Forever Yours

A/R- guess who's back? Back again...lol, so here is chapter 20! I know it's been like FOREVER, but things have been so hectic for me that I had no time to write. I'm really sorry but I hope this chapter makes up for it. I'm going on a trip in April for a whole month, so I'm going to try my very best to get this story finished before I leave. So in between working ahead for my classes and getting all my travel stuff together, I'll try to finish this story. But luckily, I have next week off so I'll probably have the whole story done by the end of next week. But don't sue me if it's not done! :P So without further ado, here is chapter 20! Enjoy!! :)

Chapter 20(!)

With her head spinning, Ginny followed Draco out of Dawlish's office. Just a few minutes ago, she had been a trainee.

Now she was an Auror! A full fledged one with real powers and the ability to arrest (and a much higher salary).

"Congratulations, partner," Draco said solemnly to her as everyone looked on.

Trying not to smile, Ginny nodded and shook his hand. "Congratulations as well, partner. You did well."

"May I see you in my office to discuss our next case?" he said.

Ginny raised her eyebrow, but he just shook his head slightly. "All right."

She followed him to his office and waited until he closed the door and shut the blinds of the large windows looking into the office.

When he turned around, he was grinning. "Did you see their faces?"

Ginny nodded, smiling. "It was priceless. Especially Smith!"

"He looked like he was listening to Mandrakes, the way his face was twisted up."

Ginny snorted. "I know! He looked as if he was going to puke when he saw that I was getting a promotion. It was great. Priceless."

Draco sat down and smiled. "I say we deserve a break. What do you say we go out to lunch?"

"Really?" she said, shocked. "You mean it?"

He nodded. "Why not? We deserve it for all the hard work we've done."

"I agree," she said. He began to get up so she said, "What, now?"

He shrugged. "Sure. Dawlish will understand."

"Okay," she said, grinning. She picked up her bag and followed him out the door.

They walked out of the office, while everyone stared after them. They walked out and down the hall and down the stairs to the foyer.

As they reached the foyer, they heard a voice calling them. "Draco! Draco! No, not you, you git. Draco!"

They turned around and saw Blaise, his black robes flapping.

"Hey man!" he said as he caught up to them and took deep breaths as he spoke. "I... just... went to... your office... but they'd... said... you'd... left."

Draco grinned. "Take it easy, mate. Breathe."

They waited half a minute and then Blaise said, "I'm fine now. Congratulations, both of you. It's all over the papers."

Ginny smiled. "Thank you, Blaise. It was both of us."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "In the Prophet they're going nuts, because they don't know who the Aurors are who're catching all the Death Eaters these days. Mum couldn't believe you were compared to Made-Eye and I almost choked..."

"What did you say?" Draco asked, his one eyebrow up.

"That I nearly choked when I saw the picture of the hot reporter?" he repeated.

Ginny laughed while Draco rolled his eyes. "No, before that. About Mad-Eye."

"Oh that," Blaise said, grinning. "It compares your streak with that of Mad-Eye's. That's how impressed everyone is. Mum was so happy when she found it was you that she wanted to come into the office and congratulate you herself, until I stopped her."

Draco grinned. "Thanks, mate."

"You don't just owe me for that," said Blaise, raising his eyebrows, "but for..."

"Oh boy," muttered Draco.

Blaise continued as if he hadn't heard him. "But for what Mum was about to do when she got here: smack you on the head, since she's angry at you."

"Angry at me?" he said, his eyebrows bunched up.

"Yeah, mate. Didn't I tell you? You haven't been over in so long; she's been planning on coming with me to work to find you, make sure you haven't disappeared. So you owe me double."

"What do I have to do?" he asked.

"I need you to help me get rid of (nicely) Natasha. It's kind of a long story." He scratched the back of his head. "Do you have time? Where are you going?"

"We're going out for lunch," said Draco. "You can come if Ginny doesn't mind."

Ginny snapped at the sound of hearing her name.

"What say you, lady Ginevra?" He got down on one knee and held her hand. "May I join you for lunch?"

Ginny laughed and then pulled him up. "Of course."

So Blaise joined them for lunch. They went down to London to a small but fancy wizard restaurant. Blaise and Draco talked throughout the whole time about Blaise's problem.

But Ginny didn't mind. She enjoyed listening to Draco and Blaise talk, laughing at their jokes and friendliness. They didn't even seem to be friends while they talked. They sounded like brothers, the way Draco gently punched Blaise on the shoulder and how when Blaise dropped his glass of water, Draco mended it and gave him his glass of water while he mended the other and got it refilled.

