London 2004
Back to the daily grind.
Ginny had them all in the gym for training today. The afternoon session was about to start.
It wasn't strictly necessary for what the actual lesson would be to be in the gymnasium, but they needed the added pressure in between tasks to get some kind of feeling of the rush and urgency that these tasks would require in the field in dire situations.
One member of the mornings group threw-up during one of them, more than one walked away shaking. She didn't get any flack from them though. Most of them had been in situations where this knowledge would have made all the difference in the world.
She hadn't had training on it in basic either. Thankfully one of her partners in Johannesburg had started going though to be a healer before switching careers. She shivered at the memory. It hadn't been her first true life or death situation, but it was the first time she'd thought she just might wind up six feet under.
Ginny went through the supplies on the table. Everything that might be found on your person while you were in the field, or could easily transfigure. She went over to check her cauldron set up in the far corner of the room. A calming draught.
She wasn't a complete monster.
The morning group had all but pounced on it when she offered it up while doing the Q and A after. Even with the calming draught, she noticed a lot of them at their desks during lunch instead of actually eating when she had been headed to discuss the session with Head Auror Scrimgeour, but he was in a closed door meeting.
She'd let the groups know that work-out gear was required, and they should all have finished their breakfasts, or lunches by an hour before their session. Even though she was prepared for what was going to happen in the sessions, it was a rather disturbing thing to have to witness. She'd required some calming draught as well, and only managed a cup of soup and a slice of bread for lunch. But didn't let on to the morning group that she had been disturbed as well. That wouldn't help her credibility.
She took a deep meditative breath, readying herself to do it all over again.
Ginny heard the door open to the gymnasium and turned to see her afternoon session start to file in. Internally she was grinning at the sight of Harry in his work-out clothes again.
Brigitte had found them cuddled on the daybed this morning and gushed and teased them non stop over breakfast about what an adorable couple they were. From the rather pleased look on Harry's face while he ate his toast, that didn't bother him in the slightest. They'd been spending every evening and night together and it had been insanely enjoyable.
Their day together on Saturday had really kicked her feelings for him into high gear. This was way more than just sex. She'd never wanted to just cuddle up beside someone and fall asleep watching a movie before. He made her feel all calm, and pleased, and giddy at the same time.
As he walked towards her she saw his eyes trail up her body. It gave her the feeling that they might be getting a little acrobatic in the bedroom this evening. Or the shower.
She didn't allow her gaze to linger on him.
"Everyone to a different station please." She called to the bunch of them.
There were two rows of tables running down the middle of the gym. The last person came in and took their spot, and Ginny opened her mouth to start in when she heard the door open again and Scrimgeour walked in accompanied by two people she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"I have two more for your group." Scrimgeour told her. "They have just come off mission."
She paused for a moment, trying to suppress her shock at seeing these two faces again. She couldn't help but flash back to the last time she'd seen them, laying on the grass along the waters of the Black Lake. "And, are they rested up enough for this?" Ginny asked calmly, looking carefully at the two for signs of weary on their seemingly frozen bodies.
"Yes." The Head Auror confirmed.
"Alright then. Malfoy. Zabini. It's been a long time." Ginny nodded to them in greeting and conjured two more stations. The two men had been regarding her with surprised and assessing looks.
"They'll need to be caught up in your training sessions from last week as well." Scrimgeour told her.
She took a turn looking into their eyes. Malfoy was a silver she'd not seen on anyone else, and Zabini's deep brown held such a mixture of intensity; be it anger, humor, desire or bloodlust. She'd not looked upon these two for so long, and had to force the image of the last time the three had seen each other out of her mind.
"I think they'll manage." She said knowingly.
Scrimgeour's brow furrowed in confusion looking between the three. "You've worked with them before? I don't have any records of that."
The three Slytherin's couldn't help but smirk at each other. "Something like that." Zabini said casually.
"Don't know whether I should be more surprised to see it's you." Malfoy said quietly and nodded in greeting.
The men went to their stations and stood silently, ready to take her orders. Ginny turned back to the Head Auror. "Are you staying or going?" He hadn't sat in on any of her lessons, but had been getting fully briefed on them after the fact. She suspected he did not want to make himself look like a fool if he failed, as he had her first day there.
"I will leave you to it." He turned and left.
Ginny faced her now group of twelve.
