Breaking The Habit
By: Anti Darth Ani
Chapter Ten: I'm The One Confused
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-past-post Draco-
Ginny didn't slow down until she reached the door into the Slytherin house. Only then did she realize that she didn't know the password to get in. So she leaned against the wall, looking down at the necklace Dean gave her. She couldn't get over how hard he tried to get back together with her, over and over again. Yet, she just couldn't forgive him, because she didn't want to be with him again.
"Morning, Princess," Draco sneered sarcastically, resting his hand next to her shoulder on the wall and closed her in, blocking all exits with his own body.
Ginny rested her head back against the wall, releasing the necklace in order to rest her hands on his shoulders, "Didn't you already say that to me once this morning?" she whispered. "Oh no, I remember your first words to me this morning. If I remember correctly, you said `what the fuck do you want'. Correct me if I'm wrong."
"That's just the first thing you heard, Weasley. I said some over stuff while you slept," Draco informed her, inching closer than ever, until his nose barely brushed up against her lips.
There was a silent pause in which Ginny kissed the tip of his nose softly, before standing up as straight as she could to brush her nose against his. "This… thing… between us has gotten out of hand," she whispered softly, yet the words were still too harsh for her to bare. "The time I don't spend with you, I spend thinking about you," she confessed.
Draco grunted and pressed his lips against hers. The people in the closest portraits let out fake coughs and glared at them dangerously. Draco rested one hand on her waist, pulling her slowly in the general direction of the entrance to the Slytherin common room. He broke away from her just long enough to mumble the password and then his mouth was on hers again as he pushed her back into the common room and quickly towards his dormitory.
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-past-Dean-
She saw him across the hall. Smirking at a joke Pansy whispered in his ear. Ginny bit her lower lip, forcing herself to look down at the plate in front of her. She should have sat down facing the other way, so she didn't need a constant reminder of what she had done the time before.
"Ginny," Dean smiled, sliding in next to her. "Sorry I'm late meeting you. Are you feeling any better, love?" he asked, kissing her forehead.
It took Ginny a second to understand what he was talking about. "Oh, yeah, I'm feeling a little better." She'd told him she wasn't feeling well after dancing with the masked man at the hall. She hoped to just escape up to her room for the rest of the night, to try to get him out of her mind, whoever he was, but he cornered her outside of the Great Hall. She wouldn't think about the rest of the night. Especially since, in a hurry to escape before he woke up, she'd left her thong in his room.
And it was her favorite one too. The one she played every single Quidditch game in. So, of course, she wanted it back. Ginny took a bite of her eggs. How the hell was she going to get it back? She could ask him for it, but then she'd be embarrassed. Plus, how would he react? He might just throw her through a window. Or into a wall.
It really didn't matter how she got it back. As long as she did. Ginny finished eating, without saying much to Dean. The owls came and went, dropping a copy of The Daily Prophet for Dean, which landed in his pumpkin juice. Ginny glanced up to try to cast a drying charm on the newspaper when she saw Draco heading out of the Great Hall. Alone.
Her chance to ask him quickly, without anyone knowing. Ginny looked down at her half eaten breakfast. She would pay for not finishing her meal the rest of the day while her stomach growled, but she had to get her thong back from Malfoy. She excused herself and Dean, tied up with trying to read his newspaper, gave her a simple wave goodbye.
She hurried out of the Great Hall, passing her brother and his friends before they could call for her to stop and chat. Ginny skidding to a halt in the hallway, searching for which way he'd gone. As she looked down the corridor to the left, she saw a flash of black robes.
Ginny hurried off after the person, hoping it was Draco because almost everyone else was still at breakfast. Classes didn't begin for a good half hour. The heels of her shoes clicked against the floor as she ran down the hall to catch up to him. As she turned the corner she'd seen him go to, Ginny looked straight and saw nothing and no one. Her heart sank and she hurried forward, not running anymore but walking quickly. Not only was he gone, but now she was lost because she hadn't paid any attention to the trail she'd followed him on.
Damn it, she cursed to herself, walking forward slowly now. Being alone in the halls brought back bad memories of Tom Riddle in her first year of Hogwarts. Something she never wanted to think about again. As she walked past McGonagall's classroom, something came around her neck from behind.
Ginny gasped at the sudden loss of air. Her hands came up, her fingernails digging into the flesh of whatever was holding her throat. She panicked and started kicking at the air, gasping for oxygen while trying to turn around to face her capturer.
