Chapter 15
Confrontation: A


Wednesday, September 24th found Ginny Weasley wandering the fifth floor corridor on Prefect’s duty. Quite aimlessly too, she thought. It was the beginning of the school year for Merlin’s sake! Nobody was fool enough to be causing any mayhem so soon into term. Especially with the current…situation, in the wizarding world.

Ginny sighed. This was probably the most subdued term Hogwarts had seen in a very long time. The war was taking its toll on everyone even now. The students still acted as though everything was as it should be, but Ginny had seen some of the older students looking over their shoulders every once in a while. The younger students were more afraid than paranoid. Most of the poor first years seemed to be constantly nervous. Class sizes too, had shrunk. It wasn’t overwhelmingly obvious, but Hogwarts was quieter, emptier and more solemn. Every other day there seemed to be news of a death or of Voldemort wrecking havoc. As though that wasn’t enough…

About a week ago, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left. Not as in packed up their things and took off, but as in just suddenly weren’t there. Ginny’d been quite surprised, and a little resentful, about them leaving without even telling her, but it’d been nothing compared to the effect their departure had had on the school. Suddenly the Golden Trio was gone, off to fight in the war. No one had actual conformation of it, but it was obvious. Not only had the Trio left, but so had Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall was now Headmistress in all but title. It left Hogwarts unbalanced and a little shaken at first, but things were beginning to get normal. Well, as normal as they would.

Ginny hadn’t been included in any Order meetings (not that she ever would be,) but she was sure that they had gone to find Horcruxes. She wasn’t sure, but it was the most probable scenario. Not that she had the faintest clue of what Horcruxes were, mind you, but she had her way of finding things out. All she knew was that they were dangerous and had something to do with defeating Voldemort. She’d seen the state of Dumbledore’s hand at the beginning of her fifth year, and if that wasn’t from hunting Horcruxes, then she was a Hufflepuff.

The school had begun to show unwavering faith in Harry. He’d pull through for them, some would say. Don’t worry, everything will turn out fine. The Trio’s absence did leave a hold of sorts, but the fact that something was actually being done, and by people they trusted, was enough reassurance to temporarily fill that hole. Ginny did worry, though. Not only for her brother, Hermione, Harry and Dumbledore, but for those dying daily. It was the deaths reported in the Daily Prophet that worried her the most. She didn’t personally know anyone who had died, so it wasn’t the people that she was worried about. She frowned. That sounded just a touch too unsympathetic. She shook her head, red hair flopping down in front of her face. It was the way they died that disturbed her. The reports claimed “a new, sadistic Dark curse” to be the culprit, but this “curse” seemed to be getting more demonic with every passing death. No, the deaths being reported were too demonic in nature to be mere paranoia on her part. One man had reportedly died of being “burnt through.” More like had a demonic fireball go through him. Demons were on the loose and killing.

And yet, she still had not spoken with Draco.

Ginny stopped her pacing and closed her eyes for a moment. Draco was becoming a source of constant frustration for her. After she’d received his frigid note, she had tried, and failed quite admirably, to observe him. To see why he’d reacted so to her message. However, Draco was making it quite impossible. He was never in the same place as she was, and if he was, he was not only surrounded by his Slytherin court, but students were also milling everywhere. A confrontation was impossible. She’d tried to seek him out after meal times, but the bastard was never there! Not for more than a few minutes at least. Hell, she’d never even seen him at breakfast. She’d tried to owl him again, but it was pointless. He didn’t even acknowledge her existence. Draco was doing a superb job of avoiding her, and she didn’t even know why.

She let out a frustrated growl. Damn you, Draco, she thought, resuming her patrol of the corridor. She’d been just about to turn around and pace back down the corridor when she heard a noise from the adjacent corridor. She stopped in her tracks. Was somebody really stupid enough to be wandering the halls after curfew? She considered her options for a moment. She could just continue her patrolling, ignore the culprit, and go back to her dorm and be asleep in half an hour. After all, it wasn’t her corridor. Or, she could catch the culprit and vent her frustration on some brave, and admittedly stupid, third year. She decided on the latter option.

