Ginny's Love

Later that day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ginny decided to ask the new teacher- who had started at the tail end of last year- about Soul Searchers. She got her chance immediately after class because she only had to go to lunch.

"Professor Goldwood," she said, approaching the teacher's desk.

"Yes, Miss Weasley," said the young-looking professor, smiling genially. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you know much about Soul Searchers?" asked Ginny.

"I know enough," answered the Professor. "Why?"

"How do you know if you ARE one?" asked Ginny, sitting in the chair next to the professor's desk.

Professor Goldwood said nothing at first, only stood staring at the girl. Finally, she sat at her desk and said, "I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps you just know about people without even having to talk to them. Or perhaps you just know what the person's true intentions are. Or maybe you can tell when they're lying. All of these are possible."

Ginny nodded.

"Do you think you may be a Soul Searcher?" asked the professor.

"Maybe," said Ginny, shrugging. "I mean, I can just tell about people, you know? I knew Lupin was a werewolf and I know Snape's really a sweet guy under it all and I know that something's up with Dumbledore, but I don't know what, yet."

"What do you mean, something's up with Dumbledore?" asked Professor Goldwood.

"I can't quite tell," answered Ginny. "He's good, that's for sure. He's honorable, but he's got something... I don't know, extra? He's got some hidden.... Something. I don't know."

Professor Goldwood smiled. "That he does," she said. "But, I'm not at liberty to say what it is. If he thinks you should know, he'll tell you. As for your own powers, Miss Weasley, I would like to work with you to develop them. If they really are there, we'll have to inform the ministry. Those with your gift are nearly as rare as Unbreakables.*"

Ginny nodded. "All right," she said. "When should we start?"

"Tomorrow evening right after the evening meal?" asked Professor Goldwood.

"I'll be here," said Ginny, standing to leave.

She couldn't wait to tell Draco!

* * * * * * * *

Before she could tell him, though, she got the chance to tell Hermione, Harry and Ron. Harry had no idea what she was talking about and Hermione had to explain it to him.

"A Soul Searcher is a person who can tell the character of a person, just by looking at them," she explained. "And with practice, they can actually see into a person's soul. I read all about it in Hogwarts, A History. Rowena Ravenclaw was a Soul Searcher."

"And you think you may be one, Ginny?" asked Ron.

"Perhaps," she said. "Someone said something to me yesterday and it got me thinking, so I went to talk to Professor Goldwood. She said it sounds like I could be, but she isn't sure. She's going to start working with me tomorrow after dinner and we'll see."

"Did you find out who your secret admirer is?" asked Hermione suddenly.

Ginny could feel her cheeks go hot. "Yes," she answered. "But, I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Come on, Gin!" said Ron. "Out with it! Who is it?"

"I told him I wouldn't tell," she said, trying to think of a name she could tell her brother so he'd shut up. "I told him that I couldn't see him and then he made me promise not to tell. And he wouldn't take the gifts back. He said he wanted me to have them."

"We won't tell Ginny," said Harry. "You can tell us."

Ginny sighed, agitated as she glanced across the hall and spotted Draco Malfoy with his two cronies. Suddenly, inspiration struck her. "Fine," she said. "It was Crabbe. Are you happy?"

"Crabbe?" hissed Ron, looking highly amused. "VINCENT Crabbe? As in Malfoy's friend Crabbe?"

"NO!" giggled Hermione. "Vincent Crabbe! I don't believe it!"

"It's really Crabbe, then, Ginny?" asked Harry, grinning widely.

"Yes, Ron and if you even BEGIN to tease him, I swear I'll curse you from here until next Tuesday!" she replied. "I promised him I wouldn't tell and if he finds out I did, he'll be CRUSHED and I couldn't BEAR to do that again! I SO hated telling him that we couldn't see one another. The poor thing, he was VERY disappointed."

Harry and Hermione nodded and looked as if they would comply, but Ron was still grinning from ear to ear. "I don't believe it!" he said. "Crabbe was sending you love letters all summer long!"

"Ronald Weasley, I swear, if you say ANYTHING to him, I'll send you howlers every single day yelling at you for things you didn't do and wouldn't even DREAM of doing!" said Ginny, shaking her fork at him.

"All right, all right," he said finally. "I won't say anything."

"To ANYONE!" she said. "I shouldn't even have told you!"

"All right," said Ron. "Too bad, too. Seamus would have gotten a kick out of that!"

"No, Ron," warned Ginny.

"All right, I won't tell anyone," said Ron again, going back to his dinner.

Ginny shook her head and sighed, checking her watch. "Well," she said, noticing that it was nearly seven. "I'm going to go study. I'll see you later."

They all called goodbye to her as she headed out of the Great Hall. Instead of going to the Library, though, she headed up to the owlry to find Draco already there waiting for her. "Hello, Draco," she said, crossing the owlry to place her hand on his shoulder and stand with him, looking out onto the grounds.

"Hello, Ginny," he said, turning to pull her into his arms. "I was thinking of you all day."

"I'm sure you were," she replied, settling her head on his chest. She had never realized just how tall Draco was until now, but he was a bit more than a head taller than she. His arms around her felt strong, yet gentle and she could hear his heart beat in his chest. THUMP-thump. THUMP-thump. It sounded nice. "I was thinking of you, too," she added.

"Were you?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"Mmhm," she answered.

"We should go someplace more private," he said. "I mean, we don't want to be caught, do we?"

"Definitely not," she said, not moving from her place in his arms. "Have you anywhere in mind?"

"I know a little place that's never visited," he said, pulling away and leading her down the steps from the owlry. Then, instead of heading out the door, he slinked behind the owlry steps and slipped into a little alcove that was completely hidden. He then tapped on the brick in the top right hand corner of the back wall and the wall slid aside, revealing a little room with a fireplace, sofa and chair.

