Die to Live

Chapter Five

By Mell8

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Ginny yawned and opened her eyes with a small smile. Blaise was in the shower, which meant that Draco was getting dressed in the closet. That also meant that she needed to hurry and start breakfast so she would have enough time to eat and shower before going to work.

"Ok," Blaise said with forced cheerfulness, "This is our new home. Let me give you the tour!" Ginny had already seen the small apartment Blaise had rented with the remainder of the money and was eagerly waiting to see what Draco's reaction would be. "Now, this is the kitchen," Blaise said with an extravagant wave of his hand to show the abysmally small, dirty kitchen. Ginny would have it cleaned as soon as they had enough money to buy decent cleaning supplies. At the moment they were penniless.

"This is the living room!" Draco paled when he walked through the arched doorway. The room was small, probably closet sized compared to the wealth Draco was used to. There was one small, musty three-seat couch in a corner and a television that had seen better days. The table was barely big enough to fit the three chairs they squished around it but it was still almost too big for the room. A miniscule fireplace sat in the corner. It was filled with soot and had a residue of floo powder on the grate. The room was disgusting even by what Ginny was used to, growing up in one of the poorest wizarding families.

Blaise led them to the last doorway in the house. The door was closed and Ginny could see Draco eyeing it hopefully. Ginny almost smirked when she realized that Draco was probably expecting three separate bedrooms with individual baths. The only issue was that Draco had already seen their only bathroom. It was where he had woken up when Blaise had tossed him into the bathtub.

Blaise forced open the door and walked in ahead of Draco so he could get out of the way. There really wasn't enough room in the hallway for three people, let alone one person trying to squeeze past another person in the small space. Ginny could hear him gasp in dismay and she smirked as she followed the boys into their one bedroom.

"So where will you two sleep?" Draco asked quietly in a voice that was slightly panicked. Ginny thought he was actually serious.

"No Draco," Blaise said with a sigh. "We have to share the bed. There's a closet over there for our clothes. It even has some shelves."

Draco looked around the room in panic. They had one bed and it took up the entire room. Blaise had bought the bed when they still had a few galleons to their names. He had gotten the biggest bed the muggle shop could offer. They didn't have any dressers or nightstands because the bed took up all the room. They would literally be forced to climb over the bed to get to the closet.

"So I'm supposed to share my bed with both of you?" Draco wailed piteously. Ginny's smirk grew. "I mean I can understand sharing with Blaise but with Ginny? She's a girl!"

"Look Draco," Ginny said quietly as she tried to control her mirth. "Once we paid off the people in the floo department to conveniently forget that the floo in your house was used, all we had left was enough to buy this apartment, furnish it with the horrible stuff you see, and to pay off my twin brothers for the use of their remarkable knives and for fake muggle identities. We only have enough money left to buy food for a week."

Draco's eyes widened comically. "How much money did you take out of Gringotts? This is very poor planning!"

"I took out fifty thousand galleons Draco," Blaise said with a sigh. "Any more would have looked suspicious to our families. The floo department took thirty five thousand galleons and this apartment cost the equivalent of two thousand galleons, and the bed cost another thousand. The twins needed the ten thousand galleons for the knives and the muggle things like this drivers license (whatever that is) so they could pay off their supplier. Plus there were the rest of the furnishings. We only have about one thousand galleons left."

Draco sat on the bed as his knees gave out in shock. "What are we supposed to do?" he moaned. "How are we supposed to hide for years, if necessary, if we don't have enough money to get by?"

"Blaise has a job working in a pizza parlor down the street," Ginny said quietly. "I've submitted applications for jobs in a lot of the stores. Once you get a job, Draco, we'll be able to get by comfortably."

Draco glared at both of them angrily. "Malfoy's do not get jobs."

Ginny and Blaise left the room to let Draco sulk. Ginny knew that eventually, Draco would get a job. It just depended on how stubborn he was.

Their first night sleeping in the same bed was very interesting. When all three of them were still in Hogwarts they had shared Draco's huge bed in his private room but they only slept together when they were up late studying and fell asleep on Draco's bed surrounded by their books. This was very different.

Once they had gotten into their nightclothes and had brushed their teeth, all three of the teenagers turned and stared at the bed. Draco's eyes were a little wider than normal and Blaise looked resigned. Only Ginny was unaffected because she knew that since she was the girl, the boys would give her plenty of room on her side of the bed.

"Lets get this over with," Draco growled unhappily.

With a sigh, Blaise climbed onto the bed and lay down in the middle. Draco took the edge closer to the door and Ginny took the side against the wall. They all closed their eyes and tried to sleep.

Five minutes later there was a thump and a grumbled "oww". The boys felt Ginny roll over and there was another thump and "oww". Ginny shifted again and promptly hit the wall with her knee. "Oww". The boys ignored her.

"Eeep!" This time Blaise squeaked and rolled closer to Ginny. Draco unconsciously moved his foot and Blaise "eeep"ed again.

Draco sighed and rolled over to hide his head under his pillow. Thump, "oww". Draco buried himself further into his pillow and rolled over again. Bam.

Ginny and Blaise looked up from their uncomfortable positions in the bed and couldn't help smirking. Draco sat on the floor from where he had fallen out of the bed.

"That's it!" Draco snarled. "Ginny, stop hitting the wall-"

"I didn't mean it!" Ginny wailed. "I'm just not used to being near the wall!"

"- and Blaise why do you keep squeaking?"

"Your feet are cold!" Blaise whimpered.

"Ginny, why don't you take this side of the bed. Then you won't hit the wall," Draco said quietly after scowling at Blaise for not liking his feet.

"I don't want to fall off the bed!" Ginny gasped. "That would hurt more than the wall!"

