Forever Yours

A/R- so here is chapter 22! It was fast...right? Not too much of a wait. Anyways my beta is doing the chapters quickly, so the next one should be up around Tuesday-ish. BIG thanks to her, my beta Elisabeth for doing this chapter sooner than expected. Again, thank you guys so much for reviewing. I love reading your reviews so keep 'em coming! Special thanks to Katalyeighna for your wonderfully long and sweet review. Thanks to everyone who reviews, actually. Anyways I have nothing very interesting to say...so enjoy!

Chapter 22

When Ginny got home, she turned all the lights on. Her flat was dark and empty when she arrived.

There were no new owls for her. Surprise, surprise.

Sighing, Ginny forced herself into the shower and got ready.

Even though she was starving, she wanted to have an appetite when she got to the restaurant, so she decided not to eat anything.

She got dressed in a black skirt and white lacy top. She pinned her hair back and quickly put on some makeup.

Then she Apparated to Hogsmeade Village.

When she got there, Blaise was waiting for her, wearing a black coat, as the weather was still cold.

"Hey," he said, smiling at her.

Trying to push away her tiredness, she smiled. "Hi."

"The restaurant I told you about is just over here," he said, leading her off to the side.

The first time Ginny had visited Hogsmeade Village out of school time, she had been shocked. All the time while they had been at Hogwarts, there had been another side of the village that stemmed off of one road that the students were forbidden to go to. It was the non-touristy spot where residents actually went to shop and eat, and so the Headmaster deemed it inappropriate for the students to visit that one section.

The restaurant that Blaise had mentioned to Ginny was off this road and was a very nice and fancy place, she noticed when she walked in.

A waiter immediately took her jacket and led them to a table. The restaurant was of medium size and had a warm and comfortable ambience, even though it was a tad fancier than Ginny was used to.

The waiter pulled back her chair. She smiled, sat down, and waited for Blaise to sit down.

Conversation flowed easily. He asked her how her job was going and she asked him how his was going. She hadn't known what Department he was in, but tonight she found out that he was in International Cooperation. This was why he had grown so accustomed to other cultures and backgrounds and had brought her to this restaurant.

Someone who he had worked with had been Japanese and had recommended sushi to him, and he told her that he loved it.

"Try it," he told her. "It's great."

She smiled. "Sorry Blaise, but I've tried it. I really don't like it."

"Oh," he said. "That's fine. Do you like...pasta then?"

"I love pasta," she said, smiling.

After that, the evening passed by quickly and before Ginny knew it, Blaise was dropping her off home.

"Thanks Blaise," she said. "I had a great time." And she did. He was different and funny, but she really liked him. He was a nice guy.

He grinned. "Me too. Would you mind terribly if I asked you again for next week?"

Part of her wanted to say she wanted to go out with him, but another part of wanted to run screaming into her house. No! This wasn't supposed to happen. The Prince was supposed to write back to her by now and tell her that he wanted to meet her. They were supposed to meet by now and should be spending time with each other.

Unless he didn't want to meet her? What if he was afraid of ruining their relationship? What if she had ruined their friendship forever, by asking him to meet?

Tears began to brim her eyes, and she tried to control them from falling. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself. "Sure Blaise, except I'm pretty busy at work. Draco and I get home so late these days and I'm so tired."

He nodded. "I totally understand. I know how hard you work, and I don't want to strain you. But--" He smirked. "Maybe we could meet for lunch during work?"

She nodded, not even hearing what he was saying.

"All right then. I guess I'll see you around. Bye," he said, grinning at her and Disapparating.

Shakily, she opened the door to her flat and let herself in. Her thoughts were so preoccupied by the Prince that she didn't even notice that he hadn't even touched her aka kissed her goodnight.

She walked to her bedroom, took off her clothes, and got ready for bed. Things kept dropping out of her hands as she thought.

As she lay down to bed, she began to cry. That was it. By asking the Prince to meet her she had frightened him. He probably thought she wanted more from him and maybe he couldn't give her more.

