A/N: This will be the shortest A/N of my life. Have fun reading this, and
the rest of my A/N you'll find at the bottom.
Chapter 10:
"Let's finish it!" Harry shouted aloud, and Ginny saw the determination in his whole being. Behind Harry, however, stood Draco, a knife in his hand. He was holding it up in the air and was walking up to Harry. He would kill Harry, Ginny was sure of it.
Ginny was frozen on the spot. She knew what would happen but her voice was not working and her body felt too weak to move. Her breathing was fast and she felt her heart beating irregularly against her ribs. She would lose Harry....
And suddenly many things happened at once. She heard her voice crying out Draco's name; at the same time she heard another voice, a much deeper one: Snape. The teacher was shouting a spell that hit Draco hard. The boy had just turned around slightly and Ginny could see the pain in his eyes. Harry also reacted to those events. Startled by Ginny's shout, he had turned around, to see what was wrong, not paying attention to Lord Voldemort anymore.
"Crucio" The voice sounded cold, uninterested in what was happening around him. Ginny brought her hand up to her mouth, stopping herself from crying out loud. Harry was going down to his knees, his face contorted in pain. However suddenly his eyes meet hers, and they were pleading to her for help. She had to act. In seconds she was at Harry's side trying to protect him. She heard Voldemort's laugh and then again Snape. The Dark Lord seemed to have let go of Harry since she felt Harry relax a bit against her.
"Miss Weasley, I strongly suggest you put your plan into action, now. I'll try to buy you some time," Snape said while looking murderously at his former master. Ginny got to her feet as fast as possible, trying to take Harry with her, but he was still lying on the floor very pale. "Harry, please move. Just over there," Ginny pointed at Draco whose passed out body looked even worse than Harry. "What happened?," he asked her weakly while he let her drag him over to Draco. "Later, I'll explain later," she let him sink back to the floor before she leaned over the other boy, her wand in her right hand. From what seemed to be far away, she heard Voldemort and Snape. It seemed they were duelling, and Ginny felt something she never had before: fear for her professor . Ginny then took Draco's cold face into her hands, not sure if she should wake him. According to the books, the spell would work faster if the person was awake, but she feared that Draco would try to fight it off, and then the spell was sure not to work. She glanced over to Harry, who watched her in the oddest way, his hand pressed to his scar the whole time.
For a second she considered telling Harry her plan to Harry, but as she opened her mouth, Ginny could hear a horrible scream of pain. She turned her head just in time to see Professor Snape going to his knees just like Harry had earlier. The Professor still had his wand but ...Ginny simply knew that she had to hurry.
With a fast movement of her wand, she woke Draco up, pressing his body down to the floor with her whole weight. "Shinsetsuna o nase," Ginny muttered under her breath. This was too important to go wrong. It simply had to work. In the first second, nothing happened. Maybe she had been wrong, maybe Draco was acting on his free will. Her heart tightened. Holding her breath, she looked at Harry and then at Draco again, panic filling her whole being. Suddenly a light surrounded Draco. It was orange and looked incredible. Ginny was astonished. It looked so perfect. Her eyes met Harry's, and he seemed just as surprised as she was. True, she had read a lot about the spell, but no book had mentioned how beautiful the spell would be as it took effect. Since the dangers in the use were so high, the spell had last been cast in 1567, and until now she had always had doubts about the spell.
Suddenly the orange faded away, and Draco's eyes started to focus on her.
"What did you do to me?" His voice sounded panicked, annoyed, and almost scared.
"Not much. I just gave you back something you were missing," Ginny answered promptly, only to get a confused look from Harry, and an angry one from the other boy.
"What would you want to give me back? I'm rich, I have everything I could wish for!"
Ginny understood. The spell wouldn't make Draco a human being. He'd have to work hard on himself, if he should ever want to be a better person. She looked deeply into the blue eyes she had once believed herself to love, and for a second she thought she could see deep emotions in them: there was guilt, but also something more. She was sure she had seen that expression once before, but she couldn't remember at whom....Another horrible scream from the other side of the chamber, brought her back to reality.... She took a deep breath.
"Draco, I know that you don't want to hear it from me, but think about the events of the last year. Think about poor, little Tom Miller. Remember how bad that attack was." Draco's eyes clouded. ""If you had to do it over again to day, would you?"
