Can't Decide to Love or Hate You

"Can you believe it? McGonagall gave me a bloody detention for being a few minutes late!"

Ginny's friends all stared at her with hidden smiles as they watched her bothered expression. Classes for the day just ended, and the 6^th year Gryffindors were relaxing in the Gryffindor common room.

"A few minutes late?" Colin asked with his arm around Vanessa's shoulders. "Gin, you were fifteen minutes late!"

Ginny frowned. "Well, not on purpose. The staircases kept on changing and Peeves got in the way."

"And I'm sure Malfoy had nothing to do with you being late, right?" Riley asked with an amused voice.

Ginny blushed at her friend's suggestive remark. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said as she braided her hair.

"Oh, come of it, Ginny!" Vanessa said. "We all saw your wonderful performance this morning in the hallway. What we didn't see though was the ending."

Ginny stared at all of her friends for a moment before saying, "Nothing happened between Draco and me." She paused for a moment. "Yet."

Everyone except for Riley exchanged looks. "What's that supposed to mean?" Christy questioned.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "I'm actually not quite sure. I guess you could say Draco and I ended on a good note before classes with a promise to talk more later, except I haven't seen him since."

They all nodded slowly and looked like they wanted to question her further, but seemed hesitant. Looks were exchanged once more before they nudged Mary Elizabeth to speak. "And you're sure about what you decided?" she asked with a caring voice. "I mean, picking Malfoy over Harry."

Ginny resisted not glaring at every one of them. She knew that they were double checking to make sure she was 100% positive before she rushed into something, but she was hoping the questioning would be over by now. "Yes," she said slowly enough for them all to get the point. "I have never been so sure my whole life."

One by one, they all gave a satisfied smile. "Well, now that that is all taken care of," Vanessa said as she stood up, "let's go eat dinner."

"I can't," Ginny said as she picked up her books. "I'm going to do some homework before my detention tonight. I'll see you guys later."

Murmurs of goodbyes were heard as the group of five left and Ginny went up to her room to do her homework, leaving the common room silent.

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

As soon as she finished her homework, Ginny changed out of her uniform before walking down the stairs to her detention with McGonagall. She nearly reached the common room door before a voice yelled, "And where do you think you're going?"

She sighed aloud as she turned to face Ron who was sitting with Hermione by the fireplace, knowing exactly what was to come. "Detention. Is that okay with you, Ron, or do I need your permission first?"

Ron looked flustered for a moment before saying, "Don't get all mad at me for asking a simple question! For all I knew, you were going off to meet Malfoy."

"And if I was?" Ginny asked, getting red in the face. "Honestly, Ron. You'd think that by now you would realize that you have no control over me and my decisions!"

Ron opened his mouth to yell back but Hermione stopped him. "He's just concerned, Ginny," she said quickly. "You know he wants you to be happy, he just doesn't understand why Malfoy brings you more happiness than Harry does. Harry's our best friend, and Malfoy will always be liked least, so he's just having a hard time dealing with it."

Ginny stood there in shock at Hermione's sudden words.

"'Mione!" Ron whined, turning his eyes on her.

"What?" she asked as if nothing big was said. "It's the truth, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah," Ron said slowly, "but-"

"But nothing," she finished for him. She looked up at Ginny who still stood there in surprise. "You better get a move on, Gin. You don't want to be late for detention."

Ginny slowly nodded as she started to open the door with her eyes still on Ron. He stared at Hermione, trying to look cross, but sneaked Ginny a quick glance before she left the room. He didn't look as mad as he was a moment ago.

Ginny smiled to herself as she closed the door behind her and walked down to McGonagall's room. Slowly but surely, everything was going back to normal.

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

"You want me to what?"

Professor McGonagall looked down at Ginny over her glasses. "You heard me clearly, Miss Weasley. Now I suggest you do as I say before I issue you another detention."

