The Violin: A Ginny/Draco Instrumental

May 31st, 2002

The banner floating happily outside The Burrow announced the day of birth for one Miss Ginny Weasley. It sparkled red and gold for her old House at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, and a complimentary green and silver that Ginny had added to accommodate the only Slytherin begrudgingly joining them in this festive occasion.

Friends of the Weasley family had been stopping by all day to wish Ginny a happy birthday and to admire the pretty little banner while petting the noisily oinking pigs that wandered around it. Mr. O'Hare was the last of the visitors and once he had departed Molly announced the party to officially start.

Ginny, however, sat stubbornly in front of the window for a few more moments before joining her already seated family.

She had just settled into the dais set up at the head of the table chiefly for her use to begin unwrapping what was presumed to be trick sweets from Fred and George, who were now the proud owners of a top-selling joke shop in Hogsmeade, when a slender hand began to rap on the door.

Before anyone could even so much as give a questioning look as to who might be waiting outside, Ginny had almost flown out of her seat and wrenched open the door to fling her arms at the neck of the newcomer. She went a lovely shade of pink at the realisation of her sudden actions then dragged him inside to join the family.

At the arrival of the aforementioned Slytherin, with hair tousled from the wind in a way reminiscent of a young Harry Potter's that he fixed immediately after glancing in a mirror, to Ginny's twenty first birthday party, both Ron and Percy made it a point to sit as far away from him as possible. Ron had never warmed up to a so called 'pleasant' Draco while Percy only saw him as another Malfoy to steer clear of, with a bit of influence from his father. Bill and Charlie accepted him readily as they had never really known Draco during his years at Hogwarts, and the twins played him off as a little prat prone to harass Ron, as they themselves so often did.

The parents, namely Arthur, however were perhaps the most rigid in satisfying their opinion that he was no longer the boy who looked down upon their family as he'd been taught long ago. They'd only heard of Draco from Ron's complaints of the Slytherins and maybe seen him once or twice during their short stay at Hogwarts in Ginny's second year, but they'd had enough dealings and run-ins with Lucius Malfoy to form a judgmental and erroneous conviction of his son.

Arthur still fumed at the recollection of an exceptionally sordid day at the Ministry that was only made worse by the semblance of the senior Malfoy. Lucius had proposed a petition, which no doubt involved a lot of blackmailing on his part, against the Muggle Artifacts department to fire Mr. Weasley for what Lucius took as bad judgement when Arthur had allowed several wizards to borrow Muggle cars that resulted in many Memory Charms being performed. In reality this didn't concern Lucius at all, he stayed as far away from anything Muggle related as possible, but he made it his own personal resolution to find anything and everything Arthur did wrong in order to get him sacked.

Molly was a forgiving woman, though, and far too motherly to feel that way toward a boy who could have easily been her son (age wise, of course, as they looked nothing alike or behaved the same way for that matter) and tried her best to be nice to him, despite his upbringing and advised Arthur to do the same. As long as Draco treated Ginny properly she saw no reason to hold any grudges against him due to his father's actions.

After a minute or two of reorganising the long oddly designed and heavy package and several bottles of pink champagne he'd bought for him and Ginny to enjoy later in his arms, Draco shrugged in resignation and collapsed on a chair nearest him seemingly not noticing the eyebrow raises in his direction from the brothers.

Charlie, with the swift eyes and movements of a true Seeker, made a desperate grab for one of the champagne bottles that was slipping unnoticed from under Draco's right elbow. With only a foot and a half of space between the bottle's rump and the tiled floor, there was only seconds before the pink liquid would be splashed among the shattered shards of glass. It fell another inch before Charlie was able to get a firm grasp, tugging it fully out of Draco's possession and setting it safely on the table.

Draco had hardly even noticed, being too busy answering questions thrown his way by Arthur but muttered a quiet "Thanks." to Charlie before narrowing his eyes at Ron who seemed shocked Draco would show gratitude toward a Weasley.

Of course, Draco didn't seem to think much of Ron and the feeling was more then mutual. Draco was, what he liked to call, 'the pariah' of the group. He certainly hadn't expected a warm welcome to his coming to a family event without technically being a part of the family, but nevertheless their reactions quite surpassed what he was anticipating. He was, after all, a Malfoy dating the only girl in a family of boys so one had to keep on his toes at events like these.

