Chapter One

Ginny's POV

I walked up the wet pavement in the cool drizzling rain to the small building that contained my flat. The building was an older stucco structure with brick trim and ugly brown balconies. Once inside and past the double set of glass doors, I released my tight grip on my wand and fought to find the key to unlock my post box. When the little door swung open, I found a bill for my phone and a letter from Dad. It made me wonder once more how the owl got in and out of the building without being noticed! I took the mail and headed up the three stories to my floor.

I was instantly greeted by my cat. She was a petite grey tabby cat who I made the mistake of feeding my first week here. I haven't been able to get rid of her since; not that I have tried hard at all. At this point I would have to kill her if I ever wanted to be rid of her, for she knows all my secrets. "Hello McCoy, how was your day today?"

She looked up at me. "Meow." Then she turned to wash her chest.

The lady across the hall had already named the cat before I moved in, not knowing he was a she. Unfortunately, the lady couldn't take him in due to the fact her husband was allergic to pet hair. The name suited her, so I left it. As I took off my coat, McCoy was weaving her thin body around my legs for attention. "I know you want food, but at least let me hang my coat up!" I cursed at her.

Once I hung up my coat and put food and fresh water in McCoy's dishes, I walked to my room and changed into my pajamas, I like being comfortable. I then returned to my little kitchen and pulled out the leftovers from the evening before. I really like leftover night; it's so much easier. Once I heated them up, I took my plate to the table and grabbed my mail, reading the bill in record time. I heard McCoy jump up on the chair across from me. "Shall we see what Dad has to say today?"

McCoy double blinked at me as I tore open the envelope.

"'My dearest daughter,' I'm his only daughter!" I half explain/ half complain to McCoy, "'I hope this letter finds you well. I can't believe that next month you will have been gone for six months already! But as I told you when you left, take all the time you need. Things are going well back here. Fleur and Bill announced they are expecting. Baby is due at the end of April, but that Veela blood Fleur has still makes her look as fit as the day she married Bill. I'm sure your mother is mailing you as I write about coming home for the birth, but Gin-Bug you need to do what's right for you and no one else.

"'Hogwarts is finally finished the rebuild and they will be having an open house next week. Of course everyone is invited. Working for the Ministry, I have been in and out of the place and it looks amazing!

"'Most of the trials have been completed. Only a couple are left. I won't go into details because they are too depressing. However, most people are being convicted with terms long enough that those people won't see the light of day again.

"'Besides letting you know about the letter coming from your mother, I also wanted to tell you again how you have always and continue to impress me and amaze me. Write soon; your mother gets moody if she feels you're not writing enough. Dad.' Well, it was nice of him to give me a heads up about mum's coming letter. I hope it's not a howler."

I needed a time out from the magical world. I was not turning my back on my past. The war and the final battle left me with some stuff I needed to work through and trying to work through them with constant reminders wasn't working for me. Removing myself from it actually helped me in dealing with the day to day stuff. Then I could feel normal, and that was good. Mum and Dad had the address and could send me mail, but Dad and I chose to limit it to just them so people wouldn't pop in and try to force me home before I was ready.

I took a job at a large grocery store in Canada. It wasn't glamorous, but it paid my bills and I knew when it was time to return home the company wouldn't suffer because I was gone. I love the interactions with most of the people. I was happy. I was returning to cash after my manager had asked me to take on the job of payroll as the lady who normally did it was going on a maternity leave and her back up's husband was being transferred to another city. I asked for time to think about it.

As I turned, I was sure I was seeing a hallucination from my past. His face moved from my view too quickly, but the way the man moved I was sure I knew him! But Draco Malfoy would never be in the muggle world, never mind the odds of him being so far from home!

"Ginny? Are you okay?" asked my supervisor Amy.

I liked the woman. I saw a bit of Mum; actually a lot of Mum, in her."I- yes," I stammered.

"You look like you saw a ghost." She gave me a smile. "Maybe an old boyfriend?"

"No, never a boyfriend! But that one customer, I though I knew him for a second."

"Did Bob talk to you?" she asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Yes, he did. I told him I wanted to think on it for a day or two."

She smiled. "Ginny, just so you know, to be offered that chance after only being here six months says a lot about what we all think about you," she informed me.

