Ginny found him in the study. Draco Malfoy was sitting at his desk, pouring over books like it wasn't four in the morning and he shouldn't be sleeping. She knocked lightly on the door. "Can I come in?"
He removed his glasses and nodded.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Draco nodded. "Still have jet lag, I guess. I slept for an hour or so. I've been reading for a bit."
"Oh." She seated herself in front of his desk in a winged armchair. "What're you reading?"
He lifted a thick, black book that read, The Malfoy Tradition, embossed in silver on the cover. "Family research."
"So, you've given up then, on having your memory-loss reversed?"
He marked his place in the book and closed it. "It's not that I've given up. I'm only preparing for the worst. As soon as I can meet with Potter, I'm going to ask if he can help me."
"I never thought I'd see you ask Harry for help." She smiled, obviously amused. "Harry's going to be shocked."
"So shocked he can't be bothered to reply to my post, I suppose." He adjusted his glasses again. "What're you doing up? Couldn’t sleep either?"
Ginny shrugged. "Just woke up. You weren't there, so I thought I might come find you. I’m sorry—"
He waved her back into the seat. "Stay. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk."
"About what?"
Draco lifted the book again. "Perhaps you can tell me about the past?"
"Okay." The redhead curled her feet beneath her in the chair and studied him. Finally, she asked, "What do you want to know?"
"My boss in New York asked me why I didn't tell him I was a Malfoy. I didn't know what he meant, and I still don't. What's so important about being a Malfoy?"
"There are very few pureblooded wizarding families left in the world. My family, the Weasley's, the Zabini's, the Parkinson's, the Delacour's of France, some others. And the Malfoy's. In a sense, the Malfoy's are royalty. Their influence might be like a Muggle king or queen. They're important. Your family has been around forever, and will be around forever. Over the centuries, it has remained pure and influential.
"That being said, your family hasn't always been good. I don't know a lot about your ancestors, but I do know your father and grandfather were heavily involved in the Dark Arts. Your father wished to bring you into the fold, but ultimately, the magic allowed you to choose your own path."
"The magic?" he questioned.
Ginny nodded. "This house has been here for nearly seven hundred years now. The first Malfoy, Alexander, built it. It's set up a bit differently than other families, because he wanted the power to rest with the heir so that no one person would become too influential over the course of their life."
She stopped when she saw that he was confused. "I didn't understand it very well, and I might not be explaining it very well either."
"No, go on. I think I understand."
"In a lot of ways, the magic rests within the house itself. The master of the Manor is the one who holds all of the power. While you were away, that was me, because I was acting on behalf of Seth, the true heir. Now that you've returned, you have once again reclaimed the title of master because you are the true heir.
"For the last several generations, only one child has been born to the Malfoy's. A boy each time – a guarantee that the family name will continue. Lucius was born to Brandon and Sarah Malfoy; you were born to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Your father married your mother when he was twenty-four, and he immediately took control of the Malfoy influence.
"You and I married several or some other qualifier months after your twenty-second birthday. But, even if we hadn't married then, you would have gained control of the Manor on your twenty-fifth birthday."
"Why?" Draco asked. "Why wouldn't my father continue to control the interests of the family?"
"It's the magic of the house," she indicated with a sweeping motion. "Your mother left very peacefully, but your father refused. We went to Greece for our honeymoon, and by the time we returned the Manor was ready to accept us. Alexander Malfoy blessed this house and the Malfoy heir with great power. A power no one has ever defeated. It has allowed the survival of the Malfoy line for over seven hundred years now and ensures that the line will continue to survive."
He nodded in understanding. "What guarantees the first born child is always a son?"
"It's not a curse. It's just a spell placed on the lineage. Usually there are only sons born, but in our case—"
"There were twins," Draco interrupted. "If not for Seth, Cera never would've been born."
His wife nodded. "Exactly. Seth was born first. He is the heir. And his son will be the new heir. It's how the magic works."
"How long before the house kicks us out?"
"Seth isn't seven yet. We have at most eighteen years. It's likely we won't be forcibly removed from the house; you'll only have to acknowledge that you're no longer the power holder in the family. I think Seth might allow us to stay.
