Disclaimer: Not mine! But you already knew that. (Cheeky Monkey! ^-^ Sorry,
too much SNL, lol. )
~***~
6. The Miraculous Recovery
~***~
The cavernous room was still and dark - Draco had had to wait for nearly two hours until a distraught Arthur and Molly Weasley had at last moved reluctantly from their daughter's bedside, pulling away with them every last one of her grief stricken brothers, save Ron.
He'd listened to Pomfrey explain Ginny's condition, listened to them question the woman about moving her to a hospital, giving her blood, their desperate pleas for anything that could help - and for the first time in his life, he'd actually felt guilty for something he'd done.
When the room was silent, and deserted, Draco finally entered, his ears picking up immediately on the weakening beat of her heart as it labored along. He had to move quickly - Pomfrey would return soon.
His fangs lengthened in reflex, their points lethally sharp against his tongue as he stealthily approached her bedside - the thought of her, small and lovely and vulnerable beneath him sent fire racing through his body.
Nothing in the world could have stopped him from touching her then. He paused beside her, looking down on her in the darkness. Her skin fairly glowed, it was so flawlessly pale, and her hair, which had been a glorious, glossy riot of dark red curls, not three days previous, now lay lifeless and dull alongside her slim, bandaged throat.
Nearly mindless in his sudden hunger, he touched the bandage with one finger, and as if in answer, blood began to well up from beneath, staining its pristine whiteness.
The scent of it had him sweeping the small square of gauze away, and bowing his head to her skin.
"You won't, Malfoy, if you cherish your worthless existence."
Draco froze, his lips mere millimeters from his goal. He heard her heart flutter dangerously, and caught his breath.
Furious at the interruption, he slowly straightened, and turned to face the owner of the voice.
A hard featured Potter and a murderous looking Weasley stood a few feet away. Draco's eye caught on the Invisibility cloak swept across Harry's shoulders and he was hard pressed not to snarl.
They must have been lying in wait for him all along.
He looked at the two wands pointed at him impatiently.
"I don't think I've ever been so tempted to kill anyone before in my entire life," Ron Weasley stated in a low gruff voice shaking with black rage.
"Ron, don't."
Draco looked at the pair with half lidded, slashing silver eyes. "Do it and she dies."
"Is that a threat?" Potter stepped forward, his dark brows drawn down in a threatening manner.
Draco shrugged. "Take it in whatever way you want. The fact is, without me, she will die."
He watched the dark haired boy approach slowly, his green gaze glancing at Ginny.
"You mean to say - you can help her?"
Weasley darted forward, his red hair falling messily into his sight. "Don't listen to him, Harry. He's lying. He's using some kind of compulsion - "
Draco ignored him. "In a sense, yes. I can change her into what I am."
"A bloody Vampire? I don't think so - "
"Shut up, Ron!" Harry looked at him again, and narrowed his eyes. "You know we can't let that happen. She wouldn't want to be.like that."
"How do you know what she would want, Potter? You're not the one laying at death's door."
"My sister will not be a killer!" Ron hissed fiercely through his teeth. "She won't be like you!"
Draco crossed his arms, trying not to show his alarm as he sensed the girl's downward decline. Her breathing was slowing. Her heart was struggling.
"I'm no killer," he forced himself to say evenly.
"You're a Vampire!"
"I'm not." Draco went on to explain his own experience with annoyance.
"It just goes to show how much attention you pay in class, Weasley, or you would know, that for the conversion to be complete, after the blood exchange, the Vampire's victim must make a kill," he finished sneeringly.
"And you haven't killed yet," Potter murmured thoughtfully.
"Not yet." He looked pointedly at Ginny, whose skin was becoming dangerously tinged with blue. "If she dies - "
"So.if you change her, she won't become a Vampire?"
Ron looked aghast. "Harry, don't tell me you're even thinking - "
"She won't unless she kills someone," Draco confirmed.
Harry looked at him suspiciously. "What then? You change her - what happens then?"
"By changing her, I save myself - for a time. For as long as I can control myself. As for her, she'll be alive - and if she can manage to do the same, well, we might have a chance. We may be able to track down a cure."
"This is bullshit, Harry! He's just trying to save his own ass."
Draco focused his eyes on Ginny's brother, red - orange pinpoints of light springing up as his patience snapped.
"Do what you will - but you'd better act fast," he snarled, gnashing his fangs. "She'd not going to last much longer, and my patience is at an end, Weasley. Coincidentally, you may want exit the premises, as I'm fairly sure it'll be you I come after first!"
