A/N: I own none of the characters besides those not recognisable from the books

The lyrics at the beginning are from 'I'll Never Find Someone Like You' by Keith Martin

The quotes are from 'Romeo and Juliet' obviously

Thanx to the reviews and hope ya enjoy this one, bit shorter than usual but oh well. enjoy =) xx

Chapter Fourteen – Bella and Milly

Girl I'm afraid just to give you the run
My heart's telling me to hold on to my love
But when you get close
I want you to know
I start to get weak
And I can't let you go

"Alright then, if you're not a philistine, what's your favourite play?"

Draco looked at her steadily, his bare hairless chest heaving and glittering with beads of sweat as he shook his mane of silver blond hair back out of his eyes.

"Romeo and Juliet."

He confessed, staring boldly at her as she gave a start of surprise for two very different reasons; one, Draco Malfoy was not the person you would expect to be reading fluffy romantic tragedies and two, Romeo and Juliet was her favourite play.

"Really?"

He nodded, amusement joining defence in his eyes as he watched her straighten up; hand on her hip panting for breath. Her white crop top shirt that crossed just under her breasts and fastened at the back was plastered to her skin with sweat and her long legs emerging from the short white shorts she was wearing beaded with sweat as her sweat-drenched towel hung limp in her hand.

"– 'My only love sprung from my only hate

Too early seen unknown and known too late

Prodigious birth it is to me

That I must love a loathed enemy – '"

Draco raised an ironic silver-blond eyebrow at her quote as she straightened up, her breathing still irregular but from a slightly different cause.

"– 'I fear, too early; for my mind misgives

Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date

With this night's revels and expire the term

Of a despised life, closed in my breast,

By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

But he that hath the steerage of my course

Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen!' – "

Their gaze didn't break as he took a step towards her, his hand drifting lazily to land on her sweaty bare hip as she gazed up at him, her breathing quickening from his slightest touch. He smirked down at her feeling his own desire stirring inside him, no matter how often he had her he never got enough of her, he constantly felt the need to touch her, feel her skin on his, her lips teasing his.

The moment was shattered when a chocolate brown Labrador burst into the room when accompanying barks and crashes as it knocked an antique vase over.

"Come here you stupid animal! Milly!"

A small girl with a sheet of silvery-blonde hair and huge mocking grey eyes barged into the room after the dog and threw herself on it. Ginny's heart raced at the word and her mouth went dry almost immediately, her palms becoming sweaty and her eyes flashing as though she had a fever. To her relief Draco noticed none of this.

"Bella, what the hell are you doing?!"

Caught between helpless laughter and frustration at being interrupted Draco glared at the girl who got to her feet and glared right back, her small rosebud mouth twisting into a sneer identical to Draco's.

"I'm looking after my puppy."

She snarled, her eyes never leaving Draco's as she folded her arms and swung her hips to one side. Ginny was close to tears of laughter as she watched, this girl could be no more than seven years old and she already had all the arrogance of Draco, who was without a doubt her brother.

"Some looking after."

Draco raised an eyebrow as the puppy launched himself on a cushion and proceeded to tear it apart happily.

"Who's that?"

The girl asked rudely, nodding at Ginny without moving her gaze from Draco who stared back at her haughtily.

"That's Ginny, and you will be nice to her."

He added menacingly and the girl stuck her tongue out at him, wrinkling her snub nose and lifting her head snootily as she surveyed Ginny who found herself wishing she wasn't drenched in sweat and bright red in the face. Her gaze flickered down to the floor to see the girl tapping a foot encased in a heavy black boot, a pair of baggy white combat pants low at the hips and a long-sleeved black tank top emphasized by the sheet of silver hair falling like a sheet of glass behind her shoulders and down to her waist.

"Why should I?"

Draco advanced on the girl slowly and the girl's defiance faltered slightly as she took a step back. Suddenly running at her she gave a shriek of laughter as Draco scooped her up and swung her over his shoulder as she beat her fists furiously on his back and kicked her legs.

"Because I said so."

Leaning up so she could see him the girl glared at him and stuck out her bottom lip, still managing to look like royalty even in that odd position.

"I hate you."

She grumbled, though there was no animosity in her voice as Ginny watched the affection in Draco's softened eyes curiously.

"No you don't."

The girl scowled at him before smiling a genuine smile that lit up her whole face and brought warm blue sparks to her eyes as he dropped her gently back onto the floor.

