a/n: hey all! I'm back again, lol...Chapter 14! I think you guys'll like this piece a lot. So COOKIES to anyone who catches the title reference between chapters 13 and 14 (think: musicals, song lyrics...hinthint) --there'll be an explainantion if you ask for it. but if no one asks, I'll just assume you don't care, lol...
Chapter Fourteen, Another Destiny.
"Where does it say that you've gotta live and die here?
Where does it say that a guy can't catch a break?
Why should you only take what you're given?
Why should you spend your whole life livin,
trapped where there ain't no future -
even at seventeen.
Breakin your back for someone else's sake.
If the life don't seem to suit ya,
How 'bout a change of scene?
Far from the lousy headlines and the deadlines in between..." -'Santa Fe', Newsies
Sure enough, Harry disappeared that night. He was gone for the rest of the week, and Ginny attended two Quidditch practices per Ron's request -he seemed to be filling in as team Captain. Ginny still wasn't talking to him or Hermione, but she was happy enough to be polite at least at the practices.
Saturday came quickly, and Ginny put on her old Quidditch robes, ready to play again. Seeker was quite a different position than Chaser, and she was much better at the latter. Not to mention the fact that the only Seeker in the school who'd ever beaten Draco was Harry. The team walked onto the field, heads held high, ready for the game.
Ron faced Draco, who was the Slytherin Captain, and they shook hands. Both boys looked ready to kill, and Ginny was surprised someone's hand wasn't torn off right then and there.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and they all kicked off. Ginny flew around the stadium once, circling both goals, and just getting a feel for the day.Eventually she slowed down and hovered high above the ground, with her back to the sun. She saw Draco fly up next to her and smiled.
"Hey," she said.
"Not afraid to be seen with me now, eh?" He drawled. She laughed,
"No, I can just tell them that you were bothering me." They watched the game progress, both sets of Chasers were performing especially miserably today. "Man, they need help." Ginny commented with a giggle.
"I've almost given up on them, there's no point. As long as they keep the score down, and I catch the Snitch, we'll win."
"Who said you were going to catch the Snitch?" Ginny said with a huff. She knew Harry didn't expect them to win this match, but it would be nice if they did.
"I did." Draco said arrogantly. She laughed and then sighed. She was staring off into space, only half-paying attention to searching for the Snitch. She gave up on watching the Chasers - it would come down to the Snitch, just like it almost always did.
"You know, one day I'm just going to fly away. See what they would say to that."
"Fly away? Fly away where?" he asked curiously.
"I don't know...just...away. See what it feels like to be free. Leave all this nonsense behind..."
"Doesn't sound too bad if you put it like that."
"What other way is there to put it?"
"Well for me there isn't, but you...you've got a family and friends to worry about, a life and a career." Ginny frowned,
"And you don't?"
"The only family I would worry about is my mother, and she probably wouldn't even notice. And the only life I've got is that of a Death Eater - do you think I'd really look back?"
"I suppose not...but I was just saying...One day. One day I'm just going to fly away and leave everything behind."
"And what about me? You just going to leave me here?" He said with a raised eyebrow, she tilted her head, considering it.
"I don't know. I suppose I wouldn't. I guess you could come, too." She smiled.
"And where would we go?" He said amusedly.
"I don't know. I don't know because they would all come looking for us. I think if you and I left, the whole wizarding world would be alerted - both sides would stop everything just to find us." Draco snorted,
"Yeah, right. They wouldn't care if I died, why would they care if I left?"
"If you left with me," she emphasized, "they would come after you."
"That's true," he conceded. "But I don't really care about that."
"You should, if they found us, it could get bad." She was still talking playfully, lightly. Completely forgetting about the Quidditch match going on below them. She was lost in her dream about this far off place that she and Draco could run away to, have fun and just be free.
"That's why we would make sure they couldn't find us."
"We could live as Muggles," Ginny suggested. Draco grimaced,
"I don't know how they survive without magic, I would never do that."
"Well then you'd have to register with the Ministry wherever we went, and they could find you. If you didn't use magic, you could stay anonymous." She reasoned. He considered it, then muttered something about how awful that could be. She smiled, and looked around to see if she could spot the Snitch, but found nothing. She sighed and started flying around in circles.
"What are you doing?" He smiled and chuckled at her.
"I'm bored. Chasers never do nothing for this long, you Seekers are weird --ooh!" Draco spotted it at the same time she did, and they raced for the little gold ball. Both brooms were of equal caliber, so it was a tight race. "Don't you dare Draco Malfoy!" She screamed through the wind, and she saw him grin.
