Chapter Three: Things I've Never Done
Two days after his first date with Ginny Weasley Draco found himself sitting across from two people he wished he never had to see again. The Lestrange brothers were as menacing looking as ever as they sat across from Draco in his office at Malfoy Manor. Naricissa was gone for the day but the young Malfoy was still very uncomfortable having this conversation in his house.
"Well Draco," Rodolphus looked at him. "We were a little surprised you decided to help us."
"We are still family," Draco told him tightly. "Even if my dear Aunt Bella is no longer with us."
Rodolphus bowed his head slightly but didn't look at all saddened at the mention of his late wife. "I am very glad to hear you say that. You never seemed committed to the cause."
"My father's death put things into sharp relief," he lied smoothly. "The Malfoy name is the most important thing and with Mudbloods and their supporters running around there is no other way to protect our purity."
"What about your saintly job as a Healer?" Rabastan asked, not trying to hide his dislike of the blond. "Seemed like you trying to make nice with the Mudblood lovers to me."
"I would have done anything to stay out of Azkaban," the lies continued to roll off his tongue. "What better way to fool the masses than to fit in with them. Besides having an in with the Ministry could only help us find others who want to join our cause."
"Well hopefully your connections will help us," Rodolphus continued to survey him.
"I will be keeping a very close eye on you Malfoy," Rabastan stared Draco down, their faces on inches apart. "I don't trust you. You have failed too many times before but you are one of the only options we have to try and recruit for our cause. The Malfoy name might not make you friends in the right circles but it can still get you places in the wrong ones."
Draco nodded and looked back at his uncle. "So what would you like me to do first?"
"Well we won't be able to move against Azkaban and get some of our more loyal supporters out until we build up our numbers. So start talking to some of the Slytherins you went to school with. The Zabini family, The Parkinsons, The Greengrass family, make the rounds and see who would be willing to carry on the Dark Lord's legacy now that he's gone." Rodolphus answered after a moment or two.
"Of course," Draco agreed. "I know that the Crabbe family will be eager to join after what happened to their son."
"And what about your family Draco?" Rabastan wondered. "I've been hearing some rumors that I know Lucius would have rather kept quiet."
Draco grit his teeth knowing exactly what the older man was talking about but not wanting to reveal anything that could put his mission or anyone else in danger.
"I think you should worry less about rumors and more about growing our forces," Rodolphus chided his brother.
Rabastan crossed his arms and remained silent as his brother and the Malfoy heir exchanged their goodbyes. Draco sighed in relief as soon as the two men had apparated out of the Manor. He sunk down into the chair behind his desk and pulled out a small vial, he put his wand to his temple and withdrew the memory of his conversation. He scrawled a simple note and wrapped it around the vial before turning to the fireplace and throwing Floo powder in. A moment or two later he stuck his head directly into Harry and Ron's office.
"How did it go?" Harry wondered.
"As well as can be expected," Draco responded reaching his hand through and giving the memory to his old rival. "Rabastan is wary of me but that is to be expected. My Uncle has asked me to start reaching out to the Slytherins I went to school with."
"Do any of them have the Mark?" Ron wondered.
"Not many," Draco admitted, pulling his arm that had its own Dark Mark back from the fire. "But even if they don't that doesn't mean I can't try to reach out to their parents through them."
"I thought surely Parkinson, or Goyle would have the mark," Ron sniffed.
"Just because a person is an arse doesn't make them evil," Harry retorted. "We're not trying to settle schoolyard squabbles Ron, we're trying to put Death Eaters behind bars."
Draco was silent for a moment, surprised that Potter had been the one to stand up for his housemates. He regarded both men and then took stock of his thoughts, surprised when he realized that his contempt for his two old enemies was beginning to lessen. He didn't know if it was Ginny's influence or the fact that he was in league with the two Aurors but Draco never thought it could happen.
"Well," he spoke again after his thoughts settled. "I'll contact you if I find anything or if the brothers make any moves."
