*IMPORTANT NOTE* This chapter is un-betaed!!! I'm leaving for France for a month tonight, and I didn't have time to get it betaed. When I get back, I promise I will make corrections and all the cool stuff. Until then, however, you only get the rough draft. Better than nothing, I suppose. So, read, review, and don't flame because I will ignore you! And don't forget to enjoy! Warning: Some major things may change after I have it betaed.
Chapter Five - Repercussions
When Draco arrived back in his office, Blaise was casually leaning against his desk. He was staring at the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Draco sighed silently as he hung up his cloak.
"Do I pay you to do nothing, Blaise? Or is there some purpose that you serve as you wile away the hours in my office?" He crossed the room and collapsed in his chair, eyeing Blaise wearily. He was in no mood to argue about the article right now.
Blaise regarded Draco coolly. Years of dealing with Malfoys had taught him not to reveal anything too quickly. That, and if you push a Malfoy too far, they will kill you. Blaise had become very good at reading Draco over the years, and instinct told him that Draco was on the edge.
"I read the article," he stated simply, sitting in the chair across from Draco. Draco didn't respond. Instead, he stared at Blaise, both his glare and any expression, even the guarded one he usually sported at work, strangely absent. He looked - there was no other word for it - lost.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Blaise asked quietly, enough concern in his voice for Draco to know that he was Blaise the Friend, and not Blaise the Employee.
Draco paused, wondering how to possibly explain all the things that were wrong right now. Where could he possibly begin? All the problems in the world seemed to be resting on Draco's shoulders, and he was slowly but surely collapsing under the combined weight. He cleared his throat. Why not start at the beginning?
"Nineteen years ago," he began as though introducing a presentation to a committee. "Ron Weasley was killed in the war. Three years later, I married his younger sister. Five days ago, my wife fell off her broom and now, she has amnesia."
Blaise stared at Draco, his face pale under his tan, not knowing exactly what to say. "Ginny has…amnesia?" He managed to rasp out after a few moments of silence. Draco nodded morosely. "She… she can't remember anything?"
"That is the defining characteristic of amnesia, Blaise," Draco responded tiredly. "And now, I have to tell her that her older brother and best friend is dead. Did I mention," Draco added quietly, having a sudden desire to confess. "That I almost hurt Ben last night?"
"What?" Blaise's face was a picture of undeniable shock. "You hurt Ben?"
"Almost being the operative word, Blaise. Instead, I blew up his stereo."
"You turned your wand on him? What exactly where you planning on doing, Draco? Did you loose your fucking mind? What the bloody hell was going through that thick head of yours, eh? 'You ran away, now pay the consequence: death'? Who do you think you are? Your-"
"Don't say it," Draco interrupted coldly. "Don't you dare say it, Blaise."
Blaise pressed his lips together as though trying to force the words to stay inside his mouth. He took a deep breath. "So let me get this straight. Ginny has amnesia; Ben ran away from home; you found Ben then…got into a fight." Draco nodded. "So answer this for me: What the hell are you doing here? Why aren't you home with your family?"
"The world doesn't stop simply because I have some personal issues to deal with. The season's about to start and people are going to try to screw us over. I can't exactly just pack up and leave."
"Malfoy, I'm your best friend, right?" Draco nodded. "So you'll forgive me if I sound too harsh." Draco nodded again. "Go home, you fucking pillock. You need to patch things up with Ben-"
"I already did that," Draco interrupted, slightly defensively.
"And you need to tell Ginny about Weasley," he continued as if Draco had never interrupted. "Because if she hears it from anyone else, she will never forgive you."
"I didn't ask for your advice, Blaise."
"Yet here I am, giving it free of charge."
Draco glared at him. "I don't need you to tell me how to deal with my family."
"Well, someone needs to," he shot back.
Draco banged his fist on his desk, spending a bottle of ink flying to the floor where it shattered, spattering the desk with black ink. "What am I supposed to do? Go home and say what? 'Hey, honey, your brother was killed by Death Eaters during the war. When's dinner?' She's just starting to get used to living with me again. She's still jumpy as hell and things are more awkward than they have ever been between us. I don't want to ruin what little understanding we have between us," Draco admitted.
"Draco, you have to tell her."
Draco put his head in his hands, a sign of defeat. "I know. I just…I need a couple minutes, okay?"
