Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the amazing world of Harry Potter!
Chapter 23: It Was Always You
Ginny lazily stretched out her limbs as she tried to shake off the sleep. Why was she so tired this morning? Oh, that was right, the Christmas Eve ball last night... wait, if last night was Christmas Eve than that meant it was Christmas!
She scrambled out of bed and headed straight through the bathroom. She did not even pause to knock on Draco's door but simply launched herself into the room and on to the bed. She giddily bounced up and down and said loudly, "Wake uuuuup! It's Christmas! Wake up! Wake up!"
Draco for his part simply began to curse under his breath. He didn't care what day it was, no one should be this awake after so few hours of sleep. He sat up and dragged the small woman down and locked her in an embrace. "Sleep."
"Noooo!" Ginny cried. She wiggled for all she was worth, trying in vain to get out of his iron embrace. "Draaaaco! Presents! Family! Christmas Breakfast!"
At the mention of food one of his eyes popped open in questioning. "Explain,"
Ginny ceased her efforts momentarily. "Huge breakfast with waffles and sausage and eggs and... well all sort of food. There is always so much and my mother is the most amazing cook in the world."
Draco let out a huge groan that clearly signalled he was going to give in. "Fine."
Draco sat in a chair in the corner of the Burrow surveying the happy family that surrounded him. What in the hell had he been thinking when he agreed to come here? Especially for something as important as Christmas morning?
Just then Ginny walked back into the room from the kitchen carrying a tray full of tea mugs. She looked up and smiled at him, that perfect, innocent smile that for some reason always made him think the world was a better place. Well there she was: the reason. She had asked him and she had smiled at him in excitement. That was essentially all she had to do anymore and anyone and everyone in the Manor would melt, including him.
She approached and handed him one of the steaming mugs. "How you holding up?"
"Surviving," he answered truthfully. "Although I'm fairly certain the twins have been planning my demise for the last 20 minutes."
"Ok," she giggled. "That is a very real possibility. Let me get rid of the rest of these and I will come back and protect you. We're going to eat before too long."
"Is eating safe with those two in the house?" He asked warily.
She just laughed as she walked away, never really answering the question.
After a bit Ginny came back to the corner where Draco was bunkered down. "Stop looking so terrified." She said laughing as she walked up.
"I can't help it." He hissed. "There are just so many of them."
"What happened to that smarmy arse who came in here and baited all 7 of the boys at once?"
"The brat he has been living with got under his skin and actually made him care about things again." He shot back.
"Awww well I'll actually take that as a little bit of a compliment."
Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Wasn't I promised food?"
Ginny smiled again. "This is very true. It is almost ready darling so we should be ready to begin the task of fitting everyone into the dining room in about 10 minutes."
"And you're sure it is safe for me to move from this spot? Because I really don't trust anyone other than you and your mother." he said glancing over in the direction of the twins.
"Well actually it's never safe when they are in the house but I will make sure that they know that you are off limits."
"You have that kind of power?" he asked a bit sceptically.
Ginny just looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
"Well, now that you mention it, I suppose you are right."
A few minutes later Mrs. Weasley entered the room and announced that breakfast was finally ready and that everyone needed to find seats. When everyone was finally seated and everything had calmed down somewhat, Mr. Weasley gave his small annual speech to commemorate the occasion and then before he could declare breakfast officially open Ginny cleared her throat and asked if she could have just a moment to say something.
"I would just briefly like to address my two most mischievous brothers. Fred and George I just want you to be aware that I know you all and your plans very well so I am giving you this opportunity to quickly remove all of your jokes and enchantments from around my husband. This is your fair warning that if Draco is transformed in any way during this meal you will both personally have to answer to me directly. You both need to reflect on who was your most skilled protégé and then remember that both of your wives like me better than you and have already agreed to help me in any way I deem necessary in order to enact my revenge."
And with that Ginny sat back down. There was nothing more for her to say. Both of the twins knew that she was more than willing and capable to carry out her threat.
The two men in question both exchanged brief looks momentarily before sharply nodding once and pushing away from the table. Fred and George then proceeded to spend the next few minutes debunking every that they had booby trapped for later.
