From Across the Great Divide, Chapter 16
Rated: R
Summary: A post-Hogwarts H/G fic. Strange circumstances draw Harry and Ginny closer together. But are they in danger? Romance, adventure, Monty Python, and tartan boxer shorts abound.
"But that won’t matter either of you, since I doubt either one of you will survive the extraction."
Lucius Malfoy’s sneering voice washed over Ginny, his words drawing a gasp from her. He looked over to where she was bound to the tree, obviously thinking her reaction was one of fear, for he added, "Don’t fret, my dear. I won’t kill you outright. I need you alive at least at the start of the process."
Ginny felt some sort of power awaken in her at his words. It was a completely foreign sensation to her, but it coursed through her veins, and her body fairly vibrated with it. Defiance rose in her, as she glared back at Lucius, who continued to elucidate his plan, ending with an order to untie her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw a hulking figure move to do its master’s bidding. Her gaze remained riveted on Lucius Malfoy, and so she felt, rather than saw, the ropes around her loosen. She flexed her numbed hands a few times to try to bring the feeling back into them. An instant later her wand was thrust into her hand. Her fingers closed around it, and it seemed to warm to her touch. Once more she felt the strange sensation of power course through her as she stepped away from the tree. Where was it coming from? This was like nothing she’d ever experienced before, but it was feeding her confidence and keeping fear at bay.
She could sense the unseen eyes of all those in the semi-circle upon her, as she approached her enemy, but most especially, she could feel that Harry’s gaze never left her. It bore into her back, almost as if there was an invisible link between them, and that connection was the source of the strange power thrumming through her. She did not turn to look at Harry; she did not need to. Instead, she focused on Lucius Malfoy’s cold grey eyes as he stood before her, tall and threatening. Her face was set in determination as she bowed the slightest amount possible, her eyes never for an instant leaving his.
She straightened and raised her wand as if it were a slender steel blade ready to do battle. In the second before she cast her first spell, another surge of power ran through her, somehow warning her to dodge. She did not question the instinct; she simply obeyed, neatly leaping aside as her enemy shrieked "Crucio!" in a venom-laced voice. The curse jolted the ground where she had been standing, singeing the grass at her feet but otherwise doing no harm. She turned now to release the disarming spell, but at the same time as she cried, "Expelliarmus!", Lucius Malfoy shouted "Stupefy!" Twin jets of light erupted from their wands, rocketing with deadly accuracy towards each other, until they met, and time seemed to freeze.
Ginny’s eyes widened in amazement at the single beam of light that now connected her wand to her enemy’s. A tremor passed through her, as her wand began to vibrate in her hand, and she fought with all her strength to hold it still. For a moment she felt as if she’d stepped outside herself and could look down on the scene. A light seemed to be shining about her. Then the vision was gone, and she realised the light she’d seen was a dome of flames that had surrounded both her and Malfoy. A shout reached her ears, seemingly over a great distance, reverberating through her body, and that cry warned her not to break the connection.
Ginny’s hand continued to vibrate, and she could see that the movement would quickly become tiring. The flames about her gave off a flickering light, enough to enable her to see Lucius Malfoy’s face. He looked as surprised by the outcome of their duel as she felt. She could sense through their wands that he was struggling to master the situation, to take control and break the connection, but that knowledge only made her dig in her heels and fight harder. She knew instinctively that if the connection were broken, Lucius would gain the upper hand, and she could not let that happen.
Now there were small sparks of flame erupting along the beam of light between their wands. Sweat broke out on Ginny’s forehead from the heat of the fire about her and the effort she expended as the sparks began to slide towards her as if they were beads on a wire. Something told her not to let the sparks come into contact with her wand. She concentrated with all her might, and slowly the sparks came to a halt, hesitated for an agonising moment, and began to slide the other way. She stole a glance up at her enemy, and saw him concentrating just as hard. She had an idea what had caused this; she remembered how Harry’s wand had connected with Voldemort’s because their wands were brothers. She found it very difficult to believe that her wand should be the brother of Lucius Malfoy’s, however.
Ginny’s arm was seizing up in her effort to hold her wand steady and maintain the connection. She had no clear idea how long they’d been standing deadlocked and engulfed in flames, but it seemed at once a very long time and a matter of mere seconds. The strange power was still running through her, steeling her mind to the task, but she felt as if her native strength would soon give out. The heat of the fire was not helping. Sweat ran down her face in rivulets. This was becoming a torture, and she did not know how much longer she could tolerate it.
