Real Love

Chapter 13: There You'll Be

Disclaimer: Rowling's

A/N: sorry for the bit of a wait on this one. had some trouble with it. but absence makes the heart grow fonder right? well we'll see. haha. hope you enjoy it. review if you can. thanks so so so so much to those of you who have so far. and i was surprised to see how few of you have any faith in our friend draco. where's the love guys? -Bella

In my heart
There will always be a place
For you for all my life
I'll keep a part
Of you with me
And everywhere I am
There you'll be
And everywhere I am
There you'll be

Well you showed me
How it feels
To feel the sky
Within my reach
And I always
Will remember all
The strength you
Gave to me
Your love made me
Make it through
Oh, I owe so much to you
You were right there for me

-There You'll Be, Faith Hill

Draco turned, reached forward, and turned the two silver handles quickly to the right, stopping the cascade of water. He blindly reached out and grabbed his plush green towel and rubbed the soft material over his face and hair before wrapping it around his waist and stepping out of the shower.

The cool air of his room was shocking in contrast to the steamy warmth of the bathroom, but not as shocking as finding Eloise, still not dressed, lounging in his bed.

"I thought," Draco paused, "That you were asked to leave."

Asked wasn't the right word. She had been told to leave, in no unclear terms. She'd been there when he'd returned from the Quidditch match, in the same undressed position on his bed. He'd told her she was a fool to risk coming to see him again and told her to leave before going into his bathroom. He'd expected her to be gone by the time he came out.

"I know you didn't mean it…"

Her desperation was repulsing.

"I did." He said coldly and turned to his dresser to pull out clean robes to change into. Modestly he pulled his boxers up under the towel.

"You should have told me that Weasley girl was still bothering you."

Draco stiffened. "What are talking about?" He spoke slowly, careful to control his tone.

"She was making such a racket, begging for you to take her back. I took care of it. Almost made me feel a little bad though, the look on her face."

Draco spun, wand in hand and rushed the putrid woman in his bed. Her eyes widened and she sat up, pressing back against his dark wood headboard as she inched as far away from him as possible.

"You stupid girl!" He held the wand under her chin and she trembled under his stare, her eyes filled with fear and regret. His father would have done any of a number of unmentionable things to someone who disobeyed him so brazenly. She was surely expecting a punishment worthy of Lucius Malfoy.

Draco stepped back and narrowed his eyes at her. "Get out!" he hissed. "And don't let anyone else see you if you can manage that much."

The girl quickly slid off the bed and gathered her clothes from his desk chair. She fastened the claps hastily; her sweater hung crooked when she was down. She avoided his eyes, her cheeks flushed, and put on her heavy cloak.

"I'll wait for you this time," she promised quietly, turning back as she reached the door handle.

Draco nodded dismissively and turned back to his clothes. He knew she had left when the door clicked shut.

Only half clothed, Draco sat down on the edge of his bed.

It had been Ginny at the door. The firm strong rhythm had sounded like the awkward knock Blaise had begun using since he stopped inviting himself in.

Draco fell back on his bed, trying to ignore the chest pains he was experiencing. Ginny had actually come to him and was rewarded with another red head answering his door dressed in practically nothing.

All night Draco barely slept, hoping there would be another knock at his door. Ginny would come in with fists flying and he would try to explain

But he knew Ginny wasn't coming back to his door. She would never knock on that door again.

"Something just isn't adding up here," Hermione frowned and placed the spoon upside down in her mouth, cleaning it of all its chocolate brownie ice cream.

An evening of crying had turned into a midnight ice cream binge as the two girls discussed Ginny's story.

"Why would he go through so much trouble with you just to keep someone on the side?"

"Because he's a bastard?" Ginny offered, feeling the answer was quite obvious.

"But you said yourself your courtship wasn't exactly simple!"

"I guess he likes hard to get." She shrugged and scraped her own spoon against the creamy brown dessert.

Hermione shook her head. "It's called hard to get Ginny, not catch and release. How many times could he have had you before he did?"

