Title: Never Forgotten
Author: Bebhionn
Rating: PG (K+)
Warning: character death
Genre: tragedy, romance, general
Ships: Draco/Ginny
Length: 1 chapter
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: I didn't have a beta to proof read this, so please be kind (or unkind) enough to point out ANY errors if you review. Reviews are MUCH appreciated.
But yesterday she smiled and ranged with art
Her playthings on the bed.
Today and yesterday are leagues apart!
She will not smile today, for she is dead
-George Barlow
Never Forgotten
He used to visit her at Mungo's. Her parents didn't know, or surely they would have put a stop to it. Normally, he wouldn't have cared about her; she was just another name in the paper, just another resident of ward four. However, this time, it was his fault. He had been aiming for someone else entirely, but somehow she had gotten the brunt of the spell. So, he did his duty as a Malfoy, his duty as a gentleman, and visited the poor girl.
It was strange when he first saw her there. She had been wearing a yellow sun dress and her curly red hair had been pulled up in pigtails with matching ribbons. The nurse told him that, in her mind, she was a child again. They had no idea it was his fault, or else they wouldn't have let him in. Ginny had never smiled at him before, but he had brought her a present (a teddy bear) and, in a child's mind, that made him the vessel of goodness.
He continued to visit her like that. The nurse warned him that Ginny wasn't going to get better any time soon; she didn't want him to get his hopes up because she could see an attachment was growing between him and the Miss Weasley. Draco didn't mind; in fact, he figured that when Ginny got better, whatever bond that was forming between them would vanish. He had been selfish, hoping that their established routine would remain undisturbed.
Of course there were times that her family visited. He would watch from the hallway as they fussed over her and talked to her, trying to help her regain her memory. When they asked her about the teddy bear, Ginny would smile secretively and tell them that a friend had given it to her. Ginny was a good secret keeper; she had told him that many times before. After the family was gone, Draco would sneak in for a quick visit. He couldn't help but notice that she seemed happier when he was there.
It went on that way for many months. He would visit and they would talk of trivial things, such as dolls and flowers, that fascinated young girls. By December he noticed that she was much skinnier and there were dark circles present under her eyes. Her health was slowly declining, the nurse had said, and it wouldn't be long before she passed. Ginny seemed oblivious to all of this. She used most of her energy skipping around and showing him that she could be a ballerina as good as any girl before her. It wasn't until the end of the month that Ginny realized something bad was happening.
Ginny was bed ridden from then on, but Draco didn't stop visiting. He would bring story books, board games, and match cards for them to play with. He didn't let her see how sad he was and only cried when she took her naps. The nurse told him to prepare for the worse.
On January the third, Draco visited for the last time. They didn't play games that day, but Draco read her a story- one about a mermaid who wanted to be human. He was reading about how the mermaid fell in love with the human prince, when Ginny started to cough loudly. They didn't get to finish their story that day. Before Draco left, Ginny gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and told him that she loved him. Looking back on it, Draco supposed she knew it was the last time they'd see each other.
The next few days, her room was filled with her family and Draco was too afraid to visit her. On the tenth, he finally worked up his courage to visit but found the room empty. Her bed was neatly made, the crisp white sheets didn't have a wrinkle in them. The room was unfamiliar to him; it felt more like a tomb than anything else. He tore the sheets off the bed and opened the blinds on the window. Even with the sun shining in, it wasn't Ginny's room anymore. The nurse found him on the bed, crying.
He read Ginny's obituary in the paper the next morning. He didn't go to the funeral; he couldn't bear the thought of Ginny's lovely red curls splayed out on the white satin of a coffin bed.
It was still strange now, as he looked at Ginny's headstone, to think that she was gone forever.
Ginevra Molly Weasley
August 11, 1981- January 8, 2005
GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN