TTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

I waited anxiously outside of the doors. I hadn't seen her come out and he definitely hadn't left yet. The door opened and I breathed a silent sigh of relief that she was alright. She couldn't see me, standing still in the shadows as I was.

"Draco," Said a bored voice from behind me, and I jumped. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't stalk other death eaters." I looked down.

"I am a close friend of Ginevra's," I said formally. "I feel it is my duty to keep an eye on her."

"Actually, mate, that'd be my duty. Come on, let's have a drink," I grinned.

"It's nine o-clock in the morning, man. Give it a rest,"

"It's going to be a hard day, Malfoy." I raised my eyebrows at him. "You're right," he sighed. I suppose I'll have to wait until after we get back."

"We're going somewhere?"

"Diagon alley. Didn't I tell you?"

"No,"

"Well are you coming?"

"Sure," I said immediately. He beamed like I'd granted him some great honor.

"Excellent,"

"When are we leaving?"

"As soon as Ginevra's ready to go." I nearly choked on my own spit.

"She's coming?" He glanced at me.

"Well, yeah. Why? I thought you two were mates."

"We are," I said cautiously.

"Then why aren't you going to get her?" He barked, and I jumped. I began to follow orders until something came over me. And I turned back to him slowly.

"D'you fancy her?" I asked in a deadly voice. I saw him blush for the first time in…well, ever.

"Sod it all," he mumbled. "Yeah, I like her," He smirked and I felt nothing.

I hung in limbo, feeling nothing, smelling nothing, hearing only a ringing in my ears, and seeing my vision become blurred.

I crouched on all fours and growled at him, baring my teeth. He matched my stance spittle coming out from his muzzle. I took a swipe at him and he dodged it before pouncing at me. We bit at each other's throats trying to sever the jugular when-

"Draco? Draco?" He was asking. I shook my head and blinked coming back to reality.

"What?"

"Will you get her or am I going to stand here all day like a sodding idiot?" He definitely had let power go to his head. I shook my head again before taking the stairs two at a time to find her.

GGGGGGGGGGG

I looked out the window and sighed. It was raining again. Not much of a shock for where we were. Still, I didn't love the rain anymore. Not since Tom…I heard someone knocking at the door and went to answer it. I opened it to find Draco, to my surprise.

"Oh, you're coming with us?"

"What?" He asked, seemingly dazed.

"To Diagon alley?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah," He said, then after a beat, "Hey why didn't you tell me you were going somewhere alone with him?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I don't believe it was any of your business," I growled at him.

"Oh I beg to differ!" He said angrily following me towards the small armoire where I was hanging my robes. I extracted a pair of earrings and fastened them on, still in shock from what he was saying. "I think it's very much my business when you go on dates with a sod like that!" I cocked my head at him, crossing my arms.

"So much for him being your lord and master," I huffed. He clenched his fists and shut the door with a flick of his wand.

"You think I give a damn about him?" He asked, and when I began to ask, cut me off, "And yes, I silencioed it too," I glared at him.

TTTTTTTTTT

"If you hate him so much then why the hell do you work for him? Why do you stay, and why in gods name didn't you stop the bedamned mutiny he was planning?" She asked in a black voice. I took a step back from her.

"I-"

"Why?" She repeated, and I saw the black creeping into her eyes. This was a bad sign.

"Calm down, Ginny," I said slowly.

"Answer my question!" She cried. Her hair flew around her face in invisible wind currents.

"Fine!" I snapped back, raising my palms. "I didn't stop it…I didn't stop it because he told me not to," I hung my head after these words. It was true. I had told Draco not to interfere with Gan's plans, and that was why the mutiny had worked. Well, actually that was why he and I were alive. Gan would have killed us otherwise. When I looked back at her, all the anger was gone. Her eyes were brown again, and she wasn't mad.

"He-he told you not to fight?" She asked disbelievingly. I raised my chin a little bit.

"Does that make him a coward?" I demanded. She shook her head slowly.

"No…no, it just means…" She fell silent. Suddenly I panicked. Had I given too much away?

"Means what? What?"

"Nothing," She muttered. "I hate the rain."

