I'm ever so sorry for not updating in a while! University has been a huge boggle in my life so far! Here's Chapter 5 though! I really hope you like it =).

Disclaimer: see chapter one for the full thing. All Characters but Maria belong to J.K Rowling.

The shrilling sound of an alarm blared in Harry's left ear. It was 7:30am. Groaning, he reached out blindly and flicked his wand before collapsing again on the bed with a resigned sigh. It was Tuesday and he sure did not feel like going training, especially with Ron...he wasn't sure if he found out; either way, it would be awkward. With a groan he rolled out of the plush bed and shuffled toward the linking bathroom to shower.

The scalding hot water was soothing as it beat against his tense shoulders and his ebony locks. As he washed his well-toned body he couldn't help but think how upturned his life had become in a span of one night. He didn't even know what made him acquiesce to Draco's request. With a resigned sigh, he turned off the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom.

There was a knock at the door.

"Potter? Are you decent?" he heard Draco's voice say.

"Yeah it's alright." He replied as he hastily grabbed a pair of black slacks and pushed them on just as Draco entered. The rapid manoeuvre with his slacks caused him to miss Draco's quick stare at his chest.

"Breakfast will be ready in 5 minutes. Eggs, bacon, sausages and English breakfast tea. Is that alright?" said Draco, surprisingly tense.

"Yeah, that sounds great. "He said whilst pulling a green shirt on and hurriedly tying up his usual grungy looking robes. Draco's nose wrinkled.

"Those robes are appalling Potter, even for someone trying to be subtle about his identity." Draco said whilst giving him an once-over.

Harry squirmed under his gaze and it was only then did he take notice of what the other man was wearing.

Draco's platinum blonde hair was still pulled back but was loose enough that it almost looked like he had a side fringe. He wore a tight emerald green sweater and black slacks underneath a white coat with the word "MALFOY" stitched on the pocket in black. All in all, he looked quite professional.

"Want a closer look?" a voice brought Harry back to the present. Draco was smirking at him.

Harry blushed. "Uh....oh umm...Sorry, I was just thinking...you know". He finished lamely, eyes glued to the floor. There was silence for a while, Harry thought Draco had left but when his gazed finally shifted upwards Malfoy was giving him an odd look. It disappeared as soon as it came.

"Right Potter. Grab your suitcase and follow me, breakfast is ready." He said stiffly as he strode from the room, leaving Harry to stumble after him.

Draco POV

As Draco strode out of the guest bedroom, his fists were clenched. Yes, he thought Harry was attractive but he couldn't bring himself to really make a move. He wasn't about to be rebound material. Harry was obviously still hurting from what Ginny had done, he needed to make sure Harry had entirely broken it off with her...and of course to know that Harry felt the same way he did. Draco had only recently been in the public's good eyes. He was head of a department at the Ministry of Magic, he couldn't go gallivanting and ruining something he and his parents had fought so hard to dig out.

They arrived downstairs and headed to the living room. The plates were already there and the smell of fried breakfast filled his nose and his stomach growled loudly.

Harry chuckled.

"So I'm hungry Potter...sue me; if you hadn't taken so long I wouldn't so hungry." He said haughtily, although it was betrayed by a slight twitching of a smile in the corner of his mouth.

Harry POV

Harry simply grinned and shrugged, before sitting down and digging right in. After a silent, but comfortable breakfast, Harry noticed that the time was 7:55am. He groaned.

"What's wrong?" Draco said, looking up from the paper that Diddy had left on the plush couch.

"Nothing, just time for work is all. Not really looking forward to seeing Ron...not entirely sure if he knows about...well you know." Harry replied softly swirling his spoon in his teacup, eyes glued to the light brown colour of his tea.

Draco sighed a bit. "Well look at it this way; you did nothing wrong. So even if Weasley does know about what Ginerva did, it's not as if he can get angry with you. It's only natural to get some alone time if something like that were to happen. Not even Weasley can be that thick, now can he?" he said with a slight smirk towards the end whist folding his paper and placing it back on the couch.

Harry simply nodded. Draco did have a point. The only thing Ron could get slightly annoyed about was the fact that he was staying with the "Ferret". Ron and Draco had let things go after the war and had matured. Along with this, came the fact that they were able to tolerate each other; this didn't mean they were the best of friends however. Harry shook his head in an attempt to clear it; worrying about the dynamics of Ron and Draco's acquaintanceship was the least of his worries right now.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on Harry, where's the Gryffindor courage?" Draco said with a small, but comforting smile. He nodded, before standing up with a slight frown.

