Harry Potter 1. Default Chapter

How I Lost My Irish

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 1: Looking Back

"... and, before I knew it, she was off sleeping with my brother." A man with a strong Scottish accent sighed. He and a group of about eight other men were sitting around a poker table, having long forgotten the cards in their hands and piles of plastic chips. Every man in the camp had the same attire; dark khaki pants and a white button down shirt. Some wore ties, others had discarded theirs not long after they'd retired to their rooms.

A war was being fought not far from where this army camp of ready soldiers waited. They were counting down the days till they would all be called to fight for what they believed in. Voldermort and Harry Potter were both at the peak of their strengths, and people all over the wizarding world were dropping everything to come and fight for the side they supported.

But since there was no need for all of the soldiers to go in at once, this particular group of young men and women watched and waited, hoping for their chance at glory.

"That's sour luck," one man said to his Scottish friend. "the war has come between a lot of us. My girlfriend broke up with me before I left because she said that she couldn't bare to be away from me for so long."

"Really?" A particularly happy-looking man asked, raising one eyebrow and propping his feet up on the poker table. "If I were her, I'd be grateful for some time away from you."

All the men laughed, some clapping the happy-looking man on the back. Once the room had settled down, he said, "But, seriously, none of you have had it as bad as me. This war's been more of a hell for me and my wife then anyone here."

A quiet snort came from one of the darker corners of the room. The happy-looking man turned around in his chair as did everyone else. The only sounds that they had heard from that side of the room all day were the occasional disgruntled growl and crumpling of paper. "Do you have a comment, Malfoy?"

A blonde haired man with skin as pale as the moon and a face like stone came out of the shadows. He had a sketching pencil tucked behind one ear, and he rolled up his sleeves as he grabbed a chair.

"Carter, you have no idea what hell is." Draco said coolly, swiping the cigarette pack Carter had in his shirt pocket and taking a sole cigarette before throwing the pack onto the table.

"Is that so?" Carter said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Your little sob story's nothing compared to the life I've had to live." Draco said, striking a match on the bottom of Carter's shoe and lighting his cigarette.

"Well, Malfoy, why don't you grace us with your own story." Carter said, putting his hands behind his head.

Draco stood up and, taking a puff from his cigarette, said, "Grab your quills, gentlemen, because this is one you're going to want to write in your diaries. It all started back at the very beginning of the war..."

**FIVE YEARS EARLIER**

Ginny Weasley, fresh out of Hogwarts, sat on the edge of a river that flowed less then a mile from the Burrow. She kicked the water lazily, causing ripples to extend from her feet far out into the distance until they melted into the horizon. Playing with the grass beneath her with one hand, Ginny held firm onto her boyfriend's hand with the other.

They had been sitting in a silence for a few minutes, both waiting for the other to speak. Finally Ginny broke through the quiet with her whispering voice.

"How long?"

"I'm not sure," Harry said, looking down at their interlocked fingers. "But Dumbledore says we need to attack now, before Voldemort gets any stronger."

"So, is this how it works? You just, start fighting—start a war?" Ginny asked, wanting more information to help calm her nerves.

"I suppose," Harry said with a little laugh.

"This isn't funny." Ginny said sharply, glaring up at him.

"Gin, calm down. Everything's going to be fine." Harry said, letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her. Ginny rested her head on his shoulder and let out an exhausted sigh.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to be starting one of the biggest wars ever, so I have a right to be upset. I mean, you're the only one who can kill You-Know-Who, and that means you're going to be were all the danger is, all the time."

"Isn't that where I normally am?" Harry asked, smiling as he kissed Ginny's forehead.

"Don't make jokes." Ginny said stubbornly, burying her face in his sweater. She took a deep breath in, wanting to remember everything about Harry, down to his scent, before he left.

That night, everyone in the Weasley family plus Harry gathered around the kitchen table in the Burrow for dinner.

"So, mate, when do you have to leave?" Ron asked, piling roasted potatoes on his plate.

"Dumbledore said as soon as possible, so tomorrow, I suppose." Harry said. Ginny swallowed the lump in her throat. She and Harry had been together since her sixth year, and she'd never been happier. And now he had to leave, and there was a chance that he might never come back.

"Don't worry Harry, we'll be right there on the front lines with you." Hermione said, catching Ginny's attention.

"Yea, us too." Fred said, as George nodded along. "We're going to shut down the shop awhile so we can go fight, so you better appreciate it, mate."

"I'm going too." Ginny said with a determined look on her face.

"Absolutely not." Mrs. Weasley said.

"It's not like you can stop me," Ginny said angrily. "I'm 17 years old. I'm already a legal adult."

"But you must be 18 in order to sign up for the army." Mr. Weasley said calmly.

"Not if I have parental permission." Ginny said quickly.

"You are _too young_, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said loudly. "I refuse to allow you to fight."

Ginny's heart sank. She looked around at her father hopefully, but he simply shook his head. She couldn't stand the thought of everyone else risking their lives while she just sat around doing nothing to help. She suddenly realized how Sirius must have felt when everyone else in the Order was doing something and he couldn't. Why was she always too young to do everything?

"Ginny—" Mrs. Weasley started angrily. But her daughter had already stood up from her chair, making it rock dangerously on it's hind legs, and bolted from the room.

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The next morning, Ginny woke up to a tapping on her window. She rolled out of bed, reluctant to leave the warmth of her cotton sheets. She checked the lock on her bedroom door, making sure that no one could get in. After the fight last night, Ginny didn't want to speak to anyone.

Ginny pulled her hair up into something that might resemble a ponytail, and walked over to the window, expecting to see a rather small and energetic owl carrying her daily mail. This is why she was so shocked to find that, in place of her owl was a much larger, better looking man on a broom.

Ginny rushed over to the window, stumbling over her long pajama pants in the process, and threw the window open.

"What are you doing?" Ginny laughed, smiling widely.

"Your door was locked, and I wanted to say goodbye before I left." Harry said, smiling as Ginny kissed him. "I'm sorry that you can't come and fight, but, truthfully, I'm a little relieved. Now at least I know you're safe."

"It's fine." Ginny said halfheartedly. "I'll find another way to help."

Hesitantly, Harry said, "I have to go. Dumbledore's having me fly to the destination so it'll be harder for Voldemort to track me."

"Goodbye," Ginny said, kissing him. "I love you," she kissed him again. "Be careful," she kissed him again. "And if you don't write me I will personally separate you from your genitalia." she kissed him again.

"I love you too," Harry laughed. "and I'm rather close to my genitalia, so I promise to write."

After one last, long kiss, Harry turned his broom around and started to fly away. He was only a few feet away when he suddenly remembered something and rummaged around in his cloak.

Still flying toward his destination, Harry turned around and threw a black package, about half the size of a wand box, toward Ginny. She caught it easily and shouted, "What's this?"

Harry, still flying in the opposite direction of the Burrow, looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Something to remember me by!"

**PRESENT**

"That's a touching story, Malfoy, but what the hell does it have to do with you?" Carter asked, causing some of the men in the room to chuckle.

"Don't get your pretty pink knickers all in a twist, I'm getting to it." Draco said coolly, taking a few more puffs from his cigarette and flicking the ashes into Carter's lap. "Now, where was I? Oh yea, so then she becomes a nurse to help out good old Potter, and that's about the time I slither into the picture..."

**FIVE YEARS EARLIER**

"Nurse Weasley, I need you over here NOW!" Healer Kelley yelled.

Ginny growled angrily under her breath and quickly finished up with the patient she was working on before running over toward the bellowing voice. She grabbed the silver heart pendent that was hanging from her neck and tucked it under her shirt. Healer Kelley, one of the worst residents in St. Mungo's, wouldn't let anyone wear jewelry on the job, but there was no way Ginny was taking off the necklace Harry had given her before he left for the war.

"What's the matter?" Ginny asked, tucking a few curly locks from her fiery mane behind one ear.

"Well, for starters, this man has been here for two hours without anyone attending to him!" Healer Kelley roared. He was always so hard on the new nurses, especially Ginny.

"He was hit by a ­­­­Puniceus Flamma Curse, sir, we can't do anything to make it lift. It'll wear off in a few hours, and then he'll be back to normal. There really isn't even a need for him to be here." Ginny said, talking quickly so he wouldn't cut her off.

"Well it's not my bloody fault, but at least get the poor man a room and get him out of our way." Kelley roared, pushing the gurney into Ginny's stomach and knocking the wind out of her.

Ginny didn't even bother to tell him that there weren't any rooms left. Muttering a few well-chosen words under her breath, she simply went on with her work, taking the time to push the poor man's gurney into a room that occupied two other people.

The war was getting worse every day, and a fresh batch of injured soldiers were wheeled in every minute. Ginny has been working at the hospital for nearly half a year, and was, in her opinion, a damn good nurse. However, Healer Kelley seemed determined to prove her wrong. He was constantly demeaning her, and there wasn't a nurse in the world that hated him more then Ginny.

"Weasley! Come over hear and make yourself useful for once!" Kelley's voice echoed off of the white halls. Ginny groaned, but obeyed. She followed his God awful voice and found him and a few other Healers gathered around one very unconscious man. A man who just happened to be donning a white mask and black robe.

"I need you to clear out a room for this man and get him settled in. He's going to be here for a while." Kelley said.

Ginny was speechless. This was a Death Eater. A follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. How could a hospital aimed at helping their side make room and help heal this person when it was obviously one of their soldiers who injured him?

"But—but, sir—!" Ginny began, her mouth open in shock.

"Now, Weasley," Kelley began calmly. "I was very careful not to use any big, technical terms in that sentence, so how is it possible that you didn't understand me?" he asked acidly.

"But—"

"Go!" He roared.

Ginny reluctantly got behind the unconscious Death Eater's gurney and pushed it into one of the small rooms, having some other nurses move the two men who were currently in the room to another location. She closed the door, shutting out the chaotic noises that haunted the hospital.

She looked over at the Death Eater, almost afraid to walk up next to him. But, gathering up her courage and determined not to look like a coward, she slowly approached the masked man. Carefully, Ginny removed the skull-like mask and was greeted by much gentler features. A strong jaw and feather-soft blonde hair outlined this man's face. His cheeks were slightly pink, and his forehead a bit warm.

The face was familiar to Ginny, but she couldn't pinpoint it. She started to remove his black cloak, hoping to lower his temperature. But she must have moved him a little too much, because a deep, slightly hoarse voice gave her a start.

"Hey, Irish, get me some water, would ya?"

Ginny jumped up, hitting a metal tray and causing it to fall with a clatter, along with everything on it.

"Or if that's too hard for you, I could get it myself." A voice that could only belong to Malfoy said.

Draco made to get up, but swore loudly when he was overcome with pain.

"Get back in bed." Ginny said quickly, pushing him back against the pillows a bit harder then necessary and straightening his sheets.

Draco did a double take when he took a proper look at Ginny. He opened his mouth to say something, but the entrance of a Healer Kelley interrupted what he was thinking.

"Weasley, what could you possibly be doing that would make that much noise?" asked Kelley. He rounded the corner and came to tower over Ginny.

"It seems Irish here's gone a bit mad, sir." Draco said calmly.

"I have not gone mad!" Ginny said angrily.

"It's alright, Irish, you're amongst friends." Draco said in a would-be-caring voice. That is, if he weren't Draco Malfoy.

"Sir, can I talk to you for a second." Ginny asked, nodding her head to the door.

"No." Kelley said shortly.

"Haha! Good one, sir." Draco laughed, distinctly reminding Ginny of her older brother Percy.

"Sir, may I _please_ go get our patient a sedative?" Ginny asked through gritted teeth, glaring at Draco.

"No, but you may go get us some lunch. I think they're serving Mexican in the cafeteria today, and I do love a good fajita." Kelley said. Ginny glared one last time at Draco before departing.

"Glad we got her out of the way." Kelley said, closing the door.

"Me and Irish go way back," Draco said.

"Does she know?" Kelley asked, lowering his voice and pulling out his wand long enough to put a silencing charm on the room.

"So Dumbledore told you too?" Draco laughed. "That man really knows how to run his mouth..."

"Well, I'm the head of this hospital, and, seeing as we wouldn't have taken you in otherwise, I had to know." Kelley said.

"Irish doesn't know. We haven't seen each other in a year and a half. She still thinks I'm evil little Malfoy; a clone of my father." Draco said, sadness in his eyes. "I can't tell anyone. It'd be risking my life."

"That must be tough. I mean, especially now, everyone thinking you're on the dark side, when you're really working twice as hard to help save their asses."

"It isn't easy being a double agent." Draco said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he put his hands behind his head. Hoping to get off of the topic, Draco said, "How much longer is it going to take her?"

But before he could even get the sentence out, Ginny came walking in with two trays.

"Healer Kelley, one of your patients is bleeding out." Ginny said calmly, setting down a tray in front of Draco.

"And we were having such a wonderful conversation." Kelley said with a frown. He headed toward the door and, before leaving, saw Ginny eyeing his tray. "Weasley, don't eat my food."

Once he was gone, Ginny rolled her eyes and started muttering curse words under her breath. Just as she was reaching to move Healer Kelley's tray, she could hear him shouting her name.

"I'm not eating it!" Ginny yelled angrily, her stomach growling quietly.

"No, not that." Kelley said, poking his head around the door. "I just wanted to tell you that, because this is the best excuse to get you out of my way, I'm assigning you to Mr. Malfoy until his stay here is over."

"But—!" Ginny started, but he had already left. She turned back to Draco with an angry look on her face.

"Looks like we'll be spending _a lot_ of time together, Irish." Draco smirked.

"Malfoy, why do you keep calling me that?" Ginny asked, glaring at him.

"Because 'Weasley' just reminds me of your brother and you are nothing like your brother." Draco said, looking her up and down. "Well, you know, except for the whole being really idiotic and easy to annoy."

"Well my name's Ginny." She said, trying to control her anger and not stab Draco with his plastic fork.

"Fine, then you have to call me Draco." He said, smirking. "Or Drakie. That's always been a favorite of Pansy."

"Irish is fine." Ginny muttered angrily, grabbing Draco's tray a little to forcefully and causing mash potatoes to fall into his lap.

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_Note: ­­­­Puniceus Flamma means purple flame in Latin. I had to make something up because they never said what the curse was that hit Hermione in the fifth book._

Also: I will **update every Friday**...er, just thought you should know.

If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)


	2. Letters of Immense Amusement

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 2: Letter of Immense Amusement

As Healer Kelley so lovingly put it, Draco was a 'special case', which apparently meant that Ginny had to spend most of her time with him. She was the only nurse assigned to him, and Draco seemed to be a particularly needy patient.

"Hey there, Irish." Draco said happily, smiling at a disgruntled Ginny from his hospital bed.

"What do you want this time, Malfoy?" She asked, getting rather sick of him trigger happy finger. Healer Kelley had given Draco a button that, when he pushed it, a small beeper that Ginny was forced to carry around would vibrate, telling her that Draco yet again needed her assistance with something.

"My arm hurts." He stated plainly.

"How... nice for you...?" Ginny said, raising her eyebrows.

"I can't cut my food." Draco said, smirking as he nodded toward the beef and mashed potatoes in front of him. Ginny growled, but obeyed, not wanting to give Kelley more to yell at her about.

"You're really pathetic, you know that?" Ginny hissed, seizing his fork and knife and savagely cutting the meat.

"Yes, actually I do." Draco said, making Ginny cut with even more vigor. "Jesus Irish, what do you have against my food?"

"It's not the food I have a problem with." Ginny muttered angrily. "It's the person consuming it."

"So you feel the need to mutilate my food?" Draco asked. Ginny sighed loudly and slowed down her pace.

"Happy?" Ginny asked acidly.

"Smaller pieces." Draco said, smiling as Ginny let out a low growl. "And add salt to the potatoes."

Ginny seized the salt shaker and purposefully missed the potatoes, scattering salt over the open cuts on Draco's nearby hand.

Draco swore loudly and snatched his hand away, muttering, "Classy, real classy."

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Healer Kelley had basically cut Ginny off from all of her other patients, leaving her only with Draco. So, after a few days of trying, and failing, to get 'alone time' in the nurse's lounge, Ginny just sat in Draco's room, waiting for him to bug her once again with some miniscule problem.

"Whatcha got there, Irish?" Draco asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Nothing." Ginny sighed, shoving the letter she was reading in her pocket and fixing Draco with a glare. "Do you want something?"

"Yea," He said, almost as an afterthought. "Could you come here and fix my pillow for me?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, hating her job more and more by the day. She knew that Draco knew that he was perfectly capable of most of the things he asked her to do. He had only a broken leg and some strange spell put on his ribs. It was a rare curse that the healers were still trying to find a cure for where, every time he moved his spine the ribs would turn inward. He nearly punctured a lung when he tried to fix the blankets around his legs. That was mainly the reason why he was still at St. Mungo's.

Ginny reached over to fix Draco's pillow, making sure to 'accidentally' knock his head with her hand as she did so. Before she knew what was happening, Draco had leaned forward and snatched the note Ginny had hastily put away out of her pocket.

Draco let out a stifled cry of pain and clutched his stomach, all the while keeping the note out of Ginny's reach.

"That hurt like hell, but it was totally worth it." He said, rubbing his ribs.

"I hope you stabbed yourself in the kidney." Ginny muttered angrily, crossing her arms and getting ready for he mocking to begin.

"So, what do we have here..." Draco said slyly, opening up the note. His eyes got big as he started to read it, and a smirk began to form on his face.

"A _love_ note?" Draco scoffed. "From Potter no doubt."

"So what if it is?" Ginny asked, feeling her face go red.

"It's just a bit predictable, that's all." Draco said, seeming more interested in the note then in their conversation. Ginny tried, unsuccessfully, to distract him with miniscule insults. But Draco responded by reading the letter out loud.

"'My love,'" Draco started mockingly, making Ginny sink down further in the chair she had pulled up beside his bed. Draco made a kind of muttering noise, skipping over the parts he didn't seem to find insult-worthy. "'You're amazing,' blah blah blah. 'I wish I was with you,' yadda yadda... 'Your eyes,'" He began dramatically. "'are like two bright emeralds that are always happy—"

Draco stopped suddenly, a thoughtful look on his face as he leaned over, only wincing slightly, to look into Ginny's eyes. For some strange reason, and almost to Ginny's horror, she found herself short of breath.

"First of all," Draco started softly, never loosing eye contact with Ginny. "Your eyes are brown."

"Oh," Ginny said, flushing as she looked at the ground and Draco leaned back against his pillow again. "Well, he has other things on his mind... and, he hasn't seen me in a while..."

"Right," Draco said, the smirk back on his face as he returned to the letter. "Well, at least he got your hair color right. Though," he added, glancing up at Ginny before peering back down at the letter. "I'm not sure if I would describe it as 'a symbol of the fiery love for you in my heart.'"

