A/N: Sigh, summer is over. I could cry. But luckily for me I have you guys and your reviews to cheer me up. Thanks Freedomfighter393 for both of your reviews, they made me uber happy. Amethyst-rose: it all comes together. MoonlightPrincess: why are the pretty ones always so crazy::single tear: Lovely review. ArticAngelzTx: well, this chapter doesn't really explain it but be patient. I promise it will make sense. Reviews are much appreciated!

Ch. 34. Losing the Center.

He had been sitting there for an hour. His head was down and his back slouched forward. His hands fell helplessly at his sides. Anyone with eyes could see that he was upset. Ron's body lying there on the table didn't help matters. Snape had left a while ago to inform the other teachers. Draco had just stood there, ignoring Harry. He had no idea what to do. What could he do? He was never taught sympathy or compassion. He never received such things either. Except-!

She did. Draco had sat like that. He was in the same sort of place and she had been there. He remembered her delicate nature and courage. Being so open with someone like him was a rather large risk. Under normal circumstances her kindness would be slapped back in her face, but he had received it. He needed it. Just as Potter needed it now. Draco almost wished for her now to help Potter. Almost.

That didn't make him an awful person and it wasn't like he cared. She was his, or in his silent mind, she was. He wouldn't offer her to him. Potter had enough anyway, he didn't need her. 'I need her!' he thought. His heart stopped. He had admitted it. After thousands of silent arguments he had with himself he finally accepted his feelings.

However, that didn't make her any closer nor did it help the present situation. He snapped back into the here and now. His mind began to think quickly; Potter wasn't his favorite person but she would want him to help. He would suck it up and do it for her.

Draco walked over to corner that Potter had chosen to sulk in. It was diagonal from the door and centered in the path was his best mate, frozen. Several soothing breaths later Draco squatted down. "You really shouldn't," was all he could say. He knew Potter understood.

"I can't help it. All that my mind is doing is thinking. What if we can't get him to St.Mungo's? What if they can't help him? What if this, what if that?" Harry's words were rushed and weighed with worry.

"You must push the thoughts from your mind. You have to be calm. Panic makes matters worse, you should know that." Draco tried to make eye contact but Harry kept his head down.

A moment passed then Harry's head rose. "Look at him. Just bloody look at him!" Harry screamed. "If he can't get help then this is pretty much how he will be from now on. I don't want to loose my friend." Harry was pulling at his hair.

"Then don't," Draco responded quite simply.

"I can't conquer this. I'm afraid no one can." Harry slowly lowered his head.

"Forget that you're afraid."

"How the hell can I do that?" Harry asked frustrated.

"Ron is out of your control. Ginny isn't." Their eyes met. Cold silver soothed tumultuous green.

Starting. To start. The process of initiating a new event. Initiation. Maybe. Ginny was trying to figure out why this painful bullshit of 'starting' was referred to as such. Right now she was on a break. Or at least she guessed she was. In actuality she could be in some psycho- psychotic, drug induced dream while her body was still being ravaged with electrical shots.

Or maybe she was in a dream all along. Maybe she still hadn't woken up from her deep slumber of Christmas break. Even further still! She was still asleep from summer. Tomorrow was the first day of school! She must get prepared. Most likely, she hadn't packed yet. Alas, it didn't matter. She would have to ride this awful dream out until her eyes focused on reality.

Reality. The quality or state of being actual or true. Well what is actual? What is true? Truth is objective. To her the truth is that the August issue of Teen Witch Weekly was a piece of crap but that wasn't the truth for Harry, who happened to think that the swimsuits advertised weren't trashy at all. And actuality. Actuality is what one accepts as their truth. If she accepts that green is a prettier color than red then that makes it her truth. If then it is her truth it is her reality.

So, if her actuality was that she was actually in her bed sleeping off her last summer's night rather than being strapped to a mighty uncomfortable chair then the bed is her truth. So it is true for her that she is asleep in her bed. Her reality is that she is asleep in her house. Therefore there is no way that what she experiencing now is nothing more than an intense dream.

But-!

There was him. If logic tells her that this is a dream then that means so is her relationship with Draco. If that is a complete fabrication then the reality is that he has noting to do with her and probably enjoys it that way. Which that can not be true because she knows it.

