A/N: Hope you enjoy this little story. It's completed, so expect updates daily. There will be seven chapters. Thanks to the lovely JadePresley for her beta work!
Draco Malfoy was twelve years old the first time he realized the kind of monster his father could be.
For as long as Draco could remember, his father was a loving husband, a doting father, and a political force. Sure, he used blackmail and his large inheritance to get what he wanted. It wasn't all above board, and even as a child, Draco had understood that.
Sometimes you have to do things you wish you didn't to get what you want, the Malfoy patriarch had always told him.
He'd never been shy about his backhanded deals.
But after Draco's second year, watching his fellow students freeze in place and stay that way for weeks, when he thought someone had died…
He'd overheard his father discussing it with his mother that summer. His father had been the one to orchestrate the entire nightmare. He'd nearly gotten a little girl killed. A little girl just a year younger than Draco himself. He wanted to get that little girl killed.
Draco Malfoy was twelve years old the first time he realized he may not have what it takes to be a proper Malfoy.
Ginny Weasley was ten years old the first time her eyes fell on Harry Potter.
She'd heard all about him, of course — the Boy Who Lived. He was a hero, and he was only a year older than she. He'd accomplished so much as a mere baby. Ginny had admired the potential power he might possess all her short life, from the moment she first heard the story of that fateful Halloween night.
When she saw him, it was love at first sight. At least, that's what it felt like at ten years old. His hair was as dark as night, and those green eyes felt like they burned holes into her skin.
It made her wish she could go to Hogwarts right then even more desperately.
Ginny had always been one of the boys until her crush developed for the Boy Who Lived. It was something she knew sometimes upset her mother. Molly Weasley had long dreamed of having a little girl, one to dress up and play tea party with. Ginny had never been that. Worse, her father refused to see her for who she was. She would until the end of Arthur Weasley's days be a frilly princess in his eyes — so fragile she may break in a strong wind.
Ginny Weasley was ten years old the first time she daydreamed of marrying Harry Potter, and it was also the first time she imagined what it would be like to not have to live within her parents' expectations.