Ginny Weasley played with a piece of her coppery hair, twirling it about in tight circles. It truly wasn't all that amusing, just sitting on a wonderful day at the end of July and playing with her own hair, but it hardly amounted to the "fun" that her mother considered denoming the garden. Harry had gone out earlier and Ginny had watched him perceptibly, amazed at her own ability to not take even the shortest glance at his tightened rear. Ron and Hermione had barely noticed her arrival to the Burrow just a few short days ago; when they were in her presence they barely kept out of each others arms for a few seconds.
Of course, Ron had no issues with arguing with his mother for hours over Ginny's lack of participation in denoming. In fact, the argument had only just recently ended and Ginny had finally heard her brother depart, slander in hand, to the backyard. It wasn't in point that she didn't want to do the work, it would probably take her mind away from the things that had been bothering her anyway, it was more of the fact that her mother refused to let her do anything.
Mrs. Weasley had recognized Ginny's miserable behavior the moment she walked back into the burrow; her motherly instincts had kicked in since that second and Ginny had spent her time at home concentrating hours on a single lock of hair or working on her homework (which she of course had loads of). Most things didn't take the pain away from her brain or the pain from her heart.
She hated thinking about Draco as much as she did. When he wasn't invading her thoughts during the day he was there during the night in her dreams, quieting her with his rough and moist kisses as well as his delicate caresses. It wasn't his invasion into her mind that bothered her as much as his memory, for when she truly thought long and hard about him she could only remember the cruelty and yet longing in his face when he had told her to leave. The thought brought tears to her eyes and she lifted the hair twirled finger up to brush them away. She knew somewhere in the back of her mind that Draco Malfoy was not worth her tears anymore.
"Ginny?" A voice came from behind her and she jumped as Harry laid a small hand on her shoulder, making her limbs tense. It wasn't a delicate and intricate touch like Draco's had always been…the love was missing…and his hand felt stony cold through her sundress.
"What do you want?" She turned abruptly to face him. The summer sun had done him well as his face was now a color similar to that of the Native Americans she saw in storybooks as a child. His eyes were the most verdant green she had ever seen and his arms glistened in a brilliant hue from sweat and work.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing Ginny." He muttered, sitting in a chair across from her, "Is there something wrong with that?"
"No."
"You have been awfully jumpy lately…is something the matter?" He asked, sounding almost genuinely concerned. He had leaned forward just slightly, his body now only mere inches from hers, his hand resting on the crevice of the seat just before her knee. She shuddered and gave him a look that clearly said to back away for he did so in just split second.
"I honestly don't want to talk about it." She spoke softly. He looked at her again and placed his hand on her knee firmly, his eyes dancing across her face. His stare was impeccably entrancing as his eyes raked her body and face, sending chills up her spine. She hadn't even noticed the small circles the pad of his thumb were now drawing across her knee nor that his gaze held more than just worry and care, but what she did notice was the warmth spreading to the bottom of her stomach. Her eyes had closed on their own accord and she began to hum to herself in attempt to release the frustration growing in the pit of her body.
How his lips had come to be on hers, she wasn't truly sure, but in a flash they were there, sucking on her bottom lip and begging for something more than she could give them. Her body tensed and her mind willed her to step away but her mouth seemed to have other plans as it emitted a humming moan. Her fingers had gone up to tangle in the soft hair at the nape of his neck, so soft and threadbare that she could almost picture its bleach blonde color.
"Draco." She purred. The lips she were kissing pulled away abruptly forcing her to open her eyes and realize that it had been her mind playing tricks on her, for she hadn't been kissing anyone but the ebony haired Harry Potter.
"D-D-Did you just call me D-D-Draco?" He stuttered, stepping away from her. She looked sheepishly to the floor, finding more to reply to from her sandals than from his face. She could feel his eyes still lingering on her and then they were gone. She sighed loudly and fell back into the comfort of the living room chair, taking up a piece of her red hair again and twirling it.
"Bloody brilliant Ginny," She spoke out loud to no one in particular, "wonderful job you just did, kissing Harry and then calling him Draco." She groaned and stood up, wondering just slightly if denoming the garden would get her mind of Draco Malfoy.
~
"Come on Ginny; put some spunk in it I know you can throw harder than that!" Ron Weasley shouted across the garden. Ginny smirked at him before searching again for one of the small creatures wobbling around on legs far too small for their bodies. Upon finding one she picked it up by its ears, staying clear of its mouth, and began to circle it over her head. Faster and faster she span until she let go and the scraggily little thing flew clear over the fence that marked the Burrow's property. She smiled to herself and looked back at Ron, whose expression of happiness could still be seen through the heaping amount of soot and grime on his normally clean face.
