For One Day

She had waited for this moment for a long time, and now, finally, it was happening. She had assistance, of course, from Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. Their handy fashion, hair and makeup tips, which were famous at Hogwarts, really did work some wonders for her. It had been some hard work, of course, but with dedication she had finally achieved her goals. She was very proud of herself, and tonight, she had finally decided to reveal her new look.

She had done the exact exercises and ate the exact foods that the girls had told her to, and this had made her get slim and fill out in all the right places. She had grown her hair it fell to her mid-back, and then from their instructions, had gotten it layered so it was wavy and full. She had to give up smoking too, which was a secret habit that Micheal Corner had gotten her into when she dated him. She had been quite reluctant to give up though, because it was the only thing that could calm her down. Yes, since her brush with Lord Voldemort in her first year, she had suffered from anxiety attacks. She had managed to keep them under control, but when Voldemort returned at the end of her third year, she couldn't control it anymore. No one had figured out her problem, save Micheal Corner. It was he who suggested that she take up smoking in the first place. He then grew arrogant and used her problem against her. She ended it with him after that, and told everyone that they had broken up because of Quidditch. The excuse had worked, for no one questioned her about it.

She had then realised who was truly the one that she belonged with: Harry. She had originally thought that she was over him, but she broke up with Micheal, who then went off with Cho, she had finally realised it. She wasn't too sure of why she even liked Harry, when he had never given her the time of day, but she did. So now, just before her sixth year, she was ready. Ready to admit her feelings to Harry.

She didn't really know how he would react. He hadn't seen her all summer, so he didn't know how different she looked. Seamus was throwing a massive party before school started, and Harry was to be there. It was the perfect opportunity. She knew that a vast majority of Hogwarts would be going to the party; after all, the parties that Seamus Finnegan threw were famous.

The girls had come over a few hours before the party so that they could prepare her. They ran through how she was going to tell him, but she still wasn't sure. What if he turned her away? It would have been all for nothing.

'You're stressing too much, Gin,' said Parvati, who was currently shaping Ginny's nails.

'I'm not,' muttered Ginny.

'Yes you are,' Parvati replied. 'Your hands are all sweaty. Lav, can you grab me the baby powder?'

Lavender jumped up from what she was preparing (eyelash tint), went to her bag and brought the baby powder to Parvati. Parvati then put some onto Ginny's hand, who then rubbed them together.

'Baby powder; it works a treat for sweaty hands,' Lavender quickly explained to Ginny. They certainly knew their stuff.

By seven o'clock, Ginny was ready. Parvati and Lavender packed Ginny's "necessities" into a stylish handbag, which had lipstick, lipgloss, mints, eyeliner, tissues and baby powder in it. They had, also, slipped in a condom, which had made Ginny blush.

'You'll need it,' said Lavender, winking. All three of them giggled.

But by doing this, Lavender and Parvati had just made the nerves in her stomach worsen. Would Harry expect that from her so soon? Surely not.

All three of them then went out and met up with Dean Thomas, who had a car and was Parvati's boyfriend. They drove for about ten minutes until they came to a wizard portal, which would transport the car and it's contents to wherever they needed to go. As they went through, Ginny felt like she was on a rollercoaster. Finally, just when Ginny thought she was going to be sick, the car stopped and they were on Seamus's street in Ireland. Cars lined the streets and people their age were getting out of them, laughing and joking. Music was blaring loudly from Seamus's three-story mansion. Ginny felt sick. Could she do this? She had waited for so long, it would seem foolish to cancel out now. Parvati and Lavender seemed to be thinking the same thing.

'Don't worry, you'll be fine,' said Lavender, patting Ginny on the arm. 'Don't worry.'

'If you say so,' said Ginny, who looked very uncertain. But the memories of her first year kept coming to mind and she felt her foot jiggling nervously, something she had no control over.

Just calm down, she thought, stay cool. Remain confident. What could go wrong anyway? Oh right, he could blatantly reject me!

The got out of the car and the girls gave worried looks at Ginny.

'What's up?' asked Dean, a quizzical look on his face.

