Disclaimer: All that you recognise belongs to JKR.

Warning: None.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews. Hopefully I managed to reply to all of them.

I’m finished university now, so I should have more time to write. I can’t really make any promises on very frequent updates though, as I still am busy with real life stuff.

The Aftermath

Ginny had not spoken to Draco for two days since the proposal. She seemed to have taken a delight in wearing dressing gowns and trailing blankets around with her; trudging around her room with a depressing frown on her face, looking just like the martyr she believed herself to be. Serino was the only one she allowed in her room, and that was just to give her food. She still had her Weasley appetite after all.

Narcissa had tried to talk to Ginny over the two days but Ginny had refused her. She was furious with all of them, and every time she looked at the mark on her hand she would feel her anger bubbling to the surface again, as well as the natural wave of helplessness that came with it. That mark was a symbol of her bond to Draco, and it was there because he had wanted to marry her, because he had said those words.

All Purebloods had the bonding magic sealed inside them from birth, for it was passed down through blood, and so she understood that it would be very difficult to break the spell. She had exhausted all her genius in trying to find a way out of this situation, but if the Pureblood girls of old could not escape the marriages then how could she ever hope to? She was no Hermione Granger, and though she had hunted in the library when she had thought no one would be in there, no answers had come to her from the musty, old books. She had tried everything, but there was no glimpse of the shining hope she so desperately desired. It was time to accept defeat and make the most of the situation.

Wrapping her blanket around her more, Ginny sat down on the little wooden chair in her room by the ornate writing desk that was painted with intricate, golden, floral designs. It was a nice desk, and once she had looked upon it with envy, knowing that she herself would never be able to afford such an elegant piece. Right now the mere sight of the pretty desk infuriated her. It reminded her of the Malfoys and all of their pompous extravagance, but now was not the time to dwell on furniture. There were more important things to worry about; like how she was going to tell her parents that she was engaged to Draco Malfoy. She had put off writing to them for two days, and in her heart she knew she could not put it off any longer. She had accepted defeat in this matter, and now it was time to face responsibility and tell those she loved what had happened. She could only hope that they would not judge her too harshly for getting into such a mess.

Ginny opened a drawer on the desk and pulled out some parchment, a pot of ink, and a feathered quill. She placed the parchment meticulously on the desk so that it was perfectly straight, neatly set down the pot of ink to the right of the parchment, and then very carefully slipped the quill into the inky liquid encased in the glass pot.

To anyone else it may have seemed odd to see her spending so much time worrying about how things were laid out on the desk, for most people knew Ginny to be very unorganised and careless in her habits, but when Ginny was nervous she became freakishly methodical. The very calm and deliberate nature of her actions reflected the true tumultuous feelings raging inside her, and it was this fretting over such trivial things that showed the extent of her nervousness.

She was preparing to tell her parents that she was engaged to a man they neither liked nor wished her to marry, and that in itself was an upsetting thought. Add in that the engagement was against her will and it only increased her nervousness. She did not know how they would react, and feared that they would barge in on the Malfoys’ home and try to take her back. That would then trigger the nastier effects of the bonding magic, which would mean that she and Draco would both be inexplicably linked together by their marked hands so that neither could be separated until the wedding day. The creators of the bonding magic had made sure that the two would have no choice but to marry. The more she and Draco fought against it, the worse the effects would become until they either married or died. Ginny did not want that at all.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Ginny picked up the feathered quill from the pot of ink and frowned for a moment as she stared at the blank parchment; the inky liquid dripping softly into a tiny pool of black to blot out the creamy perfection that the parchment once was. Slowly her hand lowered and started scrawling words in the black liquid, her writing hasty and jagged from all the emotions bubbling inside her. The more she wrote the more jagged her words became, and as she turned over the page, her eyes started tingling with the unpleasant feeling of tears.

She sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm herself for a moment, not wanting the letter to become illegible from her tears. She’d spent enough years trying to read tear-stained indecipherable letters from her mother to know how impossible it was, and this was one letter she wanted them to be able to read clearly.

Once she was satisfied that her eyes were not going to start leaking on her, Ginny again began writing and kept on writing until she had finished the letter with her name. Silently she sealed the letter in an envelope with hot wax and wrote the name of her parents on the front. She placed the quill once more in the inkpot, and then carefully laid the letter down on the table.

Her head was pounding from all the thinking she had done in trying to write the letter, and with a sigh she placed her head in her hands, finally giving into the draining feelings that had been threatening to overwhelm her for the past few minutes. That letter was her sentence to doom, explaining everything that had happened to her over this week and of her engagement to Draco Malfoy. It was her final act in accepting the situation, and it was for this reason that she had procrastinated writing it for so long. She had not wanted to accept that she was going to marry Draco, but now… now she knew it was the only choice she had.

Suddenly someone knocked briskly at the door.

“Ginevra!”

