A/N: I unfortunately don't have a beta, so if you see a stupid typo or a slight spelling error, please keep this is mind *
Chapter 3: Ginny's Resistance
Without thinking, without a single glance at Hermione, Draco opened his mouth to speak.
" Both witches."
Draco felt the words slip off his tongue before they processed into his numb mind.
The Dark Lord nodded curtly, looking almost upset at missing a chance to kill somebody. He made his way out, flanked by two massive Death Eaters.
Even when the door snapped shut and Ginny saw Voldemort's shadow walk away, she continued to feel numb. She also didn't let go of Hermione's hand.
Hermione seemed to be having trouble processing everything as well.
Draco spoke. " You are obliged to billet a Death Eater in your house. Failure to cooperate shall result in --," he paused, " the wrath of the Dark Lord."
" I'm not letting you stay here!" Ginny exclaimed promptly. She seemed to have come to her senses and her voice was dripping with disdain.
" Ginny…" started Hermione. Ginny felt her friend's hand loosen slightly. " I owe him my life. Besides, if we don't take him in, somebody else will, and they could kill me."
Ginny bit her lip and glanced at Draco. " But where will he sleep? I have one bedroom," she turned back to Hermione and added sharply, "and I'm not going to let you go home, so you'll be staying too."
" Ginny…" with the hand that wasn't clutching Ginny's, Hermione took her friends shoulder and turned her around. " he had the chance to kill me and he didn't. I owe him my life, and even though he doesn't know it, my child's." Ginny softened, so Hermione continued. " We'll have to give him the bed, and I won't hear any arguments."
They turned and faced him once again. " We've decided you can take the bedroom upstairs," said Hermione. Ginny scowled visibly.
" I don't want to stay with you either, Weasley," muttered Draco acidly. " Dark Lord's rules. And the mudblood's right, if I were somebody else, she'd be dead."
If Hermione hadn't been clutching her hand, Ginny would have jumped at Draco, who had turned his back and was heading towards the door.
" I'd advise you not to leave the house. The Dark Lord will find any excuse to kill you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mask, which he placed over his sneering face. He swept out the door and into the sunlight.
After seeing that he was properly gone, Ginny, finally letting go of Hermione's hand, walked over to the couch and dropped down on it. " Only ten minutes ago, we were sitting outside under the peach tree. And look at us now."
Hermione sat beside her friend. Her brows were furrowed in concentration. " I don't understand. How did they find out about this island?"
" Oh right…" Ginny had not thought of that at all. Leave it to Hermione to jump to that sort of question first, she thought.
" It has to have been an outside source," suggested Hermione, looking pensive.
" You mean… a spy?"
Hermione nodded. " But, still. There aren't a lot of people on our side alone who know about this island, are there? I mean, there's Dumbledore, the Minister, and a bunch of other important people…"
" Maybe they were tortured," suggested Ginny, shuddering at the idea. She slumped back into the cushions and stared out the window at the sky that was growing steadily pink.
Hermione jumped up. " Oh, what about Ron? Or Harry? They knew! They knew about the island! What if…"
Ginny gaped at her friend. What if…she thought. Ginny shook her head. " I don't think so," she said unsurely. " Dumbledore probably took extra precautions with them when they joined the Order. In fact, I'm sure Dumbledore's keeping an eye out on everybody, so it's much more likely this is the job of a spy."
The reason had poured out of her mouth only to assuage Hermione's fears, but after she said it, Ginny felt she believed it too.
Hermione resumed her seat. She sighed – loudly. " Maybe…"
It was almost like the day Harry and Ron had first gone to fight. Just when the girls had begun to accept the fact that they were gone and had begun to resume their everyday life, something like this happened.
They stared out the window for a while, remaining silently in their seats. Their worries were beyond words now, and both began to slowly comprehend that whatever would come would come and they'd deal with it when it did.
When dusk had fallen upon the island and purple clouds began to adorn the sky and hide the orange sun, Draco walked back through the door of their cottage.
Ginny and Hermione turned in their seats and saw the Death Eater take off his mask and stick it back into his pocket.
" Do you two ever eat dinner, or am I the only one who gets hungry around here?"
As if on cue, Hermione's stomach growled. " I guess I should make something for us."
" No, I'll do it, Hermione. It's alright." She stood up and shot a cold glance at Draco. " Since Hermione is hungry and all."
Draco seated himself at the kitchen table. He felt considerably awkward. He knew he was as uninvited in Ginny's home as a spider in a beehive, but he had been forced into the situation. He could either stay with the girls or be killed by Voldemort, and the latter was, without question, much worse.
And yet, as Ginny deliberately clanged the pots and slammed them on the stove as loudly as she could while shooting Draco looks of sheer antipathy, Draco felt he was probably better off dead. Hermione alone, he could probably have tolerated, for she seemed to accept his presence better than Ginny. The latter was, without a doubt, more annoying to him than anybody he'd ever met. Draco winced as she set a large glass bowl on the counter with a loud slam. It broke in her hands, which began to bleed freely.
