A/N second last chapter people, it's my darkest one yet and there will be a few character deaths, just to warn you. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places. They are all the exclusive property of JK Rowling. I'm not making any money from it, don't sue!
Dumbledore opened his oak office door and looked down at the two giddy young people. He smiled at them and his two students smiled back.
He invited them in and sat down at his desk studying them both through his half moon spectacles with that knowing twinkle in his bright blue eyes. 'How much does he know', Ginny thought to herself.
"My, my, what a spectacular ring that is Miss Weasley." Ginny blushed and Dumbledore grinned brighter. He turned from Ginny so he was able to address them both as he spoke.
"Your fellow classmates will soon notice your absence, therefore I thought it best if you two stay here for the remainder of the evening. I'll have a house elf move your trunks and deliver your meals up here", they nodded in unison and the headmaster continued "Now that that's sorted I think we should go over the plans for tonight. You're both leaving at midnight because you'll be less easy to spot in the sky under the cover of night. You'll be surrounded and protected by six members of the Order of the phoenix until you reach your destination, then you'll be on your own for a while. The place has been warded with the strongest protection spells the light side has to offer, the place will be impenetrable to everyone except Voldemort himself and I highly doubt he'll take it upon himself to dispose of you. You both need to be ready to leave from the room of requirement at a quarter to twelve with your trunks shrunken. Remember Miss Weasley you still aren't of age and the Ministry are on the look out for under age Witches and Wizards using magic so please refrain from doing so if at all possible," Ginny nodded her understanding.
"I want to be able to know as soon the war begins, but how will I know, sir?" Ginny asked and the headmaster smiled.
"I thought you'd ask that Miss Weasley. I've placed a simple charm on your wands; they'll shoot red sparks when Voldemort has made his move." Dumbledore said looking quite proud of himself.
"Sir, may I ask another question?" Ginny asked, and Dumbledore nodded. "Where are we going to be hiding?" asked Ginny nervously.
"I'd rather not tell you that piece of information in such a place as my office it's top secret and could have catastrophic consequences' should the location fall into the wrong hands."
"I think we have every right in the world to know where we will be going …um … sir." Ginny spoke, more harshly than she'd meant to.
"If you follow the aurors you'll both arrive perfectly safe. Do you trust me Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, you've never given me reason not to trust you I suppose," Ginny huffed, smelling defeat.
"Thank you. And now I must leave you both. I trust you'll be comfortable here for a few hours?" They both nodded again and the old professor left, closing the door behind him.
The next three hours passed far too quickly for Ginny's liking. They say time flies when you're having fun, but time flew because Ginny and Draco weren't looking forward to leaving the school they'd both grown to love over the years.
A house elf appeared with their luggage; Draco shrunk the bags and brooms and placed them in his pocket. Then they chatted away happily until Draco checked his watch and announced that it was half past eleven, which definitely put a damper on the mood.
'Fifteen minutes and we'll have left this office. Thirty minutes and we'll have left this school' Ginny sadly thought. The seconds ticked by quickly and Draco amused himself by seeing how many sherbet lemons Fawkes the Phoenix could dodge, which earned him a few disapproving noises from Ginny.
"Draco leave that bloody bird alone! It's twenty to twelve; I think we should go now,."
Draco reluctantly agreed, albeit reluctantly and they bothomit both left the room hand-in-hand. They walked quickly through the empty corridors in silence, neither knowing exactly what to say. Draco wanted to say something comforting and Ginny wanted to assure him that she was fine, but neither wanted to be the first to break maybe peirce? I love that word haha the silence. The walk, like everything else that day, was over quickly and they'd they soon arrived outside the room of requirement.
They looked at each other and took a deep breath, ready to walk past the wall three times, but before they'd even started to walkbegun? they heard a loud, angry, and rather breathless voice shout… "GINNY!!! DON'T EITHER OF YOU MOVE A MUSCLE!!!" Ginny froze upon hearing the familiar voice and paled when she realised who it was. Ami, Morena, and Colin were sprinting towards them closely followed by the Slytherin girls. Ginny looked at Draco helplessly; but and he just shrugged casually, as though none of this bothered him in the slightest. Ginny sighed and readied herself for an onslaught onof questions, bickering and, no doubt, curses.
