Version: 1.0 (2006); 1.1 (2012)
Chapter 21: Revenge
Harry's broken arm was well healed by the time the last set of Quidditch games were played in late April. Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff would be the last game of the year, but neither team had a shot at the title. The Quidditch Cup would be decided in the Gryffindor and Slytherin game, both of whom were undefeated for the year.
The entire Gryffindor team knew it would be a physically rough game. They'd watched the other Slytherin games. Crabbe and Goyle were especially brutal as the Slytherin Beaters. So the Creevey brothers decided they'd pick one of the goons and always target him. Perhaps that would help. However, Harry knew that the key to winning the game would be for him to find the Snitch fast enough so no one got hurt and his team had to play short handed.
It took Harry almost fifty-five painfully long minutes to catch a Snitch that seemed to want to hide. To his dismay, the Slytherin Beaters seemed to always target Ginny. Without her Firebolt and incredible flying skill, which was put to the test, she would certainly have been in the hospital wing before the game was over. As it was, she only got a couple of bruises in their 310-20 win, which included many penalty goals. It was hard to tell who was happier, Professor McGonagall or Katie Bell. Harry was just glad the game was over and wrapped Ginny in a hug, all the while keeping an eye on a very angry Draco Malfoy.
Ginny and Harry were the last ones to go back to the locker rooms to change, so they were also the last ones there. For once, Ginny was ready before Harry was. She'd just sat down on a bench in the main team area when Harry came out of the boys' side.
Harry walked over before she could get up and sat beside her, wrapping his arms around her. "Have I told you recently how beautiful you are?" he murmured into her ear and his mouth started coming down the side of her neck in light kisses.
She groaned and breathed a husky, "No, not recently," though he had done so that morning on the way to the game. She loved it when he paid attention to her like this. In fact, over the last few weeks, she'd found it was getting harder and harder to stop at snogging. The feelings she was receiving from him just incited her more.
Feeling bolder for some reason, she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him over to her as she lay backwards on the bench. Harry ended up falling on top of her and momentarily pinning her to the bench. Unfortunately, he hadn't been ready for her movement and he lost his balance. He fell to the floor with a thud and with her on top of him. "Ah," he groaned, but it wasn't from pleasure.
"Harry?" Ginny was surprised and even a little worried she'd hurt him. She scrambled to get off him and crawled up by his head. "Harry, are you OK? Did I hurt you?"
"I'm - I'm fine," he breathlessly told her. "Just got the wind knocked out of me, I think." Struggling a little, he took two deep breaths before continuing. "Let me lay here a minute."
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt you."
He smiled and looked up at her. "'S 'K, I liked you on top of me, actually."
With a mischievous grin, she told him, "I really did too," then her face fell. "I can't believe I just said that."
A breathless laugh escaped him. "Come on Gin, what's the surprise? We both know exactly how we feel about each other. I love you, you love me. One day we'll love each other in that other special way. I promise I'll never push you to do anything you don't want, but you're so wonderful and beautiful that I can't help but want to do more with you."
Ginny gave him a resigned smile. While she appreciated him admitting exactly how he felt, she was also a little bit scared too. Boys seemed to want to be physical faster than girls, and yet, she wanted to become physical with him too. Actually, she was starting to desire it so much it was becoming harder to suppress those feelings, and she was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with her.
"Look Ginny, I know this is hard for us, at least it is for me. But no matter how hard it gets to wait, no matter how much pressure the bond puts on us, I will wait for you for as long as I have to." With a smirk he tacked on, "Or at least I will if it's at all possible."
"Of course, the bond!" Her eyebrows went up in surprise as she finally realised the answer.
"What, you forgot about our bond?" He now looked surprised too.
"No silly boy, I only forgot that the bond is the reason I feel so compelled to do things with you." Now she smiled. "And now that I know, I can deal with it better; but Harry, this is still going to be difficult. I feel your love and it makes me love you even more; and well, it makes me want to do things with you that I know my mum wouldn't approve of."
