Chapter 11
"I'd like it if you were there when I told them, Draco."
"Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, they're liable to murder him or at least try and strangle him."
"They're liable to do nothing of the sort, Blaise Zabini." Blaise shuddered slightly under the cold glare of one, Ginevra Weasley. "As I told you before, if they're out of line by any means, I'll pack my stuff and be on the next train to Romania before they know what's happening."
"Ginny," Draco said slowly.
"What!" she snapped. With everything that was going on, her temper was, understandably, wearing quite thin. The three of them were sitting in a small clearing a little ways into the woods that surrounded The Burrow. Blaise had wanted to get some fresh air and Draco and Ginny had wanted to get away from prying ears so they could talk freely about the situation at hand.
"You do know that I'd never want you to choose between your family and me, right?"
"There are a lot of things that we want, Draco, but that doesn't mean they'll happen."
"Ginny, listen to me. I don't want you choosing me over your family. You'd regret that decision for the rest of your life. So, please, if they get angry with me, then just let me deal with it." Draco was too busy staring up at the starry sky to notice the deadly glare that his girlfriend was giving him.
"Draconis Lucius Malfoy! How dare you ---"
"Now, now, Ginny. Let's talk about this like adults. First of all, Draco, that was uncalled for. Besides, you know that Ginny's never going to regret choosing you over her family, if the need arose. She loves you too much; even I know that, being as unobservant as I am. Secondly, Ginny, will you please, for all our sakes, try not to aggravate your family too much. I know we'll all be able to smooth things over with them, eventually. So, until we have discussed this whole thing with them, let's not do anything rash, yeah?" Blaise smiled widely as the two of them sighed, defeated, and settled back against the tree they were leaning against. Draco was leaning against a huge oak tree, with Ginny at his side, his arm resting comfortably around her waist. Blaise was sitting across from them, leaning against his own, equally large tree.
"I'm sorry," Ginny mumbled. "I'm having trouble coming to terms with everything. I mean, it's all well and fine that we've decided to do this, but telling my family is an entirely different story. I wouldn't be surprised if every single one of them was against my going."
"Neither would I," Draco responded softly.
"Blaise … this is kind of a stupid question, but how are you doing? With your mother, I mean," Ginny asked after a few minutes of silence.
Blaise shifted uncomfortably for a moment before answering, "Erm … it's hard to say." He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "I … I'm just now realizing what all of this means. I've been in a daze since I woke up, I feel really detached from everything."
"I know what you mean," interjected Draco, quite sullenly.
"I'm not going to pretend that I know what either of you are going through, but you know that I'm here to lend a shoulder or an ear if you need." Ginny smiled warmly at Blaise, before leaning over and giving Draco a kiss. With that, she stood and walked quietly out of the clearing.
"You didn't fool her, Blaise."
"Pardon?"
"She knows you didn't answer her question. She's not that dense, trust me. I've tried that trick on her before. It never works." Draco's smirk melted into a small smile, albeit a sad one.
"What am I supposed to tell her? That I'm an absolute wreck and I'm liable to throw myself off the roof at any given moment, so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to leave me alone for too long? Oh yeah, that'd go over really well."
"Yes, that is exactly what you tell her. You'd be surprised by her reaction. She'd probably tell you to make sure you steer clear of the garden because Molly would have your head if you got blood on her roses." Draco raked his hands through his hair. "If we're going to do this, you two are going to have to learn to trust each other. It's not going to work if you don't."
"You know as well as I do that I'm not quick to trust."
"Regardless, you're going to have to trust her. Just rely on the fact that I would trust Ginny with my life, hell, I'd trust Ginny with your life, and that's definitely saying something. I know it's going to take a while, but just try." Draco smirked. "In the heat of battle or whatever it is we're getting ourselves into, you're not going to be able to second-guess her, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, always a smart-ass, Malfoy."
"Until my dying day."
"Which hopefully, isn't in the near future."
"Indeed."
… … …
"Absolutely not!" Molly roared.
"Mum, please. I –"
"No! Don't you even say a word! How dare you even ask me such a thing!"
"Mrs. Weasley." All eyes turned to Snape. "While you are Ginevra's mother, I must tell you that this is not your decision. The choice belongs, completely and totally, to Ginevra and Draco. I believe Ginevra worded things wrong; she was not asking for your permission regarding her decision, she was simply informing you of it." Several mouths dropped open.
Without another word, Molly Weasley stood up and stormed out of the room, running up to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her. A few seconds later, the family heard the unmistakably sound of crying.
"Severus that was not the best course of action," Draco stated through gritted teeth.
"I don't really care, Draco." Professor Snape turned to look at the rest of the Weasley family – including Harry and Hermione. "All of you need to understand that this decision belongs to Ginevra and Draco alone. You cannot possibly choose for them when they are the ones that are going to be there, not you."
