Chapter One

The duel was going well. Spells and incantations were being slung back and forth with ease. The two young men on the dais were in their element. Professor Snape watched them with a critical eye. He thought they appeared to be rather enjoying themselves. The other students certainly were as they cheered for their housemates and jeered for their rivals.

The tall, dark-haired lad, Harry Potter, sent a Blasting Curse hurling at his silvery-blond opponent. Draco Malfoy laughed and nimbly stepped aside with a verbal “Extstingio”…the stinging spell hit Harry but didn’t seem to have much of an effect on him.

“What was that? A simple stinging spell, Malfoy? You are slipping up in your old age.” Harry laughed and hurled a putrid smelly curse at Draco, who was the ‘old age’ of seventeen. The blast of pea green mist almost knocked him down. But, Harry winced in pain as a second, stronger sting zipped up his wand arm, surprising him.

“Potty, what have you been eating?” Draco wafted a hand in front of his face, sneering, “Oh, and how did you like that second jolt from my stinging spell?”

The dueling continued but each time Harry used his wand to cast a spell towards Draco another stinging pain ricocheted up his arm , each one more intense than the one before it. When it was obvious that Draco’s spell was getting the better of Harry, Prof. Snape ended the duel with a smug announcement that Draco was the winner of the battle.

The Slytherin students all patted Draco heartily on the back and laughed at the Gryffindor’s obvious down-trodden expressions. Hermione and Ron told Harry not to worry about it, he would get Malfoy next time. Harry was rubbing his sore arm and looking a bit dazed. Draco, of course, just looked victorious, smirking from ear to ear.

The next morning, Harry’s arm was still smarting from the duel the day before. They had a quidditch match that afternoon against Slytherin and it was worrying him. He needed his arm to catch the golden snitch. Draco was the Slytherin’s seeker and his biggest competition in the school league. Harry tried not to rub his arm in front of anyone during classes. He didn’t want to let word get to Malfoy that he was still feeling the effects of his spell. He didn’t need to give the Slytherin’s any upper hand during the match.

Later that afternoon, Harry went out the quidditch pitch early to practice. His arm was feeling better and he was zipping through the air with ease on his Firebolt. It was a clear day with only a few fluffy white clouds dotting the sky here and there. The stands were empty, except for one spectator. He gave a friendly wave to Ginny Weasley and took off for a low rolling dive. Ginny stared wistfully at Harry. He made the game look so easy. She never missed a chance to watch him play. She never missed a chance to watch him at all. She was one year younger than Harry. Her brother, Ron, was Harry’s best friend. She, unfortunately, was only thought of as the ‘little sister’. Harry had saved her life her first year at Hogwarts, but it wasn’t anything romantic for him. Just another day’s work for the esteemed Harry Potter. For her though, it deepened her crush on him. Lately, it was more like a crash than a crush. She was 16 years old now and she desperately wanted Harry to notice her as a girl. When he waved at her a second ago, her heart was pounding so hard in her chest, she figured he could hear it out on the field. But as usual, he didn’t fly right over to her, pick her off of the stands, and carry her away to ravish her. She giggled out loud at the mental picture.

“Yeah, he is pretty funny, isn’t he? Thinking he can play quidditch.”

Ginny turned quickly in her seat to see Draco Malfoy standing right behind her. He was in his playing uniform: long emerald robe with silver trim, the Slytherin serpent crest on his left breast, and his broom in hand. His long blond hair was hanging in front of his face and he pushed it back without realizing it. He wasn’t looking at her though, he was watching Harry dodging and dipping in the air above the field.

“He’s the best player I’ve ever seen.” Ginny simply said and turned back around in her seat.

“Don’t tell him I said so, but I almost agree with you.” Ginny almost got whiplash turning back around to look at him at those surprising words. He just flashed her a wicked grin and then jumped down out of the stands towards his teams locker room.

Oh my gosh, Ginny thought to herself, Did Draco Malfoy just pay Harry Potter a compliment? She had a strong urge to shield herself because surely the sky was falling. Draco was feeling pretty much the same way as he entered the room and plopped down on a bench. Why did that pop out of his mouth? And in front of a Weasley no less. Okay, so she was the prettiest Weasley, but that wasn’t saying much compared to that ugly lot. He must have flubberworms for brains.

Later that day, the crowd, in the stands, was on it’s feet. The score was tied. Harry just missed a bludger that Gregory Goyle aimed in his direction. It missed Harry at the last moment and took off after Vincent Crabbe. No time for celebrating though. Harry just saw the little golden snitch and it was right behind Draco Malfoy’s back. Harry knew if Malfoy saw it, that the game would be over, with Gryffindor the losers.

No way that was going to happen after his loss in the dueling club the day before! Harry dived down low, keeping an eye on the snitch the whole while. He didn’t want Malfoy to suspect the snitch was anywhere in his proximity. Harry was still 20 yards away when the fluttering of the snitches wings finally got Draco’s attention. He reached behind him but the snitch was too fast and darted just out of his reach. He turned his broom around 180 degrees and lunged for the snitch. Harry zoomed up and grabbed it a split second before Malfoy got his hand around it. Harry held it up for all to see and the Gryffindor’s went crazy in the stands! Draco sat on his broomstick high above watching the jubilation below. He couldn’t believe he missed that snitch! It was basically in his grasp when Potter came out of nowhere and palmed it. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and with one last look at the celebrating below took off on his Nimbus 2001and headed to the Lake.