No! She doesn't know it. There is no way of knowing anything. She can feel it. Deep down inside of her she can feel her heart jump when seeing him, or how it beats faster when she talks to him, and how she calms down at night thinking of him. Her emotions tell her the direct opposite of her logic. What is she to trust?

She understands that either way she can manipulate the facts to support her theory. She can figure things out all the way down to: her love defies her reality. Or, she can narrow it down to definitions and follow them accordingly. On the one hand there is safety with reason. Sleeping in her bed is a lot less riskier than prancing around with Draco Malfoy. But on the other hand her feelings for him run so strong and so deep that even the safety of her house and home have no more luster than a dull rock.

So, is there a debate then?

Now. Now she has decided that, yes she is kidnapped, yes she is stuck in that damnable chair and yes she is 'starting.' But, no she will not wonder about her reality again, no she will not doubt her rescue, and no, no she will not capitulate.

As her rush of emotions finally crashed over her the door to her reality opened. Waking up from her unconscious she saw that she was anything but on a break. Her 'friend' on the inside was in a much heated argument with another man. He was tall, he was fit, and he was facing the opposite direction. She could see his back, which didn't offer much of an opportunity to decipher who the person was. Deciding that eavesdropping would provide more clues she closed her eyes and pretended to be under again.

"-certainly not!" her friend screamed as she caught the end of his sentence.

"Oh, stop acting you boob!" The other man quipped. He turned around and walked up to Ginny, who still had her eyes closed. "She's fine, you see? Everything will be fine."

"I guess she will have to be now," her muttered under his breath.

"Shouldn't she be awake?"

"I don't know. I've never disrupted the THSD process."

"Oh BFD."

Her friend let out a growl of sorts.

"Well, then…" He put his face real close to hers. Sat there for a second and then he lightly tapped her check. Nothing. "C'mon w-" he began.

Ginny came around, again. She moaned. Then she fluttered her eyelids open. She took in the sight. She couldn't believe her eyes. "You!" she blurted out.

"Me." Standing before her was none other than Lucius Malfoy.

"What's going on!" She demanded.

"Feisty one, isn't she." Lucius sneered. Ginny wanted to vomit.

She looked to her friend, "what's he doing here?"

His eyes were as stony as before. "He pays for some of this."

"Ahem," Lucius coughed.

"Most of this. Let me explain-" he began.

"No, no. I'll explain," Lucius jumped in.

Ginny's pleading eyes looked over to her friend. He silently understood and walked over to Lucius. "Let me just give her a little bit of an overview…alone," he tried to whisper.

With a backwards glance Lucius agreed and left the room. "5 minutes." He shouted back.

"You said all I had to do was cooperate." Ginny stated.

"I know."

"And everything would get better," she continued.

"I know," he said softer.

"This is not better. This is worse. This is far worse. I can't imagine this being what you promised." Her anger increased.

"I know," he said softer still.

"What's this all about?"

"Just sit and listen. Don't act out and don't be cute. Don't, especially, be a smart ass," he told her forcefully. The volume of his voice frightened her, she had never heard him this way. "I am being incredibly easy on you. He most certainly won't. Got it?"

She refused to reply.

He knelt in front of her, trying to make eye contact. He couldn't, she looked away. He gave up and sighed. "I know this is awful of me, love." The door slammed open.

"Time's up," Lucius stated pompously.

"I know. I'm going." Her friend gave her a quick smile, turned around and left.

The door shutting behind him reverberated in Ginny's mind. She was alone.

"Pay attention to what I'm saying Weasley. I hate having to repeat myself."

She sat still and stared at the door behind him.

They had dropped Ron off at Madame Pomfrey's and she immediately called St. Mungo's. Rumors were already starting and with a ferocity newly experienced to Harry and Draco both. One was that in a rage Draco killed Ron, the other was that Harry killed Ron. The third was that Ron killed himself. Right now these and many other things were just too hard to think about for Harry who instead took Draco's advice.

"So, what now?" Draco asked as they left the Hospital Wing.

"We should probably tell Mr. and Mrs. Weasely," Harry answered dejectedly. "Mr. Weasely is at the Ministry, we could floo over there," he suggested. He started off to the Gryffindor Tower but he stopped when he saw Draco standing next to him. "Uh, maybe I should go alone."

Draco understood. The Weasely's didn't take too kindly to him and they had every rite to not. But this was above some stupid feud. "No. I'm coming."

"I don't think you understand," Harry said tentatively.

