Disclaimer: I own nothing copyrighted by anyone or anything or any corporation. Sure, you can sue, but what will you get? A bunch of clothes, crap CDs, tons of books, and an aging boom box. Perhaps my computer is worth something but not much.

A/N: Most of the first few chapters were written quite awhile ago (i.e. few years) when I was interested in a myriad of weird things (i.e. Sweet Charity) so go in with your eyes open. So yes, most of the chapters so far were written pre-HBP and some are even pre-OOTP.

***~~~***

A ghost butler glided silently into the dim bedroom and opened the curtains. Sunlight poured into every corner of the room, rousing its inhabitants very rudely.

Draco Malfoy awoke abruptly when a ray of light broke through his dream and brought him back to consciousness. Wincing, he brought a hand up to block his face. 'Remington, what the hell? It’s too early to be…wait, what time is it?'

'10:00 in the morning, Master Malfoy.'

He fell back on his pillows, flaxen hair covering his face. 'See? Too early.'

'Actually sir, it is an hour and half later than when you usually sleep on a weekday. But after all, you don't turn 24 every day.’ The ghost slipped into a memory, small smile appearing on his face. ‘I remember your very first birthday. You started to walk and your mother was so very proud of you. But your father hardly even smiled.'

Draco's face had become very red, clearly embarrassed at these memories of long since forgotten days. 'That'll do, Remington.'

'Very well, sir. Shall I bring breakfast for you and the lady up here, or would you rather get up and have it served in the dining room?'

'No. I'll let her sleep. Please bring the food up here in about a half hour,' Draco said as he settled against the headboard.

'Certainly Master Malfoy.' The ghost glided back out through the door.

Draco felt something stir beside him and looked down at the lady in question. Two bright brown eyes peered out at him from beneath a mass of coppery hair. 'Good morning, Ginevra.'

Ginny Weasley stretched out from head to toe as her mouth opened in a gaping yawn. 'Morning,' she said sleepily.

'I was going to let you sleep for awhile longer but seeing as you're already awake…' Draco cocked his eyebrow and ran his hand up Ginny's leg.

She laughed, still clearing cobwebs out of her mind, not really thinking clearly enough for a witty remark. 'Didn't you get enough last night?'

'No,' he mumbled, lips focusing on her neck.

'What, is four times too little now?'

'Clearly.'

Ginny pulled back slightly. 'Are you going to die if we don't do it right now?'

The answer was an adamant 'yes!'

'Well, if I have to.' Ginny smiled. 'C'mere Cowboy!' she beckoned.

Now it was Draco's turn to pull back. 'You've been watching "Sweet Charity" again, haven't you?'

'Maybe,' Ginny said sheepishly. 'But you're getting a little off-topic, don't you think? We can talk about some Muggle movie if you want instead of doing other things you have in mind. I'm up to it if you are and we both know that I can wait a lot longer than you can.'

'No, I'm ready now.' Draco dove under the covers and started tickling Ginny lightly.

'Stop it! You know how ticklish I am! Stop!' Ginny was laughing hysterically, but managed to wrench herself out of Draco's grasp, almost falling off the bed in the process. 'Yes, tickling. Very sexual. I am so turned on.'

'No? How about this?' Draco's lips moved onto another area.

'Mmmm.'

'And this?

'Now you're starting to get back into my good book,' Ginny said, smiling.

'Always a good place to be.' Draco smirked, and then dragged Ginny under the covers.

They were just starting to get serious when a loud 'Ahem!' was heard from near the door. Draco and Ginny poked their very tousled heads out from under the comforter to see two house elves with food and a very amused Remington waiting patiently.

Draco cleared his throat, while Ginny collapsed in a fit of giggles. 'Just put the food down at the end of the bed,' Draco said authoritatively, desperately trying to get some of his dignity back.

'You can stop laughing now,' a very unimpressed Draco said once the servants had left.

"I wish I had a camera. Your face was priceless!" This sent Ginny off into more laughter.

'Whatever. While you laugh your arse off at me, I'm just going to eat all of this delicious breakfast.'

Ginny sobered quickly and grabbed a croissant. It was only then that she noticed the cake on the tray, with 'Happy Birthday Draco' written across it in elegant script, candles burning brightly around the edges. 'Merlin’s beard! I completely forgot! I am so sorry!'

'Its okay, Ginevra,' Draco said laughing, very amused at her distress.

