Chapter Seven: Surfacing Secrets
Draco stopped writing then looked behind him at Ginny. "Not now, Weasley." He sounded annoyed, then he returned to his studies.
Ginny's mouth dropped open. This boy was ready to physically torture her into saying what she was doing in the library earlier and now he acted as if she were merely going to tell him about the weather conditions outside. Ginny closed her mouth then walked right up to him.
"Excuse me, but I'm ready to tell now." Ginny looked down at Draco, but he paid no attention to her. "Look, I'm not just going to wait around for you to come around when you feel like it. I'm ready to tell you now…not ten minutes ago, and not later. Now." But he still wasn't paying attention to her. "Stop!" Ginny reached her hand towards his books and pushed them all off the table.
"What do you think you're doing?" Draco yelled, standing up.
"Getting your attention," Ginny said. "And by the looks of it I'd say I succeeded."
"Do you have a death wish or something?"
"I wouldn't play Quidditch if I didn't."
Draco looked at her incredulously. He had Ginny cringing in front of him earlier, and now here she was, ready to stand up to him. His lips formed a sort of smile as he stared at the firey red head.
"You are rather daring on the broom," Draco admitted, "But you always fall off."
"Only when stupid gits push me off."
"Look, Weasley, I don't have time right now." Draco began picking the books up and putting them on the table. "I have an essay due for Transfiguration, and McGonogall won't be as forgiving as she is to the Gryff's."
"Are you trying to say that you think it's unfair?" Ginny said. "Oh, so Snape favoring the Slytherins is ok."
"Weasley, get out of my hair!"
Ginny shot her eyes towards his hair involuntarily, and she saw Paco. His hair would always fall that way when he bent to pick her a bouquet. And the way the muscles in his arm tightened was just like Kye, so very athletic looking. Ginny closed her eyes shut, trying to wipe away the memories.
"Draco, you can do your work all you want, but I'm only going to tell you once, and right now is it." Ginny sat down across from Draco. He gave a heavy sigh, placed his quill down, then leaned back in his chair. "Ok, this is going to sound strange, but here it goes.
"Trelawney has this mirror that can show you your past lives and, well, I stole it." Ginny told the story of how she felt herself pulled into the mirror and waking up as someone else, though she didn't realize it until the mirror's affects faded. She told him of the past lives and the different men in them; those who loved her, and those who tore her away from love. She said that once she had come back she realized that she had been those people, that their feelings had been in her forever, but the mirror woke them up. She then said how she wanted to disprove what she knew to be true by researching it in the library, but the results came out positive.
"So what does this have to do with me?" Draco asked once she was finished.
Ginny looked down at her hands, "You were the one I loved."
"What was that? Speak up!" Draco demanded.
"You were the one I loved!" Ginny shouted, staring right at him. She could feel her cheeks turn red as she stood up and backed away from the table. "That's all…good night."
She began to walk away but she could hear the chair scraping on the floor, signifying that Draco had gotten up.
"That's all?" He said putting himself in front of her.
"Yeah."
"You tell me that we've, er, loved each other for centuries in different lives, and then you say 'that's all?' What if I don't believe you?"
"You don't have to, I don't care. I just wanted you to stop bugging me so I told you." Ginny by-stepped him.
"Wait." Draco grabbed her arm. "What if I do believe you?"
Ginny stopped, feeling the warmth of Draco's hand on her arm. She turned around and looked into his eyes. They were so unreadable.
"Where would that put us?"
Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."
"Well, I can see why my 'past lives' must have loved your 'past lives.' You either had wealth, fame or beauty. But seeing as fate robbed you of all three in this life, I think I'll pass and wait for the next." Draco let her arm go, then headed back to the table.
Ginny could feel the tears swell in her eyes and before she made a spectacle of herself she ran from the library and into the dark cold corridors of Hogwarts.
~*~*~
It was the day before the Winter Break and those students that were leaving Hogwarts were greatly anticipating getting home. Those who were staying were wondering what decorations would festoon the Great Hall this year. As many students chatted about what they were going to do for Christmas during breakfast, there was one seat empty.
Ginny absolutely refused to be in the same room with Malfoy. He had hurt her and she went crying to her dorm room. Lisa tried comforting Ginny, but Ginny just wanted to cry and let all the feelings out. Later that night Ginny had laid awake in bed, letting her thoughts engulf her. She wished she had never seen that stupid mirror, or that it had broken while she was transporting it to her room. She had once thought about letting Draco see it and go through the same memories she had, but thought against it. She didn't want Draco to like her…not any more.
"Draco isn't them," She said aloud. "Even if they were his past lives, he's not them…"
And so Ginny ate in her room and avoided Draco the whole day. But it seemed that he was avoiding her too because she hadn't seen him all day. They did have classes on the same floor and occasionally passed each other while on their way to another class, but today she hadn't seen him at all.
Finally the day ended. Most students celebrated by going outside and having a snow fight while those going home went up to their dorms and began packing. The crisp cool air caused Ginny's cheeks to turn rosy and her red hair was set off beautifully by the white snow around her. She joined in the snow fight, flinging a couple at Ron and Harry, then retreating behind Hermione. Lisa was making a snow angel with a boy from Hufflepuff, and life seemed good. Ginny hadn't thought about her past lives for the better part of two hours before it was time to head back to warm common rooms and drink hot cocoa.
"Hey, Gin, do you mind if I see the marks you got on your Potions essay?" Lisa asked as they neared the Gryffindor Tower.
