Love Hurts, But It's Worth It.

Love Hurts, But It's Worth It.

Chapter Two: The Introduction.

He flexed his neck gently from side to side and leaned against the wall, his cool grey eyes surveying everything. He let some of his blond hair slide over his eyes and peered around the room, looking at Potter as he danced with a dark haired girl in a red dress. Angela something, he thought, engaged to one of those Weasley losers. He thought it was one of the twins, the two who thought that because they had money now that they were something. They didn't realise that money couldn't buy them class, sophistication, or a powerful family name, no more than it could buy them good looks.

Draco Malfoy smiled and shook the hair away from his eyes as he settled his gaze on a beautiful blond with a nice figure. They could have pretty children. His father had taught him well, you look at the face, the figure, and the colouring, that's all you need to look at to know whether she'd be a good mother to your children. The personality was of no concern, although a strong will was frowned upon, but that could be easily broken, according to Lucius' knowledge of women.

There was a girl across the room staring at him right now, he noticed, her dark brown hair was fanned across her shoulders, bare in a strapless, pure white dress. He knew why she was staring, his pale blond looks and piercing gaze was enough for any woman to stare, but what he did with himself just heightened his God-given perfection.

He was wearing black trousers, not too tight and not too baggy, with a deep green, soft wool jumper that suited him perfectly and hung on his frame, complimenting his build to the point of perfection. His suede jacket was on a peg by the door and he smiled because he knew how good he looked.

He was about to walk slowly around the room when something caught his eye. A flash of light on someone's glasses. He turned his head and saw the three of them. Still together, and still the same, boring selves that they'd always been.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as they laughed at something and he looked at the crowd of people they were with. Longbottom, still as bumbling and pathetic as always, with a girl on his arm (how he managed that, thought Draco, I'll never know), one of the Weasley twins, a few of their old classmates, and a beautiful young girl who he didn't know, and didn't recognise from Hogwarts. She laughed at something Potter said and touched his arm lightly, making Draco think they could be a little more than friends, or just really old friends.

He hoped it was the first one; nothing would give him more pleasure than stealing a girl from the Boy Who Lived, who thought he was such a bloody star.

His eyes narrowed again as he smiled with more cruelty than amusement, and pushed himself off the wall as a girl approached him with his drink.

"Draco, I got your drink for you."

"Thanks, Darcy." He smiled at his striking dark-haired friend and then downed the drink in one. "Hey, do you want to dance?"

*&*

Hermione turned to look at the dancers swirling around behind them and Ron turned with her. He suddenly tensed and she knew why. She saw his light blond hair and lithe build and she just knew who it was. They hadn't seen Draco Malfoy since the day he had left Hogwarts when they finished their exams. He hadn't stuck around for any of the festivities; he had just gone, much to Ron and Harry's delight.

He hadn't changed all that much, his hair still made him stand out in a crowd and he was still good-looking, even more so, she realised with a shock, because he was actually smiling. A real smile, genuine, even. No, actually, she thought, I wouldn't go that far. He was laughing and talking with a girl of around their age, she was pretty with long, dark hair and a lovely figure, displayed perfectly in a pink dress that frilled into lace at her knees. They danced around the floor, earning several glances and admiring looks from members of both sexes.

Ron sneered and turned back around to talk to Harry and the other people crowded around them. Hermione looked for a few more moments and then turned to tell someone else whom she had just seen.

"Hey, Lavender, have you seen Draco Malfoy? He's over there dancing with some girl." Lavender looked interested, she still hadn't lost her passion for gossip, and tried to look for him.

"Is he still as gorgeous as ever?" Hermione nodded.

"Most definitely," she said just as Ron snorted dismissively. He looked at her, astonished, and she grinned. "What?"

"What are you comparing him to, Herm, a slug? He is not good-looking."

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but he is fine. He always has been." She shrugged apologetically and slid her arm around his waist. "I, of course, have always thought you were ten times better looking, because you're mine." He smiled down at her and she took a sip of her drink, looking out on the dance floor, which Lavender was still scrutinising in vain for a glimpse of a grown-up Draco Malfoy. "He's there, Lavender, with the brunette in the pink dress."

"That's Draco Malfoy? But he's smiling!" Hermione laughed.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, but he seems very happy with her, so maybe he's changed." Ron snorted again.

"Yeah, and maybe Satan wears ice-skates to work," he drawled sarcastically. "Come to think of it, Malfoy is probably the one to ask." Hermione rolled her eyes and joined Lavender in searching the dance floor for other people they knew.

*&*

"Hey, D, can we stop now?" Darcy was muttering in his ear and he nodded, leading her gently to the edge of the dance floor, letting her go as she grabbed two drinks off a tray that was floating past. They drank for a few moments and then he turned around and realised who he had come off the dance floor directly behind. He smiled his smile again and Darcy noticed it, raising an interested eyebrow.

"Well, well, would you look at that." His unmistakeable drawl made them turn around and face him and he sneered. "It's Potter the Wonder Jerk and his Band of Merry Freaks." Ron glared at him and muttered something under his breath.

"Get screwed, Malfoy."

"Been there, done that." He grinned. "You got the t-shirt yet, Weasley?" Draco heard Darcy's small sound of amusement but knew she was trying not to laugh because she wouldn't approve of what he was doing. Ron took Hermione's hand and Draco's eyebrows flew into his hairline. "Still together? That's sweet. Although I pity your children, if you ever have any, nothing should be that ugly."

Ron was halfway to Draco's throat when Harry grabbed him and held him back. Darcy slapped him lightly on the arm and he could practically hear her rolling her eyes, but he couldn't, because that would be gross. Harry stepped forward.

