Forgotten Not Forgiven

Author's Note: Thanks to Laurel for her brilliant beta skills. Also, thanks to everyone who reviews. I know I'm not as responsive to every single one as I used to be, but if someone has questions I can answer I try and do so, but I do read and enjoy every single one, so thanks again! My loyal readers are who keep me posting so frequently.

Chapter 4 Distance Makes the Heart Grow Farther

After all these years, even through the fights and the tension, Harry and Ron still had a favorite Pub and they could go there to work through just about anything. Office politics were driving a wedge between the men and that on its own was difficult enough without adding to it the suspicious interrogations Harry got from his friend every time he left the office to run an errand. Ginny’s accusations of unfaithfulness had paused as of late, but the seed had been sewn and Ron still had it in his head that Harry was stepping out on his sister. To be honest though, Harry didn’t know whether Ron was angrier about his supposed cheating or because he had no idea who it might be with. Harry had a hunch it was the latter, although neither could be helped because he wasn’t sleeping with anyone.

The tension between them just made what Harry had to do that much harder however, and as he ordered a pint of Beamish and sat down in their usual booth, he wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation that was inevitably coming. Harry knew the Weasley temper more intimately than anyone and he knew the havoc it could wreak before rationality and logic finally sunk in.

Harry didn’t know when everything had started to go so wrong. It wasn’t just his friendship with Ron either, all of his relationships seemed to sour over the last couple of years. He and Ginny were more like roommates than husband and wife these days, and Hermione was now angry with him since he confronted her about her affair, but even before that he knew she had grown distant with him. The weekly Weasley dinners had become rather uncomfortable lately, too because his wife was very open with her mum about her life and by the time Molly knew her daughter’s marriage was left wanting, so did the rest of the family. It could have been his mind playing tricks on him, but Harry swore that the entire Weasley family scrutinized his affectionate gestures –or lack thereof- toward his wife. It was rather intimidating to have a room full of redheads watching his every movement.

He and Ginny had been distant for a couple of year now, but even before that sex with her always had a purpose –trying to produce a child. Harry couldn’t recall the last time he thought pleasurably about just being with his wife. Ginny was kind and thoughtful and very ambitious; all things Harry admired, and even though she was truly lovely, Harry didn’t see her the way other men obviously did. Almost every time they went out shopping she turned heads, all but his apparently. Harry had no idea what was wrong with him and he was very close to seeking professional help on the matter. Perhaps when his relationship with Ginny was patched up, then the rest of it would fall into place as well and his life would get back to normal.

A glimpse of red towering over the other heads in the pub made Harry acutely aware that his friend had arrived. Ron wove his way to the back of the room where their booth was located and sat down across from Harry, who was taken aback by the haphazard grin on the redhead’s face. Ron looked unusually happy, which just made Harry’s news that much more difficult to give. He didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news as it was, but to ruin his friend’s good mood… maybe it could wait for one more afternoon. What would be the harm in that after all?

“I’m glad you Flooed, Harry. I have the best news!” Ron exclaimed brightly.

“I’m listening,” Harry replied with an uncomfortable grin. He didn’t know what was making his friend’s face glow like that, but he knew he didn’t want to be the end of that joy.

“Hermione’s pregnant!” he announced proudly.

Harry’s jaw dropped and his heart clenched painfully in his chest at the news. What should normally be the happiest of occasions was clouded over with thick gray storm clouds in Harry’s mind. “That’s… er… wonderful, mate,” Harry responded at last.

Ron noticed his extreme lack of enthusiasm and lost part of his wide smile. “What’s wrong, Harry? I thought you of all people would be happy for us. You know how long we’ve been trying.”

“I know, and I am happy for you,” Harry started, “it’s just…” He didn’t know what to say, he wanted to keep the news from Ron now, let his friend remain blissfully ignorant of his wife’s dalliances, maybe even now that she was pregnant Hermione would stop. But then, what if it wasn’t Ron’s child? What if it was the child of the person Hermione had been sleeping with? They had been trying unsuccessfully for years and now suddenly she was pregnant? It seemed like too much of a coincidence and his friend deserved to know if he was agreeing to raise another man’s baby.

“Just what?” Ron asked, confusion marring his forehead with wrinkles.

“Just that I have some news for you, too,” Harry admitted at last. “Although mine isn’t good.”

Ron sighed and nodded as if he knew what Harry was going to say. “Did you and Gin finally split?” he asked.

“What? No, why would you think that?” Harry demanded, somewhat on edge. His marriage wasn’t perfect but did his best friend really think he would simply give up on it?

“Hermione and I have been discussing it for awhile now. You two are just on different pages, we think you’d both be happier with other people,” Ron reasoned dispassionately.

“Like who?” Harry hissed.

“Like whoever it is you two are seeing,” Ron scoffed. “Hermione suspects Gin’s been sleeping with someone else, and we all know that you have been.”

“I. Have. Not,” Harry barked for the hundredth time. “I don’t know why my best friends won’t believe me, but I have never ever cheated on Ginny.”

“Harry, would you just stop with that. Don’t you think your spouse would know if you’re cheating?” Ron argued.

“Maybe you should stop studying my relationship and look at your own!” Harry blurted, unable to contain the news within his mounting anger.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the redhead demanded with narrowed eyes.

“It means that I asked you here so that I could tell you that I caught Hermione cheating on you, you great Prat!” he replied with a growl.

“What?! That’s ridiculous,” Ron shouted. “You’re just jealous that we’re having a baby and you and my sister aren’t even having sex anymore!”

“I’m not jealous!” Harry announced. Sure he wanted a family of his own, but just because he didn’t have one didn’t mean he would begrudge his best friends having one. He’d love to have a little niece or nephew to spoil like he did Teddy.

“Whatever you say, Harry,” Ron spat, his tone thick with sarcasm.

“I’m serious, Ron,” he replied. “I saw her leaving a Muggle hotel and the bartender says she’s there all the time.”

“No. I don’t believe it,” Ron countered with a shake of his head. “Mione would never do that to me.”

“Oh, but you think your sister would cheat on me?” Harry argued.

“Hermione thinks so, yes,” Ron replied with a huff.

“Maybe that’s because she recognizes the signs,” Harry retorted coldly. He could no longer sit there and listen to Ron disparage him and his relationship when he wouldn’t listen to the truth about his own marriage. Accusing him of cheating and now Ginny too, what was Ron thinking? Harry got up from the table, leaving his pint half full, and stared at his friend in pity. “Maybe you should check the baby’s paternity before you go making assumptions about my life.”

With that, Harry turned and left the pub. It was the first time either of them had left the place in anger and possibly the last time he would even meet his friend there. He couldn’t believe how badly things had spiraled between them over the years, but he couldn’t force Ron to listen to him. As he walked the uneven cobblestone streets back toward his house he thought over his argument with Ron and couldn’t help but feel like the rubbish best friend he was for delivering the terrible news to Ron so harshly. With every step he took the anger of his friend’s accusations faded and a heavy guilt for hurting Ron replaced it; he should have broken the news gently, not in retaliation to criticisms of his own marriage.

Harry only wished his news had been false and blurted to Ron out of anger or jealousy, but unfortunately it was the truth. He felt horrid for Ron, and wondered what his friend would do now. What if the baby wasn’t Ron’s? Or what if it was and now he was stuck in a marriage with an unfaithful wife? He didn’t know which was worse. How could they live like that? How could Ron be so oblivious?

He realized that Ron would probably need a friend as the news sunk in, so he Apparated back to the pub ready to make up with the hot-tempered idiot. Unfortunately, Ron had already left and was probably at home by now demanding answers from Hermione. Harry resolved that he would just have to go home and try to help Ron as much as he could at the office the following morning.

