A/N: Many of you asked for a sequel to Gutterflower and, well, I've finally had time to get a good grasp on an idea and write it.
Lyrics featured within are copyrighted to the happy little group, Garbage. I do not own any featured characters, nor do I claim to. If I did, I'd probably be raving in a mental institution and not just sitting here, claiming so.
Hope you enjoy.
Oh, and Nar... I think this one is for you.
Garbage
Love is a silly word. It can imply anything from emotions to actions. Take, for instance, the act of making love. Without there being love, making "love" would simply be sex... wouldn't it? A good ol' romp, a roll in the hay. No strings attatched, no backglances or second thoughts. With love, there's so much to be felt, tasted, treasured. The simple idea of love can brighten a person's day or make even the plainest of girls float on cloud nine for at least a minute or so and Ginny had the whole package. Or, at least, she hoped so.
Thoughts mulled around in her head, through the sheer exhaustion that flittered around in her mind that threatened to blanket and smother her conciousness in any given second. It was a task simply keeping her eyes open, but she managed. Everything felt warm, comfortable. Ginny fought being pulled back into the deep sleep that tempted her so, tickled on the edge of her rest-deprived eyes and body and the fact that Draco was sleeping soundly beside her, his thick arms slung with careful consideration across her middle with his bodyheat radiating in warm, pleasant waves into her made sleep very hard to resist.
Mmm. sleep... The arm around her middle felt heavier than it had a second before, stirred, and slid off of her body completely. Ginny's first inclination was to stiffen, but she fought the urge when she felt a warm tickle on the back of her neck. She turned herself over. Draco's eyes had opened and he was breathing softly onto her face.
"Good morning," he said. His voice was filled with sleep, rough and scratchy.
"Good morning," replied Ginny. She smiled, reaching up to finger the serpent-pendant necklace that she wore. "It's really early."
He rolled over to look at the clock resting on the bedside table and grunted after viewing the time. "It is. Why are you up, then?" He proped himself up on an elbow and gazed down at her, letting a lock of hair fall into his face and not bothering to tuck it back. "Have you had any sleep?"
"No, not really." Draco said nothing. "I'm really tired, I just can't fall asleep. Haven't you ever felt like that?"
Silence. Draco simply stared down at Ginny, a hawk-like gaze hidden behind a silvery curtain of hair. Ginny forced a weak smile, reached up, and tucked the stray hair behind his ear. He didn't move and simply let her.
"Are you pregnant again?"
And there it was. Out in the open, the question that she knew was burning on his mind. It stung, the way he had put it. Would he be upset if she was? The last time she'd been pregnant... well, she tried not to dwell on it. The thought of the baby that could have been caused her pain, made her cry silently at night when she knew Draco wasn't watching. She didn't blame him for what happened between them, for the drunken rage that claimed the baby's life; Ginny had forgiven him, but that feeling of life inside her, how it all-too-soon disappeared... that was painful, too painful for her to explain to him.
Ginny looked away. "No, I'm not. Thanks for the sympathy, Draco."
"Well, I just -"
"Would you be mad if I was?" she interrupted. "Would you kill it like you did the last?"
With an abrupt movement, Draco flung the covers off of himself and climbed out of the bed. He crossed to the other side of the room and stood, silent, with his back facing the bed and Ginny. Ginny called to him, asked him to come back to bed, but he ignored her, arms crossed against his chest in defiance. He was not going to take that from her, not now, not after everything that they'd been through and had overcome together.
"Draco, don't... stop. Come back to bed," she said, stepping out of bed. "Quit being such a bastard and talk to me, Draco."
"You have the audacity to tell me to stop, quit acting like a bastard and talk to you? You expect me to act normal when you bring up a rather sensitive subject for the both of us and when you wonder if I would kill a child that was concieved between the two of us? The first... it was an accident. If I hadn't been drunk, you know it wouldn't have happened, Ginny. I didn't want it to die. It was my child, Ginny! Why the hell would I want to kill my own flesh and blood, even if it were unborn?"
She winced. "Draco, I didn't mean to upset you. I promise. But you're acting like you'd want to kill me and everyone around if it came to that again!"
Draco blanched. He started a few sentences, stuttered, and stopped. No words seemed to come to him. At least, none that keep him from wanting to hex almost everything that came into sight.
"Please, Draco, just listen to me for Christ's sake!" Ginny grabbed ahold of her beau's arms and squeezed them, digging her nails into his flesh. "It was just a question, please don't be so upset about it. I'm sorry that I said it, I honestly didn't mean to hurt you, but -"
"Let go of me, Ginny."
"Draco, quit being so damn unreasonable!"
The look on Draco's face pained her. He sneered down at her with vehemence. Ginny felt as though she had shrank six inches and was nothing but a mere child standing before a large, imposing man. Tears stung at her eyes and threatened to start spilling down her cheeks.
"If you do not let go of me," he said, "you're going to rue the day you ever met me, Weasley."
"You're being a git, Malfoy!"
He ground his teeth together in annoyance. "Do. Not. Touch. Me."
