A/N: Well. It's been a long time since I've updated this fic, hasn't it? You guys must have thought I'd abandoned it! *laughs nervously* To tell the truth… I had. But, after many cups of hot chocolate, with lots of marshmallows, I was able to produce this…chapter. I'm sorry it's taken months to update, but at least I did update, eh? Anyways, enjoy it, who knows when the next one will come around. Hehe. Merry Christmas.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

AS THE COOKIE CRUMBLES

Chapter Ten: Suspicious Cookie

By VirtualFaerie

Ginny cracked one of her eyes open and had a beam of light shining from her window assault it immediately. She groaned and rolled over on her side, flinging an arm out behind her.

"Ow," came a muffled grunt from her side. Colin shoved his elbow in her side grumpily. "Could you watch where you're hitting at least?" he asked groggily. "My crotch most certainly doesn't thank you."

"What are you doing in my bed?" asked Ginny, turning back over to face him, mindful of her arm. "Oh," she said, "Never mind. I remember I asked you to stay over."

"Yeah," said Colin, rubbing his sleepy-lidded eyes. "And your breath stinks, Gin. Go brush your teeth."

Ginny swatted at his head and climbed out of bed, pulling the sheet off with her, wrapping it around her shoulders. Colin lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He heard the sounds of running water in the bathroom, and Ginny brushing her teeth. He smiled to himself and picked his wand up from the floor beside the bed and just spelled his teeth clean.

"Aaaaaaaarg," Ginny moaned, walking back into bedroom and towards the bed. She flopped over on the bed, sheet still wrapped around her and poked one of her slightly freckled feet out of the sheet to tap at Colin's knee. "Colin, darling," she started, making sure to bat her eyelashes at him as she trailed her foot up his leg.

Colin blinked.

"Do you want to run the shop for me today, Colin?" She scooted over closer to him and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Pretty please."

Groaning, Colin turned away from her. "What are you talking about, wench?" he said. "I can't do that today."

"Why not?" Ginny asked with a pout. "You don't love me anymore?"

"No, no," said Colin. "That's not it. I have to go into the Prophet today and do some photo shoots for ads. I do have a job of my own, you know."

"Could've fooled me," said Ginny, dropping the act. "You're always at my place or the shop."

"That's during my free time," Colin said, getting out of bed and looking for his jeans on the floor.

"You sure do have a lot of it."

"That's what I get for shooting ad photos," said Colin, pulling his jeans up and buttoning them. "Need to go home and shower before I go." He leaned over the bed and kissed Ginny's forehead. "Just stay out of trouble and you'll be fine."

"Asking me to stay out of trouble is like asking Fred and George to stop having a sense of humor," Ginny groused.

Colin laughed. "Then you'll just have to try extra hard, won't you?"

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Sitting on the floor behind the counter, Ginny went through all the shelves looking for her St. Patrick's Day paper bags. She could already see that the other stores had their St. Patrick's Day decorations up and wasn't one to be behind. She grunted as she dug into drawer, her fingers pushing towards the back, feeling for the bags.

She sighed and sat back, glaring at the mess she'd made. "Figures I wouldn't have any ruddy bags," she muttered, beginning to pick up the scattered supplies from the floor to put them back in their places.

The bell on the door rang as a customer came in. Ginny sighed again and pushed her hair out of her face and hefted herself off of the ground to greet the customer.  She plastered a smile and started to say, "Hello," but stopped short when she saw who it was.

She blinked. "What do you want?"

Swink stood just in front of the counter with a smug look on her face. Oh how Ginny's hand itched to reach up and smack it right off of her face. Instead, she regained her composure and fixed her face with a  saccharine smile. "What can I help you with?" she asked politely, resting her hands on the top of the counter.

Ginny was sure that she saw Swink raise her nose up a few inches in the air, snootily. "I've heard you make crepes," she said.

Raising an eyebrow, Ginny said, "I do." Of all bakeries, why had Swink come to hers? She most certainly wasn't the only one that could do crepes.

"Hmm…can you cater with crepes?" Swink asked, feigning disinterest.

"I can," Ginny said. "Are you wanting Tasty Treats to cater at an event with crepes?"

Swink smiled at Ginny over the counter. "Yes, on the 23rd. Seamus and I are hosting a Quidditch Party."

Ginny sucked in a harsh breath of hair. Seamus? Her Seamus? No, no, not her Seamus. Seamus was a dirty, rotten, cheating, piece of scum that didn't even deserve to be connected to her. Or at least that's what she told herself, because she most certainly didn't have any lingering feelings towards Seamus. No, she did not.

Then why did it make her feel so bad for Swink to be rubbing it in her face? Oh, right, because Seamus cheated on her with…Swink.