"But even then, you'll still be a Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, at that. There is influence and respect in that name, and it won't be forgotten. After Seth comes of age, there will still be a place for you. There remained a place for Lucius, after our marriage, he just didn't have the magic to support him. Or the money."
"Ah, the money. Richard alluded to that as well. Exactly how much money do we have?"
Ginny smiled at him. It was just like Draco to ask about money. "I'm not sure, exactly. The last statement was upwards of twenty million galleons. I don't know what it is in Muggle money, though."
"Oh." Twenty million galleons. Unless the exchange rate was something horrible, Draco guessed they were fairly well off.
"Of course, we don't have all of that. We have some of it in various vaults at Gringotts. But the rest of it is tied up in business dealings, and such. My oldest brother Bill, you met him today, has been handling most of that. He was really the only one with any major business experience, because he worked for Gringotts. Even so, he's only continued what you started."
"Your brother? Why not Blaise? I know he has a company."
Ginny stood and began to walk around the room, exploring. "You know, I haven't been in this room since we moved back. It was always your room, so I didn't bothered anything." She touched the spine of a book. "Your father always had amazing taste in books, that I'll give him."
"Virginia."
She turned to look at him. "Oh. Right. Blaise." She went around his desk and perched on the corner, smoothing the wrinkles from her dressing gown. "Blaise was raised as a Malfoy, really. His parents were killed by Voldemort when he was eight or nine, so your father took him in. On his seventeenth birthday, he inherited a rather large fortune. One comparable to the Malfoy fortune, but he squandered most of it away by the time he was twenty-one. Women, drugs, and alcohol. Blaise made some bad decisions with his life. And I didn't want that to happen to your money. I knew whatever was in the vault in Gringotts was what you wanted Seth and Cera to have.
"My brother was very good at this job at Gringotts and I trust him implicitly. After your disappearance, he was my only choice in who to manage the businesses."
Draco accepted her explanation. "And Blaise? How do you know him?"
"Hogwarts. We all went to school together."
"And you were involved with him. When I first… when I thought I might remember, I had Richard cross reference Malfoy with Virginia, Draco, and Blaise Zabini."
"I dated him, yes." She closed her eyes as she tried to recall the exact time their relationship took. "I was a fifth year, I believe. The summer before school started, Harry stayed with us the whole ten weeks. At that time, Ron and Hermione were together, so it was only natural that Harry and I would pair off together. And really, at fourteen, it was everything I wanted. Except it wasn't.
"Harry and I both came to the same conclusions. Before school started in September, we agreed to go back to being just friends. I accepted this, but I still rebelled a bit. For as long as I could remember, I only wanted to date Harry Potter. It was never love, just the infatuation of a ten-year-old girl. Blaise was part of my rebellion. I was always amused by the colors Ron and Harry would turn when I showed up on the arm of a Slytherin."
"But you said–" he began.
"I didn't love Blaise," Ginny assured him. "It was never more than rebellion on my part. We did, however, become friends. Good friends. Eventually the three of us became friends. If I remember, you rather enjoyed insinuating to my brother the things the three of us did together behind closed doors."
"Sounds like I was a perfect little snot."
Ginny nodded in affirmation. "Yes. Midway through your sixth year, Blaise started dating someone exclusively. So the three of us became two. You and I… well, I had a monumental crush on you by that point. But it was pointless. You were the Malfoy heir, and I was a Weasley. Your father barely tolerated our friendship, there was no way he would allow anything deeper."
"What happened?"
"You discovered Professor Snape was working for Dumbledore. He was the potions master, and probably the only person in all of Hogwarts that could stand you. Besides Blaise and me. You'd already begun to question your father's belief in Voldemort, but Snape was the final blow. You stood up to your father. And at that moment I realized I loved you. It was just only natural from then on."
"So we married and the twins were born. I… disappeared. Is that all?"
"I think so." She shifted on the desk, noticing she'd mussed some of his papers. "Is there anything else?"
Draco nodded. "Yes." He motioned her towards him, until she was standing right in front of him. Draco took her hand and pulled her between his knees. "Thank you."
"No problem. Do you think you might be able to sleep now?"
"Maybe." He glanced down at his watch. "It's still only eleven in New York."
"Are you going to have problems like this every night?"
