A/N - Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or subscribed, etc! You guys are the best! To answer one of the reviews, I know, Harry isn't having a great time of it at the moment, but please try not to feel too sorry for him, as I do have plans for him coming soon which should make everything look a bit better! Anyway, I enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hope you like it too.

Chapter 4 – Callidora's

Draco had followed Ginny in silence as she stormed out of the house and instead of apparating away, just walked and walked down the moonlit country road, not looking back at him. His mind was reeling at her last words to Harry before she had left the house. I did not cheat on you, I am not seeing Draco Malfoy, and we are through. So it really was over between the 'golden couple' of the all the newspapers and magazines that had them cast as a done deal, the celebrity couple of the wizarding world. He was quietly triumphant that Ginny was no longer seeing anybody, though he didn't know how she felt about him. The way was clear, now, right? He wanted to pursue her, and now there was definitely no chance of getting in Harry's way. It was more than he had dared to hope for.

He wasn't sure exactly what to do now though with the little red-headed witch still determinedly pacing away along the road in the dark, and at quite a pace too. How long had they been walking down this road now in silence? Why they were even bothering to walk; it was irritating. How to broach the silence? He stopped walking and simply watched her, waiting to see if she would notice that he'd stopped following her or if she'd even care.

She stopped herself abruptly about twenty meters farther down the road, shoulders sagging. The moonlight still glinted off her hair enough that he could make her out. Slowly, she revolved around to face him, head hanging.

"Ginny?" he called.

"Sorry. I'm angry. I needed to walk out the frustration." She sighed and started shuffling back towards him, closing the distance back up.

"It's alright, no need to apologize," he muttered. Now that she had stopped her frenzied walking it looked to him like her skin was pricking with the cold, bare arms showing off her skin in a pale snowy beauty in the silver light, matched closer to his own than it would ever usually appear.

"Here, take my cloak, you'll be freezing soon," he said gruffly, shrugging it off from around his shoulders and throwing it around her. It looked much too large on her, immediately dwarfing her slim figure in its folds. She smiled up at him gratefully, still looking apologetic.

"Thanks, I must have left mine at Ron's," she said, shrugging it up higher and shivering involuntarily from the chill still in her bones. "Ugh, so much for dinner," she groaned then, remembering what they had actually gone to Ron's for in the first place. "I've ruined your evening, and you must just hate me for dragging you into all this!" her voice rose in anguished tones again, and Draco jumped in hastily, lest her temper started to peak again.

"Ginny; Gin," he said soothingly, grabbing her by the shoulders and peering down at her, trying to capture her eyes with his until she looked at him reluctantly, listening. "It doesn't matter, ok?" he continued in his soft, soothing tones, silver-grey orbs bearing into her, and Ginny found herself wondering at how mesmerizing his melodic soft tone was. "Though I am kind of hungry," he added as an afterthought, frowning. Ginny giggled at his expression and abrupt change from mesmerising to thinking about his stomach.

Draco, caught by surprise at her suddenly lightened mood, grinned back at her, a little warmth striking into him at the sound of her laugh. For the moment she seemed to have forgotten her anger over Harry, which he was keen to retain. "Tell you what," he said, "we both need to eat, I'm not letting you starve and I reckon you could do with the company for a little while longer yet, so how about you let me take you to dinner?" he suggested in as light a tone as he could manage. He badly did not want to give up her company just yet.

Ginny tightened and tried not to let the smile slip off her face as she considered, hesitating. Surely it was harmless; they were trying to be friends, weren't they? Friends have dinner together. Not to mention the fact that this was all her fault anyway, the reason he had missed the promised dinner. She owed him this much. She let just another fraction of a second hang between them before she finally answered, "Dinner. Sounds great. Where do you suggest?" she cocked her head inquisitively up at him.

