Crazy in Love

Crazy In love

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Jumping To Conclusions

Ginny sat at the kitchen table waiting in the darkness. It had gone past two o'clock and he still wasn't home. She, by now, had gone past worry and anger. His dinner was no longer in the oven. It had gone out with the trash at about six. She sighed for the thousandth time in an hour and once again checked the clock. Two thirty-four. Ginny frowned hard. He was always home late. She hated him for it.

Not that he would tell her where he went, of course. And he got angry whenever she asked him about it. Headstrong they are, men, especially the men of the Malfoy variety. Draco had been distant for days now. There and yet not there, as if he always had his mind on something else.

Or someone else. She didn't know. Either that or she did know but just didn't want to admit it. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't. She had been with him for four years. He had persuaded her to like him, eventually love him. She left with him, left when her family had asked her to stay away. They had gotten married. They had son, he wouldn't just throw that away.

She looked up at the clock once more as she heard a key in the front door. She stood up as he walked through the house and went straight upstairs obviously thinking she would be there. She narrowed her eyes at the sound of him walking to the stairs. She didn't follow him - wouldn't follow him, he could find her for himself. She counted the stairs as he went up them. When he hit eight, he stopped.

There were sixteen steps.

Ginny smiled to herself at knowing him so well and sat down. He knew full well she wouldn't be upstairs and he knew he'd have to face her. She counted eight stairs again and he walked heavily into the kitchen. He stopped at the doorway to see his wife sitting in the dark at the dining table, which was set with burnt-tip candles and two empty plates. He could see one was near clean while the other had tracks through the hard grit it had become. It had been scraped out. Draco looked over at the bin. There was no bag. He heaved in a silent breath shutting his eyes before sitting with a heavy sigh. He laced his fingers together, leaned back in the chair and waited.

They stayed that way for a while.

"Where were you?" was all he heard from her. He stared at her. She was playing with the fork, spinning it around lengthways with her thumb as she kept it in place with her index finger.

He narrowed his eyes at the gesture. "Are you going to stab me with that?" he asked in a playful tone. It wouldn't be the first time she had done it anyway. At least it wasn't an ice pick.

"It's our anniversary, Draco."

He closed his eyes again. "I'm sorry I missed dinner."

She kept spinning the fork with her right hand. Her wand hand. "Answer the question, Draco." She hadn't looked at him once.

"Is Dimitri upstairs?" he asked out of the blue.

She didn't particularly care where he was at the moment. "Answer the question, Draco."

When he didn't answer, she looked up at him for the first time. There was no concern on his face, like he had done nothing wrong. It was the face she counted on to know he was telling the truth, that there was nothing to worry about. She knew him that well. She was his wife after all.

But then again, he was her husband and she wasn't stupid. She knew he had probably worked out all the right expressions to keep her happy. She narrowed her eyes at him and stared at him thoroughly. He was thinking of something because she could see it, like he was trying to keep his eyes still, mainly so he could focus on something else. Something that was going through his mind constantly. She knew that look too; he had been wearing it for weeks. Just as she found this out, he must have seen it because he looked away.

"I was out."

"Out where?" she asked calmly. If he wasn't going to give in she was going to annoy it out of him and nothing annoyed him more than constant questions. When she pushed hard enough, he broke. If not, she would catch the glint in his eye that said he was getting angry. And that's just what she was counting on.

"What does it matter?" he said getting up to go to the sink. He took a glass out of the cupboard above and filled it with water from the tap.

"It matters because I am your wife."

He laughed sarcastically. "Oh, you're my wife? I didn't know that."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I might not be for long." She took pleasure in the look he gave her. She decided to play along. "Yes, divorce has crossed my mind. But you weren't here so I had to call Bernard and have dinner with him instead of falling to my knees and going through the grief of my decision and clawing my way to the living room by myself," she said venomously.

He turned at that comment and saw her glaring at him. From that point he knew she was lying, about which scenario however, he didn't know. He slammed the glass down in the sink and stormed out of the room.

This time, however, she did follow him. "Just tell me the truth... Is there someone else?" she asked stopping at the doorframe.

