Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and other things you don't recognize!
Summary: According to Ministry Laws a blind witch or wizard should never live alone. When Draco becomes blind because of an accident and a Nurse comes to live with him, will love blossom? Or will Chaos ensue?
Love Is Blind
Chapter Nine: Breathe
If I just breathe
How do you fill the space in between?
Oh no, everything is alright
Breathe
Everything little piece of me
You'll see
Everything is alright
If I just breathe
Ginny sat at a table in a Muggle restaurant in Surrey, with Blaise and Draco. She looked at Blaise, thoroughly disgusted, as he picked up a chip (French fry) and dipped it in his chocolate ice cream. He looked up at Ginny and grinned.
"So, Draco, are you exciting about having the operation in a day or so?" Blaise looked over at his friend who had his head resting against the wall.
Draco shrugged, "I'd feel better if they weren't giving me these bloody potions to take everyday." His fish and chips lay in front of him, uneaten.
"Blaise, could you please stop that?" He looked at Ginny, confused, "Eat one thing at a time. Either the chips or the ice cream, not both at the same time!"
"Why? It's like eating baked potatoes with chocolate syrup," he said picking up another chip and dipping it in his ice cream.
"One, eating a baked potato and chocolate syrup is far more disgusting. Two, you've just spilled ice cream down the front of your shirt."
Blaise dropped the chip on the table and stood up, "I'll be right back." He stared down at his shirt and he walked in the direction of the lavatories. Ginny rolled her eyes as she saw him walk into the girls' lavatory.
She turned her attention back to Draco and placed her hand on his back, rubbing it in slow, soothing circles, "You have to try eating something." She picked up a small piece of fish and held it to his mouth. When he opened it she placed it on his tongue, "You can chew it by yourself, can't you?" She joked. He closed his mouth and chewed the food for quite a while before swallowing.
She looked up in just in time to see Blaise exited the lavatory and pulling his shirt down over his wand, tucked into his pants. He sat down at the table and looked at Ginny, "I didn't know women got a couch in their lavatory!"
"It's so we can sit and think about freakishly weird boys like you."
About an hour or so later Blaise finished his sickening meal, and Ginny fed Draco all that he would eat. They strolled about Muggle London for a bit, Ginny walking in the middle of the two handsome young men, earning envious stares from other women.
They could have Blaise if they wanted, but Draco was strictly off limits. They had never actually confirmed their relationship, but…Ginny was sure what they had was considered one. What she wasn't sure of was if she was still considered his nurse. Shrugging it off they continued on their expedition, just having a fun day out, before Draco's operation.
On their way back to Malfoy Manor they had to stop at St. Mungo's to pick up a few more potions for Draco. The nurse at the front desk already had them there, which saved them a lot of time.
They all apparated into the living room on the first floor and Blaise immediately sat down on his couch. Ever since the night of the ball when he and Draco were reunited, he never seemed to leave, not that Ginny minded. He was a fun person to have around, but he had the gigantic Estate, yet preferred staying at the Manor.
Ginny pulled the vials out of her robe pocket; they were labeled with when to be taken. She gave Draco the vial labeled, Number One, and the flashing words, 'Take Now'.
"Bloody hell, if these were Muggle Drugs I would have over dosed by now."
"Close your eyes and think of the tasty fish you ate today." Blaise added, stretching out so he took up the entire couch.
"That probably won't be a good idea considering it smells like raw fish," Draco said before plugging his nose and throwing his head back, downing all of it in one gulp.
"Open your mouth," Ginny said so she could make sure he drank all of it. He opened his mouth, "Good, you should go upstairs and get a bit of rest."
He took off his sunglasses and shook his head, "I think here will be fine," he didn't feel he head enough strength to walk up all those stairs. Ginny moved to the side so he could go straight to the couch, he lay down on it, his head on the arm rest.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Typical." She conjured up two blankets for both of them. She took the empty vial from Draco's hand and went into the kitchen to start on dinner.
~*~
After spending a good ten minutes of trying to wake them up, dodging Blaise's swatting hand and Draco's attempts to turn away from her she woke the two sleeping men. They ate dinner quietly, aside from Blaise scraping the plate with his fork, causing Ginny to yell at him, "Blaise! There's nothing left on the ruddy plate!"
They all headed up to Draco's room, why Blaise came, she did not know, so he could take his nightly potion and go to sleep. As soon as Draco was in the room he pulled his shirt up over his head, took off his shoes and trousers, leaving him only in his boxers.
"Thanks for the free show, Malfoy." Blaise joked as Ginny went around picking up the various items Draco left on the floor.
"You're lucky I'm here, Malfoy, otherwise you'd fall on your arse over all this stuff." She put the clothes in a basket and the shoes in his closet. She took out the vial labeled, Number Two, and the words changed from, 'Before Bed' to 'Take Now'.
"Blaise, don't you have your own home to go to?" Draco asked as Ginny took the top off the vial and put it in his hand.
"Yes, but what kind of friend would I be if I left you two here alone?"
"A good friend…a best friend." Draco said before tilting his head back and drinking the potion.
"Well, I'll be! If you two wanted to do the rumpy pumpy (hanky panky) all you had to do was say so!"
Ginny was too far from Blaise to hit him, so she did the next best thing. She grabbed the empty vial and chucked it at his head.
"Tut, tut, no wonder you weren't on the quidditch team." She said after the vial clattered on the floor.
Blaise rubbed the side of his head, "You know what, I don't have to take this, I'm going home." He pouted before apparating out of the room.
"I honestly don't know what goes through his brain sometimes…" Ginny said, picking the vial up from the floor and throwing it away and Draco's bathroom. "If you don't need anything else, I'll just be off now."
"No," came his horse reply.
"No what?"
