October 12, 2015
Author's Notes: Whoo whoo whoo! I was afraid I was never going to finish this chapter, but here it is! Apologies for the wait!

Reviews appreciated!


Chapter Seven: A Delicate Conversation

The wind burned Ginny's cheeks through her scarf as she and Hermione trudged through the snow, her hair furiously whipping around her face. Despite the biting chill, Diagon Alley was overflowing with people, and everyone seemed to be in good cheer. December had arrived much like the snow had: unexpectedly though not without welcome. For Hermione and Ginny, December 1st marked the start of Christmas shopping, and everyone else in wizarding Britain seemed to have the same idea if the crowds in Diagon Alley were anything to go by.

Laughter floated freely through the air, Christmas music rang out from the inside of the shops they passed, and colorful garlands, lights, and Christmas-spirited displays decorated each shopfront. Ginny couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Diagon Alley so festive. After the war, it had taken time for the wizarding community in London to shake off the fear and grimness of the deaths and trials. It warmed her to see children playing in the street, throwing snowballs at each other as their parents looked on in exasperation, though a moment later they shared smiles with their companions.

Ginny and Hermione grinned in amusement as they stomped snow off their shoes before entering Flourish and Blotts.

"Thank you for coming with me," Hermione said as she unwrapped her scarf from around her neck. "I thought for sure you wouldn't want to see me again so soon."

Ginny laughed. "Why would you say that?"

Tucking the scarf into her handbag, Hermione lowered her head. "Because of how awkward lunch was two weeks ago. Ron thinks you're avoiding the family, so I thought you were avoiding me, too."

Ginny laughed again, this time more as an embarrassed response than out of humor. Her face heated in memory of her examination of the Dark Mark on Draco's arm after lunch at the Burrow. She wasn't sure if she was shamefaced by her fascination or embarrassed over the intimacy of the gesture. She'd tried not to think about that moment at all in the two weeks that had passed since then.

"Ron wants to think I feel ashamed enough to avoid the family, but he's wrong," Ginny said as she followed Hermione down an aisle housing different colored inks. "I am sorry about what happened, though. I'm sure it wasn't pleasant to see the Dark Mark again. I… I'd forgotten he had it."

That wasn't entirely the truth. In fact, part of Ginny had hoped someone in her family would dare to confront them about the Mark when she'd rolled up his sleeve and seen the Mark for herself. But after they'd arrived at the Burrow and got lost in the hustle and bustle of her family sitting down to lunch, she'd forgotten all about the Dark Mark, until that moment when Hermione had come face to face with it.

The difference between Hermione's reaction to seeing the brand on Draco's arm and Ginny's reaction disconcerted Ginny more than she cared to admit. What did it mean about her that she was drawn to that kind of darkness rather than repulsed? It wasn't the first time—no, definitely not the first time—that she'd wondered whether some essence of Tom Riddle still lingered inside her, and her interest in Draco's Mark did nothing to relieve her of her fear.

Hermione was quiet as she examined a bottle of iridescent ink, her eyes carefully averted from Ginny. "It was certainly shocking. Seeing it again took me straight back there. To the war. To Malfoy Manor. To the battle at Hogwarts. Like no time had passed at all, as if I was there experiencing those horrors again. Has that ever happened to you?"

"Yes," Ginny admitted, her mouth dry. "But not as much anymore. It's been a long time." Another reason to wonder if there was something wrong with her. She hardly thought about the war nowadays. Had she repressed the trauma? Or was she desensitized to it?

Hermione turned to Ginny and put a hand on her arm, her lips lifting in a tight grin. "But if circumstances are such that you can forget Draco even has a Dark Mark, maybe he's not as bad as he used to be. I have to admit, I was impressed by his behavior at lunch. I hadn't expected him to be so… mild."

Ginny's body relaxed, releasing the tension often caused by talk of the war. "He's certainly full of surprises," she said.

Hermione put the ink back on the shelf and strolled further down the aisle as she examined the wares.

Ginny couldn't concentrate on shopping. She wished she could talk to Hermione honestly about her relationship with Draco. Part of her was bursting at the seams to tell her about the kiss the week before after drinks with Pansy and Theodore. The thought of it made her flush, both in pleasure and embarrassment. She'd thrown herself at Draco again, when they'd both been too drunk to care. She'd broken her own rule, crossed a line she'd adamantly told him they would never cross again.

