Author's Note: This one I am exceedingly proud of. And for a self-depricating little whiny-arsed bitch, that's saying something. Please do read, and enjoy it; were if you to like it as much as I liked writing it, it would be enough. Another one-shot with an irregular ending. Inspiration's a little ironic bugger-shit, innit? Isn't it? That's what I thought...
Disclaimer: Not mine unless it is.
Dimensional Demise
"Crucio!"
Ginny's face broke into a wild grin as Lucius Malfoy's body convulsed painfully, his screams renting new paths through the still air, piercing the very walls around them. She held him under the curse a while longer, revelling in his agonized shrieks filled with the pain and ache that had filled her once.
Flicking her wand, she released him. As he lay there in his torn and dirty rags, panting and writhing on the stone floor, she stepped forward purposefully, her gorgeous velvet robes of scarlet and white flowing gracefully over the delicate slippered feet that poked out from under the hem.
"Mr. Malfoy." She hissed, coming close to his side and rolling him over with a vicious kick to his ribs. He groaned and rolled onto his back, which was arched against the cold, unforgiving floor as he moaned in pain.
"How does it feel? To have sunk so low while I've risen so high? To know a little of the pain you've brought upon me and my family and my friends?" she spat, circling him like a tiger waiting for the pounce that would end the hunt. He groaned and curled into a ball.
Ginny's eyes flickered dangerously and she held up her wand again. "What was that? I don't think I caught that…" she cocked her head to the side as she gave him a vicious kick in the back as he rolled on his side before spitting "Crucio!" at him.
She held him under much longer this time, her pale face lifting into a smile that twisted with the thrashing of the older, blonde man's body, screaming in agonized complaint against the magical torture Ginny was so nonchalantly putting it through.
Beads of sweat popped out over his forehead as his eyes squeezed shut, his fists clenching at his sides as he arched up against the floor, screaming out until his cries echoed off the walls of the room and of Ginny's mind.
She paused for a moment, letting the curse drop, as a wave of immorality washed over her, drenching her in the cold harsh waters of doubt. For a moment, it didn't feel right and she felt ashamed.
But then she looked at him, saw the man who had tried to kill her when she was eleven, and her parents not three years ago, and had recently attempted to capture and kill her brothers. Hatred etched its mark across her lovely face, screwing it up into an angry, unrecognizable abstract form.
"You bastard. You deserve every iota of pain your body can possibly take while still staying vaguely intact. You deserve to take yourself apart, piece by piece, and have the pleasure of putting yourself together again. You should have to tear out that black pit of a heart of yours and shove it down that insidious little throat, you arrogant stuck-up pureblood bastard!" she spat in his face in a most unlady-like manner.
He raised a hand up to her, sweating profusely now, his face and hair soaked with the perspiration of great agony. "Wait, Ginny…" he implored. Ginny's warm brown eyes went as cold as ice, flashing with crackling animosity unparalleled by anything she'd ever felt.
"Don't you dare call me that…only my family and friends call me that…" she cast the Cruciatus Curse on him again, forcing raw and unadulterated magic into his twisting body, racking the very bones with heart-stopping, slicing hurt that penetrated to the very core.
"You are dirt…you don't deserve a second chance in hell." She spat, flicking another "Crucio!" at him. "You ruined me…you tried to take apart my family, bit by bit. I think I'm being a fair executioner." She said softly, her eyes glinting as she lifted her wand. "You're too low for even an Avada." She twirled her wand in one hand, the russet sleeves of her luxurious gown falling to her elbow.
"But then again, you don't deserve to stay another minute on earth…" she drew her wand back, ready to cast that fateful spell that would end the life of a man who never deserved to live in the first place…
…
Hermione hummed to herself as she placed flowers by Ron's bedside table. The red-head aforementioned slowly opened his hazel eyes, regarding her with a weak grin. "Hullo, 'Mione." He murmured, speaking around the plaster on his broken jaw. "How're you doing?" he asked stiffly.
Hermione readjusted the pale crème sling on her arm, resettling her arm. "Fine, fine. The arm's coming along well. The nurse said I could take it off in a few weeks." She said, raising her arm slightly in its sling. She gave him a worried glance, sitting down on the edge of his cot.
"What about you, are you alright?" she asked, her voice heavy with concern. Ron sighed heavily, closing his eyes as screams, dull and muffled buzzed low in his ears. "It's still just so hard to accept." He forced out thickly, his voice breaking as tears threatened to loose themselves.
