Chapter 3

That afternoon, after a meeting with Tonks about the protection program, Ginny apparated herself and Draco to her flat. She unlocked her door and led him in. She fumbled for the light switch and switched on the lights. Draco looked around and was quite impressed with Ginny's place. It wasn't that big but wasn't too small either. From the door, a short hallway directly opened to the living room, where a black velvet living room set sat. A coffee table on a red rug stood between the couch and the brick fireplace. A huge window that offered a good view of the city occupied one side of the wall. There was a huge bookshelf full of leather bound tomes on one corner and an archway lead to a spacious kitchen and beside it, a round rosewood dining table for six stood.

At one side of the living room were two doors; one to Ginny's bedroom and the other to the bathroom. Ginny was proud of her apartment, for she had decorated it herself.

"Didn't think you'd be able to afford to live in a place like this," Draco sneered.

"Poor people don't stay poor if they work hard enough," Ginny spat as she walked into the kitchen to prepare dinner. She would be preparing dinner for two now. If Draco were someone else, she would have felt happy to cook for them. Draco followed her into the kitchen and sat himself on one of the high stools at the counter.

"You cook?" He asked, eyebrows raised and a look of disbelief on his face.

"Unlike you, I don't have house elves to attend to my needs," she said as she boiled pasta and started on her sauce.

"Well, do get on quickly now. I'm famished," he announced. Ginny slammed her fist down on the counter.

"Malfoy, I am neither your house elf nor anyone for you to order around for that matter. Unless you learn your place in my house, I'm not cooking you any dinner," Ginny said, glaring at him. She was still upset about the assignment she was given. She had wanted to be one of the aurors in search of Lucius and Bellatrix but instead she's stuck babysitting a stuck-up snob.

"What? Your job is to ensure my security and welfare! Not to lecture me!" Malfoy said.

"You're acting puerile, Malfoy. You're already in my house. Don't push your luck," Ginny said as she forked all the pasta and sauce onto her plate, not leaving any for Malfoy, knowing full well that it was more than she could eat. "There's bread in the larder."

Draco sat opposite Ginny at the table and watched her eat all the pasta with a scowl on his face. He was hungry but he refused to eat bread. Ginny ate and sipped her wine.

"You know, the least you could do is offer me wine," Draco said.

Ginny snorted. "I've already done the least I could do by agreeing to protect you and letting you stay here."

Draco was such in a bad mood that he didn't even feel like arguing with her anymore. He stood up and slumped onto the couch. Ginny smiled in satisfaction as she finished her dinner, feeling so bloated she felt like she couldn't stand up.

After dinner, she walked into her room and changed into an old quidditch shirt and pulled on a pair of shorts. Then she rummaged through her closet in search of sheets and Ron's clothes that he could change into and when she found them, she took one of her pillows and went into the living room.

"Here," she said as she tossed the sheet and pillow at Draco who was reading a book. He looked up and his breath caught at the sight of Ginny. His eyes grazed her long, creamy legs and her red flaming hair was swept into a messy ponytail that made her look quite sexy. Wait… he's not supposed to be thinking like that about the Weaselette. He brushed the thought from his mind and gave her a nod instead. "And you should change," she handed him the clothes.

"How did you get your hands on men's clothing, Weasley?"

"You forget, I've got 6 brothers. Those are Ron's. He spends the night here whenever he and Hermione have a row." And with that she went into her room and fell onto her bed, exhausted and soon, sleep overcame her.

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Ginny woke up early the next morning only to remember that she didn't have to go to work at the Ministry; work was already with her. She got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. The bathroom had two doors, one from Ginny's bedroom and one from the living room. So when she walked in, she locked both doors before she took her shower. After that, she got dressed and decided to get breakfast. She saw to her horror, that Malfoy was sleeping shirtless on her couch. It was a nice sight though; she saw his rippling abs and the curve of his muscles, and the even rise and fall of his strong chest. She reluctantly pulled herself out of her reverie and walked into the kitchen, thinking how her friends would react if they find out she was admiring Draco Malfoy's body. She made toast and tea and sat herself on a stool on the nook. A tap from the window indicated the arrival of the paper; she opened the window, slipped a Knut into the owl's pouch and untied the paper from its leg.

She scanned the front page. There were no news about death eaters yet; just news about her capture of Avery and the news of Draco's coming out of hiding.

"Have they caught them yet?"

Ginny turned to see Draco standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes but wearing a shirt nonetheless.

"Not yet. There's toast and tea on the counter, and oh you're all over the paper," she said as she set the paper down. Draco raised an eyebrow in surprise but did not reply. He walked to the nook and ate in silence for a while. He hadn't noticed that he had finished the toast and tea until Ginny scowled at him. It's your fault you didn't give me anything to eat last night He thought.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing. Get dressed, you need to go shopping. You can't go around using Ron's clothes all the time," She said. "And oh, clean the dishes will you?" she added with a sly smile and she walked into her room to get dressed for a day's out. Draco stared daggers at her back but did a simple scourgify spell on the dishes before getting a shower and getting dressed. He changed back into the clothes he wore yesterday and flopped back onto the couch to wait for Ginny.

Ginny had settled on wearing a red t-shirt, dark jeans and her boots. She took a brown leather coat out of her closet and went out into the living room.

"You don't happen to have your own gold, do you?" She asked Draco, who was somewhat staring at her quite absent-mindedly.

"Of course, Red. We'll have to drop by Gringott's first," Draco said. Ginny was surprised at the nickname but decided that she preferred it to being called Weasley, Weaselette or any other rude nick name he had for her.

"Well, Grey, let's get going then," she smiled. Draco didn't hide his surprise at the nickname as well as he wanted to. Two can play a game she thought.

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Author's note: Thanks to Ajma for reviewing!! and thanks to any silent readers out there!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, the rest belongs to the great JK Rowling!