"Can't help it, Red!" He yelled back. They chased the Snitch around the stadium, and dove down towards the ground after it. It had stopped maybe three feet off the ground, and neither Seeker was about to slow down to catch it, so they leveled with it - and each other - and went after it. In a matter of moments, both of them fell off their brooms and tumbled across the ground, hands out in the direction of the Snitch. Ginny had to pull hers back to cover her head, as Draco was about to come down on top of her (like she just had on top of him). They rolled a few times and slowed down, and Ginny started cracking up. Before she even opened her eyes or got up, she laughed.
"You had better have that stupid Snitch, or I swear toMerlin, I forfeit." She shook her head as she heard nothing.
"Are you ok?" He asked, worriedly. She opened her eyes and sat up, confused.
"Yeah, why?" She looked around to see Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey rushing out towards them.
"You just didn't get up, that's all,"
"Miss Weasley! Are you alright!" Madam Hooch cried.
"Yes! Yes! I'm fine!" Ginny yelled back, "Just didn't feel like getting up is all." She stood up and tried to brush some of the dirt off her robes.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, really, I'm ok." She assured the women, and they seemed to accept it and make their way off the pitch. In the meantime the entire Slytherin team had landed and was celebrating Draco, who was proudly smirking. Ginny smirked her own smirk and shook her head again when she caught his eye. He winked and she turned around to leave.
The mood in the changing room wasn't a happy one, everyone - especially Ron - was miserable.
"Oh, come on, guys - did you really expect me to beat him?" She said after a few minutes of very uncomfortable silence. The whole team grumbled in the negative. Ginny rolled her eyes and made her way back up to the common room, where the atmosphere wasn't much different. She decided she didn't feel like dealing with it all right now, so after dinner she made her way out and down to the hospital wing to check on her Veritaserum.
When she got there, Madam Pomfrey insisted on fussing over her until she let the woman give her a physical to make sure Draco hadn't hurt her by accident. After that, Ginny went to the side room and worked on her potion. She concentrated on some easier potions, to keep up with refilling Madam Pomfrey's inventory. After a few hours she decided to be done for the night, and walked off towards the library.
As she rounded the corner, she ran into Pansy Parkinson, and almost fell over because of it.
"Watch where you're going, Weasel." Pansy spit at her.
"Shut up, Pansy. What are you doing out here, anyway? Shouldn't you be hanging all over Malfoy right about now?" Pansy glared at her.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I was just out looking for him. When he finds you out of bed, you're going to be in trouble," she said haughtily.
"I'm terrified." Ginny said dryly. Pansy's eyes narrowed,
"You need to learn your place in the world and stop talking down to people who are above you." She hissed.
"Above me?" Ginny challenged, "You're not worthy to lick the dirt off of my shoe." This seemed to enrage Pansy, and she bgan to yell.
"How dare you! Don't you dare talk to me like that you stupid --"
"Am I interrupting something?" Draco drawled as he walked up behind Pansy, raising his eyebrows at the two girls.
"Draco!" Pansy's tone changed dramatically, and was now sweet. "I was just looking for you! Where have you been? The party's still going on, and we missed you!" She gave him a coy smile as she snaked an arm around his waist, forcing his arm around her shoulder. Ginny raised an amused eyebrow at Draco, as she could see his guard go up as he got tense.
"I was patrolling, you know that." He said stiffly, then he looked between her and Ginny. "What's going on?" Pansy's eyes shifted back to Ginny, as her tone took a nasty dive.
"I was trying to find you when that...that thing ran into me! It's after curfew, Draco! Take points off and give her detention!" She ordered. "She also told me that I wasn't worthy to lick the dirt off her shoes, the stupid, mangy --"
"No need to finish that statement, Parkinson, I get the picture." He said, sounding almost formal. "So, Weasley, what do you have to say for yourself?" Ginny looked between the two of them - her boyfriend, with his arm around the shoulder of another girl. A part of her was very mad, and very jealous, but since she knew Pansy and his situation with her, a part of her was endlessly amused.
"You two deserve each other." Ginny said, rolling her eyes.
"That's what you have to say?"
"Go back to your stupid party." She spat, letting her anger and jealousy finallyget the best of her, and she stormed off into the library.
"Why's she going in there?" She heard Pansy ask as she walked away. She stormed into the library and climbed up onto the sill, not bothering to transfigure a couch like they usually did. A few minutes later, Draco walked in. She didn't even look at him, she kept her gaze firmly planted on a tree by the lake. It wasn't a very interesting tree, but it was what she was focusing on.