Parvati shook her head. 'Nothing, now let's go,' she said, interlocking her arm with his.

Ginny, whose feet were now starting to sweat, wanting nothing more than to just have a smoke...but she couldn't. She had to stay focused. Following the others, she carefully made her way down to the steps of the Finnegan household. When on the threshold, Parvati and Lavender wished Ginny good luck and went in an opposite direction to find Seamus.

Now I've just got to see if Harry's here, thought Ginny. The plan was to chat for a while, chat to other people, and then Ginny would ask to have a chat with Harry alone. She would then declare her feelings. And if all goes well, thought Ginny blushing, perhaps that condom could come for some use.

'Ginny! Over here!' someone called out. Ginny turned to see Hermione, along with Ron and Harry, come down the stairs. 'How nice to see you!' she said, embracing Ginny. 'You look simply gorgeous!'

Ginny smiled and turned to Ron and Harry, or more specifically, Harry.

'Hey,' she said in a laid-back manner.

'H-hey,' said Harry, who was gazing at her, which Ginny was glad of. On any other occasion, Ginny would have blushed furiously to be wearing her strappy, red top that had ruffles around the breastline that revealed a fair amount of breast and a denim mini. Around her neck she had a shell necklace that Parvati and Lavender had got from Australia on their holiday there. She had two matching bracelets that matched her necklace on each wrist and dangly earrings that she felt brush on her neck every time she moved her head.

'Why are you wearing that?' said Ron loudly, crinkling his nose.

'Oh, shut up Ron,' said Hermione sharply, who grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him away outside where everyone else was. Hermione seemed to have understood what was going on.

'You look nice tonight, Ginny,' said Harry.

Ginny smiled. 'Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself.'

Harry looked at his t-shirt, board shorts and thongs. 'Somehow, I'm doubting that.'

Ginny laughed. 'Where did you just get back from?'

'Oliver paid a visit and took us on a day trip to California.'

'Oh.'

'I would've invited you,' said Harry quickly, who saw Ginny's downfallen face, 'but your mother said that you were busy.'

'Oh, don't worry Harry,' said Ginny, grabbing Harry's arm, 'I wasn't upset or anything like that. Like my mum told you, I was busy.'

'Well, next time, if you're not busy...' said Harry.

'Yes?' said Ginny, smiling and showing her pearly white teeth.

'I'd like you to come,' he said, his voice shaking slightly, 'that's if you're not busy and if you'd like to, of course,' he added.

'Of course, Harry,' she said, her voice a little higher than she meant it to be.

'Great,' said Harry, smiling. 'Well, I better be finding Ron and Hermione. I guess I'll see you around tonight, eh?'

'Yep,' said Ginny, nodding. 'See ya.'

Harry smiled and turned to find the others. When he was gone, Ginny sighed a breath of relief and punched the air in a self-victory. So far, everything was going perfectly. What could stuff up things now? Nothing. Harry had just pretty much asked her on a date. So far, so good.

Ginny walked out to the back, which was a very big balcony that looked over the ocean. There must have been at least one hundred people there already, some on the balcony Ginny was on, the back room and the balcony on the upper level. She saw guys being idiots and hanging themselves over the railing of the balcony, which was very high up from the ground, and below the sea crashed into the rocks. Ginny didn't even try to approach the edge; she was always terrified of heights.

Spotting the outside fridge, she went over and grabbed herself a Firewhisky and took a small sip. She saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, Parvati, Fred, George, Lee and some people she didn't know in the corner around a table, all laughing and joking. Hermione, being the responsible one as usual, wasn't drinking. She saw, poking out of Fred and George's bag, fireworks. She figured that they would be setting them off later. Ginny felt her stomach drop as she looked at them drinking, laughing and the fireworks. Could she actually get him to get away from everybody else? Or would she have to declare her feelings in front of everyone? She would rather die.

She walked up to them and pulled up a chair and sat down. They all said hi to each other, and Parvati and Lavender gave Ginny a wink. After a while, everyone had gone off to other places. Dean, Seamus and Ron had left to get something from the shops, Hermione had gone for a walk and Fred and George had gone to find the people that worked at their store. Ginny was alone with Harry.