Blaise nodded and settled in the chair across from Draco. Draco sighed deeply, getting his emotions under control before raising his head and leaning back in his chair.
"I'm sorry you came home early for nothing."
Blaise snorted. "Nothing? You call this whole mess nothing? You should have Flooed me the moment Ginny fell and you know it. Contrary to what you've always believed, Draco, you're not completely independent of everyone else. Even you need help sometimes."
"How sweet," Draco said scathingly. "Next thing you know we'll be blubbering like Hufflepuffs." Blaise laughed. "So were you with the mystery girl?" Draco asked with a smirk.
Blaise shook his head. "No, actually we…well, I broke it off." He shrugged. "It was starting to get a little more serious than I wanted it to."
"Meaning she wanted to progress from shag buddies to friends?"
"Yeah, something like that," Blaise muttered, the smirk that usually appeared in these types of conversations noticeably absent. "Look, I have to run. Now that I'm back, I might as well start catching up on things, see if I can work on your public image a little more. Not," he added hastily, "that Carmen didn't do a fantastic job, but a little more good publicity can never go wrong."
"Alright. I'm probably going to head home early, so I'll see you tomorrow," Draco said, already turning to the pile of papers and documents on his desk.
"Keep me posted," Blaise said as he pulled open the door. "And, Draco?" Draco looked up. "Good luck, mate."
Draco smiled faintly and went back to work.
When he finally took a break hours later, the sky had gone completely black and it was well past midnight. He had decided to work well into the night tonight, and take Friday off to give himself a long weekend to deal with Ginny and the repercussions of the past. Needless to say, he was not looking forward to this weekend and he found himself longing for it to be Monday morning.
He sighed and glanced at the clock. A quarter past one. It took him all of two seconds to decide that splinching himself would be just too embarrassing, and that dirty robes were well worth the safety they ensured. Grabbing a handful of Floo powder, Draco managed to get home in one piece. He staggered out of the fireplace, coughing slightly and attempting to get the soot out of his clothes. Giving it up as a lost cause, he carefully made his way to his bedroom, where he didn't bother to shower and was asleep seconds after his head hit the pillow.
***
"Draco? Draco!" a voice was hissing in his ear.
"Go 'way," he muttered angrily. He wanted to sleep, dammit!
"Draco, you're going to be late for work!" Draco finally managed to crack an eye open. Ginny was leaning over him, peering into his face anxiously. The sun wasn't even up yet, for Merlin's sake! Draco groaned and shut his eye again.
"Taking day off…go back to sleep," he muttered, attempting to burrow into the bedclothes.
"Draco!" Ginny said loudly. "You can't just skive off work."
At this, Draco cracked one eye open again and glared at her. "I'm not skiving off. I told them yesterday that I was taking a long weekend to be with my family because things have been quite hellish this week and I own the bloody company and I can do whatever the hell I want, so shut up, and go back to sleep." He closed his eye again and Ginny could have sworn he was instantly asleep.
"Men," she muttered to herself as she snuggled in to the bedclothes and fell back to sleep.
Many hours later, Ben was awake and wondering why his house was so silent. He had already been down to the kitchens to get information from the house elves, and he was shocked to find out that neither of his parents had woken up yet. While his mother sometimes slept in, and by slept in, he meant until ten at the latest, his father was always up with the sun, accomplishing a great many things before breakfast. And now, it was nearing one in the afternoon.
Padding silently along the carpeted halls towards his parents bedroom, he stopped when he reached their door and listened carefully. As a young child, he had received more than one lecture from a very angry Draco about knocking and inappropriate timing. It had, naturally, scarred him for life. So when he heard silence coming from the room, he deemed it safe to knock cautiously. When he didn't get a response, he became worried and pulled out his wand. Slowly, he opened the door and peered into the dark room.
Over the years, Draco had developed reflexes that stemmed more from his nightmares of revenge than his Seeker days. Something had woken Draco up, and he peered cautiously over his bedclothes. He saw a dark shadow in the doorway, wand raised, and did the closet thing a Malfoy ever did to panic. Instinct made him grab his wand and yell, "Expelliarmus!"
Ben's wand flew the air and Draco caught it neatly. Upon seeing the wand he had caught, Draco looked more closely at the figure in the doorway.
