-Chapter Eighteen-

Miss Weasley,

I am pleased to announce that your application for Wizengamot assistant has been accepted.

A brilliant smile lit up Ginny's face as she read the first sentence of the letter she had received from the law employment office. Her eyes skimmed the rest of the information which was basically a briefing of the tasks Ginny would have you fulfil, legal matter and an attached form for desired work hours. All that mattered though was Ginny was accepted!

Ginny's job as an assistant would start in a week and she had already spent two weeks studying to be a judge. She was in a class of twenty and Mr Sayle was their lecturer. To put it simply, Ginny enjoyed study. She enjoyed her classmate's company. She had already made a friend, Ebony. She loved the fact the work was comparably easier than work back at Hogwarts. Studying law was basically memorising rules and mild research. All the tasks were reports, which were more tedious than hard. Most of all, Ginny loved the way her lecturer treated the class like adults and put everything in perspective.

Also, Ginny felt like she was really getting ahead in class. Mr Sayle seemed to really give Ginny a lot of help, even when she didn't need it. The rest of her class needed help as well, but he was always hovering around her. Ginny would have said something about other students needing his help, but she didn't know if she would offend her senior. After only two weeks of study, she didn't want to say anything in case she wasn't supposed to.

Most of all, Ginny lavished the fact she wasn't required to attend the dreary building in Diagon Alley every single day. Only three days a week she was required to show up, plus she could pick the hours. It was all extremely flexible. She didn't even have to show up; if someone could take notes for her, she was free to skip the session. Ginny always attended though, it was the simple fact she liked the learning environment. She also showed up because Mr Stephen Sayle was excellent eye candy, although Ginny always felt guilty for looking at him. The fact that she hadn't fallen for his good looks consoled Ginny. She knew Draco was the only one for her.

Draco on the other hand, found his Auror training testing his personality to the absolute extremes. Sometimes he found training mind-numbingly boring, eye-wideningly exciting, bone-achingly painful and sometimes all three rolled into one at the same time. Firewhisky kept spitting on them, everyone kept slogging out the work but it was paying off. Draco's reflexes were near lightning. His spellwork was become solid. He acquired grace and strength. Draco's muscles grew even harder and he was now sinewy strength.

The months fell and swirled with a mixture of fear, joy, concentration, sweat, sex and end of term assignments for Ginny and Draco.

Voldemort's reign was gaining. Death Eater attacks were staged about every third day and despite how many got caught, there seemed to be another troop of them, fighting in Voldemort's name. Draco wasn't surprised though. Despite many witches and wizards supporting Dumbledore whilst he was alive, just as many supported Lord Voldemort. They kept quite because they knew of the disapproval they would have to endure if the public found out.

Now it was time for those people who supported Voldemort to come out of their little hidey holes to fight, and fight they did. Busy wizarding locations would be major battlegrounds as well as the countryside. Death Eaters were beginning to attack muggle areas as well, which was a headache for the Department of Accidents and Catastrophes, who were knocked down with the sudden upsurge of "accidents" and catastrophes. Extra people were being employed left, right and centre to help sort out the problems caused by the battle.

A cock and bull story was created by the department and broadcast to the muggles. Protesting gone mad, gangsters causing immense damage, anything to answer the question of such carnage on the streets. The muggles weren't happy, but there wasn't much Rufus Scrimgeour could do about it except grit his teeth and wish for the best.

Voldemort was almost winning the war. He waged many attacks in attempt to damage the Ministry's defence. Maybe then, he could get around to killing innocent people more efficiently. It wasn't so; the current Aurors were holding their ground. However there was pressure for more Aurors. The Ministry was training thousands of young Aurors in haste all over the country to combat the thousands loyal to Voldemort. One of them were Draco.

It was late in January and Draco was currently studying concealment and disguise. The former part of the discipline was to actually research ways of disguising and concealing yourself. So Draco had to hit the books and search his brain for ways to do that. It was a bit of a shock to his system, not doing something practical or physical.

Ginny however always had to do paper work. She had gotten into the rhythm of working and was gaining high scores as usual. Somehow though, she thought something was wrong. Half the time she never did the work properly. She was always too distracted by Draco, who usually had to come home and just relax his muscles. Ginny knew with some of her assignments she didn't give it her best shot. Sometimes it seemed too tedious and unimportant. However, whenever she'd get her results back, they were better than her effort. She had a suspicion it had to do with her lecturer, Mr Sayle, but Ginny still kept her mouth shut.

