The old wooden stairs of the burrow creaked under Ginny's bare feet as she
slowly moved through the house. It was late at night, almost 11:30, and she
was going to pick up Draco from his house.
She would have left hours ago, had it not been for her family. She excused herself to bed at her normal time, and then, had to wait for the others to all go to bed before she could sneak back down. But she had to admit that she was lucky, because usually Ron didn't go to sleep at all on his holidays.
But now, Ron had been asleep for a few hours and she was sneaking through the house and out to the garage where she would 'borrow' her fathers new car to drive to Malfoy manor and pick up Draco.
After the incident with the flying ford, Arthur had brought a new car, but did not fit it with the same extras as the last car. This one did not fly or turn invisible; this one was just a normal car that Arthur used when he seriously needed it.
When they still had the flying ford, Arthur had taught each of his children how to drive, just in case they were ever stranded in the muggle world and had no choice but to drive a car. None of the kids had the legal driving permits, but they could each drive if they ever had to.
Driving the car to Draco's house would be no big deal; the biggest problem that could arise would be getting to Draco with out being caught by his mother, or worse, his father.
Ginny reached the back door, and looked at the keys hook. There were house keys, shed keys and keys to the locked room at the top of the stairs (That was the room that Molly kept Fred and George's jokes in, if you tried to pick up the keys, your hands would burn) but the car keys were not on the hook that they usually were.
"Shit" she muttered, and opened a few of the kitchen draws. Some times her father threw they keys in there. They were not in the draws.
"Double shit" Ginny groaned. There was only one place that the keys could be, and that was the ignition of the car.
The night air had a soft refreshing chill to it as Ginny opened the back door to the burrow and moved across the lawn to the garage. Opening the side door quietly, so that the creak of the hinges would not wake up any one in the house, Ginny entered the garage.
And the car was gone.
A string of curse words erupted from her mouth as she looked at the empty spot where her father's car was usually parked. Where could the car be? Had it been stolen? Had it been lent to some one? Had her father sold the car while she was at Hogwarts?
She felt like crying, now she had no way of getting to Malfoy Manor and helping Draco move out. She would just have to wait till morning and then call him, explain the situation, and hope that he was not two angry.
Suddenly, the garage door began to open.
Arthur had installed one of those automatic door opener things (no one knew why when he could just use his wand.). The whirling of the motor on the opener startled her, and Ginny jumped into the shadows of the garage, waiting for the car to be parked back in its spot.
The car came to a complete stop, the door opened, and Bill stepped out. He was whistling and throwing the car keys from hand to hand. Stepping out of the shadows, Ginny watched as her older brother moved to the side door.
"Good evening William" Ginny began; Bill jumped and turned to where Ginny was standing.
"Virginia, what are you doing out here?" Bill asked. Ginny shot him her most innocent smile and moved to him, taking the keys from his hand.
"I am stealing the car" She replied simply. Bill rubbed his eyes, and then looked at his little sister as she climbed into the driver's seat.
"Ginny, you can't steal the car, mum and dad don't know..." Bill began to lecture; Ginny wound down the window and smiled sweetly at Bill again.
"Did they know that you took the car?" She asked. Bill blushed a little. "I didn't think so"
"But that is completely different Gin, I am old enough to drive" Bill replied.
"And I need the car for an emergency" Ginny replied, slipping the key into the ignition. Bill reached into the car and took they keys out.
"I can't let you go Ginny" Bill replied. Ginny sighed and got out of the car.
"Oh, really, and what are you going to do about it?" Ginny asked, snatching the keys back.
Bill grabbed the keys from her hand. "I'll tell mum!"
"If you tell mum about me, I will tell mum that you had the car as well. I will also tell her that a few years back it was you who stole the money from her bag, all so you could buy your girlfriend a present. I will tell her that it was really you that shoved Charlie from his broom that time that he broke his arm. I will tell mum that it was you who passed down the Play Wizard collection to the twins. I will tell her ......" Ginny began to list as she reached for the keys again. Bill held them above his head. He would always be taller than his little sister, so he would always win by doing that.
