Title: Fire Whiskey and Sweet Deception

Author: RavenEcho

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize, only my own ideas.

Summary: In which Ginny cheats on Harry with Draco… it finally felt right, dangerous… as she slipped into bed with Harry, he could taste cold silver deception on her lips. Only slight sexual implications. Please read/review!

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Ginny wasn't really thinking as she left the Ministry late that warm fall evening. She knew she didn't want to go back to the house, back to Harry, yet… not so early. Her husband Harry wasn't working right now. The Aurors gave him some time off after he had an accident while on a mission. He had hurt his leg, and while the bulk of it had been healed over night with a few simple enough potions, he was still recuperating from the lasting effects of the poison that was on the knife that had been cursed into his leg. Ginny loved her husband, truly, but it was all she could do to go through the motions when he wasn't really himself this way… she loved Harry, but she loved the strong Harry, not the weaker apathetic man that was so often before her now.

So on automatic pilot, Ginny found herself apparating from the Ministry's visitor's entrance in the Muggle telephone booth to one of the darker corners of Hogsmeade, an alley right outside the Hog's Head bar and pub. The young woman loosened her long red hair from the bun she had it contained in for work and ducked out of the light autumn shower into the bar. It wasn't very late, only around 8:30pm or so, so there were still quite a few people about, maybe fifteen or twenty odd patrons scattered around the small pub.

Ginny nodded to the bartender, a young to middle-aged fellow she had seen around Hogsmeade a few times before, and then tucked herself towards the end of the bar in the shadows. It wasn't as though she was trying not to be seen, but she didn't really desire any unnecessary attention either. She swept the peanut shells from the bar counter where she sat and asked the barkeep for a fire whiskey over rocks, "with no bloody Coke in it, please god." She was on her second drink, staring intently at the Muggle cigarette she was considering lighting up and pondering the directions her short life had taken her, when she heard a familiar snicker.

She glanced to her left and saw Draco Malfoy, looking as smug as he always did, even at Hogwarts. He stood there with a sexy smirk on his mouth, and before she could react, he had her cigarette between his lips and was charming a spark into it with his wand and even taking a small puff with practiced ease before perching it between her slightly parted lips with a lazy grin.

"That Muggle shit will kill you," he said quietly as he brought out his own cigarette and lit it while easing onto the barstool beside the girl. "Barkeep, two more of what she's having, please. And put hers' on this," he ordered, passing him several galleons.

Ginny decided to ignore the fact that one of her and her husband's "sworn enemies" (as Ron would call him) had just bought her a drink, and apparently, a few more to come afterward. Instead, she smiled and dragged on her cigarette, letting the smoke ooze out of her nostrils and curl like a snake in the grass in the air around their heads. "I'm surprised to see a pureblood Slytherin such as yourself enjoying such a base Muggle pleasure," she said, indicating his cigarette with her own.

"Ah," Draco sighed. "Well," he said, "I figure the Dark Lord is gone, as are my parents from my life. What is it that the Muggles say? When you can't beat them… join them. Especially when it is a delectable little surrender that doesn't really cause all that much harm…" he purred, suggestively eyeing her slender form under her thin robes.

Ginny colored slightly, surprised by the young Malfoy's forward advances. As she took another sip of fire whiskey, Draco carefully tucked a tendril of wavy red hair behind her ear, and what startled Ginny even more than the soft touch of his cool hand was the rush of adrenaline that she felt surge into her veins. Ginny took back the last swallow of her drink and dropped her cigarette butt into the melting ice at the bottom of her glass. The last spark sizzled into ash as she examined it, carefully avoiding Draco's gaze. That is, until she heard his low husky whisper sliding into her ear. She slowly turned slightly towards his direction, inhaling the smoky atmosphere of the room and the thickly pungent and comforting scent of alcohol that dominated the bar.

"What say you, my dear, to my perception that you aren't the happiest little pretty witch to walk into this bar?" he asked, now playing with the fingers of her left hand.

Ginny looked past Malfoy's smooth lips, evaded the capture of his stone grey eyes, instead allowing her eyes to rest on his hard chest and stomach concealed by his snug black shirt. "I say… what makes you think that, when you don't even know me?"