"That's because you're not romantic." Ginny said stiffly, finally grabbing the letter and putting it in her back pocket.

"Is that so?" Draco asked, raising a single eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "So you find this constant, sappy rambling romantic, do you?"

"It's not as idiotic as you paint it out to be." Ginny said, almost defensively.

"Enlighten me." Draco said calmly.

"It doesn't have to be a long, elegant poem with lines and lines of descriptive, rhyming words." Ginny said stuffily. "I just find it so romantic to receive a letter from someone I love, telling me how much they adore me."

"So it's purely egotistical." Draco said knowingly, smirking when Ginny fixed him with a glare. "Couldn't you two just go fuck in the woods or something?"

"How is _that_ romantic?" Ginny asked with a hint of disgust.

"You don't find sex romantic?" Draco asked, sincerely shocked.

"I guess sex is just more of a visceral experience for me." She said honestly.

"So shagging like a couple of dogs doesn't woo you?" Draco smirked.

"This conversation is over." Ginny said, hiding a grin as she left to go burn her letter from Harry. Just in case.

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After this rather interesting conversation, Ginny felt a bit more open toward Draco. They continued to have conversation such as these, often dripping with sarcasm and mockery, and occasionally turning into a fight where insult were thrown back and forth until Ginny got up and left in a huff. Oddly enough, these fights always seemed to be started by Ginny, or was she imagining it?

"Hey there, Irish." Draco said happily, a few days after a particularly horrible fight. "Long time no see."

"It's always been my opinion that evasion solves most problems." Ginny said, not being able to help it as a tiny smile adorned her face. "What do you want this time?"

"The presence of your company?" Draco said unconvincingly. Ginny raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms impatiently. Draco sighed, saying with defeat, "My foot itches."

"You're pathetic." Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm saving the healers a trip out here to repair my lungs." Draco said defensively, gingerly rubbing his cursed ribs.

Ginny, throwing her dignity and pride out the window, bent over and scratched Malfoy's smelly foot.

"You need a shower." Ginny commented, crinkling her nose as she continued her 'job'.

"How about a sponge bath?" Draco said, wagging his eyebrows.

"Go fuck yourself." Ginny muttered, wiping her hands on her scrubs with disgust as she pulled the blanket back over Draco's foot and sitting down in her usual chair.

"Snippy snippy, Ms. Virginia." He said, shaking his head innocently.

"That's not my name." Ginny said.

"So you _do_ prefer 'Irish'!" Draco said victoriously.

"No," Ginny laughed. "My full name isn't Virginia. It's Ginevra."

"What kind of a name's Ginevra?" Draco scoffed.

"It's the kind of a name that someone named 'Draco' is in no position to question." Ginny said haughtily.

"Ginevra, huh?" Draco said, seeming to roll the name over in his head.

"Here come the sarcastic comments..." Ginny sighed.

"No, honestly, it's a lovely name," Draco said. Ginny wasn't sure if he was joking or not. "It's just... it's so unusual."

"And Draco's the most common name in the world?" She asked angrily.

"Well, compared to the rest of your family, your name sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, come on; 'These are my children, Fred, George, Ron, and _Ginevra_.' Is that why they called you Ginny? Trying to make you sound more normal, are they?" Draco asked seriously.

"Why do you insist on mocking me?" Ginny asked angrily.

"I'm not mocking, just asking." Draco said, shrugging his shoulders. "But, honestly, Ginevra is a very nice name."

"Sure." Ginny said sarcastically.

"No, seriously!" Draco said, suddenly feeling the need to prove his true feelings. "There's even a painting with that name; Ginevra de Benci by Leonardo da Vinci."

"I didn't know you knew anything about Muggle art." Ginny said, sounding mildly interested.

"Much to my father's disgust." Draco added. "He wouldn't allow anything muggle related into his house. So I have my own little art collection in a cottage in the country. It's the only place I can go where no one will find me."

"Really? A cottage in the country?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows in interest.

"Pretty hot, huh?" Draco said, wagging his eyebrows lazily. "I betcha wanna shag me now, don't you?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, but the smile never left her face.

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Ha ha! I made it! It's Friday—albiet, _late_ Friday—and I posted on time! Woo-hoo! Anyways, here are the thank yous to all of my lovely, lovely reviewers whom all totally rock my socks. In the words of Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World: I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!

**Blatant Discontent**: heehee, where do I come up with this stuff? Well, it's exceptionally easy when you have a brilliant mind, such as myself... ahem ok, the honest answer is—I have no idea. Most of my stuff I can credit to Friends, South Park, or (especially in this chapter) Igby Goes Down. But as for 'Irish', I have no freakin' clue where that came from. Alas, perhaps we will all never know...

**DarkFlower2113**: ha ha, I have proved you wrong once again!... or—well—once, at least. There is no way I will drop this fic—it's my baby! It's my itty bitty baby girl... or... something. And if I'm lying, may God, Zeus, or whoever the hell is up there strike me down!... or, ya know, make me stub my toe or something...

**WiDz**: I did! Woot! I swear on my Harry Potter books that I will update every Friday till...ya know...it's finished or something...

**purus.flere**: oooo, cool name. Sorry, I'm kinda obsessed with neat-o names (which isn't very obvious when you look at my own name. What can I say, I'm not exactly creative). I think the obsession began when I started looking up the meaning for all of the HP characters freaky names. The sad thing is is that I'm probably going to go looking for what your name means or something once I post this...my life is rather sad...

**fcuking cathy**: heehee. Your name makes me laugh. I love the fcuk brand. They have a perfume called Scent to Bed, and my friend has a shirt that says 'Lucky Fcuk.' The teachers got so pissed off... strange things make me laugh...

**Merit Somnia**: Aw, hoorah! I have a devotee! That makes me happy. Though, I've been looking over some of my old fics, and I must say, I must have been smoking something strong to think that that crap was good. Nearly every freakin' fic ends with an engagement—and they're only 17!!! And, I mean, can you say OOC? Le sigh, hopefully this fic is better.

**Stompy-Sanji**: Aw, thanks so much! I promise to read your story as soon as I find the time. Probably in, like, six days once I'm freed from the burden of the dreaded Driving Class. I really don't think that I need to endure 24 freakin' hours of this class just to learn how to drive a car. Grrr....

**Herbie**: Oh no! Poor Herbie!!! School affects all of us, and strikes fear into the hearts of even the smallest of hearts. ::sigh:: I am one of the fortunate ones who doesn't have to start school till Aug. 30. Boo-ya!!!... sorry. That was inconsiderate. I shouldn't have put so many exclamation points. One would suffice. Anyways, stay strong my friend, it'll all be over in, like, 9 more months of hell left!

**Lauren**: heehee, thanks! I promise to update every Friday—as I've explained to both WiDz and DarkFlower2113 using Harry Potter books to swear upon and both God and Zues to smite me down if I don't update. Yea, it'd make a lot more sense if you were inside my head right now...

**save the squirrels**: heehee, I know, I kinda felt sorry for Harry too—cause it's obvious that, seeing as this is both a romance and a fic written by me, Draco and Ginny are going to fall in love. But, never fear, I show what happens to Harry in the last chapter.

**Actrez**: lol, I just got finished talking to you for an hour. Isn't it such a small world? Heehee, did you notice where I got the knickers-in-a-twist line from? 10 Things I Hate About You!!! Except I British-ized it. Yes, British-ized. It's a word. Maybe more of a hybrid-word—but still a word!

**Straycat**: haha, I would _looooooove_ to kill Kelley. I would love it so much I'd marry it. Unfortunately, I'm a newly converted Hindu and have decided to follow the non-violent example of Mahatma Gandhi... ok, honestly? I think he's fun to write and I'm too busy watching Wayne's World over and over to take the time to think of a creative way to kill him. Heehee, oh well.

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If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)

A/N: Ok, I must confess, I had help with some of this stuff. The line about sex being a visceral experience for Ginny was a modification of a line from Igby Goes Down. Also the line, "It's the kind of a name that someone named 'Draco' is in no position to question," is straight from Igby Goes Down (with a name change). I must confess, I love that movie! You must all go rent it.


	3. What the Enemy Tastes Like

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 3: What the Enemy Tastes Like

Ginny sat in Draco's room, completely consumed in a book she had borrowed from one of the other nurses; a rather loud, Latino girl named Isabel. She was so engrossed by it, that Draco had to practically scream to get her attention.

"Hey, Irish! _Irish_!" Draco said loudly, smiling sweetly when Ginny finally glanced at him from above her poised book. "You got a letter from Potter hidden inside that book or something?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, putting down her book before she distinctly shook her head.

"'Shame," Draco said, shaking his own head in disappointment. "Those provide some quality entertainment."

"Sorry to disappoint." Ginny said, wishing he'd change the subject off of Harry.

Draco studied Ginny's face for a few moments before saying, "He hasn't written you, has he."

Ginny rolled her eyes, trying to brush off that comment. But, in all reality, the reason why she didn't have a letter from Harry with her was because there weren't any to be had. He hadn't written to her in almost a week. Ginny had hoped that Draco wouldn't notice, but her sadness seemed to be written all over her face.

"He's fighting a war, Malfoy, I don't expect him to write me everyday." Ginny said in a would-be-casual voice. That is, if she could just get her fake smile to reach her eyes.

Draco nodded his head, making a sort of 'yes, of course, I completely agree' professional face. But Ginny could see right through it.

"I don't expect you to understand," Ginny said stuffily. "what with never having a proper relationship yourself, you most likely can't recognize one."

"Oh, and what you and Potter have is 'proper,' is it?" Draco scoffed. "Honestly, I'm surprised you don't have a little dog collar around your neck with a nametag dangling off of it."

"Excuse me?" Ginny said angrily, standing up and putting her hands on her hips.

"You chase him around like a pathetic dog for six. Fucking. Years," He said, making Ginny's face flush red. "and when he finally asks you out, every horrible thing he does and has done is suddenly forgiven. You spend half of your relationship making up excuses for him!"

"Honestly, you have no idea what you're talking about." Ginny snapped.

"Just now!" Draco said, looking at Ginny as if she was a bit daft. "You said that he's not writing you because he's 'busy.' Yea, busy off screwing some army chick." He scoffed.

Ginny glared at him, her lip shaking as rage surged through her. She hated that he had just said the thing she was fearfully thinking. Draco's eyes softened as he suddenly realized the impact of his words.

"Bloody Death Eater." Ginny muttered to herself angrily.

"Ginny—" Draco said quickly.

"Mind your own _fucking_ business!" Ginny yelled, throwing her book at Draco's head before storming out.

Ducking just in time, Draco tried to get out of him bed to go after her, but before he could even get one foot on the ground, he was clutching his stomach in pain and was forced to lie back down in defeat.

"Shit," Draco muttered to himself, closing his eyes as he rubbed his forehead, wishing for the hundredth time in his life that he had a time turner so he could go fix his mistake.

* * *

Ginny had done her best to avoid Draco as much as she could. She'd ask some of the nurses that owed her favors to go tend to him—always behind Healer Kelley's back, of course. If he found out that Ginny was avoiding her only patient—especially the patient that Kelley seemed to like the most—there'd be definite hell to pay. But it was nearly impossible to avoid two people at once, which Ginny quickly learned.

She was walking down the corridor with her head down, hoping to find someone in the nurse's lounge who would take care of Draco for that day. Becoming distracted by the constant vibrating of the beeper by her side, Ginny didn't watch where she was going and ran headlong into someone.

"Try to be a little more aware of your environment, won't you Weasley?" Came a cold, mocking voice.

"Sorry," Ginny said shortly, reluctantly looking up at Healer Kelley.

"Just where were you going in such a hurry?" He asked intimidating.

Feeling her beeper vibrate again, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"To Malfoy's room, sir."

"Good," He said, looking at Ginny a bit suspiciously. "I'll come with you, I need to tell him something."

Great, that was just wonderful. Now she actually did have to go see him. Perfect.

Ginny walked as slow as she could, trying to delay the time when she'd have to come face to face with the argument she didn't want to revisit again.

When Ginny entered the room, Draco seemed surprised, as both his eyebrows shot up into his hairline. He pushed the food he was eating aside and stared intently at Ginny, as she readily avoided eye contact.

"Good news," Healer Kelley said loudly, seeming totally oblivious to the tension in the room. "We've figured out a counter charm for your ribs. It turns out that when two Cruciatus Curses hit someone at the same time, this is the after-effect."

"That explains a lot." Draco said, seeming more interested in Ginny then the conversation. He continued to stare her down as she watched the ground.

"Just one little thing," Kelley said quickly. "For the counter charm to work, your spine must not move for 24 hours. That's why we need you to slip into this little contraption." He said, flicking his wand as a type of corset appeared in his hand. "That way you don't accidentally burst a spleen or something."

"Perfect," Draco scoffed. "I get to look like a Victorian woman for an entire day. Lucky me."

"Weasley," Kelley said, throwing the contraption at her. "help your patient put this on." And with that, he left Ginny there, not believing her horrible luck.

"Take off your shirt." Ginny said, expecting some vulgar joke in response, as usual. But Draco didn't even open his mouth, he just did as she said. Ginny was surprised to find a kind of deep sadness in his eyes when she snuck a glace at him. It was the type of sadness that wasn't just the result of one stupid fight.

Ginny held out the contraption in front of her. It was an off white, and looked just like normal cloth except perfectly straight and completely stiff.

"Arms above your head." Ginny said shortly. Draco obeyed and she began to tie it in the back.

"You're going to have to wear this for 24 hours, like Healer Kelley said—" Ginny began in a monotone voice, pulling the strings as tight as possible.

"Listen—" Draco began softly.

"And then they'll give you the counter charm which is a sort of potion injected into your spine—" She continued, talking about absolutely nothing to avoid the problem at hand.

"Ginny, I'm sorry," Draco said quietly as she continued to talk. Ginny stopped suddenly, finished tying the back and got up quickly.

"I'll come back tomorrow to give you the counter charm." She said quickly, heading for the door.

"Ginny, we have to talk about this." Draco said quickly, pulling on his shirt.

"No, we don't." she said firmly, turning around to look at him with her hands crossed tightly across her chest.

"I'm sorry," He said with an honest look on his face. "I didn't mean what I said—"

"Yes, you did, other wise you wouldn't have said it." Ginny said in a knowing tone as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. There was a pause before Draco spoke again.

"Okay, I did mean it." He said, a note of defeat in his tone. Ginny sighed loudly, throwing her hands up in the air as she turned on her heel to leave.

"But only because I was jealous!" Draco yelled, making Ginny's heart stop. She turned around slowly, shock permanently chiseled into her features.

Draco took in a deep, shaky breath, and began to explain.

"Every bloody day during my seventh year, I'd see you walking down the hall with Potter, and it just killed me." he said quietly. "He doesn't deserve you. Not now, not ever."

With each word, Ginny took a step closer to Draco until, without even realizing it, she was sitting at the foot of his bed.

"He's just such a God damn prick, and I can't believe you can't see that." He said, shaking his head. Draco had always thought that everything Harry Potter had gotten, he didn't deserve. He hated that people were so mindless as to flock around the prat just because he was famous. And although he hated Harry because of this, Draco knew that deep down he was purely jealous.

"Me?" Ginny said quietly. "Harry doesn't deserve me? The poor muggle lover who can't even afford her school books?"

Draco lowered his eyes, a sign of shame on his face.

"My father's words, I assure you." He said softly.

"Really?" Ginny asked. "Cause I was damn sure they came from your mouth."

Draco looked up at her, almost glaring.

"You of all people should understand." He said angrily. Ginny looked at him, completely puzzled. "When you're trying to get someone to love you, you do crazy things."

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked.

"You remember the poem, don't you?" Draco asked, smirking. "Or do you need me to remind you?" He cleared his throat. "'His eyes are as green as—'"

"Yes, yes, I remember," Ginny said, flushing as she smiled slightly. "Sadly enough."

"Now, you'd never do that in a sane state, right?" He said with a smirk. "It was just your way of trying to get Potter to like you."

"What does that have to do with you and your father?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrow suspiciously. "You didn't write him a poem, did you?"

"No, no, definitely not." Draco said quickly. "But, in an attempt to get him to accept me, I acted just the way he wanted me to."

"So you acted exactly like him?" Ginny asked, finally understanding.

"Yep. I mean, how could he hate someone who was his exact clone?" Draco said. "And yet, he still found a way to."

"I'm sorry," Ginny said suddenly, her eyes downcast.

"For what?" Draco asked.

"For what I said during the fight."

"What did you say?"

"I don't remember." Ginny sighed truthfully. Draco chuckled a little, making Ginny look up at him desperately. "I'm just... I'm sorry for whatever I did that made your eyes look like that."

"Like what?"

"Like the world's about to end." Ginny said, looking into his eyes and feeling as if she was drowning in their sadness. "Like the world has already ended and you're the only one left."

"That's not your doing," Draco said quietly, staring intently at the blanket he had clutched in his fist. "That's just from years of living my life."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"Having to live in a world where I have to fight to be recognized by my own family isn't the easiest thing in the world." Draco said. Ginny looked up at him as if he'd just muttered her name. "Sometimes it just became too much for me to try and fight for my own father's attention, when it seemed like he never noticed me." he continued honestly. "And school, the one place where I could get away from my family problems, I was immediate labeled and required to live up to the expectations of that image. With my father just waiting to point out more of my faults, I was forced to act exactly how he wanted."

He took a deep breath before saying, "Life just seems like too much to handle when you realize that you're living someone else's life."

Draco, who had been looking down at his hands, finally glanced up at Ginny to find her with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, Irish, come on now," He said softly, surprised to find her openly expressing these emotions in front of him. "Why are you crying?"

"How is it possible," Ginny began, her voice just above a whisper as she looked at Draco. "That two people can be so similar, and not even notice it?"

"What d'you mean?" Draco asked quietly.

"What you just said about living someone else's life, that's me." Ginny said, her voice breaking slightly. "I'm living the life my family wants. I couldn't do anything at Hogwarts without my brothers butting in and stating their opinions about it. I just got so sick of them disapproving of the things that I do, that I just did what they wanted. They tried to picked out what I wore, who I talked to, who I dated—" Ginny stopped quickly, suddenly realizing what she was saying, before beginning to cry even harder.

"Shhh, come on, Irish. It's ok," Draco whispered soothingly, wrapping her in a quick, slightly awkward hug before hold her out at an arms length.

"Come on, now," He said, grinning slightly. "I can't stand seeing you this upset," Ginny smiled slightly, glancing up at Draco. "There we go," he said, holding her chin up.

"Hey, Potter's right," Draco smirked, looking right at Ginny as their faces became closer. "Your eyes do have a bit of green in them."

