Ginny began to slow the horse, but Draco stopped her.

"I'm fine. We have to keep riding, at least until we reach another forest. They won't just let us get away. They'll come searching for us. We have to keep riding." He told her, glancing behind them unsurely.

"I won't let you die from blood loss, I just got you back!" She shouted back at him, and he smirked.

"Who said I was your property?" He teased.

"I did!" She replied rambunctiously, but she kept riding.

It was another 45 minutes at full speed before Ginny insisted they had to stop. They trotted into a nearby forest a little way and when they stopped Draco attempted to get off the horse, only to fall on his face.

"Draco! Are you okay!" Ginny was off in an instant, helping him up.

"Not one of my more graceful moments, but I'm fine." He said, the wound on his back beginning to prickle painfully.

"No your not. Now sit." She commanded in a tone that left no room for argument. He decided to try anyway.

"It's really not that bad-" before he could finish his sentence, both her hands were on his shoulder and he was pushed to the ground. She sat behind him, pealing back the blood-soaked robes.

"This is nothing? What dimension are you living in?" She asked sarcastically, touching the outer edged of the wound. Draco bit his lip as not to squeal.

"Do you have to-" his voice came out higher than he had wanted and he cleared his throat. "Do you have to touch it? It's bad enough already."

"Take off your shirt," she demanded, standing in front of him. "Right now, or I'm going to do it for you." He hadn't heard her use that tone in a very long time, and its reaction in him was not what he was hoping for at the moment.

He took off the outer robe to reveal his shirtless form, with a pair of black slacks underneath. Ginny noticed the weapons strapped to his legs, but she also saw the Diary.

She reached out to touch it shyly. "You… you still have this?" She asked, kneeling back down.

He reached down and un-strapped it from his leg, handing it to her. "I have it memorized, so you can have it back, if you want." He mumbled, watching her flip open the book. A tear slid down her cheek and she closed it abruptly, setting it down beside him and picking up the torn robe.

"I'm just going to go uh, wet this down." She stood, and Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Wet it down?" He asked, looking around for water.

"I heard water, probably a stream, just down there. I'll be right back." She promised turning. Draco scrambled to stand.

"You're not going alone." He warned.

"Sit!" She commanded. "I'll be right back. Stay put." She scrambled out of his sight and he sat there uneasy in the silence.

The horse was grazing happily at the vegetation around, but he stopped when Draco looked at him and stared back.

"What're you looking at?" Draco asked. The horse neighed in response and went back to his grass.

Ginny returned a moment later. She sat down behind him again with the wet cloth.

"This may sting." She warned. Draco nodded as she pressed the cold cloth to his back, but he couldn't help his sharp intake of breath. She pressed her left hand to his shoulder soothingly and the touch made him tingle. He tried to focus on her delicate hand instead of the cold cloth on his back, but it was difficult.

They didn't say anything as she worked, and Draco began to feel the silence tensing. There were so many unsaid things…

Ginny cast a healing spell on his back once it was clean of all the blood and the pain decreased considerably. She took off the outer coat of Blaise's that she had been wearing and draped it over his shoulders, a motion very reminiscent of their youth. She was about to pull away but Draco's reflexes made him reach up and grab her arm.

"Ginny…" He started, unsure of what to say.

"I know." She answered calmly, sitting back down closer to him. "I've missed you too, Draco."

Draco sighed, pulling her close to him. "This doesn't feel real. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up back at camp and none of this will have happened." He admitted, unsure what had provoked the words. Ginny nuzzled her head into his shoulder.

"I know. But it is real. We're together again, just like we'd hoped." She squeezed him, and his arms tightened around her. She was still sending that tingly feeling everywhere she touched or even looked at him. He hadn't felt it in a long time.

"You hoped to get trapped in a Death Eater camp so we could almost get killed escaping?" He sarcastically asked, smiling for the first time in a long time when she smacked his shoulder.

