Author's Notes: After dodging many hexes and curses and rotten tomatoes for that last chapter, I am back with more of our story. Much appreciation to everyone who left a review and to all who continue to read this story. Your outrage and shock have brought me great pleasure. - fallenwitch
Chapter 12
Balls Of Steel
"ALEXANDAR LEVSKI AND WIFE BRUTALLY MURDERED"
Draco started coughing and choking on his half-swallowed crumpet when he opened The Daily Prophet. Several minutes and two large sips of tea later, he regained sufficient control of his airway to continue reading. What the hell had Bella done? Neither party had Ginny yet, so why kill Levski now?
According to the article, it wasn't Bella. It was Bulgarian rebel leader, Christo Chervenko, who was the chief suspect in the murder that was rocking Bulgaria. Chervenko? Wasn't he dead? Draco read on. Sources believe the murder was in retaliation for the death of his father, Closimir Chervenko, powerful clan leader and member of the Order in Bulgaria, who was killed by Levski's forces during the War. As Draco's slow moving neurons finally began making the appropriate connections, he muttered a swift, "Holy shit."
----- ----- -----
"EXTENDED LEVSKI FAMILY FOUND MURDERED, REBEL LEADER SUSPECTED AGAIN"
That damn Chervenko had balls of steel. While the entire Bulgarian Death Eating army was out scavenging the country for him, Chervenko pulls off a daring and well-executed massacre. Draco took another bite of his toast, a sip of tea, and kept reading. Ten Levski family members, six wizards and four witches, as well as two dozen elite Death Eating guards were found dead at the family compound outside Sofia, where they had gathered for security purposes after the death of Alexander Levski and his wife weeks earlier. Warrants for Chervenko and members of his rebel gang have been issued.
Who the hell was Christo Chervenko? According to the files Draco pilfered from Bella, he was a fast rising star in the underground Bulgarian rebel movement who came to prominence after the murder of his father. He was a charismatic, Durmstrang-educated wizard with intellect, cunning, and courage as well as an enormous personal fortune backing his activities. His innovative terrorist tactics and bold maneuvers had garnered a sizeable following, making him the number one target of the Bulgarian government, target for assassination - not arrest. His close scrapes with the authorities were already legend in a country ripe for a hero.
Bella's owl flew in, crotchety as ever, and dumped his packets before stealing Draco's last piece of bacon and flying off. Typical. No goddamn manners at all. Ruddy bird. Bella was informing Draco that she was happily washing her hands of the whole sordid Weasley affair. With the Levski family conveniently dead, there was no further danger to the Weasley wench. Besides, her informants had confirmed the tart's marriage, thus breaking all magical bonds.
Picking up the next packet, Bella's second note fell out with a picture.
I have enclosed a picture of Ginevra with her new husband, Christo Chervenko. Curious, isn't it? She couldn't have used you more if you were an arsewipe.
Love- A. Bella
A tall, chiseled lean and handsome wizard stood with his arms around Ginny. Draco watched as Ginny threw her head back laughing, and Chervenko drew her close, kissing her neck. God, she looked like a different woman, invigorated with life and... dare he say it?... happy in a way he had never known her to be. Looking at that wretched picture, he could almost hear her laughter, that rare and delightful sound he could never get enough of.
Draco found himself staring at that picture, unable tear his eyes away from it. Was he a masochist? Not the last time he checked, but he was beginning to wonder about that himself. Besides, he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Chervenko. There was something about the ruddy bastard. It wasn't his filthy paws all over Ginny; or his annoying, too long rebel hair; or the fact that he could use a good shave. No, it was something much more disturbing.
Add a cloak... a hood... a beard... a touch of Firewhiskey... dim the lights...bingo! It all came together in an explosion. It was him. HIM. Chervenko was the son-of-a-bitch who gambled away Ginny's stolen life on that game of Wizard Chess.
Goddamn it. Draco slammed his infuriated fist down on the table, bringing half his breakfast down with it. What didn't come down with his fist, came down when he threw the entire table over and stormed out of the room, furious.
That son-of-a-bitch used him, used him to do the one thing he couldn't do but was desperate to do - to save Ginny's life. What wizard, other than Draco, had the means and the political connections to safeguard Ginny while she recovered from death's door? Draco ported in and ported out with her, leaving no trace of her departure. She simply vanished, and the magical contract ensured her safety. Draco played right along, making sure her Order-stamped arse didn't die. The Rebel Leader's witch was coddled back to health in the midst of the strongest Death Eating lair in Europe, protected by the strongest Death Eating family in England.
