Confusion
By Lauren G. (aka RowlingIdol)
Author's Note: First things first. Someone had asked about why Lucius said, `She is mine' in the Azkaban scene. He's not crazy (yet), he was showing the insane inmates that he was the boss. What he meant by `she is mine' is `she's here to see me'. I've been busy with school and life, and I've almost finished reading HBP again. I've been struck with the writing bug so we here we go- Enjoy!
Chapter 9: I Don't Want To Talk About It
The light of the fire crackling in the fireplace of the drawing room flickered off the two golden rings that lay on the ornate rug. Ginny held a hand up to her mouth. Draco took a step back and reached down and picked up the rings.
"They came off." Draco said, holding them in his outstretched palm. Ginny didn't say anything.
"I…. I'm sorry." Ginny said. She stepped back from Draco. "I need to go." She said in a scared voice.
"Go where?" Draco asked, concerned.
"Home. I really ought to go home." Ginny said, she turned and walked out of the drawing room, Draco hot on her heels.
"Why do you need to go home? Your family is just going to make things worse. We don't have a solution to this!" Draco said. Ginny's hands were shaking.
"I- I don't know Draco." Ginny said, her head hanging. "I just want to go home." Draco frowned.
"I'll lend you one of my brooms." Draco eventually said. "Once you leave your room, the forgetting spell will be broken." Ginny just nodded. Draco left the entrance hall and came back with a broom. Ginny took it and with so much as a sad look to Draco, she left.
After Ginny had left, Draco didn't know how to feel. His life had been turned upside down and flopped around like a pancake. As he walked to his room, he passed by his mother's room.
"What's the matter dear?" Narcissa asked.
"I don't want to talk about it." Draco said, entering his room and slamming his door.
ooooo
Ginny came upon the Burrow right as evening set in. She hastily opened her window and climbed inside. She stowed the Nimbus 2001 under her bed and went to the door. She opened it and a tinkling of golden dust trickled out of the keyhole. She went downstairs.
"Well look who decided to show herself!" Fred said from the table.
"If it isn't Mrs. I Married A Murderer Malfoy!" George chimed in. They looked both amused and angry.
"I was hungry." Ginny said, sitting down. Mrs. Weasley slammed a shiny silver plate in front of her and slapped a scoop of cold mashed potatoes on it.
"What's this?" Ginny asked, looking at the plate. It wasn't the normal ceramic plates they used for every meal.
"You just got married Gin. That means presents." Fred said greedily. Ginny realized he was playing a with a silver goblet with a fancy engraving on it.
"Didn't know Longbottom was this loaded." George commented, sticking a salad fork behind his right ear for decoration.
"Or dense enough to be happy Ginny `married' that git." Fred chimed in.
"Or believe it for that matter." George added.
"Neville sent me a dinner set? Give me those!" Ginny said, snatching the pieces away from her brothers.
"We're going to open your other presents." Fred said in a nasty tone.
"I have more?" Ginny asked, taking one bite of her potatoes and then abandoning them.
"LOADS!" Mrs. Weasley sarcastically said from the sink. "I think we should tie rocks to that boys feet and push him in Hogwarts lake!"
"Good idea mum!" Ron said, coming downstairs hearing all the commotion. "Because my baby sister is married to that git, we'll inherit the money from his death!"
Ginny frowned at her brothers and moved to the front room. Mr. Weasley was listening to the wireless, a small pile of gifts were set up next to it, almost like Christmas.
"Hi Daddy." Ginny said softly as she approached her dad. Mr. Weasley gave her sad look. Ginny wanted to cry. She took the boxes up to her room.
ooooo
Within minutes, there was a knock on her door.
"Come in." Ginny said sadly. The door opened and bushy brown hair appeared.
"Hi." Hermione said to Ginny.
"Hey."
"What's that?" Hermione asked, pointing to a green dress falling out of a box.
"A dress from the Zabini's. Go figure." Ginny said. "Most of the other gifts are from people I haven't heard of.
