„What do you want me to talk about?" I breathed.

He sneered. „As if you didn't know. So the boggart was me, huh?"

I shrugged, as if I didn't care about it. „As far as I know it was. Blaise was standing right next to him, it was his. My boggart is Professor McGonnagal letting me fail in her class."
He raised his eyebrows. "That's rubbish. Why would Blaise's boggart be me?"

I shrugged again, pretending to be bored out of my mind. "Why would my boggart be you?" I countered, pretending to be very interested in my finger nails. I still couldn't ignore the glare he gave me.

"I don't know." He replied coldly. "Why would it be?"

I moaned and looked straight at him. "Are you really that full of yourself? Don't you think that it's more likely that it was Blaise's than mine? He admires you, he loves you. I honestly don't care. Alone the thought that you think it was my boggart is repulsive to me."

I probably had never lied that much before. Well there had been the night when I had set Umbridge a trap to lead her into the Forbidden Forest, but apart from that I was giving the show of my life right now. I actually was able to lie when I wanted to. All this time I had thought I was just terrible at it, but I guess when I was scared enough... And I was scared out of my mind right now. If he knew then everything would change. He would change again and make my life hell on earth.

"So if there was a boggart in here right now, it wouldn't show me dead?" He asked, still unconvinced.

"No, it would show either your father or Professor McGonnagal." I sighed and acted like I was totally annoyed. "Can I go now?"

"I... yeah." He answered reluctantly and moved to the side so I could exit the broom closet. I ran up the stairs back to our common room and then leaned against the door, exhausted. Not only from running, but from lying as well. I closed my eyes, shaking my head slowly. Maybe I should just admit it, maybe I should just get it over with, he would come to know the truth eventually anyways. I should just swallow down my pride and tell him. But then he would have something in his hand against me and I'm sure he would use it. He would never let me forget it, always teasing me about it. And that would hurt much more than this. I could also try to keep that lie up, but could I even do that? Every single person in that room had seen that it was me that was closest to the boggart. What was my word against all the others? It didn't count anything. He didn't believe my big fat lie, even though I had lied so well, and he never would. I sighed and went to the bathroom, still caught up in my thoughts. So there was no way anyone would believe it was Blaise's boggart. But maybe I could come up with an excuse for why my boggart was Malfoy being dead. Maybe I could find another way to talk me out of this mess. I thought about it while letting the hot water of the shower numb my back and limbs. I spent way more time than usual under the shower, searching my mind for an idea.

When I went to my first class of the day, Charms, I had to stand in front of the classroom for about five minutes, to convince myself that I really needed to go in there. I already had breakfast behind me, and that had been the hardest part, right? I closed my eyes and breathed in. I could do this. No one would even care. I had Charms with the Ravenclaws so there was absolutely no reason to freak out. I finally stepped through the door and sat down on my usual seat, right next to Lissa. She was a very quiet shy girl that never really had much to say. I was thankful for that. The lesson went surprisingly well, no one seemed to bother too much about me. A few glances and whispers I could make out, but nothing too bad. The rest of the day went just the same way. When I went back to my common room after dinner I knew that this would be bad. He would not just let me get by without interrogating me again and I hadn't been able to come up with an excuse to why my boggart would be his corpse. There was no other explanation to it. Only one thing made any sense – that I cared about him. A lot. After all the boggart hadn't been Ron or Harry dead. So did that mean that he was more important to me than Harry and Ron? Or was it just because it was an other kind of love? Or that I was more worried about him dying because I thought it was more likely? He did betray not only Voldemort, but also his father after all. I'm sure there were lots of former Deatheaters out there that would love to bring him some kind of punishment for that. I stopped in my tracks a couple of feet in front of the portrait. Did he live with that fear every day? Did he think that some Deatheater could just randomly pop up and kill him any minute? I shook my head. Surely he would not think about something like that. Surely he was just as carefree as the rest of us after the war had ended. I said the password and stepped through the portrait hole, preparing for the worst. The common room was empty. He wasn't here yet. Of course he'd be here soon, but for now I was safe. I sighed and sat down on one of the couches, spreading my books and parchment all over the table. I was halfway done with my Charms essay when I heard a reluctant knock on the portrait. I wondered who that could be. Malfoy did certainly not knock before coming in, so who was out there? I bit on my lip, thinking hard about if he had mentioned that he expected someone, while getting up and walking to the portrait hole.

When I opened it up I was surprised to see who was standing in front of me.

"Hermione? I... I'm so... I'm so sorry!" She stuttered in between sobs. She looked terrible, her fire-red hair was as shiny as always, but that was the only thing that seemed alright with her.

"Ginny?" I asked surprised. "Come in." I didn't care that we were fighting, I didn't care that she had been impossible to me. Right now I could only see that my best friend was crying in front of me and needed my help. She stepped through the whole and let herself fall on one of the couches. I silently sat next to her and rubbed her back reassuringly. She didn't say anything, just whimpered quietly, while the tears were running down her cheeks, leaving her eyes almost as red as her hair.

