Johnson Normal Johnson 1 1 2003-07-03T10:12:00Z 2003-07-03T10:13:00Z 1 1868 10653 - 88 24 12497 10.2625 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Coeur Corrompu
Chapter two
History passed me by at school
But I, by no means play the fool
The past and the present melt to one
But the future now has gone
And I guess one would assume
That there's nothing else to lose
No more science left to bend
The world was flat we reached the end
The other side now maybe nice
Now's your turn to roll the dice
And then everyone's still
But I can't help but feel
Toploader - Stupid Games
'Let's go through this again'
Ginny heaved a half hearted sigh. They had been through this a thousand times already and still it sounded the same. She wanted to scream that it wouldn't change anything. She wanted to scream that it was all her fault and she was sorry. Most of all though she wanted to curl up in a little ball and cry away all the water from her body. Maybe that way she wouldn't feel the guilt that lay leaden on her shoulders. All the things she should have done to prevent this theft happening, especially seeing as it had happened right under her nose.
'Look Ron,' Hermione said gently resting a hand on her friends shoulder. 'It's been a long night and I think its time we went home and let Ginny get some sleep.'
'But the file…' Ron began.
'Hush!' Hermione retorted with a hint of anger. 'The Ministry will have another copy of it. We'll sort it out in the morning. Anyway, Gin's already read through it all and taken notes on all the relevant details.'
'But how…'
'Ron Weasley if you do not drop this matter now I will personally sew your mouth together!'
Instantly Ron shut up and Ginny could feel a smile tugging at her lips. She loved the way Hermione had so much power of her brother. She knew that soon they would vacate her home and she would finally be allowed to grieve her stupid mistake. It was all mapped out in her mind. It would involve some music and lots of chocolate. If there was something she believed in, it was the power of food to make the world look that little bit brighter. This had been something instilled in her from an early age and she was glad of it. Her mother had always called chocolate "soul food", and in many ways she was right.
'Ginny?' said a soft voice from beside her. She looked up to see the tired eyes of Hermione. 'Ginny, I know it's not your fault. Are you sure you don't recognise the writing though, it would really help to know who took the file.'
Ginny grimaced inwardly. She had a pretty good idea who had taken the file, but was worried that by mentioning it she would never be left alone. Tomorrow she would tell them she suspected the owner of the file had claimed it from under her nose.
'No,' she whispered hoarsely.
Seconds later she was alone. Heaving a sigh of relief she shakily rose from her seat. Slowly she ran a hand through her long auburn locks, and walked gently into the kitchen. The lily that had been with the note was standing in a vase of water in the centre of her small rickety table. Curiously she stepped over to it and plucked it from the glass confinements. In itself it was truly beautiful, the pale white leaves elegantly arcing to reveal the smallest splash of colour. Brining it up to her face she smelt it timidly. The scent hit her slowly and brought the broadest of smiles to her face. Then suddenly she began to giggle, the stress of it all leaving her body. Here she was, a fully grown woman, getting all moony over a lily. 'What are you like?' she muttered to herself with a giggle.
Aimlessly running the lily along the hollow of her cheek, she took a glass down from her dresser and smiled. This wasn't a time for chocolate. This was a time for good wine. Pulling open the fridge she pulled out the bottle she was keeping for special occasions. It was unlike her to be so self-indulgent, but she deserved to be after everything that had happened.
Strolling back into her small living room she settled herself in the largest, and squishiest, of all the chairs. Muttering a quick spell, the cork of the bottle flew off and bounced of the far wall. Quickly, Ginny poured herself a glass and put the wine bottle down onto the floor. Leaning back in the seat, she finally allowed herself the relief of tears. They flowed down her face in fast, yet furious, trickles. All the self pity and doubt coming out to the surface.
***
Walking along Diagon Alley, Ginny couldn't help but feel miserable. The weather was dingy and spots of rain kept dropping from the sky in their thousands. Her head felt like there was a brass band in it, to boot. Overall her day wasn't turning out to be the greatest and she had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to get any better. Today she was going to go see Pansy Parkinson and interview her on behalf of the Ministry. Her stomach did little flips every time she thought about it. She couldn't exactly see Pansy being forth coming with the information.
Balancing along the curb, she began to think through the questions in her mind. First of all she would need to know if Pansy had seen or heard from Draco recently. Ginny pretty much knew what the answer would be. No. It was always no when it came to interviewing people who were somehow connected to the dark side. Loyalty among thieves was the saying that sprung to mind. Her next line of questioning would be the last time Pansy had seen him. It probably wouldn't be relevant but Ginny needed all the help she could get in finding him. If none of this worked she would try the oldest tactic in the book. She'd get Ron to come round and use his charm on her.
Ginny had never seen the fascination women had with Ron. He wasn't exactly the best looking boy in the world. Then again he wasn't the worst. In her mind though he would always be the straggly, bad tempered, brother that she knew and loved.
Approaching the door to the small robes shop, Ginny took a deep breath. It was always good to look in control and domineering. Briskly she took a step forward and pushed open the small door. Above her head a little bell rang in a jolly way, and a warm breeze hit her. Quickly, she closed the door and looked around. Lined up along all the walls were the beautiful robes Ginny had ever seen. There were plain ones, and intricate ones, and ones with ties, traditional ones and ones that were more then modern. For a second she stared, stunned by all the different styles surrounding her, but was brought out of her thoughts by a quiet pop to the left hand side of her.
