Summer In The Irish Hills

Summer In The Irish Hills

Green. As far as the eye could see was green. Everywhere she turned it was green. Rolling green hills, clear blue skies, and acres upon acres of land. She spun in circles, her arms outstretched cutting through the air. Spinning, spinning, and feeling free. She never felt so relaxed in so long.

Her red curls hit her face as she was spinning, and soon she couldn't tell where she was. Green was replaced with red. She let herself fall to the ground, and she lay there feeling the cool breeze on her face and staring up at the clouds.

Her family rarely came to Ireland anymore. Her cousins decided that ten years was too long for them to be apart. Her mother gladly accepted the offer to come and visit for a month over the summer, and now here she was, in the hills of Ireland once more.

Staring at the bright white clouds passing over her, her mind wandered the summer when she was five. Only ten years ago and it felt like yesterday to her. She had met a rather moody boy. He was in Ireland as well due to family relations. He had told her his cousin was a friend with her cousins. He was quiet, but demanding when he spoke. He was biting and rude, but there was always something about him she admired. To this day she couldn't put her finger on it.

She could picture his face vividly now. Then it was pointed but with chubby cherub cheeks. She snorted - him, being a cherub? Unheard of. He had silvery blonde hair, and the darkest gray eyes she had ever seen. When she was a child, she could say he was her friend, but now she wasn't so sure.

Six years later they went to the same school. It was a pity that he turned out to be a Slytherin, to be a son of a Dark family. When they were little, that didn't matter. In fact, she couldn't remember ever knowing his last name, or seeing his parents. But now, older and wiser, she knew she must stay away from him and put the past behind.

Back in Ireland, she couldn't help but have the past come flooding back to her. He was her friend out here, and she'd been looking for him every day - even though she knew it was a lost cause.

Rolling over onto her stomach, she tucked her head into her arms and closed her eyes. Darkness enclosed her and soon she was fast asleep, with the smell of grass and Irish wind whipping about her.

.::---+---::.

Her eyes slid open. Slowly at first, but when peeking through her arm, she noticed she wasn't the only one on the grass.

Keeping her head in her arms, she continued to peek below her arm to see who was next to her. She couldn't see the face, but by the way they were lying, the person was on their back. And, by the choice of clothes, it appeared to be a boy. No, it wasn't one of her brothers - their pants weren't as nice as these.

"You can stop peeking through your arm, Weasley," the person drawled. "I know you're awake."

Ginny rolled her eyes and groaned. "Malfoy," she said as nicely as she could while she rolled onto her back to stare up at the sky. Anything but looking at him.

"No need to sound so happy to see me," he replied. Draco turned his head to Ginny with a smirk playing on his face. "I'm just as happy to see you."

"Then why are you here next to me?" Ginny refused to look at him. She couldn't, not here. This was where they met, this was the place where he was civil with her. This was where they were young and didn't have a care in the world.

Well, things have changed since then.

"You could've just passed by me," she said.

Draco rolled onto his side, leaning on his elbow with his hand propping his head up. "But I didn't."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yes I see that. And now we're having this conversation."

"Yes, I know."

Ginny bit her tongue and continued staring at the sky. There was some silence between the two, but Ginny didn't mind. After what he did to her all these years at Hogwarts, she was not going to forgive him and let them relive the past. He wouldn't allow that either, would he? Especially with the way he'd been treating her.

"You want to know why I'm here, don't you?" Draco rolled back onto his back and stared at the clouds, his hands lying on his stomach.

Ginny shrugged. "It could've ran through my mind once or twice."

Draco smirked, but continued staring at the sky, just like her. He didn't speak for a while. Ginny, again, didn't mind. Either he was being a prat and asked the question but wasn't going to answer it for her, or he was collecting his thoughts. Honestly, she really did want to know why he would come and lay next to her after all these years. Why now? Why not before? Why would he shun her in school but not here?

"My relations still live here," Draco started. "Since Father was sent to Azkaban, my mother thought it would be better for me to be somewhere else for the summer. So she sent me here, back in Ireland, to be with my cousins."

