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ORIGINAL REQUEST:
BRIEFLY describe what you'd like to recieve: A nice, happy fic that doesn't descend into the saccharin or melodramatic.
The tone/mood of the fic: Not too heavy, and ends happily.
A theme/element/line of dialogue/object you want in your fic: Lipstick.
Canon of AU? Start from a canon basis. I'd prefer post-Hogwarts, so that the 'what happened in book seven' can be avoided without ignoring book six.
Rating of the fic you want: Any rating.
Deal breakers (what don't you want): The fic has to end happily, with Draco and Ginny together and in love. Neither of them can be dead, married to other people, in love with other people, or any other situation that interferes with them being together and happy unless it all gets satisfactorily (and realistically) resolved before the end of the fic.
Many thanks to my beta readers, the wonderful forgetablelove (one of the fic exchange mods) and Orual.
***
Curating Draco Malfoy
***
“WEASLEY!”
Ginny jumped and dropped her cup of tea; she turned looking around wildly. Then she realized that whoever had yelled had come from her fireplace. Still in her bathrobe, she scrambled into the living room of her flat to see Ian Page, the Chief Curator at the Wizarding Museum of London in her fireplace.
“Good you’re here, I don’t have time to be looking for you all over London,” he mumbled under his breath.
“How can I help you Mr. Page? Is this about our interview?” Ginny asked worriedly.
“Good news, you’re hired”
“Wait, really?”
“Yes, really. You are now a curator for the Wizarding Museum of London.”
Ginny smiled brightly and had to restrain herself to stop from jumping up in joy.
He scowled at her happiness. “Now I don’t have time to listen to you giggle like a schoolgirl so I’ll get to the point. Your employment rests on one thing; I want you to get a man named Draco Malfoy to donate one of his pieces. It’s a piece by Lamont and we need it for our new exhibit. It’s the one piece that—“
“I’m sorry what did you say his name was?” Ginny interrupted, her smile rapidly deflating.
“Draco Malfoy. You’ve probably heard of him. He’s all over those gossip rags that you women read.”
“Well I don’t read them,” Ginny mumbled. She did, but that wasn’t something her future boss really needed to know.
“Anyways it doesn’t matter. I need you to go over and convince him to loan us his painting for a month.”
“But I can’t!” she almost yelled out.
“And why can’t you?” he asked with just a hint of annoyance in his voice
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I used to go to school with him.”
“Even better.”
“Well we weren’t friends. Actually—”
“Honestly Weasley, that doesn’t even matter. I’m not paying you to be friends with him. I’m paying you to get that painting.”
“But—” Ginny wanted to point out that technically, she wasn’t getting paid at all yet.
“You either do this, or you’re fired before you even start.”
Ginny stared at the man before her. Of course, she had to get the unreasonable boss.
He continued, “Now the new trustee assured me that Malfoy won’t be too hard to convince. I’ll have my assistant owl you the details. You have one week.” His head disappeared abruptly.
Ginny stared into the fire. Her new boss was a complete ass. And this trustee who had mentioned Malfoy obviously had never met the man in his life.
How could anyone expect to just go straight to Draco Malfoy and ask him to lend you something, ask him to do you a favor? Draco Malfoy didn’t do favors unless there was something in it for him.
Ginny then decided that if she ever met this new trustee she would kick him in the shins.
Even though Ginny had gotten what she wanted, a job at one of the most prestigious museums in Wizarding London, she only had to convince her childhood enemy to loan her a priceless piece of art that could be worth millions.
She sighed and walked towards her bedroom to pick out some clothes.
If she was going to have to beg Malfoy for something, she was going to at least look damn good doing it.
…
Ginny had not seen or heard from Draco Malfoy since his graduation, although she had definitely heard a lot about him. What she knew stemmed from tawdry articles written by Rita Skeeter in the High Society section of the Daily Prophet. Ginny knew that he was successfully running the Malfoy fortune and that he had been seeing a string of models for the past year. The current model was one of the highest paid models in the world.
And, of course, he also went to the Ministry on occasion. She only knew this because Ron would go into week long fits whenever he bumped into him. On those weeks, Hermione was sure to spend at least one afternoon ranting to Ginny about how ridiculous her brother was.
Ginny was not surprised that Malfoy was able to get under Ron’s skin so easily. It wasn’t especially hard for anyone to bother Ron if you knew what buttons to push, and Malfoy clearly did.
Ginny looked up. The Malfoy Manor was impressive, to say in the least. If she hadn’t known that he had inherited it, she would have thought he was trying to overcompensate for something.
She rang the doorbell, and it automatically went off into what sounded suspiciously like a Chopin waltz. Trust Malfoy to go over the top with everything.
An intimidatingly tall man with fading grey hair opened the door. His stern eyes looked at her disapprovingly. Ginny faltered, she had expected a house elf or even Malfoy himself.
“Hi, I’m looking for a Draco Malfoy.”
“Yes?” he said loftily. Ginny paused. This butler was waiting for more.
“And I would like to speak with him, if possible.”
“State your purpose,” he demanded. Ginny looked at him incredulously. This was the rudest butler she had ever met in her life.
Nevertheless, Ginny put on a wide smile and began, “I’m a curator for the Wizarding Museum of London. I was told to get in touch with Mr. Malfoy about one of his paintings. Could I perhaps speak to him?”