"Do you think that you could handle it?" Swink prompted after Ginny's silence. Her eyebrows were raised in a self-satisfied manner, giving her a haughty air.

"Of course, I can handle it," Ginny said confidently. "Just tell me how many people and where." She pulled open one of her drawers and plucked out a pad of parchment and a self-inking quill.

"Three hundred people," Swink said, not batting an eye. "At the ballroom of the Flourish Hotel." Swink watched as Ginny wrote that down on her pad. "Are you sure you can do it?"

Ginny looked up and smiled at Swink. "What makes you think I can't?"

Swink shrugged. "I'll pay when you deliver?"

Ginny thought for a moment. "Alright."

Swink nodded. "Buh-bye now," she said on her way to the door, shutting it behind her so that the bell rung shrilly. Ginny made note to get a different bell, and grinned to herself, wondering what Colin would think of this fantastic idea she'd just gotten.

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 Colin walked into Tasty Treats in the after 3 o'clock, a spring in his step. Ginny watched him with a raised eyebrow from behind the counter.  Colin sped up and planted a hand on the top of the counter, vaulting over…and running straight into the swinging door behind the counter, falling on his ass in the tiny hall that led back into the kitchen.

Ginny walked over to the door and held it open, also holding a hand to her stomach as she laughed at him, hard. "Oh my," she said between breaths. "Colin? What the bloody hell did you think you were doing?"

Colin was lying back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling with a dazed, happy look on his face. "I was jumping over the counter, obviously," he said.

Tears started falling from Ginny's eyes, she was laughing so hard. "Did you forget that you have absolutely no coordination?"

Colin groaned and lifted his hips off of the tiled floor, rubbing his bum tentatively. "I plead temporary insanity," he said, easing himself up off of the floor slowly.

"Insanity from what?" asked Ginny, offering her hand to him, which he took, helping him up. "I thought I was the insane one."

"Well," said Colin, still rubbing his bum. "The tables have turned." Ginny gave him a look that told him he best continue. "I have a date," he said with a smile. A big smile.

Ginny looked at him. "You have a date?"

"Yes."

"One that I didn't get you?" asked Ginny, her eyebrows coming together in a frown.

"One that you didn't get me," confirmed Colin.

"Wow," said Ginny.

Colin's happy expression faded off of his face. "What do you mean 'wow'?" He gave her a hurt look. "Did you think that I couldn't get a date on my own, Ginny? I didn't know you thought I was that  bad."

"Oh no," Ginny said quickly. "That's not what I meant at all." She held up her hands. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean that. I meant wow as in, I was not expecting that, at all. I mean, it's not everyday that you come to tell me you have a date. Whenever I set you up with a date you moan about it and try to talk your way out of it. That's what I meant."

"Oh," said Colin. "Well, I have a date."

Ginny nodded. "You told me that. Now, would you like to tell me who you have a date with?"

A small smile graced Colin's lips. "Well…." he said shyly. "I don't know."

Ginny blinked. "You're not going to tell me? You cannot be serious! I tell you everything, Colin. This isn't fair."

Colin laughed. "I don't ask you to tell me everything."

Ginny huffed and turned away from him, opening the glass in the shelf and pulling out a cookie. She held it up in front of him, in front of his nose, waving it around. "Do you smell this?" she asked, making sure to get it as close to his nose as possible without actually shoving it into his nose. Colin's eyes fluttered closed as he inhaled the heavenly scent of the cookie. Ginny grinned. "This a newly made cookie. I made this cookie this morning. I made the recipe this morning. This is a double fudge, raspberry swirl cookie with chocolate chunks."

Colin reached up to take the cookie from her, but Ginny jerked it back. "Uh, uh," she said, making to put the cookie back in the case. "You aren't getting one of these cookies unless you tell me who you have a date with."

Colin stuck out his lower lip. "Fine, I see how you want to play this." Ginny smiled at him. "Well…I haveadatewithLuna."

"You know I couldn't make out a single word of that," said Ginny, giving him a look.

Colin blushed. "I have a date with Luna."

Ginny's eyes widened. "You have a date with Luna? Luna Lovegood?! NO WAY!" she screeched, dropping the cookie on the counter and launching herself towards Colin, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. "That's wonderful! I love Luna!" She pulled back and beamed at him. "Where did you see her? I haven't seen her in ages."

"She was at the shoot," said Colin. "Now, can I have that cookie?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, stepping back and waving her hand in the direction of the cookies. "Help yourself. Now tell me, what was she doing at the shoot?"

