AN: HERE IT finally is..haha, the last chapter, the end to this saga. Actually, I think I might post an epilogue, depending on the time I have and the feedback I get. Let me just take this time to tell you how much these reviews mean to me..each and every one of them, even the ones where you threaten to kill me/yourself/harry(poor boy) if I don't update..I still have those saved. I'm going to boarding school starting in a few weeks, and I don't know if I'll have enough time to post new fics or not, but I really really want to. Your reviews and feedback have been a constant through good and bad times..when people have lashed out, written mean things on my live journal, and generally made life hell, I've derived comfort from you- readers of my fic, who don't know me at all, but like my writing enough to keep track of it..and sometimes that means more than any fake friendships. I think you can tell I'm a little depressed, and that I'm really lame for unloading on YOU guys right now, but for those of you who actually bother to read the authors note..thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking around this long.
Before Draco could retort, Harry, who had been observing it all with a look of slight consternation cut in.
"Now Malfoy, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a dance with my date."
It was Draco's turn to become icy now.
"Your date?"
Ginny was too embroiled in her anger to see what the two boys were talking about; her blood was pounding in her ears. Weasley! In the end, was that all she meant to Draco, a last name, nothing more? He had been doing this to spite Harry all along, and now that he'd succeeded, his true emotions were coming out. How could she have given her heart up to him so easily?
"Yes Malfoy, my date. We decided it finally last night."
Last night! Draco's stomach clenched, and his fists soon followed. Right after their kiss? So she had no feeling for him at all then, what was it, a fling for her? "Tame the school's hottest bad boy" something like that? Judging by her callous disregard for any feelings on his part, it evidently was.
He pointedly looked down at Harry,
"Well in that case Potter, your welcome to her." He stalked off, the anger coursing through his veins flooding his face with its intensity. Students unconsciously moved out of his way at seeing his face, and before Blaise could ask, he was out on the grounds, summoning his broomstick.
Ginny was only conscious of Harry pulling her to him and staring to dance, her face had lost all its previous animation, and she didn't care about anything.
"Its no problem Ginny, I got rid of him."
Ginny raised her face to his, and he was shocked to see it,
"What did you say?" she asked, in a monotone.
"Oh nothing," Harry said cheerily as he tried to make her smile by spinning her around,
"I just told him to get away from my date to the dance."
This made Ginny stop stock still on the floor, regardless of the various couples that were bumping into her, and looking at the two of them confusedly.
"Your date?"
Harry looked at her in concern,
"Yes, I mean, well, when you didn't say no..I just..assumed.."
She reflected that if her heart hadn't already been broken, it would have done so again at the look on Harry's face.
"Harry," her voice was gentle, this was, after all, the boy she had adored for the better part of her school years. Ginny didn't know- she couldn't tell him the truth.
But he knew, somewhere in the back of his mind he'd always known, and had just not wanted to believe it. He should have felt some bitterness, but all he could express was wry amusement. He stilled her hands with his, and looked into her face. Damn her for her large heart, and those brandy brown eyes that were transparent to her emotions. He could see pity in those eyes, and of all things this wasn't what he wanted from her.
"Ginny, there's no need. I... know already."
"You, you do?"
"Yes, and I'm sorry for what I just did," he gave her a characteristically sheepish, boyish grin at this point, only sullied by the pain in his eyes. He continued,
"Obviously I was jealous. You've never looked at me..the way you looked at him..and.."
"I would have," Ginny said softly, imperceptibly, looking up at him in shock when she realized what she had just admitted. His response was a half twist of his mouth,
"I know, you could say perhaps, that my timing was just completely off." He looked at her narrowly, "In more ways than one." At this his face crumpled, and the small part of her heart that cherished his friendship burnt in her.
Ginny wordlessly took him in her arms and held him close. If only..she thought, fiercely blinking back tears, and then she let him go. His eyes were closed, and he held her at arms' length.
"Go Gin, go before I open my eyes, this is something you need to do."
Instinctively she knew what he was saying and backed out of his embrace, her fingertips brushing his in brief farewell, then she leaned toward him.
"I may love him Harry, but he is still an utter bastard." With this she turned around and walked out of the hall as The Boy who lived shook his head and went to another corner of the room.
"Should we have intervened?" Lupin asked, the first to break the silence that had fallen among the three teachers.