"I got rid of her," Draco said softly.
"Good. I hate that girl."
"Me too." he chuckled. Ginny turned and glared at him, he was sitting on a couch.
"I don't like her putting her arm around you like that, or talking to you like that. Or talking at all, for that matter, but that's not the point." Ginny said, quite upset. Draco seemed to be caught offguard, and he paused before answering.
"Red, there isn't anything I can do about that," He said, and she flared.
"That's ridiculous! I told Harry that I was spoken for, you tell her the same thing!" Ginny had slid off the sill, and herhands were on her hips now, her voice firm. Draco just shook his head,
"I can't do that."
"What? Why the hell not?"
"Because I'm supposed to marry her." He answered firmly. Ginny almost fell over with shock. She would have, if the couch weren't as close as it was. She sat down next to him, and once she started breathing again, and found her voice, she continued.
"What?"
"We're betrothed." He answered formally.
"Draco Malfoy, don't you give me that crap, what the hell are you talking about?"
"What do you think I'm talking about?" he said impatiently, "After we graduate this year, we're getting married."
"You...you can't! You can't tell me you actually want to...to be with her!" Ginny sputtered for words, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"I never said that," he snarled, "I just said we were getting married."
"Yeah, and you keep saying that. Why would you do that?"
"Me? I wouldn't. But my father seems to think the match is perfect."
"Your father? What does your father have to do with your marriage?"
"Red, you can't actually think that I arranged this. Not everyone lives in your world, not everyone marries because they want to."
"So what happens if you tell your father that she's vile?" Draco smirked at her gall.
"I can't do that."
"Oh, please, I don't think I've ever seen you hold your tongue when it comes to talking about her."
"You don't understand," he said as he shook his head. "When I graduate, my entire world is going to change. I'm lucky I got to come back this year at all, I still don't know how it happened. Once I'm not here anymore, I have to get married, and produce an heir. Then I'll take over my father's position, in both society and the Dark Lord's cirlce, and that will be my life." She gaped at his forwardness. This couldn't be happening...
"So...what happens to us?" She asked quietly, suddenly feeling very hurt that at the end of this year, she'll probably never be able to see him again. He sighed sadly, too.
"We'll have to break it off. I can't drag anyone into that mess."
"What if I don't want to break it off?" She huffed,
"Red, I'm getting married, and there's nothing either of us can do about that. I'm not going to let you drag yourself into my life because it's not worth it. It's not worth the risk."
"But...I don't want to break it off..." She tried, looking at him with pain in her eyes.
"Neither do I, Red," he said softly, pulling her closer, "but we don't have a choice."
"What about you? I know you don't like her,"
"Didn't stop you from getting jealous, though, I see..."
"Of course it didn't," Ginny snapped. "Draco, I want to be the one on your arm. I want to be the one you back up and fight for. I want to be the one you come to when you're upset. I don't want you to marry her!"
"Ginny," she looked up - he rarely used her name, "I want all those things, too. But we don't have a choice. This is what's going to happen, and if I show Pansy any indication that I don't want to go through with it, she'll tell her mother, who'll tell my mother, who will tell my father, who will...well, I don't really want to think about what he'd do." Ginny curled up in his lap, hugging her knees to her chest.
"What's the date?" She asked quietly.
"August eleventh." This, she could not handle. She almost felt like she'd stopped breathing. Once she felt like she could feel her legs again, she looked at him with hurt eyes, jumped up and ran out of the room. She flew through the corridors, not even paying attention to the turns she was making, and soon enough she was at the Fat Lady. She ran up to her bedroom and threw herself onto her bed. She punched her pillows, and screamed into them. She fought with her clothes and bedcurtains until she was securely under the blankets, and she broke down. She cried herself to sleep, and didn't wake up for breakfast the next morning.
She went through the next day, not speaking to anyone. When they got back to classes on Monday, she still didn't speak to Draco. She made a point of asking other people in Potions her questions, and wouldn't even look at him. She didn't go back to the library. She didn't go out to the lake, or even to the hospital wing. She knew she needed to check the Veritaserum again, but she couldn't bring herself to.
On Wednesday, Harry got back. No one else seemed to notice besides Ginny, Hermione and Ron. Hermione and Ron kept chatting it up with him, but Ginny noticed that he kept casting worried glances in her direction. After dinner that night, he approached her.
"I heard about the match..."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." She said, not picking her eyes up from the book she was doing research in.
"It's ok, I didn't expect much. I heard it was a race until the end, though."
"Yep, I kept up with him until we fell off our brooms."
"That's great, Gin." She didn't respond. "So...is everything ok now?"