She winced when she was slammed into the wall, but she gasped in air as the hand loosened around her neck. The hand on her throat grabbed the bottom of her chin, jerking her head to make her look up into the cold gray eyes of Draco Malfoy. "Didn't expect the littlest Weasley to be the one to stalk me in the halls."
Panic gave way to anger. She let out a small cough before looking right up into his eyes, matching his stare. And then she spit in his face. "Sod off, Malfoy," she spat, pushing him away from her with strength even she didn't know she obtained. "You don't have to try to kill me."
Draco wiped the spit away from his eye and frowned down at her. She wasn't the only one angry anymore. "Try that again Weasley," he dared, his face getting closer to her, "and you won't ever be able to open that annoying mouth of yours again."
"Just give me my thong back, Malfoy, and I'll be happen to leave you alone," Ginny retorted. She watched the look on his face change faster than an eclipse. Ginny nodded, looking right back up at him. "It's my Quidditch thong, Malfoy, and the first game of the season is tomorrow. I want it back."
"Why the hell would I have your thong, Weasley?" he asked, although Ginny knew he was figuring it out like she had earlier that morning. He was realizing that the reason he couldn't place the girl he's slept with was because she's transfigured her looks magically for the ball.
"I left it in your room when I left this morning," she whispered, then slipped away from him. She felt his eyes on her back and she went down the corridor she hoped led back to the Great Hall. Once she was sure he couldn't see her anymore, Ginny let out a shaky breath and rubbed at where he'd grabbed her throat.
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-past-post Draco-
"Leave it on, Ginny," he snapped as she reached behind her to pull off the Christmas gift from Dean.
Startled, Ginny's hands froze as she looked right into his eyes. "Draco…" she started.
"I said leave it on," he ordered again, softer this time as he pulled her hands away from behind her neck and wrapped his fingers around hers. Ginny's breathing quickened as he settled himself over her.
"Why?" she whispered. Before they'd made their way into the bedroom, he'd been looking at the necklace like he wanted to burn it. He seemed to be looking at it in the same way, but he demanded for her to leave it on. Everything about his request confused her.
"Because I said so," he responded, his eyes staring into hers as they lay on their sides, facing each other. She glanced down at the necklace and noted how fast it spun around in an orbit inside it's globe shaped covering.
Ginny reached out to him, wrapping a hand around his neck. She pulled him closer to her, but they stayed side by side. "I don't love him," she whispered softly, trailing her hand from his neck to his arm. She traced his Death Eater mark lightly with the tips of her fingers. Shifting unrepentantly, Ginny rolled over until she faced the other way. She pulled his arm up over her side and onto the pillow in front of her face. Glancing out the slightly opened window, Ginny saw the snow, illuminated only by the light from the moon.
"He's probably jerking his hair out of his head trying to figure out where I am." Ginny smiled at the picture of Dean, waiting for her in the common room. At two thirty, he'd probably headed down to the library to get her, thinking she'd lost track of time. And then when he didn't find her there, Ginny just knew he'd freaked out. Luckily, no one knew about the two of them together, so he wouldn't find her.
Except Hermione knows now, Ginny reminded herself. And if push comes to shove, she's going to join forces with Harry and Ron, not me. And Harry and Ron will join Dean. Ginny let out a small little humming noise when Draco pulled her back, flush against his chest. She fit so perfectly with him that she couldn't image having to give up their secret `relationship'. Ginny noted the flesh on her arm didn't look as red as it had in the past week. Actually, it looked a lot better than she'd seen it since she'd gotten it.
"Where did you get the potion for my arm?" she asked, switching the subject away from her issues with Dean. She felt him move around behind him, heard the rustle between his head and the pillow. "Nicked it from Snape's office," he told her. And he sounded proud about it too.
"And why would Snape ever need to make a potion like this one?" Ginny asked, reaching further. For an actual conversation with him maybe.
Draco smirked behind her, resting the side of his head against hers. "Seeing as how your brother's part of the Golden Trio, I can't believe they've never even told you," he told her softly.
"Told me what?" Ginny questioned, bringing his arm tighter around her and entwining her fingers with his. He was too eager to know something her brother wouldn't let her to complain about her claim on his arm.
"Professor Snape was a Death Eater," Draco muttered against her ear, shifting behind her to try to get a better feeling in his arm. "When the Dark Lord sends his message to Snape, the pains unbearable because Snape can't deal with the Dark Lord's great powers anymore. He's not as strong as the rest of us."
Ginny shivered. "The rest of us?" Ginny whispered, her voice trembling. If he heard her, he didn't show it. Instead, his eyes closed and he tried to fall asleep. Ginny looked from his arm to hers. Their marks were identical, from a single slash above the rest of the design to the extra eye given in an odd angle. She wasn't a Death Eater and she had the mark. Her arm burnt while he slept peacefully. Could he possibly be as innocent as she was? Or was he in fact a Death Eater?
