoved her pillow on the top of her head to block out the noise.

"Come on Angelina, get up." The stern voice continued, now shaking Ginny who moaned in protest. Grumbling the person trying to wake Ginny up grabbed her covers and yanked hard, pulling the blankets off. Ginny curled her legs together as the cold air swept across them, her source of warmth taken away.

"Angelina, we have to go to the memorial service, now get up!" the voice demanded which Ginny recognized to be Blaise.

"Fine, so be it. Aquarium flowinsa!" Blaise said evenly, waving her hand in the air conjuring a shower of water to flow onto Ginny. Ginny yelped as soon as the water rained down upon her and scurried off her bed to get away from it, falling to the floor in a heap of pillows and bed sheets. Blaise burst into immediate laughter at the sight of Ginny, her short brown hair wet and plastered to her face.

"Blaise you jerk, now I'm all wet!" Ginny complained as she tried to untangle herself from the floor. Blaise just continued to laugh as she started taking the bed sheets off of Ginny.

"If you had gotten up when I first asked you, this wouldn't have happened Angelina." Blaise said wagging her finger at the other girl. Ginny grinned and threw her wet pillow at Blaise's head before heading off towards the bathroom. Blaise chucked the pillow at Ginny's retreating back, but hit the bathroom door as Ginny ducked in it and slammed it shut.

Ginny's laughing stopped when she looked into the mirror. She looked like an ugly drowned rat. Her hair was limp and clinging to her face with tiny droplets of water running down her face. Ginny grabbed a towel and quickly tried to dry her hair with it and patted her face dry. Reminding herself that she didn't really look like this, she pulled her damp hair into a half ponytail and left the bathroom, joining Blaise who was waiting impatiently by the portrait, her foot stamping against the ground and then they headed out towards the lawns of Hogwarts.

It was a nice set up really, they were having the memorial service by the lake and chairs were set up in rows all along the grass while white flowers lined the aisle ways. A huge portrait of Ginny was set up in the middle next to a podium in which she was smiling brilliantly and waving, her green eyes twinkling with mischief. Ginny nodded her head in approval of the picture; she actually looked ok in it, happy too. Blaise led her to one of the rows and the silently slipped into the back, the row closest to the lake. They sat there silently just watching all the students file in noticing that all the Gryffandors and Hufflepuffs were present along with the Ravenclaws, but they were the only two Slytherins.

"We sure are a supportive group aren't we." Ginny muttered sarcastically when she noted the absence of the Slytherin house.

"Are you kidding? Why would anyone of us come? The Weaselys and Slytherin don't mix." Blaise said.

"Then why are you here?" Ginny asked.

"I told you, I just understand what it's like alright, just thought I'd pay my respects, doesn't mean I like the girl or anything." Blaise defended herself. Ginny didn't respond, but sat back at her chair, staring as Ron, Harry and Hermoine sat down in the front next to Hagrid and Colin. A hush fell over the group as Dumbledore walked up to the podium and looked out at the students.

"I want to thank you all for taking time out of your day to honor one of our fallen students. It won't be long, just a time to reflect and think on Ginny Weasely. I'm honored to say that she was one of Hogwarts students; Ginny was a bright young girl with her future ahead of her. She was strong in potions and did amazing work in the hospital with Madame Pomphrey. She will be sorely missed." Dumbledore said looking out at the students, when his eyes landed on Ginny, she could have sworn he winked at her.

"I'm going to hand it over to her older brother Ronald Weasely." Dumbledore said before stepping away to let the red head take over.

"My sister was a strong girl, she could keep up with the best of them. I guess that's what happens when you grow up the only girl in a house full of boys, six of them no less. Ginny was right there with us when we ran around doing all sorts of mischief, she even provided many of the brilliant ideas. Even though most don't know it, Ginny was amazing on a broom, that girl had skills. All summer the only thing she talked about was trying out for the Gryffandor team, I swear, the way that girl carried on, you'd think quidditch was the only important thing in her life." Ron said shaking his head, a soft smile on his face. Ginny covered her mouth with her hand to hide the grin that was spreading there.

