Can't Decide to Love or Hate You

Ginny walked down to the Great Hall in a blissful remembrance of what took place almost two hours earlier with Draco in the Prefect's bathroom. She was still in a bit of shock over what happened physically between the two, and even now her face reddened at the thoughts of Draco being naked in a tub with her. Never had she done something that personal with someone before, and she wondered if it would have been so thrilling and hormonal if it would have been with anyone but Draco.

She couldn't help but smile at the fact that he was so gentle with her. He didn't treat her like the fragile, little girl that Harry once treated her like. He respected her, and knowing that she is an innocent, did not take advantage of her. Ginny almost chuckled at how Draco seemed so different towards her and anyone else. One minute he would be torturing some Hufflepuff third years, or bantering the hell out of her brother, and the next he would look at her with eyes only for her. She certainly gave up on trying to figure Draco out. He was in no ways evil that others held him to be, but he was certainly no angel.

In a pleasantly well mood, Ginny almost skipped into the room for dinner. The second she was in the entrance door and had view of all the tables, she immediately looked over at the Slytherin table for a certain blonde, but immediately froze when she did so.

Draco was no where in sight, but instead there was Pansy staring at her with a deadly glare. Ginny knew she should not be afraid of her, especially since they were in a room full of students and professors, but not even the good mood that Draco put her in could shake the fear of what happened to her only earlier that day. She could not move from her spot, nor could she take her eyes off of Pansy's fiery ones.

Even though she did not hear anyone approach her from behind, she did not jump when a hand gently held her shaking one. She was almost used to Draco showing up just when she needed him most.

"You have no need to be afraid. I already reported her to Dumbledore."

Ginny averted her eyes to the head table where she saw Dumbledore watching everything that was happening with hawk eyes.

Without looking at Draco, she asked, "Then why is she still looking at me like she wants to kill me?"

Draco squeezed Ginny's hand a bit tighter at her words. "Because she's a Slytherin. Even if we're defeated, we don't like to show it." Looking up from Ginny, Draco gave Pansy a glare that would even make He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named grimace. With one more glare at Ginny, Pansy quickly backed down and looked else where.

"But like I said, you don't have to be afraid," Draco spoke softly as Ginny managed to stop shaking. "Dumbledore put a curse on her for the remainder of the school year. If she so much even tries to lift her wand at you, it will backfire onto her and he will be immediately notified and she will be expelled."

Ginny let out a long breath that she was holding in before looking up into his eyes. "Does she hate you?" she asked softly.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "For now, yes. But she would have done the same to me if I tried to hurt someone she loved, and she knows that."

Ginny felt her heart quicken at Draco's words, but could only give him a small smile in return.

Draco squeezed her hand for a moment before looking up at her table. "Looks like we have an audience."

Ginny immediately looked up to see Ron and Harry both staring at them from their seats. Ron looked ready to burst and would have done something by now if Hermione wasn't quickly talking in his ear, probably settling him down, while Harry looked sick with jealously.

Ginny let out a small groan. A perfectly good afternoon was already ruined. She almost forgot why she even went to take a relaxing bath in the first place.

Draco leaned down and whispered into her ear, "We could always go somewhere more private to eat if you want."

Ginny felt shivers go down her spine at the feel of Draco's warm breath against her ear. "What did you have in mind?" she managed to say.

Draco's heart jumped a beat at her husky voice. His pants almost began to tighten at the thoughts of what could have happened earlier if they were only in a better selected area.

"Well," he said quietly as he traced his thumb over her knuckles, "we could always have a house-elf send some food up to my room."

Ginny's knees almost weakened on the spot. "We could," Ginny repeated with a bit of a teasing voice. Ginny's smile faded as she stared into Draco's eyes, suddenly wanting very much to go to his room.

"I apologize, Miss Weasley, but I am afraid that nothing will be happening until I have a word with you."

Draco and Ginny jumped apart at Dumbledore's words, neither of them realizing that he was standing right in front of them. Ginny's face quickly turned red with embarrassment of whatever Dumbledore overheard, while Draco scowled at the old man. Ginny looked ready to ravish him, and the crackpot old fool had to put a stop to it.

"Hello to you too, Professor," Draco spit out sarcastically.

Ginny scowled at him before asking Dumbledore politely, "What do you need to talk to me about, sir?"

Dumbledore gave Draco a quick glance before answering, "We shall talk in private, Miss Weasley. Please come to my office once you are done with dinner. The password is Gummy Worms."

Ginny gave him a quick nod before he passed the two students on his way out of the Great Hall.