"Ginny this is Belladonna, my annoying brat of a little sister. I've been trying to prove for years she was adopted at birth."

Bella stuck her tongue out at Draco again before wandering over to where Ginny was still standing awkwardly watching the little girl warily as Draco crossed the room to pour himself a glass of Pumpkin Juice from the large jug on the small table by the window equally small arched stained glass window. Bella then proceeded to circle Ginny looking her up and down as she did so until Ginny was past caring if she sounded rude;

"Were you a vulture in another life or something?"

She snapped before flushing and shooting a cautious glance at Draco before turning back to Bella who had frozen in front of her and was squinting up at her face.

"You're a cheeky bitch."

Ginny looked as though she had been slapped as she took a startled step back, glowering at Bella who paused for a second before continuing;

"That's good, I like you."

Ginny goggled at Bella before shrugging and taking the little girl's outstretched hand, Draco, looking delighted, returned and dropped an arm on Ginny's shoulder as the two girls shook hands.

"Well that's a first; she's hated all the other girls I brought back."

Bella scowled and rolled her eyes as she took Ginny's hand and dragged her over to the cushions on the floor, cuffing the puppy gently on the nose to make him move and pulling Ginny down next to her.

"That's because they were stupid bitches, thinking they were great because Drake chose them, they weren't laughing when they got kicked out the next morning."

Bella let out a cackle of laughter and Draco winced, glancing over at Ginny expecting to see her looking upset, instead she was smiling ruefully at Bella. Watching the pair of them giggling and chatting he slipped out of the room unnoticed and padded down the dark hallways towards the kitchen at the back of the house where he was rather surprised to find his mother sat at the kitchen table reading a book.

"Mother."

The greeting hung awkwardly in the cold air and she looked up and smiled weakly, closing her book and waving a long pale hand at the empty seat in front of her which he sank into, his eyes fixed on his mother warily.

"Draco, there's something I wish to discuss with you."

Narcissa shifted awkwardly in her seat, the folds of her long midnight-blue velvet dress rustling as she tapped her long fingernails on the hard wood of the table and focused her pale blue gaze on the small leaded window behind him.

"Go on."

She swallowed harshly and Draco watched her curiously, wondering what it was she was nervous about. Absentmindedly he picked a stray dinner knife ready to be put away up of the sideboard and scratched at the table.

"You and Ginny."

His scratches became faster and deeper but otherwise he didn't even flicker t the implication his mother was tiptoeing around.

"Yes?"

Narcissa looked down at the scratches in the wood, cursing Dumbledore for insisting she did this by herself when it was such a delicate subject to bring up.

"It can't last."

The knife hit the table as Draco snapped his head up to stare at his mother who was looking more uncomfortable by the second. Looking back down he retrieved the knife and went back to digging at the wooden surface of the table with it.

"Oh?"

Narcissa swallowed again and ran her tongue over her rather thin lips trying to moisten them and get rid of the horrible dryness nervousness was creating.

"You see if Kendra discovers who it is that will produce the only person capable of stopping her, she won't hesitate to kill them to prevent it."

Draco's gaze flickered back up to meet hers for a second before he shifted his eyes and glared back at the hard stone floor to his right as Narcissa made a movement as though to place her hand on his own lying to the side on the table as his other whittled away at the table, but changing her mind she dropped it into her lap where it joined her other and twisted her dress nervously.

"Right."

Narcissa was well aware this was not going to make him change his mind about Ginny no matter what she said but for their own sakes she blundered on.

"Do you understand?"

He nodded and she sighed, getting to her feet and circling around him to leave the room, briefly dropping her hand on his hunched shoulder in an unusual act of affection before leaving the room with her long dress slithering along the floor behind her.

Looking down as he dropped the knife onto the table Draco caught sight of the word his whittling had produced out of the corner of his eye. Destiny. Sighing he got to his feet and tossed the knife into the sink before leaving the room to find Ginny, no doubt Bella had managed to get them both into trouble by now.

-=-=-=-=-=-

"So what happened to your father?"

Bella shrugged and turned to look out over the distant hills as people seemed to do a lot in this house, Ginny observed. Small strands of her hair drifted past her face as the breeze tugged at them and Ginny impatiently pushed strands of her own russet locks back behind her ears as she swung lightly on one of the wooden swings hanging from the old oak tree by the lake.

"I woke up one morning and he was gone. Mother says he went on vacation but I'm not stupid; I know the Aurors took him away in the night. I saw Mother crying over their wedding album last week, she won't admit it but she does miss him."

