Title: The Myth of Innocence
Author: Catalina Royce
Disclaimer: These stories are based on characters and situations created
and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books,
Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made
and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Rating: R
"Well," Virginia said as she snapped the book closed, "that was a complete waste of time." She looked at Draco's prone form, lying in his bed with his arm slung over his face. He merely grunted and ignored her, muttering vaguely about please turning the lights out now. She grinned and doused the bedside light. She'd spent most of the day reading the book; had just finished, in fact, and had been perfectly correct in her prediction of what would happen to the girl. She had died, had had her life stolen away from her. A deep pity settled in Virginia's heart. The girl had seemed so real, near the end.
Of course, the last word had been out of place, disturbing, eerie. Aeternus. Eternal. But perhaps it was just a mistake.
Or even a dedication.
Virginia sighed and lay down beside Draco, her arm draping over his bare stomach. Without opening his eyes, he hugged her closer to him, his fingers instinctively finding her face. She kissed his fingers as they passed over her lips and...
Jerked as a sudden blinding headache attacked her mind with all the force of the Cruciatus Curse. Her hands grabbed at her temples, feeling sure that the pressure was going to make her head explode. She could hear yelling, and in the distant background, screaming. She was going to die. No one could stand this much pain. She was going to die, and Ginny would die with her.
Virginia slumped over, eyes closing. A second later her eyes sprung open – she knew exactly what had happened. She looked in panic towards Draco, whispered three words to him, and passed out.
"Is she okay?"
Draco sighed, running his hand through his hair. It was mussed and ruffled; he'd been repeating the action throughout the day. "I don't know Blaise." Virginia still hadn't woken up, hadn't even stirred. She was as pale as death, and her breathing was shallow. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he was scared sick for her. She had to pull through. She just had to. The fates wouldn't be so cruel as to give him someone he loved and then take her away so quickly. At least he hoped they wouldn't.
Blaise sat beside Draco in the hospital wing. They both looked sombre, unsure as to whether their friend would survive. They were both desperate. No one had a clue what was wrong with her, not even Madame Pomfrey, and Draco couldn't help but think perhaps it was something to do with, well...Ginny.
The name had become a name to fear for him. If Ginny decided that she wanted her body back, she could do it. She could oust Virginia – Virginia had said so – and Ginny could take Virginia away with no thought for the people that loved Virginia.
The silence in the hospital wing was absolute, but for a clock on the far wall. It's steady tick, tick was as maddening as water dripping. Draco wondered how families could stand it. Perhaps they just had too much on their mind.
She looked so alone there. The hospital ward had been 'redone' recently, although the difference was barely noticeable, except for the panel of 'sick blue sea' colour that ran around the bottom half of the room. It was the same colour that hospitals the world over loved to use; a calming, depressing sort of colour that was universally recognised as 'hospital colours.' The colours only served to emphasis Virginia's frailty, though. She was so small in that bed, her pales skin being swallowed up by the sterile pillows. The only colour in her was her fire-bright Weasley hair.
The hair he had once condemned. The family he had once thought he was too good for, before he fell in love with their daughter.
Blaise looked over her, then tucked the blankets into her side, clapping Draco into the shoulder. "I have to go to Potions, explain to Snape." He looked over the girl he loved like a sister. When he looked back at Draco, there was a dread fear in his eyes. "She'll be okay, Draco. This is our girl we're talking about."
Our girl, Draco thought. Our girl with a head of fire and eyes like steel. And another girl inside her mind who could destroy her. He didn't say anything. Just sat and waited.
So this was her mind. This swirl of white and raspberry, the streaks of midnight and the spots of red. This is what her mind looked like to the outside – or was it inside? – forces. This was the battlefield of Virginia and Ginny...and now of the newcomer. The enemy. The one who was forcing her way into their mind exactly the same way Virginia had done to Ginny all those years ago.
Now Virginia understood the pain Ginny had gone through.
Who are you? Virginia cried out against the pain. She had to defeat this enemy. But even if she did, it could take her years to find the path back to consciousness. This was her unconsciousness. This was coma.
There was no answer, just a great expanding power. Virginia gave in, feeling her soul fuse with this one. I love you, Draco. She thought, sliding ever deeper into mental unconsciousness.
"Where is he?" Ron bellowed, his face bright red with rage. He was so furious, so upset that Draco almost felt sorry for him as he stood up.
"You wanted something, Weasley?"
"What the hell have you done to my sister, Malfoy?"
Draco looked over at Virginia, still lying prone in the bed, still looking as pale as death. "I've done nothing, Weasley." Perhaps I could have done more to help her? Maybe if I hadn't let her protect Ginny...maybe if I were quicker to react, rather than just staring in surprise? She was so young. She didn't deserve to die.
"Then why is she lying in a hospital bed, looking like she's going to cark it any minute?" Ron's eyes were blue, nothing like Virginia's. They didn't seem to be anything but shocked. Draco wondered how worried Ronald Weasley was beneath the façade. Draco just sat down again, not even taking the bait. He was too worried.
