Ginny stood back against the walls as she watched the seventh years from
all four houses. They were kicking and scream, pulling hair and poking
eyes, all trying to get to the notice board that the results of the NEWTS
were posted on. She was standing there waiting, because, only minutes
before, Draco had disappeared into the group of pushing, fighting students
to get his results. She was yet to see him emerge. .
She laughed as Harry, Hermione and Ron all began elbowing people out of the way to get to the listings. It was already obvious where Hermione would be on the list. She would be number one. The boys, however, would be further down.
Soon after, the crowds began to die down, people were smiling happily, hugging their friends and rejoicing their success as they walked down the halls to their respective common rooms, or they were crying. A fair amount of the students were crying as they moved off down the hall, shedding tears for their failure.
Ginny stood across the hall, leaning against the wall and waiting for the four seventh years that she cared about the most to come out of the throng. Ron was first to emerge, he stepped across the hall and enveloped his little sister in a hug.
"More then Fred and George, Less than Percy, Bill and Charlie" Ron smiled. Ginny hugged him back.
"That is great, well done" She laughed. Ron let her go and stepped back. Ginny had only enough time to catch her breath before some one else was hugging her.
"More than Ron, Less than Hermione" Harry laughed. Ginny grinned and congratulated her friend. When Harry let go, Ginny moved to Hermione.
"Head of the class?" Ginny asked rhetorically, Hermione nodded. "Well, done, I knew you could do it.....well done to all of you"
"Come on, let's go celebrate our success, Seamus and Dean were thinking of throwing a party to commiserate their failing grades." Ron smiled, hugging Hermione to his side. Harry nodded.
"Are you coming with us Ginny?" Harry asked. Ginny shook her head.
"No, there is still one more person I am waiting for" Ginny replied. Harry nodded and the three of them disappeared towards the Gryffindor common room. As they were walking away, Ginny heard Ron muttering something like 'Probably waiting for Malfoy'
Ginny smiled and looked back to the crowd that was still gathered around the board. She still couldn't see Draco, so she just waited patiently.
He came pushing through the crowd a few minutes after. His eyes never left the floor. He had that same glint of depression in his eyes that he had had before Christmas, and in that split second, Ginny felt her heart sink.
She had been helping Draco every day, studying for his NEWTS, making sure that he knew everything that he needed to know, and even some things that he was sure that he didn't need. They had gone over spells and charms, potions and runes, they had names for every combination of potions ingredients, and together they had memorized every available piece of information on every single animal they had ever learnt about.
But the look on his face as he made his way back to her made her heart break, he looked as though he was about to cry, and Ginny felt like he was about to cry to. In fact, she in some ways wanted to cry. She and Draco had done more revision for these tests than Hermione had, by the end Ginny knew the material backwards as well, and now it was all useless, because by the look on his face, it had all been a waste of time.
"So?" She questioned as he reached her side, he sighed.
"Well, I passed......" He began hollowly, disappointment rich in his voice. Ginny looked up at him, and then he smiled brightly. "With honors and a head masters commendation"
Ginny's frown changed into a grin quickly as she practically jumped into Draco's arms. Draco laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and they laughed together.
"You are a jerk, Draco Malfoy, you made me think that you failed your exams" Ginny exclaimed, slapping his arm. Draco laughed.
"Oh, but you should have seen your face when I came back over here, you looked as though you were going to start sobbing."
"I think I would of, if you had of really failed your exams." Ginny replied, Draco smiled. "Especially after all of the work we did"
"Well, just think, you will have all this knowledge ready for next year." He smiled. She nodded as they finally broke from their hug and began to move down the hall.
"So, what are you doing now? Some of the Gryffindor said they might be throwing a party, I am sure you are more than welcome to join them" Ginny suggested, Draco looked at her like she had gone crazy.
"Believe me Gin, the Gryffindors would not want to party with me, anyway, I was thinking of just going for a walk down to the lake, you are welcome to join me if you wish" Draco replied. Ginny nodded, and together, they moved to the front of the entrance hall and out of the doors.
The grounds were fresh and bright, showing every sign of the coming summer. The grass was green, and dotted in places with little yellow flowers. Together, the two of the made their way across to the base of one of the largest trees on the grounds. They sat together, and Draco began pulling at the blades of grass.
"Have I told you how scared I am yet?" He asked. Ginny looked across at him.
