It was sunset. The sky turned yellow, orange, red, pink, purple and finally dark night blue. Night had come. Ginny took in her surroundings. This wasn't the Burrow! Where was she? She looked to her left and gasped at the sight before her. Surrounded by nothing but land as far as the eye could see and a large, pointed gate, stood a large house. No, it wasn't a house, it was almost a castle. Not as big as Hogwarts of course, but it certainly was grand.
She walked towards the gate and as if sensing her, it opened on it's own accord. She felt coldness and darkness radiating from the grand, but slightly scary house. This didn't feel well, at all. Despite her senses practically shouting to turn back, she walked to large, oak frontdoors, and again, these doors opened without a touch from her, almost as if the house wanted her to enter.
She found herself in a foyer, with a high sealing, a staircase in the middle of the room and several hallways and doors, which led without a doubt to the numerous chambers that occupied this house. Suddenly, she heard a heartripping scream. She followed her instincts and ran up to stair in the direction of the terrifying sound. When she reached the first landing she saw a door ajar on her left. Slowly she walked to it, being careful not to make a sound. Upon reaching the door she could hear something. Someone was gasping, as if in unbearable pain. She also heard someone crying softly. It sounded like a woman. The door opened itself further and Ginny saw three people, fortunately none noticed her. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the family. Platinum blond hair, grey eyes, aristocratic features... The Malfoy's. But something was wrong.
Lucius Malfoy was pacing, his snake-cane in one hand, a belt in the other. Narcissa Malfoy was sitting on the floor near a large four poster bed. She had her head in her hands, her fingers lacing through her beautiful, long hair. Her son laid beside her, face down on the green rug, which covered most of the beautiful room. Again, Ginny gasped.
His face was covered in bruises and blood. His shirt was ripped open and showed his back. His almost white skin was also covered in blood and she could see the places where his father's belt had made contact. He must've lost consciousness, because Lucius began to swear uncontrollably and kicked every piece of furniture in his vicinity, but the young man didn't flinch. His mother, however, began to cry harder, which only fueld her husband's rage.
"Shut up, you bitch! This i your fault! You made him weak!" He all but screeched. "He humiliated me! Me! Lucius Malfoy, humiliated in front of the Dark Lord. By his own son, no less! It makes me sick!" The raving continued, but Ginny didn't hear him anymore. Her attention was focused on Draco. She wanted to help him, hold him in her arm and make his pain go away...
"Draco!" She woke with a start when someone shook her shoulder lightly.
"Draco?" Hermione's questioning face came into view. "Ginny, what where you dreaming? And what did it have to do with Malfoy?" Her voice sounded concerned. "You were shaking and mumbling, so I thought I'd wake you." She saw her friend's pale – well paler then usual – face. "Ginny, are you okay?" The younger girl shook her head and had to breath in en out deeply to calm the nausea that threatened to take over. "Ginny say something, I don't..." But Ginny held up her hand so Hermione would stop talking.
"I'm fine now, Hermione, honestly. Just some silly dream. Now, let's get ready to go back to school, shall we?" Pushing herself of her bed, she had to grip Hermione's shoulder to steady herself.
"Ginny, you're not well. Let me get Mrs Weasley." At this Ginny, let go of Hermione's shoulder and proved that she could walk out of the door, successfully avoiding falling on her but and questions from the suspicious other girl.
As a prefect you have many duties, and one of them is listening to Hermione Granger going on and on over their tasks. When they had arrived at King's Cross Station, Hermione was already in her fifth speech, in which she elaborated on the specifics of 'doing the rounds'. Ginny rolled her eyes and tried to glance at Harry, who shot her a look as if to say 'don't look at me or might not be able to contain my laughter any longer'. So Ginny rolled her eyes for good measure and was thankful that Hermione was oblivious to all of this.
"So, when you're done, you fill in the form about what you have encountered and you're done. Easy to remember right?" Ginny nodded, not knowing exactly what she agreed to and went to say goodbye to her parents.
"Now you behave, Ginny," her mother sniffed, "and keep an eye on Ron. Don't let him act like a foolish boy."
"Like a prat you mean?" She muttered softly. Ron had been acting like a overprotective git of a brother all summer. So what she got a few letters from Dean? Get over it already! She walked to her father and gave him a tight hug. She always mist him the most. All summer long they talked 'till late in the night or until her mother would come stumping down the stairs, yelling they should be in bed hours ago!
"See you at Christmas, Dad. I'll write as soon as I can, alright?" Arthur nodded with tears in his eyes. "Daddy, you're not going to cry are you?" She herself felt her eyes water. So, she was daddy's girl? Big deal!
"I can't call you my little princess anymore. You're all grown up!" And that she was. She was proud to say she was now taller that her mother, got some curves and a lean figure, because of her quidditch training.
"Daddy," she smiled through her tears, "you can always call me your 'little princess'." She moved a bit closer, so she could whisper. "Just not in public." She winked and gave him another hug before hugging him again. She whiped away the tears from her cheeks. "Bye." She whispered and with a wave to her mother, she picked up her trunk – almost breaking her back in the process – and boarded the Hogwarts Express.
Seeing Ron, Hermione and Harry walking in front of her she suddenly stopped. She had heard a loud 'crack'. She frowned. The compartment she had stopped in front of, had it's blinds closed. She inched closer to the door to check is she was losing her mind or she really hear someone just apparate in there. She had heard enough of one of Hermione's speeches that apparating onto the train was not allowed. To her shock, she heard a squeaky voice.
