Submitted for The Houses Competition Forum - Round 6

House: Ravenclaw

Subject: Prefect

Category: Drabble

Prompt: [Dialogue] "I can't marry you."

Word count: 684

Warnings: Canon Divergence


put a little love on me

Ginny tried not to hyperventilate as she looked at the man in front of her. He was kneeling and gazing at her with so many emotions in his eyes that her heart clenched at what she had to do.

"I can't marry you," she whispered, tears pricking her eyes, blinding her but not enough from seeing the hurt in his grey eyes.

"But…why not? I thought you felt the same?" Draco said, sounding more broken than she had ever heard him.

'You've heard him sound worse,' Ginny thought bitterly to herself.

It wasn't like his proposal had come out of nowhere. After the war and everything that had happened, everyone left the Malfoy heir to his own devices. He decided to return to Hogwarts, and that's when Ginny had finally talked to Draco, really talked to him.

Draco was funny and witty and lonely. Ginny could understand what he was going through, since he reminded her so much of herself in her first year. It didn't take long for her to extend a branch of friendship towards him, a branch that he had grabbed onto with both hands.

After Harry had broken up with her, Ginny had thought they would get back together after the war. But the war had changed them. Harry was still her friend, but their shared connection was now lost.

He would always be her first love, but he belonged in her past now.

Ginny was the only Weasley at Hogwarts after the war, and she had felt lonelier than ever. Hermione and Neville had returned too, but she felt like they were in their own world more often than not. They were still friends, but they didn't spend time together often.

Draco's friends hadn't come back—either because they were dead, in Azkaban, or had fled the country—and Ginny found herself bonding with him.

They were both lonely souls, adrift in a sea of students who were trying to find their place in a renovated Hogwarts.

It didn't hurt that he was an attractive man, who seemed to find her attractive too. They had even overlooked their former treatment of each other. From a blooming friendship to a secret relationship, it didn't take long for Ginny to fall for him.

And that's why she had to break his heart now.

"I do feel the same, Drake," Ginny whispered, a lone tear trickling down her cheek. She didn't bother wiping it away. "But I also know what people say behind my back and how this could influence how people interact with you and your prospects at work, and I can't—"

"Do you think I care about what people say about me?" Draco stood up and took a step towards her, cupping her face and making her look at him. "I listen to the same things people say, Gin, and I didn't care before and I won't care now.

"You're one of the only good things in my life right now, and I refuse to let anyone else dictate what I should or shouldn't want." Draco's eyes were staring intensely at her, and Ginny was feeling her resolve crumble. He wiped away the tear that had trickled down to her jaw and murmured, "So I'm going to ask you one more time, Ginevra."

Ginny shuddered at the sound of her name leaving his lips. She always liked it when he called her by her full name.

"Will you marry me?" Draco asked, looking into her eyes.

Ginny's breath left her mouth in a long, hard exhale. Draco's grey eyes were steel silver, determination shining through them, and Ginny knew she had only one answer to give him. If he was so sure about her, she would trust that he knew what he was doing and believe in their relationship too.

"Yes, Draco, I will marry you," she said before throwing herself at him.

Chasing his lips with her own, Ginny knew she was home. No matter what anyone else said or thought about them, Draco was the missing part of her soul.

And she would never try to let him go again.