Finally the next chapter…it's been on my hard drive for the longest. I just forgot to post.
Chap 7
At the edge of Grant Park was a huge stage where members of the Weird Sisters were doing their soundchecks. A dance floor was placed just below the stage and beyond that were hundreds of picnicking fans waiting for their favorite band to sing.
Draco and Ginny weaved through the crowd as carefully as possible, Ginny held her heels in one hand enjoying the feel of grass beneath her bare feet. For just a moment she had memories of being at the burrow running barefoot in the nearby woods. She slipped her other hand into Draco's. He looked at her in surprise, his eyebrows raised. "This is a date Draco. Holding hands is perfectly normal."
Perfect, soft and oh so delicate, Draco thought as he looked at her hands. It had been such a long time since a woman had touched him. Of all the people that should have been afraid, Miss Ginny Weasley should have been one of them. Instead Ginny was placing her hand in his as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"How's this spot right here?" Draco motioned to the edge of the crowd underneath one of the many trees that dotted Grant Park.
Ginny loved it. It was a little bit of nature in the midst of a bustling city. "Perfect."
Draco took out his wand and instantaneously a blanket and picnic basket appeared. Ginny looked around nervously. It didn't seem as if anyone had noticed as all eyes were on the stage.
"Mal- Draco what are you doing? We're in the middle of Chicago!!!!" Ginny scanned the crowd where most of the fans were wearing wizarding cloaks. Ever since the Weird Sisters had found success in the muggle world, wizard fashions had crossed over. It was becoming increasingly difficult to tell the Wizard from the muggle apart.
"I'm not a 2nd class wizard Wea- Ginny, I cast a shielding charm before I did the other spells. But if yelling is all the thanks I get, then I can just make our little picnic disappear." Now he understood why she was head of all the nurses at the clinic. She was bossy and loud, probably had to be in order to be heard over all those brothers she had. Ginny had another thing coming if she thought he would stand to be yelled at in public, by a blind date no less.
"Oh Draco, stop that pouting!" She pushed his shoulder down until he was in a sitting position and she took her seat next to him trying to smooth her dress that kept riding up her thighs."Damn this dress!" immediately she covered her mouth. "Did I say that out loud?"
His mind now focused on the ever shrinking dress Draco forgot his momentary anger. He was feeling amused and quite a bit aroused. With careful shifting he was able to hide any evidence. "Maybe that roommate of yours put a disappearing charm on that dress you're barely wearing." Draco hid his infamous smirk. If only Ginny knew who the true culprit was that had deliberately shortened her dress, he was done for.
Draco started going over the new medicines he had read about in the new Healer Journal. Anything to get rid of the tightening he was beginning to experience in his slacks. Why had he cast that spell in the first place?? Did he want to torture himself?
Ginny smacked him playfully. "Since I and my dress have caught your notice, my empty stomach now needs some attention."
Kneeling on the blanket Draco opened the basket and lifted a container of tantalizing smelling food from Chi-Town Southside Chicken. Ginny's favorite. Philip had obviously tipped him off. "You've found the best Chicago has to offer." Ginny said as she inhaled the tempting aroma. She would die of a cholesterol clogging heart attack but she would die happy. Thank goodness she was on a date with a healer!
Removing lids of the containers of potato salad he turned his face towards her and smirked, "I think I've found the best of a lot of things this fair city has to offer."
Did the cool night air suddenly turn up a notch? Ginny felt as though a fever coursed through her body. His smile set off a series of explosions within her. Why of all people was she having a reaction to Draco Malfoy?
***
They finished their food making small chit chat. At least Ginny was trying to. Was this date ending before it began? The Weird Sisters hadn't even played yet. Ginny knew the date was heading downhill when Malfoy started asking about the weather.
Whether he wanted to or not, she would make him participate.
Draco lay on his back, his head braced against his hands, now droning on about some new potion that was effective against the Cruciatus Curse. This wasn't work and Ginny did not want to hear one more word about weather nor potions.
She scooted closer to him laying flat on her stomach with her head propped against her chin. Still Draco droned on as if he hadn't noticed that Ginny had moved closer.
"Draco….."
"100 millileters of the Corazon potion is the recommended dosage in patients who suffer from heart damage brought on by the Cruciatus Curse….."
"Draco…." Why was he acting this way? He had seemed so willing earlier to start a new beginning. He was practically ignoring her. What she would give now to hear him call her Weasel.
"You should educate the staff nurses on the side effects….."
