Warning: A most likely over-dramatic chapter! Draco is a little more OOC than usual.
The chapters should start becoming longer and I might not be able to fit everything in this story into seven or eight chapters'. I might have to extend it, but I really want to avoid that so please be patient for updates.
Thanks to my beta reader once again. She's gone through every chapter so far, which means grammatical changes and a few things gone different. So it wouldn't really hurt to re-read everything, but it's not a necessity.
Chapter Three: Vision of Prophecy
"Mmm," Ginny moaned, shifting her body and feeling sharp jolts of pain course behind her eyes and around her entire head. What was worse was that every breath she took stung her chest and the air tasted of coppery blood.
I'm alive. . . but in my vision, I felt myself die! How is that possible? Maybe I'm in heaven.
Her eyelashes fluttered against her pale cheeks, her eyes seeing only darkness. "Oh Merlin, am I blind in heaven?"
Why would it hurt so much if I were in heaven? Ginny wondered, feeling wetness in her eyes.
"You aren't blind, there's just a bandage around your eyes, and you're not in heaven," Hermione informed Ginny, her voice sounding distressed.
Ginny frowned, her heart leaping with agony. "Am I in hell? It would explain why I'm in so much pain. . ."
Hermione scoffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous…you're alive! Why would I be in hell with you? Are you afraid of me?"
"I--I guess not. Why are there bandages around my eyes?"
Feeling the bed dip from a weight, Ginny turned towards Hermione as much as she could without the pain overloading her senses. She flinched when she felt icy cold hands latch around her very hot one. "Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey had to be sure that you had the Sight before they confirmed it to anyone."
Dread nearly took Ginny's breath away. Did I hear correctly? "Sure that I had what?"
"Merlin's teeth!" Hermione's voice was filled with so much fury, that Ginny could barely keep herself from cringing. "Ginny, I'm trying really hard not to be angry with you because you're hurt and you saved your brother's life, but stop playing stupid. It's been confirmed that you've had the gift of Sight for years. YEARS! It's why your eyes hurt! The only-" Hermione's voice cracked with emotion, but she quickly cleared her throat and started talking again. "The only way that they could test it was by sticking needles in-" Hermione cleared her throat once more. "Well it's why they hurt. They had to get to the optic nerve of your eye to measure what types of waves were being transmitted. After they finished, Ron threw up, and Madam Pomfrey made him leave. So he doesn't fully know the truth, but I do, as does every single teacher, out of necessity."
Ginny felt her lower lip tremble, her hand instinctively squeezing Hermione's. "Does Harry know?"
Hermione exhaled and bowed her head. "Yes. Actually, he just found out. I believe he's trying to take it all in. I'm sure he's telling Ron right now-Ginny, why didn't you tell us?"
Ginny started to talk, but was cut off quickly by a pain that had started off as more of an annoyance, but had quickly become so miserably hurtful that it was hard to breathe. "C-an w-e ta-lk abo-ut-" Ginny panted as the pain nearly became too much.
She was going to black out again. I can't, please don't. Then, just as soon as it had come, it vanished.
"It's gone," she mumbled softly, and just as quickly, another thought came. "Why would they inflict more pain on me after I was shish-kabobbed by a dragon?"
Hermione was so quiet that Ginny, if she hadn't heard the gentle breathing coming from the girl, would have assumed she'd left. "Ginny, they need to do more tests on you."
"What?" she cried in outrage. "Why?"
"Do you feel any pain where you were you were 'shish-kabobbed'?"
Now Ginny knew why Hermione had been so quiet. What the bloody hell? Ginny thought as she concentrated on her chest and abdomen. "No."
Ginny felt the bed jiggle slightly, knowing that Hermione was nodding then. "You healed."
"Wow, healing techniques are getting better and better. How long did it take?"
"No, Ginny, you don't understand. Before Madam Pomfrey could give you a healing potion, your blood platelets were already working a hundred times as fast as they should have--no matter that they started when air hit the blood. You were only out for a few hours. No one is able to heal that fast, unless of course you're a vampire, but I've seen you in ultraviolet rays, so that was ruled out. It was like I could literally see the blood clotting or something, if that's possible anyway."
"Is today still October 20th?" Ginny whispered softly.