"But, Professor," Ginny said hurriedly, "I came to serve a detention for you, not for-"

"Professor Snape needs more help than I do at the moment," McGonagall said as she graded a test. "I overheard him giving a detention to another student, saying how he has loads of work to keep him busy with, and offered your help as well." She looked up from her paper and frowned. "Oh, don't give me that look, Miss Weasley. I know Gryffindors don't fancy Snape, but I really have nothing for you to do here and you have to be punished for being tardy."

"There are always lines..."

"Goodbye, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said, ending their discussion.

Ginny grumbled angrily to herself as she walked down to the dungeons. A detention with any other teacher she could deal with, but with Snape was torture. Even though she did well in his class and never tried to disappoint him, he seemed to hate her just because she was another Weasley.

She was nearing Snape's room when she heard her Professor's voice.

"You can start with the storage closet by organizing the ingredients, and once you're done with that you can clean..."

Ginny let out a sigh of relief, thankful that some other unlucky student got the task of the storage closet. Having that task in her 5^th year, she decided that Snape had to be the most unorganized person in all of Hogwarts, even worse than Neville.

When she got to the classroom, she saw Snape stacking a few papers. She knocked at the door before she stepped foot into the room.

Snape looked up at her knock. "Finally, Miss Weasley has graced us with her presence," he said in a low growl.

Ginny grimaced at his tone. "Sorry I'm late, Professor. I was a bit...confused over McGonagall's orders."

"I'm sure you were, Weasley," Snape said as glared at her. "You can start with cleaning those cauldrons over in that corner," he said, pointing to the farthest corner where about thirty cauldrons lay next to a sink. "Muggle way, of course."

Ginny kept in a groan as she rolled up her sleeves and headed over to the sink to start cleaning. She tried to sneak a glimpse at who was busy in the storage closet, but had no such luck. She went right to work and only two cauldrons later, she heard a knock at the door.

"What do you want?" Snape growled.

"Dumbledore wishes to have a word with you, Sir." Ginny recognized the voice to belong to a 6th year Ravenclaw prefect named Angela.

"Very well," he said as he got up from his chair. Ginny heard his footsteps descend towards the door before they paused suddenly. Curiosity getting the best of her, Ginny sneaked a peek over her shoulder and saw that Snape was talking to the person in the storage closet.

"I may be gone for awhile," he said, "so even though you're being punished, you're in charge." He gave a quick stare at Ginny which made her jump and go back to work. "I'm sure Weasley would just love to leave early, so keep an eye on her and make sure she finished her work. And you return to your Prefect duties."

"Yes, Sir," Angela said as she followed Snape out of the room.

Ginny relaxed a bit at hearing the door shut and went back to washing the caldrons. She managed to get through another cauldron before she threw her sponge to the ground in frustration. "Bugger, this is taking too long!" she said, taking her wand out to perform a simple cleaning charm.

"That's called cheating, you know."

Ginny jumped and dropped a cauldron in the sink, splashing water all over her. She turned around and stared in astonishment. "Draco?" she asked in surprise as she watched him walk coolly to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, seeing as I'm done in the storage closet, I'm supposed to help you clean those cauldrons," he said as if them two in detention together was nothing out of the ordinary.

"You were given a detention by Snape?"

Draco shrugged. "Seems that Snape doesn't like me as much as Granger thinks he does." He stopped only a foot away from her and smiled as he looked her up and down. "You're all wet," he said in a lower voice.

Ginny gulped as she slowly nodded.

Draco gave her a little smirk before he took out his own wand and muttered a drying charm to her clothes before using a cleaning one on the cauldrons.

Ginny turned to see that all the cauldrons were sparkling clean. "That's cheating, you know," she said in a mocking voice, turning back to him.

"Slytherins are expected to cheat."

Ginny smiled at him. "So that makes it okay?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "If you want to clean all these cauldrons the muggle way, be my guest," he said as he pointed his wand at them, "I can make them dirty again..."

"No!" Ginny said quickly as she grabbed his wand hand to stop him.

"No, you're right," Draco said with a joking voice as Ginny tried to grab his wand from him, "we really should do it the muggle way. It's the right thing to do."

Ginny gave out a short laugh at hearing Draco saying the right way is the muggle way, but continued to hold her grip onto Draco's arm. She looked over his shoulder and yelled, "Crap, its Snape!"

