One Month (and a day) After Harry Defeated Voldemort

“Potter looks like his best friend just died,” Draco told Ginny. They sat side by side in a faded clearing near the lake, their knees touching.

“Nice analogy,” she told him dryly, plucking some of the dry grass between her fingers and sprinkling it on his trousers. “A lot of his friends did just die. Yours too. And mine.”

He glared for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry then.”

“I told him.”

Draco’s eyes immediately swung to meet hers. “You did? What did you tell him?”

“That he and I had no future.” Ginny stared at the ground, still not exactly sure why she felt slightly guilty.

“Did you tell him about us?” Draco’s voice was more demanding then he she had heard in a while.

Ginny’s eyebrows shot up and her guilt was gone. “Us? Is there an official us?”

He let out a huff of disgusted air that caused his hair to ruffle. “We’ve been sneaking around this whole year trying to see each other. Seems to me there is. Unless of course you don’t want there to be.” He brushed the dead grass from his trousers and folded his arms over his chest.

“Don’t be so defensive,” Ginny said, scooting closer to him. “I just wanted to make sure that we were an official thing before I started telling people. Anyways he knew.”

“You should have just told him.” He swung his perfect hair out of his silver eyes. “After what I told you in the Great Hall that night? How could you think we weren’t an official thing? Haven’t we been seeing each other all year?”

“Yes, except for, you know, when you tried to kill Harry!” Ginny leaned back on her elbows, her hair dangling in Draco’s lap. They’d had the same conversation too many times in the past month and she was already tired of it. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I was just trying to-”

“I know,” she cut him off, dropping her head back to stare up at him. “You were trying to help your parents.”

He shrugged, but reached down and began to gently twirl her hair between his fingers. “Yeah. That.”

“It’s over now. He didn’t die, your parents are okay, things are better.”

“When I graduate I want to get us out of here,” Draco said suddenly, his voice low and serious. “Me and you. We can go somewhere else, some place where we don’t have to deal with all this crap.”

“I won’t even be done with school!” she protested lightly, her head now resting on his knee.

“Do you really want to stay here next year?” he demanded. Even though his voice was rough, his fingers were gentle as they brushed over her cheek.

Ginny considered his question only for a moment. “Well… no.” There was no reason to stay, except maybe her N.E.W.T.s, but where she had once wanted to be a professional Quidditch player, she now just wanted to be with Draco.

“Okay then.”

“Where exactly will we go? And how can I expect to find a job if I don’t finish school?” She wasn’t going to let him know that she didn’t want a career.

“I’ll get you a tutor,” he replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

“And live? And support ourselves?” They didn’t fit together, the two of them, but somehow things just fell into place. For the past nine months, they had made things work, even though that meant a lot of sneaking around and denying things.

“My parents are in Azkaban right now,” he reminded her, brushing a loose strand of hair from her eyes. “I am the only Malfoy around. I control all the money!”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “But where will we live? You said… You-Know-Who was at your place.”

Draco nodded dismissively. “He was at the Manor. I don’t think he’d been there for a while before Potter offed him, but we won’t go there. We can go to our vacation estate in the south of France or to our villa in Tuscany. We also have this amazing tree house in the Serengeti-”

“Really?” Ginny cut him off, sitting up quickly. “The Serengeti? I always wanted to go there!”

“Then that’s where we’ll go.”

“Is it really a tree house?”

“Well, it’s build with the trees in mind. It’s on the rim of one of the plains. It’s on stilts so it sits up high near the trees. It has this amazing pool, it looks like it’s just right in the middle of the wilderness and that any beast could sneak up on you, but of course it’s heavily protected.”

“Of course.” She grinned up at him and tugged gently at his hair.

“Are you making fun of me? Because if you are, I won’t take you.”

“No, you just make it sound so easy! Like it’s no trouble at all to whisk me off to your castle in the sky.”

Draco pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. “It’s no trouble at all. The tree house practically is a castle in the sky.”

“Sounds like a fairy tale.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, kissing her cheek. “You can be my Cinderella.”

She kissed him back. “I think Snow White was the once whose prince had a sky castle.”

“Whatever.” He kissed her hungrily and she felt herself melting into his arms, and a desire to rip his clothes off right there on the school grounds.

“But I could get used to that, the whole princess thing,” she whispered in his ear.

“Just kiss me. We’ll work out the details after graduation.”

She kissed him. “Do you think the skies are clearer?”

“What?” he mumbled, his words almost lost inside her mouth.

“Here the skies are still gray. Do you think they’ll be blue in Africa?”

“I hope so.”

“Me too.” She wrapped her arms tightly around him.

“I’m serious, Gin. I want to go and I’m taking you.”

She tilted her head and looked at him.

He sighed loudly and managed to look decisively bored at the same time. “What else do I have to do to make you believe me?"

**~~**

When Sixth Year Started

When her sixth year at Hogwarts began, and Ginny arrived on the train without Harry or Ron or Hermione, for the first time ever, it was equally terrifying and liberating.

She sat with Neville, Luna and Colin. Everyone asked about Harry, even Luna who had been at the wedding when he disappeared. They talked about the fall of the ministry and who would be running the school. They discussed whether or not they should even be going back to the school. Neville had jumped up, wand at the ready, when Draco Malfoy had slid open their compartment door and looked around. His eyes fell on Ginny for a moment too long, but she sneered at him and he slid the compartment door shut without a word.

Ginny didn’t notice Draco until two weeks later, when the school year was in full force and she was doubled over in an empty hallway, holding onto her sides and gasping for air.

“I take it you just came from Dark Arts?” a thin, stiff voice asked from behind her.

It took all her strength to whirl around and see who was talking to her. The red hot pain under her ribs hit her again, but she managed to gasp out, “What do you care?”

Draco Malfoy stepped closer and she tried to back away, but the cool stone wall behind her prevented that. “Who did it?”

“Excuse me?” The pain in Ginny’s ribcage was slowly subsiding but it was being replaced by suspicious and a slight twinge of fear – not that she would ever let on.

“I know you have that class with my house,” he continued, as if conversations between Weasley’s and Malfoy’s were perfectly acceptable. “I know they’re letting everyone practice those curses on each other.”

“Again, why do you care?” She rubbed her sides carefully and tried to straighten up. “Shouldn’t you be glad the Death Eaters are running the school?”

His eyes darkened. “You have no idea what makes me glad.”

“Then enlighten me.” She rolled her brown eyes. Only a few months ago Draco had tried to kill Harry, had gotten Dumbledore killed, had allowed Death Eaters into the school, one of whom had permanently scarred her brother’s face – of course that had managed to be a blessing in disguise, proving Fleur to the family and whatnot.

