A/N: Sadly, no, I do not own HP. Again, more answers. And just a little bit of fun.

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The Safe House

Chapter Four

It was several hours before Ginny decided to return downstairs. She had finally fallen asleep, but she had dreamt of babies and Death Eaters. After awaking from a particularly gruesome nightmare, she forced herself to think back over what she had learnt. Dissecting each piece of information, she searched for any clues as to whether Draco had lied to her. Finding nothing to prove him true or false, she resigned herself to going back down and continuing the conversation.

Draco had decided to take a walk after Ginny had left. He hoped to clear his mind as well. He had surprised himself by revealing that it was his father, yet again, who had started another horrific chapter in her life. Maybe he just wanted her to believe him. He knew that there was a chance she would choose to think that this was some sick game of his and completely block him out again. But he also knew that she was very strong, and being in denial would not suit her.

He slowly climbed the stairs, hoping to stay quiet enough that he would not disturb her sleep. He also wanted to be close enough to her that he could help her if she needed him. He purposely left his door open when he entered his room. It seemed like days instead of hours since he had eaten breakfast with her. He grabbed a book that he had read twice since arriving at Severus's house and settled into his bed. It wasn't long before sleep claimed him.

ooo

Ginny walked sluggishly into the bathroom to splash her face with cold water. She looked up into the mirror. She looked tired. Her hair was a tangled mess from her restless sleep. She thought it was funny that she often looked so unkempt since her arrival when she was usually so put-together. Draco had no idea how much she appreciated his sense of style and attention to detail. She was actually looking forward to using his wand to adjust her clothing. She hated feeling slovenly all the time.

There you go. Think positively. He said you could use his wand. You always feel better when you look better. And he said your family is probably safe. That's the best news of all. They will be worried about you, of course, but the clock will let them know you are not dead. Maybe even not in mortal peril.

She smiled into the mirror before heading back out into the hall. It was then that she noticed that his door was open. Draco never left his door open, ever. She had not even seen a glimpse of his room since he had carried her out of it the day of her grand exit. She listened downstairs for movement and then tiptoed to the doorway.

And there he was, looking like a fallen angel resting peacefully on the bed. She crept into the room and stood over him. He really was beautiful. He had improved since school in her opinion. His features had matured, and he looked less pointy than he had when he was younger. His hair was almost glowing in the sunlight that came through one of the windows. His mouth was full and beautifully shaped. His skin was pale, but not ghostly. He was tall, and she could admire the length of his legs as they were stretched out past the end of the bed. He was lean, but strong. He had always been thin in school, but she thought that living at the house for so long had also contributed to his current trim form. Before she could get herself into trouble, she pulled her thoughts away from admiring this maybe-former enemy and decided to wake him up.

"Malfoy. Maalfoy. …Get up." Nothing. "Draco!"

"If you love me, you will get back into this bed right now," he mumbled as he rolled towards her and reached for the mystery woman.

"Draco! Wake up!" She jumped back and blushed as he rolled away and stretched, exposing his sculptured abs and a distinct indication that his dream was far from platonic.

"Please, love. Don't go," he pleaded. "I want you - "

"DRACO!"

"What? Oh shite!" He sat up quickly once his eyes landed on her. "Ginevra, just give me a minute, and I will meet you downstairs."

She nodded and smiled brightly before bolting from the room. Halfway down the stairs, she called out to him, "I'll make some lunch, or dinner, or whatever!"

Draco sat perfectly still for a moment and looked down. Bugger! What did you just do? Did you honestly just have a sex dream about her? And then have her walk in on you during it? After you have destroyed her entire life, of course. Please tell me I did not say her name. Please tell me I did not say her name. Please tell me - BUGGER! I said her name. Wait, I think that was after I woke up. Shite!

ooo

Ginny sat down at the kitchen table when she heard the shower turn on. "Well, I can honestly say that I have never seen anyone blush as hard as I do until today. Too bad I can't send an owl to Ron. This would be like Christmas come early for him. Ha!"

She laughed for a few minutes to herself, thinking of all the ways she could use this to her advantage. "Wait, did he call me Ginevra? How does he even know that is my name?"

The shower turned off, and she jumped from her seat and continued preparing the sauce she was making for dinner. After another twenty minutes, the sauce was done and the pasta was getting cold. She needed to call him to eat. She headed towards the swinging door of the kitchen when it smacked into her face and nearly knocked her to the ground.

"Oof! Oh, I was just going to call for you," she said nervously as she looked up into Draco's eyes. Eyes that were now closer than they had ever been since he had caught her as she fell. And they were darkening with every moment that she spent in his arms. She felt her heartbeat getting faster and quickly pulled herself away from him and headed back to the stove.

Dinner was a very quiet meal with neither wanting to make eye contact with the other, both embarrassed and both not wanting to return to their morning conversation. Finally, the dishes were cleaned and put away. There was nothing left to distract them from each other.

