It All Began With Dwarfing Draco

Draco lay alone in his dorm room, his heart aching as if it were trying to escape his chest through his ribs and skin. He stared at the ceiling through the frame of his four-poster. All he could think about was Ginny screaming his name while he had walked away. He had heard her scream before, but they were all dreams and were either figments of his imagination so they weren’t real or gifts from the seer in his blood and hadn’t happened yet. And never had he been causing the pain in these dreams. But this wasn’t a dream. It was his reality and he had hurt her, defying his promise never to do so.

He rolled over onto his stomach, face down in his sheets, and dug his hands into his platinum blond hair. Cursing himself, he apologized to her in the silence of his room. He knew very well that she couldn’t hear him but he needed to say it, he needed to say it over and over again till he could say it no more. Even now he questioned his reasons for ending it. He had said it was to protect her. In his mind, he thought it was the right thing but his heart screamed at him and told him he was making the biggest mistake of his life. The battle of heart vs. mind waged on and, not that Draco was surprised, his heart was winning.

In one sudden movement, he pushed himself off the bed and began walking towards the door. He would go to her, no more apologizing to thin air. But as he put his hand on the door, his mind put up one more argument.

‘What if she dies because you were to stupid and let your father kill her as a punishment?’ Draco paused, ignoring his heart for a moment. ‘What if she gets hurt because Voldemort thinks she would be good leverage to get you to join the Death Eaters?’

"No," Draco fought back. "I’ll be with her. I’ll be protecting her."

‘You can’t always be there to protect her Draco.’

‘Don’t listen!’ his heart fought back. But it was too late. Draco’s mind had won and with it’s victory, it smothered his heart’s pleas for the time being.

"Damn it!" Draco yelled and walked back to his bed, collapsing heavily onto the mattress. He buried his face in his sheets and yelled as loud as he could.

* * * * *

The next week was one of the longest in Ginny and Draco’s lives. The school was still in a state of panic from the Death Eater attack. Everyone was on edge and it didn’t take much for a fight to break out. Parents that were once great friends began snapping at each other for no reason. It didn’t matter how much the staff tried to calm them. Every one could feel the air of war that had settled over the world as they waited for the Dark Lord to make his move.

For Ginny and Draco themselves, it was like hell on Earth. The most awkward part was when they saw each other in one of the corridors for the first time in days, Draco going one way and Ginny the other. Both had their heads down and both walked straight into each other. They began muttering apologize, picking up their scattered belongings. Draco stopped for a moment when he noticed who it was that he had run into. He raised his head and nearly jumped out of his skin.

Ginny kneeled before him, looking like a ghost. Her face was pale and she looked like she hadn’t eaten anything in a while. In fact, she looked like she looked like she hadn’t slept at all either which was evident by the bags under her eyes. Her eyes themselves were blood shot and void of any emotion.

‘She looks horrible,’ he thought and then his reason came back to him. ‘Well what do you expect? You did this to her.’

Ginny stopped as well, frowning when she recognized the voice. Looking up from her pile of papers, she met eyes with the silvery-gray ones that she had longed to see. She hadn’t used the wisteria blossom since her first trip, despite her desperate need to see him but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her wide eyes scanned his face while her jaw slackened and her lips parted slightly.

"Draco," she whispered. Forcing a smile on her face, Ginny fought hard not to cry and wrap her arms around his neck. "I’ve missed you so…"

"Ginny, I can’t," Draco said as firmly as he could manage, his heart tearing in two as she watched the pain come over her face. He looked away and stood, gathering his things before turning to walk away.

"Don’t go," Ginny begged, grabbing his hand as tears began rolling down her cheeks. "Please don’t go." She saw him shake his head and she felt her heart sink deep into her stomach.

"I’m sorry," he replied, shaking his head. "I can’t do this."

"You can’t do what?!" Ginny asked, her voice slowly getting louder as her frustration and sadness began stirring inside her. "Why are you walking away from everything that we have?!" Draco spun around, his brow furrowed as he stared down at her.

"I’m not walking away," he said through clenched teeth but was cut off from continuing.

"Then what are you doing?!" Ginny yelled as she stood. "I don’t think you realize how much I’m scared that if I let go of your hand, you’ll leave me forever…" More tears cascaded down Ginny’s face, causing Draco’s heart to ache even more. He wanted to pull her into his arms and never let go but his mind fought against him, telling him that he would loose her.

"I love you so much Draco," Ginny said, her voice softening. "Why are you so willing to throw that all away?"

"To protect you," Draco said in a steady voice, more to convince himself then Ginny. He dropped his gaze to the floor beneath him, unable to see the hurt in her eyes anymore.

"How can you protect me when you won’t even look at me?" Draco cringed at her words. "I don’t need protecting Draco. I need you to stop avoiding me and be here, by my side."

"And what if you’re taken," Draco asked, raising his gaze to hers once more. "What if something happens to you because of me? What then Ginny?"