Draco gazed at her face for a long moment, enjoying the way her rich red hair began to fall across her face in strands, highlighted by the moonlight in glossy fragments, and the fact that he had her full attention. Her eyes, wide and inquiring, were drowning him in their gaze. At last he answered, lips quirking upward in a characteristic smirk, "Oh I know a nice place. How about I Apparate us?"

Ginny scowled. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Now where would the fun be in that, Ginevra? It won't be a surprise if I just tell you."

"Why does it have to be a surprise," she pouted, making Draco smile again. She did look rather gorgeous when she did that, he decided. "I don't think I like surprises."

"Well maybe I'll just have to change your mind about that one day, hmm?" he continued good naturedly, pulling her to him and grasping her hand gently so that he could Apparate the pair of them to the mystery location. Ginny shivered a little at his touch as a shock travelled lightly up her arm, tingling her nerves. His hand felt strong and warm, encircling hers and tightening firmly in readiness to Apparate her.

Draco spun, pulling her with him, and then a new scenery popped into life around them. Ginny blinked, taking in the new, busier surrounds. Although it was getting quite late, moon large and bright in the cloudless sky, there were still people out and about in the busy little town square, a square, which, she realised, she knew as that of Tinworth, where her brother Bill's cottage was to be found on the outskirts. In front of them stood the large building that was most prominent to the square, the popular restaurant Callidora's, with its large fronted windows spilling out warm light and the noise of a busy, cheerful atmosphere. It was well respected in the wizarding world, she knew, though she had never been to the establishment before herself. Draco's grip on her hand slackened and she relinquished it, reluctantly. Somehow it had felt reassuring.

"Callidora's?" she asked of Draco, surprised. "I've heard lots of good things about this place, but it's supposed to be a bit pricey, isn't it?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Of course," he smirked, "I only frequent the best places, you know."

"…and wouldn't we need a reservation for somewhere like this?" she continued, unperturbed.

"I don't need a reservation, don't worry," he said, mouth curving.

When Ginny only raised her eyebrows even more at him he sighed, rolling his eyes.

"So cutting yourself off from your father doesn't extend to cutting yourself off of his money, I suppose," she didn't sound too pleased, but looked more embarrassed at asking this, and it was evident that she was trying not to be judgemental but unable to not be curious.

"Ginny, I have quite a bit of my own money, I've not been sitting around these past few years just living off of his bank balance," Draco tried to explain patiently, but nevertheless irked by her presumption.

"Oh! I didn't mean- sorry, I guess I just assumed that it was the Malfoy riches you were alluding to…" she trailed off, looking even more embarrassed. "I'm really not doing well with this evening, am i?" she muttered in a low voice.

He laughed at her horrified tone. "Well, it is Malfoy riches, it's just my Malfoy riches," he clarified, trying not to sound too smug.

She looked up at him again now, curiosity evidently alive and burning in her caramel brown eyes.

"What is it you do, anyway, to earn all these riches? You never said," she asked.

Draco just inclined his head towards the restaurant, putting an arm around her waist to pull her forwards over the cobbles. "Let's save all that for once we're seated, shall we? It's getting colder by the minute out here,"

Ginny shifted guiltily from inside his thick cloak, "that's my fault too," she sighed. "Yes, let's get indoors."

The interior of Callidora's was bedecked in plush purple and burgundy colours, and the air was filled with aromatic and spicy flavours that immediately set Ginny's mouth watering upon stepping through the door. Over the welcome desk was framed a huge portrait of a woman with glittering golden eyes and a dazzling smile, curling her sleek dark locks around a finger as she beamed at them from the plum-coloured background. Ginny could only assume that this must be Callidora herself, one time proprietress. The painting spoke, in a surprisingly resonant, booming voice;

"Table for Two?"

Draco inclined his head and she smiled back in satisfaction, nodding. Then, out of nowhere popped a waiter as if summoned, to show them to their table. They were led to a fairly secluded spot right by one of the large glass windows fronting the store; most of the table was shielded from view by an exotic palm-like plant fanning out in front of it. Draco surprised Ginny by insisting that she take the chair he held out for her first- she wasn't expecting anything so gallant- and then moving around the table to seat himself opposite. He regarded her solemnly, then gave her a small smile. He was so hard to read, she mused, seeing him sit so without emotion; he looked so detached right then that she had no idea what he might be thinking.