"What the bloody hell's going on?!"
"Why didn't you tell us you were leaving?!"
"There's no way we're letting you go!"
"Why didn't you say you were planning on leaving? Where are you going? How long will you be gone? Who's protecting you?!"
Whilst the other girls (and boy) were ranting and raving about how stupid Ginny and Draco were being, Pansy never said a word; she just stood still, leaning against the stone wall with her arms crossed over her chest, staring with accusing eyes at Ginny. Ginny was very curious as to why Pansy wasn't saying anything. It wasn't at all like her; she was always the one who did the most talking. Ginny was barely listening to her other six friends; she left Draco to answer their questions whilst she stared into Pansy's eyes, pleading with her to understand how horrible she felt for leaving her. But Pansy just remained quiet, cleared her face of any emotion then turned away from Ginny's silent attempt to make her understand. Ginny sighed in defeat and moved closer to
Draco, the only person present that wasn't berating her for doing something she herself didn't even want to do. He put an arm around her and she hid her face in his chest. This was the last thing she'd wanted to happen. She felt guilty about not helping Draco explain to them, but she didn't think she'd be able to handle seeing them all so angry at her. She and was glad she had Draco with her to field the questions and accusations
"Ginny?" Ginny turned around to see a teary Colin looking at her "I don't want you to leave" that's it! That was it! He had he'd successfully broke her heart. She felt absolutely horrible.
She sniffed back her tears and stepped forward. "I know. I don't want to leave either, what if I never see any of you again? What if by the time the war starts something terrible has happened to one of you? I'm so sorry for leaving, but I have to. I really do. I'm so, so sorry."
Colin stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, they clung to each other tightly, never wanting to let go. Ami and Morena, not wanting to miss out on the sentimental moment, joined in the hug. While the Slytherin's smirked at the sight, they would never do such a thing, they'd sooner curse of their own arm, Right? I mean why would people like them want to do something as emotional as hug someone? Of course they wouldn't! ……Oh to hell with the Slytherin-ish attitudes!... And so Millicent, Tracey and Daphne joined in the group hug as well. To passer-by's the scene may have looked comical, but it was really a show of how much everyone cared about Ginny and how much they would miss both her and The Slytherin Prince.
Pansy refused to even look at Ginevra; how dare the girl wriggle her way into Pansy's life and then just up and leave! Pansy was hurt more than anything else, She had grown to love Ginny, she was like the sister she'd never had, and now she was running away Pansy would be alone again. No one understood Pansy like Ginny had. Ginny had been the one who'd seen good in her, who'd trusted her even though all the evidence pointed towards Pansy being trouble. She'd understood her better than any of Pansy's Slytherin friends had because she was selfless and caring unlike the selfish, cunning Slytherin girls. Sure, they were decent company and could be loads of fun, but they'd never put another person before themselves. She'd like to have thought she was angry at Ginny, but really she was angry at herself for caring and growing so attached to a person. People were too unpredictable, every mind worked differently, she should have known something like this would happen. How could she have been so foolish?!
"Pansy?" Ah so the hug had ended and now the littlest Weasley was talking to Pansy "I'm sorry" Huh, yeah right! "I didn't want this; this isn't what I'd planned. Please talk to me, it's not my fault, please say something" Why should she?! "I'll be back as soon as the war starts, I promise!" Yeah and then she'll probably just leave again.
Ginny sighed, she was getting no where. Pansy wouldn't even acknowledge that she was there. "OK, fine. if you don't want to talk to me it's ok, I understand. I just want to say thank you for letting me stay with you and treating me like a friend, I appreciate it a lot, more than you'll ever know. I'm going to miss you; I'm going to miss you all. But, this is something me and Draco have to do, it's unavoidable if we wish to live." Pansy stayed where she was and made no attempt to speak, Ginny sighed and started to walk away "I'm sorry Pansy" she whispered. She took Draco's hand, said her final goodbye's to her beloved friends and they watched as the pair walked past the wall once, twice and…….. "WAIT!"