"I understand, I'm sure that your mum wouldn't approve of what I want to do with you either," he told her with a smirk on his face and a couple wiggles of his eyebrows, which caused her to whack him on the arm. "I really mean it, Gin, you're so important to me, I will make myself wait for you until you're ready."
"Thank you, Harry. You don't know how much that means to me." She leaned down and gave him a soft kiss, which turned into a much deeper kiss.
"Gin," he groaned after a few moments.
With difficulty, she pulled back. "Sorry, Harry. See, it's so easy to get carried away. Well, let's get up and go outside for a walk. Maybe that will help calm us down." She stood and helped him up. Leaving the locker room, they headed toward the lake hand in hand.
After a couple of hours, the couple decided to go back into the castle as it was nearing time for dinner. Along the way, they came across Ron and Hermione, who'd also been out walking. As they reached the main castle doors, Harry and Ginny were a little ways in front of their friends, so they waited hand in hand at the entrance for Ron and Hermione to catch up to them. As the other couple caught up, Harry turned to go in just in time to see a dark orange spell hit Ginny full on the body. Without thinking, he flung his bare left hand out and banished whoever it was as far away as possible. Before Ginny had even hit the floor, Draco Malfoy was sailing backwards down the corridor.
Professors Flitwick and Sinistra were coming out of a side hallway right as Malfoy went flying by, not in a high arc like a thrown ball, but in almost a straight line. After flying nearly fifty feet, Draco hit a suit of armor and tumbled to the floor where he did not move again.
"Impressive!" Flitwick squeaked as the boy flew by him, though he did cringe when Draco landed. Looking at his colleague, "You get Mr. Malfoy to Poppy, I'll see to Mr. Potter." Professor Sinistra agreed and hurried to the boy from her house. "I was so afraid this was going to happen," Flitwick muttered as he hurried the other direction. When he arrived at Harry's location, he saw Ginny was the one injured. "What happened, Mr. Potter?"
Seeing a Gryffindor third year standing nearby who'd been attracted by the commotion, Harry yelled to him, "Daniel! Run to the great hall and see if Madam Pomfrey is there. If she is, tell her there's an emergency in the hospital wing. Go!"
Harry then scooped up Ginny into his arms, "Malfoy did this. Got to get her to the hospital wing." He ran with the girl in his arms. Flitwick turned to the two sixth year Gryffindor prefects and again asked what happened.
She was heavier than she looked, Harry thought. Still, he'd carry her forever if required. And if she died, Malfoy wouldn't survive either. He didn't care about what would happen to himself legally afterwards as Healer Davies words about their tied lives came to his mind.
Finally arriving at the hospital wing, Harry kicked the double doors open with his booted foot as he took her in. "Madam Pomfrey!" he yelled.
The nurse came out from behind a screen. Seeing Ginny in his arms, she pointed at a bed, "Put her in that one, I'll be there in a minute."
"Malfoy can wait, she's dying!" Harry really had his choice of beds, so he picked the one in the corner, the better to defend and watch the rest of the room he thought.
Madam Pomfrey did indeed abandon Draco to come look at Ginny. She waved her wand over the girl and did not like what she found. "I'm sorry, Harry, I think it's too late."
"NO!" he shouted at her. "She's not dead!" He could still feel the tingle when he touched her; and her feelings were so faint it had taken him almost the entire time coming to this wing to find her in him, but they were there. He hated to do this, but he decided to lie to her. "I saw her chest move, she's just breathing very slowly." He was so scared for her.
Dumbledore came walking in very quickly. "What happened?" Harry quickly relayed the short story. "Harry, this is very important. Did you notice what color the spell was?"
"Yes, it was very dark, but not quite completely black. It was like it had tongues of flame on it or something." Though he didn't like Dumbledore very much right now, Harry still respected the man's knowledge.