The butler made a small disapproving noise but beckoned her to follow him into the mansion and left her in the foyer. Ginny wondered if he recognized her as a Weasley and that was why he showed her such disdain when he had no reason to. She took the opportunity to look around. Although it definitely wasn’t over the top, it still showed that Malfoy was extremely wealthy and that he had expensive taste to boot.
The butler returned, “Follow me madam”
Ginny followed. He led her into an office and before he left Ginny heard a voice say, “Would you bring me a cup of tea, Elias?”
“Certainly, sir.”
Ginny walked into the room uncertainly and looked at the man behind the desk. Draco Malfoy hadn’t changed much since Hogwarts. He still had the same blond hair, which he had let grow a little, and aristocratic features. Although somehow things seemed different, he was…less pointy. Draco was bent over his desk scribbling diligently. Without looking up he asked, “How may I help you?”
At that, Ginny knew that the butler obviously hadn’t said who she was. Malfoys did not ask Weasleys polite questions. She decided to take advantage of it while she still could and began the speech she had been practicing for the past hour, omitting her name of course.
“Hello Mr. Malfoy. I am here on the behalf of the Wizarding Museum of London. We are in the process of setting up our new exhibit and one of the pieces that was mentioned to us was the—”
“Not interested.” He said, dismissively without even looking up.
Ginny faltered. She had at least expected that he would let her finish.
She continued, “Now Mr. Malfoy if you would just let me finish—”
“But I’m not going to. So bugger off.”
Ginny frowned. Obviously time away from Hogwarts had not improved Draco Malfoy’s attitude.
Unsure of how else to proceed Ginny decided to continue from where she left off.
“We have become very interested in your painting by Lamont. Our new exhibit is—”
“I said I’m not interested. Now, if you please,” he said calmly, with his pen never pausing.
“But you didn’t even let me finish!”
“I don’t need to hear the rest. I’m not selling or donating or whatever you’re asking for.” He said without even looking up from his paper.
Ginny spluttered. How could this be happening? He hadn’t even heard her proposition! In fact, he hadn’t even looked up since she came into the room. The fact that he was saying no even though he hadn’t realized she was a Weasley was somewhat comforting. Until she realized, that either way the way things were going she wasn’t going to get that painting. But her job depended on this! The prospect of failure was becoming much more real and this petrified Ginny.
She attempted to collect herself and continue,
“Now Mr. Malfoy. The only reason I ask is because our new trustee asked me personally to come speak to you,” she lied. She had never met any of the trustees.
Draco put down his quill and looked up. Ginny thought she saw a flash of irritation in his eyes, “And who would this highly esteemed trustee be?”
“Uhh” Ginny faulted. “That is hardly relevant.” She had no idea.
“Umm,” He put his finger on his chin mimicking being deep in thought. “I think it is.”
Ginny looked at him carefully. He really had no idea who she was. Ginny attempted to stall.
“Well as the newest member of the board—”
“You mean Zabini?” Draco interrupted.
“Yes!” Ginny exclaimed glad that he at least knew who she was talking about. But did he mean Blaise Zabini? She tested him. “I trust you know him.”
“I do. I went to school with him.”
Yup, he meant Blaise Zabini. Ginny now knew who to direct her anger at and was not surprised at all that it was a Slytherin.
“Well surely you understand that he sent me here with the utmost confidence that you would be willing to loan your painting to the museum for a short period of time.”
“I do. Yet somehow, that still doesn’t matter to me.”
“But—”
“You can go back and tell him I’m not interested.” Draco picked his quill back up and resumed his writing. Ginny had to bite her tongue to stop herself from yelling at him.
“To tell you the truth, my job depends on this Mr. Malfoy,” Ginny bit out slowly hoping to drum up some sympathy.
“Well, to tell you the truth I could care less.”
Finally fed up, Ginny exploded. “Malfoy! For once in your life, could you try not to be a complete and total arse?”
Draco paused. Obviously he remembered what an angry Weasley sounded like. He looked up at her the confusion clear on his face. “Weasley?”
Ginny cursed. She had been hoping to go through the conversation without him realizing who she was.
“Yes, Weasley.”
“What the hell are you doing in my office?”
“Have you not been listening to me for the past fifteen minutes?”
“Of course I was. What I meant was why are you pretending to work at the Wizarding Museum of London?”
Ginny fumed. She had almost forgotten how infuriating Draco Malfoy could be. Now she understood why Ron always got so upset.
“I work for them. I am not pretending and now I need you to give me that painting.”
“Tough luck”
“What?!? Haven’t you been listening?! You’ll get it back in a month once the exhibit is over.”
“Yeah, I’m still going to go with no on this one. Now as excited as I am to have a Weasley begging me for something I’m afraid I have work to do.”
Ginny scowled; she was unsure as to how could he be so indifferent?
“Malfoy!”
“Weasley,” he reciprocated.
“There’s got to be something the museum can give you in exchange.”
Draco stared at her for a few minutes. A pensive look crossed his face and he seemed to finally be taking her in. Ginny shifted in her seat. Now that she finally had the undivided attention of Draco Malfoy, she was finding it unnerving. He finally broke the silence.
“There is something that you can do.”
“Really?” Ginny asked. She was willing to do just about anything.
“I’ll give you the painting if you do me a favor. I need help getting rid of someone.”
Ginny paused. The only way Draco Malfoy would want her help was if it was with something absolutely terrible.
“I’m not going to kill anyone for you Malfoy.”
