CHAPTER FOUR
The wind blew in a crisp rush that seemed to be aimed directly at Ginny's face. Blinking back the tears that the wind had brought about, she found herself trying to fight off the real tears that were threatening to burst from her eyes. But she couldn't. Draco was supposed to be here by now. Where was he? As she paced the small dirt path under a large oak tree, she gazed out at the lake and let the thoughts take over her mind. Maybe his father took drastic measure to make sure they wouldn't be together. Maybe Draco had simply given up, and chose to forget all that they had worked for, all that they had fought for...
"Ginny," she heard him whisper her name, felt the warmth of his breath on the back of her neck, and all of her worries dissipated in the wind.
With a smile on her face, she turned in his arms and hugged him tightly. When she finally pulled away, she looked up into his smoky eyes. Something was wrong. She reached up and touched his pale cheek-- paler than normal.
"Your father was angry," she said finally, stating what he was afraid to admit. Draco sighed deeply, and tugged gently on her hand. Together they sat down under the canopy of leaves. Leaning against his chest, Ginny could hear Draco's steady heartbeat through his sweater. Fingers intertwined, cradled together, they said nothing for a long moment. Waves lapped gently at the grassy bank of the lake and the wind--that once beat violently on her face--tossed the leaves back and forth.
Finally Draco sighed and broke the tranquil silence.
"He threatened me with the Imperius Curse," he told her. Immediately Ginny stiffened in his arms, and would have jumped if he hadn't kept his hold on her. "We'll fight him Ginny."
Though he physical right stopped, an air of rebellion hung around her. "Draco, he can hurt you..." she started to protest, but he school his head. Inwardly, he decided to leave out the fact that his father had already used "Crucio" on him.
"No he can't," he told her firmly, planting a kiss in her auburn hair. "Not if I have you."
Despite the constant strum of worry in her heart, she couldn't help but smile at his comment. It put her up on a beautiful fluffy cloud. "We have to protect you somehow," Ginny said finally, reluctantly coming back down to reality. "I mean, what if he isn't bluffing? What if I never--" she choked on her own words, "What if I never see you again as you? I couldn't stand it..."
Draco swallowed tersely, trying to think of a solution. A stupid, unrealistic idea popped into his head, but he didn't dismiss it. "We could run away," he said quickly. "We could run away and never come back."
Ginny nodded, staring up into his calm gray eyes and knowing that everything would work out. If all else failed she alone would make sure that they'd be together forever. Whatever way necessary.
Harry glanced at Ron lovingly and smiled. It was so cute, how hard he was trying to concentrate. HIs eyes seemed glued to the book he had splayed out in front of him. His hair was thrown all about and his forehead was creased in concentration in the cutest way. If only Harry could tear his eyes away from Ron and study like his best friend could.
Forcing his eyes back down, Harry reread the same line he'd read at least four times before. This was pointless. There was just no way that he'd be able to focuse long enough to get any work done. There was too much on his mind. His book snapped shut with a loud smack.
Ron jerked up at the sound. "Shouldn't you study? The Transfiguration reading has just piled up."
Harry shook his head. "I can't." He ran a hand through his disheveled black hair. "When are we going to talk to Hermione? I want to be with you, but not if we're constantly gonna be interrupted." His voice held a trace of bitterness that he couldn't conceal.
His friend nodded slowly. "I know what you mean. I can't believe she could do this to us after all these years... I thought we were friends!" he finished.
"Yeah me too," Harry agreed, putting his hand on Ron's knee. A shiver ran down his spine; it felt so right. "We'll find her soon, and find out the truth."
"After this?" Ron asked breathily, leaning in for a kiss. Their lips had barely touched when the door burst open. Hermione stood there, face flushed and looking as trashy as ever. The boys separated quickly, embarassed at being discovered yet again.
She sat on Ron's bed, seemingly oblivious to their awkwardness. "Hey guys," she said huskily. "What's up?"
Harry somehow surpressed the urge to scream, "We were about to kiss so why don't you leave us alone???" Instead he cleared his thoat and choked out, "Not much I guess." Noticing her skirt was hiked up and a corner of her black lace thong was showing, he nearly laughed as he added, "And you?"
"Mmmm," Hermione murmured, stretching her arms above her head and yawning. "I am so good right now. I was with Professor Snaps," she commented suggestively.
Ron snorted a laugh. "You were with Professor Ginger Snaps?"
She looked offended momentarily. "Yeah, and it was wonderful." As an afterthought, she added, "Why?"
Still smiling, Ron shook his head defensively. "Hey, I didn't mean that in a bad way. I just didn't know you went that way, you know..."
Hermione stared at him curiously, then laughed in realization. "Don't you know?"
