Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's Note: Hello again my lovelies! It has been a little while but I have finally had inspiration enough to write another Draco/Ginny fable for you all to read and hopefully enjoy. Many of the scenes in this story have been whizzing around my head for a fair while so I decided to string them all together. Voila! The result.

This one is a little more angsty than the last so be prepared for scenes of an unhappy and sometimes violent nature.

Enjoy.

Ginny Weasley was brooding darkly as she strode through the rows of Greenhouses. She had received a poor mark for her latest potions essay which she had worked tirelessly on and now here she was drenched in melted ice water having been the unlucky recipient of a rogue charmed snowball while on an errand for Professor Sprout. It had taken practically all of her strength to refrain from hexing the bunch of blushing first years to whom the snowball had belonged but she had settled for a few well chosen threats instead. It was with further vexation that she realised that she had left her wand back in Sprout's office and therefore had to continue on to Greenhouse 5 without so much as a warming charm.

Feeling frustrated and angry was something that Ginny Weasley had long become accustomed to.

Coming from a large family like hers was bad enough without being the youngest and least remarkable of the brood. Her only really outstanding quality was that she was the only girl and that had only proved a burden. Being smothered by one brother was irritating enough without having five more to back him up. She loved her brothers, that was never in question, but it was very exhausting trying to live up to their legacy at Hogwarts while standing in six years worth of hand-me-downs.

She had long since stopped trying to compete and had withdrawn from her family and friends. Not that she had that many friends apart from the "Trio". She had been quite good friends with Luna Lovegood but after she started seeing her brother it became a bit awkward. Luna had a penchant for graphic detail and details about Ron's sex life weren't something Ginny wanted to be party to….ever.

So, when Ginny began acting precisely as she pleased, disappearing until late most evenings and not talking to anyone, it didn't go down too well with Ronnikins. As her darling brother put it, "Staying out late with the "bad crowd", getting drunk and hanging around with boys was not ladylike behaviour."

He had, as usual, managed to get it spectacularly wrong. She preferred her own company far above any other, spending long hours in the back of the library working on her various essays or in her favourite corner of the Astronomy tower with her nose in a good book. She still played Quidditch for Gryffindor but she tried her best to be late to practices whenever her brother (who was captain) had been particularly annoying. She also had a part time job helping Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher in her spare time and on weekends. It was terribly dull work but it paid rather well, allowing her to gradually replace her worn out robes and school books. Not to mention the occasional treat, a new book or expensive perfume.

She did nothing to contradict Ron's interpretation of her frequent disappearances, in fact she enjoyed nothing more than encouraging him in his assumptions. Many a time she paused outside the fat lady's portrait to smudge her lipstick, ruffle her hair and take a swig from a flask of fire whiskey she had stored in a vase on top of one of the dusty bookcases. If Ron wanted to think badly of her, good luck to him. It was a lot more fun than living up to his expectation of a "good girl" little sister. Besides, he pissed her off a large amount of the time, it was only fair that he got a taste of his own medicine from time to time.

As she stomped her way through the Greenhouses she cursed softly under her breath and made a mental note to give Ron something to be really mad about later that evening to make herself feel better. Finally reaching Greenhouse 5 she opened the door and stepped gratefully into its magically warmed interior. Professor Sprout had asked her to fetch some cuttings from a tropical Tentacular plant. Ginny paused for a second, taking a moment to search her memory for their location. She seemed to remember that they were on their own at the back of the Greenhouse due to their tendency to attack other plants and occasionally people. She cursed again for forgetting her wand and contemplated going back to get it when something caught her eye.

Laying on the path, at the back of the Greenhouse was what looked remarkably like a boot. Creeping forward she saw with a start that it was a boot and that the boot was attached to a leg, the leg to a body. A body which was lying sprawled over the roots of the afore-mentioned Tentacular plant. Ginny's hand flew to her mouth in horror, thinking for a brief, terrible moment that someone had been attacked, until she saw that the body was snoring soundly. The bloody fool had fallen asleep, curled at the base of one of the most poisonous and violent plants in the known world.

This bloody fool, was Draco Malfoy.

