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.
A/N: You don't know how happy I am to hear that you liked the last chapter! I wasn't sure whether I should post it at all. This chapter, number six, is going to be the last chapter of this *gripping* detective story. Read and enjoy! And review, of course!
CHAPTER SIX
~ Endlessly ~
Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding.
Seneca
"I'm s-sorry," she stuttered, yanking away her hand.
She lit her wand and its glow lit up his wan face. He didn't look angry, just confused.
"Why were you going through my stuff?" he asked again, as he snatched the picture from her.
"Tell me who this is," she asked, pointing with a trembling finger to the smiling face, obscured by wisps of blond hair.
He did not budge.
"For goodness's sake, just tell me!" she cried.
"Why?" he asked calmly.
"Because I know this man. I just need to hear that he is alive!"
"He is as alive as you and I.," he said at last, feeling very uncomfortable under her beseeching stare. "Well, I hope he feels better than I do at the moment."
"Did he give you this picture?" she asked.
He nodded.
Feeling emboldened by his cooperation, she went on with her queries. "Why did you meet him at King's Cross Station on the night of August 17th?"
He goggled at her. "How…?"
"Just answer me," she interrupted him impatiently.
"He hired me to find someone," he uttered slowly.
"Who?"
With bated breath she awaited the answer. He was looking for her, wasn't he? Draco wanted to find her!
"That I can't tell you," he shook his head. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this."
"Erm, have you found that person?" Ginny asked despite his refusal to reveal anything else.
"No," he replied. "That's why I'm not too thrilled about staying here for so long."
"I see," she nodded and got up from his bed. She threw another glance at the picture.
"What is his name?" she asked, not taking her eyes off it.
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
She nodded and smiled satisfactorily. She knew enough.
"Thank you," she whispered. "You have no idea how important this is for me. Now you just go back to sleep. I'm really sorry about waking you up."
With a huge grin plastered to her face, she left the ward and made her way downstairs. On the ground-floor she sank in one of the chairs and sighed happily. It felt so good to have all the questions answered at last. Though she could not fathom why Draco would hire someone like Miles Bletchley to look for her. But then again, he was a former Slytherin student, a former supporter of His Infernal Majesty Lord Voldemort, which means he knew everything and everyone. Yes, that might explain it. But how ironic, she thought, he didn't find her. On the contrary, she found him and nursed him back to life, all the while having no clue as to the real bond they shared. And if she hadn't found that picture in his pocket, she would still be clueless and desolate.
Suddenly, she was instinctively aware of someone's presence in the hall. Without looking around, she knew who it was. She wasn't intending on letting him go this time. Finally, she would put an end to this game of hide-and-seek. She rushed across the reception area, past the gents loo, nearly overturning a dustbin on her way. In the corridor she spotted him again.
"Draco!" she cried.
He stopped and stood still. Then, slowly, he turned around. No, he wasn't imagining it. Before him stood a red-haired young woman, clad in the lime-green Healer's robes.
"Ginny?" he asked in disbelief.
She started to feel faint. She hadn't heard his voice, his real voice, in three years. Hesitantly, he took a step towards her, and when she didn't back away, he reached out, and his fingers grazed her cheek. She tried to hold back the tears, but her eyes began to well up and her face twisted in a grimace of pain. She wanted to lash out at him and demand the explanations.
"Have you nothing to say to me?" she asked, her lips trembling.
"I've missed you," he said in a shaky voice.
"Where have you been all these years?" she finally asked the question she so longed to ask. "What was I supposed to think?"
"Did you think I was dead?"
"No," she shook her head violently, "I always believed that you were alive, that you would come back."
"Well, I'm finally back."
"It took you three years?!!" she exclaimed.
"There is a lot I have to tell you," he said gravely. "Please, let's sit down."
They went back to the reception area and Ginny prepared to listen to his confessions.
"Do you remember what happened that night three years ago?" he began.
Ginny snorted. "I would never forget. It was August 19th, eight days after my twentieth birthday.
Every year on that day I relive everything that happened that night. How Tonks came and told me that you rushed inside that house and that it collapsed, burying you alive under it. How could you do something like that?"
"Well, I guess I thought I was helping out the Order. I saw those Death Eaters escape and I ran after them. I should have guessed that Potter would save the world soon without my pathetic heroic deeds," he chuckled.
He recalled that night as he lay under the rubble of the house, writhing with pain.
"I don't know why the house collapsed," he said thoughtfully. "Maybe they wanted to block the way. I tried to get out afterwards, but a piece of a brick hit me on the head and I passed out. What happened next was the most bizarre experience of my life. When I regained consciousness again, I found myself in a small village in the south of France, as I later found out. I had no clue how I got there. I didn't remember anything. Only my name. The rest of my memory was a clean slate."
"You had amnesia?" Ginny gasped. "I knew there was a good reason for you to stay away from me."
Draco smiled ruefully. "I would have come back to you otherwise."
Ginny stared at him in wonder, as his words began to sink in.
"A few months ago I remembered everything. I went back to England to find you, but you were gone. I've heard that you left your family the next day and never came back. You just disappeared. Why did you leave, Ginny?"