"If that happens, it will be because of something I have done," Ginny said calmly. "Not because of you…"

"And Voldemort? My father?" Draco persisted. "They are both after you!"

"The Dark Lord wants me for different reasons," she explained. "Not because of you. Your father was just following orders and he’s in Askaban now."

"He’s broken out of there more than once."

"He won’t this time." Draco’s brow furrowed as his confusion grew.

"What?" he asked. Ginny took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before looking him meeting his.

"He won’t be able to escape Askaban because…" She stopped for a moment, stumbling for words. "Because, he’s already received the Kiss."

Why had Dumbledore burdened her with telling him this? Ginny had been distracted by it all day and that was the reason why she had run into Draco in the first place. She didn’t know what she thought his reaction to her news might be, maybe to jump for joy or to be at least a little happy. Frankly, she was afraid of what he would do when he found out. But for all the possibilities she had thought of, this certainly wasn’t it. He eyes were darkened and he dropped his head into his chest.

"When did this happen?" he quietly asked, completely calm with no emotion in his voice.

"This morning," Ginny replied, cautiously taking a step closer. Draco didn’t move away, in fact he didn’t react to her movement at all. "Draco?" He let out short, almost cynical sounding laugh.

"I’ve hated the man for so long and now that he’s gone, shouldn’t I be happy?"

"I…" Ginny tried to give him an answer but found that none would come to her. "I don’t know…"

"How did you find out?" He looked up at her once again, his face stony but Ginny knew it was just a mask.

"Dumbledore," she said. "He sent me to tell you." Draco nodded and ran his free hand through his already somewhat ruffled hair.

Taking this as an opportunity, Ginny stepped in and wrapped her arm around him while keeping her other hand still on his. She leaned her head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat while her eyes fluttered closed, loving being this close to him again. She felt him stiffen against her and fully expected him to push away but to her surprise, he lowered his arm to lay it across her shoulders. Gently he pulled her closer, laying his cheek against the top of her head and taking in a shuddering breath.

"I’ve missed you so much Draco," Ginny repeated as she felt more tears threatening to spill over. She clutched his the back of his robes and squeezed her eyelids together as hard as she could, willing herself not to cry.

"I know Gin," Draco whispered. "I’ve missed you too." Ginny’s eyes shot open and she looked up at him, shock on her face.

"I thought you’d forgotten…" she said, overwhelmed by his answer. "Or moved on or…something…" Draco laughed a little and smiled.

"Ginny Weasley, I think that’s probably the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard," he said and put his forehead to hers. "Never. I could never forget you. Or move on for that matter."

"Then why are you avoiding me?" Draco began to answer but she beat him to it, reciting the words he had spoken to her only minutes before about protection. He nodded again and fell silent. "Do you really believe that I can’t take care of myself or that you being on the other side of the castle would help if the Dark Lord is after me?" He paused, unsure how to answer for a moment but the shook his head and sighed.

"I don’t know what to think anymore," Draco replied honestly. "I don’t know how to handle this and it’s driving me insane." Ginny smiled and snaked the hand that held the back of his robes, back around and brushed a few loose strands of his hair out of his eyes.

"We’ll take it one day at a time," she promised. "Everything is going to work out Draco. But, I need you with me, not turning me away." Ginny held her breath, silently praying that he would agree. She could tell through his eyes that he was weighing the situation with great care, the wheels in his head turning almost audibly.

‘Don’t do it Draco,’ his mind argued. ‘You won’t be able to keep her safe this way.’

‘And being, as she so subtly said, on the other side of the castle helped any?’ his heart fought back. ‘She isn’t that useless with a wand either. You remember well that incident with the "Weasley surprise". And she’s acquired an animagus now. Give her a chance, she may surprise you. If you let her go now, how knows when you’ll be together again.’

This last statement was won Draco over. He smiled, his answer clear, and watched as the life come back into Ginny’s eyes. Tears of happiness fell from her eyes as she dropped his hand and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Draco laughed and picked her up, spinning her around in the middle of the corridor. When he set her down, he hugged her fiercely and apologized like he had wanted to for the past week.

"I’m so sorry Ginny," he whispered into her ear. "Please forgive me."

"Already done," Ginny laughed and pulled back, putting a semi-stern look on her face. "Now don’t you ever scare me like that again sir or you’ll regret it." Draco did a mock salute, causing Ginny to laugh again.

"Yes ma’am," he said before raising his hand to her cheek and brushing the tears away. He then did the thing he had been craving to do most, under apologizing of course. Pressing his lips lightly against hers, he whispered an "I love you" before pulling her close and kissing her properly.

A soft wind blew through the corridor, brining the soft sounds of laughter and the smell of wisteria blossoms. Ginny smiled slightly.

‘Thank you Antheia,’ she thought, knowing the goddess would have heard, before getting swept away in Draco’s kiss.