"What?" Draco said in alarm as he looked over his shoulder, only to have Ginny grab his wand when he wasn't looking. He immediately looked back at her and tried to grab his wand back, but did not succeed.

Ginny took a step around him with his wand in her hand, forcing him to have his back to the sink. "A sneaky Gryffindor fooled a sly Slytherin. What is the world coming to?" she said as she took small steps backwards, teasing him by waving his wand in front of his face.

Draco tried to look annoyed, but let out a small smile. "I don't know," he said as he took forward steps to her. "At this point I wouldn't be too surprised if I saw Voldemort dancing with a Mudblood."

Ginny paused at hearing Voldemort's name spoken, giving Draco the moment to grab his wand back. "Who is being sneaky now?" he asked with an amused face.

Ginny frowned at his move, and went to take a step to the side when Draco suddenly glanced at the ground.

"Gin, watch out for the-!"

Ginny yelped out in surprise when her foot slipped on the discarded wet sponge, making her fall backwards. She grabbed onto Draco's shirt for balance but instead brought him down with her.

She let out a small groan when her back hit the hard floor with Draco's weight on top of hers.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up in surprise to see Draco's face inches away from hers, full of concern. She tried to tell him that she was, but him being so close to her made her loose the ability to form words properly. She merely nodded.

Draco didn't say anything else, but repositioned his arms to the side of her so he wasn't crushing her. She barely noticed that he made no attempt to get off her before he gently pushed a piece of hair out of her face.

"So, w-when do you want to talk about us?" she managed to whisper as she felt one of Draco's hands bury itself in her hair. Shivers went down her spine at the feeling of him on top of her and when his cologne hit her nose.

"Why talk," he whispered as his lips grew closer to hers, "when actions could do so much more?"

His lips went to kiss hers when Ginny put her finger in-between them, making him stop. "Draco," she said slowly, "I need to know if everything is okay about us."

Draco looked down at her. "Do you love me?"

A small flicker of fear ignited in Ginny at Draco's question, but she ignored it. No matter how afraid she was of love or getting hurt, she knew the truth. "Yes, I do."

"Then that's all I need to know," Draco whispered before crashing his lips down on Ginny's.

The kiss was intense from the moment that they made contact. Each longing to taste each other, to hold each other close, they kissed as if they would never have the chance to again. Their mouths and tongues mashed wildly together, and both decided that breathing was not a necessity.

Ginny wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and settled her hands in his hair, bringing his body as close to hers as she could. She let out a sigh of disappointment when Draco abandoned her lips, but her sigh turned into a gasp when he nipped at her neck.

"No more Potter?" he murmured against her skin before licking her.

Ginny shook her head. "Only you," she managed to spit out between gasps.

Draco quickly brought his lips back to hers as he pressed himself closer to her body. Instantly, Ginny wrapped a leg around his as she felt his hand start to crawl up under her jumper.

The second Draco touched the bra; he retracted his hand as if he was burned. Ginny opened her eyes in surprise and gave Draco, who was now quickly standing up and reached down a hand to help her up as well, an odd look.

"What the hell-" Ginny started to say just as the classroom door swung open to Snape.

Snape paused in mid-step at the sight of Ginny on the floor and Draco standing above her with his hair ruffled. "What is the meaning of this?" he growled.

Ginny's face grew red as she tried to stutter out an explanation. "W-well you see, Pro-Professor..."

"Weasley here slipped on her own sponge," Draco said with a sneer, "and I was just being the gentleman my mother raised me to be by helping her clumsy arse up."

Ginny gave him a little scowl as he helped her up, but it immediately disappeared when he squeezed her hand gently.

"I see," Snape said as he eyed them. "And I'm sure her being a klutz also explains the state of your hair?"

Draco's hands immediately went to his hair and patted it down. "Of course not, Sir," Draco said coolly. "I was just cleaning the rest of the cauldrons so fast that my hair fell out of place."