'No, it's not okay. I can't believe I forgot! Especially after I went on and on about your birthday yesterday.' Ginny threw herself on Draco and hugged him tightly.

'Forget about it. You can make it up to me later.' With a wink, Draco detached himself from her and getting up, crossed the room to the wardrobe.

Ginny settled back against the headboard, a sheet draped across her body. 'Is that all you think about?'

'Pretty much,' was Draco's muffled reply as he pulled a turtleneck sweater over his head.

'Come back to bed,' Ginny whined. 'It's your birthday; you shouldn't be up for at least another 2 hours. C'mon, it's nice and cozy in here.' Ginny patted the spot the spot next to her and beckoned him seductively. 'You shouldn't have to do any work.'

'My thoughts exactly, but I have to go check the mail and then answer all of the birthday cards.' Draco finished doing up his pants and started to look for a shoe that matched the one in his hand.

'Can't that wait until later?'

He looked up at Ginny. 'Have you ever met my extended family? If you don't give a prompt response, they'll hex you… badly.'

'Ooh, stickler for proper manners.'

'Yes, but I also have to check with my mother on the last minute details of the ball tomorrow. Did you get your dress?'

"Yes, it arrived yesterday. It's in my wardrobe, but no peeking. I want everything to be a surprise.'

"I'm not promising anything.'

Ginny pouted, knowing that Draco could never resist her.

'Fine, I promised I won't look at your dress. But then you have to promise you won't look at mine.'

'Draco!' Ginny laughed.

'I promised and my word is my bond. But I really have to go or the next time you see me, I might have a faucet coming out of my forehead with purple polka dots all over my body.'

'But the food was brought up here and you haven't even touched it. You don't even want a piece of this delicious cake?' Ginny picked up a piece and bit into it. 'Mmm, yummy. Are you sure you don't want any at all?'

'I think I'll wait. Just save me a piece, because I really have to go.' To illustrate his point, Draco started edging towards the door.

'Fine, but I'll be here if you get lonely.' Ginny settled down under the covers.

'Oh, don't worry, I'll be back soon as I can.' Draco's voice had become deep and silky.

'But if I get lonely, I may just have to start without you.'

Now it was Draco's turn to be startled. 'Ginny!'

'Sorry, I just had to slip that in.' She grinned, knowing that her boyfriend was mentally kicking himself very hard.

'You little tease,' Draco said as he quickly left the room, not wanting to hear anything else that would make him forget everything and take Ginny on the spot.

***~~~***


Draco strode into the dining room, his mind still on the fiery redhead up in his bed. But he quickly snapped back to reality when he saw the mountains of cards stacked beside his chair at the head of the table. Draco groaned very loudly.

'Is there anything I can get for you, Master Malfoy?' Remington said, appearing right beside the blond.

'A sharp knife that I can plunge into my chest. Though I still don’t think even a gruesome death would get me out of answering these cards,' Draco replied dryly.

The ghost chuckled dryly. 'But shall I bring you some coffee?'

'No thank you, I really don't need any distractions. Even in a soundproof metal box, this would take me a lifetime.'

As Remington left the room, Draco took out his Quick Quotes Quill, settled back in his chair and prepared himself for an eternity of mind-numbing boredom.

***~~~***

'Finally!' Draco said out loud, as the quill signed his name with a flourish on the last thank you card. 'I'm done with those damn cards, all 567 of them. Now back to business as usual.'

Draco pushed his chair away from the table and started to rise, but his mother appeared in the chair beside his and kissed his cheek.

'Happy birthday, sweetheart. Are you ready to finish up details for your birthday ball tomorrow?' It was more a statement than a question, as if anyone would ever go against the wishes of Narcissa Malfoy. Since the imprisonment and then execution of her husband, Narcissa had grown stronger and was no longer a meek, submissive woman.

'Yes mother,' Draco conceded and inwardly groaned. He was never going to get back up to Ginny with the way things were going.

'Perfect. Now, all of the guests have RSVPed and all are coming. As if anyone would dare miss this party!' Narcissa laughed, pure notes of silver escaping her throat.

Draco smiled. He loved to hear his mother laugh, a sound that had been silenced for many years. Although many doubted him, he really did love his mother.

'The food is already being made but the decorators will arrive early tomorrow morning. I decided we should hold the party in the large ballroom with the staircase, the other ballroom of course being too small. Also when we use the larger ballroom, the guests can have access to the gardens and grounds. This reminds me, I need to get some servants to make sure everything outside is pruned or plucked, or whatever they do to make things look perfect.'

