** I don't own the Harry Potter world, characters or places. They belong to J.K. Rowlings. Now, enjoy this chapter because I am absolutely certain you will!!!! don't forget to let me know what you think :D Emmalee <3 **

Chapter Fifteen ~ Tell the Truth

“Well, this has been enough excitement to tire an old man out,” Kingsley said as he stood and stretched. He needed to be going. “I’m off, lot. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He said as he made his way to the door.

“Where will you be staying?” Ginny asked.

“Jeff has offered me his couch.” Kingsley nodded towards the other Minister who was speaking to both Amélie and Thomas.

Ginny frowned, “that’s because his latest “girlfriend” left him.” She explained, air quotation marks and everything.

“She didn’t leave me. I kicked her out.” Jeff huffed as he affectionately ruffled Amélie’s hair. “She was complaining that I worked too much. I’m the goddamn Minister. What did she freaking expect?” He snorted as he made his way to the door. “Come along, Kingsley. I’m dead on my feet.”

Kingsley nodded and followed Jeff. As soon as the door shut behind the two Ministers, the Weasley girls’ apartment went silent. The four others looked between each other until Thomas cleared his throat.

“Well… I think I might… it’s be best if I got home. Colm will be getting worried soon.” Thomas looked around nervously.

“I’ll walk you out.” Amélie quickly said, grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the door.

“Goodnight, Ginny. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Malfoy.” Thomas nodded then disappeared out the door behind Amélie.

For a second, Draco and Ginny stared at the door. Ginny kept staring, forcing herself not to look at Draco. She knew that now they needed to talk, really talk and truthfully, she didn’t want to. All the talk would bring back old pains and furies that she’d prefer were never brought up but she knew it was inevitable. She had some explaining to do and she needed to take the step forward and grab the kneazle by the tail.

She took a deep breath and turned towards Draco.

“We need to –” she started to say at the same time he began saying, “I think we really need –”

They stopped, Ginny blushed and Draco smirked as he looked at her.

“You first, Red.” He told her.

“We need to talk.” She mumbled as she stared at the floor, refusing to meet his eyes.

He grinned, “I agree.”

“Perfect, you two do that and I will go to sleep. Goodnight.” Amélie said quickly as she reappeared in the apartment and all ran into her room.

“She certainly knows how to make a quick exit.” Draco snorted at Amélie’s closed door.

“She certainly does.” Ginny agreed.

She looked up at Draco who was looking down at her, his eyes were darker than usual and she knew he was expecting some answers but by Merlin, she didn’t really want to talk.

“How about I make us a pot of tea and we have that talk.” Ginny sighed as she made her way to the kitchen.

“I’d really like that.” He followed behind her.

Ten minutes later, Ginny and Draco were sitting at the dining room table, each holding a cup of tea. Ginny looked into her liquid and bit her lip.

“I guess I’ll go first.” Draco said lightly. He was looking down at his tea as well.

“Okay,” Ginny took a sip of her tea.

“Truthfully, I don’t even know where to start.” He sighed then ran his fingers through his hair.

“Ask what’s on your mind.” She tried.

He nodded, “Why did you leave?”

Ginny cursed internally. She didn’t want to answer that question.

“Next question,” she said as she took a sip of her tea.

“What?” His eyes narrowed.

“I don’t want to answer that question.” She told him.

“I don’t care if you want to answer that question, Ginny. Answer it.” He hissed.

“No, next, Draco.” She demanded.

He growled lightly and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened them again. “Okay, why did you tell me I had a… I had… that I have a daughter?”

Ginny stared at him silently, he looked back. After a few moments of silence she shook her head.

“I’m not going to answer that either.” She said again.

“You have got to be bloody kidding me. I’m being serious here. You said we needed to talk. I agree, I asked you questions and now you answer the blasted questions. Blimey, I didn’t think they were that difficult.” He growled.

“Fine, ask me another question.” She tried.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, thinking deeply. He thought for a few moments and then he nodded to himself and looked at her. Ginny could see the hurt in his eyes even after all of these years. She bit her lip to refrain from crying at the pain in his eyes.