Over the next few weeks, she saw a lot more of Blaise. He was suddenly around a lot more, at Draco's when she went over to meet him for missions, with Draco when they went out for lunch and dinner in between work and a lot of other times.

While Draco and Ginny worked in the next month, they caught more Death Eaters. With their promotions came more work and responsibility, and Ginny found herself working later and later, but with Draco it was fun. He made the work more enjoyable, even the most menial tasks, like categorizing and organizing Death Eater records.

Her mother started to get worried when she didn't see her, so Ginny decided to visit her in between work. She even took Draco with her, and her family enjoyed his company and he theirs.

Her letters with Prince started up again and were constant again.

His most recent one came a few days before Christmas.

December 21, 2002

Chariot,

Thanks for asking about Zebra. He's still a player, as per usual. I'm trying to match him up with a girl though, without her knowing. He seems to like her a lot but she has no clue.

I think it'd be best for both of them, but I don't want to push too hard. I just want to set up the scenario so they can find each other. I just want to help them both, since I care about them both.

This letter is short, but Zebra is knocking on my bedroom door right now and wants to know what I'm doing holed up in here, so duty calls.

Write back soon. Even though it's close to Christmas, that's no excuse.

Prince

Ginny scribbled her response before she went to work.

Later that day while Ginny sat in her new office, Draco came in.

"This is the memo I told you about," he said in his black robes. He put the piece of parchment on her desk.

She picked it up and skimmed it. "There's a Christmas party on the twenty-fourth?" She put her head against the desk. "Great."

"I know," he said, sitting down in a chair. "It'll be horribly as advertised, but there could be something to counter it."

Her head snapped up. "What? Tell me!"

He grinned. "Blaise's parents are having their usual Christmas party on the twenty-fourth. Blaise's mum always tells me to bring someone but I never do. But this year I'd thought I'd ask you to come with me. That is, if you want to come. As friends."

He said the last bit quickly as he waited for her to say no.

"Oh, wow," she said. "Sure. Ok, as friends."

He smiled. "Okay."

"Okay," she said. "But there's one problem."

"What?"

"I can't dance," she said, biting her lip. "At all."

He laughed. "You won't have to dance if you don't want to."

"Okay," she said, "I won't then."

"All right then," he said. "By the way it's formal. You can wear robes or Muggle clothes."

"Oh, I hate that," she said. "It should be one of them, not both of them. I can't decide in between things, especially Muggle clothes and robes."

He just shook his head and laughed. "Okay, if you want to be classy and not like everyone else, I say Muggle clothes. Blaise's mum is half Muggle, so wearing Muggle attire and defying the wizarding social norms is a big thing with her."

"All right," she said, smiling now. "Muggle clothes it is, then."

Draco smiled back. "All right. I'll see you later then."

The twenty-fourth arrived and Ginny dressed a bit more dressy in the morning for the office party.

She left her hair up in a bun, as usual, but let a few red tendrils hang by her ear. She wore one of her more dressier dress robes, a black one with embroidery. She put on a bit of makeup and then she was ready to go.

Before she left for work, she replied to a letter of the Prince's.

December 24, 2002

Prince,

Tomorrow's Christmas! Another year has passed- so quickly, too. By the way- my favourite colour is blue. Ha ha, I'm just kidding. I just want you to keep writing to me.

Anyways, there's a party at the office today. Usual standard stuff, you know. I don't want to be late so I'll talk to you later.

Chariot

She handed her letter to the owl and ran out the door. She Apparated to the Ministry foyer and then started to walk to the Auror office.

On the way, she saw Draco up ahead and, so she jogged ahead to walk with him.

"Ready for this?" he asked her as she fell in step with him.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she answered, grinning. "But I am looking forward to tonight. How many people will there be?"

"Five hundred," he answered nonchalantly.

Her face blanched. "Five hundred?" she repeated.

He nodded. "But don't worry about it." He shot her a crooked smile and she nudged him.

"You say it as if it's no big deal. Five hundred bloody people! I don't think I even know five hundred people."

He laughed, while opening the door to the office for her. "Like I said, don't worry about it. It'll be fine. Just stick with me and people will act as if they've known you forever."

"You better be right about that," she warned with a smile on her lips.

The office party was just as horrible as perceived. There were cake, crisps and other horrid party favours. Thankfully, they were allowed to leave early for their holiday that was two weeks.

Ginny and Draco walked to the entrance. Only until they were sure no one would overhear, Draco said, "Thank God it's over."