"Today we are going to be focusing on healing."
"What? Why the work-out kit?" Ron burst out.
Ginny gave him a look worthy of the former Professor Snape. "What are the odds that I am getting to that?" Ron blushed at his outburst. Ginny felt some of her 'little sisterly' smugness while she waited until he looked properly humiliated before continuing.
"If the situation arises that you, or your partner, had a life-threatening affliction, there are some signs and symptoms that you are going to see here today that you will be shown how to treat. At least to the point that you can get them to a healer and keep them alive."
She conjured up a lifelike practice dummy. It stood at the front of all of them and she cast a bludgeoning hex at it. Most of the group winced at the horrible crack of breaking bones. "What would be the most life-threatening injury on this person?"
"Internal bleeding." Tonks called out.
"Correct. What is the first step you should take to correct this?"
"A-assess where exactly the injury is." Harry said.
"Correct." She went over to the dummy and levitated it so everyone could see what she was doing. She pressed down on the belly of the dummy and it let out a lifelike groan as she felt behind it. "Kidneys seem to be where the pain is more prevalent." She waved her wand "Resilidicto." A glow emanated from her wand to the dummy. "That aspirated the kidney. They will be in a hell of a lot of pain, but now you should be able to Apparate them with-out much more injury.
"If Anti-Apparation wards are up, mend the bones as best you can and check blood pressure every ten to thirty minutes." She rotated the dummy so that it was standing upright, facing them. Ginny went over a few different issues and how to do a quick fix, including sending a cutting curse at the dummy and set about healing the cuts. She amputated a leg and set about burning the wound to stop the bleeding. She fed it poison and quickly aspirated it's lungs.
Ginny went through a total of ten different scenarios and the quick triage solutions before she conjured dummies for each of the stations.
"What each of you are going to do now is attempt to save the dummy to the point of keeping them alive. You will have five minutes to assess and perform triage. Once this buzzer goes off." She indicated to an object on her stand at the front. "You will then have to run a lap around the gym in under four minutes."
There were a few exchanged glances.
"You will not be able to look around you to see what your neighbors are doing. Because their dummy will not have the same injuries. Every time you complete a lap your dummy will have a new injury. You will again have until the buzzer to save it. If you do not complete the triage in the allotted time, or your dummy 'dies' while you are on your lap you will have to start all over again. If you finish before the buzzer. Start your lap, and you will have that much time added to your next injury to fix. Each of you will have to successfully save your dummy ten times."
As she explained the session she had wandered down the aisle between the stations to the back, where Malfoy and Zabini were, and cast the same compulsion charm on them that was on the rest of the Auror's so they could not discuss her being The Chameleon.
"In front of you are items that would be found in your mission pack. You can, obviously, use your wand." She wandered back to the front. "Your time starts… Now."
A timer projected up from the object on the stand, counting down five minutes, and Ginny waved her wand, activating the dummies.
There were quite a few gasps as each of the Dummies suddenly took on a life-threatening ailment. Ginny hadn't stepped far enough away from Beverly's station before she was hit with some arterial spray of blood. All around them there were groans and cries, and blood. One of the Dummies was screaming in shock due to it's dismembered and heavily bleeding arm.
Tonks was the first one to have started her lap at three minutes and twenty seconds. Ginny went over to the dummy and saw that the cuts from the cutting curse were all healed, or still healing. Tonk's would have the most experience with that spell, considering her husband could easily cut himself like that every full moon. Ginny reset the dummy. The next injury would be added when Tonks returned to the table.
One by one the others started their laps. One of them did not heal the blood-filled lung, and the dummy was drowning. The buzzer count went off and three of them had not been able to save the dummies. She re-set them to have the same injuries. The others were given all new injuries.
Beverly was on her third round with the blood-filled lung when Ginny had to assist her.
"There is no way to stabilize it!" She was close to tears. "This is impossible."
"No it isn't. You can figure this out." Ginny told her in a determined, but calm voice.
"No! There is no way to take care of this in the field."
Ginny took up the pen on the table, bit off the nub on the end and popped the ink portion out. She cut a small slit in the skin at the side of the dummy and jammed the hollow plastic tube in. The blood drained out of the lung and onto the floor as the dummy gasped in a breath.
"Who would be able to do that?!" Beverly exclaimed loudly in near hysterics. "If this were real, no one would be able to do that!"