Draco chuckled, memories of the tour of Malfoy Manor he had given to Ginny coming back to him. 'You have two ballrooms?' she had said unbelievingly.

'Something funny dear?' Narcissa asked.

'No mother. I was just remembering something that happened awhile ago.'

'Very well,' Narcissa moved on. 'So I thought the theme would be silver and green, a bit of throwback to your Slytherin days and your roots. You always looked nice in green, dear. But the decorations will be quite simple, nothing ostentatious, you understand. We don't want to flaunt anything."

'How many people did you invite, mother?' Draco asked, having really done none of the planning.

'Not many. This is just going to be a small party. I believe I only invited 300 people.' Narcissa looked down at the guest list. 'Yes, only 300. This ball is going to be very exclusive.'

'Exclusive? That's not very exclusive, and 300 guests is definitely not a small party.' Seeing that he would get no leeway from his mother, Draco shook his head in disbelief. 'But did you at least remember to invite the Weasleys? And Harry Potter?' Ginevra would personally see to it that he slept on the sofa for a month if he forgot even one member of her family, including the Boy Who Lived.

'Of course, dear. You specifically asked me and I wouldn't forget about them. Plus, we couldn't afford to forget Arthur Weasley. He is the Minister of Magic after all, and we must keep our ties very strong with the Ministry. Who knows what will happen in the future? Oh, that reminds me. Severus owled me this morning, and he was able to get out of the conflict he was involved in and will be coming tomorrow.'

Draco smiled in delight. Professor Snape had been like a father to him, not only a teacher. Meanwhile, Narcissa had continued on speaking, not noticing that her son's mind was off in another place. She looked up once in awhile to check Draco's opinion on something, but as he nodded every so often, she was satisfied.

'I guess that's all.' His mother's voice brought Draco back. He smiled convincingly, knowing that she would be very angry if she knew that he had not been listening to a thing that she had said. Narcissa had always been a whirlwind, jumping from subject to subject, hardly stopping for breath between sentences and so Draco hardly ever managed to fully follow a conversation of his mother's, even when he was actually listening.

Narcissa got up to apparate back to her own manor, but her face took on a troubled look. 'Draco, you missed a letter.'

It was only then that he noticed a small envelope half-hidden under his plate, addressed in a scrawl he didn't recognize.
Draco reached for it but his mother's voice stopped him.

When he looked up at her, he noticed that her face was even more troubled than it was a minute ago, as if she knew that the letter contained something potentially destroying.

'Draco, no matter what that letter says, I want you to do what it instructs you to.'

He looked scared, as if the letter would be leading him into a trap.

'No darling, it's nothing bad and definitely not something dangerous. You must do what this letter instructs you to as it is your destiny. This letter and the events that stem from it will decide your future. I have been waiting for that letter for 24 years and dreading it at the same time. But you must not go against what it tells you.'

'Mother, what is the big d-' but Narcissa had already apparated.

Draco approached the letter with caution. He quickly checked it for curses, hexes or charms but as it was clean, he opened it. Removing a crisp piece of parchment, he started to read the bold black letters splashed across it.

Draco,
It is now your 24th birthday, which means it is time to tell you of a great responsibility that rests on your shoulders alone. It is of monumental importance that you come with haste to a secret spot as soon as you receive this. The bottle cap will transport you here to me. The fate of the Malfoy family is in your hands.

It was left unsigned but Draco was filled with the sense of urgency that the note conveyed. Looking into the envelope, he saw the piece of metal lying there unobtrusively but didn't pick it up just yet.

Draco ran upstairs to the master bedroom. Upon entering it, he saw that Ginny had fallen back asleep, breathing quietly.

The blond crossed the room to his desk and taking out a piece of parchment and a quill, penned a quick note to his girlfriend.

Gin,
Had to go out for a while. Don't worry about me. I'll be back for dinner.

Love, Draco

P.S. Don't eat all the cake!

He lightly placed the paper on the bed beside the sleeping Ginny, and kissed her on the forehead. Ginny's face creased into a small smile. She looked so angelic that Draco wanted to lay down and join her in oblivion but he had no time.

Smiling to himself, Draco reached into the envelope and grasped the bottle cap. Feeling himself hooked, Draco shut his eyes tightly and felt himself leave security behind.
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