"I couldn't stand it," Ginny sighed. "They all thought that you died. And they reckoned that they were doing me a favour when they tried to convert me to their belief. I realized that I had enough and I just packed my bags and left without a word."
"You never went to see them again?" he asked, surprised.
"No, Draco, I was afraid. The Burrow, my family and my friends, they all belonged to the life that I shared with you. And you weren't there anymore. It was like having a family picture in front of me, where your face was cut out of it."
"Oh, Ginny!" he exclaimed. "I was afraid that they got you too. Since then I've been looking for you everywhere. But I couldn't find you. I wasn't even sure you were alive, but I kept searching. I hired the best people!"
"Let me guess," Ginny laughed mirthfully. "Miles Bletchley?"
He blinked. "You know him?!"
"Oh, I wish I didn't!" Ginny groaned. "He is the most unpleasant specimen of the human kind!"
"Looks like not all Slytherins turn to goo in your presence," he smirked.
"Lucky you, eh? Ginny snorted.
"So you work as a Healer?" he asked, examining her robes.
"Yes, and Bletchley happens to be my patient. Less than an hour ago he confessed that you had hired him to find me."
"He did?"
"Yes, he gave me hope. But the rest is still a mystery to me."
"Well, I asked him to search for you, as I felt that you were in England. I gave him your name, your age, everything. The first time I told him about you was during our first meeting, at King's Cross Station."
"But then something went wrong," Ginny interrupted him.
"You know about that too?" Draco gaped at her.
"I've read about it in the Daily Prophet," she replied. "But, please, do go on!"
"We were recognized by some Dark Wizards, who were probably trying to avenge their slain leader. Bletchley was hit pretty badly and I had nothing to do, but drop him off near the hospital."
Draco just confirmed the conclusions she had drawn before and all pieces of the puzzle were finally coming together.
"And where were you all this time?" he asked.
"You wouldn't believe this," she smiled, "but I was in France. A strange coincidence, isn't it?"
She told him about her life in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris, where they apprenticed her as a beginning Healer. And about her small flat, which she rented, when she came back to England.
"And lately it's become very hard for me to live the way I did," she admitted. "One day I saw a picture of Bill, Fleur and their daughter Manuelle in the Daily Prophet. That day all my carefully constructed walls came crushing down. All these years I ignored my family and I managed to convince myself that it was okay, and suddenly there they were again and I felt guilty. And I wanted to see them again. And then I saw your picture among Bletchley's things. I didn't know what to think. He was unconscious and I didn't know whether you were alive or not. Then I read that article in the paper about the accident at King's Cross and gradually I figured out that those two wizards were you and him. So, I just waited for something to happen. You have no idea how badly I wanted to hear the answers. The worst was when I started to see you everywhere. You were in my dreams, here at my work, on the streets. I heard your voice and I was going mad."
"You saw me when I came here?" Draco was surprised again. "But why didn't you do anything?"
"I did!" Ginny cried out indignantly. "But every time you managed to disappear before I got closer to you. I didn't know what to make of it. I hoped that maybe you came to see me, not Miles."
"Oh, Ginny," he whispered, cupping her face. "I had no idea that you were working here. I came to see Miles, to make sure that he was okay."
Draco was still in a daze. He couldn't believe that he saw Ginny, and especially because he never expected to see her at all. Slowly, he bent down to kiss her.
Until now Ginny hadn't even dared to touch him. And when his lips brushed against hers, she was afraid that that was the moment where she would wake up and realize that it was just another dream. But it wasn't. She hugged him with all her might, running her fingers through his platinum-blond hair. Then he broke the kiss and they just stayed like that, in a tight embrace.
"I've missed you so much," she sniffed.
"I wonder why Miles never told me that he actually met you," Draco asked suddenly. "He must have known that it was you, I mean, I told him how you looked."
"I changed my name," she laughed through tears.
For the first time he looked at her badge and burst out laughing. "Putois???"
Seeing his expression, Ginny laughed too.
Draco shook his head, still smiling. "You are one of a kind, Ginny Weasley."
"I think Bletchley suspected something, though," she said. "He started giving me very odd looks. I hoped that he would crack then and tell me everything he knew. But he didn't tell me anything until tonight."
"Why tonight?"
"Because I tried to steal your picture," she laughed.
"You what?"
Ginny shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure that you were real. I would have put it back anyway."
"I'll give you millions of those when we get to my house," he promised and kissed her soundly on the lips.
"Where do you live?" she asked curiously.
"In the Manor, but no one knows," he grinned. "I didn't want to attract any attention."
She smiled knowingly. She could tell him a lot about hiding.
"And, erm, do you live alone?" he asked quietly.
"Of course, you silly boy!" she slapped him on the shoulder. "You don't think I could just forget what we had together and start a new relationship with someone else?"
"I love you, Ginny Weasley," he whispered.
"And I love you. I will always love you. Endlessly," she said, claiming his mouth.
He parted her lips with his tong and she moaned against his mouth. She couldn't wait to get used to his hugs and kisses again. She craved for that perfect future that she had planned three years ago to finally begin. Suddenly, he drew away from her and looked deep into her brown eyes.
"How about you become the real Mrs. Ferret?" he asked seriously.
"It's about time, Mr. Ferret!" she giggled.
THE END