"I think it was best that we didn't, it reached its natural conclusion." Snape replied, in a surprisingly gentle voice. He had come back to collect his drink, but had gotten so arrested in the developments between Draco, Ginny and Harry that he had completely neglected poor Sandy, who flounced off in a huff. This led Mcgonagall to privately reflect that she need not refer to Remus as "Lulu" anymore, and thus put a stop to any convulsions of laughter she had left.
Right now however, her thoughts were in a far less cheerful direction. She wiped her eyes with her handkerchief and looked around shiftily to see if anyone had observed.
"No one saw, Minerva." That was Severus, with the faintest trace of an eye roll in his voice.
"I know how you feel Minerva, tonight has been an important night. The really difficult sides of Draco and Ginny finally reared themselves, and I don't think Harry was remiss when he made that crack about bad timing."
"It's not just that, Remus, think of all the work we put in to ensure this relationship was working. What of that?"
"Well Snape, the point was defeated anyhow when they didn't come to the ball together. But, if its any consolation, Flitwick's "progeny" just had an equally large tiff earlier on in the evening. Do you recollect a punch sodden figure passing us by?"
"That was him?"
"Yes, I believe his date threw her drink in his face when she realized he was busy eyeing up the Patil twins."
Severus gave a dry chuckle.
"What you're not admitting boys," Minerva piped up in a choked voice, ignoring the starts Remus and Severus gave at being referred to as such,
"What you're not admitting is that we knew going to the ball together was a lost cause a long time ago. For sometime now, I think the interest in this relationship has been personal."
She received no reply to that, just a solemn nodding of heads.
"Should we do anything to set things right between them?"
"What can be done Remus? She has the famed Weasley temper, and at its peak, it is perhaps not best to tell her that her professors have been meddling in her love life."
"Perhaps Minerva, but wait! Severus, where are you going?"
"To risk the Malfoy temper." Was the reply the two teachers received over his shoulder as Snape swept out of the ballroom and to the Quidditch pitch.
Draco Malfoy was in the middle of a particularly complicated loop when he heard his professor's voice.
"Tonight of all the nights, one of the brightest students in my house proved me wrong and behaved like a complete dunderhead."
"Nice to see you too professor," Draco muttered, as he brought his broom down to the ground.
"I don't think I'll ever understand what possessed you. One would assume that after all the obstacles you have conquered, your bravery during the war, the way you stood up to your father-"At this, Draco flinched and Snape paused, briefly.
" Haven't you been through enough already? Why aren't you allowing the good things in your life to manifest Draco?"
"Professor, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"That approach may work with an impatient Gryffindor, Draco Malfoy, but it will not work with me. I want to know just why you persist in being so oblivious."
"It's complicated."
"Ah, another way of saying, "my bones are made of Hufflepuff marrow."
Ordinarily, Draco would have flared up at this remark and let loose a few choice ones of his own in response. However, tonight he was too disheartened to do anything but raise his eyebrows. Severus, realizing the delicacy of the situation, bent down until they were both sitting on the grass and he was eye level with his student.
"Draco listen to me, I know life has not been easy for you.."
"You don't understand the meaning of difficult Professor! My life has been filled with betrayals, and tonight was just one more example of that!"
Snape was silent for a minute.
"Remember who you are talking to Mr.Malfoy, knowing my history as well as you do, is it really possible that you think my life has been easy? That I haven't faced betrayals of my own?"
Draco didn't answer, but his expression was mutinous.
"You think, that between the potion and the way your father treated you, and the favors that Albus is always granting Potter, that you have been treated unfairly. You resent Potter as the cause for the working of the Potion, you are still jealous of the adulation he receives, and the smallest most insecure part of you has always been worried that someday Ginny would realize his regard for her. Then what? She would discard you and immediately pursue him. Tonight has effectively proved that, hasn't it Draco? Correct me, but isn't that what is going through your mind right now?"
He didn't speak, and Snape, his voice now showing frustration, continued.
"What you don't see is that you are as widely admired as Harry Potter is, you effectively turned the tide of the war! You came clean about the potion, something that few would have the courage to face. Draco Malfoy, was willing turn over a new leaf, and that was evident to all. Have you not wondered, Draco, just why Albus never through you out of the school despite all your potion induced antics?"
Draco somehow brought himself to nod dully,
"It was because he believed in second chances, and most importantly, he believed, and continues to believe; in you. Now I know you don't get along with Potter, and I understand perfectly why, but considering all you've been through, you should be able to reap the rewards."