The worst part was she hadn't seen Draco since that night. Nine days had passed without sight of him. He'd even stopped delivering flowers to her desk at work. He hadn't sent her a single note. She wished she could talk to someone besides Colin about his behavior. Was he avoiding her? Was he embarrassed about the kiss? Angry? Maybe he was just too busy with work….

"Oh, shoot!" Hermione cried, drawing Ginny's attention back to their shopping excursion. Black-purple ink dripped from Hermione's hands onto the floor. "The bottle's seal has been tampered with and it leaked. Do you have a handkerchief?"

Ginny dug around inside her handbag for a threadbare cloth and offered it to Hermione.

As she cleaned her hands, Hermione pulled a crumpled piece of paper from the folds of the handkerchief, and immediately dropped it with a squeak.

"Ginny, is that…." she said, her words choked.

One look at the crumpled paper on the floor had Ginny's face draining of all color. In the next instant, as she snatched the photo of Jason Junker's junk from the floor, her face heated, making her feel dizzy from the rush of blood.

Damn her! She'd stuffed the photo back in her purse after that first dinner with Draco weeks ago, and then she'd forgotten all about it. She should have set the thing on fire as soon as she'd finished showing it to Draco. Alas, she hadn't been thinking, and now she wished the building would collapse on top of them to spare her from the embarrassment. "It's—it's not what you think!"

"I think it's exactly what I think!" Hermione said, her own face flushed in mortification. She turned and hurried down the aisle as if trying to escape the conversation.

"No," Ginny replied as she raced after her friend. "This isn't even Draco!"

That stopped Hermione in her tracks. Her eyebrows arched into her hairline as her mouth opened, but Ginny sprang before a word could come out.

"It's not what you think! Can we… can we go somewhere else?"

Flourish and Blotts certainly wasn't the most discreet shop in which to have a lurid conversation. Their voices practically wrang out in the silence commanded by the books and parchment sitting on the shelves.

Hermione nodded and finally put down the leaky bottle of ink before they bundled back up to embrace the cold.

The Leaky Cauldron was a much warmer—and louder—alternative to the book shop for a sensitive discussion. Ginny threw the crumpled photo into the fire that kept the pub's hearth warm as she and Hermione sought a table in the darkest corner. A displeased expression met her gaze when they sat across from each other.

"I'm not cheating on Draco," Ginny said. She had to be careful with her words. She couldn't tell Hermione about the ruse. As close as she was to Harry and Ron, it wouldn't take long for the two men to find out about the fake relationship if Ginny included her in the scheme.

Even after she'd figured out what to say, her tongue did not seem to want to cooperate, and her hands suddenly became sweaty. She'd gone to such lengths with Draco because she hadn't wanted anyone to know about Junker's behavior. What would Hermione think of her? She knew what people said in situations like hers. They blamed the woman for wearing inappropriate clothing, for teasing the man with a smile or conversation. The woman would be blamed for leading her harasser on, for not putting a stop to it, for not saying 'no' even when she most certainly had voiced dissent. Sometimes women were at fault because they didn't say yes.

Women were not believed, and Ginny didn't want to know if her brother and her friends were the kind of people who would believe her or slut-shame her. And she didn't want anyone to think less of her for not being able to stop Junker on her own.

Her tongue persisted with its unwillingness to form words, so Hermione prompted her. "So you're not cheating on Malfoy, but he isn't the one in the photo, either. Who is it?"

"It's my supervisor." She heard herself say the words and her cheeks flushed in humiliation. She knew exactly how that sounded. "He's… he's been harassing me. He sent me that photo after Draco and I began dating. I guess he thought it would entice me to accept him."

Her throat constricted at the thought, and it took all of Ginny's willpower not to gag. A shudder coursed through her body, and Hermione's eyes widened even more.

"This is serious," she said.

Ginny merely nodded.

Still collected, Hermione asked, "How long has this been going on?"

Ginny's eyes fell closed because she didn't want to see her friend's expression when she admitted the truth. "I don't even know. Several weeks now. Long before Draco and I—" She cleared her throat, wishing for that tightness to return to keep her from speaking. "I don't even know how it began. It started out as small things. Compliments on my work, compliments on my hair. Innocent, simple, everyday niceties. And then he grew bolder. He began complimenting other parts of my body, asking me out. It reached the breaking point when he insinuated the most absurd, the most disgusting thing…."

