All Harry Potter characters don't belong to me
Lirie Halliwell – Ginny will be home schooled for a few years but not necessarily for all seven years. I'm also trying to update as soon as possible but life has been kind of busy so it has been taking a lot longer, sorry about that. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Zuvalupa - Thank you for reading and reviewing
Lillian-is-fickle – Glad you like my L/N bits. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Mell8 - Thank you for reading and reviewing.
FireRedRose- Thank you for reading and reviewing.
NightBlossom – I'll write even more about what happens in Malfoy Manor just for you then. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Kittybro- Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Chelle – I'm relieved to know that you don't mind me not writing about Draco's school days. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies – No, the replacement isn't Luna. It is Hermione's cousin. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Kneh13 – I never knew that if you broke a pinky swear you would break the other person's pinky. But now that I know, I'll store it away from future reference hehe. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
DramaQueen999 – I'll try my best to update as soon as possible. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Darcy16 – I'm thrilled you like the pinky swear thing I put in. I thought I should put something childish in there, and I remember doing that when I was young too. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Rednight-rider – I'll try to update sooner. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Lady Felton1 - Thank you for reading and reviewing.
ParvisSira– Happy to know you like my portrayal of Luis and Narcissa. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Jade Summers – I hope you don't stress out too much in your hectic month. I'll hear from you when you get back then. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
GoldHeartSilverTears- Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Madison27 – I think they're cute together as well so I know exactly what you mean. I'm also extremely happy that you can feel that from my writing. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Profs.KrysCass– I know I wouldn't stand rewriting Draco's school years any more that you can sit there and re read it so it works out for the both of us then. Glad you enjoyed The Source and I hope you continue to enjoy this story too. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Tulzdavampslayer – I'm going to take my time making them grow up. I'm goning to write every year of their life and not just suddenly jump from now to when they are sixteen. Thought I did skip from age 5-6 to 10-11, I won't do it again. Hope you will enjoy it that way and Thank you for reading and reviewing.
JoJo– Ginny requires special medical attention so a house elf wouldn't be appropriate. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Felton118 - Thank you for reading and reviewing.
BabyPan – since the Parkinson Family taunted Harry then Lucius didn't give them the diary. This is explained more in this chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Sunflour – Nice suggestion, but I've kind of already got other plans to how Draco will find out because I need more time for their relationship to develop. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
FemmeDraconis – I was rather stressed while writing the last chapter because I knew I was taking a long time plus I had school matters to deal with. I'm hoping it will take lesser time to write now, but it seems life doesn't want me to. I have a lot of things happening at the moment so it might take longer to upload chapters. I know that's a crap excuse so I'll try my best. You don't have to worry about Lucius interfering with Ginny and Draco's relationship because there's always Serena Malfoy there. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Ayumi-dono – I agree the last chapter wasn't one of my best. The chamber of secrets actually happens with someone other than Ginny. This will be explained in this chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Cancan27 - Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Aj- Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Jade Nicole - Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Hilary - Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Oobleck89 – Glad you understand everything now. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Hello Kitty Girl – Thank you for reading and reviewing The Source. I'm glad you liked it and I hope you like this one too. I'm not American, I'm Australian.
Kahness – Glad you liked my Narcissa and Lucius part. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Eleoopy– I imagine a lot of the pureblooded families are rather traditional families and keep with the lady like activities. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Magic Crystal Rose – I don't think Ron and Harry would feel very comfortable with turning into Blaise and Bell since one of them will have to become a girl. So no, they will still become Crabbe and Goyle. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
AMY - Thank you for reading and reviewing.
CheesieCake – you'll have to wait for the time when Draco finds out about Ginny and wait to see his reaction. Glad you like hoe I have portrayed Draco and his Father. Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Chapter Nine – Lean on Me
"Speaking"
Thinking
Summer break finally arrived for the students of Hogwarts and Draco waited agonizingly on the Hogwarts train, wishing it would hurry up and arrive at Kings Cross station. The year had ended interestingly enough with Harry Potter once again being the hero and saving the day. It turns out that Granger's little cousin Elisa Green had been the one to open the chamber of secrets and Tom Riddle, Voldemort's real name, was hiding in a diary that the Parkinson's had deliberately slipped to Elisa Green. However there was not enough evidence to charge them.
Draco had written a letter to his father with a detailed account of what had happened. Though it was supposed to be a secret, Draco had his ways of finding things out. If the famous trio could do it, he could too. Draco knew that even though he had already told his father about what had happened in a letter, he knew his father would want him to tell the story again.
Sitting in the compartment of the train with Blaise and Belle, Draco was lost in his own thoughts. Running his fingers over the shiny surface of his pocket watch, Draco was itching to open it and look at the photo of Ginny. He didn't have to though, because if he closed his eyes he could picture her face just as well. Draco was shook out of his thoughts by Blaise kicking his leg.
"Ow! What was that," Draco growled while reaching hand down to rub his leg.
Blaise smirked at his friend. "And I thought you were dead," he teased.
Bell smiled and went to sit next to Draco. "Is something bothering you, Draco?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
Bell gave Draco a skeptical look. "You seem to be zoning out a lot these fast few days."
