CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT THE END OF THE LINE
AN: More violence....or at least the other half of it. Some sexual references.
Thanks to my new friends at The Motley Collection community for adding Skin Deep. Also I wanted to thank all those that have favorited it so far to make sure that no one gets left out. It really means a lot to me and I hope that this has lived up to your expectations.
AlinaLotus (great author, best wife)
eaglesnest
Happyhan
mamawitke
Man of the future
purposelyaccidental
and the several people who are watching on alerts
I also just wanted to let you know that I do visit the home pages and read the stories that people who take the time to favorite mine write. I want to know my readers better and I'd be glad to check yours out just let me know you are out there. Thanks for your support of my baby and stay tuned for the sequel, and soon to be third part, of this story.
The door to the front of the house flung open and Ginny came sliding across the entry way tile, the portrait still clinging to her chest. The rain flooded in from the growing storm outside the forgotten door. As her pounding footsteps echoed off the stairs, two heads popped out from behind the basement door.
"Was that Ginny?" Hermione asked as she slipped over the puddles and her sheet robe. She closed the door and locked it tightly before returning to Draco who was also wrapped only in a sheet.
"Most likely wasn't the cat." Draco smirked as he playfully slapped Hermione's butt. "Either case, I think we're about to lose our privacy." Hermione yanked the sheet off from around Draco's waist.
"You're right." She giggled as she ran back down the stairs closely followed by Draco.
The door to Ginny's room flung open to find Harry staring out the window in deep thought. He turned and his eyebrows lowered in concern at her soaking, heaving form.
"Ginny...?" Harry said as he started to walk towards her. She held up her hand, not to stop him, but to tell him to give her a moment.
"What...is the meaning...of this?" Ginny flung the portrait down on the floor as she tried to catch her breath. Staring back at Harry from the floor was an unfinished mirror image of himself. "I've never seen a painting like this- Why isn't it finished? Why isn't it moving? Why is it...you?" Ginny wiped her soaking wet hair out of her eyes.
"I don't know." Harry said as he grabbed her hands, "but I think I know who does." He began to lead her down the stairs.
Hermione sat, straddling Draco's hips, still throbbing with the quick orgasm he had just brought her to. "Draco, you know I've been married three years and I've never had sex three times in one day? Let alone orgasmed more than once a month." Hermione stroked the trail of hair leading down his stomach.
"Well that doesn't really surprise me." Draco said as he shifted slightly on the bed. She felt herself ignite again at his sudden movement inside her.
God... she thought, he's turning me into a nympho. She began kissing him as she tried to move herself around on him without being obvious.
"You ready for another go?" Draco smiled as she blushed. Just as he joined in her thrusting a rap came to the door.
"This had better be good." Draco said as Hermione smacked his shoulder and gave him a look.
"Draco, I need to talk to you about something important. Now." It almost sounded like Harry had returned upstairs before he added to his demands. "Hermione, we'll be needing you as well." Draco and Hermione looked at each other wide eyed before gathering their clothes in silence and joining Harry and Ginny in the kitchen.
"So how was work?" Draco asked Ginny in a smart-ass tone as they joined them at the table.
"First things first." Hermione said as she nervously scooted farther down the table from Draco. "I was...that is, we were...just..."
Harry held up his hand. "It's OK, 'Mione. We know."
"You know what?" Hermione said as Draco toyingly closed the gap between them again.
"I heard them come from the Ministry and pick up Ron. He seemed very eager to go. To take the blame. They're, um..." Harry looked at Draco before finishing, "not coming back."
"I am so sorry that we hadn't noticed that there was a problem." Ginny said as she sat down next to her lifelong friend.
"But how did you know I was downstairs?" Hermione looked down at the floor shamefully.
"Let's just say Harry heard a lot this morning." Harry, Hermione, and Ginny turned deep scarlet at this revelation.
"Awkward moment aside..." Draco said becoming antsy at the growing need in his pants.
"So anyway..." Harry began, "I've been to Snape's, and I have questions that need answered."
Ginny slammed the portrait onto the table like a centerpiece. "Let's start with this one."
Hermione turned her head to hide the oncoming tears. She knew this moment would come.
"You're the art expert, Gin. How would I know?" Draco began before a soft, shivering voice interrupted him.
"How much did you see, Harry?" Hermione forced herself to look up at her friend and instantly saw the pain of his knowledge.
Ginny looked back and forth between the two as they shared their knowing look and was suddenly overcome by cold. She found herself wishing she had never asked.
