Ginny woke to the sound of a gentle knock at the door. She blearily opened one eye, seeing the first cool rays of morning sunlight turning the walls of the room to a pale pink. She slowly turned her head towards the door, wondering who wanted to come in at such an early hour. Her curiosity increased as the door handle turned and the door was slowly pushed open. The hinges creaked in protest until it stopped, half open, displaying a view of the empty hallway. There was no one there. She blinked once, twice …

“Dotty says misses must get up now. The clock has passed seven.”

Ginny let out her breath and lifted her head enabling her to look down and catch a glimpse of a green arm and a brown rag disappearing around the side of the door. Laughing inwardly at herself for forgetting she was at school, she rolled over and promptly fell off the bed, letting out a small yelp on the way down.

Peals of laughter rang throughout the room. Harriet leaned over the side of the next bed and smiling cheerily said, “Good morning, Gin.”

This was a bad start to a very bad day.

***

Fifteen minutes later, they made their way down to breakfast, passing portraits of young winking teachers and clanking suits of armour. All around them was the hustle and bustle of the first day of term and excited chatter of the students sharing stories of summer holidays.

Ginny suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Luna, her bright blonde hair swinging as she walked out of the Ravenclaw common room.

“Hello, Ginny.” She smiled vaguely at Ginny’s dishevelled appearance. “Your hair’s a bit tangled this morning. It must be the Havlocks. There are so many around at this time of the year and cause so much disruption.”

“Hi, Luna.” She chose to ignore Luna’s last comment, and pushed her long damp hair back over her shoulders and into a ponytail. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you. Did you finish reading for Transfiguration?”

“Just now. I’m so glad you reminded me yesterday. McGonagall would not have been pleased.”

Luna laughed and hitched her bag higher up her shoulder as a first-year jogged by her in a rush to get to breakfast. “I’m sure she would have understood. You’ve had a lot on your mind this summer.”

“Haven’t we all?” Ginny countered. They walked in silence for a while. The summer had been difficult for everyone. Death Eaters were growing in number and crimes were becoming so frequent, even the Daily Prophet couldn’t record them all; cold-blooded murders, kidnappings, houses even swallowed up in flames. But hardly anyone was convicted. The Ministry was all but falling apart; Death Eaters were infiltrating its highest ranks and corruption eating it away from the inside. Ginny’s father was even considering resigning from his job; the only thing keeping him there was the family’s need to eat. She, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been busy frantically trying to find the Horcruxes based on a single sheet of paper left behind by Dumbledore, summarizing all the research he had been doing on it over the past year.

“Do you miss him?” Luna asked suddenly, midway down the stairs.

Ginny, confused, replied, “Miss who?”

“Obviously not, then,” she giggled. “I was talking about Harry.”

“Oh. Well, they only left yesterday. How could I miss him already? Besides, we broke up at the end of last term.” Truth be told, Ginny was more annoyed with him rather than missing him. Over the last few days he, Hermione, and Ron had been making and discussing plans for their trip to Norway, where they believed the last Horcrux was hiding. They had absolutely refused to allow Ginny to come, saying it was more important that she went to school and continued her education, and that it would be too dangerous for her to go, and so on. All in all, they had treated her like she was young and naïve, after everything they had been through together. So, yes, it was true that she did not miss him, or Hermione and Ron. At least it stopped her worrying about them.

“I know that you are jealous that you can’t go with them to Norway,” Luna said, surprising Ginny with how on the mark she could be, while most of the time being ridiculously vague.

“I am not,” Ginny replied childishly, not wanting to appear to care.

“I would be too. You know, one year my cousins found a dead Yartail off the beach in Mexico and they decided that they were going to go and explore this cave where the Yartails live. They wouldn’t let me come because the Yartail often lives with the sphinx, so they said I was too young and not knowledgeable enough. I though it was very unfair.”

Ginny nodded absently, silently wondering what this had to do with her and Harry.

They finally reached the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, joining Parvati, Lavender, Seamus, and Dean in the midst of a conversation about whom they thought was going to be on this year’s Quidditch team.

“Ginny,” Dean said turning to look at her, “you’ll probably be Seeker now that Harry’s gone.”

There were murmurs of agreement and Dean picked up the breadbasket and waved it in front of Ginny’s plate. She took one and smiled at him in thanks.

Luna turned and started talking to Neville, not being too interested in Quidditch.

“I don’t know. I think that Colin’s got a good chance,” Ginny said, looking over at Colin at the other end of the table. She waved slightly when he caught her eye.

“Maybe. He’s better at chasing though, as is …”

Ginny let the words wash over her, eyes scanning over the room in habit, searching for familiar faces, and for the first time noticing the absence of any bright Weasley red hair. Feeling strangely sad, as the only one left in Hogwarts, her eyes fell on the Slytherin table and skipped past those of Draco Malfoy. She did a double take however, feeling outraged. “What is he doing here?” she thought. After all he had done. He’d just disappeared, and she hadn’t heard one word about him all summer, and suddenly, he was back here, as if nothing had happened.

He looked up, feeling her glare. He raised an eyebrow and she narrowed her eyes, watching his stormy grey ones lighten in amusement. He turned back to Pansy then, purposely lifting his hand to run his finger over her cheek.

Ginny turned away, vaguely embarrassed, and stood up, knowing what she had to do. Having someone like that in the school was dangerous, and she was one of the only people who knew what had happened last summer.

“Where are you going Gin? You haven’t finished your breakfast!” Luna looked up at her in confusion.

Ginny bent down to whisper in her ear, “Malfoy’s here. I’m going to owl Harry.” She watched as Luna’s eyes widened slightly and flicked a glance over at the Slytherin table.

“Do you want me to come?”

“No, I won’t be long. You keep up the good work with Neville.” Luna looked slightly shocked, and Ginny gave her a half wink and rushed out of the hall.

***

Ginny pushed open the door to the Owlery, wincing at the sudden blast of cold air. She clutched in her hand the small piece of parchment that she’d written her simple note on.

“Pig?” she called softly. There were a few rustles of feathers and low hoots, but no small fluff ball flew over to meet her. “Pig!” she repeated loudly.

“Pigwidgeon?” She looked around, but all she saw were a variety of blinking eyes, staring back at her in different colours. Sighing in frustration that he’d chosen now to be off hunting, she went over to pick a school owl, a tawny-coloured, wise-looking one which looked slightly put out to be called upon, but stuck out its leg nevertheless.

She carefully tied the note to its outstretched leg, gave it the small chunk of bread that she’d kept from breakfast, and watched as it spread its wings and flew out of the window.

Hoisting her over laden schoolbag on her shoulder, she walked back out of the Owlery, preparing herself for her first lesson of the year, Transfiguration.

However, she only made it back down the cool, grey staircase to the top corridor before she was stopped in her tracks by the sight of the tall haughty figure of Draco Malfoy leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

***

“Damn,” Harry whispered angrily, lifting his wand from the surface of the knife handle.

“What?” Ron replied quietly, seeing his breath crystallize in the chilly Norwegian air.

“This isn’t it.” Harry rested his hand against the stone wall as if to steady himself.

“What do you mean this isn’t it?” Ron asked, sounding slightly panicked.

“Just what I said, this isn’t it. This isn’t a Horcrux.” Harry could feel disappointment flood through his veins.

Hermione pushed her way past Ron to stand next to Harry and pulled out her wand. “Let me try,” she whispered, leaving them no choice. Muttering the words of the old charm, she touched her wand to the knife, the handle a beautiful and sinister figure of a dragon with a snake curling around its tail and its fiery breath as the sharpened edge. However, no familiar green glow spread around the knife.

Hermione just stood there staring accusatorily at the faded silvery sheen of the knife, which showed no sign of changing. She dragged her eyes away and pushed her hand through her hair, slowly pocketing her wand again.

“What do we do now?” Ron whispered, sounding lost and looking around at the darkened round room filled with dusty ornaments, weapons, books of every size and suspicious looking pieces of glimmering jewellery.

“We get out of here,” Harry replied shortly, looking out through the castle window at the pale wintry sun and icy forest below, “and hope that the way out is as easy as the way in.” He stepped away from the knife and turned around to the black wooden door resting halfway open as they had left it.

