For One Day

A Night In the Forest

'Oh good, I can see what would take Draco Malfoy to go into a forest all alone at night,' said Ginny in a patronising tone.

'If you're trying to be funny, it isn't working.'

'If you're trying to insult me, it isn't working,' she flared back.

'Look, if I have to listen to this all night - '

'You can just take me back to Seamus's house.'

'No. Not going there.'

'Why?' asked Ginny, trying to get him a little angry, 'Are you trying to avoid Harry or something?'

'Aren't you?'

Ginny stopped in her tracks and felt a small pain in her left foot. 'How did you -' She stopped when she saw that Draco had a smug look on his face.

'I didn't,' he said, stopping as well. 'You just told me, though.'

Uh oh, thought Ginny. He'd better not find out...

'So why would you be avoiding Saint Potter? I thought you had a fan club for him or something.'

'Shut up,' she snapped.

'Ooo, touchy,' he said. Ginny pulled a face of disgust at him. All somewhat positive feelings that she had towards him were wiped away. She folded her arms, glared at him for a moment before continuing, limping slightly on her left foot.

'Not a happy chappie, are you?'

'No, I'm not!' she shouted at him. 'Now would you shut the hell up!'

Draco looked rather taken aback. 'Don't snap at me just because you had a lover's tiff with Potter.'

'I hate you,' she said bitterly.

'No you don't,' he said, 'you can't, as this is the first interaction that we've had that didn't include you defending your boyfriend.'

'Oh please, don't go thinking that I like you or something,' she said, rolling her eyes.

'Well, if you hated me, you wouldn't be walking with me right now, would you? In fact, I think that you want to be my best friend,' he explained.

'Don't flatter yourself.'

'Just admit it Weas, you don't hate me.'

'Oh, I do.'

'Don't.'

'Do.'

'Don't.'

'Shut up.'

'I will if you would just admit it.'

'Fine, you're the best bloody person I've ever met in my life,' she said sarcastically, but she didn't think that Draco picked up on it.

'I knew it.'

'So where are we going?'

'Shut up.'

'Nah...'

'Hey, you don't mind it if I call you Weas, Weas?' he said, but Ginny knew that he would call her that no matter what she'd say.

'Do I have a choice in the matter?' she said, arching an eyebrow.

'No.'

'Didn't think so.'

'Draco?'

'What?' he said, in a rather snappy way.

'I need a rest.'

He turned around angrily. 'I thought you could run and stuff!'

'I can!' she protested. 'It's just that I was running in strappy shoes and now my ankle hurts!'

'Aww, your ankle hurts,' he said in a mock baby voice.

'Your aunt does that, you know,' she said.

'Oh, shut up.'

'No seriously, I need to have a rest before I do some serious damage to my ankle,' she pleaded slightly. 'Have some God damn compassion.'

Draco threw his arms up in frustration. 'Fine. But I'm not very happy with you right now.'

'Suits me fine,' she said rolling her eyes. As if she could care whether he was happy with her or not! Ginny sat down on a log and brought her foot onto knee. She undid her shoe and threw it aside. She touched it tenderly.

'Oh c'mon, it can't be that bad,' Draco said, watching her, sitting down on another log.

'It is,' she said, shooting Draco a dirty look.

'Oh, let me look at it then,' he said impatiently. He got up and knelt before her. Softly, he felt the swelling on her ankle, which made Ginny feel pleasurable uncomfortable. She felt the heat rising in her face, and that she didn't like at all. She certainly didn't want him to see her going red in the face at his tender touch. Not wanting to look at Draco, she stared off into the dark forest.

'Tell me if this hurts,' he said. He gently moved her foot in slow circles and back and forth.

'Yep, a bit,' she said, surprised at how gentle Draco Malfoy could be.

Draco continued feeling her foot, assessing the damage like a professional.

'It looks like you've twisted your ankle, or perhaps a sprain,' he said finally. Ginny nodded.

'You'll have to get it wrapped up, and you can't wear those shoes either,' he said.

'With what?'

'I'll have to use the bottom of my shirt,' he said, rather reluctantly. He grabbed his shirt and ripped it so he had a fair sized strip of material. Carefully, he wrapped it around her ankle and heel.

'Hairclip' he said, holding his hand out to Ginny. It took her a moment to understand why he needed one. She took one out of her now-messy hair and passed it to him. He fastened the material with the clip.