"You're crazy if you believe that." He turned to her and smiled. He actually smiled. If she weren't so shocked by the laughter that came out of his mouth she would have slapped him. She felt like he was playing with her and she was a little scared though she'd never admit it to him. He'd never made her feel that way before. It scared her that he scared her. If that even made sense.

But as shocked as she was, she never prepared herself for his answer. "Yes," he said and he stared at her.

A few years ago and even before that, she had always liked that he was serious about important things. It made him different to all the other men she knew in her life but this time she didn't want him to be serious, but he was entirely serious and for the first time she hated him for it.

She managed to multitask by holding onto the wall as she fell down and breathing at the same time. She swallowed hard and looked up at him as he squatted down opposite her. She prayed for this to be a joke as, apparently, he could just throw it all away. She closed her eyes knowing that if she opened them she'd cry. She didn't want to cry, not yet.

He didn't say anything. When the silence became unbearable she opened them. He was watching her with those hard eyes she remembered from school. She hated those eyes. Just when she was about to speak again he cut her off.

He looked contemplative. "But then, you have so many personalities I can't tell which one I'm with anyway." He got up and walked away.

The shock of this statement didn't stop her from going after him and turning him around. She glared at him so hard he actually looked like he would take it back.

"Oh, the angry one," he said rolling his eyes and began to turn away from her.

She slapped him. Hard. So hard it took her whole bodyweight into it to make it count. When he smiled, she hit him again.

He stood on the bottom step and towered over her. She narrowed her eyes at glared at him standing up for herself. "Try that again," he threatened.

And she did. This time however, he caught her hand and twisted it behind her back. Ginny screamed at the sudden pain and arched her back trying to get rid of it pushing him against the wall as she squirmed. She heard him smack against it and knew it must have hurt but was aware he wasn't going to let that stop him restraining her from hurting him even worse.

Her head was rested back on his shoulder while her free arm was secured across her abdomen with his keeping it there. She couldn't move anything except her feet and she wasn't wearing shoes so there was no point. She just stood there breathing with the pain in her arm as it became more and more unbearable. When he saw the small tears glisten at the corners of her eyes he bent his head so he could whisper in her ear.

"Are you calm now?"

"If I say yes, will you let me go?" she panted.

"If you're telling the truth, of course."

"Oh, well then no."

They stood there for another ten minutes refusing to give in to each other. It felt like forever before Ginny broke the silence.

"Why did you marry me?" she said into the silence of the house.

She wasn't sure if it was the surprise of the question but after she said that, she felt his grip loosen a little. "What?" he asked as if that were the strangest question he had ever heard.

"If you want to leave, if I'm so unbearable - why did you marry me - why are you still here?" she elaborated.

He let her go then. She moved away slowly massaging her shoulder but turned to him anyway and watched him darkly. "Why did you make me fall for you? Why are you still here, why did you even bother coming home?"

"You want me to leave?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

She laughed emptily. "What's the point? Four feet from the door you'll just turn back anyway. So go, if it makes you feel better to walk away from me. Maybe one day you'll achieve your goal and stay away. Sorry I'm such an inconvenience."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why do you have to be such a bitch about it? Is it bad that I need to spend a few hours away from this place?"

"Yes it is if by, 'this place,' you mean me. I'm your wife for God's sake. I said yes to you," she cried.

"And why is that, if you can't take it anymore, why don't you say no for a change?"

"I can't say no to you," she said distressed. "Can't you see what you do to me? Sometimes I hate you so much I can't wait to leave but I know I can't live without you. I can't leave you. You know it damn well but - one day when I do, even though you seem incapable of feeling this - one day when I say no to you... you will be sorry." She turned from him and went upstairs leaving him with her last words.

He didn't need to think twice about those words. He looked up the stairs and heard her shut the door to their bedroom. "I know," he said to himself and walked up after her. When he came to pass his son's room, he stopped and opened the door.

Dimitri was sleeping soundly. He was glad his son didn't know about any of this, if he did he was sure it would hurt him beyond hope. He didn't want that. He didn't want his own son to have what he had gone through. It was wrong.

