Chapter 5- Hogsmeade

*****Ginny*****

"Hey, Hermione?" Ginny asked when she finally saw the girl alone.

"Ginny?" Hermione said back skeptically. The world and Hermione's parents messed up by Hermione not being an older sister.

"I definitely want to come to the meeting, but maybe late. I- had already been asked on a date," Ginny got out.

"Ginny, is that wise?" Hermione asked worriedly. "You don't even know if you can hold a boy's hand. Or- are you- going on a date with Draco Malfoy?" She asked instead.

"I am. Don't tell any of my brothers, okay? Though maybe I should so they don't make a scene if they see us."

"I won't, but maybe you should. And I haven't started spreading word about the meeting yet, so we can do later in the afternoon?" She asked.

"Perfect, thanks!" Ginny said, walking away as Ron and Harry walked towards them. Fred and George were over in a corner with Lee like always… And it really wasn't any of their business who she went on a date with. Or she was too big of a coward to say.

*****Draco*****

Draco Malfoy had a date with Ginny Weasley, and it was all his fault. Not a discrete letter exchange, not a private room to talk and maybe kiss, not even a cordial meeting with family, but a real date to Hogsmeade- where other people would see them. It was completely out of his routine. When he told Crabbe and Goyle that he would not be going with them, their blank stares were an unpromising start. Though he had seldom truly enjoyed the pair's company, especially on outings. But it was what he had always done. What would Ginny even wish to do? He had heard of Madame Puddifoot's, but couldn't decide if that was a proper destination or not.

Draco couldn't help but look up at Ginny frequently through breakfast, but he did catch her doing the same. Had she always sat facing the Slytherin table? She always did now. Her hair was different, the sides pulled up in a bunch in the back, the rest of her red-orange hair left down.

Neither of them rushed away from the tables and out the front doors like most students in the third year or older. Even the ones who had been to Hogsmeade enough times for it to lose excitement were usually glad to leave the castle for a day.

Had she mentioned to her family or friends what she would be doing?

Ginny stood up after everyone around her was already gone. Draco followed. They fell into step together midway across the castle grounds. People could probably see them together, but no one was close enough to hear.

"Hey, just so you know, you won't be stuck with me all day. I forgot I'd already promised some friends I'd see them in the afternoon," Ginny told him as they walked along.

What was he feeling, rejection, perhaps? "You don't want to introduce me to your friends?" He asked, in a way that was supposed to sound humourous, but it just sounded pathetic.

"Well, I think you already know Hermione, Ron, and Harry, so I think I'm going to go with- no, that seems unwise."

"Who do you usually go to Hogsmeade with?" Draco asked, realizing that he hadn't noticed before. "You weren't usually with them last year."

"Oh, Draco, you're practically admitting to stalking Harry Potter," Ginny teased. "But okay, last year, I sometimes went with Michael Corner- seeing as we were dating- a huge waste of my time. I've gone to a few shops with Luna, or Gryffindors from my year. They're alright, but we're not very close," she shrugged.

"You're closer to Lovegood?" He asked, not wanting to use one of the names most people called her.

"She lives near us, so we were friends growing up," Ginny shrugged.

Draco didn't have anything to say to that, so they walked in silence for a while.

"Were you friends with Crabbe and Goyle before coming to Hogwarts?"

Did he consider them to be friends? Did friendship imply equals? "Yes," Draco said, because that was easier. "I knew almost all the Slytherins in my year before Hogwarts."

"Well, if we're still doing the honesty thing, I only knew Luna well before, and then I didn't make many friends my first year- when everyone else was making friends- because I was too busy literally pouring my soul into a book," Ginny said, in a tense joke.

The book that his father had somehow given to her that had a connection to Him and opened the Chamber of Secrets and almost killed Ginny and several other students. Great subject for conversation. And she was doing better than he was at this honesty rot. He almost thought of it as an honesty competition.

"I knew Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott the best. I didn't know that they would come to our house because our fathers were all Death Eaters. I liked Crabbe and Goyle better because they would do whatever I wanted, but I'm not sure that's ever made us friends. Nott has always been quiet, especially after his mother died." That was honesty.

"I didn't know his mother died. Luna's did as well. I saw Luna often before, but then she couldn't come around anymore. I think her father became really protective," Ginny said. Loony Luna's mother was dead. That was… more upsetting than it should have been considering he didn't even know the girl.

"What stores do you want to go to?" he asked, trying to talk about anything except death on their… date. Their half-date, apparently.

"Zonko's, Spintwitches, Honeydukes, and the Three Broomsticks are necessities. You?"

"Same," Draco admitted with a small smile. No mention of Madame Puddifoot's.