"Hmm, that could be any one of several spells. Poppy, who is the best you know with spell damage cases?"
"Healer Davies." It was Harry who'd answered. "He said we could call him if we needed. Please call him right now! Please hurry!" he begged. Dumbledore nodded and the nurse turned for her office and its Floo.
Harry held Ginny's left hand tightly. Searching for her again, he pushed as many of his feelings of love for her through their bond as he could. In what seemed like hours but was only a little more than five minutes, the nurse returned with the old healer in khaki pants and a very vibrant shirt with flowers all over it.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, I understand Ms. Weasley has been injured. Can you tell me what happened?" The calm grandfatherly man steadied Harry more than he knew.
Harry looked up at the Headmaster and the nurse, "Please, just us?"
Dumbledore nodded and gestured for Pomfrey to leave as well. "Perhaps you should look after Mr. Malfoy at this time, Poppy." Harry could tell she wanted to stay, but the nurse also knew the Headmaster was correct. As they left, Harry pulled out his wand and cast an Imperturbable charm on the area around the bed.
Healer Davies was doing a diagnostic spell on his patient. When he finished, Harry told him what happened, along with the color of the spell. The healer nodded as he listened. "How do you feel, Harry?"
"Mostly all right. I'll be better when I calm down and she's better."
"Hmm," the healer looked thoughtful, then he did a diagnostic spell on Harry. "Yes, I should have expected that."
"What?"
He looked Harry in the eyes. "Are you familiar with the potion called the Draught of Living Death?" The boy nodded. "I believe the young lady has been hit with the spell variation of that. Somehow, part of the spell went through your bond and you have a small piece of it too, although not enough to slow you down much. If it was just her, I could fix this easily; but since it is split between you, that makes it much more difficult."
"Can it be reversed?" Harry was trying to stay calm, but it was very hard. In fact, he found he was squeezing her hand and hoped he hadn't hurt her.
Davies smiled at him. "All spells can be reversed Harry, except for the Killing Curse. The only questions are how hard it is to do and can the reversal be accomplished before too much damage has been done. Fortunately, this spell won't rush us too much; the complication is that its power is split between the two of you."
The man sat there for a few minutes thinking. "Harry, would you please let go of her hand for a moment." Harry did and the healer redid the diagnostic spell. "Most interesting. Harry, when the spell hit her, were you touching her in some way or just near her?"
"I was holding her hand." He started debating with himself about what abilities of the bond he might need to share and how Ginny would feel about that.
"Yes, that would make sense. All right Harry, I think I know what to do. If you'll pardon me, I need to go retrieve a medical book. This is a spell I haven't seen since Healer school, and that was a long time ago."
Harry swallowed and told him, "As fast as you can please."
"Don't worry, Harry. This spell has no real negative side effects and we have several days to fix this, though I should be back in about ten minutes. The real problem with this spell is for it to be put on someone unknowingly such that they are thought dead and are buried before death takes them a few days later." Harry looked at him with a horrified expression. The healer nodded and then left.
To Harry it was the longest ten minutes of his life, but the healer did return with a very old looking, thick book, with his finger in it about one third of the way through. "Poppy was aghast when I showed her the spell that had been used, rightfully so of course." Harry watched him put the privacy spell back up before reading the page in the book and practicing the spell with only his right hand moving in a complicated motion. Davies did that three times before he set the book down.
"Now Mr. Potter, if you will hold her hand just like you were when the spell hit her, I shall cast the reversal. Of course, this shall add another page to my secret file on you. I really do hope you let me publish that some day. Ready?"
Harry was holding her left hand with his right, just as they had been when they walked through the doorway almost an hour ago. He nodded for Davies to get on with it.
