A Lifetime of Lies

Chapter Five

First Date

Ginny sat in the midst of chaotic activity without any foresight to it ending soon. She had gone shopping, or, at least she thought that she had gone shopping, before, but it was nothing like this. This, was nothing short of surreal. But, then again, everything here was.

After awkwardly asking one of the maids--yes, she now had maids. Apparently, Draco preferred real people serving them, rather than house elves--where she was supposed to report to for her shopping excursion, she had ended up here. It had appeared to be someone's house, but in actuality was some sort of stylish underground shop.

"Mrs. Malfoy, what do you think of this? Mrs. Malfoy? Mrs. Malfoy?"

Ginny's head snapped up once she realized that someone was addressing her as Mrs. Malfoy. "Sorry, I got sidetracked. What did you need?"

"These robes, Mrs. Malfoy, do you like them?"

Ginny looked down at a bright green material with cuts and slices all over. Her eyes widened as she saw the low neckline and some of the revealing places that the cuts resided. "That isn't finished is it? I mean, you still have sewing to do, right?"

The woman looked at her blankly. "Of course it is finished, Mrs. Malfoy. Would you like something else done to it?"

"You…you want me to wear that?"

She laughed in a loud high way. "No, no, I would never ask you to wear something as risky as this. Honestly, Mrs. Malfoy--"

"Ginny, call me Ginny, please."

She looked uncomfortable at this request. "Alright, Ginny. Anyway, I know that you do not wear things such as this. This is for Meghan, the dress that she wanted to wear to your annual Holiday Ball."

Ginny gasped, her daughter, her baby, was going to wear that? "Meghan…that is the robe that Meghan wants to wear?"

"Well, yes. You picked the pattern last week, you told me you wanted a rush job done…you do like it, don't you?"

Sensing the woman's growing panic, Ginny suppressed her own. "It's fine. Perfect in fact. Thank you, very much."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Wonderful. Now, about tonight, I assume you'll want something new to wear."

"Tonight?"

"Your dinner with Mr. Malfoy," she clarified.

"How did you know about that?"

The woman smiled. "I have your schedule of course; you know that you have it sent over to me weekly so I may prepare your wardrobe."

Ginny sat in shock. She received a new wardrobe every week? The last time that she had bought anything for herself that she knew of was years ago. Every time that she went shopping, she meant to pick up things for herself, but always ended up finding things that the kids would like, or something that Harry needed for work.

She opened her mouth to politely tell the woman that she did not need anything new, after all, she had gotten an outfit this morning to wear out, when it came to clothes in this life, her cup runneth over; but the temptation proved to be too tempting. "Yes, I would love something new to wear this evening."

Ginny apparated into the Ministry with no small amount of embarrassment. She had assumed that by a new outfit the designer would give her a new robe. That was apparently not the same idea the woman had in mind. The woman who turned out to be muggleborn with a flair for wizarding and muggle fashion.

She had placed Ginny in a sleek black dress with heels taller than anything she had ever thought appropriate. While Ginny walked to where she was told Draco's office was she resisted the urge to close her eyes in horror that people were actually seeing her like this. She hadn't shown this much skin in public since she was sixteen.

With relief she entered Draco's office and took immediate notice to the overall luxury of it. From growing up with frequent visits to her father's cramped office, Ginny always had pictured all Ministry offices to be such. Harry's had been far better than her father's, but this…this was not an office.

"Draco?" she called out timidly. "Are you here?"

He walked out of side bathroom in a black suit and a smile. "Hello, Ginny. I must say, you look more beautiful than usual this evening, quite a feat in itself as it is a difficult task indeed to surpass your daily beauty."

She blushed good-naturedly at the compliment. "So, where are we having dinner then?"

"Well it would ruin the surprise if I told you, now wouldn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it would. Since when do you wear muggle suits anyway?"

"Since now. Stop being nosey, you aren't going to get any hints from me. Now, my lovely wife, shall we go?"

Ginny hooked her arm with his. "But of course."

Draco led Ginny out of the Ministry of Magic building and straight onto the streets of London. Ginny could not manage to keep the blush off of her face as she could not help but notice the stares that she was getting from many males that passed by them. For the first time in a long time she felt beautiful…and that fact in itself placed her spirits in a place far higher than they had been in months.