"Yes. The dragon came around twelve o'clock in the afternoon and it's now ten o'clock at night."
Ginny frowned, then gave half of a smile. "If I'm immune to mortal wounds, why can't I be immune to pain?"
"That's not funny," Hermione stated simply.
"I'm sorry."
"Are your eyes still in pain?"
Ginny shook her head. "No. It's more irritating than painful, like the beginning of a migraine."
"Okay, we can probably take the wrap off. Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione called.
Ginny heard a door open and close.
"Ginny says that it doesn't hurt anymore."
"All right dears, let's see what we have," Madam Pomfrey said.
Ginny felt her head being lifted and the wrap slowly being unwound. She blinked her eyes open and frowned when she saw the look of surprise in Madam Pomfrey and Hermione's eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Your eyes are bloody." Hermione swallowed, her face losing colour.
"What?"
Madam Pomfrey sighed. "It seems some blood strayed into your sclerae," the woman said, patting the side of her hip as if searching for something.
"Does it look really bad?"
"It doesn't look bad--maybe eerie because you have the colour of your irises and then, instead of white behind them, it's blood red. A rather awkward look, I suppose," Hermione said, turning her head from side to side and staring intently into Ginny's eyes.
"Hermione, you're making me uncomfortable," Ginny said softly.
"Sorry."
"Here it is," Madame Pomfrey said so suddenly that both girls jumped.
Ginny frowned; she'd forgotten the woman was there. It seemed that the reason for Madam Pomfrey's sudden words was a compact mirror. She presented it to Ginny.
Ginny swallowed slowly, staring at the tiny mirror, but not actually seeing anything. She blinked once and then carefully opened her eyes. She lifted her hands up and placed her fingertips at the outer corner of her eyes, stretching them open and pushing down.
"Oh my-" Ginny whispered, a hand dropping to her lips.
And I thought I was scary looking before, Ginny thought.
****
"Ginny," Ron whispered once he saw her enter the Gryffindor common room. "You okay? Your eyes!"
Ginny smiled and nodded, allowing him to grab her swiftly into a hug. "I know--freaky, huh? Madam Pomfrey said that it should be gone in a little bit."
Harry slowly walked down the stairs from the direction of the boys dormitory, water clinging to his hands. He took the last step, and then wiped his hands against his jeans. Harry chuckled softly. "Can't stop washing my hands," he spoke softly, his green eyes showing his uneasiness. "I just keep on seeing your blood all over them. Then, you healed as if nothing had even happened. Kind of weird, you know."
Ginny nodded. "Thanks for saving me-again!"
"Can I ask you something?" Harry asked, staring at her. His eyes looked as if they were flashing with something.
"Of course," Ginny smiled at him gently.
"Was Sirius off your list of people to save?"
Ginny flinched. Had she heard correctly? His eyes look dull, Ginny thought. "What?"
"I want to know why you didn't save Sirius. You have visions, right? So, why? Why was he knocked off the list you made?" Harry said, his voice so calm it was almost frightening.
For a second, Ginny still didn't registered what he was saying-what he was asking. If it hadn't been for the dangerous look in his eyes she probably still wouldn't have been able to comprehend what he was saying.
"If I could have saved him, I would have. It was out of my hands. If I could change how things happened that night, I would do it in a minute, but I'm not a god. How do you think I felt? Knowing that I have this gift and I still couldn't save someone that's important to you, to me, to my family," Ginny spoke softly, her surprise still evident on her face.
"You could've saved him and you didn't. That's the truth," Harry growled, his fist clenching tightly.
Ginny stared at him in horror, tears forming in her eyes. She spoke through gritted teeth and with her voice cracking from overloaded emotions. "It doesn't work that way! I haven't been able to see anyone's future that I care about--"
"Oh, so you don't care about Ron," Harry snorted angrily.
"--until recently-something's happened that is now allowing me to really see, to see everything that comes to me. The people that I care about are no longer blocked from the wards that the Fates set."
"The what?" Harry practically snarled.
"Harry, watch your tone! You know I've never put up with your crap, and I won't start dealing with it now!"
"The Fates are three sisters that decide human fate," Hermione offered.
"You mean like those three ugly hags in Hercules?" Harry asked, peeved, his eyes shifting to the bushy-haired girl.
