Title: Father's Day
Rating: R (this chapter - for sensitive topics)
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
Author's Notes: This chapter contains material of a sensitive nature. You've been warned.
Chapter 13: Lies and Deceit
Harry felt as if he were walking through a haze as Hermione guided him up the steps and towards the clinic. His legs felt like led as he stumbled into the room, bypassing Madame Pomfrey, who seemed to be trying to get him to sign something. Suddenly, capturing Draco didn't seem to matter all that much.
The former Auror stepped around the Amelia and Todd, both of whom looked disheveled and heartbroken, and around the curtain that shielded Artie's bed from the rest of the ward. What Harry saw almost made him vomit.
A huge knot, almost the size of a snitch, jutted out of Artie's forehead about an inch above his left eye. His right arm was bent backwards at the elbow and it appeared most of his teeth had been knocked out. Tears stung Harry's eyes as he lifted up the sheets, grimacing at what appeared to be crushed ribs. Barely visible was the slight rise and fall of Artie's chest - the only sign that the boy was still breathing.
Harry slumped to his knees beside the bed, running his fingertips through Artie's dirty hair as the sobs erupted from his body. The Hogwarts professor found himself struggling to breathe as he crawled into the bed, cradling Artie's limp form into his arms as he sobbed into the dingy red hair.
He had no concept of time. No concept of Hermione carefully ushering Amelia and Tom out of the room, of Madame Pomfrey dragging him away from Artie's limp form so she could start trying to heal him, throwing her hands up in exasperation when Harry refused to leave. Harry remained by Artie's side, his face pressed nervously into his hands as Madame Pomfrey began muttering spells and charms to repair Artie's broken bones and punctured lungs. He held Artie's hand as she rubbed a foul-looking puce-colored potion over his gums where the teeth had broken or been knocked out completely.
Hermione floated in and out of the room that evening, spending part of her time keeping the professors and students apprised of Artie's condition and the other part by Harry's side, consoling him and trying to reassure Harry that things would be alright. He didn't want to hear it though. Terrible guilt tore at his insides, gnawing at his heart and reducing him to tears any time he thought about Artie's condition. If only he had waited until later to confront Draco.
If only…
He didn't even realized he had fallen asleep when he felt a hand gently press on his shoulder. Immediately Harry's head snapped up, his hold on Artie's hand slackening for a brief moment while he fumbled for his glasses, finally locating them on his lap and securing them on the bridge of his nose.
Ginny was standing by his side, her eyes bright with tears. Dark circles marred her normally beautiful face and her hair appeared bedraggled. A scowl passed over Harry's features. If she was here to talk about what happened to Draco, she was in for a rude surprise. Harry was not in the mood to discuss his recent arrest.
But Ginny didn't say a word to Harry. Instead she made her way to the other side of Artie's bed. Delicate fingers raked through Artie's disheveled hair as the Hogwarts flying instructor leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss on the top of the boy's forehead.
"Is he going to be alright?" Ginny whispered, and immediately Harry felt his expression soften. Ginny may have been a Malfoy now, but she was still Artie's aunt and she was still a Gryffindor. Harry settled back in his chair, his muddled mind trailing over Madame Pomfrey's last words.
"He should be okay," Harry whispered, though he knew it was foolish to do so. Artie was unconscious, not sleeping, and he wouldn't wake up no matter how loudly Harry spoke. "Madame Pomfrey came in around 2 o'clock and told me that the swelling in his brain had gone down a bit and his punctured lung was beginning to mend. We still don't know if he'll be able to walk, but Madame Pomfrey seemed to think there was a good chance he'd make a full recovery."
Ginny gave Harry a slight smile, leaning down to give the unconscious Gryffindor another peck on the forehead. Then she turned her tearful gaze to Harry.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to save him," Ginny whispered, brushing a tendril of hair off of Artie's grimy face. "It all happened so fast. One second he was on the course I'd set and the next he got blown off course and I tried to stop him but I was still too slow and I was riding one of those school brooms and…"
Harry reached out, resting a hand gently on her arm. Ginny stopped her rambling for a moment and gave Harry a grateful look.
"It's not your fault, Ginny," Harry said quietly, staring back at Artie as tears began to threaten his stoic demeanor. "It was mine. I shouldn't have gone after Draco when I did. Artie wanted me to be there and I let him down."
