Author's Note: Hooplah! Dramatically whips velvet cloth off chapter. Yes, chapter 6 is up, thank the gods. Having comuter trouble, so while the story is completed, the chapters may be a while in coming up. Please be patient and stick with this story. This chapter is dangerously fluffy, I can't believe that I wrote this. Me! (Not really interested in boys right now) Runs to bathroom with hand over mouth. Ick. So, please read, review, flame, whatever, as long as you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Not mine; same as other chapters, except for Evan, Gary, Val, Erin, and other involved characters and things you don't recognize from books. If you do recognize it from the books, it belongs to the glorious J.K.Rowling to whom I tip my hat.
Puffy Red Eyes
Chapter 6: Snogging Through the Park One Day...
"I'm serious!" Jenna exclaimed, throwing a popcorn kernel at Ginny, sending them both into a deadly popcorn war.
It was three days before they had to leave for King's Cross station to meet the Hogwarts Express, their last few days spent lounging around the house, watching movies, listening to music, and talking, mostly about boys.
"Oh, really? Well…" Ginny unfolded her long legs and stood, pulling at the bottom of her bright purple boxers. She walked stiffly over to her suitcase and pulled out a patchwork bag.
She carried it over to Jenna, who was still sitting on the floor, and plopped down next to her. Opening the flap of the bag, Ginny sifted through it.
"Aha." She muttered, pulling out a dark green photo album. She flicked impatiently through several pages, and, finding what she was looking for, turned the open book around, and handed it back to Jenna.
Jenna pulled her long braids behind her neck and set the book into her lap.
"What am I looking at?" She asked, her eyes scanning the page.
Ginny crawled forward on her knuckles and pointed to a picture on the page.
Seamus Finnegan, Gryffindor seventh year and former boy of Ginny's, beamed up into the camera. Standing in front of him, with his arms hung loosely around her neck, was Ginny, grinning sweetly. The picture was bewitched to move, and as Jenna watched, Seamus leaned down and planted a quick kiss on picture-Ginny's lips.
Jenna shrugged, unconvinced, and took a quick glance at the other pictures on the page.
Above the picture of Ginny and Seamus was one of Ginny and Hermione, shoulder-to-shoulder, heads touching. Both were smiling into the camera, snow falling around them, noses and cheeks pink with cold.
The next one was taken in the Gryffindor common room at Christmastime. Sitting around the fireplace were many familiar faces.
Neville Longbottom was sleeping contentedly in the armchair nearest the fire. Colin and Ron were sitting in the bottom corner of the picture, playing Wizard's chess. Harry and Hermione were snuggled together in the other corner under a large blanket. The center of the frame was taken up by Fred, George, and Ginny. The twins were holding a laughing Ginny in a huge bear hug. Jenna saw herself sitting on the floor, grinning madly.
Jenna turned to the last picture and smiled. It showed her and Ginny, drenched from head to toe, dripping and laughing. Jenna thought back nostalgically to the day the picture had been taken (by Ron). It had been the last day of Jenna's sixth year, and Ginny's fifth, and a boiling one of that. She and Ginny had been wading along the edge of the lake when Ginny "stumbled" and shoved Jenna into water up to her shoulders.
A huge water fight had ensued, one from which both girls returned, completely soaked, and giggling uncontrollably.
Ginny was looking back and forth from Jenna to the first picture she'd looked at.
"Well? Doesn't that prove anything?" She asked heavily.
Jenna looked back to the picture of Seamus and Ginny.
"Doesn't mean anything. I'm telling you, he's a fairy. Just ask that pooftah from Hufflepuff I saw him kissing last year." She said, handing the book back to Ginny.
Ginny shook her head disbelievingly. "I can't believe it." She whispered. "He seemed so…normal when we were going out." She sat back.
Jenna nodded, and took a sip from her soda. "I know, it's weird, isn't it?" She said, swallowing the fizzing liquid.
Ginny sighed resignedly. "Fine, so Seamus is gay. Hard to believe, but…fine. Well, that does give my ego the tiniest of boosts, but what about the others? You can't tell me Harry, Neville, and Colin are gay, as well, so I don't see the point."
Jenna rolled her eyes. "Okay, so they weren't gay. They were just morons."
Ginny smirked. "Well, that's true."
Jenna grinned and opened a bag of pretzels. "I'm glad you've gotten over that whole self-destructive stage." She said through a mouthful of pretzels.
Ginny's smile grew wider as she blushed. "I still don't think I'm pretty or anything, but I think I've grown up a little. Probably deluded from hanging around you too much."
"A lot." Jenna added.
"What?"
"You've grown up a lot."
Ginny rolled her eyes playfully. "Whatever you say." She sighed, her mind suddenly elsewhere. "Three days left of summer vacation."
