A/N: I am SO sorry for the long, long, long, long, long wait. Completely my fault. There will be another chapter shortly (it'll be longer than this one), the last one in fact. Plus their will be an epilogue. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. I hope there are people out there still reading this! Oh yeah, and I own nothing except the plot so there.
XIII Stockholm Syndrome
Ginny was torn. Shredded. Detached. Whatever you want to call it, if it involved breaking of the heart, that was her. Right there. As she stood stock still, staring at the stupefying spectacles.
It was her fault. Harry was as good as dead and it was entirely her fault. And any sentiment of joy and happiness she felt for Draco was shattered. She had to go to Harry, there was no other choice. She had to. And from the look in Draco's eye, he knew it too.
"I'm going with you," he said, breaking the silence.
"Draco, you can't –"
"Listen," he reasoned. "We can destroy the weapon this way; we just need a plan,"
"There's no time for plans," she snapped. What did he know anyway?
"We need a plan if we're going to get Potter out alive," he said quietly, too quietly.
"Yes, and look what a plan of yours got you," she motioned to the rather nasty burn on his bare chest and immediately regretted it.
"I understand that you're angry," he seethed through gritted teeth. "But for now we have to keep our wits, do you think we'd stand a chance if we just barged in there and demanded Potter's release?"
"Well, no," He did have a point. "I'm sorry, I just – it's all my fault,"
Their eyes met for the briefest second she saw hope and relief flash in the smoky depths of his eyes and something sparked. He had a plan.
The hours were spent in limbo. No one ate. No one slept. Just plan plan plan. There was no awkwardness. No embarrassed glancing across the room. Neither of them was ashamed. And that's what tore Ginny up the most.
Draco had told her little of what the weapon actually was, what it did probably because he thought she was thinking about Harry. He was wrong. She was thinking about him. Draco. It was like eating chocolate that didn't go bitter in your mouth. And gave that nauseating feeling. And the worst part was she couldn't stop.
This was exactly why Ginny wouldn't talk to Draco as they trudged up the dewy hills enclosing Malfoy Manor. This is why she discussed the plan once and only once. What could she say? She felt bad for not feeling bad.
They both had two objectives: 1) get Potter – Harry out of there. 2) destroy the weapon without dying first. Both were a bit tricky.
Since the wards that surrounded Malfoy Manor were so old and out dated (highly unlike them as well), it knows who is a Malfoy and who is not. Ginny is clearly not a Malfoy so it would be rather hard to search the Manor with Draco without hurting herself someway. Certain rooms could be entered and some could not. It really depended on what the house felt like, oddly enough like a Malfoy.
Ginny had to breathe through her mouth. Draco had told her the Muggles in Iceland could hear her breathe; she had caught a head cold through all the preparation and trudges through the snow.
The eastern entrance suddenly appeared in front of her, she was completely unaware of how badly she just wanted to get up the hill and get on with this and … well neither of them had really thought ahead of rescuing Harry and destroying the weapon. She just wanted to see the next sunrise.
"Alright then," Draco said, after covering the last of their tracks with his wand. "You know what to do?"
Ginny's throat was stuck together so she nodded. He wordlessly handed her the Invisibility cloak. His hand brushed her cold one and she had to look up. His eyes never gave away anything but even she could tell there was something he wasn't telling her. Ginny was about to question him when he pulled her into a tight embrace. Draco's warm body made her feel aglow. He kissed her again. This one impossibly sweeter than the last. That lovely jolt soared through her, better that before. And before she knew it, she was quite alone in Malfoy Manor, with a horrible feeling that that kiss would be their last for a very long time.
Ginny kept her breathing steady. Draco sure wasn't kidding about the wards on the rooms. Ginny had just stepped into the ballroom and the pain was so sudden, she was sure she was back on the field, fighting for her life with the rest of her peers. Quick to react, cast a shield about herself.
The weak spot of the ward was just left of the door, Draco had told her. Ginny fired a powerful "Stupefy!" at the wall. To her vast relief, the ward relented. Good thing too, her shield was about give way.
Now that she wasn't in immense discomfort, she looked around at her surroundings. Clearly a lot different from the last time she was here. No tables to speak of and the lovely candles were all put away. Quite spooky, she'd have to say.
Now down to business.
The youngest Weasley looked down to there floor. There it was. The design in the center of the large room was that of the Malfoy coat of arms. Much like the other Slytherin families, this one had indication of a serpent, in loyalty to Salazar Slytherin of course.
Ginny crouched down to the elegant floor to get a better look at it. No more different that the other Malfoy seals in the Manor. A snake here, a wand there. Ginny didn't find it very impressive. There it was. Like the rest of the floor, the emblem was flat, except for the tiny impressions around the snakes head. Five in all. The redhead looked at her hand and understood.
Carefully, she placed her freckled hand over the snake's sinister face and pushed forwards with all her strength. Nothing. Ginny pushed harder, shifting all her weight onto her wrist. There it went. But nothing happened again. Quite frustrated now, she dug her nails into the sockets and turned it a half turn counter clockwise and a whole turn the other way. The results surprised her more than anything compared to her lack of progress earlier as she looked into a gaping black chasm.
So this must be it, Ginny thought. Not all together impressive. Now all she had to do was wait for Draco's signal and she could drop the weapon and be done with all of this. Unfortunately, this gave her time to contemplate the Potter–Malfoy situation. Exactly how was everything going to work? They all couldn't just live in the same attic apartment until Harry recovered, could they? What was Harry going to say about this? It felt like years since she'd seen Harry last, even if it was only a matter of hours. Of everything he'd been through, Ginny knew he didn't deserve this; he didn't deserve her. So it was almost fitting that she was falling for someone else –
The tip of her wand was emitting green sparks. Draco's signal. Ginny gingerly stepped up to the gap in the middle of the floor. Out of the pocket of her worn-down school robes she pulled out the weapon. So small in size; no bigger than a regular Snitch. Even lighter than she expected when she first acquired it from Harry. She raised it above the opening and let go.
"Bombs away,"
Ginny waited a few seconds and didn't hear it land. But too late now, Ginny understood. This wasn't where the weapon was to be destroyed, no. If her memory served her right, there was a room directly below where she was standing; the one Draco was kept in the night before. The chamber where Lucius was keeping Harry.
It couldn't be. No, Draco told her it was this exact spot where she was supposed to drop it, to destroy it. Unless Draco had tricked her. Unless he had known all this time and wanted the weapon for himself. And the thing was that she did not know whether or not he would do something like this. She loved him, but he was still a Malfoy above all else and she had only really known him for a couple of months and still had little knowledge of what he was capable of. Wait. Hang on. She said it out loud to make sure it was real and not her thoughts running away with her. And of all the useless things she could have said, she said the only one that could get her into any real trouble. "I am in love with Draco Malfoy." And she meant it.
What could this mean for our young heroes? Does Draco feel the same way? Where is Draco exactly? Has he rescued Harry yet? What did he not tell Ginny? Has Draco really betrayed Ginny? Does Lucius have something else up his sleeve?
Tune in next time to The Wrath of Ginevra wherever Internet may be available.
And here it is, your moment of Zen.
"Wilson, what are you afraid of?"
"Well, I'm afraid that reality as we know it is someone else's dream and when they wake up, I'll no longer exist,"
"Don't tell that to too many people, Wilson,"
– Tim and Wilson, Home Improvement