"Scared?" she repeated, he nodded.
"What if I can't take it out there in the big bad world? What if I suck at my job? What if I have no friends? What if I can't find a place to live? What if I can't get Kayla back?" He asked, Ginny sighed.
"And what if you do excellent in your job? What if you have millions of friends? What if you find an awesome place to live? What if you do get Kayla back?" She asked. Draco smiled.
"Too many what ifs, huh?" He asked, Ginny nodded.
"Stop thinking of the what ifs, and start thinking of the what will be's" She replied, picking up a small flower and pulling at the petals. "You have to stay positive"
"You have been such a good friend to me Gin, what can I do to ever repay you?" He asked. Ginny looked at him and smiled.
"You can be the best father that you can be, that is the only way you would ever be able to repay me. That, and letting me come over and Play with Kayla occasionally" Ginny requested, Draco nodded.
"You bet you can play with her, you will be Aunt Ginny to Kayla, I can see it already" He replied, picking up another little flower "But you cant play with her till I get her back, so for now, a token of my gratitude" He held out the little yellow flower, Ginny smiled and took it.
"Thank you, you are such a gentleman" She grinned, and tucked the flower into her hair.
"Are you coming to the graduation ceremony tomorrow afternoon?" Draco asked. Ginny nodded, she was going to pay support for Harry, Hermione and Ron, as well as Draco, and than she would be able to go home that night with her parents instead of waiting till the next day to take the train with the others.
"Yes, I will be there. Is any of your family coming?" Ginny asked. Draco shrugged.
"Mother may come, if she is feeling up to it. Father may send a representative to come on his behalf. I mean, it is not like his only son graduating is anything to cancel a death eaters rally for" Draco spat bitterly, ripping at the grass by his feet.
"Do not worry, I will be there for you." Ginny replied, patting his arm "I am very proud of you, going from average grades to getting a head masters commendation"
"I am pretty proud of myself to" He grinned. Ginny laughed.
"I am sure Jess would have been proud of you also.....and Kayla would be proud of her Daddy. If she understood what everything was" Ginny told him. A sad type of smile crossed his face.
"17 years from now, I am going to be coming here and watching her graduate from this school. I wonder if she will have a head masters commendation as well, or if she will be head of the class like Hermione." Draco pondered.
"Ahh, both, and she will be quidditch captain, the best captain this school has seen, and she will be a seeker, a hundred times better than Potter. She will be a prefect, maybe even head girl, and she will be beautiful, absolutely beautiful..." Ginny replied. Draco smiled.
"You have put a lot of thought into my daughter's future" He grinned. Ginny blushed a little.
"I just know that you are going to give her so many opportunities in life. She can be anything that she wants to be, and I know that you will support her. Smart, Sporty, Artistic, all of the above or none, it is up to her, and you will let her do what she wants. I know you wont make the same mistakes that Lucius made, you will learn from your fathers mistakes" Ginny replied.
"That is what I intend to do, be the complete opposite of my father. No one should have to grow up like that" Draco replied. Ginny nodded.
"She will love you with all her heart Draco, she is going to be a daddy's girl" Ginny told him, he smirked suddenly.
"Just like you?" He smirked.
"Yes Draco, just like me" She replied, smiling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Daddy"
Arthur Weasley smiled as he wrapped his arms around Ginny. "Oh, dear, I missed you Ginny"
"I missed you to daddy" she giggled as her father squeezed her tight. As Ginny had admitted to her Draco the day before, she was a Daddy's girl. She loved her father so much. Having so many brothers, her father treated her like a princess all the time, and she really enjoyed the attention.
"Wow, it feels good to be back on our old stomping grounds again, right boys?" Bill asked as he and the twins looked around the large entrance hall. The twins nodded, and then grinned suddenly.
"Do you think they have repaired the damage from our graduation day prank?" Fred asked, scratching his chin.
"We could go check" George suggested, Bill smiled at his younger brothers.
"Or we could go and check out the damage from Charlie's Graduation day prank, they will never repair that unless they pull down the whole building" He smiled, the twins laughed, and then after waving to their mother, disappeared off into the castle.
The entrance hall was filled to the brim with excited family and friends of the graduates. Graduation day was the same every year, the families would arrive early on the Hogwarts express and they would spend their day with the students, being shown around the grounds (Most parents were Hogwarts graduates themselves, so it was a nice trip down memory lane.) Then, the parents would congregate and socialize while the students prepared for the graduation dinner.