Suddenly she felt relief from the heat, despite the fact that the flames about her had clearly not subsided. Just beyond Lucius Malfoy’s grimly set face, she thought she saw something translucent and white. She reckoned she was hallucinating from the heat and the energy she was expending. She knew she was fast coming to the end of her inner resources. Her knees were buckling, and with one final effort she raised her wand to maintain the connection as she slowly sank towards the ground.
It wasn’t enough. Her arm fell at last, and the connection was broken. The flames around Ginny seemed to roar higher as Lucius Malfoy’s eyes glittered in triumph, and he bent over her like a cloud to deliver his final stroke.
Ginny prepared herself for a blow that never fell. Lucius Malfoy suddenly tripped forward, nearly toppling onto her. With the last of her flagging strength she pointed her wand at him and croaked, "Stupefy." Lucius Malfoy lay immobile on the ground before her, but the flames continued to burn. The world started to go black. Just before she fell face forward onto her enemy, she caught a final glimpse of white and recognised the ghostly face of Draco Malfoy.
*
Ginny awoke to a blinding whiteness. It took several seconds for her eyes to adjust, and then she realised it was a combination of bright sunlight and sterile white surroundings. She wondered how she came to be lying here. The last things she remembered were flames and darkness.
She turned her head on the pillow-the back of her head was oddly tender-and saw the faces of her family. Hermione was sitting closest to her looking very concerned. Next to her was Ron, who had an ugly-looking bruise on his cheek. Then came the twins. George had a bandage around his head, and Fred’s arm was in a sling. Ginny stared at her brothers. All three of them looked as if they’d been in a fight. What had happened? How long had she been here?
Her gaze moved on to see Percy standing stiffly at the foot of her bed. Charlie was here, too, and her parents. Her mother put a hand to her throat and seemed to murmur some words of thanks. "At least I don’t seem to be dead," Ginny mused to herself.
Molly reached for Ginny’s hand. "How are you feeling, dear?"
Ginny grimaced and coughed before replying. "Sore. Where am I?" Her voice was hoarse.
"St. Mungo’s"
"How did I get here? Last I remember…" She trailed off as she realised someone was missing. "Where’s Harry?" she croaked in a louder voice than she’d intended.
"Now don’t worry, dear. He’s fine. He’s been with you all night. He only just stepped out."
Ginny felt a wave of relief to learn that Harry was all right, but then another memory came to her, making her shiver suddenly. Simone had said… Ginny shook herself. She didn’t want to think about that just now. Instead she thought of about a hundred other questions she wanted answered, but at that moment a white-robed matron bustled in and ushered everyone out of the room.
She began to poke and prod Ginny, paying special attention to her throat, while asking her various questions. Then the matron helped Ginny to sit up so she could inspect the back of Ginny’s head. There seemed to be a large bandage, which the matron removed in order to apply some sort of sticky salve. Ginny winced as the salve stung.
"What have I got wrong back there?" Ginny asked.
"You’ve got some nasty blistering," came the reply. "You’re quite lucky it’s not worse. Your hair was on fire, you know. Lucky for you, it was put out before it did worse damage."
Ginny gasped in shock and raised a hand to her shoulder. Where normally she should have touched her hair, her fingers found only the fabric of a night dress. Ginny moved to get out of bed.
"And where do you think you’re going?" asked the matron.
"To the loo."
Ginny got to her feet. Her legs felt shaky, but she forced herself to walk across the room to a likely-looking door. Once inside the toilet, she closed the door behind her and made herself look into the mirror.
She was a complete disaster. What was left of her hair curled wildly about her head in short, black-tipped clumps. Her face was drawn and greyish. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles. There were odd-looking bruises around her mouth; she could see similar marks on her wrists and realised they were rope burns. Simone’s mocking voice echoed through her mind, and suddenly it was all too much. She swiped impatiently at the tears that began to flow.
She turned on the tap and was splashing water onto her face, when she heard voices outside the door. A moment later she realised it was Harry asking after her. She did not want him to see her like this. She stubbornly waited in the toilet, hoping he’d go away, but he did not. After a while she heard a soft knock on the door.
"Are you all right in there?"
There was nothing for it. She had to answer. "Yes, I’ll be out in a minute."