'Thanks,' she said, though she didn't really want to thank him. Not Malfoy.

'Damn right,' he said, sitting back down, 'so now you'd better not complain about it or else...'

'No, I'm not a complainer unlike you,' she said, smirking. Draco glared at her. 'Oh yes, I remember when you were attacked by that hippogriff. You complained for weeks.' She tried to keep down a laugh.

'You and I both know that it was only to annoy your boyfriend,' he said, 'and to get that oaf of a teacher fired.'

Ginny's calm eyes flashed dangerously.

'Look here,' she said warningly, 'I don't want to hear you insulting my friends, ok? And another, don't you go saying that he's my boyfriend! He's not! Stop smiling!'

'I know why you're angry with him,' he said, still smiling. 'You got rejected, didn't you?'

'What?'

'Oh, come off it! Could you be any more obvious? I mean, you're all dressed up tonight, and you never are. You always look like a freckled, poor rangar of a Weasley! And you've never been hateful towards the guy, have you? So I thought to myself, isn't it a coincidence that the one night that you look half decent, and I mean half, you're bitter towards Potter?'

Ginny felt like punching him. How dare presume to know everything about her?

'Shut up, Malfoy, you don't know what you're talking about,' she said venomously.

'Oh, don't I?' he said, feigning surprise. 'He has his eyes on someone else, doesn't he?'

Ginny was silent for too long.

'I knew it!' he said victoriously. 'Who is it?'

Ginny didn't speak. She lowered her eyes to the floor.

'Ah...' he said, realisation dawning on him. 'It's Granger, isn't it?'

Ginny's eyes snapped up to him. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't.

'So that's why you were bitter towards her, as well,' he said. 'Hang on! Isn't the mudblood going out with that brother of yours?'

Ginny opened her mouth.

'What a nice bit of information I have here!' he said. 'Potter cheating with his best friend's girlfriend! Priceless,' he said, and started clapping which irritated Ginny, not to mention drove the knife of pain further into her heart. 'This is sure to break them up forever...'

'Don't you dare!' she shouted. 'Don't you dare tell anyone, or I swear, I'll kill you!'

'Oh, can't I just tell Weasel boy, and that's all?' he said, pretending to beg.

'No!' she said.

This isn't good, not good, not good, she thought desperately in her head. Was there any way to convince him not to tell?

'Grrr!' she exclaimed. 'Why do you have to go from being nice to an arrogant bastard all the time!'

'Because it's what I do best. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell Weasel boy?'

'Because it's not for you to tell!' she shouted, almost rising to her feet in anger. 'I'm going to tell him in my own time, all right!'

'Oh, of course, because it's also your place to tell him, isn't it?' he said sarcastically.

'He's my brother and she was my friend, and I loved him! Of course it's my place to tell!' she shouted, now on her feet.

'Bloody hell, Ginny, get off your foot,' he groaned.

'Don't call me that!' she shouted. 'Only friends and family can call me that, and you're certainly neither!'

'Sit down!' he shouted, now getting as angry as she was. Defeated, Ginny sat down and remained stubbornly silent. 'I won't bloody tell anyone, as long as you do one thing.'

'What?' she spat. She doubted that she would like what he wanted.

'You have to ensure that Slytherin, and not Gryffindor, wins both the house cup and the Quidditch cup this year,' he said.

'How do you suppose I go about that, huh?' she said, scorning his ridiculous proposition. Why the heck would he think that she would do that to her own house?

'You'll have to figure that one out, won't you?'

Ginny looked away in anger, hardly believing what she was hearing. Could she really sabotage her own house like that, and let her enemy house win? Winning the house and Quidditch cup had always meant so much to everyone in her house, including herself.

'Can I trust that you'll keep your end of the bargain?'

'You'd better hope that I do, hey?'

'You'd better hope that you don't tell anyone,' she threatened. 'Or I swear, I will come after you.'

'Do we have a deal, then?'

Ginny thought for a moment. Perhaps her brother's happiness was more important than winning the cups. But then again, Ron always tried so hard at Quidditch, and she knew that he'd be disappointed if Gryffindor didn't win. And how would he react if he found out that it was his sister that was plotting against her own house? That would lead to the reason why she was plotting in the first place: Harry and Hermione. Then, he would find out who was blackmailing her: Draco Malfoy. Ron would know that she had made a deal with Draco. But what if she didn't take Draco's deal? He would tell Ron straight away in the cruellest way that he could think of, and Ginny didn't want that to happen to Ron. Ginny was caught between her loyalty to her family and to her house, and both were a lose/lose situation. But who was to say that Ron would find out about her deal with Draco? Not if she made Draco swear to keep it to himself.

