Junior Death Eaters

Ginny stopped to catch her breath, the sound of the air sucking raggedly into her lungs echoing oddly off the damp stone walls.

She'd discovered a new hobby during her fifth year. Exploring the secret tunnels of Hogwarts. She felt that Harry's map, while useful, was the equivalent of cheating. Therefore she explored every inch of the castle, finding every secret tunnel and passageway she could.

As she had classes, her exploring was confined mainly to the weekends and late at night. Checking her watch in the dim light from her wand revealed that it was a quarter to midnight.

This particular one was, she thought, somewhere in the dungeons. The tunnel itself was only about six feet high and four feet across, making her feel slightly claustrophobic.

Ginny continued on her way, looking sharply around for any sign of a hidden exit. Soon enough, she saw a slight discrepancy in the way the stones were laid, and felt around until she found a hidden button. Pressing it caused a roughly rectangular section of the wall to slide back and to the left, giving her a tempting glance into another secret passageway.

She looked around, memorizing unique things about this particular stretch of tunnel so that she could find it again. A bit of moss shaped as a diamond, and a stone in the middle of the opposite wall a much duller black than the ones around it served her purpose, and she slipped into the opening she'd just uncovered.

After a few steps, she tripped on a bit of rock, hit her head against the stone wall, and knew no more.

*

"Has anyone seen Ginny?" Hermione asked worriedly, sliding into her seat beside Ron at the Gryffindor table.

Harry, who was occupied wolfing down a large plate of eggs, shrugged in response.

"She's probably off somewhere with Dean," Ron said darkly.

"Dean's dating Parvati Patil," Seamus piped up from further along the table. "They're off in the Astronomy Tower, so Ginny's not there." He appeared to think about this for a moment. "And if she is, Dean is a sick, sick bastard."

"Why?" Ron asked, surveying Hermione with apprehension and ignoring Seamus's comment. "What's the matter."

"I needed to ask her a question this morning," Hermione said. "None of her dorm mates had seen her."

Ron was starting to look worried. "Where do you think she is?"

"I don't think she's in trouble," Hermione said reassuringly, laying a hand on Ron's arm. "Ginny can take care of herself."

*

Ginny drifted in and out of consciousness.

Images floated through her mind. Some happy, some sad, some frankly terrifying.

She experienced a strange floating sensation, as if she were flying on her back. Slowly. And her broom was jolting oddly, for that matter.

An image swept across her mind's eye, herself in first year. Tom Riddle. She'd bordered on unconsciousness many times during that year. Tom's face, set in a malicious sneer, came to her, and she winced and moaned.

That image floated away, to be replaced by one herself dancing with Neville during the Yule Ball. She could almost hear the music that was playing.

Michael, standing by the punch bowl as his date danced with a boy from Beaubaxtons. A vague memory of her nervousness in talking to him caused her stomach to clench a bit.

Watching Harry break the surface of the lake, Ron's limp body clutched in one arm and that of Fleur Delacour's little sister in the other. Watching Ron wake up, seeing his face as he realized why Hermione was there.

Her broom, or whatever it was, gave an unusually large jolt, then she stopped moving. Now she was sinking, sinking forever downward into a sea of silver and blue - or was it green? - smooth as silk and soft as phoenix feathers.

A sharp burst of pain exploded in her ankle, reminding her of when she'd broken it in the Department of Mysteries. Lucius Malfoy's face, set in a predatory look as Bellatrix Lestrange's words echoed in her mind.

Very well - take the smallest one. Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it.

Ginny stirred fretfully, feeling frightened and defiant all over again.

"Shush," an oddly familiar, deep voice said in a soothing tone. That tone was wrong, somehow, and didn't go at all with that voice. "It's alright," the voice continued. "I've got you now."

*

"I haven't seen her in twelve hours," Hermione said worriedly to Professor McGonagall.

McGonagall looked oddly as if she was debating internally with herself. "I can tell you that she is fine."

"You know where she is?" Ron said in astonishment.

"Yes," McGonagall said. "But Dumbledore has expressly said we are to leave her there."

"What?" Harry, Ron and Hermione said at the same time.