Hermione sighed, caressing his cheek with the back of her hand. "I know. I can't imagine what you're going through. First Bill, then Charlie…and the twins…" tears rose to Hermione eyes as she spoke. "I never thought the twins…they always seemed so alive…it's impossible to imagine them…" she trailed off, tears spilling down her cheeks as wounds too fresh to be reopened cut deep into her being.
Ron nodded sadly, his eyes growing dull and hollow as he forced himself not to cry. "Ginny was the biggest hit, though." Ron said feebly, an image of his sister's rosy-cheeked face coming to mind; the dazzling smile that he would never see again the only trace of the bright and happy girl she'd once been, carefully locked away in his mind. "My…little baby sister…"
Hermione's shoulders shook. "I can't believe it…I just can't believe it…" she muttered to herself. Ron nodded, biting down hard on his lip. "What are we going to do, Hermione? There's only the four of us left; you, me, Harry, and Malfoy." He said slowly, almost afraid to say it, lest it make it true.
Hermione stood abruptly. "I don't know, Ron. We'd planned…before the war…on getting married…moving from the Burrow…getting our own place…starting a family. But with your parents…" she hesitated…she simply couldn't bring herself to say 'dead', even if they were. She still thought of them as her second family.
Ron shook his head. "I know, I know. I just don't know what to do. We have nothing to live on." Hermione touched his shoulder gently. "Yes, but Malfoy's been so helpful through all this." Ron's face set. "He's lost nearly as much as we have, 'Mione." He said shortly.
Hermione was about to answer when Harry entered the room, wheeling himself in with the use of a wheelchair, his left leg in a cast. He gave Hermione and Ron a trembling smile, as his jaw was broken twice from the last battle. "Hey Hermione, hi Ron. Have either of you two seen Malfoy? He's supposed to meet me for tea."
Ron shook his head with much difficulty, but Hermione looked thoughtful. "I thought he was going to see Ginny?" she stated more than questioned. Harry nodded thoughtfully. "I'll go check her room for him. Anyone want to come with me?" he asked.
Hermione nodded, turning to Ron. "You want to come?" she asked. Ron nodded, struggling to sit up. Hermione finally helped him from the bed, him leaning on her heavily for support.
They made their way down the hallway in near silence, the staff and attendants strangely absent. Harry wheeled slightly ahead of Ron and Hermione, counting the room numbers as they headed deeper into the ward Ginny was kept in.
It was Harry who picked up on it at first. He suddenly stopped wheeling forward, halting the spinning wheels of his chair and holding his hand up. "Shh, shh." He said, motioning for Ron and Hermione to stop talking. They did and in doing so, caught the sound of voices coming from an open door at the end of the hall.
"You are dirt…you don't deserve a second chance in hell." a harsh female voice spat, shaking violently. Harry turned to Hermione, looking greatly puzzled. "Isn't that-" he was cut off by an aching scream that echoed off the walls, slightly muffled by the padding in the thick walls. Ron turned to Hermione, grasping her at the elbows. "That's Ginny's room!" he shouted, as the violently biting voice continued, punctuated by harsh breathing. "You ruined me…you tried to take apart my family, bit by bit. I think I'm being a fair executioner. You're too low for even an Avada."
Ron and Hermione broke into a run immediately, Harry wheeling along frantically behind them. The sight that met them as they stumbled through the open doorway was one that scarred them for the rest of their lives.
The room itself was a bit of a shocker, really. There were no windows at all, the only light coming from a broad, flat plastic skylight in the ceiling. The walls were made, not of concrete or stone, like the rest of their rooms, but of a thick white, quilted material, of which composed the floor as well. There was no furniture, save for a stuffed mattress in the corner on the floor.
But they had all seen the room; were used to it.
In the middle of the room, clothed only in a white hospital gown, with a white wristband on her thin, pale wrist, stood Ginny Weasley. Her red hair was cut short, curling around her face wildly, as if it hadn't seen brush nor bath in years. Her eyes were wild and unfocused as they glared maliciously at the writhing blonde man on the floor.
"But then again, you don't deserve to stay another minute on earth…" Ginny spat, her voice low and gasping as she raised what had to be the man's wand. Hermione was the fist to react. "Ginny, no!" she shouted, throwing herself at the thin red-head.
Ginny gasped as Hermione caught her around the waist, throwing her backward onto the padded floor and landing roughly on top of her. The wand clattered from her bony hand. Ginny struggled for a moment, screaming and shouting at the top of her lungs, her voice stabbing and wrenching at the hearts of everyone in the room.
"NO! Let-unh-let-go…can't…let me- have to-let me kill him- he tried to kill us! Let me kill him!" she yelled, her eyes bloodshot and wild as she struggled, reaching for the man who was getting to his feet.
