Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize here is mine. It all belongs to JK Rowling.
A/N: well, I'm glad you all liked last chapter and the story in general! I'm afraid I'll have to tease you a bit more before I give away all the answers. Right now I'm in the middle of exams, so I won't be updating too often. Unless you ask me nicely, then I might put up a chapter like every day…hehe… If I get a bad grade, I hold you all responsible!
And speaking of Ginny's last name, MaryB almost got it! But I had a different idea in my mind. Putois actually means 'ferret'. I thought it would be kinda cool for Ginny to take up that name in the memory of her beloved Draco. But maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.
P.S. I'm trying to find a compromise here. I thought that not updating at all due to my tight exam schedule would be cruel, so I decided to actually update regularly, but the chapters will be a bit short. Does that sound like a good deal?
Okay, on with the story …
CHAPTER FOUR
~ A ray of hope ~
The heart bowed down by weight of woe to weakest hope will cling.
(Alfred Bunn)
"And if you remember, they wrote about it in the Daily Prophet last week," Mabel said, taking a bite of her muffin.
Thoughtfully, Ginny stirred her coffee. She tuned in and out of the conversation, but it seemed that Mabel did not notice a thing and probably didn't even expect her to contribute.
She'd thought about Miles Bletchley's mystery a good deal. She didn't get a wink of sleep last night, tossing and turning and thinking. The poignancy of the first thrill somewhat faded now and she began to doubt. Maybe it wasn't Draco after all. Maybe she was just fooling herself. But she really wanted to believe.
"And you know what, Ginny?"
Lost in her thoughts, she hardly listened to what Mabel was saying.
"What?" she asked, pretending that she followed it all along, though she had absolutely no clue.
"In the paper they said that when the Aurors arrived, they didn't find anyone. But that's not entirely true. Kathy, a friend of mine who works for Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee, well, she talked to Arnold Peasegood, the Obliviator who was sent there to take care of those Muggles, and he told her that something wasn't right with those two wizards that escaped. I mean, one of them was seriously wounded. To apparate you need strength and that bloke was practically unconscious!" She dropped her voice to a low whisper. "They say that the Aurors were actually able to have a look at the other one. The hood of his cloak slipped and they saw his face briefly. They say he was rather young."
"Oh, really?" Ginny asked, trying to sound interested.
"That's terribly exciting, isn't it?" Mabel asked, her face glowing with eagerness. "But I reckon it's just a rumour, because if they knew what he looked like, they would have found him easily."
Ginny just nodded, not even remotely fascinated by the story.
She was very agitated, which she found hard to hide. Since morning she avoided that ward for as long as she could. She felt like shaking Miles Bletchley until he regained consciousness and told her everything he knew, every single bit of it. Every time she thought about his useless comatose state, she felt white-hot anger bubble up inside her. She needed some answers!
In the afternoon Ginny and Mabel were sitting in Ginny's office, looking through some recipes. Ginny was leafing through Arsenius Jigger's book, the author of Magical Drafts and Potions, when Mabel sighed wistfully.
"Ginny? Do you think I'm a good Healer?" she asked thoughtfully.
Ginny glanced up at her. "Of course you are."
"It seems to me that Ms. Greyhawk doesn't think so. She's been assigning me with these ridiculous tasks. I never get any real work to do!"
"I think she's just testing you," Ginny replied absentmindedly.
"But why won't she give me more serious assignments? Does she think I'm not ready? Why do I have to run off and fetch things instead of helping people? Why is everyone else being treated like a Healer and I'm just doing-?!"
"Will you just keep quiet for one bloody second?!!" Ginny suddenly snapped angrily, interrupting Mabel's prattle in mid-sentence.
Mabel looked at her, taken aback by this sudden outburst. An expression of mere surprise slowly faded and was now replaced by a hurt look.
"I'm sorry, Ginny," she murmured in a barely audible voice, her lip slightly quivering.
Ginny looked at Mabel just to see her eyes filling up with tears. Before she could say anything, Mabel got up and ran out of the office.
"Bloody brilliant!" Ginny swore and angrily and threw her copper ink-bottle against the wall. It bounced off and landed on the carpet, spilling its contents.
Why does she keep harping on the same thing - why this and why that? How come she, Ginny, never asks why all she's got instead of her fiancé is a couple of shirts that had even lost his scent?
For the past days she'd been just a bundle of nerves. She realized that she wasn't even cross with Mabel, but with Miles Bletchley. And perhaps even with Draco. For why would he torture her so? And they had absolutely no idea, for her patient was lying in his bed like a log and Draco, who hadn't manifested himself for three years, was quite oblivious to her worries.
