Two Months

Chapter 2- Miss Weasley

Ginny woke up bright and early the next day, ready for another day´s work. She did not know what to expect, but felt prepared for anything. Happily, she decided to wear her new Cameron Laurel suit her parents had given her as a Congratulations-on-the-New-Job present. The brand was highly popular for young ladies, but one of the most expensive brands. Ginny was determined to make this new day even better than yesterday.

Arriving at her desk at promptly eight o´clock, she looked over at Malfoy´s desk. There were a few papers on it, a notepad, and three highly expensive pens. She could tell he had already been there, because there was a small suitcase by the desk. Ginny glanced at the desk again, and then noticed a yellow sticky addressed to her.

Weasley,

Find the papers labeled `Archimedes-Pot Luck´. Have them ready when I return.

Draco Malfoy

Frowning, Ginny read the note again. Archimedes-Pot Luck? Where was she supposed to look? Oh well. She started to shuffle through Malfoy´s desk drawers, finding nothing but lots of neatly stacked folders. She was looking through the cabinet when Malfoy returned.

"Did you get them?" he asked impatiently.

"No!" said Ginny indignantly. "How was I supposed to find them? You didn´t--"

"Never mind," he snapped. Pushing her aside, he opened the cabinet and pulled out a folder. "I have to go. You want to come?"

"Where?"

"Places," he said even more impatiently. Malfoy had started to leave again, closing the place up. "This folder thing," he added, indicating to the folder.

"Why would you need me?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

Malfoy was already at the door, keys in hand. He watched at her with a slightly exasperated look. "Weasley," he said, "You coming or not?"

Sighing, Ginny grabbed her purse and followed him out the door. They weaved through other employees´ work places, and down to the main floor. Mr. Alvin was working there.

"See you, Draco!" he called as they passed.

"Later, Thomas!" Malfoy replied as they went through the sliding doors.

"I didn´t know you two were on first name terms," said Ginny as they hurried through Ministry Alley.

"Well," said Malfoy. "You don´t know a lot of things."

Ginny was about to throw something back at him, but decided against it when they reached the train station. Malfoy lead her through a door that was marked `Ministry Only´ and they arrived out on a platform. A train stood there, with the words `Ministry of Magic´ written across it.

"Get on," said Malfoy, and the doors closed behind them.

Once they were seated in the unusually comfy seats on the train, Malfoy started talking. "So, Weasley," he drawled. "You never told me when the wedding´s going to take place."

"Oh," said Ginny. "January 13. In two months."

He nodded. "Excited?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, growing blissful just at the thought of the wedding. However, she became a little suspicious. "What´s it to you, anyway?"

He shrugged, a slight smile playing on his face.

She ignored him, looking the other way. There was a few moments of silence. Then-

"Weasley, come sit over here," came Malfoy´ lazy voice.

"Why, do you fancy me?" Ginny said scathingly, surprising herself.

His amused smile just grew bigger. Then it disappeared. "Look, Weasley, Alvin didn´t hire to you to be disobedient. You work for me, remember? If I tell you to come sit here, then you come sit here."

Reluctantly, she went over and sat next to him, leaning back into the soft seat. Then she felt his hands turning her to face him.

"I want to tell you something," he said. "About your job as my secretary. You should be in the office before I do. You answer the phone, and you talk to the people. I only talk to them when it´s really important. You put all the important stuff in the organizer thing, and make sure I don´t forget to go to any big meetings or something. And you keep things organized, and neat, which probably isn´t necessary because I´m more organized than you´ll ever be."

Ginny tried to remember it all. "What time do you get in the office?"

Malfoy gave her a smug smile. "Trust me, Weasley. I´ll always be there before you, unless I´m dead or kidnapped or something of the sort."

"Then how am I su--"

"Oh, look," Malfoy interrupted her. "We´re there."

They got off, and he led Ginny onto the streets of muggle England. She had no idea where they were, though. Walking blindly, she started to cross the street.

In the split of a second, Malfoy grabbed her wrist and pulled her back as a car came honking. Shaking with fear, she suddenly realized that Malfoy was holding her to his chest, so that her back was pressing onto him. His grip on her hand was so hard that when she looked there later, there were several small bruises.

"You´re not supposed to cross the street like that!" he snapped. "Haven´t you ever heard of cars?"

Ginny dimly remembered her first year of Hogwarts, when they arrived at the train station in muggle cars. After that, she doubted she ever rode in one again.

"Let go of me, you´re hurting me!" she said, equally bitter. She pulled away from Malfoy, who looked a bit surprised.

"Sorry," he said quickly, and returned to his normal self. "But I saved your life. You could at least show some thanks," he added with a sneer.

Ginny was about to, but he had already turned away and started to flag a taxi, not seeming to care if she showed any thanks.

