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CHAPTER 24
Draco sat by Ginny's side for three solid days. He refused to eat, refused to sleep, and to be honest, Harry was beginning to wonder if he had even allowed himself a trip to the loo.
"You know, starving yourself isn't going to make her get better any faster," he told Draco on the third day.
"I know!" Draco hissed. He didn't turn to look at Harry, but he didn't have to. Harry could hear the uncharacteristic fear and panic that laced his voice. "But I have to do something!"
"She's going to get better," Hermione said softly, unable to believe she could feel such sympathy for the person who had called her the rudest names in the book.
Draco went back to ignoring them, and concentrated all his thoughts on Ginny. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I didn't want to believe that . . . he had done that to you.
Three days ago he had brought Ginny back to Potter's house and they had summoned Bevins Bamstersham, a member of the Order, and a healer who worked with Charlie in Romania. After examining her and hearing the details of what she had been through, he told them that she seemed to be in what Muggles referred to as a coma. Hers had been a stress or pain induced one, and that she would have to be monitored carefully to make sure she didn't need to be put on breathing charms or receive a stabilizing spell. And that was it. That was all they could do until she decided on her own to wake up. Her mum stayed in there with Draco most of the time and irritated him to no end by sobbing loudly and telling Ginny that she had been trying to help her, not hurt her.
"She is too afraid to battle him," Dumbledore told them gravely, and Draco wanted to spit on him.
Of course she was afraid! After all, hadn't it been Dumbledore who told them no real harm had come to her when she had disappeared over the Holidays? Draco was unable to bite his tongue and spat the question at him.
Dumbledore looked at him gravely over the top of his glasses, and answered, "No physical harm. I was wrong to assume that any mental or emotional harm would be insignificant to her."
That was when Draco looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time. He was just like the rest of them really. He was older, and perhaps a bit wiser, but not as wise as they wanted to believe. He was mortal. He could make mistakes as well. True, he was powerful, probably more powerful than the Dark Lord, but he wasn't perfect.
Dumbledore nodded with a small, sad smile as if reading Draco's thoughts. "Stay with her."
So Draco had not left her side, watching her deep breathing and keeping her long red hair brushed out of her face.
"We can't keep her here forever," Harry told him on the fifth day.
"What?" Draco snapped.
"I mean, when she wakes up. We can't make her hide inside my house forever."
"Yes we can. She'll stay here with me and it'll be fine!"
Harry sighed. "Are you always this thick, Malfoy?"
"I'm not going to let her get hurt again!" he nearly shouted back.
"We can go to him. I think I know where he is."
Draco peeled his eyes from Ginny's pale form and looked at Harry. "What?"
"If we kill him, the spell will be broken. She won't be bound to him."
"So, just like that, you want to go kill the Dark Lord?"
"Well, yeah, I guess, I mean the prophecy says . . ."
"What in the bloody hell makes you think that you'll be able to defeat him this time? Haven't you faced him before?"
"I wasn't ready then," Harry said defensively. "I mean, I never planned to go kill him before."
"I thought you couldn't use your wand against him."
"I can. It just doesn't work properly."
Draco narrowed his eyes. "That's just great."
"It has to come to this one of these days. I told you, I want to play Quidditch! I mean, being an Auror is fine and all, but after Voldemort's gone, what am I going to do? Round up Death Eaters? No thanks! Besides, I'm not going to sit here waiting for him to decide when it's convenient while Ginny stays in a coma and my roommate starves to death!"
It was probably the longest speech he'd ever heard Potter make. "Fine," he answered coolly. "Let's go."
***
The first time Ginny woke up, she thought she could hear sobbing. At first, she assumed the tears were her own, as the pain was so great when the world had gone black. But then she realized she couldn't feel any pain. In fact, she couldn't feel anything at all. She could hear voices, but they were soft and distant, and she was tired, so she fell back asleep.
The second time, she managed to open her eyelids and found herself alone in her bedroom at Harry's house. She was confused, unable to recall getting here. She remembered going to the train station, and then the pain Tom had caused, but that was it. Maybe it had been a dream. Maybe she would be leaving for Hogwarts in just a few days. Her body felt like lead as she tired to lift herself from the bed. She nearly lost the battle, and after what felt like an eternity, she managed to pull herself from the bed. Shaking, she picked up her wand and cast a Rejuvenating Charm onto herself. She didn't feel whole, but she did feel loads better and she padded her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Mum?" Her mum was standing in front of the fire, watching a large pot stir itself, with tears falling down her cheeks. "What's wrong?"
Her mum screamed so loud Ginny jumped. The noise sent Hermione and Tonks scrambling into the room.
"Oh Ginny!" Her mum threw her arms around her. "I am so, so sorry. I did believe you, I did! I just didn't know what to say or what to do!"
"What's, what's going on?" she managed to ask.
The three woman sat her at the table, placed a rather large plate filled with Shepard's pie in front of her, and promptly filled her in on the things had happened in the past week.
Ginny looked around the table, trying to take in their words, and finding herself unable to concentrate. "So I'm not going to school?"