Draco chuckled softly and shook his head ruefully. "I don't know you? I won't even waste my time on that particular statement. I noticed that you aren't wearing your wedding ring, Mrs. Potter," he said slowly, running one long finger down the length of her ring finger. He grinned when he felt her faint shiver. "Now, what say you, my dear, to my idea that we have another drink… in a different locale?"

Ginny gathered up her light summer cloak, turning away from him to put it on. She turned back deliberately, revolving on her heel and cutting her eyes up at him from under her sloppy red bangs. "I say lead the way, Mr. Malfoy," she demanded saucily, allowing her hand to slide into his.

He snickered and nodded to the bartender, tossing him another Galleon for a tip and sliding his free hand across the small of Ginny's back and then curling it around her hip possessively. As soon as they were out of the bar, Ginny felt herself spinning into side-along Apparition, held tightly to Draco's chest. She heard him faintly say, "Oh, I so hoped you would say exactly that, my dear Mrs. Gryffindor."

He took her back to his rather small (for a Malfoy, anyway) house, which was in a secluded area right outside of Muggle London. Draco didn't waste any time, leading Ginny straight to his bedroom at the back of the house and pushing her onto his luscious bed. He bit her earlobe as he moved her to the center of the bed, and when she gasped with surprise he put another cigarette to her lips and lit it for her, smirking at her expression. Then he stood, summoning a bottle of fire whiskey from the chest at the foot of his bed. Opening the bottle and passing it to her, he began to unbutton his silky black dress shirt. Ginny didn't hesitate to respond, taking a shot of whiskey from the bottle, dragging on her cigarette, and then starting to remove her own clothing with hands shaking from a combination of temptation, lust, and trepidation.

Draco, however, just chuckled and stopped her without a word, stealing the cigarette from her lips and taking over the job of getting them both undressed.

Ginny, tipsy as she was, remembered every delicious moment of what came next. Draco wasn't polite—though he always called her dear, Mrs. Gryffindor, or, with mocking laughter in his eyes, Mrs. Potter—he wasn't careful, he wasn't kind, and he wasn't at all concerned about hurting her. He was hot and cold, and everywhere all at once. He was deliciously careless, seductively dangerous, as he teased her with his strong hands, with his tongue and his teeth…whatever he came up with as he went.

It was dangerous, breathtaking, exhilarating… but for the first time in several months, everything finally felt right for Ginny, at least for the short spell that she was trapped under Draco Malfoy's domineering gaze and wicked grin.

They didn't speak much after. Draco slid on his slacks and then helped Ginny put on all of her clothing and get herself in order. They didn't kiss goodbye, or awkwardly say goodnight; instead Draco just grazed his hand down the curve of Ginny's neck, grinned as she shivered, and murmured, "Tell Harry hello for me… Mrs. Potter," before tapping his finger to her swollen lips and turning away.

Ginny followed his lead, taking a deep breath and apparating back to the house she owned with Harry in a popular wizarding neighborhood near Godric's Hollow. She didn't speak as she entered their bedroom in the dark, silently removing her clothes and hoping her husband was soundly asleep.

As she eased into their bed, he stirred and turned to face her, squinting at her through the darkness. "Late night at the Ministry, darling?"

"Yes, Harry," she breathed the lie. "Sorry I didn't send an owl."

"It's okay, love," he murmured, tilting his chin up for a kiss.

Ginny kissed her husband softly, heart beating a tiny bit faster as the memories of Draco's hard kisses swirled in her head. She felt him freeze as their lips met, and she knew he could taste the warm alcohol, the hazy tobacco, and the sharply cold silver flavor of deception.

"Good night, Ginny," he said slowly, patting her arm and rolling away from her in the bed. "I love you."

Ginny pulled the quilt up to her chin as she shuddered with a blend of guilt, remembered pleasures, and shame. She wrapped her arm around her husband's waist and whispered, "Good night, Harry. I love you too."

Fin.

Author's Note: Of course it should be mentioned that I in no way support cheating of any kind, but this was a sexy idea that I just couldn't shake out of my head. Please review and let me know what you think!