"I've never been so relaxed in my entire life," Ginny thought to
herself as she pushed her feet farther down into the pink sand. "I
can't believe that only Muggles come here." Years ago, when
enterprising wizards had recognized the opportunities in the growing
tourist markets, they had opened up wizarding resorts at all the Muggle
tourist hot spots. But for some reason, the Bahamas had been left
untouched. And Ginny was extremely thankful for that.
The minute she had graduated Hogwarts, everything had gone wrong. Harry had broken up with her, she had lost her job at the Daily Prophet because of her "alternative views", and Ron and Hermione had gotten married. Normally, she would have been ecstatic about that. Ginny had been hoping for her brother and her best friend to marry ever since they had started dating three years ago. But the marriage had just come at a bad time in Ginny's life.
"You know darling, most girls do get married their first or second year out of Hogwarts. And you don't even have a boyfriend!" Her mother had chided. "Why don't you talk to Harry, tell him that you'll fix whatever it was you did that made him break up with you." Ginny had
desperately tried to explain to her mother.
"I told you mum, he didn't break up with me because of something I did! He loves Pansy, I can't fix that!" But her mother had just pursed her lips and shaken her head.
"I'm sure there's something you can do. And if Harry's really
unwilling to take you back, well how about Neville, or Justin? They'd
make fine husbands." Despite Ginny's protests, her mother had stood
firm. And to her dismay, even her brothers had agreed. Apparently the
entire world thought that she needed to be married by nineteen. So
instead of giving in and going on the long line of blind dates her
family set up for her, Ginny had fled. She had fled from Harry, from
her family, and from magic. She was convinced that after a few months
of rest and relaxation in a magic-free area she would be able to go
back home, as a new woman.
Ginny let out a contented sigh, sitting up from her towel and
gazing at her surroundings. The pink sand beach stretched for miles and
miles under a wonderfully warm sun. The clear blue water sparkled under
the sun, seeming to beckon her. Not one to resist the call of nature,
Ginny raised herself gracefully from her chair and started towards the
water. She had never been any place more beautiful. And the gorgeous
lifeguards didn't hurt either.
The water was wonderfully warm, but cold enough to be refreshing. She looked down and smiled at the fish that were circling her ankles. The bright colors of all the different types of wildlife were enchanting. Ginny found herself wandering farther and farther out into the water, gazing at the beautiful plants that thrived under the water. Without warning, her head was engulfed by water, and the formerly clear water became murky with bubbles as she tried to get above the surface. Something was pulling her down, fighting her, forcing her farther and farther away from the beach. She couldn't get back to the top...
Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her out of the water and back into the sunlight. She gulped in the air desperately, barely aware of someone stroking her head and speaking words of encouragement. She attempted a look at her rescuer, but instead only found a blaze of red, since her long red hair had tangled in front of her face. Pushing it aside impatiently, she found herself gazing into the concerned gray eyes of one very good-looking lifeguard.
"Are you alright?" he asked with a smile. Ginny grinned.
"I think I might need mouth to mouth resuscitation." Her face took on an expression of panic. Had she just said that out loud? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"That's alright," the lifeguard interrupted with a smirk. "I think you'll survive without CPR though." Ginny started. Something about the smirk struck a cord in her. She studied the lifeguard's face. Gray eyes, aristocratic features, shockingly white blonde hair...She jumped in the lifeguards arms, causing him to smirk down at her again with an amused look on his face. It was Draco. She hadn't recognized him before, he was so tan and she was used to seeing him pale. But that
smirk...there was no mistaking it.
"Draco?" she tried. He frowned.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" He peered at her for a moment, then
shook his head, smiling. "I can't remember you, but please forgive me if I should. I have a terrible memory." He smiled again, a flash of
perfect white teeth in a finely tanned face.
"We went to school together." He laughed.
"Oh I doubt that. I went to a tiny school in England, there's no
possible way you went there."
"How do you know that?" Ginny asked.
"Oh well, people like you just don't go to that school. I don't
mean that as an insult, it's just that the people who go to my school
have a certain talent that I know you don't have."
"You honestly don't know who I am?" He grinned helplessly.
"I'm really sorry, I have no idea. Now how about we get you back
to the first aid tower and check you out? Make sure you're OK?" Ginny
stared at him in disbelief. He thought she was just some Muggle girl.
And even that was too complicated to think about. Since when did Draco
Malfoy spend his days saving the lives of Muggles?
"Ginny Weasley. I'm Ginny Weasley." And for the second time that
day, Ginny found herself underwater without meaning to be. This time
however, she was able to pull herself out of the water and stand up.
