Authour Note: I believe that this is the last chapter for this story. But thanks so much for the overwhelming support and good reviews that I've gotten for this story. It would be great if I got over 100 reviews, but I know that's not going to happen. But again, thanks so much for all that you do. You guys keep me writing. Also, I know at the beginning of the story I said that Ron had given Ginny his owl Pig when he had left England, but then I wrote about him and Hermione in the last chapter. So let's just say that he gave her the owl a few years ago but now he's back but has a different owl. Ok? Good. Ten points to the person who can recognize what line I stole from a 'Buffy' episode. And another 10 fanfiction points to whoever finds the line from Wayne's World.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that has been copyrighted or is owned by Warner Brothers, J.K. Rowling, Joss Whedon, or The Music Man etc.

The opportunities for heroism are limited in this kind of world: the most people can do is sometimes not to be as weak as they've been at other times.                                                                                                             - Angus Wilson

                                                                                               

Ginny sat in her living room folding what seemed like the umpteenth laundry load she had done that day. She stared off into space, bored out of her mind, hands folding and pressing as if on autopilot. It seemed like she had been home for years, dicking around the house and watching so much of a Muggle soap opera "Passions" that she could actually follow the plot line without trouble. She'd even gotten so desperate that she'd actually done the dirty laundry that Harry had strewn around his room. Her friends were all at work and Harry had been called away a lot recently so Ginny had been pretty lonely.

The setting sun shone through the windows, streaking the furniture and the walls with shades of orange and red. Ginny sighed, not looking forward to making yet another meal for one. 'Fuck it!' she thought. 'I'm going patrolling, screw the order. I'm going to go crazy if I stay shut up in here a moment longer.'

Grabbing her weapons bag that she still kept by the door, Ginny headed out into the night. She'd overheard Harry talking about a nest of vamps that had just placed their lair behind the club Mudpuddle, not one of her favourite places. But Ginny was getting a little too restless; she needed to do something, slay something, and this time she wasn't going to let her personal feelings get in the way.

Depressing thoughts started to creep into her mind, but she roughly pushed them away. She needed a clear, empty mind before she started, or this session could end with disastrous results. Ginny hoisted the bad higher on her shoulder, staring at her shoes so that no one would recognize her at the club she had frequented until recently. Too late.

'Ginny!' Looking around, she located Dylan walking up to her from the parking lot.

'Oh God, not now!' she thought. 'This is the last thing I need.'

'I haven't seen you in a long time. How've you been?' Dylan eyed her like a kid in a candy store.

'Busy.' The answer was short, her tone clipped.

'Where've you been?'

'Around.' Clearly Ginny was wanting to put an end to the conversation as quickly as possible.

'That's good…great…well, I should get back to my friends.'

'You do that.' Ginny breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Dylan lope away. Now back to the task at hand.

The lair wasn't hard to find. Ginny just had to follow the smell of blood and decay that she scented behind the club, that led to an old abandoned shack.

As quietly as possible, Ginny got stakes out of her bag and set it down out of the way. Breathing deeply a few times, she readied herself for the action. This would be a pretty big fight, as the sun had just set, and so the nest wouldn't have broken up to go and feed yet.

With a well-placed kick, the old door splintered easily, surprising the vampires inside. Ginny walked in confidently, stake in hand.

'Slayer,' a female vampire hissed.

'I can't fault your observations there, but we'll have time to chat a little later over tea and crumpets. Sound good?'

Her only answer was a deep growl, echoed by the rest of the group who were slowly advancing to form a tight crescent in front of Ginny. Deciding that it would give her better odds if she fought in a more open area, Ginny quickly backed out over the threshold and into the large concrete space behind the club. Growling, the vampires filed out in the twilight, and stood waiting.

'Are we going to do this or what? Because I can wait as long as you can, but I don't have the same daylight restriction that you do.'

'Do you think these little quips are going to get you anywhere?' another of the group stepped forward.

