Draco's Love

Ginny walked back to the table in a complete daze, fingering the chain around her neck. She continued to think about what Draco had said. 'I want a real family.'

Right before she rounded the bookcase leading to her table, she shoved the necklace down her blouse. The last thing she needed was to be seen with a Slytherin class ring.

Ginny sat down at her seat and looked at her still blank parchment. She should have asked Draco to help her with the essay. She didn't have the slightest clue what the ingredients for Veritaserum, and for that matter, she didn't care.

"Where's your book?" Hermione, who had just looked up, asked, snapping Ginny out of her daze.

"My - what?" she said, faltering over her own lie.

"You said you were going to get a book," Hermione reminded her, staring her in the eyes.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited for an explanation that Ginny didn't have.

"I - I couldn't find what I was looking for," she lied. She had found exactly what she was looking for; it just wasn't what she had said she was looking for.

"Do you want me to help you look?" Hermione asked, rising from her seat.

"No!" Ginny said a bit too loudly. Noticing several students staring at her she whispered, "I mean, that's okay. It's really not that important."

Hermione sat back down, but not without shooting Ginny an 'I know you're lying' glance first.

Ginny let out a sigh of relief. Lying to her mother wasn't nearly as hard as lying to her best friend.

*****

"Who were you with?" Hermione demanded as they stepped inside the girls' dormitory, out of Harry and Ron's hearing range.

"No one!" Ginny yelled, sounding completely guilty.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley! I didn't want it to come to this, but if you don't tell me who you were with, then I'll tell Ron what you talk about in your sleep," Hermione threatened her.

"You wouldn't..." Ginny said, shaking her head.

"Or would I?"

"Okay, okay," Ginny said quickly. She knew what she dreamed of, and she knew Ron would put her in a convent if he knew about it. Of course, Ron would probably put her in a convent if he knew about Draco.

"But you have to promise you won't tell Ron," Ginny said. "He would have a fit if he heard this."

"Ginny, you weren't with a girl, were you?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Of course not!" Ginny shrieked. "But I think me being with a girl in the back of the library would have been better than this." (A/N: I don't have a problem with gay/lesbian relationships. Sorry if this insults anyone.)

"Ginny, who were you with?" Hermione asked, more worried than ever.

"Draco Malfoy," Ginny muttered.

"Please tell me you did not just say Draco Malfoy..." Hermione begged.

"Hermione, he's changed. There's another side to him."

"Yes, there's the evil side of him, and then there's the eviler side," Hermione told Ginny. "Listen, I know I said that you should move on after Dean dumped you, but picking up the first boy you see is not the way to handle it."

"For your information, I saw Filch first," Ginny said indignantly. "Don't you think I made the better choice?"

"Don't you dare try to weasel your way out of this, Ginevra," Hermione said forcefully. "This is Draco Malfoy we're talking about. You know he's a slimy git."

"You know what, Hermione?" Ginny yelled, her temper rising. ""You wouldn't understand! Maybe if you pulled your nose out of your stupid books, you'd know what love is!"

Hermione stared at her angrily before turning and opening her trunk. She pulled out a piece of parchment and shoved it into Ginny's hands.

Ginny looked at the parchment. It was a letter from Harry.

Dear Hermione,

William Shakespeare said:

Doubt thou the stars are fire;

Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt I love.

Hermione, I have no idea what that means, but I'm sure you do, and you can tell me. That's what I love about you. I know I'll learn so much from you. I love and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

-Harry James Potter

Ginny looked up at Hermione, in shock. Hermione and Harry?

"Tell me I don't know what love is," Hermione dared her. "I have about fifty more of these. Just tell me that I don't know what love is."

"Hermione," Ginny said speechlessly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"No one does, and it should stay that way," Hermione said, glaring at Ginny threateningly.

"I swear, I won't tell anyone," Ginny said quickly. "But why the big secret?"

"The last thing Harry needs is more attention drawn to himself. It's just easier if it's kept a secret," Hermione told her. "Now, explain to me why, out of all the single boys at Hogwarts, did you have to choose Malfoy?"

"I don't know!" Ginny said, flopping down on her bed. "I mean, one second we were arguing in a broom closet, and the next second -"

"Wait!" Hermione interrupted. "You were in a broom closet?"

"We were hiding from Filch, and then we just... kissed."

"So, let me get this straight," Hermione said, completely confused. "You were arguing and you randomly start snogging?"

"It was much more romantic at the time," Ginny explained.

"Anything has to be more romantic than what happened when Harry asked me out," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"It can't have been that bad," Ginny said reassuringly.

"Oh, yes, it can," Hermione assured her. "It was after the Quidditch match against Slytherin. You remember how Harry had just caught the Snitch and he pulled me aside?" Ginny nodded. "Well, he gave me Snitch and asked me to be his girlfriend."

"I think it's sweet," Ginny sighed.

"Yes, for a fellow Quidditch player," Hermione agreed. "He couldn't be like a normal boy and give me flowers or chocolate or... or a nice book. He had to give me the stupid snitch!"

"Hermione, you've got to be the only girl who would prefer a bookworm over a Quidditch player," Ginny told her.

"That's where you'd be wrong," Hermione said. "You'll notice that I am dating my second Quidditch player. First Viktor, a professional Quidditch player, and now Harry."

"Yes, but both of them are quite smart," Ginny added.

"Viktor was smart, I suppose," Hermione agreed. "But Harry... I'll get back to you on that one."