"So," she fixed a hard gaze on him, "What do you do to earn all those galleons?" she didn't hesitate in repeating her question, still curious. "It's not fair that I don't know anything about you, when you were reading all about my career with the Harpies earlier on," she insisted, pouting again.

"Ginny, we've barely sat down," he shot back, amused. She was going to break him rather easily if she kept up that pouting thing every time she wanted any information. "How about we order some drinks and that, and then you can interrogate me," he drawled, all sarcasm.

She shot him a look, rolling her eyes slightly, but agreed, almost begrudgingly, "Fine, let's get some drinks then,"

Draco indicated subtly and the waiter reappeared from somewhere or other to hand them the heliotrope-coloured drinks menus he was holding. Ginny gazed down the list of options, not really that interested in what she had. "I'll have a glass of mead," she stated, and it immediately appeared in a wine glass on the table in front of her.

She looked back up to Draco, to find him still watching her. As he caught her eye he looked down at his own menu, barely glancing at it before he announced, "Firewhisky," for it to do the same.

Disregarding the menu in favour of the wine glass, she swilled the dark red liquid around the glass absently before posing her question once more. "So am I authorised to ask you about your life, now, or are you going to keep on avoiding my questions, Malfoy?"

"Malfoy?" he asked sceptically, eyebrows arching.

"Well I have only known you as anything other than an arch enemy for less than a day," she shrugged. "and you were irking me with your avoidance techniques,"

"Pfft," he made a disgruntled noise. "I'd rather you didn't revert back to that again, if you don't mind."

"Ok, fine, Draco," she intoned, voice heavy with sarcasm. "So?"

He sighed. "I'm a potioneer. Nothing too interesting," he finally gave up, seeming embarrassed to talk about himself.

"A potioneer?" she echoed, fascinated. "But that is interesting! You must be really talented to make a living from doing that, and creative, too- and you make enough from that to have 'riches'? I'm impressed," she countered, eyes sparkling with the enthusiasm of her argument.

"Well I confess I might have a little talent," he acknowledged, smug, "but that's not the only source of my so called 'riches'," He rolled his eyes at the term, "I invested a lot of my money in making magical properties and selling them on."

"Really?" Ginny sat up a bit straighter, staring at him. "What does that involve?"

"Oh, you know; buying a muggle property or creating one from scratch, then goes about the process of making it unplottable, putting all kinds of shields and stuff up around it to make it wizard-only, connecting it up to the floo network; all the typical things that make magical homes and businesses secure and easy to set up in, he explained in a bit of a bored drawl.

"I've never really even thought about that before, sounds like a good idea. An entrepreneurial streak, huh?" she eyed him speculatively.

"I'm getting bored talking about myself," he said, trying to change the subject.

"Nuh-uh, I only just got you talking about yourself. You're not allowed to be bored yet," she countered, grinning evilly.

"Mmph." He only grunted in reply, choosing to watch her instead. She had gone silent, frowning slightly in her thoughts as if something had just occurred to her.

"Slughorn never invited you to any of his stupid slug clubs in my fifth year," she said. "Really missed a trick, there, didn't he, ? "

Something about Draco's demeanour stiffened. "I was a bit preoccupied that year," Draco said softly, barely audible in fact. "Slughorn wouldn't have exactly seen me at my best in his classes."

Ginny was uncomfortable all of a sudden. It was like the light illuminating his other side had been switched back off again and she had been reminded who she was really having dinner with. What he had been involved in that year.

Draco closed his eyes in dread, recognising the emotions rolling over her face. He was watching her face carefully for her reaction to that comment, only too aware of the way the shift in conversation had been leading. Always back to his past. He would never escape it. But then her next remark surprised him completely.

