half empty, half full --open--

[amber]

It was sort of pathetic – hiding out in one of the empty classrooms. Ginny Weasley never hid, unless it was from her mother to get out of degnoming the garden. But at that point, who could blame her? Degnoming wasn't exactly fun. Sometimes she thought that her mother was a little disappointed with her. Ginny was smart and good at magic, but she was also more like a boy than even she would care to admit. The resemblance to Fred and George wasn't just physical. Instead of playing with dolls, Ginny spent her time thinking up pranks. Her brothers had gone on to do great things (so far, there was still Ron to consider but with someone like Harry as a friend, Ron was sure to be at least a side note in saving the wizarding world). Even Fred and George were running a joke shop, which wasn't something Ginny thought Molly was very happy about at first, but changed considerably when it was apparent that they were good at what they did and would be very successful.

What Ginny was hiding from was even more pathetic. Well, it was more like who she was hiding from. At the end of the previous term, Ginny had started dating Dean Thomas, not long after breaking up with Michael Corner. Ginny figured that it wasn't a huge deal. At least she wasn't doing anything other than snogging here and there. Some girls did much worse things. And it hadn't hurt her popularity at all. She still had tons of friends and a handful of people she thought she could trust with her life. The problem was, she was hiding from him. Hiding from Dean. Her supposed boyfriend. She was hiding. Why was she hiding?

Well there was the obvious reason: she and Dean didn't have an exactly quiet relationship. The two argued more than they didn't and that kind of stress wasn't something Ginny needed. It was her OWL year. Soon she would be getting ready to bury herself under a ton of library books in the hopes that she would do well. There would be hell to pay if Ginevra Weasley did not do well. Then there was the fact that she had spent nearly all summer with Harry and not written hardly any owls to her boyfriend at all. They'd had a bit of catching up on the train, but in all honestly, Ginny had spent most of the time tuning out whatever he said. The truth was that Dean was a great guy, but Ginny was still holding out hope that maybe Harry might find some interest in her some day. They had had a lot of fun over the summer. Maybe that could turn into something.

Or maybe she was just hiding from Harry as well. Perhaps she knew that there wasn't going to be anything outside of friendship with Harry. That's what all the signs pointed to anyway. Harry had dated (briefly) Cho Chang for crying out loud. Ginny just couldn't top an older woman. But maybe, with Cho in her seventh year, Harry would have to look for someone else. Ginevra Weasley cringed mentally at the thought of Harry dating anyone. How hypocritical, when she was dating Dean.

Instead of doing anything productive, Ginny just sat in an empty classroom, making random objects float across the room. Well, no one was using it anyway. A little rearranging wouldn't hurt and it was keeping her occupied.

[draco]

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Draco Malfoy's head was throbbing. He didn't have any more classes he deemed worthy of going to today so he just cut the rest of them and tried to get some sleep in the boy's dormatories. Draco had never found Hogwarts to be a school worth going to. He still would've preferred Durmstrang, but he didn't really always get what he wanted. The only classes he ever found fun to go to was Potions, and Divination. Potions because Professor Snape taught it, and watching him mock the Gryffindors was always a fun thing to watch. Especially when Longbottom failed and he practically wet his pants when Severus started yelling at him and threatening to feed his potion to that good for nothing toad, Trevor. Then there was Divination, that was a waste of time, but watching Harry get the death omen constantly was entertaining as well.

When it came to school Draco was a lot like Hermione, though you would never get him to admit it. He liked the more practical classes such as History of Magic or Ancient Runes. Sure he fell asleep sometimes in History of Magic, but he still preferred it over something like Divination that was all guess work. He liked solid facts because then he knew that he was always right, and there was no controversy. He also studied hard like Hermione did, so that he could give his father something to be proud of. Plus, he wanted to be better than Hermione and be top of the class. But right now school was the last thing on his mind. He moved on to bigger and better things.

He tried to get some sleep but that idea was thrown out the window when he kept waking up to reaccuring nightmares. The one about him being held down as the forced the mark on his arm, and where his mother was killed before his very eyes. Only one of them actually happened, but Draco knew if he screwed up, the other one could be come a reality as well. So he started heading to the Room of Requirement so he could get some of the cabinet fixed up. Do something to pass the time so he didn't notice his throbbing headache so much. He walked up to the sixth floor, knowing he had one more floor to go to before he was up where the Room of Requirment was.