At first Draco's look was determined. "Of course, he's a traitor..." But then his expression changed. He seemed to consider, and to his own surprise- so at least it looked to Ginny- he looked unsure. "Maybe not.... OK, I wouldn't! What did you do to me?! I never had an argument with myself about something like that...NEVER, do you hear?" He was screaming furiously, his body shaking violently.
"That's your conscience. You'll have to deal with it," Ginny said, while her hand caressing his cheek lightly. She couldn't help but slightly feel sorry for him. He'd have to deal with a lot now, especially those horrible things he had done in the past, things that would surely haunt him. And before she could stop herself, she heard her voice again. "Draco, you won't face it alone. I'll always be here for you." The boy's hand just reached for her face, when Harry cleared his throat in the loudest and oddest way. Ginny looked up, only to meet his hurt expression. But before she could say a word to him, Harry started to speak.
"I hate to interrupt this, but does anyone have an idea how to battle Voldemort? Snape seems to be having serious problems." His eyes left hers, and instead seemed to look through her at Snape and Voldemort's duel. Ginny frowned, not sure what to do about this...She would have to deal with Harry later, right now helping Snape seemed to be more important.
"Listen, I found a spell back in my second year...it seems to be the only one that can destroy Voldemort...but first I need to know, Draco are you going to help us?" The boy looked troubled a lot by this question, but after what seemed like an eternity, finally nodded. "This spell will only work if four people work together. His worst enemy, a traitor, a victim, and the one person who is supposed to take his position one day," Ginny said in a rush. "Snape already knows what he has to do...." With that Ginny started to explain her plan quickly. "And don't forget, you have to concentrate on each other and on your emotions. Is that clear?" Ginny finished, as she got up from the floor. The boys looked back at her astonished. They only nodded slightly before they got up as well.
Ginny rushed forward to their Professor, who was still battling bravely with the most feared dark wizard ever. She positioned herself next to the Professor, her body shaking slightly. Although her eyes were fixed on Voldemort, she knew that Harry was standing next to her. From her spot, she saw that Draco had reached his place by then as well. He was standing next to Snape, and she saw his built body behind the silhouette of the Dark Lord.
Ginny repeated the plan to herself once more. Yes, it would work. In that exact second, Voldemort seemed to realize that he was standing in the middle of a square. He cast another curse at their teacher, before whirling around, facing Ginny now...
"So many old friends joining me tonight. I'm afraid I cannot let you leave again," he hissed sending a shiver down her spine. "Draco," he continued without turning around. "I'm positive that you still have to finish your job." There was a sharp intake of breath, and then Ginny heard Draco's voice.
"Indeed, I do master." Draco's voice sounded disgusted.
"For what are you waiting for then? Kill him, " Voldemort said, not realizing that he had just started the last battle of his life.
"Whatever you say: Feente mie entpocion," the blonde shouted through the chamber, his wand directly pointed at his former master. Voldemort's expression changed. He seemed to have problems breathing and the wand, which he'd been holding so tightly earlier, seemed to slip a bit.
"Harry, it's your turn," Ginny hissed, still not taking her eyes from the Snake Lord.
"Tocarro mio astio," Harry's warm voice was reaching her ears, and she watched Voldemort fighting a battle against his own crimes.
She concentrated hard on the pain she had felt back in the Chamber of Secrets, The pain she'd felt during her first year, and the pain she had always felt whenever she looked at her family for a long time afterwards. And suddenly the word left her mouth very easily. " Condolesco!"
Voldemort sank to his knees, his wand lying forgotten on the floor next to him. One arm pressed over his stomach, his face showing his pain.
"Se adstringere," Professor Snape's strong voice joined them. The body of Voldemort started to shake violently.
Ginny knew it was time to finish it. They weren't doing this to torture the dark Lord. It had only one purpose. To get rid of a nightmare that had lasted long enough. Her eyes wandered over the three others, who had joined her in this battle. Ginny knew that in this minute, she would trust all three of them with her life. With this thought in her mind, she closed her eyes ready to voice this knowledge.
"Confido sum," she heard herself say. At the exact same second the others had joined her, just like they were supposed to. She kept her eyes closed, when as a piercing scream filled the room she heard a piercing scream filling the room, and she'd just opened them, when she heard Snape too cry out in pain.