She did want more. But she would be happy with just being his friend if he would still talk to her. But he wouldn't.

He found the idea of meeting her so repulsive that he couldn't even write No to her in his reply.

She had lost her best friend forever. Without realising it, she had fallen in love with someone she had never met. His letters had been the one constant thing in her life when it had filled with turmoil.

Losing Harry had seemed like a life-threatening thing at the beginning of her sixth year, but as the assignment had been proposed by Professor McGonagall, Ginny had come to love it. She had been able to lessen some of her burden by writing to him and having him listen to her, always.

No matter how late sometimes it had been at night, he had always written back to her, given her comfort. When her mum had become sick and Ginny had to leave the country, his letters were the only thing that kept her sane. When she had had difficulty transitioning back into the Wizarding World, he had been there for her. To make her laugh, to make her smile, give her advice, make her cry, and to have her heart stretch wider and wider when she talked to him.

His world seemed so much a part of hers at one point. She felt as if she had been the one who had gone on a world tour instead of him, because of all he had told her. She felt as if Zebra was her friend as well because of how much he talked to her about him.

Her heart clenched whenever he mentioned his parents and how much he missed them. Someone, through the six years of letter writing, Prince had become a part of her. So much so that his joys and sadness were hers as well.

When Prince cried, his letter ended up being splattered with her tears before it got put away in the drawer she put all his letters. When he was happy, Ginny grinned all day and jumped up and down for him. When he was successful, Ginny was so proud of him that she baked him whatever was in her kitchen at the moment.

He was so much a part of her that she hadn't even noticed over the years that she had fallen in love with him. How and when it had happened, she had no idea. She didn't even understand it herself.

She had never met him nor had they spoken in person. Their meeting in her sixth year had gotten cancelled, and that had been their once chance. They hadn't tried to reschedule it since. And now she had asked him to meet her....

And now he wouldn't write back to her.

Ginny buried her face in her pillow as tears began to blind her vision. If she lost him now it would be as if she was losing herself.

Pain shot through her heart as she sobbed her heart out. It was all her fault. All her stupid fault for suggesting they meet up.

Ginny would rather they never meet than he ignore her. She couldn't bear with that. Who would she share her life with? Who would be her life?

Gasping for air, she tried to calm herself down. She took a few deep breaths, but that didn't help clear the massive headache crying always brought on.

Her head pounded but she tried not to panic.

It was January tenth and she had sent her letter to him on December twenty-fifth. It had only been a little more than two weeks.

This thought made her calm down a little. Two weeks. That wasn't too long. Maybe he was really busy with work and hadn't had a chance to reply back, or even write back yet.

She would give it another....week until believing that he had left her forever.

Seven more days for her to hope in. He would write back. She was sure he would. He...loved her, she was sure of it. At least she thought she was sure of it.

This thought was what occupied her mind as she slept.

The next morning, she was very groggy and had a hard time getting ready as her head was still pounding away.

She went over to Draco's house and fell asleep with her cheek on pieces of parchment while he went to the loo. When he came back, he found her fast asleep.

He didn't want to wake her so he magically Apparated her to her bed and continued the work himself.

On Sunday, Ginny woke up in her own bed and was extremely confused as to how she got there.

She knew that she was supposed to meet Draco again for their project so she decided to go there.

"Hey," he said, when he saw her at eleven thirty in the morning. "Feeling better?"

She raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

He smirked. "You fell asleep on the table yesterday."

She flushed crimson. "Oh my god, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to at all. It's just that I'm having trouble sleeping these days and I don't...."

He grinned and held up his hand. "Relax Ginny. I understand."

She shook her head, disgusted with herself. "No, it wasn't fair for me to just fall asleep and let you do all the work. I'll do extra tonight. Whatever we don't finish today, I'll finish at home."

"I can't let you do that," he said, heading towards his study where they were working.

"Why not?" she demanded. "You let me fall asleep yesterday and you did all the work yourself, so it's unfair. I'll do whatever we don't finish."

