Chapter Two - Myth

Ginny woke in a good mood. She got dressed quietly and tiptoed out of the room she was now sharing with Hermione. The older girl was still asleep, which was odd because she was always up before Ginny. But Ginny understood she needed to rest, after all she had had quite the emotionally exhausting day the day before. She pressed her ear to her brother's room and heard the soft snoring that indicated Ron was still in bed. Then she went to Draco's room. She opened the door quietly and peaked in. Draco was still sleeping, his bare chest only half hidden by the covers.

She stood by the door, wondering what had shifted the stars and made her become friends – good, if not best friends - with Draco Malfoy. Ginny sighed softly and made her way to him. Now, without his searching eyes staring right into her, she allowed herself to admire him, and in the quiet admit what she had not allowed herself to contemplate before. God, he's handsome, she thought with a shiver, and even in her thoughts it sounded tender. Because somewhere in the months that they had been trapped in Grimauld Place with no where to go and no one to turn to, she had found herself going back to him. She sat by him on the bed and gently traced her fingers over his cheek. When her fingertips brushed his lips she pulled back abruptly, her cheeks flushing. He looked so peaceful; none of the ghost that she knew usually haunted him in his soft smile. She figured he was having a nice dream, and that almost made her reconsidered waking him. Almost. Sliding back into her mask of friendship she shook his shoulder gently.

'Wake up, sleepyhead. The sun is out and we are wasting daylight!' she said in a singsong. There was no reply at first. Then he groaned.

'Go away' he grumbled turning over.

'Get up, Mr. Malfoy. It's a beautiful day and we've lots to accomplish.' His only reply was to burry his face in a pillow. Ginny grinned. She slid the pillow from under his head and swatted him. Draco opened his eyes and mouth to give her a piece of his mind angrily and was rewarded by a splash of water. He coughed the water out, choking.

'What was that for?' he said indignantly when he'd caught his breath. She was about to fall of the bed laughing. Draco grabbed her around the waist and pulled her over him and onto the other side of the bed, against the wall.

'You wouldn't get up' she said innocently, drying laughter tears form her cheeks. He glared at her. 'You said we'd go exploring.' She reminded him, making herself comfortable in his bed. Draco lay down again, so they were shoulder to shoulder. 'But, on second thought,' she said yawning.

'Oh, no you don't' Draco said poking her bare shoulder. 'Now, I'm wet and cold and by all that I hold dear, you're not falling asleep on my bed.'

'Why not?' she said stealing back the pillow and closing her eyes. 'I've done it before.'

'Yes,' he said tightly. 'And may I remind you how that particular incident turned out.' She smiled, her eyes still closed.

'Go on, get changed and we'll go find somewhere to have breakfast.'

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They found a small café on the town's square and had breakfast. There was no real way of getting lost, because there weren't more than a hundred houses in the town and the streets ended either at the town square or overlooking the sea. When they were done with their fresh jam and toast, Ginny manipulated Draco into walking down Paseo del Mar, the street parallel to the ocean. There were colourful houses on the other side of the street to their right, and waists high stonewall between them and the edge of the cliff. They walked leisurely, enjoying the feel of the sun, and talking lightly.

Ginny's skirt floated around her knees in the breeze that kept the heat at bay. The same breeze teased her hair, and made him want to run his fingers through it. She huffed, clearly annoyed and not noticing his marvel, and pulled the hair tie from her wrist. He was about to protest when they caught the sound of music coming from one of the windows.

'May I have this dance?' Draco said offering his hand. Her annoying hair forgotten, she took his hand and he twirled her around expertly, still moving down the street. They danced long after they were out of earshot of the music, laughing. It still surprised him how easy it came to be spontaneous with her. Ginny would suddenly take off and run away from him, telling him between piles of laughter that she was too dizzy to keep going, but taking his hands as soon as he was within reach and starting their merry routine again. It was in one of these escapades that she stopped short.

Draco had been right on her heels, about to grab her around the waist and kiss her silly, with how giddy he was but with her sudden stop, he ran straight into her. They both tumbled over, Draco breaking most of the fall with his hands.

'Are you alright?' she asked softly a little dazzled.

'Yeah. Fine.' He replied with a sheepish smile. 'Sorry about that.'

'My fault entirely.'

'Why'd you stop?' he asked, getting up. He offered his hand to pull her to her feet but she gasped.

'You're hurt.' He looked down at the scrapes from the rough stone sidewalk on his palm. As soon as he saw it, his palm started to sting. Ginny got to her feet and pressed a hankie firmly to the wound, making him wince. She tied the piece of cloth around his hand firmly. 'It'll do until we get back to the house.' She said looking up at him with a small smile, still holding his hand between hers.

'Why don't you just fix it with magic?' she rolled her eyes.