Cursing deliberately and ceaselessly, Ginny grabbed her wand from the table and mended her cuts with well-chosen spells. Soon, they were properly bandaged. She, once again, glared angrily at Draco as though he had been the one to hurt her.
" I didn't slam the damn thing on the counter," he remarked with a raised eyebrow.
His indifference incensed Ginny further. She gave a small tut and turned her back to him, concentrating awfully hard on the contents in her pot.
Soon, the smell of the cooking permeated the small kitchen and traveled throughout the house. Hermione, who had moved herself into the study (she didn't want to hear Ginny's banging), emerged into the kitchen almost instantly with a small smile on her face.
" That smells great," she said, hoping to get to a better side of Ginny. " Is that porridge?"
" Yes it is and thank you, Hermione. I'll give you more." Ginny spooned the contents of the pot into two separate bowls and placed on in front of Hermione. She picked up the other one and became to eat it herself.
Draco stood up and glared coldly and Ginny. " You're pushing it, Weasley," he muttered and walked away and up the stairs.
Hermione set her spoon in her bowl and gave her friend a rebuking look. " I don't want him here either Ginny, but…"
" I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just want to wipe that awful smirk on his face."
* * * * *
Draco stepped into Ginny's bedroom and was greeted by the fresh and slightly sweet smell of the ocean. He felt a soft and warm breeze caress his face and noticed that the window was open.
When he reached it to close it, he looked out onto the darkening sky. From the window, he could see the ocean glittering in the moonlight in the far distance. The music of the waves traveled through his ears like comforting music.
Incolumisa really was, without a doubt, a beautiful island. It was no wonder the wizards had kept it hidden. As he scanned his eyes from the dusty road in front of the cottage to the enormous mountains in the distance silhouetted in the darkness, he felt like the Death Eaters, including himself, were merely polluting it.
A thump behind Draco interrupted his thoughts. " Open up!" he heard Ginny yell from the other side of the door.
With disgust and slight apprehension, he obeyed. To his surprise, she was holding a bowl of steaming porridge in her hands, although her face seemed to display some sort of inner conflict.
" Is that for me to eat, or are you gonna throw it in my face?" he asked, eyeing the steam that wafted from its surface.
Ginny pushed past him " Don't give me any ideas. I'm only giving you food because you saved my best friend's life. Otherwise, I'd kick your right out the door." She set the porridge on the desk and her eye caught a picture of her and Harry together taped to the wall. She took it and hastily stuck it in her pocket.
" I'd gladly leave," he spat. " I don't want to live with you either."
Ginny's hand twitched, desperate to really throw the steaming porridge at his face. She, however, remembered Hermione's words and gave up the idea.
Draco wanted to reach for the bowl and wolf it down, but Ginny remained leaning on the desk, eyeing him suspiciously.
" Why did you do it?"
" Do what."
" Lie to… You-Know-Who."
Draco stared at Ginny. Why wasn't she leaving? He was beyond starving and it didn't help that the breeze had carried the smell of the porridge to him. The warm fumes were dancing enticingly around his nostrils, making his mouth water. " I don't know," he stated.
" Why?" Ginny persisted.
" Why not? Who cares?" Draco was beginning to grow cranky from lack of sustenance. " Would you rather I didn't lie and have her killed?"
Ginny gave a frustrated sigh and breezed past Draco and out the door, which she slammed hard enough to shake the whole house.
Draco practically jumped at the bowl on the desk and spooned the warm food into his mouth. He gave a small contented moan as it slid down his throat. It tasted quite delicious.
While chewing through a particularly large chunk of beef, Draco pondered Ginny's question. Why had he lied?
He had, since his days at Hogwarts, thought of Hermione as just another mudblood the world didn't need. But that afternoon, he had looked straight into Voldemort's pitiless eyes and felt nobody, not even Hermione, deserved to die that way.
His reasoning had more than one level. Hermione was also with child, Draco assumed. He knew no matter how cruel he was, he certainly did not descend to have a pregnant woman killed.
Hidden in the depths of his mind, however, Draco had another motive to lie. He knew that if he had told the truth, if he had admitted that Hermione was a mudblood, Voldemort would have commanded Draco to kill her while he watched. Draco shuddered, despite the warm porridge in his body, at the thought of committing such an act. He began to form the hypothetical scene in his mind, where with a flash of green light, he would kill Hermione and the developing baby inside her. Ginny would scream and cry and attack Draco, who would feel nothing but numbness. And Voldemort… his lipless mouth would be curled into a smile, for to him, Hermione would be just another mudblood.