He just gave her a look she couldn't decipher before sitting down at his desk. "Whatever you want, Ginny."

Ginny's grin was immediately removed. She peered at him. He had dark circles underneath his eyes and his usually shiny blond hair was limp.

"Draco, are you okay?" she asked him.

He nodded, shuffling some pieces of parchment. "Yeah, fine."

"Tell me the truth," she said.

He stifled a yawn and said, "Just tired."

She shook her head as she picked up a quill. "Same as me then." She rested her head against the cool wood and said, "Oh Draco, what are we going to do? I'm about to fall asleep any second and you look like you're already asleep."

His head had been slowly bobbing down, but it snapped up now. "Don't worry. We'll just drink lots of coffee."

So he instructed his house-elves to make coffee and lots of it. The tiny elf brought in pots and pots of coffee. The effect was the desired one; they were awake as owls at night, except they were both super hyper.

They were laughing at every single little thing and Ginny snorted her coffee out of her nose at one of Draco's jokes.

The day ended, but there was no letter from Prince.

But Ginny still had hope. He had until this Friday. He would write back. She knew he would.

Monday dawned clear and bright. Ginny didn't feel as tired and so was in a better mood at work.

She and Draco had gotten a new lead for their project and they worked on that all day.

Ginny only saw Blaise once, in passing as well, but he grinned and waved at her. She smiled back and waved as well.

On Tuesday, Ginny and Draco sat planning in their office for the capture of Parkinson, one of Draco's father's old friends, when there was a knock on the office door.

It was Blaise. He came in and talked to Draco about some family dinner that his mum wanted Draco to attend.

After that, he turned to Ginny and asked her how work was going. She smiled and told him that it was busy.

That was when he looked at Draco and asked, "Would you mind if I took your partner out to lunch, mate?"

Draco smiled a somewhat knowing smile and nodded his head. "Just make sure you bring her back. We do have work to do."

Blaise nodded and saluted him. "Yes, sir."

With that, he led her out of the Ministry and they walked to Diagon Alley, where he took her out to an Italian restaurant.

Ginny tried to be interested, but her thoughts were, of course, on what Prince was doing and if he had read her letter yet.

Maybe he had replied! But she wouldn't know until she went home and that wouldn't be until seven o'clock that night.

So while Blaise asked her questions about her childhood and she answered, she was truly thinking about how to go back to the office without it being suspicious.

So when they were done eating lunch, Ginny told Blaise to tell Draco that she had forgotten a file at home and would be right back.

Blaise nodded and went back to the Ministry, under the deception that Ginny liked him just as he liked her.

Ginny closed her eyes, Disapparated home, and searched frantically throughout her flat to see if Pig had dropped anything.

But of course he hadn't, because he was secure in his cage.

Prince hadn't written back yet. But that was okay. He had until Friday. There were still three more days until she was officially allowed to give up.

With a sigh, she Apparated back to work, walked to the office, and got back to work.

"Hey Ginny!" came a voice.

Ginny's head snapped up. It was the end of the work day, almost eight o'clock, and she was in Draco's office. He had been talking to her about something, but she hadn't heard a word of it.

"Sorry?" she said, blinking.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, peering at her. "You seem really distracted."

She managed to muster a smile. "Fine. Everything's fine."

He continued to look at her suspiciously but didn't say anything. He gathered his things and they both walked to the foyer of the Ministry.

"So I'll see you at seven," he said as they walked closer to the foyer.

Ginny had been thinking about what Prince would be doing when she snapped to it. "What? At seven?"

He gave her another look. "Ginny?"

"Of course," she said. "Seven o'clock. I was just joking. I know what you're talking about."

He rolled his eyes at her and laughed. "You're a horrible actor, Ginny. You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

She shook her head. "Look, Draco, I'm really sorry. My attention's all over the place, and I'm so distracted these days. And it's not fair to you. But I promise you, after Friday, I will be perfectly fine. Jolly, even."

