Forever Yours

A/N- Ok, so here's the next chapter. Sorry in advance, it's not the most exciting, but it had to be written. Please don't be mad!

Chapter 8

The next morning, Ginny awoke feeling very rested and refreshed. She did not have any recollection of her dream.

She preceded getting ready and then walked downstairs to the common room where she met Hermione.

Both girls then went down to breakfast while chatting on their way.

Ginny sat down at the table and helped herself to some food. Ron came down a little later and sat down, with his eyes bloodshot.

"Feeling okay, Ron?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow at Hermione, who had a smug grin.

Ron rubbed his eyes. "Bloody awful. I drank too much last night."

"Yeah, I noticed," she said, drinking her pumpkin juice.

He groaned and drank some more juice.

After breakfast, Ginny went up to History of Magic. The whole day was filled with activity and work, and Ginny did not have an opportunity to even write a reply back to the Prince.

After her quick dinner, she made her way to Professor Slughorn's office for her dreadful detention.

She knocked on the door and then entered when she heard, "Enter, my dear!"

She hid a smile as she entered. She recalled a previous experience with the previous Potions master. The way he had said, "enter" was one that was like cold wind coming in.

Ginny walked into the roomy room and spied Professor Slughorn standing in front of his desk with Draco Malfoy beside him.

"Good evening, Professor," Ginny greeted.

"Good evening, Ms Weasley," said Professor Slughorn. "Now, you mustn't ignore one another!"

Ginny glared at Malfoy and he returned the icy glare.

"Good evening, Malfoy," she said, without removing her gaze from his ice-cold grey eyes.

"Evening, Weasley," he said in his drawl, his eyes not moving from her face.

Slughorn immediately sensed the tension in the room. He said, "Now, now, both of you had better learn to be civil to one another because that's what got you into this mess. Also, you will be working together for this detention, so I'd like to see some type of cooperation."

Ginny tore her eyes away from Malfoy's and looked to Slughorn. "Yes, Professor."

"Good," he said, smiling. "Now, follow me."

They followed him to a door at the side of his luxurious office and found a smaller office there that was filled with filing boxes. Papers were strewn everywhere.

"Professor Snape started this task last year with another student as detention," started Slughorn, "so Professor McGonagall thought it fit that we continue. You both must work together to order and alphabetize these records. They are all mixed up, so you must order them in alphabetical and chronological order of when the deed was committed."

Ginny stared about the tiny room filled with at least a hundred boxes and her eyes widened. "We're supposed to do all of them?"

Professor Slughorn smiled. "Of course not, m'dear. You have two weeks, however, so it is expected that you do make some headway."

She sighed, remembering that she was there for two weeks. Ginny glanced at Malfoy's face to see how he reacted to this news, but he betrayed no emotion at all. His gaze was neutral as he blinked, his face a stone.

"I suggest you start now," he said. "I am in the next room, grading papers, so if you need assistance, I am available. But be warned, only if it is very important. Remember, no magic."

With that, he shut the door on them, leaving Ginny trapped in the small office room with the boxes and with Malfoy, of all people.

They stood there staring at each other until Ginny said, "By the way, I owe you a thanks."

He didn't even blink. "For what?"

"For getting me into this detention. Thanks a lot."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't believe it was I who told you to attack me."

"You called me a slut and you insulted me," she spat out. "What did you think I was going to do?"

He just blinked. "I never said that. It was Malcolm Baddock, the sixth year."

She stared at him, not knowing whether to believe him or not. In the end, she realised that it didn't matter.

Ginny looked away from him and found a stool to sit on. She opened one box and grabbed at a few random pieces of parchment.

She read it for a few seconds and then looked up to see Malfoy, sitting on the stool opposite her, peering into a dusty old box.

She didn't want to talk to Malfoy, so she did her work alone. The box that she had opened up contained records from 1959. She took out all the papers and then read them for the date and names of people involved so that she could order them.

The task wasn't an easy one at all. Sometimes the date and names of people were at the top of the page, and sometimes they were embedded within the text of the document, which Ginny would have to skim to find the information.

After taking out the documents that did not belong in the box due to the time period, she put the pile onto the floor to try and order them.

