Ginny awoke the next morning with a lot on her mind, the main thing being Draco Malfoy; why she let the blond constantly invade her thoughts these days was beyond her. There was just something so mysterious about the darn bugger that she enjoyed trying to figure out, but that was a mystery she knew would most likely never be solved.
She could hear talking from down in the kitchen and figured they had company for breakfast, probably one of her brothers, so she went straight to the bathroom and got showered and dressed before she made her morning appearance. She pulled on some tight jeans and one of her many faded T-shirts and threw her hair up into a messy ponytail then headed downstairs.
As she walked into the kitchen, she was quite surprised to see it was Harry who was at the table in deep conversation with her father.
"Oh, Harry...... thought it was George or something down here," she said taking a seat across from him.
"Hey, Gin, I needed to talk to Mr. Weasley about some work stuff and thought I'd apologize in person for once again canceling on you."
"It's fine, Harry......... I guess I'll forgive you," she smirked, receiving a small smile from him. Ginny reached over and grabbed a piece of toast and took in her father's work attire with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were off today, Dad?"
"I am, however, I have a meeting with Mr. Chamberlain today in the Auror department," he said casually, picking up the Daily Prophet from the table and skimming through it.
As soon as Ginny heard the name she suddenly remembered the Auror from Diagon Alley yesterday and knew his face looked familiar.
"Oh, well, what's so important that it can't wait until tomorrow?" she pressed on.
"Actually, it's about Draco Malfoy....... apparently he was in Diagon Alley yesterday and a local pub owner was concerned about his sudden appearance."
Ginny's eyes went wide and she thought back to her outing with Draco yesterday. "I don't understand; why is that concerning?" she asked in annoyance.
"I suppose it just has some people on edge to see any of the Malfoy family out and about, especially because they haven't been spotted in the public eye in quite some time." Arthur sighed.
"So why a meeting about it?" she quickly asked.
"It's probably just a quick check-in, Gin; Chamberlain supposedly was in the area yesterday and is just going over any suspicious activity that might have gone on," Harry shrugged, dumping the rest of his juice in his mouth and getting up from the table. "Well, I'm going to head out a bit earlier... meet you there, Arthur?"
"Certainly," Arthur mumbled through a mouthful of eggs.
Ginny jumped up as he stood and everyone's eyes fell on her. "Uh, Harry... I'll walk you out."
"Ok," he said, looking at her questioningly.
She was behind him in a moment, practically pushing him out the front door before anyone could question her sudden urge to walk him out.
"What's going on, Gin?" he asked.
"I need to tell you something," she said quietly as she closed the front door behind her. "But you can't say anything to my parents."
"Why? What is it?"
She hesitated for a moment. "Listen, I was with Draco yesterday in Diagon Alley...I -"
"WAIT. WHAT?"
"SHH! Harry, please be quiet, I really don't want a lecture from my parents."
"FINE, THEN I'LL GIVE YOU ONE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HANGING OUT WITH DRACO MALFOY?"
"Dammit, Harry, I said to be quiet, "she hissed, dragging him out towards the grassy field. "And by the way, I can hang out with whoever I damn well please."
"Is this because I canceled our plans?"
"WHAT? NO!"
"Because if it is-"
"IT'S NOT!" she yelled angrily, making him fall silent when he saw the fierce glare she gave him. "It's not... I just figured since our plans were canceled, I would try to help Dad out by playing nice with the Malfoys that's all."
"Well, don't, just stick to dinner plans with your parents and them, don't take matters into your own hands... you need to be careful, Ginny."
"Why? You do realize they are just regular people, what is so bad about it?"
He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Ok, scratch that question," she mumbled, thinking about the history they had involving the Malfoys.
"Please, Ginny, trust me on this."
"Fine, whatever, just please don't say anything to my parents."
"I won't, but Chamberlain will...I'll wait until Arthur gets to the Ministry and tell him before the meeting so he is prepared when your name comes up, but that's the best I can do."
Ginny let out a long frustrated sigh. "Fine, thanks......I guess," she said, turning to make her way back inside and then stopped. "Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"What came up?"
"What do you mean?"
"Yesterday when you canceled our lunch date... what came up?" she asked, although she knew full well that it was Cho Chang that "came up".
He stared at her for a moment and remained silent as he tried to find his words.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Ginny mumbled, turning back towards the door.
"Gin, wait, I-"
"Bye, Harry," she said, cutting him off quickly and slamming the door closed before he could try to explain.
_________________________________________________________
A week had gone by since Ginny's outing with Draco and nothing ever came about after the meeting with Chamberlain, although, Ginny sure did hear an earful from her parents afterward. They went on about how unfriendly and dangerous it was to be alone with the Malfoy family and some other rubbish she drowned out as her mum went off on a rant.
After the meeting with Chamberlain, Ginny's parents sent out a dinner invite to the Malfoy family to join them at the Burrow and to all of their surprise it was accepted and tonight was the big event. Ginny already knew it was going to be dreadful, especially since most of her brothers would be joining them for dinner tonight and Harry as well.
She was in the middle of brushing her hair when she heard a knock at her bedroom door.
"Come in."
"Hey, Ginny!" came Hermione's voice and a pair of arms that were thrown around Ginny's neck that pulled her into a tight hug.
"Hey, Hermione," she giggled at how excited Hermione always was to see her. "How's the wedding planning coming?"
"Everything is coming along splendidly, can't believe I'll be getting married in less than two months." she squealed with excitement.
"Alright, settle down... it's just Ron after all," she teased. "Speak of the devil," she said as her brother walked into her bedroom and gave her a bone-crushing hug.
"Ow, do you have to squeeze me so tight?" she muffled out against his chest.
"No, but I know how much it annoys you so, yes... I have to," he joked finally releasing her from his grasp.