'I really hate you,' she said. Draco smirked.

'So are we agreed, then?'

'On a few conditions. One, you don't tell a soul about Harry and Hermione, even after your house has gotten your precious cups. Second, you don't tell anyone that it's me sabotaging my own house, ok? Third, you don't tell anyone that we made any form of a deal. Do you agree?'

Draco thought for a moment, and nodded. 'Fine. But I have my own conditions, too. One, if I give you a way to sabotage Gryffindor, you do it without any complaints. Two...you don't tell Ron about Harry and Hermione until Slytherin have the two cups.'

'WHAT!'

'You heard me. That way I can assure that I will get the cups.'

Ginny was dumbfounded. She didn't think that this would be part of the deal. She had to lie to Ron for the whole year? She couldn't do it. She thought it was better to go straight to Ron right now and confess to what she saw...but then again, she could never bring herself to do that. Perhaps it would be wise to accept Draco's offer, but a nagging voice in her head was advising her not to. And doing Draco's dirty work? Whatever way she looked at it, Draco had her trapped like a fly in a web.

'Fine.'

Draco smirked and held out his hand. Ginny shook it.

'Now let's get out of here,' she said.

'What about your foot?' he asked, smirking at his victory.

'I'm sure I'll have other things to worry about, now, won't I?' she said.

'What makes you say that?' he drawled. 'I'm going to help you sabotage Gryffindor, all right?'

'That's what's worrying me,' she said.

'What, am I meant to make you blow up your common room or something?' Draco asked. 'C'mon, I can do better than that!'

Ginny raised her eyebrows. 'I'm sure you could. But I can do better.'

'What's this?' said Draco, laughing. 'Ginny Weasley, saying that she could sabotage her own house better than a Slytherin could?'

'You don't know what my brothers are like,' she said sourly.

'And I'm glad that I don't,' he scoffed. Ginny narrowed her eyes at him, which made Draco apologise, though she knew that he wasn't sorry at all.

'So have Potter and the mudblood had sex yet?' he asked. 'Actually, don't answer that.' He shuddered. 'Honestly, I don't know what Potter is playing at, going off with her. Mind you, he's not the best-looking guy out there, is he? So maybe they do deserve each other. But then there's Weasley, and I suppose he isn't any better than Potter.'

'Shut up, Malfoy!' she said defensively. 'Newsflash; you're ugly too! And I, unlike you, don't go for looks alone!'

'Alright, calm down,' he said. 'I never said that you were shallow.'

'I'm not,' she said sourly.

'You know, I'm glad that the Malfoys and Weasleys aren't friends,' he said nastily, 'because if they were, I'd have to put up with you.'

'You have to put up with me for the rest of the year, remember?'

'Correction, it's you that has to put up with me,' he said. 'I'm the one telling you what to do.'

'You don't make it easy for people to like you, do you?'

'Ha! Only people that I find worthy can like me.'

'Well, it's clear that you don't find a lot of people worthy, do you?'

'No, I don't.'

Ginny had nothing to say to this. How could someone be so anti-social and actually enjoy being hated? She honestly thought that he had too much confidence for his own good.

'Now watch your step here,' he said, pointing out a small stream a few metres in front of them. Either way she looked at it, Ginny would have to put a lot of pressure on her damaged foot. She looked at Draco, who groaned.

'Is it possible to do things for yourself?'

'Shut up and help me,' she said.

'Fine.' Reluctantly, Draco put his arm around her waist and she put hers around his neck for support. Ginny wished that she were somewhere away from him. She felt that because she was even with him, that she was betraying everyone else. But really, she wasn't doing anything wrong, was she? Being here, with Draco, was better than risking going back to Seamus's house. She didn't even know which direction it was in, and she was sure that if she went alone that she was bound to meet something nasty in there. Other than Draco, of course.

'Ready?' Ginny nodded. Draco lifted her easily over the stream, which was about five metres wide. He dropped her on the ground gently.

'You're light as a feather,' he commented. 'A lot lighter than Pansy, if I do say so.'

