Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. I do however have the best and most patient readers on fanfic!

Okay, don't shoot me! I know I promised an update quickly but between starting school and life in general, I've had almost no time to write. Add onto that the fact my plot bunnies had escaped and left me with the most horrific writers block… well, the important thing is I'm back now! I'll try not to let it get that bad again. My plot bunnies are back and I'm locking their cage!

So, without further ado…

Chapter 2

Draco POV

I had anticipated that my quest would be difficult but I hadn't realized just how right I was. Two weeks, two whole weeks had passed and I'd yet to even learn the little Weasley's name. I'd admit that it was partly due to my own stubbornness, this lack of satisfying information. I could easily find out from someone other than the girl in question. I could have cornered Creevey in the hall or demanded it from an unsuspecting Longbottom or confronted Lonny Lovegood. Any number of students here would know what her name was.

But there was something about her stubborn denial that ate at me. I wanted her to tell me, to finally give into me. It would be a step forward, a step I desperately needed at this point. Already my preciously limited time to complete my bet with Blaise was slipping away. Every day that passed Blaise was using to gain the trust in the girl of his choice, the Ravenclaw, while I was still stuck on step one of my plans of seducing the Weasley. No forward motion at all.

She was quite aggravating, the little Weasley, as I'd come to learn over the past two weeks. Every other day, during potions class, I'd ask her for her name. Each day she would walk away without giving me an answer. I had a feeling she'd told her friends, namely the Golden Trio, about her situation with me wanting to know her name as they consciously avoided using it while I was around. Her brother would go so far as to call her sis instead of using her name. But that was fine with me, seeing as I wanted to hear it from her lips first. Too bad those lips proved to be sealed tight.

"You could just give up, you know," Blaise offered lightly as we lounged around my dorm room doing homework. After my first year, when Father realized I was being boarded with four other Slytherins, he'd demanded I have a private room. His reasons had been that I needed my own space to work on my studies and that the other boys were unwanted distractions. Being head of the school board at the time, nobody had argued the point. Even after he was ungracefully removed from said board, they allowed me to keep the room as long as Father kept paying for it.

I had to admit, it was nice to have my own space. The room was large but not overly huge. Done in the same slivers and greens with the same stone walls, it was most defiantly as Slytherin room. It even attached the common room. It had two doors to it, one from the common room and one from the hall, great for easy access as I could avoid the common room if I wanted. This was also a huge perk when it came to my bets with Blaise. I always had a private place to bring girls to while Blaise had to settle for sneaking around empty classrooms or a room full of sleeping boys with only drapes and silencing charms keeping them in the dark. So yes, having my own room was helpful.

The room itself was more than just a bedroom though. While it had a large king sized bed at one end of the room, there was also a sofa in front of a fire place and my own writing desk. It also sported its own private bathroom, something Blaise took advantage of nearly every morning as he knew my password. It wasn't uncommon for me to walk into it in the morning only to find the boy in my shower. I'd long ago given up on stopping him though, he was relentless. And right now was no exception.

"I'm not going to give up," I argued, rolling my eyes at my best friend. He'd been so cocky ever since Kim Sheringham had agreed to a study date with him this weekend while I'd yet to even learn the little Weasley's name. This wasn't the first time he suggested that all my effort was in vain and I should just stop trying.

"Well then, if you're not giving up, then you might try something different," he suggested, looking up from the essay for History of Magic he was working on.

"What do you mean?" I questioned him, shaking my head as I looked up from my own. We'd been working on the essays for the past hour and it was slow going, fifteen inches on the Goblin Wars of 1428. It was all about the stupid little buggers fighting over gold and jewels and who made what sword. Tiresome really. It was due tomorrow and, as we were going to meet in the library with the little Weasley soon, we wouldn't have time to work on it later. I didn't feel like staying up half the night writing about goblins bickering.

Blaise rolled his eyes at me. "I mean that you're getting nowhere with her," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh gee thanks, I hadn't noticed," I said sarcastically with a shake of my head, turning back to my essay. I didn't need his reminders.

"You should try a different approach," Blaise said, once again pulling me from my essay, stopping me mid-sentence as I described how King Gorik had beheaded his own son for stealing his special breastplate. Like I said, tiresome.

"And what do you think I'm doing wrong?" I asked, giving into him and setting my homework aside as I faced him from where I lay on my stomach on the bed. "I'm going about this like I always do, what has always worked before. I see no reason for change. Or, in case you hadn't noticed, I've never lost our bet."

