Special delivery for teenage_hustler Title: Slugs and Butterflies Author/Artist: Recipient's LJ name:teenage_hustler Pairing(s): Draco/Ginny Rating: NC17 Summary: The road to hell is paved with good intentions – or in Draco's case his five year old cousin Teddy. Luckily for him, Ginny is there to save the day. Word Count: 6,853 Warnings/Content: None Author's/Artist's notes: Many thanks to my beta. Once again you rode to my rescue.
Of all the places to begin, it was a child's birthday party where Draco Malfoy commenced his rehabilitation.
If he had been asked officially, of course, he would have said that it was when the Wizengamot had set the terms of his probation. He was supposed to realise the error of his ways as he was stood before the assembled masses, listening as they made clear to him the length of the lead that he was going to be placed on. It had been a steady stream of depressing restrictions, each one making him feel less sympathetic than the last until finally they had let him go, into his mother's care. It could have been worse. Attached at the end had been a warning that if he did not behave himself then there would be nothing that anyone could do to save him.
The truth was, however, it was somewhere in the middle of a cloud of balloons, sweet wrappers, and an over-exuberant crowd of five year olds where it happened. It was at a party that he had been tricked into attending by a mother who was determined to rehabilitate her son even if he was not so keen on the idea. His natural youthful defiance, stifled by so many years of living in fear for his life, seemed determined to reassert itself. In Narcissa Malfoy's opinion, it would not be long before her son ended up in a cell in Azkaban alongside his father.
The party was for this cousin, Teddy, who Draco barely counted as family. His mother had recently been rebuilding relationship with his Aunt Andromeda, however, leading to an invitation to Teddy's birthday party. Narcissa had been evasive about where they were going right from the beginning, telling him only that they were going to a social engagement that simply could not be missed.
In retrospect, Draco knew he should have asked more questions. Dangled in front of him had been the prospect of Astoria Greengrass's presence, and that had proved temptation enough to ignore any suspicions that had arisen. The younger Greengrass sister had been avoiding him ever since they had argued while out one night, and he was not going to miss the chance to catch up with her. The end of their relationship had proved unsettling. Draco Malfoy was the one who did the dumping, and not vice versa.
"I said she might be here," Narcissa said as they lingered on the edge of the lawn. Reaching into her handbag, she pulled out a small brightly wrapped present which she promptly enlarged to nearly ten times its original size with a flick of her wand. “It was a possibility.”
"Oh, I suppose it was," Draco replied. "Though only if Potter himself decided to resurrect the Dark Lord. Possibly while dancing naked in front of Dumbledore's grave."
Narcissa ignored him, concentrating instead of plumping up the bow attached to the present.
With a gesture in the direction the lawn, he added, "There are Muggles here. Lots of Muggles."
Turning to face him, Narcissa reached up and adjusted his collar with perhaps a little too much force than was strictly necessary. Draco wondered whether she wanted to put a bow on him, as well.
"That is very much the point. Now, I'm going to go and say hello to Andromeda and Teddy. I suggest you do the same. I've seen Molly Weasley looking over here several times with a very suspicious look on her face. Take a moment to regain your composure, though, first."
One moment turned into two, and then three. Draco watched as his mother settled in among the other adults, handing Teddy his gift and then accepting a cup of tea. It was odd to see her trying to make polite conversation with Weasleys and Muggles. After a minute or too, he changed his mind. It was more than odd, it was downright disturbing. The place was overflowing with them – both of them. He could see Luna Lovegood there, and Granger. Potter was lurking in the background near what Draco thought looked suspiciously like a Muggle barbeque which meant that they were sure to all end up with food poisoning.
With a scowl, Draco shoved his hands deep into his pockets. His mother might want to get to know her long lost relatives, but that did not mean he had to. There was nothing to stop him from simply Apparating away. The longer he stood there, the less possible leaving seemed to be. A tether formed to hold him in place. If he left now, it would be commented on. He could not do that to his mother.
