Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor any characters related to Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. Though it would be nice to own Draco Malfoy...*drool*
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Pain was coursing through her body. Every nerve seemed like it was on fire. Ginny had never had the Cruciatus Curse performed on her, but she was sure this was what it must feel like. Harry had told her once some of the horrible things He-Who-Must-Not-Still-Be-Named had done to him.
Through the hot burning pain in her left side, she could feel cool stone beneath her. With a soft cry of pain, she rolled onto her back. Slowly she forced her heavy lids open, giving herself time to adjust to the darkness. At first she was confused and disoriented. She had no clue where she was, not even a vague one. Then suddenly the onslaught of memories came rushing into her already aching head. Damius and his brother, torturing her, keeping her imprisoned in their dungeon. Through her blackening world, she had been able to hear Damius say that her absence from the world would bring Draco looking for her and that her tortured body would only add to his pleasure as he watched Draco's pain at seeing her.
"And then," Damius had added, his voice gleeful. "I will kill the bloody bastard and take revenge for my family."
Ginny was oblivious to time. To her it seemed that time did not pass here, but still she wondered how long she had been here. A day? A week? Maybe a month? But no matter the time, she felt that she had been here too long. Was Damius or his brother going to kill her? If so, her wretched mind thought, she hoped he did it soon so she could end her suffering.
Very slowly Ginny began to sit up. Every part of her body screamed in protest, but she ignored them. Her stubborness that mother nature had given her- or rather she had inherited it from Ron- forced her to ignore the weekness of her body and concentrate on what she wanted to accomplish. Once she had sat up, she sat panting, letting her body rest from the sharp pain.
She briefly closed her eyes, then opened them to look around. The light provided by the torch illuminated the dungeon. Ginny examined herself and closed her eyes again, suddenly feeling sick at the thought that flashed across her mind. The jeans and shirt that she had last remembered putting on were gone. Instead she had nothing else on- save her undergarments- except a black robe. That meant that Damius or his brother had undressed her. She had no memory of being undressed. She knew that she had blacked out too many times and for too long a time to remember much.
Ginny glanced at the tray of food sitting against the cell wall. She didn't trust the food, in fact every time that she had ate it, she never remembered what happened next. She knew that they put some kind of potion in it, but her body needed nourishment.
Her stomach growled and seemed to twist itself, demanding that she eat something before her body shut down on her. Ginny carefully got up, careful not to move her head too much. She swayed as she stood up and quickly grabbed the metal bars to stop herself from falling down. Ginny used the bars as her support as she walked over on to the other side of the cell where the tray of food was laying. She collapsed on the ground when she got there. She hungrily ate the food, forcing herself to eat slowly. She sat against the barred wall once she was done, feeling a little stronger.
She suddenly sat up straight when she heard the sound of shoes against stone. She turned her head around, and her heart began beating faster in panic. It was Damius's brother. Ginny quickly got up, forgetting her pain. Damius's brother walked to her cell, his face impassive. He opened the door and stepped inside, his wand held out in front of him.
He smiled and gave a mock bow. "It's nice to see you awake, Miss Weasley. You've been out for quite sometime."
Ginny felt an unexpected surge of anger at him. "You would see me awake much more often if you wouldn't put drugs in my food," she snapped.
He laughed softly. "I see that despite everything you've been through you still haven't lost your temper. On a happier note, you'll be happy to know that your husband is here."
Ginny gasped. No, he couldn't be here. It wasn't safe. He had to leave immediately. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to him.
"Oh yes." He checked his watch and said mildy, "I daresay his death is approaching us. I suppose you would want to watch him die before you die yourself as well?"
She backed away from him as he began approaching her. "Leave me alone!" she cried.
He pointed his wand at her. "Play any tricks and I'll kill you on the spot."
Ginny had no choice but to remain motionless as he got closer to her. If there was any chance that she could escape and save Draco, she would take it, and there was no chance of escaping if she didn't let him take her out of this cell. Besides, she had already begun to feel weak and dizzy again and didn't think she could fight him even if her life depended on it which, unfortunately, it did.