Stephen had spent his spare time unable to rip his gaze away from Ginny and researching the Ministry policies on lecturer/student relationships. He was overjoyed when the ban only applied for compulsory education and if the student was under sixteen years old. Ginny was eighteen and the law establishment was basically a university, not compulsory education. Stephen supposed he could see the sense in the allowance of relationships. Some people in the class were thirty years old, and it'd be silly for them not to have a relationship with one of the lecturers.

Now that he had the legal implications out of the way, it was time to work his charm on the youngest Weasley. It was now early February and they had seven months to get acquainted. Stephen had the idea that Ginny liked him. He found he couldn't help but spend most of his time with Ginny, and thought Ginny was responding positively to his attentions. She was always eager to talk to him. Sure, all she wanted to talk about was law and the new court and all that fiddly study related topics, but Stephen was convinced Ginny wanted to talk to him because, well, he was him.

Ginny needed some help on her goblin's rights and relevant precedents assessment and Stephen suggested that Ginny stay behind class so he could give her a few 'pointers.' Ginny smiled at the idea and agreed. That goblin assessment made her want to throttle the closest person, which was usually Draco. It was that damn annoying, since she happened to be in love with the guy and all. After meeting Mr Sayle, she couldn't believe how blind she was.

Before she left for class on a Saturday morning, she told Draco that she would be late coming home because she was staying behind with Stephen. A dark look crossed Draco's features and Ginny was immediately concerned.

"What?" asked Ginny gently, gazing at Draco intently.

"I don't like the idea of you two being alone," muttered Draco, his eyes steely.

"Oh, but Mr Sayle is okay. I doubt he's a Death Eater and is going to Avada me and then throw my body onto a burning mound of other pour souls. It's this goblin assessment, it's bloody pissing me off," replied Ginny, giving Draco a reassuring hug. Draco's strong arms held Ginny close to him without letting her go. Ginny decided she didn't mind and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"I don't think he's a Death Eater. It's strange how you haven't noticed," said Draco. Ginny quirked her eyebrows and looked at Draco again.

"Noticed what?"

"Just watch your lecturer carefully. I don't like him. If you watch him carefully you'll see why I don't like him." Ginny stared boggle-eyed at Draco and her mouth hung in surprise and a half smile.

"Draco Xavier Malfoy! You wouldn't be jealous of his good looks would you?" asked Ginny with amusement. However that was the wrong thing to say. No humour was received on Draco's end of the stick. He scowled and dropped her to the ground gently.

Ginny realised she had the said thing and regretted it immediately. Draco was rarely ever pissed off or angry with Ginny, but that scowl showed Draco came close. "Sorry," murmured Ginny grabbing Draco's big, hard, calloused hand with her soft, small ones. Draco's scowl disintegrated, but he still had the look of pissed off.

"You better go," said Draco through gritted teeth. He was having an internal battle with himself. Should he even let Ginny see him by himself? Or am I being paranoid? From his mouth slipped "you don't want to be late for Mr Good Looking."

Ginny could smell the jealousy a kilometre away. She squeezed Draco's hand and said in a heavy tone, "I'm sorry Draco." Draco could hear the hurt in Ginny's voice and cursed himself for saying what he just did. Ginny could see something in Draco's expression snap and she knew he regretted what he had said. They shared a kiss mingled with discontent and Ginny apparated into Diagon Alley.

Stephen was late so Ginny hung out with Ebony at the front of the classroom. They had a little bit of a conversation but Ebony could see something was on Ginny's mind so she let a comfortably silence sweep them.

'Watch Mr Sayle? Why? He hasn't done anything,' thought Ginny to herself frustratingly. 'I'll watch him. See what Draco's on about.' Soon Stephen appeared at the door of his classroom and looked at his students happily. Ginny especially.

"Come in class," announced Stephen with a big smile aimed in Ginny's direction. For once she actually looked up at him when he told them to go inside instead of digging around in her bag or staring out the windows. It was almost like a physical blow, the smile her lecturer was giving her. Ginny shook her head and entered the class behind Ebony. 'It's probably a one-off smile,' she thought to herself.

