This was written for the 2009 D/G Fic Exchange on lj for Humbuggirl and will be complete in five parts. I'll post the prompt at the end. Hope you enjoy.

CONSOLATION PRIZE

'And then he said I was a loud mouthed harpy so I sent a tiny jelly legs jinx his way and he-'

'So you attacked him?' Auror Ginny Weasley asked the portly woman in front of her. 'You cast the first spell?'

'Too bloody right she did,' the woman's equally portly – oh, who was she kidding? They were just plain fat- husband said from across the room. Ginny wished he would close his robe. She'd already asked him three times.

'Only because you said that my sister couldn't come to stay!'

'Buggering hell,' the man shouted, jumping up from the couch. 'Celia, you hate the woman.'

'She's my sister, Harold!'

'I don't care if she's bloody Dumbledore back from the dead, she's not staying in my house!'

Ginny sighed and rubbed her temples trying to ease the tension headache that had been building since she stepped foot in the house. It had been three weeks of non-stop domestics, and doddering old fools who saw Death Eaters in shadows. And it was all Malfoy and his stupid Auror brutality report's fault. He'd actually gotten her suspended without pay for a month. He'd just sat there with the stupidest humble expression Ginny had ever seen as the Auror Commissioner made her apologise and assure him she was going to attend anger management classes to ensure an incident like this never happened again. And then he walked out the office with an arrogant smirk plastered to his face. Wanker.

The whole month she had endured lectures from her mother, from Percy, from Harry, from Hermione and even from Ron, explaining to her in the most condescending tone they could pull out their arses that she shouldn't let her temper get the better of her. It had been a month of counting to ten, visualising the positive outcome and recognising that it was her own unfulfilled desires and expectations that made her angry rather than the great, smirking Malfoy git. Ginny thought going through those classes was punishment enough, but the Auror Commissioner informed her that no past relationship with a certain high ranking Auror was going to excuse her unprofessional behaviour and she had been stuck with lousy little domestics every since.

Ginny snapped out of her reverie as a full body bound Harold crashed through the glass coffee table. His wife fluttered over him, checking for injuries, just about stripping him of his robe in the process.

She hated Malfoy.

*~*

After a quick chat with Harry, where he reprimanded her for allowing the dispute to turn into a duel, (Her protest that it wasn't really a duel seeing as Harold never had a wand, fell on deaf ears) and she was sent back to her cubicle with a pat on the arm. She had been there for the past three hours. She must have be the only Auror in England with absolutely nothing to do. She eyed her mug of quills and glanced furtively around at the surrounding cubicles.

*~*

Draco Malfoy stalked through the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They had been giving him the run around for the better part of two hours. Not one of them had taken him seriously. He halted his stalk as he came to the directory, one name caught his eye. Of course! It had to be. Who else would bother to make his life this difficult?

Draco turned on his heel and strode with renewed vigour back towards the Auror's mess of cubicles. Many of the Aurors peered at him from their desks. For people trained in the art of subtly, they were all surprising conspicuous. He would have thought that the Auror training program would have improved after the war with all the suspicion and paranoia that was floating around, but clearly it had gone downhill. He stopped after he passed a cubicle that looked like it had been squeezed in at the last minute it was so small. He took a few steps backwards and turned to study the cubicle's occupant.

Ginny Weasley was spinning around in her chair, a cup on quills balanced on her forehead.

He contemplated moving on without saying anything. He'd wasted enough time trying to get some response from this corrupt department as it was. But really, this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

'Good to see my hard earned tax galleons at work,' he sneered, startling Ginny. She lurched forward, grabbing the desk to steady herself. The cup crashed to the desk, quills falling down around her.

'Malfoy? What are you doing here?' she asked, stuffing her quills back into their cup. 'And how are your galleons hard earned? It doesn't take a lot of effort to collect interest.'

'How would you know, you've never tried it,' he scoffed.

'You didn't answer my question.'

'I have some business with higher level Aurors that yourself,' he said with a smile. Her face was bright red. He could honestly say he had never seen someone flush that deep a red so quickly before, and he had spent most of his adolescence trying to infuriate the Weasel King.

'Because you got me demoted!'

'You viciously attacked me. It was Auror brutality.'

'You're an arse.'

'Now, now, Weasley,' he said, wagging his finger at her. 'Best you control that temper. You did promise you would work on it.'

Her mouth dropped open and a fresh wave of red flushed her cheeks. She spluttered indignantly and spat a none to quiet, 'prat,' at his back as he just about skipped away from her. He entered an office. He flashed an arrogant smirk over his shoulder at Weasley, who looked as though she was about to have a coronary, as he closed the door.

