Ginny yawned as she added the finishing touches to her History of Magic essay. The black ink shown brightly on the parchment. She grabbed her textbook and put it on the bottom edge of the scroll in order to allow the ink to dry. The last thing she wanted was for the parchment to roll up too quickly and smear all her work away.

"I don't know how Binns manages to do it," Ginny said as she stretched her arms above her head. "He's more boring than a two hundred year old textbook. You would think his lectures on the goblin rebellions at least would be interesting, but he might as well be reciting the dictionary."

Hermione chuckled, her quill scratching vigorously against her own parchment. "Being a ghost will do that to you, I suppose. Maybe everything's boring once you're already dead."

"Well I suppose I never thought of it like that," Ginny said, rolling her neck and shoulders before reaching down to her bookbag. "If I was a ghost, I wouldn't be teaching History of Magic, that's for damn sure. I'd be off having grand adventures - imagine, you have all the time in the world to see everything there is to see, things you couldn't see in your whole lifetime even if all you did was travel. How could you be bored?"

"Wouldn't you get lonely though?" Hermione asked as she thumbed through her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. "Sure, it would be fun for a while - although you can't touch or eat anything, so how fun can it be, really - but once everyone you knew died..."

"You're no fun," Ginny said, sticking her tongue out to show she was joking. "Although I suppose you're right, forever would be an awfully long time to be alone, no matter how many cool things I got to see."

They worked in silence for a few minutes, in which Ginny started on her own Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. Though she would never admit it to Harry, Professor Snape was actually a pretty good teacher of the subject - she had learned more about hex-deflection this year than she had even in the DA.

"Speaking of being alone," Ginny said lightly. "I heard about Ron and Lavender."

Hermione's pen scratched abruptly against the parchment and she cursed as she blotted the ink.

"Good riddance, I say," Ginny continued, biting back a smile. "Lavender was so clingy. If I never have to hear Won-Won again, it'll be too soon."

Hermione stifled a giggle, causing Ginny to punch her lightly on the arm.

"You can be happy about it, you know," Ginny said. "No one would blame you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, Hermione! I see the way you look at him. You're not fooling me."

"I have absolutely no-

"And more importantly," Ginny continued, "I see the way he looks at you. It's obvious."

Hermione blushed, making Ginny grin. "You really think so?"

"I know so," Ginny said, turning in her chair to face Hermione more directly. "And now that he's broken up with Lavender-"

Hermione stiffened. "He didn't break up with her. She broke up with him."

Ginny frowned. She hadn't actually heard a lot of details about the break-up, only that it had been quite the shouting match in one of the courtyards.

"That's surprising," she said after a tense moment of silence. "I never would have thought-"

"She got tired of him not paying enough attention to her," Hermione said in a clipped tone. "He didn't take her to the Valentine's Day party and she felt left out. Called him an inconsiderate toerag, as I recall."

Ginny flinched at the unexpected mention of the party. Several days had passed since then, and aside from her conversation with Kathleen on Sunday, she had been determinedly not thinking about it. They had spent some time in the library on Monday looking for possible candidates for a weapon, but Ginny had been forced to conclude that Kathleen was right - if the only category was "notable weapon" throughout all of wizarding history... they could be reading for a year and still not be done.

"Well, serves him right, I guess," she said, turning back to her essay. "He should have known she would want to go. Although she didn't miss out on much, the party was pretty boring." The words tasted false even as she spoke them.

"That's not the way I heard it," Hermione said in a sing-song voice, making Ginny cringe. She had had the good grace to not ask Ginny about the party, particularly after her and Harry's fight, which Ginny had been grateful for. She must have said a hundred different versions of No, I did not hook up with Draco Malfoy in the Hufflepuff Common Room to various people over the past few days and they were still asking her about it. Hermione hadn't asked, but she was skating awfully close now.

"People have nothing better to do than to make shit up," she grumbled, refocusing again on her essay for Snape. What was he thinking, asking for three whole feet of parchment?

"So nothing happened then?" Hermione asked, carefully not looking up from her essay. Ginny groaned.

"We danced," she conceded. "One dance. That was it. Well, we talked for a little bit before, but nothing happened."

"So you-"

"I was drunk," Ginny said, cutting her off. "It was stupid. Nothing happened."

"It's ok to dance with someone, Ginny," Hermione said. Surprised, Ginny looked up at her.