And before Draco knew what was happening, their faces were even closer, and then he was kissing her cheek, and then she turned her head, and then his lips were on hers. She tasted like watermelon—no, strawberries. And she smelled like wildflowers. And then there was a voice, much too deep to be Ginny's. A man's voice. Healer Kelley.

"Weasley, I thought I made this clear when you first began to work here," he began. Ginny jumped back, a look of pure shock on her face. "The hospital is a place were babies are delivered, not made."

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I am soooo nervous posting this chapter because I know that so many people will have a problem with it. I know y'all are gonna be thinking, "But Ginny didn't date who her brother's wanted in the 5th book!" But I know. I'm trying to say that it was after that year that she got sick of it and did what they wanted.

But you can tell me about anything else that you didn't agree with. Just let me warn you, if you don't want me to go into a full out rant, then don't mention it. Cause I can sooooo prove my point, I just thought it'd be really excessive to explain every. Single. Little. Thing. 'Course that's normally where I have problems—explaining things in the story so people see it the way I do.

ANYWAYS, here's the thank yous to all of my lovely, lovely reviewers.

**Sunflour**: Ooo, you're good! Now, mind you, I'm not saying if Harry is actually cheating on Ginny or not, but you're thinking around the lines that Draco and Ginny are! I never even thought that the green eyes thing could mean he's thinking of another girl, lol. I actually use to think that Ginny's eyes were green (cause of all those damn misleading fics out there!), so I figured maybe Harry's just as stupid as I am.

**The Good Girl**: Oh my gosh, you totally made me freak. I am an unofficial dyslexic, so when I read your review, I kinda skipped over the word 'the' and thought you said my story was shit! I was like, 'noooooooooooooooo!!!'. Thank God I had the mind to read it over again...

**Lily Dwarf**: heehee, I did! I feel like these Fridays are sooooooo far away! I mean, I don't have school yet (Boo-ya Foags and Herbie!!!) so the only thing I have to occupy my time is Dreaded Driving School. But I know once I start school again and all of my Allah awful teachers are back, then the updating Fridays will seem too close with my plethora of homework and essays. Long live summer vaca!!!

**Foags**: Boo-ya!!!...sorry, I just had to say it. No hard feelings, you'll probably end school before me, so you can boo-ya me back then. Plus, I'm taking driving class, and that's worse then school. I mean, would you rather have some fun classes and your friends to hang out with, or a four hour class filled with smelly strangers and animated driving films? Though, my teacher's kinda...interesting. He keeps telling us stories about him getting drunk underage and driving while drunk. I'm like, "Um, dude? Wtf?" Oh, and, by the way, I totally agree with you on the whole Draco-is-hot-and-I-would-shag-him-if-he-wasn't-ya-know-fictional-and-crap thing.

**fcuking cathy**: haha, hooray! Another Harry Hater. Join the club, sister. I think the majority of us can't stand that whinny little brat. I mean, it's like, "Harry, we _know_ Voldemort killed your parents! Give it a rest all ready." Anyways, I promise a Harry appearance soon—the bastard.

**Merit Somnia**: lol, I'm not sure if they have nurse regulations about that certain...activity...or not. I'll have to look into that, heehee. I hope that I'm not having them get close too fast. I do have a problem with rushing things. Like I always have Draco turn good within an instant. There are just so many good things I wanna get to I'm like, "Character development, what's that?"

**Straycat**: lol, I _know_. I just see Harry as one of those mussy-love-note-writing-guys. I suppose that's because I can't stand mushy love notes, and—lo and behold—I can't stand Harry either! What a coincidence... Though I suppose, since I'm including him in my story, I should stick up for Harry a bit. So, yea, he's not such a ::gag:: bad guy. Maybe he's just ::gag:: misunderstood. You know, ::choke:: maybe he didn't know Ginny's eyes color cause he's ::choke:: color-blind... ::dies::

**Herbie**: heehee, like I said to Foags, driving class is _practically_ like school—so we're not that different, you and I....where the hell is that line from...? It's not from Harry Potter...i don't think. Not from Friends, or Will & Grace... or Gilmore Girls...or South Park..... dammit! Where the hell is that line from?!?! I swear to God, Zeus, Allah, and Dumbledore that if you find out where that line is from, I'll give you...er... 500 house points! Seriously. No joke.

**Persephone 4**: ::bows down to you:: Woo-hoo! I finally found someone who likes Igby Goes Down! I showed it to my sister and mom and they were all, "It's...er...different..." And my sister was like, "I don't like any of the characters. They're all stupid and I don't feel bad for any of them." And I was like, "You're not suppose to like some of them." And she like, "good, cause I don't." ::sigh:: anyways, bless you Persephone 4, bless you.

**kneh13**: heehee, thanks! This is what I love about posting new stories—people I know from reviewing my old stories come back! It's like I have a following, or friends—both of which are as unlikely as the next.......er..... anyways......ya.

**Actrez**: In your face! Ha ha! See? I'm not the _only_ person who likes Igby Goes Down—Persephone 4 likes it too! ::sticks out tongue in childish, yet slightly intimidating way:: Ha ha, victory!!! And you know what? I bet I can find people who like Wayne's World too! So butter _that_ and call it a biscuit...... (Side note: I wove you ::big smile::!!!)

**Blatant Discontent**: Hooray! Another person I've forced to watch Igby Goes Down! That's 4 people, now. I hope you like it. I had to watch it a couple times to catch all of what they were saying—plus I had a dictionary nearby cause they've got a vocabulary like no body's business.

**DarkFlower2113**: Oh geez, now I'm feeling the pressure, dude. I mean, there are so many G/D fics—I donno which is the usual—is this the usual—oh crap, it's the usual, isn't it—ah, no!—_panic attack!!!!_................. ok, I'm good now. ::breaths:: I think this is an original story. I hope it is. But, one time, I wrote this story and I'm all, "Go me, I'm so original." And then I posted it and someone reviewed and they're all, "Dude, that's so weird, I wrote a story just like this!" and I was all, "....wha....?" So, let's just hope we don't have another little episode like that.

**Lauren**: Gr, I hate it when computers do that! Mine does that all the time, and I'm all, "Damn technology!" and have been known to break a keyboard or two with slightly harder then necessary hits. I hope that didn't happen to you. You probably don't need anger-management classes though, unlike _someone_... me. And, I suppose Ginny as well. I mean, poor Draco, if he didn't have such lightening fast reflexes from Quidditch, then he would have one nasty scar on his head from that book...hey, he could be the new Harry Potter!

**Orangepenguin**: Hm...I don't think I've ever actually _seen_ an orange penguin....that'd be cool, though. Maybe I could steal one from the zoo and paint it orange. I did that to a hermit crab once—paint it, not steal it. It was cool till my teacher found out and got pissed cause they were _technically_ her crabs. But, ya know, still...

**Wizzabee**: :o) heehee, I love that face. It looks like a clown, or a pig, or...something....why do I keep going off topic? I really do hope you all find this rambling cute and funny instead of annoying and slightly creepy, cause I donno how to make it stop. Maybe I should just stop typing all together...nah.

**WiDz**: I will! And I already told you all about God and Zeus and smiting and swearing, so I won't go over that again. But I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a bit fast—I actually thought it did, so I think everyone else will as well, but I needed to put out the info and have the kiss, otherwise you all are just, like, "Booooooring!" and I don't what that.

**Krispykreme1468**: lol, thanks. I'm so glad your impressed, cause that's way better then being like, "Dude, that sucked," cause then I'm upset and eat a lot and it's just very messy and calorie filled. I'm just happy people don't hate this story, cause as long as you guys don't think I'm the worst writer ever and should be banished to the fiery pits of hell, then I'm good.

**QuirkyWriter**: heehee, right, that screenplay. He screenplay from _hell_. My mom's all, "Write a screenplay with your sister! It'd be like Good Will Hunting!" and I'm all, "Riiiight, cause I can write a story that doesn't have to do with Harry Potter. Sure." So someone suggested I write a screenplay on my Perks story, and I looked at it and was like, "There's no way I could make this a non-HP story." And then I was like, "And, seeing as I based the whole thing on Marian Keyes book, I'm thinking that'd be a law suit I don't wanna deal with." So, as of right now, the screenplay is nonexistent :( But I do have 2 ideas for books I could writer—there's just the little obstacle of actually _writing _them. But I'll get to it...sometime....

....er...Sorry to everyone who I rambled on to about hermit crabs and biscuits. It'll never happen again, I swear...maybe. Anyways, I'm off to find out where mi madre hid the matches so I can toast me some marshmallows. Mmm mmm, good.

_Totally random from the movie I just watched:_

"_I'm from Holland. Isn't that vierd?"—Austin Powers in Goldmember_

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If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)


	4. To Ginevra

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 4: To Ginevra

After a few acidic comments from Healer Kelley simply dripping with sexual innuendos, Ginny bolted from the room like her bum was on fire. Draco just sat in his bed, extremely happy with himself, a smile on his face the entire time as he endured the whole 'you dog!' macho-guy-talk with Kelley.

Finally, Kelley left Draco so he could sleep, dreaming the whole while about none other then Ginny Weasley and her strawberry flavored lips.

* * *

But, after only sleeping for what felt like five minutes, Draco was rudely awakened.

Draco's eyes snapped open, and his heart skipped a beat when he looked at the person who had shaken him awake.

Standing there, looking slightly nervous, was this man who Draco had never seen before. His first instinct was to—obviously—blow this guy to pieces with a simple spell. However, his wand was inconveniently over on the other side of the room by his clothes. But as soon as Draco got a good look at the man, it was obvious he wasn't working for Voldemort.

"What the bloody hell—" Draco began, trying to sit up.

"Shut up," The man said quickly. "I don't have very much time. I'm not really supposed to be in here, I was just sent here by Dumbledore to tell you something." He looked around quickly before whispering, "Voldemort is after you."

"You're out of your bloody mind." Draco said loudly.

"Shh!" The man said, looking around nervously once more. "I'm serious. One of Dumbledore's spies heard Voldemort telling his followers that there was a trader in their inner circle."

"That could be anyone!" Draco said quickly, not wanting to believe that the secret he had fought so hard to keep quiet was now being whispered to the most powerful dark wizard ever.

"Let me finish," the man said quietly. "Voldemort then told Lucius—your father—"

"Unfortunately," Draco muttered.

"—to kill you." The man finished. Draco suddenly became silent. "He told him to, 'correct the mistake you and Narcissa made nineteen years ago.'"

There was a short pause, as Draco tried to find a reason as to why this person couldn't be him.

"You have to leave," the man whispered. "Dumbledore said to leave right away and hide out at the safe house you two had discussed earlier. He will contact you as soon as the situation changes."

"Right," Draco said as the man Disapparated. "Leave as soon as possible. Perfect."

Within less then a few minutes, someone else entered the room, and Draco's mood got even worse.

"Already awake?" Healer Kelley asked. "Well, now's as good a time as any to give you the counter potion."

"What?" Draco asked, his mind on Ginny and the idea of never seeing her again. "Oh, right, the potion...right."

Once Kelley had rid Draco of the damn corset around his stomach that was making it impossible to breath, and gave him the potion, Kelley started saying something, but Draco wasn't listening. He was trying to think of how to break the news to Ginny.

"When'll Irish be around?" Draco asked suddenly, not caring that he was interrupting his Healer.

"Weasley? Probably not for a while." Kelley said casually. "She was just sitting in the break room, gossiping with some other nurses and being useless, so I gave her a bunch of paper work to do. She'll probably be done some time in the afternoon."

Healer Kelley had a sort of smart-ass smile on his face, making Draco want to break his head.

"Anyways, she'll come over here and, once you two are done making googly-eyes at each other, she'll perform a simple charm and you'll be free to go. We'll probably let you out first thing tomorrow." Kelley smiled slyly before saying, "That is, if she gets her head out of the clouds long enough to remember the charm—"

"Why don't you just lay off Irish?" Draco asked angrily. "She's a damn good nurse, and all you ever do is demean her."

"You're just saying that because you're banging her." Kelley said with a smile.

"And you're just saying that because you never will." Draco snapped. "Now kindly take your midlife-crisis-anger somewhere else and bugger off."

Kelley, looking more shocked then anything, slowly backed out of the room.

"Now all that's left before I flee for my life is Irish," Draco sighed.

* * *

Ginny sat in the break room, wanting desperately to rip out all of her hair in frustration as she slaved over the documents in front of her. All she could think about was Draco and that wasn't much help when she was being forced to organize pages and pages about treating dragon burns and what to do when a wizard swallows a fairy—to which Ginny simply muttered, "Commend them on their stupidity, of course."

"Weasley," Kelley said loudly, seeming angrier then usual. "Why do you insist on ignoring your patients?"

"I was just doing the paper work you—" Ginny began.

"I don't want to hear your poorly articulated excuse." He sighed. "Just go perform the charm on Mr. Malfoy so he can kindly get himself killed in the war."

Ginny was simply seething with rage. If her job wasn't at stake, she'd have attacked him at least a hundred times all ready.

But Ginny controlled her anger, taking a few moments before her mind was clear enough to remember what charm he was talking about.

It was the tracking charm. There were a few select patients in the hospital whose whereabouts were very important. It was crucial that these people didn't suddenly get up and leave the hospital because they were either mentally deranged or—say—evil. These were definitely not the kind of people you wanted running loose in society without being medically examined and released first. This is why Ginny put this particular charm on Draco as soon as she realized he was wearing Death Eater clothes.

The charm was simple enough. It was just like the normal tracking charm, except the whereabouts of the patient was displayed on the screen of the beeper of the nurse who takes care of them. Before being released, the nurse performs a counter charm so the tracking charm is disabled. And that was what Ginny was heading down to Draco's room to do.

"You mean he's leaving?" Ginny asked, not believing her ears. "Are you sure we don't need to do a couple more tests? You know, just to make sure."

"Yes, yes, I know this must be very emotional for you." Kelley said sarcastically. "Why don't you give him one last, good shag before he leaves."

Ginny, choosing to ignore this comment, set off toward Draco's room. There were so many things she wanted to tell him before he left, and she nearly ran down the hall in order to see him sooner.

"Now what's this I hear about you leaving?" Ginny asked with a smile as she turned the corner into his room. But she was just talking to herself. No one was in the room and, to Ginny's horror, even Draco's clothes and wand were gone.

She ran up to the bed, which was already made, searching high and low for any sign of him. There was none. Had he been kidnapped? Was that even possible when there was no sign of a struggle?

Ginny sat down on Draco's bed, her mind filled with disbelief and worry. She took the pillow and hugged it to her stomach, trying to make that sinking sensation go away.

But then she noticed something. Underneath the pillow was a book. The same book she'd borrowed from her friend Isabel and used as a weapon against Draco when they'd been fighting about Harry.

Ginny picked it up, running her fingers over the cover. There was a piece of parchment sticking out of the top of the book. She pulled out the folded parchment but didn't recognize the writing that neatly scrolled the words 'To Ginevra.'

Smiling to herself, Ginny opened the note and read;

Irish,

I will never forget the color of your eyes

Or the smell of your skin

For as long as I live.

I'd tell you how much I adore you

(since you, strangely, find that romantic)

But that would take too long.

So let me just say this;

I'll miss you, my beautiful little Irish.

Ginny was just sitting on Draco's bed, hugging her knees to her chest as she read the note over and over again. The only thing that brought her back from this bittersweet world to reality was the growing noise outside. She could hear healers yelling as they got closer.

"He's not breathing," one of them said.

"Someone get this man a room!" another yelled.

"There aren't any left, we'll have to operate out here." The first one argued.

"Clear out one, then!" the second argued back. "If anyone deserves a room, it's Harry Potter."

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Muhahaha! Being on this side of the cliffhanger is fun. I feel superior and—strangely enough—Russian. Speaking of Russians, that Russian gymnast dude _totally_ got gypped. Plus, he was the hottest guy ever—and he was wearing spandex. That's hard to pull off, but he did it flawlessly. I'd give him a 9.8, at least.

ANYWAYS, my lovely, lovely reviewers are even lovelier now! I was so freaked out about posting that last chapter, expecting a lot of, "Ginny wouldn't say that!"'s and stuff like that. But you all were wonderfully kind—so wonderfully kind that I think you all deserve a thank you in Spanish. So, muchos gracias! I am soooooo ready for Spanish 3 this year.

MY WELL ARTICULATED EXCUSE: So, here's why I'm updating 16 minutes after Friday officially ended: because I'm a butt and should be killed by angry hunters... Oh, and cause I just started school—so have mercy!!!!!

**Blatant Discontent**: heehee, you're funny. I know I shouldn't be laughing, cause your hermit crab died and I should be mourning and wearing black and shedding as many tears as I did when Sirius died. But, I just have to say that you had a rather picky hermit crab. Oatmeal-raisin biscuits—that's just priceless. This maketh (heehee) me wonder if, perhaps, he choked on a large piece of oatmeal. That'd be sad. It's a shame I wasn't there when it happened, for—you see—I am certified in the hermit-crab heimlich maneuver.

**Krispykreme1468**: Woot! does the no-constructive-criticism-happy-dance I donno why I was so nervous, but I was like, "Ah hamburgers, everyone's gonna think that Ginny wouldn't do what her brothers told her. I'm gonna get flamed like it's my job." So I read over the chapter at least a ga-gillion times and changed certain things so it explained them better. I'm glad you guys liked it though, cause good reviews give me a chance to try out new moves for my happy dance.

**WiDz**: lol, that's an intriguing question. What _will_ Healer Kelley do to her? Nothing dirty, let's hope. I decided mockery was the thing Kelley would be best at, so that'll be Ginny's punishment for snogging on the job. I'm sure you all wanted him to disappear so the snog-fest may continue. Unfortunately, Kelley's a butt and it's his job to intrude at the most inopportune times.

**fcuking cathy**: I _totally_ agree. It's like, "Hellooo? Harry, Voldemort's killed more then just your parents. That's kinda part of being evil. Ya gotta kill people..." I mean, Harry'd probably throw a hissy-fit if someone else started telling everyone that Voldie killed their partents, cause Lord know _no one_ steals the stoplight from Harry Potter!

**Straycat**: My hero! The CPR you preformed via computer worked! If only I could return the favor of you saving my life. If I hadn't been stuck in the dreaded in-car driving class, I could have been there when you nearly fell to your death at work! Thank God you came out of it alive, with only severe bruises—which, if you think about it, is actually internal bleeding. So that's pretty damn serious! You should get, like, a metal or something for performing a life-saving task while fatally injured.

