Disclaimer:I don't own Harry Potter. End of discussion.

A Bedtime Story

"Auntie Ginny!" the little girl squealed, bouncing up and down. "Will you tell me a bedtime story?"

Ginny Weasley glanced down at her 7 year old niece and chuckled. "I don't know any bedtime stories, Angela."

The girl put her hands on her hips impatiently. "Then make one up," she said.

The older woman lifted Angela up and placed her in her bed. The girl's parents had gone out for the night, and they had, of course, called on 'Auntie Ginny' to come watch their daughter. Ginny sighed. In a way, she envied them. Their love was so great. It had begun right when they first met, though they hadn't realized it then. She shook her head. It took her idiot brother until his seventh year to admit he loved Hermione, but he was in love all the same. The way she had been...

"Well, alright. How would you like to hear about a girl I knew back when I went to Hogwarts?"

Angela clapped her hands in excitement. "Yay!" she said. She loved hearing stories about Hogwarts, where she would go in just a few years. "What was her name?"

"That's not important. The important thing is what happened to her."

"Oh, what happened?"

"Well, it all started one sunny day. The girl was in her 5th year at Hogwarts, her brother was in his 6th, and she was a chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team. It was during the first quidditch practice of the year that the story begins. She was just zooming through the air, not really paying attention, occasionally tossing a quaffle through the goal hoop, when she heard a voice calling to her from the stands."

"Hey! Weaslette!"

Ginny paused, glancing down at the stands, where she spotted a blonde haired boy in robe bearing the Slytherin crest. The Gryffindor girl was just near enough to him to see the smirk on his face. She sighed. "What do you want, Malfoy?" she called.

"Nothing, just surprised to see you out here, is all. Thought you'd be in your dormitory, crying," the boy jeered.

She flew her broom closer, so that she was only a few feet above him. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, I heared about your tragic breakup with Thomas. He dumped you for that Patil girl, is that right?" He grinned, knowiing he'd struck a nerve.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I couldn't care less what Dean is doing now."

"Really? So why weren't you at dinner that day he dumped you?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't, I was simply curious as to how you couldn't even keep a relationship for one summer."

"I don't need to listen to this," Ginny said, turning her broom around and flying back to her team. Looking back at him she called, "Get lost, Malfoy!" before returning to practice, thoughts of him still swimming in her head.

"Auntie Ginny? Why was the boy so mean to the girl? That wasn't a very nice thing to say."

"Well, you see Angela, the boy hated this girl, and she hated him."

"Why?" Angela asked.

"Well, remember this girl's brother I mentioned earlier?" Seeing a nod from the girl, Ginny continued, "Well, her brother and his two best friends had always disliked this boy because he was a Slytherin. And the boy didn't like them back, purely for the fact that they were Gryffindors. They started being mean to each other, and soon that dislike turned to hatred. They were enemies throughout all their years at Hogwarts. Now, this boy made jokes about this girl's brother, insulting her family. Of course, she was included in these jokes, being his sister. And since she was a Gryffindor and related to someone he despised, he hated her, too."

"But that sounds silly. Hating someone just because they were in a different house."

Ginny smiled. "Yes. Yes, it does. But it was true."

"So, what happened next?" Angela asked, sitting up. "What happened to the girl?"

"I suppose the next part of the story takes place after the boy broke up with his girlfriend a few weeks later. The girl did something mean then, thinking of all the times he had been mean to her in the past. She teased him about it, just as he had done to her."

"So, Parkinson finally get tired of you, Malfoy?"

"Get lost, Weasley."

"Why, did I hit a nerve? Still mourning over the fact that Parkinson dumped you?"

"Go away."

"What? Afraid your fellow Slytherins have finally realized what a git you are?"

"SHUT UP!" he screamed. "It's none of your business Weasley. Anyway, I wouldn't talk. You're the one who's teasing someone because they broke up with their girlfriend."

"Well, you did it to me!" she said.