He sat down on the bed beside him and watched him sleep. Draco smiled.

"She drives me crazy you know," he said to no one in particular. "I'm not sure at times why I married her." He sighed and looked to the ground. "But then... she smiles at me or she looks at me or - well, you know. It's how you came into the world, after all." He laughed crazily sobering up when he realised who he was talking to. He sat silent and then slid to the ground with his back leaning on the edge of the bed. He thought for a moment before speaking with a reflective voice. "I'm crazy about her. I always have been. I can't help it." He turned to his son asleep with his mouth open and laughed to himself as he noticed he slept just like his mother. He continued laughing until Dimitri started to stir. He kept silent and waited for him to fall back to sleep. He didn't have to wait long if he had his mother's sleeping habits. "I love her," he continued when the boy had fallen fast asleep again, "but she can be so difficult, you know?" he said looking at him. He stopped and ran his hands through his hair feeling stupid. "Of course you don't, you're only four. But one day you will understand what I'm talking about. And not just with Ginny, with your own... partner," he concluded not able to find the right word. "If she's anything like her, you'll have your work cut out for you," he laughed. "But if you're anything like me, anything at all-." He paused sighing in contentment. He cocked his head to the side and smiled. "You'll love her just as much." He smiled and kissed his son goodnight before going to the door. Just before he widened it he turned back giving him another piece of advice. "Just don't try and fight it. It's a curse you'll have to live with. And one you can't do without." He turned one last time and left the room in silence.

As the latch closed, a hand closed over his. He turned his head to meet Ginny staring at him. She was watching him with narrowed eyes.

"Did you know I was here." It didn't sound like a question. It was more of an accusation.

"In the house?"

She gave him an obvious look and hit him lightly on the arm. Well, better than a stab with a knife. He shook his head. "No." He heaved a heavy sigh. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm guessing I have to make a bed downstairs." He turned to go but was held back when she pulled him to her and kissed him. He sighed against her and encircled his arms around her waist. "What was that for?" he asked when she parted from him.

"I hate Bernard. He's a suck up who buys me things I don't need."

"Hmm." What else could he say to that? "Well that's nice to know."

"Don't you want to know what he has been buying me?"

"Does it matter? I'll just burn them all anyway." She kissed him again.

"He's trying to steal me away from you."

"If you want to be stolen, I can't stop you." He tilted his head forward as if he were looking over the rim of a pair of glasses. "And I think you know that."

She looked downtrodden. "You could at least try."

He laughed with the feeling of good experience. "What in the history of you knowing me makes you believe that I can actually stop you from doing what you've set out to do?" he asked with a smile.

She looked to the ceiling in thought for a while and then nodded her head. "Good point."

"Yeah, I thought so."

She narrowed her eyes at him in study. "Come on," she finally said.

He frowned. "Where are we going?"

"To bed."

He held an 'oh,' expression as she took his hand. "Just for the record," she justified as they walked through the door. "Unless you make it painfully clear that you really want to leave and that you will truly be happier if you left me, I wouldn't stop you."

She encircled her arms around his waist. "And if I don't make it painfully clear?"

"Then I'll simply stalk you until you get your sense back."

She smiled and kissed him. "And what if I am acting on pure stubbornness?"

"When are you not?" She bit his lip at that and stared at hi min warning. He was already treading on thin ice. "Okay, okay. Well, then I'll just simply use the truth."

"And what's that?" she said cocking an eyebrow.

"That you can't live without me. That you'll wake up crying for me at night and that you will just end up coming back to me anyway."

She laughed. "Crying for you, really? You seriously believe I'd cry for you every night?"

He just shrugged and scooped her up in his arms. "You seriously believe that you wouldn't?" He looked at her hard challenging her to lie.

She fell back from her response and shook her head after a while. "Every night." She held onto him tighter as he put her down on the bed. "That sounds about right."

He nodded, "I thought so," and kissed her.

