Chapter 8
The next morning at breakfast Draco never came down to join them. Narcissa also seemed to be somewhere else; in mind at least. After the normally silent meal she excused herself for the day and let Ginny have free reign of the day.
Ginny enjoyed having the day to herself but when Draco and Narcissa didn't come to join her for lunch she began to get worried for both of them. She made her way to Narcissa's private study and let herself in. Narcissa didn't move or acknowledge her sanctuary being invaded. Her eyes stayed focused on the dreary clouds and rain. Ginny moved closer to her and could see that she had been crying.
Feeling as if she had invaded on a very private moment Ginny moved to turn and leave before she heard Narcissa finally address her. "Can I help you, Ginevra?"
Ginny shook her head and said, "No, I'm sorry I bothered you. I was worried when you didn't come to lunch."
Narcissa motioned for Ginny to sit in the chair next to her and Ginny obliged. When she took her seat she saw the pictures that were on the table between them. Ginny picked one up and she saw a younger Narcissa smiling in the picture rubbing her growing pregnant belly. Ginny smiled at the picture until she saw what was written at the bottom. Narcissa age eighteen. That doesn't add up. That would make Draco older.
Another picture was similar but the age was twenty. Her twenty year old self looked just as happy if not happier but that didn't add up either.
The third and final picture was like the others but instead of standing Narcissa laid out in a bed and smiled weakly for the camera. Even thought the form of Narcissa could move in the picture the form looked as if it didn't want to risk moving around. The last one had Narcissa's age at twenty five which fit for Draco but the other ones confused her.
Narcissa looked over to the young woman in the room with teary eyes as she explained, "The last picture was when I was pregnant with Draco. The other two were pictures of the pregnancies that I had that never made it to full term."
Ginny stifled her own tears as she thought of Ron and Luna and how it nearly killed them to lose their baby.
"Yesterday you asked me if I grew to love my husband and I told you yes. I didn't tell you the reason why. In the beginning of our marriage things were a little rocky but things turned for the better when I found out I was with child. Lucius was thrilled as was our parents but I was nervous. I was only eighteen and I was going to be a mother.
It was Lucius who helped me get in the right mindset. He showered me with gifts for the baby and talked about us as a family. I started to love him at that point. I lost the baby after my seventh month and it devastated me. Lucius was my rock through that time. He never once blamed me when others did.
Two years later the same thing happened. Still he was my rock and my support. He held me for hours as I cried and still his affection for me never faltered. Even when it seemed as if I could never conceive again he never once sought love from anyone else. When I found out I was pregnant with Draco I forced myself to stay in bed for nearly the whole pregnancy.
They day Draco was born was the happiest day of my life. To hold him in my arms and to see how healthy he was life changing. Lucius changed in that moment as well. He had a son to carry on his legacy but it was more than that. I saw the way that Lucius looked at Draco for the first time. I think it was then that I knew I loved my husband.
Life throws us obstacles we can never prepare ourselves for but sometimes they can work out for the best. Yesterday I looked back on my life and thought about William for the first time in two decades and for once I knew that I had made the right choices in life. Although Lucius wasn't my own choice he has my love and I have his."
Narcissa took Ginny's hand into her own and have her hand a reassuring squeeze before she continued, "You may not see it now but one day you will look back and see that everything happened for a reason."
By that time it was time for dinner and the two women walked to the dinning room. When they arrived Draco had been sitting already at his normal spot. With what Narcissa had said running through her head Ginny barely paid any attention to the other two in the room. It wasn't until Draco made another announcement that her eyes left her plate.
"I will be at Nex Domus again tomorrow. The Dark Lord needs me again for some important business."
Narcissa smiled softly and said, "That will be just fine dear. Ginevra and I need to get back on track for he lessons anyway. You need not be here."
After dinner Ginny was surprised that Narcissa didn't insist on dancing lessons but was grateful at the same time to be able to go to her room and wait to talk to Draco. When she knocked on his bookcase he opened the door and the first thing she noticed was the frown plastered on his handsome face.
After she took a seat next to him on the bed she asked, "What's wrong Draco?"
After a sigh Draco confessed, "I'm being sent away for awhile Gin."
Shocked Ginny asked, "Where are you going? I thought your only task was to watch over me."
"That was supposed to be my duty but the Dark Lord feels that my mother and the manor are more than enough to keep you safe in my absence. I'm going with the Dark Lord and a small group abroad to try and replace the numbers we've lost so far."
Ginny nervously wrung her hands and dreaded asking the next question as she feared the answer, "How long will you be gone?"