“Why did you choose Potter? After everything he did to you, how much he hurt you? Why did you choose him over me?” He asked his voice low.

Ginny closed her eyes. She didn’t want to talk about any of this. She didn’t want to talk about the past. She wanted to let it go and live in the present. Was that so hard to ask for? Obviously it was.

She shook her head.

Ginny jumped when she heard a fist pound against the table. Her eyes shot open to see Draco standing; he pushed his chair back and began making his way to the door. Ginny ran to stop him.

“What are you doing?” She asked in surprise.

“What do you think I am doing?” He hissed.

“Where are you going?” She blinked herself in front of the door, blocking his exit.

“You’re not taking this seriously, Ginny. We’re supposed to talk and you won’t even bloody talk! How is that considered a blasted conversation? No, forget it. I’m just going to take a page from you damn book and leave!” He yelled as he tried to get around her.

She stared in shock as he tried to get by. His eyes were stormy gray, angry, hurt; his hair in his eyes.

“No, no! You can’t leave!” She cried as she barricaded the front door.

Draco stopped and took a step back, looking at her. “Red, I never left. If I’m not mistaken, you disappeared, gone, leaving me and taking off with our daughter seventeen years ago who I had no bloody idea existed! You were the one who left me. You always left me. That one night when I woke up and you were gone! Then our fight, where you chose St. Scar – head, the Boy – Who – Is – A – Sodding – Bastard, over me! You left me, Ginny. Don’t mix up the facts.” He growled, his cool demeanor that he was so popular for having was slipping quickly.

“I had no choice!” She yelled.

“Had no choice? Which time?” He yelled back. “That night that we shagged or the night you choose Potter or the night that you took my daughter away from me?”

Ginny cringed.

“You had no choice! Ha! That’s a load of hippogriff crap! I don’t believe that for one bloody minute. You had a choice! You had a sodding choice. You just chose wrong. You chose wrong every single time.” He took a step back and tried to collect himself. He was losing it. His feelings, his emotions, were pouring right out of him.

“Draco, that night…” Ginny started to say but stopped.

“Which night?” He asked. He was desperate, so goddamn desperate for some explanation. “Which night, Ginny? There are so many nights? You were always leaving me. Aren’t you seeing some kind of pattern because for Merlin’s sake, I am.”

Ginny bit her lip, she could feel tears gathering in her eyes. She looked away from him, leaning back against the door.

“Talk to me, Ginny. I need you to talk to me, love.” Draco said as he stepped forward and lifted her chin so that they could look into each other’s eyes; his touch and tone were so gentle.

A single tear escaped Ginny’s eye and Draco brushed it away with his thumb.

“I didn’t choose Harry over you, Draco. I know it may have seemed like it but I didn’t! I wouldn’t! it wasn’t what you think! It was so stupid, it is stupid. Like that one night you stopped me from murdering him and Hermione while they strolled casually down Diagon Alley all those years ago, you told me that we couldn’t kill unless we were instructed to. You would have killed Harry then and neither Kingsley nor I would have been able to stop them from taking you! And I couldn’t have that, for the love of Merlin, I couldn’t have them lock you away in Azkaban!” She cried out suddenly, tears pouring down her cheeks.

Draco’s eyes widened, “but…”

“I know I should have done things differently, Merlin knows I should have but I acted automatically and Draco, I just couldn’t have them take you.” Ginny admitted as she wiped away her tears.

“Did you disappear because of our fight?” He asked suddenly.

Ginny shook her head, “not entirely. I had found out right before the fight that I was pregnant. I didn’t know how to tell you. After our fight, you avoided me. Merlin, it hurt so much and I did finally understand why you loathed when I avoided you.” She snorted.

“Red, I’m so –” He started to say but she interrupted him.

“Wait, not yet, Draco. Let me finish.” He nodded so she continued. “You didn’t want to have anything to do with me. So I finally was forced to tell my family I was pregnant. They wanted to know who the father was. I refused to tell them so they disowned me. A few months later, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.” She smiled as she remembered hold Amélie in her arms the moment she was born. “After that, I couldn’t stay.