Professor Snape turned back to Draco, Ginny, and Blaise, who were all seated on the loveseat. "I have begun making arrangements. I feel that it would be best if Blaise were to join you after the school year had begun. It will solidify your story that you had not seen him during the summer, but were able to bring him back to the … 'right' way of thinking once you saw him at school again. I will return in three days to collect you. Please make sure that you are ready to leave when I arrive. Blaise will stay here, with the Weasleys, until school resumes in September. I will be able to bring a small number of correspondents back and forth for the two of you to communicate with Blaise and the Weasley family. But I would request that you keep it to a minimum, so clear up any unfinished business here, before you leave in three days time. You will not need to bring anything with you except your wands. Draco, your old wardrobe will be returned to you and Ginevra, a new wardrobe will be provided for you as soon as you arrive, I assume. Try and get some rest, you will need all the strength – mentally and physically – you can manage. Your induction will not be easy or swift, by any means. But there will be people, namely myself, to help you along." Professor Snape nodded slightly, before turning back to the rest of the family. "I trust that none of you will attempt to hinder or discourage them." Seconds later, there was a soft 'POP!' and Professor Snape was gone.
Then, all eyes – except those of Blaise, Ginny, and Charlie – turned to Draco, fixing him with intent glares, most likely assuming that Draco had her under the Imperious or some other outlandish idea. Ron was the first to break the silence. "Ginny, I –"
"Hold on for one moment Weasley. I'll be out of here in a few seconds and then you can rant all you want about how I've got Ginny under mind control or some other shit." Draco leaned over, gave Ginny a sweet, lingering kiss, before standing up and walking out of the room. They all flinched as they heard his door slam. Blaise soon followed suit, giving Ginny's shoulder a quick squeeze, before leaving the room.
"What are you thinking Ginny!" Ron shouted.
"I can't believe you! You're not going!" the twins yelled simultaneously.
"Ginny, you can't honestly be thinking of doing this!" Bill asked, incredulously.
"Ginevra, let's be reasonable about this. Let's think things through!" Percy said, almost calmly.
"Ginny, you're not thinking clearly," Hermione stated.
"Please, don't put yourself through that again," Harry pleaded.
All of this was said at nearly the same time, in varying degrees of volume. Charlie remained silent, simply looking at his sister with an unreadable expression on his face. They all quieted when Ginny opened her mouth to speak. "Do we have to do this? Do we really? I mean, my mind's made up. You already heard Professor Snape. I just want to go crawl into bed and sleep for a week."
"That's not an option, Ginevra. How could you make a decision like this without talking to your mother and I first? Do you have any idea how hard this is going to be on your mother?" Ginny gaped at her father.
"Hard on Mum! Hard on Mum! Is Mum the one who was possessed by an evil wizard in her first year! Is Mum the one who has decided, for the good of the wizarding world, to go back and face the very man who possessed her! Is Mum the one who's boyfriend is currently being hunted by no less than hundreds of dark wizards! Is Mum the one who has been running herself ragged for the past weeks trying to make sure that everyone else is okay and everyone else is happy! Is Mum the one who hasn't had a moment's rest that isn't filled with either nightmares or hundreds of thoughts rolling around in her head! Is Mum the one who is facing all of this without the support and love of her family!" No one said a word. "NO, I didn't THINK so!"
Ginny met the eyes of every one of the people before her; Arthur, Percy, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, and Charlie. The latter looked almost encouraging, while the rest gave her blank, hurt expressions. "The decision has already been made. I don't want to hear any of your drivel about how this is going to affect me or how hard this is going to be. I've thought all of that through. I know what the repercussions of my decision will be."
Ginny looked down at her hands once again, smiling sadly as a single tear escaped from her eye. "You know, I always thought that I was so much luckier than Draco. Because I had family – real family, lots of family – that cared about me; that supported me. He doesn't. He's got Blaise, Professor Snape, and me. And none of us are even really related to him. That's it. But now, I'm starting to feel like he's the lucky one. I mean, yeah, he hasn't got very much family left, but at least his family supports him. At least we stand behind him. He knows that he can always rely on us to back him up, to be there for him." She sighed, standing up and raising her eyes to meet her father's sad gaze. "I think I'd rather have a small family that supports and loves me unconditionally, than a huge family that can't see far enough past their own desires to realize that I'm doing what needs to be done." Several tears fell, as Ginevra Weasley walked out of the room.
A/N: Please don't get angry about Draco and Blaise "abandoning" Ginny to tell her family by herself. They both knew that none of the Weasleys were going to speak freely with them there, so they HAD to leave. Sorry again for my abysmal mood and lack of updating. But please review anyways.