She crept behind him as they walked through the small village, the invisibility cloak safely keeping her out of sight, watching him in an attempt to understand him better. He was a contradiction – moments of total confidence, yet shattered by a deep insecurity. It was an interesting study, but the walk was short, and she learned nothing before they entered the shop.

From the moment they entered, he wasted little time, walking up to the counter and casting a long look over the amulets in the case. There were other customers in the shop, but the keeper, seeing a relatively attractive man at the counter, immediately turned her attention in his direction. In mere moments, she was in front of him, smiling engagingly.

Ginny, still hidden under her cloak, felt a stab of irritation as he smiled charmingly in return.. The woman was quite attractive but a bit older, although Draco, in disguise, did appear to be of similar age.

"Can I help you?" the proprietor asked, the tone of her voice dropping to a noticeably lower level than when she'd spoken with Trelawney earlier in the day.

He continued to smile as he replied, "I hope so. I see that your shop deals with these amulets here," he said, pointing to the examples in the case. "I have a few questions about them."

"Oh?" the witch replied, her smile dropping slightly, and a hint of alarm sparked in her eyes.

"Yes," he said, ignoring her reaction and giving her an engaging smile as he took Ginny's ugly amulet from his pocket. "I seem to have been recently given one of these from a student of mine. I'm not quite certain of the characteristics."

The look of alarm immediately left the woman's eyes as she took the item from him, her interest in him once again piqued. "Oh, you're a teacher at Hogwarts?"

"Well, yes, for the semester, at least. It's a temporary assignment, but it does bring me to your lovely village for a bit," he said, his smile turning slightly flirtatious. "I'm finding the people here are quite friendly," he said, clearly directing the general compliment toward her.

The woman's eyes lit up and she took the amulet from him, discretely casting a glance over him in the process. She was clearly interested in him. Ginny watched , gritting her teeth in annoyance. She realized that he was flirting with the woman to get her to be more open to giving information, but Ginny wasn't appreciating it at the moment.

He pretended not to notice the witch checking him over as he continued talking. "I understand those amulets might be used in conjunction with a love potion and I was a bit concerned."

The witch nodded agreeably and looked at the item, although not particularly carefully. "Oh, this just an antique fairy stone. Most of the magic has been drained long ago. I can assure you it's quite harmless."

"Well, that's quite a relief, since I do prefer to choose my own company," he said, giving the woman another engaging smile, causing the witch to blush slightly at his attention.

She laughed. "I'm quite certain, especially if a student gave it to you. Although I must say that she seems to have excellent taste if she fancied you enough to try to catch your attention with something like this."

He laughed with the woman, and Ginny scowled under her cloak, feeling an urge to hex him. He leaned forward continuing to seem interested in the witch. "Yes, it's terribly inconvenient to be so popular, but it's a burden I've learned to bear," he said, with mock distress.

The woman laughed flirtatiously at his joke for a moment. "Well, I'm so glad to have been able to help, Mr. ..."

"Frost," he replied. "Icabod Frost."

The woman smiled a bit triumphantly at getting his name and Ginny felt the urge to wretch. She decided that she definitely would hex him once they left the shop because watching him flirt was irritating at best, and it hadn't yielded any useful information from the woman.

"I'm Solesta," she responded, clearly hoping to engage him in conversation that had nothing to do with the amulet.

"I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time, Solesta, but, as a teacher, I'm quite curious to learn more about these fairy stones, since they seem so common, it might be in my best interest."

Happy that he wanted to continue to talk, she eagerly responded, "Oh, it's no trouble at all. I'm happy to help!" She took out two or three other amulets from the case to show him different types. "Fairy stones were once quite popular for enhancing the effect of a love potion but the magic chained within the stone fades with time. Old ones are worth very little, but a fresh one can be quite influential if used properly."

"Really," he replied, leaning closer and seeming very interested. "What kind of influence?" he asked.

"Well," the witch said, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "The stone color reflects the magical strength of the fairy. As you know, most fairies are associated with romance, which is why they find these are popularly sold to accompany someone buying a love potion."

"It's quite good that I asked. I've never really heard much about them, so I'm fortunate to have found an expert like you."