Ginny looked up at her friend, hurt and surprised by the words.

"Oh no! I didn't mean that how it sounded." Hermione eyes were wide with apology. "I just mean that he must have thought you were special."

"Well it turns out I'm not. Maybe red heads are more common than he thought."

"Who was it anyway?" Hermione asked thoughtfully, seeming to be searching her mental rolodex for red headed girls.

"I don't know. I don't think she's a student. She was older."

"What?" Hermione stabbed her spoon down into the block of ice cream

"What?" Ginny asked back, ice cream hurting her teeth as she did.

"She wasn't a student? What was she doing here?"

"Shagging my boyf…" She cut herself off there. He'd never really been her boyfriend. Not in so many words at least.

"I mean why would he go through all the trouble of sneaking in someone… There has to be more! You have no idea who she is?"

Ginny shook her head, but then it hit her. "But I bet I know someone who does."

Ginny sat down on the bench beside Blaise at breakfast, but faced away from the table, not planning on staying. He was the only one sitting at the back half of the table, and it was the perfect opportunity to talk to him.

He looked over at her and gave her a quick once over.

"You look like hell, Weasley."

She was sure she did. She'd stayed in the same robes all night, during which she hadn't slept a wink.

"Something else huh?" she asked, looking him dead in the eye until he looked away.

"I'm sorry Ginny. I didn't know what to do." His apology was sincere but not remorseful.

"Who is she?"

"A friend of a friend. A fiancé of a friend actually." He amended.

"Oh," was all Ginny could manage to spit out. There wasn't anything more she wanted to know. She'd only come to Blaise to find out about the girl to appease Hermione and calm her theories.

Ginny knew Hermione's suspicions were not out of bad faith towards Malfoy, but in a gallant quest to answer all the questions in Ginny's heart and she knew Hermione wouldn't drop it until she felt Ginny was at peace with how it all ended.

But Blaise kept talking, spewing information it seemed he'd been brewing over for ages.

"She was supposed to be a death eater. She was going to be the first woman marked since Bellatrix Lestrange. But the day of her induction Voldemort found out she was adopted, and mudblood."

Ginny cringed at Blaise's language.

"He killed her father and sent her and her mother away. Tommy Knott had been with her all through Hogwarts and wouldn't leave her, so he was denied acceptance into the death eaters too. He didn't care. He and my brother had never wanted it. It was an easy out. Tommy asked her to marry him, but they've still never gone through with it. She won't set the date."

Ginny sat in silence for a heart shattering moment as she tried to put the pieces together.

"When you said 'something else' you meant more than just her didn't you?"

Blaise shook his head, but didn't look at her. "It doesn't make any sense."

Ginny stood. "I have to go."

Blaise didn't say anything as she fled the hall, motioning over for Hermione to follow her.

"What did you find out?" Hermione met her outside of the hall on the staircase.

"We need to write the Order. He's a death eater."

"Well it appears all is going well." Professor Snape gave him an approving look. Draco sat with the other man in Snape's comfortable quarters. "Lupin received this letter by urgent mail just yesterday."

Snape held out a single parchment, which contained a brief, hastily written letter in its center.

Professor Lupin,

I am doubtful you are tuned into Hogwarts' rumor mill, but if you were you would have no doubt heard stories of my involvement with Draco Malfoy over the course of the year. I must admit these are true, and that our relationship ran much deeper than anyone has suspected.

However, over the past months his behavior has been quite erratic and secretive. I suspected something, but only on a personal level. But I am now quite sure that it is much, much more.

Shortly after the beginning of the term I saw him sneak out of Professor Snape's room along with another cloaked figure. He later desperately distracted me from the subject. Just today, I found out that he has been sneaking a woman into the castle, who has in the past been a dedicated follower of Lord Voldemort. It is my belief, as well as others close to him, that he is still a practicing death eater.

I hope this information will help you in your quest to capture the death eaters that still remain free, so that we can all move on from this time that has taken so much from us.

As well, I hope this letter finds you well, and that we will meet again soon.