When he decided not to sell her, when he fell in love with her and planned to marry her, Draco disrupted the shit out of their game. Chervenko, who Draco suspected would have been the anonymous overseas buyer willing to pay top dollar for her on the slave market, was suddenly cut out of the deal. Ginny was now looking at a life sentence married to a filthy Death Eater, and she panicked. However, Draco, being the gentleman that he was, came to her rescue again by handing her the solution on a silver platter - a wand, money for the road in the form of an engagement ring, and an unrestricted, untraceable Portkey.
Draco Disapparated to his flat, now restored to its previous pristine condition. He was seething, so filled with rage he could barely contain himself. If it was possible to physically explode, he would have, sending bits and pieces of his furious flesh everywhere. She had taken everything else he owned. Did she have to take his last goddamn fantasy as well?
Where the hell was she?
Where was the skittish witch who craved his company and reached for him and melted under his reassuring touch? Where was the witch who gave him those glorious, passionate kisses and crawled into his comforting arms in the middle of the night? Where was the witch who loved his Quidditch playing and cheered for him and knocked him over with her embrace after each game, win or no win?
Who the fuck stole her when he wasn't looking?
Draco ached for that witch everyday of his life. But now he knew - she never existed at all. She was an illusion, a spectacular hoax. What the hell was he supposed to do with that fucking piece of information? He was hopelessly lost and dying without her, real or not.
Throwing open her bedroom door, he looked at her carefully preserved sanctuary before raising his wand and hexing and blasting and cursing his way through her room and all of her treasured belongings, until there was nothing left but a smoldering pile of rubble. Then he stormed out, slamming the door as he went.
This last revelation, her marriage to Chervenko and Chervenko's role in her escape, was too much for his broken heart to bear. Now that he could see, with perfect clarity, the path that had brought her to him, he realized what he was to her. He was nothing. No, he was less than nothing. He was a joke. His protection and his love and his life were a fucking joke.
Christo Chervenko is what it took for a witch like her to fall in love. You had to be the second savior-of-the-wizarding-world, right behind Potter. God, the witch had a penchant for that type of martyrdom, didn't she? When she said she wasn't the marrying kind, she meant that she wasn't the marrying kind when it came to anyone but Chervenko. She would prefer death than marriage to anyone else. The Rebel King had long ago stolen her heart and locked it away. Draco was nothing but road kill along the way.
No wonder she ran away in horror at the idea of living out her days with a lousy Death Eater. Saturday afternoon Quidditch games wouldn't be enough to sustain her. No, she needed to be able to take out noxious Death Eaters and their extended families at will. Now that her infamous husband was done with Levski, who was next? The Bulgarian Minister of Magic and his cabinet?
Draco's life and his modest ambitions would never capture the heart and soul of a witch like her. He had had enough death and war and political intrigue to last ten lifetimes. He didn't give a damn if corrupt and amoral Death Eaters ruled England for the next five hundred years - or the goddamn Order, for that matter. His only ambition was to live the rest of his life as far away from those cancers of society as possible and enjoy what he had while he had it. Life was fleeting and uncertain in the best of times. Why push it? Where did that leave him in her eyes? Nowhere, that's where.
Would someone please Avada him now and get it over with?
----- ----- -----
"BULGARIA ENGULFED IN CIVIL WAR"
Two weeks later, a bloody civil war erupted in Bulgaria sending shivers throughout Europe. During the next three months, scattered reports came out of the country, Chervenko and his rebel army were cursing and hexing their way across Bulgaria, leaving no Death Eaters alive in their wake and taking town by town. Bulgarian troops were putting up a fierce fight, taking back several towns. Scores were dead on both sides, including many of Chervenko's closest aides. Draco took a sip of tea and put down his Daily Prophet.
----- ----- -----
"BULGARIAN BORDERS SEALED, CONFLICT CONTINUES"
Six months into the War, the magical borders surrounding Bulgaria came crashing down, sealing off the country from the outside to prevent external rebel infiltration. At least that was the story according to government officials. Their borders hadn't been closed since the War. Other European countries look on, awaiting word, while the fighting continued.
"Draco, what are you doing?" She leaned over his shoulder and took a peek, sighing as she did so. "Honey, we're going to be late. Let's go." Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she grabbed the paper out of his hand and set it aside.
----- ----- -----
"FIGHTING IN BULGARIA CONTINUES"
Draco took a sip of tea and continued reading. Good lord, they'd been fighting for almost a year now. The borders were sealed tight. No information was going in or coming out. Bella had nothing. No one had anything.
