Chapter Fifty-Two: Pansy Parkinson

Harry gaped at Malfoy in disbelief.

'Bullshit,' he said. 'Pansy's dead. Whoever took Ginny was just...just disguised as Pansy, or took Polyjuice--'

'It was Pansy,' Draco insisted. 'It was her.'

'But she's dead!' Harry protested.

'Obviously she's not if she hexed the crap out me and made off with Ginny!' Draco snapped. 'Don't you get it, Potter? She faked her death!'

'Why would she do that?' Harry asked.

'Well, Potter, I don't know,' said Draco, his voice now dripping with the familiar sarcasm. 'I wasn't conscious long enough to engage her in any protracted conversation and in any case, it was kind of a shock seeing a girl I thought was dead suddenly pointing a wand in my face!'

'She didn't say anything to you?' said Harry, throwing up his hands in frustration, still not ready to believe that the person who'd attacked Draco and Ginny was really Pansy Parkinson.

'No,' said Draco.

'You're sure it was Pansy?' said Harry.

'I know her better than anyone, Potter,' Draco spat. 'I'm telling you, it was her. She...she's getting revenge on me for not...for...'

'For being in love with Ginny?'

Draco's grey eyes flashed. 'A lot of good that's done me,' he snarled, and it was then that Harry noticed he wasn't wearing hospital robes, but his own clothing, which he'd quickly repaired with magic.

'Hang on,' said Harry. 'You were about to go after Pansy when I came in, weren't you?'

Draco raised his chin, which gave Harry his answer.

'You know where Pansy went?'

'I have a good idea, yeah,' said Draco.

'Good, because I'm coming with you,' said Harry, and he immediately removed Ginny's wand from his robe pocket, conjured himself some Muggle street clothes, and transfigured his slippers into trainers.

'I'd better leave a note,' said Harry. 'For...Lupin. Yeah, I'll let Lupin know. He has to tell the Weasleys...they might already know...'

Draco looked panicky. 'Tell Lupin he can't send Aurors!' he urged. 'If Aurors come, Pansy'll hurt Ginny!'

'Okay, okay,' said Harry.

He looked about the room for parchment and quill, and found he had to conjure them both himself. He scratched out a quick note.

'Where are we going?' he asked Draco.

'My house,' said Draco. 'Malfoy Manor.'

Harry raised his eyebrows for a moment, but then added it to the note. He folded the parchment, sealed it, and added the words FOR REMUS LUPIN. He left it prominently displayed on Malfoy's bed.

At that moment, Harry heard voices in the corridor.

'...just down here, sir, he just blew the door clean off its hinges, he did!'

'Shit,' Harry whispered. 'Can you Apparate?'

'Yeah,' said Draco, although he looked slightly nervous as he said this. 'Now?'

'Yes, now,' said Harry impatiently. 'I don't fancy trying to explain this to anyone, I'd rather just find Ginny and get back.'

'Right,' said Draco. 'Now, then. My house, in Wiltshire.'

'Ah, good,' said Harry sarcastically. 'A place I've never seen. Could you at least give me a house number and street name?'

Draco scowled at him. 'Malfoy Manor doesn't have a street address,' he said haughtily, with an expression on his face like he'd just smelled stinksap.

'Oh, pardon me,' Harry retorted. 'How common of me to think your house has a street address. How the hell am I supposed to know where I'm Apparating to, then?'

'Oh, for god's sake, Potter, just grab my hand, then!' Draco hissed. 'Think of Malfoy Manor and I'll do the rest.'

Harry glowered at Draco and took the other boy's left hand in his left hand, so that they were facing each other.

'Oi! What do you two think you're doing?' said a gruff voice.

'Now!' Draco yelled.

Harry closed his eyes and thought only of Malfoy Manor.

Malfoy Manor...Malfoy Manor...

CRACK!

Harry's feet hit soft ground, and he stumbled, letting go of Draco's hand. The other boy fell to his knees with a grunt and then got up painfully.

Harry blinked and let his eyes get adjusted to the bright morning sunlight. They were outside in a massive garden that clearly had gone wild; the grass was long and hadn't been mowed for at least a year; the spring tulips and crocuses had long since wilted and were surrounded by weeds and out-of-control wildflowers. Stone benches were covered in poison ivy, and there were garden gnomes everywhere.

'Get away,' Draco growled, kicking at a gnome who'd wandered over a bit too close. The gnome squeaked in protest and ran off, and Harry looked up to find himself staring at an enormous house.

It was made of brick, and was very, very old, with a slate roof and huge windows that overlooked the grounds. It was perhaps as grand a house as Harry had ever seen, and for a moment, he was able to imagine what it must have looked like only a few years ago, when Draco and his parents lived in it. The brickwork would have been immaculate, the windows sparkling, the grounds pristine. Now the house was overgrown with ivy; the bricks and mortar were cracking; a few windows were broken, and those that were intact were filthy. With a shudder, Harry realized that the house reminded him quite keenly of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place; this struck him as odd, as Draco Malfoy's family home couldn't have been more different, or the setting more distinct. But then Harry realized the similarity between both houses was not in how they looked, but the aura of dark magic, of evil, that seemed to permeate them. Even without entering the house, Harry knew Malfoy Manor would not be a comforting place.

He looked over at Draco, who was staring at his house with a mixture of sadness and longing.

Harry was just about to drag Draco's attention from the house when he heard Ginny in his mind.

Harry...

Ginny? Where are you? I'm here!

You're so close...

Ginny...tell me where you are...tell me!

I...Harry...help...I can't...

No! Stay with me Ginny!

But she was gone. Harry felt a rush of fear.

'She's here,' he whispered. 'Ginny.'

Draco snapped his attention away from his house and looked at Harry.

'You...you're sure?'

'I felt her,' said Harry.

Draco looked away. 'Of course you did,' he said in a flat voice.

'Draco, I can't...I can't seem to figure out where she is,' said Harry. 'She's around here somewhere, but...where would Pansy have taken her? Inside?'

'No,' said Draco, and his eyes became cold. 'Not in the house. If I know Pansy...'

He started off to the right, down the wide, sloping back lawn. Harry found himself almost jogging to keep up with Draco, who had suddenly quickened his pace.