Without even realizing it, Draco cleaned the bowl. He leaned his elbows on the table and took notice of the small cracks in the paint. The gentle breeze played across his face. His fatigue seemed to have caught up with him, and Draco felt his eyelids grow heavy. He rested his head on the desk and closed his eyes, the distant sonata of the waves playing in his ear. He drifted off without another thought.
* * * * *
Hermione awoke early in the morning and noticed enormous spots of sweat on the sheets Ginny had spread out the previous night on the couch.
She took the sheet right off and went outside to wash it. The air was extremely humid and Hermione felt her curls sticking to the back of her neck.
Ginny was still asleep on the kitchen floor and Hermione did not expect her to wake for another few hours. It was still about 6:30 in the morning.
It seemed to be much cooler outside, for the sun was on the verge of rising. The weather in Incolumisa was very pleasant in the morning, and grew increasingly hotter during the day.
In the shade of the peach tree, Hermione hung her sheet on a branch and stretched it out. She hoped none of the neighbors would decide to take an early walk and see the embarrassing sweat stains on her sheets.
She stared around at the village and felt the disturbance in the air that the Death Eaters had caused. She was still numb about what had happened less than twenty-four hours ago and felt beyond lucky to have been spared her baby's life. She leaned against the tree, wondering suddenly what Ron could be doing at this exact moment and how he'd react to the news of the seize.
Something furry brushed against Hermione's ankle, causing her to yelp – loudly. She stumbled backwards and glanced at the ground where she felt it in wide-eyed consternation.
" Crookshanks!"
Hermione's beloved ginger cat stared back at her with his squashed face. Hermione scooped up her pet in disbelief and stroked him. " Did you come up here just to see me?" Hermione hugged him tightly, smelling his warm fur on which slightly lingered the sporty, sometimes sweaty smell of her husband. By hugging her cat, she felt somewhat closer to him, wherever he was.
The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon and cast its rays onto the sea. Stroking the cat absently, Hermione gazed around the street again. Her eyes rested on the small garden in the Nonas' front yard next door.
Hermione was suddenly hit with the heart-breaking realization that Mrs. Nonas had been a muggle. She stared at the garden in disbelief as tear stung her eyes. The small pink flowers Mrs. Nonas had cared for began to blur.
Hermione heard a window open and looked up. She was greeted by Draco's sneering face sticking out of Ginny's bedroom window.
" Did you scream?" he asked contemptuously. " You woke me up."
Hermione's attitude toward Draco had been altered since he saved her life, but she still hated him. " I didn't scream."
Draco scowled and rubbed his face. He glanced at his watch and his head disappeared from the window.
Hermione carried Crookshanks inside and placed him on the kitchen floor. He quickly slid into the warmth of Ginny's blanket and did not come out.
As quietly as she could, Hermione placed a pan on the stove and lit it. She stepped over Ginny as she gathered up eggs, bread, and sausages. With some magic, she had them sizzling and toasted in no time.
Draco came down the stairs. He was wearing the same black robes and a look of deep disgust. He, however, spotted Ginny asleep on the floor, and his face softened.
" Don't worry. She won't be awake until noon." Hermione tipped the sausages on a plate and set it on the table.
Draco swept past her and opened the kitchen door. " Too bad she isn't always like that," he remarked to himself as he stepped outside. That was definitely how he preferred Ginny to be – asleep.
As he walked down the hill, he thought of the previous night. He had fallen asleep at the desk and woken up the following morning with intense pains in his neck. But he remembered the gentle breeze from the ocean and felt there was no better way to fall asleep.
At the foot of the hill, Draco realized he had no idea where he was going or what he was doing. When he woke up that morning, he had felt compelled to simply leave the house, so he did.
Draco continued walking. He glanced at the small cottages placed fortuitously at the side of the dusty road. Each yard was marked with individuality at the display of various things. Some cottages had small gardens filled with bright flowers, others filled with herbs and vegetables. Draco saw a yard with a tire swing hanging from a large tree and chickens clucking in another.
As he continued his way down the road, he noticed the number of cottages was getting fewer, the road was narrowing and turning considerably sandier, and the breeze had increased its velocity.
Draco saw spanned in front him a beautiful beach. The small tides from the sea were kissing the sand as it rolled onto it. Heavy rocks jutted from the island into the sea. Draco walked across the beach, staring at the horizon ahead of him. There was not a single cloud or boat or human presence in sight. He headed towards the shadow beneath some rocks that were jutting out in a peculiar position and entered what seemed to be a semi-cave and sat on a rock there, looking out at the sea.
Some water suddenly seeped through his shoes and Draco saw the waves had managed to reach him. The water felt cool on his toes. He dipped his hands in the water when the next wave came and sat there for a while, greeting each new wave that came in.
* * * * *
Ginny awoke when she felt a hot and itchy sensation on her neck. She reached back to find the source of the unnatural warmth, and to her surprise, she felt something furry and large wrapped around her neck.
