I still can't upload new chapters or click the link to report it so if anyone can help me I'd be most grateful... I have 4 exported chapters to change however so nothing urgent!!
"I think with Hermione's new form of Polyjuice potion and a kind of binding spell we can pull this off."
He didn't know why but Draco trusted her to arrange things so he could have his way. He knew he had been childish and mean to get what he wanted but he wouldn't want to risk losing an opportunity for a bit of freedom, however small.
"Ok Ferret, I've got it sorted." Came a mumbled voice from beneath a great mound of fiery hair. Ginny lifted her head from where she had been frantically scribbling out notes. "Hermione came up with a way to make polyjuice potion anonymous. What I mean is that instead of making you look like a certain person it will just change your appearance so you look like no one in general. Like a random disguise. So that's one part of the problem sorted. No one will recognise us so no death eater worries." She noticed Draco raised his eyebrows when she said 'us'
"And that obviously brings me to the second problem. You running away. Now despite your little tantrum earlier I really don't think you're likely to want to leave when we're going to try and help you out but just in case I have this little spell. It's basically a binding spell that means you can't go more that 15 foot away from the person who cast it. Which is going to be me as I'm stuck being your minder. So you won't be able to run away but you'll still have enough space to go to the loo and stuff."
"What if I kidnapped you Weasley?" asked Draco looking mildly amused.
"Firstly, you won't have a wand and I will; secondly you have a magical bond with me that means you won't hurt me or put me in danger and finally I've got 6 older brothers so if you try anything funny I will kick your arse..." She finished with a flourish. Draco laughed out loud.
"Wow Malfoy, I think that's possibly the first time I've even seen you laugh in a non malicious way!" Ginny teased him.
"I can't help it if no one I know has a decent enough sense of humour to amuse me now can I little weasel?" he smirked. Ginny picked up the notebook she'd been writing in and moved over to where Draco had set up a desk with potions and a large cauldron and flame. "I'll take that as a compliment seeing as I made you laugh where everyone else failed... and don't even think to contradict me! Now show me how to make this potion."
"Why? It will be quicker if I just brew it myself. Plus you need to instill a certain amount of your own magic to brew the potion. You have to be good enough..." Draco asked.
"I know that Malfoy but you won't be here forever to brew it will you and I can hopefully try to learn it and maybe teach Tonks. Although I'm not sure she's too good with potions…"
"Fine, but don't get in my way." Draco started pulling out and weighing ingredients all the while telling Ginny what he was doing which she made careful notes of. It was a very long and complicated potion and Ginny's hand felt ready to fall off by the time Draco said "Now it has to brew for 2 hours before we can add the final ingredients. How about you tell me what it was you were so desperate to talk to me about... although I think it was just an excuse to witness my naked body."
"Keep dreaming Ferret." Ginny said, rubbing her hand to get some life back.
"Was it about my fath- Lucius? You said you would tell me what he had done to you? I haven't forgotten." Draco asked.
"No it wasn't, but I do have to explain about that. I really am loathing the thought of it but a promise is a promise. No I actually wanted to talk to you about something else… I wondered if you would like a sleepless dream potion." Ginny hoped he wouldn't ask too many questions about how she knew he wasn't sleeping well.
"What do you mean Weasley? Why would I want that?" Draco asked. She felt a little embarrassed but carried on anyway. "Well, you've been having bad dreams and talking in your sleep. I'm right next door so I could hear you talking in your sleep."
"Impossible. Malfoys do not talk in their sleep. We'd have been murdered in our beds if we did! I've far more self control than that!"
"Look, I. I'm sorry but you were dreaming about your mother. After the trauma you've been through I'm not surprised that you've let your guard slip a little. Grief is a hard emotion to control, especially when you're unconscious." Ginny looked up at him and saw a softness in his eyes that she hadn't seen before.
"Yes... I have been dreaming about my mother a lot. But I don't want a potion. You can silence my room if you like instead." Draco ran his fingers slowly through his hair, a dream-like expression on his face.
"Why wouldn't you want to stop dreaming about it? I thought you were dreaming about her being mur- Well it didn't seem a nice dream at any rate." Ginny asked concerned. Draco gave a big sigh. "It's kind of hard to let go of her, even if it is just a dream. And… Well if you must know I keep on dreaming of someone that comes and soothes me, they take all my worries away. It's nice to have that feeling, I wake up refreshed somehow."
"Oh Draco!" Ginny cried. His head lifted at the use of his first name. "I'm so sorry but it's me!"
"What?" he asked perplexed.
"Well for the past 3 nights when I heard you moaning I came into your room to try and soothe you. The first night I think you thought I was your mother but when I told you your Mother had gone to a better place on the second night you thanked me."
Draco looked utterly dumbfounded. "You?! But why, I barely know you?"
"Well Malfoy, it's actually a really common thing for patient to feel a bond to their healers for a while after they've been magically cured."