"How on EARTH did you find this place?" she asked, looking around.

"Snape," he answered, settling down on the sofa and pulling her down with him. "He and I are pretty close, if you couldn't tell and one day he told me about all these secret rooms he found when he went exploring and I got curious and came to find some of them."

Ginny settled in next to Draco and buried her face in his neck. "Well, I'm glad you found it," she said, kissing him gently. "It gives us a wonderful place to snog."

He chuckled and lifted her chin with his forefinger. "Is that really what you want to do?" he asked, tweaking the end of her nose.

"Not really," she answered. "I'm content to just sit here next to you." She thought for a moment. "You do realize that you gave me my first kiss, don't you?" she asked.

"I didn't, but it doesn't surprise me," he said, kissing the end of her nose again. "After all, you are only 15. Did you realize that it was my first kiss as well?"

"I didn't," she replied. "Though that's a little harder to believe. You ARE one of the most popular boys in school."

"Am I?" he asked, amused. "I hadn't noticed."

Ginny giggled and settled her head on his shoulder once more. "Sure you hadn't," she said. "Just like Harry doesn't notice how popular he is."

Draco said nothing and Ginny was afraid that she'd angered him at first. She was about to apologize when he spoke. "He's not the sort that WOULD notice," he said.

"Perhaps not," said Ginny. "But, I don't want to talk about Harry right now."

"Me neither," said Draco, kissing the top of her head. "I want to talk about you and how beautiful you are."

Ginny giggled as he pulled her into his lap. "And I'd like to listen to that," she said.

"Very well, Ginny," he said, pushing some stray strands of hair out of her face. "In that case, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Do you know what you did to me when I first saw you? Even though you were only eleven and I only twelve?"

"I'm afraid to ask," she giggled.

"I'm almost afraid to tell you," he said, grinning. "But I didn't really pay any attention at the sorting ceremony when your name was called. After all, to me, a Weasley was a Weasley. Once you've seen one, you've seen them all. But, it was the next day when you came into the Great Hall for breakfast. I saw you and I wondered who in the world was the beautiful young thing that had just walked into my life and away with my heart. I stared at you most of the morning and all through the rest of the day at meals until your brother came along and said something to you. Then, I realized who you must be. How could I MISS it? I mean, the flaming red hair and shabby robes- no offence."

"None taken," she said quickly.

"Anyway," he continued. "I still wanted you, but I knew that if my father found out that I was in love with a Weasley, he'd have me killed. What could I do? I hid my feelings and avoided you whenever possible. Except at Valentines Day that year. I was so jealous that you'd sent a Valentine to Potter, I wanted to rip his head off. But, the only thing I could do was hurl an insult at you and believe me, I beat myself up for it later."

"You shouldn't have," said Ginny. "I don't want any bruises on your adorable face."

He gave her his cock-eyed grin. "Thanks, Ginny," he said. "In any case, I thought that perhaps if I ignored it, it would go away, but it just kept getting worse and worse and I ended up breaking down and writing you a letter- which I sent at the beginning of the summer. My mother knows, but she won't tell Lucius. She knows what he'd do to me if he knew."

"Well, then, we'll just have to keep this quiet, won't we?" she asked.

"Of course," said Draco, leaning in to kiss her again.

* * * * * * * *

When she returned to the common room only two hours later, she had to contend with her brother and his friends, who dragged her right back out and immediately attacked her with questions.

"What are you doing with MALFOY?" hissed Ron angrily.

"What?" asked Ginny, pretending to be confused.

"We know you were with him just now!" said Hermione. "Why?"

Ginny thought fast as she looked into three sets of angry eyes. "All right!" she said. "Look, here's how it is. He's not doing so well in charms and since it's my best class, he asked me to tutor him."

"But you're a year behind us," said Harry.

"So's Draco," said Ginny, trying to look like she wasn't lying. "He's doing so horribly, he has to catch up to the rest of you. Besides which, as Ron can attest to, I'm doing so well, I've passed almost everyone in my year and have almost caught up to you guys. Flitwick put me on independent study in my second year."

Hermione looked skeptical. "Are you SURE that's what he wants from you?" she asked. "I mean, what if he's only pretending to be stupid so he can get sympathy from you and then... well, take advantage of you!"

"Don't worry, Herm," said Ginny. "I won't let that happen. As if I could fall for Draco Malfoy! And anyway, how on Earth did you know I was with him?"

"We, er..." stammered Ron.

"Well, you see," said Harry, looking as if he were thinking very hard about something.

"Oh, there's no harm in her knowing," said Hermione, pulling a piece of rumpled old parchment out of Harry's hand and showing it to Ginny. "See? Here we all are and-"

"The Marauder's Map," said Ginny, recognizing the map of Hogwarts that her brothers had shown her in her first year. "That's Fred and George's. How did you get it?"

Harry grinned. "From Fred and George," he said. "They gave it to me."

Ginny grinned and nodded. "Well, anyway, don't any of you use this to tease him with, all right?" she demanded. "I promised I wouldn't tell!"

"We'll keep quiet, Ginny," said Harry. "Won't we Hermione?"

"Sure," said Hermione. "Isn't that right Ron?"

"What?" said Ron, looking aghast. "Malfoy's DUMB and I'm supposed to keep this QUIET?"

"Ronald Weasley!" exclaimed Hermione, hands on her hips.

"All right, all right," he said, looking sorely disappointed. "I won't say anything."

"Thank you, Ron," said Ginny. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some of my own homework to do before I go to bed." As she pushed past them and back into the common room to actually do some homework, she mentally wiped the sweat from her brow. That had been close.