Pulling out his wand, the healer went through the complicated motion and spoke the magical phrase. Harry was watching Ginny closely, but he felt her come back before her first breath and almost crushed her with a hug. "Ginny," he started crying. The healer really wanted to do a diagnostic spell on the girl, but he could see her breathing and the boy seemed to know she had returned to him. That made him wonder that much more about their bond. There was definitely an extra awareness there. He would give them a few minutes first. In the meantime, he would see whoever Poppy was working on before he came back for a quick check, then returned to his party.
Walking around the screen, Healer Davies saw the pale boy with white-blonde hair, and recognized him immediately as the boy he'd treated a few months earlier. He had a real dilemma now, to help or not to help. After a few seconds, he decided a middle ground was possible, so he quietly walked back out and found a chair. If there was a problem, Poppy would call for him and he'd fix life threatening injuries. Beyond that, he didn't plan to offer his skills to that arrogant little bigot.
Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry too. She had to struggle a bit to breath, but when she felt the overwhelming relief in him as well as recognizing the hospital wing, she easily forgave him and enjoyed his joy.
Healer Davies came in and she recognized him immediately. "Good evening. Are you feeling better, Ms. Weasley?"
"I'm just fine. Was there something wrong with me?"
He did another diagnostic spell on her when Harry pulled back, then one on the young man too. "Excellent! You're both back to perfect health. Another two for the healed category. I'll leave all the explanations to your young man here." She blushed at that but Harry beamed. "I'll return to my party and let you two enjoy your time together. You can leave anytime you feel up to it."
The two teens thanked him profusely as he left. Harry looked at her and was so thankful she was alive and healthy once more. He never wanted her hurt again. When she asked again what happened, he told her, though his voice started breaking as he told what it'd been like as she didn't seem to be alive. He hugged her tight again while she rubbed and patted his back. After a few minutes he got his composure back, though she felt something change in him, maybe a little bit less of him like there was some interference in their bond.
"What's wrong, Harry?"
"I'm wondering if I'm doing the wrong thing, maybe I shouldn't be with you. I mean I was with you and you still got hurt, I'll only get you hurt again. Maybe we need to break up, Ginny."
Ginny could still feel his love for her and knew he was only confused at the moment, but it still hurt her to hear that and she wanted to hex his bits off for saying it to her. Well, not really she thought, she wanted to experience that part of life with him too, perhaps something a little less drastic to make him see reason again and stop being stupid and trying to be noble.
"Harry, do you really think you can walk away from me?" She tried to keep her voice level as if she was really thinking it through.
"Yes," but he wouldn't look at her, and she felt his emotions say 'no' at the lie.
That gave her an idea. "Tell me Harry, can you stand seeing me with another man? Because eventually that would happen if you let me go." Ginny did her best to hide her real feelings by studying her hands. His feelings started to waver. Yes, this was the tact to take she thought and she worked on that some more.
"You know, Harry," she pointed out to him, "if you let me go, one day my new boyfriend and I would kiss and you'll feel my joy in that. We would someday marry too. Could you live through my feelings of love for another man?" It was cruel she knew, but what he needed to hear, to be reminded of their bond. "Truthfully?"
He silently crashed on the inside. "You know I can't," he admitted to her with a sob almost in his voice. "I can't live without you," he barely got out through his emotion.
She smiled on the inside. "So tell me how you really feel." Ginny wanted to hear his words to make it all better. Since he'd said the hurtful words, he had to undo them.
Feeling the resolve within him, she saw him look at her with tears starting to well in his eyes. "Ginny, I'm so sorry. I didn't really mean it because I can't live without you - ever." She felt his deep love for her clearly again and couldn't stop herself from crying too.
Getting her voice back, she ran her fingers through his black hair and gave him a teary smile. "Thank you for realising that; but don't you ever think you should leave me again."
He nodded. "I never want to make the same mistake again, so even though this probably isn't the best place to ask, I will. Ginevra Molly Weasley, will you marry me?"
She pulled him into a crushing hug when she heard the words she'd dreamed of hearing for years. No, it wasn't the most romantic place, but she didn't care. "Yes Harry, I'll love you for now and for always."
