Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Nothing. …-whimper- please don't sue me!

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. I know it seems like Malfoy isn't too great of a presence in Ginny's life right now, but I'm working him in slowly. He's worming beneath her skin and so that fabulous things will be happening soon between them…as long as someone else doesn't get in the way…. –bwahahaha- Enjoy! Oh- And thank you for the lovely reviews! TheItalianBanjoist and Phillexican!

Ginny had made it home, her hand on her wand in her back pocket during the entirety of the walk. Hogsmede wasn't that dangerous, but she still liked the security of the wand in her hand, and she didn't fancy meeting Matt in a dark alley. She locked the doors behind her in her apartment and looked around the room. The walk home, in the brisk English weather, had woken her up and she felt like getting some house cleaning done.

She turned Matt's favorite chair into a large cardboard box and began throwing all of his clothing and knick-knacks into it quite unceremoniously. It didn't take long to empty her life of him. It seemed odd to her that he could mean so much but have as little as a single box of prescence in the apartment they had shared. She taped up his box and used a sharpie to label it 'Prick' before falling onto her bed to sleep.

Her mind was racing. She felt like she was two people right now. The one person was the one who knew that she had to kick Matt out, that he had no right to act the way he had and that she was doing the right thing. The other person was arguing that Matt deserved another chance, that he was so sweet when the first met, that her mother loved him. They had met nine months ago and they started dating soon after. Something just clicked with them. She loved that he brought her Zonko's gifts instead of flowers and chocolates and he loved that she would meet him at the portkey point when he was getting out of work. She loved bringing him home to meet the family, and he enchanted everyone. Charlie, Fred and George grilled him about his favorite foods, his mother, his previous girlfriends, George's best feature, and the like. He seemed to pass their test quite quickly; Chocolate Frogs, Sweet and Stern, Stayed close but not close enough for anything more than monthly friendly conversation, the third freckle below his left eye. After dinner, while Matt was talking to Percy about the standard length of a quill tip her Mum had pulled her aside and asked her when she was going to begin to plant the concept of possibly one day getting married in his head. Because, as she said, "it takes a while for these things to set into lads' heads, dear, I know I have three married sons. Goodness, you saw how long it took them propose!".

Ginny sighed before drifting off to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning the first thing she did was clear up her bruises. The mark on her neck was a bit more difficult to conceal, it wouldn't be magicked away like the others, so she settled with putting a lot of cover-up on it and wearing her hair long. Then she sent Twine, her little red owl, to find out where Matt was staying so she could send him his pitiful box.

Twine came back quite quickly, obviously Matt was still in Hogsmede. Ginny read the note. 'Hey, Gin'. I'm staying at the Crowdlewopps' Bed and Breakfast. Please, come bring me my stuff yourself. I owe you an apology. I owe you a few apologies. Please. With ever and ever love, Matt.'

Ginny crumpled up the note and threw it in the bin. But she couldn't help but stare at the crumpled paper. If she met him in public, they could both get proper closure and she could move on, completely sated in the fact that he was gone from her life. She sighed and quickly penned back a response. 'I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Be outside waiting for me, I won't stay long and I'm not opposed to leaving your stuff on the curb.- Ginny.'

After setting a lightening spell on the box she headed off towards Crowdlewopps'. Matt was sitting outside when she showed up.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed, running up to her. She stood so that the box was in between her and Matt, purposely keeping him at a distance.

"Matt," she said softly. "Here are your things."

Matt looked from the box to Ginny sadly. "Thanks, I guess. Ginny," he said as he reached out and took the box, placing it on the ground next to him. Ginny took a discrete step backwards with the bulwark now out of her hands. "Ginny, I am so sorry. Sometimes, well you know how my temper just gets out of my control. Last night I was just so jealous and so scared of losing you…" he drifted off.

"Well, you've lost me anyway, haven't you?" she asked him, a biting tone present in her voice.

"I guess so," he agreed. "Ginny, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't make any excuses for myself. And I don't deserve another chance, but could I have one? I'm so happy with you Ginny. We fit together so perfectly."

