Love or Lose

Chapter I- Beginnings

Author's notes:  Love or Lose was originally posted on fanfiction.net and left unfinished. I started writing it in 2003. I have now rewritten it so it's slightly more Canon (eg- Ginny's name is now Ginevra, not Virginia, etc) but I won't be using the 5th or 6th books at all. Please do not leave comments telling me what should or should not be the case. I've left certain facts, such as Ginny's eye colour, the way I wanted them originally and still want them.

Disclaimer: huh? I'm not J.K. Rowling? …darn.

Summary: Draco/Ginny, with a dash of anything else I feel like at the time. A warning to my readers: I use a lot of time jumps early on, and most of the plot later on will be told through flashbacks. If you have problems keeping up, let me know. I hate putting little FLASHBACK notes or things, but I'll try and make it obvious. usually I'll put a break. (~~~^~~~) Good luck! and enjoy - tulzdavampslayer

~~~^~~~

Ginevra Molly Weasley sat underneath the Sorting Hat and set her jaw tightly. She was sure that if the Hat didn’t make its choice soon, she would drop dead on the spot. Her heart was beating so quickly...

"GRYFFINDOR!"

A squeal escaped her small lips as she jumped up and dashed to the Gryffindor table, all the time looking around for Harry Potter. But he and her brother Ron weren’t even sitting at the table. A lump settled in her throat, and she was suddenly afraid for her brother and the boy who made her head spin like nothing else in the world. But then congratulating hands were thrust into her own, and she found herself in the midst of the Celebrations.

As they ate the feast that had magically appeared at their table, Ginny’s eyes scanned the other tables, wondering where the two boys could be. As her glance passed over the Slytherin table, her eyes were caught by a blond second year boy, one she had met in Diagon Alley, and heard a lot more about beforehand. Draco Malfoy.

He was staring at her, the look in his eyes filled with proud disdain. But there was something else there too. Something akin to… could it be amusement? Like there was some great joke that nobody but him understood. They studied each other for a long moment, a silent challenge passing through the air, until he turned away almost condescendingly, ignoring her angry green eyes to laugh with two boys who could only be his two cronies Crabbe and Goyle.

Ginny snorted in contempt for the boy she knew was destined to be the cruelest in the school, and reached for the roast potatoes.
It wasn’t until much later that she remembered her fear for Harry Potter.