"I'll never forget her, she will always be in my heart and I hope that you will always remember her as well. Ginny will be sorely missed, I loved her so much, I just wish I could have said that before she left, well, was taken from me." Ron said quickly covering his quirk. Ginny was shocked to see actual tears welling up in his eyes as he stepped down from the podium, trying to wipe them away from his eyes.

'Hermoine must've cast some crying charm on him or something.' Ginny decided as she looked towards Hermoine who also had tears running down her cheeks. 'They all know I'm not really dead.'

'Yeah, but who knows the next time they'll see you.' Her mind reminded her.

'They see me everyday in school.' Ginny scoffed.

'So, they don't know it's you, that's different.' Her mind argued.

'True, well at least I know they miss me.' Ginny said appreciatively.

She sat silently just watching the rest of the service as many of the students went up to speak including Harry and Hermoine. They said a lot of nice things about her; even the kids she didn't really know had something to say. Ginny never knew how many people she had touched when she was "alive." When the service was over, the students lit candles and placed them in a long candleholder that spiral around the ground near the podium. She and Blaise were one of the last ones to place a candle in the holder and Ginny felt really weird doing so. It was all so surreal, attending her own funeral, hearing what people thought about her now that she was "dead." When the service was over the students disembarked and went back to their daily routines. Blaise pulled on Ginny's arm, indicating that she wanted to go back to the dorm.

"You go ahead Blaise, I think I want to sit outside for a little while." Ginny said motioning for Blaise to continue.

"Are you sure, are you okay?" Blaise asked looking at Ginny.

"Yeah, it's just a really nice day out, I just want to enjoy it." Ginny explained.

"Ok, see you later Angelina." Blaise said waving as she walked away. Ginny waved back before turning around and heading towards the lake. She found a shaded spot under a tree and sat back against its sturdy trunk, looking out across the water.

The hoots and hollers of excitement sounded above her causing her to look over towards the quidditch field where Slytherin was busy practicing for their game against Hufflepuff, which meant they were fooling around on the field. Ginny watched as the team laughed and cheered as they dodged buldgers they had let loose. Malfoy had dived out of the way of a double pair that were speeding towards him and grinned haughtily when another player was not as fortunate. Ginny shook her head and looked back towards the lake, sinking into her thoughts and she didn't hear the warning shout directed at her.

"Angelina watch out!" Malfoy yelled as one of the players hit a buldger too hard

away from him and it propelled straight towards Angelina. Ginny didn't notice and continued to sit on the ground.

"Angelina!" Malfoy shouted again this time catching Ginny's attention who noticed the speeding object heading towards her. She immediately got up and began to run away, trying get away from the rocketing blur. However, she had discovered it too late and cried out in pain when the buldger smashed into her back with a force that knocked her flying through the air. Ginny screamed as she gained height and then propelled back towards the ground, now directly over the lake.

Ginny plunged towards the dark water gaining speed as she fell, the buldger already looking for another victim to attack. The iciness of the lake sliced through her as she crashed through the glass like surface, her head slamming against the surface of the water forcefully causing pain to explode in her head. The water surrounded her like a frozen cage and Ginny struggled to swim to the surface, but her head was killing her causing her to feel woozy. Sharp claws digging into her skin brought her back to reality. A Grindylow appeared in front of her, grinning evilly as it plunged its hands towards her, its nails ripping through her robes and clothes to embed itself into her skin. Ginny screamed in pain the only notion of it was a small group of bubbles floating to the surface. She struggled against the Grindylow to no avail as even more plunged their nails into her skin, dragging her down further into the deep unknown. One of the Grindylow, annoyed with Ginny's struggling, hit her hard upside the head. Going unconscious from the impact, Ginny's body went motionless and began to sink further into the depths of the lake, swallowing her into it's icy coffin as the Grindylow held on for a ride, squealing all the way.

"Oh crap." Malfoy muttered as he realized Angelina wouldn't get away from the buldger. He turned his broom and sped towards her trying to draw the attention of the buldger onto him, but to no avail. His eyes widened as he watched Angelina being blast into the air and smash into the lake. When she didn't resurface, he immediately flew to the lake in neck breaking speed skimming the surface, the water kicking up behind the tail of his Firebolt as his eyes grazed the glass like surface looking for a hint of Angelina. A platoon of bubbles broke through the surface alerting his attention to uninvited air in the lake. Squinting, he could barely make out the distorted figure of Angelina being dragged further down the lake.