She took her time, trying to master herself, and splashed more water onto her face, hoping to hide the fact that she’d been crying. When she finally opened the door, she hardly had time to look at Harry before he caught her in his arms and held her close. The tears began again.
Ginny did not know how long he let her cry on his shoulder, his hands moving comfortingly over her back. At last she heard him murmur, "Hush, love. It’s over. Everything’s going to be fine."
She stiffened at his words. She pulled back to stare at him, absently noting a few cuts and bruises around his face. "Is everything going to be fine?" The edge to her voice surprised her. She coughed again.
"Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t it?"
Ginny pursed her lips. She didn’t want to go into this now. Her head began to pound.
"Ginny, what’s wrong?" Harry insisted.
"Not now. Please."
If Harry was going to reply to this, he was interrupted. The matron was back, accompanied by a wizard.
"I am Dr. Murray," said the newcomer. "I’m a mediwizard. Can I have a look at your throat?" Dr. Murray paused here and inspected Ginny’s throat using his lit wand tip. "You’ve got a nasty burn on the back of your head and some minor smoke inhalation, but nothing we can’t heal. You don’t seem to have any other injuries, beyond the shock of your ordeal. How are you feeling?"
Another bout of coughing seized her before she could reply. "I’ve got a sore throat and a headache."
"That’s to be expected." Dr. Murray made a sign to the matron who left the room. "We’ll keep you here overnight for observation, but I can see no reason why we can’t release you in the morning. If you take things easy over the next few days, you should be as good as new in no time."
"Can I have my family back in here please?"
"Yes, as long as they don’t over-tire you." The matron came back with a bottle of potion. "You need to take this to help heal your lungs. It may help your headache, as well; it’s got a pain-killer in it. If you need anything else, just signal the matron."
Ginny climbed back into bed, as the mediwizard left. Harry was staring at her, questions evident in his expression. Ginny drank her potion. She wasn’t going into all this now. And her family was filing back into her room. Harry would have to wait.
"What did the mediwizard say?" Ginny’s mother asked almost immediately.
"I can go home tomorrow, but I need to rest." She looked over at her brothers. "It looks as if I won’t be coming in to work for the rest of the week."
"That’s okay, Gin," answered Fred. "We’ll manage. Shop’s closed today in any case, since we’re all here."
"Can I ask what happened after… I mean, how did you manage to find us and bring me here?" She looked expectantly at her brothers.
"Maybe Harry should tell it," Ron volunteered. "He’s the one who paged us. And he pulled you out of the fire."
Ginny met Harry’s gaze across the room. He looked back at her steadily, but his face was set. She could see that one of his hands was thrust into his pocket where it seemed to be fingering something. Her eyes stung with fresh tears, and she stared at the ceiling for a long moment before speaking. "How could you have paged them? You didn’t have your pager on you."
"Malfoy," Harry replied. Ginny’s mother gasped, and other exclamations of surprise were heard. "Draco Malfoy," Harry clarified. "He’s a ghost. I’ve seen him around, and he was there last night. He gave me my pager back, when they took you off to duel with his father." More exclamations followed this statement. Several of the Weasleys had obviously not heard the whole story. "He must have managed to make himself invisible," Harry continued. "Either that or he was inside the tree. No one else seemed to see him."
"I saw him," Ginny interrupted. "At the end, before I blacked out. He was there in the fire with me. I think he must have done something to make his father trip. Lucius Malfoy was about to curse me, and he fell forward instead. That’s when I saw Draco floating there. But what happened with our wands? Why did they connect like that?"
"They must have been brother wands like mine and Voldemort’s."
Ginny was about to protest that it didn’t make a whole lot of sense that she, of all people, should possess the brother wand to Lucius Malfoy’s But Hermione spoke up first. "That’s not the only situation that could cause the wands to connect. I’m sure I’ve read something about that somewhere. I’d need to look in a few books to be sure."
"I can see you’re planning on spending a nice, romantic evening curled up with your copy of Hogwarts: A History," Ron teased.
Hermione swatted at him, but Ginny could see a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "As a matter of fact, I seem to remember about something like that in there. Perhaps if you’d bothered to read it, you’d know what I was talking about. It involved some sort of very old magic, though…" She trailed off and looked at Harry speculatively.
"I, for one, would like to hear the entire story from the beginning," put in Percy. "I feel like there’s too many unanswered questions this way."
