From the very second she heard the loud crack announcing his return to the Manor and his stomping steps as he bolted up the stairs, she knew there would be trouble. She sighed loudly, knowing she'd likely be dealing with his temper tantrum for the rest of the evening, so she took her time finishing the last sentence of her letter to Hermione. She set aside her parchment and quill, finished the remainder of her tea, and only then did she run upstairs after him, knowing very well she wouldn't be able to catch him before he performed several expert locking charms on the door – the door to their bedroom, where her wand was currently lying innocently on the bedside table, locked inside with him.

'Draco?' Ginny knocked on the door to the master bedroom. She heard a muffled sob in reply. Jiggling the knob to no avail, she knocked again.

'Draco, love, let me in. You've got to tell me what's wrong.'

'My life is over,' was the melodramatic and, Ginny thought, rather teary response from the other side of the door. 'Completely and totally over. My reputation is ruined.'

Ginny sighed, exasperated. It certainly looked as though it was going to be one of those days.

'I'm sure we can salvage it somehow. What happened? Did you break a nail again? Have you ripped your lucky pair of robes? Because you know we can get that fixed easily. I can give Madam Malkin a call, and she can patch it right up with a wave of her wand, just like last time!'

'This is not something that can be fixed with magic, Gin,' he said theatrically from inside the room.

'Oh, stop it, you silly man. I'm sure we can make it all better. Who do you need me to Avada for you? Just let me in and tell me what happened, yeah? I'll be sympathetic and everything, I promise.'

She could practically hear the cogs spinning in her boyfriend's vain little head, and sure enough, seconds later the locking spell on the door was lifted. It swung open on its own to reveal the great Draco Malfoy lying face first on their giant bed, wearing a hideous knitted hat that looked as though it had been made personally by Dobby, stomped on by a very angry mountain troll and then used as a toilet for an entire herd of thestrals. Ginny fought to hold in her laughter, sensing it would only spark another fresh wave of tears on Draco's part. This, she reminded herself, was why she would never pester him for children.

'I'm a ruined man, Ginny,' Draco said miserably, his voice muffled by the pillows he was speaking into. 'You might as well leave me now, so you don't have to be seen with me anymore.'

She sat down next to him and started rubbing small circles on his back, pleased to feel him lean into her touch a bit.

'What, leave you and forget all about the two years and considerable effort I will have wasted getting over the embarrassment of being seen with you in the first place? No thank you, love, I'm staying put. Now how about you take off that silly hat and we can go downstairs and have a nice cup of tea while you tell me what's bothering you?' She continued rubbing his back, and spoke as if to a small child, and Draco responded accordingly, burying his face deeper into the pillows and refusing to acknowledge she'd said anything.

'Hot cocoa, then?' she asked wearily, still holding onto the hope that this might be settled with humour. Still no reply.

'Draco, you're being ridiculous,' cried Ginny. 'Just tell me what's wrong!'

She received a muffled hmph in reply, and groaned. 'Draco...'

'They know!' He wailed into the pillows, rather like a four-year-old. 'They know! They've seen it! It'll be all over the papers! The tabloids! The magazines! The Prophet will have a bloody field day with this!'

'With what?'

'They saw me today,' he said, finally looking up to face her. 'In Knockturn Alley.'

'What in the name of Merlin's little toenail were you doing there, Draco?' Suddenly her face was deadly serious, the trace of chiding humour gone from her voice.

'I had to... do something...'

'Something you couldn't tell me?' Ginny was indignant.

'You wouldn't understand, Ginny.'

'No?' Her eyes flashed in anger. 'I wouldn't understand that my boyfriend,' she spat the word, 'who has apparently been so good and so righteous since the end of the war, made a little trip into Knockturn Alley to do something that he won't even tell me about? No, Draco. You're right. I don't understand. And you have exactly ten seconds to explain it to me. Why would you go back there? After everything that's happened, after all the promises you've made to me?'

'This wasn't the first time,' Draco admitted, rather sheepishly. 'I've been going every couple of weeks.'

'Why, you little—'

'Ginny, it's important! I'd hoped you would never have to know. I hoped no one would ever have to know! It was my little secret, and now that stupid little bugger Creevey has a bloody photo of it!'

'A photo? Draco, what on Earth are you talking about? A photo of what?'

He appeared not to have heard her, a fact that made her face heat up. She could feel her temper flaring, and her eyes flashed as she listened to him ramble.

'Maybe it's not too late! Maybe I could Obliviate everyone who's seen it already! And then I could get hold of the photo and – no, that's stupid. He'll have made copies of it.'

'Of what?!'

Draco, who finally seemed to notice her presence, whipped his head around to look at her. The fire in his eyes was something Ginny had never seen before. He looked like a madman.

'Of this!!'

Draco ripped off his hat with force and stared at Ginny like a lunatic, practically frothing at the mouth. She looked at him, and her mouth dropped open in horror at what she saw.

'Do you see what I am, Ginny?' Draco roared. 'Do you see it?'

'I—I—Draco, what...?' she stuttered in reply. She hadn't known, she never would have even suspected! And after all this time, he never let on! How could it be?

'That's right, Ginny. Do you still love me now that you see me for what I truly am?'

Ginny covered her mouth with her hand as Draco advanced upon her, the dark brown roots of his hair all she could see. Her eyes were glued to the top of his head as he roared at her.

'I AM NOT A NATURAL BLOND!'