"Where is Percy?" Ginny asked. Arthur sighed sadly.
"He says he has to much work to do at the office, can't make it" Arthur replied.
"That's crap, we had to sit though his boring graduation, least he could do is sit through Ron's. I sware, next year, I am going to bring him here by wand point and chain him to the chair, actually, I might do that to all the boys since I had to sit through five other ceremonies, least they can do is sit politely through mine" Ginny replied, Arthur smiled.
"I say that is a fine idea Love, but if you excuse me please, I see your mother, Ron and Harry are over with the Grangers" Arthur kissed Ginny's cheek. Ginny smiled and looked around the room.
She smiled politely at the people she knew, parents of her friends and people who used to be in Gryffindor tower. Ginny stopped however, and had to smile at what she saw.
Draco's mother had arrived, and she was embracing her son. Draco looked caught somewhere between amused and annoyed. Ginny smiled and caught his eye.
Draco, whose head was resting on his mothers shoulder, rolled his eyes and made a grimace at Ginny, then, he mouthed the words 'Hating this'
Ginny smiled, rolled her eyes and pointed to Ron, then, held up four fingers, indicating that four of her brothers where there.
Draco smiled, and mouthed 'You win'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Family, friends, distinguished guests and graduating students" Professor Dumbledore began, adding his speech to the long list of boring speeches they had already heard that night. Ginny rolled her eyes and yawned for what was probably the hundredth time that hour.
The speeches had been boring, the most exciting so far had been when Hermione had given her valedictory address.
"So, it is with great pleasure that I introduce this years graduating class." Dumbledore smiled. All around the room, wives shoved their husbands and they all discreetly woke up. Ginny smiled as even a few of the graduates woke up the classmates beside them.
Beside them, Molly had just subtly shoved Arthur, waking him. Arthur smiled and leaned over to Ginny "Bout time, wouldn't you say Gin?" Ginny nodded.
The alphabetical list of names began, and after each name, there would be a round of polite clapping, with only the student's family able to be heard over the others.
The first time that the Weasley's cheered was for 'Granger, Hermione' who came up onto the small stage, gracefully accepted her diploma, and then smiled at her parents before continuing on.
When the name 'Malfoy, Draco' was announced, Ginny clapped a little harder. She knew that she could not cheer for him the way she would have wished, but as he was accepting his diploma, he looked to Ginny and smiled. The hope that her mother and father didn't notice was a little to much to ask, because they looked at each other, before going back to clapping politely.
When 'Potter, Harry' was called, the entire crowd erupted into cheers. Harry, on stage went bright red and quickly shook the teacher's hands, grabbing his diploma and almost running back to his seat.
Fireworks erupted from Ginny's row when 'Weasley, Ronald' was announced. The twins, who had set off the fire works were now chanting "Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie" along with Bill. Arthur was standing and clapping, and Molly was wiping her eyes. Ginny, just sank a little further into her chair and covered her face slightly, praying to who ever was listening that they would not do this the year after at her graduation.
The ceremony finished and Ginny's parents disappeared into the crowd to congratulate Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ginny moved slowly through the groups of socializing people. Soon she would have to go and gather things so that she could go home with her parents, but first, there were a few people she had to say good bye to.
Weaving through the excited people, and narrowly avoiding some others, Ginny approached the corner of the room. Draco saw her and smiled. Narcissa must have noticed, because she turned to look at Ginny.
"I am very sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Malfoy" Ginny began, some what nervously. She didn't know if Narcissa Malfoy knew who she was, or how Mrs. Malfoy was going to react to her interrupting "I just wanted to say good bye to Draco, and to wish him luck"
Ginny held out her hand, and Draco took it, shaking it, and then pulled Ginny into a hug. She laughed. She was beginning to get used to these Malfoy hugs, as she liked to call them, because they seemed to become more frequent.
"I will owl you with the details of how we can get things started" Ginny told him, he nodded
"Thank you" Draco smiled as he pulled away. Ginny smiled, shot one last nervous smile at Draco's mother, then left, disappearing quickly into the great masses of people.
"Who was that dear?" Narcissa asked, Draco just grinned.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Right, you kids in one compartment, us adults in another" Arthur smiled, ushering his children, Harry and Hermione into one of the train compartments. The Grangers took up another compartment, along with Molly.
