Disclaimer: If the Potterverse was mine, things would have gone very differently. That said, many thanks to JK Rowling for letting us play in the world she created. It's one hell of a sandbox.

Draco sat hunched on the concrete bench, his elbows digging into his knees. Coming back here had been a mistake. He had known better than to accept McGonagall and the Wizengamot's offer, but it had been the only acceptable option: return to Hogwarts to complete his education, or spend three years alone in the Manor under house arrest. Not wanting to be imprisoned in his own home without even the house elves for company, Draco had packed his trunk and returned to Hogwarts.

But even here the once great Prince of Slytherin was utterly alone. Those who knew of his family's "disloyalty" during the final battle shunned him, hexing him when his back was turned and sometimes worse. Nearly all the students- and even some faculty- who sided with the Light had given him nothing but cold shoulders and sneers.

Much to his surprise, Ginny Weasley had become his closest… he hesitated to use the word friend… at Hogwarts. She had cornered him as the Express left King's Cross Station and warned him that she would be watching him this year. While she hadn't scared Draco in the slightest, her threat told him that he wasn't wanted at the castle; he had expected nothing less. His dejected acceptance of her words, though, seemed to have shocked Ginny. Throughout the first few weeks of the term, he'd seen her watching him closely, seen too her surprise at finding out that he was a man without a nation. His surviving old friends hated him, and those who'd hated him before were loath to even accept his presence. Draco supposed his "lost puppy" look had appealed to her Gryffindor chivalry, and he found himself somewhat adopted by the redhead. She ate lunch with him every day, sat with him in the library a few times a week, and checked up on him during his frequent visits to the hospital wing. Her presence, coupled with her influence and status as a war hero, kept most ill-wishers at bay.

Draco sighed and tried to flex his battered hand. No matter how much the girl tried to help, she could do nothing for him within the confines of his own house.

"Speak of the devil," he muttered as Ginny rounded the corner into the rebuilt courtyard, casting a warming charm on her maroon Weasley sweater to ward off the October chill. Her eyes narrowed as she zeroed in on him. She knew that, despite the lingering trauma from the battle, the Koi pond on the site of Voldemort's defeat was his favorite place to escape.

Ginny plopped down beside him and he quickly tucked his mangled hand into his jacket. She gave him a quick once-over before turning to face the pond as he did. As had become their little ritual, the pair sat in comfortable silence for several moments, giving Draco a chance to walk away from the impending conversation if he so wished.

"You look worse today," Ginny murmured. He glanced over to see her worrying her bottom lip and avoiding his gaze.

"Yeah, a few stray punches will do that. I guess Theo decided I needed a quick reminder that I'm not wanted here," Draco said with a shrug. That was a mistake. Moving his shoulder caused him to wince and jerk his arm into a more comfortable position, pulling his broken fingers from their hiding place.

"Bloody hell!" Ginny whispered, grabbing his injured hand to inspect it.

Draco grunted in pain and pulled his hand back to his chest. "Ouch! For Merlin's sake, Ginny! The numbing charm isn't powerful enough to stand up to you pawing at me."

She scowled at him. "I'm just trying to help. You should really go to Madam Pomfrey and let her take a look at that."

"Yeah, well, you're not helping. In fact, you're probably making everything worse," he growled as he stood to leave.

"Why, because I care?" Ginny retorted.

"Because you make me less miserable!" he cried, rounding on her. "And as long as I'm miserable enough, everyone leaves me alone. Do you want to know why Theo really felt the need to beat the hell out of me this morning? Because I made the mistake of smiling in the bathroom. Because I knew I'd made it through yet another week of hell and could spend a Saturday in the library with the one person on Earth who doesn't hate me! Apparently people like me don't deserve a second chance at happiness."

"Are you saying I make you happy?" she asked unsurely.

Of course that's what she got from that conversation, he thought. Draco ran his uninjured hand through his shaggy blond hair as he turned from her to study the pond. "Merlin help me, yes," he breathed, feeling the words hang in the air.

Behind him, he heard Ginny freeze. He took a deep, sighing breath, preparing for the worst- for her to say she never wanted to see him again. Well, her friendship had been a nice reprieve while it lasted. Maybe he could petition McGonagall to be removed from Slytherin. Perhaps then his classmates would-

In the midst of his brooding, Draco felt a small hand grab his bicep and turn him around harshly. He looked down into a pair of blazing bright brown eyes.

"For some unknown reason, you make me happy too," Ginny said fiercely. "And I've had enough of the people here hurting you and making you feel like shit. As long as I'm around, no one will mess with you, and don't argue, we've already seen that it works. Face it- from now on, you're stuck with me. We can work out the details later, but I'm done letting you be alone."

When he reflected on it later, Draco still wasn't sure what made him do it. It could have been the determination in her face. Or the bossy way she told him what he was going to do. Or the sheer confidence of her words. Or maybe the proud tilt of her head as she told him what he wanted most to hear- that he wasn't alone. In that moment, all Draco knew is that he had to kiss her.

He gently cupped the back of her head in his uninjured hand and slowly dipped his face toward hers, giving her time to change her mind. She shocked him by grabbing his face and tugging it firmly down to hers. The kiss was fierce and sweet, and it filled Draco with hope in Ginny's promise. They finally broke apart, wrapped up in a warm embrace as time seemed to stand still.

The world around them, however, kept moving and watching. By the lunch hour, it was all over the castle that Ginny was in fact involved with the former Death Eater, and rumors flew that she was pregnant with his child, that he had her under the Imperius Curse, that she was only after his money, and so forth. It didn't take long for such gossip to die down though, sped on its way, of course, by a few surreptitious bat-bogey hexes from Ginny.

The rest of seventh year went by with few incidents. By the time graduation arrived, Draco wasn't sure if his fair treatment was due to the influence of his fiancée the resistance leader, the threat of her older brother and the rest of the Golden Trio, or maybe- just maybe- the idea that people really did deserve a second chance.

AN: written for Onyx-and-Elm as part of the Monthly One-Shot Exchange as well as for AlwaysPadfoot's Dialogue Wheel Challenge/MiniComp on HPFC.

One-shot prompts: D/G, a Koi pond, maroon, broken fingers, and "You look worse today."

Dialogue Wheel prompt: "Oh for Merlin's sake Ginny!"

Many thanks to InTheMidstOfNovember for helping me brainstorm the title, and my undying gratitude to I Am Definitely Not Jeff Bridges for all the editing, opinions, and humor that made this possible- I couldn't do it without you.