2- "Messages and Meetings"

Ginny got back late and she fell asleep as soon as she had laid her head down. When she woke up she wasn't too keen on speaking to anyone. When she entered the Great Hall, Zabini was leaving. When he saw her he simply bowed and said, "Thank you for your help." The grin on his face wasn't happy, but rather evil. Ginny knew something was going on. She quickly walked away and took a seat next to Hermione and Harry. Ron and Lavender were sitting across from them.

"Are you okay?" Lavender was leaning in, smiling such a false smile. Ginny knew she just wanted to hear what was going on in Ginny's life.

"I'm fine," she would have asked if everyone had a good morning, but the owl post had come in. As she, and everyone else, looked up she saw a black owl descending towards her. When it landed in front of her everyone was staring. She felt the eyes on her like daggers. The owl lifted it leg and Ginny took the letter. "Thanks, I think,' she offered the owl something to eat, but it refused and spread its wings and took off. The envelope she held in her hands had something written on it:

Open Privately

"What's that?" Ron leaned over to Ginny, but she was too quick for him. She held the envelope to her chest.

"Go away!" She was fuming. Ron, offended, left her alone. Ginny got up and left the Great Hall. When she got to the large marble stairs she looked around to check to see if the coast was clear.

'What is this?' She ripped open the envelope to find two pieces of parchment, and a feather. She took out one of the pieces of parchment and read it in a whisper:

I can't make the meeting tonight. Re-schedule it for tomorrow night. Blaise has some emergency.

She made a mental note of that and opened the second piece of parchment. Surprisingly it was wrapped around a rose. She took the rose and read the letter.

Sorry about hitting you with the curse and dropping you.

"Who sent this?" She was eyeing the feather as though it were a clue (A/N I know it is soo obvious that a monkey could figure it out, but something you should remember is some people are dumb in the morning. Am I foreshadowing? I don't know. Do you?) . Many people have made attempts to curse her. And many people meaning Pansy Parkinson.

"I thought you'd figure it out, with the feather and all." Malfoy had exited the Great Hall, and was making his way over to Ginny.

She laughed, "How cute. You sent me a letter apologizing."

"Cute? I have never been cute in my whole life. Except, maybe, when I was a baby, but not now." He was standing as ominous as ever in front of Ginny. His face was twisted into a smirk. He took a seat next to Ginny. "I'd love to that again." The sarcasism in his voice was louder than his words.

"Oh yeah. Next we can have a picnic. You invite Slytherin House and I invite Gryffindor House." Draco smiled at her attempt to return his sarcasism. "Listen, I've got to go"

It wasn't until Ginny looked up, that she noticed how close they were sitting to one another. Draco, noticing her silence, looked up at her. Suddenly realizing she was looking at him he quickly asked, "Why are you staring at me?"

"Um, I've got to go. See ya Draco." That was that first time she had called him by his first name. As she entered the Great Hall she noticed several eyes from Slytherin on her. She went over to the table at Gryffindor she had earlier abandoned. She sat in silence. Draco timed his entrance well, so no one would believe they were conversing with one another. It wasn't for a few minutes that she was interrupted.

"Ginny, it looks like you've got a visitor," Ron pointed behind her. There stood a first-year who looked as though he was afraid he was going to be attacked. His reasoning for this was obvious; he was a Slytherin, at a Gryffindor table.

"F-for a Ginny," the little boy was unable to show any bravery whatsoever. The boy opened his mouth again, probably to say who it was from, but Ginny grabbed the letter before he spoke.

"Shoo, go away!' she was in no mood to explain why Malfoy was sending her letters. As she opened it she read the contents to herself, making sure no one was looking over her shoulder.

Answer me this,

Why were you staring at me? Don't get any ideas Weasley.

-Just Guess

She looked appalled at the idea of coming on to Malfoy. Ginny looked up at Malfoy and was in shock to see him and Blaise laughing at her expression. The boy, she had noticed, had not left. She quickly scribbled a rude remark on the letter and told the boy to give it to whoever sent the letter.

