A/N: Wow! Talk about a long time between updates! Did you know that the last time I updated this was December 11, 2004? Actually, that's not as long as I thought it had been…only seven and a half months. Not too bad. wink Enjoy this. I can't believe how silly I've been about how to finish this story!

Pairings: Ginny/Draco, Hermione/Snape, Harry/Pansy

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Truly, I own none of it. Well, perhaps I own a teeny bit of the plot. My inspiration was the movie Speed, but honestly, how much does this story actually resemble that movie? However, the characters (minus those I have made up, which are actually fewer than you might imagine) are J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 9: Mistakes of the Past

In retrospect, Ginny was amazed how simple it had all been. After disabling Cordelia Parkinson and Lucius Malfoy, she had destroyed the cornerstone to the Death Eaters plans – in other words, she had taken the two key players out of the game. Goyle, Crabbe, and MacNair simply didn't have the brains to make it on their own, and certainly didn't have the finesse to complete what Malfoy and Parkinson had started.

Draco and Emile Kandov – along with Pansy, Harry, Hermione, and Snape – had showed up just minutes after she had incapacitated the two leaders. They then left Ginny with the children as they found the five Death Eaters and disabled and bound them. Then they left with Ginny, taking the children to safety and the five Death Eaters into Auror custody.

Unfortunately, due to the death of one of the students, many other children were called home to stay with their families. Headmistress McGonagall, however, refused to close the school and resolutely stated that as long as there were children to attend, there would be a school to teach them. So this was how Ginny Weasley found herself on the second of September, standing in front of a half-full class of third year students whose thoughts were obviously kilometers away.

She glanced at her watch and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw there were only a few minutes left until this class was over – her last of the day – and decided to let them out early. "Now, I want you to be certain to read chapters two and thirteen; we'll be discussing them in great detail next week, and I want to make certain that you have at least a small grasp of Cheering Charms before you attempt them. You are dismissed." The class filed out, some quickly, others more slowly.

Ginny sat down in her chair and set her head upon her hand, staring at the back of the classroom as she fought to think about things other than what had happened yesterday. Thus, when a knock came upon the half-open classroom door, she was happy for the interruption. "Ye—" she began, but paused when saw the identity of the person who had knocked. "Draco?" she whispered, barely realizing she'd said it aloud.

The golden-haired wizard standing at the door gave her a soft smile, slowly walking into the classroom, looking around to give himself something to do.

"Hello, Ginny."

She got to her feet jerkily, trying to give him a smile. "Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked.

Draco frowned. "What happened to us, Ginny?"

She gave him a shaky laugh. He was avoiding the question. Or at least it seemed so. "There was an 'us', Draco?"

His expression didn't change. "Ginny, let's think back to your seventh year, shall we? I'm assuming you remember that Quidditch match, the last one against Slytherin?"

"Of course," Ginny said, folding her arms.

"Then perhaps you remember what happened afterwards."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I was watching the game, Weasley."

Ginny grinned suddenly. "What'd you think?"

Draco slung an arm around her shoulders. "You did good, Weasley, you did good…"

"You really think so?"

"Honestly, Weasley, I doubt I was the only one that heartily believed Gryffindor would stop winning the Quidditch Cup after Potter's graduation. That was an impressive play back there."

Ginny just grinned, although the arm he had thrown about her shoulder was sending tingles down her spine that she did her best to ignore. Draco pulled them to a stop. "Weasley, I need to know something…" he paused.

"Call me Ginny," she said, the silence doing much to discomfort her. "Please."

"Ginny," he said, like he was trying it out. He gave her a smile. And then a determined look came over his face, as if he had finally decided something.

He leaned down, brushing his lips across hers, the whisper of a kiss. Ginny made a small sound, something between a gasp and a sigh. She grasped his robe with her hands and pulled him closer, so that the kiss turned into a real one.

Soft lips touched hers tenderly, and she felt arms encircling her as she melted against him, giving herself up to whatever he was doing to her. She couldn't deny that she hadn't stopped thinking about The Kiss…and wishing there had been more to it.

How they ended up in the abandoned classroom with half their clothes gone was something Ginny wasn't certain she'd be able to figure out if she tried. And later, when they were both lying, exhausted, across the professor's desk at the front of the room, she wasn't certain she wanted to know. She'd gone into it with her eyes wide open, knowing precisely what she was doing, but now…

Now she was scared. She didn't know what to do. All she knew was that Malfoy…Draco made her lose control of herself, and she didn't like that.

She heard his breathing even out, and felt his tight hold on her ease. He was asleep. Thank Merlin, he was asleep. She wiggled out of his embrace, frowning slightly when she saw the soft smile on his face. He truly looked like a fallen angel as he slept. She collected her clothes and prepared to leave—but she knew she needed to leave some kind of note, because she didn't want him contacting her again. She needed to leave, now, and she didn't want to see him again.

"Ginny." Draco shook her slightly.

She jerked her head around, staring at him, her eyes wide. She couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say.

"Why did you leave?" he whispered, stroking a thumb across her cheek.

"I left you a note," she stuttered.

"I know." He reached into his pocket and pulled out what was obviously a well-worn piece of parchment. "I always have it with me." He unfolded it and held it in front of her eyes, though she knew what it said by heart.

Draco,

Please don't try to contact me. What we did was a mistake, and I fully accept responsibility for it. Good luck with your Auror training.

Sincerely,

Ginny

"Why was it a mistake, Ginny?"

