But I Never Loved You

Family Reunion

Ginny sighed and looked around her room. She had agreed to go see her parents, not because she had decided to forgive them, but because Draco wanted her to. She looked down at her feet. She was still very upset with them. Sure she had agreed to marry him in the end, but they didn't know she was going to do that!

And Malfoy last night… She had agreed to marry him and all he had to say was that he wanted money… She knew she wasn't the prettiest package, but she was everything that he needed! She was okay looking, and she was a pureblood… His parents obviously liked her enough…

A gentle tap at the door startled Ginny.

"Come on in," she said, sitting at the edge of her bed. She leaned forward to put the shoes on her feet that she was still unused to. She was still in her nightgown, but she could easily pull it over her head and put a dress on. The shoes were the hard part!

Draco walked in the room, looking very nice in a white button-up and black pants. He hadn't slicked his hair back yet, and it was dangling messily over his forehead.

"Ginny?" he said, and then chuckled to see her in her current predicament. He knelt down at her feet and took the shoe from her hand.

"You're the only woman I know who can't maneuver a shoe."

'Woman…' she thought to herself. She was still only 16. She was going into her seventh year. She was going to turn 17 in December… She was hardly a woman yet. In many ways, she was still a little girl…

Draco stood up and took Ginny by the hand, taking her over to the full length mirror.

"Yesterday… I realize I may have neglected you a bit when you told me you would marry me… I'm very sorry…"

He slid his hands across her body before the mirror, her dark green nightgown turning into a green dress that came to her knees.

"You won't be neglected anymore. We can make this marriage as real as you want it to be." He brushed her hair from her neck, leaving light kisses where he touched. As his hands moved, her hair jumped into spiral curls.

"Or it could just be for show," he said as though he was forcing himself to pull away from her.

Ginny nodded and turned to look up at him. "We can make it real in public, but for now… We really don't know each other, you know?"

He nodded and sighed. "I just want to explain my behavior yesterday… The amount I've been left is a hell of a lot of money. I didn't mean to go off on a money tangent, but money is a big part of my life."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so because I was raised in a poor home, I wouldn't understand how important money is? Its people with none that realize how much a galleon is worth!"

Draco took her hands in his.

"No Virginia, it isn't that. That wasn't what I meant… You were raised in a family of love. A family of siblings and parents and pets. When you scraped your knee, your mother picked you up and kissed it, bandaged it up and swatted your bum, telling you to go back out and play. My mother gave me a few galleons and told me to go out shopping. Money is my family…"

Ginny tilted her head to the side. When he put it that way…

Ginny crossed her arms and legs, refusing to look at Draco.

"Come on… You can't hate them forever. They raised you… They made you! They loved you your whole life… Don't let one mistake fuck up a perfect relationship."

Ginny pouted, turning to look into his face. "They pawned me off. Why didn't they sell one of my brothers?"

"Because none of them are as beautiful as you are," he said, gently touching her face. "Just shut up and forgive them, please. For me?"

The carriage stopped, and Ginny found herself staring into his face. "Fine… As soon as they apologize, I'll forgive them."

"Perfectly fair." He gave her a light kiss and got out of the carriage. He held a hand out to help her, and she took it.

As her head emerged, she was surprised to see every sibling, her parents, and Hermione looking at her.

"Ginny!"

Charlie dared to run forward, wrapping both arms around her and spinning her in a circle. "You look wonderful! Look at this dress! And the hair… Wow you look…Beautiful!"

Ginny was giggling, leaning her cheek into his chest. "I missed you so much!"

"We were so worried about you!" There was a sudden crowd around Ginny, pushing Draco to the side.

"Well fine…"

Arthur walked up to him and shook his hand. "Thank you for bringing her here. Is she still angry?"

At that very moment, a loud "Not you mom, I don't want to hug you!" rang clear as a bell.

"Yes she is."

"I made cherry pie!" Molly said at the end of dinner, running the biggest slice over to Ginny.

A big smile spread across her face as she grabbed a fork.

Charlie leaned into Draco and whispered, "Cherry pie is her absolute favorite, but mom rarely makes it. It's usually a holiday dish."

As dinner died down, Molly stood at Ginny's side. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I have ears. Talk."

Draco gave her thigh a whack. "Go."

She sighed and stood, following her mother to the other room.

Charlie stood up and began grabbing plates. "I don't know what you did to her, but not only is Ginny absolutely beautiful all the sudden, she now has a nerve. She's never said a sore word to mother before, and now she has a whole group of them."

Draco chuckled. "I just gave her a little confidence. A haircut and some expensive clothes and any little girl with become a confident woman."

A few brothers who were only half-listening nodded to themselves at that concept. Hermione however crossed her arms. "Not all women are superficial idiots! And I doubt that Ginny is like that!"

"So…What exactly is going on here? Why has she been with you in the first place? What exactly…" Charlie spoke as though Hermione hadn't said a single word in between.

He wasn't quite sure what to ask, or whether or not he wanted to know the answer.

"Your parents told my parents that Ginny would marry me. I'm not sure if she was born at that time or not, but it was an arranged marriage, and nobody ever told her."

Charlie's eyes widened. "Oh… I don't blame her for running then… But why would she run to you?"

"So…Other than saying I'm sorry a hundred times, I don't know what you want me to say to you… I love you more than anything else in this world, and I only did what I thought was best… And you seem so happy now! You're all dressed up, and beautiful… You were always beautiful, but he can give you things we never could…"

Ginny sighed and put her head down. "I love you mom… I forgive you."

Molly wrapped her arms tightly around her youngest child, and squeezed. "You have no idea how scared we all were when you ran away! Nobody thought in a million years to look with him! We all thought you hated him!"

She nodded. "I did. He's not so bad anymore… Oh, and the wedding is in August, by the way."

Molly's eyes went huge. "You're…You're going to marry him?" she asked with a little tremble in her voice.

Ginny nodded. "A deal is a deal, isn't it?"

"That wasn't so hard was it?" Draco asked, helping her up into the carriage again.

Ginny tried to ignore her mother's tears, and everyone else's screaming "We'll miss you!!"

Ginny shook her head. "No, I guess not. My mother seemed pretty surprised that I had agreed to marry you."

He chuckled and slid to her side. "Not as surprised as I was." He wrapped one arm around her shoulders.

"So, I was talking to your brother Charlie and your father and… If it's okay with you, we'd all like to have a dinner. With my parents. So everyone can get to know each other before the whole…Wedding thing. Give everyone the chance to get used to the idea."

By everyone, he really meant her. She was very obviously only marrying him to make everyone else happy.

"When are we doing this?" she asked, closing her eyes and getting comfortable against him.

"I'll owl my parents and figure everything out. We'll plan everything, don't worry your pretty little head about anything."

Draco lifted Ginny up into his arms and carried her up into her bedroom. With a silent spell, he pulled the covers back and placed Ginny onto the bed.

He tucked her in up to her neck and gave her forehead a soft kiss. "Sleep sweet my beautiful…"

A/N So, that's the end of chapter 14 lol. Six more chapters and the story will be OVER lol. I'll tell you right now, there's a twist coming. If you don't like surprises, stop reading right now lol. Well, I hope you enjoyed the story so far, and you know what they say, reviews make Missy happy. YES everyone says that lol.