False Pretenses for Dragonsangel68

December 8th, 2008

• Title: False Pretenses
  Rating: R
  Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Follows DH except for the epilogue
  Author's Notes: I wrote you a novel practically. I really hope you enjoy it though! PS. My summaries are always rubbish, so just skip it!
  Summary: Ginny has no faith that Ron will win a contest against Harry. However, Draco does.

False Pretenses


"Why are you running against him again?" Ginny asked her brother as she sniffed the cheeses on her plate. "Yuck! This one smells like feet! Who brought this?"

Ron scowled at her. "You don't think I can win, do you?"

Ginny shrugged. "He's your best friend. Harry announced he was running for Auror Senior Leader and suddenly you did too. I'm just wondering why." She pushed all the cheese on her plate to the side and helped herself to potatoes.

"Stop sniffing the cheese," he snapped. "Why'd you get so much if you're not going to eat it?"

"It looked good, but it smells disgusting. You never can tell with the food at these events."

"I'm not inviting you to anymore of our potlucks!"

"But the Auror's have the best ones," she complained. "My department does nothing!"

"That's because there is only four of you."

"See!"

"Look," Ron sighed, pushing his own plate away. "Harry is already the Ministry Liaison for the Aurors. He'll realize that he can't handle the responsibilities soon enough. For once, I want to do something. Not be in his shadow."

"Really? Did you have a row?"

"No! I'm not trying to compete with him, I just want this."

"But you are competing," Hermione's voice chimed in as she sat down at the dinner table. "This cheese looks good."

"It smells like feet," Ginny told her.

"Yeah it does. Who brought it in?" Hermione nodded, kissing her fiancé on the cheek. "Running against someone is competing with them."

"How's my Hugo?" Ginny asked. Ron and Hermione's son was secretly her favorite nephew.

"Good. Great actually. He's with your mum."

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and tightened his lips. "Ginny, will you be my campaign manager?"

"No way," she shook her head quickly. "Everyone will say I'm only doing it because Harry and I broke up."

"You broke up with him months ago," Ron pointed out.

"You don't even need a manager. Just have Hermione flirt with the other Aurors."

Ron gave her a scowl.

"I told him I'm not getting involved," Hermione said, popping more cheese into her mouth. "I'm friends with Harry too."

"Who else is running?" Ginny asked.

"No one," Hermione answered, her dejected voice betraying the smile on her face. "Just Ron and Harry."

"Ugh," Ginny stood up from her seat. "I have a deadline to meet. Pearsons wants a press release on the scandal with the Minister and his secretaries. Thanks for letting me invade your potluck though."

Ginny dashed out of the room and headed for the lift, knowing she should have finished her work before taking a lunch. Things in the Ministry's public relations department were unfortunately hectic these days.

Ginny waited impatiently for the lift to arrive, swatting absently at the paper airplanes that were also vying for space on the lift.

"What's the rush?"

Ginny didn't have to turn to know that Draco Malfoy was standing behind her. "Assignment's due."

"Why is your brother running against Potter?"

She made a face at him as they entered the lift. "I don't know."

Draco worked for the International Association of Quidditch and had somehow managed to become the Assistant Chair for the UK. His department was located next to Ginny's, and she saw him more often than she might have preferred.

"You raided their potluck, why didn't you ask?" he demanded.

"I was invited to their potluck! And stop spying on me." Ginny took as much of a step away from him as was possible in the small lift. "I know you get your thrills that way, but still..."

"You say that every time," he said, stepping closer to her, "but I don't think you mean it. You want me to spy on you!"

"Don't make me kick your arse," she said, teasing. "Cause I can."

"Let's go to dinner."

"Again, no."

"Why not?"

"Because," she said, stepping past him as the lift doors opened, "I don't like you."

"Again you say it... but do you mean it?"

"Ron is running because he wants the spot. Nothing against Harry."

"Right. He doesn't stand a chance against Boy Wonder."

Ginny was impressed at how well he could roll his silver eyes. "Maybe he does. Ron can hold his own."

"Not a chance."

"Yes! He does!"

"Did you know when you get mad your skin and freckles blend together?" Draco grinned wickedly.

"If we weren't at work, I'd punch you," Ginny narrowed her eyes.

"You're not very threatening."

"That's cause you haven't seen me outside of this place," she laughed.

"If the Weasel wins, say you'll go to dinner with me. If Boy Wonder wins, I'll go to dinner with you."

"That's the stupidest bet ever." She glanced down the empty hall, her hand on the doorknob of her office. "Why would I want to go to dinner with you? You have a very bad reputation. Did you know that you were named the eleventh most eligible bachelor in England by Witch's Weekly? They also named you the number two party boy in London."

"Why are you reading about me when you could be having dinner with me? Do you believe everything you hear?"

"I didn't hear that, I read it." She loved watching him squirm.

"Dinner."

"I'm not going."

"Okay," he conceded. "If Boy Wonder wins, I'll leave you alone."

"How about you just quit asking me to dinner," Ginny said.

"So if Weasel wins, you'll go to dinner with me," Draco recapped, "and if Boy Wonder does, I just quit asking you to dinner. Sounds good." He stuck out his hand and Ginny reluctantly shook it.

Draco had won a few points with the Order during the war despite his pathetic flip-flopping of sides. His father did his time in Azkaban and then promptly moved to the continent. Draco stayed behind and had named a few more Death Eaters - just enough to make himself look good.

"And lunch. You can't ask me to lunch either," she called as he retreated towards his own office.

"That wasn't part of it," he shouted, slamming his door behind him.

It wasn't the physical interacts with Draco that left her slightly suspicious, it was his constant teasing, the flirting and the fact that he continually asked her to dinner. Draco was good looking, and occasionally charming, and Ginny could see how it might be hard to resist him. Especially after a few glasses of wine.

She could accept the flirting, that was harmless, but he had been persistently asking her to dinner since she let it slip that she had broken up with Harry. What she couldn't figure out was why. She wasn't a super thin blond like the tarts he was photographed with, she couldn't offer him anything status wise, and there was still the centuries old family feud.

But at least she'd figured out a way to have him quit asking. Poor Ron would never win against Harry, but she would certainly win the wager with Draco.


**


"You owe me a date, Weasley," Draco's voice carried loudly from the top of her cubicle. "I want it on Friday."

"No I don't," she hissed. "The Auror's aren't even voting until next week! And shut it!" She stood to her feet and rose on her tiptoes to see over the cubicle walls. No one else appeared interested in their conversation.

"Potter dropped out." The smug look on Draco's face was nauseating.

"Did not," she rolled her eyes and dropped back to her seat. "Go away."

"Did so. This morning he announced it."

Ginny narrowed her eyes and began grabbing at the paper planes that littered her desk. "There's nothing here about it." She opened a plane. "See? Just the usual daily recap of events from the Minister's office." She opened another. "Nothing. A tip on the upcoming Quidditch game. Want it?" She wadded the parchment into a ball and threw it at him.

"Keep looking." He ducked the paper ball and came around the wall, in the entrance of her cubicle. "What's wrong with dating me anyways?"

She scowled at him as she opened another plane. "Let's see, I'm a nice person and you aren't. I'm open minded and able to accept other people's outlooks on life. You can't." She glanced over another plane, wadded it up and tossed it at him before opening another. "There are far too many rumors that circulate about you and I can't--" She quickly smoothed out the paper plane in front of her. "Oh my gods. Why did he drop out?"

"I am nice!" he defended himself, throwing the paper back at her. "And accepting! And rumors are just rumors! You don't even know me."

"Ron really did! Why? And I don't date strangers." Ginny stood to her feet again. "I mean, that's good for Ron."

"Dinner. Friday." Draco blocked her way out of the cubicle.

Ginny sivghed. "Fine, whatever, but let's not go anywhere too fancy."

"Don't have the clothes for it?" he snorted. "It is only two days away! Better get shopping."

"Forget it. Dinner's off. Now move."

"Joking," he said hastily, swiping his overly blond hair out of his eyes. "Just wear something like what you have on now. You look great."

Ginny smoothed the front of her straight dress, suddenly feeling a brush of self-consciousness. "First I need an answer. Why do you want to go to dinner? If this is some big joke, let's just forget about it."

Draco's pale brows knit together, giving him wrinkles on the bridge of his nose. "Gods, you are thick."

"I want to know." She crossed her arms over her chest.

This time, Draco looked around to see who was watching. "Maybe because I would like to get to know you?" His voice was so low she had to strain to hear him.

Ginny held her arms tightly. "Okay. Then… okay. Friday. Great." She tried to step past him. "Can I go now?"

Draco stepped aside without a word.


**


Ginny left work late that evening. The busy-ness of her day had been complicated by the fact that she had been unable to find Ron or Harry or Hermione or anyone who could explain to her why Harry had dropped out of the running. Her boss had told her to whip up a press release about it, and Malfoy kept peeking his head over her cubicle to see what she thought about various restaurant choices.

By the time she had actually gotten down to the actual items that were due at the end of the week she was frustrated and grumpy. It wasn't that her usual weekly duties were hard - nothing like the press releases and statements she'd recently released reassuring the masses that the Minister's personal affairs had nothing to do with the way he ran their country - her usual duties consisted to a weekly newsletter to all the ministry workers, press releases for charitable events the ministry dabbled in, and press releases for promotions.

Even without Malfoy's annoying presence, her week would have been hard. Her urgent owls had reached ridiculous levels. She was received two or three an hour from charitable organizations who claimed to need some sort of statement immediately so that they could continue to accept the Ministry's donations without showing acceptance of the Minister's personal life.

She sent them all a copy of the same press release she'd sent to the Daily Prophet.

"You worked late."

Ginny let out an audible groan as she locked the office door behind her. "So did you."

Draco fell into step beside her. "Lots of work preparing for the International Quidditch Tournament."

"How much preparing do you actually have to do?" Ginny eyed him suspiciously.

He gave her a grin. "I oversee the preparations. Plus we just put in a bid to hold the games here in five years."

"That would be fun." She stepped into the lift. "I like going to the Cup games."

"Do you now?" He leaned against the lift wall opposite her and looked her up and down. "Did you choose the restaurant for Friday?"

She shook her head. "I've never been to any of them. You can pick."

"Now you're willing to go?" Draco crossed his arms over his tailored shirt.

"It was a fair bet," Ginny shrugged. "And I keep my word."

"But you don't seem very enthusiastic."

"Right," Ginny rolled her eyes and brushed her hair over her shoulder. "Suddenly I'm going to be excited to go to dinner with you."

Draco frowned as they stepped off the lift. "You might be surprised, Weasley."

"The first thing you are going to have to do is quit calling me by my last name," she told him. "Call me Ginny."

"Fine. Ginny."

She grinned, barely holding back a small laugh at the oddity of her first name carried on his lips. "Great, Draco."

"We could go to dinner tonight," he suggested as they entered the busy streets of London.

"I'm going to my mum's," she told him, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. "I haven't been by in a while and I need to see what happened with Harry and Ron. Pearsons wants a release by the morning."

Draco raised one perfect eyebrow. "I hope they pay you well enough."

She let out a laugh. "Hardly. The pay is miserable. But I get overtime at least, so that's nice."

"I'll walk you to the apparition point," he said, and without waiting for an answer, took her by the arm and steered her across the street.


**


At the Burrow, things were no more helpful. Ron was talking incessantly about his 'win', while Harry sat, only telling Ginny that he dropped out because he wanted to.

"So, you just wanted Ron to have the position," she pressed, desperate for something to write.

"Pretty much," Harry shrugged. He couldn't meet her eyes and fiddled with a fork instead. "Ron is really good with diplomacy and that."

Ginny stared at him. Ron was not good with diplomacy. He was prone to a hot temper and excellent at jumping to conclusions. In fact, she was quite curious to see the conclusions that he would make once he found out she had gone to dinner with Malfoy.

"Right." She made a note with her purse-sized quill. "So you were just doing your best mate a favor cause you didn't think he could win on his own?"

Harry finally looked up at her, his features twisted into a scowl. "No!" He glanced around the room. The Weasley clan was chattering away, not paying them attention. "I spoke with someone about it, and that's the conclusion I came to. I don't really want the position, Ron does. I'm not going to put my efforts into something I don't want."

"Would this someone be your new significant other?" Ginny asked dryly.

"No," Harry scowled. "I'm not seeing... that person."

"Glad to hear that you can move on," she said, tucking her quill back into her purse.