"You put something in the food," she murmured as her vision began to blur.
"Nothing escapes you, does it?" she couldn't see him, but his tone of voice suggested that he was smirking. "It's just a simple sleeping potion, but it's quite potent if you add some dragon scales, something I discovered when I was in school. But enough about my ingenuity. Damius will be impatient if we don't get everything set up for Draco soon."
Ginny's legs gave out on her and she felt herself hit the ground. She coughed as she breathed in the dust. Her eyes closed of their own volition as her world turned black again.
***
Draco tucked the hair band into the pocket of his robe, his mind whirling. Don't jump to conclusions, he told himself, trying to think calmly. You know that it could belong to any girl. Ginny's not the only one who has red hair. But even his rational thinking did nothing to abate the feeling of uneasiness in the pit of his stomach.
He ignored the feeling and tucked the hair band into the pocket of his robe. He knocked on the kitchen door and opened it after receiving no answer.
"Who's there?" Damius called.
"It's Draco," he replied.
"I'm in the sitting room."
Draco made his way to the sitting room. Damius was sitting behind his desk, the desktop littered with papers. He got up when Draco entered.
"Hi Draco," Damius smiled. He motioned for him to sit down and poured him a drink. Draco took a sip and felt the liquid burn its way down his throat. "I wasn't expecting you today. Did you come for any particular reason?"
Draco sighed. "You should sit down, Damius. It's going to be a long story."
Damius regarded Draco with a thoughtful expression on his face after Draco told him about how he thought Ginny was in trouble. They both remained silent for a few minutes before Damius decided to speak.
"I want to help you, Draco, but I don't know how to. I don't have the ability to pinpoint her location," he frowned. "Let's go to the library, perhaps one of the books will have something on locating someone."
Draco nodded and followed him into the library. He watched as Damius scanned through the shelves of books, pulling one out every so often. Draco waited while Damius opened the books, looked through them, and then closed them. He sighed as he turned to look at Draco.
"I can't find anything," he seemed frustrated.
Draco gave him a small smile. "Don't worry about it. We'll just rely on the old muggle way of following the clues."
Damius shook his head and then brightened up. "I remember there was a book about some complex spells and potions. I remember reading it earlier today. I was doing research on a sleeping potion. If I can only remember where I put it..." he trailed off, deep in thought. "Oh, I remember now. It's in the sitting room on the table. Would you mind getting it?"
Draco went out of the library and stopped in front of the front sitting room doors. He turned the knob and pushed the door open. The room was dark, and Draco had to pull out his wand to light his way. He glanced at where the windows were and realized that the blinds weren't open. Shrugging he went to the table and shined his light on it, searching for the book. He spotted it and grabbed it. As he turned to leave, he spotted something that was much darker than its surrounding. He cautiously walked toward it, holding his wand out in front of him. Draco nearly dropped his wand when he saw what it was. It was a slumped over figure, its hand bound behind a chair, and from what Draco could tell, its legs were also tied to the chair. But what shocked him the most and made his heart stop was the shock of long red hair.
The book fell from his hand as he froze. Then his body suddenly carried him over to Ginny. He knelt down in front of her and gently lifted up her head. He smoothed back her hair. Her face was abnormally pale, and her eyes were closed. He clenched his teeth in anger when he saw that she was gagged.
"Oh Ginny," he whispered as he took out the gag. He quickly cut the ropes that were holding her to the chair. Her arms fell limply to her side. Damn you Damius, he thought. Unmeasured amounts of rage flooded his body, making him see red. Why the fuck did you do this for? I'll kill you, you son of a bitch. Draco didn't know how many curse words he knew until then. He knelt down and picked Ginny up in his arms. He flinched and his heart tore when he realized how light she was. He could feel her bones through her robes. He turned toward the door and froze when he saw a figure standing in front of it.
"Going somewhere, Malfoy?" the unfamiliar voice asked.
"Who the hell are you?" Draco snapped. Draco couldn't see his face because of the dark room. "Show me your face, you coward." Draco heard the man mutter some words and the blinds suddenly opened, flooding the room with brilliant sunlight. At first Draco thought it was Damius, but after looking at him for a while, Draco knew that it was not Damius.
"So I finally get to meet the infamous Draco Malfoy," the man sneered.
"Tell me who you are," Draco demanded.
"Does Anton Flemming ring a bell?"
"No."
Anton smiled. "Yes, well I wouldn't expect it to. Damius doesn't talk much about me. You see, I'm like a secret brother. Only really close friends with the family know that I exist."
"So why should I care?"
"Well, Damius wants to get back at the Malfoys for what your family did to Evette. But I'm just here to kill you for the hell of it," he grinned.
Draco was puzzled. "Evette?"
Anton sighed. "Yes. My far off grandmother or something," he shrugged. "I don't exactly know, or do I care. Damius is the one with the plot for revenge. He can tell you about it," Anton looked behind him. "Oh look, here he comes."
A few seconds later, Damius joined Anton in the doorway. He spotted Draco and glanced at Ginny who was still unconscious in his arms. He smirked and looked into Draco's eyes.
"I see you've found your girlfriend. She's been here for almost two weeks and when she's not unconscious, she's quite a hot tempered girl," he paused and stared at Draco. "I've been waiting for this moment for years. I've come up with thousands of plans on how to kill you, but none of them appealed to me. I thought I'd never come up with the perfect plan," he nodded at Ginny, "until she came along. She's had quite the effect on you."
"All those times we were alone together, why didn't you kill me then?" Draco asked.
"Your mother always knew where you were. If I killed you then, I would've been sent to Azkaban on charge of murder since I was the only one who was with you. Plus, what's the fun of killing you if I don't cause you some pain first? The hard part was I didn't know your weakness. Ever since we were children you never showed a fear for anyone or anything. I never saw you cry either. You never showed any signs of emotion. You were bloody hopeless and I was getting impatient. I wanted to make you suffer over the death of someone you loved like my family did for Evette. My first thought was your mother, but even she didn't seem to matter much to you. Just when I was about to give up and just kill you, Ginny came into your life. You couldn't imagine how much joy I felt. I just needed to wait a little longer."
"Wait for what?" Draco said coldly, his silver eyes flashing.
"Wait for you to get more attached to her, to fall more deeply in love with her so it would hurt you more to watch her die," a crazed smile crossed his face.
"If you kill both me and her, you'll still be sent to Azkaban for murder," Draco said.
He shook his head. "I know that you did not tell your mum where you were going, nor does anyone else know where you are. I could simply kill you and easily dispose of your body. Sure there will be investigations, but no one will suspect me. Anton here is quite the genius at covering his tracks"
"Kill me but let her go," Draco said.
Damius chuckled and shook his head again. "I can't do that, Draco. I need to kill you both so people will think that you two ran off together. That would be a plausible theory since most people were against your marriage anyway."
Draco was kept from replying as his attention turned to Ginny who was beginning to stir in his arms. He glanced up at Damius and Anton who were still standing in the doorway and looking at him. He wanted to lay her down, but he was afraid that Damius and Anton would attack him. But he knelt down anyway, carefully laying Ginny on the floor, resting her head on his lap. She started to whimper.
"Shh," he hushed her, stroking her hair. He kept an eye on the two brothers, his wand in his hand. "It's OK Ginny. I'm here."
Draco knew he would neve forget the look in her eyes when she opened them. They were so full of fear. The light that was once in her eyes was gone, and they were now dull and seemed lifeless.
"Draco?" she whispered.
Draco momentarily closed his eyes so he wouldn't drown in her eyes that were so full of misery. "Yes Ginny, it's me. I'm here."
She spoke so softly that Draco had to bend down to hear her. "Are they gone?"
"No, but I won't let them hurt you," Draco glared with pure hatred at the two brothers who were watching them intently.
Ginny looked to where Draco was looking and gasped. "Draco, you have to get out of here! They're going to kill you, and oh God, it will be all my fault." She dissolved into uncontrollable tears.
He pulled her closer and tried to calm her down, looking warily every now and then at Damius and Anton. "It's all right, Ginny. They're not going to hurt either of us."
