Finding Home

The next morning, Ginny went down to breakfast. Her intention was to ignore Lucius. He was a pain in the arse and she figured that the best way to keep her blood pressure from skyrocketing when he was around was to pretend he didn't exist.

As usual, breakfast went as it normally did. Diane made conversation with Ginny, Abraxas was reading his newspaper, and Lucius was going over a report.

Ginny stood and excused herself from the table. She began walking toward the doorway when Lucius stopped her.

"Virginia, will you be going outside to fly?"

Ginny glared at him. Not that he could see. He asked the question and continued to stare down at his report.

"I will. Why do you want to know?" she asked.

"I'm going to join you."

"I'd prefer to fly alone, thank you."

Ginny didn't wait for his answer. She walked out of the dining room, rolling her eyes. She didn't understand that man. First, he looked at her as if she were nothing but scum on the bottom of his shoe. And now he wanted to fly with her.

What a git.

Ginny put on her flying gear and went outside.

She very quickly forgot about Lucius Malfoy as she flew through the sky.

Gods, what a great way to relax after months of extreme tension in her time. Ginny was going to take advantage of the fact that all she had to do was charm people at parties at night and fly during the day.

It was while Ginny was making a few casual loops in the sky that she noticed she wasn't alone. She let out a groan when she noticed who it was.

"So Regulus wasn't lying when he said you were a phenomenal flyer. That was quite impressive."

Lucius didn't look to bad on a broom himself. If anything, the way that he held it steady was a testament to his own talent. Keeping a broom steady was an art form within itself.

"I thought I made it very clear that I liked to fly alone."

Lucius chuckled.

"I did let you fly alone. You've been up here by yourself for an hour now. I wanted to fly today and decided to come outside."

Ginny frowned at him.

Well, she couldn't have the sky to herself, as much as she would have like to boss Lucius around and tell him to go away.

"Well, enjoy your fly."

Ginny flew away from him, trying to keep the dark cloud he brought with him out her good mood.

Ginny did her best to ignore him but it seemed that no matter where she flew, he was in her line of sight.

It was quite irritating.

And it didn't take Lucius very long to find his way flying next to her once more.

"Would you like to play a game of find the snitch?" he asked, holding the golden ball up in front of him.

Ginny really wanted to turn him down. But damnit it had been a long time since she last played Qudditch. And Find the Snitch was her favorite game.

Without answering, Ginny smacked Lucius' hand, making the snitch disappear instantly into the sky.

Grinning at him, Ginny went in the direction that the snitch went.

They flew around in the sky for what felt like minutes but probably hours before Ginny finally caught the snitch.

Screaming into the sky, Ginny flew a victory lap, showing off with a few upside down loops.

When she was finished gloating, she finally landed where Lucius stood on the ground.

"In your face, Malfoy!"

"I'm pretty good at the game. But I have to admit, the better flyer won," Lucius said, giving a slight bow to Ginny.

Ginny grinned, enjoying the fact that Lucius was bowing to her obvious Quidditch glory.

~~L~~

Lucius had to admit, he found Ginny's gloating extremely cute.

"It's almost past lunch. Would you like to join me?" he asked, unable to look away from her grinning face.

"Sure. I'm starving."

Ginny put the snitch into Lucius' hand, not even remembering that she didn't like him enough to normally share her lunch with him.

Ginny began walking to the Manor.

Lucius stayed behind for a few seconds, smiling at her retreating form.

This was the most fun he had had in a very long time. Actually, he couldn't remember ever having so much fun with someone he was trying to bed.

Lucius wished he could have gloated with the knowledge that he let Ginny win. But halfway through their game, she proved to be better than anyone he had ever played Catch the Snitch with. She had an obvious talent with the broom. He wondered where she learned how to fly the way that she did.

During lunch, the conversation was very easy. With Ginny riled up and glowing from her fly, she actually told him about how she would practice flying at home when her brothers weren't home (apparently, they wouldn't allow her to fly with them).

Lucius resisted the urge to ask a lot of questions. He was afraid that at some point, she would realize what she was telling him and clam up as she was wont to do when she said too much.

Not that he really cared about what her real story was any longer. She was way too innocent and tender hearted to want to do them any harm. He would be more suspicious if she was as good as hiding what she was thinking as he was. In reality, however, the girl was an open book.

After lunch, as much as Lucius really wanted to stay with Ginny, he had to get some work done.

He was actually kind of upset that Ginny didn't seem to care that he was busy after lunch. She went to her room without even saying goodbye.

When he made it back to his office, he had a pile of papers on his desk.

He tried to read through his parchment, but his mind went back to Ginny every five minutes.

Lucius let out a groan when he realized that he hadn't even read through half of his parchment. This was beginning to be more serious than he initially anticipated. This was turning into more than simply trying to get an uninterested woman to fall for his charms. This was turning into something more than getting a quick shag.

No. Lucius was out to get more than that. And Merlin if it didn't scare him a little bit.