Epilogue
~*~
Draco was having the oddest dream, though as hard as he tried, he couldn't open his eyes.
He was fighting in his dream; he was in a room with candles and shadows, and he was hurt. His forehead was bleeding and his throat felt as if it was squeezed.
And there was a woman crying. She screamed and Draco suddenly felt desperate to save her, but he couldn't see her no matter how hard he looked around. He tried to figure out if she sounded familiar; his voice was like a distant memory. He thought for a moment that he saw her, but saw a flash of red before things became foggy. The more he tried to concentrate on the woman in the room, the more his head hurt.
But just when Draco thought he would be lost forever, a brilliant white light filled the room. It was so bright, that he squeezed his eyes shut as its warmth overtook him and filled his every pore.
"Draco?"
The woman's voice spoke to him, clear as day. Draco opened his eyes and tried to find her, but the light was too bright; all he could see was an outline of a woman reaching her hand toward him. He tried to reach for her as well, but the white light was overpowering. Still, Draco struggled against it. He needed to get to that woman, whoever she was. She needed his help.
Draco grunted as he used all his strength to push through the light that became a barrier. He was getting closer to the woman; he could make out her red hair through the wall that separated them. With his last ounce of strength, he desperately reached his hand out and touched her fingers.
Everything went black. And this time when Draco opened his eyes, he knew he was awake.
Draco looked around his room foggily; he was back in Malfoy Manor, with no reflection of ever leaving.
He struggled to remember his dream, his mind foggy with pain. There was a woman - she needed him. Draco was struggling to get to her and only just reached her when -
"Ginny!" he yelled, sitting up.
There was a clatter to his right, and suddenly Snape was at his bedside. "You're awake," Snape said, exasperated.
Draco didn't have time to figure out why Snape was at his bedside, or why he looked worried. Draco tried to push himself out of bed, but his arms felt like jelly, as if he hadn't used them in some time.
To his dismay, Snape tried to push him back into bed. "Be still, Draco. You've been out of it for quite awhile -"
But Draco wouldn't stay still. He pushed Snape's hands away and struggled to move. "Ginny," he said. "I need to get to her - she needs my help."
And then Draco saw it again - worry flickered onto Snape's face for a second. But it was a second too long.
Dread filled Draco's stomach at the look, trying to figure out what was wrong, when his brain seemed to suddenly wake up. Thoughts crashed into his mind of Draco disappearing, and of Ginny following him; Harry Potter was there and alive, but then suddenly he turned into Voldemort and-
"Ginny," he gasped as he summoned every drop of strength he had left. He pushed Snape to the side and jumped out of his bed, almost falling to his knees. But he pushed through the pain of his tired legs and ran across the hallway to Ginny's room and barged through her door.
Draco stopped. Her room was quiet and the curtains were closed around Ginny's bed. A small fire was lit in the fireplace and kept the room warm, but Draco's body froze as he stared at her bed. He was suddenly afraid to see what was hiding from him.
His breath stilled as he took slow steps toward Ginny's bed, ignoring his body aching in pain. He heard Snape rush to the doorway, but was thankful that he didn't come in.
Draco paused next to the bed, and with a deep breath, he pulled the curtains away. His heart plummeted at the sight and his knees almost gave out on him. Ginny was lying in the bed, with her eyes closed and her hair smoothed out against the pillowcase. She looked so peaceful, so still -
"Is she …" was all Draco could bear to mutter.
Snape came closer. "She's alive, but barely," he said.
Something stirred in Draco that he had never felt; he had spent half his life loving Ginny, and he spent a good part of it doing everything in his power to protect her. He remembered the first time he realized he loved her, and what it would cost to do such a thing. Draco knew, long before it happened, that he would sacrifice everything - his loyalty, his pride, his family and friends, even himself - to save Ginny Weasley from the pains of the war. He lied, he killed; he betrayed everyone and changed everything about him. He did everything in his power to keep Ginny alive and happy.
And through it all, it ended with Ginny somehow saving his life and risking her own.
Draco's knees dropped to the side of her bed as he grasped her hand. It wasn't supposed to happen like this; after everything he had done to ensure her safety, the real world caught up with them and showed him he couldn't always have his way.
Eventually, death would figure out how many lives were taken for Draco and Ginny to be together, and it would find one of them to even the score.
And then Draco did something he had never done in his life - he cried.
