Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. If I did, I'd be doing something more exciting than sitting on my bed writing fanfics. I'd probably be on a date with my husband, Tom Felton. Oh, that would be the life!

Well, sorry for the last chapter being on the short side and I hope the length and content of this chapter makes up for it!

Thanks for all of you who reviewed. Come get your pies! *hands out pies of any flavor you want* Yay pie and reviews. If you review for this chapter I'll give you your own Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) clone to share your pie with! Yay Tom Felton, pie and reviews!

Without further ado…

Chapter 10

Ginny POV

The sound of my usual alarm woke me that morning, like any other. Sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I could feel something wasn't normal, something wasn't right. Climbing out of my warm bed, I grabbed my wand from the bedside table and tried to figure out what was wrong. I walked to my bedroom door and peeked out to see nothing but the empty hall. Shaking my head, I tried to discard the unsettling feeling.

Instead, I put my wand back down and made my way to the bathroom for my morning shower. That's when it hit me, the reason nothing felt right. The sound of Luna's snores were missing and without it, the flat was utterly silent. I'd never lived alone and I'd never really wanted to. That's why the arrangement with Luna and I worked out so well. I'd grown up surrounded by family and was never truly alone. The only alone time I'd ever had was when I was in the bathroom. But even then I usually had a brother or two waiting for me to get done.

Even living with only Luna I was rarely alone. Sure, once in a while I'd come home and she'd still be at work but I'd never been alone during the night. When I went to sleep the night before, I didn't think much of it because I was so tired but now, in the dark of the early morning, before the sun even had a chance to rise, I felt utterly alone.

Deciding I could simply shower after work, I made my way to the dark kitchen. In moments I had a pot of coffee on and some toast in the toaster. It was strange, only cooking for me. With Luna's lack of cooking knowledge, I'd always made her breakfast with mine and set it aside with a warming charm for when she woke up.

I was startled from my melancholy by the sharp tap on the kitchen window. Surprised that I was receiving an owl at 5:30 in the morning, I opened the glass and let the all too familiar owl stumble his way in. Errol, I should have known. He dropped a letter onto the table, nearly missing my coffee cup, before collapsing beside it.

"Stupid old thing," I muttered, making my way back to the table and offering the limp bird a piece of toast. He perked up right away and started nibbling on it. Exhausted as he got after long flights, if you offered him food he acted like he was healthy as a horse. Picking the letter up, I quickly recognized my mother's handwriting. As I opened it, I wondered how long ago she'd sent it. With Errol, there was no way of knowing.

Deciding Errol needed my attention more than the letter at the moment, I picked him up and took him to my own owl's cage. Dixie was out hunting and probably wouldn't be back for another few hours. Refilling the water and food bowls, I left him to recuperate. I seriously needed to talk to George about pitching in to by Mum and Dad a new owl. I had some money saved up and with the next two months' rent and bills paid I didn't have any immediate needs to spend it on. Maybe the two of us could get a really nice, young owl.

Turning my attention back to my letter, I braced myself to see what Mum and Dad though of my match and their future son-in-law.

Ginny,

I was glad to finally hear from you. It had been nearly a week without you coming over or even sending a letter. You know I don't like it when you do that. I like to hear from my baby girl. Please, do think of your poor parents more often.

I'm very proud of you for getting an O on your test dear! That's very wonderful. Though I'm sure you're looking forward to graduating and finally getting to become a full Healer, don't try to grow up too fast. Don't rush life along, just live it and enjoy the moment.

Now as for that horrid Ministry Marriage Act, I'm very unhappy with it. While many of the matches seem to be appropriate, the ministry never fails to screw people over. I'm very sorry to hear about your match, dear. To be married to the likes of a Malfoy is something no decent witch should have to endure. As soon as we got your letter, your father went straight to the legal department in the Ministry to see if he could find something, some loophole, to get you out of it. I'm sorry to say he hasn't found anything yet.

As far as anyone can find, the new law is legal as could be. Even poor Hermione can't find anything to discredit it. I'm sure you heard about her match. I can't say I'm disappointed that she and Ronald aren't going to be together. You know how I felt about all their bickering. It's not the right environment to start a family in. I think she and Charlie will be wonderful for each other. While he's taken to it easily, the same cannot be said for Hermione. She's fighting it tooth and nail. She'll come around though.

Ronald and that young witch Padma was a surprising match. I'd only ever met her once and that was through you, not him. She's very nice though and will make a wonderful addition to the family. They already have a wedding date set, though they won't do anything fancy. Much to my dismay, they said they'll just go the ministry to be wed. At least I'll be able to plan George and Angelina's wedding like I'd planned. It'll be sometime in March. They don't want to rush.