"I don't know what's going on," McGonagall sighed. "But Dumbledore's hunches are usually right."

"Is it just me," Ron said in a low voice as they left McGonagall's office, "or was McGonagall acting shifty?"

"It wasn't just you," Harry said grimly. "She's not telling us something. And whatever it is she's keeping from us is important."

Hermione let out an angry sigh. "Haven't they learned by now that they can trust us?"

"Apparently they think we're still children," Ron said indignantly.

Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.

*

Ginny awoke abruptly, having no idea of how long she'd been asleep. She was too bone-weary to open her eyes, much less get up.

She wasn't in the hospital wing, that much was for sure. She'd been there before, and the sheets were certainly not silk. The beds weren't as soft as this one was, to be sure.

She stirred a bit and opened her eyes, only to be met with the most astonishing sight of her life. And that was a life that included watching Tom Riddle emerge from a diary, seeing a bell jar full of time, and observing her brother getting attacked by brains.

Draco Malfoy was lying on a green couch beside her bed, a copy of Hogwarts: A History open on his chest, fast asleep.

Draco Malfoy?

Where on earth was she? What had happened in that tunnel? And why was Malfoy here?

Those were very important questions, but didn't look like they'd be answered anytime soon. Malfoy was still asleep.

Ginny took the opportunity to observe him. The way the dim light coming from a candelabra played across his cheekbones and aristocratic nose, and the way his brow furrowed slightly in his sleep, as if his dreams weren't pleasant.

A few locks of too-blonde-to-be-allowed hair were falling across his face, making her fingers itch to brush them aside. His lips were parted slightly, his deep breathing drawing her attention to his leanly muscled torso.

He had one arm pillowing his head and the other around his book, looking like an angel in his slumber.

A fallen angel, she thought wryly.

Suddenly, he stirred and opened his eyes. He looked around blearily for a moment before catching sight of her looking wide-eyed at him.

"You're awake," he said in surprise, stifling a yawn.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"This is my room," Malfoy replied in an infuriatingly calm voice. She realized that it must have been his voice talking to her before she'd slipped into complete unconsciousness, and marveled inwardly that such a comforting tone could come from someone so twisted.

"Well then, what am I doing here?" Ginny shot back.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Typical Weasley. I save your life, and this is the thanks I get?"

"Answer the question, Malfoy," she said warningly.

"I told you, I saved your life," Malfoy replied. "Found you lying in a tunnel, mumbling under your breath about Tom Riddle."

"And, instead of taking me to Madame Pomfrey, as any sane person would have done, you brought me here?" Ginny asked skeptically.

"I didn't think you'd want her hearing all your deep, dark secrets," Malfoy replied amusedly. "I especially enjoyed the bits about Granger and your brother," he added thoughtfully, smirking at her.

"What did you hear?" she demanded, cold fear coursing through her. The son of a Death Eater could have found out the entire list of members in the Order, for all she knew.

"Just some rubbish about that diary, a small monologue on the subject of Potter's eyes, a strange occurrence involving my father and dear Aunt Bellatrix, and something about Luna Lovegood and a room with floating planets," Malfoy said, ticking them off on his fingers.

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, and that interesting piece about Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place being the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix," Malfoy added nonchalantly.

She gasped. "Oh, bugger."

He surveyed her in amusement. "I'm not going to tell anyone, Weasley."

"You're not?" Ginny said doubtfully.

Malfoy pushed himself off the couch, setting off a play of muscles in his shoulders and abdomen. Ginny struggled for a moment not to look.

"Of course not," Malfoy said.

"But...your father," Ginny said in confusion. "And You-Know-Who...and the Death Eaters...."

Malfoy walked over to his trunk as she spoke her rather incoherent piece, and when she was finished he looked up at her with raised eyebrows.

"Like I'd ever join the Death Eaters," he said with no small amount of dry humor. "As much as I'd like to see the wizarding world reclaimed by the purebloods, the muggles have so thoroughly integrated themselves that no one can get them out now."

Ginny merely gaped at him.

