A/N: I'm sorry, so sorry, for the wait, and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter X

When she stepped out of the dressing room, he nodded curtly and offered her his arm. She took it, rolling her eyes at Harriet, and allowed him to lead her out.

They maintained their tense silence until after they'd ordered their food. Then, Ginny sighed, glaring at him.

"All right, I give. What do you want?"

"Want?" he asked, one corner of his mouth turning up. "What more could I want from you, Ginevra?"

"I'm not sure I want to know."

He chuckled.

"Probably not. It was Blaise's idea."

"Oh, bloody – what? What now?"

He cleared his throat, shook out his napkin and laid it on his lap, and finally let himself smirk at her.

"Well, Darling, it's about time we had our engagement party."

She blinked at him.

"Our huh?"

Then the bastard laughed. Although the laughter – rather than his usual evil snickers – made him look rather more handsome, Ginny had to dig her fingernails into her palms to keep from throwing her fork at his eye.

"Do we really need to have an engagement party? Everyone already knows, and I don't think anyone is in a mood to celebrate."

"It's not about celebrating, Ginevra. It's about establishing an image as a couple."

She paused, thinking this over, and then sat up straighter.

"Wait a second, that's what this lunch is about! I knew you didn't have it in you to just . . . be nice," she said, scowling at him.

"Pretty and smart. We may be on to something here."

Before she could process this statement, the waiter brought their food. When they were alone again, they began to eat in silence, Ginny still running this new information through her brain.

After a few minutes, she said, "So you think I'm pretty?"

"If you weren't pretty, we wouldn't be here, Ginevra. Do you mean to tell me you don't find me attractive?" As her mouth opened, and she obviously had no retort in mind, Draco said, "Do we need to have that faithfulness chat again? Because I'm still low on Scotch."

She finally laughed.

"So we've established that we're both attractive. And we need to establish a presence as a . . . couple. Great. Can't we just . . . do lunch again?"

"We're not getting out of this party, Ginevra. Trust me, I've played every angle I could, but Blaise and Charlotte have their minds made up."

"It's our life." She paused. "Lives. Our lives – two separate ones."

"Not for long, Darling."

That afternoon, Harriet made the time to talk with Ginny.

"You're wound so tight today, I'm afraid if I pulled your hair you'd zip round the room. Talk to me."

Ginny sighed and, like verbal chicken soup, gave the older woman a nice, long, and relieving rehash of her last week.

"That's what you're so worried about? An engagement party? Honey, you're going to have to get used to that sort of thing."

"I know, but . . . Did I tell you he said I was pretty?"

"Well. You are pretty."

"But he . . . said it."

"Good for him. Did you tell him he's pretty?"

Ginny bit her lip and looked up sheepishly.

"It may have been implied."

Harriet laughed and stood, swatting Ginny on the arm with a piece of cloth.

"You'll feel better once you've good long shag."

"Harriet!" Ginny squealed in surprise.

"Now I know you're only wound up so tight for sexual frustration, I'll trust you to work on that. I can't have you so frazzled every day, least not until school's back in."

Harriet left while Ginny's mouth was still hanging open.

"Work on that?"