A/N: I'M BAAAAACK!!!! After a horrific lack of updates, I'M BACK, FINALLY!! No, this story wasn't dropped. No, I didn't die. No, I wasn't purposely trying to leave you guys hanging. I've just been SO BUSY for this past month and a half, and it's been absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to write!! I'm trying hard to get into college, so that's basically all I've been doing this whole time. But whenever I have the tiniest bit of opportunity, I write. Sadly, it's so rushed and sloppy that you might absolutely hate it (as do I), but I think you'll get over it. XD Oh, the drama of this story is not easy to write when you're attempting to be stressfree so that you can get into college. Yipes. It gets worse, too. Trust me. Yaaay. And don't worry: though it might take forever for new updates, I promise I WILL finish this story, so do not fear!!

ENJOY!! AND THANKS SOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR BOTHERING TO STILL READ THIS STORY!!

(Oh, and I apologize for the painful cliffhanger. That was cruel of me, I'll admit. Bad me. Bad. XD)

Ginny swayed. She was feeling unsteady on her feet. She stared at the hotel room door in terrified apprehension. Draco was in there, waiting for her. How would he react to hear that she was going to visit her family? Should she even tell him? Couldn't she just visit them behind his back, or something? She shook her head at the door. No, she told herself firmly. She had to tell him. He deserved her honesty. If he couldn't trust her, then he couldn't trust anyone, and everyone deserves to have people they can trust, right?

A deep gulp of air made her feel ill again, but she ignored it, and swallowed nervously. With a tiny spark of bravery that she didn't think could really be hers, she put her key in its lock, turned the handle, and pushed the door open.

The suite was just as bright as ever. That impossible aroma of romance wafted into her nostrils as she breathed deeply, and shut the door behind her. "Draco?" she called. "Draco, are you here?" Her voice sounded much more urgent than she had meant it to.

"I'm here," came Draco's usual bored drawl as he emerged from another room. "How did practice go?"

She shrugged. "Good," she muttered vaguely. Awkwardness was pumping through her as she looked at him, and remembered Harry. "So, um…did you find something to do, today?" She was being evasive, she knew—avoiding the real topic she would soon have to bring up.

Draco smiled. "I did," he said, stepping toward her. She noticed that he was fully clothed. "I went out shopping," he told her, his eyes spoiling her with their cruelly loving gaze. He removed his hands from where they'd been hidden behind his back, and she saw that in his grasp, he held a small box. Her heart sank as he stretched his arm out to present it to her. "I felt bad about this morning, so…" he admitted, looking awkward as he shoved the little box into her hands. Her heart began to pound madly as she took the gift. Her thoughts traveled to the day in Diagon Alley when he had shown her the ring he'd bought his ex-fiancée. She had hated him, then. Why couldn't she hate him now? Things would be easier if she did. She stared down at the thing in her hands, running her fingers over the top.

She managed to croak a guilty, "Thank you," before opening it. Something silver glinted up at her from the soft insides of the box. She took it between her fingers, and lifted it up. It was a long, thin chain, she realized, as it slithered from its coils and came to dangle from her delicate grasp. From the end of the sparkling chain hung a small silver G, encrusted with something shiny and green.

"That's a real emerald," he said, bouncing on his heels with his hands in his pockets.

"Um…" She was completely speechless. It had escaped her memory how filthy rich Draco was. "This… must have cost…a fortune."

"Oh, it wasn't so much, really," he laughed, running a hand nervously through his hair. Something told her that what was 'not so much' for him was probably way too much for her.

She felt breathless. "But… Draco, this is…"

"You like it?"

Ginny held it up to her eyes. The tiny letter glinted tauntingly in the light of the suite. "It's beautiful, Draco," she told him quietly. He smiled. The sight warmed her nervous chest. The way his cheeks tightened, and the unique way the corners of his mouth rose—as though he didn't know exactly how a smile worked—always made her weak. Now, things were no different. Her legs shook. "Thank you," she sighed again. She had to look away from him—from that smile, and from those eyes that were so piercing they could have halted an army. "Draco, I…" she began, but her words failed. She sucked in her lips anxiously as she replaced the necklace back into its container, and clutched the box in her sweaty hand.