He looked at her as if she were stupid. “I’m not trying to kill anyone. And even if I were you would be the last person I would ask right behind Santa Claus and Neville Longbottom. What I mean is I want you to get someone to leave me alone.”
Ginny ignored the former part of his statement. “Oh, alright. Who?”
“Pansy Parkinson. She thinks we’re dating.”
“You’re still dating Pansy! What about all those models?”
“What about them?”
“She’s ok with you going out and being seen with them all the time?”
“Of course not, but she’s under the impression that one of these days I’ll realize that I actually loved her all along and that I was wasting my time with those models. Then we’ll settle down and have tons of pug-nosed babies,” Draco said with clear disgust. Ginny had to stop herself from laughing.
“But what does this have to do with me?”
“Pansy doesn’t seem to realize that I’m serious when I say I dislike her immensely. It doesn’t help that her family just keeps egging her on. She thinks she’s being noble by waiting for me and no matter how much I try to get rid of her she just won’t leave.”
“And I repeat, what does this have to do with me?” Ginny asked clearly amused by the situation.
“It’s got everything to do with you. I’m finally realizing that the only way to get rid of her is to repulse her completely. Do something that even she can’t forgive.”
“And?”
“And I want her to think we’ve been sleeping together.”
“What?!!”
“You see, to Pansy you’re the absolute bottom of the barrel. If she thinks we’re sleeping together then she will definitely stop seeing me. She’ll be so repulsed by the fact that I would ever sleep with you that she’d never talk to me again.”
“How flattering,” Ginny deadpanned.
“Well, Weasley. What do you say? Do this and you can have your precious painting.”
Ginny sat there. She couldn’t believe she was honestly considering about pretending to be Draco’s bit on the side to repulse Pansy Parkinson. Any other time, she would have thought she was dreaming.
“Well, what do I have to lose?” she asked although she already knew the answer—just her dignity.
“Exactly.”
“I’m going to tell you this now Malfoy. We are not going to actually sleep together.”
“Of course not.”
“And no kissing either."
“That’s the last thing on my mind.”
“So…then how will you convince her that we’ve been sleeping together.”
Draco looked her up and down and said, “Follow me”
Ginny followed him up the stairs.
Draco led her into what was obviously his room. She looked around and said, “Sooooo.”
“Stop being so awkward Weasley. Are you wearing any lipstick?”
“A little.” Ginny wondered why Draco cared about her makeup.
“Good. He opened his wardrobe and pulled out a few shirts.
“Here.”
Ginny held the shirts, unsure of what he wanted her to do with them.
“Do you want me to wear them? I don’t see how that would help.”
“Stop being daft, I want you to mark them.”
“Umm, alright. Do you have a quill on you?”
Draco looked at her incredulously. “I know that we all have a right to be stupid every once in a while but you are abusing that privilege right now Weasley. Put the lipstick on the collar.”
Ginny looked at the shirt and felt stupid. Of course he wasn’t asking her to draw on his shirt. He looked at her expectantly, and Ginny looked for a good spot to mark the shirt.
She found a spot on the corner, and looked up at him to measure proportions. She took notice of where she would realistically kiss his neck and then looked at the shirt. She brought his shirt to her lips and lightly pressed her lips against it. At this point, Ginny noticed that Draco was beginning to look at her oddly. Uncomfortable with the staring, Ginny turned away from him.
Kissing his shirt felt odd and the shirt smelled distinctly masculine. She could not place it properly. It smelled of cleanliness and sandalwood, the latter of which she would not have attributed to Draco Malfoy. She kissed the other two shirts quickly before she could think about it any further and then turned around to give them back to Draco.
He looked at them and nodded in approval.
“Good. Alright, this should work.” He looked thoughtful “Do you have any perfume?”
“Not on me. I’m not a walking cosmetic store Malfoy.”
“Oh well, I guess I can get Elias to do that for me.”
Ginny doubted that Draco’s snobby butler would enjoy buying and spraying perfume around Malfoy’s bedroom.
He walked to the wardrobe to put the shirts back. Ginny sat there and felt rather foolish. If that was all she had to do for the paintings that was fine with her. She had expected something more elaborate. As if he had read her mind, he continued.
“This should work for tonight. Or at least it’s enough to get her suspicious. I’ll owl you later about further steps.”
“I won’t actually have to talk to Pansy will I?”
“Eh? Probably not. She doesn’t like to talk to Muggle lovers anyways.”
Ginny scowled at him.
Draco looked up. “Hey I’m just stating the obvious.”
…
When Ginny got back to her flat she found a regal owl perched on top of her fridge. It had obviously been waiting for her. She plucked the envelope from its beak and offered it a treat. The owl took the treat and almost half of Ginny’s finger before it flew away.
She opened it and read,
Weasley,
Be at my place tomorrow at 7PM.
DM
PS> Make sure to wear something nice this time.
Ginny scoffed. She always looked nice.
…
The butler did not look any more excited to see Ginny this time around. He actually turned his nose up at her before he led her to Draco’s bedroom. Ginny stuck her tongue out at his turned back.
Outside of Draco’s room, Ginny smoothed down the simple dress that she was wearing. It was a little shorter than her other dresses, but if she was going to pretend to be Draco Malfoy’s lover she had to at least play the part. And if she remembered correctly she had never seen any of the girls he dated wearing anything longer or bigger than a tea cozy. She patted down her hair which she had worn up for the night and opened the door. She walked into his bedroom for the second time. Draco was facing his mirror, untying his tie.
