"How did you know it was Seamus?"
"You told me."
Ginny scrambled off the bed. Draco was expecting this. Fortunately for Draco the potion hadn't gone quite into effect yet, and Ginny didn't have her wand with her, forgetting to bring it when she had rushed out the night before. She tipped and swayed, only to have Draco catch her and set her back on the bed, almost as if she were a young child.
"Sit." Ginny huffed. "I mean it Weasley. I brought you back and comf – let you sleep it off here. I deserve an answer to why I had to do that."
"Did you do it so you could blackmail me or something? It's ok. I do it every once in awhile."
"Bull. The bartender told me that you only come once a year, and you've been doing it for the last three years. Then you mentioned a wedding, a bridesmaid, and Seamus Finnigan. I'm getting very close here, but I don't know the details. And I would much rather hear it from you."
It was like a different world. She was so used to sad gazes and pitying smiles of her family and Harry and Hermione that Draco's piercing and demanding eyes unsettled her. Behind those eyes and hard face she saw something she didn't expect to see.
Concern.
It wasn't that he wanted to be nosy and find out everything he could. It was probably the same reason why he brought her back to his flat and didn't leave her to rot in the bar.
She looked up at him. "I'll start from the beginning." Draco sat down beside her on the bed. Their shoulders touched.
"You know that in my fifth year I started dating Harry, right?"
"No one could miss that." Draco was slightly sarcastic.
"And when he left, I dated Seamus. I needed someone after Harry. Seamus wasn't Harry, but he was security. Do you kind of get that?"
"Understood."
"I fell in love with him," Draco's gut dropped. Why am I feeling like this? "And we were perfect together. At least, I thought that."
It was like she couldn't stop talking. Everything just had to come out. She proceeded to tell him about her wedding, ending with how she'd been feeling the last three years without him.
"I often wonder, why did he leave me?" Ginny was saying tearfully but not yet shedding tears, "I didn't know what was wrong with us."
Maybe because he was just a bastard who didn't know how to hold on to a wonderful woman like you. Draco was shocked at his own thoughts.
"Did I do something wrong?" She turned to Draco. "Is there something wrong with me? For him to leave me, I mean."
Ginevra, there is nothing wrong with you. "Ginny, " Ginny's eyes shot up at the use of her name. "There is nothing wrong with you. Don't ever say that again." His eyes were hard. "You are a kind and funny person that anyone would like to hang around with." Her eyes watered and a tear slipped down her cheek. She tried to believe him, but she couldn't. "It's true." He insisted.
She turned away from him and stood up abruptly. "I need to go."
"Ginny. You haven't had a good cry in a long time, haven't you? With another person, I mean."
She didn't turn around, but she sobbed, "How can you tell?"
"Because I was the same way." He walked toward her and put his arms around her, cradling her within the circle of his arms, rocking her slightly. He turned her around gently and she returned the embrace, sobbing into his shirt. "Let it all out Ginevra."
_._._._._._
"Hey Malfoy. I think I think I have to go now."
They were sitting on his bed, sipping mugs of hot coffee. Draco's head popped up when he heard those words.
"Not that I want to, " she said quickly. "You've been so great and everything, but we both have jobs."
"Take the day off."
"I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"I just can't. Plus, I need to get home to change and shower."
"You can do that here."
"I doubt you have girl clothes."
"Wear mine." He had no idea why he was being so insistent on her staying. It was like he had her all to herself now, and he didn't want to let her go. Why not?
"Come off it, Malfoy. Tell you what, I'll meet you today to discuss more about the bride hunting. Alright?"
He had forgotten about the 'bride hunt'. For a second he didn't even care. But he said, "Fine." He pouted.
She laughed, "Don't pout, Malfoy."
As she was about to apparate, he called after her, "And call me Draco."
_._._._._._
Draco showered and left for his mother's home. It had been a week since he visited her, and he felt guilty.
"Mother?"
She was eating breakfast in the dining hall. "In here, Draco!"
"Sorry that I couldn't visit you more often. It's been so tiring what with work and the matchmaking."
"Yes, did you find anyone? I know that the first few women you met where a bit, well, mad. But these things take time." Narcissa was practically pleading.
