"Have you gone and used one of those beauty spells?"

Ginny stared oddly at Draco before replying, "No, why? You think I look pretty?" she asked batting her eyelashes suggestively at him.

"Do you have something caught in your eye?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "No. Why do you think I used a beauty charm?"

"You look… different."

Ginny raised her eyebrows and replied, "So that is why you've spent half the afternoon staring at me? I thought I had some lunch in my teeth or something."

Draco shrugged, "That too." After examining her teeth in the mirror and finding no trace of food, she glared at him.

"Drink up, then," she urged looking pointedly at the vial of potion sitting on the sink.

With relatively no bickering or whining, Draco managed to swallow the liquid. "Mmm," he said after a moment. "Tastes like strawberries."

"Really? I'm pretty sure there is nothing remotely resembling strawberries in that potion. Mostly weeds, and chemicals, and insect parts, and-"

"That's really quite enough."

"Do you feel anything yet?"

"…no. That's promising, right? Except for the fact that it is supposed to dispel dark magic, and I'm pretty sure the Dark Lord filled me up with it..." Draco trailed off.

"Well, you haven't spontaneously sprouted a third eye or horns, either, but the shield might actually do what it is supposed to at least."

"Have at it then," Draco urged.

"Are you really sure that you don't know a nicer spell I can use? Terror seems a bit much." Ginny asked, wincing.

"As a matter of fact, I know loads of dark magic that makes you feel like daisies!" Draco drawled sarcastically.

"Fine. Are you ready?" Ginny acquiesced. She trained her wand on Draco who was backed into a stall in the girl's restroom.

"Yes, yes, just get on with it already. And make sure you mean it."

"Formido!" Ginny shouted, and a thin streak of blue light shot from her wand and hit Draco square in the chest.

Immediately his eyes widened and he let out an inhuman screech. Wailing loudly he began clawing at his skin that was covered in beads of sweat. Ginny was caught off guard and fumbled her wand and it was almost twenty seconds before she let out a shaky, "Finite Incantatem."

Draco sank to the floor, his face and arms covered in scratches, some bleeding slightly. Across the room, Ginny could only stare at him. She had never seen someone filled with such terror. She made note of the fact that she never wanted one of those curses shot in her direction.

Once he caught his breath he looked up at her accusingly. "It took you long enough. Forgot about me did you?"

"You scared me half to death! I'm sorry if it took me a moment to recover."

"Oh, you were scared. You don't know fear."

Ginny groaned. "I'm really not in the mood for this now."

"Neither am I. I need to go have a shower and clean myself up."

"Fine."

As he left the room, Ginny heard him muttering under his breath, "I'm going to have nightmares for months."

Two days later the pair met with another finished potion. They hoped that this one worked better than the last.

The pair sat cross-legged on the bathroom floor staring at the harmless looking vial of potion.

"It's a bit ironic, don't you think?"

"What is?" Ginny asked, her eyes never leaving the potion as if it would strike if she looked away.

"That something as harmless looking as a bottle of blue liquid can scare you so much."

Ginny murmured in agreement.

Still the pair watched the potion, waiting for something to happen, which of course, never did. Draco frowned at it, and Ginny cocked her head to the side.

"What do you think this one will taste like?"

Draco looked thoughtfully at the potion before replying, "I hope not like strawberries, because I think the taste alone would trigger some psychological need to vomit after my last experience."

"I think it will taste like chocolate."

Draco finally tore his eyes from the vial and raised an eyebrow at Ginny, who sat with her chin in her hands and a quizzical look on her face. When she noticed his eyes on her she looked at him and shrugged.

"It could happen," she said.

Draco took a deep breath, then reached for the vial, uncorked it, and swallowed it in one swift motion. He grimaced and stuck his tongue out as if trying to rid himself of the taste.

He looked at Ginny out of the corner of his eye and said, "It tastes like Goyle's quidditch robes smell after a long practice."

Ginny choked out a laugh and asked, "So? Do you feel anything? Any less evil? Any new body parts? Any less body parts?"