"I'm not saying I like the idea that it was Malfoy," Hermione continued. "He's an arrogant arsehole, and I think you know that. But you can dance with who you want. It was just a party." Hermione shrugged. "It doesn't have to mean anything."

"Right. Exactly. Thank you."

"So how did you end up dancing together, exactly?"

Ginny bit her lip. This was getting dangerously close to what she and Kathleen had agreed would stay just between them.

"I don't know, he just kind of... asked. We ran into each other when I was getting water for a friend, and he asked if he could get me a drink, and then we were talking, and then he asked to dance..."

"I see," Hermione said with a raised eyebrow. "Has anything like that ever happened before?"

Ginny shook her head vigorously, ignoring the memory of Slughorn's Christmas party. It didn't count. "No, never."

"Interesting."

"What's interesting?"

"Well, I don't know, Ginny, you have to admit it's a little unusual. Has Malfoy ever even said a kind word to you before then?"

Only one. Sorry.

"No," she said, her quill pressing a little too firmly into the parchment. Ink pooled, blotting out the word "hex." Irritated, she crossed it out and started again. "I thought you were just saying it didn't have to mean anything."

"You dancing with him doesn't, no. But I was imagining it just kind of happened by accident. Him asking you specifically is...interesting."

Trust Hermione Granger to make such a fine-toothed distinction.

"Well nothing else happened. So I don't know what to tell you."

"Hm. Well, alright then. And he hasn't tried to talk to you since?"

"Nope."

Kathleen's face flashed across Ginny's mind as they continued their work. To tell or not to tell...

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She threw her quill down and faced Hermione again. "Ok, something else did happen that night, but you have to promise not to tell Harry or Ron."

Hermione put her own quill down and faced Ginny. "Alright, I promise. What happened?"

Ginny took a deep breath, twisting her robes in her hands on her lap, and told Hermione about her conversation with Malfoy on the dance floor. She expected her to look intrigued or even alarmed, but the longer Ginny kept talking, the more skeptical Hermione's face became.

"A weapon," Hermione said finally. "Malfoy told you the Death Eaters are looking for a weapon."

"Yes. Well, sort of. He wouldn't really say exactly-"

"Which is just like him, of course," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "Honestly, Ginny, I would just try to put it out of your mind. He's messing with you."

"How can you be sure?" Ginny asked, feeling annoyed at this quick dismissal. Hermione hadn't been there, she hadn't heard him...

"Because this is exactly the kind of thing Malfoy would think is hilarious," Hermione said flatly. "Get you all worried and riled up, chasing down something that doesn't exist. And piss Harry off to boot."

"You agree with Harry? But he doesn't even know-"

"No, I know he doesn't, but it's certainly in character for Malfoy. Get you and Harry fighting, get Harry in trouble, and waste everyone's time with nonsense."

Ginny's stare was icy. Hermione sighed as if she were having to explain something painfully obvious.

"Don't you think that if You-Know-Who was looking for a weapon and had tasked his best and brightest, as Malfoy put it- which would not include him, by the way, even if he was a Death Eater, which I still doubt- with finding a weapon, that Dumbledore would know about it? That Snape would know about it? If it's something to be worried about, the Order is already on it, I guarantee it."

"Maybe they do know about it," Ginny said, "but how do we really know for sure? What if you're wrong-"

"If you really think it's a big deal Ginny, why did you just make me promise not to tell Harry and Ron? If it's serious, they should know, right? We should go straight to Dumbledore."

"Because... because-" Ginny struggled, thinking of Kathleen. "Because I knew they were going to react exactly the same way, that the dance would overshadow-"

"Overshadow?" Hermione asked with a laugh. "Ginny, it's not overshadowing anything - it's part and parcel of Malfoy's whole stupid little scheme. He's trying to make you worried over nothing, and it's working. I promise, we're in good hands with the Order. Just leave it alone."

Ginny's face was hot. Every single whispered conversation over the summer, every single time she had been asked to leave it alone, flashed through her mind.

"Maybe I would have an easier time trusting that we're in good hands with the Order if I got to know any single thing that's going on," she bit out. "But I'm too young, right? Barely a year younger than Harry, mind you, but I'm too young. And too naive, apparently, according to you."

"According to me?" Hermione replied, bristling. "What's that supposed to mean? I never said you were naive-"

"You didn't have to," Ginny said as she stood up, roughly shoving her books into her bag. "But I guess we can't all have your cleverness."