Ginny's eyes squeezed tightly shut at the mention of her husband's name, but she said nothing further as she slowly opened them and focused her attention on the boy that lay between them.
"I'm sure he'll understand," Ginny whispered. "You didn't do it on purpose."
Harry wasn't sure what to say to that, so he remained quiet. Part of him hoped that Ginny was right - that Artie would be able to forgive him and that the guilt he felt over Artie's injuries would go away. Another part of him wished to crawl into a bed beside the unconscious Gryffindor and sleep and never wake up.
Ginny released a slow sigh, slowly pushing to her feet and making her way to the door of the medical ward. Harry felt the sadness radiating from her as she trudged towards the exit, and he felt a bit guilty at being the one who helped lock her husband up.
"Ginny," Harry said quietly, his voice resounding across the dark and silent hospital ward. Ginny paused in her steps, turning to glance at the former Auror over her shoulder.
"I'm sorry about Draco," Harry said honestly. Ginny's blue eyes squeezed tightly shut and she drew a sharp breath. After a moment she opened her eyes and stared at Harry with a sad, piercing blue gaze.
"He said he didn't do it Harry," Ginny said quietly. "I believe him."
A surge of anger rose in Harry's body and he fought the urge to cross the room and throttle the woman who was resolutely proclaiming Draco's innocence.
"Ginny, I found a witness who saw Draco enter the shop that night," Harry pointed out impatiently.
"Not a reputable one, Harry," Ginny replied testily. "The Draco I know would never have killed Ron."
"Maybe you don't know your husband nearly as well as you'd like to think," Harry snapped, pushing to his feet and crossing the room. In a second he had reached Ginny and grabbed her wrist tightly in his left hand. "Why did you marry him, anyway - gold, status, spite?"
A stricken look appeared across Ginny's face, angry tears sliding down her cheeks. "How dare you?" she whispered hoarsely, trying to jerk her hand from Harry's grip. "I am not a whore!" she said, a bit louder, her shrill voice causing Harry to cringe.
"Then tell me, Ginny," Harry said heatedly. "Make me understand!"
"You wouldn't listen even if I told you," Ginny retorted. "No one would - not my mother, or my father, or any of my brothers. Why should you be any different?!?" She cried out.
Harry blinked a few times, Ginny's words echoing in his mind. No one would listen. Just then, he wondered how lonely it must have been for Ginny, stuck all alone in a world where no one would listen.
The expression on his face softened and Harry slowly released his grip on Ginny's hand. She quickly turned, apparently intent on fleeing the room but Harry gently rested a hand on her shoulder. Ginny stiffened as he touched her, but froze in her tracks and turned to face Harry.
"I'll listen, Ginny," Harry said quietly, reaching up and pushing a strand of hair from out of her line of sight. Ginny froze at this unexpected contact, and for a moment Harry wondered if she was going to run. He waited, a feeling of foreboding settling in his stomach as she engaged in this seemingly private war. Eventually, her senses must have prevailed, because Ginny's shoulders slumped forward and she slowly nodded her head.
Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulder and ushered the younger woman to a chair at the other end of the room. He settled into a chair across from Ginny, leaning forward slightly - a technique they'd taught him at Auror training to make a victim comfortable during an interview.
Ginny took a few deep breaths, apparently to calm herself down, Harry thought to himself. After a few moments of terse silence, she began to tell her tale in a voice so quiet Harry had to strain to hear.
"I guess it began the day of your graduation…" Ginny started, ushering Harry into a realm of memory visited far too often in recent days.
* * *
11 years ago…
Ginny Weasley couldn't feel her arms or her legs. She couldn't lift her head - the stunner she'd received to her back had ensured that her body remained completely unresponsive to her commands.
So she waited with a sort of morbid dread as her body was dragged against her will across the smoke-filled grounds of Hogwarts. She had no idea who had cast the stunner at her … the smoke had been so thick and it'd been a long time since she'd seen a family member or a friend, but by the looks of the cloaks that were brushing the ground as she was carried over the shoulder of a wizard, the person had been a Deatheater.
Which meant, in all likelihood, that she was going to die.