~~~^~~~

Stupid little git. Just like her brothers. Searching for her darling Potter. Where are Weasley and Potter, anyway? Oh, why am I wasting my time thinking about those stupid Gryffindors…

~~~^~~~

After all exams were cancelled that year (all because of her), Ginny often found herself wandering the halls of Hogwarts alone. At first Harry, Ron and Hermione had tried to keep her company, making sure that she was really all right. But after a while, they had drifted away. Her sullen attitude hadn’t helped much perhaps, but she still felt an agonizing guilt for what had happened with the Chamber of Secrets. She could barely be in the same room as Hermione, a constant reminder of what she had unwittingly done. And Harry, although he tried to be considerate and friendly, just came off as condescending. In that week, Ginny learnt a little about her feelings for Harry. The crush began to be slightly more bearable. Only slightly. She could think a little clearer with him around now. But it was one of those things that Ginny could tell was going to stick around for a long time...

"Watch where you’re going, Weasley!"

Ginny looked up in surprise. She was about to apologize to the boy she’d almost crashed into, but when she saw who the voice belonged to, she thought better of it.

"Why should I, Malfoy? You worried that I might sic a Basilisk on you or something?" For some reason, she felt very brave right then. After what she'd been through that year, a little bully like Malfoy didn't really seem all that threatening.

Crabbe and Goyle, standing behind their leader as always, glanced behind themselves nervously, half expecting to see a sixty foot snake slithering down the hall.

"Ha!" Draco laughed at the little girl. "You? Don’t be daft, everyone knows it was Voldemort who was really controlling it. You were just a pawn in his scheme."

Ginny flinched slightly when Draco said you-know-who's name, and Crabbe and Goyle looked around again, both sweating visibly. She noticed however that Malfoy seemed uncomfortable saying the name aloud. Maybe... just maybe… A plot began to unfurl in her quick mind and a smirk spread across her face.

"What’re you grinning at, girl?" Draco suddenly felt rather unnerved by this tiny girl who had the courage to stand up to him. None of the first years ever rebelled against his intimidation. Of course, the girl was a Weasley, and they were renowned for their lack of common sense. He snarled at her.

"Ooh, is that all you have left in you there Malfoy? Wow. I’ve heard so much about your power to frighten us first years. Almost as bad as Voldemort." That time she detected a definite flinch. "I guess it was a little over-rated…" Ginny felt very proud of herself. She wasn’t going to let this puffed-up monster run her into the ground. After all, she’d seen much more terrifying monsters than a spoilt brat from an overly rich family.

Malfoy pulled out his wand. "I’m warning you, Weasley. Get out of my way and stay out of it."

Ginny bowed deeply and very formally, but she did not move to the side. "Find another way, Malfoy. I’m standing here now. You can stand here later if you really want to. I'll probably get bored in an hour or two."

"Move, girl, or I will be forced to -"

But Ginny’s wand was suddenly in her hand, raised threateningly and pointed directly at his nose.

Malfoy was in a compromising spot and he knew it. If he was caught using magic on a younger student again, he’d be out on detention in the Forbidden Forest. And he never wanted to go in there again without a particularly good reason. "You forget yourself, Weasley," he tried carefully. "I’m older than you, and I know a lot more about dueling than you do."

"But you forget who I am," Ginny smiled innocently, "and who my friends are. I watch them very closely, and I know every spell they have learnt, and more besides. You don’t share your mind and your soul with the Dark Lord and not learn anything from it." That technically was a lie, but she did know a couple of curses that Hermione had taught her for self-defence purposes. But Malfoy didn’t know that, and he wasn’t going to find out, if everything went to plan.

Draco’s jaw tightened. "Crabbe, Goyle…" he started before realizing that the boys no longer stood behind him. Their fleeing footsteps could be heard thumping away from the tense pair glaring each other down. He carefully stepped backwards, wanting desperately to curse the stupid little girl, but knowing that if he even moved his wand hand an inch he’d have an elephant trunk or something very similar instantaneously.

"Fine. You win this one Weasley. But don’t expect me to be lenient with you next time. You better watch your back, because one of these days…"

"You’ll what?"

"I’m gonna make you wish you’d never been born." His confidence began to return, and he smirked wickedly at her. Their eyes held as he backed down the hall. Ginny’s mouth twitched angrily, but her wand arm did not waver. And it did not lower till Malfoy had slowly turned and returned the way he had come.

Ginny breathed deeply and leaned against the wall.

“Too late,” she whispered.

~~~^~~~

Coming shortly, Chapter II - Something borrowed

featuring romantic advice from potions masters, dresses, and hugs by sunsets. (no I'm not moving their relationship too fast, I just love playing with time. *smiles innocently and hides*)

Disclaimer: nope, don't own the books yet. Ok so I have copies. But I don't have the rights. I'd like them though.
Summary: So far Ginny and Draco have had the obligatory run-into-each-other-and-threaten-for-a-while scene. Not much really.

~~~^~~~

When Ginny Weasley returned to Hogwarts for her sixth year, she was wearing a Prefect badge, and held the confidence of many Gryffindors and more besides in the younger grades. She had shot up over the summer, and now almost towered over many of the other girls. Her long red hair, usually pulled back tight in a firm plait, was today worn free and flowed out behind her as she traveled across the grounds. The look in her eyes, if you were brave (or lucky) enough to stare into them, was one of anticipation and preparation. She knew something was changing in the air, and while the rest of the world was going crazy searching for Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Ginny would be searching for reason in her own life and the lives of others. She would also be searching everybody for signs of sympathy for The Dark Lord’s ‘cause’. She didn’t want a repeat of last year’s massacre…


Ginny shook her head to rid herself of the memories. She didn’t want to think of the terrible things Lucius Malfoy had done in his insane rampage through the school. Too many innocent students had lost their lives that day. Hogwarts may be the safest place in the Wizarding world, but it was still vulnerable. Ginny refused to be afraid of what could happen to her on her quest to protect the remaining students. She refused to be afraid of anything, and she had no need to be, not with Head Boy Draco Malfoy by her side…

~~~^~~~

"I don’t understand, Malfoy. How come -"

"Well you never were one to understand, were you, Crabbe? I want you and Pansy to leave me alone for a while. Maybe all year. Go find somebody else to follow around for a while. I hear Blaise is available. The three of you would get on very well, I should think."

"But there’s nobody else…"

"Go make some new friends then. Don’t you understand, you idiot? You see me as something I’m not, something I haven’t been for a very long time. I have things I need to do, and I can't do them with you around. Now get lost."


