I fell into a sleep coma that I wished would have last for years. My whole body was exhausted, and my horrible emotional state didn't help anything at all. I wanted to hide in my bed for the next millennium, undisturbed and alone, but when I expressed this to Blaise and Harry, they laughed. They obviously thought I was kidding, although I was clearly not. Despite the fact that, for the most part, it was over, there was so much work left to be done, for me and for everyone, and just the thought of the ordeal that was about to ensue was enough for me to want to never wake up again. I was exhausted.

Draco's trial was set to happen almost immediately. I was worried, initially, when Blaise told me that because I figured it meant bad news for Draco, but Blaise told reassured me that was not necessarily the case. I thought that because the only witness who could testify that Marcus had conspired against Draco was dead that all hope was lost, despite the evidence that I had set aside to prove that Draco had no motive.

As it were, there was one other person who had witnessed Theo's murder, and she turned out to be as alive and kicking as any of us, having had spent the last few months under Flint's thumb and being kept away where no one could find her with threats of annihilating her family had she tried to run. But as badly as I felt for her and as much as I sympathised with the ordeal she had gone though, just the thought that Astoria was still alive gave me a funny twinge in the pit of my stomach. The fact that Astoria would be the one to testify and set Draco free was even more unsettling than I would have liked for it to be. I knew I was being petty and horrible, but I couldn't help the way I felt about it.

I was pleased to hear, however, that Marcus would not only be tried for the murder of Theodore Nott. He had also kidnapped Astoria, harassed Daphne, murdered Victor, and stalked and attempted to rape and murder me, and each one of those counts would be a separate indictment, which meant that even if he was not found guilty of all of them, it was very likely that he'd still go to Azkaban for a long time, if not the rest of his life.

Harry was the one who prepared me to go to trial. He said I would be a key witness and that my testimony would be crucial if we wanted to get Marcus Flint put away for good; I had not only been a victim of his, but I had also witnessed another of his crimes. Even if I didn't get to put a wand to his chest and kill him, I at least knew that I'd be getting some kind of justice. And besides, the Killing Curse would have been quick and almost painless, whereas life behind bars inside a padded cell would be a much more fitting punishment after all he had done. That was good enough for me. Harry had even said that the charges I should have faced for casting an Unforgivable would likely be dropped due to my extreme emotional state and I would probably be granted immunity so that I could testify without implicating myself in criminal activity.

I was also thrilled to find out that the potion Hermione and Blaise had worked on was having some very promising results. There was a lot of damage to repair when it came to Narcissa's health – some of it irreparable because of the amount of time she spent with the toxic potion coursing through her system – but from what they told me, her prognosis was good and she had already begun to heal. She'd had a lucid conversation with her husband for the first time in quite a while, according to Blaise. I was still nervous about being around Lucius Malfoy after I sent his heir to prison even though I had promised to do everything I could to keep him out, or else I would have liked to have visited them one more time.

Despite my protesting and my assurance that I was fine, Harry refused to let me out of his sight after the night with Marcus in the alley. I'm not sure if he thought I was really going to go off the deep end and go on some sort of a killing spree or if he just wanted to make sure that I was okay, but his constant surveillance was really unnecessary. All I wanted was to curl up on my sofa with a cuppa and a good book – something nonviolent with no romance whatsoever. Perhaps a good textbook would suffice. Herbology would be lovely.

Harry sat beside me through the next two weeks. The court appearances for Flint's trial and the backlash of Astoria being alive had yet to come, but I had to admit that I was nervous and unhappy about all of it. I was more scared to see Draco again than anything else. So scared, in fact, that I didn't even plan to attend his trial. I couldn't watch his little girlfriend's weeping testimony about how Draco had tried to come to her rescue. The thought itself made me sick. It must have been tearing Harry up inside knowing what he knew about my feelings and feeling how he felt for me. But he was a gentleman, and much to my relief, he never once made an attempt at a reconciliation between us. He obviously knew better than to think that my feelings would have magically changed, or at least he knew how inconsiderate it would be when my mind was so obviously elsewhere.

