Fined

Ginny's hands continually fled to the sides of her head, scrunching her vivid red hair within them. Paired with the disposed look upon her face, she created an image of insanity. Actually, Ginny was quite sure she was going insane.

Her thoughts had always been busy being filled with images and rehearsed dialogues involving a certain dark haired wizard, but right now they were on something.. and someone.. different all together.

Ginny's thoughts were focusing more attention than deserved on the memory of a forlorn Draco.

He'd seemed so vulnerable when she'd first burst into his compartment, so different from the Draco Malfoy she'd grown accustomed to. Of course, once words fled from his mouth in their usual vile custom, he'd morphed back into the cold hearted Malfoy she'd known throughout her four years at Hogwarts.

Yet his chilling gray eyes continued to pierce into her thoughts, tormenting her with their stare.

She would not have noticed, nor fretted about her whereabouts if it weren't for her brothers' friend, Lee Jordan.

Waving one dark hand in front of her face, his other hid behind his back, Lee smiled at his friends' younger sister. "Have you seen your brothers? Angelina's looking for them."

He smirked and withdrew his left hand from behind his back. It held a considerably furry black guinea pig.

"I hope you don't like those two oafs too well," laughed Lee. "'Cause Angelina will have their head for this."

Lee gestured towards the guinea pig.. Angelina, rather.. now scrambling over the side of Lee's hand.

Ginny, unable to speak, pointed behind her, turning on her heel to watch as Lee walked down the hall, throwing his head back in laughter. "Honestly, Johnson, you should know better than to eat anything those two offer you.."

His voice died off, and Ginny turned back, groaning upon realizing whose compartment door she was directly in front of.

It was none other's than Draco Malfoy's.

Her next thought was even more disturbing than her previous ones of his captivating eyes.

'Maybe I should go in.'

She shook her head, furiously. What a thought that had been; what an utterly hilarious and foolish thought.

'He was obviously distraught when you saw him last.'

And why would that concern her?

She lifted her hands to her ears and pressed them firmly there. She then shut her eyes tightly, attempting to block out all thoughts. She didn't want the answer to her last question.

"Honestly, Weasel, I'm not in need of a red-haired fan club."

Despite the urge to keep them closed, Ginny cautiously opened her eyes, the bright swirls of brown landing on a particularly amused looking Draco. Oddly enough, it seemed to be only a poorly disguised facade hiding the melancholy state shown clearly in his cold eyes.

"Especially not one as odd as you are."

Ginny let her hands drop and stood in front of him rather awkwardly, trying hard not to notice how impressive he looked in what were obviously his own green robes. So, instead she focused on his face, surprised to see him looking paler than usual, if that was indeed possible.

As a sister of six siblings (all male), Ginny knew that paling was a symptom of an illness, or at least of something being wrong. It was quite understandable then, why the next question left her lips so naturally.

"Are you okay?"

Draco stepped back, obviously surprised by the question. Ginny began to bite her bottom lip unceremoniously. Why did she constantly have to be so strange?

Draco was apparently thinking the same thing. "Perhaps someone should be asking you that question, Weasley."

Ginny, however, was too busy to be insulted or hurt by the comment by noticing that while saying this, Draco had avoided all eye contact with her. She couldn't understand what could be so wrong that it would damage the cunning lying abilities of a Slytherin.

Draco gulped. He stumbled. He shuffled his feet nervously. "I can't have you going around saying.."

He stopped and looked up at her.

"It's my mother."

The last word was barely more than a whisper, but Ginny caught it all and the choking emotion so foreign to Draco's voice.

He gulped again, his voice feeling hoarse from the forced emotion.

"I'm so sorry," She spoke it so softly and sincerely that Draco considered telling her the truth. She was still a Dream Team member in training, though. He was certainly smarter than to reveal something of this magnitude to her.

"You've got a big mouth, Weasley.." He raised an eyebrow at her and scowled. "I can't have you blabbing all over that.."

"Oh! I won't."

He nodded, obviously not satisfied with her answer, but needing, for some unknown reason, to continue. "She's.. ill."

Ginny couldn't began to imagine how she'd feel if her own mother were ill. It was obvious from Draco's current condition that it was overbearingly serious as well. Ginny knew for a fact that she wouldn't be standing as Draco was now.

Draco watched this thought process with interest, applauding himself for the flawless performance, not realizing Ginny was watching the glint in his eyes.

The glimmer was abruptly shoved from her mind when she caught sight of the three advancing on them.

Thankfully, Draco couldn't see them, but she did know that they certainly wouldn't be pleased at seeing her standing there, sharing sympathies with a Malfoy.