Madam Pomfrey had finished stabilizing Draco Malfoy and checked in on Ginny to find the two of them in a tight embrace. Smiling to herself that that was probably the best medicine for both Ginny and Harry after this ordeal, she quietly withdrew.
For the next several days after the attack on Ginny, Hermione noticed that Ginny and Harry seemed to spend a little more time together. It was also obvious they were having more than their average number of "private" conversations. She almost wished she hadn't given Harry the idea, but she knew it could be very useful during the war.
Hermione was settling back down to her research. She had a very promising lead on one of Harry's questions. Sitting at her usual table in the common room studying after dinner, Ron came through the portrait doorway with a smile fit to burst his face. He practically ran to her. "Hey Hermione! Did you hear the news!"
"No Ron, nothing special lately, why?"
"Malfoy's outta here!" he whooped.
His girlfriend brightened at that news. "For good?"
"Yes, he's been expelled. Going to Durmstrang next year. He's also been suspended for the rest of this year as soon as he gets out of the hospital wing." Ron was jubilant.
"Wow, that's going to help Harry feel easier about being here. That is good news, Ron."
"One bad spot, he gets to return for the last two weeks so he can take his end of year exams, though I heard he's to be confined to his dorm if he isn't taking an exam, still no Malfoy and no Snape - the world is looking up!"
"You'll have to restart Potions tomorrow, you know, Ron." They'd had a free study period for the class yesterday since there was no teacher. "I heard from Professor McGonagall the new Potions teacher arrived this afternoon."
"Can't be worse than Snape, can he?" Ron was wondering if he could bring his borderline failing grade up in time to get something decent for his end of the year grade.
"No, I suppose not. It could be a she though, you never know," she teased him. Ron shrugged. "I'll think I'll go tell Harry. Want to come?" Ron smiled at her and held out his hand for her. They walked to the training room where the other two had said they'd be studying: him for his four NEWTs coming up and her for her five OWLs.
Opening the door, they found the couple not studying but with their heads close together and looking at a magazine. Hermione looked at the cover and noticed it was a Quidditch Supplies catalog. "That's not studying!" she informed them.
Ginny looked up, "No, just taking a short break." Harry closed the magazine but kept it in his hand. That made Hermione suspicious, but they were surrounded by many notes and books, so they had been studying at one time.
"Got some good news for you two!" Ron announced. He told them about the departing of Draco Malfoy. That did brighten Harry's day; Ginny was glad too. After talking about it for a few minutes, Hermione and Ron left.
Harry pulled the magazine back out. "I'm glad you thought of putting an extra cover on it Ginny."
"Oldest trick in the book Harry," she told him. "I learned it from the twins." They laughed as Harry turned back to the page they were on before. "I like this setting best with the large central diamond, but I think the surrounding little stones should be emeralds not rubies. That will remind me of you."
"All right, I can deal with that. These matching ones over here for the wedding rings?" he suggested.
"Yes, I think so."
"Finally - it only took us three days to decide." He sounded slightly exasperated; she only giggled at him and kissed his cheek. "Dobby! I need your help." The little elf popped in.
"Harry Potter Sir! How can Dobby help you and his Wheezy?" That always made Ginny blush slightly for some reason.
Ripping the catalog page out, he handed it to Dobby. "Dobby, I need an errand." Dobby was only too glad to help. "I want these items here," he pointed them out, "but tell the jeweler to change the rubies to his best emeralds; and we want an auto-sizing spell on all of them."
"Yes Harry Sir! I'll do it first thing in the morning."
"Great, you can get my money bag out of my trunk, and put it and the rings there too when they're ready. Again, Dobby, this is a secret; no one is to know who you're buying this for."
"I understand, Harry Sir. Dobby is happy for you and the miss." With a big smile, he popped back out.
"He's pretty handy to have around," Ginny told him. "I wonder if we can hire him away for our house?"
