Change of Heart

Chapter 2

The hours blended into days, and quite suddenly, it was ten o'clock Friday evening and Ginny was walking to the Hospital Wing with her brother because he and Harry had been goofing off and playfully cursing each other, when Ron had tried to curse Harry with the Jelly Legs' curse and, because he was not really playing attention, not only did he get the words in the wrong order, he accidentally pointed the wand at himself. After everyone's laughter died down, Ginny had volunteered to take Ron to the Hospital Wing to get his collarbone fixed and his head on straight...literally. (AN: THANKS RAVEN!)

"Ya know, this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten the two words mixed up?" Ron said while attempting to walk backwards, and succeeding in only running himself into the walls, which greatly amused Ginny.

"If you had paid more attention to which way your wand was pointed, you wouldn't have your head on backwards," Ginny smirked, stopping her brother from hitting another wall, this one with a portrait of Bodrid the Bearded on it...he tended to insult anyone who came near his portrait.

"Oh, listen to you, sounding like 'Mione all of a sudden," Ron grumbled, but stopped as soon as they got into the hospital wing.

Ron was quickly ushered away by Madame Pomfrey, who clucked her tongue and muttered about untrained students running amok with their knowledge of magic, and just seemed to have taken no notice of Ginny at all. Ginny, unsure of what to do, stood awkwardly by the door in the otherwise empty wing.

She was wondering if Madame Pomfrey would yell at her for sitting on the marble floor when she heard a soft moan coming from one of the beds on the darkened side of the hospital wing.

She frowned and listened for it again, just to see if it was her imagination.

"Stop it...leave her alone...I'm over here, you bastard! Why can't you...God, no..."

"Ginny?"

Ginny jumped at the voice that came from behind her, which of course was Ron, with his head on straight.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

She nodded, and the two walked back to their common room.

*~*~*

The next day, Ginny sat down to breakfast with Hermione and chattered about Hogsmeade and who was going to get what for Christmas.

"I don't know. Christmas is almost a month away and I still don't know what to get him!" wailed Hermione.

Ginny smiled. "I'll find something for you to give him, trust me. Hey, maybe we can get Cho in on this too; that'd be fun."

Hermione chuckled. "Oh, that's rich, the girls going to get Christmas gifts for their boyfriends...or in your case, friends and family."

Ginny wasn't listening anymore, as she had just seen Draco sitting down at the end of the Slytherin table again, like he had been since the beginning of the year.

"Ginny!"

"Wha...?" Ginny looked back at Hermione.

"Are you alright? You seem really distracted," Hermione said.

Ginny admitted, "I do have a lot of stuff on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

She gave her best friend an apologetic look and shook her head.

"Alright, alright, I can tell when I'm not wanted. But let me know if you ever do, okay?" Hermione smiled.

Ginny returned the smile. "Well, it's almost eleven; think we should start heading over to Hogsmeade?"

The two got up and left the Great Hall.

"Hey guys, wait up!"

The two turned to see Cho running towards them.

"Hi Cho. We're trying to think of good gifts for the guys. Want to shop with us?"

"Sure, I was going to ask you both what I should get Harry for Christmas anyway. That man is impossible to shop for!" Cho laughed.

(AN: I'm aware that Cho is supposed to be older than Harry, but for all of this story, she's the same age, okay? Okay.)

The three walked into Hogsmeade, shivering as the London icy air of November hit them in the faces.

Their first stop was at the Candy store, where Ginny picked up some Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Quills, and Bertie Bott's for Harry and Ron. Hermione wandered around and finally got some of the same. Cho couldn't find anything she liked in the candy store, so they finally went to Zonkos. It was very crowded, but Fred saw the three girls the second they got in the door.

"Hey, look who it is! Oi, George, lookit what the wind dragged in!" Fred called into the back, where George came out.

"Hey! You guys lookin for Christmas gifts?" The three girls nodded. George came from behind the counter and showed them all of the new candies and such that they had invented.

An hour later, the three girls were loaded down with bags and pains in their stomachs from laughing so hard at the twin's antics. They were almost twenty, and they hadn't changed a bit since their Hogwarts days.

They were thinking about going for a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks when a tall figure at the side of the joke shop caught Ginny's eye. The person's face was quickly covered by the hood of the raven-colored cloak they were wearing, but there was no mistaking the flash of white-blonde hair.

"Uh, you go on ahead, I'll be back in a minute," she told Cho and Hermione.

"Ginny, don't go far. It's going to start snowing in a little bit," Hermione warned before taking Ginny's bags and letting her go.

Ginny stealthily walked behind Malfoy, who had his black cloak hood over his head, shielding him from the sharp, cold air that was blowing about.

Draco kept quickly turning corners past different shops, making Ginny think Malfoy was trying to shake her off. He stopped at the edge of the shopping area, hesitated, then continued to walk until he got to a residential area known as West Hogsmeade, which was crammed with muggle-style townhouses and apartment complexes.

Ginny had never been this far back from Hogsmeade before, and it was starting to worry her. What was Malfoy doing this far back from Hogsmeade? Was he doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing like----Ginny cringed at the thought---something that had to do with the Death Eaters?

If that much was true, she would be in big trouble if she was caught. Not like school trouble, but maybe even death.

As if he heard her thoughts, Malfoy stopped at one of the townhouses and looked around. Ginny quickly ducked behind the steps and out of sight, but not out of hearing range.

Apparently, he had knocked at the door, because there was a telltale groan of the hinges on the door. Ginny discreetly snuck a peek at the doorway, expecting to see an imposing, dark-haired Death Eater standing at the door.

Instead, it was a thin, brown-haired girl who didn't look much older than Malfoy.

"Draco! Thank goodness. I thought I was going to have to stay with Billy and Dante all day and miss my job interview," the girl breathed.

When Malfoy spoke, it was in quite a different voice than she was used to hearing; he sounded warm and understanding, and it made his voice, which was lower than Harry's, sound extremely attractive.

"I'm sorry, Meg. There's a huge crowd out at Hogsmeade, and it took awhile to get away from it."

"Well, you're here now, so it doesn't make much of a difference."

Suddenly, a new voice was heard, this one was high and sounded like a little boy's.

"Dako!"

Ginny looked again, and was extremely surprised to find Malfoy had picked up the little boy and was bouncing him on his hip.

"Hello, Billy. Where's your brother?"

Another boy came out from the door, this one was scowling and had his hands on his hips.

"Why do you have to leave, Mum?"

Ginny thought Malfoy would be insulted, but instead his face broke out into a warm smile. The difference was startling; he looked very handsome and Ginny could see why he was the most attractive single guy at Hogwarts.

"Oh, come now, Dante, we'll have fun. I'll show you how to play the game I showed you last week."

The boy suddenly squealed with delight. "You promise?"

"Promise," Malfoy said.

Meg then turned to him. "Dante, do be good and don't give Draco too much trouble, please? Mummy could get this job this time."

Malfoy said, "Oh, don't worry, we're just going to run with scissors, play with matches, you know, all the good stuff."

Meg hit his arm playfully. "Well, I must go now. Be good...all three of you. I don't know what I would do if I didn't find you that day, Draco...I couldn't leave the house! You're a lifesaver."

As Malfoy went inside the flat and Meg put on her royal purple cloak, Ginny realized that what Draco was doing at this moment had nothing to do with Death Eaters.

Draco Malfoy was babysitting!