Ginny didn't what to know the truth.
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-present-
When Ginny woke up again, she wasn't in her bed with Draco. Draco was with her, awake but silent, sitting against a wall. They were both dressed, but they weren't in their normal clothes and Ginny almost gagged when she took in a breath of the foul odors from around them. Ginny pulled herself up to a sitting position and scrambled up onto her knees. She glanced at Draco first and noticed his eyes were closed and he wasn`t moving at all. "Draco?" she whispered, her voice shaking with fear and confusion.
When he didn't answer, Ginny crawled closer to him until she had a better look at him. He, like she, was dressed in rags. A long, deep gash ran down the side of his face, dried blood covering his cheek. His hair looked worse for the wear, filled with dirt and blood. Ginny reached out to him, clinging onto his arm. "Draco," she whispered again urgently. Nothing was right. She didn't recognize anything around her and the last thing she could remember was falling asleep on top of him in her bed.
He didn't blink, didn't move an inch. A small tear slid out of Ginny's eye before she even knew it was there. She crawled in between his legs, which spread out in front of him. "Draco, please," she begged, choking on a small sob when he still didn't respond. "You have to be okay," she said, more to make herself feel better than for his benefit. She brushed back his dirty hair, looked at the mud on his forehead. She knew she had to look just as bad, if not worse, than he did. But she was moving. She knew she was alive.
"Come on, give me something, Malfoy," she ran her trembling fingers down to his neck, trying to find his pulse somewhere, "anything, Draco." She felt a beating, but it was faint. She sank down into a sitting position in his lap, exhaustion taking over. "Wake up," she whispered. "You have to wake up." She felt eleven again, helpless and alone in the Chamber of Secrets. She knew she wasn't there, but this place was just as bad.
He moved a bit behind her, letting out a small groan. Ginny looked back up to his face as he slowly opened his eyes. "Oh thank God," Ginny gasped, crying softly. She threw her arms around his neck, burying her head against his shoulder. "Thank God," she repeated, pulling him as close as possible.
"Take… off…" he gasped, his voice wheezing as he tried to communicate with her. Ginny pulled back to look at him closely. "Take off what, Draco? Take what off?" she pushed him, needing him to answer.
"…Gin…" he gasped, then shut his eyes in pain and Ginny saw his Death Eater mark light up. Ginny's whole body trembled as she watched him. "Oh, Draco," she cried, covering her mouth in horror and letting a few more tears fall.
"Gin… take…" he managed to say in between gasps of pain. Ginny shook her head, looking at him, away from his bleeding mark. "What do I need to take, Draco? You got to give me something more."
"…chain…" he told her before screaming in a hoarse voice as the cut on his face opened up suddenly. Ginny looked around for restraining chains. She couldn't find any. Her vision blurred from the tears, not believing any of this could possibly be real. It killed her to watch him in so much pain. Never in her life had she wanted so much to tell him she loved him.
"What chain, baby?" she asked. "I don't see a chain."
Draco's eyes squeezed shut again and his head banged back against the wall as he screamed louder. His hand shot out and grabbed hers. Ginny gasped as the sudden movement. The feel of his sticky blood transferring from his hand to hers made her sick. He pulled her hand close to him. He rested it on his chest and then yanked his hand away as it began to burn.
An image flashed through her mind of the first night they'd spent together at the Yule Ball. She remembered pulling on the chain he wore around his neck to bring him down to her. Frantically, Ginny pushed away the rags covering his chest. She saw the golden chain shinning on his chest, which had numerous bleeding cuts on it. Ginny reached out to pull it off, but it felt like fire as soon as she touched it. Ginny gasped, yanking her hand away.
But as she watched Draco writhe in pain, she took in a deep breath and snatched the chain into her hand. She ignored the searing pain in her hand and on her arm where the mark was and she quickly pulled the chain off of his neck and threw it to the side.
Her arm stopped hurting and he stopped screaming, but her hand continued to burn. She looked down at the redness of it and groaned. Draco pulled himself up to a better sitting position and opened his eyes. "Gin," he muttered, reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulders. He tried to pull her up against him, but he didn't have the strength left to.
Ginny half crawled, half slid up against Draco's chest, sobbing. She grabbed the rags on his chest with her good hand. "Don't ever scare me like that again," she demanded, relived to no end.
"Shh. It's going to be okay now," he whispered. "It'll be okay now."
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