AN: Brace yourself. Just a friendly warning. Weird fluff ahead.
---Chapter Six---
Coffee and Rain
Draco leaned heavily against the door of his office after returning from a strenuous meeting. He exhaled loudly, and then moved to his considerably more comfortable chair, where he pulled out a folder of files. 'Work' he thought tiredly. 'It really sucks,' his brain told him. Draco's eyes drooped slightly but popped open again when he realized what was happening. He could not fall asleep in his office again. His hand began to wander to a well know picture in his desk, and before he knew it, he was staring at it in amazement. 'I'm going to see her again,' he thought in shock. 'Thursday. That's three days from now. I think May is my new favorite month.'
He gazed at the picture in his hand, studying the features of a face that his eyes had traced carefully millions of times over the last eight, nearly nine, years. 'Nine years in less than a month,' he remembered suddenly. 'June 17th. Can't believe I still remember that.'
The picture wasn't one of Ginny's best, but that was probably why Draco loved it so much. She was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, holding a book in one of the comfy chairs by the fire. He knew the picture well enough to tell that it was one of her romance books. Draco remembered that she had only cut her hair on the last Hogsmade trip of the year, so it must have been taken after exams, somewhere in mid-June. She looked ridiculously melancholy for what should be a couple days before the end of school. In fact, she was probably the only one left in the building at the time. What made it a beautiful picture to Draco was that she wasn't reading the book; she was staring into the fire intently. The flames reflected in the Ginny's eyes, and her hair looked like it was made for the scene. The muggle photograph didn't move, which only made it look better and more dramatic.
Draco sighed again and slouched further into the warm confines of the expensive chair. He carefully placed the picture on his desk and reached into the pocket of his cloak for a small box. He lifted his wand from the desk and enlarged it to its normal size. When opened, the beautiful bracelet glinted up at him. It was white gold, and had studs of emeralds and diamonds. It was simple, but very elegant. To him, it was very…Ginny. As Draco looked at it, his hopes were lessened. He hadn't said so much as a word to her in the last nine years. She had probably changed as much as he had. She wouldn't be the same. She even looked a bit different. More like a woman and less like the schoolgirl he remembered. She had matured and grown, as had he, and it was very unlikely he would feel the same about her now as he did then.
But he looked at the photo on his desk, and the same old feelings rose up in him. He would make it work. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes. But how?
**
The book landed on the floor hard, startling the occupants of the flat.
"What…is...going…on…here!?"
Fred and George looked up fearfully at their enraged sister. The confused look on their faces lasted only until they looked around them curiously. So there was a bit of a mess. So they weren't supposed to be here. So what?
"What in the name of bloody hell, are you doing in my house?" Ginny said in a dangerously quiet voice reserved for special circumstances. There was no answer from the petrified men. Only fearful stares.
"Ginny! Your home!" called Fred in a forced joyous tone. "You should…have…called?" he ended, as he watched his sister grow more furious. Where on earth did Ginny inherit that glare? It was defiantly not a Weasley trait.
"Get OUT!" she finally yelled, boiling over.
They scrambled out of the half destroyed apartment quickly. They knew when to abandon ship. Plus, the captain really looked murderous.
**
After spending three hours, just out of the hospital, cleaning her flat, she dropped on the couch with pajamas and a tub of ice cream. The wizarding television went on a second later, and there was the noise of someone changing channels quickly that followed. Ginny let herself go. She began to sniffle. And eventually, the sniffle turned into full-blown sobbing. 'I shouldn't watch romance right now.' Her fiancé hated her, even if she returned the favor, her mother was mad at her, and the guy she had been in love with since she was sixteen, suddenly showed up in her life again. Thinking back to that day in the rain, the day where everything had began, she realized that it was raining now. She took her wand and shoes and went outside.
Going down the stairs of her building in Wizarding London (a respectable area), she slowly walked fifteen minutes to the nearest park, which was shielded from muggle eyes. She sat on the grass and slowly relaxed, savoring the feel of the rain on her skin. 'This was just what I needed,' she thought, as she moved to lie down. Ten minutes later, she was alerted by the sound of someone sitting next to her. The sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine.
"Seems we had the same idea, Weaslette. I like this park, too."
Keeping her eyes shut, she whispered, "Don't talk."
She felt him lie next to her, and suddenly felt the tension that had been building up in her completely melt away. Draco had always had this affect on her. And now, she pushed all complications with him out of her mind, and let herself feel like a sixteen year old again. They had been lying like this together for about an hour when she spoke.
"Do you come here often?"
Neither of them moved.
"Sometimes. When I need to relax. Hasn't been raining as much in good old England as of late, has it? Never seen a May like this one."
"I know what you mean."
There was silence again.
"Sometimes I imagine how we look to other people here. Who lies down in the rain like this? We must be crazy," Ginny said, trying to make conversation.
"There aren't many people who come to parks when it rains, are there? So no need to worry. At least our insanity is hidden."