This thought did not fill her with as much dread as it would have six years ago, when she was but a child. True, she was not of age yet, but Ginny had already been through far more than most adult wizards had to endure in a lifetime. Trailing behind her brother, Ron, Harry, and Hermione had ensured that.
Still, the thought of dying alone, away from family and friends, in possibly a brutal manner took its toll, and by the time the young Ginny Weasley was set down she was positively terrified.
The lead Deatheater waved his wand, sending long, thin ropes sailing out the end and wrapping around her hands, securing them tightly. Another Deatheater flung the end of the rope around the tree, and Ginny was hoisted from the ground until her feet dangled at least a foot above solid earth. Ginny began to gain some feeling in her neck and slowly lifted her head, her blue eyes widening in horror as the lead Deatheater dropped his ebony hood.
"Well, well, well," Lucius Malfoy said with a faint smile. "What do we have here? A Weasley, caught off-guard?"
"Let me go," Ginny hissed, her cheeks reddening as the three Deatheaters who had captured her burst out into laughter.
"Fool girl," Lucius said, lifting the back of his fingertips and brushing them across Ginny's cheek. His touch felt like fire and Ginny immediately snapped her head away, only to cry out a moment later when Lucius delivered a vicious slap to the left side of her face.
"Want me to kill her, boss?" one of the Deatheaters said gleefully before taking a menacing step towards the helpless Gryffindor. Ginny glanced around frantically, trying to figure out a way to call for help or to escape, but it was no use. No one would be thinking about the Forbidden Forest.
"Not yet, Crabbe," Lucius said, reaching into the folds of his robes and pulling out a long, thin dagger. "First I think we will show Arthur Weasley what happens to his loved ones when they try to oppose the Dark Lord."
With that, Lucius Malfoy closed the gap between him and Ginny. Ginny's eyes widened in fright, but before she could scream Lucius' left hand clamped over her mouth and she was pressed between his body and the tree.
"Now, now," Lucius chastised her, flipping the dagger in his hand and slamming the blade into the tree an inch above Ginny's head. "We can't have you yelling for help, now can we?" he asked, holding his hand out towards one of the other Deatheaters, though Ginny was not sure which one. Immediately, the robed wizard began fumbling in his pockets before pulling out a dirty handkerchief and depositing it in Lucius' hand. Lucius regarded the soiled cloth with a type of disdain before dangling it in front of Ginny's terrified face. Ginny promptly clamped her mouth shut, giving up her screams in order to offer outright defiance at what would be Lucius' next attempt to silence her.
But Lucius was not to be dissuaded, and with a sharp hiss he bit down on Ginny's shoulder, causing the younger woman to cry out in pain before she realized what was happening. In a flash, her cry was stifled as the handkerchief was stuffed into her mouth, nearly causing her to gag. Breathing became a hundred times more difficult as she attempted to spit the cloth back out, only to have Lucius' hand cover her mouth again.
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" his sickly sweet breath caused Ginny's eyes to water with tears as she struggled to keep the bile from rising in her throat. He lifted an index finger and brushed away an errant tear that trickled down Ginny's cheek. "I wonder what dear old Arthur will say when I tell him I sampled the wares before ending his daughter's miserable little life."
Ginny's eyes widened in horror at Lucius' pronouncement, her struggling beginning anew as a scream erupted from her throat, catching in the handkerchief and being brutally silenced.
No…No…No…
Lucius traced the tip of the knife down Ginny's cheek, not pressing hard enough to break the skin. Ginny whimpered as the point slid down her throat, pausing just above her neckline. Then, in one harsh movement Lucius cut downwards, tearing a long, ragged tear along the sleeve of her blouse. Ginny let out another cry and shivered, the mantra repeating over and over in her mind.
No … No … No…
"Father, what are you doing?"
Ginny's head snapped up, her attention being drawn over the shoulder of the Deatheater. All eyes fell on the form of Draco Malfoy, who was busily brushing brush off his robes. He eyes widened in recognition when he saw Ginny, the grey orbs flickering with a sort of distaste as he eyed the tear in her blouse.
"What are you doing?" Draco said, his eyes widening in revulsion. "She's a Weasley!"
"What are you doing here?" Lucius hissed, stepping back from Ginny. Ginny's gaze flickered to Draco's, silently begging for him to get help even as the cold tendrils of reality slid around her heart. Draco was a Malfoy. He would never help her.