Ginny turned around hopefully and sure enough there was Pansy rushing towards her. Ginny had no time to speak or even think before Pansy jumped into her arms and hugged all the air from inside of her. They both cried hysterically, leaving patches of dampness on each others shoulders. Pansy pulled away but still kept a firm grip on Ginny's upper arms. She looked into Ginny's watery brown eyes and smiled a big toothy grin. Ginny couldn't do anything but smile back and before either could help it they both burst out laughing and didn't stop until Draco reminded Ginny of the time. The girls hugged each other one last time, and Ginny waved goodbye to her friends as she and Draco entered the room of requirement. 'That may have been the last time I'll ever see them' she thought sadly, before pushing those unwanted thoughts away in order to be completely focused on the night ahead. The journey would, no doubt, be a long one and she was already feeling slightly tired. It was going to be a exhausting night.
The room of requirement had transformed itself into a stone circular room with no roof. And Ginny could see the black midnight sky speckled with shining stars. The natural breeze was alluring and Ginny longed to be on her broom, soaring among the stars with the wind flying through her hair and making her cheeks rosy. It had been so long since she'd had a chance to play Quidditch or even just been able to fly. She'd been far to preoccupied to have time to spare on her broomstick. Luckily, she wouldn't have to wait for long before she was in the air again. Six figures stepped out of the shadows and the first one addressed them. "You're late!" barked Alastor (mad eye) Moody.
"Sorry, had some friend issues." Replied Ginny fearlessly.
"They should have been sorted out before tonight it's now only three minutes before midnight." He almost shouted again; Mad Eye did have a tendency to overreact now and again.
"Exactly Alastor, we need to leave in three minutes. We don't have time to reprimand them. We need to get ready to leave," Reasoned Lupin.
"Oh very well," huffed Mad eye Moody "Mount your brooms!" Draco took both his and Ginny's shrunken brooms from his pocket and reversed the spell. Ginny thanked him and mounted her broom, feeling both excited and scared, a strange mixture.
"Once we're in the air move straight into your positions! Don't leave your position for anything. If one of us is killed carry on without them, does everyone understand?!" Moody yelled at everyone.
"Don't worry kids, drama queen over there's only doing what he does best. Don't let him scare you, everyone's going to be fine," Tonks assured Ginny and Draco.
"Five seconds now! Four, three, two, one. NOW!" And with that everyone took off. Once they were in the sky the six order members formed a circle around the pair with Moody in front and Kingsley behind them.
Ginny couldn't suppress her small cry of joy at being airborne. Draco smiled at her and wondered to himself how long her happiness would last. Not long he suspected. He watched carefully as Ginny looped, twirled and dived expertly. She seemed so much more at ease in the air than she did on land, what a peculiar girl Ginny Weasley was, as complex as a 1 000 000 piece jigsaw puzzle yet as seemingly normal any other sixteen-year-old witch.
After three hours of flying, the novelty of being back in the air had well and truly worn off. "I'm tired! How far do we have left to go?!" Ginny shouted to Moody but the rush of the wind carried her voice over her shoulder in the wrong direction.
"What?!" Moody shouted back.
"I said, HOW FAR DO WE HAVE LEFT TO GO?!" this time she shouted loud enough for him to hear.
"Another few hours and we should be there!" he yelled impatiently.
By half past, four both Ginny and Draco were ready for a good long nap. The sun was starting to rise causing the sky to have a hint of orange and red along with the navy blue. It was beautiful but neither could appreciate it through their heavy eye lids. Draco had witnessed Ginny lose control of her broom a few times already dew to her dozing off. So, he flew closer to her and whispered "Ginny, here get on!" she did as she was told, too tired to do anything else. She half struggled and was half dragged of her broom and onto the front of Draco's, facing him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and rested her arms on his chest and was asleep within minutes .Draco in the meantime had (only because he knew the tantrum Ginny would throw if he didn't) shrunk her broom and placed it safely in his pocket.