"Ginny, come on..."

She raised an eyebrow and tucked her hair behind her ear. "It's my job to ask these questions."

"I know what you meant." He kept his eyes on the fork again.

"Uh huh. I bet you do."

Ginny stood up, hugged her parents goodbye, congratulated her brother one last time and apparated home.




**


"You never decided on a restaurant for tonight," Draco told Ginny as she took a bite of her turkey and Swiss sandwich.

"You mean eating lunch with you isn't good enough?" She chewed her bite and took a drink of her tea. "Anyways, I said you should decide."

"A riot, that's what you are." Draco stabbed his own salad with the plastic forks the ministry's cafeteria provided. "Besides it seems like you aren't eating with me as much as you are avoiding other people you know."

"Not true," she lied. Ron had called out her name, but she noticed he was sitting with Harry. As she pretended that she hadn't heard her brother, she looked up and saw Malfoy watching, and had made a beeline for him.

"Right. Cause I heard your brother call your name and I know you did too and suddenly you sit down to eat with me." Draco smirked. "Why are you avoiding him?"

Ginny took another bite of her sandwich and deliberately chewed slowly. "It's not him."

Draco glanced in the direction of her brother. "Potter?"

"He is my ex. Ex's are ex's for a reason."

"Yeah, but it's been a while. Six months?"

"Four. Almost five."

"So what did he do to you?"

"He refused to give me a straight answer about why he dropped out of the Auror's competition." Ginny leaned in. "I practically had to make it up."

"Isn't that part of your job?" Draco laughed. "Public relations doesn't seem all that honest."

"I'm honest!"

"I meant why did you and Potter break up." His silver eyes narrowed.

"Mind your own damn business."

"Come on. Otherwise I'll just ask you again at dinner."

"Time. We were headed different directions. We grew apart. We had different goals," she recited. "Whatever. Choose your own answer."

"Real honest. No wonder you're so good at your job."

She tried to suppress the grin that was making an appearance on her lips. "So. Where's dinner?"

"Yanni's," he answered instantly. "Mediterranean food to die for. Have you been there?"

"Nope."

"Then I'll pick you up at 7:00."

"How bout I meet you there?"

"Why can't I pick you up?" he demanded. "This is a date."

"It's a lost bet," Ginny said dryly. "Fine. Pick me up. I live-"

"I know where you live," he cut her off.

"How do you know where I live?" she asked, standing to her feet and collecting her rubbish. "Malfoy, do you spy on me?"

"You wish. You're listed in the ministry directory." He followed her to the rubbish bin.

"Right." A dinner date with Malfoy wasn't exactly the least fun way she could imagine spending a Friday night, but there were other, more comfortable things she could think of doing. "Pick me up at 7:00 then."

An hour later, a small but steady pile of paper plane messages from Ron was gathering on her desk. Most likely, he was dying to know why she had eaten lunch with Malfoy. She ignored them, but still couldn't concentrate on work. The looming dinner with Malfoy was weighing heavily on her mind.

Malfoy was not the ultimate pain in the arse that he had been in school, but he was still conceited and yes, the rumors about him really did run wild. Four or five weeks ago, he had been on the cover (the cover!) of a gossip tabloid with not one, not even two, but three girls on his arms at some nightclub. And here she was accepting a date with him.

Ginny rubbed her forehead. What had she been thinking?

I was thinking Ron wouldn't win, she told herself.

Suddenly she sat straight up. What if he was only taking her to dinner with the intentions of getting her into bed? Ginny drummed her bitten fingernails against her desk top.

She let out a small groan and looked around her cubicle. She had nothing against first date sex if it was obvious that they would go no where else and the only chemistry was sexual. But there was no chance in the galaxy that she would sleep with Malfoy. She could only imagine the things that would be said about her if she did.

He was very persistent if all he wanted was a shag. Malfoy was most likely a very good shag, but there was no way she would allow herself to find out, although a little day dreaming about it couldn't be all that bad. His body was so tight and muscled perfectly in all the right places, and the things she imagined doing to him were so bad… But that wasn't happening! At least not outside the carefully defined comfort of her own imagination.

Ginny glanced at the clock. Thank Merlin, it was five o'clock. She picked up her bag, deciding that she would enjoy the free dinner and Malfoy could kiss her freckled arse if he thought she would happily her legs.


**


For someone who only wanted free dinner, Ginny had a rotten time trying to find a decent dress to wear. Finally she settled on a black shirt waist dress that buttoned to a decent height and hung to her knees. She couldn't resist the temptation to pair it with the tallest red heels that she owned.

Draco knocked on her door at exactly 7:00 pm. "You look nice," he said by way of greeting.

"Thanks. So do you." Ginny tried her best not to look him up and down. At work he wore robes of various Quidditch teams over his clothes. Tonight he stood before her in pressed black trousers, a royal blue button down and shiny black shoes. His clothes fit him a little too perfectly. She wondered who his tailor was. She wondered if all the hair on his body was the same shade of white blond.

He smirked and Ginny knew. "Of course I do. I'm Draco Malfoy. Malfoy's always look amazing."

"I said nice," she told him dryly. "Not amazing."

"But I do, don't I?"

It wasn't a question, more of a statement really and Ginny couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him.

"Shall we?" he asked with a grin. He linked his arm through hers. "Hold on."

His apparition skills were just as smooth as everything else about him was. Ginny barely felt the squeezing pressure she had assumed was normal. The restaurant loomed before them, tiled quaintly with small blue and white tiles of different shapes. Three enormous windows faced the street, all of them tilted open.

"For two Mr. Malfoy?" asked the young witch at the door.

Ginny couldn't decide if the hostess sounded surprised or annoyed. They followed her to a small booth with high sides, making it very private and exclusive. Instead of being able to sit across from each other, the booth was L-shaped, so their knees brushed.

They started with flat bread to dip in hummus, topped with olives, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese and chives.

"What do you think?"

Ginny glanced at Draco, amused by his hopeful expression. "It's amazing," she admitted. Much to her own surprise, she wasn't completely hating his company.

"Good," he smiled. His smile filled his eyes. "I think you'll like the dish you picked out." He took a sip of his wine. "So tell me, Ginny, how did you end up in public relations?"

She let a giggle slip at the way he said her name, as if it were foreign. "I did my studies after Hogwarts in communications. I was thinking more along the lines of lobbying for educational causes, but I needed a job. This was open. I applied and somehow I got it. I had no PR experience at all, but here I am." She took another bite of her hummus. "It's alright. It pays the bills for the moment. What about you?"

Draco raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you the Quidditch chair and not playing? I remember when you went off to South Africa to play."

He grinned. "You really don't know?"

"Know what?"

"I was playing for the Sunrays, but my… uh, temper got the best of me." He rolled his fork over between his thumb and index finger. "It was suggested that I take a position where I didn't have to deal so intimately with other players."

Ginny laughed. "You were fighting?"

He shrugged.

"But don't you miss playing?" She leaned back as the server arrived with a tray full of steaming food. Her parmesan-crusted sole smelled amazing as did Draco's braised lamb.

He cut into his lamb before replying. "Yeah. This job pays better and I still get to travel, but it's not the same. Besides, it was just a five year ban. That's almost up, so I can try out again."

"Are you going to try out again?"

He nodded vigorously. "In February actually."

"My brothers and I still play for fun," she told him. "We play when we're all at the Burrow. Some of my sister-in-law's play too and my nephews want to join us, but we play rough."

"The Burrow?"

"My mum and da's place. That's what we call it. They have a good bit of land."

"That sounds fun." His words rang sincere in her ears.

"It is fun. One of the benefits of having a big family, I guess."

"I wouldn't know," he told her dryly.

"Aren't there any benefits of being an only child?"

"Oh sure. Lots of vacations, all the clothes and toys and rubbish I ever wanted, never having to share your parent's love," he told her loftily. "Did I mention getting whatever I wanted?"

"Sounds great."

"Maybe," he smiled. "ButI think I'll have more than one child though."

"You want children?"

"Well not now! Right now I'm swamped with all the duties of being a bachelor."

"Like what?"

"Oh, you know… games on those Muggles tellies, sports too. Muggles have a lot more sports than we do. Right now, I've been enjoying this sport called hockey. And then there's dating. Bachelor's have to date. Also, fitness, making sure I look good." He glanced at her. "The usual."

The conversation continued effortlessly through dessert and several more glasses of wine. Ginny had sipped hers slowly, almost astonished that she and Draco could get along so well and had so many things to talk about. She could only imagine how the conversation would go once Ron got a hold of her. She had ignored all his airplane messages at work, grateful that his new promotion kept him too busy to bother her.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Draco suggested looking around.

Ginny followed his gaze and noticed that the restaurant was almost empty. "Have we been here that long?"

"Funny how time just flies when you're with me, isn't it?"

"How very conceited of you," she told him, rising from her seat. "But thank you. It was amazing."

"I've been told that before," he laughed, holding the door open.

"The dinner! Not you."

"Just admit it, Weasley. You thoroughly enjoyed my company."

"I'll never admit to that, Malfoy."

"I mean Ginny."

"I'm sure."

"It's not too late," he told her, glancing at his wrist watch. "At least, I don't think it is. For some reason this watch only works part time and I keep forgetting to have it fixed. I know a nice tavern not too far from here. It's a Muggle place but it's fairly quiet, even on a Friday night."

"You frequent Muggle places?" she asked, looking up at him.

He shrugged. "I frequent lots of places."

"I've never been to a Muggle tavern."

"First time for everything." He picked up her hand. "Let's go."

Two Fools Tavern was themed Irish and they each ordered the house cider. After more banter and talk about work, Ginny changed the subject.

"Tell me something. Did you ask me to dinner just to annoy Ron?"

Draco looked at her as though she had sprouted another head. "Your brother? I could care less what he thinks! Well, if I did succeed in annoying him, that would be a bonus."

"Our families go way back, but in a bad way. You were a complete arse all through school. You still tend to be one. I've seen you in the tabloids, and --"

"Hey," he protested. "Those are tabloids! You can't believe them! And I am not an arse."

"You can be."

"Maybe. But I asked you to dinner because I wanted to. That's all. Now accept that and drop it."

Ginny rolled her eyes at him. "What do you expect?"

"That you're probably feeling the same thing I was when I realized I had a crush on a Weasley!" He shuddered violently. "It's a scary feeling."

"Very scary! Malfoy's are scary." She glanced around. "Your father is scary."

Draco began to laugh. "Yes. I'll give you that, he can be scary." He lifted his mug of cider. "Do you think I'm scary?"

"Well, no. Not so scary really."

"Then what? What am I?"

"I'm beginning to realize that I have no idea," she answered honestly.

"I think you might be the scary one. You have fifteen brothers or something! That's scary!"

"Not fifteen, twelve," Ginny chided him. "Three less to worry about."

"Seriously? Twelve?" He used to back of his pale hand to wipe his mouth. "That's a lot."

She laughed. "I have six brothers really. Well, Fred's gone, so five."

He nodded. "I was at his memorial."

"I know." Ginny cocked her head. "I saw you there."

"It was a long time ago."

She nodded slowly.

"You were with Potter then. You were with him for a long time."

Despite the new topic being Harry, she was glad for the shift. "So?"

"You never told me why you broke up with him." He flagged the waiter over and asked for two more ciders. "Everyone thought you would marry him."

"Who is everyone?" she asked dryly. "My mother?"

Draco's laugh sounded more like a snort. "Did you let your mum down?"

"When you're with the same person for almost eight years, you kind of expect to get married, but once it's over, you're glad you didn't."

"Why are you saying you? Aren't you talking about yourself?"

She ignored his question. "What about your love life? Let's talk about that."

"I've never dated anyone for eight years," he told her. "Or even eight months. But maybe eight weeks, I don't know. The women I tend to date are flaky and only want someone with a pocket full of Galleons. I end up telling them I have to go away on work and never call them again. Sad, isn't it?"

"And you told me not to believe the rumors," she shook her head.

"Yeah! The ones where they call me a slag and say I like to attend all night orgies! Not that I would complain, but still. Never happened. No one's ever invited me to an orgy."

"You don't have to lie to me. My opinion won't change."

He leaned across the table. "What is your opinion of me?"

"I'll never tell."

"Not even if I bribe you?"

"I don't need to be bribed," she grinned. "I bring home a paycheck."

His lips curled into a wicked grin. "There are other things to bribe with."

