Forever Yours

Author's Notes: The last chapter. -Sigh- I want to cry as I type this, but alas, it would be terribly embarrassing for me at school to do such. But since it is sort of the last chapter, I won't write too much. Just a big thanks to my wonderful beta for doing this one so quickly. And to all you guys for your constant reviews and feedback. I truly love your reviews and seriously, you guys are what kept this story going. Enough of me though. Back to Draco and Ginny....

Chapter 25

How a month passed by, neither Ginny nor Draco knew.

Ginny had taken leave from work, because wedding plans were in full swing, and so Draco no longer saw her at work.

In fact, he avoided Blaise's house at all cost. He avoided any place he thought he might see her.

Draco threw himself into his work, staying later and later at night working, trying his best not to think about her. Everything reminded him of her, though. His office reminded him of her, of the countless times they had sat there and schemed and planned.

A week after the infamous engagement party, he had received a letter while at home. It was Mario, the teddy bear.

Draco's heart clenched when he saw it, and tears began to brim his eyes when he saw the note attached. Just one word without a signature, date or greeting.

Please.

Time for Ginny, though, seemed to have slowed down. Without work, her mind had little distraction. Questions kept on plaguing her. Why had he returned Mario? Why didn't he show himself? Had he been there the whole time? Did he hate her? Was she not pretty enough for him?

This went on and on for hours for her. Day and night, she seemed in her own world, her thoughts going in a circular motion like this, always going back to the same questions.

Mrs Weasley had fixed up her old room for her to stay in, because of the wedding preparations.

Ginny hardly saw Blaise, because he was busy wrapping up his work before the wedding, yet this was not something she minded.

Thinking about the wedding just made her sick as well. She didn't know how she was going to marry him and what would happen afterwards.

She was having second thoughts, though. She wanted to cancel the whole thing right then and there, but didn't want to hurt her mum or his mum.

The best person to talk to would have been the groom's best friend, Draco. But she wasn't talking to him, and things were already awkward with them, so she didn't want to make it more awkward.

The next best person was the groom himself, she decided. He was rational and understanding... She was sure he would try to understand.

Yet because of the fact she hardly saw him, it was rather difficult for her to talk to him.

But time was running out. There were only two more weeks until the wedding.

An opportunity came when Blaise planned a party for all his friends and hers as well in a restaurant in London. He said that he hated the idea of bachelor and bachelorette parties because he thought they were stupid, and so he wanted to have a party together.

Everyone was invited, her brothers and friends from Hogwarts, his friends from childhood and everyone in between.

Since no one knew where this famous restaurant was, Blaise suggested they all meet up at a hotel and get ready there and then go together.

Ginny had never been to a party like this before and that alone was making her nervous. She didn't know what to wear and how to do her makeup.

Right before the party, Blaise had brought her a dress that he had bought her and told her that she should wear it.

Before she even had a chance to protest, he had left.

"Come on, Ginny," urged Hermione as she came out of the loo and saw Ginny standing there in the dress she had planned on wearing, a black one with netting that reached her knees.

"I'm going to take awhile," said Ginny, looking at the dress in her hands. "You go ahead, Hermione. I'll be down."

"Are you sure?" she asked her, looking stunning in her own pink dress.

Ginny nodded. "You go ahead."

"Okay," said Hermione, "I'll see you there then."

Downstairs, Blaise and Draco were the last ones waiting to go to the party.

Draco had tried to avoid it at all costs, but Blaise got angry and told him that he was so busy that he hardly ever saw him, and if he didn't show up to the party, he'd curse him into oblivion.

Blaise's threats were not to be taken lightly, so Draco decided to come to the stupid party. He knew he was going to regret it, but he was Blaise's best friend, and Blaise would never let him off the hook.

So while they waited, Blaise talked to Draco about how excited he was about the wedding and such.

Suddenly, he swore. "Oh shit, mate," he said, ducking behind Draco. "That's Natasha!"