He had the satisfaction of seeing the other, bigger boy blanch slightly, and swallow.
"This is the only way, then?"
Draco nodded tightly.
Potter looked at his friend.
"How about it?"
Weasley glanced over to watch his sister, saw her chest barely moving, and cleared his throat. He drew himself up, and took a deep breath.
"All right. I can tell you, she won't be happy about it. But if there's even a small chance she'll live, become fully human again." Ron glared over at Draco. "And you - well, you Malfoy, can go back to being whatever it was you were beforehand."
"Sod off, Weasley," Draco had taken a step forward without realizing it, his fists clenched, but the faltering sound of Ginny's vital signs stopped him.
He turned toward her, his heart lurching at how far gone she was.
"Wait - I want her consent on this," Harry called from behind him. "We have to try."
"You'll have her death on your hands if you insist on it, Potter," Draco growled, bowing swiftly to her throat. In a movement that was purely him, he looked back over his shoulder at them as he hovered near, and smirked, revealing the point of one gleaming white fang, a blood red haze flashing iridescently over the silver of his eyes. He arched a brow as he drawled, "Feel free to watch."
Weasley whirled away with a curse. Potter went slightly green, but stared back at him stubbornly.
Draco couldn't help but feel a strong sense of satisfaction at the thought he was causing the two people he most disliked, supreme discomfort.
He turned back to Ginny, and lowered his head, his tongue aching for the hot, familiar taste of her blood.
~***~
Ginny slowly became aware of something very odd.
She heard heart beats - not a heart beat, but heart beats. Four of them.
A roaring sound rose, as the steady pounding noises grew in volume, so much that they nearly hurt her ears.
Something hot, coppery and salty was on her tongue. It tasted like blood.
Disgusted, she tried to turn her head, but she was too weak to do so.
The sticky liquid filled her mouth so that she almost choked on it, and she was forced to swallow. For a moment she was horrified that she was dying, and choking on her own blood.
She swallowed again, in panic, and then again, trying to breathe. A wave of pain washed over her, blocking her thoughts. She felt tears roll out of the corners of her eyes, It felt as if something was pulling her apart, inside.
A hand clasped hers comfortingly as it lay limply on the sheets, and she calmed somewhat as she mercifully began to lose consciousness.
At least she wouldn't die alone.
~***~
Draco forced his wrist away from Ginny's lips, drawing in a hissing breath at the sting of the wound he'd made.
A length of white linen was dangled in front of his face, and he blinked, before grasping it, and casting a suspicious look at its bearer. Harry stared back at him and turned his eyes to Ginny.
Draco wound the bandage around the seeping slash, tying it off with his teeth, and then he clamped a palm around it tightly to stop the bleeding.
"She should be well enough, now. She'll probably sleep through tonight and tomorrow."
"Sleep? But you were right there with us when we found Harry, and you said that was when - " began Ron.
"Yes, but I hadn't been suffering blood loss for three days before hand, either, " Draco explained shortly.
"And whose fault is that?" The red - head shot back.
Draco ground his teeth and then smiled. "Well, I've done my part - I'll be back to take care of her when she wakes up."
"We can take care of her just fine by ourselves, Malfoy."
Shrugging, Draco stood from where he'd been resting on the edge of Ginny's bed. "Fine, but don't say I didn't try to warn you."
"What are trying to say, Malfoy?"
He flashed a diabolical grin, and moved toward the doors. "Let's just say she'll be - hungry."
Potter and Weasley exchanged swift looks, and Draco laughed inwardly.
"Gin wouldn't hurt a fly," Ron muttered, shaking himself. "Wouldn't or couldn't, Weasley?" Draco murmured just loud enough for them to hear as he reached the doors.
He could feel their rising fear and distrust, and he shook his head, pausing in the exit.
"Don't worry - I'll be back."
As he left, feeling tired and weak, he heard Weasley say, " I was worried he was going to say that."
~***~
By late evening it was all over the school about the amazing transformation that had happened nearly overnight in Ginny Weasley.
According to Madam Pomfrey, who had found her wide awake and trembling in her bed an hour after dark, she had made a miraculous recovery.
To the delight of her family and friends, she was sitting up in her bed, eyes almost overly bright in her oddly pale face, her red hair shining in health and curling softly over her shoulders.
The funny thing was, no one seemed to be able to recall just what had happened to her, or even that it mattered.
With the exception of Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Draco, of course.
Snape had been as good as his word about taking care of things - but none of them ever dared to ask how he'd managed to accomplish such a feat.
What was even more curious to the rest of the school, was the fact that Draco Malfoy had somehow attached himself to Ginny's bedside.