Finally, she thought. I didn't think they'd ever leave.

'Did you see any of the Quidditch teams when you went to Cali?' asked Ginny. Harry shook his head.

'Nah, we couldn't drag Hermione away from the beach,' he said, rather uncertainly.

He's nervous, thought Ginny. Well, he ain't the only one.

'So what did Ron and Hermione get up to, eh?' asked Ginny, who was trying to make conversation. Ron and Hermione had finally, after an exhausting long time, had gotten together just before the end of last term. They had spent all their time together during the holidays, but Ginny knew that things were a bit uncomfortable between the two. But then again, being friends for six years and then suddenly becoming lovers can take a while to get used to.

'Not much,' he said, not meeting her eyes. Ginny nodded her ok.

'You look really nice tonight, Gin,' he said, a little sadly. Why the heck was he sad? There wasn't anything to be sad about.

'Thanks,' she replied, even though she couldn't work out why he was sad.

'Look sorry I have to cut our convo short, but I gotta go for a while, k?' said Harry.

Ginny nodded. 'Sure,' she said smiling, though she was a little disappointed that he had to leave, to wherever it was that he was going.

He got up and walked away. Ginny turned to look back at him the same time that Harry looked back to look at her. She quickly snapped her head back, smiling and finding it humorous that they turned to look at each other at the same time. Could things get any better? He had asked her to go to the beach with him and now had commented twice on her appearance. Was it time for her to admit her feelings? Perhaps she should wait till Fred and George set off the fireworks, just to add to the atmosphere. Or would Harry want to join him? Perhaps now was the best time. But could she do it? She sat there for a few minutes, debating with herself when she should tell him.

On sudden impulse, Ginny stood up. She had to do it. The time was now. It was now or never. She had no idea where Harry went, but she had to look. She knew that Harry went back inside the house, and that was all. So she walked inside and said hello to some girls that she knew. She didn't have the slightest idea where he might be. She figured that he was probably with all the boys, and they'd probably be up to no good, especially if the twins were there. As if by some magical force, she was drawn to the front door. She didn't know why she went there, or why she would think that Harry would be out the front. But something made her go there.

She opened the door and a wave of a strange sensation of foreboding washed over her. It wasn't like something bad was going to happen, but Ginny knew that she had reached a crossroad in her life and that everything was about to change. She closed the door behind her and walked up the steps onto the road. Across from the house was bushland. Peering into the darkness, Ginny suddenly became afraid. Then she saw figures in the forest move. Ginny brushed off the thought that it could be anyone dangerous. It was probably only someone from the party, making out or something. But without thinking, Ginny slowly crept up to the shadowy figures and hid behind a tree. She wasn't sure what she'd find. But what she did find stunned her completely. Harry and Hermione. Hermione and Harry.

'So what are we going to tell Ron?' asked Hermione, her hands in her pockets.

'Nothing,' said Harry, 'he doesn't need to know.'

'What?'

'Hermione, it was a mistake. We both know that.'

'He deserves the truth, Harry.'

Harry sighed. 'I know he does. But we'll lose him, Hermione. We will. We'll lose everyone if they ever found out about us.'

'It still doesn't feel right.'

'What doesn't?

'This. Us. Not telling them,' said a frustrated Hermione, but she wasn't frustrated at Harry. 'Why did we even do it?'

'I ask myself that many times,' said Harry, 'but what's done is done. We can't change what happened.'

There was a silence before Hermione sighed. 'So what's going to happen now?'

'Pretend like it never happened,' said Harry. 'We need to. You know it.'

'But can we?' asked Hermione doubtfully. 'Can we ever forget what happened between us, Harry? Harry...you were my first.'

Hermione sniffed. 'Hermione...' said Harry, moving towards her, 'come here...'

Hermione moved towards Harry, and Harry held her in his arms while Hermione sobbed slightly against his chest. 'I'm sorry, it should have never happened like this.' He kissed her head and ran his fingers through her hair delicately.