"Black mail is not cool Gin" Bill warned, still waving the keys in the air above his head.
Ginny hit him in the stomach, hard, and he doubled over in pain, dropping the keys to the floor. "You started it"
She picked up the keys and got back into the car, starting up the engine.
"I am a responsible driver Bill, better than Percy even. I can handle what I have to do. I am just taking the care for a quick drive to go pick up one of my friends, and then to Diagon Alley where he can get a place to stay. I have left mum and dad a note, and I will be back before mum wakes up." Ginny assured him. "Come on Bill, have I ever given you a reason to not trust me?"
Ginny shot her brother her best innocent look and 'trust me' smile, and then put the car in reverse.
"I am not happy about this Gin" Bill told her. She shrugged and began to reverse the car out of the garage.
"I am not happy about a lot of things, but that does not mean I have the power to change them"
So Bill just stood, and watched his little sister speed off into the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Draco sat at his bedroom window and waited. It was 11:59, and he was still waiting for Ginny to come and get him like she had said she would.
He truly believed that she would be there for him. Ginny would not let him down. He had faith that she would come for him tonight, because she said that she would, and she was a girl of her word.
His day had gone slow since the fight he had had with his father that morning. Spending the day by himself in his bed room, he read a few of his books, and went over some of the paper work that he needed to fill out before starting work.
The minutes since his floo call to Ginny had ticked by painfully slow. He had packed and repacked his clothing and necessities, he had made a large dent in his fathers vault (enough to have him living comfortably for along time.), he had written another letter to Kayla (one that he was not going to send, but it helped to have his thoughts of her down on paper.) and then, he had even had a nap.
By the time he had done all that, it was only 2 pm.
He sat quietly during the other two meals that he had to share with his parents. His eyes never left his plate, and his father never said anything to him. Both of the Malfoy men just sat, and listened to Narcissa go on and on about the new designer outfit that she wished to buy.
After dinner, he showered and changed, then just sat, staring out of the window, waiting for Ginny to arrive. He could not believe he was finally moving out of his father's house. He had been waiting for this for so long.
He had no misty eyed flash backs of exciting, happy times that he had spent in this house, because truthfully, there were no exciting, happy times there. Maybe a few from when he was younger and he didn't remember them well, but nothing recent stuck out in his mind as exciting.
He was ready to move out, into his own place and make new, exciting, happy memories there. Make memories there with his daughter, and even make memories there with Ginny. Ginny was his close friend, and he could predict that she would be spending a lot of time there with him over the coming months, especially if she would be helping him with his custody case.
Ginny had become his strength. It was strange, because Draco had never depended on any one but himself. Not his mother, definitely not his father, and Draco had never even depended on Jessica as much as he depended on Ginny.
Draco sighed and looked at his watch again, 12:09am. He still had hope, she would be there. He stretched out on the window seat, and soon fell asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A loud bang erupted Draco from his thoughts. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked out of the window. Fireworks rained down around the car that was parked out on the street. Draco rubbed his eyes again; Ginny was leaning against the car.
Draco stood and collected his bags before moving out of his bedroom. He stopped for one last look of the room he had grown up in, the room he had been held prisoner in for the last 17 years. He would not miss it.
He swiftly moved down the halls to the front door of the house. He looked behind him, but he still felt no remorse for leaving in the middle of the night. Smiling, he opened the door, and left.
"You are late!" Draco accused jokingly as he threw his bags into the car. Ginny made her way back to the drives side door and entered the car. Draco got in his own side.
"What do you mean I am late?" She asked, starting up the car.
"You said you would be here in the night, it is now officially morning" he told her as he leaned across and waved his watch in front of her eyes. Ginny grinned and slapped his hand away.
"You are so ungrateful, you get me out of bed to come and drive your ass around, and you complain because I picked you up late!" She smiled as she pulled out onto the empty street.
