Found

"Oh, here you are," said Ginny to a pair of socked feet upon opening the doors of a very large wardrobe in a little-used room at number twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"Hush, Weasley," said Draco from behind a rack of musty robes. "I'm hiding."

"Well, I've found you. I win," Ginny said, pushing the robes apart to reveal a rather miffed-looking Draco.

"Were we playing Hide and Seek? I wasn't aware," he said dryly.

Ginny pursed her lips at him. "Get out, Malfoy. You've got guard duty in ten minutes."

"No," he said resolutely.

"What?"

"No," he repeated.

"Hey," Ginny said with her hands on her hips. "We saved you and your mother; the least you could do is go stand by the door for a few hours."

"Don't be silly, Weasley," he said. "You can't guilt me into doing your dirty work. The last time someone tried the headmaster died, remember? Anyway, you haven't got any leverage left. One of my parents is already dead, and you'd have to kill Severus twice over to get to the other one. Plus, she's just two rooms down from here."

Ginny cocked an eyebrow, suspecting that it was only his formal upbringing that stopped him from sticking his tongue out and saying, "Nyah!"

"Besides," Draco continued airily, "you know I'd be rubbish at this whole work thing anyway. I'd just get distracted or fall asleep or let the Death Eaters in out of spite. Why don't you do it, since you're always so eager to prove your worth round these parts?"

She shot him a withering look, though he was right. She hadn't intended on finding him in the ramshackle cottage Snape had procured for him after the bungled mission to kill Dumbledore, much less saving him. Indeed, it was a foolhardy notion to begin with, a sixteen year-old girl braving the war-torn streets to rescue a fugitive. But Ginny was a particularly hot-headed sixteen year-old girl, and upon hearing that she absolutely couldn't be a part of the Order's rescue mission, she made it her life's work to do so, inasmuch as her life could be condensed into two weeks.

And so it was that she, among others, found the miscreant before the Death Eaters got to him and brought him to the Order's headquarters, only to find that besides being wholly ungrateful for being saved from certain death (and by one of the Weasleys, no less), Draco Malfoy's tongue was still as acerbic as ever, if not more so.

Molly Weasley insisted that his less than charming attitude was due to all the suffering he'd recently been put through (and he had had it rough, Ginny had to admit), and under no conditions were any of the Weasley children to give the poor boy a hard time.

"Oh, all right, Malfoy," said Ginny, exasperated, throwing up her hands. She didn't have time for this again. "I'll cover your duty just this once. Now, get out of that stupid cupboard. You're going to start smelling like those nasty old robes."

"Nonsense," he said dismissively, making no visible effort to comply. "Malfoys don't smell."

"Fine, then. Enjoy your little hideaway," Ginny said with a false brightness he would have known to be wary of had he paid more attention, and she shut and locked the cupboard doors with a little more glee than was necessary.


***


"Well, I would have, Mrs. Weasley, but Ginny shut me up in the cupboard," said a suspiciously obsequious voice from the kitchen when Ginny returned from guard duty a few hours later.

"Bugger," she muttered to herself.

Her first inclination was to flee and deny any wrongdoing after, but Molly Weasley often had an uncanny ability to keep her children's fibs in check, so Ginny entered the kitchen to confess. "He was being cheeky," she said in her defence.

"That's no reason to lock anyone in a cupboard," Molly said, horrified. "You know better than that, young lady. Why, we just barely found poor Draco in there but three minutes ago, practically suffocating from the smell of those musty old robes! He made such a ruckus in there we thought we had another boggart on our hands. Here you are, dear," said Molly, handing Draco a steaming cup of tea. "It'll make you feel better."

She turned to Ginny, her voice hardening. "As for you, I think covering Draco's duties for the next month will make you think twice about what you've done."

Ginny gaped, and Draco shrugged almost apologetically while Molly fussed all over him.

After her one-month stint in Draco's place, Ginny took it upon herself to make sure Draco never shirked his duties again.

He had an incredible knack for making himself scarce when he was wanted, so she developed the somewhat frightening ability to seek him out in the plethora of nooks and crannies in and around the Black residence. It gave her an odd thrill to be able to find him when no one else had any clue what to do about his mysterious and well-timed absences.

"Aren't we a bit old for this game?" she'd asked once when she found him lying perfectly peacefully in a Draco-sized niche under some thick shrubbery.

"Never," he'd replied with a quirk of his lips, and went off to do his duty without further argument.

She almost appreciated the weekly challenge he presented her; anything that helped her forget that there was a war on was welcome. When the Order was forced to move its operations to the frontlines a year later, she wished she had allowed herself to enjoy their game a little more.