"It wasn't that bad. But did you see when Smith tried to kiss Alicia?" Ginny said, laughing. "She ran headfirst into the punch bowl!"

He laughed. "It was bad. So, you'll come over at six, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'll be there at six."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Don't girls take three hours to get ready?"

Ginny glared at him. "Don't judge. And no, I don't take three hours to get ready. Even if I was getting married, I wouldn't take three hours."

He grinned. "All right then. I'll see you then."

He Disapparated and Ginny followed suit right after.

Three hours later, Ginny stood standing in front of the mirror, surveying herself. She had not taken three hours to get ready; she had taken only thirty minutes. She had a nap, cleaned up her flat, then wrote a letter to Prince, wrote another one to her mum and then had a shower and got ready.

She had styled her hair in the same style as that day. She had tied it up in a low, messy bun with curls at the side. Her eyes were lightly lined with black kohl and lips dabbed with clear lip gloss.

The dress she had picked out for tonight was one of her favourites. It was a black number with cap sleeves. It didn't dip too low and wasn't short, either. It skimmed her knees, and she paired it with pearls in her ears and a pearl necklace. It had a fitted bodice and then flared out. Her shoes were black and had a high heel.

The look was conservative, but that was who she was. The dress was slightly fitted but wasn't sticking to her body. It wasn't short either and neither did it dip low in the neck. But that was how she was comfortable.

She grabbed her clutch and then Apparated to Draco's house, exactly at 5:59.

The entrance hall, for once, was filled with light. Draco was waiting for her there and he smiled when she came.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she answered, smiling.

"You look really nice," he said.

A light pink tinge touched her cheeks as she blushed. "Thanks. Should we get going?"

"Is that Miss Weasley I hear?" came a voice from the back.

Blaise came from the direction of the kitchen and walked up to her. He kissed her hand and said, "Pleased to see you."

She couldn't help but laugh at his formality. "Aren't we going to your house?"

He nodded. "But I couldn't stand waiting there with my mum harping over me about everything. Blaise, that's not how you tie a tie!"

Ginny laughed. "Your tie looks fine to me."

He nodded. "That's because Draco helped me out."

She smiled at Draco. Blaise was wearing a black tuxedo with a white shirt and black tie, whereas Draco was wearing a black suit with a black shirt and black tie. His face had a light shadow on it.

As Draco's eyes met hers, she blushed again and quickly looked away.

"Okay, Blaise, I have to bring Ginny since she doesn't know where your place is, so we'll see you there," said Draco.

Blaise raised his eyebrow. "You better be there in minutes, Draco. Or else I'll come and get you."

Draco smirked. "I'll be there, Blaise. Go on."

"See you there," he said and he Disapparated.

"He's crazy," said Draco, shaking his head.

Ginny smiled. "In a good way."

He smiled. "Of course. Ready?"

She nodded. "Five hundred people? No big deal."

He grinned. "That's the attitude."

"Let's go," she said, rolling her eyes.

He gave her his arm and then they Disapparated.

They arrived in a magnificent hall that had a large chandelier hanging high above. The marble floor was gleaming and the light bounced off of it onto the large tapestries that hung in the large hall.

Large drapes hung on the windows and were held back gold rings. People were walking through the hall to another room at the end of the hall.

"Do you like it?" he asked her.

Her eyes alight with joy, she looked at him. "I love it. It's so beautiful."

The main colours of the hall were cream and gold, but there were hints of green and red in places too, just not overwhelming the décor.

They reached another room, the ballroom in fact.

There were hundreds of people milling around, some sitting at the round tables set off to the side, some walking and chatting.

In the centre of the room was a large floor space for dancing, which people were just walking on right now.

"Draco!" came a voice from behind them.

They turned around and Draco said, "Aunt Aurora..."

Aurora Zabini was a vision. She had a thick curtain of black hair and the same slanting eyes as Blaise. She wore a black beaded ball gown and her eyes were lined with blue as well.

"Don't say anything," she said, walking up to them. "I thought you had disappeared from the face of the earth. I haven't seen you in four months!"

He smiled. "I'm really sorry, but work had me so tied up."

"I'll yell at you later," she said, turning to Ginny. "And who is this?"

"Hey mum," came Blaise's voice. He walked up to them. "Are you still yelling at Draco? Because people are staring at you."

"No, I've stopped now. But who is this charming young lady?" she inquired again, peering at Ginny's face.

Ginny smiled.

"This is Ginny Weasley," said Draco. "She works with me at the Ministry."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Zabini," Ginny said, shaking her hand.

