Love Hurts, But It's Worth It.

Love Hurts, But It's Worth It.

Chapter Five: The Secret Worth Keeping.

"Ginny?" Hermione's voice was quiet as she opened her friend's bedroom door and peered inside. Ginny had pushed the covers down around her ankles and she was wearing a large white t-shirt and a pair of shorts as she lay spread-eagled across the sheets, her hair in a whirlwind around her head. Hermione smiled affectionately at the picture and realised how long it had been since she had last seen Ginny.

Walking carefully on the carpet, she reached out a hand and tapped her lightly on the shoulder to wake her. Ginny moaned softly and turned her head, a lazy smile spread across her features.

"Dr-?" Her eyes widened suddenly as she muttered something Hermione couldn't catch. "Hermione?" Ginny sat up and cleared her hair away from her eyes, looking at her in confusion. "What's happening?"

"Just here to say good morning." She sat down next to her on the bed. "And to talk, we haven't spoken for ages, so I thought I'd come and say hi." Ginny nodded and sat up a bit more, pulling the crimson coversheet around her and smiling.

"Sure. That sounds good." She yawned widely and ran her hands through her tangled hair.

"Gin, you look exhausted, you've got bags under your eyes." Ginny nervously touched her hand to her face and smiled again.

"I just didn't get much sleep last night. You know, being at Hogwarts after a long time away, and thinking about people we knew and people we . . . didn't know so well." Hermione nodded like she understood but Ginny knew perfectly well that she would never understand what had happened last night, and that's exactly why she wasn't going to tell her.

*&*

" . . . So then, this huge Venezuelan bloke came up and told me to get off his goat! And I had no idea what was going on so I told him to get his own!" Hermione almost fell off the bed, she was laughing so hard at Ginny's story about what had happened when one of her friends had offered her some 'genuine Venezuelan alcohol' one night.

"So you had no idea why you were asleep on this goat?"

"No! And in the morning I was suffering for that bloody chazzan, I mean, what kind of a name for a drink is that? I almost killed Andrea, stupid cow told me it wasn't her fault I insisted on taking up James' bet that I couldn't drink more shots than him. I did, by the way."

"Ginny Weasley, I am shocked." Hermione giggled as Ginny rolled onto her stomach and looked up at her friend, laughing. Her hands slid under the pillow as she stretched and she suddenly went very still. "Gin? Something wrong?"

"Oh, no, I just had a thought. What's the time?"

"Good point. It's," she consulted the watch Ron had given her for her birthday, "almost time for breakfast, we've got about a quarter of an hour."

"Right." Oh shit, Ginny thought, shit, shit, shit, bloody Draco. She had spied, all of a sudden, a watch on the floor of her bedroom. It was his, of course it was his bloody watch, and Hermione was going to see it when she got up, unless Ginny found some way to get to it first.

Hermione slid backwards slightly as Ginny launched herself at her and swept her up into a bear hug.

"Ginny?"

"Oh, Herm, I've just missed you so much! All our talking and everything, I missed you when I was away. I mean, it was fun and I had the most brilliant time, but I missed you, I missed all of you." Ginny stuck her hand out, grabbed her wand, and pointed it towards the wristwatch as Hermione told her she had missed her too, and she whispered something she had learnt years ago.

"Accio wrist watch!" Her arms were still around Hermione's neck, and she was still talking about how much she had missed her when her hand closed around the gold, very expensive-looking (naturally), watch. She breathed a sigh of relief and sat back from her friend, hiding the watch under the folds of her t-shirt and then surreptitiously sliding it under the pillow as there was a small 'pop' and Ron appeared in the room, scaring them both.

"What are you doing, sweetie?" Hermione smiled bemusedly at her boyfriend, who was standing in the middle of the room with his hand clapped over his eyes.

"Are you both dressed?"

"Ron, that only happened once, and if I was naked you would have heard screams by now." Ginny was laughing at her brother, who looked injured at her giggling but was used to it.

"You can never be too careful around you women, you're always changing your clothes." Hermione laughed.

"Anyway, dear brother, you've only become careful recently, you used to wander into every room you felt like, you even came into the bathroom once."

"Yes, that's not uncommon in our household."

"It is when someone's using the toilet."

"That was a mistake!" Ron exclaimed, his ears going red. Hermione shrieked with laughter.

"When did that happen? Who was it? Why didn't I hear about this?"

"It was Fleur Delacour! He was mortified." Ginny smiled and sat back on her pillows. "She was staying over from France, Mum invited her because she was friendly with Harry, and you know what she's like about Harry, so she stayed for about a week. That's when she got to know Bill so well." Fleur had gone out with Bill for about six months, they had broken up several months ago and Hermione gasped at him.

