Chapter 21: Separated
Ginny had been back at the Burrow for three weeks. Everyday, there were at least three owls waiting to give her mail from Draco. Over the weeks, the contents of the letters had changed, but not the meaning. Draco was not giving up on them.
He had told her that Professors Dumbledore and Snape were overseeing his training. He was now fully functional without a wand. The only spells he could not control without a wand were the unforgivables, which Dumbledore wanted to keep that way. The Ministry of Magic kept tabs on dark spells and their users by their wands and it was safer for Draco if he could not perform those spells without the wand.
Dumbledore had sent Remus Lupin and Sirius Black to train Ginny. Her wandless magic had already been phenomenal (Lupin was still talking about Lucius Malfoy flying across the room). Now, she was mainly concentrating on her heightened senses from Voldemort, such as creating her own protection wards and self-preservation charms. In fact, she had received almost all of Voldemort's knowledge in those areas and Dumbledore had visited twice to copy those memories to a pensieve. He had great hopes they would allow, if not help with, Voldemort's downfall.
Draco was suffering. He had changed for the better; Ginny had made sure of that. Without her, he was lost and dead.
Professors Dumbledore and Snape were working every evening on fine tuning all his powers. He was really quite amazing when he wanted to be. He could see pride in Snape's eyes and amazement in Dumbledore's, and THAT was saying something.
It had been three weeks since Ginny had left. Draco found himself walking up the staircase to Professor Dumbledore's office for his lesson, when he overheard Dumbledore and Snape discussing Ginny's lessons and some memories that Dumbledore had recently obtained from her.
"Albus, this could be the breakthrough we have needed to cause Voldemort's destruction." Snape said with joy.
"I have no doubt, Severus. I have already sent out letters to the Order's members to finalize a plan. I think our moment to take the offensive has come."
Draco heard the words "Voldemort's destruction" and his heartbeat quickened. Of course, he thought. If Voldemort was gone, Ginny and he could be together. At this, a plot began to take form in Draco's mind, a plot to destroy Voldemort.
Draco had spent the last two weeks deciphering every ward on Dumbledore's office to gain entrance. He needed, no, he had to see what was there that had allowed Snape and Dumbledore to believe that Voldemort could now be destroyed.
So after intense work, he now found himself in Dumbledore's office looking around. The walls were covered in paintings of past Headmasters and Headmistresses. All the painting's subjects followed Draco around the room. One brave picture asked Draco what he thought he was doing here without Professor Dumbledore.
"I am trying to find a recent addition to Dumbledore's office. Do you know of any new additions that Dumbledore may have showed to Snape?"
"I believe he is Professor Snape to you and your current actions will get you expelled. So, why would I help you?" The painting inquired.
"You know that Snape and Dumbledore have been privately training me to fine tune my powers so that I can defeat Voldemort. You can help me do that now rather than later. So, will you?"
"I believe what you are looking for will be found on the table behind Dumbledore's desk. Just there, that pink hat has been transfigured. It is actually a pensieve."
"Thank you."
Draco walked over to the table and waved his hand over the hat. He could sense the pensieve and the protective wards placed over it. He stopped and focused. With a sharp outward flick of his fingers, the hat was replaced by a pensieve.
Draco picked it up and muttered the spell to give him access. He felt the pull on his person and found himself in a dark, dank cavern with snakes all over the walls. He took a quick glance around the room and noticed Ginny, a young Tom Riddle and Harry Potter.
He took in the scene before him. Ginny was lying lifelessly on the floor, Harry was fighting the Hogwart's Basilisk and Riddle was laughing at Harry's latest folly.
Draco closed his eyes and felt the aura of those in the room. He found that he could feel the life force exchange between Ginny and Riddle. He got overly excited at this breakthrough and lost his connection to their auras.
He immediately controlled his emotions and focused on the matter at hand. He once again reconnected with Ginny and Riddle's auras, paying close attention to the exchange that was occurring.
All of sudden, the information that Draco needed flashed in front him like a difficult mathematical equation. It seemed that Riddle was using a compilation of protective wards to keep himself in this world. He was definitely using dark magic, some that could be traced back to the Ancient Egyptians and Samarians. Draco captured this information in his mind, closed his eyes and found himself in Dumbledore's office once again.
