"What?" Draco asked, shocked.

"I— have to go," Ginny said walking away.

"What, why?!"

It was too late, however, because she'd already apparated away.

--

The weekend was long and full of worry for both Draco and Ginny. There was no way for Draco to contact her, as he didn't know where she lived, which only served to leave him restless. He wondered away the hours, trying think of what he'd done wrong, and why she'd left so quickly. Ginny wondered if she had made the right decision. She knew it would be awkward in training on Monday.

And, of course, she was right. There was an atmosphere thick with tension in their small practice room. Neither said a word about their date, afraid of what might happen. Instead, both took on a professional, straight-forward demeanor and rarely spoke unless there were orders being given.

"Kingsley wants the Occlumency to be practiced more, so we need to concentrate really hard today. Lie on your back and put your head in my lap," Draco said calmly.

Ginny looked him in the eye for a second at his comment, but quickly looked away, afraid to see the pain that might be there. She lay on her back, but hesitated before putting her head in its correct place.

Draco's hands, which were soft, warm, and delicate, were immediately on her temples, massaging her lightly. She felt her eyes close, becoming extremely relaxed. Every now and then, he would move his thumbs to the bridge of her nose and press up and sideways over her forehead. She'd never been more relaxed. Soon, the tension in the room from their unspoken agreement not to talk about the date melted away.

"Slow your breathing."

Ginny obeyed until her breathing was even, as if she were sleeping.

"I'm going in now," he whispered in her ear.

He delved into the front of her mind, not wanting to go too deep. The first thing he saw was their kiss, then him alone, stretching at their first training session. These images, thought they pleased him to think she was thinking of him, made him realize that

she was too relaxed, not blocking her mind.

"Guard your mind," he said to her while still inside.

Ginny didn't hear him, though. He continued to see visions of the two of them together at Hermione's party, in the zoo on the sky ride. It did of course boost his ego again and again, but he needed her to guard her mind properly. He pulled himself from the recesses of her mind and looked at her. She almost looked asleep, but he knew she wasn't.

"Ginevra."

"Hmm?"

"You have to try and push me out of your mind. This will never work if you don't try."

Her eyes opened and she sat up. Turning to look at him, she said rather helplessly, "I don't know how."

"Why don't we try reversing the roles, so you can see what it feels like to be pushed out of my mind? Maybe that will give you a sense of how to do it."

Ginny nodded and moved to Draco's spot, folding her legs Indian style. Draco placed his head in her lap, and she mimicked his earlier technique, massaging his temples.

Draco didn't let himself become too relaxed, and guided Ginny through the process of seeing into his mind. Once she was inside, he let her see certain memories, ones that were almost identical to the ones he'd seen in her mind. He started pushing against her presence, which wasn't very strong because she hadn't really tried this before. Within a few seconds, she was back out, and he'd turned around to look at her.

"Did you feel it?"

She paused. Oh yes, she'd felt it. Seeing those images over and over again brought back the nervous feeling in her stomach. She knew he wasn't referring to that, however, so she nodded quickly. "Can we try it a couple more times, so I can figure it out?"

He smiled, guessing that her secret motive was to see how those memories looked from his point of view. He nodded and they went through the process a few more times. When Ginny felt she had the idea, they switched places once again.

He began massaging her temples again, but quickly reminded her not to become too relaxed. He pressed into her mind and this time, a little further. He began to see images he hadn't seen last time. These took on a dark and mysterious quality, foggy even.

Hooded and masked figures prowled around one man. The man looked as if he'd suffered a severe beating, judging by the dark purple and red spots all over his arms and legs. His clothes were torn, showing more bruised skin, and his face was bloody from cuts made by a hex.

"It's finally time to die, Weasley. Aren't you glad we're putting an end to your pain?" one asked.

The man in the middle of their circle didn't whimper like a coward, but instead looked up, straight ahead into the eyes of one of them.

"Do everyone a favor and just fucking die. All of you, you sick bastards," he said, clenching his jaw.

"We could say the same for you. Time to go."

The Death Eater who'd spoken raised his wand and—

"NO!"

Draco was thrown out of Ginny's mind with tremendous force. He looked at her and asked, "What was that?"

Ginny's face was white and she said nothing. Instead she hurriedly got up and ran to the bathroom, feeling sick.

--

She'd been in one of the bathrooms for quite some time when Draco mustered up the

courage to go into the forbidden women's bathroom. He looked in several stalls before he found her sitting on the floor next to a toilet in the last compartment, her eyes puffy with tears, and her face splotchy.

