Unofficial Portkey Archive

Blue-Eyed Angel

Chapter Fifteen

Draco dreaded going to work that morning more than any other day he could recently recall, and it was not just because it was a Friday. Oh how he wanted nothing more than to stay home, curl up on the couch with the children, and watch the telly all day, but that was not an option. He had taken two days off for the full moon and now he was expected back at work.

It wasn't the "work" part that got him down, or the day of the week, or the fact that he had to visit his probation officer and "Support Wizard"; it was the having to talk to Reamann.

No Malfoy ever admitted they were wrong, or apologized.

The worst part was: he hadn't been wrong!

He hadn't been unjustified in telling Reamann to basically go to hell.

He would have to make nice though, and that was not something he was particularly practiced or good at.

Rolling out of his warm bed with a groan due to his stiffness, and shivering in the cold of his bedroom he dressed in the dark. A pair of blue-jeans, green t-shirt, and his sweatshirt, as always, was what he threw on. No need for light when his wardrobe was so simple.

It seemed like no time at all that he was in the Ministry. It was early, before sunrise, Reamann wouldn't be in yet, and he couldn't see his mandated caretakers, so he made his way down towards the Hall of Records. He would get some work in as a means of distraction before he had to swallow his pride and ask Reamann to take him back.

Draco groaned at the very thought of it.

It was for Ginny.

He kept telling himself that, over and over.

It was for Ginny.

Above that, he had other problems at hand.

He had a lot to confess to Ginny (even though he really didn't want to) before they attempted to take their "relationship" any further, even if he was just some fling to her.

He couldn't hide them from her, but he didn't want to introduce Ginny to his children. Ginny could handle it…maybe…but he did not want his children to become attached to a woman, a woman that was just a fling, and then have to deal with her not being around anymore.

That was not fair to them.

"Draco," Coderdale said while taking off his own cloak.

"Morning," Draco said, letting his tired frustration be heard.

"I didn't expect you in until later, since it's Friday. How are you feeling?"

"Better than usual," Draco said, throwing his cloak over the back of his chair and flopping down.

"So helping that Mr. Rossiter out has paid off?" Coderdale asked, sitting down across from Draco in their bubble of shared light, speaking of the potion Reamann had undoubtedly made for Draco that had him up and functioning. Draco was usually little better than a zombie, and about just as friendly, the first day back to work after the full moon.

"Suppose so," Draco said, not happy about being reminded of Reamann after he had just so recently driven the man from his thoughts.

"You just be careful. That Sebastian was nosing about yesterday, wanting to know who Mr. Rossiter's "informant" was. If he figures you, or finds out Rossiter is supplying you with magical potions, you two will both be in a whole lot of hot water."

"I know," Draco said, having forgotten for a moment that Reamann had confessed to the Aurors that he had an informant. He could not understand why Reamann had been unable to take all the credit for himself and look all the more valuable and smart while keeping the secret. He supposed Reamann was too Gryffindor for him to expect the man to be so deceitful. Gryffindors certainly had their faults.

The first few hours of work went by at a steady pace, faster than usual because Draco was dreading having to go see Reamann. If he were looking forward to going home, the hours would have dragged on.

Draco left at eight to see his probation officer, Laura, and lied right to her face, again.

He felt guilty about it and could not imagine why. Lying rarely made him feel guilty, but Laura trusted him, she didn't bust his balls, make him use truth potions, treat him like a criminal…he hated abusing that trust…but he couldn't admit to her that he was getting a steady supply of potions.

After that Draco had to check in with his Support Wizard, Marcus. Draco did not have to put on much of an act for the man. Lying to Laura had put him in a foul mood that was only intensified by the visit to the fourth floor, and though he had taken a potion the day before, he still felt like shit. He did not have to fake a limp. The potion might have been strong enough to relieve his general aches and pains on a typical day, but not the agony of the second day after the full moon.

By ten o'clock Draco was back in the Hall and fidgeting. Malfoys did not fidget and Coderdale knew this, so he inquired.

"Draco? Are you alright?" he asked.

"Fine," Draco said, right knee bouncing still.

"You do not look it," Coderdale said, looking down over his glasses at the much younger man across from him.

Draco took a deep huffing breath and then cursed softly. He dove down over the arm of his chair, opened his left-hand-side drawer of his desk, and reached into the very back behind some ink-wells and spare parchment. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and drew one out with his lips as he sat up though still hunched over. Coderdale looked at him firmly.

"What?" Draco asked, the cigarette bobbing from his lips precariously in a fashion only well practiced smokers could manage.

"You said you quit," Coderdale said.

"I did," Draco replied, the cigarette still in his mouth. Coderdale's expression only hardened and Draco groaned, plucking the cigarette from his lips and crumpling it in his first. He tossed the ruined cigarette onto the desk top and slumped his head and shoulders, leaning forward until he was resting his forehead on his desk.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Coderdale asked, softly, fatherly.