"Either you're my son, or you're a bloody good imposter," Draco said hoarsely as he climbed out of bed and crossed the room. Ben was still standing in the doorway, looking incredibly cross.
"What was that for?" he said angrily, trying to snatch his wand back.
"In the hall," Draco hissed, pushing Ben into the hall and closing the door behind him. "I didn't want to wake your mother," he added by way of an explanation.
Ben snorted. "She sleeps through everything."
Draco smiled. "Be that as it may…Now what where you doing creeping around the house in the middle of the night with your wand? You're not supposed to do magic during the summer holidays."
"I know that," Ben said crossly. "Do you even know what time it is?" When Draco simply stared at him, Ben sighed impatiently. "It's half past noon! According to the house elves, you and Mum hadn't gotten up yet and I was worried."
Draco laughed and clapped Ben on the shoulder. "Son, you have too much Gryffindor in you for your own good."
"I resent that," Ben said haughtily, causing Draco to laugh again. "Anyway, being a Gryffindor isn't that bad. You married one," he pointed out.
"Well, you have me there. Now, if I give you your wand back, are you going to go sneaking around the house and scaring the shit out of me again?"
"I suppose not."
"Good man," he said as he handed Ben's wand back to him. "Now, I need to talk to you, so let me get dressed and I'll meet you in the dining room in half an hour?" Upon seeing Ben's pale face as he nodded, Draco sighed in exasperation. "You're not in trouble, Ben. For once," he muttered under his breath, causing Ben to laugh.
As promised, Draco arrived in the dining room dressed and shaven half an hour later. Ben was sitting in his seat at the table, his bare feet on the table as he listened to music on some sort of Muggle contraption.
"Get your feet off the table, Ben. It's disgusting," Draco said as he walked past. Ben turned off his music and sat upright, his feet now on the floor. "My usual," Draco said to his plate and moments later, food appeared. "Now," he said, turning to Ben. "I need to talk to you about a couple things actually."
"What's up?" Ben asked as he stole a chip off his father's plate.
"First of all, it's rude to eat off someone else's plate-"
"Uncle Fred and Uncle George do," Ben said with a shrug.
Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "And do you really want to turn out like your uncles?" Ben rolled his eyes. "Secondly, I arranged to have a new stereo delivered here today."
"Thanks," Ben said, stealing another chip.
"I also have a surprise for you, but," Draco said, holding up a hand to stop Ben from interrupting. "It's not finalized yet, and today is not a good day for celebrations. I just wanted to get your curiosity piqued."
"What's wrong with today?" Ben asked warily.
Draco sighed. "Ben, when was the last time I took a day off work for no special reason?"
Ben thought. "Never?"
Draco nodded. "Correct. So that should alert you to the possibility that something is terribly, horribly wrong."
"So what's wrong?" Ben asked, suddenly feeling like he had been dropped in a tub of freezing water. "Did someone die?"
"Yes, in a manner of speaking. Would I be correct in assuming that you know about your Uncle Ron?"
"The one who died in the war, right?"
"Yes. Well, to put it plainly, your mother doesn't know he's dead. And I'm going to tell her today. When he died, your mother did not handle it very well, and I don't want you around to see her go to pieces, is that understood?" Ben nodded numbly. The very few times he had heard about Ron from his mother, he always sensed that they were closer than he could ever imagine. "If I gave you an exorbitant amount of money, would it be possible for you to go to Diagon Alley with Scarlet?"
"You don't have to give me any money, Dad," Ben said quietly. "I'll just hang out with Cameron at his flat today. No big deal."
"Thank you, Ben. I really appreciate it."
"D'you think Mum's going to be alright?" Ben asked carefully.
Draco smiled faintly. "This must be very hard for you. She'll be fine. She just needs to get readjusted. Her memory will come back eventually, and everything will be the same again. This weekend is going to be tough though. For all of us." Draco's face darkened slightly and he seemed to be lost in his thoughts.
"Dad?" Ben ventured softly. Draco shook himself and he seemed to be normal again.
"Are you going to tell her about…" he trailed off. "Never mind."
"About my past?" Draco said carefully. "Yes. I think I should tell her everything at once."
***
After he had seen Ben off, Draco returned to his bedroom, where he found Ginny still fast asleep. He smiled down at her sleeping form and almost decided not to tell her any of it, to let her live a lie. But thought of what Molly would do to him, not to mention the rest of her family, strengthened his resolve and he gently shook her awake.