"And besides," Malfoy continued with barely a pause, now rummaging through his trunk, "even if I thought their cause stood a chance, every one of them is completely incompetent. Hey, I know, let's stick a whacking great tattoo on our arm so everyone can tell immediately if we're servants of the Dark Lord! It's so inconspicuous!"

Ginny grinned. "Okay, you have a point there."

"I wasn't meant to be a minion of evil," Malfoy added. "If there is going to be power acquired, I will be taking the biggest piece, thank you. None of this subservient stuff. I'm surprised my father thought it was a good idea, but then again his mother's side of the family is a bit touched."

Ginny cocked an eyebrow. "Well, who would have thought?" she said sarcastically. "The ferret-faced junior Death Eater has a brain after all."

"Aha!" Malfoy said triumphantly, ignoring her snarky comment as he pulled a silver and green tie out of his trunk. "I've been looking for this." He threw it across the bed, which was when Ginny realized something.

"Where are the other Slytherins?" she asked in surprise.

"In the Slytherin dormitories," Malfoy replied, still rummaging through his trunk.

"This isn't a dormitory?" Ginny said, slightly confused.

"Nope, it's a secret room," Malfoy said. "By way of a loose brick that pulls out and trips the switch."

"I knew it!" Ginny said triumphantly. "I knew that black brick wasn't there by accident."

"You've been making quite a custom of running around the passageways," Malfoy observed.

"How do you know?" Ginny challenged.

"Because you keep leaving traces behind," Malfoy said. He looked up from his trunk to give her a superior look. "One of your hairs caught in a brick in that sliding door, and that's how I found you."

Ginny's stomach turned cold. One hair. That's all that had stood between her and almost certain death.

"I would have found you anyway," Malfoy said, seeing the look on her face. He got up, walked over to the bed, sat down facing her, and curling a leg under him. "Don't worry."

"Thank you," Ginny said fervently. "You saved my life."

"No problem," Malfoy said with a smirk. That smirk made him look slightly dangerous, and he constantly gave off an air of wild recklessness.

"You think you're such a bad boy," Ginny said in a slightly scathing tone.

"I pride myself on it," Malfoy agreed. "I'm the kind of guy parents don't let their girls date, for fear I'll ravish the poor innocent things."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That's not a bad boy," she scoffed. "A bad boy is someone parents don't let their girls date because they know he won't have to ravish them."

Malfoy looked thoughtful. "I do believe you have a point there." Then he started to stare at her with heat in his eyes. "So, what do you think?" he inquired huskily. "I call it the Smoldering Gaze. Feeling a sudden urge to jump into my bed?"

"Malfoy," Ginny said in an even tone, despite the fact that her bones had just turned the consistency of marmalade. "I already am in your bed."

"But you're not weak in the knees," Malfoy pouted, throwing himself backwards dramatically. That's what you think, Ginny thought dryly.

"That's no fun. I tried it on Pansy last night in the common room and she went into lust-induced hysterics."

Ginny laughed. She couldn't help it. Malfoy instantly perked up, and smirked at her again.

"Oh, look, I've made you laugh," he said. "I'm halfway there!"

Ginny gave him a suspicious look. "Are you trying to seduce me, Malfoy?"

"Maybe," he said, grinning unrepentantly at her. "Is it working?"

She wouldn't have been human had she not reacted to that smile. Under his gaze, she reflected that it just might be working.

*

"Please, can't you tell us where she is?" Ron pleaded. "She's been gone for a day and a half."

"No, Mr. Weasley, I cannot," McGonagall said sternly. At his crestfallen look, her face softened. "She's fine," McGonagall assured them.

"She's missing classes," Hermione put in.

"And Quidditch practice," Harry added.

"For the last time, I cannot tell you where she is," McGonagall said. "Dumbledore's orders. But she's doing just fine."

*

A few hours after Malfoy found his tie, he said something about the library and left the room.

Alright, Ginny, she told herself firmly. Get up now.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and stopped for a moment to let the dizzy spell subside. She stood up, and took a few halting steps before she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

*

"Sod it, Weasley," she heard Malfoy say. "What did you do now?"

Strong arms wrapped around her back and knees, picking her off the ground as if she weighed nothing.

