Author's Note: Hi! Sorry I haven't updated in some days, but school is pulling me by the hair and well… whoo. But hey, I have a test tomorrow and here I am, posting this for you people. Hey, I'm not complaining, why should you? ^_~

Here I am
At six o'clock in the morning
Still thinking about you
It's still hard
At six o'clock in the morning
To sleep without you
 
And I know that it might
Seem too late for love
All I know
 
I need you now
More than words can say
I need you now
I've gotta find a way
I need you now
Before I lose my mind
I need you now –I need you now ~Winger

Chapter Nine

~Deny Everything~

Ginny sat eating breakfast alone for about the hundredth time in a month. After their little concurrence that night in which she had so purposely left him all worked up, to say the least, she had not seen him quite as often. Sometimes she caught a glimpse of his hair walking by the halls, but she hadn't seen him completely. Far from bothering her, this only distraught her. Why did it, though?

She had also been seeing more of that Matthew Kinsley bloke, walking up and down the Manor with Draco or rather—for him. Ginny finished her breakfast and dropped the fork and knife with a dull clank onto the plate. She then stood up with the plate and took it to the kitchen, washing it. Now, of course there were house-elves to do this favor, and Merlin knew that Teeny was one to be willing to do it, but Ginny preferred to do it herself. She liked to do domestic work when she was distressed.

These days, she busied herself with cleaning and rearranging rooms, it was very soothing for her. She had also brought Hermione to stay a couple of days; she had at first wanted to do it to annoy Draco, but since he never even knew Hermione had been there, she quickly discarded this thought and instead enjoyed Hermione's company.

She also went to The Burrow more often. She enjoyed talking to her mother and father and seeing all her brothers again. They even had a Sunday afternoon where the whole family came and she set to meet her brothers' respective wives and children. So far she had nine nephews and five nieces. Not that she was surprised.

The last time she had seen Draco recently was three days ago, when she'd walked into the room to sleep and he'd been already sleeping. One thing was that he still slept in the same bed with her… but he always went to sleep later than she did, and woke up much earlier. She was now going to the library, and when she got there she sat down on a couch, watching rain fall on a far window.

"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy," Ginny jumped, startled and turned around, putting a hand to her chest to calm herself.

"Matthew… you scared me," she said smiling a bit. Matthew bowed; he had some folders in his hands, "What are you up to?"

"Looking for some documents for Mister Malfoy…" he said absentmindedly, searching on a file. He then placed the documents and the folders on top. "What about you, Mrs. Malfoy?" he asked, his tongue between his teeth as he looked at the documents, reading.

"You can call me Ginny, Matthew," she said, smiling faintly and standing up, walking towards the window and looking out towards the sad grounds. The rain fell now pouring.

"Sure…" he said from behind her. He then remained silent and she could hear the rustle of papers emanating from where he was. After a while, she heard silence and felt him come up beside her, and he too looked down out the window.

"I love rainy days," he said casually, leaning against the windowsill, she smiled warmly.

"So do I…" she replied distractedly, consumed in her own thoughts and sighing.

"You really are beautiful," he stated and she turned to look at him, tilting her head, he merely shrugged. "It's true… I was just pointing out…" he said casually, his hands in his pockets. There was a long silence after this, in which she stared out the window again. "I bet you feel like a rainy day right now, don't you?" he said and she heard a tinge of pity in his voice, she didn't look at him, nor said anything. He went on, "Gray… cloudy… not thinking straight, perhaps. But I know what you're going through."

"Do you now?" she asked, more of politeness than of interest. She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye. She then felt his hands on her shoulders, she looked at them, and as he was standing behind her, he surely didn't see this.

"Yes… being forced to marry out of pure greed from his family's part. Out of pure need from your family's part… and you have to have all that weight upon your shoulders, having to fake happiness… having to be unhappy—"

"But I'm not unhappy," she cut him off and felt his hands leave her shoulders. She gave a relieved sigh, but then he stood in front of her, holding her chin in his hand.

"You are, I can see it all over your face," he whispered, she gulped slightly, a lock of hair falling across her face. He brushed it off gingerly with one hand. "You haven't seen him for two days, it's only norma—"

"Three."

"What?"

"Three days," she said, looking down. "I haven't seen him in three days." She bit her lip absentmindedly.  Her eyes were burning with tears, though she didn't know why. She fought them back as hard as she could. She then brought her gaze up once more and was surprised at seeing him close—too close. She attempted to take a step back, but a bookshelf stood in her way. She gulped again.

"Three days," Matthew echoed. "I know you're unhappy to have such a careless husband…" he trailed off, leaning in. She flattened herself as close as she could to the bookshelf. She wanted to tell him to stop, but the shock didn't allow the words to come out of her mouth.

Someone cleared their throat and Ginny was thankful when Matthew retreated. She kept on clinging to the bookshelf, now closing her eyes and panting slightly to let the shock down. She heard Matthew mutter a feeble apology and leave the room. She opened her eyes to thank whichever of the ghosts or the house-elves was there, but she instead found Draco standing in the spot, glaring at her.

He glared at her as if she had the fault for what had—or was about to happen. She didn't think that was fair at all, and the tears in her eyes were dangerously close to spill out. She didn't want to cry in front of him… she didn't want to cry, period.

Then she heard him distinctly, and his words were like a blow in the stomach, "Every chance you get… to hurt me…" and he walked out, his arms still crossed, leaving the same strong scent of his presence, bearing the same expressionless face, and slamming the door behind himself. She fought the tears even now, clutching her chest. She didn't know why she had gotten so emotional.

No, she had not started to fall in love with him. She couldn't! And less now that he wasn't exactly happy with her. Not happy at all. So she couldn't. She promised—nay, swore—to herself that she would hate him until the day he, or she, died. No, that was not it at all. No love.

Then again, it seemed as if he had started to see her more than just a woman he had to pretend to love. Was it possibly that he had started to simultaneously fall for her? No, it couldn't be. Why was she having such absurd thoughts?  The look on his eyes as he had said those last words was one of deepest loathing… or genuine hurt?

She couldn't hold it in anymore; she let herself slide down the bookshelf, crying freely. She cried like she hadn't cried ever since her parents had told her she had to marry this man, and she'd cried then because she didn't even want to see him.

And… bless the irony of it, she now cried because this man did not want to see her.

Author's Note: Merlin's Beard with Lice in it! Okay, please do review if you liked or hated. Or if you just want to say hi. =P

Preview for the Tenth Chapter, which has no name yet!

Ginny's fed up with Draco's behavior, she's tired of it all…

"Where the FUCK have you been?! […] I'm your bloody wife, I DEMAND to know!"

"Did you miss me?"

Oh… the contradictions…

"I hate you…"

"No you don't…. you want me so much it hurts…"

*And Holy God! This is an R rated story and I've just noticed there are no R scenes… how can that be?! Don't worry… next chapter'll have. –smirks- Or will it? You'll just have to wait until I post… hm… let me give you a little teaser first… so you won't hate me as much.

…above her head, holding both wrists with one hand whilst the other found its way under her blouse… […] …moved down to kiss her neck passionately and possessively while caressing her chest under her shirt…

*And I'll leave it there for my sake; I might give you the whole chapter if I continue… woop.

Don't forget to Review!

~Blue