Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. But the plot and various characters are still mine, and if you take any of it without my consent I will have your head. Literally.
A/N* Sorry it's taken so long! But a hand of applause to my new Beta, Priscilla, who has made possible the continuation of this story! I also want to say thanks for everyone who emailed me about beta-ing – I was overwhelmed at the kind response.
In this chapter:
~ Draco learns to see Ginny in a new light
~ The Malfoys + 1 have a business outing featuring feisty!Ginny and stubborn!Draco
~ More of the D/G interaction that you've all been waiting for…
Also, I just wanted to clarify after somebody asked why Draco doesn't recognize Ginny. My reasons are that a) he doesn't want to (I mean come on, a Weasley!), b) he thinks its impossible – after all, it was a Slytherins only party, and c) she's changed. You have to remember that in the first chapter, she had a mask on so he never saw her face, plus add the fact that they were both a bit tipsy and that she's been through some physical changes (::ahem ahem::) and it should be pretty possible that he doesn't know she's the redhead from years past.
ONTO CHAPTER 6!!!!!!!!!!!! ---à
Chapter 6. We Are Family - I Got All My Malfoys With Me
Draco stretched out lazily on Ginny's tattered couch, incapable of keeping the smirk off his face. "I don't think I was supposed to let you in," came Sebastian's voice from the corner of the room, where he was seated with a cheerful coloring book.
"I don't think so either," Draco agreed amusedly, opening two half-lidded grey eyes to survey the child.
Sebastian glanced up from his intense concentration of coloring, and an impish grin appeared on his face, one that rendered him much like Draco. "Good."
He stifled a laugh, realizing that indeed, the boy was growing on him. As for Weasley, he hadn't meant to upset her—though he couldn't say he was sorry—but it was just so easy to get her riled up. With a bored yawn, he gracefully leapt to his feet and surveyed the small room for something to pass the time. Scanning over Sebastian, Ginny's still closed bedroom door and the rest of the room, a series of bright, framed photographs resting on her mantle caught his attention. Striding over towards the fireplace, Draco eyed the pictures with curiosity.
"Oh look," muttered Draco to nobody in particular. "Mudblood Granger. Now there's a sight I want to see early in the morning." He moved on, rubbing at a dust-covered picture of Harry and Cho, beaming happily into the camera with their arms woven together. Picture Cho gave her husband a loud smack on the cheek, and with a muffled groan, Draco immediately replaced the photo.
The third photograph, set in a small, simple, silver frame, featured seven jubilant teenagers standing under an ostentatious banner that read "Happy Graduation Ginny." Draco tilted his head, recognizing Ron Weasley, Potter, Granger, Cho Chang, Longbottom, Creevey, and the little weasel herself. He bit his bottom lip then, recalling his own lavish graduation party and how Pansy had followed him around the entire, miserable night.
I bet they had to hire themselves for entertainment, he scoffed, suppressing the wave of—longing, was it?—that washed over him. They looked so. . .happy. He was about to set it back when animated Ginny moved, and something sparkled from around her neck. Peering closer, Draco could make out a small necklace, a deep, sea blue that glinted like sapphire. Why did that necklace seem so damn familiar?
He slipped a hand into his pocket and withdrew a delicate silver chain with a shining tear-shaped stone pendant, about to squint at the photograph for careful examination when Ginny's door opened. "Malfoy?" she called.
Nearly jumping in surprise, he shoved the picture back and dropped the jewelry back into his robes, turning to face her with an expression of calm upon his face. "Weasley," he said, clearing his throat.
She stood facing him with a bemused, almost shy smile upon her face. Her face was clean and devoid of any make-up, and a few loose tendrils escaped the wet bun she had hastily arranged her hair into. "I'm sorry about the, um, informality of that whole incident," Ginny said, not sounding apologetic at all. "But I wasn't expecting you."
He blinked, unable to take his mind off the stark contrast between Weasley and Pansy. She was dressed in a simple linen dress, sleeveless and boat-necked that billowed out below her knees—an outfit Pansy would've rendered plain and rather committed suicide than wear. It was not a knockout dress, most certainly not the kind that would turn heads on the street, but fresh, and innocent in an almost charming way. Gods, he thought, I just thought of Weasley as something other than repulsive.