"You know its only Blaise and his mother now, right?" Hermione said, looking at the dress.
"Yeah. I recall reading something in the paper last year."
"Well, I wanted to let you know that I thought about what you said went on at the Ministry. And I did you a favor." Hermione said, looking at the floor.
"A favor? What kind of favor?" Ginny pushed empty box lids off her bed and Hermione sat down.
"I overheard your mom talking about drowning Malfoy."
"Yes…" Ginny said.
"Well, ever since they found out has there been any mention of your parents reporting to the Ministry that the marriage is false?"
"I don't know I haven't been…." Ginny paused. "Out of my room." She said. Hermione gave her a funny look for a brief second.
"I put a spell on your family. I think that Malfoy should be allowed a fair trial, murderer or not, and so I bewitched them to not think of reporting the marriage as false to the Ministry." Ginny mouth fell open. Hermione did that? She went through with a plan she and Draco had only spoken briefly of?
"You're bad." Ginny said with a small smile.
"After hanging with Ron and Harry for all those years, it grows on you." Hermione gave Ginny a squeeze.
"I think what you did was crazy, but I know you Ginny. You have a good head when it comes to helping people. I also think you ought to reconsider who you help sometimes. Things will clear up." Hermione stood up to leave the room.
"Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"Yes?"
"Um…. How's Harry?" Ginny squeaked. Hermione's eyes grew sad.
"I don't want to talk about it." Hermione left the room.
ooooo
Draco woke up groggy in the middle of the night to voices downstairs. Loud voices. Familiar voices. Draco rolled off his bed and opened up his wooden door a crack and stood in the doorway.
"I just heard the news."
"JUST? It's been almost three days and you JUST heard the news?" Narcissa shrieked.
"I'm not up to date on these things, Cissa. You can't expect me to be on top of what the Prophet says anymore, after that article they had on me… And the coverage of the trials…."
"You're lucky to have passed that trial. You are lucky! Lucius is back in Azkaban. Did you know that?"
"I've known that for a while, why do you have to bring that up."
"Because." Narcissa replied huffily. There was a moment of silence. Draco was becoming more awake. He rubbed at his eyes.
"Where is the girl."
"She's home. She and Draco had a row."
"Typical. They'll be divorced within a week."
"They're not married for real, you know that."
"I had my suspicions." More silence. Narcissa began to get whiny.
"It's a joy to have him back. But he just reminds me so much of Lucius… I… I can't bear it sometimes."
"You speak like Lucius is dead!"
"He IS dead to me!"
Draco wandered out of his room and edged closer to the stairs. He crept down the stairs and peered warily around the corner.
"Is that true?" Draco took a few more steps for a better view. He saw his mother's back. There was sniffling.
"Yes." Narcissa whispered. One more step and Draco froze. His heart skipped a beat, his brain ached, and his eyes burned. He backed up and went back upstairs. His hands shook as he wrote a letter to Ginny.
ooooo
Ginny was woken up in the middle of the night with scratching at her window yet again. She sat up and reached for her wand. The window opened and in flew the eagle owl that had arrived once before. Her eyebrows furrowed as she opened the letter.
G-
Come back. I need someone.
~D
Short and simple, but too confusing to understand when it was 1:00am. Ginny groaned. She didn't want to go back and face Draco after what had happened earlier that day, but she had a feeling this was important. She got dressed and grabbed the Nimbus 2001 out from under her bed. She tapped her doorknob, casting the forgetting spell over it. She crossed her fingers and Apparated.
ooooo
Ginny Apparated outside the Malfoy Manor and she was instantly chilled to the bone in her thin cloak. A shivering house-elf was out front, apparently waiting for her arrival. The elf silently let her in the house without so much a sneeze. The house was dark and cold and did not feel welcoming at all. Thoughts of Draco hurt raced through her head. Two more house elves appeared, one leading her up the stairs and the other wrapping a blanket around the cold elf. With a low bow, the house elf left her at Draco's door. A lone candle flickered in the carpeted hallway. Ginny opened the door. She felt incredibly uncomfortable, barging into someone's house without ever being greeted. Would Draco even be awake? Draco was waiting. He was sitting on his bed. His eyes widened at the sight of her.
