Two months. What in Merlin's name had made her think she could plan this wedding in two months? There was a week to go and she was still facing many problems. The reception venue was was what she wanted but the staff were not. They were grumpy, unhelpful and uncooperative; every time she told them what she wanted they acted as though it were a major inconvenience to make it happen. On several occasions they had outright refused her requests. If it hadn't been for the fact that the venue was the best available at such short notice she would have cancelled it right there and then. So instead she was having to put up with it and compromise on what she wanted to make her big day special.
Her next problem was the cake; as soon as the date had been confirmed she had been in touch with Madame Parillian of Parillian's Perfect Pastries. Madame Parillian had heard what she wanted and agreed that, although it was short notice, she would have the cake ready to Ginny's exact specifications. The cake, Ginny had thought happily, was well on it's on way to being the first perfect thing about her day. Now, with a week to go, it was just one of the many things going wrong with her big day. Up until two weeks previously Ginny had been in constant contact with Madame Parillian, keeping up-to-date with the progress, discussing the best colours for decoration. Then, all of a sudden, communication had stopped. Letters returned by owl undelivered, the floo connection had been shut off and three days ago when Ginny had visited the shop to get some answers she had found it abandoned, boarded up and a sign painted across announcing it to be "closed". And today? An article in The Daily Prophetexplaining how three other bride-to-be's had been in touch after they had ordered and paid for their wedding cakes from Madame Parillian only to have her disappear off the face of the planet with their money. The article, which had tried to investigate Madame Parillian's background a little more, claimed that this wasn't the first time, she had struck in towns and cities across the country using different names and rouses to advertise her service only to take the money and run. And so here was Ginny, so close to her wedding and no cake in sight and no money left to pay for even a rushed last minute one. She was beginning to think this wedding was doomed.
The problem of her dress was not a major one. Ginny had found several nice dresses, she'd even found a few lovely ones, she just hadn't found The Dress. The dress that she was meant to fall in love with instantly. The dress that was meant to fit her perfectly. The dress that would emphasise her curves in just the right way and bring out the sparkle in her eyes and draw attention to her beautiful smile rather than her flaming hair. The other dresses...they were okay and she was slowly resigning herself to the fact that she was going to have to settle for one since time was not on her side but she was still holding out hope that the right dress was just going to appear in front her.
The final problem was more of a concern. She had asked Draco to marry her, to perform the service and unite her and Dean in matrimony. He had tried to say no but she hadn't let him and in the end she had left without an answer and now she didn't know if he was going to or not. Really she could solve this one so simply. She could just go to his house and ask him but she was being awfully stubborn about this, afterall she had asked him once; if nothing else it was simply polite for him to give her a definitive answer. But they had not been in touch for nine weeks now and she did not want to be the first to break that silence.
Is he deliberately being ignorant?
She wondered. Or is he still sulking because I wouldn't stay and get whatever it is that he had for me?
She let out a heavy sigh. If she wanted to know the answer she was going to have to be the grown up and be the first to go and see him. She knew that. Merlin, she hated growing up.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ginny arrived at Malstone Manor at around 7.30 the next evening. Once again she had flooed there and once again she came out into Draco's bedroom only this time it wasn't empty. She found Draco hunched over a table asleep, a quill held loosely in one hand, an upturned glass in the other. Under his head was a piece of parchment with lots of scribblings on, beside that a glass of firewhiskey blue, a recent addition to the firewhiskey family that was triple the normal strength. The bottle was at least two-thirds empty. Ginny hesitated for a moment, torn between leaving and waking him up in some vicious manner. In the end she opted for a third choice; waiting patiently for him to wake up. After ten minutes she gave up with this decision, she wasn't patient and watching Malfoy snore his drunken stupor away was not how she had planned to spend her evening.
