SEDUCiNG A MODEL

Chapter One // Million-Galleon Baby

DISCLAIMER – I own nothing except my plot and additional characters.

PG-13, but may become NC-17

Ginny // Draco

A loud knock thundered at the door. Ginny groaned, irritated, and slammed the lipstick down, "One second!"

She stood swiftly and flung her silk robe around her shoulders, walking toward the new mahogany, polished door to her spacious flat. Looking through the windows on the sides of the door, she saw her personal assistant and stylist waiting patiently outside. The tall redhead threw the door open and looked at them, eyebrows raised.

Ali and Gabriella grinned and began talking incoherently at the same time. Ginny put a hand up, closed her eyes, turned around, and stalked off. She heard them following her, their voices carrying through all three floors of Ginny's huge flat, and sighed. Another long, long day.

Two years ago, no one would have imagined how much Ginny's life would change. Back then, all it was about was moving on after the war and rebuilding their lives. Now, it was about Ginny finding some alone time.

She still clearly remembered that early April night as she was sitting outside in the park, watching the lake move slowly, when a short woman approached her and introduced herself as a manager of a wizarding modeling agency. Things took off quickly from there: Ginny began doing ads, short commercials on the wizarding wireless, and soon began doing real fashion shows for muggles and wizards alike.

As Ginny appraised herself in the mirror, she couldn't really see it, what the world saw. In her reflection, the only things worth recognition to her were her thin long legs and her fiery red hair. Oh, and she was tall. Not the icky kind of tall that made one look deformed, but the pretty kind of tall, which made Ginny look elegant.

Pretty soon, the two women entered her lavish bedroom and began dressing her. Ginny had an event to attend that day with the presidents of a few modeling agencies from around the world and two interviews in the afternoon.

Ali, her manager, began reading off her schedule for the day as Gabby transferred a few of Ginny's clothes from her closet to her bed.

Ginny approached the outfits. She looked at the one with the green shirt first, because it caught her attention quicker. The shirt was button-up, with thin white stripes. The matching miniskirt was denim, with lace at the bottom. Gabby also put brown leather boots beside it with very high heels. Giving a small hmm, Ginny moved to the next outfit, which was composed of a white tank top inside of a black, silk, see-through shirt, black capris, and high heels with silver straps going around the ankles.

The next one was a boring sundress under a denim jacket and flip-flops. Without a second thought, Ginny put on the second one, which, in her opinion, looked more sophisticated than the other two. As soon as she was done, Gabby pulled her hair in a messy bun and put a thin white hair band on to keep Ginny's bangs from falling into her face.

Ginny stood, glanced at the mirror and turned to the girls, "Thanks so much. I've been very short-tempered with you lately and I apologize. It's just these damned events! They tire me out so much - I can't even describe it! I swear, once I get that long-awaited vacation, I'll be much easier to deal with."

Ali spoke, "Oh, it's quite alright, we've seen how exhausting these things can be."

Gabby nodded, "Of course, you know we understand, Ginny."

Ali smiled through her black-rimmed glasses, "You look beautiful, Ginny. More beautiful than the world's richest supermodel!"

Ginny rolled her eyes, smiling. The previous week, it had been announced in the paper that Ginny had become the world's highest-paid model over two weeks' time. Ginny still couldn't comprehend how fast everything had happened for her. Just two years ago, she had been at the Burrow, preparing for an audition with her mum, and now! Now, she had personal assistants, stylists, a flat, bodyguards, and two million Galleons in her vault at Gringotts.

Ginny hugged each of the girls, said goodbye, and exited the flat. As she hurried through the busy streets of London, she couldn't help but notice the numerous posters of herself that were thrown all over every wall, bus, and banner. She grinned as Davie, her burly bodyguard, swerved her out of a desperate fanatic's reach.

More than five photographers approached her, snapping numerous shots, and even more stood and captured her from afar. She busily looked through her small clutch purse as she hung onto Davie's arm.

Approaching the old ministry building, she attempted to move past a group of fans and failed. They attacked her with pictures and pens, some with quills. She smiled widely and signed a few of them. Then, she hurriedly pushed the doors open and rushed in.

&&&&&&&

"Miss Weasley, do you have any thoughts you'd like to voice on this business?" Lester Huitt asked her over the table.

She shook her head, "No."