Throughout the class, Ginny steadily observed Mr Sayle; and she was starting to get creeped out. She never looked directly at him but she noticed he was always looking at her. Always. His tone of voice would change whenever he spoke to her. Silky. For everyone else it was the typical male grunty type of voice.

Half of the two hour session slid by. Ginny decided to test the extent of her lecturer's gaze. She naturally brushed her ink bottle lid off by 'accident' and bent over to pick it up. She asked Ebony to keep an eye on Stephen Sayle as she did so. As Ginny picked up the lid, the hairs on the back of her stood up and she supposed she wouldn't really have to ask for Ebony's observation. When Ginny settled back in her seat, Ebony leaned over and told her that Mr Sayle was full salivating over Ginny's backside.

The urge to vomit and fear started to engulf Ginny and Ebony gave her a sympathetic look, which did make Ginny feel a bit better. Ginny had been in Mr Sayle's class for approximately seven months. Why hadn't she noticed the less than professional looks he'd been giving her? Why? Ginny answered the question herself. She simply paid attention to other things. She was either focused on her work or daydreaming about Draco.

Ginny had started studying during the summer and had worn low cut tops and short shorts as her daily dress. Now she reddened at the thought of her nine years senior staring at her cleavage three days a week.

Ginny was extremely grateful that it was currently winter and that she had to cover up. She knew boys looked when she wore clothes like that, but she never realised how damn right freaky it was when an older man did.

'No wonder he kept helping me,' thought Ginny with a shudder. Draco was right. She now knew why he didn't like him. Reluctantly, Ginny's gaze returned to Mr Sayle. He was sharing a joke with one of the guys in class. Then he turned and gazed at Ginny intently. She reddened and looked back down at her ink splattered notes. Ginny took a moment and wondered why the fact a really super hot older guy liked her bothered her. Maybe it was the fact he was her teacher.

Then the class was over, but not for Ginny. Now she felt very wary of spending time alone with a man who was older and much stronger than her. She packed away her belongings and tried to escape with the rest of the class but Stephen's deep voice caught her.

"Ginny? Didn't you need my help?" he asked, looking up from his desk expectantly. Ginny was stumped. She could run away, but would that be necessary? She was uncomfortable, but she didn't want to look like a tool. She decided trudge slowly back to his table and set her books down.

Ginny kept her head down as she felt Mr Sayle's gaze on her. "Goblin rights, right?" he prompted. Ginny's gaze flicked upwards to his handsome face. He had grown up features. So different from Draco's. His eyes for instance. They were a mellow brown. His nose was a bit crooked and dented and his teeth were arranged differently. His skin wasn't so pale, it was slightly tanned. His hair was dark brown and curly; such a contrast to Draco.

His hand reached out over the desk and Ginny instinctively drew her hand backwards, but he was reaching for Ginny's book.

"Come closer, it'll be easier to show you that way," rumbled Mr Sayle's deep voice. Ginny gulped and shuffled a bit closer. Mr Sayle quirked his eyebrow just like Draco did and gestured for her to come closer. Ginny again shuffled her chair closer and now she was pretty damn close to him. Ginny was so close that she could feel the heat radiating off him. It had an opposite effect and Ginny shivered. Then she told herself to get a grip. It was ridiculous that she was getting the shivers. Mr Sayle was the nicest guy possible.

The lesson began and Mr Sayle was nothing but polite. He kept his hands to himself and explained everything professionally. Throughout his explanations, Ginny relaxed. He wasn't going to do anything except tell her why the goblins fought tooth and nail for their rights. A great deal of notes were taken and a large amount of time elapsed, but Ginny didn't notice.

Something else Ginny didn't notice was his creeping closer. She had put her quill down after a long talk from Mr Sayle to massage her wrist and to look at the time. Two whole hours had passed and she had a lot of notes to show for it. She looked up at him to thank him and that's when she noticed how close his face was to hers.

"Go out with me?" he whispered suddenly. She could feel his light breath on her lips and they fell into a little surprised O. Stephen leant in and kissed them. Ginny was absolutely frozen in horror and her lips wouldn't respond.