"I came to find you," Draco said, his eyes narrowing. "Then I saw you disappearing into the woods with … this … thing…," Draco said, his upper lip curling in disgust.
"Go back to the castle and wait with your friends," Lucius hissed as he turned his focus back to Ginny. Horror and revulsion spread across her body. Right now death didn't seem quite so bad.
"But … she's a Weasley," Draco stuttered. "She's … tainted. You can't be serious about touching her."
The other two Deatheaters who had accompanied Lucius burst out into snickers. Ginny watched as a flush spread from his neck to the tip of his ears. Ginny recognized the look of humiliation - she had seen it far too often when her brother had encounters with Draco and his friends. Draco's grey eyes darkened when his father burst out into laughter. Ginny could almost see the humiliation burning Draco's cheeks.
"Get back to the castle with the other children, Draco," Lucius said, his voice carrying a hint of derision. "Let the adults get back to business."
It wasn't a really fair assessment, Ginny knew. Draco was at least as old as her brother, which meant he was of age. At that moment, Ginny saw just a hint of the bullied child she'd met in Flourish and Blotts.
At that moment, Severus Snape burst out of the forest behind Draco, his dark gaze leveling on Ginny for a fraction of a second before pointing his wand in the direction of one of the Deatheaters and shouting "Expelliarmus!"
The stunned Deatheater didn't have time to respond before the light hit him in the center of his chest, sending him flying backwards. The overweight man hit the tree with a loud "Ooph" before falling to the ground. He stirred once before he quit moving.
Lucius' eyes narrowed to tiny slits as Snape sent another disarming spell towards the second Deatheater, who ended up unconscious in much the same way as the first one.
"Accio," Lucius shouted, leveling his wand at Draco. Draco's eyes widened in horror as he flew in the air towards his father. In a flash Lucius had his wand arm around Draco's neck and the knife pressed against his son's throat.
"So the traitor finally shows his face," Lucius said, his voice sinister. Snape's eyes widened as the lead Deatheater pressed the edge of the knife against his son's neck.
"Fa…Father?!?" Draco gasped, the alarm evident in his voice at the threat on his life. Ginny watched the exchange in horror. How could Lucius Malfoy threaten the life of his own son?
"Lower the knife, Lucius," Snape said, his wand pointed at the older man's forehead. "This is your son you are talking about."
"Ah, yes," Lucius hissed. "I'd forgotten how attached you'd grown to the boy while he's been at Hogwarts. So attached that you were able to use him to spy on our Master."
"He is no longer a master of mine, Lucius," Snape said with a cold, calculating glare as he circled the clearing, never removing his wand from Lucius's forehead. In a flash he lowered the point of his wand towards the knife at Draco's throat and shouted, "Accio!"
The dagger went flying out of Lucius hands, flying hilt first towards Snape before the Hogwarts professor ducked and its hilt became embedded in a tree. Lucius shoved Draco forward, scarcely waiting until the younger man was out of the way before aiming his wand at Snape, who was momentarily distracted by the flying dagger.
"Expelliarmus!" Lucius shouted, and Ginny screamed as a red shot of light hit Professor Snape in the chest, flinging the man against the tree inches below where the knife had embedded. The dark, surly-mannered professor hit the tree with a grunt and fell on his hands and knees.
"Stop it!" Draco yelled, his wand out and pointed it between his father and Professor Snape.
"Don't be stupid, boy," Lucius hissed. "Put that wand down."
"Draco, listen to me," Snape said cautiously, holding both of his hands to try to reassure his protégé. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"You lied to me," Draco yelled, pointing his wand at Snape. "You were using me to get information on my father.
"Voldemort is not going to win this war, Draco," Snape said cautiously. "Those who side with him are going to spend the rest of their lives in Azkaban. Is that where you want to be, Draco?"
"Don't be a fool, Draco," Lucius interrupted, drawing a glare from Snape. Lucius leveled his wand at Draco. "He's lying to you - he's been lying to you for seven years. He's been helping Dumbledore and his pathetic Order all along. Now say the spell and finish him off."
"Don't say that spell, Draco," Snape said in a low voice, taking a cautious step towards the younger Malfoy. Draco took a step back and raised the wand towards his former professor. "If you utter those words you will spend the rest of your life in Azkaban. That is what will happen if you listen to your father."
