Greetings! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter-two days past the two week mark! It was mid-term week for me, so I've been rather busy. But with spring break next week, (woot!) I'll be doing a lot of writing, so except chapter seven soon.
Enjoy!
Chapter Six
Ginny had to resist from carrying the picture of her family with her everywhere. After Draco had given it to her, she spent hours staring at it, crying but with a soft smile on her face. She finally had her family back together again, and she couldn't have been happier. All she needed now was a picture of Harry and Hermione, but she knew not to press her luck by asking Draco for those. It surprised her enough that he would do such a thing in the first place, and she didn't want to ruin it for what it was worth.
She put the picture frame on her nightstand, and when she woke the next morning, the first thing she saw was her family. They waved eagerly back at her and then went about their own business--Fred and George picking on Percy, and Bill tussling the younger Ginny's hair. The only thing she didn't like about the picture was the fact that Scabbers was in it. It was odd for her to watch Ron hold the rat in his hands, when in the end, Ron had killed Wormtail in one of the first real fights.
Ginny moved to get out of bed when she heard her door open. Her body stiffened. The last time she heard it open while she was in bed, she was dreaming, and Draco had come to her. Ginny sat up quickly and looked at the door, but saw no one there. Puzzled, she sat up and was about to climb out of her bed, when Flipsy appeared so suddenly at her side that she yelped and fell back.
"Flipsy!" Ginny gasped. "You scared me half to death!"
"Flipsy is sorry, Miss," said the house-elf. "Flipsy only wanted to tell Miss that her dress arrived this morning. Flipsy had to take it away from Master before he could open it."
Ginny smiled, not surprised that Draco had gotten curious enough to try to take a peek. "Well thank you," she said. "You can just put it in my closet. Is there anything else you wanted?"
Ginny knew the answer by the look on the house-elf's face. Flipsy's face dropped, and she twisted the shirt she wore. "There…there is something else," Flipsy said, staring at her feet. "Flipsy does not know if it should be said. Master may not be happy with Flipsy."
Ginny got down from her bed and kneeled in front of Flipsy. "It's okay, Flipsy," Ginny said. "Whatever you have to say, I'm sure Malfoy doesn't have to find out about."
Flipsy continued to wring her clothing. "But Miss, it's about Master. He's…" The house-elf shut her mouth and shook her head.
Ginny's eyes widened. "Is he sick?" she asked. She remembered him staying in his wet clothes while he took care of her. It crossed her mind that he might catch a cold, especially with his wet hair, but now that it could have happened, her stomach dropped. It was her fault he was ill again.
The house-elf hesitated, and then shook her head. "Master is…Master is indisposed."
Ginny drew her head back in confusion. "Indisposed? What do you mean indisposed?" Was that some form of his illness? Was he so weak that he was delusional?
Flipsy looked over her shoulder and then crouched very close to Ginny. "Master is," she whispered, "drinking since last night, Miss."
Ginny almost laughed at the house-elf's words. Draco wasn't sick--he was drunk. The worry she felt at the bottom of her stomach left her, but the thought of him drunk at such an hour didn't comfort her either. "What has he been doing drinking, especially this early?"
At that, the house-elf covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. Ginny sighed and stood up. "All right then; if you can't tell me, will you take me to him?"
Flipsy nodded and headed out of the room, not giving Ginny time to grab her robe to cover up her night shirt. Ginny followed the house-elf down the hall and towards the stairs. When they reached the bottom, Ginny started to head towards the room with the bar, but Flipsy went in the opposite direction.
"He went this way after I hid the dress," Flipsy said. "He doesn't go here often, but he used to like the place as a boy."
Ginny's first thought was the secret garden. She pictured a young Draco going to the room with his mother, and spending hours in there with her. But when Flipsy stopped at a wall between two portraits of Malfoy ancestors, Ginny's curiosity heightened. She watched as the house-elf pushed in a brick near the left portrait, just as Ginny had for the secret passage-way by Narcissa's picture.
The wall moved to the side and created a make-shift door. When Ginny had suspected there to be a dark hallway, she gasped at the bright room in front of them. The smell of chlorine hit her nostrils and she took a step into the room, leaving Flipsy in the hallway. It was the pool room she had first found when she explored the secret passageway. It was a large room with a glass ceiling, where the sun was pouring in. A large pool was in the middle, with a smaller hot tub in the corner, and a bar and several couches placed along a wall opposite of the pool. And on one of those couches, next to the bar, lay Draco Malfoy.