It felt so much like when they were young, and it was easy to fall right back into a routine and pick up where they had left off. Draco found himself joking and smiling, things he hadn't done in 6, almost 7, years. He rested his face in the crook of her neck and breathed her in. She even smelled like he remembered. Surly this could not be a dream.

"You know," he said after a moment. "No one has ever escaped from NightNim before. They must be furious."

"We have to get back to London." Ginny said abruptly, standing and offering him a hand.

"Why?" He asked, taking the hand she offered and surprised to feel no pain when he stood.

"I have to tell the others about that place. Maybe if we hurry we can get back there before they move and attack it. Maybe we can save some of those poor prisoners." Ginny grimaced, going to the horse.

"Hold on a minute." Draco said, following her. "You can't just… well I mean, you can… but… they'll have left my morning anyway. Besides, there are thousands of them." Draco protested, unsure why he felt so divided.

"And there are thousands of us. We have to try!" She insisted, attempting to get on the horse. Draco grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"No!" He said. He wasn't sure what was making him act this way. He hated that camp just like any other person, but at the same time… "They… I mean… I don't know." Bemused, he dropped down to the ground and sat there. Ginny kneeled down before him.

"Draco… what's wrong?" She asked, clearly confused. Draco looked up at her for a moment and realized she was still just as innocent as the day he left her. He scowled, holding his arm protectively.

"You wouldn't understand." He stood and began pacing. Ginny watched him, her features becoming angry.

"Try me." She ordered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Draco paced, thinking. His loyalties, as he had always told himself, were to Ginny. But after 6, almost 7, years as a Death Eater, he found changing sides to be harder than he had planned. Those people back in the camp weren't mindless. Many of them didn't know any better. Some on the other hand were just stupid. He didn't care about his father, or the Dark Lord and his aunt for that matter. But it was Blaise and the chubby initiate that made him hesitate. The blond girl with the scared eyes. For many people, it was a way of life because they had no other option, and now that Draco had another option, he found it wasn't as easy a choice as before. Why should he be the only one given a choice? It didn't seem fair. And yet…

Draco scowled, unsure why this was such a difficult decision. He loved Ginny, didn't he? Yes, he did. But he did not love her side any more than he loved his own.

"Those people… they… I'm one of them too, you know." He didn't look up as he spoke.

"No. You're different." She insisted, taking a step towards him. Draco couldn't explain the anger that those words made him feel. He could only obey it.

"Does this look different to you?" He held up his burning, painful tattoo. It took up most of his arm in delicate swirls and spirals; a web of twisted lies. "The only thing that makes me different is you! I'm just the same as the rest of them. Don't fool yourself into thinking I haven't killed people, because I have. Don't think I didn't participate in all the torture going on around me. Don't believe I was ever loyal to anyone but you. Not your side, you. But that didn't stop me." He breathed out harshly.

Ginny's eyes were locked on the tattoo. She looked scared as her eyes began to water, and she closed them in an effort to blink back unbidden tears.

"But your still you. You said yourself, you were loyal to me. You loved me. That makes you different." She took a hesitant step forward. When he didn't move she took another. And another. And another until she was right next to him. She reached a hand up and grabbed his wrist, pulling it down to her level. She ran a hand over the tattoo before gently kissing it.

Draco, stunned, didn't know what to do. He sighed, dropping his arm. He looked up at Ginny again, knowing what she said was true. He had loved her. He did love her.

Then why was it so hard to leave all this behind and go with her? Why was doing what he had only dreamed so difficult? He knew that if he took one more step he would be starting all over again in a brand new world. Maybe that was what scared him.

"Come with me. We've got so much to say and do. I have so much to tell you." She pleaded, grabbing his hand.

Wordlessly, Draco pulled her into a kiss. He let his tongue caress hers for a few moments before pulling away.

"I do love you, you know. I always have." He whispered. She smiled at him and led him over to the horse.

He helped her up, and together they started riding back towards the past, and London.