“Good, you’re on time.”
“Of course I am. I’m always on time.”
“Pansy came by yesterday. She saw the lipstick. She’s definitely suspicious.”
“Good, so what do I need to do?”
“Really I just need your presence. She comes and tries to bother me every night at around 7:30PM. When she sees you in here she’s bound to put two and two together. Are you wearing the same lipstick as last night?”
“Uh, yes,” Ginny replied. Draco had to really hate Pansy if he had spent this much time trying to get rid of her. Draco interrupted her thoughts,
“Well don’t just stand there. Take off your coat. At least try to look comfortable.”
Ginny snorted at the absurdity of that statement. How could she even pretend to be comfortable if she was about to pretend she was sleeping with the one boy who she couldn’t stand in her childhood. Nevertheless, she took off her coat and laid it on a nearby chair. She looked around unsure of what to do next.
At that point, Ginny heard a doorbell.
Draco cursed.
“She wasn’t supposed to be here until later,” he said obviously annoyed. He swiftly crossed the room to where Ginny was standing.
Ginny began to back up. What else was she supposed to do when Draco Malfoy was crowding her personal space?
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he snapped, “We need to make this look real Weasley.”
He reached behind her and quickly pulled out the pins that were holding her hair up. He ran his fingers through her hair, tussling it.
He was in no way gentle, yet Ginny found herself leaning in to his touch.
Draco pulled her closer and put an arm around her waist. His other hand made to frame her face. To an outsider, it looked as if they were about to kiss.
His cheek brushed her cheek lightly as his lips moved closer to hers.
“Remember, we have to make this look real,” he whispered.
Ginny’s skin was on fire. It was completely disconcerting to have him so close to her, especially since she had not been this close to a man in months.
His hand fell down to her neck and his thumb lightly stroked her pressure point. His lips stopped a mere millimeters away from hers. Obviously, he had not lied when he said that he would not kiss her. He would just get close enough that it looked like he was about to.
The only problem was that it was complete torture. It was complete torture to be held so intimately by someone and not do anything.
Ginny let her eyes close and tried to calm herself. She ordered her heart to stop beating so fast and for her body to not lean deliberately into his touch. Just when she thought she had gotten control over herself Draco let out a breath that he had been holding.
Ginny felt a cool rush of air on her cheek and neck and practically shivered. She then did something that she knew she would regret later.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She felt Draco stiffen in surprise. Just before she decided to lean back and run right out of there for making a fool out of herself, she felt Draco’s grip on her tighten.
His other hand moved back to frame her face as he moved his lips against hers. Ginny pressed her body against his trying to get as close to him as possible. She opened her mouth and his tongue slipped inside.
“What the hell is going on?!?!”
Ginny suddenly pulled away from Draco. He looked as surprised as she did. She had not meant for it to go that far. In fact, she had not meant to kiss him at all.
Pansy continued to shriek. Ginny, however, did not hear a thing Pansy was yelling as she was caught up in a staring contest with Draco Malfoy, who looked just as confused as she did.
He then pulled his eyes away from hers and focused his attention on Pansy. He narrowed his eyes and pulled Pansy outside of his room, shutting the door behind him.
Ginny stood in the room feeling foolish. She had not meant for that to happen. How does one go about explaining that they kissed Draco Malfoy. She began to gather her stuff quickly. She ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to neaten it, although she could not find the pins that Draco had haphazardly thrown on the floor.
She heard Pansy shriek through the door, “I never want to speak to you again!”
A few moments later, Draco slipped inside and slumped against the closest wall.
“Good riddance.”
He stayed like that for a few seconds and then he looked up. An indescribable emotion flashed across his face. Ginny sought to lighten the mood,
“So finally rid of her?”
“Most definitely. I doubt she’ll be coming back any time soon.”
“Perfect. So I guess this means that you’ll loan us your painting.”
“It does.”
“Wonderful!” She paused. “Well, it was nice working—”
“I told you that you didn’t have to kiss me.”
Ginny faltered. She answered after a few moments, “Yeah, I was just trying to make it as realistic as possible. No big—”
The door burst open and Pansy strode into the room,
“I still don’t believe you Draco Malfoy!”
Elias came running in after her,
“I tried to stop her—”
“I don’t believe you one bit! Even you know not to consort with trash!!”
Draco’s face twisted and he stared at Pansy with a look of pure loathing on his face.
“You don’t believe me!?” With those words he strode across the room, grabbed Ginny and kissed her for the second time that day. Ginny, although surprised at first, loosened up and somehow her arms found themselves draped across his shoulders.
The blood rushed to her ears, as his body pressed up against hers and his hands found purchase in the middle of her back. When his tongue found its way into her mouth she sighed and pressed her body even closer to his. She faintly heard some more shrieks and some stumbling around.
Ginny pulled back from Draco after a few more moments and looked around. The room was empty of both Elias and Pansy.
The fact was that she had kissed Draco Malfoy twice in one day. She was obviously going crazy.
“Pansy’s gone.”
“I know,” Draco said his eyes boring into hers.
“I should probably go,” Ginny said and made to go around him. Draco moved in front of her way and lightly touched her arms.
“No, stay.”
After a few moments Ginny looked up at him. She wasn’t sure whether or not she would regret it in the morning but she answered softly, “OK.”
BRIEFLY describe what you'd like to recieve: A nice, happy fic that doesn't descend into the saccharin or melodramatic.