"Calm down, Master Draco. Twinker knows master's in pain, but pweez, master needs to lay still." The squeaky voice pleaded. 'Master Draco? Pain?' Ginny's heart began to beat faster as she remembered her dream. She slowly opened the compartment door – trying very hard to make no noise – and gasped. 'Silly dream, my ass.'
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! It hurt.
The first thing he could remember was something cold on his face. He moved to remove the coldness, but almost screamed out in pain. His right arm didn't feel good. At all. Having a vast amount of experience with broken bones, he could say that his arm was without a doubt in a very bad shape. He tried his left arm and was glad that didn't hurt. He removed the wet cloth from his face and took in his surroundings. He was still in his room. The room where his father found him after their little, er, get together with his precious Dark Lord. Dear Merlin, Lucius had used all his tricks to let him know just how angry he was with Draco.
No, angry wasn't the word. Infuriated, going mad with humiliation and so on. Now, he was used to a little beating now and then, but this 'session' had knocked him out. Knocked him out. Draco Malfoy was known for his high pain-threshold, courtesy to Lucius Malfoy and all the years Draco had to endure him and his tempers. Needles to say he was no stranger to pain.
The moment he lifted the wet cloth, a house-elf came running from the other side of the room. "Master Draco! You is awake! Master must get to hospital immediately! Master does not look well." Draco shook his head, but realized this wasn't a good idea. He groaned and leaned back into his pillows.
"Just," he couldn't manage more than a whisper, "just take me to the Hogwarts Express, Twinker." He coughed. "I can see a healer there." He closed his eyes again and a moment later he found himself on a hard bench. He moaned in pain as he felt his wounded back supporting his weight on a hard bench. He tried to so there would be less pressure on the painful skin, but Twinker held him still.
"Calm down, Master Draco. Twinker knows master's in pain, but pweez, master needs to lay still." Just when he started to protest, he heard a sharp intake of breath. He saw the house-elf turn around to the door so fast that it almost lost it's balance. "No!" Twinker all but screamed.
Draco couldn't lift his head high enough to see who was there, but hoped it wasn't anyone important. If the story that Draco Malfoy was laying severely hurt in a compartment, alone, came out, the Golden Trio would come and have a good laugh at his expense. "Miss must leave!" He heard the compartment close and heard someone mutter a silencing and locking spell. 'Shit!' "Step back from my Master!" Although it was an house-elf, Twinker could be pretty intimidating, Draco knew from experience.
"I just want to help. I can help your master get better. Don't you want that?" 'Double shit!' He saw a gleam of red in the corner of his eyes before two chocolate brown eyes looked in his. "Draco?" He saw a glint of worry in those same eyes and his self-preservation instincts kicked in. He tried to move away from him, resulting in him moaning in pain and closing his eyes furiously.
"Get out, Weasley." He whispered through gritted teeth. When he heard no sounds of leaving, but soft whispering, he opened his eyes tentatively. She was half-turned away from him, talking to his house-elf. Twinker looked at the girl suspiciously, but apparently whatever she'd said, it had worked, for a moment later Twinker was gone.
The Weaslette turned back to him and saw his eyes were open. She knelt next to the bench he was laying on and locked her eyes with his again.
"You need help, Malfoy and it happens to be that I had lessons with Madam Pomfrey last year. So, the best thing you can do right now is telling me where it hurts so I can heal the worst things." He narrowed his eyes, but didn't open his mouth, afraid it would betray him. He saw her eyes shift to the rest of his face. Her brow furrowed for a moment, and when she reached out with one hand, he was surprised at how good her touch felt on his skin. 'Wait, what?' But all coherent thought left his brain when she moved her fingertips ever so lightly over the wounds.
Her hand slowly moved to his face. What was she doing? She heard her mind screaming at her to stop. This was Draco Malfoy! The bane of her existence at Hogwarts! But at the same time she remembered her dream. What if it wasn't a dream? She had seen him in her sleep, wounded, and here he was, wounded. What did this mean? She shook her head and placed her fingertips on his skin. She instantly felt a warm feeling flowing from her fingers to her toes. She saw Draco's eyes widen in a short moment of unconcealed surprise, but it passes and he closed his eyes. A smile tugged at Ginny's – for reasons unknown – but she concentrated fast. 'He must be in a lot of pain to let me touch him like this.'
She slowly let her fingers feel the skin of his face, closing her eyes to feel the depth of some of the wounds. They were all superficial. She wouldn't need her wand for these. She was speaking the truth. She had been studying with Madam Pomfrey and as the year progressed, she discovered that she could do some wandless healing. Her teacher was ecstatic and insisted that her Head of House was informed. Professor McGonagall insisted upon hearing this, she should take advanced potions the next year. She explained that it was a large part of becoming a healer. Ginny had never even considered becoming a healer, but when she first heard the idea, she couldn't think of anything else she wanted to become after she had finished Hogwarts.
'Concentrate, Ginny.' She thought to herself and opened her eyes. She summoned the magic within her and carefully healed the wounds. After she did a quick cleaning spell, only a couple of bruises remained. Not anything urgent. She took the moment he held his eyes closed to let her eyes roam his handsome features. Soft skin, aristocratic nose, perfectly kissable lips... 'Stop!' She thought and gave herself a mental slap.
"Malfoy, you have to tell me what hurts, otherwise I don't know what to heal." His eyes opened again and he looked her straight in the eyes. Ginny felt as if the air was knocked out of her by a bludger. After a moment he opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He tried again.
"Arm." He croaked.
A/N: just for the record: this is my first fic so be gentle ::smiles innocently:D ... no seriously I need some reviews cause I don't know if I'm on the right path here... so pweez r&r!! ;)