A/N: If I owned anything to do with Harry Potter, would I be a poor student writing fanfiction about it? No I don't own anything except maybe a plot or two if you can find one.

Full Summary: Ginny Weasley's son and Draco Malfoy's daughter hate each other as much as their parents hate each other, which makes things difficult when both Ginny and Draco are hired to restore a dilapidated mansion. It gets even worse when the family who lived there a century ago just won't leave them alone until they find out what happened to them.

Pairings: Draco/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Harry/OC

Rating: M for language and eventual sex scenes

Lyrics from 'Don't You Wanna Stay' by Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson

Dreaming Out Loud

Chapter Seven – Don't You Wanna Stay

I really hate to let this moment go

Touching your skin, and your hair falling slow

When a goodbye kiss, feels like this
Don't you wanna stay here a little while?

Don't you wanna hold each other tight?

Don't you wanna fall asleep with me tonight?

Don't you wanna stay here a little while?

We can make forever feel this way

Don't you wanna stay?
Let's take it slow, I don't wanna move too fast

I don't wanna just make love, I wanna make love last

When you're on this high, it's a sad goodbye
Don't you wanna stay here a little while?

Don't you wanna hold each other tight?

Don't you wanna fall asleep with me tonight?

Don't you wanna stay here a little while?

We can make forever feel this way

Don't you wanna stay?

"Rayne, you are working on my last nerve." Ginny snapped, shoving her sweating fringe off her forehead.

Rayne pouted at her and she glared right back.

"I want to help."

It was on the tip of her tongue to blurt out that Rayne helping had only caused more work for her, but she bit it back with a gargantuan effort.

"Go and ask Neville if you can help him."

Rayne gave her a betrayed look but obediently disappeared. Ginny sighed and surveyed the wreckage of the room before her. Bloody ball. Common sense had dictated that their first priority should be the ballroom. A convoy of young wizards had arrived to help them clear out the rubbish. Narcissa had completely stunned both Ginny and her son when she'd arrived in the ballroom in an old pair of jeans and a designer black t-shirt with her hair wound in a tight bun at the back of her head. She had immediately taken control of the young wizards, organizing them into an orderly workforce. Ginny and two wizards were washing everything down as soon as an area was cleared. It really was a huge room. A whole day in and they were only just clearing out the last of the rubble and old furniture. Hot soapy water had revealed a beautiful floor of green and white chequered marble. The walls had once been white but were now stained and peeling. Straightening up and swiping a tired hand across her cheeks, Ginny surveyed the room. The wizards were scrubbing everything down and chattering happily as Lyra plied them with fresh lemonade. Draco was laughing with one of them by the French windows. He tipped his head back to laugh at something the wizard said, the sunlight filtering through the grimy glass gilding his hair with gold.

"What are you thinking?"

Ginny jumped and flushed, shooting a sidelong glance at Narcissa standing besides her with her dusty hands on her hips. The two of them hadn't been alone since the older woman had found her in a rather passionate lip-lock with her son.

"The room." She clarified when the redhead continued to stare at her in horror.

"Oh. Erm. Mirrors." Ginny stammered, pointing at the long left-hand wall of the oblong room. "I was thinking mirrors all along that wall."

"I like it." Narcissa said enthusiastically, eyeing the French windows which stretched the length of the right side of the room.

The wooden frames were mainly intact and just needed another coat of paint but several panes of glass were broken or missing entirely. As Ginny and Narcissa discussed whether to replace the missing panes or re-glass the entire doors, Ginny realised someone was watching them. She glanced over her shoulder. One of the older wizards, and by older she meant he was at least nineteen, was gazing intently at Narcissa. Ginny giggled, nudging Narcissa with her elbow. Draco glanced up as this exchange was taking place and his face darkened. He strode over towards them.

"We were thinking of having entirely new glass put in here." Ginny told him as he approached.

He gave her a dark look and didn't reply. She frowned in surprise. He spoke to the wizards working on the doors and then stamped out of the room without so much as a glance at them.

"Excuse me."

Narcissa hurried after him, leaving a thoroughly baffled Ginny in her wake.

"I did not raise you to be impolite." She scolded as soon as they were alone in the kitchen.

He glowered at her.

"Don't sulk at me, boy." She snapped. "You two keep dancing around each other, you've no right to be jealous."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Draco muttered mutinously as he crashed around extracting glasses from the cupboards.

"You thought that cute little wizard was drooling over her, didn't you?" Narcissa observed in some amusement.

"Wasn't he?" Draco snapped despite himself, sounding exactly like a sulky teenager.