The tone/mood of the fic: Not too heavy, and ends happily.
A theme/element/line of dialogue/object you want in your fic: Lipstick.
Canon of AU? Start from a canon basis. I'd prefer post-Hogwarts, so that the 'what happened in book seven' can be avoided without ignoring book six.
Rating of the fic you want: Any rating.
Deal breakers (what don't you want): The fic has to end happily, with Draco and Ginny together and in love. Neither of them can be dead, married to other people, in love with other people, or any other situation that interferes with them being together and happy unless it all gets satisfactorily (and realistically) resolved before the end of the fic.
Many thanks to my beta readers, the wonderful forgetablelove (one of the fic exchange mods) and Orual.
***
Curating Draco Malfoy
***
“WEASLEY!”
Ginny jumped and dropped her cup of tea; she turned looking around wildly. Then she realized that whoever had yelled had come from her fireplace. Still in her bathrobe, she scrambled into the living room of her flat to see Ian Page, the Chief Curator at the Wizarding Museum of London in her fireplace.
“Good you’re here, I don’t have time to be looking for you all over London,” he mumbled under his breath.
“How can I help you Mr. Page? Is this about our interview?” Ginny asked worriedly.
“Good news, you’re hired”
“Wait, really?”
“Yes, really. You are now a curator for the Wizarding Museum of London.”
Ginny smiled brightly and had to restrain herself to stop from jumping up in joy.
He scowled at her happiness. “Now I don’t have time to listen to you giggle like a schoolgirl so I’ll get to the point. Your employment rests on one thing; I want you to get a man named Draco Malfoy to donate one of his pieces. It’s a piece by Lamont and we need it for our new exhibit. It’s the one piece that—“
“I’m sorry what did you say his name was?” Ginny interrupted, her smile rapidly deflating.
“Draco Malfoy. You’ve probably heard of him. He’s all over those gossip rags that you women read.”
“Well I don’t read them,” Ginny mumbled. She did, but that wasn’t something her future boss really needed to know.
“Anyways it doesn’t matter. I need you to go over and convince him to loan us his painting for a month.”
“But I can’t!” she almost yelled out.
“And why can’t you?” he asked with just a hint of annoyance in his voice
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I used to go to school with him.”
“Even better.”
“Well we weren’t friends. Actually—”
“Honestly Weasley, that doesn’t even matter. I’m not paying you to be friends with him. I’m paying you to get that painting.”
“But—” Ginny wanted to point out that technically, she wasn’t getting paid at all yet.
“You either do this, or you’re fired before you even start.”
Ginny stared at the man before her. Of course, she had to get the unreasonable boss.
He continued, “Now the new trustee assured me that Malfoy won’t be too hard to convince. I’ll have my assistant owl you the details. You have one week.” His head disappeared abruptly.
Ginny stared into the fire. Her new boss was a complete ass. And this trustee who had mentioned Malfoy obviously had never met the man in his life.
How could anyone expect to just go straight to Draco Malfoy and ask him to lend you something, ask him to do you a favor? Draco Malfoy didn’t do favors unless there was something in it for him.
Ginny then decided that if she ever met this new trustee she would kick him in the shins.
Even though Ginny had gotten what she wanted, a job at one of the most prestigious museums in Wizarding London, she only had to convince her childhood enemy to loan her a priceless piece of art that could be worth millions.
She sighed and walked towards her bedroom to pick out some clothes.
If she was going to have to beg Malfoy for something, she was going to at least look damn good doing it.
…
Ginny had not seen or heard from Draco Malfoy since his graduation, although she had definitely heard a lot about him. What she knew stemmed from tawdry articles written by Rita Skeeter in the High Society section of the Daily Prophet. Ginny knew that he was successfully running the Malfoy fortune and that he had been seeing a string of models for the past year. The current model was one of the highest paid models in the world.
And, of course, he also went to the Ministry on occasion. She only knew this because Ron would go into week long fits whenever he bumped into him. On those weeks, Hermione was sure to spend at least one afternoon ranting to Ginny about how ridiculous her brother was.
Ginny was not surprised that Malfoy was able to get under Ron’s skin so easily. It wasn’t especially hard for anyone to bother Ron if you knew what buttons to push, and Malfoy clearly did.
Ginny looked up. The Malfoy Manor was impressive, to say in the least. If she hadn’t known that he had inherited it, she would have thought he was trying to overcompensate for something.
She rang the doorbell, and it automatically went off into what sounded suspiciously like a Chopin waltz. Trust Malfoy to go over the top with everything.
An intimidatingly tall man with fading grey hair opened the door. His stern eyes looked at her disapprovingly. Ginny faltered, she had expected a house elf or even Malfoy himself.
“Hi, I’m looking for a Draco Malfoy.”
“Yes?” he said loftily. Ginny paused. This butler was waiting for more.
“And I would like to speak with him, if possible.”
“State your purpose,” he demanded. Ginny looked at him incredulously. This was the rudest butler she had ever met in her life.
Nevertheless, Ginny put on a wide smile and began, “I’m a curator for the Wizarding Museum of London. I was told to get in touch with Mr. Malfoy about one of his paintings. Could I perhaps speak to him?”
The butler made a small disapproving noise but beckoned her to follow him into the mansion and left her in the foyer. Ginny wondered if he recognized her as a Weasley and that was why he showed her such disdain when he had no reason to. She took the opportunity to look around. Although it definitely wasn’t over the top, it still showed that Malfoy was extremely wealthy and that he had expensive taste to boot.