Ginny lifted her head in fright and stared at the closed door. It was Narcissa again. She knew that she would have to face Draco’s mother eventually, and truth be told, Ginny was getting rather sick of acting depressed. It was hard work trying to stay like a martyr by locking herself in her room and refusing to talk to anyone; indulging in wearing her pyjamas all day and night, and bundling up like an Eskimo with blankets so that she could look just that little more pitiful. Perhaps other girls might be able to achieve such a tragic feat, but Ginny found herself getting more than a little bored from the monotony of it all. Even though she was upset by this situation, and even though she wished to Merlin that it had never happened, she just could not keep hiding away and crying in her room. It just was not her. She was not a coward, and though she hated this marriage with all her miserable, broken heart, she would not become like those women who just reclined on sofas all day with smelling salts in hand, living like a tragic invalid just to escape the life they had to live. She would hate this marriage, she would hate Draco, but by Merlin was she going to show them that they had not defeated her yet.

It was not going to be easy. She had suffered a double blow with Julian breaking her heart and then Draco forcing her into marriage, but she was stronger than this. She had suffered things in the past, and who was to say that she could not overcome this too? Being married to a man she did not love would not kill her. It would bother her profusely, but it would not kill her. Having her heart broken by a man who had seemed perfect in every way may have upset her to the extreme, but it did not mean that her heart would remain so broken. Her tears had been shed for her disappointment on both parts and now she knew she had to move on to a more productive pastime than this wallowing in self-pity. She was a resourceful woman, and she was sure she could find a way to still be happy and married to Draco. After all, who knew what would happen in the future? For all she knew Draco might die the next day and she would never have to worry about anything again.

Narcissa once more knocked at the door.

“Ginevra, you really must stop this nonsense. Open this door, or I shall simply use my magic to open it.”

Wiping her eyes furiously to hide the tears that had sparkled on her cheeks, Ginny threw off her blanket and fixed up her nightdress to make herself look at least somewhat presentable. She peeped into the mirror and hurriedly fixed up her hair, which was looking rather tangled at the moment (it had not been brushed for two days) before quickly striding over to the door and opening it. Narcissa stood regally in front of her with one eyebrow rising slightly and her blue eyes filled with some impatience. Ginny felt her stomach give an uncomfortable wobble at the sight, for right now Narcissa looked every bit the snobby aristocrat that she was. She was like a statue one might find in a palace garden of a woman who knew her worth and would stand throughout all time proclaiming it to the world through her arrogant pose and expression.

Ginny vaguely wondered if it really had been so wise to shut herself in her room for two days in a fit of the mopes, but it was too late to consider other possible actions now. She had to make the most of the situation, and that included soothing the older woman’s ruffled feathers.

“I see you have finally decided to talk to me.” Narcissa commented dryly, while moving gracefully past Ginny into the room. Her eyes scanned the dimly lit room, noticing the messy apparel of nightdresses and blankets strewn everywhere that had arisen from Ginny’s two days of martyrdom. It was obvious that Ginny’s time had not been productive, and there were more than a few broken ornaments littering the floor near the walls that suggested the fiery redhead had been practising her throwing skills. Serino would have cleaned the room, but Ginny was much more comfortable in her state of depression- and indeed looked more pitiful- in a messy room filled with the broken shards of her fury, than the ridiculously clean room that the elf enjoyed.

Instead of commenting on the mess, Narcissa simply turned her attention to Ginny with a stern look in her eyes. Her patience had clearly thinned, and Ginny knew she was about to receive a reprimand for her sulky behaviour. Already she could feel the sting of it burning into her skin, and so defensively folded her arms to give herself some encouragement. Though Ginny did want to assure Narcissa that she would cooperate now, she would not allow them to make her feel like she had been in the wrong. That was something she could not stomach no matter what.

“I know you are not stupid, Ginevra,” Narcissa said bluntly, her face cold and composed, “so I know I do not need to spare civilities with you. You understand that I cannot let you remain in this ridiculous fashion any longer. You are engaged to my son, and whether you like it or not, you will marry him. Do I make myself clear?”

Two days ago Ginny would have argued her little heart out that she would never accept the idea that she was marrying Draco, that she would never comply with any of their wishes, and that she would never talk to any of them and would stay in this room for the rest of her life if she had to. It would have been a very dramatic declaration, she was sure, and she knew that it would have brought her great satisfaction to see Narcissa’s face lose its cold calmness, but Ginny was past her rebellious stage now. Two days of talking to no one except arguing with the house elf on whether it could clean her room or not had not been particularly thrilling, and being locked alone in her room in a depressed state had become rather depressing in itself. She had quite made up her mind that it was time to move on and take up her role as fiancé to Draco Malfoy, however horrible that role may be. Making a fuss would only make things worse for everyone, and even more frightening was the thought that it could trigger some strange effect in the bonding spell.

