Chapter 16- Ginny the Damsel
Can you say writers block?! Well I can and I have been saying it loudly and repetitively to myself over the last couple of weeks! Sorry there are no replies for this chapter, I just wanted to get it up as soon as possible. Next time I promise :)
Disclaimer: I hate this chapter but I don't hate JK's chapters. Figure it out from there.
Draco raced through the forest pushing tree limbs hurriedly aside, ignoring the scratches he gained from the overhanging twigs and wrenching his legs free of the sucking power of the wet leaves beneath him. The exercise made his heart pump loudly in his throat or at least he thought it was the exercise but images of Ginny lying hurt or being attacked by the evil Esmerelda kept flashing through his mind and his jaw kept clenching tighter and tighter.
He was heedless of the dangers of the forest. 'Let them try anything.' He thought grimly, 'just let them try.' It seemed as if his anger and determination had got through to the forest and he wasn't waylayed once his entire journey. Of course it still took a ridiculously long time to get anywhere due to the restrictive nature of the forest and the fact that the clearing was a long way in. Eventually, however, he burst into the space and, panting harshly from the run, looked wildly around.
Esmerelda was calmly tending to her campfire causing little orange sparks to fly up into the air every now and again. He yelled out her name and she turned calmly to look at him.
"You." She said disinterestedly.
"Well obviously!" he snarled back. "Where is she? What have you done with her?" the fact that Harry had shouted almost these exact words earlier twinged at Draco but he swept the cruel irony of it aside.
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." She said snapping a twig in two and feeding it to the hungrily licking flames. "And considering I'm omniscient that's saying something."
"Get over yourself." Draco growled turning away from her and sprinting towards the caravan. He wrenched open the door and scanned the small space for any sign of Ginny.
For one terrifying moment he thought he'd made a mistake and she wasn't there at all but then his eyes fell upon a curtained off area in the corner. He approached it slowly suddenly overwhelmed with a deep sense of dread of what he might find. He tentatively reached out and pulled the heavy velvet curtain to one side.
The space behind was filled with cushions and blankets of varying sizes and colours. Draco briefly registered that this must be where Esmerelda slept but everything else was quickly shunted out of his brain as he took in the sight of Ginny lying, as if dead, across the cushions.
He lunged forward running his fingers down her face and desperately searching for signs of life. Her skin was waxy and pale and lying so stiff and still that for one horrible moment he was sure she couldn't be alive.
Suddenly, however, he heard a horrible rasping sound which he realized was Ginny taking a deep shuddering breath. Her eyelashes fluttered gently against the top of her cheeks as if she was dreaming vividly of a snitch darting about in front of her.
Draco heard a step behind him and whirled around to face the past Slytherin.
"What have you done?" he demanded, "What is wrong with her?"
Esmerelda shrugged
"We all sometimes feel like a little lie down." She said glibly, "Oh calm down." She added as she saw the fury blazing in Draco's eyes intensify. "Attacking me won't solve anything and you know I'll hurt you."
Draco turned his back on her and knelt down beside Ginny. He watched her closely for a few seconds then sat back on his heels cocking his head to one side.
"Oi!" he shouted leaning forward and gently slapping her round the face, "Wake up!"
She shifted slightly and he smiled humorlessly then grabbed her shoulders.
He shook her lightly and then gave her another gentle slap.
"Come on, give it up." He growled.
"You know. I'm not an expert on these things." Esmerelda said from behind him, "But I believe the more orthodox approach is to kiss the girl."
Draco grimaced. "I'd do pretty much anything to get Virginia back but I draw the line at kissing you."
Esmerelda's face darkened and, quick as a flash, her wand was pointing at him.
"Slanerous!" she said and a stinging cut sliced open across Draco's cheek. He hissed in pain and clapped his hand to his cheek where a line of scarlet blood was blooming. It welled up and spilled down in a curtain reaching to his chin.
"I'll have none of your impertinence in my territory." She said her voice dark with the kind of danger he had heard from her in once before just before she sent a bolt of lightning at him and Ginny.
Draco's eyes burnt with an ever fiercer fire.
"I'm getting Virginia away from you. You're a bloody psycho!"
For a moment he thought she was going to attack him again but she simply laughed.
"Yes I am aren't I?!" she said quite happily, "And I would be grateful if you would leave my caravan." She turned to leave then paused and waved a hand, "And take her with you, my home isn't all that big and she's taking up room."
Draco gathered Ginny to him and stood up. Although she was very light she was also a dead weight and very difficult maneuver.
"Lump!" he muttered abandoning his original plan of carrying her in the romantic, knight in armor style across his arms and throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman style instead. He kicked open the caravan door and instantly wished he hadn't as a searing pain shot up his foot. "Ow." He growled. He marched past Esmerelda who muttered spitefully,
"Gosh you're so manly." In a very sarcastic tone.