'Where are we going?' Harry asked, Ginny's wand clutched tightly in his hand.

'There,' said Draco shortly, pointing to a building that looked remarkably like...

'Stables?' said Harry, gaping at the building as they approached it. 'You have stables?' There looked to be apartments above the stables, but Harry was so flabbergasted that the Malfoys had apparently kept horses that he barely noticed those.

'Of course we have stables,' said Draco impatiently, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, having stables in one's back yard. As if everyone should have stables.

Harry rolled his eyes and did a rude hand gesture behind Draco's back, but Draco didn't notice. On further reflection, as they moved towards the stables, Harry supposed that a family as old-fashioned and rich as the Malfoys ought to be keeping horses. It was probably as normal to them as having house elves for servants.

They were halfway to the stables, when Harry felt a sharp pain in his muscles and a rush of emotion.

'What?' said Draco.

'Ginny,' said Harry. 'She's close by, but...I can't get a fix.'

'Get down!' Draco hissed, yanking Harry suddenly down behind a large boulder.

'What's going on?' Harry whispered.

'Pansy,' said Draco, his eyes narrowing. 'She's in the servants' quarters.'

Unlike his initial reaction to the stables, Harry wasn't at all surprised that the Malfoy family had servants' quarters.

How fitting they should be on top of where the horses are kept.

'You're sure it's her?' said Harry, keeping his voice soft. 'Did she see us?'

'Yes, it's her, and no, she didn't see us,' said Draco.

'Why would she go to the servants' quarters?' Harry asked.

'She's making a point,' said Draco darkly. 'We used to shag in the servants' quarters at holidays.'

'Lovely,' said Harry.

'She's gone,' said Draco, his eyes fixed on the windows above the stables. 'Let's go now.'

He grabbed Harry by the wrist and yanked him up before taking off at a mad dash for the stables. Harry groaned inwardly, but followed, thinking the whole time this was hardly the best way to go about things.

Draco reached the door to the stables and opened it with a wave of his wand; Harry hurried up to join him but nearly collided with him when Draco suddenly froze in place, his wand at his side.

Harry followed Draco's gaze, and felt his heart skip a beat.

There were no horses in the stalls; indeed, the stalls had been empty for a very long time.

There was only Pansy Parkinson, who stood in front of them, framed in sunlight, wearing Death Eater robes. Harry knew, in that instant, that it was indeed the real Pansy standing before him. No one could ever imitate that haughty grace with which she held herself; even though Harry was sure she'd been in the thick of the battle at the Department of Mysteries, she'd clearly taken the care to clean herself up. Her brown hair was shiny and neatly brushed into smooth waves; her blue eyes sparkled; her robes looked and smelled to be the recipient of numerous Cleaning Charms. Under the robes she wore a black dress and Mary Janes, without stockings. She might have been pretty, were it not for the mad look in her eyes, or for the fact that kneeling on the ground in front of her, her face a network of cuts and bruises, was Ginny.

Harry felt a rush of agony and willed her to look up at him. She did, and tears rolled down her face.

I'm here, Ginny. I'm getting you out of here...just hold on...

Ginny nodded slightly.

'You came,' said Pansy, in a breathy, breathless sort of voice. Her eyes were fixed on Draco; she had her wand fixed on the back of Ginny's neck.

'Yeah,' said Draco.

'I knew you would,' said Pansy, and her eyes filled with tears. 'Had to rescue your little whore.' She pressed the tip of her wand into the back of Ginny's neck.

Harry bit back the urge to hex Pansy into a million pieces.

'Lower your wands,' said Pansy.

'Pansy,' Draco said slowly, fighting to keep his voice even, 'why don't you let Ginny go? You don't have to hurt her.'

'Shut up!' she screamed. 'I knew it! I knew you wouldn't come here for me, I knew all you'd think about was her!' Her hand shook and she pressed her wand further against Ginny's neck; Ginny winced and leaned forward slightly, but Pansy grabbed a handful of Ginny's hair and pulled her upright to her knees. She then leveled her wand at Ginny's throat.

'How shall I kill her, hmm?' Pansy whispered. 'Nice and slow?'

Harry's body was tingling with sympathetic pain for Ginny, and he couldn't stop himself.

'Pansy, please,' he said, struggling to keep his voice steady. 'Ginny...she's with me, okay? Draco knows it. You don't have to hurt Ginny.'

Pansy laughed derisively, but Draco took up the theme.

'Potter's right, Pansy,' he said. 'Ginny doesn't want me. She wants Potter. She always has.'

'That doesn't matter!' Pansy screamed, pulling Ginny's hair again. 'It doesn't matter who she wants, Draco, does it? Because you want her. You've always wanted her...I've never been anything but a...a plaything to you!'

'That's not true!' Draco protested, holding out his left hand, keeping his wand hand down. 'Pansy, I don't want Ginny, okay? I don't. I...I did at one time but I don't anymore!'

'You lie!' Pansy shrieked.

'I'm not lying!' said Draco. 'Pansy...listen to me. I don't want Ginny. I swear.'

Pansy sniffed and swallowed, and then smiled coldly. 'Then you won't care if I kill her.' She lifted her wand and opened her mouth.

'NO!' Harry cried. 'Pansy, don't!'

'Pansy, listen!' Draco urged. 'The Ministry knows Ginny's missing, okay? They've got Aurors looking for her. If you kill her...they'll catch you and take you away. They'll take you away from me. Forever.'

Pansy's bottom lip quivered and her wand hand wavered. Harry had no idea if what Draco was saying was true, but he guessed it had to be; the security people at St. Mungo's would have found his note by now, and delivered it to Lupin. Even if Lupin didn't run to Tonks and bring a squad of Aurors, Harry knew it wouldn't be long before they were found. Draco had to get through to Pansy before anyone else showed up, and all hell broke loose.

'Why couldn't you love me, Draco?' Pansy whispered, and she started to cry. 'That's all I wanted from you.'

'I know, Pansy,' said Draco, and in his voice Harry heard regret mixed with something akin to disgust. Harry couldn't help but tear his eyes from Ginny and watch the scene unfolding in front of him, to bear witness to the destructive force that was Pansy and Draco's relationship.

