Ginny and Draco were sitting on their windowsill, backs to the sunlight with their feet dangling off the ledge. Ginny was telling Draco about the relieving resolution the previous night.

"You know what he said?" Ginny said with a small giggle.

"What?" Draco asked, a bit frightened at the devious look on Ginny's face.

"He asked why I had to look so nice for you." She leaned into his arm which was slung over her shoulder.

"If I had a sister who looked like you, I would make her wear a potato sack to every date." Ginny blushed and laughed at the idea of Draco defending Ron's behavior. She looked up to tell him this, but stopped when she saw an impish gleam in Draco's eyes.

"Hey," he said quietly. Ginny made a questioning face, and Draco responded, "Did you see the look on his face?" Ginny convulsed into laughter at the memory. She managed to gasp out.

"And the way he leaned on the door…" She trailed off into more giggles.

"Trying to look all debonair" Draco finished for her, before bursting out into laughter with her.

*Author's note* to get a better image of what I was trying to portray, look up "buzzkill" on YouTube. "Crunchy peanut butter!!!!"=D

When they finally quieted down, Draco pulled Ginny into his arms solemnly. Ginny was a bit disconcerted at the change of mood.

"But now I have a bit of bad news, love," he murmured into Ginny's hair, focusing in on her ear. He loved that she wasn't wearing earrings.

"What's wrong? Is it… Is it your father?" Ginny worriedly whispered the last part.

"No. Well, yes. Not in the way that you think. Lucius owled me back this morning. I requested permission to go to a friend's house for Christmas, the friend obviously being you, and he denied his permission.

"Wait, so… you have to go home for Christmas? Or can you stay here? At Hogwarts, I mean. "

"No, I have to go home. I can't go against his wishes, you know that. I'm not…" His voice broke, which was something Ginny had never heard before.

"Not what, Draco?" She asked, twisting in his arms to stare him in the eye.

"I'm not…" He turned away to get out of her gaze, but Ginny placed a hand on his chin and turned his face towards hers. He still averted his eyes until Ginny whispered,

"Look at me."

He did so, disconcerted at the green irises that were stronger than any veritasium potion.

"You're not what, Draco?"

He couldn't look away, but the green was forcing something out of him that he didn't want to reveal, not yet. But he couldn't help himself; he wanted his green-eyed angel to know everything about him.

"I'm not… not strong enough" His voice broke again, and a single tear slid out of his eye. Ginny drew in a sharp breath at his confession of weakness and at that single tear; the loneliness of it was even worse than if he had cried on her shoulder for hours. Ginny watched the tear trickle down Draco's flawless cheek until it reached his chin, and right before it was about to drop off, she leaned forwards an caught it on her tongue. Then she turned fully until she was kneeling, straddling Draco's legs, and wrapped her arms around him as he rested his head on her chest.

"You are the strongest person I know" She whispered, almost inaudibly.

Draco and Ginny stayed in that position, high above the activity of the school while time swirled around them with a calming pulsation like that of the sea.