Stephen thought it was a good sign and wrapped Ginny in his embrace, pulling her petite body to his large one. His hands started to roam and that's when Ginny's body kicked in. One of her hands were free and she brought it up with amazing speed and hook punched Mr Sayle in the cheek. Luckily nothing cracked but the effect was favourable. His lips were ripped from Ginny's and now a blooming mark the shape of Ginny's fists decorated his jaw.

Shoving her chair backwards, Ginny got up and looked at her lecturer, clutching at his jaw. Her limbs felt weightless, like she couldn't move. Ginny should have known he was going to do something like that. Curse the fact she trusted people so easily.

"Sorry Mr Sayle!" gasped Ginny, heading out the door. "And no, I won't go out with you. I've already got a boyfriend." She ran of the law building and into the semi-deserted Diagon Alley. Ginny was shivering all over and it wasn't because of the cold. She collapsed onto the steps of the establishment and tried to get some sense back into her actions.

A few moments later, a deep voice could be heard calling, "Ginny! Wait! I'm sorry!" Ginny froze again at the voice and apparated back home, nearly getting splinched along the way.

The Burrow loomed in front of her comfortingly and Ginny could finally take a breath. She turned the door knob to find it locked. She then instinctively reached for her keys which were in her bag to find her bag wasn't slung over her shoulders at all. She had left all her stuff sitting on Mr Sayle's desk. Ginny cried out in frustration and banged on the door. Soon, footsteps could be heard and Ron opened the door.

"Gin?" asked Ron worriedly, seeing the distressed look on Ginny's face.

"I'm fine," blurted out Ginny very quickly. She then rushed up the stairs to her room where she knew comfort lay. Ginny pushed on her bedroom door and burst in and then shut it with a snap. The familiarity was good.

"Ginny?" asked Draco from her bed. He was lounging around in his pajamas and had a thick novel in his hands. Ginny didn't reply but now the tears erupted and the sobs heaved. This time Draco was seriously worried. He set his books aside and held Ginny close.

"Ginny? Tell me what happened. Did he hurt you?" Draco's voice had taken a hard edge. Ginny responded by clutching Draco closer and sobbing harder. Ginny thought back to the kiss. What tore her up the most was he was so polite about it. He actually asked her out. Now she was just damn confused. Was it sexual assault or just a big misunderstanding?

The sobs subsided a bit but Ginny hadn't said anything yet. Draco would probably kill her lecturer. Instead she shivered and hiccuped against Draco's warm chest. He lead her to her bed and tucked her underneath the doona and climbed in himself. His hands rubbed her body to generate heat but Ginny shirked away. She had never ever done that before.

"Don't," whispered Ginny in an almost strangled tone. When Draco touched her she had a sudden flashback to Mr Sayle's hands doing the exact same thing.

"Tell me what happened," demanded Draco anxiously. What had affected Ginny like this?

"You'll kill him if when I tell you," whispered Ginny worriedly. Draco's grip on Ginny tightened possessively and the familiarity of his touch was returning and the comfort was immediate.

"What did he do?" hissed Draco, his sharp eyes narrowing. Ginny started shaking again, despite the warmth of Draco and the bed.

"I had no idea he felt that way about me," whispered Ginny. "He asked me out and then he kissed me. I froze. God, he was so polite about it too." The look in Draco's eyes after he heard what Ginny said scared her. His eyes flashed with anger and Ginny knew he probably would beat up her lecturer. Kill him too, if he had the chance.

"The bastard," hissed Draco again and his grip on Ginny grew even tighter. He looked down at her and whispered urgently, "did he hurt you? I swear to Merlin I am going to kill him."

"Oh Draco, please don't. I'm sure he meant well… he actually asked me out. Wasn't it obvious I was with you? He didn't know I didn't want to be kissed. I just froze from the shock of it," mumbled Ginny into Draco's chest.

"You're his ruddy student. He can't go laying his hands on you. Just wait till I land my fist in his face," said Draco, quiet anger replacing the fiery one. "When are you going to tell your parents this?"

"Ohhh, I don't think I can. This has been way too embarrassing. Please… just leave it for now?"

"Fine, for now," agreed Draco. He took one look at Ginny's sad, confused face and Draco knew he could nothing else except hold her.

Stephen piled all of Ginny's belongings neatly and stared at them blankly before leaving for The Burrow. How could he have asked his student, nine years minor, to go out with him? His life of solitude surely was driving him stir-crazy. Ever since that kiss he had cursed himself for ever making a move. What angered Stephen even more was that he knew Ginny was irresistible to him. He knew he wouldn't find any peace within himself if he didn't at least try to win Ginny's affections.