She pursed her lips and hoped it covered her smile. "I don't think so."

Draco let his hand rest on top of hers. "Seriously. You can tell me."

Ginny pretended to think hard. "Well, dinner was good. This place has been fun. I enjoyed myself a lot. The fact that you were here didn't bring me down at all."

"So that's how it is?" Draco's pale eyebrow shot up.

"I've had a good time with you," she laughed. "So thank you."

"Does that mean you'll say yes if I asked out on another date?"

"Are you asking me?"

"Maybe."

"Then maybe I'll say yes."

They sat in silence, eyeing each other.

"I should probably go home," Ginny admitted reluctantly. "I'm going into the office tomorrow to catch up."

"Catch up?"

She nodded. "It's easy to get things done when no one is breathing down my neck!"

"Does Pearsons micromanage you?" he asked, draining his mug.

"Occasionally. Only when he's stressed."

Draco reached for his wallet and left some odd, papery bills on the table. "Let's go then."

"Is that Muggle money?"

He nodded.

"Weird." She stood to her feet and allowed him to once again grasp her hand. She reminded herself firmly of her promise not to let him in. It was going to be difficult. Where as Draco was already nice to look at and she had very much enjoyed his company, the alcohol only made it worse. The imaginary lust she had felt early had once again manifested itself between her legs. The aching in her groin was intensified with each step. She wanted to push him down on a park bench, rip his expensive clothes off and ride him until her knees gave out.

Instead she tried not to think about their touching palms and walked calmly with him to an apparation point.

"Ready?" he asked, looking down at her.

Ginny felt weak, unable to resist and unable to trust her voice. She nodded.

They landed directly on her welcome mat.

"Thank you," she told him, her voice steady. "I really did have a nice time."

"Me too."

He waited as she pulled out her keys. She wondered if she should tell him goodbye. What if she opened the door and he assumed she wanted him to come in?

"Good night." Draco leaned down and gently pecked her on the cheek. With a pop he was gone.

Ginny stared at the spot where he had been. He hadn't even tried. She didn't know if she was disgusted or disappointed. Ginny opened the door to her flat and flung her purse down in annoyance. All that mental preparation and he hadn't even been interested.

She yawned and kicked off her shoes. Oh well, she thought. I would have regretted it in the morning.

Ginny quickly washed her face, removed her dress and fell into bed. But as she dozed off, she couldn't help feeling that she really wouldn't have regretted it.


**


"Good morning!"

Ginny had only been in the office for a half an hour, and was regretting her decision to come in. When her alarm had gone off at 8:00, she quickly decided that the seven hours of sleep was not enough, but she couldn't make herself go back to sleep. Disgusted, she'd showered, thrown on a pair of old denim trousers and a 'Seekers do it on a broom' t-shirt. Now Draco was standing before her, holding bags and smiling.

"What are you doing here?" she asked blankly.

"I brought breakfast." He placed a bag on her desk and sat across from her.

In the shower, Ginny had mulled over their date, still uncertain why he had tried so hard to get her to dinner, seemed to enjoy himself and then left her on her doorstep. She'd finally convinced herself to quit worrying over it, because she hadn't been interested in him in the first place.

"You cook?" she asked, reaching for a Styrofoam box.

"No," he shook his head, "but I know how to order take out."

"Well… thank you."

"Welcome," he glanced up and smiled. "It's from this place called Weck's. Weird food, but really good."

"Thanks," she said again, opening the container. Inside was an enormous pile of shredded potatoes, bacon, sausage, fried eggs and cheese. It was covered in a dark red sauce. "Wow. This is huge."

"Uh-huh," Draco agreed, his mouth full. "It's a little spicy though. It's red chile."

"I've never had chile," she admitted, gathering a large fork-full. She was suddenly starving. "Oh. Oh. This is amazing."

He nodded. "How's your day going?"

"Good, I guess. I haven't been here very long." She scooped another bite into her mouth. "This is so good."

"It's my favorite breakfast place," he told her. "The restaurant is up in Liverpool, but they're on the Floo network."

When they had finished eating, Draco used his wand to clean up. "Nice shirt."

Ginny closed her eyes. "Thanks. How embarrassing."

"No, I really do." His face remained serious, but his eyes shone with laughter.

"If I had known anyone was going to come visit me, I would have worn something else."

"You look cute."

"Cute?"

"I like cute."

"Puppies are cute."

"And so are you. Cute freckles, cute little nose, cute ginger hair."

Ginny shook her head and began to look through her stacks of parchment, flushing. "I see you have sequins on your shirt," she shot back.

"It's called embellished," he defended himself. "Very in right now."

"Sure."

"Are you sure you wanna stay here?" he asked, leaning in and gently moving the stack away from her. "It's really nice outside. One of those really great fall days."

"Very tempting," she told him with a grin. "But I do have a lot to do."

"There won't be many of these days left and there's some kind of flower show at Kensington Gardens," he told her. "And if that's not your thing, we could go to the aquarium. Or the zoo. Or even go to Paris for the afternoon. Did you know that there is a Muggle train that goes under the water to France?"

Ginny began to laugh. "How do you know all these things?"

"I learn lots of odd things at my job. Muggles are surprising."

"For some reason, I assumed you wouldn't have a thing to do with Muggles."

Draco shrugged and Ginny liked the way the thin material of his t-shirt rippled with the movement. "In my department we just hear all this stuff cause we have to learn how to have the Muggles avoid our Quidditch sites and all. The more I learned about how they did things, the more impressed I got." He stood to his feet and held out his hands. "Come on. Let's go."

She glanced around at the stacks of work and back at Draco. Draco was far more appealing. His silver eyes were wide, waiting for her decision. There was an annoying feeling in her stomach, a fluttering of sorts, that had gathered since his arrival. Draco, or sit in the office by herself. It wasn't a hard decision.

"So tell me what you do in your free time," Draco asked as they walked side by side through the Westminster area. "What's your favorite thing to do in London?"

"I don't know," she told him. "We lived in Devon for a few years before Harry decided to have his house renovated. We lived in London for a long time, but we didn't do any Muggle things here. Mostly we were with our family and friends."

"Potter has a house?"

Ginny nodded absently. "His godfather left it to him."

"Sirius Black."

"Yup," she looked at him. "He didn't like living there. I don't blame him, really. It was so dismal. But it was finally renovated. I don't think Kreatcher really appreciated the remodeling, but he does adore Harry in an odd way, so…"

Draco was staring at her as though she had grown another head.

"Right. His house elf. Kreatcher."

"It sounds…" Draco shrugged. "I don't know."

Ginny thought of the house elf, who she would forever associate with Sirius's death, but had changed drastically since then. "Let's not talk about Harry."

"But you've done things in the city since you moved into your flat, right?"

She thought. "I guess. Sometimes I meet up with Romilda Vane for a meal. Or once I went dancing with Luna. That was fun."

"You like dancing?"

"Love it."

"But you only went once?"

"I didn't want to go by myself!"

"So, you're still practically new to London?" He stopped walking and looked at her.

"No, I just-"

"Then let me be your guide!" He bowed dramatically. "I shall escort you through the fair city, mi'lady!"

The two watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace ("that was fun!" Ginny said), took the Tower of London tour ("Creepy," Draco said. "I don't think I'll do that again."), ate fish and chips for dinner at a pub ("Seriously?" she asked) and rode the London Eye as the sun set.

Ginny was pressed against the window of their capsule. "This city is so beautiful at night."

"So are you."

Draco's voice was so low, Ginny wasn't sure she heard him correctly. She turned away from the window and found him only centimeters away. "Only at night?"

"All the time." He leaned closer and closer, until their lips met, briefly and softly.

She remained silent, her mind absorbing their kiss.

"I have to tell you," he continued, "that I was so, so glad when you dumped Potter. From the minute you started working in the department next to mine, I just… I'm glad you're here."

Ginny felt heat spreading through her cheeks and she tucked her hair behind her ear. "That was a year ago."

"A year and three months," he told her seriously. "Thank Merlin you finally said yes!"

She giggled. "You're joking."

"Nope," he shook his head. "I was even extra nice to you, and you were still suspicious of me. For almost an entire year, I thought I had no chance."

"But you kept trying."

"I'm a Malfoy," he shrugged wickedly. "No has never stood in the way of a Malfoy getting what they wanted. But I was this close. This close to falling apart if I couldn't get you to go out with me."


**


On Monday, Ginny sat at her desk and smiled at the three, yes three, bouquets of flowers that had been delivered in the hour since she'd arrived at work.

"I had a lovely time with you," Ron read one of the cards in a bouquet. "Who are these from?"

Ginny looked up to see her brother at her desk. "Hello Ron."

"You sound like Luna." He plucked another card from a different bouquet and began to read. "I can't wait to see you again."

"Don't you have a lot to do?" she asked him, shuffling papers on her desk in a way she hoped looked important.

"Blimey, yes," he said, looking slightly tired. "I had to spend the whole sodding weekend at these little events. Luncheons and teas and dinners and parties and cocktail hours. All I do is socialize!"

"Why?" Suddenly she was confused. "What for?"

"My new position," he said proudly, puffing his chest out a bit. "It's called networking."

"Oh. Right."

"I saw Malfoy at one," he said, plucking the final card from the third bouquet. "Sunday's high tea. Ridiculous really, he kept congratulating me on my new position."

Ginny giggled as she dug out a fresh quill.

"Did I tell you he offered to me my campaign manager? He said that--," Ron stopped short. "This is from Malfoy."

"Uh-huh," she said, hoping to sound as distracted as possible, despite the realization that Draco had obviously attempted to play a role in Ron's winning. "Could we meet for lunch maybe? I'm really swamped."

"You went on a date with Malfoy?"

Draco is right, Ginny thought as she tore her eyes away from the Oriental Lilies that blocked the ugly gray fabric of her cubicle. Our freckles do blend in when our faces get red. "So?"

"With Malfoy?"

"Yes, yes. I … owed him one, basically."

Ron looked repulsed. "You owed Malfoy one? I hope you used some protective charms!"

Ginny's laugh came out as a snort. "No like that. We just had a dinner. Nice, really."

"And he sent you all these flowers?"

"Yes," she said, smiling again. "Three bouquets. Three. Who sends three?"

"Are you out of your bloody mind?" her brother demanded. "The Ferret?"

The door to the department swung open and Ginny was glad to see Pearsons enter the room.

"Could you bring me another picture of Hugo?" she told Ron as he stood to his feet. "Hermione said you had new pictures taken."

Ron huffed indignantly at her before leaving.


**


"Once again, you look amazing," Draco told her, standing on her doorstep, ready to pick her up for their Saturday night date.

"You say that every time you see me," she teased.

"Because it's true," he answered solemnly.

"Come in," she held the door open for him. "I'll get my purse."

She crossed the room to pick up her bag, and when she turned around, Draco was standing directly behind her. He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

"I can't stop thinking about your mouth," he confessed. And then he pulled her tighter and kissed her lips.

Their kisses started softly, but grew intense as their tongues met and Draco's fingers made their way up Ginny's back, until they tangled in the back of her hair, tugging just enough to allow a moan to escape her throat.

She could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin and the rapid beats of his heart in her own chest.

Draco's fingers gripped her hair tighter and Ginny wondered how he knew her weakest spots. For the second time in a week, it took all her strength not to push him down and have her wicked way with him.

She wanted to ride him until he begged for mercy.

She wanted to taste every single part of his lean body.

She wanted to watch as his pale skin penetrated her own freckled body.

She wanted to declare the date officially off and tie him to her bedposts. Then she would undress herself first and strip him slowly, teasing him and kissing every single part of his body, save one. She would save that for last. Save his member until he was pleading with her, until he was about to explode, and then she would lean down and -

Ginny was shaken from her own fantasy as Draco pulled her down to her couch. He sat by the arm of the couch, so that when he tugged her into his lap she couldn't straddle him.

It didn't matter, she decided. There was plenty of time for that.

She concentrated instead on Draco's mouth which was moving from her lips to her throat and back. If he could do this with his mouth, Ginny shivered at the thought, she couldn't wait to see what else he could do.

Ginny would have gladly snogged him on her couch all night long, but they were interrupted by a suddenly growl from her stomach. Draco pulled back every so slightly and raised an eyebrow.

"Hungry?" he asked.

Before she could answer, his own stomach growled.

"I guess we should have dinner," he laughed.