And that is how she found herself gently tugging the parchment from its tight grip under Malfoy's head. From the first fifth of the parchment she could tell it was a letter, curiously though the letter was addressed to her. She had just read Dear Ginny, I know that you don't want to hear from me right now and I completely understand that but I couldn't let you marry that idiot without, when Draco's hand shot up and wrapped around her wrist. It wasn't a particularly tight grip, nor was it loose enough that she could remove her arm from his hand, it was just a warning grip to alert her that he was awake. She jumped slightly at the suddenness of it and let out a small shriek.
"Draco," she gasped breathlessly.
Draco looked up at her with weary bloodshot eyes, "Ginny? What are you doing here?" His words were slightly slurred and he had a fine coating of stubble covering his chin and cheeks.
"I came to see you but this probably isn't the best time."
Shakily he rose to his feet. "No, just...just wait a minute."
He stumbled out of the room and across the hall to the bathroom. He shut the door to and Ginny could hear running water. When he re-emerged Draco looked much more presentable. He had washed and cleaned his hair, the stubble was gone and he could hold himself upright without swaying. When he opened his mouth his words were back to their sharp, concise precision.
"I'm sorry you saw me that way," he sounded almost ashamed.
"It's fine," Ginny told him with a small shake of the head. "I just came to tell you that you can forget about marrying us. I asked Hermione and she was so excited, exactly how I wanted you to act actually."
"Gin..." he said softly, his grey eyes looking even duller than normal.
"It doesn't matter. I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't think I still needed you."
"Gin..."
"Shut up!" She could feel her face getting hotter with irritation. "Just shut up. I needed you Draco. I needed you and you weren't there. Of all the times you've been there when I didn't want you and just once I ask you to do something for me and you can't do it. What is that? You can do things for a dead guy but not for me? After all we've been through I really thought we were friends. So stupid."
"Gin..." he tried for a third time.
"Do I sound like I'm finished?" She questioned rhetorically, her face almost matching her hair. "Everything about this wedding is going wrong. The venue staff are the most unhelpful people in the world, my dress is okay but definitely not what I wanted and the cake...I'm not even having a cake because the baker ran off with the money instead.
"I know that we haven't talked since I asked you to do the service but I honestly thought you were going to come to me and tell me you'd do it but here we are, six days to go and instead of making my dreams come true you're getting drunk alone and passing out." Wearily she took the seat Draco had been sat in not twenty minutes before.
Draco stood with his arms crossed leaning against the door frame. He gave it a few minutes to make sure she was definitely finished before he spoke.
"Can I speak now?" Though she was looking at the floor Draco saw her move her head slightly, which he took to be her sign of approval.
"Good, now listen up. I tried to tell you that I couldn't marry you, you cut me off. I tried to stop you leaving so that I could give you something and try to talk to you, you cut me off and left anyway. So no, I didn't come and tell you because I knew that you wouldn't accept that answer. And while we're talking about this, I have one more thing to say."
Ginny, the redness subsiding slightly, looked at him with a cool face and raised eyebrow, a look she had clearly picked up from the man infront of her.
"You are marrying Dean Thomas; he's the man who is meant to make your dreams come true, not me."
"I.." Ginny faltered a little. "That's not what I meant. Dean makes me very happy. I meant that it was always a dream of mine to be married by my...well, by my best friend."
"And is that what I am?" Draco asked her, his voice void of all emotion.
Ginny looked down at her feet once more then boldly lifted her head to meet Draco's eyes. "Once or maybe not, I don't know. It doesn't matter now anyway. Whatever friendship was going on between us is over now."
"Do you really believe that?"
Ginny frowned, what was that she could see in his eyes? Was it disappointment?
"I don't want to but don't you agree? We've reached the end Draco. We can't continue pretending to be friends if the only reason we spend time together is because of a promise you made to Harry on his deathbed seven years ago."
"What if there were more to it than that?" Draco asked her softly.
"Is there?" There was almost a hint of desperation in her voice.
Draco lowered his head but remained silent.
Ginny smiled a sad smile to herself. "See Coco, we can't keep trying to force something if it's not there."
He looked into her eyes and for a moment she could have sworn she saw heartbreak and then, it was gone. Still he didn't say anything.
