The Distance to Here

A/N: I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!! You see, I have a virus which shuts down my computer after 1 minute and there's no way I can go to someone else's place to post this, because I'm a closet HP girl, and so I had to get Internet on my other computer in order to use this…I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't alienate too many of you. And I had it ready after a week, too!

More apologies:

I apologize in advance for those people who were reading because of plot. But what can I say, I like a little mushy disgusting stuff thrown into my fics once in a while. I'm a softie. (Why else would I read J/L or S/OC?) But anyway...here's something for you romance novel readers. I'm sorry, deeply sorry, to the rest of you. (P.S. Don't get your hopes up, I don't write smut)

Read MetroDweller's fics.

Chapter 15: Warm and Gooey

After force-feeding all of the necessary information on Draco, and spewed threats of all kinds on his person, his family, his pet cat, and his genitalia, Ron left, leaving Harry and Ginny alone with Draco and Hermione. He was not in the best of moods.

"Phew," Ginny said, after he was gone. "You know, sometimes he reminds me of how mum used to be around the twins.

"I'm going to go," she continued brightly. "I have to meet someone at the Hog's Head." Changing into her owl form, she flew out of the kitchen window.

"I have to go see Dumbledore," Harry said, looking from Draco to Hermione, both of which stared at their hands, laying limp in their laps. "I told him I'd keep in touch." No one answered. "Well, bye," he said, rather pointedly.

"Bye, Potter," Malfoy said listlessly, recovering from his stupor first.

Harry went out to the alleyway and Apparated to Hogsmeade, from there taking the coach into the Hogwarts grounds. All he could think about was who Ginny had sauntered off to see, and whether he was good enough for her.

"Thank you," Hermione said, still staring downwards. "It was really brave of you to sit down like that and listen. I know that Ron is a prat sometimes and I"m glad you just let it be. I'm sorry he was such an arse..."

"I don't need you to apologize for him, Hermione," Draco said abruptly, but without emotion. "I've known Weasley as long as you have, and I know the way he is.

"But as long as we're giving out apologies and thanks, I wanted to thank you." Oh god, his pride was hard to swallow. "You've trusted me, I think, when no one else would and it's been good to have someone who believes me, even when I'm questioning myself."


"Oh," she said delicately, pronouncing the syllable with exaggerated preciseness. "You're welcome. I just, thought you didn't notice. But I do trust you," she said, looking up at him in earnest, now. He had gotten up to pace, and she stood too, stepping closer to him. It was night, the candles floating around the ceiling burned bright and soft, illuminating the porcelain skin outlining his jaw, and the rose tinge across her cheeks. 

"It's so hard," she exclaimed desperately. "To live here, in this time. Where I see you again by arresting you, and begin to know you from keeping you hostage. This isn't how people should grow, and live. This isn't how relationships should form. Do you ever think," she asked him, a wild hope gleaming in her deep brown eyes, "Of what it will be like when this is over?"

"Of course," he said, a crease across his forehead that came years too soon. "Everyone clings to it, and it always seems to be in the not-so-distant future. But that is what's wrong with you, with Potter, and everyone else."

"What do you mean, Draco? What's wrong with Harry?"

"Any fool can see that he's enamoured with Ginny. And that she's been in love with him since she was ten. God knows why," he added with distaste. "But he won't do anything, he just clings to his hope that one day they'll be together without secrecy, without complication. But there's always complication. That's one thing I learned with- with Pansy." His voice hesitated here, but he had always been so strong. "There's always complication."

"But- not this much, I mean, once Voldemort is dead and gone the truth will come out. Everything will be alright again, Ginny won't have to hide, and neither will you."

Draco shook his head. "No, Granger," he said softly, eyes haunting and bleak, softening as they looked into her own, "you can never be sure. So you can't take your life for granted. Especially now. You could be dead tomorrow. Ginny could be betrayed tonight. Harry could fall off a broom. You don't know."

Hermione stood closer now, eyes brimming. It was all true, and she despised every word. She was strong, but not this strong. And she hated the necessity of her courage. She wanted to hide, to cower and go about her normal life and forget Voldemort's existence. She wanted to be below his notice, anonymous and safe. But what she did then would take more courage than she ever thought she would need, and would throw her life out of anonymity forever.

Looking into his steely eyes and thinking that for a moment they looked more like grey velvet, she reached up her hand and smoothed the platinum hair off his face in silent invitation. "You're right, Draco," she said. "So we need to take advantage of what we have..."

"Yes," he affirmed, cupping her chin gently and tilting his head downwards, "I agree."


Ginny plopped down into her regular bar-stool at the Hog's Head. She nodded to the bartender who winked discreetly at her before giving her a glass of what looked like Firewhiskey, but wasn't. Dorotheus Pringle, the owner and operator of the pub, had been approached by Dumbledore two weeks earlier, after constant surveillance by various Rebels. They had developed a system whereby Ginny could drink a Firewhiskey with enough Sobering Solution in it to completely balance the effects of the alcohol. She found it was much easier to get information from Death Eaters when they thought she was drunk. They always groped at her though- it was somewhat annoying.