"I guess so." She climbed reluctantly from his lap and smoothed her clothes.

"I've never been here before," Draco confessed as they walked slowly towards the dance club after their dinner. "I heard some of the blokes in the office talking about Muggle dance clubs, so if it is rubbish, we'll go somewhere else."

"Do you dance?" she teased Draco. "Or are you just doing this for me?"

"I dance," he told her firmly. "And if I had known dancing made you dress like that, I would have asked you to do that for our first date!"

"You like?" She let her hips swing with each step. Her black trousers were tight and low, hugging her hips and arse.

"I like your shirt the best," he said, pulling her close.

Despite the chilly fall air, Ginny had worn a low-cut tank top. "Thanks. You don't look so bad either."

The line outside the night club was fairly long, but Draco steered them right for the door, gave the bouncer folded Muggle paper money and they were admitted inside. The bouncer nearly bent over backwards as they were ushered inside, and Ginny wondered just how much money he had given him.

The club was darker than Ginny had expected and the music was definitely louder. She didn't recognize the music, but the beat was good.

They made their way to the bar, but because Ginny didn't recognize a single alcohol, she let Draco order for her. As he turned to hand her a glass, he glanced over her shoulder, and his face pinched into a look of disgust.

"What?" Ginny shouted over the music, turning. "Oh my gods," she gasped.

Behind her there was a large opening into another room. As she stepped closer, she could hear pop music from at least two decades previous playing. The room was filled with men and women in their 40s and older. Most everyone wore clothes that were too small, too tight and far too out of fashion.

One large woman, flailing wildly on the dance floor, wore a bright orange top that hung off one shoulder, a denim skirt stretched to its limits and tall boots that weren't quite zipped over her calves. Part of a black tattoo peeked out from under the hem of her skirt.

Anther women had her hair teased into a bouffant-like mound. She wore large hoop earrings and thick black eyeliner, complete with blue eye shadow all the way to her eyebrows.

Ginny noticed a man gyrating against the large woman. His trousers were several inches too short and disturbingly tight in the crotch. His button down shirt was mostly open, showing black chest hair.

"Is this what I have to look forward to after my first divorce?" Ginny asked.

Draco's disgust turned to laughter as he registered her comment. "Plan on having a first divorce?"

She glanced back at the dancers. "I'm not so sure that they planned on having a first divorce. It looks like it caught all of them by surprise."

"It does," he mused. "I bet you're right. Most of them are freshly divorced, raided their closet for the clothes they wore before they said 'I do'."

"I'm not really looking forward to that phase of my life," she said seriously.

"Come on," he grabbed her hand. "Let's see if there's anything else to look forward to."

The club turned out to be made up of different rooms, each with its own theme. There was a room where people could take some sort of voice projector and sing along with words that appeared on telly screens. Draco and Ginny laughed and cringed simultaneously as the aspiring singers kept coming. In anther room, people dressed in American Wild West gear stomped around in circles. The couple looked at each other, shook their heads and kept walking.

Finally, the reached the room that was playing the music they had originally heard. The Muggles were dancing similar to what Ginny knew as dancing. Draco wasted no time steering her to the dance floor.

The temperature of the room was hotter on the dance Floor, and Ginny thought that it didn't help that Draco looked so amazing. When they began dancing, and his body pressed tightly into hers, she had a fleeting worry that she might spontaneously combust.

For a moment, Ginny was uncomfortable. She was wearing more clothing than all the other women combined. Women on the dance floor were already eyeing Draco greedily, Ginny noticed, but his face was buried in the back of her neck, and his hands were firmly on her hips, guiding them and keeping them pressed close together. She was tempted to shout a loud Too bad! He only has eyes for me! at her jealous onlookers.

The blinking lights made the movements of the other dances look like flashes of photographs. She suddenly felt freer and happier than she had in months. Her worries began to fade from her mind and she let herself be absorbed by Draco. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that his eyes were closed. His rhythm was impeccable -- just like everything else about him, she thought -- and Ginny loved the way he ground himself into her. It was violently and deliciously obscene, but she didn't care. The heat and the movements and Draco's hands stroking her body were going to send her over the edge.

His movements brought her mind back into the fantasy she'd had early, when they had been snogging in her living room. Draco moved his hips in perfect sync with the beat of the music. She couldn't help but wonder if he'd move them just as well if he were on top of her.

She'd bet her next paycheck that the Muggles wouldn't notice a bit of magic. One simple screening charm meant she and Draco could shag against the wall and no one would notice.

Just the thought of such a publicly private moment sent sparks between her thighs.

Just when she thought she might collapse on the dance Floor, Draco leaned close to her ear.

"Want another drink?"

She nodded and they weaved their way out of the crowds.

"You're amazing," he told her after placing their order. "Amazing."

Ginny lifted her hair off her neck and felt herself flush. The damp heat only made her skin flush even more as Draco's comment sank it. She picked up her glass and pressed it against her face. While Draco had always been attractive, even when he was at his worst, he had become the object of all her desires in the past week. It scared her. She was almost positive that she wasn't ready for a relationship of any sorts, despite the fact that neither she nor Draco had said anything about being official. It was too early for that.

She gulped down her drink. "Let's keep dancing."


**


"Ginny! Ginny are you home?"

Ginny sat up in her bed and looked around wildly. "Hello?"

Hermione appeared in her doorway with Hugo on her hip. "Are you feeling well?"

Ginny blinked and looked around, wondering what she was missing. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"You said you would watch Hugo today." Hermione stepped closer. "Are you ill?"

"Did you find her?" Ron's voice floated down the hall.

"Oh shit," Ginny rubbed her eyes. "I forgot." She stood to her feet and glanced at the clock. It was just past noon. "I'm fine. It was just a late night."

"Were you with Malfoy again?" Ron was now standing in her bedroom doorway.

"Do you mind?" Ginny muttered, pulling a robe over her t-shirt and shorts. She scooped Hugo up in her arms. "Are you ready to play with Auntie Ginny?"

"You went on a date with Malfoy?" Hermione sounded shocked.

"Yes," Ginny said casually, keeping her eyes on the baby. "Don't you two have to go?"

"It wasn't her first date with him," Ron said. "He sent her three bouquets of flowers on Monday."

Hermione sat down at the foot of Ginny's unmade queen sized bed. "Explain!"

Ginny laid Hugo on one side of her bed and slid back under the covers to cuddle with him. "We've just been on a few friendly dates. No big deal."

"I've seen him around you," she said. "He acts very ... interested."

"Interested in getting in her knickers!" Ron crossed the room and leaned against her bureau. "You know that, right? I mean, we've all heard about his wild parties."

"Ron--" Ginny began.

"Or is that all this is? The two of you just came to a mutual agreement about shagging?"

"If it was, it wouldn't bloody concern you!" she snapped.

"But he sent you flowers?" Hermione asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Ginny focused on her future sister in law. "He did."

"Three bouquets?"

She nodded. "Not just on Monday. Every day of the week. That's why I have all those flowers in the house." She motioned towards her bureau. "And there."

Ron jumped away and drew his wand as if the flowers were going to attack him.

"Don't you dare attack my flowers," she told her brother. "They can't fight back, but I can!"

"Those are amazing." Hermione admitted. "But why him?"

"He's fun," Ginny shrugged, running her finger across Hugo's stomach while he tried to grab his toes. "And I'm a grown witch. I can date whoever I like."

"It's going to end badly," Ron told her, his eyes dark as he shoved his wand back in his robes. "He's going to hurt you."

"Well, no one can top what Harry did, so that's all right, isn't it?" Ginny snapped. "Aren't you going to be late?"

She had forgotten that her brother and Hermione were going to a retirement party for another Auror Sunday afternoon. She had a fabulous time with Draco, dancing with him almost until the sun came up. The walked slowly back to her flat, laughing at the way Muggles were so dependant on their vehicles that they never seemed to notice the scenery around them. Once again he had kissed her at her doorstep, this time not just on the cheek, and then apparated away. While it made it quite simple to keep her promise, it was frustrating.

"Come on," Hermione said, standing to her feet.

Ron sulked out of Ginny's bedroom without a word.

"I hope you know what you're getting into," Hermione told her before following.

Ginny looked at Hugo, who was now trying to escape her bed. "I'm going to have to remember to tighten up the apparation wards here if Draco and I do ever get serious," she told him.

"I heard that," Ron yelled.

Ginny rolled her eyes as she heard the pop of their apparation.

She found her wand and cast a boundary spell around her bed so that Hugo couldn't escape. "Here." She opened her closet door and pulled out a ball and a toy kaleidoscope for the baby. "Play with these until I get out of the shower."

That afternoon, Ginny and Hugo fell asleep on the living room Floor, watching Muggle cartoons on her telly. She had been sleeping for almost an hour, when something woke her.

She sat up and looked around.

"Napping?" Draco's head was floating in green flames in her fireplace.

She grinned and rubbed her eyes. "I was."

"Who is that?" His eyes went towards Hugo.

"This is Hugo," she told him. "Hermione and Ron's son."

Draco eyed the baby. "Why aren't they married yet?"

"I don't have a clue," she laughed. "If you figure out the answer, my mum would really like to know!"

"How long will you be playing nanny?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "Come through. I'll make dinner."

A second later Draco was standing in her small living room, dusting his trousers off. "How'd that kid get so cute?"

"Not very nice," she scolded him.

When Ron and Hermione arrived to pick up Hugo, Ginny was using her wand to wash the last of the dinner dishes and Draco had Hugo in his lap, feeding him.

"What are you doing?" Ron panicked, causing everyone to jump as he dived for Hugo.

"Feeding this child," Draco answered calmly, turning his chair so that Ron thumped into the back of it. "Are you sure they didn't get babies mixed up at St. Mungos? Because this one is really adorable."

Hermione stood silently, her head tilted to the side.

"Oh shut it, Ron," Ginny said absently, putting the last plate away. "How was the party?"

Ron glared at Draco as he straightened up and dusted off his robes, looking as though he was trying very hard to resist reaching over and snatching Hugo from his arms. "Great."

"Are you hungry? Here comes the plane! Open your mouth! Zzzzzoooooom!" Draco was waving the silver spoon all around and making noises that were delighting Hugo.

Hugo clapped his chubby hands together and let his mouth hang open.

"Zooooom! Very good! Here comes another one!"

Hermione's eyes were wide, Ron's face was an explosive shade of red and Ginny could barely control her laughter.

"Can I get you some tea?" Ginny asked when she trusted herself enough to speak. "It might be a few minutes before Hugo's done eating."

Ron turned on his heel and Ginny could hear the telly come on in the living room. Draco glanced up and gave Ginny a wink.

"You're... good with kids," Hermione finally said, taking a seat at the table. "And I'll take some tea."

"Thanks." Draco flashed her a bright smile. "Ready Hugo? Here comes the airplane!"

Ginny pretended not to notice as Hermione tried to catch her eye.

"That was loads of fun," Draco told Ginny when they were alone. "Your brother's face, I wish I'd had my camera!"

"It was good," she admitted. She picked up her remote and stopped the DVD that had been playing.

"Thank you for dinner. Next time we can eat at my place. You haven't even been there yet." He leaned over and kissed her nose. "I don't cook, but my house elf does."

"Don't say house elf in front of Hermione," Ginny warned him. "She's still determined to gain 'rights' for house elves one of these days."

"I better go," Draco said, kissing her again. "Tomorrow's a brand new Monday."

Ginny made a face. "Don't remind me."

"See you in the morning." He stood to his feet and pulled her up. He let one hand run lightly across her cheek. "Everything about you makes me..."

"Makes you what?"

Instead of answering, Draco leaned down to kiss her. "See you tomorrow."

After he apparated away, Ginny sunk back down on the couch and tried to tell herself that this wasn't too good to be true.




**


"Let's do dinner at my place," Draco told her on Friday evening. "I want you to see it."

"Your dinner?" she teased.

"No," he answered. "My house."

"I can handle that," she said. "Where do you live anyways?"

"Wiltshire. Where we've always lived."

"Uh-huh," Ginny said.

He looked slightly put out. "The Malfoy Manor has been in the family for centuries!"

"Oh," shve shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. "Didn't one time, when the war was going on, didn't You-Know-Who have--"

"It's been completely renovated since then," Draco told her hastily. "I wouldn't live there otherwise. Father had the entire wing where he and his disgusting snake stayed destroyed and rebuilt from scratch."