After a minute of bluster, Ron sat too, his face drawn. He was directly opposite Draco. They said nothing for hours, merely maintaining their vigil. Potter and the Mudblood came in and then left quite a few times, and Blaise hovered as often as he could afford.
They were two enemies brought together by the pain of a loved one. Neither of them spoke to the other.
It was Draco who broke the silence. "She's going to be alright, you know, Weasley."
Ron nodded. "I know. She always wanted to go out with a bang. And she's strong."
Draco licked his lips. "I love her." The confession was a husky appeal for the brother to understand.
"So do I."
The silence between the two boys was intense, unbroken. But no more needed to be said. The air was clear.
She awoke with a great gasp, like a drowning man finally reaching the surface. Ron and Draco shot up from their sitting positions, immediately hovering over her in concern. She looked around in confusion, then closed her eyes, holding her hand to her head. Ron called for Madame Pomfrey, while Draco looked her over, trying to see if she was really all right.
He'd been so worried. She looked fine. But what if there was brain damage? What if she wasn't okay?
Virginia's health already seemed to be coming back. She licked her lips, pushed her hair back with a shaky hand, and the colour rushed back to her face. She took a deep breath and looked around at the room, seeming not to recognise her surroundings. Her eyes focussed on Draco. "Water," she croaked.
He hurried to fulfil the request. A satisfied expression settled on her face and she lay back against the pillows. Draco brought back a glass of water, holding it while she drank. Her eyes were darting about, searching for something as she drank greedily from the cup.
Her eyes landed on something and her face lit up in what seemed to be sheer pleasure. Frowning, feeling almost jealous of that thing (and realising Ron looked the same), Draco turned to look at what she was staring at. Blaise entered the room, his black hair looking slightly windswept, his face alight with joy as he saw Virginia sitting up in bed. He hurried over, leant down and hugged her tightly. "We were so worried," he said, including Ron and Draco in his statement.
Virginia smiled at him, hugged him back, then leant up and kissed him softly. Her eyes had drifted shut, and, though Blaise had recoiled in horror, he set her back against her pillows with the utmost care. She sighed, whispered, "Tom," and fell asleep.
In those seconds, Draco's worst fear was confirmed.
"I'm sorry, Draco," Blaise whispered for the thousandth time that hour. "I don't know what got into her." Blaise looked at his hands. "I don't think she even remembered us. She called me "Tom"".
Draco took a deep breath. "I know it's not your fault. I...she has a sort of...disease." He licked his lips and tried not to think about it. A great lump of lead had settled in his stomach since Virginia had woken a few hours ago. He knew that whatever happened, it wouldn't be good.
Something had happened with Tom Riddle while she was unconscious. He wouldn't put it past Riddle to do something that would destroy his victim's mind after a few years. That was the only explanation. Virginia had done nothing abnormal that day. She'd gotten up, went to school, came back, read for a while, then was attacked.
Could you be attacked by someone from within your mind? The question left him scared. What if someone tried to break into his mind? He definitely needed to find someone to teach members of his group Occlumency...it was, after all, about guarding your mind, not just your thoughts.
"What do you mean, she has a disease?"
"It's hard to explain, Blaise." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to recall exactly what Virginia had said. "In Virginia's first year, she was given a diary by...my father," Draco spat out. Only Blaise knew exactly how much Draco hated his father. That hate had saved his neck at times; Voldemort didn't look past the cloud of hate in his mind to discover the reason for it. He just assumed that it was against Mudbloods. "The diary used to belong to Tom Riddle...who is now known as Lord Voldemort. The diary was animated and it...possessed Ginny Weasley." This was where it got tricky. "Ginny got sent to St. Mungos, and while there...Virginia surfaced."
Blaise's shocked face was evidence that he wasn't explaining properly. Draco hurried to continue. "There are two souls in the body of the Weasley. There's Ginny Weasley, and Virginia. Recently, Ginny became...dormant, while Virginia – our girl – became dominant. That's around the time we became friends."
Blaise stared at him in horror. "So by Tom, she thought I was Voldemort?"
Draco sighed and shook his head. Apparently, that was exactly what he was saying. There was no other plausible explanation, was there?
Author's Notes: 10 points to the person who guesses where I'm going with this! I actually have this all plotted out, so you can all guess. Some of you might already know, though, so...perhaps we shouldn't spoil the plot? Ah well. Anyway, I'm just going to use this chapter to plug a few of my things. First of all is my Lily-James 6 Chaptered romance that was written for a challenge. It's called Two Sided Coin, and I think it's a good read. I had a lot of fun writing it, at least. Secondly, is my Harry Potter fanfiction site, Niffler, which can be found at www.niffler.blogspot.com. And last but not least is my site Bitter Sweet, which is an original fiction hosting site. You can find that at www.tastethebittersweet.tk. So please check them out, because I do put work into these as well as writing and I'd like to get some feedback.
Thanks to my wonder-beta, Nicole, for finding the time to beta this for me. She's been incredibly busy lately, so it's brilliant of her to find the time to beta for me! The next chapter shouldn't be long, however, I'm busy, Nicole's busy, and I have an incredible toothache which threatens to put me out of action for a while, so the previous 1 chapter per week rule probably won't apply, sorry.