Draco Malfoy was seething with anger, a position most boys on their first day of their last year at school, especially as Head Boy, would not normally be in. But Draco was not a normal boy. And his current position was rather unusual. He watched Crabbe’s eyes fill with sudden tears, and continued to watch him with stormy eyes until the suddenly crying boy had left the common room. Crabbe had already lost his best friend the previous year, and now he had lost his idol. Draco pitied the boy, but he knew he couldn’t risk having Crabbe and Parkinson hanging around. They were too close emotionally to their parents, and Draco didn’t want any information being ‘accidentally’ passed on. He turned back to his scrutiny of the view from the window, feeling like a small part of his life that had been coming to an end for some time had finally died.


He didn’t cry. He never cried. His father had taught him well in that respect. Gin had once told him that he should be able to cry, and that crying was good for the system. He didn’t want to think about tears.

~~~^~~~

"Ginny!"

Ginny spun quickly, her wand in her hand, to see Draco standing there, gasping for air.

"You shouldn’t run so much. You’re just not a runner, Draco."

He smirked at her. "Well my broomstick is gone now, isn’t it? What else am I going to do?"

Ginny had almost forgotten that all the student’s brooms had been taken that week to aid with the resistance. Quidditch was a thing of the past, much to the chagrin of Draco, the Seeker for Slytherin House.

"I need to talk to you," Draco said once he caught his breath. Ginny sat down on the grass to listen. When Draco needed to talk, it had to be important. He didn’t talk a lot. He hardly talked at all, really.

"A letter came this morning. My mother’s disappeared. Nobody seems to know where she is, not even my father."

Ginny gasped. "What happened?"

"Nobody knows. But everybody seems to think she’s dead. That’s probably true. I wouldn’t be surprised if my father did it too."

Ginny was shocked by her friend’s seeming acceptance of his mother’s apparent death.

"Are you all right, Draco?" For the first time, she found herself seriously concerned about him.

"I’ll be fine. It was bound to happen one of these days. I wasn’t bowled over by it or anything. But…" His seemingly calm exterior faltered for a moment. "…I didn’t think it’d hurt this much."


"Draco...” Ginny almost reached a hand out to touch his shoulder, but drew back at the last moment. “It’s okay to cry sometimes, you know. Nobody will think any less of you. And anyway, nobody’s here but us. Your reputation wouldn’t be ruined or anything."


Draco looked at her for a moment. Why couldn’t she see? He didn’t need to cry. The only thing he needed to do was… But she would never let him get close enough. And the apparent fear of his touch that she still carried gave him more pain than his mother’s death…

~~~^~~~


Draco sighed loudly. That had been only one and a half years ago. And nothing had really changed that much between the two of them in all of that time. One day he would tell her how it was that he felt… One day. That day, of course, was not today. Today was the day every sixth and seventh year student prepared the grounds for a new onslaught of tiny boys and girls wanting to learn how to use magic. Wanting to be able to protect themselves, their families and their friends. He had only learnt such a short time ago what that felt like.


When the Slytherin door opened, Draco was surprised to see his mentor and head of house, Professor Severus Snape standing there. Well, perhaps standing was the wrong word. Leaning was maybe better. When the Professor had lost his leg defending a group of Muggle-Borns from Death Eaters in Draco’s fifth year at Hogwarts, Draco’s views of the world had severely changed along with a few other things inside of him.

"Hi, Professor. Do you need a hand?"

The tall serious teacher shook his head and slowly made his way to the closest chair. The way he leant heavily on his staff still slightly disturbed Draco. It was a reminder of the man’s humanity and mortality.

"Malfoy… I wished to speak to you. You have gone through something that no person, young or old, should have to go through. You witnessed your father’s insanity closer than any of us. You lost a lot that day, perhaps more than any of the rest of us. You really should be bouncing off these walls, screaming and yelling. But you’d rather stand there and stare out that window. …What are you always looking at out there, by the way?"


Draco blushed and tore his eyes from the beautiful red-haired prefect issuing orders to her fellow students; a born leader. He came and sat in a chair opposite his teacher.

"I don’t scream because I don’t need to. And I do yell. Sometimes. If I do, I just put a silence charm on the room I’m in so I don’t disturb anybody. I am fine, Professor. Maybe not completely, but enough to keep functioning as a human. And I haven’t lost everything. I’ve still got…" He felt his face flush slightly as he realized he had almost told Snape of his feelings for his one true friend who could never be more.

"You’ve still got love?"

Draco stared at the floor.

"Don’t let go of that. If you don’t have that love, you have a very good chance of losing everything. And so do we all." And with that mysterious final comment, the Professor stood shakily and made his way to the door.

"Professor!" Draco called out to him, not taking his eyes from the floor. "…Thank you."

