Break up to Make up

Author’s Notes: Again, this is fluff. It has no point other than to get Ginny and Draco snogging and all that. It kind of sucks.

She almost broke the stem of her goblet. It was all the thumbing and the fidgeting, all because she heard Colin Creevey, who was sitting next to her on the dinner table, whisper, "I think Lavender Brown and Draco Malfoy are here, finally." Ginny groaned as he went on about how he had seen them rampaging around Hogsmeade like a couple of randy rabbits on mating season. He continued to tell the blonde boy beside him, whose name was Marcus and someone Ginny had never seen before, "You should see the pictures I took of them! They're such a handsome couple!" Somewhere between spying on Harry's and Hermione's affairs and taking pictures of Dean and Seamus in the boys' shower room, Colin figured out he'd make a fortune as a paparazzi.

Colin turned to her, a wide grin spread across his face, "Just between the two of us, my inside sources tell me he gave her a diamond engagement ring last week while they were on the French Riviera." Ginny was certain he was just trying to be nice and not to make her feel left out of the conversation; though she really would rather be blocked out from his world entirely.

Colin added thoughtfully, "I wonder whatever happened to that redhead he was dating six months ago. She was a slippery one, never even managed to find out her name! I heard she was so lame in the sack and that's why he dumped her."

Ginny choked on her apple cider. "Is that what he's saying?" she asked still trying to get over the raspy bubbles on her throat.

Colin scrunched his nose as if trying to recall a certain detail. "Actually, he never talked about that witch, ever. He's always so vocal about the women he dated, except for this one. Makes me think she was rather special."

Ginny felt a blush color her cheeks when he mentioned the word "special".

"Honey, does that cider contain alcohol? Because I think you're having a reaction to it." He went on to inspect her glass, while still in her hands, by sniffing its contents.

Colin was in the process of dipping his pinky in her drink and tasting it when Hermione, the hostess for the night, came in from the living room. Walking right behind her was Lavender Brown whose arms were hooked around Draco Malfoy's, like a leech to fresh human meat. Ginny broke her goblet in two.

She tried to camouflage the broken glass underneath some table napkin and continued to fuss about the napkin even after the glass was completely covered. She didn't dare look up, she didn't know if she could stop herself from slapping Lavender in the face if she sees those blood sucking lips of hers on her Draco. "My Draco," she thought, "he's no longer yours silly. Remember, you told him you can't be together." She could feel her heart tighten, as if someone reached inside her and twisted her aorta.

Hermione gave Ginny a light sympathetic poke on the shoulder as she passed her on the way to her end of the table. She looked up at Hermione who gave her a smile that said, "Sorry." Ginny locked her hand around Hermione's index finger to tell her it was alright. Draco stood just behind her, and he too seemed to be avoiding her eyes. He was much too immersed in Harry's graduation portrait, which stood in a frame in the glass shelves that lined up the other side of the wall, for his own good. Her eyes averted downwards and saw that he held Lavender's hand closed in his. "The way he held mine."

Hermione went on to sit beside Harry at the end of the table, two seats from Ginny. Lavender, to her utter annoyance, sat right across from her. And Draco on her right. Ginny blew the fringe away from her forehead; this was going to be a long night.

There was a clinking of glass and Ginny turned to see that her brother Ron had stood up from his seat, goblet in hand and fork in the other. "Ahem, ahem," he coughed, "everyone, if we could please just cease all personal chit-chats, as the host for tonight has something to announce."

Harry, whose ears were rather red, stood up as Ron returned to his seat. "Erm, thank you Ron," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Well, we all invited you here for a dinner party; though for what reason we kept a secret, because we wanted it to be a surprise. Well, except for Ron since he already knew. What I'm trying to say is that everyone in this room, is very important to us, yes, what is it Colin?"

Colin had been waving his hand in the air, signaling towards the blonde boy beside him. "I just wanted to point out that you've only met Marcus and he's not that important to you."

Harry nodded though he looked confused, "Okay then, everyone in this room is very important to us, with the exception of Marcus who we've only met but I'm sure we'd all love to get to know him as long as Colin continues to bring him to our little gatherings and, yes, Colin?"

Colin put down his hand and placed them on his knees, grinning like he was about to burst with candy. "Well now that you've brought it up, I am going to be bringing him to more of our little gatherings. I'm sure you've all been wondering so I'll just come right out and say it, he's my boyfriend! Isn't he beautiful?" Of course this question was rhetoric. Marcus turned a shade of pink. "And we're buying a house in London," he added as an afterthought. Everyone in the room clapped, some out of genuine happiness while others out of politeness. Harry looked as if his thunder had been stolen. Ginny couldn't help but giggle and she noticed that Draco was hiding a smile behind his fisted hand. She chided herself for noticing. Lavender leaned towards him and whispered something into his ear. His smile grew wider. "Bastard," Ginny thought.

