Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 10

"Gin! I don't want to hang out with Longbottom and the Creevey brothers all day, not to mention that train wreck Luna Lovegood. Cassie and Nicki are ok but the rest of them..." Draco whined.

"Draco, stop whining," Ginny interrupted him. She laughed when she saw that he was pouting.

"I'm not whining. Malfoy's don't whine," he said condescendingly.

"Yeah and they don't pout either, but you are, so explain that," Ginny shot back.

Draco gave her a dirty look but didn't say anything so she continued, " Come on Draco. We only have to hang out with them for a few hours, then we can sneak off. If you play nicely I'll make it up to you," Ginny smiled suggestively.

"How?" he drawled.

Ginny leaned in and whispered something in his ear. A slow grin spread across Draco's face and two bright pink spots appeared on his cheeks. Ginny sat back and looked at him smugly. She had actually made him blush and she was damn proud of herself for it.

***

"How do I look?" Harry asked

He and Ron were in Ron's dormitory getting ready for the Hogsmeade visit. They were supposed to meet Hermione and Alex in Entrance Hall in five minutes.

"You look fine, Harry," Ron said, nervously smoothing his hair.

Harry glanced at his watch, "We've gotta go."

They quickly grabbed their coats and went down to the Entrance Hall. They spotted the girls easily. Hermione and Alex were standing near the bottom of the steps engrossed in conversation. Harry was pleasantly surprised to see that Alex's hair had no streaks, it was hanging in loose waves framing her face.

When they reached the girls, Ron walked up behind Hermione and wrapped his arms around her small waist, kissing her lightly on the cheek.

Harry stood next to Alex, fidgeting nervously. He seemed to be concentrating awfully hard on his feet.

"Hi," Alex said timidly.

"Hi," Harry said. He looked up, meeting her eyes, she smiled at him and he quickly looked away blushing.

"We should get going before all the carriages are filled up," Hermione said, noticing how nervous Harry and Alex seemed to be.

Ron and Hermione led the way out of the castle, followed closely by Harry and Alex. Once outside, they found an empty carriage and settled in. They sat silently for a few minutes until, Harry and Ron became immersed in a conversation about the next Quidditch match. Hermione and Alexia then began discussing their Charms classes.

About a half hour later the carriage came to a stop and they got out.

"Where to first?" Hermione asked.

"How about Honeydukes'," Ron suggested.

"Run out of Chocolate Frogs already, Ron?" Harry laughed.

Ron stuck his tongue out at Harry.

"Very mature, Ron, " Harry rolled his eyes, "Come on, let's go."

Harry noticed that Hermione and Ron were holding hands, so he tentatively reached for Alex's hand, when she didn't pull away Harry looked at her and smiled shyly. The four friends continued walking to the popular candy shop. Once they had gotten a nice cache of Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Quills, Licorice Wands and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, they left the store and headed to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer.

They walked into the pub and sat at a booth. Ron and Hermione on one side, Alex and Harry on the other. Soon Ron and Hermione started arguing about an upcoming Potions assignment.

Harry rolled his eyes at Alex, "This is one of their many ongoing arguments," He said, gesturing to his two friends.

"So, how long have you three been friends?" Alex asked.

"Since first year," Harry responded.

"Wow, that's really cool. You mentioned that you actually started the DA last year, why did you decide to start a club like that?" Alex asked.

"Ron and Hermione talked me into doing it, to teach the kids who really wanted to learn something. Umbridge didn't teach us anything and we thought it was better to be prepared," Harry explained.

"How did you guys keep it quiet?" Alex asked.

Harry looked at Hermione and smiled proudly, "Hermione jinxed this parchment that everyone signed. If anyone said anything, they got these nasty purple boils on their faces that spelled out the word Sneak."

"Cool!" Alex exclaimed, looking impressed, "Did anyone say anything?"

"One girl did. Luckily for us, before she could testify in front of the Minister, someone used a memory charm on her, so she didn't remember a thing," Harry said.

They sat there for a few moments in comfortable silence.

"So, What's your family like?" Harry asked.

"My mum is a Muggle, My dad is a Pure-Blood, his entire family went to Hogwarts. I have a younger brother and a younger sister. Andrew, my younger brother, is in his second year and Astrid, my sister will most likely be coming to Hogwarts next year," Alex responded.

"What does your mum think of you being a witch?" Harry asked.

"Oh, she's ok with that. It's everything else she hates," Alex laughed, "I told you before she freaked out when I got my tongue pierced, she hates that I put streaks in my hair, when I'm at home I wear a lot of black clothes which she hates. She and my sister Astrid are the exact opposite of me. They are both blond, with blue eyes, Astrid is only ten but she will be as tall as my mom one day, where as I take after dad. He doesn't mind the piercing or the hair," Alex asked.

By this time, the four friends had finished eating and were back out in the cold December air. It was almost Christmas and they had all decided to take advantage of this Hogsmeade visit to get some Christmas shopping done.

"What's your family like?" Alex asked, as they walked into Zonko's joke shop.

"Hermione and the Weasley's are the closest thing I have to a family. Hermione and Ginny are like sisters to me, Ron's mum and dad have always treated me better than my real family and most of his brothers treat me like I am one of the family," Harry explained.

