Draco sat in his dorm thinking about Ginny Weasley. With her kind brown eyes, radiant red hair and lush figure, thinking about her would be a common occurrence in the brains of many of the boys at Hogwarts. It was not so usual, however, for Draco Malfoy to be thinking about the youngest Weasley.
He was thinking about the other night and her reaction to what she had seen. He knew she had told Tonks because he kept seeing her watching him out of the corner of his eye. The thing that had surprised him the most was the way nothing had changed in the way she treated him. She treated him with the same rude bluntness she had always treated him with and, if Draco were honest with himself, he would realise he rather liked it.
Pushing these thoughts out of his mind, Draco pulled a small hand mirror out of his trunk. Drawing the curtains around his bed, he sat in the middle looking into the mirror.
"Severus Snape," he said clearly. The surface of the mirror turned milky white before the face of one ex-Potions professor, Death Eater and member of the Order of the Phoenix appeared in the mirror.
"You rang," he said dryly.
"Hey Sev, Death Eaters not caught you yet then?"
"Not yet. How're you doing Draco? How's life on the other side treating you?"
"Same old, same old," Draco replied casually.
"Ah, yes, but I know what 'same old' really means, don't I Draco? I should have melted down that dagger when I had the chance."
"There's no point in that Sev, I'd just buy another."
"Maybe you should see a shrink."
"Shrinks won't help me Sev, you know that. I'm going to have to go…lessons. Take care Sev, don't get caught."
"I won't. Bye Draco, try not to be a prat to the people your life depends on."
"I won't Sev. I'm a Slytherin, all about self-preservation. Just like my godfather."
"And nothing like your father."
With that last comment the mirror turned back to a normal mirror and Draco drew back the curtains to his bed. To his surprise he saw Ginny standing in the doorway to the bathroom, mouth wide open and a look of shock on her face.
"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you speak with any affection at all," she said, shocked.
"Yes, well, that's obviously the first time you've ever heard me speak to anyone I care about. It's highly unlikely that I'm going to speak to any of you Gryffs like that."
"Why not? Because we're blood traitors? I hate to point out that you are too now."
"No, I'm not. I still believe in what I've always believed in. I'm just not going to follow some crackpot around to prove I'm right. And by that I'm talking about both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord."
"I can't believe you call him that. Only dark wizards do," Ginny pointed out to which Draco simply raised an eyebrow.
"Who was that anyway?" Ginny asked changing the subject.
"My godfather, one of the few people who understands me…and for that…" Draco trailed off, unable to say that he cared. He was a Malfoy and Malfoys didn't show emotion.
"Your godfather? Sev? As in Severous Snape? The man who killed Dumbledore?"
"Yes," Draco drawled.
"You know where he is?" Ginny exclaimed, excited.
"No. It's too dangerous if I do," Draco replied, uninterested.
"Too dangerous?"
"Yes, if someone found out I knew they would try to extract the information out of me. It would take a lot to get it out of me…more than a few hits of the cruciatus curse or of the veritaserum potion. I'm immune to most interrogation potions and I'm used to crucios."
"Used to…oh. I'm sorry," Ginny said quietly.
At the glare she got from Draco she turned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Draco remembered how he had been given a dose of veritaserum when he had arrived at the doorstep of the Order's Headquarters. They had sat him down, given him the potion and Lupin had tried to interrogate him. He had lied so blatantly to them just to prove he could before explaining to them that potions didn't work on him, Sev's fault.
Draco didn't know why he had told Ginny what he had told her. And there was that - since when had she been Ginny? What happened to Weaselette? Why did Draco suddenly find himself opening up to someone he had never imagined himself opening up to? Not only was she a Gryffindor, she was a Weasley, Harry Potter's ex girlfriend and she was practically the princess of Gryffindor. He should hate her. So why didn't he?