She smiled inwardly at how professional Les was being. They had been dating for a few months now, on the sly, and by watching him interact with her now, you wouldn't be able to guess they were together. She allowed her eyes to linger on him for a moment before turning to the cofounder of Masters Models Inc., Maria Bunton. The woman was tall, taller than Ginny, and she was very pretty. She wore a simple black blouse and dark blue jeans. Her naturally soft, blonde hair fell to her shoulders, and her smooth skin didn't have a single blemish.

Ginny watched as the woman listed off new operations going on internationally, and then turned back to the other side of the table, watching Liam Chester and Lester discuss how best to transport her, Ginny, to all the different countries where she had to model.

Once they made a final decision, the meeting was dismissed and everyone stood and began to leave.

Just as Ginny was about to walk out of the office, she saw a tall, blond man, about the same height as Maria, approach the woman and pull on her cloak. As Maria waved at Ginny before they left, her eyes met a familiar pair of gray ones and she worked hard not to let her jaw drop. Malfoy watched her for a moment before his eyes fell back on Miss Bunton, and Ginny saw him smile and kiss the beautiful blonde. She allowed Davie to lead her away as she kept her eyes trained on the beautiful couple near the full-length windows on the other side of the room.

&&&&&&&

Hermione hugged Ginny warmly as she introduced Cody, Luna's fiancé, and Morgan, Harry's current love interest. It had fascinated Ginny back when the war ended that she was taller than Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, Charlie, and Percy, but now, she was just about used to people looking up at her when they talked.

Ginny corrected her skirt and orange tie before she moved to the kitchen, where her mother was bustling about, making food of all sorts.

As soon as she spotted her daughter, she rushed forward, embracing her tightly, "Ginny dear! How have you been?"

Ginny shrugged, "Oh, I'm fine so far. So many things to get done, though!"

Molly nodded, returning to her cooking, "Oh, I can imagine! I am still not used to seeing your face all over the city, beautiful as it is… "

Ginny smirked. Of course her mum would say she's beautiful. After all, she is her mum. They talked for a few more minutes about anything new and extraordinary.

Finally separating from her mum, Ginny walked back out into the noisy living room and sat on the couch, watching her friends and family interact. More than once, she saw either Morgan or Cody or Hillarie, Fred's girlfriend, glance at her strangely, as if they were looking at the Minister of Magic or something. Honestly!

She approached a few chatting groups of friends and indulged in their conversations. At one point, she found herself standing with Cody, Luna, Ron, and Hermione, talking about her own modeling career.

Cody stared at her, "I can't believe you're the Ginny Weasley that I see every day on every cover of every magazine."

Ginny blushed, "Well, I don't believe that. I mean, sure, people know about me, but they still don't know me. I'm still a twenty-two-year-old daddy's girl at heart."

Hermione smiled and Ron added, "And she doesn't bother hiding it, either. By the way, where is Dad?"

They looked around, but Arthur Weasley was nowhere in sight. Just before Ginny turned back to the conversation, her eyes caught the front door opening, revealing her father walking in with … whom else? Malfoy.

Ginny pulled Hermione away toward a corner of the room, "What is he doing here?"

Hermione glanced behind her, seeing the very brightly smiling Malfoy, and turned back to Ginny, "Oh, well, while you were gone to Italy, see, Malfoy was hired by your father to work right below him. Pretty soon, your father took a liking to him, and … they sort of … became colleagues, you could say. Everyone here has made peace with him, other than Ron, of course. And Harry. He's just not that bad anymore, surprisingly enough. I should introduce you two – "

And before Ginny could protest, Hermione had dragged her off toward Malfoy. The blond looked at Hermione as they approached and then let his eyes travel to Ginny.

Ginny took him in as they approached him. His longish blond hair fell into his eyes in thin strands, and his gray eyes were almost silver, glittering in the light. Overall, Ginny was impressed. He was taller than everyone in the house, with the exception of Ron and Bill. And his face was a whole lot friendlier than she remembered during her school years.

When they finally stopped in front of him, the redhead had no choice but to smile at him while Hermione said, "Hey, Malfoy. You remember Ginny, right?"

He looked at her, letting his eyes travel over her face interestedly, and murmured, "Not exactly. Although I do remember a little Weasley running around the Hogwarts corridors, back when she used to be, well, little."

Ginny blushed, extending her hand toward him, "Nice to meet you again."