Jenna stared out her window. "Come on girl. It's a gat day out there, and we're not taking part of it. Let's go down to the park."
Ginny's eyes lit up. "Can we take Evan and Gary?" She asked, referring to the two little kids Jenna babysat for her neighbors, who Ginny had become immensely fond of.
Jenna shrugged. "Sure, let me make sure it's alright with Cheryl and Paul first." She said, dialing up her neighbors, Cheryl and Paul Fauster. "Hello? Mrs. Fauster? This is Jenna Werner. Hi. I'm fine, how are you? Good! Ginny and I were wondering if we could take Ev and Gary out to the park for the day. No, just for fun. Yeah. Ginny's infatuated with them, and they absolutely adore her. Their uncle? Sure. I'm going to take a quick shower, so we'll be over in about…half an hour? Does that sound good? Terrific. We'll see them soon. Yeah, I've still got the key. Sure. We'll keep them 'til three. Have fun. Okay, bye."
She hung up the phone. "I'm going to take a quick shower, so if you want to go ahead and get dressed, you can borrow some of my shorts. It's hot outside." She said, closing her bathroom door behind her.
Ginny smiled and jumped to her feet. She pulled off her camisole and tugged on an old, yet comfortable tee. She moved to Jenna's dresser, opening the bottom drawer. She rummaged through the myriad of shorts in the drawer, sighing in annoyance.
Christ, Jenna, don't you have anything longer?
All the shorts were way shorter than what Ginny usually wore because with her abnormally long legs, she tended to avoid short things that made them seemed even longer than usual.
Picking out the longest pair she could find, she closed the drawer.
Ten minutes later Jenna emerged from the bathroom, clean and dressed; also in shorts and a tee.
"Ready?" She asked.
Ginny looked up from the bed, eagerly responding "Ready when you are."
Some minutes later, they rang the doorbell of the large mint green mansion next door to Jenna's immense white one.
A severe-looking maid in her fifties with silvery hair tied up in an immaculate bun answered the door. Her stern features lightened as she saw the girls. "Morning, Misses Werner and Weasley. How may I help you?" She asked, recognizing the pair.
Jenna smiled widely. "Hi Lucy, we're here to pick up Evan and George and their uncle." She added as an afterthought.
The woman nodded. "One moment, please."
The door shut firmly. Jenna and Ginny turned to each other and grinned. Seeing the twins always gave them a faint feeling of euphoria.
Two minutes later, the door opened to two smiling blonde angels. "Ginny!" They cried, latching onto her legs.
Neither Ginny nor Jenna noticed the startled figure in the doorway.
Jenna snorted. "And what about me? Don't I get a hug?" She smiled as the two detatched themselves from Ginny and lunged at Jenna. "Jenny! Jenny! Jenny!" They chanted.
Ginny laughed.
Evan, her little pigtail braids swinging, turned to Ginny. "Guess what? I'm five tomorrow." She said, holding up four pudgy little fingers.
Gary turned to Ginny as well. "Me too five!" He slurred, also holding up four fingers.
The girls laughed.
Evan smiled at them shyly. "Meet Uncle!" She said, moving to the door. "He's coming to the park with us!" She pulled a young man through the doorway by the hand.
Ginny picked up Gary, who had been hopping up and down, his arms reaching up to her.
Evan tugged on one braid. "This is Uncle Draco." She said shyly. "Uncle Draco, this is Miss Ginny and Miss Jenna." She said, using their formal titles.
Ginny nearly dropped Gary as Malfoy stepped onto the porch, looking nearly as surprised to see her as she was to see him.
"What are you doing here?" They asked at the same time.
He smiled and turned to Jenna. "You're the Werner girl, aren't you?" He said by way of greeting.
Jenna nodded. "Jenna Werner. I believe you're Draco Malfoy? Nice to meet you." She said, holding out her hand for him to shake.
Draco stared at it, and for a second, Ginny was afraid he wouldn't take it. Draco hesitantly took Jenna's head, and shook it. Ginny beamed in relief.
"I've seen you around at Hogwarts. You're in my Divination class, right?" he asked, dropping her hand.
Ginny glanced from one to the other as they exchanged forced formalities. She seemed to be left out of the conversation because it would have been rather redundant to introduce herself to either.
Ginny readjusted the squirming child in her arms. "Well, Dra-Mal-Draco," She stuttered "are you going to be joining us on our sabbatical to the park?" She asked.
Draco shrugged. He should really meet with Crabbe and Goyle before school began. Evan tugged on his jeans. He looked down at her. "Please Uncle Draco, please come to the park with us." She pleaded, her blue eyes shining.
Gary squirmed out of Ginny's arms and ran over to his uncle, tugging on his other pant leg. "Please? Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please please please?"
Evan joined in cheerfully.