He smiled a sad smile at her. "I don't think I've seen you jolly for a long time, Ginny. So tomorrow I'm coming over because we're leaving to go stakeout at Parkinson's cottage, remember?"

"Oh right," she said. This time she did vaguely remember him saying something about that. "At seven. Got you."

"See you then," he said, with another sad smile.

Ginny went home and this time quickly checked for any letters. There was a letter, but it wasn't from who she wanted.

The next day, Ginny got up even earlier than usual because of their stakeout.

Draco showed up promptly at seven, looking clean and crisp in his dark blue collar shirt and black pants.

The stakeout at Parkinson's house took all day. They weren't successful because Ginny's attention kept drifting.

So with a heavier heart she returned home that evening to another empty house devoid of any letters.

Thursday was a dark and rainy day, yet it suited Ginny's mood perfectly. She was still having trouble sleeping so that every night she would toss and turn for hours and then decide to get up and pace the apartment.

Even her favourite pastime, reading, couldn't soothe her anxious mind.

They were supposed to have another stakeout, but just when she walked in through the door, there was an emergency mission. Several Death Eaters had been sighted near a Muggle village, and a few Aurors were needed to go and capture them. Naturally, Ginny and Draco were selected.

The stakeout they had to go on and the work they had to do kept Ginny wide awake. The circles under her eyes kept getting darker now, and Draco kept shooting her worried glances.

He had asked her twice to go home, but she had told him no. Even though she was tired and upset, she wasn't going to abandon her duty now for her own selfish needs.

So he stopped telling her to go home and instead, kept buying her coffees to keep her awake. But the coffees were having a negative affect on her.

So Draco decided to ask Dawlish if they could instead be backup and he agreed. Draco led Ginny over to a bench in the park near the village and sat down to wait.

If red sparks were seen from the village, he and Ginny were to rush there immediately.

But as soon as they sat on the bench, Ginny's eyes slowly began to close until she fell asleep. Draco didn't even notice until her red ponytail-ed head lolled onto his shoulder, because she was so quiet these days anyway.

So he let her sleep. She seemed comfortable anyways, on the stiff wooden park bench as the cold breeze blew the red strands of her into his face.

For the first time in days, her face had a peaceful look on it as she slept beside him. The dark circles under her eyes were still there, but not as noticeable as when her eyes were wide open and searching, always searching.

He wondered what had her so worried that she was this anxious. Her attention had always been so solid before and she had never been distracted, but now she seemed so out of it that she had no idea what was happening.

The mission ended successfully that day, and Parkinson was one of the Death Eaters that was caught. So Dawlish gave them the next day off as they all trudged home at seven o'clock, but he decided not to tell her.

He held onto her tightly and took her arm, with her asleep in his arms. He set her gently down on her bed and put the covers over her, hoping that for once she would be able to sleep soundly.

That night Ginny did sleep soundly, but woke up late that morning.

She was only late by fifteen minutes, but she had to hurry even more.

She felt much more rested and refreshed today. Today was Friday! She had almost forgotten about it, but not quite.

Today was the day.

But she wasn't going to think about that right now. She hurried to work, tying her hair as she Apparated in the Ministry.

Draco stood waiting for her in the foyer and he smiled when he saw her.

"Hey," he said, walking towards to her. "Sleep well?"

"Oh my gosh," she said, remembering. "Whatever happened to the mission?"

He shrugged. "It was successful."

"Aren't you coming?" she asked him as she started to walk to their office.

Again, he shrugged. "No, I'm not coming in today."

Ginny stopped in her tracks. "You're not what?"

He smirked, clearly pleased that he had caught her attention. "No, I'm skipping work today. And so are you."

"Oh no, I'm not," she said, edging away from, but he was much too quick for her.

He grabbed her arm and said, "No, you need a vacation."

"Draco, we can't just skip work," she said, staring at him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sure we can," he said, dragging her back into the foyer. Ginny tried her best to plant her feet firmly on the ground, but his monstrous strength was much too powerful for her and he easily dragged her back. "Didn't you ever skip class at Hogwarts?"

