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Chapter 31
Ron slowly stood up. "Ginny, what's going on here?"
Ginny looked back at Draco and then cleared her throat as she faced her brother. "Well, the thing is…something happened. While you were sleeping."
"Really?" Ron asked cocking his head to the side. "A lot of things seemed to have happened while I was sleeping." He pointed to Harry and Hermione on the couch without looking away from his sister. "Just found out about the two of them."
"Oh." Ginny looked over at them with a smile. "Really?" They just nodded and smiled softly. "I…you guys make a really cute couple."
"Thanks, Gin," Harry said.
"So, how did it happen?"
"Ginny, focus," Ron said.
"Right," Ginny turned back to her brother. "Sorry…er…well, I…Draco and I…started to get to know each other and…well…now, we're together."
Draco looked at Ron who was staring dumbly at Ginny like he didn't understand what he had just heard. "I think he's in shock," Draco muttered to his girlfriend.
"Ron?" Ginny repeated taking a step towards him. "You going to say something?"
Ron pressed his lips together and breathed deeply through his nose as if he was trying to calm himself. "You…my little sister…you are dating Draco Malfoy."
"Er…yes," Ginny said taking a step back to stand next to Draco and held his hand. "I'm dating Draco Malfoy, Ron. And we are here together to tell you that."
Ron shook his head. "Ummm…yeah, not going to happen."
Draco winced when Ginny laughed. It wasn't a humorous laugh, he knew that laugh and she was never happy when she made that laugh. "Not going to happen?" Ginny repeated. "Hate to break it to you brother but it is already happening. You can't do anything about it."
"You're my little sister!"
"I'm not a little girl anymore!" She yelled back. "Just because I'm your little sister I can't date anyone?"
"Did I say that? No, I didn't, of course you can date someone, just not him!"
Ginny gasped. "How dare you…."
"No, it's okay Gin," Draco said squeezing her hand and gave her a small smile before looking at Ron. "He has a right to act this way." He looked back at Ginny. "Why do you think I always stalled on telling him. Out of your whole family he was the one I dreaded telling because I hurt him the most. I was cruel to him…the things I did to him were unforgivable and now…now he just has to accept the fact that you and I are together?"
Ginny sighed as she looked down at her feet. "I know this is hard for you, Ron." She looked up at him. "If you want us to leave we can…if you need time to…"
"The rest of the family knows?" Ron asked.
"Y-yes, it wasn't easy but we told everyone. Everyone is skeptical, Ron, just like you are but there's one thing that no one could deny."
Ron looked at their still joint hands. "What?"
"They've noticed how happy I am." Ginny smiled when their eyes locked. "I'm happy, Ron. He makes me happy. Happier even when I was with Harry." She looked at Harry who was still listening intensely to the conversation. "No offense."
He held up a hand. "None taken."
Draco sighed. "Look, Weasley…oaf!" Draco winced when Ginny elbowed him in the gut.
"What did we talk about?" Ginny asked firmly.
"Oh. Right." Draco rolled his eyes. "Ron…I…I care about Ginny, okay? This isn't…I mean I'm not using her or anything."
"I'd like to speak to him alone," Ron said as he continued to stare at Draco.
Ginny huffed out a breath. "Ron, come on that's…"
"It's okay, Red," Draco said softly. "He's just looking out for you…let him do that, okay?"
Ginny dropped her shoulders. "Oh, all right." She flew back and stalked over to Ron. "Give me your wand."
"What?" Ron asked in shock. "No way."
"Give it to me, Ronald," she said holding out her hand.
Ron grumbled as he pulled it out and slapped it in her hand. "You better be taking up Draco's wand then."
"Fair enough," Ginny said and then walked back over to Draco.
He stared at her as she held out her hand. "You must be joking? You know I'm not going to…oh all right, fine." He gave her his wand. "You won't always win with that stare you know."
"Yes, I will," Ginny said and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "You two play nice."
Ron looked at Harry and Hermione who were still staring. "You too, lovebirds."
They both snapped out of it. "Oh…er…right." Harry jumped up from the couch along with Hermione. "Er…let's go Ginny, I'll show you my game room downstairs."
"You have a game room?" she asked as he led her and Hermione out of the den leaving Ron and Draco alone. "What kind of game room?"
"Fully loaded," Harry said putting a friendly arm around her as they walked down the stairs of the basement. "Muggle games pretty much. I've been working on it here and there since I bought the house. I just finished it a few weeks ago."
As they entered the large basement Harry watched as Ginny's jaw dropped. She probably didn't recognize most of the stuff since it was all Muggle games but he could tell she was in awe. "What do you think?"
Ginny shook her head. "I don't know what to think."
"I don't blame you," Hermione said shaking her head. "I tell you what this stuff is, it's every guys wet dream."
"I don't know about that," Harry said with a chuckle. "But it sure is a lot of fun."
"What…what does everything do?"
Pleased that she had her mind off of whatever was going on upstairs between Ron and Draco, Harry quickly showed her all the games. He showed her the pinball machines, explained the purpose of Packman and Galaga as she listened intently. He had a huge television set up at the end of the room equipped with Playstation and Nintendo.
"Dudley always had stuff like this and I was always jealous." Harry grinned as he shook his head. "He'd piss in his pants if he saw this room."
"What's this?" Ginny asked pointing over at the long white table and picked up the yellow flat circle sitting on it.
"It's air hockey." Harry went over and turned it on and Ginny jumped when she felt the air fly up from the table. "Go to the other end I'll show you."
