Authors Note: Hello my lovely little doves. Did you like my last chappie? A little cliffhanger for you, tehehe. Guess what, Charm has her eye on a little muse that wandered by when it smelt all the reviews my cliffie inspired. He's all pale tho and I need to feed him up to be good enough for my little Charm... Hmm, his leopard spots might be beautiful with 10 or so... Thank you so much Mishavay for being a fab Beta, I would have been misspelling Cta... erm, thnx, C.A.T without your help.
Disclaimer: Oh darn, tears keep coming when I get to this point. Not mine, except the plot... Dah!
Dream Trails...
The sight that greeted Draco was horrifying in every sense of the word. Ginny was sprawled on the ground coated with thick red blood. It tainted the ground around her in a spreading circle.
"Oh Ginny." He croaked, rushing to her side.
She looked at him with dazed eyes. Trust Me. Her shaking mind thought softly, her eyes closed.
"Gin, please. Wake up." He took his wand from his robes.
Truth's call cried out, and Draco looked up. A huge gargoyle looked back, a snarl on its lips. Truth was at its feet growling, her wings were flared open and her fangs were bared.
The gargoyles scaly body looked like what it was, living stone. When Truth attacked it, the noise of teeth against stone was the only result.
Truth was picked up by a clawed fist and slammed into a nearby tree, then thrown in Dracos direction. He managed to catch her with one hand inches before the ground.
Her pain was tremendous. The beast hissed and readied to pounce on the wizard.
Fear and the image of Ginny lying there dying, saturated his mind and Draco called out the first curse that came to mind. "Stupefy!" He shouted in panic. One hand was still on Truth's side.
The magic that fled from his wand was stronger than any Draco had seen before, let alone used. He groaned struggling to keep his wand aimed.
The Gargoyle whimpered. A shiver overcame its body. This was not the spell he had used, when the beast fell lifeless, Draco's eyes turned to the unconscious Dragon. He threw an invisibility spell over her and lifted Ginny with a spell, tucking Truth into his shirt.
He had to save the witch... It was his fault, all his fault.
The darkness was over whelming. It covered, surrounded and filled her. Ginny was caught in a cool wind and thrown to one side. She landed with a thump.
There was a light somewhere ahead. Staggering Ginny followed it. Things brushed her face and slid over her feet. Noises now buzzed annoyingly around her.
Then the source of light exploded. Temporarily blinded, the witch fell to her knees. There was no pain, not even the shocked one falling normally caused.
She forced her eyes open and gasped. "Hello again my Ginevra." The haunting, familiar voice greeted her.
Ginny screamed.
Two days Ginny's body lay unconscious in the infirmary. Draco barely left her side, not caring what people thought or said. Her unsteady breathing and the flicker of her eyes under there lids were the only visible signs of life from the girl.
At her feet sat the invisible Truth. She would not move, except when she ate. Ginny was looking thin too. In addition to being pale, which looked peculiar on her usually well-tanned skin.
Draco ran his eyes back along her face. The bruise on her face, where he'd hit her. She was covered in bandages. Owls had been sent to her family but recent Death Eater attacks had made it impossible for them to come. It was also the reason no one in the Golden Trio were there, they were off fighting Voldermort with the others of the order.
Draco knew all of this, and he did not care. All he could think about was Ginny and how it was entirely his fault shed almost been killed. "Oh Ginny I'm so sorry." He groaned for the umpteenth time.
That boy has been in there so long... I know I should tell him to go... Madam Pomfrey thought quietly. But his visits are the only things keeping her going, if she doesn't wake up soon...
Draco turned fearful eyes on the girl. "No..." He whispered. "You can't die Ginny, I won't let you. I love you."
Truth flickered visible and looked at him for a moment. Draco jumped at the look of knowing and love in those two large eyes. Then a strong sleepiness over came him. Truth flickered invisible yet again and his head hit Ginny's pillow with a quiet rustle of the cloth.
Finally. she thought in the mind speech of Beasts and cured up to sleep too.
The air was chilly as always, and not for the first time Ginny wondered if it was actually air, if she was actually breathing, or if she was alive for that matter. She stood and shivered as she saw Tom Riddle. "Good morning my Dear Heart." He called, moving towards the girl.
"Leave me alone." She half sobbed, turning away.
"Trust me..." He whispered. His voice smooth as a spell. "It wasn't me that tricked you My Dear Ginevra, I could never harm you."
"Please leave me alone Tom...please just let me die."
