Disclaimer and Notes can be found in Chapter 1

Counting Stars and Passing Cars 12/14

Draco/Ginny

Inspiration: Rangers

They burst through the doors and jog a few paces down the street before stopping so Ginny can wrap her shawl over her shoulders. That's Weasleys: 4, Malfoy: 0, he thinks, picturing their barely touched meals now abandoned in the restaurant behind them. But I'm not beaten yet.

A date with Ginny is worth any trouble her brothers can throw his way.

He studies her in the light of the street lamp. She's pink with anger, her chignon is now trailing long strands of red-gold hair thanks to their hasty escape, and she has a look on her face that reminds him uncomfortably of school, stinging hexes, and bogies with batwings, but she's still beautiful. He wouldn't change a thing about her. He eyes her up and down. Well, perhaps her shoes. Her green dress and green-and-black beaded wrap are perfection, but he doesn't think much of the rather plain flats she's wearing. He'd prefer to see her in heels, showing off those muscular legs of hers.

Before he can spiral into his long-running fantasy of Ginny, clad in nothing but spike heels, with all that smooth, freckled skin his to explore, she exhales sharply and mutters, "I apologize for that."

"Hmm?" he says distractedly. "Oh, it's more Perry's fault, isn't it?"

"It's Percy, and I can't believe the nerve of him! Showing up at the restaurant and trying to sabotage our dinner?" She fists her hands on her hips. "I know my brothers aren't handling my breakup with Harry very well, but this is outrageous. You never expected anything like this when I accepted your invitation, and for that I really am sorry."

He privately thinks her brothers are more upset by the fact that her first post-Potter date is Draco Malfoy than by the breakup itself, but he just shrugs. "Think nothing of it. It's quite exciting to have someone slip a sleeping draught into your soup—good catch on that, by the way. I missed it completely, and I would have hated to spend the next day asleep."

She smiles and inclines her head in acknowledgement. "Shall we go on to the Leaky Cauldron and finish our meal there?"

"Absolutely." He offers her his arm, and when she takes it, her touch feels so perfectly right that he has to clear his throat before continuing. "We shouldn't dawdle, I imagine. It won't take Perry long to unstick himself from that chair."

"Percy, and you're right. I shouldn't have suggested the Leaky where he could hear us; he just might follow us once he's free."

They set off at a brisk pace, Ginny easily matching his stride.

"My family has a way of making things difficult."

It's a bit of an understatement, but he says, "I'm no stranger to that."

She chuckles. "No, I guess we're equal in that respect."

"They've surprised me," he admitted. "It's a little bit like a hazing ritual. I mean, I never expected Bob—"

"Bill."

"—to have the Goblins freeze my account so I wouldn't have the funds to wine, dine, and impress you unless I borrowed money from my mum like a teenager, or Greg—"

"George. You're doing this on purpose." But she's laughing, so he doesn't bother to deny it.

"—to send me that exploding blue bomb. That was special." He holds up his bright blue hands as evidence.

She frowns, uncomfortable. "You don't know for sure that Bill and George were responsible for those things." At his knowing look, she sighs. "All right, all right. They're guilty as sin. I'll talk to Bill, and I'll get the antidote from George, I swear." She shakes her head. "I don't know why you didn't cancel."

"Are you kidding?" He covers the hand she rests on his arm with his own, blue, one. "It took two months to get you to agree to this date. It would take more than thugs or indelible blue ink to make me cancel."

She stops in the middle of the sidewalk, forcing him to stop, too.

"There were thugs?" Her eyes search his face, looking for bruises, perhaps.

"Mmm. From the thick accents and leather clothing, my guess was Romanian dragon keepers."

"Charlie," and it's a hiss. He basks in the stream of invective pouring from her mouth. He would love to bend her over his arm and kiss her in the lamplight, but he remembers the one useful thing his uncle Rodolphus ever told him: Don't try to kiss a woman when she's in the middle of planning her bloody vengeance on someone. Rodolphus would know better than anyone, so Draco just enjoys Ginny's ire and takes her arm to get her moving again.