Draco didn’t respond. They stood in the dim hallway, staring at each other and Ginny was suddenly aware of every single sound the old castle made.

“Well?” she finally asked, trying to sound bored, but desperate to break the silence. He was still just standing there, staring at her. His normally coifed blond hair wasn’t so perfect today, she noticed. In fact, it looked rather normal, as if he had just woken up, ran his hands through it and decided that was good enough. Ginny didn’t like the way his gray eyes were fixed on her, as if she was some prize that he wanted to win or some delicious dessert he couldn’t wait to eat.

But he didn’t answer and the silence was more than Ginny could handle. She reached down to grab her bag from the ground, with every intention of slinging it over her shoulders and walking away. Instead the weight of her bag compounded the lingering pain from the Crucio she had received for not wanting to use the curse on any other students, Slytherin’s or not, and she crumpled to the hard ground.
The ground had rushed up to meet her so quickly that she almost didn’t notice Draco Malfoy, swooping in to save her from contact with the floor. Almost.

“You okay?” His words came out rough and gravelly, as if he wasn’t used to speaking.

Ginny stared at him, unsure if she should try to hex him or at the very least just find her way out of his arms. “I’m fine.”

“You can’t not use the curses against them,” he said crossly. “They’ll use them on you and you know it. Defend yourself.”

She shook her head, her red hair swinging against him. “No I can’t,” she told him, gritting her teeth as the words caused her sides to flare up again. “I’m not like them.”

“So you’re going to be all noble and just get hexed all sodding year?”

“By your housemates? Yeah, I guess so. I don’t use unforgivable curses.”

He pulled her back to a standing position, but didn’t move his arms from around her. “I think there are times when they’re forgivable.”

“What do you care? I don’t even know why you’re talking to me! We have too much of a bad past.” Ginny was getting close to wiggling free of his grasp. On one hand, it was nice to have the male attention and know that there were other blokes besides Harry; on another, she didn’t want it from Malfoy.

“Technically,” he drawled, something that resembled his trademark smirk was creeping onto his face, “you and I have no bad past. I have never done a thing to you.”

Ginny opened her mouth, about to prove him wrong, when she realized he was right. The diary, that had been his father. The trouble that he caused was usually with Ron, Harry and Hermione. His actions at the end of the last school year, technically none of them had been directed at her, although they had affected her. “You made fun of me once,” she said finally. “For sending Harry that singing Valentine.”

He drew his eyebrows together in confusion and then began to laugh. “Seriously?” He shook his head, his arms still around her waist. “That’s the best you could come up with?”

She shrugged, his laughter causing a smile to creep over her face. “You did.”

“Come on! You don’t think it’s funny?”

“Okay,” she conceded, forcing herself not to smile by scowling. “It is.”

Draco’s left hand lifted from her side and brushed a strand of hair back from her eyes. “You have to be careful now. Take better care of yourself.”

Her stomach began to sink. What was he doing? Although she was pretty sure she still wasn’t in love with Harry, Draco Malfoy was not supposed to be able to make her stomach flitter like she had swallowed a colony of fairyflies.

“What am I supposed to do?” She meant for her voice to sound harsh and demanding, but instead it came out soft and tired. Two weeks into school and she was already exhausted. It was ridiculous. “I can’t curse them! They might all be gits, but they’re not trying to kill me.”

“Not yet,” he spat, his silver eyes dangerously narrow and pink spots appearing on his cheeks. “But give them time! And how much worse do you think it will be when they actually know what they’re doing? Damn it, Ginny, quit being so sodding virtuous! When has that ever gotten you anywhere?”

Draco had stepped closer, as if that were even possible.

“You called me Ginny.”

“Yes, I,” Draco looked confused. “That’s your name.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t think you knew it.”

“That’s all you have to say?” The hand that had brushed her hair back was now resting on her jaw line. “This is serious.”

“I still don’t know why you care.” The pain in her side had almost faded, but she wasn’t ready to tell him that.

“Are you blind?”

Ginny wondered how it was possible that part of her was finding him attractive, especially since he was glaring at her as if she was an idiot. “Apparently,” she muttered.

“Come on.” He let go of her with no warning and grabbed her bag from the floor. “You have Herbology next, right?”

“Um, yeah.” She was more disappointed that he was no longer touching her than surprised that he knew her next class.

Draco hauled the bag over his shoulder and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go. We’ll tell Sprout you were detained and she won’t give you detention. She likes me for some reason.”

“I wasn’t planning on going there,” Ginny told him as he pulled her along. “I’m really hurting.”

“How are you feeling now?” He stopped halfway down a staircase to look at her. “Honestly.”

“I ache,” she admitted, “but I’m alright. I think.”

“Then you should be in class,” he told her firmly. “It’s safer there.”

Ginny followed him down the flights of stairs until they were at the large front doors. “I can make it by myself from here.”

He turned quickly, one eyebrow raised. “And your excuse to Sprout?”

She shrugged, thinking she was a moron for being happy that he was still holding her hand. “The truth?”

“Hello! Have you even been paying attention to what’s been happening at this school? She can’t give you any special treatment because you hurt over a curse! Don’t you remember who’s running this school?”

“How could I forget?” Ginny glared at him. “The head of your house.”

“The head of my house is now Slughorn.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Exactly. Let’s go.”

Ginny wondered if that curse had done more than just hurt her physically, because his bossiness was somehow turning her on.

**~~**

“Where are we going?” Ginny asked, looking around nervously. While she decided that yes, she did in fact like Draco Malfoy, she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that maybe she shouldn’t trust him. He came around often, finding any excuse for them to be together, but this was the first time he’d come out and told her that he wanted to spend time with just her.

“I got tired of sneaking around,” he had said, “so I found a great spot for us.”

She wondered if her body would ever be found in this great spot if things went awry.

“Just come on.” Draco jumped off the staircase as it began to turn, pulling her along with him to the third floor landing. He walked quickly along the empty hallway before pausing in front of a locked door. He extracted his wand from his pocket and whispered Alohomora.

“What is this?” Ginny asked, glancing behind them. The long corridor was empty and dusty. She couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t noticed it before, and why it was unused. For that matter, she wondered why so much of the castle was unused. Nearly every week she stumbled upon a classroom she had never seen before or a passage she had never used.

“An empty room,” Draco shrugged. “This one just happens to have a trap door that leads to all kinds of interesting corridors.”

“A trap door?”

He laughed as he shut the door behind them. “It’ll be fun.”
“I’m not going through a trap door.”