"Ginny, are you ready? The Malfoys will be here any moment... get downstairs all of you," said Mrs. Weasley from the doorway.
Ginny watched her brother shake his head as he obviously disagreed with the entire idea of making nice with the Malfoy family, especially Draco Malfoy.
"Speaking of that bloody git, what the hell are you doing hanging around him? Especially alone?" Ron asked angrily, but still with a concerned look on his face.
"Well, I see word spreads fast," Ginny said, rolling her eyes and then looked at herself in the mirror.
"Ron is just looking out for you, Ginny," Hermione gently said.
"I know, but honestly its nothing to be concerned about, it was supposed to be a simple lunch to show face to help Dad out and it got blown out of proportion," she shrugged.
"Well, what did you expect would happen? A guy like Draco Malfoy just can't go strolling around Diagon Alley after everything that went down," Ron explained. "The whole Wizarding world is either pissed off at the bloody lot of them or scared of the poor bastards."
Ginny turned to glare at her brother for a moment at how heartless he sounded.
"Honestly, Ronald, can't you pretend to be civil for your father's sake? Suck it up and let's get downstairs," Hermione chimed in after seeing the look on Ginny's face.
Ginny heard him start to mumble under his breath a slew of inappropriate words that she couldn't exactly make out, but she had an idea of who it was aimed at. She just smiled at how wound up her brother got around the Slytherin and he wasn't even here yet. She watched Hermione place a hand on his back as she led him downstairs and tried to calm him down and went on about how it was more for his father than anything. She thought it was quite sweet the way Hermione was always able to keep Ron's temper at bay and she could see how happy the two of them were together.
Finally snapping out of her thoughts, she followed the rest of them downstairs to the living room where she saw Harry coming over to greet her.
"Hey, Gin," he said with a slight smile.
She thought about the words they exchanged a week ago and decided to just forget about the whole thing. She just flashed him a quick smile and said a quick hello back.
"Harry?" came a low voice from across the room, "I saved a seat at the table for you."
Ginny's smile tightened and became more of a blank expression as she saw Cho Chang standing in the kitchen doorway. Her eyes darted to Harry's for a moment and then back to Cho's.
"Oh hey, Ginny," Cho said cheerfully.
"H-hey... Cho," she finally managed to force out. "I didn't realize you were joining us this evening," she said through clenched teeth, glaring at Harry.
"Hope that's ok, Harry invited me."
"Oh, he did? That's great," she said sarcastically, trying to keep it sounding as welcoming as possible, although, if she clenched her teeth anymore, she thought they might break.
"I'll be right there, Cho," Harry said, waving for her to go on without him. He turned back to Ginny and saw how angry she was. "Gin, I know you're not fond of Cho, but we've been-"
"You don't need to explain, Harry, its fine," she said, putting her hand up to stop him from continuing. "I just don't understand what possessed you to bring her here tonight," she spat before making her way towards the kitchen.
"I checked with your parents and they didn't mind-"
"WHAT ABOUT WITH ME?" she shouted suddenly, turning around so fast that her bright orange hair whipped him in the face. She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the side hall and lowered her voice. "I'm sorry, but I think given the circumstances, you maybe, JUST maybe, would have asked or warned me before you brought her here. I get it, I know you guys have grown closer, but that still doesn't change the past, Harry."
Harry sighed. "You're right, Gin, I wasn't thinking... do you want me to ask her to leave? I can make up something."
"NO! It's just... If my parents knew what really happened between us... I can guarantee you Cho wouldn't be sitting at that table... and maybe even you," she said fiercely, poking him hard in the chest.
"You know that's not how things went down between us," he said, suddenly getting defensive.
She saw his eyes leave hers for a moment and travel to over her shoulder where Draco was standing. Harry looked at Ginny one last time; a bit of anger and sadness on his face before he walked over to the Slytherin.
"Draco," he said, acknowledging the blond before him.
"Potter," Draco responded stiffly.
They both exchanged a look as if this wasn't their first time seeing each other in years, almost as if there were unspoken words between them that neither wanted to exchange... at the moment anyway.
Ginny watched them both for a moment before Harry went into the kitchen and then looked oddly at the way Draco was standing there. He had an expression she really couldn't make out; it was somewhat of a sneer, but also a bit of amusement. She wasn't sure if he heard their whole conversation, but she really didn't care either.
"What was that about?" she asked, steering the conversation from going towards anything he may have heard her and Harry discussing.
"Nothing," he said, shrugging it off.
Ginny just rolled her eyes, "Anyway, how's it going in there?"
"Well, let's just say I was rather happy when your mum asked me to come find you for supper," he drawled.
"Well, at least one of my brothers hasn't tried to kill you yet," she joked, walking through the kitchen door with him behind her.
Dinner went by a lot better than expected; it was definitely awkward having them all so close together around the table. Narcissa made her sarcastic remarks here and there about the state of the Burrow and such, but Mrs. Weasley didn't let it get to her this time. Ron did nothing but glare at Draco from across the table which didn't seem to bother the Slytherin one bit, in fact, he seemed rather smug that he still had such an effect on the Weaslebee. Thankfully, George did most of the talking about the joke shop and all these new products they had. Ginny was a bit surprised to see her father and Lucius exchange a few words and even at one point get into the slightest of conversations.
She was sure the only reason Lucius and Narcissa even accepted the invite to the Burrow was because of the whole Diagon Alley outing. Chamberlain ended up going to Malfoy Manor and questioned Draco and his parents about him being at the pub with her, which she was sure his parents were furious about and probably blamed her for it... which they should since it was her idea. Despite whom they pointed a finger at, they saw it as more of a reason to try and make things work so that Lucius could still be considered for a position at the Ministry.
"So, Dad, how are things at the Ministry?" Percy casually asked.
