J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers own it all.
Author Notes and Review Responses to follow.
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Chapter 16
Once Ginny and Draco had landed in a rather large and exquisite, black marble fireplace, Ginny snatched her arm from Draco's grasp.
"You have sunk to a new low, Malfoy," she spat, rubbing her arm where a red mark was appearing as blood rushed to color the white hand print where Draco's grip had cut off her circulation. "Going so far as to kidnap a girl who has made it clear that she wants nothing to do with you?"
Ginny stalked across the room, putting space between Draco and herself. As Draco observed her crossed arms, weight shifted to her right, and eyes narrowly focused on his, he composed himself. "As I stated, we have some unfinished business to discuss."
"You have said all that I need to hear. I am not some toy for your amusement, Malfoy. If all you wanted was a girl who would answer to your hormonal beck and call, you should have never left Pansy."
"You flatter yourself, Weasley. If all that I wanted was the occasional shag I would not be going through this." Draco retorted, instantly wishing he had held his tongue.
"So what is it that you want, Malfoy?"
"That is irrelevant. What you need to know is what cannot happen. And we cannot happen Ginny," Draco spoke calmly.
"I'm pretty sure that I let you know; that is no longer a concern. So, again, what is it that you want," Ginny questioned, growing impatient as she took in her surroundings.
The floors were cold, covered with marble tiles in the same pattern as the fireplace along the outer rim of the room, with a gray marble containing thin grains of green and speckles of silver covering the remaining floor. The furnishings were sparse, containing only a large leather sofa and large sleek black lacquered coffee table. Above the slate mantle that topped the fireplace was a large portrait of Draco and Narcissa Malfoy, with smaller pictures of Draco at various ages.
Ginny observed the changes that Draco made as his years progressed in the different pictures. The youngest picture contained Draco at about two years old, smiling and waving his arms enthusiastically as a lock of blonde hair fell in his face. The boy appeared to be just another toddler, with the joys of life before him. Five-year-old Draco appeared to be suppressing the joy and laughter seen in his younger days. His face was set; though betrayed by gleaming silver eyes, threatening to draw the corners of his mouth into a smile.
As Ginny observed Draco at ten, she saw that his eyes had lost their shine and his face was as fixed as porcelain, posture erect. The last picture of Draco appeared to have been taken last year, at age sixteen. The image was a reflection of the Draco Malfoy that she had known for the past six years. The stoic face had gained a sneer; the eyes had reclaimed a gleam, though not one of laughter or joy, and the chin was now raised, the pose communicating the arrogance of the boy.
Ginny recognized that the place was obviously one very personal to Draco, although she was certain they were not in Malfoy Manner as pictures of Lucius were absent. "Where are we," she asked.
"This is a retreat that was left to my mother by her parents. You are the first person in my lifetime, besides mother and I, to enter this place."
"Your father has never," Ginny started.
"If you lived with Lucius Malfoy, you would understand why mother kept this retreat," Draco finished with a tone of finality in his voice. "We are two very different people, Ginny," Draco stated, resignation in his voice as he attempted to explain himself to Ginny. "My destiny is with my father. Ultimately, it lies with the Dark Lord. Yours is with your family, Dumbledore, and Potter."
"I can't believe that you honestly want to become a Death Eater, Draco," Ginny started.
"It doesn't matter what I want or what you believe. What matters is that we accept reality before this gets too far out of hand," Draco replied.
"Malfoy," Ginny continued, refusing to let this go, "you are a lot of things; arrogant, self serving, cruel. What you are not is pre-destined to serve one of the most evil wizards of all time. I can accept, have accepted, that you are too big of a git to recognize a good thing when it is in front of you. What I cannot accept is you deciding to throw away, not just our relationship; but your entire future because you feel obligated to follow your father in this madness."
"Weasley, you understand nothing," Draco spat, his words coated in condescension. "Your perception of life is limited to black and white. There's Gryffindor and Slytherin; Potter and Voldemort; and Good and Bad. You have seen none of the ugly gray that pervades the world. My destiny is about more than pleasing my father. My obligation is not to him, but to my family principles. The Malfoy name has meant something for centuries. It has stood for the purity of wizard kind and the protection of our world from the ills of the muggle world."