“You don’t have to,” he grinned at her as he lit his wand. “I was joking.”

Draco lit several lanterns that hung around the room and Ginny noticed several comfy looking arm chairs that were gathered around a fire place. “Looks like other people had the same idea.”

He nodded and brushed away a large cobweb. “Yeah, but I don’t think it’s been used since last year. I haven’t seen anyone around.”

Dropping their bags to the floor, Draco motioned at the armchairs. “Sit.”

She raised an eyebrow, but dropped down into one of the chairs, her feet dangling over one arm and her back propped against the other. “I should be doing homework.”

“We can do it later.” He shrugged off his robes, and she was surprised to see that underneath them, he wore khaki trousers and a faded orange t-shirt. It looked as though it once had lettering on it, but she couldn’t tell. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large paper bag. “Here. Happy Halloween.”

Ginny couldn’t help the large grin that spread over her face. “Thank you!”

“It’s rubbish that the professors aren’t giving us candy this year,” he told her, gracefully lowering himself into the chair next to hers. He handed her the bag. “Sodding Snape and his stupid rules. I swear, he just loves to see everyone as miserable as he is.”

She peaked inside and pulled out a large chocoball. “Yum.” She passed the bag back to Draco. “Where’d you get all this?”

“Mum. She keeps my sweet tooth happy.” Draco pulled out a handful of chocolate frogs and unwrapped one. “These are my favorite.”

She watched as it tried to hop out of his hand, but he snatched it and, dangling it by one leg, dropped in to his mouth. “I like these.” She had bitten through the chocolate layer and was licking the strawberry and cream filling.

“What else do you like?” Draco was dangling another frog over his mouth.

“Sugar quills,” she told him. “And treacle fudge, even though it’s hard to talk after you eat it. My brothers used to give it to me when I was little and bothering them. Made mum furious!”

Draco laughed and Ginny decided she liked the way his eyes actually seemed to glitter when he laughed. “What else?”

“Those are my favorites-”

“I mean what else besides candy?” he demanded.

“You want to know my favorite everything?” Ginny plucked the bag out of his lap and dug out another chocoball.

“Sure, why not?”

“Okay,” she eyed him, desperately wanting to know about his shirt. She was certain that Malfoy’s didn’t wear things that weren’t new. “I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”

“Deal,” he said, holding his hands out for the bag. “Favorite subject?”

“Quidditch,” she laughed, tossing him a single frog. “Besides that, I like charms and spell writing. You?”

“I like potions,” he told her, his voice muffled slightly as he swallowed another chocolate frog. “And transfiguration. But don’t tell McGonagall!”

She giggled. “I won’t – for now. One day I might need to blackmail you with that fact!”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Draco’s silver eyes flashed playfully at her.

“We’ll see. Favorite Quidditch team?”

“Easy. Canons. They’re going to win the cup soon.”

“Are you serious?” Ginny began to laugh so hard she almost fell off her chair.

“They are!” he said defensively. “This season they just picked up three amazing first string players – Linn Liverstones, Amelia Ackersbee and-”

“And Rastor Smythe,” she told him between giggles. “I know.”

“Then what’s so funny?” he asked crossly, snatching the candy bag from her lap and fold his arms over his chest.

“Nothing, nothing,” she wiped at her eyes. “It’s just that the Canon’s are Ron’s favorite team too.”

Draco’s mouth opened and closed once before his trademark sneer appeared. “You’re joking.”

“Nope!” She grinned widely and made a dive for the candy bag. “I’ll have to tell him. You two can talk about how wonderful the Canon’s are. I bet you’ll even become best mates over it! I’d owl him, but I don’t know where he is, so it’ll have to wait.”

Draco held the candy bag away from her. “You are a truly evil witch.”

She shook her head, her long red hair flying. “Nope, not at all. Now give me the candy.”

“Never!” Draco jumped to his feet and held the bag above his head. “I can’t believe I even shared it with you to begin with.”

“So your shirt used to say Canons?” she asked, still grinning, her hands on her hips as she watched him hold the candy away from her and calculated her next move.

“I like this shirt,” he scowled. “Mum was always trying to get rid of it because it’s old, but it’s my favorite.”

“Mm-hmm.” She lunged for him, catching him off guard.

Draco stepped backwards as Ginny’s hand closed around the candy bag and they both fell back, landing in a heap across the chairs.

“You okay?” he asked roughly.

“I think so.” She shifted so that all of her weight wasn’t directly on Draco. “Thanks for breaking my fall.”

Ignoring the spilled candy around them, Draco pulled her back on top of him and then reached up and slid his fingers up her jaw line, over her ear and into her hair. She could feel his fingers curling slightly and tugging ever so gently at the hair above her neck. “I’ve wanted to do this,” he began, and Ginny knew exactly what was coming.

His fingers in her hair tightened ever so slightly as he gently moved her head towards his. Her breath caught in anticipation and then their lips were touching. Ginny could taste the sweetness of the chocolates they had been eating and could feel the roughness of his skin against hers and for a moment she forgot to breathe. She wanted to run her fingers over every single inch of his skin, but settled for bringing both her hands to his chin, cupping his face as they kissed.

His breathing was heavier and she could feel each beat of his heart since her own chest was pressed against his as they kissed, still sprawled on the floor.

I’m kissing Draco. I’m kissing Draco Malfoy and I really like it.

Then Ginny quit thinking about their kiss and just kissed him.

**~~**

“I put her up to it,” Draco said loudly, getting astonished looks from Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy.

“Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy?” Snape said, his voice thin. “What did you just say?”

“In Dark Arts we were told to practice those curses on people who got detention,” Draco said, his voice still loud and clear.

“That’s Defense Against Dark Arts,” the new headmaster said, narrowing his eyes at Ginny. “Did Ms. Weasley have detention?”

“No, but she should have,” Draco continued. “I heard her saying that Professor Alecto was rubbish. So I used Imperius on her. Everyone was making such a big deal about the sword. I wanted to know what was so special about it.”

Snape’s cold eyes focused on Ginny and she immediately knew he was fully aware of Draco’s lie. From behind her, she could feel Neville and Luna’s shock radiating off their bodies. “Very well then,” he said, his oily voice so low Ginny had to strain to hear him. “Detention. The three of you will serve it tonight with Hagrid. He has chores in the Forbidden Forest.”

“If she was under an unforgivable curse,” Neville began to protest.

“I have been led to believe that the two of you acted under your own free will,” Snape spat. “So unless you’d like a more severe punishment…”

“Come on,” Ginny muttered, grabbing Luna’s wrist. From the corner of her eye, she watched in bitter disappointment as Snape began to descend a staircase with the sword they had tried so hard to obtain.