Chapter Five

The next morning when Draco entered the dining hall, he couldn’t help but check out his victim. She really was quite fetching. She had long, coppery hair. It curled at the ends and was thick and bouncy. She had a cute little button nose that was splayed with freckles. Her skin was pale and pristine. She had velvety-soft brown eyes. Hogwarts robes left a lot to the imagination, and he had never really noticed her in muggle clothes before. So, her form was a mystery he was looking forward to solving.

Well, time to get the show on the road. He sauntered over to the Gryffindor table and ignored the stares and whispers. He sauntered right up to Ginny’s chair, and got down on his haunches beside her.

“Babble Pulp.”

Ginny looked down at Draco’s serious face like he had gone mad and repeated, “Babble Pulp?”

Draco just nodded slowly, looking into her eyes.

Ginny suddenly grabbed the lapels of his robe with both hands and pulled him closer to her, “Babble Pulp!”

They just stared at each other with these silly grins, but he could tell her wheels were spinning in her head.

“UH-HMMMM! Maybe you two should get a room.” Ron’s voice broke through their reverie.

Ginny turned her head towards her brother like she was in a daze. He was standing on the other side of the table, leaning on his splayed palms.

Ron continued between clenched teeth, in a dead quiet voice, “Let Malfoy go.” Ginny instantly released Draco’s robe and he almost toppled backwards.

Good thing he had the Malfoy grace and balance of a wild jungle cat, he thought as he got his equilibrium back. It dawned on Ginny then that her brother was making her look like an obedient fool. Draco saw the moment it hit her, her eyes sparked and her brows raised and her soft mouth turned into a hard line that was still completely kissable, in his esteemed opinion, only in the name of the bet though, of course.

Ginny opened her mouth and everyone but Ron could tell that he was getting ready to get an earful, but Draco interrupted her before she got a word out.

“No, Weasley’s right. I shouldn’t have barged in on your breakfast time. I was up all night thinking about you…err your potion, and it hit me this morning. The Babble Pulp might just do the trick. But still, I should have waited for our tutoring time to bring it up. Sorry.” He reached up then and patted her jovially on the shoulder, then said, “See you after dinner and we can hash out the right amount.” He sauntered off then to his own table, walking like he was a Greek god, which most students of the female persuasion would agree with, at least in his mind.

Ron sat down then with a loud that-sure-got-rid-of-that-git-Malfoy-Hrrrmmmppphhh, and returned to shoveling down his breakfast. Harry saw it coming. Harry thought Ron might as well paint a bulls-eye on his robes. He was in double trouble. Ron was getting daggers not only from Ginny, but Hermione as well. Nothing good could come of that. What had he done?

Ron peeked up from his plate long enough to notice that Hermione wasn’t eating her bacon, “Can I have that?” he asked, reaching for it.

Hermione slapped his hand, HARD, and then he noticed the glares coming from the girls, “What?” he said, or at least it was close to that since he had a mouth stuffed full of food.

“He was just doing his job. Snape assigned him to be Ginny’s tutor. He was trying to help her.” Hermione said in an even tone, but it was obvious she was furious.

“He’s a rotter! If he was helping her I’d eat my shorts!”

Ginny handed him a bottle of ketchup, “Here, I think you might need this to get those nasty things down your throat.”

“You’re telling me that Malfoy was over here, bothering Ginny, and stinking up our air out of the goodness of his heart?” Ron looked incredibly from one girl to the next, “HELLO! He is Draco Malfoy, he doesn’t have a heart!” When the girls still looked fit to be tied, he turned to Harry, “Tell them, Harry! Tell them what gullible saps they are!”

Ginny and Hermione both stared Harry down. “Well, umm, it seems like good advice, BUT we all know Malfoy is a pain in the arse. He is probably up to no good. You should just stay away from him, Ginny.”

“Well, I thank you very much for your opinion, but it’s not up to me at this point. Snape said I had to tutor with Draco until Draco told him that I had my potion perfect.”

“Draco? Since when do you call Malfoy ‘Draco’?” Ron sputtered, spitting out particles of food.

“Ugh! Ron, get some manners!” Ginny wiped a speck of something off her cheek that flew out of her brother’s foaming mouth. “And, I am sixteen years old. I will call anyone anything I want. You are not my boss, big brother.” She pushed her plate aside and got up from the table. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Ron grinned, “Great, more for me!” Then he dived into Ginny’s plate as she left the room disgusted.

That night, after dinner, Ginny rushed to the lab. She was so excited about getting her potion completed. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought of the pulp of the babble on her own. It was known for it’s confusing properties when boiled down with some fennel seed. It was a little flaky though, and had to be in the exact amount or it was unpredictable.

Draco was running late she assumed, since he wasn’t there when she arrived. She gathered up her supplies and got the cauldron lit. She pored through the books on the shelves looking for anything about the babble plant. She was reading at her desk, tapping her quill on her cheek when Draco entered. He watched her for a second or two before joining her at her desk. He had figured out how to make her love him. He was going to keep his distance. She loved Potter and he rarely gave her the time of day. He had patted himself on the back so many times throughout the day, he had an aggravated shoulder. He was a bloody genius.

“Hey Ginny, looks like you are hard at it.” He said opening up his personal notebook to a page about the babble plant.

