Ginny scooted quickly out of the way as her father flung himself at Lucius Malfoy inside of Flourish and Blotts. Her cauldron went flying and she scrambled to pick up her second hand books before they were trampled.

In the commotion, she barely noticed that it was the blond boy, the one who had called her Harry's boyfriend, was helping her pick up her books.

"Here," he whispered, thrusting them into her cauldron as shop employees rushed forward to separate their fathers.

"Thanks," she mumbled, feeling the heat gathered in her cheeks intensify. He had started all this mess and she was about to let him have it. “You-”

"Sorry about that," he muttered. His almost white hair was slicked back almost horridly, in the most unbecoming fashion possible to his narrow face. But his eyes -- they were almost silver and they were sweeping over her and telling her that his words were sincere.

"It's okay," she began to reply, her words awkward and hurried. The only other male she had ever spoken to who wasn't somehow related to her was Ron's friend, Harry.

"Here girl," his father interrupted them. "Take your book -- it's the best your father can give you."

"Stay away from Ginny," Mr. Weasley hissed at Draco Malfoy as he saw the look he was giving her.

Mr. Malfoy swept dramatically from the shop and Draco followed behind him, giving her one last glance over his shoulder.

Ginny kept her eyes on the pale boy, never bothering to see what his father had dropped inside her cauldron.


***~***


Ginny stood on the third floor landing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and looked around happily. She had finally made it. She had been sorted into Gryffindor and all was right in the world. Well, almost. She had already been told how brilliant Charlie was (by Hagrid), how talented Bill's mind was (by Professor Vector), how talented and competent Percy was (by Filch), how awesome and funny the twins were (by her classmates) and how cool it was that Ron was The Boy Who Lived's best friend (by just about everyone).

She knew she was going to have to work hard to distinguish herself from the rest of her family.

Ginny turned and found herself facing a small balcony that looked onto the Hogwart's grounds. The sun was low in the sky, setting late since it was still summer and warm on her skin. She braced herself between the two white columns that ran up beside her and closed her eyes, letting the sun's rays warm her and clear her mind as she prepared to make the most of her first year.

Her meditations were interrupted by a throat clearing far below her.

Ginny glanced down and saw the thin form of Draco Malfoy. She had learned after the incident in the bookstore that the Malfoy's were not to be trusted. Her father suspected that Mr. Malfoy was hiding objects related to the Dark Arts at his manor, despite a raid that turned up nothing. While she was inclined to agree with their assessment of the father, she had mixed feelings about Draco Malfoy.

Ron and Harry had gone on and on about what a git he was and all the horrible things he had done the year before.

But Ginny couldn't stop thinking of his silver eyes and they way he had looked at her in the bookstore. It was silly, she supposed, but when he'd called her Harry's girlfriend all she could hear was the hint of jealousy in his voice.

She lifted a hand and waved to him.

After a long pause, he waved back.


***~***


"It's fine," Ginny laughed as Neville trod on her toes again. "Really. I used a charm on my shoes. Can't feel a thing."

Neville grinned sheepishly as they danced. "Because of me?"

"No," she shook her head and decided to give him a half truth.. "Because these high heels are painful!"

"Malfoy keeps staring at you." His face was pinched with dislike.

Ginny felt the fluttering in her belly that she'd long since grown used to. "Ignore him," she advised. "He's an idiot." Malfoy was always staring at her.

"Well, here he comes." Neville's expression had morphed into a scowl.

She allowed Neville to twirl her around once, and she spotted Draco making his way through the crowds and ball gowns and floating lights. He had spent the past few years tormenting the trio, but he kept a reserved friendship of sorts with Ginny. Not friendship, really, she thought, but they managed to be civil, if civil meant he stared and she waved and occasionally he waved back.

He held doors, she waved from across the grounds, that kind of thing.

"May I cut in?" he asked Neville stiffly.

"I thought you were at the Yule ball with Parkinson?" Neville demanded.

"She requests your company," Draco told him with a sneer.

"It's okay," Ginny said as Neville gave her a blushing, apologetic look. "Go on."

Draco bowed slightly and placed one hand on her waist and held the other level with her face. "You look nice."

"Thanks," she felt her cheeks warm up. "So do you."

They danced in circles for a few moments before Ginny spoke again.

"Since when does Parkinson want to see Neville?"

"Don't ask me," Draco said, his voice annoyed and bored. "Who am I to explain how her mind works?"

She couldn't help the large grin that spread over her face.

"Would you like to go sit in the gardens with me?" he asked. The tips of his ears were turning pink. "Somehow I don't want to be around when one of your many brothers spots me dancing with you."