Shaking his head, Draco replied smoothly, "I needed my son, Weasley. I'm sure you can understand that."
She narrowed her sharp brown eyes at him. "Actually, I can't. I thought you said you had a meeting today."
Draco let out a sigh. "I did. I do. That's why I need Sebastian. Apparently the man I'm negotiating with refuses to deal with non-family oriented men. And he knows I have a son, so I need to bring Sebastian with me—"
"To seal the deal," finished Ginny. "Intelligent."
He shrugged at the obvious disdain in her voice. "Right. So Sebastian and I will be on our way now."
"Malfoy!" Ginny cried. "You don't know anything about taking care of Sebastian."
"He's six," Draco said in a bored tone. "What's there to know?"
She regarded him disapprovingly. "A lot," she responded quietly. "Look, let me come with you."
There was surprise reflected on his face. "Come with me?" He repeated.
"Wouldn't that make you seem even more of a family man if you actually knew what you were doing?" Ginny pressed. "And face it, Malfoy, you have no idea what you're doing with Sebastian."
"That is not true at all," Draco snapped defensively. "I always know what I'm doing." Though not always who, he added mentally.
"Where am I going?" asked Sebastian with cautious curiosity.
Thrown off, Draco sent Ginny a wary glance, but received in response a sweet smile which plainly told him he was on his own. He gritted his teeth while abhorrence for all things Weasley grew more and more. "To my office," Draco told him lamely.
Sebastian wrinkled his nose. "Why?"
"Yes, Malfoy, why?" Ginny chimed in innocently.
He resisted the urge to growl at her. "Well, you've never been to my office before, and I thought you might like to see it."
"Isn't it a lovely idea?" Ginny grinned at Sebastian and clapped her hands in mock excitement. "You can play on the nice new furniture and jump on his desk."
"Really?" Sebastian's face lit up.
"Actually," Draco jumped in quickly, glaring venomously at Ginny, "There's a nice man that I'm meeting with today, and he wants to see you."
"Oh." The disappointment was evident in the child's voice. "Yuck."
"We can get you ice cream afterwards," Ginny said suddenly, much to Draco's surprise.
"Ice cream," scoffed Draco under his breath.
But evidently, she had piqued Sebastian's interest. "Promise?" He asked hopefully.
She nodded. "Cross my heart."
"Okay," Sebastian agreed jubilantly.
With a triumphant grin, Ginny turned to Draco. "Do I need to say I told you so or is that pretty obvious now?"
"You proved nothing," grumped Draco. "Luck, that's all."
"Fine," Ginny said impatiently. "Luck it is. So bring me along and you'll have better luck, right?"
She had a point.
"Well—"
"You know you need me there, Malfoy," Ginny pressed.
Draco hesitated, glancing from a curious Sebastian back to a pleading Ginny. "This is a very important account—" he began warningly.
"And you'll get it," Ginny promised. "You have better chances with me there taking care of Sebastian than if you bring him along and totally lose control. I know Sebastian doesn't look like a temperamental child, but you haven't known him for very long now have you?"
He seemed to consider her words. "And if I don't get the account?"
"Then I'll—" Ginny's mind ran through the possibilities quickly "—I'll leave. Permanently."
A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. "You really are confident about this, aren't you," he remarked admiringly.
"I am," Ginny insisted. "But if you do get the account, you owe me an apology."
"Fair enough," agreed Draco, if with reluctance.
"And dinner," she added.
He snorted. "Now you have to bet for food, huh?"
She rolled her eyes at him, not in the least affected by his words, and smiled rather cockily. "Think what you want, Malfoy," she answered. "You're still buying me dinner."
"Oh I don't know," he began. "I don't really want to risk losing this account, you know."
Swinging open the closet door, she reached up on the tip of her feet for a pair of heels resting on the highest shelf. "Would you stop it?" Ginny demanded. "Do we have a bet or not?"