He watched her nervous gestures with apprehension. "What is it, Ginny?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, it's nothing, it's just…" How was she supposed to say it? She should say it nicely… assure him that she wasn't leaving him, just their lifestyle. Remind him that she loved him, and tell him that she loves her family, too, and doesn't want to have to choose between them. Instead, her thoughts all crushed together, and the words came out too rushed, and sounded cruel. "I'm going back to my family," she spluttered.

His expression was impossible to read. His eyebrows twitched, as though he didn't know what he was feeling, either. "Oh, really?" was the first thing out of his mouth.

"Yes," Ginny croaked miserably. Blush was creeping like little bugs up her flesh, and overpowering her face so that her complexion nearly matched her hair. "I… I'm sorry, Draco."

"No you're not," he said smoothly. His eyes were eerily blank.

"I…" She could not think of a response to this. It was true: she wasn't sorry. "I'm not leaving you, Draco," she told him. "I still love you. I just… I can't live in seclusion like this. I need to see my family."

"I know," he said, shrugging. "That's okay."

She was taken aback. "Really?"

"It makes sense, I suppose," he stated vaguely, his eyes darting toward the ceiling as his jaw clenched. He seemed to be resigning himself to being accepting of her choices. "So what brought on this sudden revelation?"

Harry's face swam to her vision. She shook her head. She couldn't tell him about Harry showing up. She just couldn't. "I don't know," she lied, her throat feeling grossly tight as she did so. "I guess I've known it for a while, now, but… y'know…"

"No, I don't know," he responded coldly.

She sighed in irritation. "Of course you don't," she hissed, her temper already building. "Maybe it's just something you can only know if you were raised by a family who really loves you. Maybe that's it." What a horrible thing of her to say. Why had she said it? She couldn't figure out why she'd said it, now that it had been said. She shook her head, her eyes softening as she forgot her temper quickly in the sudden rush of sympathy that flooded her. "Oh, Draco, I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did," Draco spat, straightening his posture. "And with reason," he added, his grey eyes full of thought and sadness. She had nothing to say to that, so she just swallowed awkwardly, shifting her weight on her feet.

Instinct drove her forward, and without even thinking about the action, Ginny wrapped her arms around Draco's tall, wide form. She leaned her head into his warm chest, and felt his heart beating against her cheek. It was an immediate remedy to her tension, and she could feel her entire being start to loosen as the steady rhythm pulsed sweetly against her face. As she took a deep breath, inhaling the masculine scent of him, an uncomfortable prickling sensation around her eyelids made her mouth and chin spasm involuntarily. Her eyes were hurting, and her chest was starting to expand painfully with the increased depth of her unsteady breathing. When she blinked, her eyelashes dampened. She gave a miserable sniff. Within an instant, she was sobbing into the Draco's chest. Ginny felt him stiffen around her in surprise. "Ginny," he croaked thickly. "Ginny, don't cry. Don't cry, please." His voice was rich in sympathy, and the sound of his concern ignited the pain of adoration within her heart.

She tried to stop her downpour of tears, but it was useless. Her cheeks were cold under the wet splotches forming on Draco's robes, but she could not pull herself away. Her love seemed almost tangible inside of her when she felt suddenly his warm palms on the back of her head. His long fingers stroked her hair, and his arms crushed her more tightly to his body, as though to absorb her into him.

"I love you, Ginny," he whispered against the top of her head, tickling her scalp with his delicious breath. "I want you to be happy. I've never wanted that for anyone before, but I want you to be happy, and to live your life the way you want it." She smiled through her tears, fidgeting behind his back with the necklace's case she was still holding. She couldn't have asked for more from him.

"So you won't be mad I'm going to see my family?" she squeaked.

"No. Just irritated."