He handed me a mug of cocoa. It was topped with whipped cream that was piled nearly three inches high with marshmallows and three maraschino cherries on top. He knew enough about me and about women to know that time and lots of sugar was the only way to cure a broken heart.

I accepted the drink and smiled appreciatively at my friend. There was no sense in referring to him as simply just 'an ex' anymore. Calling him as such had held such a negative connotation, and I just didn't have any hard feelings about him anymore. He had been my ally and my confidante, and despite the awkwardness between us all the time, I knew that he was the best friend I could ever hope for.

"You don't have to stay here with me, you know," I told him for the seventy-fifth time in two weeks. "You must be bored silly sitting here all day."

Harry shrugged and took a seat beside me on the sofa. "Being around you can never be boring," he said.

I knew he was just being nice – he was so bored that he had spent a good hour and a half staring at his cuticles the day before – but I smiled at the compliment. It was the thought that counted, after all, and Harry was nothing if not thoughtful.

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other's company in relative silence. I knew it would help him to feel less uncomfortable if I would speak to him every once in awhile without prompting, but I just didn't know what to say. I felt so weird about him seeing me so low, so deranged, so un-me that night in the alley that I wasn't sure how to be myself around him anymore. I wasn't even sure if the crazy lady who had tried to cast two Unforgivables in a matter of five minutes was who I had become or if I had just had a temporary lapse in sanity, but either way, it was hard to look someone who had seen me like that in the eye and make casual conversation.

"Malfoy's trial is tomorrow," he said, breaking the silence after a few more minutes. "Are you sure you don't want to go?"

I shook my head vehemently. "No, I don't think that would be wise," I said. "Draco isn't going to want to see me again. He – he hates me after what I did."

Harry shrugged. "Well, all right, if you're sure. Hermione said she'd like to come visit you, then, since I can't be here with you. I'll be there to present the evidence you've gathered in his defense, so I can grab your pay while I'm down at the Ministry, if you'd like."

"Pay?"

"Sure. For your capture of Malfoy."

I shook the cobwebs from my head. "I'm getting paid for that? I figured that would be a Ministry capture."

Harry gave me a half-smile. "No," he said. "It was a Ministry apprehension. We brought him in, but you did all of the work leading up to it, so you get the credit for it."

There was no stopping the smile that spread across my face. I had begun my short-lived career as a bounty hunter because I needed the money, but half way through this case, I realised that's not what I cared most about. I didn't care about putting every single person away who had a rap sheet. I didn't want every teenager who missed their court appearance after they performed magic outside of Hogwarts to be behind bars. I wanted justice for the people who deserved it. I wanted those who committed serious crimes to pay the price. I wanted for the people I loved to feel safe.

Briefly, I thought about my first capture. The man who attempted to set fire to a Muggle school while it was in session was nothing short of deplorable to me. He was a waste of space. He was a disgrace to all witches and wizards. Finding him and making sure he was locked away for good was the most satisfying moment I had ever experienced, and the rush of being the one to put him away was simply unparalleled. I wanted to do it over and over again.

It occurred to me then what I had failed to consider before. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't want to be a bounty hunter. I didn't want to have to fight and scrape to get what I wanted, but to actually do some good in the world. To make a difference and to help the people who were helpless.

I wanted to be an Auror.

I glanced up at Harry. "You know... you know what?" I said, a hint of a smile in my voice for the first time in weeks. "I think I will go to his trial."

He smiled back at me. I think he was happy to finally have some semblance of the old Ginny Potter back, even if it meant me seeing Draco again.

"So, in the case of Wizengamot v. Draco Malfoy, we find the defendant to be not guilty," Kingsley Shacklebolt said, his voice booming through the court room with the aid of the Sonorous charm. "Mr Malfoy, you are free to go with the Ministry's apology."

I smiled at the reaction spreading throughout the court room. Some people were simply outraged - "He is a former Death Eater! What difference does it make if he didn't kill this time?" - while others were delighted - "I'm so happy he is not like his father." But regardless of everyone's opinion, there had been very little deliberation with the Wizengamot and the Minister. After all of the witness testimony and the evidence presented, no one whose opinion mattered in determining his innocence had thought he was guilty.

