PLEASE READ: a lot of you asked how Draco is now innocent. Well, truth is, I didn't really think that through ahha. I'm a bit of an idiot there, I just thought oh what another good twist. I have worked out a reason though, I think. Draco was proven guilty not on the evidence that he had killed Luna, but his past. The only evidence Harry had to arrest Draco was the note, which stated it was going after members of the DA. Draco, being the one who found the list of students in his fifth year- along with Marietta snitching, but that's besides the point- seemed like the perfect suspect, not to mention Harry still hates him. The Ministry did not believe Lilith was a real person. Now that Ginny was able to prove that Lilith is indeed real, they had to review Draco's case. Since there was no hard evidence, only character profiling, they had to dismiss the charges. This is where innocent until proven guilty steps into play. It's very much like The Stranger by Camus… except Draco is innocent and will not be sentenced to death- at the moment, at least, maybe that will be my next plot twist. Hmmm. So I hope that helps, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns drop a review or a message. Thank you and hope you enjoy the next chapter- I sure did.
7. Inevitable
I want to break every clock.
the hands of time could never move again.
We could stay in this moment for the rest of our lives.
Is it over now hey, hey is it over now?
I want to be your last first kiss
that you'll ever have.
I want to be your last first kiss.
Draco didn't want to leave Azkaban.
He didn't want to accept that now that there was proof of Lilith, the Ministry had to review the evidence and could no longer prove Draco's guilt. Draco wanted to stay in his small, dark, damp little cell and lay on his cold bed with its single sheet until he died. It would have been the perfect life because then he would have never had to face the reality that he was falling in love with Ginny Weasely.
At first it was easy to ignore. She left for work before he was awake and he went to bed before she was even home. Azkaban had worn him out much more than he knew, causing him to sleep almost twenty hours a day sometimes. Yet when she started leaving food by his bed it got harder to ignore and by the time he began to live normal hours, it was even harder.
He had thought that he had only taking a liking to Ginny in Azkaban because she was the only person he talked to. He could say those sappy moments were because he was lonely and the butterflies were really just the need to have a friend near. Blaise only visited Draco a handful of times, Draco didn't blame him for it, and so having Ginny there almost every day was something he had looked forward to. However, now that he was out he did not need to look forward to seeing Ginny.
And yet he still did.
Bullocks. Why did Blaise have to be right once again? Thankfully Draco didn't know that Blaise predicted Draco falling for Ginny, otherwise he wouldn't have spoken with his good friend and most likely kicked Ginny out of his house. Though that would be easier than asking her, what Draco decided he was going to do this morning, before she left for work.
"Ginny," Draco said carefully as he entered the kitchen in only his pajama pants and a sweatshirt. He also had a thick pair of wool socks on; he couldn't get warm for the life of him. "How have you been doing lately?"
Draco figured to break into this easily, over breakfast, and just make sure it was okay to kick her out before he did so. Ginny herself had been enjoying her life living with Draco, even if it was much quieter than their relationship when he was in Azkaban. There they had been able to talk for an hour or two straight, but now Draco seemed to avoid her or just be sleeping before she got a chance to talk. Ginny never said anything about missing him though; she couldn't be mad at him for serving time for a crime he didn't commit. Especially after throwing her coffee in his face.
"I've been doing well," she smiled, pouring him a cup of hot coffee. She bit her lip though, nervous about something, raising Draco's alarm and eyebrows. He still had not touched on the subject of Luna being alive just yet. "I broke your toaster."
"I have a toaster?" Draco asked in the same raised eyebrow look. Ginny nodded causing Draco to shrug.
"I'll buy you a new one," Ginny supplied.
Draco shook his head. To tell you the truth he wasn't sure what a toaster actually was.
"Have you," Draco paused to suck down his coffee in a large gulp, in hopes to warm his body, but it was useless, "thought about getting your own apartment lately?"