Draco just raised his eyebrows and looked about. "Natasha who?"

"Natasha, my ex girlfriend!" said Blaise, nodding towards a blond girl walking towards the hotel. "Mate, I'm going to leave. You bring Ginny, okay? You know where the place is, right?"

"Blaise..." Draco tried to say something, but he had Disapparated.

"Was that Blaise?" said Natasha as she neared the hotel, walking past him.

Sighing, Draco said, "Yeah. You know how he is."

The blond girl nodded. She had been Blaise's girlfriend for three years, before he had dumped her. "Oh yes, I know how he is. I heard he's getting married."

He nodded. "Yeah, in two weeks."

She smiled sadly. "Tell him I said congratulations. See you, Draco."

"Bye," he said, watching her walk away. Draco had been sure that if Blaise would marry anyone, it would have been Natasha. He had been madly in love with her, but as soon as she mentioned marriage, he freaked out. He hadn't been ready then and he dumped her right away. It was clear she still loved him.

"Draco?" came another voice from behind him, from the hotel's front doors.

He turned around, and his eyes widened when he saw her. It was the only girl that could make his heart stop like it had just done.

Ginny came out of the hotel. She was wearing a short red mini-dress that didn't even reach her knees. It was fitted, it dipped low, and had thin straps.

Her red curls were out today and parted in the middle, with pins holding them down. On her neck was the thin gold chain that continued down...

Draco quickly averted his eyes to her face. Her eyes were worried, and he knew that she was uncomfortable. He had never seen her wear a dress like that before, and he knew she never showed that much skin usually.

It was too tight for her as well, and she kept tugging on the bottom of it, hoping it was longer.

"Where did everyone go?" she asked him, coming up to him, her eyes worried.

He had to think about what she was asking him. He hadn't seen her up close in more than a month, and seeing her again made his heart beat faster and faster, until he thought he couldn't breathe anymore.

"They...they left," he said.

"Blaise too?" she said.

He nodded. "Something...er, came up. And he had to leave."

"Oh," she said. "Are we going then?"

"Yeah, let's go," he said, blinking and looking away from her. "It's far though."

"Makes no difference," she said, her voice faint and her eyes already far away.

With his heart hammering against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. He then thought of the restaurant they were supposed to be in, trying to ignore the feeling of her body against his.

It took them a minute, but then they were there.

Immediately, Draco let go of her, not wanting her to get the wrong message.

It was a Muggle restaurant, and they had Apparated outside of it.

When they walked in, men ogled at Ginny. They stared at her and tried to hit on her, but Draco stood beside her and made sure no one did or said anything.

Ginny, in the meantime, felt naked when she walked in to the restaurant. People were staring at her; well, men were staring at her and checking her. Women threw her dirty looks, so she just kept her eyes to the ground.

She was grateful to Draco, though. If not for him, she was sure some of the men would have come up to her and spoken to her, but because of him, he kept his arm around her at all times and no one said anything.

Since their party was a private one, everyone was leaving the restaurant who had been there before.

The maitre d stood at the entrance, and even he gave Ginny the elevator look before checking for their names on the list.

Finally, he let them through, and Draco took his arm off of Ginny. That was the most contact he was going to have with her that night.

As soon as they entered the room, everyone began calling out to her, telling her she looked beautiful, how lucky she was to be marrying Blaise, etc.

She smiled and made her rounds around the room, while Draco just stood off to one side, watching her.

It was a dinner and dance type restaurant, so everyone sat and ate dinner first. Then everyone walked over to the dance floor in the centre of the room and began dancing as the music became louder.

Several of Blaise's friends came up to where Draco was standing and asked him to dance, but he declined. He had eyes only for one.

Ginny seemed to be having a good time, but even from where he was standing, he saw only sadness in her eyes. And anxiety.

Everyone was extra nice to her, but even then she was uncomfortable. Everyone complimented her and said sweet things to her, but she didn't believe them.

