Unofficial Portkey Archive

A/N. Sorry it's been a while in the making. New job etc taking up all my time. Plus 'tis the season to be stressed out and skint after all. New chapter also on its way very soon. Thanks for all your lovely reviews, It makes this worth making time for.

Enjoy

and

Merry Christmas!

Chapter Seven.

She stood and walked quickly to the door and stopped with her hand on the handle. She stepped away, suddenly unsure of what to do until her mind screamed at her.

He is leaving. You may never see him again! Run Ginny, Run!

She tore down the stairs, out of the castle and into the grounds. She looked towards the lake, down to where she could see two hooded figures standing, staring into the night sky.

She pelted down the lawn towards them. She was already calling out to him as she came to a skidding halt behind them.

"Draco, I have to tell you…I love you too! I always have! Don't go. You have nothing to prove!"

The pair of hooded figures turned and she was faced with Albus Dumbledore and…… Severus Snape.

Ginny stared uncomprehendingly at the pair of slightly shocked professors. She looked past them searchingly, expecting to see Draco somewhere in the shadows. She already knew the truth, even if she could not quite admit it to herself.

As usual, Snape was at hand to point out the painfully obvious.

"Mr Malfoy is not here Miss Weasley. Kindly return to the castle. It is late and you should know the rules by now."

Ginny slumped to the ground, exhausted and devastated. She looked up at Dumbledore, her eyes shining with the tears that threatened to spill forth.

"Has he already gone? Tell me he hasn't left yet. I need to speak with him. He can't be gone."

Dumbledore gazed back at her, his expression filled with sadness. However it was Snape again that spoke, his tone sharp and uncaring.

"I urge you to return to the castle Miss Weasley and cease with these dramatics. Do not pry where it is not your business to do so."

"That's enough Severus. Leave us."

Snape grunted with resentment at Dumbledore's blunt dismissal. Without argument he turned on his heel and left, his cloak billowing out behind him. Dumbledore reached out a hand to Ginny and pulled her to her feet.

"I'm afraid that you are correct. He has already left. I am very sorry."

Ginny felt a part of her snap.

"How could you send him off to his almost certain death like that! How could you use him so cruelly for your cause? I may never see him again! And he will never know that I love him, that there was no reason to go because I don't care what anyone thinks. I know how good he is, how kind…how…"

Ginny broke down, her sobs echoing over the lake where the giant squid raised a tentacle into the air.

Dumbledore stood by her as she cried, an arm draped comfortingly around her shoulders and let her back to the castle.

"Miss Weasley, you must realise that I did not ask anything of Draco that he was not entirely willing to do. He is an unspeakably brave young man doing what he is about to do and if I did not think he was very capable of carrying out this most dangerous of assignments then I would never have sent him. Draco has a rare quality, he is a cunning Slytherin with the heart of a Gryffindor and that makes him uniquely qualified to help us bring Voldemort to an end. That is mostly due to how he feels for you. You should be proud of him and of how much love he feels for you "

"But he can't do it alone!"

"He won't be alone. He will have the fate of the entire world on his back to get him there and his love for you in his heart to bring him back. This is something he feels he has to do. If I had not approached him yesterday then it would only have been a matter of time before he felt compelled to fight in some capacity. I merely placed him where I felt he would be most useful. I understand if that seems a little callous to you Miss Weasley, but I'm sure in time you will come to understand."

There was a thick silence between them as they entered the castle. Ginny had understood that the time would come when she would have to say goodbye to her loved ones without knowing if she would ever see them again. She just didn't realise that it would be so soon or so painful.

She stopped abruptly as a strange new certainty crept over her.

"I want to help. What can I do?"

Dumbledore peered through his half-moon spectacles at her, his expression puzzled.

"I mean, I'm not taking my NEWTs until next year, that is if there is a Hogwarts left by then. There is a war out there and I want to do something to help. What can I do?"

Dumbledore considered for a moment. "Are you absolutely certain about this Miss Weasley?"

"I am. I've never been so sure of anything in my life."

"In that case we so desperately need a new apprentice healer to work with Madam Pomfrey. It would mean spending your Easter Holidays working in our field hospital and then being assistant healer, a member of the faculty next term. We plan to bring the more severely wounded here to convalesce. It would mean that you would be relatively safe and still able to continue your studies until which time that Hogwarts can no longer assure the safety of its students or that the professors and myself are needed to stand beside Harry."

Ginny thought long and hard about what Dumbledore had proposed but it was not a difficult decision to make. She would be learning valuable skills and in her way would be helping keep her brothers and all the other people she cared about safe.

"When do I start?"

The day after Draco's departure, Dumbledore visited Ginny in her room. He handed her a parcel wrapped in green and silver paper which she slipped discreetly into one of her drawers, unwilling to open it until Dumbledore had left her. He stayed for a short while to discuss Ginny's healer training and to escort her to the hospital wing for her first day working with Madame Pomfrey.

At suppertime she sat with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Luna and listened to their conversations, taking comfort in the normality of it. She was yet to tell her brother about Draco's sudden departure and of her healer training. She knew that Dumbledore had owled her parents about her training and so it would only be a matter of time before Ron found out about that. She figured that with the next meeting of the Order set for the first day of the Easter holidays they would know the details of Draco's mission soon enough.

She was glad of that at least, she didn't think she was ready to speak of Draco yet. Each time she encountered something that reminded her of him she felt a sharp pang of loss and the tears would start. Talking about him, she was sure, would prove almost impossible.

Draco had not even been gone for a whole day, not many had even noticed his absence, but Ginny felt like he had been gone for an age.

She went to her room that night, her body exhausted, her emotions heavily battered. She wearily drew back the covers and climbed into bed taking a deep shaky breath. She had dreaded this moment all day, the moment when she was left alone with her thoughts and there was no reason to hold back anymore.

With a jolt she remembered the package that Dumbledore had given her earlier. Reaching into the drawer she retrieved it and held it loosely in her hands. Carefully she unwrapped it and held up the silver picture frame. It was like looking at the picture with a new set of eyes.

Ginny and Draco, in the Three Broomsticks, all smiles and mutual affection. Her heart flipped as she observed Draco's eyes upon her in the picture. He was gazing at her with so much love, she was astounded she had not seen it before. They looked like a couple who were very much in love, and in some ways they were. They just didn't realise it until it was far too late.

The tears were falling fast now as Ginny snuggled back into her bed. She propped the picture on a pillow next to her head so that she could see it and let the sobs out, vowing that it would be the last time she would mourn Draco. After all, there was every likelihood that he would return and she was going to hold onto that hope until he did.