A/N: Sorry I've had this written for a while just waiting for beta to get it back to me. Now that it is you get to read and please review. Thanks.
Ginny was currently staying at Hermione's; not wanting to be alone. She was jumpy after what Draco had said to her at the Manor. She didn't want to talk to him; but she knew that if he really wanted to, he had the means, and the ways of finding her.
Everywhere she went, she made sure one of the three in the trio were with her; so if by chance she did run into him. She wouldn't have to speak to him, at least by herself.
"Where did you get this one?" Harry asked, holding up a beautifully carved wooden goblet.
Ginny giggled for the first time in a few days. "I got it from an artist who's work I absolutely love, I just couldn't pass it up when he gave it to me. "
Harry bent over the counter in Ginny's shop to get a better look at the items inside the glass. "Do you get many customers?"
"Mostly on the weekends." She answered, and looked up when the bell on the door sounded off. "Hello." She said automatically. She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip then set it back down on the counter.
"You have ruined everything." Pansy Parkinson screamed, as she stumbled into the shop.
Harry instinctively pulled out his wand.
Ginny shook her head at him. "Don't worry about it, I can take care of her." She focused her attention on the woman in front of her. "What do you want Parkinson?" She asked. "Do you want another broken nose?" She laughed meanly.
Pansy glared as she tripped over everything she passed.
Harry shrugged, and turned to Ginny. "If you don't need me, is it okay if I use your bathroom?"
Ginny nodded. "It's right through that door and to the left." After watching Harry fade out of sight, she looked back at Pansy again. "I'm going to ask you again. What do you want Parkinson?" She demanded.
Pansy pointed to the deep scar on her face. "Do you see this? You gave me this, I even tried to fix it, but it just wouldn't go away. You're going to pay for that, and taking Draco from me Weasley!"
Ginny rolled her eyes, starting to get bored; a trait, she found, that reminded her painfully of Draco. Casting that thought aside, she felt a surge of satisfaction knowing that Pansy had a mark. "Oh really?" She yawned. "And how do you plan on doing that?"
Pansy took her wand at her mumbling under her breath.
Ginny braced herself for a spell but the only thing that happened was her coffee cup shook. "What kind of a trick was that?" She taunted.
"Just you wait and feel. You'll see." She cackled, as she disappeared from the shop, falling over invisible objects.
"Whatever. She is definitely more mental then Luna" Ginny muttered, and turned her attention back to her papers.
When Harry came out moments later, he found her peering at a checklist and sipping her coffee. "Hi, did anything happen?"
She looked up annoyed. "No, she just mumbled something under her breath and waved her wand. Which did nothing but shake a few things, and then she left. It was more nonsense then anything."
"Oh." Harry sat in the seat beside her.
The day passed without any further incident; that was, until Draco walked in at closing time.
Harry jumped up and fumbled stupidly for his wand. "What do you want Malfoy?" He asked, not bothering to conceal his bitterness.
"Got a guard dog with you now?" Draco questioned, eyeing Harry with the same amount of loathing. "We need to talk alone, please." He said to Ginny, ignoring Harry completely.
"I don't want to talk." She said as a matter-of-factly. "But if it's that important, it can be said in front of Harry." Ginny grabbed Harry's arm as a sign of protection; which caused Draco's jealousy meter to hit the roof.
Draco glared at Harry. "Fine." He then, blocked Harry out of his mind for the moment. "When you found out about the curse and you walked out, why did you refuse to talk to me? I was still under the Veritaserum, if I'm correct that's what you slipped in my food on the way to the bathroom. I couldn't have lied to you, yet you chose to push me aside not asking me how I felt about you; or what was going on in my head now that I knew you."
She swayed in her chair unexpectedly, and leaned on Harry for support. "I wasn't thinking straight at the time; I was upset. what did you expect me to do?" She growled, trying to get a grip, as she felt the whole world spin.
"I don't know, I was shocked that I had even said anything, and pissed that you had deceived me. That you felt the need to slip me something in order to get an answer out of me." He took a step towards them when he saw her pale. "Is something wrong?" He asked, concerned and took another step to get a closer look.
"No!" She snapped trying to get control on the odd feeling that had washed over her. "Why are we even having this conversation? It's in the past, and if I asked you how you felt now you would just lie to me so..." She trailed off, and started taking deep breathes to tried once again to steady herself.
Harry nudged her. "Ginny?" He asked.
