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Chapter 19: A New Light

Ginny and Draco wound their way through the Manor and ended up in the Kitchens. Ginny had yet to ever enter this room because as far as she could tell this was the special domain of the houseelves and she didn't want to ever get in their way.

The kitchens of the Manor seemed to Ginny to look very similar to the Hogwarts kitchens except on a smaller scale so rather than four exponentially long tables there was just one that was the exact size of the dining room table.

Tonight though, it was a virtual ghost town as all of the houseelves were surely in bed due to the late hour. Ginny was afraid that Draco would not call out for one and drag them from their sleep but she was pleasantly surprised when he led her to a chair at the table and then began to open various cupboards and the icebox as he searched for food.

Eventually he emerged laid down with various items that he clumsily splayed out on the table. Ginny eyed him and his display not quite sure where this whole process was going. He began opening items and pulling out pieces of meat and cheese and slowly two decent looking sandwiches began to take shape.

Finally he pushed it towards her with a proud grin on his face. "Food."

Despite herself Ginny could not help but smile. "Thank you."

They ate in silence for a while but eventually Draco's curiosity got the better of him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ginny's face lost a little bit of the color it had gained back but she felt after all he had done for her he deserved at least a basic explanation of why she had seemingly lost her mind. "Umm, there was a little girl who came in today and…"

"Katie?" he quietly interjected.

"Well, yes, her name was Katie. I suppose I must have mentioned that… earlier. She was given pure essence of wolfsbane which is incredibly toxic when not properly brewed into a potion and well the long story short is I couldn't save her."

Draco remained silent for which Ginny was more than grateful. He didn't offer up any pointless 'it wasn't your fault' or 'I'm sure you did everything you could' but instead just slipped his hand into hers, offering silent support while she fought to hold back a new wave of tears that threatened to devastate her feast.

Finally she was able to control her emotions enough to whisper, "She was the first child I have ever lost" and hoped that Draco would be able to understand a little deeper why the whole ordeal was effecting her so.

After a few more silent minutes filled only by the sound of their occasional chewing Draco magiced the plates over to the sink and once again grabbed Ginny's hand

He wound her back through the Manor and up the stairs where they entered the first of their doors that they reached, which of course was Draco's room. Ginny was once again astonished by the feeling of total peace that existed in his dark cave that all smelled of his musky sweet cologne.

Draco began to cross the room towards the bathroom entrance but was pulled backwards softly when Ginny did not follow him. He turned questioningly back to her.

She shifted around like a small child with something on her mind. She looked vulnerable and innocent and utterly beautiful, so much so that the force of it almost knocked Draco backwards.

"Would it…" she began uncertainly as she chewed on her bottom lip in nervousness. "Would it be ok if I stayed in here tonight?"

"You want to sleep here?" he looked at her confused. "Do you want me to stay too?"

Ginny was forced to crack a small smile at his comment. "Yes." She nodded.

Draco was not entirely certain which of his questions she was answering but he decided just to take it as the answer to both. He released her hand and headed to his side of the bed as she crept around to the other half expecting him to change his mind.

He peeled off the jumper he had put on in place of his button down shirt from earlier. Without any sort of undershirt the subtraction of the garment left his perfect upper torso wonderfully exposed and displayed as he lay down, gesturing for Ginny to come over and join him. She crawled into the bed and cuddled right into his side just as she had been previously in her room. She felt warm and safe curled up next to him as both began to relax and let sleep over take them.

Neither was sure exactly what all this meant for their relationship but both just decided to add it to their growing list of confusing experiences that threw the nature of their bond into question. They were now even more confused than the day before where they stanchly avoided each other but they would analyze that in the morning.

Ginny woke up sometime mid morning to being softly poked by someone. She lifted her head off the warm form that she was cuddled into and looked around. At first she was disoriented by the dark colors that surrounded her and the warm, firm person whose arms had a secure grip around her waist but then all the events of the past day came flooding back to her quickly when she twisted to see both Blinky and Lilith standing at the foot of the bed.

