Chapter 5

They stood for a long time, saying nothing at all. Finally he broke the connection and walked stiffly past her.

She sank weakly down to her knees and huddled against a bookshelf. Lance pushed his head into her lap and stared at her while she waded through her thoughts.

A young Draco sat, transfixed in helpless horror, watching as 'Father' made that terrible green light. Draco's favorite uncle slumped to the floor, his head lolling at an awkward angle.

"Take heed boy." Said Father, sneering at the body before sweeping out.

"Uncle?" Whispered Draco, his hand quivering as he reached to touch his Uncle's frozen cheek.

"Draco?" Asked, the cold, distant voice of 'Mother'. He looked at her and saw her features twitch as her eyes landed on the body of her brother, a sign of bad things sure to come. "Get out." Her voice was colder then he had ever heard it. "Get out!" She screeched and flailed at him.

He ran for the door, darting out and racing along the corridors of the Malfoy mansion.

Ginny raced with him, seeing everything as he had, experiencing the growing emptiness and the void that the lack of love had left him.

It was Draco's 1st year at Hogwarts.

"Don't disappoint me Boy." Father's last words rang in his head.

"I won't."

Unfortunately he was wrong. A Mudblood girl beat him in all of his subjects, and Scarhead Potter beat him out on the Quiditch field, the one place he had had confidence he would succeed.

He had paid in blood when he went home.

Ginny's head hurt as she stumbled back to Sanctuary, but it was nothing to her heart. Such compassion as she had never felt before welled up in her, that she broke down in empty tears when she reached her doorstep.

Lance, sensing Ginny's mood, trailed behind her, trying to be as quiet as possible. At her dry wracking sobs, though, he woofed noisily and shoved her inside. She collapsed a chair, not even bothering to light the candles. Lance clambered onto her lap (although his hind legs hung off one side of her and his fore legs hung off the other side.

The clock chimed four loudly, waking Ginny. She raised her hand in protest to the day's last light streaming in the window, shinning directly into her eyes. Lance had woken in the night and was now curled in his doggy bed. Quietly she crept into the kitchen, fixing herself a late supper. She reached up and opened an almost empty cupboard and made a note to herself to make a trip to Hogwart's kitchen to restock.

For herself she made a bowl of cereal, barely checking herself after reaching for a dogbowl. Lance had woken and his tail thumped noisily against the wooden floor and he looked at her bowl hungrily.

Ginny remembered she hadn't fed him last night and shared her cereal with him. Lance licked his lips at the treat and gave her a quick, slobbery kiss on the cheek.

Ginny left him to the rest of her meal and trudged up the stairs to the library and slumped into the loveseat, kicking off her shoes before stretching out.

She tried to sort out what was in her head. Why had Malfoy been crying? What was on the paper? And more importantly, what the hell happened? It's not every day one could see inside another's head, and these recent events certainly put a new spin on Malfoy. She knew, deep inside, she could never, ever truly hate him; she now understood him too well for that.

She grumbled, and sat up, suddenly restless. She stalked down stairs, irritable at her inability to sit still.

"We're going out Lance." His ears pricked forward at the word 'out'. He knew what that meant and ran to the door.

Ginny's hand was on the knob when she thought of something. Lance whimpered as she retreated back into the kitchen, hurriedly stuffing things into a large basket. A sense of urgency was growing in her now. She raced upstairs and grabbed her scrolls and a couple bottles of ink and a quill. She stashed them in the picnic basket and raced out the door with Lance barely ahead of her.

She let her running feet lead her where they would and they picked out hidden trails through the grass by the lake and to the very edge of the Forbidden Forest. She had never been this close before, in all her days at Hogwarts, but there was something magnetic in there, pulling her unwaveringly to it but as soon as it had come, it stopped.

She suddenly felt that her whole life had been leading her up to this moment. She could either stay here or venture it; the choice was hers and no one else's. The pull was gone and even Lance stood stalk-still, waiting for her judgment.

She took a tentative step forward and Lance bounded ahead; her steps grew surer and she knew she had made a life changing decision.

AN. Oh wow...I'm amazed and flattered by your reviews, here's your update, sorry it's so short.

FieldofPaperFlowers- Cool pen name! I'm really glad you like it.

AngelofHell- Wow, I'm surprised by such an enthusiastic response! As for the dogs, I LOVE them! I have two poodles of my own...

Carmleinak- Well here's the end of your waitng.

3roken5oul- Oh, thankyou for the reviews! I'm glad you like my story, here's the update!

A note to everyone: I'm not going to be able to update so quickly because school has started up again, my apologies! I'll try and update when ever I have the time, but please keep this in mind.