"Oh, that's very mature."

"Oh, and it was mature to tease me about Dean?"

There was a pause."No. Alright, I admit it. Now get lost, Weasley."

She did a double take. Did Draco Malfoy just admit he was wrong? He didn't apologize exactly, but that was too much to hope for, and she'd take what she could get. "I-I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have teased you about Parkinson. It was childish."

It was Malfoy's turn to look taken aback. After a moment he regained his composure, but didn't say a word, merely nodding at her apology.

"This is the part where you're supposed to say 'I'm sorry, too,' you know," she asked, slightly annoyed.

He smirked, all sincerity lost, his usual arrogance quickly returning. "Malfoys don't apologize, especially not to Weasleys," he said.

"What did the girl do then?" Angela asked.

"Well, she got back at him. Turned his hair pink, if I remember correctly. But, of course, this boy could not just take that sitting down. He filled her dormitory with dungbombs. After that she turned him into a canary, and then he retaliated, and she saught revenge yet again. This went on for quite some time. She pranked him. He pranked her back. But each time they pranked each other, a little anger was lost. Soon there was hardly any venom in their pranks, they did them purely for the sake of it, to see the other's reaction and laugh. Their hatred for each other lessened somewhat over the course of the next few months.Then, one day after Potions class, the boy approached her and asked for a truce."

"Weaslette," he nodded, acknowledging her presence.

"Malfoy," she replied. "What do you want?"

"To propose a truce. This has been going on far too long, and I have better things to do than go on thinking up pranks to pull on you, however fun that may be."

"What? Are you giving up?"

"No, of course not. Malfoys never back down. This, however, needs to end."

"Are you sure you want to make a truce with a Weasley?"

"With a Weasley, no. But you have come up with a few half way decent pranks, and I guess you're not that bad...for a Weasley, that is. So, I will make a truce with you, now will you just get on with it?"

"Oh, alright then, fine. Truce?"

"Truce."

"You do know that if this is all a trick to catch me off guard, I will not hesitate to hit you with one of my bat bogey hexes."

Draco smirked. "You caught me. Fine, I won't retaliate- I've heard about your hexes before."

"Oh, is the great Draco Malfoy scared?" she asked.

"Never."

"So, do they like each other now?" Angela asked excitedly.

"Sort of. Over the next month or so, their hatred for each other completely dissapeared. They weren't friends, mind you. Not by a long shot. But they didn't despise each other. Every once in a while, the girl's gaze would drift over to the Slytherin table, and he would give her a small smile, before smirking and turning back to his friends. And once in a while he would glance over at her as they passed each other in the corridors and the corner of her mouth would quirk up, before she quickly wiped the semi-smile off her face and resumed talking to her fellow Gryffindors. And when ever they passed each other and were alone, which was rare, they'd stop and chat politely for a minute or two, before returning to their normal lives. This is how it went for some time."

"Then, she did the worst thing she could have done," Ginny said.

"And what would that be?" Angela asked.

"She fell in love."

"In love?"

"Yes, she fell in love with the boy, and at the time it seemed like he returned the feelings. They had started talking to each other more frequently now, purposely trying to catch the other alone. It wasn't long before he asked her out."

"Hey, Weaslette."

"Hello Malfoy."

"I was just wondering if you would like the honor of accompanying me to Hogsmeade this weekend."

Ginny laughed. "The honor?" she asked.

"Oh, alright. Maybe that was pushing it just a bit. We'll call it the 'extreme pleasure' then. Is that better?" Draco replied.

"Well," she said, pretending to consider his offer, "maybe..."

"Come on, Ginny."

She looked up, eyes wide. "Erm... you called me Ginny."

"Well, that is your name, isn't it?"

"It's just that you've always called me Weaslette or Weasley or something like that."

"Should I address you by your surname then?"

"No. I was just surprised, that's all. And, it would be my...'extreme pleasure-'" Malfoy smirked. "To go with you to Hogsmeade this weekend...Draco."

