DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything except the story.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written in response to the "48 Hours" challenge thrown out by Cheelalaucha in the forums. And yes, I still can't get "Three Bloody Years" finished. My muse has disappeared. And yes, I know my "Experiencing Love: 100 Themes" ain't finished yet. This story is quite AU, as I have omitted the fact that the Wizarding World is threatened by Lord Voldemort. The students are just leaving a quite ordinary life- well, as ordinary as magic can be.

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Chapter 1

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!"

Ginny glared at the hallway that stretched endlessly. She turned back to see that the staircase that she had just climbed upon remove itself from the landing she was on, grunting and croaking all the way before it settled for the landing opposite, groaning as it merged itself with the stonework. Sighing, Ginny turned again, once more facing the hallway before slowly making her way across it, keeping her fingers warm inside her threadbare winter coat. Her shoes barely made a sound except for the odd squeak or two.

The weak winter sunlight shone through the large, white-paned windows that lined the entire left-side of the hallway. On the right-side of it, there were multiple paintings and weavings that were created centuries ago decorating it. The people in the paintings peered curiously at the young girl that had intruded this part of Hogwarts castle, not at all used to seeing students pass through this particular hallway.

Indeed, not many had the fortune to come across this part of the castle at all. But Ginny wasn't interested in the arts and crafts of the past. Her eyes were focused entirely at the beautiful, snow-covered view outside the windows. She smiled as she wondered about the Christmas presents that she would receive this year. Christmas was coming soon; in fact, it was the eve of Christmas Eve.

Mum would send her the usual sweater that clashed outrageously with her red hair along with the usual, home-baked treats and Dad would smuggle some sweets in when he sent the care packages for his wife. Her friends envied her gifts from her two eldest brothers, as they would send wicked cool things they had picked up wherever they were working. The twins would send some experimental pranks that needed test subjects which Ginny would gleefully try out on various schoolmates, Slytherins being the most victimized. Ron, being totally uncreative, would just place a box of sweets or chocolates at the foot of her bed, but she still loved him for it as he always remembered the Sugar Quills. Ginny absolutely adored them.

Then there would be the presents from her friends. Hermione, being Hermione, would give her a tome for some 'before-bed reading' or stationery sets and Harry, knowing her love for Quidditch, would wrap some Quidditch-related gift for her. Most of her male friends would likely supply her addiction to Sugar Quills or other sweet confectionary. The girls would give her some vanity-related item, ranging from Madame Butterflies' Nail Polish (guaranteed to make your nails radioactively bright!) to Imogen's Lip Gloss (achieve that puffer fish look that you can never have!)- not that she would ever admit that she liked to dress up sometimes.

Ginny realized that she had somehow wandered 'till she arrived at the bottom of a spiralling staircase. Her eyes crossed as she raised them to see how far it reached. It seemed to spiral a long, long way upwards, reaching the top but suddenly stopping there. Ginny looked back to see multiple hallways leading to where she was standing. She sighed exasperatedly. Not wanting to guess which way would lead her back to somewhere familiar; she turned around again and started climbing the steps.

"This is beginning to get very irritating," Ginny said to herself.

She had waked up this morning with a sudden urge to explore around the castle. Almost everyone had gone home for Christmas, leaving the castle in a comforting stillness and her in utter boredom. The Golden Trio were, of course, Siamese triplets that were conjoined at the shoulders- probably caught in some new adventure of theirs. Ginny had no wish to join their madness for life-threatening adventures this day, preferring to keep the feeling of calmness and peace around her for a little longer. However, right now, Ginny was beginning to wish that she had not felt so adventurous this morning, intent on exploring the ever-confusing castle.

When she finally reached the landing, she was panting slightly. Her eyes narrowed as she watch a silvery ladder descend right in front of her from a hole in the ceiling. Cautiously, she climbed up the ladder. Ginny emerged into the weirdest room she had ever seen in her life. She gazed in disbelief at the amount of circular tables and armchairs that were squashed inside the room. It was as if someone had bought two dozens of furniture on a whim and decided to cram them into an attic. Even in half-darkness, Ginny knew that the person who had decorated this room had horrible taste.

She walked over to the windows and drew back the heavy sets of curtains to let in the sunlight. Immediately, Ginny wished she had not. The entire room was an eye sore. Apparently, the person who decorated it had an affinity for the colour red. Everything was red. From the chairs to the lights to the scarves that were mysteriously covering the countless lamps. She looked around at the shelves on the walls and finally understanding dawned on her. This was Trelawney's Divination classroom. Ginny gave a snort of laughter. She was right, the woman had horrible taste.

Having listened to Hermione's severe advice, Ginny had not chosen Divination as an OWL subject. She was glad that she had not. Ginny wrinkled her nose in disgust as she searched the room with her eyes. Imagine having to sit through this kind of torture for hours each week. Ginny could not even bear the thought of it. Finally, her eyes rested on the armchair closest to the fireplace. Next to it there was a circular table with only a lamp covered with a red scarf and a crystal ball the size of her head sat on it. Ginny oddly remembered Lavender mentioning something about when one gazed into the crystal ball at high noon; one would see one's future life mate.

"Bloody Lavender," Ginny muttered, glancing at her magically-powered watch. It was nearly twelve o'clock, Ginny noted with a grin. She picked up the crystal ball in both hands. "Well, let's see what the future holds for you, Ginevra Weasley."

At first, all she saw was her fingers holding the clear crystal. Then, slowly but surely, clouds of white smoke began to react to her touch, slowly growing in a fast-forwarded way. Ginny raised an eyebrow sceptically as the ball became opaque. She squinted and saw a silhouette of a person. Her heart thumping, Ginny stared at it harder, the silhouette growing bigger and bigger until she could see the shape of his face, his chin, his cheekbones. It was definitely a he- the maleness of the aristocratic face could not be mistaken. She slowly made out the eyes, the nose and the lips. The lips were a healthy pink, the nose slightly too pointy for her tastes but still acceptable. The eyes… Ah, the eyes! They were the colour of molten silver, hovering between blue and grey. And she could see he had blonde hair, very fair blonde hair. The entire image was not very clear, rather faint as if it were a reflection.

'I suppose this is how it should be. I can even smell what sort of cologne my life mate would be using!' Ginny thought wildly, forgetting about her earlier scepticism. 'Wow! Maybe I shouldn't have listened to Hermione and done Divination instead of Arithmacy. This seems to be quite real to me!'

The cologne had a woody, fresh,oh-so-male scent. Ginny imagined it would be very nice to sleep with a man who smelt so nice and comforting. The scent teased her with the offers of peace and welcome, calmness and protection, familiarity and exhilaration, all at once. Ginny closed her eyes, inhaling it in slowly; it seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. In fact, now she could nearly make out the feel of her life mate. It seemed as if there really was a person there with her, right there, right then. He was coming from behind her, placing his head next to hers, whispering in her ear...

"And what is the little Weaslette doing here all alone for the big, bad wolf to find?"

The voice seemed rather quite familiar to her- in fact, it sounded a lot like a certain sneaky, Slytherin ferret she knew. No way can her future life mate sound like Draco Malfoy! Malfoy?

"Malfoy!" said Ginny in horror, her eyes snapping open immediately. She turned around to see the Prince of Slytherin himself standing behind her.

"Yes?" Malfoy asked inquiringly, his molten silver eyes on her chocolate brown ones.

Ginny shrieked, her suddenly nerveless fingers releasing the crystal ball that was held between them.

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To be continued...