"I want a fag," he whined.

"They will kill you," Coderdale said, knowing that was not really what had Draco so upset.

"I'm afflicted with any number of things that will kill me long before smoking would," he pouting, voice muffled slightly by the desktop. He had a life expectancy of a ripe and cheery age of about sixty, if he was extremely lucky. Some died before forty and Draco knew that was just about his luck.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Coderdale asked again, expecting the truth this time.

Draco took a deep breath while rolling his head to the side so that his cheek was on his desk now, and went into a longwinded explanation into what exactly was going on at the moment with Reamann and him, only at the very end muttering quickly and softly the bit about him and Ginny seeing each other, hoping, but not counting on, Coderdale missing it.

"Draco…" Coderdale said, outrage, shock, disbelief all fighting for dominance in his tone and expression.

"I have to go upstairs, soon…now…and talk to Reamann, to get him to take me back and allow me to work on this case again, and I don't know how to do that," Draco said, voice a little small.

"Draco…" Coderdale repeated, words failing him.

"Coderdale…" Draco said flatly, sitting up now.

"Draco-"

"Coderdale-"

"Alright, alright," Coderdale said, stopping Draco from repeating his name in annoyance by stopping his own repeating of Draco's in shock. "I had always thought you were better than this."

"Ouch, Coderdale, very ouch," Draco said, using his thumbnail to pick at some spilled wax on his desktop, not wanting to look at the older man. Coderdale was one of the few people that actually did have a high opinion of him, and it bothered him to not live up to that.

"I never thought you, of all people, would consciously take part in such a disgraceful relationship," he said.

"You sound like my mother."

"She not happy about this either?"

"She doesn't like Ginny…she doesn't know about Reamann."

"Draco-"

"Coderdale-"

"Alright, alright," he said again, not about to start that again, "but this is madness."

"I really like her."

"Don't do this to yourself, Draco," Coderdale said sadly and Draco looked up at him. "Don't be in this kind of relationship if you really like the woman," he warned.

"Why would I be in a relationship with someone I didn't like?" he asked, not following.

"No, I mean, you like her."

"I just said as much."

"You are her other man," he said, and Draco's eyes darkened. "You will end up liking her so much more than she likes you and you will end up hurting again."

"I really hate it when you use my marriage against me like this; it's something I would expect from my mother…not from you."

"I thought you would have learned from that…that, bad experience."

"I was young and foolish."

"It seems that all that has changed is your age."

"That's not…"

"She lied right to your face and led you on while in you were in Azkaban. How could you have hurt and hated to learn that so much, and then be a part of a relationship such as this?"

"Coderdale…"

"Draco…"

"Damn it," Draco said, pulling on his hair, tired of all the back-and-forth between them. "It is just a fling. I know that, I can handle it, I won't get attached this time since I know how Ginny feels about this and I know she can do better than me if she wanted a real relationship," he said and Coderdale gave him a sad but frustrated look, hating that Draco would belittle himself in such a way, something he did just a little too often. It was a residual effect his wife had left him with as near as he could tell. Coderdale had never met the woman, but hated her for that and all she had done to Draco to make him feel and see himself in such a way, and hated it that Draco could not manage to hate the woman, even though he more than anyone had enough reason to. "But the problem of talking to Reamann still remains."

Coderdale took a deep breath.

"It's your life, you do with it as you like," he sighed. "I just would have thought you would have had more consideration for your children…this is no more fair to them than it is to you, and they are not choosing this," he said and Draco's chin dropped a little.

"I am still working on that aspect of it. I don't want them upset or hurt," he said, feeling a little queasy. Coderdale looked away.

"Well, as far as Reamann Rossiter is concerned, he was really the one in the wrong as far as what you quarreled about yesterday, but you snapping at him did not help. You need to swallow that temper of yours, and your pride, and I think you both need to apologize and move on."

"I'm no good at apologizing," Draco said, though that was already known between the both of them.

"Well, you better learn. Practice…all the way up to his department, it's a long enough walk," he said, standing at that point and walking towards the mass of shelves with his handful of notes, about to go pull some texts. He did not really want to deal with the mess Draco was making for himself at the moment.

Why did Draco have to sabotage everything in his life this way? Sometimes he really did feel Draco was a glutton for punishment. He wasn't sure Draco would know what to do with himself if he were ever just simply happy.

Draco sat there and stared at his old, slightly crunched, pack of cigarettes for a long moment. With a sigh he stood and rubbed his eyes.

It was going to be a long walk.

By the time Draco was getting off the lift on the fifth floor he had thought of exactly what he was going to say, but making his way to Reamann's office and standing before his door, his mind became a total blank.

