Secrets and Lies

Ginny led him to an empty classroom, where she jumped onto one of the desks. Draco took particular care in sitting at a different desk.

"I have to apologise," Ginny said, not looking at Draco but at the floor. "I should never have brought you into this." Draco didn't say anything at first. He wasn't sure what he should say. Ginny seemed to be waiting for a response.

"I should never have brought this upon you," Draco muttered darkly. "I should never have come back."

"What?" Ginny asked, looking up at him.

"You have no idea who I really am," Draco replied. "If you did, you would never have even sat beside me in the Great Hall that day. And you wouldn't have fought with Potter. And you certainly wouldn't have to talk to me now."

"No, it's my fault. I got you caught up in this stupid spat between Harry and me..." She trailed off and looked away from him again. Draco didn't know what to say.

"You can blame him or yourself for this as much as you want," Draco told her. "That doesn't change that I know this is my fault." Suddenly she jumped off the desk and began pacing backwards and forwards.

"He didn't pick you for the Quidditch team because he was intimidated by you," Ginny said at last. "He said that he knew there was something fishy about you, and that he was going to get to the bottom of this. I think he's convinced you're a dark wizard." She pretended to laugh as if this was absurd, but Draco wondered if perhaps this was her way of asking him a question.

"Maybe I am."

They remained in silence for a while. Beyond the door they could hear the other students walking past, making a lot of noise as they did so. Evidently the incident in the Great Hall had reached its conclusion, probably with Weasley being expelled. Somehow the thought failed to cheer Draco up.

Long after the noise had passed, Ginny finally turned to face Draco again

"I probably shouldn't have asked you out," she said with a hint of a smile.

"I probably shouldn't have pretended not to hear you," Draco replied. "And I probably should have answered you." There was an awkward pause.

"It was probably for the best."

Draco was about to reply when his watch vibrated again. As quickly as he could he grabbed the hipflask from his pocket and brought it to his lips. Ginny however had stepped across to try and grab the flask. Draco swung around off the desk, banging his toe in the process. He swore loudly before downing a few gulps from his hipflask.

"I would have said yes," he gasped. The potion seemed to taste particularly foul now. "But you'd have to know about the flask first." He stared at her. "You can probably guess what's in it."

"Hermione told me," Ginny said, blinking heavily as her eyes started to water. "She wanted me to know that you weren't who I thought you were. Probably trying to get me and Harry back together." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. He looked at her for a moment.

Then he said something he probably shouldn't have.

###

Ron climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor Common Room. It was largely deserted due partly to the late hour, and partly to people not wanting to cross Ron. He scanned the room for his friends. Harry was sitting alone in the chairs beside the fireplace, pretending he was reading when he was rather obviously watching Ginny's friends in the corner as if suspecting they were hiding her. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

Ron dropped into the armchair beside Harry, and grabbed a discarded textbook off the desk.

"You don't do Muggle Studies," Ron muttered, whilst leafing through what he assumed to be Harry's Transfiguration textbook. Harry swore. Apparently he'd been making an utter arse of himself by reading a Muggle Studies textbook for the last few hours.

"I'm just distracted," Harry told him, dropping the book onto the floor. "That's not my Transfiguration textbook."

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked, trying to sound as though he didn't really care.

"I think she was talking to Seamus' mum," Harry said, clearly unimpressed by Ron's attitude. "Seamus is beat up pretty badly, and apparently Mrs. Finnigan is looking for some evidence of punishment."

"A letter home and a month's detention," Ron said glumly, knowing that Harry was just as curious to know the punishment as Mrs. Finnigan was. "I'd bet five galleons there'll be a Howler for me at breakfast in the morning."

"I'd put ten on your mother storming up to the castle herself." The two boys chuckled, but Harry's laughter was cut short by Ginny's friends walking up the girls' staircases towards their dorm.

"First thing in the morning we're solving these girl problems," Ron broke the silence. "You're going to apologise to my sister, and I'm going to apologise to Hermione for pounding Finnigan."

"You're apologising to Hermione?" Harry asked in disbelief. "I mean, she actually did cheat on you." He was of course referring to the four occasions he'd accused Ginny of fooling around with Matthew.

"And I don't want to lose her," Ron replied. "It's as much my fault as it is hers."

"How so?"

"I should have punched Finnigan sooner." Ron smiled at his best mate.

As if on cue Hermione climbed into the portrait hole. Ron stood up to meet her, but she caught side of him and ran for her staircase.

"Hermione!" Ron called after her. Unfortunately he tripped over a discarded Muggle Studies textbook, so Hermione got to the staircase long before him. Without thinking, Ron jumped up the staircase after her.

Then the steps straightened out and Ron found himself sliding back down the stairs into a poorly placed sofa. He then said something that he would never have dared say in front of his mother.