"Nope." Narcissa said airily. "He was undressing me with his eyes. He didn't even glance at Ginny."

Draco choked on the water he'd been guzzling, spraying it all over the counter. He stared at his mother in horror. She smiled smugly back at him. He had always known his mother was attractive but he had never thought of her as a sexual being. The idea that a boy young enough to be her son would find her attractive had completely floored him.

"Now stop behaving like a spoiled brat and go back to work."

"If I'm a spoiled brat it's your fault." He mumbled mutinously as he followed her out of the kitchen.

Ginny eyed him warily as he re-joined her in the ballroom. He gave her a small grin. She smiled back and he felt guilt flare in his gut. It was a sweet smile that he didn't deserve.

"The ceiling is going to need doing. The floor needs polishing. Chandeliers need repairing."

He nodded, watching her from the corner of his eye. She was sweaty and covered in dust, there was a nasty bruise on her arm and a delicate trail of blood along one cheek where she'd caught it on a loose pane of glass. She was also glowing, the late afternoon sun had burnished her skin to bronze and shot gold through her hair. She realised he was staring and she peeped at him strangely.

"I'm going to get to work on those doors." He muttered.

"And it's perfectly safe?" Mrs Lowerson ran a small piggy eye over the entrance hall.

"As long as everyone stays away from the upper floors." Ginny said between gritted teeth.

This woman was seriously testing her patience. She had forced them to alter their timeline, practically ran them into the ground to get the place habitable in time for her stupid ball and now she was eyeing their work as if she could have done better in half the time.

"Well. It's acceptable." She sniffed.

Ginny took an angry step forward but Draco's hand whipped out and gripped her wrist. He squeezed gently, just enough pressure to halt her in her tracks. She forced herself to smile as she gave the old bat the guided tour. The marble floor of the entrance hall had been polished to a high gleam, the wooden mahogany stair rails had been polished and oiled until you could practically see your reflection in them. A gilt and glass round table stood in the centre of the hall, a golden bowl dead centre waiting for Mrs Lowerson's floral arrangement. Two huge elaborately carved mahogany doors beneath the balcony opened out into the ballroom. The black and white marble floor shone. The chandeliers had been fixed and cleaned and the ceiling had been mirrored, reflecting the soft light. Huge gilt-framed mirrors had been installed on the left hand side and the French doors had been re-painted and re-paned and were currently open to air out the room. Mrs Lowerson made idle comments as she perused the entire room with pinched lips. Eventually she conceded that they had done a good job and withdrew.

"Goodbye… you vicious old hag." Ginny said through her smile as Mrs Lowerson was swept away in her expensive carriage.

"That evil little smile of hers will vanish the instant she sets one beady little eye on the bill." Draco murmured naughtily in her ear.

Ginny giggled, slightly breathless at his close proximity. She sighed and scrubbed her hands back through her tangled hair.

"I just want to sleep for a week." She complained wistfully.

"In your dreams." Draco taunted tartly. "The bloody caterers will be arriving in a minute."

Ginny felt as if she might cry. Mrs Lowerson had insisted on their presence at the ball and all she wanted to do was sleep. On cue, a rather rickety old wagon trundled up the road and clattered into the courtyard. Neville had excelled himself with the grounds, restoring the fountain by hand and painstakingly re-structuring the entire garden between the gates and the entrance. Beautiful flowers circled the fountain, expensive chips of some rare stone or other formed the driveway and delicate weeping willows lined the driveway towards the house.

"We've got a couple of hours before we have to make an appearance, right?"

Draco, startled out of his reverie, nodded. He blinked in surprise when she whirled back into the house. He was still standing there when she re-emerged with her purse, absently pulling her hair back with a hair-tie.

"I'll be back."

He watched her disappear out of the gates in amazement. Rayne and Lyra were both with Molly for the night and he now found himself at a loss. The ballroom and kitchen were swarming with caterers and staff, a dozen wizards were erecting a huge white gazebo in the garden and witches in silver robes were whipping around the house bearing tiny lights. He had nowhere to retreat to but upstairs. He found himself on Ginny's side of the house. Her door was half open and he peeked inside. As a Slytherin he felt no guilt at invading her privacy, just minor curiosity at how his heart pounded to be in her room. It was almost intimate to be in so sacred a place. Her bed was neatly made, the out-sized t-shirt she'd slept in balled up besides her pillow. Some papers and designs were spread across the cream bedspread, mixed in with colour swatches and photographs of furniture she was considering. A wet towel trailed over the chair by the vanity table. Her brush had been tossed onto the bed carelessly besides a crumpled sweater. The top was off on her perfume on the vanity table and he found himself breathing it in. The room was very Ginny. She'd painted it golden yellow with white trim around the windows and doors. Sunflowers had been painted around the big bed. He knew they were her favourite. A vase of actual sunflowers on the windowsill drifted dreamily in the slight breeze through the open window.