"Fine," he replied, sighing as Ginny made another grab for her shoes. The shelf was a bit high though, and she failed valiantly as she stretched and attempted to close her fingers around the heels.
"Good," she said, glancing at him once to smile approvingly before leaping up yet again to swipe at the shoes. With each movement, her dress strained across the curve of her chest and involuntarily, Draco noticed. He watched her make useless efforts for a moment, and then realized that he was staring at a Weasley. An unattractive Weasley at that. Okay, not entirely unattractive. Letting out a sharp hiss of breath, Draco nimbly removed the shoes for her.
"A little short there?" He smirked.
She sent him an annoyed look, and yanked her sandals out of his grip, brushing a bit of dust from them. "I'm not short," she retorted. "You're just tall. Not everyone hits the six feet mark, you know."
He made a show of brushing his hands on the rich black fabric of his robes. "Not everyone is gorgeous, but I live," he drawled.
"Honestly, Malfoy," Ginny slammed the closet shut and jammed one foot most unbecomingly into her shoe. "You'd think I had a plague or something."
"You do," Draco returned. "It's called being a Weasley."
"Oh grow up," snapped Ginny. "I thought you'd have gotten over that stupid stage of immaturity after we left Hogwarts."
He had no response for that.
She slid the other foot in, and then glanced down at the shoes with a bright, happy smile. "They still fit," she commented, beaming. "I'll go change my dress quickly and we can be on our way."
"You look great," Draco said automatically, and they both stopped in surprise. If Malfoys could blush, this one would have. "What I mean is," Draco hastened to correct himself, "There's no need to change. That, uh, sack that you have on is suitable. And we don't have enough time anyways."
A faint frown appeared on her face, and it seemed she couldn't decide whether to snap at him or smile. "Okay then," she said after a pause. "Sebastian?"
"Coming," Sebastian said, scrambling off the couch.
She watched him slide on his robe for a second, and then her lips curled into an amused smile as she turned once more to Draco. "You think I look great," she chortled.
"Don't be daft," grumbled Draco. "Like I've pointed out before, you're a Muggle-loving Weasley." He swung open the door and waited for her to step through, but instead she stared at him in startlement. "What?"
"You opened the door," Ginny pointed out with a surprised grin.
"Keen observation skills," said Draco dryly.
"You opened the door for me," Ginny said, her grin broadening.
As if noticing for the first time, Draco glanced dumbly from the smooth lines of his hands to her, and coughed. "Oh I get it," he recovered easily. "No guy has ever held a door for you before."
She simply smirked at him, his smirk, and waltzed out the door with Sebastian in tow. "Not a Malfoy."
~*~
"I still think this is a bad idea," Draco grumped.
Ginny rolled her eyes impatiently. They were standing inches from the grand silver doors of Argent Enterprises, and Draco was regarding her with wary suspicion. "How many times do we have to go through this?" She said in an irritated voice, moving to open the door.
The flat of his hand landed over hers, preventing her from stepping inside. "This is a very large deal I'm negotiating," Draco said, narrowing his slate gray eyes. "I don't want anything to ruin it, including you."
"Me?" she cried incredulously. "The only person that's going to ruin your sodding account is you."
"Maybe you're jealous of being impoverished," Draco shot back. "I don't know. People get desperate when they're poor, or so I've heard."
"Oh right," Ginny glared. "I almost forgot, poor Draco Malfoy, wealthy and spoiled his entire shallow life."
"At least I didn't waste my life lusting over Saint Potter," He jeered, and her eyes went wide.
A long, awkward silence.
"We're acting like children," Ginny said softly after a moment.
"I'm not acting like a child," Draco began, tightening his grip on the door.
With a soft sigh, she let go. "Listen, Malfoy," she told him seriously. "I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize Sebastian's life, okay? I agree that we've had bad history, or rather that you've had bad history with my brother—" he scowled at the mention of Ron "—but we're grown adults now, and I'm not out to ruin your fortune, honestly."