~***~
TBC
~***~
6. The Miraculous Recovery
~***~
The cavernous room was still and dark - Draco had had to wait for nearly two hours until a distraught Arthur and Molly Weasley had at last moved reluctantly from their daughter's bedside, pulling away with them every last one of her grief stricken brothers, save Ron.
He'd listened to Pomfrey explain Ginny's condition, listened to them question the woman about moving her to a hospital, giving her blood, their desperate pleas for anything that could help - and for the first time in his life, he'd actually felt guilty for something he'd done.
When the room was silent, and deserted, Draco finally entered, his ears picking up immediately on the weakening beat of her heart as it labored along. He had to move quickly - Pomfrey would return soon.
His fangs lengthened in reflex, their points lethally sharp against his tongue as he stealthily approached her bedside - the thought of her, small and lovely and vulnerable beneath him sent fire racing through his body.
Nothing in the world could have stopped him from touching her then. He paused beside her, looking down on her in the darkness. Her skin fairly glowed, it was so flawlessly pale, and her hair, which had been a glorious, glossy riot of dark red curls, not three days previous, now lay lifeless and dull alongside her slim, bandaged throat.
Nearly mindless in his sudden hunger, he touched the bandage with one finger, and as if in answer, blood began to well up from beneath, staining its pristine whiteness.
The scent of it had him sweeping the small square of gauze away, and bowing his head to her skin.
"You won't, Malfoy, if you cherish your worthless existence."
Draco froze, his lips mere millimeters from his goal. He heard her heart flutter dangerously, and caught his breath.
Furious at the interruption, he slowly straightened, and turned to face the owner of the voice.
A hard featured Potter and a murderous looking Weasley stood a few feet away. Draco's eye caught on the Invisibility cloak swept across Harry's shoulders and he was hard pressed not to snarl.
They must have been lying in wait for him all along.
He looked at the two wands pointed at him impatiently.
"I don't think I've ever been so tempted to kill anyone before in my entire life," Ron Weasley stated in a low gruff voice shaking with black rage.
"Ron, don't."
Draco looked at the pair with half lidded, slashing silver eyes. "Do it and she dies."
"Is that a threat?" Potter stepped forward, his dark brows drawn down in a threatening manner.
Draco shrugged. "Take it in whatever way you want. The fact is, without me, she will die."
He watched the dark haired boy approach slowly, his green gaze glancing at Ginny.
"You mean to say - you can help her?"
Weasley darted forward, his red hair falling messily into his sight. "Don't listen to him, Harry. He's lying. He's using some kind of compulsion - "
Draco ignored him. "In a sense, yes. I can change her into what I am."
"A bloody Vampire? I don't think so - "
"Shut up, Ron!" Harry looked at him again, and narrowed his eyes. "You know we can't let that happen. She wouldn't want to be.like that."
"How do you know what she would want, Potter? You're not the one laying at death's door."
"My sister will not be a killer!" Ron hissed fiercely through his teeth. "She won't be like you!"
Draco crossed his arms, trying not to show his alarm as he sensed the girl's downward decline. Her breathing was slowing. Her heart was struggling.
"I'm no killer," he forced himself to say evenly.
"You're a Vampire!"
"I'm not." Draco went on to explain his own experience with annoyance.
"It just goes to show how much attention you pay in class, Weasley, or you would know, that for the conversion to be complete, after the blood exchange, the Vampire's victim must make a kill," he finished sneeringly.
"And you haven't killed yet," Potter murmured thoughtfully.
"Not yet." He looked pointedly at Ginny, whose skin was becoming dangerously tinged with blue. "If she dies - "
"So.if you change her, she won't become a Vampire?"
Ron looked aghast. "Harry, don't tell me you're even thinking - "
"She won't unless she kills someone," Draco confirmed.
Harry looked at him suspiciously. "What then? You change her - what happens then?"
"By changing her, I save myself - for a time. For as long as I can control myself. As for her, she'll be alive - and if she can manage to do the same, well, we might have a chance. We may be able to track down a cure."
"This is bullshit, Harry! He's just trying to save his own ass."
Draco focused his eyes on Ginny's brother, red - orange pinpoints of light springing up as his patience snapped.
"Do what you will - but you'd better act fast," he snarled, gnashing his fangs. "She'd not going to last much longer, and my patience is at an end, Weasley. Coincidentally, you may want exit the premises, as I'm fairly sure it'll be you I come after first!"
He had the satisfaction of seeing the other, bigger boy blanch slightly, and swallow.
"This is the only way, then?"
Draco nodded tightly.
Potter looked at his friend.
"How about it?"
Weasley glanced over to watch his sister, saw her chest barely moving, and cleared his throat. He drew himself up, and took a deep breath.
"All right. I can tell you, she won't be happy about it. But if there's even a small chance she'll live, become fully human again." Ron glared over at Draco. "And you - well, you Malfoy, can go back to being whatever it was you were beforehand."
"Sod off, Weasley," Draco had taken a step forward without realizing it, his fists clenched, but the faltering sound of Ginny's vital signs stopped him.
He turned toward her, his heart lurching at how far gone she was.
"Wait - I want her consent on this," Harry called from behind him. "We have to try."
"You'll have her death on your hands if you insist on it, Potter," Draco growled, bowing swiftly to her throat. In a movement that was purely him, he looked back over his shoulder at them as he hovered near, and smirked, revealing the point of one gleaming white fang, a blood red haze flashing iridescently over the silver of his eyes. He arched a brow as he drawled, "Feel free to watch."
Weasley whirled away with a curse. Potter went slightly green, but stared back at him stubbornly.
Draco couldn't help but feel a strong sense of satisfaction at the thought he was causing the two people he most disliked, supreme discomfort.
He turned back to Ginny, and lowered his head, his tongue aching for the hot, familiar taste of her blood.
~***~
Ginny slowly became aware of something very odd.
She heard heart beats - not a heart beat, but heart beats. Four of them.
A roaring sound rose, as the steady pounding noises grew in volume, so much that they nearly hurt her ears.
Something hot, coppery and salty was on her tongue. It tasted like blood.
Disgusted, she tried to turn her head, but she was too weak to do so.
The sticky liquid filled her mouth so that she almost choked on it, and she was forced to swallow. For a moment she was horrified that she was dying, and choking on her own blood.
She swallowed again, in panic, and then again, trying to breathe. A wave of pain washed over her, blocking her thoughts. She felt tears roll out of the corners of her eyes, It felt as if something was pulling her apart, inside.
A hand clasped hers comfortingly as it lay limply on the sheets, and she calmed somewhat as she mercifully began to lose consciousness.
At least she wouldn't die alone.
~***~
Draco forced his wrist away from Ginny's lips, drawing in a hissing breath at the sting of the wound he'd made.
A length of white linen was dangled in front of his face, and he blinked, before grasping it, and casting a suspicious look at its bearer. Harry stared back at him and turned his eyes to Ginny.
Draco wound the bandage around the seeping slash, tying it off with his teeth, and then he clamped a palm around it tightly to stop the bleeding.
"She should be well enough, now. She'll probably sleep through tonight and tomorrow."
"Sleep? But you were right there with us when we found Harry, and you said that was when - " began Ron.
"Yes, but I hadn't been suffering blood loss for three days before hand, either, " Draco explained shortly.
"And whose fault is that?" The red - head shot back.
Draco ground his teeth and then smiled. "Well, I've done my part - I'll be back to take care of her when she wakes up."
"We can take care of her just fine by ourselves, Malfoy."
Shrugging, Draco stood from where he'd been resting on the edge of Ginny's bed. "Fine, but don't say I didn't try to warn you."
"What are trying to say, Malfoy?"
He flashed a diabolical grin, and moved toward the doors. "Let's just say she'll be - hungry."
Potter and Weasley exchanged swift looks, and Draco laughed inwardly.
"Gin wouldn't hurt a fly," Ron muttered, shaking himself. "Wouldn't or couldn't, Weasley?" Draco murmured just loud enough for them to hear as he reached the doors.
He could feel their rising fear and distrust, and he shook his head, pausing in the exit.
"Don't worry - I'll be back."
As he left, feeling tired and weak, he heard Weasley say, " I was worried he was going to say that."
~***~
By late evening it was all over the school about the amazing transformation that had happened nearly overnight in Ginny Weasley.
According to Madam Pomfrey, who had found her wide awake and trembling in her bed an hour after dark, she had made a miraculous recovery.
To the delight of her family and friends, she was sitting up in her bed, eyes almost overly bright in her oddly pale face, her red hair shining in health and curling softly over her shoulders.
The funny thing was, no one seemed to be able to recall just what had happened to her, or even that it mattered.
With the exception of Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Draco, of course.
Snape had been as good as his word about taking care of things - but none of them ever dared to ask how he'd managed to accomplish such a feat.
What was even more curious to the rest of the school, was the fact that Draco Malfoy had somehow attached himself to Ginny's bedside.
~***~
TBC