Chapter 9- Last chance lost
"Or we have this gorgeous set of matching bracelet, necklace and earrings in rubies and whit gold," said the man in Diagon Alley's best jewelry store. She lifted the lid on a black velvet box to reveal the matched set, lying on a stretch of cream satin.
"That's more like what I'm looking for," Draco said.
"They're beautiful pieces," the woman agreed.
She told him about the man who designed them, where the rubies and gold had come from and how many carats they added up to, then she waited in hushed expectation for Draco's verdict on the quality of what he saw.
But he wasn't thinking about ruby mines or carats at all. He was only thinking of Ginny. How the pale, gleaming gold would look against her creamy skin.
How the glowing rubies would contrast with her dark brown eyes and her red hair. What he would say when he gave them to her, and what she might say or do in return?
Print hot kisses on his mouth. Press her body against him. Cry and smile at the same time. All of the above might be nice. He almost felt like crying himself, and he'd already been smiling for hours.
They made love twice in his office this morning. First the frantic explosion of feeling on the soft leather. Nowhere near enough. They both agreed on that afterward, still breathless.
They took it more lazily the second time around, slowly discovering each other again. The little spot just under her ear that made her gasp when he kissed it.
The perfect meeting point between pleasure and pain that he found when she raked her nails lightly across his back.
It had been almost noon by the time they were both dressed and ready to leave the secret sanctuary of the office.
"I'm going back to your place, Draco and.," she said
"Back home" he'd corrected her.
She'd smiled, and it had lit up her whole face. "Home." She repeated.
"I like the sound of that" he smiled.
"So do I! And I'll call Ron when I get there. He needs to know what's going on. Is it okay if I tell him they can come here anytime they want?"
"Of course. Lord Gin, you don't need to ask about something like that! I know how much you care about what's going on with them right now." He told her.
"And I'm assuming you have work here to get done this afternoon, so I'll just go home and do nothing." She shrugged.
"You like doing nothing?" he asked laughing.
"No. I love doing nothing," she laughed.
"Want to go out tonight? Somewhere real quiet, where we won't get seen." He asked her.
"Where we won't get seen…" she smiled again. "You don't know good that sounds!"
So they parted in the office. Somehow it took longer then expected and he return to his work until he couldn't stand it any longer.
At which point the idea of spoiling her with gifts had overtaken him and he headed into Diagon Alley like a man possessed, cell phone switched off so no one could call him back to the bank.
"I'll take it," he told the sales assistant, who still had her hands hovering over the set. He didn't even blink at the price.
She nodded. "Wrapped?" she asked.
The package looked gorgeous in silver and gold paper and as he left the store he thought it wasn't enough. Ginny needed flowers too.
He came away with a dozen of pink roses. Draco grinned all the way home doing his best to hurry because he couldn't wait.
It was nearly six now, and according to him too long since he last seen Ginny. Glancing at the gift and flowers he sighed softly.
Who knew he was such a romantic? And who knew he could be so shameless about it?
His first inkling that something was wrong came when the house appeared darker than he thought it would be. The surprising her with a gift fantasy vanished, but he reminded himself she might have had some errands to run.
She might have even gone back to the bank to surprise him he thought as he entered the house. But the house seemed to contain a different kind of silence, tonight.
He looked in the kitchen and found his dishes from this morning washed and dried sitting neatly on the rack. He went along to his bedroom, which seemed far too tidy.
The bed was neatly made and there was no evidence of him even sleeping there the night before. Suspecting the worst he quickly ran to the spare room. Her room.
Throwing open the closet door his heart dropped. It took everything he had not to fall to the floor. The closet in the room was empty, and her suitcase was gone.
His scalp tightened, along with his chest, this was…ridiculous. Wrong. Unforgivable.
They planned dinner. Correction, they'd planned a whole life. Together. Here. Ginny had called it "home" with a radiant smile on her face.
She even asked if her family could come down and she made it clear that she wasn't planning to go running back to her brother to kiss everything better.
What had she said to him this morning when he was eating breakfast, even before their confrontation at the bank? Going home wouldn't bring Luna back to her brother.
And yet clearly she left, even though she had to be in no doubt as to what he'd think about that. He paced through the house, fist balled and throat screaming, not understanding at all.
She promised to stay with him. They made a vowed and sealed it even. She let him make love to her twice today and left him to find her gone. Leaving nothing but a broken heart and what might have been.
Never in his life did he think the mighty Draco Malfoy would fall. Again.
Finally he made it to his study. That was where he found the note, sitting on the desk beside his phone.
"I'm sorry" Ginny wrote in a hasty scrawl. Which he could barely read.
"I've gone home and I know what that means. I know it blows everything out of the
water again. I'm going to have to live with that. Not quite sure how I'm going to do
that right now. But Dad in St Mungo's. Spoke to the healer. It's a coma Draco and it's serious.
Tried to call you but you left the office and your cell phone was off. Probably better this way.
