Ginny buried her face into her pillow as someone opened the curtains and let the treacherous light pass through.
"I'm sleeping," she mumbled into the pillow, a quiet laugh came from the criminal curtain opener; "Go away," she huffed. She felt the weight on her be shift as someone sat down beside her then a hand slipped under her tank top and began rubbing the small of her back.
"Are you sure you want me to leave?" this time Seamus's accent was noticeable and Ginny could feel herself start to smile despite her determination to sleep until noon.
"I suppose you can stay for a while," she relented without looking away from her dear pillow,
"Oh that's very gracious of you," Seamus teased as he lay on his back beside her, "Lindy and Blaise are out shopping, or I suppose Lindy is shopping and Blaise is smiling benignly in the background,"
"Where's Jess?"
"Out for a swim," the smile was evident in Seamus's voice and Ginny couldn't help but roll her eyes. Of course they were entirely alone.
"How lucky for us," still buried and half-asleep Ginny let Seamus play with her hair for a while and only really started waking up when she noticed that he was kissing her neck softly.
"Careful Seamus," she rolled over to look at him. Her boyfriend was shirtless, "what are you thinking of?" she smirked at the gorgeous boy wearing nothing but jeans and a devious grin,
"I was thinking about you," the 'duh' was evident in his tone, "Why? Should I be thinking of another girl while looking at you?" he laughed and continued to play with her hair, conveniently this wrapped Ginny up in his arms.
"It's written all over your face Seamus, we're all alone, lying on a bed, I can add two and two together, and" she rolled her eyes at him again, "I must inform you, I'm far too awake to do any sleeping," the sarcasm was evident. Perhaps some boys thought that Ginny was naïve; but raised with six brothers she was entirely aware of what guys thought about her and her body.
"Very funny red," Seamus leant forward to kiss her softly, "I'm not particularly tired either," the heavier his accent got the more trouble Ginny knew she was in,
"You're pushing your luck Seamus," she smiled blandly and rolled over, "I'm perfectly happy to kiss you into oblivion but if you think for a second you're going to get anything else…" she let the words speak for themselves and was surprised when Seamus laughed,
"That's what you're on about, fear not red I'm not here to take advantage of you," strangely enough he was being honest and Ginny rolled back to look at him,
"Isn't that nice," she muttered but was forced to smile as Seamus kissed her again,
"Of course most men would take advantage of this, but you know me, I'm not one of them," he punctuated his words with kisses as he wrapped his arms around her. Ginny nuzzled into his chest and sighed,
"Who is it you think I've been with that you assume has taken advantage of me?" she had to ask; Seamus had been acting oddly lately. Almost like he was jealous of something and Ginny had an inkling of what is was about.
"You were with a Slytherin Ginny, naturally I worry," he purred, trying to pass off jealous as a protective nature.
"I've told you already, he was a perfect gentleman," she huffed and pulled away a little, "Draco was a loving person who was entirely willing to let me set the pace, he never did anything I didn't want him to, so you can stop your worrying," she wasn't thinking too much about the words,
"You're very defensive of him," he said while stroking her back,
"Yes, well he's my friend now and I have no grudge," Ginny tried to backtrack, realizing how her outburst must have sounded,
"Are you sure he's not more than a friend Ginny? I was your friend and I certainly didn't get looked at the way you look at him," his voice was bitter,
"Stop it Seamus, Blaise told me that you'd come asking questions and he also mentioned that he told you the truth, so just stop it," an ounce of pain slipped through Ginny's careful façade,
"Are you really that broken up about it? Blaise seemed to think it changed you permanently," he wasn't looking her in the eye but Ginny knew that this was finally the time for honesty,
"I was completely and utterly destroyed, I've never been able to open up like it did with him, I can feel my heart getting harder," this time the pain was so evident that Seamus wished he hadn't asked at all, "And now he's fixing it, or trying to, and I can't help but feel sometimes like what we had never actually went away, it was just sort of stolen," she looked Seamus in the eye then quickly looked away when she saw the agony written there.
"What about me?" he whispered, "I was the dangerous replacement guy, but without Terry, how can I still be dangerous for you?"
"Blaise really did fill you in," she hiccoughed, "You make me happy again Seamus, happy enough to make me believe that maybe I'm healing," this time she kissed him and whispered through her tears, "Trust me when I say I love you, and I will never lie to you," their faces were so close together than Ginny's tears were falling down Seamus's cheeks.
