Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's Note. - Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 5, Please do point out any errors you see, still flying without a beta so forgive me my slip-ups.

Enjoy

Chapter Six.

Ginny woke up late the next morning, missing the first two classes of the day. On observing her swollen eyes and red nose she concluded that it was probably no bad thing. She needed the rest if she was to face the rest of what she assumed would be a very trying day.

After a shower, a very extensive and complicated restoration job on her face and a deep breath, she walked unsteadily into the crowded common room at lunchtime. She found Ron in a corner brooding, Hermione and Harry sat at the next table shooting him furtive glances as if he were a bomb set to explode.

He didn't notice her until she was standing directly next to him. He looked up, a scowl on his face until he realised that it was Ginny and then his face melted into a woeful expression of remorse.

"Oh Ginny! I'm so sorry about last night. I should never….I don't know why…I'm so sorry!" Ron slumped wearily into his chair and Ginny gave him a wry smile.

"I am the one who should be sorry. That wasn't you last night, that was who I turned you into with all my stupid games. I love you Ron. God knows you can be a pain in my neck and I love that you are worried about me but there really isn't any need."

Sitting down heavily next to him she proceeded to tell him in detail about her relationship with Draco, omitting the details that related to Draco's nightmares, unwilling to break her promise. She told him frankly that she was in love with Draco, his eyebrows raised in indignation but then she reassured him that there would never be anything between them. They sat for hours, Ginny startling in her frankness and Ron even more so in his composure. It was cathartic for Ginny to share her feelings with someone and she felt almost completely at peace for the first time in what felt like forever.

"And so, you can see that none of this is Draco's fault. He is a good person. He has changed. Please don't do anything that might get either of you hurt or expelled. I care so deeply about both of you and I couldn't bear it."

Ron considered her words for a moment and when he spoke his expression was grave.

"There is a war going on out there Ginny and there wont be anyone who wont be called to show their loyalties. Its going to be a tough time, the toughest, and we going to have to see a lot of things that we would rather not. So, for now, I will leave Malfoy alone, for you. But, so help me Ginny, when she shows his true colours I will be one of the first in a very long line to blast his arse into oblivion. If he is who you say he is, if he has changed then great, we need all the help we can get. If not, I wont be holding back for anyone. Not even you."

Ginny took his hands and smiled at him, some of the weight she had felt the night before lifted.

"Thank you Ron. You don't know how good it feels to have finally told you everything. Ive missed you so much."

Ron took his baby sister in his arms and held her there for a while. Ginny pulled away and wiped a tear from her cheek. Looking around the common room for the first time in hours and finding it empty. It was suppertime and most of the Gryffindors were in the Great Hall.

Ron took his leave and hurried down to supper leaving Ginny to mull over her next move.

One down, Draco to go.

She went up to her room to compose herself a little and summon a house elf to bring her some supper in her room. She ate little, her appetite gone as her stomach suddenly seemed to have been taken over by a bunch of warring snakes and butterflies.

She had come to the conclusion that honesty was the best policy. She was sick of playing games with people. She had to come clean to Draco and if their friendship was as strong as she hoped it was, they would get through it.

She was terrified.

Ginny lay back on her bed, suddenly feeling drained from her reconciliation with her brother. She worked over what she would say to Draco when she saw him, played over the thousands of reactions that she might be met with, the thousands of ways that she could reassure him and plead with him for forgiveness.

Before she realised it she had fallen into a deep slumber, curled in a ball, whispering Draco's name in her sleep.

She awoke to the sound of tapping. She blinked her eyes open and looked over at her clock.

It was a little before midnight.

She fought to comprehend the sinking feeling in her stomach. She had forgotten something.

"Draco!"

She jumped from her bed and looked around frantically for her clothes, then realised that she was still fully dressed.

Tap tap tap.

She crossed the room to the window where a rather impatient eagle owl was waiting. It gave her a sharp nip on her hand when she tried to retrieve the note that was attached to its leg, making her swear loudly. When she had wrestled the note from it, the owl flew directly from the room, not waiting for a treat or a reply to the letter it had delivered.

She stared at the envelope that she held in one shaking hand. There was no mistaking the regal hand that had curled her name across the green and silver paper.

This was a letter from Draco.

She sat down on her bed with a bump, staring at the still unopened envelope. Carefully, she ran her finger along the top of the envelope ripping it open. She took out a large piece of expensive looking parchment and began to read, her heart hammering in her chest.

Dear Ginny.

I missed you today, I hope you are ok. I thought about coming to find you when you didn't turn up at the library this morning but I felt like it might make things even worse. I never wanted to get between you and your family but I suppose I should have realised that our being friends would do just that. I was short sighted and for that I am very sorry.

Things have changed for me since I saw you last night and I was rather hoping that I could tell you face to face but it turns out that I don't have time. When you left me I found Dumbledore waiting for me outside my room. He called me to his office and asked me if I would consider doing some work for the Order of the Phoenix, I believe you know all about it. Apparently my link to You-Know-Who through my father has made me an invaluable asset in the war.

If he had asked me but a few hours before I would have refused outright. I want nothing to do with any of the terrible things that my father did while he was alive, I hate him and everything that he stood for. But, when I saw you and your brother last night and how upset you were because of me I wished so hard that I could have been born like Neville Longbottom, that I could start over and be worthy of your friendship rather that things having to be so difficult for one of the only people left in this world that I care about. I wished for it above anything else and I got it.

I realise that this is my only chance to show the world that I am not my father's son, that I am worthy to call someone as wonderful as you my friend.

It does pose two rather difficult problems for me.

Firstly, I may never return. It is not a pleasant thought for me, and I flatter myself that it will be an unwelcome prospect for you also. I am not as noble as your brother nor as brave as Potter and therefore I lack the ability to look at this whole situation with anything more righteous than total fear. Fear of what they might do to me if I am caught out, but most of all, fear of never being able to see you again..

Which brings me neatly to my next problem.

I am in love with you Ginny Weasley. I am totally and utterly in love with you and the thought that I will never see you again makes me feel like I am already worse than dead.

Ive known that I love you for a long while now, I didn't tell you before because I didn't want to lose you. I understand that you only think of me as a friend and believe me, if it wasn't for the fact that I might not get the chance to tell you how I really feel ever again, I would have been content with that forever.

You are the most beautiful, courageous, and wholly wonderful person I have ever met and despite your unfortunate knack of alienating people, I love you with more conviction than I have ever loved anyone in my whole life. I do not presume to think that that you could ever feel anything more than friendship for me but I don't mind. Id rather have you in my life as a friend than not in it at all.

I leave at midnight, so I won't get a chance to say goodbye properly. Communication between us will be impossible the minute I leave Hogwarts grounds. Just know that you are perfect and I will be thinking about you every waking and sleeping moment between now and when I return to you.

My heart and my soul, yours always.

Draco Malfoy.

Ginny blinked. Ginny blinked again and let out a long breath. She turned her head sharply to the clock on her bedside table.

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