"Good," Ron nodded his head. "And my brother, Bill, has arranged to have the vault you set up in the Malfoy name watched by us so any money movements will not be able to be linked directly to your full family vaults."
"I appreciate that," Draco returned the nod. "The less my mother knows about this whole plan the better."
"You've done well so far," Harry couldn't believe he had just complimented him. "Be careful Malfoy."
With a final, slightly embarrassed nod Draco withdrew his head from the fireplace.
"I am really out of my mind this time," he sighed as he raked his hands over his face. His fire roared to life and he turned thinking that Potter or Weasley had something else to say to him but when he turned he saw Ginny there instead.
"Hey," she smiled at him. "I haven't heard from you in a few days, I wanted to make sure everything was alright."
Draco had taken a moment to send Ginny flowers the morning after their first date with a note telling her their next one would be soon, but since then between St. Mungo's and beginning to spy on the Lestrange brothers he had been too busy to Floo her.
"I'm sorry," he looked down at her face. "Work has been a little crazy. One of the Healers is out on maternity leave and the schedule has been tight."
It wasn't a lie, but Draco also knew that it wasn't totally true.
"I understand," she smiled at him again, trying to let him know that she really did. "Just don't work too hard."
"What are your plans for tonight?" Draco recovered quickly when her last statement made it sound as if she was going to leave.
"I don't have any plans," she responded, waiting to see what he would say.
"Then how about a date tonight?" He asked. "I have an idea I think you might like."
Ginny blushed slightly, happy that he seemed to be putting thought into spending more time with her. "What kind of idea?"
"I think we should spend the night doing things we've never done before," he suggested. "First you can pick something, then I can pick something, then you, then me….and so on."
"That sounds like a fun adventure," Ginny laughed a little.
"I'll even let you pick first," he told her. "So do you have any ideas?"
"I do have one," Ginny confessed. "I've always wanted to go to a Muggle movie."
Draco regarded her for a moment or two. "Well I certainly have never done that either, but I suppose it could be fun."
"There is a first time for everything," Ginny smiled. "Besides you might even like it. I suppose I'll have to borrow some Muggle money from Hermione."
"Don't bother Granger," Draco told her, still not sure how much Ginny's friends and family knew about him. "I can stop by Gringotts and get some."
Ginny's mouth fell open for a moment or two. "Draco Malfoy getting Muggle money for a date with me?"
Draco ran his hand through his hair sheepishly. "What can I say….I like you Weasley."
Ginny blushed again. "Well that's good, because I like you too Malfoy."
"That is good to know," Draco couldn't help the smile that crept up onto his face. "I'll meet you in front of the Leakey Cauldron around seven?"
"I'll see you there," Ginny replied happily before bidding him goodbye and taking her head out of the fire.
Draco got to his feet after the redhead disappeared and with a smile on his face, he was looking forward to another date with Ginny. If anything could turn his mood around after his meeting with the Lestrange brothers it would be the littlest Weasley.
DGDGDGDGDG
Draco looked down at the odd money in his hands as he left Gringotts. He put it in his pocket as he remembered the strange looks he had gotten from the goblins when he, the Prince of Slytherin, asked to exchange some of his galleons for Muggle money. He wasn't even sure he knew how the money worked but he figured that Ginny might so he made his way to their meeting spot. He caught site of her in front of the bar, and waved to her as he approached, Ginny smiled and waved back.
"Hey," she greeted him by pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'm glad we could do this tonight."
The young Malfoy slipped his hand in Ginny's and began walking with her toward the entrance to Diagon Alley.
"I am too," he assured her. "I'm sorry I've been so busy."
"The life of a Healer," Ginny joked. "I understand that you're just doing your job."
"How is your job?" He asked.
"Well I haven't fallen off my broom again, so that is always good," she laughed, eyes dancing. "I love every second I get to be on that pitch."
"It's good to do what you love," he told her. Draco admired the young woman for following her dreams.