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Ginny heard the front door click open and nearly ran through the house to meet her husband in the foyer. “What happened?” she demanded. Her mind had been whirling with scenarios –none of them good- ever since the moment Harry took off. She hadn’t meant for things to get so out of hand, and she certainly didn’t want Ron and Hermione suffering for her mistakes, but she didn’t know what else to do. If she told Harry that it wasn’t Hermione he saw that day then he would know immediately that it was her.

“It went well,” Harry replied sarcastically and made his way around her and into the living room where he flopped onto the sofa as if exhausted.

“Well, what did he say?” she pried.

“He didn’t believe me of course,” Harry huffed. “He rattled off nonsense about us having a bad marriage and that Hermione thinks you’re cheating on me and then-“

“What? Hermione said that?” she demanded, somewhat annoyed. She’d never given Hermione any indication that she was sleeping with Draco. Who did she think she was speculating about her and Harry’s relationship?

“Apparently,” Harry sighed. “Obviously it’s not true though,” he added with a wave. “They’ve been accusing me of it for over a year now and I’ve never touched anyone else. Plus, I don’t believe you’d ever be that dishonest with me.” Ginny swallowed thickly and nodded in agreement as fast as she could. “But that’s not the worst bit, Gin,” Harry sighed. “Turns out Mione’s pregnant.”

“Harry, that’s wonderful!” Ginny squealed in delight, not understanding how that could be a bad thing.

“It would be if not for the fact that Hermione’s been sleeping with someone else. What happens if it’s not Ron’s?” he asked, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes against whatever mental images where accosting him.

“Right,” Ginny muttered, feeling a bit ill. Of course Ginny knew it was Ron’s because she knew Hermione wasn’t cheating. No, that was all her. She knew Ron would have flipped out even more at Harry’s news. What if the pair broke up? It would be all her fault. With a groan she flopped down to the sofa beside her husband, realizing as she did that it was the first time they had just sat together for ages.

“Harry, what happened to us?” she whispered, wondering if he had the answer.

Harry grabbed her hand and pulled it into his lap and she looked over at him. His eyes were still closed and his head was tilted back up to the ceiling. A look of great distress was marring his features and she bit into her bottom lip, knowing she had contributed to his unhappiness. “I don’t know, Gin,” he replied at last.

When he finally turned to look at her, his green eyes looked to carry the weight of a million burdens and it made her wince. “Harry, I have something to tell you.”

“Oh? Is it about Malfoy?” Harry asked softly.

Her eyes widened dramatically and her hand went rigid within his grip. “How did you know?” she asked.

“I ran into him out in the street earlier today. I figured you were waiting for the right time to bring it up,” Harry replied, his face still looking weary but his eyes were warm. Still, a bout of panic set into her gut and her breathing became shallow and erratic. “He told me about the fundraiser and that he invited us. I know you usually like to go so I told him we’d make it.”

Ginny tried to keep the physical shudder of relief from her voice so she simply nodded in reply. One of these days she was going to have a heart attack from one of her numerous close calls. “I thought you didn’t like those things?” she replied at last. Part of her wanted to go just to see Draco, but the sensible part of her was leery to have her two men together with the odd way Draco had been acting as of late.

“I don’t, but I had fun with Malfoy last time. He’s not such a bad guy, he’s grown up a lot since Hogwarts,” Harry replied, closing his eyes again and letting his head lull back into the sofa.

Ginny could vividly recall the last Malfoy fundraiser that she and Harry had attended. There had been two since her interview with Draco, the first one he had invited her to that very same day and she had declined, but the following year she talked Harry into going. Ginny had a wonderful time that evening, dancing the night away with various colleagues and friends while Harry stuck to the sidelines. They both looked fabulous, Harry in simple yet expensive black dress robes and Ginny in a long black gown so that they were a matched pair even if they were on opposite sides of the room.

Everyone of importance was there and she must have secured no less than a dozen interviews at that one party alone. It wasn’t until she looked up from her dance with the Viscount of Transylvania –a rather pale and graceful man- that she noticed that Draco had been keeping her husband company for quite some time.