This task proved to be even more difficult. First, the papers had to be alphabetized. Within the particular letter, each document had to be ordered in with the dates in order.

First Ginny put them in order according to the alphabet and tried to date them. This was in terms of months, because the year was the same.

Ginny's first mistake was skimming the endless papers to find the month of the incident and grouping those papers together, not noticing that the order of letters was getting lost.

She only noticed this when she thought she was done with the month of September. She realised that the dates of the month were right, but the names all wrong.

Draco Malfoy seemed to be doing fine, or at least whenever Ginny looked up at him to see how he was doing. He was quiet as he sorted through the papers, flipping them over and reading them. He didn't make mistakes either, or at least Ginny thought he didn't, because he didn't make any sounds when he messed up like Ginny did.

Her sighs, clucks of the tongue, and tapping of her foot were the only sounds heard in the small room as well as the shuffle of old papers.

Finally, at one o'clock, Professor Slughorn opened the door to the tiny room and said, "How far have we gotten?"

Draco showed him his three boxes that were finished while Ginny stared at him with her mouth open. He did three boxes and she had only done half of one? She blushed when Professor Slughorn asked her what she had done and had they worked together.

Ginny opened her mouth to speak, knowing that Professor Slughorn was a big believer of teamwork. The fact that they hadn't worked together would probably get her into more trouble.

"She helped me with these boxes," spoke up Malfoy when he saw her flustered. "She was just starting another box while I finished this one up."

"Is this true, Ms Weasley?" he asked her, trying to be serious.

Umm... thought Ginny. What was going on? Did Draco Malfoy just lie for me? The world seems to be a very scary place, suddenly, thought Ginny.

Behind Slughorn, Malfoy tilted his head up and then down, slowly. The message was clear: yes.

"Yes, I did," she said, feeling horrible for lying.

Slughorn danced on the balls of his feet. "Splendid! I always knew that whenever one works with another, work is always completed faster! Teamwork is the key!"

Ginny smiled quickly as he looked at her, nodding. "Absolutely, sir."

"Good night, then!" he said.

Ginny grabbed her book bag, followed Malfoy out the door, and then out of Slughorn's office.

They were both going to the main hallway, so they walked together, silently.

After a few minutes of loud silence, Ginny spoke, "Thanks for that. You didn't have to."

He looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "I didn't do any of it for you. I didn't want to get in trouble."

Ginny mulled this over. It made sense that he would only do something for himself.

After another few minutes of silence, they split as Ginny walked up the stairs and Draco walked down to the dungeons, she supposed.

She walked up to her dormitory and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Ginny woke up feeling tired beyond belief. She almost fell asleep in Transfiguration and in History of Magic.

At the end of the day, Ginny gobbled her dinner and scribbled a reply to the Prince before she went up to the common room to start her homework before her detention.

Soon, it was time for her detention and she walked briskly down to Professor Slughorn's office.

At the same time, Draco Malfoy was walking up the stairs while reading his pen pal's letter:

Nov. 9^th. 97

Dear Prince of Darkness,

Ha ha, I can tell how much you look forward to meeting me with your lack of enthusiasm.

Yes, that Quidditch game was a spectacle. It was most enjoyable.

Anyways, I'm a bit busy right now...with mounds of homework, so I'm sorry in advance if I don't write too much in the next few weeks.

Keep writing though, as little as it may be.

Chariot of Light

He opened the door to Professor Slughorn's office, ready for his cumbersome detention once again.

Ginny sat alone in the small office when Malfoy sauntered in.

They worked together for the first half hour, when Malfoy spoke to her, "Pass me that quill."

Ginny looked up and saw Malfoy looking at her. She picked up the quill and passed it to him.

In the next three hours, Ginny and Draco spoke more, even though it was a few words every hour.

She asked him how he was organizing his set of boxes.

Over the next few days, they worked out a system to make the organizing faster.

Ginny was so swamped with homework and detention that she had almost no time to write to the Prince. It seemed that he was equally busy because he hardly ever wrote, and if he did, it was a brief two-sentence answer.

Meanwhile, the situation with Ron and Hermione seemed to get worse and worse.

Ron was so desperate for Hermione not to ignore him that he tried everything, which in turn angered Lavender.

