Chapter 7

Disclaimer: You don't have to rub it in that I don't own Harry Potter L

A/N: Uhm, wow. Sorry, sorry, sorry! I have no excuses as to why it took this long to update. Well, scratch that. I actually do. My computer kept crash dumping and I had to create a new account and lost all of my Harry Potter files. That and I have been WAY busy. I've been spending most of my time writing a book. An actual one at that lol. That and I had complete writers block when it came to this story. I tried, trust me, I did. It was just painful to get out. But here it finally is!

Ginny lay still on the bed. Her eyes were opened in shock, conveying all her hurt and fear. Her face paled of the flush that had previously tinged her skin a lovely pink, and her hurt, brown eyes seemed to stand out against the stark white in contrast. She clenched and unclenched her jaw as the fear and hurt finally turned white-hot rage boiling in her.

How could she have been so dumb? So blind? All along she knew she was dealing with a Malfoy, this arrogant prick, but it never even occurred to her that he might actually be one of them! She and her family were completely opposed Voldemort and his followers, and here she was, traitor to her own family by associating herself with this… this murderer!

Her shallow breathing began to come in quickly and her eyes narrowed and her brows raising high on her forehead in her disbelief. She allowed herself to take one from Draco's book and built up her walls around her emotions. She had seen him do it enough, even if the lack of emotion in his eyes always freaked her out some, she didn't want him to be able to see how much she was hurt by this.

She had to admit to herself that she was far past hurt. The thoughts that he might have been using her to get information on Dumbledore or her family, or simply to reel her in, invaded her mind and crushed her. She had actually thought that he cared. She had actually believed that he could possibly, for once, have changed into a better person than his father. But she had been wrong. That is all he became. That was all he was. He was just like his wretched father.

They hadn't moved an inch, or even said a thing after her accusation. Draco had built up his walls too, she could see. He stood still and rigid, and all his previous emotions were wiped clean from his pale face. Blaise stood slightly to the side of them, eyes worrying. He was looking back and forth from Ginny's slightly crazed eyes to Draco's seemingly lifeless ones. She could tell he didn't know what to do.

She snarled and stood up abruptly, shoving her way past Draco to get to her clothes that lay on the floor, clean and laundered from the house elves. She didn't blush like crazy from beneath their stare at her nude body, as she usually would have. She didn't care anymore. She didn't care anymore about either one of them.

Of course, that wasn't very fair to Blaise, she knew. He had done nothing wrong. But she was still outraged at him too. It was painfully obvious he had known he had the Dark Mark. He wasn't at all surprised or enraged at the gruesomely, ugly mark marring Draco's perfect skin. And she could tell from his eyes that he didn't care either. He still liked Draco. That, in and of itself, was enough to make her dislike him as much as she did Draco at the moment.

She rushed over the to clothes and started to dress haphazardly. She turned the other way from them, intent on pretending that they weren't there, but she could feel the weight of their stare on her back and naked form as she pulled on her clothes.

When she was dressed she turned around and bent down in front of the bed, gathering the papers she had scattered to the floor the night before. She dumped them into a messy pile, and looked around for her school bag.

Try as she might, she couldn't find it though. She looked under the bed, by the dresser, in the bathroom, any where that it might be, but to no avail. She let out an enraged huff and was just about to forget the damn thing and leave when she heard Blaise mutter a small, "here."

She stomped over to where he held it out to her and snatched it from his hand, not bothering to thank him for it or be at all polite about it. She stuffed the papers in the bag, not really caring that she all but crumbled most of them, slung it across her back, and marched over to the portrait hole of Blaise's Head Boy room.

"Ginny, wait," it was Blaise who spoke as she reached out to grab the handle. Of course it was him. Blaise was the better of the two, she thought to herself. At least he wasn't branded like cattle to serve some insane snake. And he did seem to care about her. But that wasn't enough to make her forgive him so easily.

Her back stiffened but she didn't turn to face them. "What do you want, Blaise?" Her voice was hoarse from holding back so much emotion.

"Don't go, Ginny. Please." She could hear the pleading in his voice, but hardened her resolve.