"As it looks right now I should be gone for about four months. The Dark Lord has cancelled the Yule ball and told me that he can wait another year until you are announced as his betrothed. He's far to busy to worry about showing off his fiancé. Well that and I mentioned that you weren't going to be ready in time to give you some more time away from him. He took my advice well; ten of our men were captured and he's getting desperate for replacements. So that is his top priority for the time being."
Ginny let the words "four months" sink in and wished that she never would have gone along with the plan. Either way she and Draco were now being torn apart. Draco pulled Ginny into his embrace as he tried to comfort her as well as himself. He hated that he had to go but he had no choice. He held onto her tight memorizing how she felt in his arms. It was going to be a long time before he was able to hold her like this again.
Ginny relaxed in his arms enjoying the feeling of him holding her as she asked, "When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow, I was going to tell mother in the morning."
Ginny felt like crying but stayed strong for Draco's sake. Instead her famous Weasley temper took over as she left his embrace and started to pace. "I can't believe this! Finally we find a way to be together as ourselves and Lord Psychopath has to put an end to it."
She stopped her pacing to look over at him. Their eyes locked and the tears that she had tried to keep in check now started a slow decent down her face. "How am I going to pretend that I don't miss you when it's with every fiber of my being? What if something happens to you?"
Draco walked to face her and wiped away her tears. "It's going to be alright. I'm going to be alright. I'll be fine just as long I know that you are going to be safe. I know that you are strong enough to handle anything. It's just going to be a few months."
Ginny nodded feeling foolish for letting herself fall into tears so easily but it seemed like crying was all that seemed she wanted to do lately. "Draco, can I ask you to do something for me?"
Draco took her hands in his and smiled, "Anything."
Ginny stood on her toes and brought her lips to his as she wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. After a few moments of bliss, Ginny ended the kiss and said, "Be safe and come back to me."
---
The months dragged by while Draco was gone. Once again she was on her strict schedule of lessons but the lessons were starting to get easier and easier. She was now nearly fluent in French and Latin and knew most of the family trees of nobility backwards and forwards. Even though she was excelling in her studies she still couldn't find any happiness. She put on a good show for Narcissa just claiming that she was homesick; which wasn't a total lie. Without Draco there her thoughts would constantly go to her family.
Penelope and Hermione had had their babies and she wasn't there to welcome them properly. She wondered if her parents were safe and hoped that her brothers were taking care of themselves. Without Draco there she had no way to check on the safety of her friends and family. Never before had she felt so isolated.
A week after Draco left was her eighteenth birthday. It was the loneliest birthday she ever had. Narcissa had the elves make a cake for dinner on her birthday but it just wasn't the same. She longed for that single cupcake and the company that she had the year before. She missed the birthdays she used to have with her parents and brothers. Even though Voldemort had ordered dozens of lavish gifts she missed the simple newspaper wrapped gifts, or pranks in the twins' case, from her family.
The only thing that brought a smile to her face was that somehow Draco managed to place a single red rose with a green ribbon on the stem in with the other gifts. Among the other lavish gifts was a new set of dress robes and gowns in nearly every color and style. While Narcissa insisted on making Ginny try on every dress she couldn't help but feel about the gifts for what they were. A bribe for her compliance in her arranged marriage.
One positive thing that Ginny could think about being separated from Draco was that she didn't have to face Voldemort yet. Yule was just as lonely. Narcissa for once in over two decades didn't have a party to plan and was just as bummed as Ginny. They found little solace in each other's company.
After Yule, both Ginny and Narcissa awaited the return of Draco. Ginny tried her best to not look anxious and hid her longing for him in disdain. After January had come and gone both women were getting more and more nervous. Narcissa broke her cold and icy demeanor and actually began to worry aloud while Ginny still had to keep her concern to herself.
Lessons only worked as a small distraction. Any spare time Ginny had she would spend in the Library. She would read for hours different books trying in vain to get her worries out of her mind. She would teach herself different wandless spells and was training her mind against invasion; a skill she knew she was going to need eventually if she wanted to keep her and Draco's feelings for each other a secret.
Before the two women residing in Malfoy Manor realized, February had also come and gone. Draco's twentieth birthday was approaching fast and neither woman had heard anything. It wasn't until nearly three months later that the deathly quiet manor was turned upside down. It was close to one in the morning when cracks of Apparition were heard throughout the house as Lucius and Snape appeared in the hall carrying Draco's limp form.
As Narcissa ran to her husband, son and brother-in-law she saw her son laying limp in his father's arms and let loose a screech of despair. Even when Lucius explained that Draco was only just unconscious she didn't stop crying the whole time Lucius and Snape carried Draco to his room. Ginny peaked out of the crack of her door into the hallway and had to stop herself from joining Narcissa in crying.
