Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the idea, Warner Brothers
owns merchandise and all that other good stuff.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to post :) I'm just a very
busy girl . . .
Anger
Ginny ran as fast as she possibly could.
She had only been running a few seconds before a loud boom caused her to stop and look back. Slowing, she looked up she saw smoke rising over the trees. The car had blown up.
Swallowing hard, Ginny
felt rooted to the ground. If she had waited any longer both her and Draco
could've still been in or near the car. They would both be in many pieces now.
I hope
nobody got hurt, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut. She took a
deep breath then forced herself to keep running, and began to sprint
again.
After about ten minutes,
Ginny had to stop. The smell of charred metal was no longer filling her
nostrils, so she took that as a sign that she was a good distance away from the
police. Doubled over, leaning on her knees, she panted, trying to catch her
breath.
But she couldn't rest. She had to tend to Draco before he bled to death.
If he wasn't already
dead.
She turned and lowered
him gently onto his back on the ground with her wand. Wiping his bloody hair
off his forehead, she tried to find where the exact wound was.
Instantly she found it.
There was a huge gash just above his right eyebrow. It looked as if a piece of
the windshield had cut him. He's lucky it didn't get his eye, Ginny
thought. She racked her brain for a healing spell that could seal up his cut.
She had been preparing to go to medical magical school before she was accused
of the Unforgivable Curse, knowing that she had wanted to be some sort of
doctor. Most of her last years at Hogwarts had been spent reading medical books
in her spare time, so she knew a fair amount of spells that cured sicknesses
and pains.
Finally she decided on
the best charm and whispered a few words. Immediately the slash sealed up and
she let out a whoosh of breath, relieved. Draco was still alive and no longer
bleeding.
With another wave of her
wand the blood vanished from his face, clothes, and hair and he just looked
like he was sleeping.
Ginny got to her feet
and once more levitated him into the air. She began to walk slowly deeper into
the woods, still trying to shake off the fear and panic from the crash.
We got
lucky, she thought with a shiver, then forced it out of her
mind.
She combed her fingers
through her hair, trying to get the knots out. She could only imagine what she
looked like. Her hair was filthy and her body was sticky from the heat, causing
her jumpsuit to stick to her skin. Overall she felt very, very dirty.
The woods were not that
big, because soon Ginny came out to another road. It was busier than the one
she'd been driving on and she figured it was a highway. Looking both ways she
found that no other civilization was in sight – just the whizzing of cars as
they sped past her assured her that she wasn't totally alone.
She had left Draco back
in the woods on the ground, knowing very well that if anyone had seen him
floating in the air it would've caused unwanted attention. But as she stood
beside the road, trying to figure out what to do, she heard him say loudly,
"Weasley?"
He was awake. She
hurried back to the edge of the forest and found him sitting up, looking around
for her. When his eyes rested on her he smirked. "Still alive?"
"I was in much better
shape than you," she retorted, offering him her hand to help him stand.
He ignored it and got to
his feet himself.
Frowning angrily, she lowered
her arm. "I saved your life, Malfoy. You would've bled to death if I hadn't
helped you."
"What, you think I'm
supposed to be thanking you on one knee?" he sneered. "If you can't remember
back a few days ago I saved you. So we're even now."
He had a point. What had
she expected, that he would sob out thank you after thank you in gratitude?
"So what are we going to
do now?" he asked. "Pretty soon the Ministry will hear about the spotting of us
and be on our trail again, and they can get us a lot easier than Muggles."
Ginny sighed. "I don't
know. I don't know what to do."
"Don't be so optimistic, Weasley," he said, obviously pleased that she felt helpless. "First thing we have to do, though, is get me something to eat. I'm very close to resulting to cannibalism."
Ginny tried not to look
horrified at his serious expression.
After a long stretch of
awkward silence, she finally spoke. "We should just follow the road until we
come to a town somewhere. Then you can get yourself something to eat."
He did not reply, but
followed her back up to the side of the road.
"Which way?" she asked,
looking both left and right.
He pointed to the left.
Ginny hoped they weren't heading back to the city they had just left and began
to lead the way.
