Chapter nine: Truth Will Out

"Don't worry, mrs Potter. Your husband will be well taken care of," a young Healer said as he tried to ease Ginny away from the hospital bed without causing a fuss.

Ginny, however, stared at him angrily. "If you lot don't figure out what spell they used on him I'll be happy to experiment with a few spells of my own on your interns. That ought to give us some testsubjects, wouldn't it?"

She stormed off and found a chair in the waitingroom to occupy. Harry had been in the hospital an entire day now and still no one knew what he was suffering from. And since he was still in a coma he wasn't able to help them along either.

Ron, who had been waiting near the coffeemachine for his sister to come back, walked over to her and leaned against the wall.

"Still nothing, then?"

"No," she hissed. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"My job, actually. They want to know what happened to their best protegé at the Ministry so they sent me over."

Ginny sighed. "Why were they there? It wasn't even our house! It was at your place." She sounded as if she was trying to accuse him of having something to do with it.

"Listen," he said softly. "It's practically a miracle that he's still alive after he faced those Death Eaters all alone. You know that. So why not just be happy he survived at all."

"Yes, another thing I just can't figure out.." she continued bluntly. "How come that when they at last have him outnumbered and they can kill him for their master, all they do is stun him? It doesn't make any sense!"

Ron nodded slowly. "...Unless they weren't expecting him...It was at our place, not yours...Perhaps he wasn't a target at all. So that could mean they were looking for something else....or-"

"Somebody else," Ginny interjected. "And I think I know who and why."

Draco opened his eyes slowly and waited for them to focus on the object that was moving around above his head. The object appeared to be someone's arm. Turning his head to the side slightly, he tried to get a glimpse of the face that went with the arm. It turned out to be a pretty familiar face, too.

"Hey..." he said softly.

Hermione started. "Oh, hey...I thought you were asleep."

"Well, I was. But then you woke me up."

She smiled, but it was an empty smile that didn't reach her eyes. In fact, she seemed a little distant all together. As if her mind was somewhere else.

"It's been a while, hasn't it," he said, trying to get her to talk. "Last time you left quite suddenly."

"I've been busy since then. Things happened," she answered with the distant voice he had expected.

She not only seemed distracted, but tense as well.

"What happened?" he asked.

"...A friend got hurt...because of me," she said quietly.

She bit her lip, thinking of the stolen file she had hidden in her locker. She had been thinking about it ever since the accident had happened and her conclusion was that those attackers had been after the file, or herself. Maybe even after the book she had stowed away.

And that thought alone brought along the fear of Ron finding out all of this was her fault. Not to mention that she was afraid more people would come after her again.

"Is he okay?" Draco asked.

She nodded. "I suppose so."

"That's good...Hey...I'll bet you you didn't know I was a father before yesterday. Nor did I," he added sourly.

"No I didn't," she admitted. "But about that-"

"Hermione! Harry woke up!" Ron shouted down the corridor.

Without finishing her sentence, she dropped her work and stormed off, shouting half an apology over her shoulder to Draco.

Annoyed by being so ignored, he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and followed her as fast as his slow feet would let him. By the time he had arrived at the room all the fuss was coming from, he found a pack of curious medi-witches blocking the door. A red-headed woman threw them all disgusted glances as she held the hand of the man in the bed.

'Harry Potter,' he remembered; Granger's friend who had come by before.

He silently pushed his way through the crowd and into the room without being noticed. Backing quietly into the shadowy corner behind the opened door, he watched the scene at the bed.

"Harry..." Hermione whispered coarsely.

"How are you feeling?" Ginny asked quickly, squeezing Harry's hand a little harder.

He smiled sleepily and tried to sit up a little more, but because Ginny was not about to let go of his hand he had to stay the way he was.

"Well...that wasn't the surprise I had in mind," he joked while looking at his wife.

She had averted her face, not at all appreciating Harry's attempt at lifting her mood. "Stop being funny, Harry. It's not a laughing matter."

"Ron, tell your sister I'm fine, will you?" Harry said tiredly.