Ginny looked up at him and graced him with a beautiful smile. He thought that he should have paid the Weaselette some attention sooner. She was fine…in a have-fun-with-but-never-marry kind of way, of course.

“Yep, what do you think about three grams?”

He sat down and furrowed his brow, “I’m not sure. We better try two and work our way up.”

They worked side-by-side for a rest of the evening. Every time Ginny thought they had it, something would be off and the potion would fizzle, pop, and sputter, when by her calculations it should have one gaseous green ‘poof’ and then settle into a turquoise solution with no bubbles.

She pushed her book aside, “I’m finished for tonight. I’ll sleep on it and maybe can get a fresh start tomorrow. I really thought we had it the last time.” She looked deflated.

Draco nodded his head in understanding, “Yeah, I bet you will figure it out tomorrow. Maybe Hermione would have some insight on it. She seems to know everything.”

Ginny eyed him warily but he didn’t seem to be being malignant. He wasn’t even looking at her, was just gathering up his items.

“See you tomorrow, Ginny. I’ll try not to ruin your breakfast even.” He flashed her a grin and was out the door.

Just like that? Didn’t walk her to her stairway? Didn’t even wave, or blow her a kiss or anything. She giggled then at the picture of Malfoy blowing kisses. He probably didn’t know how to. She gathered up her things and left the room just as she had found it. She spend the rest of the evening running over what she was doing wrong with her potion. She had no idea, of course, that Draco was putting a few drops of Mrs. Scower’s Magical Mess Remover into each batch.

The next week passed just about exactly the same. Ginny went to classes, dinner, Potions lab. She was starting to feel very, very strange though. Every time their hands would touch, or their legs would brush, or he’d look at her intently, she’d get jelly-legged for some reason. But, he was cool as a cucumber. He was so polite and helpful. He never said an unkind word to her in all that time. No snide remarks about how long it was taking her, no teasing her for being stupid or red-haired. He didn’t even say a bad word about her family or friends. She was pretty sure that he was under a spell, but she didn’t want to break it so left well enough alone. They worked every evening, and she just knew that she was ‘this close’ to perfecting her potion. She was thinking she would really miss him when she was done with her tutoring. That was a very scary thought, and one she kept to herself.

Hermione ducked the hair brush flying past her head. Ginny was in a snit over something. She was saying words that she wasn’t even sure what they meant, but they didn’t sound very ladylike. Ginny was stomping around her dorm room, hurling anything that got in her way.

“Ginny? Are you okay?” then she realized what the problem obviously was, “Malfoy! He’s been a bugger to you, hasn’t he? He better not be getting fresh with you! I’ll turn his undershorts into lice infested woolies!” She started to stomp off to begin her torment, but Ginny stopped her with a simple sentence.

“I wish.”

That stopped Hermione in her tracks. “Excuse me?”

Ginny looked at her, with the most miserable expression, “I said, ‘I wish’ that was the problem.”

Hermione sat on someone’s bed, “Spit it out.”

“Can you keep a secret from Ron and Harry?”

Hermione bit her bottom lip, “I’ll try.”

“I guess I’ll take my chances,” Ginny sat across from her, “I have to talk to someone about this or I’m going to explode.” She gave a big sigh and then began, “He has been very helpful. He compliments my ideas and skills at potion making. He never makes lewd comments or suggestions. He hasn’t even said a word against you three for the whole week and a half we’ve been doing the tutoring sessions.”

Hermione cut in then, “So, what’s the problem? It sounds like he‘s being a perfect gentleman .” She didn’t know he had it in him, but she spared Ginny that comment.

“There lies the problem. I would love for him to be himself. Every time we touch accidentally, I get the goose bumps. There’s this huge tension building up in me and I want it to stop. I want to exchange barbs with him. I want him to tease me and make fun of me so I can come back with something witty and charming. I want him to whisper something naughty in my ear so I can blush and smack him. But, he’s just not doing anything like he’s supposed to.”

Hermione was looking at her like she had grown two heads, “Let me get this straight. You want Malfoy to be mean to you? You want him to hit on you? You want…you…you like him!”

Ginny stood up then like her rear had a rocket on it. “No way!” She walked a few paces away from Hermione and then turned back to her, “NO way!” She sat back on the bed and stared incredulously at Hermione, “Oh my God, I do. I like him…like that even!”

“Don’t tell Ron! For heaven’s sake, don’t tell him! Don’t tell anyone. This is horrible! This is totally irrational. I just can’t believe it. Why? Why on earth would you like Malfoy?”

Ginny got a dreamy look and answered, “He smells so yummy.”

Chapter Six

Draco was surrounded by Slytherins in his common room. They were lamenting over his horrid luck at getting stuck tutoring a Weasley. He was finding it all very humorous but was trying his best to appear a wounded victim.

“You poor thing, having to see that Ginny Weasley every evening! Is she as dumb as she looks?” Pansy Parkinson asked, patting his knee…over and over and over.

“Oh yes, She’s about as smart as a slug.” A very, very smart slug that was excellent at potions, he thought to himself.

“God, I bet her old ancient hand-me-down robes smell putrid!” Blaise put in his two knuts.

“You can’t begin to imagine the odor the girl emanates, it fills the entire room!” And just about does him in every single day. She smelled like honey and roses at dusk…or so he would imagine.