~*~
Draco spent the next few days sitting next to Ginny's bed, refusing to take his eyes off her in case she woke up. Snape gave up on trying to get him to rest and eat, and instead had the house elf bring him food, though Draco didn't touch it.
After a week, Snape left with instructions to owl him if anything happened. "I've checked her vitals, and she seems fine - there's nothing broken, and she's not sick," Snape said as he looked at Ginny. "She simply just won't wake up."
The problem was that neither of the men knew what Voldemort did to Ginny; Draco's last memory was taking a curse for her. Snape said he managed to escape from Malfoy Manor and to the headquarters, where he found Draco and Ginny unconscious next to each other. Snape was able to revive Draco and help him, but Ginny wouldn't stir.
But the real mystery was that Voldemort was nowhere to be seen.
News scattered quickly of Voldemort's disappearance; every Death Eater could feel the separation from their master, and most of them disappeared as well when surviving Order members came out of hiding.
Each day, the world reunited and grew stronger against evil, finishing off the final battle. Yet the days grew darker in Malfoy Manor.
Draco moved from the chair to sit on the side of Ginny's bed, and by night time he moved to lie next to her still body. He watched her chest rise and fall in breaths, the only sign that she was still alive. Snape had tried to look into her mind, but was blocked from doing so. But what puzzled Snape was the feeling of the block.
"It's not like the memory block you performed," Snape said. "It's as if it transformed into something stronger … bigger …"
It was as if, Snape concluded, Ginny was trapped in her own memories.
Draco gently stroked Ginny's cheek. Since Snape said that days ago, Draco sat there, wondering every moment if it was all his fault. Draco knew the consequences of blocking Ginny's memories; he knew she may have never remembered their love or that if she did, she could have rejected him and hated him forever. He also knew the physical symptoms: the headaches from trying to think too hard about it, or the shock.
But all he could think about was the time when Ginny had remembered when Lucius died and she went to Draco, and how she had asked him, when she came to, what he did to her. She knew Draco had did something wrong when he blocked her memories, but he refused to believe it.
All he ever wanted to do was protect her and save their love. And now he was paying the price for his selfishness.
Ever since his mother's death, Draco was obsessed with keeping Ginny safe. Each day his side was winning, and each day someone close to Ginny died. She seemed clueless on how many times it could have been her who died as well, and Draco could only worry about the day that he wasn't there to save her.
He had dreamt one night of when Ginny erased Hermione's memories, and then the idea came to him. But while blocking memories in hopes that they would one day return was difficult enough, to take away select ones was the challenge.
Draco felt as if he died the day he cursed Ginny. To know that she would wake up and have only bad memories of him nearly destroyed him; that everything they worked for was one sided. But he was willing to take that for the both of them; he knew he could be strong enough if it would secure her life.
Even if she never did love him again, it would be enough just to look at her every day.
Draco only moved from the bed when one day, the house elves came to change Ginny's bed sheets. It was too much to watch one use magic to raise Ginny in the air, where she hung limp. Deciding he needed to stretch his legs, Draco roamed the manor with no destination.
It was to his surprise, though, when he ended up in front of his mother's portrait.
He almost didn't notice until she heard her gasp. His eyes widened and his body jerked; his mother's voice almost woke him out of his spell.
"Draco," she whispered. "I thought you-" But she stopped as she stared at him, eyeing his sunken eyes and his dirty clothes. "Is everything all right?"
Draco simply stared at his mother. For months he refused to see her portrait; the guilt of knowing she died for him was too much to handle. But suddenly he wished, more than anything, that she could hug him as she did when he was a child; that she could tell him that everything would be all right.
"It's-" Draco's voice croaked, but he stopped himself. He was letting his weak emotions get the best of him. How could he even begin to explain about what Ginny Weasley, an enemy, meant to him?
Narcissa took a moment. "Is she all right?"
Draco felt the fog in his head clear away. "How do you-"
"She came to me the night you were taken," Narcissa said. "She was terrified but not for herself - for you. Weasley told me that the Dark Lord had you, and she was begging me on how to get to the headquarters to save you." Narcissa paused. "And then she told me that you loved her."
A new wave of emotions hit Draco. In their secret relationship, it was always Ginny who worried what others would think if they found out the truth. But never once did Draco deal with that anxiety. He never shared his feelings with the few people he was close to. His only real fear, before Voldemort, was of his father, but that disappeared the night of his death.
Draco was never worried about others finding out, because he knew he would always take care of it. But knowing that his mother died for the cause …
"I've figured out enough," she said. "I understand why, now, that you weren't at your post. I understand what I ended up dying for."
