Chapter 7
By Crystal
*Screw the disclaimers ^^;;*
~*~ Draco ~*~
"Oh, shit." I cleared my throat while the three of them looked at me, shocked. "Er... Ignore what I just said."
"Yes, Malfoy. I'm going to ignore what you just said after you told us Gin coughed out blood. Think again." Potter said sarcastically.
The mudblood cleared her throat and looked at me, "What's the illness? There might be a cure for it."
"Granger, I've searched the whole library and I haven't found a single cure. What makes you think you'll find one?" I said, growling. Thank god Weasley wasn't here, or I'll start cussing so much they'll have trouble hearing anything the next morning.
"Well, it might be a muggle illness and since this school's library doesn't have such a big muggle section... I thought maybe I'd know about it, after all, I am a mudblood." She said, spitting out the last word.
She did have a point, after all, the book I saw the illness in was a muggle book and it was, after all, dated back in the 1800's... So maybe... If I asked Granger, there might be a cure after all. I glanced at Virginia and saw her eyes filled with hope. I sighed, "All right, you got your point Granger. I don't remember the whole name. But it starts with Tuber... Tuber something."
"Tuberculosis." Granger corrected.
I nodded, "Something like that."
I saw Potter and Virginia look at them hopeful and I kept my own face emotionless. Afraid that she would say it wasn't curable, but it didn't help much. I just didn't show emotions on my face, but inside, I was just as eager to know if there was a cure or not.
"Tuberculosis is easily cured these days, I think. And it has a cure rate of 98% if you keep taking medicine. There are four kinds of treatment for it. It's rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrizinamide and ethambutol. There is a kind of Tuberculosis that is immune to all the treatments, but it's really rare and usually only shows up in third-world countries, so you'll probably be able to be cured." Granger finished. I couldn't help but sigh in relief. Granger and Potter seemed to be more relaxed too.
"Thanks Granger, we should go see Madam Pomfrey now though. Virginia's been coughing more blood and it'll be better if she goes now." Granger nodded her head and I looked at Virginia, ready to see her jumping up and down with joy. Although, I see her confused look and a bit of fear in her eyes. "Virginia?" I asked, worried.
She looks up at me, "Umm... I just want to take a shower before I go to Madam Pomfrey's. Be here in half an hour."
"We have dinner then, Gin." Granger reminded.
"I'll... I'll go there tomorrow then, I don't feel to well right now." She said.
I frowned, there was certainly something wrong with Virginia. "Virginia, how about we skip our after dinner activities and go to Madam Pomfrey's?"
She shook her head furiously, "No, tomorrow before dinner. I'll go then. I'll meet the three of you down in the Great Hall later. Taking a shower." Without a single word, she left, her face pale and me worried. God damn it, Virginia... What is wrong with you? Shouldn't you be happy now that we found a cure for you?
"Malfoy..." I turn my head to Granger, "Go up and see her, I won't tell on you, though don't tell anyone I let you up there." Potter was about to protest, but Granger held up her hand, silencing him. I nodded a thank you, then climbed up the stairs to her room, Rory silently following behind me.
I turned around one last time, "Granger, Potter. Don't tell Weasley yet. I think Virginia would like to tell him herself." Then I turned around and resumed to what I was doing before.
~*~ Ginny ~*~
I stepped into the shower. The water was warm, making me calm a bit. I was suppose to be happy, I really was. But what if I got the one kind that was resistant to the drugs, then what would happen?
Having hope for a minute then snatched away the next was terrible. I was feeling that way right now. I know, Hermione said that it was rare, but I couldn't help but think of it. I could have that for all we know. Usually, I wouldn't really be thinking about something this rare, but I couldn't help but think that the day when I met Erica, she had told me that she had just done some volunteer work with her mother and skipped a year of school. She had done volunteer work in some third-world countries.
If that wasn't enough, then there was the fact that she went to see Madam Pomfrey ever since she thought she had Tuberculosis. But she had told me there was no cure. Was it because she had the one with the resistant to antidote? What if she had, then it was passed on to me.
