As You Wish - Chapter 8
Narcissa sat in her atrium, enjoying her garden and her morning tea.
It had been quite some time since her precious son had visited her and it was simply killing her to have to hear about him through The Daily Prophet's Society pages. She should be hearing about his rekindled "romance" with Daphne Greengrass directly from him, not from the filtered view of Pansy Parkinson.
The Malfoy matriarch knew it was all for show, but that small fact didn't mean that she couldn't be hopeful that the couple would decide to take things a bit more seriously. Draco was taking entirely too long to settle down. With her husband out of the picture, the older blonde woman was just itching for some grandbabies to spoil and fill the halls of Malfoy Manor with the warmth and laughter she wasn't able to provide her son as a child.
Daphne and Draco looked lovely and attractive together, as Narcissa was expecting, and the write up of their time at the event was the same flowery nonsense that Pansy favored in her articles. Everything sounded just as she was expecting until she got to page 2 of the Society section.
She began skimming through the article regarding this supposed new "It Girl" Astoria Greengrass, of all people, had found at the charity event. Narcissa gave a very undignified snort. She'd heard about the youngest Greengrass sister's exploits from multiple sources close to the situations, including Blaise Zabini. Blaise was like a son to her and she could see that he liked Astoria more than he tried to let on. He tried so hard to shield himself from any kind of hurt, especially knowing how she was rumored to be. But seeing that the rumors were proven true was an entirely different story and the young man left the relationship feeling foolish. With this in mind, Narcissa was very curious about who was now preoccupying Astoria's attention.
The blonde's eyes alighted on the picture that accompanied the article, immediately recognizing the younger Greengrass, but there was something off about the woman laughing next to her. Narcissa pushed her reading glasses up toward her hairline, wearing them like a headband, as she brought the paper up to her face to get a closer look.
Realization dawning, she took a deep inhale before yelling out, "Fizzy!"
She was immediately greeted by a small house elf with a bright floral shift dress on. "Yes, Mistress!" Fizzy squeaked.
"Grab me my stationary, sweeting. I need to send an owl to my son."
My dearest son,
I would love to have you and your special friend over for lunch on Sunday.
I'll have everything set up in the atrium for noon.
With love,
Mummy
Draco looked at the owl from his mother, taking his free hand and rubbing it across his face.
He knew his mother and what she wrote wasn't so much of a request as it was a command, so he also knew that it would be in his and Ginny's best interests to comply with her request. The little nagging bit in the back of his mind told him that this had to do with his lack of information regarding his dalliances with Daphne. However, there was another part of him that he really didn't want to acknowledge that was screaming at him that Narcissa had recognized Ginny in the photo of Astoria and Crystal. And if she did, he could only hope that others could be as easily fooled as Astoria was.
If it got out that the youngest and only girl Weasley had been right under everyone's noses last night and she was connected back to him, Draco knew that there would be hell to pay. And he didn't know which was worse: dealing with a royally pissed off Daphne or the entire Weasley clan.
The blond blinked a couple of times at the thought. He may want to hedge his bets on surviving the Weasleys.
Ginny sat at what had always been her favorite cafe in Diagon Alley. It was chic and cozy, with so much greenery she felt like she was in a garden. The cafe specialized in French patisserie, so she wasn't surprised that this was where Astoria wanted to meet up for lunch. From her time amongst Muggles, Ginny realized that this would have been one of those places that people went to almost exclusively for the photo ops. One of her Muggle masters taught her about what she called "social media" and "influencers" and Ginny had never felt more relieved that most of wizard-kind was isolated from such ideas. She could only imagine what someone like Astoria would be like as an influencer.