She touched his arm to get his attention and immediately felt him tense. Was he that turned off by her? Ginny shook her head dismissing the disappointing feeling then chided herself for even feeling that. Friendship only. That's what she had offered. You're not looking for anyone, remember? Least of all a Malfoy!
"Why did you become a healer?" Ginny patted Draco's chest, feeling his muscles tighten beneath his shirt. Did her touch burn him? She had a mind to ask him if he thought her poisonous. Ginny was beginning to believe that was the wrong question to ask. He averted his gaze from hers. Ginny propped herself against the tree as the Weird Sisters started their first set. Sighing, Ginny closed her eyes trying to enjoy the music.
"I wanted people to admire me, always have. I craved the kind of attention that always seemed to follow Potter around. I heal people Ginny, make them well. For the first time I am being looked up to and people seek my advice. But maybe it does go a bit deeper than that. I, I wanted to be on the right side for once." Ginny's eyes popped open coming face to face with Malfoy who was but a few inches away from her own. Malfoy pressed his lips together as if he had admitted too much.
Pulling in his knees, Draco rested his head against them looking eerily like his former 16 year old self. "Contrary to what you, Potter and everyone else thought, I had never seen anyone die. My father was very careful not to involve me in any of his extacurricular activities. At least not until……….." Draco's voice became a whisper, he swallowed hard trying to continue.
Draco was silent for a long time. Ginny was determined to wait him out. She took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. The reason she had became a nurse was more than evident in Draco Malfoy. Broken and lost was what he looked like. Ginny wanted nothing more than to hold him in her arms and let him know that everything would turn out ok, that all she had to do was bandage him up and he would no longer hurt. But life wasn't like that. Charlie and Fred's deaths were testament to the fact that sometimes there were no happy endings.
"I watched Pansy die, right in my arms and I couldn't save her." Draco closed his eyes trying to get the horrific picture of Pansy's body out of his mind. He had loved her, the first person he had ever truly loved and she had lain in his arms struggling to breathe before her body finally gave up. Pansy was his best friend, his refuge. He hadn't noticed or appreciated her until she was gone.
"The battle of Hogsmeade was my first assignment. I was barely out of my teens and thought…………" Draco paused, " Dammit! I thought we were in the right. My father, and I were ordered to kill a family of traitors that was hiding in Hogsmeade under Dumbledore's protection. Turns out it was the Zabini's."
As if her hands had a mind of their own, Ginny rubbed small circles on Draco's back in an attempt to give him a measure of comfort, "Draco. If it's too hard, you don't have to continue."
Draco clenched his jaw, keeping his voice firm, "My father killed his parents while Blaise was made to watch. I can still hear him screaming for their lives. He was pleading with my father on hands and knees to kill him instead. I felt like I was back in the forbidden forest in my first year. All I wanted to do was run away."
***
But he had been frozen in fear. Lucius next command caused his blood to turn cold. "Put the boy out of his misery."
Blaise Zabini. One of the few true friends he had at Hogwarts. One of the few Slytherin's he held in high regard. Blaise the once proud regal Slytherin was lying on the floor moaning in grief, holding on to his mother's dead body. How had it all all come down to this? Backing away Draco for the first time defied his father's orders, "NO!"
"What did you say boy?"
"I-I can't father." Draco dropped his wand in nervousness, the cries of Blaise Zabini becoming too much for his ears. "I-I can't!"
"You'll do as I say!" Lucius shot the cruciatus curse at his son watching as he writhed in pain, "Do you want more, you insolent ungrateful boy!"
Pain unlike he had ever experienced wracked his body. It had felt like hours although the cruelty had only taken place within a matter of minutes. Draco could make out the blurry images of his father calling for more deatheaters. One by one they apparated. The familiar pop announcing their arrival.
Slowly the pain subsided as Lucius dragged him up by the collar, "You've been coddled and spoiled enough. It's high time you learned a lesson in becoming a man."
Pansy Parkinson removed her hood bowing before Lucius, "You called sir. I am here at your command."
Lucius smiled wickedly, "Would you die for our cause Parkinson?"
Without hesitation she answered, "I would give my life for our Lord Voldemort."
Lucius turned to his son, "A sacrifice you would never make. That is why you'll always be second best to Potter. In fact you'll always be second best to a Longbottom. Did you know that today Neville Longbottom killed your dear Aunt Bellatrix along with four others? You have yet to kill one person. I blame no one but myself for spoiling you. Today that will change!"