"I’m not sure that Ginny’s up to this yet." For once, Ginny did not fault her mother for meddling.
"Yes, can we leave this until tomorrow?" she agreed.
"We’re going to have to ask that you and Harry come in to the Ministry as soon as possible and give us a sort of official statement," George said. "I think we’ll be able to answer a few questions you might have as well. We need to piece together everything that’s happened from the beginning. Do you think you’ll be up to it tomorrow, Gin?"
Ginny didn’t feel as if she’d ever really be up for it, but she agreed anyway. The sooner this business was out of the way the better.
Her family seemed to take this a hint that it was time for them to leave. One by one, each member approached her with hugs and words of support. Her mother held her the longest, and when they broke apart, Ginny could see her wipe away a tear. "I know you’re all grown up now, but if you want to come have a rest at home, you’ll be more than welcome."
Ginny bit her lip. At the moment that offer was quite tempting to her. "I’ll think about it, Mum."
Soon she found herself alone with Harry. He didn’t look as if he were ready to leave her just yet. He sat down in the chair Hermione had vacated and took her hand. "I think we need to talk," he said.
"I know we do, but I just can’t face it right now."
"Ginny, something else has happened, I know it has."
"Tomorrow. I’ll tell you tomorrow, I promise." She coughed some more.
He squeezed her hand. "You’ll tell me when you’re ready, I know that. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that putting it off will just make it harder in the end."
Ginny knew he was right. She had hoped to prolong the denial a bit longer, but she could see now it wasn’t to be. "Harry, we were set up," she blurted.
"I know that. That’s how they caught me. They made it sound as if it would be an exchange: me for you."
"No, that’s not what I mean. It was a set-up from the beginning. All the warnings, they were for a purpose. To bring us together. And it worked. They wanted to catch both of us, you most of all, but they didn’t know where to find you. Your flat in London is too well hidden. By bringing us together it made you vulnerable and easier to find."
"How do you know all this?"
"Simone told me, before you were brought in."
"And you believe her?"
"I didn’t want to, but the way she told it made too much sense. She took too much delight in telling me for it to be a lie."
"It doesn’t change anything, Ginny. It doesn’t make the smallest bit of difference in my feelings for you. They started long before this mess ever did."
Ginny shook her head. "I want to believe you, but it’s so hard for me to. I’ll always have this doubt in the back of my mind that we were thrown together by Lucius Malfoy. It puts a taint on it all. I hate feeling that way, but I can’t help it."
Harry had gone white at her words. "What are you saying?" She saw him swallow. "Are you saying you want me to leave?"
"No!" It came out of her raw throat as a strange choking sound. "I don’t want you to leave. I don’t know what I want." A tear escaped and coursed down her cheek. Harry brushed it away with the pad of his thumb.
"You’ve just been through hell, Ginny. Maybe you were right, and we should have saved this for tomorrow."
Ginny smiled wanly through her tears. "Too late now."
Harry got up and paced around the room for several minutes. It was beginning to grow dark already. Most of the day had passed before Ginny had woken up. "You’ll have to tell me what I can do to convince you to trust me, because I have no idea at the moment," Harry said at last. "If you’d only tell me what I have to do, I’d do it."
Ginny didn’t know how to answer him. At length Harry sat down by her bed again. "You know, Ginny," he said, "that very first night after Ron’s wedding, I had every intention of asking you if I could see you again. In the end circumstances decided that for us, but the intention was still there."
"But we can’t turn back time to that night now."
"No, but we can start over again. What do you say? If we date each other properly, you’ll eventually see that I’m not planning on going anywhere." He reached over and caressed her cheek. "No rushing into anything this time. Are you willing to give that a try and see how it goes?"
For the first time since waking up, Ginny felt as if things were going to be all right. She nodded to him, and he moved to sit on her bed so he could gather her close.
"Maybe you should take your mother up on her offer and go stay at the Burrow for a few days," Harry said after a while. "I’d have been willing to stay with you at your house, but that sort of defeats the purpose now, doesn’t it?"
"Would you mind terribly?"
"No, I can wait for you. I said I’d do whatever it takes, and I meant it."
Ginny burrowed in closer and let him hold her. They only broke apart when they heard someone enter the room. The matron was back with a trolley, bringing Ginny her supper.
"Shall I leave now?" asked Harry.
"Only if you want to."