As Snape gave the clean cauldrons a quick glance, Draco grabbed Ginny's hand and made a dash to the door while saying quickly, "Well, now that our jobs are done, we'll see you later."

Ginny glanced back at Snape quickly before she left the room with Draco. He stood there in puzzlement, looking from the stack of cauldrons to the door where his two students just ran out of hand in hand.

Draco didn't stop running with Ginny until they reached outside near the lake. He stopped underneath the tree that Ginny always sat at, and sat down with his back against the trunk with Ginny right next to him.

"I can't believe that just happened!" Ginny said with a wide smile.

"The trick is to not give Snape time to get mad," Draco said as he produced a heating charm around them to protect them from the harsh November wind. He leaned against the tree as he gathered Ginny in his arms. "It also helps to be a quick talker."

Ginny gave him a smile as she played with his shirt. "I especially loved the part of calling me a clumsy arse."

"What was I supposed to say? I don't think Snape would have bought it if I said you had a cute arse!"

"Oh, but running out of his room while holding my hand was buyable?" Ginny said with a little laugh.

Draco looked down at her with a smirk. "That was just too tempting to pass up."

"Hmm, I bet," Ginny said as she pulled on Draco's shirt, making him lean down to kiss her.

After a moment of gently kissing and groping, Draco broke the kiss off with a smile.

"What made you realize your feelings about me?" he asked in a soft voice.

Ginny thought for a moment as she rested her head on his chest. "I think it was I didn't realize what I had until it was gone," she responded as she watched the still water. "I always had feelings about you; I just wouldn't admit them to myself."

Draco nodded at her words as he played with Ginny's hair. They were both silently watching the lake before he asked another question. "Are you afraid of me?"

Ginny scrunched her face in confusion and looked up at him. "What?"

Draco didn't look her in the face. "Are you afraid that I'll hurt you just like Potter did?"

Ginny stared at him, a bit taken back at his question. She always knew that that was one of the main reasons of why she didn't want to get too involved with Draco in the first place, but having it come out of him seemed different.

"No, I'm not," she answered seriously. Draco looked down at her at her words. "I think the reason why I went through what I did with Harry was to find out what real love is,"
she said as she looked into Draco's eyes. "I was more hesitant and scared about love this time around, but I wasn't foolish or stupid about it anymore." She gently trailed a finger down Draco's cheek. "How can I be afraid of something that feels so right?"

Draco stared at her thoughtfully before he took her hand and kissed it softly.

"I love you, Ginny."

A warm smile filled Ginny's face as she leaned up and gave Draco a soft kiss. "I love you too, Draco," she whispered into his ear before settling back into his arms.

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

It was well past midnight when Draco and Ginny snuck back into the castle. They stayed out late, cuddling and talking, with the occasional snog. With a kiss goodnight and promises of meeting before breakfast the next morning, they departed on the main floor. Ginny walked from there to the Fat Lady's portrait in a bit of a daze, still a bit shocked over the ending results of her and Draco. She found it a bit ironic that pretending to be together for the act of revenge actually made them turn together in the end. Only a few months ago she was crying about Harry breaking her heart, and now she was beaming over Draco mending it. Who would have thought?

She gave the Fat Lady a dreamy smile as she said the password.

"I wouldn't be smiling like that if I was out past curfew," the Fat Lady said with a yawn as she opened the door.

"Yes, but you're not in love," she answered curtly before entering the common room. She smiled brightly at her own words, surprised at how easily they came out of her mouth. She felt like a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders now that everything worked out. She figured out her feelings for Draco, who luckily still wanted to be with her, and after her earlier encounter with Ron and Hermione, she was sure that Ron wouldn't be a complete arse forever. Things were starting to look up and the drama was slowly ceasing.

"Ginny."

Ginny jumped at her noise being called. The common room was completely empty except for Harry who was sitting in the corner.

"Harry! You scared me!" she said as she placed her hand over her beating heart.

"Sorry," he said as he rose out of his seat and walked towards her slowly. "I was waiting up for you, wondering if we could talk-"

"Harry, we've talked enough," Ginny interrupted. "There's nothing left to say."

