Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Classification: Drama / Mystery
Pairing: D/G
Rating: R
Author's notes: this is the first chapter of a very long story. If you find this in any way confusing, please feel free to let me know. You can do this by leaving a review (which is much appreciated) or by writing to me at ardelis_fari@yahoo.com. Also, if you find any glaring grammar/spelling mistakes or discrepancies with canon, do tell me. Cheers!
Summary: after Draco disappears one night on the scene of a battle, Ginny decides to flee, leaving her family and friends in the dark as to her whereabouts. Everyone is certain that Draco Malfoy is dead, but Ginny believes that one day he would come back to her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER ONE
~ Memories ~
It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses.
"But where is Draco?" she asked Tonks, when she reached the safety of the Burrow.
Tonks' face was distorted with a grimace of pain and she averted her eyes.
Ginny blanched. "Where is he?" she asked again in a thick voice.
Tonks looked up and Ginny saw her frightened eyes filled with tears. "He didn't come back," she uttered at last. "The stupid boy burst right in the middle of it! He knew the house would collapse any minute, but he still ran inside!"
Ginny's lips quivered as she was trying to hold back the tears. "You didn't…" she broke off.
"We searched every inch of the wreckage, but couldn't find him anywhere." She sniffed. "I'm so sorry, Ginny!"
"No, Tonks!" she stopped her with a warning gesture. "No, he's not dead. He'll come back. He promised that he would always come back."
"Miss Putois?" a high-pitched voice brought her back from the reverie. "Miss? I left the file of the new patient on your desk."
Ginny turned away from the window and looked at the nurse. "Oh, thank you, Prudence. I'll look at it later."
The nurse nodded and left. Ginny rubbed her eyes tiredly and sighed. She felt absolutely exhausted. She glanced at her watch and decided that she could use a brake. She checked the rows of beds to make sure everything was all right and then swiftly left the ward.
As she stepped into the narrow corridor, she had to adjust to the dim light of the crystal bubbles full of candles that floated up on the ceiling. She walked past the numerous portraits whose canvasses, if not empty, were filled with moving silhouettes of witches and wizards. Finally, she reached the end of the corridor and pushed the double doors open. On them a card in a brass holder read: Healer-in-Charge: Petra Greyhawk. Trainee Healer: Ginevra Putois.
She decided to have a cup of tea in the tearoom on the fifth floor. As she climbed the stairs, another throng of famous Healers greeted her with a smile.
In the tearoom she found a few other witches and wizards in lime-green robes just like hers, with an emblem of a crossed wand and bone embroidered on their chests. She bought a steamy cup of chamomile tea and took a seat at her favourite table in the corner. Slowly, she sipped her tea, letting her sore muscles relax. On the table next to her she spotted a copy of Witch Weekly and she reached for it curiously. She had a busy day and she figured that a few moments of rest while leafing through a magazine would see her to the end of her shift.
Skipping a few pages of gossip and recipes of rejuvenation potions, she came upon something that made her start. At the top of the page was a colourful picture of her brother Bill and his wife Fleur, holding their two-year-old daughter Manuelle. The picture was taken outside a Quidditch stadium in Ellis Moor, and all three of them were sporting bright orange scarves of The Chudley Cannons team. Bill's hair was even longer than she remembered and Fleur smiled bewitchingly into the camera. The little chubby girl in her arms was absolutely adorable. Timidly, Ginny traced the blond curls of her niece who she had never seen before.
A short article beside it was captioned: A representative of London Gringotts Bank attends the first game of the season. Greedily, she pierced her eyes into the scanty words. Apparently Gringotts was sponsoring the Quidditch games. She read it till the end, but, to her disappointment, it said nothing about her brother.
She repressed the tears that were threatening to roll down her cheeks. This was the first time in three years that she had seen a familiar and dear face. It happened so unexpectedly that it took her by surprise. Vivid memories that were until now kept at bay, flooded her mind.
She spent the last three years in Paris, studying to be a Healer. She came to London a few months ago and had just been taken on the staff of St Mungo's as a Trainee Healer.
After what happened one ghastly night three years ago, all she wanted was to cut herself off from the wizarding world. And she had been on the run ever since. She even changed her last name. She realized that running away like that was not only cowardly, but also very cruel towards her family and friends. Her initial excuse was that she needed some time to be alone, and she expected everyone to understand. And they did. But as the time went by, she grew accustomed to her new way of life where nothing and no one reminded her of the past. She was terribly afraid of going back and facing her home that would bring back the memories of that night. In all of those three years she had never as much as sent a message to her parents, to let them know that she was all right. She realized full well that it was heartless and selfish, and it made her suffer. Torn, between the desire to see her family again and fear of their unshakable conviction that her beloved fiancé was dead, she dragged out a miserable existence in a wizarding hospital of the City of Lights.
She sometimes laughed bitterly at the irony of it all. She was a very able Healer, but her wound was the only one she couldn't fix. There was no potion or spell potent enough to heal the pain that still lingered in her soul. She wasn't sure though why she left France. Perhaps, coming back to London might be a big step towards recovery. It seemed that maybe soon she would pluck up her courage and go see her family. But until then she just waited. For what, she didn't quite know herself. Maybe for an accidental encounter with someone she knew. There was a big chance of her running into a member of her family or a friend, after all, the wizarding London was a small place. But the fate was merciful to her so far.
