CHAPTER TWO

FALSE HOPE

Ginny and Dean stood in the corridor, laughing at whatever boring joke he was telling, Katie Bell and Nigel Wespurt (Pipsqueak),-who was in the DA during their fifth year- smirked at the sight of Ginny's awkward and fake laugh. Dean was an idiot not to realise he was boring the pants off of her.

"Y'know, maybe thats his plan." Pipsqueak suggested, Katie looked down at him, confused.

"Whats his plan?" Katie asked and put her hand on Pipsqueak's shoulder, which was considerably lower than hers as he was rather small for his age. Pipsqueak glanced up at her and spoke once again with a rather large lisp.

"Maybe he's trying to bore the pants off of her," he stated, "if she gets so bored then eventually she might sleep with him ... out of boredom." Katie looked at him, raising her eyebrows. She knew this was wrong because all Dean would want to do with her would be to sit down and read a book with her.

"Nah, he wouldnt do that." Katie said simply and glanced back over to the 'happy' couple. She suppressed a laugh as she could see the boredom all over Ginny's face. Eventually, Ginny managed to escape Dean and scurried over to her two best friends, who were both gossiping intently. Ginny rolled her eyes and began to complain about Dean.

"Oh my God! Could you believe the nerve of that guy? He's a great guy and all but I honestly cant have a conversation with him about something I like." Ginny went on for a while about the selfishness of her 19th century boyfriend. Katie and Pipsqueak giggled throughout it and exchanged many looks of amusement.

"Ginny ... I honestly dont think you've taken a shine to this guy." Katie suggested awkwardly. Ginny gave a slight laugh and put her hand on her forehead.

"Maybe your right, hey do you know where Harry is?" Ginny asked and glanced up and down the corridor, looking for any sight of Harry. Pipsqueak shrugged.

"I have no idea," Pipsqueak replied, "maybe he's in the common room. Why did you ask?" He gave her a cheeky smile and a wink. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"I just ... havnt seen him in a while." Ginny muttered.

Katie pointed down the corridor. "He went to the library. Go on, have your fun." Ginny smiled at them and ran off down the corridor.

Flicking through the pages of the ancient book, wasnt how Harry had planned to spend his day but there was nothing else to do. Ron and Hermione had been sent off to some Prefect meeting that Proffesser Slughorn had arranged so Harry was left to sit on his own in the quiet, boring library. As he finally turned the last page, he jumped slightly at the sight of Ginny, who had suddenly sat next to him and was smiling boadly at him.

"Hey Harry!" She grinned confidently. He looked at her, dont be awkward... Dont be awkward, Harry thought to himself.

"Hi. A-are you okay?" He stuttered. Damnit Harry! What did I just say! Ginny smiled at him and nodded.

"Im great thanks, what are you doing here?" She wondered and began looking through the old Quidditch book he had been previously reading.

"Uhh... Well, everyone else was busy so I thought i'd just do some reading." Harry eplained briefly. Ginny looked at him.

"I didn't know you were the reading type." Ginny inquired. Harry searched for the right words in his head, he wasnt really the reading type after all.

"I read now and again." Harry sighed thoughtfully and gazed down at his lap. For a moment he wanted to hum a little tune to break the awkward silence but eventually decided not to, as he knew it would just earn him some weird looks from Ginny and Madame Pince, the stuck up librarian. Ginny nodded and beamed once again at him. What did she want from him? She had hardly ever talked to him but recently she had pounced on him and had devoted most of the beginning of the year to talk to him.

"Look, Harry," Ginny began, "im free tonight, do you want to go into Hogsmeade with me? We can get something to eat, maybe?" Harry's spirits suddenly lifted and he didnt care that he was smiling foolishly at her, he immediatley nodded and jumped up.

"Okay, sure ... Uhh, i'll see you tonight!" Harry began to rush backwards down the corridor, bumping into various irritated students as he went, "goodnight!" Ginny watched him go and suppressed a small giggle, she smiled to herself. Dean could wait.

Draco attempted to struggle out of Bertha's rib crushing hug in order to win his favourite seat at the Slytherin table in the already busy Great Hall. Bertha scruffed up his hair when she eventually released him from her grip. He stood frowning up at her (He was considerably small compare to her rather large frame), Draco rolled his eyes and began to walk away.

"Can I sit next to you?" Bertha wondered as she caught the same pace as him, "keeping in mind that Pansy hasn't shown up yet and I'm sure she wont mind." Draco shrugged and sat down next to Eli Nott - A fellow Slytherin.

"Sup guys?" Eli said cheerily and pat Draco on the back.