His larger, longer hand took hers and he nodded, "You too."

Then, he turned to Hermione, "And how is everything at the hospital?"

She smiled, "Oh, it's fine and dandy. We've had a few more workers hired this week and Joanna Stanton quit, due to her long … long pregnancy," she snorted here, along with Malfoy. "But overall, it's been a good month. Are you coming to visit soon? Our wards need some more protection charms."

Malfoy nodded, "Arthur gave me a free week to catch up on some things, so I will probably be by on Wednesday."

"Good. I'll see you then?"

He nodded at her and she scurried off, leaving Ginny standing there, with her jaw hanging. She blushed and looked up at Malfoy, "Right. Um, how about we get some seats. Mum's about ready to feed us, I think."

They began walking and Malfoy put his hands in the pockets of his tuxedo bottoms. He looked at her a moment and said, "How is it that you became a model so fast? I never would have pegged you as the runway type of girl."

"Well," Ginny started, sipping some of her pumpkin juice, "I wouldn't have pegged you as the ministry type of guy."

He smiled, "Fine, you've got me there. But were you really that surprised after I stayed with your family in a hide out period?"

"No, I guess. What is so surprising about me being a model? With my height, it can be fully expected."

Malfoy chuckled and sat down on one of the chairs to the left of Molly, with Ginny occupying the one next to him. Once everyone settled in and Molly began bringing out dishes, he continued, "Not really. I would have been less surprised if you had become a healer, like Granger. Not that I don't admire your success, because you really have accomplished a lot in, what was it, two years?"

Ginny made a noise of concurrence as she bit into a small carrot. Once she finished chewing, she muttered, "These are old," and threw it onto her plate.

Malfoy grinned at her quite expected manners and allowed himself to pile his plate with food. Ginny watched and listened in to others' conversations casually, adding something once in a while. After a while, conversation quieted down as people began to eat silently. Finally, she said, "I have a little bit of news."

By this time, most of the table had looked up, which was a lot of people. Her dad had had to get quite a long and sturdy table, because there were more than fifteen people seated, including Ginny, Malfoy, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Fleur, Morgan, Cody, Fred's girlfriend Hillarie, George's fiancée Destiny, Professor Lupin, Tonks, and Ginny's parents. Oh, and Lester was coming, too.

She met their eyes and cleared her throat, feeling uncomfortable under everyone's gaze, no matter the fact that thousands of people saw her monthly at fashion events.

She carefully put her fork down and chose her words slowly. "I have been offered by my consultants and bosses to become the face of seven new brands from the United States and South America. But – "

Her twin brothers interrupted, "Whoo!! That's rich, Ginny! – "

"How much are they paying you?"

Ginny went on like nothing had been said, "But I will have to leave home for five months to help prepare all the shows they will have to put on to introduce me as their new face. That means – "

Her father spoke here, "Where will you be going?"

Ginny looked down and then at him, "Brazil for three months, and Los Angeles for two."

Molly asked, "When would you have to leave? Can any of us come with you?"

Ginny stared at her plate, "Probably in mid-January, so that I can start walking in the summer. I don't think anyone can come with me, unless you come separately, but you won't see me very much anyway. I already sealed the deal, but I wanted to tell you as soon as possible."

Ron and Harry nodded and went back to their food; Hermione's eyes darted to Molly, who, along with Arthur, was looking at Ginny silently; Bill and Charlie were looking at each other; Fred and George simply shrugged and looked down; Lupin and Tonks watched the table; and the three girlfriends and Cody were looking at each other, clueless. Malfoy was simply looking at his plate, which made her a bit more relaxed.

Fortunately, at this moment came a knock on the door, and everyone looked to see Lester enter. Molly and Arthur greeted him properly and he got seated beside Ginny, between her and Ron. He gave her a quick, sweet kiss, and looked around, seeing everyone watching Ginny quietly.

She blushed and said, "I thought you all would be a little bit more enthusiastic."

Lester raised his eyebrows, but Molly rushed, "Oh, of course we're happy for you, dear, but … it's five months away from home, and we won't see you – "

As Lester's face took a look of understanding, Ginny interrupted, "Mum, it's not like I haven't done this before. I left for three months to Italy and for two months to Germany. And I will get to see you if I need to. I would like it if everyone just accepted the fact that this is my career now, and if I want to succeed, I need my family's support."