"To be quite honest things are rather hectic at the moment, a lot of open cases and next to no leads on any of them," Arthur sighed.
"Yeah, we're still trying to track down this Flixsly guy, but we haven't had any luck," Harry chimed in.
Ginny noticed Draco's eyes dart up to his parents at the mention of Flixsly's name and then Narcissa and Lucius also exchanged a look. The look Narcissa gave her husband was one of uncertainty and then she watched Lucius give her a slight nod.
"Peter Flixsly?" Lucius asked suddenly.
The room became completely quiet at Lucius' question and Harry and Arthur looked at each other and then back to Lucius.
"Yes, Peter Flixsly; his last known whereabouts were just a bit south from here, but when we went to check it out there was no such house, building or even trace that he ever was there," Arthur explained.
"He was originally being sought out for a string of robberies and as a suspect in a... particular case, however, with him being a squib it's hard to-"
"He's not," Lucius quickly said, cutting Harry off.
Again, Harry and Arthur exchanged a look. "What do you mean 'he's not'?" Harry asked.
Lucius kept his head down as he was heavy in thought for a moment before he looked back up and glared towards Harry and reluctantly began to speak. "Flixsly is most definitely not a Squib; however, he certainly has everyone fooled that he is." Lucius paused for a moment and turned towards his wife, who gave another small nod for him to continue. "He developed his magical abilities later in life, but kept it a secret, which proved useful to..." Lucius trailed off before he could speak Voldemort's name. "He is also an unregistered Animagus... a mole as I recall which could be why you're having such difficulty locating him."
"How do you know this?" Arthur gently asked; the whole room was silent as they anxiously waited for the response.
Narcissa, noticing how difficult it was for her husband to give out so much information that they feared could later cause problems for them, decided to jump in. "He was a servant of the Dark Lord... I mean Voldemort," she said quickly.
"Why would Voldemort want a Squib working for him?" Ron jumped in.
"Are you even listening? You daft git, he wasn't a Squib after all." Draco spat.
"Screw you, Malfoy, forgive me for not being caught up on the Death Eater newsletter," Ron shot back.
At this point, they both jumped up from their seats with their hands already reaching for their wands.
"RONALD!" Molly yelled out. "YOU SIT YOUR BLOODY ARSE DOWN BEFORE I SIT IT DOWN FOR YOU!"
Ron just sneered at Draco before shooting an apologetic look over to his mother.
Draco caught his parents angrily looking at him for acting so carelessly. He saw his mother's gaze pierce into his with such anger. "Sit.....down.....now.....Draco," she said firmly through clenched teeth.
Draco turned his attention towards Ron again and just felt nothing but anger; he wasn't even sure if it was at him or just anger in general. He was pulled from his angry thoughts when he felt a light tug on his pants from under the table and he slowly began to sit back down followed by Ron.
Draco watched the conversation start to slowly start up again between his father, Harry, and Arthur before he turned towards Ginny and then down towards her hand on his pant leg. He stared at it for a quick moment and then looked back up at her where she met his gaze with a slight smile. She just shook her head and playfully rolled her eyes at the whole scene that unfolded before turning her attention back to the conversation.
By the time dinner was over, a lot of tension had filled the room and everyone seemed to be biting their tongues. Ginny could see that Lucius and Narcissa were mortified that they even had to step foot in the Burrow and were ready to go.
"Well, this was... "
"Difficult to get through," Molly bluntly stated, finishing Narcissa's sentence for her.
Narcissa looked at her for a moment and forced a smile on her face. "Exactly... perhaps we will stick to dinners at the Manor since space here is quite...." she stopped and looked around the tiny room and gave a smirk, "limited," she finished, flashing Molly an exaggerated smile.
"If you insist and we can leave the cooking to me since your culinary skills seem to be... limited," Molly shot back in a very sweet but sarcastic tone.
They both glared at each other for a long moment before Lucius cleared his voice. "Best we get going now," he said, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Oh hey, Draco, can we have a word with you for a moment before you go," George called out, waving him over to where he and Percy were sitting.
Draco raised an eyebrow and started to walk over when his mother went to put her hand out to stop him, but Lucius lightly squeezed her shoulder to let it be.
"We will see you back at the Manor, Draco...don't be long," he said firmly, giving his son a stern look.
After Lucius and Narcissa left, Ginny helped her mother clear the dishes and clean up the kitchen. She saw Harry and Cho on the back porch through the window and watched them laughing and talking. She felt guilty for the way their conversation went earlier and was angry at herself that she let any kind of emotions come out like that. She was so used to burying things deep down... it was easier that way, well, for her it was. She saw Cho say a final goodbye to Harry with a kiss and then she excused herself from dish duty to go join Harry on the porch.
"Hey," she softly said to him, turning her gaze up to the night sky to take in the stars. "It's so nice out tonight."
Harry looked up as well to take in the twinkling scenery and gave a small smile, "Yeah, it sure is."
She looked at him for a moment and then took a step closer, fidgeting with her hands and looking at the creaky old wooden porch under her feet. "Listen, Harry, I'm sorry how I came off ear-"
"You don't have to apologize, Gin."
"Yes, I do... I know why things turned out the way they did......well, I think I do anyway and I guess it was really my fault..." she trailed off.
"Stop that, it was definitely not your fault and you have nothing to be sorry about," he said, gently grabbing her shoulders.
She looked up at him and then quickly away again. "I guess what I'm trying to say is... if Cho makes you happy... then... then I'm happy for you," she finally said.
She went to turn to make her way quickly back inside when she felt him give her a light tug on the arm to turn her back around. "Come here," he said, pulling her into a tight hug.
Ginny hated showing anything but happy emotions around anyone, she didn't want to deal with any kind of raw emotions that made her feel obligated to sort through, so she pushed them aside like she'd been doing for the past five years.