She stormed out of the library, her half-finished Defense Against the Dark Arts essay quite forgotten.

This is stupid, Draco thought as he descended the stairs to the dungeons. Friday had finally arrived, and despite his best efforts to get out of it, he would be serving detention with Snape this evening. He had complained to Lucius just as he had threatened, but to his eternal irritation, his father had reminded him that Snape was pretending to be a spy for the Order and that this was an unwise battle to pick right under Dumbledore's nose. So to detention he would go, even though the Vanishing Cabinet desperately needed his attention.

Even though Snape was no longer Potions Master, he had kept his office in the dungeons. Draco trudged down the hallway, his bookbag heavy on his shoulder. He was tempted to make Snape wait while he dropped his things off in his dorm, but he knew that the more he pissed him off, the worse the evening would go. With any luck, Snape would let him leave after an hour or so.

He arrived at Snape's office and rapped smartly on the door. Snape opened it almost instantly, a sneer on his face.

"Right on time, Mr. Malfoy," he said. "What a surprise." He opened the door wider to allow Draco to enter.

"I hope you're happy wasting my time," Draco said, dropping his bookbag on the floor and plopping into the seat across from Snape's desk. "The cabinet-"

"I'm wasting your time?" Snape asked in a sarcastic tone. "Forgive me, as I recall, it's you who's stood me up the last three times I've asked you to meet."

"I told you, there's nothing more to discuss. I've figured out what to do with the cabinet, it's just tedious and slow-going. My Occlumency and Legilimency are going very well, thanks to you, but I don't think I need to keep practicing in a formal lesson."

"Oh you don't, do you?" Snape said as he moved further into the room, into Draco's line of sight. "Look at you - the illustrious Draco Malfoy, all of sixteen and already got the whole world figured out. The second-youngest Death Eater ever recruited - yes, Draco, the second-youngest, your predecessor is no longer among the living - and already so brilliant, such a master strategist, that he needs no help at all in order to deceive one of the greatest wizards of our time, Albus Dumbledore. I am honored to be in your presence." He gave a mocking bow.

Draco glowered at him, sinking lower into the chair. He felt like a child being chastised. "I didn't say I need no help at all," he said, aware that he sounded petulant. "Just not yours. My father-"

"Ah, yes, what a great help Lucius must be, trapped in his manor without a wand. Very helpful to your work here at Hogwarts."

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what help you think I'm needing, unless you think Dumbledore suspects something. The cabinet just requires brute force, no clever schemes. And my Occlumency shields are quite strong now, unless you disagree. Which I'm guessing if you disagreed, you would have forced your way in by now."

Snape curled his lip, silently confirming Draco's suspicions. Pride warmed his chest.

"And what of your second assignment?" Snape asked. "That, as I understand it, requires nothing but clever schemes."

"I don't see what concern that is of yours."

Snape lost his patience. He swept toward Draco's chair and braced his arms on either armrest, looming over him. Draco was instantly reminded of his encounter with Kathleen on Saturday and forced himself not to recoil as she had done. He drew his mind to the sea, keeping his face blank.

"Your arrogance rivals Potter's," Snape spat. "The Dark Lord doesn't accept mistakes, Draco. If you should fail-"

"I won't fail," Draco said in a flat tone. "The plan is already in motion, and doesn't concern you. The Dark Lord gave this mission to me, not you - our work is connected with Dumbledore and the cabinet, but this is mine and mine alone."

The two men stared at each other for a long moment, a moment in which Draco was sure Snape would try a more direct attack with Legilimency. Instead, Snape stood up and straightened his robes.

"Then on your head be it," he said. He turned toward the door and started walking away. "Come."

"Where are we going?"

Snape turned his head and raised a brow at Draco. "Detention. You didn't think this was your detention, did you?"

"This is a-"

"If you say waste of time once more, I'll have you in detention every night for the rest of the month."

Draco glared at Snape's retreating back before rising to his feet and grabbing his bag.

So much for getting this over with quickly.

They walked down the dungeon corridor in the opposite direction of the Slytherin common room. Snape stopped in front of one of the Potions classrooms and opened the door.

"Ah, Miss Weasley, you're here. Good."

Draco's heart plummeted into his stomach as he caught sight of Ginny Weasley's red hair at one of the tables.

"What are you playing at?" he hissed at Snape as he roughly grabbed the older man's robe sleeve. Snape raised an eyebrow at him.

