Inexplicable Confidence

Ginny sat alone in the kitchen of #12 Grimmauld Place, sipping her mug of hot chocolate and wishing that the life she lived wasn't her own. She had it so great--her whole family survived the war, she had a job at the Ministry, and she was engaged to marry Harry Potter. It was the perfect life in anyone else's eyes. In her eyes something was missing--or rather, something needed a minor change.

She had loved Harry for so long, perhaps too long. Since she was ten years old she had vowed that she'd marry Harry, but now, ten years later, something didn't seem right about it. Ginny Weasley had run out of love; well, not exactly all of her love, just her love for Harry. No one knew it, but for the past seven months, two weeks, and three days, Ginny had found her heart belonging to someone else.

'Hello, Weasley,' a sneer came from the doorway. And while Draco Malfoy's words were harsh, Ginny's heart fluttered at the sound of his voice.

'Hello, Malfoy,' Ginny muttered, not even looking at him.

He shuffled around the kitchen for a few more minutes, fixing himself a cup of tea, as he always did, before sitting across from her at the table. They often found themselves in this situation, and yet neither of them fought it. In fact, Ginny had confided in him, over all others, when she had realised that Harry was not in her life plan any more.

'You look terrible,' Draco said plainly. Surprisingly, this was how most of their conversations began. Draco would insult her in some way or another, and Ginny would find something cunning and witty to say in return. The thing was, seeing as she was no longer poor or in love with Harry, his slurs weren't nearly as cruel as they once were.

Ginny shrugged, not caring enough to play games with him.

'What? No retort?' Draco smirked. 'Am I really getting that good? Because that was nowhere near as good as the crack I made last week--'

'Will you just cut it out, Malfoy?' Ginny mumbled to her mug.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. 'OK, it's no fun insulting you if you're not going to give me one back,' he said. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing,' Ginny said, trying not to make it obvious that she was lying. She looked up at him, painfully aware of the tears filling her eyes.

'Then why do you look like you're going to cry?' he asked. He had a tendency of being blunt about the things she was sensitive about. She remembered when she first told him that she didn't love Harry. The first words out of his mouth were: 'Why don't you break-up with him?' It was, after all, the most evident solution to the problem; however, Draco didn't grow up with her family, where "Harry and Ginny" was more of a name than a turn of phrase. Everyone expected Harry and Ginny to get married, Harry, himself, included. Ginny was the only one who seemed to see it differently.

'I'm fine,' she said firmly, trying hard to believe it herself.

Draco nodded. 'OK,' he said, taking a gulp of his tea.

They sat in peaceful silence. Ginny knew this was his way of letting her come to her senses and talk to him, and although she knew his strategy, she always fell for it. For some reason she couldn't keep a secret from him.

'Harry asked me to marry him,' Ginny said, staring at a scorch mark on the wooden table.

'Oh,' Draco said.

'In front of the entire family, during dinner last night,' Ginny added.

'Oh.' This time an octave lower.

'I said "yes,"' Ginny said, still confused by how it all had happened.

'Oh.' Several octaves higher.

Ginny covered her face miserably. She couldn't imagine what she had been thinking when she said yes. Then she realised that she had never said yes to Harry. She said yes to Draco--that was what, or rather who, she had been thinking of at the time.

At last Ginny looked at Draco again. He was staring at her, waiting for an explanation, but she didn't have one to give him. 'I don't love him,' was all that she managed.

'I know,' Draco said, understanding almost exactly what she was feeling. 'But you still said "yes."'

'I didn't mean to,' she said.

'But you still did,' he said simply. 'Now, the question is: what are you going to do to fix your problem?'

Ginny sighed. 'I know you think I should just tell him the truth,' she said. She was more than used to hearing the same thing from him. Yet she still didn't have the courage to do it. It was ironic, she knew, considering she had faced Death Eaters, but she couldn't tell Harry she didn't love him.

'Yes, I do,' Draco said cheerfully. He was clearly glad that something he said had stuck with her. 'But I know you won't.'

'You're damn right I won't. Have you ever told someone you don't love them?' Ginny snapped.

'No,' Draco said honestly. 'But it's the same thing as telling someone that you do love them. It's so hard to do; you don't know how they'll react. But the one big difference between telling someone you do love them and telling someone you don't love them is that when you tell someone you don't love them, they can't reject you.'

For some reason this didn't help Ginny's nerves, but she knew Draco was trying to help, and it did make sense. 'Yeah,' Ginny agreed grimly. 'But when you tell someone you don't love them, you break someone's heart into little pieces.'

'Better their heart than yours,' Draco said. He laughed and so did she. It was a terrible way to think, but she loved how he could make her laugh.

When both of their laughter subsided, they were silent once more. Ginny had no idea what Draco was thinking, but she wished she did; it would make talking again much easier.

Finally she said, 'You want to know the real reason why I can't tell him the truth?'

'Why?' he said.

'Because it's more than just disappointing him,' she said, glancing up at him. 'If I break off the engagement, I hurt the entire family.'

'What do you mean?' Draco asked, staring at her intently.

'Everyone expects me to marry him. Mum, Dad, Ron, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill, Fleur... Even Percy expected it, and he's the biggest prat I know,' Ginny told him. 'All of them--excluding Percy--want Harry in the family. And even though it's like he already is, the one way to truly bring him into the family is for me to marry him. It's like I have no choice.'

Draco reached across the table and took her hand. She looked straight into his eyes. 'But you do have a choice,' he said quietly. 'It's no one's choice but yours.'

Ginny had already known that, but for some reason, hearing Draco say it made it real. 'I know,' she said breathlessly. She looked pointedly at their hands; to her disappointment, he pulled away.

'Just do what you think is right in your heart,' Draco said, getting to his feet.

'Where're you going?' she asked. For some reason, she had expected him to stay with her.

'I have some work to do,' he said gloomily. He half-smiled at her. 'Good luck, Ginny.'

Ginny almost gasped. It was the first time he had used her first name. She loved the sound of it more than she ever thought she would. Knowing what she had to do, Ginny quickly got to her feet and hurried after him. 'Draco!' she called out.

He stopped and turned around to face her. He looked surprised, which led her to believe that he had never expected her to use his first name either. But before either of them could get another word out, Ginny pulled herself toward Draco and pressed her lips to his. He did not immediately pull away to question or yell at her; he merely kissed her in return--a soft, passionate kiss that could only be shared by two people in love with each other.

But slowly, after several blissful moments, Draco pulled away, his hands remaining on her waist, their bodies very close. 'You're still engaged,' he whispered.

Ginny smiled half-heartedly. She knew he was right, and what she had done was wrong. 'I'll come back tomorrow?' she offered.

'Will you still be engaged?' he asked, his cool eyes staring into her warm ones.

She shook her head slightly. 'I don't think so.'

Draco smiled widely, chuckling lightly to himself. 'I'll be here.'

The End