Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. I do however own many plot bunnies that are currently running loose inside my head spewing off ideas for Harry Potter stories! Yay for you guys!

Okay, two updates in two days? Could this get any better? Yes it could cause I already want to start my next one! May be up tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled!

Now, thanks for the few reviews I've gotten. I usually get more but then again, I usually wait longer before updating again. If you didn't review the last chapter, you totally should just to make me happy! Oh, and I've reached the 400 review mark! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Now, I've rambled enough. So…

Without further ado…

Chapter 21 (Hey! The story is old enough to legally drink!)

Ginny POV

No matter how much I'd enjoyed Christmas, I was a relief to wake up the next morning and know the mayhem was over with. With a smile on my face, I rolled over and snuggled into the warmth of Draco's embrace, not wanting to get out of bed. Yesterday had really been the best Christmas I could have ever asked for. I still felt the warm medal of the locket he'd given to me around my neck. I'd been surprised to find such a simple gift since Draco usually went all out with things, extravagant and expensive. But the locket was simply elegant. Inside was a picture of us on our wedding day and then a picture from the photo shoot Christmas Eve.

It was a perfect gift. I had put it on as soon as I had unwrapped it, not ever wanting to take it off. And I hadn't, not even when climbing into bed that night. I could tell Draco was satisfied with his gift choice, looking smug every time he saw it around my neck. I couldn't help but laugh at him. It was so cute and silly.

Draco rolled over, the covers ruffling, pulling me out of my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see his soft grey ones staring down at me, blond hair falling over his face in disarray. "Good morning sleepy head," I said with a smile that was cut short by a yawn.

"And you call me sleepy head," he said with a laugh and a shake of his head, not even caring about the hair falling into his grey eyes.

I reached up and pushed it back absentmindedly, smiling. My hand froze on his face when I realized what I was doing. "It's okay," he whispered as I pulled my hand away. "Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you, Ginny." His whispered promise put a smile on my face and in my heart.

"I know," I told him, equally as quiet. "I know you won't." I relaxed onto the pillows under me, closing my eyes again. "It's just this is all so new to me, these feelings. It was never so strong with Harry, never so intense. I'm almost not sure what to make of it," I confessed, not looking up at Draco.

I felt soft fingers on my chin and opened my eyes to meet those of my husbands. "It's alright to be confused." He paused, almost as if he was having a hard time saying what he was trying to say. "It's all new to me too," he finally said, his eyes burning into mine.

"How can these feelings be new to you?" I asked without thinking. "You've been with more women than I can count. You're no stranger to the opposite sex. How is this new?"

He chuckled deeply, easing the tension that had sprung up so suddenly. "I've been with many women, that is not a lie. But do you know what kind of relationships they were? I don't even think relationship is the right word because they were never even close to what I have with you. I may have had sex with many, but I was never as close to any of them as I am with you. And I think that is because I've gotten to know you, not your body, over the past few months. I've never been so myself with anyone like this, except with Blaise. It's disconcerting sometimes, but not bad. I guess this is new territory for both of us."

I was silent for a moment as I let his words sink in. This was really new to him too? Surely he'd been in relationships before though, hadn't he? "What about Pansy?" I asked suddenly, remembering that they'd dated back in school.

"What about her?" he asked, surprised at my question.

"Didn't you and she date in school? That was a relationship, right?" I clarified, gazing up at him. "She's always been obviously taken with you and never ceased to brag about her luck through the years."

Suddenly, Draco started laughing. It wasn't just a chuckle though, it was full and booming laugher. I wondered if it was my question that caused his laughter and, even as my face heated with embarrassment, I felt a chuckle of my own rising up. His laugher was contagious. When we finally stopped laughing, I found myself in his arms, my head on his bare chest.

"It wasn't like this," he said after a long moment, his fingers drawing circles on my arm. "Pansy wished it had been and played it out much further than it really ever went. We were only third years when we dated, but it wasn't really so much dating. She got clingy and I drew away. I broke up with her less than a week later and we'd never even done anything more than kiss, though she was a terrible kisser. She never gave it up on trying for my attention though. It was tiresome really."