"Tried to leave, did you?" he said fondly, apparently not realizing she was awake. "Typical stubborn Gryffindor behavior. My little slip of a girl, why must you be so idiotic?"

"I misjudged my strength," she said calmly, opening her eyes to look up at him.

Malfoy, damn him, looked entirely nonplussed to find that she was conscious. "Yes, well, you did hit your head rather hard."

"If it had only been my head, wouldn't I be able to walk again by now?" Ginny asked rather desperately as Malfoy deposited her on the bed once more.

"You never know with Hogwarts," Malfoy said. "Who knows what was on the ground in that tunnel?"

"Are you Slytherins known to sprinkle slow-acting poisons on the floors of your secret passageways?" Ginny asked amusedly.

"Only the most trafficked ones," Malfoy replied with a straight face. When she laughed, he continued, "Or maybe it was all a master plot by myself to get you weak and in my bed."

"I wouldn't put it past you," Ginny grumbled. "Wouldn't be the first time lust has driven men to do insane things around me."

"And you're modest, too," Malfoy said.

"I'm just full of surprises," Ginny teased.

And then she fainted.

*

"Bugger," she groaned, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Headache?" inquired an unfamiliar voice. Ginny opened her eyes to see a thin, good looking young man standing in front of her.

"Not more junior Death Eaters!" she groaned, accepting the small vial of headache potion he handed her. "Who are you?"

"Theodore Nott," he said. "Call me Theo."

"I'm Ginny - "

"Weasley," he finished. "I know. Malfoy has put me on watch while he's at the library."

She nodded.

"You two aren't doing inappropriate things in there, are you?" a female voice called from outside the door.

"Yes we are," Theo called. "Come back in ten minutes."

"Funny, Theo," the voice said. Then the door opened and a pretty girl walked in, carrying what looked like Ginny's book bag. "Tracey Davis," she introduced herself. "I've got your school things."

"Thanks," Ginny said.

"I've also got some other things to give you, although Malfoy will kill me for rotting your brain," Tracey said with a malicious smile. She held out two paperback novels. "They're my favorite books."

Ginny took them from her with a thank-you, and examined the cover. Shipmates, read the cover of one, and had a picture of a dashing pirate with a buxom woman tied to the mast. Against All Odds, read the other one, and had a picture of a redheaded woman and a blonde man on the cover.

Ginny did a double take. Both the pirate and the blonde man looked astonishingly like Malfoy.

Tracey and Theo burst into laughter.

"I bet you didn't know what Malfoy's summer job is," Tracey crowed.

Ginny looked closer. The blonde pirate winked at her. It was Malfoy. "Malfoy's a model?"

"Part-time," Theo clarified. "He has to sneak around his father, and can't do it often enough for a full-time modeling job."

Ginny examined the cover of Shipmates. "Malfoy looks hot in tights," she said approvingly.

Slytherins were weird.

*

"Come on," Pansy said, striding into the room. "Bath time."

"You're joking," Ginny said, eyeing the girl in apprehension. "I can't even walk."

"That's why we're here," Tracey said. "We're taking you to the girls' dormitories, and we're going to help. Can't have you smelling up Malfoy's sheets, after all. Speaking of which...Oi! Malfoy!"

Malfoy came in. "Yes?"

"Carry Weasley for us."

"As you wish," Malfoy said, scooping Ginny into his arms.

Ginny laid her head on his shoulder. "You smell good." She couldn't help it. It just slipped out.

"Why, thank you," Malfoy said in amusement, as he carried her up the stairs to the Slytherin girls' dormitories.

"You junior Death Eaters are taking advantage of my weakened state," Ginny mumbled.

"If we didn't, we just wouldn't be Slytherins," Tracey chirped happily.

"Thank you, you're wonderful, now get out," Pansy said, shooing Malfoy from the room when he'd sat Ginny on one of the beds.

*

"Alright, up you go," Blaise Zabini said, tucking a lock black hair behind his ear for what had to be the hundredth time.

"I'm going to pass out again," Ginny said grimly.

"We'll catch you if you do," Malfoy assured her.

