Unofficial Portkey Archive

A/N- Since I did not do the 2-for-1 update with ch. 7, I made sure I updated rather quickly. I hope this is quick enough for you all. Also, we see one of Draco's little habits in this chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 8- Going Under

Ginny woke up the morning after Narcissa's birthday gala with a blistering headache and on the floor.

How the hell did that happen? she wondered as she sat up, running a hand through her hair. Or at least she tried to run her hand through her hair. She stopped halfway, realizing that her hairstyle from last night was still intact. Ginny glanced down to see if she had slept in her dress. When she saw that she did, she let out a groan accompanied by a smack to her forehead.

I can't believe I slept in my dress. I wasn't even drunk, Ginny thought as she clamped a hand onto the side of her bed in an attempt to pull herself to her feet.

Ginny looked at her bed, comforter-less since it was currently on the floor at her feet, but nonetheless, there definitely something underneath the sheets. She poked it, but it didn't budge. After she tried poking it a couple more times, Ginny yanked the sheets off. What she saw was Alise, still fully clad in her eveningwear from last night, completely oblivious to the lack of covers around her.

"How the fuck do you get the bed, but I end up on the floor; especially when it's my fucking bed?!" Ginny yelled, causing Alise to bolt up in Ginny's bed.

"What? Did I miss anything?" Alise asked, bewildered with her hair in complete disarray.

"No, no you didn't," Ginny answered sullenly.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Well, how is it that I end up on the floor, while you're fast asleep on my bed when I clearly remember falling asleep on my bed?"

"I don't know, Ginny. Did it ever occur to you that maybe you rolled off the bed?"

"Oh, like that'll ever happen," Ginny replied, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I'm just saying it could've happened," Alise said, holding up her hands in surrender.

"Yeah, whatever," Ginny said as she grabbed a white tank, a teal velvet cropped jacket and a pair of brown trousers to change into.

"What are you doing?"

"First, I'm going to change out this dress. Then, I'm going to make myself either breakfast or lunch, depending on the time. After I'm done with eating, I'm going to the office. Care to join me?"

"For what? The food or the office?"

"Either or."

"The food, yes. The office part, no."

"Why not, Alise?"

"Ginny, it's a Sunday, I feel like I have a fucking hangover and besides, I want to write to Blaise today."

"Still holding strong on our deal, I see."

"You betcha. And pardon me for asking, but why are you going to the office?"

"Something Sophia mentioned last night about Draco and people's past afflictions. I wasn't sure whom exactly she was talking about, besides Draco, of course, but I think I figured out who they are," Ginny replied as she walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"You know, Gin, if it weren't for the fact that you hate him so much, I would say that you have a thing for Draco," Alise said with a smirk.
Ginny's head peaked out of the bathroom door within three seconds of hearing Alise.

"Alise Catherine Martin, you so much as think that again and I'll perform the Killing Curse on you faster than you can say 'Quidditch'," Ginny spoke with a glare.

"Quidditch," Alise drawled, smirk still firmly in place.

"I'm serious, Alise. The sheer idea of me being in love with Draco is insane and you know it," Ginny said, closing the bathroom door once again.

"Whatever you say, Ginny. Whatever you say."

* * * * * * * * *

"Are you sure that you don't want to come to the office?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely certain that I don't want to spend my entire day cooped up in your office."

"But I won't spend the entire day in my office. Look, its ten o'clock right now. The latest I'll be in there is one."

"Hell no, Ginny. I know you and I know that you'll get so wrapped up in what you're doing that you'll end up staying there hours later than you've planned."

"I promise I won't if you come with me," Ginny begged.

"No, Ginny! I plan on not having to worry about mental patients this Sunday and that's final!" Alise stated, Apparating before Ginny had a chance to respond.

Ginny huffed at Alise's rather rude exit from her flat, but Apparated herself to St. Mungo's.

* * * * * * * * *

Ginny entered her office and found his file on her desk.

She grabbed it, along with a few sheets of parchment and a Never-Ending Self-Inking Quill, and left, making her way towards his ward.