Ginny, who was watching from a few metres away, felt sick. How dare they? How dare Harry lead her on like this? How dare Hermione betray her? How dare she cheat on Ron...with his best friend!? She had been so sure...and now she had found out that Harry and Hermione were lovers behind everyone's back. She wanted to just cry. Cry like she had never cried before. But how could she cry when she felt so angry that she felt sick?

Harry put his hand under Hermione's chin and brought her lips to his, kissing her softly. Ginny wanted nothing more than to move from her hiding spot and strangle them both. She hated them. Hated. Hated. Hated. She would never forgive them for this.

Hermione brought her hands to Harry's shoulders, kissing him back. Harry moved his arm to wrap it around her body while one hand was on the back of Hermione's head. Hermione's hand then moved to the back of Harry's head. They broke apart, and they stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before Hermione ran her hands up Harry's torso.

'Hermione...' said Harry. But she only just looked at him and pulled off his shirt. She then went to run her fingers tenderisingly over his chest.

'Just for tonight,' she said, taking his hands into his, 'I don't care. About anything.'

They moved to kiss passionately, while Harry unbuttoned her shirt. It fell slinkily to the ground, revealing her white bra. Harry kissed her shoulders softly.

Absolutely revolted, Ginny turned away. Could she get away without them noticing, or would she have to bear them making love? She would rather die. She crouched down low and began to creep away in the opposite direction, the moans of the cheating lovers becoming non-existent to Ginny's ears. When she was far enough, she stood up and broke into a run. All this had been for nothing. She had wasted her affections on a man who didn't deserve to call himself one.

She ran as emotions passed through her like a river. Hate. Anger. Pain. Betrayal. Humiliation. She ran. Ran for her life, as if she was leaving these painful emotions behind her. She wouldn't go back. She couldn't. How could she look in the eye of Harry and Hermione? How could she go on and act like nothing had happened. She had to tell Ron. She had to. But could she really? Did she really want it to be her that would bring his whole world crashing down? She didn't want her brother to be humiliated like she was. That wasn't fair. But would Harry and Hermione really end it after tonight? After seeing their passionate liaisons, she doubted it.

Soon enough, her quick legs had carried her far away from everyone else, and not a sound could be heard, none except for the wind in the trees and the gentle running of a nearby stream. It was peacefully quiet in the forest, and Ginny felt comfortable there, but yet so afraid. She leaned against a tree, gasping for the cool air. When her breathing had gone back to normal, she slumped onto the ground. She felt slightly queasy from her run and she began to shake, but she wasn't scared or cold. She was anxious. She needed to cry, but her other emotions were preventing her to. No, what she needed was a smoke.

'Ah, of course,' she said aloud, 'I gave up for him, didn't I?'

Perhaps she could go back to the party to get one, but then she might see Ron, and she couldn't handle that. Besides, only Micheal, Parvati and Lavender knew that she smoked. If any of her brothers found out, she would be in deep trouble. But she knew she would lose it if she didn't.

As if an angel had answered her prayers, she saw a small, orange glow in the clearing ahead. They had smokes. But was she foolish enough to accept one from a stranger?

Well, she thought, it's better than getting an anxiety attack.

Gingerly, she walked over to whomever it was that was smoking. From the silhouette, she could tell that the person was male. This didn't really make her feel better. Here she was, alone in the forest, except with a strange man. Fantastic...

But, remembering that she had never come across someone who could run as fast as she could, she felt a little bit better.

'Excuse me?' she said. 'Would I be able to have a smoke?'

Ginny saw him take out his wand. She felt her stomach tighten.

'Sure,' he said in a lazed tone. 'Lumos.'

Light filled the clearing, and at first Ginny couldn't see anything because of the sudden light change. But her eyes dimmed to the light eventually, and she saw who he was.

Draco Malfoy.

Inside her mind, Ginny groaned. He was the last person that she wanted to see. And now, he knew that she smoked. Definitely not good. And to make matters worse, he had a wand and she didn't.