"I think Luna told me about this place, Viktor must have brought her here recently."

Sure, it was in a slightly higher pitch than she would normally have spoken, and Draco didn't miss the slight strain attached to the words, but her tone was light; she was choosing to forget about all the past and not attack him about it or judge him. She was handing him a lifeline and changing the topic. He just gazed at her again, speechless. She really was something else; it wasn't just her irresistible beauty that was drawing him towards her, it was this- exactly this. She wasn't like anyone else. And he was so incredibly grateful for it.

Ginny raised her eyebrows at him, seemingly having recovered from that last conversation with its almost-horrible ending, and Draco remembered that she had just made a remark and that she was waiting on him to speak. He struggled to remember the words.

"Luna? As in Looney-"he saw her face and backtracked, "-Luna Lovegood? What would she be doing in a place like this?" He still struggled to keep the obvious incredulity out of his question. It just seemed so very unlikely.

"It must have been that she came with Viktor, her boyfriend. He's always taking her out to swanky restaurants, or his Quidditch press events- she tends to go to some very nice places nowadays," she mused, just relieved that she had successfully steered the conversation into clear waters again.

Something she had just said was making Draco struggle in confusion; his brain was trying to grapple with the obvious pieces and fit them together into something that resembled sense. "Wait, Viktor… and you said Quidditch… you're not serious?" When she only looked back at him with amusement in her eyes, he spluttered,

"Lovegood and Krum? Viktor Krum? You have got to be kidding me."

"Surprisingly, they work well together," she answered, chortling slightly at his expression. "It's hard to explain, I guess you need to see them together to see it, but it really is adorable, them as a couple. They have an odd, kind of balancing-each-other-out thing going on"

"How long has this been going on?" Draco said in disbelief, swallowing down a big gulp of his Firewhisky in the process and looking like the concept was rather too much to handle. "I can't believe I've not read anything about it in the Prophet before, or all the Witch Weekly gossip,"

"Oh, they've been together for ages now, over a year at least, I'm not sure," Ginny said lightly. "They live together and everything- Luna's mostly the reason that he spends so much time over here these days; he trains with my team; you know, the Harpies; while he's here, and then goes back to Bulgaria by Portkey for any of the matches that he's required to play in, or for any internationals."

"Blimey," Draco breathed. "Krum and Lovegood. Never thought I'd hear that one." He shook his head.

"Anyway, Did you just say Witch Weekly gossip, as if you actually read it?" she snorted, "Doesn't seem like your thing,"

Draco looked back at her darkly, "I wouldn't, but it's all because of Pansy," he looked in distaste of this fact, and it was Ginny's cue to smirk and enquire sweetly, her interest heightening slighty despite herself,

"Pansy? Weren't you at school with her?"

"Yeah, that's right; anyway, we're still friends, and she's a columnist for Weekly now, so she makes me read her column every week and tell her what I think. Ugh," he finished, shuddering at the thought.

She snorted, "That bad, huh." Draco just nodded.

Ginny smiled. She still wasn't used to seeing Draco like this or conversing with him like a normal human being; and the biggest surprise of them all was that he was one; capable of being civil. People had much too clouded a vision when it came to Slytherins, or ex-Slytherins, for that matter, she was realising. They just needed to be given a chance, like anyone else.

"We should order some food," Draco declared, coming out of his reverie. "I wasn't joking when I said I was kind of hungry before."

Ginny nodded her agreement and before long they had the food menu for the main courses in front of them, and she was perusing the options once more. There were so many mouth-watering sounding dishes justifying all those lovely aromas that she had smelt upon entering, and it was difficult to choose. She glanced over to Draco to see if he was having as hard a time choosing and caught him staring at her again. Swallowing the instinct to be irritated, she opted for amusement.

"What?" she asked him coolly, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"I just find you captivating to watch," he said simply, making no attempt at concealing it or anything. Ginny gaped at him, colouring, then shut her mouth with a snap, realising that it was hanging open at him in disbelief at this bold statement.