"Are you doing something you love?" Ginny wondered as they made their way into Muggle London, Ginny following Hermione's directions on how to get to the nearest cinema.
Draco paused for a moment while he thought of an answer. No one had ever asked him that question before so he was unprepared and didn't know what to say. Before the Dark Lord's defeat his dreams didn't matter, his duty did. He had originally gone into training to be a healer because he thought it would be the best place for him but after his training and his work at St. Mungo's so far Draco realized that it wasn't just about him. He liked helping people, as odd as that sounded to people who didn't know him. He had come to enjoy being around his fellow healers, he liked mixing up potions that could help make a little kid feel better, he had spent so long in a home and a family that prized hiding their feelings it was nice to be around people that felt so much.
"I am," he assured her. "I know it might be hard to believe after the part I played while I was at school, but I like helping people."
She stopped and turned to the blond beside her. "I don't think it's hard to believe at all Draco. You didn't know better, it was how you were raised."
Draco looked down at Ginny and sighed. He felt as if maybe someone could finally understand him and tucked a fiery lock of hair behind her ear. "Let's have this conversation later, I want to tell you everything but tonight is about enjoying ourselves."
He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, trying to thank her but not knowing how to begin. Ginny seemed to get the hint and took Draco's hand leading him the rest of the way to the movie theater. Together the two figured out the Muggle money and picked a movie to go see, of course neither of them had any idea what it was about but they tried not to think about it as they went into the theater.
"I think Hermione said this was about cars," Ginny told him before the lights dimmed.
"Muggle automobiles?" Draco wondered. "I don't know much about them."
"I know a little, my dad loves them," Ginny thought fondly of the flying Ford Anglia.
"Well then this should be interesting," Draco whispered as the screen lit up and the lights went down.
Draco tried to concentrate on the movie, and what he saw was enjoyable enough but what he really enjoyed was watching Ginny. He had never known a person who displayed their emotions so openly not only in how they acted but the way they showed on her face as well. Before the young Malfoy knew it the movie had ended and the lights were coming back on.
Ginny turned to him, eyes still smiling. "What did you think?"
Draco couldn't help but smile as well. "It was very entertaining."
Ginny and Draco filed out of the theater with the rest of the crowd.
"I'm glad to see doing something Muggle didn't kill you," the redhead teased him. "It's your turn to pick something that you've never done."
Draco thought for a moment or two; there were plenty of things he had never done before but he wanted to get out of his comfort zone even more. Being around Ginny made him feel like he didn't have to be a typical Malfoy.
"I have never eaten some of that Muggle food that is supposed to be really bad for you."
"I'm shocked," Ginny replied sarcastically before grabbing his hand and pulling him to a building a few blocks away.
It had flashing lights on it that said Diner, Draco looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Ginny shrugged. "I've come here with Hermione a few times when we needed to get away from the boys."
Draco nodded. "This is the second time you've mentioned Granger twice tonight, should I be worried that you told her we were going out on a date?"
"Don't worry," she assured him as they walked inside. "I didn't tell her who I was going out with, just that I wanted to take them to the Muggle world."
The pair walked inside and were seated in a booth, Ginny couldn't help but smile at the faces of curiosity and confusion Draco was making as he looked at the menu.
"You okay?" She asked him.
"I have no idea what most of this is," he laughed in spite of himself. "I'm used to ordering off menus that are completely in French."
"Well if you trust me, I'll order for you," she told him.
"I trust you," Draco smiled at her as the waiter approached.
"Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?" she asked him quickly.
"Strawberry," Draco answered, not sure why she had asked.
Ginny turned to the waiter. "We'll both have the cheeseburger specials with fries, one with a vanilla shake and one with a strawberry shake."
The waiter collected their menus and walked away.
"So that wasn't some other language you just spoke?" the blond joked.
"To pampered Slytherin prats, it probably is another language," she smirked.
