FicWad

Hello! So, I began writing this story literally 10 years ago when I was 14, maybe 15. I then abandoned it because I probably began thinking I was too ~cool~ to be writing fan fiction. Or maybe it was around the time I got caught up in spending time with real boys –not fictional Draco Malfoys’- who knows. Regardless, during the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter, Buzzfeed EXPLODED with Harry Potter fanfiction posts. So, I decided to take a trip down Nostalgia Lane and stumbled upon this story. Despite the grammatical errors I’m actually very impressed with my teenaged self. I have such a vivid memory of where my imagination was going with this story. So, 10 years later, as I’m nearly finishing up my university degree and will be entering grad school shortly, I’m deciding to edit this up and add to it. Keep in mind that the first 2 chapters were written ten years ago, and I know longer know the Harry Potter world quite as well as I used to, so if you notice any inconsistencies please don’t hesitate to let me know.

But yes, PLEASE at least read until the third chapter if it peaks your interest. You will likely notice a major tone difference and in my opinion it's a huge improvement. It's much more adult, realistic, and I think most people can relate to the characters a bit.

Lastly, this is predominantly a romance story. Although I do touch on the war a bit, it will be seriously lacking in action or Voldermort scenes for most it because I SUCK at writing action. There will be some towards the end but I definitely need to get a lot of practice before I tackle that.

ANYWAYS, Hope you enjoy! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I will love you forever! Even if it's a simple "very good" or "very bad" lol.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, duh.
Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, duh.

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Chapter One

So It Begins...


Draco Malfoy, your typical rich spoiled rotten kid. He had everything he wanted and he could get anything he wanted. Whether it was the latest broomstick or getting back into Hogwarts once he had let hundreds of death eaters in the school. It was true; Draco Malfoy was back in school. It made most of the students and teachers furious, but McGonagall, the new Headmistress, figured that he deserved another chance for multiple reasons. He wasn't the one who killed Dumbledore, yes, he was supposed to, but he didn't. Also, per Draco's mother, he was far too young to make the decision himself. His father said he had to be one, and if he wasn't The Dark Lord would have killed him, and wouldn't think twice about it. That was no lie.

After hearing this, one would think his life was horrible, and for a while it was. All the stress from the last year had gotten to him, and he really thought he was going insane. He still has nightmares of Voldermort's gleaming red eyes. He would often wake up shaking, sweaty, and his arm where the mark was engraved burned. However, no one had to know about that…put all that aside, he was happy.

It was six o'clock in the morning on the day where everything would change. His eyes fluttered open. The morning sun shined through the giant windows, and it felt as though he was getting blinded by the warm rays. He rolled onto his side. Lying next to him was the most beautiful girl in the entire school. Rose Harper. The two were to marry once they graduated, this had been planned since before they were born. Neither of them really loved each other, however, they were stuck with each other, so they figured they would make the best of it. She had bronze skin, and long brown hair that went half way down her back with bangs going straight across her forehead. Her eyes matched her hair, they were chocolate brown, and suited her perfectly.

Draco rolled out of bed and hopped into the shower. He hated getting up this early but he could never sleep past six. Every morning was the same. He would to the great hall and get something to eat before anyone else was even up yet. He would enjoy his breakfast in the peaceful silence then venture to the library and read until it was time to go to classes. He turned the shower off and put on his uniform which consisted of the white dress shirt and black pants with the green and silver tie. He looked in the mirror for a few minutes, just staring at his reflection. He was getting worn down; he had dark lines under his cold silver eyes. He had platinum blonde hair that went past his ears, and his skin was so pale, he looked as though he had never been outside. He was very attractive; in fact, he was the most attractive male in Slytherin. In his opinion he was most attractive out of the entire school, but other people disagreed. Apparently Potter and Weasley were, but Draco attributed this to their everlasting ‘Hero Status’.

He slowly crept outside of his dorm, and made his way to the great hall. His day had started. it was the day where everything would begin. It’s the day that everything he had previously believed about the people around him would slowly be proved wrong. It was the day his perfect life would turn into the not-so perfect life.
It was the day he met her.


