Disclaimer: Unfortunately, my name isn't J. K. Rowling...which means that I own nothing. While you guys read, I'll go cry in a corner about the fact that I didn't create this marvelous world and these amazing characters.

Draco and I must have stood together like that for over an hour before I reluctantly detached myself from his warm arms.

"This wasn't the only reason I brought you up here," I said to answer his quizzical gaze.

"Why else?" he asked.

"Do you remember before, when you were trying to get a rise out of me by saying that the reason I brought you here was because we hadn't kissed in two months and I answered yes and no?"

"Am I about to find out what the no meant?"

I nodded. I was uncomfortable from standing so long so I folded myself on the floor with my back to the stone railing. Draco settled down beside me and we both turned slightly so we could see each other.

"I already know about you being a Death Eater."

His voice was even as he answered. "And how would you know that?"

"Astoria told me about you taking your father's place in the Death Eater ranks once he was arrested. She also told me about her, Crabbe, Goyle and Theo all being basically Death Eaters in training."

"And you aren't running off to Scarhead, Githead and the Mudblood with this knowledge?"

I decided to ignore these insults directed at Harry, Ron and Hermione in my quest for the truth from Draco. "I have no reason to tell them. It doesn't matter to me if you guys are Death Eaters because you will always be just Draco and Astoria to me, not Death Eater Malfoy and Death Eater Greengrass."

He searched my eyes intently to see if I was telling the truth and what he saw must have reassured him because he relaxed back against the stone. "I trust you Weasley."

"Can I see your left arm?"

Very reluctantly, Draco held out his left arm and slowly rolled up his sweater sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark. I wasn't repulsed in the least at the black skull with a snake protruding from the mouth forever branded on the pale skin of Draco's forearm. Instead, I found myself curious.

"Can I touch it?" I breathed.

"If you must," he said. Even in the dark I could see him rolling his eyes.

I skimmed my fingertips of one hand gently across the marked skin while I held his forearm in the other and I felt Draco shiver. Then— I don't know what made me do it— I leaned forward and pressed a whisper of a kiss against the brand.

"What was that for?" he asked, taking back his arm and rolling his sleeve down.

"To show you that I'm okay with it. I don't care if you're a Death Eater. These feelings I have about you haven't changed."

He was gazing at me like I had grown an extra head. "Have I ever told you how different you are from the rest of your family?"

I smiled. "Yeah, you may have mentioned it."

"Well it's true. No Weasley I have ever encountered would ever be okay with a Death Eater."

I brought up my knees and wound my arms around them. "I have another question."

"Didn't Astoria tell you everything?"

I shook my head. "No, there was one thing I wanted to know but she couldn't tell me. She said it wasn't her information to tell but I'm guessing it is yours to tell."

He eyed me warily. "What do you want to know?"

"Where do you, Astoria, Crabbe, Goyle, and Theo go when you disappear? Why do all you guys look severely ill and sleep deprived?"

"Ginny…I can't tell you that."

"You better tell me. You may not think it, but I'm worried about you guys—well not Crabbe, Goyle and Theo— but I am worried about you and Astoria. Astoria is my friend and you are my snogging buddy."

"Snogging buddy?" he snorted.

"I don't know what to call you at the moment but you get my point. You guys are my friends and you've been disappearing and you look sick and I swear you looked absolutely terrified when I encountered you on the seventh floor months ago. What are you so scared of?"

"I'm not scared," he growled.

"Then tell me what's going on. What have you guys been doing that's affected all of you so much?"

Draco suddenly rubbed his face with his hands wearily. I could see the debate going on in his eyes whether he should tell me or not.

"Does me knowing you're a Death Eater but still sitting here not mean anything to you?"

My words seemed to help him make up his mind as he locked eyes with me. "Do you swear that you will never tell anyone and you will never speak about it unless it's with me, Astoria, Crabbe, Goyle, Theo, Blaise or Zane?"

"Blaise and Zane know too?"

He nodded. "They know and they're helping in the slightest way possible because they aren't Death Eaters."