Draco shook his head. "I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse… Shall we check the shield half?"

"You want me to curse you again?" Ginny asked wide-eyed.

Reluctantly Draco replied, "Yeah, but just remember to take it off this time. Quickly."

"Okay," Ginny said as she stood and brushed off her robes. Draco backed up to the door to the hallway and steeled himself for the pain.

"I'm ready," he said at last.

Ginny gulped before shouting, "Formido!"

Again, the blue light shot from her wand, but unlike last time, it bounced harmlessly off of Draco and rebounded on its caster. Ginny's quidditch reflexes allowed her to throw up a quick protego shield. When the curse hit it, it bounced back like a rubber ball and started rebounding off every surface it could.

"Draco! Do something! I can't hold this shield forever!" Ginny shouted as Draco watched the bouncing curse in amazement. Finally he cleared his head and opened the hallway door; the spell immediately bounced into the hallway.

Draco and Ginny rushed to the doorway just in time for the thin streak of blue light to find the first target it could: the nosy, yellow-eyed form of Mrs. Norris. When the spell hit her, she jumped straight into the air, let out an ear-piercing yowl, and took off down the hallway at breakneck speed.

Draco turned wide-eyed to Ginny, who looked at him in shock, before covering her mouth to stop an outburst of laughter. Draco's face slowly transformed into a broad grin as the cat's screeches grew further and further away. Finally he let out a snort and Ginny grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the bathroom where they dissolved into frenzied laughter.

"That was the funniest thing I have ever seen," Draco said at last.

"Poor cat!" Ginny wailed through tears of mirth.

"I have no sympathy for that cat," Draco said shaking his head. "She got me into trouble with Filch more times than I can count."

"Do you think she'll be okay, though?" Ginny asked.

"Eh," Draco shrugged. "Filch will find her up a tree, and she'll be better in a week or so."

Ginny nodded, but then her face broke into a wide grin as she made a realization. "It worked!" she shouted. "The spell rebounded! It worked this time!"

Draco's face broke into a grin. "It did! Granted that was the easy half of the potion. Just figure out the dark magic repellant, and we are set."

"I already have an idea!" Ginny said grabbing a notebook. "Okay, I thought we could start here…"

Draco looked doubtfully at the liquid in front of him. "How can you be so sure that this is it?" he asked.

Ginny looked at him seriously before saying, "It has to be, doesn't it? We're running out of time."

Draco eyed Ginny; she seemed so sure, so full of determination. He thought it odd that she could be so confident, when all other times had failed. Instead of getting desperate, she was certain. He was nothing more than thoroughly sleep deprived. Not only had the two been working practically around the clock, but also when he tried to sleep he couldn't; thoughts of the Dark Lord and his initiation task kept him up. Not to mention the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he had looked at Ginny since his realization in the hospital wing.

Finally he replied, "If you are so sure, let's get on with it." Draco grabbed the vial and shook it up a bit before uncorking it and sniffing it. "Doesn't smell too horrible," he remarked offhandedly to Ginny. As a stalling tactic he asked, "So what should it do if we got it right?"

"Expel all of the dark magic. I don't know what that should feel like, but that is what it should do. Your mark may hurt a bit," she added calmly.

"You aren't still deluded enough to think that this is actually going to do anything about my mark, right? I mean all we are doing is getting rid of dark magic… to help your brother."

Ginny frowned slightly and nodded absently.

"Okay, then," Draco said at last, "bottoms up," and he gulped the liquid down. When nothing happened he looked at Ginny and sighed. She still looked determined, though.

She is bloody delusional, Draco thought as he walked to the sink to splash some water on his face. All of a sudden pain coursed though his body, and his muscles spasmed, causing him to hit his forehead into the side of the sink. He cried out in pain and sunk to the floor, still facing away from Ginny. As soon as the pain subsided, he turned on Ginny, his eyes flashing with anger.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" he shouted at her.

Ginny's eyes were wide and her skin pale. "Draco, I didn't do anything."

