The Laws Have Changed - Chapter 10
He was testing his limits again. Or, it might be fairer to say that he was testing her limits again.
Either way, he supposed they were both being tested in some capacity. He was trying his damndest to not swallow her whole right there on his loveseat, or on the carpet in front of the fireplace, or in his rather convenient king-size bed, or in his incredibly large private bath. But, with all of that barreling through his mind, he was also testing the waters of her comfort. Both tests, however, ended up being, realistically, tests of his restraint.
She felt just as soft and smooth as he remembered, but having her, on his lap, in his private quarters, was pushing him to his breaking point. He was still steadfast in his decision to let her set the pace of their more physical moments together, but it didn't change the fact that he was a teenage boy hardwired to think the way most of his male peers did. A fact he was becoming almost painfully aware of.
It was a miracle she hadn't noticed or said anything yet.
The hand on her thigh was feeling particularly cheeky and it chanced sneaking under the hitched up hem of her standard issue uniform skirt. He ran his thumb across the supple skin there, enjoying how she shivered at the fleeting touch. His hand kept going until he reached the underside of her bum. He was surprised to feel the coolness of satin instead of the subtle coarseness of cotton. She quietly gasped at his touch and he was even more surprised to feel her press into his chest.
He broke away from her lips, trailing small, brief kisses down her neck until he got to where the pale column of skin met her shoulders. He swirled his tongue there, remembering how some of the older Slytherin boys would talk about how much girls liked that spot back when he was a fourth year. Seemed like they weren't wrong as Ginny gave him another little gasp. He began slowly trailing his hand away from her bum, letting his fingers just barely graze across the trail he made, causing another round of gooseflesh for his girlfriend.
With his lips still at her neck, he placed that hand on her skirt's waistband and began gently tugging at the fabric of her shirt. He had no intention to remove the garment entirely; only enough to feel the warm skin underneath it. He let his fingers make lazy figure eights at the base of her spine before moving to the front, inching his way towards the breasts pressed against him. The cool satin of her bra against his increasingly hot skin felt wonderful and he couldn't help but wonder where she got her lovely little set from. Unfortunately, the more feral part of him that was desperately trying to get out also took that time to wonder what she'd look like with just that satin set on and nothing else.
He had to move back to her lips to stifle the groan that had traitorously escaped as he held onto that thought for a bit longer than a moment.
The last thing he expected, though, was to hear her giggle. She broke away, much to his dismay, with a small smirk on her mouth that was simply begging to be snogged off.
"Having trouble down there?" she asked, subtly shifting her hips against his.
He took a deep breath, not caring that his hand was still resting firmly on one of her breasts. "No trouble at all," he finally ground out. She was speaking with that same deceptively innocent tone she decided to adopt once they actually started dating. It was used whenever she wanted to remind him of the effect she had on him and she knew good and damn well how he would react every time she spoke like that.
"I got them as a gift," she began with a smile. "Fleur treated me to some lovely French garments as a way to bond with her new sister-in-law." She let her gaze drift down to where his hand was still under her shirt. When she noticed his cheeks and ears go pink, she dropped her last bombshell. "I've been wearing different ones throughout the week in case I was finally able to meet you. If you had given me your note yesterday, you would've been feeling lace."
Sweet bleeding Merlin. He let his head fall to her shoulder as he groaned, only mildly irritated at the amused cackle she let out upon seeing his reaction. He couldn't believe how easily she had wrapped him around her finger. He remembered how he didn't mind Pansy's obvious overtures during parts of their relationship when he was a few years younger. It was, admittedly, a nice confidence boost during those years to know how fixated she was on him. But now that he was somewhat on the other side of that with Ginny, he understood why blokes grew so incessant when they really, truly fancied someone.
"If it makes you feel any better," she said, hands playing with the hair at his nape, "I was contemplating letting you push things a little further."
She laughed again at his second groan, clearly enjoying the misery she was inflicting upon him.
"Ginny," he replied, dragging her name out in what he thought sounded like frustration, but was probably more of a whine. Yet another thing he'd have to work on.
"I'm well aware that you only move forward if I let you, which I greatly appreciate." A significant look was cast at his lower extremities. "However, lest you forget that I have six older brothers, so I've heard and, unfortunately, seen more than I would like in my time."
He sighed, knowing that if he pushed the topic further, she'd probably attempt to torture him with stories of the brother that was off saving the world with Potter.