Ginny sighed and crossed her arms in front of her. In any other situation this would have been a romantic, heart-wrenching apology. "Stop, Matt. You've used up your chances. I forgive you, but I won't forget what you've done. So, I hope you have a good life," she concluded, feeling as though it sounded a bit weak, definitely not as commanding as she had intended to be.

Matt nodded, then stepped forward. "Ginny," he said. He reached out and put his hand on Ginny's hip. "Ginny," he murmered. He was leaning in for a kiss, Ginny placed her hand up against Matt's chest to keep him away, but there wasn't enough space between them. Suddenly, a hand was on Matt's shoulder.

"Matt, so good to see you again," said a very stern Malfoy. "Weasley, always a pleasure."

Matt let go of Ginny's waist and she took another step backwards. "Goodbye, Matt." She said it so that there was no mistaking that this 'goodbye' was actually a 'fuck you, get the hell out of my life' in a thinly veiled disguise.

"Right. Right. Well, bye Ginny. Malfoy." He put his hand on his box and then, with a soft pop, apparated out of Hogsmede.

"Where's he going?" asked Malfoy, trying to appear casual.

Ginny shook her head, she had been distracted. She smiled and looked over at Malfoy. "I have no clue. And, you know what, I don't care." She paused and then wrapped her arm around Malfoy's. "Thanks for being my knight in shining armour today, Malfoy. It's always a nice surprise to see your chivalrous side."

He nodded tersely. "Weasel, not a problem. I only walked along about just then though, he hadn't done anything else, did he?" he tried to conceal his emotion, as always, but he was worried.

"Insulting me with pythetic apologies?" she suggested. "That's about as offensive as it got. I can't believe I was with him for as long as I was. No, you know what I can, but still. I'm so embarrased about him." She shook herself making a weird 'blurblurlleb' noise. Malfoy looked at her strangely, but she offered no explanation. She assumed it was obvious that she was trying to shake out the bad. As she continued talking normally, Malfoy assumed that she hadn't had a stroke and thus had no excuse for her random action. "He'll just be a little blip in my life, right? Blips are allowed?" she asked.

He nodded. "Blips are definitely allowed, Weasley. I am the King of Blips."

"Ah, I always wondered what crown the Prince of Slytherin ascended to."

"Prince of Slytherin?" he asked, quirking his eyebrow upward.

She laughed. "Oh! You must never have heard that nickname. Wow, when you were a fifth year a friend of mine, well not really a friend, more of an aqcuantince, Tora McDermott?" she offered up the name and Malfoy shook his head. "Right, you wouldn't know her, but she was two years younger than me. She was terrified of you, as most people were, and one day she saw a few seventh years kow-towing to you and she decided that there must be a secret feudal system deep within the core of the Slytherin house and that you were the Prince."

"Royalty. Nice to know my place at Hogwarts was respected," he said, laughing. "So who was the King, and the rest of the royal family for that matter?" he asked.

Ginny shrugged. "I don't think she ever decided that. But with your aura, Prince of Slytherin definitly stuck with the underclassmen". Ginny just then realized that she was walking Malfoy towards her home. "Oh no," she said. "You were heading the other direction, weren't you?"

"Again, not a problem, Weasel. I was only heading over to get some Bertie's beans anyway, which I can probably do without. So, really, you've saved me from my own bad habits."

"Glad to be of service."

They walked towards Ginny's building, bantering a bit as they were wont to do. Lying down on a bench in front of the building was a certain Harry Potter.

"Can I poke him?" asked Malfoy.

"Oh," said Ginny, looking at Malfoy with wide eyes.

"Oh, what?" he asked.

"Oh, I just never knew you swung that way. Be my guest," she said, gesturing to Harry.

"You both are horrible people," grumbled Harry. He peeked open his eyes. "Hello there Ginny. Malfoy, always a shadow on my day."