"Sure," she giggled, letting him lead them out the double doors and onto a stone bench that was situated between several large rosebushes, all dancing with fairy lights.

Draco bent down and picked up a handful of pebbles. He began to toss them gently at the base of the rosebushes. "Why are you always nice to me?"

Ginny's ginger eyebrows shot up. "Me? Why are you always nice to me?"

"I'm not!" He sat up quickly, as if she had offended him. "Malfoy's are not nice to Weasley's!"

A laugh escaped her lips. "Go ahead and tell yourself that if it helps you sleep at night." She reached down, scooped up a new handful of pebbles and placed them in his hand. "There's no reason for me not to be nice to you. Technically, you haven't done anything to me."

Since her first encounter with Draco at the bookstore before she had started her first year, they had maintained their careful friendship when they were alone. She had chastised him for giving Hagrid a hard time the year before and told him he deserved it when Hermione had punched him in his perfect nose.

"You don't always have to be such an arse, you know," she had told him as she held a rag to his bleeding nose. "Let's go to the hospital wing."

"Doe," he shook his head fiercely. "I done wanna have do es'plain dis."

She rolled her eyes. "You go when the Hippogriff doesn't even touch you, but not when you could actually use the help."

"Technically, no," Draco agreed, flicking his new pebbles at the fairies in the bushes. "But don't you think our family has a rotten history? How long have the Malfoy's and the Weasley's feuded?"

"Probably since the first time a Malfoy called a Weasley a blood traitor, I suppose."

"Can you ever be serious?"

"Can you ever lighten up?"

"I can if you can."

"Great," Ginny shrugged. "Tell me a joke."

"All of this is a joke," Draco replied sourly.

Ginny was suddenly struck by how beautiful he looked in the moonlight. "All of what?"

"This! Me, being out here with you. Don't you know what my father would say?"

"Well," she replied slowly, "no. But I don't imagine you write home about me, so what does it matter?"

Draco threw more pebbles, then nodded. "I guess you're right."

Without warning, he leaned over and kissed Ginny. It was so unexpected and brief, she didn't even have time to enjoy her first kiss. Then he went back to throwing pebbles.

The silence between them felt heavy.

"That's all?" Ginny asked finally.

He looked at her, his brow wrinkled. "What?"

She sucked in a large breath, barely noticing the warm minty green smell that filled the night air. She leaned over and kissed him. This time, Draco lifted his empty hand and placed it gently on her cheek. She noticed that his lips were warm and much softer than they looked. She wondered what she was supposed to do with her own hands, where they were supposed to go.

"Excuse me, I... Ginny?"

Draco and Ginny broke apart even though she could feel the reluctance in Draco's movements.

"What are you, Ginny, why are you?" Her father stood over them, his mouth agape. Then he reached down and grabbed Ginny's wrist. His eyes narrowed and he spat, "Stay away from Ginny."

"What are you doing here?" Ginny asked, as her father dragged her away from Draco. She didn't know if she was mortified that her father had witnessed her first kiss, or that he had dragged her away and warned Draco.

"Your mother sent me to check on Harry," he said, his voice strained. "She's worried about the Tournament still." He dropped her arm as they reached the steps. "You cannot be friends with that, that boy! His family is nothing but trouble and we will not associate with them! Do you understand?"

Ginny didn't understand, nor did she have any intentions of staying away from Draco. "But he--"

"No buts! I wouldn't tell you this if I didn't mean it," her father said passionately. "Ginny, have I ever meddled in your affairs before?"

"Well, no, but--"

"Trust me on this one, okay luv?"

She threw one last look over her shoulder Draco was standing nearby, listening. "Da, I don't think I can just stay way from him. I see him all the time!"

She hated the lump she could see in her father's throat. "I think you should go back to your dorms. It's almost 11."

"Fine," she whispered, her chest constricting. She turned away and dashed up the staircase, holding up her dress robes. As she rounded the corner on the second floor landing, she saw her father turn the corner and disappear from view. She hurried on, mortified at what had just happened.

"Wait! Ginny, wait!"

She had almost reached the portrait of the Fat Lady when she heard Draco's voice. She paused, knowing there were only four more steps and then a short space to the portrait. She wouldn't have to face him.

"Wait!" He grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around. "You're crying." He sounded almost disgusted.

"So what?" she mumbled, wiping her eyes. "What is it?"

"I just wanted to tell you," he glanced around as if he had just realized that he chased her up a flight of stairs. "I just wanted to say that your Da is probably right."