"I don't see why I should stay. How could I possibly want to be around a Death Eater like him? Look at that ugly mark on his arm. It probably reflects his personality. You'd do well to stay away from him, too."

Again she was interrupted before she could slam out of the room. "Oh, and you're any better? Look at you, you hypocrite. This is war. There two sides. Who's to say Dumbledore's is better? He's still trying to control people, manipulate them, and use them as pawns for himself. He's no better than the Dark Lord is. He's probably even worse. Look at how he sugar coats things to get his way. At least Voldemort is straight up with it, unlike Dumbledore." Draco sneered at her back.

She whirled around, rage emanating from her in waves, her eyes blazing. "At least he's not a murderer. Yea, this is war, but he doesn't do it as recreation. He doesn't do it for fun, like your crazed snake. I don't see how you can follow him. How can you follow in the footsteps of your damned father? I thought you were better than that, but obviously I was wrong. You're just as bad as him," she spat at him.

"Oh, and I suppose you're just some saint, are you? At least I know who I am. At least I don't act like some goody-goody, when in reality I go behind my blood-traitor families back to become the Slytherin whore."

She saw Blaise tense, and an angry look crossed his features. He turned to Draco for scolding, but at the deadly look in his eyes, he stopped.

Ginny felt as if she had just been physically slapped in the face. Her eyes started stinging from the tears that she was trying to hold back, and it was all because she knew that it was true. That really was what she was doing.

She had no comeback for that, she had nothing that could hurt him as much as that did. "Have fun rotting in Hell, murderer," she taunted one last time, before spinning on her heels and slamming out of the Head Boy room.

Once outside of the room, she leaned her back against the portrait, breathing heavily as if she'd just run a marathon. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, before opening them and blindly running away from that room as fast as possible, her red curls flying out behind her in a whirlwind of fire.

She ran for what felt like forever, not even bothering to look where she was going, running into countless students as she passed and blocking out their curses after her.

All she could do was think. Think about all those horrible but true words she had said to Draco. She kept repeating his words in her head, thinking on how true they were and how much that actually hurt. To know that she had been associating with the enemy, and she had been liking it. She felt like a traitor to her family, her friends, Harry, and to her heart.

She followed the winding of the halls until it led her to the one place she expected it to go: out.

She ran from the castle doors out to the lake, and she started to stumble and trip as she neared the waters edge. She fell to her knees beside a beech tree right on the waters front, and let the wracking sobs take her. She crawled on her hands and knees until she was leaning her back against the tree and curled her knees up to her chest and her arms around her knees, forming a tight cocoon to shield her from the onslaught of emotions.

And then she let the wall, that she had fought so hard to keep up, crumble from her mind and her heart, and gave into the grief stabbing into her heart.

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Blaise sighed in content, wrapped up in the warm steam of his bathroom. He shook his dark, wet hair out and wrapped a towel around his slender waist before exiting into his room.

His warm smile and easy attitude suddenly dropped as he entered and saw a very sexy, but very difficult Slytherin. Draco had started taking up Blaise's room to hang out in more often than not lately, and not that Blaise minded, it's just that… ok, well Blaise did mind. It wasn't often in the past week that he had had a moment of peace and quiet or lack of worry. Ever since Ginny left, Blaise found that a dark cloud seemed to loom over anything good. He had grown attached to the little vixen, and all of a sudden she's gone and ignoring him. And not only that, but since he had been trying to get her off of his mind, and try and find a soothing moment once in a while, who had to show up and remind him of her all over again? That's right, Ferret Boy, here.

"What do you want, Draco?"

"Well, gee, someone's touchy. If I had known you despised my presence so much, I would have stayed away."

"You know that's not it, Drake. Why are you being so stubborn though? Why wont you just apologize to her? Come on, man! It's driving me insane! And you cant possibly tell me that you don't miss that devil, too?"