"Alright, well, enough of this mushy rubbish, I think I'm going to turn in," she said, playfully pushing him away from her.
He gave her another smile before walking down the porch steps and into the field. "Goodnight, Gin," he said before a light pop rang out.
She let out a long, relieved sigh and plopped down on the steps and laid her head on her knees. She heard the back door open and someone walk over to her and stop for a moment before they took a seat beside her. She ran her hands through her hair and pushed it back before turning to see who had joined her.
"You're still here?" she asked in surprise.
"Yeah, well, apparently your brothers think it might be a good idea for me to help them out in that disgraceful shop of theirs." Draco scoffed. "Said it would be good to show we can play nice or some rubbish."
Ginny gave a light laugh. "That was unexpected.....what did you say?"
"Pft, no, of course."
Ginny just gave him an amused look and shook her head. "Next time I help them with stocking I'm dragging you along..... you know it would be good to show your face, word will get around and all that good stuff and then Kingsley-"
"That's just it, I don't want word getting around, Weaslette," he snapped.
"Well, just think about it, it would be early in the morning and the shop is closed during that time, so it would just be us."
"So what part exactly about me being surrounded by a bunch of freckled faced redheads doing slave work at the crack of dawn is supposed to sound appealing to me?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "It will get you out of that dungeon of a bedroom," she mumbled.
Draco glared at her for a moment. "I'll think about it... but why the bloody hell do I keep getting stuck with you?"
"You're the one who came out here and joined me... maybe I'm growing on you?" she suggested with a wide smile stretching across her face.
"Ha, yeah right, I despise you lot... after all this playing nice nonsense is over, I'll keep my distance... that's a promise. Just having to make conversation with you makes me ill," he said with disgust.
"Ouch, how you've hurt me, Draco Malfoy," she said sarcastically, placing a hand over her heart.
They both sat there in silence for a few more moments, nothing but the sound of the light breeze that hit against them and the crickets. Ginny suddenly started to lightly giggle and received a questioning look from Draco beside her.
"What's so funny?" he snapped.
"You..... you're just so....." she continued to let her giggles turn into a laughing fit.
"So what?" he asked, becoming angry.
"Dramatic," she finally said, letting her laughs die down and taking a breath to calm herself down.
"And you're too... too... "
Ginny looked at him highly amused by his stuttering words waiting for his response. "Well?"
"CARELESS," he finally yelled out. She just shrugged at his word choice obviously not caring how he viewed her to be.
"That's it? No comeback?"
"Does it really matter?" she asked, her expression still calm, cool and collected.
Draco just seemed to get more annoyed at her lack of reaction and just sat there instead. They both continued to sit there quietly and Ginny would have asked him why he was still sticking around, but she knew it was because he wasn't in a rush to get back to the Manor. She could tell he was enjoying the fresh air as much as she was, no matter how much he denied it.
"So... what really did happen between you and Potter?" he suddenly asked her.
"He cheated on me with Cho Chang," she said, quickly answering him.
He looked at her. "What? I thought Potter was too nice to do that kind of crap," he said, sounding rather surprised at Harry's actions.
"He is," Ginny said, turning to look at him with a small smile. "It was my fault... I practically pushed him into her arms," she shrugged.
Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "What does that mean exactly?"
"After the battle was over, things were more complicated than anything between us... I mean Harry was really good to me and he was everything I could ever ask for, but... he needed more from me than I could give..... he needed a lot of emotional support and I couldn't give it to him......I was so cold towards him.... the things I said.....I-I... I pushed him away... I pushed everyone away, so much so that I decided to leave home and that's when I started playing Professional Quidditch. It was during one of our off seasons when I guess I became really ill......I still don't really even know what happened."
"You guess you became ill?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know really how it all came about, I think it was like a bad case of the flu or something; I barely remember anything. The only thing I do remember was that I was out with some friends from the team and then the next thing I knew I woke up in St. Mungo's two weeks later," Ginny explained while shaking her head as if she herself was still trying to make sense of it. "Anyway, I wasn't able to continue Quidditch that season and just gave it up altogether. During that time, I learned it was easier to keep my distance from everyone than to sort through all those stupid depressing feelings about everything that went on," she paused for a moment.
Draco didn't take his eyes off her the whole time she spoke. There wasn't any emotion in her words as she told him what happened as if she was bored of hearing herself talk.
"Eventually Harry met up with Cho as friends and then I guess things happened between them... I didn't even care honestly... my parents don't even know about it, they still think we just decided to be friends because we wanted different things. We even pretended to be a couple for a few months just to please everyone, but eventually, it became too much. Harry wanted to deal with his feelings and I didn't, so... that's it really. Now I just keep myself busy helping around the joke shop until I figure out what I really want to do," she said, getting up from the steps and turning to look at him.
"So when did you finally decide to deal with them.... your feelings?" he asked her.
She just smiled at him. "I haven't... I don't want to... I mean, why would I? It's in the past, so who cares," she shrugged; turning away and slowly started walking towards the lake.
Draco just sat there for a minute, thinking about her words. Was it easier to just pretend that those things never happened? She did seem a lot happier, maybe things would be different for him if he let a lot of stuff go, but that seemed impossible. He jumped up from his seat and caught up with her as she neared the lake.
"Can I ask you something, Weasley?"
"Hmm?"
"Aren't you afraid of losing yourself.... losing who you use to be by burying all that?"
She looked at him with a teasing smile at his serious question and then shrugged it off. "No... I think I'm exactly who I'm supposed to be right now."
He just stared at her... he wanted to tell her she was wrong, but he wasn't sure if he was even right.
"I better get going," he said suddenly.
"Yeah, you better before your parents come back," she teased.