Blaise even got some of his friends to dance with her, but this made her even more uncomfortable. No one seemed to notice, though.

As she danced, Draco noticed the back zipper of her dress begin to open. As Blaise's friend spun her around, it opened even further, going more and more down.

Draco glanced around. No one had noticed yet. But someone was bound to. And she would die of embarrassment when someone would notice and say something.

He tried to think quickly. He couldn't go and say something to her without her going to the loo and fixing it, because again people would notice as she walked away.

But he had to do something. Anything. The zipper was going further and further down, and Ginny's creamy white back could be seen.

As Blaise's friend spun her with a bit more force, she whirled around, and Draco quickly acted and caught her, mid spin.

Her brown eyes met his with a question. His breath caught in his throat as his hand wrapped around her waist.

There was a little more than an inch between their bodies, but not much more.

While staring into her eyes, he found the zipper and slowly began to move it up, not wanting to make too much noise by doing it quickly.

She was still staring at him with confusion, but as the zipper moved high and higher up her back, her eyes widened as she stared at him, finally understanding.

Pulling the zipper all the way couldn't have taken more than a minute, but that minute was all Draco needed.

For once, she was looking at him and there was no sadness in her eyes. She didn't blink nor did she avert them, but she stared right at him as he stared right at her.

For him, that minute seemed to last an eternity. Everything else seemed to have stopped around them, and the music suddenly disappeared as they stared at each other.

He didn't even think he was breathing, nor could he feel his heart's usual hammering against his chest. Instead, he felt the soft silk of her dress, the cold, hard tiny zipper as he pulled it up and her warm hand in his.

He didn't hear people talking; instead, he heard her heart beating in her chest. All the different scents from people around them disappeared until there was only one scent: hers, a mixture of cinnamon and jasmine.

Draco couldn't see anything else but her. For her, her fiancée's best friend was just doing her a favour but pulling up her zipper, but for him it was much more than that. She was more than his best friend's fiancée.

Their eyes meeting was more intimate than a kiss and more sweeter and meaningful.

Pulling up her zipper only lasted a minute, but for him that minute was enough.

It finally reached the top of her dress, and without another word, he spun her away back in the direction of where she had come from.

Suddenly the noises, the scents, the feeling of being jostled all came back as soon as she was out of his sight.

His heart finally returned to beating furiously in his chest, and his breathing became laboured once again, but it didn't matter to him.

Because that minute was enough to last him an eternity without her.

And he stood in the middle of the dance floor for a few minutes without even realising that the song was over and the another one had started.

Quickly, he moved off to the side to his original spot, and his eyes began searching for her once more. But he couldn't find her. Where had she gone?

"Draco," she said. She had suddenly appeared beside him.

"Hey Ginny," he said, trying to sound normal and not convey his true feelings into his words. "Having fun?"

She ignored his question all together. "Draco, can you please take me home?"

He looked at her. She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"But...why?" he said.

"Because I hate it here," she said. "I'm so uncomfortable, and people keep staring at me and..."

"That's because you look beautiful, Ginny," he said. And she did. But not the beautiful he liked. Not the beautiful he fell in love with.

"No, I don't," she said, tugging on the bottom of her dress and her eyes brimming with tears. "I look horrible and I hate it here. I hate parties."

"Ginny, you look fine," he tried one more time. "And everyone's wanted to meet you for so long, and they'll be angry if you leave."

She just shook her head at him and said in a pain-filled voice, "Just forget it. Forget I asked."

With that, she walked away.

Draco closed his eyes, his head pounding. How much he wanted to tell her that he loved her. How much he wanted to rush in there and save her...but he couldn't without arousing suspicion.

As she walked back to the dance floor, Draco made up his mind and walked quickly towards a waiter holding glasses of champagne. He purposely pushed into him and walked away.

The waiter tripped and the glasses fell and splattered Ginny as she was walking past him.

