"Testing, testing, is this thing on? Oh, good, it is. Now, Ginny, say your line."

"Yes, dad... 'I send a message to all the Chemistry Students, Ice Burners, Muffin Lovers, or what-have-you, and am eager to tell you the REAL story of how I fell in love with--' DRACO MALFOY? Dad, you've got to be kidding me! I hardly know Draco, let alone have any emotions besides loathing for him!"

"Yes, but, erm, well..."

"Say it. What did you do?"

"The D/G shippers kind of, well, gave me something for it!"

"'Something?' Is that worth selling out your only daughter's reputation?!"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. Look, the camera's getting all of this! Just keep reading the script, dear!"

"Read the script? There's no way I'm going to--"

"Oh, you want to? Great! Just take it away!"

(continue, fellow shippers....)

Ginny glared at her father for a good long few seconds just to tell him how she felt about all this, but then being a curious girl, she found her eyes glancing down at the script in her hand and staring at the big, block letters of doom which spelled out her supposed love for Draco Malfoy. It couldn't hurt to just read it, could it?

Sighing, and grudgingly rattling the script as she held it closer to her eyes to read, Ginny began to read...

*~*~*~

"Oi! Weasley!"

Ginny glared at the ground and continued walking, well stomping really. She was not going to stop for him though- that was what he wanted after all, and she would not give him anything that he wanted. No, she would just continue walking in dignified silence, and pretend he wasn't there at all.

"HEY!"

"What, Malfoy!?" Ginny snapped tiredly, spinning on her heel, and almost smacking into a tree. She really had to perfect the 'angry spin', it didn't seem to have the effect it used to, and judging by his irritating laughter it really had lost its effect.

(Sorry it's so short, but I just wanted to kick this into start again)

"You dropped this."

He held out a sugar quill along with an infuriating smirk.

Aghast, she tore it from his hands, mouth opening to almost bid him thanks, but then thought better of it. Plus the mere idea made her stomach queasy.

"You're welcome," he drawled snidely.

"Right." Her nose lifted into the air and she swiveled around again, stomping away with only slight hesitation.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" He called to her back.

"No!"

"Your loss..." Draco said softly, pleased that she couldn't hear him anymore. He held the eraser that had dropped with Ginny's pencil close to him; it smelled like her hair for some reason. Flowery, like a lily scent that his mother had liked to spray in the hallways during parties sometimes. His heart fluttered with the aroma.

He could see Ginny, way off at the end of the hallway, suddenly stop walking and curse loudly. Now she was turning around... and stomping back towards him...

Watching her angry progress, he stood patiently waiting for her to come closer, the eraser now clutched safely in his hand. A faint smirk flittered across his face as he watched her finally stop in front of him again. Her brown eyes glinted suspiciously at him, her hands fastening on her hips. "All right, what is it then?" she demanded, looking highly annoyed that she had to come back into his presence.

One fine eyebrow darted up, the smirk growing on his lips so that his grey eyes seemed to gleam with mocking humour. "Now, now, Weaslette, play nice."

Ginny looked like she was about to stamp her foot, her face going a nasty shade of red which clashed horribly with her hair. For one brief moment he had to wonder why on earth he even bothered to be intrigued by her, but he did have to admit that her eyes did seem to flash magnificently when she was angry. It was a shame about the red face though.

"You said I was forgetting something?" Ginny asked, her voice rigid in her attempt to train her volatile temper.

He nodded his head, folding his arms and surveying her lazily through smirking grey eyes. "That's right. Maybe if you ask nicely I might give it back to you."

Draco watched, fascinated against his will, as Ginny began turning purple. Her mouth opened and closed several times, and her hands were clenched into little fists.

"You know," Draco said slowly and quietly, almost as though he were musing out loud to himself, "the angry fuchsia fish look really doesn't suit you."

Ginny froze.

Draco stared.

Suddenly, Ginny's eyes began welling up with tears.

"Merlin, Weasley, you're not crying, are you?" Draco was shocked. Where had the spitfire fled to?