She decided to make the first move. "Shall we continue in the sitting room again?"

"Yes, and thank you for dinner. You are a great cook, but I don't expect you to make all of our meals. And … I am truly sorry about – "

"Malfoy! It's fine. Six older brothers, remember? I have seen and heard it all. Hey, we found something more uncomfortable to talk about than Voldemort. Never saw that happening today, now did you? …Okay, let's just get this over with." She laughed a girlish kind of giggle that made her blush, and then that made her quickly retreat to the sitting room. I just need a butter dish and the humiliation will be complete!

Draco very slowly made his way to the other room, confused by her behaviour. Why was she embarrassed? Unless I did say her name.

Ginny made herself comfortable on the sofa after lighting some candles and stoking the fire. She waited patiently for Draco to join her so they could finally finish the dreaded conversation. From under his lashes, he watched her fidget around trying to cover up with the afghan as he sat in his chair. He was almost afraid that after he told her all he had to say, there would be nothing left between them. They would return to living separate lives within this one, rather small house.

"So, before we go any further, I need to know where you stand. What have you been doing since you ran from the school that night? Why did Snape bring you here, and are you trapped here as well?" She looked at him seriously, her mouth set in a straight line and her eyes cold.

He didn't expect this turn in her demeanour, but he realized that as far as she was concerned, he had been living it up with the Dark Lord, murdering her friends and family.

"I stand for myself. Yes, I have the Mark, which I know you have seen. Potter surely told you how I cried in front of Dumbledore that night. I was meant to fail. That was to be my father's punishment for getting caught at the Ministry. If I failed, my mother and father would have been killed slowly as I watched, and then if I was lucky, I would get to die too."

"Yes, Harry told me you lowered your wand." She was not prepared to comment on his reasons for his crimes. She had ignored that part of the story even when Harry had told it to her.

"Severus grabbed me, and we ran. If he were not so gifted at Occlumency, I still would have died that night. He somehow convinced the Dark Lord to spare me. Said that I still had potential." He smirked. "Promised to take me under his wing and personally see to it that I was trained and ready to someday take my father's place. It was all a lie, of course. It was a cover, and it worked until last summer." He paused and his face looked angry for a moment, his jaw twitching rapidly.

Ginny continued to stare at him with a blank face. She would be lying if she said she hadn't wondered what had happened to Draco, but she did not trust him and was steeling herself against his story.

"But, I am getting ahead of myself. The first year, I went back to school at Durmstrang so I could actually finish my education. Then I stayed another year as an apprentice to the Dark Arts professor. I would have stayed another year, but Severus was concerned that it would become suspicious." He paused and leaned forward in his chair. He voice became clipped as his anger grew. "Then came my year of training directly under Severus to be a spy. That was the new plan. I would be a spy for the Dark Lord. My schooling and training were all legitimate reasons to have been gone, and everyone knew at this point that I did not kill Dumbledore."

"But you did almost kill my brother and Katie. And my brother Bill was attacked by Greyback that night as well." Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes had begun to blaze as she spoke of her family again.

"Yes. I did those things. I didn't intend for anyone to get hurt - "

"Except for Dumbledore, you mean."

"I'm not even sure of that. I expected to get caught. I never expected things to end as they did. I never thought I would even live past that year." He ran his hand through his hair. "I was a fool to not listen to Severus. He wanted me to turn myself in, but I wouldn't believe him. Dumbledore had never shown me any kindness, why would he forgive me for trying to kill him?"

She practically spat her next words at him. "I don't believe you. Dumbledore was a great man. You were too blinded by hate to see him for what he really was."

"And you were not in my shoes for those six years. You don't know how many times that I was questioned as if guilty for things I didn't do. You were loved by him because you are a Weasley. I was hated by him because I am a Malfoy." He huffed as he stood up and turned away from her. His voice sounded strained, but it had softened. "He wasn't perfect, but he would have helped me, and I knew that I had been wrong when he offered to do so that night." He quickly turned back to her and sat down, meeting her gaze and holding it. "I know I was wrong. I am sorry. I will be forever sorry for what happened that year." He hung his head down and held it between his hands, elbows resting on his knees.

He looked defeated, and it bothered her. She wasn't trying to break him, but she had never been able to confront any of the Death Eaters that had hurt her and her family. "Please continue. You said you were a spy. Did you actually have to - did you betray us or him?"

"You are going to love this part," he said with a little more acid in his normal drawl. "I became a spy, oh yes, but for the Order."

He huffed at himself again, and she wasn't sure what to make of any of it.

"The Order of the Phoenix? But I am in the Order, and I have never heard your name mentioned once. In fact, I thought you might be dead."

