A/N: I'm back! Sorry I wasn't able to get up this chapter before I left but it wound up being much longer than I expected. Good news is I'm done with my Eurotrip so now I can write more so expect another chapter soon. There's more Ginny/Draco interaction in this chapter so I hope you all like it. Enjoy!

Chapter 5

Ginny woke the next morning after a long night of relatively little sleep. All night she had been plagued by nightmares she had thought were long gone. Writing yesterday must have messed with her head and now it was all she could do not to think about it.

To think of something else she thought back to dinner from the night before. Normally Ginny enjoyed when Harry and Ron brought home their friends but the entire time all Ginny could think about was Draco. She kept looking at him and would catch him look at her so she would then purposefully not look at him but she kept sneaking glances. After dinner she practically ran to the kitchen to help her mom clean up and then hid upstairs so as to avoid him.

She had no idea what was wrong with her. She shouldn't be thinking about Draco Malfoy at all. She had a boyfriend that she loved. Hell, she had loved Harry since she was a kid and now she had everything she ever wanted. No way was she going to screw it up because Malfoy kept getting under her skin.

Resigned that she wouldn't be going back to sleep she got up and pulled on her sweater and headed downstairs. She found her mom in the living room, knitting what looked like a sweater for Teddy.

"Hey mum," she said entering the room.

"Oh, Ginny, you're up so early! Is everything alright?" her mother asked worried. Ginny looked at the clock and realized it was 8:00 in the morning. She couldn't remember the last time she had been up so early.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just couldn't sleep," she said while fighting back a yawn. Her mother looked at her skeptically and Ginny didn't know if she was thinking about those few weeks after the Final Battle where she barely slept a wink to try and avoid the nightmares.

"Ok, well, I was just about to go wake Teddy. Would you do that for me while I start on the breakfast?" her mother said charming the knitting needles to continue their work as she got up.

"Sure," Ginny said and headed back upstairs to Teddy's room. Teddy had been given Percy's old room since he had his own apartment and was rarely ever home.

Teddy had been her one condolence during those weeks after. Teddy had lost both his mother and father in the battle and there had been a debate about where he would live. Harry had wanted to take him and raise him since he was the godfather but Mrs. Weasley wouldn't hear of Harry, still a teenager, raising a baby. Instead she had volunteered to take Teddy so that Harry could see him whenever he wanted and Harry knew he would have a good home.

During those weeks Ginny had felt like there was no happiness and no hope. She had lost a brother and many friends. At first she couldn't stand to be around Teddy because he was an orphan: a casualty of the war in a different way from those who were dead. However, one night she found herself wandering the house trying not to fall asleep when she passed by his nursery. For some reason she walked inside and just wound up standing there staring down at him in the moonlight. He looked so perfect and innocent. Suddenly he woke up and started to cry. Without a second thought Ginny had picked him up and started singing to him an old lullaby her mother used to sing. Within minutes he was asleep again but she continued to hold him and just watch him sleep.

After that night she felt a special connection to Teddy. While he may have been orphaned by the war he was still so pure and innocent and had no clue what the war had taken from so many people, himself included. She made it her mission to protect him from that truth as long as she could. She wanted to protect his innocence.

Ginny walked into his room and sat on the edge of his bed. She looked down at him and was thrilled to see him still as innocent and pure as that night. She knew it wouldn't last forever but for now he was safe.

"Teddy, time to wake up kiddo," she said running a hand through his floppy brown hair.

He rolled over and blinked up at her.

"Morning sunshine," she said.

"Why you awake?" he said sleepily. She laughed inwardly at how perceptive he was.

"Cause it's morning and we're going to have breakfast. Now get up sleepyhead."

She then lifted him up and put him on the floor. He immediately sprang into action and grabbed his blankie and ran out the door downstairs.

"C'mon Ginny," she heard him yell as he made his way downstairs. She laughed and followed.

Down in the kitchen her mother had breakfast well underway. She was just putting the eggs on the table when Mr. Weasley walked in the kitchen.

"Morning family," he said happily. That was one thing Ginny loved about her dad. Even after everything he had seen and been through he always had a smile on his face and could make you laugh even when all you wanted to do was cry.

"Morning Arthur. Mind you eat your eggs before you leave," she said putting down some sausage as well.

"Morning princess," he said kissing Ginny on the head. He ruffled Teddy's hair and sat at the table. Once his plate was loaded up with food he became absorbed in the paper. Luckily there was never anything as bad as what they had been reporting two years ago.