"You're not the same with her as you are with the others. I think you're trying to be but usually you're just short with her," he said from his spot on the sofa, giving me a knowing look.

I let out an irritated sigh. "Of course I'm short with her she drives me crazy and gets my anger riled within minutes. I swear it's like she's trying to prick my tempter. How can I act pleasant under those circumstances?" I demanded.

"I don't know, but spouting insults at one other over you're cauldrons doesn't seem to be helping you're situation, you know," he said with a chuckle, turning back to his own essay.

I rolled my eyes at him, trying to finish my essay quickly. The problems with seducing the little Weasley could wait. Father would kill me if I started falling behind in my classes within the first weeks back. I still had a good two inches left to cover. Blaise, noticing the time, gratefully shut his mouth and got back to work too. There were times I wanted nothing more than to kick him out of here but he'd always come right back, that was if he even listened to me and left to begin with.

With fifteen minutes to spare, I finally dried the ink on my parchment and rolled it up. Blaise gave me a pleading look as I saw he still had an inch to go. So, as I stuffed my own essay into my bag, I detailed the end of the 1428 Goblin Wars for him. With only seven minutes before we were supposed to meet the little Weasley in the library, he was finally done and we rushed to get our things together. The last thing I needed was for the Weasley to be mad upon my arrival. I would get nowhere if that were the case.

Slinging our bags onto our shoulders, we hurried from my dorm room and through the dungeons. We were meeting the little Weasley in the library to begin a project that we'd be working on in potions for the next month. Today would be the beginning of our research on which potions we'd like to do. While I normally detested having to go to the library on a Friday night, it seemed a good opportunity for me with the bet. Maybe she'd behave civilly if she wasn't allowed to raise her voice. That stern librarian would have her out in a heartbeat should she begin yelling at me. I smirked at the thought.

The library was nearly deserted when we arrived, only seconds to spare before the clock struck eight, our allotted meeting time. Finding the little Weasley wasn't hard, seeing as very few people chose to be in a library on a Friday night. She was already seated at a square table in the back near the potions section. When she spotted us, she scowled.

Ginny POV

"About time you two showed up," I huffed when I saw Malfoy and Blaise sauntering towards the table I sat at, looking up from the book I'd been flipping through. I had actually been enjoying the time in the library without them, having spent too much time with the two Slytherins already in the past two weeks. It irked me nonetheless that they were nearly late. "I've been here for fifteen minutes already."

For a second I thought Malfoy would say something, and it looked like he wanted too. But, much to my surprise, he seemed to bit his tongue and keep his remarks to himself. I had to let out a sigh when he sat down next to me though. I'd hoped that, sitting at a square table instead of a round one, he'd sit on the other side with Zabini. No such luck though.

"Sorry love," Zabini said to me with a cheeky grin, sitting down across the table. "Got caught up doing other homework. Rushed here the moment we were done."

I took note of the ink stains marring his fingers and couldn't help but believe him. Instead of replying to him though, I turned to the task at hand: our potions assignment. For it, we'd have to choose one potion of at least a semi-difficult level and brew it. Once the potion was finished and as close to perfect as possible for us to get, we'd turn it into Professor Slughorn to have him sign off on it. Once we had the go-ahead, we were going to take that potion and make one change to it. It could be anything from making it taste better to strengthening it or making it brew quicker.

That would be the difficult part, meddling with an already perfect potion. I intended to get full marks for it though, despite who my partners may be. I'd come to the conclusion yesterday, after Professor Slughorn told us about the assignment, that I'd have to at least try to get along with my potions partners. And this evening would be my first test.

"I've been looking through some potions books," I said, motioning to the volumes already piled on the table. "I've come across a few that seem promising but none that seem too appealing to me." I had an idea already in mind about a potion I wanted to do but I kept my mouth shut, deciding it would probably not be a very good idea. It wouldn't be found in any of these books anyway.

"Well," Malfoy spoke up from beside me, leaning closer to get a look at the book I'd been flipping through. I caught my breath as he pressed against me, seemingly unawares of the close contact. Not for the first time, I wondered about him. He'd been acting odd since the beginning of term, though still his arrogant self. "How about the Draught of Living Death since we already know how to brew it?"

I shook my head. "That would be too predictable," I argued, already having ruled that option out myself. "I bet half the class is going to do that one. I know Harry, Ron and Hermione are."

Both boys let out simultaneous sighs as they opened other books to flip through for themselves. "How about a Pepper Up Potion?" Blaise suggested, not looking up from the thick, dusty volume in front of him.