Harry stayed.
Next Chapter
Summary: A post-Hogwarts H/G fic. Strange circumstances draw Harry and Ginny closer together. But are they in danger? Romance, adventure, Monty Python, and tartan boxer shorts abound.
"But that won’t matter either of you, since I doubt either one of you will survive the extraction."
Lucius Malfoy’s sneering voice washed over Ginny, his words drawing a gasp from her. He looked over to where she was bound to the tree, obviously thinking her reaction was one of fear, for he added, "Don’t fret, my dear. I won’t kill you outright. I need you alive at least at the start of the process."
Ginny felt some sort of power awaken in her at his words. It was a completely foreign sensation to her, but it coursed through her veins, and her body fairly vibrated with it. Defiance rose in her, as she glared back at Lucius, who continued to elucidate his plan, ending with an order to untie her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw a hulking figure move to do its master’s bidding. Her gaze remained riveted on Lucius Malfoy, and so she felt, rather than saw, the ropes around her loosen. She flexed her numbed hands a few times to try to bring the feeling back into them. An instant later her wand was thrust into her hand. Her fingers closed around it, and it seemed to warm to her touch. Once more she felt the strange sensation of power course through her as she stepped away from the tree. Where was it coming from? This was like nothing she’d ever experienced before, but it was feeding her confidence and keeping fear at bay.
She could sense the unseen eyes of all those in the semi-circle upon her, as she approached her enemy, but most especially, she could feel that Harry’s gaze never left her. It bore into her back, almost as if there was an invisible link between them, and that connection was the source of the strange power thrumming through her. She did not turn to look at Harry; she did not need to. Instead, she focused on Lucius Malfoy’s cold grey eyes as he stood before her, tall and threatening. Her face was set in determination as she bowed the slightest amount possible, her eyes never for an instant leaving his.
She straightened and raised her wand as if it were a slender steel blade ready to do battle. In the second before she cast her first spell, another surge of power ran through her, somehow warning her to dodge. She did not question the instinct; she simply obeyed, neatly leaping aside as her enemy shrieked "Crucio!" in a venom-laced voice. The curse jolted the ground where she had been standing, singeing the grass at her feet but otherwise doing no harm. She turned now to release the disarming spell, but at the same time as she cried, "Expelliarmus!", Lucius Malfoy shouted "Stupefy!" Twin jets of light erupted from their wands, rocketing with deadly accuracy towards each other, until they met, and time seemed to freeze.
Ginny’s eyes widened in amazement at the single beam of light that now connected her wand to her enemy’s. A tremor passed through her, as her wand began to vibrate in her hand, and she fought with all her strength to hold it still. For a moment she felt as if she’d stepped outside herself and could look down on the scene. A light seemed to be shining about her. Then the vision was gone, and she realised the light she’d seen was a dome of flames that had surrounded both her and Malfoy. A shout reached her ears, seemingly over a great distance, reverberating through her body, and that cry warned her not to break the connection.
Ginny’s hand continued to vibrate, and she could see that the movement would quickly become tiring. The flames about her gave off a flickering light, enough to enable her to see Lucius Malfoy’s face. He looked as surprised by the outcome of their duel as she felt. She could sense through their wands that he was struggling to master the situation, to take control and break the connection, but that knowledge only made her dig in her heels and fight harder. She knew instinctively that if the connection were broken, Lucius would gain the upper hand, and she could not let that happen.
Now there were small sparks of flame erupting along the beam of light between their wands. Sweat broke out on Ginny’s forehead from the heat of the fire about her and the effort she expended as the sparks began to slide towards her as if they were beads on a wire. Something told her not to let the sparks come into contact with her wand. She concentrated with all her might, and slowly the sparks came to a halt, hesitated for an agonising moment, and began to slide the other way. She stole a glance up at her enemy, and saw him concentrating just as hard. She had an idea what had caused this; she remembered how Harry’s wand had connected with Voldemort’s because their wands were brothers. She found it very difficult to believe that her wand should be the brother of Lucius Malfoy’s, however.
Ginny’s arm was seizing up in her effort to hold her wand steady and maintain the connection. She had no clear idea how long they’d been standing deadlocked and engulfed in flames, but it seemed at once a very long time and a matter of mere seconds. The strange power was still running through her, steeling her mind to the task, but she felt as if her native strength would soon give out. The heat of the fire was not helping. Sweat ran down her face in rivulets. This was becoming a torture, and she did not know how much longer she could tolerate it.
