Chapter 19 - Despair
Ginny let out a deep sigh and cast the spell to stop headaches again on herself. She knew it wasn't going to work. She rubbed her temples. This had been a terrible day for her. She was still in her office, the only place where she felt comfortable. She had flooed about an hour ago to the house, and Dobby had informed her that Harry wasn't coming to dinner. That wasn't a surprise. Harry was never at home anymore, and Ginny sometimes doubted he was even sleeping there. He showed up every once in a while, to check if she was alright, and then he left again. Ginny accepted all this with the hope that he would get over this phase and come back to her.
He's mad because I lied to him about the pregnancy, she repeated over and over to herself. Even when she had never admitted to him she had lied, she knew he wasn't stupid. Ginny didn't want to think what would have happened if Harry didn't feel so guilty for all that she had gone through. He would have probably have left her without even saying goodbye. But he was still there.
Absent-mindly, she went through the last designs that Gilderoy had made for her. They were boring. They didn't have the spark of Hermione's. He had had the nerve to add some of his own drawings to the ones that Ginny knew Hermione had made. She had seen them, when Hermione wasn't looking. Deep down, Ginny know that it was her old friend that was responsible for her business' success, and now she had to let her go.
Of course, that was what she had intended since she started with "Virginia Weasley Fashion." It was all part of her plan to destroy the daughter of the traitor's life. She hadn't expected to get so involved with the project. She knew she enjoyed her work a lot, in a way she had never thought it was possible. If only Hermione wasn't Hermione Granger, everything would be so perfect.
She had fired them today. She didn't feel sorry for Draco. He deserved it, although Ginny was in part guilty of all his irresponsibilities, because she had been the one who had encouraged him to do it. The conversation they had in her office was still fresh in her mind.
"Hi there, boss," Draco had greeted with a grin, entering in her office. "You sent for me, didn't you? What is it? Want to give me a raise?" he laughed.
"Sit down," she ordered, with a cold voice. Draco did as she told him to. "I'll go straight to the point. I've been checking your account, the expenses you've made with the firm's money." She got a huge amount of bills out of her desk.
Draco shrugged. "I've worked really hard for you, as you can see."
"I don't think so," Ginny said calmly. "There a lot of bills here that I doubt were for my company. These, for example," she said, giving them to him. "Hotels all over London. Did you take one of our customers to an expensive suite there?" she asked with sarcasm.
Draco blinked and shifted in his seat. "I'll pay you back," he said after a while.
"Of course you will," she said, taking some other bills. "What about these? You have spent too many galleons in roses... And don't tell me they were for the customers. Half of them were sent to Chloe Bateson."
"I'll pay those too. I'll pay everything that is not related to the company. Don't worry."
"The bills that are not related to the company shows that you owe me 24,000 Galleons," Ginny said, internally enjoying the look on his face.
Draco went pale. 24,000 galleons was a lot more money that he made in a whole year. "I'll pay you," he said again, this time his voice not so sure.
"These bills aren't our only problem. A lot of robes have disappeared off of our storeroom floors. I've noticed that Chloe has been using them. I asked her, and she told me that you gave them to her."
"I thought she was the face and body of this company," Draco said.
Ginny stared at him. For one second, she had a flashback of those times when Draco had helped her in Saint-Ouen. He had even gotten a Healer for her when she was in trouble. She wanted to be less harsh with him, but she couldn't.
"Draco, this is serious. Those robes are really expensive."
"Then I'll pay them too," he said immediately.
"That would be 1,500 galleons plus the other 24,000. I gave you an employee discount," she said with a smile.
"That's fine," Draco choked, after a while. He had no idea how he was going to pay her.
"Needless to say, you can't work for me anymore. Neither can Hermione. And by the way, that also means you'll have to pay me back the money that I lent you."
Draco's jaw fell. "What money?" was the only thing he could say.
"The money I gave you to pay for that house you're living in now."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stood up and looked at Ginny as if she was evil itself. "How can you be like this? Don't you think about my family? About Hermione, who is your friend?!"
"Looking at these hotel bills, I'd say that it is you the one who hasn't thought about her," Ginny said, narrowing her eyes.
"Back in France, she almost sold everything she had to help you!" Draco insisted.
Ginny sighed and ignored him.
"What about Daniel?"
He hit a nerve. Ginny frowned deeply at the mention of her son's name. Daniel. If Harry ever found about him, he would most certainly leave her for good. She knew that Daniel would get involved in this vengeance. She had known it all along, and she couldn't do anything to help it. No matter how much it hurt. She stood up and glared menacingly at Draco.
"If you ever mention it again, I'll make sure, somehow, someway, that you go to jail," she hissed.
"You bloody bitch," Draco said and left the office with a loud slam of the door.
* * *
Draco finished his story. Hermione was listening, and yet, she couldn't believe it. What was going on with Ginny? Why was she acting like that?
"Even when I promised I would pay her back every knut, she fired me anyway!" he exclaimed.
"Why should you pay her? You spent that money carrying out your duties, didn't you?" Hermione asked. Draco hadn't told her that the extra money had been spent mostly in Chloe.