'I would have done anything for you,' she went on, releasing her hold on Ginny's hair. Ginny collapsed forward again onto her hands; she was breathing heavily and struggling to stay conscious. Harry didn't move.

'Even join them?' said Draco, his voice breaking slightly. 'Join the ranks of my father, who tried to kill me?'

'No!' said Pansy. 'He didn't mean it, Draco!'

'Pansy, how could you do this to me?' Draco asked, his voice cracking. 'I've spent the past six months thinking you were dead. Do you know how that felt?'

'I know, I'm so sorry,' she whispered. 'I didn't mean to do it, Draco! I swear. It wasn't my idea! Your father...that day we were supposed to meet. You never came, but he did. I was scared...I was going to run...but he didn't hurt me...he just wanted to talk. About you.'

'What could my father possibly have to say about me?' Draco asked savagely.

Pansy said nothing, but in the next instant, Harry felt the ground beneath his feet shift, as Lucius Malfoy strode gracefully from behind the gate of a horse's stall, just a few meters behind Pansy. He carried a wand; he wore clean Death Eater robes. There was a black patch over his right eye, but otherwise, his appearance was pristine, like Pansy's. Harry was positive both had been in the battle last night, but neither of them showed it in their outwardly appearance.

Draco made a horrified, choked noise in his throat.

'I told Pansy,' said Lucius, his voice smooth and chilling as a sheet of ice, 'that you'd lost your way. Rejecting the Dark Lord...siding with Dumbledore...testifying in my trial...losing your head over the Weasley girl...'

Draco seemed to have lost the ability to speak; his mouth was half-open, like a fish. He gaped at Pansy, and then at his father. Harry forced himself to breathe. It was one thing to deal with Pansy; she was dangerous, but manageable. But Lucius Malfoy? It was nearly as bad as facing Voldemort himself; no Death Eater was more confident, more skilled, more ruthless than Draco's father. And Ginny was right in the middle of it all, defenseless and injured.

'Yes, Draco,' Lucius was saying, 'Pansy told me all about your...unfortunate situation with Ginny Weasley. I realized, ultimately, it was she who'd been your undoing last year. You'd been seeking her out for months, wanting her to use more of her...talents...on you. Oh, Pansy told me all about it. How you told her of the Weasley girl's Empathic powers. Pansy never did tell me under what circumstances you confided in her, but I think I can guess.'

Harry swallowed and felt his heart begin to pound as Draco's lip quivered and his eyes filled with tears.

'I trusted you,' Draco rasped, fixing his eyes on Pansy. 'You swore you wouldn't tell anyone!'

'Ginny was dangerous, Draco,' Lucius continued. 'To us, to the Dark Lord, to you. She had to be stopped. I needed to get you away from her, to make you see reason. To make you come back to your proper place.'

Draco rounded on his father. 'You made it clear what my proper place was last year!' he bit out. 'You threw me into that circle to be killed along with Potter and his mates!

Lucius paused and pursed his lips; Pansy continued to point her wand at Ginny.

'I regret having to make that decision,' Lucius said finally. 'Surely you can appreciate, Draco, the kind of hold the Dark Lord had over us.'

'Oh, I appreciated it,' said Draco savagely. 'Enough of a hold that you killed Mother.'

'Another regrettable necessity,' said Lucius coolly, with about as much feeling as if he were sending back a bottle of wine to a restaurant sommelier. Harry kept still; no matter what, it seemed, Lucius and Draco were going to have a confrontation. All Harry could do was watch, and wait for the opportune moment to make a move.

'You were nothing but his slave,' Draco spat at his father. 'All this time, I thought you were great, that you were powerful. But all you did was lick his boots.'

At this, Lucius's steel-colored eyes flashed dangerously. 'I did,' he said, his voice edged with razor sharp coldness, 'what I had to do to survive, and to protect you.'

'Killing Mother protected me?' Draco growled.

'Yes,' Lucius hissed. 'Everything I have ever done was to protect you.'

'Liar,' Draco snarled, his barely-checked anger boiling over. 'You gave me up to him! You never cared about me, you only wanted to protect yourself! What a great man you are, Father. Killing your wife and selling out your only son, and for what? So you could take a few crumbs the Dark Lord had to dish out, is that it? My god, you're pathetic! To think I used to look up to you; all I wanted was to be like you--'

'You could never be like me,' Lucius snapped, and he took a few steps forward, his eyes burning. 'I am Malfoy, and you...you're nothing but a disappointment. Oh, I tried, Draco. From the time you were old enough to talk, I gave you everything. I taught you what it means to be a Malfoy, to have that noble blood run in your veins. I taught you what it means to be pure, and why our kind must always rule, must always stand at the top, and you...all you could do was fail, over and over again. All you could do was embarrass me, force me to cover up for your pitiful mistakes. I gave you every opportunity to succeed; I threw money at that worthless imbecile Fudge; I made sure he put Umbridge in the school, to keep Potter from spreading stories, to give you an advantage, and just when I thought you finally were getting it right, you failed yet again. And then you allow this girl'--he indicated Ginny with a savage wave of his left hand--'to worm her way into your life and turn you inside out. It was only too fitting, wasn't it, that she became Potter's girl? Once again, you lost to Potter.'

'None of that was my fault!' Draco protested. 'Potter--'

'Is ten times the wizard you'll ever be!' Lucius shouted.

Harry pressed his lips together as the words struck home; Draco's face crumpled, and his body began to shake with shame. Harry marveled at the sheer cruelty of Lucius Malfoy, and the cold precision with which he tore down his son's defenses.

'Look at him, Draco,' Lucius hissed, pointing his left index finger at Harry. 'This half-blood, this mongrel, has beaten the Dark Lord. Didn't you know? No, I suppose you were unconscious at the time it happened and Potter failed to mention it to you when the two of you decided to come chasing after the Weasley girl. But it's true...the Dark Lord is dead, and Potter killed him.'

Draco gawped at Harry for a moment, and then looked back at his father. In that instant, Lucius's whole demeanor changed; his expression became almost soft, and the voice he spoke in next might have been kind, were the words not coming from his lips.

'Draco,' said Lucius, 'the Dark Lord is gone. Do you know what that means?'

Draco said nothing; tears were in his eyes again and his chin trembled.