'She's that girl in your year in Slytherin, isn't she?' Ginny asked. A vague image of a girl with a pug nose, shoulder length black hair and a thick fringe came to mind.

'Yep.'

'So how further is this place?' Ginny asked.

'Not far,' he said, peering down the path. 'Why?'

'I'm getting sick of walking,' she said. 'And you,' she added.

'Likewise,' he drawled. They reached a fork in the path, one leading down to the left and the other to the right. The left looked a lot safer, and Ginny could make out footprints leading down that way. Clearly, that was the path most taken by others. The right, however, was much darker and narrow than the other, and Ginny could only see one set of footprints on the ground going that way, which Ginny guessed belonged to Draco when he came there before. So they had a choice; to take the safer, more travelled by path, which was much easier, or the path that none took, which didn't look too safe and the outcome wasn't clear.

'Which way?' Ginny asked.

'What one do you want to take?' he asked, pointing his wand down both paths. 'We can't take both.'

'I know. The left is safer and easier, isn't it?'

'Yes, but everyone goes there,' he said. 'It may even be better to take the right. Safer'

'Why would it be safer than the left?' Ginny asked, puzzled.

'Because everyone takes the left,' Draco reasoned. 'If there was any danger on any of these paths, it would be on the easier one, because the danger would know that people would take the easy way, wouldn't it? If that's true, there wouldn't be any danger on the right path, because no one travels down there.'

Ginny thought about it, and for some reason, it made perfect sense to her. But that still didn't make her feel better about going down the right direction.

'Still, there could be something down there...' she said warily.

'Don't worry, I'm here and I have a wand,' Draco reassured her, but somehow that didn't really make her feel all that better. She still didn't like the idea of being alone with an armed Draco Malfoy.

'Oh gee, that really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it?' she said sarcastically.

'Should do. Now let's stop fannying around and let's go already. '

He started to walk down the path, and Ginny hesitantly followed, really wishing that they were going down the other path. She didn't care what Draco said; she still thought the other one would be safer. Still, she knew that Draco had already taken this path before, and if he encountered anything while he was there he would have told her already.

It was darker than Ginny expected, and roots climbed like spider-webs all over the ground, so they both had to keep an eye to check whether they were about to trip over. She didn't like the idea of keeping her eyes on her feet, because then she wouldn't be able to see what was in front of her. She then resigned to think that if she couldn't see something, then it simply just wasn't there. It was a nice way of thinking.

Surprisingly, having Draco there did make her feel a bit safer, but not as safe as she would have liked to be. She knew from Ron, Harry and Hermione that Draco was quite skilled in duelling, but she didn't know whether or not his talent would be enough to defend themselves from any predator that they might meet. Of course, Ginny would never admit to Draco that she felt quite safe around him.

His head would probably swell to the size of a hot air balloon if I told him that, Ginny thought, sniggering slightly at the thought, which made Draco turn around and stare at her curiously.

'Now what's funny?' asked a very irritated.

'Nothing,' she replied, trying not to laugh as the image of Draco Malfoy with a bloated head floating around passed through her mind.

'Something is funny, and I want to know,' said a stubborn Draco. Ginny shook her head.

'Nothing you'd find funny.'

'And what's that supposed to mean?' challenged Draco.

Ginny looked at him in surprise. 'Well, you aren't exactly the most cheerful person on the block, are you?'

'Just because I don't laugh doesn't mean I don't find it funny,' retorted Draco icily.

'Well, there's no reason to snap at me,' she said, defending herself.

'Then don't act as if you can say anything about anyone with consequences,' he snapped angrily.

'Oh, that's a bit rich coming from you!' she flared at him, now stopping. He stopped too and turned to her.

'And this is coming from the girl that is lying to her brother and going against her own house?'

'Don't you dare think that I made that deal because I wanted to!' she said savagely.

'Then why did you do it!'

'I had no choice!'

'Then stop feeling so darn sorry for yourself! So Potter didn't want you - big deal! Don't use the bloody deal as a cover-up for your pathetic problems!'

Ginny and Draco stared at each other, an intense rage flickering in their eyes. There wasn't a sound, none except for the wind blowing the branches above their heads. Ginny couldn't believe that not so long ago she didn't hate Draco. Now, she would love nothing better than to spit in his sneering face. Only he wasn't sneering. His expression mirrored hers. Ginny knew that Draco wasn't saying anything because he was waiting for her to say something. She finally broke the impending silence.