I was very glad that he was not going to spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I was elated that his slate was being wiped clean and that he would be reinstated to his position in the Auror department. But the growing knot in the pit of my stomach when I watched him embrace Astoria in the midst of the courtroom's mayhem made me forget what it was I was so excited about. He was free, but I knew he'd never forgive me. I wondered if all that I had done for him had really been worth it, but then I was angry with myself for thinking such a selfish though.

Harry looked on with concern, watching the line of my eye to see what it was that I couldn't stop looking at. I could see in the way he immediately looked away how hurt he was. He was watching the woman he loved look on at the man she loved hug another woman who he may have had feelings for. It was nothing short of a tangled web, and both of us felt the pain that that web had inflicted upon us.

We took a walk to the Auror department to say hello to my brother and to pick up my pay. I smiled at Pansy and hugged her excitedly – she, too, was thrilled that I had managed to help clear Draco and finally put a stop to the man who had terrorised her, as well. I had to admit that it was nice to see friendly faces rather than just the inside of my flat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Draco had come by as well. He was shaking hands with Kingsley as he sat at his desk. He would be resuming his work soon, I assumed. I would have been glad for him had it not been for that Greengrass twit standing next to him with her hands all over him like some doting sort of girlfriend. I really hoped she was not his girlfriend.

I wrapped my arms around Harry as I loudly asked if we could go home. I glanced over at Draco, who hadn't been paying me even the slightest bit of attention, although Astoria looked over at me and smiled, much to my dismay. Harry didn't appear to be amused by my performance, and the less-spiteful side of me was quite embarrassed once I really thought about what I was doing. I flushed and looked away, unwilling to make eye contact with anyone for the rest of the day.

We went back to my flat that night. Harry seemed to have forgotten that I was a wretched bitch when I wanted be, and he resumed the ever-exciting task of examining his hands as I continued to read my Herbology textbook from my third year.

There was such a deafening silence that I was almost sure that I could hear the hairs growing inside my ears. Harry had stopped pretending to be occupied and I had stopped pretending to read a book that I couldn't care less about.

"Why didn't you go talk to him?" he asked me.

I didn't have to ask who he was referring to. "I dunno," I said truthfully. "I wanted to."

"You should have."

I cocked my head to the side as I stared at him. "Why?"

His green eyes were so intense in that moment that I felt like they were actually going to pierce my skin. I could tell he had been thinking hard, probably wondering whether or not he should say what he wanted to say or just keep his mouth shut. He had obviously decided that he should say something, and a part of me was grateful about that.

"Because if you don't try to talk to him, then all you're doing is giving up."

I swallowed hard. "Harry, I'm –"

"Please," he said, his voice catching in his throat. "Don't apologize."

There was a pang in my chest. "Harry, I do love you, you know."

"Just... not in the way I want you to," he said, finishing my thought. "I know."

My heart broke as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He held me close and kissed the top of my head as we held on for dear life, knowing for certain that it was over between us. There was nothing left romantically. There was nothing left to try. There was only friendship, and after what we had been through, I wasn't even sure how long that would last. He had made it clear in the way he looked at me and spoke to me that being around me was nothing short of shattering. After all he had done for me, I had to be a true friend and let him have peace.

We held each other for hours, knowing that once we let go... it was over.

I couldn't see him again.

After that night, Harry stopped coming to my flat to sit with me, but that didn't mean I was alone by any stretch. Hermione and Rose would come over often, as would my mother and brothers. Pansy and Blaise even came by to visit several times, albeit separately – I really wished the two of them would get together; their flirting was sickening. Two more weeks had gone by, and I hadn't seen Harry or Draco since the day of the trial. I felt more alone than ever, even though I had all of the people I loved at my side. It didn't matter. On the inside, I was empty.

It was nearly ten o'clock the Sunday before Marcus' trial. Blaise was over, filling me in on all the details of Draco's reunion with Narcissa. Draco had had no idea that we had been attempting a cure for his mother, and when he went to visit and she had remembered who he was without prompting, he had actually fallen to his knees before her with tears in his eyes. I smiled sadly at Blaise's account of that day, wishing deep down that I could have been there by his side through it all. I knew Narcissa's health was the most important thing to Draco, and I was happy that I was able to do something helpful for him.

