Something Tells Me You're The One
By Roni Black

Chapter Eight

Draco and Ginny rented a room in a hotel for the night.

"Can you believe it?" Ginny whispered into the darkness. "Tomorrow at this hour, we'll be married."

"Yeah..." Draco inhaled deeply. He kept thinking about his parents and how they threw him out of the house. Now, the only one he had in the world was Ginny.

"Do you realize that I have nobody else but you?" he whispered.

Ginny stared at him; she hadn't realized that. "Well, you're the only one I have now, too."

"No, Ginny, don't say that. I'm not the only one. You still have parents, they didn't tell you to leave the house. Their house is still your home, you can go there whenever you want. And they must be worried sick about you."

"No," said Ginny determinedly. "If they don't accept you, I don't want them as my family. My parents should understand, I'm their daughter! Don't they want me to be happy?"

"Ginny, you'll never be happy without your family..."

"Sure I will!" She cried. "I only need you in order to be happy. Trust me, Draco, I am happy."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!" screamed Mrs. Weasley.

Everybody rushed upstairs, towards the source of the scream.

"Mom?" shouted Ron, running upwards and skipping every second stair, "What happened?"

"She's - she's - GONE!"

"WHAT?"

Ron broke into Ginny's bedroom, and after him came rushing and wide-eyed with fright, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill, Hermione, Harry, Allison and Mr. Weasley.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" screamed Mrs. Weasley, totally hysterical, her face red. "WHERE IS GINNY? SHE'S GONE!"

"Oh my God," whispered Mr. Weasley, staring around at the Ginny-less room.

"Think, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione softly in Mrs. Weasley's ear. "You talked to her only fifteen minutes ago. Did she say anything that may give us an idea about the place to which she might have gone?"

"I - I don't know," choked Mrs. Weasley, "I t-told her that - that I won't allow her to marry a Malfoy, and she said something like - 'it's not up to you at all', and then she ran out of the room - "

" - and now she's gone," finished Mr. Weasley, who looked a little shaky.

"OK," said Hermione. "I think this gives us a very good idea."

"What are you talking about?" asked George.

"Don't you think it's possible that she went to meet Malfoy?" said Hermione.

Everybody stared at each other, considering this idea.

"It's the only possibily," continued Hermione. "She told you that she was going to marry Malfoy, hoping you would agree. Malfoy must have known about it. He probably told his parents, too, and I'll be extremely surprised if they agreed."

"So you think Malfoy left his house too, and now they're together somewhere?" asked Ron nervously.

"Very much likely," answered Hermione.

"But WHERE are they?" cried Mr. Weasly.

Nobody said anything for a few seconds; then Allison, Bill's wife, talked for the first time. "Maybe they ran off to get married."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ginny fell asleep about five minutes after they went to bed. Draco, however, lay awake for a long time. He stared out of the window, at the big white moon, and thought...

Was Ginny really happy? He turned and looked at her sleeping figure; her long red hair was resting upon her face and shoulders. She was sleeping so peacefully. Would she sleep like that if she was unhappy?

No.

He remembered her words: "I only need you in order to be happy." Yes, he knew what she meant, he was never happier than this in his entire life... ever since he fell in love with Ginny, he discovered what true happiness meant. Yes, she was the only thing he needed to be happy. But that was because he loved her so badly... did she love him that way too?

Obviously she does, he told himself. She left her family to marry me, didn't she?

Suddenly a loud knock at the door cut off his thoughts, and he jumped in surprise. He started for the door, but suddenly stopped: what if it was his or Ginny's family, trying to stop them from getting married? Maybe he shouldn't open? Maybe he should wake up Ginny and they both should run away as fast as possible?

The knock repeated again. Obviously, a not-so-patient person was standing outside.

He couldn't just ignore it. He went to the door and said in a low voice: "Who is it?"

"It's me. Hermione. Open up, we need to talk."

HERMIONE GRANGER? What the hell was she doing here? How had she found them? Or was it a trick? Was Ginny's family out there with her, waiting for the door to open so they could force Ginny to go back home?

"Are you alone?" he asked.

"Of course I'm alone," said Hermione's voice impatiently.

"How will I be sure I can trust you?"

"Hello? I'm Ginny's friend! I've come to talk to both of you, I'm not trying to break you two up! Will you let me in now?"