"You okay?" he asked softly, bending down next to her.

"I want to go home," she said in a way that made Draco's heart break. She didn't look up from her gaze into the toilet.

He nodded. "Come on, I'll take you," he said, reaching for her arms.

She allowed him to help her up, but once she was standing, she firmly said, "No."

"You can't apparate in this condition, Ginevra. You'll splinch yourself."

"I couldn't possibly care less." She walked out of the bathroom, more tears making their way to the outside world and Draco quickly followed her. She'd started to almost run, but opted for very fast walking.

"Ginevra, wait!"

She didn't stop walking, and Draco had to run to catch her. She was outside of the Ministry when he'd wrapped his arms around her. He felt a tug, and realized she was apparating. And he was, too. They landed in a large patch of grass, with Draco's arms still around her. When she realized he was there, she began pounding against his chest.

"NO! WHY DID YOU DO THAT? YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!"

Draco held her steadily, not letting go, even though her punches were most likely going to leave bruises on his pale skin. Though he didn't understand what he'd seen, he whispered into her ear, "Let it go. It's okay, just let it go."

He knew this wasn't about him being here. She was angry for him seeing the vision, but mostly because she'd seen it, too. He wondered if maybe she'd dated the Weasley in the vision. Why else would she be so affected? And perhaps that was the reason she'd broken away so suddenly from their kiss.

"Calm down. Let it go," he whispered, while looking around, trying to take in his surroundings. He saw an old house about 30 feet away, which looked like it might fall apart soon. There was a beautiful garden in front of it, and an apple orchard off to the side of the house.

He felt Ginny calm down gradually, eventually sagging all of her body weight on him. He listened to her cry, while trying to soak up some of her sadness.

"Ginevra," he whispered.

He heard her sigh, though she still sobbed quietly.

"Is this your house?" he asked. She nodded.

"Why don't we go inside?" he prodded.

He felt her grasp his body tighter as he began to get up. He saw her shook her head.

"We're sitting on the ground, Ginevra," he said, almost laughing.

"I like it," she said in a tiny, gasping voice.

He sighed and held her tighter, knowing she needed it. They were silent for several moments, just listening to the silence, the sound of Ginny's subsiding sniffles and hiccups, and enjoying the comfort of the other's body.

"Draco?"

Her voice surprised him, and he jumped a little. He looked at her. "What?"

"I... I want... I want to tell you something."

He nodded.

"What you saw... it was a dream. I don't really know if that ever happened." At this point, Ginny had extracted herself from Draco's grasp and had wrapped her arms around her own body, which made her look extremely fragile. Draco stayed quiet, waiting for the rest.

"It was Charlie Weasley," she said, her eyes beginning to swell with tears. "I— Draco... You're going to hate me," she said, stalling for time.

"Ginevra, just tell me."

"It was Charlie Weasley," she said again.

"You said that alread—"

"My brother," she interrupted, and looked into his eyes, her lip quivering at her submission.

Draco let the information sink in. His eyes got wide, his mouth opened. He felt something inside him break, his stomach turning upside down.

"You lied," he said.

"Draco, I didn't—"

"You lied!" he shouted, standing up, turning his back to her. "We're supposed to be able to trust each other, and you lied to me!" Draco shook his head, his face already turning red.

"I knew you wouldn't want to be my partner if I was a Weasley! You would have just taunted me like you used to!" she sobbed.

Draco spun around, his eyes wide with anger, "DO YOU THINK I CARE IF YOU'RE A WEASLEY!? WE ARE NOT IN SCHOOL ANYMORE GINEVRA! Wait! Let me guess, it's GINNY."

She didn't say anything, but instead cowered down in fear that he may hit her because of how mad he was.

He took a breath and said through gritted teeth, "Don't you think that if I had a problem with it I wouldn't have sat at the table with you and Ron and everyone else? That I could have been so friendly toward them? You didn't even give me a chance to see if I would care!" He shook his head. "I knew you weren't telling me something, but I thought it was something else, not something as petty and superficial as you being afraid that I'd reject you because of your name. I may have been a pig-headed arse in school but this is different. Maybe you're right. Maybe we shouldn't be partners. But GUESS WHAT! It ISN'T because of your name!"

He turned around, and was gone with a crack. Ginny was lying in the grass, her hair and the grass being blown astray by the wind, and rivers of water poured from her eyes.