Kindred Spirits

It had always seemed to Ginny Weasley that even when in the midst of a large crowd she usually felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness. Since coming to Hogwarts it had become easier for her to make friends but from a very young age she hadn't been able to shake the feeling that there was something about her that set Ginny apart from others. It often felt that she didn't have friends so much as people who knew her as one of the infamous Weasleys. Most days it bothered her yet tonight, as she sat by herself outside, she had never felt more grateful that few were probably wondering where she was.

She had been overly careful about sneaking out of the school and once outside she picked the most secluded corner of the lake to sit by. Covered by a huge Oak tree, the spot she sat in was hidden from view of both the school and Hagrid's cottage. She had sat out there for two hours and not a sound could be heard around her. Even the birds and various creatures in the Forbidden Forest seemed silent. Ginny was so wrapped up in the solitude that the second a branch snapped behind her she was on her feet with her wand out.

By the time Draco Malfoy emerged into the small clearing Ginny was so shaken by the fear that a Professor had discovered her and angry that her peace had been disturbed she was trembling from head to foot. The sight of her standing there, wand pointed outwards and hair streaming behind her caused Draco to jump back and almost trip over a rock. He recovered quickly and fixing his face into its typical unaffected stare he spit out, "Calm down Weasley, no need to get so upset that I'm not your precious Potter bounding out of the bushes to sweep you off your feet."

"Sod off Malfoy."

"Such language and in front of a prefect no less."

Ginny let her arm drop to her side and tried not to completely break down in front of Draco.

"For the love of Merlin, leave me alone."

"I suppose I could go back in and alert McGonagall that one of her students is lurking around outside in the middle of the night."

Ginny's eyes grew huge and she grabbed his arm. "Draco, please don't. I wasn't doing anything; I was just sitting here. Please."

A bit taken aback Draco removed her hand from his arm and smoothed out his robe where she had touched it.

"Relax Weasley, I learned the hard way once that when telling on someone else for breaking the after hours rules it usually comes to light that you too were breaking the same rules."

She nodded slowly, relief washing over her.

"Thank you."

"So you never saw me and I never saw you. Right?"

"Right."

Feeling the conversation to be over she walked away from him and sat back down in front of the tree. Biting her lip hard she prayed she'd be able to refrain from crying until he had departed. She would have succeeded if Draco hadn't turned and caught a glimpse of her as he began to make his way back towards the school. Her tall frame seemed to be collapsed in on itself and an air of grief stronger then any he had ever seen hung over her. Normally he wouldn't have cared in the slightest but there was something about the misery etched in her face that stopped him cold. The few times he had caught sight of her over the years she had always struck him as almost emotionless yet as she sat there she seemed to be practically choking on pain. In other words she looked just low enough to kick around a bit.

"You know you really should get back inside, it's not safe out here."

She stared at the ground and shook her head; "I want to stay here."

" Look, whatever's got you so upset, I'm sure it's not that bad."

She glared at him; furious over his feigned ignorance. If anyone had heard the things said about her today, she was sure Draco had.

"I assure you it is that bad."

"Well suit yourself, just don't say I didn't warn you."

His comment was greeted with silence and Draco prepared himself to go back inside. He was tired and nothing he said to the young girl was coming out the way he intended. Worse yet he was honestly beginning to feel sorry for her. Whatever had happened to her, he knew it had to have been big.

Realizing that Draco was not only still there but was standing and staring at her Ginny composed herself enough to hiss, "What?"

"I was just thinking that I came out here to sit by this very tree and there's no reason I should have to leave."

"You want a reason? Here's one. I was here first."

"Seems to me there's room enough for both of us."

"Not if one of us prefers to sit ALONE."

"Well can't we both sit here alone?"

"Sitting together sort of defeats the purpose of being alone, don't you think?"

"It's all in how you look at it, I suppose."

Frustrated and tired Ginny finally stood up.

"I'll leave. All right?"

Keeping his voice at a steady tone he waved his pale arm.

"Sit down, Weasley."

"Why?"

"Because I'm bored and tormenting you will do much to amuse me."

She crossed her arms in front of her; "Well at least you're finally being honest."

He shot her an icy glance. "Oh stop being so dramatic. I just don't want you to get eaten by some horrible beast because I was lax in my prefect duties. And if you don't sit down I will tell McGonagall about where you were tonight even it means getting in trouble myself."