The one good thing was that if he knew her at all, Narcissa was sure to have brought a large bag of sweets with her for Teddy. He did not anticipate a five year old being able to put up much resistance when he stole a few.
Taking a deep breath, he delved in.
Sometime later, with a square of sticky cake in one hand and a small, equally sticky handprint on his trousers, Draco escaped. Walking around the side of the house, he made his way into a small sheltered courtyard that was occupied by a set of oversized bins and a faded plastic garden set. On seeing that the space was already occupied, he paused briefly in the entrance. Seated at the table was Ginny Weasley, her back to him.
That was enough to make him hesitate. There were sure to be other places he could go. What made him continue into the small area was the slender trail of smoke that he could see. Weasley, against all expectations, was very obviously smoking.
Cake in hand he edged his way around into her eye line, confirming as he did so what he thought he had seen from a distance.
"Bloody hell, Malfoy," she said with a start. "I thought that you were my mother."
"That is an entirely unfair comparison," he said, dropping onto the other chair. At the suspicious look she shot him, he said, "I have a proposition for you."
"Oh?"
"I will give you this delicious slice of cake in exchange for one of the cigarettes from that pack you've somehow managed hide in that too-small dress. It's impressive, by the way, how you've managed to squish yourself into it."
Ginny frowned and involuntarily glanced down at her cleavage. The dress she was wearing was quite revealing. It was clear to see the cogs turning behind her eyes, calculating how serious he was being. "Are you saying that I'm fat?"
"Oh no, just that there's rather a lot of you up there and not a lot of fabric to, ah, go around. I noticed it earlier when you were bending over to pick up one the sticky-fingered multitude. I'm surprised Potter hasn't leapt on you yet."
Her cheeks darkened. "It's not like that between us anymore," she said. "You know that – everyone knows that."
The last was said dryly. Draco inclined his head in acknowledgement. It would have been impossible to miss the very public break up of Potter and his childhood sweetheart, even if the media had not reported on it quite so extensively. Ginny had been suspended from the Holyhead Harpies for throwing the Quaffle at Potter's head during a match, after all. Draco had wished more than once that he had been there. Potter's face had no doubt been a picture. He really should have expected it though; Ginny had gained a reputation for being fiery even when they were at school.
With a roll of her eyes, she produced a golden packet seemingly from nowhere and pushed it across the table toward him. "I don't want the cake. You can have one as long as you don't bring Harry up again."
He smirked. "Deal. Of course you do realise that there's nothing to stop me from bringing him up after I've taken one."
"There's the knowledge that you'd soon be intimately acquainted with hot end of this one if you did."
He cocked his head to one side, drawing his wand and lighting the cigarette. Earlier, when he had reached for his packet, he had found nothing but an empty pocket. Somehow his mother had located and confiscated them without his being aware. She had taken to reading Muggle magazines lately as a way of acquainting herself with them more thoroughly. Research, she called it. Unfortunately for him, her research had allowed her to discover that tobacco was generally held in low regard by Muggle health professionals nowadays, and as such she had been doing her damnedest to get him to quit.
"Time is not mellowing you one bit, is it?"
With a gesture to the space around them, Ginny said, "I came out here for a quiet smoke."
"You came out here to get away from Potter. I don't think anyone could miss the little dance you two have had going on for most of this god-awful gathering." He held his hands up in surrender as she held up her cigarette and then pointed toward his crotch. Still smirking, he added, "My apologies."
"Why are you here, anyway?" she asked.
He broke off a piece of cake and put it in his mouth. "I was tricked. What about you?"
Her eyes widened, her expression remaining sceptical. As she leaned back once again on her chair, she was momentarily caught in a stream of sunlight breaking through the trees overhead. It revealed a slight pinkness to the skin of her chest. "Tricked?"
"I answered. Now it's your turn."
"That was hardly an answer. It was a hint at best. Elaborate, Malfoy. How were you tricked into coming?"
