Ginny smiled a little, letting a piece of long red hair dance across her face in the near-midnight breeze. Her cloak was wrapped around her tightly as she lay on the floor, although not for warmth, just comfort. It was a perfect night and she had carefully sneaked out of the castle in the dead of night, passing teachers and students in Harry’s invisibility cloak which lay in an unviewable bundle beneath her head.

The sky was a dark, shining black and the stars sparkled happily against their dim backdrop. Swirls of pink and orange tainted the sky far off, yet not a single cloud penetrated its thick lines of colour.

She breathed in the night air and put one leg atop her knee, then sighed contentedly. This is where she wanted to be everyday at midnight, down by the lake huddled in her cloak listening to the faint ripples of water from in front of her.

All was silent and she caught her breath, not wanting to spoil the moment, yet she need not have worried. A low ‘crack’ echoed across the water and she saw the swish of a cloak shadowed in the inky blackness. Immediately she sat up, pulling her wand from her pocket but not moving any further.

“Hello?” she said quietly, picking up the invisibility cloak, folding it into a small square of material and the pushing it deep into her pocket.

All was silent again, but this time only for a few seconds.

“God da-- Argh! Get off me!”

Ginny blinked, it was a male voice and a deep one at that. She pointed her wand into the blackness ahead and muttered ‘Lumos’.

What she saw before her then was definitely a shock. Draco Malfoy was standing a few metres away from her in front of the lake, apparently trying to get away without being seen but failing miserably as a Grindylow had gripped his right leg from under the surface and was trying to drag him back into the water.

He looked at her for a few seconds, straight in the eye as the light from her wand lighted them both and then gave a strangled sort of noise that sounded much like ‘Oh shit’.

She couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him, but laughed all the same as the Grindylow tried to pull him into the murky water before standing up and attempting to free Draco of its clutches using the ‘Immobulus’ spell.

It seemed to work as the Grindylow immediately stopped pulling and its fingers fell back into the water.

“Oh God, I was saved by a Weasley,” Draco muttered as he shook his foot, letting water spray everywhere, including Ginny’s legs.

Ginny was utterly disgruntled.

“Well if that’s the way you want it, Malfoy, I could always just push you back in there, I don’t have a problem with it,” she growled.

“Oh my, the weasel is getting angry I see,” he smirked.

“I can’t believe you, I just saved you from being strangled by a Grindylow and you insult me.”

Ginny’s eyes narrowed and she began to shiver, the water on her bare legs making it colder than it actually was. She pointed her wand at the floor, the ‘Lumos’ spell still working its magic as she checked that no other offending creatures were going to creep up on them and then lifted the wand again to his face. He was actually quite handsome, she thought… Or maybe that was just the light. To her surprise, his smirk had disappeared and he was looking thoroughly apologetic.

“You look awfully cold,” he said softly, stepping a tad closer to her and removing his cloak as she continued to shiver, “Here.” He wrapped his cloak around his already clothed shoulders and, as it was longer than hers, clung tightly around her legs making her warmer.

She blinked, not expecting his gesture.

“Um… Thanks…” she looked up at him as he began rubbing the sides of her arms slowly making her tingle all over.

“No need to thank me, Weasley,” he said gently, stepping even closer.

What in the name of God was he doing? thought Ginny. He was supposed to hate her and she was supposed to hate him, though it didn’t seem that way at the moment... Maybe he was just trying to be nice? She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and said the question she had been wondering the answer to for a while now.

“Why are you out here so late?”

“Why am I? I should be asking you!” he paused. “Well if you must know, I was taking a stroll to ease my mind,” he smirked again and a slight blush rose in his cheeks which made him look incredibly cute.

“I’m only here to see the stars… Hear the silence…” Ginny responded. “But apparently I’m not getting either.” They both chuckled and Malfoy blushed a little more.

Then he stared at her for a few seconds which felt like hours, his grey eyes taking in every feature of her face… She was in fact quite beautiful. Carefully he ran his hands down from her arms and removed the wand from her hand before placing the other around her waist,

“If you want to see the stars,” he said, then leaned in closer, “you need complete darkness…” he finished his statement with a whisper and then muttered under his breath ‘Nox’ which turned the light beaming from the end of her wand off so they were plunged into icy darkness.

She strangely didn’t want to move. She was in the darkness with Draco Malfoy, the boy she hated so much… She loathed him… And yet he was standing right in front of her with his hands around her waist and his breath was tickling her collar bone.

“What are you doing Malfoy?” she whispered, trying to resist the urge to bury her head deep into his neck.

“What do you think I’m doing, Weasel” he chuckled and tilted her chin up to him, his eyes glowing softly in the moonlight. “Only joking, Ginny,” he whispered before planting a soft kiss on her cheek, not daring to loom any closer to her mouth for fear of rejection.

She was slowly becoming more used to his hands in this position and snuggled into him after he kissed her cheek. He had said her name.

“Draco?” she purred, kissing under his ear, experimenting with the newfound lust inside her.

“Yes?” he blinked and tilted his head.

“Kiss me…”