Ginny shrugged. 'No, but they do help alleviate the boredom a little, don't you think?'

On a signal from the female vampire Ginny had conversed with earlier, who appeared to be the leader of this rough-and-tumble group, 3 vampires started towards her.

Ginny whistled low in her throat. 'Trouble in River City.'

                                                                                                           

Draco walked quickly down Ginny's street, staying in the shadows, opting for little visibility. Hoping that Hermione had been able to explain things a bit better to Ginny, he decided to go and see her again. But Ginny's house was completely dark, and so Draco hurried on. It was still early twilight and a Thursday, so if Ginny wasn't at home, she was most likely slaying. Draco set off for her most frequented patrolling route, but the slayer was nowhere to be seen. Three other quick route searches yielded as little success. Coming off the last route, Draco found that he was right by that damn Mudpuddle club and seeing it brought back the pain and depression of the mistakes he had made. Merlin, he needed a drink, and the one good thing about the club was that it had alcohol in spades.

As Draco neared the line, his ears picked up the sound of fighting, and he was able to detect that there was a sense of actual urgency and professionalism in it, not just foolishness that stems from some bar fight. The yuppies standing around the outside of the club had clearly not heard what Draco had, and so he ducked around the building without notice. As he neared the back of the club, the sound of fighting got louder, bringing back the time he and Ginny had vanquished those demons, forcing them together. Shaking his head to clear those thoughts, Draco readied himself to go save some damsel in distress.

Looking around the corner, Draco spotted his girlfriend, sorry, ex-girlfriend fighting a handful of vampires, many more watching and waiting for their turn. He watched as Ginny dusted two vampires, but then saw the three vampires that stepped in. Draco had been looking for a patrolling Ginny, and now he had found her, doing just that. But ex-girlfriend or not, he couldn't leave her there, no matter how much she would hate him for interfering in the morning.

He took off running for her. 'Ginny!'

                                                                                                           

Ginny's head snapped up at the sound of her name. She caught a flash of a blond figure moving quickly towards her. Draco. At that point, she had never been so happy to see anybody in her entire life. But as he neared, she realized she needed to get back to business. Grabbing a stake from her back pocket, she tossed it to Draco and then focussed on the two vamps in front of her. With a quick one-two, she slayed them, but instead of waiting for more to approach, she walked towards them with a newfound confidence. Having followed in her quick footsteps, Draco demolished his vampires and met up with her to form a solid team.

Out of the side of her mouth, Ginny whispered to him, 'what are you doing here?'

'I was in the area, and it sounded like a good time. Best party I've ever been to, but not the best guest list in the world.'

'Everyone's a comedian, especially in the face of impending doom. Kill anyone you want, except for the head vamp. She's mine.'

Noticing that particular vampire eye the redhead hungrily, Draco shook his head slightly. 'What did she do to piss you off?'

'Nothing in particular. I just don't like her.'

'Sucks to be her.'

Meanwhile, the vampires had just stood there, watching the humans. Noting the lack of killing, the head vampire growled angrily. 'You idiots, don't just stand there! There are more of you than there is of them! Attack them!'

'Ooh, someone must've gotten up on the wrong side of the grave this evening,' Ginny drawled.

'You're really starting to annoy me, Slayer.'

'Don't worry, the feeling's mutual. And my name is Ginny.'

On that, 10 vampires rushed forward, leaving the head vampire and her apparent lackey. Ginny and Draco quickly stood back to back, keeping the team mentality. The vampires were clearly new at the hidden strength thing, and were all very awkward in their fighting. Two of Ginny's were staked as they ran forward, not bothering to cover themselves. But it still took the pair a good twenty minutes to slay all of the young vampires, Draco finally killing his last one by pinning him to a wall, with a stake through his no longer beating heart.

The head vampire and her sidekick walked towards the two humans. 'So Slayer, you bested my minions. Maybe you are good enough for me to fight. But don't hope to come out of it alive. I have great plans for you.'

