Ginny had decided that Summer was the month she hated most of all. It used to be Autumn because she hated the way that the rain made her hair frizz but a cursory glance over the past week had made her realise that she detested Summer for it's bright sun and warm temperature and all round blahness. At least she lived in England and occasionally the bright sunlight was shattered by sheets of rain. But not today.
Ginny could see the sunlight filtering through her curtains and steadfastly ignored it as she buried her head underneath the duvet. The last thing she wanted was to look at the bright, happy world. What she wanted was to never leave the comfort of her bed cocoon ever again.
Unfortunately this wasn't going to be the case. "Ginny." The voice had been saying her name for the past five minutes and Ginny was no nearer to poking her head out from under the covers then she had been when it had first started. "Fine," said the voice and before Ginny could so much as whimper in protest the duvet was unceremoniously tugged off her, leaving Ginny to whine and curl herself into the foetal position, closing her eyes against the bright sunlight. "Ginny," the voice persisted sounding rather annoyed now and once again before she could mutter a word she was suddenly tugged up off the bed into a standing position.
Slowly opening her eyes Ginny found herself looking at a broad chest. Not Hermione then, her brain registered. She glanced up at the concerned face and said tiredly; "Hello, Charlie."
*
"But I want to go home," whined Draco, perched in bed amid a pile of fluffy, white pillows. Blaise, reading a magazine and steadfastly ignoring Draco's pleas, rolled his eyes.
"So you've been saying."
"I'm ridiculously bored."
"So you've been saying."
"Is that all you're going to say?"
"Are you going to say anything other than 'I want to go home'?"
"I'm ridiculously bored."
"And that?"
"No."
"Then I'm not going to dignify you with a proper answer."
"By Merlin's beard, Blaise, I want to go home!" Blaise chuckled at the old phrase that he hadn't heard in quite a while and grinned at Draco's unconscious re-assimilation into the magical world. "I'm perfectly fine, now. Watch." to prove his point Draco breathed in deeply and then let it out in an exasperated gasp. "See? I can do that whole breathing thing in my sleep now. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I am doing it in my sleep as apparently the fact that my chest is moving up and down and the fact that my heart is beating indicates that I am very much alive." He beat his fists against his chest as an example of his alive state until all the energy seemed to drain out of him and he turned suddenly contrite eyes on Blaise. "I just want to go home."
Blaise observed Draco's apologetic expression and said softly; "And where is home, Draco?"
Draco shrugged and began to absent-mindedly fiddle with his pillow. "I don't know. There's always the hotel I was staying in and don't forget that I do own that looming monstrosity that my ancestors declared to be a Manor House even though anyone within their right mind could see it was a castle. I mean, there are dungeons and have you seen the turrets on the upper east…" He trailed off at Blaise's look, " Anyway, I suppose that I'm number one on the Death Eater's hit list now, even more so than before so I should probably find somewhere low profile." Draco furrowed his brow in concentration, "I wonder if there are any villas in the South of France I could pop down to?"
"Draco," said Blaise comfortingly, "you certainly can't return to that musty old great castle of yours and a hotel room is far too impersonal and really, the South of France? This time of year? With your skin? And well there's something that I have to…hey! What exactly did you do to deserve a higher ranking on the on the Death Eater's most wanted list than me?"
Draco smiled, "Lets face it, Blaise, I'm the big fish here, a shark, if you will. You're more of a goldfish."
"It's nice to know the Ruina curse only collapsed your lungs and not your ego," Blaise replied wryly.
"Like anything that Crabbe could throw at me could collapse my ego."
"I don't think a nuclear warhead could collapse your ego."
"It's nice to see that you've come finally come to understand that, Blaise."
Blaise shook his head and tried to get the conversation back on track before they started to throw playground hexes. "Anyway, I think you should perhaps stay in one of the hotels up Diagon Alley."
Draco observed him as though he was crazy. "What and find my door battered in at three in the morning by some
vengeful moron who thinks that a good way to kill a traitor is to gut him and hang him upside down from a lamppost? I
think not, Blaise."
"Actually there are very few vengeful morons prowling Diagon Alley anymore." Blaise threw a copy of the Daily Prophet onto Draco's lap, causing him to whinge.
"Blaise, really. Can't you just keep me up to date on current events? All this reading is playing havoc on my eyesight."
Blaise just poked at the newspaper. Draco sighed dramatically and picked it up, scanning the headlines. His mouth fell open and his eyes opened wide, an expression that didn't suit the normally unflappable Malfoy. Blaise laughed at the sight of it.
"How?" managed Draco, his expression still completely startled.
"I followed our plan."
"Blaise! You could have died!" Blaise gave a one shouldered shrug.
"It was nothing!"
"You just got the majority of remaining Death Eaters thrown into Azkaban and you're sat there saying it wasn't a big deal!"
"No, I said it was nothing. I personally think that it is a big deal."
Draco stared at him, his gaze flickering from the paper to his friend until he did something that took both him and Blaise by surprise. The hug that Draco bestowed upon Blaise was short and accompanied by many manly slaps on the back but the fact that the normally restrained Draco Malfoy had just hugged one of his oldest and dearest friends, that he had never hugged before, was immense.
Drawing back Draco grinned at the shocked look on Blaise's face. "Thank you."
Blaise shrugged again, regaining his composure. "Really Draco however much you like to imagine that the universe revolves around you I had my own reasons, too." Blaise grinned. "Jessica turned her sister's hair blue last week."
Draco grinned back. "Congratulations on the little witch though I'd prefer it if you didn't rock my entire belief system like that."
"I'll remember that for next time."
*
"Charlie." Ginny said tiredly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "What are you doing here?"
"I was worried," Charlie answered as though explaining something to a small child.