"If your partner were dying from this right in front of your eyes, you better be able to do this." Ginny told her, feeling slightly angry at the idea that this 'fully trained Auror' would freeze up over a situation like this.
"No one could do that for real!" She was staring down at the dummy shaking and completely perplexed.
Ginny grabbed Beverly's hand and pulled up her own shirt to place the woman's finger on a small scar on her side, between her ribs. "You do what has to be done or your partner will die." She told her through clenched teeth. Beverly's eyes went wide, and she managed a large gulp of air. "Run your lap." She let go of her hand and lowered her shirt.
The others had turned their attention to the two of them to watch the interaction. "You aren't all done yet. Get back to work." Ginny barked at them.
Tonks, Malfoy, Zabini and Harry all managed to fix up their dummies and run their laps with-out having to do a do-over. They were the only ones. Ron only killed one of his dummies. Beverly was the only one that had a melt-down, but she was getting through her next tasks fairly well, looking rather flushed over her outburst.
Ginny banished the dummies of the completed persons and set a cup of the calming draught on their clean stations where they patiently, and quietly, waited for the others. Some were clutching their cups and staring off into the middle distance, some had their heads rested on their crossed arms on the table.
A a half four after the first person finished, Beverly was handed the calming draught.
Ginny took her place at the front, sitting down on her table and taking a deep breath. "Any questions?'
A few of them looked like they wanted to ask something personal. Probably about which of the injuries she'd had to heal, or had experienced herself, but thought better of it.
"Did you have healer training?" Tonks asked.
"Not in a formal facility. I had a partner that had, and he taught me a lot of what you all just went through. Some of it I had to learn quick as the situations arose."
"Why make us run the laps?" Andrews asked.
"To get your blood pumping, to exhaust you, and to try and get you to feel the sense of urgency that you would have in the field." She waited to see if there would be more questions. "You all performed pretty well. No one threw-up this session. That was an improvement."
There was one or two half hearted snorts of amusement at that from the back.
"When did you work with Draco and Blaise?" Ron asked boldly.
She looked at him sharply, then over to the boys at the back. They didn't give any kind of indication that they were against sharing that information. She looked downwards at her hands for a moment before meeting Ron's eyes again.
"Battle of Hogwarts."
Ron looked taken aback. As did quite a few others. "But. But." He sputtered. "They were out killing Death Eaters at the Battle of Hogwarts. Everybody knows that. They swore it under Veritasirum." Everyone that wasn't the three Slytherin's looked back and forth between the two men at the back tables and the instructor at the front.
"No one asked if we were just the two of us." Malfoy shrugged.
"She was the reason we managed as many as we did." Zabini added.
"Anything more about today's lesson?" Ginny asked, then made the mistake of meeting Harry's eye. She could tell instantly he knew what that admission meant she saw. That was going to be a discussion later. "You're all dismissed." She told them. "If you can manage it, try getting some chocolate into you."
Malfoy and Zabini held back as the rest of the Auror's headed towards the change rooms. She banished the tables and the three of them went to stand in front of each other.
"Did you have a good mission?" She asked them with a hint of humor.
They ignored it.
"Been a long time Ginger." Zabini said calmly.
"We wondered what ever happened to you." Malfoy said. "Bit of a shock to find out you have been The Chameleon we've heard so many stories about."
"I've a long history of stories being said about me. I guarantee you they aren't all true." They both had the humility enough to look somewhat remorseful for a moment. "You never told anyone who it was that helped you?"
"Never. And no one asked." Zabini assured her.
"It is amazing what people don't think to ask." Ginny thought out loud.
"We've wanted to talk to you ever since then." Malfoy said.
Ginny tilted her head to the side a bit. "I can think of a few reasons why that might be."
"Fancy a drink or five tonight?" Zabini raised an eyebrow at her.
"Not in public." She nodded in agreement.
"Yours or ours?" Malfoy asked smirking.
She shook her head and looked remorsefully over to the men's showers. "Harry's." She turned back to the two of them. "He knows I was there now... From the look on his face... He should hear the story."
"We know where he lives. I'll let him know." Zabini said.
"Good." She agreed quietly. They regarded each other a moment more. "We've got a lot of reports to finish up. I suggest we get to it." She told them and they went to their change rooms. She was grateful to peal off her work out clothes. They were the same one's from the morning. The cleaning charms had only done so much to take care of all the blood they had gotten covered in.
