A/N: Yes, it's been 3 years, and I was finally inspired to write again, at least for this fic, after reading it just a couple days ago. I believe I have gotten to be a much better writer over time, looking back on the previous chapters and the other stories seem just a little funny to me because they are so out of character. Tried to keep everyone in character in this chapter, and hopefully I'll continue writing. Who knows if the original viewers are even reading this? Haha, it really has been that long. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the Harry Potter franchise. The idea, however, is mine.

Conversations & Meetings

I gathered my hair up in a ponytail and secured it with an elastic. Knowing Professor Slughorn, he would probably make the detention something to do with me getting dirt on me. He was Head of Slytherin afterall.

I walked down the dungeons towards the Potions classroom where my detention would be held. I dreaded what Professor Slughorn would make me do, and I hoped that it would be something time-consuming so that my time could go faster.

I pushed open the classroom's door to find Professor Slughorn seated at his desk in front of me. He was hunched over, scribbling furiously, but when the door clicked behind me, he looked up.

"Miss Weasley," he started, "On time, I see." He looked down at his watch. "We shall wait for the other student to join us before beginning our detention, alright? Take a seat please." He gestured towards one of the desks in front of him, and I sat down.

I wondered who the other student could be when the sound of shuffling feet made me turn.

"Weasley?" came the outraged voice from behind me.

"Parkinson?" I retorted.

Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together, to bring our focus to the front. "Now, now, let's get started shall we?"

"I don't know if I can work with her," Pansy said from beside me where she stood.

Slughorn's eyes narrowed. "Well, Miss Parkinson, I was going to assign you separate tasks, but I think that you two shall work together on a project."Slughorn then turned to the wall behind me, while Pansy made a moan of disgust beside me.

"You two shall rearrange this bookshelf and potion shelf alphabetically. I'll be in the room next door. You may call me back when the shelves are done." He paused. "And no magic." With that, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

I shuffled next to Pansy, unsure of where to start first. I turned to her, and opened my mouth when she stopped me.

"Here's what's going to happen, She-Weasel," she started, tilting her head to the side and positioning her hands on her hips. "The bookshelf will be done first, by author alphabetically and then by title alphabetically. I'll start at the end of the alphabet, you begin and the beginning and we'll meet in the middle." She jerked her head at the potion shelf behind her. "Same thing with that, I'll do the end, and you the beginning."

I nodded, who knew Pansy was so organized? "That's fi-", I was interrupted by Pansy once more.

"And keep your mouth shut around me, Weasley. No talking at all. I would like to get out of here as fast as I can." With that, she turned on her heel and walked over to the bookshelf and began pulling the books off the shelf to start arranging the books in order.

I rolled my eyes, but walked over to join her. I wanted to get out of detention quickly too. We worked in silence and were able to finish arranging the bookshelf in under an hour. We moved on to the potions shelf next and began working in silence again, until I heard Pansy give a mumbled moan.

I turned to look at her quizzically, and noticed that she was clenching and unclenching her left fist. "Are you okay?" I asked, making it a point to look at her covered left arm.

"I'm fine, Weasley," she replied, barely managing to choke it out as she winced in pain. "Stop looking at my fucking arm."

"It obviously hurts," I acknowledged. "Is someone calling you?"

She whipped her head at me at lightning speed. "Did you seriously just ask me that, Weasley?" She paused to sneer at me before she began again. "The fact that you just asked me that shows me how fucking stupid you are. I'm going to be watching you." She stood up and leaned over me. "Tell Slughorn that I went to the washroom, we're almost done here anyway." Pansy turned and walked quietly out the door.

I mentally slapped myself. Why would I ask her that? Because I want to know what happened last year, and the situation with her and Malfoy. I slowly finished rearranging the potion bottles before letting Professor Slughorn know that Pansy and I had finished. I walked out the door and headed back to Gryffindor Tower for a (hopefully) good night's rest.

