Chapter 13

Later that evening, while recovering, Ginevra's head was resting on my shoulder, her fingers playing with the few hairs on my chest. In some ways, I enjoyed this time even more than the sex. Her small frame was such a contrast to my own, but it made holding her nicer, and easier. I pondered my chat with Severus. I wasn't ashamed of being with her, and she could have been a great benefit to me. Maybe it was time.

"We've been doing this for months now, so perhaps it's time to be seen together," I suggested. I knew it would be a benefit to myself to be seen as accepted by her. She wasn't hated by the public, despite ending her engagement to Potter. A high number of witches were rather happy he was a free agent once more, and he was seen dating.

"Uhm…" she started.

"You fear your family's reaction to you seeing me?" I guessed, stroking her hair. I wouldn't be surprised by that.

She shrugged. "No, not really. I mean, I guess it won't be the best, but I thought this was just sex."

I reached down and tilted her chin so she was looking up at me. "Is sex all you want this to be?" I asked.

"I- I don't know; I just assumed that that's all it was about for you. I never really thought about it being anything more because I believed it was all you wanted."

I was a bit surprised by this. "You must be growing tired of sneaking around."

"I told Mum I was seeing someone tonight," she said, laughing. "She seems to accept the idea that me and Harry aren't going to be anymore. I think she was about to tell me to bring my date around."

I said nothing, knowing that I stood to gain way more than her by us being seen together.

"What would we say to people?" she asked.

"That we are getting to know each other, at least for now," I replied.

There was little to no reaction the first couple of times we were seen together. The reaction came when we attended a Ministry function as a couple. That night, it was her family and close friends. In the days that followed, it was everyone else! I was seen as the man who stole Potter's great love. People hating me never bothered me, but Ginevra was subjected to an attack or interrogation from everyone. She blew my mind with how she handled it.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, have you forgotten he is who caused you to have to deal with Tom Riddle at the tender age of eleven?" Molly Weasley ranted.

"No Mum, I have not, but he's also the only person who saw I was drowning under the expectation that I marry Harry in a wedding that never even had one detail of my choosing in it. You're within your rights to hate him for anything you choose, but don't expect me to judge him by anything but his current actions!"

It was at that moment that I knew I was in love with Ginevra Weasley. She did three things in that moment; she took on and stood up to her mother, who was a force of her own, she knew and accepted my faults, and she was able to look at my current actions and take me for who I am now.

She faced this type of confrontation many more times for me.

One day, she arrived at the Manor in a bad mood. I knew something took place, but she didn't want to talk about it at first. I waited for her to calm down and, after a bottle of wine, she finally was willing to tell me about what happened.

"I'm sick and tired of the looks and comments anytime I head out to be with you!"

I knew she still faced this continually, along with her family trying to find someone closer to her age to turn her head. I also knew she hated that they refused to accept me as the person she was with.

"So don't put yourself in the situation to allow them to do it. Ginevra, I think you should move into the Manor," I suggested.

I think she was shocked I proposed it. "What?"

"You're here nearly half your time anyway, and I enjoy having you here. Why not make it permanent?"

"You WANT me here?" she questioned.

"Yes, you foolish girl, I do! You see, I have come to love you," I confessed.

Ginny's POV

My family wasn't happy with me moving into Malfoy Manor. However, shockingly, Draco Malfoy didn't seem to have an issue with it at all, seeing as how I was the reason Lucius was in such a good mood all the time.

One day, I arrived at the Manor after a practice was cut short. I wasn't in the best mindset as I had really been looking forward to a good practice. A house elf informed me Lucius was in the study with a guest. I just wanted to let him know I was home. I knocked on his study door, it magically opened, and I stepped in. Lucius rises; the gentlemanly manners he was raised with are so ingrained into him. His companion remains sitting. I can see dark hair from above the very top of the high back chair in front of the fire. "Lucius, practice was cut short. I-"

"Ginevra love, you recall Severus, don't you?"

Severus rose and turned, looking me in the eye for the first time since the night Harry showed up in Hogsmeade.

"Pro- Professor Snape!" I was in shock and didn't know how to react. For all I knew, Lucius knew every detail of my time with Snape. I knew the two were close for a long time.

Lucius did know I spent a great deal of time with Severus during his year as Headmaster, and Lucius was there at Snape's trial. He heard my testimony.

"Miss Weasley, you look well," he politely greeted. I stood frozen. He snickered slightly. "I gather you're reacting to having never seen me in a casual setting," he offered, as if to let me know our past was still our secret.

"Well, seeing you at the Order headquarters isn't the same thing," I managed to say.

"Ginevra, would you care to join us for a drink?" Lucius asked.

"Thank you, but no. I have some pent up energy. I think I'll kick the house elves out of the kitchen and cook dinner myself. Professor, will you be joining us for dinner?"

"I am no longer your professor. Please Miss Weasley, call me Severus. I'm sorry, but I won't be. I have an appointment, or I would have stayed."

Severus, in a few sentences, seemed to cover anything odd that Lucius might have picked up from my reaction.