Shit.

He was going to knock, but Sebastian Aurum's voice from the interior of the room stopped him.

Shit, shit.

Caught in the open, Draco cursed under his breath a few more times.

Sebastian already had reason enough to suspect him because of the hair he had left at one scene, and if he was looking for Reamann's informant, Reamann had basically given him up already having said he had sought him, Draco, out for some assistance on the case already. It wouldn't be hard to connect the dots. If all Sebastian was looking for was proof, Draco showing up outside Reamann's office seemed evidence enough.

Draco did not want to be dragged in front of a bunch of angry, old Aurors and interrogated and threatened and intimidated.

Looking around, he ducked into a nearby office across the hall from Reamann's. The witch in there looked surprised.

"Excuse me?" she said, standing from her desk slowly.

Draco peeked around the edge of his hood slightly with one silver eye and held a finger up to his lips in a "shh" gesture. The witch's brow furrowed as she sat back down, staring at the stranger in her office. Sebastian's voice was suddenly louder, Reamann's office door opening and spilling his words out into the hall for them to overhear.

"I will expect better organization on your part from now on, Mr. Rossiter, and I do not repeat myself, so take notes if you must," he said, condescending and authoritative as ever.

The witch whose office Draco was intruding on seemed to understand now why Draco was hiding, and said nothing, watching from her seat as Sebastian walked past, Reamann having yet to say anything since the door had opened.

Once Draco felt it was safe he gave a nod to the witch at her desk, which she returned, and he crept across the hall to Reamann's open office door. He stepped in but Reamann did not seem to notice. His head was down; hair gripped firmly in his hands as he apparently read something before him, or simply stared at the desk top.

Draco closed the door behind him so that he was holding the handle still behind his back and waited. Reamann looked up at the sound of the latch and froze.

"Hello," Draco said softly.

"What are you doing here?" Reamann asked, sounding surprised, his hair sticking up ridiculously from his fingers mussing it up. The oil that had kept it slick and smooth, now kept it stuck up and messy.

"Sebastian giving you a hard time?" he asked, avoiding Reamann's question, delaying his apology.

"He was just here, laying the rules for working the case along with him, you know, since he is my partner and everything," he said, sounding bitter.

"I'm sorry," Draco said, just blurting it out. No pretenses, none of the witty, smarmy, patronizing remarks he had planned to make, not remaining cool and sophisticated. He just said it, and then flushed a little. Damn it.

"What?"

"I did not mean to chase you out yesterday, I have a temper…if you had somehow not known," he said, refusing to look at Reamann, the whole scene embarrassing and hard enough for him already. He did not like admitting he had any faults. Malfoys did not have faults, they just has personality quirks that tended to hurt other people's feelings. "I was not feeling well and used you as an outlet for my frustration."

"You had every right to be angry, I was abusing your, um, kindness," he said and Draco blinked at him. He looked at Reamann for a long moment before his shoulders shook in a held-in laugh.

"Kindness," he managed, trying to not laugh.

"Draco-"

"No, no, I just…wow," he finally laughed. "I never would have imagined someone ever saying that to me. Taking advantage of my kindness…doesn't that paint a pretty picture of me," he chuckled.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, I just…I feel awful for having treated you so badly."

"Nothing I'm not accustomed to and have come to expect," he said with a shrug. "I am only helping you out for my own selfish gain, but the laugh was nice," he said, holding up his hand to stop Reamann from saying anything. "Hush," he said, Reamann a talker, and one that would get going and never stop. "We have both been very, let's say, unprofessional about this case so far. You're too preoccupied with me to give the case your full attention, me more concerned with getting my potions than solving this mess…I think we both need to reevaluate this all and start fresh," he said.

"Draco-"

"Don't get me wrong, I still don't give a hoot about the wee-Muggles, and I still want my potions…have any with you?" he said, sounding a little desperate but then shaking his head and getting back on track. "But I will do my best to do what I can."

"Sebastian is being difficult."

"It's what he's best at," Draco said, mockingly yet so serious. He was good at being smarmy, and it felt better than feeling embarrassed. He would stick with smarmy.

"I don't know how long I can keep turning to you for help without him figuring something."

"Leave that to me, I'm the sneaky Slytherin of the two of us, and I have, well, hidden my dealings from other's in the past," he said, having spent the war convincing both sides that he was sincerely and exclusively serving them. It had been quite a feat that had nearly cost him his life.

He impressed even himself sometimes.

There was silence for a long moment.

"You know, I finally remember you," Reamann said and Draco blinked at him, missing a key part of Reamann's thought.

"Care to expand on that a little?"