"Because I'm a gentleman, after all," he said.
"How much is it?" she asked, thinking about the money she had saved in Gringotts, which it wasn't much.
"Fifteen Thousand Galleons."
"Fifteen Thousand?!"
"Ok, a little more," he added sheepishly.
"How much was it exactly?" Hermione asked, afraid of what he might say.
"25,500."
Hermione's breath caught in her throat. Her mind drifted to all the bills she had on her desk, all of them spent by Draco in the past year.
"She's also asking us for paying back the money she lent us to pay this house," Draco added in a desperate whisper. He couldn't stand seeing the look in Hermione's eyes.
She stood up, shaking. "I'll go and talk to her tomorrow morning."
"It won't be of any use. She's trying to get back at me for something, wish I knew for what."
Hermione stared at him, thoughtfully. Draco always put the blame on others when he couldn't accept his own. However, she had to admit that Ginny's behavior was certainly weird. Maybe she had found out about something after all, and was trying to get back at her through Draco.
"What are we going to do?" she asked more to herself than to the drunken man beside her.
"We have to have faith. Maybe this is a good thing after all. I just happen to have my eyes on some business..."
Hermione sighed and left him alone in the living room. She locked herself up in the small room she used as a workshop and library. This was too much. She wanted so bad to leave all of this behind. For a single second, she thought about doing that. After all, it was his problem, not hers. They weren't really a couple anymore, even when they shared the same house.
But she knew she couldn't do that. She actually cared for Draco. He was, in a weird way, a good friend to her. And he had been there for her when she had needed him, back in Madrid. Now, they would have to face this together.
There was no point in crying over the spilt potion. She grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote 25,500. She stared at the numbers as if they were going to give her an answer to all of this. Then, she wrote down how much they owed to Ginny for the house. 9,000 Galleons. All together, the bills were 34,500 galleons. Sighing, she grabbed the other bills and started scrambling numbers. 8,000 Galleons more.
They owed 42,500 Galleons! In all her life, she had never even seen that amount of money!
Hermione sighed and looked out the window. Daniel was playing in the garden. Despite everything, she smiled. At least she had him.
* * *
"We're selling the house," she announced to Draco, later that night.
He looked at her with a hurt look. She knew he loved that house, but they couldn't afford it anymore. He argued, but she didn't change her mind. The next day, she sent an owl to the Daily Prophet.
Hermione stayed in the house all day, putting in orders for the bills, while Draco was lurking in the city. He said he was looking for a job, but she knew he was visiting the bars and adding even more galleons to how much they already owed. She had found a really small house in the outskirts of London. It had only two bedrooms, but it was more than enough. She would have wanted to move there alone with Daniel and leave her husband behind, but she didn't have the heart to do it. She would rather think about him as a friend.
She hadn't seen or talked to Ginny. She found herself thinking about Harry more than ever. There wasn't a single second of the day when she didn't hear his voice, see his face or smell his scent. She wanted to be with him so badly. But he couldn't leave Ginny, he had said that himself. Now that she didn't get along with Draco anymore, and her friendship with the red head seemed lost forever it wasn't fair that she thought about the possibility of them together, when it had been her who was the one to say goodbye forever.
* * *
Harry looked like a ghost. Everyone said that. In the office, in the streets, even Dobby had mentioned it timidly. He did feel like a ghost. He didn't really have a life anymore. He just went to work, buried himself under tons of parchment, ate only because his secretary forced him to, and then kept working.
The only people he talked to were Remus and Albus Dumbledore. Both were really worried about him. Remus had mentioned he wanted to visit him for a while, and Albus paid regular visits to the office. Harry was thankful, but it didn't change the fact that he was miserable. There was only one way he could be happy, and he was never going to get that.
He cursed himself every day for being such a coward. He should have talked to Ginny straight forward and told her he was in love with someone else and their marriage was over. But everytime he even considered that, Arthur and Molly's faces popped in front his face. Ron's too. And, even when Ginny wasn't the girl he had known before, he still cared for her deeply. She had been like a sister to him, and Harry couldn't help but think that, after all, it was his fault that she now was this despicable woman.
She tried to spend the least time possible at home. He usually arrived really late, and left at dawn. He sometimes dropped by at lunch to see if Ginny was doing well, and then disappeared again. He had made a habit to walk at night. He found it soothed his mind and soul, so he took really long walks that lasted until midnight. Usually, his walks always led him to only one destiny: that was, the Malfoy's house.
He didn't know why he did it, but he spent hours hidden behind a tree, staring at the house, wishing to at least catch a glimpse of her. He had never been able to see her yet. He had seen Draco a few times, arriving drunk. The mere idea of that man living under the same roof than Hermione gave him the shivers. More than once, he felt the urge to stop Malfoy, punch him and force Hermione to leave with him.
This particular night, though, he saw her. She was sitting by the window, looking outside. He wasn't very close, but he knew she was crying. He didn't know the reason, but he knew there had to be many of them. She, like himself, was trapped in a marriage that would never let her be happy. Seeing her like that broke Harry's heart. If only he could hold her and tell her everything would be alright. Why had everything gone so wrong? Why couldn't they just be together and forget about the rest?