Ginny walked over towards him, her feet stepping in the occasional puddle. She studied Draco as she approached him. He lay with his back on the couch, with his arm over his eyes to hide the sunlight. The other hand held a nearly empty bottle of Firewhiskey. He was topless--again, she noticed--and his belt was halfway undone, as if he [had] wanted to go for a swim and then decided against it. Not saying a word, she held her breath as she approached him, and decided the first thing to do was to claim the bottle.
She crouched down, level with Draco, and steered her hand towards the almost empty bottle as she kept her eyes on him. He appeared to be passed out, and made no acknowledgement of her presence. Very slowly, she wrapped her hand around the bottle, nearly touching Draco's hand, and tugged at it. Draco tugged back.
"Geroff," he moaned.
Ginny let go quickly in surprise and went to move back when she lost her balance and fell on her bottom. Draco moved his hand away from his eyes and peered down at her, squinting at her.
"I can see up your shirt."
Ginny frantically covered her area with the shirt as her face blushed red. Making sure she was covered, she moved to her knees and knelt next to him. Draco refused to look her in the eye and turned his head the opposite direction. Ginny quickly grabbed the bottle once more, but he continued to hold on tightly.
"Give it to me, Draco," Ginny said patiently.
Draco didn't let go. "I almost did, but Snape had to ruin it."
Ginny's heartbeat quickened at his reference. "What are you doing drunk?" she asked, changing the subject.
Draco moved his head to drink out of the bottle, which Ginny was forced to let go of at his movement. He dribbled Firewhiskey on his chest as he drank from it.
Ginny grimaced. "How can you drink that straight?"
"You put it in your mouth and swallow," he said as he dropped the now empty bottle. "Is not that hard," he slurred.
If the situation wasn't what it was, she would have found it comical to see Draco in such a state. But she had a feeling deep down that his state was the cause of something that included her, and she couldn't afford to laugh at him. "Drinking isn't going to solve any problems," she said.
"But it does a hell of a job making you forget for the time being," Draco said. He sat up so quickly that he groaned and cupped his head. Still holding his head, he struggled to stand up.
Ginny stood up as well. "What do you think you're doing?" She was hoping he was calling it a day, and would go to bed, but she didn't think that was the case.
Draco's hand waved at the bar. "Need more," he said. He tried to stand up again, but before he could Ginny pushed him back down. "Bloody hell, Weasley! What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.
Ginny stood before him and put her hands on her hips. "I'm not going to just stand by and watch you drink yourself to death," she said. "You've had enough, Malfoy. You shouldn't even be drinking in the first place."
Draco glared at her. "I'll tell you when I've had enough," he growled. He moved to stand up again, but Ginny tried to push him back down. While Ginny pushed on his shoulders, Draco grabbed her wrists to push her away, but instead fell back and dragged Ginny with him.
Ginny landed on top of his lap, straddling him. Her face reddened and she immediately tried to get off, but paused when she felt something digging into her. Her breathing quickened as she dared herself to look Draco in the eye. His cheeks were tinged pink from the alcohol, but he no longer had a dazed look. He let go of her wrists and held on tight to her hips, and then, very slowly, he raised his hips and dug himself into her.
Ginny gasped and turned red. She felt her body growing warm at Draco's response to her being on top of him. Images of what happened between them, of him kissing her and touching her, rushed into her head, and she knew that her underwear was wet within a second. Draco must have known it too, because he released one hand and stuck it between his and her hips and dragged a fingertip over her panties.
Ginny shuddered at his touch and grasped Draco's shoulders, holding on tightly. He was touching her just as he had in her dream, and Merlin help her it excited her. She knew she shouldn't let him touch her, that she should push him away and go back to her room, but she couldn't move. She couldn't move because deep down, she knew she wanted it. She wanted to feel what she had felt in her dream, whether she wanted him or not.
When she made no move to stop him, she felt him bunch her underwear in his hand, and so easily ripped it off. Ginny gasped and looked at Draco. His eyes were half closed and his mouth was hanging open, and he held her gaze, even when she wanted to look away.
She raised her hips off of his and dug her knees into the seat, giving him room to touch her properly. He took her hint and traced his fingertips along what her panties just had covered a moment ago. Ginny quivered as Draco moaned.