He smirked when he saw her.

'Well, well, well,' he drawled. 'If it isn't the girl weasel, the girlfriend of Saint Potter. And here she is, asking for a smoke from a Malfoy. How redundant.'

Ginny rolled her eyes. She really didn't need this. 'He is not my boyfriend,' she said, feeling offended. Of course, she wouldn't let Draco Malfoy know why she would feel offended from his remark.

He shrugged haughtily. 'If you say so,' he said. 'And just what are you doing in the middle of the forest?'

'I could say the same for you, Malfoy,' she sneered slightly, her hands on her hips in a self-righteous way.

'I happen to be here for a reason,' he said in the same tone as her. 'And what's your reason?'

'And how do you know that I'm here for a reason?' she retorted.

'No one comes into the middle of the forest all alone for no particular reason,' he shot back.

Ginny folded her arms. 'And just what makes you think that I'd tell you my reason?'

'You want a smoke, don't you?' he said, smirking as if he had already won victory over her. 'So I want your reason.'

Ginny had nothing to say to that.

'Do you want one or not?' he said impatiently. Ginny nodded.

'Manners would be good once in a while, weaselette,' he said, handing her one.

'Oh yes, because you would know all about that, wouldn't you?' she said sarcastically.

'You said it right,' he said arrogantly. He lit up the cigarette his wand.

She put it to her lips and felt the calming smoke fill her lungs, as unhealthy as it was.

'And yet,' he said, 'I still get no thanks.'

'No, you don't.'

'You're quite the stubborn one, aren't you?'

'Almost as stubborn as you are.'

He shrugged, not caring about her remark about him being stubborn. 'So,' he drawled, 'you never did tell me why you're here.'

'No, I didn't,' she said, 'but then again, neither did you.'

'I have my reasons,' he said simply. 'As do you, I'm sure. I mean, you're not that dumb as to walk around in a dark forest by yourself willy-nilly, would you?'

Ginny tried not to yell at him. His insult was only mildly insulting, anyway. It was just after seeing Harry and Hermione together; everything seemed to be much worse than it really was.

'Obviously not.'

'But yet you come up to people that you don't know in the middle of the forest and ask for a smoke? Wow, I can tell you have all the right workings of a genius,' he said sarcastically. 'Yeah, when it comes to brains, you're right up there with Granger, aren't you?'

Once again, Ginny felt insulted that she was being affiliated with Harry and Hermione. For obvious reasons, she didn't make a comment on it.

'So why are you here?' Ginny asked, trying to put him on the spot like he had with her.

'Do you really wanna know?' he asked, with a hint of suggestiveness to his tone.

'On second thoughts,' she said, her nose wrinkled in disgust, 'I don't think I wanna know.'

'Suit yourself,' he said, shrugging simply. 'But if you knew I'm sure you'd like it.'

Ginny narrowed her eyes. 'Go on, try me,' she dared.

'Are you sure?'

'I wouldn't've said it if I wasn't.'

'Suit yourself, then,' he said. He turned away from her, put out his cigarette against a tree and broke into a run. Ginny, not knowing what he was doing, stood there. Draco turned back. 'Are you coming or not?' he said impatiently. Ginny nodded. 'Well, you'd better keep up; I'm not slowing down for you.'

'Oh don't worry, you're no match for me,' she said, rolling her eyes. She put out her smoke and began to run just as Draco took off. Ginny was pretty surprised that he was quite fast, but not fast enough, for shortly, they were running along side by side.

'Looks like I'm just as good as you, hey Malfoy?' she said.

'Oh please,' he said, 'this is child's play.'

After that, he speed up considerably and left her behind. Using determination, she speed up to him.

'Not good enough, I'm afraid,' she said, smirking. He looked at her. Ginny could tell that he didn't like losing. Smiling at spotting his weakness, she pushed her legs to go a bit faster and she overtook him, leaving him lagging behind.

'Oh no you don't!' he said, speeding up, and again, they were running side-by-side.

Is anyone of us going to actually lose? Ginny thought. It appeared that they had found someone to really compete against.