"I'm younger than you, but we went to Hogwarts at the same time. I was a first year Gryffindor in your sixth year," he said and Draco blinked.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I didn't have much of a memory of you because you were in a different house and so much older than me. You never seemed to be around either. I can only remember seeing you a handful of times in the Great Hall at meals and such. Your hair made you stick out some, and people talked about you," he said.

"Well, when you're popular," he said airily. Reamann just looked at him, expecting a real answer to his unasked question. "I was a little, well, preoccupied that year."

"Yeah, I read," he said.

"This little confession have a purpose?" Draco asked, himself being one of his least favorite topics of conversation.

"Well, I mean, I guess it's my round-about way of getting back on the topic of you not being a Death Eater-"

"You're just going to pound that out as often as you can in hopes of finally believing it, aren't you," Draco said but Reamann talked over him.

"And you really have a right to go to the Remembrance Ball," he said and Draco blinked.

Ginny had talked to him about that already? Damn, she worked fast.

He did not have to act all that surprised that Reamann had just invited him to the ball because he was honestly caught off guard…but he would act, and play hard to get. He would rather enjoy watching Reamann beg him to come.

"What?" he asked, easily sounding surprised and a little defensive.

"I was talking to Ginny last night about the ball and you came up. She thinks quite highly of you, you saved her life in the war?" he asked.

"It was a mutual life-saving-thing," he said offhandedly and Reamann looked at him questioningly. "You know, it's a rush…once you start, you find yourself doing it again and again, like an adrenaline junkie," he said with a shrug, being mocking.

"Well, yes, well, she told me about it, a little…should I thank you?"

"If you must," Draco said simply.

"Would inviting you to the ball be a good start to thanking you?"

"Putting me in a position where I will be surrounded by people who hate and mistrust me, where I will be ostracized and ridiculed, is your idea of thanking me?" Draco asked, not sure if he was playing hard to get or just being impossible. He had already agreed, he couldn't build too strong a case against Reamann's offer or Ginny would be sad.

"Well, yeah, I mean, that's true," Reamann said, slightly crest fallen. Draco sighed, folding his arms up and leaning his upper back against the door.

"Well, since you're twisting my arm over this," he said with a bored tone, Reamann looking up at him. "I suppose I could make an appearance, you know, just to royally piss off the attendees and irk the Ministry something fierce," he said, making it all out to be his desire to be a thorn in the Ministry's side. Really, it partially was.

"Really? You would go?" he asked.

"I don't get out much," he said, shrugging, looking up at the ceiling.

"You have something to wear?"

"It is a formal occasion, right?" he asked.

"Yeah,"

"I'll find something," he said, not sure how he was going to go about that but that being none of Reamann's concern.

Draco left Reamann to his work, receiving from him a hefty file-folder from the newest scene. He would have a lot of reading to do that night, and that made him grumpy. He wanted to spend his night with the kiddies, not on the case, as adorable as the case was.

Draco's mood remained cantankerous until he entered the Hall of Records and saw Coderdale entertaining Ginny again.

He froze for a second, then blinked, then moved to allow the door to close properly after it hit his shoulder.

"Draco," Ginny said, smiling, her eyes becoming luminous with joy just at seeing him. Draco had to admit, his tummy made a similarly warm fluttering sensation upon seeing her, but he was good at keeping emotion off his face, and muted from his eyes. His eyes were his only true weakness, windows into his soul or some rubbish like that.

"Ginny," he said, recovering from his surprise. Ginny was sitting at his desk, her long green robes open to reveal a black pencil skirt, white blouse, and one of those silly, little, lacy ties that women sometimes wore to the office that was supposed to be like a female version of a man's necktie but failed miserably at being serious and equivalent.

She looked nice though, her hair pulled back into a careless but probably highly styled bun. He kept forgetting that Ginny worked at the Ministry.

Coderdale was sitting at his own desk, looking pleasant. One would not have known of his objections to Draco and Ginny's relationship by looking at him.

"I came down to see you, I'm on my lunch, and I found that I had missed you. I did not have to wait long though," she explained with a smile as Draco neared. He leaned to place his file on the desk, but she seemed to get the impression that he leaned to give her a kiss, so she ended up kissing him, in front of Coderdale, and though Draco enjoyed kissing Ginny any chance he got, he was feeling dreadfully uncomfortable with the man watching him in the act.

Draco pulled away first, making sure to smile, trying not to let his unease show. He buried that all under a cool, smug mask.

"I'm glad you stopped in," he said, that being true, for the most part. God he loved looking at her, the realization of "this is mine" immeasurably pleasing his greedy, spoiled inner child, but still, he was a little tentative. She didn't feel the same. Right?

"You were just up seeing Reamann?" she asked.

"Yes."

"How do you slip up there and back without anyone questioning you?" she asked.

"Fringe benefit to being a Legilimens, I can prevent straying minds from paying attention to me," he said. "It doesn't work if someone actively seeks me out, but it stops the passing glance and the recognition that would follow."