“Truthfully, I had nothing left in England anymore. You didn’t want to hear or see me. My parents disowned me. So I did the only thing I could think to do, I grabbed Amélie and left. It was hard at first but it got better over the years.”

Draco looked at her. To hear her struggles upset him, more than he thought possible until a thought struck him. He immediately grew angry.

“None of that would have happened if you would have just told me about being pregnant, Ginny. Didn’t you think I had a right to know that I was going to be a father? Didn’t you think I had any say of anything? What right did you have to take that decision away from me? To take Amélie and making miss everything that has gone on over the past seventeen years? You had absolutely no right. That should have been my decision. How dare you take that away from me!” He growled.

Ginny stared at him in shock and then fury took over the shock.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She yelled angrily.

“No, I most certainly am not!” He yelled back.

“I tried to tell you! You wouldn’t see me! You wouldn’t talk to me! You wouldn’t even read my goddamn letters, Draco! How the hell were you going to find out then? Plus, I did try to tell you! You sent the letter back without even reading it! You really have a lot of nerve trying to make me seem like the bad guy in this. If you would have just opened that letter, none of this would have happened! This past seventeen years would have been different!” Ginny screamed.

She couldn’t believe that the git would have the nerve to say it was her fault. She was fuming as she thought about that until she looked up to see Draco staring down at her. He looked as if his air had been knocked out of him.

“Draco?” She asked instantly worried.

“The letter…” he whispered, remembering the exact letter she was talking about, and looked into her eyes, his filled with immense pain.

“Yes, Draco, that letter.” She said sadly.

“Merlin’s beard,” he whispered as he dropped his head into his hands.

Instantly Ginny felt terrible. Seventeen years had passed, had come and gone, instead of fighting like this, they should be trying to make amends.

She sighed and hugged him then. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Ginny holding Draco as he silently mourned the seventeen years he could have had with his Red and their daughter if he hadn’t been such a complete arse. Finally, he stepped out of her arms; a thought coming to mind.

Draco looked at Ginny and then frowned, “and what about that night? The night we…” He stopped and ran his fingers through his hair but continued, “the night we slept together.”

Ginny blushed as memories of that night came to her mind; the feel of his hands, his lips on her body. It had been over seventeen years but still she remembered it. Still she dreamed about it. Once, that was all it had taken for Draco to imprint her soul, brand her inside and outside.

“That night… we slept together…” Ginny stopped and looked away from him.

“Tell me.” Draco forced, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

“It was just a shag. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to do anything if I was there when you woke up,” Ginny lied.

“You’re a terrible liar, Red.” Draco whispered as he watched her. Truthfully, she had gotten better. It was almost impossible to tell if she was telling the truth or lying. What he did know was that he wanted her to be lying, Merlin’s beard, did he want her to be lying. “Tell the truth, Ginny Weasley.”

She gulped nervously. She couldn’t believe she was being such a coward. She looked down at the floor, took a deep breath and then looked deep into his silvery – gray eyes.

“Draco, truthfully, look me in the eye and tell me that that night, seventeen years ago, you didn’t feel something. Tell me that it was just a drunken shag between two good friends.” Ginny paused. “I know you’ve slept with many women before and after me. The thing is that to me… to me, that night was so much more. It wasn’t just a drunken shag. To me, it was one of the best nights of my life even if it didn’t mean a damn thing to you.”

Draco stared at Ginny in silence. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing; it just couldn’t be real. Unfortunately though, his silence gave Ginny the wrong impression.

“Well,” her voice was filled with pain that twisted Draco’s insides just listening to it. “I left that morning when I woke up because you had made it very clear the night before that you just wanted to be friends. And honestly, I’m not the best at being just friends with the man I’m in love with. It just –” Ginny was saying before Draco’s lips slammed down on hers.

She gasped as her body exploded with just his lips pressed firmly against hers. He took that gasp to his advantage and slipped his tongue against hers.