Life wasn't fair... And if it was one with resistant, then I would die soon, and I would infect others that were always around me. That would include Draco... Maybe Hermione, Ron and Harry. Maybe not, since they're not so close to be. But definitely Draco. I don't want him to die either... So am I suppose to leave him because I don't want him hurt? What about myself then? Do I have to spend the rest of my life miserable by myself and lonely?
Life hates me, I swear. Nobody ever paid attention to me until this year. And then, I find out I have an illness that might not be curable. God damn it all. I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me and cast a drying charm on my hair. I opened the door to my dormitory to find Draco on my bed, looking at me.
"Hey," he said quietly, "What wrong?" He stood up and once again wrapped his arms around my waist. Aurora was asleep, curled comfortably near the window.
"I don't know, Draco... I just don't know..." I sniffed, and he turned me around, my head buried in his chest.
Draco was rocking me back and forth, it was so comfortable to be in his arms. I loved him... "Now what don't you know, Virginia?"
"What will happen if I get the illness that isn't curable, what happens then? And if it isn't curable, then I should stay away from you. Anyone near me is in danger, you know that, Draco. That's how I got it first, it's because I got infected by Erica. What if I infect you then? Then you won't get cured and you'll die... And it'll all be my fault."
He didn't stop rocking me, "Well, then, I'll die with you. And what makes you think you're going to get the rare one? You might be a unique girl, but it isn't that easy getting a unique illness either."
His arms around me were so warm and comforting, it's not a wonder why I fell for him, he was nice, sweet, handsome and serious at times, a really good person to talk to and someone that could make everything much better. "Did you know that Erica went to a third-world country to volunteer? It wouldn't be so hard for her to catch one that was resistant to drugs. And why didn't she get cured immediately? She went to Madam Pomfrey's once she found out she had Tuberculosis, which was an year ago. Why didn't she get cured? She would've gotten cured if it was curable." I said quietly to Draco.
"So what if it isn't curable?" He asked easily, as if we were just discussing the weather.
"Then I'd die, and infect you too and you'd die too."
I felt him shrug indifferently, "I'd miss you if you died, Virginia, but I don't really care if I die when you're not in the world anymore. There's nothing in this world for me if you aren't here." I looked up at him, silently asking why. What about his family? "It's dinner time soon, I'll tell you another time, how about that?"
I shook my head, "We can skip dinner and listen to your story. Then we can just get something from the kitchens and sneak off to the piano."
He bent down and kissed me gently again, "All right, if that's what you want, Virginia."
"That's exactly what I want, Draco." He nodded understandingly and sat down on my bed with his back against the wall, I sat down beside him with my head on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around me. The sun was already setting and all I could see was a bit of orange of the sun. Soon, the sky would grow dark and night would fall. "So, care to tell me your story?"
"How do you feel around your siblings? How do you think they think of you?" He asked.
I looked at him, confused at why he was asking me these questions, but answered anyways, "I feel annoyed because they're always so over-protective of me and they never know what I feel. They think they do know everything though. But I think they think of me as their annoying little sister, annoying because I bother them when they have friends over. Like Ron and Harry... And they treat me like a baby."
I saw him smile, "I used to think like that about Aurora. I thought she was annoying, but that was before my father killed her. After that, I regret not knowing her that well and think of her as annoying."
"Why'd your father kill her?" I asked, knowing he felt pain about the whole topic, but I was curious and I wanted to know about him more. All I knew about his family was that they were a major supporter of Tom... Or Voldermort. I'm not really that scared of saying his name, after all, I've seen him face to face for quite a few times.
"When I was four, my mother got pregnant again. My father was proud, of course, thinking that it was going to be his second boy. Mother didn't care at all that much. She never cared much for us. The house elves cared for us more than our parents did. So when Father found out it was a daughter, he was enraged. When she was one and I was six, she would get beaten up sometimes, but I would always try and help her, which ends up getting the two of us beaten up. For that, I was annoyed at her. Although I did know she loved me a lot."
