Opening the Gate

Opening the Gate

~ Chapter 1 ~

See how I've opened up

Oh, you made me trust

- Avril Lavigne (Naked)

Ginny Weasley was laying awake in her bedroom at twelve Grimmauld Place. It had been one week since school ended and it would still be one week until Harry and Hermione would join them and the Order.

Harry, Ginny thought rolling over in her bed. She felt so bad for him, first he lost his parents, and now he lost his godfather who he had only found out about two years ago. Still, she couldn't wait for him to come. Ginny knew having a crush on Harry was near impossible that he would return her feelings yet she couldn't help but like him. Sure she had said that she "gave up" on him and now liked Dean Thomas, but that was only an attempt to make him jealous and to see how he reacted. She never actually considered going out with him; Harry was the only guy for her. And with thoughts of Harry going through her head she fell asleep.

***

Ginny woke up to Mrs. Weasley calling her and Ron down to breakfast. Ginny just rolled over; she was too comfortable to get up.

Tap, tap.

"Gin, I know you're in there," called the familiar voice of her brother Ron.

Ginny just groaned and got up and got dressed. When she opened her door to go downstairs there stood a brightly grinning Ron.

"Glad to see you up sleepyhead."

Ginny just shook her head at him and started down the stairs. It felt funny to be in Sirius' house when Sirius was no longer...

"Where is everyone?" asked Ron.

Ginny looked around the kitchen; her mom was rushing around making porridge, while Tonks was sitting at the old circular kitchen table nibbling at some toast.

"The rest of the Order," said Mrs. Weasley setting down two bowls of porridge for them, "are off on call."

"Mmm," replied Ron through a mouth full of breakfast. "Hiya Tonks."

"Hey Ron," she said examining herself in a spoon. Suddenly with a pop her hair color changed five different shades of blue.

"Cool," said Ron in awe. "Can you do it again?"

"I am NOT a circus act here to amuse you!" she snapped, then added. "Sorry about that, I'm just upset that the Order thought that I would be no help on such a vital mission like this one," but Mrs. Weasley interrupted Tonks.

"They're back, go on Ron, Ginny, upstairs the both of you!"

Ron and Ginny got up and made their way down the hall just as some of the Order made their way in. But instead of going up the stairs and into their rooms they both stopped three-quarters of the way up and sat down.

"Ginny, mum said go to your room," said Ron as he sat down.

"She said for you to go too," she replied, unmoving, "anyway if you made me go I'd tell mum you've been spying."

"Fine, fine, just shush, they're coming in."

Pretty much the whole order was there. Mad-Eye Moody and Mr. Weasley were the last to come in.

Mr. Weasley turned around and spoke to someone behind him.

"Make yourself comfortable in the living room."

As the crowd broke apart Ginny could see who her father was talking to. She gasped, because there in the doorway stood none other than,

"Malfoy," growled Ron under his breath.

Draco's light blue eyes darted around the hall, and then he picked up his small beige trunk and went into the living room.

"Arthur," hissed Mrs. Weasley from the kitchen, "do you know who that boy is? What is he doing here?"

"Molly, calm down," came Mr. Weasley's voice from the kitchen, trying to comfort his wife. "Yes I do know that that boy was Lucius' son, Draco...."

"Then are you mad? Bringing him into here?"

"Now, now, Molly, let me explain,"

Ginny leaned closer to the banister, face almost pressed against the bars.

"When we got to the alert it said someone was trying to summon You-Know-Who. The address was Malfoy Manor. So the Order showed up and You-Know-Who wasn't there, obviously sensed we were coming and didn't return Lucius' call. But we found Lucius torturing Narcissa over some argument they were having. We called out for Lucius to stop but he didn't. So we decided to give him a little stun, the only thing was when over twelve wizards perform a Stunning Spell it does a little more than just stun the target..."

"So is he... dead?" gasped Mrs. Weasley.

"Afraid so Molly," replied Mr. Weasley.

"And What about Narcissa?"

"St. Mungo's, Permanent Spell Damage Ward."

The kitchen went silent.

Ginny remembered that ward; Lockhart was there, along with poor Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom. She pictured the pretty Mrs. Malfoy in the state of Mrs. Longbottom.

"So poor boy has no parents, and we felt as if it was our fault."

" But Arthur," Mrs. Weasley protested, "he's one of them..."

"Only because he was brought up by them, look at Serverus."

Mrs. Weasley sighed, then called

"Ron, Ginny, would you come down here please?"

They both got up silently and made their way into the kitchen.

"I know how you both feel about Draco Malfoy," Mrs. Weasley spoke in barely a whisper, "but he's going to be staying with us for a while. Try and be courteous to him because his father just died and his mother is in St. Mungo's," she stopped suddenly because at that moment Mr. Weasley came in with Draco.

"Ron," said Mr. Weasley, "show Draco to the Extra bedroom."

Ron unwillingly walked out of the kitchen with Draco, dragging his trunk, behind him.