He looked up, brought his hand down to her waist, and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'll give you all the time you need." A thought came to mind then and he smirked. The expression getting bigger when he noticed the blush creeping onto her neck. "Besides, you did tell me that I have splendid tutoring skills." He let his eyes widen slightly as he spoke, chuckling as her blush went from pink to red.
She huffed, turning his chuckle into full-blown laughter. "That's not very fair," she replied, pouting in a manner that she knew he couldn't resist.
"Don't start something you can't finish, Miss Weasley." He gave her a lop-sided grin and quickly kissed her again.
When he pulled away, she wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her head against his chest once more. "I'm glad I can see you like this. It makes it feel like things are kind of normal."
He held her tight, kissing the top of her head. "I couldn't agree more, Gin. I couldn't agree more."
"You know I need to go back to my room eventually."
He looked up at her from his head's new spot in her lap. They had made their way to the floor in front of his fireplace as he had wanted to stretch out, but thought his bed might be too imposing for her. The floor seemed like a happy medium.
"And you know I'm perfectly okay with you spending the night."
She rolled her eyes and smiled. "As tempting as that sounds, there are still people in my dorm that would notice if I was gone. Plus, I don't really want to find out what the Carrows would consider to be an 'appropriate detention.'"
His eyes went wide at the mention of the two Death Eaters. He scrambled to sit up and clutched the tops of Ginny's arms. "I know exactly what they do during their detentions and I refuse to have you experience that."
Her brows furrowed in concern. "Are you okay, Draco? You don't look so good."
He sighed, tugging gently on her arm to pull her into his lap once again. He rested his head on top of hers and twirled a strand of her hair around his finger.
"I think I need to tell you about what I was forced to do over the summer. It'll help you understand why I don't want the Carrows to have the opportunity to punish you in any way." He continued when he felt her nod against his chest. "The Dark Lord has been getting leads about where Potter is and he has a group called the Snatchers who have been tasked with finding him, but they also try to find anyone else the Dark Lord wants captured. There was one instance where the Snatchers lost Potter, your brother, and Granger and… "
He could sense himself trailing off. He could feel his heart rapidly beating in his chest as he thought about what he was forced to do. Sweat began forming at his brow and his breathing was getting shallower. Before he started hyperventilating in earnest, he felt Ginny tighten her grip around his waist; squeezing him as hard as she could to let him know that she was physically there with him. He found himself no longer following the rabbit once he felt the pressure she was applying and he focused back in on her. Her smell, her touch, her warmth, her murmured words of comfort.
He looked down as she looked up, letting her wipe away the tears he didn't know had fallen. He took a deep, shuddering breath as she straightened up more to kiss his cheeks.
"Don't force yourself to continue if it's still tough to talk about," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him once more.
He shook his head. "No, Gin, I need to talk about it. Not just because I want to keep you safe, but because I don't want to let this fester inside me." Another deep, steadying breath. "Anytime the Snatchers failed, the Dark Lord would torture those who he felt were most responsible. He made me be the one to inflict that torture."
He could feel her begin to squeeze him again, sensing that he needed the reassurance of her touch. This time, he squeezed her back; it was the only thing he could think to do to let her know that he wanted to be a pillar of support for her, too.
"I hated every minute of it. That curse doesn't just affect the person it's directed at, but also the one casting it. I think it's why my aunt is the way she is now. And the only way I was able to get through it was holding on to whatever positive memories and emotions I had. To be honest, most of those memories involved you."
He wanted to reveal more, but the timing wasn't right. Their situation was already precarious enough and he didn't want his affection to be used against him. He already knew the full extent of what he wanted to reveal; what he had been aching to tell her the minute he saw her in his room. And he knew he eventually would. Once the Dark Lord had been defeated, once he knew that he would survive in this second chance at life, once he knew they were both safe, he wouldn't let himself live in fear anymore.
It would be tough to wait that long, but her presence gave him hope. Maybe, just maybe, she was feeling the same way.
She had, luckily, made it back to her common room without running into anyone patrolling the halls.
For good measure, Draco had cast a Disillusionment charm on her; something he promised to teach her in case she needed to use it herself one day.
She escaped up to her room with relative ease, allowing herself to flop face down onto her bed as soon as she dropped her school bag next to it.