"What did it say?" A question asked in unison around the group. Ron however was pulling away from leaning over from the letter, so Ginny flicked him on the nose and started to collect her stuff. As she got up she saw the boy return to his seat. She smiled at the fact he was acting so brave. Like he was telling his friends he had just confronted 3 dementors without whimpering. Her gaze drifted over to Malfoy, as she was leaving. He was staring at her. She immediately looked away. Neither was aware that someone else had noticed his or her glances at one another.

"Well you've got it now." Hermione was correcting Harry's charms essay. In which he chose any charm, and then he had to list and describe 5 other charms associated with it. "You've it right on the mark with this charm! Oh, try to be more specific when you describe the banishing charm."

"Thanks," he bent over and gave her a kiss. He put his essay down and began to think about what was wrong with Ginny. "You think something happened between Ginny and someone else. I mean she came back with a rose after reading that letter."

Hermione was taken aback. She never really gave much thought to it. "Well Ginny is pretty. I believe she might just have a few crushes."

"Like who?"

"Michael Orson, from Ravenclaw."

"The beater?"

"Yes. Well anyway, if anything did happen, I pity the poor soul who was sending her owls and stuff."

"Why?"

"Ron would kill them." They both shared a soft laugh. Hermione opened her mouth to add more, but the portrait hole swung open.

Ginny entered the common room without noticing she wasn't alone. She looked at her watch to see it was two o'clock. Cursing under her breath she rushed to go upstairs. Her thoughts were brought back to Draco. That night they tried a simple levitation charm. After Ginny picked on him for his poor pronunciation of the charm he lifted her into the air. She didn't scream, but laughed. She chuckled thinking about it.

"Ahem," Hermione cleared her throat to show Ginny she wasn't alone. Ginny wheeled around on the spot to face them.

"Fancy meeting you here," Ginny was still able to chuckle, but now she chuckled at her own stupidity. Her mind raced with thoughts. Did they wait for her? Did they know everything? The looks on their faces told Ginny that they didn't know she was not in her room or that she was tutoring Draco. "I was wondering around a little."

"That will get you in trouble. Understand? Fine then to bed with you," Hermione smiled as though nothing were wrong. After biding them goodnight, Ginny went upstairs. Harry had picked back up his essay and started to re-read it. Hermione turned to him and asked, "You believe her?"

"Not one bit."

Christmas holidays had arrived and more kids than usual had gone home. There was a little amount of students at Hogwarts at all. So little in fact, that all 4 tables for each house were gone and there was just one big table, plus the head table.

Ginny was sitting under the tree in the courtyard, wrapped in a scarf. She didn't notice the group of Slytherins that arrived. They were mostly seventh-year boys. They had started a snowball fight. Ginny was reading up on charms. She wanted to give Draco the most difficult one ever. That is if he would show up. She was very startled when one of the boys shouted at her.

"Oi, Gryffindor! Move it unless you want to eat snow," the boy was very rude and didn't even bother to look at her. He was so concerned about his snowball fight that Ginny just ignored him. But moments later he shouted, "Move it red."

"Shove off or I'll make you eat that snow," she was particularly upset because he hadn't heard from Draco in a week. She thought he should at least owl her that he wasn't going to show up.

"Fine, I'll make you move-"

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Blaise Zabini was standing next to Ginny with his wand out and one hand on the tree trunk. "Now don't you fellas know that it isn't nice to hit a woman?" The boys retorted with remarks like "What you gonna do about it" and "She is a Weasley". Blaise, on the other hand, was walking around them. When he finally got them to turn their heads and look at him, Ginny, who was still sitting at the tree, was pulled up and dragged away.

When she was able to get a clear view of who was dragging her she saw Draco. They ran down so many hallways that Ginny didn't know where they were going. It was when they stopped that she realized they were near the library. "Thanks, but why?"