Ginny's detention's finally finished and she was able to write to the Prince, albeit it was limited as she was busy trying to referee Ron and Hermione's fights as well as train for the next Quidditch game.

December 1, 1997

Dear Chariot of Light,

You sound busy. Is everything all right?

Did you ever wonder how you could die and not notice you're dead? That's what I'm wondering right now as I sit in Binn's class.

But then again, he is a ghost. He must have some unfinished business here. Do you think his unfinished business is to bore the next generation of Hogwarts to death?

Prince of Darkness

Ginny stared at the Prince's letter in her hand in confusion when she read it.

She was sitting in the common room beside Hermione at night, beside the blazing fire.

She was about to ask Hermione what 'unfinished business' meant for a ghost, but saw that she was having a glaring match with Ron.

Ginny sighed, dipped her quill into the ink, and began to write.

Dec. 1. 97

Dear Prince of Darkness,

Yes, everything's fine. Just tons of schoolwork. Plus, the Christmas ball's coming up, so I'm busy helping my friend get ready for that. I'm so surprised that Professor McGonagall is letting us have a ball! I heard it was because the pen pal idea worked out well and also, she wants to lighten up the mood of Hogwarts after...well, you know what. Also, my friend is having so much trouble with this guy. I don't know what to do.

But never mind all that. What do you mean by a ghost's unfinished business? I'm not sure I've heard of the term before.

By the way, why do some people become ghosts and some don't? Do you know?

Chariot of Light

Draco read this letter in class the next morning, while talking to Blaise, who was worried about his mother's health.

"I'm sure she'll be okay, Blaise," said Draco. "Stop worrying. You're going to make yourself sick."

"That's true," said Blaise, who looked a bit discoloured. "I feel sick!"

He got up and ran from and table and out the door.

Draco looked at the Professor, who had already given them their work and was sitting talking to Parvati Patil. He then began to compose his letter.

December 2, 1997

Dear Chariot of Light,

You don't know about ghosts?

People who die and come back as ghosts usually have unfinished business on earth, things that they need to do before they can 'move on'. Don't even ask me where they go, because I have no idea.

Some people just want to stay on earth as well, because they're scared to move on.

Do you think you would like to stay? Or would you move on?

Prince of Darkness

Ginny read this letter the next day in the library while she was with Hermione.

She looked up from her letter and saw Hermione smiling oddly at something in her hand.

"What're you smiling about?" Ginny asked her.

"Nothing," said Hermione, putting the sheet away.

Ginny raised her eyebrow. "Hermione! Come on, tell me what that was."

Hermione bit her lip and looked over her shoulder. "Okay, just don't tell anyone."

"All right," she promised.

Hermione gently took the parchment out and said, "You know our pen pal assignment?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah?"

"Well I figured out who it is," she whispered.

"Are you serious?"

Hermione nodded. "Don't tell anyone."

"I won't!" she said. "Who is it?"

Hermione blushed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "It's...Ron."

Ginny stared at her, with her mouth open. "What?"

Hermione nodded. "I figured it out."

Ginny blinked and then recovered. "What does he say?"

"He basically talks about this girl he loves, over and over again. How she's angry at him and won't talk to him," she said.

Ginny laughed. "And?"

Hermione shrugged. "That's it."

"How did you figure out it was him?"

"Well, from the way he described the girl he love," she said, blushing again. "It was a lot of the things I do. And remember that day he asked me how to spell that word? Adamant?"

Ginny nodded, grinning.

"Well, the next day, that was in my letter, so at that point my suspicions were confirmed."

Ginny had to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "Hermione, you know what you have to do, right?"

"What?"

"You have to tell him that he's got to tell the girl he loves that he loves her!"

"No way!" she said, picking up her books.

"Yes, you have to," said Ginny, picking up her things as well. "Otherwise he'll never tell you. What you've got to do is..."

A/N- right, now please review! Good cliff hanger? Lol, I have nooo idea on how to continue this scene as I was pretty much blocked when I wrote it and just wrote it quickly to get the chapter done. It was honestly very bad. So um, sorry in advance, the next chap might take awhile...cause I have to write it. Hopefully it'll be much more interesting. Thanks for reading!