AND SHE SMILED

I asked your name, you asked the time. /Bright Eyes/

He pushed her against the wall, his mouth covering her neck and collarbone with hungry kisses. Her skin seemed hot and cold at the same time. And sweet, oh so sweet! He popped a couple of buttons open and his left hand travelled into her blouse. When he rolled her nipple between his fingers he was gratified with a low breathy moan. His other hand was caressing her body, moving from her upper arm to her hand, hip, stomach and then back up again. They were both panting hard, but when her small hot hand reached into his waistband his breath hitched. He felt her right hand unbuckling belt and soon it was his turn to moan.

Draco loved what she was doing to him. He loved how her delicate fingers were so gentle when moving over his chest to his tender nipples and yet so incredibly strong when circling his hard shaft. But even more than that he loved the way she could make him feel. With just a look shot from one end of the Great Hall to the other she could set his soul and body on fire. He loved everything she did. He loved her.

"Merlin, Ginny," he breathed as she stroked him.

An overwhelming need to feel skin on skin made him tear her blouse fully open before hastily undoing his own shirt. He crushed her to him grinding his hardness against her hot core. His hands slipped under her school skirt sliding up her silky thighs and to the edge of her knickers, briefly touching the wet patch. Soon the small garment was in his back pocket and he in her. She was wet and ready, their movements rapid and frenzied as they moaned and panted.

Draco wanted so much to see her come that he strained to keep his eyes on her face. Ginny was radiant with her flushed cheeks, slightly open mouth and closed eyelids behind her long lashes. It thrilled him to see what he did to her, what his touch did for her. Just as her face contorted in a pre-orgasmic bliss, he felt his own release build. Ginny's body froze for a moment and then she cried out. There were stars and fireworks in the darkness, peace and, even if it was just for a moment, Draco's world made sense.

When he opened his eyes again her head was on his shoulder, his cheek resting against the crown of her silky red hair.

ooo

He had known she was popular, he'd known that he wasn't her first and that she was pursued by other boys, but it had never bothered him before because he thought that they were... What exactly? It was some kind of a relationship at least, even if they didn't act like a pair in public. But it was only now, seeing that she did nothing to remove Michael Corner's arm from around her waist, that Draco realised they'd never really talked about being exclusive. Had she been seeing others while sleeping with him all this time?

Draco felt like a fool as he slowly made it out of the room. He didn't really care where he was going as long as it was away from here. Pushing through the partying crowd, he ignored the jabs in the ribs he got from the wildly dancing people as well as his friends calling his name.

The fresh air did nothing to alleviate the fog that had taken presence in his mind. The wind stood still and the usually soothing night air was almost frosty. He walked to the large rocks near the Lake and sat. It wasn't until dawn that he returned to the castle.

ooo

The next time they met in the dark alcove he was rough. His hands grabbed at her body, ripping her clothes. Draco ground his fingers into her hips and his teeth left bruising marks on her neck and shoulders. His body was manifesting what he couldn't let slip over his lips. There was a string of steady chant in his mind. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine...

He didn't know if she was ready or not when he pushed into her, but thankfully she seemed to be just as desperate for him as he was for her; she was already wet and very soon she came. Draco followed her straight after, but it wasn't as satisfying as usual. He was spent, but nothing felt really solved. Her body was in his arms, but where was her soul?

ooo

Over the next week he made it a point to be seen with other girls. Nothing explicit, some innocent flirting, some touching, but he still felt awful; it was as if he were cheating on her. Only once he felt her stare on him, but as he glanced at her, she turned away. Draco wasn't sure if she minded his fondling Pansy or not, but Ginny never said anything, so obviously didn't care.

Draco wondered if he should just come right out and ask her what sort of relationship she thought they had. And what? Make a fool of himself? They both knew they couldn't date while in school anyway. It would be... too difficult. Or would it? Draco had always thought that they would wait it out and go public after he graduated, but now... He shook his head. Would she really be willing to miss a year's worth of dating fun because of him? He seriously doubted it.

Suddenly an awful thought struck him - what if she was growing bored of him and she was planning to move on with Corner? But as quickly as it came, he dismissed the idea; he knew how he made her feel. She wouldn't dump Draco even if she enjoyed Corner's attention, would she? Would she?

He felt a dull headache start somewhere at the back of his head. He should just talk to her about it. But what good would it do to confront her now? If she wanted to end it he'd know soon enough. It was only three months until his graduation anyway. He'd ask her then.

ooo

"So... you and Pansy, huh?" she asked and Draco's heart started hammering in his chest; might she be jealous after all? His gaze bore into her but her eyes were hidden behind her flaming fringe.

"I thought that we weren't exclusive?" he asked stupidly.

She looked up at that.

"We aren't."

