Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the fabulous world of Harry Potter

Chapter 11: Preparations

After an absolutely miserable Thursday completely hung-over and Friday jam-packed with both patients, well wishers and constant questions Ginny was more than happy for her week to be over.

Finally, Saturday morning arrived. Ginny woke up early of her own free will, drawn out by the smell of coffee drifting down the hall to her room. She forced herself to roll out of bed and shuffled out to the kitchen where her standard purple mug was waiting on the edge of the counter filled with steaming hot coffee and just the right amount of cream and sugar. Hallie was amazing. "Where have you been all my life?" she whispered to the lilac container.

"Wow," Hallie laughed. She was sitting at the table still dressed in her usual pajama pants and tank top and hair in a messy bun on the top of her head. She had her own cup of coffee and the daily prophets laid out on the table in front of her with her legs draped over another chair. "Good morning Sunshine." She smirked at Ginny.

Ginny didn't respond instead she took a long sip from her coffee mug and yanked the other chair out of the reach of her roommate's legs. Once the caffeine had appropriately sunk into her system she then said "I'm not even gonna dignify you with an answer."

"What time are we going to Malfoy Manor?" Hallie said changing the subject but still smirking.

"Soon as we get ready I suppose."

"Ok cool." She said then she yawned through the next set of words so that they were completely unintelligible.

"I'm sorry," Ginny said with one eyebrow raised. "Were you speaking words?"

"Maybe." She laughed as she finished yawing. "I said I want to hear more of the story."

Ginny carefully set down her coffee mug and let her head fall to the table. "Dear god woman you just never give up do you?"

"Nope."

"Honestly there isn't much more to tell." She propped her head up on her hand. "That's pretty much the last really important thing that happened in my fifth year. The rest of the year we would randomly meet to talk and hang out together, usually with Blaise and Luna in tow. We went to Hogsmeade together a few more times but it was my fifth year and the closer we got to the end of the term the less time we could spend together because of my O.. Between school and the need to keep it all a secret it was really hard to find times to be together.

When the term ended, we rode back to King's Cross together in an empty cabin just the four of us laughing and joking. By that time even Blaise and Luna were beginning to get along just because of the sheer amount of time we spent together. Actually we didn't know it yet but they were getting along even better than they were letting on but that's a completely different story." She let out a little laugh just thinking about her friends' own secret romance.

"Just before we got off the train Blaise and Luna gave us a few moments to be together. We made out a little bit and then he gave me a piece of parchment with a note on it and made me promise not to open it till I got back to the burrow. Finally, we promised that we would write each other all summer long and left the train to join our families. That's really it for that year."

"So did you?"

"Did we what?"

"Did you actually write?"

"Of course."

"Did you keep the letters?"

"Of course and no."

"No what?"

"No you can't read them Hallie. I know that is your next question."

"Why not?"

"Because I have told you pretty much everything. I want to keep at least some of my secrets. No one knows what they say but me and him. I never even showed them Looney."

"Fine." She sighed in a dreamy resignation. "I bet they are terribly sweet though."

Ginny shook her head and smiled. Of course Hallie would want to read the letters. What a little hopeless romantic. "Come on lets go get dressed."

Ginny and Hallie stepped out of the floo and dusted themselves off. No sooner had they finished then they heard a loud pop as the house elf that Ginny had met the very first time she had visited the manor appeared before them.

"Hello misses. How can I be helping you?" He asked the two.

He was absolutely adorable, all falsely stoic and haughty. "Hi, I'm sorry I've forgotten you name love." Ginny asked the elf.

At her question the elf softened a bit. "My name is being Blinky miss."

"Alright well Blinky, I believe we have an appointment with both the Mrs. Malfoys. I'm Ginny Weasley."

"Oh yes miss. Mistress Salvia and Mistress Narcissa is expecting you."

The strangely assertive little house elf led the two women through the house and into a beautiful parlor type room that was completely furnished in black and white modern chique decorations. Seated at the middle table were Salvia and Narcissa both of whom rose at the entrance of Hallie and Ginny.