"Ginny, what happened?" I asked her calmly. She just shook her head, still unable to talk, and leaned into me. I hugged her tightly and ran my hand over her soft hair. "Talk to me, Gin." I pleaded her and was close to tears myself. I couldn't stand seeing other people cry, especially when they meant so much to me. After a while the sobs slowly became silent and I finally let go off her.

"Gin, you need to tell me what's going on." I pleaded again and she nodded slowly. When she spoke her voice sounded unfamiliar, too weak and too pained to be Ginny Weasley's.

"You... you were right." She murmured and tears spilled from her eyes again. "I... I came across Blaise today." I knew where this was going. "He... he... laughed at... me." I took her hand and rubbed reassuring circles in her palm. "It's true... it... it was only a bet." She was close to having another fit of sobs again, I could tell.

"Gin..." I began, but she stopped me.

"That's not even the worst part." Her voice was so much higher than usual. I bit my lip and motioned her to continue. "I... I have no idea what has gotten over me." She whispered. "You... you are my best friend. I love you, Hermione. I trust you. I should have believed you. I was a total bitch. It's just... I thought I really liked him... and I just couldn't believe it. But I should have. Our friendship is so much more important to me." With those words she broke down again and let out terrible sobs. I pulled her closer to me again and hugged her.

"Shhhhhh. Shhhhhh." I made. "It's okay. Everything's okay. I forgive you, it's okay."I couldn't believe how fast she had changed back from that girl I hardly recognized to the Ginny I loved. As soon as she had found out the truth she had realized how wrong she had been. How wrong about me. We sat there hugging for a while, but I knew that I had to bring it up eventually. I delayed it as far as possible, but then I couldn't help it anymore. I had to state the obvious.

"Ginny, you're in Malfoy's common room right now. He could be back any minute."

I noticed that she had flinched slightly when I had said his name, but then she shook her head and leaned back from me. "No, he has Quidditch practice." I had totally forgotten about that. Quidditch practice had started a couple of weeks ago and both Harry and Malfoy were team captains. I nodded.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked after a couple of seconds.

"Yes?"

She hesitated a little bit. "You should really call him, Draco, you know?" I looked at her funnily. I didn't think I could ever do that.

"Especially if you like... get together." She added quietly. I opened my eyes wide. I understood that this was Ginny's way of saying that she was perfectly fine with me and Malfoy. She had just given me her approval.

"Are you sure?" I asked cautiously. To me it didn't seem like she was over him.

She nodded slowly. "Yes. I really am sorry you know."

I smiled at her and she returned that smile hesitantly. "I know."

"I just don't understand... how could I have been so stupid?" She seemed really confused about that. "How could I have not seen it? And how could I have thought that he could maybe have feelings for me too?"

I sighed and smiled sadly at her. "Because he's Malfoy. He does that to you."

She thought about it for a second and frowned. "You know, I really meant it when I said you should call him Draco."

I grimaced. "I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. It's as if I started calling you Ginevra suddenly. Sure it's your given name, but it just doesn't feel natural."

She smiled warmly. "And does it feel natural to you when he calls you Granger?" She asked.

"No..." I replied hesitantly.

She looked at her watch and frowned. "Just think about it, okay. I really have to go, Quidditch practice is probably over by now." She looked outside and shuddered. "I'm so glad that Harry canceled practice for today. I would not want to practice in that weather."

I looked out of the window as well. It was snowing. The first snow storm of the year.

"I really should get going." Ginny repeated and I followed her to the portrait hole.

"Ginny?" I said before she left. She looked back at me. "Just give me some time to digest all of this, okay? I can forgive you for the way you acted, but I can't forget it. Not yet anyway."

She smiled sadly at me. "I don't even think that it hurts because I liked him that much. The main reason why it hurt was because my pride was hurt and because I didn't know if I could ever make it up to you. I don't care what happens to him. The minute I realized what he did it all became clear to me. The true him became clear to me. He could rot in hell for all I care. But you... I only care about getting you back, Hermione."

I smiled back at her and she left. Sighing, but still a big smile plastered on my face, I sat down again to finish my essay. After no more than two minutes though I jumped up again. I really couldn't stand sitting in here while such a miracle was going on outside. I went to my room and got my warmest winter coat and gloves, a hat and a scarf out of my suitcase. I would dive into the winter wonderland tonight. And I would not meet Malfoy – or Draco – when he came back into the common room. Tonight was a good night.

A/N: Hey guys,
what do you think? The chapter that's about to come is probably my favorite so far! I love it! I hope you'll like it too, but for now let's talk about this one. I have to be honest, I kind of felt bad for Ginny being so... witchy and stupid. I hope you're not angry at me for making her apologize, but I couldn't stand them not being friends anymore. Let me know what you think! :)

Love,

ShayleeRae