My stomach clenched, and I felt a familiar tightness in my chest. I'm pretty sure this is why people talk about their heart breaking. When you really, really love someone, but you can't say anything to them about it, it hurts. It hurts a lot.

"Gan wants you to meet him downstairs as soon as possible." She looked up at me. I could feel my eyes turn soft and I smoothed a hair off of her forehead. I snatched my hand back when I realized what I was doing. I spun on my heel and marched out of the door.

GGGGGGGGG

"We need to talk," Gan told me when we arrived back on the lawn from our day out. I glanced at him, worried.

"We've been talking all day." I pointed out.

"Draco, give us some privacy," Gan ordered, his eyes still blazing into mine. Draco hesitated long enough for me to glance at him before he walked the hundred meters to the manor.

"W-what did you want to talk about?" I gulped. For some reason, him wanting to talk to me alone made me nervous. He kept staring at me, and it unnerved me. "Why are you staring at me?" I asked self-consciously.

"You're stunning," he said bluntly and I blushed. I felt a knot come to my stomach as I waited for what I knew had been coming since he arrived at the manor.

"No I'm not," I said quietly, looking away and feeling my face flaming. He grabbed my upper arm and I turned back to him. His eyes burned with ferocity, making me want to run in the opposite direction, but also wanting to get closer to him too. He was my only comfort, and I didn't want to loose it my rebuking him.

"You are." He said passionately. "And this is what we're going to talk about." My stomach squirmed. I wasn't ready for this. Not with the two feeble stitches holding my heart together so freshly healed. If he cast me off, one stitch would disappear, leaving Draco the only thing holding me together. I didn't want that. "Ever since I came here with my father, Ginny, I've been astounded by you. You're a truly remarkable woman. The fire you had in you when I came has only grown brighter since that- that man," he said scathingly, referring to Tom, "left you. You got stronger through that pain, and no woman I've ever met could have done that." I opened my mouth to interject, but he held up his hand. "Please, let me get this out. It's not easy for me." I shut my mouth and he continued. "I love you," he said, and my heart stuttered. Not in the good, 'I love you too' way, but in the 'oh damn he's going to murder me' way.

"Gan," I whispered.

"I love you," he repeated. "and I want you to love me." Every single one of my nerves sang in horror and in pain. He looked at me expectantly now.

"Gan," I whispered again, and tears welled up in my eyes. "I'm sorry," he inhaled sharply and looked down. I wasn't prepared for the honest, innocent disappointment that showed in his eyes. I took a step closer to him and put a hand on either side of his face, tilting his face up so we were looking each other in the eye again. "I can't love you right now," I said quietly. "Not with Tom-"

"I get it," he said sharply and turned to storm up the stairs, but I put a hand around his chest and hugged his back tightly. I couldn't see his face, but I could feel my own panic battling with the sympathy and admiration. I suppose I actually did like him like that, a little, but it was so overshadowed by the scar of Tom that I couldn't be sure. He froze at the contact and I propped my chin on his shoulder.

"No, I don't think you do. Tom and I were-" he stiffened at the name, but I continued, "so close, I need a while to recover from it. I walked around him so that I was in front of him now, and examined his expression. "Please, understand, I really, really like you. You're a good friend to me."

"Friend," he said in a broken voice. "Yeah, I guess we are good friends."

"Will you let me finish?" I asked quietly. He set his jaw and folded his arms. "After I'm healed from Tom- I may be able to…to love you back." I lied. He stared at me with his disconcerting eyes, and said nothing. Silence stretched on and I began counting his breaths as my heart pounded inside my chest. I was at 27 when he sighed, and took a step towards me.

"This isn't going to stop me from loving you now," he warned, "and I don't care what you say, because nothing can stop that. I will show you the same amount of affection as if you loved me back," he spat the last three words, but then his face composed into a smile. He slowly bent to my level I propped a hand on his chest and he pulled away. "Give it a try, Eshana. You may even find you like it too." He moved closer to me again, but I stopped him.

"Eshana?" I asked.

"I like the name," he said, raising an eyebrow. I stared into his gorgeous face and smiled as truly as I could. He smiled back and kissed me