"So wet," he whispered huskily. "You're so wet for me."
Ginny didn't have time to respond before Draco dug two of his fingers into her. Ginny let out a moan and clutched onto his shoulders as she felt him curl them inside of her. "Oh!" she gasped as she felt him draw them back out of her, and then in again, this time with more force.
After a moment of him doing such a movement, Ginny's hips started to move with his fingers. She raised them up and down, riding his fingers, feeling them go in deeper each time she forced her hips down. She held on so tightly to Draco that her nails dug into his skin. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she rode him, enjoying the sensations that were running through her body. All she could focus on was how good it felt, what he was doing to her, and she didn't want him to stop.
She felt Draco's other hand snake up to her breast and grab it over her shirt, tweaking the nipple. Ginny moaned and opened her eyes to stare down at Draco. His breathing was heavy and came out in almost a pant. He licked his lips and squeezed her nipple once more before his hand left her to dig itself into her hair and force her head down to kiss him.
He kissed her to the force of how she rode his fingers. Ginny gasped into his mouth as he nibbled her lip and kissed her hard, his tongue in her mouth. Ginny's hands left his shoulders and went to cup his face, deepening the kiss that grew frantic. She tasted Firewhiskey off his breath, but she was too focused to mind the bitter taste.
She felt her stomach knotting as he curled his fingers. Draco's hand that buried her hair pulled her head back to give him access to her neck, which he bit and sucked. Ginny let out a cry and felt herself go over the edge, climaxing around his fingers that still dug inside of her.
Her body sank on top of his as she rode the waves of the orgasm. She panted heavily into Draco's ear, her head resting next to it. Her orgasm was far stronger than the one she had in her dream, and her body felt weak and drained from it. Though satisfied, she let out a moan in protest when she felt Draco take his fingers out of her.
When the pleasure she felt started to fade away, it was replaced with shame. She straightened herself but didn't look Draco in the eye. "That shouldn't have happened," she said, instead staring at his chest. "That shouldn't have happened at all. You're drunk--I, I shouldn't have done that."
She hastily tried to get off of him, but he held on tight to her hips. "Don't," he said. "Here-" He grabbed his wand, which was on the cushion next to them. "Perform a Sobering Charm; though I quite assure you what just took place sobered me up enough."
Without answering, Ginny took his wand in her hand, and stared at it. She felt a surge of power from it in her hand. It was the first time she had held a wand in a long time, and she missed the feeling of it. She was aware of Draco watching her clutch it, and before he could take it back, she performed the charm. As she watched Draco sober up, and held onto the wand tightly, afraid he would take it back. It was the first magic she had done since before she was captured, and she never realized just how much she missed it until now.
Draco gently cupped her hand that held his wand. "You miss it, don't you?" he asked her.
Ginny nodded and looked at him. "Magic is just as much a part of me as it is of you," she said. "Without it, it feels like there's a hole in me, and nothing can replace it."
Draco glanced at the wand, and let her hold it for another minute before he took it out of her hand. Placing it next to him, he took her hand into his own. "What if I told you that you could do magic again?"
Ginny's mouth hung open. "But I can't," she said. "I mean, you said my wand was broken, just like all the other prisoners. And you said it wasn't allowed-"
Draco squeezed her hand, silencing her. "What would you do to be able to do magic again?"
"Why, I would do anything," Ginny said quickly. Her heart raced at the thought of being able to do magic again. "I would do anything you asked. I would-"
She paused at the look in Draco's eyes, and what she felt growing underneath her hips. She heard Draco's breathing quicken when he must have realized that she felt him against her. "Malfoy," she said hesitantly. "What are you asking of me?"
Draco put his hand on her hips and dug her into him. Ginny let out a gasp but then quickly covered her mouth. "That," he said. "I don't want you to hold back anymore. It's obvious we both want each other, Ginny, and I don't want to play these games anymore."
Ginny shook her head. "I don't want you, Malfoy," she said.
"And I want you to stop calling me that," Draco said, ignoring her. "I want you to call me by my first name, as I'll be doing to you."
Ginny stared at him. The only time she had called him by his name was in her dream, when she was climaxing. She moved to get off his lap but he held her down. "Say it," he said. "Say you'll do what I ask."