She giggled, actually it was a poor attempt at a giggle, but he smiled anyway. "Oh, I'm hardly an expert, although I do know a bit."

"What more do you know?" he asked, almost seductively.

She responded in a similar tone, as if sharing a dark secret. "Well, that the stones aren't stones at all, but the crystallized remains of a fairy's heart – the old ones are yellow or brown in color, but when they're fresh, they have a glow of magic in them that makes them quite beautiful.

He leaned toward her in, apparently enraptured by every word she was saying, making her want to lean toward him to say more, her voice dropped further – almost to a whisper, although nobody else was in the store. "It's quite difficult to extract and takes a wizard with some skill and questionable ethics to harvest and process. After over-harvesting in the past century, fairies had gone nearly extinct, and those that remain have been put under protection as semi-sentient beings, making it a criminal act to harvest." The witch gave a wistful sigh. "It's a shame, really. Even they weren't under protection, the art of processing has been lost over time."

"Quite interesting," he said, continuing to smile charmingly. "Is there any magical value to the setting? It's not exactly my style," he joked, holding up the ugly amulet to his torso and giving a grin to prove his point.

Again the witch laughed, clearly enjoying the attention she was getting. "There's no accounting for the taste of the original manufacturer, but that might have been stylish when it was made. The fairy stone by itself isn't the most attractive of gems, so that's why they are usually set in jewelry to enhance their desirability. I still tell buyers about which spells might align the stone, but these antiques really have little value except for the setting that accompanies them."

"Ah, but that's not something your average customer would know."

The witch laughed lightly. "Oh, every girl desires to use a love potion at some point in her life. I simply tell them about the stone's intended use and they decide if it's worth the price. It's not my place to deny them their fantasy of finding the love of their life."

He chuckled agreeably.

"You should be flattered that one of your young admirers thought you were worth the effort," the witch said with another dazzlingly flirtatious smile.

Ginny once again felt a tightening in her chest as he continued to charm the witch, although it was, admittedly, quite useful for getting the woman to volunteer information about the worthlessness of her wares. Overall, Ginny found it nauseating. She couldn't watch, so she busied herself by wandering about the store, looking over the row of books in the back. One of the bottom shelves contained a batch of older, used books, and she sat on the floor and ran her fingers along the worn spines, amusing herself by comparing the stupid romance titles to Draco's nauseating conversation with the store's proprietor, when one title about Fairy Stones caught her eye. She picked up the book and began flipping through, trying to ignore another giggle that came from Solesta, and trying to convince herself that she wasn't jealous.

"Well, I must be going. It's getting late and I must return to my duty," he said cordially. He began walking casually to the door and holding it open as he bid a cheerful good night to the proprietor and Ginny realized that was her cue to leave. Scrambling up from her spot on the floor, she had to run to reach the open door, brushing against him as she hurried out.

Once both were out in the cold winter air, she quickly ducked to the side to remove the Invisibility cloak, and glare at him openly. "What were you doing in there?"

He ignored her and started to walk back toward the school fairly quickly, forcing her to jog to catch up. He was nearly out of town before he responded. "We're late, Weasley. You wanted information. I got you information. Were you not listening?"

She raised the book, still in her hand, and pointed it at him as if it was a weapon. "You were flirting with her!"

He said nothing, walking resolutely ahead.

She followed him, half-running to keep up with his long strides. "And, what exactly is this information? She didn't really say anything!"

He stopped abruptly, and she nearly ran into him. Turning toward her, he responded, "If you weren't so distracted by being jealous about the way I was talking to her, you would have heard."

"I was not jealous!"

He chuckled and started walking again, forcing her to keep pace if she wanted to hear his response. "No, of course you weren't, but you certainly weren't listening either. She said that fresh fairy stones can be quite powerful at affecting the bearer's emotion and can be imprinted to a particular individual."

She gave a loud huff. "So, some lovesick girl could imprint the stone to herself, give it to a boy and he'll feel like he's in love with her?"

"If you continue to be thick, Weasley, I'll be forced to start admitting that you really are related to that half-wit oaf you call Ronald."