***

The Old Couple in the Park

Ginny was sitting in the living room when she suddenly jumped as her coat landed on her lap. She looked up to see where it came from even though there was only one other person who would be able to give her the coat anyway. She frowned at Draco before she realised he was already wearing his so she asked the only question she could.

"Where are we going?" She swore if he said, 'You'll see,' she would scream.

"I'm going for a walk."

She continued to look confused and then down at her coat wondering why he would be telling her this unless he wanted her to go with him but... he never wanted her to go with him.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you can see why I need to spend a few hours away from this place. Not from you, just here," he said moving his eyes around the room slowly. "Put it on. I'll be outside." He turned and left the room. Seconds later she heard the front door open. It never closed.

She shrugged and put it on grabbing her purse and shoving it in her pocket before she found her shoes and left the house to see him standing and waiting for her on the bottom step by the main road.

He was smiling. She hadn't seen him smile in a long time, not at her anyway. He offered her his arm and she hesitated before hooking her hand in the crook of his elbow as they walked down the road.

"God it's cold."

"Stop complaining, the cold is good for you," he said as he puffed steam out of his mouth in a playful manner.

She let go of his arm as they crossed into the park. "How is the cold good for you?" she retorted. "It's uncomfortable and not pleasurable at all." She crossed her arms and they continued walking along separately. Draco put his hands in his pockets.

"Sometimes things that are good for you are not comfortable or pleasurable." He turned to her. "You just have to trust them."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "How can I trust you if I hardly know you anymore?"

He stopped walking. "How did this become about me all of a sudden? I'm talking about winter." He gestured around him. When she continued to stare at him as if she was expecting an answer he sighed in annoyance. "Look - just drop it, okay? I shouldn't have brought you out here. I just thought that - I thought maybe if you could see what is out here even when everything is terrible, you could see everything that's good about it too. That's the reason I come back. That's the reason I only go four feet from the door and turn back. I supposed that if you saw it, you would understand. Obviously I was wrong. You're more closed minded than I thought." He continued in his step and ignored her and everything in her general direction.

Ginny fell into silence and looked ahead. A few metres in front of them were an old couple walking slowly along and bickering with each other. Ginny scoffed. That would be them in a few years. Fighting until death, they would be. Him being stubborn and her being just as much and neither backing down or refusing to be wrong.

They were coming up close behind them. Draco seemed not very interested in anything except the ground so she doubted he heard but as they walked by, Ginny heard what they were fighting about.

The woman looked up at the man's bowler hat and flicked it with her fingers. "Why do you always have to wear that ridiculous hat?" she said to the man she was walking with.

The man straightened it. "Because I like the ridiculous hat, do you have a problem with that, woman?" he answered stubbornly.

She equated it with her answer. "You know I have a problem with it, you nitwit. It looks terrible."

"Well, there's nothing I can do of your opinion," he said shaking off the insult.

She looked unaffected by his indifference to her. "I still think it looks terrible."

The man turned to her and looked her in the eye. "Well, I'll tell you what, Cynthia. If you think you can make it look better, without taking it off of my head, I'll wear it that way so you can shut up."

Then they stopped, and Ginny and Draco had to part to walk around them. She watched him angrily as they parted and just as angrily when they met up on the other side. He had been indifferent to her question and she was still bitter about it. As they walked, she took a glance behind them.

The woman, Ginny presumed could only be his wife with trivial arguments like that, proceeded to fix his hat so it lay straight on his head. She stepped back a little to see it, nudged it to the left and then smiled tucking her hand back into his. They walked along smiling with each other as if nothing had happened.

I thought maybe if you could see what is out here even when everything is terrible, you could see everything that's good about it too. That's the reason I come back.

He was right. God she hated it when he was right. She turned around and looked at the ground again; the snow was crunching under her feet. It was cold and that made her frown at it but then she stopped. She cocked her head to the side watching it over her crossed arms. It was so... white - so pure. The grit that would have been there seemed inconsequential because the dirty ground had been covered with such a clean purity it was almost as if she were walking on a path specially made for her to walk on. She turned to her husband walking beside her.

For both of them to walk on.

She looked back to the old couple as they huddled closer in the coldness. She smiled her first smile since she left the house. Everything that's good. She looked up at Draco as they walked along once more.