"Blaise saw you reading, and then he saw the other guy yell at you. By this point we stopped in the hall to watch. When the guy pulled out his wand Blaise jumped in and that's when I grabbed you and brought you up here. Then you said 'thanks' and asked me why. So, now I am explaining everything to you." Ginny laughed. She knew he was trying to draw attention away from the fact that he had come to her rescue. She was actually even more curious about why Blaise had instructed Malfoy to help her. Why hadn't he just let her stay there and watch him beat up the Slytherins? She knew something was up.

"Sure, but I think you could of stopped at-" all of the sudden a water balloon hit her square on the head. They both looked up to see Peeves, with a load of water balloons.

"Peeves knock it off or I'll get the Bloody Baron." Malfoy's threat was inaudible due to the fact Peeves hit him with a water balloon.

"Quick in here. I just saw the Bloody Baron down the hall I'll get him, Peeves." Ginny grabbed Draco's hand and they quickly went in to the abandoned classroom next to them. They didn't know if Peeves left or ignored the threat because they were in the safety of the classroom. They both caught their breath, and started to laugh. This caused them to be even more out of breath.

"Wait, you've got a piece of rubber in your hair." Draco inched forward with his hand out-stretched. As he was about to pluck the piece of rubber from Ginny's head he stopped. The reason he stopped was that he saw Ginny flinching. "Don't worry I won't hurt you." With that he lifted his other hand and cupped her cheek with it. As he picked out the piece of rubber he said, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Ginny didn't know why she did what she did next. As though she were acting on the spur of the moment she leaned forward and pulled Draco into an embrace.

Draco was shocked, but he gave her a warm, welcoming squeeze. After a few moments he lifted up her chin up and kissed her. Ginny then pulled her mouth away, but she wasn't worried or upset. She just asked with a sly smile, "Isn't Pansy your girlfriend?"

Draco's answer was soft and quite, "Do you really think she is my type?" They both laughed and were, once-again kissing. This time Ginny was expecting it and put her hands behind his neck to deepen the kiss. Forever seemed to pass maybe even more. All they knew were that they did not want to leave.

Then came a loud bang from the hallway. As though it was instinct, Draco pulled Ginny behind him. She held on to his arm. Draco pushed open the door, and there they saw the Gryffindor House Ghost, Nearly Headless Nick.

"Sorry Ms.Weasley, Mr.Malfoy. The Bloody Baron and I are searching for Peeves. I must have knocked over the armor when I was passing through that wall."

"We saw Peeves a few minutes ago. He might have gone down stairs." Ginny was keen not to draw attention to the fact that she was here with Draco.

"Thank you then. Cheerio!" He dropped down into the floor. Ginny put her back against the wall and chuckled. Draco walked over to the armor and attempted to clean up the mess. Ginny walked over to help him when she saw him produce a shield charm. Then she noticed a spell bounce off it.

"What are you doing here with him?" Ron's angry voice echoed the distant hallways. Harry was standing by his side.

"Oh, don't flatter him Ron." Ginny was the one to speak. As she looked over at Draco, she gave him an expression that said play along. She started to round on him. "You'd think I'd be here with a bloody ferret?"

"Well a ferret is more enjoyable company than you, Weaslette."

"Come on Ginny, let's go." Harry walked in front of her and waited until she was walking away to turn around and go to catch up with her.

Ginny didn't speak to Harry or Ron. She was sure they had sensed something was wrong. She sat with them at meals, but she would bring her friends to talk to her.

Over the next few days Ginny went to the Room of requirements to tutor Draco, but rarely said anything. She would hand him a pre-made piece of parchment that had all he had to do written on it. Draco, however, watched Ginny. She could feel him staring at her, but she really didn't return the stare. Occasionally, they would glance at each other in the halls. Ron was watching Draco, daring him to make a move on Ginny.

Blaise Zabini got up from the Slytherin end of the large table, one day at breakfast. Instead of leaving the Great Hall he turned to the Gryffindor end of the table. As he was walking down everyone was staring at him with looks of either confusion or hatred. He stopped when he reached Ginny and her friends. "Um, Gin can we talk?" His voice was cheery. He looked like at kid at Christmas. Ginny stared at him, confused. She turned her head meaning to look at her friends, but she saw a pair of silver eyes staring at Blaise with anger. Blaise noticing Ginny looking at her friends said, "Privately, if you don't mind."

