Five

Biting back tears seemed to be a reoccurring theme for Ginny these days, and she definitely didn't like it. So instead of sitting in her room and moping she waited for the Malfoys to leave and then ran down the stairs to join the rest of her family.

"Why?" Arthur Weasley asked as she walked into the dining room to find everyone sat around the table. Ginny froze as everyone stared at her, unsure of what to say – and at that exact moment Mrs Weasley entered the room.

"I've got lots of food, it should keep us going all month," she grinned, and then faltered, "What's wrong?"

Nobody said anything, "I'm waiting."

"Mr Malfoy's just been round," Arthur said.

"What, why? What have I missed? Arthur!" Mrs Weasley demanded.

Everyone turned to look at Ginny. Great she thought, way to break the fall dad.

"Draco and I kissed." Ginny glared at the floor.

"Merlin," said Mr Weasley, "It sounds worse every time I hear it."

Mrs Weasley on the other hand, dropped the groceries she was holding in her arms and swooped down on Ginny, grasping her in a hug, and then upon releasing her turned to face the rest of her family.

"Well? What're you all sitting around for, there's groceries to cook!"

Ron looked mortified – "But, she"

"Yes. She did, and she obviously regrets it. Have you never made a mistake in your life Ronald Weasley? Or do I need to bring up that time-"

"NO!" Ron stumbled over his chair.

"I thought not. Now, get the table ready."

And that was it. Ron kept shooting her 'I can't believe you got away with it' glances and Harry smiled weakly at her, but apart from that nobody mentioned or showed any signs of knowledge about the 'Draco incident' again.

Life in Malfoy Manor wasn't quite so easy, and Draco was fervently glad when the time to return to school came.

"Don't you dare go anywhere near her," Lucius Malfoy told Draco, grasping his shoulder tightly before he got onto the Hogwarts Express.

"I won't," said Draco sourly, shaking his father's hand from his shoulder and boarding the train. Mr. Malfoy disapparated as soon as Draco's blonde head had vanished from his sight. Before he did though, he took extra special care to spit in the direction of Arthur Weasley.

"Be good, Ginny dear!" Mrs Weasley said encompassing her daughter in a big hug, "And don't take any notice of what anyone thinks. Do what you know is right."

They both knew what she was talking about. That she was giving Ginny the permission to be with Malfoy if she thought it was the right thing to do.

"Thanks mum," Ginny said, hopping onto the train. "I'll make sure I write!"

Mrs Weasley waved as the rest of the Weasley's boarded the train, and continued to wave as the scarlet machine steamed into the distance. A single tear rolled down her cheek, her little girl was old enough to make her own mistakes now.

Ginny sat with Luna and Neville on the train ride back to Hogwarts. Luna was wearing some strange headband with sticky up pieces that looked like satellite dishes on it and they kept spinning around at odd intervals. Neville was sat there, next to Luna, watching them.

"Uh, Luna?" Ginny said, "Why are the satellite dishes on your headband moving."

"They're wrackspurt detectors. They spin when wrackspurts are present, I think they're good because then everyone in the room can be warned about them."

"Right," Ginny said, looking at Neville, expecting to share a bemused look with him, but instead found that he was still gazing at Luna who was staring vacantly into space.

She felt oddly like she was interrupting, until Neville turned and smiled at her, "How was your holiday?"

"Pretty terrible. Lucius came for a visit," Ginny said.

"As in Malfoy's dad?"

"That's the one. He was threatening me about the whole Draco thing."

"What Draco thing?" asked Neville and Ginny turned to Luna.

"You haven't told him?"

"I didn't know if I was allowed," she said absentmindedly fiddling with her headband.

Ginny sighed. "I kissed Draco," she told Neville.

He looked horrified.

"But-" he began but Ginny cut him off.

"Can we not talk about it please? I just thought you should know that I'm now #1 on Lucius Malfoy's 'to kill' list."

"He won't do anything, he'll be too afraid of going to Azkaban," said Luna, and Ginny had to admit there was some truth in her words, not that Lucius Malfoy could ever scare her anyway.

When they arrived back at Hogwarts the first thing that Ginny did was head down the great hall to grab some food. Not many people were there yet, but sure enough, over on the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy had already arrived. She didn't know whether to glare at him or ignore him, but went for the latter since it involved the least amount of eye contact.