Hermione's eyes widened. "They are not ugly nor old. They are personified as very beautiful and young women that look like they're around twenty-five or thirty."
"You know, Harry, what's making this hurt so much is that I understood you. I always understood you because I know what it's like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. The only difference was that the whole world knew about you, but as for me, I didn't have anyone constantly reminding me of who or what I am, but I had to endure my pain alone. I could never tell anyone," Ginny said, her last words emphasized heavily.
"You chose that, Ginny. Don't pull that bullshite on me!" Harry growled angrily, turning his back to her.
Ginny's eyes watered and she bit her bottom lip. "You right, I did. I thought I was protecting all of you from what this world is really like--and not just the wizarding world, but the Muggle world, too. Do you remember that time that I went to Hermione's for the weekend two years ago? Well, I had a vision of a little girl being beaten to death by her drunken father for no apparent reason. The next day, Hermione was introducing me to the news. . . and on that T.V., right at that exact moment, I saw the face of that little girl once again."
Ginny stopped and took a deep breath. "You know, I never understood why I'd get visions that I could do nothing about. That little girl may have well been on the other side of London--there wasn't any possible way I could have saved her. It happened within hours of my vision! So, sure, Harry you got a raw deal--dead parents, dead Godfather, and a psychotic powerful wizard that everyone's scared of who's out for your blood."
Hermione gasped.
Ron raised an eyebrow. "Ginny, you're out of line!"
Ginny turned a dead stare to him, causing him to flinch back from the reality of how grown up her look was. "Ron, when you go through what I go through every single day, then you can tell me who's out of line. I don't need Harry screaming at the top of his lungs at me because my Sight missed Sirius's death! I am sorry if that pisses him off!"
Ron gritted his teeth, but he kept his mouth shut.
"I get visions!" Ginny stated as if it were the most casual thing in the world. "What I get is completely different from what Professor Trelawney gets--she occasionally has a good day and actually gets the truth. My visions are sometimes so powerful they knock me unconscious for hours or give me bloody noses and a migraine for days," Ginny growled out, glaring fiercely at Harry.
Hermione's eyes started tearing as Ginny spoke.
"I also see normal people, good people, getting dealt a bad hand by another person who was just as normal. I see everyday people murdering others for that little bit of extra cash, for an eighth of crack just so they can feel. Then I see the real helpless, the children, and the mothers raising a child alone. I have to deal with the pain of that. When I have visions I feel the pain, if there's blood I can taste the copper in my mouth, I can smell spoiled food-It's like I'm there for those two or three minutes. That's right, my visions are pretty long, and I usually have a couple a day."
Harry started to speak, but Ginny cut him off. "Hermione, I know you fairly well, so I can tell what you're thinking. How could I have dealt with this since I was eleven? The answer is glaringly obvious--my family, my friends. They were ignorant to my problem and because of that they treated me normally, like I wanted them to. No one walked on eggshells, afraid that I might have a vision at any time and run to my room contemplating on whether or not I should end my misery and slit my wrists. It was better that no one knew and now that the bliss of ignorance isn't a barrier, I hope I can survive."
Ron scoffed. "Don't be so melodramatic."
Ginny laughed, tears streaming freely down her face. "Did you not hear me? I can't be melodramatic when crap like this really happens. I don't have that luxury, but I do have the choice to live or die. I've been choosing to live and I'm hoping it won't change after what's happened. This world is disgusting and I honestly don't see why the higher powers let us live."
Harry sighed and bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Ginny."
"What?" Ginny asked, the surprise evident on her face. "Oh--you should be apologizing-"
Harry shook his head. "I'm not apologizing for what I said. I meant it and I'm still a little angry that it was out of your hands because they hadn't sent it to you. I'm apologizing for the way you see things. They really have taken their toll on you, these visions. I had just thought that that was your personality, but if you can't see how beautiful this world can be, then I really feel sorry for you. I do have a raw deal and I get it when you say that yours is bad, too. Even though this world has its flaws, there are five good things for every one of them."
"Name them--for one of the worlds flaws, name five," Ginny demanded, her fingernails digging into the palms of her hands.
"Love--" Harry started.