"Gin," he said softly. "It's time to get up. It's well past noon."
Ginny turned onto her back and opened one eye groggily. "How come when I tell you it's time to get up, you get to go back to sleep, but when you say to get up, I have to?"
Draco laughed softly. "Because you woke me up before the sun had risen, and I'm waking you up at one o'clock in the afternoon."
"Ah, well," Ginny said and sat up, cringing at the light streaming from behind the curtains. "Why did you decide to take the day off?" she asked curiously.
"There are some things we need to talk about before you face the world again; things you need to know. I thought we could talk today, get certain facts straightened out, that sort of thing."
"Oh, alright. Just lemme get dressed. Is there any chance of food? I'm starving!"
"Lunch will be waiting for you."
"Thanks."
Ginny's lunch was indeed waiting for her, but Draco was no where in sight. She ate by herself, wondering where exactly everyone was. When she had finished eating, Sippy delivered a message to her from Draco.
"Master Draco is telling me that he wants Mistress Ginny to meet him in his study."
"Thanks," Ginny said, already halfway to the door. After the tour Ben had given her, she felt a lot more confident about finding her way around the Manor. She now knew how to get to the study, the dining room, her room, and Ben's room without so much as a wrong turn. It was very freeing, being able to walk around her own house without needing directions.
Draco was sitting at his desk, pouring over a pile of parchment. He looked up when Ginny entered the room, made a final note on one of the pieces of parchment. He stood up and glanced at his pocket watch before walking over to the couch and sitting down.
"Have a seat," he said tensely. Ginny sat down next to him and looked at him curiously. He cleared his throat, and Ginny waited for him to start. "The first Sunday of every month, which would be this Sunday," he began in a calm voice, "every Weasley who is living in England gets together for a lunch at the Burrow that lasts until dinner."
"What do you mean 'every Weasley who's living in England'? Don't we all live in England?"
"No, we don't." If Ginny thought it was strange that Draco included himself in the category of "Weasley," she didn't say anything. "And that's what I wanted to talk to you about. There are more of you then you remember, and they are going to be overbearingly protective of you this Sunday. I want you to be somewhat ready for the onslaught of people who are going to hug you, call you 'Aunt Ginny,' and simply confuse you because you have no idea who they are."
Ginny nodded. "Okay, good idea. Where do we start?"
"You know that Harry and Hermione are married and expecting?" Ginny nodded. "They got married right after the war ended, and immediately started trying to get pregnant, but Hermione took too many curses and hexes to the abdomen during the war and all the Healers said she wouldn't be able to have children. They had given up hope and were looking into adoption when they found out she was pregnant. Needless to say, he's been treating her like she's made of glass, and she's ready to murder him." Ginny laughed. That sounded like Hermione, alright.
"Okay, well, I know Mum and Dad are still living together at the Burrow," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Does Dad still work in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department?"
Draco nodded. "Except now the Minister of Magic notes the importance of the department, and Arthur has a window and a pay raise. And since they no longer have to support their hoard of children, Molly and Arthur can afford to travel like they've always wanted to."
Ginny smiled. "Good," she said happily. "They deserve it. What about Bill?"
"Bill is married to Fleur Delacour, she decided to keep her maiden name. You remember her, right? Good. They do not have any children, and they have no desire to ever have children. As far as Bill is concerned his brothers can carry on the family name, and Fleur has no desire to be a mother. She does not work, and he has a desk job at Gringotts. They live in France in order to be close to her little sister, but they stay at the Burrow every Christmas. And," Draco added, "before you can ask, no, Bill has not cut his ponytail, and yes, he still has an earring."
Ginny laughed. "Leave it to Bill to be forty-five and still have an earring and long hair. I bet Mum hates it." Draco nodded and Ginny laughed again. "So, what about Charlie?"
"After the war, Charlie went back to working with dragons in Romania where he met Ainsley Holmes. They became best friends, and they have now been dating for about," Draco paused thoughtfully. "Ten years, I think. They are living together along with Ainsley's fifteen year-old daughter from a previous marriage named Kayla. They go with where the dragons take them, currently Egypt. Kayla is home schooled by Ainsley and travels with them. Charlie has said over and over that they chances of them getting married are worse than Percy quitting his job and joining the circus." Ginny laughed and Draco smiled at her. "They also visit every Christmas."