Snape looked at the boy on whose shoulders the fate of the entire world would rest.
Why him?, he thought to himself. He’s too young yet…

~~~^~~~

"Come to the Yule Ball with me?"

Ginny had not been prepared for that. "What?"

Draco shrugged, attempting to appear as nonchalant as possible. "It’s fine if you don’t want to. I’m sure I won't have any trouble finding a girl who does. I just thought it could give us a chance to get to know each other better. Since we’re friends now and all. Besides, it might take your mind off…" His voice trailed off as he realized he shouldn’t have opened his big mouth.


"It might take my mind off my father?" Ginny’s face had hardened. But after sizing him up for a moment, she smiled gently. “Why not? But just as friends, mind you."

Draco managed a snort. "What else? I don’t think of you as anything else, Weasley." It was the hardest lie he'd ever had to tell.


"I, uh, don’t have anything to wear though, and I can’t get something from Hogsmeade anymore." Passes out had been cancelled after a Death Eater was caught stalking a Muggle-born third year two months ago.

"Come up to the Slytherin Tower tomorrow night at 10. I might have something that would suit."

Ginny never thought to ask why he would have girls’ clothes. But she never thought to ask him a lot of questions that maybe she should have.


The next night Ginny ‘borrowed’ Harry’s invisibility cloak and sneaked out of the Gryffindor Tower. She still didn’t want her brother or his friends to know about her growing friendship with their ‘mortal enemy’. She knew Ron would probably challenge Draco to a duel or something equally silly and get himself injured, and that would be the end of it. Well, she was fourteen now and quite old enough to make decisions of her own. …Most of the time.


When she got to Slytherin House, she saw Draco leaning casually against the wall. Well, at first it looked as if it was casual. But the invisibility cloak gave Ginny the wonderfully useful ability to come right up to Draco without him knowing about it. So she did. His eyes were open, fixed on the corridor that she had just come from. His brow was knotted, and his lips were tight. Ginny realized with slight surprise that Draco Malfoy was biting his lip. Draco Malfoy was nervous. Yet another thing she had noticed that year in the strangely changed Malfoy.


She quietly headed back down around the corner, slid the cloak over her head, hid it carefully in a niche in the wall and quickly headed towards Draco. He stood up straight, his arms still folded across his broad chest.

"You’re late, Weasley."


Ginny frowned, hands on her hips. "You know I really wish you wouldn’t call me that. I have a name. Learn it."

He smirked. "Well excuse me Miss Ginevra. I’ll try not to offend you again. Tonight, at east." He sneered wickedly at her, and for some reason Ginny’s heart skipped a beat.

"Come on in, I’ll get you the dress."


The success of the previous year’s Yule Ball with Durmstrang and Beauxbaton had sparked the idea with Dumbledore to repeat the morale-improving event every year, especially after the tragedy of the recent battle in London. The battle where Professor Snape lost his leg. The battle in which Ginny’s father had been killed.


The Slytherin Common Room was empty when Draco brought Ginny into it, the first Gryffindor welcomed into Slytherin Tower in the entire history of Hogwarts. Draco knew this, and the faint smile playing on his lips betrayed his thoughts to the girl at his side.


"Look Malfoy, I don’t want to be here any more than you want me in here. I’m not really in the mood for sanctity breaking or whatever. Do you have something to show me or not?"

"Impatient aren’t we, Miss Ginevra?"

"Stop calling me that. Just call me Ginny like everybody else."


Draco looked at her for a moment. "All right… Ginny." Saying her nickname to her face like that, he had to use a great deal of self-control not to grab her and kiss her… He quickly turned away and picked up a beautiful green satin dress from the table.


"I don’t know if it’ll fit you or anything," he lied. He had magically created the dress that morning to always fit her exactly. After watching her for months without daring to touch her, he knew every curve of her body.


Ginny gasped. "Where did you get this?"

"It used to be my mother’s." It wasn’t that much of a lie really. His mother had taught him the spell after all.

"Your mother’s too tall for this!"

Draco shrugged. "She wasn’t always. This was her favourite dress when she was at Hogwarts. She lent it to me last year, Just in case I find somebody who…" he coughed lightly. "Well. I just hope it fits."


She held it up against herself. "Thank you Draco," she smiled. "I’m sure it will." And then she hugged him. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. Ginny wasn’t wearing a perfume, but somehow she smelled just like wildflowers. He slid his arms around her waist, holding her tight against him. He would have stayed like that forever if she had let him, but she slipped deftly out of his embrace. She smiled at him once more, but this new smile seemed less comfortable, less friendly than the first smile. It was almost as if she was suddenly… not afraid of him… but not quite so comfortable around him anymore. With that smile Draco felt a part of him fall away, and his attitude became colder and more like the old Draco.


"You should leave. Take the dress with you. If it doesn’t fit, just… give it back to me if you want. Otherwise I will see you around."

And Ginny fled.