"Sure, the scroll is—in…" Ginny stopped mid stepped, then slapped her palm against her forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." She yelled.
"Ginny, stop hitting yourself!" Lisa laughed, pulling Ginny's palm away from her forehead.
"I left the scroll on Snape's desk. Remember he asked to see me after class? I put the scroll down and listened to him berate me for using ink color other than black, then I left without picking up my essay." Ginny paused. "But I bet I can get it back. He'll probably be in the teacher's lounge and I'll ask him if he picked it up by chance."
"I don't know, Gin, that's risky business." Lisa said.
"There's probably more teachers in there and he can't act malicious in front of them…don't worry, I'll be safe."
Ginny left Lisa in front of the portrait of the fat lady and headed towards the teacher's lounge. She had been there once before when she had gotten detention in Snape's and was made to dust and scrub the walls. She probably knew that room better than any of the teachers did. When she arrived at the door she knocked before opening the door and peeking in. Professor Sinistra was sitting on a chair talking to little Professor Flitwick. She walked up to them meekly and asked if they had seen Professor Snape.
"No, Miss Weasley," Professor Sinistra said. "I think he's still in the dungeons, taking inventory for the Spring."
Ginny thanked her, then walked out. She walked towards the Potions class room, noticing how the further down she went the colder it got. She had to use her wand light to guide her when some of the torches went out because a large gust of wind came in through a crack in a window. Finally she reached the Potions class and she knocked timidly on the door before opening it. No one was in the class but a noise was coming from the store room, so Ginny walked towards the open door way and peered in. Professor Snape had a quill in one hand and a piece of parchment in the other and while he was looking at all his ingredients, he'd write down the names of those he needed to replenish.
Ginny cleared her throat, getting his attention. "Professor, sir, I was wondering if you have seen my Potions essay…I left it on your desk earlier."
Professor Snape eyed Ginny and then as if remembering something, he spoke, "Ah, yes, I found it a few minutes ago. It's still on the desk, though I've made some alterations in the grade."
Ginny was scared. She rushed to his desk and picked up the essay where her purple ink sparkled up at her and at the top of the page were two numbers, one being crossed out. The crossed out number read eight three points. The new number read seventy three with a small paragraph written next to it; "Points taken for being careless." Ginny heard malicious laughter coming from the store room, but she didn't want to stick around and argue about her grade. She headed out of the Potions class room, feeling dejected. That's when she heard the soft moaning.
The corridor was very dark and cold and not many class rooms were down in the dungeons. Ginny knew that the Slytherins had their common room down here some where, but she heard it was concealed behind a statue of Slytherin and there was no statue where she was. There was, however, a door that was partly open. Cautiously, Ginny walked towards the door and peeked in.
The first thing she noticed was a single barred window at the top of a very tall wall. The moon was shining down into the otherwise dark room, causing the only thing in the room to glow. Ginny squinted her eyes at the thing lying on the floor and jumped when she heard the moaning again. Registering that the thing was human, Ginny rushed towards the figure and fell to her knees by its side.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
The person was lying face down on the floor, but she knew it was a boy by his short hair and Hogwarts uniform. She lowered her hand to shake him by the arm and screamed when she felt something warm and sticky; blood. There was nasty gash on the persons arm and Ginny contemplated leaving the victim here to get Snape, or try and revive him herself. She turned the person over and cradled his head in her lap. Even in the moonlight his face was pale, and Ginny recognized him instantly; Draco Malfoy.
Ginny sighed deeply. She had to get over her feelings in order to think clearly. She had to save him from bleeding to death. She took her hair ribbon and tied it to his arm above the cut, then moving his head slightly, she began to take off her shirt, leaving her shivering in just a white tank top. She crumpled up the shirt and held it firmly over the wound, the shirt slowly soaking with his blood.
Draco's eyes slowly opened and he stared up at Ginny as if he couldn't see her clearly.
"Draco?" Ginny saw his eyes open. "What did you bloody do to yourself?"
Ginny could have been wrong, but she thought she saw him smile.
"Draco, do you know any healing spells? I need to get your wound to stop bleeding, but I don't know any spells."
Draco swallowed deeply, then opened his mouth to speak, but he words wouldn't come. He tried again and this time he muttered a word that was just barely audible. Ginny repeated the words, holding her wand towards the injured arm. She lifted the shirt and found that underneath the stain of blood, his wound had closed. Ginny still had his head in her lap and she was stroking his hair absentmindedly, thinking of how life would have been…should have been.
"I'm feeling better." Draco said and he began to sit up.
Ginny stood up with Draco.
"Um, thanks," Draco muttered, breaking the awkward silence.
"What were you doing?" Ginny asked with real concern in her voice.
"That's none of your business." It seemed Draco was feeling a lot better since he was back to his original self.
Before Ginny could ask any more impertinent questions, Draco left the room, leaving her behind. Ginny was really confused. She didn't understand that after all Draco had done to her; pushed her off her broom, caused her physical, as well as mental, pain, and brushed her off on many occasions; why she still loved him. She knew he felt something other than hate towards her as well. She could feel it.
Her eyes roamed around the room as if searching for the answer that would solve all her problems, when they landed on a book by the door she hadn't noticed before. Draco must have left it.
"Draco!" She yelled, but he was already long gone.
She walked towards the book and picked it up. Holding her wand light up to the cover, she read the title, "How To Become An Animagi; All About Finding Your corresponding Animal To Registering." Ginny wondered what Draco was doing with this, he was still an under aged wizard. Then it hit her.
"He's trying to become an illegal animagi!"