She smiled for no reason at all and squeezed Draco's arm just to experience the rush of having said arm slide around her shoulders. Ginny had long since assumed on dinner being held at a restaurant in London, she was, after all, not completely dense; but she had been picturing the typical upscale luxurious that would require Draco to be in a suit, and her in a dress…what she found instead was something vastly different.

Ginny peered up at Draco, waiting for an explanation.

He only gave her a small secretive smile. "I knew you wouldn't remember."

"Remember what?"

He gestured to the diner that sat in front of her, "I realize it has been years, Gin, but we are hardly old enough to be losing our memories as rapidly as all that."

As Ginny was about to question him once more and reprimand him for teasing her, she really looked at the diner. And she did remember.

(Warning, flashback to occur in five…four…three…two…one)

Ginny stared hardly at Draco's back. It had been three days since they had spoken last. Not that it was unusual in the least for them to go without speaking; they were, after all, blood enemies. It was a social norm for a Malfoy and a Weasley to go without speaking. Even when one Weasley was following a Malfoy, the silence would cease to shock either party.

It was only the explanations that filled their silence that was putting a strain on Ginny. It was in the way that he refused to communicate with her that she knew he was truly angry with her for once. If the silence was a result from a lack of things to be said she would reside in it happily…but her mouth was overflowing with words that needed to come out.

"Draco," she sighed heavily, "I said I was sorry."

He stopped walking, which was not a good sign. "I heard you when you said it the first time, no need to repeat yourself."

Ginny angrily walked ahead until she was the one in front. She faced him and saw an expressiveness in his eyes that she had never took notice of before. "Well if you heard me you could have very well acknowledged it."

"Acknowledge what, Ginny? That you practiced the overused and meaningless phrase of 'sorry' on me? Fine, consider it duly noted."

"It was not meaningless," she muttered lowly. "Stop being so high and holy, Malfoy. I do not know what you expect me to do here…"

"I do not expect you to do anything, Weasley," he spat, "I only ask that you rise above this cowardly and submissive state that you find yourself in."

Her eyes flashed in hot anger, "I am not a coward. I went on one date, that is it. You have no cause to be irate with me for it is not as though you and I are anything."

"It is not the fact that you went on the date, Ginny, it is who you went out with that is causing me to be so 'irate' as you put it."

Ginny cast her eyes down to the floor. "He asked me out…I panicked and said yes out of habit, I don't even like him anymore."

"Obviously that is untrue," he commented dryly, "as you took all of two seconds to acquiesce to his request."

"I told you that I panicked! Besides," she looked at him pointedly, "it is not as though I have any other offers, Draco."

"You want me to take you out?" he asked almost mockingly.

"I don't know what I want. All I am saying is that you cannot get this pissed over my date with Harry and then laugh at the idea of dating me yourself."

"It would never work, Ginny."

"As would any relationship between us." It was left unsaid that a relationship of some sort already existed.

He shrugged, "Point taken." Draco grabbed a hold of her arm and led her down a hallway that she did not recognize.

"Draco," she protested as she yanked her arm away, "what the hell are you doing?"

"Making a choice. Are you coming?"

She smiled at the spontaneity of the situation. "Sure, why not?"

(Flashback over)

Ginny gazed at the diner with a newfound fondness. "The only place where the site of a Malfoy and a Weasley eating dinner would shock no one," she quoted him from memory.

"I knew you had yet to succumb to senility," he responded with a playful proud voice. He looked down at his watch and led her into the beaten down diner where they looked quite out of place, "I do believe that it has been exactly twenty years, Mrs. Malfoy."

She smiled slowly and grasped the concept of twenty years. Twenty years of uninterrupted time with Draco…the thought made her smile wider. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

He looked down at her seriously, "twenty years is not nearly long enough." He lowered his head and kissed her with a slow sensuality that sparked her desire for the man standing in front of her.

Thoughts of anything besides Draco were immediately pushed out of her mind as she followed him into the diner. She laughed at the sight of them amidst the sea of casual diners in their in vague attire and took a seat with Draco in a booth that held twenty years worth of memories for one of them; and a new beginning for the other.