Trying not to touch anything, they all slipped back out of the door into the torch-lit hallway, lined with floor-to-ceiling tapestries depicting battle scenes and long extinct magical creatures. Hermione took one last lingering look at the knife and pulled the door closed again, whispering ‘Silencio’ to stop the hinges from creaking and echoing around the whole castle.

Harry led them to the nearest window, fumbled around at the wall, and grabbed hold of his Invisibility Cloak to reveal their broomsticks lined up against the stone.

Through the window appeared a small, majestic bird; flapping its wings silently, it perched on the ledge and looked straight at Harry, holding out its leg to reveal a tiny folded piece of parchment. Looking across at Ron and Hermione, who shrugged, he carefully unknotted it from the owl and opened the note to display a short message written in neat, loopy writing.

Harry, Malfoy’s back in school. Meet me in the place we discussed at 8 pm tonight. Owl me if you can’t make it. Ginny x.

He passed it to Ron, who held it out letting Hermione read it over his shoulder. A moment later he nodded and handed it back to Harry, who pocketed it, gave a Knut to the owl, and reached for his broomstick.

One by one, they squeezed out of the window and flew off into the rising morning sun, leaving the isolated black shadow of the castle far behind them.

***

“Malfoy,” Ginny stated, expressing her surprise at seeing him there when a moment ago he’d been busily eating breakfast. She continued walking, unconsciously moving to the opposite site of the corridor from him and clutching her bag tightly under her arm. When he didn’t say anything and just stood watching as she got closer, she continued, “Following me now, are you?”

“What makes you think I’d do you the honour?” He smirked and pushed himself off the wall to walk towards her.

“Don’t pretend you weren’t.” She glared at him for the second time that day.

“All right. But I know who that owl just flew to.”

Ginny stopped walking and turned to face him looking down at her with a superior look in his grey eyes and his whitish-blond hair illuminated by the sun shining through the window behind him. “Wow, Malfoy. What a stroke of genius. I think a Blast-Ended Skrewt would know who I sent that owl to.” Ginny was not in the mood for his games. “Get to the point.”

Draco looked a little put out, but continued nonetheless. “You think Harry’s going to give a toss that I’m back in Hogwarts?”

This time Ginny was a little disturbed that he had guessed the content of her note so accurately, and nervously fiddled with the worn cuff of her school jumper. “Then you must be deluded. I know what you did last year, and why you think you have a right to come back after…after…” She couldn’t even find the right words to use.

“After I did nothing?” Ginny remained silent. “That’s right,” he continued, his grey eyes locked with hers in a piercing stare. “I. Did. Nothing.” He sounded almost bitter.

“It doesn’t make any difference; we all know what you were intending to do that night. You’ll be gone by dawn. McGonagall won’t allow you to stay.” She knew her words held no firm threat, but she refused to allow herself be intimidated by him and drew herself up, matching his stare.

His mouth turned into a sneer. “If she let me in in the first place, what makes you think she’d suddenly change her mind?”

Ginny hesitated and Draco cut in, “You think darling Harry will be able to supply any proof? After all, I haven’t done anything wrong. No rules broken, no laws overstepped… Besides, Potter has no objection to my being here.”

Ginny was taken aback at how certain he sounded. “Why would he think that?” “Of course he does.” Her voice sounded thin to her own ears.

Draco suddenly realized something, and his voice took on a teasing tone, as if he were speaking to first-year whose file had exploded in the hallway. “Don’t tell me… Potter has been keeping secrets from his little girlfriend? Now this is news.” Draco looked positively delighted.

Ginny felt distinctly uncomfortable now, but refused to stoop so low as to ask him what he was talking about. “You have no idea what you are talking about. I have to get to class.” She began to move past him.

“Have fun, Weasley. I’m sure your next conversation with Potter will be fascinating.”

“Go screw yourself, Malfoy.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I have Pansy for that.” He smirked.

Disgusted, Ginny pulled a face and walked around him, feeling the prickling of unease eating away at her. She wondered what exactly it was that Harry had been keeping from her.

Ginny’s day dragged in a distracted haze.

Transfiguration with the now Headmistress McGonagall would have been interesting had she been paying attention. They had moved on to the transfiguration of bigger objects into animals, today’s lesson being turning their desks into warthogs. Ginny’s most successful attempt had been getting the table to grow a snout and snort a little, but it was still mostly immobile. Thankfully Professor McGonagall overlooked her particularly appalling efforts, probably deciding it was due to all the stress of the summer.

Following this was History of Magic, which she was seriously regretting having chosen to take, instead spending the lesson making spectacular efforts to stay awake. Luna was taking this class with her for a change, so she got a chance to tell her that she was meeting Harry. She decided not to mention her conversation with Draco, at least not until she had spoken to Harry. Luna agreed to cover for her if anyone asked where she was, in return for asking Neville if he had a girlfriend. Ginny didn’t think she even needed to ask, but she would anyway.

Harriet persuaded her to sign up for the Quidditch trials on Friday during lunch, since the new Captain was Seamus Finnigan. She hadn’t been entirely sure that she wanted to play this year, with all her friends no longer being part of it, but decided she would probably regret it if she didn’t even try out.

***

Lord Voldemort swivelled his head towards the door.

“Come in,” he hissed. The door opened, revealing a hooded Death Eater standing with his arm held in the air, about to knock. “You can take your mask off, Severus, we all know it’s you.”

“Yes, sir.” He pulled off his black hood, revealing hair of the same colour hanging in waves over his forehead, and almost black eyes dancing around the room. He lowered his head in front of the Dark Lord to express his servitude.

“You have something to tell us, Severus? Or are we graced with your presence for a catch up over a cup of tea?”

Nobody laughed.

“Harry Potter and his friends have not found the last Horcrux. They mistakenly believed it to be the Norwegian Knife of Everlasting Fire. They were wrong of course…”

“Yes, they will never find the true Horcrux, even when it has been sitting under their noses for the last six years. That is the beauty of it. One of my most ingenious ideas.” Lord Voldemort’s mouth twisted into what was supposed to be a smile, but looked more like a grimace, while his slitted eyes flashed bright red.

“Yes, sir. I’m sure it is.” One of the Death Eaters muttered in agreement. None of them in the room knew what the Horcrux was; Lord Voldemort had told only one person.

“Nevertheless, I feel it is important that we try to bring in Harry Potter earlier than he has intended, while he is still a weak schoolboy and is far from finding the last Horcrux. Severus, I want you to liase with Garth to find a suitable lure for Mr. Potter. Of course, either of his two worshipping associates would be ideal, but I feel that they are too closely watched. I’m sure that you will come up with something, or someone, appropriate.”

“Yes, my Lord. Is there anything else...?”

“No thank you, Severus. That will be all. I will of course expect to see you again in two weeks exactly with the lure I have asked for. That should provide me ample time for me to prepare. You may leave.”

Snape turned back towards the door, reaching for the handle, but stopped.

“One final piece of information that you may find enlightening, my Lord.”

“Yes?” Voldemort looked pointedly at the door, becoming impatient with this longer than necessary interruption.

“You do realize from what source Harry Potter has been getting his information? Aside from that fool Dumbledore, of course.”

“I do. I find it a very interesting state of affairs indeed. I will of course be speaking to the relevant people regarding this. I view it as a significant failure on Lucius Malfoy’s part and I also believe that you ought to take part of the responsibility.”

“Yes, sir. I am sorry that it has provided you such inconvenience.” Severus looked towards the ground, wondering if he was to be punished.

“I need you in good shape for your latest assignment. I will consider your mistake forgotten if you succeed this time. I suggest you leave now before I change my mind.”

Snape left the room rapidly, and without looking back, shut the door firmly behind him.

***

Ginny’s afternoon passed even more slowly than the morning. She spent the majority of Care of Magical Creatures watching Firenze’s tail swish whenever a small bee flew near it and the remainder trying to sort through the thoughts in her head and the questions that she was bursting to ask Harry later that evening.