If you refuse to tell me what I want to know, I'll have to find out another way, Snape said silkily in Draco's mind, his words bouncing against the invisible walls that protected it. Now unhand me, you're making a scene.

Cold fury filled Draco as he glared at Snape, but he did as he was bade and let go of Snape's robes. Reluctantly, his stomach tight, he followed him into the room.

He had avoided talking to Ginny since the party. Not that he hadn't wanted to - in fact, he really, really wanted to - but he knew he had to go slowly. It was like interacting with a skittish, wild animal - any sudden or unexpected moves would completely ruin the whole thing. And tonight was definitely a sudden, unexpected move.

For her part, Ginny kept her eyes on Snape, who strolled to the front of the room. She didn't look at Draco at all.

"Take a seat, Mr. Malfoy," Snape called behind him. Looking around the room, Draco's glare deepened as he realized the only table that had chairs was the same one Ginny was sitting at.

Fucking perfect. This is a disaster. I'm not ready for this.

He sat down, keeping his eyes away from Ginny. Maybe they could just ignore each other, and this would be a momentary blip in the timeline. No impact on his plans at all...

"Your task tonight," Snape said, "is to prepare some Potions ingredients for Professor Slughorn." He waved his wand and two large barrels appeared, one at either end of the table. The one nearest Draco was empty, but the one next to Ginny was absolutely full to the brim with dead horned toads.

"Gross," Ginny muttered with a grimace.

"I'm sorry this task offends you, Miss Weasley, but if you wish to avoid a repeat performance I suggest you keep better track of your assignments. This is your O.W.L. year, after all."

Ginny said nothing, her eyes on the barrel of toads.

"I'll let you two decide how you want to divvy up the work," Snape said in a bored tone. He waved his wand again and a smaller bucket appeared on the table in between them. "You'll need to disembowel the toads- we want to save the carcass, as well as the liver. Carcass in the big barrel, liver in the bucket. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but just know that you won't be leaving until that barrel is empty." And with that, he summoned a large stack of parchment and began reading the top one, ostensibly grading an assignment.

Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Draco glared at Snape, who he would bet anything was only pretending to read. He was probably hoping to eavesdrop on any conversation that happened between Draco and Ginny, in order to try to figure out Draco's plan.

Or he's going to look in Ginny's mind, he realized with horror. Snape was a much more experienced Legilimens - he didn't need eye contact or to speak the incantation. But surely Ginny would feel it? Would Snape risk such an intrusion? Why the bloody hell did he want to interfere so badly-

"So how do you want to do this?" Ginny said with a resigned sigh. "Should we just each take one, or...?"

"That's fine," Draco said. "Let's just get this over with." He levitated the barrel of horned toads from Ginny's side of the table around to the same side they were sitting on, taking the chance to practice a nonverbal spell. He placed it down just behind the both of them, noting to himself that it made a decent physical barrier.

Two sharp knives appeared on the table in front of them, along with another small bucket, which Draco assumed was for waste. He reached behind him and grabbed a toad, grimacing at the slimy feeling of its skin. He was going to kill Snape.

He kept his eyes off of Ginny as he worked. The toad was slippery, which made it hard to cut, especially now that his hands were covered in its slime. To make matters worse, this particular breed of toad had sharp spikes all over its underbelly, likely to protect its apparently-valuable liver. Trying to hold the toad still enough to make the precise cuts needed to remove the spikes without damaging the internal organs felt next to impossible.

He struggled for a while longer until he finally finished the first toad. The cuts were sloppy, though he did manage to extract the liver without damaging it. If Snape was going to be inspecting their work, he had a sinking feeling that this wouldn't be good enough. He tossed the carcass into the barrel. It made a horrible squelching noise as it hit the bottom.

This is going to take all night.

Hazarding a glance at Ginny, he saw that she was still wrestling with her first toad. Her hair was pulled back and she had a small frown on her face as she tried again and again to hold the toad in position with one hand.

He thought back on Snape's words as he watched her. I'll let you two decide how you want to divvy up the work.

He glared up at Snape again. The man looked engrossed in his grading, but Draco knew that he was observing their every move.

Clever. I don't know what you think it's going to get you, but clever.

"This isn't working," he said, making Ginny jump at the unexpected commentary. Her toad shot across the table and landed with a wet slap on the floor. She glared at him.

"You made me drop my toad."