Ginny shuddered at the memory of the Dark Lord's snake. "Isn't a manor kind of big for just one person?" she asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Yeah," he admitted. "It's big. But that's where we've always lived."

"Right."

"Come on," he took her by the arm. "We'll have to do side along apparition because of all the wards."

"What kind of wards?" she started to ask. Before she could even finish the sentence, she found herself in a large and elegant foyer. The tiles seemed to be made of marble, as did the columns lining the winding staircase. "Home sweet home?"

"Definitely," Draco grinned. "Come on, I'll give you a tour."

The tour lasted almost an hour, and Ginny was sure that when she'd kicked off her high heels somewhere in the house, they were forever lost.

"What do you do in here all day?" she demanded, falling onto a settee in the library. "Besides get your exercise."

"Oh all kinds of stuff," Draco said airily, sticking his nose up slightly. "I have to make the sure portraits hang straight, otherwise my relatives get quite cranky. And then I double check to see that the house elves keep everything clean. If I can't see my reflection in the floor tiles, I hate that. I order hair products and skin care products. I guess I forgot to show you the room where I store them. Oh! And then I plan for parties. See?" He grinned wickedly at Ginny. "Lots to do around here."

"Loads," she agreed. "But I would like to see that hair product room. I need proof before I lose that bet to Ron!"

"What bet?"

"The one about your hair products," she said seriously.

"All my products come from Italy. I have them brought in. I just haven't found any here that really work as well--" He stopped short as he noticed Ginny's silent laughter. "Very funny. You're a riot."

After they had eaten an excellent dinner - to which Ginny had asked "Do you always eat like this? Cause it's a wonder you aren't quite fat." - Draco pulled her into his den.

"I have something for you," he told her. "Sit, sit."

She complied, sitting on the large couch across from his ridiculously huge telly.

He dug through his desk for a moment before pulling out an envelope. "Okay. So, I got these the other day. One of them is for you."

Ginny took the envelope from his outstretched hand. "What is it?"

"Open it!"

She laughed at the enthusiasm on his face. "Okay, okay." She lifted the flap and pulled out two thick rectangles of paper. "These are… tickets! Ohmygod! Draco! Ohmygod! Thank you, thank you!"

In her hand, she held two box tickets to the following summer's Quidditch World Cup.

"Those tickets are for the Japanese Minister's box," he told her. "Best seats possible."

"Japan? I don't speak Japanese!" she panicked.

Draco began to laugh. "I think that's alright. We'll get by."

Ginny jumped to her feet and threw her arms around him. "I think I might have to keep you around."


**


Ginny had never looked so forward to going to work. As the fall days began to grow darker and colder, she spent all her free time with Draco, much to Ron's dismay. Her brother had even tattled on her to the family, as if she were still 15-years-old.

Going to work meant getting to spend even more time with Draco. Two or three days out of the work week, there would be something waiting for her at her desk. Some days it was luscious bouquets of exotic flowers, other days it would foreign chocolates, packaged in gold foils. Occasionally she found cards and once, there was a tiny replica of the Tower of London, which now stood on her desk.

That morning as she entered her cubicle, there was an envelope. Ginny eagerly slid it open. Inside was an invitation to Saint- Tropez.

"Couldn't even get your coat off before you opened it?" Draco teased.

Ginny whirled around to face him. "What's this?" She held up the invitation.

"An invitation," he answered wickedly. "If you see a gorgeous redhead around here, will you give it to her?"

"Of course." She frowned at him. "But…"

"I have to go put away our yacht for the winter. I thought we could make a weekend of it."

"Are you serious?" she demanded, finally remembering to remove her coat.

He nodded. "Have you ever been to the French Riviera?"

"No," she sighed dramatically. "I just haven't been able to fit it into my schedule!"

"Well, see if you can schedule it for this weekend," he laughed. "Maybe we can leave Friday morning."

On Friday morning, Ginny was up early. Draco would arrive at 8:00 so that they could Floo together and then spend the day on the yacht.

Pearsons had given Ginny a hard time about taking the day off, telling her in his joking manner that Mr. Malfoy better not become a bad influence on her.

A pop from the living room told her Draco had arrived at her flat.

"You look beautiful," he told her, kissing her. "I see I can apparate into your flat now."

"That's right," she answered, kissing him back.

"I supposed this means that you trust me and I should do the same for you?" he grinned.

"I suppose." She wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled up at him.

"I can't think of anyone else I would ever do that for," he told her, "but I already changed the wards. Last week."

Warmth bubbled up from Ginny's belly.

"Did you remember your bathing suit?"

"Of course I did," she answered, reluctantly stepping out of his embrace. She aimed her wand at her bags and shrunk them. "In fact, I didn't pack much of anything else."

"Good," Draco slid up behind her. "I don't really want you to wear much of anything else!" He leaned down and kissed her neck. "Are you excited?"

"Very," she mumbled, reaching behind her to slide her fingers in his hair. "I've never been on a yacht before."

"You'll love it," he said, his breath in her ear sending shivers down her spine. "It's like a hotel, but better."

"Better how?" she murmured, pressing herself back and into him.

"It's just you and me. Just us."

Ginny could feel sparks running over every inch of her skin. Finally. This would finally give them the perfect opportunity.

"We should go now." Draco's voice was rougher than normal. "I want you to enjoy every minute of this trip."

They Flooed together and arrived in the master bedroom of the ship. Despite the chilly air in London, Saint-Tropez was warm and colorful. The Mediterranean was the richest shade of blue Ginny had ever seen. The sun was rising in the sky, golden and full. It hit the buildings that lined the shore and made them glow.

"Well," Draco asked as she looked around. "What do you think?"

"It's amazing!" She turned her gaze from the coastline. "It's so pretty! And this yacht, it's huge!"

"It's almost 45 meters," he said. "There's only three that regularly dock here that are larger and they belong to some Muggle celebrities. But ours doesn't really need to be much larger - at least not on the outside."

"What do you mean?" She finally looked around the deck she was standing on. There was a bar and lounge area, a full sized pool with sunbathing chairs and a hot tub.

"Because it's magic," he laughed. "It's bigger than it looks. Come on, I'll give you the official tour."

Ginny followed him around the top deck, noting the look out posts, the Captain's cabin, and the large outdoor dining area. On the middle deck was a kitchen, an indoor dining area, four large guest suites, two odd looking contraptions that Draco called "jet skis", another bar, a dance Floor and a library. On the bottom deck was the master suite with its own private deck, a movie room and off the back was an area for fishing.

"It's enormous," Ginny finally told him. "Huge."

"We did lots of entertaining on it for a while," he told her. "But since my parents moved to the continent, we don't use it so much. It's too bad. It was fun."

"So we have all of this to ourselves?"

"We do," Draco confirmed. "Except for Bumpsie, the house elf. Well, yacht elf I guess."

"A house elf?" Ginny repeated.

He nodded. "Bumpsie!"

Instantly a smaller than normal house elf appeared before them, bowing low. She wore a white tea towel with a small, flowered pattern on it. Ginny thought she looked better dressed than most elves she'd seen.

"Can we get drinks? Something fruity."

"Oh yes, Master," she said squeakily.

"So what would you like to do?" Draco asked as his elf popped away. "We can go on shore today and leave port tonight. There's a lot of nice shopping, dining and beaches. Or we can stay here and head out to sea."

While shopping in Saint-Tropez did sound appealing, Ginny had a suspicious that she wouldn't fin much to fit in her budget. Besides, she didn't much want to share Draco's attention with anyone. "Aren't there nude beaches here?"

"Do you wanna go?" Draco looked slightly surprised.

Bumpsie reappeared with another soft pop, holding a large tray with six glasses on it. "I whips up a variety of Master's favorite drinks, I did. Please chooses what you will like."

Draco grinned at the little elf and plucked two glasses from the tray. The elf disappeared again with a small pop.

"No," she wiggled her eyebrows as they climbed back up to the top deck, drinks in hand. "I can be nude here if I want to."

"So true," Draco murmured as he grabbed her and pulled her close. "We can do whatever we want here. So, we set sail?"

"Set sail," Ginny confirmed, her arms wrapped around Draco.


**


Late that night, Ginny lay awake in the colossal bed that sat on a raised platform. Draco was sleeping beside her, snoring every so lightly.

She and Draco had spent the entire day laying side by side in the sun, drinking, talking and occasionally jumping off the boat for a swim. After dinner, they watched the sun set and then another boat's fireworks from off the deck. They had stayed up into the wee hours of the night talking and drinking and flirting.

But when they had settled in for bed, Draco had kissed her, pulled her closer and then fallen asleep.

Maybe he thought I was drunk, Ginny tried to rationalize his behavior. Maybe he has a small package and he's embarrassed.

She highly doubted that. Draco had worn the smallest pair of bathing shorts she'd ever seen a man wear. They weren't Speedo like, thankfully, because Ginny didn't think she could recover from laughing if they were. Instead they were small and tight and looked positively amazing on his perfect body. He was pale like Ginny but there were no freckles. She couldn't help staring at the way his tight stomach narrowed down to a V shape. She knew if she could just convince him to lose his shorts she could see exactly what that V shape was leading to. His shorts left little to the imagination, but Ginny didn't want to have any imagination involved. She wanted to see.

Or maybe he's a virgin. Ginny fell asleep still laughing over her thought.

Saturday was spent in the same wonderfully lazy fashion. When Draco finally asked her if she was ever going to sunbathe nude, she silently rejoiced. It wasn't that she was only seeing him for the sex - not even possible since she hadn't gotten any - but a girl needed release once in a while, she had decided.

"I don't know," she asked coyly. "Are you going to help me untie my bikini?"

It was practically a miracle that they had slept in the same bed and still not managed to see each other fully naked. Draco had been up and dressed when she finally woke, bringing her breakfast in bed.

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his lap, his arms pressing into her bare stomach. "Yes I am." His voice was almost a growl, and despite the warm Mediterranean sun overhead, Ginny shivered.

She felt his fingers fumble for a moment with the knot at her neck and then it was undone. She didn't move as her top just hung there and Draco worked on the knot at her back. She felt the change in pressure as it came undone. His hands moved forward, taking the bikini top with them.

The gentle breeze and warm sun were foreign to her bare chest, and she remained frozen, unsure of what to do. Then Draco pulled her back further, until she was settled right between his legs, her naked back pressed into his chest. She felt his mouth move down to her neck and his hands wasted no time moving forward and cupping her breasts.

"I've wanted this for so long," Draco muttered, his voice buried in her skin.

Ginny couldn't agree more. She let her head fall back and prepared to strip him of his impossibly small swimming shorts.

His fingers navigated the smooth surface of her breasts, his fingers tugging at her nipples.

The fire between Ginny's legs was too much to bear. She turned over and straddled Draco, kissing him with more fire than she'd felt in years. Draco pulled her closer, kissing his way down her neck, to her chest and finally to her breasts. She couldn't stop the tiny moans that were escaping her lips as her hands busily tried to get down the front of his shorts.

"Ginny, Ginny," Draco groaned. "Oh gods."

She nearly cried when her fingers finally wrapped completely around his package. She gripped it firmly, relishing the feeling of having it in her possession for the first time. It was wonderfully smooth and felt perfectly round and long and --

"We can't, I mean, I just want to make sure that everything is perfect, when we…" Draco trailed off. "Just not here. Or now."

Ginny was thankful she wasn't too prone to crying because it took all her strength to keep from bursting into tears. "Um, okay."

"It's not you," he tried to assure her, gently removing her hand from his shorts. "I just want things to be perfect for our first time."

Ginny would have loved to run right back to the bedroom or maybe even apparate home, but Draco still held her body firmly in place.

"I mean it."

While Ginny could come up with no other explanation, she didn't believe him. But Draco held her in his lap, refusing to give her bikini top back.

"We should really get to know each other first," he was saying. "I want everything to work out."

Ginny tuned him out. He just wasn't sexually attracted to her, she decided.

But that night, after another round of heavy snogging and petting, she couldn't figure out what the deal was. Maybe that's why he can't keep a girlfriend, she wondered. He's just not into the actual sex thing.

When Draco fell asleep, Ginny lay miserably beside him. She was horny. Explosively horny. She wished she'd remembered to pack her vibrator. She considered stunning him and then just having her way with him. Would that be considered rape, she wondered. How embarrassing to be on trial for raping Draco Malfoy.


***


"Ginny! Are you home?"