Ginny turned on her heel and walked into the adjacent hallway. It was really very dark. The torches on the walls weren’t lit and she couldn’t see a thing. She reached for her wand while walking boldly down the corridor in complete darkness. Quite a bad idea, really.

Her next bold stride brought her crashing into something very solid. She let out an ‘oof’ as she fell backwards and tried to maintain her balance.

“Lumos,” muttered the solid thing she’d bumped into. The small light bloomed between them and Ginny found herself looking into the face of none other than Draco Malfoy.

Ginny’s eyes went wide and she sucked in a breath. Draco just stared at her, looking as surprised as she was probably ever going to see him.

“Draco,” Ginny said, taking a step towards him, not really thinking of what she was going to say. She was just glad to finally be able to talk to him. What a relief.

Draco, however, stepped back, his cold mask slipping back into place.

“What do you want, Weasley?” he sneered.

Ginny’s jaw dropped a little, and she looked up at him, confusion etched onto her face.

“What do you mean?” she asked. Draco just shouldered past her.

“Draco!”

He turned around and sneered at her. “I am not wasting my time answering your questions, Weasley. And don’t think you can report me for being out after hours- I’m Head Boy, in case you forgot.”

With that, he stalked away, taking the light with him.

Ginny stood in the dark corridor for a few moments in perfect shock. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. He’d acted so cold. As though he didn’t even know her. As though the summer hadn’t happened. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so numb before. Draco had just… he’d… her paralyzed mind couldn’t even think straight. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he acting so strange? Sweet Merlin! He acted as though she was a complete stranger to him! Hadn’t he comforted her during the powers ceremony only a month ago?

Suddenly she realized she was standing all alone in a dark corridor. She shook her head and headed for her dorm. Fuck Prefect duty, she had more important things to worry about.

~

The next morning, Ginny and Cassie trudged down to the Great Hall, both half asleep and leaning on each other for support.

Ginny had spent the better part of the night tossing and turning in her four poster bed. All because of Draco. She couldn’t believe that she’d lost sleep over the selfish bastard. Yes, that was what he now was to her. A selfish, incorrigible bastard. She’d spent hours last night replaying their short meeting and getting nowhere. Finally, around four in the morning, she came up with a solution to her predicament. It was fairly simple, too- let him be. If he wanted to throw his destiny, his future, that summer, and her out the window- then so be it. It was his life, he could do with it as he pleased. She was not going to chase after him and beg him to talk to her. She was too proud for that. If he did eventually pull his head out of his arse, he could find her. With this decision, she had fallen into a fitful slumber, only to be woken up two hours later by her alarm clock.

Cassie, Ginny had learned over the past couple of weeks, was horrible about getting up in the mornings. For the past week, Ginny had been dragging her American dormmate out of bed. Literally. She had to practically force her to go to bed, too. Once she woke up though, she was a ray of blasted sunshine. She was annoyingly chipper once she woke up, but never failed to make Ginny laugh. Actually, she was beginning to really like having the American girl around.

“Ugh,” groaned the subject of Ginny’s thoughts as they half walked, half crawled through the Entrance Hall. “Next time I decide to stay up to do homework, hit me over the head with something really heavy, okay?”

Ginny gave a sleep giggle. “M’kay.”

The girls plopped into the first seats they came to, dropping their bags unceremoniously onto the floor. The Gryffindor table just had to be furthest away, didn’t it?

Cassie’s face immediatly lit up at the sight of chocolate chip pancakes.

“I love food,” she breathed, loading her plate with an impossible amount of pancakes. Ginny couldn’t help but laugh at the delighted expression on her friend’s face as she dug in. Her mother would be ecstatic to have Cassie over for dinner one day. She put a couple of pancakes on her own plate, not feeling too hungry. That really did say something about her current mood. She was a Weasley and Weasleys always ate more than any normal human being could. Except possibly Cassie. The one thing she did need was coffee. Which, of course, was gone. Damn it. The one day she really needed coffee, and it was gone. Ginny sighed, resigning herself to go down to the kitchens later for some of the rejuvenating liquid.

