Her fingers clenched around the piece of parchment as he stared at her, his arms crossed over his chest, a scowl plastered across his pale face. He didn't move from his spot against the wall, but his eyes watched her carefully.

"You seem agitated," he said.

"Well spotted," Ginny snapped, squeezing her hand around the paper so that it wrinkled slightly. Then she placed it on the counter. "I don't understand it at all."

"You would if you calmed down and looked at the letter rationally," Draco commented. He almost winced at the scathing look she gave him. "It's going to be okay."

"No, it's not. Did you read the letter?"

"I read it. Twice."

Ginny couldn't help at the rush of anger that went through her as he spoke. Lately, he'd been acting as though her problems weren't big enough in their relationship. It was starting to really get under her skin these last few months.

"What's your problem?" she hissed suddenly, her eyes narrowed at him.

"My problem?" He lifted an eyebrow, gazing at her black nightgown, quite distracted by her appearance. He wanted nothing more than to take her to bed. "I'm not the one picking a fight over a letter, Ginevra."

At the sound of her full name, Ginny's eyes widened. He only called her that when he found her insufferable or was fed up with her. It didn't happen often, only as of late, but the way he said it this time was worse than the others.

"I'm sorry my problems are so trivial," she snapped. "I guess being the son of a Death Eater is worse than anything else."

At the mention of his father, Draco stiffened. For the first time since they had been married, he advanced on her angrily, reaching a hand out to grasp her hair, pulling her to him, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Let go," Ginny shouted, her eyes large.

Draco smirked at her and loosened his grip slightly. "Why should I?" he asked quietly. "If I do then you'll never learn."

He was so close now that Ginny could finally smell the firewhiskey on his breath. If the situation had been different, this would have been intoxicating to her. But this was her worst nightmare come true and there was no denying it. She was simply afraid of him now.

"You've been drinking again," she said, trying to get his mind to focus.

He rolled his eyes. "Brilliant observation, Sherlock."

"Why? I thought you were going to stop."

"Guess not." He laughed, this time holding her tightly, his mouth finding hers. "Don't you like me better this way?"

Against her better judgment, once Ginny felt his hands around her waist or in her hair, she lost all self control and began to kiss him back. She wrapped her arms around his back and dug into his skin when his hands touched her thighs. He placed her on the kitchen table with ease, pulling his mouth from hers.

"You're sure you want to do this?" He looked at her, all the abrupt anger gone from his eyes. When she didn't answer, he sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. He seemed to be coming to his senses with his next words. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Ginny gazed at him, her eyes widening, then narrowing. She had gotten the feeling he was apologizing for something more than being a hostile wasted git. It was too hard to ignore how she was feeling with his hands on her, so instead of opening her mouth and starting another inevitable fight, she dragged his face down to hers and wrapped her legs around his torso.

X

It seemed like hours later when Ginny opened her eyes to find herself on the couch in the living room. She hadn't remembered lying down. The last thing she could remember were hands and her moans that seemed to vibrate through Draco's body.

She shifted her head and tried to sit up. Finding that she winced when doing this, she groaned and ran a hand through her long, tangled hair. She didn't hear anything around her but the slow ticking clock in the hall. She stayed quite still for several moments before she heard a low moan from the vicinity of the floor.

"I drank too much, didn't I?" he asked before she even looked at him.

Ginny nodded and he groaned.

"I don't know how much because you were already pretty bad by the time I got home. I showed you a letter from my parents and you really could have cared less." She felt a sting of pain at her own words, and she watched as he looked at her.

"I'm sorry," he said, running a hand down his face. He glanced behind him as the sun streamed through the window and pressed a hand to his eyes. "That hurts," he murmured.

Ginny reached a hand back and pulled the curtains closed, covering the room in a blanket of darkness.

"Thank you," he said. "Did I hurt you last night?"

"A little," Ginny admitted, glancing down at him. She watched as he raised a hand onto the couch, groping around for hers, but she kept them on her lap. "But it's not like we haven't both been rough on each other."

Realizing he was not going to touch her again, Draco let his hand fall away, defeated. "It's not the same. I shouldn't have been drinking to start with. I only did it because of my father. That letter..."

"Wasn't any of my business." Ginny finished for him. "But we could have talked about it. You didn't have to storm out on me."

"Where did you go?" he asked. "When I came back three hours later you weren't home."

"I went for a walk," she said. "I needed to clear my head."

"I understand," he said, lifting himself off of the floor. He sat beside her and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling and rubbing his temples. "Last night might have cost me everything."

"I don't think I follow," Ginny said quietly, looking over at him.

"I'll pack my things and leave this afternoon."

Something in Ginny seemed to break at his words. When he reached over to brush her cheek, she realized then that she had been crying. He stood and she watched him through blurred vision.

"You can't," she whispered. "You can't go."

"You don't want me to stay," he said, looking back at her. "You don't want an aggressive bastard as a husband. You don't need me anymore, Ginny. You grew tired of me long ago."

"I-" her mouth felt dry, and as she watched him walk out of the room without another word, she had to say it. It had been burning on her tongue for the past week and the timing never seemed right. "We need you."

Draco, who was halfway out of the room and clearly caught off guard by her confession, turned around slowly, his eyes wide. Speech seemed to leave him as his wife sat, tears running down her cheeks, her hand resting on her stomach.

He ignored the headache that suddenly barreled down on him, strode toward her, pulled her up and kissed her. She clung to him and responded as if her life depended on it.

"I love you," she murmured against his mouth. "I love you and we'll get through this."

He pulled away and glanced at her. "I've made so many mistakes in my life but I promise I won't fail this time. I love you. You're everything to me and I would die without you."

Their world was new and they would face it together.