"Do it Draco!" Lucius yelled. "Finish him off! You answer to me!"
"Everything I have done I have done in your best interests, Draco," Snape said warningly. "If you do this you throw the rest of your future away."
"I said kill…" Lucius began to shout, before his words trailed off into something halfway between a muffled cry and a scream. Both Lucius and Snape fell forward, clutching their forearms in agony.
Draco took a few steps back, his eyes widening in confusion as the two older wizards writhed on the ground for what seemed like forever. Ginny watched the exchange, her eyes tightly shut, silently urging Draco to do the right thing for what was probably the first time in his life.
Eventually the screaming stopped, and both men lay prostrate on the ground. It was Snape who finally rose first, crawling onto his hands and knees and jerking up his sleeve to view the dark mark.
"He did it," Snape murmured incredulously. Ginny's eyes widened as Snape's words rushed over her. Harry had beaten Voldemort?
"Impossible," Lucius hissed, dragging himself to his knees and glaring at Snape venomously. "He cannot be dead."
"You felt it, Lucius," Snape retorted, his dark eyes glowering. "The war is over. The Dark Lord lost."
"No!" Lucius yelled, lunging for his wand. He leveled the tip at Snape's heart and began to scream, "Avada…"
"Expelliarmus!" another voice yelled, and Ginny's eyes widened as a jet of red light shot out of the tip of Draco's wand, hitting Lucius squarely in the chest. Ginny watched in horror as Lucius flew up into the air, hitting the branch of a tree. He fell to the ground with a large crash, stirred once, and then was still.
Ginny's gaze snapped to Draco, who was standing erect, his wand straight out, chest heaving as he stared at his father with barely restrained rage.
"I am not a boy anymore, father," Draco whispered, his voice deadly low. "I answer to no one - not even you."
With that he threw his wand at Snape and stormed off towards the castle.
* * *
Present day…
"I don't get it," Harry said, staring at Ginny in confusion. "All Draco did was join the side that already won. That's what any Slytherin would do."
"Not any Slytherin," Ginny corrected. "Many of the Deatheaters remained loyal to Voldemort during the trials that followed."
"Lucius tried to say he'd been under the Imperius curse," Harry pointed out.
"But no one believed him, did they?" Ginny pointed out. "That's not the point. The point is that Draco finally saw that if he had done what his father had wanted him to do; he'd have ended up in Azkaban just like all the rest of them. For the first time in his life he did the right thing."
"And that made you fall in love with him?" Harry asked dubiously.
"No, of course not," Ginny said. "That didn't come until later. But it's important you understand that something in Draco had changed that day - not necessarily for the better - but just a change.
Harry was starting to get a bit impatient. Ginny's story still made absolutely no sense and didn't to suggest Draco Malfoy was capable of doing anything other than acting in his own interest.
"So, when did this whole thing between you and Draco start?" Harry asked testily.
"I'm getting to that point," Ginny said with a hiss. "It actually started a year later, just after I graduated."
Ginny flipped through the Daily Prophet, heaving a big sigh at the lack of job openings. Nearly a week had passed since she'd left Hogwarts, and yet all of the resumes she'd sent to the major wizard corporations had gone unanswered. She had the highest scores in charms of any one in her class, and was desperately looking for a job creating advertisements for various wizard companies, where she could combine her love of writing with her creative charm work, but so far no one seemed to have any openings.
Then something caught the corner of her eye.
Advertising Director sought for Malfoy Industries Incorporated. Charms, Writing experience requested. Must have resume and references. Apply in person.
"You thought Malfoy would give you a job?" Harry asked incredulously. Did Ginny magically forget the feud that had divided their families for centuries?
"He did give me a job," Ginny said proudly.
"What makes you think I would hire you, Weasel?" Draco said maliciously as he stared over the resume Ginny had given him.
"I can handle the job and you know it," Ginny said. "I'm the best in my class at Charms and thanks to your father I have more than the necessary writing experience."
"How dare you talk about my father?" Draco hissed angrily, throwing the parchment on the desktop. "You aren't fit to shine his shoes."
