A/N: This is the result of my best friend Mxya telling me she had an idea for a Draco/Ginny story. The thought of those two got stuck in my mind and I couldn't rest until I wrote one myself.

Summary: EWE. Post-war, Draco has turned up to one of Potter's parties with Pansy Parkinson and begins to notice Ginny Weasley in a way he never has before. It must be the alcohol he's consuming. And he can't help follow her when she leaves the room...

Disclaimer: Not mine. Believe me, you'd know if it was.


Draco Malfoy was drunk.

That was simply the only possible explanation for what he was thinking right at that moment, with a drink in his hand and staring in shock at someone across the room. For the moment, he could not even hear a word Pansy was saying from beside him and didn't care at all.

Glancing down at the glass in his hand and swishing it slightly, he glared. It was most definitely the alcohols fault that he had thought of the Weasley girl as attractive. With a sigh, he supposed it probably also had something to do with the fact that the green dress she was wearing clung to every curve and complemented her hair perfectly, making it stand out.

It was absolutely disgusting.

"Draco?" Pansy asked curiously, laying a hand softly on his arm and tilting her head to the side. It was then, as he looked up from his drink, that he was glad she hadn't caught him looking at the younger girl who was talking to Potter.

Stupid, stealing, hero-Potter.

"Yes?" Draco asked.

"You don't have to talk to them, you know," Pansy said quietly, glancing over at Potter and Weasley as well, as if understanding Draco's problem.

He sure hoped she didn't have a clue, but the expression on her face was making him anxious and he swallowed before shifting awkwardly on his feet.

"Potter only invited us to be nice," Pansy continued. "He'd probably be shocked if we did go talk to him."

Draco grunted and turned away slightly, not wanting her to see how relieved he was that she was talking about something completely different. He hadn't been worried at all about whether Potter would be offended if he didn't go over and talk to him. In fact, if he thought it would offend the Gryffindor, he would have deliberately gone out of his way to avoid him.

But his problem was different. The silly red-headed girl probably didn't even realise what her smiles were doing to him.

And Potter. The idiot was practically tripping over his own feet as he spoke to her, looking down and continuously blushing.

Downing the rest of his drink in one gulp, Draco put the now empty glass on a tray that was floating past and picked up a new glass, preparing to down the contents almost as quickly. He heard Pansy sigh disapprovingly but didn't allow it to stop him from swallowing the liquid. He closed his eyes for a second as his throat burned and then looked up to something quite distressing.

Potter was leaning towards the Weasley girl, a nervous expression on his face. Draco quickly studied Ginny's face, not noticing as he held his breath, but then relaxed as he noticed her tense up and turn away sadly.

Draco's gloating that Potter had been rejected was cut short, however, as he suddenly found his eyes caught in the gaze of the very same girl he had just been staring at. All hopes of starting to breathe again were gone and he tightened his grip on his glass.

Her eyes left him as quickly as they had come and he exhaled. She was saying something quietly to Potter now, her eyes full of sorrow as she put a hand on his shoulder to try and console him. Potter shook his head at something, shrugged, and then walked off.

It looked like the red-headed beauty was ready for him.

"Pansy," Draco croaked out, tearing his eyes away from Ginny to look at the girl he had arrived with. "I'm drunk."

After he said it, he realised the statement probably would have been more convincing if he had said it with a wobble, or even a giggle.

But there was no way that was going to happen. Even though he was fairly sure he was drunk, there was no way he was going to do anything which might make onlookers think he was. But Pansy? She was allowed to know.

"Why? What's wrong?" Pansy asked a bit too quickly, turning to face him and smoothing her dress down slightly. Her cheeks were tinged red and Draco scowled, looking past her to see a man smirking and making his way out of the room. Apparently Pansy had decided to flirt with her eyes since Draco had been otherwise preoccupied.

"I see you've found someone else already." Draco raised one eyebrow to go with his statement, momentarily forgetting about his predicament.

"Oh, that's none of your business!" Pansy hissed, folding her arms but giving into temptation and glancing over her shoulder to see if she could spot the mystery man again.

"Isn't it? We came together, didn't we? Or has my inebriation affected me so much that I'm wrong about that as well?" Draco asked tensely.

"Just because we came together doesn't mean we're in a relationship," Pansy said with a frown. Looking up to see Draco's shocked expression, she rolled her eyes and continued, "I'm not stupid enough to still think you might be interested in me, Draco. If you were you would have asked me out years ago."

"So? That doesn't- I mean, well," Draco pursed his lips and then let out his breath in a huff. "Fine."

"Now that we've established that," Pansy said. "What could have possibly led you to believe you're drunk? Other than the excess amount you've been drinking, of course."

Draco glanced down at the empty glass in his hand again since Pansy was looking at it as well and seemed suddenly horrified to know that he had been drinking so carelessly at a party which Potter hosted. Not that he cared, actually.

In fact, he cared so little that he exchanged his glass for another full one from another floating tray which happened to come by at just the right moment.

"You're not planning on answering me, are you?" Pansy asked, slightly miffed that she was being ignored for alcohol.

"No." Draco said, then turned to look at her with wide eyes and amended, "What I meant to say was this."

Smirking, he fell silent and turned away again. Pansy let out a gasp of mock horror and she hit him on the arm for being so cheeky.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Draco," Pansy said, leaning up to his ear so that she could be sure he wouldn't ignore her this time. "But you're not drunk."

