Just to Waste my Time With You...

Draco hummed tunelessly as he made his way down the hall. Despite the whole deal with Granger, he was actually enjoying this year so far. He knew granger would find some way to twist his arm behind his back, but he wasn't worried yet. He'd burn that bridge when he came to it.

His humming shifted tune, to a song by some muggle he'd heard once upon a time. He rounded a corner and barely missed bumping into Neville Longbottom.

"Oh! Uh... H-hi M-Malfoy." he stuttered.

Draco nodded solemnly and stepped past the shorter man. Then he turned back. "Longbottom."

Neville froze.

"Let's talk."

888

Ginny blinked at her best friend. "Excuse me?"

"What do you think about Draco Malfoy?" Hermione repeated.

Ginny blushed slightly and shrugged. "He's ok, I guess."

"Just ok?" Hermione pushed.

Ginny bit her lip. "Ok, he's more than ok. He's utterly devine. I mean it should be a sin to be that good looking. But let's face it, even if he were civil to me more than once a week, it'd be a cold day in hell if we got together."

Hermione resisted a self satisfied smirk. "He's civil to you?"

"Well... yeah. I mean he doesn't go out of his way or anything, but you know... if there's no one else in the hall, he'll hold the door for me. He apologizes occationally... Stuff like that."

Hermione couldn't resist this time. "I think he likes you."

Ginny started and blushed even deeper. "Are you serious?"

Hermione laughed. "Malfoy? Like you? That's ridiculous, GIn!"

Ginny laughed as well, but Hermione could see the seed had been planted. It was only a matter of time before Ginny faced up to facts.

Oh the cleverness of me.

888

Neville fidgeted as Draco studied him from across the table.

"Relax, Longbottom. I'm not going to kill you."

"Then... uh... why am I here?"

"Because you look hungry and I have questions." Draco elaborated, pushing the plate of french fries over to him.

Neville took a fry. "Um.. what kind of questions?"

"What happened to your parents?" Draco asked bluntly.

Neville blanched. "They were Crucioed... until they went crazy."

Draco looked down. "I was Crucioed once." He muttered.

Neville shot him a glance. "Seriously?"

"yeah. I pushed my dad the wrong way and he lashed out. You've never felt pain like that before."

Neville ducked his head. "I hope I never do."

Draco smiled at him. "Yeah. Me too."

(A/N: Next chapter we'll have a nice inner dialogue from Ginny and a slap. It promises to be amusing...