When Hermione finally comes around, I don't know how she and Charlie will go about it. As much of a hassle as planning a wedding is, I do hope the let me do it rather than taking the quick way out and going to the ministry. What about you, dear? Will you let your mother plan the wedding of her only daughter? Whether you particularly care for the boy you'll marry or not, it should still be a special day.

I'm happy to hear about Luna's success with this new law. While the boy might be Slytherin, if you approve of him and she cares for him as he does for her, then I'll accept him. When can I expect everyone over for dinner? I'll be nice to see Luna again and I'll make her favorite dessert, my triple chocolate cake. I hope that boy of hers has an appetite.

Now, as much as it may upset your father and brothers, I'd like you to invite Draco along too. He will be a member of our family, like it or not, so everyone should be properly introduced. Owl me back with a day that will be convenient for all four of you to come and I'll set it up with the rest of your brothers. We'll have a big family meal before winter sets in too hard. With everyone and their matches, plus Bill and Fleur's little Victoire, it will be a full house and we won't all fit inside.

Keep your chin up, even though the toughest of times. I'm never more than a fireplace away should you need me. Always try to make the best of a bad situation. Maybe Draco Malfoy won't be so bad once you get to know him. You never know, he may not be much like his father after all. Lord, we can only pray that is so.

Love always,

Mum and Dad

Smiling, I set the letter aside and picked up my cup of now cooled off coffee. It was nice to hear from Mum, even in the form of a long, rambling letter. I guess with everything going on, she sure had a lot to say. Taking my uneaten toast and tossing it in the bin and downing the rest of my coffee, I started off to my room to get ready for work.

I didn't know what I was going to do about this family dinner though. To picture Draco Malfoy sitting at the Weasley's dinner table wasn't something easily done. While Luna and probably Blaise, if only to make her happy, would come, I wasn't so sure about Draco.

I paused mid step about halfway down the hallway, frozen in my tracks. Did I really just think of him as Draco, not Malfoy? I'd never thought of him as simply Draco. The only time I'd ever said or thought his first name was if it was tagged onto his last name. I'd never just called him Draco. Well, I guess I had, yesterday when we were kissing. But surely that didn't count! I was lost in the moment. I could barely think for his lips on mine.

Shaking my head, I continued down the hall. It was unsettling to realize how much closer I'd gotten to him, how almost comfortable I'd gotten with him in the last week. To go from hating him to, if not liking him, at least tolerating him in such a short amount of time was surprising. Who was I trying to kid, I didn't just tolerate him; I was actually beginning to like him. When he wasn't being mean, he was really a kind person. After what happened yesterday afternoon, any girl in her right mind would have started to like him.

As I got dressed, I tried to wrap my head around this new found attraction to Draco Malfoy. It was a hard concept to grasp. How could I begin to like the person that for so long I'd hated. How can I like Draco Malfoy, the git of all gits? And why was he suddenly being nice? I'd never seen that kind and gentle side of him that came out yesterday. Before then, I didn't realize that he could be nice. Why was my world suddenly turned upside down? Nothing made any sense anymore.

Tying my shoes and putting my hair up, I decided this wasn't a good time to be filling my head with all these confusing thoughts and conflicting emotions. I had to be at work in about fifteen minutes. After quickly brushing my teeth, I was out the door and into the chilly morning air. The walk to work was quick and would have been very cold in the early morning chill but I'd thought to put a temporary heating charm on my jacket. It would disappear as soon as I walked into the warm café.

Work went as well as any other Tuesday. I was sad that Jack was still avoiding me at all costs. The only words he spoke to me had to do with the food he was cooking. I hated myself for hurting him so bad but there was nothing to be done. I just had to learn to accept the fact I'd lost a good friend because of this stupid law. I hated it.

The usual morning rush came and went and before I knew it, I was resetting the tables for lunch. When the smell of the first burger reached my nose, my stomach gave a loud grumble. I normally always ate breakfast but I wasn't really hungry that morning. Now I was though and my shift couldn't end soon enough. It was just a little past one when the door opened an in walked the reason for all the drama that had been consuming my life for the past week: Draco Malfoy.

What was he doing here? I let out a sigh and closed my eyes before disappearing back into the kitchen, trying to avoid him. I only had one person at my tables right now and she had a full glass of water and plenty of ketchup so I could stay back in here for a few minutes. Well, that was unless Tawny put our newest customer at one of my tables. Could this day get any worse?

When Cady came back through the kitchen doors with a huge grin on her face, my question was answered. Yes, yes it could. "Oh, Ginny," she practically sang as soon as the door swung shut behind her. "There's a tall and handsome man out there asking for you." She let out a giggle and peaked back out the door.