"Too easy," Malfoy said, much to my surprise. I'd been about to say the same thing.

The next half hour passed in much the same fashion. The three of us flipped through a good dozen books without any luck at finding one we all agreed upon. The potion would have to be tested before it was turned in and there were some potions none of us felt like being on the receiving end of. So, one by one, potions got marked off the maybe list.

"This is stupid," Malfoy growled, slamming the book he was looking in shut.

"Only because you can't agree on anything," I retorted, huffing at him. Every single potion I'd suggested so far he'd shot down for one reason or another. "If you'd stop being difficult we could get this done!"

"I'm being difficult?" he nearly roared back at me, his steely grey eyes blazing. "You're the one who keeps suggesting the impossible potions. Honestly, how would you change the Skelle-Grow potion? That's not even a potion we learn! It's beyond NEWT level! Only Healers brew it, let alone mess with it!"

"Oh, sorry for being too smart for you! Maybe we should choose the Pepper Up Potion, at least then you might be able to brew it! Or am I going to have to do all the work myself?" I screamed back in as quiet a voice as I could muster, meeting his angry gaze with one of my own.

To my surprise, he didn't respond, though he did look like he wanted to hex me. Instead, he gathered up a few of the discarded books, stalking off to replace them on shelves. "That was a bit mean," I heard Zabini quip, drawing my gaze from the blond walking away.

I gave him a hard look, silencing him. I didn't like that I had to agree with what he said. For trying to get along with my partners better, I was doing a pretty poor job. Letting out a defeated sigh, I gathered a few of the other books up in my own arms.

Following the direction Malfoy stalked away, I began to put away the books in their proper place, looking for him as I went. After putting the last book on the shelf, I finally saw him. His head was resting on the spines of a few books and his hands were threaded through his hair.

As if sensing my presence, he glanced up at me with a hard frown. All at once, I wasn't sure what to say. I'd planned on apologizing for being rude, but it didn't seem like it would be enough. I had to admit, I'd been terrible to him over the past two weeks. It was just so hard to keep my temper from flaring out of control around him. He just got under my skin. But I honestly hadn't been trying to be nice. I'd been too irritated with both him and Zabini.

Letting out a deep sigh, I let myself sink to the floor next to him, leaning back against the shelf behind me. I could feel his gaze on me as I pulled my knees up and rested my head on them. Finally, after what felt like hours of but was surely only moments, I gave him the best peace offering I could think of. "Ginny," I said softly, whispering my name. He'd been hounding me for the past few weeks for it nearly every time I saw him. It had bothered me that in the five years we'd been at school together he hadn't bothered to learn it. So I'd been denying him the satisfaction. But, it seemed like a good way to start off on a better foot with him.

"Excuse me?" he said, sounding less angry and more confused than before.

"You wanted to know my name," I said, letting myself look up at him. "Well, there you go."

I could see a smirk settle across his face, erasing all traces of his anger towards me. I rolled my eyes at his triumphant expression. "Don't go getting a big head alright," I said before he opened his mouth. "I'm just being nice."

He let out a soft chuckle, surprising me. "Well Ginny," he held his hand out to me, "nice to meet you."

I hesitated for a second before lightly placing my hand in his. In one quick and easy motion, he'd pulled me to my feet. I stumbled, not having expected to be pulled up. I caught myself as quick as I could, not quick enough though as I bumped into Malfoy. For a second I froze, his hand still holding mine. Gazing up at him, I could see his smirk turn into a genuine smile. All at once, the reality of the situation hit me and I hurried to pull my hand away.

"How about we get back to Zabini, alright? I have a feeling he'll sneak away if we leave him too long," I said, stepping back with a blush staining my cheeks. I didn't turn to see if he followed as I hurried away. I wanted nothing more than to get as far away from him and the confusing emotions that had coursed through me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Malfoy and I had just had a moment.

So, I wrote this kind of hurriedly and I I'm sorry if mistakes slipped through the cracks. I apologize if you noticed any. I tried to catch them all. (Like Pokémon! … Yes, I know I'm a nerd) Anyway, let me know what you think! And don't worry, not all of Draco's steps to seducing our young Ginny will be that quick and things will begin to flow better as the story progresses. I feel like it's still really rough right now.

Okay, so I'm not feeling too confident about this story at the moment. Encouraging reviews would be very much appreciated at the moment. I feel like nothing sounds good. Do you think it's okay?

Remember, a happy author writes better and faster! So review and make me happy!