'Keep your damn plans to yourself. And I should offer the same advice towards you.'

'Why? I'm not alive anyway.'

'Oh…shut up.' (A/N: Don't you hate when someone has a really great insult but you have nothing?) The two women broke off from the little group and started to circle each other, sizing each other up, looking for weaknesses. Draco took that as his cue to pair off with the vampire in front of him.

'I'm sorry I don't have any witty lines or quips to throw your way,' Draco called over.

'Pity.'

While Draco's fight was pretty one-sided, he noticed that Ginny and the female vampire were almost evenly matched. With every hard punch or kick delivered by one, another would be received right back. After killing many vampires, Ginny was starting to tire rapidly, while her vampire was still fresh. Draco dusted his vamp just in time to turn and see the head vampire deliver a vicious punch to Ginny's face. She swayed violently, and then dropped to the ground, clearly not getting up again.

'Ginny!' he cried out, his call echoing a previous one, but only got the attention of the female vampire who grinned toothily at him.

'So you're the slayer's guy. You can see she cares about you a lot. That's why I'm going to get such a kick out of killing you.'

Trying to buy himself more time, Draco tried to engage her in a little bit of talking. 'You can see all of that from seeing us fight together for a few minutes?'

'Look kid, you don't get to be as old as I am without learning shrewd observational skills. Now, I'm getting bored, and I have an appointment across town, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to skip to the point where I kill you.' The vampire advanced towards him, but Draco backed up quickly, hands out as if to push her away.

'Whoa, whoa, you're a bit cocky there. You don't think I could be the one doing the killing?'

'I've already put your little girlfriend out of commission and she's a slayer. What chance do you think you have? Honestly, you humans…always thinking you're invincible. When will you people learn?' the vampire shook her head, clearly wondering what had happened to the world since she had been alive.

Draco pulled out his wand, causing the female to laugh. 'What do you plan to do with that? You can't kill me; I'm already dead. Unless you're planning to stake me with that, you might as well throw it away. Wands only work on demons. Don't you know anything? Stupid humans, you-' but before she could say anything else, her mouth formed an 'o' of surprise, and looking down, she saw a stake protruding from her heart.

'No one talks to my boyfriend like that.' The vampire exploded into dust, revealing a bloodied Ginny holding a stake, grinning idiotically. 'I really didn't like her.'

Draco reached out and lightly touched a cut on her forehead. 'Are you okay?'

Ginny waved him away, laughing quietly. 'Just a surface wound.'

They stood there awkwardly for a minute in silence, but the muffled pounding of the club music brought them back to the situation. Ginny looked around, a small smile on her face. 'This is it, where we met again. Where it all began.'

Draco shuffled his feet, hands in pockets. 'Seems a fitting place for it to end, too.'

She was a bit confused. 'For what to end?'

'Our relationship.'

The smile quickly disappeared from her face, and Ginny remained silent, but the look in her rapidly tearing blue eyes screamed for a better answer.

Draco started to walk around restlessly, trying to control his emotions. 'I don't know if Hermione was able to say anything to you, but judging by your lack of questions, I'm going to assume that she wasn't very successful, at any rate. So I've finally realized that you won't believe me without proof, and it's not in my power to provide you with concrete paper evidence. But I'd rather have us leave each other on good terms instead of you hating me. I mean, why wouldn't you? I hate myself too. That's why I came looking for you, to try and make some things right between us.'

Ginny was still incapable of speech, but a few tears had leaked out, in remembrance of the pain she'd felt during the past few days. Seeing this, Draco stepped towards her, wanting to comfort her, but with a tremendous effort, he restrained himself, and carried on with his speech.

'I hate myself for letting it come to this. I should have realized that having you was enough; I didn't need to put our relationship in jeopardy to fuel some hero complex of mine. But now its too late,' his voice dropped, 'and I've done what I could, but too little, too late I guess.'