Draco thought he saw a hint of... something in her pose. Pride? Indignation? He wasn't sure; it was gone too quickly.

He swallowed thickly and asked, "Does it mean you've been seeing other wizards all this time?"

"What if I were?"

She lifted her chin proudly. His answer to this was a sneer, even though his heart was breaking inside.

"Yes, me and Pansy." He didn't say more, she could take his answer in any way she pleased.

She nodded solemnly albeit sadly. "So does it mean you don't want to see me anymore?"

That wasn't what he meant to imply.

"No I..." He shook his head. "Pansy and I aren't like that."

"Oh," she said.

ooo

It went on like before for a couple of weeks, though they rarely talked anymore. They met one or two nights a week, fucked and went their separate ways. Sometimes it was light-hearted and fun, and sometimes he let his jealousy take over and pounded her into the wall. After days and nights of aching jealousy and doubts gnawing at him, seeing and touching Ginny had become a necessity instead of a pleasure. He was like a desperate addict dying for his next fix, and the peace that used to engulf him after sex with her lasted only for a second before the doubts set in again.

Draco missed their post-orgasmic chats the most. They used to talk about anything. Often it was nothing of importance but it meant everything to him. He felt that he didn't have to explain things to her, because she just got him. That was what had made it a relationship for him; they clicked. Or so he had thought.

The bliss of holding her had turned into a painful endeavour as he was constantly thinking whose hands had been the last to caress her luscious body. Was it him, Corner or someone else entirely? He knew that earlier in the year Ginny had dated several different wizards without getting seriously involved with anyone, but Draco had been so sure that he had changed it for her. He had thought Ginny was one of those girls who would want to get married eventually. How long would she want to keep seeing him like this?

And then, one night in April it really happened.

He had been waiting for over thirty minutes and she still wasn't there. After half an hour more he left for his dorm, crawled into his bed feeling like a wounded animal and waited for the morning.

At breakfast he couldn't even look at the Gryffindor table. His vision was tunnelled out so that everything at the edges was a blur. He felt as if he'd gone without sleep for days. Everything he ate tasted like cardboard and there was a constant low hum in his head.

In History of Magic he composed nearly a dozen letters but the one he finally sent simply said, Meet me in the owlery at one. - DM

She didn't show.

ooo

Draco knew it was stupid, but the next night he still hung around the castle after curfew. Wednesday was their usual 'date night', so he kept to the corridors Ginny would need to use to sneak out of her dorm. He didn't believe she would come but he kept hoping. For the first hour. After midnight he was even relieved; if she was in the Gryffindor Tower, she wasn't meeting her new lover, whoever that was. Unless he was a Gryffindor, which would mean she didn't have to sneak out to snog him.

The morning after that he got owl-post.

I'm sorry about the other night. We need to talk. I'll be waiting in the usual spot at midnight. - G.W.

He glanced at the Gryffindor table but Ginny was staring at her plate. She didn't look up once and when she left the table it was with a bunch of her friends.

ooo

"I can't see you anymore."

Draco wasn't surprised.

"Why?"

"I need more of a relationship than we have, Draco."

It was the last thing he could have expected, so he just nodded. Ginny wasn't looking at him and he thought she looked guilty. Draco didn't dare to dwell on what it could possibly mean.

After a moment he said, "Okay, I can do more."

She looked up at him startled.

"You want to go exclusive?" he asked calmly. "We can do that."

Ginny shook her head, apparently confused.

"No. I mean yes but..." She lowered her gaze.

And then the hammer fell.

"I want to... I mean, I am going exclusive. But with Dean Thomas."

For a moment Draco stopped breathing, blinked and then slowly, deliberately drew in a deep breath. She stood there before him for a second more, then turned and fled.

And that was that.

ooo

He decided he'd tell her on graduation. She was sure to be there, wasn't she? The Terrible Trio was graduating too, so she would be there to witness it. He would tell her that he loved her. That he still loved her. Draco didn't care if she was still seeing Thomas or anyone else at this point; he had nothing to lose. If she would laugh or simply be indifferent... Well, he was leaving Hogwarts anyway. But if she didn't...

Who the hell was he kidding! She wouldn't care; he had just been a casual shag to her, hadn't he? But he would still tell her.

ooo

It was a sunny day in June that the seventh year received their diplomas. The ceremony was now over and the graduates were having a picnic on the west lawn. Draco's heart was hammering in his chest as he walked briskly towards a rather large group of people most of whom had bright red hair. Draco had wanted to catch her on her own at some point, but it was hopeless; she was constantly surrounded by her friends or family.

"Weasly," he said to her back.

He said the name quietly, but still there were three red heads to turn.

"Malfoy," Percy greeted, but Draco ignored him.