She shook the excess water out of her hair and glared at him.
"Thanks a lot. Do you try to drown everyone you rescue?"
"I'm sorry it's just...well I never thought I'd see you again. I
didn't mean to drop you. Aren't you supposed to be scared of me?" She shook her head and started towards him, her eyes bright.
"I never thought you were a Death Eater. I was worried you were
dead, but here you are, safe and sound..." Draco's thoughts flashed
back to an article he had read months ago in the Daily Prophet.
DRACO MALFOY MISSING
Draco Malfoy has been officially declared missing by the Ministry of
Magic, three days after his disappearance from the Hogwart's express.
His mother and father, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy seem unconcerned.
"I'm sure Draco is fine," said Lucius during a press conference on
Wednesday. "And if he wants to be ungrateful and neglect his family
responsibilities, well that's his decision. I just hope he doesn't
expect to still be written into my will. And he better pray that I
don't get my hands on him before the Ministry does." Needless to say,
Lucius has not asked the authorities to put any extra effort into
finding his son.
Most believe that Draco is not missing at all, that he has simply taken
his place at Voldemort's side as the youngest and newest Death Eater.
But there is a small contingent of people who knew him at Hogwarts who
believe this simply isn't so.
"I knew Draco at Hogwarts," said an unidentified source. "And I just
have trouble believing that he joined the Death Eaters. We weren't
really friends, and he was never particularly nice to me, but I watched
him. And I can tell that he isn't a bad person."
Whoever had written that article had caused a lot of trouble.
Letters had poured into the Daily Prophet asserting the fact that Draco
was indeed a Death Eater. Eventually, the reporter had been fired when
they had refused to identify the source that had provided the quote at
the end of the paragraph.
"You aren't by any chance a reporter, are you?" Draco asked Ginny, who was still staring at him with a wondrous look in her eyes. Her face flushed at his question.
"Well I was, but I was fired. None of the other papers will hire
me now... How did you know I was a reporter anyway?"
"Just a lucky guess." Ginny raised an eyebrow at him, confused
about the fact that he had begun beaming at her when she had said she
was a reporter.
"Well I'm going back to the beach, I've had quite enough water for one day." Ginny turned abruptly on her heel, suddenly wanting to get away from Draco. It was just her luck that she would come somewhere to escape from magic and find a man who had been missing for two years.
"No, the riptide!" Draco gestured to the area that Ginny had been pulled down into before. "You're fine right here, but you'll be pulled under if you wander back into it by mistake. Here, I'll walk in front of you, so that you'll know where it's safe." Back in lifeguard mode, Draco stepped in front of Ginny, leading the way beach to the shore. Ginny smiled, admiring her view of his lean, muscled back. And she couldn't even begin to describe how nice he looked in his red
life guarding shorts.
"Thanks..." Ginny began awkwardly as they reached the shore. Draco just beamed at her again.
"No...thank YOU." He shook his head. "I never would have thought
that you..." he murmured under his breath. "Anyway, I need to get back
on duty." He picked up the red flotation device that he had dropped on
the sand and jogged back to his chair.
Ginny, a bit bewildered, walked lazily back to her towel. Fighting the riptide had tired her out, and seeing a ghost from her past had just made her even more exhausted. She lay down on her towel and, with the sun beating down on her, fell asleep.
********************
Ginny was awoken by something softly nudging her stomach. Not
really interested in opening her eyes, she hit whatever it was and
rolled over onto her stomach. But instead of feeling her soft towel,
she felt pain wherever the front of her body made contact with
anything.
"You should know better, with pale skin like that. Did you
even put any sunscreen on?"
"Sunscreen?" Ginny mumbled. She opened her eyes, and at the
sight that met her, immediately sat up. The beach that had been
crowded earlier was now deserted, the sun that had been shining had
now descended beneath the clouds. And her skin, which had been
porcelain white when she had closed her eyes, was now red. Bright
red.
"Yes you know, sunscreen? Prevents people from looking like you
do right now?" Ginny, not pleased with the fact that someone was
making fun of her when she didn't even know who it was, kicked the
person standing over her. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Who are you? And why am I a different color?" The
unidentified person chuckled.
"You're not exactly the most coherent person right after you
wake up are you?" Ginny peered up towards the conversationalist. The
setting sun caught on a brilliant piece of white hair, and Ginny
remembered.
"You're Draco!" She said with a triumphant flourish. "Now, why
am I all red?"
"You honestly don't know?" She shook her head. "You fell
asleep in the sun. You got burned, pretty badly if the color is
anything to go by. But don't worry about it, you'll be as good as new
with a simple healing spell." Ginny wailed, causing Draco to jump
about 5 feet in the air.