Was she still alive in there? She was attached at the hip to the most wanted wizard in Bulgaria. Could she pick a more lethal location next time? He read the reports coming into Bella's office before the borders closed. Ginny was by his side, fighting every inch of the way. Chervenko was insane, crazed in his single-minded pursuit of "freedom" for Bulgaria. And he was going to drag her to her death, right beside him.
If Draco had known what she was going to be getting herself into, he would have chained her to the wall in the Malfoy dungeon, not letting her see the light of day until the damn civil war was over, one way or the other. If she wanted to run to Chervenko after the fighting was over, fine.
What was all of this doing to her fragile mental health? What kind of a wizard would rescue the woman he loved and then throw her in the middle of a goddamn civil war?
"Sweetheart, not again." She reached over and pulled the paper out of his hands. "There's no news coming out of Bulgaria." Leaning over, she kissed him and threw her arms around his neck. "Come back to bed, will you?" He sighed and gave her a hug and a gentle tap on her bum.
"I'll be there in a moment. Go on." He watched her leave the room before picking up his Prophet and taking another sip of tea.
----- ----- -----
"REBELS VICTORIOUS IN BULARIAN CIVIL WAR"
"CHERVENKO INSTALLED AS BULGARIAN MINISTER OF MAGIC"
What did that make her? The First Lady of Bulgaria? Draco pushed his teacup and his uneaten breakfast aside as he stared at the picture of a victorious Chervenko waving to the masses. Where was she? Didn't she deserve to be at his side at a time like this? You know what? He didn't give a damn. Shoving the paper aside, he stood, grabbed his cloak, and Disapparated to work.
Life in London continued uninterrupted. Yes, the civil war in Bulgaria had shaken the wizarding world to its foundation, as every Death Eating country warily watched the events unfolding in Bulgaria. Bella's anger at Ginny's escape and participation in the events in Bulgaria evaporated in the face of the sheer magnitude of the revolution there.
Could the same thing happen in England? Doubtful. There were no Christo Chervenkos here. Harry Potter was gone. The Order was crushed. Most surviving members in England were hunted down and killed at the end of the War by the Dark Lord. Those who escaped death were inconsequential and incapable carrying out anything close to the scope of what Chervenko had done. No, England was safe.
Chervenko had the attention and fear of the wizarding world, not that Draco gave a shit. However, Chervenko also had the one thing Draco would never have. He had the love and unfailing loyalty of Ginny. The witch had laid her life down for him, over and over again during his ridiculous civil war. Draco grudgingly supposed Chervenko might make a fitting husband for such a magnificent witch, on one of his good days.
She could have her savior-of-the-wizarding-world. With her new status as First-Lady-of-the-Free-Wizarding-World, their paths would never cross again. Not only was he too low on the food chain for her, he was also too deep into the Death Eating structure to be allowed within a hundred miles of her. Well, there was always his subscription to The Daily Prophet. He would continue to follow her life from afar as he carried on with his own. Now that the borders were open again, she and her husband would be great fodder for the tabloids and the Prophet.
"Mr. Malfoy?"
"Yes, Liz, what is it?" he asked, without looking up from his desk, cluttered with stacks of parchment and unanswered owls. Merlin, he was up to his neck in it already.
"This urgent owl arrived for you."
Draco nodded and stuck out his hand, while continuing to scribble away. His secretary put the owl in his hand but did not go away.
"Is there something else?"
"Sir - " He looked up. "It's from the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, the new one." Draco looked down at the parchment and nodded. That was fast work. The arsehole hadn't been in office twenty-four hours. What the hell did he want?
Mr. Malfoy,
Ginny was struck down during the final assault on Sofia. Our Healers give her a 30% chance of survival if I can get her to a country with top medical care. Her last request was to be sent home to England and, if needed, buried with her family. If you would be willing to guarantee her safety, the country of Bulgaria and I would be in your debt. If you are unable to assist us, I have Healers standing by in America. Please owl as soon as possible.
Christo Chervenko
Minister Of Magic, Bulgaria
Well, the wizard had balls of an unbelievable dimension. Draco had to give him that much. And he was out of his fucking rebel mind if he thought Draco would let that conniving, impostor of a dying witch within thirty miles of him and his belongings, forget saving her life. The world would be better off without the likes of her kind, whatever kind that was, because Draco still didn't know who the hell he had been living with all those months.
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