He looked straight at Ginny as he said, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Draco didn't wait for her reply as he turned and strode for the far end of the lawn to the old oaks. He knew he probably looked haughty, but there was nothing he could do about it; he was too nervous. When he reached the trees he turned and was relieved to see that Ginny had indeed followed him.

He swallowed as she stopped a few feet from him. It was as if the sun was finally shining upon him again – it was almost two months since she had last looked him in the eye. Her eye lashes were still as long and the irises of her light brown eyes still as glowing.

"You wanted to talk?"

"Um..." the pause stretched even more. Now that they were here all his carefully constructed speeches sounded ridiculous. Draco had no idea how to start.

"Are you... just tell me Ginny. Are you happy?"

She blinked. "What?"

"I'm sorry, that's not what I wanted to say. I just..." He cleared his throat and looked away. "I don't really know how to say it, so I'm just going to say it." He drew a deep breath. "I'm in love with you."

He searched her eyes for pity or disgust but so far there was just plain shock. He continued.

"I understand that you don't probably feel the same way, but I just thought I'd tell you."

There was a brief pause during which he had no idea what to do.

"Right." He'd done what he set out to do. He was just going to say that he was leaving when she cut him off.

"Since when?"

Draco shrugged.

"Since the beginning, I guess." Her eyes went wider for a moment, but the shock seemed to be waning. He saw confusion, apprehension, anxiety, doubt. "Sometimes it feels as if I've loved you all along," he added.

"Oh."

Then it was sadness in her eyes. Draco didn't want to see it turn into pity and looked away.

Silence.

Uncomfortable, painful agonising silence hung between them and he was absolutely unable to break it.

"I'm with Dean still."

"I know."

More silence. Draco swallowed and put his hands in the pockets of his robes.

"Listen..." he said while she said, "Draco."

Draco felt awfully awkward and nodded for her to continue. Ginny looked around nervously.

"I can't really talk about it right now." She turned back to him. "Will you write me? Please?"

Now it was his turn to be shocked. She wanted to keep in touch?

"All right."

She smiled and then she was gone. She had smiled. At him.

ooo

He wrote her the same evening but managed to hold off sending it for about twenty-four hours. He didn't want to look ridiculously eager. Draco didn't know what she really expected from him so he didn't write about how he felt, about their chat at the graduation or even about their past relationship. She had a boyfriend after all. But he still signed off with 'Love, Draco'.

As silly as it was, the moment he sent his eagle owl off he started waiting for reply. A part of him was afraid that she'd changed her mind about keeping in touch, but he forced those thoughts away. Then, as the day wore on and then the next passed with no reply he became half convinced that there would be none. However, it came after only two days of agonised waiting.

It was nothing special, just like his letter it was just a missive from a friend telling him how she was and what she was doing, but it still made him happy as nothing else could.

ooo

The third letter he got from her wasn't really a letter, more like a note.

Draco,

Can you meet me at the Leaky tomorrow at noon? I'll be waiting.

Ginny

He hadn't seen her for almost two weeks and now she was asking him for a meeting! He felt ridiculously happy. Giddy. Draco sent her his agreement with the same owl. The moment the bird vanished from his view, his radiant smile started to fade. Why did she want to see him? Why hadn't she written him a longer letter and told him about her trip to Diagon Alley with friends and casually asked him to come with? Was she ashamed of being friends with him and meeting him in secret?

As a Slytherin he wouldn't really care if she offered to have an affair behind Thomas' back, but as a man in love he resented the idea of being her dirty little secret. But she wouldn't, would she? Gryffindors didn't cheat on their boyfriends. Draco realised that he didn't really know her all that well. Maybe she wanted to tell him that she had broken off with him?

A self-deprecating smile touched Draco's lips. One way or another she wanted at least something to do with him whether she was still with that git or not. As for this meeting - he would just have to wait and see.

ooo

He was early. Draco hated to be late, but this time, he wished he had been. The moment he entered the pub he immediately spotted the fiery red hair in the far end corner table. She wasn't alone. Searing pain, disappointment and finally rage coursed through his body as he watched Dean Thomas taking Ginny's hands in his.

Draco almost stumbled back on the street. He was two blocks away when he finally mastered his emotions. He told himself not to be ridiculous; he had known she was taken all this time. So no reason to get upset. Besides, there could be dozens explanations to why the git was there. Maybe she was dumping him right now? Yeah, right.

He made sure it was past noon before he returned to the Leaky Cauldron. There was a chance Ginny hadn't meant for Dean to be there and he wanted to give her time to get rid of that boyfriend of hers.

Indeed, Ginny was still sitting at the same table when he entered, but blessedly she was alone. He walked towards her at a measured pace giving himself time to drink in her appearance before she noticed him. She must have sensed his scrutiny because suddenly she raised her head and looked straight at him.

