Author's Note: Hello all. I have an important announcement to make: I SUCK. Really. I've spent all this time not writing this story and now that I finally have time to actually complete it, I've come to realize that somewhere during the not-writing process, I grew up. I re-read this story and it is horrible. I hate it. So I have good and bad news. Bad news: I hate this story and will finish it as soon as possible (maybe that's good news) and the really good news is that I'm 120 pages into the best story I've written for FanFiction. Expect the first chapter once I've finished Dancing Life. Ick. So, here's to the worst story ever written. Cheers!
Disclaimer: Not mine unless it sucks. So basically, I own the one-dimensional characters, the crappy plot, and the sorry dialogue. No much to claim, really.
Dancing Life
Chapter 28: A Long-Awaited Story
Ginny was stirring from a restless sleep. It was all she knew. She knew not where she was or how she had come to be in this vaguely lumpy and uncomfortable place…or why she was asleep for that matter…
Pieces of a conversation either being carried on right now, or traces of one long ended hit her ears. A soft, silky voice drifted into her hearing.
"…what comes…associating…egging on…old crushes…"
Ginny heard a distinct grinding sound, as if a chair had just been pushed back.
"Don't…ever…that about her…she's not like..."
Ginny felt a catch rise in her as she recognized Draco's voice. The events of the past week unfolded before her, and she felt tears of joy and disbelief rising in her eyes. She was going to marry Draco Malfoy.
"…seems…at least someone's dedicated in…ridiculous relationship…"
A loud thump echoed, barely penetrating the sheer mirth enveloping her and squeezing at her heart and head, as if to wake them up to the fact that Draco had asked her to marry him. The full weight of the question, her answer, and the implications hit her. Tears of fright and joy mingled together and pushed between her eyelashes.
"Mr. Malfoy! Control yourself!"
"Well, I wouldn't have to if you didn't sit there insulting her! She's twenty times better than you could ever hope to be, Gryffindor or not. She's-"
Whatever Ginny was, she didn't find out. She was crying and laughing out loud now, shaking with almost delirious, hysterical tears. She was going to marry Draco Malfoy…she was only sixteen…almost seventeen…she was going to be married…
"Ginny!" she felt someone practically lift her off the bed she was sitting on. Being squashed to near paste in Draco's strong, bone-crushing embrace, she realized she was in the hospital wing…but why? She glanced over Draco's shoulder, blinking tears from her eyes to see Snape get up from his place on the floor, rubbing his rear painfully. Draco had hit a teacher?
"Draco?" she was shocked at the hollowness of her voice. After the initial euphoria of her remembrances, a heavy, smothering weight fell over her chest. Draco pulled back, looking at her with eyes unnaturally bright. Her eyelids felt heavy, as if she couldn't open them properly.
Fear flashed blatantly through Draco's eyes. He suddenly pulled her to him, wrapping arms around her back and hugging her fiercely against his body as he spoke, his voice shaking noticeably.
"No…don't do this. Please Gin. Don't do this. Don't leave. I need you. Heather needs you. Blaise needs you. Even that stupid prat of a brother needs you." She could hear the bloody smirk as he spoke. Somehow, even though it was exactly the sort of dry humour she needed to lift her spirits, she couldn't make her lips curve into a smile. They got halfway there and wobbled, falling back into a slight grimace.
Draco continued to whisper shakily into her ear until the hospital door creaked open. "Ginny!" Ginny winced as Draco pulled back just in time for a short dark thing to tackle her nearly to the ground. She looked down. "Heather?" she asked, uncertainly. The small dark witch looked up, tears forming in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry Ginny." She whispered fearfully, tears falling down her round cheeks. "I'm so, so, horribly sorry. It didn't work. I didn't get there in time…" she trailed off nonsensically, not realizing she wasn't making much sense to Draco, Snape, and Blaise, who had entered somewhat less dramatically after her.
Ginny tried to smile weakly, but only got in a little half-quirked grin. "S'okay Hattie. Wasn't your fault. Nothing happened this time; he just talked to me." Even as she tried to inject a professed carelessness into her tone, she couldn't suppress a shudder.
Heather felt it; the cold, violent waves of pain she'd only half experienced washing through her best friend's body, tearing away at the thing that made her Ginny. Fresh tears sprang forth from a pool long-covered and well-capped. "Oh gods!" she sobbed, her own chest racking against Ginny's as she clutched her to her body, trying to dispel the thought that something like this could tear Ginny away from her.
