FicWad

The first light of morning leaked through the velvet curtains, casting long golden streaks across the floor of Draco's bedroom. Ginny lay awake, still tucked against his chest, his arm slung lazily around her waist. His breathing was steady, completely unaware that she hadn’t slept a second.

She didn’t dare move for a while. Part of her didn’t want to. His warmth felt maddeningly safe, and she hated that. Hated how easy it had been to fall into something that couldn’t possibly last. That shouldn't have happened in the first place.

But it had.

She looked down at herself. His shirt on her, sleeves rolled twice over, the hem reaching mid-thigh. Her dress lay in a ruined heap somewhere across the room, torn, wrinkled, and far too honest. It was the kind of mess she couldn’t explain. Not to her mother. Not to her friends. Definitely not to herself.

Ginny's heart ached in a way she hadn’t expected. Last night had been...god, it had been something. Intense. Real. It was also a line crossed, one she couldn’t uncross just because it felt good.

Because feeling good didn’t change who they were.

She turned her head slightly to look at him. Even asleep, Draco still had that effortless elegance. His white-blond hair falling over his forehead, his jaw tight, lips parted just slightly. He looked peaceful. Vulnerable, even.

That made it harder.

Carefully, Ginny slid out from under his arm. He shifted, murmured something incoherent, but didn’t wake.

She stood up, exhaling quietly, as if even the floorboards might snitch on her. The room was cold without him.

She spotted his cloak draped over a chair and hesitated only for a second before grabbing it. Then the pants. Then the shirt she was already wearing. She’d find a carriage, get home, pretend none of this happened. She might even burn the clothes later. Either that or she’d keep them hidden at the bottom of her trunk like a secret she never asked for.

Ginny looked around the room one last time. Her ruined red dress hung neatly over the back of the chair. She’d folded it earlier, left it like a thank-you or an apology, she wasn’t sure which. She pinned the note to it.

"It was just one night, Malfoy. Let’s leave it at that."

Her handwriting was steady. Neat. Nothing like how she felt inside.

Without another glance, Ginny walked out of the room, each step harder than the last. She didn’t cry. She didn’t look back. As the Manor doors closed behind her and she stepped into the chilly morning air, she whispered the lie again under her breath.

“Just one night.” Ginny tried, really tried to believe it.
Draco didn't wake until a little before noon, when Lucius had gotten tired of his son's laziness and sent a house elf up to his room with breakfast. Apparently, his father was still too angered to bother with him personally, something that suited Draco just fine. He wasn't particularly interested in seeing his father just yet.

As he awoke, he thought of the night before and had to smile. It had been well worth getting his father angry. He assumed there would be hell to pay later on in the day, but right now he didn't care much. In addition to spending the night with a beautiful woman, Pansy and Blaise's reaction had come as a bonus.

Sure, Pansy would nag horribly when they came back from break, but at least now she knew she was not indeed his girlfriend. And better than that, the rest of Hogwarts would know.

He sat up in bed and stretched his arms but realized in the middle of his yawn that his bed was empty except for himself. Turning quickly, he discovered his realization to be true, and when he put his hand to where Ginny had slept, he knew she had been gone quite a while, as her side was cold. He gave a sigh and accepted the tray the house elf brought him.

"When did my date leave?" he asked the elf, picking at the eggs with his fork.

The elf gave a low bow and answered him that she had left around dawn, taking one of the carriages away from the mansion. Draco didn't look up from his food, but gave the elf a wave signaling for it to leave. He finished his food while still in bed and then got up to dress.

When he crossed the room towards his closet, he noticed Ginny's dress hung neatly over the back of his chair by the desk. There was a note pinned to it. He smiled to himself and opened his closet.

He saw at once that someone had been going through his clothes. Rummaging through them he discovered one of his favorite cloaks to be missing, along with a shirt and a pair of pants. He gathered Ginny must have taken them.

He was slightly amused at the thought of Ginny not being able to find her own room again - and she would of course not have wanted to ask anyone for directions - and therefore coming home to her family in a man's clothes. He didn't think the Weasleys would be too amused. Poor witch couldn't be used to house elves, he mused, calling one over to go fetch her leftover clothes from her other room.

After getting himself dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms, he walked over to the dress and un-pinned the note. In daylight he could see a rather large gash running down the top of the bodice. Thinking about what had caused the gash, he had to smile. As he started reading the note, his smile tuned into a smirk and widened.

"We'll see about that, Weasley," he said aloud to no one when he finished. "Let's just wait and see what happens."

"It's a one-night thing, Malfoy," she had said, a comment that only deepened his interest in her.

He decided he had to have her. After charming her for weeks she had finally given in, and it only progressed from there.

Finally, it had ended up in the dangerous state where they both had started envisioning their lives together.