'Gin, where do you want me to put these boxes?'
Ginny walked over to where Harry was standing, precariously balancing a high stack of boxes that had clearly been lightened by a spell or two.
'The bedroom Harry, it says so right on the side. You helped me label most of this stuff yourself.'
The raven-haired man just stuck his tongue out at her and walked towards the direction of the bedrooms.
'This is a great apartment Gin,' Hermione said as she entered the living room.
'It is, isn't it?' Ginny replied quietly as she sank down onto the leather sofa placed across from the fireplace. But her smile didn't reach her eyes and was tinged with something akin to bitterness.
'Hey now, don't be like that.' Hermione took a seat beside Ginny and put a hand on her arm in a comforting gesture. 'This is a step in the right direction.'
'I know that,' she sighed. 'But I can't help dwelling on the fact that I was forced to take this step, kicking and screaming. I had absolutely no choice in the matter and I feel like my heart was torn from my chest. Perhaps now you can see why I'm still not adjusting very well.'
'It's completely understandable. I can't imagine being ripped away from one of the most important people in my life.' Hermione's gaze rested on Ron who had just popped out of the fireplace with the last of Ginny's possessions from the Burrow. A slightly goofy smile appeared on the brunette's face as she watched her boyfriend throw her a cheeky wink and then head into another room. Sighing in contentment, she turned her attention back to the other girl only to find Ginny trying to control her laughter.
'What?'
'You two...it's just so cute how you still look at each other like that after being together on and off for over 6 years.'
Hermione tucked her feet up onto the couch and got comfortable. 'How exactly do we look at each other?'
'Like it's the first day after you have admitted how you feel and everything is so new and so huge that you feel like your heart is going to break out from your chest.'
Hermione blushed hotly. 'I don't know how to hide it, it's just how I feel. I think I'll always look at Ron that way, no matter how long we've been together. I'll be the first one to say it: I'm bum over teakettle for a Weasley. Your brother is the only one for me.'
Ginny inwardly smirked at Hermione's refusal to even say the word 'arse', but with the expression came thoughts of Draco. She forced the blond out of her mind, determined to distract herself with gossip about Hermione and Ron.
'Finally a vocal admission!'
'Hey! I've said it before...' she cried in indignation.
'Yes, but remember how long it took you to get to that point. You two were so cute, dancing around each other like you did. I mean, Harry and I went out before you did!'
'Ah yes.' Hermione remembered as a flicker of sadness passed over her features. '6th year...Ron just made me so frustrated! I still can't believe I actually used Cormac McLaggen to make your brother jealous.'
'It worked, didn't it? Speaking of which, have you ever gotten revenge on Lavender?'
A chuckle was the reply. 'I think getting Ron in the end was the best revenge I could ever want.'
'I still don't see what attracts you to dear "Won-Won", but to each their own. And where are those boys? This place has a limited amount of rooms, it's not like they can get lost.'
Hermione waved her off. 'Leave them to their own devices. There's only so much girl-talk you can do when the men folk are around.'
'True.' Ginny decided to get right to the meaty issues. 'So...any bushy haired red-headed know-it-all babies in the works yet?'
The former Head Girl was not as shocked by the question as one would think and quickly shot back her reply. 'I'm a little more pre-occupied with getting a ring on a very important finger. More Weasley babies have not crossed my mind...not in a while at least.'
This last piece of information piqued Ginny's interest. She leaned towards Hermione, eyes twinkling. 'So you have thought of having children with my youngest older brother? And just to let you know, I am all for more nieces and nephews.'
The goofy grin appeared on her face again and Hermione sunk down into her corner of the sofa. Her gaze wandered to the blazing fire they had started in the hearth so they could floo back to the Burrow for Ginny's possessions.
'Hermione!'
She focused back on a giggling Ginny who was shaking her head. 'You are so far gone.'
'Not to dig myself a deeper hole but I've been thinking about having kids with Ron since the first time we actually kissed in 7th year. It was like as soon as our lips touched, this little film strip ran in my mind of proposals, weddings, babies and vacations and I knew there was no one in the world that I could ever love more than Ronald Weasley.'
Ginny made a not so quiet retching noise to Hermione's amusement. 'I'm sorry but that was the sappiest thing I've ever heard, and I'd say that even if I wasn't disillusioned with love. But here's a question for you: if you're so perfect for each other and there's no one else you can see yourself with, why all the breaking up and getting back together?'