She looked up and found her gaze drawn to the Slytherin table. The Slytherin court was all there, all except their prince. Ginny set her jaw, determined. If Draco wanted to throw everything away, then fine. She was not going to trouble and worry herself about it. If he wanted to be a bastard, then by all means. She’d decided it last night and she was sticking to her decision. He could throw his destiny out the window for all she cared.

She picked up an abandoned Prophet and flipped it over to the front page, wanting to read while she ate. One, it helped pass the time, and two, it’d keep her mind off certain persons.

Have you ever had one of those moments when you decide something, feeling determined that nothing in the world could cause you to change your mind? That no matter what, you’re sticking to your decision? And then, all of the sudden, something hits you like a sledgehammer and forces you not only to abandon your decision but to do the complete opposite?

Yes, well, that was the state of Ginevra Molly Weasley’s current world.

“Oh my god,” Cassie breathed, breaking away from her pancakes and staring at the overturned Daily Prophet.

“CREATURES ATTACK BRIGHTON- HUNDREDS DEAD”

Underneath the blaring, shocking headline was a picture equally horrific. Half the front page was taken up by a large picture of Brighton- burning. Muggles and wizards alike were running through the burning city in panic. Demons- horrible, grotesque, gleeful, demons were chasing after the people, hurling everything from swords to fireballs. She could almost hear the screams of terror. Dead bodies, burning ones, and random limbs littered the streets- blood was everywhere.

Ginny felt sick. She recognized the demons that ran by on the page- every last one of them. She knew what they were, she knew what they could do. Most importantly, she knew how to stop them. Hundreds dead, the words swam before her eyes. Hundreds dead. Hundreds of innocent people, hundreds of people of the Light. The Light that was under her protection. She felt bile rise up in her throat.

“I’ll be right back,” she said tightly, before getting up, grabbing her bag, and all but running out of the Great Hall.

She ran into the first lavatory she came to, closed and locked the door, and sunk back against it. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes prickled with tears. Those people, those hundreds of innocent people, could have lived. Their lives had rested in the hands of the Warriors- her hands. She had let those people die all because she was too wrapped up in her own stubbornness, her own stupid immaturity. She’d been feeling too proud to confront Draco and because of her fucking pride hundreds of innocent people had died!

Tears of anger slid down her face. She couldn’t believe her own selfishness. She was a Warrior, she was meant to protect the Light. Oh, sure, she’d thought about it a lot these past couple of weeks. Every time she felt slighted, or bested by someone, she thought about being Phoenix. She slid down the door until she hit the floor. She wasn’t a Warrior so that she could feel good about herself! She had responsibilities to take care of and she’d ignored them as thoroughly as Draco had ignored her. People had died because of her. She could have stopped it, she easily could have stopped it.

She wasn’t foolish enough to say she was as bad as those demons, but she could have stopped it. Easily. If she and Draco had just collaborated and put their bleeding prides aside… Draco! How dare he!

He had let those people die, too. He had let hundreds of innocent people died just because he felt like being a bastard! How dare he! If he'd gotten his head out of his arse, none of this would have happened! Ginny angrily threw her head back against the door, not really feeling the pain as her head hit the wood. Draco could go to hell, but she was not going to let his selfishness kill innocent people.

Foolishly, she had thought that it was just between the two of them. It had nothing to do with them! It had to do with thousands of innocent people that they were supposed to keep alive! And they had failed. Failed.

Slowly, the dramatic emotions drained out of her. However, anger was left. Anger at herself for being so stupid, but mostly anger at Draco. She picked herself up and went to one of the sinks. Her eyes were puffy and red in the mirror, and her face was blotchy. Wet strings of hair stuck to her chin, all in all creating a very becoming look.

She snorted. He was being a bastard, and she knew that he knew it. He knew he had let hundreds get murdered. Sadly though, the blond git didn’t seem to have a conscience. She turned on the faucet and splashed her face with cold water, a sort of calm settling over her. She looked back in the mirror, jaw set.

She was going to be his conscience.

