Chapter 23: Destroyed, Part Two

"I went to his office, I went to our flat, I went to the Manor. I don't know where he is," Ginny sighed, rubbing her hands agitatedly over her face.

"Drink this," Hermione said, squeezing her shoulder and proffering a steaming mug. "You've had a rough twenty-four hours."

"No thanks," she replied quickly, waving it away. "I don't want any Pepper-Up right now."

"Are you sure?" the older girl said gently.

"No," Ginny insisted. "I won't be able to sleep. Pepper-Up always does that to me."

Hermione nodded and set the cup down on the small table at Harry's bedside. Madam Pomfrey had decided to move him to the Hospital Wing. He had woken for several hours in the middle of the day, but he was exhausted and feverish, and he'd fallen asleep early. Poppy had him on a potion regimen that she assured them would have him better by the end of the week.

"I'm sure Draco will turn up, Ginny," Hermione said.

Ginny shook her head. "You didn't see his face…hear what he said." She cringed as the image of Draco's furious expression flashed in her mind. "He was so angry, Hermione."

"Yes, but he doesn't have all the information," Hermione insisted. "Once you explain it to him, he'll realize it was all just a misunderstanding."

"Yeah, but if I can't find him, I won't be able to explain anything."

"He shouldn't have just walked out like that," Hermione replied, brow furrowing, "It was wrong of him not to let you explain. I'm surprised you're not more angry."

Reflexively, Ginny gripped the small box – the engagement ring – in her coat pocket. After the initial shock had worn off, she had been angry. Seething, really. How dare he just Apparate away without letting her tell him the truth! But the anger had faded quickly. He had been carrying the ring around for weeks. He had been planning to propose. How could she be angry with him when she knew that? And, she had to admit to herself, it must have looked so horrible to him. Harry in her bed, his close on the floor…she put a hand to her temple and shut her eyes.

Hermione seemed to notice her dejected expression. "He'll turn up," she repeated, nodding determinedly. "Don't worry."

But Ginny wasn't so sure.

One week later

Ginny streaked across the Quidditch pitch, her hair surging behind her and the cold air stinging in her throat and down to her lungs. As she approached the goal post, she twisted the Quaffle up from under her arm, thrust it forcefully through the hoop, and pulled her broom left and down to catch the ball on its way to the ground.

She still hadn't heard from Draco, and her occasional visits to their flat had yielded no clues to his whereabouts. It looked like he hadn't been there for days. She'd gone to his office four times, but his co-workers said he'd taken leave, and he hadn't said when he would be coming back. She sighed with frustration and twisted uncomfortably in her heavy winter coat; it was near impossible to maneuver in this thing. Irritated, she fumbled for the zipper with stiff fingers.

"Don't take that off." Harry's voice was loud behind her, carried to her ears by the strong wind. "You'll freeze."

She turned her broom to face him. She'd visited him every day when he was in the Hospital Wing, but after he'd been released mid-week, she hadn't seen or spoken to him. Now he was gliding easily on his own broom – the latest Nimbus model, by the looks of it, and Ginny couldn't help but feel a little twinge of awed envy.

"You look better," she said, tossing the Quaffle from hand to hand.

"Yeah, thanks to you," he replied.

She shot him a skeptical look. "Thanks to Madam Pomfrey."

He nodded in acknowledgement and smiled. "Yeah. Her potion really worked." She forced a smile back.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything…from that night," he continued awkwardly. "I know we haven't seen a lot of each other lately, and that I really shouldn't have come to you…."

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry," she said impatiently. She didn't want to be thanked for that night. She didn't want to think about that night...and its consequences. That was the whole point of being out on the pitch, throwing the Quaffle around in the freezing cold.

His brow furrowed, and she immediately regretted her sharp tone. He was just trying to thank her, after all. "Sorry," she said quickly, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "What I meant to say was, you're welcome. Anytime."

"Well, hopefully not again," he said sheepishly.

"Are you feeling any better, though?" Ginny asked. "About the case, I mean."

Harry sighed heavily and looked away. "It was a really tough case for me, especially since I couldn't do anything about it," he answered. "But I'm certainly not proud of my reaction. It was a gut thing, you know, to go after them like that. And then by the time I got back I think I was already so delirious that I didn't know what was going on. I shouldn't have come to your room like that. It was rude and inconsiderate…especially considering what you said about us…," he trailed off.

"It's fine, Harry," she said briskly.

"Okay," he said awkwardly. "I guess I should go, then. You should really come in soon, too, though," he added. "It's really too cold to be out here."

"In a while," she replied. He nodded and turned away. But he only flew a few feet through the air before he hesitated. He ran an agitated hand through his hair, and Ginny knew, like she always did, that he was trying to decide whether or not to say something. She waited.

Finally, he nodded determinedly to himself and turned back to face her. "Look, Gin," he said, meeting her eyes. "Hermione told me what happened…with Malfoy. And I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry that that happened."

"It's okay, Harry," she said, trying to interrupt him, but he pressed on, almost rambling now, and his expression was all concern.