The glasses fell to the ground and smashed into hundreds of pieces.

Everyone hovered around Ginny instantly.

"Ginny, are you okay?" said Ron.

She nodded. A few glass shards had hit her legs, and now they were bleeding. Her dress was also soaked with champagne.

"Ginny?" said Blaise through the loud music, coming towards her. "Why weren't you more careful?" he yelled at the waiter.

"I'm sorry," said the waiter, picking up the shards of glass off the floor. "I tripped and..."

Blaise just waved his hand. "Are you okay, Ginny? Oh god, you're bleeding," he said, noticing the blood on her legs.

"It's okay, I'm fine," she said.

"No, you're not," he said. "I'll take your home."

Draco smiled to himself. That was what she had wanted, and that was what she had gotten.

"Okay," she said. "Bye, everyone."

Everyone told her they'd see her later; she nodded and went off with Blaise.

Draco stuck around for a bit at the party and then decided to call it a night. It seemed pointless to stay when Ginny was gone.

Without saying goodbye to anyone, he sneaked to the loo and then Apparated to his house.

Ah, the quiet. Some days it annoyed him, but on days like today, he enjoyed the serenity of his home.

As his house-elf took his shoes and coat, he began to walk past the sitting room but then stopped because he saw a dark form sitting on the couch.

He turned on the light and said, "Blaise! You scared the hell out of me."

Blaise half smiled at him and said, "I knew you were going to leave the party early, so I came here."

This didn't seem right to Draco. What was Blaise doing here at eleven in the night? Did he suspect Draco?

"Yeah, but aren't you going back?" he asked him.

Blaise shook his head and then was silent again.

"How's Ginny?" he asked, trying to make Blaise more alert.

"She's fine..." he said. "She doesn't want to marry me."

Draco sat down on the couch next to him. "What?"

Blaise closed his eyes and said, "She doesn't love me, I knew that. But she told me that she's in love with some stupid pen pal of hers and will wait for him."

Draco stared at him. His heart seemed to have stopped beating. "Pen pal?"

He nodded. "Remember that stupid assignment back in Hogwarts, write to a person in a different house?"

He nodded and Blaise continued. "She said that she never did meet her pen pal back then, Prince is his name. They've been writing to each other and she loves him now. What a piece of bull!"

Draco just stared at his hands. He didn't know what to say or think.

"The worst part is that she's never seen him before!" he said. "She's fallen in love with someone she's never seen before. I told her that if I could meet him, then she wouldn't have to marry me. But she says I can't meet him; they've stopped writing letters but she'll still wait for him... It's so stupid."

Blaise was silent for a few minutes and then he said suddenly, "You!"

Draco looked at Blaise. How had he found out? Had Ginny known?

"You'll be her pen pal!" he shouted, glee on his face. "Listen, all you've got to do is write her a letter and pretend you're her pen pal and break up with her. It's brilliant!"

"What?" Draco said, getting up from the couch. "That's sick, Blaise!"

Blaise stood up as well and said, "I know. I know it is. But I can't lose her now, Draco. All you have to do is write her a letter and sign it Prince, and she'll forget about him."

Draco ran a hand through his hair. "You know what you're asking me to do?"

He nodded and said, "But I love her, Draco. And I don't want to lose her because of some git who she thinks she's in love with without even meeting him. I wouldn't ask you this for any other girl, but her. She's...special."

Draco sat down again and closed his eyes. Break up with Ginny? Tell her that he never loved her? It was like taking her heart, throwing it against the wall, and then taking a hammer and smashing it up. He could never do that to her.

"Look Draco. I know what I'm saying sounds sick and disgusting," said Blaise, sitting down next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder, "but I've never felt this way about any other girl before. She's different. Special. Unique. She's not like all those other girls I've dated before, who as soon as they mentioned marriage, I'd scamper. I asked Ginny to marry me because I love her. I know she doesn't love me, but she needs me. And I can't live without her."