The now sometimes redhead smoothed out her skirt as much as she could considering the texture. She had used the classic Chanel tweet suit as a frame of reference for her ensemble today: a trendy shade of lilac, with a white button down blouse underneath, white fishnet socks stopping a couple of inches above her ankle, and a pair of platform loafers to still give her a bit of height. She clipped back the upper half of her hair with a large bow matching the color of her suit, letting some of the shorter, wispier pieces of her hair frame her face. It was another thing that Ginny enjoyed about her time as a genie: the means to do what she wanted (within reason). It allowed her to be more playful with her clothing in a way that she wasn't able to growing up and she realized that she immensely enjoyed it. In her wildest dreams, Ginny saw herself going back to school for design or merchandising and running a little couturier in Diagon Alley.
She sighed at the thought before immediately straightening up again at the sight of Astoria Greengrass walking through the front door of the cafe.
"Crystal, darling! So glad you could make it!" the youngest Greengrass arrived at the table, breathless from her dash over to where Ginny was. "Isn't this place just the absolute cutest?"
Ginny, no, Crystal nodded in agreement. "I didn't remember this place from my last visit to England, but it is quite charming."
Astoria pouted in reply. "There must be so much you've missed after all this time." She poured out a cup of tea for herself from the teapot already on the table and took a sip before continuing. "It simply amazes me that you've been okay with being away from home for so long. However did you cope? I couldn't imagine not being able to bother Daph whenever I wanted."
Ginny laughed at that last bit. "I suppose it was one of those things where I really had no choice, initially, so I tried to make the best of it." Which, actually, wasn't far from the truth. Ginny had been away from home for so long that she realized that she had to just suck it up until she found a solution.
"Today's going to be a blast, then," Astoria began. "They've completely redone the area since the war and have added all these charming little shops for us to spend money in. Although I will have to take you to Muggle London at some point for some of their high street, I think they call it, shops." The brunette was becoming breathless again. "So much more interesting fashion there, darling. You're going to die when you see it all."
Astoria paused, taking another sip from her tea. "Are you all done, babes? I had a bit to eat before our meet up, so we can just carry on from here." She began rising from her seat before the genie had a chance to respond.
Ginny was thankful for the foresight she had to also eat before coming to the cafe. She rose from her seat, adjusting her outfit again once standing. "I'll let you lead the way then."
Unlike her sister, Astoria preferred subtlety if she was to be photographed in public. Daphne adored the overt attention, but the younger of the sisters found such displays gauche. She knew she was going to be photographed, so why not add a bit of mystique to the whole thing? Keep the public guessing and what not.
With that in mind, the brunette witch had given explicit instructions to the photographer from the Prophet who was assigned to follow her around that day that anything less than beautifully shot candids was simply unacceptable. Astoria was already working by shopping that day, but if she was expected to pose like her sister, then the Prophet would have to give her a bit of an extra kickback.
As she walked through the crowded street, Astoria made sure to link arms with Crystal, their shopping bags getting intertwined the more they moved about. Their pace was fast to ensure that the maximum amount of wind was flowing through their hair, adding a touch of glamour to the entire affair.
Ginny, on the other hand, found herself surprised at how coordinated the youngest Greengrass was about this whole thing. It was a shock at first to realize that they were being photographed before she understood what was going on. This was just a near daily occurrence for the other woman and, this time, Ginny was along for the ride. If she wasn't on this side of things, the genie thought that it would be interesting to see their day from the photographer's perspective.
The two women were heading toward a fountain near the area where the more modern retailers stopped and the traditional wizarding retailers began when Ginny could feel her pace slow down.
She supposed it was naive of her to think that she could just gallivant about Wizarding England with someone who was technically a former classmate, while having a master who was also a former classmate, and not be forcibly thrust into the reality of potentially running into other people from her past. She supposed that because she was mostly hanging around former Slytherins and their very insular circle that she wouldn't need to acknowledge the parts of her life that occurred before she became a genie. But she also supposed that should that day come, that she would be an adult about it. She was just a couple years shy of thirty. She could handle it.