"Yes, I swear to you that I won't say anything about it to anyone and I will never speak of it unless it's with you, Astoria, Blaise, Zane, Theo, Crabbe or Goyle."

"I believe you."

"So, tell me."

He took a deep breath. "I was given a mission to complete this year by the Dark Lord."

"What's the mission?"

Draco suddenly jumped to his feet and extended his hand to me. "It will be best if I show you."

I took his hand and he pulled me up. "Show me?"

"C'mon," he said, gesturing down the stairs.

Thankfully the castle seemed deserted as Draco led me down to the seventh floor. Our feet were muffled against the stone corridor as he pulled me to face the blank wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching troll's ballet.

"The Room of Requirement?" I questioned.

Draco walked back and forth in front of the empty wall three times before a plain black door appeared on the wall.

"It's in here," he said, gesturing at the door.

He held it open and I slipped in with him at my heels. He closed the door and I heard it lock.

"Wow," I said, taking in the room.

I was standing in a room the size of a large cathedral, whose high windows were sending shafts of light down upon what looked like a city with towering walls, built of what must be objects hidden by generations of Hogwarts inhabitants. There were alleyways and roads bordered by teetering piles of broken and damaged furniture, stowed away, perhaps, to hide the evidence of mishandled magic, or else hidden by castle-proud house-elves. There were thousands and thousands of books, no doubt banned or graffitied or stolen. There were winged catapults and Fanged Frisbees, some still with enough life in them to hover half-heartedly over the mountains of other forbidden items; there were chipped bottles of congealed potions, hats, jewels, cloaks; there were what looked like dragon eggshells, corked bottles whose contents still shimmered evilly, several rusting swords, and a heavy, bloodstained axe.

"The Room of Hidden Things," announced Draco, coming to stand at my side.

"What does the Room of Hidden Things have to do with this mission you have?" I asked.

"Come, I'll show you."

Draco led me down one of the alleys and stopped in front of a large black cabinet.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Do you remember the Vanishing Cabinet your brothers Weasel-dum and Weasel-dee threw Montague into last year?"

My eyebrows shot up. "I thought it broke though."

"It is broken. That's my mission— I have to repair it."

I was about to ask why but I shook my head, knowing I would prefer not knowing. "That's what everyone's been doing? Helping you try to repair it?"

He nodded. "I-I can't seem to repair it so Astoria is helping me as much as she can. Theo helps now and then but Crabbe and Goyle are too stupid to even think of helping with this."

"Why do they always look so tired then?"

"I use them as lookouts."

A thought suddenly struck me. "Draco…there's barely four months left of the school year. What happens if you can't fix it?"

Draco swallowed hard and balled his hands into fists. "Then he will kill me."

I suddenly remembered Astoria telling me how Narcissa Malfoy saw the Dark Mark being bestowed onto Draco as a punishment and I could understand why now. She, being a Death Eater, probably knew that You-Know-Who would give Draco this mission which explained why she was worried about Draco. She would lose her only son if he failed this mission.

If Draco was killed, the Order would probably just see it as one less Death Eater to face. Harry, Ron and Hermione definitely wouldn't shed a tear for their school nemesis. I knew his death would affect his friends. Despite him being an arrogant little snot most of the time, I knew his friends genuinely cared for him and he for them, even if he did show it in a different way.

And I knew I would be affected. Despite my better judgement, I found myself starting to fall for the Malfoy heir. He was egotistical, vain, and he thought himself superior than everyone else. But he could also be tender, caring, amusing, and pleasant to be around. I felt like I knew him better than anyone else besides Astoria and Blaise.

My dark brown eyes locked with his molten grey eyes as I grasped both his hands in mine. "I will help."

"What?"

"I will help you. No one is killing you when you got me to help you."

"You're going to help me without asking what the purpose of the Vanishing Cabinet is? Don't you want to know?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to know. I really don't. I just want to help you."