'Malfoy,' Harry Potter said startled, dropping his quill. 'Don't you knock?'

'This made for a finer exit,' he replied settling himself down in the hard brown chair in front of Potter's desk. He sat straight, his legs crossed and waited for Potter to regain his bearings.

'Don't you mean entrance?'

'No.'

Potter sighed. 'You've already seen six Aurors, Malfoy.'

'Each of them more incompetent that the last, that's why I'm here, scraping the bottom of the cauldron.'

'Malfoy,' Potter said through gritted teeth doing his best not to show his irritation, 'None of the wards were disturbed on your property. You're being paranoid.'

'In the past weeks, my office has been broken into twice, my labs were raided and a prototype stolen and now my Manor shows signs of trespassing and you think I'm paranoid? Are you sure there's no brain damage to go with that scar?'

'Get out, Malfoy,' Potter growled, standing up at his desk, his wand gripped tightly in his hand.

Draco rolled his eyes and calmly got to his feet. Always with the theatrics. He left Potter's office, painting a smirk on his face for the benefit of the Aurors who followed his every move and made his way to the elevators.

If the Aurors were too dense to open a case, then he would find out who was breaking into his properties himself.

*~~

Ginny waited until Malfoy was out of sight before barging into Harry's office.

'What was Malfoy doing here?'

'Doesn't anyone bother to knock anymore?'

'It wasn't about me was it? Because I was off duty when I ran into him in Diagon Alley and I can't stay on these insignificant domestics any lo -.'

'Ginny!' Harry sighed. Ginny's mouth snapped shut. 'You need to stop letting Malfoy get a rise out of you. '

'But he's a prat,' she whined in her defence.

'Then stop letting him talk to you. Just walk away.'

'Like you always do,' she huffed, plonking herself down in the chair. She shuffled around trying to get comfortable.

'Just try,' he said exasperated. He picked up his quill and began scratching away, ignoring her. Ginny scowled at him but he continued to write up the report like she wasn't there. She glanced around his office, her eyes glazing over at the pictures of Dark Witches and Wizards. They pulled their most intimidating faces as they noticed her watching them. She watched the clock hands move slowly around the face, moving from, 'don't bother thinking about leaving yet,' to 'just ten more minutes'.

'I'm going home,' she said petulantly and stormed out of Harry's office.

She Apparated home and flopped down onto the couch. Her wand stuck into her back and her robes twisted uncomfortably around her. This day just kept getting worse. She laid there pouting for a few moments before throwing herself off the couch and stomped to her bedroom to change.

In her tracksuit bottoms and an old Quidditch jersey, Ginny felt more relaxed. She strolled back into her living room and flicked on the wireless. She hummed along to the music that filled her flat and went into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. She took a gulp and walked back to the living room, settling herself cross-legged on the couch.

'You're listening to WWN Fun with the Tonne,' a deep male voice said as Weird sisters faded out.

Ginny rolled her eyes. Fun with the Tonne, really? That's all they could come up with? She absently swirled the wine around in her glass.

'And that was an oldie but a goodie from the Weird Sisters. And now we have another caller Flooing in for his chance to win an all expense paid five day trip to the destination of your choice. That's right you even get to choose where you go. Terms and conditions apply,' Tonne said quickly, the words flowing together, 'but you get the Portkey, the accommodation, the food, nothing and they're throwing in five thousand Galleons spending money. All you have to do is be one of the first two people answer my question on the latest line of Weasley Wizard Wheezes products and you're in with a chance.'

Ginny took a sip of her wine. The new line only came out today and she had been forced feed, accidently consumed or been the victim of half of the new products in their testing stage. She could probably answer any question about the line they had. It was worth a shot, she decided rolling off the couch to Floo the wireless network. She definitely needed a holiday.

She listened with her head in the flames and she scoffed as a woman with an annoyingly high pitched voice failed to name Sherbet Lemon as the flavour of Dumbledore's, a lolly that promised a long, thick beard to even the most prepubescent of boys.

'You're on the air with Tonne,' he said, the logo of the station appearing in the flames. 'Who am I speaking too?'

'Ginny,' she replied excitedly, leaning further forward. It was just one little question.

'Evenin', Ginny, how's your day been?'

'Shocking,' Ginny answered with a sigh.

'Well answer the next question correctly and tomorrow could be a whole lot brighter. Here we go. Oh, Ginny, love, a hard one here. What product has the warning label of "Do not use when parent is in bad mood. May have unforeseen homicidal effect"?