Her last lesson of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts. This was the one everyone had been most looking forward to, knowing that there was yet another teacher, a Professor Dart. Rumours had already informed them that the Ministry had appointed him, Professor McGonagall having had no say in the matter. After the last disastrous Ministry-appointed teacher, everyone was very curious as to what this person would be like. The professor, who had been welcomed as usual the night before at dinner, was old, probably early fifties, with graying hair, jet black eyes and a well-cut set of expensive-looking robes.

It was soon apparent after the first five minutes that they had overestimated the lesson. Professor Dart was desperately boring, and clearly had not the faintest interest or knowledge in Defense Against the Dark Arts. In a similar manner to Professor Umbridge, he followed the specification word for word, reading passages from their NEWT textbook and conjuring up faint, still images of any dangerous animals instead of demonstrating the real thing. He did not care in the slightest when the students were obviously not paying attention, and began to chatter amongst themselves, pass notes and even move their desks together to read the latest copy of Teen Witch Weekly. Apart from a few unnerving scans of the room, he might as well have been teaching to an empty classroom.

***

Ginny looked up from her textbook to the clock above the bookcase, watching as the hands shifted to read five minutes to eight. She looked at it a moment before finally registering that she had only five minutes to get all the way to Hogsmeade to meet Harry. Throwing her books into her bag, she flung it over her shoulder and ran from the library, ignoring Madame Pince's cries of protest.

She ran through the halls and was almost at the entrance to the secret passageway to Hogsmeade when she ran straight into none other than Pansy Parkinson, knocking her books and papers flying across the hallway.

“Stupid bitch,” Pansy muttered under her breath.

“Sorry!” Ginny gasped, starting to walk off. She just didn’t have time to stop and help.

“You should be. Pick them up.” Pansy stood there with her arms crossed, her brown curls perfectly in place, and gave Ginny a deathly stare.

I don’t have time for this. Harry was probably there by now and would leave if she didn’t turn up soon. “I have to go,” Ginny said, fixing Pansy with a matching stare before turning to run off.

She didn’t get very far before Pansy’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm in a steely vice, “I said ‘pick them up’ you bloody -”

Before Ginny even knew what she was doing she had pulled out her wand and muttered ‘Paralysis partialus’. Pansy’s arm fell to her side, allowing Ginny to sprint off down the hallway, ignoring Pansy’s stream of insults following her down the hall.

Another voice, however, joined in over Pansy’s.

“Detention, Miss Weasley,” Ginny stopped and slowly turned around to see Professor Slughorn looking at her with a lazy stare, “for cursing a fellow student.”

Ginny shut her eyes briefly, before opening them to see Pansy smiling smugly at her next to their Potions teacher.

“And for you, Miss Parkinson, for disgusting use of language in school.” This wiped the smile off her face and she began to protest before Professor Slughorn cut her off.

“You will both meet me in the Potions dungeons at six o’clock tomorrow evening. This has, in fact, come at a rather appropriate time; I am running out of Truth Serum and was looking for some volunteers…”

“Yes, sir,” Ginny sighed in defeat and watched as Professor Slughorn bowed his head in response, indicating she could leave. Without another moments wait, she strode around the corner and slipped passed the gargoyle to enter the dark passage to Honeydukes.

She didn’t notice the shadowy figure watching her through a crack in the classroom door opposite her.

***

“Ginny! I thought you weren’t going to come.” Harry was standing by the fireplace with his hands in his jeans pockets and his dishevelled black hair falling across his face.

Ginny looked at him feeling the familiar comfort at seeing her friend again, having felt a little lonely at school without knowing many people very well. “Sorry I’m late. I ran into Pansy in the hall; she caused a fuss, I get detention.” She slumped down on one of the armchairs in the small warm sitting room at the back of the Three Broomsticks.

“What a nuisance. I’m glad to be rid of her,” Harry said simply, looking at her warily and having a vague idea of what was coming up.

“Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk to you about Pansy. Did you find the last Horcrux?”

“No. It wasn’t it.” She looked carefully at Harry’s face, but saw no expression flicker across him face. This in itself made her feel a little sad. There had been a time that Harry could never disguise his emotions. He had had to grow up fast…

“Oh God. I’m sorry, Harry. Is there anything I can do?”

He just shrugged. He looked so tired, and weary beyond his years.

“I don’t think so. I’ll show you the picture we’ve been given again. You never know, the Hogwarts library might come in useful.” He flashed her a rare smile. “But I know this isn’t what you came to talk to me about.”

“I want to talk about Malfoy.”

“I know.” He looked straight at her.

Ginny decided to jump straight to the point. “What have you not told me about him?” Harry pushed his hand through his hair, and finally fell onto the sofa opposite Ginny and crossed one foot over the other.

“Okay. Malfoy has been helping us to work out what the Horcrux is.”

Ginny stared at him incredulously. “Right. And why would he do that?” She tried to hide her sarcasm, but failed.

“I…I got him out of a tricky situation at the beginning of the summer. He owes me. So I got him to look at the picture, and see if he had any idea what it might be. After all, he knows better than any of us about various Dark objects. He also knows Voldemort better, knows how his mind works and he knows how to access places we would spend months trying to get into.”

“And you would actually believe him? And now you’re surprised that this Horcrux isn’t actually a Horcrux? He could have fed you a bunch of lies; he could even have passed information on to You-Know-Who himself!” Ginny questioned, feeling her anger rise at how naïve they were being.

“No. He couldn’t. That’s the beauty of the Wizards Debt. He cannot physically lie, or betray us. Besides, we never told him why we were searching for these objects. We showed him the clues we had, and that was it. He doesn’t even know what a Horcrux is.”

“But he was obviously wrong.” Ginny refused to believe Malfoy would ever help them.

“He genuinely believed that the Horcrux was the knife. He didn’t betray us. He was simply mistaken.”

“I can’t believe you’re standing up for him like this! After everything he has done.”

“I don’t like him, I never will, but I do trust him. He has been forced into things since day one. He’s not evil, just misguided.”

Ginny stared at him with her mouth hanging open. Then she laughed. “You sound just like Hermione.”

Harry frowned, then smiled slightly. “I do, don’t I? I’ve pretty much just repeated what she said to me a few months back. I have to get out more.”

Ginny laughed, feeling the tension between them ease slightly, but it didn’t dissolve. She continued quietly, voicing the hurt she was feeling, “I still don’t see why you didn’t tell me any of this.”

Harry looked across at her. Her hair was falling around her face like a river of fire, and her eyes were wide and her small face set, trying to hide her feelings but not really succeeding.

He felt an inexplicable guilt wash over him and looked at the floor. “We decided that the fewer people that knew about Malfoy helping, the better. If this got out, he would be killed immediately. We thought…we thought we’d keep it between us. It was just safer that way.”

Ginny realized that this was a pathetic excuse. They didn’t tell her, they didn’t trust her, and they certainly didn’t consider her one of them. But somehow, she wasn’t surprised. “You know I would never have told anyone.”

“I know.” Harry looked at her, and she noticed that he looked guilty. He was fiddling with the arm of the sofa, and shifting around as if uncomfortable.

She decided not to say anything. There was nothing more to say. He’d just confirmed what she had been pushing to the back of her mind for all these months. It was always just Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Never her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, deep in thought. Ginny tried to get her head around trusting Malfoy, but whenever she thought of him, his sneering face would fill her mind, and all she could think of was what a spiteful, horrible bastard he was. No, she could never trust him.

She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to hold grudges. Not against Malfoy (well maybe against him), but certainly not against Harry.

“So, show me that picture again and I’ll see what I can find in the library.”

He smiled at her, showing his relief and gratitude. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a well-used piece of parchment and handed it to her. Ginny looked at it, familiarizing herself with the picture and running through the main features, a dragon and a snake. The dragon was lean and wiry, but the strength of muscle could clearly be seen in its limbs. Sharp spikes protruded from its back, and its eyes were fierce and fiery. The dragon was holding its head back, as if ready to unleash its flames, and its tail was flicking to the side. Coiled around its tail was a giant snake, winding tightly between the spikes. Its tongue was flicked out and it was looking bravely into the eyes of the dragon.

