Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other character in the books.

Chapter Fourteen: Weakness

After five nights without sleeping, Draco eventually fell asleep. But he wasn't resting. Ginny watched him twist and murmur during his sleep. She was seeing a very different Draco Malfoy. Behind the cold and evil shell was a troubled man. What intrigued her most was what could possibly be troubling him? Everything about him was a mystery that she just couldn't solve and there was something about him that caught her attention and curiosity but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was.

Suddenly, Draco started screaming causing Ginny to jump a few inches from where she was. He was having spasms and his eyes were wide open but empty. She could only compare that view to a picture she once saw in a Muggle book she had read. It was about someone who had been possessed by the devil. She was unable to move with fear. Even if she could she wouldn't know what to do. She wanted him to stop. She got near him slowly and touched his left arm trying to make him calm down. As soon as she did so, he grabbed her wrist with his right hand. She felt as if her bones were going to break with the strength he was using on her wrist. He moved her hand from his arm. Ginny wanted to scream but could not. He seemed to be taking energy out of her, making her become very weak. It was almost like a Dementor was sucking the magic out of her in replace of her soul.

Ginny tried desperately to free herself but she couldn't, he was too strong for her. With his free hand, Draco grabbed her by her throat and stood. His eyes were back to normal but his voice was serious and hoarse, "Have you any love for your life at all? Are you stupid or do like to pretend you are?"

Draco's voice sounded so distant to Ginny. He was suffocating her and she couldn't answer. "Do you know what I do to obtrusive little weasels like you? I KILL THEM!" he sneered very slowly making her shiver "Do you want to die Weasley?" he asked putting his face right in front of her, only a few inches of air between them.

Ginny tried to answer but it was too hard to breath. He was holding her throat too strongly and the air could not pass through his grip and fill her lungs. Her eyes begged him to let go, but he did not. Draco became impatient, "Answer Weasley!" he yelled.

"No." she tried to say but she could only move her lips, but Draco understood what she tried to say. "Are you sure?" the look he gave her showed her that he would kill her if she made a false move. She made an almost impossible effort to nod her head positively. Inside her mind, she was praying for him to let go of her neck. She wasn't sure for how long she could stand being without air. Her brain was already faking with the lack of oxygen and her vision was becoming shaky.

As if he guessed what she was thinking, Draco took his hand away from her throat, pushing her to the floor. Ginny landed roughly on the ground and took a deep breath, trying to regain her oxygen.

"You are a lucky and stupid Muggle lover Weasley! Other people who made the same mistake that you just did died the moment they touched me!" Draco shouted at her.

Ginny looked at him clearly scared. How could she worry about a man like him? Why was she sure that if he had hurt her she would still care for him? Why? Why did she have this stupid hope that maybe Draco would let her leave that place because he would be grateful to her? Why was she so naive? But, she wasn't naive. It was something else, but what? What was she feeling about this disgusting monster with a human name and body?

Draco looked at her. He had to get out of there or he would end up killing her. But why didn't he want to kill her? 'Because she is the best way to hurt Potter!' he told himself. 'Or is it something else?' a distant voice said from the back of his mind. Draco shook the voice out of his thoughts and took his eyes away from the red head.

"I'm leaving, but I'll be back as soon as you think you won't have to see my face again." he said before disapparating, leaving her once again alone.

Ginny just stood there, lying on the floor, looking at the place where seconds before had been the man that put her there. What was happening to her? All that time alone was making her desperately need human company.

She was so lonely that even Draco Malfoy was a good company, she just did not want to be alone once more, with no one to talk, just the people inside her head, just the memories of a distant past. She wanted a human, a material one. She needed someone even if it was Draco Malfoy. Although, she couldn't figure out if Draco Malfoy was a human or a monster.

Harry spent the next two days investigating about Draco Malfoy's life. He found many registers about him but nothing important. He looked in the Hogwarts files. They only said that he was a remarkable student but that he had a few problems with students from other houses. There were registers from the ministry too. The first ones referred to him as Lucius Malfoy's son, the son of the most noble and important man in the society of the eighties.

Then he out of nowhere was the son of the most powerful Death Eater caught by the Ministry. Shortly there was a sudden turn in his Curriculum. He was no longer the soon of Lucius. He was Draco Malfoy, the Death Eater that had caused Dumbledore's death and was responsible for the entrance of many other Death Eaters into Hogwarts, putting the students and teachers at risk and breaking not only the school rules but also the Ministry's rules, becoming one of the most wanted criminals in History. Not just for those reasons, but also because of the many deaths he had caused after that. He had killed not only Muggles, but many wizards too. Harry looked at the huge list of Draco's victims. They were separated in: Deaths, Tortures, and Unknown Dark Curses With No Cure Found.

Harry found a small paragraph in between the list and the next story on Draco Malfoy. Apparently he had disappeared for several months after Dumbledore's death and no one had seen him. Not even certain Death Eaters that had been caught and interrogated by the Ministry knew. Harry asked himself where the Ferret had been. The last time Draco was seen was in his mother's funeral but only for a few seconds, enough time to be seen but not enough to be caught by the Aurors. Draco's head had a very high price to the Ministry, almost as high as Voldemort's. With twenty three years old, Draco had done more victims than his father in his entire life. It mentioned that Draco could also control wandless magic very easily, making it even harder to find him.

Harry put the papers over his desk. There was nothing, absolutely nothing at all. There was nothing there that could help him. But he was curious. He had to find out where had Malfoy been and what had he done while he was gone shortly after Dumbledore's death. Maybe something in the Malfoy Manor could help him. He decided to ask permission to the Ministry to search the Manor.

N/A: I want to thank FlamablePajamies for being my beta reader.