'Pathetic problems?' she said quietly but angrily. She shook her head at him in pure disgust. 'Go to hell, Malfoy.' She walked away slowly. He passed her, keeping a fair distance between the two.

Ginny regretted leaving the party in the first place. Perhaps she was better not knowing about Harry and Hermione. Then she wouldn't be stuck with Draco Malfoy, of all people. Maybe she should have risked going back to the party alone. Now that she thought about it, she now knew that she had made the wrong decision.

As Ginny walked, she tried to take her mind off the night's events. She forced herself to think about the first term of Hogwarts, where she would be back with all her friends again. There would be classes to attend, and homework, oh the homework! It was to be the year that she would be taking NEWT classes, and with all the workload, she was sure to be busy all year. This satisfied Ginny, as her mind would be dedicated to her schoolwork, and so she wouldn't have to think about Harry, Hermione, Ron or Draco.

Perhaps it is the fault of Harry and Hermione that this is all happening, thought Ginny bitterly.

Ginny shook of the thought. She really couldn't blame them for her problems. As much as she hated what they were doing, it wasn't fair to say that. With a pang in her stomach, Ginny realised that she must have been out in the forest for at least two hours. Were the others looking for her? Perhaps it was better to go back to the clearing, and wait for them there. But she had come too far now, and who knows for how long she would have to wait? Although she wasn't too keen on admitting it, but she'd rather be with Draco than go back and wait all alone in the wilderness.

She wiped off the blood from a small nick from her leg, which was caused by all...the...damn...branches...everywhere. Ginny, who had a sore foot, cuts all over her and was bloody cold, came to the conclusion that she just wasn't a nature person at all. How anybody could camp for days on end in the bush, Ginny never knew. She had gone camping with her family when she was nine, and that had entailed Fred and George finding it funny to put a real-but-fake snake in her tent, which had made Ginny run into a tree, from which she chipped a tooth. Fred and George still found it hilarious. Ginny had slightly differing views to them about the matter.

Another bad experience with nature came when Ginny was on a bush walk near her home with an old childhood friend. They had been enjoying themselves until her dreaded next-door-neighbour and his just as horrible sister had decided to levitate the both of them high above the trees, and then they had started to throw honkynuts at them whilst they were suspended in the air. She guessed that that was when her fear of heights had stemmed from.

Strangely enough, even though she couldn't stand being out in the bosom of nature and she was absolutely terrified of heights, she still enjoyed Quidditch. In fact, she loved it so much that she was really quite ready to compose a soppy love song and dedicate it to the game. She really couldn't understand why some people didn't like Quidditch, like Hermione for example...Ginny cringed. The thought of Hermione brought back the pain of her discovery.

'We're here,' said Draco sullenly, bringing Ginny back from her thoughts. 'Now you know why I'm here.'

'I can't see anything, it's too dark,' said Ginny, squinting into the darkness.

'Well, right now you're actually looking at tree trunk,' said Draco. 'Perhaps that's why you can't see anything.'

'Oh.'

'It's in the clearing over there, just through the group of branches,' said Draco, pointing to the right of Ginny. 'Let's go.'

Draco walked through the cluster of branches first. Ginny followed. She expected Draco to be a gentleman and hold the branches so they didn't fling back at her face, but he didn't. Ginny decided that it was best not to say anything. She had already pissed him off, and a pissed off Draco Malfoy always made bad company. Still, there was no excuse for being a git.

The first thing that Ginny saw was an old-looking derailed train. 'What the?' she breathed. 'What happened here?'

'People were trying to smuggle things in to Ireland, black market.'

Ginny eyed Draco curiously. 'Are they...are there...drugs in there?'

Draco laughed haughtily. 'No, I don't do that stuff that Muggles do. It's from a black market trading group in Estonia. A wizard group. Muggle free.'

Ginny ignored his slightly discriminating comment. At first, she thought that pressing his buttons would be fun. But it wasn't at all, as he was the only company that she had at the moment. Unless she counted the amount of critters that were in the forest, among many other things that quite frankly, were so wild that they probably didn't have a name yet.

'How did...the train get derailed?' Ginny asked cautiously. 'No one was hurt, were they?'

Draco shook his head. 'Not that I know of, but how it happened isn't important. What's important is what is inside that train.'

Ginny raised her eyebrows questioningly. She wondered what could possibly interest him so much. What was in that train?