"You want another reason to hire me," Ginny said with a grin, leaning over the desktop. "I'm not afraid to stand up to you. You're surrounded by people who would wipe your bum if you asked for it but not me. I'm not afraid to tell you when an idea of yours isn't going to work out or when you're targeting the wrong group of Wizards. You aren't going to find that in another Advertising director."
"And he bought that?" Harry asked, his eyes widening. He had to give Ginny some credit - he didn't know many wizards who would survive a hex from Malfoy after talking to him like that.
"I didn't think so, at first," Ginny admitted. "Shortly afterwards he told me to get out of his sight and I went home, thinking I'd blown my only shot of getting a job outside of my brothers' shop. But later that night he owled me and told me to be there tomorrow bright and early … or else."
"So you had a job, then?"
Ginny nodded. "I showed up the next morning and Draco showed me to my office. He said I had one month to come up with a winning idea or I could kiss my position goodbye."
Harry narrowed his eyes. "And?"
The redheaded witch gave him a curt laugh. "I had one finished in two weeks. Draco couldn't believe it. After that he pretty much left me alone."
"So what happened next?"
"Well, for a long time, nothing," Ginny admitted. "I stayed out of his way and he stayed out of mine. Neither of us talked about what happened at his graduation. Then, about two years later, Draco asked me on our first date."
"Draco Malfoy asked you on a date?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Well, it was a business date," Ginny admitted sheepishly. "He wanted to discuss a new advertising campaign and suggested a restaurant in London where we could meet."
Harry let out a derisive snort. "And?"
"He was a perfect gentleman," Ginny responded, drawing another snort from Harry. He promptly silenced at her glare. "He was extraordinarily polite, and didn't call me Weasel once that night. And yet he was so arrogant and so sure of himself that at times I wanted to throttle him."
That sounds like the Draco I know, Harry thought to himself, though he wasn't about to tell Ginny that.
"From that point forward we started working on campaigns together," Ginny said wistfully. "One thing led to another and before long we started finding excuses to see each other outside of work. That's when I started to realize that I was starting to like Draco Malfoy."
"Draco, what are you doing here," Ginny asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, surprised to see her boss on her doorstep at 10 p.m.
"I came to discuss the Spitzer account," he said, sweeping past her doorway and hanging his robe on the coat rack.
"This late at night?"
"You doing anything better?" Draco asked. "Writing love letters to Potter, perhaps?"
"Don't be daft," Ginny huffed, closing the door so as not to let in the drafty air. "I was actually reading a book."
"Read later," Draco said, sitting on her couch as if he owned the place. Ginny vaguely remembered feeling infuriated at that as he opened his briefcase and began pulling out files. Then she realized that she was wearing only a skimpy nightgown under her terry-cloth bathrobe, and a heated blush crossed her face.
Draco stared at her expectantly, and Ginny let out a sigh and slumped onto the couch beside him, scanning the paperwork Draco had brought over.
"What do they want?" she asked, scrolling the parchment.
"They've asked for the Irish National Quidditch team to sponsor their magical hair growth formula."
"Why on earth would they want that? Not one person on that team actually needs it. I thought we'd agreed to go with Ludo Bagman for that. He's actually lost his hair in that dragon incident."
"I don't know. They mentioned something about leprechauns and after that I quit listening."
Ginny stared at Draco, scrutinizing his grey-eyed gaze carefully. "And you came over at 10 o'clock to tell me this? Couldn't it have waited until tomorrow?"
Draco's eyes narrowed. "Why, eager to get back to writing love letters to your boyfriend?"
"I don't have a boyfriend," Ginny said huffily, throwing the papers back in his briefcase.
"Why not?"
Draco's question caught her off guard, and Ginny looked at him with a curious expression on her face. As much as she wanted to tell him that she liked him, reason overruled her emotions. He was her boss … and he was a Malfoy. At one point in time, those reasons might have been reversed, she realized.
"I … I don't know," Ginny finally stuttered. Draco gave her a haughty smirk and leaned back against the couch, stretching his arms out as if he were at his own sofa.
"So, why not? Don't you like someone?"
"I …" Ginny stuttered, her face flushing. "That's none of your business!"
Draco arched an eyebrow, standing to his feet so rapidly Ginny was surprised he didn't fall over with a case of vertigo. In two steps he had closed the distance between the two of them, putting so little space between them it left Ginny's insides crawling with discomfort.
