Gutterflower

"Tucked Away"



The sleeves of Draco's robes fell back when Draco clasped the necklace around Ginny's neck and Ginny noticed the faint pinkish white of freshly made scars lining down Draco's forearms. When he pulled back from her, he smoothed out the sleeves of his robes and picked up the bottle of butterbeer.


"What're those?" Ginny asked him, acknowledging the fact that she had seen the scars along his forearms. He stared at her for a few minutes, rather blankly, holding the bottle of butterbeer to his mouth.


"What's that?" he answered.


"Your forearms. What's wrong with them? What happened?" She grabbed Draco's hand and pulled his arm toward her, pushed back the sleeve, and pointed at the scars on his arms. Draco looked at them and then stared away. "Where did those come from? When did that happen? I don't remember ever seeing-"


"I don't think it honestly matters," muttered Draco, pulling back his arm. He pulled the sleeve back down to his hand and leaned back in his chair. "The fact is that I have them, and it happened a while ago."


"How long is a while?"


"Try… nearly a week."


Ginny nodded, looking away as well. How did someone reply to that? What was there to say? But, Ginny wondered, how did they get there? Her curiosity was beginning to grab a hold of her mind and shake whatever was inside of her to the point where she wanted to burst.


"How'd that happen, Draco? And be honest. I think I have the right to know. You owe me."


"I did it to myself, alright?"


Ginny's mouth fell open. "…What? You did that to yourself? But why?! That looks absolutely horrible, Draco… why would you do that?"


"Why do you think I did it, Ginny? Can't figure it out on your own?"


"Well, I-"


Ginny stared at him, watching him. She didn't know what to say. Did he do that because of her? Because of what he had done? So he actually felt remorse. That was a good sign, but the fact that he had inflicted such pain upon himself made Ginny's stomach twist into a hard knot. He shouldn't've…


At least, he should have waited and have let Ginny do it to him.


The thought of herself cutting up Draco's flesh made her squirm uneasily. She would never do that to Draco, no matter what the pale, blonde-haired boy did to her. It was inhumane, and she simply didn't have the stomach to handle such thoughts or actions.


Ginny put her hands on top of the scars and traced her fingers along them, feeling each individual scar with a deft movement of her fingers. They were slightly hard, but still tender with the appeal of fresh, new scars. Draco watched her face as she looked down and watched her fingers do the work.


He grabbed her hands in his and laced his fingers with hers. She looked up and stared into his eyes. Once Draco's eyes had been cold and hard, steely blue-gray, but there was no trace of those emotionless orbs left in Draco's face. Now, what had been evil had been replaced with a gentleness, caring, and boundless emotion. Ginny gave a weak smile.


"Does that mean that you forgive me, Virginia Weasley?"


She shook her head and looked back down at the table. "It means that I'm thinking about it, Draco. I can't promise anything else than that."


"Well… thinking is good." He squeezed her fingers with his. Ginny pulled her fingers out of his grasp and stood up. He looked at her with quizzical eyes. "Where're you going?"


Ginny fixed her robes and grabbed the bag containing the ones that Draco had just bought her. She smiled at him. "Thank you for the robes, but I think I should get home, now. Mum might be worrying about me, and-"


"If I recall," Draco said while rising to his full height, "you're of legal age, now, and you can stay out if you want…?"


She nodded. "That's true. I am legal age, and I can stay out if I want, but I've got my limits, now. What I did back then, those two odd months ago - well, that wasn't me. It was a mistake having go there, and what followed after was also a mistake that resulted in the creation of another life. From that, I've more than learned my lesson."


"Do you want me to apparate with you back home…? To make sure you're safe?"


"You see this necklace, Draco?" Ginny lifted the serpent necklace out of her robes and held it between her thumb and index finger. "This is you looking out for me. That's all that I need to be safe, I think."


He almost laughed. Of course he was watching out for her - as long as she wore that necklace. As long as Ginny wore that necklace, he would be able to care for her like he should have in the beginning. Surprisingly, Ginny kept the necklace on, and she hadn't resisted it being put on her.


Maybe she was touched by his concern.


Ginny tucked the necklace back into the front of her robes and took out her wand. She began walking to the door, and Draco came up behind her, walking as she walked out of the shop. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.


"Thanks for seeing me, Virginia. Like I said… I'll do anything to help make this up to you."


Ginny smiled and disapparated, leaving Draco standing in the middle of the street at Hogsmeade. He disapparated soon after, and appeared back in his bedroom chambers at Malfoy Manor.


*****



"Oh, Ginny! Those look wonderful… where on earth did you get them?" Mrs. Weasley watched her daughter walk down the flight of stairs into the kitchen of the Burrow, glancing at the new robes that Ginny had worn. She looked rather radiant with her hair done up in a knot at the back of her head, wearing dark, navy blue robes with silver trim and a pair of polished black shoes. Ginny gave her mum a smile.


"Bought them a few days ago - on my trip to Hogsmeade." She wasn't telling a lie - only, she was not telling the whole truth. She flashed her mum a smile. "Do I look nice?"