Suddenly she felt relief from the heat, despite the fact that the flames about her had clearly not subsided. Just beyond Lucius Malfoy’s grimly set face, she thought she saw something translucent and white. She reckoned she was hallucinating from the heat and the energy she was expending. She knew she was fast coming to the end of her inner resources. Her knees were buckling, and with one final effort she raised her wand to maintain the connection as she slowly sank towards the ground.
It wasn’t enough. Her arm fell at last, and the connection was broken. The flames around Ginny seemed to roar higher as Lucius Malfoy’s eyes glittered in triumph, and he bent over her like a cloud to deliver his final stroke.
Ginny prepared herself for a blow that never fell. Lucius Malfoy suddenly tripped forward, nearly toppling onto her. With the last of her flagging strength she pointed her wand at him and croaked, "Stupefy." Lucius Malfoy lay immobile on the ground before her, but the flames continued to burn. The world started to go black. Just before she fell face forward onto her enemy, she caught a final glimpse of white and recognised the ghostly face of Draco Malfoy.
*
Ginny awoke to a blinding whiteness. It took several seconds for her eyes to adjust, and then she realised it was a combination of bright sunlight and sterile white surroundings. She wondered how she came to be lying here. The last things she remembered were flames and darkness.
She turned her head on the pillow-the back of her head was oddly tender-and saw the faces of her family. Hermione was sitting closest to her looking very concerned. Next to her was Ron, who had an ugly-looking bruise on his cheek. Then came the twins. George had a bandage around his head, and Fred’s arm was in a sling. Ginny stared at her brothers. All three of them looked as if they’d been in a fight. What had happened? How long had she been here?
Her gaze moved on to see Percy standing stiffly at the foot of her bed. Charlie was here, too, and her parents. Her mother put a hand to her throat and seemed to murmur some words of thanks. "At least I don’t seem to be dead," Ginny mused to herself.
Molly reached for Ginny’s hand. "How are you feeling, dear?"
Ginny grimaced and coughed before replying. "Sore. Where am I?" Her voice was hoarse.
"St. Mungo’s"
"How did I get here? Last I remember…" She trailed off as she realised someone was missing. "Where’s Harry?" she croaked in a louder voice than she’d intended.
"Now don’t worry, dear. He’s fine. He’s been with you all night. He only just stepped out."
Ginny felt a wave of relief to learn that Harry was all right, but then another memory came to her, making her shiver suddenly. Simone had said… Ginny shook herself. She didn’t want to think about that just now. Instead she thought of about a hundred other questions she wanted answered, but at that moment a white-robed matron bustled in and ushered everyone out of the room.
She began to poke and prod Ginny, paying special attention to her throat, while asking her various questions. Then the matron helped Ginny to sit up so she could inspect the back of Ginny’s head. There seemed to be a large bandage, which the matron removed in order to apply some sort of sticky salve. Ginny winced as the salve stung.
"What have I got wrong back there?" Ginny asked.
"You’ve got some nasty blistering," came the reply. "You’re quite lucky it’s not worse. Your hair was on fire, you know. Lucky for you, it was put out before it did worse damage."
Ginny gasped in shock and raised a hand to her shoulder. Where normally she should have touched her hair, her fingers found only the fabric of a night dress. Ginny moved to get out of bed.
"And where do you think you’re going?" asked the matron.
"To the loo."
Ginny got to her feet. Her legs felt shaky, but she forced herself to walk across the room to a likely-looking door. Once inside the toilet, she closed the door behind her and made herself look into the mirror.
She was a complete disaster. What was left of her hair curled wildly about her head in short, black-tipped clumps. Her face was drawn and greyish. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles. There were odd-looking bruises around her mouth; she could see similar marks on her wrists and realised they were rope burns. Simone’s mocking voice echoed through her mind, and suddenly it was all too much. She swiped impatiently at the tears that began to flow.
She turned on the tap and was splashing water onto her face, when she heard voices outside the door. A moment later she realised it was Harry asking after her. She did not want him to see her like this. She stubbornly waited in the toilet, hoping he’d go away, but he did not. After a while she heard a soft knock on the door.
"Are you all right in there?"
There was nothing for it. She had to answer. "Yes, I’ll be out in a minute."
