Author's note: Hi people, I was a little disappointed for last chapter, because I have thirty people with this story on alert, and only one review... But, what can you do eh? And in this chapter, if the writing is in italics, that is what the character is thinking. Well, here it is, and I hope you like it!

Chapter Eighteen

The next morning, Draco tried a few times to lock eyes with Ginny, but every time she looked at him, she pointedly looked away. Draco couldn't figure out why she was acting this way. But he figured it had to do with the "almost-kiss" last night. He knew it was his fault and blamed himself entirely. He just stopped trying to catch her eye after a while.

In reality, Ginny was upset at the fact that she thought HE was upset with HER because of last night's cold goodbye. She couldn't think of anything that would cause him to be like this towards her, maybe it was the fact they had almost been caught by Hagrid? But she didn't actually believe that.

After a long time of thinking she grew a little frustrated after finding NO reason whatsoever. So she decided that if he didn't want to talk to her about it, she wouldn't be the first one to break. She left to her class with a frown on her face. Things did NOT help when Colin walked up to her and linked arms. "Hi Ginny!" he said in a cheery voice.

"Hello Colin." She said in a cold tone, hoping he would catch on and leave her alone. He didn't.

"You and Malfoy don't seem to bright this morning..." He said, trying to hide what seemed like glee.

"What's it to you Colin?" she snapped, not feeling one ounce of guilt as they kept walking in silence. Until Colin spoke again.

"So, you two still talking?" he asked bluntly.

"Colin..." she growled.

"I mean, I don't see what you saw in him. I think he's a right arse." he said, barely before being shoved into the wall harshly.

"I'm not in the fucking mood to be fucking messed with! Don't piss me off, because not even our friendship could stop me if you say the wrong thing!" She snarled with an open mouth, showing her clenched teeth.

She let go of him roughly and continued walking. When he looked down at his robes, he saw that where her hands had been minutes ago holding him down, there was only the faint smell of burning and the melted material of his robes. He looked at it and frowned in an uncharacteristically manner and then walked to class in a strangely calm way.

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Draco had been indeed having a similar morning. He was sitting in his Potions class being pestered greatly by Pansy Parkinson.

"Draco?" she said nudging him. "What's wrong with you? You were glaring intently at the Gryffindor table. Did Potter and his friends do something? Or does this have something to do with the Weasley girl, because if it did..." she said wanting to continue, but was interrupted by Draco's voice hissing.

"Parkinson, I'm trying to think. Please be quiet because I am NOT in the mood for interruptions!" She quieted down instantly knowing what he could be like when he was angry.

In fact he was telling her the truth, he was thinking about the problem with Snape.

If what... Ginny... says is true, then either Dumbledore should have made an announcement or at least contacted people privately. Well, unless he was still getting the ingredients, judging by what Ginny said, they were class non-tradable goods, meaning it could take sometime for him to get them. The positive points of being a Malfoy, is that we can get almost anything. I'll need to talk to Dumbledore soon.

The rest of the potions class went by uneventfully slow. They spent it reading out of their textbooks. Draco was snapped out of his thoughts though, by the teacher telling them class was over.

Draco made his way to the DADA classroom, but when he got there, he saw the hall was filled with smoke and there was a large crowd standing in his way. He tried pushing through, but someone form what he thought was Ravenclaw was telling everyone that DADA was canceled because some of the first years didn't quite get the concept of a simple spell, causing the entire room to be in utter chaos.

Draco's mood lightened considerably as he walked away from the crowd. It didn't take him long to figure out what he was going to with is free time. He made his way up to Dumbledore's office, having been there one of two other times. When he had been in the hospital wing Dumbledore had come to see him, and told him that if he had anything to tell him, he could come to his office and use this password. "Caramel". Draco said clearly to the Gargoyle. It sprung aside, leaving a clear path of stairs. Draco walked up and knocked on the door he knew led to the office.

"Come in." Asked the fairly light voice of the Headmaster. Draco slowly pushed the door open and walked in. The Headmaster looked up from his desk, and seemed visibly surprised to see Draco there. "Hello Mister Malfoy, how may I help you?"

"I'm here to discuss that of Professor Severus Snape's health."

Dumbledore looked at him oddly. "And why would you want to talk about his health, he is taking a vacation." he said in a voice of someone who wasn't even trying to convince him.

"Well, Professor Snape has not taken a vacation in about seven years I have been here, and even when I knew him before school, he had never taken vacation. Except possibly on times which would have to do with the return of the Dark Lord, and even then, he would never take extra time.." Draco said in a cool voice.

"Well Draco, even then, you really shouldn't need to suspect something wrong with his health. Is there something else that led you to believe he is ill." Dumbledore asked in a curious tone.