Everyone laughed slightly as they watched the two rummage around in the drawers, accio a pill of some sort out of the eggs and then go crawling under Draco's chair and carefully extracting... well no one was quite sure what it was. After that everyone assumed that it would then be time to eat but they were far from finished. After breakfast was once again safe, the duo then made their way through the rest of the first floor with several small explosions, two distinct yelps and one case of purple hair. Finally, they returned wearing matching looks that expressed how less than thrilled they were at what had just occurred.
Ginny thanked them, a sentiment which was not gladly accepted, and then the meal finally begun. It proceeded smoothly until there was a small standoff at the egg spoon. Both Draco and Ron had reached for it at the exact same moment which could have lead to utter catastrophe had Draco not uncharacteristically allowed the red-headed man to go ahead of him. As soon as Ron picked up the spoon though there was a small pop and a puff of smoke that dissipated to reveal and extremely pissed off reddish brown ferret sitting in the spot where Ron once sat.
The shocked silence that over took the room was astounding. A pin dropping could have been heard in the room until every single person burst out laughing. The maniacal grin that was plastered across the faces of both Fred and George perfectly expressed their excitement at one of their plans being brought to completion.
"Guess we missed one." They said in perfect unison.
This comment caused Ron the ferret to bound across the table at the twins where he performed a daring leap landing on Fred where he promptly began to bite him before transferring his attentions to the other twin.
Draco sat back and watched the entire display somewhat in amusement but mostly in empathy. He himself had spent some time as a ferret and it has not been at all enjoyable. He pushed back from the table and slithered his way out from his spot at the table. He crossed around to where Ron was still attacking the twins and scooped up his fuzzy enemy. "Come on mate. Don't bite me!"
Draco took the sulking ferret back into the living room where he placed him on the floor and took out his wand. He transformed his schoolyard enemy back into a human.
In a matter of seconds a beyond livid Ron stood before him. "That was meant for you."
"Yes, it was."
"I'm going to kill them."
"I understand."
Ron crossed the room in three quick strides and was about to open the door to the dining room when he paused and turned back to Draco. "Thanks mate."
"Don't mention it."
Draco did not immediately follow the other man. Instead he collapsed onto the nearest couch. What in the bloody hell had he just done? Helped the weasel because... he understood how he was feeling? This was all Ginny's fault. It had to be.
Just then the subject of his thought entered to room, obviously searching for him. "Hey, thank you for doing that."
"Don't mention it, really."
"I won't but I still want you to know that it was a good thing you did."
Draco ran a hand over his face. "I know."
"Are you coming back to eat?"
He nodded and stood to follow her back to the food.
Ginny was conflicted as she climbed the stairs to her room. She still had not decided whether or not to give Draco the present she had bought him. The problem was that she was running out of time. There was only an hour or so left in Christmas.
The problem was she did not want to make things awkward by giving him a present if he had not done the same for her.
She also had the added bonus of being nervous about the gift she had chosen because she had never in her life bought a present for Draco. When they were together she had been much too poor to even consider the prospect but Pansy had told her not to dwell and thus she had decided on a whim to do something different and branch out of her norm.
At first she had tried to shop for him but that had proven impossible. She wanted to give him something special since this would be their only Christmas as man and wife. So after a few owls and a bit of detective work she found something that she thought was perfect… or at least she hoped.
Ginny easily swung open the door to her bedroom and entered the room. In one deft movement she had flipped off her shoes, slipped out of her jacket and swung the door shut.
You know it was most definitely not a good idea to give an unsuspecting Draco a present. It would not be a good idea to spring something like this on him. He would believe that there was more emotion attached to it than there actually was… or rather, in all honesty, he would see exactly how much emotion she had decided to invest in their relationship and she couldn't have that.
No the best course of action was actually to throw herself onto bed and sleep… by herself.
She had almost made it to her bed when she noticed the two small boxes sitting on the end of it. What in the bloody hell could that be?
She ever so slowly picked up the first box and delicately opened it. Beneath the lid lay a small piece of paper with a small note written in elegant, flowing handwriting that she had seen before. She picked it up and it read:
Red, I just wanted to get you a little something, my first attempt at a 'real' Christmas present. Happy Christmas - D
The sweet simplicity of the note caused a lump to form in her throat as she fought back the beginnings of tears. Then she looked down at the box in her hand and the tears won out. Inside lay a silver bangle that was wrought in the same manner as her necklace and inlaid with alternating moonstones and garnets. It was absolutely beautiful.