"My mother didn't exactly tell me whose party we were going to attend. I thought it was something for one of her friends."
"But it's just family, instead."
Draco shrugged. "Your turn. What convinced you to come today? I bet you were tempted not to, knowing that a certain person would be here. From what I've heard, he's involved himself heavily in Teddy's life."
Ginny nodded, and then lowered her eyes pensively to the table. She looked at the cigarette between her fingers. "Teddy doesn't exactly know that we've broken up. Harry wants to break it to him gently, and he didn't want to ruin his birthday, so I had to come. I would have wanted to, anyway. I like Teddy. He's a good boy." She looked up then, her expression serious. "He's worth getting to know, Malfoy."
"I never said he wasn't."
She shook her head. "You didn't need to."
Pushing her chair back from the table, she pulled herself into a standing position. Drawing her wand, she flicked it and caused the cigarette to vanish. Then she cast a quick freshening spell on her clothes. "I might go get myself a bit of cake after all."
Draco watched her walk away, absently admiring the sway of her hips. When she stopped suddenly and turned back to him, he was forced to quickly look away.
"Malfoy?"
"Hm?"
"There's chocolate around your mouth."
-
"There comes a moment in every young man's life when he wishes he could murder his mother."
Ginny blinked sleepily at the head floating in her fire place. Not for the first time since she had stumbled into the living room to answer the early morning Floo call, she wondered whether she was actually still asleep instead of merely wishing she was. It was Saturday, and since the Harpies still had not seen fit to end her suspension, bed was the only place she had to be. A dream made sense. There were few other logical explanations for why Draco Malfoy was currently peering at her from the hearth.
She blinked again, noticed that he’d upgraded ‘peering’ to ‘leering’, and moved to quickly adjust the front of her nightdress.
"Or at least think of something that would make her life a living hell for the next four to five years," he continued.
"I wouldn't have thought that was too difficult for you."
Draco slowly shook his head. "Poor, Weasley, even for you."
"It's..." Ginny began, and then leaned back to look at the clock on the mantelpiece. "It's just after eight on a Saturday morning, and five minutes ago I was fast asleep having a very pleasant dream involving a rather fit bloke and ice cream. Don't judge me too harshly."
With a smirk, he said, "You must have known that I was going to call."
Ginny snorted. "Obviously that must have been it. I don't suppose you feel like telling me why you've called, do you? If I go back to bed soon I might be able to get back to that dream."
"I've got something so much better than a dream," Draco answered. "I've got the real thing."
Just for a second, Ginny's sleep addled brain did a very convincing job of converting the man of her dreams into the man in front of her. Her breath caught as she imagined Draco tied to her bed, ice cream melting on his stomach while she made quick work with her tongue.
"As you will no doubt know I hate having to say this, but I need your help."
Ginny blinked again. "What?"
"Do you have something in your eye? You're acting very strangely, even for you."
"What do you mean you need my help? Why would you even think that I'd help you?"
"Teddy." Before Ginny could reply, he added, "That's the answer to both questions, by the way."
There was a pause before Ginny could respond. Shifting into a more comfortable position, she turned Draco's answer over in her mind.
It was three weeks since Teddy's party. In that time, it would have been a lie to say Ginny had not thought about Draco once. She had, in fact, thought about him on numerous different occasions, including when she had been reading the Prophet ('Judge Questions Malfoy Case Decision'), and as she had been walking to the newsagents to buy a new pack of cigarettes. Once, he had even had the gall to come to mind when she had been lounging in the bath. Fingers poised, Ginny had been horrified when it had been his face that had come to mind. Or, more precisely, it had been his hands and the long supple looking fingers attached to them.
"Teddy?"
"Yes. I'm looking after him today while my mother and Andromeda do whatever it is long estranged siblings do when they're trying to patch things up."
"And Andromeda decided to leave him with you?" The disbelief in her voice was obvious.