**Squashes**: The last line just kinda came to me, actually. I guess that's just the way a genius' mind works. ::dramatic sigh:: God, it's difficult being brilliant.... cat call Woo-hoo, hottie! I'm watching the men's diving for the Olympics, and those guys are so cute! Who knew you had to be so ripped to be a diver! They've got nothing on that Russian gymnast, but still... Is it sad that the only reason I watch the Olympics is to see hot guys from around the world? Ah, who cares. God bless the speedo!

**MrS-SiRiUs-BlAck**: You're a Draco/Hermione fan? Neat-o dude, I kinda am too. But I can't stand to read stories about Hermione choosing Draco and Ron being all depressed cause I love my Ronnie! He and Hermione belong together but if Ron decides to be—oh, I donno—gay maybe? Then it's Draco/Hermione all the way!

**s n o g g i n g withdrawal**: Aw, yay, you're so nice! So I feel kinda awkward for mentioning this, but I just can't let it go. I adore your name. I'm sorry, it's an obsession of mine (loving names, not snogging). I actually do have snogging withdrawal. Too much information? Really? Okay, I'll change the topic to men's Olympic diving. Have you _seen_ how tiny their speedos are? How do they keep them on when they dive from so high up? And wouldn't it be soooooo funny if some dude dived and, when he came back up his speedo was, like, on the other side of the pool? Heeheehee.

**codeearthaelitak**: squints Wha...? I've been trying for, like, the last five minutes to de-code your name. Code earth a elitak? No, 'elitak' isn't a word.....gr! I can't figure it out! This is going to bug me until you review again and are all, "wtf?" cause it probably doesn't mean anything and my hours of de-coding are useless..... I need a hobby.

**carmlina**: Woo doggy, those divers have some fine asses....er, sorry. I need to stop watching the men's Olympic diving and focus on answering reviews. ::breaths:: okay, I'm good. So, ya, I'm glad you liked the last part. Healer Kelley is hella-fun to write. I think—Woot! Side-view of a diver's super-tight speedo! Those Ausies are well endowed....

**tommy**: ::deep breath:: I will _not_ start rambling about the men divers on the Olympics I'm watching right now, as I have with everyone else. I will _not_ plague you with comments about speedos and/or totally ripped bods, as I have with so many other poor souls. ::breaths:: ok, focus..... Thank you for your review. Wow, that wasn't as hard as I thought.

**jackson**: heehee, glad you like the nickname. I was debating between the petnames Irish or Red. I figured both would work for Ginny, but Irish just sounded better. Plus, my dad calls me Red, and so that might just be a bit creepy. I'm not really sure why, it just would be.

**Lily Dwarf**: Yours was one of the first reviews that I read for this chapter and I was all, "Thank _Zeus_ someone doesn't think I've horribly butchered the Harry Potter characters." I was just nervous y'all would form a mob of angry, torch-wielding fanfic readers and come bust down my door or something. Which, if you think about it, isn't that farfetched. I myself have been the leader in many angry mobs across fanfiction. Honest.

**Funnykido**: So, we have another reader who thinks that Harry is a dirty, cheating piece of smelly shit? Neat-o. Well, we'll find out soon enough—_or will we_? Muahahaha! I simply love being on this side of the cliffie! Right now I'm actually doing what sounds like the Dr.-Evil-laughter, but isn't due to international copyright laws. Le sigh.

**Stompy-Sanji**: Hola! (I'm practicing my Spanish for the dreaded Spanish 3 classes I must endure this year). Aaaaand, that's about as far as my Spanish vocabulary will take me. I need to ask my teacher how to say 'cliffhanger' in Spanish. Anyways, you find Kelley endearing? Awesome opossum!—er, I mean, cool. He's the bestest to write, and in the next chapter he'll have a slightly larger role, but then he's going bye-bye.

**Lauren**: heehee, glad you liked the last line. Everyone's all, "Gr, Healer Kelley's evil. Funny, but evil." So I was like, "I suppose Draco should put him in his place before he leaves." So I tried, but I'm awful at confrontation, so I donno about it. Anyways, you probably didn't even care about that, but I figured I'd tell you anyway! Don't you feel uber-informed now?

**Kneh13**: Hooray! You loved it! But sooooo _not_ hooray for tying up that phone line. I hate it when that happens. When it happens to me, and my mom's all, "GET OFF THE GOD DAMN COMPUTER!" I just calmly tell her that I'm reading and—seeing as she doesn't believe me when I tell her I'm dyslexic—it takes me longer then normal to read things. Then my sister tells me I'm not dyslexic, I'm just stupid, and that's about the time when fists start to fly.......yay, so, I hope that doesn't happen to you.

**orangepenguin**: CONVERSES ARE THE BEST SHOES EVER!!!!! Expecially orange ones—that's totally cute. I was gonna buy red ones, cause that's my favorite color, but then my one friend who also has them was all, "_Stop copying off of me God damnit!_" And I was like, "Er, dude? Calm the hell down." But she wouldn't and I was sick of her being a butt, so I just bought pink ones. ::sigh:: My life is so complicated.

**Foags**: Ooooo, that random fact is actually quite intriguing (SAT word!) and makes me remember me and my friend having to write a big-ass paper of the China one-child-policy law. That was the most boring 6 hours of my life. Which reminds me, I officially started school on Monday, and have just finished my first week of school. One word: hell. My first day of school I had already gotten yelled at for my clothes, been annoyed beyond belief by this kid in my class who looks like Draco but _so totally isn't_, and managed to trip walking down the hall a total of three times. Damn my new pair of high-heeled flip-flops!

**Quirky Writer**: I do so love giving Draco an angsty past. He just seems like an angsty-past-kinda-person. But I do so hate having his past be boo-hoo-woe-is-me angst, and not the treasured I've-had-a-bad-past-but-I-don't-wanna-talk-about-it-cause-I'm-mysterious-like-that angst. So thanks so much for telling me, cause I hate the boo-hoo angst. That's so Harry. He's all, "Voldemort killed my parents! I'm an orphan! My life is crap!" And I'm like, "Dude, shut _up_ already." So I totally don't want Draco to be like that, so I'll try to change it. Thanks again! You saved Draco's manhood.

**Persephone 4**: Oh. My. Giddygodstrousers. We were soooooo separated at birth. I too laughed my head off when Daniel Radcliffe—bless his cute little heart—totally defined bad acting when he screamed, "HE WAS THEIR FRIEND! I'LL KILL HIM!" I was sinking down in my seat, stuffing my knuckle in my mouth to muffle the laughter, and my friend who is in love with Harry just glared at me. It took me, like, 15 minutes to stop laughing. And whenever I saw Daniel on screen again, I giggled a little.

**Wowurugly**: ::hangs head in shame:: Please forgive me for making you wait! School is ab bitch and gives me minimal time for fanfic. But may I ask a question? Who in their right mind would name their child Nicole if it was a boy? lol, anyways, I am indeed a woman. I've always thought 'Nicole' as a strictly female name, but perhaps it could be unisexual.

**Purus.flere**: ::pouts:: I read your whole fanfic profile and it didn't say anything about your name. So I read it again. And then I went, "Aw, hamburgers," and then I read the thing about the girl who met Rupert Grint and I was all, "No freakin' way, dude. That totally rocks my socks, and if that happened to me I'd just die—but in a good way." And then I remembered I still didn't know your name, so then I said something a little harsher then 'hamburgers,' and my mommy heard and went all, "Profanities are bad!" on me. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that if I don't find out what your name means soon, I might just fall off of my computer chair and plummet 2 feet to my death.

**Cat**: I did

**DarkFlower2113**: ::sigh:: I do have a problem with doing things too quickly. And the weird thing is I don't even realize it until someone mentions it and then I'm all, "Damnit, Nicole, pace yourself, woman!" I don't know why I do it, I think I'm just so excited to get to the next big part that I skip over the little things. It's a sickness. Just like my sickness for having people OOC. Anyways, thanks so much for the constructive criticism. I'll try really hard to draw the scenes out a bit!

**sinful delight**: I'm so glad you like how I portray Ginny! I'm always so worried that I have people out of character—cause I tend to do that. I think I read too many fanfics in which Draco is just misunderstood and Ginny is a bit like Brigit Jones. Anyways, I just read the fourth book again, and am almost done with the fifth so that I can remember the character of both Ginny and Draco, and hopefully everything's hunky-doory.

**Merit Somnia**: heehee, yes, Ginny really does need to learn the rules of the hospital before she starts working there. It goes a little something like this: '1. No popping the patient's pills. 2. No spell casting in the corridors. 3. Don't have the offspring of evil Death Eaters while on the job.' I think that about covers it.

**Sunflour**: Ahhhh, a very good question. Where did I get Healer Kelley's character? Do you watch Scrubs? Well, if you do, I got the character from Dr. Cox. I simply _love_ his blatant sarcasm, and I find him absolutely delicious...in a totally professional way. And I was gonna have Kelley call Ginny girls names, like Cox does to J.D., but Ginny is a girl. So that kinda fell apart. Anyways, I just ended up giving _him_ a girls name.

**Actrez**: Are you kidding me? Violence so totally _is_ amusing! Why do you think I laugh every time Kenny gets killed on South Park? Silly goose. Guess what I'll be doing once I'm done answering these reviews? That's right! I'll _finally_ be reading the chapter of Gin Tonic you sent me! Woot! Oh, and, before I forget, the quote of the day. "You are welcome." "_Am I?!_"

**Herbie**: _I know!!!_ We watched this one video on my first day of drivers ed class, and it was all police video of real accidents, and they were all, "Okay, here's the mutated body right here. Ooo, let's have a close up on that pole going through the guy's head." I actually just looked at my feet the entire movie. And I could hear people going, "Ewwww..." It reminded me of when I went to see Secret Window and I turned my head just when they showed the two guys with screwdrivers through their heads.

**The Good Girl**: Oh, goodness. I am soooo bad at putting people in character. But I'll try! I know he probably (ok, ok. Definitally) wouldn't be that open to Ginny, but I had to find a way for them to bond. Le sigh. Well, anyways, I will go read the rest of book five to remind myself what Draco's character is like—cause, honestly, I don't even remember.

**AandKerock**: I _promise_ to update every Friday. And—I know what you're thinking. "Today isn't Friday, you stupid deuce." And if I explained the whole story about forgetting my spider at school and then going over to a friends house just to watch her practically rape my friend, Zac's boyfriend—then I think you might just get confused. Anyways, here's my excuse for not updating on Friday: It's still Friday _somewhere_. Maybe China, maybe France. I donno, you figure it out.

NOTE: Shout out to my chakita banana, Isabel. She's who I based the character in this story named—well—Isabel. Oh, and Isa? _You stole my story, bitch_.

I apologize for offending, confusing, or scaring any of you with my incessant rambling. It gets rather hard to control when I'm watching men from around the world prancing around in speedos.

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A/N: Sorry so short, I just had to end it there! I'll try to make the next one longer.

If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)


	5. Journey of the Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 5: Journey of the Heart

"Harry?" Ginny whispered, not believing her ears. She quickly stuffed the note back into the book she'd extracted it from and followed the voices that were echoing down the corridor. Before she knew it, Ginny was coming upon a herd of healers all gathered around a levitated stretcher that was moving steadily down the hall.

Ginny ran up beside the healers, trying to look over them and see Harry. Finally, when she was on her tiptoes, Ginny got a small glimpse of him.

He was thinner then she remembered, and so pale. But just when she was noticing that his head had a gash across it, someone roughly grabbed her arm and started pulling her down the hall, away from Harry.

"You standing there, gawking at him isn't going to help," Healer Kelley growled, tightening his grip on Ginny as she struggled to free herself.

"But—but—" Ginny began, digging her heals into the ground to no avail.

Kelley stopped suddenly, turning around and looking at Ginny as he let go of her arm.

"Yes, yes, I know he's Harry Potter." He sighed sarcastically. "It must be so exciting for you. If he weren't unconscious, I'm sure he'd love to sign an autograph."

"No," Ginny said, trying to catch her breath. "I'm his girlfriend."

"Oh," Kelley said. "Then we definitely don't want you around here." He grabbed her arm again and continued to drag her further and further away from Harry.

"Stop!" Ginny yelled, finally able to wiggle herself out of Kelley's grasp with a few well placed slaps.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kelley snapped, rubbing his arm where there was a glowing red mark the shape of Ginny's hand.

"What happened to him?" Ginny asked heatedly, motioning to where Harry and the healers were standing. "Why aren't they doing something? Why are they just standing there arguing?"

"Weasley—" Kelley began.

"You have to do something!" Ginny yelled. "He's dying and they're just standing there—you have to help him!"

"This is exactly why you can't be here right now," Kelley said, grabbing her arm once more and attempting to pull her further away from Harry.

"No!" Ginny screamed, hitting Kelley's chest with her fists. "He can't die—I don't want him to die! I need to talk to him!"

Kelley grabbed both of Ginny's wrists and, as hard as she fought, he was too strong for her. Surrendering, Ginny twisted her wrists free and stumbled back against the wall. Out of no where, she started sobbing, and sank down to the floor, hugging her knees and burying her face.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Ginny sobbed. "I didn't want him to die. That's not why I did it. That's not why I'm doing this."

"You're bloody hysterical, Weasley." Kelley sighed, bending down and picking Ginny up. She turned her head, sinking her face into his shoulder as she continued to cry. "Oh, that's just perfect," he muttered, feeling the tears soak through his shirt as he carried her to the nurses lounge.

Once Ginny had calmed down, Kelley stood over her as she sat looking up at him from her chair.

"You're leaving," Kelley said firmly. "I'm sending you on vacation."

"But I have patients!" Ginny said.

"You can't be around with him here." Kelley said, referring to Harry. Ginny began to protest, but he silenced her. "You're mind won't be on your work. You'll be wondering how Harry is and I will not have you risking our other patient's lives because you're too busy fretting over your boyfriend."

"How long of a vacation?" Ginny asked tentatively.

"As long as it takes," Kelley said, turning to leave. "We have more then enough nurses to go around, so you won't be missed."

"Gee, thanks." Ginny muttered to his back.

* * *

By the end of the day, Ginny was in the changing room emptying out her locker. It had been a while since she'd cleaned it out, and there was now a buildup of old clothes left there out of laziness from the days when she was just too tired to change back out of her scrubs. There were at least six days of clothes in her locker that she was now stuffing into a duffle bag.

"Where are you going?" Came a voice from behind her. Ginny turned around to see Isabel, a fellow nurse, standing there.

"Vacation." Ginny answered simply.

"Lucky." Isabel sighed. "Do you have to book I let you borrow?"

"Oh!" Ginny said, suddenly remembering. Picturing the place where she'd left the book in her mind, Ginny muttered, "Accio book!" and it flew into her hand from Draco's room.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Ginny said, handing Isabel the book and getting back to cleaning out her locker. "It came in handy during a fight."

"No problem," Isabel smiled. "What's this?"

Ginny turned around to find Isabel holding the note Draco had written her. Before she could string together a couple of words, or even try to grab the letter back, Isabel glanced at the note and scoffed, "What kind a name is 'Ginevra'?"

Snatching the letter back, Ginny muttered, "Da Vinci seemed to like it."

And then it started coming back to her. Draco's cottage in the country.

_'It's the only place I can go where no one will find me.'_

That's where he was. That's where he'd gone.

Ginny's first instinct was to Apparate to Draco's cottage right then and there. But with a moment of thought, she remembered that she had no idea where it was. The country was a pretty big place to search for one tiny cottage.

Feeling significantly sadder then before, Ginny continued to pack. After a short conversation about—who else?—Harry Potter and what he was doing in the hospital, Isabel got up to leave.

"Don't forget to give this back to Kelley," Isabel said, grabbing Ginny's beeper off of a nearby table and throwing it at her before leaving.

Ginny, being the butterfingers that she was, dropped the beeper onto the floor. She sighed, cursed silently, and bent down to pick it up. But something caught her eye. On the screen, which should be blank, was an address.

"It must be broken," Ginny muttered to herself, straightening up. But then, with a wave of happiness, Ginny remembered something. She'd never preformed the counter tracking charm on Draco—he'd left before she could. So, on this screen, must be the address of—

"The cottage in the country!" Ginny whispered to herself. Now that she knew where it was, she could Apparate there. The only question was; would he want her there?

* * *

Ginny ran down the hall at full speed, ignoring the disapproving shouts of healers behind her, and only slowed down to throw her beeper at Healer Kelley, missing him by a good five feet.

Finally, Ginny came to a halt in front of the room Isabel had said they placed Harry in. Slowly, she opened the door and peeked in.

Harry was alone in the room, lying in his bed. Ginny slowly approached him, the sight of his unconscious body unsettling. Finally, she was right beside him, so close she could see the fine line that was left from the gash the healers had mended.

"God, I wish you were awake," Ginny sighed. "This would be so much easier to explain in person."

But, since talking to Harry wasn't possible, Ginny had written him a note explaining everything—about Draco, about why she was leaving, and about why she was breaking up with him. It all just felt so wrong—breaking up with someone over a letter. There was a way to do these types of things, and there was a way not to, and this was definitely the way not to. But she had no other choice. She'd always been the type of person who followed their heart, and right now it was telling her that she needed to stop doing what others wanted and finally make a decision for herself.

Before sealing the envelope, Ginny took off the silver heart pendent from around her neck and placed it in along with the letter. She lifted Harry's hand off of his stomach and placed the envelope under it before kissing him on the forehead and Apparating to where she hoped Draco was hiding.

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Ginny appeared, duffle bag in hand, in front of a beautiful stone built cottage. As she looked around at the surroundings, she saw absolutely nothing—save for a few trees and other assorted shrubbery.

As she approached the door, Ginny started getting second thoughts. If Draco was really in there, did he want to see her? He might have just left because he wanted to get away from her, and it wouldn't be the best of surprises to see the person you were trying to escape from at your doorstep.

But, trying to push those negative thoughts to the back of her head, Ginny knocked on the door, her stomach doing flip flops.

Ginny waited, not daring to move, for minutes on end as her hope slowly slipped away and the door stayed unopened.

Finally, right when she was about to Apparate home, the door flew open and there was Draco, pointing his wand right at her heart and a curse on the tip of his tongue.

Ginny screamed, ducking and covering her head just as Draco practically threw his wand at her and harshly whispered, "Shit!"

After recovering from the shock, Draco took a good look at Ginny. She was crouching on the ground with her hands over her head. Draco couldn't help but laugh, which caused Ginny to finally look up and glare at him.

"What the bloody hell are you laughing at?" Ginny asked angrily, pushing Draco out of the way as she made her way into the house.

Clutching his side and trying to control his laughter, Draco gasped, "What were you doing, getting ready for a tornado?"

Ginny placed her duffle bag on the kitchen table and glared at him.

"What do you expect me to do when you're about to curse me to oblivion?" She asked angrily.

"It's just a safety precaution." Draco said defensively.

