The mug of coffee was warm in his hands. A soft rain cooled the air outside, chilling his skin even though the water didn't touch him. He had used a charm that his mother had taught him to keep the area around him dry; it was as though there were a large, invisible umbrella over Draco and the table. His eyes skimmed over the gardens as his thoughts wandered.

Draco had slept poorly the night before. After everything that had happened, after Ginny had leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, it seemed that his need for sleep had fled. Draco had lain in his bed for hours with Mouse curled on his chest, waiting for sleep to claim him. Instead, he couldn't stop thinking about what had occurred in the corridor outside the study. How much of it had been because Ginny had been drunk?

Likely all of it.

Draco had left his room when the sky lightened, feeling oddly alert despite his lack of rest. The house-elves had made him coffee and he had gone outside, sitting beside the garden. Fresh air would help him think, he had decided. Though he was due at work in a little over an hour, Draco found he wasn't in a rush to get ready. He needed only a moment of quiet, of solitude, to sort his thoughts and then he'd be fine.

Over the rain hitting the ground, Draco could hear her approach. He turned in the same moment Ginny crossed the threshold to the patio. Her arms were wrapped around herself as she eyed the setup Draco had made.

"A bit dismal to sit out here when it's raining," Ginny observed, but she came to join him anyway.

Draco put down his mug.

"I find it refreshing," he explained.

Ginny made a sound of understanding as she lifted her legs so that they curled under her. Her hair was loose, slightly more wild than normal. The freckles that dotted her skin seemed to stand out more than usual. Draco wondered if it was because she had only just woken up, or if it was due to the alcohol the night before. Her teeth gnawed gently on her bottom lip as she stared back at him.

"Thanks for letting me stay last night."

"You didn't want to go home."

She frowned at his words. Draco drummed his fingers against the table top. He wasn't trying to be mean about what had happened the night before. But, truth be told, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react. If Ginny hadn't actually wanted to kiss him, if she had been drunk and giddy and made a mistake, it was Draco who was going to look like a fool. He was always left looking like a fool.

"Yeah, I know," she said softly. "Look, I… um, I don't know how to say this. But, I guess, I wanted to apologize. For how I acted last night."

Draco's heart sank. He shouldn't be surprised, he supposed.

"It was really rude of me to just, I don't know, show up and expect you to want to hang out. I know you work during the week. I think it was because of Percy and Audrey's announcement, it messed with my head and made me feel…"

Draco lifted his eyebrows when her words faltered. She licked her lips, unsure, before continuing.

"It made me feel like I was failing in some way."

"Failing in some way," Draco repeated slowly. "So, you came to me. Did you assume that my presence would make you feel better about yourself? That, without a doubt, you'd look good in comparison to me?"

Something bitter poisoned his words. Draco scowled. He had wanted time to collect his thoughts, to remind himself how pointless and inappropriate the night before had been. Draco had been hoping for more time alone in order to achieve that before work. Though, he couldn't help but realize, some part of him had known Ginny would look for him when she woke up.

He should've tried to leave the manor earlier.

"Don't be daft," Ginny said, straightening in her seat. "That's not what I said."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm trying to apologize for—for overstepping, for being rude."

Draco waved his hand lazily at her.

"I fear that's simply a part of your personalit—hey!"

Ginny had jumped to her feet, knocking into the table and causing his mug to rock, splashing some coffee on Draco. Her glare was intense as she stared down at him.

"Why are you being a prat?" she growled. "I'm trying to say sorry!"

"I don't need your apologies, Weasley," Draco snapped back. "I should've known inviting you into this manor would lead you to take advantage of my hospitability. If I had realized that you would start showing up at my door every time one of your brothers was more successful than you, I would've certainly given a second thought to extending the invitation to come to my home."

What he said silenced her. He could see her brain working, trying to make sense of it. Draco took the opportunity to stand up. Honestly, he didn't want to bicker with Ginny. He knew he was feeling wounded in some way, and he didn't like it.

"Ironic that you're trying to use my brothers against me," Ginny finally said, narrowing her eyes.

Draco's hands twitched at his sides.

"How so?"

She jutted her chin into the air.

"You've only kept me around because of Bill."

It felt like someone punched him in the stomach—that Ginny had belted him right in the gut. She was glowering at him, waiting for his response. How could she possibly know anything about Bill? His lungs burned. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until that moment. Slowly he exhaled, and then inhaled again.

"Bill?"

"Yes, Bill."

"I don't know—"

"Come on Draco, I'm not an idiot. I delivered his letter to you at Gringotts, which is what got me into this mess. He told me you've been trying to get him to sign a contract with you and that he's not willing to. You think I really believed that you'd just invite me over for no real reason? You have a handful of house-elves that could do what I've been doing."

Ginny didn't sound angry, simply frustrated. Draco studied her, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say to that.

"That's quite an accusation to make."

"Yeah, well, you're not as sneaky as you think," Ginny replied.

Draco pressed his lips together and looked away from her, out over the gardens and yard. The rain filled the silence between them as he tried to figure out how much he wanted to admit. He could lie and tell her that she was a fool for thinking such a thing. It could potentially ruin everything that had been built between them, although exactly what that was, he wasn't so certain. The much more frightening option was to admit the truth and attempt to successfully navigate his way through this strange conversation.

"I thought if I learned more about you, I could learn how to deal with him," Draco finally said.

Ginny sighed but nodded her head.

"I figured it was something like that."

"I haven't… Your brother hasn't been a concern of mine recently, at least not when you're here. I forgot that there was supposed to be some plan in place." Draco let out a choked laugh as he thought of work. "The goblins are going to have my head."

"You're more than capable of getting Bill to sign some stupid contract," Ginny told him. "I don't know why you thought being around me would help you with him."