Every time the pair of them swung at the same time forwards they could see their reflections in the still black of the lake before them and Ginny silently took in the differences between the two of them.

"Do you?"

Bella's pale face hardened and her grip tightened on the ropes holding the seat of the swing up.

"No."

Her savage reply was whipped away by the wind and Ginny wisely dropped the subject and went back to swinging peacefully.

"What's Draco like as a brother?"

Bella's face softened and she turned to look at Ginny slyly, her eyes flashing with mischief as she swung her legs to make herself go higher.

"Very cool, he's really sweet when he thinks no one's looking. But don't tell him I said that."

Ginny wrinkled her freckled forehead and sped up her own pace to keep up with Bella's, watching her as they swung in time and Bella leant back, keeping a tight hold on the swing and making her hair billow out like a banner behind her.

"Why not?"

Bella paused thoughtfully before closing her eyes and leaning back again, stretching so her hair nearly brushed the water below them as she straightened her legs and sighed peacefully.

"Because it's much more fun to fight with him."

Ginny laughed and copied Bella, feeling her stomach jump every time her straightened legs rose above her upper body and the world spun.

"Why did you jump when I shouted Milly's name."

Ginny nearly fell off the swing as her eyes snapped open and she sat up shakily, ceasing the movement of her legs so she slowed right down, Bella following suit until they were both swinging only slightly as Ginny looked over at the horizon.

"I had a sister once."

Her voice was flat and emotionless and Bella, used to living with people who hid their emotions reached out a little hand and gripped Ginny's ice-cold one in it. Ginny returned the pressure of her fingers and smiled slightly, neither of them noticing Draco leaning against the oak tree, hidden by its shadow. Ginny sighed and turned away, the setting sun turning her face a riot of oranges, reds and yellows.

"She died about six years ago now."

Bella slipped off her swing and crawled onto Ginny's lap and Ginny hugged her to her, grateful for the comforting presence of the little girl.

"She was my oldest brother, Bill's twin but she was also my best friend. The three of us did everything together, you never saw one without the other two, it never matter to them that I was a lot younger like it did to the others.

"What happened?" Bella whispered, twisting her little hand into Ginny's and looking up at her with huge eyes darkened to slate with sympathy.

"We were out playing in the woods near home when these huge figures in cloaks came barging past shouting. Bill was busy dragging us both out of the way when I got my foot caught in a tree root and fell over, Milly helped me get my foot out and pushed us both out of them way when one of the cloaked guys turned around and saw us. He must have been trying to get at us or something; I don't really remember much it was all a blur, but I remember Bill shouting and pulling on my sleeve, then Milly shouting and shoving me out of the way and then one of the men grabbing her ankle as she was running away and falling on top of her. There was this horrible crack like an egg breaking and then it all went very quiet, the men in the cloaks Disapparated and we were left on our own in the middle of a clearing. I had twisted my ankle when I fell so I crawled over to Milly, Bill doing the same from behind me with blood pouring down his face where he'd been hit by one of them, and we carried Milly home. Her neck had been snapped."

Ginny was rocking backwards and forwards on the swing absently, clutching Bella to her tightly as she relived moments from her past she had long since buried.

"Bella."

Bella and Ginny both jumped as Draco emerged from behind the tree and watched as Bella kissed Ginny on the cheek, scrambled off her knee and ran back to the house.

"Come on."

Taking a trembling Ginny in his arms he guided her back to the house and into her room, practically forcing her to take a Sleeping Potion and watching her until she fell into a deep sleep, her chest rising steadily as her eyelids flickered proving she was dreaming.

-=-=-=-=-

Ginny sighed and switched her gaze from a chattering Bella collecting herbs with her nanny to the black hills sprinkled with tiny white dots of light in the distance. She was in her favourite place again, curled up on the edge of the balcony where it met the wall; Bill sat opposite her with his eyes locked onto her.

"I miss her."

She finally spoke and her voice was gruff with building tears as she fiddled with the hem of Draco's shirt, well aware he was apparently sleeping peacefully in the bed just behind her but probably listening in.

"I know, I do too. But not so much anymore."

Ginny turned to look at him incredulously and he gave her a small strained smile, taking a puff of his cigarette he blew the smoke before them and waved his wand at it. It bubbled into the shape of a head and shoulders that looked remarkably like Ginny but with lighter hair and darker eyes and less freckles. Ginny smiled weakly and blew into the smoke causing it to disperse.