Blaise hadn't been able to move Draco on this at all. He hated it that these two people that he liked so much were fighting, and he was growing sick of it. He had tried himself many times to catch the redhead, but she always seemed to slip away right when he caught sight of her. He doubted she would listen anyway. He remembered the horrified look in her eyes when she saw the mark, and when Draco had said all those terrible things. He couldn't necessarily blame her for that, either. But she wouldn't even give him a chance! She wouldn't even try to hear him out, and it was starting to drive him absolutely nuts. Well, that along with Mr. Tag-along over here. But whenever he did see her in the classes they shared, she sat as far away from both of them as possible and wouldn't so much as glance in their direction. Even in potions, as partners, she wouldn't listen to them, but got the work done as fast as humanly possible, not really caring whether she did an accurate job or not, and got out of their precisely when the bell rang. And as for the tutoring lessons, well she had yet to reply to a single one of his owls, and hadn't shown up to one of them yet.

"Actually, I can tell you that. And I will. I don't miss her. See? It's that simple. I don't. Not after all that she said to me. Sure, I was equally cruel back, but she had it coming, saying those things." Draco turned his nose up and away from Blaise. The other thing Blaise had been trying to do lately was amend these hurt feelings between Draco and her, which was quite impossible seeing as he couldn't get a hold of her. Anything he said about her to Draco went out the window. These two were the most stubborn people he had ever met.

He supposed there was no way to sympathize with either of them from his perspective. He didn't see anything good or bad about either side. As Draco had clearly, unfortunately, stated, this was war. And for that, he didn't agree with either side. If he could make his own side, that would just team up and stay out of it, he would. But then again, that would take effort and time, and more than likely that side would be pulled into it one way or another. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

Blaise narrowed his eyes and looked away from the blond beauty currently resting on his oh so inviting bed, and went to his wardrobe. He quickly threw on his boxers (ignoring the cat-call from Draco) and dressed in pair of loose, old (but stylish) jeans. Come on, this is Blaise we are talking about. He put on a long sleeved, black shirt and threw on one of his warmer robes. It had began to cool down some, as it began to go further into fall. The days began to get shorter, if not by much, and the breeze that often passed over the lake chilled through layers of clothes. Not to mention it was raining a little more often, but there is the little fact that this is England, for Merlin's sake. Today, however still cold, happened to be an exception from the rain. And Blaise was taking full advantage of the day.

He walked over towards the door, putting on his thick boots and grabbing up his broom before leaving Draco without another word. He continued down the hall, letting his door swing shut on its own, but of course never heard it. Instead he heard it being swung open further and footsteps following after him. Geez, could he not even get some peace during Quidditch?

He sighed and rolled his eyes before turning to look at Draco, who had now caught up to him and was walking in stride with him. No, apparently he couldn't get away, even for an evening.

He supposed maybe he was being a bit unfair to Draco. It wasn't exactly his fault that he's helpless when it comes to being left alone. It's not his fault that, even though he denies it, he relies upon others way too much. Blaise sighed. No, he couldn't blame him for that, and maybe should take it a bit easier on him for it. However, he could blame him for being a complete arse to Ginny. If he had just stayed cool and collected, maybe they could have avoided this situation. Maybe she would have listened, and maybe she would be walking with them at this very moment.

He slung his broom over his shoulder and glanced once more at Draco, surprised to find that he actually had his own broom with him as well.

"How did you know?"

Draco caught him looking at his broom and just shrugged. "Seems like a good enough day. In fact, that's the reason I came over. And if you hadn't wanted to play, I would've just gone on without you." Draco flashed Blaise a slight grin before speeding up his pace a little. It was just then that Blaise did notice Draco attire, and he was, indeed, dressed warmly.

They stepped out into the sunshine from the shadow of the castle, and Blaise reveled in it. His warm, tan skin seemed to glow underneath the suns touch, and he exhaled a long breath. It felt so much better to be out of the cooped up castle. Here, he could fly and be free from all restraints. Here he could just relax.

He walked at a leisurely pace behind Draco, not bothering to speed up for him. He took his time walking towards the Quidditch pitch, strolling through the grass and closing his eyes as he walked. He let a draft of wind blow the hair from his face and smiled slightly. It was so good to be outside. This was where he belonged.