I had almost forgotten about seeing him when he appeared again. This time, I was on one of the tills that faced another till. It was Crazy Tuesday, a day of the month all cashiers, all staff for that matter, hated, but customers loved because they got 15% off their grocery orders. It was the after dinner rush, and I was dealing with a demanding customer when I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I swear to God, he was Draco Malfoy's twin! He turned towards his cashier before he noticed me. My customer complained to me about how busy it always was on Crazy Tuesday. I had no sympathy for her though, as I knew she was a housewife whose kids were all in school and she could shop earlier in the day when it wasn't so busy. My mind wandered and I wondered if Lucius Malfoy maybe had an illegitimate child no one knew about, for that seemed more likely than Draco Malfoy being in a muggle grocery store in Canada.

I had told Bob I would take the payroll job because it meant steady hours and less dealing with grumpy customers, both of which were good reasons. After telling him, I headed out on a date with a coworker. He was nice, but not really what I wanted. At least that was what I told him, letting him down gently. The next day, there was another letter from Mum; this was her third since she told me Bill and Fleur's news. I smiled, knowing it was going to be another guilt trip. I could almost hear Dad whispering 'stay strong' as I opened it.

McCoy had jumped up on the sofa to hear Mum's letter. My lord, this cat is nosy! "'Ginny,'" I started, "'I spent the day planning the baby's christening with Fleur and Gabrielle. I so wish you had been here. I need some female support so some of our family traditions are included. I honestly am thinking about inviting Aunt Muriel to the next planning session.' See McCoy," I stopped to say to the cat, "another guilt trip." It was in that moment I realized what McCoy's issue was. I reached out to pet her and explained, "Don't worry; when I go home, you're coming too." She started purring. I then finished Mum's letter where she went on about how Ron was helping at the joke shop. Honestly, that's when I put the letter down. This was the reason I left.

I jumped in the shower. Tomorrow would be my last cash shift for a while, as I was starting payroll training on Monday morning.

The following day at work was normal. Towards the end of my shift, Amy came through my till shopping with her two cute daughters. The girls loved my till because I always treated them like they mattered more than their Mum. The younger one, who was in grade 2, smiled at me. "Mommy said you were here."

"Did she? How was school today?" I asked.

"Good. We were experimenting with colour." She showed me the paint leftovers on her shirt with pride.

"Looks like you had fun, Christine." I then looked at the older of the two, who was holding something behind her back, "Hello Kyra, you look pleased with yourself today.

"Look, " she pulled a sparkly pillow from behind her back, "at what Mom is buying me." She was clearly pleased.

"That's nice of Mom." I glanced at Amy.

"It's been blackmail for a while now," Amy explained.

My attention turned back to the girls as I had reached the produce in their order. "Oh no, I forgot the codes again! Can you two help me?"

The girls knew all the produce codes by heart, Amy had been training them for years so that once they were old enough they could get jobs with the company and have better odds of getting some of the scholarships the company offered. I loved seeing how they were better at the codes than some of the current cashiers. We played this game every week.

After saying goodbye to Amy and the girls, I turned to see my next customer loading his basket onto my till. It was the Draco look-alike.

"Hello! Do you have your Saving card today?" I asked.

He stopped dead and looked at me, totally staring for a few seconds. He then spoke, "Ginny Weasley?"

Bloody hell! It was Draco Malfoy! "What? How?" was all I could sputter.

"We went to school together for five years, I'm fairly positive of you name," he replied.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still disbelieving that Draco Malfoy could be in my store.

"I'm doing what all these other people are doing; buying food," he retorted with an air of superiority.

"I know that!" I spat. "I mean, in this store, in this country," then much quieter, "in this type of store?"

This time he spoke much slower, "...Buying...food..."

I started putting his order through. "Did you find everything you were looking for?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you." He paused, "What are you doing here?"

I must have been in shock. "I needed to get away from everything," I explained.

He nodded and looked at me with his eagle eye. "You look good." He shocked me with the compliment.

Just then another cashier came up to the till. "Home time!" she cheerfully said to me, then turned her attention to Draco. "Did you find everything today?"

"Yes I did," he replied in a civil tone.

I had finished with his small order. "That will be $23.54"

Draco and I continued to almost stare at each other as his payment processed. Then I handed him his receipt and said, "Thank you, come again."

He nodded, took it and his bags, and walked away.

I logged off of the till, took my water bottle, and headed to say good night to a co-worker.

"Ginny," Draco had stopped and turned back and walked over to me, "Do you want to go for a coffee?"

A/N- So here we go again! No promises as to when updates will happen. Please keep in mind I work full time and have children. I can't possible write as fast as you can read. But I have found that the more reviews I get the more I am inspired to write!