Chapter 5 – Imprint

Ginny pressed her fingers to her lips as she sat down in the common room that night. Harry had entered through the portrait hole, along with Hermione, their hands linked together. Ginny scowled and returned to her essay, hoping they would just walk by and ignore her. As they sat on the couch behind her, she heard Hermione let out a high-pitched giggle. Slamming her book shut, Ginny turned around. "Could you two take that somewhere else?" she snapped.

Harry's eyes widened. "What's your problem?" he asked.

Hermione looked baffled as she tangled her hands in her boyfriend's hair. "Leave it, Harry. She's just jealous that she lost you."

Ginny blinked. "This coming from the one who still has feelings for my brother. Are you seriously going to keep this up, Hermione?" Ginny bit her lip angrily and glared at her friends. "Harry, can't you see she's just using you because she feels alone after losing Ron to that…that…giggling airhead?"

Hermione stood up, knocking Harry's hand away as he went to grab hers, and glared at Ginny. "You were never this cruel before," she whispered, "what's happened to you?"

Ginny shrugged. "Maybe I'm just realizing, before anyone else, how truly conniving you really are."

And she was gone just as Hermione opened her mouth to retort.

As she entered the girls' bathroom, she took a seat up on the edge of the sink, thinking about everything that had just happened. She had yelled at Hermione, and savagely so, accused her of such heinous things. What was wrong with her? She shook her head and slid off the porcelain and turned on the water, waiting for it to fill to the top before she cupped her hands, slid them in and pressed the liquid to her face. The second time she had raised her hands, the water slashing unevenly about, she blinked, noticing a ripple in its reflection. As she turned, the water spilled onto the floor.

He had been standing behind her, his eyes drinking in her appearance, his mouth curling into a smirk. "Hello Ginny," he whispered, shoving a hand through his white-blond hair. He looked very lovely in a black shirt and black jeans, she thought, a tiny smile coming across her face. He looked…normal…and incredibly sexy. How she had forgotten him at all was as much to her a mystery as to why she felt herself thinking about him at all since their encounter this afternoon. "Is something wrong?" he asked, his voice surprisingly gentle.

"Why would anything be wrong?" she said.

"I'm not an idiot, Weasley," he drawled. "You're upset."

She blinked at him.

"I'm sorry. It's been a rough day. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"I know," Ginny nodded. "What are you doing in here?"

"I was on my way to the Great Hall…" Draco started.

"Dinner's over. Did you decide you had to come take a piss in the girl's lavatory?" Ginny laughed, and it felt good to do so. She watched his face turn into a scowl.

"I saw you coming in here…" he proceeded. "You didn't look good."

"You wanted to check on me?"

He nodded.

"How chivalrous of you," she smirked.

"You know what they say, it's not dead."

"What?" Ginny looked confused.

Draco stared at her. "Chivalry," he chuckled – a strange noise for her to hear.

"Oh."

"Would you like to go for a walk?" he asked suddenly.

Ginny nodded. A walk sounded like a lovely idea.

Outside, the grounds were damp and illuminated by the moon, and Ginny thought privately that the light gave Malfoy a sort of angelic glow. She giggled to herself and he blinked at her, his eyes questioning. "You're laughing at me," he started firmly. Ginny smiled and shook her head and kept walking.

As they reached the lake, Ginny sighed. "I never answered your question this afternoon."

Draco who was busy looking on the ground for rocks to skip in the water glanced up at her. "What was that?" he asked curiously.

Ginny hesitated then asked, "Do you want to help me hurt him?"

She looked down and saw the imprint of the rock he had picked up. He tossed it into the water and glanced at her. "What did you have in mind?"

Ginny sat down, letting the water soak her now bare feet. "We could pull this off without getting caught, couldn't we?" she asked. She was starting to feel numb, whether from the cold water of her nerves, she didn't know. "I can't believe I'm asking you to help me do this…he's your friend."

"Not likely," Draco shrugged, falling next to her. "How could he be after he did that?"

"Nobody believes that he did," Ginny mumbled. "I was sure that Pansy would."

"Pansy will forever follow Zabini – she's very infatuated with him, and until you prove her wrong, his word is the truth over all else." Draco had the sudden urge to pull her against him. Shaking his head, he lay back on the grass, laced his fingers together and used them to support his head. The earth felt cool and wet against his back.

"She seemed ready to accept it, though," said the redhead with confusion.

"Is that why you two were in that classroom?"

Ginny blinked and started to retell the tale of what had happened the night before. She watched Draco watching her, his eyes locked onto her own, and she knew that he was really listening. After she finished, Ginny muttered, "That stupid Boggart scared the shit out of me, I thought it was happening again."

"They make us relive our worst fears, so says Professor Lupin," Draco commented.

"I always thought I would face Tom again…" Ginny said softly.

"Well, he didn't physically hurt you, remember," pointed out Malfoy.

"What would you face, Draco?" she asked in such a low voice that he suspected she never intended for him to hear the question. She stared at the ground, waiting patiently for an answer.

After a few minutes of silence, his response came. "I would face my father."