"Ah Ginny!" Narcissa exclaimed enthusiastically, betraying her already obviously high regard for the women she had not even known a week. She embraced the small woman affectionately before turning to her companion. "And who might you be?"

"Oh, Salvia, Narcissa this is my best friend Hallie Weschester. Hallie, this is Salvia and Narcissa Malfoy."

Hallie smiled nervously, obviously intimidated by the older women.

Narcissa for her part beamed at her. "It is so nice to meet you." She embraced Hallie as well and then said. "Why don't we sit? We have lots to do and only so many hours in the day to get it done."

Salvia, Narcissa, Ginny and Hallie had been settled in the beautiful parlor for over an hour happily working on various little details of the wedding.

So far they had decided that the wedding would take place in exactly two weeks which in itself was an accomplishment. Since the wedding would be so soon they would need a fall color scheme to work off of while at the same time staying away from all house colors. It was agreed among the women that colors they would be working off of would be a deep eggplant purple, a rust red, chocolate brown and then a burnt gold. They were all perfect fall colors that would go together for flower arrangements.

They also decided exactly who would be in the wedding party, Ginny had chosen Hallie as the Maid of Honor and Luna as the other bridesmaid and Narcissa knew that Draco would want Blaise as his best man and Theodore as his other groomsman, much to Hallie's chagrin.

The group had moved on to choosing the flowers and actually designing the flower arrangements when they were interrupted.

"Why hello." A silky baritone said from the direction of the doorway. All the women turned to see who the new presence was but Ginny didn't need to lift her head to know exactly what she would see.

The tone with which he had uttered those two simple words said it all. She took a deep breath and glance up through her long eyelashes to see that her suspicions were confirmed.

The bloody bastard was leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe in casual clothes with his arms crossed and a sexy half smirk, half genuine smile that gave him his air of complete arrogant ambivalence. That look was the exact reason that almost every woman in the wizarding world was madly in love with him, including at one time Ginny.

Now though, something about that look made Ginny want to smack it off his face, and she would enjoy it too. It was probably the degree of self confidence that he exuded that truly annoyed her especially because she knew it was mostly fake. He was such a giant prat.

Things had not always been this way though; there was a time when this whole gesture would have taken her breath away. Now though, the complete pose and demeanor both nauseated her and forced to the forefront of her mind one of her more suppressed memories that she had avoided telling Hallie earlier that morning. Some of her time with Draco, like her letters, she just wanted to keep to herself. Her special secrets for when she couldn't remember why exactly she had fallen in love with him. She got lost in the memory of the best detention she ever received.

Ginny dutifully trudged down the corridor in the Dungeons that led to the Potions classroom. She absolutely couldn't believe that she had managed to get a bloody two hour detention with only two more days of actual classes before the start of O.W.L. testing.

She stepped into the classroom and saw the great bat, also known as Professor Snape, sitting behind his desk. He looked strangely gleeful for Snape, it was rather disconcerting to see a look like that on her potions master's face. As she walked up to the desk she caught a glance of the red ink. He was grading papers, no wonder he was gleeful.

"Hello Professor." She said wearily.

"Ah Ms. Weasley, it is so good to see you yet again." He smirked at her.

Was he mocking her? She thought he was. Wow, he really was in a playful mood. Something in the cosmos was obviously very wrong.

"This evening I have a meeting that I must attend in professor Dumbledore's office."

"Oh that's fine professor. If you need to go I really don't mind at all canceling…"

"Very nice try," Snape interrupted her. "But no such luck. I have found someone to monitor your detention in my stead." He stood up from his desk and collected the things he needed then crossed the room to the door. "He should be here any moment and knows what your assignment is." With that Ginny's secretly favorite professor took his leave.

Ginny sat down dejectedly on one of the high bar stools at a potions station to await her impending doom. She wondered who Snape could have possibly gotten to watch her while she performed whatever menial scheme he had cooked up.

She heard a set of approaching footsteps which came to a halt in what she assumed was the doorway.

"Why hello," said a voice that she knew all too well.

Ginny's heart leapt as she heard the silky baritone of her very favorite Slytherin.

Slowly she spun around on the stool on which she was seated.