To make matters even worse, Jack looked over from the grill then, a hurt look on his face. When I said nothing and made no move to leave the kitchen, Cady turned back to me with eyebrows raised. "Well, who is he and why aren't you going out there? If he'd come for me I'd be out there like that," she said, snapping her fingers when she said 'that.'

I groaned and leaned against the nearby wall. "What is he doing here?" I asked more to myself.

"So, you obviously know him," Cady prodded. "Now who is he? Why are you not thrilled to have that hunk of a man asking for you?"

Rolling my eyes, I realized there was really no getting out of this situation without facing him. "Trust me, you wouldn't be thrilled if you truly were in my shoes," I muttered before pushing open the kitchen door.

"Oh yes I would," Cady whispered, following right behind me. "He's hot."

I spotted him easily in the near empty café. He was still standing near the door, obviously waiting for me. Taking a deep breath, I gave a hard look to Cady telling her not to follow me, and walked over to him. "What are you doing here?" I asked, perhaps a little too harshly, before he could say a word. "And how did you find out where I work?"

"And hello to you too," he said casually as if he did this every day.

"Draco," I said warningly, glancing back behind me. The few customers were oblivious, just concentrating on each other or their food. My coworkers on the other hand were all pretending not to stare, or in Cady's case, openly watching our interaction. Even Jack, bless his heart, was standing at the kitchen door watching. This would not end well. I didn't want to hurt him even more.

"Fine, I asked Blaise to find out from Luna where you worked. I knew you had a job, but I didn't know what or where," Draco said with a shrug, looking around the small establishment with an almost horrified look that he hid well. It was as if he truly couldn't believe he was in such a place.

I rolled my eyes. Of course he did because my life wasn't already complicated enough he had to invade my work too. "And what exactly, pray tell, are you doing here?" I asked him, trying to hide my annoyance.

"Well, I came to see when you'd be off and to take you to lunch," he said innocently. For some reason, I found it hard to believe. Why would Draco Malfoy show up at my place of work just to take me out to lunch? That seemed a much too thoughtful gesture for him.

I let out a sigh and glanced back over my shoulder, giving hard looks to my eavesdropping coworkers. "Well I don't get off until three so you're out of luck," I said, turning from him without another word and heading over to my one customer. "Do you need anything else? More water?" I asked kindly, looking at her half empty glass.

"Why yes, that would be lovely," she said, handing me her glass before turning back to her stew.

Prying Draco would get the hint and leave, I headed to the nearby drink station and refilled the lady's glass. But, even after I returned the full cup of water to my customer, he was still there. He hadn't even moved. He just stood leaning against the wall casually with his arms crossed loosely across his chest, obviously not going anywhere anytime soon. Even as I wished he would leave, part of me wanted nothing more than to just ogle him. I couldn't help but notice how the well-formed muscles in his arms bulged and the tight black shirt accentuated a well-defined chest.

"You know Ginny," Tawny said suddenly, grinning. "I don't mind if you take the rest of your shift off. It's not even two hours and I'm sure Cady and I could handle the tables in your absence. We're really not busy today." She gave me a you're-welcome look and turned to look at Cady back her up.

"Yeah, I don't have a problem covering your tables," she agreed eagerly.

Before I could refuse the offer, my stomach took that moment to give a particularly loud grumble. Well, now there was no denying how good having lunch sounded. "Then we're set," Draco said, pushing off from the wall and walking over to me. "Table for two," he said, giving Tawny one of his charming smiles. He could act the gentleman when he wanted.

I gave him an incredulous look as he placed his hand on my lower back, guiding me to follow Tawny as she grabbed two menus and led the way to the tables. "Table or booth?" she asked.

Draco looked over at me, silently asked which I wanted. "Booth," I muttered, resigning myself to the fact I'd be having lunch with him. This really wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact he came to my work. First off, this would hurt Jack even more than ever. It hadn't even been a full week since I'd turned him down and now I'd be having lunch with another man right in front of him. Then, Cady was here to witness the entire thing so we wouldn't have a single moment that we weren't watched. She'd be talking about this for weeks!

Tawny just gave us huge smiles as she led us to a nearby booth and lay the menus down before walking away. I slid in the booth across from my sudden date and picked up the menu, more to have something to look at other than him than anything else. He did the same across from me, occasionally looking at me.

"You don't seem too happy I'm here," he pointed out after a moment.

I looked up at him and lay my menu aside. "I guess I'm just really surprised is all," I said with a shrug. "And a bit of me is annoyed that you'd interrupt me at work."

He acknowledged my statement with a small nod of his head before turning back to the menu. "What's good here?" he asked suddenly. "Many of these things, I've never had."

"How could you not have had some of this stuff?" I heard Cady ask from behind me. I turned to see her walking towards us with her order pad out.