"Not until you trust me Ginevra Weasley. Trust me..."
"Last time I trusted you I nearly killed everyone at Hogwarts and myself, what's different now?" She scoffed.
"I won't let you die until you trust me..." He whispered seductively kissing the red head. His hand ran up her stomach along a bruise that did not ache, he stopped at her breasts and ran his fingers along her nipples.
Ginny trembled, though not with pleasure, she stood there limply. Then an image came to her eyes, a tug twisted in her chest. Draco. Her battered mind remembered the blonde man. She bit down on the tongue trying and failing to incite her own.
Tom made a noise that was half scream half war cry. Blood filled Ginny's mouth. "I'm taken." She hissed, knowing that was a lie and saying it almost because of that. She kneed him in the groin as the hand that was pulling out of her shirt began to pinch down on her bruise.
He grunted, covering his sensitive area. "How dare you, you filthy Muggle lover!"
Ginny spat the blood from her mouth out. "I do not trust you Tom Riddle. I belong to someone else."
Suddenly pain filled Ginny mercilessly. "THEN I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER UNTIL YOU BEG FOR ME TO TAKE YOU LIKE I DID WHEN YOU TRUSTED ME!" Tom screamed.
"NO!" Ginny whimpered squirming, "Not again, Oh Merlin not again." She pushed her legs together for a brief, pain filled moment before running. She knew she would not get far. Tom had been in the Dream trails for 5 years, since Harry had destroyed the diary. Not again, oh Merlin, Not again!
Draco instantly knew where he was. The thick white snow and tall, hanging trees surrounded him. This was the place between Life and Death that he so frequently entered in his youth. These were the Dream Trails. Truth had sent him here, to save Ginny.
He moved through the trails smoothly, stepping from one to the other as if he would never left them. Why was Ginny here? The only reason Draco came here was through torture at his fathers wand.
DRACO! A mind screamed in pain. Oh Merlin please no, Then a loud scream pierced the serene silence. It tore his heart as it must have torn her throat.
Without hesitation, he charged through the thick forestry, leaping steps to find Ginny as the scream grew louder.
"You will Beg Ginevra! Beg!" Tom Riddle screamed, forcing the girl's thighs apart, her previous aches were hurting and he was creating new ones.
"Never!" Ginny screamed. She attempted to force her legs together again, desperate to keep the filthy thing out of her.
Draco's fist thudded into Tom, seemingly out of nowhere. The young Dark Lord flew from the hit. Immediately Draco forgets him and turns to Ginny with concern in his eyes.
"I'm so sorry Ginny." He groaned helping her up. She was shivering.
"Not again, oh Merlin not ever again." She whispered.
Draco swallowed hard, realising what she meant. "Oh, Gin." He groaned.
Never again. She thought with a furious hate. She pushed away from his body. "Accio wand!" She shouted. Before he knew what was happening she stepped towards Tom's fallen body. "Trust me Tom Riddle, this is killing me, not to make you suffer, but I need it over."
Something clicked in Draco, the look in her eye that made him think of his own father. "Gin, wait!" He shouted.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" She screamed, rage and pain erupting from between her lips and from her wand.
Tom screamed too as his body withered and fell, dead.
Ginny felt light headed and branded with a label. Shed used an unforgivable curse. Draco embraced her. "Oh Ginny." He whispered as she sobbed.
Never, ever again. She thought, inhaling a breath, she smelt peppermint. What have I done? She looked up. Shit, peppermint...Draco, what have I done?
"Take me back to my whelp please Draco." She asked him. "I need to see her again."
He bows his head and whispers a spell he knows by heart. The dream trails fade from around them.
There were two purple tinted eyes staring at Ginny when she groaned awake. There was a pressure on her legs she knew was Truth, but those eyes confused her for a moment, until she realised it was just Pomfrey.
She sighed and shook her head, her eyes hit Dracos. He smiled softly. "Welcome back to Hogwarts Gin." He joked, his voice sleepy.
Pomfrey coughed. "Indeed Miss Weasley." She shifted the sheets around the finally awake girl and Truth made a sleepy noise. "What was that?" The older woman yelped.
"I didn't hear anything." Ginny lied smoothly.
"Hmm, I suppose not. You need rest." She looked pointedly at Draco.
He rose with a sigh. "I'll talk to you later Weaslette."
"See ya later Ferret." Ginny said, sounding serious.
Shaking his head to disguise a smile Ginny saw anyway with her strengthening eyesight, he left Truth with her 'mother' and the talented Healer.