She did not seem to hear him as she still continued to sob. Her body racked with the force of her tears as Draco clenched his teeth to hold back his own grief. He couldn't imagine the hell she must've gone through. She brought her hands up to her face and continued to cry. With a strangled sound, Draco hugged her to him. He wished that Damius and Anton wouldn't stand there and look at Ginny and him as if they were cheap entertainment.
"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny," he whispered softly. "Please stop crying. After we get out of this house, I'm going to take you back to the Islands, all right? Then we're going to forget all about this. We'll stay there as long as you like. Remember the ocean? Remember our hike and how I fell into that puddle of mud? Do you?"
Ginny's sobs slowly subsided as she lowered her hands to look at him. "Yes," she replied, her voice shaky.
"Do you want to go back there?"
Ginny gulped, glanced at Damius and Anton, and back to Draco. "Yes."
"All right, we'll go back there." He carefully helped Ginny to her feet, his wand still clutched in his hand. He was getting her out of here no matter what. Even if he had to blow a hole in the wall to get her safely out of here, then so be it. Slowly they made their way to the door, Draco careful to help Ginny walk and watch Damius and Anton at the same time. As they neared the door, Draco could see the two brothers stiffen in unison. Draco stopped about ten feet away from them.
"Let us go," he commanded.
"Don't be an idiot. You think we're simply going to let you go after all that we've been through to plan this whole thing?" Damius said. "Oh no. We're going to make sure that we kill you both."
Draco was not able to dodge the streak of red light that suddenly flew past Damius and right at him. It hit him on his right arm, the arm that held his hand. Sudden bursts of sharp pain made his hand loosen its grip on his wand. He heard the muffled thud as it fell to the carpeted floor. He clenched his teeth to keep from crying out in pain.
"Draco!" Ginny cried, a horrified expression on her face.
He roughly pushed her aside as another red streak rushed out of Anton's wand and headed straight for the arm that was supporting Ginny. The same astonishing pain rushed through his arm. Through his pain he heard Ginny give a startled cry as she fell to the floor. He knew that it would take a miracle to bring both brothers down. Draco looked around the floor in search of his wand. He spotted it near a chair and made a dive for it. Before he could reach it, he heard Damius cry, "Accio wand." The wand flew from Draco's reach, rose into the air, and straight into Damius's expectant hand.
"We can't have you with a wand now, can we?" he grinned down at him. Draco quickly got up on his feet again, aware of the dull throb in his arms. "You really should watch your girlfriend," Damius said.
Draco looked over to where Ginny was and saw Anton's arm pressed against her throat, his wand pointed at her. Draco took a step toward her, but was stopped by Damius's threat. "Take one more step and Anton will kill her."
Draco stopped and looked at him. "Why are you doing this?"
Damius sighed, as if he was going to do something that was not worth his time. "Family history, Malfoy. Remember Evette and Elios? Well your family murdered her. It's just about time I revenge her death. After all, she was forced into a marriage by Elios."
"That was a long time ago, and nobody in my family murdered her. It was one of her jealous suitors," Draco snapped.
A look of disgust crossed Damius's features. "You Malfoys were always good at lying. But no matter how long ago it was, some wounds never heal unless you have the right medicine to heal it. And my killing you and Ginny is just the right medicine."
"Enough with the chit-chat," Anton interrupted him. "Let's kill them and get it over with."
"Patience Anton," Damius said calmly. "You'll have your fun soon enough."
"Forget it, Damius. I've waited long enough. Silgerius Monious."
Draco instinctively threw himself on the floor, but suddenly realized that the spell had not been aimed at him. He cringed as he heard Ginny scream out in pure agony. With lightning speed he got to his feet and ran for Anton who had let go of Ginny, now on the floor, her body convulsed in spasms of pain. He tackled Anton to the ground, sending his wand flying into the air. Draco did not know where it landed, nor did he care. His main goal was to punch the living daylight out of this bastard. He watched as his fists connected time after time with Anton's face. Draco suddenly felt himself flipped through the air and suddenly found himself on his back, Anton on top of him and punching him. He winced as Anton delivered an especially hard blow to his jaw. He felt something warm trickle down his mouth. Again they both flipped over, Draco now on top of Anton. Draco felt every punch that Anton gave him and repaid him back for every punch.