"I am sorry to interrupt Sir and Miss, but you have visitors," Anna's squeaky elf voice came from the door,
"Who is it Anna?" Ginny's voice was strong again as she forced herself to sit up and wipe her face clean,
"Tis' the young Master Malfoy and his wife," Anna said promptly, "They say they would have written but their vacation came together very quickly,"
"We're coming Anna," Ginny smiled at the elf as best she could and watched her walk away, "Come on Seamus, let's go great out guest and do our best not to murder them," she looked pointedly at her visibly upset boyfriend.
"If he so much as looks at you the wrong way…" the suggestion of great pain was implied,
"Don't even start with that, he looks at everyone the wrong way," Ginny shook her head, "You will be polite," there was no question in her commanding voice.
"Yes Ma'am" Seamus sighed, "I will sit and talk nicely as the guy who broke your heart smiles suggestively all the while, oh and not to mention his wife will be sitting right there,"
"Shut up Seamus,"
xxx
Draco stood with his hands in the pockets as the house elf went to get Ginny. He probably should have written before just showing up but Lacey had insisted that it would be fine as she and Ginny were something like friends.
"Draco," Ginny smiled as she saw him, trailing behind her – to Draco's dismay – was Seamus.
"Ginny, having a good holiday?" he put a hand on her shoulder in greeting and wished that he could have hugged her at the very least.
"I've only had one full day here but I adore it already, and how are you Lacey," the formal tone was annoying and Draco could see it was bugging Lacey as much as it was annoying him,
"I'm fabulous," Lacey stepped forward to give Ginny a hug and break the tension, "Frankly I'm just glad someone was here, or else I'd have to spend the rest of the day with this grump," she looked loving at Draco as she teased him. Seamus was the only one who continued to look blindsided and Draco took great pleasure in making it worse,
"I am not a grump, Ginny doesn't think I'm a grump, do you Ginny?" he made sure his eyes were saying that Ginny thought he was anything but a grump and was pleased when she blushed.
"Of course you are," her words didn't match her expression, "you are absolutely almost as grumpy as Seamus," her eyes told him she was actually saying something along the lines of 'Bastard, I know exactly what you're trying to do'.
"Well, I actually have a hankering to swim," Lacey looked around with a smile, "I was under the impression that we were all on holidays in Spain and not at a sarcasm match," she looked hopefully over to Seamus, "Or perhaps you would swim with me while we let these two yell at each other for a while,"
Draco was surprised that Lacey trusted him enough to be left alone with Ginny. Perhaps his efforts to make her happy were working.
"Oh, umm alright," Seamus looked dubious of leaving Ginny alone with Draco but he could hardly see how to be polite and reject Lacey while she so obviously trusted her husband.
"Lovely," Lacey stood up on tiptoes to kiss Draco on the cheek before she took Seamus's arm and dragged him away.
"Did you ask her to do that?" he watched Ginny giggle as she spoke to him,
"Actually no, she really is getting rather good at determining what needs to be done," Draco smiled at Ginny, but he couldn't help but notice that her face held signs of crying.
"So," she looked around the courtyard,
"Why were you crying Ginny?" he looked away from her as he said it but then promptly looked her in the eyes and watched as she struggled with the truth,
"Seamus is jealous of you, I don't think he believed me when I told him that you were my friend now, and he has some weird idea that you took advantage of me and oh I don't know what to do Draco," she slumped down on a stone bench and put her head in her hands. Draco went to sit beside her and put his arm around her shoulders,
"I'd say that you should probably stick to the truth Ginny, we both know I didn't take advantage of you, I had every plan to stay with you, those plans being ruined I've tried my best to make things up to you,"
"I think that's what he's worried about, that we didn't really break up, he thinks that we're still in love with each other same as we were before," her head fell into his shoulder and he could hear her breathing get more and more ragged.
"He's right you know," Draco sighed, "I never stopped loving you," he gently kissed the top of her head. He'd done it a hundred times before but something about this kiss changed things.
"Nor I you," Ginny sobbed quietly into his shoulder, "But I don't know what to do, I can't have you and I do love him, but all this is doing is hurting him and despite it all I can't seem to let you go,"
Unbeknownst to either the red head or the blonde a pair of dark eyes watched them and listened from behind and pillar. A single tear rolled down Lacey Jasmine Malfoy's cheek as her tattered soul was broken all over again.