Love Hurts, But It's Worth It.

Love Hurts, But It's Worth It.

Chapter Three: The Kiss.

"Why the hell is Ginny talking to that bastard?" Ron was watching his sister intently from across the room and he forgot who was standing next to him.

"Hey!" Darcy pushed his arm slightly. "Watch your mouth about my best friend!" He shrugged apologetically and Hermione looked at Ginny as well.

"They're just talking, Ron, it's not illegal."

"It should be," he said grumpily. "I don't want her talking to him."

"She's a big girl, although I know you hate that. She is twenty-one now, Ron, she's allowed to do whatever she wants."

"Not with him, she isn't." Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to Harry. Who shrugged and looked concernedly over at Ron's little sister.

"You agree with Ron, don't you, Harry?" He nodded silently and carried on watching. "Leave her alone, you two, she's entitled to do whatever she likes. And that includes dancing, flirting, kissing, talking to and spending time with Draco Malfoy. So live with it. If she wanted to take him out into the garden and have him on the dewy wet grass, she could."

"Hermione, mental pictures! Thank you for that." Ron shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "At least she'll be out of here by tomorrow morning, and she won't spend anymore time with him."

"Why? Isn't she staying?"

"No. Is anyone else?"

"Ron, you know we're staying for the reunion week, don't you?" Ron paled and stared at his girlfriend.

"We're staying for the what?"

"I told you we were staying for the week absolutely ages ago. I do believe you were watching television at the time." She thought back. "Yes, you were, you had just discovered Changing Rooms, and you were laughing your arse off, and I told you."

"Great timing, Hermione! Did you honestly think I'd remember that?"

"You know, I was wondering why your bag was so small." She laughed at his face and couldn't resist teasing him. "I bet Malfoy's staying. Well, that will give them a chance to get to know each other better, won't it?" Ron turned on Harry.

"Did you know about this?" Harry nodded, but was still staring across the room.

"Ron, I think you've got bigger problems." He pointed across the hall and Ron looked just in time to see his sister disappear out of the door with Draco Malfoy.

Hermione grabbed the back of his shirt just in time.

*&*

Ginny felt his hand in hers a moment before she looked up at him and he smiled. She curled her fingers around his and then let him lead her out of the room. He had stared at her for a moment or two when she had told him her name, but then he had smiled and laughed.

"It's just ironic," he explained. "That I spent seven years locked in a battle of wills with your brother and his best friends, but you've managed to floor me with two words."

Five minutes later, he insisted they took a walk outside to clear their heads and get to know each other better. Ginny had seen straight through that one.

"You just want to piss my brothers off."

"That is true. Damn, foiled again." She laughed, and looked down, and then his hand was in hers. Jesus, she thought, he's very good.

They wandered into the cool night air and Draco immediately asked if she was cold. She replied in the negative, she had picked a long-sleeved dress for a reason. Yeah, that and the colour looked good with her hair and her newly acquired Venezuelan tan.

Draco still draped his arm over her shoulders, and she had to admit, she did suddenly feel warmer with the material of his jumper on the bare skin of her neck and shoulders. They sat together on a stone bench and Draco removed his arm and stared into the sky, making her stare at his slender neck and beautiful hair.

"Do you ever think about the universe and life when you look at the stars?" He was trying to be deep, she was almost laughing.

"Not really."

"No. Me neither. I sort of think about the fact that it's all just gas." She laughed and that was how their conversation started.

They talked about everything. From the stars, to the sky, to the colour of her dress, to stupid Muggle appliances, to hair care products, and back to the stars. Then they discussed pressing world issues like the way your hair always looks nicest when you haven't bothered, or the way tissues always fall apart when you try to use them, and why trees always look their nicest at night.

Ginny couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed just talking to someone like this. Draco was thinking the same, but he had had Darcy for a while and she was always good to talk to, as any best friend should be. It was very late by the time he checked his watch and asked her if she wanted to go back in.

"Yes, I think so. I'm kind of cold now." They stood and Draco slung his arm around her, holding her up against him as they walked up the stairs to the Great Hall. Ginny wasn't about to make him let go when they entered the warmth, and he didn't seem to want to either.

*&*

Ron caught sight of his sister walking into the hall with Draco Malfoy's arm around her and his body tensed so violently Hermione jumped away from him. Then she saw what he was looking at and rolled her eyes. Ginny started to dance with Draco, her face lighting up as he made her laugh and spun her round.

"Look how happy she is, Ron. She's a young woman in her twenties; she deserves to have some fun. And she's allowed to have that fun with whomever she wants." He was still watching them intently, but he relaxed, and Hermione hugged him, making him look away from his sister and down at her. "Would you have given me up if your elder brother didn't like me?"

"If your father had almost killed me, yes." Hermione froze in his arms, remembering that year, and her brow creased.

"That wasn't him, that was his father. Leave her be."

*&*

Draco handed Ginny her drink and smiled down at her as she sipped it, looking up at him coyly through her lashes.