She took her time, trying to master herself, and splashed more water onto her face, hoping to hide the fact that she’d been crying. When she finally opened the door, she hardly had time to look at Harry before he caught her in his arms and held her close. The tears began again.
Ginny did not know how long he let her cry on his shoulder, his hands moving comfortingly over her back. At last she heard him murmur, "Hush, love. It’s over. Everything’s going to be fine."
She stiffened at his words. She pulled back to stare at him, absently noting a few cuts and bruises around his face. "Is everything going to be fine?" The edge to her voice surprised her. She coughed again.
"Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t it?"
Ginny pursed her lips. She didn’t want to go into this now. Her head began to pound.
"Ginny, what’s wrong?" Harry insisted.
"Not now. Please."
If Harry was going to reply to this, he was interrupted. The matron was back, accompanied by a wizard.
"I am Dr. Murray," said the newcomer. "I’m a mediwizard. Can I have a look at your throat?" Dr. Murray paused here and inspected Ginny’s throat using his lit wand tip. "You’ve got a nasty burn on the back of your head and some minor smoke inhalation, but nothing we can’t heal. You don’t seem to have any other injuries, beyond the shock of your ordeal. How are you feeling?"
Another bout of coughing seized her before she could reply. "I’ve got a sore throat and a headache."
"That’s to be expected." Dr. Murray made a sign to the matron who left the room. "We’ll keep you here overnight for observation, but I can see no reason why we can’t release you in the morning. If you take things easy over the next few days, you should be as good as new in no time."
"Can I have my family back in here please?"
"Yes, as long as they don’t over-tire you." The matron came back with a bottle of potion. "You need to take this to help heal your lungs. It may help your headache, as well; it’s got a pain-killer in it. If you need anything else, just signal the matron."
Ginny climbed back into bed, as the mediwizard left. Harry was staring at her, questions evident in his expression. Ginny drank her potion. She wasn’t going into all this now. And her family was filing back into her room. Harry would have to wait.
"What did the mediwizard say?" Ginny’s mother asked almost immediately.
"I can go home tomorrow, but I need to rest." She looked over at her brothers. "It looks as if I won’t be coming in to work for the rest of the week."
"That’s okay, Gin," answered Fred. "We’ll manage. Shop’s closed today in any case, since we’re all here."
"Can I ask what happened after… I mean, how did you manage to find us and bring me here?" She looked expectantly at her brothers.
"Maybe Harry should tell it," Ron volunteered. "He’s the one who paged us. And he pulled you out of the fire."
Ginny met Harry’s gaze across the room. He looked back at her steadily, but his face was set. She could see that one of his hands was thrust into his pocket where it seemed to be fingering something. Her eyes stung with fresh tears, and she stared at the ceiling for a long moment before speaking. "How could you have paged them? You didn’t have your pager on you."
"Malfoy," Harry replied. Ginny’s mother gasped, and other exclamations of surprise were heard. "Draco Malfoy," Harry clarified. "He’s a ghost. I’ve seen him around, and he was there last night. He gave me my pager back, when they took you off to duel with his father." More exclamations followed this statement. Several of the Weasleys had obviously not heard the whole story. "He must have managed to make himself invisible," Harry continued. "Either that or he was inside the tree. No one else seemed to see him."
"I saw him," Ginny interrupted. "At the end, before I blacked out. He was there in the fire with me. I think he must have done something to make his father trip. Lucius Malfoy was about to curse me, and he fell forward instead. That’s when I saw Draco floating there. But what happened with our wands? Why did they connect like that?"
"They must have been brother wands like mine and Voldemort’s."
Ginny was about to protest that it didn’t make a whole lot of sense that she, of all people, should possess the brother wand to Lucius Malfoy’s But Hermione spoke up first. "That’s not the only situation that could cause the wands to connect. I’m sure I’ve read something about that somewhere. I’d need to look in a few books to be sure."
"I can see you’re planning on spending a nice, romantic evening curled up with your copy of Hogwarts: A History," Ron teased.
Hermione swatted at him, but Ginny could see a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "As a matter of fact, I seem to remember about something like that in there. Perhaps if you’d bothered to read it, you’d know what I was talking about. It involved some sort of very old magic, though…" She trailed off and looked at Harry speculatively.
"I, for one, would like to hear the entire story from the beginning," put in Percy. "I feel like there’s too many unanswered questions this way."