When she entered his cell, she found him sitting on his cot, legs crossed, reading that day's copy of the Daily Prophet.

Ginny conjured her customary red cushioned chair and plopped down in front of him.

"Have fun at my mum's birthday party?" Draco asked, never once looking up at Ginny.

"How do you know I was even there?"

In response, Draco handed Ginny the newspaper, turned to page six, the society page. As she glanced at the paper, Ginny saw a small list of names of those who attended the party. To her surprise, the Prophet deemed her popular and high-class enough to be listed. Ah. Behold the benefits of being employed by Narcissa Malfoy, er, Black.

"By the way, how did my Italian bastard of a cousin, Antonio, treat you?"

Ginny sputtered at this, looking at Draco, who motioned to the paper with an "It's all in the Prophet, Good Doctor."

Ginny skimmed the rest of the page, her eyes landing on a small blurb, accompanied by a photo, about her and Antonio dancing, followed by her meeting Sophia. Sighing, she handed the paper back to Draco.

"So I take it that you're not going to tell me about the party?"

"That would be a definite NO."

"Then tell me, Weasley, what did you come here for?" Draco asked, finally looking up at Ginny.

"I came here to ask you some questions, Draco."

"Aren't they always questions, Ginevra?"

"Yes, they are, but this time I'm not going to be asking you about your childhood or Hogwarts. What I want to talk to you about are events that have happened in the past two years."

"Well, Weasley, you're shit out of luck in that department because there isn't much to talk about."

"And that, my dear Mr. Malfoy, is where I believe you are wrong."

"And how is that, Doctor Weasley?"

"I want you to tell me about your other psychologists."

In the next few moments that passed, Draco froze, unsure of what to say. Ginny knew she had him; she didn't know how exactly, but she knew that she had finally struck a chord deep within this young man's psyche.

Finally, after five minutes of dead quiet, Draco spoke.

"Weasley, Weasley, Weasley. You know as well as I do that Draco can't reveal information like that to you."

Damn, Ginny thought with a slight wince. I thought we had gotten past the whole speaking in the third person thing.

"But, Draco, this is really important to me. Your Aunt Sophia won't tell me anything about it, so I thought that maybe you could."
"Well, whatever Draco's Aunt Sophia felt like withholding from you, she did for a very good reason."

"No, she was about to tell me, but decided not to. I was hoping that you could tell me, Draco, but seeing as you don't want to cooperate, then maybe I should go," Ginny said, preparing to leave.

"Wait! Draco will tell you some things, but only because he had a sudden lapse in his sanity."

Since when was he sane? Ginny thought sarcastically.

"Ok, Draco. I want you to tell me about your first psychologist. What was her name?"

"My first psychologist was named Andrea Lowe. She was twenty-eight at the time."

"Tell me what she looked like, Draco."

"Andrea had long, chocolate brown hair. She was fairly tall and too skinny for my liking. Although she was too skinny, she was very attractive. I liked her; she was nice to me. Then, all of a sudden, she was replaced by someone else."

"Do you know what happened to Andrea?" Ginny asked, writing down what little information Draco had given her.

"All Mother said to me was that Andrea got into an accident of some kind."

"Ok. Now, who was your next psychologist?"

"Her name was Catalin Voslovik. She was originally from the Ukraine, but she spoke perfect English. Catalin reminded me of a ballerina. Her blonde hair was always pulled back into a bun and she wore black framed glasses."

"What happened to Catalin?"

"She went back to the Ukraine to take care of an ailing relative."

Ginny scribbled down the information, motioning for Draco to continue.

"My third psychologist was Alana Murphy. She was my favourite so far. I always like the way her black hair looked almost blue in the bright light of my cell. Alana was also the prettiest, too. I was upset when she quit because she was offered a better job. After Alana came Beatrix Walker. Beatrix annoyed me too much. She was always asking the most obvious questions and it seemed like she didn't know what she was doing. She wasn't even that attractive; her hair was this ghastly shade of brown and she tried to cover whatever facial flaws she had with excessive Glamours. I was all too happy when she decided to go back to America. Following Beatirx was Natasha Atkinson. Natasha reminds me of you, Weasley; red-headed, temperamental and head-strong. But she was pretty good. But I don't think she got on well enough with mother. For some odd reason, I don't remember whatever happened to Natasha. Is this what you were looking for?" Draco asked hopefully.