She looked at him, with his blonde hair slightly messy. She stared into his gray eyes, still clouded from pleasure. She felt his arousal digging into her, and it took all her strength not to grind on him. "I'll do it."
Draco held her for a moment longer, staring at her, before took his hands off her hips. Ginny climbed off, careful not to flash him, and found her legs trembling when she stood. She was going to pick up her discarded, ripped underwear, but aware of Draco watching her every move, she instead kicked it under the couch, next to where the empty bottle of Firewhiskey lay. "You never did say why you were drunk."
Draco too stared at the bottle. "It was a dream I had," he said, not looking at her.
"Of the war?" she asked.
"Of what I lost in the war," he said. He looked up at her. "Why don't you go shower and then meet me for breakfast?"
Ginny wanted to glare at him for telling her what to do, but she was planning on showering, and she needed a reason to leave. She nodded before walking away, leaving him on the couch, lost in his own thoughts.
As she showered, she thought of his words, and tried to figure out what he could have lost in the war. From how she saw it, Draco only gained in the war. He had started as a weak, young Death Eater who couldn't kill Dumbledore, and then transformed into a man who everyone feared. He had gained respect, power, and from all she knew more wealth. Though, he had lost his parents, but from what Ginny could tell the only death that affected him was Narcissa's. He never spoke of Lucius. Ginny didn't even know how he died, but she was thankful for it nonetheless.
Ginny grabbed a cloth, and, wetting it with soap, she gingerly washed between her legs. She still felt sore from what Draco had done to her, but a good kind of sore. A sore knowing it was worth it from the pleasure she had felt. Ginny's body tingled in remembrance of what had happened, of what Draco had given to her, and the pleasure of it was almost enough to wipe away the guilt and disgust she felt for doing it in the first place. She ran through theories of why she would be attracted to Draco in that way, but the only one she could settle on was the necklace. Only after she had seen the necklace did she kiss Draco, and then have the dream about him. She wondered if there was an attachment spell, and if it had attached her to Draco in such a way that she wanted him sexually. But she doubted that such a spell could do that, and started to think she was just desperate for excuses to look past her own guilt.
It was the guilt she felt in knowing she never let Harry do that to her. Things with Harry were different. They were innocent, and her feelings were based off of a school-girl crush. But with Draco, things were wild and passionate. With Harry, she felt she had too many feelings that she didn't want to ruin them with sex, but with Draco she had no feelings, and to her, that only excited her more when he was touching her. It was knowing that it was just about pleasure, and that complicated things like feelings didn't have to get in the way.
She turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around her. When she crossed her room to her closet, she glanced at the picture frame on her nightstand. Her family was waving to her again, and it made her cheeks blush. If only they knew what their precious Ginny had just done. She quickly walked past it and busied herself with changing.
When she came down for breakfast, she found Draco had changed and freshened up. When he looked up from his plate as she entered the room, her face reddened and she glanced away. It amazed her that when his fingers were in her, doing such a personal thing, she was able to stare him in the eye, but now that time had passed she only felt embarrassment.
She sat down and filled her plate with food, and was about to eat it when she noticed a long, thin box next to Draco's plate. "What's that?" she asked.
Draco took a sip of his tea. "My end of the bargain," he said. "That is, of course, only if you keep up yours. I can take it away if I feel like you're not doing what you promised you would."
Ginny frowned at him. His words made no sense. She had promised him to call him by his first name, and to not hold back feelings-but she had no feelings to hold back. And for all that he had promised her magic. Ginny dropped her fork. "Malfoy, that isn't what I think it is, is it?"
Draco narrowed his eyes. "I haven't even given it to you yet and you're messing up our deal."
"I mean Draco," she said quickly, hoping he wouldn't get mad. "Sorry, I meant Draco."
Draco seemed to ease at her words. He picked up the box, and stared at it in his hands. He seemed to have wanted to say something, but he hesitated and instead handed her the box.
Ginny thought she would have taken it and ripped the lid off, but she only held it in her hand. She was afraid to open it and find it wasn't what she had expected, and she knew she would feel disappointed. Taking a breath, she opened the lid and let out a gasp and quickly grasped what was inside.
"It's my wand," she said in a small voice. She looked at Draco with wide eyes. "But you said all the prisoners' wands were broken in half. How did you-"
Draco looked away. "I stole it when they caught you," he said. "I've had it ever since."