Harry kept staring at her until she turned off the lights and went upstairs. Maybe, someday, they would find a way to be happy again...
* * *
November 2003
It had been a month since the Malfoys had moved to the small house. Hermione shared her bedroom with Daniel and Draco slept in the other. The relationship between the two of them was the same that two roommates would have had. Draco left early in the morning and arrived for dinner, telling her about all the job offers he had. Hermione just nodded, knowing he was lying. She had been looking for a job herself, but hadn't had any luck. Every day, more bills arrived and Hermione didn't know what to do with them anymore.
One night, Daniel woke her up.
"Mum," he said, whispering. "I don't feel very well."
She rubbed her eyes and put a hand on the four-year-old's forehead. "I think you have a little fever," she said. She cast the spell that Remus had taught her on him. "Now, try to sleep," she said, tossing his hair.
But Daniel couldn't go to sleep. Hermione didn't need to be a Healer to know that he was ill. He threw up twice and complained about a pain in the neck when he tried to move it.
She tried to remember if she had noticed any symptoms before. Danny had been a little down the last few days, but she hadn't thought it was anything serious. Just the flu. But now that she saw him like that, she panicked.
She already owed a lot of money to the Healer that had attended Danny in his first years. She couldn't take him to him, because he wasn't going to accept them.
"What is wrong with me?" the boy asked, his dark eyes scared. She spotted some red marks on his skin.
"Nothing, honey, don't worry," Hermione said, dressing him up. "I'll take you to a place where they'll see what's going on, all right?"
"I can't move. It hurts," he said, and he started to cry. It had been a long time since she had seen her son crying.
Hermione tried her best to remain calm, while she thought how she was going to carry Daniel to St. Mungo's. She had sold Draco's broom. The Knight Bus wasn't a very good idea if Daniel was in so much pain. He couldn't apparate either. She went to the fireplace to floo the hospital. She asked for someone to come and get the boy and two minutes later, two wizards dressed with green robes were taking Daniel away.
Hermione wrote a note for Draco - who hadn't been to the house in two days - explaining what was going on and apparated to St. Mungo's.
* * *
"Are you Mrs. Malfoy?"
"Yes, I am," she said, standing up. She had been there for an hour, waiting nervously.
"My name is Oliver Wood, I'm the Healer taking care of Daniel." He shook her hand warmly.
"How is he?" she asked, trying to keep her voice in a normal tone.
"Maybe we should sit down," he said, and sat on the couch in the waiting room. Hermione thought that those words could only mean something terrible was going on. She sat on the edge of the couch, and rubbed her hands. "Ma'am, I'm afraid that your son's situation is... complicated."
She swallowed with a great effort.
"He has meningitis."
"Meningitis?" she repeated. She had heard about it, but wasn't really sure what it was.
"I'm not going to overwhelm you now with all the technical details. This is a sickness that most of the time affects only muggle children, but there have been a few cases where wizard boys also get it."
"How bad is it?"
"Meningitis is a serious sickness. We aren't sure yet how advanced it is, but I promise we are doing all we can."
"Can I see him?"
"Yes, but not yet. They're running some tests on him. I'll let you know as soon as I can."
Hermione nodded. This couldn't be happening. Not now. She had had enough already. Why couldn't life gave her a break? Absent-mindly, she grabbed the silver chain she had around her neck, the one that Harry had given to her in Taxco.
She needed him.
"Is there somewhere where I can use the Floo Network?" she asked.
The Healer nodded and led her to the reception area. He talked to the nurse who let her use the fireplace for free.
Hermione checked her watch. It was 6:30 in the morning. There was no way that Harry could be at the office at that time, but nevertheless, it was worth a try.
To her surprise, Harry was sitting in his desk, with his eyes closed.
"Harry," she called him, her voice strangely high-pitched.
Harry's eyes opened violently and he stared at Hermione's face in the fireplace as if he was dreaming. "Hermione?" he asked, getting up and walking towards the fireplace. He looked at her strangely, and he realized she must be in trouble. "What's wrong?"
"I'm... I'm in St. Mungo's," she said, breathing heavily.
"What?!" he exclaimed, concerned. "Why? What happened? Did you have an accident? Are you sick?"
She shook her head. "It's Danny... He has meningitis."
Harry had heard a lot about meningitis. In his times in the Resistance, he had seen a lot of muggle-born kids dying of it. "I'm coming there," he said, and a second later, he had apparated into the hospital. When Hermione saw him, once again by her side, all the angst she had been keeping inside exploded, and she burst into tears. Harry hugged her tightly, suffering along with her.
He had wanted to see her so badly, talk to her...
But not like this.
* * *
A/N: About the meningitis thing... I have to say, I know very little about medicine. I researched for the symptoms of this sickness though, so at least they aren't made up. I'm sorry if anyone knows a lot about these things and is totally shocked about my ignorance, but I think I made the point that Daniel is sick.
Jack: Answering your question, it's not over yet.