He was silent for a moment. "Well—"
She reached for his hand, and he jerked back in startlement. "I won't bite," she chuckled, turning it over and tracing across the pads of his palm with light fingers.
"What are you doing?" He demanded.
The nail of her index finger scraped gently along the long line etched faintly down the center. "See?" Ginny smiled. "You worry too much. Your worry line is excessively long."
"Really," Draco said, interested.
She giggled. "I can't believe you think I'm going to ruin your deal when you actually believe in worry lines."
He snatched his hand away, sending her a deathly glare and muttering something along the lines of "Stupid Weasley" as he strode purposefully into his grand office.
"Sir," said his secretary, "Mr. Bronson is waiting in conference room A."
With a curt nod at her, he whipped around and stared at Ginny, hard, once more. "This is it," Draco said.
"Are you nervous?" Ginny peered at him. "The day I see Draco Malfoy nervous! Gods!"
"Am not," he scowled again.
"Am not," she mimicked under her breath, and followed him inside.
The man she presumed to be Mr. Bronson stood up as they entered, about ten or so years older than Draco, with graying brown hair and weathered blue eyes. "Mr. Malfoy," he greeted politely.
"Good day, Mr. Bronson," Draco said, shaking his extended hand. "Pleasure to do business with you."
"With my money," snorted Mr. Bronson.
Draco chose to ignore that last remark. "Ah, well, before we get started, I'd like to introduce to you my son, Sebastian Aurelius Malfoy."
The small note of pride ringing in his voice did not go unnoticed by Ginny.
"Nice to meet you," Mr. Bronson grinned at the child. "How old are you?"
"Six," Sebastian replied.
"Darling," Mr. Bronson told Draco, eyes never leaving the young boy. "He looks just like you."
His words launched Draco in a seizure of coughs, and Ginny patted him on the back in alarm. "Are you okay?"
Mr. Bronson swept his scrutinizing gaze to Ginny. "And who's this? Don't tell me you hired a nanny."
For the first time in his life, Draco seemed flustered. "Uh—"
"Of course not," Ginny said quickly. "I would never let a stranger take care of my—my son."
Both men regarded her with surprise. "You're Pansy," he said with unhidden shock. "Why, Mr. Malfoy, from what I heard you despised your wife."
Draco sent Ginny a tight-lipped smile. "Not at all, Mr. Bronson," he said, gritting his teeth. "She's the light of my life." With one arm, he encircled her waist and pulled her close, lips landing on the soft skin of her cheek as if to prove his point. "What the hell," he hissed into her ear before he released her.
She tried not blush, tingling in all the places he had touched her.
Mr. Bronson smiled approvingly. "Well!" He declared with a hearty laugh. "A family that actually stays together these days is indeed, a rarity."
"Indeed," Draco agreed. "Would you be so kind as to excuse my wife and I for a moment?"
Not waiting for a response, he dragged Ginny out of the room, fire shooting from the cold depths of his eyes. "What are you doing?" He demanded as soon as they were out of earshot.
She wrenched away from him. "I'm doing you a favor," she snapped. "Did you actually want to tell him that you hired a nanny? That you don't even know your own son?"
He glared at her. "This never would have happened if you didn't come along."
"This is not my fault," Ginny seethed. "I have had it up to here with your selfish, puerile mindset, Draco Malfoy. You don't give a damn about anyone in this world but yourself, not even your own son, the Malfoy heir. How dare you try to place this on my head? I just saved your sorry ass in there, and you know it."
Silence.
"Pansy is not going to like this," Draco mumbled after a few seconds.
Ginny suppressed a smile. "Pansy won't know. She's in Aruba, remember?"
He stared at her thoughtfully for another long moment before a smile finally appeared on the faint corners of his lips. "Well then," Draco finally said, offering an elbow to her. "Ready to negotiate one hell of a deal, Mrs. Malfoy?"
She grinned at him, tucking her arm through his and wishing it didn't feel so right.
~*~
"Shit." Draco collapsed on his long leather sofa, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. "Shit shit shit shit shit."
"Malfoy!" Ginny admonished.
"Cool your jets, Weasley," he said lazily. "He's asleep."