"Please, darling, call me Aurora. And are you a," she leaned in closer, "an Auror like Draco?"

She nodded. "I am."

"Lovely!" she said. "You're the one that Blaise has been telling me about, then. The one that's catching Death Eaters like Mad Eye. You're doing something great for the community."

"Thank you," she said.

"Well, I'll see you children later then," she said, her attention wavering. "Mrs. Parkinson, how are you..."

She floated away and Blaise grinned at them. "She's crazy, isn't she?"

"She's so nice," said Ginny. "I really liked her."

Soon after, dinner was served and they sat down to eat. Ginny was seated at a table with Draco, Blaise and some of their childhood friends.

Everyone was extremely nice to Ginny and she didn't hear one bad thing about her family or circumstances.

After dinner, the tables were swept away and the music turned on. Aurora Zabini and her husband (the fifth one- Blaise told her) started the night off and soon other people began to join the dancing as well.

They sat there for fifteen minutes, watching other couples dance. Just when Draco was about to ask Ginny to dance, Blaise came up to her and said, "Draco would you mind if I asked Ginny to dance?"

Draco shook his head, a secretive smile on his face. "Go right ahead, mate."

Blaise smiled at her and said, "Ginny, would you honour me with a dance?"

She smiled and said, "Sure."

So she got up and went to the dance floor with Blaise. The song was of a medium speed and she enjoyed dancing with Blaise. He was a much better dancer than she was, but he made her feel comfortable.

After they had danced, Ginny got asked several more times to dance by foreign bachelors.

Half an hour later, Ginny sat back down, out of breath and tired. Some of Aurora's friends were sitting near her so she began to speak to them.

This was when she noticed that Draco was missing. Where had he disappeared off to?

After speaking to the older women, Ginny went and found Blaise, talking to his mum. She waited patiently until they were done and then asked Blaise, "Do you know where Draco went?"

Before Blaise could answer, his mother said, "He's probably upstairs, in his room. I was wondering where he had gone to. Dear, could you do me a favour and find him and tell him that desert is going to be served soon?"

"Sure," said Ginny, slightly perplexed. "Where is that?"

"Third floor, two doors down to your left," Blaise said.

"Thanks," said Ginny, smiling.

She started her way upstairs. The upstairs halls were large, with several doors lining each side of the hallway. She climbed one more set of stairs, counted two doors to her left and then knocked the wooden door.

Draco opened the door and looked slightly surprised to see her. His suit jacket was off and the cuffs of his black shirt were rolled up to reveal his muscular forearms. His tie was hanging loosely.

"What are you doing here? I was just coming down," he said, moving back and letting her come in.

"Of course you were," she said, waggling her eyebrows at him.

"I was, really," he said, grinning back.

Ginny looked around. The room was painted white, and there was a strange contraption on a stand in the middle of a room. It looked like a camera, except not like a wizarding one. There was a large window on the other side of the room, letting the moonlight in. A bookshelf lined another wall and there was a chair, stool and table off to the side.

"Why did you leave the ball?" she asked him, her attention turning back to him.

He shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "I really hate balls. The flirting, gossiping, all of it. It really annoys me."

Ginny put her hands on her hips. "You should've told me then! I was looking for you everywhere. The person I came with didn't even ask me to dance."

"But you hate dancing," he pointed out, a smirk on his face.

"That's not the point," she said. "The point is you brought me to a ball and then left me to fend for myself in front of five hundred people!"

He looked at her for a minute. Then he said, "Would you like to dance?"

She stared at him and blinked. "What did you say?"

"Would you like to dance?" he asked her. "You're right. It was rude of me to just leave you at the ball I invited you to. So I want to make up for it. What do you say?"

He held out his hand and she stared at it. "What? You mean here? Now?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Why not? You can hear the music."

It was true. The orchestra's music seeped through the floor and could still be heard where they were.

So Ginny smiled and placed her hand in his. "Sure."

And so they danced in the room on the third floor. His hand was on her back and he steered her confidently.

She slipped in the middle of the dance and swore. "It's these stupid shoes."

"Take them off then," he said.

She considered it. Nobody was here. Just Draco, and he had seen her in worse than just her shoes off. So she slipped them off and put them next to the wall.

Then they continued to dance. While they danced, they talked.

"So what were you doing up here?" Ginny asked him.

He was silent for a second and then he said, "If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone?"

Ginny loved secrets. She nodded. "I promise."