"That's handy."

"That's tricky," he said simply. Technically, Legilimens are supposed to use discretion and follow a code of ethics when it came to using their abilities, and though they are not specifically regulated by the Ministry, misuse of the skill can land one in Azkaban for a short stint. Draco did not see it as "unethical" to chase people away from him using his abilities in Occlumency and Legilimency, but if anyone were to complain about some of the other things he did, like tormenting Potter every chance he got, he might be brought up before the Ministry's board of Ethical Use of Magic.

"Reamann talk to you about the ball then?"

"Yes, and aren't we eager? I did not even have to demonstrate my award-worthy acting skills; I was legitimately caught off guard."

"Well, we have to make plans fast. It's already Friday, the ball in on Christmas Eve, and this Tuesday is Christmas day," she said, sounding a little stressed, only the weekend left to finalize all her plans. "I talked to Reamann last night, about the fallout you two had had, and urged him to apologize to you, and then convince you to come to the ball,"

"Well, I went and apologized," he said and Ginny blinked at him like she did not believe her ears.

"It's true," Coderdale added, noting Ginny's response.

"You, you apologized? You?" she said and Draco was caught between amusement and indignation.

"Yes, I am capable of such a thing, believe it or not."

"Wow," she said, not even apologizing for her shocked reaction.

"You're hurting my feelings, Weasley," he huffed.

"I just did not think you would do that, I mean, Reamann was the one that had been insensitive," she said.

"Well, I feared he would just avoid me after I snapped at him."

"Draco has a bit of a temper," Coderdale interjected.

"So I went and spoke to him," Draco finished.

"I'm so proud of you," she said with a grin.

"Yeah? Well, if you're impressed by that, wait until I tell you I tied my shoes this morning, all by myself!" he said mocking her and Ginny putting her hands on her hips as she sat there at his desk.

"Prat."

"You know you love me for it," he said, making a shooing motion to get her to vacate his seat. She stood, but before he could make to sit she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the shelves, away from Coderdale.

"Weasley," he said, being tugged along for a moment as she led him deep into the dark cavern of the room. "Weasley darling," he said again before he was pulled around Ginny and pushed up against the shelves. "Ouch, that hurt," he complained, his back hitting one of the shelves particularly hard. "I don't have a lot of padding," he whined but Ginny pressed her lips against his to silence his irate complaints.

Draco had half a mind to push her back and tell her he was still on the clock, but that half of his mind went a little numb as Ginny pressed her body against his in a way that made his body a little…excited.

Seemingly getting the reaction from him she wanted, without breaking the kiss Ginny reached down to unbutton Draco's jeans. She got the button with ease and was on the zipper before he could reach down and stop her. He turned his head away to break the kiss and held her wrists down so that they were no longer pressing against his bulging trousers.

"Ginny."

"Draco?" she asked, looking confused.

"As enticing an offer as this is, I can't," he said and Ginny frowned.

"What? Why?"

"It is no offense to you, but the location…" he said, tilting his head, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

"You worried about Mr. Coderdale? We could move farther back, this place is like a maze, and I'm sure he wouldn't seek us out having a fairly good idea what we would be…"

"No, no, well, it is that to some extent, but no…I just," he said, pausing, his cheeks suddenly pink. Damn it.

"What?"

"I rather not say…let's just take a rain check on this and-"

"No, no, tell me, what's wrong?" she asked, stepping back to give him some breathing room, his hands still around her wrists, his pants still undone slightly.

Draco was quiet for a long moment.

"I would just, for the first time we, uh, you know…I would like a little more romance. A bed would be nice," he said.

"You want to do something romantic?" she asked, not having thought Draco would want their fling to start so formal. Wasn't having a secret love affair about going off and doing things one would not normally do, like shag at work, while on the clock? The excitement was what made it worth the risk.

"You not into romance? I'm not talking about candles and rose peddles and such…unless that's what you would like…but a bed, a bed would definitely be nice."

"Oh, well, yes, I guess that would be nice, but beds are hard to come by in the times we are free to, um, spend time together. I live with Reamann, I can't spend the night with you, Reamann would notice," she said.

Draco looked uncomfortable.

"A bed would really mean that much to you?" she asked.

"Well," he said, clearing his throat with his fist in front of his mouth, having let go of her wrists by then. "Would it help my side of the case, or hurt it, to admit to you that I have never had sex in a bed?" he muttered, looking very flushed and very uncomfortable.

"What?" Ginny asked in total disbelief.

"I did not fool around at Hogwarts…I know about those rumors, Pansy started them but they were complete codswallop," he said with firm and righteous annoyance. "I was in Azkaban for the extent of my marriage and I had only two opportunities to, well, be with my wife, and neither time was in a bed," he said, softer at the last.