“Why did Malfoy say that?” Neville demanded when they had turned a corner. “You’re not under the curse, are you?”

She shook her head, her long red hair spilling free of its ponytail. “No I’m not.”

*~*

“What were you thinking?” Draco’s voice didn’t have to be loud to be intimidating. It was the low, cold sharpness of his words that caught her attention.

“You know what I was thinking,” Ginny yawned. “Now let me go to bed.”

“After what I did for you, the least you could do is just say it. Just be honest.”

Ginny didn’t like to see Draco upset. In the months they had spent together – mostly in secret – Ginny found it was easy to tell when he was really upset. His voice dropped, his fists balled, he got two twin spots of pink on his cheeks marring the paleness of his cheeks. “Dumbledore left it to Harry. You know that. It belongs to Harry and I wanted him to have a chance at it. It might be important! It could end this war.”

She didn’t know if it was the disgust in his eyes or the disappointment that bothered her more.

“Really Ginny? For Potter?” Draco’s lips were twisted into the sneer she was so used to seeing on his face.

“Yes for him. Just the sword. I wasn’t going to package myself up and go along with it!” she snapped back.

“Do I even need to ask how you thought you would get it to him? Getting it out of Snape’s office was just the beginning you know. Did you think he’d just show up on the school doorstep waiting for it? Or were you going to owl it to him?”

“Don’t be an arse,” she muttered. “I don’t know. It just seemed like a good idea.”

“It wasn’t!” He threw his hands up in the air and then folded them over his chest.

“Yeah, got that.”

He pulled her closer and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What were you thinking? Do you know what kind of punishment you would have gotten if someone else had caught you?”

“Or if you hadn’t lied about cursing me?”

“Snape knew I was lying.”

Ginny nodded, leaning her head on his chest. “Yes, he did.”

“You got off easy.” Draco took her by the shoulders and moved her firmly back, staring into her eyes.

“The Forbidden Forest isn’t easy!” She shook her shoulders slightly, trying to get back to her comfortable position. They hadn’t finished in the forest until well after midnight, and Draco had been waiting on the third floor landing when they returned to the castle. After they saw Luna to her dorm, she lied to Neville, telling him she’d be in the Prefect’s bathroom. He had been reluctant to leave her side, but she had finally convinced him that she could make it to the common room just fine.

“You were with that half-blood,” he drawled, letting her fall back into his chest. “You were fine. That’s why Snape sent you there.”

“Don’t call him that,” Ginny said, her voice heavy with sleep.

“Don’t do anything else for Potter.” His voice was low and sharp again, while his fingers traced their way down Ginny’s spine and back up.

She wanted to argue with him, but it was pointless. Harry hadn’t tried to contact her at all. She was at school, and he was out doing… well, whatever he was doing. She couldn’t wait for him forever. “There’s nothing else to do for him.”

“Promise you won’t. You’ll just get into more trouble. I can’t always be there to save you.” His hands were now tangled in the back of her hair, tugging on it ever so slightly, sending breathless chills down her back. She wanted to lean up and kiss him, but didn’t. The few times they had kissed, he had initiated them, and as much as she wanted to, she just wasn’t ready to make the first move. With anyone else, it would have been easy, but Draco wasn’t anyone else. He was difficult, funny, moody, unpredictable Draco.

“I can save myself.”

The slight tug in her hair became a firm one, and she found herself staring up at him.

“I mean it,” he told her.

And then he leaned down and kissed her, and she was no longer tired. Instead she could taste the sweetness of his mouth and felt the fire in the way he kissed her. He kissed her like no one else ever had – or could, she decided – even when she’d tried to create the same fire with Harry. Draco’s kisses made her insides quiver and burn simultaneously. His hands creating a fist in the back of her hair, tugging on it, made her want to throw her clothes off and confess her love for him. Instead, she just kissed back, trying to enjoy the warmth of his body pressed into hers and the feel of his soft mouth and the smell of his faint cologne all at the same time.

**~~**

“Happy Christmas.” Ginny handed Draco the box that she had purposely wrapped in shiny emerald green paper and tied with a silver ribbon.

“What is this?” he asked, and Ginny could tell he was attempting not to look delighted. “You said you weren’t going to get me anything.”

“I wasn’t,” she grinned at him, sprawling across the dusty sofa that sat in the middle of their mostly empty room. Hogwarts had so many empty rooms she wondered how it was that more students didn’t take advantage of them. Or maybe they did and she just didn’t know about it. “But I figured you’d be disappointed if I didn’t.”

Draco looked up at her, his silver eyes locking with her own. “You know me too well, don’t you?”

She wished she had a camera as he yanked the bow off and sent green paper flying in every direction. Colin was the one with the camera and it had come in handy for the holidays.

Draco pulled the silver frame from the box, and she was pleasantly surprised to see an actual smile on his face. She knew that in the picture she was still alternating between smiling sweetly at the viewer and poking fun at Draco for trying to look so serious, all while sitting in his lap.

Colin was one of the few people who knew about the two of them; in fact, he was the only one Ginny could think of who knew they were seeing each other. Colin’s once annoying photography hobby had turned into his obsession and he was damn good at it. He was planning a professional career in photography when he finished at Hogwarts.

The three of them had been lounging in the third floor forbidden corridor; she’d brought Colin along for his photography skills. That day they were reading letters from their families, all full of good and encouraging news – even Draco’s, Ginny decided, if you looked at it in the right way – and eating candies that Fred and George had sent.

“I like this candy,” Draco had told her, “even though I’m not sure I’ll like your brothers.”

“Who says they’ll like you?” Ginny had shot back. “Besides, that candy just turned your hair purple.”

The photo she had framed for Draco was taken right after his hair had returned to its normal shade of white blond.

They had laughed and talked and dreamed in that room for hours, just the three of them, temporarily safe from the war and the Carrow’s and reality.

“It’s perfect,” Draco said looking up from the picture, bringing Ginny back to the present. “Thank you.”

“Welcome,” she said, leaning down to kiss him.

As they kissed, Draco slid a large purple wrapped box out from under a chair. “For you.”

“You said you weren’t going to get me anything!” Ginny looked at the shiny box with dismay. It was at least five times bigger than the box she had given Draco.

“You said the same thing!” He kissed her nose and shoved the box in her lap. “Open it.”