"I'm going to go now, I might see you around. But Draco? I'm releasing you from any obligation that Harry put you under. You don't have to be around me any more."
Ginny stood from her seat and made a move towards the fireplace. As Ginny's hand delved into her bag to retrieve the pouch in which she had brought her own floo powder, Draco moved away from the door frame and headed towards Ginny. Ginny opened the pouch she had brought out of her bag and was on her way to grabbing a pinch of the silvery powder when Draco placed a loose hand on her upper arm to stop her. She tried to shrug him off but his grip tightened, causing her to turn to him instead. She was just millimetres from his face.
"Don't go," Draco's cool grey eyes looked into her bright brown ones, pleading her to listen to him.
"Why not?" She shot back. She lowered her eyes, refusing to look into his.
"I...I don't want you to leave."
"Why not?" Still she refused to look into his eyes so she focused her attention on his chest.
"I..." Draco paused as though trying to think of something to say. "I need to give you something, remember?"
Ginny frowned. "That's it? Owl it to me, I have to go."
"No, wait."
"I am not going to wait, I need to get home to my fiancé. Remember him?"
Ginny shook her arm once more, this time Draco did let go. She turned back to the fireplace and threw the floo powder into the flames. Once the powder had worked the flames to the bright emerald green colour she needed and she had spoken her destination (31B Heron Street) Ginny moved to step into the flames. One step away she paused and turned back to Draco. He was watching her, silent, an indescribable look across his features.
"I'll try not to see you around Malfoy," and with that she stepped into the flames and felt the familiar tug as she began her journey across the floo network to home. She missed the look of utter devastation that crossed Draco's face.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
About an hour after Ginny got home so too did Dean. She was sat at the table, paper surrounding her with notes and figures scrawled across them all. So caught up in what she was doing, she didn't even notice when Dean spoke to her.
"Ginny, are you listening?" The voice permeated her thoughts when a hand waved infront of her face, disturbing her from her work.
"Huh? What?" She looked up at him with confused, blurry eyes.
"I asked you what you were doing."
"Oh. I'm trying to work out what still needs sorting for Saturday and how much money we have left to pay for it all."
"And how's that going?" Dean asked distractedly as he took off his shoes and coat.
"Terribly; we have no money left, which is fine because the reception people are refusing to do anything else now anyway but we can't pay anyone for a cake. I was going to ask mum to make one but we can't afford to give her anything for it." She leant back and let out a weary sigh.
Dean moved behind her and started massaging her shoulders, she leant back into it and gave a little moan of pleasure. He bent low and kissed her just below her ear. "I am sure the reception will be wonderful and everyone will have a good time even if the decorations aren't exactly what you wanted."
"Hmm," she murmured as he continued to massage her shoulders.
"And I know that your mum would make you that cake without wanting any money or payment. She would be happy to do it."
"Yeah but she shouldn't have to put herself out."
"She will be happy to do it," Dean repeated, running kisses across the length of her tilted neck, finishing at her ear where he proceeded to suckle on her ear lobe.
Ginny moaned again. "Right," she turned round to kiss him. "Have you eaten?" She asked him between kisses.
"Yep, I grabbed something in work. I'm ready for dessert though..."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ginny woke with a start that night. Half asleep she lay there for a few minutes, wondering what it was that had woken her. She wasn't fearful, so it couldn't have been a bad dream. Dean was sleeping peacefully, so it couldn't have been him moving around. She wasn't thirsty or in need of the toilet so she doubted it was that. There were no noises coming from outside except for, that must have been it, there was a light tapping at the window. Dean wouldn't wake from it because he was such a heavy sleeper but for Ginny, who often woke at slight noises, it was enough to rip her from her fitful sleep. She grabbed her t-shirt from the floor and slipped it on before creeping her way to the window to discover the source of the noise.