They had only been
walking a few minutes before Draco began to complain.
"I can't believe I let
you talk me into getting into that car," he muttered. "I must've had a death
wish –"
"Malfoy, shut up," Ginny
snapped irritably, not even bothering to turn around to look at him. "If we
hadn't done that we'd be sitting in a Muggle jail this very moment."
"At least I would've
been fed," he grumbled.
"'At least I would've
been fed,'" Ginny mimicked under her breath, rolling her eyes.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You said something. I
heard you."
"Yes, I did say
something. But I don't want to tell you."
"Fine, I don't want to
know."
"Good."
"Good."
Ginny bit her lip to
keep herself from answering. Was she ever going to get along with him? Probably
not, she answered herself. We should do ourselves a favor and go our
separate ways.
But the thought of
venturing alone made her stomach clench. As much as Draco bothered her, his
company was somewhat comforting. To know that someone else along with her was
on the most wanted list made the ordeal seem a lot easier. It wasn't easy, but
it could be a lot worse.
"Weasley, you know
something?"
"I know a lot of
things."
"You really need a
shower."
She laughed shortly. "Thank you for pointing out the obvious." She glanced over her shoulder at him but kept walking. "You don't look too clean yourself," she said, but she was half lying. His hair was a bit on the wild side, falling into his eyes much to his annoyance, but it still looked as clean and blond as it always was, and his robes were so dark it was hard to tell if they were grimy or not. But they were torn in several places, and he had a smudge of dirt on his chin. Ginny smiled as she resumed looking ahead, glad that his perfect skin could actually get dirty, though in every other place on his face his complexion was clean.
"I know exactly how I
look," he snapped.
"Wonderful for you."
She could almost hear
him frowning. Though he really was bothering her, she managed to keep it out of
her tone and he was agitated that he couldn't get a reaction from her.
Like
Mum always says when Fred and George are annoying me, she
thought with a grin, "just ignore them and they'll stop."
"How come you're not
hungry?" Draco demanded, changing the subject.
"I got food before we
left the hotel," she replied, smiling even wider. "I'm perfectly fine, thank
you very much for asking."
"I did not ask."
"Yes you did. You asked
–" She cut off when she noticed a car was slowing to a stop alongside her. She
and Draco stopped walking, glancing at the driver of the car with interest.
It was a guy around
Ginny's age, and he was grinning up at them. "Hello there. You two need a
lift?"
Lift?
At their blank
expressions, he elaborated. "A ride," he said. His grin did not diminish in the
slightest. "If you take ride from strangers."
Ginny glanced at Draco,
and his silver eyes flashed. She could almost hear him thinking, Not another
car. I will not get in another car.
Just to tick him off,
Ginny grinned and returned her attention to the boy in the car. "We would love
a ride," she said, and got in the passenger side.
Reluctantly, Draco
opened the door and got in the back seat behind her. Ginny could feel him
glaring at her but refused to look back at him.
"So where are you two
going?" the guy asked as he pulled back out onto the road. "I'm Kyle, by the
way."
Ginny introduced
herself, and when Draco remained silent, she had to introduce him as well.
"We're going anywhere, really," she explained. "The next town will be fine."
Kyle smiled warmly at
her, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at her. "You don't
have any luggage, so you can't be hitchhikers. My guess is that you're
runaways, but runaways normally have suitcases too. Might I ask what's going
on?"
"No you may not," Draco
said sharply from the backseat.
Kyle laughed, and Ginny
found herself smiling with him. "All right. Sorry if I pried. I normally don't
give rides to strangers, but when I saw that red hair I had to stop. Something
made me."
Ginny felt herself blush
and she didn't know why. Draco sighed loudly, making his annoyance known.
"I'm sorry," Kyle said,
looking in the rearview mirror at Draco. "You two are, well, together,
aren't you?"
Ginny's mouth dropped
when she realized what he meant by together. "No!" she cried before she could
stop herself. "Not at all."
"Yeah," Draco agreed,
smirking. "We're brother and sister."
She glanced back at him,
eyes wide, but made no attempt to contradict him.