Millicent added with a smirk, “At least you get to put her in her place every day, reminding her who runs this school.”

Oh yeah, he had a place he wanted to put her but he wasn’t sharing that little tidbit with his lackeys, “Yeah, I make her nearly cry everyday. It makes the whole thing tolerable.”

“I think she’s pretty.” Goyle broke in with a dumb look and a shrug.

All of Draco’s audience turned to Goyle and “Ewwww’d” at the same time, many smacked him on his obviously defunct noggin.

Draco laughed aloud at Goyle. That was the most intelligent thing the boy had said in the 17 years Draco had known him. Everyone else followed his lead, only they were laughing at Goyle’s expense. Goyle looked embarrassed but didn’t take back his statement.

“I’m going to bed, trying to help that girl is wearing me down. The things we must do for our Head of House.” Draco tried to look forlorn as he traipsed off to his room. As soon as he got out of sight though, he had a spring in his step. Tomorrow was going to be a great day. He was finally going to let Ginny get her potion right and she was going to be all over him. He thought about rubbing his hands together in evil bliss but thought that was too cliché.

The next day, Ginny kept repeating Hermione’s advice every time Draco entered her thoughts. Hermione said that Draco was probably tricking her somehow. He might have put a spell on her or something. Hermione was going to look in all her spell books and see what she could find. She found it very curious that Ginny just now started liking him when she had known him for years and hadn’t found him the least bit appealing. Ginny didn’t tell her that she had thought he was good-looking for quite some time….at least on the outside. How can you go wrong with blond hair and gray eyes the color of rain clouds on a spring day? He also was hard and lean from playing quidditch all these years. He was in excellent shape, no doubt in her addled mind. And it didn’t matter that Hermione thought she was losing her mind when she said he smelled yummy, the boy smelled YUMMY! If anyone could sit by him for hours at a time and not want to snuggle into his neck and breath him in, they were crazy, not her.

Ginny’s day was rather uneventful. She was extremely busy with school at the moment. The end of the semester always brought on extra studying and stress. Her potion wasn’t her only concern. She had parchments due in her other classes as well. As a matter of fact, all the late evenings being spent on her potion had detracted from her performance in her other studies.

She was walking with the crowds through the halls, shuffling through some papers when she ran smack-dab into someone Her papers went off in eighty different directions.

“Oh! Gosh darn it!” She said as she started to pick up her things.

“Pretty harsh language there coming from a little female Weasel.”

Ginny looked up startled at the familiar tone of Draco’s voice calling her a weasel. He was smiling at her though and was already bending down to help pick up her papers. They both reached for the same paper and as their hands met she blushed and pulled back. He held on to her hand though and she turned bright red then.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to about knock you over. I just…”

“Oh my God! What are you doing?” It was Pansy and she looked like a bullfrog that had just eaten something very, very nasty.

Draco looked up at Pansy without letting loose of Ginny’s hand, “Don’t you have class or something that you should be getting to?”
Pansy looked like she wanted to say more but she didn’t. She gave a menacing scowl in Ginny’s direction and then took off like a bat out of Hades.

“I was looking for you.” Draco continued like nothing had just happened that was going to cause the whole school to go up in flames.

Ginny was truly dumbfounded. She couldn’t get her wits about her with him holding her hand in a hallway full of students, many of them walking very, very slowly by them now… “Wh-what? You..” she made a squeaky kind of noise and then continued, “you were looking for me?”

Draco tried his best not to grin at her, his plan was working…oh how he would like to do that rubbing-your-hands-together-in-evil-bliss thing, “Yep, I think I know what we are doing wrong with your potion and tonight we should get it right!”

“We should?” Ginny said trying to shake the cobwebs out of her brain.

“Need to go, see you after dinner!” Draco let go of her hand and shoved her papers into her arms and took off as it was time for class.

As it turned out, Ginny was late to her next class but she looked so distraught that her teacher let it pass without incident. She moved through the rest of the day in a daze. She was so nervous about possibly running into Draco after Potions class that she forgot her project parchment. Snape caught her as she was leaving.

“Ms. Weasley.” he said in his nasally voice, waving her parchment in the air.

“Sorry, Professor.” She said reaching for it. He drew it back though and read it with great interest.

“Have you made a proper batch of this yet?” He asked raising one eyebrow practically to his greasy hairline.

“No, Sir. Draco says we should get it tonight though.” She answered, shuffling her weight from foot to foot.

“Oh, he does eh? Well, Let’s hope so. You only have two days left before it is due.” Snape drawled out.

“Yes, sir, can I go to my next class now, sir?” Ginny asked nervously.

He handed her the parchment and released her with a flip of his pale hand. She hurried off then just catching sight of Draco’s fair head coming down the hall. She ran off in the other direction, even though her class was in his.

“Would you stop that?” Ron asked for the fifth time. Ginny was tapping her fingers on the dining room table, staring at the hour glass by the door.

“What?” she asked for the fifth time as well.

“Stop tapping your fingers like that! It’s driving me mad and it’s going to affect my digestion.” Ron said forking some more food into his mouth.

“Oh, okay, sorry.” Ginny replied absentmindedly, tapping her fingers on the table again five seconds later.

“What are you so fidgety for?” Ron asked, grabbing the hand closest to him. Hermione looked at Ginny with concern, but didn’t say anything. Harry just sat there, as usual of late, sticking his head further and further into his plate and ignoring everyone if anything controversial was going on.

