How Do You Choose Between What is Right and What is Easy?

Chapter 12

Ginny replaced the quill in the cup with the rest of them, and blew on the ink of her letter so it would dry before folding it up. She scooted her chair back and stood up, not bothering to scoot her chair back in.

Ginny made her way up to the front of the library and walked by the librarian's desk. Madam Pince didn't even glance up as she passed.

She walked almost aimlessly through the halls of Hogwarts, on her way to the owlery. She wanted to get her response out to Draco as soon as possible. She wanted him to read the words she had written, and want the hands that had written them to be on his body instead of on the quill. And she was certain he would.

It took her awhile to get up to the owlery, because there were a lot of stairs she had to take to get up into the tower. When she got to the last staircase that would lead her up into it, she noticed that pieces of hay and feathers were floating downwards on the stairs, pushed along slightly by the light breeze wafting in through the windows above.

The owlery was packed with owls of every shape, size, and even color. She recognized Draco's eagle owl; she had seen it deliver him mail from time to time. She also recognized Harry's snow-white owl, Hedwig. Both were perched close to the top of the owlery, but on opposite sides from each other. They made sure to stay as far away from each other as possible, as if the animosity their owners had for each other was shared by them. And it probably was.

Ginny chose one of the many school owls that littered the walls. She held her letter to Draco out in front of the owl. "Can you take this to Draco Malfoy for me please?" she asked, speaking clearly to be sure the owl would understand. It ruffled its head a little and clicked its beak in affirmation. She held the letter a little closer to its beak, and it grabbed it almost immediately, before jumping off of its perch and disappearing out of the window.

Ginny watched the owl fly up into the air, around the corner of the tower, and out of sight. She leaned on the window ledge for a few moments, listening to the sounds of the forest, and letting the breeze play across her face.

After leaving the owlery, Ginny wandered the halls. Not knowing where Draco was, and not by any circumstances wanting to go anywhere near Gryffindor tower, she wandered aimlessly through the halls of Hogwarts, thinking about everything that had happened to her recently. It was a very complicated situation (one she didn't relish reliving).

Before she knew it, 10:45 had rolled around. She headed in the direction of the Room of Requirement, making it there a few minutes early. She entered, only to find the room unusually empty. Out-of-character though it was, she knew Draco would be along soon, so she made herself comfortable in one of the plushy armchairs by the fire. Five minutes later, the door to the Room of Requirement slid open, and Draco Malfoy entered the room.

Draco stared at Ginny, sitting there in front of the fire. She looked radiant. Maybe it was just the dim lighting and the flames from the fireplace, making her hair shine luminously, a glowing halo around her face, but she looked more beautiful to him in that moment than she had ever looked before.

He crossed the room in several graceful strides (absent in the normal male), and stood in front of her for a moment. Putting each of his hands on either arm of her chair, he leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her puckered lips before taking a seat in the armchair beside her. They were both silent for a few minutes, staring into the fire. The peacefulness of the situation did not, however, completely obscure the fact that they both had something to say.

The fire raged on, as did their silence. Neither knew quite how to begin the conversation, though both already knew what it would entail. They had both been thinking overly much about it, letting it invade their thoughts almost to the point of obsession.

After about fifteen minutes, it was Draco that finally broke the excruciating silence. "So... what happened with Potter?"

Ginny gave a long sigh before speaking. "I walked into the common room, and Harry was alone. He was sitting in front of the fire. I told him I was leaving him. He told me he was wondering when I was going to tell him that. I asked him why he wasn't going to break up with me, even after I'd found out about his affair with Hermione, and he said that two is better than one." Ginny caught the disgusted look on Draco's face before continuing.

"He asked me if I was going to be single from now on, and I told him about you."

"Whoo. How'd he take that?"

"Oh, he was furious," she said, a small smile forming on her face. "Then Ron overheard us talking about Harry and Hermione being together. He got into it and started yelling at Harry. Then Hermione came down and Ron confronted her, and I left. I didn't want to deal with it anymore."

"I don't blame you." There was silence for a few moments more. Then, he said, "I wasn't ignoring you earlier." Ginny looked at him questioningly. He went on. "I've already talked to Blaise and Flint about us. They're okay with it and everything, but they're still trying to get used to it. I just didn't want to make them uncomfortable."

"That's okay. I understand."

"You wanted to talk to me about something," Draco said, looking at her. "In your letter back to me. You wanted to talk to me about something. What was it?"

She looked at him for a moment, not saying anything. She looked away again before saying, "I want to come live in Slytherin House with you."