'Because, not only is this a completely muggle town, but we're supposed to be in hiding and the more magic we use, the easier it'll be to track us down. Hence why mother told us not to use magic unless it was an emergency. You wont bleed to death from that.' She said mater of factly, dropping his hand.

'Why'd you stop?' he asked again. She turned back to what had caught her attention. The wall veered sharply left in a half circle of about twenty feet deep at its widest point. At the point the wall was the farthest from the street, stood an old lady lying flowers on the wall. On the other side of the wall lay a slab of rough white stone. The woman smiled tenderly as she spread the flowers. Ginny approached her slowly, before Draco could protest. With an annoyed sigh he followed her.

'What are they?' she asked the old lady picking up one of the red and yellow flowers. The woman seemed startled by her presence.

'Santa Maria' she breathed when she noticed her and Draco, her hand flying to her heart. He raised an eyebrow and smirked. Ginny wanted to smack him.

'What are they?' she asked the old lady again, drawing the attention back to her.

'Spanish Rose' she said in a heavily accented English.

'Who are they for?'

'Ana' the woman answered, turning back to the horizon and smiling tenderly. Ginny looked at Draco and shrugged, looking as confused as he felt.

'Who's Ana?' he asked, his hand resting gently on Ginny's shoulder. The woman pointed straight out.

'I'm so confused.' Ginny said softly.

'No, no confuse.' She said turning back to them, watching them with a small smile. 'I tell you story, yes?'

'Alright.'

'But first, you look and tell me what you see.' She said pointing out again.

'The sea' Ginny said.

'And the sky' Draco added.

'No. No. Look... ah, in front. Look at Lady.' She told them, her accent heavier than before. They both turned their eyes from the view and looked back at her. 'Not I!' she said with a laugh. 'The Lady, in the, ah, earth. Lady in earth.' She said pointing again.

'I think she means the stone, Draco.' Ginny said. His hand had slid to the spot between her shoulder blades when she leaned in to take a look at the stone, and he could feel her heart beating beneath his fingertips. They stared at the stone. She gasped, at the same time he blinked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

'It's a statue.' He said breathlessly.

'No Statue. Ana.' The old maid cut in.

'Look at her hair' he said shaking his head.

'Her hair!' Ginny said, turning to him. 'Did you see her hands? Her face? It's… oh, wow.' She was right. Standing, he'd only been able to see thee back of the stone girl, the dress rippling in the wind, her hair. Leaning in, he could only just make out her profile, her sad lips and pretty nose, the empty eyes, her hands pressed together in prayer or plea. It looked like any moment she would turn to them and smile, except that she couldn't afford to look away, because there was something she was waiting for and she could not miss it.

'What's your name?' Ginny asked, drawing him back from the stone. He turned back to her to find her arranging flowers.

'Carolina Gutierrez' she answered. 'You?'

'Ginny.' She answered smiling. 'That's my friend Draco.' He smiled as Carolina's gaze fell on him again. She smiled back.

'Mrs. Gutierrez…' Ginny said trying to sound the last name and making Draco smile. She waved Ginny off.

'Carolina, please.'

'What's the story?' Both girls worked in silence for a while, Draco watching them. It looked like they did this together often.

'Long time before, Ana and Miguel was sweethearts.' Carolina said. 'They was children together. In teaching, yes?'

'You mean they went to school together' Draco said softly.

'School. Yes.' She pulled the thorns from one of the roses absentmindedly. 'Just one school in, ah, pueblo' she said gesturing towards the village. Draco and Ginny nodded. 'Ana's father 'ad money. Miguel is fisher-boy. The pueblo didn't want, but they married.' They took a couple of steps and picked more roses from a basket at their feet. Draco moved with them. He stood staring at the stone-girl, absentmindedly, his hand found Ginny's back again. She looked up at him and smiled.

'They was happy,' Carolina said, her tone dreamy. 'He fish early out with sun. She wait, every sun. Ana is beautiful. Water love Ana. No want Miguel' Ginny shook her head.

'What does that mean?' Carolina looked at Draco expectantly.

'I think… I think she's trying to say that the sea fell in love with her and was jealous of Miguel.'

'Sea, yes, love Ana. Yes. Time, Miguel fish, Si? Sea no let come back to Ana. Ana wait, wait, wait. Turn to earth, stone. Siempre wait.'

'Oh, how romantic!' Ginny said her hand over her heart.

'It's a good folk tale' he told her with a small smile.

'No tale!' Carolina said indignantly. 'True.' They smiled at her.

'Of course it is.' She took one of the roses and broke the stem short then she put it in Ginny's hair.

'Thank you'

'Out you,' Carolina said affectionately squeezing her shoulder. 'Tomorrow, yes?'

'We'll come back tomorrow.' Ginny promised. She tucked her hand in Draco's elbow and waved at Carolina one last time. 'I knew there had to be something interesting in this town.'

'You do know it's just a legend, right?' he said looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

'Yes, of course' but he didn't believe her for one minute.

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