"Nothing much, my brother!" Bertha exclaimed and whacked Eli on the back with her large hand, almost knocking him face first into his dinner. Eli gasped and stared at Bertha with his mouth wide open in shock. He looked appalled.

"What the hell!" He shouted, "Bertha, girl!" Bertha picked up a napkin and gently dabbed away the spagetti bolonaise off of his face.

"Im sorry, I didnt mean to-" Bertha started.

"Shut up! Oh my God im working with freaks!" Draco snapped. Bertha and Eli stared at him, blinking aimlessly and confused. They exchanged looks and shrugged.

"But she pushed me into my food..." Eli mumbled.

"Okay, then Bertha, what do you say?" Draco said, looking at Bertha and raising his eyebrows. Bertha immediatley picked up her fork and began poking it aimlessley at her food.

After a few seconds silence, she spoke. "Sorry Eli."

"And Eli, what do you say?" Draco turned to Eli. Eli looked down.

"Thats okay." Eli mumbled and put a small piece of spagetti in his half open mouth. No one said anything for a while, but Eli was relieved that Pansy soon entered the Great Hall and took a seat on the other side of Draco.

"Hey guys." Pansy beamed at all of them, although she was particulary aiming this statement at Draco, who she was looking at. They all mumbled a few unheard words and went back to their food. Except from Draco, who was staring into space and didn't look remotley interested in the food infront of him. Pansy was half eating her food, which didnt look very appetizing, yet she was mostly watching Draco (who did look appatizing) and she was so tempted to kiss him. Even if it was only on the cheek. Pansy tried to think of something interesting to say to him, anything that he would care about.

"So, I had one of those embarressing moments on the way in," Pansy began explaining, "you know, when you bump into someone and you try to go one way but they go the same way!" Pansy suddenly began a fit of laughter. The others all stared at her, she didnt want anything more than to stop laughing but she knew what would happen. If she stopped the silence would grow even more awkward and it wouldnt be worth being there. Realising that she had no other choice, she ceased her laughing while avoiding the others gaze. Pansy crossed her fingers in hope that no one was looking at her. She hesitantly looked at them, to her relief, they had looked away again.

"I hate it when that happens." Draco stated. Pansy was shocked that he replied to her statement and immediatley continued the conversation.

"I know right? Its so embarressing! Its like; oh ... oh ... sorry!" Pansy laughed and soon realised that Draco was looking at her like she was slightly weird. She had got caught up in the moment and had taken it too far. Pansy felt a sense of happiness ran through her when he smirked and it wasn't a 'you're an idiot' smirk, it was a friendly smirk. She looked down and laughed quietly. Just keep it going, she thought to herself and immediatley thought of a new and interesting conversation.

"So, I got an Outstanding on my DADA exam," Pansy beamed. He nodded slightly to let her know he heard but showed no sign in real interest, "you dont talk much, do you?"

Draco looked at her. "Yeah, I always talk. Ive just got nothing to say right now." Pansy felt even more happy when he smiled at her, which made him look even more good looking.

"Well, what do you wanna talk about?" Pansy wondered. Draco sighed and glanced around the Great Hall.

"How cool would a food fight be right now?" He said and laughed slightly at the idea. She looked at him and smiled, he looked innocent and sweet. What she would give to kiss him. She nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that would be pretty awesome." Pansy said. Her eyes were glued to him, which she regretted when he turned to face her and out of embarressment, she widened her eyes and spun back to face her dinner. Oh God.

Running into the girls bathroom, Katie Bell collapsed onto the stone floor. She prayed that no one was in there as she fell to her weak knees and pulled a mirror out from her shoulder bag. Merlin was she a mess! Her once beautiful make up was now running darkly and heavily down her flawless cheeks. Katie began to brush her hair over and over but knew it wasn't enough so she immediatley ran into a cubicle. Without thinking about it, she leant over the toilet and shoved two fingers down her throat. Katie hated doing it, but in the end it had to be done. After she had rid of the sick, she sat on the floor while shaking and crying uncontrollably. There was no point in denying it anymore. She was uncontrollably and unconditionally ... In love.

Pansy glanced miserably around at all her friends; Crabbe and Goyle were endlessley chomping on a large pile of muffins and cupcakes, Eli Theadore Nott was sitting in his favourite armchair my the glowing fire, Blaise Zabini was sitting happily crossed legs on the floor and Draco Malfoy was lounging lazily on the sofa. It was mostly a silent night but there was now and again substances of a conversation. Blaise had turned to the subject of good looking girls when topics for gossip had become scarce.