Ginny smiled. She'd been witness to the reason behind that warning label. Her mother had not appreciated George swapping her fresh, free range chicken for a fake chicken that flapped its featherless wings to propel itself around the room, spouting off about the brutality of its life and the fundamental rights of poultry.

'Fun with Mum,' Ginny answered smugly.

'Congratulations, Ginny! You are the one of the finalist who will go head to head tomorrow, live in the studio, and duel for our grand fabulous prize. Thank you, Ginny, now just say on the flame and we'll have one of our happy little worker bees fill you in on the details. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon. Byebye now.'

The logo abruptly disappeared, replaced a minute later by a young man who yawned as he took down her details and told her to be at the station and five o'clock the next day.

*~*

Ginny rushed out of the Ministry of Magic at four thirty the next afternoon and Apparated to the radio station. She was lead to a small room with large windows, allowing her to see Tonne as he began his broadcast. There was already a man, who she assumed was the other contestant, sitting in room on a large black couch, reading over piece of parchment. A quill rested on the table in front of him. He looked up and smiled crookedly. His hair was slicked back making him look like a used broom salesman.

'Terms and conditions,' he said jovially, 'Turns out we can go anyplace we want as long as it's on this list.'

'Always the way it goes,' Ginny lamented as she sat down. The man smiled broadly at her. His teeth were stained.

'I'm Michael, by the way.'

'Ginny.'

'So, Ginny,' he started, sliding towards her side of the couch. 'You been studying?'

'Studying?' She hadn't thought studying would be required. It was a radio competition. What's that song? What colour is the sky? That kind of thing. How hard could the questions possibly be?

'Yeah, you know brushing up on your Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products. I went down to Diagon Alley especially to get a brochure and pick George's brain. You never know what they might have included.' He looked around the small room, rested his hand on her thigh, and then leant in towards her as he was about to let her in on a secret. 'You have to be careful about trick questions.'

'Right, they can get you,' Ginny agreed. She curled her lip and crossed her legs so his hand fell to the side.

'Then of course there's multiple choice. Sometimes an answer seems right but on closer inspection is actually wrong. Takes skill to sort those out,' he told her, tapping the side of his nose. 'Yep, those are a right pain.'

He was trying to psych her out! Ginny realised as he continued talking, going into depth about his study plan. She could not believe he was trying to psych her out of a radio competition. Was he going to side swipe her as they walked next?

She picked up her copy of the terms and conditions, and scribbled her signature on the bottom. She stared up at the ceiling while Michael lectured her on buzzer etiquette. She wasn't aware there was a buzzer etiquette before now, but apparently she was woefully ignorant in the ways of the competition world.

She jumped up excitedly as the door opened, but scowled when Malfoy walked in behind a short man with glasses. Malfoy's brow furrowed slightly when he saw her but he said nothing. What the hell was he doing here?

'Read and signed the terms and conditions?' the small man asked. 'Good, good. Well, the competition is fairly simple,' he explained quickly, 'Mr. Malfoy, here, will ask the questions and the first one to correctly answer three wins. There simply. Easy. Good, let's go.'

Ginny hurried out after him, brushing roughly past Malfoy. It was only when she was in sitting across from Tonne that she realised that Malfoy and Michael-the-chatter had not followed them. Malfoy's back was facing her but Michael appeared to be listening intently. She frowned when Michael vigorously shook Malfoy's hand, a bright, crooked smile on his face. Her frown deepened when Michael rushed out the room and Malfoy turned to smirk at her.

'We're here with the finalist in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Malfoy Corporation's Competition,' he announced. Ginny felt like she should have known Malfoy was behind the competition. Michael didn't seem surprised. She knew she should have read the terms and conditions instead of just signing.

'The winner,' Tonne continued, 'gets the fabulous prize of an all expenses paid trip to the destination of their choice. We have Draco Malfoy, Chairman of the Malfoy Corporation to ask the questions.'

Ginny watched Malfoy carefully as he stood beside Tonne. 'Thank you, Tonne. First question,' he glanced at Ginny and smirked. She felt her face flush and glared at him.

He was always smirking, Ginny fumed, trying to appear happy to be here to the others. It was too hard. She settled on a forced smile. She only had to last five minutes in a room with Malfoy without cursing the pillock and then she could sail off into the sunset for five days away in...Somewhere Malfoy wasn't. She really should have read the terms and conditions, then she might have some idea where she could sail off to.

'What Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product causes,' he asked slowly, pausing before delivering the effect of the product. 'Someone to transform into -'

'Canary Cream!' Michael cried, jumping up from his seat. Ginny stared at him. Malfoy hadn't even finished the bloody question. How could he know the answer? There was more than one product that transformed things. Had Malfoy told him the answers? She stared at Malfoy as he asked the next question. The git had given Michael the answers.