"What's wrong Professor?" she asked when she was going over to him. His hand was pressed to his arm, and although his face looked pained, his eyes showed another emotion. It was happiness.... He didn't answer her question, instead he rolled up his sleeve and where she expected to see the dark mark was nothing now.
***
"Now, once more. How did the four of you defeat Voldemort?" Ron asked in awe, his mouth hanging open slightly, while he looked back and forth between Ginny and Harry. Ginny sighed deeply. She'd known that that would happen, but somehow she had hoped against hope that she was wrong. She'd wanted everyone to register the fact that the world's darkest wizard had been defeated without asking how it had come about.
But now, hours later, Ginny's head had already started to hurt. She must have told the story around seven times - three times just to Ron and Hermione.
"Not again," she moaned at the same time as Hermione, but when she saw Ron's disappointed look she nodded. "Just once more, then I want you two to leave. I'm very tired and I assume Harry is too, and it's bad enough that we have to stay in the hospital wing..."
"Gin, just start the story," Ron said, excitement and pride showing in his eyes, but Ginny also thought she saw more...Maybe she imagined it, but Ron seemed jealous. As the youngest Weasley child, she knew exactly how much her brothers wanted to be recognised as individuals, to do something that nobody had ever done before. It seemed as if Ron had planned to be a very important part in Voldemort's defeat. And he might even think she had taken that away from him on purpose. She'd have to talk to Ron in private....
"Well, back in second year I found this spell. One of the greatest witches had studied a great deal of Japanese. And she found out that Japanese words could be as powerful as Latin words are. It activated Draco's compassion again. And well, after persuading Draco to do the right thing...I didn't do much...it was Professor Snape who protected the rest of us, while I explained the spells..." Ginny took another deep breath before she continued.
"The four of us; made Lord Voldemort only feel emotions. Pain of a victim, guilt of a traitor, hate of his worst enemy, and disappointment of one of his biggest supporters. And in the end it was the feeling of trust that was too much for him to take."
It was very silent after Ginny had finished her story. Hermione had laid her arm around Ron, who was staring at Harry in a sad way. Harry didn't look at Ron. It almost seemed as if he felt guilty for not taking Ron with him. On the other hand Ginny knew just as well as Harry that her brother would have been in mortal danger.
"Ron, I think we should leave them alone now. It's late, " Hermione whispered into the room, still not taking her hand from his shoulder.
"You're right," Ron agreed, before hugging his sister tightly. "Goodnight Gin, and I'm really proud of you," he added as an afterthought before he turned to Harry. Ginny couldn't hear what the two boys whispered, but when Ron and Hermione left, Harry was blushing.
"Goodnight Harry," she whispered into the darkness of the room. Somehow she had the feeling that Harry didn't want to talk with her, and somehow she was grateful for that.
"Night," he whispered back, and then she was alone with her thoughts again. Draco had asked her if their relationship would continue, if he still had a chance... She'd felt very small right then. She didn't want to hurt Draco...not anymore, but her heart would never be with him. Her heart would always belong to a very special boy. She sighed deeply, trying to fight the urge to turn around and watch Harry for a bit. She had been relieved when Professor Dumbledore had told them that Draco would stay in the chamber's of Professor Snape. The hospital wing wasn't safe for Draco....
At some point, she turned around though. Her body was pressed against the bed, her head was resting on her arms. Ginny's face slowly turned towards Harry's direction, expecting to see him fast asleep, but he wasn't...Emerald green eyes met hers, searching her without a word. Ginny swallowed before she spoke up again.
"Harry, I don't know if this is the right time, or place, but we need to talk."
"If you think so." Harry's voice sounded cold and unnaturally hard. Ginny was taken aback. Could it be that he was still hurt? Was it because of what she had said to him after breakfast? She felt that the distance between them was very wide...and it wasn't only that their beds were not very close, but Harry had closed himself up.
She slipped out of her bed, and walked over to his bedside a bit shyly. "Is there a bit more place in here? I'm cold," she looked at him, pleadingly.