Ginny reluctantly drew back from him. While presents were always nice, she couldn’t imagine anything better than kissing him. Carefully, she peeled back the paper until she could easily lift the top from the box. Inside the box was a shimmering material of dark green. The color reminded her of how the tree tops in the Forbidden Forest looked from the windows in the Gryffindor tower. She pulled it out and discovered it was a cloak. The material was light to the touch, but she could instantly tell that it would be warm. It latched at the neck with a twisted silver clasp, and had similar ones going down the front.

“It’s charmed,” Draco said quietly. “More than charmed, actually.”

“Is it a love potion?” she asked, grinning. “It’s beautiful, but you weren’t supposed to get me anything! All I got you was a picture.”

“In a goblin made silver frame,” he pointed out.

She wasn’t about to tell him that the frame, while it had been a bargain because the shop keeper seemed unaware it was goblin made, had cleaned out her savings.

“Besides, the cloak is more for safety than anything.”

“Safety?” she repeated, rubbing the soft material against her cheek.

Draco nodded. “It’s made to repel a lot of hexes and curses and such. I mean, if the Dark Lord or someone tried to curse you I don’t imagine the cloak would do much good. But these idiots here, if they try again, well, you should be okay. Maybe just some aches and pains, but no more blowing you off your feet or knocking you unconscious.”

Ginny stared at him, unsure of how to properly thank him. Her house had been the subjects of daily assaults, and when she was the victim, Draco went into a rage. She knew he had cursed his housemates in their sleep more than once over it. “Thank you. It’s so beautiful and perfect.”

He nodded curtly. “Wear it.”

“I will.”

“Wear it on the train tomorrow and on the way back to school.”

Ginny nodded. “Okay.”

Draco reached for her and pulled her into his lap.

“I wish I didn’t have to go home for the Holidays.”

“Me too. I want you to stay right here with me.” He kissed her chin, then her lips. “Just me and you.”

He kissed her again and Ginny felt herself melting into him, his lips causing her worries to vanish.

“Mum’s not going to let me come back,” Ginny told Draco, her jaw clenched in an effort to keep any tear that might think of escaping from doing so.

“What?” he demanded, looking up from his potions book and staring at her sharply.

She pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from the pocket of her robes. “She doesn’t think it’s safe here anymore. Said I need to gather all my things when I come home for Easter weekend.”

“No one goes home for Easter weekend.” Draco snapped his potions book shut.

“I know that,” she said stiffly, dropping into the chair beside him. “But I am. And I guess a lot of other students are too.”

Draco closed his eyes for a moment. “You can’t leave me.”

“With Luna getting taken over the Holidays and Michael Corner and Neville… Mum doesn’t want me here anymore.” Ginny kept reminding herself that she hadn’t cried (publicly) over Harry, and she certainly wasn’t going to (publicly) cry over Draco.

“They’re going to know!” he said. “They’re going to know why you’re going home.”

“It’s not just me,” she said sadly. “A couple other people got their letters. Didn’t you hear the announcement? Snape said anyone who wanted to was free to make a home visit for Easter weekend.”

Draco shoved his blond hair out of his eyes. She’d been after him for weeks to get a haircut but he hadn’t. “Don’t go.”

She took a deep breath, ready to give him the speech she’d been practicing all afternoon. “Look, I know your mum won’t let you come home right now, with You-Know-Who and all, but you should come home with me. My parents won’t mind. They are always willing to help anyone out, and they’ll arrange to let your parents know you’re safe. Think about it. Just me and you and we won’t have to hide or worry about who’s going to hex us or anything like that. Say yes. Come with me.”

Instead of agreeing, or at least telling her why she was nutters, Draco sighed heavily and dropped back in his chair. “You-Know-Who isn’t there right now. He’s… away, I guess. Mum wants me home too.”

Ginny’s red eyebrows shot up. “You weren’t going to tell me?”

“Of course I was. But I was going to tell her I wasn’t coming home. I was going to stay with you.”

Ginny bit her lower lip. “You should see your parents then,” she said quietly.

“What about going with you?” he asked, angrily pushing aside his school books, sending his ink pot flying. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“It is what I want,” she snapped. “Of course it is! But would you say yes? Would you agree to it?”

Draco turned his head, his gaze burning holes in the table top.

“That’s what I thought,” Ginny said stiffly. “I’m going to go pack.”

**~~**

“Ginny, be a dear and come let this owl in before he scratches the glass. My hands are full.”

Ginny pushed herself up from her hands and knees position on the floor, pushing her long bangs back from her eyes. She wondered sometimes if her mother kept home from school because she was truly worried, or because she wanted another person in the house during the day. The biggest problem with being the other person in the house was that her mother cleaned to calm her nerves and therefore Ginny was constantly helping her clean. There was only so much schoolwork she could do, with no actual professors assigning it to her.

She nearly tripped over the bucket of sudsy water she had been scrubbing the entry hall with, and cursed the fact that she still couldn’t use magic outside of school.

As she entered the kitchen, she could see a black eagle owl scratching at the window pane. Her mother was waving her wand non-stop, rearranging the pots and pans. Ginny’s stomach lurched in anticipate and joy as she remembered where she’d seen that owl before. She dashed across the kitchen, knocking over two of the chairs at the table in the process and colliding with the wall as she skidded to a stop in order to open the window.

“Someone you know?” her mother asked lightly. “I haven’t seen that owl before, but if it can find us, it must be.”

Ginny untied the envelope as fast as she could without ripping it and shoved the entire can of owl treats at the bird. She unsealed the envelope and pulled two small pieces of parchment from it, beginning to read before she had even sat down at the table.

Ginny,
I really miss you. You weren’t the only one who didn’t come back to Hogwarts. There are pretty much no Hufflepuffs and just a few Ravenclaws left. I really miss you. Sitting in our room isn’t exactly the same without you. I sit there in silence and all I can remember is that when the two of us were silent, there was still your breathing but now there’s just mine. Did I mention that it really sucks here without you? I miss the sound of your voice, and right now it’s the absolute loudest thing in my head. I can’t concentrate on a damn thing with you gone. Do you understand what you’re doing to me? This isn’t me, this isn’t how I’m supposed to feel or act! I think about you, worry about you all day long. Did you know that people build religions around people that they miss? I understand that now. It’s like I have this weird emptiness inside of me that I can’t explain. It aches so bad I went to Madam Pomfrey. Thank Merlin she thought it was because of the war. I feel like I have to do something or I’ll go completely mad. Perhaps building a shrine to you is the next step. I’ll place your picture at the top of it and I can kneel at it every day.

Ginny placed the first page on the table and continued with the second page, her heart hammering in jubilation. She honestly hadn’t expected him to write, and she had never expected him to be so honest. Part of her had been convinced she might never see him again.