There was no affair between them at that point, but still a sense of dread settled over her as she saw the two men talking with one another. She knew both men had a volatile relationship at best and though Harry’s smile seemed genuine for the moment, she didn’t want a scene to erupt in the middle of Malfoy Manor. She glided over to interrupt their chat and was met with ringing laughter.

“Ginevra, you never mentioned that your husband was so charming,” Draco said smoothly as he quieted his chuckle.

“You’re speaking as though you’ve never met,” Ginny replied, rolling her eyes.

“We may as well not have,” he replied, turning his attention back to Harry. “Tell me another story, Potter,” Draco nearly begged.

Harry laughed and began reciting the tale of how he produced a Patronus in his third year and Ginny wandered off again, having already heard that story from both Harry and Hermione several times before. It seemed things between the men were safe enough, but still she couldn’t help but notice how handsome Draco was that night smiling beside her husband.

It was at the end of that Fundraiser that Draco first flirted with her in earnest. She was standing near the beverage table waiting for Harry when he finally arrived with Draco in tow. Apparently the pair had been inseparable all evening and when Harry wove his arm around Ginny’s waist Draco grimaced and sidled up on the other side of her.

“When will you be doing a follow up interview on me, Ginevra Dear?” he asked.

“I didn’t know you interviewed Malfoy,” Harry mentioned, directing it at Ginny.

“Yes, about a year or so ago. It was one of my early assignments,” she quipped.

“What’s wrong, Potter. Jealous?” Draco teased, but Harry shook his head.

“I’m not really the type to get jealous over such things,” he replied with a smile.

“Excellent. Then perhaps we could all go to dinner sometime and have a bit of fun afterward,” Draco mused with a seductively raised eyebrow. Ginny watched Harry blush and look away, which was the only way she knew he wasn’t taking the blonde seriously.

“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, Malfoy?” she asked with a hint of annoyance. She didn’t like it when people made her husband uncomfortable, but she was slightly flattered at the obvious come on.

“If you think I’m suggesting a ménage a trois, than yes, Ginevra, you’d be correct,” he replied with a subtle smirk and she swatted at his arm.

“Just because Harry’s not jealous of an interview doesn’t mean he wants you to sleep with his wife,” Ginny replied with pursed lips.

“Is that true, Harry?” Draco asked, turning the ebony-haired man’s face to look at him. “You wouldn’t share a bed with me?”

Ginny didn’t give Harry’s temper time to rise before pulling Malfoy off to the side. “Listen Malfoy, this flirting with me has got to stop. Harry’s going to suspect that something is going on between us when it’s not,” she warned him in a harsh whisper.

“I was only teasing, Ginevra,” Draco replied with a gracious, yet mocking bow.

“You’ve been hovering over him all night,” she challenged.

“Are you afraid that Potter might leave you if he were to become suspicious of our relationship,” Draco asked, his pale eyebrow lifted in question.

“He most certainly would. Harry dislikes dishonesty above all things,” she replied haughtily. “And we don’t have a relationship,” she added.

“Yet,” Draco quipped, before floating back over to Harry’s side.

After that night Draco had pursued her at work, attempting to pay off Luna until the woman made Ginny go out to lunch with him for a follow up interview just so that he would stop pestering her. He hadn’t met her for lunch –at least not in person- instead he had sent word that he had to reschedule for that night at a hotel he was staying at for a business meeting.

She arrived that night, going straight to the hotel lounge where the note promised he’d be but she didn’t see him. She sat at the bar and ordered a drink when a man she’d never met before walked up to her and stood threateningly close. “Are you Ginevra Potter?” the man asked.

“Who wants to know?” she quipped. She wasn’t giving her information to a strange man in an expensive hotel.

“My employer, Mr. Malfoy,” the man retorted.

“Oh, well then yes, I’m Ginny,” she replied quickly with a slight flush at being so nervous.

“He’d like you to meet him in his room. He’s running late,” he announced and handed her a small card with the number eight-fifty-two on the back, before walking away.