~*~*
Ginny forced herself to get up off the floor. Her aching body protested, but she paid no attention to it. The curse that Anton had thrown at her had practically shut her body down. The pain was incomparable to the torture that she had been submitted to since she had come to this place. If the Cruciatus Curse was the worst pain-causing curse there was, Ginny was sure the Silgerius Monious took a close second.
Through her dizziness she saw Damius move closer to Draco and Anton who were fighting on the floor, wands forgotten. Ginny walked over to him, an anger that she thought she could never feel, welling up inside her. She saw him point his wand at Draco, another wand grasped in his other hand. Her movement drew his attention to her. His blue eyes seemed cold and empty as he stared at her.
"Don't you dare," Ginny said quietly, stopping in front of him.
He sneered. "Don't worry, you'll be joining him."
With a cry of rage, Ginny jumped on him. They both tumbled to the floor. Ginny winced as she felt the sharp jab of a wand. She cursed her hair as it fell in her face and covered her clear view of Damius, who was struggling violently to aim his wand at her. She felt his elbow in her right eye. Immediately it began to water, and she could no longer see out of it. Through her left eye she fought to grab one of the wands from him. He was so much stronger than her, but she was quicker than he was. She grabbed a wand with a cry of triumph which quickly turned into a gasp as all the air escaped her. Damus had punched her in her stomach. She quickly got up and away from him, breathing deeply to drag air into her lungs. She pointed her wand at him.
"I swear I'll kill you," she panted.
He smiled at her. "I was not aware that you were a murderer, Ginny. I don't think you have the guts to do an Unforgivable Curse. I must say your poor, pathetic family would be quite sad if they found out that you were thrown into Azkaban. But you know if you kill me, Draco will die too."
"What are you talking about?"
"If you utter even one curse, Anton will kill him."
"Not if he can't hear me. Interum," blue fire rushed out of the wand Ginny had and raced toward Damius. It followed him as he jumped to the side to dodge it and engulfed him. Ginny covered her ears from his shrieks of pain. She watched as he fell to the floor and wreathed in pain. His skin seemed to absorb the flames as it slowly disappeared. He laid there on the floor, facedown, gasping for breath.
"You bitch," she barely heard him say.
"I can be as much an asshole as you can," she snapped, keeping an eye on his wand hand. "You've pissed me off enough that I wouldn't hesitate to curse you with every curse I know."
He smirked from the ground. "Never knew you could be like Draco."
The mention of Draco reminded Ginny that he was still on the ground, fighting with Anton. She did not dare look at them, knowing that Damius would attack her the moment she turned her eyes away from him. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me." She realized that Damius was not listening to her, but staring past her toward Draco and Anton. She heard loud grunts from both of them.
Unable to resist, Ginny looked back too and realized her mistake as she heard Damius cry, "Expelliarmus."
Her wand was ripped from her grasp as she flew back and hit the wall with a sickening thud. Her head hit the wall, resulting in an instant headache. She slumped to the floor, falling face forward, seeing white spots. She breathed, taking in the scent of the carpet. She looked up and saw Damius walking up to Draco and Anton who were oblivious to his presence. She knew what he was going to do with the wand that he was pointing at them. She jumped up and ran in front of Draco as Damius cried, "Crucio."
All Ginny could do was scream. Her nerves felt like they were on fire and every part of her body seemed to be pierced with thin sharp knives. Her head ached so much she longed for it to explode. What felt like an hour later, the pain subsided enough so that Ginny could open her eyes and think.
"Ginny!" she heard Draco call before she heard him gasp.
"Idiot," Anton said.
Ginny slowly got up from the floor, using a nearby couch to help her. She saw Draco double up as Anton brought his knee up to Draco's stomach. Blood was dripping from Draco's mouth and dripped to the floor. Damius was muttering curses that sent light green sparks at Draco who flinched and bit his lip every time.