"There are no rewards Professor." He responded, a little surprised at how hollow his voice sounded.
"Would you not consider the love of an intelligent woman a reward? A girl, perhaps the only one, who understands you and brings out the most positive sides of you. You may not have admitted it to yourself yet, so forgive me for making this controversial statement. But in my opinion, Miss.Weasley, due to her influence on you, could effectively be considered your antidote to the Meta potion."
He looked up at his professor, almost childish in the open mouthed expression on his face. Whether he felt shock at knowing this was true, or bitterness that it was, he knew not. Snape, who felt that he had been lecturing Draco long enough, now looked expectant. So he responded,
"She doesn't love me, Professor, she loves Potter."
Snape stifled the urge to slap his forehead, and replied as enigmatically as possible.
"Sometimes, Draco, things aren't always what they seem..." And then, abandoning his attempt at mystery, Snape snapped (AN: pardon the pun, I couldn't help it;)
"Oh bugger this! Albus Dumbledore can do the entire "omniscient mentor" act, but I lack the white hair and the patience. Listen to me Draco Malfoy, Miss. Weasley has not chased Potter in a very long time. You've noticed this; I've noticed it, hell, all of Hogwarts has wondered about it. Are you that insecure, that unsure of her felings, that you could walk away because of a mere taunt on his part? Is that all you've learnt?"
"But they went to the dance together, didn't they? Why would she tell me that she wasn't going with him, when she was?"
"I'm not your Agony Aunt, Mr.Malfoy, I suggest that you seek out Miss.Weasley and place this enquiry before her yourself."
Draco fell back to the ground, and regarded his Professor's looming form. He closed his eyes, and just thought with his heart. Decisively, he got up and and began walking off the field, not witnessing his teacher's broad smile (which was perhaps all for the better as it would have ruined Snape's daunting image). Without turning, he put a Sonorous charm on his voice and asked,
"By the way, Professor, how exactly do you know all this?"
Snape had known this moment would arrive soon, and wondered how to put the answer as painlessly as possible. He opted for postponing it.
"Sort out your life now Malfoy, I'll tell you when things are clearer."
Draco shook his head and continued to walk off the field.
"Mr.Malfoy, where exactly are you going?"
"To find Ginny of course."
Snape knew that what surfaced in response to this was a slightly sadistic urge in him, but he gave into it anyway.
"That, Mr.Malfoy, will be impossible. It is currently 2 in the morning, the ball will soon come to an end, and if I am not mistaken, Miss.Weasley is already in her dorm. A place (he looked at Draco evenly at this point,) where boys are not permitted."
Draco shook his head again, and walked off toward his own dorms.
"Ah, my work is done." Snape rubbed his hands together, and walked back toward the school, wondering whether it was too late to invite Remus and Minerva out for a celebratory drink in Hogsmeade.
The next morning, Severus Snape woke to the sound of a persistent tapping against the window. He greeted the bleak sunlight with a few choice swearwords, tottered out of bed and wrested a piece of parchment away from the important looking owl. When he read its contents however, the expression that crossed his face looked remarkably like a smile. He tossed the parchment behind him, shooed the indignant owl away, and fell right back into bed, snoring.
The owl note had informed each head of house, that due to the heavy rain (it was pouring outside), the Flobberworm Fest had been cancelled. Had not the majority of the Hogwarts population been either hung over, or rather exhausted, there would have been a collective cheer. So, everyone slumbered, as Dumbledore had declared the day a holiday. But only two people did not.
Ginny had woken up, and was staring at the rain with an air of resignation. She stretched, pulled on a pair of socks, a robe, and made her way out of the Common room. The Fat Lady didn't even question, because like her late night Prefect Baths, this was something that was just quintessentially Ginny Weasley. It was put up with, unquestioned, and effectively turned a blind eye on. She made her way down to the lake, where the Great Squid was lazily stirring, and tilted her face up.
The pale light of dawn had barely filtered through the clouds, and ordinarily she would be snoring at this point. But it was raining, and this explained her wakefulness...it always did. She had been born during a rainstorm, and her mother had often said in latter bouts of exasperation or fondness, that she should have taken the weather as an indication for the child that was born that night.
She was right; of course, as mothers are apt to be. Ginny was almost exactly like a rainstorm. Her emotions came and took over her like rolls of thunder, and she definitely possessed flashes of temper and fury, just like lightening.