He was holding one of her arms, and Blaise had the other. They were trying to help her walk, but were having no success. She kept getting dizzy and having to sit down. Malfoy had had to catch her more than once.

"Here it goes," Ginny said, rising from the bed and willing herself to stay upright.

It didn't work.

She fainted again.

She had told them so.

*

"Why, oh why didn't I think of it before," Hermione groaned. "Harry," she said, "where's your map?"

"Of course!" Harry and Ron chorused. Harry ran up to the dormitories and came back down with the map in his hand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry said, pressing his wand to the parchment. Lines and dots appeared on the page, and they scoured the pages until they found Ginny's dot in one of the hidden rooms.

"I wonder what she's doing there," Hermione said. Then she gasped. "Oh, goodness gracious, we should have known."

They looked at the other dot in the room, and exchanged grim looks as they saw the name written above it.

"Well, are we going or what?" Ron said.

*

Ginny awoke from her faint, hearing the distinct noises of someone moving around. She looked towards the sound, and the sight that met her eyes made her sigh and lean back against the pillows.

"I really should be used to unexpected Slytherins by now," she commented.

"Disappointed?" the slightly Italian accented voice of Blaise Zabini questioned wryly.

"Where's Malfoy?" Ginny asked.

Blaise pushed a lock of ink-black hair out of his equally dark eyes. "In the library."

"He spends a lot of time in there," Ginny said.

"He has to," Blaise said. "He's the top student in our year."

"I thought Hermione was the top student," Ginny said in surprise.

"No, his average beats hers by approximately one and a half points," Blaise said. "He's very proud of those one and half points, too."

"Of course he is," Ginny said, settling back into her pillows. "He's Malfoy."

"What makes you an expert on Malfoy?" Blaise inquired, opening the lid of Draco's trunk.

"I'm observant," Ginny said. "What are you doing, Blaise?"

"If you were so observant," Blaise quipped, "you'd realize that I was going through Draco's things."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"I'm a Slytherin," Blaise said with a shrug. "It's what I do."

"Well, being a Gryffindor, and therefore honorable, I wouldn't know," Ginny said in a superior tone.

"Oh, naughty Draco," Blaise said wryly, his black shock of hair only just visible above the lid of Malfoy's trunk.

"What is it?" Ginny asked a bit too interestedly, sitting up and peering over at him.

"What happened to being honorable?" Blaise queried.

"You Slytherins are contagious," Ginny said offhandedly. "What did you find?"

"Nothing," Blaise said with a smirk. "I just wanted to see your reaction."

Ginny sighed and plopped back down on her pillows. "That was sneaky."

Footsteps in the tunnel attracted their attention.

"That's more than one person," Ginny said, pulling her coverlet up to her chin. "What'd Malfoy do, invite the entire house?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Blaise said, hastily shutting the trunk and sitting on it in a casual manner, as if he'd not just been riffling through the contents moments earlier.

To their mutual intense surprise, Harry, Ron and Hermione burst through the door, looking exceedingly heroic and out for blood.

"Get away from her, Zabini," Ron barked, his wand pointed at Blaise's chest.

"Ron?" Ginny said in surprise.

"Weasley, calm down," Blaise said in a soothing voice, holding his hands up. Ginny started a bit to have the name Weasley addressed towards someone other than herself.

"The hell I will," Ron growled. "You kidnapped my sister."

"He didn't kidnap me," Ginny said.

"Shush, it's okay," Hermione said, darting towards her. "They've been bewitching you, haven't they? You'll be just fine once we get you out of here."

"I'm not bewitched," Ginny exclaimed indignantly. Hermione tried to pull her up off the bed. "I can't walk, either, so leave me be."

"You can't walk?" Harry said. He turned to Blaise. "What have you done to her?"

"I didn't do anything," Blaise said. "She fell, she hit her head, and now she's recovering."

"For two days?" Harry said suspiciously.

"Why didn't you take her to the hospital wing?" Hermione demanded.

"Leave Blaise alone," came a silky voice from the doorway. To Ginny's ears, it was the most welcome sound in the world.

"Malfoy!" Ron said loudly. "I should have known you were behind this!"