Ginny's interest was piqued during the last interlude, and she edged nearer to Draco. 'What do you mean, did all you could? Did you quit your job?' her voice lifted with hope.

Draco turned to her, scarcely hoping that she believed him. 'In a manner of speaking. I just got them to reassign me to another task.'

'So what does that mean?'

'I don't understand.' Draco looked blankly at her.

'You quitting your job…what does that mean…y'know…for us?'

'Is there still an us?'

'I'd like there to be.'

Now it was Draco's turn to be speechless.

Ginny shyly touched him on the shoulder, trying to somehow express the emotions she was feeling. 'Its been hell for me without you. I've realized that I don't want to live without you with me. And that realization hurt even more when I thought that you were running around on me.'

Draco looked up at that. 'Thought? As in past tense?'

Ginny shook her head, a bit exasperated. 'Let me finish. And yes, thought, as in the past tense of think. I know the sense of dedication and honour you have, so I know that you'll follow through with whatever order you've been given, to an extent, even if it goes against your morals. And I believe Hermione as well. She's the smartest person I know, and if she can see that you're telling the truth, then I can see it to.'

He grasped her hands and looked down into her eyes. 'Is it asking a lot for you to believe me just based on what you see? Ignoring everyone else?'

'I do. That's what I realized when you came in and saved me again. I do believe you, and I do know that you won't do this again but…damn you.'

Draco smiled. 'Why?'

'For making me love you too much.'

'Well, I seem to have that affect.' Still smiling, he leaned in to kiss her. BAM!!

Draco came to, flat on his back in the dirt, lights exploding in his vision, head pounding but face completely numb. When his vision cleared, he saw Ginny standing over him, hands on hips. 'Are you okay?' she asked, not sounding very concerned.

'I tink do broke by dose,' he garbled, gingerly prodding his face.

'Easily fixable,' Ginny scoffed as she hauled Draco to his feet. 'But do you see what I'll do to you if you ever run around me again?'

'Its crystal.' But as soon as he was upright, blood started to undulate from his nose.

Ginny started laughing. 'Poor baby. Let me make it better.' With a flick of her wand, the blood stopped and the pain was gone. 'How about we go home?'

Draco stopped to look at her. 'Home?'

'Yeah, home. A place of living, a residence. Ever heard of it?'

'Very funny. Just because you're better than me doesn't mean you're all superior.'

'Well, it does actually.'

Grabbing her hand, Draco started to gently pull her along. 'What are you doing tonight?'

'Excuse me?'

'Do you have other plans, or was kicking ass the only activity on your schedule?'

Ginny looked up at him, forehead slightly creased in confusion. 'I'm free. Why?'

'Well,' Draco looked around, 'how would you like to go dancing? We're right by the club, and its about time I started to treat you right. How about a date?'

Ginny glanced down and then back up in dismay. 'But I'm not dressed for dancing.'

'Easily fixable,' he mimicked, and then pulled out his wand. Checking that no Muggles were around, he waved his wand, and like magic, she was clad in a suitable outfit.

Since they both were friendly with the bouncer, they bypassed the line and entered to the club.

Turning to smile seductively at Draco, Ginny pulled him into the crowd, and together, they got lost in the flashing lights and thumping music. But the point is, they were together.

LE FIN

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A/N: So I'm finally done this. YAY! I was thinking that Ginny was getting pretty sappy and too forgiving near the end, and so I thought that the punch was a good way to get her back on track. Plus, it would be pretty funny. Please review, and let me know what you think of this story. And feel free to check out my other stories. I have a few other G/Ds up, but I also have a Sirius/Hermione if you're into the offbeat stuff. And for the mainstreamers (don't worry, I'm one too), I also have a H/G and a James/Lily. Have a great day! (You can tell I'm pretty excited about finishing another one.)

10 points go to those who realized that 'just because you're better than me doesn't make you all superior' was from Buffy and 'well it does actually' was from Wayne's World. Obscure quotes I know.

Review please and thanks! I can't believe I'm done with this story.