Chapter 15 - Interlude
“Are you sure you’re getting enough sleep?” Tonks asked, watching Ginny in some concern. “You look wretched.”
The redheaded woman scowled. “Thanks a lot.”
“Seriously. Ever since–”
“Don’t–” Ginny held up a hand. “Don’t say it.”
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Tonks conceded defeat.
It had been two long weeks since the extraordinary events at Shadowlands. They had almost finished clearing the rubble and destruction away, and the last of the dead Aurors had received honourable funerals. Ginny and Neville, Tonks and Ron and Abercrombie and his black-clads had escaped with nothing more than an unofficial reprimand and a terrifyingly thorough interrogation. However, Carlisle, the main instigator, had been immediately imprisoned on some trumped up petty charge, and Ginny, who had benefited the most from such summary justice, was nevertheless hard-put not to deplore it.
Tonks knew that the Ministry’s justice could just have easily have been applied to Draco, had it been he who was caught instead of Carlisle. As long as someone was found guilty of tearing up Diagon Alley and put away for life, the public would be satisfied. Carlisle, with his shadowy, distinctly grey record and his hard-line, uncomfortable methods was just as good a scapegoat as Draco Malfoy, the fallen Auror.
Tonks wondered just how much Ginny knew about Draco’s timely disappearance. Somehow, between Ginny’s Stupefying him and Moody’s appearance on the scene, the unconscious Draco and his three henchmen had vanished while no one else was watching – at least, while no one interested in detaining them had been watching. Ginny had claimed that she’d turned her back on him, believing him safely unconscious, and that when she’d gone back to check on him he was gone.
Tonks believed that she’d turned her back, certainly. She remembered the devastated look on her face as she’d come down the stairs, her wand out and ready to stop the man she loved from going completely over the edge. She remembered the mixture of fear, anguish and determined resolve – and the look of absolute shock on Draco’s face as he turned to face his assailant.
Ginny could swear all she liked on a whole stack of sacred artifacts; she still loved Malfoy, even now, even after seeing him at his absolute worst. And like all Weasleys, she was fierce in the defense of her loved ones…
Happily, they had finally uncovered the answer to the mystery of Shadowlands’ back rooms. Far from such lurid imaginings as facilitating in the rise of a new Dark Lord, or in plotting to take over the world/destroy England’s economy/overthrow the Ministry, Draco had been engaged in money laundering for the illegal narcotics suppliers on Knockturn Alley.
Not, of course, that the Knockturn Alley mafia weren’t dangerous in and of themselves, but even so…
A Malfoy, reduced to laundering money for a petty crime cartel.
Killing for them, as Longbottom had discovered, just before Kelly had discovered him.
Had he truly fallen that far from what he once was?
****************
“Do you remember,” he had asked, “when we believed we could make it work? A Malfoy and a Weasley, together – I think we had more courage, then, than we’ve ever shown since… ”
Ginny remembered.
“I loved you, Draco. We fought so hard, just for the chance to have a future – why did you ruin it?”
Why, oh why, had he thrown away everything they’d fought so hard to achieve?
“Why did I ruin it?” Draco, still stunned and groggy from the aftermath of her spell, had tipped back his head and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. “I was not the one who walked away. But you’re right: all the hotheaded, stubborn defiance, the grim determination to hang onto our love – we lost it somewhere, didn’t we? When there was nothing left to fight…”
“Is that what Shadowlands was? A purpose?”
“A distraction. A challenge. It did not make up for what we lost.” He turned to her then, all masks stripped away, all defenses lowered, and she could see the strain, the terrible, empty weariness –
“Truth, Ginevra – have you ever found anything to replace what we once had? Has there been anything, or anyone else, to fill the empty spaces in your life?”
She looked at him for a long, long time then, remembering what he had once been, what they had once been together. They’d been so young, and so full of belief…
Why did you accept money from the cartel?
But she knew that if she asked that, she would destroy the mood, lose him forever.
“No,” she said finally. “Without you, there was nothing truly worthwhile…”
He smiled, his eyes vague and unfocused, his body limp and heavy. He was exhausted, she knew, completely wrung out – but she had one last thing to say to him before she left.
“This time you have to leave, Draco. I can’t protect you any more, and you used up your status as a hero long ago. Leave, and don’t come back. There is nothing for you here.”
She was halfway across the room to the door, before she caught the echo of his last, slurred words.
“I know.”
********************
A/N – I’ve just finished watching ‘The Way we Were’. I may have been a little influenced… But don’t worry! This is not the end. I just put this interlude in because I needed to come down off the action high.