"For once in my life," Malfoy said exasperatedly, "I attempt to do the right thing. And then everyone still thinks I've done something wrong!"

"You kidnapped my sister!" Ron yelled.

Ginny distracted them all by fainting.

*

If I faint one more time, she thought, I'm going to hurt someone. Stupid, stupid Slytherin dungeons!

"How is she?" Ron's voice asked anxiously.

"She'll be just fine as soon as she wakes up," Madame Pomfrey said. "I can't give her these potions until she does so."

Urgh, nasty medicine, Ginny thought, now feigning sleep.

She was in the hospital wing, she knew, simply by the uncomfortable sheets beneath her. She found herself wishing desperately to be in Malfoy's bed again, and reflected how he would gloat if he knew that fact.

"If you hadn't come barging in there, none of this would have happened," Blaise's voice accused.

"Well, if you hadn't kidnapped her in the first place, we wouldn't have had to come rushing in there," Harry's voice pointed out.

"If you hadn't jumped to prejudiced conclusions, like that we kidnapped her, none of this would have happened," Malfoy's familiar voice said, floating around her like a comforting cloud.

How odd, she thought, that I've gotten so used to Malfoy in so short a time.

"You had no business keeping her away from the hospital wing, Malfoy," Ron's voice said venomously.

"It wasn't my fault," Malfoy said. "It was Dumbledore's orders!"

Silence.

Ginny wished she could open her eyes and look at Malfoy. Then she'd be able to tell if he was lying. His mouth curved up a certain way when he lied. She'd have to tell him, so he could work on that. It wouldn't do for him to be completely transparent. What if he had to lie to someone important?

And now I'm just stalling, she thought. Alright, time to wake up.

She stirred. The room burst into noise.

"Madame Pomfrey!" Ron yelled. "She's awake!"

"Ginny!" Hermione said in a relieved voice.

"You've been out for hours," Blaise put in.

"How are you?" Harry asked.

"I knew you were faking it," Malfoy said in a low voice, smirking at her.

"Sod off, Malfoy," she said just as lowly, in a voice devoid of malice.

He just winked at her.

"Drink this," Madame Pomfrey said shortly, handing Ginny a beaker full of some foul smelling mess.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"It'll clear the poison out of your system," Madame Pomfrey explained, already walking away.

"Turns out I was wrong about the Slytherins poison-spreading habits," Malfoy informed her. "Snape is, quite frankly, a paranoid bastard."

Ginny drank her potion. It tasted foul, and left an even worse aftertaste in her mouth. She made a face, and Hermione handed her a glass of water, which she drank gratefully.

"So, what's this I oh-so-innocently overheard about Dumbledore?" she said, eyeing Malfoy closely.

"Er...he said that the Hospital Wing was full, and could I possibly watch over you for a few days," Malfoy said. He looked around at the Hospital Wing, which was empty aside from the crowd around Ginny's bed. "Liar."

"McGonagall said he had a hunch," Harry put in. "I wonder what it was?"

Ginny looked at Malfoy meaningfully. "Maybe it was that the Slytherins aren't so bad, after all."

"And all of us aren't junior Death Eaters," Blaise put in, having picked up the term from Ginny.

As if to prove his point, Tracey, Pansy and Theo burst through the doors.

"Ginny!" Tracey called, rushing to her bedside and shoving Ron into the wall in the process. Ron looked rather stunned. "Oh, Ginny, we've been so worried! I came to bring you more books, and everyone was gone!"

"More books?" Malfoy said, in a deceptively casual tone.

Pansy nodded in affirmation. "We wanted her to see how you looked in eighteenth century garb, since she enjoyed the pirate costume so much."

Malfoy put his head in his hands. Hermione looked interested. Ron looked at Hermione as if she'd betrayed him. Ginny laughed.

"But why are you here?" Pansy said, looking around as if just realizing everyone else was there. "And where did the Dream Team come from?"

The doors burst open again. "I came as soon as I heard," Neville said, walking towards them. "Where'd you find her?"

"Lovely," Theo said dryly. "More Gryffindors."