'It means,' said Lucius, 'that I am my own master. You're right, son. For too long I followed the Dark Lord. I believed in his cause, oh yes; it was the right path. Those who are pure must rule. It is the natural order of things. But the Dark Lord became weak. He became obsessed with Potter; his desire to destroy Potter got in the way of everything. He allowed his emotions to affect his judgment. I knew I would have to act. I knew I would need to plan. The Dark Lord could no longer make decisions; he came up with that ridiculous idea of attacking Granger and Weasley at Christmas, an idea I knew would ultimately fail. He was growing careless in his weakness, in his desperation to defeat Potter. Without me, he wouldn't have lasted as long as he did. I was the one who planned all the attacks; I was the one who knew Pansy would serve our needs.'

Draco made another choked noise. 'Of course you did,' he said, his voice struggling against the sob in his throat. 'That's all she is to you: a device.'

'She is so much more than that, Draco,' said Lucius, and he put his hand on Pansy's shoulder. 'She is your betrothed, or have you forgotten? She was the one person who stood by you, even when you lost your way. She knows what it is to be loyal. She knows what it is to be pure. I knew she was good for you. Your mother and I both did; that's why we chose her for you. We didn't know whether she'd come to care for you, but she did, and so much the better. She agreed to help me not only because it was the right course, but because she loves you.'

Draco's eyes fell on Pansy, who was looking at him with an expression of pure longing and love on her face. It was the kind of look Ginny sometimes gave to Harry, but on Pansy's face, it was sad and disturbing.

'I knew Pansy was the one person who could make you see reason,' Lucius went on. 'But even Pansy wasn't a match for your obsession.' Lucius glared at Ginny, who shrank away from him. Harry longed to reach for her, to pull her away, but Pansy's wand still hovered dangerously close to her.

'Ginny Weasley,' said Lucius, 'was blinding you. Pansy knew it as well as I did. I knew you had fought with her at her house at the Christmas holiday. About the Weasley girl. She wrote to me, you see. She said she had nowhere else to turn, and then she told me that she was going to arrange to meet you in Diagon Alley. She received your written refusal; she was devastated, of course, but that's when I intervened.'

Draco was staring at his father in confusion, but Lucius's words resonated with Harry, and suddenly things about Pansy's faked death began to make sense.

'It was your idea for Pansy to fake her death,' said Harry.

'Yes,' said Lucius coolly. Draco's relationship with Pansy is, I knew he'd be genuinely upset if he thought she'd been murdered by our people.'

'You bastard,' Draco whispered, and again Harry marveled at just how cruel Lucius Malfoy could be, even to his own flesh and blood.

'Maybe I'm just being thick here,' said Harry sarcastically, 'but how does faking Pansy's death and making it look like Death Eaters raped and murdered her make Draco more inclined to come back to you?'

'It wouldn't,' said Lucius evenly. 'At the time, nothing would have convinced Draco to come to his senses. I was able to make Pansy realize that it would take time for Draco to realize his mistake; in the meantime, Pansy could assist me in another way.'

Draco still looked confused, but realization was buzzing in Harry's brain.

'Merlin,' he breathed. 'You were the spy, weren't you, Pansy?'

Pansy looked at Harry haughtily, and nodded, and something else came roaring to the forefront of Harry's mind.

'Ron,' he whispered.

Ron had a vision about Pansy brewing something!

'What?' said Lucius.

Harry quickly caught himself, and instead said to Pansy, 'you used Polyjuice, didn't you? You disguised yourself as Goyle. Rita Skeeter took care of making sure the wards were never up to scratch so you could sneak in and out. You were passing messages to Voldemort, and...and it was you, wasn't it, who grabbed the sword...and took Ginny...that night you took Ginny you disguised yourself as Draco...'

Harry thought harder, and remembered something else.

Ron couldn't find Pansy right away; he was having such trouble. But he saw things happening to Pansy, didn't he?

Was it Pansy at all?

No. It was somebody else. Ron saw another girl being raped and murdered.

Harry swallowed, and suddenly felt sick.

'Who was the girl you killed?' he asked, glaring at Lucius Malfoy. 'Who was the girl those Death Eaters raped and murdered?'

'Some Muggle,' said Lucius casually. 'A homeless prostitute. Not one who'd be missed, and not one whose disappearance the Muggle authorities would spend any time investigating.'

Harry felt really sick.

'You did that to her, to an innocent girl?'

'I'd hardly call a whore innocent,' said Lucius. 'It wasn't as if she was made to do anything she hadn't done before. But if you're asking if I participated, certainly not.' He scowled, and Harry had to force himself not to throw up.

It suddenly occurred to him that if Voldemort had been evil, Lucius was even worse. Voldemort, in the end, had found some piece of humanity inside himself. Lucius had no such humanity. Draco was absolutely right about his father. Lucius cared nothing for anyone but himself. Other people were mere devices to him. An innocent girl was brutally raped and murdered, because she served the purpose of advancing Lucius's plans. Harry wondered how Draco had managed to grow up in such a house without turning out just as twisted as his father. As it was, Draco was selfish and self-absorbed and put his own needs ahead of everyone else's, but Harry simply couldn't imagine Draco being this way, going this far, actually being evil like Lucius.

In that sense, Lucius was also right: Draco would never be like his father. That was cold comfort to Harry, whose mind was still racing with this newfound knowledge; Pansy had been spying on him, on his friends, on the school, all along. That she had aided and abetted in the kidnapping and murder of an innocent girl.

'Did you use Polyjuice on the girl, too?' he asked. 'To get her to look like Pansy?'

Harry realized this was perhaps why Ron had such trouble locating Pansy; he wasn't looking for Pansy at all; he was looking for another girl who was made to look like Pansy. And this, too, must be why Ron saw the girl's horrific rape and murder in such stark detail: the girl had been frightened and alone and desperate, and deep inside her, her mind had called out to someone, anyone to help her. Ron had focused on Pansy, who'd kept herself closed off, but somehow, occasionally, he'd been able to See this other girl in his mind. She had been open, as open as she could ever be, and even though she was a Muggle, there was a basic part of her psyche, her soul, that had reached out. She just hadn't known she was capable of such a thing. Indeed, what Muggle would even believe such a possibility? That such a primal connection even existed between human beings?