She sat alone since Luna had run off looking for wrackspurts and Neville had followed her. Her back was to the Slytherin table but when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she knew who it was. He didn't say a word, just dropped a note into her lap and walked off. She spun just in time to see his blonde hair as he left the hall. Her hands trembling slightly she uncurled the note.

Meet me in the empty transfiguration classroom. 5 minutes.

She knew he meant the classroom where they'd shared the first kiss and wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it. She could just not go, of course. Maybe he wanted to curse her or something, but if he did, that was even more of a reason to go. She couldn't look like she was scared of him. Ginny gathered up her things and headed towards the classroom. There was no harm in finding out what he wanted.

When she reached the classroom, instead of finding Draco lounged back in a chair looking arrogant, she found a single piece of paper.

Seventh floor corridor. There's a room called the room of requirement. Meet me there.

Ginny frowned. She hadn't known that Draco knew about the room's existence, having been going there herself regularly for DA meetings, she had begun to think of it as a place only she and the DA knew about. She scrunched up the paper and tossed it into the bin, this was becoming a bit of a treasure hunt and she didn't like it.

Eventually she reached the Room of Requirement, the entrance to it was highly visible and all she had to do to get in was open the door.

"Did you know that the door is just out there for anyone to see?" she demanded as she walked in.

"No it's not. I just told the room to make it visible for you," he drawled.

"Oh," she said, taking in her surroundings. She had never visited the Slytherin common room, but she expected that if she did, it would look something like this.

The room had an eerie green light to it and Slytherin's emblem was carved into the luxurious black sofa that Draco was sprawled across. Typically there was only one sofa in the room, and so there was nowhere for Ginny to sit.

"I don't like it," she said.

"Tough," he said, smiling slightly to take the bite out of his words. "I've told it not to change, and since I was the one who opened it up, my decoration stays."

Ginny tried wishing really hard for Gryffindor hangings, but nothing came. She swore. Neville would've been able to do it, but Ginny had never been very good at getting the room to do what she wanted.

"Damn you," she said, and he shrugged, patting a spot next him on the sofa.

"Sit down."

She did, and he slipped his arm around her.

"You're bad for me," she said, "I shouldn't be here. Your dad threatened me just the other day for Merlin's sake and you didn't even try to defend me."

"And yet here you are," he pointed out, trailing a hand lazily up her arm. "Why?"

"What?"

"Why? Why are you here with me when you could be with Potter?"

That was the question Ginny had been running from, she didn't say anything, just, "Back at you – same question. Why are you here? Why did you send me that note?"

He shrugged. "Because you're hot."

She almost laughed. "Please, you wouldn't risk your father's wrath just because I'm hot. And we wouldn't be just sitting here if that was the only reason."

"Are you saying we should be doing more?" he asked, a glint in his eye, but she shook her head.

"I'm saying that you should tell me the reason you asked me here before I leave."

"I don't know. Alright? I just wanted someone to be with and I don't seem able to stay away from you." He wouldn't meet her gaze, he just stared towards the opposite side of the room.

"Really?"

He didn't reply, he just said "Your turn."

Ginny swallowed, the truth was she didn't know why she'd come. She had told herself it was out of curiosity, and that it was a chance to tell Malfoy to back off, but it wasn't that at all.

"I don't hate you," she said, "That's why I came here. Because I don't hate you, because you're a boy who's been dragged into life on the wrong side and I don't really think you want to be there. Like you said to me in my bedroom, you're scared."

"How very noble of you. But what if I don't want to change who I am? I'm going to be a death eater Ginny, and I'm not stupid enough to try and back out of it."

"Then I don't suppose I want anything to do with you," Ginny said, but she didn't move, "The thing is, I can't seem to stay away from you either."

"I'm sorry," he said slowly, "I'm sorry that I'm not Potter."

"Don't be," she said, "I like you the way you are. You're not perfect, but I know what it's like to have you-know-who hold power over you Draco. I know and I'm sorry. I'm just so, so sorry that that's the way your life is."

Draco didn't know what to say, but a tear rolled down his cheek and Ginny knew what he meant. He wasn't used to having people accept him. She leant forward and kissed the tear, tasting the salt in her mouth and then she laid her head on his chest.

He faltered for just a moment before stroking her red hair softly.