Though once, in Paris, she literally ran into Gabrielle, Fleur's little sister. But the girl didn't recognize her. Well, Ginny had changed a lot in the past three years. Her luxuriant ginger curls were now always put up in a neat bun and her face was never lit with a smile. She was very quiet and was a total opposite of the girl who 'never shuts up' as Ron once put it. She, herself, rarely looked in the mirror to see that.
Wiping the tears off her eyes, she carefully rolled the magazine and put it in the pocket of her robes. Then she got up and left the tearoom that was almost deserted by now, forgetting her unfinished tea.
A couple of hours later she was on the ground floor of St Mungo's. After saying 'good night' to her colleagues, she disapparated to her small, lonely flat in the centre of London. For an umpteenth time this month she considered taking on a cat that would keep her company and give her an illusion that someone actually waited for her to come home.
She mumbled 'lumos' and her wand illuminated the narrow corridor. Dropping off her cloak and bag, she proceeded to the kitchen. After a satiating supper she considered listening to the wireless for a while, but then decided against it. Instead she put on her pyjamas and went straight to bed. Moments later she was already in the land of Nod.
* * *
The next morning she apparated into the department store called Purge & Dowse Ltd, where St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was hidden from the prying Muggle eyes. The reception area was buzzing with sick witches and wizards. The staff was run off their feet and she spent two hours helping them accommodate the arriving patients. She walked up and down the hall, asking them about their ailments and jotting down the data on her clipboard.
One of the newcomers, a rickety old wizard, clad in a rain-sodden canary-yellow ulster and galoshes, claimed that something attacked him in the mews and bit his hand. His fingers were swollen and turning deep purple. She could clearly see the black bite-marks. In all the years of work as a Healer, she had never seen a more off-putting sight. Hastily, she sent him on his way to the first floor, where she assured him that the Healers on the CREATURE-INDUCED INJURIES ward would help him fix it.
Then there was a girl who fell off the broom, while playing Quidditch, and broke her leg. With great care she transported her to the ARTEFACT ACCIDENTS corridor, using the mobilicorpus spell.
They all kept her running back and forth, but she didn't mind much. She loved her job more than anything. Besides, it distracted her from the unwelcome memories that were resurrected by the yesterday's picture in the magazine. And she was grateful for that.
Soon, the flow of people receded and she proceeded with her normal routine. She was helping a jinxed wizard, whose nose was disfigured beyond recognition, when the Healer-in-Charge of the ward bustled in. She brought a dimply girl with her, whose strawberry-blond hair was done up in two thick plaits.
"Ginny, this is Mabel Evergreen. She's a new Trainee Healer," Miss Greyhawk announced hastily. "I'm rather busy at the moment and I wondered if you could show her around."
"Of course, I'd be delighted," Ginny nodded with a smile.
"Good, that's settled then," she said, relieved.
"I'm so excited to finally get to work here!" Mabel said enthusiastically, when the Healer-in-Charge left. "Have you been here long?"
"I've been working on this ward for only a few months," she said, smiling at Mabel's childish excitement. "I used to work in Paris before that."
"In Paris?" she asked, looking at her with a mixture of interest and awe in her eyes. "That must have been incredible!"
"Yes, it was," Ginny said quietly, as the picture of her brother and his family flashed before her eyes. "But why don't we have a look around the hospital?" she suggested, changing the topic.
They've been on all six floors of St Mungo's, where Ginny told Mabel the story of the hospital and showed her every ward and corridor. And the more they saw, the more thrilled Mabel looked.
"Oh how clever!" she remarked every time they came across a poster which bore an apothegm like: Venienti occurite morbo (prevent the illness before it begins) or Valetudo bonum optimum (health is the greatest good).
"Did you know that she invented the Blood Replenishing Potion?" she asked when they passed the portrait of Astrid Heidelberg. The witch on the canvas blushed slightly at her words.
On the ground floor they stopped and sat down on the rickety chairs. Mabel was still twittering agitatedly and it reminded Ginny so much of her old self.
"Oh look!" Mabel exclaimed suddenly, picking up a copy of The Daily Prophet. Ginny looked at it apprehensively. After yesterday's picture in the magazine she avoided reading any newspapers for fear of seeing someone she knew.
'THE BUZZ AROUND THE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP' read the headline on the front page of The Daily Prophet.
There was a picture of a young wizard with a chessboard under his arm, shaking hands with Cornelius Fudge.
She scanned the article: "Witches and wizards from all over the magical world have arrived in London for the upcoming International Chess Championship…Two games will take place today…The England's avowed champion, Amery Fitzpatrick from Bury St. Edmunds (Suffolk, Great Britain) will be playing against Colum Ryan from Islandmagee (Northern Ireland, Great Britain). And Constantine Mikoneiou from Athens (Greece) will be facing a very strong opponent in the person of Patrick Jones from Wookey Hole (Somerset, Great Britain)."
Well, nothing shocking so far, she thought with relief.
In the local news section a short review of the incident that had taken place last night, caught her eye. "On August the 17th, just before midnight, the Auror squad signaled some
strange activity near King's Cross Station in London. The Ministry of Magic hasn't
issued any statement, but an insider shared with us that this might be very serious. A group of wizards, whose identity is unknown, performed dark magic in full view of Muggles. One of them was heavily wounded and probably hit by a strong spell. Both managed to disapparate before the Aurors caught them. The Ministry of Magic sent Obliviators to perform memory charms on the Muggles who witnessed it."
How odd and mysterious, she thought. Does it mean that dark wizards are up to something again? With the war ending not so long ago, this was very unsettling news. But she hoped for the best. What was then the point of sacrificing so many innocent lives, if the evil was always on qui vive?