"You need to report him!" Hermione said.

Ginny could tell by the way the table shook that her cold bark of laughter startled the other woman, but Ginny took no notice. "Who am I going to report him to? I've scoured the employee handbook several times. There are no procedures in place at the Ministry for someone who is sexually harassing his employees. The handbook doesn't talk about harassment at all! There are ancient policies about which spells are acceptable to use in a duel taking place on Ministry property during business hours. There are rules for conduct inside a courtroom. There are bylaws and procedures for meetings of the Wizengamot, but there is nothing in place to protect employees from any sort of verbal or non-violent physical harassment."

"Non-violent—Ginny. Ginny, has he touched you?"

Finally, she opened her eyes, and she saw exactly what she feared she wouldn't see in Hermione's: concern and anger. The relief that spread throughout her body made her feel ashamed for believing even for an instant that Hermione would be one of those people who believed Ginny deserved whatever attention Junker gave her.

"Yes, he's touched me. I've hexed him for touching me before, but that's not enough to stop him. And he's insinuated that my job will be on the line if I continue to refuse him," she added, unable to stop herself from feeling defensive.

"This is the most inappropriate—the most ludicrous—the most enraging thing I have ever heard! This is outrageous! Someone needs to do something about this man! He is not fit for a supervisory role. He shouldn't be able to come within ten feet of any woman! I am going to write a letter to the Minister posthaste, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement will be hearing from me as well!"

Hermione continued to rant about sexism in the Ministry and any and all plans of actions she intended to take, but Ginny hardly took in a word. Her eyes stung with tears of gratitude, and her lips lifted into a small smile. She'd never imagined this kind of reaction from tight-laced Hermione. In school, Hermione Granger had been a bit tactless when trying to help others, accidentally offending people with her logic. Ginny wouldn't have been able to handle any pointed questions about her clothes or whether she unintentionally flirted with her supervisor at any point in their career.

And it was on the tip of her tongue to tell her about Draco, to explain that that was why she and Draco were dating. That Draco was her cover against Junker's harassment, but for some reason, she couldn't. The hardest part—Hermione knowing about the harassment and Ginny's inability to stop it—was over. It would be a relief to Hermione if she knew that Ginny and Draco were only pretending to date.

But she couldn't say anything. Part of Ginny wanted to keep the secret between herself and Draco. And Colin. And the Notts.

The Notts!

A light seemed to come on in Ginny's head because she knew exactly who she could talk to about Draco and the ruse! Someone who knew Draco well and would be able to help Ginny decipher his behavior over the last week... Someone who already knew they were only pretending to date….

As soon as she returned home, Ginny had a letter to write.

"Hermione," Ginny said, interrupting her friend mid-tirade. "I'm not ready to do anything about this yet. Could you—could you keep this to yourself?"

The thinning of Hermione's lips spoke of her disapproval without words, but, because it was Hermione, she voiced that disapproval as well. "I can't keep something like this a secret. It's a violation of your basic human rights! Someone has to stop him!"

"I know! I know, but… I don't want Harry or Ron to know. I don't want my family to know. And if we report this to someone, one of them is bound to find out. Please. Just for now. Until I'm ready. This isn't your fight."

Hermione shook her head and frowned, but the gesture was one of resignation, not dissent. "Fine," she snapped. "I won't tell anyone. But I can't promise I won't do any research into this matter. There has to be a policy somewhere..."

"How could I possibly keep you from your research?" Ginny said with a cheeky grin.

Hermione sniffed in answer. "And you must tell Harry and Ron about this at some point." She glared when Ginny opened her mouth to interrupt again. "You must! This has gone on long enough. I'll leave it to you, but you have to tell them what's happening. Soon."

"I'll tell them," Ginny agreed, irritated by her friend's request. "In my own time."

"Does Malfoy know about this?"

Ginny snorted at the irony of the question. "Oh, yes. He was the first person I told."


The last place Ginny ever expected to meet Pansy Nott was inside a Muggle pub in a tiny village in the Cotswolds. In fact, she half-expected for this meeting to be a joke. Or maybe a trap. Maybe Pansy was back at home laughing with her husband Theodore about stranding Ginny amongst Muggles, waiting for a meeting that would never happen. She'd nearly convinced herself that this was the case when Pansy walked through the door, turning heads as she passed by.