I expected him to refuse or scoff at my offer. Instead, he pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms around me as I nestled my face in the crook of his neck. That was all the acceptance I needed.

"So why don't you wear your Christmas gift?" I asked teasingly as we made our way to Gryffindor Tower.

Draco smirked. "You really want to know?"

I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know."

"I do wear it except when I'm around you."

"Why?"

If possible, his smirk grew bigger. "Before your little declaration of how much you like me before, I came up with a way to see how much you noticed about me."

"I'm confused."

"Of course you are little Weaslette," he said condescendingly. "I took it off whenever I was going to see you to see if you noticed that I don't wear it. By noticing that, I knew that you noticed things about me that no one else did, meaning that you watched me probably more than what is normal to watch a person."

"That just makes me sound like a stalker," I pouted.

"But it proved to me that I obviously meant something to you if you went through so much trouble to take note of even the littlest things."

"Isn't that something only girls do?" I teased.

He elbowed me. "Don't be calling me a girl Weasley."

"Well whatever. Now you can wear it in my presence since my little declaration of how much I like you should be pretty solid of a reason to believe that you mean something to me."

Draco grinned, took the silver ring from his pocket and slipped it onto his finger.

"Did Blaise like the present I got him too? He hasn't mentioned anything."

Draco smirked. "Blaise never says thank you to anyone for anything."

"Much like you," I pointed out. "I think it's a Slytherin thing."

"If you must know, yes. Blaise seems quite fond the book Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches you got him."

"I think it's also a Slytherin thing to wear jewelry," I remarked.

"Why?"

"What are the other two rings you have?" I asked.

He pointed to a silver signet ring with a crest on it. "This is the Malfoy ring. See, it has the Malfoy crest on it."

"And the other?"

The other ring was thick and shiny silver with a flat face. Carved into the face was a slithering serpent. "It's a Slytherin ring."

"You Slytherins and your house pride," I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"You Gryffindors and your lack of house pride— though if I was in Gryffindor, I guess I wouldn't have house pride either," he drawled.

I elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut it ferret. We're going to flatten you guys for the Quidditch Cup."

Draco shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me if you guys do or not."

"Why? Don't you love any opportunity you have to beat Harry?"

"I have more important things to do now than play Quidditch."

"So that's why you missed the Quidditch game between Slytherin and Gryffindor! You took the opportunity of the entire school being out of the castle to work on the Vanishing Cabinet!"

"Smart little weasel."

"So can we meet in the Room of Hidden Things tomorrow after classes and you can show me what you've tried already," I said as we arrived at Gryffindor Tower.

"Okay, I'll meet you outside on the seventh floor. We should go in together so I can specifically ask it not to let anyone else in."

I nodded.

"Before you go Ginny, I was wondering if you were serious before."

"Serious about what?"

"About breaking up with Dean. Or were you just saying that because you were caught up in the moment or some rubbish like that."

"I was serious. I don't know when but it will definitely be soon. I just want to find the right moment to let him down easy since he really is a great guy."

"And after that were you expecting us to tell everyone about us? Because your same worries about our families still stands."

"It's probably best if I break up with Dean but we remain a secret. It's win-win really since you won't have to get grumpy about me being with another guy and I won't have to feel guilty about always going behind his back."

Draco smirked. "Okay. Goodnight Weasley."

"Goodnight ferret."

I hastily kissed him on the cheek, whispered the password to the impatient Fat Lady and climbed through the portrait hole.

"Hey Ginny, where have you been all evening?" called Evanna as soon as she saw me coming through the portrait hole.

"Oh, I've just been down visiting Hagrid," I lied.

"Are you okay?" asked Florence. She was way more perceptive than Evanna and I cursed her for it. "You looked flushed."

"Yeah, it's just from being outside."

I knew that Florence knew I was keeping something from her and Evanna but she simply turned back to her homework without asking any more questions. I excused myself for a shower and I changed into comfy pajama pants and a tank top. I dried my hair with a charm and crawled into bed.

That was the first night of my nightmares.