With love,

Ginny Weasley

Draco set down the letter in his lap, slightly stunned. There it was.

"Well I guess its done then." He slumped in his seat, not caring if Snape caught his moment of weakness.

Snape nodded and Draco thought for a split second a trace of guilt flashed across the man's face. "For now." He modified Draco's statement.

There was a moment of silence and a thoughtful expression on the potion master's face.

"It may surprise you Draco, but I too was once young and in love." Snape's voice sounded with a strange mix of disdain and nostalgia. "With a red head I might add."

Draco rose his eyebrow, trying to imagine Snape in love.

"And the day she gave up on me was the hardest day of my life." Something on Snape's face broke as he spoke the words. It was if Draco was could see his professor's hardened exterior completely dissipate. "I deserved it." He spoke shortly. "And I didn't do everything I could to be sure she was out of harms way. You can do that for Miss Weasley."

"What happened to her?" He knew it was a bold question.

"She died protecting the boy who saved our existence, and I've spent everyday since making sure it wasn't for naught."

A vengeful anger wiped over his face as he spoke.

"Ginevra Weasley and everyone she loves with spend the rest of their lives fighting this fight if they have to. You can finish it in a matter of months and give her the life she deserves. Everything your feeling now is worth avoiding the pain of watching the woman you love suffer in a world you could have saved her from."

Snape turned away from him.

Draco sat stunned at the candid revelations and grateful for the renewed clarity his professor had provided him with.

Ginny walked out of the potions classroom with a broad grin on her face. She passed her final with flying colors and she couldn't have been happier. Almost no one had managed to keep up with Snape's accelerated course load, but with the help of Blaise, she had done better than any year before.

Outside, the boy was waiting for her. He smiled when he saw her.

"Well?"

"It was brilliant!" she exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement. "I think he's going to give me 100. I think he has to!"

"That's my girl!" Blaise draped a friendly arm over her shoulders and began walking with her and the other students away from the classroom.

"You shouldn't be down here waiting you know. You're going to be late for graduation rehearsal."

"Who needs to practice walking and shaking hands?" he rolled his eyes.

"People like Neville, or people like Hermione," Ginny smiled.

"Gryffindors," Blaise muttered and Ginny swatted him.

They reached the stairs outside of the great hall where all of the seventh years were assembled. Ginny nodded her head towards the doors.

"Be nice to Hermione. I'll see you at dinner."

"I'm always nice," he flashed her a grin and kissed her cheek. "Have a nice day Potion's Mistress."

He turned toward the hall and pulled open the giant door. Just beyond it stood Draco, standing by Hermione as she addressed the students. A brief moment of silence occurred between the two boys before they each nodded politely and Blaise headed for his seat at the very end of the group.

At dinner that night Ginny nearly cried knowing that this was her last meal at Hogwarts with all of her friends. Around her Hermione, Seamus, Neville, Dean, Lavender, and Pavarti chatted happily about graduation the next morning and their plans for the summer. Beside Seamus, Olivia had the same sadness in her eyes that Ginny felt.

It had been a long time since Ginny had spent time with anyone in her own year. She still considered Colin Creevy a close friend, but even their relationship had been limited over the course of the year. Returning to Hogwarts without the rest was unimaginable.

"Well I can't stay long kids," Blaise's friendly voice spoke as he leaned down beside her. "But this is for you." He handed Ginny a small black envelope. "And Hermione." He held out the 'e' at the end as he always did when he used her first name and gave her a matching envelope. "Finnegan," he tossed Seamus' to him and nodded towards Olivia. "Bring your girl." Blaise shrugged as the rest of the group looked at him expectantly. "You lot can come to. Get the address from them." He shrugged. "Ginny will be there so it certainly won't be dull." Blaise grinned mischievously and gave her, her peck on the cheek before heading off.

"Ooo, a graduation party!" Olivia held Seamus's invitation in her hand. "Can we go?" she asked Seamus, her face full of hope.

"I suppose," he shrugged. "Are you going Ginny?"