Ginny stepped into her living room and found her mother's face in the flames. "Hey mum."

"Where have you been?"

"What do you mean?" She was not about to confess the details of her vacation.

"We had a dinner here Friday night and Hermione said you weren't at work. Are you feeling well?" Molly's round face didn't display the same concern that was in her voice.

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Ron told you something, I'm sure."

"Well, I told him to invite you to dinner and he didn't see you at work and then your Floo was shut off so he asked Pearsons and he said you and that Malfoy had taken a holiday!"

Ginny made a mental note not to give Pearsons any details. "Draco and I went to Saint-Tropez for the weekend," she admitted. "I just got back about an hour ago. His family has a boat down there."

"Saint-Tropez?" Molly managed to look envious and put out at the same time. "Do you really think it's… proper to be going on holiday's with him?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Ginny sat down cross-legged on the floor.

"Well, you're not married."

"Mum! First, I lived with Harry for more than three years and no one complained! And second I'm 24! I can do these things."

Despite only seeing her head, Ginny could tell that her mum was crossing her arms. "Fine. If the two of you have that sort of relationship-"

"What sort of relationship did you think we had?" Ginny interrupted suspiciously. She was going to give Ron a pounding.

"Then you can bring him to dinner next weekend," Molly continued. "Okay?"

"Who all is coming?"

"The family."

"Absolutely not."

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I can't invite a someone to meet the entire family at one time," she said lamely.

"He knows most of them, doesn't he?"

Ginny resisted the urge to pout. "Alright, alright. I'll talk to him about it. But everyone has to promise to be on their best behavior!"

Molly looked pleased. "Saturday afternoon then."


***


Draco had been surprisingly agreeable when she'd casually mentioned that her mum had invited him to the family dinner.

"Really?" he nodded. "Okay. I think one time I heard Boy Wonder saying your mum was a good cook."

Ginny's eyebrows shot up. "It won't just be my mum and dad. It'll be everyone. Percy and Audrey and Molly and Lucy. Charlie. Bill and Fleur and their baby, Victoire. George and Angelina and their army of children. Ron and Hermione and Hugo. And of course, Harry will probably be there. That's… twenty-one people, not including me and you!"

"Do you not want to go?" Draco asked.

She shrugged. "I mean, I always go."

"Then, you don't want me to go?" His large grin made Ginny scowl.

"Okay then, if you're up to it, we'll go."

The Burrow's apparation point was just outside the front gate. Ginny looked at her childhood home nervously. "You really want to do this?"

"Yes, I told you. What are you so worried about?"

"Don't eat anything George gives you," Ginny warned. "It's probably from the joke shop. Try to ignore Ron. My father likes Muggle things. Eat everything mum gives you. Percy's kids are a bit snobby, so maybe you'll get along well with them, but Victoire is --"

"I am not a snob," Draco declared, sticking his nose in the air. "I just know for a fact that I'm better than everyone else."

"Anyways," Ginny swatted at him, "Victoire is really attached to Fleur. She won't let anyone else hold her."

"I'll be fine," Draco told her. "You worry too much."

They went through the front door as Molly was placing the last dish on the magically enlarged table. "Ginny, love, be a dear and shut the oven door. And you must be Draco."

Molly took off her potholders and held out her hand.

"Yes ma'am," Draco shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Ginny grinned from behind her mum as she closed the oven door.

"Where ees the baby bag?" Fleur came charging in the kitchen. "One of those cheeldreen has heed eet again."

"I hung it in the entrance hall," Molly told her calmly.

"Draco," Fleur began to gush. "I haven't seen you een far too long!"

Ginny appreciated how uncomfortable he looked as she hugged him.

"How ees Narcissa? And your father? We do not keep een touch enough, no? We family meembers must remeember to keep een touch more, no?"

His answer was lost as several of Ginny's older nieces and nephews came running in the kitchen. "Go get your parents," Molly told them. "It's time to eat."

In the rush of redheaded people clamoring to get seats at the table, Draco's presence went unnoticed until all the plates were full.

"Oh, Draco," Hermione spoke up, as though it had just occurred who she was sitting next to.

"Hi," he answered calmly, using her distracted moment to reach over and pluck Hugo from her arms.

"Let go of my son," Ron snapped.

"Ronald!" Molly said. "Mind yourself."

Ginny told Draco the name of every person at the table and was pleased as he calmly answered, "Nice to meet you" and called her dad "Sir."

Draco ate seconds and even thirds at Molly's request, fed Hugo (while smirking at Ron behind Molly's back), made small talk with Arthur about Muggle things and completely ignored Harry. Ginny felt relieve slowly begin to chip away at her anxieties. There was just too much going on for anyone to have to pay strict attention to Draco.

"How about a Quidditch match up?" Bill called as the last of the desserts were being eaten.

"Well, we do have a former professional Quidditch player in our presence," George grinned widely. "Can we handle it?"

Ginny scowled at her brothers. "Don't be such wankers. I never made rude comments about who you brought home!" She was pleased to see the pinched expression on Fleur's face.

Angelina laughed. "She's right you know."

"I'll help with the dishes," Hermione volunteered.

"As weell I," Fleur said. "And watch the babies."

When Ginny and Draco had wrapped up and cast warming spells on themselves they went outside. Ginny's mouth fell open as she saw Ron examining his own broom.

"You brought your own broom?" she demanded. "Why? Don't we always just use the old ones?"

"Why not?" he shrugged.

Ginny looked around and saw that Bill and Charlie wore slightly guilty expressions. "All of you did? Ron, this smells like you!"

"So? We brought our brooms. So what?" He narrowed his eyes and faced Draco. "Are you afraid to fly without your expensive broom?"

"My broom is far more expensive that what you can afford," Draco answered, "but I'll still kick your arse without it."

Ginny tightened her lips and placed her hands on her hips. "I call team captain."

"Fine," said Charlie, stepping between the siblings. "Pick your team."

"Draco, you, and Angelina." She threw a look at Ron.

"Okay," Charlie agreed. "Ron, you take Harry, Bill and George."

"Don't I get a say in this?" George demanded.

"No!" Ginny snapped. "You brought your own broom too!"

"So did they," he protested.

"Come on," Charlie said, mounting his broom. "The sun's going to set soon."

"Since there's four on each team," Ginny told her boyfriend, "we have one of each player. Charlie is the seeker, Angelina you be chaser and Draco you play keeper. I'll be the beater."

Draco looked at her oddly, and Ginny knew that his preferred position was seeker. Charlie however, was excellent at seeking and nothing else. "Okay," he agreed, mounting his broom.

"Let's go," Ron shouted from the air above their heads.

Bill released the balls and there was a moment of chaos.

"There's the snitch, grab it Harry!"

"Watch out Angelina, careful!"

"Hey Malfoy, better keep your eyes open!"

"Bill, duck!"

Ginny rode the old broom carefully, relying more on her skills and less on the broom to play. She held her bat tightly and kept George's well aimed blows from hitting any of her teammates. Draco, she noticed, was doing a splendid job of keeping nearly every single Quaffle out of the makeshift goals, despite Ron's shouts.

"Hey Malfoy, why aren't you still playing professionally? Is it true you were kicked off your team? I guess money can't buy you everything."

Ginny sent her Bludger at Ron as Draco shouted, "It could have purchased better manners for you!"

"Ginny, what are you doing? You can't threaten the keeper! Get away," Ron squawked, ducking.

"Watch it," she hissed as she flew past him, determined to keep the other Bludger from hitting Charlie.

The game progressed with a score of 20 to 20 and no snitch in sight. Despite her warming charm, Ginny was getting cold, but there was no way she would consider letting Draco stay out here without her.

"Malfoy, you're a miserable keeper," Ron shouted across the pitch as the Quaffle narrowly missed the goals. "I guess your dad couldn't buy you the skills you needed to be a better player. Or keep you on your team, could he?"

Ginny jerked her broom so hard she nearly fell off, but managed to get turned around. She didn't fly directly at her brother, but made a wide loop so he wouldn't see her coming up behind him.

"I made it professional though, didn't I?" Draco shouted back.

"There's some things in life you've just got to have the skills for," Ron was still shouting.

Later, Ginny would tell Draco what a great job he did keeping his comments not all together cruel and he would admit it was only because he was completely outnumbered, but he had been tempted to hum 'Weasley is our King.'

Ginny lifted her club, took careful aim at the Bludger and set it flying for Ron's back.

"Watch out!" Harry tried shouting.

Ron went sprawling forward, his nose making contact with the broom handle before falling off. He hung in midair, blood flowing from his nose.

"Damn it, Ginny," he shouted. "That's a penalty, a foul! That's illegal." His fingers were slipping from the broom.

She supposed she should feel bad, but laughed as Ron fell the thirty feet to the ground still shouting.

Charlie was the first to land beside him. "Are you okay? Did you break anything?"

"Only my nose," he said, struggling to his feet. "And maybe my back from that damned ball!"

"I caught the snitch." Charlie held out his hand. He clapped Ginny on the back as she landed beside him. "Good job distracting Harry."

"Don't tell her that," Ron said, offended.

"You kind of deserved it," George offered, pulling Ron all the way up. "Bit rude to our guest, you were."

"Our guest?" he asked, wiping blood from his nose. "It's just Malfoy."

"I might be your brother-in-law one day," Draco said smugly as he landed. "So watch out."

"Over my dead body," Ron muttered.

"Shut it Ron," Ginny told him. "Don't be a sore loser. Go have Hermione heal you."

Ron cast her a murderous look before limping off across the yard between George and Angelina. Harry stood still, quietly watching her and Draco.

"I think I've had enough fun for one night," Draco said finally. "Maybe I should go."

Relief washed over Ginny. "Great idea. Let's go say bye and we'll get out of here."

"It really wasn't that bad," Draco told her later, when they were back at his manor. "I swear."

"Ron is a right git," she huffed. "Some days I think he's getting better, and then no! He goes and pulls this."

Draco shrugged. "I don't care. But I do have to tell you, your family is huge. Huge."

"I know," she grinned in spite of herself, dropping down on to one of the large couches in the not-quite-as-formal-as-the-formal living room.

Draco leaned in to kiss her. "But I suppose I've got to deal with them, don't I, if I want to be with you?"

"I suppose," Ginny murmured, pulling him close and wrapping her arms around his back.


***


Before she knew it, fall had disintegrated into full-blown winter. Ginny wore scarves wrapped tightly, gloves and heavy cloaks. She began apparating directly into the Ministry's foyer. Work had become more and more hectic, and in early November, the Minister had finally resigned, after one of his mistresses announced her pregnancy. The current contingent Minister was none other than Oliver Wood Sr., and Ginny adored him. He made her job simple -- no scandals, no deep dark secrets, and best off all, he had told Ginny that if the position became his permanently, he would like to move her into his office.

"Isn't that great?" she told Draco, hurriedly unwrapping her scarf and pulling off her gloves. "Do you think it would mean a raise?"

"It better," he grinned, leaning down to kiss her. "You're still wearing that pink scarf."

"It's my favorite." She kissed him on the chin and hung the scarf on a small hook in her cubicle.

"Don't you know redheads shouldn't wear pink?"

"Are you saying I look bad in it?"

"No," he admitted. "You would just look better in green."

"You're just partial to green." Draco wore his old house colors more often than not.

"Hey Ginny!"

She leaned over Draco's shoulder and saw Ron hurrying in.

"Oh, the Ferret!" he frowned.

"Hello to you too, Weasel," Draco said calmly. "How's Hugo?"

"I need to talk to you about something," Ron ignored his question. "It's major."

"Okay," she sighed, leaning against her desk. "What is it?"

"It's private!" He cast a dark look at Draco.

"See you at lunch." Draco pulled Ginny into a kiss. "Bye Weasel."

She watched him leave the office with a smile on her face. She couldn't help but think how gorgeous her boyfriend was. She tried to keep it out of her mind, but she couldn't help but worry when Draco had still made no attempt to sleep with her.

The past three months had been more than wonderful, but Ginny wasn't sure how long she could last in a relationship without sex. After Harry she'd had two almost immediate one night stands and then decided to wait for something at least slightly more secure.

She was almost certain that she and Draco were secure enough to be sleeping together. Having to dig out her purple vibrator every time he left was no longer doing the job. Not even the smiley face on the head of the vibrator helped anymore. Having sex by herself wasn't so fulfilling, when what she wanted was Draco's warm and smooth body.