She turned to her right and saw that indeed, Sebastian was curled up in his chair. "Still," she protested feebly.
He couldn't quite decide whether to ignore her or laugh, and opted on the former.
"Why are you so crabby, anyways?" Ginny asked, standing up and smoothing out her dress. "You got the deal. It's over. And you haven't killed me."
"Yet," Draco added, but his tone was rich and deeply amused.
"Do you think Sebastian still wants ice cream?" Ginny remarked affectionately after a momentary pause, ruffling the blond head of the sleeping child.
Draco snorted. "And how exactly is he supposed to eat it, Weasley?"
"He's a light sleeper," Ginny told him. "He'll wake when we move him, and he'll want ice cream."
Draco turned to meet her gaze, and contemplated her words. She did have a point—his entire family had a history of sleeping on pins, and even if Sebastian wasn't a true-to-blood Malfoy he was still raised in that household. "Well. . ."
"You doubt that I know so much about your kid?" Ginny suppressed a smile.
"Always ready to pick a fight, aren't you?" Draco returned easily. "Actually, I was just thinking that it's really rather late."
She shrugged. "So?"
"So where the bloody hell do you expect to get ice cream?" Draco demanded, exasperated.
She wiggled her fingers at him as a conniving smile spread across her face. "We're not Muggles, Mr. Malfoy," she giggled. "It's called magic."
"I am not conjuring ice cream for him to eat. And neither are you, because I don't trust your magical abilities," Draco huffed.
With a loud sigh of resignation, she settled herself down on the sofa beside him and glared at him playfully from under long brown lashes. "Haven't I proved to you that I'm more apt than you could possibly imagine?"
He rove his glittering eyes up and down her body, smirking. "Are you?" He said in an almost husky voice.
Blushing, she swatted him across the chest, hard. "You are such a wanker."
Draco closed his eyes in response, the smirk still upon his thin lips. "Tell me something I don't know, Weasley."
"Okay," Ginny said slowly, getting to her feet. "How about the world's greatest ice cream parlor on 57th street?"
He glanced up at her now in surprise. "57th street?" He echoed. "Isn't that in. . .Muggle England?"
Ginny snorted. "See? Something you don't know."
"And when does this 'world's greatest ice cream parlor' close, hmm?" Draco languidly sat up and stretched his long arms.
"Eight-thirty."
Draco glanced at the grand clock behind him and chuckled. "Well that was about twenty minutes ago."
"Like I said," Ginny grinned. "I'm a witch. Which means. . ." She drew out her wand and waved it absently through the air. "Alohamora."
Both of his slim blond eyebrows shot up at this, and he gazed at her with frank shock for a few heavy seconds of silence. "Breaking and entering."
"Only if you look at it that way," Ginny replied easily. "Don't tell me big bad Draco Malfoy is afraid."
He leaned back against the sofa cushion, eyeing her with a mixture of admiration and surprise. "Well well well," he remarked. "Who would've thought—Weasley's got a rebel bone in her."
"Well?" Ginny ignored him impatiently. "In or out."
"Bring it on, weasel."
~*~
Malfoy Manor was eerily quiet.
Draco shifted uneasily in his taut leather chair, glancing at the crackling fire before sweeping his gaze across the dimly lit room. His mother had returned to the summer home, a grand estate just off the coast of Wales, and Ginny was off somewhere—with Sebastian, he presumed.
Ah, Ginny.
Ice cream had been, frankly put, an interesting experience. Not to say he enjoyed eating with Muggle-lovers, but there was more to Ginny Weasley than she let on, that was for certain. Shaking his head, he squinted and tried focusing on the voluminous book spread out before him.
Why can't I concentrate?
His hair. Draco smoothed an errant lock away from his face, wetted from his shower. But returning to his reading, he found that indeed, it was not just his hair. His thoughts were drifting, and to Weasley, no less. She had saved his butt, had sealed the deal he had so coveted, had even brought some form of entertainment to his life, but still—she was a Weasley. That was what bothered him, then, her unchangeable Weasley-ness.
