Author's Notes:
The world and characters of this fic belongs to JK Rowling. The plot, title and some lines are a rip-off of the Howard Hawks' movie "His Girl Friday". Yes, it's Draco as Cary Grant, and why not? Many thanks to mrsFelton88 for her beta.
*
As soon as Ginny Weasley stepped inside the big main office of the Prophet, she felt quite at home again. Apart from the Burrow, this place really was her home. During her marriage, she had spent as many nights here as in the flat they’d never gotten around to decorating.
The place was frantic with activity: owls flew in and out of every window, witches and wizards ran around, scrolls pressed to their chests, some sat at or on desks, dictating to quick-quotes quills, everyone smoked – and in every one of the dozen fireplaces a head was poking through the flames, shouting for attention.
"Oh my," said Neville, "this is where you work?"
"Where I used to work, darling." She turned to him. Just looking at him made her relax. There was something so peaceful and protective about a man who didn’t run around shouting all the time – a man who didn't eat, read, and sleep news.
"Now, you just wait here while I go talk to him. I'll only be a few minutes."
"Don't you think I should go with you?"
"No, no. I'll handle him, I promise. Ten minutes, then we can be off."
She had barely taken three steps before Colin Creevey saw her and rushed up.
"Ginny! How was the Bahamas? Ready to get back to it again?"
It didn't take long until she was surrounded by old friends and colleagues, all asking her how she was and if she had heard this or that piece of gossip. After a few minutes of hugs, handshakes and trying to answer everyone's questions at once, she got away and proceeded to the back of the room. She stopped at Pansy Parkinson's desk.
"Is the Lord of the Universe in?"
"Ginny! He's in a meeting, but you just go on in. It's only Goyle and Zabini."
"Thanks, Pans."
"Hey, Gin? Are you back?"
Ginny stopped, hand on the door handle. Then she adjusted the fashionable witches' hat on her head, and smiled.
"Not on your panties, Pansy. This broad is moving on to greener pastures, over the hills, under the sea, east-and-southwest of Neverneverla-"
"Weasley?"
"Yes?"
"Just shut up and go see him, okay?"
*
It was a big office, mostly so Malfoy could have a couch-bed to sleep in when he didn't have time to go home. The desk was covered with scrolls and quills, and a couple of sleepy owls perched on the windowsill. Draco was leaning against the desk, his back to her, talking loudly about the Wizengamot.
"And if those stodgy old beards want us to raise the general election issue again, we will!"
Ginny looked at him for a moment. From behind, he looked the same. Maybe a shade thinner, but he was still tall and blond and dressed in black, and he still talked all the time. She had not missed him one bit. Not one bit.
Goyle was sitting in a chair near the door. He wasn’t listening to Draco, and he pretended not to pay any attention to her either, but she knew better. Goyle had saved her bacon a couple of times, and she didn't care if he'd done it on Draco's behalf or simply because he liked her. She gave him a quick nod.
Blaise Zabini was arguing with Draco, his hands in the air.
"We're against the general election! We've argued against it for fifty years!"
"Well, then we'll change back after they've let Whitby out!"
"Oh, like that's-"
Ginny knocked on the door frame.
"What is it?" shouted Draco.
"Your ex-wife is here. Do you want to see her?"
He had turned around before she finished speaking. His grey eyes darkened as they met her brown ones, and she reminded herself again that she had not missed him at all. Oh no, not at all.
"Well, well, well. Weasley. I was wondering when you'd be back."
"Yes, I know. The owls were most persuasive."
"Not too persuasive, as it took you, what? Two months?"
"Let's see... Two weeks in Paris, then two lovely months in the Bahamas..."
"Ahum. Hello Ginny."
Zabini stepped forward to kiss her on the cheek. She forced herself to break eye contact with Draco, and stood on her toes to receive the kiss.
"Blaise! How nice to see you. How is life?"
"Great, now that you're back. I don't think Malfoy's left the office even once since-"
"Thank you, Blaise, that will be all for now. You get on the phone with Wimple, tell him he'll have the Prophet's vote in the next election, if he lets Whitby go."
"But there are no elections-!"
"Then he'll want to keep us happy, won't he? Go! Now!"
Blaise shrugged and left. Goyle lumbered out after him, closing the door behind them.
"Well well well, it's still the same old story, isn't it?"
"A fight for love and glory?" he smiled at her, and, damn the man, that was their song. Had been their song. Merlin, she didn't want to remember, and so she opened her bag to find a cigarette. But then a packet came flying through the air, and she only caught it thanks to
her old Quidditch reflexes. He knew her habits.
"That's a nice hat."
"I know, I got it in Paris. It's the latest in witches' fashions."
"Suits you very well. Are you ready to get back to work, Ginny? They're going to bury Kevin Whitby in Azkaban-"
"Oh no. Hold it right there, Malfoy. Not another story, not this time. That's not what I'm doing here. I'm a new woman. You don't know me anymore."