"Come on," he said, opening the car door. She did. Malfoy told the muggle taxi driver their destination, and he sped off.

Malfoy, lounging in the seat, started to talk. "So, Weasley, you like Cameron Laurel?"

"Who?" said Ginny, before she remembered that it was the brand of her suit. "Oh, that. I guess so. My parents bought it for me."

Malfoy nodded with a slight smirk. "And I suppose they had to sell the house to buy that for you?"

Ginny´s temper flared. What was up with him? She wondered. One moment he saves her life, and another he starts insulting her. "What would you know about our house anyway, Malfoy? And why would you know about ladies´ brands? I presume that you aren´t a lady."

"Ouch," he said, not appearing at all to be insulted. "What a temper, Weasley. I´m hurt, and I thought you´d treat me nicer after I saved you from that muggle car."

Ginny felt slightly guilty. But not much. "Whatever, Malfoy."

"Mister Malfoy," he replied with a smug grin.

She glared at him.

They reached their destination, and the two of them got off. Malfoy pulled out a few muggle notes and gave it to the driver, and he drove off. They started walking to the blue house the car stopped in front of.

(a/n: ok, this is the part I really don´t want to write about, because I really don´t know what they´re supposed to do, I made up the Archimedes´ Pot Luck thing, and the most important part of this `trip´ was the getting there, so it´ll be short. And Ginny still has to go home in this chapter! Also, I really don´t get the difference between muggle and wizard dress, cuz don´t you still have to wear something under robes? So I´m guessing that the wizards still wear something like muggle clothes so that´s what Ginny and Draco wear to work! If anyone can explain this to me, that´d be great!)

The two went inside, and Malfoy immediately started talking to the semi-bald guy who was there. After a few minutes Ginny realized she really had nothing to do, so she sat in a nearby chair and waited. She waited a long time. Another man showed up, dressed in wizards´ robes, and the three of them started talking and they went all around the house, looking at things. Ginny had no idea what they were doing. Finally, in the late afternoon, Malfoy appeared, looking exhausted (neither of them had lunch), and said that they can go home.

So they did, and they took the muggle transportation, then the Ministry train, back to Ministry Alley. Malfoy left the office with a quick good-bye, and Ginny walked to the train to go home to the Burrow for the weekend. She did this every other week.

***

Ginny arrived home just as exhausted as Malfoy had been, and was greeted by her older twin brothers. The Weasleys had a family rule stating that all family members had the come visit every other weekend, and they had all decided to visit on the same weekends, so the Burrow was filled with excitement when Ginny arrived.

"Gin!" Fred hollered, throwing both arms around her in a bone-crushing hug.

"Hey, little sis," said George, patting her on the head vigorously, therefore messing up her hair terribly. "Let´s go in, everyone´s here."

Fred let go of her, and George slung an arm around her. Fred did so too, and it was in this procedure that they went into the house.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley cried, flinging both arms around her as Ginny came in, but she quickly released her when she remembered she had dough all over herself. "Sorry, dear, I don´t want to mess up your beautiful suit," she apologized. "You look great."

"Thanks, Mum," said Ginny.

"Well, how was work?" asked Mrs. Weasley, turning back to preparing dinner.

"It was fine."

"Who was your employer? He nice?"

"I was treated fairly," said Ginny, trying to be reasonable.

Mrs. Weasley looked at her daughter. "Who was it? Anybody we´d know?"

"It was Draco Malfoy," said Ginny, preparing for the worst.

"Who???" bellowed Ron, coming down the stairs, with Hermione behind him.

"Malfoy," said Ginny quietly.

"You´re---you´re working for Malfoy?" said Ron in disbelief. "But I thought the guy was the Head of the Department."

"He is, Ron," said Ginny.

Hermione touched his arm, and gave him a stern look. Ron decided to let the matter drop. "We´ll talk about it later, Gin," he said, as he kissed Hermione on the cheek.

Hermione and Ron had been married for almost three months. At the end of the summer, they had realized they had loved each other all along and gotten married. They hadn´t gotten a house yet, so for the time being the couple stayed at the Burrow.

"Where´s Harry, Ron?" asked Ginny, eager to see her husband-to-be, and to remove all thoughts of Malfoy from her mind.

"I´m right here," said a voice behind her. She turned around, and came face-to-face with Harry. He grabbed her as she yelled, and kissed her roughly.

"Mmmph!" she said, half-giggling. "Harry!"

"I´ve missed you!" he said, burying his face in her hair and inhaling deeply. "Why do you have to get a job, anyway? Who do you work for?"

Ron gave a short bark of a laugh. "Oh, Harry, you´d never guess."

"Who? Malfoy?" said Harry jokingly.