But the red-head named Ron shook his head and took a step back. "I'm not getting in the middle of marital strife just yet," he eyed Hermione with a wink and returned his attention to Harry. "I'm just happy you're awake again. You really scared us for a while."

"Which brings us to something important," Ginny said in a low angry voice. "I want to know- Look, can you get those attentionseekers out of here?"

She eyed the medi-witches at the door dangerously. Hermione threw them a dirty glance and one by one they disappeared from sight while sulking. Draco retreated into the shadows behind the door even more, intrigued by the discussion.

"What I want to know," Ginny continued, "is why you're still alive. Not that I want you dead, but don't you find it a bit odd that the Death Eaters, whose job it is to capture you so you can be killed, left you on the floor practically undammaged?"

Ron looked at his sister. "Don't you start this again, Ginny!" he said warningly. "I know you're a smart girl but this theory of yours is mad."

"No it's not! You have no clue, do you! Your lovely fiancée's been messing about in Malfoy's affairs and the next thing we know your house was under attack! Don't you find that even a little bit suspicious?"

Draco's eyes narrowed. So she had a fiancé. And what the hell did the other girl mean by 'Malfoy's affairs'?

"But she quit doing that! She promised me she'd give up on it!" Ron looked at Hermione hoping she would back him up.

"Well...Ron, I-"

She bit her lip.

"In my locker...I have a book Harry gave me and a file I stole from the hospital register..." She looked away. "I just had to find out! It was all just too strange, it wasn't right! Pansy Parkinson came in with a child and claimed it was his and I didn't trust it! Doesn't he have the right to know whether the child was really his?"

Ron's face slowly started to glow red. "You couldn't leave it alone? Why, Hermione! Why do you care! Does it mean anything to you whether Malfoy is a dad or not? It has nothing to do with you! You shouldn't even care whether he's alive or dead."

"But it's my job to ensure a patient's safety..." she said weakly. "A patient without memories and then claimed to be someone's father? If no one found out the truth he would have been as ignorant as a lamb to the slaughter!"

Ginny rose to her feet, ready to start shouting. "So your childhood bully's truth is more important than our lives? How dare-"

"Sit down, Ginny," Harry said forcefully.

Ginny looked at him, puzzled, but did as he said.

"When I became an auror I knew these things could happen. These things have been happening all my life! I'm not easily shocked. But what I would like to know is what knowledge it was that nearly cost me my life. What did you find out, Hermione, that they were so eager to take you out?"

"The kid's name was registered but it's not Malfoy. Or Parkinson for that matter."

Suddenly Draco felt angry. The kid wasn't in his name?

"What do you mean, it's not Malfoy or Parkinson!" he yelled as he stepped out of his sheltered corner.

The four people at the bed stared at him, confused he was even there. None of them had seen him entering.

"He's registered as Nox Goyle," Hermione said quietly. "Son of one Tracey Davis and Gregory Goyle, one of your friends from Hogwarts."

"Oh, great!" he hissed through gritted teeth. "More friends I don't remember. And no one seems to be telling me the truth about anything! What the hell is going on? She told me she's a friend, but she lied! And so did you!"

He eyed Hermione angrily.

"You said all of us here were friends but I find that very hard to believe now I've seen what this lot really thinks about me! Just what the hell is going on!"

Ginny had finally wresteled herself free fom Harry's tight grip and strode towards Malfoy before anyone could stop her, staring straight into his eyes.

"Nice bandadging, Hermione. Especially the one on his left arm," she sneered. "You want to know the truth, Malfoy? Then let me show you some truth."

She scratched at the bandadge frantically with her sharp fingernails and tore it from his arm, ripping it as more unraveled.

"Why don't you admire that lovely tatoo of yours up close a little, hmm?"

Draco looked into her eyes, worried by the fierceness of her look. Slowly he followed her glance until his eyes landed on the black skull on his arm. Not more than a second later, his knees buckled as his head flooded with a painful brightness that made him feel dizzy and he hit the floor.