Ginny nodded. The thought of not going hadn't crossed her mind.

"Of course she is," Lavender winked at her.

"What do you mean 'Of course she is'?" Dean eyed his off-again, on-again girlfriend.

"None of your business Dean."

Perhaps off-again.

"Doesn't sound like any of your business either. You and Ginny aren't even friends."

"We're friends!" Lavender scoffed. "Aren't we Ginny?"

"Yeah Lav, we're friends." Ginny smiled, though friend was perhaps not the word for their distant albeit friendly relationship.

"If you were her friend Dean you'd know Blaise is mad over her but won't make a move because she's still too heartbroken over Malfoy."

"I'm what?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Lavender!" Pavarti scolded at the same time.

"Oh…" Lavender blushed and hung her head. But it was too late. All eyes were on her and wanted answers. "I'm sorry Ginny its just stupid rumors. I just meant…Its just you and Blaise," Lavender fumbled as she tried to cover her tracks.

"Apparently she's confusing rumors with Pansy Parkinson's filthy lies," Olivia shot the older girl a dirty look.

"Pansy's been telling people Blaise likes me?"

"No." The girl shook her head. " She's been saying that Malfoy used you like a toy for months and broke your heart, but everyone knows she's a jealous tart who'd love to be Malfoy's toy, and you're too smart for that."

Ginny cringed a little. If only she was. She'd managed to move on as best she could after writing Remus. Though she'd secretly hoped the man reply would clear Draco's name and explain everything he'd only written back a sweet simple reply:

Ginny,

I am sorry to hear of the events that have led you to this discovery. You are the most kind hearted young woman I know and to hear that you suffer from more injury in this impossible year you've had is terribly distressing.

However, as always you are helping the cause immeasurably. I ask that you keep away from Malfoy, both alone and in public, and please do not tell others of this discovery. He is a smart boy, and hides his emotions well. I fear for your safety if you continue any further involvement with him.

I hope all else is well, and I will surely see you this summer. Tell Hermione I say hello, as I have no doubt she helped you in this detective work.

Fondly,

Remus Lupin

Following his instructions and staying away had been quite easy, but keeping her thoughts from drifting to the boy had been a trickier task. Still, the truth of what Draco was seemed wrong, and Ginny still felt very uneasy over everything. Despite how it ended, Draco had given her so much the first semester, and had pulled her through the hardest time in her life. She still struggled not to think of Draco then and Draco now as two separate people. One who would always hold her heart in his hand and one who she couldn't stand to look at. Hermione had done her best to explain things logically, but even she had found many holes in her reasoning of the Slytherin's behavior.

Still, hard as it was to swallow, Ginny knew the truth and everyday lived with a small sense of embarrassment that she had been so led on. Her friends reminding her she could never be so dumb only added salt to the wound.

"What does Blaise have to do with anything?" She attempted to move the conversation away from Draco.

"Oh Ginny don't be daft. Everyone knows he's sweet on you."

"Blaise?" Ginny laughed. "Blaise is sweet on women."

"Not when you're around," Hermione said quickly and bit her lip.

"Hermione!" Ginny was shocked. If Hermione had noticed why hadn't she said anything? And if Hermione had noticed, did it mean that it was true?

Ginny felt it was quite impossible that she had been so buried in the rubble of her last romance that she hadn't been able to see that Blaise was offering more than friendship. Quite impossible.

Draco sat in the front of the room facing the rest of the student body, as the commencement ceremonies progressed. Beside him Granger sat upright, beaming pride with her golden valedictorian ribbon draped around her black robes. Her maroon tassel dangled in front of her smiling face. Nearly the entire ceremony his green one had swung in and out of his view as he kept his eyes on one person. A vision of innocence in a snow-white sundress, Ginny was radiant.

Over the course of the semester he'd watched her slowly return to the happy confident woman she'd been before he'd shot it all to hell. And now she looked happier than she ever had during the time he had the privilege of knowing her. Knowing she was moving on filled him with a twisted emotion of gladness and loss.