"How very paranoid of you." Ginny smirked.

"Did you just come here to make fun of my security measures or is there something else?" Draco asked, crossing his arms.

Ginny suddenly felt very out of place and, glancing quickly at her bag, she felt even more awkward. He didn't want her there—that was obvious. What was she going to say?

"How did you find me anyway?" Draco suddenly asked. "I mean, this house is unplottable and—"

"Oh," Ginny said, finally finding a reason for her being there. "You left the hospital before I could perform the counter tracking charm."

"A tracking charm?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's a bit extensive, don't you think?"

"It's just a safety precaution," Ginny smirked.

Ginny preformed the counter charm, taking all of five second, and then continued to stand there in front of Draco, silence engulfing them. The scene could not get any more awkward.

"Well, I suppose I'll go then." Ginny said, reaching for her bag and wishing she'd never came. She felt so stupid just standing there.

"Wait," Draco said, grabbing her bag before she could. "It's... getting dark. You should stay here tonight... just in case."

Ginny smiled, accepting the offer even though they both knew that how dark it was outside wouldn't interfere with the task of her Apparating home.

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Woot! You all rock the hiz-ous cause of the plethora of reviews you guys wrote. As of right now, I have 97 freakin' reviews! That totally rocks my socks, and I'm not even wearing socks.

**Sunflour**: heehee, the way you say it my story sounds like a soap opera—which totally rocks cause All My Children is baller. I felt kinda bad after I read your review, cause I had already written this chapter, and I was all, "Aw crap, I made Harry unconscious when everyone was expecting an amusing/dramatic fight between he and Ginny that may or may not have included an infidelity confession." So, sorry Harry was all knocked out and stuff. I decided, just for you and/or every other person I made believe there'd be a semi-exciting argument, that I'll have Harry appear later—probably near the last chapter. Ooooo, _anticipation!_....kinda.

**Bigsmile737**: muhahahaha! I made you want Ginny to end up with Draco! I feel such power. But, you do know that you're one of us now, don't you? Part of the Fire and Ice posse. The majority of us hate Harry like the Bloods hate the Crips. There are the few, of course, who find Harry's his heroics brave, and smile endearing—but we do not speak of them.

**Kneh13**: Aw, sweet and sentimental is the bestest. Except when it crosses over to cheesy and cliché. That'd be bad. I hope that didn't happen. Especially with the note in the last chapter—that was a tough one. And also Ginny bursting into tears in this chapter. Hopefully she's not crossing over into Cho Chang's territory.

**Wizzabee**: heehee, thank goodness I didn't have Ginny run back to Harry! I totally agree that Harry doesn't deserve her. I only wrote one Ginny/Harry story, and it was just because I wanted Ginny as the main character and I needed someone who was her friend to be her _lov-er_. Ahem. Anyways. So, the cuteness is still there. Though the note part was a tad cold, but I don't think The-Boy-Who-Unfortunately-Lived deserves anything else.

**The police can kiss my ass!:** heeheehee, you're name's funny. I have a strange obsession with original names, which is odd because my fanfic name is boring and not the least bit humorous. If I could, I'd change it to TheSexualHarassmentPanda..... I have issues that may or may not be related to the zillion hours of South Park I've watched.....uh, yea.

**Squashes**: I agree that cliffies, much like a good ass-kickin', totally suck when you're on the receiving end. But, lucky for me, I'm not. Muhahahaha! Of course, you all know what's happened after the cliffie now that I've posted it so, alas, I've lost the power. It was nice while it lasted. I was going to use it for good, once I'd gotten a few 'problems' straightened out.... So, yea, I've lost my thread. I think I'll just leave it there and stare at my computer screen until I become dizzy and fall off my chair....

**Hadhafang**: :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( That's how sad I am that you thought my chiffie was cruel. That's how sad......... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooootttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt That's how much I think you should disregard my last comment. That's how much.

**Merit Somnia**: To his cottage! Draco went to his cottage! I wish I had a cottage in the country. I also wish I had a pony that could fly and made me coca-cola slushies every morning. I think I want the pony more. Those coca-cola slushies are damn fine. Damn fine.

**AnitaBlake/BuffyFan**: There were the last few hospital scenes. Now we're on to Draco's-cottage-in-the-country scenes. It makes me sad to see Healer Kelley go, but it's all good cause I'm the author and I could suddenly have him show up on Draco's doorstep one day if I wanted. I could also make Draco wear a dress and call himself Cathy....but I don't want to do that.

**Fcuking cathy**: Damn you, Harry Potter! ::sigh:: He did indeed come barging in once Draco had Ginny's attention. What a butt. I hate people like that. That's why I made him unconscious. He doesn't deserve to be conscious. You know why? Cause he's a butt. Maybe next time I can have him get eaten by lions or something. Yea. That'd be cool.

**Timra**: Oh dear, do you like Harry? Oh dear. You silly little person. But I suppose I'll forgive you cause I like your name cause I read it and thought it said Tamara, and then I had some sweet, sweet Sister, Sister flashbacks. Man, I use to think that show was so funny. Of course, that was when I was young, naive, and thought that Full House was the best thing on television.

**MrS-SiRiUs-BlAck**: Oh! Oh, bad mental picture! I'm, personally, in love with anything that is Irish and refuse to believe that Seamus could ever have homosexual feelings for our beloved Ronald. Neville, on the other hand.... BTW: You are soooooo good, my friend. Soooo, good. You caught the tracking charm thing! And here's me thinking I'm clever and have successfully created a diversion what with Draco leaving and Harry being unconscious—so much so that people will suddenly forget about the aforementioned tracking charm. But you, my friend, are good.

**Youdon'tknowmyname**: You're right. I don't know your name. That makes me a bit sad. This feels rather impersonal, since I don't know your name. I suppose I could make up a name for you. How's Toby? That's what I named my spider. What about....Dude? I think I'll call you Dude. That's unisexual, right? Ok, Dude. Right, Dude. Whatever, Dude.

**Fancyeyes**: ........ Oh. My. Gosh. I accidentally hit the wrong button, and my computer kinda froze, and then this voice from inside it said, "Asstarisk. Asstarisk. Asstarisk. Asstarisk. Asstarisk. Asstarisk. Asstarisk. Asstarisk." ....I'm not crazy! The computer talked to me, I swear!!!!

**TarynMalfoy88**: Wow, dude, sweet! Is your name really Taryn? That's my sister's name! When I read your review and looked and your name and was all, "cool!" I called my sister and told her and she's all, "No freakin' way," and I'm like, "Way!" We didn't think that anyone else in the world had that name except for Taryn Manning and that one U.S. gymnast. Sooooooo cool.

**QuirkyWriter**: heehee, you make me giggle. It would have totally rocked if Healer Kelley was a spy and poisoned Draco and then, when Draco died, he was all, "Victory!" and did a little dance and made a little love and....got down tonight. That'd just be cool beyond reason.

**Persephone 4**: Someone does hate Harry with a raging vengeance. Me. And, if we're lucky, J.K. Rowling too, cause I would laugh my tiny little arse off if he got killed in the last book. That'd just be sweet beyond reason. Oh, and I must tell you, your name (well, your _fanfic_ name) came up in a convo with my sister yesterday. I said something, and she was all, "That's funny," in a monotone kinda voice and I was all, "Don't make me go Igby Goes Down on you," and she was all, "Whaaaa?" and I screamed, "No one understands me!...Except for Persephone 4!"....So, yea, either you're relatively honored, or totally weird out. But I'm hoping more for slight confusion.

**Ashley**: Aw, I made you cry with Draco's note? _Victory!_....just kidding. I'd never be happy in making a fellow junior cry. Unless he was a certain someone in my school who reminds me of Malfoy _but so totally isn't!_ His name is Jerry. He pulls my pigtails and calls me names. Except I don't wear pigtails, so he just calls me names....anyways, onto happier subjects. SPANISH! Heehee, right. I hate that damn language. I took Spanish 1 twice, and I still have no idea what those people are going on about on the Spanish channel.

**Sinful delight**: Heehee, yea. I just found out, like, a day before I started writing this story that Ginny's actual name was Ginevra. My world stopped turning, and I started questioning my existence. So, after cursing J. K. Rowling for hiding such a valuable secret from me, I decided to tell the rest of the world that Ginny's actual name is, in fact, Ginevra. The problem? It seems everyone already knows. ::sigh:: I'm always the last to find out.

**Actrez**: Aw, the one where Monica gets Chandler a hooker. I love that episode! Thank to gods that the Joey show is funny—it gives me my much needed Friends fix. And I loved it when Joey's sister tells him that she thought he and Chandler should have moved out to LA long ago, cause it was a big spot for gay people, and he yells, "Chandler and I are not a gay couple!" heehee, so good.

**Confused by happy**: Noooooo! I'm so sorry my cliffie made you sneeze. Please don't sue! Then I'll be poor and have to put a warning on all of my chapters with chiffies that says, "Reading this chapter may cause sneezing and/or the sniffles. Consult your doctor before reading.".... oh, and, BTW, the Olympics is over. I'm just a dork and tape it and watch it later. ::hangs head:: Feel free to throw things at me.

**Lauren**: I'm glad that you agree with my on the Russian guy's attractiveness. It shows that you are both intelligent and have impeccable taste. Brava. It also means that you have my personal permission to smite down anyone whom opposes our opinions with the power I have now bestowed upon you. Use it well.

**DarkFlower2113**: Aren't those just the best days? It's been so long since I've spent a day reading fanfic and loved every single one of them. ::sigh:: why, I remember when I use to simply close my eyes and click on the first story my mouse landed on, and I knew full well that it would contain just the write amount of romance with just a touch of humor. And then _they_ came along. You know who I'm talking about. Those _people_ who were beaten to death with a cliché stick, and now have it permanently imprinted in their brain. Their the ones who wouldn't know humor if it danced naked in front of them wearing Dobby's tea cozy. That's right, _they_ are all that's wrong with the world.

**Dracosbaby**: Oh, don't you worry. This is a Nicole11 fic. The couples _always_ end up together in the end. I actually considered writing a story about Draco and Ginny where they didn't end up together in the end, but I didn't have the heart to write it. I just can't stand not having a happy ending!

**WiDz**: Oh gods, you care about Harry too? What's with all the sympathy, people?! Harry allegedly cheated on poor, defenseless Ginny. He also yells a lot and is in serious need of some uppers. It's just angst, angst, angst with that kid. Voldemort killed his parents, he saw Cedric die, it's his fault Sirius is dead—I mean, shut up, Harry! How about looking for the silver lining once in a while?

**Straycat**: Damn, you wrote me a novel! I credit the use of 'hamburgers' instead of 'shit' to Butters from South Park. Man, I just love that kid. And brava for catching the Friends reference! I love that episode—and Ross goes to find that one girl that Pheobe works with to see if she knows and she just says, "You did a bad thing. Very bad. Very very bad." ::sigh:: how I miss my Friends. But, we still have the show Joey—which, for a spinoff (which are always dull and dreadfully disappointing) was so splendidly funny I actually laughed out loud. Be proud, Joey, be proud.

**Sweetcaroline3313**: Oh crap, 10 minutes and counting till Friday is officially over. I seem to do this a lot—racing the clock so I actually update on time. If I could, I'd steal a timeturner from Dumbledore's office and turn back time so I could finish writing thank yous and still have it be Friday. But, alas, that is impossible, for you see, stealing is illegal.

**The Good Girl**: Have you seen the movie The Good Girl? Oh, how I love Jake Gyllenhaal. And, oh, how I love Jennifer Aniston. I love some other people in that movie too, but not enough to actually remember how to spell their names.

**Blatant Discontent**: Oh thank the gods. I'm happy you were in the mood for angst, cause I hate it when I'm reading something and I'm a couple chapters in and I'm all, "Yay! I love story! How I love love stories!" and then someone important dies or something equally angsty happens and I'm all caught off guard and my happy-love-story mood is gone and is replaced by a giant hole in which all things that are evil and sad procreate....so, yea, glad your mood was angsty, cause the black hole's just no fun.

**Herbie**: heehee, your review made me laugh. It was like you pressed send before you wanted to and couldn't finish what you were saying before it was sent. That has happened to me numerous times. It makes me hit my keyboard and many a letter fly off. I hope that didn't happen to you. Oh, and Spanish 3 so totally does not rule. My teacher won't let us speak English in his class room so I'm all, "Yo no understand...o." I am soooooo totally failing.

I apologize to all who received frighteningly strange thank yous. It is officially midnight, and I'm trying to hold back the angry mob of fanfic readers and type at the same time. Not an easy task. Anyways, I leave you with this:

"_Animal crackers in my soup. Monkeys and rabbits, loop-di-loop." _

Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about obviously don't know about a little girl with curly hair who acts, sings, _and_ dances. Shame on you.

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If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)


	6. The Naked Truth

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 6: The Naked Truth

Draco couldn't believe what he'd just said. How could he let his heart get involved when it was his head he needed to use? He wanted to see Ginny, but risking her life to do so when she wasn't even aware of it wasn't the answer. If the Death Eaters found him, they wouldn't spare Ginny's life just because they'd only been planning to kill one person that day.

Draco knew what the right thing to do was. He had to tell Ginny to leave. And he was planning to too. It was just...every time he saw her, the thought of her being in danger vanished and all he could think about was how happy he was to see her again and he couldn't remember why he'd left in the first place.

So, having her stay one night turned into two, and then three, and then a whole week had gone by without any intent of having her leave.

But, no matter how happy Draco was to see Ginny, he knew he couldn't get to close to her. It would only make leaving her that much harder. And it was obvious he'd have to leave sometime. Even if he didn't leave, she would. After all, as far as he knew Ginny was still shacking up with Potter, and how could he compete with The-Boy-Who-Lived?

* * *

After nearly a week of living in the cottage, Ginny stumbled downstairs at the same time she did every morning; eleven o'clock. You could set your watch by her.

"Afternoon, Irish," Draco smirked, not bothering to look up from the Daily Prophet he was reading.

But instead of her usual, singsongy greeting, Ginny stood at the foot of the stairs, staring at Draco before saying, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Draco glanced up at her and noticed what she was staring at. The cigarette in his hand.

It was a bad habit Draco had picked up years ago, and had only recently picked it up again to deal with the constant stress of basically being a dead man in the eyes of every dark wizard.

"Oh, honestly Irish, not this cancer talk again," Draco sighed, putting out the offending fag in a nearby ashtray.

"Well you _will_ get cancer, and so will I," Ginny said in a very maternal tone, her hands on her hips. "And you don't want me dead, do you?"

"That wouldn't be a total loss." Draco muttered, quickly hiding behind his newspaper as Ginny glared daggers his way.

Giving up on her mission for a tobacco free Draco, Ginny sat down at the kitchen table and grabbed a piece of toast. After nibbling on it thoughtfully, she finally said, "You know, I've been here for a while, and I still haven't seen this art collection you were raving about."

"I wouldn't call it 'raving'," Draco remarked thoughtfully. "Just... humbly commenting."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms.

"Fine, follow me." Draco sighed, abandoning his paper and grabbing her hand. He drug her up the stairs, past his room, the bathroom, her room, and finally to the end of the hall where there were no other doors.

"And...this is the art collection...?" Ginny asked, gesturing to the plain, light blue walls and a window.

Draco sighed again, motioning up at the ceiling. There was a trapdoor, practically invisible if it wasn't pointed out. As soon as Ginny looked at it, the door opened up and a wooden ladder descended to the ground.

"So, you have your art in a hidden trap door. This is—what?—just another safety precaution?" Ginny teased as they both climbed the ladder.

Draco chose to ignore her, and she was quickly silenced once she got a good look at the room. It looked like any other attic, with a wooden floor and an inclined roof. But what was different with this attic was that there were paintings scattered everywhere—leaning up against the walls, laying on the floor, and one propped up on a wooden easel. This painting was what really caught her attention.

Taking a few steps closer, Ginny turned back to Draco and pointed wordlessly toward it.

"That's my sad attempt at copying the Ginevra de Benci." Draco said, blushing slightly and running his hand through his hair.

Ginny had never seen the real Ginevra de Benci, but she was pretty sure this was dead on. It was a woman sitting in front of a bunch of trees, shown from the chest up. Her brown hair was pinned back, millions of tiny curls framing her oval face.

Ginny leaned back, a thoughtful look on her face, before finally saying, "Is she suppose to look so angry?"

It was true. Whoever this Ginevra chick was, she didn't seem to like having to sit and be painted.

"That's the one thing I got right," Draco said. "Apparently, it's her wedding painting and she wasn't very happy about marrying someone three times her age."

Ginny smiled, looking around at the other paintings. There were more by da Vinci, van Gogh, and Picasso. But there were a few she didn't recognize. Draco noticed her studying these paintings and began to explain, but Ginny cut him off.

"I always saw you sketching in St. Mungo's, but I never knew you were actually talented." She said, looking at all of the pictures in amazement.

"I already had so many paintings, I figured; why not add a few by myself?" Draco shrugged.

"By yourself and _of_ yourself." Ginny commented, glancing at a number of sketches of Draco.

"I was working on portraits, who else am I suppose to paint in the middle of no where?" Draco asked, gesturing around as his face reddened.

"You could paint me." Ginny said, turning around to look at him and smiling. "It'll give you a reason to look at someone besides yourself for a bit."

Draco's eyes widened slightly, and he tried to hide a grin as he said, "I am very insulted."

"Good," Ginny smirked. "Now will you get over your obvious obsession with yourself and paint me?"

"I paint humans, Irish," Draco said seriously. "Not Satan's offspring."

Ginny rolled her eyes as he added, "Besides, I'm not sure I can fit both your big head and your devil horns on one canvas."

* * *

"Weasley!" Draco yelled up the stairs the next morning.

Ginny came stumbling down them as usual, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"You're calling me 'Weasley'? What'd I do now?" She asked in a bored voice.

"Weasley, what did you do with my cigarettes?" he asked angrily. Ginny's tired eyes widened in surprise.

"What makes you think I did something with them?" she asked innocently.

"Because you're the one who's flying the tobacco-free banner around here." Draco growled.

"Only because they're bad for you!" Ginny said defensively.

"I _knew_ you took them!" Draco shouted triumphantly.

"It's not like you'll die without them," Ginny muttered.

"I won't die, but I can't promise that someone else won't," Draco shot back, glaring at her.

"Fine, you want them back?" Ginny asked angrily, going to the cupboard and pulling something out. "Here," she said, shoving what could only be a lollypop into his hand.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Draco asked.

"It's a sucker, you ignorant prat." Ginny hissed. "You can put that in your mouth instead of a cigarette."

"Unless its nicotine flavored, don't count on it." Draco muttered angrily.

