A/N: I hoped you liked the last chapter, it was slightly difficult to write. I hope this chapter keeps you on your feet, because you won't believe what's going to happen. Eekity eek.
Disclaimer: Wait… why am I writing a disclaimer again?
Dumbledore's twinkling eyes settled on Ginny as she ended her story. The only part she had left out was when Draco killed his father, which made it seem as if Lucius had suddenly vanished. Dumbledore looked at her with what seemed like pity, then spoke calmly.
"Miss Weasley, I am sorry for your unfortunate crossing with Lucius, but right now the Ministry of Magic is trying to sort out what has happened to him," he said.
Ginny and Draco both swallowed, looking apprehensive. The only things heard were Fawkes ruffling his wings, and Blanc still talking to the painting ("Je m'occupe réellement de Beauxbatons, mais je suis ici sous la présidence de ces deux se reposant…").
"It seems to the Ministry that Lucius has completely disappeared," Dumbledore continued. "Somehow, when the Ministry arrived at the Manor, all they found were house elves."
Draco suddenly looked confused and turned whiter than usual.
"What about…?"
"Heidi Pembrose?" Dumbledore interrupted. Draco flushed. "Yes, she has disappeared as well. The Ministry believe that she ran off hours ago after all of you had left."
Ginny looked over at Draco, who was sitting in his chair, at a loss for words.
"She can't be dangerous," Ginny reassured him. "You did the Memory Charm, remember?"
Draco didn't find this reassuring in the slightest.
"Still," Draco said. "If… if Voldemort gets a hold of her, he can just as easily bring her memory back."
There was silence as Blanc laughed loudly ("Vous êtes si drôle!").
"You do have the correct assumption, Mister Malfoy," said Dumbledore lightly. "But Miss Pembrose is no use to Lord Voldemort… unless she has forbidden information…?"
Draco and Ginny shook their heads.
"No, sir," they said together.
"Well then," Dumbledore said, standing up slowly. Draco and Ginny followed this, and Blanc suddenly stopped talking as she looked over at them all. "Mister Malfoy, lunch has passed in your stay here, so you shall eat in my office."
Dumbledore flicked his wand and on his desk appeared a plate toppled with chicken, mashed potatoes, two rolls, and a goblet of pumpkin juice at the side.
"Miss Weasley, we must get you to the Hospital Wing immediately –"
"Professor, please, may I eat with Draco? I haven't eaten much in days…"
Dumbledore closed his eyes and nodded.
"Of course, Miss Weasley," he said, and he gave another flick of his wand. He turned to both Ginny and Draco.
"I will have to escort Miss du Gris to the entrance hall and contact Madame Maxime," Dumbledore told them seriously. "Heaven knows what she has gotten herself into. Wait in here until I come back."
They silently nodded and watched Dumbledore and Blanc exit the office.
&&&&&&&&&&
Harry had had enough of this nonsense. Enough of it. Ginny had changed. In Harry's eyes, she had changed too much. Ron obviously hadn't noticed it, being as daft as Ron was, and Harry felt as if Hermione was refusing to meddle the situation.
Ginny had come back that day, bruises on her arms, probably scared out of her wits, Harry thought, and when he had tried to comfort her, that damn Malfoy ruined it. He ruined their connection. Whatever that connection was, Harry didn't know.
He sped down the corridors, making his way toward Dumbledore's office. He knew the password; he had been in the Headmaster's office earlier that day discussing Ginny's disappearance.
Suddenly, making Harry immediately halt where he was, there were voices coming down the corridor to where's Dumbledore's office bore entrance. Harry quickly stuffed himself into a small space in the wall where a statue of Hestia
the Headless stood. The voices came closer.
"You are Dumblydore?" said a voice that sounded vaguely recognizable. "I have heard about you, but cannot remember… ah, yes, you are Headmaster of 'Ogwarts, am I correct?"
"Correct you are, Miss du Gris," Dumbledore's voice said, still as withered as ever. Harry knitted his eyebrows in bewilderment. Blanc du Gris? Hadn't she gone missing too? It was all too confusing to bear. Harry listened intently for more.
"Yes, I am a bit out of it," said Blanc. She laughed. "But I am sure Madame Maxime will tell me what is going on."
"She shall," said Dumbledore croakily. "Come, Blanc, we must travel to the Great Hall and inform Professor McGonagall about all of this. I doubt that she will be happy."
Blanc laughed again in a bewildered sort of way and Harry made sure the corridor was clear as he crept out of his hiding place.
"Acid Pop," he hastily said to the statue, and it leapt to the side. Harry quickly climbed up the stone steps to the office, as quietly as he could, and pressed his ear against the door, listening hard.
