Chapter 9 - Some of the truth
"Malfoy, we need to talk!" Ginny said coldly, the next morning, entering his office without permission.
"The name is Mr. Malfoy, and never walk in my office without knocking on the door first…" he said, furiously. Draco had had a terrible night, revisiting old memories, and he was in no mood to listen to Ginny's voice.
"I've made a list of all the things I'll need for Thomas' physical therapy… I want a room to transform in a gym and I want to ask if you've got a pool somewhere in this house…" she asked, placing a huge list in his hands. Without asking for permission, she sat on the corner of his desk and waited as he read the list.
"Yes, I have a pool in my private garden, why? I didn't hire you for you to have fun in the pool…" he sneered, dropping the parchment on his table, and watched her properly.
Any pleasant thoughts he might have had previously about her, were destroyed that morning. The woman he once considered sexy and extremely attractive, now looked like a common house keeper, wearing a huge t-shirt and large black pants… There was no body shape underneath those clothes. She was back to being a Weasley, uh?
"Don't look so disgusted with my clothes, they are very practical to work with children, you know? When I worked at the Clinic I had to wear skirts and high-heels all the time, and it was awful…" she said, noticing his disapproving stare. "And I want the pool to work with Thomas, not to have fun! Do you allow us to use it?"
"You can use it, but don't mess with my things!" Draco warned with a sneer. It would be interesting to have Ginny walking around his bedroom, wearing only a bikini…
`Calm down mate… Too much enthusiasm over a filthy weasel!' he thought, snapping out of his thoughts.
"You can transform the room next to Thomas' into a gym and I'll have someone buy these items tomorrow… Anything else?" he asked, watching her face begin to smile.
"Yes, I want him to stop taking those pills…" she said, walking back to the office door.
"What pills? And why?" he asked, confused. Draco didn't know much about the boy, and he found himself caring for the first time. This was all her fault!
"Thomas is taking a kind of medication that is destroying his muscles, because they're for adults, not children…" she explained. "I need your permission to stop the administration!"
"Fine, do what you think it's best…" he agreed, going back to his papers.
"Thank you Mr. Malfoy…" she smiled happily, making him look at her in wonder. She might look awful in those clothes, but she had a killer smile…
`She sure as grown up… Back at Hogwarts she was a cute girl, but now, she's a beautiful woman.' Draco thought, still staring at the now closed door.
After his 5th year, Draco began noticing everything about the youngest Weasley. At first, he felt hate towards her for casting the Bat Bogey's Hex on him, but has he observed her, his feelings changed into curiosity and then admiration.
She wasn't a quiet little girl, like many people thought, that girl was the true heir of the Weasley twins… Most of the time, you could find her laughing over some prank or joke, and she was never alone. There were always a few Gryffindors with her and Luna… Luna was really changed as well.
Sometimes he still remembered back at Hogwarts, the day Luna came to talk with him, in the Quidditch pitch. The girl might act like a crazy girl, but she was very sharp.
***
Flashback
***
"MALFOY! Get off that broom right NOW!" Luna yelled, as soon as she stepped on the Quidditch field.
The sun was setting, and Draco was flying alone, enjoying the spring winds messing up his hair and licking his pale face.
Slowly, Draco landed and stared at Luna with a sneer.
"What do you want, Lovegood?" he asked, sounding disgusted. "I don't have time to waist with the likes of you…"
"Listen to me well, because I'm only telling you this once… Don't look at her like that, if you don't mean it! If you're trying to hurt her, then don't, because I won't let you!" Luna hissed, poking his chest with her finger.
"What are you talking about, Lovegood?" Draco's face remained blank, although he knew perfectly well what she was saying.
"Ginny is a sweet, innocent girl, and I don't want to see her suffer… If you like her, then go ahead, and I'll support both of you! If you don't like her at all, then stay away from her, don't think of her, don't even look at her."
"Who's Ginny?" Draco asked, trying to sound stupid.
Luna just stood there, in front of him, looking deep into his eyes, without saying one word. She was making Draco nervous, and that wasn't easy to achieve… Then, she just snapped out of her thoughts and smiled warmly.
"I see it in your eyes, Draco, believe it or not… I'm happy to find that the Slytherin Prince does have feelings, beside hate and revenge." Luna whispered kindly. "There's always a price to pay, and I believe it's a very high price for you."