Hermione opened her mouth to answer when a pale faced Ron rushed into the room slowly followed by a laughing Harry.
'What's wrong, love?'
Ron refused to answer, lips clamped tightly while colour slowly returned to his face.
Seeing that his best mate was still scared into silence, Harry filled the girls in on the situation. 'Ron and I were unloading some of the boxes in the bathroom. Ron didn't notice as a spider slowly dropped down onto his jumper and it wasn't until he felt something on his face that he looked in the mirror and saw it. I can't believe you didn't hear him yell!'
Ron's face had contorted during the story and he let out a little whimper. Ginny turned to her brother with a glint in her eye.
'Seriously Ron, spiders? Still?'
'It was bloody huge Gin! You can't tell me you wouldn't have been spooked out if something the size of a sickle started crawling up your face too.'
Harry leaned towards the girls in the midst of Ron's ranting. 'A sickle? More like an ink drop but even that’s pushing it.’
'What I don't understand,' Ginny now addressed Harry and Hermione after smothering her laughter, 'is how a grown man who has faced pure evil more times than I care to remember can still be afraid of a simple insect! That would be like Harry being afraid of a bumblebee. I mean, it's not like the spider is going to stun you Ron.'
Their friends burst into laughter as Ron flipped his little sister a rude hand gesture and then stormed out of the apartment, pink spots appearing high on his cheeks. Hermione flashed the remaining two an apologetic smile and then hurried out after her boyfriend.
Ginny turned back to Harry. 'So, does this mean you're off as well?
Harry shifted in his spot, pinning his friend with a sympathetic look. 'Not if you need me. I don't want to leave you alone on your first night in your new place.'
Ginny waved him off. 'Don't worry about me. I'm just going to set up my bedroom and then crash. I'm dead tired, so you really don't need to stay.'
'Then what?'
A look of complete confusion was stamped across her features. 'I'm not sure I follow you.'
'What are you going to do tomorrow, as in are you going to get a job? Thinking about modeling again?'
Ginny shook her head. 'No, I'm done with all that. Modeling for Madam Malkin was tons of fun and gave me money and notoriety but I'd really like to do something away from the spotlight. I think I'd like to start writing again.'
Harry came to rest behind the couch and leaned over it. 'Freelance or what? Are you going to apply for a job at the Daily Prophet? I'm sure Colin Creevey could help you out with that.'
'I think the Minister of Magic's daughter working for a very prominent newspaper would be somewhat of a conflict of interest. Plus, I doubt they're interested after the not so polite letters I've sent them this last week.' The redhead chuckled along with her companion but then soon continued. 'I'm not exactly sure what I want to write, just that I do. I'm just feeling too many things and if I don't write them down I'll end up exploding. I can't lose control, I just can't...' Ginny trailed off, staring into the fire.
Harry took this as his cue to leave, realizing that his friend desperately wanted to be left alone. Leaning down, he kissed her on the forehead. 'I'll be heading off then.'
She nodded, still in a bit of a daze. Ginny sat there for a while after Harry left, but then dragged herself off the couch and into her bedroom. She was determined to distract herself for the rest of the night by unpacking all of her things.
Draco paced a path around his room at the Manor, trying to keep himself awake. He knew that he needed to sleep but refused to chance dreaming about the curse that took Ginny from him. On about his hundredth trip past the bed, he noticed the corner of something sticking out from under the bed's dust ruffle. Bending down to pick it up, Draco recognized the novel Ginny had been reading a few nights before he found out about the curse. He shut his eyes firmly, trying to will away the memory but it still came.
Draco shut off the light in the bathroom and entered the bedroom to find Ginny already reading in bed. He crawled in next to her and snuggled up to her side, causing her to flash him a smile before turning back to her book. Draco wasn't about to be ignored for some silly novel and so set about to distract his girlfriend. Starting at the wrist, he laid small gentle kisses up her arm. Ginny flashed him an annoyed glare that was ill-concealing a smile so Draco took that as a sign to continue. Reaching her neck, he sucked a bit on her pulse point. Creating a small love bite, he laved it with his tongue and then proceeded to repeat the action on all the skin in sight.