"Right, Let's go." He said. He wasn't too sure where he suddenly got some new found determination; but it sure felt good.

They walked side-by-side to the alleyway next to Draco's house, they spun on the spot and Disapparated.

They landed gracefully at the Apparition point at the Ministry for Magic. Draco gave him a nod of encouragement and a squeeze on the shoulder as he headed to his Department. Harry stared at him as he left. He thought, for someone who has been under such critical scrutiny from the public eye, he certainly didn't show that it bothered him with the way he walked and with the way he nodded confidently to other members walking by.

"Right." Harry mumbled to himself, trying to give himself some confidence. He strode past the fountain with the magnificent Golden statues, past the Department of Magical Creatures, he noticed that he walked faster as he approached the Department of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts...almost at a slight jog. He reached a Floo point, he grabbed some powder, threw it in, yelled "Auror Department". The next second he was clumsily stepping out of the fire place at the foyer.

"Harry! You're here! Perfect timing as usual!" He looked up to see Kingsley striding towards him with a smile on his face. "You certainly look more alive! Aren't you glad I gave you that day off?" He said as he stopped in front of Harry.

He grimaced. "Yeah...Yeah I really appreciate it." Harry returned with a forced smile.

"No problem mate. Right, this way. It's practical today. Ron doesn't seem to be here yet so just go get coffee or something. The other partners are in the arena already." Kinsley said as he led Harry down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Harry wasn't too hungry since breakfast with Draco, so he filled half a cup with tea, downed it in one go; ignoring the searing hot burn in his throat. He was debating on whether to get another cup when a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Harry! Mate!". A too familiar voice said.

Harry froze.

"Harry hey!" the voice said again. Harry turned around and came face to face with his best friend, Ron.

"Hey mate." Harry said cautiously, not too sure how to react.

"Hey look, I heard what happened." He said. Ron's eyes were careful.

"You did?" Harry replied...almost waiting for the infamous Ron temper.

"Yeah, listen. What Ginny did was wrong, even I admit that. And trust me, if I ever see Dean I'll re-arrange his face. Ginny came back to the Burrow and was crying all over mum's shoulder. Mum flooed me and Hermione, comforted Ginny for a bit. We're disappointed in her, you know? But...yeah, none of us are angry at you for walking out. I mean, hell....if Hermione did that I'd have to walk out to." Ron said slowly, thinking about his words carefully.

Harry didn't seem to know how to respond. Ron didn't notice his discomfort though.

"We're all assuming you're living at Grimmauld Place right now. I know you need your time, but um...Ginny might come by sometime, you know...you two need to talk it through." Ron continued.

Harry braced himself as spoke. "I'm actually not staying at Grimmauld Place mate, I'm staying with Malfoy right now."

Ron's forehead creased in a frown.

"Malfoy?...Why Malfoy? If you were looking for company you were welcome to come to my place or even the Burrow." He said tensely.

"I went to the Three Broomsticks to get a few drinks and he was there, offered me a place to stay and it's just opposite my house, it seemed convenient you know? You know me and Malfoy are friends Ron." Harry said slowly.

"Yeah...I suppose, but still you could've come to my place mate, I'm always here for you." Ron replied.

"And I appreciate that, but you know...last time we talked you were planning on taking it to the next level with Hermione, I didn't want to impose. And come on, it's Ginny, you're sister. I felt a little awkward." Harry said, feeling slightly less tense. He was really glad Ron wasn't throwing a tantrum about this.

"Yeah alright...but the Ferret better not make you feel worse." He said with a joking smile on his face. Harry almost died from relief right then. They had a good laugh for a few minutes about the old days back at Hogwarts before Kingsley stepped into the kitchen.

"Weasley! Potter! Come on, into the arena! You're already late." He said with a slight stern edge to his voice.

"Sorry Kinsley, my fault." Ron replied as they headed out to the end of the hallway and stood in front of the arena door.

The arena was used for practical purposes, demonstrations and practice. The inside was spelled so the room was a lot larger than what it physically seems to be. Agendas on what they had to do was on a clipboard in front of the door telling them what to practice, how many hours and their partners. On days for practical, they came to the clipboard, marked their names off and spent how many hours in the arena they were required to.

"Ready?" Kinsley said after they marked their names off. They both nodded, taking out their wands as they headed into the arena.