We spent the evening chatting pleasantly, almost like we had been friends for years. Never once did he try to push me into discussing anything unpleasant, and I was grateful for that. I thoroughly enjoyed his company, and I hoped that he and I would remain close even after it was decided that I was no longer a danger to myself. I knew I would miss his witty sarcasm and brutal honesty. Everyone needed someone like him in their life.

When it was time to go to bed, Blaise stood up and put on his jacket. "You sure you don't want me to stay with you? Sleep on your couch?"

I smiled halfheartedly. "No. Even Harry went home at night when it was his turn to babysit."

Blaise looked very serious. "You know, no one thinks of coming over to visit with you as a chore," he said. "You went through a lot. You almost lost it. Everyone is worried about you."

I bit my lip. "Don't take this the wrong way, but..."

"But why do I care?" he offered bemusedly. He took a few steps nearer and put his hands on my shoulders, gripping them with a reassuring pressure. "Maybe it's because I was there that night. Or maybe it's because Draco is my best friend and I think he would want to know if you weren't okay. But a big part of it, Weasley, is because I know you need someone who isn't going to just tell you what you want to hear if you ever have the balls to ask."

Of course I knew what he was talking about. I closed my eyes briefly before staring back up at him with cloudy eyes. "Has he mentioned me?" I asked.

Blaise smirked. "Mentioned... not quite. Insinuated, I'd say."

"What has he said?"

"Nothing about wanting to be with you romantically one way or the other," he answered honestly. "But I can tell he's grateful to you for helping his mother. She's the world to him, and if it weren't for you, no one would have ever thought to fight for her like that."

I smiled. Even if there was nothing else, at least there was that.

"He'll be at the trial tomorrow." He paused uncomfortably. "Astoria is testifying, obviously, and they've been spending some time together lately..."

"Please," I said, holding up my hand to stop him before he went any further with that statement. "I think it'll be better if I don't know."

My friend nodded at me before hugging me and giving me a quick peck on the cheek. Part of me wondered if he was still putting a tracking spell on me each time he saw me or gave me a hug goodbye, but at least I knew now that he wasn't spying on me for the sake of Draco. He genuinely cared about me, our friendship, and how I was managing to survive after all I had been through. I was grateful to have him in my life.

It was like deja vu when I stepped back into the courtroom after the Wizengamot had recessed to discuss the evidence and testimony that had been provided. The seats were jam-packed with the witches and wizards who were interested in seeing Marcus Flint's trial. Kingsley Shacklebolt sat in the centre of the room, looking on regally at the activity, taking in the commotion and trying not to let it have an effect on his decision. Though all members of the Wizengamot had a say in whether or not Flint was found guilty on any and all charges, it was, ultimately, the Minister's decision.

My testimony had gone over as smoothly as I could have hoped. I had been nervous and shook visibly as I took the stand, but I tried to let it show as little as possible. Despite the fact that I was one of the Wizengamot's star witnesses in this trial, I had so much on my mind that morning that I was finding it hard to concentrate. Feeling sick was simply just the tip of the iceberg, and seeing Marcus Flint's evil face was enough to make me fall out of my chair.

Like I expected, the prosecution asked me lots of questions about what Marcus had done and said to me and in front of me. I had to describe – in as much detail as I could – how he had attacked me on all three occasions, how he had threatened me in my apartment building, and how he had nearly choked me to death twice. I was thankful that, when it came to the first incident, I never had to explain, exactly, how I had gotten away. I was glad to not have to mention Draco. Telling the courtroom about how Marcus had killed a man right in front of me had been equally as sick-making.

The defense, however, tried to make it look like I had somehow provoked Marcus by slandering his name. The hook in their side of the story was that I had performed the Cruciatus Curse on him after I had placed him under the Full-Body Bind, stating that someone so heartless could not be trusted to give accurate and un-biased testimony. Even though I had been horrified about recounting those ugly moments in my life, I knew that they couldn't do anything to me because I had been granted immunity.

