Secrets and Lies

As the Christmas Holidays loomed the student body of Hogwarts found themselves somewhat uniformed of just what was happening to Draco Malfoy. Hermione of course had checked the Daily Prophet every day for a Ministry statement, but it seemed almost as if the journalists were even more clueless than the students. Everything was strictly hush-hush.

Not that this seemed to affect Harry that much. He seemed to think that Malfoy out of the picture was wonderful news, and was redoubling his efforts to win back the affections of Ginny. However Harry still had much to learn about women. So did Ron, otherwise he might have dropped his friend a few pointers.

Harry's rather odd methods included haven her name written in the bacon that came up from the kitchens at breakfast, leading to Hermione shouting at him for an hour about abusing the House Elves. Then he tried spelling her name out in roses on the Quidditch pitch, but the Hufflepuff team complained it was affecting their Beater's allergies. And finally he bribed a group of first years to follow her around singing love songs.

Megan was caught up in the middle of it, having to deal with both Ginny's complaints and Harry demanding to know where Ginny was. Clearly the pressure was getting to her.

It was late on the night before they would leave for the Christmas Holidays whenever Ron decided to crack open that bottle of Firewhiskey in the Common Room. Everyone else had gone to bed early so he had it to himself. He planted himself in one of the more comfortable chairs beside the fireplace and poured himself a glass. He then smiled at how grown up he was.

But if there was one thing he was it was not alone. Almost as soon as he'd taken the first sip down he heard a rustling behind him.

"Is that one of the first years?" he asked without turning around.

"No, it's me," Ginny replied. "I was just trying to get some work done."

"Eh?" Ron questioned. Then his sister swept into his view and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"Without the first years," Ginny explained, looking rather sulky. She then took a good long stare at the bottle of Firewhiskey.

"So what's happening with you and Harry at the moment?" Ron asked. "And you look exhausted all the time."

"It's complicated."

"Contrary to anything Hermione may have told you, I am not an idiot. Try me," he said. Ginny looked surprised.

"You've really smartened up your act," Ginny said.

"You're not getting a Firewhiskey."

Ginny muttered something that sounded like the words Ron used whenever he was out of earshot of his mother, although his skills of estimating were not that good really. Ron smiled again. Ginny's only response was to sigh.

"It's hard to explain," she said. "It's like my relationship with Harry was great, and it was everything I ever wanted. But he's so... insecure. He has this ridiculous belief that there's a dark wizard around every corner. It's like dating Moody."

"To be fair for the past seven years there has been a dark wizard waiting around every corner on him."

Ginny continued. "And then along comes Matthew, who's so... mysterious. There's just something about him that seems so perfect too."

"Until he turns out to be an evil Slytherin git?" Ron interrupted, but Ginny shook her head.

"I'd always thought he'd done something appalling, but I never thought it could have been that bad. But even though I know who Matthew turned out to be, there's still this part of me that won't let go of him... Does this make sense at all?"

"If it came down to it," Ron said, leaning forward. "If it came down to a choice, between Harry and Matthew, who would it be?" She took a moment to think about it. Then she locked eyes with him for a brief moment.

"I think it might be Malfoy."

###

They boarded the Hogwarts Express the next day. Ron, Harry and Hermione quickly found a compartment to themselves. Ron and Harry were heading to the Burrow for Christmas, whereas Hermione was going to her parents'.

Once on the train Harry made a big deal of where Ginny was. Ron shrugged and Hermione did the usual and buried her face in a book. This made Ron grin.

About twenty minutes after the train left the station Harry got up and left the apartment, presumably to search for Ginny. Hermione lowered her book for a moment to give Ron a look that suggested a thousand things at once, the most prominent of which involved following Harry and making sure he was alright.

Ron followed Harry through what seemed like an endless mob of people. As their apartment had been near the middle of the train Harry would have to do a lot more fighting through the crowds to find Ginny. Ron did not like the idea, but followed Harry and he opened and closed the doors to the compartments.

Then Harry came across a compartment that had three occupants. Luna, Neville and Megan. Ron caught up with him as he burst into the compartment.

"Where is she?" he demanded, before jumping up onto one of the seats to rummage through the luggage rack.