"The ills of the muggle world? Are you listening to yourself," Ginny
replied in disbelief.
"These so-called principles that you are pledging to stand up for, do they call
for the deaths of thousands of witches and wizards? Voldemort and his Death Eaters aren't stopping at the destruction
of muggles. He is willing to kill anyone that he feels is a threat to his
acquisition of power," Ginny responded, pleading with her eyes for Draco to
listen to reason.
"Sometimes the means is justified by the end."
"That is the response of a man unwilling to truly evaluate his actions. Draco, Voldemort will destroy whomever he feels is a threat. That includes the entire Malfoy line. You plan to align yourself with his cause to preserve the purity of wizard kind. Voldemort has no interest in any plight beyond his thirst for power. He was born of muggles, do you honestly believe that his cause and your own are the same?"
Draco's head began to reel as the doubts that had haunted him for years began to resurface. 'Was his father acting out of family pride? Did the preservation of the pure-blood wizard families justify genocide?' Unwilling to consider the questions swarming through his head, Draco ran his hands through his hair and moved to sit on the sofa.
Ginny looked at Draco, questioningly. "You didn't mean those things you said to me in the Room of Requirement, did you?"
Draco sighed. He was too focused on blocking out the questions that threatened to topple his perception of the world to evade her question. "Ginny, my feelings for you could never be conveyed with mere words."
****
"And your desire to touch me *anywhere* appears to have changed," Ginny replied to Malfoy's taunts before leaving his kisses for the small buffet.
"Of all of my desires, Weasley, I would say that touching you is one of the greatest right now." Draco replied as he stood to follow Ginny to the buffet.
Pulling her hand away from the table as she reached for a strawberry, Draco pulled her hand in to her waist and grasped her tightly from behind while fingering his wand.
"Winguardium Leviosa," he breathed into her neck, presenting the strawberry to her waiting lips before tasting her flesh.
Ginny moaned, as she took the strawberry before her in her teeth. Ginny held the stem of the strawberry as she took a bite.
"Is it sweet?" Draco asked, still kissing her neck from behind.
Ginny turned and held the remaining strawberry before his lips. As he moved his head to take a bite, she withdrew the strawberry and greeted his lips with her own.
"You tell me," Ginny murmured against his lips, before slipping her tongue inside of his mouth. As they kissed, she rubbed the bitten strawberry along his cheek, and atop his closed eyelids.
As Ginny abandoned Draco's mouth to follow the trail of strawberry juices she had left along his face, Draco lifted her, allowing her legs to snake around his waist. After she had finished cleaning his eyelids, allowing him the use of his eyes he carried Ginny slowly back to the sofa as she fed him the remaining fruit.
Once they reached the sofa, Draco lowered his head to kiss Ginny again and lay her gently upon the sofa, allowing his weight to settle against her. "Delectable," he responded before kissing her again, his tongue tasting her with more fervor.
As Draco's lips left Ginny's to accommodate his lungs need for air, Ginny looked up at him with timidity in her eyes.
"Draco, we can't," she started before his lips quieted her protests.
"Accio Strawberry," he murmured against her lips waving his wand behind his back. Draco kissed Ginny gently, his free hand smoothing her hair away from her face. "Relax, Ginny," he stated her first name softly, raising the strawberry to her lips. "I won't ask you to do anything you are not prepared to do."
Ginny bit the strawberry, allowing the sweetness of the fruit and the moment to wash over her as Draco traced her lips with the fruit.
Draco kissed Ginny softly, before tracing her lips with the tip of his tongue. As he explored the flavors upon her lips, Draco placed his wand on the floor next to them and unbuttoned the top of Ginny's robes. Tracing a trail from the corner of Ginny's mouth, to just below the neckline of Ginny's scoop neck blouse, Draco used his free hand to push Ginny's arm upward from it's resting point on his back until it was at the nape of his neck.
