A/N: This is pretty much the last of the background information in Part One.
The Safe House
Chapter Five
"Miss Weasley. You must be pretty special because I never share chocolate, and I am willing to share it with you." He smiled slowly as he spoke, and he gazed into her eyes. And then with a flourish, he produced a large box of chocolates from behind his back. "This is all we have, so just one for tonight."
"Malfoy, there is a giant stash of chocolate in the potions pantry." She shook her head and gave him an amused look.
Standing up even straighter, he looked down his nose at her and said, "I will pretend, Miss Weasley, that I did not hear you compare that common chocolate substance to my expensive and far superior chocolates from France."
"How much Firewhisky did you put in that tea?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "Give it over, Malfoy. I'll leave you your precious chocolates if you give me that Firewhisky." She laughed as she opened the bottle and refilled her mug with the toxic liqueur. She munched on some biscuits as she drank her newly improved tea.
Alcohol had seemed like the perfect idea in order to relieve some of the tension. Now, Draco wasn't so sure. It made him want to confess exactly what he had been dreaming about earlier in the evening and then show her exactly what he had been dreaming about right there on the kitchen table.
As if reading his mind, she asked, "So who is this woman that you love, Malfoy? I mean, she must be pretty special," she frowned at her use of his words, "for you to beg for it." She smirked and then took another drink.
"I don't think you are ready for that kind of knowledge, Miss Weasley. We have so much better things to discuss anyway." Yes, like how Potter let you out of his sight long enough to get taken!
"What's with the 'Miss Weasley'? I know you know my name. You said it quite clearly earlier this evening." She laughed as she said this because it made her nervous to find out how he did know her given name. Maybe Harry had told him, he clearly had a better relationship with the Boy-Who-Slums (sorry Pansy) than she did.
"Um, um… I did? Oh, well. I didn't think we were on a first name basis, and 'Weasley' still feels like your brother to me." He dipped his head down to avoid revealing his humiliation to her. Denial. Plain and simple denial. That's what I am going with. I did not say her name until I was awake, and that is the end of this discussion.
"Okay. I just didn't realize you even knew my name." She tried to look innocent and sincere, but she came off as flirty and coquettish. "Should I call you Professor then?" Okay, no more drink for you, Miss Weasley. Ha! She sat up and quickly added, "Just kidding." And then with a very serious tone, "I completely agree with you."
"Um right. Then let's get back to business," he spoke a little too loudly. What did we agree upon? And did she just call me Professor? No. More. Alcohol. "Do you have any news of my mother? Severus said she had joined the Order. Have you seen her?" He had sobered up quite quickly once he began speaking. His eyes were hard and his jaw was set.
She considered lying to him, to relieve his worries, but decided that he wouldn't want her trying to protect him. "No, I have been working as an emergency Healer, often travelling around to the different attacks. I rarely make it to Order meetings. Hermione had mentioned at Ron's birthday that she had seen her – oh, that was the night I was taken. But Hermione didn't sound worried about her or anything."
"And Potter? He didn't tell you anything? Surely he enjoyed seeing the high and mighty Narcissa Malfoy come begging for help." His words sounded angry, but his eyes flickered with fear. He had no idea that he had hit upon a very sore subject for Ginny, but he did notice her face flush and her eyes lower.
"He wasn't really keeping me informed," she mumbled as she hung her head in shame.
"Why were you alone the night you were captured? Why were you outside of the wards at your home? Where was Potter? He should have been with you." He was beginning to get angry. This had been something that had bothered him since Severus had appeared with her unconscious in his arms.
"We were in a fight. Did he know I was in danger? Did he know about the plans for me? You would have seen him after your father gave Voldemort my name." She too had sobered up with this train of thought. What have I done? Was he trying to stop me, to warn me? Why didn't he just tell me?
"He knew about what my father had said. He knew that you could be in danger. It wasn't until after I came here that the plans for you had fully been made. Severus gave me that information on one of his visits here. I don't know how much Potter knew by the time you were taken. But he should have never let you out of his sight!" He was getting angry. This should never have happened. She should have been protected.