Ginny Weasley, the youngest of seven kids woke up on the crisp November morning. She was possibly one of the happiest girls in all of Hogwarts. She was with her amazing boyfriend, Harry Potter, whom she loved more than anything. She had the best friends a girl could ask for, one of them being her brother, Ron Weasley. Most people usually can’t stand their siblings, however, Ginny enjoyed spending time with her many brothers. Yes, they would often get into arguments, and yes, he was overly protective of her, but they always get over it.
Her life wasn't all rainbows and sugarplums. She had her stresses and anxieties just like everyone else, she would just push aside them all aside and swallow the pain. It wasn’t smart but she couldn't stand feeling down on herself, so she just shut out everything negative and focused on the good. Harry often had to leave Hogwarts, sometimes for weeks at a time, but she knew that would happen. The war, the horrible war, was tearing the world apart, and Harry was in the very middle of it. Hermione and Ron would also leave with him as well, leaving Ginny behind. Leaving her worried and hopeless. She wanted to fight with them but she knew they wouldn't listen. She put everything aside and waited for them to return, and when they did, she would be there with a bright happy face greeting them with giant hugs.

She pulled herself out of bed, and got dressed. Her wardrobe consisted of used uniforms and old clothes from Hermione. However, she had a beautiful green cloak that she bought for herself. She saved every knut and galleon and put it towards that cloak. She only wore it on special occasions, like Bill's wedding during the summer. She felt like a different person while wearing it. A more confident, strong, honest Ginny. She wanted to tell everyone what she thought of the war, and how she wanted to fight in it while she was wearing it, but she never got the chance. She brushed out her dark red hair and, to her dismay, put on the ugly school uniform which consisted of a grey pleaded skirt, white dress shirt, and a red and gold tie.

She walked down into the common room. There was Harry. Sleeping soundly on the couch with a pile of homework around him. He was run down, on top of saving the world he also had to worry about his marks. He had to do well this year, or else he would never make it as an auror. Ginny kissed his cheek and smiled. He was so handsome, with his black hair all over the place. She never thought she's end up with Harry, but hey, stranger things have happened.
She walked quickly to the great hall, she had quite a bit of energy considering it was only about 6:30 in the morning. She was expecting it to be completely empty but she was wrong. At the end of the Slytherin table was the certain blonde headed Slytherin. She hated him with such a passion, she wished he could have gotten sent too Azkaban, but nope, she got too deal with him for one more year. She tried ignore him, and went off too her own table hoping he wouldn't even see her. But she messed up that plan. As she pulled out her chair, it made a horrible screeching sound. His head snapped up from his coffee and bagel, and stared right at her. Her brown eyes met with his, and they just stared at each other for a few seconds until Ginny sat down in the chair, and poured herself a cup of coffee. She stared down, trying not to make eye contact with him, but he continued staring at her.

She soon got fed up and said bluntly, "What?"

"What?" he asked, "I'm not doing anything"

"You're staring at me," She said snidely. He was the only person that could ruin her day.

"No, I was looking at the artwork on the wall behind you." he said honestly, and went back to his coffee.

"Oh," She said quietly.

There was silence again. Ginny wished he would just leave. She looked up at him, and this time she found herself staring at him. He noticed his weathered looking eyes and the way his platinum hair seemed to perfectly fall in front of them. Then she noticed him smirk. Without even looking up Draco said, "Weasley, stop staring at me.”

"I wasn't staring at you. I was looking at the windows," She said, smirking

"Oh," This time he was the one who said that, but he continued talking, "Why are you up? It's Saturday."

"I couldn't sleep," She answered, sipping her coffee. "Why are you awake?"

"Same reason." he answered.

It was silent again. She desperately wished her drink wasn't so hot so that she could drink all in one gulp and leave, but cold coffee wasn't that great.

"You're really not that talkative, are you?" He asked, staring at her again.

"Not when it comes to you" She answered simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"And what's wrong with me?"

"Malfoy, in case you haven't noticed, I really don't like you." He was starting to annoy her…

"Why?" He smirked.

"Why do you think? You're evil, you're cruel, and I hate you." She didn't know where that came from, but it just came out. She almost wished she could have taken it back. It was too early for this…

"How so?"

"Stop asking questions!" She shrieked.

"Why?"

She sighed loudly, and left the great hall and her coffee behind. She really needed that coffee today.

"Weasley?" Draco had gotten up and followed her

"What do you want?" She shouted exasperatedly.

"You're shoes un-tied" He smirked then simply walked away.

Ginny screamed. It was not wise to make her angry this early in the morning. She pulled out her wand and muttered a spell. Draco became stiff as a board and fell to the ground.

"Miss Weasley!" Professor McGonagall hurried towards the two, "What do you think you are doing?"

"Um-he was annoying me." Ginny couldn't think of a better excuse. She didn't even have a good reason for doing what she did.

McGonagall unfroze Draco and said sternly, "Detention, both of you, my office, tonight."

"What!" Draco shouted, "I did nothing!"

"Shut your mouth before it's a week of detention!" She said with nostrils flaring, "Now, run along!"

"Stupid Weasley" Draco muttered before walking away to the library.

