Hey guys! Sorry for the slow update! Here's part 8!
They quickly arrived on the front steps of Malfoy Manor, where they took a second to compose themselves. They made their way inside, where they found Narcissa. Ginny quickly hugged her since they hadn't seen each other in a while. After that, they all spent some time catching up and having dinner since they didn't really have time to finish it at the Weasley's.
Later that night, Ginny was in her room. They had given her a room the first time she was there, and it was her room now. She was brushing her teeth in the bathroom that was connected to her room when she heard a knock. She walked towards the door with her toothbrush in her mouth and opened the door. She found Draco standing there with a box of cookies and a bottle of firewhisky.
"Want cookies?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow and let him in. She went back to the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth, while he was starting up a fire in the fireplace. He put blankets on the floor and opened the bottle. She turned off the lights and sat next to him in front of the burning fire. "Thought you might want some company," he said. She smiled at him. "Also, you can only have cookies. No alcohol for you" he said chuckling.
"You know, I wanna get a flat. In the muggle part of London. That way, no one can find me unless I let them. I'll start working, and just live there with the baby" she said. Draco opened his mouth, about to say something, but Ginny cut him off before he even started. "And before you say anything because I know what you're going to say, no. You can't pay for it" she said. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"As a matter of fact, I was going to say that I think it's a great idea," he said. There was then an awkward pause. "And also, that I can pay," he said chuckling. She smiled.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked him. "I mean, I know that we went through hell together, but in school, we were rivals. You always hated my family. And let's be honest, had we not been stuck in that cell together, you never would've talked to me if you passed me in the street. You would've looked me up and down, sneered and walked away with a mean comment" she said. He looked at her and sighed. He then took a large sip of the firewhisky.
"You're right. That's exactly what I would've done. And I still don't know why I'm nice to you, you're quite a pain in the – " he didn't have time to finish as she gave him a playful punch on the arm. "No… I mean yeah spending all that time together made me realize that you're not so bad after all" he said chuckling. "Besides the fact that you're the only one who really just gets me now that Zabini left and God knows where Seamus is spending all his time, you're a good listener and you give good advice… sometimes" he added. She smiled at him.
"Well, your kindness is very much appreciated," she said. "I'm gonna wait a couple of days and I'll talk to Charlie about starting this training to become a dragonologist. I wanna start it as soon as possible to get at least a part done before I can't move anymore" she said as she stuffed 2 cookies in her mouth.
"I still have about 2 months left before September comes and I have to start my training," he said "And if you start your training earlier, I'm gonna be bored out of my mind. I might go to your house… annoy your brother or something," he added. She looked at him and laughed.
"He would hate it. And are you saying I'm your only friend and you can't live without me?" she asked him smirking.
"Well, I wouldn't go as far as to call you my friend, but I guess your company isn't too bad," he said "But I want you to know it's just because I have no one else to hang out with right now. As soon as I find someone, you'll be out the door. I'll throw your ass out in the rain!" he said laughing.
"You are such a jerk! No wonder you have no friends!" she said laughing. They talked and laughed for the rest of the night until they both fell asleep next to the fire.
…
A couple of days later, Ginny decided to contact Charlie for her training. She wrote him a letter, and within a couple of hours, she had received a letter with instructions.
Dear Ginny,
It makes me very happy that you want to go on the same path I went! It's a very exciting job that always leaves you wanting for more. It never feels like work! I'm afraid that Dad won't like it, but it's your life sweetie. I know we haven't talked much but I want you to know that I support you in all your decisions, including your decision to trust Malfoy. I may not understand it, but I'm sure you have good reasons.
So, first, you need to get through registration. I have a friend who works in London. He used to do individual trainings until a couple of years ago. I contacted him after reading your letter and convinced him to take you as his student. His name is James Dalgleish. I asked him if you could start your training as soon as possible since that's what you want. You will have to go meet with him tonight at that coffee shop you always used to go to, in muggle London. He'll be waiting for you at around 7. Make sure you show up!
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Love, Charlie
Ginny looked at the time and saw it was 5. She still had 2 hours to spare before she had to show up at the coffee shop. She walked out of her room and headed towards Draco's. She gave a quick knock and opened the door. Draco turned his head away from what he was doing and looked at her. "Hey, what's up," he said.
"Just received a letter from Charlie. I have to go meet this trainer in about 2 hours. Would you come with me?" she asked him.
"Yeah sure, where is it?" he asked.
"That coffee shop we used to go to" she answered.
"Okay then," he said.
…
Ginny walked into the coffee shop, followed by Draco. She looked around the place, trying to figure out who was the person she was supposed to meet. She noticed a guy reading a book in the corner of the shop, and she started walking towards him.
"James?" she asked as she approached him. The guy looked up from his book.
"Uh, no sorry. You go the wrong guy" he told her. She smiled and turned around, walking back to Draco.
"Well that was embarrassing," she said. She was about to walk up to someone else when she heard someone calling her name.
"Ginny?" she heard someone say. Ginny turned around towards this person.
"Yes! James?" she asked the tall man standing in front of her.
"Yes! Call me Jamie. Come, let's sit down" he motioned for her and Draco to sit down. They all sat and stared at each other. He shook hands with Draco as they introduced themselves. "So, Charlie tells me you want to become a dragonologist too?" he asked her. She smiled and nodded. "Okay, that's great! You're lucky that your brother is a good friend of mine because otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to find a trainer in another country than Romania. Most of us are there now since all our students usually come to us for the training. There's a reserve there so it's way easier to train. But I guess I can make an exception for you" he said chuckling. "Okay so, here's your registration papers, just make sure you complete them and send them to Charlie, so he can give them to our boss in Romania," he said as he handed her some papers. "Charlie told me you wanted to start as soon as possible, so whenever you're free to start, we can start," he told her.
"That's great!" she said, "I don't have anything going on right now, so if we could start in the next few days, it would be great!" she added. "And, about the price, how much is it?" she asked him.
"Oh, don't worry about that, your brother paid for your whole training," he said. "And we can do an intensive training, which would be 5 days a week, or something less intense and bring it down to maybe 2 or 3 days per week. The intensive training takes 2 years to complete. Of course, you will have some weeks off, but that's usually the normal length. Now if we bring it down to half, it'll take 4 years. I'm not asking you to choose which training you want right now. Go home, sleep on it, talk about it with someone, because it's a big commitment" he said.
"Well, I would really like to maybe start next week. But I don't know yet about what training I would like" she said.
"Okay, well let's start with a class, next Monday. If you have your answer by then, great, if you don't, that's okay too, but it would be better to know as soon as possible, so I can plan your training and all" he said.
"Okay that sounds good!" she said.
"So, meet me here on Monday at 8 in the morning," he said as he gave her a tiny paper with an address written on it. "And dress in comfortable clothes that let you move easily," he said "We're going to start with some basic training of self-defense. You need to know how to defend yourself against humans before you learn to defend yourself from dragons" he said as he got up, ready to leave.
"Okay, perfect, I'll see you then!" she said. Jamie walked out of the shop, followed by Ginny and Draco who apparated away at Malfoy Manor, where they spent the rest of the day filling out her registration form and discussing which type of training was better.
There you go! :)