"I stormed out of the Burrow that night. He had been with Pansy… Well, let's just say that he and I were not really together anymore."
~.~
"Gin, please talk to me. You have been avoiding me for months. You have to hear me out. It is important that you go back into hiding. I need you to listen to me - "
"I don't have to do anything you say, Harry. The moment you started fucking that Slytherin slut you forfeited all rights to even have an opinion about my life." She began heading for the back door, grabbing a jumper and scarf on the way out to the porch.
"How did - "
"How," she screamed as he followed her outside. "How? Well maybe you should be a little more discreet when you are shagging Pansy outside of an Order meeting!"
"You said we were over, Gin. You said that we were not a couple anymore. That was years ago, and yet I keep coming back to you. I love you. I hate what has happened to us, but this is about you being safe. There are things you don't know about - "
"That's right. There are lots of things I don't know about! You make sure of that! And I ended it because I couldn't take being your whore any longer. I didn't even know where you were when you weren't with me. At least, it felt like you didn't owe me an explanation once I wasn't under your thumb. I had to fight, Harry, but I didn't have to fight you. You chose that. And you know what, here's something that you don't know. I don't love you anymore!" He looked at her with so much pain. He wiped at his eyes and started shaking his head no. When he reached out to her, she spun away and Disapparated to a nearby field.
~.~
"I sat down and started crying. I didn't even mean what I said. I just couldn't understand how he could be with her whilst he said he loved me. Pansy wasn't in hiding. She was fighting along side him. She was where I had always wanted to be. I was just about to return to the Burrow and beg for his forgiveness when they grabbed me."
She looked up at Draco and swallowed her tears. He had no idea what had been happening between her and Potter. Her heart was broken, and yet he could see that she still blamed herself for everything. He also wanted to kill Pansy.
"Ginevra, I am sorry he hurt you. He loves you. I'm sure he does, but he evidently doesn't know how. I thought you were with him all these years. I didn't know that you have been on your own." He crossed to her and pulled her up into his arms and let her cry into his chest. They stood in the quiet kitchen for several minutes before she pulled away.
"Draco, will I ever see him again?"
"Yes. He is going to win. I know he is. And when he does, we will be free from this house. And I will do everything I can to help you get back to him."
"Thank you, Draco. I think I'll go to bed now. We can finish this tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Ginevra." What am I doing? He doesn't deserve her. How could he let her go? If she were mine - but she's not, Draco, and she will always be his.
ooo
Ginny lay in bed with a clear plan to stay in her room as much as possible the next day. She had stayed up late into the night thinking about everything Draco had told her, but mostly she was thinking about Harry. She had realized sometime in the middle of the night that she did still love Harry, but she did not want to be with him. There was just too much hurt between them, and Draco had said something that had replayed over and over in her mind. He loves you. I'm sure he does, but he evidently doesn't know how.
He was right. Harry did not know how to really love her, to make her feel loved. She had given so much of herself to him over the years, that she had forgotten to consider her own feelings. If Fred had not been killed, she probably would still have been sitting alone in Grimmauld Place, slowly losing her mind. On the loneliest of nights, she had even considered getting pregnant. At least then she would have had a purpose, and a reason for him to come home more often. But the moment Harry returned to her after the Battle of Hogwarts and expected her to comfort him, she was glad that she had not followed through with that desperate plan. In that moment, she knew it was time for her to leave. If she was really honest with herself, she had also known that she and Harry were never going to work out.
Ginny peered through her bedroom door into the hallway. She could hear him playing a sad little melody on the out-of-tune, small upright piano in the sitting room. She wasn't sure if she was ready to face him yet. He had been up for hours, but he had left her alone. It had felt so good for him to just hold her the night before and to comfort her with his promises. She was a little confused about how she felt about those promises of returning her to Harry. Is that what he wants to do? I thought he was going to kiss me in the kitchen. Of course he wasn't going to kiss me. Malfoy does not think of me that way. Malfoy. I guess I'm not ready for Draco yet. With that in mind, she quietly closed the door.