Ginny's heart pounded as she stared at the wand she had had since she was eleven. For Draco to do such a thing, to risk something like that, she knew then that he had wanted her as a prize for awhile. That it wasn't just about infatuation, or wanting her on a whim. He had planned his owning her; he had planned to have her in the end.
Ginny clutched the wand and held it to her chest. It had been so long since she had held it last. She felt she had just been given a part of her that was missing, and she finally felt complete. "I-I don't know what to say," she said.
"There will be rules," Draco said. "You can never use the wand on me, or there will be consequences. I don't need to relive the Bat-Boogey incident."
Ginny would have grinned if she wasn't so focused on her wand. It had been a present from her parents when she went to Hogwarts. Though they were tight on money, they didn't know if a wand's use would differentiate between sexes, and didn't want to give her a hand-me down wand from one of her brothers. It had been her gift instead of an animal to take to school, and it was one of the first new things she had owned.
She looked up and smiled. "Thank you…Draco."
Draco's cheeks tinged pink and he looked away. "Just make sure not to let anyone know you have it," he said. "If anyone found out I had given the last member of the Order a wand, I would be severely punished."
Ginny nodded. She would be extra careful--anything to make sure she wouldn't lose her wand again. She set it down on the table next to her and went back to eating. Between bites she would glance at it, smiling at what was given to her. She felt what Draco had asked of her was a fair trade for such a gift.
She was almost done when an idea came to her. "Mal-I mean, Draco," she said, "Do you have a Pensieve?"
She had been around Draco long enough to know how to read his body language. He stiffened at her question, and his eyes avoided hers for a moment. Without him answering her, she knew the answer was a yes, and it was something he didn't want her to have.
"Why do you ask?" he said.
Ginny grasped her wand. "It's just, now that I have a wand, I can extract memories from myself. I would be able to see my family again, and my friends, and-"
"And Potter," Draco growled. "Absolutely not. Such things will only make you hold on to the past, when you should be moving on."
He got up from his seat as if his word was final. Ginny got up as well and reached over and grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could move. "Please, Draco," she said. She hated the sound of begging in her voice. "It's only a step up from the picture you gave me. I just…I just want to see them one last time. Maybe if I do, I can get some closure and move on."
Draco was silent as he watched her. Ginny felt his muscles tighten underneath her grasp. "If I do this," he said finally, "would you never bring up their names again? Will you never say Potter's name again in this house?"
Ginny opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. She knew Draco hated her talking about her loved ones, but it comforted her being able to talk about it to someone. And they were always in some corner of her mind, and at times she had difficulty in thinking before she spoke. What would happen if she made the deal, and then accidentally spoke of them? What would Draco do then?
"I promise you'll never hear of them again," she said.
She felt Draco relax, and then he nodded. He gently removed her hand and then started to walk out of the room. "I'll come get you in fifteen minutes," he said. "Wait here."
Ginny watched him leave. Thoughts were flying through her head. Why did he leave her here, instead of taking her straight to the Pensieve? She wondered if he was trying to hide something--a memory that was already in the device. Ginny's body itched to follow him. He told her to wait. If she was only patient, she would get what she asked for, but that damn curiosity of hers soon overwhelmed her. Draco was hiding something, and she wanted to find out what it was.
Ginny's feet began to move out of the room before she could stop herself. She didn't know what her plan was--she didn't even know where she was going, or where Draco might have gone. And even if she did find the proper room, what then? How was she supposed to spy on Draco, and then get back down to the dining room without getting caught?
She walked up the stairs and headed for his room. She didn't recall seeing a Pensieve in there when she nursed him back to health, but it was a shot. She walked down the hallway and soon approached his room. She was about to inch open the door when a light from down the hall caught her eye.
Ginny paused and looked ahead. There was a door at the end of the hall with its door open enough to let a silver light shine through. Ginny's heart quickened and she slowly walked towards the door, careful not to make a sound.
When she approached the door, she peered inside. The room was large, and contained a desk filled with papers, several bookcases, and glass cases. There was a fire place on one side, and in the back corner of the room was Draco, standing next to a Pensieve. Her heart quickened--she knew where she was. This was Draco's study, the one room she had never been in.