"I don't like how you're wearing that coat," she said suddenly and looked back down to the ground as if it were a passing comment.

He looked down at her. "What?" he said.

"I don't like how you're wearing your coat," she repeated.

He took his hands out of his pockets to pull it open above the buttons and see what was wrong with it. "What's wrong with it?" he asked voicing his thoughts.

She shrugged. "It just looks wrong."

He frowned confused and then cocked an eyebrow. "I have always worn my coat this way and you've never said anything. Is there even another way to wear a coat? If there is, please share, I'm up for suggestions," he said sarcastically and kept on walking.

She smiled. That's exactly what she wanted him to say. She stopped dead and waited for him to stop too, which he eventually did when he realise he was walking alone.

"Well?" she said beckoning him over. He furrowed his eyebrows but walked over anyway. She undid the last buttons and opened his coat. She could feel him shiver as the cold air hit his jumper. She looked up at him to find him staring at her already. "I've found something good."

He cocked an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

"Well, the best thing about the cold, for me anyway," - She opened her own coat and ignored the slight redness of his cheeks at her actions. - "is finding warmth," she said wrapping her arms around him inside his coat, "in unexpected places." She rested her head on his shoulder and held him. Eventually she felt him wrap his coat around the two of them and hold her too. She closed her eyes for a moment and actually understood why he would come home and when she opened her eyes, she saw the old couple passing them. When she caught the old lady's eyes, the woman winked at her and continued walking with her life partner.

"Do you think that'll be us in seventy years?"

"Seventy years?" he said surprised. "You plan to torture me for that long?"

She raised her head and narrowed her eyes playfully. "Unless you want to spend those years alone I suggest you rephrase that answer."

He looked contemplative. "Erm... oh, oh - I have one. Okay," he smiled. "Ask me again."

She laughed. "Do you think that will be us in eighty years?"

He raised an eyebrow at the purposefully changed question but just smiled nonetheless and held her tighter. "I hope so," he said.

She buried her head on his shoulder. "Good answer."

***

When I say no to you, you will be sorry

"You know I can't leave. I have nowhere to go! My family disowned me because I chose you. My friends don't talk to me - I have no life because I chose you."

"Well my family disowned me because of you too, so I guess we're even, huh?" He turned away from her and walked outside.

"Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you, Draco."

"You're not talking to me, you're screaming at me." He covered his ears. "You're talking so loud I'm going to go deaf!"

"Well, apparently it's all I do, isn't it, shout? I guess it's who I am. Accept it and listen to me!"

"Well, who you are, is talking so loud, I can't hear you!" he enunciated and continued walking.

"I don't even know why I bother. It's obvious I can't get through your thick skull."

"You can't do anything for me anymore." He looked her up and down and then went to sit by a tree in the backyard.

She went back inside through the kitchen to the living room and sat down. He made her so mad, she could just throw something. Right at his head, in-between the eyes where it hurt. Somewhere fragile where he couldn't take the pain and he screamed.

You can't do anything for me anymore.

"I'll show you what I can do, you miserable bastard."

She got up and walked around looking for something, anything that she could use. When they had left together, they had only taken a few things so whatever was in the house right now was special to both of them. She searched and scrambled over cabinets, under chairs and chests. She searched through drawers and basically took apart the house until she found it. It was his, it was his mother's, it was special, and it was glass.

It was fragile.

She took it in her hand and went downstairs with it before placing it on the coffee table in front of the sofa. She sat down and stared at it. The glass twinkled in the sunlight coming in through the window that caught on the edges and reflected spectrums of colour throughout the whole room. It was beautiful how it did that, like it knew exactly what to do to make you feel warm inside. The smile on her face faded when she brought her eyes back to it.

Was it worth it?

This was a whole new ball game. She may have started out wanting it to hurt, but this - this was a new kind of hurt. If she broke this on purpose, she was going to kill him from the inside.

She left it exactly where it was and got up. She suddenly had the urge to apologise. When she saw him walk in and sneer at her she lost all urges immediately. "Oh, look what dragged itself in then. Find anything interesting outside? Try to walk away again, did you?" she taunted.