'So are you going to tell me what's in there or not?' she asked.

'C'mon, I'll show you,' he said, and grabbed Ginny's hand, which for some reason made her stomach do flip-flops. God knows why though. Ginny thought that she should be repulsed by his touch, but she wasn't.

Maybe the cold has shut down my disgusted-and-hate scale, thought Ginny. Maybe that's why I'm actually starting to like the git. No matter how much Draco royally pissed her off, she couldn't help but liking him. Damn. Him. To. Hell.

Of course, she would never tell Draco in a million years that she actually didn't mind him. And she certainly wouldn't tell any of the others, either. She could just imagine the look of horror on Ron's face if he ever found out that his little sister was buddy-buddy with Draco Malfoy...

He pulled Ginny to the train and slid open the luggage compartment.

'Take a look and feast your Weasel eyes on this,' he said, pointing his alit wand to the inside of the train. Ginny gasped. Stacked in piles in the compartment were boxes upon boxes of Quidditch supplies. There were large plastic bags that had expensive-looking Quidditch robes, boxes of Quidditch books, collector's items, signed photos of teams, and in the corner Ginny a box labelled...

' "Element", the latest and best broom out there,' said Draco, following Ginny's eyes to where they rested.

'Wow,' breathed Ginny, walking towards the box.

'Don't open them yet,' said Draco, also walking towards them. 'I have to check that no one is coming here. That's what I've been doing every odd night: coming here to see if anyone checks to see if they'll still here.'

'Oh,' said Ginny, turning away to look at the robes, 'and just what are you going to do with all this stuff?'

Draco shrugged. 'I haven't really thought about that yet. Sell some of them, donate them to the Slytherin team...all of them sounds really plausible. Of course, I can just keep them for myself.'

Ginny's stomach sank. If the Slytherin team was armed with Elements, there was no way in hell that Gryffindor, or any team for that matter, stood a chance of winning the Quidditch cup. But then, Ginny remembered that she had to make sure that Slytherin won anyway. Ginny wondered if it was all part of Draco's plan.

'Did you do this deliberately?'

'What do you mean, said Draco, who appeared to be completely lost.

'I mean,' began Ginny, 'did you make that deal with me, knowing that you'd win the Quidditch Cup anyway?'

Draco shook his head. 'No, I didn't.'

Ginny didn't believe him, but she didn't think that it was worth questioning him anyway. What did it matter? She had no choice but to let Slytherin win, with or without this stupid deal of theirs.

Draco clapped his hands together. 'Alright, so now we know why we were each here tonight.'

'And here I was, thinking that you were getting rid of a dead body or something like that,' said Ginny in mock disappointment. Draco laughed.

'Nah, I usually don't do that on Fridays,' he said, grinning. Ginny didn't know whether to take him seriously or not.

'So where to now?' Ginny asked. It was getting very cold and Ginny was tired of walking.

'Find somewhere to make camp,' Draco said.

'You aren't serious!' Ginny exclaimed. 'I have to sleep out in the forest tonight?'

Draco nodded and shrugged. 'Well, you could try to walk back, but I doubt you'd make it before daybreak. That's if you make it out or not.'

'So I actually have to sleep on the cold and hard forest floor with all the bugs!' exclaimed Ginny. Draco looked amused at her distaste for sleeping out in the wild. Ginny, however wasn't happy. Surely they couldn't get back quickly? She knew that she couldn't go without him. How would she know the way back, especially if it was pitch black? Perhaps sleeping out was better than risking it. Then again, maybe not.

'Oh, it won't be that bad,' said Draco, rolling his eyes at her complaining. 'We'll find a nice patch of grass for you, shall we?'

Ginny hit him on the arm. 'You'd better be doing that,' she said.

Silence.

'Well, there's no point in hanging around here, is there? I have sleep to attend to,' said Draco. They walked out of the train. Draco closed the compartment door behind them.

'You know,' said Ginny, turning to Draco, 'we'd be better off sleeping in there. I'm sure there's a compartment on the train with chairs or something.'

'Nope,' he said, 'I've checked. It's all empty except for that one.'

'Then we should go in there, then. At least they'd be no creepy crawlies.'

'Oh, I'm sure you can survive one night. The bugs won't kill you,' said Draco exasperatingly.

'They might,' said Ginny stubbornly.

'Nah, it's the wolves that you have to watch out for,' Draco said. Ginny paled and stopped. Wolves? There was no way she was sleeping in a forest with wolves!