"Well, what are they like?" Alex inquired.

"Mrs. Weasley is a bit over protective, and a very good cook. Mr. Weasley is pretty normal, but a bit obsessed with Muggles. Bill and Charlie, the two oldest are great. Charlie works in Romania with dragons and Bill is a curse breaker for Gringott's. You might remember Percy, he has turned into a real jerk, he works for the ministry and doesn't associate much with the family anymore. I'm sure you remember the twins, Fred and George, they turned the fifth floor into a swamp just before leaving school last year, and you've met Ron and Ginny," Harry said.

The conversation went on like this until they were heading back to the carriages. Ron stopped suddenly, in front of Flourish and Blotts and turned to Harry.

"I've got an idea, I'll be right back," He whispered in Harry's ear.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Ok."

"Wait here," Ron said, walking into the small book shop.

He came back out a few minutes later, holding a small bag triumphantly.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing," Ron said, not hiding his excitement well.

Finally they reached the carriages that would take them back to school. They found an empty one and climbed in. Soon, Hermione and Alex began talking, giving Ron an opportunity to fill Harry in on his plan.

***

Ginny was sitting in the Three Broomsticks with Nicki, Cassie, Luna, Colin, Dennis and Neville. She had seen Harry, Ron, Hermione and Alex leave about an hour before, just after Draco, who had left under the pretense of doing some Christmas shopping for her. Right about then she heard the door open and saw him walk into the small pub.

Draco walked over to the table and sat down next to Ginny, putting the bags that held his purchases under the table.

"What took you so long? Ginny asked.

"Nothing," Draco smirked.

Ginny looked at him skeptically, but let the subject drop. If Draco still expected her to sneak off with him and desert her friends after this little stunt, he had another thing coming. The two spent the rest of the day hanging out with her friends. To Ginny's amazement Draco found things to talk about with Neville and Colin. It seemed Draco's Herbology grade was slipping, so he was going to help Neville with Potions in exchange for help in Herbology. As for Colin, well he had been giving Ron a run for his money at Wizards' Chess this year and Draco claimed to be the Slytherin Champion when it came to the barbaric game.

Finally it was time to head back to school. Ginny and Draco climbed into one of the carriages, quickly followed by Nicki and Colin, who quickly found their own form of entertainment, leaving Ginny and Draco to their own devices.

"You know something, I could help but noticing. What is that on your tongue?" Ginny asked.

Draco smiled and stuck out his tongue to reveal a silver tongue ring, with a green plastic ball that had a silver snake on it.

"When did you do that?" Ginny asked.

"Earlier, when I went Christmas shopping," Draco said.

"Since when is there a piercing parlor in Hogsmeade?" Ginny inquired.

"It just opened like last week," Draco replied.

"Hermione told me something interesting about tongue rings," Ginny said innocently.

"Oh, really?" Draco said nonchalantly, "Did it have anything to do with..." The rest of his sentence was cut off when he leaned over and whispered suggestively in Ginny's ear.

"Do you think it's true?" Ginny asked.

"Only one way to find out," Draco laughed as Ginny blushed a deep red.

***

Later that night, Ginny crawled into bed. She turned over on her stomach and stretched her right arm up under her pillow and felt something leather. She wrapped her hand around the object and pulled it out sitting up. She turned the familiar object over and over in her hands in disbelief, there is no way this should be here she thought to herself.

Ginny flipped open the journal, in the dim light of the moon she could see words appearing on the page. She threw the journal to the floor and ran from the room. she pounded on Hermione's bedroom. after a few minutes a very sleepy Hermione appeared in the doorway.

Before Hermione had a chance to say anything Ginny grabbed her hand pulling up to the room Ginny shared with the other 5th years.

"Ginny, what's going on? Why did you drag me up here?" Hermione asked.

"I'll show you," Ginny said her search turning frantic now.

Hermione pulled out her wand holding it in Ginny's direction. She whispered, "Lumos" and a few seconds later the end of her wand lit up illuminating the area of the room Ginny was still franticly tearing apart.

"It's not here," Ginny said. "Where could it be? I was only gone for a few seconds."

"What's gone Ginny?" Hermione asked. She moved over to her friend and put a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny looked around then whispered, "Tom Riddle's diary. It was here, in my bed."

"Ginny, it was a dream. It's not here," Hermione said.

Ginny jerked away from Hermione screaming, "It wasn't a dream. I had it in my hands!"

Ginny's screaming had woken up her roommates, Nicki quickly came over to comfort her friend, she of course knew the story of what had happened in Ginny's first year, but she hadn't come to Hogwarts until their third year, so she hadn't experienced it first hand.

"Ginny, do you think Ron and Harry might have had something to do with this?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know Hermione, this seems a little mean to be just a prank, don't you think?" Nicki said.

"No, Hermione's right, I'll bet it was Ron, that git," Ginny said.

"You guys should really stop this stupid prank war, before someone gets hurt," Hermione said.

"No way, I am not letting him get away with this," Ginny said. She sat there for a moment silently and then she smiled wickedly.

"I've got an idea," she said, then started whispering excitedly to Hermione and Nicki.