He tried clearing his throat, but even that hurt, "don't go…"
Ginny climbed on the other side of the bed and propped herself up against the pillows next to him. He sighed and closed his eyes, ignoring the migraine starting in the back of his head, as she played with the hair that barely fell into his eyes. She watched him sleep and thought about how she couldn't even imagine the pain he was going through. He never did tell her the reason he had decided to get the surgery, but she figured he wanted to keep it to himself. During her thinking, she had slowly stopped playing with his hair, and slid down the pillows, falling asleep beside him.
~*~
The next morning Ginny woke up to an empty room. She lazily rubbed her eyes as she got out of the bed and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She wasn't surprised to find Draco and Blaise, of course, eating breakfast.
"Morning, love," Blaise said, grinning up at her.
"Bloody morning person," she said, picking up a vile for Draco and taking a seat next to him. Draco turned to give her a kiss on the cheek but it landed near her eye. "Feeling better?"
He nodded took a bite of his sausage. "Don't I have another one of those bloody potions to take?"
Ginny put the vile labeled Number Three in his hands, "Blaise, is your estate covered up in dust yet?" She asked, as Draco took the top off the vile and drunk it.
Blaise shrugged, "The house elves can call it their own, I'm hardly ever there."
"Hmm, is that so?" Ginny said, sarcastically taking the empty file from Draco's hand, "Draco you should get more rest…"
"More rest? I've just slept for eight hours!"
"Well you'd better get to bed early, around five or so. We've got the earliest time they had, and we don't want to miss it!"
Draco waved her off and resumed eating; she scoffed and walked up the stairs to her room, leaving the bloody gits to do what they pleased.
~*~
At 5:30 AM Ginny entered Draco's room and shook him awake. Surprisingly it wasn't that hard to wake him up, he got out of bed, slipped on a robe and Ginny, Draco, and Blaise apparated to St. Mungo's, Molly Weasley planned on meeting them there a bit later.
Draco's stomach started to churn as the Doctor's walked their way. He put his head in his hands and massaged his temples, 'It'll be okay Malfoy, their Professional Healers, and they know what they're doing.'
"Mr. Malfoy?" Draco's head snapped up and he stood, "We're ready for you now."
Ginny and Blaise stood up, following them to the room, "Cheer up mate, you'll get to see my gorgeous face in a bit!"
Draco shrugged his robe off and handed his sunglasses to Ginny, who was suddenly quite nervous. Before he could turn around she wrapped her arms around his neck, "You promise this won't change the way you think about me?" Ginny asked, whispering into his ear and feeling insecure. They had shagged, and he'd never even seen her face.
Draco nodded, "No worries, love." He cupped her chin and placed a chaste kiss on her lips.
"Mr. Malfoy, if you could please come in the room now." He took a deep breath and let one of the Nurse's lead him into the room.
"Let's sit in the waiting room." Blaise said, putting an arm around her shoulder, "Don't worry yourself, they know what they're doing."
"I know…but what if he takes one look at me and hates what he sees?"
"Believe me, Gin, he won't."
Ginny took a seat next to Blaise, only to stand up a few minutes later when her mum arrived, "Where's Draco, dear? Is he alright?"
"Yes, mum, they've just called him back."
"I would've liked to see him, one last time." Molly said, placing the gift basket she had prepared on a table.
Blaise and Ginny, decided to take up time and find something to eat. Though the only thing around was a Muggle vending machine.
"Erm…I think we've got to press the numbers of the thing we want, and then speak into this little box thing." Ginny said, scratching her head in confusion.
"But where does the money go?"
"Hmm…" Ginny shrugged and pressed the number for strawberry gummies. She leaned forward to speak into the box, "twenty pence!"
"It's not working."
"I'm aware of that, Zabini."
Just then a man walked towards them, "Having trouble? It's probably jammed."
Without even asking, he grabbed the change from Blaise's hand and shoved it into the coin slot, "What is it that you want?"
"Those," Ginny said pointing and the strawberry gummies.
The man pressed the three buttons and hit the glass with his elbow. Ginny and Blaise jumped back in shock when the spring started turning and the bag dropped out. There was a clinging sound and change dropped out of the bottom.
"Fascinating, these Muggles." Blaise whispered to her, and then smiled as the man turned around.
"There you are," the man said, handing Ginny the bag.
"Thanks," he nodded and continued down the hall. "Dad would love to see this!" Ginny looked up at Blaise, "Let's do it again!"
They proceeded to use up the Muggle change Blaise had, and bought bags of chips and junk food.
~*~
Draco lay in the hospital bed in his own room. He had been awake for a few minutes now, though he didn't dare open his eyes, afraid it might not have worked. The last thing he remembered was being given a potion and now here he was.
What if the operation didn't work? He would have gone through all of this for nothing, and would have disappointed everyone. His heart began beating faster as he prepared to open his eyes. "Ginny…" he said aloud. Sighing, and not thinking about it again he wrenched his eyes open.
His breath caught in his throat as he saw white, had the operation failed after all?
~*~
So I whisper and I'm,
Hoping you hear me
Do you hear me?
If I just breathe
How do you fill the space between
Oh no, everything is alright
Breathe - Michelle Branch
~!@*Thats So Raven*@!~
*Dodges rotten tomatoes* Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I know, you all hate me for ending this chapter the way I did. But I've never had a cliff hanger in this fic(or have I?) and thought this would be the perfect time to put one in!
Anyhoo, thanks for all the wonderful reviews! You guys make me laugh! Hehe, that's a good thing by the way. Do it again, for everyone knows, I love laughing! I tried making Blaise funny! And thanks to Virginia for the vending machine idea! Had to take up time somehow, what better way than having Blaise confused hehe! I'll take the reviews as a late birthday present from you all =P Thanks, you guys rock!