But Ginny had seen a flash of raven hair, horribly kept no matter how hard he tried to keep things in place, and the reflection of the sun in round, wire-framed glasses, and she could feel everything hitting her in waves. First, her stomach dropping in guilt. Then, the burn in her throat from trying to hold back the nausea. And, finally, the stray tears that rolled down her cheeks, brushed away as quickly as they came lest Astoria notice. Of all people, it had to be him.
The other woman could feel her compatriot slow down and tried to follow her line of sight to figure out why. Ew, gross. Astoria rolled her eyes. What was it with single witches and Harry bloody Potter? Was it because of the whole savior thing? Apparently, he had a sizable inheritance, which did sound favorable to the younger Greengrass, but other than that? She didn't understand the appeal.
"Ugh, please don't tell me that you're like every other simpering idiot over him?" Astoria asked.
Ginny shook herself out of her stupor. "Oh, I've never met him before. I've heard about him, but I didn't go to school with you all, so it's rather weird seeing him out in public."
"I mean, when you put it like that, I guess it is understandable that you reacted the way you did. I never cared about the poor sod when we were in school together, but to outsiders like you, he really is a celebrity, isn't he?" The brunette begrudgingly conceded. As soon as the word "celebrity" left her lips, though, another realization happened in Astoria's beautiful brain. Harry Potter was a celebrity, wasn't he? "Did you want to meet him?"
Ginny's now blue eyes widened. She could hear sirens going off in her brain. But these weren't like the ones she heard whenever Draco did something nice for her. These were more like those Muggle ambulance sirens she remembered hearing when she had American masters. The ones that warned people to move out of the way because there was an emergency. Instead of moving out of the way, though, Astoria was forcing Ginny right to the very center of it all. And before she knew it, she was standing in front of the man she once considered the love of her life.
"Hello, Harry." The words left Ginny's lips before she could control them. She was suddenly 10 years old again, gazing at her brother's new best friend in wonder, thinking about how cool it was that Ron was friends with the Boy Who Lived.
Then Ginny was eleven, once again gazing at her personal savior in wonder, grateful to be no longer under the influence of the Heir of Slytherin. She was about to turn fifteen, starting to come into her own person, gaining recognition as a solid Chaser and a very smart witch with some killer hexes. She was again fifteen, trying to understand Harry's decision to break up before he truly went to war. She was sixteen, trying so, so hard to be strong for her friends as they endured a year with Death Eaters running Hogwarts; scared shitless every time she shut the curtains to her four post bed. She was still sixteen, trying to remember when she became reliant on Harry for her personal salvation and when he became reliant on her for a promise of a life after war. She was almost seventeen, tired after being strong for so long, but elated at Harry not only coming to understand his role in society, but also coming back to her. And finally, she was twenty, hoping to become engaged to the savior of the Wizarding World and initially feeling like her life was going exactly as planned.
She thought back to the night she became a genie, knowing that the feelings she had then were that much stronger as time went on. While she was truly happy that Ron and Hermione had found each other so young, Ginny's experiences since that night made her realize that there was so much more she wanted to do before starting a family.
Harry looked at her in confusion. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"
Ginny could've smacked herself. Of course he wouldn't know Crystal. She could feel the heat in her cheeks as her face flushed.
"I'm terribly sorry about that, Harry," Astoria, blessedly, cut in before Ginny could further embarrass herself. "I don't know if you remember me, though: Astoria Greengrass, two years below you, you had classes with my sister, Daphne."
"Right," Harry nodded. "Your sister's currently seeing Malfoy, isn't she?"
"Yes, yes, she is," the brunette beamed. "I'm, just, so thrilled at her relationship." She brought a hand to the base of her neck, as though she were actually touched by the whole thing. "It's been so lovely seeing what she's been able to bring out of Draco." Astoria blinked a couple of times, then her eyes went wide. "Anyway, my dear friend, Crystal, here, grew up in America of all places and is absolutely agog at being able to meet you in person."