“We’re sure it’s nothing to do with real dragons? I’m sure Charlie could help if it was,” Ginny questioned him.

“No, we’ve looked into that already. Hermione thinks that it’s a metaphor for something. We just don’t know what.”

Ginny put her head in her arms and groaned. “So it might have nothing to do with an actual dragon or snake? It could be anything!”

“Well, yes. It will be related of course, but this is Hermione’s area really. She does the thinking.” He grinned at her.

“Okay. Well I’ll see what I can find in the library, but don’t get your hopes up. Do you want Malfoy’s help?” Please say no, please say no.

“No. He’s helped us, so he’s paid off his end of the debt, even though it was unsuccessful. He can do what he likes now.” Ginny nodded, relieved.

Harry took back the drawing of the dragon and looked at it as if hoping that the Horcrux would suddenly appear out of the parchment.

“Well, good luck,” Ginny said, standing up to give Harry a quick hug, which he returned enthusiastically.

“You too. How’s Hogwarts?” They had reverted to the safe area of small talk.

“The same. I’m going to try out for Quidditch again. It won’t be the same without you and Ron though.” She smiled.

“Seamus is captain now, I hear. He’ll be good. God, I miss Quidditch already.”

“You’ve only not been in school for one day!”

Harry laughed, and picked up his broomstick and his heavy black coat and opened the door. Ginny followed him out through the pub and into the rapidly cooling night air.

“I’ll owl you if I find anything that may be helpful,” she whispered.

“Same here. I want to hear all the news from Hogwarts too.” He pulled on his coat and swung a leg over the broomstick. “See you soon, Gin.”

“Bye, Harry. Send my love to Ron and Hermione.”

“Will do.” He kicked off the ground and raised a hand in greeting as he sped away into the starry sky.

Ginny watched until he disappeared behind the trees, then set off back to Hogwarts, pulling her cloak tighter around her.

Two Months Ago

Draco put the new pair of specially cut black trousers onto the counter and reached into his leather bag to pull out his wallet.

“That’ll be eight Galleons, please, sir,” the shop assistant said, looking Draco up and down admiringly, in his expensive robes and perfectly arranged blond hair. She fluttered her eyelashes up at him as he put the gold coins onto the counter.

Draco smirked slightly, enjoying the attention.

She pulled out a large plastic bag, with a moving image of a model in long evening gown parading down a catwalk, and slipped the receipt and the trousers in.

He took the bag, muttering a quick “Thanks”, and turned to leave, hearing a quiet tinkle from the door as a pair of tall men in long black robes walked into the store.

He walked straight past them, not looking, until he felt the sharp point of a wand tip pressing into the middle of his back. Eyes widening, he twisted his head round to see two of his father’s acquaintances, Avery and Nott, standing shoulder to shoulder behind him.

“There are always consequences for betraying the Dark Lord, boy,” Nott whispered in his ear.

Draco felt fear creep up his spine. He knew how ruthless the Death Eaters were and found he was not surprised to be held at wand point after he had failed the Dark Lord not so long ago. “I think people will notice if you kill me here, Nott; even you are not that stupid,” he muttered back angrily, trying to cover the rising panic.

“Look around, Draco. I don’t think anyone will pay be paying any attention,” Avery chuckled quietly.

Draco frantically looked around at the stands of cloaks, shoes, and clothes the few people in the store were still absently rifling through, holding items up and not even noticing the two men holding a wand out in public. He turned last to the shop assistant, whose long blonde hair was flowing over her face while she looked down to write some notes in a parchment book. They were obviously under a glamour of some sort. Draco felt himself breathing more quickly and forced himself to think rationally. What can I do? What can I do?

“Send old Dumbledore our regards.”

Draco heard, as if in slow motion, the small intake of breath as Nott prepared to say the fatal words, and he began to lift his leg forward, ready to kick Nott standing behind him. ‘Avada -‘

There was an almighty crash, and Draco felt himself get thrown sideways into the rack of multi-coloured robes, his elbow hitting a metal pole in a blast of pain. He blinked and frantically scrambled up to his feet to see Harry Potter and Ron Weasley standing in the doorway, wands out. He looked down to see Nott and Avery sprawled on the shop floor, amidst a pile of women’s hats. He heard a small scream, and noticed that everyone in the shop was staring and gathering around the two figures on the floor.

“They’ll be out for a few hours,” Ron said, with a grin.

Draco felt even sicker than he had a few moments ago. He had just been saved by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. This was not good. Summoning up all his manners, he forced out a very quiet “Thank you.”

“Don’t take it personally, Malfoy. We were just trying to avoid the mess,” Ron answered spitefully.

Harry shot Draco a dark look. “Count yourself lucky I was in a good mood.”

Draco clamped his mouth shut and walked straight out the door, without another look back. He rounded the corner of the street in Diagon Alley and leant back against an old wall, leaning his head against the cold stone and taking some calming breaths. The Dark Lord is trying to kill me and I am indebted to Harry Potter. This was terrible.

He looked down at his shopping bag, still clutched in his hand, and reached in to feel the soft material of his new trousers. He felt a piece of card tucked in between the folds of fabric. Taking it out, he read ‘Marianne Tallgate, owl me.’ He crumpled it up and threw it across the alleyway in frustration.

Pushing himself off the wall and with nothing else to do, he headed back to the Leaky Cauldron and reached for his room key.

The Present Day

Draco walked into the common room to see his girlfriend waiting for him to go to breakfast.

“Pansy, I can walk to breakfast myself, you know. I’m not an invalid.” He was in an irritable mood, like he was most mornings after a disrupted nights sleep.

“That’s no way to treat your girlfriend, Draco. Say sorry right now.” She put on a mock pout.

Draco shut his eyes briefly and began counting to ten. He didn’t quite make it. “Why are you my girlfriend again? I can’t quite remember. Was I drunk when I agreed to go out with you?”

Pansy narrowed her eyes. “Stop being such a bastard, Draco. I’m sick of it. I’m going to breakfast.” She started to prance off towards the door.

Draco heaved a sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, he actually liked having a Pansy as a girlfriend. Despite being ridiculously annoying a lot of the time, it made him feel important having someone who worshipped the ground he trod on. Besides, it gave him a certain status within Slytherin, and made all the other girls even more flirtatious. He strode forward and grabbed her arm. “Look, I didn’t mean it. I want you to go to breakfast with me.” He could almost see her smile. Moving around so he was standing in front of her, he placed a quick kiss on her lips, not thinking he could stomach any more, and pulled her out of the common room.

***

Ginny spent most of breakfast waiting for Draco to leave the table. She ignored the odd looks from her fellow students and couldn’t stop thinking about everything Harry had said. Could Draco really have been helping? She couldn’t help but think that they had all been very foolish to trust him.

The morning post interrupted her thoughts as flurries of owls flew in and spread out across the room to find their respective recipients. A letter was dropped in front of her place. Ginny picked it up and skimmed through the letter from her parents, filled with relatively non-important details from home and questions about how her first days of term had gone.

Her attention was jerked back to the Slytherin table as she saw Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle get up. Now was her cue to leave. “I’m going to head back. I’ve just realized I haven’t finished my Charms essay.”

“Sure, I’ll be up in a minute,” Sarah replied.

She grabbed her bag and hurried out of the hall, hoping Draco hadn’t got too far. Now she just had to think of a way to dispense with Crabbe and Goyle. That shouldn’t be too difficult, she smiled.

She pulled out her wand, and using one of her mothers’ best recipes, created a large piece of chocolate fudge cake, dripping with icing.

She walked quickly to catch up with the three Slytherins as they rounded the corner to the stairs. Striding slowly past them, she held the cake up to her mouth as if to take a large bite. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Goyle nudge Crabbe.

“Oi,” Crabbe said, his eyes widening at the size of the cake.

She turned her head, and lowered the cake slightly.

“Where’d you get that?” Goyle grunted.

Ginny smiled innocently, pretending to be intimidated by the size of the two older boys. “Um, Professor McGonagall was giving some away. It’s her birthday today.”