Auror training didn't particularly mean you had a certain "teacher" telling you what to do. It was very much self-learning. You had certain professors who guided you, but you had to be very pro-active and independent. Kinsley felt that this philosophy was best for new recruits, as being an Auror meant you had to be decisively spontaneous; and that was difficult, it came with a LOT of practice. Practical days in the arena were tiring. It was meant to be an almost exact experience of a proper duel. So if you got hurt, you got hurt. Healers were standing in the linking room if anything got too bad. But other than that, you were on your own.

As they entered the arena, a few of their colleagues were engaged in a rather physical fight, resulting in the place looking like some sort of light show. Harry could see Seamus firing spells left, right and centre. Seamus was the only other person in their year who chose to become an Auror. There weren't many Aurors this year. Just a 5 or 6 more from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.

The new professor guiding them this year, was in fact Professor Flitwick. Flitwick was a championship dueller in his younger years and he spent some part time at the Ministry helping the new Aurors, but he kept his job as Professor of Charms at Hogwarts.

They headed over to Flitwick.

"Potter, Weasley you're here. First sign of tardiness today." He squeaked with a raised eyebrow. Before Harry could say sorry, Ron interrupted.

"My fault Professor. Couldn't cook eggs without burning half the kitchen utensils." Ron said with a small laugh.

"Fair enough Weasley. Right, nothing too new today, just the usual battle. All spells and physical form of attack are permitted excluding Unforgivables. As you can see today's battle I included an actual terrain, as though you were in the woods. Battles happen anywhere, you have to be prepared for such circumstances. You'll be fighting for about an hour and a half before your first break." He almost recited.

Harry and Ron both nodded at him and at each other as they did a quick warm up and ran into the battle.

Fighting in the "woods" proved to be quite difficult. Harry found himself tripping over roots and running into low-head branches.

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!" Harry yelled just in time. Ron's spell dissolved in front of his shield.

Ron was busy deflecting a spell from another one of the guys and Harry took this to his advantage.

"Levicorpus!" he yelled. Ron gave a shriek as he was wrenched up his ankle and hung there upside down.

Harry gave himself a second to snigger before spinning around and yelling "Flipendo!" at Seamus before ducking himself to avoid someone's Incendio. He was however blown forward from the fire blast that burst open the tree behind him. In about 10 seconds, half the "woods" was on fire.

Avoiding a Petrificus Totalus from Ron who had counted the Levicorpus, Harry aimed at the fire before shouting "Aguamenti 1." A portion of the fire disappeared, Harry didn't waste a second.

He spun around and ducked, just avoiding Locomortor Mortis from another guy. In the distance he saw Seamus hiding behind a tree, obviously catching breath. Harry sniggered, before running towards him...wand at the ready.

"Tarantallegra! 2." Harry yelled. Seamus had barely a second to react before he was dancing away, his control completely dissipated. "Petrificus Totalus!" he yelled again. Seamus was lying on the ground, body frozen.

"Locomotor Mortis!" Harry spun around, but it was too late. Before he knew it he was on the ground, legs locked. He saw Ron give him a teasing smile.

"Finite Incantatem!" Harry said. He jumped up and ran after Ron who had now run into the rugged terrain.

He ducked a tickling curse from one of the girls that used to go Durmstrang, jumped up and avoided a Stupefy from Seamus who had obviously been unbounded and deflected an Expelliarmus from another of the guys.

His heart pumping and adrenaline rushing, he tore after Ron.

He saw Ron falter a bit on one of the tree roots. Harry's wand was immediately up.

"Conjunctivitis! 3." Harry yelled! He saw Ron falter. Harry raised his wand again, this time roaring "STUPEFY!". Ron was blasted back, his head hitting into a tree before sliding down and passing out.

"Impedimenta!" someone said. Harry was still looking at Ron, he ducked in hopes that he wouldn't get hit by it. But he was unfortunate.

Harry flew back and landed straight into Ron. His head wheezy from the impact of the fall.

"Petrificus Totalus!". Seamus yelled. Harry saw Seamus and a girl headed his way. He ducked his head just as the spell came...hitting Ron instead.

Getting up, Harry cast Protgeo around him and Ron. He figured Ron really didn't need anything else done to him.

"Furnunculus! 4" Harry loudly said, aiming towards the girl. She wasn't fast enough, she soon had her hands covering her face and running in the opposite direction but only to be hit by a Locomotor Mortis from another person.

Harry ducked another Stupefy from Seamus before yelling himself "Incarcerous!" Seamus was bound up in ropes and struggling on the ground. But Seamus's Impedimenta had already hit Harry and he found himself knocked into Ron again.