All in all, it wasn't a day I would ever have wanted to relive. And to add insult to injury, the stoic look on Draco's face every time I happened to glance his way – which was, granted, more often than I had any business looking at him – only added more weight to the pit of my stomach. I just wanted some indication that he was sorry for all that I had gone through in order to save him.

It was time for the ruling, and everyone in the courtroom rose to hear his decision.

"In the case of the Wizengamot v. Marcus Flint, we find ourselves split."

Oh no.

"On the count of murder in the first degree of Theodore Nott, we find the defendant guilty."

I chanced a look at Draco who was seated beside Astoria. He held her hand tightly as he smiled slightly. I bit my lip, finding myself wishing more than ever that I could be with him, that he could be holding my hand instead of hers, but I pulled myself together for the next verdict to be revealed.

"On the count of murder in the second degree of Victor Crenshaw, we find the defendant guilty."

I let out another sigh at that, but my relief was short-lived.

"Due to lack of evidence and lack of witnesses for corroboration, on all other counts, we find the defendant not guilty."

So that was it. My fears had come true. Marcus was found not guilty of attempting to rape and murder me, of kidnapping Astoria, and of harassing Daphne. I didn't understand it, but in my heart I knew it wouldn't matter much. Two counts of murder were certainly still enough to put Marcus away for life, but I had so badly hoped to be the nail in his coffin. If only I had reported him while I still had the physical marks to prove it. If only I had allowed myself to have help.

I put on a front anyway, smiling to my mother who sat to my left and Blaise who sat to my right. In the end, I guess it didn't matter what crimes Marcus had been found guilty of, so long as I never had to be afraid of him again.

A few more weeks went by, and with each day, I found myself under less and less supervision. It was nice to be able to have some privacy, but at the same time, I found myself missing having someone around me all the time. It made me realise how jittery I had become, how apparent every noise in the environment had begun to make me. And maybe that was a good thing. If I was serious about becoming an Auror, I would need to be able to use my surroundings to my benefit. But at the same time, I knew that I wasn't just becoming more in tune with my senses. A part of me was still scared that Marcus was coming for me. I knew that he was behind bars, but my fear of him was not something that I seemed to be able to shake, and that was the scariest part of all of it.

A knock on my door pulled me from my reverie. It was probably today's sitter. I wondered briefly whose turn it was. My mother had come the night before, my father the night before that. Harry hadn't come since the night that we had said our goodbyes, and Blaise was assigned some new captures that he couldn't pass up. Rose had been sick, so Hermione and Ron had been home caring for theirdaughter. My brothers all had lives of their own. I felt like such a burden to have taken up so much of their time, but it wasn't through my own insistence that they had taken to watching over me. They had all wanted to take care of me, but I could tell that it was now starting to get to be a bit old for them.

I sighed and went to the door, removing the deadbolt that I had put in, and opened it without even looking.

I gasped when I saw who it was.

"Draco?"

He was leaning casually against the doorjamb, arms crossed over his chest lazily. The expression on his face was as stoic as ever. I didn't know who on Earth would have sent him to sit with me. Certainly not any of my brothers or Harry. It must have been Blaise, I thought; no one else would have purposely had me spend time alone with Draco.

"You going to let me in?" he asked, his voice sounding bored. "If not, I can always go next door. Your neighbors are rather lovely, if I recall correctly."

I bit my lip and stood aside, inviting him into my home. "Come in," I said.

And he did. He glanced around the room as though he'd never been there before, like he hadn't lived with me for an entire week, hadn't shared the bed with me for those few nights. Draco didn't appear to be uncomfortable, but his posture was stiff and off-putting, like he was warning me not to come too close. I supposed it had to have been because of his girlfriend, or perhaps he was still miffed at me for what I had done, but regardless, I knew that it couldn't have been his idea to take a turn on Ginny-Watch.

He took a seat on the sofa and I followed suit, sitting as far away from him as I could on the rather small piece of furniture. There really was only so far that I could go without sitting elsewhere, and I didn't want to do that. He would have thought that I was nervous about being around him – which, I was, but of course he didn't need to know. Neither of us said anything, only sat in silence, listening to the tick of the clock that sat on the wall in the kitchen.