"You have to know that I didn't mean for any of that to happen. I was so worked up about Danny, and I just remembered you comforting about the case…before…and so I just showed up at your door. And I wasn't thinking about what the consequences of that might be for you…."

"Harry," she said sharply, and this time, he fell silent. "It's really all right, you don't have to apologize. And anyway," she added wryly, "You blaming yourself for everything is what got us into this mess in the first place, isn't it?"

Harry held her gaze searchingly for a moment, but she didn't look away. Finally, he sighed heavily. "All right," he said. "I'll go, then." She nodded and turned back toward the goal posts, and moments later she heard him land and start trekking back across the crunching snow.

Draco Malfoy slammed the Prophet back onto the table, his hands clenching into hard fists. He exhaled harshly and stalked across the room, trying hard to keep himself from punching any hard surface within arm's reach. The hotel staff had been very forgiving the first night – Merlin knows he was paying through the nose to stay here – but he knew they wouldn't react well to more damaged property.

He shut his eyes hard, wishing for the hundredth time this week that he knew a spell that could get rid of the images seared across the hollows of his eyelids. Ginny smiling gently at him as he thanked her for ending her friendship with Harry Bloody Potter. That same Potter naked in her bed – the bed he and Ginny had shared once a week for months. He felt the bile rise in her throat, and he gripped the edge of the desk and exhaled again. And now, this morning's Prophet article – newly "discovered" photos from Harry and Ginny's Hogwarts relationship all those years ago. The image of Potter snogging a younger Ginny in a dark corner of the castle, his fingers trailing along the waistband of her skirt, made the anger burn white-hot in Draco's stomach. The Prophet didn't know just how relevant their article was, he thought wryly.

There was a knock on the door. "Do not disturb!" he snapped. He was not in the mood to deal with anyone right now.

"Draco, open the damn door." He recognized the impatient voice and swore aloud. How in Merlin's name had she found him?

"Sod off, Parkinson!" he yelled.

"Open the door or I'll call security and say you're burning all the priceless paintings in there."

Draco looked around. The paintings in this suite probably were priceless, though he hadn't even glanced at them since he'd been here. It was the most expensive room in the hotel, after all.

"I'm busy," he snapped, but he flicked his wand to unlock the door.

"I heard from Lexbrook at your office that you hadn't come in all week," she said, walking easily into the room, her heels clicking against the wood floor. "And my father knows the owner of this hotel, who of course was happy to tell me that you're hiding out here. Merlin knows why," she added.

"What do you want?" he responded harshly.

"It seems spending years with the Weasley brood has done nothing to improve your hospitality," she returned coolly.

"Don't mention the Weasleys," Draco said, meeting her eyes coldly to warn her away from the topic.

She regarded him, eyebrows raised, for a full second, then she tilted her head back and laughed. "So that's what this is about, is it?" she said.

"Get out, Pansy," he snapped.

"What happened?" she asked nonchalantly, crossing the room and selecting an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table. "Did she finally sleep with Potter?"

"I said get out," he said again, gritting his teeth.

She looked over at him again, and he knew she could read the truth on his face. It was still too raw for him to hide it, and he wanted to kick himself. "So she did," Pansy said. She threw her head back and laughed again, a tinkling laugh that infuriated him further. "I can't say I'm surprised."

He crossed the room and gripped her hard by the arms. "It isn't funny," he snarled. "I'm in love with her. I was going to propose to her."

Anger flashed in Pansy's eyes and she glared back at him. "You should know better than to try to marry for love," she hissed derisively, "When has that ever worked?"

Fierceness flared between them like a charge, and Draco felt a vengeful impulse grip his chest. Ginny had been sleeping with Potter, probably for months, and had betrayed their relationship with a sweet smile on her face and lies on her lips. It would be easy – almost too easy, he thought – to get her back. He looked down at Parkinson's lips, moist and slightly parted, inches away.

It would be so easy.

Fifteen minutes later, when her cheeks were stinging and her fingers were almost completely numb, Ginny headed back into the warmth of the castle. She started a high fire in the grate and took a steaming shower. Finally, dressed in her pajama bottoms and a long-sleeved thermal, she collapsed onto the sofa and took up the book Hermione had lent her. She flexed her stiff fingers and forced herself to focus on the words.

Draco couldn't stay away from his office forever. She would try again next week, and every day thereafter until she cornered him and forced him to listen to the truth of what had happened. That's all that needed to happen, she assured herself. It was just one big – monstrously huge, really – misunderstanding.

Suddenly, the fire before her burst into green flames, and Ron's upper body bobbed before her.

"Ginny?"

She set her book aside and slid off the sofa and onto the floor before the fire. "Hi, Ron," she said, "Is everything all right?"

"I saw him," her brother replied shortly, and Ginny felt her heart leap in her chest.

"Where?" she asked quickly, flicking her wand and Summoning a pair of jeans.

"I was at lunch with some mates from work," he explained, "And I saw him go into The Veil – you know, that swanky hotel downtown? I had half a mind to follow him in there and give him a piece of my mind for pulling a runner on you, but I thought you might hex me for interfering."

Ginny snorted. "For once, Ronald Weasley letting me handle my own business?"

