wooooo another update? you see how good I am to you guys?

minus the fact that I've be absent for almost a year.

DON'T TALK ABOUT IT

jk rowling owns it all

Ginny's mouth hung open as she realized that he was outside. On a broom. With brown hair. "What did you do to your hair?" She managed to gasp.

LIKE IT? IT'S MY DISGUISE FOR THE NIGHT.

Ginny let out a strangled laugh. "That…is not going to fool anyone." She finally said.

Draco's grin grew wider. NO ONE WILL EVER GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO SEE.

That's when she finally saw the broom stick. It was his old Nimbus 2001. And he was sitting on it like he belonged there, with all the grace and ease of a practiced flier. Ginny was envious of his obvious technique. She hadn't been flying in ages, and her form was probably way off its mark.

He flew a bit closer and Ginny gave a tiny gasp. In his right hand was another 2001. "What's that for?" She asked, trying to sound like she didn't know.

"Y-oo." He said, relishing in teasing her. WANT TO COME?

"Give me the broom," she demanded, ignoring her manners and poise. She blushed when he laughed but tried to distract him from seeing it by admiring the broom. "Where did you get it?"

I'M RICH.

Ginny looked at him. "Well are you sure you want my Weasley butt to touch it? I wouldn't want to, you know, offend your richness."

Draco didn't look apologetic. He shrugged. WHATEVER. YOU COMING OR NOT?

"Yes." Ginny was surprised at how good the broom felt beneath her. She had missed it. Her hands ran slowly up the smooth, polished handle and she sighed. Hovering in the common room she felt its power and her entire body buzzed with excitement.

Draco sighed with impatience.

Ginny rocketed past him, leaving her homework papers fluttering to the ground and Draco far behind. She looped towards the lake and skimmed above its surface loving the feeling of pure freedom.

She heard Draco catch up with her and they raced around the water before she challenged him upward.

They climbed steadily, reaching for the stars they would never touch and exalting in the feeling of the wind streaming past their faces. Leveling out high above the earth Hogwarts was just dark speck below them.

"This is amazing!" Ginny cried and then whooped in joy. Doing a back flip she zoomed around some more and came to rest hanging upside down near Draco. Feeling reckless, she ruffled his hair and then flew out of reach righting her body position. "I don't think this color works for you. Perhaps a vibrant purple to match your letters next time?" She laughed to herself and without waiting to see his reaction, she leaned back onto the broom balancing herself and gazing at the stars.

She heard him chuckled and fly over to her, mimicking her position. They floated there for a while in silence, lying on their brooms, gazing upward.

"It's much better up here isn't it?" Ginny asked. "Away from all the horrible shit down there."

Draco sighed. TELL ME ABOUT IT.

As the purple letters began to fade Ginny turned her head to look at her enemy. "Can I ask you something?"

Draco's eyes were focused on the stars but she could tell he was listening. "Ssuh-re."

"Why are we doing this?" Ginny felt embarrassed so she rushed on. "I mean, I don't like you or anything because you're my sworn enemy but I can still go flying with you at night. Like, what the fuck? And another thing," Ginny was sitting up now. "You can't just go around kissing people like that, alright? And I saved your life and we bonded and that's great but we have these conversations but I can tell in our voices that we don't trust each other because we're so damn careful with what we say and…" She trailed off at the look on his face.

It looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"What?" She asked, mortified.

NOTHING, he wrote. IT'S JUST THAT I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING. BUT THE REASON I ASKED YOU TO FLY WITH ME WAS BECAUSE I HONESTLY DON'T HAVE ANYONE ELSE TO DO IT WITH. AND I KNEW YOU WOULD BE IN TONIGHT BECAUSE YOU AREN'T COOL ENOUGH TO GO OUT.

Ginny huffed, insulted, but Draco ignored it and sat up.

AND SORRY FOR KISSING YOU, IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN. I JUST NEEDED TO SEE WHAT IT WAS LIKE. GET YOU OUT OF MY SYSTEM.

"Get me out of your system?" Ginny was just annoyed now. "Oh so did I fulfill that purpose for you? Was I a good experiment?"

Draco sighed. NO. IT'S NOT LIKE THAT. I JUST FELT…INFATUATED BY YOU, PROBABLY BECAUSE YOU SAVED ME AND I THOUGHT THAT THOSE FEELINGS WERE SOMEHOW…SEXUAL.

"Well that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard." Ginny tried not to feel like crying. For a moment she had actually thought someone was attracted to her. Never mind who it was, it was just nice to be liked by someone.

Draco rubbed his forehead. WELL I STILL HATE YOU IF THAT HELPS.

Ginny sniffed haughtily, disguising a sob. "Well it doesn't!" She ignored the shocked look on his face at her shout. "I thought that for two seconds you could actually put aside how much of an asshole you are and be nice to me for the pure reason why everyone else is being nice to each other!"