'Name two flavours do Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Sugar Quills come in?'

Ginny didn't even have time to open her mouth when Michael jumped out of his seat again, yelling, 'Chocolate and toffee!' Was it really necessary for him to jump out of his seat every time?

'Woah, Ginny,' Tonne interrupted. 'Looks like Michael came prepared.' Yeah, by Malfoy, she thought snidely. 'If he gets this next question right, he wins the trip!' He flicked his wand and then whispered, 'wrap it up, we're running behind,' harshly to Malfoy. Malfoy nodded and spoke quickly.

'What colour is Black-Eye fudge?'

'Pink!' Ginny yelled, Michael yelling 'Fuchsia,' a second behind her. She smiled smugly at Malfoy. He may have given away the answers but that didn't mean she wasn't in with a chance. She'd gotten in first. She just had to do it twice more. Easy as pumpkin pie.

'I'm sorry, Ginny,' Malfoy said condescendingly. If he had been anyone else, Ginny might have believed the sympathetic look that contorted his features. It looked so out of place on him. 'But Fuchsia is the more correct answer, so congratulations, Michael, you're going on a bloody fantastic holiday!'

Ginny's mouth dropped open. How could he do that? Pink/Fuchsia what as the difference? They were in the same family! Trust Malfoy to be the only male to care about a shade's specific name. She frowned as she and Michael were ushered out of the room, Malfoy staying to chat quickly with Tonne.

Ginny felt like crying as Michael was lead away to learn all about the fabulous trip he was about to go on. She was left alone, watching as Malfoy pretended to be a nice guy with Tonne, joking about how the twins had turned him into a Canary in his Hogwart's days.

Ginny couldn't believe the way the radio station employees were fawning over him as he exited the booth. Ginny lifted her chin defiantly as he approached her. When had the git gotten so tall? She silently cursed her mother's DNA. It was her contribution to Ginny's creation that had held her back. Why couldn't she have inherited her love of cooking?

'Such a shame you lost, Weasley. Rotten bad luck,' he said, smiling as he brushed past her.

Ginny stormed down the corridor after Malfoy. 'Malfoy! Get your bony arse back here right now.'

Malfoy turned to face her, feigning shock. 'I'll have you know that my arse is quite shapely.'

'You've always been a right arse but this is a slimy new low, even for you.'

'Weasley, if you've just stopped to give me compliments, I'm going to have to reschedule. I'm a busy man.' The bastard practically preened as he spoke.

Ginny stomped her foot. 'You gave him the answers, you little troll.'

Draco smirked and leant against the wall. 'So what if I did?'

'That's not fair,' she whined, deflating. 'I really needed this and you took it away because of a petty little grudge.'

'Oh come on, Weasley,' Draco said, pulling himself up and standing squarely in front of her. 'You're being a little bit dramatic, don't you think?'

'Not all of us can afford to just take off around the world.'

'It's not my fault you can't get the Galleons together to do anything worthwhile, Weasley, so stop pretending I'm the reason your life isn't all roses and puppy dogs.'

'But you cheated. You gave him the answers,' she insisted, crossing her arms and pouting.

'Slytherin,' he said simply. 'What did you expect?'

'I expected you to grow up,' she snapped. Honestly, it was like the man was still fifteen years old and trying to one up Harry.

'This coming from the woman who just stomped her foot when she didn't get her way.'

'I didn't just 'not get my way'. You,' she said jabbing him in the chest, 'took my way from me. I had a fifty/fifty chance of winning that holiday and you,' she drove her finger into his chest again. 'Stole it from me.' Ginny bit down on the side of her tongue, and blinked a few times, determined not cry. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

'I don't see what you're so put out about,' he growled. He grabbed her wrist to stop him from jabbing him a third time. 'You weren't even eligible to win. They shouldn't have let you even take part in the competition.'

Ginny stared at him. What was the git on about?

'Your brother is a promoter of this competition,' he said as if explaining it to a particularly dense child. 'Meaning you, his sister, are ineligible to enter.'

'But... no one said anything.'

'It was in the terms and condition,' he drawled.

'No one reads the terms and conditions,' she wailed, throwing her hands in the air.

'Guess you won't make that mistake again,' he replied snootily. 'Really Weasley- -umph.'

Ginny yelped as Malfoy was hit by a stunning spell. He was thrust into the wall and slumped to the ground unconscious. She looked up to see a large man hulking towards her, wand drawn.