The thought of that girl, and her last moments, made Harry's heart hurt. He could only imagine what it would do to Ron when he learned the truth.

'Yes,' Pansy said, in answer to Harry's question. 'I'm very good at making Polyjuice Potion. Aren't I, Draco?' Her eyes suddenly glittered with malice as she stared at Draco. Draco flinched, and Harry felt alarm bells sound in his head.

'What does that mean?' he asked.

'Oh, you haven't told him,' said Pansy, almost cooing, as she continued to fix her eyes on Draco.

'You knew about this?' Harry accused, whirling on Draco. 'You knew she was really alive, you--'

'No!' Draco protested.

'He didn't know,' said Pansy, and Lucius nodded.

'Then what's this about Polyjuice--'

'I used it to make myself look like her,' Pansy spat, glaring at Ginny, whose eyes widened with horror.

Harry felt his stomach swooping, his mind reeling with this new information.

'W-what?' he managed.

'Pansy, don't,' Draco begged.

'Don't what?' she hissed. 'Tell Potter that I took Polyjuice Potion to look like her, so that when you fucked me you could pretend it was her?'

The information struck Harry like a punch to the gut, and Ginny gave a small whimper.

I should have known. That night...when Pansy and Draco were in that room, and he told her he thought of Ginny when they had sex...Ron told me about that vision of Pansy brewing something...why didn't I put two and two together?

Because you thought she was dead.

Harry turned slowly to Draco.

'You...you're sick...' he bit out.

Draco met Harry's gaze, and Harry was horrified to see that Draco looked apologetic, not defiant.

'It was the only way I could be with her!' he said, in a pleading voice.

'And you let him...you...' Harry stammered at Pansy, but his voice failed him. He couldn't speak. The very idea was so sickening, so wrong...

Ginny had begun to cry silently, and Harry felt a rush of agony that he knew wasn't only his. Even though Draco had never once come close to having Ginny in the way he most wanted, Harry knew Ginny felt violated, and suddenly, Harry was furious. He wanted to kill Draco. He wanted to kill Pansy. Most of all, he wanted to kill Lucius, for raising a son who could be capable of such a sick deception, for using Pansy and twisting her mind into believing she was actually helping Draco...

And unbidden, Harry felt a wave of pity for Draco, pity that came from Ginny, too; Draco was vile and despicable and pathetic, because in the end, Lucius was right about something else: Harry beat Draco at everything. Draco's obsession with Ginny wasn't simply because Draco was in love with Ginny; it was because Ginny was Harry's girlfriend.

But wait, he was obsessed with her before you starting dating her.

True, but there was also her Empathic power, which, no doubt, he'd wanted for himself. When I came into the picture, that things.

Draco was crying in earnest now, his face stretched in silent horror at all that had come to pass. Pansy was trembling with a mixture of fury and rejection. Through it all, Lucius watched dispassionately; it was his reaction that most struck Harry, and only reinforced the simple fact that Lucius cared nothing for his son, nor for the damage he'd inflicted upon him. But then Harry's eyes met Ginny's again, and he didn't care one iota for Pansy or the Malfoys. His only goal, his only purpose here, was to get Ginny out of this mess--get them both out--alive. Harry suddenly didn't care if Draco, Lucius and Pansy all killed each other.

'You see, Draco,' Pansy was saying, 'that's why I had to get her away from you. Because you wouldn't stop thinking about her! She was poisoning you away from me.'

Ginny...stay with me...I'm going to get you out of here, I promise...

Harry gripped Ginny's wand in his fist, and glanced at Draco, who met his gaze for a moment before looking at Pansy.

'What do want, Pansy?' he said finally. 'Tell me. I'll do it, okay?'

'Come with me,' Pansy begged, holding out her free hand, as tears started up in her eyes. 'Be with me again, just me. We can be married, Draco, we can be happy. I'll love you forever, I'll be such a good wife to you, I'll give you...lots of sons...'

Draco closed his eyes, struggling against making a face.

'Listen to her, Draco,' Lucius said, his voice taking on that same faux kindness from before. 'You are my son, and a Malfoy, but you can never fulfill your truest potential if you let the Weasley girl cloud your thinking. You know your true path; it's the one you were on before you allowed your feelings to get in the way. You know emotion is weakness, Draco. Emotion is what destroyed the Dark Lord. But we are stronger than he was. We are Malfoys. We can be a family again, you and I. We can rise to the top, as we were meant to, as Malfoys.'

Draco began to tremble again, and Harry saw the conflict on the other boy's face. Lucius was a better manipulator than Harry had ever seen, and it struck him suddenly that, in a way, Lucius had been the Dark Lord after all, instead of Voldemort. Lucius never allowed his emotions--if he had any real emotions at all--to interfere with his goals.

'F-Father,' Draco whispered.

'Draco, don't,' Harry urged. 'They'll kill Ginny.'

Draco looked at Ginny, then at Harry, and then at his father and Pansy. Harry could see the battle going on inside Draco's mind, could see the wheels turning.

'Draco...'

Draco bit back a sound in his throat to hear Ginny speak his name. He looked at her for a moment, and Ginny's swollen eyes met his.

He swallowed, and looked back at his father, and at Pansy.

Harry felt a sudden emotion from Ginny, but couldn't quite place it...

'Okay,' he said. 'I'll come with you...Father.'

No! Harry thought desperately, but then he saw Draco's fingers tighten, almost imperceptibly, on his wand; when Draco spoke further, Harry caught on at once.

He's stalling for time.

'I don't want...the Weasley girl,' said Draco, taking a slow step forward, keeping both hands firmly at his sides. 'I want you, Pansy. Just you. Forever.'

Harry watched Lucius and Pansy's faces; Lucius looked wary and ready to strike, but Pansy was buying it.

'Really?' she whispered.

'Really,' said Draco. 'I'm sorry, Pansy, for everything. You're right. I want to marry you, I want you to have my children, I want us to be a family.'

Pansy began to cry; she wasn't paying any attention to Ginny, but her wand was still very close to Ginny's head...

Lucius still looked on his guard as Draco advanced closer.

Draco then looked directly at his father, lifted his chin, and said, 'I want to make you proud, Father. I want to be a Malfoy again.'

