A/N: I love my reviewers!! I didn't think anyone was still reading this, but someone reviewed and pointed out to me that it had been two and half YEARS!!! I'm so sorry, I never meant to do that to all of you! I'm settled now, and I'll be getting a reliable internet source soon, and as it turns out, I had a chapter waiting for all this time!! It just needed some adjustments and a beta. I've got another that should be coming fairly quick and I'd just like to say that Draco and Blaise, though adorable, have been amazing prats all this time, screwing up my ideas and not coming out like I wanted them to! Alright, without further ado (and many apologies) here's the next chapter.
Sleep deprivation makes some things that would seem obvious, not so obvious, and some things that you would normally know to keep away from, suddenly become very good ideas.
I suppose that means that this day was fated after the small amount of sleep Ginny got, and the large number of naked Dracos doing interesting things to her while she was asleep.
The first slip of the memory was when she forgot that there was a man staying in her house. She also forgot that she, and said man, were not allowed to lock the bathroom door, and thus should always knock. This little procedure arose since said man was her Protector, and they weren't sure if Death Eaters would have the sensibilities to stay out of her bathroom-- there was also the small matter of Draco breaking the lock after she had aggravatingly locked him out after an argument and then screamed when she fell on the still wet floor.
In forgetting all of this, Ginny woke up groggy and wandered into her bathroom unannounced.
The first thing she noticed was that Draco still looked excellent in a towel.
The second thing she noticed is that she was (mostly unconsciously) trying to come up with a spell that would make the towel fall without causing suspicion.
After tamping down this thought, she noticed that Draco had spun away from toweling his hair and was currently staring at her... though not openly arguing with her seeming contemplation of his towel clad body.
"Can I help you, Gin?"
Yes!
"Er... no." With that, the bright red Weasley daughter immediately slammed the door to the bathroom closed once again.
Once that was accomplished, she immediately began banging her head against the door jam... still clutching the door handle. "Stupid, bloody, buggering towel" was the general mantra for this process.
Until, of course, the door was pulled open from the other side, causing Ginny to conveniently miss the door jam and instead plant her head firmly in what felt suspiciously like a male chest. Looking up, she confirmed that it was, in fact a male chest. At this point, she also realized that she had reached out to find purchase on something to balance her when the door had been pulled open. Turning bright red, she valiantly fought the urge to look down, ostentatiously to check and make sure that her hand was only full of terry cloth.
Both parties were speechless at this point.
Still over compensating by looking at the bathroom ceiling, Ginny held up the towel between them and stammered out that they needed to talk, before quickly getting herself far clear of the area of the flat containing the bathro
Somehow, this was not how she had hoped her morning would go.
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After that embarrassing display in the bathroom, Ginny sat at the kitchen table staring at the entrance to the room and desperately hoping that Draco would never walk in. Or at the very least, give some indication that the earlier happenings were actually all composed of her morbid fears and that she had actually been asleep the whole time.
"Alright, Weasley, would you care to tell me now why you needed to talk to me? And, while you're at it, could you add what possessed you to barge into the bathroom, stare at me, and then divest me of my only covering after I came to see what was the matter with you?" His face was so serious and composed that Ginny couldn't help herself.
She burst into laughter.
Not that calm, dainty kind that so many want to emulate. No, Ginny Weasley was laughing until she had tears streaming down her face. Laughing in that boisterous way that had no guile or subtlety. Laughing in such a way that Draco was afraid she could easily fall off her chair and possibly do herself bodily harm.
In short, Ginevra Weasley was hysterical.
Okay, maybe not really, but it was certain that the night before, combined with this morning had definitely driven her past some kind of breaking point.
Faced with that image, as well as the number of images they would have presented to spectators over the last two days, Draco failed to keep his decorum as well. Though he only released a few, much lighter, chuckles, it was still an impressive feat for someone who was so very... Malfoy.
After a few minutes of this shared camaraderie, both subsided and looked to each other, eyes still expressing mirth, but ready to return to the actual matter at hand.
"I'm sorry--" the hiccup that interrupted her planned sentence nearly set Ginny off again, and certainly received a patented smirk from Draco. Clearing her throat, she began again, "Sorry about that. And I'm definitely sorry about the," she waved her hand in the vague direction of the hallway with this statement, "bathroom... thing."
"It's alright, Weasley. I suppose it's bound to happen with the two of us living here together..." He ran his hand through his hair. It was a gesture that drove Ginny mad, since it made his hair somewhat mussed and made him look... She shook her head before the thoughts continued onto another disaster and returned to what he was actually saying. "What did you need to talk to me about that was so important?"
Ginny blushed, she had actually only said that so that it wouldn't seem completely absurd for her to be looking for him. In reality, she had temporarily forgotten his presence in her house, since she was so tired, and had still been somewhat lost in the fantasies she had had the night before. It didn't help matters much that he had been a main character in most of those, rather fun and interesting, dreams.
"Um, last night." Right... that's the last thing she wanted to bring up, but here goes.