"I'm going to kill them," she vows. "They've forgotten who they're dealing with. By the time I'm through, they'll be so far past sorry, they won't remember what sorry looked like."

He laughs as they turn onto Diagon Alley, but the sound is suddenly strangled in his throat. Un-figgin'-believable.

Ron Weasley leans against a lamp post near the mouth of Diagon Alley, scanning the evening crowd and, not coincidently, blocking the path to the Leaky Cauldron.

Unaware, Ginny looks up at Draco with curiosity. "What's wrong?"

"I spy with my little eye something that is…ginger and unwelcome." He jerks his chin toward the Leaky and feels her stiffen when she spots her brother. He pulls her back behind the corner of the building. "Perry must have sent his Patronus ahead to tell him where to wait for us. They're very good at coordinating their efforts. I can see now why you won the war."

"Is fratricide always a crime?" Her teeth are clenched tight. "And, if so, is Azkaban really so bad? It might be worth it."

"Or we could save murder for our second date and avoid him tonight instead."

She raises one arched brow. "Avoid him?"

Clearly, this isn't a Gryffindor sort of idea. "That's right. We give him the slip, Apparating to Hogsmeade for dinner. Brother Rob spends the rest of the night loitering in Diagon Alley—"

"It's Ron, which you know, but I'm listening. Keep going."

"—never spotting us, and being the only Weasley boy who completely fails in their mission to try to ruin our night."

"Sounds frustrating," she says thoughtfully. "Let's do it!"

"Excellent." He grins at her as they both pull their wands. "Do you know Amadeo's, that little Italian place on—"

"Found you!" Ron barks as he comes around the corner, and just like that, Draco realizes the possibility of ending up in prison by midnight becomes much more likely.

"We don't want to be found!" Ginny's wand flicks and Ron lets out an audible 'ooof' as he flies into the middle of the street. She seizes Draco's hand. "Time for Plan B."

"What's Plan B," he asks, running to keep up with her as she darts down the block and cuts through the narrow gap between two buildings.

"We run for it!"

Surely Weasley will give up and leave them alone now, he thinks, just before he hears the orange buffoon yell, "Ginny!" and he's far closer than he should be.

"He's chasing us!" Draco pants. "He's actually chasing us! Is he mental?"

"You have to ask?" Ginny pants back.

They duck between buildings and squeeze through fences. Ron almost catches them behind the Bewitching Witch Beauty Salon, but Draco greases the soles of his shoes and they escape when he falls. Soon, Ginny is laughing, and Draco can't help but laugh too. It's a ridiculous farce, but looking at Ginny, with dirt now smeared on her flushed cheek and her long red hair falling out of up-do, Draco wouldn't give this night up for anything.

The two of them dash into Flourish and Blotts and end up hiding behind a stack of unauthorized biographies of Gwenog Jones. They crouch down, shoulder to shoulder and still holding hands, to try and catch their breath.

"I still can't believe our first date ended up with us running from your brother." He leans his head against the edge of the table.

"Sadly, I wish I could pretend to be surprised, but I was afraid to put anything past them." She points to her feet and grins. "Why do you think I wore these sensible shoes?"

He laughs again. "I admit it: Your family might be even better at making things difficult than mine." He peers cautiously around the book stack and is startled when she touches his chin with gentle fingers, turning his face back toward hers.

Her lips are dewy and soft against his, and he again feels the rightness of her touch, the shock of it, echoing through him. Malfoy for the win, he thinks dazedly as she pulls away.

"Thank you for tonight, Draco. I had a really fun time, despite my brothers, but I'm sure this wasn't the night you imagined it would be.

He looks at her and sees the fierce spirit shining through her lovely eyes with their golden lashes, and he knows he'll face a gauntlet of a hundred brothers if that is what it takes to be with her. He kisses her again.

"You're worth it."

Let's keep hiding, all quiet like
They'll keep seeking but they won't find us
Let's keep living a quiet life
You and I, you and I

And the rangers stream out of their cabins
They are the hunters, we are the rabbits
And maybe we don't wanna be found
Maybe we don't want you tracking us down

Rangers
A Fine Frenzy