In fact, it had become near hell to have to get the damned vibrator out after he had left. She was almost disgusted with the hard rubbery penis, when Draco's live, throbbing one had been so close by moments before.

"Hello! Ginny!" Ron was waving his hand in her face.

"Oh. Sorry." Her nostril's flared in disgust as she realized she had been thinking about her vibrator while her brother stood in the same vicinity.

"Look," he glanced around to make sure he wasn't overheard. "I need to know the honest to Merlin truth about why you and Harry broke up."

"No," she said firmly. "It's none of your business."

"Gin, he's been acting really, really odd. At first I thought he was seeing Pansy Parkinson because he kept sending flowers and sweets to her address, but now I don't think it's her." Ron's eyebrows were knit with worry.

Ginny bit her lip guiltily. She had promised Harry she wouldn't tell, but it wasn't like he could keep it a secret forever. Plus, she reminded herself. He was cheating on me! Cheating! And it was obvious Ron was worried. "He cheated on me," she said quietly. "I caught him. It was bad."

"Cheated on you?" Ron thumped his fist on her desk. "Damn him! And after eight years? I should give him a good pounding."

"I guess I just turned out not to be... his type."

Ron glanced up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, who do you think he's sending the sweets to?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Hermione saw Pansy the other day and asked about Harry and Pansy laughed. She's engaged to Blaise Zabini."

"Does Pansy have a roommate?" Ginny prodded. She just couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"No," he shook his red head. His hair was getting longer; it fell past his ears and Ginny wondered if he was going bald already. She hoped not. "She lives with her older brother right now."

"Okay..."

"He's just been so secretive. He never wants to come over anymore, he's always tired at work and looks like he didn't get any sleep. I started noticing it back when he dropped out of the Auror race. I mean, I know he wanted it. He wanted to be in the spotlight. He told me that he wished I wasn't running! And then bam! He doesn't want to be noticed anymore."

"Ron. Think about it."

"I don't know," her brother said, sitting down in her chair.

Ginny turned to look at him. "I think you do know. You just don't want to admit it."

"I really don't."

"Come on! Don't be so thick! I'm not saying that he's seeing this person, but I think once I did hear that Pansy's older brother was gay." There. Even Ron couldn't miss that.

"Gay? Pansy's brother? I met him once at a Quidditch game."

"Gay people can attend Quidditch games. Even play them." She shook her head at Ron. "Got it now?"

His face was no longer flushed with worry. He was so pale his red freckles stood out like fresh paint. "Who did you catch Harry cheating on you with?"

"Malcolm Flint," she said softly.

"Oh gods. Oh Merlin. Harry is ponce?"

"Don't say that," she hissed at him. "He's still your best mate!"

"How can you defend him?" The redness was returning to Ron's cheeks.

"I don't know," she said softly. It had been hard, extremely hard. For the last year of their relationship, Harry and Ginny had separate bedrooms. They both knew it was over, but neither was willing to make the change. Not until the day Ginny took a holiday from work without bothering to tell Harry. By that point she thought they had been trying to work things out, so it was beyond painful to see the person she'd always assumed she'd marry wrapped around Malcolm, both sound asleep.

It didn't bother her much anymore, not since she had been seeing Draco. In fact, she was almost able to wish him well. Almost.

Even though she knew it wasn't true - or possible - there was the nagging fear in the back of her mind that she had somehow 'turned' Harry gay. It was stupid and she knew it, but the thought was still there.

It didn't help that she and Draco hadn't slept together. She was beginning to wonder if he had never been in a long-term relationship because the other witches couldn't handle the lack of intimacy.

The nagging, stupid fear in her mind wondered if Draco was not interested in her sexually. That would be tough to believe. She could feel his erections whenever they kissed for more than a minute or when they danced and always when they fooled around. It was getting to the point where she was considering stunning him and removing his boxers. She wanted to see what was underneath them. Feeling was no longer good enough.

But the thought of being brought before the Wizengamot on charges of raping Draco Malfoy were less than appealing.

Ron ran his hands through his hair and stood. "I guess that explains things. I'm going to go talk to him. Tell him I figured it out."

"I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone," Ginny said, sitting down.

"I won't say anything about you."

Ron left and Ginny stared at her cubicle walls, waving at Hugo as he rolled around in his latest picture. She liked the Muggle picture that hung there as well. She and Draco had stumbled on a Muggle fair and ended up in a small booth and received a strip of four small pictures. They were smiling in the first one, kissing in the second and third, and making silly faces in the last picture. It was so odd that none of the four small pictures moved. They were completely frozen in time.

"I have to go to Portugal," Draco told her as they ate lunch together. "For three days!"

"Portugal?" Ginny asked, her insides getting cold, recalling his words on their first date. "Why?"

He frowned at his soup. "Smitherson was supposed to be going, but he claims that he has a case of the Mooncap Mumps. I don't really believe him. So I have to leave in the morning!"

Ginny watched him lift his spoon to his lips. She noticed the fierce shape of his cheekbones and the fullness of his mouth. She had spent the morning feeling worse and worse over the fact that they hadn't even discussed taking their relationship to the next level. She tried to convince herself that it was fine. They had been having wonderful dates filled with exotic foods, pretending to be Muggles and taking tours that visitors usually took, dancing, even attending a few Muggle movies.

Now, she was uncertain again. Why would Draco Malfoy bother with her in the first place? She still hadn't met his family. He said that his parents were on an extended holiday in Australia, but suddenly she didn't know if she believed him.

"Oh. Sounds fun." She forced a smile onto her face.

"Not really." He looked up. "You feeling okay?"

"I just, Ron, you know, this morning."

"Right," he grinned. "That private conversation?"

"It was nothing," she waved her hand.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me." He pushed his bowl away. "I'm going to go home and pack this evening, but--"

"I'll be at the Burrow anyways," Ginny interrupted, telling a quick lie. "I promised mum I'd help her get a start on some of the holiday preparations." She didn't want to hear an excuse as to why he couldn't see her before he left. She could feel the cold realization spread through her skin. It was over.

After lunch, Ginny couldn't work. She stared at her desktop, blinking rapidly to keep from crying. Finally she told Pearsons that she felt ill and apparated home. Once home, she looked around her small flat and could only think of Draco and all the places he had sat and stood and touched.

Ginny turned off her Floo, sent an owl to work saying she'd be out for the rest of the week and threw herself into bed.

When she finally emerged back into the world it was Saturday. She scowled at the winter sun that was streaming brightly through the window. She knew that Draco would be coming home tomorrow, if he had actually left in the first place, and she was determined to symbolically ride him from her flat.

She found an old box and began gathering all the things he had given her. She was interrupted by a knocking at her door.

Odd, she thought. No one ever knocked.

She flung the door open to find Draco staring at her. "Are you okay?" he demanded. "What the hell?"

She blinked. He looked rather disheveled and as though he hadn't slept all night. "What are you doing here?"

"Why is your Floo off? Why haven't you been at work?" He stepped in and looked around. "What are you doing?"

Suddenly Ginny felt stupid. "I, um, I don't know."

"What's going on?"

"I thought you were… lying. That you didn't have to…" she said quietly, feeling flames of mortification heat up her face. "Did you really go to Portugal?"

"Of course! I cut it short to come find out why you weren't answering me. Why would I lie to you?" he asked sharply.

"You said… you were going and it was so sudden and I was beginning to think you weren't interested in me anymore. You told me once, that's what you told your dates when you grew tired of them."

Draco shook his messy blond head. "Are you mad? You're not just a date anymore. I kind of thought you were my girlfriend!"

"Why haven't we slept together?" she asked, losing her reservations and staring up at him. "You haven't even tried!"

Draco stared at her. "What? It's been three months! I've been trying to be respectful! Of course I wanted to! Every time I see you I want to throw you down and shag you till you can't walk!" He stepped closer to her. "Is that all?"

Ginny dropped down onto her couch and buried her face in her hands. "Oh gods."

"Did you only want to sleep with me?" he asked, his voice lower.

"No! I mean, I do, but that's not all. Not only. Bugger, I'm an idiot."

"What did your brother say to you that day? Is that why you started all this?"

She shook her head. "No, he was asking about Harry."

"Is this about Potter then?"

"No! I just jumped to conclusions, I guess."

"I don't understand." Draco folded his arms over his rumpled shirt.

"When Ron came and wanted to know about Harry, I started wondering why you and I hadn't... and then I wondered if it's me, and maybe I'm just not the kind of person anyone wants to sleep with, and then--"

"You're a bloody nutter!" Draco exploded. "I spend all my free time with you. I want you to meet my parents as soon as they return! I think I might even want to have a little family with you one of these days!"

Ginny's eyes grew round at the thought of what were sure to be pink haired babies. "I'm sorry."

"You thought because Potter was gay and I wasn't trying to shag you senseless that maybe I was too, didn't you?"

"No. Well, I didn't really think you were gay. How'd you know about Harry?"

He let out a huff of disgust. "What is it that you want Ginny? I already told you, I've been in love with you from the moment I saw you at the Ministry. I've been pissed off for three years, thinking that I had been banned from Quidditch and for what? Then I saw you, and I knew that being there was a good thing. And suddenly you think I'm lying to you and I don't care. If I didn't care I would have shagged you on our first date!"

"I was with him for almost eight years," she said quietly. "And then, you're you! You are Draco Malfoy and it's not like my family has a pleasant history with yours! I never could figure out what it was you wanted from me."

"It never occurred to you that maybe I'm just a normal, red-blooded wizard who fell for you?" he asked dryly. He walked across the room and looked in the box she had started packing. "So this is how it's going to be?"

She shook her head quickly. "No!"

"I don't know what you want. Do you still want Potter? You want that white picket fence and all those shiny things and a bunch of little Potter babies running around?"

"I don't want him."

"You deserve so much more than that!" He was yelling. "I'm not saying that I'm what you deserve, but I would gladly spend every single day of my life trying to give you everything you ever wanted. But that's not good enough for you, is it? Maybe one of these days you'll figure out what you want and then you can find someone who makes you happy."

Identical red splotches had appeared on his cheeks and his lips were drawn tightly together.

"This was for you." He took a package out of his pocket, pointed his wand at it and unshrunk it.

"Draco, I-"

"See you, Weasley," he said, opening the door.

As it slammed behind him, Ginny jumped. She braced her face between her hands and began to cry. She had really fucked things up.


***


"Draco's not coming?" her mum asked as Ginny helped peel potatoes by hand. "Last time I saw him he said his parents would be on holiday still."

Ginny cringed. It had been two weeks since the horrid explosion at her flat. "No mum, he's not."

She pretended as though she didn't see Hermione's sympathetic glances. "Can I help you with the potatoes, Ginny?" she asked.

"I've got them." Peeling by hand gave her something to concentrate on. Something that wasn't Draco. Seeing him at work had been even more horrid than the day he'd walked out of her flat. He completely ignored her. Pretended she wasn't there. Pretended not to hear him when she started to apologize to her. Sent her paper planes back unopened. The one time he did look at her, it was with such coldness in his eyes, Ginny shivered.

"What happened?" her mum asked softly.

"We had a misunderstanding," she answered, jumping as her knife slipped and scraped her finger. "Ow, shite." She stuck her finger in her mouth.

"That's too bad," Molly mused, looking as though she were trying not to reprimand Ginny for swearing. "He's no Harry, but he really did seem to be infatuated with you. I've never seen someone so eager to play Quidditch with your brothers. Not that I ever thought I'd see the day a Malfoy would want to play with them." Her mum leaned over and lifted a pie from the oven. "Give it some time and then you can talk to him."

Ginny doubted it. She knew that any day now, his picture would turn up in the tabloids again, no doubt romping around with some bint. And why not? With his good looks and cocky charm and the way he could dance, it was inevitable. The fact that he was rich didn't hurt either. There was bound to be some girl who wasn't as stupid as she was to catch his eye.

"Whose scarf is this?"

Ginny turned to see Angelina in the doorway of the kitchen holding Ginny's long green scarf in her hand, her present from Draco. "It's mine."

"It's amazing. I love it. Just beautiful," she told Ginny. "Where did you get it?"

"It was a gift," Ginny told her sister-in-law, attempting to keep her voice steady. "I'm not sure. The tag says it was made in Portugal though."

"It looks expensive," she commented. "Nice gift!"

"Thanks," she put on a wobbly smile. "It probably was."