"I don't have my wand! I was trying to go on holiday the way a
Muggle would!" Draco laughed as she put a hand on her stomach and
then quickly removed it at the sensation of pain it caused.
"Well, that's a bit of bad luck for you , isn't it?" She
wailed again, and Draco held his hands up in the air as an attempt at
a peace offering. "Look, I don't have a wand either, but, I can make
it feel better if you want." He reached a hand down and pulled her up
gently. "It wont heal it, but it'll at least make it a little less
painful." Wrapping her towel around her shoulders, Draco began
leading her to a dilapidated old cabin on the edge of the beach.
"Where are we going?" Ginny asked, stopping abruptly.
"To my house?" Draco glanced at her as if she was a bit
crazy. "Did you hit your head when you fell today?"
"No I didn't," Ginny snapped, glaring at him. "But I know
better than to go to a secluded area with a man I don't know." Draco
laughed.
"Let me guess. You learned that from 'Living Like a Muggle:
Protect Yourself' by some woman named Madonna." Ginny blushed.
"No..."
"I bought the same book. And it's generally good advice. But
I'm not a strange man, we've known each other well for years." Ginny
put her hand on her hip and looked at him skeptically. "OK, OK, but
I'm not a strange man. I'm just going to heal your sunburn." He
gestured towards the cabin. "I'll even leave the door open if you
want."
"That's alright, you don't have to. But I'm warning you, I
know self defense." He laughed.
"I'm sure you do. C'mon, before it gets late." He held out his
hand to her, and after a moment Ginny took it, laughing as he dragged
her through the sand to her cabin.
Draco's little beach house was not what Ginny had been
expecting at all. In fact, if he hadn't been standing right next to
her, she wouldn't have believed that it was where he lived. It looked
like a little old lady's cottage. There was a little fireplace set
into the wall of the room she had walked into, and the mantle above
it was adorned with seashells. The only other two things in the room
were a well-worn couch and a table that was literally covered in
books. Set on the floor beside the couch was a little blue and white
tea set.
"You live here?" Ginny blurted out. A delightful shade of pink
appeared beneath the dark tan on Draco's face.
"Come back here," he answered, leading her to a small door in
the back of the room. The next room was much more like what Ginny had
suspected. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and it seemed like
everything possible in the room had been used as a hanger. A pair of
swim trunks hung from the lamp, the doorknob was piled high with
shirts, a row of socks hung off the windowsill haphazardly. Draco
blushed as he noticed her taking in the mess and sprang into action,
gathering up as many clothes as he could fit into his arms. "I'm
sorry for the mess, I don't usually have much company..." Ginny's
eyes fell on the bed.
"Black silk sheets?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Once again,
Draco blushed.
"I work all day in the salty air and the sand, and the sheets
feel nice against my skin. The only colors they had in silk were
black and red..." He finished gathering up the clothes and threw them
all into a wicker basket in the corner that was already overflowing.
He pointed at his bed. "Lie down." Ginny looked at him skeptically.
"Why? What are you going to do?"
"Nothing! Why are you so untrusting of me? I'm just going to
take care of your burn!" He reached onto the dresser and pulled down
a bottle that seemed to be filled with some sort of blue gel. Since
her sunburn was causing her a good deal of excruciating pain, Ginny
lay down on the bed.
The feel of Draco's hand rubbing the cold gel onto her stomach
made Ginny twitch when he first made contact with her skin.
"Just hold still." He instructed her, pushing her back down
onto the bed. Frowning in concentration, he began to gently massage
the gel into her skin. After a while, Ginny began to tremble, not
because she was cold but because of the sensations that Draco's hands
were making as they stroked her oversensitive skin. Draco's
breathing was becoming a bit heavy as he forced himself not to look
at Ginny, who had her eyes closed and her head thrown back against
the bed, her hair fanning out in gorgeous contrast with the black
sheets.
"Done." Draco announced, his voice a bit hoarse. "You can sit
up now." Ginny raised herself off the bed, sighing in sheer delight.
"What was that?"
"Aloe-Vera. It's supposed to help heal burns, and it certainly
makes them feel much better." Draco placed a hand in the small of her
back, pushing her towards the door. "You probably shouldn't go out on
the beach tomorrow with that burn, keep yourself covered up and
inside." When they reached the door, Ginny paused at the threshold.
"I'm...I'm staying at the Princess Hotel...room 103." She
flushed and looked down at her feet. "In case you think I need
anymore aloe-vera or something." Draco smiled.
"I'll remember that." And then Ginny was gone, leaving Draco
alone in his little cottage.