Draco looked up at her and gave a small shrug before turning back to the menu, saying nothing. It was a good thing to. Once you get Cady talking, it gets hard to shut her up.

"What'll it be to drink?" she asked after a moment of no response from Draco.

"Ice tea," he responded without looking up. "Light on the ice with no lemon."

Cady frowned, obviously annoyed he wouldn't pay more attention to her. "I'll have coke," I said to take her attention away from him.

She nodded and wrote both down before walking away to get our drinks. "What do you suggest?" Draco asked when she was gone. "You work here. What's good?"

I looked down at my own menu and contemplated. "Well, just about everything is good. Jack is a fantastic cook. I think I'm going to have the pan seared chicken. But the steak is to die for," I said, looking idly through the small menu.

"Then steak it is," Draco said, folding his menu and setting it aside.

Just then, Cady showed back up with our cups. Seeing our menus both to the side, she grabbed them up and took our orders. After taking her time and making small talk, she finally disappeared back into the kitchen to give the order to Jack, glancing back at us every few seconds.

"Sorry about her," I said apologetically, sipping my coke. "She's a nosey busybody but it's all in good fun. She doesn't mean to annoy people; it just happens."

He nodded in understanding, obviously used to people like her. I wondered idly if that's the kind of girl he usually hooked up with, mindless and flirty. Not to insult Cady or anything, but she was kind of ditsy, even more so where there's a hot man around, even one that's clearly here for me, not her. But, I couldn't really blame her for being attracted to him.

"Mum wants us over for dinner soon," I said, deciding I'd better break the news to him sooner rather than later.

"Us?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "They want me over for dinner?"

I could understand his skepticism and couldn't help but smile. "Well, she thinks it would be a good idea. Whether my dad and brothers are in on it or agree to it is yet to be known. She wants you to be properly introduced to the whole family," I said, silently wondering if he'd notice if I kicked my shoes off. My feet were a bit sore and pretty hot.

"Well, that could be a disaster," he said mildly, a small smile playing on his lips. "And who do you mean by whole family?"

"Well, not the entire family. Just Mum, Dad, Bill and Fleur, their daughter Vicky, Charlie and Hermione, Percy and his wife Audrey, George and Angelina, then Ron of course and Padma," I said, listing of the family members one at a time. "I'm sure Harry will be there too which means likely that Pansy will be coming. Oh, and Mum wants Luna and Blaise to come too and if Luna comes then her Dad will be invited also."

After a moment of stunned silence, Draco finally spoke up. "So, just a few then," he said casually.

Letting out a laughed, I nodded. "Just a few," I agreed with a giggle. "Mum wants to know when will be good for us and Luna and Blaise."

"Well, I can always clear my schedule so whenever is good for you. I'm sure Blaise can take anytime off he needs," he said with a shrug.

"How about when I owl her back I say Sunday?" I suggested. "Luna doesn't work Sundays and most everyone goes home for Sunday dinner anyway so that's a time most people would already be free."

He was quiet, almost pensive, for a moment before he answered. "Yes, Sunday will be fine," he finally said. "Oh, and I have something for you."

"Really?" I asked, surprised at his sudden statement.

He nodded and reached into his pocket for something. "I figured that we're not getting out of this so we might as well make it official," he said, holding up a small black box. He gave me a grin as he opened it, revealing a beautiful ring nestled in the velvet box. "Will you marry me?" he asked in a light, joking tone.

Cady's excited shriek sounded through the small building alongside the sound of something breaking from back in the kitchen. I tried to block out both the sounds and the makers of them. Shaking my head with a smile, I turned my attention back to Draco. "What? You're not going to get down on one knee? I'm afraid I cannot accept without you asking properly," I joked back, admiring the ring in the box.

He looked down at the floor with a look of horror. "You expect me to kneel on this floor?" he asked incredulously.

I nodded and grinned. "It's clean. I mopped it myself less than two hours ago," I said, laugher bubbling up.

To my surprise, and his too, he slid out of the booth and came over to my side of the table, motioning for me to turn and face him. Then, in the middle of the small café, he went down on one knee with grace and held out the ring box before him. "Ginny Weasley, will you do me the honor of being my bride," he asked, a grin on his face at our privet game that no muggle would ever understand.

Laughing, I nodded and watched as he slipped the ring onto my left ring finger where it would inevitably stay for the rest of my life.

Well, I thought that was too cute to pass up. I was going to have a bit more happen in this chapter but when I typed that line, it just screamed end of chapter. Was it okay? I hope you all liked it! I know I did!

Well, BJ would like to give a huge thanks to all the reviews (and gummy worms!) from you guys. I do hope you keep them coming so you can feed BJ, make me happy, and get your own Tom Felton clone.

A happy author writes better and faster! So review and make me happy!