"I think it would be better if you stayed in your own bed. Maybe it wasn't even a good idea to talk." He started to turn around, but Ginny acted faster. With her right arm, she pressed his body against the soft material of his bed, while her left hand held his face in a firm grip.
"You are not running away from this, Harry. You'll listen, and if you still think you don't want to stay near me, fine with me, but we are not playing a run and hide game. Understood?" Ginny's voice was shaking from anger. He was hurt, but that was no reason for him to act like an idiot.
"I'm not running away from you, but I don't want to say anything I might regret later." He glared at her, his face as red as her own must be. "I have to watch what I say near you, because you are not being honest to me anyway...or were you honest last night?" he asked triumphantly.
That was enough. With a small final scream Ginny smacked him.
"You, Harry Potter are not calling me a liar...you know I was telling the truth then," she let go of him, and she stormed over to the window, holding on the windowsill for support.
"You want to tell me that you lied to me in the morning after breakfast? Why would you? That was the most important question of all. " His voice was still cold, and hard and Ginny felt her inside break. She turned around in seconds her eyes flashing from the anger, her hurt and probably from some tears.
"You can't think of a reason?! You never thought that I wanted to protect you? That I might wanted you to stay safe?"
"And a simple: 'Harry, keep away from Malfoy ' wouldn't have done it?" He still looked doubtful.
"Would you have listened? Be honest. What would you have done?"
"Probably stopped you from going to him and stopped you from getting yourself into mortal danger, but that's not the point! The point is, that I can never be sure about your feelings, because I don't know if you lied last night or this morning!" Harry hissed, and Ginny needed all her strength to not run out of the room sobbing.
"If that's your true opinion, we can stop this right now, because you should know what I meant, and how much I love you." With that she stepped closer, holding his face between her hands. "Look at me Harry," she whispered as her thumbs caressed his cheeks. He looked unwillingly into her eyes, and somehow his expression changed.
"Do you still have doubts about my feelings?"
"But why did you...never mind!" His eyes clouded again.
"No, tell me...if we want to get through this we need to talk about it all."
"Why did you tell Mal- Draco that you would always be there for him?"
"Because it's the truth! I'll be always there for him as a friend, but I'll never feel for him like I feel for you...Except you keep acting like a git," Ginny said, slightly smiling for a second, before she let her hands sink back down. In the next minute she turned back to the window again, her forehead pressed against the cold glass.
"Gin?" She didn't turn around. Ginny could feel him coming closer. She felt his breath against her neck, and she felt his hands slightly caressing her shoulder. Without really wanting it, her body arched away from him. "I'm very sorry."
"I know that you are, but I didn't like the way you spoke to me...and I didn't like the way you threatened me...Harry, if you feel anything for me...you have to trust my feelings for you...I might introduce you once as a good friend, and you would still have to be sure about my ...feelings for you."
"Ginny, please turn around." He caressed her arm again and Ginny couldn't resist.
"I wanted to tell you that for so long. Although I never expected us in our pyjamas, and I never thought that we would have a fight. Truth be told, I never expected you to smack me either." His voice broke slightly but he kept speaking. "But Ginny it doesn't matter, because the only thing that counts for me is that we are here together. You mean everything to me. I love you Ginny." By now she was sobbing, and Harry caressed her face, trying to make things better.
"And what took you so long?" Ginny asked, pressing her body against his, while slowly bringing her lips up to his. "I love you too."
A/N: Okay I want to thank a lot of people, for their help this time. First of all: Anne for beta- reading this. Then a thank you to all those great people who reviewed the last chapter: RogueAngel, Carissa, Anne, Yolanda and Liz. Next a big thank for keeping up with my rambling about this chapter to everyone who had to... I'm truly sorry, but after all: You got spoilers ;) A big thank you to Kat Morning, for translating me the spell in Japanese... this is still awesome...also big thanks to Liz, for helping me, with Spanish. And since chapter 10 was probably the last bit of Life's choices I'll write: A very big thank you to my wonderful co- author. It was a blast, writing this story with you... and all the planning *lol* ...I'm still laughing when remembering those hours. Big thanks to the Queens, who encouraged us, to post this story on GT... And once again thank you to everyone, who read and reviewed this during the months and months and more months.....You often made my day with your reviews. *HUGS* And please leave a review, since I'm sure it'd make Sue work on the Epilogue a lot faster....After all: we all need support :D
Bye Carrie
"Let's finish it!" Harry shouted aloud, and Ginny saw the determination in his whole being. Behind Harry, however, stood Draco, a knife in his hand. He was holding it up in the air and was walking up to Harry. He would kill Harry, Ginny was sure of it.