Now it was his turn to look somewhat discomfited. Ginny did try not to be satisfied by that. "Alright... what about it?" Was he fidgeting? Malfoys didn't fidget... he'd told her so once when they'd been completely smashed and she'd asked about the nervous movements.
"I think it went well... um... what are we going to tell the others?"
He blinked. "Others?"
"About the kiss... the picture's bound to be in the papers now, and we've got our monthly meetings with them today, and Ron's going to be livid, even with the cover. And I don't know how Harry will take it, since the whole thing was his bloody idea, and I know Hermione's going to read something into it no matter what, and then there's Luna and there's no telling what she'll think. And Blaise..." Her words were rapidly speeding up as she spoke, and he wasn't sure there had been a breath anywhere in there.
"Don't worry about them. They'll understand." He interrupted her with a calm tone, and what he felt was a more reasonable pace of speaking to someone who was clearly on her way to going mad. "Harry, Ron and Blaise will understand the necessity. Hermione's got nothing to read in," There was a searching look with this statement that Ginny deftly avoided meeting, "and Luna's always been mad."
She looked up to argue with him on the final statement and saw that his eyes had softened somewhat from what she expected and that, in actuality, he seemed amused by her concern about all of them. He probably did think Luna was mad, though not in a malicious way. For some reason, the thought that he would be there and that he wasn't insulting one of her oldest friends, not really, made her happy.
She smiled at him. "Ron's going to beat you to a pulp... you know that, right?"
"If he tries then Potter and Granger will hold him back. That's pretty much been the way of things for the last few months, we remember." He smiled back and it became harder to convince herself that, if she kissed him again, it would all be for the people who were watching.
He reached across the table and took her hand, applying pressure to pull her out of her chair. "Come on, go get ready and we'll get to work. The get together tonight is at Blaise's manor."
A small shiver went down her spine at the thought of going back there, but the reassurance that Draco would help her if she needed him, which she knew regardless of any other feeling there might be, was enough to move her into her bedroom so that she could being dressing to get on with her day.
Once she was done, she came back to the living room, took his arm and they apparated together to the ministry.
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Work went pretty well that day. Tiring, but not all that interesting. Most of the day was spent trying to determine why the Death Eaters hadn't attacked, if whatever information they were looking for was so important. No new leads, though Ginny and Hermione both admitted some fear that somehow whatever it was that they wanted, they had already gotten by some subtle means.
They had already fought stupid, evil people in the Second War. Cunning evil was an infinitely more frightening prospect.
Too much time contemplating that prospect was making Ginny extremely jumpy. She was glad when Draco showed up to the office. She didn't, however, realize how much it had concerned Hermione, until the other woman asked that Draco and Ginny stay until Harry or Blaise showed up to get her.
It turned out to be Blaise that showed up and he and Draco nodded to each other in greeting. Once again, Ginny realized how distant the two men had become since two years ago when all three of them had been close. She also noticed the darkened look on Blaise's face when Draco put his arm around her waist and pulled her close before apparating to the Zabini Manor.
All four arrived at the same time and Blaise sent out a notification via his wand that the wards were now open for everyone to arrive. Draco had been allowed through the wards for years, so Ginny wasn't sure if she was still allowed through on her own, though she guessed that Blaise was the type of person who rarely got around to changing his security settings, auror or no.
Tea and snacks arrived via houself; Hermione scowled; Ron apparated and immediately jumped at Draco; Harry held him back and did his best to talk sense to him; and everything was normal, with everyone together again.
As always, it was only a moment before the two factions of the whole group split apart. Draco, Blaise and Pansy made polite, if somewhat cold conversation on the outside of the room and the Trio, Ginny, and Luna sat on the couch talking expressively and laughing. Ginny never had a moment where she didn't feel Draco's eyes on her, and for some reason, it didn't feel odd, as perhaps it should have, it felt safe.
Each of them talked about their days and how work was going, on this case and on others. They discussed how Harry and Hermione had finally set a date and Mrs. Weasley was ecstatic over being involved in wedding preparations. Luna revealed that apparation would only work for her for a very short while more, since she had found out she was pregnant, and apparation was only safe for this first trimester. Ginny smiled, and hugged, and congratulated, and generally felt the overall emptiness of her romantic life.
With this rather depressing thought, Ginny rose to go to the bathroom. At least a moment alone would help her gather her thoughts a little. As she rose she caught Draco's eye as he began to push off the wall and shook her head. She had no doubt that she'd be fine without him for just a moment, there were more wards on this house than St. Mungos, she was pretty sure.
With that, she moved out of the room and took in her surroundings as she casually moved further into the house towards the entrance hall where the loos were. There were many beautiful paintings, priceless vases, and ancient tapestries that she knew came down through the Zabini family line, just as the ones in Malfoy Manor did. This thought struck her as she realized that Draco had never suggested everyone meet at Malfoy Manor. For some reason, she found herself curious about this fact and about the place that was his home.
"Knut for your thoughts." Surprised, Ginny whirled around and found herself face to face with Blaise Zabini.
"Only a knut?" Ginny laughed nervously as she tried to back away from him. His smile was positively predatory.