"Sure. Let's go before my brother kills you.' Ginny was on somewhat friendly terms with Blaise. As she followed him everyone was watching them. Ron apparently was too dumbfounded to get up. She even saw Professor Snape straighten up in his chair. As they turned out of the Great Hall Blaise stopped and stared at Ginny.

He opened his mouth, "Have you heard the rumors about the ball celebrating Professor Madison's 50th Birthday?"

"Yea, what does that have to do with anything?" Ginny had a sneaking suspicion where he was headed with this conversation.

"Please don't be insulted when I ask you this, but I wanted to know if your friend Natalie is seeing anyone?" Okay so Ginny didn't know where he was heading, but she was glad that he wasn't asking her. She smiled widely, ear to ear.

"Nah, but if you want her to go out with you, you might want to get her something like a flower or something. She likes it when guys do that for some reason." They both laughed. She turned to go to the Great Hall and heard Blaise's footsteps behind her. She stopped as she reached the doorway. When he came to her side he looked at her. She turned around and whispered in his ear, "Do it tonight, she is on patrols in the dungeons."

"'Kay." Blaise's face light up when he was told such great news as this. Ginny went over to her friends and sat down as though nothing had happened. They stared at her expecting a surprise, but she just grinned and went about talking to them.

One day later the same owl arrived for Ginny that arrive every other day. She was wondering if Draco needed to change the schedule or something. As the owl descended Ron watched it like a hawk. (A/N hahaha! Get it he was watching the bird like a hawk)

"So Ginny, who keeps sending you loves letters?" Ginny's friend Amber was saying this only because she knew exactly who sent the letters. She just wanted to poke fun at Ginny for having a crush on Malfoy. Ginny didn't acknowledge the question. She opened the letter and read it to herself. As she did her eyes filled with tears.

I no longer need your help.

Thank you for your past help. Please forget this situation, for it would be better if our houses did not know. We shall not speak after this letter.

"Ginny, what is wrong?" Harry was looking at her with a look full of sympathy. She just straightened herself up and started to walk out of the library.

As she was almost at the entranceway Michael Orson stopped her and asked her something, "Gin, I was wondering-"

"Another time Michael." By this point, people stopped to watch. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Blaise, Draco, Ron, Harry, and Hermione watching her.

"Wait, I just want to ask you if-" Ginny wouldn't stand for this. Draco wouldn't talk to her. Ron was one incident away from disowning her. Harry and Hermione were questioning her every move. She just blew.

"Michael I know your question."

"Really and so you'll go with me to the ball?"

"Umm, I don't think I can."

"Oh, you're going with someone else?" Now everyone was staring, teachers included.

"No, I just don't want to go with you." Her face was truthful, and her eyes were solid.

"Why?"

"A personal reason just let it be.'

"But I want to know why."

"I said it is personal."

"Why is it so personal?"

"I am fed up with your constant shadow over me okay. So just do me a favor and GO TO HELL!" She was about to curse him when she saw a couple of his housemates stand up. As she turned to head out of the Great Hall she saw Draco look at her. His face with pure shocked, yet it looked as though he felt she had it coming to her. Ginny's face was trembling and filled with tears, but she straightened up and gave him an evil look. She just ran upstairs. She was heading for the most deserted place she could thing of. The Library. She knew since almost no one was here she would have privacy. As she settled down with a Quidditch book she read for a good 3 hours. She read the same paragraph over and over again. She didn't realize that she was dozing off. She fell asleep with tears falling from her eyes.

"Ms.Weasley. Ms.Weasley. MS.WEASLEY! Oh, for heaven sakes wake up girl." Professor McGonagall was hovering over Ginny. She was looking extremely harassed.

"What happened Professor?" Ginny straightened herself, but her words were slurred. She was so sleepy that she felt like not waiting for the answer, but rather she wanted to go back to dreaming.