When Draco didn't answer Luna just walked away, back to the school. The sun had disappeared, and Draco was left alone in the dark pitch, thinking about what Luna Lovegood had just said.
`How can she know so much about my feelings? She doesn't even know me!' he thought, sitting on the grass, with his broom by his side.
"You're right, Lovegood, there's a very high price to pay for falling in love… And I'm not willing to pay it!" Draco whispered into the night.
***
End of Flashback
***
Now don't get me wrong… But, despite being a Malfoy, Draco was still a 16 y-old boy, having crushes as any other teenager, but unfortunately for him, the object of his attention belonged to the family he hated. Frequently, Draco found himself thinking about what could have possibly made him notice the girl.
He had found two explanations… One, the border between love and hate was so thin that he had destroyed it, and now liked Ginny (not loved, because Malfoy's don't love), or two, he was losing his mind.
From that day on, Draco followed Luna's advice, and stayed away from Ginny, and avoided looking at her. Fortunately, Pansy Parkinson never left him alone, so he found a way to release his frustrations. After finishing his 7th year and after all the Death-Eaters receiving the Dementor's kiss, Draco left the country and became a successful business man, forgetting all about his life back at England, until the day he received an urgent owl.
Pansy had been killed, and left a small kid behind, for him to take care of.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Thomas, you're not trying hard enough!" Ginny sighed, feeling extremely frustrated. For the last days, she had been working with Thomas, but the boy showed no signs of wanting to recover, therefore, not working well on his therapy sessions.
"I'm tired… I want to sleep!" Thomas complained, removing his hands from the parallel bars, and falling to a heap on the floor, as his legs failed to sustain his body from standing up.
As promised, Draco ordered someone to buy all the stuff she needed and set up the room next to Thomas', with all the new things.
Excitedly, Ginny began her work with the boy, massaging his body, trying to wake the blood flow in the unused limbs.
Unfortunately, Thomas usually was in a fool mood… Yes, he had come to like her and accept her, but he hated her for making him go through so much pain, with all those exercises.
"I know it's hard for you, Thomas…" Ginny sighed, sitting on the floor next to him. "But I hope you do understand, that we want to help you…"
"Who wants to help?" he asked, narrowing his eyes with suspicion.
"I do, Draco Malfoy, the house elves…" she said, wishing she could carry on with her list, but there wasn't anyone else.
"He doesn't want to help me… He hates me!" Thomas yelled, full of sorrow in his voice. "Why? Why does he hate me?"
Those sad eyes made Ginny want to hold Thomas in her harms and protect him from the world.
"Draco doesn't hate you, Thomas… He isn't a warm, loving person on the outside, but we never know what's deep inside!" Ginny explained. "Deep down he shows that he cares for you… He bought all this stuff, he said we could use his pool, he wants the best for you, or I wouldn't be here…"
Thomas remained in silence, probably thinking about what she said.
"Look, you're tired and you're bored, so I would like to go for a swim with you… Just for fun and not for work!" she smiled, excitedly. "What do you say?"
"Finally you had a decent idea!" he smiled back.
Carefully, Ginny took Thomas to his bedroom and changed his clothes to his pool wear. Just then did she remember that she didn't bring her bathing suit…
`Well, I can't leave him alone in the pool… I'll have to go in my underwear.' She thought, carrying Thomas in her arms all the way to the first floor, as a house-elf brought the wheelchair up. Ginny placed the boy on the chair and then started pushing the chair.
She had never been up there before, and she didn't want to do anything that would infuriate her boss. The hallway was pretty much like the ones downstairs, with green carpet, torches here and there, lots of ancient paintings and some pieces of furniture as a way to soften the cold and impersonal decoration.
"Thomas, do you know where's Draco's bedroom?" she asked, feeling lost in the huge house.
"No, I've never been here before…" he replied, staring at a painting of a skinny blond woman, whom was smiling back at him. "Stop looking at me!"
"What is it, Thomas?" Ginny asked, surprised with his angry voice.
"That woman won't stop staring at me…" he complained, pointing at the moving portrait.
"Good afternoon, lady… Could you help me find Draco Malfoy's bedroom?" Ginny asked to said woman, but the skinny blond just scowled and threw some tendrils of golden hair back over her shoulder.