Even Ginny did a double-take when she saw her approaching her booth. She'd also never expected to see Pansy wearing Muggle clothing—or to see them suit her so well.

Pansy took off a fitted, slate gray trenchcoat only to reveal a fitted, black dress underneath. Her malapropos attire made her stand out in the dingy pub, earning the patrons' stares. As she sat down across from Ginny, she smirked, clearly revelling in the attention.

"I didn't think you were going to show," Ginny admitted.

"I considered not coming, but Theodore said that would be rude. He must like you. Usually he doesn't care about that sort of thing. Now, what's the emergency?"

"What? Two women can't meet for friendly drinks out of the blue?"

Pansy leaned over the table. "We haven't got any drinks, and I wasn't aware we were friendly."

"Friendly enough," Ginny conceded. "You didn't run me out of the pub last time we met, did you?"

"Friendly enough. I'll not-drink to that," Pansy agreed with a sarcastic gesture to the empty table. "So what's this all about then?"

Ginny opened her mouth to reply, but all of her questions, all of her concerns, got stuck in her throat, all clamoring to be voiced first.

Her attraction to Draco was undeniable, but was it real or was a residual darkness inside her calling to a residual darkness inside him? Every time she interacted with her family, guilt ate away at her for deceiving them. Maybe if she'd taken on this charade with someone like Neville, someone that her family and friends had no objection to, maybe she wouldn't feel so guilty. But it was too late for that. She knew she shouldn't have done this with Draco. She'd been hasty and desperate, but as much as she wished someone else had been standing outside that elevator three weeks ago, she couldn't regret what was happening.

Why not? she asked herself. Why did she like the game they were playing?

Ever since she had stopped working for George at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to work at the Ministry, her life had taken on a dull sort of sheen. At the shop, every day had been different, exciting, and fun, but after about a year, she'd developed an itch for something more. She'd thought the Ministry would have added something to her life that had been missing, and in a way it had—for a while. With Jason Junker's harassment, she hadn't paid attention to the itch's return. And since she'd begun dating Draco, the itch had disappeared.

Lying to her friends and family was stressful, depending on Draco Malfoy was terrifying, but every day since that day in the elevator had been different, exciting, and, yes, even fun. If the charade ended, she knew her life would return to the tedium of the Ministry and the frustrations of Junker's harassment. "Dating" Draco was a welcome distraction.

Pansy waved her hand in front of Ginny's face. "Hello? Earth to Weasley!"

Ginny blinked, focusing again on the woman in front of her instead of the man that constantly plagued her thoughts. And her dreams.

"Sorry," she said. "I was just thinking."

"You should have done that before I arrived. I'm a busy woman, you know."

Blushing, Ginny apologized again.

"If this is some sad attempt at a date, I'm not in need of a mistress at this time. I'm happily married, and you and Draco are happily pretending to date."

That made Ginny laugh. "Feel free to keep my application on file if you're ever in need of a mistress in the future."

Pansy stared at her, her eyes narrowed as if trying to figure out whether Ginny was serious or not. "Don't hold your breath. The moment I become unhappy with Theodore is the moment I leave. My happiness means more to me than the scandal a divorce would cause."

"I'm glad to hear it."

And Ginny meant it. The wizarding world still held onto antiquated social conventions that usually benefited men more than women, and often, the wizarding elite were even more tightly bound to those conventions as upholders of tradition. It was bad enough that marriages could still be arranged in 2001, but most people stayed in loveless or abusive marriages to avoid a scandal. It was the proper thing to do.

"Are you really happy?" Ginny asked. "Your mother arranged your marriage, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did, but I pointed her in Theodore's direction. Which might have been a risky move on my part," she mused to herself.

"How so?"

"I didn't know Theodore as well as the other boys in my year. We grew up together, but at Hogwarts, he was a loner. He didn't follow the crowd, he didn't hang onto Draco's every word. He kept his nose in his books, so we considered him a bit of a loser in Slytherin, actually. That's why I asked for him. Compared to someone like Zabini or Goyle, he seemed the best option. But that decision could have backfired on me. If I'd married Zabini instead, I could have prepared myself for a life of his mistresses and indifference. I could have slept with one eye open, waiting for him to kill me for my family's money, like his mother has allegedly done with her seven previous husbands. But I married Theodore, and I didn't know what he would be like. I couldn't imagine the life that awaited me. I couldn't harden my heart to my future.

