AN: Well, I don't know what I expected, taking so long to update and everything the past two times. It seems that a majority of you have lost interest. In a pathetic attempt to make it up to all of you, here is another chapter significantly sooner than the last couple of posts. I am currently on Spring Break, and I'm using the time to write my ass off.

THE APPLE OF MY EYE: CHP 6

I'm just going to come clean and say that I had wondered what it would be like. Spending time with him, I mean. I was innocently curious, and perhaps mildly intrigued. I even had several scenarios pop into my head prior to the actual event, but none of them were even remotely close to the reality.

I guess I don't know what I had been expecting. Complete silence? A conversation of sorts like we had had the day before? Insults? Or perhaps even another moment like the one before dinner?

Basically the only thing that I had been expecting and that was confirmed was that we would be encountering snow, and a lot of it. But then again, even that simplistic conception had proved somewhat erroneous, for after a quick scan of the white landscape I concluded that I had never seen, or shoveled for that matter, so much snow in my entire life. I was willing to wager the majority of my possessions that Draco was thinking the same thing, only five times worse. Hell, his whole family had probably never seen half of this much snow…. combined!

We both stood on the stone – or what would have otherwise been the area of the front stone pathway, had there not been 3 feet of snow on the ground­ – for several elongated moments. I turned to look at him, curious as to whether or not my logic was any kind of true.

The usual hard, arrogant facade was not present on his face at all, instead replaced with a unique lack of enthusiasm and awe, both of which looked so alien to him. He slowly turned to look at me, and I noticed that one of his eyebrows was arched high in disbelief. I chuckled to myself. How right I was.

"So I suppose you've never seen this much snow either, hmm?" I inquired. I felt a sly smile creep its way onto my face, and his eyes flashed as he realized the implication I was making. That wasn't something you saw every day, let me tell you, and if I sat here and tried to convince you that I didn't enjoy making it happen, didn't enjoy making that passion flare across his features, well, you'd come to realize quite quickly that I was being less than straightforward. Alright, I'd be lying. Blatantly lying.

"I thought you'd already determined that," he mocked, and by his tone I could tell he was half serious. Despite the fact that he was obviously a right bit agitated by my jabs to his ego, I felt the grin widen as he took the bait. I tried to restrain the smile, but whether or not it was effective I will never know, for I was far too distracted by the way his rather attractive wool cap was making his hair fall into his eyes. I was quite sure that that hat wouldn't look nearly as good if it wasn't on his head.

"Oh I have, I just wanted to rub it in." I raised my eyebrows once, watching his features carefully, awaiting the fire that I found so enthralling. Merlin I was in trouble. I had used the word passion to describe Draco Malfoy.

Do you ever have one of those self-degrading trains of thought that involve you looking in on yourself from a third person perspective, which leads you to conclude that you would rather not do so, because you are so hopelessly and utterly disgusted with yourself? Well, perhaps that's not something that happens to normal people, but me, being the slightly non-conformist that I am, often pictured what something might look like from outside of my own two eyes. I found it exceptionally helpful in judging other peoples reactions, and even occasionally found that it assisted in helping me to comprehend how others based opinions different from my own.

Anyhow, the scene I was currently 'seeing' involved me staring at Draco Malfoy like an idiot, scanning over his features irregularly. I knew that was exactly what I looked like, but admitting it was another thing altogether, you see. Hey, I'm sure if you knew you were looking at a boy with an expression similar to a gaping carp on your face, you would go into a mild state of denial as well.

My staring theory was verified when I saw it. His lips twitched. It was extremely subtle, yes, but it happened. As with the encounters from the day before, I doubted anyone else would have noticed.

Then again, my eyes were practically glued to his sodding face. It wasn't like I could have missed it, even if I currently was a bit foggy upstairs. That really, is not the point. The point is that I made Draco Malfoy smile. Almost.

"Doesn't matter if I've seen this much snow or not, does it Weaslette? The question an intelligent person would be asking is whether or not I can shove-hull it," he hoisted the shovel up in his grip, looking quite pleased with himself for producing what he considered to be a sufficient comeback. Regrettably for Draco, however, all elements of cleverness and wit were effectively smashed by his complete massacre of the word shovel. Evidently the boy had a problem with pronunciation, as I had already corrected him on it once before. I hated when people did that. So when my brain started telling me that it sounded cute coming from him, I opened my mouth to drown out the thought.