"Get a life you sad, pathetic, lonely witch." He yelled in reply. Esmerelda didn't deign his immature insult with a reply and Draco was glad. His cheek and foot hurt enough as it was, he didn't want another injury to add to the list.
Draco strode through the forbidden forest thinking that if he never had to go through it again it would be too soon. The usual scufflings and strange noises orchestrated to scare people weren't really having the desired effect. He had so many emotions running through his body as it was there was simply no room for fear. Fear for himself that was. Fear for Ginny was fairly high up on his feelings priority list.
Suddenly something in the way Ginny was draped over his shoulder changed. It was very subtle, only the slightest tensing of her body but he had been concentrating so hard on her that it felt like she had suddenly started dancing the can-can on his back. Although his insides were leaping around in jubilation he gave no outward sign that he had noticed a change in her condition. After a few more steps Ginny moved again and gave a small sigh. Still he continued on.
"Malfoy?" she called out. Her voice was thin and raspy and utterly pathetic. Draco found himself battling within as both anger and happiness bubbled up inside of him.
"What?" he asked coldly.
"My ankle hurts."
"Huh?" Draco looked to the side and noticed that one of her ankles was swollen and turning a nasty bluish, purple colour. "What happened?" he asked
"Fell over on my way in." Ginny murmured, "What is with this forest? The paths are very unkempt, I fell in a pit on my last visit and this time a tree root not only tripped me up but then proceeded to slam down on the injured ankle with a branch. I'm getting the feeling it doesn't like me much."
"Oh what a tragedy." Draco snarled, "Call the Daily Prophet someone doesn't like Ginny Weasley."
Ginny's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What's your problem?" she asked grumpily.
"I don't want to ruin your big soap opera moment but this carrying you malarkey isn't as easy as it looks so I'd appreciate it if you shut up for a moment, alright?" he snapped adjusting his aching shoulder slightly to prove his point.
Ginny closed her mouth with a snap and resigned herself to a bumpy, uncomfortable ride through the forest.
"Where are we going?" she asked after some time when they emerged from the forest and began heading towards the castle.
With a slight twist of his mouth he replied, "Your favourite place at Hogwarts, the hospital wing."
Ginny squirmed her displeasure.
"No, don't take me there!"
Draco abruptly stopped and rolled his eyes exasperatedly.
"Are you saying that after I carried you all this way you don't think you're hurt enough to need treatment? Bloody hell Virginia!" he promptly deposited her neatly on the grass at his feet. "What do you think I am? A frickin' pack horse?"
Ginny glowered up at him. "The grass is wet." She complained petulantly sticking her lower lip out.
"Don't change the subject." Draco snapped placing his hands on his hips, towering above her.
"Fine." Ginny shaded her eyes from the thin, pale light of the sun and looked him up and down. "Although you bear some slight resemblance to a horse I don't mistake you as a beast of burden. Happy?"
"Virginia that wasn't the subject."
"Yes it was. You had just asked whether I thought you were a…"
"Why don't you want to go to the infirmary?" Draco snapped his face remaining as set as ever.
"Well," Ginny looked up at him through her lashes, "I thought we should sort some things out first."
"What's there to sort out?" Draco asked mulishly. Ginny rolled her eyes and lifted her hands up to him.
"Help me up and let's find somewhere a bit more comfortable then this wet ground and I'll let you in to the secrets of our relationship."
Draco had been in the act of pulling her to her feet but at the word 'relationship' he abruptly released her and she fell back to the ground with a thump letting out a cry as her injured ankle hit the ground.
"Geez Malfoy what's with you?" she yelled rubbing her ankle gingerly and looking at him accusingly.
"Relationship?" he asked dully.
"Malfoy this act is really wearing thin, you know!" Ginny groaned lifting her hands up to him once again, "But I'm not going to lay into you until we are on even footing as at the moment you have somewhat of a height advantage."
"Fair call." Draco consented hauling her to her feet and keeping hold of her to keep her steady as she balanced on her uninjured leg.
"Where to?" he asked looking around for a suitable place to have their final confrontation.
"Greenhouse 2?" she suggested cocking her head to the right to indicate the nearby glass structure.
Draco shrugged to show that he didn't care and they began to slowly make their hobbility way across the lawn. After a minute or so in which they didn't get very far Draco sighed in annoyance and scooped her once more into his arms and bore her strongly into the dark slightly damp smelling house. He placed her gently onto one of the stone benches surrounded by tall dark plants which he was fairly sure wouldn't attack them if they turned their backs to them.
"Are you sure you want to do this now?" he asked seriously trying to hide the squirm of discomfort he felt at putting another's needs above his own, for he wanted to get the whole ordeal over as soon as possible but her ankle was obviously paining her.
