Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 14 - Saying Goodbye

Waking up with Ginny in his arms had been… amazing. The way their bodies fit against each other, the small noises she made when she moved in her sleep, the way her long red hair shone with the first rays of sunlight, coming through the curtains.

Knowing it would be awkward for her to wake up in his embrace, Draco tiptoed out of Thomas' bedroom and went upstairs to his own room.

Ginny had been awake for a long time, now, and she had felt Draco watching her `sleep', his fingers running though her hair, and his breath on her neck. But, she couldn't show him she was awake… It would have been awkward and he would stop the gentle caresses, and she didn't want either to happen. When he left the room, she finally opened her brown eyes, and smiled.

"He cares, Thomas… He cares." She whispered to the still sleeping boy. Touching his forehead, she sighed in relief, as all traces of the fever had disappeared, and his cheeks were a healthy pink again.

Kissing his forehead, Ginny left the bed and put on her slippers. She had to play the secret spy now, and the first task was to make sure the Boss was out of the way.

Walking down the hallway still on her small pyjamas, Ginny collided with Draco, just has he got to the bottom of the huge staircase. Thankfully, he still had his Seeker reflexes, and prevented her from falling on her butt.

"Oh, thank you… I didn't see you!" Ginny smiled, looking into his eyes. They were shining… That was something new about him.

He was freshly showered, and had his formal clothes on, probably on his way out, but he didn't look like he was in a rush… His hands were still on her waist, and he didn't look like he wanted to remove them any time soon.

"History repeats itself, does it not?" he smirked, mentioning their first encounter at Diagon Alley, a few months ago.

"Yes, I believe it does…" she replied with a smile. The sound of the house-elves working in the living room made Ginny's brain wake up to reality. This guy had hurt her just yesterday, and here she was, melting in his hands! Ginny quickly stepped out of his embrace, and crossed her arms around her waist, as if she was feeling cold. "I'll prepare Thomas' breakfast…"

Draco watched her leave in silence. That woman confused him, more than he cared to admit. It looked like she was forcing herself to keep a distance from him.

`Of course she is… You hurt her feelings!' he thought, following her to the kitchen.

He stood at the kitchen entrance, watching as she refused the house-elves help on cooking Thomas' breakfast. She was a very independent woman, and he liked that side of her.

As she warmed some milk and scrambled some eggs, Draco approached her silently, surprising her to death when he whispered against her neck.

"I'm leaving for a couple of hours, if Thomas gets worse, please ask the house-elves to warn me.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy…" she replied, shivering to the feeling of his proximity, but never turning around to face him. If she did that, she would only be showing her weakness.

When the temperature around her cooled down, she knew he was gone… Now was her time, to search for answers…

After ordering Tabby to take the already prepared tray with food, to Thomas' bedroom, Ginny ran upstairs to the portrait of Narcissa Malfoy.

"Good morning, Mrs. Malfoy…" Ginny said, waking up the gorgeous lady. "I'm sorry to bother your sleep, but now is the time to search for answers. Did you find out anything?"

"My son came here a yesterday and we had a little chat, but he said nothing about the boy…" Narcissa sighed, sadly.

"Ok, thank you for trying. I'm going to his bedroom, to search for Thomas' documents… Maybe they say the name of his parents." Ginny sighed, running a hand over her tangled hair, from having just woken up.

"Oh, great idea! How could I forget about that? Search under the bed… There is a secret compartment on the floor where he keeps his secrets… He used to hide his Play-Witch's in there!" Narcissa said, excitedly.

"Draco Malfoy, buying Play-Witch? Ah, that's new!" Ginny laughed. "Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy… I'll see what I can find out."

Upon entering the bedroom, Ginny noticed that the bed sheets were scattered all over the bed… Apparently Draco had been sleeping before he had to call her, to take care of Thomas.

The morning sunlight illuminated the white walls, and gave life to the huge room.

Focusing on the bed, Ginny moved it with a Levitation Spell… Searching carefully for any signs of a secret compartment on the carpet, Ginny kneeled and ran her hands over the soft surface.

`Ah, here it is! Draco, I sure hope you're not hiding those magazines in here, anymore… I would be wasting my time, and I would get worried about your mental health!' Ginny thought with a huge grin, lifting the rectangle of carpet, to reveal a small wooden door underneath it. As she expected, it was locked… Nothing a simple Alohomora couldn't fix!

Taking a deep breath, Ginny looked around her, to make sure she wasn't being caught in the act, and slowly opened the little door, revealing a hole full of papers and a blue box.

Searching through the papers first, Ginny found Draco's birth certificate, his admission letter from Hogwarts, his parents' Death Certificates, some papers from the Ministry of Magic, regarding his properties… but nothing related to Thomas… Nothing!

Exasperated, Ginny dropped the papers in the hole again. There was only one chance now… Hopefully Thomas' things would be in the blue box.

Opening it, Ginny found some more papers… A St. Mungos paper with a baby footprint on it.

`Whose footprint is this? Draco's?' Ginny thought, searching for a name on the paper, until she finally found what should have been the mother's name… But, you know doctors. Their handwriting his unreadable!

Growing frustrated, Ginny fussed over the papers, none of them had great interest… Until she got to the bottom of the box, that is. There was the Birth Certificate, she had been looking for.

`EUREKA!' she yelled in her head, quickly examining the paper.

"Thomas Longbottom…" she gasped, recognizing the name. "How many Longbottoms are there in our world?"

Trying to push the idea aside, she kept on reading.

"Son of Neville Longbottom and Pansy Parkinson… WHAT?" she yelled in shock, forgetting to keep control over her voice and emotions. "How can it be? I don't understand…"

"Neither can I…" a furious voice yelled from behind her. "I don't understand how I could ever trust you… How could you betray me this way, Ginevra? I accept you in my house, to help Thomas, and here you are, fussing over things that should remain hidden!"