Harry looked a bit taken back by Ginny's forcefulness, but kept up with it. "You're wrong, Ginny. There is still one more thing I have to say."

Ginny frowned at Harry's stubbornness. "Harry, now isn't a good time. I'm happy and I don't want you to ruin a perfectly good night with-"

"I'm sorry, Gin."

Gin stopped in mid-sentence. "What?" she asked quietly.

Harry took a deep breath as he ran his hand through his hair. "I said I'm sorry. I regret more than anything that I hurt you in the first place, because if I didn't do that then everything would be different now. We would still be together and Malfoy wouldn't even be in the picture."

"Harry, if this is your version of an apology-"

"I'm not finished," Harry interrupted. "Everything would be the better for me if I wasn't such a prick. But maybe everything happened for a reason," he said, quiet now. "Maybe I didn't deserve you at all."

Ginny stared at Harry in silence at his words, surprised at what he was saying.

Harry hesitantly took her hand and held it in his own as he stared at it. "I care about you a lot, Ginny, but I guess not enough for all of this to happen in the first place. But I do know that after what I put you through, you deserve to be happy and with someone who will give you that." Harry paused for a second to look at Ginny's face. "Even if that person is Malfoy."

Ginny's mouth dropped at his words. She must have been dreaming.

"Harry, but I thought you hate Draco."

"I do," he answered sharply. "Believe me, Gin; I hate him more than anything now. I would loose every Quidditch game to that slimy git just to have you back."

"Then why are you suddenly okay with him and I being together?" she asked.

"I'm not, and I don't think I ever will be. I-I don't like seeing you with any guy but me, but if that's what it takes for you to be happy then so be it," he finished as he dropped her hand.

Ginny stood there silently, not sure on what to say. She wasn't going to give him a hug and forgive him for everything, or do anything where they would be best buddies again. It would take a lot of time and patience to be okay with Harry after all of this. She bit her lip when she saw him walking away from her in slight disappointment at her silence. He just reached the bottom of the boy's stairs when she called out to him, making him pause.

"I don't hate you, Harry," she said suddenly.

Harry's eyebrow raised in confusion at her random statement.

"It's going to take some time to accept your apology and have everything be okay," she said slowly, "but just remember that I don't hate you. I wouldn't be able to turn my back on someone who just wants me to be happy, even if it is a bit delayed."

Harry let out a small smile at her comment. When nothing else was said, she turned to the girl's stairs. She was half way there when Harry said suddenly, "Malfoy's a really lucky guy."

She paused to stare at Harry's honest face with a hint of sadness. She remembered that face her second year when he lost for the first time in Quidditch. He always wore that face when he lost something important to him.

"Good night, Ginny."

Ginny couldn't help but let out a small, comforting smile. "Good night, Harry," she said as she ascended the stairs.

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

"So how was detention last night?"

Ginny gave Riley a small smile as they walked to breakfast together. "It was great," she said as she hugged her books to her chest.

Riley looked at Ginny like she had three heads. "Detention was great? Okay, what happened that you didn't tell me about?"

Ginny giggled. "What makes you think anything happened?"

"Hmm, let's see now," Riley said as they reached the main stairs. "I'm going to go with the general knowledge that no student enjoys detention."

Ginny bit her lip to stop herself from smiling at her friend's sarcasm. "Nothing happened," she said as butterflies filled her stomach at the thought of last night.

Riley was silent for a moment until they reached the bottom of the stairs. She nudged Ginny in the side and said while looking straight ahead, "So nothing happened, hu?"

Ginny looked up to see Pansy standing right outside the Great Hall doors, staring at her.

Ginny gulped and forced herself to not pause in fright. She was a Gryffindor after all, and she certainly was not going to back down to Pansy. Even she couldn't ruin her good mood.

"I need to have a word with you, Weasley," Pansy said with great dislike, when the two girls neared her.

Riley glared at Pansy before staring at Ginny with worry. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

Never taking her eyes off Pansy, Ginny shook her head. "No, Riley, I'll be fine. Just save me a spot next to you, okay?"