"If you're looking for the Tibetan Gerisabub I am afraid it appears to have escaped," Luna muttered vaguely, without taking her eyes of the copy of the Quibbler she was reading.

"I mean where's Ginny?" Harry snapped. Neville turned bright red.

"She isn't here," he squeaked.

"Really?" Luna asked, looking up from her magazine. "She was here a second ago."

There was the dull smack of Megan slapping her hand to her forehead, and Neville turned red as a Weasley.

"Well?" Harry demanded.

"Look Harry, if she doesn't want to talk to you it's for a good reason," Ron said. "Beside you can talk to her when we get back to the Burrow. Now come on, let's get back to our compartment." Harry seemed to grow slightly.

"Alright," he muttered. Ron turned to leave, and stepped out into the corridor, but Megan had stopped Harry before he left. He turned around in time just to see Megan nudging him out into the corridor.

"What was that about?" Ron asked.

"Nothing," Harry said through gritted teeth. He stormed down the corridor and Ron peered into the compartment he'd just left. Luna was still reading, but Neville looked very shocked and Megan had turned red as well. Just as Ron walked away he bumped into Ginny.

"Sorry," she mumbled. She opened her mouth as if to add something, but thought better of it. She brushed past him and into the compartment, closing the door tight behind her.

###

As soon as they'd arrived back to the Burrow Ginny had gone straight up to her room, and slammed her door shut. In the past two days she hadn't left it to Ron's information, which was pretty reliable seeing as Harry had set up camp outside it during most of the day. Of course Ron's mother would never let Harry miss a meal or sleep, so he was still fairly restricted to his stalking hours.

The only person who seemed to have entered the room at all was Ron's mother, who had brought up meals to her daughter.

The other Weasleys were concerned for the youngest of their family. Ron had to endure questions from his brothers and father as to why she was behaving this way. He didn't have the heart to tell them she'd fallen in love with a Malfoy.

Then came Christmas Eve, and everyone save Ginny had gathered in the living room for one of those traditional family moments that only ever happen in books. Harry was in the corner sulking, and Ron was trying to take his mind off of him by playing Fleur at chess. It was perhaps the best challenge Ron had had in years... Not that Fleur was any good, in fact she was terrible, but she was somewhat of a distraction.

To top it all off she'd won so many chess matches against boys that she'd begun to think she was good at the game. Naturally she wanted to tell everyone all about this, as well as any number of other abstract things about chess in France, which she believed to be the best country in the world. Bill was nodding along enthusiastically. If he had a tail it would have been thumping off the ground.

A knock suddenly sounded at the door, and everyone seemed to jump in surprise. None of the wards had gone off, but then perhaps the twins had done something to it. Ron's mother's eyes scanned across the room as if to make sure they hadn't locked one of the children outside by mistake... again. She didn't fancy another of her children moving to Romania.

"I wonder who that could be?" she said in a voice that suggested she already knew but wasn't telling anyone. She rose up and swept out of the room. Ron strained his ears to listen as she opened the door, but Fleur was playing with the bishop so he got a little distracted.

"Oh goodness!" his mother cried from the doorway. Immediately the Weasley's reacted and charged through the door, all becoming stuck in the process and leaving Fleur rolling around laughing on the floor.

"Alright, nobody panic," Ron's dad's voice came from somewhere above him. "Percy lower your wand, you're poking your brother in the eye. Bill step back. George don't you dare set off that rocket."

George responded by giving his father an offended look as if to say he would never dream of doing such a thing, whenever Fred set off the rocket.

On the plus side the doorway was cleared pretty quickly as everybody ran for cover.

As the smoke cleared the Weasley men could at last see who was standing in the doorway.

"Well, what the bloody hell are you staring at?" Draco Malfoy demanded. "Don't look at me, it was that twit that set the thing off!" he added, pointing at the wrong twin.

The Weasleys were collectively silent, torn between the desire to inflict a quick and painless death or a long and quite unpleasant one. Malfoy naturally sensed the hostilities.

"We ought to put the past behind us I say," he told them. "Besides it's not like I ever did anything to you directly."

"You joined You-Know-Who," Charlie snarled.

"And then you plotted Dumbledore's murder," Fred cut in.

