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Another two months had passed since Ginny and Draco had left their homes and it was starting to wear on both of them. Trying desperately to think of new hobbies, Ginny invented several cleaning games, but Kip the house-elf found these discouraging since that had always been her role in the household. Ginny then moved onto games that she used to play with her brothers on rainy days. Thinking about her brothers only made her depressed, so she decided to start reading. It had always been a great hobby of Hermione's and she felt as though if Hermione enjoyed it that she might enjoy it too. This came with a little success, but the selection of books had been limited.
Ginny and Draco had not discussed love any further than they had on the night of Draco's birthday. Several times Ginny had tried to bring up the topic of why they had to go into hiding, but every time Draco dismissed it and said something about her protection. This caused an uneasy tension between them that Draco knew he had to address. He wasn't sure when the best time would be, but he understood that the longer he waited, the more trouble it would cause for him and Ginny.
He decided to bring up the subject one night as Kip made supper. "So, I know that you've been wondering why you're here." Ginny looked up from her tea, looking at Draco intensely. "To be honest, I've been afraid to tell you for weeks because of how you might react." Ginny leaned closer in towards Draco as if to be on guard. "The people behind the bludgers and Harry's disappearance were my parents."
Draco winced, expecting a hit or a slap, but when he turned he only saw Ginny's mouth agape. "Your… parents?"
"Regrettably so," Draco said, tossing his hair nervously as Ginny stared at him with her mouth open. "You see, they were under the impression that in order for me to have you-"
"To have me?" Ginny repeated, staring at him looking aghast, "like I'm some kind of prize or something? Like I'm an object that cannot think or feel for itself?"
"That's not what I-" his sentence was cut off by a loud gasp.
"You're telling me that they blackmailed Harry into disappearing and placed Dark Magic on the bludgers that left me injured for months?" She covered her mouth and then slammed her hand on the table, "Harry disappeared before we ever spoke. Was this all an elaborate plan to get you to love me?!" Ginny was standing up now, filled with rage and anger. "How could you do this Draco? You've known all along about your parents interfering with other people's lives and didn't bother to mention it to me? Are you completely mad?!"
Draco attempted to defend himself, "I didn't know about Harry or the bludger until two months ago-"
"How long has it been a plan to get me to fall in love with you?" Ginny snarled, fuming with anger like Draco had never seen it.
"That wasn't the plan really. The plan was-"
Ginny put a finger up to silence Draco, "I don't even want to hear what your plan was. It will only make me more upset than I already am. Who do you think you are messing around with people's lives like this? Is the only reason I got on the team was because you wanted to shag me?" Her dripped with disgust.
"That was because you had pure talent." Draco said, standing up for the first time. "I only mentioned it to Slughorn who mentioned it to Gwenog. That was purely for your benefit and not mine."
"What about the meadow, my birthday, and helping out at the Burrow, was that all part of your twisted plan too?!" Ginny was now screaming, she had lost control and could not contain her anger. "I'm locked up here with you so that I can fall more in love with you so that you can have pure-blood grandchildren for your sick parents?!"
Draco stopped and looked at her with still eyes, "you said fall in love with me more… does that mean that you're in love with me?"
Ginny was unmoving for several seconds. Draco wondered if she had stopped breathing, but she rounded on him again, "I might have been, but I don't know if I can love a man that's been lying to me for over a year!" Her body was now shaking, Ginny now spoke in an uncharacteristically low tone, "I can't believe that I was so stupid to think that you loved me."
"Ginny, I do love-"
"Don't you dare tell me you love me," she shrieked, tears now forming in her eyes. "You have no right to tell me that you love me. You love you. That's who you love. Our whole relationship is a lie, don't you see that? I loved you and all you loved was yourself because that's all you can do. You're a Malfoy and you can't care about anyone else but yourself-"
"If I didn't care about you, why would I be telling you all of this?!" Draco began to yell at an equal volume to Ginny, "Don't you think that I was scared that you would react like this? Sure, my intentions at first were not genuine, but don't you dare say that I can only love myself. I have fallen madly in love- look at me!" Draco was now shouting at an extremely high level to force Ginny to turn around to look at him, tears now streaming down her face. "I have fallen madly in love with you over the past year and my worst fear has now become my reality. My friends disowned me, my parents are ruining my life, and now you have become so irrevocably cross with me that I don't think that we can recover from this."
Ginny's body still shook, but it had turned from anger to anguish. "How can I ever believe you again?" She asked quietly, staring at his eyes.
Draco had little answer for this, he tried to think of something, but had no retort. Seeing that he had no answer, Ginny turned and ran toward the staircase, slamming her door shut behind her. Draco kicked his chair over and felt a throbbing sensation in his foot that could not match the pain in his heart. Kip stood frightened near the stove with a frying pan as her shield.
Climbing up the steps, Draco could hear loud ruffling noises coming from the guest bedroom. Upon opening the door, he saw Ginny ripping through her clothes and putting them in her trunk. Knowing what she was about to do, Draco grabbed her around her waist. "Get off of me!" She yelled, kicking Draco in the stomach. "Malfoy, get off!"
