Chapter 16- The Other Man
Ginny found herself back in the octagonal room. Everything appeared as it had before. The word "Security" was still written on the door of the room she had just left, and Draco was nowhere in sight. Ginny reached for the door handle to her previous room, but found it locked, so she returned to room number 16 of the Blue Shutter Inn.
Draco was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. Ginny frowned. What could make him so upset? She had seen him angry before, but never like this.
She quietly came up beside him. "Everything okay?"
He jumped and glared at her. "Why'd you do that?!"
She recoiled. "Sorry." She settled on the edge of the bed. They sat in silence for a long time. Finally she looked at him tentatively. "Are you hungry?"
He shrugged without looking up. "Sort of."
There didn't seem to be any food in room 16, so Ginny led him to the room labeled "Stairs" in the octagonal room. She tried the handle, but it was locked. Draco had no better luck.
She turned to him, hopeless. "What are we going to do?"
Draco didn't know. He was fairly hungry, but from the looks of it, if they couldn't leave, they couldn't get food. Rather than sit on the couch for the rest of the night, Ginny suggested they try other rooms. Draco didn't like that idea very much. His first room had been so negative, how could another be any better? He had been stuck with the most annoying woman he knew, in a job where he was powerful but felt like father's puppet, and, worse, he had feelings for Ginny. On second thought, the next room had to be better. Grudgingly, Draco followed her to the octagonal room.
When the white of the room had faded, Ginny found she was in a hospital. Looking around, she was perplexed. Unlike her last room, Ginny wasn't here. The room was empty except for a hospital bed and a table. Was she dead?
Ginny left the hospital room and walked down the hallway. She breathed a sigh of relief. There she was. Behind a desk, Ginny stood holding a clipboard and mumbling to herself as she wrote things down. She wore a typical mediwizard uniform, but she had no badge like the older mediwizard she was following did. Her mentor left the room, and Ginny followed at his heels.
Ginny was training to become a full-fledge medic. She had helped the field medics during the war, and had chosen to follow that path since. In just six months, she'd be ready to take a job. As she watched Ginny practice spells with the old mediwizard, she noticed that Ginny used a different wand than she had at Hogwarts. She smiled. Remembering how her wand had broken in the forest of Lyseria, Ginny assumed this new one was its replacement. Watching herself, Ginny noticed that she cast her spells on a practice ball. It would glow a golden color if the spell was cast correctly, and a reddish one if it wasn't. So far, Ginny was getting about two-thirds of them right. Eventually, Ginny finished her shift and was sent home.
Arriving at home, Ginny found she lived in a cute flat in London with a small white cat named Violet. The place was neatly but sparsely decorated and relatively quiet. A clock ticked in the corner of the room as Ginny fixed herself a bowl of soup and settled on the couch. She looked at a picture on the wall. Her family and several of her old school friends had gathered for the picture during the holidays a few years back. Everything was so different now. Harry was in Auror training, Hermione was studying at University, and Ron had taken a job managing a Quidditch supply shop. Ginny had broken off her engagement to Neville in order to pursue her career, and he was now working in the Malfoy Corporation as an accountant while his pregnant new wife, a girl from Ravenclaw, stayed home. Colin was hired as a photojournalist for the Daily Prophet. Draco? Well, he had disappeared. Ginny hadn't seen him since the Graduation Ball his seventh year. He had left immediately after graduating, taking only his trunk. She had only heard from him once, in a letter.
Ginny had just finished her N.E.W.T.s. Sinking into her chair, she sighed. Soon she would leave Hogwarts, and this chapter of her life would be closed. Time for her last test was called and the students dazedly left the room. Ginny made her way back to her dormitory. One of her roommates was there, sitting on her bed and reading the latest issue of Witch Weekly. She spoke when she noticed Ginny.
"Someone left a letter for you."
On Ginny's bed was a parchment letter with a green wax seal. Her name was written elegantly on the front. Unfolding the heavy parchment, she began to read.
"My Dearest Ginny..."
Draco stood in the octagonal room. Ginny had just chosen "Independence". Considering his options, Draco entered the room "Excitement".