Ginny's mouth fell open. She snapped it closed and shook her head. "No. No he's not."

"Yes he is! Me and you shouldn't even be friends! The bad blood between our families goes so far back, and if my Da ever found out, well, it would be alot worse than that!" His eyes were wide and his cheeks were flushed, but Ginny refused to let him get off that easy.

"My father won't tell yours that we, that we kissed," she said fiercely.

"Maybe not," he answered quietly, "but I can't risk that. Good night." He reached out one hand and gently touched her cheek again. "Ginny."

The tears she had been blinking back spilled over. "Don't go. Please." She wanted to hex herself for crying on the staircase in front of him and allowing herself to practically beg him not to go.

He bit his lower lip and for a moment, Ginny wondered how anyone could think such horrid things about him. "Your Da is right. I have to go."


***~***


“Do you want Boy Wonder to win?”

Ginny didn’t have to turn around to know that Draco Malfoy was sitting behind her. Harry had just disappeared into the hedge maze with Cedric Diggory right behind him. Everyone was still cheering and no one would notice if she slipped off for a few minutes.

She stood to her feet and with her index finger, motioned for Draco to follow her.

She didn’t look back to see if he was, but walked until she was at the empty Quidditch changing rooms.

“Do you?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me,” she said honestly, turning to face Draco and smiling because he had followed.

“Your whole family is here, cheering him on.” He folded his arms over his chest.

“Are you pouting?”

“No! Malfoy’s don’t--”

“I know,” she finished for him. “Malfoy’s don’t pout.”

He attempted to sneer at her, but gave up half way through. “Stop avoiding me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You told me to.”

“I did not.”

“Um, after the Yule Ball… you left me on the stairs crying.”

“That didn’t mean you should avoid me!”

“Okay,” Ginny said slowly, feeling as if she were trying to explain things to Ron. “What did that mean?”

“That I can’t stop thinking about you. Even though we were so young when we first met, I can’t stand being away from you.”

Even though her heart did a little tap dance, Ginny said evenly, “You have a strange way of showing it.”

“Can I kiss you again?”

The word ‘yes’ didn’t seem to do justice to her feelings, so she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.


***~***


Ginny's heart was hammering so loudly in her chest, that she stopped every few feet listened. She knew that any second, one of the bedroom doors would be flung open and she would have to dream up some excuse why she was fully dressed after midnight. She was pretty sure that Mad Eye and maybe Snape were down in the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place. She could hear voices drifting up the stairs. She crept into the drawing room and silently thanked Kreacher for liking the Malfoy's. It had been Draco's idea to have the elf allow her to Floo in and out of the house in the middle of the night. The downside was that she couldn't exactly Floo into Malfoy manor, so she settled for an empty home for sale that sat about two kilometre's away from Malfoy Manor.

The empty house had the most exquisite gardens where they met once or twice a week. Less, lately.

Draco always left a glass lantern for her beside the fireplace, a little spot of light in the darkness that had crept over the past few years.

Draco smiled when he saw her emerge, dusting the ashes off of her clothes and holding the lantern as she made her way into the gardens. They rarely spoke, knowing that they would be killed if they were caught by the wrong people. They spent the time sitting together in the gardens. Sometimes they played with his mum's albino peacocks and other times they danced slowly between the tall greens and statues. Many nights they laid on their backs, whispering imagined constellations in each other's ears.

Once, when they were brave, Ginny had "borrowed" another neighbor's white horse and they road down the lane, imagining that this was what it would be like when they no longer had to hide.

"Let's escape this," Draco whispered in her ear as he hung onto her waist. "Let's escape this town and this country and this war. Let's go somewhere and make our own lives."

For a moment, while the night air was whipping her hair around, she imagined that the horse beneath them could carry them to safety. "All there's left to do now is run," she agreed.

“Then let’s go. I want to go. I don’t care about all these other things and people. You’re the only one that makes me happy.”

They rode until the lane ended and the fields opened up before them, vast in the darkness of night.

“Keep going,” Draco told her. “I don’t want to go back.”

Ginny could feel each breath he took, his chest pressed into her back. She could feel the urgency and the honesty in his voice.

“And then what?” she asked.

“We stay together. Just me and you. We can forget them all.”


***~***


"Someone must have told him," Draco said, his voice tight. "That ... that cow Umbridge, I think."

"What?" Ginny hissed, looking up from the baby devil's snare she was supposed to be potting.

Draco made a grunting noise in the back of his throat as Professor Sprout looked at them. Ginny had received detention for falling asleep in class. She had been ready to yell at Draco and tell him that it was all his fault for insisting that she spend half the night in the Astronomy tower with him, looking at constellations for fun and not for class. He, however, had ended up with detention for the same reasons.

