Chapter Eight

~The Two Intruders~

Draco leaned against the wall, his arms crossed; Pansy Malfoy (former Pansy Parkinson, she had married one of his cousins) was flirting way too much for his appreciation. She wore a dress that was much too tight and showed too much cleavage; too much make up and too much hair spray in exaggerated blonde curls that reached down to her shoulders. She was also wearing a strong perfume that was too dizzying and nauseating.

She was talking incoherently about something that was of no interest to him; she laughed loudly, as to attract attention and occasionally pushed Draco slightly on the shoulder as if he were making jokes of some sort, but he wasn't even listening. Looking up for a moment he saw Ginny walking towards them. Thank you, he thought to himself.

Ginny neared them and grabbed Draco's hand, kissing his cheek softly, "Draco, darling, I'm terribly bored," she said, "Let's go home… and I'll promise I'll make it up to you," she winked to let him now the façade, smirked and turned to Pansy and said in a very false voice, "Oh! Pansy, I did not notice you, dear! How have you been? I haven't seen you in ages." Ginny placed Draco's arm around her own shoulder, twining her fingers with him at the end and smiling triumphantly.

Pansy was looking disgustingly at Ginny, "I am fine," she snarled through gritted teeth. "I must inform you, though, it does not show very good manners to interrupt two people when they are talking… but I must have forgotten… you were raised a Weasley," she sneered.

Ginny's smiled faltered and her eyes flashed briefly, but she recovered rather quickly, "Raised as one, still am one, Pansy," she said smiling, though Draco noted the temper beginning to rise in her. "But you were the only one talking, so it is not bad-mannered. Draco, if I recall, was staring boringly at the floor, which apparently is much more interesting than you." She tilted her head, still smiling and Draco suppressed a laugh. "So you see," continued Ginny, "It is uneducated to interrupt two people talking, but as there was only one person doing the talking… it isn't. You must learn to count, my darling Pansy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go home with my husband, you know. Come on, my dear, I don't want to keep you waiting," she added to Draco with a smile and gave a sarcastic little wave to Pansy.

Once inside Malfoy Manor, Draco stopped Ginny as she was about to walk up the stairs. She raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for that back there," said Draco, a bit sheepishly, very unlikely in him. "I was about to fall unconscious in boredom."

"I cannot stand her," said Ginny indifferently. "But, you're welcome." She started up the stairs again.

"Are you going to sleep already?" he asked her, she turned around in her spot and looked at him oddly.

"No," she said, "I was just going to change and then take a stroll around the garden… why?"

"I was wondering if you wanted me to tell Teeny to bring you something up?" he said, shrugging and putting his hands inside his pockets causally, leaning against the wall.

"Oh," she said, "Anything with alcohol. But don't make her come up; I'll meet you in the library, alright?"

"Sure," he said and shrugged, watching her go up the stairs, holding the dress in her hands as to not drag it.

Ginny let the dress fall at her feet and gave a sigh of relief; the dress weighed a lot on her and she was relieved to take it off, she changed into a simple sky blue dress and put on her night slippers. She then made her way up to the library, humming slightly.

When she reached the library, the door was ajar and she heard voices coming from the inside.

"You knew I wasn't going to be here tonight, I had to go to the family reunion," said Draco's voice, Ginny peered through the door to see Draco talking to a man with dirty blond hair. He was quite handsome.

"I know, Mister Malfoy," said the man, "But you of all people should know how the press are… they want interviews with both you and your wife, and I've been holding them off, but you must have some public appearances and fast, or they'll start thinking something's wrong and we don't want that, now do we?"

"No…" said Draco thoughtfully. "Virginia, do come in," he said towards the door, and Ginny, slightly surprised opened the door and entered, standing next to Draco. "Virginia, this is our public relation's guy, Matthew Kinsley,"

Ginny held out her hand and Matthew kissed it, Ginny blushed a little. "Pleasure to meet such an enchanting lady," said Matthew in a suave tone and she noticed he had a Latin accent. He had honey brown eyes, simply intriguing.

"The pleasure is mine," she said smiling a little, "I'm Virginia We-Malfoy," she said, correcting herself. Draco stared from Matthew to Ginny and then cleared his throat.

"Well Kinsley, is there anything else?" asked Draco casually. Matthew looked over some papers he had on a clipboard on his hands and shook his head.

"No, Mister Malfoy," he said and gave a wave of his wand so the papers disappeared; he then bowed to Ginny, smiled, and then shook Draco's hand curtly. "I'll be leaving now," And with a slight pop, he dissaparated.

Ginny stared at the spot Matthew had been in moments before as if she could still see him. She was woken from her trance by Draco prodding her on the back; she turned her gaze towards him. "The whisky is over there, on the table," he said and walked away from her and towards the bookshelves which were a little ways away, and started eyeing the books that lay inside, looking with his forefinger for one.

Ginny walked towards the table and poured herself a glass of whisky, and then went to sit at her usual chair in front of the fire. She drank a sip as she took off her slippers and withdrew her feet from the floor onto the chair. She sighed and closed her eyes as the alcohol coursed through her veins, melting away all the worries that had been inside.

When she opened her eyes, Draco was in front of her, his hands behind his back; she set the glass on the table and looked up at him expectantly. "Close your eyes," he hissed; she looked oddly at him before doing so and felt him take her hands so she stood up. She stood motionless, wondering what this was leading to, until she felt something silky on her forehead, then down her nose and her lips, resting on them a little bit longer, she could inhale a sweet aroma coming from the silky material and she only could guess it was a flower.