"ONE HOUR AWAY AND NO SIGN OF TROUBLE!" Moody shouted in the general direction of the other seven people. Draco breathed a sigh of relief, they'd be safe soon. He waited half an hour before waking Ginny, not wanting her to be disorientated when they arrived. He shook her gently and spoke her name softly.
"Um…Draco?"
"Yes it's me, I'm right here." He told her as she realised where she was and tightened her grip on his chest.
"Oh Merlin, did I fall of my broom," she asked in shock.
"Of course not, But you might have if I'd have left you to fly by yourself," he grinned down at her before returning his gaze on to the sky ahead. "We'll be there in less than thirty minutes; I thought you'd quite like to be conscious," Ginny nodded her agreement.
"I was…" Ginny was stopped mid sentence by a bang and stared in shock and horror at a patch of sky that was now blood red. Draco too seemed paralysed as another bang sounded and a shot of red light joined the one already in the sky. It then dawned on Ginny and Draco that these bangs had been created by both their wands meaning it had been Dumbledore's warning. The War Had Begun.
The order members had obviously been told what the red light meant because Moody was now shouting frantic orders at the Aurors. He was saying that they were hours away from Hogwarts and that they wouldn't get there in time. The battle would be short of six of the best Aurors that simply wouldn't do.
After a few minutes of shouted suggestions the group decided do go with Tonks idea of creating an illegal portkey to take them all straight to Hogwarts, they'd surely get in some bother for it. They'd just explain that it was an emergency and they'd manage to waggle their way out of it some how.
Moody pulled a lose button from his shirt and enlarged it so that everyone's finger would be able to touch it. He then, being his paranoid self, looked around nervously in case any stray ministry workers were flying around. He deemed the coast clear, whispered 'portus' and tapped the huge, black button with his wand.
"I've set it to leave in twenty seconds so everyone hurry up and touch it before we leave without you!" barked Moody and the others hurried to obey. The group wait stationary in the cool air for only five seconds before the portkey glowed and they all felt that horribly familiar feeling of having a hook pull you into the portkey by your navel. Ginny saw a swirl of colour and heard a mixture of sounds before being unceremoniously spat onto the ground, while she gathered her bearings her ears were filled with loud battle shouts and cries for help. It seemed the war was well under way.
It was pandemonium! The death eaters had invaded the school and every seventh and even some of the sixth years were outside duelling to defend their castle, along with about three dozen members of the Order Of The Phoenix, Ministry Aurors, ministry workers and a good variety of creatures. When Ginny looked closely she could see Prof. McGonagall fighting two death eaters, her wand was moving so fast it was just a blur, Ginny decided her old Teacher could look after herself. To the left a group of reckless seventh year boys were charging rugby style at half a dozen Inferi. Moving further along Parvati and Padma Patil were fighting along side each other smiling at their obvious victory over a death eater that now resembled a slug like creature. 'Must have been one weak death eater to have been beaten by a couple of giggling teenage girls.' Ginny thought to herself smiling, hoping this was a good omen. Something else caught her attention behind the battle, tangled in the forbidden forest was eight giants ripping up tall trees and hitting each other with them, Ginny was sure they didn't even know who was on whose side, not that they seemed to care much.
Draco stuck out his hand and Ginny quickly accepted, knowing that staying in the same place for a long time during a war was practically asking to be cursed.
Once she'd stood up she moved swiftly with Draco over to where Tonks stood duelling with a masked death eater with greying hair. "Macnair," growled Draco, he obviously didn't like the bloke. He silently blocked a curse at the death eater threw and Tonks and instead threw his own "sectumsempra!" it hit Macnairs arm, slashing great wounds all over it.
"Uncle Severus been teaching you useful hexes has he boy?" Macnair said patronizingly "Lucius must be so proud at what a traitorous boy he raised." He said sarcastically. His useless attempts at insults weren't bothering Draco in the slightest; as far as he was concerned Lucius was not his father.