Ginny´s eyes widened. "How´d you know?"

"I was only jo--" Harry stopped abruptly. "You don´t mean it is Malfoy?"

"Yes," said Ron mournfully. He bowed his head. "Let´s have a moment of silence for the poor unfortunate Ginny, and pray that one day she will have Malfoy working for her."

Ginny laughed. "Ron!" she cried as Hermione elbowed him playfully. "He hasn´t threatened to kill me yet or anything..."

"Yes, of course," said Ron thoughtfully. "Sudden and unprepared attacks on innocent secretaries...I can see it...well, maybe not entirely innocent secretaries..." he gave her a sly smile.

"I´m insulted!" Ginny cried, throwing a pillow from the sofa at him. It caught him right in the mouth, which was wide open, because he was laughing so hard.

"What kind of commotion is this, children?" Fred said, reappearing, with George behind him.

"Yes, children, pray tell," said George. "Did I hear a few certain words? Such as `Malfoy´ and `innocent secretaries´?" He looked thoughtful. "That´s not a good combination."

"I agree entirely, children," said Fred stroking his chin. "And did we also happen to hear `pillow fight´?"

Harry laughed, and he threw a pillow at him. Ron did so, too. Ginny looked indignant. "Malfoy did not annoy me as much as I thought he would," she said.

"Oh, really?" said Fred, looking excited. "Please, inform us!"

"Yes, do," said George. The two of them took a seat in front of their sister and looked at her eagerly. "Tell us what horrible things horrible Malfoy did."

"What´s wrong with you two?" said Harry. "Why are you talking all....weird?"

Hermione laughed. "I agree entirely."

"Well," said Fred, a slight gleam in his eye. "It´s our new invention. Super Sugary Sugar Sugars. It gets you very hyper!"

"Ahh..." said Harry. "And I wonder how hard it was to make those."

"It´s a very complicated process," said George, looking insulted. "You take a big bowl--"

"Add one cup of sugar.." said Fred.

"And another few cups...." George continued.

"And some more...

"With a bit more sugar...

"Add some sugar-coated sugar cubes..."

"And compress it all into one small tiny harmless piece of candy!" George finished. "Ah yes. And add a anti-diabetics spell."

"Of course," said Fred, taking out a small package. "Would you like some, Hermione?"

"Ugh, no," said Hermione.

"Ah, well," said George. "I´d rather hear Ginny talk about Malfoy and his horrible vices."

"Yeah," said Ron. "What did he have for lunch, Gin? Fingernail clippings?"

"Ugh!" cried Fred, shielding his eyes. "Don´t say that, Ron, I´m going to throw up!"

Harry laughed and went over to sit next to Ginny, taking her hand. Ginny continued. "He had coffee." She said. "Just plain coffee. No fingernail clippings."

Ron looked disappointed. "Is there anything evil you´ve found out? Anything we can get him fired for?" he added hopefully.

"Can´t think of anything," said Ginny. Her mind wandered to their trip to the muggle streets. "He saved my life, though, kind of."

Harry looked surprised. "How?"

So Ginny told them about the muggle car, and how Malfoy grabbed her out of the street.

"Well," said Fred. "A flattened secretary isn´t any use."

Ginny glared at him, but a smile was forming. "Shut up, Fred."

At that point Mrs. Weasley poked her head into the living room. "Dinner is ready."

As the six of them sat down, three more figures appeared.

"Oh, Percy!" cried Mrs. Weasley. "You´re finally here!"

Bill and Charlie were behind him. "Hey, guys," said Bill. "Where´s Dad?"

"He´s coming," said Harry, eyeing the fireplace, which was spluttering. A moment later Mr. Weasley appeared, coughing.

"Hello," he said. "Everyone´s arrived?"

"Yes, dear," said his wife. "Sit down, everybody."

"Of course," said Percy primly, dusting the seat before he sat down. "Father," he said, "Did you hear about the Archimedes´ case?"

"Well yes, I--" Mr. Weasley started to say.

"Hey Dad, want an SSSS?" said Fred suddenly, pulling some of the white candy out of his pockets.

"Um, no thanks," said his dad.

"Percy?" said Fred, looking angelic.

"George, I have known you long enough to know not to accept anything you offer me," said Percy.

Fred chortled. "Well, apparently you can´t even tell which one of us is George!"

Percy looked indignant. "Well, I was only joking."

"Yes, and we all know how much Percy loves to joke," George whispered to Ginny, who was sitting next to him.

"All right, enough talking," said Mrs. Weasley, clapping her hands. "Let´s eat."

"So, uh, Percy," said Mr. Weasley halfway through dinner. "What about that case?"

"Yes," said Percy. "I have heard that--"

"Archimedes´ Pot Luck?" said Ginny incredulously, looking up from her food.