The object went down to her neck and to the hollow of her collarbone, resting there in little circles. "Can you guess what this is?" came Draco's voice very close to her ear; she sighed softly and shrugged slightly.

"A flower?" she asked and heard him chuckle in her ear, his warm breath tickling her.

"Very good," he said and she felt the flower leave her neck; she opened her eyes and eyed him; he was holding the flower to her. It was a black lily, very rare and extremely beautiful. "Take it," he said, "It's for you."

She took the flower in her hand and studied it, "What for?" she asked, still staring at the flower in her hand.

"Nothing in particular," he replied, shrugging, "Can't I give you a flower?"

"Of course you can," she said, placing it on the table, next to her glass and turning around to face him again. "Thank you." She smiled very briefly and folded her arms as if she was hugging herself. "And I appreciate what you're doing to try to make this work, Draco," she added as an afterthought, he said nothing but simply stared at her. "But do try to understand that this is very hard for me, alright?" He, again, said nothing but just nodded.

There was a long silence which followed these words; she, still holding herself, balanced on the balls of her feet whilst he stared at a book he had in his hand. She stopped with a sigh, letting her hands fall at her sides. Draco looked over the book he was eyeing and placed the book down on a shelf nearby.

"I'm going up to bed, are you coming?" she asked after a while, he nodded and followed her out. They walked in silence towards their room and once there they changed respectively into their sleeping clothes. She changed into her cotton, soft blue nightdress and he only put on his silken, black pajama pants. He crossed his arms as he always did and stared at her for a while.

"I feel uncomfortable with you staring at me and not uttering a word…" she said delicately, he raised his eyebrows.

"I've had an uncomfortable day, I do not want to take it out on you," he replied dryly and shrugging. She then leaned against the wall behind her, closing her eyes briefly and sighing.

When she opened her eyes, Draco was in front of her, she took a step forward, away from the wall, neared him and stopped when she was close to him.

Hesitantly, she raised a hand and pushed back one of his silky strands back and smoothed it with the rest. He simply eyed her hand; she lowered it slowly, as if caressing him until it reached his chest, where she stared at her own hand expressionless. He grabbed her hand and closed his around it; she looked up at him and blinked quite quickly. He massaged her hand with both of his and then kissed it hesitantly, as if waiting for her permission.

She leaned into him and placed her head against his bare chest, closing her eyes and hearing the faint thumping of his heart. She could feel him tensing up and his hands freezing uncomfortably. "Just hold me…" she whispered, pressing against him and she could feel him relax if only a little. They stayed like that for a while, she held his waist and he had his arms around her shoulders, gripping her against him in a tight embrace. She didn't have the slightest idea of why she was acting like this around him.

She pulled back for a slight moment and looked at her arms, biting her lips. She felt his forefinger and thumb under her chin making her look up at him. She shook her head very slightly, looking down. "No Draco…" she said, very aware that if he were to start something, she wouldn't stop him, she wouldn't stop herself.

It was as if something had flickered inside of her, a feeling so new that it didn't exactly scare her, but didn't relieve her either. She was too confused for her own good. She had begun to admire this man, the man she swore she would never accept in her life. And besides admiring him, she found herself thinking and dreaming of him. This did indeed scare her, but she soon discovered what it was she felt towards him.

Desire.

It ate her up inside, she wanted—longed for—him, but she would not admit it. No, she couldn't.

"No what?" he hissed and his voice brought her back to reality. He was still holding her face and she looked up at his eyes. Those translucent eyes that were half-glazed now by something she could not describe. She wanted to do so many things at the moment, and her mind was so busy sending messages and sparks to her anatomy that she did not utter a word. But she composed herself after he had stared at her for a long time, searching for an answer.

"No… just don't start anything," she said not taking her gaze off his eyes. He smirked a bit.

"I am not starting anything," he said, letting go of her face and taking a few steps away from her. "I was merely following…"

"What do you mean?" she asked, confusion rising in her face. He was thoroughly enjoying seeing her like that.

"I mean," he said, "that I did not start anything, you did."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, crossing her arms now, looking more angry than confused. "I didn't start anything!"

His smirked widened and he looked at her before replying. She looked very—how he should put this— sexy; her nightdress hung loosely over her body. Her hair was starting to lose its curl and her face, framed by scattered freckles, was set into an upset mask. Her composure was feeble, she had apparently let down her guard and his words had stirred something in her.

"You started this long ago, and never finished it," he replied casually and neared her. "And you can't just leave a person like you did that night." Right now, he was very close to her. She still hadn't uncrossed her arms, and she looked at him expressionless.

"Can't I?" she asked, her voice calm. He, still smirking, shook his head in sign of 'no'. She then smirked herself. "Watch me, darling." She pushed past him and got into her side of the bed. "I believe I just did again…" she said, covering herself with the sheets, he simply glanced at her. "Oh," she added, "I suggest you take a cold shower… it might cool you down." She made a gesture towards the bathroom and, smiling triumphantly, closed her eyes.

A/N: TOLD you, didn't I? –smiles gleefully- Oh well, you can review if you want. I was really happy with the response for the last chapter.

Preview for Chapter Nine- Deny Everything:

Ginny/Matt interaction, NOT pairing, just talking and such, kay?

"…having to be unhappy…"

"But I'm not unhappy…"

Another Ginny/Draco interaction, not quite as other ones…

"Every chance you get… to hurt me…"

Review, please!

~Blue