She narrowed her eyes. "No, I didn't. Did you?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Sometimes I skipped Transfiguration."

She tried to wriggle her arm out of his grip. "Draco, skipping third year Transfiguration and skipping work is totally different. We're adults now."

"Maybe we should be kids again," he said, his voice low and his expression serious. "Close your eyes." And he gently put his hand over her eyes and slowly moved it down until her eyes were closed.

Ginny felt oddly peaceful like this, and she waited for his next instruction.

But he spoke no more words. His arm went around her waist, and they Disapparated from the Ministry into a loud, bustling atmosphere.

She opened her eyes and found them to be in Diagon Alley. What were they doing there?

"Are we here to catch a Death Eater?" she asked him with her nose wrinkled.

He shook his head and looked her straight in the eye. "Forget Death Eaters for today, Ginny. Forget about work, about everything that's troubling you and everything you keep worrying about. Just forget about it all. Just relax."

She stared at him. "Relax?"

He grinned. "I know it seems foreign, but... Do you like ice cream?"

"Ice cream?" she repeated. "At nine in the morning?"

He shrugged. "Why not? Does it ever say on the carton that there's a specific time you have to eat it?"

She shook her head, not believing what he was saying.

"Then?" he said. "Let's go."

He led her to Florean Fortescue's and bought them large cones of ice cream. And they sat down in the restaurant and licked their cones.

"Remember what I said about it being nine o'clock in the morning and it being weird that we're eating ice cream?" Ginny said in between licks.

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Yes."

"Well, I find it even stranger that it's winter and we're eating ice cream!" she said. "My mother always told me that eating ice cream in the winter would make you sick."

"I've eaten it since I was young, often in winter," he said, "and I never got sick."

"Hmm," she said, thinking about it as she licked her cone.

After they were done their cones, they walked down the busy streets of Diagon Alley, while telling stories about their first mission together.

Ginny was laughed so hard that she had a difficult time walking straight. People kept giving her dirty looks but she didn't care.

For the first time in days, she was laughing and really enjoying herself.

He even took her to her brother's shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and they laughed until they were crying in the shop. It truly felt like they were kids again.

Fred and George were really happy to see her and gave her tons of free stuff, new things that weren't even in the shop yet.

They left their shop an hour later with big grins on their faces.

Then they went to the Apothecary because Draco needed new ingredients for the Potions they made on their missions.

Strange and unusual items filled the shelves of the shop, and they had fun imagining what each item could be used for.

"To curl your nose hairs," said Draco as he held up a miniscule magical curling iron.

Ginny burst out laughing. "Or maybe eyebrow hairs."

He laughed and was shushed once again by the shop keeper. They decided to leave the shop because they had received several dirty looks now.

So they went back outside and continued walking around Diagon Alley. Hours just passed away quickly and without realising it, it was five o'clock.

They went back to Florean Fortescue's, because as Draco said, "You can never have too much ice cream."

Ginny just laughed and ordered a chocolate cone.

"Come on, Ginny," he said, giving her a look. "Try something new."

"Like what?" she said. "Besides, I like chocolate."

"But you had that this morning. Try..." He scanned the list and said, "The caramel vanilla."

She smiled and ordered it. After a few minutes, Florean brought out her ice cream cone. The top was covered with hard chocolate and nuts and was in a sugar cone.

Since there were no places to sit, they took their ice cream outside and sat on the curb, eating their ice creams like little kids.

"I feel like a schoolgirl," Ginny said while biting the chocolate.

He grinned. "That was the point." Even while licking ice cream, he managed to look poised and refined, whereas Ginny looked like a kid licking her ice cream.

She raised her eyebrows at him. They were both in their work clothes; she in her grey robes and he in his clean, crisp black ones.

"I never would have thought the infamous Draco Malfoy would sit on the curb like this and eat ice cream," she said, licking her ice cream. "It's very unusual."

He just smirked and said, "I could eat ice cream any time of the day. Seriously."

She laughed. "I never would have figured."