"Any idea what you want to do next? It's your turn to pick."
"You know," Ginny realized something. "I've never been stargazing except in Astronomy. I always thought it would be nice to just lay somewhere and look up at the stars and not have to worry about their positions and all that other rubbish for class."
"Then that's what we'll do," Draco told her. "I know the perfect place."
Ginny just smiled and looked at him for a moment or two.
"What?" Draco wondered.
Ginny shrugged. "Nothing, just that my theory about you was right all along."
"Theory?" Draco wondered what she could be talking about.
"At Hogwarts while everyone else thought you were just a bully, I secretly thought there had to be something under your icy veneer. I always wondered what you would be like if you weren't burdened with the glorious Malfoy legacy. You're a completely different person than you were, I mean just look at tonight. You're on a date with a Weasley, we went to see a Muggle movie and are now eating Muggle food, and you have hardly stopped smiling the whole night."
He thought back to their earlier exchange. "I suppose I may have changed some, but I think it's more that I'm finally able to be who I really wanted to be. Earlier when I told you some people might think it's odd that I like helping people and you told me that it wasn't odd it was just how I was raised? Well that was the first time I felt like anyone understood what I dealt with. When I was a boy I wasn't told to dream or imagine my future the way I wanted it. From the day I was born there was already a plan in place for me and there was no deviating from that plan, for any reason. For a while I told myself that the plan was what I wanted, the more I followed the plan the happier my father was so I thought it had to be right. Then as things with Voldemort got worse I started to dream more, it became my only escape from the horrible things happening around me."
"What did you dream of?" Ginny wondered.
"Being able to fall in love, not having an arranged marriage or marriage of convenience," he began. "Getting rid of my family business and doing something to help people, not just worry about money. Living in a world where I hadn't made so many horrible mistakes and was just a better person."
For a moment the blond closed his eyes and tightened his left hand, turning his head away from Ginny. She looked down and knew what lay beyond that clenched fist, and ever so slowly the young Weasley ran her hand up over Draco's hand and his arm until she knew her fingers were laying directly over the one place on his body he probably never wanted touched again. Draco's head snapped back and his eyes met Ginny's, a little taken aback that she could even look at him let alone have her hand hovering over his mark. Only the fabric of his shirt separated her hand from the worst part of him but he did not pull away.
"I didn't take the mark willingly," Draco felt that he owed her some kind of explanation, that somehow he was responsible for so many of the deaths that had affected her. "When Voldemort tasked me with killing Dumbledore he wanted a way to monitor me and knew that it was the best way."
Ginny nodded, feeling horrible that he was still carrying so much guilt.
"I was a horr-….I couldn't be like them," he managed to choke out a little surprised when he felt tears prick at his eyes.
In the two years since the wars end Draco hadn't really spoken about what had happened or how he felt about everything. He knew that Lucius died still disappointed in him, he knew that his mother would have just as soon forgotten about the whole thing but here he was talking to Ginny Weasley about things he never thought he would bring up again. Ginny saw the tears and recognized the struggle. She got up from her seat and squeezed into the booth next to Draco, she gently laid her head on his shoulder, her hand still resting against the fabric hiding the Dark Mark.
"I would have done the same thing," she told him softly. "If I had been faced with losing someone I loved if I didn't do His bidding….I would have taken the Mark and tried to do what he wanted. You loved your family and you wanted to save them and there is no shame in that. I know what it's like to deal with him, I know that he is hard to resist."
Draco felt his heart clench remembering that the diary his father had slipped into Ginny's cauldron had been Voldemort's and she had spent the year being that monsters puppet.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his hand resting on top of hers, gently squeezing her fingers. "I had no idea what my father was planning. I hate that you had to deal with that, deal with him. You were only eleven."
Ginny looked up at him and Draco met her eyes. "We both have been tormented by that monster but we both are stronger because of it."