"Wait, you were serious yesterday? Totally serious…not pulling my leg, or omitting minor instances…you never dated after getting out of Azkaban?

"Never," he muttered.

"Surely you had to have had sex since then," she said and he shook his head silently. "You have not had sex since…since your wife? That's what, eight years?" Ginny asked, managing to be even more astonished than before.

"Almost twelve, actually," he said, refusing to look at her. He would not admit that he knew the exact number of days, hours, and minutes since he had last had sex.

"Holy shit," she said.

"You know, you really know how to make a guy feel good about himself," he scoffed, flushing now rather than blushing.

"Oh, oh I'm sorry," she said, leaning towards him and wrapping her arms up around his neck in a hug. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

"I'm sure you didn't," he said, resting his hands on her lower back and patting them a little as though to sooth her.

"But, why?" she asked, pulling back and Draco blinked.

"Why what?" he asked.

"Why did you not at least have sex since getting out of that place?"

"Are you signifying some sort of surprise that I did not mindlessly hook-up with random women, or worse a prostitute, after being granted probation?" he asked. Ginny looked a little abashed. "Do you really think that low of me just because I would agree to your little fling?"

"No, I didn't mean…" she said, flushing at him calling it a fling, "it's just, most guys…"

"I'm not most guys…and even if I had the money for hired company of the pleasurable persuasion, my mother raised me better than that," he said, nose up a little.

"Does this mean no sex?" she asked timidly.

"No! Oh-God no," he assured, looking at her with wide eyes, practically shouting at first. "Just give me a bed and it's on," he said with enough passion to get Ginny to throw her head back and laugh.

"Oh, you're precious," she laughed, pressed up against him again, hard enough to get him to grunt a little.

"Weasley, darling, since there won't be any sex between us at this moment in time, do you think you could give me a little air before I lose my resolve, or more embarrassingly, my bodily control," he said, forcing the words to be calm through his teeth. Ginny just pressed a little harder at just the right angle.

"How good is your resolve, and control?" she asked, face inches from his.

"Not that good," he wheezed, grabbing her upper arms and forcing her to take a step back, the distance helping, but the problem still present.

"I could take care of that, um, little problem for you, if you like."

"We already agreed on waiting," he said.

"I wasn't talking about intercourse," she said with a mischievous smile. Draco blinked at her and the answer dawned on him and he blushed. Damn it. She saw it too and her grin only widened. Damn it, damn it.

"You've never had one before, have you?"

"I should most certainly say not," he said, trying to hold himself proper, looking affronted by the very notion or suggestion.

"I have respect for your mother in her conviction in raising herself a good son, but you are far too prude for your own good."

"Being prudish is a bad thing now?"

"When you're fifteen? No…but when you're thirty? Definitely yes," she said, kissing him before he could object to her teasing him on his propriety anymore.

He was a little grumpy, and more than a little embarrassed, which did not combine well with his discomfort. He jumped a little when he felt her hand slip down the front of his jeans. Ginny pulled away from their lip lock with a sort of bedroom laugh and placed the side of her face against his so she could whisper in his ear her assurances that it was not as bad as he was making it out to be.

Draco did not like how patronizing she was being, and he did his best to relax, but he felt very exposed doing something like this out in the open. Sure they were two of three people in that hall at the moment and Coderdale was smart enough to keep himself busy at his desk until he saw them reemerge from the shelves…but still…there was wide-open space and tall book shelves in all directions. Standing there with his pants open seemed more than just a little indecent. His heart was racing, like he had just sprinted, and that made his body down below throb, or was it Ginny's touch that did that?

Ginny's thumb hooked into the waistband of his knickers and he felt just the briefest of graces of her skin against his lower abdomen. A shudder ran through his body and now, no matter how embarrassed he was, he could not tell her to stop, wanting so much for her to make that happen again.

Ginny turned her hand to slip down between his body and his clothing and he let out a very soft groan again and she smiled into his ear.

"I would make a wager that you are quiet in bed," she said and he did not know what to say to that. "I bet I can entice some sound out of you," she said, cupping his groin just hard enough to make him stand up on his toes just a little and grunt.

"Damn you, woman, stop being such a tease. It hurts my Slytherin pride to see a Gryffindor act more devious and more manipulative than I," he whined.

"Don't worry, I'll strip you of this last innocence and I think we will be on a more level playing field. I never considered myself an overly experienced woman with only having a handful of sexual partners in my life…I had actually expected to learn a great deal from you in this little affair, but I guess a nun would feel slutty compared to you," she teased.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I am down right naughty…just been distant from the singles scene for the last, well, twelve years," he said, Ginny's hand on him and making it difficult to form coherent, let alone witty, thoughts or statements.

