"Er...hey. Can we talk?"
Ginny stared at the figure a few feet away from her.
It was him.
She knew she wasn't dreaming. Every time she had pictured him, or 'seen' him before, it was always the Draco she remembered. The almost seventeen year old gangly boy she had abandoned. This was not a seventeen year old. Ginny continued to stare, eyes open wide, at the now twenty-three year old man. Before she could even comprehend the fact that he was actually real and standing before her, he had crossed the room and pulled up a chair to her bedside. After sitting down swiftly, Ginny's mind finally registered the now close proximity of his body to hers.
"Hi..." she whispered softly, still not sure of what to say.
"I know it must be quite the shock seeing me here, but I had to follow you. I tried to track you down when you...left. I could never find you. Seeing you at that club... well I couldn't exactly just let you walk away again."
Draco's voice never shook or even wavered, but his small pauses and the barley detectable flickers of blue in his ice cold grey eyes gave his secret away.
He pushed back the chair and paced around the room for a minute before settling on leaning against the wall next to her bed.
Ginny was surprised that after all the years, she could still read him, a nearly impossible feat. His nervous speech helped brake his intimidating exterior just enough that Ginny was finally able to regain control of her brain.
"I disappeared for a reason Malfoy. I didn't want to be found". She used his last name to help her stay focused. Calling him Draco, or talking to him in a voice other than the icy tone she was using, and she feared she would just break down. No, her best bet would be to stay aloof, detached and get him away as soon as possible.
Aloof...detached...unemotional... aloof...detached...
Ginny tried to think the words over in her head, but she couldn't convince herself of the lie. Draco Malfoy was standing mere inches away from her. Oh and how he looked...
Oh. My. Merlin.
He looks beyond incredible.
Ginny's eyes slowly trailed over Malfoy's body. He was wearing a long sleeved dark grey shirt and lighter jeans, a simple outfit that somehow looked fantastic on him.
His face had filled out, now instead of a thin pointed face, he had a more manly look and a more pronounced jawline right below and incredibly sexy mouth. His tall lanky figure had filled out a drop and hardened. While still thin, it was clear his long lean arms had been muscled, even obvious through the long sleeved shirt he was wearing. The shirt stretched across a well muscled chest, and six pack lines where visible through his shirt. He had grown too, from a medium sized 5'8ish to at least a tall 5'11. His always smooth silky voice had deepened into an alluring velvety soft tone. His short white blond locks had grow out and darkened a bit. He now had a disheveled head of tousled blond hair.
A sudden burst of desire rippled through Ginny shocking her. How could she still want him after all these years? Even as she asked herself, she knew the answer.
"Ginny"
Malfoy's curious tone knocked her out of her day dream and back into reality.
"Hmm, what? Yes?" She answered back tried to speak coherently but damn he was so irresistible! Shaking her head to clear her mind, she tried again.
"I mean what? What do you want?" She said quickly trying to put the edge back in her voice.
Draco chuckled. "And here I thought you had mastered the hard, tough tone. You're still just a softy trying to sound mean."
"Hey, I can be mean. I can be terrifying!" She said through clenched teeth. This was not how this was supposed to be going! Malfoy was supposed to be backing off and getting ready to take flight, not laughing at her!
"Terrifying. Give me a moment to go change my trousers."
"Why are you here Malfoy?" Ginny seethed. "Just get out!"
"No".
The simple word spoken firmly momentarily threw Ginny off balance.
"What?"
"No. I'm not leaving. It has been over five years. And master of disappearing or not, you're not getting out of this one Ginervia. We're going act like the adults we now are, and we are going to talk. We need to have a conversation that is a long long time overdue."
"I need to sleep" Ginny replied quickly. "Still woozy from that fall. Maybe come back tomorrow."
Malfoy strolled over to the clipboard at the foot of Ginny's bed.
"Says you are discharged as soon as your doctors give the ok. Which they did. An hour ago. So you're free to come talk with me".
Suddenly Draco did the strangest thing. He bursted out laughing. Besides for the ridiculously inappropriate setting, it was very uncharacteristic of him.
"I searched forever for you Gin. No wonder I never found you. You legally changed your name. And here, so it wouldn't come up on the London scrolls."
Draco chuckled at the french last name again. "Ginervia Rousseau".
"I have to admit Gin, that's pretty brilliant. Ah, Rousseau. Great choice of a last name."
Draco had had to study several different languages as a child, his father explaining that they would help him with business later on in life. Annoyingly so, his father was right, and Draco's vast knowledge had served him well, and kept his businesses running, and him rich. He hated when his father was right. Years of learning kicked in, and as he read the name he recited, "Rousseau. A descriptive surname used to describe a red-haired person, from the Old French word "rousset" (from the Latin "russus") meaning red."
Ginny cracked a small grin.
"Ya, I'm pretty brilliant."
Draco's smile wavered and then fell. He turned towards her, locking his steely gray eyes with hers.
"Ginny" he said again, his voice taken on the previous serious tone "I know this is complicated. I know we are. I can't make any promises or say everything will be ok. Please, though, come talk to me. We need to have this talk. You owe me that much."
Ginny sighed dramatically and after looking down, brought her eyes back up to meet his.
"Yes. You're right." A weird look flickered on her face.
"Let me just go outside. I need to find my friend Grace. Wait here for me".
Draco nodded and Ginny whisked out of the room.
Out of the corner of his eye Draco noticed that Ginny's small pile of clothing had disappeared from next to her bed, and her handbag was gone. He quickly peered out the door and scanned the waiting room. His eyes barely registered the flash of light from a dissaperation, and a red haired women disappearing again.
Later Draco pondered his short encounter with Ginny. He angrily slammed his fist on the small wooden table the hotel had stationed in his room. How could she do this to him? After what she had done, and almost six years time, she still couldn't spare a moment for a civil conversation that he rightfully deserved?
Quickly his anger fizzled down. He couldn't stay mad, not at her. Clearly she wanted to be hidden. She hadn't asked to be found. He just needed some answers though!
Hours later, after lying awake in his bed for hours, replaying the conversation he had overheard between her and Grace had he noticed something.
"Where's my baby?"
"Is my child alone at home?"
"Wait... taken care of? Where is my baby?"
"... After I saw you here I dissaperated back to your place and saw them together...agreed to stay and sent the munchkin to school... little squirt will barely notice..."
Years and years later, and Draco still didn't know if the baby was even a boy or a girl.