"I'd know you anytime, anyplace, anywhere." Suddenly, he was standing close to her, leaning down, hands on her arms. For a second, her body remembered the old patterns and she softened against him, almost... He gripped her harder.
She came to her senses and pushed him away.
"Let go! I'm not going to fall for your tricks again."
"Tricks, what tricks? I think you made a mistake when you decided to divorce me... I know you did. I've missed you, Gin. More than you'll..."
"Oh, stop it. Sending me two owls a day for ten weeks? Fresh roses every Wednesday morning? In the Bahamas? Draco, I'm only here to tell you to stop owling me. I'm not coming back. The papers are signed, I've got a new life and a new career-"
"Oh yeah? With what paper? The Quibbler? The Newe Sight? What are they paying you? I'll pay double! Well, I'll give you a ten percent increase on your old wages, and that's-"
"You'll never be able to match the offer I've had!"
"What? Are you defecting to the enemy? Don't tell me you've gone over to the Ministry, Weasley, that's..."
"No, not the Ministry."
"Not the Ministry? Well, then, I won't give you that raise."
"No, you won't. I’m getting married."
"Ah! I love a girl with some initiative. Now, you put me through some rough times these past few months, Ginny, but I forgive you. All right, I'll marry you again."
"To Neville Longbottom."
"We can maybe even do something about the apartment. Curtains- Excuse me?"
"I was wondering when you'd catch up. I'm getting married to Neville Longbottom."
"The hell you are!"
Ginny put out her cigarette.
"Don't you speak to me like that, Draco Malfoy. I only came to tell you to stop owling me. By this time tomorrow, I'll be Mrs. Neville Longbottom, of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales."
"...Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?"
"Yes. It’s Welsh."
"I've heard of it... A bit small for you, isn’t it?"
"It's a lovely place to raise children."
"You never wanted children!"
"I do now. I've realised I want a proper home, with curtains, and children, and – and home-cooked meals!"
"And Neville Longbottom!"
"Don't you use that tone of voice! Neville is a War hero!"
"Aren't we all?"
"Oh! Shut up." She grabbed her purse and made as if to leave.
"Wait!" he called out. So she waited. He wasn't going to...
"Listen, Kevin Whitby was at Hogwarts with us. Now they're saying he killed Dirk Cresswell, which is a damn lie. Cresswell was in bed with the goblins, everyone knows that, and-"
"Malfoy! I don't give a damn anymore!" She stormed out of his office, angry and disappointed. He only wanted her for her great copy!
Malfoy was right behind her, however.
"I think I'll say hello to Neville myself, if you don't mind."
"But I do mind!"
"That’s a shame... Hello, Longbottom. Long time no see, and all that... I hear you're marrying my wife?"
He grabbed Neville's hand and shook it enthusiastically.
"Oh, hello, Malfoy. Uh, yes, I am, only... Well, of course she's not your wife any longer-"
"Of course not. I just can't help thinking about her like that. You know, once you've shared a home, and a bed, and-"
"Shut it, Malfoy!" cried Ginny. "Neville, we should get going."
"Nonsense, we can't have you leaving just like that! I'm taking you two lovebirds to lunch!"
Ginny shot him the Glare of Death but Malfoy simply raised his eyebrow at her. Infuriating man!
"Oh, thanks, Draco, that's very kind of you... I'm not sure we have the time though, we have to pick up my Gran..."
Malfoy's face lit with unholy joy.
"Augusta Longbottom? She’s going to attend your wedding?"
"Oh, yes, and also, we're going to live with her, you know."
"Yes?"
"Yes, she insisted-"
"She'll be a great help with the children, darling," Ginny interjected.
"You shouldn’t call me 'darling', Ginny, not when you’re marrying-"
"I was not talking to you!"
"Actually, I’m not sure Gran will be much help with the children... She’s very set in her ways, and-"
"Darling! Draco is not interested in that. Let's just get going, well, bye, Malfoy, it's been... It's been."
She dragged Neville out the door but Malfoy was hot on their heels.
"Nonsense! I'm taking you two to lunch! I know Longbottom is an expert on gillyweed, and I've some questions about this new habit people have of smoking it."
"Oh!" Neville lit up, like he always did when someone mentioned something to do with Herbology, his chosen field. Ginny sighed.
"All right, but we're going to eat something expensive, Malfoy."
"Anything you want, Ginevra. Now hush, Neville was just going to tell us about gillyweed."
"Well, while dry gillyweed is certainly useable for smoking purposes, I wouldn’t..."
Ginny huffed and followed the two men out. She didn’t know what Malfoy was planning but she would not fall for his tricks again! Meanwhile, he could pay for the Firewhisky she longed to imbibe asap!