"Shut up, Ginny," he warned her.

"Or what? Or you're going to walk four feet outside the door? I'll take my chances." She leaned on the edge of the wall by a corner.

"Shut - up." He walked past her into the living room and stood by the sofa. His fingernails scraped along the material as his hands balled into fists.

"You're a selfish arsehole who has never cared for anything other than himself. You probably only dragged me out here so that you could earn one up on my family. The Malfoy's have it all, don't they? What's more degradation for my family on the way up? Push the little one down in the dirt on your climb to the top."

"Shut up!" He picked up the first thing he saw and threw it at her blindly in a fit of his own revenge. It wasn't until it had left his hand did he recognise it. By that time though, it was already too late. The glass caught on the corner of the wall she was standing in front of and splintered into bits beside her, falling in her hair, driving into her skin and her clothes.

She screamed.

She screamed higher and louder than he had ever heard anyone scream before.

And he ran to her faster than he thought capable before she fainted from the pain.

He slipped an arm under her knees quickly ignoring the glass scratching against his arm and carried her into the kitchen. He cleared the top of the table quickly and laid her on it. She was out cold, he had never seen her pass out before and he was worried. Usually he would be the one to be injured, he always made sure of that because he could never really hurt her. It was both mentally and physically impossible for him to even consider but she had driven him past the point of no return.

Right now he wished he could turn back.

He took out his wand and pointed it at her before he realised he had no idea what to do or say. He knew spells to get rid of small things in the skin but the big ones would be at risk of going further in, instead of coming out.

There was blood dripping down everywhere when he finally decided to pull them out himself.

When he was done, his hands were shaking. Her blood was on his hands and he never hated them more. Thank Merlin she had her back to the wall because he didn't think he could handle turning her over for it. He said the spell to remove the small splinters and he shuddered when they all fell to the floor together, a sound like marbles crashing all at once.

"Enervate."

Nothing happened. She didn't move. He frowned. "Enervate." Still, she didn't move. He didn't know what was happening and only the worse things were going through his head.

What have you done to her? Why isn't she waking up? She's dead. You can't enervate someone who's dead.

He shook his head profusely and picked her up putting his head by her heart. He couldn't hear anything. He continued shaking his head and saying 'no,' over and over. Only to realise the worst thing.

She was the one saying no to him.

Sometimes I hate you so much I can't wait to leave but I know I can't live without you. I can't leave you. You know it damn well but - one day when I do, even though you seem incapable of feeling this - one day when I say no to you... you will be sorry.

And he was sorry. He just wished she were alive to hear him say it. To see it. "I refuse to let you leave me. Do you hear me?" he said into the silence of the room. He stood over her and pointed his wand directly at her heart. He pressed it against her chest so hard it almost felt like he was driving a knife through her.

He stood there thinking of all the times she threatened to leave but said she had nowhere to go. How the only way to get out of there would be a coffin. Well the coffin wasn't coming today.

"ENERVATE!" he screamed and a powerful surge struck out of it and drove into her shattering the table so hard that it fell to the ground with her on it. As soon as she hit the hard floor, her eyes opened and she took in a deep breath as if she had been under water for a long time.

She looked up at the ceiling. When she saw him a little off to the right and the state he was in, she remembered what had happened with the glass ornament. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Shut up," he said seriously and watched her steadily.

Ginny swallowed hard and sat up as he kneeled down. Then he broke down in front of her and held her tightly so she was starved of air. She closed her eyes and squeezed him back.

"Don't you ever do that to me again. Don't you ever leave me like that again."

She chuckled into his shoulder and he pulled away. She smiled. "I told you to listen, Draco. I have nowhere to go. There is nowhere to go but here. There is nowhere for me but here." She exhaled and fell into him welcoming his embrace before he kissed her.

***

Crazy in Love

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he said as he ducked at the mug that had been launched through the air. "Are you fucking insane!" He stood up straight and massaged his side where it had hit him anyway. He picked it up from the floor. "I love you, I really do, but you drive me insane sometimes," he said throwing the cup she had chucked at him a few minutes ago. It shattered on the ground and Ginny jumped.