"Stop it!" Ginny screamed.
Anton turned his attention to her. "Shut it, wench. Crucio."
Ginny again felt the unimaginable pain, only it felt worse since she still felt the pain from the last curse. Once the pain was gone, she found herself on the floor again. Shakily she got up. Draco was on the floor, struggling to get back up on his feet. Anton and Damius had moved back away from him. Ginny rushed as fast as she could to him, kneeling on the floor beside him.
He looked up at her with weary eyes. "I'm sorry, Ginny."
"For what?" she asked softly, brushing some of his hair off of his bloody forehead.
"For putting you through all of this. If it weren't for me, you'd be home, safe, with your idiot brothers. But instead, you're here, suffering under the Cruciatus Curse and everything else that I can't even imagine. Your family and just about everybody else was right. We weren't meant to be together. Just by thinking about you I put you in danger. And now you're going to get killed because of me," he sneered at himself. "Spoiled, rotten Draco. Always having to have his way, no matter what the costs. Well look at the costs now. Everything Potter or your brother has said about me is true. I am nothing but a worthless git."
Ginny panicked. Things were hopeless. She had thought that by Draco being here that everything would be all right, until now. She had never heard Draco put himself down before, let alone agree with anything Harry or Ron said about him, so things were worse than they appeared. If that were the case then, Ginny gulped, then Draco and her were sure to die. But she wanted to be strong for him. Agreeing with him would just make him more depressed and feel like a failure.
"Don't ever talk like that again," Ginny said fiercely, her eyes burning. "If you ever say that again about yourself, Draco, I swear I'll slap you. Is that how you're going to let Damius and Anton win, by giving up? The Draco I fell in love with never gives up, and trust me, I should know. We're going to get out of here, Draco. You promised me that we could go back to the Islands again. It's bad to break a promise to the person who loves you," the words left her mouth before she could stop herself, but it did not matter. There was a fifty-fifty chance that she was going to die, and before she did, she needed to let him know that she loved him. But she certainly did not want him to know that she was afraid that they weren't going to get out of here alive.
He grinned at her. "You always had bad timing, Weasley, confessing your love for me while I have more pressing matters to worry about. How am I suppose to pick you up and kiss you now, when I can't even move my arms?"
"There's always tomorrow," she whispered. She leaned down and met his lips gently with hers. She could taste his blood. She trailed her lips across his cheek to his ear, and pretended to kiss it. "There's two of us and there's two of them. I'll get Damius, and you can get Anton. I would never be able to do anything with Anton since he is taller and stronger than Damius. I'll create a distraction, and you give that asshole all the injuries you can. Get his wand away from him, and if I can't get Damius down, feel free to help me after you stun Anton."
He nibbled on her ear. "You're crazy," he whispered back, his breath tickling her ear.
"I hang around you too much," she replied, pulling away from him.
"Run Ginny," Draco said quietly. "I love you too much to watch you die. Go!" Anyone would think that he was serious, but Ginny saw a subtle sign of the tiniest of smiles on his lips. She knew that he was just saying that to fool Damius and Anton.
Ginny turned and ran toward the doorway, dodging Damius's and Anton's curses. She heard two pairs of footsteps behind her. She was careful to zigzag to keep from getting hit. She was almost to the door when she heard a heavy thud. She turned around and ran as fast as she could at Damius who had paused as his brother once again fought with Draco. Ginny threw her weight on him, catching him by surprise and throwing him to the floor. She went down with him, trying to grab the two wands out of his hands. Damius grunted and kicked her in the stomach. Ginny couldn't breathe, but didn't stop fighting him. She caught one of his arms and held tight. She sank her teeth into it, hearing him yelp. His grip loosened on the wand. Ginny immediately grabbed it out of his hand just as she heard, through her heavy breathing and Damius's grunts, Draco cry out, "Petrificus Totalus."
Damius kicked her with both of his legs, sending her flying backward into a shelf of books. The books fell on her as she lay on the ground. Damn walls and shelves. I crash into them everytime he sends me flying, a small part of her mind thought, unwilling to accept the danger that she was in. She closed her fists and realized with horror that she did not hold a wand.