She was careful not to touch the doorknob, as Draco once told her it was charmed to not let her in. She instead nudged the door itself, opening it a tad more so she could get a better view. She cringed as the door squeaked, but Draco made no sign of hearing her. Letting out a breath, Ginny stood still and watched him. He was hovering over the Pensieve with his wand out. Silver light shone from the bowl, lighting up his face and his blonde hair. He stuck his wand into the bowl and slowly pulled out a thread of a memory, and stored it into a vial in his hand. He did so several times, and each time he did it, the curiosity in Ginny grew. She wanted to know what he was hiding that was so important that she couldn't see it.
His wand hesitated suddenly, and Draco stared into the bowl. He reached his hand out as if to touch the liquid and to be dragged into the memory, but he stopped quickly. He looked around him, and then before Ginny's eyes, he touched the liquid and was pulled into the Pensieve.
Ginny waited until he was fully inside for her to enter the room. She hesitated before walking inside the study--she knew Draco couldn't see or hear her, but she didn't know how long he'd be in his memory for. And all she wanted was a quick look at what he was looking at.
She passed the desk that was full of parchment. Her eyes skimmed over a black book that looked to be a diary, making her shudder. She would have given anything that moment to be given a look inside Draco's mind, but if that meant she had to pick up a diary, then she wasn't interested. Instead she grabbed at a piece of parchment next to it. It contained boring information over a Malfoy estate in the south of France. Ginny rolled her eyes at the thought of Draco being even richer than she thought he already was. When she picked up another parchment containing information of a summer home in Sicily, she let out an agitated sigh and moved to the other side of his desk.
She pushed his chair back, fighting the temptation to sit in it. In fact, she shouldn't have been wasting her time by snooping around, but she felt compelled to. She tried to pull open a desk drawer, but found it locked, and an Alohomora spell wouldn't open it. Ginny tried two more drawers, and with no success, her agitation grew. This was her one shot to figure out all she could about Draco Malfoy, and she was coming up with nothing.
She moved away from the desk and towards the Pensieve when she noticed a picture frame on the desk. She grabbed the frame, but found it empty, the person away for the moment. Ginny stared at the background--she saw it was of the lake at Hogwarts. It looked to be spring, and the giant squid had two tentacles out of the water. Pink flowers blew past the frame in a gasp of wind, and the sky was a light blue with only one cloud in it. Ginny smiled down at the frame. It reminded her of her days at Hogwarts, and of how much she missed them.
A noise came from the Pensieve, making Ginny drop the frame in surprise. She looked up to see a silver light shining--Draco was coming out of the bowl. Quickly, Ginny stepped over the broken glass of the frame and ducked underneath the desk, wrapping her arms around her knees to make sure she was covered. She heard Draco's footsteps and a sigh from him--he was now out of the Pensieve, and she was trapped.
She held her breath and waited to hear him walk out of the room, but he seemed to have been standing still, because she heard no other noise from him. Seconds were stretched as she tried to make no movement or sound. She tried to figure out how she was going to get away; if she was going to get caught. She wondered if he would punish her, or perhaps take her wand away. Ginny clutched the wand in fear. She had only just gotten it--she couldn't bear to part with it again.
Ginny's head picked up at the sound of Draco's footsteps, but her heart dropped to her stomach when she realized he was coming towards her. The steps stopped right next to the desk. Ginny peeked her head out an inch and saw the tip of his black shoes. "What the…" she heard him mutter before she saw him crouch down and pick up the frame she had dropped. She watched his hand pick up the glass, and putting it into place on the frame, he pointed his and said, "Reparo."
The frame became solid. Draco stood back up, and Ginny heard him put the frame back on the desk. He then walked away and his footsteps carried him out of the room. Ginny gave it a few seconds before she popped her head out from under the desk and looked around. Draco was nowhere in sight. She scrambled out from the desk, and went to run towards the door in hopes to sneak out, when her footsteps halted by the edge of the desk. She was staring at the photo frame, noticing its occupant had come back. Ginny's stomach dropped as she watched the person waving at her.
It was a picture of herself.
Ginny's hand shook as she clutched the frame and pulled it in for a closer look. Now she knew why the setting seemed so familiar--she had asked Colin during her sixth year to take the picture of her. She was in her school uniform, and she had taken off her robe because it was warm out. Ginny watched herself blush at the camera and then give a big smile. Disgust rolled in her stomach. That smile had been directed at Draco for however long he had the photo sitting on his desk. Ginny put it back on the desk, wishing she had never touched it. Thoughts were running through her head, but she had to fight the urge to throw up and she pushed her legs forward. At the moment, she had to take care of getting out of the room, and then she could deal with what she just saw.