He moved his hands to her waist and tugged her forward again. "I'll straighten out eventually."
Ginny eyed him carefully. What was he on about? She was practically sitting on his lap as it was now. "Draco–"
"Since the moment I kissed you, I've wanted to do nothing but do it again," he confessed. "When I close my eyes, it's what I think about. When I sleep, you're what I dream about."
"Draco–"
"Will you let me kiss you, Virginia?"
She shook her head. "I need to know something about you first."
He trailed his hands so that the rested at the small of her back. With one more tug, she was sitting in his lap. "What?"
"In America-" she began. Her cheeks flushed as she thought of the best way to phrase the question. "I know that… men have needs, with their body. I just need to know how many there were."
"How many?" he questioned.
"Women."
He grinned, causing her breath to catch in her throat. "You want to know how many women concerning what?"
Ginny frowned at him. He was being intentionally annoying. "How many women did you shag while in America?" she asked bluntly.
"None."
"None?"
Draco nodded in affirmation.
"So you're saying you've been completely faithful?"
"Is it so unheard of, Virginia?" Draco questioned. "A woman can be completely faithful to a man, but a man can't be faithful to a woman in the same way?"
"But you didn't remember!"
"I didn't have to." He removed his left arm from around her back and held the hand up for her inspection. "No, I didn't remember you. But from the moment I became aware of myself in that alley years ago, I knew there was someone in the world who was married to me. I later discovered your wedding band in my pocket, and knew that it was someone named Virginia.
"Whatever my father did to erase my memory, he only erased the people I knew and the things I'd learned. There was something deeper, some basic knowledge about life and how to live I retained. In that knowledge was the idea that someone loved me enough to marry me, and I should respect that love enough to not dismiss the sanctity of that."
She smiled happily. "You should be happy you didn't marry someone horrible like Pansy Parkinson."
"Who?"
"A horrible, horrible girl you dated at Hogwarts. She was your father's choice for your wife."
"Oh." He ran his fingers across her cheek. "Can I kiss you now?"
Ginny laughed, but leaned down to brush her lips across his anyway. She couldn't help it, every moment she spent with him, she found herself falling more desperately in love with him. She could only hope that it was the same for Draco.
He removed his glasses and nodded.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Draco nodded. "Still have jet lag, I guess. I slept for an hour or so. I've been reading for a bit."
"Oh." She seated herself in front of his desk in a winged armchair. "What're you reading?"
He lifted a thick, black book that read, The Malfoy Tradition, embossed in silver on the cover. "Family research."
"So, you've given up then, on having your memory-loss reversed?"
He marked his place in the book and closed it. "It's not that I've given up. I'm only preparing for the worst. As soon as I can meet with Potter, I'm going to ask if he can help me."
"I never thought I'd see you ask Harry for help." She smiled, obviously amused. "Harry's going to be shocked."
"So shocked he can't be bothered to reply to my post, I suppose." He adjusted his glasses again. "What're you doing up? Couldn’t sleep either?"
Ginny shrugged. "Just woke up. You weren't there, so I thought I might come find you. I’m sorry—"
He waved her back into the seat. "Stay. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk."
"About what?"
Draco lifted the book again. "Perhaps you can tell me about the past?"
"Okay." The redhead curled her feet beneath her in the chair and studied him. Finally, she asked, "What do you want to know?"
"My boss in New York asked me why I didn't tell him I was a Malfoy. I didn't know what he meant, and I still don't. What's so important about being a Malfoy?"
"There are very few pureblooded wizarding families left in the world. My family, the Weasley's, the Zabini's, the Parkinson's, the Delacour's of France, some others. And the Malfoy's. In a sense, the Malfoy's are royalty. Their influence might be like a Muggle king or queen. They're important. Your family has been around forever, and will be around forever. Over the centuries, it has remained pure and influential.
"That being said, your family hasn't always been good. I don't know a lot about your ancestors, but I do know your father and grandfather were heavily involved in the Dark Arts. Your father wished to bring you into the fold, but ultimately, the magic allowed you to choose your own path."
"The magic?" he questioned.
Ginny nodded. "This house has been here for nearly seven hundred years now. The first Malfoy, Alexander, built it. It's set up a bit differently than other families, because he wanted the power to rest with the heir so that no one person would become too influential over the course of their life."