Draco opened his eyes and looked at Blaise. "Are you sure about the way you feel? This isn't just another one of your phases?"

He shook his head. "No, Draco. She's really special to me. And I can't bear to lose her. I wouldn't ask you otherwise."

Draco nodded. "Okay. I'll see what I can do."

Blaise hugged him tightly. "Thanks mate. You don't know how much she means to me."

He just hugged him back. I think I do.

That night was one of the most painful nights for Draco. He didn't know how he was going to break up with her. He couldn't just write her another letter as usual, because that was just too impersonal.

The whole night he tossed and turned, thinking about the pain that he was going to give Ginny- again.

And seeing her after the wedding, knowing he was the cause of her pain and her marriage with Blaise... No, he couldn't do it.

He couldn't live with himself if he would see her every day and know what he had done.

Draco made up his mind in the morning, but it took him a few days to put his plan into action. He had to make several arrangements, travel plans and such and then he began packing his most needed things.

He gave instructions to the house-elves and then left Malfoy Manor, one week before the wedding.

He didn't mind Muggle Transportation, so before he went to the Airport, he wrote the most difficult letter in his life.

June 21, 2003

Dear Chariot,

I have something to speak to you about. Turn your radio on at two o'clock to WWN.

Prince

His flight wasn't leaving until three o'clock, and so he had thirty minutes until he had to leave.

Ginny, meanwhile, sat in her flat, packing up her things and throwing things out.

The owl that pecked at her window took her by surprise. She jumped up and nearly screamed when she saw whose owl it was.

With her heart beating against her chest, she took the letter from the owl and opened it.

She began to cry when she read it. She quickly looked at the clock. It was 1:56.

Four minutes. She had to wait four minutes.

Quickly, she got out her old rusty radio and turned it to the station he had requested.

"Welcome back to Witch Weekly Network! Our topic for today is love messages! If you've got a message for someone you love dearly, call in! If you would like to respond to the message, pick up any item and transfigure it into a mike! Our first caller is Jo...what's the message, Jo?"

Jo blurted out his message while Ginny frantically looked for something to transfigure.

She found her hairbrush and then transfigured it into a mike. She quickly glanced at the clock and now it was 1:59. One more minute.

Finally, Jo's message ended with the girl he loved telling him that she loved him back and then the announcer said, "No more calls now! We have a very special request from someone who would like to speak to their beloved. Your name...?"

There was static and then a voice said, "Prince. Prince of Darkness."

"And the message is for?"

"Chariot of Light," he said.

Ginny clutched her mike and stared at the radio. It was him! It was Prince! That was his voice.

"Go ahead!" said the announcer.

"Chariot," started Prince, "I know I've given you a lot of pain over the past few weeks, but that was never my intention. However, I am leaving now. And I want you to be happy."

"No!" she said into her mike. "Don't go!"

She heard her voice on the radio and then some more static.

"I have to leave," he said. "I don't want to...but I have to. You should move on, Ginny. Forget about me."

"You know my name!" she cried into the mike. "You saw me that day in Tower Bridge! Why didn't you meet me then? Was I so repulsive to you that you didn't want anything to do with me?!"

Draco closed his eyes and sighed. "You're not repulsive, Ginny. It's...complicated."

"Then tell me!" she said. "Why won't you meet me, just once! I need to meet you, to know that you're real. My fiancée thinks I'm crazy!"

"I can't meet you," came his voice through the static. "Get married to your fiancée and forget about me, Ginny."

"You know my name, and I don't even know yours!" she said, her sobs almost drowning out her voice. "Just tell me your name! Please. Just once."

There was silence and then he said, "I can't tell you my name, Ginny. Just forget me and be happy with your fiancée."

"No. I can't forget you!" she sobbed. "Six years! Six years of friendship you gave me and now you want it back! You can't have it back! How am I supposed to forget everything that you've said to me, given me, showed me! How!"