"Well to re-cap on the 10 hours you were away," Ginny's jaw dropped. "Yes 10 hours. Your whole house, at least those who are here, and a few Ravenclaws were searching the school for you. Your brother has almost knocked out 5 people today, asking about your whereabouts and I find you here sleeping, and crying." She was staring at Ginny.

Ginny had to think about everything that was just said to her. Ron had beat up people. A lot of kids were looking for her and she was sleeping in the back of the library. Crying. "S-sorry. I will go now and tell them where I am."

"No need, I have already informed your brother and the other searchers of your whereabouts. You should, however, catch the Christmas Eve feast. You are excused from Prefects' duties tonight owning to the fact your brother probably won't let you out of his sight, now move." She helped Ginny up and walked her out of the library, but turned the other way.

As Ginny was walking she didn't know where she was going, but she allowed her feet to take her to the Great Hall without notice. As she entered almost everyone stood up in surprise. Hermione ran around the table and buried her face in Ginny's shoulder mumbling words like 'why', 'how', and something like 'do that again and see what happens'. Ginny laughed.

"I was in the library and I fell asleep, so sit back down," she couldn't help but smile. Everyone was so worried. As Hermione motioned Ginny to sit down, Ginny stood rooted to the spot. "Nats can you come over here for a second, alone?" Then as she and her friend turned to leave the Great hall she looked at Blaise in a way telling him to 'do it now'. He got up to and didn't bother to make sure no one noticed.

When in the hallway, Ginny was asking Natalie if she was going to the ball with anyone. Ginny was very pleased when Natalie said no. When Blaise spotted the girls he went over to them and asked to speak to Natalie alone. Ginny just left leaving them all alone. As she entered the Great Hall for a second time she heard a loud "YES." She laughed as she sat down in between everyone. She then explained loudly what was going on. She, of course, left out the letter from Malfoy. She was interrupted when Blaise and Natalie came into the Great Hall. Natalie, who really didn't like too much attention, was blushing, and Blaise was looking as triumphant as ever. Ginny was smiling.

"Gin, can we go to bed now I have to study?" Natalie obviously had no intentions of studying, but rather wanting to talk to Ginny about setting this up. Instead of waiting for an answer she grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her up. Ginny's exit was met with many remarks from people about her disappearance. When they were out of the Great Hall, and earshot, Ginny's friend was jumping up and down. "Where were you?" was all she could get out of her mouth.

"Yes we all want to know, where the great Weaslette disappeared to." The voice was bitter and angry. Ginny wouldn't turn around, because she knew who was there. Her friend, however, was curious as to who would remark so nastily about such a small thing. Her body, though, eventually, willed her to turn. She saw what she was expecting to see. Draco, who must have been coming from the Slytherin common room, was looking very cross and bitter. As Ginny turned she nudged her friend. Her friend understood and slowly walked upstairs. Ginny then looked at Draco, who repeated his question. The glare in his eyes caused Ginny to look away. "Oh, not speaking to me now?"

"If your gonna lecture me about not telling someone where I was going save it. I know I shouldn't have gone off without telling anyone. Yes I know it is Christmas Eve. Anyway, why do I need to explain my business to you? After that letter you sent me I should just tell you to go to hell. " Ginny couldn't believe he had just this morning told her he didn't want nor needed her help. Now he was lecturing her about not telling where she went. She was furious. How could he be so evil? "I am going up to my room, and I don't ever want to speak to you nor see you again." She turned on her heels and stalked up towards the stairs.

As she was about to stomp on the first step she felt a hand pull her around. She was turned to face Draco, who was flaring. When he let go of her he lifted his hand. Thinking he was about to do something she grasped her wand, but instead he pulled her into and embrace. "It is not fair. I see you laughing with Blaise, but you never even smile when we talk. You help him with his love life, but ours is a big mess. I know I was over-reacting, but look at my point of view-,"

"Draco just shut up and kiss me." She put her arms around his neck and started to kiss him. He lent into the kiss after getting over the shock of what happened. They were together and they both felt like nothing could stop them, but they were wrong. Draco, in the heat of the moment, twirled Ginny around. As he did so she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, something. Or someone.