Better that the illusions didn't last long. I'm going to try and get there was soon as possible.
"Once again I'm sorry…. Ginny"
You couldn't see where you were going and cry. It wasn't safe. And when your dad was in the hospital in a coma with complications, you had to stay safe no matter what, so Ginny kept going and her eyes stayed dry.
Aching and dry. She had no shred of illusion about what she was driving away from. Her marriage. Draco.
They hadn't solved anything, this morning. They'd only thought they had.
Things had been wonderful this morning for them. Twice they made love, but all it took was one blip on the radar of her life and everything got stripped away again.
What had he said to her this morning? "We'd have lost our last chance if you'd gone back home today."
He was still forcing her to choose between him and her family, and she'd have to learn to hate him for that, if she could.
This morning she thought she could make the choice he wanted. The choice she wanted, too in so many ways. It was easier when things seemed rosy.
Ron would come down to get over his broken heart. Ginny would be closer to Hogwarts and she could help Draco with the bank, and count on school breaks to see her family.
Except now her dad was in the hospital and the fantasy faded. And as she said to Draco in the note. She knew what she was doing by heading home. She was putting another mile between him and her with every passing minute.
Permanently.
Percy's phone call about Dad had come at two, and Ginny left Draco's within a half an hour. She had questions about what happened but didn't waste time asking them over the phone.
"He's been working long hours. He wouldn't tell us anything about it. And he told us he was on top of his appointments with the healer." Was all Percy said.
"And with our own schedules we haven't been able to keeps tabs on him the past couple of days. We've all been way too distracted and upset. Obviously." He finished.
That last statement had made Ginny feel guilty. Thinking back on it, she knew Percy intended for it too, which made her feel angry too. Was this really the right time to use emotional weapons like that?
You're right, Draco. Right about some of it.
When Dad is better again…oh please, dear god…I'm going to make a few changes in my life. I'm going to take a long vacation. She thought.
Once she neared the burrow she debated going home first, but decided to head direct for St.Mungo's.
She knew all about how hospital's worked, from the time when her father was bit by Voldemort's snake and then her mother's illness years ago. They were always going. Even if they wouldn't allow her to see him yet, she could at least get some answers from the healers.
Entering the building fifteen minutes later, she saw the many people walking down hallways or going up elevators. There was even some apparently waiting to be seen still.
Walking up to the desk she asked about her father's room and floor number, then took the lift up to the second floor. At the desk in front of the floor, she got a cautious but not terrible report.
"He's out of the coma, but we still have cause for concern. He still needs to be watched, which means his temperature is pretty high and he may seem confused." The healer told her.
"You have him on any healing spells?" Ginny asked concerned.
"We're trying everything to get him healed sweetheart. He's very sick, but we are getting a little more closer to healing him, now." The healer reassured her.
"What happened? What could have caused this? I've been away for several days. I'm usually the one who looks after dad." Ginny began.
"He was hit with a spell and it stopped his whole system. As you probably already know some spells are slow to heal. But we are doing everything we can."
"Would you like to see him? We can talk more later, if you have questions, and his healer will be around some time this morning."
Ginny wiped the tears away that begun to fall down her cheeks. "I'd love to see him," she cried.
Too anxious to get there, she didn't stop to get flowers, but the room was already full of them, a tribute to her father's popularity and high profile in the ministry.
Arthur seemed almost lost in the profusion of color and scent, and he looked pale, lying against the white sheets.
She took his hand and whispered, "I'm here dad."
His eyes fluttered slowly open. "Ginny…" He smiled a broad, slow smile. Then went back to sleep.
Ginny sat for some minutes, just holding his hand, so relived at having gotten here safely, to find him apparently "doing better" although to her this only suggested how bad he must have looked before.
After a while, he slowly opened his eyes again.
"How're you doing?" she asked.
He smiled again. "Better. Much. Now you're here. Happy to see you. I'm buying the magazine."
"I'm sorry?" she said frowning.
"Witch Weekly. No more articles about Draco. He says I don't have to do that." Arthur said smiling.
"Does he?" she frowned, her heart jumping into her throat at the mention of her husband. The lady she spoke to earlier had come into the room.
She stepped closer and mouthed over his head "Confused. It happens. It's the counter spells. It's okay. They say things that don't make sense. He wont remember, once they began to take effect and he gets better"
He already closed his eyes once more. Ginny felt so tempted to do the same.
His rhythmic breathing and his warm hand in hers made her feel sleepy, and she was exhausted after the trip. Since he was so quiet, and clearly wasn't feeling bright enough to talk.
In fact he looked fast asleep, now and it wouldn't hurt to rest for a while, because Ron or Fred and George and Percy would probably be here soon and that would wake her up again.
She saw herself -slipping away from Draco across her vision the moment she closed her eyes. And when she opened them again, unconsciously sensing movement and sound.
Draco was there, standing tall and strong and gorgeous and definitely forbidding, beside her dad's table full of flowers.
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