'Oh relax, I'm joking!' said Draco laughing. 'You should see the look on your face, though.'

'Oh yes, really funny,' Ginny said. 'Not.'

'Here will do, right next to the train,' said Draco. He sat down on the ground, leaning back on his hands. Ginny hesitantly joined him, scanning the ground first.

'Looking for anything nasty?' asked Draco. 'Found anything?'

Ginny kept her eyes on the ground, still searching. 'Anything nasty? Apart from you, no.'

'Oh, so funny,' said Draco sarcastically.

'I'm almost as funny as you are,' replied Ginny, sitting down. She didn't find anything, but she still wasn't happy about the sleeping arrangements.

'Ginny!' said Draco suddenly, which made her jump.

'What?'

'You have a blood nose,' he said, pointing to her nose.

'I do?' said Ginny. She touched under her nose. She looked at the blood on her fingers. 'Oh, I do...'

She pinched the bridge of her nose to stop the blood flow.

'Have you got a tissue?' Ginny asked thickly.

'Do you honestly think that I would keep tissues with me?'

Ginny shot him a dirty look, but Draco put his hand in his pocket and brought out a handkerchief.

'I don't like tissues,' Draco muttered as he handed her it.

'Thanks,' she said, wiping the blood away. 'I have no idea how I got the blood nose, though.'

'It could be because of the cold which may have caused a sensitive blood cell to rupture,' suggested Draco, 'or you have high blood pressure from the running that we did earlier.'

Ginny looked at him in surprise. He certainly did know a thing or two. Ginny didn't know which of his suggestions made her get a blood nose. She didn't really care, either.

'What do you think the time is right now?' Ginny asked.

'It must be about one or two in the morning,' said Draco. 'I bet everyone is worried about you.'

Ginny knew for sure that the others would be really worried about her. Well, at least not Harry and Hermione. They'd probably think that it's a blessing. One less person standing in their way. Ginny didn't say anything.

'Ginny?'

'Hmm?'

'What are you worried about?'

Ginny sighed. She sincerely doubted that he would actually care. 'Ron,' she said. 'I really don't think you understand how cut he'd feel if he ever found out about Harry and Hermione.'

'No, I suppose I don't,' sighed Draco. 'I personally wouldn't even be going out with Granger in the first place, but that's just me. Why would he care so much?'

Ginny didn't know how to go about talking about the complexity of relationships with Draco Malfoy. She thought she'd just tell it to him straight.'

'He loves her, Draco,' she said quietly. Draco looked at her in bewilderment.

'Since when?' asked Draco, looking very interested.

'Since he was in his fourth year,' said Ginny. 'She's the world to him. And so is Harry. To find out that the two people that he loves the most have betrayed him...I don't know what he'll do.' Tears were welling up in Ginny's eyes. She was glad that it was dark; she didn't want Draco to see her crying.

'You're crying, aren't you?'

Ginny sniffed. 'Yeah, I'm sorry to get all mushy on you. I usually hate mushy.'

'So do I,' said Draco, thinking about it. 'I don't see how I could ever get married.'

'Why?'

'Because of declaring the whole undying love thing, especially in front of everyone,' he said.

'I see what you mean,' she said. 'Like some of my friend's boyfriends always say, "I love you", and reading them poetry. Give me a bucket!'

She put her finger in her mouth, as if she was about to throw up. It was true. Elizabeth, her friend, had to endure her boyfriend playing some soppy love song to her on the guitar. Her friend liked it, but Ginny thought that if her boyfriend ever did that to her, she'd probably never talk to him again. Talking about feelings and the like always made Ginny feel all squeamish, and she hated feeling squeamish.

'Well, you won't ever catch me doing that! I can't stand romance. Sure, if a girl is beautiful, I'll tell her. But that's as far as it goes. So I guess that's my way of telling someone that I love them...can we please get off this subject? It's making me feel sick,' said Draco, crinkling up his nose in disgust.

'Alright, we'll stop now,' said Ginny, laughing. It was her turn to watch Draco get squeamish. There was a silence that was slightly uncomfortable. Draco sighed.

'Well, I'm going to go to sleep now,' said Draco. He turned on his side away from her. 'Goodnight.'

''Night.'