"God Damnit" she said too herself, she really didn't want to spend all night with Draco Malfoy.
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Ginny climbed up the many stairs, grumbling the entire way. Stupid Draco, she thought, how can he always get to me?

From the day those two talked there was a strong hatred between them; it ran through their blood, veins, and minds. They were enemies and nothing more. However, the only thing they knew about each other was the main obvious things like Draco being a death eater, and Ginny being a Weasley whom helped with the good side of the war. He was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor, that was all you needed to really know about them.

She walked through the portrait and looked at her watch. It must have taken her a long time to get up to the common room because it was 10:30. A few Gryffindors were awake, chatting sleepily, and Harry was now sitting up twirling his wand around. Ginny smiled, and snuck behind him. She silently covered his eyes with her hands and whispered, "Guess who?" in his ear. Harry grabbed her delicate hands and lifted his head so he could see her big brown eyes. Before he said anything, he pulled her down a little so their lips could touch.

"Good morning" he mumbled

"You too, Potter," she silently giggled and climbed over the couch so she landed in his lap. She was so small; Harry could lift her up like a feather. She was at least a head shorter then Harry, and very thing. She figured it came from her dad's side. Everyone was extremely skinny in her family, however, most of them were also tall. She must have gotten her height from her mother’s side of the family.

"Where have you been this morning?" Harry asked, and the smile off Ginny's face faded. For those few minutes of bliss, she had forgotten about her encounter with Malfoy.

"Getting detention," she sighed, "With Malfoy."

"What?" Harry almost yelled. Pretty much every time someone mentioned his name, Harry's emerald eyes would flash with anger. He ruined so many lives…

"It's okay, Harry, honestly. It was my fault, well, mostly." She said quickly too calm him down, "I over reacted, and McGonagall caught me. No big deal."

"Fine, but if he lays a finger on you-"

"I know, I know. You'll hex him into next week." She smiled. Harry's protectiveness would annoy her at times, but she knew he was only concerned.

"You've got that right." He said, and then it was silence. The other people in the common room had left to get breakfast, so it was just the two of them. Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat; Ginny could tell he was thinking of something.

"What's the matter?" Ginny sighed. She already had an idea of what was wrong.

"I have to leave tonight" She was right. It was going to be a bad day.

"For how long?" Ginny's eyes were full of concern, she hated him leaving.

"I don't know. Hopefully Monday" He said, and Ginny slid off his lap.

"Okay." she said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Gin. You know I don’t want to. But we’ve got a big lead on the whereabouts of...well, it’s a secret." Harry always hid so many things from Ginny regarding the war she was used to it by now.

"Are Ron and Hermione going too?" She asked.

"Yes.”

"Okay," she looked away from him, "Just stay safe, okay?"

"I promise," He kissed her cheek, "But I should go throw some stuff in a bag, then I'll be leaving."

"Don't forget to say bye" Harry gave her a weak smile

"Don't worry, I'll hunt down the whole school just to say goodbye." He kissed her quickly then ran up the stairs, leaving a lonely Ginny.

So, maybe she wasn't that happy…

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"Draco, where were you?"

Draco walked into the common room at about 6:00 at night. He didn't know why, he just didn't want to talk to anyone. Rose, the Slytherin beauty, stood in front of him, arms crossed and her lips in a pout. Draco didn't say anything, but simply gave her a quick peck on lips then walked right passed her.

"Hello? Aren't you going to tell me?" She demanded fiercely.

"Everywhere," He said simply, "And nowhere."

"Don't start going all 'deep' on me, Draco" she huffed.

"I was in the library" he said, trying to avoid her and the conversation.

"Bull"

"If you won't believe me, then don't ask" He said simply and walked up the stairs to his dorm. Shortly after he came down and walked right past her, ignoring her astonished look.

"Now where are you off too?" She asked, heatedly.

"Detention.” Draco snapped. He knew he was being rude but he was in an awful mood.

“Why on earth did you get detention?” She asked mockingly, her eye brows raised.

“Rose…come on. I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Draco said, almost pleadingly. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

"What, No kiss goodbye?" Rose asked, with a smirk on her face.
He walked up to her, and grabbed her face, and gave her a very lustful and passionate kiss.

"Now can I go?" He asked.

"I guess so" She said and walked away, smirking. He watched her as she walked up the stairs, and noticed she must have hemmed her skirt so it was shorter than the other girls. He rolled his eyes and left.

His detention didn't start for another hour, but he didn’t feel like talking to Rose. There were times where he thought she was the most amazing woman on this planet, then there were times, like just then, where he wanted nothing to do with her. However, he would rather spend a few hours with her than with Weasley. And he knew this wouldn't be any hour-long detention. McGonagall's were always very boring, and went way up to the wee hours of night. It usually involved dusting every inch of the classroom, then re organizing her shelves, then more. The worst part of this was that didn't even deserve getting a detention this time, a slap on the wrist would have been enough.