He smirked at her. "See ya, Weaslette," he said before Apparating back to Malfoy Manor.
She could hear talking from down in the kitchen and figured they had company for breakfast, probably one of her brothers, so she went straight to the bathroom and got showered and dressed before she made her morning appearance. She pulled on some tight jeans and one of her many faded T-shirts and threw her hair up into a messy ponytail then headed downstairs.
As she walked into the kitchen, she was quite surprised to see it was Harry who was at the table in deep conversation with her father.
"Oh, Harry...... thought it was George or something down here," she said taking a seat across from him.
"Hey, Gin, I needed to talk to Mr. Weasley about some work stuff and thought I'd apologize in person for once again canceling on you."
"It's fine, Harry......... I guess I'll forgive you," she smirked, receiving a small smile from him. Ginny reached over and grabbed a piece of toast and took in her father's work attire with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were off today, Dad?"
"I am, however, I have a meeting with Mr. Chamberlain today in the Auror department," he said casually, picking up the Daily Prophet from the table and skimming through it.
As soon as Ginny heard the name she suddenly remembered the Auror from Diagon Alley yesterday and knew his face looked familiar.
"Oh, well, what's so important that it can't wait until tomorrow?" she pressed on.
"Actually, it's about Draco Malfoy....... apparently he was in Diagon Alley yesterday and a local pub owner was concerned about his sudden appearance."
Ginny's eyes went wide and she thought back to her outing with Draco yesterday. "I don't understand; why is that concerning?" she asked in annoyance.
"I suppose it just has some people on edge to see any of the Malfoy family out and about, especially because they haven't been spotted in the public eye in quite some time." Arthur sighed.
"So why a meeting about it?" she quickly asked.
"It's probably just a quick check-in, Gin; Chamberlain supposedly was in the area yesterday and is just going over any suspicious activity that might have gone on," Harry shrugged, dumping the rest of his juice in his mouth and getting up from the table. "Well, I'm going to head out a bit earlier... meet you there, Arthur?"
"Certainly," Arthur mumbled through a mouthful of eggs.
Ginny jumped up as he stood and everyone's eyes fell on her. "Uh, Harry... I'll walk you out."
"Ok," he said, looking at her questioningly.
She was behind him in a moment, practically pushing him out the front door before anyone could question her sudden urge to walk him out.
"What's going on, Gin?" he asked.
"I need to tell you something," she said quietly as she closed the front door behind her. "But you can't say anything to my parents."
"Why? What is it?"
She hesitated for a moment. "Listen, I was with Draco yesterday in Diagon Alley...I -"
"WAIT. WHAT?"
"SHH! Harry, please be quiet, I really don't want a lecture from my parents."
"FINE, THEN I'LL GIVE YOU ONE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HANGING OUT WITH DRACO MALFOY?"
"Dammit, Harry, I said to be quiet, "she hissed, dragging him out towards the grassy field. "And by the way, I can hang out with whoever I damn well please."
"Is this because I canceled our plans?"
"WHAT? NO!"
"Because if it is-"
"IT'S NOT!" she yelled angrily, making him fall silent when he saw the fierce glare she gave him. "It's not... I just figured since our plans were canceled, I would try to help Dad out by playing nice with the Malfoys that's all."
"Well, don't, just stick to dinner plans with your parents and them, don't take matters into your own hands... you need to be careful, Ginny."
"Why? You do realize they are just regular people, what is so bad about it?"
He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Ok, scratch that question," she mumbled, thinking about the history they had involving the Malfoys.
"Please, Ginny, trust me on this."
"Fine, whatever, just please don't say anything to my parents."
"I won't, but Chamberlain will...I'll wait until Arthur gets to the Ministry and tell him before the meeting so he is prepared when your name comes up, but that's the best I can do."
Ginny let out a long frustrated sigh. "Fine, thanks......I guess," she said, turning to make her way back inside and then stopped. "Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"What came up?"
"What do you mean?"
"Yesterday when you canceled our lunch date... what came up?" she asked, although she knew full well that it was Cho Chang that "came up".
He stared at her for a moment and remained silent as he tried to find his words.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Ginny mumbled, turning back towards the door.
"Gin, wait, I-"
"Bye, Harry," she said, cutting him off quickly and slamming the door closed before he could try to explain.
_________________________________________________________
A week had gone by since Ginny's outing with Draco and nothing ever came about after the meeting with Chamberlain, although, Ginny sure did hear an earful from her parents afterward. They went on about how unfriendly and dangerous it was to be alone with the Malfoy family and some other rubbish she drowned out as her mum went off on a rant.
After the meeting with Chamberlain, Ginny's parents sent out a dinner invite to the Malfoy family to join them at the Burrow and to all of their surprise it was accepted and tonight was the big event. Ginny already knew it was going to be dreadful, especially since most of her brothers would be joining them for dinner tonight and Harry as well.
She was in the middle of brushing her hair when she heard a knock at her bedroom door.
"Come in."
"Hey, Ginny!" came Hermione's voice and a pair of arms that were thrown around Ginny's neck that pulled her into a tight hug.
"Hey, Hermione," she giggled at how excited Hermione always was to see her. "How's the wedding planning coming?"
"Everything is coming along splendidly, can't believe I'll be getting married in less than two months." she squealed with excitement.
"Alright, settle down... it's just Ron after all," she teased. "Speak of the devil," she said as her brother walked into her bedroom and gave her a bone-crushing hug.
"Ow, do you have to squeeze me so tight?" she muffled out against his chest.
"No, but I know how much it annoys you so, yes... I have to," he joked finally releasing her from his grasp.
"Ginny, are you ready? The Malfoys will be here any moment... get downstairs all of you," said Mrs. Weasley from the doorway.