When they got Draco laid out in his bed Ginny was already at the back of Draco's bookcase thankful that he had left it cracked open a little. Narcissa fussed over Draco saying spell after spell to make him comfortable. From what Ginny overheard Draco was hit from behind with expelliarmus with such force that it slammed him into a tree head first rendering him unconscious. Before the others could get to him his assailant had cast another unknown curse on Draco to keep him unconscious. When Lucius and the rest of the group got to Draco his attacker was attempting to heave Draco onto their shoulder and Disapparate with him.
Lucius barely froze the assailant in time to scare off the others hiding in the area. Draco had now been unconscious for almost five hours. After the attack Voldemort ordered his Death Eaters to return to England to regroup. Apparently, Voldemort was having a harder time recruiting then he first thought he would have. They then left England and went to France for a month and then to Germany, Austria, and stopped after they made it to Italy, where the attack happened.
After a few more hours of fussing by Narcissa, Lucius led his wife back to their wing consoling her the whole way, "He's going to be just fine, Cissy. Our son is strong."
After she saw the coast was clear she opened Draco's bookcase further and made her way to where he was on his bed. She was amazed to see that he had managed to get out into the sun long enough to get the hints of a tan. She couldn't help but run her hand down the side of his face just to make sure he was really there.
At the soft touch on his face Draco's eyes opened slowly to his love's face only inches from his own. He managed to get out softly, "If you're here I must be in Heaven."
Ginny smiled through the tears that she didn't even notice had formed and replied, "That was such a corny line." She kissed him softly and continued, "But I don't care. You're here. I've missed you so much."
Draco reached out to tuck strand of her now waist length hair behind her ear and smiled at her, "I've missed you too."
The sound of a cough made both sets of eyes fly to the open door and to the person standing there looking at them. Narcissa moved into the room and shut and locked the door behind her. "Are you two mad? Do you have any idea what would have happened if Lucius or Severus would have seen what I just did?"
Draco sat up in the bed to face his mother as she advanced on them. "Draco, have you no sense at all? You were sent because of our family's hatred for hers specifically. If this gets to the Dark Lord he'll have your head on a silver platter!"
Ginny stood and kept her eyes lowered but still held Draco's hand in hers. "And you, young lady. How long have you lied to my face? Pretending to hate my son and yet here you are with him telling him that you've missed him!"
Draco gave Ginny's hand a small reassuring squeeze before he replied, "Mother, I know this looks terrible but we can explain. We…"
Narcissa cut him off sharply. "I do not care what explanations you may or may not have, Draco Lucius Malfoy. You two are going to stop whatever it is you think you are doing today! I will not let some little romance ruin both of your lives. I will not let you two die over something as foolish as this. Starting today you both with go back to the way things should be.
"Draco, you will only be present at meals and dance lessons; and if I see you two as much as give each other a look I don't approve of, I will go to the Dark Lord myself and tell him that you are being too much of a distraction to be around the Manor. Do not think I won't do it, Draco.
"And you, Ginevra; did nothing that I have said in the last few months sink in to that thick head of yours? You are betrothed to the Dark Lord himself. What made you think that he would not eventually find out about this little romance? He is a very possessive man and I will not have you risking my only son's life with your selfishness."
After her tirade, Narcissa grabbed Ginny's arm and dragged her out of Draco's room passed the confused portraits in the hall and threw her into her room and locked her in with the strongest locking spell she knew. After a huff she composed herself and addressed the portraits, "Caught her trying to smother my son in his sleep. She must have snuck by you while you were away."
After she got back to Draco's room she had to stop herself from continuing her ranting. "Draco, it is really early. I want you to get some more rest but when you get back up I want you out of the Manor for the day. Go check in with the Dark Lord and even though it pains me to even think it, I hope he sends you away from here for a while to get your head straight. I cannot believe you could have possibly been so foolish."
Narcissa turned on her heel and made her way to her private parlor. Once the coast was clear Ginny made her way back to Draco's side and was disappointed when he turned away from her.
"She's right, Ginny. Eventually someone will discover our feelings for each other. We should stop this before it's too late. We were stupid to think that we could pull this off. Eventually, you may have to marry the Dark Lord and if he even had and inkling that we're even friends he would kill us both. I should have never shown you that bookcase in the first place."
Ginny's heart dropped at what he had said. "You can't mean that. Draco, look me in the eye and tell me that you don't mean that. Tell me that you want to pretend that we hate each other in public and private again. I don't think you can."
Hard steel grey eyes met soft pleading brown as Draco said seriously, "Go back to your room, Weasley. You don't belong in here."
Tears pricked the corners of Ginny's eyes as she turned and walked through the bookcase closing both of them behind her before she dissolved into tears. What she didn't know was that she wasn't the only one in tears. On the other side of the bookcase grey eyes shed their first tears in many years.