“I understand Mrs Malfoy,” Ginny replied simply.

“Good. The engagement will be announced tomorrow in the Daily Prophet, so you had best tell your parents before then.”

“I’ve just written them a letter.” Ginny grabbed it off the desk and held it for Narcissa to see. “Would you be able to send it?”

“Of course,” Narcissa replied with a small smile and summoned the letter to her hand.

Ginny had to try not to smirk, but it was hard not to be amused at Narcissa’s sudden change in demeanour. Her coldness had melted swiftly in the satisfaction in having Ginny finally deciding to comply with her wishes, and now she seemed her usual placid self. She was regally calm in her delight, as was expected. There would be no garish smiles or suffocating exclamations as Ginny might have suffered from Celia. Everything about Narcissa Malfoy was dignified and composed.

“You should start preparing for the dinner party tonight,” Narcissa continued in a smooth voice. “We will be unofficially announcing the engagement to the last of the guests, and I expect you and Draco to at least try to appear happy about this. You may hate my son, but the world, Ginevra, should never know that.” 

Ginny knew what her answer was meant to be, and though it went against every fibre of her being to allow herself to pretend she was happy with this engagement, to fight it would only be asking for ridicule on her part from those haughty harpies. It was for this reason that she simply gave a dutiful nod. “I understand.”

Narcissa allowed another small smile to pass her lips, with her eyes softening just a fraction. “I am pleased to hear it. In time you will see that marriage to my son is not so bad. There are benefits in being a Malfoy, and Draco will treat you well. He will not hurt you.”

Ginny said nothing. She doubted she would ever truly be happy in this marriage, and right now she could not think of any benefits in being married to Draco apart from the fact that he was rich. However, she did know that Narcissa was right in saying that Draco would not hurt her. He was thoughtless, often selfish, but he had shown himself to be no more than a spoilt brat that had been pampered by society far too long and so had become too arrogant for his own good. There was nothing sinister about him, and in truth, he had behaved to her as any gentleman might. Well, most of the time anyway. Ginny was not unfair though; she knew that Draco had his good points too, and he had shown glimpses of those good points in the rare occasions when he had helped her. She had not forgotten his modesty at the lake when he had tried not to stare at her body in respect of her own modesty, nor had she forgotten the lie he had made for her behalf that same day. It was true that those moments were far outweighed by the moments where he had irritated her, but she vaguely recalled that he had saved her just the other night from Julian. Though she had been feeling rather delirious at the time, she was sure she had seen his face right before she had fainted. That gave her some comfort in knowing that Draco at least would take care of her, even if he did not love her.

“Well,” Narcissa said in a business-like voice, abruptly disrupting Ginny’s musings. “I shall leave you now.” Her blue eyes appraised Ginny silently for a moment, and Ginny noticed her lip curl slightly in distaste. “Do have a bath, Ginevra, you look like you’ve just been picked up off the streets.”

Ginny had the grace to blush and looked down as Narcissa left the room. Once the door was shut behind the older woman, she let out a deep breath and stood in the centre of the room with a pensive expression on her face. Tonight would be the first announcement of her engagement, which meant that no one else knew that she was engaged to Draco. Obviously Narcissa had not wanted to tell anyone until she was sure of Ginny’s cooperation, which, when Ginny thought about it, was quite understandable. She understood the embarrassment it would cause the Malfoys to feel should it be known that their only heir’s fiancé had no desire to be a part of the prestigious family. It was almost tempting to purposely fight against the marriage just to see their reactions, but Ginny quelled such mischievous thoughts and instead put her mind to more important matters- like making herself presentable for the dinner.

Having decided that she would indeed cooperate with the Malfoys for now, Ginny called for Serino and asked for a bath to be made ready. She stripped off her nightdress and slipped into the steaming water, and suddenly realised how much she had indeed needed and desired a bath. The water felt glorious against her skin, and closing her eyes in quiet ecstasy, Ginny just lay there in perfect contentment. For now she would let all her worries about the future wash away so that she could just relax. A bath, after all, was to be enjoyed.

Once she started feeling her fingers wrinkling like prunes, she quickly washed herself and then clambered out of the hot, soapy water. Serino handed her a fluffy, white towel, and after drying herself, Ginny slipped on a clean dressing gown. She felt much better after her wash, and even felt just a little more hopeful that things would not be so bad after all.

Ginny walked to the wardrobe and stared at the dresses hanging on the coat hangers, her fingertips idly gliding along the soft materials. She had worn so many beautiful dresses while she had been in London, and while once she had expressed glee over each and every one, now it just seemed natural to wear a dress that looked like it belonged on a princess. She had become accustomed to extravagance without even realising it.