"I wonder what that was all about," Ginny said, looking up at Draco who was still scowling. With a small smile she nudged him in his ribs. "What are you pouting about?"

"I am not pouting."

Ginny rolled her eyes slightly. "You are too. I'm sure even Malfoys do such a thing."

"No, we don't actually," Draco said matter-of-factly. "Why would we if we always get what we want?"

"Well, what do you want now?" Ginny asked slowly.

Draco stared at her and simply said, "You."

Ginny swallowed hard. "Well, we'll see what we can do about that after I speak with Dumbledore," she said with her teasing voice once again.

Draco looked at her in surprise as she walked over to her table and joined Riley and her other friends. With great effort, he walked over to his own table and forced himself to eat something instead of thinking of all the things he could be doing to Ginny right now.

Ignoring Harry, Ron and Hermione who were staring at her from down the table, Ginny dug right into her food and purposely looked anywhere but at the trio. She was not going to let them spoil her day any further.

"Ginny? I have a question."

"What is it, Mary Elizabeth?" Ginny asked to her friend that sat on her right side.

Mary Elizabeth gave her a weird look before asking, "Why did Professor McGonagall tell me that Malfoy found my clothes and wand in the Prefect's bathroom?"

Ginny dropped her fork in surprise, catching a few people's attention. She was not expecting that question at all.

"Err, how would I know?" she asked as she quickly went back to eating as if nothing happened at all.

"Technically you shouldn't, but I did give you the password around 4pm, right when McGonagall said she was in the bathroom."

Ginny slowly pushed away her food and looked at her friend in defeat. She was caught and she knew it. "Well you see, what happened was-"

Mary Elizabeth quickly put up her hand to silence Ginny. "Gin, as much as I love to have girl talk, I really do not want to know what happened between you and Malfoy in the Prefect's bathroom."

Ginny almost grimaced at Mary Elizabeth's loud voice. "Gees, say it a bit louder, Mary Elizabeth. I don't think everyone heard you."

Mary Elizabeth scowled at her. "Be thankful that I played along with McGonagall. If I hadn't, not only would you have gotten in serious trouble, but McGonagall would have walked in on Merlin knows what."

Ginny reddened slightly at Mary Elizabeth's suggestion. "Thanks, I owe you."

"Just promise me that you'll never give me any detailed stories with you, Malfoy, and a lack of clothing, and we'll call it even."

Ginny laughed in agreement, and was about to go back to her food when she looked down at the trio out of habit. Ron and Hermione were talking to each other quietly while they ate, while Harry just sat there and stared right back at her. Ginny bit her lip lightly as she forced herself to look away, having a big feeling that he overheard her and Mary Elizabeth's conversation.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ginny sighed quietly to herself as approached Dumbledore's office. Anxious over what he had to say, she quickly finished dinner and left before Ron or anyone else could stall her with too many questions. Muttering "Gummy Worms" to the statue, she quickly ascended the stairs and entered the oval office where Dumbledore was waiting for her at his desk.

"Please have a seat, Miss Weasley. This will only take a moment."

Ginny nodded quietly as she sat down and looked up at Dumbledore with anticipation. "What do you need to talk about, sir?"

Dumbledore cleared his throat before speaking. "It is usually not in my liking to interfere in my student's personal life, but I have been noticing that certain situations are arising between you, Mr. Malfoy, and Mr. Potter."

Ginny's stomach dropped a little. "I guess you could call it that," she said with hesitant.

Dumbledore only nodded before continuing. "I did not bring you here to engross you with statements of how surprised I am that you and Mr. Malfoy are as close as you two are, even though I wasn't at all. It's nothing more than a modern day story of Romeo and Juliet. The problem that we have to talk over is what situations have aroused from two former rivals joining. I am of course talking about what happened earlier today between Miss Parkinson and yourself."

"But Draco already informed me of what you did to prevent anything else from happening," Ginny said quickly.

"I assumed as much, but do realize that I have only placed a curse on Miss Parkinson, and only if she uses her wand on you. There are still Muggle ways of fighting, and there are still others who are very angry over the triangle that is taking place."

Ginny stared at Dumbledore, knowing that he had more to say. "Sir?" she said quietly, wanting to hear it all.

"Like I said before, it is not my business to impede in your personal life, but I wanted to make sure that you realize that for the safety of you and even Mr. Malfoy that I can not just sit back and watch anymore. Miss Weasley, it is quite obvious that you are a bit overwhelmed over everything is happening, but if you keep this up for too long, something bad could happen, and Mr. Malfoy nor anyone else may be there to save you."