She stopped when she saw that he was confused. "I didn't understand it very well, and I might not be explaining it very well either."
"No, go on. I think I understand."
"In a lot of ways, the magic rests within the house itself. The master of the Manor is the one who holds all of the power. While you were away, that was me, because I was acting on behalf of Seth, the true heir. Now that you've returned, you have once again reclaimed the title of master because you are the true heir.
"For the last several generations, only one child has been born to the Malfoy's. A boy each time – a guarantee that the family name will continue. Lucius was born to Brandon and Sarah Malfoy; you were born to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Your father married your mother when he was twenty-four, and he immediately took control of the Malfoy influence.
"You and I married several or some other qualifier months after your twenty-second birthday. But, even if we hadn't married then, you would have gained control of the Manor on your twenty-fifth birthday."
"Why?" Draco asked. "Why wouldn't my father continue to control the interests of the family?"
"It's the magic of the house," she indicated with a sweeping motion. "Your mother left very peacefully, but your father refused. We went to Greece for our honeymoon, and by the time we returned the Manor was ready to accept us. Alexander Malfoy blessed this house and the Malfoy heir with great power. A power no one has ever defeated. It has allowed the survival of the Malfoy line for over seven hundred years now and ensures that the line will continue to survive."
He nodded in understanding. "What guarantees the first born child is always a son?"
"It's not a curse. It's just a spell placed on the lineage. Usually there are only sons born, but in our case—"
"There were twins," Draco interrupted. "If not for Seth, Cera never would've been born."
His wife nodded. "Exactly. Seth was born first. He is the heir. And his son will be the new heir. It's how the magic works."
"How long before the house kicks us out?"
"Seth isn't seven yet. We have at most eighteen years. It's likely we won't be forcibly removed from the house; you'll only have to acknowledge that you're no longer the power holder in the family. I think Seth might allow us to stay.
"But even then, you'll still be a Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, at that. There is influence and respect in that name, and it won't be forgotten. After Seth comes of age, there will still be a place for you. There remained a place for Lucius, after our marriage, he just didn't have the magic to support him. Or the money."
"Ah, the money. Richard alluded to that as well. Exactly how much money do we have?"
Ginny smiled at him. It was just like Draco to ask about money. "I'm not sure, exactly. The last statement was upwards of twenty million galleons. I don't know what it is in Muggle money, though."
"Oh." Twenty million galleons. Unless the exchange rate was something horrible, Draco guessed they were fairly well off.
"Of course, we don't have all of that. We have some of it in various vaults at Gringotts. But the rest of it is tied up in business dealings, and such. My oldest brother Bill, you met him today, has been handling most of that. He was really the only one with any major business experience, because he worked for Gringotts. Even so, he's only continued what you started."
"Your brother? Why not Blaise? I know he has a company."
Ginny stood and began to walk around the room, exploring. "You know, I haven't been in this room since we moved back. It was always your room, so I didn't bothered anything." She touched the spine of a book. "Your father always had amazing taste in books, that I'll give him."
"Virginia."
She turned to look at him. "Oh. Right. Blaise." She went around his desk and perched on the corner, smoothing the wrinkles from her dressing gown. "Blaise was raised as a Malfoy, really. His parents were killed by Voldemort when he was eight or nine, so your father took him in. On his seventeenth birthday, he inherited a rather large fortune. One comparable to the Malfoy fortune, but he squandered most of it away by the time he was twenty-one. Women, drugs, and alcohol. Blaise made some bad decisions with his life. And I didn't want that to happen to your money. I knew whatever was in the vault in Gringotts was what you wanted Seth and Cera to have.
"My brother was very good at this job at Gringotts and I trust him implicitly. After your disappearance, he was my only choice in who to manage the businesses."
Draco accepted her explanation. "And Blaise? How do you know him?"
"Hogwarts. We all went to school together."
"And you were involved with him. When I first… when I thought I might remember, I had Richard cross reference Malfoy with Virginia, Draco, and Blaise Zabini."
