a note from me: Here comes chapter 2. I think some people who read "If It Kills Me" has not subscribe to this yet coz they are prolly confused and in the unknown. But it's alright. Please read and review coz I need more reviews to improve the story.

ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Five years later

"Mum! I'm home." Ginny walked into The Burrow and found no one in the cosy living room. However a few seconds later, Mrs Weasley came down the stairs and smiled at her daughter.

"We found a nice apartment on Grove Alley. It is a few streets away from Sachway Alley. It has three bedrooms and a pretty large living…a tiny kitchen." Ginny finished. She looked up at her mother who had a frown on her face.

"Already?"

"Mum! You know it'll be sooner or later. The girls and I have wanted to move in together for years. We finally found something that we can afford." When Mrs Weasley did not say anything, she continued. "Besides, I promised you I will come visit every weekend like George and Bill."

Mrs Weasley took the last step on the stairs and walked down towards her daughter to sit beside her on the couch. She placed an arm on her right shoulder and squeezed it affectionately. "I know…I know. It's just that the house will be empty now. You're the only one I have left in this house and now you're leaving too."

"Mum you know you can expect us during the weekends. The house will be filled to the brim."

"Well I guess I have to accept the fact that all my children are now grown up." Mrs Weasley conceded. "Oh have you heard? Your brother is expecting….Fleur is two months pregnant!" She said excitedly.

"Really? Wow! Bill hasn't told me anything. I'm going to have another nephew…or maybe niece this time around."

They both talked some more over lunch and when Mr Weasley came home, he got the same news however unlike Mrs Weasley, he accepted Ginny's moving out news prepared. Before going to bed, Ginny wrote a note to Luna Lovegood and Susan Bones to tell them that she have informed her mother she would be moving in with them by next week. They had grown close together after working together on Icon, a high end magazine that features the rich and famous, the successful and entrepreneurs.

Ginny also wrote a note to Hermione Granger, welcoming her back after a week in France for a research conference. She had a pretty busy schedule after working with St Mungo's and becoming a sought after graduate from the Healer Institute of France. Ginny invited her to come over and help her pack and she was sure Hermione would gladly accept her offer. After sending all the notes out using her pet owl Ginny went to sleep, looking forward to a new day.

The next day she woke up feeling refreshed. After showering, she quickly had breakfast and went back to her room to begin packing her things into boxes. Earlier, she received an owl from Hermione, informing her that she would be coming down to help after she settles a few things at her rented apartment. After one hour of packing, Hermione joined her as she was folding her clothes into two luggages.

"The landlord kicked me out of the apartment!" Hermione said when Ginny asked what she needed to settle in the morning. "Pretty warm welcome huh?"

"Oh Hermione…what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to search and buy a new apartment. This way, no one will kick me out."

"But where are you going to stay while you look?"

"Harry's." Hermione replied.

"Oh, how is he?"

"Getting pretty good. I think he might be over the breakup."

"He should. It's been two months. We don't want the Daily Prophet to have the chance of reporting about his performance on the Quidditch pitch again."

"Yeah. I think he realise how important Quidditch is. It's the only thing that could keep him on his feet."

"I told you that Emily is a bogus!"

Ginny smirked quite triumphantly. When Harry Potter started dating Emily Cole, it was like they had started a new Daily Prophet drama with the paper reporting on their every move every single week. The fact that Harry was a very good Quidditch player having been named "Most Valuable Player" last season and Emily was the most popular socialite gave the Prophet the right to report on their every move. Ginny never liked Emily even if she had been really friendly towards everyone. She broke up with Harry without giving any reason and Ginny was angry with her because it left Harry really shattered and it affected his Quidditch performance. Now, Puddlemere was last on the British and Irish Quidditch League table because he had not caught any snitch since the season start four weeks ago.

They managed to squeeze all of Ginny's clothes in both luggage and moved on to clearing the floor. Ginny looked down on her bed and started to laugh.

"Merlin! Hermione you cannot believe the treasures I have under my bed. Look!"

Hermione went down on all fours and peered under Ginny's bed. She started to laugh too. "Gosh Ginny, when was the last time you cleared the floor under this bed?"

"Erm…never?"

There were a couple of shoe boxes, soft toys and a bunch of non-matching socks and shoes. "I think I'll leave this to tomorrow…you up for another cleaning day? I'll help you with yours…you know when you move to Harry's temporarily." Ginny added quickly.

