Only 2 more chapters to go, and I must say, I LOVE the last chapter. Thanks so much to everyone who reviews! Y'all are the best!
CHAPTER 11
Ginny stood up and began walking to the door of Draco's hospital room and then stopped. "Here," she said. "Here's your ring." She refused to look up, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes.
"It won't come off," he told her, his voice flat and low.
He was right, the ring wouldn't budge. "Why not?"
"I told you it was full of old magic."
Ginny glanced up, expecting to see a smirk, but finding his expression blank and detached instead. Not knowing what else to do, she just nodded and left the room.
Ginny stood outside St. Mungo's, watching the Muggles rush past her in the late afternoon sun and wondered where to go. She had barely spoken to her parents since Draco had been admitted, and now they were like strangers to her. She had no desire to return to Hogwarts. She knew Fred and George would take her in, but she wasn't in the mood for their antics, as they always assumed a few good pranks could cheer anyone up, and she found herself thinking about Harry's house.
Hermione answered the door, temporarily surprising Ginny out of her stupor. Hermione let her in, and had the grace not to ask any questions until she had shown Ginny to an empty room. "Harry's not here now, but he'll be home tonight. He'll be thrilled to see you."
Ginny nodded and looked around. "Are you living here?"
"No. Ron is. Well, I guess I do stay here a lot, but officially, I don't live here."
Ginny nodded again, recalling the way Harry had held onto Hermione at Dumbledore's memorial. "Where are they?"
"At the Ministry. With your father."
"Oh." Ginny sat down on the empty bed, the bed she had slept in the summer before Sirius died. She could tell Hermione was wondering exactly why she was here, but she wasn't ready to divulge that information. If she asked, she'd have to tell, but until then, she couldn't say a word. The pain in her chest threatened to explode, blowing out into her body and taking control of her. Draco. Dear Merlin, he was the only thing she had known or cared about for so long, and he had just effectively thrown her out of his life. She couldn't do this. She wasn't even sure she could live if Draco didn't want her.
"He's going to be elected, I'm sure," Hermione's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Elected?"
Hermione stared at her. "Didn't they tell you? He was asked to run for Minister."
Ginny felt a weak smile pull at the corners of her mouth. "My father would make a good Minister. Except he'd probably want to make an alliance with the Muggles."
Hermione giggled, and asked "How is Draco?"
Ginny didn't answer right away, but felt something warm start to run down her face. "He's better. They said he could go home."
"That's good," Hermione said, confused. "Isn't it?"
"They said that he could live to be much older, but he'll need constant care."
"And?"
"And he said he didn't want me going with him."
"What?" Hermione gasped and sat down beside her. "Oh Ginny, why?"
"He said that he couldn't give me a family or home or be a good husband." Her voice was flat but the tears continued to plummet towards her collar.
Hermione put her arms around the red headed girl and began to rock her back and forth.
"I can't make this ring come off," Ginny whispered. "I tried and he said it was full of old magic."
Hermione studied the ring for several moments, and then told her, "I'll see what I can find out. I'm going to get you something to drink."
She returned with a large silver goblet. "It's probably more than you need, but I thought it would put you to sleep."
Wordlessly, Ginny tipped up the goblet and downed every drop of Firewhiskey.
It took Hermione three days to figure the ring out. Three days of pretending to be cheerful in Ron and Harry's presence, three days of crying herself to sleep, three long lonely days of wishing she could sleep for the rest of her life.
"I've got it," Hermione announced, one evening, sitting in the chair next to Ginny.
"What?" Harry asked, his mouth full.
"You figured it out?" Ron asked with a smile.
"The only thing I could find was a charm called the Benadini Charm."
"Bina what?" Harry asked.
"Benadini," she continued. "It's very, very old. It dates back to about 600 BC, and it's not used anymore because it's extremely complicated."
"But how do you break it?" Ginny asked, still staring at her plate, her voice quivering.
"What are we talking about again?" Harry asked.
"Her ring," Ron informed him sourly. "Malfoy put some kind of curse on it."
"Not exactly," Hermione said. "He wouldn't know this one."
"He knew it was full magic though," Ginny said quietly.
"He wouldn't have known how to do this one," she insisted.
"Tell us then," Ginny requested softly.
Hermione's voice dropped and suddenly sounded rather strained. "Well, it's a bit unusual. You see, just because the ring has the spell on it doesn't mean it always works. The ancient wizards and witches used to use it at marriage ceremonies to prove their love for one another."
"Just tell me," Ginny interrupted.
She shifted uncomfortably. "You and Malfoy have to stop loving each other."
"What?" Ginny stared at Hermione, forgetting that she had been trying to hide her tears.
Hermione shrugged and helped her self to some pudding. "That's what it says."
"But I hate him."
"Apparently not," Ron growled.
"Love," Hermione chose her words carefully, "I don't think is something you can just turn off."
"But, I mean . . ." Ginny trailed off, the pain in her chest growing unbearable.
Everyone at the table was staring at her.
"I feel like throwing up every time I think about him," Ginny said honestly. "So that means it's him and not me. This stupid thing won't come off till he stops loving me?"
"Can you twist the ring at all?" Hermione asked.
Ginny shook her head as she tried. "Nothing. It won't budge."
"If you didn't love him, you should be able to twist it clockwise, and if he didn't love you it would go counter clockwise. And if neither of you loved the other, it would come off."
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