"Oh." Kyle actually
believed him, even though Ginny and Draco resembled each other absolutely none.
"Running away from the parents, are we?"
Ginny nodded, anything
to get him to stop asking them questions. "Yes," she said, sinking her seat.
"We're running from home."
"I can't blame you," Kyle
said, flashing her another smile. "My parents are very strict, too. But I'm
such a coward – I would never run away. I don't have any brothers to protect
me."
Ginny nearly laughed out
loud. Draco, protect her? Please, she thought, turning her face towards
the window and rolling her eyes.
Kyle nodded to a sign.
"Ipswich is coming up soon. We'll be there in about fifteen minutes."
The ride seemed to go
quickly. Kyle talked nonstop about his life, what he wanted to major in from
collage, and what his hobbies were. Ginny couldn't help but notice he flirted
with her the whole time, and wondered how anyone would want to get her
attention with her in the state she was in – a total mess. But she rather
enjoyed it, and for a little while actually forgot that she was being hunted by
the Ministry and the only person she had for companionship was Draco Malfoy.
When they reached the
city of Ipswich, Draco finally spoke up.
"Just let us out at the
nearest restaurant," he said tightly.
A few minutes later,
Kyle pulled up to the curb in front of an Italian restaurant. Draco immediately
got out but Ginny remained seated. She turned to thank Kyle when suddenly he
leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
Well, he sort of missed
and actually ended up kissing the area under her nose and a bit of her upper
lip. It was quick, and when he pulled away she had the urge to wipe it with the
back of her hand.
He just grinned at her,
as if he thought she had enjoyed it. Which she hadn't.
"Thanks for the ride,"
she mumbled, and hurried to get out of the car.
"Here's my number," he
said, slipping her a piece of paper. She took it and avoided his eyes, though
she didn't plan on calling him ever. Without another word she went
around the car and joined Draco in front of the restaurant's door.
Kyle drove off with one
final wave, and Draco stared at her sourly.
She was too busy trying
to get the icky, slobbery feeling of Kyle's kiss off her upper lip by wiping it
with her hand to notice him at first. Finally, she looked up and met his eyes.
"What?" she demanded, annoyed.
"Make friends quickly,
don't you?" His eyes were unusually dark.
He had seen. She felt
her cheeks burn – it was embarrassing enough witnessing it herself, but it was
utter humiliation to have Draco see it.
"I thought you were hungry,"
she muttered, lowering her gaze.
He stared at her for a
minute or two more before he turned and went into the restaurant. Ginny waited
outside and sat on the curb, watching cars roll by and feeling depressed. She
couldn't explain why she felt so down, even though she had many reasons. Her
family was ashamed of her, the Ministry and Muggle police were after her, Draco
was going to rag on her about how she had kissed a guy within thirty minutes of
meeting him . . .
But for some reason it
wasn't any of those things. She just felt depressed and couldn't think of an
excuse why.
Moments later Draco came
outside with a huge bowl of spaghetti. If she had been in a better mood she
would've laughed.
"How did you get that?"
she asked wearily, standing up.
"I distracted the cooks
and stole it," he said bluntly, avoiding her eyes. "Let's go somewhere where I
can eat."
They found a small park
with picnic tables down the street. She sat across from him and watched him eat
his food, amazed at his ability not to get the sauce all over his face. She had
never been able to master that skill – she always slurped spaghetti. She
remembered how her brothers used to always make fun of her for managing to get
the tomato sauce all the way up on her forehead, and felt a stab of homesickness.
Would she ever sit down for a stress-free meal with her family again?
Draco ate the complete
bowl without offering her any. She didn't care, though, because she wasn't
hungry.
Afterwards, they sat at
the table without speaking, both lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Draco
spoke up.
"Are we going to sit
here all day?"
Ginny stared at him,
then shook her head slowly. "No."
The truth was, she had
to start thinking of ways to clear her name. She had been so absorbed in
everything else she had forgotten the original purpose of running from the
Ministry in the first place. By the time they reached London she hoped to have
figured out a way to prove her innocence.
"I've had my fill of
cars," Draco said as they walked out of the park. "So from now on we're
walking."