"You're boring me" Draco stated whilst shooting another curse that hit its target. "Besides you have an appointment with Satan, and you'd be damned if you missed that, excuse the pun," Draco joked sinisterly.
"You're all talk, boy!" Macnair shouted, angry that he wasn't annoying Draco in the least. In the meantime Ginny was preoccupied with an inferi that was set on killing her, she destroyed it in time to see her fiancé shout the killing curse at the greying death eater. It shocked her for a moment. To actually see someone she loved commit the ultimate sin of murder, then remembered that is was a war! People were going to be killed every minute, rather that scum than Draco.
She heard a young, frightened scream and spun around to find the cause. She found it; a young girl of about twelve was pinned to the floor by a dirty, bloody man. His name was Fenrir Greyback. Ginny knew him to be a well known werewolf that had grew to enjoy the taste of human flesh so much that he attacked humans without a full moon.
Ginny crept up behind Greyback and shot a stunning curse at his back, affectively knocking him out. The girl was shaking with fear and could do nothing but lay there while Ginny kneeled down and shoved the unconscious body off the little girl.
"Why are you here?! You shouldn't be. Get back to the castle and to the escape exit right now!" Ginny said in a tone that screamed don't-mess-with-me-young-lady! The girl nodded mutely and scampered off. 'Stupid young Gryffindors, thinking they're brave by fighting adult's battles" Ginny stopped that train of thought when she realised how much she sounded like her mother. She shook her head and willed herself to focus on the battle.
She spotted a familiar face among the crowd and rushed of in that general direction. Squeezing past people, jumping over the odd dead body littering the floor and dodging curses, hexes and jinxes of all colours before finally reaching her destination. Soon, she was fighting side by side with Colin; he turned to smile at her and got a Cruciatus curse in the chest for his carelessness. He screamed out in pain and scratched at his own skin whilst wriggling on the ground in pain. Who ever cast that curse was obviously a very powerful wizard; they had one killer Crucio. Ginny looked away from her screaming friend, anger boiling up inside of her and locked eyes with the man who'd caused her best friend so much pain, but found she was unable to tear herself away from them. They were hypnotising and so very familiar, she loved those eyes and lost herself in them very frequently. The steely grey eyes of her love, Draco Malfoy. But it wasn't him; he was far behind her fighting with all his heart. Those eyes must have belonged to his father, the infamous Lucius Malfoy.
He's looked at Ginny with a strange expression mixed with a bit of curiosity. His Crucio ended, but neither moved, Colin lay unconscious by their feet. Was that love Lucius saw in her eyes? Maybe at first but now she stared at him with a puzzled look, as if she was deciding something. Why on earth had the Weasley girl looked at him like that? Didn't she know who he was? Had she mistaken him for someone else?
Ginny only now remembered she was angry at Malfoy for hurting her friend but couldn't bring herself to shot a spell at someone one with such wonderful eyes. She realised how stupid she sounded in her head. Lucius wouldn't stop to consider not hurting her, would he? Oh wait yes he would, because he to was simply staring at her. 'This was stupid!' she mentally scolded herself 'Get a grip Ginny. He isn't Draco!'
"Ginny!" someone shouted and Ginny was grabbed from behind by Draco who then shot a spell at his father which Lucius easily blocked.
"You are no match for me Draco! How dare you betray us! You are no son of mine!" he kept shouting at his former son and watched how Ginny Weasley clung to Draco's arm for safety and it finally clicked, the penny dropped. She was the reason his son disgraced the family, she was his girlfriend! And before when the girl didn't shoot a spell at him for hurting her friend, she'd thought it was Draco behind the mask! "I never thought you'd stoop so low as to date scum like her Draco!" Ginny felt a flash of hurt before she reminded herself he only looked like Draco, he wasn't really Draco.
"Why do you care? I'm not your son. And anyway we aren't dating…We're engaged." Draco gently held up Ginny's left hand to show off the ring. Lucius paled considerably, he obviously still cared about who Draco gave the family name to.
"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO GIVE THE MALFOY NAME TO A LOWLY WEASLEY!" He yelled at Draco.