“Hmmph,” Goyle grunted. He looked at Crabbe, who looked back at him. His face broke into a wide grin and they both looked at Draco pointedly.

Draco rolled his eyes. “I don’t want any,” he answered grumpily. Ginny had never thought she’d see Draco grumpy. She hid her smile behind her piece of cake.

Crabbe and Goyle turned quickly and lumbered off in the other direction. Ginny smiled; that was way too easy.

“That was so subtle, Weasley,” Draco said sarcastically, looking annoyed.

“You think I need to be subtle around those two idiots?” She looked back at him, looking forward to what she was about to say.

Draco narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything else. Then his customary smirk swept across his face. “How was the rendezvous with the boyfriend last night?”

“Oh, it was very interesting. I have some news for you.” She smiled back at him, fluttering her eyelashes mockingly and decided not to bother correcting his use of the term ‘boyfriend’. He looked a little surprised at this behaviour. “You were wrong about the Dragon and the Snake.”

He looked at her disbelievingly. “Of course I wasn’t wrong, Weasley, I’m never wrong.”

He looked so sure of himself, and Ginny couldn’t wait to wipe the smile right off his face. She was thoroughly enjoying this conversation. “Well, you were. Harry told me himself.”

Draco looked suspiciously at her, glanced from side to side, and then dragged her into the nearest empty classroom.

Ginny started to have doubts about whether he had purposely pointed them in the wrong direction. This was strange behaviour for someone who had planned this all along.

“Does this mean that I still am in debt to that speccy git?”

Ginny very nearly chose to mislead him and say that it was true, just to watch him squirm, but she knew that he’d find out soon enough anyway. “I suppose it depends on whether you lied to Harry or were simply being thick.”

Draco hesitated a moment and seemed not to know how to answer. “In that case, I’m off the hook.”

Ginny smirked in a rather impressive imitation of him. Draco looked far from pleased.

Ginny turned to leave, her work here done, wondering if she ought to feel bad at how happy she was to have got one up on Draco Malfoy, but before she reached the door Draco spoke up.

“Good luck finding the last Horcrux without me,” Draco called out, with a superior look on his face.

“Looks like we’d do better without your pathetic…” Ginny paused and swung around, any trace of playful mockery gone. “How do you know about the Horcruxes?” She took a step towards him, managing to look very threatening considering her small height. “I know for a fact Harry never mentioned them once.”

Draco glared back at her, a superior look stealing across his features. “I don’t come second in my year for no reason. Did you think I wouldn’t be curious when Harry asked me to help? But don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone anything… yet.”

Ginny’s eyes narrowed. “Then why are you still alive? Why are you back at school? I’m not stupid either. There must be a reason that the Death Eaters haven’t torn you to shreds, and you feeding them information from Harry Potter would be the perfect way to worm your way back in.” Ginny looked at him in disgust. “You are no better than your father. Harry should never have trusted you, Lord knows I never would.”

Draco looked murderous. Ginny had just overstepped the mark and he could no longer restrain himself. Using his forearm he pushed her back into the wall, hard, and heard her breath rush out in a sharp gasp.

“You know nothing about me; you know nothing about my father. You live in your own fantasy world, blinded by your own superior morals and ignorant of the pain of everyone around you. You’re pathetic. You’re a silly little girl, meddling in affairs far too dangerous for you to even contemplate. How you dare to assume anything about…”

Ginny struggled against his arm, which was pressing against her throat and causing black spots to begin dancing in front of her eyes. Fueled by the fury of the Weasley temper, she pulled up her knee and hit him hard.

With a sharp “Oof”, he released her and bent double trying to cover up the agony.

“I know far more than you think, Draco.” She spat his name as if it was the worst insult in the world. “In fact, it was your own father that helped me on my way. Enjoy getting the Dark Mark. I’ve heard it may sting a little.”

With that, she turned and walked out the door, exercising all the self-control she didn’t even know she had, and walked off to the Charms classroom, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

***

Draco Malfoy was furious. How had that happened? He had just completely torn down his cool façade, and in front of Weasley at that. He was horrified with himself at getting so worked up over some simple, already said before, insults.

He let himself calm down a little and allowed other thoughts to enter his head, ones that he’d been carefully blocking out. Why had his father suddenly given in and accepted him back into his home? He doubted it was because of fatherly love. Draco almost snorted before realizing that was very un-Malfoyish. And what had Weasley meant when she said that his father had helped her on her way? She must have been at the receiving end of some Death Eater business, but what was it? It can’t have been that bad, or he’d have heard about it, wouldn’t he?

Well, at least one of his problems was over. Harry Potter no longer held a debt over him. So he was free in that respect. Thank goodness. Well, almost. Although technically there was no magical spell holding him, he couldn’t help but feel that he hadn’t properly repaid Potter. And it was not a feeling Draco liked.

He groaned, and put his head in his hands. When had his life turned so complicated?

His attention was suddenly drawn out of himself, as he heard voices, one of which seemed horribly familiar. He walked over to the window, which was slightly cracked open, letting voices drift in from a room on the floor below.

“Garth, the Dark Lord has a new assignment for you.”

He definitely recognized that voice.

“What is it, Severus?”

Draco tried to place who this second voice belonged to. Who was Garth?

“He would like you to find a possible lure to encourage Harry Potter to pay a visit ahead of schedule. I don’t think it should be too difficult. Potter has many admirers, and too many friends. I already have a particular friend in mind.”

“And who would that be? You know that Hermione Granger and that Weasley boy are not in Hogwarts, so I cannot…”

“Yes, yes, I know all that. I’m talking about another Weasley. A girl, Ginny. It was common knowledge that she and Harry Potter were involved for some time last year.” He said the word involved like it were some deathly poison.

“I know who you are talking about; the plain girl with the unsightly red hair.”

Draco couldn’t help but disagree. Ginny may have the most horrible personality of anyone he’d ever met, but he wouldn’t have called her plain. Disgusted, he returned his attention back to the conversation.

“…her yesterday, going into the Marmouth’s passage to Hogsmeade. She was surely to have been meeting Harry Potter,” the mysterious Garth added.

“Good, well, you know what you need to do. He wants the bait in two weeks time. Now, about the other matter; your position here at Hogwarts. The Lord wishes you to…”

Draco turned as he heard the laughter of a crowd of third years entering the classroom. Cursing them for their timing, he strode from the room, left with even more problems to deal with. Well, he was damned if he was going to do anything to warn that Weasley bint. She deserved what was coming for her. Didn’t she?

***

Ginny stood outside the dungeons, waiting for Pansy to show up so they could do their horrible detention. She sighed when she heard the clatter of Pansy’s high-heeled shoes echoing against the stone. This was going to be hours of utter hell.

Pansy lifted her nose when she saw Ginny, as if she were nasty smell, and strutted straight past and into the Potions classroom. Ginny reluctantly followed her in to see Professor Slughorn already waiting for them at his desk.

There was a large, empty cauldron in place in the centre of the room, and huge pile of ingredients on the desk next to it. Ginny’s mood dropped even further.

“Ah, girls. Perfect timing. I need you to make me some more Truth Serum. As you know, it is a First Year potion, so you should not find it particularly taxing. But in case you had forgotten, the instructions are here.” He waved his wand at the board and lines of curly writing appeared. “I will require another one hundred bottles.”

Ginny’s mouth dropped open, that would be, what, ten batches. Ten whole batches!

Pansy seemed equally horrified. “But, sir…” she began in a high-pitched wail.

“No buts. Please leave the finished bottles on my desk for me to put away tomorrow morning. Now, enjoy your evening.” He flashed them a wide smile, picked up some papers, and left the room.

Pansy turned towards Ginny, looking highly put out. “At least you don’t have a boyfriend who will be missing you,” she said in a highly superior voice.

Ginny rolled her eyes and bit back a nasty retort. “Lets just get on with this and then you can go back to your bastar…oh sorry, boyfriend.”

Four batches of Truth Serum later and Ginny thought she’d never want to look at another cauldron again. Surprisingly, Pansy wasn’t so bad at Potions, and she was just as happy as Ginny to work in silence and try and get this over and done with as quickly as possible.