"Sorry, thank you for coming to get me" Draco smiled and relaxed into the seat a little more. Ginny looked a cross at him. She wondered if he had ever been in a car before.
"It is ok; you just have to remember that you owe me!"
They talked for a while about the last few days. Draco explained the fight with his father, and Ginny explained the fight with Bill over the car keys. He laughed when she told him that she hit Bill.
"So, how much money did you steal?" Ginny asked. Draco looked at his three bags in the back seat. He didn't have the heart to tell her that the third (and largest) bag was filled to breaking point with money. He knew that even just a handful of that money was enough to look after the Weasley family for a very long time. He didn't want it to seem like he was rubbing it in that he had money and she didn't.
"A fair bit" he replied simply.
"On the back seat there is a newspaper, you can look at the for rent places if you want" Ginny suggested, Draco reached behind him picked up the edition of 'The very Early Prophet'.
Draco opened it to the real estate section and scanned the adds as Ginny turned on the muggle radio and began singing along with a few of the songs that Hermione had taught her. Draco laughed.
There were a few reasonable apartments and town houses in the diagon alley area; the best was one that was in a complex behind Gringotts. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom, fully furnished town house with a spacious living area and a small back yard. The price that they were asking was not to steep, especially not with the money he had stolen from his dad, and the steady pay check he would be getting from his job when he started it.
In his head he began to picture the house. He thought of his own room, and then how he could decorate the other room for Kayla. He pictured himself sitting in the living room with his daughter on his lap reading her stories. Draco saw himself and Kayla chasing each other around the back yard. He saw them decorating the Christmas tree that would go in the living room....
"Any thing interesting?" Ginny asked after a few minutes silence. Draco, who had been brought out of his thoughts by the sound of her voice, turned and smiled at her.
"Two bedroom, one bath room, fully furnished, with excellent rent" Draco replied.
"We should check it out tomorrow" Ginny told him. Draco smiled. "The sooner you move in some where, the sooner you will be settled"
"And the sooner I am settled and start working, the sooner we can get on with getting my little girl back." Draco finished Ginny's thought for her. She smiled.
"I guess I say that a lot don't I?" She asked, Draco laughed.
"It just helps me remember what I am working towards" Draco told her.
After that they drove in silence. Every now and then they would say something to each other, commenting on the weather or something, but no more serious conversations were started. They just listened to the radio droning on; Ginny occasionally sang with a song that she knew.
About an hour later, Ginny pulled up the car in front of the Leaky Cauldron. After grabbing the bags off of the back seat, they both exited the car and entered the pub.
The Leaky Cauldron was eerily empty, as would be suspected for three o'clock in the morning. Ginny had never seen the place so silent, so calm, there was always some on in the establishment making some sort of din, but now it was deathly quiet. There was only one person in the room, a bar man who was sitting behind the counter, nodding off slowly.
"Well, you can go home now if you want Gin" Draco told her. "I can tell your mother would be sick with worry if she woke up and realized that her little girl was gone"
"Yeah, I should get going. I need to get home before Bill rats on me to mum and dad. " Ginny replied. "But are you sure you will be ok by yourself? I mean, I can stay if you want....."
"I'll be fine Gin, I am a full grown wizard and everything" He laughed. Ginny nodded and handed over the bag that she had been carrying.
"I will come back in a few hours and we can look at that house, maybe we can have lunch together." She told him.
"Yeah, I'll buy, you deserve it for driving me here" Draco smiled. "But now, you have to go home and get some sleep."
"I am not tired" She yawned. Draco laughed.
"Drive safe Ginny" He smiled, pulling her into a quick hug "Thank you"
After one last quick smile, and another promise that she would be back later, Ginny made her way back to the car so that she could drive home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The old wooden stairs creaked under Ginny's feet as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom. No one in the house was awake, so she didn't have to put up with any questions.
She had come through the back door, returned the keys to the hook. And now she was on her way to her bedroom so that she could prepare for bed.
She pulled back her blankets, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hey all, I am sorry this chapter isn't very long. I hope the next one will be longer.
