Chapter 2
Draco sat on the bed next to her and shook her awake. Ginny stirred and lay on her back, opening her eyes. Draco leaned over her and brushed her hair gently, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. He wiped away the remaining wetness at the corner of her eyes and asked, "What's wrong baby? You're home early today."
"Nothing, just felt like coming home early that's all," she said, sitting up. She looked at the digital clock on the bedside table and realized that she had been asleep for at least two hours. "It's almost dinner time, let me get up and prepare dinner." She was about to get up from bed when Draco placed a hand on her arm to stop her.
"It's alright. You still look tired. Why don't you go wash up and let me prepare dinner."
After getting her to agree, he watched her go into the bathroom before making his way to the kitchen. Even though Draco had grew up with house elves and had everything done for him, he had developed an interest in cooking after he moved out of the Manor to live on his own. Opening the cupboards and inspecting what he had available, he decided to make some lasagne and salad as it was Ginny's favourite and she looked like she needed some pick-me-up food.
When Ginny went into the kitchen some half hour later, she found the table was already set and jasmine scented candles were lit on the table. She went up to Draco who was tossing the Caesar's salad and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.
"What are we having for dinner? It smells wonderful."
"I made your favourite. We'll be having dinner in a few minutes. Take a seat and I'll open a bottle of wine in a second."
Putting the salad bowl onto the table, Draco went to the fridge and took out a bottle of wine that he had placed there earlier. He poured Ginny and himself a glass before checking on the lasagne in the oven. Once he was satisfied that it was done, he took it out of the oven and dinner was served. Through out dinner, Draco could sense that something was bothering Ginny from her forced laughter and her smile. He decided to talk to her about Ron's phone call earlier that day.
After cleaning up the table, Draco led Ginny to the living room and pulled her onto his lap and held her close. He rubbed her back and kissed her hair and said, "Ginny, something's bothering you. Ron called me after lunch and said that you were upset with your brothers. Please tell me what's wrong." He heard her sigh and her breath hitched.
"The whole lot of them came by the office during lunch and dragged me to a café so that they can 'talk' to me. More like assault me with questions and try to force me go back to The Burrow. The only person who was on my side was Ron," she said softly, brushing away the tears that were streaming down her face.
Draco was thankful that he and Ron had settled their differences after they graduated from Hogwarts and Ron was not against Draco and Ginny dating. "Honey, I'm sorry that your other brothers feel the same way about you moving out as your mother. I know it hurts you that they act that way but I know they love you and they want to keep you safe."
"If they so much wanted to keep me safe, they shouldn't have let me go to Hogwarts in the first place! They should have just locked me in my room and never let me out! Why can't they see that I'm no longer a child?!"
"Let's just hope that when the do realise it, it's not too late."
"I hope so too."
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The next few months were rather hard on Ginny as all her brothers except Ron kept sending her owls and sometimes even Howlers to tell her that she was a bad daughter and sister for not listening to their advice. Things got so bad that she even received Howlers at work and it became very disruptive that she had to quit her job before she got fired. Bill, Charlie, Percy and the Twins tried to see her but was refused entry into the apartment and was hexed few times before they decided that it was too dangerous to see her personally. The only ones who could visit her were Ron, Harry and Hermione. All three of them had accepted that she wanted to live her own life the way she wanted without her parents and older siblings dictating what she could or could not do. They also saw how much Draco and Ginny loved each other and counted on Draco to keep her happy.
About a week into September, Draco decided that he wanted Ginny to be in his life permanently. He patted his pocket to make sure that the ring was where it should be before he entered put the wards down and opened the door. He found Ginny pouring through the Daily Prophet's classified section, still looking for a job. When Ginny saw him come in, she jumped off the sofa and flew straight into his arms and landed kisses all over his face.
"What was that for?" Draco asked, laughing.
"Nothing, I just missed you that's all. Can't a woman greet the man that she loves with joy and kisses without being interrogated?"
"I'm not saying that you can't. It's just that I was very pleasantly surprised with your reaction, that's all. What did you do today?"
"I was so bored that besides the usual chores like the laundry, the ironing and the cleaning, I rearranged our closet according to occasion and colour co-ordinated everything."