"Fine." Hermione said a sour look on her face.

"I'll help you look for an apartment. It's not so hard. We can find more information on the paper."

They both went down the stairs and Ginny picked up her handbag which she placed on the sofa last night. "Mum I'm going out with Hermione." Ginny did not wait for Mrs Weasley to reply and pulled Hermione out of The Burrow. They apparated to The Leaky Cauldron and made their way to Diagon Alley. They walked pass a few shops and Ginny stopped at the broomsticks shop.

"Oh look, I think this one is new." Ginny pointed to a broomstick that was displayed on the window. "I think I know who would appreciate this…it'll be a nice surprise for him."

Hermione rolled her eyes when Ginny said those words. "Ginny you're lavishing him with too much gifts."

"That's because I love him!"

"Fine, you can go get that broomstick. I'll just go to Gringotts."

Ginny nodded her head and went in to the shop to get the new broomstick.

Draco Malfoy quickly wrote the note and gave it to his owl. "Sent this to the Ministry. Immediately!" He gave the owl a few treats and it flew off swiftly understanding Draco's instruction for the note to be sent without delay. He loosened his tie on his neck and checked his watch. It was time for lunch but he was not hungry. It was a Saturday and he was in the office. People had told him that he worked too much and his mother had always warned him about overworking. She said that it was making him look drained.

He had just finished marking the essays he had given to his first years before he wrote the note to the Ministry. He still had essays from his third and fourth years but he decided to leave it till Monday. He was feeling tired and for a while he though of his mother's warning and shook his head. Since graduating from the Wizard Education Academy, Draco took over Professor Slughorn from his Potions master duties and had been Hogwarts' Potion professor for three years. He loved his job and was always inspired by his students. It was not easy when he first started because of his family's reputation. But he had slowly gained everyone's trust, from the teachers to the students. They respected him and realise that he was not like his father.

"I'm not overworking…I'm just passionate." He said to himself.

He packed all his belongings into his briefcase and walked out of his office. The corridors were quiet. Students were out on their Hogsmeade weekend and that was what he should also be doing. On weekends, Draco would sometimes returned back to his own apartment just to get away from the castle. Two years ago, when he had decided to move out, his mother was quite upset.

"Moving out? What did I do to offend you?" Mrs Malfoy asked.

Draco chuckled and turned to his mother. "Mother, you have not offended me in any way. I just wanted to live on my own."

"But Draco the manor is so big! I can't just live alone all by myself." Mrs Malfoy was silent for a while and her face was full of though.

"Do not sell the manor mother. It's all we have." Draco warned because he knew that was what his mother was thinking about.

"But what should I do Draco? If you move out what is there left for me?"

"Alright alright…I'm just going to get a new apartment…and you can come live with me if you want to. But do not sell the manor." Draco said. "Mother, I'm teaching at Hogwarts and it's not like I'm home most of the time. I'll be at the castle everyday of the week. Surely you know that."

"Draco you're my only son. It feels like…well it feels like I have no one left if you were to leave this manor…permanently."

Draco shook his head and laughed at his mother's worries. "Mother have I ever disappointed you?"

Mrs Malfoy looked up at him and smiled. "Never."

"So do you think I will disappoint you now?"

"No." Mrs Malfoy admitted. "Alright, alright. You can move out and alright I won't sell the manor. I just have to get used to living alone all by myself."

As he made his way out of the castle and into Hogsmeade, he was stopped by a few people; most of them businessmen who were there on a meeting or a conference nearby.

"Alright there Mr Malfoy? I heard about the proposal." A tall man in his 40s approached Draco.

"Mr Arigliano." Draco greeted the Italian.

"If it's approved…please inform me. I'll be glad to invest in your cause."

"Of course…of course. Thank you."

Draco reached a point and apparated back to his apartment where it was peaceful and quiet. He sat down on his couch and started to drift off to sleep like he always had every late noon on a Saturday for the past two years.

"I have two pairs of dragon skin gloves, just in case we happen to come across things that might bite." Ginny announced when she walked into her own room. Hermione chuckled and took one pair from her.

"Here goes…" Ginny said.

"Here goes…" Hermione sighed. They crouched on the floor and started to dig deep under Ginny's bed. Most of the things they found had to be thrown away as it is of no use. There were socks of different colours and a pair of sneakers that looked like it was bitten off by a rat. They found some jewellery; some plastic and some made from cheap silver.