As Draco's mouth followed the trail set by the strawberry, Ginny allowed her fingers to slide through Draco's hair, pulling his mouth tighter into her neck and throat.
As Draco's velvet tongue massaged the sensitive virgin flesh closer to Ginny's breasts, she reflexively wrapped her right leg around Draco's thigh, attempting to pull her closer into him. Becoming even more aroused a growl rose in the back of his throat.
Draco allowed his tongue to lazily drag along the trail from the neck of Ginny's blouse back to the corner of her mouth, before kissing her softly and standing to rise.
"I believe that we should say good night, Gin."
"Hmmmm, What's the matter Malfoy, start something that you can't finish," Ginny teased as she rose, sliding her arms around his waist and pulling him in close to her.
"Make no mistake, Ginny, I can and will finish this," Draco stated, looking down into her eyes, his silver eyes focused upon her. "But, as I said, I will not ask you to do anything that you are not prepared for."
Ginny smiled sweetly up at Draco before standing on her tiptoes to kiss him. As their tongues once again found each other and danced teasingly in each other's mouth, Draco caught himself pulling Ginny tightly into his embrace.
Breaking their kiss and releasing her to hold her chin in his hand, he spoke again. "Ginny, as close to perfection as I am, I still have all the shortcomings of any man. If we do not part company this time, I will have no choice but to believe you are ready for me to finish what we've started," he stated in a stern voice with the barest trace of sarcasm.
Ginny sighed, her shoulder's falling slightly before she stretched to kiss him lightly at the corner of his mouth.
"Good night, Draco," she said as she pulled away from him finally.
"Good night, Ginny," he replied as he turned to walk out of the Room of Requirement.
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Author's Notes: So you all got it out of me, a longer chapter :) YAY. Thanks to anyone who's reading this, it
means a lot. Special thanks to Michele
(Thank Michele Everyone) for reviewing this chapter in such a timely fashion so
that I could update!
And to the reviewers:
AznDreamer802: More important than writing a chapter? Nahhh, say it ain't so :) As always, thanks for reading and posting :)
ForbidenMaggiks: I sent you an e-mail, hope you got it! I promise, I'm not trying to mean and awful, scouts honor. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, will watch out for the cliffies.
Shanna: Wow, thank
you so much for your review. I'm glad
that you are enjoying the story and I'm really trying to keep it somewhat
original. The frequent updates, well my
life is kind of boring, and this is my escape.
I was spending all evening reading fan fiction for about 3 months,
before I decided to go ahead and attempt this one. Wow, Shakespeare, I appreciate the comment, but I don't think I'd
ever concede that I was that brilliant, but I'm glowing that you thought to say
so nonetheless! I'm also very pleased
that you find Draco to be IC. And see
what I've done just for you? A chapter
nearly twice as long!!!! Look forward
to reading your opinion on this chapter *hint hint, nudge nudge*
SarkLover: well, we all have better things to do than troll on FanFiction.Net, some of us just don't choose to *hiding in a corner*. Well I'm glad that you reviewed this chapter, and that you're still with me!
chikkalaura: Well shoot, it is, I need a macro or something if I'm going to
type all of that out, other wise I agree with Dumbledore, fear of a name
increases fear of the thing itself.
Thanks for mentioning my dad, he's recovering, he just wishes he had a
beer (the lush) Glad you like Liane, I
was afraid everyone would flame me because the entire chap was from her point
of view, but you guys are so kind to me.
It's amazing!
Potterluvva: I think your review is now my favorite (I still love everyone elses). But it's really cool to have someone who doesn't follow the ship enjoy the story. Thank you SO much for reviewing, and I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts, especially in reference to keeping the characters somewhat true to their portrayal in canon.
Dracomio: awwww, I knew there had to be at least one, but hey, I hope this chapter makes up for it. Thanks for asking about Dad, he's well, just ready to come home. And thanks to my beta, hopefully the stories will become a little easier to read!
Oh, I haven't said this before, but if I ever miss your review, it is indeed unintentional! I love hearing from everyone of you, and you make my day go by a little swifter!
Now go and REVIEW