"Not unless you become more skilled in the lessons that Professor Snape has been trying to teach you," her mum said gently.
Hermione nodded. "If you can't fight him off, it's just too dangerous."
"Well," she glanced around again and feeling weak, "Draco saved me?"
They nodded and a small smile played across Tonk's lips. "That he did."
"Where is he?"
Hermione and Tonks exchanged quick glances. "Well, we've been wondering that. They left this morning and said that they'd be gone for a while. Something about important things to take care of."
Ginny's eyebrows drew together. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, an important piece of information was just out of reach. "They didn't say where?"
She shook her head. "No. Harry wouldn't even tell me. Said I'd know later."
"What is it?" Tonks asked, catching her expression.
Ginny shrugged. "Something, I don't know . . ."
"Well, we can discuss it tomorrow. I suppose you'll need a nice bath and then it's back to bed for you!"
She nodded, too drained to argue. "Right."
Ginny opted to bathe in the large tub in Draco's bathroom since Hermione informed her it was the nicest one in the house.
"He said the old one was too small, and Harry pretty much lets him do whatever he wants to the house. It does look better when he's done, don't you think?" she asked Ginny, handing her towels
She let her mum draw the water, and then shooed them away, assuring them that she could still bathe on her own.
"Alright," her mum consented, "but I'll be back to check on you shortly."
Ginny sunk low into the tub, hoping that Draco's rescuing her meant he had forgiven her. It wasn't like she actually wanted to be away from him. She probably wouldn't ever be able to admit it to him without super sizing his ego, but she loved him. But more than she wanted him all to herself, she would have died if Tom had done anything to him, and if that was the price to pay, so be it. Secretly, she was glad she wasn't returning to Hogwarts. Here, safe in Harry's house, Tom couldn't reach her. Draco was here, and she prayed that he forgave her.
She was nearly ready to get out of the still warm, bubbling water and climb back into bed, when the fragment of a thought that had been nagging her popped into her mind. She stood straight up in the tub, grabbed a towel and draped it haphazardly across herself before running out of the bathroom, screaming. "Mum! Mum! Hermione! Somebody!"
"What?"
"Gin are you okay?"
"What's wrong?"
"I know, they went, I mean, they went to see him! Harry said he was going to kill Tom and Draco went!" she practically shouted.
"What?"
"I remember," she insisted desperately to the three pale faces staring at her. "Harry came and said that they could go kill Tom and Draco agreed."
"Are you sure?" Tonks spoke slowly. "I mean, was it a dream or was it-"
"No!" she insisted. "I remember! They were talking!"
"I'll go get Dumbledore," Hermione dashed from the room.
Hermione returned, Dumbledore appeared, Snape dashed in, and then her brothers appeared. Members of the Order appeared and disappeared, finally leaving Ginny and her mum alone with their frantic parting words.
"How are they going to find them?" Ginny whispered, staring out the window.
"Harry is an official Order member, so we can track him," her mum assured her. "You need to return to bed."
The hours ticked by like minutes and Ginny was ever so grateful when people began showing up at Harry's house. First, Percy's finance Penelope, then Kingsley Shacklebolt's oldest daughter Tess, who wasn't an official Order member, but her husband was, followed by Tonk's mum Andromeda and her husband Ted, a visibly shaken Fleur, and finally a suspiciously disheveled Angelina.
Ginny received fierce hugs all around and get well wishes, and her mum brought out butterbeer and cider. They long silences were only broken by sniffs and theories of where the Order was and how it would turn out.
"Why did they decide to go today?" Tess asked, glancing at Ginny.
"I don't know," she said quietly, still staring into the empty fireplace. "I remembered hearing Harry and Draco talking about it. Harry said it had to end some time."
Andromeda sighed. "Narcissa is so proud of him."
She was met with silence.
"Did you say Narcissa?" Angelina asked finally.
Andromeda nodded.
"But I thought . . . they disowned him," Ginny questioned.
Andromeda smiled softly. "Narcissa is not her husband. Of course, she can't publicly defy him, but he knows how she feels."
"Then, why did she marry him?"
"Consider yourself very, very lucky that your parents are not harping on and on about arranging a pureblood marriage as ours were." She reached over and patted Ted's leg who smiled at her and then at Ginny. "You are very lucky."
As the night faded again into dawn, the gnawing worry in Ginny's chest grew and threatened to consume her. There had been no sign or word, none at all.
"It could be a good thing," Penelope whispered. "They haven't found any thing dreadful yet."
"Or they're all dead," Ginny muttered, sleep deprivation making her cross.
"Ginerva!" her mother snapped.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Andromeda smiled softly at her. "We understand."
Ginny let herself doze on the couch, fitful dreams keeping her unrested, refusing to eat or go to her bed. She had just let her eyes flutter shut again, when a series of sharp cracks caused her to sit straight up.
Dumbledore stood before them, his robes bloodied and tattered. Behind him, the Order stood, all looking equally battered. Some where holding the frightfully limp bodies of others, and others exhausted.
"It's over," Dumbledore said firmly. "Tom is gone and it's all over."
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