Carefully peeling the curtain open a crack she gasped at the sight before her. Flapping on the other side of the glass at nearly fifty centimetres tall was one of the smallest eagles Ginny had ever seen. Held between it's talons was a small parcel on string. Ginny opened the window to allow the bird entry. It rushed by her head and settled on top of the chest-of-drawers. By the light of a nearby street light she could see that it was a pale grey colour with a dark grey head, the eagle ruffled it's feathers and stretched out it's wings, these too were dark grey in colour.
"Would you like a drink?" Ginny whispered to the majestic bird who flicked its head in answer.
She went off to get a bowl of water and the bird followed. She set the bowl in front of it and waited patiently while it drank hungrily. Once it had finished she held her hand out cautiously, in response the eagle held out it's leg so that she could pick up the parcel. She gave the eagle a quick stroke after untying the parcel and, surprising her, it rubbed it's head contentedly against her arm before ruffling it's feathers once more and taking flight towards the bedroom. Sure that it would negotiate it's own way out of the flat Ginny left it to leave as she sat at the table and turned the parcel round in her hands a few times. She glanced at the clock on the wall, 3.20, who would be sending her parcels at 3 in the morning? Only one way to find out.
She unwrapped the parcel to find two things. The first was a small box about seven centimetres squared, the other was an envelope with her name carefully etched across it. She opened the envelope first.
Dear Ginny,
I know that you don't want to hear from me right now and I completely understand that but I couldn't let you marry that idiot without sharing this with you first. You infuriate me. Absolutely, 100%, everything-you-say-and-do-drives-me-up-the-wall, infuriate me but these last few months having you back in my life have been the best since I don't know when. I know you think that I don't want you in my life any more but the truth is I'm not sure if I even have a life when you're not in it. And if Dean Thomas is really what makes you happy then fine, marry him. Spend your life with him and have his kids and live a happy life together and I will leave you to it but Ginny, please, if you have even a fraction of doubt, a fraction of feeling for me, then please, please, don't go ahead with it.
I'll stay out of your life but I'll always be here for you.
Draco
Ginny was breathing hard by the end of the letter. How dare he? How dare he try and turn her against Dean? And who did he think he was to tell her that she was the best thing in his life? To try and make her feel guilty for shutting herself out of it? Well it wasn't going to work, no chance. Horrible, sneaky, deceitful...Malfoy! If she never saw him again it would be too soon. Still, feeling the way she did, that didn't stop her from opening the square box that had been the bulk of her parcel. She gave a small intake of breath at what she saw. Inside was a simple silver chain with a solid silver silver star attached. She picked it up breathlessly. How dare he know her that well? She gave the star a little rub and felt indentations on the under side. She turned it over and read the inscription.
The choice is yours, Ginny. I'll always be here for you. Draco x
Small tears escaped her eyes. How dare he?
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Finally things started coming together for the wedding. She had accepted that there was nothing more she could do about the reception venue. She wasn't happy about it but really what more could she do at this late stage? Maybe it wouldn't be perfect but as long as everyone enjoyed themselves then she couldn't really ask for any more. Her mum, thank Merlin, was more than happy to bake the cake. In fact she had scolded Ginny more than once for not asking her to begin with. Ginny's protests that she had not wanted to disturb her mother had been met with a "Nonsense" each time, causing Ginny to give up in the end and accept the admonishments. Hermione had, thankfully, agreed to perform the ceremony. When Ginny had told Draco about Hermione's reaction there was a slight exaggeration due to the fact that she hadn't actually asked her at that point. Luckily when she did ask her the very next day Hermione had jumped and squealed and reacted in much the way Ginny had hoped she would. Another thing that she could cross off the list.
The matter of the dress was not as easily resolved. Another two days of trawling boutique after boutique and she still couldn't find The Dress. Finally, with three days to go she settled on a dress that was perfectly nice. A shimmering white Grecian-style one shoulder dress with a diamanté strip where the strap met the body of the dress. A three inch panel below the bust was adorned with clear beads and sequins individually hand sewn in flowery patterns with a sparkling silver thread giving the impression that it was much more sparkly than it actually was. There was a subtle hint of lemon behind each flower shape adding a touch of colour. She had debated for some time over whether or not to get the dress before finally deciding that this was the best she would find on such short notice. It was lovely really, and she was happy with it, she was just convinced that it wasn't entirely what she wanted.