Ginny was frozen on the spot. She knew what would happen but her voice was not working and her body felt too weak to move. Her breathing was fast and she felt her heart beating irregularly against her ribs. She would lose Harry....
And suddenly many things happened at once. She heard her voice crying out Draco's name; at the same time she heard another voice, a much deeper one: Snape. The teacher was shouting a spell that hit Draco hard. The boy had just turned around slightly and Ginny could see the pain in his eyes. Harry also reacted to those events. Startled by Ginny's shout, he had turned around, to see what was wrong, not paying attention to Lord Voldemort anymore.
"Crucio" The voice sounded cold, uninterested in what was happening around him. Ginny brought her hand up to her mouth, stopping herself from crying out loud. Harry was going down to his knees, his face contorted in pain. However suddenly his eyes meet hers, and they were pleading to her for help. She had to act. In seconds she was at Harry's side trying to protect him. She heard Voldemort's laugh and then again Snape. The Dark Lord seemed to have let go of Harry since she felt Harry relax a bit against her.
"Miss Weasley, I strongly suggest you put your plan into action, now. I'll try to buy you some time," Snape said while looking murderously at his former master. Ginny got to her feet as fast as possible, trying to take Harry with her, but he was still lying on the floor very pale. "Harry, please move. Just over there," Ginny pointed at Draco whose passed out body looked even worse than Harry. "What happened?," he asked her weakly while he let her drag him over to Draco. "Later, I'll explain later," she let him sink back to the floor before she leaned over the other boy, her wand in her right hand. From what seemed to be far away, she heard Voldemort and Snape. It seemed they were duelling, and Ginny felt something she never had before: fear for her professor . Ginny then took Draco's cold face into her hands, not sure if she should wake him. According to the books, the spell would work faster if the person was awake, but she feared that Draco would try to fight it off, and then the spell was sure not to work. She glanced over to Harry, who watched her in the oddest way, his hand pressed to his scar the whole time.
For a second she considered telling Harry her plan to Harry, but as she opened her mouth, Ginny could hear a horrible scream of pain. She turned her head just in time to see Professor Snape going to his knees just like Harry had earlier. The Professor still had his wand but ...Ginny simply knew that she had to hurry.
With a fast movement of her wand, she woke Draco up, pressing his body down to the floor with her whole weight. "Shinsetsuna o nase," Ginny muttered under her breath. This was too important to go wrong. It simply had to work. In the first second, nothing happened. Maybe she had been wrong, maybe Draco was acting on his free will. Her heart tightened. Holding her breath, she looked at Harry and then at Draco again, panic filling her whole being. Suddenly a light surrounded Draco. It was orange and looked incredible. Ginny was astonished. It looked so perfect. Her eyes met Harry's, and he seemed just as surprised as she was. True, she had read a lot about the spell, but no book had mentioned how beautiful the spell would be as it took effect. Since the dangers in the use were so high, the spell had last been cast in 1567, and until now she had always had doubts about the spell.
Suddenly the orange faded away, and Draco's eyes started to focus on her.
"What did you do to me?" His voice sounded panicked, annoyed, and almost scared.
"Not much. I just gave you back something you were missing," Ginny answered promptly, only to get a confused look from Harry, and an angry one from the other boy.
"What would you want to give me back? I'm rich, I have everything I could wish for!"
Ginny understood. The spell wouldn't make Draco a human being. He'd have to work hard on himself, if he should ever want to be a better person. She looked deeply into the blue eyes she had once believed herself to love, and for a second she thought she could see deep emotions in them: there was guilt, but also something more. She was sure she had seen that expression once before, but she couldn't remember at whom....Another horrible scream from the other side of the chamber, brought her back to reality.... She took a deep breath.
"Draco, I know that you don't want to hear it from me, but think about the events of the last year. Think about poor, little Tom Miller. Remember how bad that attack was." Draco's eyes clouded. ""If you had to do it over again to day, would you?"