"I used to miss her so much it was unbearable, but now; I look at you and can still see her looking back at me inside you, I can hear her chatting when you laugh and I feel her play fighting and hugging me whenever you smile. And I shall now quote one of the greatest films of all time, the Lion King; ' – She lives in you. – ' You really don't know how similar you are, but you will eventually."

A single tear ran down her freckled cheek, hundreds more collecting in her eyes like tiny stars and turning them a dark ivy green. Bill raised an equally freckled hand and placed it on her cheek, his eyes dark pools of sorrow.

"Goodnight, Gin."

Ginny forced a smile as he kissed her forehead and quickly departed via Floor Powder and a loud crackle that 'woke' Draco.

Seeing her despairing outline slumped on the balcony he crept out of bed and slid onto the edge behind her, his arms circling her waist and her head falling back onto his shoulder as though they were made to fit together.

"I'm sorry about your sister." He murmured into her hair as she shifted so she was sitting sideways with her legs dangling over the edge.

"I'm sorry about your father."

She felt him stiffen for a few seconds before relaxing again, his fingertips running up and down her arm with a feather-light touch.

"No big loss, I'd say my Mother is the only one who misses him. Would I be right in thinking Milly had something to do with you opening the Chamber of Secrets?"

It was Ginny's turn to freeze up as she tilted her head to look up at him, her eyes huge in her face darkened by shadows as she nodded, the light of a lamp shining through the lattice window next to them showering her face with shadow lines.

"Tom... Riddle promised me that he could bring her back, but it would take another's life first."

Draco's arms tightened possessively around her and she was glad of it, the warmth of his body soothed her as his heart beat pounded by her ear.

"And you were going to give yours."

He felt Ginny nod against his chest and anger sizzled inside him as he narrowed his eyes at the moon smiling innocently down on them.

"I thought... well... no one would ever miss me the way they miss her so why not... she'd been gone a year and it still felt like a wound that wouldn't heal right across my heart."

Draco let out a sigh that ruffled her hair as her grip tightened on his arm, she had never told anyone this part of the story, she had never expected anyone to figure it out.

"What do you think Milly would have said if she'd known what you were sacrificing for her?"

This silenced Ginny and she gnawed on her bottom lip as she mulled it over in her head, Milly's cheery voice ringing in her brain causing both pleasure and pain.

"She'd have told me not to be a complete idiot as you always have to be a bit of an idiot."

Draco's lips twitched as Ginny smiled into his chest, her eyes fluttering closed as an image of Milly chattering away to her cheerfully as she loosened the bolts on Fred and George's bedroom door so it flew off the hinges at the slightest touch and knocked over their cauldron scattering fluorescent green goo everywhere.

Flashback

"Milly! What the hell did you do that for?!"

Milly folded her arms and leaned against the doorframe smirking, Ginny sat on the floor laughing at Fred and George scowled at the pair of them from underneath the pulsing green liquid.

"You took all the slats out from under my bed so when I lay on it the mattress collapsed through the bottom."

She replied calmly, examining the nails on her left hand as Fred and George exchanged a reminiscing look.

"Oh yeah, you'll pay for this."

Milly lifted both her eyebrows and flicked her hair over her shoulder with an imperious toss of her head.

"I look forward to it, what are you going to do play another prank?"

She snorted, watching them as they scrubbed at the liquid the Muggle way, forbidden to use magic underage and definitely not asking their parents for help.

"No, but I'll tell mom!"

George threatened, wincing at how childish it sounded but glowering at her nonetheless. Milly smirked and raised an eyebrow at the contents of the cauldron which was not only illegal for underage wizards to make a potion but also likely to get them grounded for the rest of the summer.

"Feel free."

The twins looked mutinous as they continued to clear up, mumbling about payback and sisters that hit below the belt as Milly and a still chortling Ginny left the room and headed down the stairs.

End flashback

Looking up and noticing Draco was sleeping she leaned up and pressed her lips against his, smiling into his mouth when he returned the kiss without opening his eyes. She shifted so she was facing him and moved her legs so she had a leg on either side of him and he brought his up with some effort, crossing his ankles at her back and nudging her closer.

Without breaking the contact between their lips he ran a tongue over her jutting lower lip asking for entrance and she allowed him to slip his tongue into her mouth where he proceeded to explore every inch of the velvety inside of her mouth.