“Hrm, I think I’ll go for the velvet, dark green one tonight,” Ginny mumbled to herself, and pulled out the elegant dress from the cupboard. It was a beautiful, floor-length gown that fitted her figure well. Unlike the other gowns that were usually high waists, this one set off her hips to advantage with its body fitting, intricately designed bodice that was beaded with forest green beads. The neckline was not square- curving modestly enough down to her breasts- but she did have some qualms with how much creamy skin she seemed to be revealing once she had put it on and stared into the mirror. Surely it had not been this low when she had first tried it on?

It was not that Ginny was particularly curvaceous, and therefore had to worry about being indecent with how much skin she was showing, but she was modest and felt uncomfortable revealing too much cleavage. The dress seemed to give off the impression that her breasts were a lot larger than they were in reality, and the last thing Ginny wanted was to be viewed as a delectable treat for every leery-eyed gentleman. It was something she was not accustomed to, and she did not want to start the habit now.

She fidgeted with the bodice and half-heartedly tried to cover more of her breasts, but the material remained stubbornly low. Deciding that she could not do much about that now (for she refused to wear another dress) Ginny smoothed down the long sleeves and stared at her untouched face in the mirror. In truth she preferred to wear no make-up at all, but she knew that tonight was a big night and she had to look her best.

With a sigh, Ginny picked up the necklace made of garnets and placed it around her neck; garnet drop earrings were slipped in her ears, and then she picked up the red lipstick and allowed the smooth tip to run along her lips. Serino came over and curled her hair so that the long, red locks were piled up into curls on her head, with a single lock of her hair being allowed to fall down to rest over her shoulder.

“You look beautiful, Miss,” Serino commented with a toothy smile.

“Thank you, Serino,” Ginny mumbled, while finishing the last of her makeup. She did indeed look stunning in the green dress, though she would never be as beautiful as half of those other women. It was a somewhat depressing thought, and even though Ginny was a confident woman, even the most confident of people had their moments of doubt and insecurity. She knew she was no match for women like Alexia and Daphne, who were beautiful to the point where one could almost not believe it. Ginny’s skin was too tan, her hair was too red, and her body was too normal. She was, as Draco had once said, just pretty, but tonight she wanted to be more than that.

In a way Ginny was not really sure why she wanted to look so beautiful tonight. She claimed it was simply because this was the announcement of her engagement, but deep down Ginny knew there was more to it than that. Perhaps it was to show Julian that she had moved on from him, or maybe it was simply to show those other women that she could live up to being a part of Pureblood Society. It could have even been that she just needed some confidence to face all those people and pretend that she was happy in this engagement. Whatever the reason, Ginny had taken extra care with her apparel that night.

“Will that be all you’re needing, Miss?”

Ginny nodded. “Yes. I’ll be all right now.”

Serino gave a quick bow and then vanished with a pop. Ginny stared back at the mirror and fidgeted with her garnet necklace agitatedly. She was beginning to feel nervous now, with her stomach twisting unpleasantly until she felt quite ill. This would be her first time facing everyone after what had happened, and she hated to think of what they would say once they found out that she was going to marry Draco. She just knew those women were going to have a lot to say to her, and Ginny could only pray that she would have enough strength and courage to withstand their snide remarks; for snide remarks there would be. Those women had all been hoping to sink their mercenary claws into Draco, but it was Ginny who had won his hand. It was she that had somehow gained favour in Narcissa’s eyes and had been chosen to be the bride of that formidable woman’s only son.

Ginny could not understand it. She had never cared about Draco, nor had she tried to flirt with him like the others did, yet somehow she had been the one to be chosen. She had no connections, no fortune- nothing at all. Why then had Draco chosen her above all the others? Surely he would have been happier with someone more suited to his station? Surely he had not been forced to obey Narcissa’s wishes and had some choice of his own? Why then would he go for a girl who was tilting dangerously on being plain and felt no affection for him at all? It just did not make sense.

Someone knocked at the door, and thinking it was just Narcissa again, Ginny called for the person to come in without glancing around. She was just fixing up a loose strand of her hair when the door opened and Draco walked into the room. Her eyes automatically shifted from her reflection to Draco’s tall form in the mirror, and slowly her lips formed into a silent ‘oh’. She had not been expecting to see him so early, and felt oddly uncomfortable facing him right now. It was easy to curse him behind his back, easy to conform to the idea that she might be marrying him, but facing him was an entirely different matter. All her brain kept repeating to her over and over was that she was going to have to marry this man, and that included being physically close to him.

Her cheeks started burning at the thought, and Ginny felt even more flustered to see Draco’s eyebrow rise slightly. Clearly he had noticed her blush, though she could not tell what he was thinking due to the unreadable expression on his face. That one haughty eyebrow was the only sign that he had noticed anything at all, and to Ginny it just seemed like he was silently mocking her. It reminded her horribly of Narcissa in actual fact, and vaguely she wondered if Draco would turn out to be just like his mother when he was older. That was an alarming thought indeed.