"Well, no reason to be. I'm fine." Ginny answered, her voice wavering.
"Right," said Charlie, disbelievingly, sitting next to her and dropping an arm over her shoulder.
Ginny let her head rest on his shoulder, leaning in for support. "Sometimes I regret it, that's all."
"And most of the time?"
"I regret hurting Harry but then I think about…" she looked up at him and gulped, "I think about the other guy and know I made the right decision but then I can't bring myself to go and talk to him because I know you'll hate me so much."
"Ginny, we could never hate you," said Charlie, hugging her and diplomatically avoiding the subject of the other guy.
Ginny leaned away from him and stood up. "Oh, you would."
Charlie looked up at her quizzically. "Ginny, who could possibly be so bad that you're this worried. I mean obviously, mum will hate anyone who's not Harry…"
"Charlie! Way to help."
Charlie held his hands up. "Hey, it's the truth! But who is it?"
Ginny took a deep breath and cringed as she looked at Charlie's trusting face. "Draco Malfoy," she whispered, though the name sounded unbearably loud to Ginny's ears.
Charlie looked shocked for a moment then stood up and walked over to Ginny, letting out a low whistle. "Wow, Gin, Ron's going to kill you."
Ginny groaned and sat back heavily on the bed. "I know that! And Fred and George will kill me, and dad will be disappointed and Bill will just be Bill and eugh!"
"How the hell did you get involved with Draco Malfoy anyway?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Long story," she took a deep breath, "but I love him. I really do."
Charlie watched her as she said this and then taking a deep breath of his own he pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet out of his back pocket and tossed it at her. "Then you best see this."
Ginny's eyes scanned the page before she looked up, shocked, at Charlie, grabbed her wand and apparated out of her flat, still wearing her pyjamas.
*
Draco was perusing the hospital magazine, occasionally poking some of the patients in the photos with his wand and giggling at their annoyed looks, especially when those wearing casts fell out of their beds, when an unexpected, but very welcome, voice made him look up.
"Hello, Draco."
She looked tired but there was no doubt that she was Ginny Weasley. Albeit Ginny Weasley dressed in pyjamas with little ducks on them.
"Ginny," said Draco dropping the magazine to the floor and making himself sit up straighter. "You're here."
Ginny smiled weakly at him and perched on the chair next to the bed, her fingers nervously playing with her pyjama bottoms. "Hello, Draco."
"I think we covered that, Ginny."
She flushed and stumbled, "Well, it's just… I saw the Daily Prophet."
Draco looked at her knowingly. "So did I."
Draco's grey eyes fixed on her melted most of Ginny's nervousness away and she snickered. "Oh, I bet you laughed."
Draco looked offended, "I'll have you know I was very mature about the whole matter."
Ginny raised her eyebrows, "So no taunts about how much better you are than Harry?"
Draco raised a hand to his heart. "Who, me? I was the epitome of a perfect gentleman."
"Uh-huh," laughed Ginny, "because you've always been a perfect gentleman."
Draco smirked at her, "Didn't hear you complaining about my lack of gentlemanly virtues before."
Ginny just smirked right on back, "Well, of course not because I was getting something out of the lack of those virtues."
"You're right there," Draco furrowed his brow in concentration, "I mean a gentleman wouldn't have dragged you behind the greenhouse and…"
"Draco!" Ginny interrupted him, leaning forward to swat at him. As she did so, Draco grabbed her wrist and pulled her on to the bed with him so that their she lay half on his chest, her head just below his chin. She glared up at him accusingly. "You meant to do that didn't you."
Draco grinned, intoxicated by the feel of her so close to him, "Possibly. Are you complaining?"
Ginny gazed up at him, letting her fingers run through his fine blonde hair. "I'm not sure, yet."
Draco frowned. "Why?"
"I only just broke up with Harry."
"But you did break up with Potter."
"Yes, but he's going to kill you when he finds out, and my family will hate you and there are still going to be people out there who want to see you dead and…" Ginny's tirade was cut off by the sensation of Draco's lips pressed against hers.
She let herself fall into the feel of him, a distant part of her mind registering that he had pulled her closer, and that they still weren't close enough. She tangled her hand in his hair, her other hand trailing over his broad chest. Draco's hands ran through her hair, his kiss intense and desperate against her.
He pulled away finally and looked at her, her hair a mess from where his hands had been, her lips swollen, her eyes misty. He ignored the stares and whispers from the medi-wizards and witches around them and just gazed into her eyes, letting his finger run along her lips. Ginny raised her hand to his face and Draco moved it away, smiling as he saw the silver ring lying on the finger on her left hand.
He toyed with her hand as he continued to watch her, both of them silent, broken by Draco whispering into her ear. "It won't be easy, Ginny, but then, has anything ever been easy for us?" She smiled sadly, agreeing with his words and unconsciously moved closer to him. "I just have one thing to say to you,"
Ginny looked up at him with questioning eyes and Draco knew in that instant that he would never, ever let her go again no matter what happened, he leant in to kiss her again leaving her breathless and then trailed kisses up her jaw till he murmured into her ear the words; "Nice pyjamas."
THE END
A/N: Don't throw things at me for the open ending! I have a sequel as well as prequel in my head! Strange really, I had this whole story mapped out and then got such a complex history for it that I could easily write a prequel, and I think I will. Especially because it means more Blaise. The sequels will most likely be short stories rather than a series though. And all these might take a while because I should be doing coursework! Hell, I should be writing an American Studies essay right now! (Btw, any good websites on slavery as a cause of the Civil War will be much obliged! J )
And then I'm a student so I have to fit in all that hanging out, getting drunk, sitting in the pub time. See what I have to deal with? Anyway, thank you for all the reviews they really do encourage me to write and you are all so nice! Thanks again!