There was a moment of dead silence after this, and Lester spoke next.

"If it would be more comforting, Molly, I could get you a ticket to go with her. It's just that she'll be too busy with the runway for you to be able to see her much, and it would be a bit fruitless."

Molly shook her head, "Oh, it's not that, it's just that Ginny has just gotten started with this – are you really so sure you want to be away from family for so long?"

Ginny smacked her knee with her hand, "Mum! I will be just fine without you there! In fact, I'd like to see what it would be like to be there without an overbearing, overprotective family breathing down my neck!"

Her father protested, "Ginny!"

His daughter pursed her lips and grabbed Lester's hand. He squeezed it discreetly, signaling for her to calm down.

Molly glared at her daughter and said, "We want what's best for you, Ginny."

Hermione spoke, "On the other hand, Mrs. Weasley, maybe this will be a good experience for Ginny. She'll learn to be on her own for a while, away from her family, and she'll make new friends. Maybe this is the best thing to do."

Molly didn't look at her. She only turned back to Arthur and said, "We will discuss this later tonight, Ginny. For now, let's finish our meal. In peace."

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Ginny pushed her chair away from the table and went upstairs. Molly was about to call after her, but Lester said, "I'll go talk to her."

He followed her to her room and closed the door behind him. She was sitting on the small window seat, her chin on her knees. He sat beside her, sighing.

She muttered, "They can't control my life forever."

He agreed, "No, they can't. But you know, Ginny, they're your parents, and you can't stop them from worrying about you while you're away for just less than half a year, outside of the country. They love you."

She murmured, "I know. But they can be … so overprotective sometimes, I get tired of them."

"I know," he smiled. "You've told me."

She laughed, "I have, haven't I? Well, that's because you're amazing and you listen and I love you."

She rubbed her thumb on his clean-shaven cheek and smiled. He kissed her then, sweetly at first and then pressing his tongue against her lips passionately. She smiled and allowed him to deepen the kiss.

Finally, they stopped, breathing heavily, and Les said, "Is that a sign of what's to come later?"

Ginny chuckled, nodding, and pulled him back to her.

He pulled away just a few centimeters from her lips and murmured, "Come downstairs with me."

She scrunched up her face, "Why?"

"Because I don't want to go by myself. Your brothers still scare me a bit."

Laughing, Ginny grabbed his hand and pulled him downstairs.

&&&&&&&

"Ginny, get dressed! You have ten minutes until you have to go on!" someone called loudly to her place near the clothes rack.

She pulled on the pink tank top with silver chains drawn on it and the small, white shorts that ended just at her thighs. It showed off her legs nicely, which, thankfully, didn't have as many freckles as her arms, and her midriff showed quite a bit. She pulled on the white sandals with long heels and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

The assigned stylist quickly brushed some more foundation onto her cheeks and a bit of blush. She sprayed some strange-smelling stuff onto her hair and Ginny asked, "Why not just use a wand?"

The woman huffed, "It takes too long."

Ginny smiled at the irony of the statement and shrugged. Finally, she stood at the end of the line near the steps. As Gisele strutted down the stairs on the other side, Patty, who was two girls in front of Ginny, stepped up and began walking. Ginny corrected her hair again and put her hands in the shorts pockets.

Her turn finally came and she stepped up on the runway, making sure to swing her hips as necessary and keep the oversized sunglasses from falling off of her head. As she passed the middle, she noticed Lester looking at her intensely and grinned to herself. He told her many times how much he liked that outfit, usually by creating many innuendos that suggested what he would have liked to do with it.

But a pale blond head near her boyfriend caught her eye, although she didn't look, and she was shocked that Malfoy would come to see her.

She stopped at the end of the walk. Turned to one side with a hand on her hip, then turned to the other side. Finally, she began walking back.

As she passed the two men, she let a small smirk grace her features and her eyes fell on them for a fraction of a second.

At the end of the show, at the after party, Ginny met Les in a barely-there minidress and sexy black heels. He whistled when he saw her and she grinned, giving him a hug.

Making sure to stay camera-clean, they didn't kiss or stand too close when people approached them. Pretty soon, she saw Malfoy walk over to their table with Maria, whom Ginny was certain she hadn't seen earlier. The blond pair greeted them cheerfully and Ginny gestured for them to have a seat.

They sat across from her and Lester, with Malfoy saying, "How many outfits did you have to change into?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed, "About fifteen. With different makeup every time!"