* * *

Draco searched the house from top to bottom, looking for his beloved cigarettes. Didn't she understand that he was stressed beyond belief and needed something to calm his nerves? That 'something' being, of course, his cancer giving friends.

Ginny came back from a day of shopping (for clothes, mostly, since the only ones she had had been sitting in a hospital locker for centuries and had developed a strange odor that wouldn't go away), to find a peculiar sight at the kitchen table.

Draco was slouching in a chair, his arms crossed calmly on the table. There was a disgruntled look on his face as his eyes stared down at a lollipop stick in his mouth. The strange thing was that the end of the stick was slightly burnt.

"...Do I want to know?" Ginny asked, pulling the stick out of his mouth and examining it closer.

"I mistook it for a cigarette." Draco muttered, his face like stone.

"...because you're crazy...?" Ginny offered kindly.

"Because I'm becoming bloody delirious from withdrawal!" Draco yelled angrily, glaring slightly up at Ginny.

"Look, if you want your cancer sticks back, just say so." Ginny said, crossing her arms.

"I want my cancer sticks back." Draco said desperately.

"No," she said.

"But you just said—"

"I'm going to go take a bath," Ginny said lazily, laying the burnt lollipop stick in front of Draco. "can I trust that you won't light anything else on fire while I'm gone?"

Draco glared at her smirking face and pouted childishly.

Ginny grabbed his lighter from the table, shouting, "Just in case!" over her shoulder as she started up the stairs, two at a time.

* * *

Draco sat at the table, still looking quite perturbed, for a while. How could she be so cruel? What had he ever done to make her take away his only means of stress relief? I mean, sure, he wasn't exactly _pleasant_ to her back at school. He'd called her a few—rather creative, in his opinion—names, mocked her family, and wasn't particularly hospitable toward her friends, but, really, that was all in the past now!

He'd been nothing but wonderful toward her ever since she'd come to his cottage. Given, that was only a week, but that's longer then he'd ever been nice to someone before.

There was something extraordinary about this little Weasley. She had a strange effect on him—sort of like a memory charm. Whenever she was present, he forgot about the things he'd been worrying about, and the reasons why.

She also, when wearing or saying the right thing, made him blush. Now, for most people this is completely common, but not for a Malfoy. Blushing or being flustered in any way was a big no-no according to the Malfoy Creed. And just because he'd betrayed his family by becoming a double agent, and was probably disowned by now, didn't mean he would disregard the rules he'd been brought up on. Well, except for the one that read: Thou shalt never be anything but hostile toward muggle-lovers—lest they be of a higher station then thou (i.e. Ministry of Magic).

Draco's train of thought was interrupted by a strange sound. Well, to be fair, it was more pleasant rather then strange. It was music. The only reason it was peculiar at all was because Draco had no idea where it was coming from.

Almost cautiously, Draco got up from his seat and followed the sound of the music. He walked up the stairs, paying more attention to the music then where he was going. As he walked along the hall, Draco could hear that there was more then music, there was singing—a pure, almost raspy at times, voice that went perfectly with the strong piano music in the background.

Draco finally reached the door where the music was coming from, and pressed his ear up against it. He could now, just distantly, hear another voice. It was singing along with the lyrics of the song, seeming to be singing the words a quarter of a beat late—almost too lazy to catch up.

Draco knocked on the door twice, waiting for a response. But it seemed the music was too loud for the person inside to hear. So, very cautiously, he opened the door just enough to stick his head in. What he saw made his mouth drop.

Ginny was lying, naked, in a bathtub filled with steaming water. She was singing along, naked, to music that seemed to be coming from no where. And, her naked arm was resting against the side of the tub with a wand in her hand. She seemed to be conducting, naked, to the music, and Draco had a hunch that that was where the music was coming from. And, she was naked.

Draco's eyes were as wide as they could go as he watched Ginny's pale breast bob up and down with each breath. Her head was leaned back, resting against the edge of the tub, and her eyes were closed as she sang along with the music. Draco watched as Ginny lifted her hand out of the water to brush a stray curl from her face. Her skin seemed to be steaming when it emerged from the water, and Draco couldn't help but notice how her breast lifted up out of the water when she raised her arm like that.

Suddenly, before Draco could move, Ginny's eyes shot open and her head snapped in his direction. She must have felt his eyes on her.

Draco stood there, rooted on the spot, too shocked to move. Ginny, on the other hand, dropped her wand in the water as she attempted to cover up every inch of her body. Which, truth be told, was quite a difficult task. She ended up overbalancing and falling completely into the water, arms and legs flailing.

While her head was submerged, Draco got the feeling back in his legs and was able to slowly slip away, closing the door behind him.

Draco was beginning to walk away at a rather quick pace, but he wasn't fast enough. After a series of splashes and swearing, the bathroom door was wrenched open by an extremely wet—and rather red in the face—Weasley. Luckily, she had thrown on a bathrobe. Draco braced himself and turned around; plastering the most innocent smile he could muster on his face.

"Irish, babe, how are you?" He asked, laying it on thick.

Ginny took a few calming breaths, but her face just turned from red to scarlet.

"I'm going to say something that I didn't think I'd have to clarify," she said calmly. "Don't walk into the bathroom when someone else is in there!"

"I—I forgot it was the bathroom," Draco said truthfully.

"Oh, that's rich," Ginny said, putting her hands on her hips. This swift movement caused her robe to open a bit, revealing nearly half of her left breast. Draco couldn't help but let his eyes wander, and he noticed that flush from her face had traveled downward. But his gaze quickly went back to Ginny's face when she realized where he was looking and angrily crossed her arms over her chest.

"What makes you think you have the right to walk in on me _naked_?!" Ginny yelled.

"Honest, Ginny, I had no idea you were naked." Draco said, trying to calm her down.

Ginny glared at him, shaking back her wet hair in annoyance as it clung to her face. A single drop of water fell from a strand of her ginger locks and traveled down her chest, leaving a ghost trail in its wake.

"Draco!" Ginny yelled. His head snapped up so fast he could hear it crack. Damn it, he'd been staring at her chest again, and she looked angry.

"Wha?" was all that Draco could say.

"I asked you how long you'd been standing there." She said through gritted teeth.

Angry really was a good look on her. She was all flustered and glaring and wet—bloody hell, Draco, _focus_!

"I—uh—not long!" Draco said quickly, stumbling over his words as her glare increased. "Ginny, honest, I didn't mean to just stand there. It just...surprised me."

Ginny still looked angry beyond words, but, in vain, she tried to speak.

"I—you—you can't just—ARG!" she yelled, seeming too enraged to form complete sentences. Finally, throwing her hand up, and unintentionally revealing more of her chest to Draco, she yelled, "I'm going to bed!" and pushed past him, slamming the door to her room with a snap.

Draco rubbed the back of his neck in thought. He was definitely in some deep shit. Not just because Ginny was angry with him, but because now he knew that his plan to stay strictly friends with her was out the window.

* * *

Ahhh! School is eating me alive!!!!

::ahem:: sorry. But school _is_ eating me alive. I have two essays to write, and a chapter of ::snore:: history to read, and so many things I think my head will explode! But I'm sure you all don't want to hear this.

Anyways, I muchos luffos all of yous guys, but I have some bad news. Well, it might be good news if you think my rambling is annoying. So, yea, school has magically made my me-time disappear, so I have to cut down the thank yous to my LOVERLY reviews to, like, a sentence. It's tearing me apart, but if I write you each a lovely, lovely paragraph, then I won't have time to write my History paper, and my teacher will kick my tiny little ass. And he's a pretty big dude, so, yea.

**Krispykreme1468**: heehee, 'cute' and 'aw' are the bestest compliments. And, totally off topic, but me gusta mucho Krispy Kreme. Now I want glazed doughnut. With sprinkles. And pie...

**Gin**: Harry annoys me a lot too. Welcome to the club. It's called the I Hate Harry Cause He's a Whinny Dumb-Ass Club. Not very creative, but that doesn't make us hate him any less.

**QuirkyWriter**: Thank _Zeus_ you think this story has unexpected twists. I hate being predictable. Did you know that Draco would see Ginny naked this early in the story? _Huzzah! Unpredictable!!!_

**TarynMalfoy88**: Ah, Taryn. Taryn, Taryn, Taryn. I already feel like I know you so well, just because of your name. You don't happen to be an actress, live in LA, and have a Bengal Tiger living in your apartment, do you? No, I suppose that's just _my_ Taryn. Le sigh.

**Alee710**: heehee, scenarios are fun. Did you think up the scenario of the author giving her own little 'don't smoke, damnit!' speech and then tying it all up with some good, clean nudity? No, I suppose not.

**Actrez**: heehee, nekkid. Heehee. That's the bestest word _ever_. It reminds me of our southern side of the family. They butcher words like nobody's business. Naked, wash, milk—when will the madness stop?!

**Bigsmile737**: Yea, I never liked Harry to begin with. I'm like, "Dude, what's with the hostility towards my loverly Draco?" Then he threw that 'Potter Stinks' button at Ron's head, and that was the point when I gave up all hope and began to hate him with a seeeeeeeething passion.

**Sunflour**: Yea, my mom's addicted to 7th Heaven. Luckily, that's on when I'm at school, so I don't have to suffer though it. Same with Dawson's Creek. So, when I'm sitting through my evil, evil Algebra classes and dying of boredom, I remember that I could either be here, or at home watching those cheesy happy endings. ::shiver::

**Fcuking cathy**: heehee, have you ever read the poem called 'Die Potter Die'? It's in the story Diaries of a Dungeon Dwelling Moron. Tis funny. Why am I plugging other people's stories like it's my job? We may never know...

**Purus.flere**: Finally! I know what your name means! Feels good. I wish I had an oober-cool name like you. I was thinking of changing it—but I'm too lazy to think up an oober-cool name. Le sigh.

**Foags**: lol, well, you know some of what happened while Ginny was there. Tis pretty racy—so who knows what'll happen next? Something dirty, let's hope. Muhahaha, only I know. I feel the power!!!

**Prexus**: No freakin' way! I had an American Girl doll too—well, almost. I saved up my money to by the Molly one, but then I went to the toy store and bought this cheap-ass Babysiters Club doll. Big time rip off. If I could do it again, I'd get the red-headed American Girl doll. Which one did you have?

**Mo the Deatheater**: heehee, yea, even though I'm all "Tobacco is bad, damnit!" I too think that Draco with a cigarette in his mouth is _damn _fine. Sure, maybe he'll die of lung cancer in his thirties, but we'll solve that problem when we come to it...

**Evilkitty51**: Woot! You are the man/woman! Shirley Temple indeed. My sister kinda looks like her. But _no one_ can dance/sing/act like Shirley.

**ginevraXmalfoy**: Oh, no, please go on. "A slow, painful, and drawn out death..." That just sounds peachy-keen to me! Maybe cut off Harry's legs and chop them into tiny pieces with a rusty saw. And then mix it into a bowl of chili and make him eat it. Yummy...

**Skanky Gryffindork**: heehee, I'm watching South Park right now!!! It's the one where Cartman drinks Kenny's ashes. Sooooo good. By the way, I like your name. Tis mucho funny. Gryffindors can be skans too, god damnit!

**Whooch**: I'm so happy you guys think this story is new and refreshing. I was so scared there'd be a gillion other stories just like this. Thank God something I wrote was original.

**WiDz**: You care about Harry? Silly person. Don't worry, though, I won't kill him...yet. Muhahaha!

**Persephone 4**: heehee, I like what I'm hearing. J.K. Rowling really needs to consult with us before deciding who to kill off. I mean, honestly, who has a better idea of which character is loved (Draco!) and which isn't (Harry!)?

**Brokentoy19**: lol, yea, Draco and Ginny living in close quarters is going to be oober-fun to write. Already we have nudity, what next? Something dirty, let's hope.

**Sinful delight**: heehee, Ginny's breakup letter was cruel—and that's the way I like it. I _loathe_ Harry. He's a smelly butt—I just like Draco better. Alls well.

**Blatant Discontent**: lol, no silly, not Curly Temple. Learn your entertainment! I hope you liked this chapter. Personally, I didn't, but alls well.

**Kneh13**: Thank God! Attention everyone: Ginny is not in Cho territory—repeat, she is not in Cho territory. It's all good, people, it's all good.

**Dracosbaby7**: I know, I wish I was Ginny right now too. Besides the whole having-to-go-out-with-Harry-for-a-bit thing, she has it made.

**Jay jay the jet plane**: heehee, it seems possible? Cool! Yea, I've read a couple of weird ones too. Something about Draco turning to a baby and Ginny taking care of him.... yea. Pretty damn weird.

**Lauren**: lol, don't worry. I don't kill Harry. I'm not _that _mean! Sorry I made you cry though—although I guess that's a good thing. Well, not good as in I'm happy you cried (definitely not!) but good as in that means I wrote it believably....that is so not a word.

**The Good Girl**: Yea, that movie did kick some major ass. It was so sad, though. And I was all, "No Jennifer Aniston! Don't do it! Don't make it angsty! Be funny—like Rachel Green. Channel Rachel Green!"

**WantingGravity**: omg, I love the Simpsons too! But—alas—I love South Park more. I suppose it's just that I get enough of the whole animated family scene with the Simpsons and Family Guy, and I just needed a couple of fourth graders killing Kenny and swearing their asses off. Le sigh.

**Timra**: lol, yea, Harry kinda is like Ginny's brother. Ewww, incest!!!! Bad mental image!!! Must...poke...out...own...eyes...

**Hadhafang**: haha, yea, I'd take Draco and Ginny over that dumbass Harry any day. ::tear:: no more Healer Kelley cause no more hospital. But fear not! Draco is still here, and he's hotter then ever!!!

**AnitaBlake/Buffyfan**: Yea, I loved writing long, inarticulate reviews. But, alas, school has once again taken over my life and I'm left with only enough time to say this: ::peppy smile:: Thanks for your review!

**Straycat**: Oh my freakin' gosh! I JUST watched the one about a lord of the rings video that turns out to be porn! And I loved the part where some other kids were playing Harry Potter, and Cartman called them stupid pansies. Heehee, we _are_ stupid pansies. And damn proud!

**Herbie**: "Yo no comprendo." Of course! Muchos gracias. Yo hablo un poco espanol. Mi espanol.... how do you say 'sucks ass' in Spanish?

NOTE DAMMIT!: Um, yea, hi. So, thanks to _everyone_ who's reviewed and read my story so far, cause y'all rock more then my socks. You also rock my shoes and my coat and my hand puppet Mr. Hanky. ::sigh:: Oh, I how I love South Park....um, I've lost my thread.... anways, thanks muchos!!!!!

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If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)


	7. Angry Kisses

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 7: Angry Kisses

Draco sat at the kitchen table, eating a piece of toast with one hand and holding up the Daily Prophet with the other. He was scanning the front page for news on the war, but, of course, it only gave very vague details, nothing that was of importance to Draco.

He placed the newspaper back on the table with annoyance, only to find a small creature, still in her pajamas, staring straight at him. She looked away too quickly for him to see what emotion was on her face—hate or loathing. After last night, he guessed it'd be the latter.

"Morning Irish," he said, watching her with a small smile as she headed toward the refrigerator. "Is it eleven o'clock already?"

"Back to 'Irish' again, are we?" Ginny asked casually, searching the fridge for food.

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, during the fight last night it was all, 'Ginny' this and 'Ginny' that." She said over her shoulder, nearly climbing inside of the refrigerator as she looked for something appetizing.

"Well, it didn't seem like the appropriate place for a pet name," Draco said, offhand. Hoping to warm up her cold shoulder, he added, "Which, by the way, you still have none for me."

"Well," Ginny said thoughtfully, finally pulling her head out of the fridge to look at him. "I've spent many frivolous hours searching for one, but 'Lucifer' was already taken and 'annoying little prick' just didn't seem creative enough."

"Well, I'm sure all of your hard work will pay off soon enough," Draco said, finally succeeding in making her grin.

"By the way, are you aware that there is no fruit located anywhere in this house?" Ginny asked suddenly, seeming to deem the pet-name subject closed.

"No, actually, I wasn't." Draco said, watching with a smirk as she walked over, snatched the half-eaten piece of toast out of his hand and began to chew on it smugly. "Silly me, I must have been too busy fighting the biggest war in wizard history to pop by the store and pick up a few apples." He said sarcastically. "My deepest apologies."

"No need to apologize, just make sure it doesn't happen again." Ginny said properly, not being able to help the grin that was sneaking onto her lips. Finally dropping the act, she said, "Anyway, I'll pick up some groceries when I go out later today. Want to come?"

"And destroy my reputation as a hermit? Never." Draco said, deciding it wouldn't exactly be appropriate to bring up the fact that he couldn't go gallivanting around because a number of dark wizard were out to kill him just then. No, he'd save that conversation for another day.

So, abandoning the seemingly useless Daily Prophet, Draco began to walk back upstairs to take a shower. But not before calling over his shoulder, "Besides, I have better things to do."

"Like what?" Ginny called after him, smiling.

"I donno, but I'll think of something!" He called back from the top of the stairs.

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Ginny returned home less then a half hour later, her arms full of groceries. She dumped them on the kitchen counter and looked around briefly for Draco. He was no where in site and, at the sound of water running upstairs, was probably still taking a shower.

Ginny began to put the groceries away, her stomach rumbling quietly. Finally, picking up a container of strawberries, she decided to have a quick snack. Bringing a handful of strawberries over to the sink, she began to wash and cut them in half.

Letting her mind wander, Ginny started thinking about why exactly she was still staying with Draco. She'd intentionally had the fairy tale idea that she'd find him, and they'd live happily ever after. This, of course, was completely juvenile and she had no idea why she ever thought that was a realistic idea.

Her heart dropping a little, Ginny realized that, ever since she'd arrived at the cottage, it had been like the kiss in the hospital never happened. They acted like friends, which was quite a step from her days at Hogwarts, but nothing more. It broke her heart to admit it, but maybe Draco just didn't feel the same way she—

"Ow!" Ginny yelled out in pain as the knife she was using to cut the strawberries sliced into her hand. Letting out a little whimper, she dropped the knife and hugged her injured hand close to her chest, trying to stop the bleeding. She sat down against the wall, feeling a little dizzy, and cursed herself for not paying better attention.

"Gin?" came Draco's voice. Ginny looked up and saw him standing on the stairs, leaning against the banister to get a better look at her. It seemed that he had been in the middle of getting dressed, wearing just an undershirt and a towel around his waist, his hair still wet.

"Merlin, Irish, what'd you do?" he asked, walking over and kneeling down next to her. He gently grabbed her wrist and forced her to open her hand so he could get a better look at the cut.

"It's nothing, just clumsiness." Ginny said, blushing slightly, watching Draco with his face inches from the cut, examining it closer.