"No!" Ginny finally got out. Her voice echoed in the empty hallway. "I'm just-" She paused, and took a deep breath. "I'm just so angry," she finished in a more normal tone.

Relieved that he wasn't going to have to face a sobbing mess of a female, Draco relaxed, lounging against the wall in an insolent manner that screamed "I own Hogwarts!"

"Well, then. Where were we?" he drawled. He held out his hand, and the eraser sat in the center of his palm, almost mockingly.

Ginny stared at his hand for so long that he began to worry again about her state of mind.

After another long pause, she looked up, her eyes meeting his in a silent battle.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she finally asked.

Draco searched her face. He found himself fascinated, once more, as he studied her cool expression. She burns hot one moment, and then plays the Ice Queen the next, he thought to himself. Interesting.

"You know," Draco said, pushing away from the wall with a careless grace that made Ginny insanely jealous (not that she'd ever admit it to anyone), "I think I'll hold on to this for a while longer."

Then, before Ginny could utter an indignant word, he winked at her, turned on his heel, and walked off down the hallway.

His exit would have been grand, save one minor detail: Ginny had a wand.

"Impedimenta!"

Before he knew it, Draco found himself sprawled out on the floor in a manner most embarrassing for a Malfoy heir.

Ginny's footsteps sounded ominous on the stones of the floor as she made her way towards Draco's prone figure.

He winced as she crouched next to him.

Ginny chuckled, her voice low.

"Thanks, Malfoy," she whispered against his ear, making him shiver. Grabbing her errant eraser, she fled around the corner.

It was a while before Draco moved.

Satisfied that she had gotten a 'one-up' on Draco Malfoy, Ginny grinned to herself, remembering just that beautiful image of Draco flying through the air to land with an undignified thump on the ground. Ah, such moments like that were to be treasured fondly for a long time...

She opened her hand and glanced at the eraser sitting on her palm. She couldn't believe she had forgotten that, as well as her sugarquill too. Actually, when she thought about it, why had Malfoy picked up her stuff and bothered to return it to her in the first place? Surely he would have gained far more satisfaction from having her lose her stuff and never find it again?

"Weird," Ginny muttered fervently to herself. She would never understand the mind of a Malfoy, and really she had no wish to either. He was an arroagnt idiot, and who wanted to think like that, let alone understand why someone like him would do the things he did? Still, it was odd that he had returned her stuff, even if he had tried to keep the eraser...

She grinned again, once more recalling how she had brought him (literally) to the ground.

"You're looking very pleased."

Ginny turned at the sound of the voice, surprise on her face.

"Oh, Merlin," she rolled her eyes, shoulders dropping. "Sod off, will you?" She continued her stride.

"That's original," he drawled, flipping his jet-black hair to the side. She saw the movement from the corner of her eye, ignoring the familiarity of it.

"Well, I'm original," she quipped.

"I wouldn't say that was original," he smirked knowingly, hands finding his pockets.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"Flirting with a Slytherin?" He tutted, stopping as she did, his friendly smile twitching with a bit of schadenfreude. "Not very original, sweetheart."

"I'm not your sweetheart," she hissed and then pushed past him, hand deliberately digging into the green and silver crest on his chest, the mark that made him Slytherin.

He merely laughed and watched her go. "Not anymore!"

"Shut up, Theodore!" She called, the words echoing down the hall.

"Be still my heart!" He called back.

Ginny kept stomping, trying to ignore his last words -- he always needed to have the last word -- and turning the corner fast, trying to shake off his perceptiveness.

She had not been flirting with Draco Malfoy thank you very much. She had only been trying to get her elusive belongings back, and he just happened to be the git who had been carrying them. It was only natural to hex him... and whisper in his ear....

"Stupid Nott, what would he know!"

Apparently a lot, but she tried not to think about that. The boy was just a sneaky nuisance that always seemed to put his nose into business that didn't belong to him.

(meh, short, but oh well....)