I was in a dark room with towering piles of junk that I recognized as the Room of Hidden Things. Suddenly, Draco ran around a corner followed by Astoria, Blaise, Florence and Evanna, yelling something I couldn't understand. And then Lord Voldemort swept around the corner in pursuit of my friends. In a bright flash of green light, the bodies of Astoria, Blaise, Florence and Evanna all fell into a heap.

"Run Ginny!" yelled Draco.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth before another jet of light hit him and he crumpled to the floor. Voldemort laughed mirthfully as he swung Draco's body into the pile of dead bodies made of my friends.

"Now for you," Voldemort purred, stalking towards me.

"No," I moaned. "Don't kill me."

Voldemort stopped right in front of me as I stared into his slit-like eyes. "Don't you want to join your friends?"

"No, no, no," I moaned.

"Say goodbye Ginevra."

He raised his wand as I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"GINNY!" yelled a voice.

I suddenly became aware of someone shaking me and I shot up in bed. Someone had lit the candles in the room and I was able to see Evanna and Florence perched on the end of my bed, watching me worriedly. The other two girls were watching me warily from their beds.

"Sorry," I muttered. "It was just a nightmare."

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Florence.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry for waking all of you."

Evanna and Florence each shot me a nervous look before Florence extinguished the candles with a flick of her wand.

"Guys," I murmured in Evanna and Florence's direction as I settled back in bed.

"Yeah?" whispered Evanna.

"Don't tell Ron, okay?"

There was silence and then they both agreed. "We won't Ginny."

I had just finished putting on my skirt and trudged down to the common room when Hermione suddenly burst through the portrait hole.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Come quick Ginny!"

Hermione grabbed my arm and tried pulling me back through the portrait hole.

"Hermione, what's wrong! What's going on?"

"It's Ron—he's been poisoned." She suddenly gave a great yank and managed to pull me through the hole. "We have to hurry and get to the hospital wing!"

What Hermione was saying seemed to finally register with me. "Shite! Let's hurry!"

Hermione released my arm and we dashed together down to the hospital wing. When we got there, the doors were closed and Harry was standing in front of them, looking highly agitated. The fact that Harry was already there must mean he knew what had happened.

I ran up to him and gripped his arm. "Harry, what's going on? What happened to Ron?"

"He was poisoned."

I rolled my eyes. I already knew that from Hermione. "How?"

"Well, this morning he accidently ate some Chocolate Cauldrons filled with love potion meant for me. They were given to me by that third year, Romilda Vane, Anyways; I brought him to Slughorn and got him to mix him an antidote."

"Was the poison in the love potion filled Chocolate Cauldrons?"

He shook his head. "After that, Slughorn poured us each a glass of mead to toast Ron's birthday. Ron was the first to drink his and almost as soon as he swallowed it, he collapsed and started foaming at the mouth."

"Did Slughorn save him?" I asked, my hand over my mouth muffling the question.

"No, he looked too much in shock. I luckily found a bezoar in Slughorn's potion bag and I managed to shove it down Ron's throat in time. Slughorn and I brought Ron here and now they won't let me in to see him."

"Have mum and dad been told?"

"Yeah, Slughorn ran off to tell Dumbledore as soon as Madam Pomfrey started treating Ron. I'm assuming Dumbledore alerted them because not even ten minutes later they arrived at the school and Madam Pomfrey allowed them to go in and see him."

"Are they still in there?"

"Yeah."

"How come we can't go in? I mean, I'm family. I'm his sister."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. They'll probably let us see him after your parents are done in there."

"But Ron's okay, right?"

Harry nodded grimly. "As far as I know, yeah, he's okay."

Review! Review ! Review!

So I hoped you liked this chapter. I find that I'm on a roll when it comes to updating. I hope I can keep updating this fast for you guys.

On a side note, I listened to the song Godric's Hollow Graveyard from the Deathly Hallows pt 1 soundtrack when I was writing the scene between Draco and Ginny when they were talking about him being a Death Eater. For me, that song captured the moment.