Also, Ginny had frozen! How could he have done what he did with his hands when she didn't do anything at all? She had just sat there. Heck, her eyes were still open!

Stephen had thought it through through. He would return Ginny's belongings and apologise and beg for her forgiveness, even though he would probably be hexed. Then he would put up a proposition to Ginny. If she didn't feel comfortable being in his class, she could study at another academy. In Ginny's immediate area, only Diagon Alley held law studies. Stephen was the only lecturer. It was either that or Stephen resign and the education department would have to assign a new law lecturer.

'Curse my affections for beautiful women.'

Just after noon on Sunday, Stephen apparated on the border of the Weasley's property and took a deep breath. He pushed open the rickety iron gate and walked steadily to the front door and the he knocked it. Footsteps could be heard pattering towards the door and suddenly the door was opened to reveal a tired looking Ginny in a bathrobe with her hair done up in a towel and she was holding a hairbrush. When Ginny saw who the guest was, her hairbrush fell limply from her hand and her mouth opened into a little surprised, 'o'.

"Ginny, I've come to return your belongings," said Stephen quickly and gently to make his appearance reasoned. Just then, a tall blonde youth dressed in muggle clothing appeared from the stairs.

"You," he hissed and before he knew it, Stephen was on the ground with his nose bleeding profusely.

"Goodness!" shrieked a female's voice. It was Molly's. "Draco! Why on earth did you punch Ginny's lecturer?"

Draco replied in a controlled yet angry tone "he kissed Ginny without her permission." Stephen groaned and felt the blood seep through to his robes.

"Ginny?" gasped Molly in question, gripping her daughter who had gone pale and had not uttered a word. Ginny simply nodded and stared at her lecturer with the bloody nose.

"You didn't have to do that Draco," said Ginny softly, gazing back at Draco who simply stared back. They both knew that Ginny was saying, 'thank you,' whilst Draco said, 'you're very welcome.' They didn't have to exchange anything much in words.

Stephen got up gingerly and let his nose bleed freely. "No, I deserved that," he said. "I came here to return your books and bag that you forgot yesterday."

Molly healed Stephen's nose before anyone else got a word in edgewise. It was annoying her.

"Thank you," said Ginny evenly, taking the bag from her lecturer. Her hands accidentally brushed his and she dropped the back out of shock. Draco glared at Stephen and picked it up for Ginny.

A moment passed where all three people were looking at Stephen expectantly. Molly and Draco actually glared whilst Ginny simply looked at him awkwardly. Then Stephen flung himself onto the ground apologised repeatedly, then he was blabbering how unprofessional he was, and how he was weak to resist temptation and how he would resign.

Ginny looked down at him compassionately. Everybody in the immediate area (including Stephen) thought Ginny was mad when she said, "you're forgiven. I won't move classes and you won't have to resign."

"What?" gaped all three people, staring at Ginny incredulously.

"I understand you meant me no harm Mr Sayle. This is just a big misunderstanding. I'd hate for you to ruin your career over something like that," said Ginny.

Draco looked at Ginny and said exasperatedly, "the sleaze made a move on you, surely you don't want to continue studying from him!"

"He didn't rape me Draco," responded Ginny plainly. Molly kept silent but observed everything going around her. "He didn't mean to either." Draco's eyes narrowed suspiciously but he didn't say anything. What he did do however was slam the door in Stephen's face.

Inside, Molly gave Ginny a reassuring hug, which were just as good as Draco's. Ginny then proceeded upstairs followed by a scowling Draco.

"I don't like it," he growled once they were in the privacy of Ginny's room. Draco's anger didn't sway when Ginny removed her towel and bathrobe to reveal her naked body.

"He didn't know I belonged to you. He honestly thought I wanted him to keep going. I can tell Draco. I don't know how, but I can just tell. I knew he wasn't lying. Just like I knew you weren't lying when you tell me about your life. I just know you've changed. So give him a chance, okay?" replied Ginny, moving across the room, pressing her bare body against Draco's clothed one.

Draco knew Ginny was right and he hated it.

I hate this chapter. I hate it. Shoot me.