"Daphne's a looker, wouldn't you think, Eli?" He said. Eli shrugged and rolled his green eyes, which always gave him the affect of looking concerned or a little bit angry.

"I suppose so, Blaise. What about her sister, Astoria?" Eli pointed out, "she's not too bad either. Eh? Eh?" Blaise nodded but didn't look too interested. Pansy had positioned herself at the top of the stone, spiral staircase so she could look upon the whole common room and no one would see her. She was hidden from view behind the small balcony wall and had been listening to their conversation.

"You see, I dont agree," Draco stated, the other boys looked at him although in shock. Especially Goyle, who had finally ceased in eating his abnormally large, chocolate muffin. Draco looked at them and frowned, "what?"

"You dont agree? Everyone agrees!" Goyle exclaimed and looked around at the others for support or agreement.

"Well, she's alright," he admitted, Pansy felt her stomach lurch slightly, "but hasn't she been fooling around with at least every guy in the school?" She felt a little happier now, as she knew he dissagreed with Astoria's poor behaviour and bad reputation.

"Yeah?" Eli stated, as though he didn't care about it one bit, "so what?" Which he evidently didn't.

"I just think its wrong, if you're going to be with anyone then its got to be one person!" Explained Draco, sounding a little irritated. Eli nodded, understanding Draco's views. After a few words of disagreement from Crabbe and Goyle, Pansy decided that she would go down and join them and try to keep the peace. She practically skipped down the staircase and into the cosy common room, most eyes turned to her (except from Draco's of course), and she gave them all a greeting smile.

"Draco, budge." She stated simply, while standing by the sofa and folding her arms. He sighed in irritation and lazily lifted his head slightly. She knew exactly want he wanted, she she sat down, allowing him to rest his head on her lap and began playing with his hair. This had become a habit since the beginning of their sixth year and Pansy did enjoy it, it made her feel very close to him, which was all she wanted. So for the remainder of the night, the group of friends sat and gossiped about random things that were occurring around the school and Pansy continuously played happily with his hair. They were having their own private conversation.

Harry's heart beat faster than it had since Sirius's death. He had dreamed of going out with Ginny, he had always dreamed of one date with her. And now he was sitting there in the 'Three Broomsticks' in Hogsmeade, looking into her eyes, and she was looking back. Smiling as though she was in a daze, but she was definatley there. One hundred percent real and he was determined to make this date go well. Determined to maybe get a small peck on the cheek, even that would be enough. Ginny was talking about what an interesting day she had had. First some eventful things involving her, Katie and Pipsqueak, then something interesting that happened during breakfast and finally how she was happy on this date. They talked for hours and the funny thing was ... he was actually listening! He barely listened to anyone during a random conversation and now he was intently paying full attention to her.

"So what happened in your day?" Ginny wondered after a while. Her green eyes twinkled in the light of the cafe, he looked into them and replied.

"Nothing really, just catching up on a few homeworks and seeing you." He beamed happily and glanced around the cafe. It was quite dingy in there, the candles illuminated a small bit of light but it was still dark. Luckily, the windows allowed streams of welcoming light into the small cafe, which made it much more friendly and date-worthy. There was shelves with trophies on them and moose heads on the wall, alongside many pictures of the cafes owner and the family, moving in their frames. Harry's heart skipped a beat when Ginny daintily leant forward and kissed him gently on the cheek. Before she could say anything else to her, Dean Thomas walked in, looking proud and smiling brightly.

"Ginny darling!" Deam beamed, "guess what? I just scored two tickets to ten goes on my favourite arcade game!" Before Ginny could protest, Dean grabbed her arm and dragged her out the cafe, excited. Leaving Harry alone and confused. He was dissapointed and annoyed, so he abruptly stood up and left the small, crowded cafe. Ginny hadn't had a say in that decision and that made him angry. It wasn't up to Dean what she did and she had wanted to stay with him (at least he hopes she had). Quickly, he arrived back at the Gryffindor common room to be greeted by Ron and Hermione, who were finishing their potions essay by the looks of it.

"How'd it go?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes. How did your 'friendly gathering' turn out Harry?" Hermione smirked. Harry just narrowed his eyes at them and went up to the boys dormitory. He was happier alone right now and unless Ginny walked in, willing to kiss him head to toe then he didn't want to see anyone. He removed Ginny from his mind and changed into his pyjamas, he lay in his cosy bed and closed his eyes. Hoping that Ginny would not pop up in his dreams but that did not last long and soon enough, she was there smiling at him and kissing him. Head to toe.