My Soul Belongs To You

Chapter 10

Draco Reaches Out

Two weeks later, Draco was still waiting for the press's attention towards Ginny to die down. It was horrible; they reported everything she did, every visitor she received, what time they arrived and how long they stayed. Ginny and Lily literally couldn't breathe without the press reporting on it. She would speak to him by Floo every couple of days.

“I never thought I would be glad to say this, but I'm happy the boys aren't here. At least at Hogwarts they get left alone for the most part,” Ginny explained one evening.

“Ginny, this is crazy. You need a break away from all of this,” Draco said.

“You’re telling me! I can't even go out to buy Christmas gifts for the kids. Well I could, but they would know what they were getting the day after I bought it,” she complained.

“Are they planning on coming home for Christmas this year?” he asked.

“Honestly, I was thinking of telling them to stay at Hogwarts so that they won't have to deal with all of this.”

“This Christmas is going to be hard for all of you. I think you should be together,” Draco pushed. Ginny didn't reply. “Gin, you can't stop living! They need to see that life goes on.”

“It's going to be hard! I don't even want to think about Christmas dinner at the Burrow.”

That's when Draco got a brilliant brainstorm. “Ginny, maybe you don't need Christmas to be the same. I mean you and your children still need to celebrate it, but maybe you need to do it differently from any other way you've done before. Don't do the dinner with the whole family; that just fills your heads with memories of past Christmases. Make new memories.”

“Like what?”

“How about Christmas on a beach somewhere.”

“No, Christmas must have snow. No two ways about it.”

“Ginny, what if I could promise you a Christmas holiday with no reporters? Complete peace?”

“You can't do that.”

“I can. Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Draco, you know I do, but what are you thinking?” she inquired in return, eying him suspiciously.

“I want to offer you and your children the Malfoy chalet in the Canadian Rockies.”

“What about the press?”

“I'll set it all up. You and Lily can Apparate there from your place, and I will collect your sons along with Scorpius from Hogwarts. The press will believe you’re visiting one of your relatives because the boys won't come back on the Express. Sure, the press will look all over for you, but if you’re staying at a Malfoy property, they will never even bother to think about checking for you there. You and your children will stay at the chalet and Scorpius and I will stay in a nearby hotel. We can spend some time together, but Christmas Day you and your children will be left alone to do what you all feel is right.”

“It sounds good, but...I'm not sure. Can I think about it?” she asked, worried about how the kids might take it.

“Take as long as you need. You know I'll be here when you’re ready,” he promised.

Two days later, Ginny placed a Floo call to Draco. “I have thought about it, and I was thinking about NOT going, but then I talked with Ron. He doesn't like the fact that you’re involved, but he thinks it's a good idea.”

“Really?” Draco said in a very UN-Malfoy way. “Ahem...I mean, that’s great. Do you want to head there early and have a chance to get some Christmas shopping done?”

“No. One of the benefits of having a big family is that I can get different people to go out and get stuff for the kids from me and they'll never know.”

“Ginny, I really want to see you before that,” Draco confessed.

She laughed at him. “You know you’re almost forty not sixteen, right?”

“I know, it's just-”

“To be so close and yet so far away,” she finished for him.

He sighed. “Exactly. I remember hearing that if love is starved, it dies. Well then, why do I still feel the same way about you as I did nineteen years ago?”

“I wish I could tell you, because then I would understand why I feel like I do.”

Draco could hear the pain in her voice. “I never wanted to hurt you,” he declared.

“Sometimes things just happen, which is more likely when your name is Malfoy.”

“Sorry, it's just part of nature when one is dealing with the likes of Weasleys and Potters.” He paused. “Maybe you could come over here for dinner before Christmas?”

“Draco, I have lots to do, like I was hoping to clean out Harry's clothing and stuff like that. I don't want the constant reminder of him when we get back. It just makes things so hard; to open the cupboard every morning and see his stuff there.”

“Sorry, love. I never had to face that with Astoria. She had her own room.”

“It doesn't help with the kids being older, either. Lily has started sleeping in one of Harry's favorite t-shirts, and Albus was always so close to Harry, I'm worried about tossing something that he felt was special.”

“I understand, but why the clothing?” Draco asked, confused.

“They still hold Harry's scent in them. I can't tell you the number of times I walked into the bedroom and for that split second thought it was all a bad dream and that he was still here.” She realized what she was doing. “I'm sorry, I have to go!” she said quickly, hoping to close the connection before she started to cry.

“I'm coming through,” Draco warned.

“No Draco, don't.” But he stepped through as she finished saying this.

He took a second to clean himself off before stepping towards her. Once he was close enough he pulled her into his arms to comfort her. “I understand, Ginevra. I might not like it, but I understand. You spent eighteen years as his wife and you share three children. And I know you DID love him. I guess it's only natural to want him to still be here.”