Ginny watched her brother shake his head as he obviously disagreed with the entire idea of making nice with the Malfoy family, especially Draco Malfoy.
"Speaking of that bloody git, what the hell are you doing hanging around him? Especially alone?" Ron asked angrily, but still with a concerned look on his face.
"Well, I see word spreads fast," Ginny said, rolling her eyes and then looked at herself in the mirror.
"Ron is just looking out for you, Ginny," Hermione gently said.
"I know, but honestly its nothing to be concerned about, it was supposed to be a simple lunch to show face to help Dad out and it got blown out of proportion," she shrugged.
"Well, what did you expect would happen? A guy like Draco Malfoy just can't go strolling around Diagon Alley after everything that went down," Ron explained. "The whole Wizarding world is either pissed off at the bloody lot of them or scared of the poor bastards."
Ginny turned to glare at her brother for a moment at how heartless he sounded.
"Honestly, Ronald, can't you pretend to be civil for your father's sake? Suck it up and let's get downstairs," Hermione chimed in after seeing the look on Ginny's face.
Ginny heard him start to mumble under his breath a slew of inappropriate words that she couldn't exactly make out, but she had an idea of who it was aimed at. She just smiled at how wound up her brother got around the Slytherin and he wasn't even here yet. She watched Hermione place a hand on his back as she led him downstairs and tried to calm him down and went on about how it was more for his father than anything. She thought it was quite sweet the way Hermione was always able to keep Ron's temper at bay and she could see how happy the two of them were together.
Finally snapping out of her thoughts, she followed the rest of them downstairs to the living room where she saw Harry coming over to greet her.
"Hey, Gin," he said with a slight smile.
She thought about the words they exchanged a week ago and decided to just forget about the whole thing. She just flashed him a quick smile and said a quick hello back.
"Harry?" came a low voice from across the room, "I saved a seat at the table for you."
Ginny's smile tightened and became more of a blank expression as she saw Cho Chang standing in the kitchen doorway. Her eyes darted to Harry's for a moment and then back to Cho's.
"Oh hey, Ginny," Cho said cheerfully.
"H-hey... Cho," she finally managed to force out. "I didn't realize you were joining us this evening," she said through clenched teeth, glaring at Harry.
"Hope that's ok, Harry invited me."
"Oh, he did? That's great," she said sarcastically, trying to keep it sounding as welcoming as possible, although, if she clenched her teeth anymore, she thought they might break.
"I'll be right there, Cho," Harry said, waving for her to go on without him. He turned back to Ginny and saw how angry she was. "Gin, I know you're not fond of Cho, but we've been-"
"You don't need to explain, Harry, its fine," she said, putting her hand up to stop him from continuing. "I just don't understand what possessed you to bring her here tonight," she spat before making her way towards the kitchen.
"I checked with your parents and they didn't mind-"
"WHAT ABOUT WITH ME?" she shouted suddenly, turning around so fast that her bright orange hair whipped him in the face. She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the side hall and lowered her voice. "I'm sorry, but I think given the circumstances, you maybe, JUST maybe, would have asked or warned me before you brought her here. I get it, I know you guys have grown closer, but that still doesn't change the past, Harry."
Harry sighed. "You're right, Gin, I wasn't thinking... do you want me to ask her to leave? I can make up something."
"NO! It's just... If my parents knew what really happened between us... I can guarantee you Cho wouldn't be sitting at that table... and maybe even you," she said fiercely, poking him hard in the chest.
"You know that's not how things went down between us," he said, suddenly getting defensive.
She saw his eyes leave hers for a moment and travel to over her shoulder where Draco was standing. Harry looked at Ginny one last time; a bit of anger and sadness on his face before he walked over to the Slytherin.
"Draco," he said, acknowledging the blond before him.
"Potter," Draco responded stiffly.
They both exchanged a look as if this wasn't their first time seeing each other in years, almost as if there were unspoken words between them that neither wanted to exchange... at the moment anyway.
Ginny watched them both for a moment before Harry went into the kitchen and then looked oddly at the way Draco was standing there. He had an expression she really couldn't make out; it was somewhat of a sneer, but also a bit of amusement. She wasn't sure if he heard their whole conversation, but she really didn't care either.
"What was that about?" she asked, steering the conversation from going towards anything he may have heard her and Harry discussing.
"Nothing," he said, shrugging it off.
Ginny just rolled her eyes, "Anyway, how's it going in there?"
"Well, let's just say I was rather happy when your mum asked me to come find you for supper," he drawled.
"Well, at least one of my brothers hasn't tried to kill you yet," she joked, walking through the kitchen door with him behind her.
Dinner went by a lot better than expected; it was definitely awkward having them all so close together around the table. Narcissa made her sarcastic remarks here and there about the state of the Burrow and such, but Mrs. Weasley didn't let it get to her this time. Ron did nothing but glare at Draco from across the table which didn't seem to bother the Slytherin one bit, in fact, he seemed rather smug that he still had such an effect on the Weaslebee. Thankfully, George did most of the talking about the joke shop and all these new products they had. Ginny was a bit surprised to see her father and Lucius exchange a few words and even at one point get into the slightest of conversations.
She was sure the only reason Lucius and Narcissa even accepted the invite to the Burrow was because of the whole Diagon Alley outing. Chamberlain ended up going to Malfoy Manor and questioned Draco and his parents about him being at the pub with her, which she was sure his parents were furious about and probably blamed her for it... which they should since it was her idea. Despite whom they pointed a finger at, they saw it as more of a reason to try and make things work so that Lucius could still be considered for a position at the Ministry.
"So, Dad, how are things at the Ministry?" Percy casually asked.
"To be quite honest things are rather hectic at the moment, a lot of open cases and next to no leads on any of them," Arthur sighed.