"Of course you did! Why else did I just…" Draco's voice trailed off as he looked at Ginny with dawning realization. "Did it just work?"

Ginny's eyes widened further as she pulled out her wand and cast a detection charm. "It's clear," she said at last in disbelief.

Draco blinked. "What do you mean, clear? It can't be clear. This bloody potion wasn't supposed to work!"

"I'm pretty sure it just did," Ginny replied, still in shock.

Draco rolled his eyes and stepped up to her. "Shall I prove it?" he asked, and he pulled up his sleeve and thrust his left arm into Ginny's face. "There," he said with finality.

Ginny didn't speak; she just sank to the floor.

"Oh honestly. How can you be surprised! We both knew from the start that there is no way to get rid of it. It's just-" but Draco stopped mid-sentence as he finally caught a glimpse of his arm. His smooth, blemish-free arm.

"Oh Merlin," he breathed out before rushing into a stall and vomiting. A few moments later he walked over to the same sink he stood at minutes before and rinsed his mouth out. The boy in the mirror was pale as a ghost, which heightened the contrast of his silvery eyes. He blinked a few times before looking down at his arm again. Still, it was clean. The only sound in the room was the dripping of the faucet as he turned to find Ginny kneeling in the middle of the floor staring into thin air.

"You," Draco began, but stopped, his voice echoing loudly in the room. Ginny looked up at him, her eyes shining. All of a sudden, the silence was shattered as Ginny let out a squeal and flew to her feet. She grabbed Draco's hands and began jumping up and down in excitement.

Finally Draco seemed to realize the reality of what had just happened and he let out a cheer before jumping up and down with Ginny. After bouncing around merrily and whooping for joy Draco grabbed Ginny by the shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"You did it!" he announced. "You crazy little girl, you DID it!"

Ginny let out another squeal of glee and kissed him soundly on the lips before breaking away from him and dancing circles around the room singing, "We did it! We did it!"

Draco just watched her and laughed, running his hand over the place he thought would never be free of the Dark Lord's mark. She had done it, and he was free again!

"Oh man," he said at last when Ginny stopped dancing to catch her breath at his side. "He is going to be one angry wizard."

Ginny grimaced, but quickly brushed aside the unpleasantness of his remark. "I think we should try the shield," she said at last and whipped her wand out and trained it on him.

"Ready to torture me again already?" he teased.

"You know me!" she shrugged.

Draco put his hands up as if the shield himself. "Don't let's be too hasty! Remember last time? Who is going to take the spell for us? We got lucky last time that it was only a cat."

"-Myrtle?" Ginny suggested with a smile.

"You are evil, Miss Weasley."

"Yeah, yeah, and you love it."

Draco looked at her uncomfortably. "I do not."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Okay, I forgot, you are a Malfoy, you don't have feelings."

"I am not a Malfoy!" he said quickly. "Not after what he did to me."

"So what are you then? I thought your pedigree meant everything to you."

"I can still be pureblooded. I will just be Draco. Just Draco."

Ginny nodded. "So, is Draco allowed to have feelings or not?" she asked.

Draco eyed her appraisingly. "He could have feelings," he said at last. Ginny took a step forward, but he put his hands out to stop her. "But these things don't happen over night!" he scolded.

Ginny sighed and stepped back again. "Fine, but you totally owe me one."

Draco nodded and added, "Which means I won't be murdering you anytime soon, so we still have an angry wizard on our hands. Plus when he realizes what you did to this," he motioned to his arm, "there will be hell to pay."

Ginny waved her hand at him, "Piece of cake, but I don't want to think about it anymore tonight. I am hungry, and I am sleepy. Too much excitement for one day."

Draco pursed his lips and eyed Ginny before saying, "Thank you. For doing this."

Ginny grinned broadly. "I do believe we are making progress, Draco! Here you are thanking a blood traitor? What is next?" Ginny teased as she headed to the door. Before she stepped out though, she turned and added, "What are friends for?" She smiled at the expression on Draco's face before leaving to recover from her glee.