Draco didn’t see Ginny for the few days after their rounds together. He couldn’t help but feel that she was avoiding him, but he didn’t mind. He didn’t understand the leap of something that he had gotten in his chest when Ginny had climbed the ladder to the Divination Tower to make sure no one was up there. Her jumper had lifted to expose a strip of smooth, pale, freckled skin. He had noticed that her jeans were too big and settled low on her hips, and then something new and frightening had flared up in him. A feeling so unfamiliar, he hadn’t even known what to call it.

So in the days that he did not see her, he prepared himself to squash the feeling that might return if he saw her again. He told himself that the only interest he had in Ginny was her connection to Potter, and he was only going to get closer to her to eliminate that connection.

The day before they had their rounds again, Draco caught a glimpse of her at breakfast. Her long hair was partially pulled away from her face, and she was laughing at something a girl beside her had said. Her face seemed to positively glow as she laughed, something that he had not seen since her fling with Potter.

“Mm,” a voice broke into his thoughts. Draco looked over to see Blaise Zabini staring at Ginny with a hungry glint in his eyes. “Would you look at Potter’s girl?”

“What about her?” Draco snapped.

“Calm down, mate,” Blaise answered with smirk tugging at his lips. “I’m just saying that Potter has good taste in women. I mean, Chang wasn’t bad.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Draco refrained from making a disgusted noise. “There are more important things to think about than blood traitors like her,” he sneered.

“True,” Blaise replied with a shrug. “But I doubt Voldemort would murder me for using a blood traitor. That’s what he’s into, isn’t it?”

Draco bit down on his tongue so hard that he tasted a salty mixture of blood and bile in his mouth. “How would I know?” he snarled.

Blaise gave him a look that said quite plainly, You’re not fooling anyone. He shrugged.

“I wouldn’t know any better than you, Zabini,” Draco growled.

“Sure, mate. Whatever you say.”

“Just stay away from Ginny Weasley.”

“Why?” Blaise gave him a curious look.

“Because she’s mine,” Draco said with such a note of finality and emphasis that Blaise knew exactly what he meant.

Draco didn’t bother to stick around to give Blaise a chance to inquire about his interest in Ginny Weasley. He pushed away the remains of his dry toast and made his way to the door. Something orange flashed out of the corner of his eye and he knew immediately what it was. Ginny Weasley was heading for the door too.

She looked up from the sheet of parchment she had been reading as she walked and her eyes widened. Draco was torn between sneering at her and stepping back to let her walk first. His grey eyes locked on her brown ones, and he felt the Malfoy in him winning. He gave her a half-hearted sneer and went through the door. But something else in him must have won out too, because he held it open for her once he was through. She gave him a confused half smile and walked past him with her chin up. He couldn’t help but give a very small smile at the sight of her chin up in the air. Both her chin and her nose were filed to mischievous points and, he noted, similar to his own.

Ginny tried to quiet the confusion of thoughts that swirled around in her head as she climbed the staircase out of the Entrance Hall. She could feel Malfoy’s eyes on her back, and the lack of anger or tenseness that she felt perplexed her. What was his deal?

She didn’t know why she had smiled at him. She had been so surprised at his small, hidden gesture of kindness that she had reacted on impulse. There was something about him that seemed so…unsure. He didn’t seem to know who he was or who he wanted to be.

Ginny snorted and shook out her hair behind her. She knew who she was. She didn’t know what was up with Malfoy, but she wasn’t going to let herself get caught up in it.

A snowy owl flew by the window that she was walking past and Ginny felt her head spin slightly. The owl reminded her of Hedwig, which, of course, reminded her of Harry.

Am I waiting for him? She had promised herself not to wait for him. He said he was being noble, but Ginny knew the truth: he was a selfish coward who wouldn’t accept any help from anyone. Ginny felt her anger level rising at the very thought of him. How dare he leave her behind? She was just as much a part of this as he was.

She clenched her fists and she trudged up another flight of stairs. I will not wait for you, Harry Potter. You can be sure of that.

Draco was surprised to see Ginny waiting for him in the Entrance Hall the following night. She was almost ten minutes early. How odd.

He let his eyes sweep over her, if only for a moment. Her flaming hair was pulled into a messy braid with fallen, untidy wisps framing her face. Her jeans were still too big and hung on her small frame, but she wore a fitted, long sleeved shirt with worn elbows and “Chudley Cannons” emblazed on the front. He finished his circle at her eyes, which were a dark, smoldering brown.

“You’re early,” he commented, pushing his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

“I am,” she agreed. She crossed her arms across her chest and began to chew on her lower lip nervously. Draco squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and groaned inwardly. In fact, if he was honest with himself, it was more of a moan.

“Good, then,” he said tensely, clearing his throat. “We can finish earlier then.”

She nodded and they set off in the same silence as they had experienced the previous week. They completed their rounds in total silence, and as they turned the corner to just check the Astronomy Tower, Draco heard a cackling laugh.

“Peeves,” he growled, withdrawing his wand and looking around.

The poltergeist appeared suddenly, swooped down from his perch atop of one the suits of armor and snatched Draco’s wand from his hand. He blew a loud raspberry at the two of them and laughed. “Ickle prefects better run, they ruin all of Peevsie’s fun!” he sang, diving through the air and shoving the suit of armor over with one push. Draco turned to see Ginny gasp and try to back out of the way, but she tripped, landed on her back, and cried out in pain and the metal came down on her right leg.

Peeves gave one last hoot of laughter before zooming away with Draco’s wand. Draco shouted after him, but he knew it was no use. He turned back to Ginny, who was lying beneath the suit of armor. Her breath came in short gasps and her face was completely white.

He hesitated, unsure what to do. He didn’t have his wand, so he couldn’t mend it himself, and if he went for help, they might not get back to her in time. His stomach heaved at the sight of her blood flowing red all over the floor.

“I can’t heal it, I don’t have my wand,” he said helplessly to her, wringing his hands. He felt his eyes widen at the sight of her face wet with tears.

“Use…mine,” she choked out, clutching her leg.

“Don’t be thick, I could make things worse,” he snapped as he bent down to heave the armor off of her. She gasped loudly as the weight came off of her leg, which was bent to an unnatural angle.

Without giving it a further thought, Draco bent down and scooped her up in his arms. She made a noise of surprise in between her cries of pain. Draco didn’t dare look down at her as he trudged up a flight of stairs to the infirmary. She clung to him, shaking. He didn’t let himself think about the feel of her body pressed up against his, or how soft her hair felt resting against his cheek. He would reserve those thoughts for later. Right now, his only focus was her.