The graduation was much shorter than he had expected. It was one of those moments that had been so built up his entire life, that the real thing was destined to be a disappointing dose of reality. He felt no different after crossing the stage as he did before. He still felt young and lost, and no closer to being the adult he supposedly was. No closer to feeling he was capable of pulling off all the plans he had made with Snape and Lupin, and no closer to accepting that after that day, he may never see Ginny again.

Her trunk was packed and she had sent it off to be loaded onto the train. Few students were left in the tower. Down in the common room Hermione sat with the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors as they said goodbye to their home of seven years.

Hermione's face was the most wistful of them all, and Ginny was pretty sure she knew what the girl was feeling. Ginny had been thinking of Ron and Harry all day too. Their boisterous joy was sorely missed from the celebration of the occasion and with all their classmates leaving it was if all the memories were leaving with them.

The day was bitter sweet.

Hermione rose from the plush red velvet chair beside the fire place and wiped a tear from her eye. "Do you know how many books I read in this chair?"

"You don't have to brag Hermione," Dean teased her.

"Well if I count how many times I found Weasley passed out on this couch I'd be close," Seamus laughed. Ron had always offered to study with Hermione once they began dating, but always ended up napping instead. Hermione smiled sadly and nodded in agreement at the couch.

"We should go," she told Ginny and gave a teary laugh. "I'm not sure I can say goodbye a minute longer."

"Are you all packed?" Ginny asked.

Hermione nodded. "I just have to get my bag and a few books from my room. Do you want to wait for me here?"

Ginny shook her head. She didn't want to stay in the tower a moment longer either. The impending exit of her friends made the familiar room suddenly cold and uninviting. She was eager to make her farewells leave it for the summer. "I'll meet you at your room."

Ginny gave a soft knock on Hermione's door to let her know that she was there.

"I'll be right out Ginny."

Ginny frowned, anxious to be on their way home, and anxious to be out of the hall she'd avoided all semester.

Draco's door had an undeniable magnetism when it came to her, and Ginny found herself being drawn towards it.

The tall door stood loaded before her. It was identical to Hermione's but extracted more emotion from her than an inanimate object should. She gently pressed her palm against the smooth wood, curling her fingers into it as all the memories, good and bad, washed over her. She was suddenly very aware that they'd never had a proper goodbye.

It seemed impossible that things had ended up the way they had. Impossible he'd cheated. Impossible he was working as a death eater. Impossible that he didn't love her.

Anger washed over her, suddenly aware that she was back at his door. Again. She'd worked so hard all semester to get past it all, only to nearly come full circle.

"Get a grip Ginny," she cursed at herself and ripped her palm from the wood.

Her chest heaved as at her last word, the door clicked and swung open. Draco spun in place to see the intruder. His gray eyes were wide with surprise and wonderment. There was no trace of cruelty on malice in them, and for a moment Ginny could see herself back in his arms of the boy she had loved.

"I'm sorry," Ginny whispered and turned to leave.

"Ginny wait!"

Draco rushed after the fleeing girl. To his surprise she stopped when he called her. Hesitantly she stepped into his room.

He stepped toward her struggling to keep control in her presence.

"You never said goodbye," he managed, trying to speak as coolly as possible. "Were you going to leave without saying it again?" He took another step closer, inching so close he could have wrapped his arms around her and held her.

"Goodbye Draco," she answered coldly, her eyes filled with pain. She whipped her hair as she turned to leave, but watching her go was too much.

He grabbed her tiny wrist in his long fingers and whipped her right back around. He extended his other arm and grabbed her waist, pulling her into him. With his body pressed against hers he crushed his lips to hers and wrapped his hand around her head, combing his fingers through her flowery hair. Her kiss was more heart stopping than he had remembered.

She broke the kiss far too short and tore herself out of his grasp. Her warm hand cracked against his face and left his cheek even warmer.

He turned away. He had already gone too far. Another moment with her and all of his efforts would have been for nothing.

"Goodbye Ginny." He said, but he knew that she was already gone.