Any hope of saying anything more, clever or otherwise, was lost when she kneeled before him suddenly. He was caught by surprise by that, her standing against him, cheek to cheek, and then suddenly vanishing below his belt, but having himself pulled out from his pants overshadowed even that surprise.

As Ginny went down on him, Draco just fought to maintain control. He was sure climaxing quickly was not the best way to go about impressing a girl, but damn it, he had years of pent up sexual frustrations that he alone had been unable to fully slake. His body was aroused and throbbing with a tightness that was almost new to him. He had been aroused before, but this was hardly comparable to things that he had done while alone in the shower.

Draco had enough conscious thought to wonder what to do with himself, more specifically, his hands. Did he just stand there unmoving while she did things? She wanted him to make sounds, and that was not about to happen, well…he let out a low groan before swallowing hard.

Ginny seemed to notice his uncertainty and looked up at him with only her eyes, reaching up to hold his right hand for a moment before directing it to rest on her shoulder. He did not need any further direction from there, he just held her shoulders, his back to the book shelves, and did his best to enjoy himself, which wasn't difficult.

Draco let his head tip back onto one of the shelves and moaned then, a little louder than he had allowed himself to before. His hips wanted to move up to meet her as she stroked and handled, sucked and licked, and she encouraged it a little, allowing him to move slightly. The pleasure she derived from knowing she could make him buckle with a flick of her tongue or the twist of her grip satisfied her and made her feel powerful. She handled him, pumping her hand over his length quickly between the times she took him into her mouth, touching all his sensitive areas and rolling them in her hands, enticing small muted sounds from him.

In no time at all, Draco felt it coming and he was not sure if he should warn Ginny. He had heard somewhere that that was vastly appreciated, and so managed her name with a moan.

"Ginny, um, yeah," he said, panting as she continued to pump away on him, stimulating just his tip with her mouth and tongue in a way he had never envisioned possible. She seemed to know how to stroke him better than he did himself. He was not complaining, but it was a little intimidating.

Ginny looked up at him, only her hands on him now as she rolled him in her grasp. She smiled and stood, holding him tight between them, still stroking him quickly, pumping to grant him that climax he was already edging. Draco tilted his head back again and she kissed at his throat and the underside of his chin where there was the slightest hint of scruff, like he had missed it while shaving but the hair too fair to see.

With a shuddering breath Draco released himself and Ginny smiled while her lips remained pressed against his neck. She bit her bottom lip while grinning, taking in the scent of his hair, it very satisfying to bring him to climax, she only would have liked him to cut loose a little bit more. She supposed she still had some time to break him of his charming prudishness.

"There, now that wasn't so bad, was it?" she teased, making it sound like she was his doctor and she had just given him a vaccination.

"Don't be patronizing, woman," he breathed, panting a little, head still leaning on the shelf. "Sorry about the…mess," he said as a slightly timid afterthought, lifting his head to stand properly now, looking down at his still exposed and slick manhood grasped, but lightly, in Ginny's hand still.

"It comes with the territory. Thanks for the heads up," she said, withdrawing her wand and casually flicking away the sticky evidence of their little deed from her hand and him. "You impressed me," she confessed and Draco blinked at her.

"In what way?" he asked, sure that was his line, he having done very little. His heart was still pounding from her.

"I had refrained from commenting, not sure if it would be in good taste," she explained. Sure, what she had done in general was not in good taste, but that was not the point. "I wasn't sure remarking that I was nicely surprised by your, let's say, stature…would have made the situation more awkward for you," she said and he blinked, her leaning in to kiss his neck again.

Draco blushed.

"Well, thank you," he said, not sure exactly how to respond to that without sounding arrogant, or was cocky better used in a situation such as this? As a guy, however, he did like coming across as impressive and it only made his confidence swell to hear he had impressed her.

"Would it please you further to know that you are better hung than Harry?" she asked softly, her nose brushing his earlobe.

Draco craned his neck down to look at her then, still pink cheeked but interested now despite his propriety.

"Really?"

"Yup," she said with a grin.

Draco felt a swell of pride that only a man could know and fully understand.

"How about Reamann?" he asked and Ginny laughed. "I don't know, it's hard to compare without them side by side."

"Not gonna happen," Draco said flatly and Ginny laughed again.

"No, I did not mean to imply…no…I'm just saying, you are a really thin person, so it's a little deceptive in your favor just by contrast, but you are definitely bigger than Harry, and possibly Reamann, I would definitely say you are thicker, but Reamann is quite respectable all on his own, so you should still feel proud."

"Oh, I always have, but a little more now than before," he said with a smirk.

Bigger than Potter? Oh, life was good.