"I hate you."

"Brilliant come back."

Clenching her hands, she stalked back to where she had been sitting and glared at the lake, willing the squid to swim by and drag her blonde companion down to the bottom. She heard Draco rustling around his robes and looking over she saw him take out a bottle of butterbeer and begin sipping from it. He caught her eye and waved the bottle in her direction. It pained her to take anything from him but it was starting to get cold out so she reached over and took a long sip, drinking down half the bottle. Draco's eyes got wide as he saw what she was doing and he ripped the bottle from her hands.

"Bloody hell Weasley, why'd you do that?"

She went to stare at him but had to stop mid spin as the ground came up to meet her. Her face felt flushed and she stumbled toward the lake trying to cool herself off. Draco followed her and managed to catch her before she fell into the water. He lowered her to the ground and cupping his hand to fill it with water, he helped her wet her face.

In between heaving breaths she asked, "What was in there?"

"Just Butterbeer. Transfigured to contain twenty times more alcohol then normal."

"What?!"

Noticing that the world wasn't spinning quite so fast she dipped her arm in the water and splashed Draco with a sheet of icy water. He sputtered as the water hit his face and for the first time that evening Ginny felt cause to smile. Slowly making her way back towards the tree she sat with an amused expression on her face and watched Draco try to dry himself off.

Draco looked up from fixing his hair. "So you do know how to smile."

"It's pretty hard not to, given the situation."

"Would this be the "seeing me all wet" situation?"

"Oh that and the "merely being out here with you" situation and the "I think I may be drunk" situation. And of course there's the "This has been the worst day of my life and I've been looking for something to laugh about all day" situation."

Draco shrugged off his wet robes and sprawled out on the ground in front of her.

"That's it. I'm officially consumed with curiosity over the great tragedy that befell you today. Out with it Weasley, you owe me."

"I owe you?"

"I'm sopping wet and my favorite robe is ruined."

"I'm sure you have a dozen robes just like it."

"But this one was my favorite."

"Well I wouldn't have gotten you wet if you hadn't gotten me drunk."

"I did not get you drunk. You're the one that decided to take such a large sip."

"Of what I thought was Butterbeer."

"It was Butterbeer."

"Yes, your deviant idea of Butterbeer."

"Deviant? I hardly think so."

"You wouldn't. I'm sure intoxicating unassuming younger women is an acceptable hobby in your world."

"Oh, get over yourself."

"Leave me alone."

"I've been trying too. I just wanted to sit here, not ruin your life as you so selfishly believe."

"Like hell you have."

They sat there silent for a moment facing off and looking for all the world like two fire breathing dragons. Draco was the first to back down and running his fingers through his hair he tried to gain back some of the upper hand he had slowly been losing as the night wore on.

"Weasley look, this is getting ridiculous. I'm going to leave now but first I want to tell you that I sincerely hope you get over whatever it is that has turned you from one of the quietest people I have ever met into a screeching banshee."

"You really don't know what happened to me today do you?"

He let out a sigh. "Of course not, I don't exactly keep up on Gryffindor happenings."

"But the whole school was talking about it. At least it seemed as if they were."

"I spent most of the day in the library, I haven't talked to a single person since breakfast."

"Oh."

"So what is it?"

She thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I'm not going to tell you."

"I'll find out eventually. Wouldn't you like it if at least one person has heard the real story?"

"Oh everyone knows the true story. It's the fact that they know it at all that's caused all the trouble. All right, I'll tell you. At this point not even you can make matter worse."

He struggled to keep the smirk off his face and almost succeeded. "I'll be the judge of that."

Ignoring his last comment, Ginny launched into her story, keeping her eyes on the ground the entire time. "A few nights ago I was helping one of my classmate's with an assignment on enchanted objects. She knew collecting such items was a hobby of my father's so she thought I'd be able to help her out. The conversation somehow got around to how very powerful wizards are able to leave imprints of themselves on their belongings and I accidentally let slip my own experience with such an item."

"One of your father's?"

"No, one of You of Know Who's. And this classmate and so-called friend ended up going completely mad over it and telling everyone. The same five girls I've shared a room with for years are now scared to even sit next to me. Today it finally managed to reach the other years and houses and now people won't walk next to me in the hallway."

