A/N: sorry it took so long to update, real life started intruding
When she heard her verdict, Ginny just stood there. She didn't know how to react. She couldn't take her eyes off the far wall. Even when everyone she knew came over to hug her and laugh and cry all she could do was stare. Even when Snape whispered in her ear that Malfoy's case was going to be reviewed all she could do was stare.
Finally, Harry made his way through the crowd. He seemed hesitant, unsure of himself. As he stood before her, he swallowed hard and started to speak but stopped when she turned and focused her eyes on him.
"Thank you," she whispered. Then, without another word, she walked out. Her friends and family exchanged a few looks before Hermione, Snape, Lupin, and Bill all headed out after her at the same time. The others followed in confusion.
She didn't know where she was going. She just had to walk. She really didn't know what to think. She couldn't hope Draco would be released. If he was not… She hadn't wanted to be free without him. She had known she would be convicted. She had known that she was going back to Azkaban never to come out again. But she wasn't going back. They weren't sending her back. She had to stay out here now. She was out and he was in. She just walked. Eventually Snape was the only one following her. The others knew he would look after her.
She walked until she couldn't walk anymore, until she was too tired to think. Snape aparated her to the Order Headquarters and put her to bed.
She spent most of the following two weeks staring out the window. The others didn't know what to do. They didn't know how much her distance was due to her time in Azkaban and how much of it was due to her release. They were all worried what would happen to her if Malfoy was not released as well. Most of them had a hard time understanding why his fate had literally become her life.
"He understood her, and she understood him. For two people who never believed that was possible, that's all it takes," Snape explained the night before Malfoy's final hearing.
"That is where it has gone, yes, but it began with honour," Lupin added. "She knows the truth. She knows his motives and his heart. To let him suffer for doing that which was right is not an option in her worldview."
"He needs her," was Hermione's contribution. "He was the one that convinced her she is necessary, and he needed her through all of this more than ever."
"She loves him." Bill summed it all up. "Take all of that and go backwards. Take the need Hermione spoke of, add to it the honour Remus pointed out, and reach the understanding Snape recognized and it all builds to love. She loves him." His words were met with silence. As an afterthought a few seconds later, he added, "Judging by his reaction when she was charged with treason at the end of his own trial, he loves her as well." No one disagreed.
The next day they all went back to the ministry to hear the verdict of Malfoy's review. He stood as she had done at the end of her trial, staring at the back wall. She stood between Snape and Lupin, staring at her shoes.
Neither of them could be sure that they heard the actual verdict. All they knew was that the room went from silent to filled with noise. Her eyes snapped up from her shoes and his tore away from the wall to meet each other's gaze across the room. All the talking, all the yelling, all the commotion around them didn't matter. Time stopped as they looked at each other, unable to believe it.
They couldn't hear the words of anyone around them, but the tiny click of the lock holding his chains sounded like a roar in their ears. Before the chains had even reached the ground he was moving across the room. At her first step those around her fell silent. As they moved toward each other the silence spread through the room.
When they met in the center the sound of pin hitting the floor would have echoed. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her as though his life depended on her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. He brought a hand up to her head and buried his own face in her hair. They didn't look like they would ever let go.
When he brought his face up there were tears in his eyes. Bringing his hand around to her chin he tilted her head up so he could look her in the eye before bending down to kiss her.