"My mother volunteered me. She's very good at doing things like that - hence the desire to kill her. I suspect Andromeda thought that she couldn't say no without causing another rift, which is doubtlessly how my mother wanted her to feel. So here I am stuck in Muggle London for the day. Are you going to help me or not?"
Ginny stared at him, visions of what might happen to Teddy if he was left at home with Draco all day streaming into her mind. Really, she had very little option. His next Floo call might be to someone like Pansy Parkinson if she said no.
"Let me get dressed and I'll come right over."
Over all, it was quite impressive the amount of trouble Draco could get up to when left alone with a five year old for under an hour. The sound of crunching greeted Ginny as he let her through the backdoor, into the kitchen. A glance down revealed that the floor was strewn with some kind of chocolate cereal. Draco had apparently been trying to prepare breakfast for his cousin. The box was under the table, next to a puddle of milk. Ginny sighed, moving forward to close the refrigerator door. As she did so, she froze at the sight of the Muggle toaster – or what was left of it.
"It was not heating up quick enough," Draco said defensively, when she looked over at him.
"So you melted it?"
"I was just trying to give it a little help. It's not my fault that Muggle things are so shoddily made."
-
It was as Draco watched her wrestle a squirming, crying, tantrum-ridden Teddy into his bedroom that the first glimmer of admiration started to stir. Ginny's actions were firm, her expression determined. He had always known she was stubborn, but the battle of wills in front of him was truly impressive. Considering the fact that she had accomplished more in the last twenty minutes than he had in the last two hours, he felt fully vindicated in his decision to send her an owl baring an SOS message. Again. This was the fifth time, all told, that such measures had been needed. He was beginning to think Teddy was doing things on purpose to make him drag Ginny over.
When Teddy screamed and took a swipe at her, she neatly stepped out of the way before shifting her grip and trying again.
"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO BED!"
"Tough," Ginny said, putting him on top of the offending object. Draco winced as she took a kick to the stomach.
Teddy let out a particularly bloodcurdling cry that was more than enough to prompt Draco to make a quick retreat. He needed to think of some way to thank Ginny without appearing to do so, anyway. Appearing too grateful just would not do.
When Ginny appeared forty-five minutes later, looking tired and harassed, he was sitting at the kitchen table.
"You need to start saying no," she said before he even had chance to open his mouth.
Draco shot her a questioning look, leaning forward to push a glass and the bottle of wine he had taken from Andromeda's stash toward her. It was a Muggle one, but fairly decent, and Andromeda had told him to treat the house as his while he was looking after Teddy.
Ginny dropped down onto the chair adjacent his, not hesitating before pouring a glass. Her cheeks were still lightly flushed from her battle with Teddy. Absently, Draco wondered whether the boy was still in one piece.
"I do?" he said, dragging his eyes away from her.
"Yes. You need to say no to your mother, and Andromeda, and if you can't say no to them then you need to say it to Teddy once in a while. Just how much sugar did you let him have?"
Draco smirked. Ignoring her question completely, he said, "Oh, I couldn't do that. Not now I've discovered precisely how much it irritates Potter. Did you know that he confronted me?"
With a nod, Ginny said, "He told me about it – in great detail. Apparently you're as much as an obnoxious prick as ever, although he will concede that you do have your slightly less prat like moments occasionally. Very occasionally."
The news that they had been talking again forced Draco to suppress a frown. The last the Prophet had reported, the situation between the two of them had still been chilly to say the least. In hindsight, and considering its history, he should never have trusted the newspaper to be a reliable source. It had to be right occasionally, though, and there was a part of him that had hoped this would be it.
He wanted to ask when they had talked. It must have been some time in the last week. Potter had confronted him the previous Monday in the middle of Diagon Alley. It was now Friday – hence the reason that he had ended up looking after Teddy again. His mother and Andromeda were indulging in a girly night out together. Just the thought made him shudder. Worse yet, they were doing it in Muggle London. There was a very good chance his mother was going to stagger through the door at three in the morning with a kebab in one hand.