While she was quite certain that was an insult, she was fairly certain he was joking. After a brief moment of glaring at him, she replied. "Only my mother calls him 'Ronald', and neither one of us is thick. Now, get to the point."

"What if someone created a stone that's been imprinted to the Dark Lord. Think of what harm could be done if it was given to the wrong person."

Her mouth dropped open in realization. "You think that someone's got the ability to harvest some fresh fairy stones?"

"Wouldn't that make sense? Solesta was a bit too pushy about saying that she only marketed antiques, but her face lit up when she talked about how beautiful a new fairy stone was in comparison to the older ones."

"So, she's seen a fresh one," Ginny stated. "Do you think she's harvesting fairies and crystallizing their hearts in the back room?"

He looked at her as if she'd gone mad. "Of course not. It's obvious that she's not bright enough. I'm thinking that the person who might have been doing that was probably killed or imprisoned after the Battle last year. If they knew of someone who could make more of the things, they wouldn't be so interested in finding a particular one."

"Do you think she might know who is in the market for this stone?" She said quickly, mulling over the possibility that they were truly onto something. "We need to find out more from her."

"No, I need to find out more," he said, placing emphasis on the "I" portion of the sentence.

She stopped, forcing him to stop and look back at her. "What are you talking about, Malfoy? We're in this together, if you recall. I'm the one who found out about the amulet."

He took a step closer. "And I thank you for that but, right now, I'm in the better position. Right now, the name is Frost and Icabod Frost is going to go on a date with Solesta to find out more."

Her jaw dropped open. "You... You what?"

He gave a smug grin, holding up a small piece of parchment. "She slipped me her private owl address before I left the shop. One quick dinner and I'm sure I can get all the information we need."

Her mouth opened and closed at least three times but no sound came out. Then, after a concerted effort, she said, "You'll do no such thing!"

He looked at her slyly. "Jealous, Weasley?"

She most certainly was, considering that only two hours earlier they'd been kissing in a private room at the Hog's Head. Her hands balled into fists.

Before she could find words, he interrupted, "This is no different from you flirting with Potter to get his cloak and entice him into following Trelawney around for you."

"Harry and I happen to be friends!"

"And Solesta and I will get to be friends," he said, and started marching solidly toward the school.

She did the only thing that came to mind. The book that she'd accidentally lifted from the shop was still in her hand, so she threw it at him, hitting him soundly in the back of the head.

"Ow!" he shrieked, partly in pain, and partly in surprise. He turned back, clearly angry at her.

"That was uncalled for!"

"It most certainly was 'called' for, you twat."

He bent down to pick up the book, looking at it's title.

"I forgot it was in my hand when we left the store," she said by way of explanation, her tone still angry. "Too bad it wasn't just a bit heavier. I might have knocked some sense into you!"

Obviously angry with her, he turned and stomped toward the castle gates.

A few minutes later, the pair arrived at the school to find Professor Flitwick waiting, his clipboard in hand. "Oh, there you are, Miss Weasley! I was about to send out someone to look for you," he said irritably. "Thank you for finding her for us, Professor," he said, turning to Frost.

"Not a problem, Professor," Frost returned, the irritation in his voice sounding much like an annoyed teacher.

"I'm afraid I'll have to issue detention, Miss," Flitwick explained. "Rules clearly state that all students must return before dark."

She groaned, dreading the idea of another detention. She had little enough time as it was.

"No need, Professor," Frost said coolly.

For an instant, she looked over at him gratefully. She was just about to give him a smile when he continued, "I've already issued detention with me." He lifted the book she'd tossed at him earlier. "It seems she's gotten into some questionable activity."

Flitwick looked at her disapprovingly.

"I told you that it was an accident!" she growled at Frost. "I didn't steal it!"

"Well, it seem you have matters in hand, Professor," Flitwick said to Frost, giving him an approving nod.

Frost nodded in agreement to the shorter teacher, then said to her, "Detention tomorrow, Weasley. After dinner, 7 pm sharp. Don't be late."

Without another word, he turned toward the school with a dramatic swirl of his cloak and marched away, not giving her another glance. She watched him go, her fists clenched, fuming.

xoxoxo