The butler returned, “Follow me madam”
Ginny followed. He led her into an office and before he left Ginny heard a voice say, “Would you bring me a cup of tea, Elias?”
“Certainly, sir.”
Ginny walked into the room uncertainly and looked at the man behind the desk. Draco Malfoy hadn’t changed much since Hogwarts. He still had the same blond hair, which he had let grow a little, and aristocratic features. Although somehow things seemed different, he was…less pointy. Draco was bent over his desk scribbling diligently. Without looking up he asked, “How may I help you?”
At that, Ginny knew that the butler obviously hadn’t said who she was. Malfoys did not ask Weasleys polite questions. She decided to take advantage of it while she still could and began the speech she had been practicing for the past hour, omitting her name of course.
“Hello Mr. Malfoy. I am here on the behalf of the Wizarding Museum of London. We are in the process of setting up our new exhibit and one of the pieces that was mentioned to us was the—”
“Not interested.” He said, dismissively without even looking up.
Ginny faltered. She had at least expected that he would let her finish.
She continued, “Now Mr. Malfoy if you would just let me finish—”
“But I’m not going to. So bugger off.”
Ginny frowned. Obviously time away from Hogwarts had not improved Draco Malfoy’s attitude.
Unsure of how else to proceed Ginny decided to continue from where she left off.
“We have become very interested in your painting by Lamont. Our new exhibit is—”
“I said I’m not interested. Now, if you please,” he said calmly, with his pen never pausing.
“But you didn’t even let me finish!”
“I don’t need to hear the rest. I’m not selling or donating or whatever you’re asking for.” He said without even looking up from his paper.
Ginny spluttered. How could this be happening? He hadn’t even heard her proposition! In fact, he hadn’t even looked up since she came into the room. The fact that he was saying no even though he hadn’t realized she was a Weasley was somewhat comforting. Until she realized, that either way the way things were going she wasn’t going to get that painting. But her job depended on this! The prospect of failure was becoming much more real and this petrified Ginny.
She attempted to collect herself and continue,
“Now Mr. Malfoy. The only reason I ask is because our new trustee asked me personally to come speak to you,” she lied. She had never met any of the trustees.
Draco put down his quill and looked up. Ginny thought she saw a flash of irritation in his eyes, “And who would this highly esteemed trustee be?”
“Uhh” Ginny faulted. “That is hardly relevant.” She had no idea.
“Umm,” He put his finger on his chin mimicking being deep in thought. “I think it is.”
Ginny looked at him carefully. He really had no idea who she was. Ginny attempted to stall.
“Well as the newest member of the board—”
“You mean Zabini?” Draco interrupted.
“Yes!” Ginny exclaimed glad that he at least knew who she was talking about. But did he mean Blaise Zabini? She tested him. “I trust you know him.”
“I do. I went to school with him.”
Yup, he meant Blaise Zabini. Ginny now knew who to direct her anger at and was not surprised at all that it was a Slytherin.
“Well surely you understand that he sent me here with the utmost confidence that you would be willing to loan your painting to the museum for a short period of time.”
“I do. Yet somehow, that still doesn’t matter to me.”
“But—”
“You can go back and tell him I’m not interested.” Draco picked his quill back up and resumed his writing. Ginny had to bite her tongue to stop herself from yelling at him.
“To tell you the truth, my job depends on this Mr. Malfoy,” Ginny bit out slowly hoping to drum up some sympathy.
“Well, to tell you the truth I could care less.”
Finally fed up, Ginny exploded. “Malfoy! For once in your life, could you try not to be a complete and total arse?”
Draco paused. Obviously he remembered what an angry Weasley sounded like. He looked up at her the confusion clear on his face. “Weasley?”
Ginny cursed. She had been hoping to go through the conversation without him realizing who she was.
“Yes, Weasley.”
“What the hell are you doing in my office?”
“Have you not been listening to me for the past fifteen minutes?”
“Of course I was. What I meant was why are you pretending to work at the Wizarding Museum of London?”
Ginny fumed. She had almost forgotten how infuriating Draco Malfoy could be. Now she understood why Ron always got so upset.
“I work for them. I am not pretending and now I need you to give me that painting.”
“Tough luck”
“What?!? Haven’t you been listening?! You’ll get it back in a month once the exhibit is over.”
“Yeah, I’m still going to go with no on this one. Now as excited as I am to have a Weasley begging me for something I’m afraid I have work to do.”
Ginny scowled; she was unsure as to how could he be so indifferent?
“Malfoy!”
“Weasley,” he reciprocated.
“There’s got to be something the museum can give you in exchange.”
Draco stared at her for a few minutes. A pensive look crossed his face and he seemed to finally be taking her in. Ginny shifted in her seat. Now that she finally had the undivided attention of Draco Malfoy, she was finding it unnerving. He finally broke the silence.
“There is something that you can do.”
“Really?” Ginny asked. She was willing to do just about anything.
“I’ll give you the painting if you do me a favor. I need help getting rid of someone.”
Ginny paused. The only way Draco Malfoy would want her help was if it was with something absolutely terrible.
“I’m not going to kill anyone for you Malfoy.”
He looked at her as if she were stupid. “I’m not trying to kill anyone. And even if I were you would be the last person I would ask right behind Santa Claus and Neville Longbottom. What I mean is I want you to get someone to leave me alone.”