She could feel his smirk without opening her eyes. "It's getting late. Do you want to get a coffee or something? I need something to warm up."
"Don't you still use a warming charm?" he asked her curiously, moving on his side to look at her.
"Excuses, excuses, Draco. Come on." She stood and grabbed his hand.
**
Half an hour later, they were at a cozy café in Muggle London, sipping hot coffee.
"I can't believe we never ran into each other before. I can't believe we've been going to the same park for years."
"I guess it just wasn't time."
"I didn't take you as one to believe in fate and things like that, Draco Malfoy. What happened to the disbelieving cynic I once knew?"
"He decided believing in something couldn't hurt. He'd been proven wrong before."
"Oh?"
"Yes. So, how does it feel to be home again?"
Ginny knew he was changing the subject, but decided not to press him. "Great, for the most part. Except the fact that Fred and George decided to move in while I was gone and trash my apartment."
"I would have paid to see that particular confrontation," Draco said, smirk in place.
"Yes, well. I think they learned their lesson. And so did I."
"And what was that?"
"I need to look up some good house protection charms. And wards, those can be very useful. Maybe some nasty hexes, too."
Draco laughed. "I'm sure they won't do that again. I've seen you in a temper over smaller things."
"You cannot say I overreacted! You should have seen that place! It was a pigsty!" she cried indignantly.
Draco laughed again. And kept laughing. Ginny reached over the table and smacked his arm lightly.
"Stop it! It's not funny!"
He stopped, but the smile was still there. Ginny decided she didn't mind that.
**
An hour or two later, they got up and paid. Outside of the café, Draco was saying goodbye to Ginny.
"So I'll see you Thursday, then."
"I'm looking forward to it. I had a great time today, Draco."
Before Draco could stop himself, he leaned over and at the last second, shifted slightly to lightly kiss her cheek. Ginny was surprised for a moment, but quickly regained her footing. Making a quick decision, she pulled his head towards hers again. As their lips met for the first time after a parting much too long, they both sighed. Before the kiss went any further, Draco pulled away.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."
Ginny was petrified she had made a terrible mistake. She felt her cheeks burn.
"Not that I don't want to!" Draco said quickly. "I just…don't want to mess things up before they begin. We're starting over, aren't we?"
Ginny understood, and gained confidence again. She looked up into his eyes, and said, "Who said anything about starting over?"
"But…at the hospital-"
"You said that. I think we are mature enough to pick up almost where we left off, aren't we?" and she kissed him again, and this time, didn't let him pull away until they needed to breath desperately. Draco rested his forehead against hers, and whispered, "I just don't want you to regret anything."
"No regrets."
"Ginny, it's been so long since…maybe we should just take this slowly. Wait, isn't the girl supposed to be saying this?"
"The girl is most certainly not. So why are you arguing? I've missed you." She began to plant kisses on his face and neck, when a woman came out of the café and said, "Can you two take this elsewhere? It's touching and all, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Sorry," Ginny said. "We were just going." She took Draco's hand and began to rush in the direction of her flat.
"Ginny, please, think about this," Draco said as he was dragged along the street. "We've both changed over the years. And…I really think there could be something for us. But don't you think we should wait until we're sure this is what we want?"
"I know what I want." She spun around to look at him. "I can't stop thinking about you! You never left me alone! How can you say that things have changed so much that our feelings have changed along with us? Because mine sure as hell haven't!"
'She is so sexy when she's angry," thought Draco dazedly.
The fog that had begun to wrap itself around his brain was shattered when her eyes began to water.
"Don't you think it's been long enough? As much as I hate it sometimes, I need you. I don't care if you've gone and become the next fucking Dark Lord, I'm sure I would love you the same!"
Draco stared at her.
"Don't look at me like that! So what if I still love you?" She didn't get to say anymore, because he stopped her with his hand over her mouth.
"I still love you too."
They stared at each other for a few moments. Draco's hands cradled the back of her head, and she was crying.
"This scene seems familiar to me," he said quietly. "Except you're not leaving me this time. I hope."
Ginny closed her eyes. "I guess this is one of the things we need to talk about."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry. I just missed you. I didn't want to wait; I wanted to forget everything bad that happened. You were right, Draco, we should do this slowly."
"I was wrong. We can do what ever you want," he said quickly. Ginny smiled.
"Decision has been made. You can't change your mind now," she teased back.
"Well. Now I really want to eat my words."
"I'm allowed to kiss you, right?"
She didn't need an answer.
AN: Does anyone realize how much of this was planned from the start? Maybe 2%. I am completely making this up as I go along! *smacks herself on head* But I think I have an actual plot for the next chapter. I'm really sorry for the entire bad, too sappy romance thing. It just happened. I couldn't control it! I swear! But…I can't promise it will get any less fluffy. Really sorry to all who hate this kind of stuff. But the angst isn't over yet! And please review. I foud that I really love them. They help me write better.
-Wrong-Turn24