"Please please please please please please please please please please." They chanted, tugging alternately on his pants.
Ginny grinned wickedly at him. "Please Uncle Draco?" She crooned innocently, ignoring the evil look he shot her.
"Okay, okay, fine, I give up, I'll go." Draco relented. He would meet with his two vapid cronies later.
"YAY!" Evan and Gary cheered, hugging him (or rather, his legs) lovingly.
Draco disentangled himself from his brother's fraternal twins and leaned over to shut the door behind him.
"Let's go." He said, though not nearly as gruffly as he would have liked.
Ginny knelt down to tie her shoe. For Gary, this was too good of an invitation to refuse. He ran over to the kneeling red head and jumped on her back, flinging his arms around her neck.
Ginny squawked in surprise, then smiled as she stood, supporting Gary's legs at her sides. Evan turned to Jenna and raised her arms to her pleadingly.
"Piggy back!" She squealed.
Jenna giggled and obediently crouched down so the tiny blonde could grab on.
Draco turned to them expectantly.
"Can we go now?" He asked, trying not to smile. His niece and nephew could charm just about anyone.
They set off, Draco trudging ahead, giving Ginny and Jenna ample opportunity to talk in whispers.
"What's he doing here? He's their uncle?" Ginny hissed.
Jenna shrugged. "I guess."
Evan, who had been partly paying attention to the conversation, piped up.
"That's Daddy's brother, Uncle Draco." She said knowledgably.
Jenna turned to Ginny. "Brother?" She asked questioningly.
Ginny also shrugged. They had made it to the park. Ginny and Jenna deposited their charges at the playground with a short warning to 'play nice' and sat down at a nearby park table.
Draco followed suit.
"So, what exactly were you doing at the Fauster's manor, Weasley? I know you're friends with Werner here, but what specifically were you doing there? Applying for a job as a maid?" He teased, trying not to look at Ginny's long legs sticking out from under the table enticingly, made even longer by the shorts she was wearing.
Ginny brushed aside the taunt; she'd gotten used to them, and she knew Draco wasn't seriously trying to insult her. It was just the way he was.
Oblivious to the attraction of her legs, Ginny tilted her head. "Jenna lives next door to the…uh…Fausters, and she watches over Evan and Gary every once in a while. I'm staying with her for the rest of the summer, so I've been helping her out."
Draco nodded.
The awkward silence was broken by a sudden high-pitched cheerful ring. Quicker than lightning, Draco had his wand out, glancing around furtively. Ginny flew at him.
"No magic!" She hissed, shoving his wand back into his pocket.
Jenna turned to Ginny, who was stretched out across the table, and winced apologetically as the ringing continued. She fumbled with her back pocket, and pulled out the small piece of metal, which, as Ginny had recently found out, was a 'cell phone', kind of like the Muggle telephone, except you could carry it around with you.
Jenna held it up to her ear. "Hullo? Yeah. Hey mum. No, I'm at the park. No. Ginny and the kids. Uh, not really, no. Why? Yeah I can run over for a few minutes, Malfoy's here." She held the phone away from her ear. Even Ginny could her the loud screech on the other end. "No, mum, not Lucius, the other one. Draco. Yes, mum, she's fine. Yes, I'm sure. Okay, I'll grab a cab, and see you in…about five minutes. Right. Love you too, mum. Yes, see you soon, Bye." She clicked the phone off, turning back to Ginny and Draco, who were looking at her curiously.
"Sorry about that. My mum's assistant didn't show up today, so I've got to go help her for a while. Will you two be alright on your own?"
Ginny nodded. Draco shrugged.
"Great. I'll meet you here in a couple of hours." She called behind her, running off.
Draco played with the hem of his shirt.
Ginny shifted awkwardly. "So-I didn't know you have a brother."
Draco froze and looked up at her coldly.
Surprised, Ginny stammered: "I'm sorry, I thought I heard-"
Whatever it was she thought she'd heard, Draco didn't want to hear it.
"Had. I had a brother." He cut her off. "My parents don't talk about him much. They say he'd ruined the family name. He was a lot older than me. I was only seven when he dropped out of Hogwarts. My parents disowned him after he married a poor witch from London. They had two kids." He said, gesturing to where Evan and Gary were playing.
Ginny cocked her head. "Wait. The Fausters are your brother and his wife?" She asked.
Draco rolled his eyes at her confusion. "No you moron. Do you really think I share blood with those idiotic Muggles? They are in no way related to me or my family. Last year, during the last battle, my brother and his wife fought against the side of the Dark Lord. On the same side as your brothers and father. Your family came back unscathed. My brother wasn't so lucky. He and his wife were killed…by Death Eaters." He said, his face devoid of emotion.
Ginny's eyes grew wider. Draco's father had been accused of being a Death Eater many times, once or twice by her own father. Could he have possibly killed his own son and daughter-in-law?