Shaking, either with anger or with fear, Ginny removed her hands from Draco's arms. He pushed past her and moved towards the wardrobe in the corner of the room. He flung open the doors and pulled out a pair of clothes, hastily put them on, grabbed a robe, and slammed the wardrobe doors shut. Draco stalked past Ginny and headed towards the door. She reached out and grabbed for his shirt.
"Draco, stop." There was no answer from the angered man. "DRACO! KNOCK IT OFF!"
He stopped at the door, bent over to put boots on his feet. She launched herself on top of him and knocked him to the floor.
"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry for you to listen to me, you thick-headed prat?" Again, no answer. "You have such a bad temper, it's a wonder you're not a redhead... or a Weasley for that matter!"
Draco was silent. He said nothing as he looked at the floor and tied his shoelaces, gasp, without the aid of magic that he did most of the time, being too lazy to do it himself. They sat on the floor together, quiet, respecting eachother's silent thoughts. Ginny didn't know what to say, wasn't sure of what would set him off again, so she let him be the one who broke the silence.
"..." He stood up and brought Ginny to her feet. "Don't talk about the baby anymore, Weasley, or I swear I'll do something that I might regret later."
"Oh, damn you, Draco." She hugged him, but he remained stiff and rigid. Draco wasn't one to forgive easily and his temper made him very scary at times, but she still felt love for him. It was odd; she never thought she could love him after what he'd done, but being a Weasley, it was best to forgive and forget than to hold a grudge for years on end, only to have those regrets eat away at your sanity. "...Look. I'm wide awake, now. Maybe you should get angry more often?"
Their relationship was hard to explain. As a matter of fact, they prefered not to talk to anyone about it. It was their little secret - the dates, the many evenings they spent together; it was just the two of them, and that was the way they liked it.
How the two remained together was a mystery, even to them, but they were in love with eachother and as long as the other knew the feeling existed, they were happy... in their own strange, little way.
Keeping their relationship hidden and secret, however, was beginning to become a burden and hard to cover. Ginny had a hard time explaining to her family; where did she go at night? Who was she with? What was she doing? Why was she gone almost every night? And why was she so happy, after all that had happened?
Draco faced similar problems, though none as inquisitive about his affairs. He was usually left alone, and that's how he liked it. His mother questioned him now and then - mostly about the change in his attitude - but other than that, he lived his life without comment and enjoyed it.
Ginny wanted to tell her family about Draco. She wanted to tell them everything; about the baby, their struggles, and their newfound happiness with one-another, but she wasn't entirely sure how they would accept him. Ron certainly would have a hard time, but that was Ron, and he usually had a hard time with every person he met until he learned that they weren't part of the 'dark side' of the Wizarding World. Draco would have a problem with Ron, too; they'd never gotten along in school, so why would they be expected to get along after graduation?
There was probably no hope whatsoever for the reconciliation between her brother and lover.
But, nevertheless, she wanted to tell them.
"Draco?" He didn't answer her right away, but when he did, Ginny said, "I... I want to tell my family about you. About us."
He snorted. "What about us, Ginny? That we're seeing eachother, screwing eachother, or that I was the father of your unborn and dead child? Yes, I'm sure they'll accept me with open arms."
"I'm not saying that they won't be upset," she said. She chewed on one of her longer fingernails, much to Draco's disgust. "I just... I don't want to lie to them anymore."
Draco put a finger up against her lips to silence her. She obliged, but not willingly. "Listen to me." He reached over and past her, towards the bedside table. He pulled open the drawer in the little table and pulled something out, hiding it in his large, elegant hand. Ginny pretended not to notice; if he wanted to tell her, he would.
"Marry me." He opened his hand, exposing the small, silver ring that rested in his palm.
"Wha-"
"Ginny. Just say yes."
"I, uhm..." It was sudden. Draco Malfoy was asking her, Virginia Weasley, to marry him? She felt her head spinning, her stomach jolting up into her throat, crammed alongside her wildly thumping heart. Draco slid the ring on her finger and Ginny found it even harder to speak. "I... Oh dear, sweet Merlin. Now I definately have to tell mum."
His eyes laughed at her. "Can't say that I'm exactly excited, myself."
"You have a really strange way of showing that you care."
"Well, let me bow down before Virginia Weasley, the queen of all humanity. I've seemed to have forgotten that." Draco's smirk was mocking. He didn't smile. He smirked.
Ginny glared. "It's best you know your place, then!"
Come down to my house
Stick a stone in your mouth
You can always pull out
If you like it too much
Make a whole new religion
A falling star that you cannot live without
And I'll feed your obsession
There'll be nothing but this thing that you'll never doubt
A hit is hard to resist
And I never miss
I can take you out
With just a flick of my wrist
Make a whole new religion
A falling star that you cannot live without
And I'll feed your obsession
There is nothing but this thing that you'll never doubt
This thing you'll never doubt
And I'll feed your obsession
The falling star that you cannot live without
I will be your religion
This thing you'll never doubt
You're not the only one
You're not the only one
Now I want it too much
Now I want it to stop
Now I'm lucky like a falling star that fell over me
Bow down to me.