He finally reached the Quidditch pitch, and saw Draco standing beside the stands some, and he wasn't moving. Instead he was just staring up at the sky. Blaise went to stand beside him and began shrugging out of his robes; it was much warmer than he had anticipated.

When his robe was off and he had draped it on the ground, not really caring if he got it dirty since he had a hundred other like it, he looked up at the sky, as Draco was still doing. It was then that he finally noticed a person flying with vigor high above the stands. The person was carrying a quaffle, and he gaped a little as he (or was it a she?) did a series of intricate maneuvers in the sky, twisting around through the air like a bird. Their body was pressed flat against the broom, and even though he could tell it wasn't top of the line, the person was going far faster than he had ever seen before. And when it seemed not possible to go any faster, the person let out a burst of speed and energy (along with an amazingly loud, outraged scream) and flinging the quaffle through the hoop hard enough that it went flying past and almost out of the stadium. He watched as the figure flew and easily caught it before it could go too far.

And it was then, when the figure had slowed down enough for him to see clearly, that he noticed that the figure definitely had a cascade of brilliantly red curls.

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It had been about a week since Ginny had spoken to either of the Slytherin boys. Of course she had seen them, but that didn't mean she had spoken to them. She never slowed down enough in her day to have any time for that.

After she had pulled herself together by the lake, she had put up a wall stronger than she ever had. She couldn't think about what had happened. She refused to. She had become hard as stone about that subject, and to help her avoid said subject, she was filling her days from top to bottom with activities.

In the mornings, of which she woke late, she would take a shower and rush down to breakfast, where mostly everyone had already finished, and shovel down some food. Not much however. Her appetite had diminished significantly since… well, you know, since then. In fact, she was loosing some weight, not that she really cared, and she hadn't been trying much on the side of her appearances. She never put on makeup before, but now with the lack of sleep and the bags under her eyes, she definitely needed it. She would slip into her old robes (she had quit wearing the new ones the had bought) and not bother to notice if they were dirty or in need of ironing.

After breakfast, she would rush to her first period, and all her other periods in between, not stopping to talk to anyone, and always being to her class on time. One of her biggest rules while in class was the 'no-talking-unless-called-on' rule that she was sticking to wholeheartedly. She never looked at anyone in the classroom but the teacher if she could help it, especially avoiding a brooding blond and a worried tall, dark, and handsome. Even after all the classes were through with in the day, she would eat and go to the library to study, or go up to her room and complete all her homework for that day.

However it was the weekend now, and try as she might, she couldn't find as many things to fill that up with. Not for lack of trying though. For right now, she was out on the Quidditch pitch, practicing as never before. It was odd how diligent she had become since… then.

Quidditch wasn't also just to fill up her day, she genuinely enjoyed the sport. She didn't think she was as good as anyone like Harry, but she was okay, and she did it for love more than anything. Just the feeling of flying free, feeling the wind in her locks and the sun on her face seemed to take away all her worries. Plus, she wanted to get good enough so she could try out for the team and actually have a shot at making it.

She smiled and her eyes danced in the sunshine. Yes, today of all days, was better. She had the quaffle under her arm and she sped from one end of the pitch to the other. At the beginning of her playing, she was enjoying it. But she soon began to think of Harry, for it was hard not to think of him when she was playing this sport that he loved, and that she had played against him in so many times. Her pace began to quicken as she became mad at herself. How could she be such a fool?

She spun through the air, shooting herself fast in the direction of the goal posts, using all her anger to fuel her speed as she shot as fast as a rocket. She strained her eyes from the wind whipping against her face, her hair thrashing against her and stinging where it hit her. Well, she did deserve pain after all she had done.

She twisted her body and did a complex series of tricks that she had made up on her own. She began to think of how Harry would be proud if he could see her now. But no, no he could never be proud of her if he knew she had betrayed him. She squeezed her eyes shut as tears began to sting at her eyes, and she clenched her jaw to hold them back. What would her family say? She was such a fool to fall for such a trick. They would all think of her as the ignorant, stupid little girl they always saw her as.