She ran from the door of the study, thankful it was open, and down the hall. She just reached her room when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Ginny slipped inside her room and ran for the bathroom. She had just closed the door behind her and settled her back against it when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
"Ginny?" she heard Draco ask. "Are you in here?"
"I'm-I'm in here," she said between gasps of breath. She placed her hand over her heart, praying for it to calm down.
"What are you doing in there?" Draco asked. His voice came from the other side of the door. "I thought I told you to wait in the dining room."
Ginny glanced at the toilet. "I felt sick," she said. "I-I think it was something I ate."
Silence answered her. Ginny clutched onto her wand and held her breath. He knew she was lying. He must have seen her under the desk, or noticed that when she wasn't in the dining room, that she was in the study all along. If only she hadn't knocked over the picture of herself, then she would have left no clue that she was there.
"I'll have Flipsy give you something for your stomach," Draco finally answered. "And then if you're feeling better, do you still want to do the Pensieve?"
Ginny's heart slowed down. He believed her, or at least bought her excuse. She was clear, but that was an easy thought when Draco stood on the other side of the door. She was sure that moment she saw him, knowing he had a picture of her after all these years, her face would give her away. And now he still wanted to do the pensive, when all she wanted to do was hide in the bathroom from him.
"I," she started to say, but stopped to take a deep breath. She knew she would have to face him eventually, but at the moment her mind was too jumbled. But despite it all, she still wanted to see her family. And maybe if she could get away with it, she could look into the few memories she had of him back at school, and see when his obsession with her had started.
Because that's what Ginny was being to feel like it was. She was beginning to wonder if it was a coincidence that she managed to stay alive in the war, and how much of a part Draco had played before he asked for her as his prize.
"Yes," she finally said. "Yes, let's do that tonight."
When Ginny heard nothing in reply, she thought he had gone and slouched down onto her knees and bowed her head. All she had wanted was to find out more about Draco, but instead everything she was finding included her. She didn't know how much more of it she could take. She stood up with shaky limbs and went to the sink, wetting her face with cold water. She blindly grabbed a towel and dried her face before she headed to the door. What she needed was a nap; sleep would help the situation.
She reached her bed before she realized that Draco was still in her room. She almost let out a gasp at seeing him sitting in the chair next to her bed, but bit her lip. "What do you want?" she asked, trying not to sound frightened or surprised.
Draco stood up and straightened his robe. "Just making sure you're all right," he said. He frowned at her. "You do look awfully pale. Let me feel your forehead."
Ginny winced as he went to touch her, and it made him stop. His frown deepened, followed by his eyebrows burrowing. He went to touch her face again, but this time Ginny looked away and stiffened.
"What's gotten into you?" he asked. "Just this morning you were on top of me, and now you can't bear for me to touch you."
Ginny stared at the comforter on her bed, trying to keep her breathing calm. She knew he would notice a difference in her, but she couldn't fake it. She couldn't forget what she had seen on her desk, and now he would know the truth.
She saw Draco take a step closer. "Were you in your bathroom this whole time?" he asked. "When did you leave the dining room?"
Ginny's heart quickened; she felt sweat collect on her forehead. "Several minutes after you left," she said, still staring at her bed. "You can ask Flipsy--she saw me to my room."
The lie was out before she could stop it. Now she did feel ill. What if Draco had done just that--what if he went as far as asking the house-elf? Then he would know that Ginny had lied, and that she had been in the study the whole time.
Ginny sneaked a glance at Draco, and found him staring at her. "No, that's not necessary," he said. "I'll have Flipsy give you a potion, but then I want you to be back to normal."
Ginny nodded her head. Normal meant she couldn't fidget around him. Normal to him probably meant she would have to act how she did this morning, but she didn't think she could manage that either. Far from it, actually.
When Draco finally left the room, Ginny collapsed on the bed, feeling drained. She lay there for a moment before she rolled over and looked at the picture frame on her bed stand. A whole new roll of questions came out--how long had Draco had the picture of her? How did he manage to get it? And just how long had he wanted her?
Ginny curled up into a ball and hugged one of her pillows. She found the truth was necessary, but right now, it was more than she could handle.
~*~
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Thanks and please review!
Liz21