The doors to her white wicker wardrobe were standing open. Perdita's clothes were a carefully organized rack of vibrant colours, expensive designer dresses, skirts, blouses and suits arranged by style. Ginny's clothes were a jumble of old sweaters and shirts that were clearly handed down from her brothers and kept for sentimental reasons, jeans and comfortable loungewear, interspersed with the jewel-bright flashes of colour of her dresses. Perdita also had racks and racks of expensive lingerie, most of which she had never worn for him. He eyed the drawers of the wardrobe speculatively. No. That would definitely be too perverse.

The sound of his name made him flinch guiltily and he sidled out of the room, leaning over the balcony. One of the caterers was gesturing at him impatiently from the entrance hall. Apparently Mrs Lowerson's flower arrangements had arrived.

"Merlin's briefs!" Ginny swore when she returned, gaping at the quite hideous flower arrangements in disbelief.

"My thoughts exactly." Draco commented, busy signing the parchment the flower delivery guy had shoved towards him with a grunt.

"They're so garish!" She managed to get out, poking one mauve tulip with her fingernail. "Purple and orange?"

Draco snorted with laughter, eyeing the delivery boy to see if he was offended. He wasn't. In fact he was staring over his shoulder as if he were mesmerized. Draco followed his gaze. Apparently she'd gone to get her hair done. The thick locks had been trimmed and gleamed like molten lava. Beautiful waves rippling like a shining red river. He'd gotten used to her hair being a tangled mess tied back out of her way, he'd never really noticed how beautiful it was.

"What?" She snapped defensively as she found him looking intently at her with narrowed eyes.

He didn't reply, turning back to the boy and shoving the parchment at him. Ginny gave him a strange look and then headed for the stairs. She had been planning to wear her blue dress again but she'd discovered a tear in it she couldn't repair with magic. Of course she only remembered this as she peered into her wardrobe in her underwear with a towel wrapped around her dripping wet hair an hour before the ball was due to start.

"I knew you'd forget."

Ginny jumped. Narcissa sauntered into her room without waiting for an invitation. She heaped a bundle of different coloured fabrics onto the bed. Ginny looked at her. Narcissa behaved more as she'd expect a sister to than her mother did. She certainly didn't look like anyone's mother, dressed only in an extremely short silk dressing gown with her white-blonde waves trailing down her back.

"You're a little short than I am." She said thoughtfully, drawing Ginny's attention back to her present conundrum.

Ginny eyed the dresses enviously. So that was what a thousand galleon dress looked like. Narcissa held up a green dress, the obvious choice with Ginny's hair and eyes. Ginny held it up against herself dutifully but her eyes were drawn to a dress still laid out on the bed. Narcissa followed her gaze and her mouth curved into a smirk identical to the one her son wore so frequently. She didn't say anything but retrieved the dress Ginny was eyeing.

"Never suited me. My colouring is too pale." Narcissa commented as she held the dress up against Ginny's slender body.

Ginny felt excitement flicker in her chest. She had been dreading the ball and the long boring night ahead, but she felt quite giddy playing dress up with Narcissa. Narcissa clearly had no intention of leaving, though she did politely turn away as Ginny wriggled into the dress. The silky material flowed like water over her skin.

"Hmmm… we're going to have to make some adjustments." Narcissa mused, recovering her wand from the depths of her robe and tapping her chin with it thoughtfully.

Boring. Masquerade balls were always boring, well except those ones of Zabini's where the mask was all you were allowed to wear. Unfortunately this was nothing like those. Middle-ages witches and wizards in spangly dresses and too-tight tuxedos. Those that had arrived in robes had hurriedly stripped out of them thanks to the punishing heat. Draco accepted a cocktail from a passing waitress. The pretty little thing fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"Draco, darling."

Draco choked on his drink as Perdita glided towards him, cutting a swathe through the gaping wizards. At first he'd found her blatant sexuality appealing, now he found it embarrassing. The dress, if that's what you could call it, covered very little of her expansive assets. Black silk draped artfully over her body. Draco was very concerned that if she made a sudden movement something would pop out of the silk. Her elaborate mask was black velvet, trailing peacock feathers over her dark curls. She coiled herself around him and he tried very hard not to wince.