"Umm, Ginny? Can I have a word with you please?" Arthur asked, Ginny nodded and closed the door so that the others could not hear. She could already tell what the conversation was about. Draco. She just hoped that the conversation would not evolve into a fight, she hated it when she fought with her father.
"Yes Daddy?" She asked. Arthur wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"Now, Ginny, you know that you can tell me anything, right?" He asked. Ginny nodded. "If you ever need help with anything, if you ever need advice when it comes to your friends, or your boyfriends....." Arthur began.
"Dad, is this your Bass-Ackwards way of asking me if I have a boyfriend?" She asked. Arthur rolled his eyes at her.
"Well, yes, and don't use that type of language" He warned gently "It is just...well....I saw you hugging the Malfoy boy..........and, you can tell me if the two of you are.....well.....romantically involved" Arthur stumbled.
"Would it be ok if we were?" Ginny asked.
"NO, I mean.....yes...I mean, you're not are you?" Arthur replied. Ginny laughed.
"Relax dad, Draco is not my boyfriend, he is a friend, a very dear friend, but he is not my boyfriend, and I don't think he ever will be, he has to much emotional baggage" Ginny informed him.
"That is good then, just friends" Arthur sighed in relief before turning to enter the adult's compartment..
"Wait, Dad, don't you have a comment about me being his friend?" Ginny asked, surprised. She knew that her father and Draco's father had never gotten along, all because of something that happened while they were at school together.
"I went to school with Narcissa, and if she has raised that boy the way she was raised, then I have no doubt that Draco is a good kid. It would have been his father's influence that turned him bad" Arthur explained. Ginny smiled.
"I am helping him with something that is very important to him dad" She began to explain, Arthur nodded. "Over the past few weeks, it has become important to me to" She replied.
"Then I support you both in what ever you feel you have to do.....as long as you are not romantically together" Arthur told his daughter. Ginny looked up at him.
"Why not?"
"Because no one is good enough for my Ginny"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ok, I know I said I would reply to reviews now, but I haven't got time, so next chapter, definitely.
And I am sorry if Arthur seems a little OOC when it comes to Draco's friendship with Ginny. The way I see it, Arthur loves his daughter and would trust her judge of character, plus, he knew Narcissa in the past, maybe he knows something that others don't.
Next one will be soon.
She laughed as Harry, Hermione and Ron all began elbowing people out of the way to get to the listings. It was already obvious where Hermione would be on the list. She would be number one. The boys, however, would be further down.
Soon after, the crowds began to die down, people were smiling happily, hugging their friends and rejoicing their success as they walked down the halls to their respective common rooms, or they were crying. A fair amount of the students were crying as they moved off down the hall, shedding tears for their failure.
Ginny stood across the hall, leaning against the wall and waiting for the four seventh years that she cared about the most to come out of the throng. Ron was first to emerge, he stepped across the hall and enveloped his little sister in a hug.
"More then Fred and George, Less than Percy, Bill and Charlie" Ron smiled. Ginny hugged him back.
"That is great, well done" She laughed. Ron let her go and stepped back. Ginny had only enough time to catch her breath before some one else was hugging her.
"More than Ron, Less than Hermione" Harry laughed. Ginny grinned and congratulated her friend. When Harry let go, Ginny moved to Hermione.
"Head of the class?" Ginny asked rhetorically, Hermione nodded. "Well, done, I knew you could do it.....well done to all of you"
"Come on, let's go celebrate our success, Seamus and Dean were thinking of throwing a party to commiserate their failing grades." Ron smiled, hugging Hermione to his side. Harry nodded.
"Are you coming with us Ginny?" Harry asked. Ginny shook her head.
"No, there is still one more person I am waiting for" Ginny replied. Harry nodded and the three of them disappeared towards the Gryffindor common room. As they were walking away, Ginny heard Ron muttering something like 'Probably waiting for Malfoy'
Ginny smiled and looked back to the crowd that was still gathered around the board. She still couldn't see Draco, so she just waited patiently.
He came pushing through the crowd a few minutes after. His eyes never left the floor. He had that same glint of depression in his eyes that he had had before Christmas, and in that split second, Ginny felt her heart sink.