“What do you want?” she asked, standing away from the mirror, still with her cheeks slightly pink. He was wearing full evening attire and admittedly did look quite handsome, but she was more concerned about what he was doing in her room than to reflect on how good he looked in his clothes. The last time he had been in this room he had proposed to her. It was somewhat worrisome to think what he would do this time. However, Draco did not make any move to come near her; instead, simply leaning back lazily against the wall with the same unreadable expression on his face. He folded his arms loosely against his chest and watched Ginny impassively, seeming to be utterly relaxed.

It bothered Ginny that he could be so calm while she was so nervous. Did he not care at all that they were going to be married? Than again, he was the one who had asked her, so no doubt he was just satisfied that she had finally decided to stop putting up a fight. That did nothing to soften Ginny’s irritation towards him though; if anything it only made her dislike him more.

Completely oblivious to Ginny’s rather grumpy thoughts, Draco merely picked a bit of fluff from his coat; saying to her in a voice that lacked any enthusiasm, “Mother wants me to escort you down to dinner. She says it will look better if we come in together.”

Ginny scowled slightly but nodded her head all the same, feeling only faintly annoyed that he appeared to be paying no attention to her at all. He had been singing a very different tune two days ago when he had demanded that she marry him, but now he seemed content to not try at all knowing that he had won her hand. It was a frustrating thought.

“All right,” she agreed grudgingly, while trying to keep her stony glare in check. He just had a way of irritating her.

“Are you ready then?” he asked in a bland voice, finally lifting his eyes from his now immaculate coat to stare at her with a rather disinterested expression. He seemed completely at his leisure, which bothered her more than she could say. Here she was getting all worked up and nervous, and he just seemed to be having a swell, old time relaxing against the wall, while watching her with his usual bored arrogance. He had not even seemed to notice how hard she had tried to look good tonight, and was more content to worry about whether he had fluff on his coat than how beautiful she looked. She had to admit that it really was no surprise though. Draco always had been rather self-centred.

Some fiancé he is, Ginny thought bitterly to herself, and turned away from Draco’s grey gaze to spray some perfume on her neck. Now satisfied that she had completed her toilette, Ginny turned back to her companion and nodded her head. “I’m ready, and I just hope the house elves have made a decent meal. If everyone enjoys the food then they will be less likely to talk to me.”

Draco’s eyes softened slightly into a smile of understanding, but he said nothing and simply offered his arm to her. She looped her arm in his and walked with him out of the room, feeling rather awkward from their close proximity. Normally she had so much to say to him, even if it was only insults, but now she just felt tongue-tied. What did one say to their fiancé, let alone a reluctant one at that? It was just awkward and uncomfortable, and Ginny vaguely wondered if Draco felt the same.

She turned her eyes curiously up towards his face, following the hard lines of his chin up to his eyes that were so piercing and grey that she almost thought he could rip her to shreds with one glare. His hair looked silky to touch up close and seemed to fall perfectly around his pale face; a face with features far too hard to be considered typically handsome. He was all angles, and the very perfection of his finely chiselled features seemed almost too perfect to the point where the attractiveness was lost. His frequent scowls and glares only increased this harshness, and the smug smiles and smirks that he enjoyed to wear did nothing to lighten this perspective either. He was striking- there was no doubt about that- but she could not admire his piercing looks like she had Julian’s.

“Is there something on my face, Weasley?”

Ginny blinked and realised that those piercing grey eyes were now locked on hers. She felt only slightly embarrassed that she had been caught gawking at him, but she was far too graceless to apologise for it. Instead, she simply gave a careless shrug and decided to put him right out of his element by telling the truth. “Not at all. I was merely deciding whether I find you handsome or not.”

She was amused to see his jaw drop, but before he could make an answer to her bold reply, Ginny’s mind had suddenly seized on a sudden problem with their choice of names for each other. Her brow wrinkled into a frown and she stopped walking, jerking him to a halt as well by the sudden tug on his arm.

“Malfoy… you do realise that once we get married you’re going to have start calling me by something other than ‘Weasley’. I suppose I’ll have to stop calling you Malfoy too…”

“I guess,” Draco agreed noncommittally. By his expression, which was rather stunned, he was still trying to get over her comment from before.

Ginny sighed tiredly, as if it was a terribly annoying hassle just to call him by his given name. “I suppose I should get used to calling you Draco then...”

She suddenly frowned to herself. It sounded so odd saying his first name. For nearly her whole life she had referred to him as Malfoy, but now she had to change that habit. It seemed everything had to change because of her engagement to him. Who knew what else would change once they were married.

“I suppose so,” he said simply, and once more began steering her onwards towards the dining hall. “I’ll try to remember to call you Ginevra from now on.”

Ginny shuddered. “Please, just call me Ginny. Whenever people call me Ginevra I feel like I’m in trouble. I would tell your mother not to, but I think she might have a heart attack that I’d even suggest her to call me by a nickname.”

