Dragon's Fire

The end of sixth year finally came about. I was nowhere to be found, obviously. Pansy owled me and my teachers were puzzled by my actions. Potter and Weasley suggested that I was off to join the Dark Lord and, at my continued absence, many people believed them. I didn't care. Technically, I was already a Death Eater, so really, they were just spreading the truth around. I did miss Ginny. I ached a lot of the time. And when I could, I drank myself into oblivion. I returned to Hogwarts for my final year, if only to avoid the Dark Lord's bidding. And, in part because I wanted to see Ginny. Upon my return, I learned that Granger and Weasley were not together anymore, that Ginny had dated no one and that Potter followed Ginny around like a lost puppy. The rest of the year continued in much the same fashion. I did finally find that ring. It had somehow fallen out of my pocket the night that Potter and Weasley kidnapped me. I stuffed the ring into the box that contained everything I still had that reminded me of Ginny. I moved the box to Malfoy Manor, into a dark room that no one had been in for many years. I graduated with five O.W.L.s and an invitation to join the Auror's League in London. I met and dated Diana Lovegood, who, it turned out, was a relative of Luna's. Diana and I were married four years later. I tried my damnedest to be happy, I really did. Then, after two years of marital bliss, we learned that we were pregnant. A miracle really, since Diana had been told at fifteen that she was sterile. Six months later, Diana died giving birth to a beautiful baby girl that I named Roselynn Alexia. I was sad for a while, honestly. But the fact that I was blessed with a little girl left me almost no time to grieve for my wife. I didn't mind nearly as much as I should have, though. I had closed my heart off from ever feeling anything close to what I had felt for Ginny. In simple truth, I proposed to Diana because she was Ginny's complete opposite: flighty and forgetful, spiteful and vindictive, ruthless and cold. I've tried to be a good father to Rose since her mother died, and I think I've succeeded fairly well. It's only been two years since Diana's death, but I feel just the same as I did before we met. Diana had no family, other than her very distant relationship to Luna, who wanted nothing to do with Diana after we were married. Rose's daycare providers tell me that I'm very healthy for having moved on so easily and for staying strong for my daughter. I just smile and nod. Sometimes, it saddens me that Rose may grow up without a mother, so I date now and again, but no woman has stayed after meeting my sweet girl. Now, I did say that I never wanted to feel like I had with Ginny ever again, but Rose stole through my defenses. I love her with all my heart and I know that another piece of me would die should anything happen to her.

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One night, later in the evening, Rose and I were watching the television I'd broken down and bought some months before, when there was a knock at the door. I put Rose down on the couch and walked to the door, wondering who the hell would be calling at almost midnight on a Thursday. I opened the door to see long red curls framing huge brown eyes. I couldn't believe my eyes, as I had imagined this day for the better part of seven years. I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I reopened them, she was still standing there, in front of me.

"Daddy? Where you go?" Rose called from the couch.

"Daddy's here, honey. Just stay there, okay?"

"'Kay."

"What are you doing here, Ginny?" I asked, trying to keep all the emotion I was feeling out of my voice.

"Pansy found me. It took her so long because I had moved to America just after graduation and I changed my name and, oh now I'm rambling." She laughed lightly.

"I see. You didn't really answer my question."

"I heard a little girl call Daddy. Are you her daddy?" she asked.

"Yes. I was married. Rose is all I have left now." I was choking on emotions, and she just wanted to chit-chat? I had the biggest impulse to slam the door in her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know."

"It's fine. Why are you here? Did you come to see how I've faired after seven years without a word?"

"Yes."

"As you can see, I'm just fine here. If you'll excuse me, Rose needs me." I turned to close the door, but was stopped by her hand on my wrist.

"Well, I didn't expect you to be kind about this, but I didn't think you'd be cruel," she said.

"I'm being cruel? You left me, remember? You wouldn't give me a chance to explain. You let us go. I held on."