"Well, when I was younger and my parents had just died, I was angry. I was angry at the whole world and everybody that lived in it. The anger would just boil inside of me and I had no way to let it out. So one day, a...a friend of mine suggested that I find a hobby to pursue. Something that would take my mind of things.

"So I thought about it, what I could do that would take my mind off. One day in the winter holidays I was walking around in this house, and I found this room and that Muggle camera." He pointed to the contraption in the middle of the room. "I asked Aunt Aurora and she showed me how to work it. And so I started photography. At first, I couldn't find anything I wanted to take pictures of, but then the whole world opened up to me and I took pictures of everything."

The song had ended and they had stopped dancing. "That's amazing," Ginny said. "But why not a wizarding camera?"

"Well, like I told you before," he said, "Blaise's mother is half Muggle, so she has old things like cameras and radios lying around. Plus, once I started photographing, wizarding cameras and pictures weren't that great for me."

"Why not?" she asked, trying to understand. "I mean, a wizarding camera takes a picture of the moment and we can move in them!"

"I know," he said, walking over to the camera. "But I find something much more magical about Muggle cameras, how they capture the moment at that moment. A still picture holds so much more meaning than anything that could be moving."

"I suppose so," said Ginny.

"Here," he said. "This is some of my work."

He showed her the few pictures hanging on the wall. They were of various subjects: flowers, blades of grass, doves in flight, footprints in the snow, piles of books, pile of bracelets, an old oak tree and many other things. Some of the pictures were in colour, while some were black and white.

"Wow," she breathed. "They're amazing." And they were. The pictures were taken at such impossible angles that they were unique and different.

"I don't want Blaise to know because he'll think it strange that I love a Muggle pastime," he said. "I know it's stupid but..."

"No, Draco," she said, turning to look at him. "It's not stupid at all. It's amazing. You can see the passion and love in the pictures because of the way you did it. And...you're right. There's much more magic and serenity to a picture that doesn't move. I love it."

He seemed pleased that she liked it so much. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling.

There was silence for a minute and then Draco said, "Could I....could I ask you for a favour?"

"Sure, if I can ask you for one," she said.

He grinned. "You first."

She laughed. "Okay, tomorrow is my family's dinner get together for Christmas. It's not going to be fancy or even formal, but it'd be nice if you could come. Mum really liked you last time and everyone wanted to see you again."

He smiled at her. "Sure."

"Now it's your turn," she said.

"I've never photographed a person before. It's all been still life. So I was wondering if I could...take pictures of you," he said.

"Of me?" she said, shocked. "But I'm not a model."

"You don't have to be. I just want to see how it would be to take pictures of people for a change. You don't have to do it."

"I want to do it," she said. "Really, I do."

He smiled. "Okay then. Let's get started."

"Now?" she said. "But I'm not even dressed properly or anything."

"You look beautiful. And it's going to be in black and white as well, so the affect will be great with your black dress," he said, grinning. "You won't regret it, I promise."

She smiled. "All right. Let's do it."

It took them fifteen minutes to find a proper spot in the room. Finally, they settled on putting the stool in front of the window and taking the blinds off. He wanted it to be as simple as possible.

Next, he made her take her hair out. Ginny protested, telling him that she had put her wet hair into the bun and it would be wild, but he didn't listen.

So Ginny took out her thick red bun and Draco watched as it cascaded down her neck and hung in waves past her shoulders. She took off her earrings next, to make it as simple as possible.

But he told her to keep the necklace, because it added a nice effect.

Finally, she was ready. The first few shots were horrible, because she was nervous and was sitting up perfectly straight.

But after awhile, Draco started telling her silly stories from his childhood that made her laugh and smile as he took pictures of her.

Midnight tolled by the time Blaise was calling for the on the second floor.

"Oh, shit," muttered Draco. "I totally forgot about the ball."

"Me too," she said, pulling her shoes on as he grabbed his jacket and put it on.

They decided to Apparate into the ballroom and left that way, so it would appear that they were there the whole time.

Blaise was extremely confused as he saw them in the throng leaving, but didn't have time to question because of the people around them.

They reached the foyer, thanked Aurora and her husband greatly and then left.

Draco dropped her off at her flat and then he Apparated home.

Smiling to herself, Ginny closed her eyes and fell asleep.

A/N- so how was it? Hopefully not boring right? I didn't have any build up to the ball, sorry. But I didn't have much to write in between the time when he asked her to the ball and the ball itself, so I decided to include it in one chapter. Next chapter: Ginny finally suggests something to the prince that was the whole intent of the exercise. Hang around to see what happens! :)