&&&&&&&&&&
Draco hadn't touched his food at all as Ginny feasted on her chicken. He seemed to be in deep thought. Dumbledore and Blanc had left only minutes ago. Suddenly, he spoke.
"Where do you think Heidi ran off to?" he said rather quietly.
Ginny stopped eating and looked up at him, setting down her chicken and licking her lips.
"I have no idea," she muttered. "Maybe she tried to find her way back to Hogwarts? Or would she not even know what Hogwarts was?"
"She wouldn't know," Draco said. "God, I wouldn't mind giving Potter a little memory blank. He's so… interfering."
"You shouldn't be so hard on him, Draco," said Ginny, taking a bite out of one of her rolls. "Harry cares a lot for me, why does that bother you so much?"
"Why doesn't it bother you, eh?" said Draco. Ginny glared at him.
"Oh, stop it," she said forcefully. "Don't go saying I'm crushing on Harry. Out of all people I thought you'd be the one to know I've been over him for this long." Ginny paused for a moment. "I just like him as a friend, that's all."
"That's all, is it?"
Draco got up from his chair and started pacing around, looking furious. Ginny seemed skeptical at his sudden behavior.
"I know he's a git, and he's a bit reckless, and yes, a bastard of an eavesdropper too, but you shouldn't rise to conclusions!" she yelled. "I hated Harry, you know that, but now we're… I guess… okay."
"Okay?" Draco said, chuckling. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
Ginny sank back into her chair and sighed in anger.
"I don't know."
She then looked back up at Draco, who had stopped pacing and was staring at her.
"Does that make you feel better? I don't know what Harry and I are anymore, we just… are."
"That doesn't even make any sense," said Draco with an awkward laugh. He sat back down and took Ginny by the hands. She looked as if she could cry.
"I'm sorry," Draco told her. "But Potter isn't a saint, alright? Even he has flaws, and if he'd admit them I probably wouldn't hate him so much."
Ginny let out a stifled snort as though she thought this to be funny, taking her hands away and folding her arms.
"Harry has more flaws than you know," she said. "In fact, I'm surprised I ever even liked that stupid prat…"
"What's this all about, Ginny?" Draco interrupted, a confused expression on his face. "I mean, when we served our first detention you made it sound like you wanted Potter to be chopped into pieces, and then you two were friends, and now you're saying you hate him again?"
Ginny stared at him.
"I never said I hated him," she muttered. "And anyway, shouldn't that make you happy? That I detest Harry as much as you?"
Draco didn't answer at once. He sat back down in his chair and twiddled with a strange object on Dumbledore's desk casually before turning to Ginny.
"It would have made me happy before," he told her quietly. "It's just… it feels weird, you know? I remember you when I was in 2nd year – you were always so twitchy around Potter, like you couldn't do anything around him without feeling embarrassed. You've changed."
Ginny huffed.
"Draco, I was eleven. Do you expect me to stay the same for five years and be a meek little girl for the rest of my life?" she said sharply.
"I suppose not," Draco said as he helped himself to a roll.
&&&&&&&&&&
Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard. He wasn't angry that Draco and Ginny were together, he wasn't angry that Ginny hated him, and he wasn't angry that his right cheek was starting to numb from the stiff door.
The only reason Harry was angry was because their whole conversation had been about him.
He was a git. He was reckless. And he was an eavesdropper. That assessment basically summed up Ginny's feeling of him.
He had never felt more humiliated in his life, and he was alone. All alone, pressing his ear to Dumbledore's office door, desperate to hear just a little more, just so he could burst in and inform them that while they talked about how much they loathed him, he'd been listening the entire time…
Harry froze. Footsteps were coming up the stairs, very light and quick. He wished hopelessly that he had brought his Invisibility Cloak with him, and saw that a space of nothingness was right next to him, as though waiting for him to hide. The only way that someone would see him was if they looked behind their back.
Cat-like, Harry backed into the nook as far as possible and saw the outline of someone very familiar… someone with very bushy brown hair….
It was Hermione.
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A/N: Sorry for another short chapter, but - dun dunnn… what's going to happen? Ah, I dunno. We'll see. I'm thinking of ending this story in four different ways:
a) Another person dying and grief spreading all over, then writing a sequel avenging that person's death
b) Ending it with complete shock, but being happy altogether and writing a sequel with Voldemort, since he's planning to kidnap Draco and all….
c) Ending it completely happy with no sequel at all, or
d) Having the end with a person dying, no sequel, and my reviewers throwing rotten bananas at me for such a crappy ending.
All right, strike that last one. Please tell me which one you would prefer: a, b, or c. Or… d. If you really want. Hah. I'm out.
REVIEW!!!
-goob-