Draco tried to keep the confusion off his face as he stared at Ginny. "How did you even come across any of Voldemort's belongings?"

She gave a short, bitter laugh. "That would be thanks to your very own father."

Draco sighed deeply. "What did he do now?"

"I'm surprised he never told you. I figured he would have bragged over his brilliant plan to bring down Harry Potter."

"My father is usually of the impression that I'm too simpleminded to understand his brilliant plans."

"Well there wasn't much too this one. He slipped a diary bewitched by Voldemort's younger self into Harry's things. Unfortunately I ended up with the diary and being the idiot I am, he was able to use me to open the Chamber of Secrets. Thankfully Harry saved my life and Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall made sure that no one found out I had anything to do with it. At least until I went and opened my big mouth."

Draco had managed to turn five shades paler then normal and he wasn't even able to look at Ginny. "You opened the Chamber?"

"Yes, you must be so proud."

He slowly rose his head to look straight at her. "How can you even say that?"

"Because it's the truth. Because I recall you running all over school that year proclaiming how you wished you could have been the one to open the Chamber."

"I was only twelve, I had no idea what I was saying."

"Well I was only eleven! I didn't have a friend in the world besides that blasted diary and because of your stupid, thoughtless father I could have killed someone! And even now, four years later, it's managed to come back and in one day turn an entire school against me. The Slytherins aren't even sure how to act around me."

"Ginny, I'm sorry."

She jumped up. "DON'T say that!"

He leaped up and put a hand on each of her arms. "Ginny you have to calm down. Someone is going to hear us."

She glared at him. "Let them. I hope they expel me. Then my parents will be forced to send me to Beauxbaton or somewhere else far away from this horrid school. And won't that just make everyone happy? I'm sure they're just looking for the chance to get rid of the stupid daughter who once counted as her best friend in the whole world the most evil wizard to ever live."

By the time she finished shouting her face was twisted and the tears were streaming down her cheeks. Draco had no idea what to say to make her feel better or even make her understand that he knew how she felt. So without saying anything he cautiously took her into his arms and when she only paused for a moment before collapsing into them he felt it okay to stroke her hair. He wondered how many people had thought just as he did that Virginia Weasley was completely normal and even a bit boring. He wondered how many people had thought about her at all until today.

A part of him was screaming that he shouldn't feel so comfortable having Ginny Weasley practically curled up in his lap but he wasn't going to fight it. Draco felt like he had fought too many things lately. He had fought to care about his father's goals for him, fought to convince his friends he liked having them around when he actually wanted nothing to do with them and just plain fought to fit the role that had been set for him. But none of it felt right anymore and sitting with Ginny undeniably did. He gazed down at her face and saw that it was as red as her hair from crying but still stunning. He couldn't recall ever having really looked at her until that moment and Draco was amazed at how beautiful she was.

She had stopped shaking but the tears still streamed down her cheeks. Draco gently adjusted his shoulder so that he was able to lean more comfortably against the tree but in doing so Ginny's arm slipped from she had it placed on his chest and landed with her hand touching one of his pockets. Draco glanced down to see that she had opened her eyes and had begun to softly move her hand along his thigh.

"Ginny?" he gasped.

She said nothing, instead choosing to reach in his robes and pull out the bottle of Butterbeer he had hastily shoved back in there minutes before.

She took a smaller sip this time and handed the bottle back to him with a small smile on her face.

"You have a very naughty mind, Draco Malfoy."

He gazed at her smiling face. "And you are the most confusing person I have ever met, Virginia Weasley."

"No, just evil. Completely and utterly evil." She cocked her head towards the castle. "Just ask anyone up there."

"Ignore them. They're a pack of bloody idiots."

"Easy for you to say. You're used to the fear in everyone's eyes when they glance at you."

"Doesn't mean I like it."

"You honestly expect me to believe, after everything you've done in your seven years here, that you hate the way people see you."

He glared at her and stood up.

"You're nothing but a hypocrite, Virginia."

"How so?"

He took a deep breath. "All of five minutes ago I allowed you to cry all over me. Don't ask me why, just a temporary moment of insanity I suppose. But I let you and I think I even did a pretty good job of calming you down. I didn't laugh at you, make fun of you or run away to tell someone else. And what do I get? An almost instantaneous turn around that once again turns me into the bad guy. Hate to break it to you, pet, but that's one really screwed up view of things. And you want to know the truth? I'll tell you because even if anyone up there does ever talk to you again I know for a fact you'd never dream of telling them you actually had a conversation with me.