He paused and waited for Ginny to say something. When she didn't respond, he continued.

"I was kind of hoping to see you again. Once I came I remembered that one summer when we were little, and how much fun I had. But I kept telling myself that I really shouldn't look for you, because you're a Weasley, you're poor, you're Muggle-loving, you're everything that girl wasn't."

Ginny shot him the most hateful look.

"I haven't changed! I'm not some stuck up little prissy boy pouncing around the school acting like I'm better than everyone else! I'm not some kid who does everything wrong and daddy makes it right! I'm not some kid who tattles and taunts others just for fun!" Ginny gave him the most hateful glare he had ever received from anyone. "I'm not the son of a Death Eater."

With that, she got up and left him lying on the hill.

.::---+---::.

Ginny wouldn't leave her cousin's cottage for two days. She didn't want to spin in the hills anymore. She didn't want to lie in the grass anymore. She just wanted to be in her little room and think of the boy Draco once was, and who he came to be. She hated the man he had grown to become.

By the third day, Ginny was tired of helping her aunt with chores and hearing her mother harp at her for "not enjoying the beautiful day outside." So she left the little cottage and wandered the green, vast hills once more.

She went a different route this time. She went towards the creek and sat on the hill next to it. She plucked a fair wild flower from the ground, snapped most of the stem off, and tucked the rest into her hair wrap. Ginny then wrapped her arms around her knees, pulled them to her chest, and sat there with her chin propped on her knees.

It wasn't long until a body sat down next to her, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"What do you want?" She really didn't want him here.

"To talk to you." There. It was that plain and simple. The boy he once was. Why did he have to become so biting and evil when he grew up?

"What about?"

Draco and Ginny sat there, staring straight ahead past the creek and into the rolling Irish hills in the distance. Ginny glanced down when she heard some ripping, and it was Draco plucking grass out of the ground.

"You're getting dirty." Sure, it was obvious, but he didn't seem to notice what he was doing.

"I know."

Okay, that was odd. This is Draco Malfoy. The boy who didn't want to get his nails dirty in Herbology. So why was he tearing grass from the ground and sitting next to her - a Weasley - without a care in the world?

The silence this time was deafening to Ginny. She gave a loud sigh and stared at him intently, impatiently waiting for him to speak. He turned his head slowly to hers with that little smirk playing on his lips.

"I knew you'd get impatient with me sometime." He sounded relieved.

"Malfoy, just tell me why you're here, then leave me alone and never talk to me again. That's what you want, isn't it? To be as far away from the Weasleys as possible. We're tainted, aren't we?" Her anger spilled so quickly she didn't realize what was flowing from her mouth.

Draco gave her a hard look. She couldn't place what it was. His eyes never showed the truth - they were always empty. Empty eyes. He'd always had empty eyes, even when he was little. At least one thing didn't change; it just happened to be the one thing she wanted changed.

"Ginny, why do you have to be so bitter?"

Her jaw dropped. "Me? Bitter? I'm not the one who is being bitter!" She jumped to her feet, her hands on her hips, and Draco jumped with her. Whether it was out of surprise or not, she didn't care.

"Look, I know I've been awful! But can't you just listen to me, just this once?"

"Why should I when you hurt me so many years ago?" She felt tears burning her eyes. Don't cry in front of him, that's the last thing you want to do!

Draco's arms hung limply by his side. "Just let me explain."

Ginny sat firmly on the ground, her arms crossed. "Fine. Explain away." She glared as hard as she could at him.

Putting up his guard, Draco sat down next to the tempered redhead and prepared himself for the mood swings that may come ahead.

"I know you're not happy with how I've treated you all these years at Hogwarts. And how I treated you at the end of the summer ten years ago. But you have to understand that I have to do that. There's not a day where I don't think about you, what we could really have right now." He looked straight ahead, avoiding her eyes. "What we could have been."