This is getting embarrassing even though it’s just parchment, so let me change the subject. Crabbe and Goyle seem to have gone through some sort of ‘initiation’ over Easter if you know what I mean. They’re both on power trips right now, and completely annoying and unbearable.

I’m only telling you this because I don’t want you to worry, not because of any other reason. You have to keep it a secret for obvious reasons. I saw Scarhead over the Easter holidays. He was with your brother and the Mudblood and everything with them seems to be okay. That’s all I can tell you right now. I’ll tell you the rest when I see you again, and I swear it will be soon, even if I have to crawl in your bedroom window – which, by the way, I can’t do unless you tell me where you live. Just saying. Next time I see you I’m going to count every single freckle on your beautiful skin. Again, I miss you. A lot.

Draco

Ginny pressed the second piece of parchment to her face, and for a moment, she could image that she smelled his cologne and the smell that made him so irresistible. She wanted to laugh and dance and sing and send him directions to the Burrow, and at the same time she wanted to throttle him for being so mysterious about Harry.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was this private.”

Ginny glanced over the top of the parchment just in time to see her mother placing the first page of the letter back on the table.

“I thought it was just a letter from one of your school friends,” Molly continued, her eyebrows slightly raised. “I wouldn’t have read it otherwise.”

“I know,” Ginny felt her face begin to flush, thankful her mum hadn’t seen the second page as well. “It’s okay.”

“Can I ask who it is?”

“Just a friend, like you said.” Ginny stood to her feet and tucked both pages of the letter in her back pocket. “No one important.” She moved to close the kitchen window.

When she turned around, her mum was still watching her, a small smile playing on her lips. “Really? Because I haven’t seen you this red since, well, since you were 12 and saw Harry.”

“Mum!” Ginny exclaimed.

“It’s a beautiful letter. It’s just a little frightening when you know it’s directed at your 16-year-old daughter.” Molly’s eyebrows were raised as she lowered herself into the seat across from where Ginny had been sitting.

“I’ll be seventeen in a few months,” she said seriously.

Her mum continued to watch her closely.

“There’s nothing to be frightened about,” Ginny mumbled, looking at the tile floor. “Not like that. We haven’t and I never have, so…”

She heard her mother’s rushing sigh of relief.

Ginny slid back into her seat, not eager to have the inevitable conversation.

“I can’t say I’ve ever had a boy want to build a religion around me.”

“Mum!” Her face was burning so fiercely, she wondered if it would start to shoot flames.

“It’s a hard time to be in love, isn’t it? Look at Remus and Tonks.” She rested her hand on her chin and looked out the window thoughtfully.

“I wouldn’t say I’m in love,” she said softly, unsure if she was or not.

“Maybe not, but he is.”

“You don’t even know him!”

“I don’t have to,” her mum smiled. “It was in the letter.”

“No it wasn’t!” Ginny pulled the letter out and scanned it again. “It’s not.”

“I can tell.”

“Really, he’s not exactly my type,” Ginny admitted. “I don’t know how we would ever make it work.”

“But we’re all making it work,” Molly said firmly. “That’s what you have to do, I suppose. If we don’t keep on living, then You-Know-Who wins, doesn’t he?”

“Then,” Ginny asked slowly, “can I go back to school?”

Her mother met her eye and watched her carefully. “Do you want to go back because that’s what you do, or because you miss someone?”

“Both,” she admitted, rubbing her fingers over an invisible spot on the table.

“Not that I don’t think you should be able to move on, but I thought you and Harry…” her mum trailed off.

Ginny nodded. “I thought so for a while,” she said finally, her voice tight, “but then this happened; I met this other person. I like him. A lot.”

“Are you going to tell me who he is?” A small smile played on the edges of her mum’s lips.

“Not yet,” Ginny shook her head. “But I will, I promise.”

“I know you will.” Molly reached across the table to squeeze Ginny’s hand. “I just want you to be careful, especially during these times. That’s why we brought you home from school.”

“I know.”

“If anything, you’ve always been the most sensible teenager I’ve raised.”

A small smile turned up Ginny’s mouth. “Thanks mum.”

*~*

Every night since Ginny had owled the location of the Burrow to Draco, it took an extra long time to fall asleep. Part of her worried about exactly what she would do if he did decide to knock on her window, while the rest of her brain told her what an idiot she was for actually sending him the location of her home. His family was made up of Death Eaters! Her family belonged to the Order! Anyone could intercept and owl, and there was no guarantee that Death Eaters weren’t closing in on her family at that very second. Nevertheless, she slept with her window cracked, just in case he was home for the weekend and somehow able to come visit her.

She sighed loudly as she pulled an old Beaters do it Harder t-shirt out of her bureau. There had been no word from Draco, not since his first and only letter. Rumors about the trio got wilder every day. Xenophilius Lovegood had been taken to Azkaban and everyone was saying it was because he let Harry get away. She found it hard to believe that Harry had only been a few miles away, and hadn’t let them know. But he might have. She still had no idea what he was up to. The Order’s constant worrying has definitely worn off on me, she thought grumpily.

Ginny unbuttoned the blouse she had worn to dinner and tossed it to the floor. Long dinners in which the Order discussed things while glancing at her until she was either asked to leave or left on her own had grown tiresome.

She wiggled out of her skirt and picked up the t-shirt.

“Ginny!”

She let out a small gasp and glanced around her room. Pressing the t-shirt over her chest, she realized the voice had come from outside her window. “Draco?” Nervously, she peeled back her curtain slightly so she could see out.

“Of course it’s me! Do you get other blokes at your window?”

“Let me, just a minute, I have to get dressed.” Ginny glanced around in a panic, trying to find her discarded clothing.

“I can’t sit out here forever,” he snapped and she heard her window creaking open.

Ginny froze, mortified and unsure of what to do, still pressing her t-shirt to her chest. She stared wide eyed as Draco climbed through her window.

“Someone will see me.” Draco stopped and blinked at her. “Why are you naked?”

“I’m not naked,” she said, flushed, attempting to turn the t-shirt so that it covered more of her. “I was getting ready for bed.”

“Right. I’ll turn around.”

She waited until Draco’s back was towards her before yanking the t-shirt quickly over her head. The shirt was long, ending several inches above her knees.

“I could see your reflection in the window,” Draco told her, turning around with a wide grin on his face.

“That’s not very noble,” she whispered, her face burning.

“Who said I was noble?” He stepped closer, his smile wicked and his eyes narrowed.

“You’re just supposed to be.” She wanted to inch backwards, but held her ground.

He took another step, eyeing her t-shirt hungrily. “Sorry princess. You picked the wrong person if you wanted noble.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked, pulling on the hem of her shirt and looking down.

