"Qui êtes-vous et que faites-vous ici?"

He knew that his voice was hard and filled with malice. It was a sound that would scare many people in the world. He suppressed a smirk that had been absent from his face for many years. His eyes stayed on the woman and he was surprised by her reaction. She seemed to shiver underneath her thin summer dress. It wasn't a chilly night and suddenly a smile came to his lips. She was scared of him.

"Répondez-moi!"

Draco lifted the spell that was holding the woman down. Maybe that was why she hadn't answered him. Slowly she began to get to her feet. He noticed her slim figure as she straightened up to a height that wasn't that impressive. Then her right hand went to her hair pushing it away from her face.

Draco felt his mouth drop an inch as his eyes connected with a pair of deep chocolate brown eyes. It had been a lifetime since he had last looked into these eyes and although they were no longer sparkling he couldn't pretend not to know who they belonged too…

She looked amazing. Her youthful complexion startled him. He felt like an old man in her presence. Her hair that had always reminded him of flames was now a darker shade. It looked like a chestnut colour that suited her very well. But he thought that it took away something of her. It made her seem duller, like she could blend in. Admittedly it was a good disguise.

Her eyes were wide as she took him in and he could see a range of emotions flying through them. He was willing to bet that she hadn't changed too much. At any moment she was likely to fly into a rage with him and start screaming. Maybe her voice would carry all the way down the village and people would hear.

Then something else struck him. Maybe she had been followed. He had made a pack that she would never return to the wizarding world. This would look like he had broken his word. He would quickly become a target for Voldemort again. He wanted to curse but his lips didn't seem to want to speak like that in front of her.

Stepping forward he wrapped his fingers around her upper arm and started to pull her towards the house. He used more force than maybe he needed to but it was for his own sake as well as hers. His mind was wandering to times when he had been allowed to wrap himself around her fully. About how she had always felt in his arms.

"Let go of me!"

"Just get inside woman."

Her voice had been a snarl. It made Draco want to scream. Maybe that was why he had addressed her by woman. He couldn't say her name. He couldn't say Ginny out loud for anybody to hear. He couldn't address her as if they were still close. The anger on her face said that she held him responsible for her extended exile.

Draco closed the door as they got inside the kitchen. His stomach was knotted with nerves? Excitement? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that he couldn't let go of Ginny's arm. Touching her delicate skin was awakening something in him that he had long thought dead. He gave her a second to take in the kitchen sneaking a look to see her reaction before he guided her into his lounge.

He had forgotten his glass of wine on the kitchen countertop. He felt that now he would need a brandy or something equally as strong. But he fought that urge. Against his own will he released the woman's arm and turned to look at her. She looked pissed.

"What are you doing here?"

He was surprised by how hard and emotionless his voice sounded. Maybe he had spent so long talking that way that he was unable to truly sound the way he felt in this moment. He had to suppress a smile at the way the girl, no woman, moved her hands to her hips. It was a stance he had seen many times before and usually meant he was in trouble.

A spark set off in her eye and he wondered if she was about to pounce on him and wrap her soft fingers around his neck and try to choke the life out of him. Then his mind moved off her to the implications of her return. This was going to be nothing but trouble not only for her and him but for her entire family. He couldn't stop himself as he started to pace the length of the room.

"Shouldn't have come. I moved away so they wouldn't find you. But damn this is Bill's doing."

The words had slipped from his lips without him realising. But it was true. He had moved to Paris to get away from Voldemort after Charlie's death. But he had stayed away so that none of the others would discover his lies. He wanted to keep Ginny safe. He had made a promise to himself that he would never put her into danger again.

"Draco shut up and talk to me!"

He stopped suddenly in his track and turned to look at her. Draco, she had called him Draco. He had expected her to hiss the name Malfoy at him. But her tone, maybe she still … but he couldn't think like that. But he knew that his features had softened he could feel that and it was strange. With a quick glance he lowered himself into a chair and watched as she sat opposite him.

She crossed her legs at the ankles in a manner that was new to him. He couldn't help but glance at her legs. They were as long and lean as he remembered them. It felt like another life when she had wrapped them around him, kissing him passionately. He tried to shake that thought from his head as he lifted his face to her. There were things that he needed to know.

"How long have you been back?"

"Three days."

"Came to see Bill then."

"Yes. I wanted to explain that I wasn't dead. Apparently it wasn't such a surprise for him as everyone else."

Draco tried to keep his features soft. She had already seen her family. That meant that news was probably already spreading of her return. How long did they have before Voldemort turned up at the Burrow or even here to kill them? Could he still protect her?