"Oh, come now," Tracey said, giving Theo a reproving look. "Hasn't Ginny been a lesson to you? They're not all bad, even if they do sort of...drool."

"Drool?" demanded Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Neville at once.

"Just kidding," Tracey said lightly.

*

"Feel better?" Draco asked, sitting in the grass beside her.

She had come out to the lake to escape the questions of the Gryffindors and the snide remarks of the Slytherins. Her reappearance had sparked unusual friendliness amongst the habitually nasty Slytherins, and questions and confusion among the rest of the houses.

"Much," Ginny said. "That potion Pomfrey gave me worked wonders." Her tone was surprisingly wistful.

"You're going to miss us, aren't you?" Malfoy said in a knowing manner.

"Well, you are a lot of fun," Ginny said, leaning her head against his shoulder. "But I think I'm going to miss those pictures of you as a pirate the most."

"I'll loan you some," Tracey said, coming and sitting on her other side.

"You most certainly will not," Malfoy said indignantly.

"You'll have to wrestle them away from Pansy," Blaise said, sitting down beside Malfoy.

"Preferably in mud," Theo quipped, seating himself beside Tracey.

"In your dreams, Theo," Pansy said shortly, plopping down beside Blaise.

"Her prat of a brother would get hysterical," Malfoy drawled.

"Hermione would indignantly question my sanity, and then fall into a faint," Ginny said.

"The Boy Who Lived To Annoy Us would turn beet red and pitch a spaz at the sight," Blaise added.

"Is it just me, or does this idea keep sounding better and better?" Tracey quipped.

*

Two weeks later...

"Draco's Pirate Trousers," Ginny whispered, grinning. Slytherins and their crazy passwords. Last week it had been 'Tracey Fancies Hufflepuffs.'

The stone door slid open and Ginny walked into the Slytherin common room. Shouts of greeting and laughter hailed her.

"Ginny!" Tracey cried. "I've got Draco's newest book!"

"Weasley," Malfoy said, nodding his head in her direction.

"Oi! It's that evil redhead again!" Blaise called.

"I need your advice on some dress robes," Pansy said.

"Gin!" Theo shouted. "My favorite drink! How are you, love?"

Ginny, laughing, sat down among them.

"And what brings you to our humble domain?" Malfoy asked.

"Boredom," Ginny sighed. "Everyone in my common room can't understand how I can possibly get along with you, and it's all they'll talk about."

Tracey shoved a book into her hands, entitled Stealing Her Heart. Malfoy was on the cover in a costume she couldn't place, looking devastatingly handsome and staring down his nose. When he caught sight of Ginny, however, he smiled and waved.

"Oh, wow," Ginny said, raising her eyebrows and looking at the real Malfoy. "You look hot as a...what are you?"

"He's Robin Hood," Tracey squealed.

Unknown to Muggles, Robin Hood was actually a particularly mischievous wizard. Prince John was one of those people that couldn't accept magic, and topping it all off was the fact that Robin Hood kept stealing the money he'd rightfully stolen first.

"Wicked," Ginny said. "Can we be his merry men?"

"We can't," Tracey said. "You, Pansy and I shall be his merry women!"

"I want to be Little John," Theo said.

"I'm the sinfully handsome Will Scarlet," Blaise declared.

"Sinfully handsome?" Ginny asked. "Where does it say he's sinfully handsome?"

"Right here on page 17," Tracey said, flipping to the page and indicating the appropriate passage.

"Okay, Will Scarlet is sinfully handsome," Ginny admitted.

"Thank you very much," Blaise said smugly.

"Are you all quite done, now?" Malfoy asked in a martyred voice.

"Don't worry, Malfoy, we're just having a spot of fun," Tracey said.

"I hereby elect Ginny as Maid Marion," Theo said gallantly, gesturing to her.

"And I accept," Ginny said, standing and taking a bow. "But I'm going to be a particularly bum-kicking Maid Marion."

"Aha!" Malfoy said. "I told you I'd have you properly seduced in no time! Maid Marion cannot resist the charms of her dashing outlaw, Robin Hood."