Ginny wrinkled her nose, setting down her glass. "I can't decide which of us is more pathetic - you for not being able to stand up to your mother, or me for not being able to stand up to you."
"You, definitely. After all, you're supposed to hate me. I like my mother. Most of the time I do, anyway."
His comment drew a smile, which Draco counted as quite an achievement.
"Do you know the worst bit? I didn't actually have anywhere else to be tonight. It's a Friday night, and spending it with you is about as good as it was ever going to get."
"Thank you, Weasley. I'm glad I'm such desirable company." He rolled his shoulders. "Aren't the Harpies playing tomorrow anyway? I know the suspension has been revoked."
"They are. I'm not."
He looked at her, surprised by the sudden change in her tone. Gone was the mild incredulity of only moments before. Instead it was replaced by a hint of hesitation, almost reluctance. It was clear what she was saying. There had been rumours that her contract was not being renewed. Apparently she was not even going to be picked for matches.
She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye before taking a large sip of wine.
"Before you continue, can we both state for the record that I am not female, and therefore not one of your girlfriends?"
Ginny chuckled. "Oh, Malfoy, I could never mistake you for one of them. You're much too pretty."
Reaching up, he pushed a hand back through his hair. "And it's all natural."
She laughed again, meeting his eyes and holding them for just a little too long. It occurred to him that something entirely unexpected passed through her eyes. Infuriatingly brief, Draco wondered whether he had seen it at all.
She took another drink. Draco mimicked her.
-
"Weasley, you need to do me a favour."
Ginny sighed. "What did Teddy do this time?"
"There may or may not have been an incident involving a tree house, sixteen magically mutated Pygmy Puffs, some slugs, and an exploding Quaffle. We're at St Mungo's."
"St Mungo's?" Ginny gawped at the head floating in the fireplace. She scrambled closer, unconsciously looking Draco over. There was frustratingly little of him to see, but what she could see looked to still be in one piece.
"How long will it take you to get here? Teddy wants to see his Aunty Ginny."
"You're so manipulative."
"You wouldn't have me any other way."
-
"Did you show him how to do that?"
A pause.
"No."
"You did!"
"Well, knowing how to perform a locking spell is a valuable skill for a young wizard. Trust me - there are certain things you don't want your mother walking in on."
"Malfoy, he's five years old. He shouldn't even be doing magic yet. He shouldn't even been holding a wand. Now he's locked in a car, and Andromeda is going to kill us when she gets home."
"You're never too young to learn the essentials."
-
Weasley,
Up for a trip to the zoo? Teddy's treat. He heard you could use some cheering up. I, of course, told him you're always a miserable cow.
Draco Malfoy, babysitter extraordinaire
-
The entrance to the zoo was teaming with people. Ginny stood on one side, absently hugging herself. After a few moments, she reached up and smoothed a few loose strands of hair away from her face. It needed cutting again, but the thought of going to the hairdresser filled her with dread. Surrounding herself with gossip was just about the worst thing she could imagine at the moment - not least because she was sure to be one of the main subjects of it.
News of Harry's engagement had leaked to the press just in time to sit alongside an article on the end of her Quidditch career. The Harpies had chosen not to renew her contract, citing differing visions on the sort of club they wanted to be as the reason. Termination of her current contract had been immediate, along with a heavy severance package. Her agent had claimed that he was willing to fight her corner on the matter, but Ginny had heard differently in his voice. Later in the day, she had heard an interview with her ex-manager on the radio in which he had effectively labelled her as too difficult to work with. The last week of Ginny's life had been spent locked away in her flat, hiding from the press, her family, and friends. She had been making a concerted effort to become a hermit.
When Draco appeared with Teddy in tow, Ginny found that she could not stop herself from smiling. The younger of the two was practically bouncing with each step he took. His hair had been transformed to a pale, silvery blond colour. Seeing Ginny, he took off at a run, weaving through the Muggles toward her. Short arms wrapped around her, hugging tightly.
