Heaven Normal Heaven 1 0 2003-06-01T05:54:00Z 2003-06-01T05:54:00Z 1 2869 16355 136 38 19186 10.2625 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
~~--~~*~~--~~ Chapter Three: Life Discoveries ~~--~~*~~--~~
The thought of the pale haired man still clung to Ginny later on in the night after she had seen Marge and Peter's light go off, and long after the noise from the crowded street below wear off. Now, as she looked up at the ceiling, she thought only of the visions she had been seeing and what they meant. She was sure that they were her life. But why couldn't she remember anything else?
The old fashioned clock on the wall next to her bed ticked softly in the darkness. One, two, three seconds of her life gone by meaninglessly as she stared at the ceiling like there would be no tomorrow. Oh, how she wished for death. She would rather have death than this. Rather than not knowing.
Ginny listened to the clock as the time ticked by slowly and solemly. Each time the clock ticked it got louder until the sound deafened out her ears and threatened to make her crazy. She was sure that she couldn't take anymore, and jsut when she thought her heart would explode, she sat up in bed to discover that she was not in her room at Pete and Marge's house.
Ginny looked around the room and saw a warming sight. Pictures of herself and the pale haired man, a child that had hair as robust as her own and a pale face with freckles to match. A large framed portrait on the opposing wall showed herself ten years younger in her black Hogwarts robe with a rolled up piece of parchment in her hand. Her seventh year graduation picture. But she did not this place called Hogwarts. She did not remember it.
The bed stirred and she found herself looking down at the pale haired man as he laid face down with his arms wrapped around his pillow. He had a small grin on his face as he slept on peacefully. Ginny found herself laying back down and running her hands through his soft, gentle hair. A happy sigh escaped his lips and she thought back to a time when his life was nothing more than terror. It had been hard times for him then, but she didn't know him as well back then.
"Happy Christmas, Love," Draco said as he opened his eyes to look up at her.
"Happy Christmas, Draco," Ginny said as she leaned over and kissed his forehead.
"Where is the little terror? He's late this year."
Ginny laughed quietly as she laid there, studying his face and all aspects of anyhting she could see. This was her favorite part of the mornings. She always loved laying there and just watching him. Sometimes he was awake when this happened, and sometimes he was asleep, but it made no matter. As long as he was there, she would watch.
The loud padding of small feet echoed from down the hallway and began to gradually get louder until the door to the bedroom opened and crashed against the wall. A small child flung himself on the bed and in the middle of his parents. He stood up and jumped up and down, yelling about opening presents.
Draco laughed and sat up. He grabbed the bouncing child and sat him down on the floor to keep from hurting himself. Draco ran a hand through the child's hair. It was much like his own, limp and parted in the middle. It hung down on the sides, but like Ginny's, it was red. The boy had his father's eyes though. Steely grey with flecks of blue.
"Come on already!" The boy yelled and began to tug on Draco's hand, trying his hardest to pull him out of bed.
"Oh, go on, Draco. Humor him. I'll go get the baby."
Ginny stood up and stretched as Draco found himself being pulled down the hallway by a vivacious four year old. The sight made Ginny laugh, and even though Draco wouldn't willingly admit to it, he loved these times with his son.
Ginny put on a silver robe and walked out of the room and to the nearest door down the hallway. She opened it gently becasue she knew that it would creak, and a cranky baby on Christmas morning was not what she wanted to deal with. The quiet steps that she ook to the crib were worth the time it took to take them when she saw that her baby girl was still asleep.
Ginny smiled and reached down, stroking the soft whisps of red hair that were growing on the child's head. This child was a miracle child. Born prematurely, the doctors told Ginny and Draco that the child wouldn't live through the night of its birth. But the baby proved the doctors wrong. That had been the Thanksgiving miracle. Now she was a little over a month old and still going strong.
"Hey baby girl," Ginny cooed softly as the little girl stretched in her mother's arms. They had named her Serenity because that was what she brought to them. Serenity in the chaos of their everyday lives. And the baby lived up to her name.