She was grateful for his mindfulness, even though they wouldn't have been interrupted. She knew she wanted to take that next step with him and giggled at the irony of the thought. The Ginny of two years ago could've never imagined that she would be anticipating the day when she could give herself to someone like Draco Malfoy. She had always thought she'd be saving herself for Harry, but Draco actually saw her and treasured her in a way that no one else had.
She grabbed one of her pillows as she turned onto her side, hugging it close to her. She sighed dreamily, recalling how he told her that he was okay with her spending the night. She hadn't been lying to him when she told him how tempted she was because all she could think about was how nice it'd be to wake up next to him again.
Whenever she had missed him over the summer, she would let her mind drift to the memory of their night in the Hospital Wing. It felt right being cuddled against him — his arm draped over her waist with his hand resting over hers. She had never slept so well before and she didn't want to leave his side the following morning. He hadn't tried anything while she was nestled in his arms, which only made her more confident in her decision to give a relationship with him a try.
She recalled how nervous she was when she went to kiss him that night. His default up until that point was to push her away; something she understood. She knew she may not be the best person to deal with the kind of terror he was now being subjected to, but she was finding that it was helping her, in a way. Tom had taken control of her for a full year and, if there was a way she could help someone break free of his control, then she was more than happy to assist.
Draco deserved to make his own decisions just as much as she did and she couldn't stop the contentment that resonated throughout her whenever she got to know him a little better. Her new hope now was that, when everything was finally over, the rest of the wizarding world got to see what he was truly like.
"Interesting to see that you're still not above abusing your power a little bit."
He pushed his textbook away and looked up at Blaise, expecting to see a look of disgust based on the flat tone he used, but was surprised to see the amusement in his friend's eyes.
"It has its uses."
Considering that they were in the library (a less populated section, but still in the library), he was curious as to where the conversation was heading. He made a point to not tell neither Blaise nor Pansy about his relationship. Especially not Pansy. Although they seemed to be on solid ground as friends, he wouldn't put it past her to use her knowledge to her advantage.
"Should I know?" his friend asked, having the sense to not show his full hand.
"I think, eventually, everyone will. At least, I hope so. The timing isn't right."
It was easy to fall back on the purposefully obscured language he used over the summer. Blaise had known him since they were children and even understood the predicament he found himself in thanks to his parents. He was grateful for their friendship as his fellow Slytherin skewed more on the neutral good side of things. He wasn't above using information to achieve a goal, but the indifferent boy really only got involved in anything if he felt it would affect him or those close to him. He realized that Ginny might've been right about his current motivations as he was slowly becoming similar to Blaise in that respect.
"You seem more stable. If you're able to get the right timing, it'll be good for you in the long run."
"My mother thinks the same thing," he replied wryly, remembering the brief conversation they had when he first returned home.
Blaise's eyebrows shot up in surprise before quickly going back to his mask of impassivity. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"I think so. My private tutoring inadvertently helped me prepare. I'm trying to not be overly confident, but I have faith that things will work out in my favor."
"I'm sure you're already aware, but this is not the year to slack on our observation skills. You're lucky I was the only one who saw you write your little note and who came back holding it."
He smirked before bringing his textbook close to him again. "Nothing ever gets past you, does it?"
"I wouldn't be my mother's son if I didn't pay attention to details."
"You know I don't ask you for much, but I could use your observation skills. Just let me know if anything seems off."
"I'm know they're capable of handling themselves," Blaise began, lowering his voice, "but you might want to ask about what they're planning with their friends. You know subtlety has never been that group's strong suit."
He almost laughed at his friend's words. He should've known that Blaise really did know more than he let on, but was probably curious as to how much he would willingly reveal about his relationship with Ginny. He leaned down as though he were grabbing something out of his school bag.
"I'll discuss it the next time I see her," he whispered as he righted himself.
"You know you'll have to tell me the whole story one day," Blaise continued in his lowered tone.
"If it makes you feel any better, I was planning on telling you first before my parents."
"Ah, yes," his friend replied with a small smile. "I can understand why. You would need someone in your corner to help soften the blow."
He silently chuckled at his friend's words. "You know me far better than you ever let on, Zabini."
"That's what friends are for, Malfoy."
A/N - Huge thank you to EscapeInMyBookshelf for the lovely cover she made for this story!
And thank you, as always, to everyone who reads this fic, subscribes to it, bookmarks it, or leaves a comment! Y'all's continued response keeps me going.