Ron frowned. "Know what?"
"Professor Ginger Snaps is a man. He's just in disguise for some reason." She laughed again. "I thought it was obvious."
Uncomfortably, Harry and Ron shifted where they were sitting. "It explains some things I guess," Harry admitted.
"Hell yes it does!" She spread her legs, revealing even more of the lacy underwear. "His closet isn't the most comfortable place in the world, but he is totally worth it. He's soo sexy..."
Harry interrupted her. "Speaking of... uh... relationships, we--Ron and me-- have something to ask you."
The air seemed to stretch taughtly with tension. Harry and Ron glanced at each other, and Hermione eyed them both strangely. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore.
"Well?" she demanded impatiently. "What is it?"
Harry was the one to begin to speak. "Hermione, are you bitter at all about... me and Ron... being together?" he asked anxiously.
She looked flabbergasted for a moment. "What is this about? Is there some kind of problem?"
"Well... I don't know... Just answered the question!" the bespectacled boy snapped.
Hermione blushed slightly as she admitted, "I was bitter for a while. I've always been attracted to you Harry," she added, turning to face him. "But I got over it. Honestly. You guys can be together, that's fine. Why did you ask?"
Harry and Ron knew she wanted to know why they would ask her tha but they were surprised at how reluctant they were to tell her the truth. For the first time that year, they felt like they were seeing the old Hermione, their friend. She was being vulnerable with them for first time in a long time. They didn't want to lose that so soon after having found it again.
Harry cleared his throat again. "It seems like... Ron and I can't be together, we keep being interrupted, it's just so strange... unnatural..."
"So?" Hermione asked demandingly.
"We think our relationship is cursed," Ron jumped in.
She glared at him and then at Harry, sending a jolt of guilt through his stomach. "What does that have to do with me?"
There was silence for a second as Harry's courage built up. For support, he slipped his hand into Ron's, then looked her straight in the eye. It was time to get this over with.
"We think you cursed us," he blurted out.
For the first time in a very long time, Hermione loked hurt. Genuinely hurt. All pretenses of her bad-ass attitude slipped away for a moment and she stared at the two boys, clearly offended. "I can't believe you guys think that!" A tear, a real glistening tear, leaked from the corner of her eye. It wasn't prompted by acting or a will to get her way, she was actually sad. Hermione raised her chin in defiance and glared at the boys.
"I hate you," she growled out bitterly. "I wish I had cursed you both!"
With that, she bounded off the bed and out of dormatory. Harry looked blankly down at the blanket with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He was very afraid that he'd just lost one of his best friends.
An hour later, Harry and Ron lay together on Harry's bed--legs entangled, arms around each other. Both were staring at the ceiling.
"We really screwed up this time." Harry finally broke the silence.
Ron chuckled, the sound rumbling deep in his chest and vibrating through Harry. "Yep," he sighed. "We did." Ron never meant to hurt Hermione. He'd even loved her once, as more than a friend. But that was before her transformation, and the momentous summer when he realized he was in love with Harry. Now everything was different. Still, his platonic love for her remained, and he would never intentionally try to hurt her.
"You think we should go apologize?" Harry asked, flopping onto his stomach and looking down at Ron. His sparkling green eyes sparkled in the light, and Harry almost sighed at the beauty of them.
"Yeah, I think so." Ron smiled up at him as he reached up and pushed away a pesky strand of black hair that had fallen into his eyes. Harry grinned impishly and planted a quick kiss on his lips.
"I'll go," he volunteered, then regretfully pushed himself off Ron's chest and left in search of Hermione.
He found her in the Astronomy Tower with her head in her arms and her knees hugged to her chest.
"Hermione?" he whispered her name into the moonlit darkness. Her small body immediately tensed up, but she didn't look up at him. He moved slightly into the small circular room and crouched down next to her.
"Come on 'Mione," he pleaded with her, gently touching her arm. "I'm really, really, sorry."
No response.
"Please talk to me?"
Still no answer. Harry reached out and touched her honey hair, but she jerked away quickly.
"You know we both love you Hermione. Gay or straight, nothing can change that. And I'm really sorry we thought you were the one who cursed us. I know you'd never do something like that."
Slowly she lifted her head up to look at him. Her face was red with tears and sadness was etched vibrantly clear across her face. "You guys hurt me," she said thickly. "Really bad. You're the only friends I have left. I don't want to lose you too." The last part was sobbed out with such emotion it made Harry's heart break.
"Hey," he said seriously as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You are never gonna lose us. Never. Got that?" The air got considerably lighter after that.
She smiled weakly. "You sure?" she asked tentatively. Her eyes shined hopefully up at him.