"I don't care what you will or won't allow, I love her. Well Lucius, it's been nice talking but I really must dash, you know with it being a war and everything and I'm sure you've got a million and one things to do like, I don't know, start a muggle genocide, torture a few kids, kiss Voldemorts ass. That kind of thing, don't let us stop you." And with that Draco left, Ginny in tow. Lucius was NOT happy and was probably planning revenge.
By that time, the sun had completely risen in the sky and the battle was in full flow. After about three hours of duelling people from neighbouring wizarding towns, especially Hogsmeade, burst through the schools gates and joined the battle. It was still too early to say who was leading, it was definitely close.
Ginny was worn out but it seemed that all those years of secretly practicing had paid of and she only sported minor cuts and bruises that could be healed with a potion in no time.
She had just effectively stunned a raging death eater and was now pushing past people in search of someone she could help when she tripped and landed on something soft. She rubbed her head and opened to eyes, only to meet them of her Charms teacher the tiny and now very dead Professor Flitwick. She realised who it was and promptly screamed. She scrambled off of him and stared down at him. Oh her poor little teacher, life certainly wasn't fair. Ginny wiped away the tear that escaped her eye and carried on past him. Of course she'd seen a lot of people die that day but none had hit her as hard as that one had, she'd known him very well, the other people had been nameless, faceless people to her. Only then did she understand how dangerous that war was and suddenly feared for the safety of her friends and family.
As if fate had heard her fears, Ginny heard her brother Ron yell for help. She ran as fast as her tired, little legs would allow her, following the hysterical yelling until she caught sight of her brother suspended in the air with his face rapidly turning blue from lack of oxygen. Who had the spell on him? The one and only Bellatrix Lestrange.
"STOP IT!" Ginny had shouted without thinking and now Bellatrix had turned to see the screaming girl, shouting for her to let her brother go and that she was killing him. And it was true; Ron had stopped yelling and trying to loosen the invisible robe that was strangling him. His arms fell limply by his sides and his eyes rolled back in his head. Ginny by this time was shaking with sobs and fell to her knees, feeling useless unable to do anything but watch as Bellatrix slowly killed her youngest brother, it was a well known fact that Bellatrix liked to play with he food before she eat it, in other words she either tortured her victims until they begged for death or she killed them very slowly, savouring each moment of it.
Bellatrix cackled evilly, before dropping Ginny's brother to the ground, where he landed with a sicken crack. Ginny crawled over to him and pulled his stiff body in to a hug. "I'm so sorry" she whispered to him, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She was sorry for ever insulting him, sorry for him not liking her being with Draco and sorry that she couldn't save him. Ron had probably been her closed brother, though she got on very well with Bill, the age gap between her and Ron was only one year. When they were younger Ron would always be the one Ginny would spend most of her time with, heck! 'Ron' had even been her first word! And now she'd never see him again; he would join the rest of the brave souls who had gave their lives for the future of the wizarding world.
But grief was soon masked with hate and anger as Ginny looked up at the smirking face of Bellatrix Lestrange. Ginny hated had woman like she'd never hated anyone before, she wanted to hurt her, she wanted her to feel Ron's pain and her grief, she wanted Bellatrix dead. She once remembered how Harry had explained to Hermione that he couldn't use the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix because he didn't truly mean it and had he was too 'nice' to want to cause someone so much pain. But Ginny had never wanted to do something so much in her entire life, she wanted to rip her limb from limb. She would avenge Ron if it was the last thing she did.
Bellatrix saw the anger in the redheads face and had to suppress the need to cower from the glare. Instead she stood tall and played a smirk about her lips, this only fuelled Ginny's rage. She stood up and looked Bellatrix straight in the eye showing no fear, creatures like her feed on fear.
"What? Going to kill me little girl?" Bella asked showing an infuriating edge of mock kindness by smiling sweetly at Ginny. By now Ginny was well and truly peeved, Bellatrix just saw her as a little girl, she'd show her.