“I am waiting til time to go to my Potions tutoring.” She finally said eyeing that hourglass again.

“Oh, I see. Can’t wait to see that bloody Malfoy, can we? Speaking of which, I heard a rumor that you were holding hands with him in the hallway today.” Ron said sending daggers over in Draco’s general direction.

“Yes, that’s right, Ron. You will be the best man at our wedding, won’t you?” Ginny asked sweetly.

Ron’s big gulp of pumpkin juice, he had just taken a swig of, came snorting out of his nose.

“Not funny, Ginny! Now I will have digestive problems, along with nightmares.” He said wiping off his dripping face.

“Well, maybe the spiders will leave you alone in your dreams if you have Malfoy and I on your mind.” She jumped up then as she noticed the sand running out and gave a hurried g’bye as she fled the room. She wanted to beat Draco there so she could get her stuff going and get out of there early. She was losing her marbles and it was time to recollect them.

Draco wasn’t going to let her off that easy though. He had watched her the whole meal and got up as soon as she did. He followed her right out the door, much to his housemates dismay. He wouldn’t answer to any of their inquiries except to say things weren’t as they seemed and they would find out soon what was going on. Pansy was beside herself but she knew when to shut up. Her mother had taught her well how to snag the right wizard. And Draco was the right wizard, the only wizard for her.

“Ginny! Ginny, hold on, I’ll walk with you.” Draco said trying to catch up to her. She knew he had followed her out but was trying to pretend she hadn’t. When he called to her though, she stopped without turning around and waited for him to catch up. She was not going to go all ga-ga over him, she was not going to go all ga-ga over him, she told herself while she waited for him to reach her.

“Hey Malfoy,” she said in way of greeting when he was by her side.

“Hi, think we can get this potion out of the way tonight?” He asked, walking stride by stride with her, trying to brush a part of him onto a part of her with each passing step.

She scooted over a bit and answered, “If it’s such a burden to you, I can finish up on my own. You can go on back to your friends.”

Draco eyed her warily… this was new. Was his plan not working as well as he thought? Naw, of course it was, he was on schedule with the whole charade. “No, I don’t mind tutoring you. I’m just glad that you will be able to get it done in time is all I meant.”

“Oh,” she said half-heartedly, “Okay.”

They finally reached the dungeon classroom and Ginny thought it was none too soon. If he touched her hand again with his, while they were walking, she was going to turn into a pile of flobberworms.

“I’ll get the cauldron going,” Draco said, “I think the babble pulp should be the original three grams you suggested. We just must have gotten something else wrong when we tried it that way before.”

Ginny got that familiar gleam in her eye that she had had every night when she was on to something right. “You think so? I was sure it should be three grams!” She got right into the potion then without a care to her emotional distress a few seconds ago.

“Yes, I talked to Professor Snape this afternoon and he agrees.” Actually Professor Snape had talked to him this afternoon in something close to a lecture. When the professor had looked at Ginny’s parchment he knew she had the potion perfect. She had crossed out the three grams and he asked Draco why that hadn’t done the trick. Draco made up some flimsy excuse about a dirty cauldron. The teacher gave him a dressing down about checking his equipment and dismissed him with instructions to get it right tonight. The ‘or else’ was definitely implied there. He was glad he had intended on getting it correct tonight anyway, but now it was a bit more urgent that nothing else went wrong.

Ginny mixed, mashed, and mangled all of her ingredients into her cauldron. There was a glorious, gaseous, green POOF! and then the mixture settled into a lovely turquoise color…with no bubbles. Ginny stared at it in open-mouthed amazement. Then, much to Draco’s delight, she hurdled herself into his arms! She was laughing and crying and she wrapped her arms around his neck like it was the most natural thing in the world. He did what anyone would do in such a situation, he spun her around the room, laughing right along with her. Before they knew it, they had twirled right into a wall, knocking a picture of Salazar Slytherin askew.

Ginny’s back was against the wall and Draco was still holding her around her waist. The laughter faded away and they were left listening to each other’s quickened breaths. Ginny thought she heard his heart beating and she knew she felt it. It was a steady beat that matched her own. That yummy neck was just too close to her, there was no hope now. She looked into his gray eyes and knew what was going to happen next. He was going to bend his head down and meet hers in a dazzling kiss that would deepen into their lips parting…

“Ginevra Molly Weasley! What in the bloody hell are you doing?”

Draco cursed under his breath. Damn that Weasel, five more minutes, just five more minutes!. He could feel Ginny pulling away from him. He looked into her eyes and saw the confusion there, and felt like a heel. When did he get this annoying conscience? He wanted his money back, the damn thing was useless to him. Draco reached up and took her hands down from his neck without breaking eye contact with her. He brought them in front of him and kissed her knuckles before letting her go. Ginny’s knees about gave out then. She could barely stand, let alone stand up to Ron. Draco sighed and turned to face the annoying prat of a weasel, while blocking Ginny from her brother‘s stare.

“Ron, so glad you could join us.” Draco said with his trademark smirk, “We were just celebrating.”

“Celebrating my freckled arse! Looks like you were getting ready to snog my sister from over here!” Ron had his hands clenched by his sides and he had that pufferfish look going on again. His eyes were bulging and his face was red and mottled. Ginny would have been perfectly happy if a dementor showed up right now and sucked out her soul. Anything would be better than her brother catching her in Malfoy’s arms.