She had been helping Draco every day, studying for his NEWTS, making sure that he knew everything that he needed to know, and even some things that he was sure that he didn't need. They had gone over spells and charms, potions and runes, they had names for every combination of potions ingredients, and together they had memorized every available piece of information on every single animal they had ever learnt about.
But the look on his face as he made his way back to her made her heart break, he looked as though he was about to cry, and Ginny felt like he was about to cry to. In fact, she in some ways wanted to cry. She and Draco had done more revision for these tests than Hermione had, by the end Ginny knew the material backwards as well, and now it was all useless, because by the look on his face, it had all been a waste of time.
"So?" She questioned as he reached her side, he sighed.
"Well, I passed......" He began hollowly, disappointment rich in his voice. Ginny looked up at him, and then he smiled brightly. "With honors and a head masters commendation"
Ginny's frown changed into a grin quickly as she practically jumped into Draco's arms. Draco laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and they laughed together.
"You are a jerk, Draco Malfoy, you made me think that you failed your exams" Ginny exclaimed, slapping his arm. Draco laughed.
"Oh, but you should have seen your face when I came back over here, you looked as though you were going to start sobbing."
"I think I would of, if you had of really failed your exams." Ginny replied, Draco smiled. "Especially after all of the work we did"
"Well, just think, you will have all this knowledge ready for next year." He smiled. She nodded as they finally broke from their hug and began to move down the hall.
"So, what are you doing now? Some of the Gryffindor said they might be throwing a party, I am sure you are more than welcome to join them" Ginny suggested, Draco looked at her like she had gone crazy.
"Believe me Gin, the Gryffindors would not want to party with me, anyway, I was thinking of just going for a walk down to the lake, you are welcome to join me if you wish" Draco replied. Ginny nodded, and together, they moved to the front of the entrance hall and out of the doors.
The grounds were fresh and bright, showing every sign of the coming summer. The grass was green, and dotted in places with little yellow flowers. Together, the two of the made their way across to the base of one of the largest trees on the grounds. They sat together, and Draco began pulling at the blades of grass.
"Have I told you how scared I am yet?" He asked. Ginny looked across at him.
"Scared?" she repeated, he nodded.
"What if I can't take it out there in the big bad world? What if I suck at my job? What if I have no friends? What if I can't find a place to live? What if I can't get Kayla back?" He asked, Ginny sighed.
"And what if you do excellent in your job? What if you have millions of friends? What if you find an awesome place to live? What if you do get Kayla back?" She asked. Draco smiled.
"Too many what ifs, huh?" He asked, Ginny nodded.
"Stop thinking of the what ifs, and start thinking of the what will be's" She replied, picking up a small flower and pulling at the petals. "You have to stay positive"
"You have been such a good friend to me Gin, what can I do to ever repay you?" He asked. Ginny looked at him and smiled.
"You can be the best father that you can be, that is the only way you would ever be able to repay me. That, and letting me come over and Play with Kayla occasionally" Ginny requested, Draco nodded.
"You bet you can play with her, you will be Aunt Ginny to Kayla, I can see it already" He replied, picking up another little flower "But you cant play with her till I get her back, so for now, a token of my gratitude" He held out the little yellow flower, Ginny smiled and took it.
"Thank you, you are such a gentleman" She grinned, and tucked the flower into her hair.
"Are you coming to the graduation ceremony tomorrow afternoon?" Draco asked. Ginny nodded, she was going to pay support for Harry, Hermione and Ron, as well as Draco, and than she would be able to go home that night with her parents instead of waiting till the next day to take the train with the others.
"Yes, I will be there. Is any of your family coming?" Ginny asked. Draco shrugged.
"Mother may come, if she is feeling up to it. Father may send a representative to come on his behalf. I mean, it is not like his only son graduating is anything to cancel a death eaters rally for" Draco spat bitterly, ripping at the grass by his feet.
"Do not worry, I will be there for you." Ginny replied, patting his arm "I am very proud of you, going from average grades to getting a head masters commendation"
"I am pretty proud of myself to" He grinned. Ginny laughed.
"I am sure Jess would have been proud of you also.....and Kayla would be proud of her Daddy. If she understood what everything was" Ginny told him. A sad type of smile crossed his face.
"17 years from now, I am going to be coming here and watching her graduate from this school. I wonder if she will have a head masters commendation as well, or if she will be head of the class like Hermione." Draco pondered.