Draco snickered to himself in obvious amusement. “Most likely. My mother is a stickler for propriety.”

“And you’re not?” Ginny quipped with one eyebrow arched. She had always thought he had been a little stiff, but maybe she was wrong. She barely knew him after all. Most of her conversations with him had ended in insults, which did not exactly promote ‘friendly question time’.

He lowered his gaze to meet hers with a small smirk flittering across his face. “I think I have offended more people than I can count because I cannot be bothered behaving as I ought.”

“What?” Ginny cried with mock astonishment. “And here I was thinking you were just too conceited to notice that you were offending anyone.”

His eyes lit up with an amused glint, but he did not succumb to her bait. “Maybe the better explanation would be that I am too conceited to care if I offend anyone.”

“O-ho,” Ginny exclaimed in an uncanny imitation of her brother Ron. “So you admit that you are conceited!”

Now she had him. He had as good as admitted it himself.

“I suppose you’d just love me to agree to that, but the truth is that I just don’t care. I don’t think that makes me conceited…” His eyes found hers again, and she could see his expression becoming more serious. “I meant what I said that day when we danced at your coming-out ball. I don’t like pretension, and I’m not going to pretend to like someone when I don’t.”

Ginny’s smile faded slightly at the remembrance of that night. That was when she had first decided that she truly hated Draco Malfoy, though she was not really sure how she felt about him now. He seemed to be constantly changing in his behaviour towards her so that she did not know what to think. Sometimes he was rude, sometimes he was thoughtful, and then there were times like now where he was just being himself and they could actually have a civil conversation; well, civil for them anyway. She felt vaguely worried at the thought, for Merlin forbid that Draco might actually start to grow on her like Armande had once suggested he would. However, Ginny did realise that it would take far too much effort to always hate him when they were going to be living together in close proximity, and in the end she needed to try and make this relationship work to find her own happiness. Nothing good came without a little sacrifice, and she was sure she could sacrifice her natural urge to hate Draco in order to find a compromise between them.

She turned her eyes back to his face and gave him a small smile that was faintly mocking. “Everyone has to pretend at some point. Even you have acted politely to those you don’t like, and you can’t say otherwise, because I know there were times when you wanted to hex me but refrained out of politeness.”

He laughed lightly. “You’re right, but there’s a difference between being polite and being fake. Being polite just means you’re tolerating that person because it would be immature not to. Being fake is for people who care what others think of them.”

“And you don’t care what other people think of you?”

She found that quite hard to believe. Draco had always liked to play up to the crowd during their school years, and she had always been of the belief that bullies only bullied others because they wanted to be perceived in a certain way by people. Bullying aside, she could not say for sure whether he truly cared about what others thought or not. He dressed nicely, but she thought that might just be the way that he was brought up, and it was clear that he spared no civilities for people that irritated him. He really was quite the enigma when she thought about it.

“Everyone cares what people think in some way,” he replied dismissively, once more disrupting her thoughts, “but I couldn’t care less if people knew that I disliked them.”

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh at his honest admission. “You’re horrible you know that.”

He shrugged, though Ginny could see a small smile threatening to lift his lips. “Maybe, but then I’d rather be seen as horrible than have to pretend to enjoy the company of people like Charlotte Cunningham. She really is a dead bore.”

Ginny really did laugh at that.

“Perhaps you are right that it is better to not pretend,” she remarked with her eyes brimming with amusement, “but I think there would be a lot of offended people if we all allowed our dislike of others to be made known.” He opened his mouth to protest, but she merely ploughed on. “Yes, Malfoy, even if they are as boring as Charlotte.”

Draco only gave her a reluctant smile, which made Ginny smile in turn, and both of them continued walking down the hallway in a much more companionable fashion than they had when they had first started this trek to the dining hall. Ginny knew that they had a long way to go before they could really be friendly with one another, but she thought this was a good step in at least learning to respect each other. After all, he hadn’t offended her once, and she had tried her best not to insult him.

It suddenly occurred to her that this was their first real conversation, not to mention first civil one at that, and with a laugh she turned her face back up to his. “Do you know, Malfoy, I believe we just had our first civil conversation.”

He lowered his gaze to hers with his mouth slightly twisting in thought. “You seem so surprised.”

She blinked at that and stared up at his face, wondering just what he was thinking. He always seemed to close off when she would do this though, as if he knew she was trying to worm her way into his thoughts. It was like the shutters on his face would slam down automatically and then the most she could hope to find was a scowl or a smirk. Right now he wore neither of these charming expressions; instead, simply staring at her blankly as if he were waiting for her answer.

“Well… I don’t know,” she confessed with a shrug. “I just noticed that you and I find it very difficult to be civil to each other. Surely you must have realised by now that we always end up arguing when we meet.”

“That’s because you always say or do something stupid.”

Her mouth dropped open in indignation. “I do not! You’re the one who’s always offending me! I don’t do anything at all!”