"I suppose you have a point. Though, it seems just as logical that an intelligent person would know how to pronounce word shovel, don't you think?" I feigned an innocent look.

"The hell if I care how you say it. I just want to get out of here before we're buried alive," he shot, tipping his head skyward as if he could see the one responsible for the tiny falling crystals in its depths. His eyes seemed to relax, and I swear they almost drifted closed beneath the heavy flakes. That was a Kodak moment, let me tell you. Bloody hell, that photographic memory I've been wanting would have come in really handy right about now.

Just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, and I could see that he was quite serious.

"You really think so? I mean, it's bound to stop soon, right? I mean look at all of this. How much could possibly be left?" I for one, having been in the Hospital Wing the previous night, had heard nothing about the severity of the snowfall save for what McGonagall had told us.

Draco shrugged, seemingly shaking off the tranquil moment from before.

"I dunno. I just think that we've spent the past 5 minutes having rather pointless conversation, and that if we don't get started we certainly will be out here all day," he spoke fluidly, his words flowing together and rolling off of his tongue perfectly. I like his voice, that's for sure. He looked to me as if waiting for me to speak, not even flinching at the fact that his words were a bit harsh. So I spoke.

"Where do you suppose we start?" I asked, putting up my strong front.

"If we need to clear a way to the village, we're going to have to clear the main courtyard and then just follow the roads in," he gestured in the direction of where the grounds met the road to Hogsmeade, and followed it with his finger until it was pointed in the general direction of the village. I nodded.

"Right then. Well there's no way we can possibly clear the whole area, here. I gather we'll have to sortov carve a wide path through the drifts instead," I responded. Clearing the entire courtyard was just not feasible.

"Obviously not," he rolled his eyes before continuing. "Just cut clear across to the courtyard and make sure the path is wide enough for 3-4 people." I don't know if it was the severity of his tone or just the thought that I had misjudged Draco's character that made those words hurt so much. But I do know the following:

I, Ginny Weasley, do not hate many things in life. There are things that annoy me, things that disgust me, and things that just downright piss me off; but I can honestly say only a select few are worthy of my hatred. One of those things was when people made it seem like your opinion and thoughts had no matter or influence whatsoever. That was exactly what had just happened, and it had cut.

So when that last bit flowed out of his perfectly shaped mouth, I couldn't help my temper from flaring. I grabbed my shovel and huffed past him, making sure that the metal edge clanked against his boot.

After I had walked the 3 feet to where the snow mound began, I decided that this was in fact the snows fault, for it was it that got me stuck in this ludicrous detention in the first place, and did the only logical thing given the situation; I attacked with a vengeance. The shovel sliced through the thick snow easily, and I angrily heaved it to the side, enjoying the scrape the metal made against the stone underneath. I think I would have continued like that for the majority of the day had Draco not done something very unexpected.

After slowly sauntering the 4 steps toward me, he cleared his throat as if trying to get me to look at him. I refused to do so, resisting the urge to send the next shovelful into his face. I heard his shovel scrape against the stone.

"So, how do you pronounce the name for these things," he asked, tossing a load in the opposite direction. I stopped mid scoop, and looked up with a small smile on my face. Though he wasn't making eye contact, something inside of me understood what he had meant by that, and I was touched.

"Shove-ull," I explained, making sure to annunciate every syllable. I finished lifting my current snow mound.

"Shove-hull," Draco repeated, doing likewise. I sighed.

"No, no, no. You're adding an extra 'H', you see. Shove-ull."

"Ahh, is that it? Right. Shove-ull," he drew out the word, and up until that point, I didn't think the word 'shovel' could ever sound sexy. I was proven wrong.

"Right," I replied, swallowing a little. I saw him smile. We still weren't looking at each other, but it was obvious this time; one corner of his mouth turning upwards as his silver eyes grinned from beneath his hair.

"Right," he answered softly, the smile still present. "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

That last statement was something to ponder, and I couldn't stop myself from wondering if it had a deeper meaning, or hoping that it did.

END CHAPTER 6

There it is. I hope to God that people read this and give me feedback. I feel like I've let you all down. PLEASE let me know if you enjoyed this, hated it, or just even READ it. I will be eternally grateful.