"That's my girl," Ginny said as Serenity opened her eyes into tiny slits, revealing the eyes that were already turning out to be steely grey like her father's. "How about some presents?"
Draco sat in the middle of the living room as Ginny came out holding the tiny infant in her arms securely. Having already found his set of magic miniature dragons that flew and moved around, Gavin, their son, was playing wildly near the Christmas tree. Draco watched with amusement as one of the dragons burnt a branch off of the tree.
Ginny sat down on the couch near where Draco sat on the floor. She held the baby in her lap and rubbed her back as she watched in amusement, her son and husband going through their presents ravenously. It was a joyous sight to behold. One of her favorites. She could watch the two of them like that for hours at a time, just her guys as they spent quality time together. And often she did find herself watching silently in the background.
Draco turned around and smiled lovingly at his wife. He stood and brushed some tinsel off of his pajama bottoms and leaned down to kiss Ginny softly on the lips, a lingering kiss that she did not willfully break free of. Draco picked up his daughter and held her close to his chest, whispering sweet nothings into her ear.
"Mum," Gavin said as he stood from his pile of wrapping paper. "Will Christmas always be like this?"
Ginny pulled the small child onto her lap and looked down into his eyes with a serious gaze. "Yes. As long as we're together, Christmas will be just like this...."
Ginny sat up in her bed with a very violent jerk. Her heart beat wildly once again in her chest as it had the many nights before this one. Dreams were one thing, but these visions were causing her mind to burn up with longing and worry. What if the pale haired man and their children were looking for her? Maybe she had been taken from her home.
Ginny laid down and clutched the sheets tight to her chest. A few tears trickled out of her eyes and landed soundlessly on the pillow below. She hated the way things had to be. Wishing on the moon was worthless to her. Instead of going to the window, she stayed in her bed and cried herself to sleep while the pale haired man stood on the street below, all hope of reunion lost to him. And then he cried.
Marge decided that the house needed to be cleaned. When the house got dirty, she became the authority on homecare. 'There's nothing worse than a dirty house with two women who have nothing better than to clean it,' she had said after breakfast that morning. Ginny, who had been unwanting to clean it, did so anyway just to please Marge.
Upon rumaging through the bottom of Marge's closet she found more pictures of Marge's daughter and some more articles of clothing that looked like baby clothes from an earlier time era. It was all strange looking, but Ginny had no room to complain about anything or ask questions since she was being provided with a home and hot meals.
Just as she was putting the boxes back in the closet she realized that she left something out of a box. It was a piece of paper, document style that was laying face down on the wooden floor. Ginny reached over with effort and picked the paper up, turning it over to make sure it was something important and not just trash to be thrown away.
Sudden cold swept over Ginny as she read the words on the paper that was in fact a document. A death certificate to be exact. Ginny scanned over the paper and read the words to herself. The color began to drain out of her face slowly as she read over the words 'date of death' and 'cause of death', but her heart seemed to stop dead in her chest when she scanned over the name 'Peter Sullivan'.
A force harder than anything she had ever felt came over her and she saw herself lost in another vision. This was not like any vision she had felt before in her life. This was utter torture and she could feel the tension and fear radiating from her very being. Ginny was shocked to see Draco running into the bedroom with the two children in his arms, Gavin who looked about six and Serenity who looked about two.
A worried look crossed Draco's face and hegrabbed Ginny by the arm roughly and pulled her close to him. He leaned over by her ear and whispered roughly, 'He's coming. I can feel it.'
Ginny's eyes went wide and she grabbed her daughter out of Draco's arms and rushed to the other side of the room. She grabbed her wand from off of the nightstand and muttered a spell at the wall revealing a secret hideaway that not even Draco had known about. Ginny put her daughter in the hole and then put her soon in there as well. They were both cramped and Serenity had to sit on Gavin's lap to save space.