She set down the first box and opened the second to reveal a set of earrings that were the miniature of the pendent from her necklace.
Ginny's heart swelled with the planning and effort that he had put into her gift. It was beyond perfect. And the effort he must have gone through to find the matching items to make a set five years after the fact just astounded her.
Well this had made her earlier debacle considerably easier. She dashed over to her bedside table and drew a square silver box tied with a green ribbon that was not much bigger than the ones she had just opened out of the drawer.
She had no more doubts about giving Draco the gift she had found for him as she crossed the room and headed straight through the bathroom.
Ginny lightly rapped on the door to Draco's room out of respect for his privacy and waited till he signaled that she could come in. When she entered to room Draco was sitting on the far side of the room at his large mahogany desk. He looked up from the stack of paper that was in front of him as she entered the room and he took off the sleek designer reading glasses that adorned his face.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked as he obviously fought back a yawn.
"What are you doing?" Ginny asked a bit shocked.
"I am finishing up some paperwork for the gallery. Why do you ask?"
"Oh no," Ginny said shaking her head slightly. "What I meant was what are you doing working on Christmas silly?"
"Oh… well it has to get done sometime. I had nothing better to do until you walked in thus I worked on it until now. You are far more interesting than my paper work."
She smiled and said, "Good. As for me I have a couple items of business to deal with with you, First of all, thank you so much for the jewelry. They are absolutely beautiful. I don't know where you possibly could have found something that matched so perfectly!"
Draco lowered his eyes but a small smile adorned his face. "It was really nothing special. Don't mention it, really."
"Well I loved it anyway." Ginny insisted but she did indeed drop the issue. She could tell that the conversation was making him uncomfortable and so she changed the subject much to his great pleasure. "The second reason I came in here was to give you your gift."
Draco's head shot up and his eyes widened. "You didn't have to get me a gift."
"I know." She replied simply. "And neither did you. But we both did anyways. I opened mine and now it is time for you to open yours sir."
At her insistence Draco pulled himself away from his desk and crossed the room to his wife. He took the gift out of her outstretched hand and untied the perfect ribbon and then carefully opened the small box. Inside laid an object that was all too familiar to him: a snitch.
He looked up at her with confusion evident on his face. He had dozens of snitches, she knew that. Why would she give this one to him gift wrapped?
She smiled knowingly, "Turn it over silly."
He grasped the snitch and spun it around to so what was previously the back became the front. It was engraved with the words:
Caught by Draco Malfoy
Slytherin Beats Gryffindor
210 – 70
11/21/1996
Draco was speechless. He didn't know how but she had managed to find the only snitch that he had ever caught in a match against Gryffindor with Potter as the seeker.
"Is this real?"
Ginny giggled. "Yes sir it is. I couldn't decide what to buy you so I decided to try and find this. All it required was a couple owls back and forth with Madame Hooch to convince her that you deserved this. Turns out she keeps each and every snitch squirreled away somewhere in the pitch and all that information that you see on the back is recorded on each."
"Thank you Ginny, this really means a lot to me."
She beamed at him. "I know. I didn't know you really yet but even back then I could tell how much you wanted it."
Draco smiled slightly. He was incredibly surprised by the amount of emotion that stopped all the words in his throat. After a moment he was finally able to speak again. "You are right… but then again why am I even surprised? You have always been able to read me right? Not sure why I assumed that that didn't apply to before we were together."
He reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms. He buried his face in her long red hair and whispered thank you again. When he pulled back he kissed her softly on the forehead and then said in a soft, sweet voice, "Would you like play a game of chess?"
Ginny laughed. "Why yes I would. That sounds like an amazing idea… as long as you are prepared to lose sir."
Draco scoffed at her statement and said, while still smiling, "You obviously don't know who you are addressing madam. I am the wizard chess champion of Slytherin five years running."
"And you are about to meet your match. I have 6 older brothers, all of whom are slightly obsessed with chess."
"Well this is obviously going to be a good game."
"Yep, you're on. Let me just go change."
Ginny crossed the room to open the door to her room. It was honestly rather strange that someone actually knocked on the main door to her bedroom. Normally her only visitors were Hallie and Draco and neither of them every actually knocked.