Draco, without even thinking, pushed Harry out of the way and grabbed a hold of her. "Ginny can you hear me?" He asked, waving his hand in front of her line of sight.
She started to nod but passed out in the process.
"She needs to go to the hospital." Draco picked her up, and started to head for the door.
Harry pointed his wand at him. "Put her down, you're not taking her anywhere. How do I know that's where you're taking her?"
He turned around to sneer at Harry. "We do not have time for petty stupid crap right now Potter, now you can either help me, or you can sod off."
Harry glared, but grabbed Ginny's keys to close the store, and followed him all the same.
(Scene Change)
Draco sat, dumbfounded in his chair; only one word was coursing through his mind at the moment, poison. She had been poisoned, according to the doctor who had come out from her room at St. Mungo's.
"How did this happen?" Draco questioned Harry, as they sat in the waiting room.
Harry was just as shocked as he sat down beside Draco, completely forgetting whom he was with. "I'm really not sure. Nothing strange really happened today except Parkinson came in stumbling over invisible objects. But Ginny said she could handle her, so I left to use the bathroom."
Draco tried to contain his anger. "You left her with Pansy?" He knew he had his answer right there, but it didn't make him want to kill Pansy any less, actually more if it was possible. Considering she was already on his hit list for many different reasons.
"Yeah but Ginny said it would be okay." He replied trying to make it sound justified that he had left.
Draco shook his head. "No Potter, you better rethink that one." He paused, to let Harry gather his thoughts before he continued. "Seriously, would you leave a Slytherin and a Gryffindor in the same room together? Both women and both fully aware of how to use their wands."
Harry growled, feeling like an idiot. "Look I didn't think at the time, Pansy seemed like she was too drunk to even see, so I thought she was harmless."
Draco laughed dryly. "Obviously, you didn't think. Everyone who knows Pansy knows she is more intelligent when she is drunk. She trips a lot sure, but she can probably out cast Granger when she's in that state. Especially when she's angry." He shook his head, as he thought of the last time he remembered seeing Pansy drunk.
Harry sank low in his chair as he began to wonder if this was all somehow his fault.
Draco, on the other hand, glared at the wall. sulking as he thought of the many ways to kill Pansy.
"What in the bloody hell is he doing here?" Ron Weasley bellowed, as soon as he walked into the waiting room. Spotting the two sitting near the window sharing the couch.
Hermione stormed in after him. Reaching up, she grabbed a hand full of his hair. "Ronald Weasley! You are in a hospital, and will keep your voice at a library tone. Do you understand me?" She asked sternly, ready to yank his hair if he disobeyed.
"Well we know who's the bitch in that relationship." Draco mumbled, but made sure it was loud enough for them to hear.
Ron's face turned bright red, as Hermione finally let him go to walk over to sit beside Harry.
"What happened?" She asked, her voice suddenly turning to concerned.
Harry shook his head ashamed. "She's been poisoned by Parkinson." He muttered, and flushed refusing to look at Draco.
Ron scowled. "Of course Draco's ex, or should I say girlfriend again."
Draco narrowed his eyes into slits. "If you say that again Weasel. I'm going to punch you."
"Well you had to do something to my sister." He growled, taking a cautious step towards Draco; ready to pull out his wand. "She was drenched, cold, and crying when she landed on Hermione's doorstep. And I know you are the reason. So what, she wasn't good enough for you, so you decided to cheat on her with Parkinson?" Ron bent down and grasped the front of Draco's robes dragging him out of his seat. "You made her cry, and I swear if I see her cry over your ugly face again, it's not going to be pretty."
Draco pushed Ron backwards. "Don't touch me Weasley, if you do it again it will be the last thing you do." He said dangerously, and sat back down.
Hermione stood up and wriggled in between them, throwing her hands up. "Quit it you two. We have no time for this, I think the doctor is coming."
A wizard in long robes approached them looking grave. "Are you Ginny Weasley's family?" He asked expressionlessly.
Ron feeling scared suddenly stepped forward. "Yes." He answered, wringing his hands together to keep himself from shaking.
"She's unstable right now, we lost her once already, but managed barely to bring her back. We've given her a potion that will hopefully draw the rest of the poison from her. There is not much we can do for now, but pray she has the willpower to stay alive. It is seriously up to her right now." His face turned sympathetic.
Draco leapt to his feet and walked over to the doctor. "Can we see her?" He asked, with hope in his eyes.