Dumbledore smiled to himself. He knew that Draco would make the right decision and he knew that Draco would be the one to end the reign of Voldemort. While Harry Potter had given everyone the promise of hope, Draco would show the world that hope was something to believe in.
He watched Draco return from the pensieve and walk out of his office. At this, Dumbledore removed his invisibility charm, sat in his old, leather chair and smiled.
Meanwhile, Draco was walking back to his Head Boy room. With Ginny out of Hogwart's (for now, his mind silently added), Hermione was living it up in the Head Girl's rooms. He was forced to deal with Ron, Harry and Hermione daily. As much as he loved his Ginny that was how much he still despised the Gryff Three. Ron took every opportunity to remind him that Ginny was gone because of him. Hermione took the other road and liked to pretend that Ginny just didn't exist. And to be honest, Draco was not sure which he hated more.
To make things even worse, Dumbledore had granted Ron, Hermione and Harry weekend passes to visit Ginny at the Burrow. Monday's were the worst for Draco. The trio spent the entire evening recounting their weekend with Ginny and watching Draco squirm. During those times, he wondered how Ginny could stand them.
Draco made it through the common room for the Head Boy and Girl and went straight to his room without engaging the annoying three. He sat down and thought about his next moves. He had to be methodical, practical and most of all accurate. There could be no failure.
He stayed up until late in the night working through the dark magic Voldemort was using to keep himself alive. At about three in the morning, Draco had worked all he could out. He had found the weakest link and knew how and when he had to make his move. He then pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote the first letter to Ginny in three weeks…
Ginny sighed.
They had just stopped. She had not had one in three weeks, not a one. Sure, she had gotten one from Dumbledore allowing Ron, Hermione and Harry to visit on the weekends, she had gotten one from Sirius explaining her latest lessons on protective wards from Ancient Egypt and one from Bill with a loving pick me up message; but she had gotten none from him, and she felt sick. Her stomach seemed to have a mind of its own. It hurt. She hurt. Did he not love her anymore? Had he just woken up one day and realized that it just was not worth the effort?
So, this is where Ginny found herself, guiltily, more worried about Draco's love for her (or lack thereof) than concentrating on Professor Lupin's treatise on protective wards and defenses against them.
She sighed again. She just wanted to be back at Hogwart's and the weekend visits from the Golden trio were actually becoming more detrimental than helpful. At first, they thought, in their self-centric world, that ignoring her questions of Draco and any reference to him would make her forget him. After a much heated row, especially with Ron, they now seemed to think that reporting every misstep he made would do the trick. Ugh! They were so annoying.
"Ginny?"
"Ginny!"
Ginny was brought from her thoughts by Professor Lupin.
"Ginny, are you ok? You seem really out of it today."
Ginny snorted at this. It seemed all was normal for everyone else. She had been "out of it" for three damn weeks. Typical, she was never noticed, why should she expect it to be any different just because her world was crumbling around her?
"Ginny?"
"Yes, I am okay- just thinking."
"He loves you."
"Huh? What?"
"I said that he loves you. He. Loves. You. Period."
Ginny smiled a genuine smile, the first in many weeks.
"What? I was young once too!"
Ginny laughed and grabbed Professor Lupin in a bear hug.
"Thank you"
"There is nothing to thank me for, it is the truth."
"True, but I still needed to hear it."
"So, can we get back to the stimulating topic of Ancient Defenses?"
"Of course." Ginny said with a giggle.
With that help from Professor Lupin, Ginny returned to her studies and got quite a lot accomplished that afternoon.
She was in the middle of practicing removing wards from Professor Lupin when there was a sharp tap at the window. It was Draco's black owl. Ginny ran to the window and let the owl in to the house. She quickly removed the letter and read.
"Ginny, my Love,
I know what I must do for us to be together. I have found your memories in the pensieve and have solved the riddle that is Tom Riddle. This time tomorrow, you will be in my arms. Know that I love you and I do this for us; without you, I am not whole.
Forever,
Draco"
"Oh no!" Ginny said before the tears began to fall.
"What is it, Ginny? What is wrong? Is Draco okay?"
"He's going after Voldemort. He says that he knows how to stop him and that this is the only way we can be together."
"We need to get to Hogwarts immediately."
Together, they ran to the fireplace, threw the floo powder and yelled, "Dumbledore's office!"