She took the dress straight the Burrow before apparating to Dean's workplace. As she neared his office she saw the door open and a mousey brunette step out, a beaming grin across her face.
"Ella?" Ginny asked in surprise as she got closer. "What are you doing here?"
Ella jumped, startled from her thoughts. "Gin, oh hey," Ella cast a nervous glance around. "How's it going? How is the wedding coming together?"
"Good," Ginny smiled happily. "I finally got my dress so I thought I'd let Dean treat me to lunch and make sure he had his suit."
"Great! I can't wait to see it."
"Well, not long now," Ginny reminded her in a singsong voice. "So, what are you doing here?" She asked again.
"Oh, I was just asking Dean for ideas on what to get Charlie for his birthday. I want to get him a day experience rather than another little trinket."
"That's a nice idea," Ginny agreed. "How about a tour of the Chudley Cannons stadium? He'd love that."
"Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Well, I have to go so I'll see you in a couple of days."
"Ok," Ginny leant in and gave Ella a hug. "See you soon."
They said their goodbyes and Ginny went into the office. She cast a quick glance at Dean's secretary. Dean had only hired her a week previously and this was the first chance Ginny had got to see her.
"Hi, I'm Ginny," she introduced herself.
"Well, hi!" The woman before her stood up and headed towards Ginny.
She was tall, young and blonde. As if that wasn't bad enough she was wearing a short skirt, showing off her perfectly toned and tanned legs and the top button of her blouse was open, drawing attention to the fact that the buttons she had managed to fasten were strained to their fullest capacity. Inwardly Ginny was seething.
The secretary held out a hand, "Hi, I'm Zoe. Can I help you?"
"Yeah...I'm Dean's fiancée." Ginny answered stonily.
Zoe's smile faltered slightly. "Really? He never mentioned anything."
"I bet," Ginny muttered. "Can I go in?"
"Sure," Zoe smiled warmly at her.
Ginny stormed into Dean's office slamming the door behind her. Dean looked up at her in surprise.
"Gin! What are you doing here?" he shifted a little in his seat but didn't stand to greet her.
"I thought you might like to take me out to lunch," Ginny answered coldly. "I met Zoe," she motioned her head backwards to the outer office.
"Yeah, she's very efficient."
Ginny couldn't fail to notice the dopey grin on Dean's face and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I bet she is."
Dean looked confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Do you think I'm stupid? Did you really think I'd see your young, pretty, blonde receptionist and be happy about her? Really Dean, did you think that would be okay?"
Dean sighed heavily. "Don't you trust me?"
"Trust you?" Ginny's eyes widened incredulously. "I found you in bed with your last leggy blonde secretary and then you go and hire another? Never mind do I trust you, can you give me one reason why I should?"
"Are you serious?" Dean hissed back in response. "Are you going to come in here and challenge every secretary I have for the rest of time because of one indiscretion? Are you really that insecure?"
Before she could stop herself Ginny's hand had shot out and landed across Dean's face with a resounding smack. She gasped, half horrified, half surprised.
"Oh Merlin! Dean are you okay? I'm so so sorry."
Dean was rubbing at his cheek stunned. "You slapped me."
"I know, I don't know what happened," she lifted her hand to his, trying to pull it away so that she could get a look. "Are you okay?"
He gave her the control over his hand that she had been seeking. She lowered his hand and inspected before raising her gaze to his face as a whole. He was smiling.
"Why are you smiling?" She asked in confusion.
"Because for a girl with so many brothers you have a pretty crap slap!" He took her hand and sat her on the couch in the corner of the room. "Gin, look at me," he lifted her face so that her eyes would meet his.