She swung open the door to see Narcissa standing there holding a garment bag.
"Hello there dear!" She said to her daughter-in-law beaming.
"Oh! Cissa! Come in!" Ginny hastily stepped aside to allow the older woman entrance into her bedroom.
"I know these are not your favorite words for some reason but I brought you a present!" Narcissa said holding out the bag. "I decided to spare you the shopping trip and just buy you a dress for New Year's Eve."
"Oh what are we doing on New Year's Eve?"
"It is just a small get together of friends, actual friends. Only twenty or so people, nothing to worry about."
"Oh ok, that sounds like fun. And thank you for the dress."
"You haven't even seen it yet."
Ginny smiled and said, "I know. I'm just jumping the gun, proving I'm am capable of just taking something and saying thank you."
Narcissa laughed at the younger woman. She simply adored Ginny and was firmly behind all of the friends who were pushing for the young couple to stay together. "Well go on then, look at it!"
Ginny carefully unzipped the bag and took out an amazing taupe colored cocktail length dress with a fitted bodice of silken pattern and a slightly flowing skirt in the same color that came down to about mid thigh length and, of course, it had a sweetheart neckline. Wow her mother-in-law obviously knew her style down to a T.
"It is perfect Cissa." Ginny beamed.
"I know." She responded with the proper ease of a Malfoy matriarch. "Oh! I also found something else that I doubt you'll mind taking from me." She pulled a perfume bottle out of her barely there fitted pockets and re enlarged it to normal size.
Ginny had to resist the urge to squeal as she instantly recognized the style of her favorite perfume, Dusk of Summer. It was a light floral scent that had always reminded her of summer afternoons at the Burrow but she had not been able to find it in years. Of course out of all people Narcissa would be able to magically find a bottle. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she immediately took the bottle without any sort of hesitation and bounced up and down ever so slightly.
Narcissa laughed again, "You're welcome darling, just consider it a slightly belated Christmas present." And with that she left Ginny to her own devices.
Before too long, Ginny's morning was interrupted once again by a slightly less agreeable person. "Let me in." Draco called form the bathroom door.
"Come in."
"Thank you. Can we go get lunch? I'm hungry." He said in particularly whiny voice.
Ginny resisted the urge to roll her eyes, it would only make him worse at this point. "Yes Draco, where would you like to go to lunch?
"I don't know… I'm just hungry. Can you figure out where I want to go?"
It was going to be a long afternoon.
New Year's Eve Dinner might just be Ginny's favorite Malfoy even of the year. The small dinner of just a few of the Malfoys' close friends had been just what they all needed to just relax after all the holiday festivities before having to go back to work in two days.
After the official dinner party was over the elder generations of the different families said their goodnights and retired to their various manors while the younger crowd kept the New Year's spirit going and turned up the intensity a bit.
Who knew that hanging out with a group of Slytherins could be so much fun?
Ginny was more than a little buzzed by the time that dinner was over. She had to say that Pansy, despite what the Gryffindors had always believed to be an incessant pug-ness could make a mad Appletini. Before she knew it Ginny had consumed four and was giggling madly along with all the other girls as they lazed on the couches that were sprawled all around the main sitting room in Malfoy Manor in the North wing.
Cissa and Salvia would be appalled if they saw the state of their favorite room now. There were pillows everywhere, alcohol free flowing, moved furniture and young bodies spread out all across the room.
"Hey lil Weasel," Theo said, flopping down next to her on the chaise that she was sprawled across upside down with her feet up on the top and her head laying at the foot. Thank the gods for sticking charms otherwise everyone would have gotten quite the view of the newest Mrs. Malfoy in her short cocktail dress.
"Nott! How can I help you love?" Ginny responded; the alcohol and the angle she was laying at forcing it to come out slightly slurred.
"It has been bothering me all night."
"What has?" Luna asked giggling. Ginny could not be sure but she was fairly certain that Luna was the only sober one in the room. As the longtime significant other of a highly respected Slytherin she had long ago been adopted as one of the group as had Beth since her marriage to Vince Crabbe.
"Ginny has! Are you sure you didn't pick the wrong Slytherin? I mean look at Draco! No physical appeal, no personality, and he is a nasty little bugger. Nope I definitely think you would have more fun coming home with me!"
