I apologize for the long wait, but I haven't been able to find the time to actually sit down and work on the story. I was out all day for three days straight, and when I got back, I was too exhausted to even look at a computer. The back to school rush has really messed up my writing time :P But, I finally looked back over this chapter and deemed it ready for publishing! Hope it isnt too bad lol. Right now, I'm working on the last part of the last chapter, but don't expect an update for 1-2 days, 3 at the most. Again, sorry bout that. Well, hope yall like this one! Enjoy!

Thanks to the following for recent reviews!

The Other Side of Sanity: Thanks! Hope to get last one out soon

OnMyHighHorse: Eh, who needs sleep when you got fanfics? *pulls out a half-empty bag of chocolate and pushes the other fifty bags out of sight.* And yes, I do tend to eat chocolate when I need energy. Somehow, they seem to give me that little boost to continue on writing lol. Anyone else do that?

marinka: Well, they won't go immediatly into declaring their true love or anything, but they will become a little closer to each other. Perhaps close enough for a few kisses? Heh ;)

zahir786543: Thanks! Glad you think that :)

Guest: Glad you're liking it!

Ginny's eyes fluttered open to the sight of stormy grey eyes staring down at her, mere inches from her face. "AGH!" she screamed, automatically jerking upright and pulling the covers up to her chin. Unfortunately, this meant that her forehead slammed directly into her unwelcome intruder's forehead. Malfoy stumbled back, one hand holding his aching head.

"Blast it Weasley! You're going to be the death of me!" he moaned out as Ginny suddenly recalled the events of the night before. Hagrid had finally come home and let them stay the night at his hut with him since it was too late to go stomping up to the castle.

A blush stole over her fair cheeks as she remembered how snugly she had fit against Malfoy's side while they were waiting for the gamekeeper. To distract herself from those unsettling thoughts, she darted a look around the room.

A fire was crackling pleasantly in the fireplace, a kettle of water hanging over the flames. Three wooden chairs were placed haphazardly around a small table in the middle of the floor. Long, cream-colored curtains adorned the windows around the room, obviously picked out by Hagrid's new wife from that French school.

Ginny had forgotten the woman's name almost as soon as she heard it since, at the time, she and Fleur had not been on the best of terms. So, whenever the older girl had opened her mouth to drone on about how much better her own school was to Hogwarts, Ginny had automatically closed her ears. But, that is another story for another time. Ginny shook her head to clear her thoughts and continued examining the cozy hut.

Most of the room looked the same as it did before the fire, but Hagrid had decided when he rebuilt it that he needed more space for him and his large wife. So, he rebuilt the hut almost exactly the same way as before, just bigger. The couch Ginny was laying on was one of the new additions to the more spacious hut. Speaking of couches. . . .

"Where did you sleep?" Ginny inquired slowly, raising one eyebrow at Malfoy's stony expression. His lips tightened and his jaw clenched as she waited for an answer. "The floor," he ground out stiffly, glaring at Ginny's laughing form.

"Heh, sorry Malfoy. Ladies get the best accommodations here, I suppose. Hmm, I guess we better get going before Hagrid comes back and asks us why we aren't back at the castle," she added somewhat reluctantly. It had been nice spending time with Malfoy, and she knew that as soon as they reached the castle doors, everything would change. Their detention time was over. There was no longer a reason for him to talk to her or even look at her, really.

They would go back to being enemies, or at least distant acquaintances. No more laughing together, or having snowball fights, or gossiping about Harry and his latest girlfriend, or arguing over whose favorite professional Quidditch players were the best. They would just go back to ignoring each other at the very best.

Ginny simply couldn't bear it if he started to call her names or make fun of her family again. Not after all the time they had spent talking normally to each other for once, like true friends would do. Or, some times, more than friends. But, all that would change once they reached the castle doors. It was inevitable, she supposed.

Malfoy noticed a strangely sad, almost bittersweet look come over her face and huffed out an impatient breath. Now was not the time to go mooning over old boyfriends or whatever she was doing. They had to be back at the castle soon.

"Alright Weasley. Come on, McGonagall expects us back at the castle by 10:00. The old bat wants to 'have a proper discussion' with us. Hmph. More like give us more detentions for nearly being killed because of her!" he spat out, his face contorting as he struggled not to start cursing the living daylights out of everything around him for the horrible predicament he had gotten himself into. Or, as he thought of it, Weasley and McGonagall had gotten him into.

Ginny rolled her eyes at him before flinging the covers off her and standing up, somewhat unsteadily. She unconsciously reached out a hand for him and he growled in frustration, but held out his arm for her to lean on as she became more awake.

A few seconds later. . . .

"You almost ready nooow?" he drawled, leaning back against the wall with his lean arms folded across his chest. Ginny scowled at him as she finished up sweeping the floor of the hut.

She had not thought it right to simply leave without doing something to repay Hagrid for letting them stay with him last night. That was when she spotted the dusty floors messy kitchen. So, she had got to work cleaning the hut for him. Unfortunately, Malfoy had not had the same inclination.

"This is a waste of time. If he wanted his shack clean, then he would have done it himself. So what if we crashed here for one night? He would have turned us out into the cold if he hadn't wanted us here," he argued, eyeing her as she moved around the room, sweeping up all the dust and dirt.

Ginny scowled at him over her shoulder as she bent down to inspect under the couch. "Exactly. He could have turned us away, but he didn't. So, I'm repaying him the only way I know how. By cleaning," she stated triumphantly, apparently believing that she had won that round. "Well, if you're set on cleaning this whole rundown pile of boards, then why don't you use, oh I don't know. MAGIC," he hinted sarcastically, rolling his silver eyes at her.

Ginny stilled, sweeping forgotten, as she closed her eyes in embarrassment. At her house, her mum had not used magic to do all the chores very often. Instead, she had done it the Muggle way and had her children help her with the manual labor. As such, Ginny was still not used to being able to use her wand to make the room spick and span instantly. It was always good old brooms and washrags for her.

The red-haired Gryffindor couldn't imagine Malfoy ever lowering himself to use cleaning products. He wouldn't even use a wand to clean it. No, he would have just yelled for the house-elves to come and do their job.

"Oh, yeah. I, um. Forgot about that," she confessed quietly, mentally bracing herself for his scoffing. Malfoy merely sighed before tugging his wand out from his pocket. "Scourgify!" he muttered, waving his wand to encompass the entire room.