No, it was more the fact that he didn't hate her.
Not even one bit.
"Fuck," Draco swore, standing up and letting the book tumble absently to the floor. Where was the damned woman, anyways?
He strolled down the torch-lit hallway, turning at a set of marble stairs and traipsing up to the second floor. In the cavernous halls her voice echoed faintly, and he moved towards it, towards her.
Sebastian's room.
Gently, Draco pushed the door open, but just a crack. He was about to snap at her for taking so long when he spotted her sitting quietly on his son's bed, talking softly and stroking his hair with a strange tenderness. In curiosity, he stopped.
"And then when she least expected it," Ginny whispered, "Her prince came."
"On a horse?" Sebastian murmured sleepily.
Ginny nodded. "A big, beautiful white horse with a mane of silver. And he rescued the princess from all the troubles she had, and they lived happily ever after."
The room was silent but for the incessant ticking of the clock, and Ginny leaned forward to kiss the child lightly on the forehead. Watching her unexpected gesture, Draco felt a pang of what could've been jealousy, but he pushed it away as he stood rooted to the ground and studied her with intense fascination. As if sensing his presence, she turned slightly, brown eyes large and illuminated in the dark room.
Draco cleared his throat. "Hi."
Her lips curved into a small, pleased smile. "You came to say goodnight to Sebastian?" Her voice was so hopeful even he didn't have the heart to reject her, and instead shrugged.
"Yeah, that. And you were taking a hell of a long time," Draco said. He stepped into the room. "A prince, huh?"
Even in the shadows he saw her cheeks flame into a red blush, and she glanced away. "A girl can dream, can't she?"
Gingerly, Draco seated himself on the other side of Sebastian. "It's late, Weasley."
"I know," she replied with a tinge of embarrassment. "I'll—I'll leave right now."
He glanced up at her with piercing silver eyes. "If you want, you can stay."
She blinked.
"You know," Draco smirked at her surprise, "In one of the guest rooms. It is late and Merlin knows your building will be closed."
The smile she flashed him was both startled and shy. "I'd. . .like that."
~*~
Draco was sitting on the undoubtedly Slytherin bed when she stepped out of the shower.
"Malfoy!" Ginny shrieked, tightening her towel. "What is with you and finding me right out of the shower?"
He rolled his eyes impatiently at her. "Don't flatter yourself into thinking that I want to see half-naked Weasleys."
Glaring at him, Ginny folded her arms across her chest. "What do you want?"
Without a word, Draco held out a bundle of clothes. "I thought you would need something to sleep in."
Her eyes softened. "Really? But that's so. . .considerate."
He simply smirked.
Unwrapping the package, she saw why. They were large pyjamas, a buttoned shirt and loose pants. Large, green pyjamas, with little silver serpents all over them and an ostentatious M emblazoned on the pocket of the top. "If you think I'm wearing these. . ." Ginny began darkly, not in the least humored as Draco began chuckling.
"I happen to like them, Weasley," Draco said, mocking hurt.
"No shit," Ginny muttered, holding them out at an arm's length. It did not take away from the obnoxious proclamation of Slytherin, not in the least. "I'm not wearing these, Malfoy, end of story."
He arched a blond eyebrow at her in unhidden amusement. "Oh trust me, you'll wear them, Weasley."
"I will not," she tipped her chin defiantly. "What makes you so damn sure?"
Draco shrugged, causing the folds of his elegant black robes to ripple along his shoulders, and then backed away towards the door. "You can wear them," he said with a devilish smirk, "or you can sleep in the nude."
Her mouth dropped open.
"Sweet dreams, Weasley."
The door clicked behind him noisily.
Ginny scowled at the closed door for some time before she reverted her insulted gaze to the much too green pajamas. She sighed, reluctantly changing into them, and then climbed under the covers to the refuge of sleep.
~ End of Chapter 6
A/N* so there we are, the promised chapter 6. NO CLIFFIE! HA! I'll work furiously on chapter 7, I promise, and it will up ASAP. And Robin…welcome to the dark side…of D/G!