Ginny couldn't help but laugh at that. The power behind her sobs was ebbing away, and only sniffles were escaping her now. "Thanks, Draco. I appreciate it." She finally gathered the strength to drag herself out of his delightful embrace with a weak but honest grin, though she still remained in his arms.

"You will come back, though, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course," she assured him with a sharp exhale of amusement.

"So when are you going?"

She shrugged, letting her free hand roam over the wet spots on the fabric of Draco's robes. Her fingers drew light circles around them, and slid downward over his stomach and hips. The corners of her mouth twitched as she squinted suggestively at him. All his sweet talk had made her ache for him. "Tomorrow," she sighed hoarsely, leaning up to kiss him.

On the following morning, Ginny felt confident about her decision, even through her nerves. The logical part of her brain reminded her that this really wasn't quite as dramatic as she was making it seem. They were her family, after all. They couldn't be too mad, could they?

The necklace Draco had given her the night before was cold against the bare skin of her chest beneath her robes. She blinked in the sunlight as she touched the chain at her neck with adoration, smiling lightly at the thought of him, and at the sight of the Burrow. Its crooked walls and scattered chickens were immediate remedies to any doubt she'd had. She'd missed this place so much it was eating her alive, and it felt so good to finally be back. "Home sweet home," she couldn't help whispering, just to add to the aura of sweet reunion.

She stepped through the yard, her heart hammering as she approached the back door, thinking of the expression her mother would surely wear when she saw her daughter come home as though she hadn't just run away to France all month. With her hand on the door knob, Ginny began to sweat, but she couldn't turn back now. She needed this: she needed to be able to explain everything to her parents, and just to see them, and know that they still loved her.

"Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley called to where Ginny was standing. "Is that you?" Her voice sounded scratchy as though she was sick, but she was never sick. Ginny's guilt shot up into her throat to linger there so that it hurt to swallow. What if her mother was sick and it was all her fault for having put this extra stress on her?

Taking a nervous deep breath, Ginny opened the door, and spoke, her words feeling foreign to her as she said them. "It's me, mum."

Something thudded against the floor as her mother dropped something out of shock. A bright red face appeared out of no where, and was suddenly showering her with kisses. "Oh, Ginny! You're back! Oh, Ginny, thank god! We've been so worried!" She pulled away from her daughter to hold her at arms length and scrutinize her anxiously. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Ginny's entire body felt like pudding, completely melted in delight at being able to see her mother's face again. The only difference that had come to it since she'd last seen it several weeks ago was that those eyes that were so like her own had become heavily lidded, and deeply bagged, as though she hadn't been getting much sleep. "I'm fine, mum," she croaked, giving her mother a weak, cautious smile.

Just as the words left her dry mouth, Mrs. Weasley's worried, adoring gaze hardened. She placed her hands on her hips in the fantastically formidable way that Ginny had certainly not forgotten. "Where on earth have you been? What could you possibly have been thinking that would compel you to leave your wedding like that? What happened to you, Ginny?"

There were the questions Ginny had been expecting to receive. There they were, and she found that as much as she'd pondered over it, she didn't know what to say now that the situation had arrived where she actually had to answer them. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and tried to speak, but her lips just moved noiselessly like a fish out of water.

"Don't you play dumb with me, young lady, because this isn't something you're just going to excuse with an apology and an ashamed smile. Tell me what went on."

Shrugging, Ginny looked away from her mother. She didn't know what to say. She tried to think back to all her prepared answers, but they all throbbed together against her fragile skull, confusing her, and making her head hurt. "I don't know," she mumbled.

"That isn't good enough," Mrs. Weasley hissed.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, mum!" Ginny cried, her voice rising with her temper already. "I love Malfoy. I'll admit it. I'm in love with Draco Malfoy, and I can't help it, and I don't understand it any more than you do, so don't ask me why!" The expression on Mrs. Weasley's face was a difficult one to interpret. It was a messy cross between sympathy and disgust, and it struck a painful place in Ginny's heart. "I am sorry, mum," she sighed, gazing sadly into the older woman's face. "Even if that won't help anything, I am sorry. I never wanted to hurt anyone, I just wanted… I just had to be with Draco, and I knew that… y'know… that could never happen, unless…" She swallowed. "Unless I kept it hidden, or left with him, and…"

"So you did both?" Mrs. Weasley intervened. "How long was it being hidden before you decided to finally run away?"