Ginny ignored the former part of his statement. “Oh, alright. Who?”
“Pansy Parkinson. She thinks we’re dating.”
“You’re still dating Pansy! What about all those models?”
“What about them?”
“She’s ok with you going out and being seen with them all the time?”
“Of course not, but she’s under the impression that one of these days I’ll realize that I actually loved her all along and that I was wasting my time with those models. Then we’ll settle down and have tons of pug-nosed babies,” Draco said with clear disgust. Ginny had to stop herself from laughing.
“But what does this have to do with me?”
“Pansy doesn’t seem to realize that I’m serious when I say I dislike her immensely. It doesn’t help that her family just keeps egging her on. She thinks she’s being noble by waiting for me and no matter how much I try to get rid of her she just won’t leave.”
“And I repeat, what does this have to do with me?” Ginny asked clearly amused by the situation.
“It’s got everything to do with you. I’m finally realizing that the only way to get rid of her is to repulse her completely. Do something that even she can’t forgive.”
“And?”
“And I want her to think we’ve been sleeping together.”
“What?!!”
“You see, to Pansy you’re the absolute bottom of the barrel. If she thinks we’re sleeping together then she will definitely stop seeing me. She’ll be so repulsed by the fact that I would ever sleep with you that she’d never talk to me again.”
“How flattering,” Ginny deadpanned.
“Well, Weasley. What do you say? Do this and you can have your precious painting.”
Ginny sat there. She couldn’t believe she was honestly considering about pretending to be Draco’s bit on the side to repulse Pansy Parkinson. Any other time, she would have thought she was dreaming.
“Well, what do I have to lose?” she asked although she already knew the answer—just her dignity.
“Exactly.”
“I’m going to tell you this now Malfoy. We are not going to actually sleep together.”
“Of course not.”
“And no kissing either."
“That’s the last thing on my mind.”
“So…then how will you convince her that we’ve been sleeping together.”
Draco looked her up and down and said, “Follow me”
Ginny followed him up the stairs.
Draco led her into what was obviously his room. She looked around and said, “Sooooo.”
“Stop being so awkward Weasley. Are you wearing any lipstick?”
“A little.” Ginny wondered why Draco cared about her makeup.
“Good. He opened his wardrobe and pulled out a few shirts.
“Here.”
Ginny held the shirts, unsure of what he wanted her to do with them.
“Do you want me to wear them? I don’t see how that would help.”
“Stop being daft, I want you to mark them.”
“Umm, alright. Do you have a quill on you?”
Draco looked at her incredulously. “I know that we all have a right to be stupid every once in a while but you are abusing that privilege right now Weasley. Put the lipstick on the collar.”
Ginny looked at the shirt and felt stupid. Of course he wasn’t asking her to draw on his shirt. He looked at her expectantly, and Ginny looked for a good spot to mark the shirt.
She found a spot on the corner, and looked up at him to measure proportions. She took notice of where she would realistically kiss his neck and then looked at the shirt. She brought his shirt to her lips and lightly pressed her lips against it. At this point, Ginny noticed that Draco was beginning to look at her oddly. Uncomfortable with the staring, Ginny turned away from him.
Kissing his shirt felt odd and the shirt smelled distinctly masculine. She could not place it properly. It smelled of cleanliness and sandalwood, the latter of which she would not have attributed to Draco Malfoy. She kissed the other two shirts quickly before she could think about it any further and then turned around to give them back to Draco.
He looked at them and nodded in approval.
“Good. Alright, this should work.” He looked thoughtful “Do you have any perfume?”
“Not on me. I’m not a walking cosmetic store Malfoy.”
“Oh well, I guess I can get Elias to do that for me.”
Ginny doubted that Draco’s snobby butler would enjoy buying and spraying perfume around Malfoy’s bedroom.
He walked to the wardrobe to put the shirts back. Ginny sat there and felt rather foolish. If that was all she had to do for the paintings that was fine with her. She had expected something more elaborate. As if he had read her mind, he continued.
“This should work for tonight. Or at least it’s enough to get her suspicious. I’ll owl you later about further steps.”
“I won’t actually have to talk to Pansy will I?”
“Eh? Probably not. She doesn’t like to talk to Muggle lovers anyways.”
Ginny scowled at him.
Draco looked up. “Hey I’m just stating the obvious.”
…
When Ginny got back to her flat she found a regal owl perched on top of her fridge. It had obviously been waiting for her. She plucked the envelope from its beak and offered it a treat. The owl took the treat and almost half of Ginny’s finger before it flew away.
She opened it and read,
Weasley,
Be at my place tomorrow at 7PM.
DM
PS> Make sure to wear something nice this time.
Ginny scoffed. She always looked nice.
…
The butler did not look any more excited to see Ginny this time around. He actually turned his nose up at her before he led her to Draco’s bedroom. Ginny stuck her tongue out at his turned back.
Outside of Draco’s room, Ginny smoothed down the simple dress that she was wearing. It was a little shorter than her other dresses, but if she was going to pretend to be Draco Malfoy’s lover she had to at least play the part. And if she remembered correctly she had never seen any of the girls he dated wearing anything longer or bigger than a tea cozy. She patted down her hair which she had worn up for the night and opened the door. She walked into his bedroom for the second time. Draco was facing his mirror, untying his tie.
“Good, you’re on time.”