She shook her head “But it's not right to talk to you about this; it's not fair to you.” Tears of guilt were falling down her cheeks.

“Do I like hearing that you love him and miss him? No, but you need someone to talk to about it, and I'm glad that you're comfortable enough to open up to me.”

“Why are you being so unlike the Draco I've known all these years?”

“Because I lived long enough without you to be willing to put up with a lot to be with you now. Just don't push me away; not now, not after all this time.”

She looked up into his eyes and could see him pleading with her. “I'm not. I just...I'm really messed up right now.”

He gently pulled her to the sofa. “I'm not going to rush you. Ginny, once we're together, really together again, I don't want you to have any doubts or regrets about us. I'm willing to give you all the time you need,” he assured her. “However, I do ask that you try to remember that for the last eighteen years, he had you and I did not, so please forgive me if I come across bitter towards him.”

She smiled at him. “And that would be different from any other time, how?”

“Ginevra, I mean it. For all those years, he had everything I wanted. And why? Because The Dark Lord decided that a baby could bring him down.”

“Draco, Harry never asked for any of the stuff he had to deal with,” Ginny defended her late husband.

“I never said he did, but because of that he got handed everything I wanted.”

Ginny's eyes grew cold. “Everything you wanted? Really? You wanted to be raised by Muggles who were cruel and abusive to you? You wanted to wear clothing that never fit you right? To sleep in a cupboard under the stairs until they realized others knew about that? You wanted to go around hearing how everything you did was wrong or bad? Harry didn't even know what it felt like to be hugged by a parental figure until he was fourteen!” she screamed at Draco. “The only reason you didn't have what you wanted was because you were too afraid of Daddy to stand up to him when you could have had what you claimed to have wanted! Money meant more to you than ME!” She stormed out of the room.

Draco stood dumbfounded in the room, unsure of what to do or what had just happened. The walls of the house shook when Ginny slammed her bedroom door shut. Draco looked around the room; there were groups of photos everywhere. He walked over to one table that held several and picked up a photo of the Potter family. He had to admit; they did look like the perfect family. They all looked happy. It just made him hate Harry more, and he knew he had to talk to Ginny about this. He set the photo down and headed up after Ginny.

He stood at her door and called to her, “Clearly there are still things we need to talk about. Please come out.”

“No!” she sobbed.

“Please, I would rather talk to you about this downstairs rather than in the bedroom the two of you shared, but I will come in if I have to.” After a few seconds he heard her moving around the room, then the door opened only a crack, just enough to make eye contact. “You're right. I should have talked to Lucius. I'm sorry,” he finished.

She opened the door a little more.

Draco reached out for her hand and led her to the stairs. “But you could have stood up to your family too.”

She stopped following him and sat down on the top step. “What would have been the point? You were quite clear about what you were going to do.”

He stopped and looked down at her, then sat down a couple of steps down from her. “You're right, but I have had to live with that mistake for years. It's odd because the same thing that made it hard to live with is what made it bearable. It's the fact that you were happy.” He paused, “Not a day goes by that I haven't thought about how different it could have been; if you would have been able to carry and deliver the two babies Astoria could not, what Scorpius would look like with you as his mother. And, of course, the idea of coming home to you each night.” He smiled at her, “I know the number of sexual partners I had would have been less.” He smiled without humor this time.

“Do you really think you could have remained faithful to me?”

He nodded. “You’re the only one I could be faithful to, because you're the only one I truly love. No one else.” He reached out for her hand and took it in his. “Where's Lily?”

“She's at Ron and Hermione's tonight.”

“Ginny, you must realize most of that stuff about Harry's childhood are exaggerated facts,” he said carefully.

“I understand why you think that. I wondered once too, and then a couple of years back Harry's uncle, Vernon, passed away. He didn't want to go to the service, but I went to see the house a couple of days later. I met his cousin, Dudley, and he confirmed every fact. Harry's childhood was hell. Really, it's no surprise he took a dislike to you as quickly as he did. We always thought it was a little odd how he liked our place so much; the Burrow, I mean. He was Harry Potter, and he thought our house was the greatest place in the world. We all understood what we had and what we didn’t have, but compared to Harry, we were as rich as kings. Or Malfoys. We had a family who loved us and encouraged us. Really Draco, your family treats house elves better than Harry was treated at home.”

He could only look at her, not knowing what to say. After a long silence, he spoke, “I'll always be willing to say that not talking to my father about you was the biggest mistake I ever made, but I think I served my sentence. I spent eighteen years in hell for it.”

Author notes: A/N- I'm not sure when the next update will come for this story as I'm due to have my baby very soon. However it just needs to be betaed and there are more chapters written as well, so please be patient with me and my betas and remember this is not the story I'm working on,I have more posted on another site not listed here because of the pairing! But please feel free to leave me a review, they serve to make me want to post more sooner.

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