There he was standing there with that cocky the devil may care look in his eye and a small smile that Ginny was sure was genuine playing across his lips. He was leaning on the doorframe in his special lazy way with his arms crossed and his soft blond hair hanging down into his eyes adorably.

Ginny loved seeing the platinum strands falling gently in their natural waves not confined by the demon goo that he was so fond of. He had laughed out loud when she had called it that and promised to stop slicking it back just for her at least some of the time. She was very glad he had made good on his promise. She liked being able to run her hands through his hair when they kissed. She had gotten uncharacteristically lucky that the first few times they were together he had been too lazy to actually do his hair those days. But the first time she had stuck her hands into the normally soft fine strands and they were crunchy she had not only been most displeased but had been very vocal on the subject.

"Hi." She finally choked out. She could barely contain her excitement. They had not been able to see each other in nearly two weeks and it had been killing her.

She launched herself off the stool and straight across the room into his arms. They stood there for a minute just holding each other, enjoying the feeling of having the other in their arms.

"I've missed you." Ginny mumbled into his shoulder breathing in as much of his cologne as she possibly could.

Draco laughed and kissed her on the top of her bright red curls. "I missed you too. How have you been holding up?" He pulled away slightly to be able to look into her face.

"Eh, I'm surviving, studying mostly. I'm not looking forward to O.W.L.s at all."

He released her entirely except for her hand and let her back to the barstool where she had previously been perched. "That's not surprising." He assured her as they both took a seat. "I'm pretty sure everyone but Granger gets nervous about these tests."

He reached out and pulled her stool right up next to his so that she would be cradled in between his legs causing her to squeal as her chair moved. She then settled down, cuddling up to his chest.

"So how have you been sir?"

"Busy, missing my girlfriend like crazy." He kissed her head again.

"I've missed you too. And I feel like this will probably be the last time we actually get to be together before we leave or the summer."

"Yeah I think you may be right love.

"Summer is going to suck. You're going to be jet setting all over the world and, despite the fact that you will be stuck with your parents, you will meeting all these beautiful people and forget all about little, boring me"

Draco laughed out loud at her picture of his life. "Is that really what you think my summer will be like?"

Ginny nodded solemnly.

"Oh love, you are sorely mistaken. My summer will me being dragged around the world by my parents to boring business meetings and parties, half of which will be filled with Deatheaters all the while I am thinking about you and how much fun you're having at the Burrow replacing me with Potter or one of his other Gryffindor groupies."

Now it was Ginny's turn to laugh. "You think I would ever be with Harry? Gods no! I have been working too hard to set him up with my friend Allison to even touch that. and as for the rest, why would I every want one of those blundering idiots when I already have an exciting gorgeous boyfriend who claims to be missing me like crazy somewhere in the world."

"True, I am rather fantastic." Draco smirked.

Ginny just scoffed and playfully swatted at his leg.

Draco grabbed both of her arms and crossed them in front of her. With a firm grip on her wrist he said, "Ha! I got you."

She twisted her head and body as much as possible with the iron grip he had on her body. He looked positively gleeful, like a four year old child who has done something bad. She couldn't help but laugh at his expression. Then she asked, "What is with you and bondage lately?"

The corners of Draco's mouth twitched with mirth. "That's what she said." Then he started laughing harder, the force of it vibrating Ginny's whole body.

She sighed. Bloody boys; find a sex joke in everything. "Why exactly is it that my fairly awesome boyfriend is just as juvenile as my brother?"

Draco immediately sobered. "I am not like the Weasel boy."

"Could have fooled me. He and Harry make that joke all the bloody time. I think it's a retardation of some kind."

He laughed again, a deep chuckle. "You are probably right."

He shifted her hands around so that he only needed to use one strong arm to maintain a hold on both of her wrists. With his newly freed hand he reached up and swept her mass of ginger curls over her shoulder. A combination of his action and the cool air hitting her bare skin sent a shiver down Ginny's spine.

Draco lowered his head and pressed his lips to the small hollow in the nape of Ginny's neck. She shivered again, this time groaning softly.

The noise spurred Draco on. He lifted his girlfriend onto the table top and she quickly found his lips. His hand drifted up her skirt and found a very sensitive spot.