"Anyway," Colin continued as the applause died down, "I think you were about to say something important Harry, so go on."

Harry looked as though he wasn't sure whether to laugh or throw his fork at Colin's head. "Yes, how very thoughtful of you Colin. As I was saying, everyone in this room is very important to us, yes I know Colin, except for Marcus, and we wanted to share this very special event with all of you, because it is a very special event indeed. At least for the two of us," he shared a look with Hermione. It was the same look they would give each other during their days in the DA when the two of them would suddenly talk in whispers, as if no one else would understand what they were talking about, as if they had forgotten that there were a dozen other people in the room. The same look Ginny had been so envious of until she had gotten to really know Draco. Harry took Hermione's hands in his, and their fingers intertwined, fitting perfectly like two shells in the quiet sea. She gave him a smile of encouragement. "Hermione and I are getting married."

There was a collective gasp from everyone and the room was silent as if a single breath would break the chandelier above them.

"About time," Ron broke the silence.

Then he stood up and gave his best friends a warm, big hug each. Ginny's chair fell backwards in her eagerness to get to them and soon everyone was on their feet congratulating the soon to be married couple.

"I am so happy for you!" Ginny exclaimed wrapping her arms around Hermione's neck.

"What a coincidence, I am so happy for me too!" she replied, returning Ginny's hug.

"I never thought you'd go down the aisle before I did. Knowing how long it took for you and Harry to get your act together," Ginny said, unwrapping herself from Hermione.

"Well you probably would've been married by now if you hadn't--" Ginny shushed her with her hand. Hermione bit her lip and mouthed a sorry. Ginny just rolled her eyes and mouthed an 'It's okay,' back. She cocked her head sideways signaling that she was going to be giving congratulatory hugs to the groom to-be. She was about to turn to Harry when she bumped into someone. Of course, it just had to be Draco.

"Damn that Murphy," Ginny muttered.

"What?" Draco asked her, ever so casually.

"Nothing," she replied, looking the other way. She was about to walk away when Draco grabbed her right arm, stopping her.

"I think we should talk," he said, his voice so low she was certain it was a special timber made just for her ears. She felt her blood rush at the warmth that his touch gave her. She had thought she was over him, but the way her heart pounded and her breathing quickened the moment his skin met hers confirmed to herself that she was not.

"I think so too," she agreed, "I'm just going to talk to Harry. Meet me at the guest room?"

Draco just stared at her. She supposed he hadn't expected that she would just go along.

Ginny nodded and turned towards Harry. She felt Draco move behind her. After Dean had finished trying to suffocate Harry with a bear-hug (or at least that's how it looked to Ginny) she moved in his arms' circle. "You're a lucky guy," she whispered in his ear.

"I know."

Ginny punched his arm lightly, kissed him on the cheek and walked away. She looked behind her to make sure that Colin nor anyone else had followed her. Her stomach did several back flips as she climbed up the carpeted stairs. Her knuckles were as white as the handrails she was tightly holding. She wasn't so nervous earlier when she had agreed to meet him, but now that she's had a couple of moments to think about it her cool dissolved. Thoughts like "What if he hates me?" or "Maybe he's in love with her and wants to thank me for letting him go, like in those stupid romance novels" kept playing in her head. She took a deep breath and chanted "Stay positive" to herself. While she didn't know what exactly they were to talk about, she was certain she didn't want it to mean a definite end between them.

Ginny turned the door knob to the guest room in Hermione's house. Draco was already inside, fiddling with one of the hippogriff figurines Hermione kept on the night table. He looked up when he heard the door's creak. Ginny waved at him feebly and walked in. The soft green carpet absorbed her feet's weight once she stepped on it and with it her inhibition. It wasn't really the carpet, really more the sight of Draco with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his shirt unbuttoned down to his chest exposing the thin layer of blond hair resting there. He returned the figurine on the tabletop (Ginny noticed it move a few inches back once it was set down, Hermione had charmed everything in her house so it would return to its exact original position.)

"You're here," he said walking nearer her towards the edge of the bed. His hands were fisted inside his pockets. Ginny could tell that he was as anxious as she, for what reason she was almost afraid to find out.

Ginny shrugged. "I said I would be."

Draco sniffed almost as if he was insulted and trying to recover from the embarassment. "Right, well. I asked you if we could talk, because I just wanted to clear the air between us. I know we ended badly but there's no reason for us to drift apart. What we had was really special." Ginny could feel her diaphragm shrinking with the word "was". "Was" so past, so dead. She vowed never to use it from that night onwards (she of course broke this promise a hundred times over).

"What we had was very special," she mimicked.

Draco, who did not seem to get where she was going at, continued, "So you agree?"

"Agree to what?"

"That what we had was very special?" he asked. She could be mistaken but there was a sort of hopeful look to his eyes, like a puppy waiting for a slice of bacon.