Draco pushed the door to Hermione's room violently open, and backed her into it, moving steadily and holding her to her feet. Their mouths never detached. Hermione loved the feel of him, every part of him. She loved the way his skin was so smooth, so pale that she could see the veins flowing beneath, but underneath this beautiful and delicate surface was a steely power. She succumbed fully to it, losing herself in the sensation of being dominated in every sense. Just as she made this decision, the sensation stopped. Draco held her away from him, searching into her eyes.

"Don't do this to me again, Hermione," he warned her. "If you have any doubts, any second thoughts now is the time to voice them. Once you say yes, there's no turning back. You won't be able to push me away anymore."

Hermione took a deep breath. She looked over at the four-poster, a deep mahogany, adorned with deep green satin sheets. Biting her lip, she looked at Draco. Yes, it would be dangerous. Yes, it would be hard. But looking at the authority and power he exuded from every pore, she couldn't find any fear to turn her away. No matter where she turned, there was only him. Reaching out, she delicately traced a finger over his cheekbone.

"I'm not drunk this time," she said, smiling. "And I'm a very level-headed person." Smirking, Draco grabbed the back of her head and pulled her towards his mouth. Time lost its meaning and she forgot where her limbs were, forgot she even had a body, as every part of her being reeled and was shattered by the steel in his eyes.

Ginny was bored. She had been told to be at the Hog's Head that night by a fellow Death Eater, and in typical bad-guy fashion he had not bothered to tell her an approximate time. She was beginning to think she had missed him, that she had tarried too long at the Black House making doe eyes at Harry. Typical of me, she thought contemptuously. He hasn't even looked at me since the fire.

"Pathetic," she muttered aloud, and footsteps behind her made her jump.


"Let's make this brief," Lucius Malfoy said icily as he sat down beside Ginny. He glanced at the barman in disdain before turning his eyes back onto her. She hated when he stared, he unnerved her.

"You called me here, Lucius, not the other way around," Ginny replied obstinately. "So it's entirely up to you to control the length of our meeting." She took a sip from her glass. "Drink?"

"No, thank you," he sneered. "I have a few potion vials at the Manor which I would feel more comfortable drinking out of."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged, and downed the drink, not failing to notice the glint in his eye. He thought she was getting drunk. Stupid Malfoy, always underestimating the intelligence of the women in his life.

"I think you know that I never approved of you becoming one of us. You were- and still are- unworthy of the rank that protects you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you talking?" she said mildly. "I'll have another please," she called to the bartender, who scowled. "In any case, you have no right to call me unworthy. The Dark Lord chose me as much as I chose to be part of this order, and as far as he and I are concerned, we are equals. So I don't give a fiddler's fuck what you think of my worth as a Death Eater."

"I know that you have a weakness for my son," Lucius continued, unfazed except for a more steely bite to his voice. "And I have reason to believe that you are unfaithful to the Dark Lord. If you are hiding my son, I will hear of it, be warned. Do not think that all of the Dark Lord's servants are blind to Draco, save you."

Ginny glared, but inwardly she was in turmoil. How did he know? She had to say something.

"Your son," she snapped, emphasising the words, as if deeply offended, "betrayed the Dark Lord and risked his entire cause! Do not suggest that I am in any way guilty of helping him. Though perhaps," she said more calmly, "I could have done something to prevent it."

"Do you still have connection to Harry Potter?" Malfoy fired out at her, paying no heed to her actual response, but watching her face for every muscle movement, every twitch that would give her away.

Ginny laughed. It was borrowed from Bellatrix Lestrange, who had taken to Ginny when she had first joined the Death Eaters. Bellatrix had delighted in the fact that Harry's former friend would turn against him so completely, and so had showered lavish presents on her and kept her by her side. Ginny was in fact grateful, because she learned from Bellatrix the mannerisms and idiosyncrasies which only Death Eaters had. And she had learned this laugh. It was high and scornful, designed to raise goosebumps and lower confidence.


"Lucius," she said indulgingly, "are you really so desperate to save face in front of the Dark Lord that you would risk looking senile and out of touch with reality when your accusations prove false? Discrediting me for the sake of winning back what little honour your family has left seems overreaching. And the Dark Lord would see through your falseness. You used to be subtle, Lucius. I have a confession to make. At one point, when I was twelve, I was afraid of you. But now you are obsolete.

"Goodnight, and thank you for the lovely chat. I assume you're paying my tab?"

Teetering dramatically in a way that she was proud of, she walked out the door with dignity, copper hair blazing.

When she was out of sight and hearing distance, her shoulders slumped and she heaved a sigh, when from behind a strong arm clamped her hands at her sides and pressed her against a hard and unyielding body, and a hand closed around her mouth. Her eyes widened, but she couldn't scream.

A/N: I am QUEEN of the cliffies. I know I'm terrible. 3 guesses who the kidnapper is! A free sneak preview of the next chapter by email to everyone who reviews and makes a guess! But the catch is, you need to give me feedback too.

Eg. Your fic sucks, it's Voldemort. – you get a sneak preview.

McGONAGALL– sorry, no preview.

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