Disclaimer: Characters are TOtally JK Rowlings. Song lyrics are Ray Lamontagne's. Everything else is mine.
(A/N I love reviews. I'm gonna try and finish a story, maybe it will be this one!)
Chapter One: Can I Stay?
Can I stay here with you through the nighttime?
I've fallen sad inside and I need a place to hide
Can I stay, here with you, through the nighttime?
I'm all alone and blue, won't you take me to your room?
Lay with me in your thinnest dress
Fill my heart with each carress
Between your blissful kisses, whisper
Darling, is this love?
She had come to him, clothes soaked through, hair wild and unkept, and tears running down her face. She could not come up for the words to answer his questions. Silently he led her to a chair and silently he left her as he went to make tea. She sat there, still as stone, hands wringing with worry.
He saw across from her, setting a tray down on the table between them. She took her tea cup and stared at it intently, breathing deeply.
"Talk to me."
She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "Harry is dead. Ron is dead. Hermione might die."
"What abo-"
"Voldermort is dead." she interrupted him. "Ron died first, protecting Hermione. He jumped in front of a blast of fire that had been sent to her. Hermione got struck by a hex right after, they don't know what is wrong with her yet. And Harry, he died exactly when Voldermort did."
"And the Death Eaters?"
"You tell me." she replied looking down on his arm. "You're still alive."
He settled back in his chair with a sigh. "It doesn't seem right. When you become a death eater you become an extension of him."
"Maybe not all of them do." she told him thoughtfully. "I mean, if all of you were an extension of him, then every time one of you were killed so would part of him be. Maybe just his inner circle is, but he wants everyone to believe it to keep them in line."
"We believe he's a part of us, so that we are scared to turn our backs on him?"
"Maybe. Didn't work though."
After that they silently sipped their teas. She looked off into the fire, while he causally looked at her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her finally, as she set down her cup of tea.
"Can you imagine what it's like at my home right now?" She asked him. "Can you imagine how many questions I would have to answer? How much everyone is crying? My crying is more then enough for me to handle."
"But, why here?"
"You came to me when you had no where else to go." she replied with a shrug. "You promised to return the favor if I ever needed it."
"Well, in that case, come on."
"What?"
"Your clothes are soaked, your hair's a mess. You need a warm bath, clean clothes, and sleep."
She nodded, "Thank you."
She perched on the edge of the large claw footed tub, a terry cloth bathrobe wrapped around her. The lavender aroma from the bubble bath she had poured in the water was drifting up to her nose. She gently ran her hand in the water, testing the temperature. Finally she shut off the water and slid into the bath, dropping her robe on the ground.
She closed her eyes, trying to relax and instantly she replayed the image of Ron dying in her head, and then Harry. Her eyes sprung open as she sat up in the tub. Despite the warm bath she started shaking and for the second time that night, tears started streaming down her face. She sat in the tub, far after the bubbles left, waiting for the tears to stop.
She let the water out of the tub and rewrapped the robe around her. She softly padded out of the bathroom and into the living room.
"Good bath?"
She nodded, "Pajamas?"
"I don't really have anything for a girl to sleep in."
"Do you maybe have a long shirt?" she asked. "Anything just to cover up, basically."
"Yeah, I have one or a ton of those." he told her, "Come on, I'll let you pick it out."
"It really doesn't matter to me." she told him, as she followed him to his room.
"Either way, you've had a horrid night, you get to wear what you want."
She stood in front of a closet filled with shirts for her to choose from. All of them different colors and different textures. She quickly chose a soft black one and thanked him as she made her way back to the bathroom. She quickly changed into the long shirt, buttoning it top to bottom.
"Do you think you could show me my room?" she asked him after she had emerged from the bathroom.
"Yeah, of course. It's right across the hall from my room, in case you need me for some reason during the night." he told her. "There's an extra blanket in the chest at the foot of the bed, in case you get cold."
"I hear it's suppose to be cold tonight." she told him with a nod. "Thanks, again."
"Don't worry about it." He said walking back towards the door. "You going to be all right?"
She shrugged, "I don't know. Probably not. Goodnight."
"I'm just across the hall if you need me."
She laid in the bed, staring up at the ceiling, in the dark. Scared to close her eyes, scared to let her sub conscience invade her mind in her sleep. She could hear the tick tick of the grandfather clock in the hallway as the seconds passed by. Sleep was not closing in, and if she just lay there for another minute listening to seconds pass by she would go crazy.
She slid out of bed and crossed the bedroom to the door way. She softly opened the door, trying to be quiet as she went. Softly she knocked on his door, not wanting to wake him up, but if he were awake wanting his company.
The door opened after a couple of seconds, "Are you ok?"
"I'm scared to sleep." she told him. "I can't close my eyes without seeing it all happen again."
"Come on." he said opening his door for her.
"Did I wake you?" she asked him as she gently sat on the edge of his bed.
"No, not at all. I was reading."
"Good book?"
"No, actually. But I have to know how it ends."
"Oh."
"You know, you don't have to sit on the edge of my bed like that. I won't bite."
"It's not that, I just-"
"It's ok." He told her, holding up the covers for her.
She crawled under the covers, "Will you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what?"
"Just talk to me until I fall asleep."
"I can do that."
"Oh and one more thing."
"What?"
"Thank you Draco."
"Ginny, it's my pleasure."