Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters you recognize below. They all belong to J K Rowling.
As Ginny opened her disoriented eyes, she felt as if someone had amputated every part of her body except her eyes. She strained against the darkness that surrounded her vision to make any sense of where she was. She felt something heavy on her nose and painfully opened her eyes, again. It was no use.
Ok Ginny, count to ten and then try again, she instructed herself. She tried opening her eyes again, and this time she was able to keep them open long enough to realize that she was breathing through the horrible mask that she had seen muggle's often use to pump oxygen into patients. She groaned in protest of the continuous throbbing of her head.
Ginny counted to ten again, and this time was able to confirm that her body was intact, bruised and blistered, yes. But none of her body parts had been pulled out. She let out a small breath and choked on it. She struggled, and in a few moments was able to lift her hand to remove the mask.
The unmistakable smell of antiseptic reached her nostrils and Ginny cursed softly. Inspite of it being a wizard hospital, the universally accepted antiseptic smell was in the air. She hated this smell. She tried sitting up, and realized that her body was sore in places that she didn't know existed. She groaned against the pain, again.
"Relax, relax," Ginny let her eyes take in the concerned and haggard appearance of Draco. Her lip trembled slightly as the last few hours came rushing back. In a flash Draco was by her side, his arms around her as he rubbed her back, muttering soothing words in a foreign language. Ginny trembled as she closed her eyes and let her tears fall softly.
"How long have I been here?" she asked him.
"Two days. They said that it was going to be long before you came around. I was worried sick. I've never been so scared in my entire life," he said. She felt his labored breath and took delight in his concern for her. "When I walked into your apartment and saw those policemen restraining Emily, I was so angry. But then I saw you on the ground, deathly pale and I just couldn't take it any more. I suppose the policemen have had their memory wiped out," said Draco, breathing heavily.
Ginny retreated from his embrace and looked seriously up at him, "you didn't hurt her, did you?" she asked frantically.
"No, but I sure as hell wished I had. I used the body bind on her and then safely delivered her to Dumbledore. ," he said. Ginny gave a small smile of relief before another equally important though struck her. "Neville. Oh my God! Draco, Azkaban isn't safe anymore. The death-eaters, they can escape," she said.
"It's alright Ginny. I know that, Emily confessed everything before Dumbledore. We have the Death-eaters under strict vigilance now. Headmaster has placed Giants around the fort, and I suppose for a while at least we won't be having any trouble," he said, placing a small kiss on her forehead.
"But won't they find a way out eventually?" she asked, afraid that if Neville could escape, then the other horrible people could too.
"I'm afraid they probably will. But then that's the way it's always going to be. I doubt however, anyone had as much willpower as Neville did. He really loved you, you know!" said Draco, looking very seriously at her.
"I loved him too. But in a very brotherly way," she said. A small tear escaped her watery eyes and rolled down her cheek. She gave him a watery smile, thinking of her friend. Draco quietly wiped her face.
"Your family has been worried sick about you," said Draco softly. Ginny looked up, her eyes wide with shock and surprise. "Your mother especially," he said an amused smile of his face.
"Mother?" Ginny asked in wonderment. "Oh Draco! I'm not ready for this yet," she said softly, before burying her head in his chest.
"That's alright Ginny. They're not here now. I sent them home," he said. "I promised them that they could come visit you in the morning," he said.
"I was so scared when I saw Neville and Christopher dead. I thought about giving up there, you know let Emily kill me. I figured that if so many people hated me, then there was no point in continuing to live," she said. Draco arms tightened around her.
"Don't you ever say that. You have to be there here for your family, for your friends and most importantly, for me," he said closing his eyes.
Ginny raised her head and peered curiously at him. "Why?"
"I don't know if I deserve you after all these years of pain that I've caused you, but Merlin knows how much I mean this. I love you Ginny."
Ginny felt her head spin as the words finally made any sense. He loved her, oh Merlin! Oh but he did!
"I know I've been nothing short of nasty and rude and selfish these past few months, but I really mean it when I sat this, I do love you and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, if you give me a chance to," he said .
"Yes, you have been rather rude," she said, moving away from him slightly. She saw his eyes, those wonderful eyes, cloud with regret and pain and felt her own heart contract. "But you've also been Supporting and caring and well, fact is you're too darned Slytherin for my own good. But I do love you. So to hell with how my mother is going to react to this, but yes, I think I can very clearly see our future together."
His eyes lighted up with happiness that was even beyond what she thought she was capable of feeling herself. As they sealed their destiny with a kiss, Ginny sent a silent prayer of thanks to her hasty decision of running away on the day she was scheduled to get married.
Love had found it way!
A/n-That's it. Completed finally. For those of you who are still curious, there will be an epilogue so that I can finally show how Ginny reconciles with her family and in order to fulfill the requirements of the site, give a small hint of Harry/Hermione action.
PJ- I'm using that idea of failed potion BTW! I want to thank everybody who has helped, encourage and supported me through this fic. I also want to appreciate each and every one of my critic. I have realized mistakes and have made an effort to rectify them.
I also want to thank all four of my beta readers who worked during various phases of this fic. Thankies to all of you.
I'll be taking a small break now, but I ensure you I will be back with another story pretty soon. Until then- Bye! Taklia!
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