It all fell apart as they began on batch five. Ginny’s arm was sore from the chopping of Halliday Roots, and Pansy had started grumbling to herself about how unfair this whole detention it was. Ginny knew it was only a matter of time before she started blaming the whole thing on her.

“We’re ready for the Giant Hair,” Pansy stated grumpily.

“Are you sure? Haven’t we got to wait for ten minutes?”

“No. That’s not until after we’ve added the Giant Hair and the Halliday Roots. Just add the bloody hair, Weasley.”

Ginny couldn’t be bothered to argue, so she picked up the five hairs using the metal tongs. There was no way she was going to touch it. Peering over at the steadily bubbling orange liquid, she dropped the hairs as Pansy stirred using a large wooden spoon.

As soon as the hair touched the surface of the potion, plumes of blue smoke rolled up and out of the cauldron, rapidly spreading across the room. Ginny choked and pulled the sleeve of her jumper across her mouth and glared at Pansy.

“Eugh. I told you it had to wait ten minutes.”

“Well you should have paid more attention to the instructions on the board and not left it up to me to tell you when we needed another ingredient.” Pansy looked moodily at the now purple potion, still forcing reams of smoke into the room. It smelt toxic.

This was so unfair, and Ginny was so sick and tired of potion making with Pansy, that she couldn’t hold off arguing back. “It was entirely your fault, Pansy, and you know it. Now we have to start this batch all over again and you can do it all.” Ginny put her hands on her hips.

“No way.” Pansy flicked her hair back and squinted at the board. “Six stirs clockwise.” She grabbed the spoon back and did just that.

Ginny’s mouth fell open. “We can’t just carry on the way we left off. The whole potion is wrong!”

“So? Who cares? Slughorn can just throw it away and we’ll still have made our hundred bottles. He never said they had to be done right.”

Ginny took a deep breath and choked again. She decided to just go along with Pansy. Anything to get this stupid potion finished. Goodness knows what substance they will have created in the end. She was convinced she felt lightheaded from the smoke still curling around the room. She dropped in the Stone of Salick. The potion hissed and turned a suspicious green. There was no way this was Truth Serum.

Ten minutes passed and Ginny was feeling distinctly dizzy. It wasn’t a bad feeling. She looked across at Pansy, who was leaning against the wall and crushing beetles at the same time.

“So, what was the famous Harry Potter like in the sack?” Pansy suddenly asked.

Ginny gaped at her. “What?”

“You heard me.” Pansy gave her a lopsided grin.

“I wouldn’t know,” she replied in a defensive voice. She grabbed on to the desk as the room gave an odd turn.

“No way!”

“We were only going out for a few weeks,” Ginny explained. Pansy still looked blank and Ginny avoided rolling her eyes. Of course, that wouldn’t make any difference to Pansy. “But he was a rubbish kisser, so I wouldn’t expect he’d be very good.” Ginny clamped her hand over her mouth. How could she have just said that?

Pansy giggled. “It doesn’t surprise me. Potter’s too distracted with saving the world to bother about the important things.” They both laughed.

Feeling another rush, as if she’d drunk too much Butterbeer, she decided to continue their bizarre conversation. “Does Malfoy live up to his Slytherin Sex God title then?”

Pansy shrugged. “He refuses to sleep with me.” She looked a little horrified at what had just said.

Ginny was astounded. “Why? Haven’t you been going out for over a year already?”

“Yes, well, sort of. He doesn’t like me. I’m not stupid. He only wants to be with me for the social benefits.” Pansy tried to look as if she didn’t care, but Ginny could see a slight glint to her eyes. Maybe it was just the affects of whatever Truth smoke they’d inhaled.

“He’s such a bastard. I don’t know why you bother.” His sneering face filled Ginny’s mind.

“Oh, but he’s not. He’s not what he appears to be. He doesn’t even want to be a proper Death Eater. His heart’s not in it. He’s his own person. I’ve seen him be nice to people. Not to me, but I’ve seen it. He’s so much better than the stuck up bastard everyone thinks he is.” Ginny gaped at her. Pansy was in love with Draco. She hadn’t even realized that airhead was capable of love.

“What are you going to do then? Follow him around like a lap dog for the rest of your life?” Ginny began pouring out the reeking finished potion into the empty flasks.

“Oh no. I’m seeing Malcolm Baddock as well. I can’t take Draco ignoring me all the time. Malcolm pays attention to me. I know he wants me. He buys me things, takes me to Hogsmeade and meets me in deserted classrooms.” She giggled and Ginny joined in.

Pansy lined the flasks of the new potion up on Slughorn’s desk. They clashed horribly with the other forty odd bottles of brown Truth Serum.

“Well, I think you should dump Malfoy. That would make him pay attention to you. Just imagine. Draco Malfoy dumped. It would be the talk of Hogwarts. Then you could properly go out with Malcolm.” Ginny wondered what on Earth was going on. She was giving relationship advice to Pansy Parkinson.

Pansy laughed and tried to vanish the remains of the potion but managed to get rid of the cauldron at the same time. “Oops.” She giggled again, clutching the desk in front of her.

Ginny pulled out her wand and conjured up a new one, which was distinctly deformed. This caused another bout of giggles.

“I think I will dump him. And I’ll tell him all about Malcolm. He deserves it.”

They began chucking in the ingredients for their new batch of Truth Serum, giving up entirely on following the instructions and adding to the already multi-coloured smoke in the room. After a couple more minutes of giggling, the door burst open and standing there was Malfoy with an undisguised look of shock on his face. His nose wrinkled at the smoke in the room, and he took out his wand and cleansed the air.

“Pansy! What on earth is going on? I want you to go and get us some sandwiches to eat. I missed supper too. Leave the Weasel to finish up.”

“No.” She sauntered over to him and looked right at him. Being so tall, her eyes were almost level with his. “I’m dumping you for Malcolm. At least he gives me what I want.” She burst into hysterical giggles.

“What?” He looked strangely at her a moment then took out his wand and pointed it at her. “Sobrietus.” She visibly straightened and did not break her stare. “Of course you don’t want to break up with me. I’m the best-looking boy in Hogwarts. Malcolm’s not important.”

“Oh, but I do. I’ve been meaning to break up with you for months. Now, I’ve got business to attend to, if you don’t mind.” She strutted past him and left the dungeon without a backward glance at Draco or Ginny.

Ginny started laughing.

“Do you want to die, Weasley?” Draco snarled, looking as if he could kill her with a stare.

“Not really.”

“Then I’d stop laughing right now. First you shout at me and knee me in the balls, then you persuade my girlfriend to break up with me, and now you’re laughing at me.”

“You deserve it. I think you’ve been utterly horrible to Pansy. Despite the fact that she’s usually incredibly annoying and a big bitch most of the time, it’s no excuse.” She stared at him accusatorily and felt the effects of the Potion beginning to wear off, leaving her feeling tired and confused. What an odd evening.

“As much as I’d like to believe you persuaded her to break up with me because you are hoping you might have a chance, which you don’t, I think this was out of pure spite against me. It’s very childish you know.”

“You’re wrong, actually. I just felt sorry for Pansy. Even she deserves someone better than you. Anyway, you should thank me; it was only a matter of time before word got out that she was sleeping with Malcolm Baddock behind your back. I’ve just saved you the embarrassment.”

“Sorry, Weasley, but there’s no way I’m ever going to believe that you persuaded my girlfriend to break up with me for my own benefit.” He looked around the dungeon and his eyes fell on the array of bottles lined up on the desk. “You two made a complete mess of the simplest potion, didn’t you? You must be completely incapable. But then, it doesn’t surprise me from a Weasley.”

“Leave your pathetic insults to my brother. You know, Pansy told me some interesting things about you…”

Draco’s eyes narrowed. “Save it. I don’t want to know.” Draco went to the window and looked out, feeling a strange sadness now that Pansy was gone. She was a constant in his frantically complicated life. She was nice to him, if in an annoying way. He was tired of people who manipulated him, used him, kept secrets from him.