~

Ginny entered the Charms classroom just as the bell rang. She slid into the seat next to Cassie, the blue eyed girl casting her a questioning look.

“Where were you?” Cassie whispered as Flitwick began the day’s lesson.

Ginny shook her head. “It’s not important.”

Cassie looked as though she was going to press the issue, but was interrupted.

“Miss Jones!” squeaked Professor Flitwick. “Miss Weasley! Please pay attention- this is a very delicate charm.”

Cassie cast her one more furtive look before turning to face the tiny Charms professor. Ginny sat back, grateful for the interruption. Cassie was insanely curious, not to mention persistent. Explaining away her absence would not be easy, but she could deal with that later. Right now, she had a plan to come up with.

~

By three in the afternoon- six hours later- the only female Weasley was still clueless on how to get Draco alone.

She was sitting in the library, books and parchment scattered about her, trying to balance a quill on her nose. It was much harder than it looked. As the quill fell on the table for the umpteenth time, she heaved a sigh. She wasn’t getting anything done today. No schoolwork, no homework, no Draco-stalking.

She’d left Cassie in their dorm somewhere around an hour ago, under the guise of going to the library to do homework. Thankfully though, Cassie hadn’t wanted to join her. She had just asked for directions to the kitchens. Ginny snorted, picking up her quill. She thought she ate a lot. Cassie could give even her brothers a run for their money. She placed the quill carefully on her nose, and let her gaze flick up to the windows, trying not to go cross-eyed. Her quill fell off almost instantly, but it didn’t even register.

Heading out of the castle, alone, was Draco. Ginny stood up quickly, knocking her chair to the ground. She didn’t even bother picking it up or gathering her things before running out of the library.

“No running in the library!” Madame Pince screeched after her.

She ran faster than she could ever remember running. Down the halls, into the Entrance Hall, down the steps and across the grounds. She stopped, searching for a head of blond hair. Damn it! She could not have just acted like a complete lunatic, and possibly gotten detention, just to find the Draco wasn’t- there! Turned away form her, and walking along the edge of the forest, unseen from the castle, was Draco. Perfect. She could confront him and no one would see.

She ran down a small hill towards him. “Draco!”

His head immediatly snapped up. She was too far away to see his facial expression, but she was sure it wasn’t a pleasant one. She was only a couple of meters away when he turned away. Oh no, he was not walking away this time.

“Draco!” Ginny ran after him. He didn’t turn around, so she grabbed his arm.

“What do you want?” he snarled. Ginny started at this sudden reaction.

“What is your problem?”

He sneered at her. “Currently, you.”

Draco pushed past her, but Ginny grabbed at his arm again, glaring daggers. “Don’t you dare walk away from me, Draco.”

He turned towards her again, his ugly sneer in place. “I do what I like, Weasley.”

“What is your bloody problem?” she asked again, raising her voice.

“Go away.” His tone was threatening and equal in volume to her own.

“No! I will not ‘go away!’ What is wrong with you?”

“If you won’t go away, then I will!” Draco yelled, and pushed past her once again. Again, she grabbed his arm. He whirled around to face her. “What do you want?”

“I want to know what your bloody PROBLEM IS!” Ginny let the anger from this morning spill over into her voice. He was not just going to walk away.

Draco, too was angry. There were pink spots on his cheeks and his eyes were nearly black with fury. “YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT MY PROBLEM IS, GINNY?”

“YES I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM IS!”

“YOU!”

The force with which he yelled that made her step back.

“Wh-what?” she stammered.

Draco stepped towards her, menacingly close. “You are my bloody problem, Ginny.”

He was practically snarling. She’d never seen him so mad before; and to have all that anger directed at her was frightening. “I-I don’t know what-“

“You know perfectly well what I mean!”

Her temper flared at his insistence. “Actually, I don’t!”

He glared at her for a moment, stepped back and started walking away. She ran around him, skidding to a stop in front of him.

“WHAT?” he yelled.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Ginny could feel her cheeks getting flushed with temper and knew she must look ridiculous, but was too angry to care. She was getting her answers, she didn’t care how, but she was getting them.