In the back of my mind, I knew that there were so many things that I needed to say to him. All I had wanted since he had come home from prison was to talk to him, but there was never a good time to do that. He was so busy getting back into his daily routine, or he was spending time with Astoria, or he was just plain ignoring me. I couldn't stand it. It was eating me up inside knowing that he and I were on such bad terms.

I kept thinking of what I wanted to say. A thought would come to me, I'd open my mouth to say it, and then I'd think better of it and stop. A few minutes later I would repeat this, each time thinking to myself that what I was coming up with would just piss him off even more. He didn't want to hear an apology or an explanation. He wouldn't want me to justify to him what I did. As far as he was concerned, I had betrayed him in the worst possible way. Nothing I could say would fix this unless he was willing to forgive, and judging by how coldly he was acting, I didn't think that forgiveness was something I'd ever get from him.

I opened my mouth to speak again, thought better of it, and closed my mouth.

"Bloody hell, if you want to talk, just talk," he said, obviously fed up. I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "I'm not going to bite your bloody head off," he muttered under his breath.

"I..." I began, proud of myself for having increased the number of words I managed to say since we sat down by one hundred percent. But there again, I had no idea what to say next that wouldn't sound stupid. I sighed. "Hell, I guess I'll just say it."

"You've got me on the edge of my seat," he deadpanned. I'd never heard him sound more bored than he did right then.

I took a deep breath. "I think you're being an immature arse-face by prancing around with that little tart while I'm sitting around my flat all day, miserable, waiting for you to grow up and see that I did not betray you." I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly. "I did what I had to do to protect you and to save your mother, and I'm not sorry for sending you to prison because, even if you didn't kill Theo, you still committed a crime by skipping your trial, and I think that you bloody well needed to be knocked off that high horse you're always on. If I had it to do again, I'd do exactly the same thing, and if you consider saving your mother's life a betrayal because you weren't blood in on it, then maybe you have got bigger issues than I thought."

He snorted at that. "I've got issues? Says the girl who has to be under constant supervision."

My eyes narrowed at him, even though I knew he wasn't looking at me. "I had a plan, Draco," I said, my voice even. "I wasn't going to let anything happen you you."

It was then that his gaze finally shifted. He looked at me with his eyes as thin slits, his cheeks pink with irritation. He didn't look angry, exactly, but there was some mix of emotions in his grey eyes that I couldn't quite place. "Don't mistake the fact that your goal was ultimately achieved with the ridiculous notion that your plan was successful." He scoffed and refocussed his eyes elsewhere. "Your bloody carelessness is why Victor Crenshaw was killed. You almost got yourself killed. Again. If Blaise hadn't had the foresight to know that you screw up everything you touch, you would be in prison right now."

"I'm the screw up?" I asked, my voice soft. "Last time I checked, I had lots of people in my life who love me, who come around to make sure that I'm okay. I haven't spent one day alone since that night because I have people who love me." I stood up and stepped directly in front of him. "You've got parents who love you because they have to, a best friend who gets drunk and kisses the girl you're shagging behind your back, and a tart who follows you around now because she is scared of her own shadow!" I panted, seething. "Tell me again who the fucked up one is in this picture."

He stood up slowly, his eyes not leaving mine for that long moment. He wasn't that much taller than me, but it still felt like Draco was towering over me. The Seeker's build that he had always had when we were kids had long since been replaced with that of an Auror – strong and lean and defined – and it had never intimidated me until just then.

"You are a sanctimonious little bitch," he hissed. "You think you know everything about me, but you don't. You always were just a bloody loose canon waiting to be fired so that you could finally let go of everything you've tried to control since you were a kid. That's why you were so easily manipulated by Tom Riddle. Not because you were a child, but because there has always been darkness in you."

"I'm not the one with the Dark Mark," I said defiantly, immediately regretting it.

A low growl escaped his throat as he put his hands to my shoulders, pushing me away from him hard. I stumbled backwards until my back hit the far wall, my chest heaving from anticipation. I honestly hadn't a clue what he was going to do or say, but for the first time in my life, I was frightened of him.