"Um…ok," Ginny began, shaking her head and trying to clear her thoughts from the shock of his audacious reply. She cleared her throat, "Do you know what you are having yet?" she asked, "What's good here?"

He smiled back coolly, a bit disappointed with her reaction.

Because it was true, Draco could hardly tear his eyes away long enough to grace the menu with a look; while she was concentrating in a fierce study of its contents, he could study her with silent appreciation, so similar to the way he had seen and watched her in the bookstore that morning. She wore the same rapt attentive expression as she gave proper focus to the menu that she had in her task of browsing the book titles, brow furrowed in a little frown and biting her lower lip in indecision. Her straight fiery hair wasn't exactly in a pristine shape, as the light wind from outside had ruffled it rather a lot, but it still made her look radiant, the strands around her face framing her, bright against her skin, her creamy complexion…

He shook himself. "I could order for both of us if you like?" he offered, fully expecting her not to agree to that.

"Oh, ok then, just do that, I can't decide as it all sounds so good." She sighed then and looked distractedly out of the window with a sombre face, and with a sinking heart Draco realised that she probably hadn't forgotten the earlier part of the evening as easily as it had appeared. Light as her mood had been since they arrived at the restaurant, he could see now that she was at least beginning to remember the break up now. Great.

Putting these feelings aside, he motioned once more for the young dark-haired waiter that was serving their table and then, ordered quickly, only scanning the food on the menu swiftly once before informing Ginny, "They do good french, here; so I think we'll order that," and then ordering them both a french onion soup, slow roast shoulders of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes and finally, crème brûlée. The first course, the soup, appeared on the placemats instantly as the waiter left.

Ginny was silent through the soup, sipping it distractedly. Draco, brooding over how to get their conversation back on track, was quiet too. Just then she asked another question.

"So what kinds of potions do you make?" she ventured, before adding on the end as another question sprang to mind, "And how do you make a living from it, anyway?"

The soup disappeared and the lamb replaced it almost instantaneously.

"Merlin, you ask a lot of questions," Draco groaned. Ginny just smiled back at him, expectantly. "Not many people have the aptitude or inclination to make up the potions they need for themselves," he shrugged. "It makes for a good business,"

"Right," she said, nodding seriously. Unbidden came a memory of Remus Lupin and his dependence on the Wolfsbane Potion that he had been unable to make himself. "So you can make really difficult things, then, things like, the Wolfsbane draught?"

"Well I wouldn't make a very good potioneer if I couldn't, would i?" he cut her off, smirking.

"Well, ok, no-" she conceded, embarrassedly.

"I don't actually work alone, per se, though," he admitted. "I have a partner in crime in the potioneering field," he said.

"Oh?" she said, surprised. She couldn't imagine he would be a good team player, either.

"Yep, you probably remember him from school, too, actually; Blaise Zabini? He was always brilliant at potions, such an inventive flair."

Ginny was now picking at a perfectly done crème brûlée, contemplative with all the new information about the man in front of her. He was surprising in so many ways.

"Mmm, I do vaguely remember him, haughty Slytherin guy with a famous mother, right?"

Draco chuckled at her description of Blaise. "Yes, I suppose he probably does come across as haughty," he agreed.

"Not a patch on you and your arrogance, of course," Ginny interjected playfully, to which Draco grimaced but inclined his head in acknowledgement of nonetheless.

"Touché," Draco conceded, smiling.

Ginny shook her head, amused. "Although I might have to revise my opinion on the 'arrogant Draco'," she began, "as you seem to be doing your utmost to disprove all my earlier preconceptions about you," she sighed. His eyebrows arched as he looked back at her, scrutinizing. His cold eyes bore into her, and she could see just how easy it would be to maintain that image of him in her head, as the icy Slytherin prince, if she knew nothing of his personality and feelings beneath, but the trouble was that now she did. He still looked cold and arrogant, and of course, those parts of him were still there, but she now knew better than to assume that that was him in a nutshell, because there was more there. And she was going to uncover all those other parts of him, she was determined of that.


