Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing… no, really, I hope I get a job soon.

A/N: Hello all! Thanks so much for the reviews! They're very fun to receive (and they prompt me to update quicker)! Thanks to Resse, my beta, once again for editing and suggestions. Thanks to Frost21, by the way, and I'll update Ginny's name and use the real one from now on (even though I hate it) because, as we all know, she's not my character… I don't have the first chapter on file on this computer though, so I'm hoping you'll all forgive me and understand that I'll re-edit as soon as I can. Oh! And just so everyone's clear… this is a boy Blaise story. Okay now… On with the Show!

A/N 2: Sorry, This is only an edit of the update I did yesterday, I guess I didn't look it over well enough, cause this is the direct edit! (that's what most of the parenthesis were, sorry to the reviewer who mentioned it, but I wouldn't have realized the mistake without you!)

Chapter 2: The meeting

As Ginny and Harry entered the private ministry meeting room, Ginny noticed that the three tables in the room were already occupied. Ron and Luna were talking with Pansy (whom Ron was assigned to protect in this case) and Hermione and Blaise were discussing their cover story at the center table, where Harry was currently headed. Over to her left, Ginny locked eyes with Draco Malfoy and realized that she was the only protectee who didn't have a live-in boyfriend or husband to have to concoct a story with…she'd be working directly with Malfoy. Without losing eye contact, Ginny took a deep breath and moved over to the far table.

Fifteen minutes later, the Weasley/Malfoy meeting was still extremely unproductive as they sat and glared at one another. It was Draco who finally broke the silence.

"So, Weasley, are you finally ready to admit that you couldn't wait to spend every moment with me?" He sneered at her, frowning and glaring across the table.

"Actually, Malfoy, I've decided you weren't worth the problems that might otherwise arise. I still don't know why they picked you though, since you're obviously as likely to smother me in my sleep as anything else." Ginny's voice was casually detached from her cutting words.

Draco clearly recognized the cut, and his eyes narrowed in response. The little chit dared to suggest that he couldn't do the job he worked so hard for… Protection Aurors were supposed to be the most respected Aurors in the ministry, and the most trustworthy. "Doubting my trustworthiness, little weasel?" His voice was dangerous already, almost daring her to say it again.

"Just wondering, Ferret, how much do Protector placements go for now?" Her tone of voice was once again the true insult…it didn't matter what they said, she was prepared to battle him and he wasn't about to back down.

"Look, Princess, I earned my job and I don't plan to let a little bint like you screw it up for me. So why don't we just figure out our cover? Speaking of which, where's the other party we're supposed to be working with? Creevey finally figure out to ditch the rag doll?"

"Actually, I think Colin and Neville will be very happy together." Only a slight blush indicated that she took any offense at all to his mention of her lack of relationship…but it wasn't enough to slow either of them down.

"My, my, my! I think the poof community should thank you…that's the second man in recent history who hops into bed with you and then runs screaming from the female species forever. Perhaps you should be isolated from all wizards, you know...to protect the rest of us."

"Actually, I think that men do just find being gay without my initial influence." Ginny took the time to look Draco up and down with a significant look as to her meaning.

That was enough. Draco was tired of the banter when he really did want to do his job…even if it had to do with…her. He stood up to tower over her, palms flat on the table between them as he leaned in.

"Listen you stubborn, obnoxious, little chit! If you think that I need to sit and listen to you, just so I can protect you from whatever it is that's supposed to be after you…you can forget it! Either you start being somewhat cooperative so we can get something done, or I say let them have you!" Draco sat down heavily, somewhat gratified that she stayed quiet long enough to let him get that all out.

It was Ginny's turn now. Slowly moving into a position that clearly mimicked Draco's former posture, Ginny had her own say. "You know what, you ferrety, pointy nosed, obnoxious bloody prat!!!! I don't need your help! No one is after me, and even if they were, I don't know anything that would help them, so it doesn't matter! And you know what else, even if I did need help, I'd jump into a bottomless pit without a cord before I'd ask you!" The scorn in her voice as she spoke to him was almost as palpable as his had been and they locked eyes once again, glaring angrily at each other.

