Secrets and Lies

Draco waited in the Entrance Hall unsure of whether arriving early was a good idea. On the one hand it might give the wrong impression and make him seem desperate. But if he arrived late he'd look like a right jerk.

Besides, why was he working so hard to impress a Weasley anyway? He'd gone to all that trouble of convincing Megan not to tell Ginny who he really was. Of course that involved doing something embarrassing, such as dropping his robes in the middle of the Great Hall at breakfast time and clucking like a chicken, but somehow he thought it was worth it.

Then Megan had tried to convince him not to tell Ginny what happened next. It's not like he was planning on telling anyone anytime soon, but he didn't consider it a bad thing to vent one's frustration like that every once and a while. And having spent her entire life in Ginny's shadow, Megan seemed very frustrated.

Draco checking his robes for his hipflask and smiled when he felt the reassuring weight in his pocket. His jubilation was quickly cut short by the arrival of Ginny and Megan in the Entrance Hall. Megan didn't even acknowledge him, but strode straight past him and out onto the grounds. Ginny stopped beside him and watched the retreating back of her friend for a moment.

"Ready to go?" she asked. Draco took a moment to survey her.

"As I'll ever be."

The walk to Hogsmeade was only ever-so-slightly marred by Ginny constantly reminding him that this was not a date, and that they were strictly spending the day together "as friends." Draco quickly decided that it wasn't worth asking if she was wearing more make-up than usual.

When they reached Hogsmeade they were greeted by a chill wind. Draco looked around and smiled. It had been to long.

"Where should we go first?" Ginny asked.

"Madam Pudifoot's?" Draco suggested hopefully. Ginny scowled at him. "It was a joke."

"Well it wasn't a very good one," she snapped. "Let's go to Honeydukes'" Draco gestured for her to lead the way. They entered the shop to find the usual mass of Hogwarts students there, and with barely enough room to breathe Draco promptly grabbed as much chocolate as he could get his hands on (which was disappointing to say the least) and making his way over to the counter. He fished in his pocket for several gold galleons, and paid the shop assistant.

"You must be hungry," Ginny said in surprise as she eyed his purchases once they'd exited the shop.

"I haven't been here in ages," Draco mumbled through the whole chocolate bar he'd stuffed into his mouth for lack of a place to carry it. "Would you like some?"

"Thank you," Ginny said politely, before grabbing the biggest chocolate bar, unwrapping it and taking a tiny bite.

"If you eat at that rate we'll be here all day," he laughed. "Come on, it'll be warmer in the Three Broomsticks."

The Three Broomsticks was as packed as ever. But through the entire crowd he could just make out Madam Rosmerta. The sight of the busty barmaid left him feeling guilty, and with a pang he remembered why he had to disguise himself so much.

A jolt shot through his left arm, as seemed to happen whenever he was feeling particularly strong emotions. With a nod of his head he gestured Ginny over to an empty table where he dropped his mound of chocolate. She slid into her seat, and Draco went over to buy two Butterbeers. He tried to order from the other barmaid, but Madam Rosmerta seemed hell bent on serving him.

"Hi gorgeous," she said. "I haven't seen you before."

"You have no idea," Draco thought, and ordered the drinks. He carried them over to where Ginny sat.

"Here, I'll pay for my drinks," Ginny began, fishing into her pocket for coins, but Draco shook his head.

"Nonsense."

"You bought the chocolate. I really should pay my share."

Draco wouldn't hear of it. It didn't help that he was halfway through a sentence when his watch buzzed. With one well practised motion he swept his hipflask and gulped down the potion. Then he took a particularly long drink of Butterbeer.

"Hermione told me it tastes really foul," Ginny said, all disagreements over payment forgotten. "Is it really that bad?"

"You have no idea," Draco replied, gasping. Not even a bottle of Butterbeer seemed to do the trick.

"Why do you take it then?"

"Maybe I should order a Firewhiskey," Draco said, ignoring her question.

"Matthew!" Ginny scolded, before grabbing Draco's left arm. He flinched. Of course the Mark hadn't appeared for months, and because of the potion he wouldn't be able to see it no matter what, but he could still feel it. "Make it a Firewhiskey each," she added. Smiling, Draco went over to the bar and ordered a bottle of Firewhiskey and two glasses.

Draco poured the two glasses back at the table, whilst examining Ginny's determined expression. When he was done, he raised his glass to toast.

"What should we toast?" Ginny asked.

"How about love?" Draco asked. Ginny scowled at him again.

"I told you-"

"It's a joke," Draco cut her off. "But let's toast it anyway." As one they drank from their glasses.

Ginny had quite clearly never had Firewhiskey before, judging by the coughing and spluttering she was doing. Draco smiled and thought of what her brothers would like do if they found out she'd been drinking whilst he rubbed his back. Of course Firewhiskey was the drink of choice among the older Slytherins, so Draco had had his first glass in fifth year. That had been an educational night. He'd learnt that Zabini strictly wouldn't let alcohol pass his lips (at least while anyone was looking), Pansy could out-drink a bear under the table, and Goyle would probably lose a similar contest with an eight-year-old girl.

"My brothers never let me touch the stuff," Ginny explained when she'd regained her composure. "Always fed me some crap about how I was too young." She looked at Draco. "You're an only child so you probably don't know what it's like to be the baby of the family."