"Good. Because since you invited me, you're the one paying," Ginny said before taking off in a run, laughing.

Draco ran after her. When was the last time he had run for the fun of it?

Honeydukes was first. Draco watched as Ginny looked through every sweet in the shop. As if it was her first time, when it clearly wasn't. Their new products were always in one of the front corners anyway. She made faces at cockroach clusters and blood pops, but showed interest in just about everything else.

Draco grabbed a bar of chocolate and a tin of toffees for himself and took to following Ginny around the shop.

She had a nice smile.

"The fizzing wizzbees were my favourite as a child, because I always wanted to fly," Ginny said of the sherbet balls. There were other people around, loads of them, and Ginny didn't seem bothered.

"Me too," Draco admitted. It was strange whenever he found a similarity between them.

Ginny turned and smiled at him before moving on.

"I taught myself to fly when I was six, stealing my brothers' brooms," she said.

"I had a child's broom that would fly a few feet high for... since I was two or three, probably. When I was six, I lied and said that Nott already had a real racing broom, and I would be behind him if I didn't get one. So I got a Nimbus seventeen series for Christmas that year," Draco explained.

"Did your father ever discover the lie?" she asked, staring at the hundreds of different types of chocolates.

"If he did, he never mentioned it. Nott got one for his next birthday after I had brought mine over."

"The boys didn't want me to fly with them because I was their baby sister, and they didn't think I could," Ginny shared.

"Mother said she shouldn't have named me after the dragon constellation, because I always wanted to be in the sky." It wasn't that private, but Draco could still hardly believe he was talking like this, especially with other real people around.

"That's really cute," Ginny said, finally picking a chocolate bar that had raspberry filling and then wandering over to the fudge, selecting a peppermint chocolate one. Who didn't get the regular Honeydukes' Best Chocolate, and the milk or dark chocolate fudge? "Ready?" she asked. "Just plain? Where's your sense of adventure?" she teased.

"I'm being plenty adventurous," Draco maintained. "I'm also buying raspberry chocolate and peppermint fudge," Draco said, since all their sweets were on the counter, and Draco was fishing out the right coins. The old man behind the counter was smiling at them.

"Thank you, Draco," Ginny chimed.

Zonko's was next, the two of them wandering down aisles. "You know that Zonko's hasn't had a new product in years?" Ginny asked. "It takes the thrill out of the visits now," she said. Though she hadn't seemed to mind the older items at Honeydukes. "And my brothers make better stuff anyway."

"Your brothers?" Draco asked, though he had a good idea of which ones.

"Yeah, the twins," she said softly, "They have a whole line of joke products now. My favourites are the daydream potions, but their skiving snackboxes are a laugh."

"Skiving snackboxes?" Draco asked. Because daydream potions were not something he wanted to hear about.

"Out here," Ginny said, and they left the store without buying anything, and resumed conversation outside. "Stuff to get you out of class," Ginny explained. "Nosebleed Nougats, Puking Pastiles, and so on. You eat one half and get sick, and take the other half when you get out of class and you'll feel better. They're brilliant really. And the recovery half works well alone if you've got a normal nosebleed or unsettled stomach," Ginny recounted, clearly proud of her older brothers. "They'll have a great store next year. They're looking at starting in Diagon Alley for more reliable customers, but who knows, maybe expanding to Hogsmeade one day."

"You think they'll have a store so soon?" he murmured as Ginny walked them out the door without buying anything.

"They will. They've been doing good business at Hogwarts and had enough seed money to look at it last year," Ginny said confidently.

"They have an investor then?" Draco conversed, wondering how two seventeen-year-old Weasleys had enough money to open a business.

Ginny looked at him appraisingly, and then looked around before speaking. "I'm not even supposed to know how, but I know a lot of things that people don't think I do. After the way the Triwizard Tournament ended, Harry didn't want the winnings, and Mr. Diggory wouldn't take them, so he gave it all away to the twins. They're going to make him a partner in the business, but he doesn't know that yet," Ginny shrugged, leading them to Spintwitches, the quidditch and flying supply store that stocked everything except for actual brooms.

Potter had just given away a thousand galleons. That was a lot of money, even to a Malfoy. And Potter didn't brag about it, and didn't expect anything in return, at least if Weaslette was correct. Damned goody-goody Potter. How was he supposed to compete with that? Not that Potter was competition- because Ginny couldn't be with anyone else except him. And if that weren't the case, Draco would never want Ginny Weasley- not that he wanted her now. It was just… appearances. And attempting to survive their very difficult circumstances.

He would not throw a fit and ruin the last of their morning. He would act as if his mother was sitting next to them.