~~~^~~~

Ginny sat by the lake, the darkening sky above her starting to show pinpoints of stars. She wondered why that particular memory had come back to her. She remembered that Yule Ball of course. It was the first time anybody had seen the two of them together. Everybody had jumped to the wrong conclusion of course. They always did. And nobody had been happy about it. Except perhaps professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, and altogether possibly Snape. But they had just been happy that Ginny wasn’t completely and utterly focusing on her father’s murder…


"Boo," a quiet voice whispered in her ear. Ginny jumped, and Draco laughed.

"Jumpy miss," he said fondly, dumping himself down beside her on the grass. "It never ceases to amuse me how easily you can be startled."

"Yes, well, I wish you wouldn’t. I was thinking about something and you pulled me quite suddenly from my thoughts. You know how I feel about being disturbed."

Draco laughed again. "You’re always disturbed, Gin. What were you thinking about?"


She blushed. "Nothing." For some reason, she didn’t really want Draco knowing she was thinking about their past. It wasn’t all chocolate frogs after all. Quite a bit had actually been a lot more like Bertie Bott’s every flavour beans… There’d been the amazingly good times, the times where one or the other was in mortal danger and the other was sick with worry, there were the uncomfortable times, and of course there had been those two weeks after that Yule Ball…


"Hah! Nobody blushes over nothing, especially you." But he didn’t push the matter. He’d quickly learned over the past few years that you didn’t push Ginny Weasley. She pushed back twice as strong. It was one of the things he had come to love about her.


They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the sky grow darker and lights inside Hogwarts appear. Ginny leant her head on Draco’s shoulder, and a moment later he placed his arm lightly around her. The two of them would often sit out by the lake watching sunsets or sunrises, students playing or students studying, sometimes even students… well. Their friendship had reached that level of closeness where you could lie in each other’s laps without thought of anything more. At least that was how it was for Ginny.


Draco could hardly keep himself from pulling her into a passionate embrace and kissing her for hours. But somehow he managed to keep control. He had been taught self-control all his life, to hide his true emotions and only show the person you wanted them to see. But then, his father had taught him these things. And look where it had gotten him. Draco tried not to think of Azkaban and the Dementors too much, but sometimes it was the only thing in his mind.


As he sat there by the lake with the love of his life in his arms, Draco Malfoy wondered (and not for the first time) what Ginny would do if he kissed her.

~~~^~~~

Coming soon, chapter III - Pain
Featuring the forging of the friendship... and not much else...

Disclaimer: What, you think I've got rights now? No! go 'way and leave me alone.

Summary: Ginny's a sixth year prefect, Draco's Head Boy and head over heels in love with her, Snape's lost a leg. It's also been revealed that Draco and Ginny had a secret friendship before revealing it at the Yule Ball two years ago, and Arthur Weasley has been murdered.
Just a quick note, this entire chapter is a flashback, so it won't be in italics like previous flashbacks have been.


~~~^~~~


"I’m terribly sorry children. Nobody thought it would turn out the way it did. But know that he died very bravely." Professor Dumbledore attempted to console the four Weasley students. Fred and George looked like they’d gone catatonic, while Ron’s fists were clutched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. Ginny’s eyes were filling with tears, and her lip trembled.


"If there is anything at all that we can do, please don’t be afraid to come and speak with me. I am available for you at any time. But for now, I realize that whatever I say is unlikely to help you. I will leave you in Professor McGonagall’s care. …Minerva?" He called out to the tight-lipped teacher standing by the window, her handkerchief held to her face.


Ginny stormed down the corridors towards the Slytherin Tower, murder in her eyes. She knew what she had to do. She would revenge her father’s death on the son of his killer.


Draco stepped out of the tower, Crabbe and Goyle following as usual. As he turned to walk towards the Great Hall, he crashed straight into the furious girl.


"Watch where you’re – hey!" His usual response was blasted away from him, along with his wand. Crabbe and Goyle took one terrified look at Ginny before fleeing.


"What’s your problem, Weasley? What’ve I done to you recently?" Draco, now sprawled on the floor, his robes askew, tried to crawl backwards to his wand without Ginny noticing.

"What’s my problem? My problem? You… You… You DARE ask what you’ve done? Your father! Your bloody father! He… he… Wingardium Leviosa!"


