Chapter 9

"Ginny?" Draco knocked softly on the door again. He was surprised to find, when he returned to The Burrow that everyone had already gone to sleep. He was extremely surprised when Hermione came to the door, opening it just a crack and peering through. She looked at him with wide eyes, eyes full of … anger?
"What do you want, Draco? Ginny's asleep."

"I really need to talk to her, Grang—Hermione. Please. I know she'll talk to me if you could just ask her."

"I already told you. She's asleep."

"No, I'm not. Go back to bed, Hermione." Hermione whirled around to find Ginny standing behind her, a tired look on her face. Without another word, Hermione returned to her bed, but not before casting a glare at Draco. Ginny sighed heavily and walked outside, closing the door behind her and facing Draco.

"I'm sorry … I didn't want to wake you up … but I really need to talk to you."

"I wasn't sleeping. Let's go up to your room to talk. I don't really think Hermione wants you in there." Draco nodded wordlessly as Ginny started towards his room. It was definitely going to be a long night, but he needed to tell her … everything.

… … …

Draco sighed and leaned against his headboard. He had just finished his explanation. He had told her everything, and by everything, he meant everything. From the Erynis Amor Semper to Voldemort's plans to Severus' idea of spying for the Order. It had taken quite a long time, evident by the fact that the sun was just barely rising above the horizon outside the window. Now, Ginny was staring at him in wide-eyed, open-mouthed astonishment.

"Say something."

"Umm … wow." Ginny stood up and started to pace the room, which only succeeded in making Draco all the more nervous.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the curse before … I wasn't sure … well I wasn't sure about a lot of things. I'm sorry, Gin." Suddenly, she stopped pacing and turned to him, a curious look on her face.

"Draco, I'm not mad at you for not telling me. I'm actually sort of happy. Because it gave me a chance to figure things out, without thoughts of the curse in the back of my mind." She walked over to him and sat down next to him, taking his hands in her own. "I'm just a little overwhelmed. What you said about spying for the Order…"

"What? What about it?" Ginny's eyes suddenly filled with tears and she looked, strikingly, like a scared doe.

"I don't know if I can do it, Draco … he still … he still haunts my dreams at night." Ginny clenched her eyes closed, trying to keep the unforgettable images of the Chamber out of her mind. She felt somewhat comforted as Draco pulled her into his arms.

"We don't have to go Ginny … nothing's been decided. We're not going to worry about what everyone wants us to do or what we ought to do. We're going to decide what we think is right – for us – and we'll hole ourselves up in this little room until we've made that decision. I don't want your family or anyone else to influence your decision. If you don't want to go, then we won't go. Simple as that." Draco kissed the top of Ginny's head and, taking a deep breath, closed his eyes.

"You first."

Draco opened his eyes and looked down at Ginny. "Pardon?"

"I want you to tell me what you think about all of this." Then, Ginny untangled herself from Draco's grasp and crawled to the other side of the bed, so that she was leaning against the footboard, with her legs stretched out in front of her. Draco was sitting against the headboard with his legs stretched out on the bed as well.

"Oh … okay." Draco took a deep breath and tried to organize his thoughts. If he were to be completely honest, he would say that he had no idea what to do, as everything was flying around in his head too fast for him to grasp anything. But, Malfoys are stubborn and, above all, Draco was still a Malfoy. "I want to go … I want to have the chance to destroy the man who has caused me and everyone around me so much pain and torment. Furthermore, I'm hoping that I can get Lucius 'accidentally' killed at some point during all of this. Too many people have died because of Voldemort already. I simply can't justify sitting here and not doing what I can to stop him.

"Having said that … I don't want you to go Ginny." She opened her mouth to speak, but Draco held up his hand. "Let me finish. I don't know how likely it is that you're going to listen to me, but I still need to say this. I know what happened in your first year. I know every single miniscule detail. Lucius and Voldemort were all too happy to boast about their supposed triumph. Planting the seeds of doubt is what they called it. But I think I've always known that you wouldn't succumb to that, you were too stubborn to let someone else control you. Anyways, I know what happened. I don't want you to have to face him again. I don't want to put you in danger and I don't want you to go through all of that for my sake.

"If I had my way, you'd be under the Fidelius Charm, with Blaise as your secret keeper, until the entire war was over and done with. You wouldn't come with me to spy for the Order and you would never be put in any kind of danger." Draco sighed and leaned back against his headboard. He tried to avoid Ginny's eyes and the annoyed glare he knew she was sending him. "Ginny … know that it's not because I don't think you can protect yourself. I do remember that Bat-Boogey, trust me. But there are things out there with more power than either of us can even imagine. Regardless of how well you're able to protect yourself, you're still in danger."

"Yeah well, when have I not been in danger?"

"Nonetheless." Draco smiled and reached up to run his finger along her jaw line in an affectionate manner. It did serve to calm her, as she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. He didn't want an angry Ginny on his hands; that was for sure. Especially when they were trying to make one of the biggest decisions of their lives.

Ginny pulled back slightly, away from Draco, and opened her eyes. She fixed him with a determined look before saying, "I think … I think we need to do this. I don't want you to be in danger any more than I'm sure you don't want me in danger … but let's just agree here and now that if one of us goes in, the other is going with them. Deal?"

Draco smiled slightly; Ginny never failed to surprise him. "Deal."

"Good … truth be told, I am a little scared to face him again. But, I'll get through it. I'll have you there with me and … I know that this is something I need to do. No one else can do this." Ginny sighed and raked her hands through her loose crimson hair.

"So I think we've just about decided then … but … there's one more thing. I want Blaise to come with us. Besides the fact that it's highly unlikely that he'll want to just sit around here while you and I are off with Lord Voldie … I can trust him. I want someone there that I can trust. What's more, I can trust that if anything happens to me, he will protect you with his life. He'll do anything and everything in his power to make sure that you get out of there okay. What do you think?"

"I think that we need to talk to Professor Snape. If he thinks that he can get Blaise in just as easily as he can get the two of us in, then so be it. But I'm warning you, that you had better not let anything happen to yourself. Because I'm not leaving that place without you, understand?" Ginny gave him a look that reminded him of Mrs. Weasley in more ways than one.

"Of course, Ginny."

A/N: Hello all! I'm terribly sorry; this chapter is about three days late. I had fully intended on posting it on Sunday, but I've been horribly sick since Sunday, so that didn't really happen. Today was the first day that I didn't have a fever of 100 degrees or higher. So we can all thank God for that one. I hope you liked this chapter. Please review! I'm getting really depressed with the lack of response and I may just have to go sulk in a corner for a few weeks …….

A New Reader: Haha, thanks! I'm flattered. My master plan is working! Mwhahahahahaha! Updates are every Sunday, unless life intervenes (like it did this week).

CoolMilena: Thanks a bunch! I had lots of fun writing it! There is one more Draco/Psyche chapter written and I'm planning on at least one more after that. Glad you liked it!