It was these words, at last, that seemed to make Lucius relax, just slightly...

Now.

'EXPELLIARMUS!'

Draco and Harry struck simultaneously; Draco's spell struck Lucius in the chest, hurling him backwards; Harry's caught Pansy just in her wand arm; her wand went flying out of reach.

'NO!' Pansy screamed. Harry ran towards Ginny, who tried to scramble away from Pansy.

Lucius leapt up but Draco was faster; he threw a Dark curse at his father. Lucius repelled it just in time. Draco tried again, but Lucius again repelled his son's curse.

At that very moment, half a dozen loud pops announced the arrival of...

'Aurors!' Draco shouted.

Harry was nearly to Ginny when Pansy managed to summon her wand back into her hand; Harry raised Ginny's wand to fire a curse but her fury made her quicker.

'Impedimenta!'

Harry moved to throw up a Shield Charm when he stumbled, and Pansy's curse caught him in the stomach like a sharp punch. He flew backwards and landed on his back, hard.

'Expelliarmus!'

Harry looked up to see another Disarming Charm, thrown by Nymphadora Tonks, catch Pansy, and again, she lost her wand.

Aurors, meanwhile, were closing in on Lucius Malfoy; Draco smiled viciously and raised his wand.

'This is for my mother!' he howled. 'Avada--'

'Draco, no!' Tonks screamed, and she knocked Draco off his feet with a Falling Jinx as another Auror--James Marchbanks--took aim at Lucius.

But before Marchbanks could strike, Lucius Malfoy Disapparated.

Draco stared up in horror at the place where his father had just been.

'No!' he roared. 'No, no, NO!' He leapt up but Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt grabbed him, trying to restrain him.

'Marchbanks, see if you can track his signature!' Tonks yelled.

Harry, meanwhile, had regained his senses and hurtled towards Ginny. Pansy gave a frustrated scream when she saw an Auror grab her wand.

Almost there...Ginny...I'm almost there...

Pansy dove at Ginny, yanking her up with a strength borne of her anger. Harry raised Ginny's wand to hex her, but then there was a flash of silver, and Harry felt his stomach twist to see Pansy holding a knife to Ginny's throat. Time and activity came to a screeching halt.

'Back off!' Pansy screamed. 'I'll kill her, I swear!'

A young Auror took a step forward, but Kingsley raised his right hand as his left held Draco's arm in a death grip. 'Step back, Winston.'

'Pansy, let her go,' Harry begged. He turned to Draco, beseeching him to help; for a moment it looked as if Draco couldn't get himself under control, so furious he was about his father escaping. But then Draco saw Pansy and Ginny, and he let himself go slack against Tonks and Kingsley's grips on his arms.

'Pansy,' Draco said, struggling to keep his voice calm, 'remember what I said? If you hurt Ginny...if you kill her...they'll take you away from me forever.'

'It's too late,' Pansy sobbed. 'I don't belong to you...I never have...'

'Yes, you do,' Draco said insistently.

'No...' Pansy blubbered, her knife hand wavering against Ginny's throat. Ginny was frozen in place.

'Yes, Pansy,' said Draco, his eyes darting to the other Aurors, willing them not to make any sudden movements. On this score, Harry was right there with him; he looked at Tonks, who nodded and held up her hands, releasing Draco and signaling to the other Aurors not to make a move. Yet.

'You've always belonged to me,' said Draco, moving carefully towards Pansy, both hands up. He'd pocketed his wand. 'I just...I was too stupid to appreciate you. It wasn't until I thought you were dead that I knew...God, Pansy...I've been hopeless without you...I haven't been able to sleep...you've been all I thought about...all this time...it was my fault...I'm so sorry...please, Pansy...let Ginny go. I don't care about her anymore. I love you...'

'LIAR!' Pansy screamed, and she pulled Ginny's hair. 'You really expect me to believe you now, after what just happened?'

For a moment, nobody moved. Harry felt his stomach twist tighter; Draco couldn't hope to convince Pansy of anything now, and Harry hated himself for being so clumsy, for not being quick enough. But then he felt Ginny's eyes on him, and he looked at her. She was very, very still, and her eyes kept flickering to the blade at her throat, but then Harry saw her moving her hand, ever so carefully, towards Pansy's exposed ankle, that stood out beneath her Death Eater robes.

'Pansy, I wasn't aiming for you!' Draco said desperately. 'I just wanted to get my father! He hurt me, he hurt you...he used both of us...I didn't mean what I said to him, but I swear I meant what I said to you...I love you--'

'I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!' Pansy shrieked, and she tightened her grip on the knife...

...and Ginny struck. She wrapped her hand about Pansy's ankle and Harry felt her unleash her Empathic powers into Pansy.

The effect was immediate; Pansy screamed in pain and dropped the knife as Ginny's grip tightened on her ankle.

'Stop it!' Pansy cried, and Harry groaned in pain as Ginny assaulted Pansy with Pansy's own misery, magnified a hundred times.

But Pansy's fury seemed a force by itself, and to Harry's shock, she again summoned her wand into her hand, raising it at Ginny. Through the haze of Ginny's power, Pansy opened her mouth to shout a curse.

'Avada--'

'Diffindo!'

The Cutting Curse came from James Marchbanks' wand, and sliced Pansy cleanly across the chest.

'NO!' Draco screamed.

Pansy stood there for a moment, staring in confusion, as blood began to bloom on her front. Ginny let go of her ankle and scrambled away on all fours, as Harry raced to her and gathered her up in his arms. Even as they found each other, they turned back to Pansy in mutual horror.

A silent, unmoving moment passed, and Pansy turned her eyes to Draco.

'Draco...' she whispered, and then her knees buckled beneath her, and she collapsed onto the dirt floor of the Malfoy stables.

'No!' Draco roared again, and he dove at Pansy, picking her up in his arms, pressing a hand to her chest to staunch the bleeding.

'Draco...' she whispered.

'Pansy...' Draco begged, sobbing openly now as he cradled her in his arms. 'Don't leave 't you just...love me...' Pansy whispered, looking up at him with tears in her blue eyes.

'Pansy...' Draco cried.

'L-love you...' she whispered. She blinked once, and then the light in her blue eyes faded as she died in Draco's arms.