The "woods" began to blur and soon dissipated from sight, only to leave the Auror's in training, lying in injuries within a large arena.

"Times up men." Professor Flitwick squeaked. "Time for your break, head to the adjoining room for the Healing; you know what to do." He said again, before saying a few Finite Incantatems to release a few others [including Ron] who had been "stupefied".

Ron stirred and Harry helped him up as they somewhat limped to the Healer's Room. They were last in line and by the time they got there Ron was awake, but in pain.

"Merlin Harry, using Conjunctivitis before Stupefy? Bloody brilliant...using Conjunctivitis before anything really. Your Stupefy's are getting really powerful." Ron said enthusiastically as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah sorry about that mate. Just getting you back for the Locomotor Mortis." Harry replied with a small smirk on his face.

"Alright, just take this potion, you should be right in a few minutes."

Harry froze, he knew that voice. He looked up and saw none other than Draco Malfoy sitting at the bench with another Healer.

Draco looked up, his mouth curved slightly up at the sight of Harry.

"Malfoy?" he heard Ron say next to him. "How come you're working as Healer here? Don't you got more important jobs to do." Ron said.

Draco POV

"Hi to you to Weasley. I decided to volunteer today. I finished my paperwork last week and I didn't want to spend the whole of today on my ass eating pumpkin pasties and playing exploding snap." Draco said with a slight smirk. He knew Weasley did exactly that when he wasn't working...courtesy of his talks with Harry at lunch breaks.

Draco saw Ron's face flush red. He decided not to comment on it. Let Ron bathe in his own embarrassment.

"Right, Weasley step forward. Let's see what's wrong with you." He said, going back to his professional stature.

He examined Weasley, nothing too bad. "Alright, not too bad. Take this pepper-up potion. " He stated his thoughts. Draco cast a few healing charms on Ron; in a matter of seconds he was back to normal.

"Harry, step forward." Draco indicated at the seat in front of him, smirking at himself for using his first name.

"You've hardly been hurt. Just a single bruise at the back of your head. Did you even duel Harry?" He said jokingly.

"Of course I did. Just because my robes might be appalling, doesn't mean my skill in the field is." Harry replied defensively, but his smile gave it right away.

"Yes Harry, whatever you say." Draco said healing the bruise with a quick flick of his wand.

"Well you two are certainly chummy." Ron stated. Draco hadn't actually noticed, but Weasley must have been surveying their conversation.

"Yes, well. I know how to be civil...unlike others." Draco replied, giving Ron the once-over.

"Oh shut it, both of you." Harry said, a frown upon his lips. Harry obviously hadn't really liked his last statement and he felt sort of guilty saying it. Ron didn't look guilty...he was glaring at Draco like he wanted to burn holes through the back of his head.

"Well it's my lunch break as well, Kinsley said it was alright to pop over to your kitchen and have some lunch. You two want to come?" Draco said, attempting to make up for his behaviour just a moment ago.

Harry and Ron stared at him in surprise. Harry quickly recovered and nodded with a slight smile. Weasley didn't though. They headed out back out the door, down the corridor and into the kitchen.

"I'm hungry, think I might go for the chicken san-"

Harry faltered mid-sentence.

Ron and Draco both stared at him as he froze at the entrance of the kitchen. "Harry mate, what's wrong?" Ron said, looking concerned. He reached out and placed a hand upon his shoulder.

"Ginerva. Nice to see you in the Auror's Department. This certainly is a surprise." Draco said, neutral eyes fixated on the youngest red head.

Ginny sat at the kitchen table, clutching a cup of tea. She stood up abruptly when she saw Harry approach. Ron's head jerked to the kitchen as Draco spoke.

Harry POV [first person]

The moment I saw Ginny I thought my heart stopped. I wasn't prepared for this. I heard Draco say something in the distance.

As much as I'm reluctant to see Ginny, the look on her face does seem almost broken.

"Harry." She said to me. "I was wondering, if you're not too busy, if maybe we could talk...about stuff." She continued. I didn't miss the fact that her eyes drifted to Draco momentarily; filled with a little confusion.

Before I could answer, Ron spoke.

"Sure he can. We'll get lunch somewhere else." Ron said rapidly as he left. I noticed Draco hadn't left; he simply stared at me oddly with a slight frown upon his face.

"Come on Malfoy, keep frowning like that and you'll get wrinkles." Ron said as he came back and pulled Draco away. I found myself not wanting to be alone with Ginny. I found myself wanting to be surrounded by Draco's company.