"Several weeks," Ginny admitted. "I tried to make it stop, though, I swear." Her tone grew desperate, and she knew her face must be wrung with desperation for understanding. "I really wanted it to stop, but I just… I couldn't help it! No matter what I did, I just couldn't stop loving him!"

"But he's a Malfoy!" Mrs. Weasley moaned with anguish, closing her hands over her face. She looked extremely tense.

"I know he is," Ginny said furiously, pushing passed her mother to actually cross the threshold into the kitchen, and flop into a chair at the table. "Look," she said on an exhale, "I'm sorry that I hurt you all. You know I didn't mean to."

Sniffling, Mrs. Weasley came to sit beside Ginny at the table, her round face very red. "All I know is that sometimes love just isn't enough to keep a person happy. It should be, but it isn't always. Sometimes, there are just going to be other factors, like the kind of person he is, or the way he treats you, or how many people you're hurting by running away with him." Ginny's heart panged with guilt. "I know you wouldn't mean to hurt your family, Ginny, dear," she said, placing her hand on her daughter's arm, "but sometimes people can do inane things for the sake of love. You just have to remember that love isn't all that has to be present to keep two people together."

Ginny nodded. "I know," she whispered sadly, silent tears starting to stream down her face at her mother's words. "Draco and I won't stay together," she mumbled. "Will we?" The terrible sorrow of the truth weighed down her bones, and she felt heavy, like a stone sinking helplessly into a polluted pond.

"I don't know, dear," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "I don't know anything about him, other than the fact that he's not very nice, that he's a Malfoy, and that he's Teddy's second cousin." Ginny felt almost compelled to laugh. She had completely forgotten that Draco and Tonks had been cousins. She fought the urge, however, and searched her brain for something sensible to say back to her mother.

"Well, he loves me," was all that came to her mind. The words sounded foolish when said aloud, but Mrs. Weasley did not patronize her for it. As it was, she actually smiled sadly, nodding delicately.

"These things happen," said Mrs. Weasley with a sympathy Ginny hadn't expected.

Shame washed through her system as she looked into her mother's soft, warm, and caring eyes. "I'm so sorry," she whispered shakily, her unstoppable tears flowing heavily now. "I didn't want to put you through all that worrying and stuff. I just wasn't thinking, and I'm so sorry." Her breath came in short, painful gasps between every few raspy words, and she could feel her expression being contorted with the emotions plaguing her. "And after Fred," she sobbed, "I just didn't even bother to think what this might do to you. I was such an idiot! I'm so sorry!"

"You're not an idiot," Mrs. Weasley cooed in a choked, tearful voice. "You're just in love."

"Well I wasn't this stupid when I was in love with Harry."

"Oh, you were," the older woman said with a light, playful laugh. "You just never had the chance to do something stupid for his sake. It's an exciting part of love, being able to do something ridiculous as proof of your love. Trust me, I know," Mrs. Weasley said darkly, her expression quite distant for a moment. "Things start to feel less exciting without that ability to be stupid—sacrifice something, or whatever—and you feel less in love. It's perfectly normal."

"But…" Ginny's crying was making her entire body heave up and down in her seat, and it was difficult to speak. "But, mommy… love is supposed to last forever!"

Her mother shook her head. "Oh, no, sweetie." Ginny collapsed forward onto her lap, sobs obstructing the possibility of any more words. "Oh, Ginevra darling, I am so sorry." Ginny could not see the tears now falling down Mrs. Weasley's cheeks, for her face was buried in the woman's knees, and she did not look up when her mother's hand began to stroke the back of her head. "Ginny…" she said softly to her daughter, realizing how broken the young woman had become with this discovery that love isn't perfect. "Sometimes love does work out, dear. I just think that your father and I have given you false hope that it always works out. We were just lucky to have found each other. I have always prayed that you would find someone who would be just as wonderful to you as he is to me, but I should never have shielded you from the reality of most love, dear."

