Grinning Carina twirled, she was showing off her gown to Draco. It was a white dress with capped sleeves, it was long and fitted with just the slightest flare at her knees, the startling piece was the front, it was extremely low cut, with a v that almost reached her belly button. Her hair was curled and pulled up in a bun, with a few small braids running through it, her make up was neutral tones with a darker glittery brown shade around her eyes. The only piece of jewellery she ware were large hanging earrings, a large light blue diamond with small clear diamonds encasing it, dropping into small diamonds.
"If you were my date to this thing, I could have at least warded off the surge of suitors." Draco grumbled.
"Are you saying I look pretty?"
"You look stunning, Carina," Draco sighed, as he adjusted the rose in his lapel. "You will be one of the most beautiful women in the building tonight." He placed a kiss on her hand and smiled as Carina beamed at him. He was massively uncomfortable with her going out dressed like that, she was beautiful, but he did not want anyone looking at his sister as he could only imagine they would.
They were waiting for Ginny, they weren't kept waiting long, the door opened, revealing Ginny stood there smiling. Her gown was long and black, with a large slit up the side, it was low cut but not as much as Carina's, it was a wrap style with a bow to the side. She wore it with hanging black and gold earrings; her makeup was not dissimilar to Carinas with just a small amount of eyeliner around her eyes.
"You look fabulous," Draco stated as she stepped into the house, Carina clapped her hands excitedly.
"Ok, I'm gonna go, meet you guys there!" She exclaimed, before disappearing on the spot. Ginny was going to curse whoever taught her to apparate.
"You look very handsome, Draco," Ginny said with a smile on her lips as Draco offered her his arm.
"Thank you," Draco said, Ginny wasn't sure, but she thought she saw some colour shade his cheeks. "I mean it Ginny, you look… Beautiful."
Ginny smiled, she had so very nearly called and cancelled, unsure she wanted to attend as Draco's date, but she told herself she would be a bad friend to both him and Carina is she did. Walking up the drive had been nearly too much, she could feel her knees shaking as she took each step. But with a deep breath she had made it. Now she was standing in his living room, their arms entwined, waiting to leave, and it was comfortable.
"You ready?"
"Yes."
"See, there is daddy, he was with the Order of the Phoenix," Harry told Edward as they stood before the memorial plaque, it had a picture of the Order, as it had been. Remus was smiling as were everyone else. Edward reached out and placed a chubby finger against his dads face.
"Mum?"
"She wasn't there yet, Kid," Harry explained, lifting Edward into his arms once more. He was proud of his godson, Kingsley had invited him on stage and Edward had told the crowd how he missed his mum and dad, but they loved him, even more than he loved cookies. Harry found it difficult, listening to Edward talk about his parents; perhaps the similarities were just a bit too much. "She joined later, with purple hair."
Instantly, Edwards hair turned purple, Harry grinned at it nodding his head.
"I should be getting you home Teddy," Harry said finally moving towards where his friends stood, Edward nodded his head.
"Can I see Hern-knee and Won?" Edward asked, he had always been unable to get his mid around saying 'Hermione' and the whole r/w situation was being worked on by his grandmother, but you could hardly blame a four year old. Harry nodded, taking Edward toward his friends, instantly Hermione begun her usual tutoring.
"One – two – three…"
"Four!" Edwards declared, holding up his four fingers, Hermione grinned as she knelt beside him, kissing the top of his head as she did so. "I'm going to big boy school!"
"Big boy school!" Hermione repeated sounding amazed. "Wow, that's brilliant Teddy!"
"Will you come see my school, hern-knee?" Edward asked excitedly, his aunt Hermione was the one he did a lot of learning with whenever he visited.
"We will see what I can do," Hermione told him, standing up as he wandered towards Ginny who was standing with Draco, she flattened out her dress, a creamy pink colour, covered in diamonds and pearls. It was a very glamorous girly dress for Hermione. "He's getting big Harry."