She looked quickly back down at her plant. When Professor Sprout turned away, he continued. "My father sent me a very long letter today. There was about six inches on why I should be prepared to do whatever Umbridge needs to keep this school in satisfactory order and then about 18 inches on how you were... well, someone I shouldn't associate with."

Ginny felt her body stiffen. "What did he say?"

"Just, you know, stuff."

She glared at him. "Tell me. I'm a big girl. I can handle it."

"I'm going to run to the other greenhouse to get some more soil," Professor Sprout told them. "Keep working,"

Draco kept his eyes on her as the door swung closed behind her. "Forget it, okay?"

She dusted her hands off. "How many names did he call me?"

"Several. Like maybe 20."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Are any of them true?"

"I don't think so... unless you and that Corner bloke--"

"Why are you still so concerned about him?" Ginny demanded.

"Why are you dating him?" Draco's face was red and splotchy. His hands were clenched into fists and she could see his chest rising and falling rapidly under his robes.

She blinked. "You told me... you said you didn't care! If I recall, your exact words were 'Do whatever makes you happiest, Weasley.'"

He began shoving his devil's snare into the pots so violently one pot shattered.

"Are you jealous?"

"Hell no," he snapped. "And what if I am?"

"But you said--"

"Of course I said that, what was I going to say? Don't ever leave me? We can work this out? Our parents will understand? Our friends won't hate us?"

She stared at him. "You did say that, once. Or almost that. Remember?"

"Yes," he said sulkily, glaring at the broken pot on the ground. "The night you stole the neighbor's horse."

"I didn't steal," she reminded him. "I returned it."

"Break up with Corner."

"Tell me what your father said."

Draco walked to a box in the corner of the greenhouse, grabbed a pair of gray earmuffs and placed them on his head.

Ginny stared at him for a moment, wondering how it was possible to have remained friends with Draco Malfoy for so long.


***~***


"Let go of her," Draco snapped at the sixth year girl who held Ginny in a headlock. He grabbed Ginny's arm and tugged her out of Umbridge's office, ignoring the stares of Ron, Luna and his housemates.

"Get off me!" she hissed once they were in the hall, swatting at his arm. "How dare you even speak to me! You are a total arse! All this time, I must have been nutters to imagine that you were my friend. You are a selfish, pompous, pale arse!"

"My Da said that you were a scarlet woman and you would corrupt me with your blood traitor ways and that I should stay away from you. He wrote in all capital letters STAY AWAY FROM THAT WEASLEY GIRL." He reached into his pocket and handed her wand back.

"This isn't making me like you any more," she muttered, sliding it into her pocket.

"I don't care. When I asked you to break up with Corner you wanted to know what my father said. I told you. So break up with him."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?" he demanded, scowling. "I told you what you wanted."

"And acted like a complete prat! You haven't even spoken to me for a month! You took away points from my house!" She had her wand in her hand again, waving it at him.

"Gin, please stop." He took an apprehensive step backwards.

"If you want me to forgive you, you have to let me give you what you deserve."

She grinned wickedly as he swallowed hard.

"Okay," he agreed, "but can I tell you something first?"

She nodded.

"I am really sorry."

"That sounded painful."

"It kind of was," he admitted.

"Let me guess. Malfoy's don't apologize?"

"Not that I know of. Except me. This makes twice now, doesn't it?"

"It does." He looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. “Why didn’t we leave that night, Gin? Why did we come back? We could be so far away from all of this. We could have kept riding that horse.”

There were very few things Ginny regretted, but not leaving with Draco that night was one of them. “I couldn’t,” she said, feeling her throat clench. “I couldn’t leave my family like that.”

“Can you do it now?”

“I don’t know.” She wanted to hate him for the hot tears she felt burning her eyes.

"You better go help Boy Wonder and the Mudblood."

Ginny scowled at him. "How many times to I have to tell you not to call them that?" She raised her wand and cast the Bat-Bogey hex at his face, glad he wouldn’t see her cry.


***~***


Ginny spent her fifth year smiling on the outside. She dated Dean and even Harry, but only to piss off Draco.

She had no idea why he was so tired, so drawn and so harsh all the time. The only time he had spoken to her, at the beginning of the school year, he spoke as if he were a Sphinx.

"Everyone," he hissed, his fingers rubbing his temples, "my parents, the Death Eater, the Dark Lord, everyone is trying to tell me what to do and how to feel."

Ginny bit her lower lip, trying to come up with something to say that felt right.