'Welcome to Pansy's, how may I help you?'
Ginny spun to look at the girl who had appeared at her side. She had long blonde hair that was braided with added hints of purple and she was wearing a robe of deep green that had silver dragons embroidered up the body. On her chest was pinned a small name badge with the name Pansy lit up in red lights. Ginny looked up the smiling Pansy's face. She hadn't changed a lot, her face was still quite young, but Ginny thought that might have been the amount of make-up she was wearing. Somehow she looked less angry then she had at Hogwarts though.
'Hi,' Ginny fumbled in her pocket for her identification card, 'I was wondering if you could help me locate a person.'
'Excuse me?' Pansy said with an air of confusion.
'My name is Virginia Weasley and I'm…'
'Weasley?! Oh my god is that you?! I hardly recognised you!' Pansy gushed suddenly with enthusiasm.
'Yes…' she replied meekly, 'Anyway, I'm here on behalf of the Ministry I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions about Draco Malfoy.'
Pansy let out a little shriek of shock and her eyebrows furrowed into an angry frown. 'Look, I haven't heard from that little ass since he abandoned me. I don't intend to start to anyway! I heard he was dead and I'm glad!' She said spitefully.
'Well I was wondering…' Ginny began.
'Do you know what the runt did to me?! Do you?! He left me at the altar! Jilted me, I mean ME, on our wedding day!' Pansy spat, her anger beginning to show on her face. 'And you know what I did? I got over it. You probably think I'm still hanging onto him like some puppy dog, but I ain't! I went out and I got over him!'
'I'm sure you did…' Ginny said gently, 'I was just wondering if you knew of his whereabouts… Or where he might be…?'
'No, of course I don't!' She hissed, tears beginning to well in her eyes. 'If I did I would have gone after the pig myself! You should have seen it! The dress….oh the dress! It was imported silk, cost daddy a fortune. I still have it around here somewhere….hang on!'
With that Pansy dashed forward to behind the counter. Taking a deep breath Ginny slowly began to edge backwards towards the door. Even her sympathy for Pansy's predicament wasn't enough to make her stay in this shop.
'Ah-ha! Here it is!! Hang on!' A loud cry came from the back room.
Biting her lip nervously, Ginny made a run for it out of the shop as fast as she could, leaving Pansy only the sound of the bell tinkling behind her.
***
Swinging round in her chair, back in the safety of the office, Ginny chewed on the end of a pencil. Her days work had been unsuccessful in getting near to finding Draco Malfoy. So far all she had found out was that people, who used to go to school with him, didn't exactly keep in touch. In fact they tried their damn best not to, as far as she could see. Pansy hadn't been much help, but the likes of Crabbe and Goyle had been worse. They had point blank refused to utter Draco's name, and when she asked why, they had ignored her. Next time she would defiantly take back up.
For now though, she was left at a dead end. The file might have helped at this point, but the Ministry had been unable to find the copy. Taking a sip of water, she straightened herself up behind the desk. It was time to think about what she did know. Opening a drawer, she brought out a pad of paper and a pen, and then placed them down in front of her. Sometimes she found that muggle methods were so much easier then quill and parchment. Uncapping the pen, she wrote his name at the top of the page and then stared at the blank expanse before her. Memories of his stormy silver eyes loomed in her mind.
Back at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy had been a pig and a bully. He had devoted his life to making others hell, and he almost succeeded. When Voldemort had risen in power again though Draco changed slightly. His attitude towards Harry didn't change, but once when a terrible battle was raging on a mystical plane Ginny had seen something else. Draco had been sat among the hysteria and had calmly stared into space. His eyes had been troubled though and Ginny got the impression he knew exactly what was happening and hated himself for it. In that moment she knew that he wasn't as hard shelled as he made out. Then there had been the death of his father, which too had shown Draco out of character. Anyone else who had received this news would have cried, but not Draco. Instead he had nodded slightly and carried on with everyday life. She had heard a rumour that he hadn't even shed a single tear for his loss.
Bringing herself out of her daydreams, she put pen to paper and jotted down the word unexpected. It was the only word she could think of that summed up all of his actions. She remembered reading in the file that he had trained at the Ministry after leaving Hogwarts for a couple of years. That had surprised her when she read it. It didn't mention what he had trained for though… A smile spread across her face at the thought of Draco being trained for the Care of Muggles unit. She would have to find out what he had wanted to do at the Ministry.
Now though she was going to head home and try catch up on the sleep she had lost last night. Picking up the pad she muttered the words and again found herself at home. With a slight smile she let her whole body flop down onto her small tattered couch and released a sigh. Kicking her shoes off, she brought her legs up underneath her and snuggled into the warmth of her own body. 'Honey,' she cooed affectionately. When no Honey appeared, she frowned slightly and rose up from the chair. 'Honey?'
Slowly she walked into the kitchen and looked around. No Honey. Then a feeling hit her like a tonne of bricks. If Draco Malfoy could get into her house once, he could probably do it again. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' she muttered to herself. Turning round she walked back into the living room and jumped at the sight that confronted her.
'This is getting too easy, Weasley.'