Within minutes Ginny abandoned his lips to gasp as he slipped first one finger then another into her body.

He moved his lips to her neck. Ginny clutched him to her as her cries reverberated off the cold gray stone of the dungeon walls as she climaxed. Then all was silent.

After a few moments her breathing had returned to a fairly normal rate. She slowly released Draco and he pulled back to look at her.

"If I had known you were going to be that loud I would have cast a silencing charm." He said his eyes dancing with amusement.

Ginny blushed completely crimson and looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that would happen…. I've never done anything like that before."

Draco placed his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about or to apologize for. All that was is a lesson for next time." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Ginny couldn't help but giggle. "You're assuming there's going to be a next time."

Draco's mouth dropped open in an incredibly unattractive way. "That's not fair!"

Ginny giggled and pulled him in for a long passionate kiss.

"I'm going assume after that my chances are good."

She just smirked at him and said. "I guess you better be on your best behavior."

Draco just leaned his forehead against hers before straightening to cast cleaning spells. In such a short time they had made quite a mess not just of themselves but of the lab table as well.

Ginny sat up and crossed her legs. She watched Draco as he went around straightening the potions sets that they had knocked asunder. "So Mr. Big Bad Prefect, I'm assuming that that was not the task that Snape had in mind for me for tonight."

Draco made a noise that sounded quite like a snort. "No I should say not. You were supposed to alphabetize something or other." He came to stand in front of Ginny and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I can do it with a quick spell though so don't worry about it." He gave her a peck on the nose which made her face light up with a smile.

He pulled her off the table and took her by the hand as they went into the ingredient closet to put it back into the correct order with a simple spell. After that they went back the main room and talked with each other until it was time for Ginny's detention to end.

Reluctantly Ginny kissed Draco goodbye and made her way out of the dungeons back up to Gryffindor tower.

"Ginny?" Narcissa's voice interrupted her musings.

She quickly pulled herself back into the present and blushed in embarrassment for having been caught in her rather explicit musings. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked when you were wanting to going shopping for your dresses." Narcissa looked at her with concern. "Are you feeling alright? You're a bit flushed."

"I'm so sorry. I think I spaced out for a moment. Would it be alright if I just went out to get a bit of air?"

"Alright love of course, one moment though." She said concern still in her voice. She patted Ginny's hand comfortingly before turning around to face Draco. "Darling, come over here and help Ginny outside. She needs to get a bit of air and I don't want her to be alone if she's feeling light headed."

Ginny tried to control her face and not let the horror and embarrassment she felt at this suggestion play across her expression. After the memory she had just been lost in, he truly was the last person she was at all interested in being close to but when he begrudgingly walked over and offered her his arm she dutifully took it.

They slowly walked out of the room and rather then turn and take the long corridor back down to the foyer and the front door they went in the opposite direction on Draco's decision.

Ginny just decided to let him lead her wherever. It was his house after all; he should know where he's going.

They reached the end of the corridor and turned right. Ginny felt awkward with the silence and decided to try and force some small talk.

"So how was your week?"

"Dear?" Draco smirked.

"What?" Ginny looked up at him confused.

"Like how was your day dear? You sound like the perfect little wife greeting her husband at the door to get his coat and give him a scotch."

"Very funny, because you can completely see me as the doting housewife."

"I don't know, I think it could work."

Ginny snorted at the suggestion, "If that scenario ever occurs don't drink the scotch, it's probably poisoned."

"Good to know."

The pair came upon a large set of white French doors with fine lace curtains that were drawn back elegantly to expose the scene outside.

"Wow. It's beautiful." Ginny was in awe of the scene in front of her.

Draco opened the door and let her out into a large garden space.

"It thought you might like this place."

Ginny spun around and looked at him shrewdly. "I see we've found your inspiration sir."

The entire area was seemingly endless and filled with perfectly manicured hedges of rose bushes in every color fully in bloom. The air was completely saturated with the fragrance of the flowers. In the middle of the space was a white gazebo with a matching white glass table in the center and four wicker chairs. This was her perfect Valentine's day date scene.