"Ugh," Ginny sighed and rubbed a hand over her face trying to force the sleep from her head. "What time is it?"

"It is being 7:00 Miss Gin." Blinky whispered to her earnestly. "Blinky has been wanting to wake you but Lily is not allowing him. She is saying that both Miss Gin and Little Master is needing their rest but Miss Gin is having work and Blinky is being worried."

He was speaking so fast that tired Ginny was barely able to process the information he was trying to relay. "Blinky! Blinky, calm down! I'll be fine. Actually, can you please send a note to my assistant that I am ill and will not be coming into work today?"

"Lily will do it for you Miss. We will be leaving you bes now." She said yanking Blinky by his collar out of the room. "You goes back to sleep now and feel betters miss."

Ginny forced herself to smile at the elves as they exited. They really were a cute little pair she had noticed. They always seemed to be together and always bickered although she could tell that Blinky had more than a little crush on Lilith, not that Lily would give him the time of day. She really would have to talk to Draco eventually about what the family policy on houseelves… well, dating of sorts was. But not today. Today she just wanted to snuggle back into Draco once more and go back to sleep.

She lay back down but was not immediately able to drift back off; her mind had already begun turning thinking back to the events not of yesterday but of last night. She had no clue who that man was who had come to her rescue but she really liked him. It was interesting to her to see that man was who had so silently taken control for her and had just taken care of her in her moment of need. She didn't think that the old Draco could have handled her emotional breakdown and the new Draco wouldn't have given a shit as to how she was feeling. No, the man who had held her as she cried and forced her to smile when he made her a sandwich, that man is entirely different from the current classification she used to label Draco. This was the man she had seen flashes of when he modestly pointed out his flat in muggle London and the one who had helped his best friend plan the perfect proposal and this was a man that Ginny could easily see herself falling head over heels in love with if she was not extremely careful.

She began to relax as she felt Draco pull her even closers and nuzzle his face into her long red hair. She would deal with all of the confusion and all of the new, although not wholly unwanted, emotions later. She forced herself to stop thinking about things that were, in all honesty, beyond her control and just enjoy the warmth and feel of Draco's amazing body as she floated off to sleep and dreamt of memories.

It had been a very long week since Ginny's breakdown over the loss of the little girl and despite her best efforts to dwell on the tragedy life was beginning to go back to normal.

She had only missed the one day of work and had spent the entire day just relaxing. When she had awoken the second time somewhere around noon Draco had not been there but he reemerged a few hours later just in time to drag Ginny down to an early dinner in the kitchens where she would not have to deal with the full force of the family. He continued to keep her close for the remainder of that evening, choosing to have her stay in his room and watch several muggle movies on the television that he had acquired during his days in muggle London and still had stashed in his room. That turned out to be the second night that she spent in Draco's room.

The next day though it was as if the magic spell they had been under had lifted. They both returned to their lives as usual and Ginny thought with more than a little disappointment that maybe the man that she had spent two days with would once again disappear. All indications pointed to such a tragedy when Draco did not show up for dinner that evening but not long after Ginny retired to her room for the evening to work on patient charts there was a knock on the bathroom door.

She opened it to reveal Draco, who appeared to have already changed out of his predictable suit and into jeans and a light t-shirt. He was holding a glass of pumpkin juice in one hand and balancing a plate with a sandwich and a book in the other.

When she invited him in, he settled himself on one side of the bed and began to engage in the activities he had brought to amuse himself. They sat there for two hours, not saying much but just inadvertently bonding by being close to each other.

The new and, in Ginny's opinion, improved Draco was not the only changes to occur in Malfoy Manor. Even though it was still a few weeks away the whole household was buzzing with the production of decorating the Manor for Christmas and getting ready for yet another ball, this time as the main festivities of Christmas Eve.

One night Ginny meandered around her room picking up dirty clothes, making the bed, just generally straightening up before she went to bed. It was oddly relaxing to her lately to clean; something about placing things that were disheveled back into their proper place made her feel like there was order to the world.