"Ditto, Potter." Malfoy turned his attention away from Harry, who was sitting up and trying to straighten out his clothes and his hair. "So, Weasel. You'll be okay?" She nodded.

"So, Harry, what are you doing here?" Malfoy started to back away. He waved to Ginny and she reciprocated with a smile before he turned and headed down the path.

"Well, you mentioned that Ron might be coming back soon."

"Soon, Harry. Soon as in within the month. Not soon as in within the next ten hours." She walked up the stairs and ushered Harry into her apartment. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Harry looked around skeptically. "Where's Matt?"

"Not here," stated Ginny. "So, do you want some tea?"

"That'd be great, ta'." Ginny waved her wand and muttered a little spell and within a moment a faint hissing of steam came from the kitchen.

"So, is everything fine between you and Matt?" asked Harry, hesitantly.

"Better than ever," replied Ginny, honestly. "How about you and…you were dating, Angelina? Right?" That had led to some awkward family dinners with George glaring at Harry from the other end of the table.

"That didn't really turn out so well. I found out that George had been being a jackass, so she just wanted to make him jealous. She never intended to stay with me for long."

"And George took her back?" exclaimed Ginny. Harry nodded, sadly. "Sorry, Harry. At least George owes you now, you know, for not sweeping her off her feet or anything horrendous like that."

"Funny, you are a funny one," dead-panned Harry. "Besides, I thought I had swept her off her feet. I'm Harry Potter, you know. Just check the scar."

"Oh! That's what I meant to tell you! I was in Diagon Alley a few days ago. Did you know that they're selling action figures of you? They made it so it speaks and it calls 'accio' for it's firebolt…a lot. An annoying amount, actually. It's nearly exactly like you."

"Oh dear!" Harry hung his head in his hands. "I am so ashamed!"

Ginny stood up, left for the kitchen and returned with two steaming mugs of tea. "So, really, why are you here? I saw you last night. So many visits, I feel so flattered."

Harry looked sheepish. "A friend of mine thinks he may have seen Ron in northern Italy."

"Harry," she prepared to scold.

He held up his hand. "I know, shame on me. I need you to talk me out of apparating down there and searching every house for him."

At that moment, a tiny owl with impeccable timing flew threw the window. "Rowena!" exclaimed Ginny. "Harry, go grab an owl treat for Hermione's owl, please." He did as she asked and fed it to Rowena as Ginny read the letter. "It looks like I don't need to talk you out of searching for Ron, Harry."

"Why? What's the letter say, is he all right?"

"No, it's just, he supplied an address."

Harry jumped a bit. "Really, where is he?"

Ginny discretely bit her lower lip, something she only did when she was nervious. "Well, Hermione has all the details, as it appears that she is going to visit him this week." Harry had this look of utter pain on his face, so Ginny sighed and then smiled. "And of course they want you to come too," lied Ginny.

"Excellent!" Harry clapped his hands. "I better go pack!"

"Yes, you better," resigned Ginny. "Bye Harry, enjoy Italy. Tell my brother I love him when you see him, okay?"

"Done. Bye Ginny." He bolted out the door and Ginny sat down to finish reading Hermione's letter. She placed her palm on her forehead as she realized that she was going to be in a lot of trouble with Hermione.

'Dear Ginny, I just got fantastic news! Ron is in Italy and he's given me his address! He wants you and I to visit him and he thinks he may come back with us next week, if he feels comfortable enough. He really wants to talk about what he's been through, he also wants to hear about how it compares with what you went through in the Chamber. It's wonderful that he's ready to talk about it now. Lots of Love, Hermione'

Ginny was ecstatic that Ron was ready to come home but she didn't understand why there was no mention of Harry, at all, in the letter. "Go on home, Rowena," shooed Ginny. Then, she lit the fireplace and sprinkled a bit of floo powder on it. "2 Waddlefoot Crescent!" she shouted out before sticking her head into the fireplace and looking about, anxiously, for Hermione.

A/N- I hope you enjoyed this chapter, there will be more coming. Please review- it makes my ego happy!