At first Draco's look was determined. "Of course, he's a traitor..." But then his expression changed. He seemed to consider, and to his own surprise- so at least it looked to Ginny- he looked unsure. "Maybe not.... OK, I wouldn't! What did you do to me?! I never had an argument with myself about something like that...NEVER, do you hear?" He was screaming furiously, his body shaking violently.
"That's your conscience. You'll have to deal with it," Ginny said, while her hand caressing his cheek lightly. She couldn't help but slightly feel sorry for him. He'd have to deal with a lot now, especially those horrible things he had done in the past, things that would surely haunt him. And before she could stop herself, she heard her voice again. "Draco, you won't face it alone. I'll always be here for you." The boy's hand just reached for her face, when Harry cleared his throat in the loudest and oddest way. Ginny looked up, only to meet his hurt expression. But before she could say a word to him, Harry started to speak.
"I hate to interrupt this, but does anyone have an idea how to battle Voldemort? Snape seems to be having serious problems." His eyes left hers, and instead seemed to look through her at Snape and Voldemort's duel. Ginny frowned, not sure what to do about this...She would have to deal with Harry later, right now helping Snape seemed to be more important.
"Listen, I found a spell back in my second year...it seems to be the only one that can destroy Voldemort...but first I need to know, Draco are you going to help us?" The boy looked troubled a lot by this question, but after what seemed like an eternity, finally nodded. "This spell will only work if four people work together. His worst enemy, a traitor, a victim, and the one person who is supposed to take his position one day," Ginny said in a rush. "Snape already knows what he has to do...." With that Ginny started to explain her plan quickly. "And don't forget, you have to concentrate on each other and on your emotions. Is that clear?" Ginny finished, as she got up from the floor. The boys looked back at her astonished. They only nodded slightly before they got up as well.
Ginny rushed forward to their Professor, who was still battling bravely with the most feared dark wizard ever. She positioned herself next to the Professor, her body shaking slightly. Although her eyes were fixed on Voldemort, she knew that Harry was standing next to her. From her spot, she saw that Draco had reached his place by then as well. He was standing next to Snape, and she saw his built body behind the silhouette of the Dark Lord.
Ginny repeated the plan to herself once more. Yes, it would work. In that exact second, Voldemort seemed to realize that he was standing in the middle of a square. He cast another curse at their teacher, before whirling around, facing Ginny now...
"So many old friends joining me tonight. I'm afraid I cannot let you leave again," he hissed sending a shiver down her spine. "Draco," he continued without turning around. "I'm positive that you still have to finish your job." There was a sharp intake of breath, and then Ginny heard Draco's voice.
"Indeed, I do master." Draco's voice sounded disgusted.
"For what are you waiting for then? Kill him, " Voldemort said, not realizing that he had just started the last battle of his life.
"Whatever you say: Feente mie entpocion," the blonde shouted through the chamber, his wand directly pointed at his former master. Voldemort's expression changed. He seemed to have problems breathing and the wand, which he'd been holding so tightly earlier, seemed to slip a bit.
"Harry, it's your turn," Ginny hissed, still not taking her eyes from the Snake Lord.
"Tocarro mio astio," Harry's warm voice was reaching her ears, and she watched Voldemort fighting a battle against his own crimes.
She concentrated hard on the pain she had felt back in the Chamber of Secrets, The pain she'd felt during her first year, and the pain she had always felt whenever she looked at her family for a long time afterwards. And suddenly the word left her mouth very easily. " Condolesco!"
Voldemort sank to his knees, his wand lying forgotten on the floor next to him. One arm pressed over his stomach, his face showing his pain.
"Se adstringere," Professor Snape's strong voice joined them. The body of Voldemort started to shake violently.
Ginny knew it was time to finish it. They weren't doing this to torture the dark Lord. It had only one purpose. To get rid of a nightmare that had lasted long enough. Her eyes wandered over the three others, who had joined her in this battle. Ginny knew that in this minute, she would trust all three of them with her life. With this thought in her mind, she closed her eyes ready to voice this knowledge.
"Confido sum," she heard herself say. At the exact same second the others had joined her, just like they were supposed to. She kept her eyes closed, when as a piercing scream filled the room she heard a piercing scream filling the room, and she'd just opened them, when she heard Snape too cry out in pain.