There are many interesting things to be said about Draco Malfoy. He had changed a lot in the past year and a half. He had to after the events of the summer after his fifth year.

It hadn't taken long for Lucius Malfoy to escape from Azkaban with the Dementors on the side of the Dark Lord and, upon his return to Malfoy Manor he demanded that Draco become a Death Eater. Draco had resisted of course, and his father had beaten and tortured him quite severely. He was near death when his mother had aimed the Avra kedavra at his father and then tried to kill herself, irreparably damaging her brain in the process.

So he had returned to Hogwarts for his sixth year practically an orphan. No one seemed to notice his slow withdrawal or the haunted look that had taken residence in his cool silver eyes. No one that was except Ginny Weasley.

Draco Malfoy was one of the other reasons why Ginny detached herself from "The Trio". They had been almost delighted when they heard about what had befallen the Malfoys. It had shocked her at first, how truly cruel and unfeeling they could be at times. Even Hermione, who was the most compassionate of the three of them, had expressed a cold indifference to Draco's obvious suffering. They seemed of the opinion that he had it coming. If any of them had a right to be pleased about the demise of a Malfoy it should have been Ginny, but she felt little malice towards Draco and for that reason her heart went out to him. He was after all just a boy who had lost his parents, it didn't matter who those parents had been.

Ginny could understand that having been through what Harry, Ron and Hermione had at Voldemort's hands, they were bound to be a little

hardened. Ginny just didn't want to end up desensitised to the pain of others the way they were.

So when Ginny happened across the sleeping form of Draco Malfoy in Greenhouse 5, his silvery hair ruffled and his pale lips parted, his hands clutching an open book to his chest she understood at once why he was here.

So this is where he comes to be alone. To be at peace.

As if in response to her musings, his arm began to twitch violently. Ginny felt the sudden urge to hide before he woke but even as she began to move towards the door, Draco let out a low mournful cry and curiosity got the better of her. He began to sob pitifully in his sleep, muttering something Ginny couldn't make out, over and over. She stooped lower to catch what he was saying.

"No Father don't! I'm sorry! Mother! No! Don't! Please!"

She kept expecting him to wake but he didn't, seemingly trapped in his terrible nightmare, suffering his own personal tragedy all over again. She couldn't bare it, she had to help him. She began to shake him roughly, crying out his name in an attempt to wake him but she couldn't rouse him. It was heartbreaking to watch his normally beautiful face contorting with pain and misery. She put her arms around him, making reassuring noises and holding him tightly to her, rocking back and forth. Eventually, the sobbing slowed and turned to furtive sniffing. She let him go, feeling suddenly awkward in such an intimate embrace, having not been invited.

Draco sat with his head in his hands for a short while, Ginny stood apart from him twiddling her thumbs, waiting for him to recover. She wondered if she should just leave and pretend she had never been there but she knew that her actions would need explaining and he would need some reassurance of her discretion. She knew what it was like to be the victim of vivid nightmares. She had had her fair share after her stint as Voldemort's plaything and it had been bloody awful facing up to her roommates. It got to the point where Ginny had been given a private room to give the others a decent night's sleep.

Draco eventually shook his head vigorously and stood, wiping his face on the sleeve of his robes. He turned and began to collect his few belongings together, dusting the gravel from his book and shaking the dead leaves and dirt from his robes. Ginny stood silently behind him, searching desperately for something appropriate to say. Words failed her, so she inspected her fingernails instead.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Draco spun round to face her, Ginny stood quickly to attention as he looked her dead in the eyes, as if challenging her to mock him or make a sarcastic comment. When none came he relaxed his shoulders, let out a helpless sigh and turned to leave.

Ginny watched him go, frantically searching for something to say. As he reached the greenhouse door she called after him. He turned to look at her, his face showing no emotion. Ginny took a deep breath and blurted,

"Your secret is safe with me, Draco."

He stared at her for a moment, gave a curt nod, turned and walked away.

Ginny let out a deep sigh and turned to the trunk of the Tentacular that she could now see was stunned. She took out her clippers and began taking cuttings.