"So got any plans today?" Mr. Weasley asked as he put down the paper to grab a forkful of food.

"Oh, just the usual cleaning and such. I was thinking about doing a turkey for dinner," Mrs. Weasley answered.

"Sounds fine with me," he answered. "How 'bout you Gin?"

"I was thinking I might go do some writing again today," she answered though she didn't know why. After yesterday she didn't want to think about writing at all again. Then again, writing about something different might actually help her to rid herself of the nightmares.

"That sounds like a good idea. You should go visit Harry too while you're there. I'm sure he would love to see you. I'll even make you a lunch to bring over," Mrs. Weasley said with a smile. She knew that her mom thought of Harry as one of her own and loved spoiling him. Ginny wondered sometimes what her mother would do if she decided to break up with Harry. Not that she was thinking about breaking up with Harry, of course.

"Sure that sounds good," Ginny said.

Shortly afterwards Mr. Weasley left for work and Ginny and Mrs. Weasley started on the basic chores. On normal days like these they each did their jobs and could be done pretty quickly. This would then leave Ginny to play with Teddy during the afternoon while Mrs. Weasley would do other things like knit or cook dinner.

However, today Ginny packed up her writing utensils and Mrs. Weasley gave her a bag with two lunches for her and Harry and sent her on her way.

When Ginny arrived in London she wondered for a minute whether she should go to Diagon Alley and write first or see Harry. She decided to see Harry because he would probably be hungry for lunch and she wasn't quite in the mood to write yet.

She walked around the block and entered the familiar guest entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Entering the lobby she was happy to see the old fountains back in place with a new memorial also there to commemorate the fallen victims of both the first and second wars. She didn't stare at it too long and instead proceeded to the lifts.

A few minutes later she arrived at Harry's office in the Auror department.

"Oh, hi Ginny. I'm so glad to see you, it feels like forever! How are you?" asked Mrs. Kensington, Harry's friendly secretary. Her husband had been killed in the war but she was still always so cheerful.

"I'm good Mrs. Kensington. How are you? Are Greg and Ashley good?"

"Oh yes, they're great. You here to see Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah, I brought him some lunch. Is he free?"

"Oh how sweet you are. He actually just finished a meeting. Go right on in," she said.

"Thanks!" Ginny said smiling as she walked past her through the door.

Harry was sitting at his desk, reading something when he looked up.

"Ginny! Hey! I didn't expect to see you today," he said getting up and walking over to her.

"Yeah I just thought I would bring you some lunch and we could eat together," she said showing him the bag she carried.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks babe," he said giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Why don't we go eat in the café?"

"Sure," she said taking Harry's outstretched hand. Together they exited his office and Harry locked the door behind him.

"Shirley, I'm going to go to lunch. Hold any messages for me," he said.

"Ok, have a good time," she replied with a smile and a wave.

Harry led Ginny down the corridors to the café for the Ministry. It was designed to feel as though you were outside since the building was underground. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the one at Hogwarts and the windows reflected an image of the outdoors. They sat down at the table and Ginny started to pull out the lunch her mom had prepared for them.

"This looks great. You're the best," Harry said looking at all the food. Ginny blushed and felt a little guilty since it had honestly been her mom's idea and she hadn't even thought of visiting Harry.

"It's no problem. Mom made the food anyways so you should really be thanking her," she explained.

"Well, I still love it when you come to visit me," he said giving her hand a kiss. "It makes my day so much better."

She felt a pang of guilt though she couldn't place why. Just as they were about to start eating they heard a voice call out.

"Potter! There you are!" snarled an angry voice.

They both turned to see who said it and were surprised to see a smiling Draco.

"Oh, Draco. What the hell? I was about to hex you," said Harry though he was grinning. It seemed they really were getting along like friends.

Ginny could barely meet Draco's eyes thinking about their last encounter and also the dream she had had. When she did glance up she was surprised to find him starring at her with a weird look. It was almost like sadness though she doubted she had ever seen Draco sad a day in his life.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you guys. Just wanted to let you know that Kingsley was looking for you. Something about a paper he needed from you," Draco said turning his attention away from Ginny.

"Oh, damn! I forgot to tell Shirley to send the report on to him days ago. I should go hand-deliver it to him," he said. He turned to look at Ginny. "Babe, I'm really sorry but I have to go do this right away. Mind if we reschedule?"

