Hour 3
Ginny sighed and focused her attention on looking through the window. “I spy, with my little eye, something-“
“A green tree,” Draco grumbled. “That’s the ninth one, in a row. Are we done playing now?”
“Do you want to tell me what happened next?”
“I spy something…green.” Draco said, his eyes maintaining their focus on the road that stretched before them.
Ginny folded her arms across her chest. “Fine. Can we at least take the next exit and stop for food? I’m starving.”
The sudden rumbling from his stomach had Draco nodding reluctantly as he flipped on the turn signal and exited the interstate.
~***~
“I’m on a tight schedule, Weaselette.”
Ginny sighed, “Yes, yes. This ridiculous game. But you have yet to tell me why this one is so different,” she folded her arms in front of her, elbows on the table, and stared at him.
Draco’s pointer finger traced the rim of his glass for several minutes as he stared at the person across from him. He had no desire to tell her everything, but there was a strong chance he would need her help when he arrived at his destination. Draco still hadn’t quite worked out the final bit of the clue he had been given. He traced the rim of the glass one more time before tapping it slowly. Once. Twice. Draco sighed and set down the glass.
“If you want answers, you can have them,” Draco said, watching Ginny’s eyes shoot up to his, her mouth beginning to open in question. “There is only one rule,” he continued before she could start her interrogation.
Ginny slumped in her seat and fought her urge to grumble.
“You have twenty questions,” he paused as her eyes widened. “For the entirety of the trip.” He finished with a firm tone as Ginny’s jaw dropped in shock.
“Twenty?! That’s absurd!” she slammed her fork down a bit harsher than she intended, causing several other patrons’ eyes to shift towards their booth. Ginny pushed her food to the side and leaned forward onto the table between them. “How,” she whispered, “am I supposed to entertain myself with only twenty questions?”
Draco smirked and opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by the French fry that was launched at his face. He scowled.
“Don’t you dare tell me that question counted,” she snapped. “I still have twenty.”
Draco shrugged as he stood from his chair, taking care to push it back to its original spot. He reached for the car keys only to have them snatched from the table by the evil redhead he had regrettably brought with him.
Ginny let out a small cry of victory as she dangled the keys in front of him.
Draco narrowed his eyes and held out his hands, waiting.
“When-“ she started, quickly snapping her mouth shut at the thought that she had almost wasted a question. Ginny rolled her shoulders back and lifted a finger up to point at Draco, “You look like you haven’t slept in days. I’ll drive,” she decided and marched confidently out to the car.
Draco clenched his fist tightly around the space where the car keys were not and squeezed his eyes shut. He begrudgingly let his legs carry him towards the car, mumbling incoherently to himself as he slid into the passenger seat.
“Don’t you dare wreck this car, Weaselette,” he warned as he started to recline his seat.
Ginny waved him off. “Go to sleep, Ferret.”
~***~
Draco’s arm twitched, smacking the window and startling him awake. He took a moment to rub his eyes before stretching his arms behind his head. He returned his arms to his sides and fumbled around in search of the switch to bring his seat back. Draco rolled his neck slowly from one side to the other to work out the kinks he had acquired from falling asleep in a moving vehicle.
Except that the vehicle wasn’t moving.
Draco’s eyes widened in surprise when he looked out the window and found himself, not on the interstate on the way to find his best friend, but in some small town. His panic increased steadily when he realized the driver’s seat was empty. He quickly unbuckled his seat belt and opened his door, stepping into the crisp, winter air.
After checking that the car had no flat tires and no smoke emerging from the engine, Draco took a deep breath. He spotted her across the street with her phone out taking pictures. A harsh frown etched its way onto his face as he stormed over to her.
Rather than bother asking what she was doing, Draco opted to snatch her phone from her hands to alert her of his presence.
“Ferret, what the fuck?!” Ginny exclaimed.
He glared at her. “That’s question one,” he bit out. She opened her mouth to protest, but he wasn’t finished. “I am not even going to bother answering it. I said. No. Detours.” Draco snapped, breathing harshly as he fought to control his temper.
“The sign said he was twenty-six feet tall. I only wanted to see him,” Ginny muttered, kicking a rock into the street.
Draco raised a brow, “See who?”
Ginny lifted her finger to point behind Draco, “Harvey.”
Draco tilted his head in confusion, slowly turning himself around to see behind him. When his eyes made contact, he let out the manliest of yelps as he took several steps back, and one to the side, placing him directly behind Ginny. He gripped her shoulders and bent down to her ear, “What fresh hell is this?” he hissed, eyes never leaving the site in front of him.
Ginny swatted his hands off her shoulders as she started to laugh. “Harvey, the Giant Rabbit. He’s harmless, Malfoy.” She snatched her phone from his hands as she continued to giggle.