Draco glanced up towards her bedroom for the fifteenth time that day. Just as he had feared, she was retreating again. He was still upset with himself for encouraging her to return to Potter. Well, I guess it would have been worse to take advantage of her. You are just lonely and horny, Draco. It has been a long time since you were around a beautiful woman. That's all. And it is more important for things to stay peaceful whilst you are trapped here together. Right. Together … for who knows how long.
ooo
Later in the afternoon, the need for food began to outweigh her need for privacy. So Ginny had made herself a snack and then decided to face her housemate. "Malfoy? I just have a few more questions about the house. Why are we warded in, for one? And when and who will lift it?" She was standing in the doorway to the office, dressed in what must have been serving as her pyjamas. She looked very sweet and innocent with her hair plaited down her back.
He didn't miss that she had returned to his surname. "Take a seat. I was just updating the supply list. We' re going to have to come up with a plan for two instead of one, and considering that Severus will most likely not be returning with more goods…" He looked up at her as she sat and noticed the fear and guilt mixed in her eyes. "Don't worry, Weasley. We will be fine. Severus was very thorough in his plans. I think that he was actually planning on joining me at some point. As long as we have magic in our blood, then we can survive comfortably. And to answer your questions, the wards were created by Severus, and he made them so that he was the only one who could come and go."
"So he didn't trust you to stay put, did he?" She smiled in her eyes, but her mouth was slightly pursed in worry. She grabbed her braid and began playing with the curling strands at the end.
"No, he didn't. As long as my parents were in danger, I was not planning on staying in hiding. I'm sure you can understand. Anyway, they are linked to my Dark Mark. Very clever bit of Dark Magic he worked here. Until my Mark disappears or fades or whatever happens when the Dark Lord is dead, the wards will stay in place."
"And he didn't plan on risking his life for me."
"No. As I said, he was going to come here, too. It wasn't his intention to leave me forever, but the night he brought you … everything changed. I tried to get him to stay, but he said he had to go back and try to help the Order. I had been their only other spy. He said that we would be safe here, no matter what was happening out there. We could be found, but it would be highly unlikely, and the wards should protect us from attack if it were to come to that. Basically, we will be hidden away from the world until this war is over."
She sat still for a moment, taking in the seriousness of their situation. She did not fail to notice that he avoided the idea of Voldemort winning the war. The idea that they could be trapped for a very long time, even forever. She met his expectant gaze and decided to relieve some of the tension in the room.
"Or until I cut off your left arm, you mean? Honestly, Malfoy, if you wanted to be a real hero, you would have removed it long ago." Her words were almost hurtful to him, but as she said them, she had a wicked gleam in her eyes that he chose to interpret as humour.
"I had no idea you were such a Sadist, Weasley. I am impressed." To which she tossed the braid back over her shoulder. "But I hate to ruin your devious plans, because that won't work. You see, the Dark Mark will reappear elsewhere on the body when it has been removed by force. I guess it's more like a physical manifestation of your magical bond to the Dark Lord. Trust me, you do not want to know how I learnt that interesting little fact." He tried not to shudder when replaying that particular memory.
"Oh, such a pity. I guess I will just have to steal your wand and then kill you." She flashed him a bright smile.
"Yes, that is an option. It's too bad that your deep desire to have your way with me will be ruined in the process. Or you could always seduce me in order to get your hands on my wand. I promise I won't stop you." Hands on my wand? What am I saying?
She turned pink for a moment before regaining her composure. "I guess we are both lucky that I have higher standards than you - I mean, than resorting to seduction and murder." She stood up quickly and started to exit the room before turning back. "Could I borrow that wand now?"
Draco shook his head in laughter and promptly handed the wand to her. "Don't make me regret this, Weasley." He gave her a charming smile before returning to his work at the desk.
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A/N: Not beta'd so I really do appreciate any constructive criticism. Also, reviews in general are really nice!
Thank you to all who have read and reviewed!