Most people didn’t notice Ginny Weasley.

They didn’t notice how her fiery-red hair gleamed when the sunlight in the Great Hall hit it during breakfast. They never noticed the way she would chew on her quill while writing essays in the library. Or the way that she would bite on her tongue while playing Quidditch. They never watched her pick out the raisins from the bran muffins at the Gryffindor table.

Draco Malfoy was not most people.

He was probably the only person at Hogwarts who had noticed who the littlest Weasley had suddenly grown up. She filled out her robes in all the right places, the worn cloth stretched taunt over her newly developed womanly curves. He saw how she had let her hair grow out and now was worn in a single braid which almost reached the small of her back.

He saw her go through her first boyfriends. First the Yule Ball with that idiot Longbottom, then the pathetic Ravenclaw Corner, Dean Thomas, and finally Potter. Her knight in shining armor. They had dated during her 5th year before Potter got all noble on her and left her “for her own good.” He longed to comfort her while she cried, but thanks to the Dark Lord, he was not able to be there for her.

As if she would have welcomed him. Draco Lucius Malfoy, the son of her father’s most hated nemesis. The boy who had tortured her brother and his friends mercilessly.

He wished she could see how he really felt.

The war kept them apart for five years. Potter finally found all the Horcruxes and managed to destroy Voldemort once and for all. The wizarding world was at peace once again. Death Eaters were captured, sentenced and sent to Azkaban, Draco’s father and aunt among them.

Draco, however, never became a Death Eater. He had been sent to stay with some distant relatives on the continent until the entire affair was over. Of course he was under suspicion. The Ministry held an inquiry and determined that Draco had never been a part of Death Eater activity and could claim all Malfoy holdings that weren’t being held by the Ministry.

To help pass his time (after all, being a billionaire did get somewhat tedious and boring), he took up a low-level position at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

He nearly threw the towel in when he met his supervisor.

Ginny Weasley had most certainly grown up during the war. Five years had done nothing but make her even more beautiful in his eyes. She now had both the body and psyche of a full-grown, confident witch. Her entire family had survived the war, which was remarkable in itself. She and Scarhead had reunited after the final battle, tried to resume their romance and found that it no longer had the same spark that it once had. Their break-up was mutual, both pledging to remain close friends. After that, Potter had gotten together with and married Hermione Granger. Ginny, to his knowledge, was still single.

The minute she laid eyes on him, the fear in her eyes became apparent. He could tell that her thoughts had immediately jumped to Lucius Malfoy and her experience with the Chamber of Secrets.

“Miss Weasley,” Draco said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. “It is certainly a pleasure to be working underneath one such as yourself.” I also wouldn’t mind being underneath you in other places.

“Who are you and what the hell have you done with Draco Malfoy?” But she gave him a small smile, which made his heart jump in his chest.

Their working relationship was kept to a strictly supervisor/employee relationship. They exchanged pleasantries occasionally, and Draco always went to her when he had a problem with a project.

Draco continued to admire her from afar for eight more months. He would get close to asking her to dinner, get as far as knocking on her office door, and then chicken out.

Late one night, Draco came to a realization. He was watching a Muggle movie about a superhero named Spiderman and a line from the movie caught his attention.

"If you keep something as complicated as love stored up inside then you'll lead to your own demise."

Something snapped inside him. Draco snatched his wand from the coffee table and promptly Disapperated.

He appeared with a Pop! in front of Ginny’s apartment. He checked his watch. 12:30. Not too late for a Friday night. Here’s to hoping she didn’t have a date. He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

After some rustling around, the door opened and Ginny appeared, wearing a terrycloth bathrobe and bunny slippers.

“Malfoy? What on earth?” was all she managed to get out before Draco had her pinned against the door and was kissing her for all he was worth.

After what felt like an eternity, Draco pulled back and searched her face for any sign of emotion. Anger? Disbelief? Disgust?

“It’s about damn time you did that.”

And with that, Ginny wrapped her arms around Draco and pulled his lips back down to hers.

~Finis~


A/N: This fic was written in response to a challenge by slythgoddess101 on FictionAlley. All required was a quote. I chose the quote from Spiderman 2: “If you keep something as complicated as love stored up inside then you'll lead to your own demise.” I hope everyone enjoyed it!

Oh, and none of the characters belong to me!