The white room turned to dark shadows. Draco wore a dark overcoat that swished quietly around him when he walked. It was four a.m. in Knockturn Alley. It definitely wasn't a safe place to be right then, with hooded figures whispering in corners and badly lit streets. Draco pulled his wand from his pocket and held it discreetly at his side. He stepped into the Hog's Head, sat at the bar and ordered himself a drink.
"Late night, Draco?"
Draco took a drink. "Yeah, tracking McPherison."
The man in the seat next to him took down his hood, and his dark, straight hair fell into his face. He was a young, Russian man with a strong chin and bold eyes. He spoke with a heavy accent. "Your father protects him like a child. We won't have what we need from McPherison until he's alone."
Draco ran a hand through his hair and ordered another drink. "I know, Nicolae, in another week we'll have him." He sipped his new drink. "Another week."
Nicolae had come from a wizarding school in Russia, and had joined the Ministry in the past year. He and Draco were partners. In an attempt to lighten the mood, he changed the subject. "So, I found a new girl this week."
Draco shook his head. "Another one? How do you make time for all these women?"
"Oh, you don't understand. This one's different."
Draco laughed. "Sure she is."
"Oh, she is! Legs for days, I swear it!"
Draco had only known Nicolae for a year, and this must have been his twentieth conquest. Nicolae was a bit of a womanizer.
"All your girls do. They've all got legs!"
"No, this one…" He groaned. "This one..." Nicolae took a drink and nudged Draco. "...for days, man." Draco could tell Nicolae had been drinking too much because he followed what he had been saying with a blur of Russian, punctuated by a bunch of gestures that would have been inappropriate for mixed company. "Tell you what," he slurred. "I'll bet you five galleons that she'll come home with me."
Draco shook his head. "How would I know if she had?"
Nicolae thought a moment. "I'll set you up with a girl I know, you can double with us." He tried to clear his head. "If she comes home with me, five galleons. If not, I'll give you five."
Draco knew he was way too drunk. "I don't think so, mate. You're too schnokered right now. You don't know what you're saying."
Nicolae smirked. "You just know you'll lose."
Draco took his drink from him and led him to the fireplace. "Fine. We're on. Let's just get you home, all right?" Draco Flooed Nicolae home, then apparated back to his flat.
Ginny held her breath as she read the letter. Clutching it to her chest, she fell back onto the bed. Why now? Why couldn't he have sent this a year ago? Or even yesterday? Before last night, she would have had the choice. Today she was engaged and nothing could be said to change that. Well, except maybe this. But, well, she couldn't think about him right now.
Ginny twisted the ring back and forth on her finger. It was simple, but nice. She needed time to think. She couldn't stay in her room right now. Picking up her grey cloak, she paused. She folded it and placed it back in her trunk, then picked up a familiar black one from the bottom. Throwing it over her shoulders and fastening its silver clasp, Ginny left for the castle grounds.
The next night, Draco showed up at "Accio!", the club Nicolae had chosen for their double date. "Accio!" was a novelty club where the bar and tables were charmed to float about fifteen centimeters off the ground. Draco hoped he hadn't arrived first. He didn't like clubs very much.
Fortunately, Nicolae was there with what looked like his date. She was a brunette with pouting pink lips and a very low neckline. Her purple eye shadow matched her violet tube top and her tall black boots clung to her legs, stopping at the knee.
Nicolae smiled. "Draco, this is Paula."
She stepped forward and reached out a hand to be kissed. "A pleasure."
Draco nodded. He expected her to go back and stand with Nicolae, but apparently, she wasn't planning on it. Draco leaned over and whipered to Nicolae, "Isn't this one yours? The leggy one?"
Nicolae laughed. "No, mine's in the bathroom. Oh wait, here she is." The woman that walked up next to Nicolae floored him. "Draco, this is Ginny."
Ginny went outside and circled the castle, looking for the nook she had always thought in. She slid into the niche in the stone wall. Ginny leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She knew what her life would be like with Neville. She'd stay home to take care of their children and live a life of housework and cooking. What if she wanted to work for the Ministry or at St. Mungo's? Could she ever be free to do what she wanted if she married him? She knew Catherine, a girl from Ravenclaw, had been devastated when she had heard of Ginny and Neville's engagement. Was it fair to her or to Neville if Ginny married him out of convenience when he and Catherine could have been so happy together?