“He doesn’t look harmless. He looks like he offers you candy and steals your soul,” Draco whisper-shouted, keeping his eyes warily on the giant rabbit.
Draco shuddered and took another step back, “I hate it,” he decided and shook his head while reaching out to grab her forearm. “Give me the keys. We’re leaving,” he ordered, tugging her towards the car.
Ginny found far too much delight in showing Draco pictures of the beady eyed statue for the next hour of their drive.
“Should’ve kidnapped a different neighbor,” Draco grumbled as he pressed down the gas pedal.
~***~
Draco couldn’t decide how he felt now that the giggles from the she-devil had turned to soft snores. She wasn’t awake to ask him questions, but she also wasn’t awake to distract him.
He fidgeted in his seat, preparing himself for the onslaught of memories he knew were coming, as he settled in for the drive that always led him back to her.
Granger was perfect.
Draco liked her for the way she fought for the people and things she cared about, especially when they couldn’t fight for themselves. He liked that she gave everything her all, even when it seemed she had nothing more to give. He liked that she always carried a book with her. And that whenever she was fully emersed into one of her wild ideas, she used a pencil to keep her hair in a bun on top of her head. He liked that one curl that never managed to stay put, and he rather liked the idea of tucking it back behind her ear.
Draco adored her for the way her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning, every time she got excited about something. And how she couldn’t help but make wild motions with her hands because she thought it would help explain things better. He adored the way her face scrunched up right before she was about to prove someone wrong. Draco adored the way she snorted, when she was trying desperately not to laugh. He adored the freckles that peppered her face, and the ones along her collar bone…and the ones on her shoulder that were only visible when she wore dresses in the spring and summer.
Draco loved her for, well, for everything else really.
Draco sighed with exhaustion and rubbed his eyes, thankful for the sign indicating a nearby rest area. He flipped on his blinker.
Granger was perfect, and he’d gone and mucked it all up. Again.
~***~
Ginny stirred in the seat next to him, the morning sun shining brightly in through the front window as he slowed the car to a stop and rolled down his window to grab the coffee and biscuits he’d ordered for breakfast.
He barked out a laugh when she merely grumbled at him, taking the coffee into her hands like a greedy goblin. After she’d finished her sandwich and gracefully slurped down half her coffee, she finally spoke. “Question two: where are we?”
“Redding.”
“California? Did you even sleep?” she asked.
“Hard to sleep with a bridge troll sleeping in the passenger seat,” he deadpanned.
She reached over to slap his arm, only to remember she was holding coffee the instant she spilled it down her shirt. “At least it was iced,” she sighed. “I need to find a place to buy a shirt,” Ginny mumbled with a frown.
“We can stop at a gas station on the way out of town,” Draco offered.
Ginny made a face. “If I’m going to buy something like a tourist, then I should be a tourist,” she chided, opening her phone. She hummed to herself as she scrolled before gasping and jumping up, startling Draco. “Turtles!” she squealed.
“No.”
Ginny stomped her foot, causing the corner of Draco’s mouth to twitch up. “Oh, come on, Malfoy. One tiny little stop. We’ll leave before lunch,” she offered.
Draco groaned, “We’ll leave in one hour.”
~***~
Ginny sat in her oversized Turtle Bay sweatshirt, humming Jingle Bell Rock. When the song changed on the radio, she reached out and flipped the dial to zero. “I think I’ve given you enough peace and quiet, Ferret.”
Draco ran one hand through his hair and then slapped the hand back on the steering wheel. “Get on with it, then.”
“Why didn’t you want to go on the Sundial Bridge?” she asked.
“I-“ he ran his tongue over his teeth as he considered lying to her, but what would be the point. “A few years ago, all of us went on a trip to see the Redwood Forest. We were playing truth or dare. Drinking,” he swallowed, his adam’s apple bobbing slowly. “She dared me to take her on a date. Said to meet her at the bridge. I-“ Draco bit the inside of his cheek, debating how much more he should say. “It didn’t go well,” he finished, frowning.
Ginny narrowed her eyes, studying him. She waited and when he said nothing, she asked another question. “So, you and Granger, had a rocky start then. So what? Been together a couple of years since?”
Draco pursed his lips together briefly before relaxing. “I imagine if I were a worm, she would still talk to me every day,” he drawled.
Ginny huffed a laugh and reached for the dial, turning the radio up to drown out everything else except the sound of Nat King Cole.
Draco did his best to focus on the road, but his attention was divided as his mind drifted back to one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
Draco had woken groggy and confused. He pulled himself out of bed to trek downstairs for coffee but stopped on the stairs when he heard whispering. The girls.
“So,” Pansy whispered, “was it perfect? I bet it was. A romantic evening strolling around talking about all the turtles you’re going to-“
“Parks,” he heard her whisper, voice laced with an emotion he couldn’t quite identify.