"You never told me that!" Ron shuffled his feet and looked down, his ears the same colour as Ginny's bed hangings.

"I need some male company," Ron muttered, "where's Harry?" He Disapparated with another 'pop' and Ginny turned to Hermione with a frown.

"I thought you couldn't Disapparate or Apparate in the Hogwarts grounds?"

"You can't, but Professor McGonagall fixed it so that for just this weekend we could. She thought it would excite people into coming. You know, a sort of 'forbidden fruit' style of doing things. And, anyway, more importantly, you've read Hogwarts, a History?" Hermione's voice was excited and she was smiling widely.

"Oh, Christ, no! I've heard you say it about a hundred times though." She rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Herm, I think you're the only person in the entire wizarding world who has actually read that book."

*&*

Ron shocked Harry by arriving, on the foot of his bed, just as he was getting up. He shouted something Ron would never have thought of doing with a sheep, and then smacked Ron on the arm.

"What in the name of flying shit are you doing in my bedroom?"

"Getting away from the women in my life."

"Your mother's here?" he said with faked interest.

"Piss off. Ginny and Herm are ripping it out of me because of when I accidentally opened the door on Fleur Delacour in the toilet." Harry started laughing immediately, irritating Ron amazingly well and earning a slap on the arm.

"Well it was very funny, Ron, you have to admit that."

"No, I don't. Anyway, get up and get moving, I want breakfast and Herm will be getting ready any minute now."

"She has that in her timetable as well? God, man, sorry about saying this about your girl, but she is completely obsessed with doing everything perfectly." A sly smile spread across his face and Ron gave him an unimpressed look. He shook his head at Harry and stood up.

"No, I am not telling you anything."

"Well? Come on, does she?" He sat up and his grin was positively evil.

"It is nothing to do with you, and I'm not going to tell you."

"She does, doesn't she? 'Do it like this! No, like this, Ron, honestly. I saw this in Hogwarts, A History, it's meant to be-'." He didn't finish because Ron pointed his wand at him and muttered something. Harry suddenly found himself unable to speak and it was Ron's turn to grin evilly.

"I'll see you down at breakfast, and dress quickly, you don't want to be like that for too long." Then, he strode over to the door and opened it, gave a little wave to Harry's furious face and closed it, laughing to himself.

*&*

Draco sat down on one of the long benches on the Gryffindor table and smiled around himself before picking up his cup of coffee and sipping it slowly. In all his time at Hogwarts, he had never sat at this table, and for good reason. He had no friends in Gryffindor, he hated a large number of the people in Gryffindor, and they were all tossers anyway. Except, of course, you, my love, he thought, spotting Ginny walk through the double doors at the end of the Hall.

Her red hair was tied back and she spotted him and began to walk over, swiftly followed by a mutinous-looking Harry with his mouth set in a thin line. Draco rolled his eyes and then stood as Ginny came closer, watching her smirk as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.

"Morning, lover," he murmured. She looked up at him through her eyelashes and raised her left eyebrow in an elegant and unimpressed gesture.

"Good morning, Draco. Sleep well?" She spoke loudly enough that others could hear, but the tone of her voice was openly mocking.

"I had a little trouble at first, but I managed eventually." She nodded and sat down, smiling at Harry as she did so.

"What's up with Potter the Wonder Boy this morning?" Draco asked innocently as Harry's burning gaze settled on him.

"As far as I can tell from his sign language, Ron put a silence spell on him."

"Well, well, Weasley isn't as brain dead as I thought." Ginny slapped his arm and he raised his eyebrows at her. "What? Oh, the whole related thing." Ginny rolled her eyes and went back to her plate, looking put-off. Draco leaned closer to her and smiled. "By the way, if what I think is of any importance to you at all, you look mind-numbingly gorgeous today." His breath was warm against her cheek and she smiled despite herself.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Draco Malfoy."

"You sure about that?" He smiled at her and she shook her head. Her robes were dark green, and she looked gorgeous in the colour, as she usually did. Draco admired her face as she smiled consolingly at Harry, and she was so beautiful when she smiled like that, his breath caught slightly. He frowned suddenly and looked away. No way, no way am I going to feel like that about her right now. Stop it!

He got up all of a sudden and went to get the coffee pot from somewhere up the table. When he sat back down, Ron and Hermione were sitting next to Harry, who was shouting furiously at Ron.