“You told me where you lived. I thought you wanted to see me.” She was surprised at how hurt he sounded.

“I did.” She dove forward and threw her arms around him. “I missed you so much!” She breathed deeply, her face pressed into his chest. “Don’t leave me again.”

"You left me." He tilted her chin up sharply and before she could move, his lips were smashed into hers.

Ginny kissed him as if her life depended on it, not caring that she was in her nightshirt or that half the Order was still downstairs in the kitchen. All she wanted or needed right then was Draco. She moved her tongue over his lips, and then sucked at them, gently scraping them between her teeth. She bit harder, wanting to leave them bruised and swollen, to remind him that he was hers and she was his, even if they were apart. She finally let her tongue move inside his mouth, tracing the spaces behind his lips as her hands tightened around the material of his shirt.

“I can’t stay for very long,” he whispered as they broke apart. “My mum has been especially smothering this weekend.”

Ginny nodded, knowing she couldn’t allow him to stay anyways, but that didn’t lessen the heavy, suffocating disappointment. “You said you saw Harry,” she reminded him. “What happened?”

Draco looked at her for a moment, and Ginny didn’t like the expression she saw forming on his face. “I’ll tell you before I go,” he promised. “Just let me have you all to myself right now.”

“Okay,” she nodded, desperate to know about her brother but relieved that the knowledge was close.

“What was that?” Draco suddenly froze, his hands moving away from her.

In the sudden silence of her room, Ginny could hear the faint sound of laughter from beneath her room. “Oh, it’s just…” she paused, unsure of what to tell him. “We had people over for dinner.”

“It’s almost midnight.”

“Yeah.”

She could see the recognition in Draco’s face. “It’s the Order, isn’t it?”

Ginny tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded.

Draco closed his eyes and shook his head, letting out a harsh laugh. “How did we ever even think this would work out? Do you know who’s at my manor right now? We have prisoners, fucking prisoners, in the basement! My mental aunt is there, her husband, that damn werewolf, Wormtail, and sometimes the Dark Lord is there.”

“Then why did you go home?” She tried to keep her voice firm and steady.

“Because it was the only way I could see you.”

Ginny reached up and placed the palm of her hand on his cheek. “Then that’s how it works out.”

He stared at her a moment, his hands balled into fists at his side, but then he kissed her fiercely and Ginny forgot their tense conversation. His lips crushed her own and he grabbed her, pulling her closer to him so that there was no space at all between their bodies. More than anything, Ginny wanted to touch every piece of him.

He must have thought the same thing, because he gently pushed her down on her bed, his fingers running across her thighs, skimming the hem of her night shirt. “I’ve missed your skin,” he whispered, trailing kisses up to her ear. “And I’ve missed hearing your voice.”

Suddenly Ginny didn’t care that she had been raised not to fall into bed with the first wizard who came along – she wanted Draco with every fiber of her being. With him she felt the way she had never felt with anyone else – safe. If the world disappeared, it wouldn’t matter. She would still be there with Draco.

All she could hear was the heavy in out patterns of their breathing and her whole focus narrowed until Draco was the only thing that she knew or that mattered.

An hour later, they lay on their sides, chest to chest in Ginny’s narrow bed. Her night shirt and Draco’s button up shirt and trousers had been lost in the frenzy of their kissing. She wore her green cotton knickers and he still had his black boxers on, and as he promised, he had tried to count all her freckles but had lost count at 127.

“I have to go soon,” he said softly, unable to tear his eyes away from her bare chest. “I can’t let anyone notice that I’m missing.”

She nodded. “You said you’d tell me…”

Draco managed to divert his eyes from her breasts and his expression said clearly that it pained him to talk about the trio after such an amazing session of snogging and petting. “Don’t freak out,” he warned her. “I’ll tell you everything I know.”

He related how the trio had been brought to the Manor by Fenrir Grayback and several others, but Harry’s face was so distorted it was hard to tell who he was. “My aunt kept asking me to identify them, but in the past, I spent most my time trying not to look at them, so I explained that I couldn’t be sure it was them.”

Ginny wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him some more. Maybe this time she wouldn’t stop him when his fingers tried to tug off her knickers. “I’m sorry about your parents getting in trouble, but I’m glad they escaped. I’m glad they’re okay. And that you didn’t give them up.”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t,” he said gruffly. “Just that I couldn’t. I wasn’t sure it was them.”

She kissed his chest. “Of course.”

And then it was all over. Several brave volunteers had moved You-Know-Who’s body into a small chamber off the Great Hall. Ginny wasn’t sure she trusted it being out of sight, but she certainly didn’t want to have to look at his less than human form anymore. And her mother, killing Bellatrix like that – that had truly been amazing. And Kreacher, rallying the house elves; it had all been nothing short of miraculous.

Except that she still hadn’t found Draco. She had glimpsed him once after Harry had asked her to leave the Room of Requirement, but he had been with Crabbe and Goyle, and something in their expressions didn’t seem right. She had stayed hidden.

Hours later, after the Death Eaters had retreated and after helping fight as much as she could, Ron told her and Tonks what happened in the Room of Requirement and she had searched through all the bodies she could find terrified that each dead person she stumbled upon would be him, and hoping that each injured one would be him as well. But she didn’t find him.

Ginny dropped down on the chair next to her mother, and laid her head on her shoulder. A dry sob escaped her throat once, then twice and then the real tears began to slip down her cheeks.

Her mother knew her too well.

“The person, your friend, is he…”

“I don’t know,” she said, her voice wavering. “I saw him once and then I haven’t seen him again.”

Molly looked around the Great Hall, as if she knew who she was looking for.

Ginny followed her gaze, searching the tables for any sign of that white blond hair.

“There’s quite a few people here,” Molly told her soothingly, stroking her head.

“I know,” she whispered, wondering if she should check the increasing row of bodies that were being brought in. I can’t see Fred again.

Suddenly, standing in the aisle between two tables, three white blond heads caught her eye. She jumped to her feet so quickly the chair fell backwards. Ginny nearly ran to where the Malfoy family was standing and skidded to a stop in front of them. The three of them stared at her, their expressions showing more fear than she felt. She knew she was dirty, her robes were torn and tears were still rolling down her cheeks, but she didn’t care. “Draco?”

Even in these circumstances, his parents made her nervous. His mum stood with her back perfectly rigid, her thin arms wrapped so tightly around Draco, Ginny was concerned for his ribs. His father stood behind them, a hand resting of each of their shoulders. His long hair was tangled and dirty, and most of it had fallen free of the leather band he held it back with.

