Breaking All the Rules

Chapter Three

Breaking All the Rules

Revisiting the Scene

~*~~*~~*~

"Coming for him. Can you believe that, and I thought they were coming for me." He sat back nursing his shoulder. "Did you see the way she handled herself in there?"

Blaise un-wrapped the bandages from the first aid kit in the kitchen. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "You've been talking about it endlessly. All day. Please tell me you're over her now."

"What do you mean?" Draco turned slightly.

"I mean," Blaise said pushing him back, "do you think you can give up this little fixation you have on her now that you've actually had her in your presence."

He let his shoulders drop. "I don't know."

"Please mate. You have to assassinate her husband for Merlin's sake. Though from the looks of it there is more than one person who wants him dead." Just how many people want this man?

"Wouldn't you? The guy left his wife in a restaurant when he knew that there were people coming to kill him. What kind of a man does that?"

"The kind that wants to save his ass is what." He tightened the bandage and tied it in a knot.

Draco shook his head. "It's just not done." He hissed at the stinging in his arm as Blaise pulled tightly on the bandage. The damn men in their masks had hit him last night and it still hadn't healed. Using magic was out of the question as Blaise had done that last night and any official within a three mile radius would be searching for them.

"I know. There, all better, it'll heal now if you stop fussing over it."

"Well one good thing came from that," he said as he shrugged on a shirt carefully. He rolled his shoulders to get used to the pain and sat down again buttoning the shirt.

"What's that?"

"After his little display last night, I actually want to kill him." He rested his head trying to get rid of the throbbing in his brain.

"Really, then I guess I should condone this thing you have."

He winced. "Look, mate, it was years ago. I'm over it."

"No you're not." Draco raised his head ignoring the pain for a split second. "You aren't me. You did not feel what I felt between you two last night. It was intense. She, not knowing who you were, had this strange feeling that she had met you before which made it even worse for her to control herself. You, well, need I say more."

"What do you mean control herself?"

"I mean, she's a very attractive woman. You are what some people would class as a very nicely put together man. Her husband abandons her to more or less be killed in the crossfire and guess who's saving her ass, not that it needs saving, but you."

"So," he said looking around the room. He spotted his coat on the back of the sofa. He eyed the dismal weather outside and wondered if he could dare brave the cold streets especially seeing as ministry officials and otherwise were probably hunting them down.

"So, she was attracted to you," he heard. He turned at this. "Any woman would feel that way about their 'knight in shining armour.' I could feel the hormones flying between you, it was horrible." He grimaced.

"I've had enough of this." He rose from his seat and went to grab at his coat. He gingerly pushed his arms through it and opened the door.

"Where are you going?"

"For a walk." With that he left and shut the door.

***

Draco left the house and entered the streets of London breathing in the fresh, somewhat, air. He looked left and right up and down the wet road deciding the route of his walk. He turned right and began walking fast to rid himself of the prison of an apartment he had come to call home. There were four others around the world but London had always been his home.

He turned endless corners and past the strangers in the street, every few streets he would look around to see if he was being followed. It was never the case but he had to make sure. Blaise had used magic last night and if they had been tracked then officers from the ministry and otherwise would be looking for them. Despite the favors that had been dealt them in the past few years since Draco and Blaise had been on the circuit, they were still 'Unknowns.'

He crossed the street and looked around. As he turned back, his eyes caught a building across the road littered with police officers and yellow tape. It was the restaurant they had eaten in last night. The windows had been smashed and there were cars and vans all over the place. He stood still for a moment just watching the police officers talking amongst themselves.

They were muggle.

"What the..." he questioned softly.

"I know. It's confusing isn't it?" Draco turned to the voice he heard to his side. "I take it you've never been there before?" His look softened a little as he faced the owner.

It was Ginny.

"It turns muggle in the day, wizard by night. Like a hidden identity." She stood before him in a dark, thin material coat and her hair was disarranged. She was drenched as if she had been standing in the rain and her makeup had run as if she had been crying.