I woke up to the sun blaring through the window. I rubbed my eyes and yawned. I actually did have a peaceful sleep, even with the conversation with Parkinson looming in my mind. I got dressed and made my way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Ginny!" Fawna yelled, waving me over. I made my way to sit down across from her. "How was detention last night? We heard Parkinson whining that she had to endure detention with you, but we, obviously feel sorry for you." Colin nodded from beside her.

I snuck a look at the Slytherin table before talking. Parkinson was in deep conversation with Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, who kept peering over at the Gryffindor table. Malfoy was situated a few seats down from them, who was clearly trying to overhear their discussion.

I turned back to Fawna and Colin. "Honestly, it wasn't that bad for the most part. We just worked in silence." They smiled a little.

There was a flutter of wings overhead, and students looked up, including me, to see the mail coming in. A small letter was dropped in front of me with the letter G scrawled on the front of it.

"Who's that from?" asked Colin, "Expecting mail?"

I shook my head in confusion, and peeled off the emblem on the back to open the envelope. A crest of arms? The letter was short and to the point.

G,

Meet me in the owlrey at exactly 9:15. It's important.

-M.

I glanced at Malfoy's seat and noticed that it was empty. Then, I glanced at my watch. It was just after 9.

"So, what's it say?" asked Fawna.

"Just some mail from the twins, asking about prospective business ideas. But, I'm going to head out early and grab some notes before class." I said goodbye to them, and quickly walked to the owlrey, nervous butterflies in my stomach.

I swiftly climbed the stairs, each shoe creating a hard hitting sound as I raced up the stairs. I arrived a little out of breath, just as I turned into the entrance way. Malfoy was leaning against one of the railings, facing me as I walked in.

"Weasley," he said, upon my arrival.

"Malfoy, what is this about?" I asked, walking over to him, stopping just a bit away.

"First of all, you missed our run time, but that's not important."

I rolled my eyes. "Then why bring it up." I sighed. "C'mon Malfoy, we're not friends, we're not buddies. We just keep running into each other, and to think that we're gonna have running dates is stupid beyond belief."

"True," he replied, "Why come meet me then?"

I shuffled my feet.

"See?" he said, his hands returning to his pockets. "You're interested in what I actually have to say. We are not friends, and we may be close to enemies, but you're interested in my business."

"Only because of why you returned to school," I admitted. "If last year hadn't of happened the way it did, would we be talking like this?"

His eyes narrowed, and he moved his shoulders a little trying to relax. "How about we just get to the topic at hand here? What I wrote to you in the letter was not about our running times."

I shrugged, annoyed a tiny bit. "Fine."

"Pansy came into the common room last night, bloody peeved at her detention with you. I like to study in the corner of the lounge not near any of the other housemates, however, it is the only corner that was nearest the fireplace where she gathered Greengrass and Bulstrode. Apparently, she couldn't find Nott or Zabini last night, but she talked to them this morning at breakfast." He paused to catch his breath. "I heard what happened between you and her at the detention. Are you really that stupid to ask about her arm?"

I threw my hands up in the air. "Apparently so. But c'mon, she does have the Mark!"

"Either way, you do not ask a Slytherin, especially one who has other ties to darker wizards, about whether she has it or not!"

"Technically, I didn't ask her," I replied.

"You're getting yourself into hot water with her, Weasley. She is really on the lookout for you."

"And so what? You're here to help me?" I argued.

"We don't need another war here at Hogwarts," Malfoy answered.

"Don't you mean, we don't need another year like last year?"

Malfoy stepped towards me. "Don't even get started on that, Weasley, or you'll regret it. Have a nice life." He walked past me and out the entrance. "Oh, and say hi to Pansy for me." He called over his shoulder.

I sighed, and rubbed a hand through my hair. I had screwed things up, again, with the guy who just warned me about a vengeful Parkinson who was on my tail. I could've at least thanked him. I snorted a little, fed up with myself, and headed back down the stairs to continue the rest of the day and watch my back.

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