"We need something to stop the bleeding." He said to himself, looking quickly around for a cloth. Finding none, his eyes slowly traveled down to what was wrapped around his waist.

There was a slight pause where they both looked at the towel, then Ginny's hand, and then back at the towel again.

"You could use your shirt!" Ginny said quickly, relieved to find a blood-stopping alternative.

Draco glanced at his shirt before looking up at Ginny with a hesitant expression.

"But..." he said, blushing slightly. "I like this shirt..."

Ginny sighed, rolling her eyes. "Do you _want_ me to see your junk?" she asked wildly, motioning toward said junk with her uninjured hand.

"Right," Draco said quickly, taking off his shirt with one swift motion.

Ginny tried not to let her eyes wander, and instead focused intently on her hand as Draco ripped his shirt into strips and wrapped them around it tightly. Once it was secured, Ginny tried to pull her hand away, but he kept a strong grip on it. She looked up, shocked to find Draco's face inches from hers with a determined look in his eyes. Ginny stared back, looking scared.

She quickly looked away, glancing back at her bandaged, where his hand still was. Trying to start a conversation so he'd stop looking at her like that, Ginny said, "I never knew you were into muggle remedies."

"...what?" Draco asked, seeming to have just been shaken out of a dream.

"I mean, most wizards would just fix it with a healing spell. Especially a wizard from your family." She said lightly.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Draco asked, looking hurt. Ginny refused to look at him.

"Well the Malfoy's aren't exactly famous for being muggle-lovers." Ginny said coldly.

"You're right—that'd be the Weasleys." He said, angered more by her sudden found animosity towards him then the insult to his family.

"You say it like it's a bad thing." She said with offence, finally looking at him to glare.

"Maybe because it is." Draco said stubbornly, not really meaning the words. Ever since he'd given up on being his father's clone, he began to realize how Mudbloods and half-bloods really weren't that different. And Draco found it almost laughable that so many dark purebloods hated half-bloods when they were following the orders of one. As for muggles, Draco couldn't really care less about them. He didn't hate them, but they didn't interest him either.

"I can't believe you'd say that!" Ginny said, standing up with rage and beginning to pace. "Just because muggles aren't magical doesn't mean that they're completely worthless. Wizards have no right to treat them differently, and furthermore—"

Unintentionally, Draco tuned her out. He already knew these things, and didn't need to be lectured about them. He would have interrupted her, telling her exactly that, but something stopped him. It was the look on her face. She looked so passionate about this silly little issue—like if she couldn't change his opinion on this subject, she'd die trying. She must have caught the muggle-bug from her father, Draco thought.

He watched her carefully, standing up to get a better look. She was pacing furiously, her arms flailing this way and that, trying frantically to prove her point. Draco tried desperately to hide a smile as he looked at her features. A flush of rage was tinting her face and creeping down her neck. With a dreamy smirk, Draco remembered a similar flush covering her chest just last night.

Good thing she looked beautiful angry, Draco thought randomly, because she seemed to get annoyed a lot. Or maybe that was just his imagination. She could be a bitch at times, but always a wonderful bitch.

Draco's eyes traveled back to her face and he noticed a kind of fire in her eyes. Curly pieces of her flaming mane were being shaken out of her ponytail by the force of her hand motions.

Forgetting what they were fighting about in the first place, Draco was entranced by the passion Ginny was exuding. He completely forgot about the rule he'd set for himself about not getting too close to her, and started walking toward her, determination in his eyes once again.

Ginny stopped her lecture and looked at Draco's approaching figure with wide eyes. She backed into the wall, cautiously saying, "What are you doing?"

"Have you ever been pissed kissed?" He asked, trapping her between him and the wall.

"_Excuse me_?" Ginny said, looking slightly disgusted. His eyes had turned a dark gray, clouded with lust.

"It's when you kiss someone when you're both about ready to rip each others heads off. It's like the first step to angry sex." Draco said hastily, grabbing her face with both hands. "Believe me, you'll like it."

Ginny mustered up enough strength to push Draco away, sending him stumbling backwards with a surprised look on his face.

"I don't _understand_ you sometimes!" she yelled, growling with anger.

"Gin—" Draco began, looking apologetic. He knew he should have tried to control himself.

"First," Ginny interrupted angrily, beginning to pace. "You kiss me. Then you act like it never even happened, and now you want me again? You're so infuriating! Why can't you just make up your mind?!" she screamed, glaring at him. "I dumped Harry because of you, did you know that? Because I felt something that night we kissed that I'd never felt before. I thought you felt the same way, but then I find out that you'd left..." Ginny sighed, her voice just above a whisper as she looked up at him. "Why did you leave without telling me?"

Draco wanted so badly to tell her everything. About how he was a double agent and had to keep moving because Voldemort was trying to kill him (as melodramatic as it sounds). He wanted her to know everything, because it was all just about crushing him. He wanted her to understand why everything was happening the way it was. Having her think that he left to get away from her was killing him, but deep down Draco knew he couldn't tell a soul about his position because it would be risking that soul's life, as well as his own. Things would just be better if she thought he was just a heartless ass. Besides, she had enough to worry about without him dumping his problems on her.

So, with his mind made up, he decided to turn the tables on her and said something that had been bothering him since he met her.

"If you care about me so much, why do you keep picking fights with me?" Draco asked suddenly, making Ginny's expression change from sadness to surprise.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, sounding almost panicky.

"You're always so cross with me. Once I start to get close to you, you suddenly find a reason to fight." He said, sadness creeping into his eyes.

Ginny became very silent, sinking down into a nearby chair and looking at her feet.

"Ginny," Draco said softly. "Look at me."

"Do you know how hard it is to go against everything your family ever told you?" she asked harshly, looking up at him and glaring. "My parents use to go days without eating, did you know that? They'd go hungry so that me and my brothers wouldn't." she brushed a stray tear angrily away. "And this is how I repay them? By dumping the guy they practically hand picked for me and leaving without a word to pursue a non-existent relationship with the enemy." Ginny placed her head in hands, trying desperately to control her emotions.

Draco stood there, still stinging from being called the 'enemy'. He knew exactly how she felt—he'd gone against his parents wishes too. The only difference was, he relished in making his parents angry, and he could tell that it killed Ginny to disobey hers.

Not knowing what to say, Draco mustered up enough courage to kneel down beside her, awkwardly putting his hand on her knee.

With a shaky breath, Ginny looked up at Draco, her face still glistening with a few tears.

"The reason I always pick a fight with you when I feel like we're getting too close is because I'm scared of getting my heart broken." She said, looking away in embarrassment. "I don't want to betray my family just to have things not work out, so I tried to act like my feelings for you are just a stupid crush."

"Ginny," Draco said quietly, making her look up in surprise. "I promise never to break your heart. I would never want to cause you that kind of pain." He said honestly, hoping with all of his heart that he could keep this promise.

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Alas, angst.

And here's some more angst—there will be no thank yous to my loverly reviewers today. I'm swamped with homework and homecoming and driving classes, and I keep going, "Gr!" and time is limited and my mom's all, "You have too much to do. You'll have to just not post your chapter tonight." And I tried to explain to her about the riots and the hate mail and the toilet paper that would cover our house the next day, but she didn't listen. So, in order to post today, I can't write thank yous. ::tear::

But I do lover you all to itty bitty microscopic pieces, and I can't believe how many reviews I've gotten. You are all the coolest of cool and my socks are so totally rocked, and to make up for my incompetence (and also because I love the next chapter with an unending passion), **I promise to post the next chapter on Wednesday**. So I hope that makes up for it, and if it doesn't, feel free to though your assortment of fruit at me.

Loving you all to itty-bitty-microscopic-pieces,

Nicole

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If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)


	8. Painting Ginny

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

**NOTE: This chapter includes sexual content, so if you can't handle that, or it will offend you in some way, then don't read it.**

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Chapter 8: Painting Ginny

"Okay," Draco said, grabbing a paint brush. "Strip."

It was a few days after the fight, and Draco and Ginny had made a sort of silent agreement to not mention it again. However, things had changed slightly between them. Draco decided that denying his feelings for Ginny was a loosing battle, but he just didn't know quite the right way to show her how much he cared about her. In a lame attempt to do so, Draco decided to take Ginny up on her offer to have him paint her. She happily agreed.

"Excuse me?" Ginny laughed.

"How do you expect me to paint you with your clothes on?" Draco asked with exasperation.

"Easy," Ginny said. "Like every other painter does."

Draco crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. Ginny's eyes moved away from Draco's and scanned the room. They were in the attic where Draco kept all of his art, but all of the paintings had been pushed to the walls. There was a blanket on the ground that Draco was standing on, paints, paint brushes...but something was missing.

"Where's the canvas?" Ginny asked hesitantly.

"Right there," Draco said, nodding at her.

"...me?" Ginny asked. "So when you said you were going to paint me, you meant literally?"

"I figure, if I start with a beautiful canvas, I can't help but have a beautiful painting." Draco said silkily.

"...and that's supposed to make me take my clothes off?" Ginny teased.

"Come on, I need to start with a blank canvas." Draco pleaded. "Please? In the name of art?"

"Fine," Ginny grinned, removing her pants and shirt as Draco silently rejoiced. "Don't get to excited," she warned, standing in nothing but her bra and panties with her hands on her hips. "This is as naked as you're getting me."

Draco stuck out his bottom lip juvenilely, but finally agreed.

"Just lie down on your stomach," He said, conjuring up a few pillows before turning to his paints and mixing up a couple of colors. Ginny did as he said, crossing her arms over the pillows and resting her head there.

She watched Draco walk over toward her with a paintbrush between his teeth and his hands loaded with containers of different colored paints. Ginny let out a small gasp of surprise when she felt him straddle her.

"Sorry," Draco said, noticing the look in her eyes as she turned her head to glance at him. "I needed a better angle."

Ginny nodded, trying to control her breathing, but let out another gasp when she felt the cold paint on her bare back. Draco just smiled to himself, leaning closer so he could concentrate.

Ginny lay on her stomach for a while, closing her eyes and getting use to the feeling of the chilly paint, and how, with each stroke, she could feel the brush tickling her skin. After becoming more comfortable with Draco so close to her, Ginny started being lulled off to sleep by his steady, hot breaths against her. She subconsciously started breathing in time with him. She only woke up from her daydream whenever she felt him shift slightly.

As Draco worked his way further up her back, Ginny heard him curse under his breath.

"Sorry," he said, straightening up slightly. "I got some paint on your—er—bra."

Ginny couldn't see it, but Draco was blushing just slightly from stumbling over his words.

"Its fine, I can charm it off." Ginny said offhand. "Here," she said, reaching behind her and undoing the catch on her bra. With one swift motion, Ginny discarded her bra completely, hugging the pillows tightly against her bare breasts.

"Er—right." Draco said, well aware that Ginny could feel the heat from his flushing face.

"A blank canvas—it's what you wanted, isn't it?" she asked with a sly smile.

"'Course," Draco said shortly, trying to sound casual. This was actually exactly what he wanted, so why was he all of a sudden so nervous?

Another half hour passed where Draco was almost nervous to touch Ginny's back with his hands in case they accidentally wandered.

"Okay, you can—er—sit up." Draco said with as much elegance as he could muster.

Ginny smirked, blushing slightly as she sat up, making sure to cover her breasts with her hands. Draco grabbed a new paint brush, and began covering the lower portion of her abdomen in a mossy green paint. He couldn't help but noticed how her muscles tightened slightly at the feeling of the cold paint, as tiny goose bumps textured her stomach.

Ginny watched Draco curiously as he painted her. He had his nose inches from her stomach, with his tongue between his teeth as he worked on the tiniest details. His hands, one holding the brush and the other resting on her hip, had flecks of stray paint on them. She had even forgotten that she was watching Draco until he suddenly looked up and discovered her, a shy smirk on his face. Ginny looked away, hiding a grin as she concentrated on not laughing as the bristles tickled her sensitive skin.

Too entranced by the steady brush strokes, it took a minute for Ginny to realize that Draco had run out of skin. He was sitting there, staring at the scene he had painted on her stomach, and then at the clean skin that span across her hidden chest. Draco was just about to put his paintbrush down when Ginny smirked, catching his attention. He looked into her smiling eyes and, slowly, noticed her removing her hands from her breasts. He glanced down quickly at her bare chest, soaking in how beautiful she was, before looking questionably back up at Ginny.

"It's okay," Ginny laughed softly, capturing his hand with the poised paintbrush in it and placing it centimeters from her right breast.

Cautiously, Draco brought the tip of his brush down on her chest. Gaining more confidence when she giggled quietly, he made the brush strokes longer. Suddenly, when Draco had brushed over Ginny's nipple, he heard her make a noise in the back of her throat. He looked up slightly, and noticed that her head was leaned back with her eyes closed and she was biting her bottom lip.

Draco wished she'd stop looking like that because it was making it very difficult to keep his hand steady. But another part of him wanted her to make that sound again. Draco drew circles around Ginny's other nipple and smiled when they stiffened and he heard her breath quicken. He loved that it was his touch that made her squirm like that.

A half hour later, Draco regretfully placed down his paint brush and stood up. He held out his hand and helped Ginny to her feet as well before leading her over to a full length mirror that was leaned against the attic wall.

"It's beautiful," Ginny gasped as she took in what she was seeing in the reflection. Her front was covered in a daytime scene—her left breast covered in gold and orange paint was the sun, and her right part of the blue sky.

"Look at the back," Draco said quietly from behind her, placing his hands on her waist and turning her around. Ginny turned her head to look over her shoulder and laughed silently.

"Ginevra de Benci," she said with a smile, looking at the young woman's face that was painted on her back.

"I just need to add one thing," Draco said quietly, going back to his paints.

"You're such a perfectionist." Ginny sighed with a smile. Draco returned with a small paintbrush loaded up with green paint. He stood at her left side and brought his hand up to tilt her head away from him slightly before resting that hand on her nearest shoulder. Draco's face was so close to the side of Ginny's neck that she could feel his warm breath again, quickly followed by the cold paint.

"There," Draco said a minute later, finishing up the four leaf clover he'd painted on the side of her neck. "All done, Irish."

But instead of moving back, Draco placed one hand on her opposite cheek and began to blow softly on the clover, attempting to dry it quickly. He felt Ginny's head tilt more against his hand, exposing more of her neck to Draco as he tickled her skin with his breath.

Draco was so close to Ginny he could smell the scent of her skin. Slowly, his breath softened, and he leaned forward and kissed her neck. He could feel her take in a quick breath. Draco kissed his way up her neck and across her jaw line. But Ginny seemed to grow impatient quickly because she grabbed Draco's face and kissed him full on the mouth before wrapping her warm arms around his neck. He, in turn, dropped the paintbrush and placed his hands on her back. As he explored it with his fingertips, could feel where the paint was still wet. The kiss reminded him of the only other time he'd kissed Ginny—in the hospital. But this one was much more feverish and passionate. He felt much more comfortable with her, and she seemed to feel the same as she occasionally would smile against his lips.

Suddenly, after Draco bit Ginny's bottom lip gently, she jumped just enough to wrap both legs around his waist. Draco stumbled backwards and fell, his fall broken by the pillows. Ginny giggled slightly in his mouth, but didn't break the kiss.

Draco pulled her closer, feeling the warmth of her breasts through his shirt. Draco gently rolled over so that he was on top of Ginny and her head was resting on one of the pillows. Tentatively, Draco slid his middle finger under the elastic band of her knickers. Ginny responded by slipping her warm tongue deep inside of his mouth, encouraging Draco to remove them.

Once the knickers were discarded, Ginny fumbled with the buckle of Draco's belt. He suppressed a chuckle at the inefficiency of her clumsy fingers before helping her with it while she turned her attention to unbuttoning his shirt. Soon, the floor was littered with clothing, and Draco laid on top of Ginny as she smiled up at him.

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Draco woke with a start, as if someone had shaken him awake. But with a quick look around the attic, he realized that the only other person there was Ginny, and she was fast asleep. Draco smiled to himself, stretching slightly and glancing at the watch he'd hastily taken off the night before. It was seven in the morning—hours before Ginny would wake up.

Draco yawned widely, the bitter taste of paint still in his mouth from when he had kissed every inch of Ginny—the reward of her sweet tasting skin beneath the paint worth it.

He kissed Ginny on the forehead and rolled back over to go back to sleep when the noise that had woken him up sounded again. The crackling of flames and someone shouting his name. It was muffled, as if coming from downstairs.

Draco got up quickly, making sure not to wake Ginny. He glanced down at his naked self, and used a charm to clean up the paint that had rubbed off of Ginny's body onto his. After quickly dressing, missing a few shirt buttons in the process, Draco glanced back at Ginny's sleeping form before heading down the ladder.

The shouting got louder as he followed it, and Draco finally ended up in his bedroom. There were green flames in the fireplace, and a man's face was sticking out of them.

"...the hell?" Draco said sleepily.

"I'm here on Dumbledore's orders." The man said, flames licking the sides of his face. "He needs you to Apparate to his office immediately so that he can tell you the place you're being relocated to."

"Relocated?" Draco said, his eyes widening. He knew that he'd have to leave sometime, but not now. Not when everything was so perfect.

"You-Know-Who's getting wiser, so you can't work as a double agent any longer. You'll be going to one of the army camps the Ministry set up." The man said, not noticing the shock on Draco's face.

"I have to leave now?" Draco asked. "Just let me go say goodbye to someone."

"No, you have to leave immediately. You can't even pack your stuff." The man said. "Dumbledore's orders. I'm suppose to watch you Apparate to make sure you get there."

The words Ginny's whispered not days before kept reverberating in Draco's head. 'Why did you leave without telling me?'

She'd been so upset, and now he was going to do the same thing again. He was going to break her heart and the only promise he'd ever given her.

Draco sighed with defeat—there was no way out of it. He should have listened to himself in the beginning and never gotten involved with Ginny. She'd given up everything for him, and he was just going to leave her, again.

Draco looked out the door and could just see the ladder that lead to the attic. He wish he could have one last look at Ginny. Draco closed his eyes, trying to picture her in his head, but the only image that he saw was the four leaf clover he'd painted on her neck.

With another sigh, he turned back around and nodded to the man in the fireplace. Then, with a loud crack, Draco was gone.

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Woot! A sex-chapter! Anyways, I hope no one was offended by it...

So, yea, a Wednesday update! It's like we're in the Twilight Zone! Except...not. Anyways, **_the next and last update will be this Friday_**, so mark it on your calendars! Or, if you don't have short-term memory loss, then just remember it! Onto the thank yous to my loverly reviewers! 

**Elfin Princess Prue**: Thank god I don't make you want to slap Draco, cause then he'd have a big, red handprint on his face and wouldn't be nearly as hot as usual...