From across the room Draco, who had managed to stay mostly sober, raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at his 'spouse' from his perch in a lounge chair. He was not sure he liked where this conversation was going especially when taking into account the amount of liquor that had been consumed. Hallie too seemed to share the same thought as she cast a questioning concerned glance at her host that was easily caught. This could go in a very wrong direction very quickly.
"Well, I don't know." Ginny said appearing to genuinely contemplate the question. "Let me see." She said after pulling herself into an upright position.
She leaned over and pulled Theo into a long kiss which both parties seemed to enjoy. They rolled off the chaise and on to the floor while everyone in the room smirked at their little show, everyone that is except for Hallie and of course Draco.
"Wow, not bad Theo." Ginny said as she ended the kiss.
Ginny then disentangled herself from the man and carefully made her way through the maze of bodies and furniture, almost falling on top of people several times, over to where Draco was sitting. She immediately sat on his lap and snuggled down making herself comfortable. "Slytherin number 2." She said loudly and held up what she hoped was the appropriate number of fingers.
Ginny wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and softly kissed him on the lips.
It was short and sweet. Just as she was about to pull away, already prepared to elaborate about how amazing a sweet and simple kiss could be when Draco put his hand on the back of her head and deepened it. He buried it in her long red curls and held her face firmly to his.
They both became lost in their perfect kiss and the feeling of holding which they had both been yearning for.
"Echem!" The couple was startled out of their little would by Blaise. "Get a room, mate!"
"Well, this is my house so technically this is my room." Draco said cheekily giving the darker man a smirk. "I could kick you all out right now and get down to business."
Blaise just rolled his eyes as the rest of the crowd let out a roar of laughter and Ginny turned bright red.
"So Gin," Theo called out as the laughter died down. "Who won? Which Slytherin do you prefer?"
"Hmm… I love you deeply already Theo but you have obviously never seen Draco naked. If you had then you would know, as most of the women in London can attest to, there is no contest when it comes to a Malfoy man." She said winking at Hallie and laughing.
This time it was Draco's turn to blush although it was only a slight tinge. "It hasn't been that many women."
"But you haven't seen mine love?" Theo continued to joke.
"And she's not going to Nott! She is mine! Stay away from her!" Draco threatened his friend, already tired of his jokes. He didn't know what had gotten into him. He was being entirely too possessive of this woman especially when considering the fact that Nott knew the whole story and was quite aware that Ginny didn't really have a choice and was far past drunk. Not to mention that Draco and Ginny were both fairly certain that Theo and Hallie were so back together, although no one had seen either of them long enough before tonight to confirm the suspicion.
"Calm down." Ginny soothed running her fingers through his hair. "He's only kidding. I'm not going anywhere. I'm contracted to you remember?" She joked quietly.
"Yeah well that enough of his jokes for tonight. He has obviously had way too much alcohol." Draco was truly miffed by Theo's drunken display. With all the old feelings that had been resurfacing over the last few weeks he was very attached to Ginny once again and there was no way in hell he was going to let someone else even pretend to try and take her away from him ever again.
Blaise looked at his fiancé after he watched the exchange between his two friends. He raised one eyebrow and she shrugged in return. Was there something going on behind closed doors in the Malfoy household that they were not being made aware of?
Not long after Draco's outburst the wives and girlfriends began to collect their men in order to take them home to sleep off yet another hangover caused by a Malfoy party.
Soon only Theo and Hallie were left. Theo was far too drunk to get himself home all alone. Thankfully though, Hallie graciously volunteered her services to help floo him home. She was none too sober herself but far more coherent than the Slytherin man.
After Draco and Ginny helped the other pair to the floo room they trudged up the stairs together and into their various apartments to finally retire for the evening.
Wow, what a kiss. That had been a mistake. A big mistake. What had she been thinking? Oh wait, she hadn't been thinking, the Appletinis were. Well that at least account for some of her lapse in judgment but not all of it. For god's sake she had basically snogged Draco for the entire world to see, granted most of the people present were under the impression that they were married, well married for real, but some of them knew the truth.