Ginny muttered another spell at the wall and it closed up enough to conceal the hideaway, but not cut out all light and air completely. Draco leaned down to the hideaway where it had been and told Gavin to keep his sister quiet and not make a sound, no matter what happened. The boy agreed through his nervous tears just as the door to the house burst open with a loud crack.
Ginny found herself pulled to Draco's chest, his arms around her as a protective shield from whatever or whoever was coming. Footsteps rang loudly in the dead silence of the room and Ginny wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but there. Anywhere. She cried into Draco's chest softly.
"Father," Draco said as he put himself in front of Ginny. He stood up straighter to look a bit more intimidating than he felt.
"Son, your time has come. Join us, or die."
Ginny let out a small sob at the word 'die' and felt her legs go weak beneath her. She laid her head against Draco's back and laid her palms flat on his shoulders. Her shaking was becoming uncontrollable.
"I would rather die a thousand deaths than live my life in the servitude of the Devil."
Lucius sneered at his son. Where down the line had he gone wrong? It just wasn't right to hear his own son talk to him in such a disrespectful manner. But some of them just couldn't be taught, and so it would stand.
"You're being a fool, Boy."
"I am being sensible. There is no such thing as true power. True power is nothing in the end. Nothing to me, anyway."
Lucius stepped up another step and took out his wand from inside the dark folds of his pocket. He held it gracefully in between his long, bony fingers just as he had done hundreds of thousands of times before. But never had he held it knowing that he held the life of his own son before him, in his hands.
"This is your last chance, Son."
Draco cringed at the word, but stood his ground, his steely eyes turning to an icy glare as he realized what everything meant. He didnt have his wand with him, it was no use of trying to go get it. He couldn't duck out of the way because whatever would come to him would jsut hit Ginny, and he couldn't leave because his children were still in the room.
Lucius smirked and held the wand up, pointing it at Draco's chest.
"Avada Kedavra," Lucius said forcefully as the blinding green light shot from the tip of the wand and into the boy that he had so many years ago poured his soul into.
Draco fell limply to the ground at Ginny's feet.
Ginny found herself stumbling through the hallway of Marge's apartment, the death certificate crushed between the tight fist of her hand. She fell to the floor and let out a harsh cry as she thought of the pale haired man's body laying dead at her feet.
Ginny stood in the middle of her bedroom, Draco still laying on the ground looking limp. The color had drained out of his face as it had drained out of her own and she felt nothing more than a complete emptiness inside her chest at the sudden loss of the one person that meant the world to her.
Lucius looked at Ginny with a cruel smile gracing his age-hardened features. He didn't think it would have ever been possible that his son could have loved anyone that wasn't of a noble wizard bloodline. The Weasleys were nothing more than commonfolk to him and it was disgraceful to even think of touching one. The killing of a Weasley should have been no matter.
Lucius held up his wand as the Killing Curse left his lips, and Ginny saw nothing but a blinding flash of light as the pain errupted through her body, the searing force of the curse taking away the life that had been so meaningful to everyone she had loved. But somehow she knew it was better that way. She could be with her Draco....
Ginny sat up in the hallway, leaning against the wall and rocking back and forth with the painful thoughts of her vision still ringing throughout her head. Marge came walking around the corner and saw the death certificate in Ginny's hand. She put a hand over her mouth and walked over, sitting down on the floor next to Ginny.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ginny asked through her tears. "Why couldn't you have told me?"
"It doesn't work like that, Dear. You have to find out on your own." Marge grabbed the death certificate and opened it up, scanning over the words written on the paper.
"So my visions?"
"They are of the life you once had."
"How do you know?" Ginny stopped rocking and put her head in her hands.
"I went through the same thing that you have just done. I had the visions and the learning process. I know it's hard to accept it."
"Hard? It's more than that. I just don't want to believe it. I can't."
"Dear, you're going to have to believe it."
"How can I believe that I'm dead? It just doesn't seem logical enough. I mean, when we die, we aren't supposed to come back. We're supposed to go to Heaven." Ginny began to sob again uncontrollably.