Ginny dropped her mouth open in shock. "Are you telling me to choose between Harry and Draco now?" she almost yelled.

Dumbledore calmly shook his head. "Not at all, Miss Weasley. It is not of my place to tell you what to do. But eventually you will have to make a decision between the two, and until then everyone who is involved is in risk. Miss Parkinson claimed that the only reason why she attacked you was to protect Mr. Malfoy from getting hurt again."

Ginny sat there in silence, collecting all of this, before saying very quietly, "I never meant to hurt Draco. I really never meant to hurt anyone at all."

"I know," Dumbledore said with comfort. "And I'm sure this must be a very confusing time for you, but I just wanted to make sure you have all of this in thought the next time you are with Mr. Malfoy or Mr. Potter. I would like to prevent anymore attacks from happening."

Ginny slowly nodded with a loss of words. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she couldn't keep this up forever, but she was half hoping that if she ignored it, it would go away. But Dumbledore was right; it was not fair to all who were involved and people were getting hurt.

"I understand, Professor," Ginny said wearily as she stood up from her seat. "If you could please excuse me, I have a lot of thinking to do."

Dumbledore nodded his permission, and with a small nod Ginny quickly left his office. Once she was out in the hallway, she took a deep breathe to try to calm the nerves that settled in. Without taking a look around, she sat down on a bench in the hallway and rested her head in her hands. She felt like she wasn't ready to make the final decision, but then again she has had plenty of time to choose.

It was obvious that she now has strong feelings for Draco, but at the same time Harry provides a familiar comfort and a sense of security that she was once used to. Harry was her safe, secure path in life, while Draco was a bumpier one with unexpected turns. All that mattered now was which path of life she wanted to take.

She felt someone sit down next to her and gently touch her shoulder in comfort. She inwardly smiled at Draco's touch and almost laughed at his knack of being everywhere she was.

"Are you okay, Gin?"

Ginny jumped up at the spoken words. That was not Draco's voice at all.

"Harry!"

Harry hesitantly pulled his hand away. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, I just thought you were someone else."

Harry's eyes grew a bit darker as he slowly shook his head. "I wonder who that could be," he muttered.

Ginny sighed quietly as she watched Harry grow angry at just the mere suggestion of Draco. Dumbledore was right; she couldn't carry this on any longer.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quickly, hoping to change the subject.

Harry's eyes looked down at his hands. "I saw you leave dinner early, so I followed to make sure that you were all right"

"Oh," was all she said as she twirled her hair between two fingers. She had a sudden feeling that that wasn't all Harry wanted to check on her about. "Well, I'm okay, so if that's all, I'd really like to be alone right now."

Harry hesitantly nodded and started to get up before he stubbornly sat back down. "No, that's not all. What's going on between you and Malfoy?"

"Excuse me?" Ginny said. "Harry, I thought I already told you that I don't like it when you're butting into my business."

"I heard what you and Mary Elizabeth said at dinner," Harry interrupted with anger. "About you and Malfoy being naked."

Ginny's eyes grew at his words, but she forced to look unaffected. "And?" she asked slowly.

"And, and," Harry said, very hesitantly, "and I just don't want to see you and Malfoy together, all right?"

Ginny stared at him after his sudden outburst. "Why is that, Harry? Jealous, are we?" she asked coolly. She knew she shouldn't taunt him, but she couldn't help it.

"Yes!" Harry nearly yelled out. "Is that what you want to hear, Ginny? I can't stand seeing another guy looking at you without getting angry. I can't even deal with the thoughts of you being with another guy intimately. And the guy being my arch enemy just makes it worse!"

Ginny was too shock to keep up her front. Her mouth hung open like a fish, and her eyes were wide with surprise. She couldn't find any words to say, even though she didn't know what she would say.

Harry let out an angry puff of air. "You don't belong with Malfoy, Ginny. You belong with me."

Ginny opened her mouth to retort how she did belong to him once until he decided against it, but he beat her to it. "And I'm sorry about before with us; I messed up," Harry said with a calmer voice. "Believe me when I say I'm kicking myself in the arse for it."

Ginny managed to look less like a fool and nod slowly at his words. After a moment of silence and thinking she asked, "Are you only regretting us not being together because Draco wants me?"

"Seeing other guys want you made me realize how much I want you, Gin. I didn't realize what I had right in front of me until it was taken away."