"I always wanted a little sister," he muttered absently. "But Father always said that he didn't want to have another disappointment like me running around the Mansion."

"What did you say?" Ginny asked sharply. Draco shook his head.

"It's nothing."

"No, what was that about your father?"

"Nothing," Draco muttered through his teeth. "Besides, you should be more worried about Creevey. I think he's following us." Ginny nodded.

"Following me to be more precise. I saw him standing outside Honeydukes' when we came out," she said glumly. "I don't want to have to hurt his feelings, but he's becoming a real nuisance." Draco smiled, and leaned over to whisper to her.

"There's a back door. Come on, I'll show you." He grabbed her by the hand, and led her through the crowd towards the bathrooms. Out of the corner of his eye he could just see Creevey's gaze following him. With a smile he abruptly turned around a disappeared through the wall.

At least, that's how it appeared to Creevey, when really it was a secret door Rosmerta had for leading special guests up to the private booths upstairs. She'd shown them to Draco whilst under the influence of the Imperius Curse. It was with a stinging arm that he pushed through the door that brought them out into an empty alleyway.

"Quickly, there's still a chance Creevey might find the door," Draco hissed. Giggling, Ginny followed him through a series of alleyways, which eventually brought them out around the side of the Hog's Head pub.

"Well, we found a pub," Ginny gasped for breath. Draco smiled, but his smile was cut short when his watch vibrated once more.

"Damn! How long have we been running?" he exclaimed, diving his hand into his pocket. He grabbed the hipflask and tried to pull it out, but it was stuck. It took him a moment to shake it free. He quickly snapped the lid open and was about to take a drink when...

Ginny kissed him.

###

Harry was having a very bad day. For one thing he wasn't able to spend the first Hogsmeade visit with his girlfriend because she was off with one of her friends. So he'd decided to spend the day with Ron and Hermione, who had insisted that they would pay him just as much attention as they would each other. Ten minutes in the Three Broomsticks pretty much sent that theory to hell.

So Harry found himself wandering through Hogsmeade alone, kicking a little stone in front of him with his cloak wrapped tight around him. Scowling, he grabbed the stone, and threw it at the Shrieking Shack.

Somehow putting out one of the Shrieking Shack's windows didn't cheer him up.

He hadn't even noticed that he wasn't the only one throwing things at the Shack. About thirty metres away was Ginny's friend, who was throwing stones at the old building with all her might. Harry walked over to her.

"Hi Sarah!" he said brightly.

"It's Megan!" the girl snapped, before throwing a stone at one of the windows. "I'm sick of this. Why does nobody ever notice me?" She threw another stone.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, examining her rather good throwing technique. Not good in that it was strong, but good in that it made her jumper rise a bit to show a bit of pale flesh.

"You don't know what it's like, living in someone's shadow," Megan growled. "Don't get me wrong. Ginny's my best friend, and I'd do anything for her... But somehow everyone seems so much more interested in her." She started throwing stones again. "What is it... is she prettier... is she smarter... is it just that I'm boring?" She threw one rock particularly hard. It caught off the wall, and she suddenly gave a scream of anguish.

"Weren't you supposed to be spending the day with Ginny?" Harry asked. "That's what she told me."

"Oh, so now you want to know about Ginny eh?" Megan snapped. "That's all everyone wants to-"

"No!" Harry interrupted, sensing danger. "Just curious. Hey, why don't you and me take a walk... we hardly know each other." Megan glared at him for a second, but eventually nodded. She walked off the completely opposite direction to what Harry had in mind, but he jogged to catch up with her.

"So why do you want to talk to me?" she asked scathingly.

"Maybe I just think you're such a beautiful, smart, funny girl and I want to get to know you," Harry suggested. Megan snorted. "So where are you going?"

"Hog's Head," Megan grunted in reply. "You can get a good Firewhiskey there." Harry nodded, and despite his common sense telling him not to he decided to follow her. Then, just outside the pub, she stopped dead and stared down an alleyway...

And there was Matthew... kissing Ginny.

Harry suddenly felt his world crumble. But whatever he may have been feeling was nothing compared to the look on Megan's face.

###

There were many thoughts drifted through his head. Of course his primary thought concerned the redhead kissing him and his strong desire for her not to stop, but in the back of his mind several other things struggled to get to the front of his mind.

For one thing, he'd left his chocolate in the Three Broomsticks.

But there were other things. There was Potter, who would not be too happy about this. And Megan who he'd fooled around with only two nights ago. And his potion, which was now lying on the ground.

The potion! He suddenly pushed Ginny back, and dived for his hipflask which lay on the ground. He raised it to take a drink, but it was empty. He swore.

"No Matthew, don't do this!" Ginny shouted, but Draco wasn't listening.

"I can't let anyone know," he said. Already he could feel the last of the potion leaving his system, so he turned and did the truly cowardly thing. He ran like he hadn't run in a long time, and was gasping for breathe when he got back to the castle. Sadly by that stage he had already turned back to reveal the ever noticeable face of Draco Malfoy. He whipped out the Marauder's Map, quickly activated it and traced along with his finger. If he could only get to the Common Room.

But that would be filled with Gryffindors. No, there was only one place where he could hide. He traced his finger down the parchment to the dungeons, to where what looked to be a blank wall merged with a large room.

The Slytherin Common Room.