“I’ll bet he dressed up and brought you flowers and took you to some classy restaurant,” Pansy rambled on.
“Parks,” she tried again.
“Did you wear the dress? And the shoes? You know how much he loves-“
“Pans!” Hermione had smacked something to get her friend’s attention.
Draco peered around the corner just as Hermione pulled out a chair at the counter and sat down, her back to him. Her curls, frizzy from sleep, cascaded effortlessly down her back. She wore an oversized t-shirt; one side had fallen off her shoulder. He flexed his fingers, itching to run even one of them across the expanse of her neck and trace the path of her freckles, but he pulled his hand back and ran his fingers roughly through his hair. Draco could see Pansy’s face. She looked stunned. He waited.
Hermione sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly as she muttered, “He didn’t come.”
Draco blinked slowly, trying to bring his focus back to the present. It wasn’t working. His mind was spiraling.
We never even talked about it.
What if she’s still upset with me?
Maybe this trip is a way to get back at me for never showing up?
I should just go home.
Draco fiddled with the TomTom as he flipped on his blinker to turn the car around. Ginny hummed quietly to herself, staring out the passenger window.
~***~
Draco couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid as to think that going to find her one last time would make everything better. This was most definitely payback for not showing up on the bridge. He wanted no part of it.
“Malfoy, where the fuck are we going?” Ginny hissed as she took in the very familiar surroundings of Redding.
“The airport. I’m going home.”
“The hell you are,” she snapped, reaching across to tug at the steering wheel. “You’ll pull over right now and tell me what’s going on or I’ll beat you into next week.”
Draco turned the car into an empty parking lot and put the car in park. He was shaking and needed air. He got out, slamming his door shut and started to pace.
Ginny exited the car slowly and watched him. A man, at his breaking point. She moved to the front of the car and hopped up to sit on the hood. “I was kidnapped under the pretense that we were going to see a girl, Malfoy,” she placed her hands on the hood behind her and leaned back.
Draco stopped his pacing to stare at Ginny, as if he suddenly remembered he wasn’t alone. “The girl doesn’t want me,” he said sadly, shaking his head.
Ginny tilted her head, “Did she tell you that?”
‘She didn’t have to. The dare-the bridge-“ he started pacing again, his hands coming up to tug at his hair in frustration, “I was scared she was joking. That I would go, and she would realize it wasn’t a joke to me and then it would ruin everything. I was scared and I-“
“You didn’t go,” she said quietly, understanding.
Draco stopped pacing and looked at her, his face etched in sorrow. “I didn’t go.”
Ginny’s brows creased in thought as she patted the empty space next to her on the hood. Draco’s shoulders sagged as he trudged to the car and sat down next to her, dropping his face into his hands.
“So, you’re not dating then?”
Draco shook his head.
“But you asked her to marry you?” she asked, still trying to piece everything together.
Draco let a dry laugh tumble from his mouth. “An accident. I was supposed to ask her to be my girlfriend. I was trying to do things in the proper order, but she showed up looking as stunning as she always does, and I got nervous and just blurted it out,” he sighed heavily, laying back on the hood to stare at the clouds.
If Ginny had been surprised, her face didn’t show it. “What did she say when you asked?”
A sadness crept over Draco’s features. “She, she didn’t say anything. Just smiled brightly and handed me a note. Then she skipped, she skipped to her car and drove off,” he groaned, lifting his head and letting it fall back onto the hood with a thunk.
“For two best friends, you both need a lesson in communication,” Ginny rolled, pinching the bridge of her nose with a sigh. “Give me the note.”
“What?”
“The clue she left you. Let me see it,” she held her palm out in front of him.
“Why?”
“Because you’re both idiots. Give it,” she insisted.
Draco reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and carefully took out the most recent note. Ginny snatched it from his hands before he could change his mind, opening it eagerly.
Mr. Bond,
Come find me in a place surrounded by all my favorite stars.
Four souvenirs are required upon conclusion of your mission.
Good luck,
Money Penny
Ginny sat up, grinning as she reached for Draco’s arm and pulled him to an upright position.
“What?”
“Get in the car. We have a game to finish and a girl to get,” she scooted off the hood and bounced excitedly from one foot to the other.
“I really don’t think-“ he started.
“She didn’t say no, Malfoy. She’s waiting for you to come find her so she can give you her answer,” she beamed, waiting for him to pull it together. He gaped at her. She tried again, “She wants you to be James Bond, you idiot. No girl in her right mind says no to James Bond.”
Draco straightened his posture, his face lighting up with understanding. “No girl says no to James Bond.”
Ginny squealed as she opened her door, “Let’s go get you a fiancé!”