He shook his head and let out a sigh. "Ginny, you are one of a kind in my life," he said softly, placing a soft kiss on my forehead as he pushed hair away from my face. "There has never been another woman like you and never will there be again."

I couldn't explain it, but his words eased a great tension in my heart. I relaxed more into his embrace, closing my eyes and never wanting to move as I let out a content sigh. For a while, we just lay there like that, neither particularly wanting to move. But all too soon for my liking, my bladder demanded I get up. When I stretched and rolled over, away from my husband, he looked up.

"How about breakfast?" he asked now that the moment was, if not broken but fading away, though the happiness still lingered.

I nodded my accent and climbed out from under the warm covers, my feet finding the thick blue carpet. "Just let me run to the loo and you can lead the way," I said, standing up and frowning at my dependency on him. "I really hope it doesn't take me too long to find my way around this place. It's still hard to believe I live in a place as easy to get lost in as Hogwarts was."

"You learned your way around Hogwarts easy enough. You'll be walking the halls here by yourself before you know it," he assured confidently. I could only hope he was right.

~!~!~!~

I was lost. Again. It was official: I would never learn my way around this dumb manor. Two months I'd been living here and I'd already lost track of the number of times I'd found myself wandering aimlessly, as lost as if I were in a maze. And sometimes it really felt like I was in a maze. Many halls I swore doubled back on one another and others lead to dead ends. Only once in a great while did I find where I was going without assistance.

Here I was, trying desperately to find Draco's office somewhere on the third floor. He'd shown it to me before and I'd been in it several times, but it seemed I was destined to always need a guide to find the dumb place. Instead of calling on a house elf, like usual to help me find my way, I was determined to find it myself.

Most times I didn't have the luxury of wandering aimlessly without being late for something or another. Either I was trying to find my way to the dining room for a meal, or trying to hurry and tell Draco goodbye before I headed off to work, having gotten a job in the maternity ward at St. Mungos only the month before. But today I wasn't in a hurry to be anywhere, so I was going to find my own way to Draco's office.

I knew I was somewhere on the third floor in the west wing. Or at least I assumed it was the west wing because at the place where this hall came to a dead end there was a balcony looking over the gardens covered in a thick blanket of snow that had fallen in earnest late last night. It was only part way through February and I was already beginning to dream of the coming spring. But dreaming about spring wouldn't get me to Draco's office, so I shook myself out of fantasies of warm sunlight and fresh green grass and turned back to the task at hand.

The gardens were on the west side of the manor, that much I was sure of, so I knew at least what end of the house I was in. Now the trick was to find the office. I started off back the way I came, as the hall I was in ended at the balcony. On and on I wandered, a good ten minutes at least, before I came to a door I thought looked familiar. Smiling to myself, confidant I'd found my destination, I opened the door and walked in.

The room I found myself in was far from the office I'd expect. All around me were bookshelves piled with old books, each with fancy script on the bindings. I was surprised to see many muggle books in here alongside the magical ones. In the middle of the room there sat a desk that looked as if it hadn't been used in ages, though there were still books on it. Near a double window that soared thirty feet up to the ceiling of the room there were two armchairs. There was a rocking chair near an unlit fire place and around the entire room circular room there were windows.

I'd seen the library downstairs and this was defiantly not it. It felt much more personal and secluded. I walked slowly into the room, running my fingers along the bindings of the books gently, reading titles as I went. The first I came to were spell books: Household Spells and Their Uses, Cooking Spells and How to Work them along with many others. Further along I came across romance novels, many of them muggle. Along my fingers ran and my eyes scanned the rows, coming across all sorts of books from The Scarlet Letter to Redeeming Love.

The book that I was most surprised to find was sitting on the ancient desk itself, open about hallway through as if the owner had just left it, was a bible. It wasn't just any bible though; it was ancient like the desk. The words were written by hand and in Latin. Each page sported an elaborate illustration that surely took the artist weeks apiece.