Ginny stood by the sink with her hand still on her cheek. It was red and burned. "You hit me," she said venomously.

He held onto his eye and actually laughed at what she said to him as if she had forgotten what had happened before that. "You hit me first."

She sneered. "You asked for it."

He frowned and scoffed. "How?"

She smiled. "'Go on then, hit me if it'll make you feel better.' Remember that?" she said mimicking him.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I didn't expect you to actually do it."

She shook her head in mirth. "Far be it for me to let an opportunity like that pass me by."

He laughed with her and then winced at his side. He made to sit down with great difficulty bringing out her guilt as much as possible. And she took the bait. She was caring, when she wasn't such a bitch. It was her vice.

"Does it hurt?" she said almost ashamed that she was asking it. Her hands were wringing in front of her and knotting in her skirt.

He stared at her behind his black eye. "What do you think?" he said obviously.

She rolled her eyes and turned to get a cloth from the table. She ran it under the cold-water from the tap and went to stand next to him.

"What?" he asked knowing full well what she was going to do.

"Raise your t shirt."

"Planning to ravish a dying man are you?"

"Unless by ravish you mean, 'leave you to wallow in your own pain,' then no. Now raise your top."

He did as he was told and raise it trepidly. Ginny bit her lip at the bruise the mug had created. It was a lot larger than she had thought and she actually praised the man for being able to keep back the groans she knew he wanted to let out when she pressed the cloth to it. "I could heal it if you want."

"The bruise," he said turning his head to her, "the black eye, or the wounded pride?"

She stepped back looking at him with that attitude she got when he was talking nonsense. "I didn't wound your pride."

"And getting beaten by my own wife is what?" he said laughing. She joined him in his laughter and shook her head. "Anyway, we wouldn't want to risk your reputation as a cold heartless cow now, would we? I think not." He pushed back down his t-shirt ignoring the pain. She stopped smiling and followed him with her eyes as he left the room.

"How am I heartless?"

"How are you not? I haven't had a conversation with you in days and when I do, this happens," he said indicating to the whole scenario of them in the kitchen. "I think from now on I'll stay away from here." He turned and left.

Ginny narrowed her eyes and slammed down the towel on the table. "I'll show you cold, you bastard," she said to herself and followed him out. "Oi!" she called to him on the steps. She could see him stop and sigh and preparing himself for the altercation to come. By the time he turned around, she had already reached him. He had no time for a comeback, however, as she had pushed against him so hard, he had no breath to speak of. It only took a second for him to register what she was doing.

She was kissing him.

Far be it for him to let an opportunity like that pass him by.

He kissed her back with an equal force that it soon became what their relationship had become, the want of power over the other. Though it was frustrating for both of them to yield it, they had to admit...

It felt good.

Draco's leg was wedged between hers, and she could feel his hot breath on her neck. She opened her eyes when she heard him chuckle and when she pulled away he was smiling.

"So you do plan to ravish a dying man?" She rolled her eyes and smiled.

With that Draco's mouth clamped down on hers, and she automatically gasped, allowing him to slide his tongue inside. She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck as his hands slid down her side to her thighs to lift her. She wrapped her legs around him and he used his hold on her to press their bodies together. Both of them gasped, they hadn't felt that in days.

She watched him as she sat on his hips and leaned on the wall behind her. "Not so cold now am I?" she said smirking.

He shook his head. "No, not so much. I just have to suffer with it a little before you decide to warm to me." He pushed against her and the friction sent shocks of sensation deep into her bones.

The last time had pretty much started the same. The argument followed by the make up sex created a truce of about three hours before they were at each other's throats again. Neither of them knew how it always ended up this way.

Then again, neither of them was complaining either.

She slid her tongue over his and into his open mouth and she felt him shift against her and a lightning stab of sensation shot straight through her. Without intending to she made a small sound deep in her throat and tightened her grip.

"Well," she said against his mouth, "at least you're suffering."