The savior looked back at Ginny. "Oh, I didn't realize that the Americans knew who I was. Voldemort didn't really influence them, did he?"
Ginny knew she had to get her shit together and inhaled deeply through her nose before answering. "I think we were all just concerned that a movement like his could happen in our country again. You know, considering the whole thing with Grindelwald living in the States for a while. We didn't need history repeating itself for us."
"Well, I'm happy that we were able to prevent that for you, miss." Harry gave Ginny a close-lipped smile and she knew that it was because even though he understood that it was what he had to do, he had never gotten truly comfortable with continued discussions of it. All she could do was nod in acknowledgement.
"Well," Astoria called their attention back to her. "I truly appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to chat with us. I'm sure you have more important things to attend to than humoring us." She paused when she could see that Harry was looking at Crystal again.
He furrowed his brow and took a step closer to Ginny. "You said that your name was Crystal?"
"Crystal Summers," she said softly.
"And we haven't met before?"
Ginny shook her head slowly.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion, Crystal. You just remind me of someone that I haven't seen in a very long time." Ginny could feel the tears pooling in her eyes again as Harry looked at her. His smile was wistful, but his eyes held a sadness that she couldn't take for too much longer.
"Astoria said the same thing when we first met. I think I just have one of those faces. I've gotten it all my life." Ginny forced a smile to help her composure. She turned to the other woman. "Astoria, love, do you mind if we end our day here? All of my energy seems to have left me."
Harry frowned. "Did I upset you?"
"Oh, no! No," Ginny shook her head quickly. "We were simply non-stop all afternoon and I think our chat was enough of a break that my body wants nothing more than to be in bed."
"Oh, now that you mention it, a lovely bubble bath with some wine sounds divine right about now," Astoria chimed in.
"Then I'll leave you ladies to enjoy the rest of your day," Harry nodded curtly before giving each of them a smile. "It was a pleasure getting to meet you, Crystal, and I suppose I'll see you around, Astoria."
"Don't be a stranger, love!" she called out as he walked away. She looked to her right to see that her shopping partner was nowhere to be found. The brunette sighed, irritated that the other woman had left without so much as a goodbye, but perked up when she saw the photographer from The Daily Prophet give her a thumbs up from across the fountain.
She couldn't wait to see Daphne's reaction to tomorrow's edition.
Draco heard a loud slam from somewhere behind him. Ginny didn't give him any indication as to when she was supposed to be home today, but he figured that must have been her returning to her bedroom.
Which was odd. She never just went directly to her bedroom. She usually came back to the living room first, to her place on the couch, and really only went to her room when she had to shower or sleep.
Instinct took over and Draco was in front of Ginny's door before he knew what he was doing. He held off on knocking at first. He could hear a muffled sound behind the door. The blond gently pressed an ear up against the cold wood. Was she crying? Why is she crying?
And sweet fucking Merlin, why was he feeling a pang in his chest at the thought of Ginny crying? He stepped away from the door, eyes wide, looking down at the ground. He knew what he needed to do. But he also knew that if he did this, that there may be no going back. The thought scared him, if he was perfectly honest. He had the clarity and sense of someone nearing thirty and that person was very different from the one he was when he first met her. He didn't know how feasible his feelings were at this juncture, but he did know that they were there and that's what mattered to him.
With that in mind, he knocked softly on the door before letting himself in.
"Ginny?" he announced.
The room was dark. Upon turning on the lights, he could see a pile of bags on the floor at the foot of the bed and a large lump hidden under the covers. Draco could hear faint sniffles from the direction of said bed. He walked over to it and sat facing away from Ginny.
"Anything you want to talk about?" He knew he wasn't always good at providing comfort, but he thought it was time for him to learn.
"You were right."
"Right about what?" It shouldn't have been that difficult going shopping with Astoria.
"I should have never gone out with Astoria today."
"Ohhh…" Draco breathed out in understanding. "Did something happen while you were out?"