"I'll give more, if it's good." He was still advancing on her and she was pretty sure a wall would be coming up on her soon.
"I was wondering why we've never been to Draco's home." As she let the thought escape her quickly, she hoped that that surprised look meant he would stop advancing on her. He didn't.
"Didn't you know? Malfoy was disposessed when he failed with Dumbledore, refused to join the Death Eaters and went into Auror training, he can't even get through the wards now, the house only answers to the master of Malfoy Manor... that's not Draco." He was definitely in her personal space now, and that was definitely a wall behind her. She chose to focus on the conversation, instead of his nearness.
"Why weren't you dispossessed? You did the same thing." Was he smelling her hair?
"That is the question, isn't it? Now let's find something better to do than talk about Draco." He was leaning into her now. Frantically she searched for another way to keep him talking, so that he wouldn't be moving his lips in other ways. Merlin, why was he so unnerving!
"What are you doing, Blaise?" Her voice was stronger this time. It was an age old question of former lovers.
"What do you mean, Ginny?" He pulled back, and looked at her with what could only be described as innocence.
"You were the one who didn't want me... remember?" She turned her head away and tried again to move away from him.
"We didn't talk about it… I wanted to say I'm sorry for that, Ginny." He pulled back and ran his hand through his hair. Ginny noted that it was the same gesture Draco made when he didn't want to admit to being uncomfortable.
"It's alright, it doesn't matter anymore anyway." She started to move away from him, trying to cut the conversation short before she had to relive yet another thing she didn't care to.
Blaise grabbed her arm as she turned away from him, "Ginny, wait, can't we try again?"
"Let go of her, Zabini." Ginny couldn't explain why she felt relief at Draco's voice, cold and hard as it was.
"We're just talking, Malfoy, it's not a big deal." Ginny did notice, however, that Blaise hadn't released her arm… in fact, his grip had tightened when Draco spoke. Unnoticed by either of them, she looked at his hand, and then his face, trying to figure out what was actually going on here.
"Come on, Ginny, let's go home. It's been a long day." Finally, Draco broke eye contact with Blaise to address her, holding out his arm for her to take.
"In a minute, Malfoy. Ginny, what I'm saying is --," Ginny knew the mistake Blaise had made, but she still wasn't expecting quite the reaction they got when Blaise stepped between her and the doorway… and Draco. With good reason, Protectors are generally charged with making sure the person they're defending isn't trapped in a small area with anyone they might not want to be. Of course, not all Protectors respond by pinning someone to a wall with an arm over the neck.
"Draco!" She hadn't wanted Blaise holding onto her, or standing so close in the alcove, but his face was already turning a very unnatural red. Fear prevented Ginny from even trying to comprehend what was really going on as she tried to work out the best way to finish all of this.
The men were still involved in a fierce staring contest, a silent angry conversation between them, when Ginny grabbed Draco's arm. "Draco, he's an auror, he wasn't going to do anything. It wasn't anything worth getting worried over, let's just go home." Ginny was pretty sure neither man heard her, but she hoped some of the reasoning could penetrate whatever it was that had actually caused this.
"Draco, Please." The last was barely above a whisper, but it seemed to be enough as Draco dropped Blaise.
"Keep your hands off her. Don't even think of cornering her like this again, or I will consider it part of my duty to hex you within an inch of your life." With that, in a tone of voice that could have frightened the wall now supporting Blaise's gasping form, and with Ginny still pulling on his arm to remove him from the scene. After another pointed look, they moved further down the hallway, he put his arm around her, and they apparated home.
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When they arrived back at her flat, Ginny began to move away from him, to begin preparations for dinner. Cooking was always good at calming her nerves.
"I'm sorry." She almost didn't hear it, and certainly didn't expect it. As she turned back to face Draco, his face gave her a vague sense that maybe she should be wondering more what he was apologizing for.
"It's alright. I grew up in a family of redheads... everyone loses their temper sometimes." She smiled at him, still completely relieved that he had shown up when he did, even if his methods of dealing with the problem had been somewhat harsh and unexpected.
He looked as if he was going to say something, but stopped, so she turned into the kitchen once again.
Once she entered, and realized that they had a lot of leftovers and very few ingredients left, she decided on a sandwich and some pumpkin juice and she'd find something to read to help calm her instead. After making the sandwich, she went back to the refrigerator to search for the juice.
It was somewhat unnerving that Draco had returned to his stony former self for now and was sitting at the kitchen table watching her. So unnerving, in fact, that she couldn't for the life of her find the juice!
"Do you know where the pumpkin juice has gotten to? I can't find it." She heard the chair scrape against the floor as he got up and turned to see what he was doing and why he hadn't answered. When she turned, for the second time in one day, she found herself staring directly into a male, though this time clothed, chest.
He put his hand on her waist and leaned past her into the fridge to pull the pumpkin juice out of it's conspicuous place on the top shelf and moved back to hold it in front of her. Despite the relative similarities of the two times she had been in this position, with two different men, this time it seemed frighteningly comfortable. She wondered why his eyes seemed darker now, as she took the pumpkin juice, and fled the room.
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