"Don't bother, Ron, he isn't worth it. He wasn't then and he sure as hell isn't now." He walked closer to Draco and smiled, but it wasn't exactly friendly. "Malfoy, leave us alone. I've told you this before, I even promised you a long time ago, that if you ever came near Hermione or Ron again, I would rip your head off and spit down your neck. I will live up to that promise if you provoke him again. Am I getting through to you?" His green eyes bored into Draco's grey ones, one pair sparkling with anger, the other devoid of any emotion.

"You're getting through to me, Potter, don't worry about that. But it doesn't mean I'll listen to you." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Get off your 'I'm really famous' high horse and think about things for a second." Harry's eyes widened for a second and then he backed down a little.

"Harry Potter, right?" Harry looked at the pretty brunette standing behind Draco and nodded slightly. "Draco mentioned that he went to school with you once." She slapped Draco's arm lightly and he looked at her, his eyebrows raised. "Are you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"I think 'friends' is too strong a word for what we are," snorted Ron. Hermione frowned at him.

"I'm Hermione Granger. This is my boyfriend Ron, and our best friend Harry, who you know, of course."

"Everyone, this is Darcy L'Angélique. Darcy, you know this lot now. Sorry about that."

"Don't be mean, Draco." Ron stared at her.

"No offence meant, Darcy, but you don't seem like the kind of girl that I would see with Malfoy."

"How so?"

"You seem nice." Darcy laughed loudly and Draco glared good-naturedly at her until she stopped.

"Thank you, Ron." She smiled at him and patted Draco's arm. "We live together, I can put up with him."

"Oh," said Hermione, making a try at conversation. "So, you two are together?"

"Oh my God, no!" Darcy laughed again. "No way, we aren't together, he can't handle me." Draco snorted disbelievingly but she ignored him. "We met a few years ago, when we'd both left school and were travelling all over the world. We've pretty much always been around each other since then. We're kind of...-"

"Darcy is my best friend," Draco said softly. Ron smiled widely; he was trying not to laugh. Hermione elbowed him, but her lip was quivering. Harry coughed loudly and turned around to get another drink. Darcy looked at them and frowned amusedly.

"Hey, Harry, do you want to dance?" He spun around quickly, his eyebrows raised and Darcy laughed. "Is that a yes, or are you caught in my headlights?"

"Sure."

"Great. That'll give Draco a chance to catch up on all the gossip with Hermione and Ron, I'm sure he'd love to chat with them." She led Harry away by the arm, smiling at Draco as he spluttered.

"Darcy, no, come back here, I-." He gave up. "Bitch," he muttered, and turned to see Ron hurrying Hermione on to the dance floor and away from Draco. He smiled. At least he didn't have to make small talk with the dullest couple on earth about what colour they were going to paint their dull little kitchen in their dull little house.

Then he noticed that the group was slowly breaking up and the girl he had seen with Harry earlier was standing about a foot away from him. She really was quite beautiful, her figure hugged to perfection in a shimmering green dress with a scooped neck and a wide, flowing skirt. Despite the fact that she was more over-dressed than anyone in the room, she was comfortable in the outfit, and didn't seem to care at all. He sidled slowly up to her and took her hand. She turned to look at him, surprised, and he took it up to his lips, kissing the top of it gently.

"Where on earth did you spring from."

"Didn't your parents ever explain that?" He smiled his tiny little smile and let go of her hand gently.

"They didn't have to. I was an exceptional child. A fast . . . learner."

"I have heard much evidence to the contrary. That you weren't so much an exceptional child as a pain in the arse."

"Who told you these things? I feel quite scandalised." His smooth, drawling voice didn't sound scandalised, she thought. In fact, if he keeps this up he's in danger of making me fancy him. She swept some hair back off her face and smiled up at him slowly.

"My brother kept me well-informed. And I experienced a lot of it second-hand when I was at Hogwarts." His elegance and good breeding stopped him from showing too much surprise but she could see it in his eyes. He didn't know that she had gone to Hogwarts; he thought she was just along for the ride. She smiled widely.

"Really? Well, little miss know-it-all, would you care to dance?" She nodded and placed her hand in his as he took her to the middle of the dance floor.

They spun around and around and around until her head was spinning, but she just couldn't take her eyes off his face. The high cheekbones and sparkling eyes were successful in making it one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. And the way he looked at her was making her shiver.

His hands with their long, tapered fingers were resting on her body as they danced and she was breathing heavily when they stopped moving. She didn't know if it was the dancing or staring at him for too long.

"Come on, I need some fluids." He dragged her off the floor, but she didn't miss the subtle rising of his eyebrow as he caught the double meaning of his words. She laughed and let him take her to the opposite side of the hall away from the crowd they had started with.

He gave her a glass of wine and leaned against a wall, staring at her again in a way that made her realise that he had absolutely no idea who she was.

He watched her smile and wondered what was causing it, something to do with him; he had no doubt about that.

"So, when were you at Hogwarts? Or do you want to retain your air of mystery?" She shook her head at him. Her long red curls tumbled forwards as she looked down, smiling. When she looked up her brown eyes were dancing and she crossed her arms over the beautiful dress, making him notice how tight it was over her chest.

"You really don't remember me, do you?" He was taken aback, but he figured that there was no point lying. Draco shrugged slightly and shook his head, a tiny smile played on his lips as he looked at her pretty face.

"I'm sorry, I don't."

"I'm Ginny." Her smile was small and a tiny bit mocking. "Ginny Weasley."

His jaw dropped. This girl was Ginny Weasley? This was the sister of the Weasley clan? With her shapely curves and slender limbs? The graceful neck that led to that gorgeous heart-shaped face with its beautiful features? This was the little girl with freckles and big hair?

No shit.