He walked into the great hall, and noticed the tremendous trio, all hugging the little Weasley girl. He figured the three were going on another hero mission. Scowling, he walked passed, he didn't want to have to talk to them, even if he was making fun of them. After the previous year, he wanted nothing to do with them. He knew what he had done, and he almost felt sorry for them. That's a lie, he did feel sorry for them. He figured the least her could do was not talk to them, and it seemed to be good enough. However, the Weasley girl was practically asking for it this morning.

As he walked passed, he heard Potter say, "I love you, remember that". He was expecting Ginny to return it but instead she just said, "Stay safe, okay?"

Granger then piped in, saying "We'll be fine, Gin, and we'll be back before you know it!"

"Yeah, and if you really want, you can do my homework" her brother said. He annoyed Malfoy so much, but Malfoy just swallowed the hate and kept on walking. They exchanged their hugs and he heard the big door close. They were gone.

He turned his head to see Ginny leaning up against the big doors. He was expecting her to be crying, but no, she just stood. Arms crossed slouching, she looked like she was trying to be some cool kid, but if she was she wouldn't have a dazed smile on her face. It looked as though she was high. Her eyes darted towards Malfoy, as he was just standing there staring at her. Her dazed smile turned into a smirk, and she stepped away from the door and walked in the opposite direction. Draco raised an eyebrow. That was weird, he thought.

He looked at his watch. 6:45. He figured he should start heading to McGonagall's office and he went in the same direction Ginny had gone. He dragged his feet, trying to make time go slower. He was dreading this, but within minutes he had found himself in front of her big oak door. He knocked 3 times, as lightly as possible. Maybe she wouldn't hear, so he would be able to say, "Well, I knocked, and no one answered, I just assumed it was cancelled,” but no, she answered the door abruptly.

"Ah, Mister Malfoy, enter" she allowed him to go in, and he noticed Ginny already seated. He sat in a chair next to her, but it looked as though she hadn't even noticed him, she just kept on looking forward.

"Now that you're both present, I have a list of things that need to be done, and I expect them all to be done by the time I get back" She said sternly.

"When will that be?" Ginny asked.

"Midnight at the earliest and I will not allow either of you too leave before I return," She ordered, and the two nodded obediently, "Good, now I'm off, begin!" She left without another word.

Ginny walked over to her desk too retrieve the list. There was the obvious stuff like organize shelves, dust, but then there was something on the bottom that made her raise an eyebrow.
'Listen'.

"What the-?" Ginny said to herself

"What?" Draco asked, Ginny hadn't even noticed he was leaning over her shoulder.

"What does listen mean?" She asked.

"I have no idea…" Draco said, "Well, I do know, but why did she write that on there?"

"Maybe she's going insane, she is getting old." Ginny suggested, and Malfoy smirked.

"Yeah, that's definitely it." he headed back to his seat, and put his feet on the desk.

"What are you doing?" Ginny asked, "We have to get this done, it'll take hours!"

Draco rolled his eyes, "Really, now?"

"Yes"

Draco pulled out his wand, and with a flick, everything was tidying itself, "I think I won that argument."

"We can't use wands in detention!" Ginny shouted.

"When did she say that? I don't recall…" Draco pretended to ponder, and Ginny realized he was right. Not once did she say anything about wands.

Ginny sighed, and sat in a desk a few down from him, "Now what do we do? We've got at least 4 hours of doing nothing now."

"Nothing"

"Well, that sounds like a blast." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Did you expect tonight too be all party? Because quite frankly, you won't be getting one." Draco said, making Ginny scoff.

"I very well knew that, but at the moment, I would much rather be scrubbing down walls than having to spend quality time with Draco Malfoy" Her temper was heating up.

"Well, perhaps you should have thought about that before you got us both stuck here." he simply, and closed his eyes.

"You're impossible," Ginny sighed in frustration, I guess they would be doing nothing all night.

They spent an hour in silence; neither of them said a word. Ginny got up and sat in McGonagall's big arm chair, and started going through her drawers.

"Looking for something" Draco drawled

"Not really"

Silence again…

After going through all of her drawers, she realized she wouldn't have anything worth reading in here; it would be in her room. All that was in here were the class lessons.
She had never been so bored in her life, fighting in the battle with Harry was looking very good right now. It was as though Draco had been reading her thoughts because he said, "Where did your little trio go?"