He was silent. He couldn't bear her pain any longer.

"I have to go now. Just forget about me."

"I can't!" she cried. "I can't forget you! I love you!"

Again, he was silent, and through the static he said the words that pierced her heart and his too. "I...I don't love you."

Her only reply were her sobs.

"I have to leave now. Goodbye."

"No! Don't go!" she shouted into the mike. "Please! Just tell me your name! Just once tell me your name!"

"I can't," was his steely reply. "Forget everything I told you. Forget me. Goodbye."

There was a soft click and then static. More static filled the room.

Ginny closed her eyes and clutched the mike as she sobbed, lying on her back on the floor. Her tears tasted salty and bitter, and her heart felt shattered as she lay on the floor and cried her heart out. She cried for hours until she couldn't cry anymore and felt broken inside

Her pain was a thousand times magnified in Draco, though, who had reached the Airport and was now boarding the plane.

With one look back towards the country he had lived in his whole life, he turned back around and boarded the plane to New York City.

***

Ginny was broken now. She couldn't feel anything, taste anything, or hear anything.

Her mother would have to call her several times before she responded.

Something had changed in her, but Mrs Weasley didn't know what it was.

Instead, she ploughed on with wedding preparations. The week passed by in a heartbeat, and soon the wedding was upon them.

Blaise and Ginny hadn't met for a week, but the last time she had spoken to him he had told Mrs Weasley that Draco had disappeared.

Mrs Weasley told this to Ginny, but it went into one ear and went out the other. She had no idea what her mother had said.

Time had become fast and slow for Ginny, once again. Suddenly, her wedding day was here, and she had no idea what to do.

Her heart was shattered inside of her, and she couldn't cry anymore. But the pain was still there. The pain wouldn't go away, nor would it let her sleep at night.

She lay awake, his words replaying in her mind...over and over again until she grew sick of them.

The ring he had given her, she still kept, and she kept it still around her neck. If she put that away as well, she was afraid he would disappear from her thoughts altogether.

Ginny stared at herself in the mirror, unbelieving what day it was.

Mrs Weasley, Fleur and Hermione fussed over her, smoothing her periwinkle robes out and making sure her curls were perfect.

Her makeup was au natural and impeccable. Her hair had been left out, and it touched her shoulders as pins held it in place. Her lips were light pink, her eyes darkened with kohl, and her eyelashes lengthened.

The periwinkle robes her mother had chosen for this day were made of thin, floating material, and they had glitter and lace on them.

"You look beautiful," said Mrs Weasley, kissing her daughter's cheek. "It's time now."

Hermione and Fleur stood beside her as they walked down the stairs of the Burrow and glided out of the lawn.

Pictures were taken; she posed and maybe smiled, but she didn't remember. She was oblivious to it all.

A flying carriage had been booked for the wedding, and she slid into it, with her mother and sister-in-laws with her.

This was it. It was now or never.

The whole week, her mind had been muddled, flipping this way and that. But now it was clear, and her thoughts flew in one direction.

Was she willing to wait for him? She had waited for him for six years already. Six years of good and bad times couldn't be forgotten in six minutes.

But she didn't want to be lonely forever, either. Either she got married now to a person she didn't love so that she wouldn't be lonely, or she waited for the person she loved and was lonely in the process.

Sometimes sacrifices had to made, but they should always be made in the inclination of one's own heart. Never going against oneself.

But did she want to wait another six years? What if he never came? What if she spent her whole life waiting for him and he never came?

Somehow she had reached the altar now, and the wedding ceremony had begun, but she didn't know what to do.

So she began to cry, in the middle of her own wedding.

At first, it was quiet and no one heard. But then she started sobbing, her chest heaving up and down so that Blaise became concerned and turned to her.

But she wouldn't say anything... She just kept on crying and didn't stop until she heard the firm voice in her head say the answer to her question.

THE END?