Ginny walked quickly, trying to put some distance between herself and her unwanted chaperone, but Malfoy had no trouble catching up. "Weasley," he said, catching her by the arm. "Are you sure you want to stay here?"

"Of course I do!" She whirled on him, indignant. "I'm happy here! I have the garden, and I have Bill, and Robby can get me anything I want, and... and the graves are here..." She half-turned, pulling a handkerchief from her sleeve and wiping her eyes. "I can't leave, Malfoy. Don't you see? I can't leave them alone here."

"All right. I see." Draco spoke more gently than usual, stepping forward and putting an arm around Ginny's shoulders as if confident that she wouldn't object. "I understand. If it were all my family, I wouldn't want to leave, either. Well, no, that's a lie, I'm not actually all that attached to my family, but in principle I understand."

Ginny laughed at that, damply, and leaned further into Draco's embrace. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I don't know why the others can't understand that. Just leaving them out here, in the middle of nowhere..."

"I know." He sighed and pulled her closer still. "I know. I'll explain to the others..."

He could feel the tension go out of Ginny's shoulders at that. "You will?" she asked, looking up at him. "I don't... I mean, thank you, I... what..."

Draco smiled, hoping it didn't look as predatory as it felt. "You don't owe me anything, Ginny," he whispered. "But if you want to pay me back..."

"Is there something-"

"Just this." He leaned down and kissed her, roughly, forcing her lips apart with his tongue and pulling her body tight against his own. He'd been expecting a fight, but after a moment's stiffness, she relaxed - not quite kissing back, but yielding to him.

"Malfoy!" It was Harry's voice, calling from the doorway; the rest of them had, apparently, finished their discussion with Bill more quickly than he'd expected. "Malfoy, come on, we've got to - Malfoy!"

Hermione pushed past him and gasped. "You let go of her at once, you - you-" she began, but she couldn't think of an adequate insult to complete the sentence and was forced to finish rather lamely, "You let go of her!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Malfoy said, breaking the kiss but keeping his hands on Ginny, preventing her from turning to face the others. "Allow me to point out, Granger, that Miss Weasley is a grown woman and is putting up no objection to being kissed. Now bugger off, you're ruining the mood."

"Terribly sorry, but the mood's going to have to stay ruined," Harry said with a sigh. "We've got reports to write up. Come on, Malfoy. Good to see you again, Ginny. I hope we'll get a chance to talk later." He and Neville each caught Malfoy by an arm and pried him off of Ginny, then frog-marched him back through the house- "'Bye, Bill-" and back into the hills where they'd landed.