Chapter One - Arrival

There was something seriously wrong with Draco Malfoy. He knew it the moment the portkey deposited him, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and the two youngest Weasley children on a beach shore in Spain. She shook his head to clear it from the nasty dizzy feel of magical travel.

'Remind me again why were here.' He said trying unsuccessfully to swat away the sand that had swirled onto his black slacks and Italian shoes when they had landed. The Golden Trio rolled their eyes and started down the empty beach, as comfortable with him being there as he was by being there. Only the petite redhead girl turned to him and smiled, wiping the scowl from his lips. If there was something he had learnt in the past months it was the power of Ginny Weasley's smile.

'We needed a brake from headquarters and nowhere in England is safe.' She said, sounding like her mother. He sighed, resigned, wondering for the millionth what had possessed him to seek out the Order of the Phoenix. 'Hermione's aunt has a house here, and since her parents… well, after everything that happened, we thought it'd be good for her to see family.' The littlest Weasley said grabbing the china plate they had used to get here, adjusted the hold on her bag and starting to move down the beach. Draco looked around; endless seas, endless skies, and endless beach surrounded him, behind him a wall of sheer stone at least a thousand feet high. Not promising. Not promising at all.

'Aren't you coming?' she said, already a good distance away, stopping to wait for him. Draco grabbed his own bag and jogged to catch up with her. The weather was unbearably hot and he was grateful that Mrs. Weasley had made them go shopping for beach clothes, and annoyed that he hadn't thought to wear them. He and Ginny didn't speed up, figuring that as long as they could see the Golden Trio they would be able to follow. They walked by the beach for half an hour then came to a set of stairs carved into the stone. The trio waited from them at the bottom. It took them twenty minutes of climbing. They had to stop three times because Hermione was out of breath. He was surprised at the littlest Weasley, because she seemed to be enjoying herself. She hadn't even broken a sweat, which annoyed Draco to no end.

'And now I remember why I never go to the beach here.' Granger said panting as they reached the top. Potter and Weasley smiled at her encouragingly, and Draco was glad to see that there was some colour in her cheeks, glad that the ghosts that haunted her had not followed her here.

'It's beautiful.' Ginny said, the sparkle in her eye doing strange things to Draco's insides. Yep, definitely something wrong with him. He wasn't sure what had happened in the months they had been imprisoned together in Grimauld Place, but something had definitely changed. He had to agree with her, but for different reasons. The view of the sea was impressive, and the town would look charming enough in a magazine, but it was not beautiful in Draco's eyes. Draco had travelled, and had seen his fair share of the world. Beautiful was the Basilica of Saint Sophia in Turkey, a view of the frozen peak tops of the Alps when you were standing in spring in Tuscany, New York lit up at night, Oxford when it wasn't raining, Hogwarts –specially in winter-, and little Ginny Weasley. If the town and the sea were beautiful, it was because the little vixen was in the picture. He sighed again dejectedly, wondering if there had been something in the water at the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black.

(

Ginny sat in the back porch staring off into the horizon, her hands on the railing. Draco slid the glass doors open and stepped out closing them behind him.

'Feeling as left out as I do?' he asked, standing beside her. She smiled a little.

'Why do you think I refused to come unless you came with me? As much as I love them, Ron, Hermione and Harry can be a bit…'

'Self-centred? Overbearing? Outright annoying?' he said with a smirk. 'I don't know how you stand it. Half the time I want to wring their necks. The other half I want to beat some sense into their thick heads.' Ginny turned to look at him.

'It used to bother me. But besides the fact that I'm used to it, I keep better company now.' she said her eyes sparkling and appealing to flattery. He frowned.

'So, what do you want from me?' he asked eyeing her suspiciously. She slapped her hand over hear heart dramatically.

'Draco Malfoy, why in the world would you think that I want anything from you?' she said feigning an indignant look. He smirked. 'All right fine… I'm bored. Let's go exploring. There has got to be something interesting in this God forsaken town.' Draco rolled his eyes at her.

'It's almost sun set. Why don't we hold off the exploring for tomorrow and go play cards inside?' they both winced. 'Ok, so how about we play cards here.' He said gesturing towards a low table and armchairs.

'Better than going back inside,' she said with a shrug. Draco transformed an ashtray into a deck of cards. When they'd gotten here, there had been an extremely tearful welcome, where Hermione and her aunt had both sobbed for over twenty minutes holding each other while the other four stood uncomfortably in the background. After weepy introductions had been made, the boys and Ginny had been sent to inspect how their luggage had been distributed in the three rooms, while Hermione stayed with her aunt. They had taken over the kitchen to catch up. As it turned out, Ginny had been rooming with Harry, Draco with Hermione and Ron on his own, no one had been comfortable with this. Both girls had been put in the biggest room with the sea view. Then Ginny, Draco and Harry ganged up on Ron and kicked him out of the smallest room, giving it to Draco.

'Don't know why he gets his own room.' Ron had muttered darkly. Before Draco could think of a snippy remark, Ginny had whirled from her doorway and glared at her brother.

'Would you rather share with him, dear brother?' It wasn't what she said but rather how, that had him swallowing hard in order not to take a step back. It still amazed him, that with her size and gender she had so much power. Ron had backed down without a fight, knowing his sisters tone. She had turned, given Draco a smile and cheerfully slammed the door behind her. That smile that she seemed to save just for him had been the only thing that had prevented him from taking offence.

They played cards until midnight. Ron and Harry joining them at some point, leaving them as the clock struck twelve. Ginny and Draco abandoned the card game but stayed on the porch watching the stars. When he saw her head nodding, he stood.

'Come on, Red. Time for bed.'

'I've told you not…' she was interrupted by a yawn. 'Not to call me that.' She said getting up and almost walking into the table. Draco laughed softly.

'Come on.' He said steering her by the elbow. He left her at her door with a soft goodnight and continued down the hall to his room.

'Draco?' she said the door open before her, her head resting against the doorframe.

'Hmm?' he said, looking over his shoulder, his hand on the doorknob.

'I'm glad you're here.' Then she went into her room and closed the door softly. Draco smiled.

I'm glad I'm here too, Little One. He thought, closing the door behind him.