"Yes, Draco. You are doing wonderfully. Now, please continue."

Draco smiled like a child who had been congratulated for a good grade.

"Natasha was the last of the half-way decent ones before you came along. Natasha was succeeded by Lauren Daniels. Yuck. I didn't like her; she was mean, nasty, ugly and not to mention horrible psychologist. I hope I never have to see her again. After Lauren was Kristen McMillan. Kristen was…hmm…that's odd. I really don't remember that much about Kristen. Next was Lily Collinsworth. But I think Lily was really meant to be temporary in that she was using me for her final. She told me that she would promise to visit me since I liked her, but she never did come back. I know I had two other psychologists before you, Weasley, but their names escape me at the moment. If you really want to know who they are, ask Mother. Is that all?" Draco finished in a slightly bored tone.

Ginny finished writing down everything that Draco had just relayed to her before looking up.

She glanced up with a sigh, placing the quill in her lap and folded her hands.

"Yes, Draco, that is all. I didn't expect you to be as cooperative as you were, especially with the way we started off this meeting, but you were and I thank you. You have done an excellent job today." With that, Ginny vanished her customary chair, gathered her things and headed for the door.

"Weasley?" Draco asked quietly.

"Yes, Draco?" Ginny replied, turning around.

"Why did you want to know about my other psychologists? You mentioned something about my Aunt Sophia and not telling you something about them, but why do you want to know about them?" Draco asked as if he just recovered from a bout of amnesia.

"I'm not sure of the exact reason now, but I have a feeling that by knowing who they are will answer some questions for me."
"What kind of questions?"

"Now that, Draco, is for me to know and for you to never find out," Ginny sang as she left Draco's cell.

* * * * * * * * *

Ginny got back into her office and laid Draco's file, along with the notes she had taken on her desk with a plop.

She walked behind the desk, taking a seat in the black leather office chair. She leaned back in the chair, pushing her legs to the left in order to the make chair spin. For some odd reason, the momentum and the act of spinning around in a chair helped her think, mull over the events of the past hour and a half with Draco. To say it had been interesting would be an understatement. In all actuality, she hadn't expected him to cooperate and she wouldn't expect him to. He did, though, and Ginny was certainly thankful for it.

In a perfect world, all Ginny would have to do is approach Narcissa for information, but seeing that she didn't tell Ginny from the beginning about the "others," chances were that Narcissa wasn't going to tell anytime soon.

Of course she could always check with St. Mungo's. Ginny remembered that when she was employed by the hospital, they asked for a resume and made a background check that would be placed in a file. She wasn't exactly sure why St. Mungo's would need a file on an employee, but she assumed it was for reference reasons. In any case, she might be able to get a few of the other psychologists' profiles. Ginny was almost positive that she could retrieve them of her own accord, but if her motives were questioned, she could always mention Draco and something about research. Yes, that would do quite nicely.

Finished sorting through her thoughts and feeling thoroughly dizzy, Ginny stopped the chair abruptly and attempted to stand. Still feeling slightly disoriented, Ginny spun to the right, a trick Molly Weasley taught her from her younger years. Orientation regained, Ginny opened the briefcase on her desk and grabbed her notes from today's session. She placed the notes inside, along with Draco's profile and closed the leather case. Grasping the handle and picking up her handbag from off the floor, she made her way to door. She opened the door, turning around to give her office a once over before leaving. Seeing that the room was secure, Ginny flicked off the light switch and closed the door, locking it before exiting the hospital.

* * * * * * * * *

Upon Apparating into her flat, Ginny found it devoid of anything that even suggested that Alise had spent the night.

