Disclaimer: All Rights Reserved goes to JK Rowling and the publishers of Harry Potter books. I only have the rights to the plot of this story. Heck, even the songs I'm gonna be using aren't mine either. So don't sue me!

Summary: A past relationship rekindled, but is it a lasting one or will it be just a passing fancy?

PhoenixRae's Notes: I don't know exactly where this is headed, but here's to hoping that it goes somewhere nice and...well, easy to continue on writing about. As always, constructive criticism welcomed by yours truly. Sorry for the somewhat long absence. I know I still have a few fics I need to update. I'll probably get around to doing it some time soon, I just don't know when that time might be...

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I. Take A Chance On Me

If you change your mind, I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try

Take a chance on me
(that's all I ask of you honey)
Take a chance on me
 -- ABBA, "Take A Chance On Me"

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Propping herself up beside him on the twin-sized bed they shared, Ginny Weasley gave herself this chance to study the blond haired man slumbering peacefully beside her. A quick glance at the muggle wristwatch Harry gave her for Christmas the year before she graduated from Hogwarts indicated that the time now was five minutes after one in the morning. In a couple of hours she'd have to crawl out of his bed and quietly get dressed; she must leave before sunup or else risk being found out.

For the past month and a half that had been the routine between her and this man sleeping beside her.

They met by chance on the train headed back to Hogwarts. He was returning as the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor and she was the new assistant medi-witch to Madam Pomprey. She couldn't believe she'd see him again after the intervening years since they were last together. She heard he got a teaching position in some prestigious European school; little did she know he chose Hogwarts of all places to teach! He looked at stunned as she was when they ran into each other on the train, but that moment of awkwardness soon passed. By the time they reached Hogwarts they were acting like nothing's changed between them.

And not two nights later she was back in his bed once more making mad, passionate love with him.

But they had to keep their dalliance a secret, just like before. After all, he still wasn't a free man and she...well, she wouldn't live up to his--and everyone else's for that matter--expectation of the future Mrs. Draco Malfoy.

Ginny gave a disheartened sigh. She loved Draco. Merlin knows how much she loved him. She was crushed when she found out shortly before Draco graduated that he was ending their affair. She didn't know why Draco wanted to end it so soon, but Ginny didn't have to wonder for so long to find out why.

She overheard Pansy Parkinson announce it on the train ride back to Kings Cross the end of that year that once she and Draco came of age (that being the set age of twenty-one that their fathers agreed on), they'd get married and start off a family together. She just had a quickie good-bye fuck with Draco in the loo when she passed by the open seventh year Slytherin girls' compartment. Draco was behind her and he too heard what Pansy just told her cohorts.

Ginny never believed people when they told her about their experiences when it comes to having your heart broken into tiny pieces. Heck, it felt like someone just ripped her heart right out of her chest at that very moment! She quickly turned around and gave Draco a wide-eyed, unbelieving look before she fled to the compartment she shared with her friends.

She got a letter from Draco later that summer. He wanted to explain to her what she overheard, but she didn't want to hear any of it. As far as she was concerned he just used her. And like the fool she was, she fell for his charms and sweet-talking.

After her heartbreaking experience with Draco Malfoy, Ginny threw herself into becoming a full-fledged medi-witch. She didn't want to date anybody after what just happened to her, but a year and a half later she somehow got over the pain of what just happened and accepted a date with Neville. The date went well, but they just didn't click together. She and Neville remained friends though, but he was the start of her long list of not-so-fulfilling dates.

Ginny thought she got over Draco, but every time she went out on a date she was always looking for a little something of him in each and every guy she went out with. She finally gave up on dating when she realized that she still had her hang-ups on Draco. No matter how hard she tried, deep in her heart she was hoping to have him come back to her and leave Pansy alone.

She was elated to cloud nine when she noticed that his fingers were bare when they ran into each other on the train. She was half expecting him to be sporting it now that he was already twenty-two. He didn't mention anything about his married life (if he was indeed married) nor did she ask. Their falling into bed together came as a surprise to her. When she was summoned by Draco to his chamber that night over a month ago, she was only suppose to give him something for his stomach pain. She didn't have to stay with him that extra thirty minutes it took before he reached for her and fastened his mouth hungrily on hers, practically yanking him on top of her on this very same bed they were now on.

She thought it was just a fluke. A one-night-stand to dispel past emotions that they were never able to sort out before. But she was wrong. After that night she received an owl from Draco the following evening asking to meet with her in his chamber. She knew he wasn't feeling under the weather by then, but she went anyway simply because she wanted to take as many chance as she could have to see him and be with him.

Ginny ran her fingers through his head, feeling its silky texture against her skin. She still loves him. Oh sweet Merlin, she couldn't believe it but now more than ever the pain she felt when she found out he was already engaged to someone else came coming back. He may not be wearing a wedding ring, but she knew she'd never be more than just a casual fling to him.

He'd still marry Pansy and she'd still nurse a broken heart.

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Draco heard her moving quietly around in his room. He didn't have to look at a clock to know what time it was. She always leave him at exactly the same time every night they were together.

Three o'clock in the morning.

They didn't agree on a set time for her to leave. She just decided to leave at that time. He didn't want her to leave, but it was too late now to say anything. He should've said something about it when they started cavorting during the dead of the night for their trysts. He didn't want to give Ginny any hope. It was better this way.

His chamber door gave a quiet sigh as she exited. He waited a couple of heartbeats before he reached for the small black box on his bedside table and opened it. Inside glinted the thin gold band he had kept from her inquiring brown eyes to see. He pushed himself up and slipped the gold band into his left hand ring finger.

Draco let out a bitter laugh as he stared at the damned ring on his finger. If it hadn't been for this damn sham of a marriage his father arranged long before Draco was allowed to think for himself, he'd be seeing the same thin gold band glistening from Ginny's finger. But the Fates were unfair to them both.

He was only asking for trouble by continuing on his dalliance with Ginny. But Ginny was his drug. The last five years was hell for him. He tried everything he could to break off his engagement with Pansy, but Lucius would hear none of it. A pact was a pact, Draco must fulfill it whether he wanted it or not.

Draco chose not.

He did everything he could to get to Ginny. He wanted to explain to her that it wasn't a love match between him and Pansy. It was an arranged marriage. But Ginny didn't bother hearing him out. In the end Lucius won, but not entirely. Draco held out his end of the bargain, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to produce an heir with that slut he was unfortunate enough to call his wife.

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A/N: Okay, this is a crappy chapter. This is what most people would probably call a WIP. I have some idea on where this story is going, but it might take me a while to steer it to its rightful direction. I am trying to get "inspired" by lines from songs so...hehehehe, that will sure take a while. Anyways, tell me what you think of what I have written here so far, okay?