The dam broke. Twin tears tracked their way down her cheeks. "I—" she gasped in breathe as more tears fell. "I spent so long hating you," she whispered. She could see a flicker of hurt dance across his features, and reached up with a hand to touch his face. "I hated everything you stood for. I hated your father for what happened in my first year. I couldn't accept the fact that you made me lose control. You made me want what I had never wanted with Harry.

She turned away, anger coming over her in a heartbeat. "Damn it, Draco! In the space of a year of civility and fifteen minutes of acting like best of friends, you were able to claim what Harry tried to claim after being my boyfriend for a year! You didn't take my virginity, Draco, I handed it to you on a silver platter! I wanted you to take it. And I enjoyed it. You made me lose control. And it scared me, Draco. It reminded me too much of Tom. Of my first year here." She waved her hand artlessly at their surroundings. She could see the confusion in his face and lowered her eyes, relating the tale of her first year, of the diary she had poured her soul into, and of Tom Riddle.

By the end of it, she was crying again, but this time Draco was holding her as they sat upon the ground next to her desk … and she didn't want him to let go.

"Ginny," Draco whispered in her ear. "I didn't want to let you go. I gave you the room to get through what had happened between us because I hoped that you would come back of your own volition. I never regretted what happened and I'd hoped you wouldn't either. You weren't the only one who lost control, Ginny. I lost control, too. I'd spent so long watching and loving you from afar that the opportunity to show you how I felt, and the possibility that you might return my feelings, overwhelmed me."

He was rubbing little circles on her back, making Ginny melt against him. She could feel her defenses, so carefully constructed over the last two years, crumbling. She leaned away slightly and looked Draco in the eyes before grabbing his face with her hands and pressing her lips against his.

The kiss was everything she had thought it would be and more. In the time she'd been gone – from Paris, to Venice, to Tokyo – she had experienced a lot, but nothing compared with what Draco made her feel when he brushed his lips against hers, and she felt his tongue tracing the outline of her lips.

When he pulled away, she frowned, upset at the loss of his lips but also confused. Why had he pulled away?

Draco gave her a small smile. He looked sad. "I don't want you to pull away from me again. I'm not going to let you turn this into something physical. We need to talk, Ginny. I've loved you for four years now. I freely admit it. When you said you never wanted to see me again, it cut to the quick, but I kept on going because I argued to myself that you needed time to sort it out. After two years I had almost been able to push the hurt away, to pretend that you didn't matter.

"Yesterday when I found out that you had been taken hostage," he cut off her protestation by covering her mouth with his hand, "I realized that my feelings hadn't changed one whit. I still loved you as I had two years ago—more perhaps. And Lucius knew that. That was why you mattered. It was why you were the one they wanted in exchange for the hostages. Because, surprisingly, Lucius understood something I didn't about the kind of love I have for you. It lasts forever. So I don't want you to pull away again. I don't want to have you and lose you. If you want nothing to do with me, then leave me now. If, however, you think you might be able to return my feelings…then stay," he whispered, taking his hand away from her mouth.

Throughout his speech, Ginny's mind had been working furiously as she pieced together all of his behaviors throughout the years. She realized she even knew when he had become interested in her. It had been after she and Harry had started going out. There had been little signs throughout their time together at Hogwarts…and of course, the largest one, so much more than hint, when he had come back for her last Quidditch game. She didn't know if she loved him. She didn't think she knew him well enough for that.

Although perhaps she did. She had never had sex with Harry. It had never felt right to her. It was one of the reasons she had been so shocked when she had let it happen with Draco. Because she had let it happen. She had wanted it to happen. Draco had intrigued her, drawn her like a bee to pollen or a moth to flame.

"Draco," she said, framing his face in her hands. "I want you to know something. I don't know whether I love you. It wasn't really something I ever considered. However, if I don't love you now, I know that I can. You intrigue me, fascinate me, and never cease to amaze me. When we made love, it was the most gratifying experience of my life, one I've never been able to duplicate. I will not run away again. I'm a professor now, so I'll be right here, at Hogwarts, whenever you want to stop by. If I'm lucky, I plan to be here until I'm old and decrepit.

"I'm sorry I ran. I was scared, a scared little girl who didn't understand the emotions you evoked in her. I think you may have expected too much of me at that age. You were forced to grow up before your time. I was nurtured and coddled, and though I wasn't naïve or ignorant, neither was I mature. I'd like to think that I have gained an immense amount of maturity in the years since I graduated. And I want to see if there can be an 'us'."

The smile she saw bloom on Draco's face sent her emotions into a scramble and the butterflies in her stomach swarming, but the smile she felt forming on her own face drowned any fears she might have had. And as she leaned forward to kiss him again, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. After everything she'd searched for, he'd been here all along.

fin

End Author's Note: Waaa! sniffle Yes, I got choked up writing that. But that's me. I get choked up easily.

I want to say that this story has proved to me the necessity of planning ahead. I didn't have a clear end in mind as I wrote this story. I truly did not know what I was doing, and as I sat down to write this chapter, I realized just how many discrepancies I had written into this plot. It was almost enough to make me go back and rewrite the whole thing...however, I don't have time for that. :) I have a lot of stories to finish. Yes! I do plan to finish everything that is unfinished. This was the first step, mostly because it was the closest to being done.

I hope you enjoyed it. I know I enjoyed writing this last chapter, although I admit it was very difficult after not writing it for so long. Chapter eight, though I published it back in December, was actually written a LONG time before that, so it's been a while since I wrote anything for this story. Please let me know if I did it justice. I still feel a little rusty.