Knowing that there was no way he could dive down there, grab Angelina and bring them both to the surface before he lost all his air, Malfoy arched, turning his broom towards the sky, gaining altitude until he was sure he had enough freeway. With a deep breath, Malfoy gripped the sleek wooden handle of his broom tightly, the sun glinting of the golden letters reading "Firebolt" and quickly cast a shield spell on himself. Bracing himself, Malfoy zoomed back towards the lake gaining speed as he spiraled downwards. People had gathered on the shore to watch what he was doing in wonder, his teammates who had seen what happened stared in awe as their Captain plummeted to the earth with no hint of feinting.

Malfoy gritted his teeth as he neared the lake preparing for impact. The Firebolt cut through the water like a knife through melted butter, the water parting for Malfoy as it hit his shielding spell and then encased over him when he was through. Malfoy's eyes burned as he forced them to stay open while he bulleted towards Angelina, her form drifting down not far ahead of him. When he reached her, he swiftly wrapped an arm around her chest, locking them under her shoulders as he flew past, knocking the Grindylow loose at his speed when he jerked her away. Malfoy made a sharp turn on the broom and directed it towards the surface, the sun reflecting on the top of the water guiding him to freedom. The Firebolt burst through the waters' surface with grace and ease, the water ricocheting off of them and cascading back to the lake. Malfoy pulled Angelina tighter in right arm as the left one gripped the Firebolt steely and he steered towards dry land, landing softly before jumping off the broom and laying Angelina softly on the green grass.

He quickly pressed two fingers to Angelina's wrist, checking for her pulse, which he felt nothing beating beneath her soft flesh. He watched her chest and noted that it wasn't rising and put his hand over her face, not feeling any air hitting his palm. Unfortunately wizards were not God and could not just bring a person back to life, but most wizards were school in CPR. Malfoy pressed his hands firmly against Ginny's chest after finding her sternum and pressed down hard fifteen times, wincing slightly as he felt the ribs crack beneath his palms. Moving to her face, he pinched shut her nose and breathed two puffs of air into her mouth watching as her lungs filled causing her chest to rise and fall. He checked her pulse but still felt nothing and repeated his actions, this time getting a weak, but sure pulse beating when he touched underneath Angelina's neck.

Encouraged, Malfoy stopped compressing her chest, but continued to give her two breaths every thirty seconds until Angelina began to breath on her own. She coughed and sputtered as the breath of life was given back to her and turned on her side to spit out the lake water that had been in her lungs. Malfoy sat back on his haunches against the grass breathing deeply, relieved that Angelina had not died. Water dripped from his blond hair making his seem darker than normal as it framed his face. His robes and clothes were soaked to the bone, but the sun was beating heatedly upon his back, causing a contrast of temperature and making him shiver.

Ginny gulped in air after she spit out the water, leaning with her head near the ground. She felt weak and her head was still aching from the many hits she had taken. Her back felt immensely sore and when she moved, her ribs hurt. Every breath she took was sweet misery, relieved that she could taste air and fill her lungs again, but the pain from her ribs deterred it. After she was finished sputtering, Ginny tried to stand up, but the blood rushed to her head causing her to feel nauseated and woozy. Stumbling on her feet, she tripped and began to fall when hands caught her. Ginny looked up into long thick lashes dripping with water framing gentle gray eyes before blacking out and collapsing fully into Draco Malfoy's awaiting arms.

Ginny woke to soft whispers and gently fluttered her eyes open trying to adjust them to the lights. She sat up slowly against the pillows and observed her surroundings. Madame Pomphrey was circling the room checking up on different kids who were unfortunate enough to end up in the hospital wing, unfortunate like Ginny.

"Hey you're awake." Blaise greeted her warmly as she walked into the hospital wing. She was carrying a small bag and handed it to Ginny who looked inside and discovered a collection of chocolate frogs.

"Thought you might need this to help with the whopping headache you are going to have." Blaise said sympathetically as she sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"Thanks Blaise." Ginny said gratefully as she placed the bag on the bed. "Um, how'd I get in here?" she asked curiously.