He looked hesitant. "I think we should wait until she's a little more stable."
Sighing defeated. "Fine." He mumbled, and flopped back down onto the couch.
The doctor strolled away, leaving them to think and brood about what to do now.
(Scene Change)
The doctor finally arrived a couple of hours later; to see them all curled up asleep on the couch in a matted mess. He cleared his throat. Draco was the first to wake up, and as he blinked, he saw he was in between Harry and Hermione; Harry's head lay on his shoulder and Hermione's legs were lying in his lap.
Disgusted, he found himself sleeping next to, and touching a Mudblood and the stupid idiotic Boy who lived; he shoved them pushing them to the ground. So he could have the couch. "Gross." He muttered to himself, and began to brush his clothes, as if hoping that would get the touch of them to disappear.
Complaining and groaning irritably, the trio pulled themselves off the floor to face the doctor.
"Well, she's stabilizing and she's actually awake if you would like to talk to her." Then he added, when he saw the gleam in all of their eyes, "One at a time. We don't want to overwhelm her."
"Well I'm going first, I'm her brother." Ron declared, and waited for Draco to tell him no, but the response he got was, "Fine I want to go last anyways."
"Harry can go next, and I'll go after him." Hermione said helpingly.
Ron nodded, and trudged off to talk to his sister.
Draco glared at the other two. They were all taking up the time that he could be spending with her, he thought grudgingly.
"I called the Weasley's earlier when I found out what happened. Molly was hysteric that she couldn't come, she had to wait for Arthur." Hermione explained. "She wanted me to keep her up to date on any changes in her condition, so I think I'm going to call her again to tell her that she's awake and we can see her now."
Harry nodded agreeing. "She'll be relieved, I'm sure."
Draco watched, as Hermione marched away. This is boring, how much more time was Ron going to be in there? He wondered impatiently. There were important things he had to tell her.
After a period of time, Ron finally came out with a grin on his face. "She said we're all worry warts, and she wants to come home now."
Harry grinned back at his friend, as he made his way to her room for his turn. "I'm sure she does, if I remember she hates hospitals." He disappeared into the room, causing Draco's frown to deepen.
How much longer was he going to have to suffer waiting? He stared at the wall and thought about what he was going to say and how to phrase it.
Draco started to doze not realizing it, and didn't even notice it was his turn until Hermione cautiously tapped him on the shoulder. "It's your turn." She said quietly.
Forgetting the speech he had prepared; he angrily strutted into her room, to find her sleeping looking peacefully at ease. He frowned disappointedly; she had been awake for everyone else.
He sat down in the uncomfortable chair beside her bed. "I know you're not awake, but I need to talk to you anyway." He started, and even though she was asleep he felt extremely nervous suddenly.
"You have every right to be mad at me. You were right I lied to you all along and I used you in order to achieve my own ends; but what you didn't listen to when I was under the Veritaserum was that it only started out like that." He ran his hands through his hair, and sighed. "I didn't figure in the fact that you are a wonderful and special, yet sometimes annoying, person to be around." He grabbed her hand from the side of the bed. "It never even occurred to me, that it might backfire, that instead of you falling for me as it should have been; I ended up falling for you."
"Me being who I am; never thought that you were intelligent enough to find out about the curse. I of course was wrong, and even though admitting that puts a dent in my ego. You outwitted me." He chuckled at himself. "I'm really not sure when it happened; but I think it was when you suddenly appeared, and beat the living day lights out of Pansy. It was as soon as I saw you walk out of that door for good, knowing you wouldn't come back willingly is when I let myself see that I love you." Letting go of her hand he rubbed his face.
He couldn't stand sitting there any longer, so he got up to pace. "This is all your fault you know." He growled pointing an accusing finger at her sleeping form. "I've never felt like this before. It's scary; I feel like I would do anything to make you happy and healthy again. It also makes me want to endure the curse, and die if I knew you didn't love me back." He knelt down beside her bed. "I'm not going to force you to try and love me anymore, if you don't feel it then so be it. I don't care about the curse anymore." He sounded shocked when he said this, "All I want is for you to be happy."
He pulled himself from the floor. "I love you Ginny Weasley." He bent over and kissed her softly on her pale lips.
Without another word he departed.
Ginny opened her eyes, sitting herself in an upright position; she stared at his back. Wondering if she had heard everything correctly.