Draco couldn't imagine he had let Ginny in on his favorite, secret spot where he goes to think about things. She found him and now he knew his spot was compromised and yet, he was glad she was here. He was disappointed she wanted to kiss him so badly; he couldn't kiss her or more without getting both their hopes up and them both being hurt. He wanted to tell her why this place was so important to him, more than him just doubting the Dark Lord, but he couldn't yet.

"My father, as you know, is not a kind man. He isn't in public nor private, and he's barely even kind to my mother. I was taught to believe I was always better than everyone who is not of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' and that, under no circumstances, am I to show any emotion that would be a negative one. As a child, I was never allowed to cry, not even in my room. When I came to Hogwarts, I could show emotions and to cry because he wasn't around. But I always tried to do so in private. That is how I became friends with Myrtle. Now that he is on house arrest, I hoped we would have the chance to be closer but I find it is even harder to spend time with him now than when he was storming about scaring everyone. I once asked my mother why he did not love me and she was so fearful that all she said was 'do not ask such questions and don't let your father hear.' Potter may not have had a family but he always had people looking after him, protecting him, and when he came to the wizarding world, he found a family who loved him like their own. Bullying Father was the only way I could ever get his attention, and it was always threatening to tell Mother about him beating me with his cane; she probably knew though." Ginny reached out and took his hand, it was comforting. The last time anyone besides Ginny touched him was when he and Pansy got too drunk and made a mistake. He still felt bad for her, she had feelings for him for a very long time but Draco never saw her as more than anyone he could mess around with when he was feeling down. She came onto him too strongly and already upset about a row with his father, he drank too much Firewhiskey with her at The Hog's Head and then they were in the bathroom. He thought it was their usual arrangement but at some point, she had said she loved him. Immediately after, he tried to fix it but she did not take it well. It resulted in her spreading nasty rumors about him having sex with younger students and countless other terrible, untrue things about him. He wished he could make it better for her, but no amount of trying helped. Apologizing, although he truly did not need to apologize for his feelings, didn't help either. She was content to stew about how Draco did not want her and he was content with her not glaring at him every five minutes anymore.

"Does your mother love you?" Ginny's eyes were wide with concern. Draco was touched that someone who was taught to hate him cared so much. He understood how her family could take in Potter and Granger so easily. He could even understand why Potter loved her so much.

"Very much so. She lied to the Dark Lord to find me. Don't all mothers love their children in their own way, though? What about your family?" He remagicked fresh cocoa in their cups and noticed that the fire was dying down. He didn't want the day to end but he knew they would need to eat at some point. Draco wanted Ginny Weasley on his arm as they entered the Great Hall, not to prove that he had changed but to show her off and make her someone other than Harry Potter's girlfriend.

"You know all about us. I was the first girl born to the Weasley's for centuries and my mother wanted me dearly. Everyone adored me, except for Ronald. He lived in our brothers' shadows for so long that when I came along and would try and do everything he did to be just like him, he started living in my shadow. Now that he's gone out and made a name for himself, he's happy and he's the best big brother. But it was difficult always having to be the perfect little angel they wanted." Draco realized that Ginny's life may be different from his but she experienced the same thing he did: the desire to be what everyone else wanted while struggling to be true to himself.

"I have always struggled to be who I am supposed to be. And I know you were finally getting to be you when Potter came back and you were immediately on the track to becoming a wife. Pansy believed she would be mine. We would fool around when I was feeling bad about myself and one night after a particularly bad row with my father, she and I were at the Hog's Head and got drunk. We went to far in the bathroom and she took it a step further telling me she loved me. I thought she knew where my feelings stood but she didn't. I tried to explain, to apologize, but she would hear none of it. I'm just glad I never told her this is where I disappear to, after the Room of Requirement was destroyed. This is the place I come to in order to clear my head. Had Snape not stepped in, Dumbledore would still be alive, but my family would be gone. I had changed my mind. I always come here to sit and think about how things could have been or could be. Dumbledore gave me a second chance and I wanted to take it. I want to be a better person than my father." A tear ran down Ginny's face and Draco felt them welling in his eyes as well. He'd never been so open with anyone in his life. What powers did this witch have to make him open up the way he was? "I wasn't going to tell you all of this today. But you just take down all of my walls."

"I'm glad I do, Draco. I am proud of you and who you've become. You are better than your father. By apologizing to me, being so kind to me, and even being so kind to the first and second year students. I don't have any deep secrets, besides the one where I snuck into the Forbidden Forest to make out with Dean one day but I wish I did. I wish I could trade you a deep secret like that." Ginny put her legs on the ground next to Draco's and leaned over so that she was hugging him. He was so deeply moved that he stood her up, awkwardly, so that they were standing and hugging. Almost as soon as they had stood, the tears that were threatening to spill over did and Draco Malfoy was standing in the astronomy tower where Dumbledore was killed, hugging Harry Potter's ex-girlfriend while crying. Had he not been so deeply moved by Ginny's obvious kindness and willingness to overlook his flaws, he would have laughed but he didn't. He held her tighter and rested his cheek on her head. Never having truly been in love before, Draco didn't know what he was feeling at the moment; he did know that he wanted the moment to last forever and to hold Ginny in his arms until he could no longer.

When they had both stopped their silent tears, they took a small step back. One not large enough to separate them, but just big enough to where Draco could look the Weasley girl in the eyes. A beautiful chocolate brown, highlighted by a subtle bit of mascara Draco wouldn't have known was there if it wasn't running down her face. He didn't know what made him do it but that was the moment Draco Malfoy kissed Ginny Weasley; first on her forehead, then on her nose, and finally, on her lips. He had tilted her head up by her chin and wanted to hold her head back by her hair but instead, he placed his other hand on the small of her back. Ginny was not shy in the kiss but her body language said she was, her hands had moved from around his middle to his biceps and she had her small, beautiful hands curled around them as far as they would go. Feeling a little devious after their encounter this morning, Draco gently ran his tongue along the bottom of Ginny's lip and she reacted exactly how he wanted her to, by opening her mouth and allowing their tongues to gently touch and caress the other. After they had pulled apart, Draco was lightheaded and slightly out of breath. Ginny was in worse shape, breathing heavily and flushed under her flaming mane. Running his hand from her temple to the end of her hair, Draco smirked and gave her a slight peck on the lips.

"How was that, princess?" Her grin was the only response he needed. "Good. Let's go eat and show you off to the handful of students staying at Hogwarts."

"I hope we don't give McGonagall a heart attack."

But they laced their fingers through the other's and Draco knew that he was going to have one himself if Ginny got any better than that first kiss. It didn't occur to him until they could hear the noise of the Great Hall that at some point, Harry Potter and the Weasley clan would hear about this. And with Granger back at Hogwarts as well, he knew she would hear a lot more than them sharing their thoughts and a few kisses.