---

"Weasley, I'm perfectly fine. Now, let me go!" Draco demanded.

Ginny pushed him back onto his cot gently but firmly. "You're not fine until I say you are. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm the one with the Healer badge." She adjusted the pin on her robes to make sure he did indeed notice. "Now, take your medicine like a good little patient and get some bloody rest."

"They need me out there," Draco insisted. "Without me, my squadron's like a fucking chicken with its head cut off! I've been leading them for two years; I should know!"

"Look, Malfoy," Ginny sighed, doing her best to tuck his struggling form into bed. "I'm glad as anyone you finally decided to get up off your arse and do something about this stupid war, but you're no good to anyone with fractured ribs and a broken arm, among other things."

"Listen, Weasel -"

"Oh, I don't want to hear it, Malfoy. I've other patients to attend to."

"You know, I think I hate you, Weasley."

"I'm saving your life, you idiot. One more word out of you and I'm keeping you here for an extra day."

He scowled unbecomingly at her threat, and she made sure her back was turned to him before she let her lips tilt up in a smile that, had she seen it herself, she might have termed very nearly affectionate.


***


Draco couldn't believe it. Of all things, she had the gall to be right.

He was currently lying in a ravine with his arm in an even worse condition. He shut his eyes, half-hoping someone would just come along and finish him off so he'd at least have the dignity of dying in battle rather than because he wouldn't listen to his Healer and lost his footing and fell down a ditch trying to get away from her.

He could just picture her now, rampaging around the mobile hospital unit and demanding to know who'd authorized his discharge. No one had, of course. Seizing his chance when the hospital tent was temporarily empty at a shift change, he'd simply up and left, like he'd been clamouring to do so all along, only to find out he really was quite physically useless with the myriad of injuries he'd incurred in combat, just like she'd said.

And if he tried hard enough, he could hear her voice, berating him as usual. "Oh, hell no," she'd say. "Wake up, Malfoy. I didn't spend two hours looking for you just to have you die on me."

Wait a tick.

He cracked one eye open and saw Ginny's concerned face hovering over him. "Not you again."

"Oh, good, you're alive," she said breezily, her tone of voice belying the genuine panic she'd felt upon discovering his disappearance. "You know what this means, don't you? More days in the hospital! With me!" she enthused with the fake cheer he'd come to recognise as her brand of sarcasm.

Draco narrowed his eyes at her as she gingerly helped him up and ran a quick eye over his injuries. "Why must you keep finding me?" he asked plaintively.

"If you'd just stop trying to hide from me, I wouldn't have to," she replied, punctuating her words with a sweet, if slightly artificial, smile.

"And if you'd quit plying me with drugs and threatening to keep me longer than you should, I wouldn't run away," he retorted pleasantly.

"You know, Malfoy, for your intelligence and leadership being so crucial to the well-being of your squadron, you do act remarkably like a six year old," Ginny said. "No wonder they function so poorly."

"Must be the influence of the company I keep," he sniffed, looking at her pointedly.

"Oh, you would blame your shortcomings on others," she said.

He smirked. "Well, what do you expect? I'm six; I'm not of the age of reason yet."

"That would explain why you never listen to the very practical and helpful advice of your long-suffering -"

"Insufferable -"

"Saintly Healer," Ginny finished.

"Fancy having a hospital named after you, do you?"

"Well, St. Ginny's has a certain something to it." Ginny grinned.

"For a mental institution, maybe."

This would be just one of many similar interactions they'd have over the course of the war. For whatever reason, Draco ended up in the field hospital an alarmingly high number of times. Ginny assumed he was just injury-prone and overly rash in battle, and by the seventh time Draco landed himself under her care, he secretly wondered if he got himself in tight spots accidentally on purpose just so he could fight pleasantly with her instead of warring hideously with real foes.

---

"Will you please just get to bed?" Ginny shouted. She was being unusually loud and she didn't care. Maybe if she woke up the portrait of Mrs. Black Draco would finally be cowed into submission.

"You can't tell me what to do," Draco said, enjoying himself a bit too much at her expense. "I'll go to bed when I jolly well feel like it."

"Just because the war's over doesn't mean you've got a free pass to run amuck. You're still injured; look at you, you can barely walk!"

"And who's to blame for that? We've been back here for days and you still can't fix my leg!"