The blond smiled and bent his head down to capture his date's lips with his own. The heard someone clear their throat behind them and turned to see the waiter standing there with their food. They broke away but Ginny stayed at Draco's side as their waiter set the food down in front of them.
"So," Draco spoke trying to lighten the mood again. "Is there any special way to eat this stuff?"
"Just tuck in," Ginny told him, grabbing the burger and taking a bite.
Draco watched her for a second and then followed her lead and using his hands grabbed the food and took a bite. He found it to be messy but quite delicious so he kept eating, looking over at the redhead every once in a while. He watched her pick up a French fry and dip it into her milkshake.
"Gross," he laughed making a face.
"It isn't," she promised. "Try it."
The blond reluctantly repeated Ginny's actions surprised when she was right. "Salty and sweet."
"I told you. You're just going to have to start trusting me more," she nudged him gently.
They finished their food and Draco gave the rest of the Muggle money to the waiter, thinking that they probably gave him a huge tip, but as he and Ginny walked back toward Diagon Alley hand in hand Draco found he didn't care.
"So ready to star gaze?" He asked her, stepping closer. "I can apparate us there."
She wrapped her arms around the Slytherin's waist and felt a tug on her stomach before he even raised his wand. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again the pair was standing atop a tower surrounded by the star speckled night sky.
"Where are we?" Ginny wondered.
"Malfoy Manor," Draco told her. "I come up here all the time to think, or be alone and I know it's the perfect place to watch the stars."
He flicked his wand and a blanket appeared on the tower. He sat down on it and held a hand out for Ginny. She took it and let herself be lowered into the young man's embrace. Draco leaned back against the tower and had Ginny lean back against him. She sighed contentedly and looked up at the beautiful night sky, Draco began to point out constellations he still remembered from astronomy class and for an hour or so the pair just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company.
"It's gorgeous here," she whispered not wanting to ruin the quiet mood.
Draco snaked his arms around Ginny's waist. "You make it even more beautiful."
Ginny blushed slightly and turned in his arms so she could look at him. All of a sudden she was nervous, they had only been on two dates but she couldn't help but feel like there was something between them.
"Draco," she began, her voice still quiet. "What are we? Are we just dating and seeing what happens or is there something more?"
Draco looked back at her, he had been afraid of this moment, not because he didn't want to be with Ginny, but because he didn't want to put her in danger. He had just agreed to help her brother and ex-boyfriend round up as many of the remaining Death Eaters as possible and that was a risk. If anything went wrong and they found out about his connection to Ginny she would be a target faster than Draco even wanted to think about. He was already worried about the danger to his family, he didn't want to put Ginny in jeopardy too. However he couldn't deny their connection and he didn't want to risk losing her to someone else.
He took a deep breath. "I am starting to feel something very intense for you Gin, but I don't want to rush anything."
Ginny nodded, understanding. "I know that Harry and I broke up not that long ago. I don't want you to think that I'm using you to get over him."
"I don't think that," he assured her.
She reached up and brushed his hair back from his face. "Maybe we should go on a few more dates before we decide anything official."
"Hey," he laid one of his hands on her cheek. "I'm not going to be dating anyone else."
Ginny let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "I'm not either."
Draco smiled. "I think that's as good a place as any to start."
The young woman leaned forward, resting her forehead against Draco's. "We're uneven. I picked two things I've never done and you only picked one."
The young Malfoy thought for a moment or two before looking at her. "I've never snogged a Weasley on the roof of Malfoy Manor before."
Ginny's eyes sparkled as she looked back at him. "Well that is something that we definitely need to fix."
Their lips connected and the world around them seemed to melt away, they stayed like that for a long time as the stars continued to twinkle above them.
DGDGDGDGDG
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. Writers block has been keeping me from my fanfics and my original stories as well but now I'm starting to get back into the groove with writing. This fic has been calling my name so here is my new chapter. I know I was said my OC was going to be in this chapter but the timing didn't feel right so next chapter you will meet them. As always if you liked it, leave me a review.