"Yeah," he reassured her, feeling as though a load of guilt had been lifted off his shoulders. He grinned sympathetically at her and squeezed her fingers softly.
Hermione's face brightened just a bit more and she wrapped her arms around Harry tightly. "It still hurts," she said quietly, "but I guess... for now...I can forgive you." She pulled away, laughing slightly and wiping her tears. "God, I've been such a bitch this year, haven't I? I don't know what's wrong with me, I just... It feels good to be desired, you know?"
Harry thought of Ron and nodded. "I know," he whispered.
Draco hurriedly shoved piles of clothes and books into his magically enlarged duffel bad and quickly looked in the mirror in his dorm room. It was stupid, but he wanted to look good for Ginny. He combed his blonde hair and straightened his robes nervously. He couldn't do anything about his bloodshot eyes and palid face, but he still tried to relax. This was a big deal. Him and Ginny being together was a big deal. Bigger than any other aspect of his life, at least.
He'd been so pathetic before he met--truly met-- Ginny. He'd been a huge coward, slightly less than a real person because he let his insecurities control him. When he'd felt bad about himself, he was lash out at others. It was actually sad. But things were different now. He had Ginny: Ginny, who made him want to be a better person, who saw through his flimsy pretenses and to the real him. Tucking the remains of his nervousness away, Draco gripped his bag and, ignoring the stares of some of the boys in the Slytherin common room, marched to meet his fate.
Finally, after rounding the last flight of stairs, he saw her. Ginny looked as apprehensive as Draco felt. Her beautiful, creamy complexion was the palest he'd ever seen it; he round lips compressed into a straight line. He whispered her name so softly he feared she wouldn't hear it.
But she heard it. Her green eyes quickly darted in his direction and lit up, and she dropped her bags and embraced him tightly. He felt her breath on his neck as she said, "Thank God. I was worried you'd change your mind." Ginny pulled away and searched his eyes desperately. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.
Draco kissed her sweetly. "I'm sure," he murmured, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door.
Her hand came up and wiped a glistening tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry, I'm just so nervous," she said, laughing at herself.
"It's okay," he reassured her before stepping outside. The cold night air quickly met their bare hands and faces, and a shiver ran down Draco's spine. "I'm sure we can find a cottage in the country."
His breath caught in his throat for a tense moment and he stopped dead in his tracks. The person he least wanted to see at this very moment was now standing directly in front of them.
"Draco, Draco, Draco," his father chided coldly. "I thought I raised you better than this." In a flash his arm had lashed out and his strong fingers were around Draco's neck.
Oh shit, Draco thought to himself. Fear seized his body, and he was unable to even more. Lucius's fingers only tightened when his son's desperation shone from his eyes. Is this how it will end? Draco thought. Could my own father actually kill me? But even as that thought hit him another countered it. The Malfoy family was known for their cruelty, and Lucius was no exception. Suddenly, there was no doubt in Draco's mind that his father would kill him... if it suited him. At this moment, it was anyone's guess what suited Lucius Malfoy.
Lucius's bitter, sharp eyes met Draco's fearful ones unflinchingly. His life flashing before his eyes, Draco realized that killing him would suit his father at this moment, and terror seized him. But there was nothing he could do. Second by second, he was growing weaker, less able to fight back...
Just as Draco gave up, his throat was released as Ginny murmured a curse and his father doubled over, clutching his groin. Draco gasped for much needed air and looked gratefully up at Ginny.
Her frightened-looking face managed a weak smile. "Always knew that curse would come in handy," she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Draco nodded and tried to catch his breath as his life gradually came back to him. Every part of his body was aching from lack of oxygen, but he put on a brave face and painfully reached for Ginny's hand. "Let's get out of here," he rasped, beginning to stumble in the direction of the Hogwarts entrance.
"How will we get across the lake?" she murmured worriedly.
Draco shook his head, and heard his father's movements behind them. "There's no time. Dad's coming," he panted. "Let's go to the Potions dungeon." He indicated the nearest building.
With no other communication, the two limped across the schoolyard that they had formerly loved so well, now seemed to stretch on forever. Ginny's arm around Draco did little to warm him or to renew his depleted strength of his legs, and Lucius's footsteps behind them seemed to get louder and louder as he recovered from his curse. Out of what seemed to be pure desperation, Ginny and Draco reached the dungeon. Luckily for them, it was unlocked.
Quickly they entered the pitch black dungeon. It was frightening how a familiar (if not unfondly remembered) place like this could seem so unfamiliar and alien in the dark.
"Lumos," Ginny muttered, brightening as her wand lit the usual features of the room, as well as her fearful face. Still, the light wasn't enough to dissipate her fears. "Your father is still behind us. We need to lock the door," she insisted, leaning back on the dungeon door.