"It wasn't supposed to be like that," Draco said, almost fumbling over his words. He ran a hand through is messy hair. "I was so careful; I had everything planned. Everything was fine until I was ordered to follow her … to kill her. I couldn't do it. How could I …"
"Draco."
Draco paused and looked at his mother. When he expected anger, he saw her smiling. It was a sad smile, but there was no anger that he deserved.
"I died for you, and I still don't regret it," she said. "If my dying could ensure your happiness with the woman you love, no matter who she is … how could I deny my only child that? Now tell me, what is wrong?"
It took Draco a moment to speak; his mother had always shown him love that his father refused to. But he was so certain that she would hate him forever if she had found out the truth of who her son really is.
"Ginny saved me," Draco finally said. "But she won't wake up. And we don't know how it happened or what the counter curse is …"
Narcissa was quiet as she thought. Draco knew it was pointless in asking for help. There was nothing that could be done; Ginny would forever sleep as Draco lived with knowing he only wanted to die without her.
But then Narcissa's eyes widened. "My necklace - the green and silver one that I left in my will for you. Do you know where it is?"
Draco's eyes widened as well. He remembered the necklace too well; he was curious on why his mother left it for him, but refused to ask her himself. He wanted to pitch it, but thought of how lovely it would have looked on Ginny. That's why he checked it for curses before-
"But it's cursed," Draco said. "Ginny touched it and she went into this fit-"
But Narcissa didn't look surprised. Instead she narrowed her eyes at Draco. "You performed some sort of curse on Weasley, didn't you? I remember the first time she came to my portrait … how unnerved and confused she looked."
Draco hesitated, but the truth was already out. "I blocked her memories, to make her forget about us," he said. "It … it was the only way to secure her safety."
"Well that's it then," Narcissa said. "That isn't just a necklace, Draco. It's meant to fight curses. It's supposed to drain the wearer of their curse. If Ginny was cursed and touched it, then the necklace was only reacting to her."
Draco's heart began to race, but he refused to be hopeful. "But it hurt her," Draco said. "She passed out and-"
"It's not a gentle process," Narcissa said. "It's meant to be worn as a shield, so to wear it after being cursed … takes a different effective. But if you had kept it on her, by time your block would have been erased. If anything, just that one touch may have opened a door to her memories. Does she remember, Draco?"
Draco paused. Snape had said that the block around her mind looked like the one Draco performed, but it morphed slightly …
Draco lunged forward and hit the brick, opening up the wall behind his mother's portrait. But before he ran down the secret passageway, he said, "Thank you, mother. For everything." Before she could respond, he bolted past the library door and up the stairs. He didn't stop until he was in his study and at his desk.
Draco grabbed his wand at pointed underneath is desk while saying, "Alohamora." A hidden drawer popped open, and in it was the necklace.
Draco stared at the green and silver gems, and then at the center one that was engraved "G.W." Was this the necklace's way of claiming Ginny's curse? Was this small thing, something that has been in his manor for ages, the answer to the problem?
Draco grabbed the necklace and tried to not run to Ginny's room. He had to prepare himself for heartbreak; he had to know that if this didn't work, he would find another way. He had to find another way to wake Ginny up.
Draco found Ginny back on her bed, with no house elves in sight. He carefully sat down next to her, and with his free hand he stroked her hair. He wanted to tell her that he was there to help, that he didn't know if it would work or hurt, but Draco's heart felt like it was pulsating in his throat. Draco took a deep breath and fastened the necklace around Ginny's neck.
He thought the moment it touched her skin that Ginny would start to shake or scream as she did when she touched it months ago. But she did neither. Draco's heart sank as he watched her lay there with no movement. He told himself not to cry as he bent over to take the necklace off, but when he touched the gems it burned his hand.
It was then that he noticed that something was happening. Each green gem slowly turned from green to red, as if it was filling each bead with something … as if it was draining the curse out of Ginny's body.
Time slowed as he watched the last green gem turn to red. And then-
"Draco?"
Draco's breath left him as his eyes darted to Ginny's face. Her eyelids fluttered open and she rubbed her eyes, as if she was just waking up from a long nap.
And then Draco laughed as he took Ginny into his arms and hugged her. He laughed in the first time in what seemed forever - from a time that there were no worries, and all he had in life was the only thing he needed: Ginny.