"How dare you throw that in my face," he said, his voice low and threatening. "How dare you act like you're superior to me in any way when it has always been you who comes chasing after me. You who wanted in my bed. You who thought you'd break when I didn't come around again after I fucked you. Don't you ever try to make me feel weak."

I gasped as he inched closer to me. His face was so close to mine. I could almost feel him. I could almost taste him. My eyes were begging him to punish me for how I'd spoken to him, to take it out on me, to show some sort of emotion. I wanted him to let me know that I could still rile him up and make him crazy like I could when we were in school together, but I also wanted him to know that, no matter what we did or said to one another, I'd always crave him.

"Say something," he hissed, his eyes narrowed.

My heart was pounding wildly in my chest. "Why are you here?" I asked. "Why did you even come here if you were still so angry with me?"

There was a momentary flash in his expression, and for a split second, he looked away from me. Had I not been so close to him, I probably would not have even noticed. "Because I needed to see you."

I felt a pang in my chest. "Why?"

"Because I needed to make sure you were all right."

My head cocked to the side. "Why?"

He growled again, but this time it was different. He wasn't angry or furious. He was frustrated. Like there was something he wanted to say but didn't know how. I watched his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he took another step closer to me, still without touching. I didn't understand how it was possible. I couldn't understand how he wasn't pressed against me completely. He was just so close.

Draco's eyes closed for a second, almost as though he were in some kind of emotional pain that he couldn't express. And he likely couldn't. If it made him feel and sound weak, then it wouldn't be said. There was nothing he hated less than not being in control, and expression of emotion was the epitome of weakness in his mind.

But when his eyes opened, in a flash, his arms were on either side of me and his forehead was pressed against mine. His body was the cage that kept me in place, pinning against the wall. I gasped as his mouth came crashing down on mine in a clash of tongues and lips and teeth. There was no control in the kiss. There was nothing calm or rational or contrived. There was just emotion, feeling, desire, and everything else Draco had ever fought against.

One of his hands wandered to my head, tangling in my red waves, using the pull of it to tilt my head back as the other hand went to my waist, pulling hips towards his. I could feel him, his desire, his want, his need, and I thought I might explode from the sensation of being so near him again. This was it. This was the Draco Malfoy that I had always craved, always wished for. The one who would lose control, the one who could show me his desire for him, even if he couldn't say the words aloud. It didn't matter. The way he touched me, the way his fingertips dug into my skin and tugged at my hair were enough. He was lighting me on fire.

It didn't take long for him to lift me up, pressing me against the wall. It all felt so familiar, like deja vu. We had done this before. We had shagged against this very same wall, but it was different this time. This time, neither of us had any secrets left to hide, any feelings still kept to ourselves. Everything I felt, I was pouring into our kiss, clinging onto him for dear life.

He balanced me on his hips for a split second as he pulled his mouth away from mine. He was panting from the exertion, and his eyes were glossy with desire. "I can't – I can't promise you anything, Ginny," he said, circling his hips so that the obvious bulge below his waist would press against me in just the right spot. "I can't tell you that I'll be with you forever. I can't even tell you how I feel."

I bit my lip, my eyes rolling into the back of my head as he continued to move against me. "I don't need you to promise," I said, gasping as his thrust hit my sweet spot. "I just need you not to pretend."

The smirk on his face told me that we were done talking, and I complied without question or complaint. It was never like us to use words to express ourselves to each other. It was all in our passionate kisses, our fevered touches, our desperate glances.

And as he removed every stitch of clothing from my body and his, I knew for sure that neither of us could pretend anymore.

THE END.

A/N: THANK YOU for all of the support that I've gotten from everyone on this story. It took me longer than I expected to finish it, but I hope it was still worth it. It was, without a doubt, the most in-depth story I have ever written, and I hope that there were no questions left unanswered by the end. If there are any, don't hesitate to ask!

Also, there will be one more bonus chapter uploaded due to the popular request of reading something from Draco's point of view. It will not be an epilogue, as there is no more of the story to tell, but it will give some insight into what he had been thinking throughout the story. Hope you'll stay tuned for that, and I hope you've enjoyed this story! :D