"You know, Draco, all this good conversation and fetching me drinks and dancing me round the room could be taken as very heavy flirting on your part." She smiled again and he leaned against the wall, one leg bent up, his mouth bending slightly with a lazy smirk.

"That is very strange. Did you know that I was about to say the very same thing?" He was moving very close to her face.

"No. Funnily enough, I can't read your mind," she breathed. He leaned his face down to hers and his smirk hadn't budged an inch as he stopped a millimetre from her lips.

"Actually, I'm very glad of that fact right now." He smirked a little more and moved half a millimetre closer to her face. "I really am very glad." Ginny smiled, her eyes closing as-.

"Ginny!" Her eyes snapped open and Draco rolled his, moving slowly away from her lips. He looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows by way of a question at the man staring at them.

"Bog off, Potter. Go and stare at yourself in the mirror or something." He heard Ginny draw in her breath and realised just a little too late that she adored Potter and probably hated it when anyone said anything untoward to him. Bugger.

He removed his hands from the wall on either side of Ginny's head and turned properly to look at Harry's flashing green eyes and hideously messy hair. Honestly, had the man never heard of hair gel? Or a brush? Draco flexed his neck slightly to one side and settled into himself to face Harry.

"Yes?"

"I'm here to talk to Ginny." He smiled quite pleasantly but only managed to keep the smile on his face for ten seconds. "You okay, Gin?"

"I'm fine. And you can tell Ron not to send people to check up on me."

"He didn't send me, I just came over." She smiled at him and he smiled back genuinely, not the smile he had just given Draco. She realised how good-looking he was all over again and looked down a little. And saw Draco's feet. Draco. Oh God, she thought, stop fancying Harry when Draco has made himself quite clear.

Ginny stepped forward and placed a hand on Draco's arm. He relaxed but his gaze didn't waver from Harry's face. She smiled at Harry again and stepped slightly in front of Draco.

"Harry, I'm fine, I was just talking with him."

"Didn't look like that, Gin." He raised his eyebrows.

"Well, that's none of your business, is it Harry?" He frowned and looked at her in surprise at her almost angry tone. "It's mine. Not yours, or Ron's, or any of my brothers' business, it is mine." She enunciated every word incredibly clearly and he nodded his defeat, backing up a step.

"Fine." He stared at Draco's face for a few seconds and then stepped forward again. "Listen to me, Malfoy, you had better treat her well. Because you might think we're all losers but we still care about her." He smiled a little smile that wasn't friendly in the least. "And she's got six older brothers. Keep that in mind." With that, he swept off into the crowd and Ginny lost sight of him. Draco was still staring at where he had disappeared.

"He's right, you know, Ginny."

"About what?"

"He didn't say it, Gin, he just knows that I know." She walked around to face him and his smile was regretful but still unmistakeably his. "He thinks I'll hurt you."

"And he's right? You want to hurt me?" Draco looked down at her so suddenly that she was startled.

"I would never want to hurt you." He said it simply, but his eyes were becoming empty and cold. "But I always hurt everyone that's close to me. I'm just like my father." Ginny's eyes flashed suddenly.

"You are nothing like your father, Draco." Her eyes were hard and told him she was deathly serious. "You are you, and no-one can change that. Genes don't change that." She took his hand and held it up against hers. "Were you thinking about hurting me when you took my hand, Draco?" He shook his head and remained silent. "No. You weren't, because you're not like that." Her eyes changed slightly, to showing something that was almost amusement. "And if you ever do hurt me, I'll hunt you down and make you very sorry." She smiled. "Is that clear, Malfoy?"

He smiled down at her then, a proper smile, and she started pulling him gently towards the dancers again. He was letting her and she was backing up slowly, heading into the crowd of people.

"Ginny." She stopped and looked up at him. And he bent his head down, took her head gently in one hand and kissed her lips softly. Ginny was shocked and she didn't respond at all, making him draw back a little, a questioning smile on his lips. "Are you-?"

He didn't get a chance to finish because Ginny Weasley, the shy little girl he had barely known at school, pulled his head down, entwined her hands in his silky hair, and kissed him passionately on the lips as they stood on the edge of the mass of swirling dancers.

*&*

Hermione grabbed her boyfriend and held on to him tightly as he tried to get away. She won, but he was grumbling and she wouldn't let him go until he calmed down.

"Ron!" He was breathing hard as he watched his sister kiss Draco Malfoy in the middle of the dance floor.

Hermione was actually pretty impressed with how long Ginny could go without a breath.

Harry was very impressed at how strong Hermione was.

Ron wasn't impressed at anything; Ron was fuming that his sister was kissing that 'stinking scumbag, who has obviously brainwashed her into thinking he's worth something'.

*&*

Draco was very impressed at Ginny's talents.

And Ginny was just trying to think straight as his lips touched hers again, making spears of fire shoot over the nerve endings in her mouth and then up and down her spine, making her entire body tingle.