Draco Malfoy stared in horror at his wife, struggling so hard to reach him. She started kicking, which prompted him to go up and restrain her legs while Harry wheeled off to get a nurse.
Ginny began fighting like a wildcat to break free. "Get your filthy hands off me, Malfoy! You son of a bitch! You tried to kill me when I was eleven! You put that book in my textbook, you were using me! I'll kill you, I swear to the gods above, I'll kill you Lucius Malfoy!" she let loose an agonized scream.
"Ginny, Ginny! It's not Lucius, it's Draco! It's your husband…Ginny it's Draco!" Hermione struggled to avoid Ginny's flailing fists, which doubled their efforts as she spoke. "NO, that's what he wants you to think…you're wrong…he's tricked you all…he's going to try to kill us again…we have to do something…we're not safe as long as he'd here…you have to trust me, he'll try to kill us!" she screamed furiously.
Ron stuck his head out the door. "NURSE! NURSE! WE NEED A DOCTOR IN HERE, NOW!" he screamed. Ginny stopped struggling, her limbs going limp. She seemed to shake herself, coming around. She turned to Draco, her eyes focusing on his.
"Draco?" she asked sounding less insane and more like her old self. Draco breathed a sigh of relief, his breath hitching slightly as it tried to make its way under his newly-bruised ribs. Ginny reached out a now-unrestrained hand to touch his face, her own locked in an image of wonder and affection,
"Draco." She said, more certainly. "Oh gods, Draco; I'm so sorry." She said, tearfully, leaning away from Hermione's now-slack grip to fold her arms around her husband's neck, hugging him fiercely.
"Oh Draco, I thought- I thought for a while you were your fa-" he cut her off, silencing her with a press of a finger to her lips. "I know, I know. It's been a hard ordeal on all of us. I can't ever make up for the things my father did, but I do love you." He said, willing himself to see the woman he'd fallen in love with. She was there, but only in a shadowed part of the shifty-eyed, pale girl in front of him.
Just then, a nurse burst into the room, breathing heavily with Harry on wheels at her heels. The woman's blonde hair was falling from her nurse's cap as she swung around into the doorway.
"What's happened? Mr. Potter said there was an emergency, is everything all right?" she asked, worriedly. Draco gave Ginny an encouraging smile and a squeeze around the shoulders before turning to the nurse.
"Everything's just perfect. We just had a bit of a scare, that's all." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to the tall nurse. "Thank you, Evelyn…you can go now, we're all fine here- wait…actually…" he turned to glance at Ginny and Draco, now holding each other gently. "…could you bring us some tea in here while Ginny's…feeling well enough?" he asked carefully.
The nurse gave him a tender, understanding smile. "Of course, dear. It'll be here shortly." She left the room, smiling to herself. The poor little red-headed dear…it was good for her to see the ones she loved.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Ginny bowed her head, her shoulders slumping forward dejectedly. "I'm so sorry, Draco…Hermione…Ron…Harry." She said softly. "I just…I just lost it…will you excuse me for a moment…I need a minute to myself…" she carefully removed herself from Draco's arms, sliding barefooted over the soft material of the floor.
Draco watched her with pained eyes. Hermione was watching him, her own eyes saddened as she unconsciously moved closer to wrap arms around Ron. "She's so different…" Draco whispered, watching Ginny fold her wiry legs under her as she took a seat wrapped up in herself in the corner by her mattress bed.
Hermione followed his gaze. Even from here they could all see the purple and blue lines that etched themselves over her emaciated body, under the paper-thin, nearly translucent skin. The strains of her struggle to stay alive through the torture she'd been put through.
She was the only one to have made it out alive.
Halfway through the war, there had been a raid at the Ministry. Bill, Charlie, the twins, Ginny, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had all been there that fateful day. They'd all been taken by DeathEaters under the lead of Lucius Malfoy.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and half the Aurors in the Order had been working frantically to find them. It took them four months to find the DeathEaters' camp…a dilapidated old fortress in northern Ireland.
What they found there would haunt them forever.
Most of the DeathEaters had died, it seemed, in a final battle, their bodies lay strewn across the battleground of the fort like rag dolls tossed aside. Mixed with the bodies of the black-clad DeathEaters, were several red-headed bodies.
Later, the more experience Aurors explained to a tearful Ron, Hermione, and Harry and a stoic Draco that Bill had somehow managed to break free from his captors and had killed them. His body was the first they'd found, but apparently he'd managed to free the others before he was hit.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were the next set of bodies, their corpses inflicted with many, older wounds aside from the ones that had killed them. All the Weasleys showed signs of torture. Molly and Arthur had been found side-by-side, their hands clasped.