But that wasn't his only thought. Bill had spoken to her, told her that he had known. Did that mean he had told her about Charlie? Should Draco pretend that he didn't care or just be honest? He tried not to gulp as he answered her last statement.

"No it wouldn't have been. Let me guess he sent you up here."

"No. I didn't believe him when he said you were alive. I came to check it out myself."

Bill must have thought that this was Draco's doing. After all the man had made him promise to contact her and bring her back. But he had never intended to. But Bill wouldn't have known. He must have thought that Ginny would know about Draco because of that. Involuntary Draco's hand went up to his hair and he brushed it off his face.

"You should have stayed away."

It had come out harder than he had meant. He had wanted his voice to be soft, to show her that he wanted her here. But that there was a reason why she had left in the first place.

"WHAT? How dare you. Do you even realise what I've been through because of you?"

"I was trying to keep you safe."

Draco wondered for a moment what she had been through. It couldn't have been anywhere near as bad as his own experiences. But then at least wherever she had been she had been safe.

"Did it ever occur to you that I was safest with the people I cared about?"

"Not with me you're not! Ginny for crying out loud I'm a Death Eater."

For the first time in years Draco announced what he had once been. He finally accepted the truth of the matter. Nobody walked away from Voldemort. Sure he had been left on his own for so long but he was still subject to Voldemort. He still felt his mark burn in the night; he still knew that if the day came when he wanted him Voldemort would get him. He was then and was still now a Death Eater.

"And I'm a witch! Eleven years I had to pretend to be a muggle. I had no support at all. But I kept going and you know why? Because every day I thought this will be the day that you turn up. This is the day when things will get better. How could you leave me there like that?"

"It was for your own safety and for the baby's."

Again there was no emotion in his voice. He wanted to be soft and gentle. He wanted her to hear in his voice that he loved the idea of their child. That he had spent eleven years imagining them together the way that she had spoken of. But none of that came across.

His eyes moved to Ginny's jaw. She had clenched it tightly together. That was a sign that she was upset. He had upset her. He wanted to jump up and throw his arms around her and beg for her to forgive him. But he couldn't make himself.

"Tell me Draco. Did you ever love me?"

His entire body stiffened as her voice died away. The silence was heartbreaking. How could she wonder that? His love for her was the one good thing he'd ever had in his life. Surely she understood that. Everything that he had done it had been done because he loved her. He couldn't contain himself as he leaned towards her.

"How can you question my love?"

"You left me Draco. You promised me to come and you never did. The question should be how can I not question your love?"

Draco couldn't fathom where this was coming from. His mind was turning over and over. He felt sick by her accusations.

"Ginny what we had was real. What I've done is for our family."

"Like killing Charlie?"

"I didn't kill Charlie."

The tears were stinging his eyes. She thought that he had been the one holding the wand. He could tell from the way her voice had sounded. He admitted that he had a responsibility in the events that led up to Charlie's death. Maybe he had a lot of the blame in the fact that he didn't get Charlie out of there. But he wasn't the one to fire the fatal spell.

As the tears began to spill over his lids he could see that she didn't believe him. She made no move towards him as he spoke in the softest voice he had used that night.

"Ginny you have no idea what's happened to me."

"Then tell me."

"I can't."

He sounded whiny to his own ears.

"Why not?"

"Because you won't understand."

"Try me."

With tears lining his face he looked at her and nodded. He didn't want to but if this was the only way he would.

"Fine but you won't like what I've got to say…"

I just want to give a shout out to Leiaah here. Three days that's amazing honestly and thank you so much for all the lovely reviews. Happy endings are nice but in life they don't always exist. As for Draco and Ginny well Eleven Years Later only tells you Ginny's take on what happens. There's nothing in it about Draco's plans. Although there is a little sentence in there somewhere that hints towards maybe something happy to come in the future. But I think you need to remember that Ginny is still fitting back into her world. Things can't just return to how they were eleven years earlier. People change and she needs to find her place before she can think of happily ever afters.

I would also like to give a shout out to Taylin here for being such a faithful reader to this. I know I haven't always replied to your reviews and I can only say sorry for that. But it was in part you reviews that made me write this part of the story. I can tell you know that there are 40 chapters to this story and an epilogue. So the final six chapters are dedicated to you. Because you inspired me to write them. So I really hope that you like the way that this is going to turn out. Because I think Draco is taking a turn in a new direction again here.

Kris xx