Draco put out his arm to spot her as he stopped. She stopped.

'Alright...I give up,' he said, putting his hands on his knees and bending over, trying to catch his breath that he seemed to leave back in the clearing.

'I won,' she said, smirking. She had beaten Draco Malfoy.

Now this, she thought, is going to be remembered. Oh yes, I'm going to use this against him at school now.

'Oh, don't get too cocky,' he said. 'I only lost because I was out of breath.'

'Clearly. Just face it; I won, fair and square.'

'Next time, don't expect to be so lucky,' he challenged.

'Well, you'd better start training every morning, huh?' she said, arms folded.

He stared at her, a smirk on his face. And then, he took off.

'Hey, wait!' Ginny called out, but he didn't stop. God knows why she took after him, but she did.

'I told you not to get too cocky!' he called back. She continued to run after him. The forest grew darker as they were continuing to the heart of it, but the glow from Draco's wand was all Ginny needed to see where she was going.

'You out of breath yet?' she called out to him. 'I'm advancing onto you!'

'Not if I can help it!'

They continued racing down the path, not really caring about the scratches that they were getting on their arms and legs. Ginny had never had such a good race like this before. She had raced against George, who was a fast runner as well, but he was never really a match against her. But now, to have someone matched up with her was something different and exciting. She felt like she could run like this, with Draco Malfoy, of all people, for the rest of her life. She hadn't met anyone that was that much of a keen runner as she was. When she was younger, she had often been terrorised by her bully of a next-door-neighbour, who was four years older than her, and he was much bigger than her. Until she had found her natural talent, he used to throw heavy objects at her, and she would always come home crying. But when her mother and the boy's mother questioned him about it, he simply told them that there was a poltergeist, and they had bought his explanation. But when she did find that she was an exceptionally fast runner, he would never really bother her. It was pointless of him.

Suddenly, Draco's light went out. Ginny couldn't see a thing, but strangely enough, she kept on running in his direction that she thought he was in.

'Malfoy, where are you? Is everything all right?' she called out; trying to keep down her nervousness that she was feeling. After all, she didn't want him to think that she was worrying about him, did she?

She kept running, but slowed down slightly. She began to get annoyed at him now. Not only was he worrying her, putting his health in risk, but also her health.

'Malfoy, you git!'

WHAM! Ginny ran into something very solid in front of her and fell forward, but the solid object broke her fall, though her ribcage was stinging. The solid object groaned. This solid object, Ginny realised, was Draco Malfoy. She had smacked straight into him, and he went flying down face-first, and Ginny went after and landed on top of him.

'Gerroff!' he groaned from under her, his voice muffled because of the fact that his face was pressed against the earth.

'Sorry,' she said sincerely, and rolled off of him onto her back. He rolled onto his back, and seemed to be in a bit of pain. Draco had stopped in the middle of a large clearing, where lush, tall, moist grass grew. They laid there in silence, Ginny getting her breath back to normal and Draco checking for broken bones, which Ginny knew he was doing only to annoy her. He stopped, and they both just laid there in the grass, side by side, staring up into the open sky in silence. Finally, Draco spoke.

'You killed me.'

For some reason, Ginny found this unbelievably hilarious, and she burst out laughing. She couldn't stop, as she rolled in the grass in fits of laughter.

'It's not that funny,' Draco said, taken slightly aback.

'Yes it is!' Ginny said through her laughter.

Draco shrugged and brought his hands to behind his head. 'If you say so.'

Eventually, Ginny's hysteric laughter died down. They were in silence again, except for the soft chirping of a cricket.

'So is this why you were here?' Ginny asked, breaking the impending silence.

'No,' he said, 'my reason is a bit further from here.'

'Oh.'

'Weaselette?'

'Hmm?'

'I'm a Malfoy,' he said uncertainly.

'I know you are,' she said, slightly confused.

'And you're a Weasley,' he said, turning on to his side to face her.

'Very observant of you,' she said jokingly, but she knew what he meant.

'Be serious for a minute, will ya?'