Thank you to all of you who reviewed the last chapter, I hope you all find it in your hearts to review this one! Thanks.
She would have left hours ago, had it not been for her family. She excused herself to bed at her normal time, and then, had to wait for the others to all go to bed before she could sneak back down. But she had to admit that she was lucky, because usually Ron didn't go to sleep at all on his holidays.
But now, Ron had been asleep for a few hours and she was sneaking through the house and out to the garage where she would 'borrow' her fathers new car to drive to Malfoy manor and pick up Draco.
After the incident with the flying ford, Arthur had brought a new car, but did not fit it with the same extras as the last car. This one did not fly or turn invisible; this one was just a normal car that Arthur used when he seriously needed it.
When they still had the flying ford, Arthur had taught each of his children how to drive, just in case they were ever stranded in the muggle world and had no choice but to drive a car. None of the kids had the legal driving permits, but they could each drive if they ever had to.
Driving the car to Draco's house would be no big deal; the biggest problem that could arise would be getting to Draco with out being caught by his mother, or worse, his father.
Ginny reached the back door, and looked at the keys hook. There were house keys, shed keys and keys to the locked room at the top of the stairs (That was the room that Molly kept Fred and George's jokes in, if you tried to pick up the keys, your hands would burn) but the car keys were not on the hook that they usually were.
"Shit" she muttered, and opened a few of the kitchen draws. Some times her father threw they keys in there. They were not in the draws.
"Double shit" Ginny groaned. There was only one place that the keys could be, and that was the ignition of the car.
The night air had a soft refreshing chill to it as Ginny opened the back door to the burrow and moved across the lawn to the garage. Opening the side door quietly, so that the creak of the hinges would not wake up any one in the house, Ginny entered the garage.
And the car was gone.
A string of curse words erupted from her mouth as she looked at the empty spot where her father's car was usually parked. Where could the car be? Had it been stolen? Had it been lent to some one? Had her father sold the car while she was at Hogwarts?
She felt like crying, now she had no way of getting to Malfoy Manor and helping Draco move out. She would just have to wait till morning and then call him, explain the situation, and hope that he was not two angry.
Suddenly, the garage door began to open.
Arthur had installed one of those automatic door opener things (no one knew why when he could just use his wand.). The whirling of the motor on the opener startled her, and Ginny jumped into the shadows of the garage, waiting for the car to be parked back in its spot.
The car came to a complete stop, the door opened, and Bill stepped out. He was whistling and throwing the car keys from hand to hand. Stepping out of the shadows, Ginny watched as her older brother moved to the side door.
"Good evening William" Ginny began; Bill jumped and turned to where Ginny was standing.
"Virginia, what are you doing out here?" Bill asked. Ginny shot him her most innocent smile and moved to him, taking the keys from his hand.
"I am stealing the car" She replied simply. Bill rubbed his eyes, and then looked at his little sister as she climbed into the driver's seat.
"Ginny, you can't steal the car, mum and dad don't know..." Bill began to lecture; Ginny wound down the window and smiled sweetly at Bill again.
"Did they know that you took the car?" She asked. Bill blushed a little. "I didn't think so"
"But that is completely different Gin, I am old enough to drive" Bill replied.
"And I need the car for an emergency" Ginny replied, slipping the key into the ignition. Bill reached into the car and took they keys out.
"I can't let you go Ginny" Bill replied. Ginny sighed and got out of the car.
"Oh, really, and what are you going to do about it?" Ginny asked, snatching the keys back.
Bill grabbed the keys from her hand. "I'll tell mum!"
"If you tell mum about me, I will tell mum that you had the car as well. I will also tell her that a few years back it was you who stole the money from her bag, all so you could buy your girlfriend a present. I will tell her that it was really you that shoved Charlie from his broom that time that he broke his arm. I will tell mum that it was you who passed down the Play Wizard collection to the twins. I will tell her ......" Ginny began to list as she reached for the keys again. Bill held them above his head. He would always be taller than his little sister, so he would always win by doing that.
