** I don't own the Harry Potter world, characters or places. They belong to J.K Rowling. Now, enjoy! ES <3 **

Chapter Thirteen ~ Bittersweet

“I kissed Thomas,” Amélie whispered the next morning at the table so suddenly that Ginny almost dropped the plates of pancakes and bacon that she was carrying.

“You did what?” She asked in shock.

“I… well, we… I kissed Thomas.” She repeated.

For a moment Ginny simply stood and stared at her daughter. She was shocked, she knew that Amélie wasn’t completely ignorant to the boy but it caught her completely off guard that she had kissed him.

“Wow, how was it?” Ginny forced herself to ask as she sat at the table.

“MOM! I can’t tell you that!” Amélie blushed all the way to the tips of her ears.

Ginny laughed as she watched her completely embarrassed daughter. “It’s okay, love.” Ginny sighed as she remembered her first kiss with Draco.

“Are you remembering your first kiss with dad?” Amélie asked and laughed when Ginny’s cheeks heated. “Where was it?”

“It was an accident. I blinked into the backroom of your Uncle George’s store and landed on him. We fell and our lips… well, we kissed and that was it,” Ginny lied as she remembered exactly what had happened after; one completely steamy make out session with wandering hands.

“That’s a lie!” Amélie said quickly. “Your expression says so.”

“You don’t need to know all of the details,” Ginny told her as she grabbed some pancakes and began to eat.

“Then don’t ask me about Thomas.” Amélie huffed.

Ginny took a sip of orange juice to cover her laugh. Amélie was so adorable when it came to Thomas. Her daughter was finally growing up and getting a little boyfriend.

“Stop smiling like that, mom. It’s creepy.” Amélie frowned.

“I’m happy. I can’t smile when I’m happy? Bollocks, this apartment is going to be bloody gloomy then.” Ginny teased.

Amélie rolled her eyes but frowned when she looked at Ginny. She hadn’t noticed until now but her mom had bags under her eyes and they were a tad bit red as if she hadn’t gotten much sleep.

“Did you get any sleep?” She asked her but Ginny simply shrugged.

“I got enough,” was all she said.

For the remainder of their breakfast, neither said a word.

Amélie couldn’t figure out why her mother wouldn’t get any sleep but then remembered the vision Rìona had had. That was something to lose sleep over but for some reason Amélie didn’t think that was it.

Ginny hadn’t gotten one wink of sleep; she had continued to stress long after Amélie had returned from being with Thomas last night; yes, she was worried about Rìona’s vision but what had kept her awake was the possibility that Draco would come in the middle of the night. She didn’t know if she liked or hated the idea. He was coming; there was no doubt about it. Seventeen years had passed. She had hidden for seventeen long years.

Now was the time to get over her fear, her heartbreak, not for herself but for Amélie who deserved to have a father in her life.

“Mom, what’s wrong? You’ve been awfully quiet.” Amélie finally asked.

“It’s… ” Ginny started to tell her it was nothing but suddenly she stopped and looked at Amélie; her daughter, her seventeen year old daughter who was her entire life. She couldn’t let anything happen to her. Immediately, her mind became filled with images of Amélie hurt or worse, killed.

And it was all because of Ginny’s profession.

Not once in Ginny’s life has she ever regretted her profession. She loved being a hit – witch. She loved it all but that had to be the reason why someone was after her, why someone wanted to expose her, to kill her. There was no other reason, truthfully.

“Do you think it’s going to come true?” Amélie asked Ginny suddenly, meaning she was thinking along side what Ginny had been.

“Nothing is going to happen to me, baby.” Ginny told her. “I won’t let anything happen to me or to you.” She promised.

“Good,” Amélie said as she took a sip of her orange juice. “Have you heard anything from –” Amélie was saying when there was a sudden knock at the door.

She frowned when Ginny jumped up and stared at the door, her expression terrified.

“What’s wrong, mom?” Amélie asked suspiciously.

“Nothing is –” Ginny was saying when Amélie cut her off.

“Don’t lie to me and tell me nothing is wrong. I can tell. Don’t lie to me. You’re quiet, you look as if you didn’t get any sleep and you’re jumpy! Who ever heard of a hit – witch being jumpy?” Amélie snorted.

Ginny rolled her eyes half-heartedly.

She nervously stood and made her way to the door. She took a deep breath and quickly opened the door; then sighed with a hint of indignation.  

“I’m offended. You should be delighted to see me, Gin. You were complaining early that I was avoiding you. Now I’m here and you don’t seem at all happy to see me.” Colm teased.

Amélie rolled her eyes from the table and the instantly realized why Ginny had been so on edge.

“He’s coming, isn’t he?” Amélie immediately asked and she knew she was right when Ginny stiffened.