Draco grinned. "Can't deny it. This has always been my favorite garden. It is my grandmother's special rose garden. She planted, grew and tends all of them."

He gestured to the gazebo and placed his hand on the small of Ginny's back to guide her over along the stone path through the bushes.

When they reached the large white structure Ginny half expected a collection of large pillows to be strewn around but instead all there was inside was a long porch swing. For some reason the sight of the swing brought to her a small sigh of relief she hadn't even realized she needed. Had there actually been pillows it would have been just too close to her perfect memory with the wrong Draco that she would not have been able to handle it.

She softly walked up the three steps and seated herself on the swing in the middle.

"This place really is beautiful."

"Yeah, I agree." He said a bit awkwardly. He climbed up the stairs and stood on the second step from the top leaning against a support beam just watching as the red head swung back and forth. Right in that moment she looked just like the woman that he had known all those years ago. Happy and calm, not a care in the world.

"Do you remember that night?" her voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Which night?"

"Our Valentine's Day date of course."

"I try not to think about that."

She stopped the swing. "Why?"

"That night was horrible. I looked like a complete idiot." He dropped his head to his chest and shook his hair down into his eyes. Thinking about that night always made him blush and he didn't want her to see that.

Ginny just giggled though, "I thought it was completely endearing. I'm pretty sure that was the night I fell in love with you."

Draco's head popped up, his eyes wide in surprise. "Come again?"

"Oh shut up, you heard me."

Draco couldn't help but smirk. Now she was obviously the one who was embarrassed at her omission. "Hey, it's ok, I'm pretty hard not to fall for."

Ginny stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm sure you think so but had you not been so crazy about me then I never would have had the problem. I was quite happy with hating you till you went and screwed that up."

"Hey, I completely blame you for being so distracting."

"Me?"

"Mhm you were too pretty, you distracted me."

Ginny giggled. "Be careful that sounded almost like a compliment."

"Nope, just a fact about your past self.'

"Oh thank you very much." She responded sarcastically rolling her eyes. "It's also rather too bad you aren't like you used to be to. The Draco I knew was sweet and considerate, I like him, you, not so much."

Draco flashed her an annoyed look. "Well you've never been so easy to deal with. actually, I usually consider you to be a general pain in the ass."

"Good I do try ever o hard to make your life miserable Malfoy."

"Well you do a bloody good job Weasel."

Ginny pushed herself off the swing and crossed the space between them so she was standing on the top step almost at his eye level. "Hey guess what ferret, you aren't going to be able to call me a Weasel much longer. In a few short weeks I'll be a Malfoy just like you."

His eyes glinted with malice and rage at her words. "Your name may change to Malfoy but that doesn't make you one. You'll always be a poor, useless Weasley."

Ginny was shocked. Before she knew what she was doing her hand had flown up and slapped him as hard as she could across the cheek. When her hand had lowered she stared hard at Draco her eyes betraying nothing of her hurt only her hatred.

He on the other hand showed no emotion at all. His hard Malfoy mask was perfectly in place despite the angry red skin that had received the brunt of Ginny's anger.

They stared at each other for a moment longer before Ginny turned and walked stiffly back down the steps and into the house leaving Draco standing there watching her walk away.

What in the hell had he been thinking? That they would somehow fall back where they were if he took her somewhere that reminded her of how things used to be? He was such an idiot. He had brought her to one of his special places to try to take them back to the place where they had been. He had tried to use this as a truce and ended up making things so much worse than before. Four years was too long to just pick up where they left off. No, the world had changed. She hated him and he sure as hell hated her.

The nasty little minx knew far too much about him. All his buttons and weak spots. She was the only one who could match his temper blow for blow and he should have been prepared for that. She was the only person that truly got under his skin.

"That's because she is you weak spot." An annoying voice at the back of his head goaded him.

"No she's an annoyance." He whipped out his wand and apperated back to his room.

When he was standing in the familiar dark room he flung himself on to the couch. And to think that this whole thing was begun because she had finally admitted freely that she had loved him. The first time he had spent months getting her to admit to that. The irony of the situation was beautiful.