'NO!' Draco howled. 'No! Pansy...don't do this! Don't leave me! PANSY!' He shook her, but she flopped limply in his arms, and then Draco broke down completely, hugging Pansy to his body.

Harry bit his lip as he clung to Ginny, who trembled in his arms and cried softly. He buried his face in her dirty hair and breathed her in, not caring that she was filthy. Ginny was alive, in his arms, and even as he felt a rush of guilt, witnessing Draco lose, yet again, the one person who had every truly cared for him--even if unhealthily--Harry couldn't stop thanking whatever higher powers there were for delivering Ginny safely.

It seemed a long time before Harry felt gentle hands on his shoulders, urging him to stand.

'Harry...'

It was Lupin. Harry looked up and was never happier to see his former Defense teacher.

'Remus...' Harry whispered, and he clung to Ginny as Lupin and Kingsley helped them up. Ginny gave a weak moan as her knees wavered; Harry moved to scoop her into his arms, but Kingsley intervened, picking up Ginny himself just as she passed out.

'Ginny,' Harry whispered.

'She's all right, Harry, she's just fainted,' said Kingsley, 'but she needs the hospital. And so do you.'

'I'm fine, I want to go with her--' Harry protested.

'Harry, let Kingsley take Ginny,' Lupin ordered. 'You saw what she just did, and how badly injured and exhausted she was when she did it. She's going to need extensive treatment and it won't do her any good to have you hovering over her. Especially considering...what you have between you.'

Harry swallowed, and realized Lupin was right. Their Empathic connection only meant that the closer Harry was to her, the more she'd sense his own worry. She certainly didn't need that on top of everything else.

Harry looked mournfully at Ginny, who looked almost as if she were sleeping in Kingsley's arms.

'Okay,' said Harry.

'We'll make sure she gets there, Harry,' said Kingsley. 'I've got a Portkey right here with me, and Arthur and Molly are waiting for us. I should go.'

Harry nodded, but before Kingsley could pull away, he leaned forward a brushed a kiss on Ginny's forehead.

Ginny stirred slightly, but didn't wake. Kingsley nodded to Harry and Lupin before heading out of the stables. Lupin, meanwhile, looked at Harry with unchecked exasperation.

'Harry, after what you've pulled this morning...I suppose I should be relieved that you at least had the courtesy to leave me a note about where you were going,' he said hotly. 'What were you thinking, coming here alone?'

'You know what I was thinking, you read the note,' Harry shot back.

'I know that just because you vanquished Voldemort, that doesn't make you invincible,' Lupin countered. 'After what you went through last night with him...I can only imagine what that must have been like...'

'It wasn't fun,' Harry snapped. 'Let's just leave it at that, shall we? Look, Remus, Ginny...she's gone through hell, okay? And no matter what you say, it's my fault it happened.'

'Harry--'

'I know, I know,' Harry said wearily. 'I didn't make Ginny be my girlfriend, I didn't choose to have a mad dark wizard running after me, I didn't deliberately put her life in danger...but you know what, Remus? I don't want to hear any of that, okay? The fact is, I'm the reason Ginny went through everything she went through, and if you think I was just going to sit around and wait for somebody else to get her back, you're mad.'

Lupin sighed. 'It's never any good lecturing you, is it?' he said. 'You really are your father's son.' His eyes strayed over to Tonks, who was gently pulling Draco away from Pansy Parkinson's limp body.

'You killed her!' Draco suddenly roared, launching himself at James Marchbanks. 'You fucking bastard, you murdered her!'

'Draco!' Tonks snapped, holding onto him tightly. Lupin tensed as if to help her, but a very burly, large Auror with straw-colored hair stepped in, pulling Draco away from Marchbanks.

'Let go of me!' Draco screamed, struggling and kicking.

Again, Lupin made to go to Tonks, but Tonks yelled at the burly Auror, 'Hold him still!' The Auror was twice Draco's size and managed to keep Draco's struggles to a minimum as Tonks removed a syringe from a satchel at her waist, enlarged it, and stuck Draco's upper arm with it.

Draco let out a cry of protest that, a few seconds later, dissolved into a moan, and he went slack in the burly Auror's arms. The Auror scooped Draco up as if he weighed nothing at all and carried him from the stables, and James Marchbanks carried Pansy's body out of the stables, with Tonks following behind.

Tonks paused long enough to look back at Lupin and Harry.

'Coming?' she said.

'In a minute,' said Lupin. She smiled sadly at him, and then followed Marchbanks out.

Lupin watched her go. 'For what it's worth, Harry,' he said, his eyes still on Tonks as she turned the corner out of the stables, 'I would have done the same as you, if Tonks had been...'

He colored slightly, and said, 'I suppose that makes me a hypocrite, lecturing you about coming after Ginny when I would have done the same for Tonks.'

Harry smiled weakly. 'It's okay,' he said, shrugging.

'I have the feeling Draco had the same motives, coming here,' Lupin mused. 'However strange it may seem...Draco loved both of them, in his way.'

In his way. In his twisted, weird, disgusting way, maybe.

Harry swallowed and felt a sting of pity for Draco. He wanted to despise Draco for everything he'd done...indeed, Harry did despise Draco...and yet, the pity wouldn't go away.

'What's going to happen to him now?' he asked.

'I don't know,' said Lupin sadly. 'He'll need counseling, I know that much.'

'Yeah, just a little,' said Harry sarcastically, running a hand through his hair.

'So will you, I'm guessing,' said Lupin pointedly. 'After what happened--'

'I don't want to talk about that,' Harry snapped.

'You'll have to at some point,' Lupin insisted. Harry started to protest again, but Lupin cut him off.

'Harry, I know how you are,' he said. 'You hold things inside you because you don't want to be seen as weak. You don't want to trust anyone with that side of yourself that's frail, a side that all of us have. You've been that way all your life, I would imagine, or at least as long as I've known you. But you saw how bottling up your emotions served you two years ago.'

'I know!' Harry snarled. 'You think I don't go to bed every night thinking about how stupid I was, how it was my fault Sirius--'

'You think I don't blame myself for Sirius just as fiercely as you?' Lupin retorted. 'Harry, my god, I was responsible for making sure Sirius didn't do anything foolish. If anyone should have stopped Sirius from going out that night, it was me. Every single day, I have to live with the knowledge that I didn't do enough. I should have hexed him to keep from going, but I didn't.'