Just as she was beginning to sort through her clean clothes she heard a soft rap on the closed bathroom door. Well that could only be one person. "Come on in Draco." She called giving him the proper permission so that the door would let him in.

There was a soft click as it swung open and Draco let himself into her room, crossed the space and flung himself down onto her bed with an air of familiarity that made her oddly uncomfortable. Ever since his moment of compassion he seemed to be completely at ease with her once again and was more than happy to openly display some of the character traits from old Draco that Ginny had forgotten annoyed her to no end. These actions made her highly uncomfortable because they made her think of the past and the emotions that recent events had dredged up were making it harder and harder to keep in check.

"Make yourself comfortable." She said sarcastically trying to push away her previous feelings.

"Don't mind if I do." The cheeky bastard replied kicking off his shoes that probably cost more than some of her brothers made in a year.

She snorted rather unbecomingly in response.

Continuing to sort her clothes she leisurely eyed her arch-nemesis turned lover turned estranged acquaintance. This afternoon he was wearing a pair of black dress pants with a grey button down shirt that he had rolled up the sleeves on to make it more casual now that he had left 'work'. His hair was slightly tousled and beginning to spring loose of the demon goo that he kept it prisoner in. She finally settled on his face whose big grey eyes were staring straight at her with a maniacal edge and mouth had settled in to a self-satisfied smirk.

"Enjoying the view?"

"Of you? Destroying my newly made up bed? Hardly."

"Speaking of which, what are you doing exactly?" he inquired as he reached down and snagged up a pair of her black lacy panties. "Ooh, nice. Didn't know the little Weaselette would own something as naughty as these… oh wait, never mind, I remember." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Ginny snatched her undergarments away from him flushing a bright crimson red. "Give me that! Why are you here?"

"To bother you." He smirked in an irritatingly sexy way. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cleaning my room."

Draco let out a bark of laughter that surprised Ginny. "Oh that's what's going on! I saw Blinky outside your door looking as if he was about to have heart failure but seeing this, the world makes sense again!"

"I know." Ginny said looking crestfallen. "It really upsets him when I try to clean up by myself. I'm afraid that he's going to have a heart attack."

"Do you think murdering of the household help would be good grounds for divorce?"

Ginny snorted in a rather unattractive way. "You could try but I don't think you would get very far, mostly due to the fact that your family likes me better than you and would therefore be character witnesses on my behalf."

Draco rolled over onto his stomach which further messed up the bed. "You're probably right but strangely that doesn't bother me. I don't actually need them anyway."

"Oh really?" Ginny questioned as she took her folded clothes over to her chest of drawers. "Then who exactly would fund your lavish lifestyle?"

"I would. I have my own business. I think your pillows are softer than mine. Can I steal one?" he snuggled farther down into the pillow that was currently clutched in his arms.

"Wait rewind, what business?" Ginny walked up to the head of the bed and yanked the pillow from his hands which received an annoyed glare from him.

Draco hoisted himself onto his elbows so he could look Ginny in the face. "I own an art gallery in France, Le Feu de Dragon."

"Really? Scoot." She smacked him on the shoulder in order to get him to roll over to the other side of the bed.

"Yes really. What did you think I did during the day? Stay here and twiddle my thumbs?"

"Well something along those lines." She smirked.

"Ha, ha, no since my family would never teach me the 'family businesses' I just went out and got my own. I was bored and spending a week at Pansy's villa right outside Grenoble, France. I was exploring the city and found a gallery in the magical region that was preparing to close so I bought it, fixed it up and reopened. That is where I go every day. I work while everyone else works."

"That's amazing." Ginny was in awe. In all the years she had known Draco she had never seen his eyes light up with the pride they held when talking about his gallery. It was amazing. "How long have you been running it?"

"Oh I don't know…about a year and a half I guess."

"Draco, don't take this the wrong way but I'm proud of you." Ginny smiled at him genuinely.

Draco looked up at her through his blond eyelashes and she almost thought she detected a slight blush to his pale feature. "It's really not a big deal."

