"What do you mean?" The glass of wine was still shaking in her hands, and he reached out to take it from her.
"Do you want to go home tonight?" he asked.
She opened her mouth, and then closed it. She was going to say yes, but she imagined her empty flat, and the nightmares she had grown so accustomed to, and she knew the answer.
"I can tell you don't. You wouldn't have come here if you did."
She was staring at her feet.
"You want someone to listen, and you want to forget," he continued.
"I don't think I can ever forget."
"I think you can." He was standing in front of her, holding out his hand. She took it.
He led her through an unfathomably complicated string of hallways, passing by open doors that revealed excess in space and furnishings.
"Lucius?" she asked, barely bringing her voice above a whisper. He was still gripping her hand.
"Yes?"
"Where is Narcissa?" At her name, his hand tightened ever so slightly, sending a pulse through her body.
"Sick in bed. She need not be bothered by this."
His wife is dying, she thought, however briefly, and he has turned his back on her.
He pushed open a door at the end of a hallway, dropping her hand. She didn't follow him straight away, instead standing before one of the massive windows that lined the hall. Outside, the sun was starting to burn off the fog, and she could see extensive, hedge lined gardens. He tutted behind her.
"Come in here."
She turned, and saw him gesturing into the room. It was dark inside, lit by candles in sconces along the walls. When she stepped in, leaving him behind her, she could see it was a massive bedroom, complete with a desk and small sitting area. Curtains were drawn across the windows. He shut the door. They were alone.
"Open the windows," she said, and with a wave of his wand, sunlight streamed in. Dust flew off the curtains, and the room was, for a short minute, hazy.
"I must say I feel responsible for your troubles," he said, moving to sit in one of the chairs. He gestured to a chair across from him, but she didn't sit.
"No one," she said, gritting her teeth, "is more responsible than you."
Ginny closed her eyes, feeling quite dizzy. She had made a mistake, being here. Somewhere, what felt like a thousand miles away, a desk was sitting empty. People must be wondering where she was, and they couldn't possibly guess that she had come of her own free will to sit in a long abandoned bedroom with an infamous Dark wizard. Opening her eyes, she saw him studying her.
"It's time for me to go," she said, trying to raise her voice to a level it hadn't reached yet that day. "I'm making a fool of myself."
"Whatever you want," Lucius said, and he truly seemed not to care. "But you should know that there is nothing foolish about trying to understand the past."
She willed herself to take even one step, but her feet were leaden.
"No one has helped you get better," he went on, "and I want to help. You can stay here, and let it all go."
She felt her body lighten, but instead of turning to the door, she ran to him, and fell on her knees before his chair. He looked as if he had been expecting this, and he placed a finger under her chin to tilt her head up.
"We should kiss," she murmured, but he was already leaning down.
"You will stay," he said, lips a fraction of a centimeter from hers.
She reached up, and tangled her hands into his hair, closing the gap.