He'd only just settled into the chair again after shifting his weight to place the rest of the bottles on the floor around him, when a loud bang in the house attic made him nearly topple out in instinctive panic. Draco was already antsy at the prospect of having to spend the whole day trying to hold his tongue around Ron and sudden sounds didn't help his frame of mind.

"Don't worry, Malfoy," remarked George pulling Draco by the neck collar back into his seat. "It's only the house ghoul. He likes to make noise when things get quiet, you know."

"Our kind of guy!" added Fred. He smirked knowingly at George who grinned back.

Draco snorted mentally at the atrocity of a house having a ghoul in this day and age but held any snide comments from passing his lips in an attempt to look as though he accepted that fact in good nature. He smoothed out his hair and fixed his shirt that had got crumpled at the shoulders.

Ginny and the others had hardly seemed to noticed Draco's fall and the daily racket as they were used to the noise by now, even though they'd all been out of the house for years. Ron, however, was sitting, arms crossed over his chest, and scowling at nothing in particular while the rest of the attention was set on his younger sister. He would have liked nothing more then to make a crude remark to Malfoy but his mother was quick to give him a meaningful glance that meant not to start anything. Ron slumped even further into his seat and focused his attention on Ginny.

Ginny had started the conventional unwrapping of gifts, every so often issuing thank you's profusely to the giver in question. Draco stared, amused, at the small diamond necklace Bill had given her, who commented how much it accentuated her brown eyes. Ginny had been dazzled by its beauty but Draco only thought of how effortlessly he could produce a whole dress adorned with the same gemstone.

Draco was relieved to see no one had given her what he held in his lap; though such a gift he hardly thought any of them could afford, thus settling the fact that his misgiving thoughts were unjustified.

Expectant looks were thrown his way as the scanty pile of unopened boxes dwindled but Draco didn't flinch. He'd decided earlier that day, while pacing about his flat, to give it to her privately. He thought it better to not obviously gloat in front of the clearly less wealthy family. Even if he did.

At last everything had been unwrapped and opened and the Weasley's had retired to sprawling themselves throughout the living room in a manner that would shock any self respecting wizard. Only the parents had the decency to sit on chairs; the rest had decided to lay down on the repulsively ugly green carpet on their bellies. Ron had brought out his battered Chess set flinching as one of Percy's knights sliced through his pawn.

Ginny had started to help her mum clear away the mess on the table while keeping on eye on the chess game making plenty of noise from the floor. Draco, not wanting to draw attention, silently talked with his eyes looking at her then the empty room as if to say 'come on.' Her mouth shaped into an 'O' when it dawned on her what he was trying to hint at.

Ginny had barely seemed to notice that she'd received nothing from Draco, never being one for materialistic things, and followed him into a small space he'd designated earlier as the perfect room to be in private with a look of confusion strewn across her face.

Only then when they were alone did she realise what he was up to though she couldn't figure out why he had wanted give the gift to her apart from her family.

"What is it?" she questioned.

Her hands, waiting anxiously to rip away the golden paper to unveil what was inside, fiddled with the red bow at the top of the package.

"Open it," he replied, a grin playing on his thin, pursed lips.

Ginny eagerly but gingerly began to rip at the sello-tape keeping the wrapping together. A hushed gasp escaped her mouth as the paper floated to the floor to lie forgotten by the two adults now standing over it, and a sandalwood violin case sat cradled in her outstretched arms like a young baby.

Ginny's name had been etched into the delicate wood and was charmed to give the effect that the letters were sparkling up at her in admiration. The case resembled the colour of the paper that had interred it, with three sterling silver clasps attached at the edge to hold it shut and locked.

"It's beautiful," Ginny whispered in an awed voice.

She had snapped the locks open; the clasps easily obliging to treat their eyes with a wooden instrument like no other. It, too, was made of the same slow growing sandal wood and sported the flamed tiger stripes of an expensive piece of wood work. The violin itself had a beautiful hourglass shaped figure, the strings sitting flawlessly on the bridge to come together as one at the end of the neck.

"Happy birthday," Draco whispered back.