Ginny squealed that she couldn't breathe, and was trying to ask him what all the fuss was about but was stopped when Draco kissed her lips, and told her over and over again that everything was all right.
Ginny ended up having to calm Draco down instead of the other way around. Draco tried to figure out when their roles reversed. Was it the night that Ginny had killed Flint for him? Or was she always so powerful, but he was too desperate to protect her that he never noticed?
"Do you remember what happened?" Draco said once he put himself back together. "All I remember is getting hit with a spell, but Snape said all I did was lose consciousness for awhile."
Ginny bit her bottom lip in thought. "I do remember," Ginny said. "I remember everything. Voldemort hit you, and I thought you … I thought you died. And I was holding you, not fearing death because I knew I would have you. And just when I thought it was really the end, I … Draco I just remembered everything. I don't know how it happened. This white light came pouring out on my mind and just every single memory was unblocked."
The white light - Draco remembered seeing that in his dream.
"But how did that save us from the Dark Lord?" Draco asked.
It was awhile before Ginny spoke, deep in thought. "Your mother told me that the only power we had against Voldemort was our love. That's how Harry survived as a baby - his mother protected him. But I think … I don't think it was us. I think it was the memory block you put on me. Since I've been here, whenever I would remember something, that white light would explode a little, showing me what I was forgetting. And when I thought it was about to end, it completely broke free, the white light erupted and every single memory of you ever loving me poured through me."
Ginny stopped. "I think it was the memory of something so strong, that not even death could take it away."
They were both silent. Draco didn't want to believe that him cursing her and saved them; it was just too impossible.
"But what happened to you after?" Draco said. "Ginny, you were in a coma for weeks …"
Ginny's eyes widened. "That long?" Ginny paused. "I was dreaming of the memories you blocked. It's like I was stuck in everything I remembered … only I got to experience it by reliving it. Whatever Voldemort tried to curse me with, I think that white light held it off long enough until my memories were pushed back in."
Draco just stared at her. None of what she said made sense but after everything they've been through, he knew anything was possible.
"So you remember everything now?" Draco asked, his hand brushing Ginny's cheek.
When tears filled Ginny's eyes and she smiled, he knew her answer was yes. He knew that everything he sacrificed was worth it now that Ginny - his Ginny - was back in his arms.
But he still hesitated. Now that she knew everything about him - who he really was - he wondered how she looked at him. She knew his responsibility in Harry's death, and her loved ones that he killed.
"Do you regret it?" Draco asked, his eyes glancing down to the necklace. "Now that you see it all, now that you know all of my secrets … do you regret it?"
Do you hate me, he wanted to ask. He remembered, clear as day, that she said she loved him. But that was before she found out about Harry … that was before she knew what a monster Draco could really be.
"I want to," Ginny whispered. "I want to for the guilt I feel about those who didn't survive, for those I miss. But I know, deep down, that you tried everything in your power to have it not turn out like this. I know that though my brother's would have ripped you apart for being with me, you would have wanted them to live for my sake. And for Harry …"
Ginny paused. "Harry told me himself that apart of war was dying and making sacrifices. I think the only way I could live with knowing how he died is that somehow, someway, we finished the job for him. It's probably the most selfish thing I could say, but I've been missing my past for long enough to know there's nothing you can do to change it. That you need to move on, and hope that you do it right the next time."
Ginny moved hair out of Draco's eyes, sending shivers down his spine. "I want to make new memories with you, Draco. I want there to be stronger memories that will help heal the painful ones."
Draco nodded as he took her hand and kissed it. "I promised you we'd make it work. And we will."
Ginny leaned forward and kissed Draco lightly. "I love you, Draco," she said against his lips. "And nothing will ever make me forget that."
Draco pressed his lips against Ginny's as his hand closed the bed curtains, enclosing them in their love together.
~*~
The end.
Ahh endings are always so corny. But this is the end. I want to thank everyone for being so patient - it took me about four years to write this story. I just can't believe it's over.
I think I tied everything up; if you have any questions, let me know. I also may go back and for fun point out all the things I wrote about that were clues to Draco and Ginny's big secret. Or you could read the story again and search for them yourself ;)
I've often toyed with the idea of writing a story from Draco's perspective from their years at Hogwarts … would be fun to write, only I about used half of it as memories in this one. I did enjoy writing the first and last paragraph from his point of view.
Thanks again to everyone. I hope, after a bit of a break, to write my own novel after this.
Much love,
Liz21