Ginny froze and looked at him. She didn't know she was supposed to be looking for another place to live. Sure she knew she couldn't live with Draco forever, but for the moment, getting back on his feet, she thought he wouldn't mind some company. They had become friends, hadn't they? Draco pushed his blonde locks out of his eyes and Ginny tried not to stare; maybe they were bit more than friends in her mind.
"No, I haven't, um, had the time," she lied quickly. Her embarrassed blush hid away her sexy freckles and Draco immediately hated himself for asking it. He avoided her eyes and reached for a bagel on the counter. She took reached for one in order to stuff her mouth full of food, maybe so she wouldn't blab out that she enjoyed living with him. Their hands touched briefly, both pulling away quickly as if their hands were on fire. There was a muttering of apologies from each party and they both went back to their coffee bagel-less.
"It's fine," Draco finally got out, "you can stay as long as you want." He looked up at her, giving her a soft smile, even though he was mentally kicking himself for saying such a thing. However as her smile lit up her face, Draco wasn't kicking himself quite so hard.
Blaise, on the other hand, was.
Sort of.
"Luna's getting bored and if you don't kick Ginny out soon she said she is going to come over anyways," Blaise told Draco one afternoon while Ginny was at lunch.
"I asked her if she was looking for a place, but she said she didn't have time," Draco explained, grabbing a blanket before wrapping it around himself. Blaise glared, but could say nothing about the action. Draco had done Blaise a very big favor by not revealing the truth about Luna. He also was in debt to Ginny who was able to find a way to get Draco out of Azkaban.
"The old Draco wouldn't give a shit," Blaise smirked. It was Draco's turn to glare, but that didn't stop Blaise from continuing. "You're really stuck on her, aren't you?"
"No," Draco said immediately. He did not get stuck on girls back in Hogwarts and he did not get stuck on girls now, especially not Ginny Weasley. "She's Luna's friend. I looked out for Luna, now I'm looking out for her friend," Draco said.
"Yes, that's it," Blaise snickered, shaking his head. Draco rolled his eyes and left Blaise's, taking the blanket with him. The whole idea that he could be in love with Ginny Weasley unnerved him. Draco didn't believe in love, in all that mushy shit, in those sweet whispers in the dark. He was not the man who liked to cuddle and pillow talk was not on his to do list.
By the time Draco got home he was shaking. Great fucking Merlin why could he not get warm already! He had been out of Azkaban almost two weeks not and yet his body heat seemed unable to reactivate.
Draco moved through the house at a quick pace, knocking down anything in his way. The more he moved into the house, the more he shook until he slumped to the ground on the Persian rug in the middle of one of the long hallways. Sweet Salazar if he died here on his mother's stupid rug after all this, he was so going to raise hell in the afterlife.
The afterlife was not coming to Draco like he thought. His body was reacting to a spiking fever and maybe he would have found heaven, or hell, if Ginny had not come home with the morning coffee to see Draco crumpled on the floor like the stubborn bastard that he was. She told him to take some vitamin C, but he refused to take 'that muggle shit.' The little asshole knew he was getting sick; she ought to just kick him.
"Draco, you're burning up, we need to get you in bed."
"No," Draco commented peacefully, "the floor is comfortable."
Ginny giggled; she supposed this is how he would be drunk.
"Hold on, let me get you a common cold potion. You'll be fine then," Ginny smiled and ran off to one of the bathrooms. In the medicine cabinet there was just about every type of potion you could think of, but she finally found one and ran back out to Draco. Ginny smiled and dropped to her knees again to administer the drug.
"Fucking Merlin, that stuff is awful," Draco gasped after he swallowed whatever she forced down his throat.
"You're such a baby," Ginny laughed, shaking her head. "Come on, that should make your fever go down, but you're still going to need lots of rest."
"Bullshit, all I've been doing is resting," Draco said, pulling himself off the ground. To say he was thoroughly embarrassed for his sickness would be selling him short. Men don't get sick and have their girlfriends look after them. Scratch that, men do not get sick and have their girls that are friends look after them.