"Yes I am." Draco said automatically, his eyes watching Ginny Weasley walk across the room towards Granger, her hips swaying hypnotically. At this rate he'd never find a spare moment to drink the alcohol in his hand.

Pansy turned her head to see what had Draco so engrossed and her eyebrows promptly shot up to disappear behind her fringe.

"Well I say," she said with a chuckle. "You've convinced me! You must be drunk! Now, since you're currently vulnerable I'm going to leave you, making you even more vulnerable, and go find my mystery man."

With a smirk of her own, Pansy walked off and left Draco to stare by himself.

It took him a moment to digest what she had said and then he scowled, apparently finding the 'moment' he was waiting for as he brought the glass to his lips and swallowed the contents. The burn down his throat was now welcome and he sighed, placing the empty glass on another tray passing. This time he managed to control himself so he didn't pick up another.

Ginny, after speaking briefly to Granger, left the other in order to approach a door at the side of the room. She had disappeared before Draco could comprehend what was happening and then, in the next moment, Draco found himself taking long strides towards where he had last seen her. Opening the door and stepping out into the corridor, Draco pulled the door shut again and found himself looking straight into her eyes again.

"Did you follow me?" Ginny asked curiously, a tinge of amusement in her voice.

"No." Draco said weakly, panicking. He didn't understand how the situation had become so embarrassing so quickly, and also wanted to know when he had started referring to her as 'Ginny' in his mind and not 'Weasley' or 'Weaslette'.

"It's okay," Ginny smiled. "I don't mind."

Draco frowned, believing that he had walked right into a trap of some kind, but unable to figure out what exactly that could be. The alcohol must have been making his mind fuzzy.

"I was just going to get a breath of fresh air," Ginny said slowly. "You can join me if you'd like."

Without waiting for an answer, Ginny turned and walked off down the hallway, reaching the door that led to a balcony and then glancing back at him. There was a challenging look in her eyes which made him square his shoulders and saunter over, following her out into the night air. They were standing so close that he felt his head spin and wondered if it really was all due to the alcohol or not.

At least it was Ginny, a pureblood, that he had suddenly thought of as beautiful that night and not the muggle-born, Granger. He never would have been able to forgive himself for that.

"I saw you watching me." Ginny said as she gazed out at the night. "I thought you were going to kill Harry when he tried to kiss me."

Draco wanted to protest and deny the accusation, but he was far too caught up with letting his eyes trail over her bare shoulder, down her arm, across to her waist, to her hips-

"You look very handsome tonight, Malfoy," Ginny said, turning around and smiling at him. He quickly looked up into her face and swallowed, hoping he wasn't blushing like Potter had been when talking to her. How pathetic would that be?

"You- you don't look so bad yourself," he managed.

Ginny took a step towards him and trailed her tongue across her lips teasingly, smirking as his face paled.

Draco thought he was going to faint. His head was spinning and he felt sick, as though he was going to throw up as well. Why did she have to do that? Didn't she know how utterly amazing – disgusting – it was?

"I'm not interested in Harry anymore, in case you were wondering..." Ginny murmured as she brought her face to a stop just in front of his own. "I'm interested in you."

A strangled sound came from Draco's throat and he fought to maintain control, but seeing Ginny begin to close her eyes was the last straw.

With fiery passion, he grabbed the back of her head with his hand and pulled her lips against his, kissing her as if the world was about to end and he wouldn't have a chance otherwise. He tilted his head to have better access, gasping as Ginny made the first move to deepen the kiss. Her tongue entered his mouth quickly and soon they were battling it out, trying to show the other who was in control.

Yes, Draco thought to himself as he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer towards him, I am most definitely drunk.

Pulling back slightly to take a breath, Draco suddenly found himself kissing Ginny's jaw until he slipped lower and was nibbling at her neck. Her girlish giggles only encouraged him and he bit hard enough to leave a mark, smirking as he trailed up again and quickly attached his mouth to hers for a second time.

He'd love to see the look on Potter's face when he saw Ginny had a love bite.

His ecstasy was cut short, however, as the door opened and slammed into his back, sending the two of them stumbling towards the balcony railing. Draco pulled away from devouring Ginny to look over his shoulder and find out who had rudely interrupted them.

A weight settled in his stomach as he saw the unmistakable red hair and death glare coming from Ron Weasley. He wondered if he would be spared if he stepped away from the angry man's sister slowly, but was pretty sure it wouldn't change anything.

"Ron, please," Ginny began. "It's all my fault, I'm the one who-"

"Yeah? What exactly did you do, Ginny?" Weasley roared, raising his wand to point at both of them.

"Well for starters," Draco said, still only looking over his shoulder. "She shoved her tongue down my throat. Then she-"

Draco's words ceased as he was hit by a stunning spell and crumpled onto the floor at Ginny's feet. There was a blissful, smug expression on his face as he lay there unconscious and Ginny had to drag her brother away so that he didn't do any more damage because, 'The git's still smirkin' at me!'.

When Draco awoke hours later, his head was pounding with more than a hangover and he could feel a few bruises covering his body here and there. Remembering what had happened, he grimaced and pushed himself up off the cold balcony floor where he had been left.

Sighing and deciding it was time he left, he apparated back to his Manor.

But not before deciding that he was not entirely against becoming drunk again at another of Potter's parties if the events of earlier ended up continuing.

No, not at all against that idea.