“Of course I am. I’m always on time.”
“Pansy came by yesterday. She saw the lipstick. She’s definitely suspicious.”
“Good, so what do I need to do?”
“Really I just need your presence. She comes and tries to bother me every night at around 7:30PM. When she sees you in here she’s bound to put two and two together. Are you wearing the same lipstick as last night?”
“Uh, yes,” Ginny replied. Draco had to really hate Pansy if he had spent this much time trying to get rid of her. Draco interrupted her thoughts,
“Well don’t just stand there. Take off your coat. At least try to look comfortable.”
Ginny snorted at the absurdity of that statement. How could she even pretend to be comfortable if she was about to pretend she was sleeping with the one boy who she couldn’t stand in her childhood. Nevertheless, she took off her coat and laid it on a nearby chair. She looked around unsure of what to do next.
At that point, Ginny heard a doorbell.
Draco cursed.
“She wasn’t supposed to be here until later,” he said obviously annoyed. He swiftly crossed the room to where Ginny was standing.
Ginny began to back up. What else was she supposed to do when Draco Malfoy was crowding her personal space?
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he snapped, “We need to make this look real Weasley.”
He reached behind her and quickly pulled out the pins that were holding her hair up. He ran his fingers through her hair, tussling it.
He was in no way gentle, yet Ginny found herself leaning in to his touch.
Draco pulled her closer and put an arm around her waist. His other hand made to frame her face. To an outsider, it looked as if they were about to kiss.
His cheek brushed her cheek lightly as his lips moved closer to hers.
“Remember, we have to make this look real,” he whispered.
Ginny’s skin was on fire. It was completely disconcerting to have him so close to her, especially since she had not been this close to a man in months.
His hand fell down to her neck and his thumb lightly stroked her pressure point. His lips stopped a mere millimeters away from hers. Obviously, he had not lied when he said that he would not kiss her. He would just get close enough that it looked like he was about to.
The only problem was that it was complete torture. It was complete torture to be held so intimately by someone and not do anything.
Ginny let her eyes close and tried to calm herself. She ordered her heart to stop beating so fast and for her body to not lean deliberately into his touch. Just when she thought she had gotten control over herself Draco let out a breath that he had been holding.
Ginny felt a cool rush of air on her cheek and neck and practically shivered. She then did something that she knew she would regret later.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She felt Draco stiffen in surprise. Just before she decided to lean back and run right out of there for making a fool out of herself, she felt Draco’s grip on her tighten.
His other hand moved back to frame her face as he moved his lips against hers. Ginny pressed her body against his trying to get as close to him as possible. She opened her mouth and his tongue slipped inside.
“What the hell is going on?!?!”
Ginny suddenly pulled away from Draco. He looked as surprised as she did. She had not meant for it to go that far. In fact, she had not meant to kiss him at all.
Pansy continued to shriek. Ginny, however, did not hear a thing Pansy was yelling as she was caught up in a staring contest with Draco Malfoy, who looked just as confused as she did.
He then pulled his eyes away from hers and focused his attention on Pansy. He narrowed his eyes and pulled Pansy outside of his room, shutting the door behind him.
Ginny stood in the room feeling foolish. She had not meant for that to happen. How does one go about explaining that they kissed Draco Malfoy. She began to gather her stuff quickly. She ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to neaten it, although she could not find the pins that Draco had haphazardly thrown on the floor.
She heard Pansy shriek through the door, “I never want to speak to you again!”
A few moments later, Draco slipped inside and slumped against the closest wall.
“Good riddance.”
He stayed like that for a few seconds and then he looked up. An indescribable emotion flashed across his face. Ginny sought to lighten the mood,
“So finally rid of her?”
“Most definitely. I doubt she’ll be coming back any time soon.”
“Perfect. So I guess this means that you’ll loan us your painting.”
“It does.”
“Wonderful!” She paused. “Well, it was nice working—”
“I told you that you didn’t have to kiss me.”
Ginny faltered. She answered after a few moments, “Yeah, I was just trying to make it as realistic as possible. No big—”
The door burst open and Pansy strode into the room,
“I still don’t believe you Draco Malfoy!”
Elias came running in after her,
“I tried to stop her—”
“I don’t believe you one bit! Even you know not to consort with trash!!”
Draco’s face twisted and he stared at Pansy with a look of pure loathing on his face.
“You don’t believe me!?” With those words he strode across the room, grabbed Ginny and kissed her for the second time that day. Ginny, although surprised at first, loosened up and somehow her arms found themselves draped across his shoulders.
The blood rushed to her ears, as his body pressed up against hers and his hands found purchase in the middle of her back. When his tongue found its way into her mouth she sighed and pressed her body even closer to his. She faintly heard some more shrieks and some stumbling around.
Ginny pulled back from Draco after a few more moments and looked around. The room was empty of both Elias and Pansy.
The fact was that she had kissed Draco Malfoy twice in one day. She was obviously going crazy.
“Pansy’s gone.”
“I know,” Draco said his eyes boring into hers.
“I should probably go,” Ginny said and made to go around him. Draco moved in front of her way and lightly touched her arms.
“No, stay.”
After a few moments Ginny looked up at him. She wasn’t sure whether or not she would regret it in the morning but she answered softly, “OK.”
The End.
Madame Puddifoot is the author of 2 other stories.
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This story is a favorite of 22 members. Members who liked Curating Draco Malfoy also liked 1522 other stories.
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