Thank you for all your feedback.
“Are you sure you’re getting enough sleep?” Tonks asked, watching Ginny in some concern. “You look wretched.”
The redheaded woman scowled. “Thanks a lot.”
“Seriously. Ever since–”
“Don’t–” Ginny held up a hand. “Don’t say it.”
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Tonks conceded defeat.
It had been two long weeks since the extraordinary events at Shadowlands. They had almost finished clearing the rubble and destruction away, and the last of the dead Aurors had received honourable funerals. Ginny and Neville, Tonks and Ron and Abercrombie and his black-clads had escaped with nothing more than an unofficial reprimand and a terrifyingly thorough interrogation. However, Carlisle, the main instigator, had been immediately imprisoned on some trumped up petty charge, and Ginny, who had benefited the most from such summary justice, was nevertheless hard-put not to deplore it.
Tonks knew that the Ministry’s justice could just have easily have been applied to Draco, had it been he who was caught instead of Carlisle. As long as someone was found guilty of tearing up Diagon Alley and put away for life, the public would be satisfied. Carlisle, with his shadowy, distinctly grey record and his hard-line, uncomfortable methods was just as good a scapegoat as Draco Malfoy, the fallen Auror.
Tonks wondered just how much Ginny knew about Draco’s timely disappearance. Somehow, between Ginny’s Stupefying him and Moody’s appearance on the scene, the unconscious Draco and his three henchmen had vanished while no one else was watching – at least, while no one interested in detaining them had been watching. Ginny had claimed that she’d turned her back on him, believing him safely unconscious, and that when she’d gone back to check on him he was gone.
Tonks believed that she’d turned her back, certainly. She remembered the devastated look on her face as she’d come down the stairs, her wand out and ready to stop the man she loved from going completely over the edge. She remembered the mixture of fear, anguish and determined resolve – and the look of absolute shock on Draco’s face as he turned to face his assailant.
Ginny could swear all she liked on a whole stack of sacred artifacts; she still loved Malfoy, even now, even after seeing him at his absolute worst. And like all Weasleys, she was fierce in the defense of her loved ones…
Happily, they had finally uncovered the answer to the mystery of Shadowlands’ back rooms. Far from such lurid imaginings as facilitating in the rise of a new Dark Lord, or in plotting to take over the world/destroy England’s economy/overthrow the Ministry, Draco had been engaged in money laundering for the illegal narcotics suppliers on Knockturn Alley.
Not, of course, that the Knockturn Alley mafia weren’t dangerous in and of themselves, but even so…
A Malfoy, reduced to laundering money for a petty crime cartel.
Killing for them, as Longbottom had discovered, just before Kelly had discovered him.
Had he truly fallen that far from what he once was?
****************
“Do you remember,” he had asked, “when we believed we could make it work? A Malfoy and a Weasley, together – I think we had more courage, then, than we’ve ever shown since… ”
Ginny remembered.
“I loved you, Draco. We fought so hard, just for the chance to have a future – why did you ruin it?”
Why, oh why, had he thrown away everything they’d fought so hard to achieve?
“Why did I ruin it?” Draco, still stunned and groggy from the aftermath of her spell, had tipped back his head and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. “I was not the one who walked away. But you’re right: all the hotheaded, stubborn defiance, the grim determination to hang onto our love – we lost it somewhere, didn’t we? When there was nothing left to fight…”
“Is that what Shadowlands was? A purpose?”
“A distraction. A challenge. It did not make up for what we lost.” He turned to her then, all masks stripped away, all defenses lowered, and she could see the strain, the terrible, empty weariness –
“Truth, Ginevra – have you ever found anything to replace what we once had? Has there been anything, or anyone else, to fill the empty spaces in your life?”
She looked at him for a long, long time then, remembering what he had once been, what they had once been together. They’d been so young, and so full of belief…
Why did you accept money from the cartel?
But she knew that if she asked that, she would destroy the mood, lose him forever.
“No,” she said finally. “Without you, there was nothing truly worthwhile…”
He smiled, his eyes vague and unfocused, his body limp and heavy. He was exhausted, she knew, completely wrung out – but she had one last thing to say to him before she left.
“This time you have to leave, Draco. I can’t protect you any more, and you used up your status as a hero long ago. Leave, and don’t come back. There is nothing for you here.”
She was halfway across the room to the door, before she caught the echo of his last, slurred words.
“I know.”
********************
A/N – I’ve just finished watching ‘The Way we Were’. I may have been a little influenced… But don’t worry! This is not the end. I just put this interlude in because I needed to come down off the action high.
Thank you for all your feedback.
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