Ginny didn’t have time to respond before the man was gone, and she was forced to either march upstairs for her interview or lose out altogether. She was tempted just to leave, but she knew Malfoy would be persistent and rumor had it he was courting someone seriously again –he’d dropped a little hint in Witch Weekly a couple of days prior that he’d finally met his one true love- so she was eager to get the scoop on that story.

Quickly she made her way upstairs deciding to just get the ordeal over with. The door was ajar when she arrived and Draco was standing by the window just staring out into the dark night sky. That wouldn’t have been terribly impressive on its own except that he was nude from the waist up and for pants he was only wearing thin linen pajama bottoms that the moon streamed through highlighting his lithe silhouette perfectly. “You could have told me this was a clothing optional interview,” Ginny remarked through her dried throat.

It had already been months since Harry had last touched her and the sight of a stunning, nearly nude man in a hotel room where the bed was clearly visible made the gears of her logical mind shut down with an audible clunk. “Would you have come if I had?” he asked, his tone holding an edge of amusement.

“Probably not,” she admitted.

“Probably?” he mused. “Interesting.”

“Can we just get to the part where I ask questions and you answer them?” she inquired shortly. “Preferably while you’re wearing a shirt.”

“What questions have you prepared,” he asked, taking a seat and ignoring her comment about more clothing.

“I wanted to know more about the woman you mentioned in Witch Weekly,” she told him as she pulled out her notebook and quill.

“Woman?” he asked, looking puzzled.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Stop being coy, Malfoy. You said that you had finally met the love of your life but you never gave a name.”

“My exact words were ‘one true love’ and no, I didn’t give a name,” he confirmed. “What makes you think you’ll get one?”

“Because you’ve been asking for this interview,” Ginny replied. “Usually the interviewer has to plead, not the interviewee. I figure you must have something you want to say.”

“Maybe,” Draco replied, letting the openness of his statement hang in the air. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and I’m a very unconventional man, so my thought process is slightly twisted. But part of why I asked you here was to discuss the person I mentioned in Witch Weekly.”

“So you found that beautiful, independently wealthy, and all around perfect person did you?” she inquired with a soft smile.

“I did, yes,” he conceded. “I didn’t think I would, but I met them again recently and knew right away they were everything I was looking for.”

“So you knew this person before?” she asked, jotting the note down on her pad.

“I did, or rather I thought I did. Turns out they are much more fascinating then I could ever have imagined,” he mused, as if daydreaming.

“So, do I get a name?” she asked.

“Let’s see if you can guess,” he replied with an elegant eyebrow raised in challenge.

She huffed, slightly exasperated, but Malfoy’s love life was always cover worthy, if she could score the name of his new paramour than she would see a huge boost in her career. “When did you last see her?” she asked, playing along with his game.

“At the Fundraiser,” Draco answered.

“Well that narrows it down,” she replied sarcastically. “Every elite witch was there.”

“Yes, there were many wealthy witches and wizards, but only one of them captured my attention,” he noted easily.

“Who did you talk to that night aside from my husband?” Ginny inquired, but Draco merely shook his head in amusement.

“I’m not listing people for you, Ginevra. That would spoil all my fun,” he teased.

“Fine,” she huffed. “What were they wearing?”

“Black,” he answered simply.

“Again, you’re ever so helpful,” she sighed.

“I try,” Draco replied with a smile.

“Hair color?” she asked but Draco shook his head.

“No, I’m afraid that’s too telling. Next question?” he added with wave.

“You’re infuriating,” she muttered. “Did you two dance?” she asked, thinking of the few times she saw him on the dance floor -that would certainly narrow it down.

“No, but I would have liked to,” Draco answered.

Ginny threw her arms up in exasperation. “I give,” she announced. “It could have been anyone.”

“You really haven’t figured it out? I’m ashamed of you, Ginevra. You know this person so intimately. I even propositioned them at the end of the evening,” he added with a wink.