Looking up revealed that Draco was giving her a small, lopsided smile. A warm, delicious feeling filled her chest. To her irritation, she felt tears prickle her eyes. For his part, Draco looked appropriately horrified.
"Come on," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Let's go in."
Ginny felt Teddy tug on her hand. "I want to see the monkeys."
She smiled down at him. "I think you are a monkey."
"She might be right," Draco added. "I thought I saw a tail earlier."
"My mother has whisked Andromeda off to Crete for the week," Draco told her later, as they wandered through the butterfly house. The exhibit had proved to be a surprise hit with Teddy, especially after he had seen the pupae breeding room. Now he was busily attempting to find the butterflies he had been told about, using a brightly coloured card for reference. Ginny and Draco followed a short distance back, keeping him just in view.
"Andromeda is trusting you with him for an entire week?"
"I'm deeply offended at your surprise. I'm perfectly capable of looking after him. Besides, Potter wasn't available. He's probably too busy screwing..." He trailed off on seeing the look that appeared on Ginny's face.
Hastily redirecting her eyes, she quickened her pace slightly. She had barely taken two steps before she felt Draco's hand on her arm. Firmly, he pulled her to one side of the path. Ginny ended up nearly standing in amongst the plants. As it was, heavy foliage hung on either side of her.
"Teddy..." she began, trying to see down the path.
"He's fine."
There was silence, for a moment. Then, with a sigh, Ginny said, "I don't even know why I'm upset. It's not like I still want him. I haven't wanted him for a long time. Honestly, he behaved like a prat when we were splitting up, and the way he's been about you just makes me want to smack him. If I had a hundred Quaffles I'd throw every one at his head and not regret one of them."
"What do I have to do with anything?" Draco asked, clearly surprised.
Ginny nearly cursed under her breath, wondering whether there was ever going to be a day when she would be better at censoring her comments around him.
She forced herself to look up and meet his eyes. He looked oddly tense – as if there was something that he wanted to say. Standing close, his hand still lingered on her elbow as if he thought she might try to run away at any second. The thought that he wanted to stop her was strangely warming. Embarrassment bubbled up. She quickly suppressed that train of thought.
"Teddy said something to him, and now he thinks we're involved. It's ridiculous, I know."
Draco's expression hardened slightly. His fingers tightened slightly on her arm. Ginny shifted uncomfortably.
"It is?"
She nodded. "Because if he was right, it wouldn't be fair on Teddy, would it? Imagine if something did happen, but it didn't work out. Teddy's attached to you now, Draco, whether you like it or not. I'm attached to him. I like being a part of his life. He reminds me so much of Tonks, and I miss her. What would happen when we fell out? He's already had to put up with what happened with Harry. He..."
With no warning, he kissed her. One second Ginny was talking, and the next his mouth was fastened tightly to hers. She gasped – a small 'oh' of surprise escaping her. Even if Draco's hands had not been holding her in place she would have been unable to turn away. His fingertips moved up the line of her jaw to cup her cheek seemed to burn. When Draco pulled back, Ginny could see that his cheeks were flushed. The set of his jaw was hard, reminding her too much of the boy she had known back at Hogwarts. He was angry, she realised.
"They'll be closing soon. I should find Teddy," he said, dropping his hold on her arm. "I'll tell him that you said goodbye."
As Ginny watched him walk away, an odd attack of vertigo struck her. Not caring if she was seen, she hurriedly Apparated away.
-
"Weasley?"
"Ginny? Are you there?"
"Fuck."
-
"Ginny, come to the bloody Floo. I know you're there – I saw your sock as you were trying to get out of sight. It was one of those garish red and gold ones that the Gryffindor team used to wear for Quidditch."
"Fine, if you're not going to talk to me I'll send you an owl."
-
Ginny,
Stop being an annoying cow and answer your bloody Floo.
Draco
-
Ginny,
I'm sorry, okay. I shouldn't have sworn at you. Are you happy? You've managed to extract an apology out of me - no one has done that for about three years, and even then it was my mother.