"What the hell were you playing at?" Ron shrugged and looked sheepish, letting Harry unload his fury, because he knew after that he would be fine. Hermione was keeping well clear, but she would shoot Ron a disapproving look every few minutes. Draco rolled his eyes and sat next to Ginny, who looked at him curiously.

"Why didn't you just use the Accio spell, Draco?" She lowered her voice so only he could hear. "It's the one I had to use this morning to get this," she showed him his watch under the table, "off my bedroom floor. Thanks for giving me a very early heart attack. How do you think I could have explained this to Hermione? Why weren't you more careful?" Draco's voice was low as well as he hissed his answer back.

"Anyone would think you were ashamed of me, Ginny Weasley." She frowned and slammed his watch into his hand.

"Anyone would think you hadn't tormented my brother and his best friends all the way through their school lives. And anyone would think you would remember that your father nearly killed me." Draco's face turned to stone and she knew she was going to regret saying that. She tried in vain to back-pedal through the conversation. "Look-."

"Don't bother, Ginny, just don't bother." He snapped his watch onto his wrist and stood up violently, his black robes flowing around him. In stony silence, he turned on his heel and walked away from her, shoving several people out of the way and sending them flying.

As he stamped out of the Hall, Darcy walked into him and frowned at his face as he stormed past her.

"Draco!" People looked up as Ginny stood and shouted after him, but he ignored her. "Draco, stop!" She climbed off the bench and hurried in the direction he had gone, making her way through the people who were just coming in the large doors of the Great Hall. Harry turned to Ron and smiled consolingly.

"Wow, I think your sister has it bad. For Draco Malfoy." It was Ron's turn to look mutinous.

*&*

"Slow down," she called after him. Then, under her breath, she added, "you stupid, stubborn man." Ginny had followed him from the Hall and then out into the grounds where he was currently walking so fast he was putting the Olympic speed-walkers to shame. His blond hair was being blown back from his face by the bitingly cold wind and she rolled her eyes as she began walking faster, catching him up.

"Ginny, go away," he called over his shoulder.

"Shut up, Draco, and slow the fuck down." He actually did, she realised no one had probably ever said something like that to him. He had been raised as an only child to a rich family where they probably did everything he wanted, and he wasn't used to being sworn at, especially by a girl he was currently . . . what? He was currently doing what with?

She was thinking furiously and didn't realise he had stopped walking, so she walked straight into him.

"What do you want?"

"You aren't that stupid, Draco, and neither am I, so don't play at innocent and non-caring."

"Who says that I'm playing?"

"Me." She stepped closer to him and put her hand on his arm. "Doesn't that count for anything?" He looked down at her, his familiar sneer in place, and shook his head.

"I don't think it should, Weasley, because you don't seem to think I count for anything." She hated the way he said her name, but she let it go.

"Not true."

"Then why the secrecy?" He shook her hand off, crossing his arms, and raised his nose in the air, making him seem even haughtier. His eyebrows were raised and he was waiting for her answer.

"Your father nearly killed me in my first year at Hogwarts." He made a move to leave and she grabbed him. "That's not the end of it. My brothers don't like the name Malfoy because they link it with what your father did to me, and how he treated our father, and what he was. I'm sorry, but I can't change how they feel. And so I can't tell them now, I can't let them be that disappointed with me.

'And if you'd told me that I would feel like this about you one day, I would have laughed you off the planet. I'm shocked." She smiled slightly. "But, you've changed, Draco. Not entirely, obviously. You're still arrogant, and you're horrible to my brother, and you don't like Harry and Hermione, and you act like everyone should worship you all the time." The amused look faded from her face a little.

"But I can't seem to leave you alone. Which could, quite possibly, be bad for me, but I can't help it, and for some reason I don't want to." She reached out and touched his arm again. "I don't know how you feel about me, and I'm guessing, after my secrecy thing, that it isn't going to be good. But I slept with you last night, and I don't know if that was a particularly good thing to do, and I'm terrified that you're going to hate me forever because I can't stop thinking about what we did and I don't think I want to either. Draco, I-."

She couldn't finish because he rolled his eyes and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her towards him and kissing her lips softly.

"You talk too much, Weasley," he said as he pulled away from her stunned face.

"Ginny." She smiled and leaned closer. "It's Ginny, Malfoy." He smirked as his mouth closed over hers, and she ran her hands up his chest. When she pulled back, she smiled up at him through her hair, which was whipping around her face in the freezing wind. "Can we go inside? I need to warm up." She saw his smirk widen and shook her head. "And not like that."

He gave her a small, confident smile, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and walked her back to the Great Hall.