"Gin, I'm sorry. I didn't think about how this might bother you. I promise you though that I am not sleeping with her, nor do I plan to but if you want me to fire her then I will."
Ginny shook her head; the movement was slight, barely noticeable unless you were actually looking. Fortunately Dean was.
"No?" He asked to clarify.
"No, don't fire her. I'm just being silly."
"Yes, you are," he agreed before kissing her lightly on the nose. "But while we're on the subject..."
"Hmm?" She was frowning slightly, getting lost in her thoughts.
"You have to stop bringing up the past. I know I did wrong, I've apologised, we're moving on. You have to, too."
"You're right," it was her time to agree. "I'll try to do better."
"Good." He stood up and held out his hand to help her up. "Now you mentioned lunch?"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The next few days passed smoothly after that. For Ginny it was as if every worry and frustration that had built up over the last two months had caused her to blow up at that one moment. Something as small and petty as a pretty new secretary had set off the tiniest shred of fear she had and escalated into a bigger problem. The fight that had ensued was like a cleanse for her soul; she felt so much calmer now. Yes, she was ashamed that she had reacted the way she had, ashamed that she had slapped Dean but calmer none the less.
Still there was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind, something she couldn't quite place. She thought that it was probably a tiny remaining sliver of mistrust over Dean's fidelity and she wondered if she would ever be able to fully get over it. The longer she thought about it, the harder it became to see a future that wasn't plagued with suspicion and mistrust. Determined that this would not be her future she pushed the thoughts deep into the furthest part of her mind. This was the place where all her fears, confusions and worries lived. Everything from her fear of bees to her experiences with Tom Riddle to worrying about work projects to her confusion over Draco; it all lived here. Away from the forefront of her mind where it couldn't bother her and now mistrust in her fiancé was being placed there, too.
And anyway, who was to say that she didn't trust Dean? Yes, okay, there were niggling doubts but she had promised that she would try harder to not let them rule her behaviour and until a situation arose then how would she know whether she could trust him again? Maybe it wasn't even mistrust that was bothering her. It wasn't uncommon for brides to get pre-wedding jitters. Yeah, that must be it. Her stupid ever-active mind was just over analysing and she was adding two and two and making five.
"Hey, Curls, I'm talking to you!" Hermione shouted above the pounding music, pulling Ginny from her thoughts.
Surprised she went for the default answer that always followed the nickname.
"Mi, don't call me that," she whined back, a scowl crossing her features.
Hermione laughed, the effects of the alcohol showing through in how loud she was laughing. Ginny couldn't help but scowl at her friend's enthusiasm.
"What's up with you?" the excited voice came once more. "You're supposed to be happy," she slurred. "You're getting married in the mooorning."
"Yeah," the reminder taking Ginny back to her previous thoughts.
"What's wrong Curls?" Instantly Hermione straightened up and tried to be serious to offer support to her best friend.
While it wasn't convincing Ginny did at least appreciate the effort but she had had enough and wanted nothing more than to go home and get a good night's sleep. She shrugged as she stood and reached for her coat.
"I don't know, Mi. Maybe I'm just tired; I'm going to go home before I get too wrecked." Ginny plastered a smile on her face and did her best to inject a happier tone into her voice. "Don't want me looking half-dead on my photos now, do we? See you first thing."
With a small laugh Ginny finished her drink, hugged and thanked all her friends and disappeared off to the club bathroom so that she could disapparate home.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A/N: TADA! Nearly 5 years later and we finally have a chapter! But it is 10 pages long, that's 2 pages a year...poor I know. If I still have followers to this story then I hope you've enjoyed it and if you're just discovering it then I hope you'll stay to finish the journey. I am not going to promise that the final chapter will be ready any time soon, or that any of my other stories will be done soon either, but I will promise that you will not have to wait another 5 years for the next chapter.
Also, in my excitement at finally finishing I have not checked for spelling/punctuation errors, nor have I had a beta check it over. I apologise for any glaring errors or factual inconsistencies.
Rae x