"I got your letter." Ginny whispered, closing the door behind her. She leaned back against it. Draco looked at his hands.
"Is everything okay?" as soon as Ginny asked that, she mentally slapped herself. Of course something was wrong. Ginny stepped closer to him. Draco looked about as bad as he had when she first found him. His face was sunken and pale from the candlelight in his room. Instinct took a hold of her and she slipped off her shoes and her coat. She padded across the room in stocking feet.
"Do you want to tell me anything?" Ginny asked. Another stupid question.
"I don't want to talk about it." Draco said. Ginny sat down next to him. She sat swinging her legs and fiddled with pleats in her skirt and picked lint off her blue jumper.
"I'm tired." Draco slowly said. Ginny was surprised.
"Why didn't you go to bed?"
"I couldn't. I needed someone." Draco said, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Oh." Ginny said.
"I needed you." Draco said.
"I'm here now." Ginny said. Draco looked on the verge of a breakdown of some sort. He just stood up wobbly from fatigue and turned down his bed and crawled in. Ginny stood up from the bed and watched him. There was a ting and a pair of flannel pajamas appeared on the bedside table, probably from the house elves. Ginny slowly picked them up. She looked at Draco. His eyes had closed and he was curled under the covers, a second pillow covering part of his face, as if to block out his world that was crashing down around him. Ginny blushed and changed into the pajamas, setting her clothes next to her shoes and cloak. She sat on the edge of the king bed opposite Draco and pulled a fur blanket up to her chin, refusing to get under the covers. Before falling asleep for the second time that night, Ginny turned her head and looked at Draco. His mouth was slightly agape and his breathing was quiet. Ginny's own eyelids drooped and soon she too had fallen asleep.
ooooo
Early in the morning around sunrise, Ginny woke up. She groaned. She had slept uncomfortably. The blanket had been too warm, and without it she was too cold. She gave up on sleep. She stood up from the bed and looked behind her. Draco was still asleep in the same position as he had been the night before. She wondered if Narcissa knew she was here. Ginny decided she didn't care at that moment. She was more concerned about Draco. A pair of slippers had been left near the door that matched her pajamas. Ginny slipped them on and exited the room. She had only been in the house a handful of times, yet she knew well enough where the kitchen was. She slowly made her way into the kitchen. Ginny stood in the doorway of the kitchen, squeezed her eyes shut, stretched and yawned. She rubbed at her eyes and looked at the kitchen. It hardly looked anything like the kitchen at the Burrow. It was pearly white and there was no sight of a house-elf, yet it smelled like oatmeal and tea. Ginny stepped into the kitchen and looked around. She saw that pantry door was opened. What did that Malfoys have for breakfast? She walked over to it and pulled the door open farther. Someone who had been crouching behind the door stood up, holding two jars of jam.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ginny screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed the holder of the jams.
"What's wrong?" Narcissa said, rushing into the kitchen, a silken robe wrapped tightly around her. Even for 7 o'clock am she looked as if she had returned from a day at the spa.
"Oh… Oh dear. Ginny, it's alright." Narcissa said, leading Ginny away from the pantry. Ginny's mouth opened and closed, still staring towards the pantry. Ginny bumped into someone in her dazed state. She turned and saw it was Draco.
"Draco! Draco!" Ginny gasped, pointing towards the kitchen.
"Would you shut your mouth Miss Weasley, or should I say, Mrs. Malfoy." Sneered Severus Snape, opening a jar of peach jam.
ooooo
Author's Note- WOOT! I am in the zone! I hope everyone liked this story! This whole scene was playing throughout my head all of today. *giggle* More to come! So… stay tuned!
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