"I love this game," Hermione said as she stood at the side of the table to watch. "I'll have to warn you Ginny, Harry's really good."
"Bring it on," Ginny said holding the weird looking red circular handle. "What's this?"
"It's called a Striker, you hit the puck with it," Harry said hitting his with the puck lightly back and forth to show her. "The point of the game is to try to get the puck in my slot."
"Really?" Ginny asked looking at her narrow slot. "That's all? Well that's…." Ginny yelped when Harry all of the sudden hit the puck straight into her slot. "Hey, that's cheating! I wasn't ready!"
"Just showing you how it's done, Weaslette," Harry grinned as he leaned over on the table to get ready.
Ginny gasped as she slapped the puck down. "Oh, you did not just call me that," she said and then angrily hit the puck with her Striker.
Harry laughed as he hit it right back while Hermione watched on with a smile. Harry then smacked the puck on to the side of the table and then it slammed diagonally right into Ginny's slot. "Yes!" Harry held up his hands in triumph.
Ginny growled in frustration as she fished out the puck. "All right that's it, you're going down!"
XXX
"All right, talk," Ron said as he placed his arms over his chest.
"Me?" Draco asked. "I thought that you wanted to talk….bloody hell you got the same look…dammit, all right." He huffed out a breath. "Look Weasley…I mean Ron.."
"Don't call me Ron," he said with a frown. "It's weird."
"Thank you!" Draco exclaimed with a heavy sigh. "Please try and explain that to Ginny."
"Talk first," Ron said sitting down back in his chair.
Draco walked over to the couch and when he sat down Daisy walked over to him, nuzzling his hand. "Hey, who's this?"
"Daisy," Ron said as he watched the dog wag her tail as she enjoyed Draco's scratches. "Harry and Hermione got her when she was a puppy."
"I always wanted a dog growing up." Draco smiled when she put her head in his lap.
"Why didn't you?" Ron asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Didn't you always get what you wanted?"
"Not always," Draco muttered as he continued to keep his eyes on Daisy. "My dad wouldn't allow it, said it would soften me. I…I found a stray when I was six. Just a scraggly little thing and I took him home thinking I could hide him from my father. Called him Fib. My father and I never kept secrets except the dog was my one little fib."
Ron listened, surprisingly interested in the story. "How long did you have Fib?"
"For a day." Draco's face hardened. "I could never keep a lie from my father. He found Fib and tortured him, before killing him right in front of me." He looked up at Ron but kept stroking Daisy's head. "That was when I stopped being a innocent six year-old. I knew then what my father was like and I had no choice but to be like him."
"You always have a choice," Ron said although he felt sorry for the six year-old boy Draco had once been.
"Not with my father," Draco said shaking his head. "At least that's what I always thought and that's why I was so…so awful. Cruel. It's what I grew up with, Ron."
Ron didn't think Draco realized he called him Ron and decided not to mention it. "You were cruel, Malfoy, but you didn't grow up like your father."
"No, I didn't," Draco said as he leaned back against the sofa, smiling softly when Daisy jumped up next to him then plopped on her side and dropped her head back in his lap. "The night Dumbledore died…when he was telling me all those things…I knew he was right, I knew I couldn't go through with it. I wasn't evil. I was scared and relieved at the same time. It was comforting to know Snape was on my side. When he told me that Dumbledore was dying anyway and that he was begging him not to spare his life, but to do what he had to do…I remember having this huge weight being lifted off my shoulders."
"I didn't believe the two of you," Ron said leaning forward in his chair.
"I know, neither did Harry." Draco smiled softly. "But Ginny did. I…I felt drawn to her, I don't know why. She picked fights with me and I loved it. I found myself looking forward to our fiery spats. Then I felt a sense of protectiveness towards her and so I was always close to her when we were fighting."
"I saw you push her out of the way," Ron said and waited until Draco looked up in shock. "I never thanked you for that."
"You were in a coma," Draco said with a shrug.
"Well…thanks."
Draco winced. "You're not going to get mushy on me, are you?"
Ron couldn't help but laugh. "No…jeez. All right, back to Ginny. What happened?"
Draco took a deep breath as he began from the night Ginny was attacked, from today. He left out the parts that happened in the bedroom of course, but he was very thorough on everything, making sure he didn't leave anything out. "I thought it was a casual relationship before, but now I know it was never casual for me. She wasn't just some girl, although honestly sometimes I tried to make her be. She wouldn't let me push her aside. I care about her now, Weasley."
"Do you love her?"
Draco froze. "Er…I haven't even told her that yet sooo…let's not go there, okay? I know that I want to be with her and I care about her a whole lot and…" Draco sighed as he shook her head. "Damn it. Okay, yeah…I love her, but that's between just you and me, okay?"
Ron gave him a ghostly smile. "Fair enough." He then stood up and clapped his hands together. "Well…want to go downstairs and see what they're up to?"
Draco frowned as he stood up as well. "That's it? I mean….that's it?"
"For now," Ron said jerking his head to follow him and then placed a hand at the back of Draco's neck. "But Malfoy?"
Draco cringed as he felt Ron's hands squeeze hard. "Yeah?" he grunted.
"You hurt her? And I'll apparrate your bits off to some place far, far away, so that you would have to spend your whole life searching for the part of your body that makes you a man. Got it?"
Draco winced when he squeezed harder. "Got it."
"Good." Ron released his hand. "How 'bout a game of pool?"
"Sure," Draco said rubbing his sore neck. "Er…what's pool?"