"Yeah, we're still trying to track down this Flixsly guy, but we haven't had any luck," Harry chimed in.
Ginny noticed Draco's eyes dart up to his parents at the mention of Flixsly's name and then Narcissa and Lucius also exchanged a look. The look Narcissa gave her husband was one of uncertainty and then she watched Lucius give her a slight nod.
"Peter Flixsly?" Lucius asked suddenly.
The room became completely quiet at Lucius' question and Harry and Arthur looked at each other and then back to Lucius.
"Yes, Peter Flixsly; his last known whereabouts were just a bit south from here, but when we went to check it out there was no such house, building or even trace that he ever was there," Arthur explained.
"He was originally being sought out for a string of robberies and as a suspect in a... particular case, however, with him being a squib it's hard to-"
"He's not," Lucius quickly said, cutting Harry off.
Again, Harry and Arthur exchanged a look. "What do you mean 'he's not'?" Harry asked.
Lucius kept his head down as he was heavy in thought for a moment before he looked back up and glared towards Harry and reluctantly began to speak. "Flixsly is most definitely not a Squib; however, he certainly has everyone fooled that he is." Lucius paused for a moment and turned towards his wife, who gave another small nod for him to continue. "He developed his magical abilities later in life, but kept it a secret, which proved useful to..." Lucius trailed off before he could speak Voldemort's name. "He is also an unregistered Animagus... a mole as I recall which could be why you're having such difficulty locating him."
"How do you know this?" Arthur gently asked; the whole room was silent as they anxiously waited for the response.
Narcissa, noticing how difficult it was for her husband to give out so much information that they feared could later cause problems for them, decided to jump in. "He was a servant of the Dark Lord... I mean Voldemort," she said quickly.
"Why would Voldemort want a Squib working for him?" Ron jumped in.
"Are you even listening? You daft git, he wasn't a Squib after all." Draco spat.
"Screw you, Malfoy, forgive me for not being caught up on the Death Eater newsletter," Ron shot back.
At this point, they both jumped up from their seats with their hands already reaching for their wands.
"RONALD!" Molly yelled out. "YOU SIT YOUR BLOODY ARSE DOWN BEFORE I SIT IT DOWN FOR YOU!"
Ron just sneered at Draco before shooting an apologetic look over to his mother.
Draco caught his parents angrily looking at him for acting so carelessly. He saw his mother's gaze pierce into his with such anger. "Sit.....down.....now.....Draco," she said firmly through clenched teeth.
Draco turned his attention towards Ron again and just felt nothing but anger; he wasn't even sure if it was at him or just anger in general. He was pulled from his angry thoughts when he felt a light tug on his pants from under the table and he slowly began to sit back down followed by Ron.
Draco watched the conversation start to slowly start up again between his father, Harry, and Arthur before he turned towards Ginny and then down towards her hand on his pant leg. He stared at it for a quick moment and then looked back up at her where she met his gaze with a slight smile. She just shook her head and playfully rolled her eyes at the whole scene that unfolded before turning her attention back to the conversation.
By the time dinner was over, a lot of tension had filled the room and everyone seemed to be biting their tongues. Ginny could see that Lucius and Narcissa were mortified that they even had to step foot in the Burrow and were ready to go.
"Well, this was... "
"Difficult to get through," Molly bluntly stated, finishing Narcissa's sentence for her.
Narcissa looked at her for a moment and forced a smile on her face. "Exactly... perhaps we will stick to dinners at the Manor since space here is quite...." she stopped and looked around the tiny room and gave a smirk, "limited," she finished, flashing Molly an exaggerated smile.
"If you insist and we can leave the cooking to me since your culinary skills seem to be... limited," Molly shot back in a very sweet but sarcastic tone.
They both glared at each other for a long moment before Lucius cleared his voice. "Best we get going now," he said, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Oh hey, Draco, can we have a word with you for a moment before you go," George called out, waving him over to where he and Percy were sitting.
Draco raised an eyebrow and started to walk over when his mother went to put her hand out to stop him, but Lucius lightly squeezed her shoulder to let it be.
"We will see you back at the Manor, Draco...don't be long," he said firmly, giving his son a stern look.
After Lucius and Narcissa left, Ginny helped her mother clear the dishes and clean up the kitchen. She saw Harry and Cho on the back porch through the window and watched them laughing and talking. She felt guilty for the way their conversation went earlier and was angry at herself that she let any kind of emotions come out like that. She was so used to burying things deep down... it was easier that way, well, for her it was. She saw Cho say a final goodbye to Harry with a kiss and then she excused herself from dish duty to go join Harry on the porch.
"Hey," she softly said to him, turning her gaze up to the night sky to take in the stars. "It's so nice out tonight."
Harry looked up as well to take in the twinkling scenery and gave a small smile, "Yeah, it sure is."
She looked at him for a moment and then took a step closer, fidgeting with her hands and looking at the creaky old wooden porch under her feet. "Listen, Harry, I'm sorry how I came off ear-"
"You don't have to apologize, Gin."
"Yes, I do... I know why things turned out the way they did......well, I think I do anyway and I guess it was really my fault..." she trailed off.
"Stop that, it was definitely not your fault and you have nothing to be sorry about," he said, gently grabbing her shoulders.
She looked up at him and then quickly away again. "I guess what I'm trying to say is... if Cho makes you happy... then... then I'm happy for you," she finally said.
She went to turn to make her way quickly back inside when she felt him give her a light tug on the arm to turn her back around. "Come here," he said, pulling her into a tight hug.
Ginny hated showing anything but happy emotions around anyone, she didn't want to deal with any kind of raw emotions that made her feel obligated to sort through, so she pushed them aside like she'd been doing for the past five years.
"Alright, well, enough of this mushy rubbish, I think I'm going to turn in," she said, playfully pushing him away from her.