Draco sighed and opened the door. Hermione came in. She looked very tired, with big dark circles around her eyes. But Draco noticed something else: she was looking at him in a new way, in a way she'd never looked at him before. As if she was wondering if she had been mistaken about him all those years.

"Why is it dark?" she asked.

"Ginny's asleep."

"Wake her up then. The three of us must talk, right now."

"But she just fell asleep... I don't want to wake her up."

Hermione looked as if she was going to go to the bed and wake Ginny herself, but she changed her mind. "Fine, we can wake her up later. Meanwhile, I'll talk to you. Where can we talk normally without worrying about waking her up?"

"There's another small room in here," he said and led her to the other side of the room. They entered it and sat down on a small sofa.

"Listen, Malfoy," said Hermione immediately. "I'm not sure I can trust you, and I know you don't trust me, but we'll both have to do our best, because Ginny believes in us, and we both have Ginny's best in heart. I want you to know this: I'm Ginny's friend. I have no interest in separating the two of you up. I only want Ginny to be happy, and if you make her happy, I have no problem with that. I hope you believe me."

"I believe you," replied Draco quietly.

"Good. Another thing. I'm not a problem for you. The problem is your families."

"You mean Ginny's family."

"No, I mean YOUR families. Your family too, Mal- can I call you Draco? I mean, if you're going to be Ginny's husband, it would be ridiculous if I still called you by your last name."

"Yes, call me Draco."

"Good. Now, your family is a problem too, Draco. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I guess you told your parents about Ginny and they didn't agree, and that's why you two ran away."

"That's right."

"OK. I'm going to help you. Just tell me one thing before I start. Do you truly love Ginny with all your heart, and want to marry her and spend the rest of your life with her, and to make her happy?"

"I do."

"Good. I'll help you then."

"How?"

"I guess I'll start with Ginny's family. When I convince them, I'll move on to yours."

"No! Don't!" He cried, so suddenly Hermione backed away, looking alarmed. "My father will kill you! Don't you understand? You're a Muggle-born, he won't listen to a word you have to say."

"What about your mother? Can she convince him?"

"No. She's too weak. Besides, her opinions are identical."

"Does she hate Muggle-borns too?"

"She doesn't hate them. She dislikes them, and she won't make friends with one, but she wouldn't decide not to listen to you just because your parents are Muggles."

"So I have a better chance of convincing your mother."

"You can't convince her."

"Why not?"

"If I couldn't, do you think you could?"

"Why not?"

"Maybe because I'm her son?!"

"I know that. But I think she would be ready to listen if I can talk to her alone, without your father around, because he would just kill me at once."

"But even if you convince her, what about my father? No one will ever convince him. Ever."

"So we can give up the idea of convincing him, and settle for your mother. If she's convinced, she can leave her house, move to another place and keep in touch with you and Ginny after you're married."

"But..."

"What?"

"I'm not sure she'd leave my father."

"Why? Does she love him that much?"

"No. She doesn't love him, but she's a little afraid of him."

"That won't be a problem. Everybody knows he was supposed to be in prison anyway. If he dares to do something to her, he will be sent to prison immediately."

"I guess..."

"So here's the plan. You and Ginny will wait. You will not get married until I convince Ginny's family and your mother."

"What if you don't succeed?"

"Don't I deserve a chance? Let's give it one week. If after one week I don't convince them, you can get married. But I know it's important for both of you, so give it a chance."

Draco took a deep breath and nodded. "OK."

"Fine, I'm going now, and I'll start first thing in the morning and let you two know soon about the results. Tell Ginny as soon as possible. You can owl me any time, of course. So... good night, Draco."

"Good night, Hermione."

They both stood up.

Hermione looked as if she was about to say something; then she changed her mind and bit her lip; but afterwards decided to say it anyway. "Listen... take care of her, OK?"

Draco smiled and nodded. "Thank you... Hermione. And good night."

With a loud crack, Hermione Disapparated, and Draco found himself staring into the empty room in front of him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author's Note: It's really fun to read your reviews, thank you and keep it up!!! By the way: have you noticed I didn't include Percy in the Weasley family? It's because I've never forgiven him for his betrayal in Book 5.

Americasweetie: Ginny's name is pronounced Jinny, yes. Have you watched the movies? They say it there.

Darcy: I really don't like Draco's character that much in the books. I don't like his behaviour. That's why I change him. I think a character that changes is much more interesting than one that don't. ;-)