"But this is difficult." He motioned to the two of them. "This is real."

"This?" she asked quietly.

"Me and you."

"We'll make it out of this mess." She swallowed hard and reached one hand up to cup his cheek. He was paler than normal, and looked as though he had forgotten to sleep or eat.

"This love is difficult, but I'm not afraid." He looked her in the eyes. "Don't be afraid."

And then he had walked off.

At first Ginny was elated that he had used the word love. It was almost as good as if he had told her he loved her.

But he didn't come around again, and she grew tired of waiting, wondering if he would show up, elaborate or even say hello.

The ridiculous faith she had in him was starting to fade, and yet, it managed to never die.


***~***


Since she was allowed to go to Hogsmeade once again, Ginny was the first one up on Saturday.

Things were right in the world once again. Harry had succeeded in doing what he had apparently been destined to do since he was one year old and there was a peace rested in the very soul of the castle.

It was the last weekend of her sixth year and she wanted to make the most of it.

After showering, dressing and pulling her long hair into a ponytail, she crawled through the portrait hole and skipped down the stairs, pausing for a second on the step where she had stood in her third year and Draco Malfoy had informed her that they shouldn't be friends.

What a nice thing to say after giving someone her first kiss, Ginny mused. Since then, she had kissed Draco plenty of times, each time better than the next, but that first kiss always burned in her memory.

Her relationship with Draco had returned to being strained and distant. It was like her first year all over again. They waved from a distance, and that was it.

Really, she supposed she should put more effort into hating him. He was still widely regarded as responsible for Dumbledore's death, despite Harry's lengthy interviews with The Quibbler, and he had nearly killed Harry, Hermione and Ron in the Room of Requirement only two months ago. But she couldn't hate him. Their friendship was just too long and complicated.

There were only a handful of other students in the Great Hall when she arrived, so she helped herself to breakfast and lost herself in thought as she ate. Every single day, she remembered the night she and Draco had ridden that white horse down the lane and talked about escaping.

Why didn't we go? she wondered. I bet we would have made it.

Harry kept trying to show signs of affection, and she supposed she shouldn't have kissed him on his birthday. She had pretended he was Draco, and then had told herself that she was trying to rid her mind of Draco, but nothing worked.

She missed Draco.

By the time she was done eating, there were a dozen other sixth and seventh year students who were ready to go to Hogsmeade.

"Go ahead," Headmaster McGonagall told them curtly. "Neville, please keep an eye on things."

Ginny trailed behind the group, picking flowers and enjoying the sunshine as they wandered down the dirt path.

By the time she reached the outskirts of town, she realized she had let the others get far ahead of her. She smelled her flowers and was glad for freedom and for that the safety she had taken for granted had been restored. She tossed her flowers off the side of the path, ready to go to the twin's shop when someone cleared their throat. Ginny glanced over to see Draco standing perfectly still, covered in the flowers she had just thrown.

They stared at each other for a minute before he ran several steps forward, stopping directly in front of her.

"I kept on waiting for you," Ginny told him, breaking the silence. "But you never came. I felt so... alone."

"Don't feel that way," he said, taking her hands in his own.

"Am I dreaming?" Ginny asked suspiciously. "I don't know what to think. It feels like this is all in my head."

"It's not, it's real." Draco stepped back and reached into the pocket of his cloak. He knelt to the ground and pulled out the most beautiful ring Ginny had ever seen. The diamond caught the morning sun, throwing rainbows all around them.

"Draco," she started to say.

"Marry me, Ginny. You'll never have to be alone. I love you. That's all I really know."

Ginny felt her heart skip several beats. "I, Draco, I."

"All you have to say is okay." He tried to smile at her, but it wavered.

"Okay," she whispered, taking him by the hands again and pulling him up.

"I'll talk to your dad," he said hurriedly. "I'll talk to my dad. I don't care. I'll talk to everyone's dad. I just want to be with you for the rest of my life."

She tried to giggle, but it mixed with tears that were threatening to escape her eyes. "I love you too."

"Let's go," he tugged on her hand. "Let's go pick out a white dress."

"Now?" she laughed, running behind him. "In Hogsmeade?"

"Just say yes," he said, skidding to a stop and looking at her seriously.

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes yes yes!"

"As soon as I graduate?" he asked. "You'll be so close to 17 and I can't be without you anymore."

"Okay," she nodded, unable to control her excitement.

"The first time I saw you," he told her, "I knew. I knew it would be you."

"But we were both so young," she reminded him, "the first time we saw each other."

"Didn't matter," he shrugged, kissing her. "I knew."