"He's not going to sign it, he has a grudge against me—"

"Bill is one of the most levelheaded people I know. If he's not signing it, then he's not signing it for a practical reason. He isn't like Ron, who would cut off his nose to spite his face."

"Then what am I supposed to do to get him to agree to it?"

"I don't know! Owl him, sit down with him somewhere, and figure it out!"

Her chest was rising and falling with heavy breaths, the burst of anger at the end of her sentence obvious. Her hair was beginning to curl around her face, damp from the wet air, as she watched him. In that moment, Draco felt like she could see right through him.

"I meant what I said last night." She licked her lips and Draco's eyes were drawn to the movement. When she said nothing else, he looked up to see that she had been studying him. "I was thinking about you yesterday. I wanted to see you. I shouldn't have come last night, I know that, it was just… I'm not asking for anything, Draco, but I'm not very good at hiding my feelings. I told you before that there's something more to you than I thought. I want to find out what it is."

It was strange, in his experience, for someone to be so forthcoming with their feelings. Draco had been raised in a quiet, strict household where signs of affection were his mother brushing his hair from his face or his father allowing Draco to sit in his lap as he worked. They didn't express their feelings of fondness. To hear these words fall so easily from Ginny's mouth both confused and intrigued Draco. Her sentiments were honest and real.

"Ginny, I'm not… this isn't…" Draco shook his head, hoping it would help his thoughts come together. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say."

"I'm not asking for anything. I'm just letting you know. Mouse's potions are almost done and there's going to be no real reason for me to come around unless you want me to. I think… what I'm really trying to say is that last night I realized that I hope you do want me around after this. Even if it's not… I mean, sometimes there's just things you say or do that make me think…"

"What?" he asked, throat tight.

She took a tiny step forward, her hands twisting in front of her.

"That I'm not alone in this."

The rain intensified around them, but they remained dry. Somehow they managed to hear the tiny meow over the rainfall. They both looked to the doorway to see Mouse walking towards them, distaste over the weather visible on his round face.

"Pansy found him in Knockturn Alley the day you stepped on him."

Ginny's head snapped towards him.

"What do you mean?"

"She didn't want to leave him there, so she brought him to Gringotts for me to look after. I had no idea what I was going to do with him. I lied about him being my pet," Draco told her with a one-shouldered shrug.

She didn't respond for a moment, as though struck silent. Then, Ginny sighed. The worry that had made her tense seemed to disappear. She smiled up at him. Relief hit him at the sight of it.

"Well he's definitely your pet now. Look at that expression on his face— pure Malfoy," she said.

"Indeed."

His lips twisted into a small smile when she covered her mouth with her hand, laughing.

It took only one meeting with Bill at his cottage on the cliffside to get a straight answer from him on why he wouldn't sign the contract.

"Look Draco, it's not you. It's not that I don't like you and it's not because I have an issue with you over your history with Ron, or because of Greyback, or anything like that. Not that that means we're mates, but… I would never purposely derail your career. I know, though, that the goblins have a better deal they could be offering my team and they're not. I'm not sure why they're not, but I have a feeling that it might be because of you."

"Because of me?"

"You're not exactly the most popular bloke at Gringotts. Maybe they're testing you and maybe they're hoping you fail. In any case, you get me that deal and I'll sign on the line. I swear I will. But you need to get it for me."

It had taken eleven days of intense meetings with the goblins to get them to offer up the money they would normally agree to. Draco wasn't sure whether the goblins had resisted simply out of spite or because they had been testing him in some way like Bill thought, but he didn't care. Once the contract was signed, the tense relationship he had with the goblins seemed to relax to a degree.

During the negotiations, Mouse's potion therapy had come to an end. Ginny was under no obligation to come by the manor anymore. Draco was able to ignore this fact by concentrating on work, staying late at Gringotts and then heading home to eat and feed Mouse before passing out. As soon as the contract was signed, however, and Draco had nothing to distract him, he had begun to feel an itch. It seemed buried deep inside of him, an itch he couldn't scratch, an itch that bothered him more than when Bill wouldn't sign the contract.

It took two and a half weeks for him to write to Ginny and ask her to come over.

"You're being ridiculous."

"I am not."

"Look here. See? No hands. My feet are barely off the ground. Most first years can do this, Draco."

"I know that. I'm more than capable of flying."

"Exactly. So, what's the problem?"

"I have no desire to."

"Oh, come on. What are you afraid of? I'll let you catch the Snitch first."

"You'll let me? Ginny, do you realize who you're speaking to—"

She burst into laughter as she soared high above him. Draco wasn't even certain she could hear what he was saying anymore. He swallowed thickly and looked away from Ginny; it wouldn't help him to see how easy it was for her to be in the sky. Merlin, when had he become afraid of flying? Sure, it had been years since the last time, but for fuck's sake, he was an adult! He had played Quidditch all his life! The only player to ever catch the Snitch before him was bloody Potter.

Draco closed his eyes, the sound of Ginny's laughter ringing in his head. He pushed off of the ground and let the broom take control. Wind whipped his hair as he flew higher and higher. Applying pressure to the handle, he stopped the broom in midair. Slowly, Draco opened his eyes.

The view of the grounds took his breath away. Acres and acres of land stretched before him. In the distance, rain fell from a dark, gray cloud. Draco inhaled the brisk air. It seemed to freeze his lungs. A surprised laugh escaped his lips.

"Welcome back."

Draco turned his head slightly as Ginny rose beside him on her own broom. She was sitting comfortably on it as she studied him. He found himself reaching for her and she leaned forward. The tips of his fingers brushed her face and she smiled.

Bliss and relief raced through him and he smiled back at her. He had reason to believe there was nothing better than this right here.