And with that, Draco’s wand floated in the air and made its new home on the ceiling high above their heads. Draco’s eyes were now filled with apprehension. He knew of course what happened. Everybody knew. Mr Weasley had made front cover news. He, along with several other witches and wizards as well as several Hogwarts teachers, had been caught in a desperate battle to rescue a group of muggle-born wizards two days ago with a very large group of Death Eaters, the largest number seen, even in Voldemort’s time. Mr Weasley had been the only casualty on his side. Over thirty Death Eaters had been killed. Unfortunately, none had been captured, and the rest had escaped. Professor Snape, to Draco’s great surprise, had been fighting alongside Mr Weasley when he was killed. The Professor himself had lost a leg to the same Death Eater who killed Ginny’s father. Ever since he had read the article in the Daily Prophet, Draco had been thinking about a very decision he was going to have to make eventually, as he knew the identity of that Death Eater. And apparently, so did Ginny.


"I didn’t know! I didn’t know he was going to…" Well, technically, Draco had always known that his father was a Death Eater. He had also always known that he was destined to eventually follow in his father’s footsteps. That no longer appeared to be such an attractive option. The look of pain and fury on Ginny’s face didn’t seem to Draco to be worth whatever glory his father could offer him. He didn’t like the pain he could see there, and he didn’t want hundreds more to feel the exact same thing.


Ginny, tears still pouring down her face, raised her wand. "I don’t care what you knew. You’re a Malfoy, and from now on, I hate the lot of you! If I ever see anybody with the name, I will kill them. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you for what your family has done!" She began to speak a horrible curse, one that would set the frightened boy in front of her on fire from the inside and work its way through his body, but the words stuck in her throat. All that came out were sobs. She tried again, but her hand was shaking so badly that she dropped her wand to the floor.


Draco was now too shocked at what Ginny had been prepared to do to him to even try and grab at the wand. Ginny dropped to her knees and started beating at his chest with her bare hands, crying all the time. All Draco could was take her hands gently and hold them. She tried to kick him, but from her position all that happened was that she tripped further, and Draco was almost holding her up. He looked into her eyes, and for the first time, truly saw her. She was being torn apart by this tragedy, but somehow she was beautiful through all of her tears. Draco, in all of his fifteen years, had never thought of anybody as beautiful before.


Ginny, now unable to hurt her would-be victim, fell apart. She leant against Draco, weeping. All he could do was hold her, his arms carefully enfolding her, unsure what he was supposed to do.


~~~^~~~


"So are we friends now?"


Ginny laughed out loud. How strange it felt, to be friends with a Malfoy. To be friends with a boy who, only a week ago, she had been prepared to disembowel. "I suppose so."


Draco smiled. It wasn’t his usual smug smirk. For the first time, he really smiled.


~~~^~~~


Chapter IV - When you Believe: coming to a computer screen near you

"He… he’s killing them! They’re dead, all of them! You’ve gotta run, he’s coming… wait… You’re his… he might not…" and with that the boy started babbling and Draco let him go.

Love or Lose – Chapter Four - When you Believe


Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter. I don’t own this song. But I’m going to use it anyway.


Summary: It has been revealed that Lucius Malfoy killed Arthur Weasley and that, strangely enough, is what sparked Draco and Ginny’s friendship.


Author's notes: In this chapter, Ginny's eyes are mentioned as being green. This was a deliberate move on my part, I am aware that it's not Canon. Forgive me! More and more things seem to be becoming AU... but I'll warn you if it goes too off-balance! :P


~~~^~~~


School had already been in session for almost a month, but Ginny had hardly noticed the time fly by. Her teachers found that her usual attention was lost, her mind somewhere else that had nothing to do with studies. Some of the students seemed to think that she was daydreaming about a certain Head Boy, but anybody caught saying that aloud near Ron, Harry or Hermione, were immediately squished. In fact, Ginny’s mind was on much more serious matters. She watched her teachers and students carefully. She read the Daily Prophet like a Muggle Bible. She hoarded supplies and was often found reading books on deadly curses and their respective counter-curses. When she wasn’t doing that, she was patrolling the corridors and grounds, often with Draco at her side.


But unbeknownst to Ginny, Draco wasn’t watching for danger as much as he was watching her. He watched her brow narrow when they found anything out of place. He listened to her ramblings of safety restrictions they could put in place. He agreed with her in almost everything. But he also watched her back. He more than anyone else knew the danger that could altogether possibly lie waiting for her around the corner at any time.