He gave her another smile before walking down the porch steps and into the field. "Goodnight, Gin," he said before a light pop rang out.
She let out a long, relieved sigh and plopped down on the steps and laid her head on her knees. She heard the back door open and someone walk over to her and stop for a moment before they took a seat beside her. She ran her hands through her hair and pushed it back before turning to see who had joined her.
"You're still here?" she asked in surprise.
"Yeah, well, apparently your brothers think it might be a good idea for me to help them out in that disgraceful shop of theirs." Draco scoffed. "Said it would be good to show we can play nice or some rubbish."
Ginny gave a light laugh. "That was unexpected.....what did you say?"
"Pft, no, of course."
Ginny just gave him an amused look and shook her head. "Next time I help them with stocking I'm dragging you along..... you know it would be good to show your face, word will get around and all that good stuff and then Kingsley-"
"That's just it, I don't want word getting around, Weaslette," he snapped.
"Well, just think about it, it would be early in the morning and the shop is closed during that time, so it would just be us."
"So what part exactly about me being surrounded by a bunch of freckled faced redheads doing slave work at the crack of dawn is supposed to sound appealing to me?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "It will get you out of that dungeon of a bedroom," she mumbled.
Draco glared at her for a moment. "I'll think about it... but why the bloody hell do I keep getting stuck with you?"
"You're the one who came out here and joined me... maybe I'm growing on you?" she suggested with a wide smile stretching across her face.
"Ha, yeah right, I despise you lot... after all this playing nice nonsense is over, I'll keep my distance... that's a promise. Just having to make conversation with you makes me ill," he said with disgust.
"Ouch, how you've hurt me, Draco Malfoy," she said sarcastically, placing a hand over her heart.
They both sat there in silence for a few more moments, nothing but the sound of the light breeze that hit against them and the crickets. Ginny suddenly started to lightly giggle and received a questioning look from Draco beside her.
"What's so funny?" he snapped.
"You..... you're just so....." she continued to let her giggles turn into a laughing fit.
"So what?" he asked, becoming angry.
"Dramatic," she finally said, letting her laughs die down and taking a breath to calm herself down.
"And you're too... too... "
Ginny looked at him highly amused by his stuttering words waiting for his response. "Well?"
"CARELESS," he finally yelled out. She just shrugged at his word choice obviously not caring how he viewed her to be.
"That's it? No comeback?"
"Does it really matter?" she asked, her expression still calm, cool and collected.
Draco just seemed to get more annoyed at her lack of reaction and just sat there instead. They both continued to sit there quietly and Ginny would have asked him why he was still sticking around, but she knew it was because he wasn't in a rush to get back to the Manor. She could tell he was enjoying the fresh air as much as she was, no matter how much he denied it.
"So... what really did happen between you and Potter?" he suddenly asked her.
"He cheated on me with Cho Chang," she said, quickly answering him.
He looked at her. "What? I thought Potter was too nice to do that kind of crap," he said, sounding rather surprised at Harry's actions.
"He is," Ginny said, turning to look at him with a small smile. "It was my fault... I practically pushed him into her arms," she shrugged.
Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "What does that mean exactly?"
"After the battle was over, things were more complicated than anything between us... I mean Harry was really good to me and he was everything I could ever ask for, but... he needed more from me than I could give..... he needed a lot of emotional support and I couldn't give it to him......I was so cold towards him.... the things I said.....I-I... I pushed him away... I pushed everyone away, so much so that I decided to leave home and that's when I started playing Professional Quidditch. It was during one of our off seasons when I guess I became really ill......I still don't really even know what happened."
"You guess you became ill?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know really how it all came about, I think it was like a bad case of the flu or something; I barely remember anything. The only thing I do remember was that I was out with some friends from the team and then the next thing I knew I woke up in St. Mungo's two weeks later," Ginny explained while shaking her head as if she herself was still trying to make sense of it. "Anyway, I wasn't able to continue Quidditch that season and just gave it up altogether. During that time, I learned it was easier to keep my distance from everyone than to sort through all those stupid depressing feelings about everything that went on," she paused for a moment.
Draco didn't take his eyes off her the whole time she spoke. There wasn't any emotion in her words as she told him what happened as if she was bored of hearing herself talk.
"Eventually Harry met up with Cho as friends and then I guess things happened between them... I didn't even care honestly... my parents don't even know about it, they still think we just decided to be friends because we wanted different things. We even pretended to be a couple for a few months just to please everyone, but eventually, it became too much. Harry wanted to deal with his feelings and I didn't, so... that's it really. Now I just keep myself busy helping around the joke shop until I figure out what I really want to do," she said, getting up from the steps and turning to look at him.
"So when did you finally decide to deal with them.... your feelings?" he asked her.
She just smiled at him. "I haven't... I don't want to... I mean, why would I? It's in the past, so who cares," she shrugged; turning away and slowly started walking towards the lake.
Draco just sat there for a minute, thinking about her words. Was it easier to just pretend that those things never happened? She did seem a lot happier, maybe things would be different for him if he let a lot of stuff go, but that seemed impossible. He jumped up from his seat and caught up with her as she neared the lake.
"Can I ask you something, Weasley?"
"Hmm?"
"Aren't you afraid of losing yourself.... losing who you use to be by burying all that?"
She looked at him with a teasing smile at his serious question and then shrugged it off. "No... I think I'm exactly who I'm supposed to be right now."
He just stared at her... he wanted to tell her she was wrong, but he wasn't sure if he was even right.
"I better get going," he said suddenly.
"Yeah, you better before your parents come back," she teased.
He smirked at her. "See ya, Weaslette," he said before Apparating back to Malfoy Manor.
Author notes: Sorry if some info is vague, but things will make sense later on. Thoughts so far?
Leave a Review