Ginny looked at Draco's letter. "My Dearest Ginny..." Would she think about him still, even after establishing a life with Neville? She looked at the letter again. Yes, she thought of him still. She snuggled into Draco's cloak. Even after a year without any correspondence or hope of seeing him again, she thought of him. She knew by thinking of Draco, she would hurt Neville. Ginny left to find him.
Paula smiled and shook hands with Ginny, who was paying no attention to her but stared blankly at Draco until he caught her looking at him. Quickly, she put a hand on Nicolae's shoulder. Nicolae grinned at her, moving his own hand from her shoulder to her waist to her-
"Nicolae!" Draco snapped. Ginny looked up, stunned at his response.
Nicolae pulled Draco aside. "You all right?"
Nodding, Draco tried to shake off his feelings. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Nicolae nudged him. "Isn't she all I said she'd be?"
Draco looked at Ginny again. She wore a white blouse with a short, pleated blue skirt and strappy white heels. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she carried a blue sweater with her in case she got cold. Ginny had the sweet charm she had always had, but her eyes and the sway of her hips made her the single sexiest woman he had ever known.
"Draco?"
Draco thought back to being in the forest with her, seeing her sweet smile and...
"Hey, Draco!"
"Hmm?" Draco replied, still studying Ginny.
"So, what did you think of Paula?"
"Paula?" Draco looked confused.
"Yeah, Paula, your date. You sure you're okay?"
"Oh, yeah." Draco turned his attention back to Nicolae. "She's, um, fine."
Nicolae smiled. "I think she likes you."
Draco walked back with Nicolae. Nicolae and Paula talked together while Ginny and Draco sat in relative silence. Nicolae occasionally ran a hand up Ginny's leg. Draco could only tell because Ginny's eyes would widen, and then Nicolae's hand would come up from under the table looking a little redder than usual. She would occasionally look at him warningly, but he didn't slow his advances towards her. After a while, the group left for the dance floor.
Nicolae was very physical with Ginny while they danced, and Paula seemed to be very much like him, grinding against Draco whenever she got the chance. Nicolae started getting a little too aggressive with Ginny, so Draco cut in.
Ginny looked worried. She kept looking back at Nicolae for a reaction. "What are you doing?" she asked him, almost desperately.
"I'm cutting in." He held her softly. They danced in near silence until Draco couldn't help but ask the question that had raced through his head since he'd first seen her that night. "Why are you with this guy?"
"This guy?" she asked sarcastically. "Isn't 'this guy' your partner?"
Draco sneered. "He's my assigned partner. I didn't choose him. Anyway, what are you doing with him?"
Ginny sighed. "I met him when I was at the Ministry visiting my father. He asked for a date, that's all."
"He thinks he's taking you home tonight."
She was fuming now. "And you'd believe a man who's just met me over what you know of my integrity?"
"Well, I know you wouldn't have even dated a guy like that back when I knew you. You were with guys like Michael Corner and Dean and Seamus-"
Her hands were on her hips now. "And you." He went silent. "Well, did you think I'd wait forever for you?"
He spoke quietly. "I sent you a letter. You never came. I hardly think that's my fault."
"You waited a whole year to send it! I was engaged to Neville when I got it. I couldn't, I was so confused...I wasn't ready for another guy then."
"Even if it was me?" Draco tried to mask his hurt, but she didn't respond. He couldn't stay any longer. He grabbed Nicolae by the arm and pulled him toward the door.
Nicolae looked very confused. "What's going on?"
Draco pulled a pouch out his pocket and emptied twenty galleons into Nicolae's hand. "Let her go home." Draco looked sternly into his eyes. "Don't ever see her again." Nicolae nodded, and Draco walked out the door. The room turned back to white.
Ginny cried. She had just broken off her engagement to Neville, and she couldn't respond to Draco. Seamus had declared his feelings for Dean a year ago, Colin had never been an option, and Harry's heart had lied elsewhere. Being with Draco had been different, and that's why she couldn't respond to his letter. That's what it really was. She told herself that her family and friends wouldn't support her, that he could be taking a dark path, or that she was never really important to him, but in the end it all came down to that. Ginny knew that if she responded to Draco, this era of crushes and flighty dating would be over, and that scared her. She knew she'd have to be serious with him if she responded, so she didn't.
Ginny left the room.