()()()()()()()()
Ginny met Harry at the Sainsbury again. He'd arrived there first and she saw him through the storefront in the liquor aisle. He looked contemplative. She was going to need some wine for what was coming. They didn't say anything to each other as she went in and stood beside him. He didn't look angry about finding out she'd been in the forest that night, more dazed and confused.
There was a little tension between them now, they could both feel it but it wasn't permeating the air around them. As they they made their purchase and then walked through the street to his place they said nothing. He let her into his building and into his apartment. She put down the wine bottles on the kitchen counter and took off her jacket and shoes.
They stood looking at each other. She opened her mouth to say something.
"Wait." He said holding up his hand, stopping her. He quickly pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She felt him pouring all of himself into her. His lips were so thoroughly capturing her own. It was like all of the private and wonderful moments they'd shared over the past week had all been balled up into this one earth shattering kiss. The way he held her, cupped her cheek, gripped her back and pressed her body against his chest. It was all trying to say everything he felt.
"It won't make a difference." He whispered when he pulled back. "What ever I hear from you or those two tonight. It won't change anything between us. I still won't want to spend any more time apart from you while I can."
"Promise?" She whispered back with a shaky voice. She was showing him vulnerability. Something she'd long forgotten she was capable of. She hadn't had anything to lose for so long, now she did, and it was him.
They leaned their foreheads on each others. He smiled softly at her. "Promise."
"Okay then." She pulled back a little more so she could read his face properly and try to see the truth in what he'd said. "We need some dinner."
"Pasta it is." He let her go and went to the stove.
"Old reliable, eh?" She teased, trying to break the tension.
Harry shrugged. "If it isn't broke."
She went to get the wine glasses as there was a knock at the door.
"Can they apparate into the hallway?" She asked Harry.
"No, but they can unlock the door from the street." He replied with a crooked grin.
She shook her head at her stupidity and went to the front door to let the company in. "Gents." She greeted them as they walked in.
"Good, you're already here." Zabini kicked off his shoes, Malfoy followed suit and went to the kitchen.
Ginny went back to her task of getting the wine glasses.
"This is what we're drinking?" Malfoy commented, looking at the labels on the wine bottles in distaste.
"Don't tell me you're still a snob?" Ginny ridiculed before the other two could say anything.
"Having good taste in drink is not being a snob." He said aristocratically.
"No, but passing judgement on a host's offerings of said drink is." She offered back. "Besides. Hooch is hooch." She smiled. Both Malfoy and Zabini were surprised by her attitude.
"I don't think I've ever seen you do that before." Malfoy said. "Smile."
"Yeah. I thought it might cause your face to crack or something." Zabini said. She rolled her eyes and went into one of the drawers to grab the bottle opener. "Look who just knows her way around Harry's kitchen." He observed.
She looked him dead in the eye and smirked. "I may have been here before." Harry came up beside her and raised his eyebrows. Clearly asking if they were going to inform them of their 'relationship'. She looked up at him. "Do we have any of the double smoked cheese left over from last week?"
Harry just grinned back at her and nodded, taking a glass of wine for himself.
"You two?" Malfoy was astounded. "So, you did already know about her being with us when…"
"No." Harry confirmed.
"It'd take me more than a week to tell him everything I've gotten up to in my life. And that's excluding all of the classified things." Ginny said popping the cork on the next bottle.
"It's pretty obvious you've been getting up to things that might be best left in the past." Harry agreed with her, then told the men. "We've been doing our best to try and share as the subject comes up. Otherwise it's 'don't ask, don't tell'."
"And has anyone asked if the two of you are shagging?" Zabini asked, relaxing into one of the bar stools at the island.
"No." Ginny shrugged. "Even Ron doesn't know." She gave them a pointed look.
"Why tell us?" Malfoy inquired.
"Two reasons." Ginny said. "One, you two have obviously proven that you can keep a secret. And two, we're probably going to finish these bottles tonight." She indicated to the four bottles on the counter. "It'll get more apparent as the night wears on." She gave a one shoulder shrug. She already wanted to snake her arm around Harry after two sips of wine, once she finished off two glasses she'd probably have done something much more obvious.
Malfoy relaxed a bit and nodded his head, accepting a glass of wine.