"I'm done for today!" She shouted back, plopping down into the sultry earth and soil beneath her. Lying back and fanning out her sundress she felt much cooler and much more relaxed. The sun was hot and unrelentless as it beat down on her furiously. If she didn't know better she could say that a million more freckles than usual were popping up all around her exposed skin, not as if that was a problem. Draco had always loved her healthy freckle smattered skin.
She cursed beneath her breath and mentally kicked herself for thinking of him again. It was pointless in her mind, considering the nature of which he had pushed her away. Surely he didn't care, at least not as much as she thought he had, for otherwise he would be just as in love with her as she was with him. That amount of love could never keep two people apart.
The only thing she wanted more at that moment, sitting outside under the blistering sun, than to actually have him back in her arms was to disagree with what he had said. She hated to admit it, hated to feel it inside her, but she knew it was true…their families never could get along. Ron's temper was worse than hers when lit up and he would never allow them to date let alone see each other. On the way home from Malfoy Manor she had made her mother promise to not bring up her whereabouts to anyone at all when she returned. Ginny had hoped the summer's doings would slip away unnoticed by Ron, Harry, and Hermione. It would be difficult to explain that she had stayed in the Manor at all when she was fully capable of coming home, let alone explain that during the duration of her stay she had fallen in love with and slept with their arch nemesis.
A hand on her shoulder drove her from her reverie and invaded her thoughts more as Hermione sat down beside her. It seemed as if she had finally tamed her bushy auburn hair which was now pulled back off against her face and she was wearing a cute sundress of cornflower yellow. Her legs were tanned from obvious outdoor use and her eyes, which her darker than bitter chocolate, were staring at Ginny intensely.
"Is something bothering you Ginny?" She asked cautiously.
"No…did Harry tell you that?"
"No, I haven't seen Harry yet today. You just have been acting rather peculiar since you returned from…where you had gone."
"Funny you noticed." Ginny spat rather irritably, curling her legs up to her chin.
"Ginny…" Hermione started, looking at her again and running a hand through her long tresses, "Does the relationship Ron and I have bother you?" Ginny looked back at the older girl, who was now staring at the ground, and let her jaw drop. It hadn't come to Ginny's mind that Hermione might think she disliked her relationship. True, Ginny sometimes felt left out, but that was just from nerves and other silly childish things. She loved the fact that Ron was happy and that moreover Hermione was happy. She looked up to both of them, Hermione almost as a sister, and couldn't think about being happier. Ginny could remember feeling quite differently at the beginning of the summer, but now…after all the events that had gone on…her once uneasy stomach had settled.
"Of course not why would you think that?"
"You just seem to distance yourself whenever you see us together. I don't want to cause any problems you know." Hermione replied sheepishly.
"Don't worry Hermione, you aren't." Ginny told her enthusiastically, laying a loving hand on hers in an almost sister-like gesture.
"Well…if Ron and I aren't bothering you…and if Harry isn't bothering you (Hermione gave her a knowing smirk that seemed to say that she knew of Ginny's recovery from her crush) what is bothering you?"
"I…I can't tell you Hermione."
"I know you were working with Draco this summer." She started, staring off into space, "A woman at work mentioned that the Malfoy's had hired a tutor for their son in Charms works and was surprised I wasn't asked. I just put two and two together you know."
"Oh." Was all Ginny could reply, looking down at her sandals again. They were quite intricate actually, much better than looking Hermione in the face at the moment. She knew her eyes could probably reveal every emotion strung together, "Don't tell Ron please Hermione…if he knew…"
"If he knew..?"
"Things…just things Hermione." Ginny grumbled, standing up, "This really isn't open for discussion."
"I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice." The older girl whispered.
"See what?"
"You care about him…Draco I mean." She whispered again, even quieter.
"Do not."
"Do too…I see it every time I look at you. Hell Ginny, I know what it looks like, it was the same look I had every time I looked in the mirror before Ron and I got together. Just admit it to yourself." Ginny sighed and plopped back down again, her eyes feeling ready to burst from pent up tears and failing dreams.
"I can't Hermione…you know how people wouldn't accept us!" She sobbed uncontrollably, unsure what was coming over her to allow herself to be so open.
"I'd accept you. Harry would accept you. Ron…well he would eventually. You can't just make your decisions off those of others." She murmured. Ginny smiled appreciatively through hazy eyes and settled into a sisterly hug as she went on for hours, telling Hermione all about her adventures of the heart.
~
Ginny sat silently on a lawn chair that had been placed outside. A wonderful banner reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY flew overhead in the slightly July wind. An area had been cleared for dancing and music seemed to be seeping out from every corner of the air. Hermione and Ron were tightly together as were her father and mother. Fred and George had come along for the celebration, of course not arriving without a gag that made the banner read "Happy Birthday Harry and probably the conceivement of Hermione and Ron's children" for more than two hours. Hermione's face had only recently lost its purplish tinge and the twins, who had brought along their girlfriends, had now retired to their old rooms for some "remembrances".