And yet- as those who truly knew her would attest, there was something oddly soothing about the entire combination. Something like the cool sensation of rain on one's face, despite the mental knowledge that the storm is wreaking havoc all around. It was, she reflected, as the moisture smoothed across her face, strange, that one could experience such calm in the middle of such chaos.
As the raindrops caressed her face and she naturally opened her mouth to taste them, the events of last night flew through her head.Soon the water on her face had mingled with her tears, and she could taste their saltiness. This was the first time she had let herself cry since the war. She remembered surveying the vast battlefield and the damage, with an acute sense of weariness, and promising herself never to waste tears on anything trivial again.
Yet, as luck would have it, here were the tears again. She simply gave into them, and let herself let out her grief through tears, for the first time. The previous night she had gone to bed, dry eyed. But that night had been about fury, about regret, and about that horrible burn in her heart she got when she had a particularly horrible fight with Mum, or in this case, with the boy she hopelessly, rebelliously... loved.
She cried now, for placing her heart and faith in the wrong boy, for the irony that she received the attentions of the right one too late, and for the simple angst filled existence that she was still forced to lead, despite the end of the war.
He watched his window, and the rain dripping down its side. The room was dark, and the bleak light that filtered in looked almost psychadelic because of the water in front of it. He could never sleep through rain, and never had. The noise made him positively distracted, and he felt a yearning, longing to go somewhere,do something...now, more than ever. As he made his way out, a flash of red caught his eye, and his heart stopped.
Ginny had finished crying. The feeling had dullened, for now, and she knew that she was strong, that she would be able to put this behind her. Yet, she couldn't help feeling that there was something more to this, that it was unfinished. Till now, the most difficult incidents in her life were always resolved with some sort of closure. Looking up at the sky, she prayed for the same situation here.
"Do great minds really think alike then?"
Her heart rate sped up by several notches, and she continued looking up, wondering if something, somewhere had heard. He didn't wait for her reply,
"Ginny, do you remember that night when I told you that I was terminally insecure?" Her back was still to him, but he could sense her listening. It was evident in the curves of her shoulders, the tilt of her head, and just the general awareness he had of her.
"I never told you the main reason, and never thought I would. Yet, here I am."
"Here you are." She replied monotonously, and turned toward him. His heart dropped slightly when he heard her emotionless tone, but he refused to back down, and continued.
" You see, I've always been jealous of Potter, and I told you that I'd stopped, since I found out about the Potion. That was a lie, to myself as well as to you; its always been. I saw his attentions toward you Gin, and I was jealous of the fact that despite not having your heart, he at least had your friendship- something I couldn't boast of."
"You had more." her stance was tight, but the shake in her voice betrayed her.
"I know that now, Ginny, but when Potter told me you made that date the very night we kissed, something inside me came apart. The instinct to stay and fight for you was taken away, because I thought you didn't care."
"Just like me, when you called me Weasley. And this was something you actually did, whereas the whole Harry situation was untrue."
Draco paused now. He didn't exactly know how to explain this, but he knew he had to, because he had hurt her deeply.
"Ginny, this probably sounds like a rather pathetic excuse to you, but it is the only one I can offer. Around Potter, my reflexes become their most hostile. You can call it an after effect of the potion if you want, I don't know. For some reason, oh god I can't believe I'm admitting this, I find myself transforming into the old Draco Ferret Malfoy, and not the current original, do you understand?"
She stood stock still at hearing him confess something this major, and at the sound of his most notorious nickname coming from his own lips. She replied, in an almost trance.
"You are going to be seeing Harry several times in the future, are you going to be calling me Weasley then too?"
She turned back around, and crossed her arms.
He stepped over to her, and placed his hands on her soaked shoulders, turning her around to him.
"Are you saying that we have a future?"
Ginny frowned in alarm.
"I didn't mean-, look that remark was thought of ...hypothetically"
"Well hypothetically I would avoid Potter as much as possible, and if I had to come into contact with him, I would not call you that, no."
"And just why not? How can I trust you Draco?"
"You can trust me because if you were in my future, I would be so lost in you that I'd make Professor Trelawney appear to be keen and alert. No Potter could take away the awareness of having you by my side. He'd never get me down. " He said this in a low voice, an intense one, with a slight note of , looking up seriously at her face.