"I think that would be pretty easy. Somehow we seem to have a connection," he told her as he thought about them in a house by themselves.
She picked up on his feelings and agreed with them. "We can talk about this later, Harry." She reached up and grabbed his face to pull it to her, still enjoying the tingle of touching him.
"Ginny," he finally said after several long kisses, "we're supposed to be revising for our big tests."
She nibbled on his ear, which sent chills through him. "They're only our OWLs and NEWTs, Harry." She laughed a deep throaty laugh in his ear.
His hands caressed her back. "You're right, it's only our future." He didn't stop touching her though.
"Spoilsport," she chided him and then finally let him go so she could find her Transfiguration notes. "You know I could skip the OWLs for this and just take the NEWT."
"Yes, I know you're that good, but let's not give that away either. Make your Outstanding, and save the rest." He advised her. "When our task is done, you can shine like the star you are." She beamed at him and somehow loved him more.
Saturday night at dinner, Harry told Hermione and Ron that he had a small project for them he wanted to discuss; but he wouldn't say what it was other than saying they should meet him at the Room of Requirement in an hour. Ginny didn't seem to know either as she also asked what was up. He told her to be patient; she harrumphed at that.
As soon as they were done eating, Harry helped a perplexed Ginny up and walked her back to the tower. On the way, he stopped by Colin Creevey and whispered something to him, which caused the lad to beam as he said, "Sure thing, Harry."
When they reached the tower, part of Harry's secret came out. "You have one hour to get dressed up for a special date. The light blue dress would be good, but pick whatever you want to look nice in. I'm going to change into my formal dress robes."
Ginny's eyes went round at that. "An hour?! Harry, I need at least two to even come close to doing a good job."
He sighed. "Ginny, you're a witch. Use magic, now be back down here in an hour, or I'll have to find a way to come up there and bring you down." He gave her a quick kiss and went up the stairs. She stared at him for a moment before she started running up to her dorm.
She was about to go into her room when she saw Lavender Brown was coming down from the sixth year dorm room. "Lavender, come help me quick, emergency!"
"What's up, Ginny?"
"Harry's taking me on some special date and I've only got an hour to get ready. Can you do my hair?" Ginny grabbed Lavender's arm and pulled her in without waiting for an answer.
An hour later, Ginny looked at her watch as she felt impatience from Harry. "Done up there?" she asked her friend.
"Yes, that should do."
Ginny got up from the vanity and stood in front of the full length mirror. Pretty good for only an hour, she thought. Last time for this dress too, she believed. It was stretched as tight as it was going to go over her hips, she was nearing sixteen. "Thanks, Lav! You're a lifesaver." Her friend wished her well as Ginny went down the stairs to the waiting Harry.
Harry could feel her moving and knew she was finally coming. Then he saw her, and she was ... ravishing! How did he get so lucky to win someone like her, he wondered yet again.
"Well, how do I look for only an hour's worth of work?"
"I'm the luckiest man alive to have you, Ginny. You're beautiful on both the inside and the outside." He took a full length cloak off his arm and draped it around her. "This will make you slightly less conspicuous as we travel." Her long hair was piled high on her head in an intricate style and would attract attention no matter what.
"You look very handsome yourself, Harry." He smiled as he put on a matching cloak. Offering her his arm, he escorted her out the portrait door.
She wondered where they were going. The many portraits on the wall seemed to be pointing at them and discussing them. That applied to the students who saw them as well, though most of the girls got a far away look in their eyes when they saw the couple. Ginny had to contain her little fits of jealousy at times, which Harry found amusing when he felt them.
They went to the seventh floor and arrived at the Room of Requirement, where they found Ron, Hermione, and Colin with his camera. Ginny started to suspect what was up but wasn't totally sure. All she could feel from Harry was lots of happiness. Harry walked back and forth thinking hard and the door appeared. Going inside, they found the restaurant setting on the cliff by the fake ocean under moonlight again, though there were a few more flowers around this time.