She threw her body into a spiral, hugging herself as close to the broom as she could. She tried to imagine it was Harry whom she was clinging to so tightly, but her mind and heart betrayed her as she only saw herself hugging to Draco and Blaise. Her temper at it all helped her gain the speed that she needed. She let it boil, not caring if anyone saw her. She did a few fast flying flips, all a bit jerky in her opinion from her anger that she put in the force, before arriving at the other end of the pitch, and as she hurtled herself out of her tumble in the sky, she flung the quaffle away from her body as hard as she could, and all her problems with her.

The process of releasing all of her pent up anger drained her, but she still easily went to catch the quaffle after it had soared through the middle hoop, just as she had planned. It was then that it occurred to her that the ringing in her ears was from her own voice. Throwing all of that emotion away with such force had forced a cry from her lips so loud it was still reverberating around in her brain.

When she had the quaffle safely in her arms, she sagged a little, and turned back around, intent on continuing her practice. She faltered in the sky when she saw a spark of blond and dark hair far off by the stands.

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Blaise watched as Ginny faltered as she looked in their direction. Finally! Now maybe he'd have a chance to talk to her! He watched as she descended from the sky, looking like an angel the whole time as the sun lit her red hair on fire.

But he noticed she that she wasn't angling herself towards him, but away from him towards the girls locker-room. Oh, so that's how it was going to be. She was going to be evasive. Again. Well, if they could be stubborn, he could be too.

"You comin', Drake?" he asked, beginning to absentmindedly walk towards her direction.

"No. I'll meet you in the sky," he said with a bit of a huff in his voice.

"Come on! Why not?" Blaise turned to look at Draco, who was looking at Ginny with something close to longing in his eyes. When Blaise blinked, it was gone. Draco ignored Blaise's question and instead took to the sky.

Blaise continued over to where Ginny had now landed and was walking briskly with her back to him. She looked as if the world were out to get her, and she'd rather be anywhere else. Which was probably true, knowing her.

His long stride quickly overtook hers, and he reached out an arm to stop her. He placed it on her shoulder, and although she stopped, she didn't turn to look at him. Instead she cleared her throat and asked, "What do you want?"

"Come on Gin, not you too?" he asked with a little more desperation in his voice than he intended.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to continue walking, but he abruptly spun her around so she was facing him.

Her hair was matted, and he could tell she hadn't been sleeping from the bags under her eyes, and her robes weren't in the best of conditions, but to him she still looked beautiful. It just felt so good to be looking at her and touching her for the first time in a week.

She looked up at him with weary eyes but all he could do besides ogle at her was stroke a finger down her cheek. She looked to be fighting against closing her eyes at his touch, which made him grin. Good, at least he still had some effect on her.

She seemed to snap out of it and jerked her head back away from him. "Don't touch me." She said it with hardly any emotion in her voice, and her eyes seemed to reflect her voice. So she had built up a bloody wall too?

"Come on, Gin," he repeated again. "Don't do this. I know you're mad at him, and you have a right to be, but surely you must notice that's not what he's like! The whole time we were together, he didn't act like a Death Eater and you know it. And he still doesn't. Why cant you just see?"

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I can see perfectly fine. I can see that mark on his arm. That's all that matters to me now. That's all that he is to me now. A Death Eater. He's no human being, and he doesn't deserve my sympathy or forgiveness." She lowered her tone to a softer one, her eyes shining with sincerity. "Just… just leave me alone Blaise. You know it's not you I'm mad at. But how can I be around you without being around him? And you knew all along and never told me. You kept me in the dark, just like he did. How are you any better?"

"I know I shouldn't have kept you in the dark, but it wasn't my secret to share. It was his choice, and there is nothing I can do about it. But I'm at least willing to look past that and to his personality and to who he is. He is not his father. He is not as cold and cruel. You need to look past that mark and see who he is as a human."

"Yea, well, some things cant be looked past. And that's one of them." She turned her back on him again and began to walk away from him, and this time he didn't follow her. She turned around just before entering the girls locker room, and he saw the words "I'm sorry" escape from her lips.