"But that's… what I want…" Ginny choked, snuggling into the fabric of her mother's skirt. "I want… to love… like you and dad."

"You will," Mrs. Weasley told her, but there was no confidence in her statement, or in her expression. There was only intense sadness. "But sometimes," she croaked, "you'll fall in love before finding that true love, and though it might end up being an enormous mistake…" Her chin shook uncontrollably. "…At least you loved at all. Love is a gift, whether it's painful or not, and it's an experience to treasure your entire life, no matter how short it lasts."

There was nothing more to say. Ginny's heart was full to the brim with emotion that she could not express except through tears. Some of these were for her love, for her joy, and for her family. Some were for her intense sadness, and for her despairing hopelessness. Mrs. Weasley simply let her daughter cry. She had known this would happen some day. She had waited for this conversation to take place, and had worried when it never had. More tears flowed from her as the thought that it had occurred too late nagged at the back of her mind. She had been putting it off. Perhaps she had hoped her daughter would never hurt in love, the way she had in the past? Perhaps that was it. Shame that she had never warned Ginny sooner pooled in her heart, but it was suppressed by the sweet bonding of the moment, which filled her simultaneously with overwhelming gladness.

The voice of a male youth wafted toward them from the yard, and Ginny sat up quickly as the back door opened again, and Ron's freckled face came into view from behind it. "Ginny," he stated, catching sight of her. She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand, smiling shakily at her brother. Mrs. Weasley wiped her face inconspicuously with the corner of her shirt, and turned to face him as well.

"Ron," squeaked Ginny, unsure of what else to say. She stood, breathing deeply to hold back the tears still threatening her bloodshot eyes. Ron's face was unreadable. His mouth was slightly open, and his eyes were wide. One of his hands still rested softly on the doorknob of the open door, and Hermione stepped through it after him. "Hermione," Ginny said in awkward greeting. Had she told Ron of their previous meeting?

"Ginny," said the bushy-haired woman, giving a small nod. Her face went pink, and she bit her lip as she glanced anxiously at Ron.

Things were very awkward for several silent moments. Then Mrs. Weasley stood sharply, and cleared her throat. The other three looked at her. "There is no need for things to be so solemn," she snapped, waving her hands at Ginny's back in a gesture as though to push her toward her brother. "Why don't you just hug and be done with it?"

"Because she left my best friend at the altar for my worst enemy, and because she's been not seen or heard from for weeks while she and Malfoy are doing god knows what." He glared at her, folding his arms across his chest.

Hermione put her hand on his shoulder. "Be nice, Ron," she warned him.

"Why should I?"

Ginny scoffed, her short temper flaring up again already. "Because I'm your sister, and don't you think I feel guilty enough already? We've had too many fights about my boyfriends in the past, and there's no need to have another one."

"Yeah, well this one constitutes fighting," he hissed. Mrs. Weasley groaned from beside Ginny, tangling a hand in her hair as she sensed a shouting match approaching. "It's Draco Malfoy, for crying out loud!"

"I realize that, thank you," she said angrily, folding her arms over her front also as he uncrossed his, and let them hang awkwardly at his sides. "But I really don't want to fight with you about it."

"How could you do that to Harry?" Ron asked shortly. "He doesn't deserve that sort of treatment."

"I know," she groaned, exasperation evident in her tone. "I didn't want to hurt him."

"Yeah, well, too bad, because you did. And what about your family? Did you even think about how you might have been hurting us?"

"I did think about it, just not logically. It was a mistake, I get it."

"Oh please, you didn't think about us. We never crossed your mind, did we? You were just too blinded by whatever you see in Malfoy to even stop and wonder if you might be making mum and dad suffer."