Ginny watched him. She had expected more a reaction. Now he just looked weary in a way someone his age should never look. Her thoughts returned to what Pansy had said. He’s not what he appears to be. He doesn’t even want to be a proper Death Eater. His heart’s not in it. He’s his own person. I’ve seen him be nice to people. Perhaps she was wrong about him. Maybe he had simply been mistaken about the Horcrux. She looked down.

“Malfoy. I’m sorry about what I said earlier. You’re right, I don’t know anything about you-”

“No, you don’t. And I don’t want your apology.” Draco’s words were harsher than he had intended.

“Fine, then you won’t get it.” That was the last time she’d try to apologize to him. He was so difficult. She looked over at the mixture of potions on the front of the desk. She was going to have to finish it, or they’d just get another detention. She made her way back over to the half filled cauldron, vanished the useless contents and eyed the piles of ingredients still lined up. Measuring out the Eucalyptus leaves she started on another batch.

“Try Replicas Threum,” Draco suggested and left the room.

What? Ginny thought. After a moment’s consideration, she went over to the professor’s desk and pointed at one of the correct bottles of Truth Serum.

“Replicas Threum.” An identical bottle appeared next to the original. Brilliant, she thought, wondering what had possessed Draco to help her after everything she had done.

Ginny looked away from Dangerous Magical Artifacts and pushed back the sleeve of her jumper to look at her watch. 10: 27. She’d been in the library nearly four hours. She felt like she needed a few matchsticks to keep her eyes open. Or a coffee would be nice.

She noticed the few remaining people were scraping their books off the tables to trudge out the door. Madam Pince would be round in exactly three minutes to chuck them all out, but Ginny was nowhere near finished. Not only did she need to do a three foot Charms essay, research the use of Dream Inflicting Potions and perfect transfiguring a toad into a hamster, she also still had to catch up on the work she never managed to finish yesterday because of her stupid detention. And she wanted to spend at least another hour looking up possible objects that had anything to do with dragons and snakes. Like looking for a bloody needle in a haystack. The Restricted Section was where she needed to look next.

Deciding on a plan of action, she looked furtively around, before pulling all her books off the table and onto the floor and crawling under her desk, which was partially blocked from view by the tall Care of Magical Creatures bookcase. She used her hand to drag in her chair so that it was neatly pushed up against the desk, and checked that none of her books were sticking out.

Leaning with her back against the wall, she crouched and held her breath as Madam Pince strode past, paused for a moment by the door, then switched off the lights and shut the library door firmly behind her, plunging Ginny into darkness.

She waited a couple of seconds, then began fumbling around in her robes for her wand. It was not an easy task, sitting down with her knees pressed up against her chest.

“Boo!” a voice whispered in her ear.

Ginny jumped a mile and screamed for a split second before being cut off by a hand clamping around her mouth.

“Idiot! Do you want to be caught?” It was Malfoy.

He removed his hand quickly, before wiping it on the front of his robes.

“I’m the idiot? What did you think I would do if you crept up on me in the pitch black and said ‘boo’? Never do that again!”

“Oh, it was worth it.”

Ginny could imagine his smirk. She felt his hand touch her side, “What do you think…”

“Relax, Weasley. Here’s your wand.” He put it in her hand.

Ginny was glad it was dark when she felt her face heat up.

“Lumos,” she muttered, watching the pale green light blossom out of her wand. He was kneeling next to her and the strong shadows showed up the sharp contours of his face in the half-light. “So, what do you want Malfoy? Come to kill me?” She was only half joking.

“Yes, of course, that’s why I gave you your wand,” he retorted.

“Hmmph. Well, whatever you want, get it over with quickly, as I have a billion and one things to do.”

“That’s a shame. I was hoping we could start off with a lengthy game of chess, after which we could sit in the Defense against the Dark Arts section with a Gin and Tonic discussing the merits and …”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Shut up. You’re babbling.” She crawled out from under the desk and stood up, straightening her robes.

“I am not babbling! Malfoys do not babble.” He sounded affronted.

“And I really don’t care.”

“My, we are touchy today.”

“Yes, I am! And I don’t know what’s gotten into you. You’re like Malfoy-on-a-high and I am not in the mood to deal with that. It’s all your stupid girlfriend’s, sorry, ex-girlfriend’s, fault. I have about a hundred feet of essays to write, toads to blast into space and a never-ending number of books to sort through. If you’d just gone and done your stupid debt repayment bit right, then I wouldn’t need to be spending all my time holed up in this dingy, bloody, prison searching for a dumb object, which, probably, nobody even knows exists, so won’t be in a bloody book in the first place! So, if you’d like to g…”

“And I was babbling, was I?”

Ginny attempted to slow her breathing. “If you know what’s good for you, you should leave right now, unless you have something helpful to say.”

“Okay. I do. There’s no point in looking in the library, even the Restricted Section, for this…this dragon Horcrux. It could be anywhere. You need to actually look at possible objects in real life.”

Ginny gaped at him. “Sorry, but I though I said helpful? Not ridiculously vague and pointless. You’ve paid off your debt anyway, so go and find a new Slytherin slut to play with and stop wasting my time.”

Draco frowned. “You could clearly use my help. But of course, you’re too Gryffindor to accept help. Too proud and self absorbed.”

“Yeah, and you’re too Slytherin to offer help without something in return. I just haven’t figured it out yet. If you weren’t a Malfoy, I’d think you were guilty about something, but then Malfoys don’t feel guilt, do they? So what is it?”

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. She was bang on the mark. He was guilty. He knew about the Death Eater’s plot to kidnap her, but he was not going to tell her. That would be betraying everything he knew, everything he had ever known. So why was he guilty? Like she said, Malfoys don’t feel guilt. She was just a worthless Weasley Muggle-lover, so why would he care if she were kidnapped? That’s right, I don’t care, he told himself.

“Well, you’re never going to find out. See you tomorrow.”

Ginny watched his inner turmoil in fascination. He was guilty! She could see it in his expression. As much as he clearly tried to hide it, it was still written all over him. She had always prided herself on being able to read people; so perhaps it wouldn’t have been so obvious to most people. But that left her thinking. What was he guilty about? Had he done something terrible? No, if he had, he would have stayed away from her, to avoid the guilt. This was something he hadn’t done yet, or something he knew but wasn’t planning on telling her. That must be it. Well, she doubted he was going to tell her that now, if ever. But perhaps she could use his help in finding the Horcrux.

“Malfoy, wait!”

He turned, about to open the door to leave.

“Spit it out. What do you want to tell me?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Nothing, Weaslette. Nothing important.”

Ginny didn’t believe him; there was definitely something up. “Fine. Goodnight.” She decided she might as well give up on the Horcrux search for now and get on with her homework. Okay, Potions…

“Oh, wait!” She said again.

“What is it this time?”

“You’re good at Potions. What are the uses of the Dream Inflicting Draft?”

Draco rubbed his eyes. “Give someone sleepless nights for days, discover your inner desires, a form of torture for those in Azkaban, you can alter it to make it into a Nightmare-All-Night Draft…”

“Hang on, you’re going too fast. Let me write this down.” Ginny was furiously scribbling away on her parchment.

“Weasley, it’s ten-thirty at night. Don’t you think you ought to be in bed?”

“Not when I have Charms and Potions to finish by the morning. What was use number two again, and who would benefit from it?”

“For goodness sake. Just give me the parchment.” Draco pulled out the chair opposite Ginny and sat down at the desk. Using his wand he conjured up three candles, which stood in the middle of the desk separating them both. “Get on with your Charms essay and I’ll do this. I’ll get it done in about a third of the time it would take you anyway.”

Ginny watched as his hair flopped over his face as he bent over the parchment, his quill scratching, and a look of concentration replacing his usual sneer or frown. There was definitely something going on. She shrugged and began on her Charms.

After ten minutes or so went by, Draco looked up. “I’m done. You’ll just need to use Eclypsia to change it to your handwriting.” Ginny didn’t look up for a moment, clearly stuck in a train of thought. Her hair had amazing gold colours flickering in the candlelight, and her brows were slightly furrowed. In this light, her eyes looked an almost golden brown, like a tiger’s, and her skin seemed flawless. Draco could see why so many of the boys in school had tried to ask her out. Only a select few had ever succeeded. Draco blinked. What am I thinking? She’s a Weasley for goodness sake! He cleared his throat. “I said, ‘I’m done’. I hope you’re grateful.”