Ginny snorted. "Oh please! That's when people really become crazy--where the scary obsession comes in. It's not love, it will never be love!"
"You obviously haven't fallen in love," Harry stated calmly. "Lets see, loyalty when it's put to the test," he stopped to smile at Ron and Hermione, "a mother's need to protect her child no matter what, the happiness in someone's eyes when something good happens, and when someone who had a raw deal from the start finally gets dealt a good hand."
Ginny pursed her lips, trying to stop more tears from coming.
"So, I feel sorry for you. Sorry that you get the visions, sorry that they've made you into a cold hearted bitch," Harry said softly.
"Harry!" Ron growled.
"I apologize for that, it was uncalled for--you're right, Ron. Ginny, you aren't a bitch, but you are so cold-hearted that I'm starting to get cold from being around you. Your heart's closed, it's black, and for someone who hasn't lost anything, that's a bad situation. Those visions of other people losing something--you never had to suffer the consequences. Your family has given everything that they can for you. I'm not telling you this to be a bastard--I hope you realize that. You are so afraid to let anyone get close that this is what you've become. There's still hope, though."
Ginny felt her strength leave her as her legs crumbled. She landed on the floor with her thighs together, her ankles outward on either side. Tears were pouring from her bloodied eyes. Ginny bowed her upper body over, sobbing freely now. It was then that she felt arms go around her and the familiar scent of green tea filled her nostrils.
Hermione was completely different, it seemed. She'd never been like this. In just the past couple of hours of her knowing Ginny's secret, she'd done a complete transition, it seemed, and Ginny was grateful for this different side of her.
Hm, perhaps I am too quick to judge, she thought.
Ginny pulled away from Hermione and slowly stood up to leave the common room. "I need to go think."
"Wait, Ginny--the curfew!" Hermione called.
****
"Watch it, Weasley. Out again past curfew? You're just begging for a spanking, little girl." Draco Malfoy smirked irritatingly.
Ginny shrank back. She'd always been a little afraid of him for some reason. When she was angry, that didn't matter, but when she was hurt, it wasn't something that she could handle. "Can you just pretend that you're of the humane wizarding race and leave me alone?" she said softly, lifting her head.
He blinked and his eyes widened a fraction. "Whoa, I thought you healed fast? Why didn't it work on your eyes?"
"You know about that?"
"Weasley, it's not everyday that a dragon flies down, spears a student, and that student heals the same day without a spell." Malfoy smirked arrogantly. "Everybody knows. Of course, the teachers were all secretive about it, or trying to be, anyhow. Have you ever seen a teacher whisper to another teacher about something that everyone already knows about? Funny, really."
Ginny frowned and watched his face as he continued to talk.
"That dragon came right down in front of everyone. His wings flapped so hard that they knocked Parkinson over. It was..." He stopped and stood straight, his composure and arrogance returning. "Well, it was exciting, to everyone that wasn't being speared."
Ginny giggled, and soon, that giggle turned into a laugh. She continued to laugh, her tears of sadness changed to tears of happiness--and then just as suddenly turned to sobbing. Her shoulders racked with sob after sob.
***
Draco stared at the red-headed girl, surprised that he'd made her laugh and even more surprised that she started to cry in front of him. He didn't know what to do. His first instinct was to hit her where it hurt, to lash out and make her feel worse, but any thought he'd had disappeared when she lifted her happier looking eyes up to him.
"Thanks for making me laugh. After the lashing I just took, I needed it."
"It wasn't my intention to make you feel better. . . Right, I heard that, but was he wrong?" he asked. "I mean, I hate Potter as much as, if not more than the next Slytherin, and I hate admitting it when he's right."
Ginny frowned. "How did you hear it? Did I miss the memo that allowed Slytherins to enter Gryffindor Tower?"
He smirked, licking the corner of his lip. "That's a secret."
Ginny folded her arms over her chest, her jaw clicking. "What did you do? Malfoy, you aren't allowed to pull pranks on Gryffindors. You need to set an example!"
He sneered. "When did you become my mother? Besides, I was with Lavender-in her room--and playing jokes were the farthest thing from our minds. . . If you must know."
Ginny bit her bottom lip to stop the laughter that wanted to come out. She shook her head at him. "You're so horrible," she said, her eyes twinkling.