"I feel a little cheated though," he said and Ginny looked at him. "As amazing as you were and it felt, you have seen my naughty-bits, and I have seen nothing of yours," he pouted, poking out his bottom lip slightly. Ginny grinned mischievously. She stepped back a few paces while she unbuttoned her blouse. Draco watched her and by the time she was three steps back she was able to open her shirt and unclasp the front of her bra to expose her breasts to him -like a flasher- briefly. Her nipples became instantly hard as her cheeks became instantly flushed, and she closed her shirt quickly with a girlish giggle.

"Very nice," he teased while approving completely. Ginny had very nice, full but still relatively perky, breasts. She was not a willowy woman, not like the women in his family, she had full round breasts, and hips, and a bum that swayed when she walked. Just thinking about that body, and how much he wanted to put his hands on it, threatened to make his exposed manhood hard again.

Ginny clasped her bra and was buttoning up her shirt as she stepped forward, Draco smiling at her. Draco realized he was still just hanging out there, and tried to tuck himself away with Ginny standing right close again. He wanted to turn his back while doing so because she was watching him in a way that would have gotten her punched in the face if she were in a public toilet with him, and she were another man, of course. He supposed she had seen it, up close and personal, so there was no harm in her watching.

Nudity was not a bad thing; it was very, very natural.

"You know, Pansy offered this once, well, more than once," he said once finished, indicating vaguely his now closed trousers, and Ginny looked at him, interested to hear how that had obviously not worked out. "But, you know, with a face like hers, I honestly would consider it with a Red Cap before I would with her, maybe a garbage disposal," he said and Ginny threw her head back and laughed openly at Pansy's expense. Draco really was quite harsh to that poor girl…woman.

"You are terrible," she laughed and he just leaned his head in to nip at her bottom lip playfully once, then twice, pulling on her lip slightly the second time.

Ginny kissed him, and for a second he was upset by that considering where her mouth had just been, but then, that was not only insulting to her, but himself. He knew where he had been, he was clean, and it had clearly caused her no harm. He found his hands sliding down her back and she did not stop him. He paused at her lower back as they kissed and then just went for it, sliding his hands over her smooth posterior until he reached its fullest point and gave both sides a firm squeeze. Ginny approved apparently by how she moaned into his mouth, and he enjoyed himself, wrapping his right arm around her lower back while patting her bum with his other hand.

"Okay, so when are we going to see each other? I want to see you before the ball," she said, right up against him again, but in a completely different way than before. Before had been all sexual and teasing, now it was just her looking for comfort and affection in his closeness. He enjoyed that. He had enjoyed the first as well, but this was just so nice. He had been a sex object before; it was comforting to know he had other uses. Too bad he was just a fling, and no, he was not bitter.

"I have to work tomorrow, and I'm busy all afternoon and evening after that, but what about Sunday? Will you come out with me Sunday?" he asked.

"Come out with you where? We can't really be seen together anywhere," she said.

"I want that to remain a surprise. But could you? Would you be able to clear your schedule so that we could spend Sunday together?"

"I, I don't know, I mean, it would be hard such short notice to get the whole day."

"I could make it worth your while," he said, reaching up and holding her face with his right hand, grabbing her ear gently and rubbing her earlobe between his thumb and finger, his knuckle against that spot behind her ear where her hairline ended that was so sensitive. Her knees became weak and she felt a shudder run through her body.

"I could work something out with Hermione, as a cover story," she said and Draco smiled.

"Excellent," he said. "And make sure you dress warmly," he advised, his hand surprising him by being back on her bum again.

Draco and Ginny reemerged from the shelves, hand in hand, and Coderdale refused to look up at them. Draco knew the man believed they had just gone off and had sex, and he was not about to admit otherwise. He had convinced Ginny to linger with him in the shelves for a while for the sake of appearances. He did not want to vanish and come back in twenty minutes fully dressed. It would make him look bad. It was a guy thing.

"I'll see you around…definitely on Sunday," she said, leaning up to kiss him. Draco liked that she was shorter than him; it made him feel good about himself. She was quite good at making him feel good about himself, and he enjoyed it.

"I look forward to it," he said softly, speaking with his lips against hers, making little smacking kisses with their noses squished together.

He knew Coderdale was now the one who was uncomfortable, and Draco reveled in that. He made a show of kissing Ginny because it made him feel better. Being a smarmy arsehole felt so much better than feeling guilty and embarrassed.

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Author's Note:

This chapter was basically my response to all those fics that have made Draco out to be some over-sexed, sex-god, narcissist, womanizing, Satyr. (Nymphomaniac is a woman obsessed with sexual pleasure, the male equivalent is a Satyr. I can't tell you how many people get that wrong.) As much as I love a good, self-assured and arrogant Draco, and as much as I sometimes enjoy a good (as in well-written) smutty fic, I honestly think Draco's mother would have raised him better than that, and I always pictured Lucius to be rather scrupulous. Sorry.

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