"Black mail is not cool Gin" Bill warned, still waving the keys in the air above his head.
Ginny hit him in the stomach, hard, and he doubled over in pain, dropping the keys to the floor. "You started it"
She picked up the keys and got back into the car, starting up the engine.
"I am a responsible driver Bill, better than Percy even. I can handle what I have to do. I am just taking the care for a quick drive to go pick up one of my friends, and then to Diagon Alley where he can get a place to stay. I have left mum and dad a note, and I will be back before mum wakes up." Ginny assured him. "Come on Bill, have I ever given you a reason to not trust me?"
Ginny shot her brother her best innocent look and 'trust me' smile, and then put the car in reverse.
"I am not happy about this Gin" Bill told her. She shrugged and began to reverse the car out of the garage.
"I am not happy about a lot of things, but that does not mean I have the power to change them"
So Bill just stood, and watched his little sister speed off into the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Draco sat at his bedroom window and waited. It was 11:59, and he was still waiting for Ginny to come and get him like she had said she would.
He truly believed that she would be there for him. Ginny would not let him down. He had faith that she would come for him tonight, because she said that she would, and she was a girl of her word.
His day had gone slow since the fight he had had with his father that morning. Spending the day by himself in his bed room, he read a few of his books, and went over some of the paper work that he needed to fill out before starting work.
The minutes since his floo call to Ginny had ticked by painfully slow. He had packed and repacked his clothing and necessities, he had made a large dent in his fathers vault (enough to have him living comfortably for along time.), he had written another letter to Kayla (one that he was not going to send, but it helped to have his thoughts of her down on paper.) and then, he had even had a nap.
By the time he had done all that, it was only 2 pm.
He sat quietly during the other two meals that he had to share with his parents. His eyes never left his plate, and his father never said anything to him. Both of the Malfoy men just sat, and listened to Narcissa go on and on about the new designer outfit that she wished to buy.
After dinner, he showered and changed, then just sat, staring out of the window, waiting for Ginny to arrive. He could not believe he was finally moving out of his father's house. He had been waiting for this for so long.
He had no misty eyed flash backs of exciting, happy times that he had spent in this house, because truthfully, there were no exciting, happy times there. Maybe a few from when he was younger and he didn't remember them well, but nothing recent stuck out in his mind as exciting.
He was ready to move out, into his own place and make new, exciting, happy memories there. Make memories there with his daughter, and even make memories there with Ginny. Ginny was his close friend, and he could predict that she would be spending a lot of time there with him over the coming months, especially if she would be helping him with his custody case.
Ginny had become his strength. It was strange, because Draco had never depended on any one but himself. Not his mother, definitely not his father, and Draco had never even depended on Jessica as much as he depended on Ginny.
Draco sighed and looked at his watch again, 12:09am. He still had hope, she would be there. He stretched out on the window seat, and soon fell asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A loud bang erupted Draco from his thoughts. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked out of the window. Fireworks rained down around the car that was parked out on the street. Draco rubbed his eyes again; Ginny was leaning against the car.
Draco stood and collected his bags before moving out of his bedroom. He stopped for one last look of the room he had grown up in, the room he had been held prisoner in for the last 17 years. He would not miss it.
He swiftly moved down the halls to the front door of the house. He looked behind him, but he still felt no remorse for leaving in the middle of the night. Smiling, he opened the door, and left.
"You are late!" Draco accused jokingly as he threw his bags into the car. Ginny made her way back to the drives side door and entered the car. Draco got in his own side.
"What do you mean I am late?" She asked, starting up the car.
"You said you would be here in the night, it is now officially morning" he told her as he leaned across and waved his watch in front of her eyes. Ginny grinned and slapped his hand away.
"You are so ungrateful, you get me out of bed to come and drive your ass around, and you complain because I picked you up late!" She smiled as she pulled out onto the empty street.
"Sorry, thank you for coming to get me" Draco smiled and relaxed into the seat a little more. Ginny looked a cross at him. She wondered if he had ever been in a car before.