“Well, maybe you need to get your eyes checked. Ginny just got her potion right and we were so happy to be rid of each other that we…oh bloody hell! I don’t have to explain anything to you, Weasel. What are you doing here anyway?” Draco said, still standing in front of Ginny. She had her forehead resting on his back and he could feel her warm breath on his skin.

“Getting ready to kill you is what I’m doing here.” Ron pulled out his wand and pointed it directly at Draco’s chest.

“I think we need to test the potion, Draco,” Ginny whispered behind him. “I’ll disarm him, you grab him & we’ll get some down his throat.”

At Draco’s nod, everything happened in a blur. Ginny stuck her wand between Draco’s body and arm. She shouted “Accio!” Ron’s wand flew from his hand and landed behind Snape‘s desk. Draco jumped on him and they both fell to the floor. Ron opened up his mouth to curse Draco to another dimension and Ginny scooped out some of her potion and poured it down his throat. He spit, sputtered and cursed before turning a lovely shade of turquoise for a brief second. Ginny stared in horror. She wasn’t expecting that side effect. What had she done to her brother? What other ill effects would come of her concoction? She was about to find out, she guessed. No going back now.

Ron stopped fighting Draco. He was turning his head every which way and his eyes were moving from object to object. He looked at Ginny and said, “blah wheche nother”. Ginny could only look at him in amazement. He turned to Draco then and made more incoherent babblings, “judiky humphy quarked portho!”

Draco looked at Ron and a huge grin broke out on his handsome face. He turned to Ginny, “It worked! I can’t understand a thing he’s carrying on about.”

Ginny knew she was going to hell for it but she had to smile right back. Her potion worked. It really worked. Her brother was now the village idiot. Her mother was going to kill her if she found out, but until then she couldn’t help but be ecstatic!

“What do you think he remembers?” she asked then, a worried frown replacing the grin as her brother continued babbling like a toddler.

Malfoy shrugged, “ No clue, Gin. I don’t know if any memory loss he experiences will be permanent either or if it will wear off when the potion does.”

Ginny bit her bottom lip while she thought this out. “Okay, I think the potion will last about an hour. If I am right, he will not have any recollection of what happened to him after he was given the potion until it wears off. He should only have vague images of whatever he saw and did for about 20 minutes before he drank it. The babbling should end the same time the immediate confusion does.”

“Sounds good to me,” Draco said with a shrug, “You’re the expert. Let’s get him out of here….. what are we going to do with him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Throw him in the lake and let the giant squid have its way with him?”

“No, too mean to the squid.”

Draco laughed.

“It’s still early. There are student’s wandering all around, let alone teachers.” She was biting her lip again. He brushed a hand over her mouth.

“Quit worrying over it, we’ll figure it out.”

“Moaning Myrtle!” They both said at the same time.

“That was freaky.” Ginny said eyeing Draco.

“Great minds think alike, dear. Let’s go.” Ginny was thinking too hard about the ‘dear’ in that sentence to appreciate the talent Draco showed next. He used a variety of spells with his wand to get Ron up and walking. They walked him all the way to the abandoned girls’ bathroom on the second floor. The whole while he was talking his mumbo jumbo.

They got him through the door and Ginny tried to make him comfortable in one of the stalls. He continued to look around in dazed confusion, babbling away like a crazy brook. They quickly stepped away from him and edged out the door. When they were safely on the other side of the door they stopped to listen for a sec. Myrtle had just found Ron and was beseeching him to tell her where his friend, Harry, was. She was moaning about how he wasn’t talking to her correctly because he thought she was ugly and fat.

Draco pulled on her arm and they moved away down the hall. Ginny felt bad about her brother’s state, but she sure hoped he couldn’t remember what had happened. This would certainly test her potion making skills. Oh well, nothing to be done now except wait. She pulled her arm away from Draco, then surprised him by taking his hand instead. He didn’t say anything, just held her hand in his firm grip and kept walking. She soon realized that they were in a portion of the castle she wasn’t familiar with. She was pretty sure it wasn’t used much. The portraits all had a layer of dust covering them. Draco seemed to know where he was going, however, because he was walking with a steady stride. When they reached the end of the hallway, Ginny looked at him confusion. There was a floor-to-ceiling bookcase at the end flanked by two burning candelabras on the wall.

“In the mood for a good book, are we?” Ginny asked looking at him bemusedly.

“Yep,” he answered with a smirk, “This one right here.” He pointed to a book entitled, The Way Out, by I.T. Wontbudge. He started to pull it out and the bookcase started spinning.

Draco pulled her into the opening and it closed up behind them. Ginny clutched Draco’s hand and moved closer to him. It was pitch black wherever they were now. It smelled musty and damp. It reminded her of the Chamber of Secrets and she was very nervous.

“Lumosita.” Draco said in a quiet but steady voice. His wand tip glowed with a soft light. It didn’t help set Ginny’s mind at ease though. It looked even worse than it smelled. There were cobwebs here that looked to be from a herd of acromantulas. She thought vaguely of the Ford Anglia and wondered if it could fit in this narrow hallway to save her as it had Ron and Harry.

“It’s okay, we aren’t going much farther.” Draco said, smiling at her reassuringly as he pulled her forward. They went down several flights of stone steps. They were crumbling in some places and Ginny lost her footing twice but Draco pulled her upright before she hurled to her death in the darkness below.