"Tell me about it." She urged. "Please?"

"Ah." He said slightly surprised. "You want to know about it?"

She nodded vigorously. "I do."

He smiled slightly before launching into a description of the whole gallery, the people who he employed and the type of artists who had had shows recently. "That's where I vanish too. The nights I don't come home till late are nights where we have galla openings of new exhibits."

"Wow. I would love to see it!"

"Would you like to?" Draco asked almost shyly.

"Really?"

He nodded slowly.

Her eyes grew wide. She couldn't actually believe that Draco would be willing to share his secret world with her of all people. "Are you sure? It's your special place; I don't want to invade your privacy."

"No. I'm inviting you. I want you to see it… in fact we have an opening this Thursday, would you like to be my date?"

She chewed on her bottom lip as she contemplated. He was probably just being nice to her but she didn't want to force herself on him and she didn't want to be invited just because he was still worried about her. "I don't know Draco. I don't want to…"

"No, Ginny Weasley I would be honored if you would accompany later this week to the opening of our latest show."

She paused in contemplation but finally consented. It seemed as if he had now set his mind to it and fighting him would be useless as was demonstrated by the satisfied smirk that now graced his features.

"Good then it's settled." He said as he slipped off her bed and headed towards the bathroom and his own room. "Night Weasel."

He exited her room and crossed the bathroom back into his own much darker room. Why had he never noticed before how much brighter the colors were in her room as opposed to his own.

He walked over to his wardrobe. As he prepared to change he glanced into his full length mirror to see just what in his appearance she had found so fascinating. Well, he did look pretty good.

He had to smile as he thought of the blush that spread across her body. He had always found her blushing irresistibly adorable. Even tonight the only thing that kept him from scooping her up and ravishing the tiny woman all night was that tiny spark of animosity that he just couldn't let go of no matter how protective he had felt the last few days.

Thinking of Ginny's body had once again been a mistake. Now he would need to go take a very cold shower to get rid of a very hard problem between his legs.

Soon Thursday was upon them. Ginny was distracted all day at work and the closer it got to 5 o'clock when she was supposed to leave the more antsy she got. Finally she was able to leave the office and head home to get ready.

When she arrived Draco was already showered and in the bathroom with his dark blue towel secured around his waist as he shaved and did his hair.

"Hi." She said meekly as she stepped into the bathroom.

He turned around and smiled at her. "Hello, are we still on for tonight?"

She nodded. "I just need to get showered and then it will only take me a few minutes to get dressed and do my makeup, things like that."

"Do you mind if we share the bathroom? I was trying to be nearly ready by the time you arrived home but I ended up being forced to stay later. There was a slight catastrophe with some of the walls." He grimaced as he thought about his day.

"Did it all get resolved?" she asked as her face began to crease in real worry.

"Oh yes, don't worry about it. Everything should go fairly smoothly tonight."

She nodded and made her way over to the shower. She decided that it would just be easiest to go into the shower and disrobe there. She quickly showered and then exited to her room as fast as possible, not missing Draco's eyes trailing up and down what he could see of her wet body.

Not long after she was dressed and ready to go. She had decided to wear a brown spegetti strapped cocktail dress with a low v-neck that Narcissa had insisted she buy a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful flowing material with a string of rhinestones around the waist line and a jewel in the center that gave the garment and overall classic almost vintage appearance rather than the risqué look that it could have easily transformed into.

Ginny had swept her hair up off her neck and twisted it up into an elegant knot at the back of her head secured by a champagne colored, jeweled barrette that matched the rhinestones on the dress. The finishing touch on the outfit was a gold cloak which for the time being she just had draped over her arm. Overall she thought that she looked nice and hoped that Draco would approve. He had never actually given her the dress code for the event so she had just decided to wing it.

She crossed to the bathroom and knocked on the Draco's door. "Come on in." she heard him call from the other side.

When she stepped in Draco was in his mirror attempting to fix his tie.