"She said she loved me a lot ever since she knew how to talk, and that was when she was one and a half. I helped her as much as I can, Mother didn't care that much, like I've said before. She only cares about herself. Well, I usually got beaten up most, since I was the one trying to protect her. I kind of grew to like her, but annoyed at her nonetheless because she was always getting me beaten up and I got annoyed at her because she would always get Father pissed off. Later would I learn that she never did anything wrong, but it was only because she was born a girl. You can imagine how pissed I was when I learned that, but after that one time, I never talked to Father about Aurora again. It was painful, that I know."
"Anyways, one day, Father, for some reason ordered me to go to Diagon Alley to get a wand with my mother and told me I would be learning Dark Arts. So we did, I did think that something was going on. I know I was only around seven or eight at the time, but I was really smart. Comes with being beaten up everyday if you did just a single thing wrong and if you showed any emotions or weaknesses. Anyways, the surprise I got when I got home was... Terrible." I felt Draco shudder beside me, and suddenly, I didn't think I want to hear about it anymore. Draco Malfoy visibly showing fear was something you didn't see everyday.
I held on to him tight, "Draco, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I said quietly, to be truthful, I don't think I wanted to know either.
"I want you to know this..." He took a breath of fresh air, "As I opened the door to my room... I saw Aurora, on my bed. Bleeding and tortured, her eyes were staring back at me, lifeless. She was dying, not dead yet, and she told me one last thing, she told me she loved me..."
I felt my blood boil. Lucius Malfoy would do that to his own son? Kill his sister and put her on his bed so he could watch her die painfully? What kind of fucked up father did that? I looked up to the man I loved, his eyes held pain, but no other emotions were visible, nor were there tears.
"Father later told me, when I was around nine, that he killed Aurora because she was a girl and because she was bringing my weakness out of me. From then on, I would never call Lucius my father, unless someone knew of this story. And that only someone is sitting beside me, comforting me." He looked down at me and brushed my tears away. There in his eyes, was love... For me. I brought my head up and kissed him on his lips, knowing how hard it was to tell me this, but he did anyways, and I'm damn proud of him.
Devonny Stratton – Depressing, I know. Darn it, I'm getting all teary writing this. *sniffles*
Princess of evil – Well, personally, I don't really like the Dream Team. Funny thing is, I usually hate the main characters in stories/books/games/movies, but I like the 'evil' characters. ^^ I feel sorry for them, lol.
GoldenRed Phoenixia – There you go! Puppy's lying on the floor and there's the story of Aurora. It's probably not that well written and Draco's probably a bit too indifferent about it, but he's trying to hide his sadness by being indifferent to it. Can't blame him, after all, he's been raised this way by his father for years. A little mention of Aurora will come later.
some dude – More coming! I might even update everyday until the holidays are over. By that time, I'm probably done the story, lol. Anyways, have fun with your gamecube!
Silver Unicorn – Well, the Dream Team doesn't die... That is if I don't change the story. They'll know their mistakes in the end, though it doesn't change anything much. Well, it's sad, then it's happy. So it depends which way you look at it.
KeeperOfTheMoon – Interesting indeed. I'm killing my brains thinking of how Ron will react to it. Help anyone?
Sharlene – Burn in hell Harry bloody Potter is right ^^ *grins* Anyways, thanks!
Jin Munku-JGSPTV - *huggles Jin again* Hopefully, you won't mind me calling you Jin ^^. Anyways, it's updated now, so yeah!
Author's Notes: From now on, mention's of Draco's father will not be 'Father', but Lucius when Ginny's around. But when any other person's around, he will call him 'Father' again. I might've made that mistake a bit earlier. All ideas and comments are welcome. No flames please. Thanks and email me at clear_crystalglobe@hotmail.com if there are any questions or if you want to leave any ideas for endings, next chapters or scenes for me. Thanks!