"I was confused. I was hurt. I didn't know who to trust. I'm sorry that I hurt you the way that I did. I know now that you didn't do anything and that my brother and Harry were just too stubborn to let go of their old prejudices long enough to see that I was happy with you."

"Your apology is about seven years too late. I've moved on, Ginny. You should, too. I have to put Rose to bed. Excuse me," I said and walked away from the doorframe.

"You can't just expect me to leave," she said, following me through the door, which I had forgotten to shut. After all this time, she still made me stupid.

"But I can. You did once, if you'll recall," I said acidly, as I walked over to find Rose asleep on the couch. I picked her up with practiced ease and held her in my arms. I carried her down the hall, to her room, where I placed her in bed and pulled the covers to her chin. I kissed her forehead and bid her good night.

"I did leave you. And I'm sorry for that. More sorry than you'll know."

"Yes well, as I've said, your apology is too damned late."

"Please don't tell me you gave up hope. Please don't tell me that you completely let go," she said, in a whisper.

"You have no right to come here like this and ask me questions like that. You don't know how long I suffered, how long I tortured myself, how many times I wanted to beg you to come back to me.

"You didn't give up, did you?" she said, slightly more excited than she had been a second ago.

"No, damn you. I never gave up wanting you. I never stopped loving you. Is that what you wanted to hear? Do you want to hear that I wanted Rose to be your child? That I never loved my wife, not like I loved you?"

"No, please. I just-" she began. I crossed the distance between us and did what I'd been wanting to do ever since I opened the door. I jerked her to me and crushed her mouth with mine. She made no move to stop me. In fact, she moved her hands to tangle in my hair. I gripped her hips and pressed myself against her. God, it felt so good. It felt so right. She was so right. How had I ever fooled myself into thinking that I would ever survive without her? God, her mouth tasted so good. I fed at her mouth like a junkie craves a next fix. She finally pulled away from me and I gulped down air.

"What now?" I asked, looking at her.

"What do you mean?"

"How do we do this? Do you move in here, or do I pack up Rose and follow you? Because, believe me, Gin, I lost you once and I won't do it again." She looked stunned, but I felt as though things were finally falling into place.

"Well, I- I- I don't know," she stammered.

"Daddy? What doing? Who she?" We had woken Rose. Shit.

"It's okay, honey. She's just a very good friend of daddy's. Go back to bed, baby. Daddy will see you in the morning, okay?" Rose nodded her head and turned to walk back down the hallway.

"Love daddy," Rose called over her shoulder.

"Daddy loves you, too, baby. And I love you, Ginny. I never stopped. I've thought about you everyday since we've been apart." Ginny had tears on her cheeks that I hadn't noticed a moment before.

"Oh, Draco. She's beautiful."

"Just like you." Ginny turned to face me then, and I saw the answering love that I'd been waiting seven years to see again.

"Ginny, I love you. But, wait, I'm doing this wrong. Wait here a sec, will you?"

"Yes, of course." She seemed puzzled, and I really didn't blame her. I walked down the hallway Rose had disappeared into moments before and continued on to my room. I pulled out the old familiar box, and searched for the ring I'd commissioned Edmond to make nearly eight years ago. On my way back to the living room, I checked on Rose to see that she was soundly asleep, curled into a ball under her covers. I walked back over to Ginny, who stood staring at me with unsure eyes.

"I love you, Ginny. You know that. I've loved you since I first saw you, I think. It's been hell these seven years without you. Please end my suffering, Ginny. Please don't make me be without you anymore." I bent down on one knee and held out the ring in my palm.

"Honor me by becoming my wife. Be my lover, my soul mate, my best friend. Please say yes, Ginny. Make me a happier man than I've been in a long time." She looked down, first at the ring in my hand, and then into my eyes. I put all my feelings into my gaze, so she would have no doubts as to my true intentions.

"But, what I did to you, it's too much to overcome. Too much to forgive," she said, shaking her head and backing away. My heart nearly broke again.