"It is ok; you just have to remember that you owe me!"
They talked for a while about the last few days. Draco explained the fight with his father, and Ginny explained the fight with Bill over the car keys. He laughed when she told him that she hit Bill.
"So, how much money did you steal?" Ginny asked. Draco looked at his three bags in the back seat. He didn't have the heart to tell her that the third (and largest) bag was filled to breaking point with money. He knew that even just a handful of that money was enough to look after the Weasley family for a very long time. He didn't want it to seem like he was rubbing it in that he had money and she didn't.
"A fair bit" he replied simply.
"On the back seat there is a newspaper, you can look at the for rent places if you want" Ginny suggested, Draco reached behind him picked up the edition of 'The very Early Prophet'.
Draco opened it to the real estate section and scanned the adds as Ginny turned on the muggle radio and began singing along with a few of the songs that Hermione had taught her. Draco laughed.
There were a few reasonable apartments and town houses in the diagon alley area; the best was one that was in a complex behind Gringotts. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom, fully furnished town house with a spacious living area and a small back yard. The price that they were asking was not to steep, especially not with the money he had stolen from his dad, and the steady pay check he would be getting from his job when he started it.
In his head he began to picture the house. He thought of his own room, and then how he could decorate the other room for Kayla. He pictured himself sitting in the living room with his daughter on his lap reading her stories. Draco saw himself and Kayla chasing each other around the back yard. He saw them decorating the Christmas tree that would go in the living room....
"Any thing interesting?" Ginny asked after a few minutes silence. Draco, who had been brought out of his thoughts by the sound of her voice, turned and smiled at her.
"Two bedroom, one bath room, fully furnished, with excellent rent" Draco replied.
"We should check it out tomorrow" Ginny told him. Draco smiled. "The sooner you move in some where, the sooner you will be settled"
"And the sooner I am settled and start working, the sooner we can get on with getting my little girl back." Draco finished Ginny's thought for her. She smiled.
"I guess I say that a lot don't I?" She asked, Draco laughed.
"It just helps me remember what I am working towards" Draco told her.
After that they drove in silence. Every now and then they would say something to each other, commenting on the weather or something, but no more serious conversations were started. They just listened to the radio droning on; Ginny occasionally sang with a song that she knew.
About an hour later, Ginny pulled up the car in front of the Leaky Cauldron. After grabbing the bags off of the back seat, they both exited the car and entered the pub.
The Leaky Cauldron was eerily empty, as would be suspected for three o'clock in the morning. Ginny had never seen the place so silent, so calm, there was always some on in the establishment making some sort of din, but now it was deathly quiet. There was only one person in the room, a bar man who was sitting behind the counter, nodding off slowly.
"Well, you can go home now if you want Gin" Draco told her. "I can tell your mother would be sick with worry if she woke up and realized that her little girl was gone"
"Yeah, I should get going. I need to get home before Bill rats on me to mum and dad. " Ginny replied. "But are you sure you will be ok by yourself? I mean, I can stay if you want....."
"I'll be fine Gin, I am a full grown wizard and everything" He laughed. Ginny nodded and handed over the bag that she had been carrying.
"I will come back in a few hours and we can look at that house, maybe we can have lunch together." She told him.
"Yeah, I'll buy, you deserve it for driving me here" Draco smiled. "But now, you have to go home and get some sleep."
"I am not tired" She yawned. Draco laughed.
"Drive safe Ginny" He smiled, pulling her into a quick hug "Thank you"
After one last quick smile, and another promise that she would be back later, Ginny made her way back to the car so that she could drive home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The old wooden stairs creaked under Ginny's feet as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom. No one in the house was awake, so she didn't have to put up with any questions.
She had come through the back door, returned the keys to the hook. And now she was on her way to her bedroom so that she could prepare for bed.
She pulled back her blankets, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hey all, I am sorry this chapter isn't very long. I hope the next one will be longer.
Thank you to all of you who reviewed the last chapter, I hope you all find it in your hearts to review this one! Thanks.