"Snape showed me...everything..." Harry began as Ginny settled in to his shoulder. "But it didn't make sense. How can I be..." Harry took one last look at Ginny as if he could no longer protect her. He nodded towards the painting knowing Hermione would get his drift.
"I'm afraid it makes perfect sense." Hermione said as she turned her head towards Draco. Draco had begun to roll up his sleeves as if preparing for some dirty job.
Ginny's knees had given way to what she believed to be a bad situation. She placed her hand over Harry's as it rested on her shoulder. "Harry, you didn't...you can't have..." she clasped his hand as she wasn't sure what to do with this new information. "When? And why don't we remember?"
"And why am I still here?" Harry said as both of them looked towards Draco as he stood and rounded the table to sit on the edge next to them. "I thought I would come to you because I saw both of you there before..."
"Where?" Ginny said, frustrated at being the last man out.
Harry gave a tight squeeze to her shoulder. "It was the night Voldemort was defeated. Snape helped me remember what happened." He ran a comforting hand down the side of her cheek before looking at Hermione and Draco in turn. They both nodded as they understood that some things she didn't need to know. "The last thing I knew, I had been hit with Avada Kedavra, killing Voldemort but knocking me onto a rock." He ran her finger over his scar. "Then everything went black." Ginny looked over the scar that until now she had never questioned it's origin. "But before everything went black, I saw you." Harry turned to Draco who looked like he was just waiting for the story to come to him.
"Some things just don't stay dead," he said as he closed his eyes and put up his hands as if he were about to start bowing. Very slowly, a silver stream began flowing from his temples and running off his fingertips. As the droplets turned into a stream they formed an orb just above where they should have splattered on the ground. The orb continued to grow until it nearly touched everyone around the table. Harry took a deep breath as for the second time that day he was plunged into someone else's memory. As the flames of the ruined building grew in intensity, he thought he heard Hermione's soft voice whisper "I'm sorry."
^__^
Harry had spent the better half of his day in this god forsaken place but he did not recognize the room they were looking down on. He felt Ginny's hands frantically search for his in the dim light of the room as this was a new and frightening experience to her. Draco nodded his blond head over the edge of the cliff towards the two raised voices that Harry now recognized.
"This is where I get involved." Draco said as Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder which made him, as well as the two watching, slightly uncomfortable. Hermione placed her hand back into the other not wanting to make an awkward situation even worse.
Draco sat crumpled on the floor shaking with fury, his white locks tainted with the wounds of the ensuing battle.
"You're a fool, boy. You always have been. This is what attachments get you. Pain..." Draco screamed under his fathers curse, "anger, " he stopped long enough to revel in his sons glare, "and premature death. You could have been great. Your mother was weak. She followed the path of the weak. Allowing yourself to mourn for her shows your soul to truly be "Black."
He stepped forward and marveled in the sight of his child who shuddered at the mere thought of the pain his father could bring him. Or had he imagined it? His own stone eyes stared back at him and he was filled with a feeling he had only ever felt in the presence of the Dark Lord. He shook it off as he extended his hand.
"You have many lessons left to learn, boy. I will not rob you of the opportunity to redeem yourself as a Malfoy." Draco spat angrily into the offered palm.
"I think I've finally learned at least one lesson." Draco said, the conviction burning in his eyes. "When you no longer haunt my every waking moment, I'll only remain a Malfoy by name." Draco's strike was fast. So much in fact that Harry found himself wondering why Lucius was now lying bleeding on the floor. Draco stood over him, wand poised squarely on his jaw before using his other fist to punch his fathers face. Harry head a loud snap as the bone broke loose of its joint. Several firm blows later and Draco seemed to be tiring out. He pulled his wand and took one last deep breath before screaming "Crucio!" and filled the room with a bright glow. Lucius screamed in agony for what seemed like an eternity before falling unconscious. Draco continued his hold on his father's convulsing body. Future Draco finally looked around as if just remembering that he was being watched.
"We might as well go upstairs," he said. "This goes on for a bit." He took one last glance over his shoulder as they made their way up to the opening of the caves where they sat and waited to be met to continue the story. Harry wasn't sure how long they waited before they finally heard footsteps pounding up the stone steps.
Draco turned yet another corner of the tunnels, knowing one of them had to lead out of this cave. From deep inside he had heard the explosion and he was sure it had come from the chamber he had last seen Potter and Weasley in. Draco wiped the blood tinged sweat from his worried brow as he felt the cold night air slap against his face. It was over.