“Oh come off it,” Draco retorted with a bit more bite than Ginny thought necessary. “At least I dislike people for a good reason. You’re rude to people because they have money and happen to be admired in society.  You think you’re better than all of us because you’re so genuine and nice, but you’re no different at all. You’re just a big hypocrite.”

“I’m the hypocrite?” She unlinked her arm from his and glared up at him. “You don’t know anything about me at all!” Her finger seemed to lift of its own accord and pointed threateningly at his face. “And for your information I don’t dislike people just because they have money or are admired by society! I have very good reasons for being rude to the people that I am rude to!”

“Oh really,” he said sceptically.

“Yes!”

They both glared at each other for a moment, and then Draco suddenly started to laugh. Ginny stared at him in amazement, with her cheeks angrily flushed and her hands resting on her hips, though how they got there she had no idea.

“What could possibly be so funny?” she demanded in a chilly voice, finding her temper rising with each ringing laugh that escaped from her dear, fiancé’s mouth.

“Well, if you hadn’t realised, Weasley,” Draco replied through sniggers, his voice quivering with laughter, “our first civil conversation just got blown out the window.”

Ginny’s lips twitched dangerously, though she was still trying to glare at him, but she could not resist any longer and soon she too was laughing. The whole situation was absolutely absurd!

“Merlin, Malfoy,” Ginny exclaimed breathlessly after they had both calmed down again. “How are we ever going to survive this marriage?”

“I’m beginning to wonder that myself,” he admitted with a rueful smile.

“Well it’ll be on your head if we end up killing each other,” she said quite fiercely, suddenly remembering just why they were in this situation in the first place. “You’re the one that wanted to marry me after all.”

It was all his stupid fault for asking her to marry him! She could have been happily trying to find new love right now, but instead she was trying to force herself to stomach Draco Malfoy’s company. It was all very unjust.

“Yes, I know,” he said quite bluntly.

Ginny didn’t know what to say to that, so she simply turned away from him and was stunned to find that they were outside the dining hall. Had they really walked all that way so quickly? Shaking away such trivial thoughts, she turned back to Draco and gave him an exasperated sigh. “Look, let’s just get this dinner over with so that we can both be comfortable again. I’m sure I have enough fake smiles to last tonight so that your mother will leave me alone.”

“All right.”

Ginny turned on her heel and entered the room to the dining hall, leaving Draco standing alone in the hallway. A small sigh escaped his lips, and slowly he trudged in after her, vaguely wondering to himself just what brain tumour had muddled his thinking in making him actually want to marry this shrew. Two days spent away from her had given him much time to think, and in that time he had begun to very much regret his choice in having her as his fiancé. He could have had it so easy if he had just asked someone who actually wanted this, but instead he had to go for the girl that didn’t care a scrap for him or his money. Damn it all.

Draco took a seat next to Ginny and ignored the approving smile his mother gave him. He shot a glance at his fiancé, noting her less than pleased expression, and then glared down at his own plate in brooding silence. Why? Why had he done it? Why hadn’t he just thought about the situation and consequences a bit longer and reigned in his damn impulsive behaviour? He certainly wouldn’t be here right now feeling sick from nerves, nor would he be worrying over the fact that his soon-to-be-bride seemed more likely to slap him than kiss him like a normal fiancé should. Not that he really wanted her to kiss him. He had come to the conclusion that his moment of wanting to kiss her had been nothing more than a weird, hormonal spasm. It just was not possible that he could like her, and even though a little voice kept annoyingly reminding him that he had felt more than just the desire to kiss her, Draco ignored it in the belief that those feelings too had been nothing more than hunger pangs. Of course, one did not feel hunger pangs in one’s heart, but Draco was more than a little alarmed by his developing feelings for Ginny Weasley. He felt more comfortable explaining them away, no matter how ridiculous the explanation was, rather than having to face them and accept that he might actually give a damn about the freckled wench next to him. Happily for Draco, he was very good at deluding himself.

Food magically appeared on his plate, and Draco half-heartedly stabbed at his meat with his fork. He could hear the chatter of the other guests around him, but right now he was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he barely registered what the conversation was about. His mind was stuck on Ginny and their upcoming marriage. It was clear that she still held a grudge against him, and really he didn’t blame her. Still, he had been expecting her to put up more of a fight than this. She seemed to be acting suspiciously agreeable tonight, or at least trying to. He hadn’t even expected her to leave her room to come to the dinner, for she had seemed quite dedicated to locking herself in her room, and yet here she was. Really, Draco felt like tonight had been quite a success considering their situation. Their conversation had not gone too badly- it definitely could have been worse- and she hadn’t even resorted to hexing him yet.