"Well knowing he was found out as a spy and that he had been cursed by a lethal curse that if not cured in a matter of a month, he will die. The curse is needed in potion form, but the ingredients are class non-tradable and you are having difficulties finding them, or you would have already asked the highest most reliable students to help brew it, because Snape being the only potion master, and this being an complex potion, it will need the work of several students. Me, personally being a Malfoy could get you said items if you were to tell me the curse and the potion needed, not to mention the ingredients already found, because Severus Snape is a close personal family friend, and it would be devastating if he were to be lost when there was a preventable way to avoid that. And he happens to be resting in that room right there." Draco concluded, shifting his eyes to the door on his left.

Dumbledore seemed a little taken aback when he heard all this, but quickly recovered. "How do you know all this?" he asked curiously once again.

Without missing a beat, Draco answered, "Personal sources." he smirked lightly.

"Yes, I can see that. As I can see that you will certainly remain reliable, I could use your help greatly. I'll write down a list of all the ingredients we'll need and you can get them with whatever method you need. I don't need to tell you to be discreet." He said, looking straight into Draco's eyes.

"If I might ask, who will be the chosen students to brew the potion?"

"Well I haven't had much time to look, but I will be able to find some." he said with a tired sigh.

"If I might help, I could give you the names of some very talented potion brewers, who are reliable and wouldn't protest." he explained, when Dumbledore gave him a nod to continue, he did. "Hermione Granger, obviously. Virginia Weasley, Snape seems to trust her and as do I. And lastly a girl in Ravenclaw named Andrea, she shares a potions class with me, and she gets nearly the same grades as me, and that's another thing, I obviously would like to partake in this." he said pointedly.

"That's understandable. I will look into those names, but I can be fairly sure they are trustworthy. Here is the list, and I can hope you don't have any troubles getting these items. I will contact you and the others once the time comes." he said in a manner that the conversation was over and Draco was free to leave.Draco gave a nod of understanding and left with the list in his hand.

He went to the owlry as soon as he could, and pulled out some parchment and a quill.

Dear Mother,

I wish this were only a letter of casualty, but alas, it's not. Our close friend Severus has fallen ill, and needs these ingredients for a potion to make the antidote. This antidote needs to be given to him in less than a month's time. I would tell you the manner of his falling ill, but that must wait until we see in person, face to face. When and if you do get the ingredients, please send them straight to Albus Dumbledore, I know you don't trust him mother, but if we want Severus to survive, you must help. I hope you are well mother, and I hope to see you on holiday. Here is the list of items, please hurry.

Your beloved son,

-Draco

He finished the letter, and tied the note and list to his owl's leg. "Give this to no one unless they are my mother. This is a great importance, a man's life is at stake." The owl hooted in compliance, then flew off into the distance. He watched until he couldn't see her flying anymore. He sighed and walked down to lunch.

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Ginny's morning was still not going any better. She had forgotten to do her homework for transfiguration, and she literally fell asleep in History of Magic. She was walking angrily towards the Great Hall, when she was stopped by her brother, Harry and Hermione.

Why can't they leave me the hell alone?

"Ginny, we want to know where you've been lately! You are never around, and I've seen you on multiple times with Malfoy! What's going on with you Ginny? This isn't like you." He said, in what appeared to be a sincere manner, but by this time she was sick of everyone, but she tried as hard as she could to control her energy form exploding. She was still very pissed, but she was calm.

"Ronald, don't you dare fucking tell me what is or isn't like me. Don't fucking ask me where I have been, and don't fucking lecture me about who I socialize with. Leave me alone! I don't want to have to live knowing you three are hanging onto my every action as if the second I am out of your site I will disappear or oh, I don't know, join up with Voldie. It's not going to happen!" With that, she turned around and kept walking to the Great Hall, but Ron stupidly continued.

"You're turning into him you know. You're turning into fucking Malfoy, Virginia! Whatever he's doing to you, you can't even realize because he's got you brainwashed!" He yelled after her.

Ginny whipped around and sent a stunning curse straight at his chest, and if it wasn't for Harry's protection charm, it would have made contact. She sent a disarming spell straight after as well, but Hermione blocked that one as well.

Ron started sending spells back now, but Ginny was far more agile, and with the now emptied hall, she had room to maneuver. She kept firing cursed in quick repetition but they kept blocking. Until finally Ginny tricked them by aiming her wand at Harry, but quickly sending the disarming spell at Hermione. Ron's face grew bright red as he sent a spell Ginny didn't recognize, but when she looked down at her wrist, she saw it was seeping blood. She dropped her wand instantly and dropped to her knees and wrapped her arm with the hem of her robe. She started shrieking, panicking that her robes weren't stopping the blood flow, Harry ran over and tried to see if he could calm her down, but she panicked because she thought he was trying to hurt her, so she picked her wand up and whipped it at her. She stumbled backwards and used her feet to push her away from them. She could barely breathe because she was practically hyperventilating and tears were streaming down her face. Ron's face was completely pale, not knowing what he's just done.