"I tried, though," Pansy continued with a snort. "Believe me, I tried to harden my heart to him. I tried to act as indifferent to him as he'd acted towards me throughout our engagement. But he snuck up on me. I don't know how it happened, exactly."

She looked up into Ginny's smiling face and seemed to suddenly realize who she was speaking to. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. I should keep my mouth closed."

"It's sweet," Ginny said. "I didn't know what to make of you two at The Three Broomsticks. You acted like you didn't like him at all, and he mostly ignored the rest of us the entire night."

"Obviously, we're different in private."

"Obviously," Ginny agreed.

"This can't be what you wanted to meet me for."

No, it wasn't, but all those questions and concerns that had stopped up Ginny's throat earlier were now silenced. The answers Ginny sought she'd have to find on her own. She and Draco had agreed nearly three weeks ago that they were in this thing together as partners. A team. What good could speaking to Pansy do? She needed to speak to Draco.

"Before we met for drinks, I overheard a conversation between Narcissa Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass. Narcissa is aggressively searching for someone to marry Draco, and I was just curious about arranged marriages," Ginny said.

"Draco could never be happy with a Greengrass," Pansy spat. "For one, Daphne's as gay as they come, and Astoria's too… wilty for the likes of Draco."

"I don't know," Ginny disagreed, "Astoria had quite the spine when she turned Narcissa down and kicked her out her sister's shop." The fact that she'd confronted Ginny about her relationship with Harry, Ginny kept to herself.

"She did? She fancied Draco quite a bit back at Hogwarts."

"Well, she seems to be over it. She's head over heels for Harry now."

"Potter! Of course," Pansy sneered.

"Hey, if it wasn't for Harry, Draco may be engaged to Astoria by now."

"Highly doubtful. The way Draco has been acting, he would never do what his mother asks, and she hasn't been asking for a long time. Everything is a command these days."

Ginny's eyes widened. "He wouldn't? Don't they get along?" He'd spent lunch at the Burrow waxing poetic about his mother and her garden, and then he'd left Ginny's flat to help her with an errand. Had he lied about the nature of his relationship with her?

Pansy's eyes narrowed. "If you don't know, then it's probably none of your business. He just deserves better." She climbed out of the booth and pulled her coat back on. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm meeting my husband for tea."

"Wait!" Ginny grabbed her arm and then quickly released it when Pansy's eyebrows rose with a pointed stare. "If not Astoria Greengrass, then who? What does Draco deserve?"

"Why, he deserves to be as happy as I am, of course." She paused in the middle of buttoning her coat. "You should tell Draco about Astoria and his mother. He should know the lengths she's going to to ruin his life."

"You're happy in your arranged marriage," Ginny said, stymied by the tenderness now apparent in Pansy's eyes.

"That's true." She pulled her thick, shiny hair out of the collar of her coat and hung her handbag in the crook of her arm. "But I was lucky. I'm afraid Draco won't have the same luck." She stalked out of the pub, all eyes on her until the door closed behind her.

Ginny rubbed her temples, confused by the conversation she'd just had. Ten days ago Pansy had called her husband boring and Draco pathetic. Now she spoke of both men with affection and worry.

Slytherins.


TBC


Author's Notes: My favorite line in the whole story (so far) from chapter six was this one: "Creevey," Draco growled, his arms crossed over his chest. "Get to the point, will you? I'm standing in the ladies' bathroom talking to a ghost. I'm having war flashbacks here." :D

Sunny's Prompt #3:

Basic premise: Draco and Ginny start publicly dating for reasons other than actually liking each other.
Must haves: The pair put on a very convincing act even though they really don't like what they have to do...at least at first. The ruse goes on for a while and in the meantime they're learning more and more surprising things about the other. Humor.
No-no's: A dark or very angsty story.
Rating range: The higher the better, but ultimately up to you. I really don't mind.
Bonus points: Hogwarts Era. Draco and Ginny get competitive about one-upping each other to show how they're the best girlfriend/boyfriend ever, and when no one is looking they snipe at each other about how lame/stupid their 'romantic' act was or snark together about how ridiculous everyone else is to think that said gesture was so romantic. E.g. "If I actually came home to that and you were my real boyfriend, I'd bloody kill you."