**Emerald Tears**: I'm so glad! And, by the way, as an Irishwoman and a girl born in May (where emerald is the birthstone), I just love your name.

**WantingGravity**: muhahaha! Harry/Ginny/Draco conflict, you say? Well, I can promise that we will hear from Harry in the next chapter.

**Foags**: haha, that's the way. Just get over your angst and have sex already! Things don't need to be sad and depressing, just happy and a bit dirty as well.

**Sunflour**: Hmm, I never really thought about that. Why isn't Ginny scared of Draco since she thinks he's a Deatheater? Hm. Well, here's my made-up-answer-that-I'll-pretend-I-was-thinking-all-along: Cause she loves him and knows that, even if he is working for old Voldie, that he wouldn't hurt her. I think so quickly on my feet.

**Amber Lantern**: I looked all over the internet for a Latin to English translator, and didn't find anything. So, alas, I'm still utterly unaware of what your pretty Latin words meant, but I'll just nod and smile like the rest. ::does so::

**AnitaBlake/BuffyFan**: This chapter was indeed angst free—well, until the end. But I had to add some kind of drama! It couldn't just all be them canoodling.

**WiDz**: I did! I hope you liked it!

**Prexus**: Yea, don't you hate it when you loose interest in a story you're writing? That's why I could never write for a TV show, they'd be like, "Ok, write the next episode," and I'd be like, "...eeeehhhh...."

**Persephone 4**: heehee, is I'm-gonna-paint-pretty-pictures-on-you-and-then-screw-you Draco sexier then angsty-hidden-saddness Draco? Lol, I think sooooo.

**MemoriesOfYou**: lol, it's good that the chapters get better and better, cause it'd totally suck dirty monkey balls if it just got worse.

**Niphredel Black**: I did! I hope you liked it. And I'll update again on Friday.

**Squibbles**: Aw, thanks. And, seeing as I'm gonna be a creative writing major, I will most definitely keep writing.

**Brokentoy19**: Oh yea, angst totally rocks. I couldn't help but add a bit of angst in this chapter as well.

**Straycat**: Yes, their fighting is funny (although a tad angsty), but their "making-up" is even better, don't you think?

**Hadhafang**: I know, I know, they didn't kiss for a while in this story—but doesn't this chapter make up for it?

**QuirkyWriter**: I've got to go to the library and look for an Alice Hoffman book. By the way, you are so good at detecting sex scenes! Brava!

**Freak face**: Huzzah! Another Harry Hater! Isn't he the worst? I think we should write letters to J.K. Rowling asking that she change the books focus to Fred and George.

**Laina3**: I know, I was sad there were no thank yous too. But now they're here!!! And they'll be here on Friday too. No more sadness.

**Krispykreme1468**: This chapter's happy! Hooray! Well, except for the end. But still, hooray!... I'm rambling. It's a sickness.

**Merit Somnia**: lol, ya, Draco—like every other guy in the world—is hyper about sex. And this chapter proves it.

**Kneh13**: I know, that last chapter was really packed with angsty-information. But this one was just mindless smut. ::sigh:: Not thinking is fun.

**Vix**: No, Harry didn't die, he's just been dropped from the story for a bit. But he'll be back in the next chapter, with a vengeance! ....I actually have no idea what that word means, but it sounds really cool.

**Erin**: Yea, I think I'm the first in the fanfic world to use the nickname Irish. But Marian Keyes was the one who thought it up. I remember reading it in one of her books...I think. It's been so long since I've had the time to do something I like! Besides writing, that is.

**Sinful delight**: Yea, no review thank yous sucks. But here they are!!! ::sigh:: Schools a bee-otch. Besides all that education crap, it really has no purpose.

**Herbie**: Wednesdays do suck. My friend calls it hump-day. Heehee, with this chapter, that name brings on a whole new meaning.

**ALee710**: No, I've never been piss kissed. Have you? I've been offered revenge sex though. Of course I declined, but still...

**Dracosbaby7**: I read your review where you said, "I really like how Ginny and Draco aren't rushing into a relationship," and I was like, "Ah crap, there's a sex scene coming!" So, sorry that was a bit rushed but, ya know, what else am I suppose to write about?

**TarynMalfoy88**: Here's even more Draco/Ginny action! Except now, Draco's leaving and so that kinda messes it up. But still—Draco/Ginny action!

**Actionmaster**: I just had homecoming! It totally sucked—the music was all that rap crap. Dammit! As for which girl to ask, just give them the Joey line, "How _you_ doin'?" and girls will flock to you. Trust me.

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If you want me to e-mail you when I update, just give me you e-mail address in the review and I'd be happy to do it :)


	9. Back Again

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea (which I think is original, but ya never know). Anywho, the whole kitten-caboodle belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Chapter 9: Back Again

"...And then I was sent to another camp for a few years before ending up here." Draco finished. Every man in the room, and even a few who had entered during the middle of the story, had their eyes on Draco. Finally someone spoke.

"What happened to Ginny?" Carter asked, his eyes wide in anticipation.

"'Donno," Draco said simply.

"I bet she went back to Harry." One of the men said. Draco smirked and shook his head.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you." He said.

"Why not?"

"Well, the camp that I went to before this place had me fighting on the front lines with Potter. And I, being the conversational wizard I am, got to talking to him during one of the battles..."

FOUR YEARS EARLIER

"So, stolen anyone else's girlfriends lately?" Harry asked angrily, dodging just in time as a curse came their way.

"Still bitter, eh?" Draco smirked, shooting a curse and hitting one of the Death Eaters.

"I am not bitter!" Harry yelled angrily, letting down his guard and glaring at Draco.

"Duck," Draco said casually, causing Harry to realize just in time that two curses were heading his way.

"I just—" he ducked the first curse. "don't understand—" and nearly tripped dodging the other.

"—why she chose me?" Draco finished helpfully.

"Well, yea." Harry said.

"I know it must be unbelievably hard for you to understand why she chose me—the incredibly handsome one—over you—the pathetically sappy idiot. It had me stumped too." Draco said, pointing his wand at the nearest Death Eater and muttering '_Stupify_..'

"Close, but no," Harry said. "It boggles my mind how she could choose the Death Eater over the Romantic."

There was a pause, and then—

"Watch out," Draco said carelessly, pushing Harry so hard that he tumbled to the ground.

"What'd you do that for?" Harry asked angrily, quickly pulling himself up. "There wasn't even a curse coming!"

"I know." Draco smirked.

PRESENT

"I mean, honestly, how thick can the man be?" Draco sighed with annoyance. "I was right there, fighting next to him, and the bloody cretin has the nerve to call me a Death Eater."

There was a sort of uncomfortable silence; all of the men looked at each other uneasily. Finally, Carter spoke up.

"Well, er, we all kinda thought the same thing too." He muttered. Then, receiving the glare Draco sent his way, added, "Well, _now_ we don't think so. But before, when you were just that annoying git who refused to socialize with others, we figured you were a triple agent. You know, came over here to be a double agent, but you're really just working for You-Know-Who."

Draco let out a frustrated growl, throwing up his hands and accidentally sending his lit cigarette at an unsuspecting comrade.

After the soldier's fit of screaming, "Get it off me! Get it off me!" while squirming this way and that, Draco spoke.

"I really don't understand your people's logic." He said exasperatedly. "Just because I don't care for the bloody Boy-Who-Lived doesn't mean I want to kill him! I just think he's a cocky prick who gets more then he deserves, but that doesn't mean I don't like what he stands for."

Everyone just stared at Draco, seeming to take a while either to understand what he was saying or to believe him. Draco sighed in annoyance.

"Honestly, it's not like you have to have a Potter fetish to fight against You-Know-Who; otherwise Snape wouldn't be risking his greasy ass right now!"

"I know that," Carter said with a hint of defensiveness. "It's just—your father—"

"—isn't me." Draco said sternly, glaring at Carter with his steel gray eyes.

Not wanting to discuss the degree of his evilness further, Draco was relieved when a soldier from their camp came running through the door with a smile on her face and a message on the tip of her tongue.

Her name was Something Johnson—Draco couldn't place her face.

"What's up, Angelina?" The man Draco nearly burnt with his cigarette asked.

Now Draco remembered her! She was a Gryffindor a few years his senior who he'd played Quidditch against a few times.

She was doubled over, sputtering slightly and looking as if she'd just run twenty miles.

"Well, spit it out woman!" Draco said loudly. She lifted her head to glare at him and Draco smirked. Apparently she remembered him too.

"They need more soldiers," she said finally, taking her eyes off of Draco and joining in on the celebrations with the others. People were yelling, jumping up and down, as a few set off gold sparks with their wands. Draco, mean while, was staying perfectly stationary, only moving to yawn a bit and cross his arms impatiently.

He'd already fought twice for things he believed in, so it wasn't nearly as exciting the third time around.

Finally, when the yelling quieted a bit, Angelina said, "The Healers are here now to give every soldier a check up and tell us if we're healthy enough to fight."

At these words, there was a stampede toward the door, and poor Angelina nearly got trampled in the process. Draco sighed heavily, shaking his head at the childish antics of his fellow comrades, and making sure to push Angelina nice and hard before following the rest. Draco joined the shortest of three lines leading to the Healers.

"Hey, Malfoy," said the man in front of him, turning around. Draco recognized him as one of the men whom he bunked with. "What did you say this Ginny chick looked like?"

Draco rolled his eyes, answering, "Red hair, freckles, brown eyes—why do you care?"

"No reason," The man said, turning back around and standing on his tiptoes to look over the heads in front of him. He turned back to Draco. "Why don't you go in front of me."

Draco raised an eyebrow, suspicious only for a second before shrugging his shoulders and stepping in front of the man.

Just when his suspicion was fading away, the man behind him tapped the shoulder of the woman now in front of Draco, leaning around Draco to whisper something in the girl's ear.

Suddenly, the woman in front of him offered Draco her spot. Again, with raised brow and hesitation, Draco accepted. This happened until there was just one person in front of Draco.

"Be my guest, Malfoy," Carter said, offering him his spot with a grin. Draco stepped forward, looking behind him at all of the smiling soldiers who were eyeing him. Draco rolled his eyes for the hundredth time that day, turning around and wondered what they were all playing at.

"Draco?"

Draco's eyes widened as he stared into the brown eyes of Ginevra Weasley.

"I—Irish?" He finally said, smiling uncontrollably. "Since when did you become a Healer?"

Ginny, however, did not return the smile. She stood in front of him, her wand aloof in one hand, as she said coldly, "A lot happens in five years."

Draco's grin vanished. She was angry. Of course she was angry—he knew it'd be a miracle if she wasn't. He took a deep breath, asking, "You hate me, don't you?"

"For like a week I did," Ginny said casually. "Once I figured out that you weren't lost; that you'd left."

"Not voluntarily," He said quickly.

"Really?" she asked icily. "I wasn't aware that they dragged you out at wand point."

Draco could here the soldiers behind him suppress laughter. He sighed, chuckling a little himself.

"You never let me off easy, do you." He said good-heartedly.

Ginny shrugged, saying, "Not when I know you're lying."

There was a pause—Draco wasn't sure if she was going to slap him or not. The look on her face was murderous. He hadn't seen her this mad since she'd confronted him about leaving her the first time.

Ginny's angry eyes left Draco's pleading ones and spotted the pencil stored behind his ear.

"Still sketching, are you?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking at him.

"I haven't been able to draw a decent picture since you left."

"_You_ left." Ginny said in a clipped voice.

"Ginny, I'm sorry—" Draco began honestly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, suddenly bursting with anger.

"Tell you what—?" Draco questioned.

"That you were a double agent!" Ginny yelled. Draco winced, both at the sound of her voice and the guilt he'd been feeling for the past five years over the same issue. "That is why you kept leaving, wasn't it? Didn't you trust me?"

"Of course I did, but—"

"But what? You just felt like leaving me in the dark?" She yelled. By now, everyone was staring at them, and the men were no longer smiling. Ginny laughed darkly. "And you know what the sad thing is? Ever since I showed up at your cottage, I'd been scared every night to go to sleep, knowing that one day you wouldn't be there when I woke up."

"Merlin, Ginny, you have no idea how much I wanted to tell you," Draco said, pleading with her to understand.

"Save it," Ginny snapped, speaking through gritted teeth. "After everything I told you—after everything I gave up for you—you just—you just—"

Ginny seemed to have run out of words to scream at him, so, instead, she slapped him hard across the face. Before Draco even had time to recover, he felt two hands grip his face and suddenly Ginny's lips were on his. His eyes were wide as Ginny bit his bottom lip hard, forcing her tongue into his mouth.

Draco could no longer hear the people around him. He was, instead, focusing on the tiny war happening between his mouth and Ginny's. He grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him, kissing her roughly—both from the happiness of being able to kiss her after five years of being apart and from the anger her could feel radiating off of her. Ginny kissed back just as fiercely, not even wincing when he bit her lip so hard he drew blood.

Finally, Ginny pulled back, a satisfied look on her face.

"You were right," she said with a smile. "That was pretty good."

Draco was puzzled for a second before suddenly remembering the conversation that'd had so long ago about kissing someone when you were angry. He looked at the beaming red-head with shock.

"So—that whole fight—that was—"

"Just a component in my sick, twisted game." Ginny smirked. "Sorry about that, by the way," she added, placing a hand gingerly on Draco's cheek which now bore her hand print. "I got a bit carried away."

"So—so you didn't mean any of that stuff you said?" He said in amazement, grabbing her raised hand and holding it tightly.

"'Course not!" Ginny laughed, kissing his bruised cheek lightly. "Dumbledore explained everything to me when I went and told him you'd left again. I knew something was up because you would never break your promise willingly."

Draco grinned, remembering the promise he'd made Ginny to never break her heart, and happy that she knew he didn't mean to go back on it.

"So, Dumbledore suggested I go back to my job at St. Mungo's and start training to be a Healer so I could come visit you."

"Well, you've come at a rather inconvenient time," said Carter from behind Draco. He was leaning around Draco and beaming at the red-head. Draco narrowed his eyes at him.

"He's right," Draco said, turning back to Ginny with an apologetic look on his face. "We're about to be sent out."

"I know," Ginny said in a calm voice, grinning. "But I'm willing to wait."

Draco smiled, not knowing what to say, but choosing to ignore the chorus of sarcastic "Aw"s that issued from the mouths of every person in the camp.

"By the way," Ginny said, kissing Draco once more and flicking her tongue into his mouth before saying critically, "Have you been smoking?"

_Fin_

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::sigh:: It's so sad that this is the end—but I feel really happy with this ending (which is strange for me cause I'm notorious for bad endings). Anyways, I lover all of my readers and reviewers, and I am soooooooooo happy that you guys like this story. Here's my final thank yous. ::tear::

**Krispykreme1468**: lol, I love sex chapters too. You know what else I love? Cake. Chocolate cake. Mmmmmm....

**Lily Dwarf**: I'm sorry that you're bored and cold. I can't really help with the cold thing, but if you're bored, watch Friends. Trust me, you'll feel better.

**Yellow Banana**: You're name made me hungry. I really want a banana dipped in sugar. No, I'm not crazy, I'm perfectly sensible.

**Merit Somnia**: Damn right Ginny's angry! Well....kinda. And Draco wasn't brutally murdered, just brutally kissed—which, in my opinion, way better.

**Vix**: haha, yep, sex while painting is pretty damn creative. And I donno if I'm gonna write more after this. I don't have a sequel idea yet, but you never know...

**Funnykido**: Yep, it's a happy ending! I had you worried there for a second, didn't I? haha, I'm so crafty.

**Kneh13**: heehee, when you said the chapter was wicked, it reminded me of Rupert Grint. Ah, Rupert Grint. Donno why it reminds me of him, and I don't care. ::dreamy sigh:: That Rupert Grint just cracks me up...

**Miss Court-A-Doo**: Aw, you say that things rock your socks too? Me too!!! That's so cool. It's like you're my brother from another mother. Ya, I know you're a girl, but it wouldn't sound as good.

**Blatant Discontent**: heehee, yep, the obvious is _so_ not my style. I kept reading over ch. 8 thinking, "Well, Draco, the logical thing to do would be to just apparate up to the attic and wake Ginny up....but I don't think that'd be _nearly_ as interesting."

**QuirkyWriter**: Oh God no. Not Titanic, no no no no no. Anything but that! By the way, I am _so_ checking out those books.

**AnitaBlake/BuffyFan**: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear AnitaBlake/BuffyFaaaaaaaaan. Happy birthday to yoooooooooooooooooou!

**Elfin Princess Prue**: lol, there's Harry's reaction! Not exactly nice, but who really cares what Harry thinks, right?

**Straycat**: Yep, there is a painting called the Ginevra de Benci. Once I found out that Ginny's full name was Ginevra I searched it on the internet and found that. Maybe I should've credited De Vinci for it....all well.

**Hadhafang**: I donno about a sequel. I might, I might not. If I think of an idea, I will, but that hasn't happened yet. What do you think I could write about in the sequel?

**Prexus**: heehee, it's good to know that next time you go to an art museum and see a painting you're gonna be like, "I bet they thought that up while doin' it. Heeheehee..."

**Ayumi-dono**: heehee, you're so energetic in your review, it makes me laugh. And I never thought about Ginny being in danger since she was still in the cottage. I guess I kinda over looked that little tid-bit. Oopsie.

**WiDz**: lol, no love triangle, but I still gave you Harry's point of view. Not that anyone listens to that whiny brat, but still...

**Dracosbaby7**: lol, ya, I hate it when they kiss once and then are all, "Omg, I'm so in love with you!" Although I have written a few of those fics (something I seriously regret. It was long ago), but all well.

**Persephone 4**: haha, woot! I've made art dirty! I can't wait till you're next art class, cause all your friends are gonna be wondering why you're laughing so hard. They'll think you're crazy. It'll be funny.

**Actrez**: Yes, our reading relationship is a bit strange. But, ya know, who really cares? We know we're weird, so all well. Here's a quote that I just heard while watching That 70's Show. Donna: "Eric, I love you." Eric: ".....I love cake."

**Actionmaster**: heehee, you'd rather do it then read it? You're such a guy. Glad you found someone to go to homecoming with. Your friend, huh? Riiiight. You think she's goooorgeous, you want to kiiiiss her, you want to huuuug her, you want to loooove her....

**Brokentoy19**: He didn't really lose her, just for—like—five years. But not forever.

**Sunflour**: lol, I actually have no idea what a war would be like—especially a magical war. So I did my best and described as little of it as I could. Hopefully it's believable.

**Herbie**: haha, Herbie's sex-hungry! Fuck Buddy Day sounds great! It sounds a lot better then Hump Day, cause that's just a little too graphic.

OK. The end. Tis sad. :( I wove you all!!! Adios.


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Harry Potter, Romance