Colin reached into the glass case and pulled out a few cookies, shoving one in his mouth and taking a big bite. "Mmm," he said. "She was at the shoot because… You know her father used to be the editor or owner or whatever of The Quibbler?" Ginny nodded. "Well, he retired and now she has his job, and she was at the Prophet looking to see if they had any addresses of any free lance photographers because she needed some to shoot…something, I forgot." He gave Ginny a sheepish look. "But anyways, they gave her my name as I was passing by, so I stopped to talk to her, and she asked me out on a date."

"Wait, she asked you?" said Ginny, stepping around Colin to shut the glass door the case that held the cookies.

"Yup," said Colin through a mouthful of cookie. "These are really good."

"Where are you guys going?"

"Warbler hunting," Colin said, turning away from Ginny, so he wouldn't have to see her expression.

After a moment, Ginny said, "Warbler...hunting?"

Before Colin could respond, the bell over the door chimed and Draco stepped through the door. He smiled at Ginny and gave Colin a curt nod.

When Ginny smiled back at Draco, she remembered she'd wanted to tell about Swink coming in to visit her earlier, and her odd request for crepes for a party. "OH!" she said, before Draco could even say hello. "Swink came in today."

Both men looked at her. She felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. "What? She did."

"Yes, but why?" asked Colin, offering Draco one of the cookies he still had in his hands. Draco regarded the cookie carefully, but took it nonetheless, taking a bite and raising his eyebrows, pleased.

"Why, indeed," Draco said. "I doubt she would ever come by here unless her motives were less than pure. She's still mad at the stir you caused at the Candelabra."

"Yeah, she came in and asked me to cater crepes at this Quidditch Party she's hosting with Seamus," said Ginny, watching Draco's face. It showed nothing. She wanted to grin, but restrained herself.

Colin frowned, nibbling on his last cookie. "Why would she do that? You're not the only bakery in Diagon Alley."

"I know," said Ginny. "That's why it's so suspicious. And she said that she wanted to pay me after I delivered the crepes."

"Then she's definitely planning something," said Colin.

"Obviously," Draco sneered at Colin, who rolled his eyes at Draco. "I'll have to ask around and see what anyone knows about this party."

Ginny nodded. "She said to make enough crepes for three hundred people. So, there should be plenty to ask."

"Tell you about it over dinner this Friday?" asked Draco, looking over at Ginny.

Ginny smiled. "Dinner at my place? Seven? If that's alright?" she said. She didn't really feel like repeating their last date and embarrassing herself at a restaurant.

Draco grinned at her. "You're cooking? Of course it's alright, it's fabulous."

"Wonderful," Ginny breathed lightly. She wanted so much to lean over the counter and plant her lips on his and…

"Right…" said Colin, backing out from behind the counter slowly. "I'll just be on my way now."

"No," said Draco. "I was just leaving. I only wanted to stop by and see Ginny for a few minutes." Draco reached over the counter, taking Ginny's hand in his, and kissed it. Ginny wondered if it was possible to melt to the floor – she could already feel her knees weakening. She hoped Colin would catch her, should she fall over backwards. "See you," he said, then let go of her hand and walked out of the store.

Ginny sighed and brought her hand up to her cheek, gazing at the door that Draco had just left through.

"See you," Colin mimicked in a snooty tone. "I was just leaving. Oh my name is Malfoy and I'm a snooty little bastard. Don't forget to pick up my dry cleaning!!"

Ginny sent him a sharp glare. "Don't talk about him like that."

"Why not?" Colin demanded. "That's exactly what he sounds like."

"Shut up," said Ginny, flustered. "He is not and you know it. You're just…jealous."

Colin looked at her. "I'm jealous? Ginny, did you not hear me telling you I had a date? I am in no way jealous of you and your fancy britches boyfriend."

"Whatever, Colin," Ginny said turning her back to him. "You can't just talk about him like that."

"Like you're not the same way? You've talked about girls that I've gone out with the same way," Colin pointed out angrily.

Ginny whirled around and pointed a finger at him. "That's because I was looking out for you best interests and I could tell that none of those girls were going to do you any good!"

"And what makes you think that I can't do the same?" Colin challenged. "Malfoy wasn't exactly on the top of my list of people that I wanted you to date."

"Yeah?" said Ginny. "Then who do you want me to date? Who am I allowed to date, for Merlin's sake? Huh? You're not my mother!"

"I may not be your mother," Colin said in a low voice. "But I can look out for you all the same." He walked around the counter and out the door, making sure to slam it behind him.

Ginny groaned and let her head thunk against the countertop.

A/N: Originally, I'd had Ginny looking for Christmas paper bags, but then I remembered that just a few chapters ago it had been Valentine's Day. ^^;;; So, yeah, couldn't have been Christmas already. So, if you're wandering about St. Patrick's Day… I'm too lazy to go back and edit those paragraphs thoroughly.

Anyways, thanks for reading. :) Reviews would be muchly appreciated.