"I didn't do it on purpose," he snapped, before making himself take a deep breath. "Accio toad." The toad floated up off the ground and landed back on the table in a sad heap.

"Thanks," Ginny muttered and started to resume her work.

"If we keep doing it this way we'll never finish," Draco said. "Why don't I hold the toad and you slice it?"

Ginny frowned at the toad, considering. She tried once more to grab it, but it slipped right through her fingers.

"Fine," she said in a tight voice, not looking at him. They both sat awkwardly for a minute before Draco scooted his chair closer to her. She stiffened, and Draco inwardly berated himself as he realized he was disappointed with her reaction.

Of course she doesn't want you sitting next to her, you idiot. She's not drunk this time.

He reached for the toad roughly and pulled it so that it was between them on the table. He held its limbs down with both hands, leaving the underbelly exposed for Ginny. She wiped her hands on her robes, grimacing all the while, before picking up the knife.

She stared at the toad for a moment longer before slicing into it, carefully removing the spikes. Her hand shook a bit as she gripped the knife and her face looked unusually pale.

With nothing to do but hold the toad's legs, Draco watched her as she worked. She gave no signs that she was aware of any attempts at Legilimency; her entire focus seemed to be on the task at hand. Was it possible Draco was being paranoid? But what was Snape's plan if not Legilimency? Hope that they started discussing Draco's plans in the middle of detention?

She had cut into the frog's belly now. She reached inside and pulled out the liver, holding back a gag as she did so. She tossed it into the bucket before taking a deep breath, reaching roughly inside, and ripping out the rest of the toad's guts.

"Yuck!" she said as she threw the guts in the waste bucket. "That was awful." She looked at the barrel full of toads with wide eyes before reaching for another one.

Draco threw the carcass into the barrel, his eyes on Ginny's pale face. He looked to the toads again, and he remembered what Kathleen had said about Ginny being an animal-lover.

"Would you rather me do that part?" he asked. "You can hold it, and I'll cut."

Ginny shook her head. "You don't have to-"

"It's fine. I don't mind. Hold it still for me." Unwilling to wipe toad slime on his robes, he cast a nonverbal Scourgify on his hands before picking up his own knife. She let out a little "hmph" of disapproval before reaching out to hold the toad's legs.

Immediately, Draco knew this would be much easier. He quickly cut the spikes off the toad's belly, extracted the liver, discarded the other innards, and tossed the carcass into the bucket.

"Another," he said, and Ginny grabbed another toad. He set to work, relieved that they would not, in fact, have to be here all night. He wouldn't have time to work on the cabinet, but at least he would get to sleep.

"So do the normal rules of engagement not apply in detention either?" Ginny asked, her eyes on the toad.

Draco smirked, pleased that she remembered his words from the party. "They don't apply when they're counterproductive," he said, wriggling the knife to lift up the toad's liver.

"Right. They're counterproductive here because working separately would take longer. Why were they counterproductive…the other night?" She glanced furtively at Snape, who was certainly not supposed to know about the Hufflepuff party.

"I told you. I wanted to enjoy my evening."

Ginny didn't respond. Her brow was furrowed as they finished this toad and the next one in silence.

"I've been thinking about what you said almost nonstop since then," she said finally. She looked up at him and his heart skipped a beat.

"Which…which part?" he asked, his throat suddenly dry.

"You know which part."

Of course. Don't be stupid, don't lose focus.

"That's quite a lot of effort to put into a hypothetical," he said, looking down at the newest toad as he began to work.

"Is it a hypothetical, though?" she asked, her eyes not leaving his face.

Shit. I'm not prepared for this.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I told you it was a hypothetical."

"I don't believe you."

Draco said nothing. He finished the toad and tossed it in the barrel. Ginny stared at him and did not reach for a new toad.

"I don't know what to tell you," Draco said flatly, which was true. "I meant what I said - it's what I would do if I were in that situation."

Which I totally am, by the way. Surprise.

Ginny sighed and grabbed a toad. "So you just…what? Decided to tell me for fun?"

He looked at her again and was pleased to see some color had come back into her face. "Why do you think I told you?"

"Don't answer my question with another question," she snapped, making Draco laugh. Ginny glared at him.

"Sorry," he said, still smiling. "I told you because you wanted to know. How about that?"

"I did not!" she protested, accidentally sliding the toad away from him. She roughly pushed it back into position. "You were the one who brought it up, not me!"

"That's not true," he said as he removed the toad's spikes. "You asked about my father first, remember?"