"Ginny," Mr. Weasley's voice was soft, "when your brother comes back I want you to go upstairs and make our guest feel at home."

Ginny simply nodded.

***

Ron opened the door and Draco went inside. He wanted to say thanks but that went against the Malfoy Code.

"Saying thank you just shows you're weak," his father had always said.

Draco had the Code literally beaten into him as he grew up.

When Draco turned around Ron was no longer there. He picked up his trunk and started across the room. It was much drearier than he hoped. The walls were a dingy grey-black color and pealing. The only furniture in the huge room was a large wooden wardrobe near the door and in the center of the room a rickety canopy bed. On the wall there was only two empty picture frames. But Draco made his way across the room and dropped his trunk in front of the giant bay windows and sat down. It was a great view of the beckoning forest behind them. It was almost as good as his view from Malfoy Manor.

He was told to pack quickly, he would be coming back in a few days to sort out the Manor. Taking the stuff he needed, putting stuff into storage, and getting rid of some stuff too.

"So where will all the stuff go?" he had asked an Auror.

"Preserving charm will be put on what you choose to keep, then it will be put into storage," the Auror replied.

"I think we should just turn this place into a Malfoy Museum, it would surly be a hit with the villagers. It would show them how much better we lived," Draco had said smugly.

"Just pack," the Auror said then impatiently shoved a little trunk at him.

Malfoy's eyes darted towards the door as the knob started to turn. He jumped up as Ginny entered the room.

She quickly strode across the room to where he was standing.

"Ginny Weasley," she said as she started to kick the trunk out from behind him, "I'm here to make you feel more at home."

She didn't even look up, she unlocked the trunk and started to take stuff out as he just stood and stared. She gathered a handful of his clothes and opened the wardrobe. It was divided down the center with hanging space on the left side and shelves on the right. Ginny quickly threw the clothes into the hanging space then made her way back to the trunk. She now scooped up the remainder of the stuff and put it onto the shelves. Then she quickly shut the wardrobe and left the room without another word.

Draco silently went over to his trunk and clicked it shut.

***

Ginny woke up to a rustling noise. She yawned. It must have been around one in the morning. She heard the creak of her wardrobe being opened, she must have left the door of her bedroom unlocked.

"Kreacher," Ginny called, "get out!"

But in reply she just heard the sound of a drawer being opened.

"Kreacher," she said in a stern voice, "I said get OUT!"

Still nothing.

Ginny groaned and swung her feet off the bed and got up to turn on a light. And when she did she let out a little scream because there was Malfoy digging through her drawer.

"Jeez Ginny," he said, blue eyes staring straight at her, "imagine the shock your brother would go into if he found out about your dirty little panties," Draco held up an extra skimpy, black lacy thong and an evil grin slipped through.

"Give me those!" she hissed grabbing it out of his hand.

"Those must be for... Harry!" and as he said "Harry" he pulled out a tiny picture of him from her drawer too.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked also taking the picture from him.

"Hmm?" Draco replied politely.

"What's wrong? Obviously there's something," Draco just stared. "And it's best if you talk about it."

***

Draco stared down at this tiny girl in her white nightgown.

"You know," he said distractedly, "a silk nightdress would be much more becoming."

"What's that have to do with anything?" she replied.

Draco looked at her and could tell he got to her in some way. To his surprise Ginny took a step closer.

"What's wrong?" she said in barely a whisper.

Draco couldn't believe what was going on, sixteen years of training from his father of "never show weakness" was slowly ebbing away. No one had ever come up to him and asked "what's wrong" in that tone of voice. Ginny put a hand on his shoulder and he caved. He looked into big, brown eyes with his own sad, blue ones.

"Is it about your dad being gone?" she whispered.

"I could care less about him," Draco broke away and strode across the room to the window, "I hate him."

"Is it your mom?"

Draco's hands griped the windowsill. He always loved his mother. He never loved his father. He never even understood why they were married; his father never loved her. His father was always bringing in other women and Draco knew his mother knew, but she never said anything. She never said much, until today, which was why his father was torturing her.

And before Draco knew what he was doing he blurted all this out. He was breathing heavy like he had just ran a marathon when he was done and there was a burning sensation in his eyes. Ginny just slowly walked over.

"I'm so sorry," and she put her hand onto his.

But then something snapped. Draco pulled his hand away and stared coldly at Ginny

"I have no idea what made me say that," and he stormed towards the door and started to leave then stopped. "Especially to you of all people," and he slammed the door.

Once he was out of there he felt bad for snapping like that, a little, but it is hard to reverse what you've been brought up to do for sixteen years.

***

Ginny woke up. She rolled over in her bed wishing she had slept through the whole night. Amazingly enough Ginny wasn't mad at the way Malfoy had treated her. Maybe because her mother had told her to "just tolerate him, he wasn't lucky enough to live in the same loving environment as you have". Which Ginny believed was true, living with the hostel tension between his two parents that reached to such a point that it resulted in murder, she shuttered, that was no way to live. In fact she was impressed that Draco had let her know so much. Ginny looked at her watch. Harry had gotten it for her birthday, she simply could not wait to see him again.