"And let Death Eaters into the school," George added.

"Terrible business that wasn't it Fred?"

"Indeed it was... Wait. Aren't you Fred?"

"Absolutely not, how dare you!?"

"No, you're Fred, 'cause my underwear says Charlie, so I must be George."

"Okay, name two things lately," Malfoy said, as if sensing that this could go on for a while. No one spoke for a brief moment.

"You stole my Map," Harry's voice came from behind them. Everyone turned to face him as if they'd forgotten he was there. "And Ginny hasn't come out of her room since she got home." There was a long pause after this.

"What's this about Ginny?" Arthur asked.

"Honestly Arthur!" Molly exclaimed, speaking up at last. "Surely you must have noticed your daughter locked herself in her room."

"Of course I did. I just thought she wanted a new broom or something. If I'd known she was having boy trouble I would have been up there in a flash to give her my advice."

"And what advice would that be?"

"The advice my father gave me. He sat me down and he said, 'Arthur my boy, let me tell you something. Boys are nothing but trouble, you should stick to girls.'"

"I'm not quite sure you understand the situation Dad," George said, as if remembering the time his father had given him that piece of advice.

"Yes, it's quite obvious that this boy has come to steal your innocent little daughter away from you," Fred added.

They then proceeded to give their father a long speech about what a monster Malfoy was and how Ginny was a sweet little girl and they didn't want any trouble. It was almost as if they'd rehearsed it beforehand. Obviously they had because at one point they slipped up and said "Corner" instead of Malfoy. Arthur looked quite shocked.

"Slip upstairs, it's the second landing," Ron whispered to Malfoy. Malfoy nodded and quickly dashed up the stairs.

###

Draco knocked calmly as he could on the door.

"Go away Harry!" Ginny shouted from inside her room.

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or... an insult," Draco replied. There was a loud crash from inside the room, and the sound of locks being undone, before the door swung open.

"Malfoy?" she asked.

"Apparently," he replied. "How are you?" Ginny glared at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Can't a guy turn up at a girl's house in the dead of night anymore? I'm trying to sweep you off your feet here."

"Well you're doing a very poor job of it," Ginny growled. "I can hear the twins downstairs. Any moment now they're going to realise you aren't there and they'll come up here and gut you."

"Well I'm actually amazed that it took even the most primitive of brains this long to notice I'd left," he said with a smile. Ginny did not return it. The joke would have had his father in stitches.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "Have you come to try and kidnap me or something in an attempt to resurrect Voldemort?"

"Now you're just being silly."

"I've been silly all year. I should have known it was all just some plot to gain my trust."

"So you actually think I betrayed you?" Draco asked. "Listen to me Ginny, all of that was real. Except for the way I looked and you'd be hard pressed to say I don't look far better now. And didn't you yourself say that it didn't matter what I'd done in the past?"

"That was before I found out you were a Death Eater!"

"I made a mistake Ginny," he said, his feathers ruffled and his nonchalant approach out the window. "Voldemort was in my home, with my parents at his mercy. I thought I had nowhere to go, so I did what I could to survive. In the end he killed them anyway. My parents are dead and the Malfoy Estate in ruins." He reached out and grabbed her hands in his. "I'd lost everything. But then I found something." Ginny turned away, but didn't try to shake off his grasp.

"Malfoy, maybe you should leave."

"Just ask me to go, and I'll never come back," he whispered. Ginny turned again to look at him, and her mouth sagged slightly. "You can't do it can you?"

"Damn it Malfoy! You're making this too difficult!"

"You're right, let's keep it simple," he said. Then he took a step back, releasing her hands to fall back to her sides. "Fair maiden!" he announced dramatically, throwing one hand into the air and clutching the other to his chest like a bad actor in a play. "I, Draco of the Malfoys, humbly request thou to dine with me in my... London flat on the morrow." Ginny giggled, and Malfoy's response was to grab her hand, and a plant a soft kiss on the knuckle.

"You know, maybe I will," Ginny replied, suddenly looking far happier. Then, there was a shout from downstairs.

"Oi, the bugger's run off Fred!"

"Are you sure I'm not George?"

"Quick, hide in here," Ginny said, grabbing his robes and forcing him into her room, and slamming the door shut.