"Okay, so what about Percy? I know he's married to Celeste and they have two little girls-"
"Four year-old Selma and three year-old Kate," Draco added.
"Yes, and that he lives in England. He must have a job in the Ministry, and Celeste seems to have a job as well, but what exactly does he do and how did he redeem himself with the family?"
"I can't believe you didn't guess, but Percy is," Draco paused for dramatic affect, causing Ginny to throw a pillow at him and shriek "Get on with it, you prat!" "He's the Minister of Magic."
Ginny's jaw dropped. "No way," she said incredulously. "But…but…that was his childhood fantasy! No one achieves their childhood fantasies!"
Draco laughed. "Well, my dear, Percy did. And he's just as pompous as ever." Ginny snorted. "And Celeste has a full time job as the wife of the Minster of Magic. Apparently it takes a lot more work than one would think. But she's used to it." Ginny came out of her dumbstruck reverie long enough to give him a questioning look. "Before Percy was the Minister, he was an ambassador to Portugal. Celeste's father was the Portuguese Minister of Magic. From what I hear, it was love at first sight. They did not, however, get married right away. Nor did they have children right after marriage, Percy's excuse being that he wanted to concentrate on his job. He does love his two little girls, however."
"And what about how he redeemed himself?"
Draco shrugged. "It was quite simple actually. Once he realized that the Dark Lord had truly risen, he was more than willing to come home and beg for forgiveness. Molly welcomed him back immediately, but the rest of you, including Arthur, were a little reluctant. Over time, he managed to redeem himself as he volunteered for everything he could to make it up to you lot. Which also meant that when I came into the picture, he was less than accepting and has not ceased giving me a hard time."
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked curiously.
"I-" Draco stopped, not really knowing how to go on. Was now really the right time to tell her? No, it would be best to wait until she knew about Ron, otherwise, she might not let him live long enough to let him tell her about Ron. He cleared his throat, a habit he had when he was nervous, and Ginny wondered what could possibly be making him so nervous. "My background, and my father," Draco said vaguely. "Wouldn't you rather hear about the rest of your family?"
"I suppose so," Ginny said, not completely placated. "So, who's next? Fred and George."
Draco smiled. "Despite Molly's threats, Fred and George did manage to make a rather successful joke shop. In fact, it's too successful. They are slowly but surely corrupting our son into being a troublemaker almost as bad as they were. It does not help," he added darkly. "That Potter thought it appropriate to give Ben his Marauder's Map for his sixteenth birthday. I shudder to think about the amount of owls we will be receiving from Hogwarts this year."
"He's that bad, huh? Well, he is a Weasley. What about wives? Children?"
"Are you ready for the most scandalous part of your family?" Ginny nodded excitedly. If anyone in her family was going to be scandalous, of course it would be Fred and George. "It would appear that they were each dating a girl about eight years ago. As it turns out, however, they were each dating the same girl, and she had no idea they were twins. Bit of an idiotic bint, if you ask me. Of course, they broke up. Nine months later, she turns up at their flat with twin boys. She doesn't know which one of them is the father, and she doesn't want anything to do with them or their children. And since they're twins, it's impossible to tell who actually is the father. Result? Fred and George are raising Ron and Michael together, with quite a bit of help from you, actually."
"Me?" Ginny squeaked. Leave it to Fred and George to get themselves into this situation.
"Yes, you. Besides Molly and Celeste, you are the only mother in the family. And as much as they love Celeste, they don't want their sons raised the be perfect gentlemen. Not," he added hurriedly. Ginny was already glaring daggers at him. "That you haven't done an excellent job with Ben. It's just that you let him go once and a while and don't have a heart attack when he acts like a teenage boy."
Ginny nodded. "Okay," she said slowly. "So I'm the mother to three boys? Only one of which is actually mine? Yeah, no pressure, Ginny." She shook her head, as though bringing herself back to reality. "So what about Ron?"
Draco sighed. This was it. The moment he had been dreading ever since the dreadful lunch with Potter. Dammit, he had waited too long before responding. Ginny had paled considerably and she was starting to look panicky. Get on with it!