"What was that Ronald Weasley?" a bossy voice demanded. Ron shot up, feeling that his day could not possibly get any worse.

His mother's head was floating in the fireplace.

###

Ginny was lying in bed whenever her roommates came up to go to bed. The naturally inquisitive (nosy bitch) Romilda was over to her bed in a flash to ask her all manner of stupid questions.

"Where were you? Harry was looking for you," was to be the first. Ginny rolled over and tried to cover her head with her pillow.

"Romilda mind your own business," Megan snapped. Obviously taken aback, Romilda stormed over to her own bed to huff. Megan knelt down beside Ginny's bed.

"It's kind of obvious you've been up here, but why?" Megan asked. Ginny sighed. There was no escaping this conversation.

"I was talking to Matthew," she whispered through the pillow so that Romilda and Tabitha couldn't hear. Megan couldn't really hear either, but she got the gist of it. "Then I told him I was sorry for asking him out."

"You asked him out?" Megan hissed. Ginny whipped the pillow off her head to glare at her friend. Megan shrugged.

"As I was saying," Ginny said. "I apologised for dragging him into the feud between Harry and me. Then he kept saying that it wasn't my fault, and that he shouldn't trust me." She stared at her friend for a moment. "And then he asked me out."

"What did you say?" Megan asked. Ginny looked down, but she could feel her friend's gaze cutting through her head. "You didn't!" she exclaimed in disbelief. Ginny nodded.

"What is wrong with me?" Ginny muttered. "Why am I so attracted to this total stranger?" She looked up to Megan. "I mean, Harry is such a sweet guy. Yes he's a little paranoid, but he's everything I've dreamed of since I was a little girl." Megan nodded along but didn't say anything. "He's a perfect gentleman... my family obviously love him... and he loves me... And then there's Matthew. I've only known him six weeks and yet it feels like I've known him my whole life."

Megan waited to make sure that Ginny was finished.

"Maybe we should get some sleep," she suggested. "It'll be easier to think in the morning."

Ginny didn't even muster a response. She just lay back down on the bed, and rested her head on the pillow. She heard Megan clamber into bed, and when everyone else had drifted off Ginny almost thought she heard her mother's voice.

"What were you thinking?"

###

The Gryffindor Table was abuzz the next morning. Everyone seemed to be talking about Ron the next day, and there was much speculation concerning his absence at breakfast. Of course Harry knew that he was up in the Hospital Wing apologising to Seamus' mother.

Hermione and Ginny were also absent so Harry found himself alone at breakfast. He glanced along the table to where Matthew was talking to a very nervous-looking Neville, who kept shaking his head. Matthew didn't look too pleased.

Trying to shrug the mysterious Gryffindor out of his mind Harry set about finding Ginny's friends. Luckily there was one there... that blonde one she hung out with... Merlin, one of these days he was going to have to learn her friends' names.

He got up and walked over to where she was eating (curiously alone) and sat down beside her. He took a guess at her name.

"Hi Charlotte!"

"It's Megan," the girl replied. Harry tried not to curse. This was not a good start.

"Do you know where Ginny is?" he asked. The girl shrugged.

"She isn't here right now," she replied. "She said she had a bit of a headache. She may have gone to see Madam Pomfrey."

"Thanks... Meg," he said as he stood up.

"Don't call me Meg," she said idly as he walked out of the Great Hall. With a purpose he climbed the staircases to the Hospital Wing. There he promptly knocked on the door.

The door opened a crack and Madam Pomfrey's head popped out.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Is Ginny Weasley there? I heard she had a headache," Harry spat out. Madam Pomfrey gave him a funny look.

"No, the only Weasley around here is the boy Ron," she said looking suspicious. "And he's being shouted at by Mrs. Finnigan at the moment. Can I take a message?"

"No... thank you." Harry replied. He quickly spun around, leaving Madam Pomfrey muttering to herself. With a frown he decided it would probably be best to make his way to his first class. It wouldn't look good if he and Ron were both late.

His first class was Defence Against the Dark Arts. He nodded to Professor Lupin as he came in. A quick glance around the room told him Hermione and Ron were both absent. The frown never leaving his face he sat down in his usual seat at the back.

"Today we'll be continuing our studies on magical creatures," Lupin announced to the class, taking a quick drink out of his goblet. "Vampires are quite a well known species, and Muggles have many myths concerning them. However that isn't to say they weren't right somewhere along the line."

While Lupin told the class all about Vampires in Muggle culture Harry stared out the window. His mind passed over Ron and Hermione who were missing, and focused itself on Ginny. Ginny who he'd taken for granted, and accused of cheating on him...

With Matthew Baird, who had just taken another drink of his hip flask. Lupin was pretending he hadn't seen it, but Neville (who was beside Matthew) was staring at Matthew. Harry made a note of this. Whatever Matthew was up to, Neville obviously knew.