"That's none of your business"

"That's okay. You don't need to tell me, I know anyways" he closed his eyes and let his head rest on the back of the chair.
Even more silence…

Ginny looked at the grandfather clock that sat in the corner of the classroom, it was only 9 o'clock. For the thousandth time that night, Ginny gave a loud, exasperated sigh.

"You know, I can mess this room up so you'll have something to clean if you want." He lifted his wand and was about too mess it up, but Ginny quickly ran too him and grabbed his wand.

"No, don't you dare." she said simply and put it back down.

"I was just kidding"

Ginny scoffed, "Yeah, right."

Ginny sat on the desk beside Draco's and looked at him. He had once again closed his eyes, and It almost looked as though he was sleeping.

"Weasley?"

"What?"

"Stop watching me" Ginny chuckled, and slid into the seat.

"I wasn't"

His silver eyes opened, and he smirked, "Yeah, right"

A small smile crawled on her lips, and she crossed her arms, "And why would I be staring at you?"

"I could think of a few reasons."

It was silence again, but it wasn't quite so awkward as it was before.

"Why do you let your little boy toy, Potter, leave all of the time without you?" Draco asked suddenly. This caught Ginny off guard.

"Do I have much of a choice?" she asked, nothing she would say would make Harry stay.

"You could go with him"

"And get killed"

"Not necessarily. I've been to plenty of those little mini war things, and I'm still kicking." Draco said. He didn't exactly know why he was bringing this topic up, apart from when he had to go through a trial deciding whether he would be let back in the school, he had never talked about his life as a death eater. It seemed Ginny had gone from only half paying attention, too all ears.

"How bad is it out there?" She asked, her eyes suddenly went gloomy, and her voice mono-tone.

"Honestly?" Ginny nodded, "It's so overwhelming. It's horrifying, the screams from the innocent people pleading for their lives haunt your mind weeks after," Draco closed his eyes. He could still picture that night, that cruel night at the end of last year, as if it was yesterday, "Everything all gets mashed together. You can't tell who's who, who's bad, who's good, you just fling curses at every direction."

"Don't you feel bad for hurting innocent people?" Ginny's voice shook.

"Eventually, you become stone. The screams get to you, you stop feeling." He sighed, "I don't know why I just told you that."

"Me neither" She whispered, both students shut their eyes, and just enjoyed the silence. Suddenly it became comfortable.

"Listen…"Draco chuckled

"What?"

"The stupid list" He said, and Ginny still had a confused look on her face

"She wanted us to listen," He said, "To each other"

Ginny smiled, "I guess so."

"I still haven't heard your story though" Draco sat up strait, "What makes Ginny Weasley tick?"

"There's nothing to it, really" she said simply, "I'm just norma.l"

"Bull" Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Your entire family, not to mention, your 'lover', is in the middle of this huge war, and all you can say is 'I'm normal'?"

"Yes." she knew she was lying, and she knew he knew.

"So every day, you go on without a care in the world?" He leaned closer to her.

"Well, that's not true" she admitted, "Okay, I'm not normal. I hate how everyone is out risking their lives for everyone, and I just sit here, doing nothing! Why do I get off easy? It's not right. I should be fighting too!"

"Then go with them"

"I can't! Like you said, it's horrible out there! I would die!" She said, a little louder than she intended.

"You're a coward. All your people are out fighting for you, like you said, risking their lives. They are all scared out of their minds, but they do it anyways. Then there's you, who won't go because you're afraid. So are they and they still do it. They know they may not come back alive, but they don't care" Draco ranted, "You stupid Gryffindors. Always saying how brave you are, yet when it comes to this, you sit here complaining about how you might die. Wouldn't you rather die with some pride?"

Ginny let the words sink in. She had never thought about it that way, she shouldn’t be out there fighting for what's right.

"I'm going to go with them next time" she said quietly, but proudly.

"Have fun" he said sarcastically.

Ginny looked at her watch, it was 10 to midnight. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined Draco actually talking to her like this, and yet, there they sat.

"Malfoy?"

"Hm?"

"I would almost like too thank you, but not really. Let's just say I kind of appreciate you telling me this." Ginny smiled

"Your welcome…I guess."

The doorknob turned, and a very tired looking McGonagall walked in.

"Ah, I almost forgot about you! Well, go on now, leave!" She shooed the two out the door, before they could say anything.

The two walked in silence until they reached the great hall where they would go their separate ways.

"You know, I still don't like you." Draco said, looking down at Ginny.

"The feeling is mutual" She chuckled, "Goodnight, Malfoy"

He watched her as she walked up the marble stair case. As soon she was out of earshot,
Draco quietly whispered, "Goodnight…Ginny"