'Stupefy!' he barked.

Ginny jumped to avoid the spell's jet of red light, landing hard on Malfoy's legs. She rummaged in her robes for her wand. Her eyes darted to the man advancing on her. Her fingers clasped the thin wood as the man snarled and pointed his wand at her.

'Expelliarmus!' Ginny cried.

The man was thrown back with the force of Ginny's spell, his wand flying out of his hand, bouncing off the ceiling and clattering to the floor. He clambered to his hands and knees, shaking his head. Ginny scrambled to her feet. She scooped up Malfoy's attacker's wand in the process. She stood in front of Malfoy's prone body and began to read the hulking man his rights.

'By the authority of the Ministry of Magic, I am placing you under arrest...'

The man looked up with a snarl. His green, piggy eyes met Ginny's and for a moment she faltered. He was huge and had no neck. There was part giant in his family somewhere along the line, she was sure of it. She was only five foot three and she couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. Sensing his opportunity, the man lunged forward tackling Ginny to the ground. He jumped up and took off down the corridor. Winded, Ginny pulled herself up slowly, wincing at the pain in her ribs trying to catch her breath.

With her breathing back to normal, Ginny bent over Malfoy. 'Rennervate.'

He blinked as he came too, at a loss to where he was for a moment. He pushed himself to his feet, using the wall to support himself.

'You ok, Malfoy?' Ginny asked. She grabbed his elbow to steady him. Her touch seemed to bring him back to reality. He shook off her arm and pulled himself up to his full height, adjusting his crumpled robes.

'Did you just stun me?'

'What? No!' Ginny cried indignantly. Trust the bloody pillock to put the blame on her shoulders. 'I just saved your life. Some big bloke stunned you and tackled me. I'm going to bruise, I know I am.' She hated being a redhead sometimes. Bruises popped up out of nowhere.

Ginny watched with narrowed eyes as Malfoy hurriedly checked his pockets. He sighed in relief. 'What are you looking for?' she asked, curiously.

Malfoy's head snapped up. 'Just checking my money is still here. I do carry around more loose change than you make in a year.'

'Well that's a lovely way to thank someone who just saved your life,' Ginny huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

'Oh, right, thanks,' he said absently and abruptly turned on his heel and strode away from her. Ginny stood stunned for a moment. Had he just thanked her. Sure, she had all but asked for the thanks, but she didn't expect him to actually say it.

Ginny chased after him. 'Malfoy, wait!' She grabbed his arm to stop him. 'You have to come down to the Ministry and make a statement. It'll-'

'That won't be necessary,' he barked and continued down the corridor and out onto the street.

'What?' Ginny asked stunned. She followed him out. She dodged around other pedestrians and had to just about break into a jog to keep up with him. She sped up and darted in front of him, blocking his path.

'I'm sure it was nothing and I'm fine. They didn't get what they wanted so I don't see the point in dragging a whole lot of red tape into the situation.'

'Malfoy, as funny as it was to see you knocked on your arse, someone just knocked you on your arse.'

'You're overreacting,' Malfoy said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He scowled as people turned their attention to the arguing pair, whispering and pointing. Why couldn't the bint just leave him in peace?

'You have me suspended over a little binding spell-' she began holding her thumb and forefinger a fraction of an inch apart.

'That caused me to fall forward and break my nose!'

'Exactly, I accidently caused you a tiny bit of pain and-'

'Have you ever had your nose broken?' he asked, annoyed. 'It's hardly the most pleasant way to start the day.'

'But someone who deliberately attacks you, - -and me!-and you let them off without even wanting to file a report?' That didn't track. Why wouldn't he want to report it? He got a kick out of reporting incidents in the past.

'The situation is completely different,' he sneered.

'Yeah, this person actually wanted to seriously hurt you.'

'Weasley,' Malfoy growled, leaning down into her face. She could feel his breath on her face as he spoke. 'I don't want to file a report so leave me the hell alone.'

'I'm filing a report with or without you.'

He looked at her perplexed. 'Are you daft? I said I don't want to. I don't care.'

'Well I do. Assaulting an Auror is a serious offence,' she informed him haughtily.

'Then leave me out of it.' He whipped his cloak, the material snapping at her legs, as he stormed away from her.

Ginny watched him disappear around the corner before Disapparating to the Ministry to make her report. It was strange, she thought as she made her way to her desk on the second level. Malfoy didn't not cause trouble for other people. Malfoy didn't work with her brother to give away expensive holidays. Giving away a holiday was nice. Malfoy was not nice. He was up to something, she was sure of it.