"I dated him, yes." She closed her eyes as she tried to recall the exact time their relationship took. "I was a fifth year, I believe. The summer before school started, Harry stayed with us the whole ten weeks. At that time, Ron and Hermione were together, so it was only natural that Harry and I would pair off together. And really, at fourteen, it was everything I wanted. Except it wasn't.
"Harry and I both came to the same conclusions. Before school started in September, we agreed to go back to being just friends. I accepted this, but I still rebelled a bit. For as long as I could remember, I only wanted to date Harry Potter. It was never love, just the infatuation of a ten-year-old girl. Blaise was part of my rebellion. I was always amused by the colors Ron and Harry would turn when I showed up on the arm of a Slytherin."
"But you said–" he began.
"I didn't love Blaise," Ginny assured him. "It was never more than rebellion on my part. We did, however, become friends. Good friends. Eventually the three of us became friends. If I remember, you rather enjoyed insinuating to my brother the things the three of us did together behind closed doors."
"Sounds like I was a perfect little snot."
Ginny nodded in affirmation. "Yes. Midway through your sixth year, Blaise started dating someone exclusively. So the three of us became two. You and I… well, I had a monumental crush on you by that point. But it was pointless. You were the Malfoy heir, and I was a Weasley. Your father barely tolerated our friendship, there was no way he would allow anything deeper."
"What happened?"
"You discovered Professor Snape was working for Dumbledore. He was the potions master, and probably the only person in all of Hogwarts that could stand you. Besides Blaise and me. You'd already begun to question your father's belief in Voldemort, but Snape was the final blow. You stood up to your father. And at that moment I realized I loved you. It was just only natural from then on."
"So we married and the twins were born. I… disappeared. Is that all?"
"I think so." She shifted on the desk, noticing she'd mussed some of his papers. "Is there anything else?"
Draco nodded. "Yes." He motioned her towards him, until she was standing right in front of him. Draco took her hand and pulled her between his knees. "Thank you."
"No problem. Do you think you might be able to sleep now?"
"Maybe." He glanced down at his watch. "It's still only eleven in New York."
"Are you going to have problems like this every night?"
He moved his hands to her waist and tugged her forward again. "I'll straighten out eventually."
Ginny eyed him carefully. What was he on about? She was practically sitting on his lap as it was now. "Draco–"
"Since the moment I kissed you, I've wanted to do nothing but do it again," he confessed. "When I close my eyes, it's what I think about. When I sleep, you're what I dream about."
"Draco–"
"Will you let me kiss you, Virginia?"
She shook her head. "I need to know something about you first."
He trailed his hands so that the rested at the small of her back. With one more tug, she was sitting in his lap. "What?"
"In America-" she began. Her cheeks flushed as she thought of the best way to phrase the question. "I know that… men have needs, with their body. I just need to know how many there were."
"How many?" he questioned.
"Women."
He grinned, causing her breath to catch in her throat. "You want to know how many women concerning what?"
Ginny frowned at him. He was being intentionally annoying. "How many women did you shag while in America?" she asked bluntly.
"None."
"None?"
Draco nodded in affirmation.
"So you're saying you've been completely faithful?"
"Is it so unheard of, Virginia?" Draco questioned. "A woman can be completely faithful to a man, but a man can't be faithful to a woman in the same way?"
"But you didn't remember!"
"I didn't have to." He removed his left arm from around her back and held the hand up for her inspection. "No, I didn't remember you. But from the moment I became aware of myself in that alley years ago, I knew there was someone in the world who was married to me. I later discovered your wedding band in my pocket, and knew that it was someone named Virginia.
"Whatever my father did to erase my memory, he only erased the people I knew and the things I'd learned. There was something deeper, some basic knowledge about life and how to live I retained. In that knowledge was the idea that someone loved me enough to marry me, and I should respect that love enough to not dismiss the sanctity of that."
She smiled happily. "You should be happy you didn't marry someone horrible like Pansy Parkinson."
"Who?"
"A horrible, horrible girl you dated at Hogwarts. She was your father's choice for your wife."
"Oh." He ran his fingers across her cheek. "Can I kiss you now?"
Ginny laughed, but leaned down to brush her lips across his anyway. She couldn't help it, every moment she spent with him, she found herself falling more desperately in love with him. She could only hope that it was the same for Draco.
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