Harry was sitting alone on the other side of the yard, dressed very nicely in dress shorts and a nice tank top. Ginny had worn the only black sundress she owned with her hair pinned up adequately for her tastes. She could feel Harry's eyes looking at her forlornly. It wasn't as if she minded much, it made her tingle just slightly to know a member of the opposite sex was indeed taking notice to her, but Harry's all to late advances had fallen on deaf ears. She barely noticed the slow song that had come on nor Harry's steps across to her but soon he was standing over an extending his hand, muttering something about a dance with the finest lady of the hour.
"Yes." She mumbled, "But only for your birthday."
They spun graciously around the dance floor regardless of the few moments where Harry took painful blows to his feet from Ginny's mistakes. She wasn't paying much attention, for she had sworn she had seen a broomstick fly across the full moon's countenance. Harry must have noticed her lack of attention as well for he pulled her close, engulfing her in his pungent aroma.
The song came to a slow moving halt around her and she smiled graciously up at Harry who only continued to look at her oddly.
"I never realized how beautiful you are Ginny." He whispered, moving a stray piece of coppery red hair from her eyes. Again, she thought she saw something move in the distance, but his melodramatic voice brought her back to earth as she heard him mention the word love and kiss her just ever so gently, "Aren't you going to say something?"
"I didn't hear you." She answered honestly. Something in the underbrush had caught her attention again as another song played across the air. She took up dancing with Harry again, trying to drone out his words, for she wasn't too sure that she actually wanted to hear them. It wasn't until the music stopped suddenly that she looked up into the cool gray blue eyes that she had fallen in love with.
"Draco." She whispered to no one as she realized he was standing next to her. His blonde hair was flying in every direction from the wind and his eyes were transfixed on her face. He was wearing a slightly tattered robe and the same clothes she had seen him in when she had left the Manor. Remembering the moment she scowled and looked back at Harry, whose hands were still at her side. She let them fall and looked at Draco, her arms crossing over her chest, "Why are you here?"
"Just dance with me please." He coaxed before grabbing her and pulling her too him. She begged her feet to stop, to stop walking her down that road to hurt and pain, but they moved along with his own in perfect synchronization.
I
am thinking of you
In my sleepless solitude tonight
If it's wrong to love you
Then my heart just won't let me right
Cause I've drowned in you
And I won't pull through
Without you by my side
I'd give my all to have
Just one more night with you
I'd risk my life to feel
Your body next to mine
Cause I can't go on
Living in the memory of our song
I'd give my all for your love tonight
Baby can you feel me
Imagining I'm looking in your eyes
I can see you clearly
Vividly emblazoned in my mind
And yet you're so far
Like a distant star
I'm wishing on tonight
I'd give my all to have
Just one more night with you
I'd risk my life to feel
Your body next to mine
Cause I can't go on
Living in the memory of our song
I'd give my all for your love tonight
I'd give my all to have
Just one more night with you
I'd risk my life to feel
Your body next to mine
Cause I can't go on
Living in the memory of our song
I'd give my all for your love tonight
Give my all for your love
Tonight
As the song blissfully ended Ginny pulled out of Draco's arms just enough to look into his eyes. He was staring intently at her and she pulled him away from the group, to a small desolate portion of the backyard. He was still staring at her, his fingers still locked around her waist.
"Why did you come?" She asked hoarsely.
"Why do you think I came back?" He asked just as hoarsely, his eyes never looking directly into hers. She cupped his chin and pulled his face up, locking coffee and gray blue together.
"Tell me."
"Ginny…Ginny…" He captured her lips in the swiftest kiss imaginable. Her legs gave out and she sunk into him, into his embrace and into his love. He moved over her mouth like it was the last piece of candy a child would ever get and he smothered her with a passion she had never seen him admit before. As he pulled away, his cheeks flaming from the loss of oxygen, he looked deeply into her eyes, "I love you."
She smiled up at him, "I love you too Draco."
"I know things won't be perfect at first…but Ginny I can't spend the rest of my life wondering if I let the best girl in the world get away from me. I love everything about you from that dabbing of freckles on your nose to that temper of yours. I can't live without you and I have been dreaming and praying that you would take me back." He looked longingly at her. She soundlessly moved and kissed him, a kiss that expressed her very answer without words and they both fell back onto the dewy grass, expressing their love together underneath the pearly stars and bright full moon.
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WOW its done. Draco came back, all is good…they are together…YAY.
The song above was one by Maria Carey, and in case you were wondering about the one from the previous chapter (number five I believe) it was by Martina McBride.
Now that this is over I PROMISE to go and finish up my other story Rings. Hopefully you enjoyed this…review and what not…if I get enough reviews (hopefully around 30?) I might make a small addend to the conclusion of this to get a glimpse in the life of Ginny and Draco later on.