Leaving the restaurant a while later found Draco in a somewhat sombre mood. All he knew was that he still did not want to give up this girl's company, but that he would have to now, late as it was, and their awkward, fragile 'friendship' that they now had going could probably do without further testing that night. It was still only a matter of hours since their bookshop encounter that very same morning, and he couldn't believe how much had seemed to change since then. Who had she been to him when he had woken up that morning? An insignificant blip on the radar, the girl in the headlines alongside Potter, that was all.

What was she now? He had no idea.

They had stepped back out into the chilly town square, and Draco had graciously insisted that Ginny retain his cloak, which she now had on again.

"So," he began awkwardly, "I guess this is it, then. End of our little meander,"

He sounded resigned, and unhappy. Ginny peered up at him, concerned. "Is that supposed to mean the end of the evening or the end of everything?"

He looked right back at her, eyes sharp and searching. "Is there a difference?"

"Of course there is." She stated simply. "Goodnight, Draco," she said, hesitating, then reaching forward to give him a brisk hug. Her warm body pressed up against him and Draco felt the craziest urge to pull her even tighter to him and to not let her go again as she pulled away from the brief press, but he didn't act on it, on the contrary remaining rather too stiff and awkward and not returning any feeling. Her face seemed to falter a bit as she drew away, but then she said,

"I'll see you again, soon, I hope," and Draco's heart gave the tiniest little leap at that simplest of statements.

"I'll hold you to it, you know," he replied, in what he hoped was his usual confident drawl.

She flashed him a wry smile, "Well, I suppose I'd better be Apparating home, gosh it's late, how did time go by so quickly this evening?"

"Will you be alright Apparating home?" Draco started, then stopped himself from any more concerned questions; he was being ridiculous.

"Yes, thank you," she said, he eyes practically twinkling with laughter at his concern.

"Well you go first, & then I'll feel better that you've got back safely," he insisted.

"Well, wait, do you want your cloak back before I disappear with it?" she said, already flipping her long loose hair aside and twisting round to undo the intricate silver clasp at her shoulder, but he stopped her before she could manage it, catching her hands and brushing them away, and in a second movement as if he was hardly able to stop himself, going back to her shoulder to catch the locks of hair tumbling backward, and running his fingers slightly through the ends, sweeping her hair forward to settle back in its position framing her face, covering the clasp from sight. Her breath caught a little as his icy fingers brushed her collarbone, and she stared up at him with wide eyes. All of a sudden she was aware of an electricity that had settled between them, and panicking, she stepped away. He had been about to kiss her again. Had he been about to kiss her?

Draco struggled to find words again. "Keep it," his harsh cold voice rose, too harsh again after her obvious step away from him. "You're not taking it off till you're safe and warm inside," he stressed, "and if you must, think of it as an incentive to see me again some time, so you can return it," he added. Damn it if he was going to let her disappear that easily.

"Fine," she agreed quietly, turning and moving with him back out into the middle of the square. Just before she turned she looked up at him in a final goodbye.

"It was nice this evening, having dinner with you," she admitted, in almost a whisper. She had no idea why she was speaking so quietly. "The first part of the evening wasn't so hot, but you made me forget it a bit," she gave a sad smile.

"It was nice having dinner with you too, Ginevra Weasley." Draco returned in a mock bow, bringing another grin to her lips before she departed. "Much better I suspect than if we'd gone through the palaver of the arranged one," he drawled.

"I'm going to go now," she declared, still standing there and making no more attempt to move, either.

"Go on then," Draco responded wryly. They just looked at each other for a long moment, then, before Ginny turned and was gone. Draco looked on at the spot where she had disappeared, wondering what she really had become; and how significant; to him.

He too, turned and apparated away.


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