Draco smirked down at her and reached his hand out to lift her chin up and push aside a tear from her cheek. "I really am. So your brother is still alive, sadly," he added, "and more importantly, so are you, so it can't be that bad," he whispered, surprisingly tenderly, his thumb seeming of it's own free will, stroking her chin.
Draco frowned suddenly; he could feel the pull that she was having on him. It has to be some spell, he thought, becoming breathless. A damn spell, Draco--snap out of it! He gritted his teeth and shoved her face roughly to the side, glaring at his hand for its betrayal. Draco turned and stormed away, his robe rustling around his ankles.
****
Ginny rubbed her aching jaw. He'd pushed her face a little harder than she would have liked--hell, she would have liked no pushing of the face--but her stomach still burned with. . . something.
She knew what it was. He'd been close, kissing distance. She had felt that way once with Harry.
"The world is officially ending," Ginny whispered, a tiny hint of surprised laughter in her voice.
****
. . .So that's what happened today, Diary. Sometimes I feel like I'm living someone else's life, but
I'm not living my life at all; I just exist. And I am afraid, afraid that I
won't be able to make it. This world is hard and scary. I know we were never put here to have it easy. So
Harry's right, I'm more afraid than I thought. There's a part of me that wants to let people in, but then I
feel myself put up this wall and I don't understand why. What strikes me most about Harry is that despite
everything he's suffered, he can still look at life and be happy. I've never known that kind of faith. It makes
me so sad, that people like Harry, who've lost almost everything, can still be open to love, while I, who've
lost nothing, can't.
In Muggle Studies, we're taking a look at Catholic religion and reading The Bible. It's pretty interesting. We really do have to work towards our own salvation with fear and trembling. I think that day by day, bit by bit, I'm slowly starting to find mine. I even think something good happened today because for the first time in four years I felt that 'crush' flutter in my stomach again. Of course, I felt it for Draco Malfoy, which is the oddest thing that's happened all day, really. Can you imagine it, me mooning over Draco Malfoy?
I remember hearing a quote: "If you don't get your chance when it comes around, you'll get left behind." I don't want to get left behind. So maybe, instead of ignoring the flutter, I should do something. I think that the fear of failure might hold me back, though. I'll try and push through it. It's times like this when I actually wish I could have visions about myself. Visions showing me that I'm going to live a long happy life, that I'm going to have a lover who loves me more than anything and vice versa, that my family won't have to struggle with bills anymore.
Speaking of visions, I had another one tonight. Surprisingly, I'm not completely sure I got it, though. I saw the number seven twice, then I saw my mother, and then me blowing out the candles for my sixteenth birthday. The problem is that my birthday was August 11th and I've never had a vision of the past. I also saw a girl who was definitely an Ancient Egyptian. She couldn't have been any older than fifteen.
I also saw a date on a strange-looking newspaper, 2147, one hundred fifty years from August 11th, 1997, and then, I saw myself once again. I think I might have an idea, but I'm not sure just yet. I don't know what I would do if I were indeed immortal. What puzzles me most is the girl. Why am I seeing a young Egyptian from the past? When I was having the vision, I felt a familiarity to her--like I've always known her, like I cared deeply for her, and the need I felt to protect that girl was almost vicious. It was like it were my duty to do anything I could to keep her safe. The more I think about it, the more scared I become.
On a better note, it's now October 21st, and my brother is still alive!
G.W.
To Be Continued…
If you don't get your chance when it comes around, you'll get left behind - A preview from the movie Sueno
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling - on the epitaph on the headstone in The Exorcism of Emily Rose and the 2nd chapter of Philippians, verse 12
There's a part of me that wants to let people in, but then I feel myself put up this wall and I don't understand why. What strikes me most about Harry is that despite everything he's suffered, he can still look at life and be happy. I've never known that kind of faith. It makes me so sad, that people like Harry, who's lost almost everything can still be open to love, while I, who've lost nothing, am not. - Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants said by Lena (and of course I altered it a bit!)
I know I used a lot of dialogue from the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, but that speech Lena did in the movie just seemed to fit perfectly with how Ginny is in my story. I'm not sure if I used any other dialogue; tell me if I forgot something!