Ginny’s heart fluttered to a stop when she realized what Draco was saying. She was there at the fundraiser, she was wearing black, had a distinctive hair color and was far too busy to dance with Malfoy -not that he had asked her- they had known each other before and she supposed she fit most of his criteria for a perfect match. “Me?” she whispered more to herself than to Draco, not able to meet his glowing silver gaze.

His smile was soft, yet wicked and it was the only confirmation he offered before getting up and marching over to stand directly in front of her. “Have you come to a conclusion, then?” he asked.

She nodded her head and leaned back into her chair. From where she sat, Ginny had a perfect view of Draco’s erect member pressing against his thin trousers and she thought of what Draco would feel like inside of her. A shuddering sigh escaped her lips as she mentally counted the days she’d been without the touch of her husband. Ninety-two. So many lonely nights, so many cold shoulders and distant looks, she could hardly bear it.

“I love my husband,” she whispered.

“I can see why,” Draco replied thickly.

“He’ll leave me if I do this,” she told him, and she knew it to be true the moment she said the words. It was probably the one and only thing that would surely drive Harry away.

“Do what?”

“Have an affair with you,” she replied.

“Then leave him first,” he reasoned.

“I can’t,” she whispered, afraid of that option. She didn’t want to be Harry Potter’s ex wife.

“Do you see no future between us?” Draco asked seriously, his eyes like twin moons.

“I can’t,” she whimpered again, but he was already pulling roughly at her top, sending the buttons flying across the carpet underfoot. She didn’t move, didn’t resist even once, not even when Draco took her hand and led her over to the bed. She tried to kiss him, but he refused, citing that he never kissed anyone on the mouth. It was far too intimate a gesture for him.

They made love that night, and Ginny had discovered what kind of passion she had been missing for her entire life. Afterward Draco sat perfectly still and as nude as the day he was born, just staring at Ginny with a saddened yet satisfied smirk. “So you’re leaving him?” he asked.

“I never said that,” Ginny replied, repairing her shirt with a simple spell and slipping it back on.

Draco rounded on her, his eyes molten metal. “So what was that?” he demanded.

“Sex,” she responded simply. “Great sex,” she added with a smile.

“Ginevra Weasley, did you just use me?” he asked, a slight curl to his lips.

“No,” she gasped, not wanting to be that kind of woman. “I can’t leave Harry, though.”

Draco leaned in, his breath ghosting her ear and she shuddered. “Do you want this?” he asked.

“I do,” she replied, her entire body on fire from his touch even then.

“Then tell, Potter,” he demanded and pulled away. “I won’t see you again unless you tell him about us.” With that he left, walking into the restroom and closing the door behind him.

Ginny gathered her things and left swiftly. Harry was asleep when she arrived home and the next morning he didn’t inquire as to her whereabouts the night before. She went three weeks before finally contacting Draco again. She had missed his touch and thought about him often during that time. When she wrote to him his very first question was ‘have you told Potter?’ to which she brazenly responded ‘yes’, thus sending her shooting into a downward spiral of lies that she couldn’t seem to end.

“Gin?” Harry called, nudging her out of her daydream.

“Hm?” she asked distractedly, still thinking of Draco.

“I asked if you wanted me to make dinner or if you wanted to have something delivered,” he repeated, looking down at her curiously.

“Delivery is fine,” she muttered. “Actually I think I should head up to bed. I’m not feeling well.”

“Oh, okay,” he replied, looking down at his knees.

She smiled weakly at her husband as she walked upstairs, dreading the inevitable run-in between her husband and her lover at the Fundraiser. She was going to have to work doubly hard to keep the two apart since they were nearly inseparable the last time. The last thing she needed was for Draco to talk about sleeping with her in front of Harry. She was worried about them causing a scene the first time; Merlin only knew what might happen this time.

Author's Note: So I'm aware that this story is rather unconventional. I'm also aware that there was a slight discrepency in the last chapter. What Draco should have said in bed with Ginny was “If I wanted to enact some revenge on Potter by sleeping with his wife, wouldn’t it be better if I could actually talk to him about it?” It was revised in a latter version of the story but then the wrong version was uploaded. whoops.