She'd read it everywhere, but never actually thought that she would be a direct recipient of it... this feeling that made her knees buckle, and her head ache with lightness. Her mouth twitched involuntarily, but she stopped her smile before he could see it, not knowing that he already had.
"You haven't answered the question, Draco. How do I know that this isn't all about some game of one upmanship between you and Harry?"
The way she said his name, despite her effort to diffuse the situation, made his eyes alight with fervent hope. She didn't' say anything, but her own eyes gave her away as well, and he slowly advanced on her.
"I said I'd never call you Weasley, Ginny, because I love your name too much."
He paused now, and looked at her.
"I love you too much."
It was her turn for her heart to stop. She didn't notice the rain now, didn't notice how cold and wet her body felt, because of the look in his eyes, because of the knowledge and truth in what he was saying, and because of that irresistible way his hair fell wetly on his forehead.
Before having time to question her own behavior, she stepped forward, and kissed him. Hard. She pulled away before he had time to reciprocate, but he wrapped his arms around her, trapping her to him.
"Do you, erm... remember when you were... asking me about those freckles on my finger?" She asked, looking anywhere but at him, which was a little difficult to do in the confines of his arms.
He didn't answer, and somehow without doing anything, he forced her gaze up to his. The intensity of the look in his eyes made her expel a breath she had been holding, and slowly raise her littlest finger to him.
"This freckle, faded rather recently..."
"Life," She said, as she tapped the top one, all the while gazing into his eyes.
"New life," he responded, his voice uncharacteristically deep as he slowly stroked the bottom one.
They both placed their hands on the smooth spot in the middle of her finger. He looked at her, knowing what was coming next, but wanting to hear it from her mouth.
"Love." She said, so softly, but imbued with a wealth of meaning.
At that, he dropped her hand, pulled her to him, and pressed his mouth to hers. She responded soon enough, her arms twining around his neck, and the rain molding their bodies close to each other.
"I love you, I love you, I love you..." he breathed fervently, feeling like he could never say it enough, as he kissed her all over her face, on her neck, on the various freckles that were scattered there.
She couldn't respond vocally, but her skin, her eyes, they all replied back to him. Then, they both noticed at the same time that their teeth were chattering.
She giggled, and he rolled his eyes, the concentrated intimacy of the moment temporarily mellowed- to something lighter- younger. Wrapping his arm around her, he led her inside to the place where he had first noticed her, first fought with her, and first loved her. She leaned her head on his shoulder, unconsciously echoing his thoughts; both blissfully oblivious to the delighted grins on three teachers faces as they stared down at them from a high tower.
"Well," sighed Professor Mcgonagall, as she put down her pair of Omniculars, "I would say that our work here is done."
"You can't, because I already used that line last night." Snape responded, as he cleaned the lenses on his own pair.
"Either way, I'm sure the two of you are glad I woke you. This was something we all had to see, don't you agree?" Lupin chimed in, his early morning cheeriness not sitting well at all with the other two. They didn't respond, but gave vague nods, which was their manner of a grudging affirmation.
"I suppose, in the long run, we have Albus to thank. He probably knew all this was to occur."
"Omniscient old goat."
"I don't see why Albus should take all the credit, when we did most of the manual labor."
"Ah yes, Lupin, I believe you are right. And since I performed most of this manual labor, as you put it, the credit is mine."
"BOLLOCKS Severus! I was the one who came up with the entire scheme of having the two of them paired up in class."
"In all fairness Minerva, I was the one who suggested the map. It was the map that started everything- what with the late night baths and all."
"Hogwash, Lupin, Hogwash. Are you forgetting that I was the one who actually took the proverbial bull by the horns? I was, after all, the one who talked to Malfoy!"
"Ah yes, spiffing job you did there, blurting out everything like a cheap gossip column. We could have had much more drama and understanding in today's little dialogue had it not been for your "talk".
"Yes, and I suppose your transfiguration "rose" was much better?"
"Better than your detention! They only talked, at least mine consisted of action!"
"Snape, lets not forget that I was the one who sent her late to your class so you could give her detention. I willfully betrayed a trusted student, so that should count for something!"
"In your case Lupin, nothing at all."
The muffled sounds of arguing did not phase Albus Dumbledore, who merely stood outside and merely smiled at the door for a second.He then tapped his glasses in that enigmatic manner of his, and made his way to his office for more lemon drops.
AN: On a FAR more cheerful note from the first, do tell me your feedback and as usual..REVIEW! Take me to that 400 number, baby!