Riley hesitated at Ginny's words, but nodded slowly. Once she left, Ginny said, "What do you want, Parkinson?"

Pansy smiled coolly at her. "Aren't you afraid of me, Weasley?"

"Isn't it you who should be afraid of me?" Ginny asked with a smirk. "I could attack you all I wanted and you wouldn't be able to lift your wand at me without getting throw out of school."

Ginny watched as Pansy's face lightened a bit, which wasn't saying much since she still looked angry. "I have no idea what Draco sees in you," she said, slowly shaking her head.

At the mention of Draco's name, Ginny turned to look for him in the Great Hall.

"He's not in there," Pansy said as she examined a nail. "That's what I had to tell you. He asked me to inform you that he'll be a bit late for breakfast and to not wait for him."

Ginny frowned at Pansy's message. "Is everything okay?"

"Don't worry, lover boy is fine," Pansy said with a note of disgust. She turned to go back to her table but added, "And don't you dare think that just because we're talking civilly means we're cool or something notorious like that. You ever hurt Draco again, and I will make sure you pay for it."

Ginny rolled her eyes as soon as Pansy turned her back on her. She too joined her house table and took a seat between Riley and Vanessa while glancing up at Harry, Hermione, and Ron who were sitting several seats down from her. She watched Ron sneak a glance at the Slytherin table, looking quite smug that Draco was missing and whispered something to Hermione. Hermione scowled at him and rolled her eyes to Ginny who caught her eye. Ginny gave her a small smile before she looked at Harry who seemed to not be in a good mood. He was staring gloomily at his breakfast that he was pushing around with his fork. He looked up at Ginny when she was just about to look away, and after they seemed to stare at each forever, Ginny gave him a tiny smile, which he returned before looking away.

They were in the middle of breakfast when the mail owls arrived for the day, disrupting the meal. Unlike her friends around her, Ginny continued to eat breakfast between occasional glances at the Slytherin table, wondering where Draco was.

Lavender's loud, girly gasp caught Ginny's attention. "Oh my gosh, look at that pretty dove!"

Ginny's head looked up to see a pure white dove flying towards the Gryffindor table with a single red rose in its beak. A memory hit her of when Draco gave her a single red rose the first day of their plan, and she altogether stopped breathing when the dove dropped it on her plate before flying off.

She delicately picked up the rose as her friends swarmed around her. Blushing madly, she was going to excuse herself and look for Draco when the murmurs in the Great Hall grew louder.

Looking up, Ginny dropped her rose back onto her plate, gasping as she watched dove after dove continue to fly into the Great Hall, each dropping a single red rose onto her plate. All eyes were on her now, and after the eleventh dove dropped the eleventh rose, came one last dove that carried a letter.

Ginny quickly opened it up, forcing herself to ignore Lavender's complaints of no one ever sending her flowers.

Look at the entrance.

Ginny caught her breath as she immediately stood up to see over her swarm of friends and looked at the entrance, all eyes now doing the same. Murmurs increased at the sight of seeing Draco Malfoy standing coolly in the entrance holding a single red rose.

Surprised that her knees weren't too weak from the feeling that was going through her, Ginny walked over to Draco, aware that every single person was watching her. She felt her cheeks redden, and kept her eyes on Draco's face as she neared him, which stayed extremely relaxed.

When she reached him, he handed her the twelfth rose. Speechless, she took it gently. She gave him a sweet smile as she smelled the sweetness of it.

"What was all that for?" she asked quietly.

Draco gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "No reason in particular," he said as he ran his fingers through her hair, "except the fact that the last time I gave you a flower it was only one. No girlfriend of mine is going to receive just one flower."

Ginny's heart swelled. "So I'm your girlfriend now, hu?" she asked jokingly as she leaned closer to him.

Draco gave her a small nod as he wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, and there's more where that came from. That's the price you have to pay for falling in love with a Malfoy-being spoiled in extravagant ways."

"Sounds tough, but I think I'll manage," Ginny whispered before putting her arms around his neck and pulling him into a tight, endearing kiss.