"No. I forgive you. We will overcome it. We have the next seventy, eighty years, Ginny. Please say yes. Say you'll never leave me again." Tears fell from her eyes and I knew in that moment that she'd made up her mind. I smiled brightly and stepped toward her. She held out her hand and I slid the ring onto her finger. It felt like coming home. Everything was right as it should be. I leaned down and kissed her and felt my whole world slide back into place. Thank you, Pansy, I thought. I pulled Ginny in close for another kiss. She melted into my arms and that passion that had always been there, flooded to the surface and washed over me. I maneuvered us into my bedroom and quickly shut the door. I pulled off my shirt and unbuckled my pants. I tugged off my boxers and walked to the bed, where Ginny sat, undressing herself. I covered her hands with mine to stop her movements and she stilled. She turned to look at me and her eyes conveyed trust and love. I crawled further onto the bed to kiss her and laid her down with my body. I pulled up, and just looked down at her. My miracle. The one who'd saved me when I'd been drowning. She was beautiful. My heart caught in my throat. She had aged some, but she was still sexy as hell. I unbuttoned her shirt the rest of the way and gently pulled it off. She wore a black lacy bra that hid as much as it revealed. I slid her jeans down her legs, trailing a path of kisses as I went. I tossed them to the floor, to join her shirt. The lacy black scrap that passed for underwear made my blood run hotter, if that was possible. She pulled me into her arms and I let her. I kissed her soundly and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I moved from her mouth to her neck, just where the shoulder meets and bit down. She moaned for me. Her hands traced down my body and back up to tangle once more in my hair. I pulled her up off the bed slightly and moved her hair, so that it fanned out across my pillow. I wanted that scent to make its mark next to mine. I moved a hand between our bodies and unclasped her bra. I pulled it the rest of the way off her shoulders and threw it onto the pile. Then I moved my attention back to the newly exposed flesh. First, I kissed one and then the other, equally lavishing attention to both. She cried out and I had to put a hand to her mouth. And, as much as I wanted to take my time with her and go slow, my body sought other plans. I moved a hand down her stomach to trace the inner lines of her thighs and got a long moan at my touch. I continued my ministrations, torturing her as well as myself. I kissed my way down her body, an inch at a time, slowly licking and biting the line of her body from shoulder to hip. Again, she cried out and again, I had to put my hand over her mouth. God, but I loved the way she responded to me! I pulled my hand away from her mouth to tug her underwear off and toss them to the floor. I wanted to take more time, God knew I did, but I also knew that if I waited much longer, I'd go long before I was ready to. I climbed back up her body, brushing mine along here and there, causing her to moan and writhe underneath me. I captured her mouth in a kiss and sank into her. She made a noise against my lips and I pulled back.

"Ginny? What's the matter?" I asked in a gruff voice.

"It hurts a little, that's all," she replied in a low voice.

"This is hardly the first time you've had sex," I pointed out.

"True, but there hasn't been anyone since you." I thought about that for a second.

"Not even Potter?"

"No. There were hopefuls, but none ever stirred my heart like you did. None of them could compare to the one man I still measured them all against. You," she said. My heart swelled.

"And I damn myself by going too quickly now."

"No, really. It's fine. We have the rest of our lives to get it right," she said, chuckling. Her body moved with her laughter and it tightened things in my body that were already high-strung.

"You laugh now," I said menacingly. I put my mouth to hers and surged forward at the same time. Her laughter died with my kiss. Instead of pain, she moved against me, with me. Her hips sought to match my rhythm and I set a grueling pace. I felt her near the edge and pushed her over it. She writhed wildly around me and I lost it. Sweat rolled down my back, over the scratch marks Ginny's nails had caused. I collapsed on top of her.

"I'm sorry I laughed," she said. I moved off of her and gathered her close.

"It's okay. You're right, we have forever to get it right this time," I said in her ear. She snuggled back against me, and I knew, without a doubt that whatever happened, I'd be okay because I had Ginny back. I buried my face in her hair and threw an arm over her waist. It wasn't long before she fell asleep, and I followed soon after.