"You must have been really bored to do that." When he saw her nod, he burst out laughing and hugged her tightly. "Why don't we go out for dinner tonight? I know you're been locked up in here the whole day so, I want you to relax and enjoy yourself tonight."
"Sure, what's the occasion?"
"Nothing, just felt like it. Can't a man take the woman he loves out to dinner without being interrogated?"
Ginny stuck out her tongue at him for turning her line back on her and ran up the stairs to the bedroom to get ready for dinner. An hour later, Draco was sitting in the living room dressed in a pair of black pants and a black silk shirt, watching the Quidditch channel as he waited for Ginny to come down. He turned to the staircase when he heard her come down and his breath was caught in his throat.
Ginny was gorgeous. Her burgundy hair fell in curly waves to her shoulders. She was dressed in an elegant sleeveless silk dress of midnight blue that complemented her hair and her creamy skin. The dress fell to her knees and the V-neckline was not too low, ending just above her cleavage. Draco smiled when he noticed that she wore necklace an earring set that he had given her for her birthday. He stood up and whistled appreciating her beauty, causing her to blush slightly.
Holding out his arm, he said, "My lady, your carriage awaits."
He led her out of the door and to his silver Mercedes and drove them to a nice French restaurant that served the most sumptuous meals in the whole of London. The waiter led them to a private table at the back of the restaurant and took their order. Ginny enjoyed herself immensely, forgetting momentarily the problems she had with her family.
When the waiter brought in the desert, Ginny found a ring embedded on her chocolate and raspberry mousse cake. She looked up at the waiter in confusion but the waiter just smiled and left. She turned to look at Draco when she felt Draco take her hand in his.
"Ginny, we've been together for two years and you are the most beautiful, loving, generous, caring and wonderful person I've ever known. I love you so much because you understand my like no one does. You accept me for who I am and all my faults. I can't live without you. Will you please marry me?"
Ginny was dumbfounded. She saw the sincerity and the love in his grey eyes. Tears welled up in her eyes and she was filled with so much love for him that she wanted to burst. When he lifted her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles, the dam burst and tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she answered his question.
"Draco, I love you just as much. I would be more than happy to be you wife."
Draco leaned across the table to kiss her fully on the lips before putting the ring into her finger, not caring that his elbow of his jacket was in his tiramisu. All that he cared was that Ginny had agreed to be his wife and his world was perfect.
During the drive back to their apartment, Ginny couldn't admiring her engagement ring. She was deliriously happy that Draco had asked her to marry him but she couldn't help but think how her family was going to react to the news. When they got home, they saw the answering machine blinking red. Ginny played the message and found it to be from Ron.
"Hey Ginny, it's Ron. Mom's birthday's in two weeks and we're throwing her a party at The Burrow. Please come, I'd love to see my sister again. Bring the Ferret, I mean Draco with you. Hope to see you there. Oh, and Harry and Hermione are coming too."
Ginny stood there staring at the answering machine for a full two minutes, thinking about the message. She felt Draco wrap his arms around her waist and turned to look at him and saw the question in his eyes. She just shook her head and deleted the message.
Later that night, Ginny lay on her right with her back against Draco's chest, his arm around her waist. She was still thinking about Ron's message when Draco's voice broke through her contemplation.
"Ginny?"
"Ummhmmm?"
"Are you going to you mom's party?"
"You heard the message didn't you?"
"It's hard not to hear when I was standing behind you. So, are you going?"
"I don't know. After the last argument I had with my mom, she specifically told me never to come back if I leave the house. I don't think that my parents or my brothers would be happy to see me. I don't think that they've forgiven me yet."
"What if they have? It's been a few months now, surely they already have. You won't know until you go."
"I'm not sure yet. I'll think about it."
"That's a good idea."
"I have another good idea."
"What's that?"
Ginny turned to her left side and rolled on top of him, kissing and nipping his neck.
"I think that's a great idea", Draco said before kissing Ginny passionately and showing her how much he loved her.
A/N: Thanks to all the reviews that I got. They inspired me to wrote more for this story and I hope that this chapter isn't a disappointment.