"Malfoy?" A startled Hermoine asked as she rounded the corner, trying to enter the very place Draco so desperatly longed to never see again.
"Move, Granger." Draco said noticing for the first time that she was holding herself up on the wall, barely able to stand, and she still looked like she would kill him if he didn't let her in. "This place is going to collapse." He said, more out of fact than an actual warning.
"I still have friends down there." Hermione said as she pushed him easily to the side.
"If everything went according to plan, there won't be anything to collect. But when have 'his' plans ever gone accordingly?" Draco stepped to the side, willing to let her go but showing no interest in going with her.
Future Draco recognized the disdain in his eyes as he watched Hermione walk down the crumbling stairs. He couldn't imagine that he had once or ever would again feel anything but hatred towards the group he now stood with. They watched as Hermoine stumbled on the stairs only just catching her balance before continuing on. Draco had turned and tasted the crisp night before, for reasons still unknown, he turned and followed Hermione back into the dungeon.
As they proceeded down the stairs the heat from the rising flames became nearly unbarable and through the smoke Ginnys hair blended well with the embers surrounding her.
"What the hell are you two doing down here?" Draco heard Hermione cough on the smoke behind him. "Can't you see this fucking place is on fire?" He stopped cold at the bottom of the stairs as Ginny stood naked as the day she was born, a look of redemption on her face. As he looked down he saw the shredded remains of Potters shirt and realized he must have walked into some sort of victory celebration. She didn't used to be into that sort of thing. Draco thought as he took in her matured form.
"Not the time, Malfoy. Harry's hurt. I need help to carry him." Future Hermione hid her eyes from the gruesome scene she knew she was just seeing. She looked over and saw that Ginny had gone paper white as she clung to Harry as if he might disappear.
"Just leave him, Ginny! He's as good as dead, that doesn't mean we have to be." Draco grabbed her and received several hits to the face. When she got loose he received one more fierce slap. Future Draco was surprised as the memory became reality as Ginny reached across and punched his jaw.
"Just in case you forgot." Ginny said as she turned back into Harry. The painting began to make sense and she wished she had left it buried in the Minestery basement.
"I'll...never leave...I love you." Ginny heard his words and felt the tears flow as they had once before at his good-bye.
"I love you too, Harry. I won't leave you down here. I promise." Hermione began to sob as she saw the last kiss of her friends love and dropped to her knees as she realized he was no longer moving. She jumped as Ginny screamed as she pounded Harry's still chest.
"No. Don't do this to me Harry. Don't leave me." Draco stepped over to Ginny, confused by the conflict going on in his mind. He had never cared before what happened to other people but he just couldn't walk up those stairs.
The ominous sounds of the crackling fire covered the protesting screams as Draco physically removed Ginny from Harry's corpse, his glossy eyes watching the fight she was putting up. Only one task mattered to Draco. He had to get her outside. Ginny reached across Draco's back and pulled his wand from his pocket.
"Stupefy!" Ginny screamed, slamming Draco in the chest and knocking him back into Hermione. Hermione gasped as she pulled out her own wand and Draco closed his eyes at the glow that shot past his ear catching mid plummet a large piece of stone dropping off the crumbling ceiling nearly landing on Ginny's head. She threw it hastily to the side knocking a hole into the already weakening wall.
"Fuck this." Draco said as he reached for his wand, forgetting it to be missing. " A little help?" He said to Hermione as he lunged forward toward Harry. "Just give him to me. We're leaving." Ginny seemed to have lost all sane thoughts as she still protested letting go. Draco nodded towards Hermione who raised her wand. "Incarcerous!"
Draco lifted Harry onto his shoulder as he bolted up the stairs followed closely by Hermione dragging a bound Ginny out of the collapsing cave. Draco removed his robes and, more out of gentilness than actual modesty, placed them gently over Ginnys trembling shoulders. Hermione held her wand up defensively as she twisted from side to side.
"We can't possibly be safe out in the open like this," she said more to herself than the others. "We can't have killed them all, and they'll know he's gone by now, maybe even come looking." Hermione noticed a ginger head begin to stir from down the field. Hermione's face toughened in determination and waved her wand towards Ron. With a small pop he vanished from the battle ground seconds before Hermione turned and met Draco's eyes as they scanned for the best escape route. He saw in the flash of light from her wand that he was unwillingly bound to them.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 29 Teaser
"I didn't come here to bury him, " Hermione said as she marched the body through what remained of the front doors. "Get Professor Snape and meet me in his study. I do not intend this to be his end."