"Positive." She assured him, "it doesn't hurt too much when my weight's off it."
"So…" he began but she held up a finger to forestall him.
"Oh no," she said shaking her head, "oh no this is my turn to speak. Take a seat Malfoy and hold on for the ride." Draco obediently sank down beside her and waited for the tirade he knew he was facing. "You're frightened of me Malfoy, I can see it in your eyes and Merlin knows I know what you're feeling but something has got to be done about all of this. We're sort of enemies but we are something else too." She paused and bit her lip knowing that what she was talking about was bound to be a touchy subject for him. Still it had to be done so she continued, "That day in the great hall, I didn't want it, you have to believe me, I didn't want Harry to ask me out. I tried to stop him but he was persistent and then you turned up in the stupid way you do and then you got all weird. Like you were jealous or angry or upset or something, I couldn't pick it. Which was it, coincidently?" she asked halting her monologue briefly and looking at him inquisitively but before Draco had even formed his answer in his head she shrugged and continued, "It doesn't really matter what your motivation was now anyway. I tried to get you to talk to me, I tried to make you understand Harry and I, well that there was no Harry and I. I said no, I made my peace with him, which was no mean feat I'll have you know, and I moved on. But you…you suddenly didn't want anything to do with me and I couldn't make you understand that although some things had changed others hadn't. You moron, you stupid, stupid idiot, you know what's happened don't you? After all this time, through all that nonsense you've somehow made me lo…"
Draco made a sudden violent movement towards her.
"No." he said firmly, "whatever you do don't let that word creep into this. You don't love my Virginia. You know you don't. Maybe someday but not now." He shuddered, "Not to mention that word and everything that goes with it is so icky and sentimental. There's nothing sentimental about this partnership. You don't want to like me and I certainly don't want to like you it's just the way things have turned out."
Ginny grinned, "Well that's certainly the most romantic speech I've ever heard. But I guess you're right. There's so much against this working that confessing our love to one another now is really hasty."
"Not to mention I don't actually love you." Draco pointed out.
"Yeah and that." Ginny conceded.
They both fell silent and looked at each other. There was nothing probing or tense about their looks they simply wanted to look at each other for a while.
"Why did you go into the forest?" Draco asked finally wanting to break the moment before he did something stupid like kiss her senseless.
Ginny broke out into peals of laughter, "I thought you would have figured that out by now!" she said jovially. "I originally went in to see if Esmerelda had any more hints for me about what was going to happen to our rel…" she caught his eye, "…to us." She finished "But when I got there she came up with a better idea."
"To trick me into running after you." Draco said heavily and Ginny nodded.
"For a while there I said no because I didn't want to worry you or anyone else but then I realized the brilliance of it. If you really cared for me you'd come running when you heard I'd gone missing. If you really couldn't care less what happened to me then you'd brush it from your mind and carry on with your life. I just wanted to wait until you turned up but Esmerelda said she wanted it to be more believable and before I had time to protest she'd hexed me." She paused and took in Draco's sliced face, "I guess she did that to you. She's scary, you never quite know if she's on your side or not."
"Exactly what she wants you to feel." Draco said and Ginny nodded,
"I know but that doesn't alter her scariness factor! Anyway the next thing I know I wake up on your back bouncing through the forest. I don't suppose you want to fill in the gaps for me?" she asked.
"No." Draco said shortly, "I don't suppose I would."
"Thought you'd say that." Ginny said gloomily.
There was another long pause. "So what happens now?" she asked, "We've pretty much proved that we like each other enough to risk life and limb to be with each other but now what?"
"I've proved I like you enough to risk life and limb." Draco pointed out, "You haven't done anything like that at all."
"Have too!" Ginny retorted indignantly, "The number of times I've sacrificed my dignity over you are too numerous to recount. Embarrassment is far worse than dismemberment, ask anyone."
"Does rubbish ever stop coming out of your mouth?" Draco asked with amusement.
"Only if I'm forcefully stopped." Ginny said cheekily.
Recognising the obvious invitation Draco gathered her up and pressed his lips against hers. Releasing her she looked at him a little glassy eyed, temporarily struck mute.
"Okay so I'm filing that away as a very effective shutting up technique." Draco murmured and Ginny was too happy to even give him the customary whack on the chest.
Plain ewgh! This whole thing is appallingly bad. Still after this it gets more fun. I'm thinking one more chapter and an epilogue not to mention the sequel. That is another reason I've had such trouble getting this up, my mind is filled with ideas for the second one. Coincidently it will be called The Ring so look out for it :)
Lots of love to you all and apologies again for the long wait and lack of thank you's. You know deep down you're all getting hugs!
Jess/star123