After a few minutes, Draco's breathing became deep as he fell asleep. Ginny laid there, thinking about the night's events. Harry and Hermione were lovers. She was sabotaging Gryffindor. Draco was her friend. Could it possibly get any weirder than that? Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ginny finally fell asleep, listening to the crickets chirping in a symphony and the secretive stars twinkling above her.

The sun filtered through Ginny's eyelids as she slowly began to wake up. She was shocked to feel the moist earth under her body instead of her bed. Slowly, she began to remember last night's events. She then remembered why she wasn't all rugged up comfortably in her own home.

She came to consciousness, but she didn't open her eyes just yet. She could feel another pair of eyes watching her, and she didn't like it that someone was watching her in the middle of the forest when the person was presuming that she was asleep. Then she remembered something else...of course, Draco Malfoy.

She snapped her eyes open, and she saw Draco Malfoy, who was sitting a few feet away from her, jump slightly at her sudden movement. Well, that's what you get when you stare at people.

'I see you're awake,' said Ginny, grinning. Draco nodded.

'Only just a few minutes ago,' he said. Ginny rose until she was sitting.

'So how long have you been watching me for?' Ginny asked with a sly grin on her face.

Draco turned away, embarrassed. 'You know, it's rather rude to pretend you're asleep like that when clearly you know that I was waiting for you to wake up.'

'Well, why didn't you just wake me up?'

'I didn't want to,' he explained, 'you looked kinda peaceful.'

'Well, I must say, that's very un-Draco like,' Ginny said. 'I can't believe that you passed up the opportunity to wake someone up who looked peaceful.'

'I knew that if I woke you up you'd be irritable and grumpy,' he said with a smug smile on his face. Ginny laughed slightly.

'Any idea of what the time is?' asked Ginny groggily as she yawned.

'It's probably just after six,' said Draco, looking at the sky. 'We should probably leave now.'

'You're right,' said Ginny. 'It's cold and I'm dying for a hot drink.'

'It is rather cold, isn't it?' said Draco, getting up. Ginny got up as well. Her ankle only hurt a little bit now, but she still had a limp that she had no power over.

' "Rather cold"?' Ginny said to Draco as if he was mad, 'it's a little more than that. It took me ages to get to sleep.'

'I know,' said Draco.

'How do you know? You fell asleep long before I did,' asked Ginny curiously. Was Draco listening to know when she fell asleep?

'How do you know that I fell asleep before you?' said Draco. Ginny fell silent at this.

They walked out of the clearing with the train and back onto the narrow path. Now that it was much lighter, Ginny saw that the forest wasn't so bad after all. Draco seemed to read her mind.

'Not so bad during the day, is it?'

'It's ok,' she said simply. But it was a little more than that. The sun was filtering through the canopy of trees above them, sending out rays of light. The leaves were a beautiful green, and they fell from the branches at odd intervals. Vines climbed some of the tree trunks, and the trees were thick, but weren't that high. The forest was beautiful.

Ginny was disappointed that they reached the other clearing in no time. Conversation with Draco was light and sparse, as they were both incredibly tired, but the silence between the two bothered neither of them.

They continued into the forest for a while, the sky turning from a pinky-blue to blue with splashes of yellow. The trees were thinning, and finally, they reached the first clearing where they had met.

'Well,' said Draco, turning to Ginny, 'this is where I leave now. Do you know the way back from here?'

Ginny nodded and turned behind her. 'I think I can work it out. Thanks.'

'Well, I guess I'll see you at school, then,' said Draco, drawling slightly.

'I'm sure you will,' said Ginny. 'Bye.'

'Bye Weaselette,' Draco said. Ginny smiled.

They turned and went in opposite directions.

Ginny didn't know how she got back, but she did. When she walked into Seamus's house, she saw Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred and George, Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati in the front room, all asleep on the floor and couches. She noted that Harry and Hermione were on opposite ends of the room, and Ron and Hermione were sleeping side by side on the floor together, with Ron's arm over Hermione. Hermione's eyes flung open the minute Ginny walked in.

'Where have you been?' she said hoarsely, trying not to wake everyone. 'We've all been so worried; where did you get to? Why are there cuts on you?'

'I spent the night in the forest,' Ginny said, if not a bit coldly. 'So if you don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep now.' She grabbed a blanket and pillow from the pile that was on the coffee table and took a vacant couch, facing away from everyone.

Ginny heard Hermione sigh impatiently. After a few minutes, Hermione fell back to sleep, and so did Ginny.