Lucius threw him against the wall, whispering orders to the other deatheaters. They dragged a now silent Blaise to the center of the room. "Kill him Draco or else….." Lucius surprised Pansy, grabbing her by the neck, "I shall sacrifice your pretty girlfriend."
Pansy eyes grew wide with shock as Lucius said coldly, "For the cause my dear, for the cause."
What choice did he have?
To this day Draco could remember the screams of his former friend as he contorted violently on the stone floor. "Please Draco, stop!" Draco could only close his eyes, blinking back the tears as his friend begged for mercy. Draco flung curse after curse hoping to end Blaise's suffering and his own. For an hour Blaise had valiantly held on, until finally his body could take no more. What the hell was he fighting for? Draco forgot as he gazed at the now broken body of Blaise.
"I did what you asked father!" Draco yelled heading towards the door. He never made it, two deatheaters grabbed him forcing him to kneel where Blaise had just died.
"Insubordination will not go unpunished. I have withheld my hand for far too long Draco, because you are my son. This time you will see what happens when you do not follow directions."
A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead as the realization hit him. He was going to die. Draco started to shake, trying to free himself from the strong grasp of the other deatheaters. "No father, please!"
"Don't beg Draco, It's not becoming of a Malfoy!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Green Light burst from the wand of Lucius.
Draco waited for death but it did not come. He was still breathing, his pulse still raced. Draco was alive. Opening his eyes he felt a soft object being flung into his hands. Evil laughter emitting from the voice that had once sung him lullabies.
"Did you really think I would kill my own son!? Have some faith. You did excellent work with Zabini." The other deatheaters followed Lucius out the door, into the village that would be the site of the worst massacre in wizarding history.
The agonizing screams and pleas that were taking place in the streets of Hogsmeade were in stark contrast to the stillness of the home . A quiet home filled with bodies of those that were living breathing entities only moments before. In the center of the room, a deatheater sobbed over the dead woman in his arms and a cause he no longer believed in.
***
"That's why you became a healer. " It all made sense now to Ginny. She couldn't help but feel sorry for Draco. Why did she have such an attraction to men with issues? First Harry now the blond man in front of her. Stop it Ginny. He doesn't need you fawning over him, what he needs is an ear to listen!
"It's much more than that," Draco continued, "Killing Blaise is a sin I can never wash away. Of all the lives I have saved since becoming a healer, I haven't come close to paying back for the life I took. When I was captured, there was this nurse……….."
Ginny's ears perked up. The fingers that were kneading the tight muscles of his back ceased. "What about this nurse?"
"The people were calling for my death. Slipping in and out of consciousness, I was. That's a memory I won't forget. The whole village attacked me. But I wanted to die, Ginny. I felt like I deserved to die. Did I fight back or try to apparate? No. When I came to I was in a hospital. Everything was a bit hazy because of all the blood I lost but the one thing I remember was this nurse. She was beautiful Ginny. Breathtaking."
Ginny couldn't hold back a slight smile, grateful for the darkness that was hiding a blush. "Tell me more about this beautiful nurse."
"She saved me when no one else would. I can't put into words the feeling she gave me. I've wanted to pay back to others and hopefully return the same feeling to patients. I thank her wherever she is."
Ginny coughed holding back a laugh. If only he knew how big her ego was becoming he would have stopped long ago. "Wherever this nurse is I am sure she knows how grateful you are."
Once again Draco eyes clouded over with memories he had wished would stay buried. Ginny could read the hurt in his eyes. Ginny saw the guilt he lived with everyday. Blaise had died, and Draco could never forgive himself. Oh how she wanted to wrap her arms around him and let him forget all his pain. Why were there no healing charms for a broken spirit?
A lock of his hair fell in his eyes. Her hand working on its own accord, brushed it back, her fingertips sliding through his hair. Draco had such soft hair, Ginny could spend hours running her fingers through it. Draco's words of the breathtaking nurse urged her on. His grey eyes locked with her brown ones, sending tingles down Ginny's spine. He watched her intently as Ginny traced her fingers through his hair, down his neck and along his strong arms. Ginny felt him shiver and knew it wasn't because of the summer weather. Ginny twined her fingers through his as one of the Weird Sister's belted out one of their newer ballads for lovers. Malfoy wasn't her lover, but hey, she could pretend. Didn't she promise herself she'd make the best of this blind date? Ginny was doing a good deed, wasn't she? That' s what Gryffindors did, even if it was for former Slytherin enemies. Maybe, just maybe Draco Malfoy would be able to forget his past for one night.
"Dance with me Draco."
TBC
(I Promise- run ins with old classmates on the dance floor!)