"Where's your little assistant?" She purred into his ear.

He ignored her. His mother had just entered the ballroom, resplendent in green velvet with a matching mask in one hand and her platinum curls piled on top of her head. She glided over, parting the crowd with sheer force of personality rather than her assets.

"Perdita." She said coolly, running an unimpressed eye over her daughter-in-law.

"Narcissa."

The two women stared each other down for a moment.

"You look beautiful, mother." Draco bent to kiss her cheek, defusing the situation before the claws came out.

"It's amazing what a mid-afternoon tryst with a boy half your age can do for the complexion." Narcissa said slyly.

Draco turned puce.

"Mother!"

Narcissa shrugged, not looking the slightest bit abashed.

"Where's Ginny?" She asked, balancing on her tiptoes and craning her neck over the crowd.

"I don't think she's come down yet." Draco said distractedly, he was completely baffled at the sudden liking Narcissa had taken to Ginny. His mother didn't like anyone.

"Here she is."

Narcissa held out a long slender hand into the crowd. Draco and Perdita turned as Ginny joined them. Her hair was unmistakable, besides the fancily knotted and curled locks of the women around them, Ginny had simply brushed out her long hair until it gleamed in one long smooth sheet of fire. Her pearly limbs shone in the golden light of the chandeliers. Her silver grey dress clung to her willowy body, emphasising the curve of her hips and the swell of her breasts. High-necked at both front and back, two triangular swatches of material had been removed exposing the delicate bones of her shoulder blades. A delicate silver bracelet glittered at her wrist and tiny diamond drops flashed in her ears beneath the sequinned silver mask. She looked flawless, like a diamond shimmering amongst the crowd.

"You look beautiful." Narcissa beamed, a smug smile creasing her face.

"Isn't that one of your old dresses?" Perdita asked pointedly.

"Absolutely not." Narcissa lied haughtily, tilting her chin to glare at her.

Perdita rolled her eyes.

"Draco, I want to dance."

"I don't." Draco said in a deceptively quietly tone, fixing flinty eyes on his wife.

Perdita narrowed her eyes. In their entire marriage he had never refused her anything. Reverting to form she grabbed a nearby wizard and dragged him away to dance. Draco didn't even seem to notice. He opened his mouth to speak but Mrs Lowerson elbowed her way between them and introduced Ginny to her nephew, who promptly whisked her away to dance.

Draco had been on edge all night, snapping when he should have been flattering and ignoring when he should have been grovelling. He wasn't quite sure, but he thought it might have something to do with the fact that he had been unable to speak to Ginny all night. He was feeling twitchy, like a junkie in need of a fix. He was also sick to the back teeth of Perdita. Since she couldn't seem to goad him with her barbed tongue tonight, she had taken to flaunting herself at every wizard she could get her hands on. The fact that this didn't seem to affect him either had her in a towering temper. She had the sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with that common little redhead. She cast a glance around. Draco was gulping down another drink by the French doors, quite blatantly ignoring the dumpy little witch talking his ear off and also quite obviously watching Ginny across the room. She walked away from the wizard leering down the front of her dress, leaving him mid-sentence. Her husband flicked a cursory glare at her as she approached.

"Dance with me." She curled one hand around his bicep in a vice-like grip, leaning in close. "You will dance with me, or I will make such a scene…"

He gritted his teeth, but led her out onto the dance floor anyway.

"She's a cute little thing, I suppose." She murmured once they were dancing.

Draco grunted but didn't reply.

"Is she why you want to divorce me?"

He flinched as if she'd struck him but regained his usual poise almost immediately. She observed with some amusement the contrast between his stiff posture and implacable mask and the way his body reacted to having her so close. He was still attracted to her, she knew that much.

"Weasley has nothing to with it." He snapped stiffly.

"Oh no?" She repositioned her thigh so it slid between his own, the silk of her dress sliding against the soft material of his trousers. "I find that hard to believe."

"I filed for divorce before she even entered the picture."

She pressed against him slightly, annoyed that he still sent a flush of desire shooting through her.

"Oh? So she's in the picture?"

He gave her an exasperated look.

"We've hated each other since Hogwarts." He narrowed his eyes at her. "I will not explain myself to a woman who spent most of our marriage in someone else's bed."

"Don't kid yourself, Draco." She laughed, pressing so tightly against him he almost stumbled. "This is not for me." She lifted her thigh against the swollen pressure in his groin.

