She found him in a pub down the beach from where they were staying. He was sitting by himself at the edge of the bar. There was a basket with peanuts and half a mug of whatever he was drinking in front of him. Draco seemed more interested in the peanuts than the mug. "Draco?"
The Malfoy turned slightly and eyed her. Without saying a word, he turned back around.
Ginny didn't wait for him to invite her to sit down - he might never - so she sat next to him. "Can I talk to you?"
"Can't see how we've got anything left to say, Weasley."
She flinched at that. "So we're back to Weasley and Malfoy now?"
He lifted a shoulder to shrug. "Don't see how we ever left it, really." Draco reached forward and plucked another peanut from the basket. He took his time removing the shell, before dropping the nut next to his mug. "How'd you find me?"
"Walked down the beach a little bit. I checked two other pubs before I came here. I wasn't sure if you'd go for a beer or if you'd just Floo back to London."
Draco turned his head and studied her. "You thought I might leave you here?"
"Wouldn't blame you," she told him. "I'd deserve it."
"That you do." Draco picked up his mug and finished the last of his beer in one swallow. He motioned for the barkeep to bring him another. "Do you want a drink?"
"Draco-"
"Do you want a drink?" he repeated.
"Water."
When the barkeep put another frosty mug in front of him, Draco motioned to Ginny. "The lady will have a glass of water."
"We don't serve water," the man replied gruffly. "You want something else?"
Ginny started to refuse, but Draco cut her off. "Bring her one of those things with an umbrella in it." He lifted his glass. "And keep 'em coming."
"You're planning to get pissed."
"Right in one," he muttered. Draco took another long swallow of his beer. "Did you need something? Or did you follow me to tell me once again how things aren't going to work between us?"
"Draco," she began.
"Because if that's it," her husband continued, as if she hadn't even spoken. "I get it. Our marriage is a sham. You're only here because you thought you'd get one up on Lucius Malfoy. You know, my father ordered this marriage hoping I'd be miserable. I wonder if even he has any idea how successful he was."
The barkeep appeared and placed her drink in front of her. Ginny smiled kindly and the man left. "I don't understand what's happening, Draco."
"Of course not." Draco took another swallow of his beer. "You don't bloody get it. You never did."
"Get what?" Ginny questioned.
He studied her for a moment before dropping his head. When he'd left her at the villa, he'd planned on finding a quiet pub and drowning his miseries. Draco never expected she'd show up there wanting to continue their conversation. In his mind, there was nothing left to their conversation. It was simple: he wanted a life with her, but she didn't want the same with him. "Nothing, Weasley."
Ginny took a tentative sip of her drink, surprised at the strawberry taste of the drink. It was quite good. "I don't know how to talk to you anymore. In the beginning-"
"The beginning?" Draco questioned. "Weasley, this is our honeymoon, it is the beginning. You make it sound like we've been married for a decade."
"I know that," she told him. "It just got hard, Draco. And I don't understand why."
The blond studied her over the rim of his mug. He couldn't help but feel aggravated at himself - she was trying to reach out, but Draco knew as soon as he reached back, she would pull back again. It wasn't something he looked forward to doing again. "Were your parents always as happy as they appear to be?"
Ginny frowned. "What?"
"Father and Mother, before I went to Hogwarts, were very happy together. He was affectionate towards us both. People assume I had a horrible childhood because Lucius Malfoy was my father. Those assumptions are wrong. Father, while he didn't always show it, loved me very much. He indulged me at school - you remember how he bought the entire Quidditch team new brooms my second year. Mother refused to send me to Durmstrang and sent me sweets each week. My parents cared about me and loved each other.
"That being said, things weren't always as they appeared to be. I know that at some point, my father had a relationship with Mother's sister, Bellatrix. No one has ever stated that to me, but I was always sure of it. Bellatrix and my father are closer in age than he and my mother - which makes me think they were at Hogwarts together. I know she was a Slytherin and she married Rodolphus Lestrange shortly after she graduated."
"What does this have to do with my parents being happy?" Ginny questioned. "What does this have to do with us?"
"I'm getting there," Draco replied. "My point is: my parents were happy. Even though most of the students and some of the teachers at Hogwarts felt my father was a miserable excuse of a wizard, he made my mother happy. Don't get me wrong; they had their share of rows. I remember once my father broke all of the antiques in the house, repaired them, and then broke them again because she made him so angry. But he loved her," the blond finished. "So tell me, have your parents always as been as happy as they seem?"
"Are you asking me if they fight?" Ginny questioned. "Of course they fight, Draco. It's rare for married people to not fight."
"And why is that?" he questioned.
"It just happens," the redhead answered immediately. "What's your point?"