She mentally reproached herself for speaking so harsh with the new girl. Draco wouldn't have liked that. He loved her softness and tenderness. But she pulled herself up sharp. Draco doesn't care now. Draco is gone.
She muttered 'Scourgify!' and swiftly left the office. She looked for Mabel everywhere, until she finally found her in the tearoom. She was sitting there, drinking tea and looking awfully sad. Ginny winced. She had to redress her fault somehow.
"Mabel?" she called out.
She turned around and Ginny saw that her eyes were all red and puffy. She grumbled inwardly, but made herself continue.
"Look I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it that way," she apologized.
Mabel smiled feebly.
"It's okay, Ginny. I know you didn't mean it. You were angry with someone else."
Ginny started, amazed at her perceptiveness.
"I can tell something is bothering you," Mabel said. "What's the matter, Ginny?"
"Oh, it's nothing, really," she denied. "Well, there is something, or rather someone who I'm really angry with. But never mind. I'm hoping that this person won't be a problem anymore," she said with a mysterious gleam in her eyes. "And I'm sorry again for taking this out on you."
Mabel smiled and squeezed her hand. "It's all right."
When Ginny entered the ward thirty-two later that day, she was greeted with the biggest surprise of her life.
Her patient was fully awake and propped on the pillows. Some colour returned to his face and he didn't look as ghoulish as the first time she saw him.
"Oh, you're awake!" she exclaimed. Her heart pounded as she approached his bed.
"How are you feeling this morning?" she asked, scanning the data on her clipboard.
"Never been better. How long have I been here?" he asked, and she realized that it was the first time he spoke.
"A few days. Do you know where you are?"
He looked around. "St Mungo's, I presume."
Ginny nodded.
"Do you remember what happened?" she asked curiously.
He paused and then shook his head resolutely.
"You were found not far from here. You were unconscious, but we found some papers in your robes and we were able to identify you."
"So, he didn't leave me there to die after all. How noble," he muttered.
"What?" Ginny asked.
"Nothing," he said abruptly. "When can I leave this place?"
"Oh, not for another week, that's for sure. You've been badly wounded. You need to heal first."
"I can't stay here for this long," he argued, looking shocked. "I've got something important to do!"
"Well, we'll just see how you do and maybe we can release you earlier," Ginny relented.
She took off his dressings and attended to his wound that was almost skinning over. He winced when she pulled the bandages too tight.
"Done," she announced. "And you have to drink this too."
She put up a cup to his lips. He took a sip and pulled away quickly.
"This tastes like water from the drains," he whispered hoarsely, with a look of verjuice on his face. "Yes, I'm so very sorry," Ginny muttered. "It's a potion of butterbur leaves. It ensures steady recuperation, just what you need right now."
When he heard that the potion might get him out of that wretched hospital sooner, he obediently swallowed the foul-tasting liquid.
"We put a notice in the paper, but no one came to see you," Ginny said, trying to get something out of him.
"And no one will," Bletchley grumbled and turned to face the wall.
Ginny watched him with increasing interest. She was sensible enough not to hope that he would start spilling his secrets any minute. But she just wished she could ask. What was he doing at King's Cross that night? And did it have anything to do with Draco whose picture he was carrying around? Presumably, he performed some illegal spell and it backfired. Whatever he was doing on the night of
August 17th, it certainly wasn't innocent or legal.
She stayed beside his bed until he fell asleep. One of the effects of the butterbur potion was that it induced dreamless sleep. And when he wakes up, she hoped that he would start talking.
And then all of a sudden it dawned on her. Why had it never occurred to her to put two and two together? She looked at the date of his arrival in his file. It all matched - Miles Bletchley had been brought at St Mungo's on the night of August 17th! And according to the Daily Prophet the incident at King's Cross Station took place on the 17th. Her mind swarmed with ideas, one crazier than the
other. Does DM, 17 aug. 18.30, KC St. mean that Bletchley had a meeting with Draco Malfoy on August 17th,
at 18.30, somewhere at King's Cross Station? And then something happened a few hours later. Bletchley was that wizard that Mabel said got seriously wounded! Draco was there too, but he escaped. He must have disapparated with Bletchley and then left him near the hospital!
Ginny grabbed the poster of the bed for fear of fainting. She was certain that she was very close to seeing Draco again. Yes, very soon, after so many years, she would finally see him again!