"CAN YOU JUST STOP IT?" Ginny shouted. Rage at his accusations was overpowering her reasonable thought. "I DIDN'T COME HERE TO START SOMETHING. I CAME BACK TO APOLOGIZE, AND TO ADMIT I DID SOMETHING WRONG! I JUST WANT TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT AGAIN!"

"YEAH, WELL, YOUR APOLOGY IS NOT ACCEPTED!" Ron bellowed. His face was bright purple in his fury.

Hermione was shaking beside him. "Ron, please," she pleaded. "She's trying."

"Well she could have tried a little harder from the very beginning," he spat madly, his voice losing its volume slightly as he averted his gaze from Ginny. "Then she'd be married, and we wouldn't be mad at each other."

"If I had married Harry that day," Ginny said with a sob clawing at her words, "I know I would have lived to regret it, and I can't have gone back on it. Sure, I regret leaving him, but at least I… I… I don't know… took the chance to go feel what I would have regretted not feeling if I had stayed with Harry."

Ron's face was still colorful. "Well I don't forgive you. You hurt my best friend, and you hurt your family. I don't forgive you."

Ginny's heart sank, and she felt suddenly ill. "That's okay. You don't have to. I just wanted you to know that I was sorry, and… well, now you know."

"Fine," he hissed, and with a last miserable glare, he stormed out of the room into another part of the house. Silence buzzed around Ginny, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley.

"I hate that I've made things so awkward between us," Ginny sighed.

Hermione shook her head. "It's not awkward," she said kindly, "just… slightly tense." She smiled. Ginny did, too. "I'm so sorry about Ron," she said, looking disappointed as she stared at the place where he'd been standing. "He's just… very distraught. I think he'll get passed it soon."

"Yeah right," Ginny laughed. Her stomach was starting to turn, and she was feeling sicker and sicker with every moment.

"You never know," said Hermione with an anxious shrug. "He might."

"Mm hmm," Ginny said carelessly, clapping a hand over her mouth while her other hand clutched her stomach.

Mrs. Weasley touched her back lightly, looking at her daughter nervously. "Are you alright, dear?" she asked.

"Mmf," was all Ginny could let out before scrambling quickly away from her mother, and vomiting upon the floor on the other side of the table. Her insides felt like liquid, and her limbs were shaky and week.

Hermione gasped, and clutched her heart in horror. "Oh, god, Ginny! Are you okay?" She and Mrs. Weasley rushed to Ginny's side.

"Ugh…" she groaned. "That… was not fun."

"No, clearly not," Mrs. Weasley said sympathetically, helping her back to her seat.

As Ginny sat, she panted heavily. "I'm sorry about that," she sighed. "I don't know what that was. Just… really nauseous."

"Did you eat anything funny?" her mother questioned.

When Ginny shook her head, Mrs. Weasley looked extremely worried. "What? I'm probably just sick. It wouldn't be the first time I've ever been sick in my life. It's not a big deal!"

"Maybe," said the older redhead. "But…" Her eyes narrowed. "Have you and Malfoy…?"

"What? Mum!"

"It's a valid question, Ginny," Hermione said in cautious agreement. "Because… well… I'm sort of thinking you might be…"

She didn't finish her sentence, and she and Mrs. Weasley exchanged terrified looks. "What?" Ginny asked again, breaking out into a sweat. "What?" Denial swept over her, understanding what they were getting at, but refusing to accept it. "YOU THINK I MIGHT BE WHAT?" she shouted, anxiety building within her. Her muscles were very sore, and she massaged the back of her neck in an unconcerned attempt to sooth the accumulating stress. "What?" she asked again, her chin shaking as reality settled in her gut.

She hadn't gotten her period all month.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading, and sticking with me for this past month and a half of no updates!!! I deeply appreciate it!! Oh, and reviews will be very much loved, because I KNOW this chapter must have like countless errors due to its rushed-ness. XD lol.

Oh yeah, and congratulations to all those who guessed it!! And here I thought I was being all subtle. Bah!