Ginny looked up, startled for a moment, as if she’d forgotten he was there. “Oh, thank you. Yes I am. You’re like the ‘Fountain of Potions Knowledge.’”

Draco smiled. “The Fountain of Potions Knowledge? I like it.”

Ginny laughed lightly, thinking how odd it was to see Malfoy smile. He never smiled. “Frankly, if I were you, I’d prefer the ‘Slytherin Sex God’ title. But, whatever floats your boat…”

“Hmm, yes. Being the Slytherin Sex God does have its advantages.”

“If you want a crowd of Slytherin whores drooling all over you, then yes. I’ll have you know that you have no similar effect on me.”

Draco grinned in a very un-Malfoyish way. He reached out and tugged on a strand of Ginny’s curled red hair and began twirling it around his finger, looking straight into her eyes. “Even if I do this?”

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him and blushed slightly. “No. That’s just creepy.”

Draco laughed and retracted his hand. “I think you’re a lost cause. I don’t do ‘Romantic’ only ‘Super Hot and Irresistible.’”

“The candles were a step in the right direction. And doing my Potions homework for me.” Ginny smiled at him, fluttering her eyelashes exaggeratedly.

“The candles were there purely for visibility purposes. Remember that.” He looked a little concerned.

“I’m only joking. Don’t worry. You’re a Malfoy. I would never be attracted to you. You’re like a whole different species.” Even as she said it, Ginny wondered if she was wholly telling the truth. She liked this Malfoy, when he wasn’t insulting her or killing people.

Draco laughed again. “Vice versa.” He stood up. “I’m going to bed.”

“Bye, Malfoy. And thanks.” Ginny smiled at him, wondering what on earth had just happened between them.

“No problem.” He turned to leave, but stopped for a moment. “Good luck with the Horcrux search. And I’m sure I’ll be seeing you at our Ministry party next weekend. You wouldn’t want to miss out.” With that, he walked out.

Once again, Ginny was left feeling thoroughly confused. His Ministry party? Why would she be going to his Ministry party? She took out the letter she’d got from her parents that morning, remembering that they’d mentioned it.

Holding out her wand over the parchment, she skimmed to the right part:

We’ve received an invitation to the annual Ministry party at the Malfoy Manor, again. On papyrus parchment, embossed in silver and green! Of course, we’ll decline. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

Ginny’s mouth fell open. Had Malfoy just implicated that it could be helpful to go to the party, so that they could snoop around his house looking for Horcruxes?

She needed to owl her parents right now. They had to accept that invitation so that she could have a look around the house. It was the perfect opportunity. She grabbed her books and forced them into her bag, vanished the candles, and ran out of the library.

***

Draco lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

So much for trying to appease his guilt. He now felt ten bloody times worse than he did that morning. Congratulations, Draco, he thought to himself. He needed to make up his mind. Whose side was he really on? Here he was, trying to convince himself that he was a Death Eater, that he supported Voldemort, when really, he wanted nothing to do with them. Their whole ethos was shit in his opinion. He was just too cowardly to do anything about it. All his friends, friends, they’re not friends, his family, his support network, were all fighting for Voldemort. How could he just cut it all away? Besides, did he really want to lower himself to fighting with Muggles, Mudbloods and blood traitors? No. Perhaps he could just fight on his own side, fight for what he believed was right, or even, not fight at all.

Then there was that stupid Weasley bint to think about. I shouldn’t be thinking about her at all, she’s a Weasley. She can rot in hell for all I care. But he did care. That’s where the problem lay.

He punched his pillow in anger. This whole thing was just too messed up.

He heard someone shuffle in his bed and a tired voice spoke out, “Malfoy, just shut up. You never liked Pansy anyway.”

Pansy, that’s who he ought to be thinking about, not Weasley. He groaned. This was going to be a long night.

***

Ginny leaned forward slightly, angling her broomstick to the ground, before pulling to a stop and swinging her leg over the side to jump off.

“Nice one, Ginny.”

Ginny turned. It was Seamus, who had been running the Quidditch trials. She smiled at him. Frankly, she didn’t agree. She hadn’t been practicing nearly enough.

“I can safely say that you’ll be on the team. I just haven’t decided where to put you yet.”

“Good. As long as I’m not a Beater, I don’t mind.”

Seamus smiled widely. “No, I can’t really imagine you as a Beater. Mind you, I suppose any of us would like the opportunity to bash Bludgers at Crabbe and Goyle as hard as we could.”

“Yeah. I’m with you on that one.”

The walked back towards the castle, watching streams of red- and gold-coloured Gryffindors walking ahead of them, who’d come to watch or try out. She wondered if she’d be made Seeker, in which case she’d be playing against Draco. Now that would be interesting. She doubted he’d play nice just because she was a girl. She smiled slightly at the thought of getting to play against him.

“Hey, Ginny. I was wondering if you wanted to come to Hogsmeade with me sometime? We could go for a drink in the Three Broomsticks or have a look round the shops before they close.”

Ginny turned to look at him. It wasn’t that she was surprised he’d asked her out. She heard a few rumours flying around about it anyway. She also knew a lot of other girls would kill to be in her situation right now. Seamus was good looking in a rugged kind of way, with broad shoulders and a kind smile. She just didn’t find him that attractive. Well, I might as well give it a go; I might change my mind.

“I’d love to. Whenever we can find a break in our hectic schedules.”

Seamus grinned broadly. “I know, it’s mad this year. How about sometime next week?”

She looked at his bright blue eyes, almost wishing they’d change to grey. Oh Lord, did I just think that? She replied weakly, “Yeah that would be nice.”

“Good.” He paused for a second and looked at his feet. “And you’re sure Harry won’t mind? I have a lot of respect for him, and wouldn’t like to…well…”

“No, don’t worry about it. Harry and I are a thing of the past. He’d probably be glad if I moved on.”

They’d arrived at the castle and separated to go to their respective lockers.

“Have a good afternoon, Seamus.”

“Yeah, you too, Ginny.” He leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss on her cheek before going to his locker.

Ginny’s eyebrows rose. That was a little forward wasn’t it? It’s not like I’m going out with him yet. She sighed, and wondered if it had been a good idea to agree to go to Hogsmeade. Great, now my life is even more complicated.

***

“Mr. Malfoy? Can you come up here please?”

Draco looked up, registering that Professor McGonagall was staring sternly at him from the front. What have I done now?

He got up, pushing his chair back, and heard a few of the girls giggling slightly. He turned, and gave them a lazy smile and then pranced down the aisle to the front, doing the best male catwalk impression he could manage.

Professor McGonagall looked disapproving.

“I notice that you have not been paying attention in my class. I understand that you may have a lot on your mind at the moment Mr. Malfoy, but that is no excuse. It is your NEWTs at stake here…” He tuned out of the conversation and noticed a name written on a piece of parchment on McGonagall’s desk. Garth. It was a note of some sort, partially covered by a pile of papers. He snapped his eyes back to Professor McGonagall. “…you not writing down the list of objects that can be transfigured into a paperweight?”

“I’m sorry Professor, but I’ve run out of ink. I was going to write them down later once I could get my new pot from my room.”

McGonagall ‘tsked’. “I’ll give you a new lot for now, but in future I’d like you to come to my class prepared.” She turned and disappeared into the back room to get a pot.

Draco used this opportunity to pull the note out so that he could read it.

Minerva,

I’d be grateful if you could meet me in my classroom this afternoon once lessons are over. I would like to discuss my position here at Hogwarts with you.

I look forward to our meeting,

Garth.

He’d established by now that Garth was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dart. He was also a Death Eater.

There was definitely something strange about this meeting. Why meet in the far away classroom? Why not McGonagall’s office, or even one of the staff rooms? Draco quickly tucked the note back as McGonagall emerged from her room.

“Here you are, Draco,” she said, handing him the fresh inkpot. “Now, go back to your seat, and please pay attention from now on or I shall feel obliged to take house points."