"What are you doing in Malfoy Manor?" she asked coldly. "I will not admit some Weasley walking around my house…"
"Oh great, Narcissa Malfoy…" Ginny sighed, finally noticing the small plaque under the painting with the person's name. "Mrs. Malfoy, I'm a Healer and I'm working with Thomas, that's all. I'm not living here, don't worry…"
"Oh, Thomas, is it? My beautiful grandson…" Narcissa smiled widely, staring lovingly at the boy. "Why are you not standing up, boy?"
Thomas scowled, blazing in fury, until he finally blew up.
"I'm bloody handicapped, that's why! An I'm not your grandson, you old bat, so keep dreaming and shut your yap!" he yelled, wheeling his chair down the hallway.
Narcissa just stared at the boy, shock all over her aristocratic features.
"Yes, I know, they are very similar, but your son denies being Thomas' father…" Ginny whispered sadly.
"But… he looks like a Malfoy! He acts like one, as well!" Narcissa whispered, still in shock.
"I'm doing my best to find out what the hell is going on in here. When I find out, I'll tell you… But if you could gather some information to share with me as well, it would be great!" Ginny said, trying to conquer an ally.
"Of course, I'll see what I can find out… Draco's bedroom is on the last door, down this corridor." The blond woman said, for the first time smiling to Ginny. "Maybe you'll become the first Weasley I'll ever like to talk to… A Healer, eh? Who would have thought? Please, tell my son, when you see him, that he hasn't visited me for the last 2 weeks, and that I miss him."
"Thank you, I will…" Ginny smiled, walking down the corridor, where Thomas was waiting for her in front of the last door, Draco's bedroom.
Taking a deep breath, Ginny tried to ease the feeling of danger… She felt like she was doing something forbidden, despite having Draco's authorization to use the pool. Maybe it was because this was his bedroom and the his own private place… In there she could find several things about him, and that made a small shiver grow in her stomach.
Thomas was the one to open the door to the room and wheeled his way in, followed closely by Ginny.
The bedroom was typically Slytherin-ish. The walls were painted in white and had a few deep green horizontal stripes that went around the room, near the ceiling. Against the main wall was a huge bed, with deep green covers and silver pillows on top. The floor was a deep green carpet, but not a rough one… This one had a small height of fur that probably felt like heaven on someone's naked body…
That thought was enough to make Ginny see herself naked on that carpet, in front of the warm fireplace, with a naked Draco on top of her, touching her… Oh Merlin!
`I really need to get out of this bedroom!' she thought, shaking the thoughts out of her head.
The room was very tidy, and the only proof that someone actually slept in there, was a book on the bedside table and a bottle of perfume on the vanity table, next to a moving picture of a small Draco laughing in Narcissa's arms.
One of the room's walls was covered with glass doors that led to a huge marble balcony, surrounded by small plants and white rosebushes. In the center of the balcony was a good-sized pool with a huge snake painted on the bottom, and a few chaise-longs on the edges of the pool.
"Oh wow, this is huge!" Thomas screamed excitedly.
"Yes, it is… Have you ever been in a pool? Or in the ocean?" she asked, with a big smiled as she took off his bathrobe and his slippers.
"No, have you? Is it blue like the sky?" he asked, curiosity all over his childish face.
"Yes, I've been at a beach before, and yes, the sea is blue when the day is sunny… Sometimes it becomes grey, when the weather is stormy…" she explained, once again remembering Draco's eyes. "One of these days I'll take you to see the ocean… Would you like that?"
"That would be great! Thank you…" Thomas laughed, hugging her.
Ginny removed her clothes until she was only wearing her black lingerie. She quickly performed an Impervius charm on her underwear and a floating charm on Thomas.
"Let's have fun!" she yelled, excitedly, before going in the pool, maintaining Thomas floating around her.
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Hey, I know I'm not updating as often as I used to, and I'm so sorry …
I'm busy... Nowadays I go to bed at 3 a.m. and wake up at 9 a.m. Why, you ask? To study!!! (I hate school, but I have to)
This chapter reveals a few things, but not everything… Narcissa might become a precious key to the whole story, or maybe not, who knows?
I just had the idea of her painting and suddenly I thought, `well she could be useful!' Don't know how, yet!
This story is a tiny bit frustrating because I have so much of it written on my small notebook, where I write my ideas before going to sleep, and when I sit in front of my computer, I start adding extra things and sometimes my mind blocks and I don't know what to write next, because I can't make Draco and Ginny jump on each other too early…
Oh well, soon we'll all see where this story leads us.
Thank you for your wonderful reviews, and for sticking around.
Lots of love,
Carina