"What's wrong Professor?" she asked when she was going over to him. His hand was pressed to his arm, and although his face looked pained, his eyes showed another emotion. It was happiness.... He didn't answer her question, instead he rolled up his sleeve and where she expected to see the dark mark was nothing now.
***
"Now, once more. How did the four of you defeat Voldemort?" Ron asked in awe, his mouth hanging open slightly, while he looked back and forth between Ginny and Harry. Ginny sighed deeply. She'd known that that would happen, but somehow she had hoped against hope that she was wrong. She'd wanted everyone to register the fact that the world's darkest wizard had been defeated without asking how it had come about.
But now, hours later, Ginny's head had already started to hurt. She must have told the story around seven times - three times just to Ron and Hermione.
"Not again," she moaned at the same time as Hermione, but when she saw Ron's disappointed look she nodded. "Just once more, then I want you two to leave. I'm very tired and I assume Harry is too, and it's bad enough that we have to stay in the hospital wing..."
"Gin, just start the story," Ron said, excitement and pride showing in his eyes, but Ginny also thought she saw more...Maybe she imagined it, but Ron seemed jealous. As the youngest Weasley child, she knew exactly how much her brothers wanted to be recognised as individuals, to do something that nobody had ever done before. It seemed as if Ron had planned to be a very important part in Voldemort's defeat. And he might even think she had taken that away from him on purpose. She'd have to talk to Ron in private....
"Well, back in second year I found this spell. One of the greatest witches had studied a great deal of Japanese. And she found out that Japanese words could be as powerful as Latin words are. It activated Draco's compassion again. And well, after persuading Draco to do the right thing...I didn't do much...it was Professor Snape who protected the rest of us, while I explained the spells..." Ginny took another deep breath before she continued.
"The four of us; made Lord Voldemort only feel emotions. Pain of a victim, guilt of a traitor, hate of his worst enemy, and disappointment of one of his biggest supporters. And in the end it was the feeling of trust that was too much for him to take."
It was very silent after Ginny had finished her story. Hermione had laid her arm around Ron, who was staring at Harry in a sad way. Harry didn't look at Ron. It almost seemed as if he felt guilty for not taking Ron with him. On the other hand Ginny knew just as well as Harry that her brother would have been in mortal danger.
"Ron, I think we should leave them alone now. It's late, " Hermione whispered into the room, still not taking her hand from his shoulder.
"You're right," Ron agreed, before hugging his sister tightly. "Goodnight Gin, and I'm really proud of you," he added as an afterthought before he turned to Harry. Ginny couldn't hear what the two boys whispered, but when Ron and Hermione left, Harry was blushing.
"Goodnight Harry," she whispered into the darkness of the room. Somehow she had the feeling that Harry didn't want to talk with her, and somehow she was grateful for that.
"Night," he whispered back, and then she was alone with her thoughts again. Draco had asked her if their relationship would continue, if he still had a chance... She'd felt very small right then. She didn't want to hurt Draco...not anymore, but her heart would never be with him. Her heart would always belong to a very special boy. She sighed deeply, trying to fight the urge to turn around and watch Harry for a bit. She had been relieved when Professor Dumbledore had told them that Draco would stay in the chamber's of Professor Snape. The hospital wing wasn't safe for Draco....
At some point, she turned around though. Her body was pressed against the bed, her head was resting on her arms. Ginny's face slowly turned towards Harry's direction, expecting to see him fast asleep, but he wasn't...Emerald green eyes met hers, searching her without a word. Ginny swallowed before she spoke up again.
"Harry, I don't know if this is the right time, or place, but we need to talk."
"If you think so." Harry's voice sounded cold and unnaturally hard. Ginny was taken aback. Could it be that he was still hurt? Was it because of what she had said to him after breakfast? She felt that the distance between them was very wide...and it wasn't only that their beds were not very close, but Harry had closed himself up.
She slipped out of her bed, and walked over to his bedside a bit shyly. "Is there a bit more place in here? I'm cold," she looked at him, pleadingly.
"I think it would be better if you stayed in your own bed. Maybe it wasn't even a good idea to talk." He started to turn around, but Ginny acted faster. With her right arm, she pressed his body against the soft material of his bed, while her left hand held his face in a firm grip.