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Draco had been walking to the Great Hall when he heard a group of second years talking about a duel that was going on near the History of Magic hallway, his interest wasn't really peaked, until he heard one of them wonder aloud, which Weasley would win. Draco hurried to find them because he really wanted to beat the shit out of Ron Weasley and his little friends.

He could hear the duel taking place before he got there. He began to worry when the shouting of spells ended and was replaced with feminine shrieks. He started in a run to get there. When he got to the scene, Ginny was on the ground in the fetal position clutching her wrist wrapped with the hem of her robes, then he saw the three of them standing silent, watching her in a frightened way.

Draco's anger practically exploded, but he didn't even bother stopping it. "What did you do?" he demanded an explanation, but his skin went deathly white, but not transparently so. It started shining like it was covered in ice. The hall went chillingly cold, and Draco seemed to have a thin powder coming off him, and shooting into the air around.

Even for someone practically mortally afraid for his life, Ron answered. "Stay away form MY sister Malfoy!"

"I wasn't aware that people attempt to kill their siblings!" He yelled, causing the three of them to shiver as the temperature dropped even further.

"Stay away form her Malfoy, I'm not messing around!" he said, trying to scare Draco, but it backfired in his face. Draco stretched his arm out in front of him horizontally and as if coming from his fingertips, a large gust of wind accompanied with hail started pelting them, until they were forced to leave, but the wind still followed them, until Draco couldn't hear them anymore. As Draco's anger calmed to almost nothing, he sat down beside Ginny.

"Ginny, are you alright?" She was rocking back and forth and didn't seem to hear him.

Then she started saying things. "I don't want to die! It keeps bleeding..."

Draco brought her up so she was sitting practically in his lap, and he slowly unwrapped her cloak to see the damage.

What he expected to see was a large gash that was bleeding heavily, but he didn't expect to see absolutely nothing but the pale skin of her forearm. "It won't stop bleeding, I want it to stop, it won't stop. I'm going to die, I'm going to die! Why won't it stop?" She sobbed into his shoulder, but seconds later it seemed she had passed out.

Draco calmed down greatly when he realized she wasn't physically hurt, but he knew she had to be brought to the infirmary, so he picked her up, holing her under the knees and under her chest. He was actually surprised by how light they she was, but carried her all the way to the hospital wing.

When he got there, he couldn't use his hands to open the door, let alone knock, so he kicked it, probably a little harder than was necessary.

It took a few seconds for the door to open, and when it did, Madam Pomfrey looked at his face, then looked down at Ginny. Her face fell completely, and she looked horribly distraught. She didn't wait any longer to move out of the way for Draco to bring her into the infirmary and set her down lightly on a bed.

"What happened?" she asked seriously.

"Her brother, his friends and her were dueling, I don't know why or what curse they used. But from what I got she was clutching her wrist and shrieking. Everyone thought it was cut somehow. She started muttering saying how it was bleeding and she thought she was going to die, but when I looked at the wrist she was clutching, there was nothing wrong. She blacked out seconds later.

I think it was a hallucinogen curse." Draco explained.

"I agree, I don't know what caused her to black out though, I'll have to check up on that." She said, waiving her wand over Ginny, doing things Draco didn't quite know what they were.

"I think I might know. When I picked her up to carry her here, I noticed her lack of weight. I don't think she's eating enough, and that might be why she fainted." He explained quietly.

"I'll check into it Mister Malfoy, I think you should go eat your lunch..." she trailed off, seeing him take a seat beside Ginny's bed. Madam Pomfrey didn't even bother to tell him again. But she did however go into her office and write a note.

Dear Albus,

By now you must know that a letter from me can never be a good thing. Today a received a patient and I will give you three guesses who. Virginia Weasley is once again unconscious and in my care. And I'll give you another three guesses as to who brought her here. Draco Malfoy, who else? He is still here, and silently refused to leave. He came to me telling me that she had been in a duel with her brother, Mister Potter and Miss Granger, I must admit, that surprised me. It seems one of them had used a hallucinogen spell, and she thought her wrist was bleeding everywhere. I don't know the details of a spell like that, but that seemed a little strange to me. Normally a curse like that wouldn't send a person unconscious, but my tests revealed that she's like that because of mal-nutrition. I really don't know how you will respond to this letter, but I figured you should at least know.

-Poppy

She sent the letter with her little brown owl, and went back out to deal with the problem. When she walked out, she was a little surprised by what she saw. Draco was holding Ginny's hand, and looking down at her with sorrow-filled eyes. "I'm so sorry Gin. If you weren't angry with me then maybe this wouldn't have happened. It's entirely fault. I'm so sorry." he whispered. It broke Poppy Pomfrey's heart in half.

TBC

Author's note: And there you have it! This one was a little longer, so I hope that makes some people happy, then next one should be out soon, if my dad doesn't keep spazzing at me for being up past 12. I know where everything is going, and I know exactly how I want to get their, so that's a plus, meaning my chapters will come more quickly. I hoped you like this one, and I hope you review please!