Draco couldn't stand to be in the same house as her any longer. He decided that the best course of action was to change out of the jeans and tee-shirt he had been lounging around in and go work for a while. At least being at work would get his mind off the situation at hand for the moment.

After leaving Draco standing there on the steps, Ginny made her way back to the sitting room where the women had been working. She paused just outside the doors and took a deep breath to steady her temper. She didn't want the other women to know that she and Draco had been fighting.

After a moment she had composed herself enough to step into the room.

"Feeling better?" Narcissa asked concernedly when she entered the room.

"Yes thank you." She responded giving her a warm smile.

"Salvia," Narcissa said suddenly. "Would you and Hallie mind taking over for a bit? I want to show Ginny her room."

"Of course. Go ahead. We'll just get these invitations finished up and mailed out. Don't forget to have her go in first."

"I know."

Narcissa joined Ginny at the door and the two women went out the main staircase and climbed it to the second level of the house.

As they climbed Narcissa pointed out various portraits of the different Malfoys and gave Ginny a short history of the family.

Eventually they passed an ornate polished wood door. The dark wood had been etched with a lovely swirled design that was so intricate Ginny knew it would take her the whole year just to notice all the detail. The next door they came to just a bit further up the hall was a nearly perfect twin of the first. This is the door that Narcissa stopped in front of. She carefully touched her wand tip to the lock and the lock clicked open.

"Here we are." She swung the door open and motioned for Ginny to go inside. "You have to go first. We put a spell on the room to decorate to your exact taste but it only works for the first person to enter the room."

"Oh, alright," Ginny stepped through the door way and felt the whoosh of magic swirl around her as the spell began to work.

She closed her eyes and when she opened them again the magic had worked.

The room was painted almost entirely white except for the back wall that was a bright blue with a white paisley design sprawling across it. The room was brightly lit by the extensive windows that ran along one side of the room and flooded it with light. There was a tall antique looking chests of drawers and a matching vanity on one side of the room and on the other a door painted the same blue as the wall leading to what Ginny assumed was a closet. Off to one side in a sizable alcove was situated a miniature sitting area with a window seat and two blue chairs that matched the walls and a round coffee table. The alcove also led out onto a balcony that stretched the length of the room. The main focus of the room was a gigantic four poster bed that was draped in beautiful lace curtains. The bedspread like the rest of the upholstery matched the accent wall.

It was perfect.

"Oh Narcissa! It's beautiful!"

The older woman laughed. "Don't thank me that was all the magic of the Manor but I'm very glad you like it!"

"I truly do."

"Unfortunately the bathroom is already set to Draco's taste."

"Draco?"

"Yes, the first door we passed was his. The whole manor is filled with these sort of Jack and Jill bedroom sets. Because so many pureblood marriages are arranged it just makes it easier. This way if you had never met your groom and or you are just marrying him for money you don't actually get forced into a more intimate relationship then you are have to."

Ginny wrinkled her nose at the idea of sharing a bathroom with Draco but she understood the need to keep a couple fairly close under more normal circumstances. "That makes sense I guess."

"yes, I;m sure that this make you uncomfortable. All I can say is that at least there is a spell in place so that Draco cant enter your room from the bathroom entrance unless you verbally give him permission."

"what do you mean?"

"you have to actually say that he can enter or he can get no farther then the threshold you though can go into his room at anay point you like. It is a rather handy trick."

"Why's that?"

"We have found over the generations that it cuts down on infidelity if the wife can walk directly into her husband's room at any point."

"That is a very valid point."

"Alright well I suppose that's all we need to do up here. We best head back down and help Salvia and Hallie finish up the invitations."

"Quickly, when do you suppose I could move in?"

"Well now that the room is waiting for you any time you please I'd expect. How about we send some houseelves to help get your stuff next weekend?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"Lovely."

Narcissa nodded then carefully locked the door with a spell and the two women then turned and headed back down the stairs to the parlor to join their nuptial coconspirators still hard at work.

Hey everyone,

So thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and thanks to all my readers who are enduring the long waits. It really means a lot to me. Keep it up!

Let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'm pretty sure they're gonna finally get married in the next chapter!

Care