If you don't reply immediately, though, I will be forced to take drastic measures. If it helps sway you, Teddy has been up to his usual tricks.
Draco
P.S Deciding that you're just going to not talk to me ever again is very childish, by the way.
-
knock
knock knock
knock knock knock
"Ginny?"
knock knock knock knock ... bang
Trying to ignore the stinging sensation in the palm of his hand, Draco leaned forward to rest his ear against the dark wood of the door. It was, he thought, a distinctly undignified position to be in. As he had already warned, however, desperate times prompted drastic measures, and while he was more irritated than anything else, he was willing to make the sacrifice.
He simply could not believe that she was still ignoring him. Nearly two months had passed since they had last seen each other. Even then it had only been a chance encounter at a coffee shop in Diagon Alley. Ginny had been standing in line when he entered - a single witch standing between them. For at least ten minutes, as the person behind the till worked at snail's pace, he had been forced to stare at the back of her head. When he made himself look away, his eyes had been inevitably drawn back. It had been too tempting to simply indulge in the urge to study her, feeding the growing maw in his gut. Kissing her had been a mistake, and yet at the same time it had been one of the best things he had ever done.
Then she had turned around, clearly bored with waiting in line. She had caught sight of him immediately, and there had been nothing Draco could do to hide the fact he had been watching her. For a brief moment, he thought she was going to speak. Her lips had parted teasingly. Then the witch between them had given Ginny a firm shove in the back. "Your turn, lovey. Be a good girl and hurry up. Some of us need a hot drink to keep us from seizing up."
He had tried to catch her eyes again before she left, but with no success. Coffee cup in hand, she hurried past him without looking.
"Ginny, I can hear you moving around in there. Answer the door. I have about as much patience left as Granger when faced with an eighty percent off sale at Flourish and Blotts, so if you don't answer the door there a chance you just won't have a door left at all..."
The door flew open to reveal a small, rather angry looking redhead. Draco took in the sight of her flushed cheeks with pleasure. Her hair was tied back in a rough, almost scruffy looking ponytail that allowed a few tendrils to break free around her face. She was wearing an old Gryffindor Quidditch jumper that reached down to the middle of her thighs, along with the matching socks that were drawn up to her knees. Draco sucked in a deep breath as he realised there did not appear to be anything between.
"Will you be quiet? Someone is going to call the Aurors!"
As she talked, it dawned on Draco that there was a good chance there was nothing underneath the outfit, either.
"Now he decides to be mute," she said with a roll of her eyes.
Draco made a small sound. A low, strained noise that might have been words but for the fact that there had been a distinct movement this time as she talked that made him start slowly counting to ten.
For the first time, Ginny began to look unsure. She brought her arms up, folding them almost protectively. When she spoke, however, she sounded defiant. "Did you just come here to ogle me?"
Draco shook his head, looked up, and realised abruptly that why he was there was less important than the fact that he was. Even more important than that was the fact that she had not slammed the door in his fact yet.
"Fuck it," he said, and pulled her into a kiss.
-
I really should at least try to knee him, Ginny thought absently as Draco walked her backward into her flat. This was, after all, the reason she had made sure to maintain plenty of distance between them the last couple of months. She had almost snapped on seeing him at the coffee shop, and then again when she had spied him walking through Diagon Alley one day. He had not seen her the latter time, and when he had disappeared from view she had felt an almost painful mixture of relief and regret. The fact that he had turned up at her door didn't change anything.
Her resolve had bid a hasty retreat the moment his hand slid under her jumper to nudge aside her knickers, however, and was now little more than a distant memory. The murmuring sound Draco made on finding her already well on her way to being wet should have been enough to make her angry. It was all of two minutes since she had opened the door. As it was, she could only wriggle against his hand, urging him on.
"Door!" she gasped suddenly, trying to peer around him.
"Hmm," Draco said, lowering his mouth to her neck.