"Ok I think there's one more thing there." Ginny had to lie on her front flat on the floor to reach for something she saw at the head of the bed. She felt it on her fingertips and pulled it slowly out. It was covered with some dust so she brushed it away. When she saw what it was she went numb.

"Oh." Ginny held it out in front of her so that Hermione could see it too. It was the bracelet that Draco had given her during their date on The Astronomy Tower.

"Oh." Hermione echoed Ginny. "You still have it."

"I didn't intent to." Ginny defended herself. She sat on her bed and then felt like she was sucked back into the past.

"What are we going to do now?" Ginny asked him with a tear stricken face. "We can't just give up. We can't give up Draco. We've been through so much."

Draco was quiet. They were both in his apartment. Ginny was pacing up and down the huge living room. She was not sure for how long she had been pacing but she does not care because that was not important.

"Draco say something. Please! Don't just keep quiet." Ginny begged. Her eyes were red and her cheeks blotchy. She had been crying since the night before. "What is she going to do? Have me banished? I can talk sense to my mum Draco…or maybe we can run? Live on our own in Germany or something. Somewhere far…India maybe or Russia…anywhere but here." She stuttered. Draco grabbed her shoulders.

"Ginny look at me." Draco shouted. His eyes met hers and she looked away.

"Your eyes…it's like you're giving up. We have to fight Draco! We love each other!"

"I'm tired. I can't keep up anymore." Draco said.

"What?! You can't! Look at me Draco! I'm still fighting…what…what are you saying?"

Draco looked up at her. His eyes were glistened with tears. He stood up from his sitting position. He walked up to her and cupped her face and kissed her forehead. Then he pulled her to his body and hugged her tight.

"Let me go! Let me go Draco!" Ginny pushed him away and slapped his left cheek. He reached for her again and grabbed her shoulders but Ginny would not let him. "Let go! That's what you want to do isn't it?"

Ginny had tears running down her cheeks constantly. She apparated back to The Burrows and locked the door to her room.

"Mum, let her be. She needs to be alone." She heard George said.

She looked at herself in the mirror and cried more. She saw the glittering bracelet on her wrist and unclasped it and threw it on the floor. "I hate you." She said. "I hate you!" Ginny smashed all the bottles of perfume on her vanity desk. She pointed at all of them with her wand, breaking them one by one. The vase of roses on the desk was not given any mercy and when she was satisfied, she lay down on her bed and cried into her pillow.

"Ginny?"

Ginny was startled by Hermione's voice and she turned towards the older witch.

"You ok?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah…yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione said carefully.

"It's been two years, there's nothing to talk about. I'll just find a way to give this back to him."

"Ok." Hermione smiled at her and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Let's pack those things you want to keep in a box."

"Oh of course. Yeah." Ginny said and place the bracelet into her pants pocket.

Draco woke up and found that his back was aching. He silently cursed at his foolishness of sleeping on the couch again. It was already dark and checked that he had been sleeping for four hours. It was already 7PM. He heard a soft tap on his window and peered behind the blinds and saw that a brown old had a note for him. He opened the window to let it in and gave it a piece of treat before it set off again. He unfolds the note and saw that it was from the Ministry.

Dear Mr Malfoy,

We are interested in hearing more about your proposal to set up a tertiary school for graduates of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We are very much curious on what you have in mind so we would like to invite you and Headmistress McGonagall to the Ministry to give us a presentation on your ideas.

We hope to meet both of you on Tuesday, at 2PM and will confirm the venue of the meeting on a later date.

Yours Sincerely,

Linda Rochford

Secretary to the Department of Young Wizards and Witches Education

Draco read the note the second time and his lips curved into a smile. They like my proposal, Draco thought. It almost felt like a triumph. He was his own man now and not overshadowed by anyone else. He had set out to be Draco Malfoy not 'Lucius's son' or the 'Death Eater's son'. He was now known by his own name. He was a favoured Professor and was looked up by his students.

Draco was slowly carving his name into the wizarding world and setting out his visions and making it happen. People came up to him telling him that he should be and would be recognized in no time.

He wrote a note to his mother telling her that he had something to share with her and would be at the manor by 8PM. He though of writing out a note to the headmistress but decided against it and planned to tell her in person on Monday. Then he paused realising that he could not share it with a special someone. He had lost her two years ago. It was his fault. He should have never let her go.