Her companions laughed and Maria casually said, "I wasn't planning on coming tonight, since I had an important meeting, but I forgot to ask you over the phone last night how your parents took the news?"

Ginny looked to the side at her friends near the bar, "Oh, it was alright in general. I went crazy, but Les here sort of walked me through it. They told me I could go if I wrote to them every night."

Maria smiled, "Well, that's good. You remember Lorne from managing on the second floor?"

Ginny nodded, sipping her butterbeer.

Maria went on, "Well, he notified me that not only will you get paid the decided salary, but the runway owners might allow you to compete with Gisele, Adriana, and Liese for fifteen thousand Galleons. But that will take place in Japan. If you choose to go or not is your decision, as is telling your parents. But I thought you'd like to know about it, because fifteen thousand is … quite a lot of money, nearly as much as you'll be earning for three nights of runway."

Ginny's jaw dropped as Maria spoke, "Are you kidding me? I am so not telling my parents! I'd love to do that! Will that be toward the end of the season?"

Maria nodded, "Indeed, it will be in the beginning of August."

Ginny laughed, "That's amazing! Will you give me the guidelines for the thing sometime?"

The older woman nodded, "I wish I had become a model."

Malfoy smirked, "I don't," and nuzzled her neck.

Ginny watched this public interaction with interest and almost "aww"ed when Maria wrapped a hand around his cheek and leaned into him.

Lester poked her knee with his under the table and caught her eye. She winked at him and said to Maria, "Why didn't you? You really could have been great – you still could."

The blonde looked sadly at her empty glass and said, "I had a paralyzed leg for nearly four years because I had fallen off the stage when I was seventeen. I had to learn how to walk all over again, and it was just too complicated. But I would have loved to do it."

Malfoy didn't look at all surprised by the words, so Ginny figured the two were pretty close by now, about as close as she and Lester were, perhaps. Raising one eyebrow, Ginny said, "That's terrible that it happened to you. I'm sorry. It's never too late, you know."

She gestured to a waiter for another round of butterbeers.

Maria shrugged, "Oh, I just don't have time to get into it all over again. I like my job right now, so I'm content to stay where I am."

Malfoy glanced at Ginny, "When was it you started modeling?"

She reflexively answered, "Just more than two years ago. This short woman came up to me at a park and said, 'You should model.' I just went, 'Indeed?' And then she gave me her number and business card and walked off. But then I sort of became interested and tried it. I got my first audition immediately, because of my hair and legs, they said. I didn't really care, I was just trying things, testing the waters. Now, I am right here."

Malfoy nodded, "Interesting. How quickly everything happened for you, then."

Ginny nodded proudly, "Thanks to my gorgeous legs," and stuck one out to the side. It would have been fine and dandy, but she hadn't anticipated a waiter walking by, so she was shocked when one doubled over and fell over her leg, dropping his plates and glasses.

The other three erupted in laughter, but Ginny rushed to the young boy, who seemed to have been hit rather painfully in some sensitive places, and she pulled him up by his arms slowly, "I'm so very sorry! I didn't see you! I am so sorry!"

He nodded quickly and limped away. Ginny put a hand over her mouth and laughed, "That wasn't supposed to happen. And had you three not been so absolutely drunk, you would have helped him up, too."

Lester grinned, "Oh, you handled him just fine by yourself, Ginny."

This caused more chuckles from Maria and Malfoy, but Ginny flushed deeply and set herself heavily into her seat. Putting her chin into her hand, she pouted, "Now I feel bad."

Malfoy smirked, "You should. You hurt him."

Ginny made a face and took Lester's glass, taking a huge gulp of the alcohol. Once she actually tasted the drink, her face scrunched up painfully and she said, "What the hell is that, Lester?"

The man shook his brown hair out of his eyes and smiled, "Vodka."

"…"

"It's a muggle drink, Ginny. Never heard of it?"

"Never."

"Good."

Ginny blew a raspberry at him and took another gulp. Her tall boyfriend protested, "Hey! Don't get drunk! Someone has to drive us home tonight!"

Ginny slapped his arm playfully and the looked over at Maria, "I'm sorry. We should head home. I'll see you tomorrow, correct?"

Maria nodded, "You will."

With that, Ginny grabbed Lester's hand and led him to her million-Galleon Mercedes.