The twins had been right after them, sprawled at unnatural angles on the stone steps to the fortress, their wands still clasped in frozen fingers. They too had their hands linked together.
Charlie had been found right outside a prison cell, the bodies of two DeathEaters strewn across from him, his hand reaching out to the door of the cell, a key falling from dead fingers.
Ginny was clutching onto the bars of the cell she was locked in, her eyes wide and shot, her knuckles bruised and battered. Her wand was locked in the vise-like grip of her right hand.
Lucius Malfoy was lying against the wall of her chamber. Or rather, what was left of Lucius Malfoy. Ginny refused to talk, her limbs shaking and trembling. After a day in examination, the Ministry had termed her insane; the severity of watching her family die apparently too much for her.
Hermione felt tears rising to her eyes as she watched Draco. He and Ginny had been so terribly in love…before the war. Back when everything was simple and light. And now…Draco wasn't even allowed to see her except for visiting days, and even then Ginny was usually submerged in her inner torments.
"How is she doing, Draco?" Hermione asked softly. Draco lowered his head, sighing. "Not too good. The doctors say her body's failing her…she's rejecting all the medicine and potions they've given her. There's no sign that any of it's working. They had to start giving her stronger doses…but now they're not sure what else they can do…any higher dosage is lethal and she's already so weak." He paused, his eyes welling with tears.
It was something Hermione had never seen before; Draco Malfoy never cried. He turned to Hermione, tears spilling down his cheeks. "The healers say she's pregnant." He said suddenly. "She's going to have a baby. My baby. They just don't know if she can hold out that long; she doesn't have the strength." His voice broke and he covered his face with his hands.
"I can't-I can't lose her, Hermione…I just can't…she's all I've got left…I can't-" he broke off, sobbing. Hermione put a comforting arm around his shoulders as they shook. "She means a lot…to all of us. She'll be fine, Draco. She's strong." She assured him.
Draco swallowed and halted his sobs. He wiped his eyes. "I know."
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Nurse Evelyn came into the room with a tea trolley. "Hello all…tea's here." She said cheerfully. "There's chairs outside if you want to sit down." She said, her eyes falling on Ginny coiled in the corner as the other four people in the room walked (or in Harry's case, rolled) out of the room.
"Ginevra, dear?" she asked kindly, stopping the trolley and coming over to the red-head. "Are you alright, dear?" she asked again. Ginny forced her face upwards, eyes wide and innocent and shocked, even as she was despising the perky woman who needed her vocabulary to be purged of the word 'dear'.
"Oh…" she said, unfocusing her eyes. "Yes, I'm fine Ev…" she gave her head a convincing little shake. "Just tired, that's all. But I'm feeling better today…I think the medicine's working. I haven't felt this…alive, this conscious in months." Working a smile onto her lips was a greater feat than she would have thought, but she finally managed.
Evelyn smiled in return. "Thank the gods for that. Poor dear, you are looking pale." Ginny bowed her head. "I do apologize for my shortcomings, and especially my manner of late. I am trying, Ev, and you are helping me. Thank you." She said feelingly, reaching out to touch the nurse softly on the shoulder.
The nurse flinched slightly, but smiled encouragingly as the touch was gentle and controlled. "It's only but my duty, Ginevra." She said uncomfortably. Ginny smiled tenderly. "Yet you take such pains to assure my comfort…" Evelyn squirmed a bit under the thankful touch, recalling the times she had neglected or mistreated the frail, unstable girl "…please…stay for tea." Evelyn opened her mouth to object, but Ginny cut her off.
"Please…it would mean a great deal to me." She pleaded. Evelyn sighed; she would have declined, save that the other option was to take after her other patients. They could wait; it had been half an hour since her morning break and she was tired again.
"I'd appreciate it." Evelyn said, putting on a bright smile. Ginny reciprocated the smile as Evelyn stood, to get her a chair. Ginny watched her go with mounting hatred. She was helping him…behind that smile she aided the devil Lucius in his evil cunning and undertakings. She would fall, too, with the proud and vain that masqueraded as the people she loved. These imposter-ghosts could never match up to Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Draco. They were gone from this hell-hold; only these sad imitations were left to accompany her with her pain.
But soon…but soon…
She removed her hand from under the mattress, her fingers curling around the vial of liquid purged by her own hands from her blood. The poison of this accursed life. It wasn't much; but it would be enough.
Enough, for soon…
Soon.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Hermione pulled a somewhat heavy chair into the room, careful not to let it scrape on the floor. She turned at a slight clinking sound; Ginny was standing by the tea trolley, pouring herself some tea.
