Another long A/N:

Thank you for reviewing, everyone! I should use cliffies more often…

Anyway, some of you might have noticed that I changed the name of this fic.

You see, after I made the fic I searched "Façade" and discovered that there are about 10 other Harry Potter fanfics with Façade in the title, some of which were also just "The Façade". I had a lot of difficulty naming this fic from the beginning- I didn't just call it "Le Tuteur Clairvoyant" because at that point I knew the concept but had not yet figured out what I was going to call Ginny and Draco's connection. You all know that this is my first fic, and I only just figured out that it's possible to change the title after the fact.

I did leave "The Façade" as part of the title, so if anyone had been linking to it from the search then it would still come up. So that's my long story about the title.

Now, on to the dire situation in which we last left our two protagonists.

The Façade: Chapter 12

(A/N: I believe this warrants a flashback) Last time:

"Crucio!" The moment Draco saw Ginny's face contorted in pain, tears running down her cheeks as her wounds reopened, he couldn't take it anymore. Blasting the window beneath him with his wand, he fell to the floor of the chamber and turned his wand on his own father before the Deatheaters had time to react.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

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A jet of bright green light shot out of Draco's hawthorn wand. His aim was true. There was a moment during which Lucius stared at Draco with his hard, grey eyes, before they glazed over and he crumpled to the ground as if in slow motion. Draco's wand arm shook as the shock of what he had done hit him like a tidal wave. Ginny was absolutely still, unable to do anything but look at the man who had killed his own father for her.

A droplet of Ginny's blood dripped off the trail running down her foot from her ankle. It made a tiny plink in the silence as it fell into the small pool that was already there.

The spell (A/N: No pun intended, of course) was broken. Draco came back to his senses, yelling "Stupefy!" and pointing his wand at one of the Deatheaters. That one fell to the ground immediately, but Draco could not take on the three others all at once.

"Crucio!" one of them yelled.

Ginny tried to resist a fresh torrent of tears as her vision played out in front of her, Draco writhing on the ground as she watched, helpless, strapped to the wall.

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Draco was now strapped at Ginny's side, also in quite a bad state. The Deatheater he had knocked out was up again now, and two of them were watching Ginny and Draco, wands steadily trained on them (not that they could have done anything). The other two were conversing in low whispers, presumably about what to do with them. Their ringleader was dead on the floor, and they weren't quite sure what they should be doing.

Draco, I love you. I always will.

Gin, we're going to make it out of here. He was aware that both of them knew it wasn't likely. I love you too.

Suddenly, the Deatheater with his wand pointed at Ginny collapsed. As the other three looked around, confused, for the source of the nonverbal spell, the one guarding Draco also fell to the ground. At this point, the Deatheaters had located the corner of the room that the spells had come from, and Harry whipped the invisibility cloak off of himself, Ron, and Hermione. It was three wizards against two, with the element of surprise still somewhat on the teenagers' side, and it was a matter of minutes before all four Deatheaters were unconscious, bound and gagged.

"I found this on the floor on our way back to Hogwarts." Harry held up the forced note from Ginny. Draco must have dropped it in his panic earlier. Ron began undoing the leather straps at Draco's wrists. Harry had already gotten Ginny almost untied.

Hermione was looking at Lucius' body, trying to tell if he was breathing without having to get too close. When she had decided that he was definitely dead, she turned to Draco, who was now untied.

"Who—"

"Me." Draco answered.

"Oh." Hermione didn't know what to say, so she just didn't say anything. Then she noticed Draco pressing his thumb over a gash on his arm to stop the bleeding.

"Let me help you with that." Hermione walked over to Draco, beginning to heal his wounds with her wand. Draco smiled at her. He understood this as a peace offering- seeing what he had done for Ginny had finally convinced Hermione that he could really, truly be trusted.

Ginny was barely awake, lying in Harry's lap as he healed her wounds.

They sat quietly like this for a long while, contemplating what had happened. None of them realized when one of the Deatheaters slowly regained consciousness and maneuvered himself like a snake to press his index finger to his unconscious companion's Dark Mark.

A/N: HA! Another cliffy! I didn't honestly mean to do that, I just got the idea and absolutely had too. Looks like I'll be needing some more motivation! REVIEW!