"Awesome setting!" Colin exclaimed.
At that, Harry turned to the photographer. "Colin, you remember what you promised right?"
"Yes Harry. This is a most sensitive secret not to be revealed even under threat of death, or I'll wish I'd been born a toad." His enthusiasm hadn't dampened one whit upon saying that.
"And ..." Harry prompted.
"Oh yeah, no copies to anyone else, and you get the negatives to make sure."
"Very good." Harry handed him a small bag that jingled, which was quickly pocketed.
"Why are we here?" Hermione asked.
"Because you both are our best friends, and I thought you'd like to be witnesses." Turning around he took off his cloak and helped Ginny remove hers before hanging them on a conveniently available coat rack. Taking her hand, he walked her over to the rail at the edge of the cliff near a wall of flowers.
Ginny knew what was coming, she could still feel his love and now his nervousness, and yet the will to go on no matter what. Watching him reach into his pocket for something and bending down on one knee confirmed it.
"Ginny, you are the love of my life and I know I can never live without you." She knew how literally true that was too. "Will you stay with me forever until death do us part - will you marry me?"
Tears were welling in her eyes as she looked down at him, the most wonderful man she could ever imagine. "Yes Harry, I will stay with you forever and always, until death do us part." She felt more than saw the ring being slipped on her finger. He rose and pulled her into a hug and kiss that somehow seemed more special than any other she'd received from him.
Parting, Harry told her simply, "I love you, Ginny."
"I love you too, Harry."
It took them awhile to remember others were there. Ron and Hermione were standing there with arms around the other's waist. Hermione looked to have been silently crying with a smile on her face. Ron looked happy for them, yet thoughtful. Colin was busy snapping away, and Harry was glad to he'd asked the camera bug there, as well as asked him not to use a flash or he'd be blind now he was sure.
Hermione wanted to see the ring, and Colin got a picture of her looking at it too. Then Harry took out his wand and did a complicated motion above it before he tapped the ring. Hermione gasped, "It's gone."
"No it's not, it's right there," Ginny told her. Harry smiled.
"You did a glamour on it so only she could see it, didn't you Harry?" Hermione accused him.
Actually, Harry could see it too. "For Ginny's safety, yes. We will also not be married until after the war, but now I won't ever forget the most important person in the world to me." He looked at her and they shared a smile and a thought. Harry laughed at her which really puzzled Colin, though Hermione understood they'd been sharing thoughts again. "If you three would excuse us, we'd like to finish our date in a more private setting." The three friends congratulated the couple and promised not to tell anyone as they left.
Draco arrived at Malfoy Mansion a week after he'd entered the hospital with lots of broken bones and massive internal injuries, not to mention the concussion and fractured skull. He'd barely set foot in the door when his mother told him to follow her. In a secret room in their basement, he found his father who was still in hiding. Draco couldn't ever remember a tongue lashing like the one he was receiving now, and he'd had a few.
"Do you realize what you have done?" his father sneered at him after several minutes of describing his faults in harsh terms. "By being suspended from school you've put my entire plan at risk, and that has made the Dark Lord most unhappy, Draco. If it wasn't for our family ties, you wouldn't have been able to go back and take your exams. Now, not only will you figure out how to make sure the final attempt of my plan happens, but this evening, we will go see the Dark Lord for you to personally explain how it's going to work and why he should forgive your hotheaded behaviour." Draco's eyes widened at that. "Yes, you should fear him, but you must also not show it when you explain it all to him."
As Lucius Malfoy sent his son away, he looked at the boy carefully. "Better make sure your actions from last week are very believable Draco, or I suspect you'll be introduced to the Dark Lord's favorite spell." As Draco went to his room to think and plan, he started hoping his body was healed enough to withstand the pain.
(A/N 2013: Before anyone writes me to point out how I've ignored something in the books, please remember this was originally written before book6 came out.)
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