Ginny sat up at that moment, a redhead once again, but still wearing what she wore during the day. "We ran into Harry." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she could feel her throat constricting again from a new wave of tears. He shouldn't have had that effect on her after all these years. She was supposed to be strong. She was supposed to be independent. She was supposed to be self-sufficient. She wasn't supposed to be dependent.
Draco could see the tears starting to fall again and he wrapped his genie up in a hug. An awkward hug, but a hug nonetheless.
In response, Ginny maneuvered herself so her face was better resting in the crook of his neck.
Everything was beginning to become too much in that moment and she could feel her breathing quicken. Her life before she became a genie, her life with Harry, her life as a genie, becoming Draco's genie — she was, unintentionally, bottling up everything she had been feeling because she didn't want to show that she couldn't handle it. People thought she wasn't going to recover from being controlled her first year at Hogwarts and it only pushed her to prove everyone wrong. Harry relied on her as a pillar of strength when he had to go off with her brother and Hermione. He needed her to be there for those forced to go back to school. And she needed to be strong on her own as a genie. It hurt whenever she got too attached to her masters and she realized that her life was rather lonely before Draco forced his way back into it.
The next thing she knew, she felt a large hand rubbing the center of her back in slow circles and the low hum of Draco's voice telling her that it's okay. He cradled her head in his right hand as he moved it to rest on his leg, never stopping the gentle circles he was making with his left.
As her breathing calmed, Ginny realized that she had experienced what she heard a Muggle call a "panic attack". Hearing the term helped her put a name to the ones she experienced alone in her bed during her sixth year at Hogwarts. Back when she only allowed the privacy of bedtime to have those moments.
She brought her hands up to her face to wipe away the dampness still on her cheeks. Draco had stopped rubbing her back once her breathing had calmed and let it rest on her shoulder. This was a kind of comfort that she hadn't been able to experience since she was a child. She wasn't used to him exhibiting empathy in such a manner and Ginny wasn't entirely sure how she felt. If she lingered on it, she could hear the Kill Bill sirens in the background, alerting her to the fact that if she let their relationship continue like this, it could develop into something that neither one of them was ready for.
The genie had to ask herself: did she want it? Did she want him?
And in the moment, she couldn't bring herself to answer. Her visceral reaction to seeing Harry was too fresh in her mind to even entertain the thought of wanting to be with someone else.
So, as per usual, Ginny was going to quiet those lingering thoughts and continue as normal.
She sat up after several moments of silence shared between the pair. "Thanks," she said, conjuring a box of tissues as she rearranged herself on her bed.
"Anytime." Draco nodded before giving Ginny a small smile. "You don't need to tell me anything else if you don't want to."
"I know." The genie returned the smile. "I'll probably tell you at some point, but I think I just needed to get everything out of my system."
Draco shrugged. "I get it. It can wear down on you after a while."
"I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner, if I'm being honest."
"I think you spent most of your life too caught up in the world around you." The blond chose his words carefully, not knowing how Ginny would take it.
She sighed in response. "You're probably right."
Draco stood and placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Well, be proud of the fact that you've survived all of this. It still takes a strong person to go through what you've gone through."
In a move that surprised both of them, Ginny reached up to grab Draco's hand. She couldn't bring herself to look at him as she didn't want to make the sirens go any louder than they already were. "Thank you again for being here for me." She gave his hand a squeeze before letting go. She felt comfortable enough to look up at him again. "Do you mind giving me a moment? I promise I'm okay now. I just want to shower and get out of all of this." Ginny gestured down to her lilac outfit.
Draco cleared his throat, trying to stop his face from turning pink. "Of course. When you're done, meet me in the living room and we can talk about dinner and what we're doing tomorrow."
Ginny's eyes narrowed. "What are we doing tomorrow?"
Her master gave her a tight-lipped smile. "My mother has requested our presence tomorrow for lunch at the Manor."