“I haven’t been avoiding you.” He shouldered past her. She let out a growl of frustration. When would he learn that he wasn’t getting away until he answered her questions?

“Bollocks! Draco, we’re Warriors! We have to work together! That doesn’t exactly work if you run away from me every time you see me!”

He turned around, the pink on his cheeks more pronounced. She knew that would get to him. “I have never ‘run away’ from anything in my life- let alone you.”

“Well what do you call what happened last night?”

“I was in a hurry!”

“The hell you were!”

“FINE! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I WAS AVOIDING YOU?” Draco was becoming disheveled.

“YES I BLOODY WELL DO!”

He strode up to her and grabbed her wrist, squeezing it almost painfully. When he spoke, it was in a low hiss. “I am always being watched, Ginny. Always. Since term started, all of the Dark Lord’s Death Eaters-to-be were watching me, under his orders. See, for a whole summer, I was gone. No one knew where to, no one knew why. He wants to know where I was, what I was doing and how it could help or hurt him. If I met, or even communicated with you, it would have gotten back to the Dark Lord. He can’t find out who we are. Kiara was right, he does know about the Warriors, and he wants to know who they are. I know hundreds of people died in Brighton, but it had to happen. The Dark Lord was sending too many demons; we both would have died.”

“You knew Brighton was going to get attacked?” Ginny whispered, stunned. “And you just let us sit here and do nothing? You let hundreds of people die just to save your own neck?”

“Are you stupid or just deaf? Didn’t you hear me? We both would have died.”

“Draco! People died!”

Draco dropped her wrist, turning away from her and letting out a frustrated growl. “You don’t get it! The odds were impossible! We both would have died! Either those hundred people died or the thousands who still could die!”

“Not ‘hundred’ Draco! Hundreds!” Her temper was flaring up again. Who was he to make decisions for her?

“You know the Prophet always exaggerates things!”

“Not something as important as that!” She knew she was lying.

Draco threw up his hands in frustration. “You are so bloody stubborn!”

“Yes, well you’re a bastard! How could you let so many innocent people die?”

“We both would have died!”

“You- you-” Ginny couldn’t even speak, she was so furious. “You ferret!”

“Weasel!”

“Bastard!”

She stood, glaring at Draco, chest heaving, anger pumping through her veins. He was glaring back at her, face flushed. Suddenly, he strode towards her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her towards him before crushing his lips to hers.

For the second time in twenty four hours, Ginny was stunned beyond thought. Draco was kissing her. Draco was kissing her. Draco was kissing her. Draco was kissing her. His hands found her hips and steered her closer to him, the distance between their bodies becoming nonexistent. He was kissing her fiercely, all the anger and emotion of their argument now translated into the kiss. She’d just leaned in, when he pulled away.

“What are you doing?” she asked, breathless and confused.

If it hadn’t been for the current situation, she would have laughed at the expression on Draco’s face. He looked surprised, confused and angry all at once.

“I have to go,” he muttered, turning away.

Ginny stared dumbly. “What?”

He didn’t answer her question. In fact, he began jogging away. Ginny’s shock began to dissipate, replaced by confusion. He’d just kissed her and then left.

“Draco!” she called.

No reply. She jogged after him.

“Draco!”

Too late. He was already inside the castle.

She fell back, staring at the castle but not quite seeing it. What the hell was going on? He’d just kissed her and left. He’d kissed her. Ginny couldn’t quite believe it. She wasn’t going to lie to herself, she’d had a few fantasies about him kissing her. She’d just never imagined it would happen, or under such circumstances. What was going on? Alright, so she now know why he’d been avoiding her, but she still had nothing more to go on. This was going nowhere. She was no further now than she was when she’d started yelling at him. Except now, she was even more confused. Where they going to meet? Was he going to avoid her again? Why the hell had he run off like that?

Why had he kissed her?

Back to the kiss…Ginny let out a growl and dropped to the leaf strewn ground. He’d kissed her, for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but him, and then took off!

She was back to square one. Again, she had to figure out or wait for an opportunity to get him alone and confront him.

Wonderful. Abso-bloody-lutely wonderful.
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