Chapter Text
Ginny loved all her brothers. Really. She enjoyed spending time with them and all of them were wonderful people in their own right. However, it would be a lie if she said that she liked them all equally. There was a hierarchy, and Bill had just dropped right down to number six. Served him right for not telling her who he hired as his intern for the Bermuda triangle expedition. Now she was stuck on a boat with the most infuriating man she had ever come across. It had been four years since she last saw him at Hogwarts though she could have gone an eternity without.
She almost wished she hadn't talked Bill into letting her vacation on his Curse-Breaker research boat. He had warned her about research expeditions to the Bermuda triangle and told her that the magic was unpredictable here. But Ginny had looked at the sunny location and the opportunity to write off a research trip as a paid educational vacation and said fuck it. Who knew that her biggest problem would actually not be the chaotic magic, but one very obnoxious blond git.
It had all started after Ginny had boarded the Harmony, Bill's very own specialised research ship. They had taken a Portkey to San Juan to start their expedition. The sun had been out and the water had been glittering. Ginny could not have been more excited at the beautiful conditions to sunbathe and swim while the Curse-Breakers did their thing! That was until she arrived on the sun deck to find Draco Malfoy occupying the only sun lounger, the very same one she had given Bill for his boat for purely selfless reasons of course.
"What the fuck are you doing here?!" she yelled.
He stopped flipping through the book in his hand and looked up at her over his sunglasses with a raised eyebrow. He was dressed in creme linen shorts and a matching linen dress shirt with the first three buttons left open to give a view of his pale skin underneath. His hair was a little windswept from the sea breeze and his grey eyes were piercing into Ginny. Why did he look so good? It was irritating her to no end.
"What does it look like I'm doing, Weasley?"
Ginny stopped in front of him and crossed her arms while scowling down at the smug git.
"It looks like you're in my spot! And why in Merlin's name are you on this ship?!"
"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you," Bill came up the stairs behind her, "Malfoy is doing his Curse Breaker internship as my assistant. I told him to read up on the Bermuda's irregularities."
He said it like it was the most normal thing in the world to have fucking Malfoy here. Ginny stared at her brother incredulously, convinced that he was suffering from severe brain damage. Another explanation was not possible for inviting Malfoy on his ship. How was she supposed to survive for three weeks in close quarters with him?
She glared at Malfoy, who leaned back smugly and said, "I guess that means this is my spot now," before he turned back to his book.
"No, it's not! Get the fuck up! Now!"
He turned the page of his book unbothered, completely ignoring her.
Ginny gestured to Bill flabbergasted at Malfoy's audacity.
"Are you just going to stand there while he takes my sun lounger?"
"Yours? I thought it was a gift," Bill joked, mock hurt, "Well he was there first. First come, first serve. Tough luck, Ginny. Besides, since this is an 'educational' vacation for you, I want you to make yourself useful as well." He conjured up a list of tasks and handed it to her. "In fact, you could get started right now."
Malfoy snorted loudly, from his position on her lounger!
Ginny glared at her brother. This betrayal would only be the first of many offences that Ginny had to endure on her vacation.
Since Bill decided that she should actually be educated on her educational time off, ugh, Ginny was forced to assist her brother and his team in his research alongside Malfoy. The latter loved to mock everything she did and worse, he was somehow always in her way. When she was tasked to tie new nets, he untied them each one stating the string she used was all wrong and she should know better. When they went diving to gather magically unstable water probes, he managed to bump into Ginny making her scrape her knee on a sharp rock foundation. As a result, they had to flee with sharks on their tail, chasing Ginny's blood that leaked into the water. To her rightful fury, Malfoy only said that she should have been more careful. It wasn't his fault that she was too uncoordinated to swim straight. Arsehole!
The worst offence so far had happened only a few hours ago. Ginny had been nauseous since waking up. Sadly this trip had made her realise that she wasn't actually as seaworthy as she had thought. When she had finally caved to go take the potion, Malfoy had already been standing in front of the cabinet, downing the last Anti-Seasick-Potion. He only shrugged at her dismay and turned to go back upstairs. So, after spending all morning retching out the contents of her stomach, Ginny was now sitting on the deck scowling at the blond prick who was laughing with Bill. It was entirely unsettling how well they got along.