"Hi," she said a bit nervously.

"Hi," he answered. "I saw Thomas here earlier." Tell me you dumped him.

"Yeah..." She looked uncomfortable. "I didn't mean for you to."

So much for that.

"He was supposed to be gone an hour ago. Sorry," she added.

"Doesn't matter." He wished he could touch her but she was sitting just out of reach. "So, how are you?"

"Fine. Summer's great." She smiled for a moment. "I actually wanted to talk about something particular."

"Yes?" Draco swallowed thickly.

"Can I get you anything?" A polite female voice was suddenly to his left.

Draco ordered a cup of coffee without even looking at the waitress and waited for Ginny to continue, but she seemed to have lost her nerve.

"What is it, Ginny?" he asked gently. "You can tell me anything, you know I won't get mad." He waited a second. "Do you want to stop writing with me?"

It took everything to ask her that; he really hoped that was not the case.

"No, of course not," she said. "I wanted to ask you something about what you told me on the graduation." Ginny looked at him beseechingly. "And I wanted to see your face when I do that."

All right, it wasn't as bad as stopping writing. It was worse. He swallowed. "What about it?"

"First, tell me if you still feel the same way."

Draco winced. "You can't even say it, can you? Yes. I still love you, Ginny."

"No, I... I can say it, it's just that... you told me that you've been in love since the beginning. You meant the beginning of our relationship, right?"

"Yes."

"But how can that be if you were seeing Pansy and me at the same time?"

Draco mentally cringed; he hadn't been expecting that.

"Yes, well... I wasn't actually seeing her."

Ginny's brow furrowed. "But you were sleeping with her?"

"Not really, no." He wondered how he could explain it without sounding like a bastard.

"But you said..."

Draco shook his head cutting her off.

"I didn't actually say it, you jumped to the conclusion."

He practically saw how anger rose in her. "And you did nothing to persuade me otherwise. Why? And what about the other girls you were shamelessly flirting with? Did you sleep with them?"

Ginny's cheeks and tips of her ears were now red and Draco thought that honesty would probably be the better solution in the long run. "I wanted to make you jealous."

"What?" she almost shouted. "That's low! Did it ever occur to you just talk to me about it? It was you who pointed out that we weren't exclusive!"

Draco's jaw clenched. Ginny was being unfair and he was starting to get angry too. "And again, no. I didn't say it. In point of fact, I asked you if we were and you said no! I actually thought that we were exclusive until I saw how you let that Corner maul you in public!"

"What?" Ginny seemed a bit bewildered. "You mean you thought that we were exclusive until that incident at the Hufflepuff party?"

Draco's anger deflated when he saw her genuine confusion. "Look, I know we never really talked about it. I don't blame you. You had every right..."

Now it was her that cut him off. "No. I mean... I thought that too. I mean, I thought we weren't seeing other people until Michael touched my waist and you did nothing to stop him." Draco didn't know what to say to that and she continued. "I did put him in place after you left. At first I just expected you to do it." She was looking at him almost imploringly, begging him to understand. "I wasn't seeing him or anybody else while I was seeing you."

"I'm an idiot." Draco didn't know what to say; he felt utterly dumb. "You mean you cared about me enough to be exclusive?" She blushed and nodded. "What about after?" He swallowed nervously.

"After that too. Not even when I thought you started up with Pansy; I wouldn't do that. I've never been with more than one boy at a time."

"Oh." Now Draco really felt like a bastard. "I'm sorry."

"About what? Did you..."

"No. I wasn't with anyone but you either. I'm sorry about thinking like that about you. I'm sorry for not realising it was my place to defend our relationship. It's just..." He mussed his hair. "I thought that since we never acted like a couple in public..." He shrugged helplessly. "I'm such a fool."

It was nearly killing him that he had this almost perfect relationship with this perfect girl and he'd ruined it.

"I broke up with Dean Thomas."

Draco snapped his eyes up to hers.

"What? But I just saw him..." He didn't want to start hoping but did it anyway.

"Yes." She nodded. "I told him today. He had been out of the country for three weeks and I wanted to tell him in person."

Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did it mean... Could it mean...?

"Why?"

"I told him I didn't love him. I told him I was in love with somebody else." Ginny smiled and took his hand in hers.

~ FIN ~

Author notes: The story was inspired by one story on Fire and Ice Archive, but I'm very sorry to say I don't remember which story it was. The scene about Draco seeing Ginny being touched by another guy belongs to some other author, if you recognize whose it is, please let me know who I have to thank for the inspiration. I didn't mean to plagiarise. :)

This is my first Ginny/Draco, please let me know how I did. Concrit is welcome too. :) I love reviews. Thank you for reading! :)