"A bond?" Malfoy muttered. "Of course. It's probably the magical bond formed when you saved my life. I thought for one moment there you were going to suggest I had taken a liking to you!" Ginny smirked at him "No worries about that Malfoy. I know I'm never going to be the object of your attraction!... Anyway, have a think about the dreamless sleep potion but for now we've still got well over an hour to kill before the wolfsbane is ready so I guess I might as well spill the beans on the worst year of my life…"
Draco listened in shock as her story unfolded. He couldn't believe how much anguish his father had put the girl through and yet she was this smiling happy person. "How are you so well balanced Weasley?" he asked when she had finished, not without a few tears.
"Please, call me Ginny. I can't stand Weasley. It's too formal for the situation we're in."
"OK… Ginny. How come you aren't either miserable or psycho or something?" he asked again. She pressed her lips together in thought. "Well I decided that I didn't want to be controlled by anyone ever again, so why should I let his actions control my emotions. Why let my someone affect me so much that it would ruin my basic nature and make me someone I wouldn't be happy being. Dumbledore helped me an awful lot. It's a shame you couldn't have got to know him better. Despite what you've been brought up to think he really was an excellent wizard and a magnificent man."
"You're probably right. Recently I sometimes wonder what to believe, even the thoughts in my brain. I mean, are they really what I feel or just something that's been planted in my head by my fa- by Lucius… Anyway, we really should get on with the potion now or it will over-brew."
Ginny watched his hair fall over his eyes as he started preparing the remaining ingredients. It needed a cut but it was certainly an improvement on his old slicked back style. "Harry would be so jealous you know!" she told him. "Why, of me spending so much time with you?" Draco asked.
"No silly, because he's always struggled in potions... without cheating anyway," she added mystically. "And here are you concocting this fabulously difficult potion from your head. No notes or anything!"
"Do you love him?" Draco asked suddenly.
"What?" said Ginny, shocked.
"Well you talk about him a lot and I thought there was something going on between you. Plus I am notoriously nosey. I've always liked to have all the information and gossip I can lay my hands on. You'd be surprised how much of it comes in handy. Anyway, answer the question. Do you love 'the boy who won't die'?"
"Of course I do." She snapped.
"I don't mean like a brother or a best friend. I mean are you in love with him. Does the thought of him drive you wild and does your skin tingle when he touches you?"
"I… I don't know" Ginny murmured, trying to think if her skin tingled the last time she'd been touched by Harry. She tried to make light of the question. "Anyway I'm far too sensible to let the thought of him drive me wild. I'd get nothing done!"
"Then it's obvious you don't love him. It's either a childish infatuation or just lust." Draco said nonchalantly as he threw the final ingredient in. He nodded his head towards the potion, "Are you making a note of this?"
"What do you mean it's obvious?" Ginny squealed, quite annoyed "What would you know of love anyway? While I'm sure you've got many notches on your bed post you've never seemed to be an expert on love."
"Not me no. But my mother was. She said that the person she was meant to be with died a long time ago and although she loved Lucius in her own way I don't think he was ever quite what she wanted. She was just happy to have power, money and a son I guess. She said that she wanted me to find someone I loved to settle down with. She didn't seem to think I'd be happy otherwise... As if I could fall in love! Can you imagine how high my standards are! All the girls I've dated have been complete pushovers."
"Was she nice?" Ginny asked, hoping to change the conversation from her feelings for Harry.
"My mother? Difficult question Wea- Ginny. Probably not by your standards, after all she did believe a lot of what I was taught by Lucius, even though she refused to become a death eater. Who knows what excuses Lucius had to give Voldemort to get her off? She was nice to me though. I was her precious little boy... Ok she could be a bit smothering sometimes but to be honest I craved the attention. She loved me so much and I've never had that from anywhere else. I'd do almost anything to get that back." He sighed.
Ginny gave his arm a gentle squeeze to show him how sorry she felt for him. Draco looked thankful for her comfort but far from happy. "The potion's done. Run it down to Tonks would you? I need a rest. Oh and W-Ginny?"
"Yeah?"
"This is really hard for me to say, but I want you to know that I disagree with what he did to you."
"Your father?" Ginny asked.
"He's not my father anymore. He never really was one to me. More of a bad master that I've finally escaped from." He wouldn't look her in the eye as he tidied up the ingredients.
"Thanks Mal-Draco. It means a lot to me, especially from you... I'll see you at lunch yeah? I'll do something as soon as I've given this to Tonks"
"If it smells as good as the breakfast I never got then I'm there." He said with a wry smile.
Ginny carried the large metal goblet carefully towards Remus and Tonks' room thinking over what Draco had said. Of course I love Harry… don't I? She thought. He's sweet and kind and thoughtful. Well no, not thoughtful but he means well. All that stuff Draco said was romantic nonsense. His poor mother must have been looking back at her old love through rose tinted glasses I reckon. Anyway, I don't know why I let Draco get to me so much. He's only trying to wind me up and it's not as if Harry and I are even together any more. She decided to put the whole thing out of her mind.
Remus was overjoyed with the potion and asked Ginny to pass on his thanks and praise to Draco. She hurried down to the kitchen and wondered what Draco would like best. She figured he deserved a treat after all the hard work he'd put into the potion.
He sauntered into the kitchen a short while later, drawn by the smell of food. "So Ginny," he said. Ready for a little shopping excursion tomorrow?"