Chapter Two
It had finally happened.
The moment that they had been anticipating all along had come. Much too soon in her opinion. She hoped that he shared her sentiments on the subject.
She had always told herself that it was temporary. A mistake of her youth to be later written off as a hormonal breach of insanity. But now that it was over she found that she couldn't. She had violated the code that had always separated them. She had confused her heart with her curiosity and now she felt as if death could be no worse.
Gone were the late night talks over coffee. Gone were the stolen kisses that had come to mean everything to her. Gone was her entire world. All that remained was pain.
They had been found out, and torn apart. She could remember it so vividly; she could pinpoint their exact mistake. She had wanted more and he had remained in contentment.
She had fallen in love with him and she hated herself and her heart for wanting something that could never be. Her mind told her to let it go, there was no fixing their broken relationship…but she couldn't.
So here she was, risking everything that she had ever held dear to her for him, the one that she had always hated. He was hurt and he needed her even if she was the only one who could see it.
With her determination driving her Ginny walked swiftly through the battlefield in an unwavering manner; nothing was going to stop her from getting to him. He was close to death now; she could feel it in her very soul that had come to be so tangled with his.
After searching without result for a few minutes that seemed like an eternity she stopped. There, lying in front of her was a pathetic, bloody version of her love. If he had fought for the right side he wouldn't be like this…
She pushed the thoughts out of her mind, screw the separation of sides, it didn't matter anymore. The only thing that mattered was he, and he wouldn't be around to matter if she didn't help him.
She knelt down beside him and tried desperately to capture the unemotional look that she had so often seen reflected off of him. She would not cry, there would be no breaking down in front of him. Tears would only arise bitter disappointment in him and she refused to be the one disappointing him.
His now dull gray eyes turned and acknowledged her with a cynical amusement. He should have known that she would come to him in his last moments. It would only serve as a justified punishment for him to have to remain with her in his time of death after all he had put her through. He had lied to her…that shouldn't bother him but he couldn't suppress his newfound conscience any longer. She loved him, he knew she did. And strangely enough, he was pretty sure he loved her too. Love was a double-edged sword that he refused to fall into the trickery of; so he had left. The coward's way out always proved to be the easier one.
To stay with her would have been his downfall. Although it seemed as though his downfall was inevitable as he was on his back on a battlefield unable to move without provoking more pain and blood. She could have made him happy, but he wouldn't let her. It was temporary, it was always supposed to be temporary…so why did it hurt him more than his fatal wounds that it was over?
"Draco," she said in a wavering voice that threatened to spill over her unwanted tears.
He opened his mouth but discovered a surprising amount of pain awaiting him upon his intended speech. Suffering through the blinding pain he whispered hoarsely, "why are you here?"
She bit her lip while he waited in a patience that he never used to have. "I love you," she said in an almost regretful voice. "I just thought you should know."
He said nothing; it wasn't worth the pain to make excuses to her about why he couldn't love her.
She bordered between crying until she collapsed from exhaustion and leaving pretending that she didn't care. She wished she didn't. He lay on his deathbed seemingly unaffected by her declaration of love and she was just so…tired. Tired of having a one-sided relationship with him. If he didn't love her, then she would at least attempt to not love him.
Ginny made a move to leave but she felt an icy hand grab a weak hold on hers. "Don't go," he whispered almost too softly for her to hear.
"I don't have a reason to stay," she choked out, her tears winning their battle.
And she didn't have a reason, or at least none that she could think of. She stayed anyhow though, stayed for his reasons rather than her own. She had come knowing that he needed her; she couldn't leave if she wanted to.
For once she saw through his cold exterior. She saw past his defense mechanisms of cruelty and intolerance and saw him. She loved the man she saw, the strong man that preserved his strength even in his weakest moment. The boy hidden beneath that man that had never known kindness. The man that loved her in return, even if he would never be able to say it to her.
He gave an involuntary gasp, it wasn't far away now. She held on to him as if this would keep him with her. It didn't.
She remained at his side until he was gone, and even then she couldn't go. He had a hold on her that would prosper through anything and anyone. Her tear-streaked face looked across the threshold of death and she did the only thing she could do.
She joined him.