"You are not running away from this, Harry. You'll listen, and if you still think you don't want to stay near me, fine with me, but we are not playing a run and hide game. Understood?" Ginny's voice was shaking from anger. He was hurt, but that was no reason for him to act like an idiot.
"I'm not running away from you, but I don't want to say anything I might regret later." He glared at her, his face as red as her own must be. "I have to watch what I say near you, because you are not being honest to me anyway...or were you honest last night?" he asked triumphantly.
That was enough. With a small final scream Ginny smacked him.
"You, Harry Potter are not calling me a liar...you know I was telling the truth then," she let go of him, and she stormed over to the window, holding on the windowsill for support.
"You want to tell me that you lied to me in the morning after breakfast? Why would you? That was the most important question of all. " His voice was still cold, and hard and Ginny felt her inside break. She turned around in seconds her eyes flashing from the anger, her hurt and probably from some tears.
"You can't think of a reason?! You never thought that I wanted to protect you? That I might wanted you to stay safe?"
"And a simple: 'Harry, keep away from Malfoy ' wouldn't have done it?" He still looked doubtful.
"Would you have listened? Be honest. What would you have done?"
"Probably stopped you from going to him and stopped you from getting yourself into mortal danger, but that's not the point! The point is, that I can never be sure about your feelings, because I don't know if you lied last night or this morning!" Harry hissed, and Ginny needed all her strength to not run out of the room sobbing.
"If that's your true opinion, we can stop this right now, because you should know what I meant, and how much I love you." With that she stepped closer, holding his face between her hands. "Look at me Harry," she whispered as her thumbs caressed his cheeks. He looked unwillingly into her eyes, and somehow his expression changed.
"Do you still have doubts about my feelings?"
"But why did you...never mind!" His eyes clouded again.
"No, tell me...if we want to get through this we need to talk about it all."
"Why did you tell Mal- Draco that you would always be there for him?"
"Because it's the truth! I'll be always there for him as a friend, but I'll never feel for him like I feel for you...Except you keep acting like a git," Ginny said, slightly smiling for a second, before she let her hands sink back down. In the next minute she turned back to the window again, her forehead pressed against the cold glass.
"Gin?" She didn't turn around. Ginny could feel him coming closer. She felt his breath against her neck, and she felt his hands slightly caressing her shoulder. Without really wanting it, her body arched away from him. "I'm very sorry."
"I know that you are, but I didn't like the way you spoke to me...and I didn't like the way you threatened me...Harry, if you feel anything for me...you have to trust my feelings for you...I might introduce you once as a good friend, and you would still have to be sure about my ...feelings for you."
"Ginny, please turn around." He caressed her arm again and Ginny couldn't resist.
"I wanted to tell you that for so long. Although I never expected us in our pyjamas, and I never thought that we would have a fight. Truth be told, I never expected you to smack me either." His voice broke slightly but he kept speaking. "But Ginny it doesn't matter, because the only thing that counts for me is that we are here together. You mean everything to me. I love you Ginny." By now she was sobbing, and Harry caressed her face, trying to make things better.
"And what took you so long?" Ginny asked, pressing her body against his, while slowly bringing her lips up to his. "I love you too."
A/N: Okay I want to thank a lot of people, for their help this time. First of all: Anne for beta- reading this. Then a thank you to all those great people who reviewed the last chapter: RogueAngel, Carissa, Anne, Yolanda and Liz. Next a big thank for keeping up with my rambling about this chapter to everyone who had to... I'm truly sorry, but after all: You got spoilers ;) A big thank you to Kat Morning, for translating me the spell in Japanese... this is still awesome...also big thanks to Liz, for helping me, with Spanish. And since chapter 10 was probably the last bit of Life's choices I'll write: A very big thank you to my wonderful co- author. It was a blast, writing this story with you... and all the planning *lol* ...I'm still laughing when remembering those hours. Big thanks to the Queens, who encouraged us, to post this story on GT... And once again thank you to everyone, who read and reviewed this during the months and months and more months.....You often made my day with your reviews. *HUGS* And please leave a review, since I'm sure it'd make Sue work on the Epilogue a lot faster....After all: we all need support :D
Bye Carrie