She glanced up as Hermione entered the room, placing the chair down by the trolley. Ron followed, not so cautiously dragging the chair on the floor. Evelyn followed with her and Harry's chairs; Harry himself rolling in at her heels. Draco was not far behind.
Ginny held up the chipped, flowery teapot. "Tea, 'Mione?" she questioned. Hermione nodded, sinking into her seat as she allowed Ginny to pour her tea. This simple task, reminiscent of the days they would drink tea and chat at the Burrow seemingly calming the distraught red-head.
She poured four other cups, handing one to each of the tea guests.
Draco watched his sweet wife pull the cup to her lips before pausing. She held the cup up in a gesture familiar to them all. "To the future…" she toasted. Five cups rose in assent, echoing her words.
They all drank, each thinking their own thoughts.
Ron turned his eyes, over the rim of the cup, to Hermione. The weight of the engagement ring in his pocket heavier than the simple band could ever have been, even if enlarged tenfold. The thought of it alone was smothering; it had taken more courage that he thought he possessed to make his mind up…today was the day…
Hermione was oblivious to Ron's difficulties. She held the cup in both hands as she drunk, careful lest her trembling hands belay her anxiety. The sicknesses of the dawn were nothing compared to the frightful sinking of her stomach. A stomach now rapidly becoming occupied, and not only with tea. She placed a hand over her stomach, feeling no difference to indicate the presence of life hidden there. No one knew yet…not even Ron. But that would change…today…
Harry quickly downed his cup. His stomach would not take much more; he hadn't been able to eat or drink much since the end of the war, which had brought as much pain as it had salvation. His family, the only people he'd ever considered family, were almost all dead. Somehow he felt it his fault that they had perished…there should have been something he could do to help them…to save them. After all they'd done for him, it was a blow to him to know that they had died while he sat idly by and did nothing…it was something he would never, ever get over…something he would always look back on with regret.
Draco was steadily watching his wife…his beloved wife, so frail and pathetic in her pale hospital gown. Everything seemed perfect when he'd met her…fallen in love with her. It hadn't been hard to do; through all the horrible things he'd done, through all the crude things he'd said, she had been the first to accept him as repentant, to forgive him…to love him. She was the only thing he cared for more than himself and there was no chance on the green grounds of earth, the whimsical gardens of heaven, or the fiery pits of hell he would ever let anyone take her from him again.
Evelyn reached for a second cup. The longer she drank and the more she drank meant less work she had to do. She wondered vaguely, as she sipped from her cup, whether she could avoid the rest of her duties today until Marianne arrived for her shift. That would be most agreeable. Her blue eyes flickered over to Mr. Malfoy. He was quite the catch…rich, handsome, intelligent…were that he not married…well, that could always be fixed…accidents happened all the time in hospitals. She grinned to herself as she allowed her imagination to run with her. Mrs. Evelyn Malfoy…
Ginny stared down at the cup in her pale hands. She had not yet taken a drink; she was so preoccupied with a sudden onslaught of thoughts that she completely forgot about the hands in her lap, clasped onto the cup desperately.
Her eyes flickered up as Evelyn made a gasping sound, her cup clattering to the floor as her hands flew to her neck. Her face was rapidly changing hue; discoloured and grotesque as she slumped forward from her seat to lay convulsing and struggling on the floor.
They all fell; shock and pain registering on their faces as cup after cup fell to the floor. First Ron, then Hermione…Harry slid half out of his wheelchair, his hands tightening in vain on the armrests. Draco was the last to fall, coming to his knees in front of her, his bulging eyes focusing on her for the last time.
Ginny let her eyes slide shut and her lips curve up as the replicas fought for their lives. It was a fruitless battle, however; the potion she'd leeched from her skin was potent, she knew well enough from the times Evelyn had forced it into her body. Had she not sucked it from her wrist, she most likely would have died long ago.
None of them had noticed the black liquid she had slipped under the lid of the teapot. They weren't meant to; it was part of their death. They were all gone now.
"Just me." Ginny whispered edgily, her voice sounding eerie and musical to her all at once. "I'm all left." She glanced down at her hands, the beautiful silver rings encircling pale and well-manicured nails. The delicate china cup rested in her scarlet lap.
Ginny turned her head up. She could almost see Draco…surely he was waiting for her, just beyond the thin shroud that separated them. Now that his father was dead, thanks to her steady hand, the only thing keeping her from her husband was Lucius's last attempt to fool her.
But she knew better. Lucius was gone now…happiness waited just there for her. She placed a hand over her rounded stomach, feeling the child within. Yes…life was waiting…her future was bright on the path ahead.
"I'll be right there, Draco." She whispered gently, bringing the cup to her lips.