"Ahh, both, and she will be quidditch captain, the best captain this school has seen, and she will be a seeker, a hundred times better than Potter. She will be a prefect, maybe even head girl, and she will be beautiful, absolutely beautiful..." Ginny replied. Draco smiled.
"You have put a lot of thought into my daughter's future" He grinned. Ginny blushed a little.
"I just know that you are going to give her so many opportunities in life. She can be anything that she wants to be, and I know that you will support her. Smart, Sporty, Artistic, all of the above or none, it is up to her, and you will let her do what she wants. I know you wont make the same mistakes that Lucius made, you will learn from your fathers mistakes" Ginny replied.
"That is what I intend to do, be the complete opposite of my father. No one should have to grow up like that" Draco replied. Ginny nodded.
"She will love you with all her heart Draco, she is going to be a daddy's girl" Ginny told him, he smirked suddenly.
"Just like you?" He smirked.
"Yes Draco, just like me" She replied, smiling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Daddy"
Arthur Weasley smiled as he wrapped his arms around Ginny. "Oh, dear, I missed you Ginny"
"I missed you to daddy" she giggled as her father squeezed her tight. As Ginny had admitted to her Draco the day before, she was a Daddy's girl. She loved her father so much. Having so many brothers, her father treated her like a princess all the time, and she really enjoyed the attention.
"Wow, it feels good to be back on our old stomping grounds again, right boys?" Bill asked as he and the twins looked around the large entrance hall. The twins nodded, and then grinned suddenly.
"Do you think they have repaired the damage from our graduation day prank?" Fred asked, scratching his chin.
"We could go check" George suggested, Bill smiled at his younger brothers.
"Or we could go and check out the damage from Charlie's Graduation day prank, they will never repair that unless they pull down the whole building" He smiled, the twins laughed, and then after waving to their mother, disappeared off into the castle.
The entrance hall was filled to the brim with excited family and friends of the graduates. Graduation day was the same every year, the families would arrive early on the Hogwarts express and they would spend their day with the students, being shown around the grounds (Most parents were Hogwarts graduates themselves, so it was a nice trip down memory lane.) Then, the parents would congregate and socialize while the students prepared for the graduation dinner.
"Where is Percy?" Ginny asked. Arthur sighed sadly.
"He says he has to much work to do at the office, can't make it" Arthur replied.
"That's crap, we had to sit though his boring graduation, least he could do is sit through Ron's. I sware, next year, I am going to bring him here by wand point and chain him to the chair, actually, I might do that to all the boys since I had to sit through five other ceremonies, least they can do is sit politely through mine" Ginny replied, Arthur smiled.
"I say that is a fine idea Love, but if you excuse me please, I see your mother, Ron and Harry are over with the Grangers" Arthur kissed Ginny's cheek. Ginny smiled and looked around the room.
She smiled politely at the people she knew, parents of her friends and people who used to be in Gryffindor tower. Ginny stopped however, and had to smile at what she saw.
Draco's mother had arrived, and she was embracing her son. Draco looked caught somewhere between amused and annoyed. Ginny smiled and caught his eye.
Draco, whose head was resting on his mothers shoulder, rolled his eyes and made a grimace at Ginny, then, he mouthed the words 'Hating this'
Ginny smiled, rolled her eyes and pointed to Ron, then, held up four fingers, indicating that four of her brothers where there.
Draco smiled, and mouthed 'You win'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Family, friends, distinguished guests and graduating students" Professor Dumbledore began, adding his speech to the long list of boring speeches they had already heard that night. Ginny rolled her eyes and yawned for what was probably the hundredth time that hour.
The speeches had been boring, the most exciting so far had been when Hermione had given her valedictory address.
"So, it is with great pleasure that I introduce this years graduating class." Dumbledore smiled. All around the room, wives shoved their husbands and they all discreetly woke up. Ginny smiled as even a few of the graduates woke up the classmates beside them.
Beside them, Molly had just subtly shoved Arthur, waking him. Arthur smiled and leaned over to Ginny "Bout time, wouldn't you say Gin?" Ginny nodded.
The alphabetical list of names began, and after each name, there would be a round of polite clapping, with only the student's family able to be heard over the others.
The first time that the Weasley's cheered was for 'Granger, Hermione' who came up onto the small stage, gracefully accepted her diploma, and then smiled at her parents before continuing on.