~~~^~~~


Draco ran from the dungeons towards the screams. He had no idea what could be happening, but he had to see if Ginny was safe. As he ran, he passed several students running in the opposite direction. He grabbed one, a fifth year Gryffindor Colin Creevey, and tried to find out what was happening.


"He… He’s killing them! They’re dead, all of them! You’ve got to run, he’s coming… wait… You’re his… he might not..." and with that the boy started babbling and Draco let him go.


He almost crashed into Professor Sprout a moment later.


"Malfoy, head to your dormitory immediately. It’s not safe out there. Somebody is killing every student he sees," and then she was gone, running towards the Great Hall. But Draco knew, from the direction the Creevey boy had come from, that the killer was not there. He headed towards the Gryffindor Tower, fear for Ginny building inside of him.


When he got there, he saw that the painting that was the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room had been ripped apart. The screams were louder now, so much louder. Draco pulled out his wand and quickly jumped through the portrait hole.


He heard a voice upstairs.

"Where is Potter?" it roared. "Where is the Boy who Lived?"

Draco knew that voice all too well. His heart jumped into his throat a moment later when he heard who Lucius Malfoy was demanding answers from.


"I don’t know! Harry isn’t here. Now stay back, I’m warning you!" Ginny Weasley’s voice, while sounding confident to a stranger, had an all too worrying tremble to it in Draco’s mind. He knew that he only had a moment before his crazed father… He leaped upstairs three at a time in a desperate attempt to get to his friend. He almost fell into the chamber as Lucius Malfoy raised his wand.


Draco, knowing he didn’t have enough time to disarm his father with a spell, barreled into him and knocked him to the ground. He nimbly picked himself up and ran to Ginny.

"Are you all right?" His eyes quickly passed over her, making sure that she was uninjured, before turning back to his father, who was at that moment pushing himself from the ground, his eyes aflame and slightly more than insane.

"THAT was a stupid thing to do, boy," he snarled. "Something you will pay dearly for…"


Draco realized he had dropped his wand when he hit his father. There was nothing he could do to save himself. He covered Ginny’s body with his own, hoping to protect her from his father’s madness. He looked into her eyes for the last time, thinking to tell her finally of his feelings. But the words did not come. They simply stared into each other’s eyes, both knowing that they would die.


"Expelliarmus!"


Lucius Malfoy’s wand flew out of his hand, and he turned to the doorway to see who had disarmed him.

"You!" His lips curled in rage. "Get away from me, traitor."


Severus Snape calmly and slowly limped towards the man. "I don’t think you really want to kill your son, Malfoy. Not today at least."

Draco slowly stood up, staring as the teacher coolly cast the spell that would pull Lucius Malfoy into unconsciousness.

Snape shook his head. "Lucius, what have you done…"


Hardly a moment later, Professor Dumbledore entered the room, Harry Potter at his heels.

"Severus, you got here in time!" Dumbledore exclaimed, but then suddenly fell to his knees as he looked around the room. Draco was dumbfounded by his headmaster’s show of weakness before he too looked around him. He had not noticed before that the entire of the fifth year girls’ bedroom was destroyed. The beds were burnt to a cinder, and every girl was dead. Every girl except the one by his side.


The severity of his father’s crime hit his mind, and Draco instinctively knew that this was not the only room in the school filled with corpses.

"If I had been only a moment later…" Draco hugged Ginny tightly, realizing how close he had come to losing her forever.


~~~^~~~


That event had been the most terrible in all of Wizarding history. To attack children was so unforgivable that many wizards and witches called for Lucius Malfoy’s death. However, he was sent to Azkaban, and now resided in the smallest, darkest cell in the prison, destined to live out his days in total solitude until the day he attempted to escape. That would be the day the Ministry would gladly agree to give the man the Dementor’s Kiss. Draco never found out what had brought on his father’s madness. But every fifth year girl in Gryffindor but Ginny had been slaughtered, along with many other students who had just been in his way. Draco's friend Goyle, who had let Lucius into the school, had been the first to die.


Ginny never forgave herself for not being able to save her friends, but Draco was only happy that she had survived. From that day on, he hardly let her out of her sight.


Eventually Ginny realized that Draco was being over-protective of her. When he wasn’t with her, he was watching her, and in between classes she would often find him waiting already outside her room to walk with her from class to class. She wondered how he got out of classes so quickly, but never actually got around to asking him. She didn’t really mind though. It was nice having a friend there.


~~~^~~~


That Halloween, Dumbledore threw a ball for all students in their fifth, sixth or seventh years. The rest of the school all had excessively large parties in their Common Rooms. Balls and parties were happening much more often as of late. It was, of course, the best way to increase morale now that Quidditch and trips to Hogsmeade had been cancelled until further notice.