"Keep your filthy hands off my innocent, maidenly self," Ginny cried, backing up as if afraid Malfoy was going to attack her.

Malfoy, finally getting into the spirit of things, walked over and swept Ginny off her feet, cradling her in his arms and smirking down at her.

Ginny, surprised, could do no more than wrap her arms around his neck.

"Now then, what about my filthy hands?" Malfoy inquired calmly.

"Way to scare the first years, Draco," Pansy said amusedly.

Sure enough, a group of first years were looking over at them. Pansy, however, was exaggerating their fright. They were more interested and curious than scared. Small as they may be, they were still Slytherins, after all.

"Come, maid, we must retire to our quarters, where I can ravish you properly," Malfoy proclaimed, and then proceeded to the sixth year dormitories, where the entrance to the tunnel that lead to Malfoy's bedroom was located.

"Put me down, Robin!" Ginny exclaimed. "You callous brute, leave me be!"

"I shall save you, Maid Marion!" Blaise cried, springing after them.

"Will, I thought you were on my side," Malfoy pouted.

"I can't resist a redhead," Blaise shrugged.

"We shall defend you, Marion!" Theo yelled, brandishing an imaginary sword, flanked by Pansy and Tracey, who were both looking menacingly at Malfoy.

Malfoy abruptly turned and ran towards his room. When he got there, he turned, locked the door, and deposited Ginny on his bed.

Mmm, comfy, Ginny thought, sinking into it. Yes! My dear bed, we are reunited once again.

"Unhand her, Robin, you outlaw!" Blaise's voice yelled.

"You cad!" Theo cried.

"You knave!" Tracey shouted.

"You despoiler of maiden virtue!" Pansy added.

"I shall never release her," Malfoy called through the door. He laughed an evil, maniacal laugh Ginny had heard him practicing last week.

"Don't force me to break down the door," Blaise called.

"You wouldn't dare," Malfoy called back.

"Aha!" Ginny shouted, leaping at Malfoy whilst he was otherwise distracted and tackling him to the ground.

"Oomph," Malfoy groaned as he hit the carpet.

He started struggling, and they wrestled about for a few minutes. Ginny had the upper hand, and then lost it as Malfoy rolled out from under her. He grabbed her, successfully pinioning her arms. She twisted free, getting him about the waist and throwing him flat once more.

She was straddling his waist, had a hand on either side of his head and was staring down at him when she realized what a compromising position she was in. Her cheeks flushed.

Malfoy apparently noticed her sudden discomfiture, because he started smirking.

"What was it you said about bad boys not having to ravish anyone?" he asked.

"Oh, sod off, Malfoy," she said. "You're not a bad boy."

"Wanna bet?" Malfoy said, grabbing her around the waist and rolling so that she was under him. She was suddenly distracted by just how close together their faces were, and how her heavy breathing had nothing to do with their brief tussle, and she'd wager his didn't, either.

"Oh, whoops," Blaise said, sticking his head in the door he'd somehow managed to unlock. "We'll just be leaving, then."

He closed the door, but Tracey's voice floated through. "What was going on in there?"

"Nothing fit for your innocent ears," Blaise said darkly.

The cries that Blaise had better spill the beans, right now, faded away. Ginny and Malfoy looked at each other again.

"And they wonder why you like the Slytherins so much," Malfoy said amusedly.

A sarcastic reply was on the tip of her tongue. But then Malfoy kissed her, and she found she didn't need to speak after all.

"Malfoy, you sodding git," she gasped after a few moments.

"What?" he asked.

"You're just doing this to shut me up about Robin Hood, aren't you?" she said in mock suspicion.

"Weasley, I can assure you Robin Hood was the farthest thing from my mind," Malfoy said huskily. "Although I was thinking I might have to try my Smoldering Gaze on you again."

"And this time I might go weak in the knees," Ginny said cheekily. "Maybe."

"You went weak in the knees the first time, too," Malfoy accused. "Admit it."

"Only a little bit," Ginny confessed.

"Are you two going to stop talking and snog, or are we going to have to come in there?" Blaise yelled from the other side of the door.

Maybe junior Death Eaters weren't so bad after all.