"Ohgodsohgodsohgods…" Heather mumbled, pain spitting through her as she thought of everything Ginny had been through and everything that could have been avoided had she just paid better attention to the older witch.
Ginny felt her own tears rising as she hugged Heather determinedly. In that moment, they swapped pain and feeling and the emotions their frail bodies had separated from each other. Heather gasped as she realized how horribly all this was hurting Ginny and Ginny sighed somewhat incredulously.
"Hattie…" she said softly, comfortingly. "…there was nothing you could have done. Nothing actually happened, really. Dean just sat down to talk to me and I overreacted, that's all." The certainty and self-disgust in her voice did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room except for Snape, who was a bit at a loss.
Blaise made a rough, angry motion, but Draco stopped him with a slicing movement he made with his hand, telling him to drop it. Heather let loose tears slip between her scrunched eyes. "No. No, NO!" she said, suddenly shouting. She pulled back holding Ginny at arm's length.
"It's not your fault! You did nothing wrong…you…" she let Ginny pull her back into a one-armed hug. "Heather, stop. I know what happened, and honestly, I acted like a little girl throwing a fit." She stepped away from the group somewhat tersely, grabbing her regular clothes from the edge of the bed, muttering something about getting changed and going to class.
Heather watched her go, one hand covering her mouth as her shoulders trembled and tears slid over her hand and face. Without warning she turned to Draco and started sobbing, nearly collapsing to the floor.
"Oh gods, I'm so…so…so sorry." She said shakily, sadness echoing through her. "I- I…" she screwed her eyes up suddenly, bringing herself to her knees so abruptly that Draco and Blaise distinctly heard the crack of her bones jarring against the hard floor. "I FUCKED UP, OKAY? I BLOODY FUCKING FUCKED UP!" she shrieked, putting her hands up on either side of her head and rocking back and forth.
Blaise was at her side in an instant, drawing her into his arms with a shocked expression on his face. Heather almost never swore. Not like that…
To the great shock of everyone present, including himself, Professor Snape glided over to where Heather was rocking uncontrollably, tears slipping down her cheeks. Squatting next to her, he reached out and put two fingers to her forehead. After a few frozen seconds, Heather's brow cleared and her eyes slowly opened, echoing calm as she stared dazedly at Snape.
"Don't blame yourself for the problems of others. Inevitability is a factor you must remember, instead of condemning yourself for things you cannot control."
With that, Snape left, feeling self-disgustingly good about himself for…helping a student. He decided he was feeling a bit under the weather and resolved to brew a potion to fix it.
Back in the infirmary, Heather was still sitting back on her knees, staring blankly at her hands in her lap. Bloody hell…he was right. Blaise and Draco exchanged slightly concerned glances. "Heather, come here." Blaise commanded gently. Heather obeyed, standing and placing herself inside the loop of Blaise's arms. He held her tenderly as if she would break and Draco tactfully bowed out, as much to give them privacy as to go find Ginny.
Ginny stared lifelessly out over the lake. Shame was washing over her like the rippling waters of the lake and Ginny felt like drowning in it. She had never felt so childish in her entire life. Flipping out just because Dean sat down next to her? It was ridiculous. She just wasn't used to dealing with it without Heather.
Heather…Ginny closed her eyes and willed the peace her best friend brought to come, but it never did. It wasn't the same without Heather. She was the only thing that kept Ginny sane in the months after the incident. Shivering slightly, Ginny watched the sun sink. That wasn't right…the sun shouldn't be sinking for several more hours.
A glance at her watch told her she'd estimated the time spent contemplating wrong. It was late afternoon, and she'd missed her classes. Sighing, she couldn't bring herself to care. In retrospect, she realized she should care, but at the moment it didn't really matter.
Hugging her knees to her chest, she stared out over the lake and cried. It was nothing; she was just stressed and doing it to get it out of her system. It had nothing to do with Dean, because Dean meant nothing to her; he wasn't a part of her life anymore. Draco was…with a jolt she realized just how much she wanted Draco there with her.
As if answering her prayers, she heard footsteps behind her.
Someone sat down next to her. Ginny didn't even have the energy to turn her head and see who it was; she already had a pretty good idea as to who it was. She sat, side by side with her nameless supporter for several moments in silence.
"You want to talk about it?" Ginny felt something in her chest fall away, leaving her with an almost empty, serene feeling of relief. "I'm so sorry Draco." She whispered, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her toward a warm and comforting body. She allowed herself to be pulled.