"Ok with what?" She asked flatly,
"With us."
"What? No, it's not ok." She was almost confused as to why he would think it was ok. "Harry, you need to stop treating me as though I'm a delicate china doll, and you need to stop worrying about me. And you were going to spy on me, up until I caught you." Her voice was a low hiss, and she'd turned to glare at him. "One Quidditch match and a few apologies is not going to make that ok. It needs to stop."
"Ginny, I'm never going to stop worrying about you, you should know that by now."
"Harry, I really don't care what you do in your head, as long as you don't express it. You can worry, fine, but don't involve me in it, I really don't have the patience for it anymore." She felt something breeze by her, and as Harry took a step towards her, he fell flat on his face. "Are you ok?" She asked.
"So what, you're allowed to worry about me, but I'm not allowed to worry about you?" He said bitterly. She took a deep breath, getting angrier by the second, and was about to yell at him, when she heard a whisper.
"Red..." she heard from beside her, and she froze.
"I'm not speaking to you at the moment," she hissed to the air.
"What? What are you talking about now? What did I do now!" Harry cried,
"Not you, Harry." Harry looked confused, and was wiping some blood off of his lip. "Here," she lifted her wand, "Episkey" and his lip stopped bleeding. She heard a low growl from the air next to her, and she decided it'd be best if she got those two away from each other. Even if Harry didn't know they were close to each other.
"Then who were you talking to?" He pressed,
"No one. Look, I'm tired, so I'm going to go to bed." Another growl, "I'll see you tomorrow." Harry nodded and made his way to his own dormitory, but before either of them reached the steps, Ginny felt something grab her wrist and hold on.
"You can't just keep ignoring me forever," Draco hissed.
"Yeah, well...I just have to ignore you until the end of the school year, right? Forever will take care of itself." She hissed back.
"Er, Ginny? Are you alright?" Harry asked, coming toward her.
"Yes, I'm fine, I'm just making my way up to bed." She went to take a step toward the stairs, and Draco pulled her back. She stumbled a bit, and Harry looked alarmed.
"What's going on?" He asked, looking at the air that seemed to be tugging at Ginny.
"Nothing, Harry, it's nothing, I just tripped on the hem of my robes." She said casually.
"Who were you talking to?"
"No one," she said casually, and then paused. "I just remembered I left a book in Potions today, and I really need it before tomorrow's class, so I'm going to go get it. Can I borrow the Map?" He eyed her suspiciously, but went off to retrieve the Marauder's Map. When he got back, he handed it to her, and she said goodnight to him. When she was sure he was out of sight, and they were alone, she tugged her wrist out of Draco's grasp, and pushed him. He must have fallen over, because she heard an 'oomph!' and a 'thud'. She stormed out of the common room, and just expected him to follow. She waited for a moment outside, and sure enough, he threw his cloak onto the floor to face her.
"What do you want?" She spat.
"I want to know why you're ignoring me."
"You shouldn't be with me, you should be with your fiancee." She said with venom as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Red, stop it, you know I don't like her." Ginny glared at him,
"I can't forgive you for this," she said, shaking her head.
"It's not my fault! I can't do anything about it! I want it almost as much as you do," he said sarcastically, "but there's nothing."
"If all that's going to happen between us is that you're going to break up with me at the end of the school year, why don't you just do it now, so I can get used to the feeling? Hm? Why don't you just do it now!" She pushed him against the wall in anger. He just let her push him again and again, yelling at him all the while, and eventually she calmed down.
"How could you?" She said miserably, a tear sliding down her cheek.
"How could I what? I didn't do this," he reminded her, "This is not my choice."
"Dammit, Draco! At least change the day!" She cried.
"What?" he asked, confused. "What's wrong with the day?" She just looked at him as more tears spilled out of her eyes. She didn't even know how to deal with this. She'd finally found something to hold on to, someone to love who loved her back, and she had to give him up...on that day.
"It's my birthday..." she said as her voice cracked. His eyes widened in understanding as he pulled her close and whispered words of comfort. She cried into his shirt for what felt like hours, until her head was pounding and she felt like she didn't have anything left in her whole body. He threw his cloak around her, and carried her back to his room again. He laid her down on the bed, and this time she didn't even bother getting changed. Every once in awhile another few tears would fall, but she couldn't help it. She was miserable.
He climbed under the covers, next to her, and hugged her close.
"Shh," he whispered, "It'll be ok..."
"No it won't...nothing's ever going to be ok..." she cried miserably. He held her tighter until her sobs subsided, and she slid into a deep sleep.