Lupin sighed again. 'We can stand here and play the blame game until we're blue in the face,' he said sadly. 'Anyone of us could have done one thing differently that night, and maybe, just maybe, Sirius would be here talking to you instead of me. But none of us can know if doing anything differently would have made a difference. It wasn't your fault or my fault or Dumbledore's fault that Sirius died. It was Voldemort's fault, and Bellatrix Lestrange's fault.'

Harry closed his eyes and put his face in his hand.

'Harry, sooner or later you're going to come face to face with what you've done,' said Lupin. 'You defeated the most powerful Dark Wizard in a century. A wizard who affected every single life around him. You can scoff at the idea of counseling all you want, but you will need it. Ginny will need it. We may all of us need it.'

Harry scowled at Lupin for a moment, but the expression on the werewolf's face was so heavy and sad that Harry felt his annoyance ebb away.

'We should get you back,' said Lupin. 'Come. I have a Portkey waiting.'

Harry felt his feet slam onto the cold marble floor of the St. Mungo's lobby, and the next thing he felt was a pair of arms crush him in an embrace.

'Oh, Harry!' Mrs. Weasley sobbed. 'Thank god...you're all right...you saved Ginny, you saved our baby...and Ron...you wonderful boy...'

Harry gasped for breath and was just about to ask Mrs. Weasley to ease up, when she backed off and looked at him with tear-stained eyes.

'Harry,' said a gruff voice, and Harry looked up to see Mr. Weasley smiling down at him; Mr. Weasley's eyes--like his wife's--had dark circles beneath and were red-rimmed. They both looked awful, as if they'd been up the entire night crying and worrying.

'Hi, Mr. Weasley,' said Harry, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the older man's gaze.

Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to say something, but then he, too, pulled Harry into an embrace.

'Thank you,' he said, his voice cracking.

He let go of Harry, who was blushing and who wanted to flee. Harry didn't feel like much of a hero; both Ron and Ginny had gone through hell in the past twenty-four hours, and Harry couldn't help but blame himself. He thought of what Lupin had told him, only minutes ago, about the 'blame game.' And then he realized just how very exhausted he was. His leg was sore; his heart was sore. He just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a week. But he had to ask about Ron and Ginny first.

'Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,' he said, 'how are Ron and Ginny? How's everyone?'

Mrs. Weasley pressed her lips together; she looked like she might break down again. Mr. Weasley spoke.

'Ginny just went in,' he said, 'but...Healer Smethwyck says her physical injuries are easy enough to heal. It's...well...she's just been through such an ordeal...'

Harry nodded; Ginny's emotional trauma was going to be much more serious than her physical one.

'And Ron?' Harry asked.

'Ron's...he's in a coma,' he said slowly. 'It's...not life threatening, the Healers said. It's just...he was so badly injured, the Healers think he's gone into the coma just to help himself heal. There was some extensive nerve damage in his left eye...the Healers aren't sure if...if they can fix that. They can't work on him while he's in the coma, they said. Er...he had...several broken ribs...a punctured lung...and of course there was...'

Mr. Weasley trailed off, for which Harry was grateful; neither of them were keen to discuss a catalog of Ron's injuries.

'What about Hermione?' Harry asked. 'Do you know anything about her?'

'She's at the school,' said Arthur, 'but...well, the good news is...she's going to see her parents in a few hours. At least, that's what Minerva told us. Hermione wanted to come right back here to see Ron, but...'

Harry bit his lip; the subject of Ron was clearly painful to Mr. Weasley.

'Bill and Charlie are fine, and so's Percy,' said Mrs. Weasley quickly. 'Percy and the twins weren't anywhere near the fighting, thank god...Fred seems to be all healed up...as much as he can be. George...well, George is talking a bit more now. He's been on that potion treatment and it's finally starting to make real progress...'

Mrs. Weasley suddenly broke down again and sank against her husband.

'Shh, Molly,' Mr. Weasley whispered. 'It's over. We've made it...'

He, too, suddenly seemed to become too emotional to speak, and Harry left them there, a husband and wife clinging to each other for solace and strength.

'Harry?'

Harry turned wearily to see Augustus Pye standing with his arms folded across his chest. He held a flask in his left hand.

'Is it all right if I take you back to your room now?' Augustus asked, looking torn between annoyance and good humor.

Harry nodded and let Augustus lead him out of the busy lobby and down the corridor to his room. Harry went inside and upon seeing the bed, wanted only to collapse upon it.

'Wait,' said Augustus, 'you should clean yourself up a bit.'

'Right,' said Harry, and he removed Ginny's wand from his pocket--just the sight of Ginny's wand in his hand made him ache for her--and did a few Cleaning Charms. The effort of just those simple charms, along with changing out of his dirty, transfigured clothing and into a fresh set of hospital pyjamas, took the very last of his strength. He crawled into the bed as Augustus set the flask down on the bedside table.

'You'll want to take that,' he said. 'It'll help you sleep.'

'I don't need any help sleeping,' Harry said wearily, flopping back onto the pillows and pulling the covers over himself.

'Suit yourself,' said Augustus. 'It's there if you need it.'

The Healer turned and started to leave the room, when Harry said, 'Augustus?'

Augustus turned back. 'Yeah?'

'Thanks,' said Harry, feeling the pull of sleep pressing on his eyes. 'For everything. The Weasleys...'

'Just doing my job,' said Augustus with a shrug, and he left.

Harry felt his eyes drift closed. Two words were buzzing in his otherwise exhausted mind: 'It's over.' Mr. Weasley had said them, while holding onto his wife.

It's over.

For reasons, Harry couldn't explain, those words brought no comfort, but he realized he was too bloody tired to analyze why. He instead tried to focus on Ginny, and holding her in his arms; it was this image that stayed with him as he surrendered at last to the embrace of sleep.

A/N: The ordeals of Voldemort and Pansy Parkinson may be over for the Quartet, but this story isn't quite there yet. Just a couple more chapters and then the epilogue.

My thanks as always to lina and to Buckbeaky.