"That's not the same thing."

"Is it not?" he asked, his tone getting a bit sharper. "My father is a wanted man at the moment - he's a Death Eater. Were you not, at the core, really asking about what the Death Eaters are doing? I don't know what they're doing, Ginny, so I gave you the next best thing. A hypothetical."

Lies.

Too late, he realized he had called Ginny by her first name. She eyed him warily and he cursed silently as he felt his cheeks heat.

I need to get us back into safer territory, and quickly.

"So what are you in detention for, anyway?" he said, his eyes on his work.

"I didn't turn in an assignment," she said. "And don't change the subject."

He gripped the knife tighter. So bloody stubborn.

"I'm in detention because I was the victim of a vicious attack by your stupid brother and your ex-boyfriend," Draco said. Snape snorted quietly.

"Yes, I'm sure you were completely innocent in that regard," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes. "I am sorry though - I heard about what happened, and... they shouldn't have done that."

Draco raised an eyebrow at the sincere apology.

Maybe I should get punched more often.

"Well, I guess it's to be expected. You Gryffindors are always so bloody impulsive."

"We are not!" She paused. "Ok, well I guess we are sometimes."

Draco laughed again, and Ginny smiled this time. Laughing with Ginny like this was easy.

"Speaking of the fight though," she said, "I've been telling people off for all the stupid rumors they're spreading around. So you don't have to worry about that."

"Me too," he lied, his stomach twisting a little bit. In truth, he had been keeping silent on the matter, refusing to confirm or deny anyone's suspicions. "I guess people have nothing better to do than to make things up."

"That's exactly what I said!"

Maybe we could make the rumors come true? To get people off our backs, of course.

They worked for a little while longer in silence, but something Ginny had said bugged Draco.

"Did you think I was worried?"

"Huh?"

"About the rumors."

"Oh. I don't know. I guess I just assumed... I mean, you got punched over it. Unless you think it's funny?"

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't find getting punched particularly funny, no. Even if it does land Potter and Weasley in detention."

"No, I meant..." Ginny trailed off. She looked up at him and said, "Why did you ask me to dance?"

What the hell is this about?

"Do I need a special reason?" He glanced at the barrel of toads, which was a little more than halfway empty. No chance of cutting this conversation short then.

"Yes," Ginny insisted. "Yes, because I'm me and you're...you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means! If this was supposed to be a prank, I don't find it very funny-"

"A prank? Do I look like I'm laughing, Weasley?" He looked up at her, catching her gaze, and made himself hold it. His heart felt like it was in his throat, but he ignored it. Even here, her gaze was unguarded. She looked vulnerable, and surprised at his words.

"We were at a party together," he continued, knowing that Snape didn't actually give a shit about any secret parties the students might be having. "We talked, we drank, we danced. We had fun. That's it. It doesn't have to mean anything else."

But it does. It means everything. I can't stop thinking about you.

Ginny took a deep breath and nodded. "Right. You're right, of course."

"Who told you it was a prank?"

"What?" she said, eyes going wide and confirming his suspicion that this wasn't her idea. "No one."

"Hmm. Well, whoever no one is, I suggest you stop listening to their advice. They've woefully misunderstood the situation."

Ginny said nothing, and Draco took the opportunity to let the conversation drop. They worked in silence for a while, and the barrel of toads slowly but surely emptied out. Every once in a while, Draco would get a whiff of that flowery scent he had come to associate with Ginny. Was it a shampoo? Or a perfume? He had never smelled anything quite like it before, sweet and floral at first pass but with a surprising depth underneath...

When they were on their last toad, Ginny said, "No one also thought that our hypothetical conversation was a bunch of nonsense. So I think I'll go ahead and take your advice - I'm afraid they've woefully misunderstood the situation."

Merlin.

"Feel free to do so," he said smoothly as he made his final incision. "I look forward to hearing what you learn in your investigation, Auror Weasley. Professor, we've finished here."

"Then you may go," Snape said without looking up from his grading. "Stay out of trouble, the both of you, or you'll find yourself back here next week."

Ginny stood up as though she had been burned, her chair rattling behind her. She cast Scourgify on her hands, grabbed her bag, and turned for the door.

"Good night," she said without looking at him.

"Good night," he said, taking his time with his bag. He would let her leave first.

I hope Blaise is as good an actor as he says he is. We need to speed up our timeline a bit.