'Fine. '

'Well...you realise that we can't really be friends or anything like that,' he said.

'Of course,' she said, but for some reason, she felt a little disappointed. She had just found a worthy opponent, and now she was losing him. Or maybe they really were meant to be plain opponents. Enemies.

'I - I just wanted you to know that,' he continued, 'I mean, I suppose I had fun and everything tonight...'

Ginny raised her eyebrows in disagreement, but Draco didn't see. Ginny did not have fun tonight. Not after what she saw. But, she had to admit; Draco had made her feel better.

'...but it just wouldn't work out, you know what I mean?'

'Sure I do,' said Ginny quietly, 'my parents have been telling me since the day I was born. "A Malfoy and a Weasley can never be friends" .'

Draco laughed a little. 'You got told that too?'

Ginny laughed too, and nodded. 'All the time, actually.'

'Didn't it annoy you, like it annoyed me?'

'Yes! I mean, it's not like I was going to run off and elope with one, was I?'

Draco thought for a moment, and laughed. 'No, I suppose not.'

Ginny sighed. 'Did you ever wonder why the Weasleys and Malfoys hated each other so much?'

'A few times, yeah,' he said. 'I mean, there's a lot of families that the Malfoys hate, but not to the extent of the Weasleys. I guess a member of one family broke another's window or something and refused to pay up.'

Ginny laughed. 'That sounds about right. And the rest is history, I guess. Malfoy?'

'Hmmm?'

'If you ever beat me at Quidditch, which you won't,' she said, 'just remember that I'm the faster runner.'

'Whatever,' he replied, laughing in an arrogant manner.

'So where's this place?' Ginny asked.

'If I told you,' said Draco, grinning, 'I'd have to kill you.'

'That's if you could catch me,' she said cheekily.

'Oh, that does it,' he said playfully. She jumped up and began running, giggling madly, while Draco chased her, who was also laughing. They felt so alive, so innocent, just running around in the large, grassy clearing under the stars, laughing and chasing each other, like they had returned to their childhoods.

Eventually, they both collapsed back onto the ground, gasping for air. Ginny had no idea what she was doing with Draco Malfoy. What was she doing? She was she even talking to him? But it was as Draco had said; they could never be friends, and they would return to school as if nothing had ever happened. But, as Ginny thought, what was a worse crime, Harry and Hermione pretending and lying to everyone, or Draco and Ginny not being friends? Neither did fair justice to anyone. Was something as this, this pure - having running races and playing chasy really a crime? Why did Ginny even care? He was a Malfoy. She had to keep reminding herself that they couldn't be buddy-buddy. Nothing was ever that simple in their world, not when society and families dictated whom you would and wouldn't associate with. It wasn't fair.

Why should I worry myself, thought Ginny, Malfoy probably doesn't think anything of this. He would easily go on after this, and pretend it never happened.

But she wouldn't. She would never forget.

'It's getting late,' Draco said. 'I should probably go.' He got to his feet. 'Um, I had a nice night, weaselette.' He turned and walked away in the opposite direction.

Realising something, Ginny jumped up. 'Wait!' she called up to him. She jogged lightly up to him.

'Yes?'

'I don't know the way back,' she said.

'Not my problem.' He began to walk again, and Ginny followed.

'Yes it is. You brought me here.'

Draco swung around to her. 'Well nobody asked you to come with me, did they?' he said coldly. Ginny began to panic. She had no idea how to get back, and Draco wasn't going to help her. She only had one option. She had to follow him, to wherever it was that he was going.

'Well, I'm coming with you,' Ginny said, following Draco who began to walk again.

'Oh no you're not!' he said, stopping.

'Well,' Ginny said, her arms folded, 'you can either take me back to Seamus's house or you can let me follow you. Your choice.'

Draco looked impatient and Ginny swore she saw Draco's left eye twitching.

'Fine,' he said, 'but keep up.'

'So I'm going wherever you're going?' said Ginny.

'Yes.'

'So I get to see where you were coming here tonight?'

Silence.

'Yes.'

Author's Notes: Review please.