"One word and she's dead," she heard Damius say. "Drop the wand."
~*~*
Draco threw Anton's wand toward Damius's feet. Damius did not bother to pick it up, but instead stepped on it. Draco watched helplessly as Ginny stood up, casually smoothing her hair back from her face and dusting off her robe, giving Damius a radiant smile. Draco's mind balked at the fact that she could be so playful despite all the danger she was in.
"I daresay you could try sending me into a couch or something. Those walls and shelves are really getting boring to crash into," she said.
Draco could tell by Damius's wide eyes that he was surprised too, but his wand still remained pointed at Ginny.
She rubbed her stomach. "I'm hungry. You got any food? I'm in the mood for a good sandwich."
"What the fu-" Damius trailed off. Ginny simply grinned at him. There was a moment of silence, then Damius's eyes flashed. "Of course! The book," he stared at the scattered books on the floor.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "A book, eh? Yes, you have quite a few of them," she looked down at the floor. "You're very careless. Throwing people into bookshelves and upsetting the books and not straightening them up again."
"What have you done to her?" Draco demanded, not able to keep the puzzlement out of his voice.
"I didn't do anything to her!" Damius snapped. "One of those books makes a person's worries and fears disappear when it's opened."
"Why the hell would you get something like that?" Draco asked.
"It was my mum's. She used it to relief herself once in a while of worries. I've forgotten about it."
As Damius looked thoughtfully at the books on the floor, Draco looked at Ginny. She was grinning foolishly at him, then to his amazement, she tilted her head ever so slightly to indicate the door. It took Draco a few moments to realize that she was buying time so he could escape. He shook his head furiously. He was not leaving here without her. He knew that she was seething with anger at him, though her face did not betray her feelings.
She stared at him, pointed to herself then him, and held up three fingers. Draco understood perfectly what she was trying to say. She mouthed, "Three, two, one," and they both bolted to the door.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Draco saw a flash of green light and saw Ginny fall to the floor. His blood turned cold. "No!" he bellowed. He changed his course and charged at Damius. He stopped within an inch of Damius's wand. "What the fuck have you done?!" Draco yelled.
"The bitch got what she deserved," Damius said coldly.
Draco ducked down and swung his leg, knocking Damius off his foot. "You fucking bastard!" he cried as he grabbed Damius's wand and threw it behind him. Draco then proceeded to punch his face. He felt Damius's punch all over his body, but ignored it. He was beyond rage. Ginny. Dead. His life was gone. He had missed her even when she was alive and away from him for half a year. Now he would be away from her until the day he died. He was panting and could barely raise his fists anymore to punch Damius. He stopped completely and realized that Damius was not moving. He grabbed the wand and muttered a stunning spell that drained more of his strength.
Draco got up and slowly walked over to Ginny's lifeless body. He fell to his knees, turning Ginny onto her back. Her eyes were closed, and her whole face was paper white, interrupted by bruises here and there. He gathered her in his arms, flinching as he felt her cold skin. He gently smoothed back her hair, supporting her head to keep it from flopping back. Never had he felt such pain and sorrow. His heart felt like it was about to crack and shatter into a million pieces, never to be mended again. But some part of him that needed hope to survive wanted one last try.
"Ginny, you silly red-head," he whispered. "Get up so we can go back to the islands like I promised," her eyes remained closed. "You said it was bad to break a promise to the one that loves me," he buried his face in her hair. "So don't let me break it." Never in his life had he felt such heartache. He didn't know how long he sat there clutching her. His body felt battered and useless. But it was in excellent condition compared to how he felt inside. He got up, feeling dead inside. He glanced at the window and saw that the sun was getting ready to set. He picked up Ginny's still body. He knew that he needed to bring her back to her family, but he would not stick around to witness their sorrow. Draco knew he would break if they accused him of being the reason for her death. He vainly tried to swallow the lump in his throat. They were right, he was the reason for Ginny's death.
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There! Finally! This took me a month to get this chapter done! Hopefully I'll get the next one out sooner! super-sailor-saturn39