The world and characters of this fic belongs to JK Rowling. The plot, title and some lines are a rip-off of the Howard Hawks' movie "His Girl Friday". Yes, it's Draco as Cary Grant, and why not? Many thanks to mrsFelton88 for her beta.
*
As soon as Ginny Weasley stepped inside the big main office of the Prophet, she felt quite at home again. Apart from the Burrow, this place really was her home. During her marriage, she had spent as many nights here as in the flat they’d never gotten around to decorating.
The place was frantic with activity: owls flew in and out of every window, witches and wizards ran around, scrolls pressed to their chests, some sat at or on desks, dictating to quick-quotes quills, everyone smoked – and in every one of the dozen fireplaces a head was poking through the flames, shouting for attention.
"Oh my," said Neville, "this is where you work?"
"Where I used to work, darling." She turned to him. Just looking at him made her relax. There was something so peaceful and protective about a man who didn’t run around shouting all the time – a man who didn't eat, read, and sleep news.
"Now, you just wait here while I go talk to him. I'll only be a few minutes."
"Don't you think I should go with you?"
"No, no. I'll handle him, I promise. Ten minutes, then we can be off."
She had barely taken three steps before Colin Creevey saw her and rushed up.
"Ginny! How was the Bahamas? Ready to get back to it again?"
It didn't take long until she was surrounded by old friends and colleagues, all asking her how she was and if she had heard this or that piece of gossip. After a few minutes of hugs, handshakes and trying to answer everyone's questions at once, she got away and proceeded to the back of the room. She stopped at Pansy Parkinson's desk.
"Is the Lord of the Universe in?"
"Ginny! He's in a meeting, but you just go on in. It's only Goyle and Zabini."
"Thanks, Pans."
"Hey, Gin? Are you back?"
Ginny stopped, hand on the door handle. Then she adjusted the fashionable witches' hat on her head, and smiled.
"Not on your panties, Pansy. This broad is moving on to greener pastures, over the hills, under the sea, east-and-southwest of Neverneverla-"
"Weasley?"
"Yes?"
"Just shut up and go see him, okay?"
*
It was a big office, mostly so Malfoy could have a couch-bed to sleep in when he didn't have time to go home. The desk was covered with scrolls and quills, and a couple of sleepy owls perched on the windowsill. Draco was leaning against the desk, his back to her, talking loudly about the Wizengamot.
"And if those stodgy old beards want us to raise the general election issue again, we will!"
Ginny looked at him for a moment. From behind, he looked the same. Maybe a shade thinner, but he was still tall and blond and dressed in black, and he still talked all the time. She had not missed him one bit. Not one bit.
Goyle was sitting in a chair near the door. He wasn’t listening to Draco, and he pretended not to pay any attention to her either, but she knew better. Goyle had saved her bacon a couple of times, and she didn't care if he'd done it on Draco's behalf or simply because he liked her. She gave him a quick nod.
Blaise Zabini was arguing with Draco, his hands in the air.
"We're against the general election! We've argued against it for fifty years!"
"Well, then we'll change back after they've let Whitby out!"
"Oh, like that's-"
Ginny knocked on the door frame.
"What is it?" shouted Draco.
"Your ex-wife is here. Do you want to see her?"
He had turned around before she finished speaking. His grey eyes darkened as they met her brown ones, and she reminded herself again that she had not missed him at all. Oh no, not at all.
"Well, well, well. Weasley. I was wondering when you'd be back."
"Yes, I know. The owls were most persuasive."
"Not too persuasive, as it took you, what? Two months?"
"Let's see... Two weeks in Paris, then two lovely months in the Bahamas..."
"Ahum. Hello Ginny."
Zabini stepped forward to kiss her on the cheek. She forced herself to break eye contact with Draco, and stood on her toes to receive the kiss.
"Blaise! How nice to see you. How is life?"
"Great, now that you're back. I don't think Malfoy's left the office even once since-"
"Thank you, Blaise, that will be all for now. You get on the phone with Wimple, tell him he'll have the Prophet's vote in the next election, if he lets Whitby go."
"But there are no elections-!"
"Then he'll want to keep us happy, won't he? Go! Now!"
Blaise shrugged and left. Goyle lumbered out after him, closing the door behind them.
"Well well well, it's still the same old story, isn't it?"
"A fight for love and glory?" he smiled at her, and, damn the man, that was their song. Had been their song. Merlin, she didn't want to remember, and so she opened her bag to find a cigarette. But then a packet came flying through the air, and she only caught it thanks to
her old Quidditch reflexes. He knew her habits.
"That's a nice hat."
"I know, I got it in Paris. It's the latest in witches' fashions."
"Suits you very well. Are you ready to get back to work, Ginny? They're going to bury Kevin Whitby in Azkaban-"
"Oh no. Hold it right there, Malfoy. Not another story, not this time. That's not what I'm doing here. I'm a new woman. You don't know me anymore."
