Author's Notes: Thank you so much to all the reviewers so far, and to those of you who read and don't review! I am thrilled that you are all enjoying the story :)
This chapter is very dialogue heavy; I could not figure out how to balance it very well. I was not sure how to have them make up without moving things too fast. They are not a couple, yet, but things are definitely moving in that direction. They need to learn to trust each other first, and they really need to get rid of that prejudice they have.
Chapter 12 – Nothing but the Truth
It was yet another day until Draco and Ginny had settled things between themselves.
They were sitting in potions class the next morning, neither talking to the other, but both turning to look at the other when they thought they were not paying attention. Ginny wanted to ask Draco what he had meant by his parting remark the other day, and Draco was trying to gauge how bad the damage was that he had inflicted with his confession.
As the class was ending and students were handing in their completed potions, Professor Slughorn said, "Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley, a word?"
The pair walked up to the professor and waited for him to say something. After all the other students had left the classroom, the professor turned to the two curious students and gave them an answer to their unasked question.
"There is something wrong with the two of you and I don't quite know what it is. You are to stay here and talk this out; I will not let your little tiff affect my potions class or the potions you brew. Do you understand me?"
With a nod of the head and a "Yes professor" later, Draco and Ginny were locked in the potions lab, to be let out only when they had worked out their problem.
"Now, the door will unlock itself when the two of you have come to some sort of agreement. Good luck, children." And, with that, Professor Slughorn walked away from the dungeon classroom.
Neither of them had ever known their Potions professor to be a romantic, or to even care about the goings on of the student body. It was unexpected, but a pleasant surprise, nonetheless.
Ginny sat down at a nearby desk and glared at Draco. He did not move; he stood in front of the professor's desk, leaning back against it slightly, with his arms crossed in front of him. It looked as though he was thinking about something.
"So, are we just going to hang around all day, then?" Ginny was wondering aloud. "I do have classes to go to, you know."
"Oh do shut up, Weaselette. I also have to get to class, so we've both got the same problem here."
She laughed, "Shut up? Then we'll be here all day!"
"Fine, by all means, speak. You've looked like you wanted to say something all morning. So, out with it." He walked over to the desk she was sitting at and stood in front of her with his arms still crossed.
Ginny pouted like a child, and slumped down further into her seat. "Fine, I will! What you said yesterday… What exactly did you mean by that?"
"I meant exactly what I said" he replied, "I do feel sometimes, and right now I feel things I've never felt before, and it's all your fault."
"My fault? How can something be my fault if I don't even know what it is that's going on?"
"See? There you go being all defensive again! It's not always about you, you know. Stop being such a self-centred Gryffindor and just understand that this isn't so much about how you're making me feel, but the fact that I am even feeling anything at all. Didn't you just say yesterday how Slytherins don't know how to feel? Well, I'm feeling pretty pissed off right now!" He was getting upset, and was trying to figure out how to explain things to Ginny without being too sentimental like certain other Hogwarts students, of a different House.
"Talk to me, Malfoy. If you're saying that I make you feel things, things you've never felt before, then what the heck am I making you feel that it's so new to you?!" Yelling at the boy was not going to help anything, but she did not know what else to do.
"You really want to know, Red? There's no taking it back." He was going to tell her the truth, whether she wanted to believe it or not.
"Ok, here it goes…" Draco was stalling, though he seemed to want to share this with Ginny.
"You were right in the assumption that Slytherins don't feel. It is true, most don't even know how. They don't know because they've ignored or even avoided feeling anything. I always thought showing feelings was such a cowardly act, it was a sign of weakness; for Gryffindors."
"I…" Draco swallowed hard, and continued. "I've ignored mine for so long that when I finally started to feel compassion for another human being, it felt so strange. You make me feel like I care, and I have never truly cared for another human being in my life. Sure, Blaise Zabini's my best mate, but I don't feel anything for him aside from camaraderie."
"You care about -" Ginny was cut off before she could continue.
"Shhh, I'm not finished yet. I talk; you listen. Remember?" Draco said as he sat down on the desk Ginny was sitting at.
"I don't know how it happened, really, but over the weeks that we spent together, something changed between us. I hate to admit something like this, especially to someone like you, but I think I was scared. That has nothing to do with what happened last month, but it still was there, in the back of my mind."
Draco pondered for a moment, trying to think of exactly how to say what he knew must be said. "But, that's not the real reason I really needed to speak with you. I desperately needed to speak with you that first night without you in the library. It was so sodding important, and it hurt so much to have to keep it from you for so long."
Thoughts raced through Ginny's head. She did not know if he was going to say something crazy; maybe he had feelings for her; maybe he was a poof; maybe he was leaving. She did not know.
"This is so hard to say, Ginny, I know this will hurt you. Please, just don't shoot the messenger, alright?"
Ginny nodded, "Alright…"
With that, the door clicked as it unlocked itself. The two students had finally come to an agreement.
"The morning after your father was kidnapped; my father sent me an owl. It said that he had been the one to order the attack on The Burrow."
Draco paused to give Ginny time to react. Ginny gasped and brought a hand to her mouth in shock.
"He's the one that ordered the attack, not the Dark Lord. Mind you, Voldemort didn't mind the extra damage, but it wasn't done on his command."
Ginny could not believe her ears. If she was hearing right, Draco had just confessed that his father had been the cause of the pain and sorrow she and her family had felt for the past month.
"I'm so sorry, Ginny. Truly, I am. That too, is something I have never really done, but for the first time, I'm apologizing. I hope you can forgive me. I did so want to tell you about this when it happened, but I never had the opportunity."
Ginny tried to hold back her tears; she did not want to cry in front of Draco, again. "I understand. With all that's been going on with us, there is no way you could have told me anything. It's not as though you could have said it in Potions class, you know. I don't think that would have gone over too well."
"Ginny there's more." He looked genuinely afraid as he explained further. "His reasoning had nothing to do with Harry or the war. It was… It was because of us."
Ginny lost control of her tears, and they streamed down her face freely, at that point.
"I'm so sorry for what happened, but I am not at all sorry that you and I became friends this year, and you shouldn't be either. You've shown me what it's like to be a real friend, and I wouldn't change that for the world."
Ginny blinked back her tears, and reassured him. "Draco, I don't regret my decision to sit with you in the library that first week of school. I never will." She was hurt by his father's actions, but she completely understood that it was something that had not been in Draco's control. She could not hold it against him; he had told her about it, after all.
Draco attempted a smile and took Ginny's hand. "C'mon, let's get out of here before Slughorn comes back and gives us detention for missing our next class."
The pair walked out to their next classes, not knowing what was to come in the near future. They were not as close as they could have been, but they were well on their way to becoming more than friends; if they would be able to admit it to themselves, that is.