"You don't understand." He stopped himself. He almost let it out to Potter. He had almost told him. He took a second and couldn't come up with anything better. "I'm coming."

Harry could tell by the stern look on his face and the hardness of his tone that come hell or high water Draco was coming with him. This should be interesting, Harry thought.

It was a silent walk to the Tower. Neither would talk, neither wanted to, neither possessed the need. They saw students stare at them and whisper. They saw some stop in their tracks and walk to the other way. They saw others still that insisted they know what was going on. One such student was Harry's favorite person in the world: Colin Creevy.

Snap! A light bulb flashed. "That'll be a good one!" Colin stated excitedly.

The bright light had no affect on Harry who was quite used to piercing whiteness. Draco, however, had little dots hovering in his vision and he blinked madly to try to get rid of them.

"Colin. I'm only going to tell you once." Harry said gravely. "Don't bother us."

Colin lowered his head. "I'm sorry…."

"But?" Harry knew it was coming.

"But I heard Ginny's gone missing. I just wanted to ask you but then I saw you with Malfoy and the lighting was perfect and your faces were so stone I just had to take a picture. I'm sorry," he rushed that middle part but the apology was sincere.

Harry had forgotten that Colin was a friend to Ginny and Draco didn't know at all. The farther this investigation went the less Draco seemed to know about her. He vowed to change that when this was all over. 'How can I know so little but feel so much?' He wondered internally. After this thought he wondered how he ever became so emotional, he almost missed being unattached to the world…almost.

"I'm sure she would appreciate your concern but right now Colin we can't be interrupted. Okay?" He softened his tone realizing how harsh he was earlier.

"Okay. If you need me," Colin offered. He knew he was pretty useless to them but why not ask.

"I know where to find you. Bye." Harry nodded his head and walked off.

Draco began to follow but Colin grabbed his shoulder. "I hope your not playing with her."

Draco turned around and stood a head taller than poor little Colin. But Colin looked pretty tough and hard at the moment. "Excuse me?" He asked actually hurt.

"You hear me, Malfoy. She really likes you and for the life of me I can't see why. So, you better not be toying with her, and you better have some genuine feelings other than lust for her," he lectured. A staring contest ensued but it was broken up by Harry.

"C'mon!" His yell echoed down the corridor.

"Coming," Draco said still staring down at little Colin whose eyes were like slits and his face as flushed. For a small kid he had a hot temper. Draco left the contest and caught up with Harry.

"What was that about?" Harry looked over to see if Draco's face could offer any clues.

"Nothing," Draco lied.

"No, I don't think it was," Harry pressed.

"Potter, if I wanted to tell you, I would've. So drop it."

"I'm not dumb ya know? I'm also not blind. Colin doesn't freak out on everybody." Harry decided that he would have to ask Draco now. A better time certainly wasn't about to pop up. "Draco," he stated using Malfoy's first name in a long while. "Is there something going on between you and Ginny?"

"Why do you care?" Draco put up all his walls. Who the hell did Potter think he was?

"Because, I do. And it seems that you do too."

"Look! This isn't the time for this." Draco stopped walking.

Harry turned and faced him. "It isn't? Not only are you going to enter the Ministry of Magic with me but you're going to Mr. Weasely's office to tell him his son is fatally sick and his daughter is kidnapped!"

Draco started walking again, trying to avoid Potter.

"I don't know if you see how odd that all is but Mr. Weasely is probably going to want to know why the hell you even care. So what? We worked together. What does that have to do with his children?" Harry explained in a high voice riddled with reason.

"Well, I'll just come up with another cause to be there." Draco didn't slow down.

"Why are you going? Why would you even care?" Harry stayed where he was.

"Because, Potter. I'm her friend. Hasn't she told you that?" He snapped.

"Yes, but a friend would do what Colin did. A friend would worry but stay out of the way. You, however, seem to be doing just the opposite." Harry knew, he just wanted to hear Draco say it.

"You know, Potter. Why do you need me to tell you when you already know?" He shouted.

"Because if you can't say it to me, how in the bloody hell can you say it to her father?" Harry matched his loudness.

"I didn't plan on telling him anything." Then he quickly added. "Not that there's anything to tell."

"What did you plan on doing then? Twiddling you thumbs? Malfoy, you need a better plan than this. If you aren't going to tell her father about you two then what are you going to tell him?"

