Chapter Text
Ginny’s wand was pointed at the wizard whose wand was pointed at Draco. The others stood around in stunned silence. Apparently, they hadn’t expected her to react.
“I’m gonna give you some advice,” the wizard said. “You’re young and I suppose money like the Malfoy’s is hard to come by. But it’s not worth it. Your name is going to be associated with his for the rest of your life. Do you want that? Do you want to be associated with this bastard?”
This wizard was apparently less drunk than the first who had tried to attack.
“Do you want to be associated with attacking an unarmed wizard?” She glared at him.
“A Death Eater,” he corrected. “And if you’re smart, you’ll put your wand away and go home.”
Realizing that there was no time to be clever, Ginny decided that there was only one way out of this situation. Slowly, she lowered her wand. She said nothing to the men as she stashed it in her jacket pocket. She felt Draco tense beside her as the man’s wand inched closer to his face.
“See, I knew you were smart,” the man said with a half-smile. His focus had left Ginny and was now turned to Draco.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Don’t apologize to-” before the man could finish his sentence, Ginny’s fist made contact with his face, sending him toppling over himself.
Not willing to waste any time, Ginny grabbed Draco’s arm and apparated them both to the front lawn of her house.
Ginny stumbled slightly upon arrival; a bit surprised by her own reactions. She had forgotten how much it hurt to punch someone. As she rubbed her knuckles, she glanced up to see Draco staring at her with an expression she didn’t recognize.
“That was probably not how…I should have handled that,” Ginny admitted rather ruefully.
A smirk broke out across Draco’s face. “That was…incredible.”
Ginny stared at him for a moment to make sure he wasn’t teasing her. She let out a half-hearted laugh.
“I’m sorry,” he said so quietly she almost didn’t catch it.
Standing beside each other in the warm, evening air, Ginny studied Draco for a long moment. A light breeze blew her hair away from her face and tugged at the knee-length summer dress she was wearing. Crickets and frogs sang songs of life around them. Above was a sky full of stars.
“Why are you sorry? They were the ones with the problem with you , not the other way around.”
“Don’t you think they have a right to hate me?”
She shrugged. “Hate? Sure. But they were going to curse you.”
“Death Eaters were responsible for the deaths of hundreds,” he said quietly as he looked down at the grass below his feet. “I can’t blame them for wanting revenge. You should have just left.”
“You don’t have magic; how would you defend yourself?”
“I wouldn’t.”
The weight of Draco’s words seemed to cause the wind to stop. Ginny stared at him. Her anger was reignited. “I’d never let that happen.”
“Why not?” His eyes met hers. “Maybe you don’t want to curse me now, but you did.”
Ginny couldn’t respond. He was right. Not so long ago she wouldn’t have blinked an eye if someone had sent a curse at him. Now, however, something had changed.
“You don’t deserve people staring at you like vultures. You don’t deserve people waiting to attack you like that,” she said bluntly.
“And you don’t deserve being known for who you’re dating.”
Ginny scoffed. “I can handle myself.”
“I know,” a small smile found its way onto his face. His eyes met hers once again. “That was quite the effective…tactic. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
Ginny felt a smile returning to her face. “I’m the youngest of seven. Sometimes magic can’t be used to solve sibling drama.”
Under the dim lights of the stars, Draco stared at her for a long moment. For once, Ginny felt uncomfortable under his intense, cold gaze. She shifted slightly.
“No one has ever done that for me.” His words were rigid.
“Done what? Punch someone?”
“No, stand up for me.”
“Oh,” Ginny found herself gazing down at her converse sneakers and the soft grass beneath her feet.
She thought about all the times someone had been cruel towards her friends. She could never stop herself from getting in the line of fire. She hated seeing cruelty towards others. However, she had never imagined that Draco would be anywhere but the receiving end of her anger. Before either of them uttered another word, Draco made his way towards the house.
Inside the house, Ginny immediately found her way upstairs. Draco ventured into the living room and grabbed his book. Part of Ginny wanted to join him; however it had been a long night, and she could feel the weight of the day weighing on her.
Instead of reading, Ginny took a long shower in an attempt to wash away any of the negativity she still felt from her encounter at the restaurant. She washed her hair with her favorite products–a new set of shampoo and conditioner from Hermione and enjoyed the feeling of hot water rushing over her skin.
After getting out of the shower, Ginny brushed and braided her hair. She sat at the vanity in her bathroom, staring at her reflection. Looks had never been one of her top priorities. She knew she had nice-enough features, but she was by no means stunning. Without the protection of makeup and stylish clothing, she felt somewhat bare. Ginny stared at the woman in an oversized shirt and freckled skin and wondered what Draco thought when he saw her. She was under no illusion that he was attracted to her, but could he be?
“Merlin,” she muttered to herself. What am I thinking? It’s not like that; it would never be like that.
In the hallway outside, Ginny heard Draco walk up the steps and into his bedroom. She couldn’t help but think about the way he had looked at her after she defended him. He didn’t look at her like she was deranged–he was impressed.
No one has ever stood up for him , she thought to herself. Was that true? It was impossible for her to know. However, lying was no longer something that benefited him.
Despite all the quarrels that had happened between Ginny and the rest of her family members, she had always had someone to stand up for her. In return, she had always stood up for them as well. No matter how cruel the world could be, she had a loving home. She had a good family and friends that cared deeply for her.
