It All Began With Dwarfing Draco

"I can’t make them go away." A sob shook its way through Ginny’s small frame as she buried her face in his chest. "I can still see them." Draco wrapped his healthy arm around her and led her over to the bed, gently forcing her to sit down. He kneeled infront of her and took her hand in his undamaged one.

"Talk to me Ginny," he said softly. "I know it’s hard and you don’t want to remember but it might help if you talked about." She shook her head and looked down at their hands.

"I haven’t told anyone," she whispered so quietly that it was hard for him to hear.

"No one? Not even your parents?" She nodded, still not raising her eyes and brought a hand to her face to wipe it across her cheeks. "You’ve kept this to yourself all this time? Does even anyone know you were even down there?"

"Harry and Ron knew, they came to save me and reported to Dumbledore. Professor Lockhart came with them and lost his memory when his spell backfired on him. Dumbledore told my parents what had happened. Madame Pomfrey demanded an explanation when he took me to her for a once over. Harry and Ron told Hermione and my parents told my brothers. A lot of people knew I had been down in the Chamber but I never told them what happened."

"Why? Why didn’t you tell them?"

"I thought they would pull away. I don’t even know if I can tell you."

"You know I would never Ginny. I know how it feels to not be able to tell anyone anything and I would never want that to happen to you."

"I know."

"You can trust me," Draco said and kissed her hand. She nodded but turned away from him as if she didn’t want to see his reactions.

"I thought I loved him…" she whispered. She saw Draco cringe slightly out of the corner of her eye. Turning back to him, she gave a weak but reassuring smile and looked him straight in the eyes to show him it wasn’t the case now. He visibly relaxed and waited patiently for her to continue. "But he hurt me. He used me to hurt others as well. I cannot forgive myself for allowing that to happen." She looked around the room and laughed to herself though it was not from amusement. "I can remember everything that happened when I was with him like it happened yesterday but there are gaps in between that no matter how hard I try, I cannot remember at all. Harry said that when he came to save me Tom told him that I walked like a zombie under his influence, writing bloody messages on walls, opening the Chamber. Oh! And to top it all off, the Tom Marvolo Riddle I thought was falling in love with was really Voldemort in his sixteen year old self that he decided to leave in a diary so he could come back to kill Muggles and half the wizarding world." More tears spilled down Ginny’s cheeks. "Its amazing really, how stupid a eleven year old girl could be when given a diary that belonged to the Dark Lord himself." Draco struggled to his feet and sat on the right side of Ginny so he could wrap his arm around her, pulling her close.

"It wasn’t your fault Gin, none of it…" Draco began but he was cut off.

"Of course it was my fault. I was the one who wrote in the diary and opened the Chamber, almost getting one of my best friends killed!"

"But it was my father who slipped the book into your cauldron," he replied patently.

"He didn’t force me to write in it though."

"How could you have known what it really was?" Ginny didn’t reply but she did not look at him either. Instead she got up, and walked a few steps away. "You can’t blame yourself for something that you didn’t do purposely, you could never hurt anyone like that."

"I could have stopped him, I could have done something…"

"Like what?"

"I could have showed Dumbledore the diary."

"It looked like a normal book, nothing out of the ordinary."

"It talked back to me!"

"They sell ones just like that in Diagon Alley."

"Yes but this time there was a person on the other end who was trying to kill off the Muggle born in our school!" She was yelling now, losing control completely. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks at their own will. "It doesn’t matter that I didn’t do it on purpose! I was a part of it and I didn’t do anything to stop it!"

"What could you have done?" Ginny didn’t answer, she couldn’t. Too many un-cried tears were forcing themselves forward and sobs choked in her throat. Her legs wobbled and she slid to the floor, dropping to her knees. Draco was by her side in a moment, despite his pain. His arm was around her and pulling her close as he cooed into her hair to comfort her.

"Why can’t I forget?! Why can they leave me alone?!" she whimpered as she folded into him. Draco’s heart sank. There was nothing he could do except comfort and stay by her. He felt the front of his shirt being soaked with her tears. He slowly began to rock back and forth gently to calm her

"If I could take everything that hurt you, everything that makes you afraid and destroy them all I would. But no matter how hard I wish, I know I can’t. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do other than be here for you." Ginny’s tears slowly died and she lifted her head.

"That’s all I need," she said softly and smiled. Draco smiled back and then, as gently as he could, he kissed her lips and then pulled back to hug her tighter. "Thank you Draco, you don’t know how much that means to me."

"I would do anything for you Ginny." She let out a shaky sigh before trying to stifle a yawn. "You look like you could use a nap."

"Mm-hmm," Ginny replied as her eyelids began to droop. She gingerly stood and walked over to Draco’s bed, crawling under the covers.

"Shouldn’t you go to your own room?" Draco asked hesitantly. Ginny shook her head.

"I’d rather stay here with you." Draco chuckled lightly and joined her, groaning as he lay beside her. Ginny immediately snuggled into him once her was beside her and let out another sigh.

"I love you Draco," she said as she began to fall asleep. Draco kissed the top of her head as he felt her body relax against him.

"Love you too Gin," he whispered and watched her sleeping face. Many a thought went through his mind at that moment. Things like how beautiful she was and what had he done to deserve her love as well as he would protect her from what ever was coming for them and what was coming.

Draco felt his own eyes burn with tiredness and closed them, not noticing the figure flying by outside the window in search of the pair.