"It seems that Severus had set up a very secret meeting with Potter some years before in order to clear his name with the Order. I think he used his Patronus to contact him, but I am not sure how he managed it. I was at Durmstrang at the time. You see, once it was known that he killed Dumbledore, his position as a spy was finished. He couldn't very well be waltzing into Order meetings under any circumstances except as an Order member, but he could return to the Dark Lord's side and gather as much information as possible and hope to find a way of getting it back to the Order."

"But why risk it? Why didn't he just come out as an Order member and stay with us?"

He looked at her with such guilt in his eyes that she once again felt pity for him. "I see. He did it to protect you and your family." She steeled herself again, not wanting to feel anything for this man. Not wanting to know what would have happened in the kitchen had she not run away.

"Yes, so I became the way for him to keep Potter informed. I met with Potter many times over the last few years sharing with him as much as I could find out. My family was still considered the lowest of the Death Eaters, which was fine with me since it kept my parents and me from being included on most of their missions. My parents more than me. Anyway, Potter was less than thrilled to have me working for the Order."

Ginny had stopped listening. Most? What has he actually had to do? I'm not so sure I want to know the answer to that question. She started picturing some of the more badly injured of her patients.

"And the stupid git didn't ever really trust me."

Realizing that she had been lost in thought, she interrupted, "Wait, who didn't trust you?"

"Your boyfriend. He wanted no one to know of our meetings, including the other members of the Order. He said that if no one knew about me being a spy, then there was no way my position could be compromised. I didn't have much of a choice but to go with what he wanted. My cover was almost blown several times because he refused to take my lead. It made it difficult at times to keep the Order updated. I had no way of contacting anyone else. If I would have tried, I would have been taken into the Ministry and convicted as a Death Eater."

"I guess that's why he never told me about you," she lied. Harry didn't tell her anything once she had ended their unhappy arrangement. "So what brought you here?"

"Theodore Nott. He was Pansy's lover at the time, and he hated me. It is so stupid how I was found out. Pansy had come to me as a friend, and he became jealous. He started following her and scaring her. And then she confided in me that she wanted to go into hiding with her mother."

~.~

"Draco, please you have to help me. Theo is going mad. I can't live like this anymore. I know I can trust you, and I will take the Vow if you want me to. I know what you can do for me, Draco."

"Pansy, you have nothing to offer me that I haven't had before. But for old time's sake, why not? You always did give good head." Draco quickly pushed her through the last door at the back of the smoky pub. "Muffliato. Protego. Are you mad? You should know better than to say anything before we are secured."

"Oh, Draco, I'm sorry. I'm just so frightened. I think he's going to kill me, or I don't know what. I keep having these terrible dreams. I need you to get me and my mother out."

"I want the Unbreakable Vow."

"Here. Do it. I don't care." She held up her right arm, and he clasped his right arm to hers, holding his wand in his left hand. He looked her in the eyes and used Legilimency on her.

"I don't need to. I cannot promise you anything, Pansy. If it comes down to it, will it be you or your mother?"

"My mother. She has not had any part of this war. She shouldn't suffer for what my father and I have done."

"Meet me at The Witch's Tit tomorrow night at ten. I have to go. I will have more information for you tomorrow." He started toward the door and paused, "Be safe, Pans. Don't make me Obliviate you, yeah?"

She rushed forward and kissed him hard on the lips. "Thank you, Draco."

~.~

"After my mother was tortured, I was looking for a way to hide her as well. She wouldn't leave my father. The truth is that I would have saved my mother first, but it didn't work out that way. I met with Potter later that night and asked for his assistance. He said he would look into it. Unfortunately, Nott had followed Pansy and had heard enough to suspect that she was on the run and that I was somehow able to help her. He killed her mother that night. Thankfully, Pansy got away and was able to make our appointment the next evening. The moment I delivered her to Potter was the moment I betrayed my cover."

"I don't understand. Couldn't you frame Nott for Pansy's disappearance? He killed her mother."

"I immediately went to Severus and told him what had happened. Nott had gone straight to the Dark Lord and told him I was helping Death Eaters betray him. My absence from the meeting that he called was all the proof he needed. Severus kept me hidden in Muggle London for several days before he could bring me here. He later tried to spread rumours of my being killed, but I'm not sure if the Dark Lord ever believed them."

This information almost made Ginny dizzy. So Pansy was on their side now. And it was because of Malfoy that she had been spared. She didn't know how to process the feelings of sorrow for Pansy's loss of her mother and her hatred for Pansy's relationship with Harry. She shook her head and stood up.

"I need some tea and something sweet. And maybe a break." She started back towards the kitchen when suddenly she turned and looked at him. "You coming?"

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A/N: Thanks so much for reading. I hope you are enjoying it. I really appreciate the reviews. Even if they contain some constructive criticism.

This fic has not been beta'd, so hopefully it is making sense. Let me know if you are confused.