When the name 'Malfoy, Draco' was announced, Ginny clapped a little harder. She knew that she could not cheer for him the way she would have wished, but as he was accepting his diploma, he looked to Ginny and smiled. The hope that her mother and father didn't notice was a little to much to ask, because they looked at each other, before going back to clapping politely.
When 'Potter, Harry' was called, the entire crowd erupted into cheers. Harry, on stage went bright red and quickly shook the teacher's hands, grabbing his diploma and almost running back to his seat.
Fireworks erupted from Ginny's row when 'Weasley, Ronald' was announced. The twins, who had set off the fire works were now chanting "Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie" along with Bill. Arthur was standing and clapping, and Molly was wiping her eyes. Ginny, just sank a little further into her chair and covered her face slightly, praying to who ever was listening that they would not do this the year after at her graduation.
The ceremony finished and Ginny's parents disappeared into the crowd to congratulate Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ginny moved slowly through the groups of socializing people. Soon she would have to go and gather things so that she could go home with her parents, but first, there were a few people she had to say good bye to.
Weaving through the excited people, and narrowly avoiding some others, Ginny approached the corner of the room. Draco saw her and smiled. Narcissa must have noticed, because she turned to look at Ginny.
"I am very sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Malfoy" Ginny began, some what nervously. She didn't know if Narcissa Malfoy knew who she was, or how Mrs. Malfoy was going to react to her interrupting "I just wanted to say good bye to Draco, and to wish him luck"
Ginny held out her hand, and Draco took it, shaking it, and then pulled Ginny into a hug. She laughed. She was beginning to get used to these Malfoy hugs, as she liked to call them, because they seemed to become more frequent.
"I will owl you with the details of how we can get things started" Ginny told him, he nodded
"Thank you" Draco smiled as he pulled away. Ginny smiled, shot one last nervous smile at Draco's mother, then left, disappearing quickly into the great masses of people.
"Who was that dear?" Narcissa asked, Draco just grinned.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Right, you kids in one compartment, us adults in another" Arthur smiled, ushering his children, Harry and Hermione into one of the train compartments. The Grangers took up another compartment, along with Molly.
"Umm, Ginny? Can I have a word with you please?" Arthur asked, Ginny nodded and closed the door so that the others could not hear. She could already tell what the conversation was about. Draco. She just hoped that the conversation would not evolve into a fight, she hated it when she fought with her father.
"Yes Daddy?" She asked. Arthur wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"Now, Ginny, you know that you can tell me anything, right?" He asked. Ginny nodded. "If you ever need help with anything, if you ever need advice when it comes to your friends, or your boyfriends....." Arthur began.
"Dad, is this your Bass-Ackwards way of asking me if I have a boyfriend?" She asked. Arthur rolled his eyes at her.
"Well, yes, and don't use that type of language" He warned gently "It is just...well....I saw you hugging the Malfoy boy..........and, you can tell me if the two of you are.....well.....romantically involved" Arthur stumbled.
"Would it be ok if we were?" Ginny asked.
"NO, I mean.....yes...I mean, you're not are you?" Arthur replied. Ginny laughed.
"Relax dad, Draco is not my boyfriend, he is a friend, a very dear friend, but he is not my boyfriend, and I don't think he ever will be, he has to much emotional baggage" Ginny informed him.
"That is good then, just friends" Arthur sighed in relief before turning to enter the adult's compartment..
"Wait, Dad, don't you have a comment about me being his friend?" Ginny asked, surprised. She knew that her father and Draco's father had never gotten along, all because of something that happened while they were at school together.
"I went to school with Narcissa, and if she has raised that boy the way she was raised, then I have no doubt that Draco is a good kid. It would have been his father's influence that turned him bad" Arthur explained. Ginny smiled.
"I am helping him with something that is very important to him dad" She began to explain, Arthur nodded. "Over the past few weeks, it has become important to me to" She replied.
"Then I support you both in what ever you feel you have to do.....as long as you are not romantically together" Arthur told his daughter. Ginny looked up at him.
"Why not?"
"Because no one is good enough for my Ginny"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ok, I know I said I would reply to reviews now, but I haven't got time, so next chapter, definitely.
And I am sorry if Arthur seems a little OOC when it comes to Draco's friendship with Ginny. The way I see it, Arthur loves his daughter and would trust her judge of character, plus, he knew Narcissa in the past, maybe he knows something that others don't.
Next one will be soon.