Just as he got up there he was walking past an empty classroom when he heard something or someone. He froze and slowed his breathing. If anyone was watching him, he would be in huge trouble if they told on him. No one really knew where the Room of Requirement was. Well, Dumbledore's Army and the Inquestorial Squad did. But no one was supposed to keep going there reaccuringly the way he did. Not after the last time when he and his housemates busted the DA for Umbridge.

He clenched his fist and grew stern. Harry. He just knew it had to be Harry freakin Potter. Who else would be able to sneak around without him noticing? Someone with an invisibility cloak. Draco put his hand around the doorknob of the classroom and practically threw it open, ready to give Potter a piece of his mind. But instead, he saw Ginny, not Harry, standing in there.

"Weaslett, what are you doing in here? One might think you're spying," said Draco, his cold eyes narrowing. All he could really think about was that Harry sent the little she-weasel to do the dirty work. He didn't even think about she might be hiding, or why if she WAS spying, why she'd be IN the classroom, rather than outside it. He just wasn't in the mood for logic right now.

[amber]

If she could just think straight, everything would be alright. But organizing thoughts felt impossible right now. OWLs. She would have to start studying soon for them, even it being the beginning of the year because she had to do at least as well as Fred and George had. Harry, well there wasn't much to figure out there. Ginny loved Harry, Harry didn't love Ginny. Still, she felt the need to hide from him for a while. Or maybe just to be alone with her thoughts. Her crazy jumbled up thoughts. Dean. There was a lot to consider about Dean Thomas. He was a great guy and she knew Harry and Ron liked him alright, even if Ron didn't like the fact that his sister was dating his friend. Well, Ron would just have to put up with that. If they continued dating. The two argued so much that sometimes Ginny wondered if it was worth it. They were both young. Weren't relationships supposed to be fun and all that? Really, they did have a good time now and then, but they argued over the most stupid things; admittedly, Ginny started most of it. Anything, no matter how small, that Dean did wrong could set her off.

Then there was the issue of her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Ginny wasn't thrilled that Fleur had stayed with them over the summer. The girl drove Ginny absolutely crazy. Why did Bill have to choose her to be his wife? Ginny and Hermione had spent most of the summer making fun of the new house guest. It didn't seem as though Mrs. Weasley enjoyed the girl's company much either, so it wasn't like there was a whole lot of worry about getting into any trouble over it. Ginny had begun calling Fleur “Phlegm” which just about everyone got a kick out of except maybe Ron.

She should probably just focus on studying for the exams. That was a bit difficult though, when making objects float across the room was much more entertaining. Actually, watching actual owls poo on walls would have been more entertaining than studying at this point. Really, magic was useful entertainment. As the objects floated across the room, Ginny was actually almost having a good time trying not to worry about OWLs and boys and career paths and her issue with Phlegm.

Then he walked in. Draco Malfoy was basically the scum of Hogwarts as far as Ginny was concerned. His family didn't exactly treat hers with respect. Lucius spent his time having a go at Arthur Weasley and Draco made sure he covered any Weasley that was school aged. His target seemed to be more of Harry and Ron. Though Harry wasn't a Weasley, he was close with the family. That and Draco just had something against Harry's sort of instant popularity, not that that always lasted a very long time. Last year just about everyone had hated him for a little while when he insisted that the Dark Lord was back, and Ginny's first year loads of people thought that Harry was the heir of Slytherin. As if that were possible. Harry was a good person. It had been Ginny who unknowingly opened the chamber. Not that she had any choice in the matter. The real heir of Slytherin made her do it.

“Only someone who was paranoid would think I'd be spying. Now, why are you paranoid, Malfoy?” What kind of reason did Ginevra Weasley have to spy on anyone? Especially Draco Malfoy. There was no reason. She might trail a few Slytherins from time to time in order to find out what their fears were and incorporate them into a harmless yet really funny prank, but she didn't have the stomach to look at Malfoy long enough to find out what he was afraid of.