"Yes, Ginny," said her father. "Where did you hear that? It is strictly Ministry business. Only certain important people know about it."

"Of course," said Percy, proud that he was let in on such a big secret.

"Well," said Ginny. "Malfoy was working on it or something."

"Draco Malfoy?" said Percy, who was now looking very incredulous. "You work for him? And he brought you along on the case?"

"Yeah," said Ginny. "Something wrong with that?"

Percy was looking as if the answer was obvious. "Well, I wouldn´t expect that he would need you."

"Well, he did, because he asked me to go with him," said Ginny.

Percy shook his head. "Well, Father, as I was saying, the name Draco Malfoy has become quite famous in the Ministry. He´s on many big cases."

"Yes, Percy," said Mr. Weasley, frowning, thinking back to his brief fight with Lucius Malfoy. "I don´t quite agree with it, though."

"But he´s done quite a many of wonderful things!" said Percy, with the same light in his eyes as when he used to talk about Mr. Crouch.

George snorted. "Come on, Perce, don´t tell me you´re in love with him, too. I mean, Crouch was bad enough, but Malfoy is like four year younger than you."

Percy did not look happy. "May I be excuse?"

"Sure," said Mrs. Weasley, and Percy left in a huff.

"Thank goodness Mr. Know-it-All-but-really-isn´t is gone," said Fred.

"Yeah," said George. "Just thinking about Malfoy made me loose my appetite."

They all laughed.

***

Later, Harry came to Ginny´s room.

"Hey, Gin," he said, leaning against the doorframe.

Ginny glanced at him. "Hey."

"So," said Harry, walking over towards her and wrapping his arms around her. "Malfoy treating you okay?"

"Yeah," said Ginny.

"Mmm," said Harry, kissing her ear. "I can´t wait for January 13^th."

Ginny smiled. "Yeah?"

Harry didn´t say anything, but responded by turning her to face him, and kissing her full on the lips. He´s so sweet, Ginny thought, feeling the warmth of his lips on hers. She breathed in his scent, which was something like soap. She adored Harry so much, and she loved him so much. Everything was just the way it should be; Ron was with Hermione, and Harry with her. They would always be together. Her mind wandered to the days of Hogwarts.

From the moment she saw him she admired him. An orphan, shabby looking but ever so brave, sort of messy but so kind and gentle, so smart, but also fun. How he stood up for those he loved, was so determined to do good, even if he was breaking a thousand school rules. Ginny remembered the valentine she sent him in her first year. How her heart broke when he ran away from her. When Harry had to rescue her from Tom Riddle, Ginny felt so embarrassed. She could never be as good as Harry, and yet he chose her.

How Ginny loved him. How she loved everything about him, his messy hair, his scar, his glasses, his crooked smile. How loving and gentle he is around her, protective, looking as if he could not survive without her. He worried about her in a nice and sweet way, and she felt so loved by him, like she was really worth something.

She suddenly realized that they were lying on top of her bed, and Harry was half asleep, still in his normal clothes. Her mind wandered to the valentine again, how Harry looked so embarrassed, his face so red. She smiled. And now they were like this. Then she remembered another figure in that scene. A slender gold-haired someone. Yes, she remembered it clearly. Draco Malfoy was laughing at her, asking Harry if he liked the song. Draco Malfoy telling everyone she was Harry´s girlfriend. She remembered him so well. Mean, nasty, cruel, selfish, arrogant, were just a few words to describe him.

But he was so changed. She thought to when he grabbed her from the street, when she was so close to him, staring into his cold steel eyes. The feel of his hand grasping her wrist, when she was pressed against him. How he asked her to come with him to the case. Asking her about the wedding, knowing all about women´s fashions. Offering to get her some coffee. She thought of his face, how she never noticed how handsome he was, how well his body was built...Stop it, Ginny, she thought suddenly, scolding herself. She told herself that he was still the same mean person, reminding herself that he had insulted her family that day, saying they couldn´t afford her dress suit. But, she realized, he was more like playing with her mind. She couldn´t get the image of him smirking slightly at her off her mind. How he had won again, beaten her, how he was better than her.

Ginny took a deep breath, and snuggled next to Harry, hoping to take her mind off Malfoy. "Harry," she whispered.

"Hmmh," he murmured.

Without thinking, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. If he was surprised, he was too sleepy to show it. His hand closed around hers. "Do you want to go back to your room?" she asked softly.

He shook his head, his eyes still closed.

"Do you want me to leave?"

The same answer. "Okay," said Ginny quietly. His arm came around her, holding her tight to him. "I love you, Harry," Ginny said.

He opened his eyes slowly. "I love you too," he said, kissing her forehead.

They both closed their eyes, and were asleep in minutes.

***