"Of course. Was," she said with an air of impatience.

"You seem annoyed, for whatever reason. But Ginny, I just wanted to tell you that I want us to be friends. I've always thought that the least we could be was friends. Of course I wished that wouldn't be the case, but," he stumbled through his words, “I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've really missed you Ginny and--"

"I want us to get back together." It was as if his words pushed her to say it. He missed her, she knew what that meant, oh god how she hoped it was what he meant.

Draco looked at her with the eyes of a hollow porcelain doll. "You what?"

Ginny made hand gestures that made it look like she was fanning smoke away from her face. "Draco, I was wrong, just wrong. I thought wrong, I gave so much weight on what my family would think that I failed to consider what I felt, what you felt. I thought I would be happier and more secure, but it's just this one big mistake and I am so miserable and I've never felt more vulnerable and horrible. And seeing you with her just made matters worse and I can't help it and I know you're thinking that I'm a selfish, selfish little girl and I can only think about myself. I don't know what I'm doing or if I'm doing it right but I just want you to come back now, or I'll just go mad." Her eyes were welled up with tears when she finished. Her hand flew to her mouth as if unable to believe that she just said all the things she said.

Draco on the other hand stood solidly in the center of the room, his jaw clenched in anger. Ginny looked at him pleadingly, asking that he forgive her outburst.

"Say something, please," she pleaded.

"You can't just say all that after all this time," he said so calmly that it was frightening. She could feel his eyes driving a hole through her heart.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking--"

"You never think."

"Draco, I'm sorry--" But before she could finish he had strode towards her, so swiftly that she did not even realize him move until he was right in front of her. He grabbed her by the shoulders with so much force that his hands bruised her. He wanted to shake her so badly until every ounce of her strength was gone. "Do you have any idea what you put me through?!"

"I--"

"Shush! It's my turn to tell you a story. For the longest time I didn't think that I had a heart. I was not happy, but I wasn't miserable. I thought I would stay that way until my death. Then you came along, and you were you. Heaven knows why but somehow that stirred me, you being you. I was happy; of course there were moments that I was miserable. But I realized that I would rather have one happy moment with you and lifetime of misery rather than live not knowing you, or your voice, or your smell, or your touch, or your taste or your feel or even just your shadow. And I found my heart and I asked you to hold it but you didn't take care of it, Ginny. You shattered it to pieces, Ginny. And I can't get it right, I can't fix things."

Draco seemed as if he was out of words. Ginny shook with fear underneath his glare as she waited for him to decide what he was going to do next. She waited, and waited and somehow her fear dissipated as she waited. His touch seemed to still have that effect on her, even when he was at such a resentful state. The smell of peppermint of his skin calmed her veins. It was crazy, but she never felt so safe.

He opens his mouth, "I can't fix things on my own."

And he kisses her. And her knees buckle. Draco moved his hands down to her waist, wrapping his arms around her so tightly that she could barely breathe. He kissed her, deeper and deeper as each moment passed. He ran his tongue on the roof of her mouth, earning a moan from her.

Ginny missed his taste, like sparkling water under the morning sun. She missed his skin, smooth as the gravel was coarse. She just missed everything about him, and she tried to recall every detail as she ran her hand through his hair, down his back, spreading it on his chest, tracing the lines of his stomach. She felt herself being lifted up towards the bed. He tore his mouth away from hers as he laid her so carefully as if she were crystal on the bed. He lay down next to her, flinging his leg over hers. His head was held up with one elbow as he traced his finger from her temple to her jaw line, making her shiver in ticklish delight. He stared at her with so much awe in his eyes, as if he couldn't believe he was facing her again. This close.

Draco drew his head down and kissed the sensitive skin at the base of her throat. He traced light butterfly kisses up to her neck, and to the skin underneath her chin, and up to her chin, licking that shallow juncture between her lower lip and her chin before kissing her full on her lips.

Ginny began to play with his ear, pulling at the loose skin at the bottom and feeling the pierced hole with her thumb. Draco moved his head down to her neck once more, making her pulse beat faster. She closed her eyes, just reveling in the feel of his velvety lips ghosting over her skin, making goose bumps rise all over her body.

“I can’t believe you’re mine again,” she mouthed thoughtlessly.

His hand stalled mid way through her thigh. And Ginny felt her heart stop in trepidation.

“My girlfriend’s waiting for me downstairs,” he said simply. So simply.

Draco lifted himself, and Ginny could feel every inch of his skin leaving a cold draft on her heated flesh. Over, it’s over.

She sat up, her feet landing heavily on the carpeted floor. She wrapped her arms around her as if it was December and snow stormed upon her.

“I’ll make things right,” she whispered.

Draco looked at her, “No, Ginny. We’ll make things right.”

And she kissed him, not for the last time.