Freedom - A Remus/Ginny Cookie


The pain was excruciating. It covered her skin with a thick grimy feel of physical torture, made her bones creak and wreaked havoc upon her soul. Ginny wasn't strong enough to fight off the curse; she knew it, and didn't try to fight. Letting the Imperius take over her body, the one coming from the thin, long, elegant fingers, the pale skin, the pale eyes, the pale hair, she followed the instructions given to her.

Forced into standing, she walked across the large, dimly bedroom to a set of wooden doors, set with twelve glass panes in four neat rows, three across. There were sheer curtains in the way, and Ginny could not see out of them, but she was sure that they led to a balcony. Her captor commanded her to open them, and open them she did. Thank God, she thought, he can't control my mind. In her head, Ginny did not think of the fears she felt- oncoming death, the physical strain on her body, the idea that her mental health was slowly deteriorating to nothing. No, she felt none of it.

She thought only of her one true love, a man now dead and gone, killed in cold blood before her own eyes. He had been stabbed, she remembered, quite thoroughly, then subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, and finally, finished off with a lycanthe. A haunting memory, it was. Light gray eyes, serious even in laughter... a strong face with a squared jaw, high cheekbones, and the softest lips she could imagine... Tawny brown hair, flecked with gray that had become more prominent as the years past, a physique unike any other, with the smooth, taut muscle and strength of an animal, the swift movements of a wolf. Remus Lupin, Ginny's lover. A grin flitted across her face at the last memory she had of Remus before his death.

It had been at his flat; he had been sitting in the bathtub, covered in bubbles, slowly scrubbing his skin, and when she had walked in, a slow, lazy smile had overcome his lips. His sleep-hooded eyes had brightened just the tiniest bit with a hint of mischief and humor, he had stopped scrubbing his arm and had just stared at her, with a look upon his face that clearly said, why are you still wearing clothes and not sitting in this bathtub with me?

Ginny had silently taken off all her clothes, slowly, knowing that although Remus was not an impatient sort of man, she was easily teasing him by taking as long as possible on purpose. After sliding into the bathtub, Ginny didn't even remember how it had drained, how she had ended up in his bed, tousled and pink with a soft afterglow upon her cheeks. It just had been. And now her captor knew, from her contented look, that she did have happy memories.

The man forced her forward, made her throw open the doors with such force that they nearly bounced back off of the outer stone wall, shattering a few panes of the glass. The balcony was simple, it had a cold and hard granite flooring, with intracately wrought iron handrails. A wooden bench was placed along one side, a potted plant in the opposite corner. And straight ahead, on the other side of the iron rail, open air. Five stories up, ten metres of air, and nothing but, before death. It could nearly be considered suicide, if only the subjects were not under a curse.

Ginny took a step forward of her own accord, hearing Remus's last dying words, strangled and gasping for the energy to speak them. I... love... you... It had been so soft that not another person but her had heard it, and Ginny couldn't even be sure that he had spoken aloud.

Hearing a soft, rumbling laugh that sounded nearly like her own Remus's, Ginny turned to her left, and saw, out of the corner of her eye, a flitting image of his face. She heard his laugh again, this time from the right, and swirled around in a desperate attempt to see who laughed in such a manner. But there was no one in the darkenss, save her and her keeper.

Love, I miss you desperately. Ginny jumped, startled to hear Remus's sweet tenor voice in her mind. But... how could she? even if she was psychic, would she be able to hear him? He was dead. And never coming back.

I need you, Ginny, the voice told her, becoming slightly desperate. And then she realized what was happening. She had lost it. She was completely, and utterly mad. Ginny let out a soft laugh, let it grow louder, until she was near shrieking with the sound of her insanity. She was screaming in such a manner, she didn't hear her keeper scream a curse at her, didn't realize what he was doing until it was too late- the pain once again pounded into her back, propelling her forward, towards the iron rail. She shook and shuddered with the force of the blow, with the agony, with the wrenching pain, until she was nearly writhing on the ground, doubled over and tearing.

And then, with one final burst of energy, Ginny broke free once more from the curse, and jumped over the railing, perched on the edge of the stone, waiting for her captor to curse her again, to curse her into falling off of the balcony. But the curse didn't come.

Don't, love. Remus's voice pleaded with her. You can make it. Ginny squeezed her eyes shut.

"I don't want to," she muttered. "I love you." And those single words uttered from her lips were enough to anger the keeper, making him fling the Cruciatus upon Ginny once again.

The strength of the blow was too much, and Ginny felt herself falling. She opened her eyes, and saw Remus's form standing before her in the air. His eyes were welcoming, his body.. she could nearly touch it, but she was sure it was warm and inviting...

And Ginny, at last, was able to smile.

She was home, at last, with her Remus.

She was free, at last, in death.

***