-1WORK
Summary: Draco's working when he gets a visitor, and realises that she's the one he wants.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters
AN: This was written for my 100quills claim, and the prompt was 'work'. This was supposed to include everything, including the epilogue but I forgot that Scorpius was the same age as Albus so I decided it was better to have him not exist, which means no Astoria/Asteria or whatever :P
It was early afternoon and Draco's stomach had begun to rumble in a most unbecoming way. He hadn't had a chance to stop all day as he had been working very hard on securing a new deal with some important business partners. A meeting first thing in the morning had been followed by a ton of paperwork. Dreadfully dull but it had to be done, especially if he wanted to bring this company back to the way it had been before it all went wrong just before the war.
Draco had a lot to prove. He had managed to escape doing time at Azkaban following the war, along with his mother and to his great surprise his father. Unfortunately this wouldn't make people forget about what their family had done during the war and as a result the family business had lost a lot of clients. People didn't trust them, and they didn't want to be associated with the Malfoy's any more.
With great satisfaction he signed the last piece of parchment in the pile and sat back in his chair, his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, just for a few seconds as he hadn't been able to stop since early that morning. Bliss. He knew it wouldn't last long, and he was right as he heard the door open and someone entering the room, muttering to themselves.
He opened one eye and groaned when he saw who his visitor was. Her red hair was flying all over the place, her cheeks were red - it looked like she had run, or at the very least walked fast - and she didn't look happy. She plonked herself down on the other chair that occupied the room and looked at him.
"What are you doing here Weasley?" he asked, sighing.
"I needed to get away. Harry's doing my bloody head in. Anyway, I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some sandwiches." Ginny pulled out a sandwich from a brown paper bag, scrunching her nose as she pulled out a slice of lettuce before taking a bite. "So want one?"
"No thanks, I'll pass."
His relationship with Ginny Weasley - sorry Ginny Potter - was strange. They had hated each other all their lives and then something had changed during his seventh year at Hogwarts. He had been desperate, searching for a way out of the mess he had gotten himself into and Dumbledore's words had kept going round in his mind so he had found Ginny and begged her to help him. It had been rather embarrassing asking for help from a blood traitor like her, but it was a small price to pay.
Eventually she had agreed to help him and soon something had changed, first they had been almost friends and then one day he had kissed her, surprising both of them. It was then that they had discovered that Hogwarts didn't have nearly enough broom closets although they had found some good ones.
Then after the final battle she had gone back to Potter. It had hurt, but at the end of the day he had always known that she would, and their relationship had never really been a relationship. It had only been convenient for them both, something good to happen when everything else in the world was going so wrong. A flicker of light in a world of dark.
Draco would have liked to have just moved on with his life but Ginny wouldn't let him. She insisted on staying friends and she seemed so cheerful at the thought of being friends with him he just hadn't been able to say no. Her visits at his workplace were quite common and he knew it gave her a break from Harry who was increasing frustrating her.
"So what's Potter done this time?"
"Oh, you know Harry. He's just being a pain. He won't let me do anything at the moment. I'm supposed to just stay inside and sit around on my arse for the next few months. Oh and there's the naming."
"Surely it can't be worse than Albus Severus?"
"No, nothing can be worse than that - poor Al, he's going to get teased so badly when he's old enough for Hogwarts. Although if anyone dares say anything about him, I'll be straight up there and I'll hex them so badly -"
"So what's the name this time?"
"Well if it's a girl Harry wants to name her Lily Nymphadora. Lily's a pretty name, but it's just so frustrating when you don't get a say in the name and the name is always after a dead person." Ginny frowned.
"Maybe you'll get to choose if it's a boy?"
"Nah, Harry will want to call him Cedric Colin or something like that."
"Well you can't expect anything original from Potter, he just doesn't have the brains."
Ginny ignored the insult and stared out of the window, a hand resting on her slightly swollen stomach. Usually she would have attempted to hex Draco for insulting Harry, usually a Bat Bogey Hex, but today there was nothing. She looked so lovely sitting there. She wasn't perfect, but that's what he liked most about her. Perfection was boring. It was a shame he hadn't realised that before.
"You know, this wasn't how I really wanted my life to turn out like. I'm 26, married with two kids, another one on the way and I'm stuck in some office writing up reports of Quidditch games while I'm wishing that I was still out there playing. I didn't get to play for long. I wouldn't give up my kids, but sometimes I just sit there wondering what it would have been like if things had turned out differently."
Draco wanted to say something, say that he still cared about her and that she could leave Potter and she could find out what it would have been like if she had stayed with him instead of running off to Potter after the war. Only problem was that he couldn't bring himself to do that to her.
He was thinking of someone else for once in his life and it thoroughly irritated him. He'd always been able to put himself first, his wants and needs, the only exceptions to that being his parents. It would be so easy to tell her how he felt and then run off with her - he'd even put up with her kids (who actually weren't that bad considering they were half Potter) if he could just be with her. Damn, being in love really did make everything that much more complicated, especially when the other person didn't love you back. He stopped thinking. Love? Oh shit!
"Oh, I'm sorry Draco. I'm not much fun today am I? I'll leave you to get back to your work."
She walked over to him, to plant a kiss on his cheek like she always did before leaving him alone again. This had been happening for years, yet it still made his stomach twist in uncomfortable knots every time. He didn't want her to go so soon.
Grabbing her wrists he pulled her closer.
"Stay," he breathed in her ear. "Just a little bit longer."
Ginny froze, and Draco mentally cursed. Now he'd gone and done it, she'd run away and never want to see him again. He'd ruined everything, and he hadn't got anything out of it. Suddenly she pressed her lips against his, surprising him.
"I'm sorry," she said as she broke contact, "I shouldn't have done that. I'd better go and leave you to get on with your work."
She practically fled out the door, a red tinge visible on her cheeks, although this time it wasn't because she'd run a long distance. The memory of the brief kiss was swirling around in his mind and he knew that he wouldn't be able to get any more work done today.