"I’m not sure that Ginny’s up to this yet." For once, Ginny did not fault her mother for meddling.
"Yes, can we leave this until tomorrow?" she agreed.
"We’re going to have to ask that you and Harry come in to the Ministry as soon as possible and give us a sort of official statement," George said. "I think we’ll be able to answer a few questions you might have as well. We need to piece together everything that’s happened from the beginning. Do you think you’ll be up to it tomorrow, Gin?"
Ginny didn’t feel as if she’d ever really be up for it, but she agreed anyway. The sooner this business was out of the way the better.
Her family seemed to take this a hint that it was time for them to leave. One by one, each member approached her with hugs and words of support. Her mother held her the longest, and when they broke apart, Ginny could see her wipe away a tear. "I know you’re all grown up now, but if you want to come have a rest at home, you’ll be more than welcome."
Ginny bit her lip. At the moment that offer was quite tempting to her. "I’ll think about it, Mum."
Soon she found herself alone with Harry. He didn’t look as if he were ready to leave her just yet. He sat down in the chair Hermione had vacated and took her hand. "I think we need to talk," he said.
"I know we do, but I just can’t face it right now."
"Ginny, something else has happened, I know it has."
"Tomorrow. I’ll tell you tomorrow, I promise." She coughed some more.
He squeezed her hand. "You’ll tell me when you’re ready, I know that. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that putting it off will just make it harder in the end."
Ginny knew he was right. She had hoped to prolong the denial a bit longer, but she could see now it wasn’t to be. "Harry, we were set up," she blurted.
"I know that. That’s how they caught me. They made it sound as if it would be an exchange: me for you."
"No, that’s not what I mean. It was a set-up from the beginning. All the warnings, they were for a purpose. To bring us together. And it worked. They wanted to catch both of us, you most of all, but they didn’t know where to find you. Your flat in London is too well hidden. By bringing us together it made you vulnerable and easier to find."
"How do you know all this?"
"Simone told me, before you were brought in."
"And you believe her?"
"I didn’t want to, but the way she told it made too much sense. She took too much delight in telling me for it to be a lie."
"It doesn’t change anything, Ginny. It doesn’t make the smallest bit of difference in my feelings for you. They started long before this mess ever did."
Ginny shook her head. "I want to believe you, but it’s so hard for me to. I’ll always have this doubt in the back of my mind that we were thrown together by Lucius Malfoy. It puts a taint on it all. I hate feeling that way, but I can’t help it."
Harry had gone white at her words. "What are you saying?" She saw him swallow. "Are you saying you want me to leave?"
"No!" It came out of her raw throat as a strange choking sound. "I don’t want you to leave. I don’t know what I want." A tear escaped and coursed down her cheek. Harry brushed it away with the pad of his thumb.
"You’ve just been through hell, Ginny. Maybe you were right, and we should have saved this for tomorrow."
Ginny smiled wanly through her tears. "Too late now."
Harry got up and paced around the room for several minutes. It was beginning to grow dark already. Most of the day had passed before Ginny had woken up. "You’ll have to tell me what I can do to convince you to trust me, because I have no idea at the moment," Harry said at last. "If you’d only tell me what I have to do, I’d do it."
Ginny didn’t know how to answer him. At length Harry sat down by her bed again. "You know, Ginny," he said, "that very first night after Ron’s wedding, I had every intention of asking you if I could see you again. In the end circumstances decided that for us, but the intention was still there."
"But we can’t turn back time to that night now."
"No, but we can start over again. What do you say? If we date each other properly, you’ll eventually see that I’m not planning on going anywhere." He reached over and caressed her cheek. "No rushing into anything this time. Are you willing to give that a try and see how it goes?"
For the first time since waking up, Ginny felt as if things were going to be all right. She nodded to him, and he moved to sit on her bed so he could gather her close.
"Maybe you should take your mother up on her offer and go stay at the Burrow for a few days," Harry said after a while. "I’d have been willing to stay with you at your house, but that sort of defeats the purpose now, doesn’t it?"
"Would you mind terribly?"
"No, I can wait for you. I said I’d do whatever it takes, and I meant it."
Ginny burrowed in closer and let him hold her. They only broke apart when they heard someone enter the room. The matron was back with a trolley, bringing Ginny her supper.
"Shall I leave now?" asked Harry.
"Only if you want to."
Harry stayed.
Next Chapter