His slim arms, dressed in a costly dark navy blue silk shirt, draped around her shoulders from behind. His eyes watched as she slowly lifted the instrument out of it's wooden womb and began to pluck at the strings rather haphazardly at first. Though she struck at them randomly the melody was in tune and harmonious to the ear.

The bow was the second object to be grasped by Ginny's soft hands and welcomed into the dimly lit room. It was made of a slightly different wood from the violin and case but was no less beautiful. The only sign it had been handled and made by a wizard was the fact that instead of horse hair that Muggle versions so often had, this bow was attuned with finely plucked snow coloured unicorn hair.

It glided across the strings gracefully with almost no effort on Ginny's part. Her fingers pressed gently on the neck blending the different notes together into one of her favourite pieces; Sinfonia Concertante. It was an upbeat piece that Harry himself had once said he enjoyed as she played it for the Gryffindor students which propelled its rank to favourite. Even now when she no longer had romantic, or maybe it was only childhood lust, feelings for Harry the piece always made her think of him and smile.

She'd learned Sinfonia Concertante when she was a little girl, desperately wanting to outshine her older brothers who had begun their schooling at Hogwarts or were already attending. It was indifferently hard with much string jumping and double note playing, that only proved she was truly talented when she'd sufficiently taught herself. That jealous phase had been just that; a phase. One that had lasted several years, but was still only a phase in her mind. Even though she no longer had the desire, or need, to be better then anyone, Ginny had felt something the day she'd picked up the violin and decided to continue her self taught lessons throughout her own years at Hogwarts, finally taking it up as a profession once she left.

Draco was still standing close to Ginny but had stepped back to allow room for her arms to move admiring the set glint in her eye when she was deep in concentration. She'd begun to sway a little to the lyrical beat but almost dropped the violin when an uncomfortable cough came from the doorway shattering her thoughts.

"Ron!" yelled Ginny. "You almost made me drop it!"

Her brother had hardly acknowledged that she said a thing, he was too busy glaring in the general direction of Draco who was far too close to his sister, in his opinion. Nor had he noticed what he'd almost made Ginny drop.

"Mum wants you," muttered Ron angrily.

Ginny sighed quietly, replacing the violin and bow back to its rightful holder. Draco had begun to glare back at the redheaded boy when Ginny elbowed him in the stomach and motioned to follow her.

The floor of the kitchen and living room had been cleared of wrapping paper, magically no doubt, and the boys were now sitting on couches in a semi-circle immersed in a heated debate of who was better; Bill or Charlie. Ron's chess set pieces had started their own fight when Ron and Percy abandoned them.

Ron, Fred, and George were siding with Charlie and his excellent Quidditch skills (even if he hadn't decided to go professional - he had been offered several Seeker positions, at that!) and Percy really couldn't have cared less - Head Boys ranked higher in his eyes, anyway. Bill was trying to coax the twins to join his side by way of dazzling them with his dragon fang earring that had lost appeal over the years, but to no avail.

The six of them hardly noticed Ginny and Draco entering the cramped living room until Ginny let out a squeal of delight at what her mother gave to her. In her trembling hands she held an enveloped letter with a musical note shaped stamp to seal it shut. She knew before looking who it was from, she had been expecting this for some time and recognised the owl who had delivered a letter to her once previously.

The return address in the right corner read "The Madrigal Symphony Orchestra" and had been address to Miss Virginia Elisabeth Weasley c/o Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Weasley.

"Who's it from?" asked Charlie, taking a discrete sip of Bill's sparkling apple cider. Bill noticed it out of the corner of his eye and swatted at Charlie's hand, who had been trained with Dragons and was far too quick to receive more then a brush of fingertips, before returning his attention back to his little sister.

Silence. Ginny had literally frozen with fear at the prospect that perhaps this wasn't an acceptance letter. The Madrigal Symphony Orchestra was numerous in size but it was also selective of its members and the selecting community considered it a privilege for a young witch or wizard to get the chance to perform in their presence. Many people her age weren't welcomed aboard easily due to their lack of experience compared to the more veteran players.

"A l-letter from the Madrigal Orchestra..." stuttered Ginny, her hands finally popping off the seal and pulling out the long note inside.

Molly and Arthur hovered over her shoulders to read then nodded in relief to their children when they were both sure it was not a rejection letter.

"T-they accepted me!" stuttered Ginny again, overwhelmed with joy.