“Ginny!” Draco said loudly, breaking free from his mother’s grasp and wrapping his arms tightly around her. He kissed her repeatedly before pulling back and looking at her. “I was, I thought, I’m just glad you’re here.” With one hand he reached up and wiped at her tears.

She closed her eyes and pressed herself against him.

“I’m sorry about your brother.”

She nodded into his chest, thinking that she was never going to let go of him again.

“It’s gonna be alright,” he whispered in her ear. “Things are going to be okay now.”

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see his parents or the crying and celebrating people around them.

“Believe me,” he said quietly. “I’ll make everything okay for you. I love you.”

Ginny wanted to believe him, so she did.


**~~**

Two Weeks After School Ended

“You cannot just leave,” Hermione told Ginny.

“I’m not just leaving,” Ginny reminded her calmly, using her wand to pack and shrink her bags. “Everyone knows. I explained it to them.”

“Your mum keeps trying not to cry.”

Ginny nodded, a small knot of guilt expanding in her stomach. “Yes, well… She cried when Bill got married too.” Her mum had been surprised when Ginny and Draco refused to be separated the night Harry killed Voldemort. Draco’s parents had tried to get him to go home with them, and her mum had tried to take her back to the Burrow, but they had both refused. Draco wouldn’t even let go of Ginny’s hand that night or the following day, not even as they slept.

“So you’re marrying Draco?” Hermione asked.

She paused for a moment, glancing around her room to see if there was anything else she wanted to pack. “One day I’m sure we will, if we last that long.”

“Isn’t Malfoy just some passing fancy you have, Gin? You’ll get tired of his arrogance and pretentiousness, won’t you? And you know what happened in the room of requirement, right?”

“She knows,” Ron interrupted his girlfriend. “And she’s made up her mind. They’ve been together a long time. And Ginny’s a smart girl. She can decide these things.”

Ginny smiled at her brother. He was the only person who had stuck up for her – not to say that he was a fan of Draco – but Ron had defended her choice, for reasons she still didn’t understand. “Thanks Ron. Keep telling Mum that. I don’t like it when she’s sad.”

“I think she’s just surprised by who it was,” Ron told her. “Actually just surprised that you’re leaving.”

“Why is she letting you? You’re not 17 yet,” Hermione added.

Ginny shrugged, although she knew exactly why. Her mum had told her that her father had been her one great love, the person she knew she had to be with.

“I can see how much you care for him,” her mum had said. “When I saw the two of you together that night at Hogwarts, I knew. I just knew. And I know I can’t stop it.”

“I’ll be 17 in a month,” Ginny reminded Hermione.

Hermione sighed loudly and sunk down in her chair, rubbing her temples. “Couldn’t you at least wait till the end of summer? Or finish school? You have one more year.”

“For what?” Ginny asked, latching her trunk. “What will change then?”

It was the first time Ginny had seen Hermione at a loss for words.

“Things aren’t the same as they used to be,” Ginny gently reminded her. “And as much as we might want them to be, they’ll never be the same again.”

Ron’s eyebrows rose slightly. “I thought that too. I thought, great, Harry defeated You-Know-Who, now we can go back to being normal and living our lives, but it won’t be the way it was.”

“Exactly,” Ginny added. “And that’s a good thing, right? Now you and Ron can quit pretending not to fancy each other.”

Ron laughed as Hermione’s cheeks flushed. “I’m not going to lie and tell you that I think Malfoy is fantastic. I’d give him another punch in the face any day of the week, but Neville told me about what he did for you during the school year.”

“What did he do?” Harry asked quietly, entering her already crowded room.

Ginny glanced at her brother. It was easier to let Ron explain these things to Harry right now. Harry had made it clear he expected the two of them to pick up where they’d left off, and telling him it was not going to happen wasn’t something Ginny had enjoyed.

“Draco talked Snape into only giving her detention with Hagrid for breaking into Dumbledore’s office and trying to steal the sword,” Ron told his friend. “And refused to do any curses on her in Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“We just called it Dark Arts,” Ginny interjected.

Harry nodded and the room was silent for a moment. Then he smiled at her. “I think one thing I learned is that we’ve all got to do what makes us happy.”

“Thanks,” she whispered back. “That’s what I’m doing.”

“Go somewhere and find some sunshine and happiness, in whatever weird forms it comes in.”

Ginny glanced around her childhood room. She had only packed a few pieces of clothes and some mementos, things she didn’t want to leave behind. Her eyes reached her brother. He was staring at her as if trying to convey the fact that he was telling her something very, very important. She stepped forward and hugged him. “Thanks again Ron. Promise you’ll come and visit? You can get along with Draco for a week, right?”

Ron’s body stiffened slightly.

“He showed me some pictures last week, it’s so beautiful. I can’t wait to get there.”

“I saw those pictures,” Hermione finally spoke up. “It does look amazing.”

Ginny quickly turned her head to look at her friend. “So… you’re not mad at me?”

Hermione sighed loudly. “I wasn’t so much mad as surprised. I didn’t even know you and Malfoy were seeing each other! Do you know how shocking it was to walk into the Great Hall and find the two of you wrapped around each other like your lives depended on it?”

“It wasn’t like I could owl you the news,” Ginny grinned. “You lot were off running around trying to save the world.”

“Just promise you’ll come and visit,” Hermione pleaded.

“And if he ever doesn’t treat you like a princess, let me know,” Ron added.

“If you promise to visit me,” she bargained.

“I dunno about that,” Harry said finally.

“You can go on a safari. How cool would that be?”

Harry finally smiled at her. “Pretty cool, I guess.”

A sharp knock at her bedroom door interrupted them. Ron reached over to open it and Ginny smiled widely at her pale boyfriend.

“Are you packed?” Draco asked, framed in her doorway. “Your mum is… well, she told me that if my actions were as beautiful as my words, she’ll be alright.” He eyebrows were drawn together in confusion.

Ginny grinned and slipped her hand into her pocket, feeling the parchment she still carried with her – her letter from Draco.

“I’m packed.” She motioned to her trunk.

Draco stepped forward with his wand to shrink it for her. “It’s a perfect day to travel,” he told her. “The sun is shining. Just like you wanted.”

“Really?” Ginny stepped towards her window and pressed her nose against the glass. Sure enough, for the first time in over a year, the unnatural fog that the dementors and the dark magic had left behind had lifted. All Ginny could see was a bright blue sky and the sun, shining brilliantly against the land. “It must be a sign,” she laughed. “I’m ready.”

Draco pocketed her trunk, picked up her hand and kissed her cheek. “Me too.”