Inside Ginny was a little sad to be pushed aside for something as trivial as a report but she had surprised him after all. And it wasn't like she had even expected to come here today.

"Yeah, of course. Go ahead. We can do this another time," she said giving him a small smile as reassurance.

"Thanks!" he said placing a small kiss on her head as he got up. "I'll talk to you tonight."

She watched Harry leave with a feeling of annoyance. However, it was only when she heard Draco sit down in Harry's seat that she realized he was still there.

She looked at him questioningly.

"Can I help you?" she asked with an annoyed tone. She knew she wasn't annoyed at him but at least she could take it out on someone.

"Well, I figured I would join you for lunch if you have all this food and no one to eat it with," he said smugly as he helped himself to half the chicken sandwich her mom had packed.

"I don't remember inviting you to join me."

"Oh, don't worry. No need to ask," he smirked.

She huffed but realized he wasn't going anywhere so she began to eat the lunch as well. It did beat eating alone after all and she did have too much food for herself.

And you want to spend time with him, her subconscious pointed out.

They sat in an awkward silence for a moment. Ginny didn't know whether to be mad at him or not. He was always so obnoxious but deep down he made her smile just a little. She tried to think back to the Draco she had hated in school and could barely even remember him. The Draco sitting next to her now was just so different. Never before would she have imagined a Draco who would joke with Harry and sit down to lunch with her.

"Hem..." Draco coughed pulling her out of her thoughts. "So, what are you doing today? More writing?"

"Maybe. I hadn't really decided. I figured lunch would take longer," she admitted. She really didn't want to talk about her writing with him. It was so personal and she almost wished she hadn't shown him her story the other day.

"Have you always been a writer?" he asked inquisitively.

A writer? Ginny didn't really know if she considered herself a writer. She had always just written stories to help her cope and take her mind off all the bad things.

"I suppose. When I was younger it was just diaries but then after my first year I switched to writing fictional stories," she replied.

"What happened in your first year?" he asked. She looked at him with astonishment. Surely he hadn't forgotten.

It took a second of him looking at her face to realize he had missed something big. He thought back to her first year and his second year. Then he remembered why she might have stopped writing in a diary.

"Oh, shit," he said looking slightly humbled. "I know why."

"Yeah, I didn't really want to write in a diary much after that."

"Have you ever thought about writing professionally?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"No, not really," she answered without providing more details.

A long pause followed after that. She had never discussed her writing like this with anyone else before. After the diary incident everyone had wanted things to go back to normal so while her family noticed the writing no one ever wanted to talk about it since it was linked to her past.

"Don't you have work to do?" she asked only realizing afterwards how rude it sounded. She didn't want him to leave but she hated the way he made her feel. The way he made her question everything.

"Why, am I bothering you Red?" he teased with a nefarious grin on his face. She glared back at him but wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much he got under her skin.

"No, I just figured that you would be more important. Apparently you're not. Now Harry on the other hand, he's extremely important. He's always being called off to this meeting or that," she said wanting to spark some of the old rivalry in Draco. Her boyfriend did make wonderful bait for Draco.

"Well, I guess his loss is my gain because now I get to spend time with you," he smirked and casually put his arm around her shoulder.

The second his arm touched her skin her insides went on high alert. Her body ached to feel him touch her more, the way he had in her dream but her brain was screaming at her to run. She felt a blush creep up over her entire body. Not wanting Draco to know the way he affected her she tried to keep cool and casually shrugged out from under his arm.

"Shouldn't you know better than to flirt with your friend's girlfriend?" she said as she stood up and grabbed her bag.

"Was I flirting? I was only saying how I liked to spend time with you, my other friend," he said trying to sound innocent.

For a second she paused wondering if she had read the situation wrong. Maybe she just thought he was flirting because she wanted him to flirt with her. But then she looked at him and saw him smirking at her and knew she was right.

"I don't like games Draco," she said as she turned and started to walk away. She only got a few steps before he grabbed her hand and spun her around to face him. Her body was so close to his that she could feel the heat radiating off his body.

"Really, because I don't remember the last time I saw you this alive," he said, his face only a few inches away from hers. For a second she didn't know what to do and could feel her brain and body pulling her in two different directions.

Luckily, she was saved a moment later when someone behind Draco called him. While he was momentarily distracted she slipped her wrist out of his grasp and bolted for the door before he could catch her.