"I'd know you anytime, anyplace, anywhere." Suddenly, he was standing close to her, leaning down, hands on her arms. For a second, her body remembered the old patterns and she softened against him, almost... He gripped her harder.
She came to her senses and pushed him away.
"Let go! I'm not going to fall for your tricks again."
"Tricks, what tricks? I think you made a mistake when you decided to divorce me... I know you did. I've missed you, Gin. More than you'll..."
"Oh, stop it. Sending me two owls a day for ten weeks? Fresh roses every Wednesday morning? In the Bahamas? Draco, I'm only here to tell you to stop owling me. I'm not coming back. The papers are signed, I've got a new life and a new career-"
"Oh yeah? With what paper? The Quibbler? The Newe Sight? What are they paying you? I'll pay double! Well, I'll give you a ten percent increase on your old wages, and that's-"
"You'll never be able to match the offer I've had!"
"What? Are you defecting to the enemy? Don't tell me you've gone over to the Ministry, Weasley, that's..."
"No, not the Ministry."
"Not the Ministry? Well, then, I won't give you that raise."
"No, you won't. I’m getting married."
"Ah! I love a girl with some initiative. Now, you put me through some rough times these past few months, Ginny, but I forgive you. All right, I'll marry you again."
"To Neville Longbottom."
"We can maybe even do something about the apartment. Curtains- Excuse me?"
"I was wondering when you'd catch up. I'm getting married to Neville Longbottom."
"The hell you are!"
Ginny put out her cigarette.
"Don't you speak to me like that, Draco Malfoy. I only came to tell you to stop owling me. By this time tomorrow, I'll be Mrs. Neville Longbottom, of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales."
"...Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?"
"Yes. It’s Welsh."
"I've heard of it... A bit small for you, isn’t it?"
"It's a lovely place to raise children."
"You never wanted children!"
"I do now. I've realised I want a proper home, with curtains, and children, and – and home-cooked meals!"
"And Neville Longbottom!"
"Don't you use that tone of voice! Neville is a War hero!"
"Aren't we all?"
"Oh! Shut up." She grabbed her purse and made as if to leave.
"Wait!" he called out. So she waited. He wasn't going to...
"Listen, Kevin Whitby was at Hogwarts with us. Now they're saying he killed Dirk Cresswell, which is a damn lie. Cresswell was in bed with the goblins, everyone knows that, and-"
"Malfoy! I don't give a damn anymore!" She stormed out of his office, angry and disappointed. He only wanted her for her great copy!
Malfoy was right behind her, however.
"I think I'll say hello to Neville myself, if you don't mind."
"But I do mind!"
"That’s a shame... Hello, Longbottom. Long time no see, and all that... I hear you're marrying my wife?"
He grabbed Neville's hand and shook it enthusiastically.
"Oh, hello, Malfoy. Uh, yes, I am, only... Well, of course she's not your wife any longer-"
"Of course not. I just can't help thinking about her like that. You know, once you've shared a home, and a bed, and-"
"Shut it, Malfoy!" cried Ginny. "Neville, we should get going."
"Nonsense, we can't have you leaving just like that! I'm taking you two lovebirds to lunch!"
Ginny shot him the Glare of Death but Malfoy simply raised his eyebrow at her. Infuriating man!
"Oh, thanks, Draco, that's very kind of you... I'm not sure we have the time though, we have to pick up my Gran..."
Malfoy's face lit with unholy joy.
"Augusta Longbottom? She’s going to attend your wedding?"
"Oh, yes, and also, we're going to live with her, you know."
"Yes?"
"Yes, she insisted-"
"She'll be a great help with the children, darling," Ginny interjected.
"You shouldn’t call me 'darling', Ginny, not when you’re marrying-"
"I was not talking to you!"
"Actually, I’m not sure Gran will be much help with the children... She’s very set in her ways, and-"
"Darling! Draco is not interested in that. Let's just get going, well, bye, Malfoy, it's been... It's been."
She dragged Neville out the door but Malfoy was hot on their heels.
"Nonsense! I'm taking you two to lunch! I know Longbottom is an expert on gillyweed, and I've some questions about this new habit people have of smoking it."
"Oh!" Neville lit up, like he always did when someone mentioned something to do with Herbology, his chosen field. Ginny sighed.
"All right, but we're going to eat something expensive, Malfoy."
"Anything you want, Ginevra. Now hush, Neville was just going to tell us about gillyweed."
"Well, while dry gillyweed is certainly useable for smoking purposes, I wouldn’t..."
Ginny huffed and followed the two men out. She didn’t know what Malfoy was planning but she would not fall for his tricks again! Meanwhile, he could pay for the Firewhisky she longed to imbibe asap!
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