Ginny sighed. "Look,
Malfoy, I don't think you could've driven any better than I did, so –"
"I wasn't talking about that.
If we hitch a ride from another Muggle I think I'm going to vomit."
She was entitled to
agree, if all Muggles were like Kyle, but she knew they weren't. Somehow she
was offended by his comment and grabbed his arm. He stopped and looked at her,
one eyebrow raised.
She jerked her hand back
to her side. "You are such a horrible person, Malfoy," she hissed.
For a minute an
unfathomable look passed over his eyes, but then he smirked and looked amused.
"Yes I am. But this horrible person is what's keeping you out of the Ministry's
clutches."
"I could do this without
your help!" she insisted, furious. "The only time I needed you was after the
bus went down – every time after that I've been the one to save you.
When the Muggles were outside the hotel room. Driving the car. Keeping you from
bleeding to death."
His smirk evaporated and
was replaced by an angry look. "Let's recap for a minute, shall we? If I hadn't
saved you from the water, then I wouldn't have had to steal a Muggle hotel
room, therefore avoiding that incident. The Muggle police wouldn't be after me
because they wouldn't have considered me an accomplice. I wouldn't have been in
a car if you hadn't been with me, and thus I wouldn't have nearly died from
smashing into a tree. All of this has been caused by you. So it's only
right that you clean it up. You speak as if you expect me to be grateful when
it's you responsible for all that's happened."
She stood fuming, trying
to think of something to say back. "I'm not responsible for it all," she
snapped finally. "If your father hadn't lied then I wouldn't have been on my
way to Azkaban in the first place."
"This is true," Draco agreed, smirking once more. "But my father isn't here, is he? I guess we'll just have to blame you."
"What?!" she shrieked.
It made no sense.
Draco only laughed at
her. "You look identical to your brother when you're mad."
She had an irresistible
urge to smack his smug face, but spun and stalked away from him before she did.
She didn't like hitting people – one time, she'd punched Fred in the nose so
hard he had stumbled backwards and struck his head on the corner of the wall.
He ended up with a concussion and a broken nose. She felt terrible and had
vowed never to hit anyone in the face again.
But Draco was sure
testing her vow.
Draco was very annoyed.
He wasn't too annoyed at Ginny. It was that Muggle Kyle who had rubbed him the wrong way.
And he didn't know why.
A part of him tried to tell him it was because he was flirting with Ginny, but
why would that bother him? He didn't care about Ginny – anyone could flirt with
her. But deep down he knew that was the reason. He didn't like the thought of
someone else having all of her attention.
So what? he
thought furiously, angry with himself. She's a Weasley. I don't care at all.
Kyle can marry her for all I care.
Then he'd gotten her
into a fit of angry silence because he'd started a fight with her, taking his
frustrations out on her. He felt a twinge of guilt, but pushed it away. He
would not feel guilty for getting her upset.
Once more she led the
way through the town, her feet falling a little too heavily on the concrete to
show she was stomping in anger. He laughed at her, but she ignored him.
"Do you have any clue
where you are going?" he asked her lightly.
"No," she muttered
darkly. Then she stopped and turned to face him. "You know what?"
He crossed his arms and
pretended to look bored. "What?"
"We don't get along."
"We don't? Oh, that's a
surprise. I thought we were great friends."
"Maybe it would be
better if we just went our own way."
He had not expected her to
say that. He was used to having girls depend on him, need him to keep them
safe. The last thing he had expected was for her to suggest they separate.
He must've let his
surprise show, because Ginny's face softened.
"I just don't think –"
she faltered, looking down.
"You never think," he
snapped, and was annoyed with himself for letting his feelings known. "I agree
with you. If I spend one more minute with you I might have to strangle you. So
good luck."
Before he turned and
started to stride away he saw her stricken look. It almost stopped him –
almost. But he was determined to keep going, hoping that with each step he
would forget how she was beginning to grow on him.
Draco half-expected her
to hurry after him and say that she didn't want to separate, that she wanted to
stay with him.
But she didn't.
A/N: Don't worry, they aren't going to stay apart
forever. You really think I'd do that? Anyway, please review!!!