Ginny had practiced non-verbal spells for at least three years so it didn't come as a shock for her when she thought the word 'Crucio' with all her might and Bella shrieked out in pain. Ginny held the spell for a few long minutes before lifting it. Bellatrix looked up at Ginny with a pained expression but Ginny was having none of it. Never again would this woman harm another human being, she was going straight to hell, the best place for her. 'Avada Kedavra!' Ginny shouted whilst moving her wand. She felt the power build up inside of her before it burst free like a bullet from a gun and hit the dark haired woman squarely in the chest. By the time Bella's head hit the ground, she was dead. Ginny cautiously walked over to the unmarked yet dead body and looked down at the frozen expression of terror on the woman's ghost white face. She'd killed someone! Ginny Weasley had killed someone! What a power buzz, what an adrenalin rush it had been! But now, even as Ginny looked down at Bellatrix and knew with her whole heart that that woman deserved death, she still felt oddly guilty. A life, it really wasn't Ginny's to take.
She left the two bodies behind her as she ran through the crowds of people, searching for Draco, wanting to know that he at least was safe. She scanned through the crowd desperately trying to catch of glimpse of platinum blond hair and found one glinting in the midday sunlight.
Draco was half way through a duel with Crabbe senior when a red stunning spell came flying through the foggy air successfully hitting Crabbe and knocking him out cold. Next thing Draco knew a shaking Ginny was in his arms.
"What is it? What's wrong, are you hurt," Draco asked letting go of Ginny and holding her at arms length.
Ginny shook her head. "I killed somebody Draco, I'm a murderer!" Draco breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her back into the hug.
"You did what you had to do Gin," he whispered into her hair almost inaudibly through all the yells of pain and the battle shouts; the din of war. She nodded her head and pulled away.
"I'm staying with you now," she told him. She didn't want to leave him for fear of what may happen, he silently agreed and so they stuck together.
Between them they successfully stunned and binded five more death eaters and ten inferi. They also scared away three dementors. And surprise, surprise Draco's patronus was a Dragon. The light side, by this time, were definitely on top, which was reassuring.
The duo had just defeated a mountain troll when Ginny spotted a shifty looking Death eater coming their way and he had his eyes set on Draco. Ginny barely had time to shout "LOOK OUT DRACO!" before the shifty looking death eater shot the killing curse at Draco. Ginny jumped in the way of it, pushing Draco aside meaning they both landed with a 'thud!' on the hard, mud ground, but at least they were alive.
"Ginny! Do you have a death wish? Because you almost got yourself killed! Please don't ever do that again, promise me you won't," she promised with her fingers crossed behind her back, she knew wouldn't keep it. She'd step in front of a spell for Draco any day.
Ginny and Draco pushed through the duelling witches, wizards and creatures searching for someone to help or fight. Ginny dodged a purple curse that came whizzing towards her, another following after that one. She successfully blocked the second curse and looked around for the person who had made them. It was a tall death eater who Ginny didn't know the name of. He'd just spun around and, with a swish of his black cloak, disappeared into the crowd of people. Ginny took off after him, Draco not far behind. She was definitely the type to hold a grudge and would not let that coward get away with cursing her.
She shoved roughly past the sweating bodies until she spotted him. He had his wand held high and seemed to be struggling with the power of the curse he was casting. Only now did the pair notice a quivering female body, curled up in a ball opposite the struggling death eater. "Avada Kedavra!" Hissed the death eater and a green burst of light shot from his wand. Ginny wondered if he had felt the same surge of power as she had. The girl screamed once as the spell hit her then fell silent and the body slumped to the ground. The death eater cackled and Ginny felt fury flood her body. How dare that man laugh at killing someone! How dare he not feel crappy and guilty that he'd killed someone and ripped his soul in two! She'd show him! She'd show him they were worse things than death.