Mrs. Weasley put her hands on her hips. "Nice… Do you look nice? Well, of course not!" Ginny's face fell. "You look absolutely radiant!" Ginny gave another smile and hugged her mum.


The swelling in Ginny's stomach had receded, and all the pain that she felt physically disappeared. There was no longer a need to take the potions that had been forced onto her by healer Halibert, since she had fully recovered. The robes she wore were a pair that had been tight on her before, but now they fit more like they were supposed to - loose, but tight enough.


"Are you feeling alright enough to go out? Where are you going? Who're you going with?" Ginny's mum bombarded her with an array of questions. Ginny rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, looking much like her mother would've, had she been quite a few years younger.


"I'm going out, mum, and I'm going to be accompanied by a friend." Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth to shoot out another question, but before she could utter a word, Ginny hastily added, "And that's all you need to know. I'll be fine, I promise!"


Indeed, she would be fine. She was going out with Draco, and that enough was protection for her. He had grown into something much like a protective older brother, but with more ability to feel anything other than rage at other people, much like her brothers had done before him (well, so was the case with Ron, but the rest of them… Well, that was different, altogether.)


"Oh, well…" Mrs. Weasley grabbed ahold of her daughter's shoulders and gave her a small shake. "Be careful, alright? Don't do anything irrational, anything stupid…"


Her mother had been doing things like that since the incident that began two and a half months ago. Less than a month and a half ago, Ginny had lost that incident, but it still hurt Mrs. Weasley when she thought about it. She didn't want something such as that to happen again, for fear of Ginny's sanity and her own, as well.


"I know, mum. I've grown up a little since then."


Indeed, Ginny had. She flashed her mother a winning smile and disapparated out of the kitchen.


*****



Draco and Ginny met in Diagon Alley and Draco took Ginny to a fancy restaurant where he told her to choose anything she wanted - it didn't matter what. Ginny took him up on his offer, and ordered half of the menu, knowing full well that she wouldn't eat most of the things that she ordered - she simply wanted him to spend his money on worthless things. Draco grunted at the arrival of all the food that Ginny ordered. Persons working at the restaurant had to magic the table to be larger to hold all of the things she ordered. People sitting around looked at them curiously.


Ginny simply waved and smiled.


That, alone, made Draco feel a warm flush of emotions toward her. She spoke her mind and she held nothing back… She was caring and beautiful, and a wonderful, wonderful person with a beautiful soul (after all, she had nearly forgiven him for what had happened.) Virginia Weasley was simply the most wonderful person he had ever met, and he thought that he was beginning to fall into her.


He was quite sure that he had never felt this way with any other woman he had accompanied before. Then again, he had never had a reason to feel this way toward any other woman, before, too. He smiled inwardly at the thought. No, that would never happen again.


But he was sure that there was something special inside of him for Virginia Kathryn Weasley. Perhaps it was something more than he was actually capable of feeling, but he could feel anything if he put his mind to it. After all, he was not actually his father's son, in some way or another. He wasn't really a Malfoy at heart - not anymore. He was actually semi-human.


Draco picked at his food, taking small bites at random. He watched Ginny take dainty little bites out of whatever it was that she was eating, trying not to put her elbows on the table. Once in a while she slipped, and he noticed. He always noticed. He noticed every single move that she made.


Maybe it was just the fact that Draco was falling in love.


*****


Well I saw you once
Then I blew it for the next ten thousand days
Shoulda tucked away
I needed to go back and show you
I needed to go back, I know it's wrong
I'll have to get along
Mama just called and said she's tucked away
Mama just called and said she's tucked away another day
Her mama just called and said she's tucked away
Her mama just called and said she's extra sad today
Well I spent the whole day yesterday on clichés about love
Making me remember when your pushes became shoves
I wanted to go back and show you
I wanted to go back, I know it's wrong
I'll have to get along
Mama just called and said she's tucked away
Mama just called and said she's tucked away another day
Her mama just called and said she's tucked away
Her mama just called and said she's extra sad today
Now why'd you go and play my trust
Today's the same as yesterday
And I'm okay
I'll take a doctor's recommended time to get along
Since you've been gone
I'll get along oh any way at all
Mama just called and said she's tucked away
Mama just called and said she's tucked away another day
Her mama just called and said she's tucked away
Her mama just called and said she's extra sad today



A/N: I'm so honoured that I've received all of the reviews that I have. I would like to tell the lot of you about a new site that's another fanfiction based site, hosting Gundam Wing and Harry Potter fanfiction, allowing NC-17 fics. If you'd like to check it out, I'd be eternally grateful, as I'm posting some of my stories there as well. Look for me under 'EternalCorruption,' again. The url is:

Thanks to all those of you who check it out. It's just been made, so there's not so much on it just yet.

Reviews are awful nice… I sure do like reviews…

Also! There's only one more chapter after this one…! I hope you've all enjoyed Gutterflower. I know I've enjoyed writing it.