Draco smiled. Bell reminded him of Ginny a lot sometimes and was a subconscious reason why he liked her a bit more than Blaise. She cared a lot about both he and Blaise and could be like a pestering sister at times but was comfortable to be around most of the time. Unable to go home during the Christmas break, Draco was very glad that his two best friends had stayed with him. They also ended up finding out the most interesting things. He was really going to miss them during summer.
"I'm fine," Draco answered. "So, are you two doing anything interesting this summer?"
"Nope," Blaise answered. "I'm going to die of boredom. Especially when all four of my sister's are going to be home all summer with me too. Talk about torture."
Bell laughed. "They can't be that bad, can they?"
Blaise scoffed. "You want to come over and see for yourself." Blaise's face suddenly lit up. "Yeah, why don't you two come over some time during summer?"
Draco smiled. "Sounds good."
"I'm game," Bell answered.
"Great. I'll owl you both then."
Walking briskly up the stairs to the main door of Malfoy Manor, Draco was in no hurry to get inside and be forced by his father to retell the accounts of the school year. Today was a weekday so Draco knew Ginny would not be at the Manor. Wanting to place some personal items in his rooms before greeting his father, Draco walked up the stair painstakingly slowly because talking to his father about school would take hours and he knew he would not enjoy it.
Rounding the corner at the top of the stairs, a figure bumped right into Draco.
"Watch where you're going!" Draco yelled, thinking it was a house elf. Looking up he was surprised to see Ginny looking up at him with shock.
"Ginny! What are you doing here?" he asked with excitement. Ginny smiled broadly at him after getting over the shock of being screamed at in Malfoy Manor.
"I had private lessons with professor Wimble," she explained.
Draco couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He was not expecting to see Ginny today and was absolutely stunned and extremely happy at the same time. Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Draco quickly pulled Ginny into a near by closet and shut the door.
"What are you doing, Draco?" Ginny asked with concern.
"Shh…I don't want Martin to find me just yet," Draco whispered.
"Why?" Ginny whispered back.
Draco gave Ginny a lopsided grin. "Because when he finds me I'll be forced to go see Father and talk about boring stuff. I would really prefer to spend time with you since I haven't seen you for so long."
Ginny's heart fluttered at Draco's sweet words. She too had missed him and was so happy to see him today. Ginny wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I missed you so much," She whispered into his ear.
Draco hugged Ginny tighter and relished the warmth of her body. "I missed you too."
Minutes ticked by and they kept a hold of each other. Draco noticed that he had grown a bit taller during this year because Ginny was resting her cheek on his shoulder rather than resting her chin on it like she did last year. Draco pulled back and looked at into Ginny's eyes. The closet was dark but there were cracks that allowed some light to shine in. Ginny's face had more defined features now, with a longer face, prominent cheek bones and slightly pointy chin. Though some of her features had changed, she still had her cute button nose, big round eyes and the most beautiful smile.
Seeing how beautiful she was, Draco didn't even notice he was leaning forward and kissed her on the cheek. The door yanked open at that moment and both Martin and Sarah stood outside. Ginny blushed and stepped out if the closed with Draco close behind.
"Come, Ginny," Sarah said gently. "You're expected at home." Sarah placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder and guided her down the stairs. Ginny looked back over her shoulder at Draco with sad eyes until eye contact was lost.
"Sir is expecting you in the study, Master Draco," said Martin. Draco let out a long sigh before heading towards the study.
Saturday morning arrived quickly and Draco waited excitedly for Ginny to arrive. As soon as she arrived in the lounge room via her portkey, Draco grabbed her hand and was dragging her somewhere. On the way to their destination, they ran pass Narcissa and Lucius.
"Mother, Father," Draco said quickly without stopping.
"Good morning Aunt Nissa, Uncle Malfoy," Ginny greeted quickly while trying to keep up with Draco's steps.
Once they were out of sight, Lucius frowned while Narcissa smiled.
Draco had dragged Ginny out into the large garden of Malfoy Manor because it was during this time of the year that all the flowers were in bloom. Draco knew Ginny loved lively colors and the garden was a mass of bright colors and fragrant scents. Like everything else in Malfoy Manor, the Malfoy garden housed all the best and most beautiful flowers known to man kind. Arranged artistically around the grounds it was a magnificent sight to behold. Ginny had seen Malfoy garden in bloom before, but for some reason, this year it was especially beautiful.
Walking down the path, Ginny gazed in awe at the blossoming flowers. This year, the colors were richer, the fragrant more sweet and the flowers more in bloom. Ginny turned around to tell Draco just how beautiful she thought the garden was this year and was surprised to be presented with a blooming red rose with a butterfly perched atop.
"I'm sorry I broke my promise." Draco said while holding the rose in front of him.
Ginny smiled and accepted the rose gently so the butterfly wouldn't fly away too soon. "You're forgiven."
Later in the afternoon, Draco and Ginny lay on the grass on top of a small hill that over looked the garden. The red rose lay between them on the ground and the butterfly had long ago flown away, but had brought back a group of other butterflies that flew amongst the flowers.
