Yes, I know that it has been terribly long since I have updated, and I will be incredibly surprised if anyone even remembers this fic. My computer kind of caught on fire and I still haven't been able to replace it. I will hopefully have a replacement next week. To those of you willing to forgive me and read anyway, thank you. I greatly appreciate it.
Chapter eight: Left
Ginny went home that night mentally berating herself. `Why on earth did I agree to do this? I must have lost my mind. I have a date with Malfoy. And marriage? Why am I humoring him? But I wonder… What would it be like to marry a Malfoy?'
Ginny pictured herself standing cold and aloof in an ornate foyer while waiting for her husband to arrive home. Ben, of course, would be raised by house elves. Child rearing would be unbecoming for a Malfoy. She really didn't see that going over well. The small exposure Ben had had to house elves had been, to put it lightly, unpleasant for the poor elf involved. She just couldn't get Ben to understand that you don't kick the house elves. Hermione had witnessed the last "incident" and had been appalled. Ginny was completely embarrassed as she pulled Ben from kicking range. No one could understand this seemingly innate fixation with torturing the small creatures. Ginny had always believed that this kind of behavior was learned, and he definitely hadn't learned it from herself or her family. Things like this really made Ginny wonder about Ben's biological parents.
Ginny didn't want Ben to be raised by house elves even if he had loved them. That was her job, and, despite the headaches, she wouldn't give it up for the world. She didn't want Ben to grow up in a museum, void of any laughter. She may not have had the newest toys and nicest robes growing up, but she never lacked love or laughter. Even with seven kids, there was always plenty of love to go around. Ginny was almost positive Malfoy couldn't boast the same claim.
And then there was love. Even if it was possible to get past everything else, could she really learn to love such a cold-hearted man? Certainly not. Ginny had always dreamed of marrying a considerate, passionate man, who would sweep her into his arms and kiss her until she was breathless. She wanted a man who would be her first thought when she awoke and her last thought before she fell asleep. She wanted a man whose breath would catch whenever he saw her. She wanted to be able to see the love in his eyes. She wanted more than love; she wanted her soul mate. You can fall in love many times, but you only have one soul mate. Her heart would accept no less. The thought of Draco Malfoy filling this role was almost laughable. His personality was the antithesis of what she was convinced her soul mate's would be.
So if Ginny was so utterly convinced that nothing good could ever come from a relationship with Draco Malfoy, why on earth would she agree to see him? It was true that part of the decision had to do with her promise to Pansy, but that wasn't the whole truth. She would never admit it, not even to herself, but she had a bit of a crush on the smarmy heir. In her latter Hogwarts years, she went through her "bad boy" phase and had never fully grown out of it. She knew it was silly, but she couldn't help it. She had once even drawn a picture of him in leather trousers. The mental picture had always given her shivers, and she just had to draw it. In fact, the picture resided in the drawer of her bed-side table. It was one of the first things she saw after she woke up and one of the last things she saw before she went to bed.
*****
The date was scheduled for Tuesday night at seven. A date on a Tuesday seemed odd to Ginny, but Draco, who was used to having dates every night of the week, didn't seem to think anything was wrong with it.
Molly was coming over to watch Ben, but it was 6:45 and she still wasn't there. Ginny wasn't having great luck trying to get dressed and make dinner for Ben at the same time. Ben was playing with a toy dragon that was charmed to blow smoke and make roaring noises. Said dragon was currently destroying a village of tiny tot people.
Ding-dong. The doorbell rang and Ginny ran, half-dressed, to the door to answer it.
"Hello, dear," the Weasley matron said as she entered her daughter's apartment.
"Thank Merlin you're here, Mum. Do you think you could watch Ben while I finish getting ready?"
"Of course. That's why I'm here, isn't it?" Ginny gave her mother a warm smile and ran back to her room to finish getting ready.
The day after she agreed to go out with Draco, Ginny had had a long conversation with her Mum. Molly was, at first, more than a little skeptical, but she knew that Ginny had a good heart and a level head and she was old enough to make her own decisions. The main thing that troubled her was Draco's intentions. She knew he only wanted Ginny so that he could inherit his money, and that it had absolutely nothing to do with love. Ginny would only marry for love, but Molly didn't want her only daughter involved in a loveless marriage. It was unbelievable enough that a Weasley could love a Malfoy, but it was even more unlikely for a Malfoy to love a Weasley. However, she knew that love worked in strange ways. She was never supposed to love a Weasley, either.
"Mum, how do I look?" Ginny's voice brought her out of her ponderings, and she stood from the couch. Ginny twirled a bit and her short black dress swirled around her thighs.
"Oh, Ginny, you look gorgeous. When did my little girl get so beautiful?" she said with a tear in her eye as she hugged her daughter.
"Thanks, Mum, but I'm going to get wrinkles," she said as she tried to disentangle herself from her mother's embrace.
"Oh, sorry, dear," she said, releasing her grip and reaching for a tissue. Seconds later, the doorbell rang again, and Ginny took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she answered it.
Assuring herself that this was just like any other date, she opened the door and all the assurance she had just gained fled as she sucked in her breath and her eyes grew wide.
Standing before her had to be the most visually perfect man she had ever seen in her life. Black really did suit him. She had no words to describe what she saw, other than "amazing."
Seeing her reaction, Draco smiled charmingly and entered her apartment. Ginny was practically drooling when she realized her mouth was open and promptly snapped it shut.
"Mrs. Weasley, it's nice to see you again. You're doing well I hope." Draco was always good with parents.
"I'm doing well. You?"
"I'm doing better by the minute," he said as he glanced back at Ginny.
Ben, who had been completely engrossed in his own world, got up and ran over to Draco, smiling.
Being more prepared, and knowing he needed to impress Ginny, he swooped the young child into his arms and asked, "And how are you today… Ben?" He said the name as a question as he looked at Ginny for affirmation. She nodded her head, still amazed that Ben was so trusting of Draco, of all people.
"Well, we'd better be going if we're going to arrive on time," he said as he handed Ben over to his grandmother.
Ben whimpered and reached out to Draco, who had forsaken him to his Gramma.
"Tonight's just our Mum and me, but I promise that you can come next time, alright?"
The toddler really didn't care if he could go next time. He wanted to go this time and just couldn't understand how they could just leave without him.
"Mummy will see you in the morning. Be good for Gramma." And with a kiss on the cheek, Ben's mother and
her date condemned him to a night with his grandmother. He was not happy about this at all and the entire building
heard about it.