"Ouch! Watch it Malfoy!" snarled Ginny. She rubbed the shoulder which had collided with his.
"Shut up, Weasel" he grunted and turned away.
"You can't tell me to shut up in my own home, Malfoy!"
After much deliberation, Mr. Weasley and Remus had found Draco to be disloyal to Voldemort. They had questioned him, used vertaserum, occlumency and all manor of dark detectors.
And he had unwillingly spilled everything: how Voldemort had ordered him to kill Dumbledore, threatening to kill him and his family, how his father forced him to become a Death Eater, how Sirius's portrait had visited him in the night, and, least willingly of all, how Voldemort had ruthlessly tortured his mother. Snape backed him up on each of these stories, even giving information Draco had wanted to keep secret.
Draco was utterly confused about Snape's loyalties; everyone was. He had thought Snape was a Death Eater for sure, but it turned out he was loyal to the Order of the Phoenix. He would have thought his mother, who knew, would be angry, but instead she urged Draco to go with him!
It had been dangerous to get away. Draco had only bought a little bag with a few belongings. They had snuck out at night, almost having their souls sucked out by the dementors, and when they finally got away they went in a different direction. Snape put Draco into a hiding place, muttering about a cup or such nonsense, and Draco had waited until he finally came back, looking injured but pleased. After all that, Snape told him they were going to the Weasley's home, the Burrow ("What kind of a name is that?" Draco had sneered). Draco had gotten angry, and demanded to be taken home. But Snape had managed to drag Draco there, where he was questioned like a criminal.
This had gone on for days, until they finally accepted his story. But where to keep him? Snape had bought him seeking refuge and protection; they couldn't just throw him out on the streets. Besides, that was what the Order did, protect people from Voldemort.
So they decided to, reluctantly, keep him at the Burrow, where the argument between he and Ginny was taking place.
"Oh yeah? Well, I just did" he sneered.
There had been a complete uproar the day he had arrived. Fred and George, who were visiting, had yelled and shouted until their faces were red, and physically tried to throw him out. Mrs. Weasley had looked appalled at the idea of cooking for a Malfoy, though she seemed to have calmed down. Ron had almost had a fit, which led to Hermione trying to calm him down, which led to Ron snapping at her, which led to more fighting. He, Hermione and Harry, who had helplessly tolerated their fighting, had been staying the past week since Bill's injuries and left mysteriously again the next day.
This meant that Ginny had been given the job of "keeping an eye on him". There wasn't much to keep an eye on, though, as he mostly stayed shut up in his room. She checked on his three times a day, but he was either sleeping, reading, or sitting at the window, deep in thought.
"Well, you can't make me!"
You didn't need to make him shut up, though. He never said anything unless he was spoken to, and he ate his meals in silence.
"Wanna bet?" he growled, stepping closer to her. He was almost a foot taller than her.
"Is that a threat?" she reared up to her full height (which wasn't much), and narrowed her eyes.
"Whatever." Sneering, he walked back to his room. Ginny followed him and leant against the door. Draco slumped face first on his bed and stayed still.
"Is that it? Whatever? Oh, very witty, that's really put me in my place" she smirked.
He made a rude gesture with his fingers. Ginny's eyes crackled with anger. She stalked over to him and heaved him around.
"What was that?"
"Ahgr, leave me alone, Weasel queen." He flung his arms over his eyes. "I'm tired."
Ginny saw the Dark Mark printed on his forearm and scowled.
"Tired, my arse." She stood up and looked around his room, which used to be Charlie's "What are you doing in here?" She rummaged around in his bag.
"Hey! That's my stuff!"
"Are you a spy? Have you been leaking information about the Order to your Dad?"
"NO! I've left the Death Eaters!"
"Yeah, right, you might have fooled Dad and Remus, but I'm not stupid." She checked around the bookcase "Where's your communication device? It's probably something really small, like a quill, or a galleon-"
"Get out of there!"
"Or-or a stone, maybe…"
Draco slammed the book she was looking in shut.
"Listen! I am not communicating with Death Eaters! My loyalties do not lie with them!"
"You have the Dark Mark" Ginny pointed out.
"WELL I'LL GET RID OF IT THEN!" he roared, and before Ginny could stop him, he took out a long, shimmering dagger and slit the mark.