Ginny pulled back to stare at him. 'I was kind of in the middle of something, you git. I know it was quite clear to you.'
Draco kept slowly kissing her between every few words. 'It's only,' kiss, 'a measly,' kiss, 'book,' kiss, 'love,' kiss.
'Yes, but it happens to be a measly book that I was reading and quite enjoying, darling.'
He looked at her, Malfoy features quite affronted. 'You'd choose the written word over sex with me? I don't know whether I should be insulted or just worried about my prowess as a lover.'
Glancing between her boyfriend and her book, she sighed quietly. 'There's no way I'm going to get any rest if I don't give in to you, is there?'
'Nope.' Leaning in, Draco took the book out of her hands, tossed it over his shoulder and heard it land somewhere on the floor. He quieted Ginny's small cry of indignation with a kiss and proceeded to firmly keep her attention on him for the rest of the night.
The book must've been kicked under the bed when he or Ginny were walking around in the next few days. She must have forgotten to retrieve it in her rush to move out of the Manor.
With a groan, Draco flopped down onto his bed and buried his face in the pillows. It wasn't supposed to be like this, he thought. Draco Malfoy wasn't supposed to have a broken heart or lose sleep over a girl. Girls were supposed to lose sleep over him! With a wince, he realized that that was what was probably happening to Ginny. Rising up from the pillows, Draco saw that he was lying on the side that she used to call her own and he lay back down. Sniffing slightly, he was even further saddened to find that Ginny's scent had all but faded from the material. Draco knew it was stupid, but the loss of Ginny's smell on the pillows hurt almost as much as the absence of all of her things; Ginny was finally gone from his life.
Rolling onto his side of the bed, Draco got under the covers and pulled them up over his head He was hoping that his past few wakeful nights would make it easy for him to fall asleep now. Even dreams about the curse would be better than the acute ache the loss of Ginny put in his chest.
Water dripped down over cold stone to form pools at the base of the walls. Green light flickered over the dank walls as if reflecting from the surface of the large spot of water in one corner. Draco stood in the middle of the room, chilly dampness seeping into his bones so that shivers started running up and down his spine.
All he could hear for a few minutes was the drip, drip of the water as he took in his surroundings. Wanting to walk around to analyze the room, Draco quickly found that he couldn't move; it was as if someone had cast a strong sticking charm on his feet. Shifting his body so that he could turn to look behind him, Draco saw a long stone corridor lined with stone pillars that led to the room he was in.
He knew this was a dream about the curse; after all, he had deprived himself of so much sleep since he'd gone to the Burrow to see Ginny that he hadn't had a prophetic dream in awhile. Besides, he doubted much else would have him situated in a stone chamber.
Amidst Draco's thinking, a new sound had joined the dripping of the water. It sounded like the hiss of gas or a cooling potion and was getting louder by the second as if the sound was coming in his direction. Draco whirled around as much as possible to see the corridor behind him and his eyes widened in shock. Scores of snakes were slithering quickly towards him, sometimes crawling over each other as they hissed loudly, forked tongues out. They seemed to swarm towards him in waves until they crested over his shoes and brushed past his legs. Though Draco wasn't afraid of snakes as a rule (he was in Slytherin after all), there was something quite intimidating about a group of hundreds of serpents surrounding him and so he shrank back into himself as much as possible. He gave up deciphering what the snakes and the dream meant and focused on remembering average minutes to catch the Snitch per year for all the teams in the British and Irish Quidditch leagues over the past 50 years just to distract himself.
After a minute or two, Draco felt what must've been the last snake pass over his feet and he watched as the serpents slithered away from him. But suddenly a deafening hiss moved throughout the room, sounding like it was coming from the mouth of the giant face of Salazar Slytherin on the opposite wall. As if on command, all of the snakes stopped moving forward, reared up and turned back to face Draco and pierce him with their slitted gaze. Almost like he was under a hypnosis charm, he felt his eyelids getting heavier as he was drawn further into their yellow eyes. As hard as he tried to resist it, Draco's eyes kept drooping until they shut finally. It was then that a female voice sounded in his head, her tones slightly serpentine. 'Remember Draco...'
Draco bolted upright in bed, firmly awake as hissing rang in his ears. 'What the fuck was that?'
Leave a Review