Ginny felt her stomach twisting. "And how long did you feel like this?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it didn't really hit me until the Halloween Ball. I mean, from day one I didn't like the fact that you and Malfoy were together, but I figured it was bound to end shortly." Harry slowly shook his head at his thoughts. "But the way Malfoy was looking at you when you guys had your solo dance, I knew that if I didn't act fast that I would never get you back."

Ginny tried to untwist the knot forming in her stomach, but it was no use. "So you just expect me to drop whatever I have with Draco and to come crawling back to you at your call?"

Harry quickly shook his head. "No, I don't. I was just hoping that you would see how right we are for each other, Gin. We already have so much together that you and Malfoy will never have."

"Like what?"

"Well," Harry said, "Your family's approval, and don't forget about your friends. Everyone you care about hates Malfoy with a passion. It will never work."

"Harry," Ginny said slowly, "My family and friends wouldn't be the ones being with Draco, I would be. Sure, it would be a lot easier if everyone got along with him, but if I want to be with Draco then only I will decide that by myself."

"If you want him though," Harry pointed out. He seemed to pause for a second in hesitation before he leaned closer to her and put his hand gently on her cheek. "But do you want me, Gin?"

Ginny gulped at his hushed voice. Never has she seen Harry so persistent towards her before. "I don't know anymore, Harry," she said quietly as she felt herself being pulled in by his entrancing green eyes.

With serious eyes, Harry gently caressed her cheek before whispering huskily, "Well then maybe I can help you out."

Ginny had barely enough time to move or think before Harry leaned in forcibly and captured her lips with his own.

Shocked, Ginny tried to lean away from the kiss but Harry placed one of his hands behind her head, forcing her to stay where she was. Not sure on what to do or what to feel, she closed her eyes and gave into his kiss and his touch. She tried to think of how she was back to kissing Harry Potter, something she swore she wanted, but the whole time she only thought of how he didn't taste like Draco or kiss like him. Mid-kiss she opened up her eyes, almost expecting to see Draco's face, but was disappointed to see Harry's.

Ginny completely froze at her thoughts. Here Harry was, kissing her, telling her he wants her, and all she wants is to be with Draco. Before Harry could take the kiss any farther, Ginny pushed him away with her hands gently, but hard enough so he couldn't resist.

"What? What is it?" Harry asked, slightly out of breath. His eyes scanned her with confusion.

Ginny opened her mouth to tell him she was sorry, but she couldn't do this, that she wanted to be with Draco, when she glanced over his shoulder and paused in shock.

Draco was standing several feet behind the pair, staring at her with hard gray eyes. He must have been as shocked as Ginny felt because he was not moving or attempting to speak, but the only emotion he was showing was anger.

Ginny gathered enough strength to stand up from the bench and face Draco. He must have followed her just as Harry did, or even yet he followed Harry to see if he was going to Ginny.

"Draco," Ginny managed to call out. Harry turned around quickly at his name and hurriedly stood beside Ginny.

Draco continued to just stand there and say nothing at all. Ginny gulped at his stance. For once she would give anything to hear a sarcastic remark from his mouth.

Ignoring Harry beside her, Ginny quickly closed the gap in-between her and Draco. "It's not what it looks like," she said urgently when she reached him.

"It looked like a kiss to me," Draco said flatly, his voice twisting with hate.

Ginny grimaced at his tone. "But it didn't mean anything, Draco." When he said nothing in response, she felt tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" he snapped. "It's not like you're mine or something. You can kiss Potter for all you like."

Ginny quickly shook her head. "But I don't want to kiss Harry. I want-"

"Yes, what do you want?" Draco interrupted harshly. "Please tell me what you want, Ginny. I mean, a bit ago I thought it was me, but you change your mind so quickly I can't even keep up."

Ginny tried to glare at his sarcasm but the tears wouldn't let her. "Draco, please hear me out," she pleaded.

Draco stared at her intently, long enough where Ginny thought he would, before he simply said, "No. I'm done with hearing you out and waiting for you to make a choice."

Ginny gulped at a sudden nauseous feeling. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I am done with you just keeping me around when it is best for you. I am done with you being so confused when everything is right in front of your nose. I'm saying I'm done," Draco paused as he mustered a breath, "I'm done with you."

Ginny tried to fight back at his words, put up an argument and try to change his mind, but the shock hit her so hard that she felt her knees buckle underneath her. The tears that were hiding in her eyes grew when she saw that Draco didn't even flinch when she fell to her knees, and that it was Harry who rushed to her side instead of him.

Draco looked down at her like she was the speck of the earth, like he used to before this whole thing began. "Goodbye, Weasley," he spat before turning swiftly around and leaving without a glance back.