"Listen to me, I know that you think I am the biggest prat right now, but if you leave you will be in grave danger." Draco said, trying to find the words to make her stay.
"Not having a vision are you? Seeing into the beyond?" Ginny said with distain.
"Ginny, I wouldn't put you in danger. I'm keeping you safe-"
Ginny let out a laugh, "This is probably just part of your parent's plan for me to fall in love with you, isn't it? To trap me up in here to make me go mad? Eliminating all other options for me until I choose you?"
Draco twisted Ginny around and held her tightly around the arms. "Ginny, I wouldn't lie to you about this. Send a patronus to your parents if you must, but please stay until you get word that things are okay."
Setting free her arm, Ginny pulled out her wand and said firmly, "Expecto Patronum". Only wisps of silver flew from her wand. She tried five more times, but was unable to conjure more than a few wisps of silver. Within moments, Draco had an idea. "Kip!" He shouted loudly. With a crack Kip was standing before him standing uneasily at what her master might command her to do. "Kip, I want you to go to the Burrow where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley live. I want you to ask them to verify that my parents are responsible for Harry Potter's disappearance and the bludgers that attacked Ginny. I also want you to find me a small vial of Veritaserum. Go now."
In a flash, Kip was gone, Ginny turned around toward Draco and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Proving to you that I'm telling the truth about all of this. All of it." The words seemed to stain his mouth,
They remained in the guest room silently as Kip went to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and the Veritaserum. It was a half hour before Kip arrived back with information and a small green vial. "What did you hear Kip?"
"Kip spoke to Mr. Weasley who said that the Ministry of Magic was currently doing an investigation on Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. They disappeared the same night you did. Mr. Weasley said that they suspect that Mr. Harry Potter is in a hiding place that is guarded by magical enchantments. The Auror Mr. Weasley also spoke and said that he suspected of a few places, but was not having much luck. Mrs. Weasley asked about Miss Weasley and Kip told her that Miss Weasley was usually in high spirits and missed her family. Another Mr. Weasley gave me this bottle from the Ministry's storage." Kip held out the green bottle, which Draco took.
"Thank you, Kip. You have made me very proud." Kip blushed and turned out of the room, closing the door on Ginny and Draco.
Draco held out the bottle for Ginny to examine and placed four drops on his tongue. Ginny looked at him bewildered for a second, then opened her mouth to speak. "What was the original plan that your mother set you up to?"
"She wanted me to marry you so that she could have a higher social standing. She thought that you would be suitable because you're a pure-blood and you're well liked." Draco said, his eyes locked on Ginny.
"What changed in your mother's plan?"
"She wants grandchildren badly. She asked me many times if we had been intimate, but every time I told her I said it was none of her business, which I still stand by. Don't get me wrong, if we both wanted to be intimate I would want to do that, but I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't want to do."
"Can you think of any place that they might be hiding Harry?" Her voice cracked slightly.
"No, they didn't tell me about Potter until the night that we left. They wouldn't have told me anyway because they knew that my loyalty was to you." He offered again, not even thinking about the words he was speaking.
"Did you actually have feelings for me?"
"I love you Ginny. I made it pretty clear several times. I love you because I can open up to you more than I could to anyone in my entire life. My parents showed me little sympathy growing up and I hadn't been extremely close to any of my friends at Hogwarts."
"When did you know you loved me?"
"I sensed it a little before, but never as strongly as when I saw you falling during your match. I felt as if my entire world was crashing down. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself knowing that you wouldn't be in this world anymore. I knew then that it couldn't be anything else other than love." Draco said plainly, looking only at Ginny's face.
Her face seemed to soften slightly before asking, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"I was so nervous that you were going to hate me or think that I didn't love you that it almost paralyzed me from telling you. My worst nightmare was unfolding down in the kitchen and I knew that I had to do something to get you to at least begin trusting me again." His eyes now pleading with hers to give him some sign that everything would be okay.
Ginny fell softly onto the bed and whispered, "After all of this, why do you still love me?"
"Because Ginny," Draco said earnestly, moving toward her and taking her hands in his. Kneeling on both knees he said, "You can make me speak my mind unlike anyone else can. It's hard for me to open up, but with you it's easy. I can't describe it any other way than that. And for the other obvious reasons anyone might like you: you're funny, smart, driven, beautiful, charismatic, friendly-"
"I think I need time." Ginny said, quietly cutting him off. "To process all of this. It's a bit overwhelming right now."
Draco sat on his feet as he looked up at Ginny. Her eyes refused to meet his. Deciding that it was best not to say anything further, Draco got up and quietly went out the door. He shut the guest bedroom and his bedroom door without much sound and flopped onto his bed. He wanted nothing more than for Ginny to come in his room and fall asleep in his arms. It was highly improbable, but Draco still wished it. Draco stayed up until the next morning, wondering what Ginny would decide.