"I'm a Healer, not a miracle worker," said Ginny. "And you're the one who's blatantly ignoring my medical advice. If you'd just do as you're told, maybe your leg would get better and you could finally go the hell home!" She stepped dangerously close to him in what she hoped was a show of dominance; Draco towered over her but her temper was formidable and nearly as legendary as her mother's, and if he knew what was good for him, he'd think twice about crossing her.

Unfortunately, what would normally have unnerved even the staunchest of opponents seemed to have the opposite effect on Draco. A smile flitted across his face, and he grabbed her shoulders and kissed her soundly.

A tiny and very irritating voice in her head insisted that she ought to knee him in the groin or at least slap him for taking such liberties. But, well, she hadn't kissed anyone in a long time and he did feel awfully good against her. Deciding rather hastily to deal with the consequences later, she threw caution to the wind and herself into the kiss.

It was messy and fierce and rapidly tumbling into a state far more passionate than either of them had originally intended, but it was like nothing Ginny'd ever felt before, and given the opportunity, she'd never stop.

"Argh! My eyes!"

Ginny yanked herself out of Draco's arms (one of which had somehow wound itself around her so his hand rested squarely on her bum) to see Ron reeling backwards as though he'd been hit with a hex.

"Oh, god!" he exclaimed, his hand clamped firmly over his eyes. "Ginny, I know you're an adult and everything, but this is a Healing room, not some - some den of iniquity. Couldn't you find someplace more private? No, wait. No, no. Forget I said that; you shouldn't be kissing Malfoy at all! That's disgusting... I'm - I'm going to go over there now..." he trailed off, backing out of the room.

Ginny stared after Ron's retreating form until he was out of sight and rounded on Draco. "What the hell did you do that for?" she whispered furiously, firmly entrenched in panic mode.

Draco looked amused, and a bit flushed. He cleared his throat softly. "Well, I wanted to see if it'd shut you up for a second," he said, looking happier than Ginny reckoned he had any right to.

She smacked his arm. "Oh, for crying out loud!"

"Well, it worked, didn't it? Besides, I couldn't help but notice that you were kissing me back," he said rather smugly.

"That's - That's totally beside the point!" she said shrilly. "Now, get to bed!"

"I think I will," he said casually, as though she hadn't been demanding that very thing for the past twenty minutes. "Join me, won't you?"

"You - I - Oh, you are unbelievable!" she said, stalking out of the room and feeling like an utter ninny.

The next day Draco found out he'd been assigned to a different Healer. While his leg was on the mend Ginny made herself right scarce, and when he was given leave to go home a few days later, he still hadn't seen neither hide nor hair of her.

It was true, he admitted to himself, that he rather enjoyed his unconventional interactions with her, but staying at headquarters longer than necessary just to pick fights with her seemed more than a little silly, especially since she was so keen on avoiding him, so Draco packed up his few belongings and went home.

If she felt anything like he did (and if their kiss was anything to go by, he was fairly sure she did), she'd find him again. After all, she did seem to have a certain talent for it.

---

"Weasley!" Draco called, breezing through the clinic as though he owned the place. The receptionist quailed before his confident, towering form and uttered not a word of resistance as Draco swept past the front desk and towards Ginny's examination room.

It had been over a year since he last saw and kissed her at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, and she had made no discernible efforts to contact him. Since she refused to find him this time, he'd simply have to take matters into his own hands. After all, if there was one thing Draco Malfoy couldn't abide, it was to be kept waiting. And as far as he was concerned, this meeting was long overdue.

Because he wasn’t completely devoid of social graces, Draco knocked on the door of the examination room first before throwing it open immediately after.

"Do get out, ma'am," he told Ginny's patient politely.

Ginny looked askance at him. "What in the world are you doing, Malfoy?"

"We have to talk," Draco said simply.

"We've nothing to talk about," Ginny said briskly. At Draco's raised eyebrow, she added, "And this is hardly the time or place. I've got work to do."

Though confused, her patient was starting to look interested in the goings-on. "Oh, no, it's quite all right," she said sincerely.

Draco turned to her. "See, Miss...?"

"Oh, it's Mrs. Abernathy," the patient replied, glad to be included.

"Right. Mrs. Abernathy doesn't mind," Draco said.

Ginny shot him a look that plainly said, Get out or I'll kill you.

Undeterred, Draco sat next to Mrs. Abernathy on the examination table. "You know, Weasley and I have known each other for eons, and it was only in the past few years that we really started to get on. We used to hate each other and - yeah, she used to look at me just like that," Draco said, pointing to Ginny's murderous glare.

She groaned.

"Anyway, during the war, we came to sort of an understanding - would you say that's what it was, Weasley?" Draco inquired genially.