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Draco watched from above as Blaise and Ginny spoke. He saw as his friend stroked her cheek and grabbed her shoulder. And then he saw her walk away, glancing back only once. He saw as Blaise's face fell slightly, and knew that he would be back to the pouty, annoying Slytherin he was as soon as he reached the sky. Draco knew that Blaise would never give up. He never did when it came to something he wanted, or something worth fighting for. For some unexplainable reason, he thought she was worth fighting for.

Draco couldn't exactly blame him for thinking that. She was something else, even if he would never actually voice that to his friend. He did miss her, even after her fiery words cut through him like ice. But he didn't think he deserved it. It was his choice which side he chose in this war, not hers. He was quite content with his choice too. He liked the power, and he liked the jobs he was given to do. But the one thing he didn't like, was loosing Weaselette over there for it.

He sighed. There was nothing he could do about it now. Not that he would. Like I said, he was very content at where he was in this war.

He watched silently as Blaise slowly hefted himself onto his broom ungracefully as ever, and flew up to meet him in the middle. He and Blaise flew around for about half an hour, adjusting themselves to their brooms after riding it for the first time in what felt like ages. They were just beginning to play against each other for the snitch when a painful burning in Draco's left arm distracted him.

He winced as the pain increased, seeming to encircle his arm, before ebbing a bit. He rolled his eyes. Oh, perfect timing. Right when he was doing something he enjoyed, he had to put down everything for this. If anything, this was the one thing he didn't like about being a Death Eater. He was the one in control of this job. It wasn't so much that he minded, but it was definitely a hassle, and was always interrupting his good times. He sighed. Better get it over with. If he didn't act fast, the pain would just get worse until he did.

He called Blaise over with a slight huff.

"Look, I got to go in now. You stay out here as long as you want, but I cant guarantee you I'll be back." He didn't wait for any sort of reply. He knew Blaise would understand, he always did. That's one of the things he liked best about Blaise. That and his amazingly sexy body.

He was slightly glad to be going in now. The sun was quickly being shrouded by grey clouds, promising rain. He was glad when he met the shelter of the castle, and quickly hurried through it. He knew what he had to do this time, but would it make it any easier? He had to find who he was looking for first.

He tried in the Slytherin common room, and in the mans rooms, and when he couldn't find him there, he tried the Great Hall, where everyone was gathered for lunch, but still no sign of him. Way to make an easy job hard.

He really started to become frustrated. It wasn't as if he could just sigh and give up. He couldn't stop until he found him, and if he didn't find him soon than that annoying pain in his arm would be back.

He wandered through the courtyards, down in the dungeon, anywhere that he thought he might find him, but he didn't. The pain was just starting to come back when he rounded a corner almost literally bumped into him as he was exiting the library. Well, duhh! he thought to himself, mentally rolling his eyes at his stupidity. Where else would he be but in the library, trying to make himself stronger by learning more, or trying to find out that odd thing that had happened the other day to him concerning Weasley.

He pulled him quietly into a dark alcove, looking about to make sure no one was around to overhear.

"It's your time to leave now. He's ordered it."

"Do you know how long I'll be gone?"

"No, all I know is you have to leave, now, and be inconspicuous about it. We don't want anyone knowing until it's time."

The other boy gave a quick nod of his head in the darkness of the alcove, and quickly rushed out, disappearing from sight, and disappearing from mind.

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Anyway, again so sorry for the long wait. I also apologize because I know that this one isnt as long as the others. I was going to add more, but I'm saving that for the next chapter instead. No, for those of you who have asked, I am not quitting on this story. As difficult as it can be at times, namely now, I would feel bad if I quit on it. I have an actual idea for this story, it's just taking a bit to get there. Plus I find that once Ive started something, I wont stop until I finish it, and I felt bad for leaving you guys hanging for that while. I was in a bit of a rush while typing it up, and its currently 3 in the morning, so if there are any grammar mistakes, be sure and review and tell me about them. Thanks! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Again sorry. Oh, and Merry Christmas!! Thanks to all those who stood by me and reviewed! Reviews are always welcome!!!