Hermione followed Angelina out of the kitchen and left Ginny alone with her mum.

"Do you want to talk about it dear?"

"No."

"Maybe you'll feel better when you eat."

"Maybe." She doubted it.

"Why don't you go outside then?" Molly suggested, pointing her wand at the potatoes. "Some of the kids are out there."

"I'd rather do this." But it was too late. Molly already had the spuds peeling themselves. "Alright. Thanks mum."

Instead of going outside, she stepped around the babies and toddlers in the living room and wandered up the stairs to her old bedroom. It was still far too pink to be soothing. She smiled half-heartedly at her posters of The Weird Sisters and Gwenog Jones.

Her old pink and white quilt was spread over her twin bed as though she had only made it this morning. She sat down on it and admired how handy her mum was. She could only find two patches and she knew there were more. She looked at her small white desk, still covered with dusty school books, a rotting quill and a bottle of dried up ink.

She lay down on her bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. She missed Draco so much the pain was physical. Being scared, lacking confidence had never done anyone any good. She had lost Draco. She shut her eyes as tears began to escape.

"You in there?" There was a gentle knocking at the closed door.

She considered not answering Harry, but she knew he'd try and find the door unlocked. "Yeah."

He opened the door, took one look at her and shook his head. "What exactly happened?" He shut the door behind him and then sat down on the foot of her childhood bed.

She tried unsuccessfully to blink the tears out of her eyes. "I'm a sodding idiot, that's what happened."

"I'll listen, if you want to talk about it," he said awkwardly.

She gave a sigh, sat up and related the story to Harry.

"Malfoy is definitely not gay," Harry informed her when she was through.

"Well, I know that!" she said. "I just had a moment of panic that turned into a few days of panic that became a disaster."

Harry patted her ineptly on the back.

"He knew you were," she sniffed. "I didn't tell him though."

"Oh, that." Harry flushed slightly. "That was my fault."

Ginny glanced at him and rubbed her eyes.

"When Malcolm and I quit... seeing each other, I was at a pub feeling sorry for myself. Malfoy was there, but I didn't notice him until I was good sloshed. He came over and said he wanted to talk to me about the Head Auror race. He wanted to know why I was running against my best friend. At the time I didn't think that was weird, I was too piss drunk. Instead I asked him why he was trying to be a campaign manager for your brother then I proceeded to hit on him." Harry gave her a sheepish smile. "He declined and proceeded to tell me that he was more than overjoyed you had left me. Said he'd been wanting you ever since you started at the Ministry, but you wouldn't give him the time of day."

Ginny wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry.

"Malfoy suggested that I should drop out of the race. Something about he would be happy and I could stay in the closet."

Ginny blinked. "You're serious? He was the one you talked to? He black mailed you?"

"Not so much black mailed," Harry answered, the dreaminess in his voice making Ginny squirm. "He can charm the knickers off anyone."

"Ew," Ginny shifted nervously. "Don't say that about Draco! I like it better when you sound… like yourself."

"Just saying. You're a lucky witch. And I'm sorry I didn't go about telling you in the proper manner. Ron knows now."

"How'd that go?" Ginny asked glumly.

Harry shrugged. "Seems to be okay. He said he was just glad I wasn't flaming."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Ron. Bless him."

"Right," he nodded with a smile. "One day he'll figure out that everything is just black and white."

"We had a bet," she told him sadly, not sure if she was ready to forgive Harry. "If you won he would quit asking me to dinner and if Ron won I would go to dinner with him."

Harry raised an eyebrow and smiled. "No faith in Ron?"

"Not so much," she admitted.

"I asked him once," Harry continued, "how the date went, and he proceeded to tell me in his most obnoxious voice that he was completely in love with you and he couldn't be happier that I was gay. That must have been why he wanted to help Ron out. He really, really wanted you, Ginny."

"I don't think he's so in love with me now," she mumbled.

Harry looked at her sharply. "This was less than a month ago."

Ginny stayed in her old bedroom for a long time, deciding what to do. Finally she came downstairs and played on the floor with some of her nieces and nephews. It wasn't until her mum had gathered everyone in the kitchen for Christmas Eve dinner that Ginny crept into the foyer and wrapped herself in her gloves, scarf and coat. She opened the door and carefully pulled it closed behind her. Then she took a deep breath and apparated away.

When Ginny landed outside the tall gates of Malfoy Manor, she wondered if Draco had reset the wards against her yet. She had been too afraid to try and apparate directly into the foyer. She wrapped her warm scarf tighter as snow flakes fell in her hair.

You can go home, she told herself.

But she wouldn't. She had to get to the bottom of this mess, even if it meant Draco never ever wanted to see her again. Then at least she would know for sure.

Slowly, she reached for the gates, relieved when she discovered that she could push them open. She walked up the long drive, admiring the Christmas decorations that surrounded the Manor. The elves had done an excellent job.

Suddenly it occurred to Ginny that Draco might not be alone. His parents could have come back for the Holidays, or worse, he could have found some other witch to keep him company. She glanced at the heavy double door ahead of her. She had to know.

Ginny swore she felt an eternity pass as she climbed the steps and lifted the knocker. She could hear the boom of the knocker echo through the house.

The door opened almost instantly and one of the house elves stood before her.

"Hello," she said nervously. "I was hoping to see Draco tonight."

"Mays I get your names for Master Draco?" the elf asked.

"Ginny," she said quietly.

"Please wait here." The elf stepped aside and allowed Ginny into the warmth of the foyer. Near the foot of the stairs, a huge Christmas tree sparkled. Twinkling lights made their way up the banisters.

The elf disappeared with a small pop and Ginny was left alone. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her coat, feeling the small present she had purchased for Draco a month before. She was going to give it to him, no matter what the outcome of the night was.

She heard a noise and lifted her head to see Draco at the top of the stairs, looking down at her.

"What do you want?" he demanded, his brow pulled into a sharp frown.

"Just to talk to you," she answered softly. Looking at him took her breath away. He was as beautiful as ever, but this time his expression was as hard as the marble columns that surrounded him.

"So talk."

She brushed her hair aside nervously. "I honestly thought you were through with me," she admitted. "I just got scared."

"Anything else."

She wanted to yell at him, to tell him to stop being such a stuck up prick and to get his arse down there and face her like a man. Instead she shrugged. "I brought your Christmas present. I bought it a while back and I still want you to have it."

"I don't want it." Twin spots of red were growing on his cheeks.

She took it out of her pocket and laid it on the tall table. "Do what you want with it." She glanced up at him. "I wanted to apologize. I don't want things to end on misunderstood, bad terms. But I can see that you've got your mind made up, so I'll leave. Have a happy Christmas."

Ginny held her head high as she turned for the door. She could cry when she was alone.

The house elf reappeared and held the door open for her. She wanted to cast one last look over her shoulder, but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Wait."

It wasn't the word, but the desperation in his voice that caused her to stop. She closed her eyes before turning around to face him.

This time he was only centimeters away. "How could you think that? After all that time we spent together and I told you flat out how I felt about you and everything. Why didn't you believe me?"

Ginny swallowed hard. "Because somewhere in the back of my mind, I kept waiting to see what the joke was. I couldn't believe that you were really that interested in me."

"Interested?" He looked at her incredulously. "I love you. I wanted you since the day I laid eyes on you in the Ministry. Since our first date I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

"You did?" She was beginning to sweat under her coat.

"And you never trusted me, did you?"

"It wasn't really you," she said quietly. "It was more--"

"Potter? Well fuck Boy Wonder. He's a sodding idiot. And I'm not him."

"I was going to say it was me that I didn't trust."

Draco looked at her suspiciously. "Did you only want me for sex?"

She couldn't help but to allow a laugh to escape her lips. "Gods no. I mean, I wanted sex. You kept resisting and I started to wonder what was wrong with me."

Draco folded his arms over his chest and huffed. "I wanted to make things perfect between us, okay? I told you that!" His face was growing redder. "Most witches I dated, well, we shagged pretty quickly into our relationships. I don't know if that's why they never worked out, but I wanted to make sure that I absolutely didn't mess things up with me and you! Do you have any idea how hard that's been? Do you have any idea how miserable it is to come home and wank off in the shower?"

A sad smile took over Ginny's mouth. "As bad as it is pulling out the vibrator every time you left, I suppose."

"Really?" He looked at her with interest.

"I'm sorry for not believing you."

Draco watched her closely. "And I'm sorry for getting so angry."

He made no move to step towards her, and Ginny nervously bit her nails.

"Well," he asked. "Anything else you want to say?"

She didn't want to just say it, to just throw herself on the floor and beg for him to take her back. No, there was going to be at least a shred of pride kept in tact. "You could open your Christmas present."

"Technically," he drawled, "tomorrow is Christmas."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then wait."

He picked the slender box up off the table and looked at the silver wrapping paper. He slid the dark green ribbon off, neatly undid the paper and opened the box.

Ginny had found the watch two months before, and finally decided that it was the perfect gift for him, despite the fact that it had cost her a large portion of her savings. The black dragon's hide band was sturdy but elegant and absolutely reminded her of Draco. The face of the watch was dark green with one small diamond where the 12 should be.

The jeweler had given her certificates showing that it had been made in Switzerland and explained some of the watches finer points, which certified its exquisite craftsmanship. Or so he said.

"It's… perfect," Draco said finally. "It's very… me."

She couldn't help but agree.

They stood in silence, staring at each other in the foyer.

"Is this where we say we'll try again?" Draco finally asked roughly.

"Or that we'll start over," she suggested with a shrug.

"Or I could kick you out."

"Or I could show myself out."

"Thank you for the gift."

"You're welcome."

"I really did just want to make things perfect," he said, his voice coming out in a rush. "You have no idea. When we were in Saint-Tropez and you had your top off…"

Ginny giggled as his eyes fell closed.

"I wanted you to know that I was serious about you. You kept telling me you heard those rumors about me and I wanted to make sure that you didn't think I was only interested in you for sex."

"You succeeded," she told him. "I thought you weren't interested in me for sex!"

Draco placed the watch back on the table and pulled Ginny into a hug. "I missed you. A lot."

"That explains why you were so mean to me at work!"

"Because you crushed me," he said simply, as if she should have already known that. He kissed the top of her head. "Stay with me tonight. My parents will be here in the morning and I'm sure your family will want you tomorrow. So stay with me for the night."

"Stay?" Ginny asked. "Just like that?"

Draco nodded smugly. "And I'll give you your gift in the morning."

He grabbed her and lifted her into his arms. "Hold on," he whispered before apparating directing into his bedroom. He set her down gently on his enormous bed. "Do you know that I am serious about you?"

"Yes," Ginny mumbled, pulling his face close to hers.

"And that I love you?" He kissed her nose.

"I love you too."

"And that I want to be with you for the rest of my life?"

"You do?" Ginny's eyes flew open.

"I do," he nodded seriously, "but we'll get to that soon enough."

Ginny pulled Draco closer, falling backwards as she did. His body pressed perfectly into hers. Draco began to unwind her scarf, helped her wiggle out of her coat and then began undoing the buttons on her blouse. His hands ran across her stomach and then he pulled her out of her shirt. He tugged on her bra straps and then reached behind her to undo it. Draco lowered his face to her exposed chest while tugging at the fastenings of her trousers.

She couldn't wait any longer, kissing him feverishly while tugging his clothes off.

Then they were naked, together, clinging to one another as if their lives really did depend on it. The sweating, the movements, the whispered words and then Ginny was climaxing, clenching her thighs together as she came like she had never come before.

"It's after midnight," Draco whispered in her ear, as they lay together when they were through, still naked and still breathless. "Happy Christmas."

Outside, she could see the snow was falling gently beyond the glass window pane. Inside, she was warm and happy.

She snuggled against him until she fit perfectly with his body. "Happy Christmas to you too."

The End

ORIGINAL REQUEST:
• Briefly describe what you'd like to receive in your fic
  Hogwarts Era or Post-Hogwarts Era. A wager, not necessarily between Draco and Ginny, brings them together romantically, much to the horror of someone else.
• The tone/mood of the fic: Fun
• An element/line of dialogue/object you would like in your fic: "He can charm the knickers off anyone."
• Preferred rating of the fic you want: Any rating is fine
• Canon or AU? Canon or nothing as AU as them all being Muggles.
• Deal Breakers (anything you don't want?): No death or having Draco and Ginny with other romantic interests, crossovers.

Please return to the community to leave feedback.