"If you insist," Ginny ground out.

"Well, we played this delightful little game, just us two, and you know, I think I fell in love with her a little bit then."

Mrs. Abernathy made a sympathizing noise while Ginny's eyebrows shot to the top of her head.

"But, well, we were just kids then, and who could really say? I knew, though, that it wasn't just some silly fancy when I kissed her after the war. I thought it was one of my better ideas, except she got panicked and ran off and stuck me with a terrible new Healer."

"Oh dear," said Mrs. Abernathy. She looked at Ginny, who was clutching a pair of stethoscopes as though her life depended on it. "Well, I'll leave you two to sort things out. We were done here anyway, weren't we, Dr. Weasley?"

"Oh, erm - Yes," said Ginny, a little discombobulated.

Mrs. Abernathy gave her a comforting pat on the arm and exited the examination room, closing the door behind her.

"I've been waiting for you to come find me, you know. You are unnaturally good at it, after all," Draco said quietly once they were alone. "I figured you'd eventually get your head clear and realise what a silly thing you did, leaving us both hanging like that."

Ginny looked down at her shoes.

"Look," Draco said, sliding off the examination table and moving towards her. "I'm not expecting you to say that you're madly in love with me or anything, but can you honestly say you don't feel something for me?"

Ginny hesitated. Kissing him had been a mistake - a huge, scorching, impassioned mistake that still sent jolts of near unbearable sensation down south whenever she thought about it (and she did, often). "I - No, it was - It was just a kiss," she said, focusing her eyes nowhere near his face.

"Weasley, you're so bad at lying."

"Yes, well," Ginny said, flushed and smiling nervously. "It's always been one of my less desirable qualities."

"What are you so scared of? The thought of us together can't be that bad, can it? I think we'd make a smashing couple. Not to mention looking stunningly beautiful together." He considered entreating her to just think of the all the gorgeous children they could have, but decided not to push his luck.

"Well, it's - it's you, and it's me," Ginny said, her hands fluttering apprehensively. "And there's just so much that could go wrong and -"

"And it could also work out remarkably well," Draco interjected. "In fact, I'm quite sure it will."

Before Ginny had a chance to respond, he pulled her close to him and had her in his arms, his face scant inches away from hers. "Ginny," he said softly. "Tell me right now you don't want this, and I promise I'll go."

"I..." Ginny breathed, losing her train of thought at the ardent look in his eyes. "Oh, fuck it." She quickly closed the tiny gap between them, catching his lips in hers and revelling in the warmth of his embrace. Why she had resisted this for so long she could no longer remember, nor did she care.

"So," Draco said some time later. "I take it this means you're willing to give this a try."

"Well," Ginny grinned impishly. "I could use a little more convincing."

"Shall I kiss you till you're utterly sure, then?"

"Yes, please."

---

"Draco?"

"In here, love," Draco called from his study. He'd moved into Ginny's flat a few months ago and they had converted her extra bedroom into a library room, where he worked and they had raucous sex on the leather sofa in the far corner on which he was sure no one would ever sit if they only knew.

Ginny popped her head in. "Busy?"

"No, of course not," Draco said, leaving his desk to greet her. "I missed you," he said, wrapping his arms around her.

"I missed you, too," Ginny said, smiling. "The conference was dead boring; they had us out in the middle of nowhere so there was nothing to do even when we didn't have workshops and meetings to attend. And I don’t know why my boss made me go to this thing. It had so little to do with our field I just ended up dozing through all the talks. I can't believe I had to spend a whole week there, listening to these people drone on and on about -"

Draco put two fingers on her lips. "Don't take this the wrong way; I'd love to hear about the conference later, but - Do be quiet, Weasley. I'm trying to kiss you."

Ginny smiled. "You've got a funny way of being romantic, haven't you?" she asked.

"I'm not trying to be romantic," he said, kissing her nose. "If I were, I'd say, 'Ginny Weasley, will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?'"

"You - I - You're... joking?" Ginny stammered.

"No, look, I've got the ring and everything," he said, fishing it out of his pocket. "See?"

Ginny stared at it.

"Oh, I suppose I've done this all wrong, haven't I?" Draco mused. "What's the proper way to do this, then? Oh, right, on one knee and everything. Well, I -"

"Shut up, Draco," Ginny said, her eyes shining. "I'm trying to say yes."






Author's Note: Yes, I should probably have been working on my WIPs, but this plot bunny stopped by, and, well, sometimes they just can't be reasoned with. Many thanks to Alexandria Malfoy for taking time out of her busy schedule to beta this.