Draco was lying on his side, facing Ginny and desperately holding in his laughter.
"It's not funny," Ginny protested. "Mr. Olivander had to go to St. Mungo's with a concussion and when I came back again, he made me test the wand outside his shop."
Draco couldn't help it and burst out laughing. Ginny frowned and could only wait fro Draco to stop. After Draco had calmed down, he noticed the look on Ginny's face and took her hand into his.
"I wouldn't have expected anything less amazing from you," He said genuinely.
"It wasn't amazing, it was embarrassing," Ginny argued.
Draco smiled. "Embarrassing to you maybe, but amazing to those who were looking in."
Ginny couldn't stop the smile from gracing her face.
"Come on, "Draco said while getting up. "Let's go and see if the rest of the garden is this beautiful."
Draco helped Ginny up and held her hand while they walked further away from Malfoy Manor and deeper into the garden. Malfoy Manor only took up a small section of the land it was built on, and the rest was the garden. So entranced by the beauty of the garden Draco and Ginny didn't even notice that they were drifting very far from Malfoy Manor. The section of garden that had blossoming flowers wasn't very large, but still large enough to take a whole day to walk to the end of it and back again.
Only when Ginny tripped over a rock, did Draco realize just how far away they were from the Manor.
"Are you alright, Ginny?" Draco asked.
"Yeah," Ginny answered while dusting off her pants, but when she went to take a step she felt the pain. Ginny groaned and crouched down again to hold her ankle.
"I don't think I can walk, Draco?" Ginny said and started to panic. "How are we going to get back?"
"Don't worry, I'll think of something." Draco said, hoping it would calm Ginny down.
It only took Draco a few seconds to come up with an idea and so he moved to crouch in front of Ginny with his back facing her.
"What are you doing?" Ginny asked.
"I'm going to piggy back you, so hop on."
"You can't. It's a very long walk," Ginny protested.
"Yes I can," Draco insisted. "I play Quidditch, Ginny. I'm sure I can handle carrying you back home. Now hop on."
Ginny was reluctant to, but still moved to wrap her arms around Draco's neck and he hooked his arms under her legs.
"Ready?" Draco asked. After hearing confirmation from Ginny, Draco stood up slowly and started walking back towards Malfoy Manor.
Draco could feel that Ginny was rather stiff because her back was straight and head was held high.
"Just relax, Ginny," Draco said.
"Am I heavy?" Ginny asked and still wouldn't loosen up.
Draco smiled. "You're light as a feather. Trust me, Ginny. I'll get us home."
Ginny relaxed a bit and rested her head on Draco's shoulder. "If you get tired, tell me."
"I will. Now tell me more about what Professor Wimble has taught you."
Relaxing onto Draco's back, Ginny began telling him all the things that she had learnt in her classes. Draco listened on and was satisfied with what Ginny was learning. He didn't want her to fall behind when she went to Hogwarts this year. He hoped beyond hope, that Ginny's condition would improve so she could join him at school.
The sun was setting and cast warm colors of red, orange, pink and purple on the horizon. Draco stopped in his tracks to look and turned his head to tell Ginny to look but notice she had dropped off to sleep. Readjusting her weight, Draco began walking again, but more carefully so he wouldn't wake Ginny up.
Back at Malfoy Manor, Narcissa and Serena were worrying about where Draco and Ginny were. It was way past the time for Ginny to go home and Molly had flooed to see what was taking her daughter so long to come back. Molly was mortified when they told her Ginny and Draco had not come back from their walk in the garden. But Serena had reassured her that Martin, Sarah and the house elf's were out looking for them and that Ginny could stay the night when she came back.
Molly was sure that Serena was doing her best to look for her daughter and that Ginny wouldn't be in any danger. Though she still worried she allowed Serena to handle the situation and asked that she be contacted when Ginny was found.
Lucius lounged in his big chair and was reading the newspaper without a worry in the world. Narcissa was standing by the window that looked out onto the garden and kept checking if there was any sign of Draco and Ginny.
Serena sat in the sofa and frowned at her son. "Really, Lucius," Serena scolded. "I know you don't like Ginny but you could as least seem a little worried for them."
Lucius sighed and folded his paper up. "There is really no need to worry, Mother." He reasoned. "There is nothing dangerous in the Gardens so they will be fine. I also have faith that Draco is more that capable of protecting himself and his Fiancé."
"They're back," Narcissa said from the window and began heading for the door.
Serena wasn't far behind and rushed to the door to see how they were.
Draco stepped into the house with Ginny still sleeping on his back while Martin and Sarah were by his side.
"Draco, where have you been?" Narcissa said.
"Sarah, take Ginny up to her room," Serena instructed at the same time.
"Sh…don't wake Ginny up," Draco told them and everyone went quiet. "Mother, I'll take Ginny up to bed first and then I'll come down and explain."
Without waiting for an answer, Draco began walking up the stairs while everyone stood quietly still down stairs.
Lucius smirked and walked over to where everyone stood. "Like I said, Mother, I have total faith in Draco. He is after all a Malfoy." Lucius then turned around and headed towards his study.
End of Chapter Nine. Thank you for reading and I hope you review.