She couldn't believe her brother. He acted as if Malfoy hadn't been on the wrong side of the war just five years ago. Sure, he might a bit more affable than at Hogwarts but that was not a very high bar. He was still the same pretentious prat, who couldn't help making nasty comments. And the complaints! Everything was so dramatic with him. The sun too hot, the boat too small, the food to bland. Sure, some of those she had thought as well, but that was not the point. She was surprised that Bill put up with it so easily. Maybe Malfoy was kissing up to him, since Bill was technically his boss. Yeah, that was probably it. A facade to get ahead. Bill was simply falling victim to it. That was the only reason why he was hanging out more with Malfoy than with her on the trip… and probably because Malfoy was actually supposed to be there to work. It was fine. It wasn't like she expected her brother to hang out with her every second of his workday. She had just hoped that her trip to the Bermuda triangle would be more relaxing. That she could lie in the sun and swim in some bay while Bill and his team went off to do their research stuff. And yes, maybe she had also hoped to hang out with her brother a bit more…
She felt a familiar pain in her abdomen. Great, as if the day couldn't get any worse, her period had also decided to show up. Ginny went to the bathroom to get a pad. But the package wasn't under the sink, where she'd put it. Instead, the bathroom was filled with Malfoy's grooming products. The vain bastard could fill a whole store with them. There was soap, shaving cream, and a whole assortement of pretenious hair products.
Where the fuck had he put her pads!? Righteous anger rose in her. She could physically feel her last string of patience snap.
Ginny stormed out of the bathroom back onto the deck right at Malfoy. Her hands balled into fists.
"MALFOY!!! WHERE IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE MY PADS?"
Malfoy looked like a deer in headlights as she marched toward him with her wand raised. She hadn't even noticed that she grabbed it. Fuck it. He deserved to feel threatened.
"What the fuck?! I don't even know what you're talking about." He yelled, recovering quickly from his shock and crossing his arms while scowling back at her. Bill smartly scooted to the side, knowing full well that you did not mess with Ginny's stuff unless you wanted to get cursed.
"Oh, so you didn't move anything out of the way to put your whole arsenal of toiletries in every corner of the bathroom?!" Ginny hissed.
Understanding dawned on Malfoy's face.
"Well how could I have known that that stuff was important. It looked useless," he tried to defend himself.
"Maybe to you!" Ginny yelled. "But any woman with a period will disagree. I need them. Now! Where are they?!"
Something happened that Ginny never expected. Malfoy looked quite contrite for a second. He glanced to the side where Bill was standing, before he looked back at her and mumbled something.
"What?"
"I threw them away," he replied a bit louder.
"WHAT?!"
"But in my defence, how could I have known?! Those things looked useless. Like garbage."
"So, you just threw them away?!" Ginny shrieked, flabbergasted by his ignorance. "In what world is that okay?"
He raised an eyebrow at her and scoffed. "You threw away my Luscious Locks Potion yesterday! That's essential. I needed that too! So don't act all innocent now!"
"In what world is that comparable? Aww poor little Malfoy, can’t put his perfect hair in the perfect spot!" Ginny mocked. "I'm bleeding, you scumbag!" She emphasized her words by poking her wand into his chest. "Of course, what else should I expect from you. You haven't changed one bit. Still the same entitled dick you always were! Bet you're still bitter from losing the war. I cannot fathom why anyone would put up with you."
"Oh please, I am way easier to put up with than you, Weasley! But you don't see it, do you? It's easy to judge other's actions in the war for someone who had always people to hide behind. Tell me did Potter dump you because he finally realised that you were nothing but a weight on his back?"
"Fuck you, Malfoy!" Ginny screamed. How dare he talk to her like that? How dare he bring up Harry? Hot tears prickled in the corner of her eyes. She tried to throw the Bat-Bogey-Hex at him. He pulled his wand out to retaliate.
In that moment Ginny felt her wand being ripped away from her grip. Just as Draco lost his wand as well.
"Alright that's enough!" Bill stepped between them, their wands in his hands, "I'm confiscating these until tomorrow, when you hopefully have reflected on your actions and apologised. Both of you. Actions like these are unacceptable on our mission!" He rubbed his hands over his face exasperated. "Don't you remember where we are? Magic like this could wreak havoc on our ship, Merlin, even on the whole region. Go to bed now. That's an order!"