Did he not have that?
Narcissa cared for her son, Ginny could see that. But she was gone, too traumatized to stay in the country. As far as Ginny knew Lucius was a brutal man and a cruel father. And that was all there was, a caring but absent mother and an evil father.
As she finished braiding her hair, Ginny wondered what Draco’s life had been like growing up. As a child she imagined him, and people like him, having rather charmed lives. She assumed he had always gotten all the gifts on his Christmas list and never had to share with anyone. Now, when she considered his childhood, she found a rather cold image in her mind.
Ginny stood from the vanity and left the bathroom. She had every intention of going to bed. However, as she stepped into the hall, she heard the sound of music once again. She lingered in the hallway, gazing at Draco’s closed door.
Despite the fact that he claimed to only know sad songs, this one was different. It was sad but there was something else to it that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Ginny wandered closer to the door to hear it better.
As the song progressed, Ginny realized that the song reminded her vividly of friendship. It was hard to describe, but hearing the melody, she was reminded of her start at Hogwarts. She was reminded of walking through the grand halls for the first time and meeting Luna. She thought about sitting with Harry and Hermione at meals and seeing her brothers in the hall.
The song ended abruptly, and Ginny realized that part of her life was over. She was done with school. She would never walk to class with her friends or play Quidditch in the fields ever again.
Ginny wasn’t sure how it happened, but somehow, she found herself knocking on Draco’s door. It opened after a few seconds. Draco stood in a pair of silk bottoms. His extensive tattoos covered his body.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her as if he expected her to be crying outside his bedroom door again.
Ginny felt her courage begin to slip. “I…would you be willing to share your TV again?”
Something shifted in Draco’s features. It was so slight that she couldn’t be sure she wasn’t imagining it. However, Ginny thought that for once, Draco looked the tiniest bit happy. “It’s not really my TV,” he clarified.
Ginny smirked and stepped into his room. “Well, Luna isn’t about to take it back anytime soon.”
Draco let the door close, and Ginny went for the remote.
Ginny sat beside Draco in his large bed, uncaring that her arm was practically touching his. For once, he looked relaxed. The icy expression he always wore had melted away and he just looked tired.
“What’s your favorite holiday?” Ginny asked suddenly.
He looked over at her. “I don’t have one, why?”
“Come on,” she smirked. “Everyone has one.”
He shrugged. “I’m not really a holiday person.”
“Mine’s Christmas,” she said. “It was so much fun when I was a kid. We were all at home and we had gifts and food and games and…it was lovely.” She thought about soft snow falling outside of the Burrow while she and her brothers opened their gifts. She thought about building snowmen and playing quidditch until her fingers turned blue.
Draco said nothing, he had gone back to watching the movie.
“What was Christmas like for you?” It was the question Ginny had been wanting to ask ever since she considered it.
Draco shrugged. He glanced at her and said, “just like most people’s Christmas, I suppose…until the Dark…until Voldemort moved in.”
Ginny cursed herself for leading the conversation back to Voldemort. “Right, sorry.”
A smirk tugged at his lips. “You don’t have to be sorry,” he said. “Even before he arrived it was…not very exciting. I mean I got gifts and when I was young that was fun but after a while…” He stopped talking and Ginny wondered what it was that he was thinking.
“This year, since your mum’s out of the country, you could come to my family’s Christmas,” she offered.
“That’d be a bit weird, wouldn’t it?”
“Why they think we’re a couple and couples-”
“Aren’t we supposed to be done with this fake relationship soon? I mean my mum’s gone and I appreciate staying here but-”
“Oh,” she stared at him. “If there is something…or someone else then-”
He laughed. “No, but I don’t want you to bury your name in the tabloids further than you need to.”
Ginny didn’t really care about the tabloids–or she was just too tired to care at that moment. She let out a sigh and faced Draco. “Can I propose something a little…unusual?”
“We’re in a fake relationship; how much more unusual can it get?”
“Well, I really don’t mind this whole fake relationship thing,” she began. “And, well, I don’t hate you anymore-”
“High praise.”
“I’m not finished,” she narrowed her eyes on him. “I was wondering if…if you wanted to be my roommate for a while? I mean, I just don’t know if I wanna live alone, but I also don’t want to move back into The Burrow. I like it here and I like…your company.”
Despite Draco’s ability to bite back with quick responses, for once he looked at a loss for words. He stared at Ginny like she had grown a second head.
“ You like my company? ” He repeated almost disgustedly.
Ginny felt a rush of blood bloom across her cheeks. “Would it really be so bad if we…tried not to hate each other. I think…I just wonder if maybe we could be friends?”
He went back to staring at her like her second head had now exploded into flames. “Friends?”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “I know it’s difficult concept, but I can dumb it down a bit if you need me-”
“Why would you want to be friends ?”
She shrugged and then gestured to the fact that they were sitting in bed together. “I mean, we spend quite a bit of time together–what exactly would you call us?”
Draco struggled to find an answer.
“See?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I guess–if you want to be friends…we can be…” he seemed to struggle with the words.
Ginny elbowed him and smirked. “Merlin, don’t make it sound so terrible. I’m an excellent friend.”