Ten minutes later Ginny was still torturing the evil, cowardly man within and inch of his life, but not letting him die. She refused to let him have the thing he really wanted; she refused to kill him. He would suffer and she would make it as painful as humanly possible. She barely understood why she had taken the girls death so personally, she didn't even know who the dead girl was yet. But something about how he had laughed and enjoyed the girl's death was what really miffed Ginny. She knew what it was like to kill someone and was now filled with guilt and regret, though she wouldn't deny the fact that for one moment she'd actually enjoyed feeling so powerful. She had killed someone who absolutely, totally deserved it, that man had killed a young, innocent girl who had her whole life ahead of her. It wasn't fair that Ginny had felt horrible whilst he had loved every minute of it.
Draco had tried to tell Ginny to have mercy on the pathetic man, but only received a snarl in return. He'd given up and was now fighting a couple of Inferi.
Ginny tortured the death eater with every curse, hex and jinx she'd ever had the displeasure of knowing until his body was so badly broken that one more spell would have tipped him over the edge and killed him. Ginny left the pitiful excuse of a man bleeding and only inches from death. She turned her back on him and walked over to the body of that girl. She was laying face down in the mud and only once Ginny had kneeled down beside the girl did she realise she knew her. Ginny flipped the body over and stared into the dead face of Parvati Patil. This was the girl who had told Ron about herself and Draco, she was the reason Ginny and Draco had had to run away; she's the one that spread her secret. But now as Ginny looked down at the poor lifeless girl she couldn't bring herself to hate her for anything, after all she'd paid a great price for her gossiping ways.
Ginny closed her girls eye lids and forgave her for every problem she'd ever caused Ginny.
Draco had saw the whole thing and waited until Ginny had stepped up before kissing her gently. He understood now why Ginny had took such an offence to that death eater killing the girl. It had made her feel even guiltier for killing someone and angry that the man didn't feel the guilt she had. Therefore if he couldn't feel her pain she'd make him feel a different type of pain. As Ginny kissed him back she felt herself melt into him and felt him ease her guilt and pain. The pair lost themselves in each other, completely ignoring the war that was raging full throttle around them, until Ginny was roughly bought back into the real world when Draco gasped in pain against her mouth.
They pulled apart and Ginny stared in horror as Draco face twisted in agony. Lucius Malfoy stood behind Draco looking smug with his hand wrapped around the bottom of a bloody knife. It then dawned on Ginny; Draco had been stabbed by his own father! She wrapped her arm around Draco waist for support and stared daggers at Lucius who raised an all familiar eyebrow and her.
Ginny returned her gaze to Draco, not knowing what to do to help. "Basilisk venom" Lucius spoke directing his voice at Ginny whilst twisting the venom covered knife playfully. "Kills slowly and painfully once in the blood stream and is irreversible." He spoke casually, unaffected by the fact that his only son was slowing dying in Ginny's arms. Ginny had now processed the information in her head and was shaking with sobs. "I'd say he has about 20minutes left to life," he told her before turning and leaving.
"No, no," Ginny lowered Draco to the floor; he was too weak to hold himself up and his weight was too much for her.
Ginny kneeled down beside him and started whispering healing spells, anything and everything she thought may help but it seemed Lucius was right when he said you couldn't reverse the effects of the venom, nothing was working and now Draco was coughing up blood. Ginny was hysterical, screaming for help but know one came.
"Ginny" Draco croaked. And Ginny looked down at his dramatically paling face as he sat up slowly with Ginny's help "I...I love you," It was so cliché, Ginny had seen enough muggle movies to know that once someone says something like that it means they think they're going to die. Him saying that really scared Ginny.
"No don't you dare say that, you're not going to die Draco, you'll be alright, you will!" Ginny said through her tears but Draco was shaking his head and lay back down closing his eyes slightly, he looked so tired Ginny's heart ached watching him and she really feared for his life. She grabbed hold of his sweaty hand and kissed it softly. His chest was moving up and down and his breathing was irregular, coming out through his lungs in tortured gasps. He couldn't get enough oxygen; he was like a fish out of water.
'He is still alive!' Ginny told herself 'At least he's still breathing. Please if there is a God, please don't let my Draco die; I don't want to be alone again. Please save him!'
So what do you think? Reviews would be lovely!