The two of them got a small table in the Three Broomsticks, always the most crowded place in Hogsmeade when students visited the town. At least he didn't see Potter and Company. But Pansy was giving him an unpleasant glare, and Blaize gave his irritating smirk from a different table. Crabbe and Goyle looked confused.

Draco went up to the bar, which stalled for some time, and returned with two butterbeers.

"You alright?" Ginny asked.

"Fine," Draco replied, sipping his drink. Really, they should serve butterbeer at the castle. It was hardly alcoholic- even a first year would be fine. "So, how do you know things that you shouldn't?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm practically invisible. And I'm good with a disillusionment charm," she said casually, a charm that fourth years definitely didn't learn in class, or even fifth year, though Draco knew the spell as well. "I realized very early on that the Ministry couldn't detect the occasional use of underage magic in a place like the Burrow. It became even easier once Fred and George invented Extendable Ears, perfect for eavesdropping at a distance," Ginny shrugged.

That sounded like a worthwhile product. Perhaps there was something to the Weasley twins.

"What else do they make?" he asked, because it was something to ask.

"Oh, too many to name. They've got some trick wands that do a variety of things- turn into a rubber chicken, or hit the wielder, lots of stuff. A telescope that punches you in the eye- and they've also got excellent bruise removal paste. Screaming yo-yos, hats that make your head vanish- also good for sneaking, several sweets I hadn't mentioned- canary creams, turn you into a giant canary for a bit, ton-tongue toffee, makes your tongue grow. A pimple vanisher. And they've almost got a neat reusable hangman worked out. And loads of fireworks are in development now too," Ginny explained animatedly. It was easy to listen to her talk, and Draco had never had much patience for other people talking.

And it also wasn't bad to just sit and sip on their butterbeers.

"Well, you should probably find your friends," Draco said when he was starting to feel awkward and the room was becoming less crowded. He'd probably just go back to Hogwarts. Really, Hogsmeade lost its thrill after the first few visits, and he didn't really want to see Ginny walking around with Potter, and he really didn't want to talk to any of his own friends- if friends was even the right word for them.

"Yeah, I guess I should. I had a great time though. Thank you, Draco," she said.

"You're welcome," he managed.

She raised an eyebrow, "Thanks, Ginny, I had a great time too," she said in a passable impression of him, except the words were completely out of character.

But she did trick him into smiling.

"Have a good afternoon," he said, even though he wasn't sure he meant it.

Ginny was fun to be around when he wasn't worried about society and duty, and everything else in their lives. She was funny, inventive, genuine. She hadn't had every advantage he had had. Money, abundant material possessions, undivided attention of two devoted parents... one of whom was a Death Eater.

*****Ginny*****

Ginny was feeling sort of guilty for ditching Draco, but it wasn't like she could bring him to this meeting, and she wasn't going to miss the very first meeting and get left out of everything.

The Hog's Head looked like the sort of place that would serve a first year firewhiskey. Which was maybe worth trying for after the meeting. It was dirty, smelled like a barn, and she'd definitely have to use cleaning spells on her shoes just after standing on the floor. She'd take the Three Broomsticks any day, even if she couldn't order anything stronger than butterbeer- and maybe a glass of wine if Draco ordered it. Maybe she'd ask him to try next time. She was already planning for a next time.

Ginny saw another problem with the filthy pub almost as immediately. It was very quiet. Sure, there were only a handful of people in the bar that weren't there for the meeting, but each of them would hear exactly what they were planning. And with Umbridge trying to control every aspect of their lives- especially Harry's, secrecy had seemed like a good idea. And Ginny really didn't like people trying to mess with her life when so much else was already going on- like Draco Malfoy… whom she'd just had a pleasant date with…

If they'd wanted somewhere really private, they should have gone with the Shrieking Shack- though it might have scared some people out of coming, were they really the type that would stick it out? Though they might have gotten caught with a few dozen people trying to sneak in.

They'd have been better off in the Three Broomsticks. It had been so loud that she and Draco had practically had to shout at each other at the same table. And there were four patrons at Hog's Head who didn't even have their face visible, and the old bartender looked creepy and dead inside his eyes.

Ginny looked around everyone who was still trickling in the door. She tried not to look at Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot, Michael Corner's friends from Ravenclaw, but Michael wasn't there at least. And the others had seemed alright. Anthony seemed to be trying to stand as close to Padma Patil as he could.

Ginny settled next to Luna- who Ginny was very glad had shown up.

Hermione settled down everyone and started her introduction- which went pretty well until she said Tom's other name. She'd even kept 'Lord' in front of it, which Ginny detested. He was nothing but an evil old man.

One girl even screamed, but everyone was paying attention.