"You don't remember?" Blaise asked surprise then shook her head, "I guess you wouldn't, they said you were unconscious."

"I just remember getting hit by a buldger and landing in the lake." Ginny answered.

"Well as you know the buldger came from the Slytherin quidditch practice, one of the players hit it to hard and knocked it out of the playing field where of course, it now had free game of the field and you were the closest person." Blaise started to explain as she grabbed a chocolate frog from Ginny's bag and opened the seal.

"And?" Ginny encouraged Blaise impatiently.

"And Draco saw what happened and tried to get the buldger's attention on himself, but he was too late and it hit you, knocking you in the water where you were attacked by Grindylows." Blaise continued popping the frog into her mouth and pausing to chew the sweet chocolate.

"Then he did this amazing thing, I've never seen if before in my life. He located you in the water and dove in the water while still on his broom and then plucked you out of the lake like one does a feather in the breeze. It was absolutely amazing." Blaise praised him shaking her head at what she had heard.

"He did that?" Ginny said in awe. "For me?"

"Why wouldn't he, you are a Slytherin. Besides, he would have done it for anyone else, he's not a bad guy." Blaise insisted.

"He wouldn't for Ginny Weasely." Ginny muttered under breath causing Blaise to look at her sharply.

"Don't say that Angelina, Draco would have even saved Ginny Weasely." She argued. "Anyways, I wasn't finished my story." Blaise said moving the conversation forward.

"Next you were completely unconscious, actually, you were basically dead. Draco had to give you CPR cause you weren't breathing and your heart wasn't beating. After a few tries, it worked and you woke up and spat out water then fainted again and he brought you here." Blaise finished with a sigh.

"He brought me back to life?" Ginny said in shock.

"More or less, God willing of course." Blaise responded picking up another frog. Ginny promptly swatted her hand away and gathered the bag in her hands, shielding it from Blaise.

"What?" Blaise asked as she opened the frog and ate it.

"Those are mine." Ginny scolded her.

"I bought them for you dunce." Blaise said rolling her pale green eyes.

"And now they're mine hands off." Ginny ordered playfully.

"Touchy touchy, someone likes their chocolate froggies a little too much." Blaise said exaggeratedly arching her eyebrows at Ginny who giggled in response.

"Where is he now?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Who?" Blaise questioned as she tried to sneak a frog but received another glare from Ginny.

"Mal- I mean Draco." Ginny corrected herself.

"He went back to his room to sleep, complained about being cold and worn out. Apparently saving someone's life takes it out of you." Blaise commented.

"Oh." Ginny said staring at her hands.

"Why?"

"Just wanted to thank him I guess." Ginny explained.

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time for that later when he prances around like he's god." Blaise said rolling her eyes again.

"You know him pretty well don't you?" Ginny questioned.

"Yeah, I've know Draco forever, since before Hogwarts, our families are old friends." Blaise admitted.

"Well if he's really such a nice guy and all like you say, then why does everyone think he's a jerk? I've only heard stories about how mean he is since I've been here and I haven't seen anything to dispel that." Ginny asked.

"Well he saved your life didn't he?" Blaise retorted.

"Yeah, but, you said he'd do that for anyone." Ginny responded pointedly.

"If you really want to know you are just going to ask him. He wouldn't appreciate me telling you his business, trust me though, he has his reasons." Blaise advised.

"Ok, I was just wondering." Ginny said and began eating a frog. Madame Pomphrey came over then and it took both Ginny and Blaise to convince her that Ginny was feeling much better and could go back to the Slytherin house. Blaise helped Ginny walk back to the dorm, laughing and telling jokes all the way. Ginny could hear the students whispering about her as she walked by but she didn't care.

When they reached the door of the Slytherin house, Ginny made a decision. From now of, since she had a new appearance and twice was given back her life, she would become a new person. No more hatred and malice towards the Slytherins, she would try her hardest to be nice and fit in with them. Maybe, just maybe, she'd even become friends with Malfoy, but that could be asking too much. Smiling softly to herself, Ginny raised her head proudly and strutted into the Slytherin common room behind Blaise determined to make this year the best yet.

That would be chapter Four, I hoped you enjoyed it; it had a little bit more action then the last chapter. Please review!

.:Angelgrl185:.