He didn't want to tell her about Ginny and him working through the endless piles of profiles. And the fact that he had just been with her in bed. She's off limits and I'll find another woman. "Not yet." Seeing her fallen face, he added, "Don't worry Mother, I won't give up. I know you want me to be happy."
Narcissa beamed at Draco. Suddenly it struck Draco that Narcissa looked fine for a dying person. "Mother, did you get some medicine for your heart? You're glowing."
She coughed. "O-of course, darling. I forgot to tell you. I was feeling badly a few days ago, and they managed to procure a painkiller for me." There was no such thing, but Narcissa had to say something. She waved a hand at the food in front of her. "Come Draco, have some breakfast."
"Oh, okay Mother."
_._._._._._
An hour or so later Draco was apparating to Blaise's flat. He wanted some tea and needed to talk to him about — about everything. He had told Blaise about 'a girl' helping him instead of going through the process and Blaise merely snorted and said that it was practically expected of him as a Malfoy (this he said with a joking disdain) to get special care.
"Hey Blaise?"
"Yeah?" Blaise emerged, curious to see what Draco would tell him about the red haired chit in his bed that morning.
He handed Draco a cup of his lemon tea. "You know Blaise, if a woman made a lemon tea as good as yours, I would marry her."
"So what about that girl in your bed this morning?"
Draco choked and spat a mouthful of tea unto the floor. "Uh, sorry about that." He muttered a spell, flicked his wand and it vanished. "What were you saying?"
"The girl in your bed this morning. I took it you found someone?"
"Uh, no, " Draco coughed nervously. "Not exactly."
"Draco, you have a wife to find. And a reputation to uphold."
"She got drunk last night and couldn't go back to her flat."
"You usually do this with every drunk girl you meet?" Blaise's voice was mocking.
Draco frowned. "Hey! She's my matchmaker, okay. If she'd gotten herself killed I wouldn't have anyone to find me a wife."
Blaise didn't miss the defensive tone Draco was now taking, nor did he miss the fact that Draco seriously did care for this girl, even if he had yet to realize it. "Hey mate, don't get so defensive! So who is this girl?"
"Ginny Weasley." Now it was Blaise's turn to spit tea unto the immaculate floor. "A Weasley eh?"
"Yeah." Draco didn't know what more to add.
"Yeah." Blaise was obviously feeling the same way.
_._._._._._
"Hey Malfoy." Ginny greeted. Draco and Ginny were back at Starknuts again, sipping on mocha and cappuccinos.
"Draco." Draco corrected.
"Draco."
"So what have you got for me?"
"Nothing so far. I've been looking at a few women for you." She handed him a couple of profiles. "See if they're sane."
He was reading when he was aware of her eyes upon his face. "Ginevra?"
"Um. I just wanted to thank you for what you did. You didn't have too, but I'm grateful."
He was going to answer with the answer he gave Blaise, the 'oh its nothing, it was also to save my own ass since I need you to find a wife for me' but that didn't have the same ring to it anymore. Instead, he opted for a nice natural, "It's no problem. I was raised a gentleman."
She laughed softly. Draco was struck by how musical it sounded, and shook his head to clear it. "I guess so. It's all in a day's work for Mr. Draco Malfoy, shimmering knight in armor."
Her voice grew serious. "But I do really thank you. You're the first person that I actually have told everything too and it helps. Like it doesn't hurt as much."
He raised his coffee mug to her and smiled.
_._._._._._
A few hours later Draco was reading a few more profiles. He sighed and threw them into a trash can. "Isn't there a woman here who doesn't like to do something weird?"
Ginny was reading through a profile. She skimmed it and said, "Is this possible?"
Draco stopped staring at a tree. "What?"
"I've found the perfect woman for you!"
"Don't tell me it's the stripper, oh sorry, the ex-stripper, again?"
She hit his arm. "No! Look, she's a Pureblood, blonde and leggy and tall, a psychologist, and she's from France. There's no mention of any weird pets, foods, or interests. That's what you're looking for, right?"
"Let me see." His jaw dropped as he read this profile, which seemed, for the first time, not insane.
"See?" Ginny smiled. "Told you we'd find a possible someone for you. Now you can get away from me and I can get away from you and we'll both be happy."
Draco turned to her as she stared back at him. Suddenly the words she had just said didn't agree with what they truly wanted. Not at all.
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