"Are you alright?" He looked at her surveying her appearance. As much as she hid her clothes beneath her coat, he could still tell that she was still wearing what she had on last night.

She became embarrassed and tightened the coat around her, crossing her arms. "I'm sorry, I must look a mess." She flattened her hair and wiped her eyes causing them to smudge even more. "You remember me don't you, from last night? We were in-."

"I remember you. Why are you here, shouldn't you be at home?" She suddenly burst out crying.

"That's why I'm here."

He looked over her crying form, crying women were not something he came across often. He tended to avoid them at all costs. "I don't follow."

"I don't want to go home. I did go home, but I don't want to anymore." She tucked another damned piece of hair behind her ear and walked toward the window of a nearby shop and leaned against it. She looked cold. As any gentleman would, he took of his coat and cloaked it over her. She looked terrible.

"You've been out here all night haven't you? Why?"

She pushed her arms through the coat. "I don't know." She suddenly looked up at him and smiled somewhat. "I was hoping to run into you." She turned back to the ground quickly.

"Me?" Suddenly, what Blaise had said to him ran back through his mind.

"It sounds stupid, I don't even know you. I'm sorry."

"It's not stupid." He leaned against the window and looked at her. "A little bizarre perhaps but not stupid. After all, here I am, so it wasn't such a bad idea."

She smiled, "I guess not." She continued to stare at the scene across the street.

Ginny what the hell are you thinking, as if this is helping anything. You need to find someone you know, not someone you only just met. What can he do anyway? She chanced a glance at him. He doesn't even care what's happened to you. She groaned inwardly. Why the hell am I here? I need to find a friend. Think, Ginny think! Who can you remember? She stared to the ground ahead of her. She couldn't remember anyone. There wasn't anyone to help with her pain. She had no-one to tell of what she had seen and how much it had hurt.

These thoughts made the tears come fiercer than the night before when she had slept on the ground in the alleyway. She had looked up at the sky last night and asked the fates why they had given her this life, this life where she would end up marrying a ruthless man with no concern for anything but his work that would leave his wife to die if need be and go home to another woman.

She would never forget walking in on them both. They hadn't even seen her when she walked into her closet to retrieve a coat and stormed back outside. She had heard laughter and it had echoed down the hall way as she left and ran into the night. Sometime last night it had rained and she had woken to it this morning. Walking the streets she had wandered aimlessly and had come to this same spot where she had met a stranger who had saved her life, the same one she was standing next to and leaning on the shop window.

"Are you crying again?" he asked.

Ginny turned away to hide her tears but it only resulted in more searing their way down. She pushed herself off the window and started walking fast down the street before breaking into a run. She turned the corner and slowed down hearing the sounds of her footsteps on the pavement. She crossed the road into Regent's Park and walked on the wet grass. It wasn't until she heard footsteps behind her did she quicken her pace. When she sped up she felt a hand at the crook of her arm.

"Please just leave me alone, I don't want to get you involved," she cried.

"Involved? You just said you were waiting for me. Plus, you have my coat."

Ginny looked to her shoulders and at the coat that draped her. It was warm and she forgotten it was there. She shrugged it off and gave it to him then walked off as she gripped her arms and rubbed them to get rid of the cold.

He draped it over her again. "I gave it to you to keep you warm. You look like your freezing." She welcomed the warmth of the coat once more on her shoulders as he led her to a nearby bench.

They sat in silence for a long time just looking out to the morning mist in the park. The trees faded to gray in the distance with hints of green and brown at the trunks of each tree. Draco looked over at her, she was rocking backwards and forwards on the bench trying to keep herself warm. He stood up and she jumped at his sudden movement.

"Come on." He held out his hand.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere warm, I have a feeling you need it."

***

As he entered the house he looked around for signs of Blaise. He must have gone home when Draco left. Ginny followed him in and stood in the entrance hall as he shut the door behind her. She looked around and almost gasped. It was the perfect contrast, light neutral colours against the dark brown leather; it gave an urbane, almost polished look. He had expensive taste, almost as much as her soon to be ex-husband. At the thought of her husband it made her wonder.