Ginny's eyes trailed Draco's body. He looked amazing as always much to her chagrin. His hair was gelled back in its normal way and he was wearing perfectly pressed charcoal pants and a lighter gray, almost silver button down dress shirt.

"Do you need some help with that?" she inquired as she walked up behind him.

"I wouldn't turn it down if you're offering." He smirked as he turned to face her and released his grip on the tie. When his eyes focused on her though it was all he could do to keep from his mouth dropping open in shock at how amazing she looked.

Now it was her turn smirk. She stepped over and deftly did up his charcoal tie into an intricate knot. "There you go." She said smiling.

He turned back to the mirror and examined her handy work before nodding and grabbing his jacket off his bed. He offered Ginny his arm which she accepted and they made their way through the Manor to the apperating point.

After their long distance apperation Ginny and Draco ended up on a small street that was lined on both side by brightly lit shops and cafés with floating lights, all of which Ginny could tell were magical. They advertised, in French, things like broom, cauldrons and owls. The whole place reminded her very much of Diagon Alley.

Draco took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. He began to walk down the street and Ginny gladly followed, loving the atmosphere of the scene around her.

After about five minutes of strolling they ended up outside of a three story building that was painted bright green with a sign hanging outside that read Le Feu de Dragon. When Ginny realized that they had finally reached their destination she became giddy with anticipation. This was something entirely new and foreign to her perception of Draco and she could not wait to experience it.

"Alright, when we go in I'm going to have to take care of some last minute things I'm sure. I'll do a quick introduction with my staff first though."

She nodded and smiled at him.

The couple walked up the steps and entered the building. The first floor, she discovered, was entirely one large room with walls that were scattered in various places. There were about two or three people that were rushing about the room who appeared to straightening frames and testing the way that the walls moved.

Draco took her coat from her and stashed it in the coat check. He then returned and to introduce her to his staff.

"Hey you lot come on up to the front for a minute; I have someone I want you to meet." He called out and all the people who milled about did as they were asked and assembled at the front.

Ginny surveyed the group before her as they appeared. There were two men whom he introduced as Jacob and Daniel and one woman, Emily. As Draco introduced her to them each in turn they all seemed very nice albeit a bit shocked to find out that their boss was in fact recently married. Ginny looked forward to hopefully getting to know them at least a little better in the future.

After introductions everyone returned to their prior tasks and Draco gave her a quick tour of the upper floors which included his office on the third floor and the other three's offices and the massive, magically enhanced storage room on the second floor. They then returned to the gallery so that Draco could make sure everything was perfect before the doors officially opened.

Soon enough guests began arriving and Ginny was left on her own as Draco began to focus on the people whom he was welcoming. She slipped away from where he stood to explore.

She wandered her way through the gallery and took in the space around her. She looked not so much at the art moving on the walls as the way the walls themselves were moving and the colors that were chosen. It was amazing the amount of time and effort that Ginny could see in the exhibition and all of it was because of Draco.

She meandered slowly through and then headed back to the front where she had left her husband. She paused behind one wall where she could see him but he could not see her to observe him in his element and hear what was said but not be noticed.

She watched him engage with all those around him. She could tell that he had turned on the Malfoy charm but it was more than the normal game he would play in a crowd, he genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself and was interested in the artists and guests that surrounded him.

Yet again she could feel herself falling for the man in front of her, not old Draco or new Draco but this version who was better than all the others.

Suddenly the wall moved and her hiding spot was destroyed. Draco noticed her immediately and smiled brightly at her reemergence. He beckoned for her to join him in his circle which she obliged willingly.

"Gentlemen," he said as she approached. "I would like you all to meet my wife." She could hear what she thought sounded like pride in his voice as all the men around him oh-ed and ah-ed at her entrance into the conversation and graciously introduced themselves.

"So Mrs. Malfoy, what do you think of the exhibit?" one of the men who had introduced himself as one of the two artists on display asked.

"I think the entire gallery is amazing." She answered truthfully. She felt a tingle go up her spine as Draco settled his hand on the small of her back. She looked up at him and smiled. She was so glad that he had invited her and that she was able to experience this with him.