"But where is the key? If Snape wasn't always so stoned, maybe he could have helped me out," Draco spat. "He always liked me."
A strange smell came to both of their noses now, an unfamiliar, almost sickeningly sweet odor... In face, as the teenagers looked through the room more closely, a faint haze of pink smoke covered pretty much everything. The realization of what this meant hit both of them at the same time.
A combination of humor and worry was present on Ginny's face. "Oh my God," she said, half-laughing. "He's here."
"That's right, I am."
They turned to face the tall, gangly form of Professor Snape. But he was the furthest gone either of them had ever seen him. His distant, bloodshot eyes stared into space, and his face was covered with a slimy sweat. From his appearance, Draco wouldn't have been surprised if Snape hadn't had a sober day in months.
"Can you lock the door?" Draco asked. Even as he said this, Lucius began banging on the dungeon door that was only held shut by Ginny and Draco's shaking bodies. "Please?" Draco pleaded.
Snape studied their desperate faces with a distant interest. "Oh all right," he decided obligingly, lazily slurring his words. "I'll help you kids out. After all," he continued with an awkward wink, "you're only young and in love once, am I right?" Clumsily he fumbled with his chain of keys until he found the right one. Even then he missed the keyhole three times before successfully locking the door. Draco and Ginny breathed deep sighs of relief.
"Thank you, Professor," Ginny whispered.
"Anytime," Snape mumbled. "Hey, you two wanna get high? I've got this special blend--"
"Uh, no thanks," Draco said quietly, blushing at the strangeness of their situation.
Ginny touched Draco's arm softly as she thought about how they could get out of this situation. There was no way Draco's father would ever allow them to be together under any terms. Unless... Maybe their was a way for them to be together with no one to stop them...
"Professor," she asserted, shuddering nervously. "Do you have any potions by way of... poison?" She could immediately see Draco tense up.
"Poison?" both Snape and Draco asked at the same time, Snape rather carelessly but Draco tensely.
Draco gripped her arm fiercely. "Poion?" he repeated fearfully, searching Ginny's face.
She nodded, and tears quickly spilled down her cheeks. "I feel like we have no choice, Draco," she said softly. She touched his face so tenderly he could barely feel it. "I love you so much. This way no one can keep us apart."
Draco examined her beautiful emerald eyes, but still couldn't believe what she was suggesting. "By killing ourselves? Isn't there another way?" he asked gruffly, trying to conceal the tears that were brimming in his eyes.
Ginny kissed him on the cheek. "Not with our families," she whispered in his ear. It was unbelievable that even when she was discussing their deaths, a tingle of excitement ran through his body just by their closeness. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, hoping to never let go.
"I love you, Ginny," he murmured.
Sobs racked her slender body. "And I love you. Forever," she choked out.
Draco somehow managed to swallow his own sobs and kiss her passionately for what he knew was the last time. It was unfair; fate had brought them together, and now it was trying to tear them apart too quickly. But they couldn't let that happen, and so their lives would be tragically cut short. And all for the name of love.
He turned to Snape. "Poison," he grunted, barely feeling the tears that were gliding down his cheeks.
"Ah, a fine choice," Snape smirked as if he were a car salesman selling the most expensive car on the lot. "I'll just get you two goblets then." As he walked off, Draco could have sworn he heard him humming, "Do you know the Muffin Man?" Snape's behavior was quite peculiar, even for someone as high as he was.
Ginny looked up at Draco and her eyes glistened in the wandlight. "Are you scared?" she asked quietly.
Draco ran his fingers through her hair gently. "Yeah," he admitted. "But I'll be fine. This way we can be together." He glanced at the door, which his father was still pounding on, although far less enthusiastically than at first.
She nodded and rested her head on his chest. "Good," she murmured.
Footsteps came up behind them, and Snape knelt to hand them both large goblets filled with a steamy green poison. They both grabbed one and and looked up at Snape tentatively, nervous about taking the final step. Snape gestured largely. "Go on kids! It's a special blend I always have in stock, just in case," he commented with another strange wink.
Clutching Draco's free hand with hers, Ginny smiled weakly. "Ready?" she managed to say. Her face looked somehow younger and more fragile than it ever had before.
Without answering, Draco choked out, "I love you," for the last time and began to raise his goblet to his lips.
"I know," she whispered, doing the same with hers.
It was all over in an instant. The two young people slumped over, still clutching the other's hand, almost as if nothing had happened. Except their eyes were vacant and lifeless, and their breath stopped in their throats. The two bodies sat there for a long while, and all Snape could do was stare at them.
Finally he spoke. "Am I incredibly stoned, or is this going to be hard to explain?" he muttered. "Or both?" he added, eyeing his bong once again.