"Ginny," Draco said slowly and as calmly as he could. He had been less nervous when he asked her to marry him. "Ron was killed during the war." He waited. Silence. "Ginny?" he asked softly.
"But," she whispered, the tears already springing to her eyes. "No. He can't be…no." She was shaking her head furiously now. "No, I don't believe you."
"It's the truth, Gin. I'm so sorry," he said, trying to gather her in his arms, anything to make her stop crying. Her tears had always been his undoing, and he felt helpless when he couldn't do anything to make them stop.
"You're lying. Ron isn't dead. Ron can't be dead!" Ginny yelled as she tried to push him away. "Harry and Hermione would protect him. I would protect him. He's not stupid enough to get himself killed in the war! He's smarter than that."
"It has nothing to do with being smart, Ginny, and you know it. He was a goddamn hero."
Ginny was crying in earnest now and Draco was ready to make a deal with a demon to bring Ron back. This time, when he went to gather her in his arms, she didn't resist. "How?" she managed to croak out through her tears.
"You know that Snape was acting as a spy for Dumbledore, right?" Draco began quietly, trying to comfort Ginny as best he could. "Well, the Death Eaters were planning an attack on Hogwarts, and Snape told the Order about their plans. Ron, being Harry Potter's best friend, was in on the planning. He knew how many members would be there and where they would be, and where Harry and Dumbledore would be, and everything the Dark Lord would want to know. Somehow, and we're still not sure how, he was captured by the Death Eaters. They tortured him, trying to get information out of him, but he wouldn't crack. In the end, they killed him, still completely without information about the Order's defense strategy.
"The Dark Lord was not aware, however, that the Order even knew about the attack, let alone the specific details. When the Death Eaters arrived, they were faced with both students and members of the Order who were prepared to fight. They were completely unprepared and the Order won the battle. It was the pivotal battle in the war. Many of the Death Eaters were killed, wounded, and taken prisoner, and the Order had very few casualties. This battle caused a shift in the war, which led to Potter's victory over the Dark Lord. If your brother had told the Death Eaters about the Order's knowledge of the attack, the Dark Lord would have won. Your brother was a hero, and he is remembered as such," Draco finished softly.
"I don't want him to be dead," she said just as quietly, her voice trembling. "I want him to be alive."
"He saved hundreds of innocent lives, Ginny, and you should be proud of him."
Ginny nodded. "I know." Her voice cracked and she dissolved in tears again. Draco could feel them soaking into his shirt, and he held her tighter, trying to make her pain go away. At long last, she cried herself to sleep, her head in Draco's lap. He conjured a blanket and gently covered her, deciding it would be better not to move her. But when he made to move out from under her, she opened her red-rimmed eyes, still bloodshot from crying.
"Stay with me?" she asked quietly. Draco nodded, simply unable to do anything else and she fell back asleep.
When Ginny woke up hours later, she found herself curled up on the couch in Draco's study, with Draco's hands idly playing with her hair. She looked up to see him smiling softly down at her.
"How are you feeling?" he whispered concernedly.
Ginny sat up. "I'm okay, I think," she responded. "I mean, I don't know. I just found out my brother's dead, how do you think I am?" she said, her voice cracking.
Draco sighed. "I know this is hard, Gin, but I'm going to be there to help you whenever you need me, okay? All you have to do is ask."
"Thanks, Draco," Ginny said with a small smile, giving his hand a squeeze.
Ginny fell silent, and Draco didn't disturb her. He knew better than to interrupt her thoughts, especially right now. She needed to sort through all the new information she had been given, and she needed to figure out what she wanted to do next. He would help her in any way he could, but there was only so much he could do. Right now, she just needed to think. So, instead of trying to make her talk, he held her hand, a reassurance that he was still there if she needed him.
After a while, Ginny bit her lip and looked at Draco, a confused expression on her face.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked quietly, the concern in his voice evident.
"It's just…well…."
"Come on. You can ask me anything."
"What did you do during the war? I mean, obviously you weren't a Death Eater, otherwise I wouldn't have married you, but when did you switch? Last thing I remember was you were getting ready to receive the Dark Mark. What made you change your mind?" She said it in a rush, trying to get it all out before she lost her nerve. When she had finished, she stared at him curiously, biting her bottom lip.