“Who is coming?” Colm asked suspiciously. He thought he had an idea and even though he had showed up to talk to Ginny and let her know that he was sorry about the way he acted and he knew that he had no right to say the things he had did, he was angry.

He loved Ginny. He couldn’t help it. He knew from the beginning that she was damaged, broken and that she wouldn’t ever love him back but he thought that maybe time would soothe her hurt heart and she would open up to the idea of being with someone else.

Obviously it didn’t work and now that was coming back into the picture. He definitely didn’t stand a chance now. He sighed but he knew the best thing was to forget about his feelings for her. He needed to be her friend and only her friend.

“Possibly,” Ginny muttered as she blinked herself onto the couch.

“Oh my MERLIN!” Amélie screamed at the top of her lungs, causing Ginny and Colm to jump up in surprise. “I need to talk to Thomas!” She screamed as she ran into her room.

She came out with her bag and her cloak. “Take of the wards, mom. I don’t want to go outside and I want to apparate the diner. He’s there right now, right, Colm?” Amélie asked as she hopped from foot to foot.

“Yes, he is. The diner is closed but he’s there.” Colm told her.

Amélie blushed but a happy smile broke out on her face, “remove the wards, mom.” She said again.

Ginny nodded then quickly removed the wards.

“Thanks, mom. I’ll be back soon. Bye, Colm!” Amélie said and then disapparated from the apartment, leaving Colm and Ginny alone.

For a moment the two of them stayed quiet, neither looking at the other. Ginny bit her lip as she finally forced herself to look at Colm. His blue eyes were now watching her sadly. Instantly she was filled with guilt. It was her fault that Colm was hurting. She didn’t want this to happen. She had tried to keep it from happening but she obviously hadn’t done a good enough job.

“Colm, I’m –” Ginny started to say but he cut her off.

“Look, Ginny, before you say anything I just wanted to apologize for the way I’ve been acting. You were right. I was… jealous even though I had absolutely no right to be. You never made me any promises and never made me think that we could ever have a future together. I knew from the beginning that you could never be mine but I just… well, I forgot that. So, I’m sorry, Ginny. Do you think you could ever forgive me?”

“Of course, Colm! You’re one of my best friends. I never meant to hurt you. You’ve been here for me since we’ve met. You shouldn’t be apologizing. I should be.” Ginny frowned.

Colm laughed at that, “really, don’t. it’s okay. Friends?” He asked.

“Do you even have to ask?” Ginny smiled widely and pulled Colm into a hug.

When they pulled away from each other, there was a smile on Colm’s face. He seemed better, clearer, happier; as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

“Well, I have to be heading off. I’ll see you later, though. If I remember correctly, Jeff says we have a meeting later tonight. I need to get some things in order before that. We’ll be meeting at the diner. See you then.” Colm smiled then with a swish of his wand and a pop, he disapparated from Ginny’s apartment.

Ginny sighed and stood up; she was glad that things had been straightened out between them. She didn’t want any bad feelings between them for Thomas and Amélie’s sake. They were close and Ginny really like Colm, just not like the way he wanted her to. He was a good friend, a good buddy. She didn’t love him.

I love Draco; she thought sadly as she made her way to the kitchen and began washing the dishes without magic. She was in a non-magic kind of mood and decided it would be nice to wash them.

She closed her eyes and smiled as an image of Draco smiling at her came to mind. It had been so long that she was surprised that she still remembered ever single detail of his face, of his body, of his eyes; sweet Merlin how she missed him.

For a second, she allowed her mind to wander and imagined how her life would have been if Draco had known about Amélie; if he had been there from the beginning. Holding her when she was first born, listening to her laugh for the first time, watching her crawl for the first time, watching her walk, speak, say daddy, show her first signs of magic, got to Liatris or well, Hogwarts, because that’s where she would have gone…

It was bittersweet to think about it.

Ginny sighed as she cleaned a plate with soap then washed the water off.

An unmistakable pop sounded behind her and she smiled. Amélie was finally home; now she could put up the wards.

“You’re home a lot sooner than I thought you would be,” she without looking back.

No response.

“Did something happen at the diner with Thomas?” She asked as she continued to clean the dishes, the warm water running through her fingers.

Still no response.

“Are you –” She started to ask when another voice interrupted her.

“Red, is that you?” His unmistakable voice asked.

The dish is Ginny’s hand slipped through her fingers, shattering as it fell in the sink. She spun around quickly and her heart froze in her chest.

“Draco.”

******

Hello! the meet up that everyone has been waiting for! it will be coming up NEXT chapter! hah, sorry! but it's finally here! Thank you for reading! i really appreciate your support! it means the world to me, really! keep on reading :D

I love youuuuuu guys!

~ Emmalee <3