She quietly got dressed, she thought she should save her mum the trouble of calling them down for breakfast. Ginny went out into the hall and tapped lightly on Malfoy's door, which was open slightly.

"Breakfast."

Suddenly she heard Malfoy swear loudly, followed by Ron poking his head out of his room down the hall and Kreacher scurrying out of Malfoy's.

"What," Malfoy panted, "in the bloody regions of Hell was THAT?!"

"House-Elf," said Ginny simply.

"And what, that great oaf Hagrid sat on it or something?"

"How 'bout we just get dressed and go get breakfast," said Ron, trying very hard to keep his temper.

Five minutes later both boys reappeared.

"Damn thing was staring at me, right in my face, when I woke up," Draco was still wide-eyed about the whole thing.

"And that is why you lock your door before you go to bed," said Ginny.

"Speaking of Kreacher," interrupted Ron, "Ginny, I think you left your door unlocked as well because I heard something rummaging around in your drawers and then later slam your door."

"Oh," she replied.

"About last night," Draco whispered in her ear, "are you wearing those pink ones with the hearts? Those are my favorites."

Ginny looked at him; he had a horrible grin on his face.

"I can't believe you are so obsessed with my underwear," she laughed.

"Well it's just you are the last person I'd believe to have a collection of dirty underwear. Actually," he stopped and put on a thoughtful look," I'd see your brother owning thongs before you. I would make sense though if he was gay and danced around in your underwear for a lark."

"You just gave me a very scarring mental picture," said Ginny but before he could reply Mrs. Weasley cried out how happy she was to see them up this early for a change.

They all took a seat around the same circular kitchen table.

"How did you sleep Draco?" asked Mrs. Weasley as she filled their plates with bacon, eggs, and sausage.

"Great," he replied the started to eat.

Ginny noticed he ate sort of rushed like if he didn't eat it now in five minutes it would be gone, but if he made it look like he was rushing it would disappear all the same. She took a sip of orange juice then looked at him again. His hair was so blond it was almost silver and he was pale with not so much as freckle to ruin his complexion. Like everything else about him his eyes were a faint blue, unlike her brother's which were a bright blue, like the color of the ocean.

Lupin burst into the room, taking Ginny's thoughts off Draco.

"Oh, Remus, do come and have breakfast with us," said Mrs. Weasley.

He just nodded and took as seat between Ginny and Malfoy.

Ginny felt so sorry for him. First he lost his best friend James, then Peter Pettigrew to the Dark Lord's side, now, finally, Sirius.

"Draco," Lupin started as Mrs. Weasley set a plate of breakfast in front of him, "why thank you Molly. Now, Draco, starting next week you'll begin to clean out the Manor. From nine to six, every day until it is clean," and with that he started to eat.

Malfoy nodded then handed his plate to Kreacher (who had been watching him with great interest) and to everyone's surprise Kreacher took it and put it into the sink and proceeded to wash it.

"What?" snapped Draco when he realized that everyone was starring at him.

"Kreacher never does housework," Lupin replied, amazed.

"Well what a useless House-Elf," said Malfoy simply.

***

Six Days Later

***

Ginny, Ron, and Malfoy were sitting in the living room. It was just after lunchtime, Ginny was playing Wizard Chess with Ron and getting beaten, horribly. Draco was quietly pacing around as he always did. Quietly pausing to examine something every once and a while. Suddenly they heard the door slowly creak open and the familiar voice of Mr. Weasley.

"I have a surprise!"

All three of them poked their head out of the opening to see Mr. Weasley standing in the hall with none other than Harry and Hermione. Ron ran in there and there was a huge exchange of greetings. Ginny went in there too, hoping that Harry would say something, anything to her. She was leaning slightly against the banister. Hermione was busily telling the boys about how her vacation was.

"Oh, hey Ginny," greeted Hermione suddenly. "Sorry didn't see you there."

Ginny just smiled at her

"Hey," Harry said

"Hello," Ginny replied sweetly

"Hate to break up the reunion," Mr. Weasley walked up to them, "but I believe there is something in the living room that our two guests should know about," And he went in there while the four followed.

"What," Harry's anger seemed to be building, "is he doing here?"

Draco was standing in the center of the room, staring blankly at his shoes. Mr. Weasley put one hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Draco Malfoy will be staying with us for a while."

Harry looked venomously at Malfoy.

"But no worries Harry," Mr. Weasley laughed nervously, "you won't have to share a room with Draco, you're with Ron and Hermione your with Ginny," and with that he left the room.

"Good," Draco drawled, "my room only has one bed and I'm not too keen on sharing it with Potter, he'd probably start feeling me up in the middle of the night."

Harry looked maliciously at him, but before he could say or do anything Hermione grabbed his hand.

"Me and Harry didn't tell you the great news," she started, "Harry why don't you tell them?"

A giant grin suddenly spread across his face.

"Me and Hermione are a couple!"