Ginny began to move when she heard it growl angrily.
" Hermione," she called desperately. " Hermione!"
There was no answer.
Ginny reached back again to stroke whatever it was that had managed to clasp itself around her neck while she was sleeping. She felt the soft furs tickle her neck and being extremely ticklish, they tortured her.
Ginny heard the kitchen door open. " Hermione? Is that you?" She heard the footsteps approaching her, but as they drew nearer, she realized they were too heavy to be her friend's. With a sickening realization, he looked up and saw Draco's face sneering at her.
" It's 11:30. Aren't you going to get up?"
Ginny felt her neck grow even hotter. She hastily checked to see that a blanket was covering the furry thing.
" No," she lied. She noticed Draco's shoes were glistening from wetness. " Why are your shoes wet?"
Draco's shoes walked away. She heard the chair scrape on the tile and take his weight. " They aren't wet," he lied. His mouth sounded full.
Ginny realized how hungry she was and ached to put breakfast in her mouth. If only this thing would get off her neck! She hoped Draco didn't notice the giant lump in her blanket where her neck was. He would no sooner help her than he'd kiss Voldemort.
" Yes they are," she replied, trying to sound annoying. " Were you at the beach?"
Draco didn't answer, so Ginny assumed that was a yes. She heard him swallow then bite into toast. She reached for the furry thing again and it growled quietly.
" You were at the beach." She knew by Draco's exasperated sigh that she was really provoking him.
" What's it to you Weasley? It's too bad I didn't take you with me so I could drop you in the ocean myself."
" I can swim," she replied tartly.
Draco speared his sausage. " Not if I tie a stone to you." No sooner had he said it that he realized the absurdity of where this conversation was leading.
Ginny remained quiet until she heard Draco's feet take on his weight once again. After making sure he was far from her up the stairs, she called Hermione's name again.
Her stomach growled. Actually, she was unsure if it was her stomach or the creature on her neck. Ginny tickled the thing and heard a contented groan. The furs seemed to be inside her skin now, making her neck tingle unbearably. She began to sweat and wished Hermione would walk into the kitchen. Ginny's wand was completely out of reach on the counter. She regretted the fact that she didn't sleep with it by her side and decided she would for now on.
Ginny could hardly stand it anymore. Using careful force, she pried the creature off. Whatever it was began to spit angrily, but Ginny knew she couldn't stand to stay that way any longer. She felt the creature shift heavily and push off her shoulder. A sharp pain on her neck made her wince, for it had scratched her.
She was free at last, and sat up to face a very angry ginger cat. " Crookshanks?" she said aloud in disbelief.
The kitchen door opened at that moment and Hermione walked in with a handful of peaches.
" Oh, now you come in," said Ginny, lifting herself from the sheets. " What is Crookshanks doing here?"
Hermione set the peaches on the counter and smiled. " I felt him brush up against my leg this morning. He must have come up the hill to find me."
Ginny touched the spot where Crookshanks had scratched her and felt it sting.
" What happened?" Hermione gasped. " Did Crookshanks scratch you?"
She told Hermione the story while she mended herself with her wand. Hermione, she could tell, was stifling a laugh.
Ginny reached for a piece of toast. She warmed it with a small Heating spell and bit into it, savoring the taste. " I'm so hungry," she remarked.
Hermione laughed. " It's nearly lunchtime."
Ginny sat down and grabbed a sausage. " I'd been awake since Draco came in." She's said this to avoid sounding off-topic for she then asked, " Did you know Draco went to the beach?"
" Oh, is that where he went?" Hermione's back was turned because she was washing the peaches. She noticed the disdain in Ginny's voice. " Why?"
Ginny peeled off the crust of her toast. " He shouldn't have gone."
" Why?" Hermione repeated. She took her wand and began to magically peel the soft pink skin of the fruit.
" He's taking advantage of our island, Hermione. That beach, this beautiful weather, these nice cottages and mountains – they were meant for us, not him! Not Death Eaters!" She finished taking off the last of the crust and dropped it on her crumb-filled plate. " This place is just too beautiful for people like him."
* * * * *
A/N: Wow. I actually wrote this chapter in one sitting from 1:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the morning (hey, when I write, I write). My eyes are really puffy as I type this, and I'm on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, but hey, I wrote a new chapter! WAIT! My computer has just warned me that due to Daylight Savings, it's 6:00 in the morning!! * collapses from lack of sleep * snooooooooore…
Thank you: AdaRen Shadow Angel, Steaming Teapot (I'd never kill Hermione, I love her character too much. I'm so flattered by your kind words!), Princess Evil, Kacella (death eaters and Italian facists are very different, so don't worry about me copying the book!), Melinda, Rubyjuls1722 (sorry…), vicsamky, critic, julie