Finally the exhibit ended. Ginny slipped off her heels and helped the staff to magically straighten the gallery and store all the walls and paintings so that they wouldn't have to do it the next time they came into work.

Since everything had gone so well, Draco decided that they should all take the next day off in celebration. They all thanked him profusely. Ginny could tell that they loved him as a boss which just made her all the more proud of him because it showed just how many Malfoy stereotypes he was able to overcome to become such a well established and well respected boss.

When they all left it was just Draco and Ginny alone in the building. Draco grabbed one of the half drank bottle of wine that they had stashed in the corner to be dealt with later and scrounged two glasses and Ginny found a plate of leftover horderves for them to share. They both sat on the floor against one wall and relaxed in their formal wear mostly in silence.

Finally, Ginny turned to Draco and said simply, "This was amazing."

Draco twisted his head to look at her and smiled. He reached over and ran a finger down her cheek. "I'm glad you came."

"Me too."

"Red?" Draco called from the bathroom door scanning the room to see if his 'wife' was back from work yet. This whole process was becoming exceedingly tedious especially since he now spent a considerable amount of time in Ginny's room. He still felt nervous about leaving her alone since the whole incident with the little girl.

"Come on in Drae." Her voice came from the direction of the closet. What could she possibly doing in there now?

He crossed the room and peeked inside the slightly ajar door just as Ginny pulled her shirt over her head. Draco was slightly disappointed he had not arrived just a minute earlier but he inwardly scolded himself for such thoughts. He swung open the closet door and leaned against the door jamb to survey the woman in front of him.

She was wearing a light long sleeve cotton t-shirt in a forest green color and faded blue jeans. It was quite obvious that these were not clothes that had been bought for her by Malfoy funds. Draco thought that they suited her better than any he had seen her wear in the past months.

"All dressed up and nowhere to go?" he smirked one eyebrow raised.

She laughed and pushed passed him back into the main room. "As a matter of fact I do have somewhere to go, and so do you. Come on, you are too dressed up."

"Where are we going?" he asked apprehensively.

She only giggled and headed towards the bathroom in order to invade his room. He trailed after her not at all liking where this was going.

A few minutes later Ginny cried out in triumph and emerged from his closet holding up a black t-shirt and tossing it at Draco. "Bloody hell I thought I would never find a simple t-shirt through all the suits. What is wrong with you? Don't you like to be comfortable anymore?"

Draco chuckled and set the shirt on the bed next to the thick charcoal jumper she had already picked out. "In case you haven't noticed, Malfoy life doesn't call for many casual ensembles." He unbuttoned the first few buttons on the blue dress shirt he was currently wearing and untucked the bottom from the waistband of his perfectly pressed jeans. He stripped off the shirt and faced Ginny. "Are these pants appropriate for whatever the hell you are dragging me to?"

Ginny had to focus really hard to formulate an answer to his question while he stood in front of her half naked in all his glory. "That depends, do you mind if they get dirty?" she slyly asked.

He narrowed his eyes and answered cautiously. "No, not particularly."

"Then yes they are fine."

Draco slipped into the shirt. "What are we doing Ginny?"

"We are going to help de-gnome the garden."

Draco blond eyebrows shot up. "What the bloody hell does that mean?"

Now it was Ginny's turn to laugh. "Have you never heard of a Garden Gnome?"

"Yes of course, they were mentioned in some of our books at school."

"Oh wow this should be fun then." She continued to laugh as she walked into the bathroom back to her room leaving him there still confused. "Get changed."

Sorry it took forever! But here is the next chapter. I was focusing on finishing up the last couple chapters of my other story Falling For a Ferret which is now complete (YAY and *tear*) and now I can focus more on this one… although I have a new idea for yet another story but anyway, yeah Chapter 19 all done. I really enjoyed this chapter because they are headed in yet another direction from all their normal ups and down. Let me know what you think and thanks to everyone who a. is still sticking with me and b. everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

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