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?"* Zacharias Smith demanded. Smith was Ginny's least favourite Hufflepuff by far. How he'd ended up in the house was beyond her, though it wasn't like any of the other houses deserved him either. That was maybe unfair, but he was irritating in Herbology class, the only class Ginny had with the Hufflepuffs, and she was grateful he wasn't in Runes.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it," Hermione started, which wasn't the best argument when the Ministry and the Prophet had been doing all their could to make Dumbledore look bad. Of course, Harry saying it would be even less convincing objectively, because-

"You mean Dumbledore believes him," Zacharias shot back, jerking his head in Harry's direction. Now at least Ginny had actual reason to hate Smith.

"Who are you?" Ron asked. Because sometimes it seemed like no one in Hogwarts knew anyone outside of their house or year. But Ginny would have thought Zacharias would be more well known, being on the Hufflepuff quidditch team and generally insufferable. Ginny might not have known Draco if he wasn't Draco Malfoy.

"Zacharias Smith. And I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back," Smith declared. Because he'd seen it happen, yeah? These people weren't going to believe it more when Harry said it again this time.

"Look, that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about," Hermione tried.

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said. And he said the same thing Ginny was thinking- that if these people didn't believe Dumbledore, they wouldn't believe Harry either.

Zacharias asked an even worse question, throwing Cedric Diggory's name around, and saying that he thinks 'we'd all' like to know how that really happened. As if the little slime ball spoke for everyone.

And then Harry told him off and told everyone that they could just leave if they just wanted to hear about that.

And that was when Ginny really knew that no one was leaving- no one wanted to be shamed like that.

And it soon became a weird sort of contest of parading around all the truly incredible things Harry had done, and Harry downplaying it all. It was a huge reminder of why Ginny had had a crush on him, and what made him even better than just a famous person who had done those things… none of which were thoughts she wanted to be having right now.

She'd be able to list a dozen negative qualities Harry had- if she just had time to think about it- somehow. And she would have to try not to notice how Cho Chang was watching Harry.

When Ginny was thinking straight, Luna had derailed the conversation to an argument about an army of fire spirits the Ministry was supposed to have or something. Oh, Ginny loved Luna so much, but they really needed to get on topic.

"…Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you-" and now she was pretty sure Luna was insulting Hermione. Her childhood friend didn't get worked up easily.

"Hem, hem," Ginny said, startling most of the students gathered into looking around wildly for Umbridge. She really needed to use that more. "Don't we need to decide when we're going to meet for these defence lessons?" she pointed out.

But even after that, nothing was really decided, not a location or a lesson time. And maybe that was for the best, because Ginny still hadn't forgotten the shady people in the pub. Just because none of them were Umbridge-shaped, didn't mean this couldn't come crashing around them. Sure, they weren't breaking any rules technically, but Umbridge could make new rules whenever she wanted. And then, they'd have to be much sneakier than this.

Finally, Hermione got them all to sign a list and they left. Ginny ran after Luna before she lost the blond girl, because the two of them hadn't really talked in too long.

"Hey, Luna," Ginny greeted. "It will be fun to be in the group together. I'm glad you could make it," she said.

"It will be. Will you be inviting your husband?" Luna asked plainly.

Husband. "Draco's not my husband. Dumbledore might still get us out of that. We're just… getting to know each other just in case. But he really wouldn't fit in something like this. Hermione and the guys never would have gone for it," Ginny said. That was a suggestion so crazy that only Luna would have it.

"It seems to me like he needs defence training more than the rest of us, with his father being the leader of the Scarclaws," Luna announced. But Ginny knew that Luna knew why Draco was really at risk. "You might want to check with Hermione though before you go recruiting. There must be an exception for getting new members, but it seems that she put a nasty hex on that parchment for anyone who told. Why else would she want us to sign anything? Giving someone your name is powerful, you know. Father thought about naming me something secret that only he and mother knew. He might have, I suppose, and I wouldn't know it," Luna went on, and Ginny wasn't sure how much of that was real.

Did Hermione put a hex on them? Hermione and Luna were about as different as two people could be while Ginny could still consider them both her good friends. That paper was all the more reason not to say anything about it to Draco. Which she wouldn't anyway. That would just be weird. And they had been cordial to each other, but she didn't trust him that much. He wouldn't want Ginny to get in trouble, but that didn't mean that he didn't hate everyone in that room, probably almost everyone else who wasn't in Slytherin. Though he didn't actually seem to like that many Slytherins either.

A/N: I used some direct quotes for dialogue in the Hog's Head scene in the Order of the Phoenix, summarizing and changing bits when I felt I could. Reviews keep me motivated!