The second their tongues touched, they both moaned with abandonment and longing. Draco pushed Ginny roughly against the front door, lifting her off the floor. Ginny’s legs immediately wrapped around his hips and she grabbed his hair and pulled him closer to her, his body against hers, his lips more firmly on hers.

She ran her fingers through his smooth hair. Her body was on fire, she felt as if she was about to explode as he continued to explore her mouth. She grabbed the front of his shirt and in one swift movement, tore open the front of his shirt exposing his marvelous chest to her hungry hands.

He groaned in her mouth as she ran her hands over his chest; he then grinded against her and she moaned. His lips left hers and traveled down her neck hungrily. He nibbled against the spot between her neck and her shoulder which caused her to sigh and the sound almost undid him.

“Bedroom,” he growled roughly.

“Yes, please, get into the bedroom.” A voice said from behind them.

Draco and Ginny both looked towards the voice to see Amélie standing in her doorway with her hands covering her completely red face.

Draco immediately put Ginny down who was blushing just as much as Amélie. He chuckled lightly.

“Amélie! How long have you been standing there?” Ginny asked appalled.

“Only a few moments. I had been worried because all of the shouting had stopped and I was afraid one of you had killed the other one. It would be bad if my parents killed each other.” Amélie explained without removing her hands. “Clearly, there wasn’t anything for me to worry about. Please, continue. Don’t stop on my account but please, go to mom’s bedroom.”

“You can look now.” Draco told her.

Amélie snorted, “I’d rather not. I’m going to bed. Goodnight and please try to keep it down. Some of us do like to get some sleep.” She said and closed her door without looking at either of them.

“Oh my Merlin, that was embarrassing.” Ginny whispered as she continued to stare at Amélie’s closed door.

“It’s not so bad. Come here.” He said softly as he held out his arms for her to come to him.

Ginny smiled slightly and stepped into his open arms. In the span of a breath, they were standing beside her bed. She bit her lip and looked at her bed.

Merlin did she want Draco. She’s wanted him since she bloody met him but right now, right now she knew it wouldn’t be the best thing.

“Don’t think too much about it, Red.” Draco whispered from behind her, his warm breath brushing against her ear. She shivered. “I’m exhausted, it’s been a long day.” He said as he quickly removed his clothing and just stood there, in front of her bed in his boxers. Ginny stared at him hungrily.

“If you continue to look at me like that I might just forget how tired I am and ravish you.” He teased as he slid under the covers. “Now, you should know my rules about sleeping with me.” He told her seriously.

“There’s more than one?” Ginny asked curiously.

“Well…no, there’s just one, actually.” He smiled seductively, “no clothes allowed under the covers.” He winked suggestively.

Ginny chuckled as she chucked her clothing and slipped under the covers in her undergarments.

“Ah, I believe that you’re still wearing clothes.” He told her.

“How can you have rules about sleeping with women if you don’t exactly sleep with them?” Ginny asked, ignoring his comment.

“I still have rules even though I’ve never done it.” He said then corrected himself, “excuse me, I’ve done it twice.”

“Twice…?” Ginny asked.

“Yes, both times with you. Only you, Red,” He told her as he snuggled up behind her, pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arm around her waist possessively, his hand slipped up to her breast and cupped it.

Ginny shivered.

“Don’t get any ideas tonight, Red. I need to get some sleep.” He teased but Ginny could hear to lust and desire in his tone.

She chuckled.

“Say it again,” he whispered into her ear.

“Say what?” Ginny asked confused.

“Say that you love me.” He told her.

Ginny froze. “I never said that I –” she started to say but he cut her off.

“Yes, you did. Don’t lie. I know you do. Say it.” He said.

Ginny bit her lip and knew she might as well. She had said it without realizing it earlier.

“I love you, Draco.” She whispered softly.

She felt his smile against her hair.

The room grew silent and she figured he had fallen asleep until he spoke again:

“I love you too, Red.”

******

Hello! I hope you LOVED this chapter! I gotta say, this was one of my favorite chapters writing! don't forget to let me know what you thought about it! also, thank you for reading! :D

~ Emmalee <3