He laughed. "Not as much as you are," he said and proved it by moving once more and smiled at her gasp. "But then you seem to be abstaining and making yourself suffer on purpose, don't you?" He moved again and she hated him for it. Her hands fisted in his t-shirt.

"Jesus Christ, you're mean."

Draco put his mouth against her neck. She tensed as his lips touched her throat and then smiled at the familiar gesture to calm her. It tickled and she grinned against him.

Her breath left her as hard as his had, when she had slammed him against the wall, when they landed on the bed upstairs. The calm had lasted long enough for him to manage the journey. Heaven knows how he could see, as she was sure she hadn't missed him on her until they reached the door and he had to open it.

First thing tomorrow, she was going to break that door down. It was entirely unnecessary.

Ginny's arms came up around him and once again she lost herself in his mouth and his embrace. He was right, she had been making herself suffer just to make him suffer and right now, she cursed her stubbornness. This time, however, his mouth was not enough. She needed more. She arched and pushed up against his mouth in a desperate plea that he answered greatly. Her hands clenched in the sheets as she spoke her reactions. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest so hard she could swear he could feel it.

Her fingernails dug into his back and he winced with the movements he made. With each pulse, she met him matching his rhythm and looked up at him taking in the flush that covered most of his body.

Her hands splayed on Draco's shoulders, and he kissed her hard, their mouths wet and hot together as they climaxed and fell back onto the sheets.

***

The steady rise and fall of his chest under her head soothed her and she closed her eyes hearing the thudding beat of his heart. His heart that belonged to her. She smiled as she stroked her fingertips along his stomach. She felt the muscles contract as he stirred and she raised her head to see him looking at her. His eyes had caution in them, the natural defence they had acquired for a foreseen situations. The silence never lasted, as they both knew, but this time she did not want to break it. She just smiled at him and put her head back down and felt him sigh under her. She closed her eyes.

"It's not good that our habits are affecting us so much. I don't particularly want to wake up like I'm in a war preparing myself for battle." He lifted her on top of him and she lay on his chest, resting her head on his arms and looked up at him. "It's not how we are supposed to be."

"And how are we supposed to be?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "Happy."

He frowned. "We're not happy?"

"Are we?" she asked. It was quite the answer if he actually thought all the fighting and arguing and full on wartime throughout their house had any relation to happy.

"You drive me crazy. You're irrational, you never think before you say anything so half the time you don't make sense. You look like an angel but you're a devil in disguise. You're manipulative and calculating and you piss me off just for the fun of it. Sometimes our arguments go so far you pull a fork on me and I have to stun you to calm you down."

"That was only once-." She was about to question it further when he cut her off again.

"But... being insane isn't so bad and even if you don't think before you speak... you think with your heart." She looked at him then in a different light and smiled. "You may be irrational but you believe in what you do. You're the smartest woman I know and you know exactly how to get what you want. When our fights turn physical and I do have to calm you down so you don't hurt yourself - or, most importantly, me, stunning you isn't the only way to do it," he concluded with a devilish smile. "And, you're mine. You stay with me so you're as crazy as I am. This, in my books, is all I need."

"All you need is someone as mad as you?" she said laughing.

"Two crazy people in love are a lot stronger than two people crazy in love. There's a big difference."

"And that is?" she asked intrigued.

"They'll never truly feel it. Not until their love has hit them all over that it leaves marks you can't see." He paused when she laughed and lowered her hand to touch the bruise on his side. "Crazy people remember those," he said tracing her fingers along the mark. "Even when the scars go away they stick in their heads more permanent than a memory. It becomes their life. Two people crazy in love don't live love. They just experience it, Ginny."

"So, you're happy with me?"

"Until the next scheduled fight - yes."

She laughed. "You're insane," she said shaking her head.

"And in love with you. Happiness can't touch that. Ever."

She smiled into his chest and he raised her up to meet him in a kiss filled with as much emotion as their fights. When they parted, she rested her head by his neck and lay down beside him closing her eyes. They fell asleep there, not waiting for the fight that would inevitably come. They just rested, happily.

And crazy in love.