She was sure to get an earful from Luna in the morning despite any efforts Ginny might make to avoid her and after tonight she was sure there would be no way that Luna, or Hallie for that matter, would let her off without giving them some semblance of how she was actually feeling. That was truly the last thing Ginny wanted to talk about. She didn't know how she was feeling herself, how exactly could she be expected to articulate it to someone else? Especially when both of those possible someones could read her like an open book? Bloody hell, what a mess.
Ginny threw her hair up in a messy bun so that it would be out of the way while she maneuvered out of the cocktail dress from hell. "How does Cissa wear these every single day?" She wondered out loud.
"Carefully, very carefully." A familiar baritone voice said from behind her.
Ginny spun around to see Draco standing in the doorway that led to the bathroom. "Well she is a better woman than I." she said slowly taking in her 'husband's' appearance.
He had un-tucked and mostly unbuttoned the blue over shirt allowing Ginny a glimpse of his well defined chest. The sapphire blue tie had long ago been disposed of, sometime after the second round of firewhiskey shots she thought, and he had allowed his dress pants to slide dangerously low on his hips without a belt to help hold them up
"Do you need some help?" he inquired.
"If you don't mind." she responded, feeling the beginnings of a blush spreading across her body. "You can enter."
"I don't." he stepped across the barrier and came to a stop in front of her, waiting as she slowly spun around. His hand reached up and brushed against the back of her neck as he grasped the delicate zipper and slowly pulled it down to free Ginny from the dress. "There you go."
They both struggled to suppress a shiver of pleasure; one at being touched, the other at touching.
"Thanks." She said as she held the now open dress to her body like a shield.
"So I was wondering I you might want to play a game of chess?" Draco inquired in an abnormally friendly tone. "I am still slightly buzzed and won't get any sleep in this state."
"Sure. It's about time for a rematch. Do you mind if I just slip into something a little less formal?"
Draco let out deep melodic laugh. "No problem. I will just go finish changing and grab my chess set. Is five minutes enough time?"
"More than enough."
He gave her a nod and exited the room.
Since Draco was going to be in her room Ginny decided on some of her more modest pajamas. Pink stripped pajama pants and a black camisole. The cami may have been a tiny bit revealing but whatever, it wasn't as if he hadn't seen her breasts before. She left her hair just as it was, twisted up casually on top of her head; it was just Draco after all. As a last minute decision she sprayed a bit of her new perfume on herself. It smelled so good.
It wasn't long before he reappeared at her door, chess board in hand. What a sight he was. Ginny couldn't help but let her eyes feast on his appearance. Long and lean as ever, Draco came back wearing only a pair of black silk pajama pants leaving the rest of his body exposed as Ginny's evening eye candy. The best part though was his hair: he had removed the demon goo and simply let the fine platinum strands fall as they may into his big grey eyes. With looks like that no wonder she had fallen so hard for him back in school. Her and every women in London she once again reminded herself.
"Ready to get your arse kicked Weasel?" he said with a playfully devious smirk.
"In your dreams Ferret!"
He took two steps into the room before he stopped in his tracks. "What is that?" he asked. His eyes became wide with shock as he glanced around the room.
"What is what?" Ginny twisted around perplexed. She didn't see anything.
"That smell?"
"Oh, that's just my perfume." Ginny said as she relaxed. "Why? Don't you like it?"
"That's it!" he exclaimed, confusing her still further. Letting the chess set crash to the floor and scatter all about, he crossed the room to where she perched on the bed in two strides.
Not even waiting for approval, Draco scooped Ginny up into his arms and let his lips crash down on hers.
For a moment Ginny was too stunned to respond, but than her senses kicked in and she began to kiss him back. What could possibly be happening to make him behave this way? Well whatever it was Ginny loved it.
He seemed so much like the old Draco in that moment. Every emotion seemed to jump off his face and transfer into his urgent demanding kiss. For the first time in four years Ginny had found the man she had fallen in love with.
He slowly pulled away from but did not release her body. He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed in happiness before whispering, "It's you. It was always you."
Aren't you all excited? Another update! Between stuff I had already written, my 6 hours with nothing to do in the Charles DeGaulle Airport and 9 hours on the airplane and presto changeo another chapter! Lol
What do you think? Who's happy they are finally together? I have been waiting to get to New Years for 3 months! Lol
3 Care