"Why do you worry so much?" Draco stopped walking then. "That man trusts you with his life. So, I don't think that he'd question your judgment on me. He would be wary but he wouldn't be completely against it."

Draco had made plenty of sense and Harry knew it. Giving up, "Fine," he said and they began to walk again. "To the Ministry of Magic," he stated flatly.

The room somehow got even seedier. It was because he was there. He was standing in front of her. Lucius Malfoy, a person she straight up hated, had her tied to her a chair (which if possible become like sitting nails) and locked in room all alone. To say she was worried was quite the understatement.

"What's this all about?" She asked quietly.

"It's about blood traitors like yourself. You have been the poison in the drink. You have put all your efforts towards putting down your own people." Each word was dripping with malice. Every syllable was hit with a tone of disgust.

Ginny remembered what her friend had told her and decided to keep quiet.

"You're just bursting to interrupt," he said faux amused. "Glad to see you can be tamed."

She dug he nails into the palms of her hands.

"But," he began. "Even with that. You are clean, healthy, with nice features. So on that note you're really not all that bad."

'Umm, what the hell?' Ginny was officially confused. Was that…a compliment? "What are you talking about?"

"Perhaps if you had an ounce of patience you'd see," he snipped. "This starting business is really what I'm talking about. We are fixing your problem," he began.

Ginny didn't mean to but she just blurted out, "what problem?"

Lucius, at his wits end, slapped her across the face. The sound seemed to reverberate around her and explode in her ears. The stinging pain caused her eyes to well up with tears but she quickly blinked them away. He wasn't about to see her cry. "Now will you stop interrupting?"

She didn't answer and kept her head lowered with her hair hiding her face.

"Hmm?"

She nodded.

"Good. You're problem was already explained. You're a traitor to your kind. Now, all we're here to do is to fix it. Soon you will be trustworthy and can enter into your society. Each of us has a purpose and you have a very important one." He walked up to her and towered over Ginny's small figure. "You will attract my wayward son here. As soon as he is done trying to save you and captured he will be put through just the same process you are experiencing. Then he will finally be loyal to his world."

He walked away from her again and continued to speak. "Now, seeing as how he has already has considerable interest in you, I shall have you married to him. Like I said, you're actually a good choice past the traitor business. Once married you shall continue on the Malfoy line," he concluded with an air of cheeriness. "Now you may ask questions."

There were so many! So her secret dream of being with Draco was a possibility. Hell, more than a possibility; at this point it was an inevitability. But she would be married to him? She would have his children? She had never thought it out that far in her head and the thought kind of scared her. Maybe she would be happy with him. But the cost! She was to be cured of her 'sickness.' Just what else of her personality would be affected by this machine? And what aspects of Draco's would be as well? Would she ever remember how she was, how life was? Would she ever be able to reverse it? Could there be a way for her to remember just a little something of her life before it was stolen away? Would she ever be able to reverse the affects of this brainwash? But the most important question to her: "What about my family?"

"Oh well, you're parents are too old and your brothers…hmm…well maybe them too. We are currently in the process of picking those we feel would be useful," he answered serenely and completely missing the point.

She didn't want them to have this TH whatever process done to them! She hoped to Merlin that they wouldn't be useful. She hoped that they could evade this awful machine and somehow even beat it but she wasn't going to hope for too much.

"I guess you're next question would be 'what about your friends?' Well, one of them has already undergone the process, Mary I think her name is. When your finish you can talk to her again." He was picking at his nails.

She felt like all the air in her lungs was sucked out. Not Mary. It couldn't be her. He misspoke. She trusted Mary with her life. But then again that's probably why she's stuck here. If Mary was the traitor than what happened to Ron? Did she leave him alone or did she bring him here too? "What about Ron then?"

"Oh he is that last person we want for this." Lucius crumpled up his nose as if he smelt the inside of bum's shoe. "He would serve no purpose and this does cost a pretty galleon I'll have you know." He paused as the thought just occurred to him. "This is quite the compliment, consider yourself flattered," he dictated with his usual air of superiority. "Well, that's enough of explanation. You need to get better quickly so I will go." His boots made a soft click on the floor and their noise slowly receded out of her mind.

Her consciousness of was lost. The electric shoots started up once more.

A/N: so? What do we think? Good, I hope. Dreadfully sorry for the late update. School + Work Hell. Leave me reviews! They make me happy!...more importantly to you, they make me update!