The song ended and she vanished. He felt uneasiness stir in his breast. He had come to rely on Ginny, not exactly as a friend or even a working partner, but definitely as something. When he had a spare moment he found himself automatically seeking her out, if only to tease her. As if drawn by a magnet, his eyes sought her through the crowd. She was laughing at something Lowerson's nephew had said to her, her head tilted so she could meet his gaze, the light on her hair and mask making her glow. She said something to him and then made her way towards the French doors. He followed.

She bypassed the gazebo, lit by dozens of minute lights and filled with laughing figures. She traversed the length of the house until she reached the back porch. It was quiet around this side of the house, lit only by the kitchen light filtering out through the windows.

"Following me for a reason, Malfoy?" She turned towards him, one hand resting against the pillar of the porch.

"Just taking in the air, Weasley."

She wasn't even looking at him, she was looking up at the sky.

"Uh huh." She dropped her gaze to meet his, her eyes sparkling from the depths of the mask. "Not out here to meet the pretty little waitress who's been making goo-goo eyes at you all night?"

He laughed.

"I thought maybe you were out here to meet that wizard you've been dancing with all night."

She wrinkled her nose but her lips were quirked into a smile.

"Polite duty. He's our benefactor's nephew. I can't seem to shake him."

Draco frowned at the pleased little hop his heart gave. He had fallen hard for Perdita but it had mainly been lust, the frantic heat of something everybody else wanted who had wanted him, well at the time anyway. He was almost afraid of the tangle of emotions Ginny stirred in him.

"I'm not buying it, Malfoy. You're just as bored as I am." She broke through his ruminating.

His face split into a smile. He moved towards her without consciously deciding to do so. When there were merely inches between them, she reached up. Her hands were trembling slightly. Her fingertips were warm as they brushed his cheeks, the high cheekbones smooth beneath her skin, sliding along the edge of his satin mask. She slid it up into the silken cloud of his hair.

"What are you doing?" He murmured, his breath warm against her cheek.

"I wanted to check something." Her voice hitched and his eyes flickered briefly down to her lips, painted red and curving invitingly. "My dress matches your eyes."

"Is that why you wore it?"

She shook her head.

"Just a pleasant coincidence."

He found his hands lifting of their own volition. He traced the outline of her mask with his thumbs, working towards the attached combs which held it in her hair. His fingers gently slid the combs out of her hair, catching the mask in one hand. He tilted her chin with his other hand. Even in the harsh light beaming from the kitchen she was dazzling. She had circled her eyes in black to emphasise them through the mask, her freckled cheeks were faintly pink and her lip was trembling. He studied her. This was different, the kisses they'd exchanged before had been light. If he kissed her now, it would mean something. He wasn't sure what it would mean. He felt as if he was reaching out towards a naked flame, the heat scorching his fingertips but he couldn't draw them back.

She melted against him, her body fitting tightly to his, the soft contours moulding to the hard planes of his body. It was impossible to tell who had initiated the kiss but they attacked each other with equal fervour. He still held her face in his hand, his thumbs brushing her jaw. Her hand slid up his chest and into the silky silver strands at the nape of his neck. She was making helpless little gasping noises against his mouth, clutching him to her as if he might vanish if she let go. It was lucky the porch was behind them because she was certain her knees weren't holding her up anymore. Her stomach seemed to have disappeared too, at least it wasn't where she usually kept it. Her entire body was aflame, she could feel each place her body was in contact with his; his knee between hers, his hands at her naked throat and in her hair, his hip lodged against hers. She was quite sure that the extensive skirt was the only reason he wasn't already inside her, certainly she could feel him pressed flush against her leg.

He finally broke away, leaning his cheek against hers as he gulped air into his tortured lungs. Her hair smelt of strawberries and her perfume. Her cheek was burning hot against his. She felt so slender and lithe in his arms, graceful and fragile yet burning as bright as a flame.

"Ahem."

They broke apart. Narcissa looked nothing if not amused and somewhat smug. She grasped her skirts in one hand, spun elegantly on her heel and drifted back towards the ball.

"No." Draco muttered stubbornly.

She looked at him in surprise.

"I don't want to go back and you can't make me."

She laughed.

"I don't want to either."

"Well you know, maybe-"

Draco inched his lips towards hers again, one hand curling around her waist and drawing her towards him. She let him brush his lips against hers again, his tongue gliding lightly against her lips, then she put a firm hand on his chest.

"We'll get fired." She said a little breathlessly, smoothing her dress back into place.

He muttered something under his breath but obediently took a step back from her.

"Besides." Her face was unreadable as she pinned her mask back into place. "Your wife will probably be looking for you."

He felt his stomach clench like a fist as she stepped around him and disappeared into the darkness of the garden.