They were silent for a few minutes and then Draco said, "You know how I said we were skipping work this morning?"

She nodded, looking at him.

"I lied," he said, smirking. "We got the day off."

Her mouth was wide open. "Draco!" Without noticing it, her chocolate began to drip and melted onto his dark robes. "Oh I'm so sorry," she said when she noticed it.

He grinned and said, "Don't worry about it." He magically cleaned it up.

"You're serious? We got the day off?" she said, incredulous.

Draco nodded, smirking. "I just wanted you to think we were playing hooky, so you'd be happier."

"It worked," she said, grudgingly.

He laughed and she punched him playfully in the arm.

"And you were right, this ice cream is good," she said, biting her cone now. "Much better than just plain old chocolate."

"Told you so," he said, dusting off his robes and getting up. "I'm never wrong, or if I am, I pretend that I'm still right."

She laughed and finished her cone. "That's horrible."

"It is, but there you have it," he said, holding out his hand. She took it and he helped her out.

At that second, there came a voice. "Hey guys!"

Ginny looked to the side and there was Blaise, waving to them.

"Hey," said Draco as he hugged him. Well it wasn't really a hug, but that weird thing guys did: shaking one hand and then hugging. It was weird was all Ginny knew.

"Hi Ginny," he said, smiling at her. "Are you busy?"

"I was just going home," said Draco.

"Oh," he said. "So..."

Ginny smiled at him and waited for him to speak.

"I guess I'll see you later, Ginny," said Draco. "Bye Blaise."

"But..." Ginny tried to say but he was gone.

Now it was just the two of them, in the middle of Diagon Alley.

"So," he said, grinning at her. "What are you up to now?"

"Nothing really," she said. "What are you up to?"

"I was wondering... Did you want to go out...now?" he said.

Ginny didn't exactly feel like going home yet, after such a fun day, so she smiled at him and said, "Sure Blaise. Why not?"

"Great," he said, grinning. "Do you mind going to a Muggle restaurant? Only I've kinda of run out of Wizard restaurants to take you to, and since you've been here all day, I don't think you'd want to stay."

"Sure," she said. "A Muggle restaurant sounds great."

So they took off their robes and went to the restaurant, a small quaint one in the heart of London.

By the time Ginny got home that night, it was eight o'clock.

Numbly, she walked through the door and turned the lights on. There were no owls flying through her flat nor were there any letters on her table.

He hadn't written back.

Ginny closed her eyes as she felt the tears begin to form. Soon her eyes were brimming with them, but she refused to cry.

She walked to her bedroom, changed her clothes, and put her robes away.

Then she sat on her bed and heaved a loud sob. She then fell on her back on her bed and closed her eyes.

Today was Friday. This was it. No more waiting for him to write back. It had been three weeks now since she had sent him the last letter. The longest they had gone without writing to one another had been three days, but it had been three weeks now.

This was when all floodgates opened. She sobbed her heart out. She cried for herself, for Prince, for what could have been and for what was lost.

She had lost her best friend, and now she couldn't do anything to get him back.

She could write him another letter...but there must be a reason why he had ignored her first one. She didn't want to face an embarrassing confrontation in which he told her to leave him alone.

Even though she was upset, she realised she had known. She had known since the day she had set the limit for that Friday that he wasn't going to write back.

She had already accepted it, she realised. She had already come to terms with it.

Yet why did it hurt so much? Why could she still only think about his thick black writing, his steady hand? Why were his gifts coming into her mind?

With that, she got up, fumbled with her shirt, and found the clasp for her necklace. She found the clasp, opened it, and threw it against the wall, with the ring on the end of it.

The black stones cracked once it hit the wall, and this made her cry even more.

She buried her face in her pillow and fell asleep crying.

A/N- hehe, the next few chapters will be painful....but no more of that. And for the people who read the story and never review- I'm expecting you ALL to review at the end! Seriously! Random note- if anybody is interested in reading something new, good, that will make your emotions fly, and is about vampires- read Twilight! It's the best book ever (after HP- of course). :)