What does this guy do for a living?

It was a valid question as the rich people in her life always tended to be involved in some kind of ruthless operation. She had chosen to ignore her husband's activities, but in her opinion, no person that fits these descriptions could be trusted. Looking at him, she took in his appearance. He looked tired as if he needed sleep. She browsed around the room keeping her arms crossed not wanting to touch anything, just merely leaning over anything she found interesting to take a better look. As she reached the kitchen she noticed the medical kit on the counter. She looked at him for any signs of injury. Why didn't he just heal himself with magic? She knew he was capable of it. Though looking back, she hadn't actually seen him raise a wand at all.

'Is he muggle?' she thought briefly before seeing him take his wand out of his pocket. Guess not, she retorted as he walked up to her and took the kit back to a room which, judging from the tiles on the walls, she would only think as the bathroom.

He was very quiet, like he had been last night. During their dinner he had only talked at least once and she was sure he was being forced to by his friend. She suddenly wandered where he was.

"Where is your friend from last night? Does he live here too?"

"Who, Blaise? No, he lives somewhere else. He'll probably be over later though." She nodded and leaned against the counter. "You can sit down you know. Would you like something to drink? Tea, Coffee, Alcohol? I may not have much of the last one but I can try to find something," he said as he opened the fridge.

She smiled as she made her way to the sofa. "Tea will be fine, thank you." The softness of it made her comfortable easily, she was sure it was charmed. Behind her was a large window that went one length of the apartment, the blinds were down but they were still tilted open. She looked outside. They were very high, near the top floor if this height was anything to go by.

She must have been staring for a while as a steaming cup was being handed to her when she withdrew her eyes from the cold streets of London. She took the cup from his hand and sipped at it, grateful for the extra warmth.

"So, what happened?" he asked as she seemed to relax into the sofa.

She shook her head. "I never should have married him. I know that now."

"Surely it can't be that bad."

She laughed emptily. "That's what his mother said."

He frowned. "What does your mother say?"

She looked down. "I don't have a mother."

He continued frowning. If she had only been married for one year, how could she have been separated from her own family for so long? He knew that Molly wasn't dead, her son had been congratulated just days ago for a man that Blaise had done in and she was in the paper with him at the ceremony.

"My mother left and my father died when the community was at war. I suppose I blamed myself because I wasn't there. I left my brothers. Last I heard they had actually moved from the burrow and were living somewhere in Nottingham. I had planned to visit them once but -." She paused and looked at him. She seemed to be wondering if she should tell him something. It seemed she decided against it and put on a smile. It would have proved to be true if he wasn't the master at noticing all fake emotions. It came with the job, witnessing interrogations and such. "I fell in love," she said holding the smile in place. It faded and tears brimmed in her eyes again as she sipped at her tea.

He watched her as a tear streamed down her cheek, something had made her feel differently about the relationship with her husband. He suddenly remembered the journeys that Girard Thomas had made on his holiday from home, he suddenly felt quite angry and guessed why she didn't want to go home. She wiped it away and sniffed. "So I am guessing from the look of you that you have fallen out of it?"

She looked away from him. "You could say that."

"Could I say that it was probably infidelity?" he said in a guessing voice, though he knew it was most definitely true.

She looked at him and held his gaze. Looking into his eyes somehow felt safe. "Yes you could say that too."

"How about, he's not worth it."

"Well, that is certainly proving to be true." She put the cup down on the table in front of her. When she sat back again he was still looking at her with a piercing gaze that made her tremble. She tightened her coat around her and crossed her arms. Trembling gazes or not, I still didn't know who he is and now is definitely not a good time for that kind of thinking Ginevra, not at all.

"Do you want to take off your coat? It's not good to wear wet clothes. You're still trembling, I can see it."

Yes, I'm trembling, but not for the reasons you think, she thought.

"Do you want some dry clothes?"

"Do you have any that will fit me?"

"Probably not, but you can charm them to fit you if need be." She wanted to question why he was dead set on not using magic but relented. It was none of her business.