Ginny dropped the papers she was holding and faced him, still on her knees. Draco looked truly furious and disappointed at her, and he had every right to feel that way… but she needed answers, and now that she had them, Ginny felt even more confused and curious.

"I needed the truth… The truth you wouldn't give to me! Can you imagine what it's like to see this perfectly healthy child, wasting the best years of his youth tied up to a wheelchair? All because of a mental trauma!" Ginny replied, growing furious as well, and she stood, starting to pace the room. "'He saw his mother die' you tell me, but do you care to explain? No! That's not part of your responsibility, is it? I needed names…"

"Why? Just because he called you Mother?" Draco sneered, his words full of disgust. "I thought proper Healers kept a safe emotional distance between them and the patient…"

Ginny lowered her head with hurt. What he had just said was the truth, but she loved that boy, and she loved his guardian as well. Maybe she wasn't acting like a proper Healer, but she wanted to heal Thomas, and knowing his background was essential for that.

"Are you satisfied, now that you invaded my privacy, my secrets, my life? Are you ready to tell this to every single soul that crosses your way?" he yelled, striding quickly to her side, grabbing her arm with extreme strength.

"I believe you know me better than that…" she whispered, sad and feeling ashamed.

"Do I? Do I truly?" he hissed. "I want you out of this house in 10 minutes and before you leave, you have to explain to the boy he won't see you ever again, you hear me?"

Ginny looked at him in shock, her brown eyes wide with fear and regret.

"Draco, please don't do this to me… To Thomas…" she pleaded, tears shining in her eyes, threatening to fall.

"LEAVE! I'll send your payment via Owl…" he ordered, turning his back on her, incapable of seeing her cry because of him.

"Why are you the guardian of Neville's son? Why doesn't anyone know that he HAD a son? WHY?" she mumbled, wiping her tears away. When she got no answer from Draco, Ginny walked out of the room.

****

As soon as the door clicked shut, Draco threw a vase full of roses against a wall.

"SHIT!" he screamed angrily, sitting on his misplaced bed, with his head in his hands. "Why did you have to do that? Why did you have to make me fire you?"

****

Thankfully the bedroom had silencing charms and Ginny heard nothing as she sobbed and cried on her way to the staircase.

"Ginny? Oh, I've tried to warn you that he was coming, but I can't leave this painting… What happened?" asked a nervous and anxious Narcissa.

"He caught me in the act, Mrs. Malfoy… I found the papers and I was reading them when he found me. He was so furious…" Ginny explained, sadly.

"But, you found something, am I right?" Narcissa asked, concerned.

"All I can tell you is that Thomas isn't your grandson… He has no blood relation to your family." Ginny said, not wanting to tell her the truth and break Draco's trust again. "I need to leave now… Goodbye Mrs. Malfoy."

"Poor girl… It's easy to see she loves him, but she should have known that Malfoy men don't love. They don't know how to feel." Narcissa whispered sadly, as she watched Ginny go down the stairs. "I thought I had raised my son better than this…"

Ginny had little time left, so she ran to Thomas' bedroom, where Tabby was dressing him, having just given him a bath.

"Tabby, you may leave, I'll get him dressed…" Ginny ordered, watching as the house-elf ran out of the room, and then she faced the little boy, whom was watching her with concern.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, noticing her red eyes and flushed cheeks.

"I had a small problem, and now I must leave this house…" she said, re-starting to dress him. "I had to tell you that I won't be coming back, Thomas…"

"NO!" he screamed, throwing his small arms around her neck, as if this gesture could keep her by his side forever more.

"Thomas, I know you love me, and that means the world to me… I love you just as strongly, and my heart is breaking for having to leave! Sometimes, people don't get what they want, when they want…" Ginny explained, trying not to hurt him more than she already had. "I can't stay here anymore, and I won't be able to help you anymore, but I'm sure Mr. Malfoy will find you a new Healer to help you, ok?"

Thomas looked at her, his face full of hurt, as tears rolled down his face.

"Why are you leaving me? Why? This time I didn't do anything wrong! Please, don't go… You're my mommy, now…" he pleaded, not letting go of her hands. "Please, don't leave me alone, not again…"

Unable to control her own tears and sobs, Ginny hugged the boy and kissed the tip of his nose, like she always did.

"It wasn't your fault… I was the one to do something wrong, Thomas." She said, giving him a small smile. "I love you…"

"GINNY! GINNY! MOMMY!" Thomas screamed and cried as she left.

Ginny walked down the hallway, trying her best to ignore Thomas screaming her name, telling her to come back.

All the house-elves hurried to the hallway to see what was going on, but all they saw was Ginny Weasley walking out of the house, still wearing her pyjama under her cloak and slippers on her feet.

That was the last time they saw the redheaded lady for the following weeks.

***********

Hey everyone!

Well, as you can see, I'm posting a lot sooner than I said I would…

Monday I did my first exam, and I got an 16 out of 20, and I'm very happy, although I know I could have gotten better, but I'm happy, nonetheless.

Today I did my Statistics exam, and it went awful! I've studied so much, and this is my best class, but still it went badly… I'm extremely depressed.

BUT!!!

PORTUGAL!!! PORTUGAL!!! PORTUGAL!!!

Sorry, but I had to yell this... Portugal WON yesterday against England.

Of course I love England, but Portugal is my nation, and I'm so happy we won! I always thought England was going to win, they have a very strong team, but we ended up being victorious and passing to the semi-finals… The whole country was crazy with the game result.

Well, I don't know when I'll be posting next, but I think it'll be soon. The story is nearing the end.

Lots of hugs and kisses to all of you who have been reviewing and reading this story. I love you all so much.

Carina

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