"So, besides you two hooking up, what else have we missed out on?" Zabini asked humorously.
"Jesus." Harry said, thinking back over the week that had gone by. "It's been pretty full on." Ginny grinned at him.
"Let me start with how I made my grand entrance and embarrassed the pants off of everybody." Harry groaned and rubbed a hand over his face.
"What? Even perfect Potter?" Malfoy smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"Even Greyson Scrimgeour!" Harry tried to justify his mistake.
"Yeah. It was all just so easy." She gave the two men an evil smile.
While Harry got dinner ready she regaled the Slytherin men with the tale of how she put the Auror's in their place. The both of them were shocked stupid hearing about the brothel.
"Are you shitting me?" Zabini said loudly while Harry snorted with laughter. "They watch, and can keep watching while the… while that's. But that's just so wrong!"
"Well. If you'd simply read that Muggle Studies paper you paid me to write about Muggle Technology back in your sixth year, you'd actually know something about it." She mocked him.
"That was you?! That mystery had been bugging me for years!" Zabini laughed.
"What's this?" Harry asked. "You were doing his assignments?"
"Only a few of his. I started doing essays and such for money in my third year. It's how I afforded to pay for things, and saved up enough to bail once I graduated." Ginny shrugged.
"Your third year?" Malfoy asked astounded.
"Yeah. Everyone was so distracted with the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and I figured I could at least make some money off of it from the spoiled brats I was surrounded by." She pointed to Zabini specifically.
"Fair enough. Think I paid you over 200 Galleons by the time I graduated." Zabini raised his glass to her.
"Somewhere around there, yeah." She grinned cheekily and poured herself more wine.
"But you were a year behind us." Malfoy pointed out.
"And yet, still so, so far ahead." She chuckled.
"Mate, are you honestly surprised?" Zabini indulged him. "You know what she's capable of."
"If memory serves me right. While you were busy shagging Pansy Parkinson and being an all around pompous ass, I was hiding out in abandoned classrooms or the library studying and trying to avoid everyone. It's not like I didn't have the time to do a few assignments on top of my own. And then some." She told him straight.
He snorted. "That's true."
"Finish your story about embarrassing the others." Zabini encouraged.
So Ginny launched into the story of pick pocketing Tonks and Scrimgeour. Harry blushed when she told the story of he and Ron at the joke shop. "And then no one noticed that there were, in fact, two Susan Davis' in the room when I took over the meeting."
"You'd make a great evil mastermind." Zabini laughed.
"Well, lucky for you, I've chosen to use my powers for good. So, you're all safe, don't worry."
Harry plated the food and they all dug in. Zabini and Malfoy hadn't been up to much more than missions and basic Auror business since the war ended. They'd taken a year off after, traveled a bit, shagged a lot of women in a lot of different countries, then settled down with-out settling down. They'd both moved into a flat in the city from their country manors. Different flats in the same building.
Once dinner was done, Harry set the dishes to clean themselves and Ginny brought the last bottle of wine over to the table.
"Okay. Now down to the nitty gritty." Ginny said topping up everyone's glasses. She exchanged a look with Malfoy and Zabini before they all looked to Harry.
They were all, at this point, comfortably inebriated and getting along like old friends. They'd been sharing stories and jokes as though they had been doing so for years. But as the last of the bottle emptied into Blaise's glass, they knew the time had come to tell Harry the whole truth about all that had happened at the Battle of Hogwarts.
Ginny looked into Harry's eyes. His beautiful and kind green orbs telling her again that it didn't matter. Nothing she told him would change anything between them.
"Yes." She said with a deep breath. "I saw you die."
()()()()
AN- I know a few of you were wondering what the relationship between Blaise and Draco and Ginny was. Did they hate each other? Shag each other? (Well, you know that one didn't happen). But next chapter you will see exactly why they can get along so well, during Year Six.
And I've had a few reviews commenting on how eager you all are to see Ginny reconcile with her family. You can see Ginny's walls breaking down over the chapters. She is much more relaxed in the UK atmosphere, and with Harry and it has only been one week with her training at the Ministry. It just feels like longer. Super excited we are getting close to the 'past' chapters that delve into Ginny's life after Hogwarts, and how she becomes the woman she is today! They are already written, but I'm only releasing one chapter a week. Gotta build the anticipation.