"You're a daft little twit, you know that?" The affection in his voice was so strong that Ginny cracked a grin. "I know that." She said wearily, leaning against his comforting body. "You can't beat yourself up over these things." He said listlessly, knowing she would anyways.
Ginny shivered. "What am I supposed to do? Blame Dean? For all I know he's mentally unstable. It was my fault…" Draco opened his mouth to object, but Ginny cut him off "…but I've decided to let it go. It doesn't matter anymore. Dean's a relic of the past." She turned to face him, her eyes somehow darker and older.
"It's about time I started living the present…" she held a hand up to his face "…and planning the future." She said softly, leaning in to kiss him. Draco sighed and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
He kissed her gently, caressing her mouth with his as though it were made of glass. Holding her here, like this was exquisite. For one horrifying moment, he thought he'd lost her. When she'd looked up at him in the hospital wing, it wasn't her. Her beautiful brown eyes, so warm and deep, had been empty. Hollow. As though Ginny was gone; the beautiful creature that he loved so much inside that frail body. He hadn't been able to find her. And the thought frightened him more than he'd ever admit to.
Blaise stared intently at Heather.
Heather stared intently at the floor.
"Heather…" Blaise called impatiently. Heather snuck a seemingly covert glance from under her lashes at him. "I think you've got some explaining to do." Heather's eyes narrowed, before closing, her shoulders slumping forward.
"Knew you couldn't just let it be." She mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Blaise waited expectantly. She sat for only a few seconds under his intent gaze before growling under her breath. "Fine." She turned in her seat to face him; they were sitting in the library.
"I'll just jump straight to the point; you didn't know Ginny after the incident with Dean. Actually, you didn't know her before the incident either. But after the little bastard pulled his little scheme on her, she was a wreck. She wouldn't talk to anyone but me and Ron for weeks. She wouldn't eat or sleep or come out of Gryffindor tower." Heather sighed, rubbing her forehead with her fingers.
"Every time Dean came up to her- and believe me, he tried to get back with her many times in the weeks after his little stunt- she would flip out; it was like she went insane again every new time. It hurt her; you know how vulnerable she is." Heather snorted, nostrils flaring.
"Finally, I catch the little prick trying to get into her room one night. After politely rearranging his face, I came to a decision." Blaise leaned in, listening intently as Heather examined her nails. "Ginny came to be my best friend during that time." Heather's eyes flashed angrily as she whipped her head around, hair flying over those crackling eyes. "And I would not let some crackpot like Thomas try and ruin her. She was perfect; she was like a role model for me. I wanted to be like her so much." She laughed at herself. "But in the end, it was Ginny who taught me to be my own individual person. She's brought me farther that any other person I know here. And I was a year younger than her!"
She shook her head. "I had to do something to do about Dean, though. Given the chance, he could tear her apart. I couldn't always be there to protect her and where Dean was concerned, she was defenseless; she froze when he came near her. Yes, we had to do something." She turned her palm face-up in her lap, staring at a shiny pinkish-reddish scar that sliced across the fleshy part right down the center. "So we resorted to magic." She said softly, tracing the scar.
Blaise found his gaze drawn to the scar. It looked rather ordinary, except for the silvery strands of…something…that had bound the cut up at one point. They shone faintly with the movement of Heather's hand as the light bounced off them.
Blaise recognized them from an illustration in one of their Potions texts. It was an ordinary wound…with a magical undercurrent. Blaise looked up at Heather. "A Binding Brew?" he asked, his voice stunned and breathless.
Heather gave one short nod as she traced the puffy scar with a finger. "Obviously Ginny had to help me prepare it; we don't even cover them until seventh year and Ginny had to swipe Harry's invisibility cloak to get a book from the restricted area. We took it and poured it into our cuts…Ginny's got one on each hand because the first attempt failed." She turned to him.
"You do know what a Binding Brew does?" she asked. Blaise nodded. "Yeah; it links the two people who share the potion and the blood." He shrugged. Heather shook her head. "Not just that; we share a pathway…a magical conduit that calls our blood and magic together." She sounded extremely serious; Blaise was hanging onto every word she said.
"Most of the time we keep the connection closed; I wouldn't want to know every feeling she feels in addition to mine, would I? Nor would she. But it's always there; a little niggling feeling here…" she placed her hand over her navel. "I can feel her every time she hurts. It's like this sick sensation that starts here…" she poked a finger at her navel "and goes all the way back."
Blaise watched her eyes cloud over. "You don't know how many times I feel sick like that." She said softly.