Chapter Ten

Ginny Weasley's apartment, a bit before seven:

Ginny stared out the window, not really seeing anything. She was thinking about a lot of things. But mainly Harry Potter.

On one hand, she knew she loved him. She had for as long as she could remember. But then he'd left when she needed him most.

She could partially understand his need to run – she'd felt the same way after Ron and the war – but she'd come back. She'd cleared her head and returned to the people she loved and the family who needed her. She hadn't left them in the cold beside Ron's fresh grave. But Harry had.

Could she ever forgive him for that?

She still didn't have an answer to the heavy question when she left to meet Hermione.

A La Carte, that night:

Ginny's heart sank slightly when her eyes landed on Harry. The glamours were back on, hiding his dark, careworn features. She understood why, but she felt cheated somehow, like she deserved to see his real face.

The two witches stood up when Draco and Harry walked through the door, late as usual. Hermione smiled broadly.

"What were the chances we'd run into each other, here of all places?" she asked falsely, her smile too large for the occasion. Ginny had to fight back a snort of laughter, instead jumping in to say:

"James! Darling! You made it!" She pulled the unsuspecting healer/doctor into a sloppy hug and pecked him quickly on the cheek, causing Harry to blush lightly. "I'm sorry, Hermione, did I forget to tell you Jamesy-kins was coming?"

Ginny turned back to her "Jamesy-kins" with a wonderfully acted look of indignation and confusion. "I don't remember you telling me Draco was coming," she stage-whispered, louder than was absolutely necessary considering Harry was standing only a couple of feet away.

Draco shook himself out of shock, looking back and forth between the couple that had, at least to his knowledge, been two separate entities less than four-eight hours ago. "Umm, well, we wouldn't like to intrude-"

Hermione interjected, effectively shutting him off. "We'll find another place to sit." She almost dragged the baffled Draco to a private booth off out of the way. "What was that?" she whispered harshly, trying, and failing miserably, to keep her voice free of shock.

"I thought you knew!" Draco hissed back, staring accusingly at the woman across from him.

"Why would I know? Do I look the kind of person who knows everything about everyone?" Hermione spat.

Draco was saved from answering by the arrival of their waiter. "Would the lovely couple like some wine with their supper tonight?"

"We're not a couple," Hermione said, just as Draco replied, "May we see the wine list?"

The waiter raised an eyebrow, but went to retrieve the list.

As soon as he'd gotten out of earshot, Hermione rounded on the blonde again. "Do you ever think about anything other than your hair and stomach?"

Draco looked affronted. "I'm a bleedin' healer!"

"And what do you call that?" She pointed to Ginny and Harry who were sitting at their own table a few yards away.

Draco glanced at the couple. "They don't seem to need any assistance."

Hermione's face was starting to turn red and her hair threatened to come out of its elegant bun. The man was clearly not getting anything she said. "Not anymore!"

Draco looked at the witch lawyer, the truth dawning slowly. "You're not angry at me."

"Aren't I?" Hermione practically shouted, causing a nearby family to look at them curiously.

The healer lowered his voice. "You're angry because you've lost your chance to play matchmaker."

Her already red face went redder.

Across the room, Harry and Ginny were reminiscing about better times.

"Remember when Fred and George were testing that-" Ginny was laughing too hard to finish.

"And all their testers turned blue and couldn't stop singing American country music?" Harry supplied between bouts of laughter.

Ginny nodded. "Or the time when Ron tried the prototype for their pompous peppermints? He spoke in multi-syllable words for days!" Ginny exploded in another fit of giggles.

Harry, however, had stopped laughing. He avoided looking at Ginny, instead focusing on Hermione and Draco. "They don't seem to be noticing."

Ginny's smile slipped off her face faster than gravity should have allowed. She followed his eyes. Hermione and Draco were, predictably, completely oblivious to anything not involved in their argument. Ginny watched as Hermione's hair became bushier and bushier and threatened to spring out of its bun with a loud pop.

"I have an idea," she said, still facing their best friends. Suddenly she turned around and Harry felt the sharp sting that usually accompanies an abnormally hard slap. "Snap out of it!" she shouted, standing up sharply and glaring at the boy who'd changed everything and the coward he'd become.

Ginny felt better, much better, in fact. She'd released all the pent-up emotions from when he'd left her and when she'd discovered him and that he'd been lying about everything. It felt like Atlas had returned to take back the world.

Harry stood up too, his hand pressed against his stinging cheek. He didn't know whether to run and hide or stay and fight. He could feel a thousand pairs of eyes staring at him, daring him to make a move.

A moment later, he'd made his decision. In a single, fluid moment, he grabbed the glaring witch and pulled her into a single, powerful kiss.

At first Ginny tried to pull away, still not sure whether she could forgive him. Then she realized she already had and let herself fall into every girl's Hollywood dream.

Draco and Hermione stopped arguing mid-sentence when they heard the slap. Hermione made to help her friend – not sure which one yet, but willing to be flexible – but Draco grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Let them work it out," he ordered softly. Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but she stopped.

She had never been so close to Malfoy before, never noticed how his eyes were more blue than silver or his powerful jaw line. She stared up at him, transfixed by his pale-almost translucent skin, heart pounding, not noticing or even carrying what was happening a few yards away.

But Draco did. He saw the fiery kiss; the passion playing behind their lips and his heart ached for the courage to do that too. He glanced down at the woman in his arms. He stared deep into her bright chocolate eyes and he forgot everything.

He leaned in as if to kiss her, but Hermione pulled back. "No," she whispered. Draco heart skipped a beat. "Not yet."

Draco nodded gravely, but hope was blossoming in his chest. He could wait a little longer.

A/N: So this is the last chapter. There is an epilogue, but I haven't decided when I'm going to post it. Probably later tonight or tomorrow. What do you think?