"Who is it, Ginny?" Draco asked, an arrogant smile crossing his face. Ginny hated that smile. It gave her butterflies in her stomach and at the same time made her want to slap him or kiss him.
Right now she wanted to do both.
"Who is it, Weasel?" Draco asked, his grin widening as his face began to close the distance between hers.
"Don't call me that," Ginny said, inwardly wincing at how breathy her voice sounded.
"Why not?" Draco asked, mere inches now separating his lips from hers.
"It makes me uncomfortable," Ginny whispered, mesmerized by the look in his eyes. In the next second she had risen up on her toes, bringing her mouth to his for the first time.
Harry grimaced inwardly. He really didn't want to know anything else about what happened that night. The thought of Ginny and Malfoy … doing anything sent his stomach crawling.
"And that's how it happened?" Harry asked, desperately hoping this story had come to an end.
"No," Ginny said. "We kept it a secret, at first. Both of us knew the risks of letting news of our relationship get public. Both our parents, well my parents and his mum, really, would be furious."
"But you still did it," Harry pointed out. "Knowing that your families would not approve. And you kept it a secret. You should have known how that would make them feel."
"I didn't expect them to understand how Draco had changed," Ginny said quietly, the first sign of tears welling in her eyes. "I didn't think they'd understand that I had changed. We both had. Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy were not the same people they used to be. That's the only way I can explain it."
Harry nodded, a glimmer of understanding arising in his mind. He wasn't necessarily sure he liked the change in Ginny, but he understood it better now.
"We were able to keep it a secret for a year," Ginny said. "Maybe I was wrong to keep such a thing a secret. It's a little late to change the past now. Then one day I opened the Daily Prophet and saw our pictures on the front page."
Harry nodded, remembering that day in great detail. He'd spit his coffee and doughnuts clear across the room when he saw the front page picture with Draco and Ginny holding hands and snogging.
"Dad was furious," Ginny said quietly, a lone tear sliding down her cheek. "Mum wouldn't stop crying. Fred and George kept calling me a traitor and Ron said he couldn't believe that I'd lied to them for a year."
"And what about Draco's parents?" Harry asked, his curiosity piqued.
"His mum disowned him the second she found out," Ginny said with a sad shake of her head. "His dad … well … they don't let them send letters out of Azkaban, but I heard Lucius was so angry he tried to kill two other inmates. Draco and I were left to deal with the consequences on our own. All we had left was each other."
"And so you got married," Harry said, finishing Ginny's unfinished sentence.
Ginny nodded. "About a week later. We didn't invite anyone else to the wedding, we just eloped. I think that was the final straw for my mum. She might have forgiven me for marrying Draco, I think. But she would never forgive me for not inviting them."
"She kind of had a right to be angry," Harry said quietly, hoping to phrase his rebuke as tactfully as possible. "She was your mother. You know how she is. You were the only daughter she had. And your dad would have wanted to walk you down the aisle."
"I know," Ginny whispered, the tears falling freely down her cheeks. "It was a mistake, and I shouldn't have done it, but I can't change the past," she whispered, a sob escaping her throat.
"Shh…" Harry whispered, drawing the younger woman into an embrace and planting a kiss on her forehead.
"If I could change it, I would," Ginny whispered. "But all I have now is the future. That's what I have to live for now."
Harry felt guilt tug at his insides, realizing that Ginny's future could be considerably lonelier now that he'd put her husband in prison for murder.
It took Ginny awhile to regain her composure, but when she did she drew back from his embrace, giving him a gracious smile as she wiped underneath her eyes.
"Harry, Draco took the same risk I did, and he lost just as much. But, Harry, never once did he complain. Not once did he tell me he would take it back," Ginny said, her voice changing to a gentle plead that begged Harry to believe her. Harry wanted to, he really did. But the evidence implicating Draco was too strong. Harry wasn't sure if it was his own stubbornness or just selfish pride that kept him from believing Ginny's story. But he just couldn't. Ginny may have genuinely believed in her husband's innocence, but Harry could not.
"He loves me, Harry," Ginny whispered. "He would have never killed Ron - no matter how much he hated him. Not when he knew what it would do to me."
Harry watched in silence as Ginny stood to her feet and left the hospital room.