Ginny, as always, went with Draco, wearing the same dress as always. She had her suspicions about the dress Draco had given her two years ago. She had grown quite a bit since then, in more ways than one, but still the dress always seemed to fit perfectly. But she loved it anyway. She especially loved the way every male student’s eyes popped out of their heads when they saw her. Well, everyone except Draco. He sometimes looked a bit smug at her side, but never surprised.


It had surprised Ginny at first how well green suited her. But it set off her eyes, as Draco often told her. The satin reached all the way down to the floor, and although its sleeves covered a small portion of her hands, it left her shoulders bare and showed off her slender neck. For the Halloween Ball, Ginny wore her hair loose which made her look, as Ron said, a little like a Dryad. Although she no longer vied for Harry’s attention, it was always enjoyable to see him start a little when he saw in her green dress. Hermione, however, frowned a tiny bit whenever she saw Harry’s reaction. Ginny had her own private thoughts on the reason for that, but she didn’t say them out loud.


"May I have this dance?"

Ginny was startled out of her thoughts. "Sorry Draco. I was just thinking."

Draco smiled. "You’re always ‘just thinking’. Relax for a while and come dance with me." He held out a hand for her to take. Ginny didn’t actually think that dancing with Draco and relaxing came hand-in-hand. Lately she had felt something in her stomach twist when she was too close to him, and the dizzy feeling she got near him irritated her beyond belief. But she took his hand all the same.


Every student had their eyes on them, watching for a sign of something more than friendship. Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy were the ‘talk of the town’, so to speak. Everybody had their own private theories about the two of them, many of them including the fact that each of them had their own private room; Draco because of his position as Head Boy, and Ginny because… well, nobody really liked to talk about the ‘incident’ much. The other reason they all watched breathlessly was because the two of them were the tallest and best looking students there, and really, what else was there to look at?


As the music changed to a slower, much more romantic-style pace, Ginny suggested that they go get some punch and poke fun of the couples as they normally did, but Draco, with a dark look in his eyes, pulled her back to him. He didn’t say anything, he just held her close, a little too close for Ginny’s liking, and swayed slightly in time to the beat. His fingers on one hand linked with hers, and his other hand settled light but firm on her lower back. Ginny’s heart started beating faster, and she found she had begun to hold her breath. She rested her head gently on his shoulder and just let it happen.


Draco breathed in her wildflower scent. All of his worries left him and he felt absolutely calm. He was so close to Ginny he could feel her heart beating. He smiled as he noted its speed.

Ginny’s head started spinning. She mentally told herself off for it. She shouldn’t be feeling quite so attracted to him, she shouldn’t… Draco was her friend… only her friend… but it all felt so right… She sighed with contentment.


Draco pulled his head back when he heard her sigh, not sure what it meant. But then he saw the look in her eyes and his heart leapt from his chest. She cared. He could see it. Testing her, he lowered his face slightly towards her. Ginny raised hers. And the next thing either of them knew, their lips were pressed against each other’s. Their kiss went on for some minutes, becoming more desperate and passionate at each passing moment. Ginny had her arms tight around Draco’s neck, not allowing him to ever get away. Draco entangled his fingers in her long hair, not wanting to ever stop. All the tension that had been building was suddenly released all at the one moment, and neither really had control over their own actions anymore.


Eventually, they heard the giggles and whispers surrounding them. They pulled slightly away from each other, and opened their eyes. The other students, as well as several teachers, had all stopped dancing, and were now all watching them, grins plastered on their faces. Ginny coughed, embarrassed, and they both turned very interesting shades of red, before slowly and very steadily leaving the Great Hall.


As they turned the corner, Draco grabbed her around the waist and pulled him to her, their bodies touching in all sorts of places.

"Did you mean it?" He wasn’t quite sure how to interpret their kiss.

Ginny beamed up at him. "What do you think?" And she kissed him again.


~~~^~~~


There can be miracles when you believe,
Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe
- When you believe, from "The Prince of Egypt"


AN – sigh. Every time I edit this chapter I get all goosebumpy. It's not particularly exciting or anything, I... maybe I'm just happy for them. :P ah well.

Coming (reasonably shortly hopefully) Chapter V - If Everything Falls Apart Now
possibly the stupidest chapter in the story...

"Virginia Weasley, what do you think you are doing?"
Ginny gulped in panic as she stared down at her breakfast. The Howler, floating in midair at her table, continued spilling abuse.