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Harry sighed. He, Blaise, and Hermione had finished their discussion of their cover story. All three now sat watching the side show act that had formerly been the silent table on the far left. The story they'd concocted was that Blaise and Hermione (who worked in the Mystery Research Sector) were working on a project together, during the day, and Harry (a Protection section leader in his own right) would manage at night. That way Blaise wouldn't have to move in with them.

Ron and Luna had already reported to him their story with Pansy as well. Luna and Pansy worked together at the Daily Prophet, and Pansy had already been looking for a new flat, they simply decided to let her move in with them on the pretext that her previous flat had already been sold. Since, to the public, Ron didn't have regular work, him accompanying the both of them on a story or two wouldn't be completely out of place. Ron was currently being held in his chair by his wife to prevent him from engaging in the escalating war between his sister and Malfoy. His face was a study between pride and extreme anger as he listened to his sister's and Malfoy's jibes , respectively.

"How will anyone ever believe that the two of them are together willingly at all?" Hermione's question was enough to bring him out of his musings and back to the problem at hand.

"I don't know, I can't think of anything that Ginny and Draco would have remotely in common… they hate each other… and remarkably, by ministry rules, that makes him the only person qualified to protect her."

"Right," Hermione had her "business" voice on now. "So, let's figure out something for them. I'm not losing my best friend just because she can't calm down and be mature enough for even a second to figure out some sort of cover for them being together."

"I agree, so, let's think of what we need to include." Blaise broke into the conversation as well, joining both tables, still watching the "entertainment", in the discussion. "They have to spend time together… almost constantly…"

"No, constantly. Since Ginny and Colin broke it off, Ginny's alone in a large, somewhat isolated flat… there's no one to get help if something happens, so Malfoy will have to be right there." Ron had worked, grudgingly, with Draco for almost three years now, so he knew his sister would be well protected if they ever got to that point. Right now his hope to protect his sister over-road his personal dislike for Malfoy.

"So, why would they be talking to each other, much less living together?" They all turned to regard the pair in question in answer to Pansy's question.

"Lust." Luna's somewhat dreamy voice was the only to supply an answer. As a result, she was now the subject of the incredulous stares.

"You've got to be kidding me." Ron was vigourously shaking his head in response to the idea his wife supplied.

"Actually, Ron, I think that may be the only thing that's going to work. People almost never have trouble attributing that particular emotion to people of the opposite sex who fight like those two do whenever they're in the same room. Maybe the cover is that they've been seeing each other for a bit, based on sex, and have decided to come out into the open about it cause the secret is causing too much stress for one or the other of them. Does that work?" Hermione was applying a wholly scientific thinking to the problem, as usual, but she couldn't help the small smile that came out at her imagining of what would happen if Draco and Ginny were told that she came up with the idea for their cover story.

"Listen to me you stupid, bloody, vain, pansy-ass, sodding wanker!" Ginny's voice interrupted any further conversation with a vengeance.

"Now, now Weaslette, thinking naughty thoughts about me?"

"Could you get any more smarmy, you slimey, slithering, despicable snake? 'Oh, look at me, I'm Draco Malfoy...Merlin's answer to every love-lorn witch or wizard that ever lived! Pathetic, Slytherin man-whore! I bet -"

"ENOUGH!!!!" Harry's shout finally put an end to the mudslinging as the blond and red head turned their mutinous glares on him. Harry took a deep breath and quickly filled the noise gap with what he had to say. "Since you two can't talk civilly for long enough to come up with a cover story, we've come up with one for you. You've been secretly involved for about 6 weeks now, and since the stress of the secret was getting to you, Ginevra, you're finally coming clean and moving in together… Great. Now that that's done, we're all dismissed and I can go home after I file these things away." Picking up his papers detailing the cover stories the three groups would be following, Harry left the room with Hermione, Ron, Luna, Blaise, and Pansy following behind… all alternately suppressing laughter and sheepishly avoiding the looks of the flabbergasted couple in the corner.

Draco closed his mouth with a snap. Malfoys did not gape. Oh, god. Malfoys don't date Weasleys either. He turned to the woman beside him and set his mouth into a grimly determined line. "Right, fine, see you tomorrow then." Then, just as the others had, he left Ginny Weasley standing in the room alone.

The whole ministry heard the aggravated scream… they assumed it was from the Department of Mysteries.

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