“If you wanted to kill me, I would have thought you would have had ample opportunity with all the time we have spent alone in the dungeons.” Ginny said with a nervous hitch in her voice that belied she wasn’t entirely joking.

Draco stopped then at a solid wooden door. With a flick of his wand and a quiet command the door opened easily and silently. He gave her a wicked grin that about floored her.

“I don’t want to kill you, I just want to snog you in peace.”

Chapter Seven

“W-what? Where are we?” Ginny asked in a timid voice. She thought that she might perhaps brave the dark stairway and bolt back up to the door.

“My room.” Draco answered as he indicated the surroundings with a flip of his wrist.

The room was lavishly decorated. There were dark green velvet chairs and settees placed around a huge stone fireplace. There was a black fur rug thrown in front of it. Just taking notice of it made Ginny blush. She, of course, turned even redder when her eyes moved round the room to his bed. It was covered in a rich emerald comforter, with black and silver pillows tossed at the head of the bed. There were flags of the Slytherin crest scattered around the room, as well as a huge portrait of his parents above the mantle. They looked down their noses and talked about her in loud whispers. There was a door across the way, that Ginny assumed led to the rest of the Slytherin rooms. The door they entered was invisible from inside the room.

“Well?” Draco asked, propelling her into the room.

“I can’t believe you get your own room. That bites!” Ginny said with a scowl.

Draco laughed, “I’m Draco Lucius Malfoy….you can’t expect me to share quarters with the masses, do you?”

She just elbowed him and walked over to the settee closest to the fireplace. A house-elf came from out of no where and handed her a drink and started the fire. She smelled it and Draco laughed again.

“I assure you, my house-elves never poison pretty girls in my room.”

“Oh, so you have pretty girls here often do you?” Ginny glared at his back, since he had moved over to a shelf on the other side of the room. Music began playing and Ginny’s eyes got big as saucers.

She exclaimed, “Draco Malfoy! That’s an American muggle tune!” as soon as she recognized the lyrics:

“You have so many relationships in this life

Only one or two will last

You're going through all this pain and strife

Then you turn your back and they're gone so fast

And they're gone so fast

So hold on to the ones who really care

In the end they'll be the only ones there

When you get old and start losing your hair

Can you tell me who will still care

Can you tell me who will still care

Mmm bop,

ba duba dop Ba du bop,

ba duba dop Ba du bop,

ba duba dop Ba du”

Ginny started howling with laughter, “ Draco Malfoy is a Hanson fan!”

He sauntered over and sat down beside her, all the while humming along with the tune, “You won’t tell any of my fellow Death Eaters will you?” He flashed her a dead sexy grin and she collapsed on him in a fit of teary giggles.

There was a sudden flash of green light and a nasally voice filled the room, “What is that horrid noise, Draco? Do you have a pack of howling gytrashes in there with you? Is that supposed to be music?”

Lucius’s head was suspended in the fire place and he was looking around the room for the source of the irritating noise. His head swiveled to Draco as he continued, “How goes the bet with Potter, boy?”

Just then Ginny raised her head off of Draco’s lap and Lucius let a little surprised chuckle get past his thin lips before he sneered at the red-haired girl that could only be a Weasley. “Ah, never mind, I see it goes quite well. Carry on, Son.” With that the head was gone and the regular fire crackled again.

Draco was frozen in place, Well Pixie Dung, how the hell was he going to play this off?

Ginny sat up on the settee and stared pointedly into Draco’s gray eyes, as she crossed her arms over her chest, “What was that about, Draco Lucius Malfoy?”

“Um..umm..well….I- I don’t know. Seems my father must be in the wacky water again,” he said tipping an invisible glass to his lips several times.

“Uh-huh, try again, please,” Ginny said pulling her eye brows down into a menacing scowl, “That wouldn’t even placate Pug-Face Parkinson.” She moved as far away as she could from him, never letting her stare waver.

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Damn his Father.

“Never mind, I’ll go ask Harry.” Ginny jumped off the couch and headed for the door across the way.

“No, no, don’t leave me Ginny! Please, come on we can talk it out.” She had opened the door then and had entered what must be the Slytherin’s common room. Students were doing various things around the room. Ginny thought fleetingly that they looked so normal. She didn’t see any blood or carnage as she walked through the room. They did all turn to stare to her in bewilderment though.

Draco grabbed for her arm but she brushed it off and kept on going.

“Ginny, come back…please?” Draco said stepping in front of her. She stopped and planted her hands on her hips while giving him a scathing look that made the hair on his neck stand on end.

“Harry will give me what I want. I should have known you weren‘t a real man.” All the Slytherin’s raised their eyebrows and looked at each other wondering what Harry was going to give her that Draco evidently couldn’t. There were several snickers as well.

She stormed past him just as Blaise was entering their portrait hole. She brushed by him and scampered through the hole before Draco could catch her again. He stood at the hole running his hands through his hair, then turned to face his classmates.

“What are you looking at? Mind your own damn business!” and with that he stormed back into his room and slammed the door so hard it cried out in pain.

Well, hellhound piss, what was he going to do now?, he thought as he threw himself on the bed, pretending he didn’t hear the laughter still coming from the common room.