"And that was how it happened. They would go on dates every once in a while, and those were some of the happiest days of her life. That is, until the war interfered with their lives."

"Did they die?" Angela asked, eyes wide with fear.

"No, dear. They didn't die. Not physically, anyway. You see, the boy's father was a big supporter of the evil wizard Lord Voldemort-he was still in full power then. The girl's parents, however, were against him, and would do anything in their power to stop him. The girl and her brother and his friends, remember them?. Well, they were dedicated to fighting this evil wizard, too."

"And the boy wanted Voldemort to live?" the girl asked incrediously.

"I'm getting to that. Anyways, a few years passed, in which the battle against Voldemort was growing stronger. Soon they were both out of Hogwarts.The girl and the boy simply had no time for dating. They had much more important things to worry about. The girl only had the hope that once this was over, they would be together again. Well, after some time, the final battle was fought. You know what happened. Harry Potter defeated Voldemort for the last time. The wizarding world was safe again, for the most part. Now, in this war,the boy had secretly gone against his father's wishes and became a spy for the good side."

"I knew it!"

"Shush, let me finish. After the war was over, a few of Voldemort's followers escaped capture. One of them was the boy's father. When he learned what his son had done, he vowed to kill him and anyone close to him. For the boy's own safety, he was whisked away into hiding, but not before promising to come back for her someday."

"Ginny, please. You've got to understand. I have to go into hiding, my father is out to kill me, but more importantly, you. If he knew how close to you I was, you wuldn't stand a chance. You know I'd stay here with you if I could."

Ginny sobbed into Draco's shoulder. "I'm afraid I'll never see you again."

Draco turned her face to look at him. "I will come back for you. As soon as my father is dead, or at least locked up safely in Azkaban, I will come back for you. "

"I love you, Draco. You won't forget about me, will you?"

"Never. I promise. And Malfoys always keep their promises."

"And then he came back and they lived happily ever after, right?" Angela asked.

"No," said Ginny sadly."The girl waited for him for years, but he never came back. To this very day, she's still waiting for him, hoping that someday he'll come back for her, like he promised all those years ago."

Angela frowned. "But that's not right. He has to come back for her. They have to live happily ever after!"

"Not this time. Not all stories have happy endings, you know."

"Well, I think this story was a rip-off." The little girl crosed her arms, her frown deepening.

Ginny chuckled. "Well, that's your opinion. Now, it's time for you to go to sleep."

"Aw, do I have to?"

"Yes, you have to." The older woman leaned down to kiss the girl goodnight, then walked out of the room and turned off the light. She closed the door to Angela's bedroom and sighed, leaning against the wall. She wondered if he ever would come back.

"That was a real nice story."

Ginny's eyes widened and her head snapped up. She knew that voice, she could recognize it anywhere. "Draco," she whispered.

"That's my name," said the figure leaning against the wall just outside the bedroom door. He gazed at her longingly, his blue-grey eyes full of emotion. "I told you I'd come back for you."

"I thought you'd forgotten about me," Ginny said, stepping closer, hardly believing what was happening. She reached out to touch him, to make sure it wasn't just her imagination.

He chuckled softly. "I'm really here, Ginny. I thought you knew I would never forget you. I promised."

"Yes, you did. But you were gone so long..." A tear ran down her cheek. "And now you're back. And I just want to-"

He cut her off, silencing her with a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, as if afraid she would dissappear forever if he ever let go. She ran her hands through his silky blonde hair, memories of their school days flooding back at his familiar touch, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. After a while, she pulled away. "Promise me you'll never leave me again," she said through her tears.

"I promise. And Malfoys always keep their promises."

A/N- So, what did you think? Review and tell me please. Oh, by the way, for all of you who are interested, I got the inspiration for the fic from slytherinsexgoddess's plot bunny on FictionAlley . org. Now, review already :)