Ron fixed her with a look of mock offense. "When have I ever butted my nose in your business?"

Ginny laughed and rolled her eyes. "Only every day of my life," she muttered. "Thanks," she added. "And he didn't pull a runner on me."

Ron looked at her skeptically. "Whatever you say. Just go sort it out, will you? I think I've had my fair share of missing persons this month, thanks very much."

"Thanks again, Ron," she said. As soon as he had disappeared, she threw on her jeans, grabbed her coat, and rushed from the room. On the way out the door she grabbed the small box and shoved it deep into her pocket, and she felt a twinge of optimism. She finally knew where he was, and all she had to do now was make him listen. Her fingers ran over the velvet fabric of the box, thinking of the ring inside.

If all went well, maybe she would come back wearing it.

The receptionist told her the room number, and she took the elevator to the top floor of the hotel. She knocked firmly on the door, nervous anticipation rising in her chest. She gripped the ring box hard in her pocket. Draco opened the door slowly, and the words spilled quickly from her mouth.

"Please don't slam the door in my face!" she pleaded. She took in the dark hollows under his eyes, the weary set of his face, and swallowed.

He looked at her with hard eyes, his fingers twitching at his side. "What the hell do you want, Ginny?" he said finally, voice dangerously low. "I thought I made it clear that I don't want to hear whatever you have to say."

"It wasn't what it looked like, you have to believe me," she said, putting a desperate hand on the door in case he tried to shut her out.

"I don't want to hear it," he snapped, voice rising. She barreled on.

"Danny Eckhart was found dead that morning," she said, holding his gaze. "He was distraught. We couldn't find him all day. McGonagall and the entire Auror Department were panicking, and –."

She was cut off by a voice calling out from behind him. The words died in her throat.

"Draco! Do you have an extra towel? I can't find one!" And Ginny heard the shower turn off – she couldn't believe she hadn't heard the sound of the water before. She gripped the doorway to steady herself as she looked past him to see a dripping wet Pansy Parkinson enter the room, holding her dress up to cover herself.

"Oh!" Pansy exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand, and backing quickly out of the room. But Ginny saw it – the momentary gleam in the other girl's eyes, the expression that flashed across Pansy's face so quickly it could have almost been imagined – triumph.

The world blurred around her, and she felt the tears start in her chest.

"Ginny…," Draco said haltingly.

Her hand came up almost reflexively and she slapped him hard across the face. "Don't!" she snapped, backing away from him until the backs of her legs met the wall across the hall.

Anger crossed his face in a wave. "You're going to pull that devastated girlfriend act on me?" he laughed mockingly. "Don't you dare pretend you didn't already destroy this!" he yelled, gesturing between them.

"Don't try to put this on me!" she shouted back, pushing down the tears. She was not going to cry right now. "I was just going to tell you that I let Harry sleep in my bed because he was sick! I was just going to tell you that I slept on the bloody sofa! I was just going to tell you that nothing happened – that nothing has ever happened between us! I was going to tell you that I love you, and that this," she fumbled in her pocket and thrust the box into his hands, "is a beautiful ring. And I was going to tell you that if you had asked me, I would have said yes!"

As she spoke, Draco made an odd sound in his throat, half sigh and half sob, and his whole body seemed to slump against the doorway. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words were flooding from her mouth, and she had to keep talking because the tears were rising into her throat, faster and faster, and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep them at bay for long.

"But you didn't let me say any of that! You just ran off and decided to sleep with Pansy without even letting me tell you what really happened! This is on you! You destroyed us!" she finished, her chest heaving.

She looked up at him, blinking against the tears that had reached her eyes, and she gave him a moment – the longest moment of her life – to deny it. To deny all of it. But he didn't. He just stared at her, stunned, his lips slightly parted and his pale cheeks flushed. Her heart twisted so hard in her chest that she felt the pain throb all the way to her fingertips. She choked on an ironic laugh, and the anger welled up inside her and burst out of her mouth in the statement that she knew would hurt him more than anything else she could say.

"You know, everyone told me I was crazy to date you. They told me I should be with Harry, that he was right for me. But I defended you – I told them that you were just as noble, just as good as him. But you know what, Draco," she said, the tears streaming down her face now, "I was wrong. Because Harry would never have done something like this!"

She watched the words hit Draco like a physical blow, just as she'd known they would. Then she watched his body stiffen and his expression harden, just as she'd known they would. The gaze he turned on her was stony with contempt.

"Go running back to him then, if he's so much better than me," he hissed.

She swiped at the tears on her face and met his eyes. "It's over, Draco," she whispered harshly.

His eyes flashed. "You know what, Ginny?" he said back, voice cold. "I think you're right about that."

And with that, he stepped back into the hotel room and slammed the door.

She got all the way down the hall and into the elevator before she collapsed, sobs wracking her body.

Author's Note: I know, I know, you hate me. It was painful to do, but it had to be done, and you have to trust me when I say it will all be resolved at the end.

Now, for those of you who are now in desperate need of DG love, I will shamelessly tell you that I just posted a DG one-shot called "everything" that I think you'll really enjoy. So head on over there and bask in the DG love!

And as always, please review! But be gentle :)