"And I don't want to be near your feet any more," Blaise grumbled.

Draco sighed and rubbed his head tiredly. "All right, Ginny, do you mind sleeping in the middle?"

"I guess not."

"Good. Blaise switch places with Ginny." Ginny slid into the middle of the bed and Blaise took the side near the wall. Without any more mishaps the three were finally able to sleep.

Ginny woke first and immediately wished she was still dreaming. Both Blaise and Draco had somehow managed to roll closer to her during the night. Ginny slept on her side and apparently, so did Blaise and Draco. The black boy had his front plastered against Ginny's back and one arm was around Ginny's waist. Ginny was using Draco's arm as a pillow and, though she was further away from Draco than she was Blaise, Ginny's legs were tangled up with Draco's. It was literally impossible to tell were her legs ended and Draco's began.

Ginny blushed and quickly feigned sleep when she felt Blaise stir from behind her. She felt Blaise carefully pull away and felt him wake Draco who untangled himself from Ginny's limbs.

Draco got out of bed and Blaise gently shook Ginny. "Time to wake up little cub," he whispered.

After their first fateful night in their new apartment life began to settle down. Ginny got a job working in the grocery store. They got something called a discount because she worked there. As far as Ginny could tell, this discount made the food she bought less expensive. They also got free pizzas every once in a while from Blaise. Draco still refused to work.

Even with the discounts and free pizzas they still spent all of their pay every week. Plus, the extra thousand they had tucked away was dwindling as well. Sometimes they were so short on money that Ginny could only buy food for two people instead of the necessary three.

Draco finally gave in and decided to get a job the night that Ginny served potato soup that was more water than soup. Draco refused to eat it but, once he found out that the only other food they had at the moment was a box of cereal and half a gallon of milk for breakfast, and found out that Ginny didn't think they would have any money for dinner the next day, he stood up from their miniscule table stalked out of the apartment.

He came back an hour later with a smile on his face. "I've just been hired as manager for the clothing shop down the street. I'll be getting a hundred an hour plus free clothing for my immediate family and me." Ginny stopped washing the dishes to stare at Draco. Even after working at their respective jobs for months, she and Blaise had only been getting minimum wage.

"Great job, Draco!" Blaise said happily. "I always knew that you would be good at business. We'll have pizza tomorrow night to celebrate!"

Ginny smiled happily.

Their first year passed and they soon got into a cycle. The boys would wake first, untangle themselves from however they had wrapped their bodies around Ginny, and would take turns showering and getting ready. Ginny would get up, make breakfast, eat her own breakfast, and would get ready for work while the boys were stuffing their faces. They went to work, came home and while Ginny made dinner, Draco paid the bills and Blaise made their bag lunches for the next day. It became repetitive after a while but it worked and they were happy.

Draco stumbled into the room first. He was yawning widely but had somehow managed to get his jeans on even though he was only half awake. His work shirt was slung over his arm so Ginny could see his impressive six-pack. Even five years after his last Quidditch practice Draco had not lost his toned body. Fortunately five years of living with Draco and Blaise, who also had a washboard stomach, had erased all of Ginny's previous drooling spells. Instead she ignored the fact that seeing either of her boys half naked tightened something low in her body and went on with her life as usual.

Ginny slid the first omelet onto a plate and took two bagels out of the toaster. She handed them to the sleepy blond who lazily waved his hand in thanks. The years in the muggle world had helped to improve Draco's attitude immensely. He smiled every once in a while and even said nice things to Ginny. It was a vast improvement from the scowling angry teen he had been at seventeen. Being twenty-two was good for Draco.

Ginny had Blaise's food waiting for him when he finally stumbled out of the room following the intoxicating smell of breakfast. Ginny could feel her stomach flip when she saw that the top button of Blaise's jeans was undone and a lot of skin was showing. She carefully composed her face and smiled down at him.

Ginny made herself breakfast and sat down to join them. "I'm going grocery shopping today during my lunch hour." Ginny announced. "Is there anything you want me to buy?" She asked quietly. Draco opened his mouth eagerly and Ginny quickly held up her hand to forestall what Draco was about to say. "I'm getting you chocolate Draco. Is there anything else we need?"

"More shampoo for the bathroom," Blaise said smiling across the table at the red head. "I used up the last of it this morning." Ginny nodded and added shampoo to the list in her head.

When they finished Draco put his shirt on and Blaise buttoned his pants while Ginny put their dishes into the dishwasher (another odd muggle contraption that had confounded Ginny until she had seen someone else use it on the TV).

"I'll see you both for dinner." Ginny carefully reached up on her toes and planted a small kiss on each of her boys' cheeks. They left and Ginny smiled happily. Ginny grabbed her purse and walked out of the flat with a reminiscent smile on her face. In their five years together the three of them had had a lot of fun. The one time Ginny had caught the flu both boys had stayed up all night to make sure she was all right. That had been the only time Ginny had gotten the bed to herself.

On Blaise's twentieth birthday they had gone to a nearby muggle pub and had stumbled home one night and had collapsed into a big puppy pile on the bed without any regard to personal space. Ginny had a lot of fun berating the boys for their hangovers and had almost been killed when the boys had attacked her to get her to shut up and stop making their headaches worse.

She remembered the one time Blaise had splurged and bought blue hair dye. Draco had been pissed until he realized that it was muggle dye and it came out in five washings. The vain boy had spent an hour in the shower washing and rewashing his hair.

The best part was that the entire time, they had been together.

Ginny walked into the grocery store, put on her apron and went to her cashier station to begin work. She smiled at the first person in line and began to ring up their groceries. She almost wished that their lives in hiding would never end.