"How've you been Harry?" Ginny's voice pulled me out of my reverie. She was still standing, her knuckles stark white from clutching her tea cup.

"Tired...how about you?" I replied, not really knowing what to say.

She was silent for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"This is stupid. We shouldn't have to talk like this. Harry, I'm sorry. I really really am. I tried to push him away, I told him I was with you; that I was LIVING with you. I never meant to hurt you Harry, please you have to believe me." Ginny spoke with determination.

There were only a few words that registered in my mind.

"You tried to push him away, but you still slept with him didn't you?" I said softly, staring at the wooden table.

"Harry I-

"How you felt for me wasn't enough clearly, because it didn't stop you eventually." My voice seemed to constrict as I spoke.

"Harry please, I love you." Ginny said, it almost sounded like a desperate prayer.

I almost laughed out of bitterness. I finally looked up at her. She looked so torn.

I focused on breathing for a few minutes, so as not to break down myself.

"Ginny I care for you, and I can see you care for me to. But I can't go into depth with this conversation right now. You betrayed me in the worst way a partner could do and I'm trying to find out what I did wrong to make you do such a thing." I said cautiously.

"Harry please! Don't be like this, we can get through this. I know I betrayed you. I'm grateful you're still talking to me. Please don't think it's you. It's just me, I just had a minor....set back; I don't know, I wasn't thinking...I...Harry I love you!" Ginny spoke in fragments. The last part sounded like a frantic plea for forgiveness instead of an actual declaration of love.

"Ginny, I have to go. I have to get in some lunch before I go back in the arena." I spoke softly. Her face seemed to crumble at this. "I think we both need a few more days to figure out....stuff. Why you really did it. I think it'd be fair for you to just think about the reason why you did it. I'm willing to forgive Gin, but I need to know why you did it...a reason that's convincing." I added painfully that last part.

She gasped at what I had said. "You don't believe that I love you?" tears fell from her eyes. It was so painful to watch her cry. I might not be too happy with her, but watching someone I genuinely care about crying in front of me, still hurt.

"Ginny...were you trying to convince me when you said that? Or yourself?" I said, my voice cracking ever so slightly.

She went silent at that. It was my turn to be shocked. She hadn't refuted it. She hadn't burst open in anger at my question. The full force of what I had asked her to do hit me harder than a million Impedimenta Jinxes.

"Harry! 5 minutes till you're back in the arena!" I heard Kinsley say from a far cubicle.

I sighed before replying. "Alright! I'll be there."

"I have to go Ginny." I said softly. When I spoke she seemed to snap out of her trance. She unclenched the cup and tried as subtly as possible to wipe away her tears.

"Oh of course, you need your strength for the arena. Go ahead Harry, I'll talk to you in a few days once I sort out some...stuff, as you said." She said briskly, stepping away from the chair she had been sitting on and heading back around the table to face me.

I stepped back just a tiny bit. "I'll see you later Ginny." I said before turning around and walking down the hallway, but her voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Do you think we can get back together after all of this."

I turned around to look at her. "That really all depends on what the conclusion is...after you've sorted out your...stuff." I said awkwardly.

She nodded sadly, turned around and walked down the hallway to the foyer.

I headed to the arena door, not bothering for lunch anymore. I had said out relationship all depended on the conclusion of her thoughts. Logically, that's what I meant.

My heart however had already made a choice.

DONE!! I'm so freaking sorry that took so long. I put effort into this chapter, so PLEASE review and let me know if you thought it was great or if you thought I wasted my time haha. I was going to put a GINNY POV 1ST PERSON after that last sentence to detail some thoughts out of Ginny and to show you guys the direction their "relationship" is headed, but it felt so right to just end it there.

Thank you to the reviews:

PottersLittleSister: Thank you for being the first reviewer! Yes, I will try to update more often. I can get very picky with how I write and I spend ages on like one page. But I'll try and update more often! I'm so glad you like it =D!

Im rad bby: thank you! I hope you like this chapter to!

Footnotes:-

1 Aguamenti = this spell is to produce water. It's used in the most recent harry potter film and used in the book several times.

2 Tarantallegra = makes your feet dance about uncontrollably. Pretty sure it was used in the 2nd book.

3. Conjunctivitis = I honestly can't recall if this was used in the book at all. But I was on the internet trying to look up different spells and apparently this one has been in the book and it gives terrible pain to one's eyes.

4. Furnunculus = This was used in the 4th book when Harry conjured the spell to Draco but ended up hitting Goyle instead. It makes boils on your face!

Please Please review! My story can't get better without feedback =).