From her previous experiences with Lucius Malfoy, Ginny knew he could.
In her first year, Lucius Malfoy had slipped a diary into one of her books. When Ginny found it, and began writing in it, she was amazed to discover that it wrote back. What she didn't know was that the person who was writing back to her was a preserved Lord Voldemort. He slowly gained control over her, and finally overpowered her.
Ginny had nearly died because of that. Voldemort had used her to do many horrible things, the worst; setting a basilik on several students, had nearly killed Hermione. Then Voldemort had taken her down to The Chamber of Secrets to wait for her death, which would regenerate him wholly.
Bur Harry had somehow discovered the Chamber, saved her, and defeated Voldemort.
Sufficed to say, Lucius Malfoy was a sick, twisted bastard. But to outright kill his own son? That was pure, unadulterated evil.
Draco stared at her as she figured things out in her mind. She was clever enough to know that his father was a Death Eater, especially having several family members at The Ministry of Magic. She'd understand what he meant. His father had murdered his brother.
Ginny stood and walked around to Malfoy's side of the bench and sat next to him. She took his hand in hers, and caressed it softly. "Draco, I- I had no idea that…I'm sorry." She finished, rubbing her thumb thoughtfully over the back of Draco's hand.
He started to shrug, then decided against it. He placed his hand over hers.
"Thanks." He whispered.
Ginny smiled, her eyes soft and warm.
"My brother's kids, Gareth and Evanna, were sent to live with Erin's sister and her husband; the Fausters. Erin was my brother's wife." He explained. "Ever since then, I've come to visit them at least once a week during the summer." He smiled to himself. "If my parents knew, they'd kill me. But, luckily, they don't even know Val had kids."
He softly withdrew his hand from Ginny's.
"What about you, Weasley? What's your sob story?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Ginny shook her head resolutely. "Everything seems so insignificant now. I had no idea how hard your life's been. Why didn't you tell anyone?" She asked.
Draco considered this. Talking to Weasley about his family secret had lightened the veil of darkness over him. Why hadn't he thought of this before?
"Who is there to tell? Besides some girl who only started talking to me because her boyfriend broke up with her and she wanted to get him back, that is?" He teased, reveling in her shocked look.
She playfully hit him. "You knew?" She gasped.
Draco rolled his eyes and put his arm around her shoulders. "Listen, Weasley. I may be an anti-social, sadistic son of a bitch, but honestly, who did you think you were fooling?" He joked.
Ginny groaned and put her head in her hands. "Ohhhhh." She moaned.
Draco grinned. "Gotcha."
Ginny pulled her hands away from her face. It was suddenly drawn and pained.
"Draco. About that deal. It was stupid of me. Harry doesn't matter that much anymore, I was insane with hatred at the time, and I wasn't really thinking of what would happen afterward. What I mean is, if you want to break it off, you have my consent." She breathed, peeking up at Draco.
He looked furious. His cheeks were beginning to glow pink, and his eyes were flashing dangerously. For a second, fear flickered through Ginny, then it was replaced by a heavy relief. So he didn't want to break it off.
"But," She said softly, taking his hand in hers again "if you want to try it out, free of aforementioned deals, you're welcome to try that as well." She looked up at the profile of his face, hopefully.
His brow slackened and a grin tugged at his mouth. She still wanted to be with him! He could have jumped for joy right then, and nearly did.
He turned to her, smiling honestly and freely for the first time since Ginny had known him. He cupped her angular chin with his hand, tilting her face up to look at him. He looked carefully in her eyes, determined to find the slightest trace of deceit.
"That depends," he said, still staring into her eyes "are you going to try to hack my hands off with those claws of yours again? Because if you are, I'm afraid I may have to do something drastic." He moved his face closer to hers.
Ginny's eyes widened, her mouth hanging open slightly with anticipation.
"Like what?" She breathed.
Draco actually smiled. His first real smile in a long time. "I might refuse to stop kissing you." He tilted head forward, sealing the few centimeters between their lips.
His lips caught her bottom one. He tenderly kissed her lower lip, then her upper lip. His kisses ran along her chin and across her jaw, trailing down to her neck. Ginny brought his face back up to hers. "That would be drastic. And completely unacceptable." She said, covering his mouth with hers.
Draco closed his eyes as she kissed him with more fire and energy than he'd thought possible. He brought his hands up her back, and around her neck, pulling her closer to him. He ran his fingers through her hair, delighting in the sweetness of her lips and the feel of her hair over his skin.
Ginny kissed him unrelentingly, even though she felt she was going to die from how fast her heart was beating. She simply couldn't get enough of him. She brought her arms around his neck, where they hung contentedly. She smiled into his lips.
"Uncle Draco?"