He yelled in pain as agony seared up his arm and filled his body. It was unbearable; he sank to his knees, clutching his wrist, his hand slipping from the blood.
"Malfoy!" squeaked Ginny. She looked terrified.
Draco gritted his teeth and looked straight into her dark hazel eyes.
"Happy now? Is this proof enough for you, Weasley?" he snarled, but Ginny was staring at his arm. She was as pale as him under her freckles.
"M-Malfoy… your arm…"
Something was not right. Blood was bubbling out of the cut, congealing and turning thick as it frothed and foamed from his arm. Ink was seeping from the mark, mixing with the blood and turning it a horrid blackish red colour. Draco panicked.
"Ohshitohshitohshit" was racing through his mind as he scampered up, waving his arm about wildly.
"Quick- Malfoy- let me-"
"Get away from me!" he spat, retreating from her helping hand "I don't want your help, you filthy scum!" frothy, black blood was seeping all over the bed. Ginny grabbed his wrist and pointed her wand at the cut. "Cleansius!"
His whole arm was throbbing and aching, and her spell didn't seem to do any thing to relieve the pain.
"What's happening?" Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had come to see what the commotion was about.
Draco couldn't take the pain anymore, and blacked out.
*
He opened a bleary eye.
"Ah, he's awake" came the voice of Mr. Weasley. Draco groaned. First he'd cut his arm open, now he was being looked after by Weasel senior. This day just kept getting better.
He sat up, and a sharp pain shot through his left arm. It was covered in white bandages.
"What the hell were you thinking?" snapped Weasel Snr. "S+urely you knew the Dark Mark has a very powerful curse! You can't just get rid of it!"
Draco avoided his eyes and kept his face blank, but inside he was seething. Oh just brilliant, now Weasel Snr was having a go at him. Ugh. He could almost physically feel his pride diminishing.
"We couldn't take you to St. Mungo's; you're supposed to be in hiding! You are very lucky that we could get Snape to come and sort you out, or you'd be dead!" he frowned at Draco and turned away.
Draco scowled and shot him a dirty look.
The fuzzy red-head of Mrs. Weasley popped through the door.
"Oh, you're awake" she smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes "would you like a sandwich?"
"No thank you" Draco grumbled.
"Don't be silly, dear; you have to keep your strength up."
"Thank you." Draco scowled as she and Mr. Weasley left. He hated that she was pretending to be nice to him, and then she'd ask about him with a bitter expression on her face. And why did she insist on calling him "dear"? Did he have antlers?
He heard his door open again, but didn't bother looking as it was probably the Mother Weasel with his sandwiches. She'd better have used granary bread, not that tacky, limp, white stuff.
Suddenly he felt a hand collide with his head.
"Ouch! What the-? Weasel Queen!"
Ginny was glowering angrily at him. "You idiot! How could you do that to yourself, you gave me a right scare!"
He was about to retort when he noticed her eyes were much shinier than usual; she had been crying. There was a weird hot feeling in the back of his neck. He wasn't pleased that she had cried because of him.
"Yeah, well… you shouldn't have said that stuff, should you?" Ginny's bottom lip trembled slightly. That hot feeling grew stronger.
There was a horrendous silence, where Draco felt more awkward than ever before.
"I'm ok though, aren't I? Tough as anything I am" he smirked.
"Oh? I don't think that's what you were saying when you were being mauled by a hippogriff" Ginny smirked back. She peered at his bandage. "What's it like?"
"D'you really think I should take it off?" Draco raised a thin eyebrow.
"If you shouldn't, we can wrap it up again."
Draco slowly peeled the dressing away. They gasped. The skin was blackened with a slightly rough texture, as though it had been burned. There was a smooth scar where the skin had been cut.
"My skin, my beautiful porcelain skin" thought Draco sadly. But the skull and snake tongue was no longer visible.
Ginny ran her fingers tenderly across the blackened skin. Draco didn't know what stopped him tugging out of the Weaselette's touch, but he just raised his eyebrows and watched her curiously.
They jumped when they heard a cough. It was Mrs. Weasley, carrying Draco's sandwiches and glaring at them suspiciously.
"I'm sorry" breathed Ginny, her eyes sparkling with tears again. She left the room, leaving a confused and curious Draco sitting with his arm out, the place where she had touched him still tingling.
*
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