"Draco you're going to bed or I'm going to get Blaise to drag you there," Ginny told him, grabbing him by the arm to help him walk. Draco tried to wiggle out of her grasp, to walk on his own, but Ginny slapped him on the arm rather hard making him give up.
Once in Draco's room, Ginny finally let Draco go to pull back his blankets and pointed to the bed, "in," she demanded. Draco rolled his eyes so dramatically his hair fell into his face; he used a breath of air to blow the out of the way; Ginny tried to not melt into a puddle.
Draco climbed into bed and sat there looking upset. "This is degrading to my masculinity," Draco grumbled.
"Don't worry, I won't tell your boyfriend," Ginny giggled, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I've got to get to work," Ginny finally said, looking at the clock. She reached out to feel Draco's forehead one last time.
"Stay," he asked her. Ginny looked at him with wonder, hand pressed against his head.
"Draco, I have to get to work," she pleaded, but he shook his head.
"You can have one day off Weasley," Draco chuckled. Ginny didn't know what to say, but she decided to slip off her shoes and climb into bed with Draco. Even under the covers she could feel the cold radiating off him.
"You're freezing," Ginny whispered, looking over at him, hair falling into her eyes. Draco smiled softly, reaching over to brush the red hair out of her eyes, his ice fingers dancing on her warm skin. He moved his hand to her cheek, letting it rest there to steal her warmth as well as enjoy the skin-to-skin contact.
Ginny wasn't sure how it happened, laying in bed there next to the iceman, but as she looked into his eyes she felt her stomach knot terribly. She knew this wasn't something you just play with, but she moved her face forward until her forehead pressed against his. Draco smiled softly and made the next move, moving his lips closer until they rested on hers.
Draco's kiss was not as Ginny would have imagined. She had seen him kissing girls in the halls at Hogwarts, forceful and demanding, but as his lips set on hers he was almost so chaste that she couldn't feel them. However, the burning in her lips and in her heart told her otherwise. He applied more pressure when she did not pull away and Ginny felt her body sinking closer and closer to him, eating it up his cold by wrapping her arms around him.
She kissed him back with an equal pressure, wondering if his body was reacting in the same firework display as hers was. Draco was slipping into a peaceful coma as his body suddenly rushed with a warmth that he never experienced before. His hand on her cheek was on fire. He knew these were all the feelings he had been denying, the emotions he let the dementors take away every day, but now he had no choice but to act on them.
Moving his body over hers, Draco kissed Ginny deep into the pillows. He licked her licks softly and she allowed them to open, letting him become part of her world. It was then that the kiss became a little more demanding, but who was demanding what was hard to define. Ginny wanted him just as much as he wanted her. She was creating his heat, he was sending cold shivers down her spine, and neither wanted it to stop. Draco only moved his hand from her face in order to run it up and down her side, softly, smoothly, enough to make a soft moan escape her lips when it moved under her shirt.
The kiss was getting so heated neither heard footsteps through Draco's marble kitchen.
"Draco honey! I made you pancakes!" a female voice called out to him. Her voice bubbled with excitement and the pet names made Ginny freeze. Draco pulled back, afraid for whatever was suddenly going through her head.
"Who's that?" Ginny asked, quietly yet harshly. He already had a girlfriend? How could she not know this, after all that time in Azkaban, after living together? He had a girlfriend- or maybe just a five-dollar whore- and here he was coaxing her into bed? Ginny was angry and humiliated all at once.
"No one," Draco looked down at her, shaking it off, "Blaise's maid." He knew she had taken it the wrong way. Fucking hell, when did his life ever favor him?
"Draco my love, where are you!" the voice called again. Draco groaned.
"That's not the call of a maid," Ginny said irritably, pushing Draco off of her and rolling out of bed. She made a run for it and Draco followed quickly. However, he did not have far to run, for Ginny had frozen at the stop of the stairs, looking down at the bottom where Luna Lovegood stood holding a tray of pancakes.
"Ginny!" Luna squealed in delight.
Fortunately for Draco, there was no coffee around.
Unfortunately, that didn't stop Ginny from wheeling around and punching him right in the nose.