Draco finished his beer and a few seconds later, the barkeep placed another in front of him. "My point is that marriage is difficult. Even between people who went the traditional route - the courtship and engagement, then the marriage. It isn't meant to easy, Ginny. If it was, everyone would be married."
"How does this apply to us?"
He studied his drink for a moment, before finally saying, "I guess it doesn't." She'd missed his point entirely.
Ginny started to speak, but the barkeep appeared with a fresh drink. "Thank you, I didn't want another."
"This from the man at the end of the bar," he told her. He left it there and went back to the rest of his patrons.
Ginny and Draco both looked down to the end of the bar, and found a man in his mid-twenties sitting there, looking back at her. The man waved and smiled at her, and Ginny looked down, blushing.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Can't he see that you're with me?"
"Draco."
Reaching forward, Draco grabbed the drink the man sent. He plucked the umbrella from it, toasted the man, and drained it quickly. "It'll teach the bloke to send drinks to a married woman."
Her brown eyes studied him carefully, amusement lighting them. "Jealous, much?"
"I'm not jealous!" he refuted. "You don't bloody well send drinks to a married woman - particularly when her husband is sitting next to her!"
Ginny's admirer must have thought Draco was yelling at her because of the drink, and got up. He started toward them, his gaze solely focused on them. He reached them in a few steps. "The drink was for the lady."
"The lady already had a drink," Draco told him. He slid off the stool and placed himself between the man and Ginny. "If my wife wants another, I'll buy her one."
"Look-"
Draco took a step forward. "Sod off."
"I think you've misunderstood," the other man began.
"Misunderstood?" Draco questioned. "I think you were trying to pick up my wife."
"Draco," Ginny said gently. "This isn't the time."
He shot her a glance over his shoulder. "When is the time, then?"
She ignored him, instead speaking directly to the other man. "I apologize for my husband. We're on our honeymoon and he's a bit touchy about men buying me drinks." Ginny turned back to Draco. "Let's go back to the villa." For the benefit of the man, the redhead turned her face into Draco's neck and kissed him there.
Her suitor seemed to understand he wouldn't get any more attention from the lovely redhead tonight. "Sorry to have bothered you then. Have a nice honeymoon." He glanced at Draco once more before walking away.
Ginny tried to pull away from Draco, but his arm snaked around her waist, effectively pinning her to his side. "Can we go?" she asked.
Her husband nodded, not sure what to say. The way she'd been touching him on his neck had started his blood pounding. "Ginny?"
"What?"
"I…" Draco stopped and shook his head. "Let's go." He fished in his pocket and placed some of the paper money they'd changed for him at the hotel on the bar. If it wasn't enough, he was sure the barkeep would stop them before they left.
She smiled at him. In the moment, Ginny felt like something had changed between them. The redhead knew her husband was frustrated with her confusion - and she was trying to remedy that. Ginny was certain she loved him, even if she couldn't say the words just yet. When they left the bar, Draco dropped his arm from his waist. In a split-second decision, she grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. "Are you up for a walk on the beach?"
Draco started to refuse, knowing he couldn't take any more of her teasing that night. He just wanted to lock himself in his room and clear his mind the best way he knew how: talk to Snape. But one look at his wife, her brown eyes hopeful, and Draco couldn't refuse. "Okay."
She smiled at him happily and they set off down the beach.
***
"I'm sorry that I've made this so difficult for you."
Her husband looked at her, his brow creased. "What difficult?"
Ginny placed her hand on his arm so he would stop walking. "This. Us."
"Us?"
"Don't be thick," she told him. "What else would I be talking about? I know you're frustrated with me."
Frustration was one word for it, Draco thought. He shrugged nonchalantly. "You never asked for this, Gin. I almost think you'd prefer me to be a bastard to you."
"Draco," she sighed. "It's not that…I just…" the redhead stopped, unsure what to say next.
"Just what?" he questioned.
She turned away from him, looking out over the ocean. They'd been walking aimlessly for almost an hour now, talking about things of no consequence. She'd been working up her courage to begin this conversation since they left the pub, and now she was stumbling over he words. "I've given you every opportunity to hate me, Draco. I'm confused by the things you make me feel, and I know it's hard on you. But you've never really pressed the issue. When I said I wouldn't blame you for returning to England, I meant it. Things would be less complicated if you were with someone else."
The blond wasn't sure how to respond to her statement. "Less complicated how?"
Ginny looked back at him and he could see the confusion in her eyes. "Never mind. I don't want to push you."
"No, Draco." She took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I came looking for you tonight to tell you some things and I don't want to go to bed until I've said them."