"No one is scared of me. They're all scared of Lucius Malfoy's son. And it was nice for awhile until I realized the only power I had came from my father, a man who hates the very ground I walk on for no other reason then hate is the only emotion he knows. It doesn't matter what I think, not to him or anyone else, as long as I say the right words to the right people. The only people I've ever had an honest conversation with about anything are Professor Snape...and...you."

The full meaning of his last statement didn't hit him until the words were out of his mouth. He could never forgive himself for saying them, for making himself that vulnerable, especially in front of her. She had proven to him that night that predicting her next move was virtually impossible and he had no idea what she would really do with anything he had told her. It occurred to him that it was for that very reason he had enjoyed talking to her so much. She had challenged him in a way that few ever had.

Even with all of that in mind, what she did next still surprised him. Keeping her eyes locked on his she stood up and before he was able to move or react she leaned in and kissed him. It was a gentle kiss at first and initially she seemed as shocked as he was that she had done it. But once the shock wore off a bit Draco was able to bring his arms up to encircle her and Ginny quickly returned the favor. They clung to each other and as their kissing intensified, they sunk down to the ground, wrapped in a completeness that neither had ever known before. Ginny let her hands trail up and down Draco's back and sides and he tangled his fingers in her hair as the sensations of their bodies pressed so close together practically carried them both away.

Draco finally lifted his head up and gazed down at the flushed face that was a mere few inches from his own. Ginny's eyes were barely open but Draco was still able to see the pain and desperation in them. He despised his father for what he had done to both himself and Ginny and his hatred was so great at that moment it physically pained him. He sat up and Ginny's face crumbled as she felt him pull away from her but he quickly pulled her closer, both pained and horribly comforted that someone else knew what it was to have had such evil unwillingly thrust upon them. They sat in silence for awhile, their limbs still very much entangled. Both seemed scared to talk, horrified at what the other would say about what had just happened between them. After several minutes Draco was no longer able to bear the silence and kissing Ginny lightly on the forehead he looked down into her eyes. Relief washed over him as her expression clearly showed that neither had anything to apologize for. Even if they never spoke another word to each other they had needed each other that night.

Ginny cleared her throat. "It's probably quite late."

Draco nodded. "Well after midnight, I suspect."

"My brother's probably looking for me, he's been extra protective today."

"Potter too, I suppose."

She looked away. "I honestly don't know, I've been avoiding them both."

"I see."

"I...I'm not quite sure what to say now."

"I don't suspect that there are many proper phrases for moments like these."

She stood up and began to smooth out her robes and hair.

"I've never kissed anyone before. Not ever."

It wasn't what she had meant to say and they both knew it.

He glanced at her. "Well you're quite the natural."

"Thank you."

"It's a well earned compliment."

She sighed but there was a trace of a smile on her face. "Not just for that. For tonight, for giving me something to take back into school with me."

"Thank you for your honesty. It was quite refreshing."

Draco stood up and took hold of both her hands. He leaned forward until their foreheads were touching and she kissed him briefly before pulling completely away.

"Any last words of wisdom before I go back inside?"

"Keep your chin up and remember that you are a strong person. You couldn't have gotten through what you did if you weren't."

"And you? Will you be all right?"

"I suppose so, I'll just a bigger thorn in my father's side then usual and one who's going to have to make some quick decisions when the school year is over."

"Good luck."

"You talk like we're never going to speak again."

She looked at him with a guarded expression on her face. "Are we?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

There was a sadness in his voice and it made her never want to leave him.

"Should we walk back together?"

"No, I think it's best if we go separately. I'll go first, if there's anyone out there, I can distract them."

There was nothing else they could bear to say so Ginny smiled and wrapped her arms tightly around her as Draco left the clearing. She waited a good ten minutes before making her own way back to the castle. Miraculously she got all the way back to her bedroom without seeing a single person and could only assume that Draco had been as lucky. Climbing into bed, she could still feel his arms around her and closing her eyes, she saw his face in front of her. The thought of him made her feel safe and warm and understood. She didn't fear the morning as she had hours before because no matter how many dirty looks she got and cold shoulders she received there was someone in the school who believed in her.