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Draco looked genuinely perplexed but Ginny didn't care. She kept going. As long as she didn't cry she was okay…

"You know what I'm talking about! Nott and Zabini teaming up with the rest of the school in a rebel faction! Teaming together once and for all, forgetting our differences because damn it people are fucking dying out there. It's a bloody war Malfoy and we are smack in the middle of it but you can't think of anything but your old feelings. You're such a bastard!"

They sat in stunned silence for a while, their brooms bobbing gently in the breeze.

"I mean, you could at least pretend to be nice instead of this half-hearted insult shit because honestly, it's just getting old." Ginny finished.

He was still quiet for a while and Ginny felt incredibly stupid. Draco sat across from her, the picture of composure just staring at her with these cold grey eyes that she just knew were judging her.

HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PLAN? Draco finally wrote.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Because, contrary to popular Slytherin beliefs, Gryffindor's aren't idiots. And Nott and Zabini aren't exactly super spies. Come on, Neville figured it out.

Draco chuckled. WELL I'LL GIVE YOU THAT ONE, BUT DON'T THINK I'M NOT CONSTANTLY REMINDED OF THE WAR, WEASEL. Draco's face turned stony. IT'S THE REASON WHY I'M WRITING IN PURPLE LETTERS EVERYDAY.

"Well that's your fault," Ginny said, sticking out her chin. "You shouldn't have helped the Death Eaters kill Dumbledore." She paused. "Merlin, I can't believe I keep forgetting about that. You're practically a Death Eater yourself-"

Draco rolled up his sleeve, cutting her off. PRACTICALLY? He asked simply.

The Dark Mark stood out so well against the paleness of his skin that Ginny could see the shading on the teeth of the skull. She shuddered as the snake's tongue seemed to flicker in the moonlight.

"I'm sorry…" she said softly.

Draco scoffed. YOU KNOW, I REALLY STILL DON'T WANT YOUR PITY. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE GONE THROUGH AND I DON'T EVER EXPECT YOU TO. SO DON'T COME PREACHING TO ME ABOUT YOUR BIG IDEAS ABOUT THIS WAR. I'VE SEEN MORE OF IT THAN YOU EVER WILL.

"Well maybe if you tell me about it, if you tell everyone, they'll forgive-"

"No." Draco said so forcefully and clearly in his new, scratchy voice that Ginny jumped a little. NO THEY WON'T. AND I'VE ACCEPTED THAT. AND I DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU BECAUSE I DON'T TRUST YOU BECAUSE WE ARE DIFFERENT. END OF STORY.

"That's a super philosophy, Malfoy, what the hell are you going to do when you really need help? You can't go to the hospital, you can't go to school and I'm guessing you sure as shit can't show your face in our world. So what are you going to do, live as a muggle? You hate them, so what are you left with?"

Ginny couldn't help herself with that speech. She knew that she should just be ignoring him and fly back down to Hogwarts but this itch, this little thorn in her side with the name Malfoy would not go away. This was a mystery, an enigma that she just had to figure out. Deep down she wondered if she could help him. Help him like the people she wanted to help for the rest of her life.

Draco didn't answer her and she knew why. All he really had was her. Sure, Theo and Blaise were his friends but they weren't as connected to him as she was and they both knew it.

That's why she was hundreds of miles above Hogwarts with her sworn enemy. Her eyes met his and she saw an awful loneliness that she knew frightened him.

We're just kids, she thought vehemently. And we have to fight in a bloody war. And, she sighed to herself. I only have him too.

Ginny lay back down. "Sorry, I guess I don't really know what I'm talking about. But honestly, Malfoy, what are we going to do? The only people at the school we can turn to are our rivals? That's got to be sick."

He let out an ironic, barking laugh. "R-right?" He managed to scratch out. IT'S RIDICULOUS. BUT I'M GOING TO KEEP YOU AROUND A LITTLE BIT LONGER, IF THAT'S OKAY WITH YOUR ROYAL WEASEL-NESS.

Ginny rolled her eyes but Draco persisted. I WOULD RATHER BE IN THE CONSTANT COMPANY OF SOMEONE I HATE THAN WITH NO ONE AT ALL. Her mouth twisted and he noticed. AND I THINK YOU WOULD BE TOO. AT LEAST I DON'T ATTACK YOU.

Ginny grimaced, thinking of Nora and they lapsed back into silence.

AND I ACTUALLY NEED MORE OF YOUR HELP.

Ginny sat up. "What? How much more can I give you? I am already dead tired every night and-"

He cut her off with a wave of his hand. LOOK, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO I UNDERSTAND, I AM ALREADY ASKING A LOT OF YOU.

He didn't write anything for a while. Ginny realized that this was Draco asking for help. Personally. To her face. This must be really hard for him. Ginny tried not to giggle as she waited. She was not going to let him off easy on this one.

He finally sat up and looked at her. I NEED YOU- He wiped away those letters and started again. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD HELP ME LEARN HOW TO SPEAK AGAIN.

haha