I found myself sitting in the desk chair and bringing the Bible closer to me, running my finger gently over the page. For a long time I sat there, thumbing through the ancient book with awe. Finally, I looked up from the book and was surprised to see Draco in the doorway, leaning against the frame as if he'd been waiting for me to take notice of him.

"I see you found my grandmother's study," he said, a smile on his face.

"I was looking for yours actually," I said apologetically, standing from the desk and slowly walking over to him. "I got lost and thought this was it. It's a magnificent place though, seemingly untouched by time."

"Yes," he agreed, taking my hand and leading me over to the two armchairs nearest the largest window. "My grandmother was a much different kind of person than her son turned out to be. She put spells on the room to keep anyone with ill intentions out, even after her death. I'd always been able to enter, though my father never stepped foot in here. He'd wanted to burn the muggle books when he realized his mother had them."

"This was a sanctuary for me when I was young, though I didn't often come here after Grandmother's death. I was only four when she died and my memories of her are vague at best," he told me, looking around the room and I could see the memories dancing in his eyes.

"I'm glad I stumbled upon it," I said after a moment. "It's an unexpected surprise in this house. I was looking over the books before you came and found a great many that look interesting. Your grandmother must have been a well-read woman."

"She was," he agreed, nodding his head. "She used to read me stories at night, after my parents were safely asleep. She always had the most wonderful ones."

"It sounds like she was a lovely woman," I said with a small laugh, looking around the elegant room.

"She was," he repeated, smiling down at me. "You remind me of her actually sometimes. If you'd like, you can use this as your own study. I'm sure she'd have like it to be used again."

"You wouldn't mind?" I asked, surprised at his offer.

"Not at all," he said with a shrug, standing up and holding his hand out to me, a grin on his face. "I'll lead you down to the entry hall so maybe you'll be able to retrace your steps to find it again."

"I'll find my way around this place eventually," I pointed out, laughing despite myself. "It just takes a little bit of doing."

"I know you will, but in the mean time I'll again remind you that this is what the house elves are here for," he said in a joking tone.

"I thought for once I could do it on my own," I defended, a giggle in my voice. "But I didn't find you, you found me."

"What did you want me for anyway?" Draco asked as he led me down the stairs and into an area that looked more familiar.

"I was going to ask you when you thought we should do that dinner party with Luna, Blaise, Dennis and Cassie," I said, having almost forgotten my reason with my discovery of the old study. "Luna was asking about it the other day after she told me about the baby." I had found only the week before that my best friend was pregnant and expecting her first baby. I was so excited for her but it reminded me of how Draco and I had yet to even consummate our marriage. I was terrified but I realized it would have to happen sooner or later.

"How does this Friday sound?" Draco asked, stopping now that we'd reached the entrance hall.

I thought back to the path we'd taken down here, none of it having stuck in my mind, before answering. "That'll work for me. I don't work at all this weekend."

"Okay, I've got to head back up to my office for a bit and I'll send a letter while I'm up there. Would you like to come with me?" he asked, not letting my hand go.

"Sure," I said with a shrug. "I'll write and tell Dennis while I'm up there." And suddenly I couldn't wait for Friday to get there. It had been too long since I'd seen Dennis and I was thrilled to get to see Luna again so soon. Now that she was pregnant, out time together seemed even more special as we daydreamed about what her baby would be like, brainstormed names, and drew up plans for a nursery. It was sad that she still had eight months left of her pregnancy, but the time would fly.

I just wondered how long it would be before I had the courage to try and get pregnant. Ready or not, I'd have to have sex one of these days. The terrifying idea was strangely exciting though. I could feel the passion in Draco's kisses as the weeks blended into months and I knew he was eager for me to finally give in. But could I get over my terror long enough to loss myself entirely to my husband?

Did you like it? Did you like it? I sure hope you did. I just had to add it that little bit about Draco's grandma. I always figured there was at least one good person in his family, and that was who I chose. And, now we have the sexual tension building up! Guess what's coming really soon? :D It's a prediction even Professor Trelawney could make.

Well, if you want me to update again really soon, then leave a review! The more I get the more I'll want to update! So you should totally leave me a review!

And like always, remember that a happy author writes better and faster! So review and make me happy!