Ginny looked down at her hands and dropped her arms from her chest to her lap. She was still upset with him, though. "Why did you have to? You can make your own choices and decisions."

"Don't you see who I live with? How can I possibly have my own opinions without being murdered?" He looked at Ginny in the eye, but there was no scorn directed to her.

Ginny held his gaze for a few seconds before breaking it to stare at her hands in her lap. A gentle breeze blew and lifted her curls to settle into another position on her shoulders. The wind played with Draco's loose hair and tangled them. But Ginny didn't laugh.

"Then why are you telling me now how you've felt? Why couldn't you tell me before?"

Draco stood up and began to walk away. Ginny looked up at him, surprised at his sudden move. But before she could ask where he was going, he spoke over his shoulder.

"Think of what has changed since then."

.::---+---::.

"Draco!" Ginny ran after the young boy in the hills, trying to catch up to him so he could be It. "You're running too fast! I can't catch up!"

The boy called over his shoulder, grinning. "Of course. That's why it's called tag!" He had a new burst of speed and ran even farther away from Ginny.

Ginny slowed down to catch her breath, and eventually stopped running. She smiled at Draco when he realized she was no longer chasing him and came walking back to her. She plopped down on the ground and lay on her back.

Not long after she laid down, Draco sat beside her and watched the grass rolling in the horizon.

"Summer's almost over." He looked sad to say it.

"I know." She was sad too. She didn't want this to end. Her brothers weren't as interesting or as fun as Draco was. They were always talking about girls or school or, in Fred and George's case, pranks to play on the others. But Draco? She could talk to him about five year old things and here from someone who was six and had experience. She felt that she had found a great friend this summer, and she didn't want to leave him.

"I won't be coming back."

Ginny sat up with a start. "What? Why? You're not coming back next summer?"

Draco shook his head. He looked upset thinking about it. "Father found out I was friends with you and wants me to stay away from you."

She felt as if someone had stabbed her in her heart. "Am I a horrible person? Am I that awful?"

Draco shook his head, avoiding her gaze and her watery eyes. "No. I don't know why. He just says that I shouldn't be around a family like yours. Today was my last day to spend with you."

Silence stretched for what seemed like eternity. Ginny didn't know what to say or do. She didn't want to lose him forever. Why did his father have to be so awful? What was wrong with her?

"Bye, Ginny." He stood up and walked away from Ginny. He left her there sitting in the grass, tears rolling down her cheeks in floods.

The next day, Ginny walked by Draco's cousin's house. She hoped he would see her and at least wave or smile at her. His father never said anything about that. As she walked by, though, Draco was standing with his father, holding a portkey. Seeing her arrival, Draco sneered and gave her the most awful insult she ever received from anyone.

"You have tainted blood, Weasley!"

Then he was gone and out of sight. Vanished by the portkey.

"NO!" Ginny screamed and woke up.

She was in her bed in the little cottage. It was passed midnight, surely. Was she dreaming? No, it wasn't a dream, she thought. It was the real thing.

It was his father. His father is what stopped their friendship. He stopped it from getting stronger, from forming it to what it could be. He controlled Draco everywhere he was, even when Draco was miles away. All of Draco's opinions and views would be watched by the school and sent home by owl. Everything he did was for a reason and it was to keep his father happy and Ginny safe. But now that his father was gone...

He wanted another chance for something to happen. Draco Malfoy hadn't forgotten about Ginny.

Pulling on a cloak, Ginny snuck out of the house and into the night. It was a chilly, and she wrapped the cloak tightly around her thin body. Taking a deep breath, she took the long trek to where Draco was staying.

After several minutes, Ginny reached the highest hill that stood in front of Draco's cousin's house. In the yard, far away from the house, was a lone figure wandering in the night. Ginny crossed her fingers and hoped it to be Draco.

It was. She went up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked down at her face, taking her in.

Ginny took a deep breath and stared at Draco intently. "I want to try it again."

He tucked a stranded red curl behind her ear. A grin slowly spread across his face and he looked at her straight in the eye.

"I've missed you, Ginny."