"Okay." He looked down the beach, wanting to avoid the other couples walking. He could see some dunes not far from them that were unoccupied. "Let's go sit over there." Draco held out his hand and Ginny immediately wrapped her fingers around his.
Once they were seated, she turned to look at him again. There was so much she wanted to say - so much she had to say - and she was at a loss as to where she should start. She'd done such a horrible job expressing her thoughts and feelings to this point. "Do you mind if I just talk for a little? I want to know your thoughts on these things, but I'm afraid if you interrupt me I won't be able to finish."
Draco nodded once. His gray eyes were trained on her face. "Go on, Gin."
The redhead took another deep breath before she began. "Before I met you, I'd been in love twice. Once with Harry Potter - or at least I loved him as much as any ten-year-old girl is capable of love. And then with Tom Riddle, as sick as that sounds. My fourth year, I finally got over Harry and put Tom behind me, and decided to try my hand at dating again. I liked Michael well enough, but I knew in the long run we'd never work out. It was the same with Dean. After we broke up, I came up with a new plan - I was going to kiss all of the frogs until I found my prince."
Ginny paused when she saw him smile. "Yes, it was silly, but it worked. The first time you touched me, you set me on fire. I remember thinking, hours later, that I could still feel the imprint of your hand on my skin. If you remember, I avoided you for days after that first kiss, but I couldn't stay away completely. I was appalled that Draco Malfoy, someone who disliked my family so much, could make me feel these things. In the end, though, I couldn't stay away. The pull between us was too much.
"The first time I thought it might be more than stolen kisses was the night I snuck down to the dungeons to your room. It was Christmas, and I'd seen some potions equipment at Dervish and Banges I wanted you to have. I didn't have much money and we hadn't really said anything about exchanging gifts, but I bought the equipment anyway. I snuck down a few nights later, my stomach fluttering with nervousness, wondering if you'd completely reject me. Except you didn't. You invited me into your room and called a house elf to bring us some hot chocolate. We sat, talking and drinking for hours, before I finally gave you the present. When you opened it, you didn't comment on the shoddy workmanship, or that you had a much nicer set, but put it on your desk and thanked me. It was then that I realized I was in over my head. I was falling for you and didn't know how to stop it."
"I recall you avoided me after that," he interjected. "I thought you were upset that I'd bought you a set of quills."
"I was," Ginny admitted. "But not for the reasons you think. Several weeks later, I had detention with Professor Snape, and when I walked in, you were there, using the potions set I gave you. I think I fell in love with you at that moment."
Draco sucked in a breath. "Gin-"
"Wait." Reaching across, she took his hand in hers. "When I was sixteen, I had no idea how to tell you. You were a Malfoy and years before your father tried to kill me. I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that I could feel something other than loathing for you. It scared me. But I couldn't walk away from you. I loved you and I wanted to be with you and nothing else mattered."
Ginny stopped talking and looked at him. Now came the hard part. Years ago her feelings for him scared her, but now was finally the time to admit to him. She knew she had to stop running from Draco Malfoy. She needed him just like she needed to breathe. "I still feel that way."
He couldn't think, much less make his thoughts coherent. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? Had she just admitted she was in love with him? "Ginny."
"Draco, I'm terrified. I've been running from this - from us - for years now. But I finally see if I keep running, then I'm going to push you out of my life. I don't want to lose you."
"Gin."
"I don't want our marriage annulled. I want to be with you."
Before she could say anything else, Draco pressed his fingers to her lips. Everything seemed to be happening so fast and he needed to know something before they went any further. "Did you… Are you… Can I ask you a question?"
She nodded silently.
He studied her face, hoping to discern the answer before he asked. He needed to hear the words, though. "Do you love me?" he questioned, his voice rough with emotion.
Ginny could feel tears prick her eyes as her mind raced. How much had she put him through during the last week if he didn't know she loved him? The tears spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks.
Draco looked terrified, afraid he'd upset her. "I'm…Gin, I'm sorry."
"No." Reaching up, she wiped her own tears away. "I'm sorry, Draco. As horrible as I've been to you, I thought deep down you knew. I know I've hurt you and I hope I can make it up to you."
"There's nothing to make up, love. Please, just tell me. Do you love me?"
Her brown eyes closed and she nodded once. When she opened her eyes, they were full of mixed emotions. Ginny took a deep breath before replying, "Yes."
Author's Note: This is when the postings become sparingly... I've worked through all of my old material, so
I'm onto new things. I imagine there are only 5 more chapters of this left, but now I have to write them. I want to
thank everyone who has been there with me from the beginning.
Also... just to give the standard disclaimer... J.K. Rowling owns it all. The plot is mine, though.