Draco released her hands as his stomach dropped to his feet. It was now or never. "During Christmas holidays of my seventh year, I received the Dark Mark." Ginny went pale. Her mouth opened and closed furiously, as thought trying to say something, but not really knowing what to say. "I became a Death Eater and did the Dark Lord's bidding," Draco continued. He looked into the fire, anywhere to avoid looking at her, and he seemed to become transfixed by the flames. "I killed and tortured people because that is what I was told to do. I never gave a thought about right or wrong, only about my loyalty to the Dark Lord and how much I hated Potter. That was my real motivation. To beat Potter. I had never been able to do it at school, but with the Dark Lord on my side…
"I was there when they brought your brother in. My father was in charge of the interrogation. I watched them torture him, and I laughed along with everyone else. I did what I raised to do; what I was taught to do; what was expected of me. I never thought it could be different. After I saw the impact of the battle at Hogwarts on our side, I started to doubt the Dark Lord. If he was the most powerful wizard in the world, why didn't he see this coming? Why didn't he prevent the deaths of so many of his followers? I think I started to doubt when I saw Snape's body. I had always like him, he had always taken care of me both in school and within the ranks of the Death Eaters. When I saw him dead, something in me snapped. I didn't want to end up like him.
"I remember the first time I thought the Dark Lord was going to lose the war. The next time he called us all together, there were so many holes in the ranks. I couldn't stand it after that. I knew that if the Dark Lord lost, we would be rounded up and given to the Dementors, and I had no desire to have my soul sucked out. So I did either the bravest thing I've ever done, or the most cowardly, it depends on your point of view. I found Dumbledore. With Snape dead, they no longer had a spy, and I offered myself to them. I made a deal with the Ministry. I would turn spy for them, and, if I survived the war, I would spend one year in Azkaban, then I would be set free. Beside ransacking the Manor for Dark Artifacts, my inheritance was to be left alone, and my vaults were not to be touched.
"I survived, both the war and my time in Azkaban. I heard the shouts of the other Death Eaters, of my comrades, in the other cells. By the end of the war, they knew of my betrayal. You see, I had given the Order the Dark Lord's position. I had fully and completely betrayed my father and my master. But I didn't care because I was alive and once I was released from Azkaban, I put the entire ordeal behind me, despite the nightmares.
"It wasn't until I met you though," Draco said, finally tearing his gaze from the fire and looking at Ginny. "That I began to think that maybe I had done the right thing, not just for myself, but for the entire wizarding world. You made me realize that I didn't betray my father, I helped save innocent lives. And for that, I owe you quite a bit." There. He had done it. Now she could take the knowledge and do what she liked with it.
Ginny didn't know what to think. He had laughed as they tortured her brother? As they killed him? And she had married this man, this Death Eater knowing who he had been and what he done? She couldn't believe it. How could she have betrayed her family like that? She scrambled to her feet, not really knowing what she was doing, but knowing that she need to get away from him.
"Ginny?" he asked uncertainly. He stood up and was moved closer to her.
SMACK
She slapped him as hard she could. His cheek was turning bright red, and she staggered backward, trying to get away.
"You bastard," she hissed angrily. "You lying asshole! You thought you could just tell me about this and I would be fine? How could you? And I thought you were a good person. I thought…I don't know what I thought. No! Get away from me!" she shouted as he tried to move closer to her. She pulled out her wand. "Stay away from me, Death Eater," she spat angrily. Her hand wasn't shaking and Draco knew it was no idle threat.
"Ginny," he said as calmly as he could. "Put your wand away. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Damn straight you aren't. Stupefy!" she yelled before running out the room without a glance behind her. She tripped over a footstool, but scrambled to her feet and kept running. She had to find Ben and they had to get out of the house. How could she have married a Death Eater?
"Sippy!" Ginny yelled. She was close to hysterics now. "Where's Ben?" she asked as soon as the elf had appeared.
"Master Ben went to Cameron Jones' house for the day. Master Draco told him to go."
"Is there anywhere I can Floo from besides the study?"
"Mistress can use her private study. It's just down the hall- "
But Ginny was already gone. When she reached her study, she threw Floo Powder into the fireplace and disappeared with a whirl of green flame.
She stumbled out of the fireplace at the Burrow, covered in soot and not caring at all. When she caught her breath, she looked into the worried faces of her parents and managed to gasp, "You let me marry a fucking Death Eater?"