Everything was rather clean and orderly. The dishes in the kitchen sink had been cleaned and put away and when she walked into her bedroom, she saw that it had been cleaned. The bed was made, the mess she had made in her bathroom gone and her dress now hung neatly in her closet.

Ginny made her way back to the small dining area, placing her briefcase and handbag on the table.

Glancing down she saw a piece of folded parchment bearing her name. A note. From whom, though? Ginny picked up the note recognizing Alise's curved script forming her name.

She opened the piece of parchment, reading it through.

Gin-

-Alise

Ginny was pleasantly surprised to say the least. She would have cleaned up the flat herself, but Alise beat her to it and she was grateful for it. Like Alise, she wasn't exactly sure Alise wanted to wait until she was in her presence to write to Blaise, but she did like her next idea. It might be kind of cute if she wrote to Antonio while Alise wrote to Blaise. They could get ideas from each other and knowing Alise, that's probably what she had in mind. Maybe they could also figure out a time when the four of them could meet. That might work. She'd have to tell Alise about that.

In the meantime, Ginny flooed Alise to let her know that she'd be there in a few minutes.

Making sure that she looked halfway decent, Ginny grabbed her handbag and Apparated to Alise's flat.

* * * * * * * * *

"Alise!" Ginny called out as she entered her friend's flat with a pop.

"I'm in the office!" came Alise's response.

"Since when do you have a home office?" Ginny asked, walking down the hallway that Alise's voice seemed to be coming from.

"I converted that second spare bedroom so I could put all my stuff from work in one place at home unlike someone else I could mention."

"Now you wouldn't be talking about me?" Ginny said, finally finding Alise's "office".

"Oh, there you are," Alise spoke, turning around to face Ginny.

"Here I am."

"Well, don't just stand in the doorway, smirking like some red-headed female version of Draco; come in!"

"Alise, remember what I told you…" Ginny said with a bit of a growl.

"Right. Sorry. Forget I even said it," Alise said in surrender.

"Now what's all this nonsense about you wanting to wait until I was with you to write to Blaise? You really don't need my help."

"I know. I know. I just thought it would be fun if we both wrote to our respective prospects at the same time. You must have figured that. Come on, Ginny. You should know me by now."

"True, I did think of that, but I though that you wanted me to be here for some other reason. No matter. Oh, I was thinking that maybe we could figure out a day when the four of us could go out. You know, like a double date."

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll mention it in my letter. By the way, how did your session with 'You-Know-Who' go?"

"His name is Draco."

"I know that, but every time I've said his name lately you have a conniption."

"That's only because you make it seem like I'm in love with him, which is utterly ridiculous. That aside, my session with Draco was rather productive."

"Good to hear," Alise said with a nod of her head.

A few seconds passed before Ginny spoke again.

"You're stalling aren't you?"

"Am I really that obvious, Ginny?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Damn. Alright then, hand me a sheet of parchment," Alise commanded, reaching for two quills.

"Here you go," Ginny said, trading a piece of parchment for a quill from Alise.

"Well, here goes nothing," Alise sighed.

Dear Blaise…

Dear Antonio…

A/N- Thanks to Angel, my beta. That was loads of fun! Wasn't it, kiddos? Does this answer the question that everyone's had on their minds since ch. 6? I know that Draco was rather vague about the psychologist descriptions, but we don't get full -for some of them at least- until ch. 9 for some and the rest, 10. Regarding the reviews that I've been getting: If you ask me a question in the review or just review in general, I WILL answer your review. The next time you read the story, just look back to see if I answered your review. Most of the time I do. If you ask a question that a bunch of other people have asked (like the one about who Sophia was talking about at Narcissa's party), then I will answer it in the author's notes of the next chapter. For now, just check your past reviews.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed; you guys rock on many levels. Please review this chapter if you see fit to do so. I love feedback!

Next Chapter: What I like to call the "Letter Chapter". Ch. 9 is composed entirely of letters. Luna, Sophia, Blaise, Antonio and everybody's favorite mom, Saphira make appearances in letter form. Also, Narcissa in denial. It's gonna be a good one. :)