Harry saw her coming. Who could miss her entrance? Her robes were billowing behind her, as was her flaming coppery tresses. She looked like a fireball, and she was aimed right at him. He had a strong urge to duck and cover, but he was Harry Potter. He was a hero, a champion, a brave lad in his own right….but a wimp when it came to girls. Thank God, Voldemort wasn’t of the female persuasion or he would have been a goner already. He steeled his nerve and prepared for Ginny’s onslaught.

The other student’s in the Great Hall didn’t seem to notice her, not that she would care if they did. She strode right up to Harry and put her hands on her hips. She gave him her mother’s famous Fred-and -George-glare. She thought he was shaking a bit already and that gave her more confidence.

“What is going on with you and Draco Malfoy?” Now that statement got the attention of several of the students that were milling around the room.

“Huh?” he asked with a dumb look on his face.

Ginny tapped her foot impatiently, “I know you two have some kind of bet going on and that it somehow involves me. Spill.”

There were too many prying ears in the room. Harry was very aware that every one in the hall was listening to their conversation.

“Umm, let’s go somewhere else and talk….privately.” Harry said nodding his head a bit in the direction of the students in the room.

Just then the buzz in the room changed. Everyone was looking behind Ginny now and Harry got all red-faced and rose from his chair.

“Potter, mind if I steal Gin for a bit? No? Good, thanks,” Draco said, hooking one of his arms through hers and walking off without a care in the world. Ginny was furious! She was practically foaming at the mouth. She wanted to hash this out though so instead of having a hissy, she grabbed up Harry and dragged him along behind her. They made quite the spectacle. Sort of like a weird, wizard, mini-conga line.

Draco knew she was bringing Potter along, he didn’t care. He didn’t care if she brought Snape and the Giant Squid. He was NOT losing this bet or her. Well, not that he would care if he lost her. After all, it was all just a game to him. He didn’t really like her or anything. She was just another girl. He could have any girl. Any girl at all. He ignored the betraying voice in his own head that was mocking him for the lies he was shoving down his own throat.

The conga line stopped at the lake. Anytime Draco needed to think or be alone, he went to the lake. It was peaceful, serene and usually deserted.

“Alright, Ginny, tell Potter that you love me.” Draco said as soon as they stopped and he turned to face them.

She looked at him like he had runespoors coming out of his nose. “I will do no such thing. Why on earth would I do that?”

“Because you do.” He said firmly, pulling one of her arms.

“Oh bug off, Malfoy. She doesn’t love you, you evil prat!” Harry said pulling her other arm.

Draco tugged harder, “Yeah, she does. She’s crazy about me.”

Harry snorted, “She would be crazy to care about you. Give it up.” He pulled her again in his direction.

Ginny had had enough! She pulled her arms together in one swift, strong motion. The two boys banged heads together in front of her. She smiled in satisfaction as they both rubbed their noggins’ and let loose of her.

“I want to know what the bet was, and I want to know right now.”

Draco looked at her with wounded eyes, “You hurt me! I’m probably going to have a bump the size of Potter’s ego in the morning, marring up my perfect face.”

“Perfect face?” Harry said still rubbing his forehead, “You vain peacock! I think I have a concussion!”

Oh, they were so lucky she didn’t know any ‘Unforgivable Curses’. She would have taken great pleasure at that moment in using one, or two, maybe even all three of them.

“Alright! Enough! Harry, you first. Tell me what you bet on.”

Draco caught his eye and Harry knew that if he told her, the bet was off and he would lose. He couldn’t tell Ginny anything about the bet or he was going to be wearing a tea towel.

“Draco said he could get any girl to fall in love with him without using a love potion,” at Harry’s words, Draco’s mouth hit the ground. Harry continued, “I said he couldn’t, of course, and the bet was on.”

Ginny looked perplexed, “How did I get involved in this stupid wager?”

“You returned my notebook.” Draco said sheepishly but added for good measure, “but I was really glad it was you!”

Ginny looked fit to be tied, “Harry Potter, I am shocked that you would do that to some girl! Setting them up to get slathered on by Malfoy’s Slytherin spittle!” She shook her head at him in utter contempt.

“Hey, I didn’t slather on you even one time!” Draco countered.

“And you,” Ginny turned her brown eyes on him next, “pretending to be all nicey-nice to me. Helping me with my potion, trying to kiss me, listening to Hanson…”

At that Harry broke in with a loud guffaw, “HANSON??? Oh my gawd! Hanson? Do you like Air Supply too? Maybe Milli Vanilli?”

Draco and Ginny both said, “Shut up, Potter!”

Draco grabbed Ginny’s hand, “It started out a bet but I really do like you. You are smart, funny, beautiful…would you stop that Potter!” Draco interrupted when he saw Harry moving his hand like a puppet and mouthing blah blah blah, “I don’t care about the stinking bet. I just want you to love me.” He kissed her hand and gave her ‘the look’. You know, the one that melts asphalt. The one that is supposed to turn any female within a 200 mile radius into putty. The one that…..went right by Ginny like a snitch in a bad quidditch game.

“I don’t want anything to do with you two ever again. I HATE you both. You made your nasty little bed of lies and hurtfulness. Now you can sleep in it you…you…big ugly toad-faced baboons!” And with that, she stormed off to the castle leaving the boys standing by the lake.

Draco looked at Harry with skepticism, “We don’t have to lie in that bed together do we?”

“God I hope not, let‘s assume it‘s a bunk bed……just in case.”