"No, it's still open. We've got to... Oh!"
When he looked up, there was a smirk evident in his eyes. "Just there?"
She nodded, the door momentarily forgotten as his nail once again glided over a particularly sensitive spot.
Her backside collided with the small table that stood across the hall. There was a crash as her elbow sent the vase positioned there tumbling to the floor. Abruptly, Ginny's sock clad feet were surrounded by flowers and shards of glass. Tearing her mouth away from Draco's, she began to protest. Then she was lifted into her air and deposited on the table, which creaked under her weight.
With Draco's help, she shimmied out of her knickers. They landed somewhere over his shoulder even as their hands clashed over the waistband of his trousers. Jeans, she noted. A pair she remembered well from the way they moulded to his backside. She'd imagined getting them off him more than once – peeling them away and then digging her nails into his bum. Getting her hands on that particular bit of his anatomy, she spread her thighs and dragged him closer.
A quick kiss followed. Her mouth was already beginning to feel sore. Wrapping her arms around his neck, and with Draco's help, she angled her hips to accept him. The first brush of his cock still made her glance down. He slid along the length of her before pulling back.
"Not bad, Malfoy," she breathed, reaching down to help him inside. He twitched under her fingers, and then groaned as his head slipped inside. Fingertips dug into her hips as he thrust deeply, filling her.
"If that's only 'not bad' then Potter must have a cock like a hippogriff."
"Oh you've got him beat," Ginny said, shifting against him. Curling her fingers into his hair, she yanked his head back to expose his neck before straining to kiss him there.
After pulling back almost teasingly, Draco thrust again. As she tightened her legs around him, using carefully honed muscles to lever herself against him, he said, "Come on, moan for me. I always figured you'd be a noisy one, talking as much as you do."
"I think we've already established you're the noisy one. Just shut up and fuck me."
It was Ginny who ended up moaning loudest in the end. By the time they were through, her back was jammed against the wall, and as boneless as she felt she was relatively sure that her legs had been welded in position around him. Her jumper had been pushed up to sit above her breasts. On seeing them, Draco had exclaimed, "I bloody knew it." His tone had been one of distinct approval that had made Ginny laugh.
It was not until she was negotiating her way across the broken glass to pick up her knickers that Draco abruptly said, "The door is open."
She looked back at him, grinning. Carefully making her way back to him, she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. "I told you so. Close it before you come through."
It was some time later, after round two in the shower, while they were sprawled together on her couch, that Ginny turn to him and asked, "Why did you come over, anyway?"
Draco stretched, arching his back and nearly upsetting her from her position on his chest. She had been enjoying the view, looking up at his face and the way that his eyelashes brushed his cheeks when he closed his eyes. They were rather girly, really. She had already made a note to tease him about it later, when she found the energy to.
"Oh, it was Teddy. He locked himself in the bathroom, and I couldn't get him to come out. Tried every bloody spell I could think of to get through the door. Little sod has been practising. I almost felt proud."
Ginny sat up sharply, barely noticing the way that he winced as she did so. "You just left him there?"
"What? No, of course not. I had to resort to calling in Potter, though, thanks to you. That wasn't pleasant."
She relaxed slightly, but did not return to her previous position. She could imagine what that meeting must have been like. She had honestly thought Draco would be able to manage without her interference, though. After a pause, she asked, "So why did you come over?"
"Oh, I was going to give you a piece of my mind." He raised a speculative eyebrow. "How do you feel about spanking, by the way?"
Ginny felt her cheeks start to darken slightly. She glanced away, leaning against the back of the couch as she took a moment to think. "This could turn out to be really messy. Most of the time I'm not sure that I even like you."
He smirked. "You like me. Or you could, anyway, if you let yourself. I've resigned myself to liking you. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, either. I'm quite enjoying it."
As Ginny stared at him, quietly shocked, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Swinging his legs around, he climbed to his feet and padded over to where his jeans had ended up. "Fancy a smoke? I think I still owe you one."