"Yeah, he is," Harry grinned as he watched Edward with Ginny, Draco and Carina. "I should get him back, before the ball really kicks off."
Returning to the Ministry after dropping Edward back to his grandma, Harry felt tired. He was glad he had brought Edward to see the ceremony that was held in respect for those that had passed, but it had gotten to him, once he had dropped Edward off, he took a moment and ended up having something of a cry to himself. The weight of those that they had lost bore done on his heavily, and the expectation for him afterwards did not help much. Sighing he ran his hand through his hair once more before stepping towards where the ball was taking place.
"May I have this dance?" Draco asked Ginny as the music started, a few other couple were on the dance floor so she nodded, placing her hand into his and letting him lead her to the dance floor. He pulled her against him, and led.
"You're a good dancer," Ginny commented after a few moment had passed, Ginny herself was ok, but dancing was not really her thing, with Draco leading she was sure she looked like she knew what she was doing at the very least.
"Mother invested in some very expensive lessons," Draco admitted, sounding sheepish, Ginny searched his face, certain now that she had seen some redness in his cheeks. He was feeling embarrassed she realised. It shouldn't have made her feel so happy, but she found herself grinning at the thought. Draco Malfoy embarrassed. "Are you smirking at me Weasley?"
"Yes I am," Ginny teased as they moved together on the dance floor. She was surprised by how easy Draco was to be around, it was certainly a far cry from the arrogant prick she had known at school, admittedly none of them were the people they had been at school. She reckoned Carina had been a large part of why he was easier to be around these days, it must have been something of a massive shock to him, discovering he had a twin sister who had been so easily discarded and made into the families dirty little secret. Hearing that his parents had put him through intensive counselling to remove the idea of his 'imaginary friend' had been something that had horrified Ginny when she had heard. It couldn't have been easy, and less so when she reappeared in his life.
"You are looking very thoughtful," Draco commented, his eyes searching her face, as if looking for answers. "What is happening in that pretty little head of yours?"
"I was thinking about how you are less of a prick then you were at school." Ginny admitted unabashedly.
Throwing back his head, Draco laughed loudly, not missing a beat with the dancing. He looked back at Ginny, his eyes alight with amusement.
"How very candid of you Ginny," Draco commented, amusement still written across his face. "And I am glad you think so."
"And here was me thinking you didn't care what anyone thought of you." Ginny quipped as the song changed into a slower number, his could feel his hand pressed against the small of her back, his other holding hers as she moved in time with him. The tune was more seductive, and as friends she wondered if they should stop dancing, yet as she met his steely grey eyes, the last thing she was considering was moving away.
"I don't," Draco replied uneasily, he licked his lips and looked away form her. "I care what Carina thinks of me… She thinks I'm good enough for you."
"Draco…"
"I'm not so certain." It was heart breaking, hearing that from Draco Malfoy. His voice so uncertain, so unsure. "I've done a lot of bad things, I make things around me go bad… I'm going to break Carina."
Ginny stopped dancing, stopped moving and looked at the young man before her. So unsure of himself. So scared of himself. Grasping his face in her hands she pulled his face to hers and kissed him softly on the lips.
"She loves you Draco," Ginny murmured, feeling a tearing in her gut, as she looked into scared eyes. She wanted to fix it for him, to make him understand. "You're the only family who has accepted her totally, unlike the rest of them. Yes, you are the only one who could really break her, but I don't think you will. You love your sister. And it's not you that make things go bad around you Draco, they just are, or were, they aren't anymore." She watched him, completely forgetting everything around them. "Follow me."
She led him from the dance floor, away from all the eyes that watched them and out without a single word to any of their friends.
"Where the hell is my sister going?" Ron demanded, looking after his sister and she disappeared. "With Draco?"
"Ron, just have fun tonight." Carina smiled, she'd seen the moment happen, as had pretty much everyone else in the room, and the kiss. She smiled to herself; Draco had been so controlled as long as she had known him. That single moment where he wasn't guarded was amazing for her to witness.