"Some of them do go to Heaven. But the ones who never got their chance to finish life and left it while in the middle of a love so pure and true get to come back. Not forever, but for a while. Those who never understand their death are sent to a middle place. Not Heaven, but not Hell. It's mundane and you stay there as long as you need to understand that you shouldn't have taken love for granted."
Ginny looked up at Marge in shock and disgust at the thought of what might have happened to her if the vision of her own death had not completely registered. It was almost unbearable to think about.
"What about Draco? Where is he?" Ginny asked, her voice filled with hope.
"He's waiting for you. He's been waiting for you ever since he crossed over. He sits on the bench just outside your window and across the street. I've watched him for days now."
Ginny looked at Marge with all of the love that she could ever want to show a person. She threw her arms around Marge's neck and hugged her tight.
"Thank you for everything, Marge. Thank you."
Ginny stood up and rushed to the front door, yanking it open and rushing past Peter without even noticing who he was. Peter smiled brightly as he saw Marge standing in the doorway of the apartment from which Ginny had just come, a smile equal to his own gracing her features.
Ginny rushed outside and stood in the middle of the sidewalk in front of her home for the past weeks. She looked across the street and saw Draco standing there with his hands in his pockets, a silly grin on his face, and his hair hanging in front of his eyes. It always hung in front of his eyes. She remembered that just as she remembered everything from her previous life all in one second of still time as she stood there, looking at Draco.
The people on the streets didn't notice as Ginny ran through traffic and into Draco's arms, knocking him down as they came in contact. Ginny kissed Draco as hard as she could, making up for lost time that they hadn't spent together since she had crossed over. Draco was just as anxious to kiss her back as he pulled her tighter against him until they melded into one person, the people on the street not even knowing that they were there as they walked right through the couple.
"I almost thought that you weren' going to figure it out," Draco said as he helped Ginny to stand ten minutes later. They brushed off their cltohing and straightened themselves out.
"I'm so happy that I did."
The two strolled along hand in hand as Marge and Peter watched from inside Ginny's bedroom in the apartment.
Draco and Ginny made their way into the park and were silent as they walked through the masses of children that were spending their afternoon playing outside in the sunshine. Ginny stopped in the middle of the path and Draco turned around, jerking himself back to her.
"What is it, Love?" he asked as Ginny looked longingly at the children.
"Whatever happened to Serenity and Gavin?"
Draco smiled a bright smile that lit up his face and reached his eyes. He took ahold of both of Ginny's hands and the world faded to black, only to be lightened up again as they found themselves in another house. Draco pulled Ginny around until they found themselves standing in the den.
At a table near the window Gavin sat with a pencil in one hand and a piece of paper on the table. A letter rested on the table next to him and it was broken open, the Hogwart's seal visible from where Ginny and Draco stood. Serenity was at the other end of the room watching a muggle television as cartoons flashed brightly and quickly across the screen.
Harry walked inside the den and over to the table where Gavin sat. Harry took a seat and drank a cup of coffee as he watched Gavin draw and write on the paper.
"We'll go to Diagon Alley tomorrow and get your things for school." Harry paused and looked thoughtfully at Gavin as he smiled back. "It's hard to believe that you'll be starting this year. I don't want you to grow up so quickly."
Hermione leaned against the doorframe and rested a hand on her stomach. She smiled at her husband and the two children that they had so greatfully taken in five years before after the death of two great wizards had shocked the wizarding world.
"Harry, let the boy grow up. We all have to. And there'll be another one along soon, so you have nothing to worry about," Hermione said with a silly grin.
From the other side of the room Serenity looked up and straight at the spot where Ginny and Draco stood. She gave the air a weird look and nodded gently. Hemione saw this and walked over to Serenity.
"What was that weird look you gave, Serenity?"
"Oh, Mum and Dad are there. I was just saying hello."
Hermione gasped and turned around to meet a grinning Gavin and an equally shocked Harry. Ginny and Draco laughed softly and nodded back at their knowing children before disappearing away to their new life. A life that if nothing else, was better than none at all.