Chapter Twenty

Valentines Alone

Ginny slumped in the chair across from Draco. He looked up briefly from the paper he was working on. She noticed with amusement that the book she had gotten him for Christmas, a thin paper back by a Muggle writer, was tucked into the inner pocket of his jacket. Valentines day was especially cold this year and Ginny herself had broken out her scarves again for the holiday.

Draco tried not to stare at Ginny. He was a little annoyed at himself lately. Ginny was constantly on his mind and he wasn't sure why.

Finally, he finished his paper and looked up at her. She was distracted but she looked over to him even as he set his pen down.

"What's up, Freckles?" he asked with his usual drawl.

"I'm bored with being single."

Draco smiled at her. "Nice to hear."

She smacked him lightly. "I'm serious. I'm thinking of dating someone. I just don't know who."

Draco instinctively wanted to flaunt the fact that he too was single. What the hell was that? He didn't like Ginny! Did he?

He snapped out of his thoughts as Ginny slumped forward, crossing her arms on the table before propping her chin on them. "What do you think?"

"About what?"

"About me getting a date."

"What do you expect me to say?"

Ginny shrugged and a thousand things filtered through his head. He wanted to tell her she didn't need a boy or girlfriend. She was perfect as she was. He wanted suddenly to smack himself. He needed to start hanging out with some different people.

"I don't know," Ginny was saying. "Maybe give me some pointers."

Draco really had no idea what she wanted from him. He was saved an answer as Harry Potter came up to the table.

"Hey, Ginny, can I talk to you?" He asked.

Ginny looked up at him with her beautiful brown eyes and nodded. "Sure. Excuse me, Draco. See ya later."

Draco let her go, watching her as she walked away. The war was getting into full gear and Draco knew Ginny was playing a pretty big role already. Ever since Christmas she had been pretty into the war movements. Draco had taken it up as well as a past time. He was actually one of the higher ups in the good side because of his ability to get enemy information.

Potter still didn't like him, but they trusted each other. Draco knew the Death Eaters were planning another raid soon and had given Harry warning about it. That was probably was what Potter needed to talk to her about.

Draco glanced at his watch and sighed. He needed to get going. He was on duty tonight and he wanted to get an early start.

He was thinking about Ginny and not really paying attention to where he was going which was why he almost walked into them.

Harry had his hands on Ginny's shoulders and was kissing her. Draco couldn't see Ginny's face but she didn't appear to be protesting. Draco stopped. Niether appeared to see him.

He turned away and hurried off quickly.

At first he thought about some form or revenge but forced himself to stop. With the war in full gear he was needed and he couldn't let something petty cloud his judgement. Besides, he didn't have a monopoly on Ginny. Hell, he didn't even like her like that.

Despite what he was thinking, his heart still ached as he prepared to spend another Valentines night alone.

(A/N:... It's times like these I'm glad none of you know where I live.