He had been terribly worried about facing Ginny tonight. In truth, he hadn’t wanted to see her at all, but his mother had quite literally forced him up the stairs to Ginny’s room and then glared at him threateningly until he had knocked at the door. In that moment he had silently prayed that Ginny would refuse him entry so that he could put off the engagement dinner, but then she just had to go and call him in like the disagreeable wench she was. His mother had narrowed her eyes at him, and feeling rather trapped by her intimidating glare, Draco had entered the room with a feeling of terrible misgiving. He had been expecting curses and hexes to come flying at him, but instead Ginny had just stared at him wordlessly for a moment and then started blushing. He hadn’t known what to think about that, and so had simply raised his eyebrow questioningly. After that she seemed to regain her backbone and Draco had felt his own wither away.

Unlike other people, Draco resorted to becoming insolently calm when he was nervous. It was for this reason that he had lounged back against the wall and pretended to not care about her at all. He didn’t even think about what he was doing when this happened, it just became natural instinct to appear bored and lazily arrogant. It was his very own self-defence mechanism, and it seemed to serve him quite well. At least, it did on Ginny anyway.

Narcissa stood up and tapped her spoon against her glass of champagne delicately, causing both Ginny and Draco to suddenly glance at each other with identical, horrified expressions. They both knew what that signal meant, and as the table of guests fell into a hush, Draco stared up at his mother with his stomach twisting unpleasantly. He felt Ginny shuffle next to him and knew she must be feeling the same, but all thought soon flittered away as his mother started to speak.

“My friends, it is my great honour to stand in for my husband tonight to be the one to give this happy announcement.” She smiled at both Draco and Ginny, who smiled somewhat edgily back, and then once more turned her cool, blue eyes onto the other guests. “I am pleased to announce that my son and Miss Ginevra Weasley are engaged to be married.”

Draco’s eyes slid shut in a wince, half expecting the table to erupt into outraged shouts, but instead a deadly hush fell over the room. He daringly opened one eye and saw Ginny sitting bolt upright in her seat with her face pale and every freckle standing out on her cheeks, and then very slowly allowed both his eyes to open to take in the situation. Every single woman in the room was glaring daggers at Ginny, and even some of the men were glaring at her, which Draco found a little odd. Suddenly Alexia let out a wail of fury and abruptly stood up off her chair, which fell over with a loud clatter. Draco heard her mutter furiously to herself in French, only catching the word ‘whore,’ and then watched her storm out of the room like an angry swarm of bees. Her actions seemed to bring everyone else to life, and soon the room was filled with the loud buzzing of voices. Very few seemed thrilled by the engagement, though he noticed Armande seemed to be trying hard not to laugh.

It was then that the doors to the dining room were thrown open and two very angry redheads stormed in.

“WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER!?” A rather dumpy looking woman demanded in a voice that could have rivalled a banshee. The other redhead, who he recognised as Arthur Weasley, was staring at the woman with a scrunched up expression. No doubt he had received the full blast of her voice being so close.

Draco suddenly gulped and stared at the woman who had just narrowed her brown eyes on him.

“You! You’re the one that stole my daughter from me!” Mrs Weasley accused with her finger pointing damningly at his face.

Draco looked around the room for help and was relieved to see his mother walk over to Ginny’s irate mother and place a calming hand on her shoulder.

“Perhaps we should talk?” Narcissa suggested coolly, and much to the amazement of all, managed to steer Molly and Arthur Weasley out of the room without a single angry word being spoken from either of them.

The other guests all stared in wonderment at the closed door, and Draco found himself suddenly wishing that he were anywhere but here. He chanced a glance at Ginny and noticed that she had much the same expression on her face.

“Come on,” he muttered to her. “Let’s get out of here before they start asking us questions.”

Ginny nodded her head quickly, and both of them stood up and made their hasty retreat from the dining hall. They found a quiet parlour and sat down together on the cosy chairs, both not really wanting to say anything. For Draco he didn’t think he could. It had been very nerve-racking to see Ginny’s parents barge in like that. For one wild moment he had thought Mrs Weasley was going to murder him.

“Do you think your mum will manage to calm my parents down?” Ginny asked after a few more minutes of silence.

Draco shrugged. “I don’t know… but I certainly hope so. I don’t particularly feel like facing your mother’s wrath.”

She gave a hollow laugh. “You should of thought of that before you decided to get engaged to me.”

“Trust me, Weasley, I’ve been regretting getting engaged to you since the day it happened.”

Ginny said nothing, and Draco only scowled darkly to himself, wondering just what would happen now. He could only hope that his mother would succeed in making the Weasleys see her way.

A/N: I’m just making this note because I’ve had a few comments about errors in the chapters. I do have a beta but I do not use her for my Portkey account. I’m giving you the choice now in deciding what you would prefer. You can either have my un-beta’d versions, which means I can update them as soon as I have finished them, or you can have the beta’d versions, which will take longer for me to update, but naturally will have little to no errors. It’s up to you, as either way is fine with me.