-Chapter Eight-

Ron bid an early goodnight to Hermione and paced around in front of the fire amidst his fellow Gryffindors. He nervously checked his watch; 9:25 PM it read.

"Where the hell are you Ginny?" muttered Ron to himself, worry starting to settle in. Normally Ron wouldn't have really worried if it wasn't even half past nine yet, but Ginny confessed to seeing Draco, and the last time he heard of her that day was when she was in the library studying with Colin.

Colin had just walked in five minutes ago, dazed but Ginny-less.

Ron paced around for a few more minutes before deciding he had to go look for Ginny.

And perhaps smash Malfoy's face in.

So, Ron exited the common room and started patrolling the main corridors, keeping an eye out for Ginny's tell-tale red hair. As he past the entrance of the great hall, his eyes caught the quidditch updates again.

Ron recalled that Slytherin had practice earlier that evening. 'It's worth a shot. I probably won't be able to find her in the castle,' thought Ron. It was after that he decided to go to the quidditch pitch.

Soon, he arrived at the pitch. Shivering because of the onslaught of rain. As he walked past the familiar stands, he saw a sleeve peeping from the bottom of a chair. Then he saw the bag strap next to it too.

He knew instantly that it belonged to Ginny. Anger and panic began to course through Ron. Knowing that Malfoy was somewhere close, he charged through the rain and into the centre of the pitch.

Ginny sat higgledy piggeldy in Draco's lap, protected by a water proof dome Draco had cast over the both of them. Neither one of them breathed a word, but they could have had a conversation with the emotion and pleasure they shared by simply being in each other's arms.

Ginny's hair was drying in loose curls and Draco was playing with some of them when they were suddenly disrupted by a violent red head. The dome shattered and rain pierced the bare air around the three people.

"Ron!" screamed Ginny, getting up and confronting her brother.

Ron ignored Ginny's cries and bellowed "Malfoy! Get the fuck away from my sister!" Draco only looked slightly affronted by stood his ground next to Ginny.

"Why should I?" retorted Draco calmly but loudly, so he could be heard over the rain.

"Because Ginny doesn't know what she's doing. If you don't step away from my baby sister now, you are going to pay," yelled Ron in a red-hot rage. Draco only responded by wrapping his arms around Ginny possessively. Ginny responded herself by leaning into Draco.

The rain was finally abating a little bit, and visibility was slowly improving.

Ron took this as an incentive to throw a surprisingly fast punch at Draco's head. Draco ducked as fast as he could, but since he was still holding Ginny he wasn't fast enough. Instead, Ron's knuckles clipped his temple, drawing blood.

"Ginny!" yelled Draco, sidestepping Ron's next incoming punch and grabbing him into a headlock, "get out of the way! You're going to get hurt!" Ginny quickly scurried a few feet away, tears beginning to mix in with the rain.

But Ron soon broke out of the headlock. Both Draco and Ron were strong and healthy. It was only because Draco had been training that he was exhausted, whilst Ron was cooped up inside with pent up energy and only homework to express it.

Ron had the upper hand, and was beating up Draco with more and more violence and vigour, timing himself with Ginny's repeated screams.

Ginny couldn't handle just being left out on the side, whilst watching the two of the closest males in her life bash each other up. The final straw for her was when Draco let out a mangled groan as Ron delivered a powerful knee right into Draco's stomach.

Slowly, Draco fell to the ground and Ron finally slowed down slightly. This gave Ginny the opportunity to knock Ron's knees in and give him a chop to the head which knocked him down to the ground.

This infuriated Ron and he went to vent his anger on Draco some more when he stopped because spilled over Draco's chest was Ginny's soaking red hair. She was holding Draco who had fallen to the ground. Sobbing heart-wrenchingly as she did so.

And though Ron still felt like bashing the crap out of a currently weak Malfoy, he could not bear the thought of hurting his baby sister.

Ginny had gone past the point of caring about Ron. All she knew was Draco was badly hurt and she could do nothing about it except sob in the rain whilst wrapping her tired arms around his broad shoulders.

Draco's face was continuously being pounded by raindrops, but at least not by Ron's fists. Now he could only feel sharp, stinging and numb pain in every part of his body. He wanted to block out everything, but something salty was mixing in with the rain water that was falling into Draco's open mouth.

It was tears. And it could only have been Ginny's tears. Mustering up the only strength he had left, he brought his arms up and wrapped them around Ginny's slender body. Ignoring all pain in the process because he needed to let Ginny know he was okay.

"Ginny," Draco managed to gasp, but it was that movement of his vocal chords which caused an upsurge of blood through his throat. Draco coughed and blood seeped out the side of his mouth, causing a concerned gasp from Ginny.

It was then Ron was completely forgotten by the pair. They were already lost in their own world. It was only when Ron, who felt the energy seep from him tapped Ginny on the shoulder that he got any attention.

Ginny reacted by slapping his arm around roughly. So roughly that it actually hurt Ron's arm. "Get away from me Ronald, and stay away from Draco, especially," choked out Ginny.

The rain had finally abated completely, and Draco was still on the ground with blood pooling from his mouth.

"Ginny…" tried Ron again, now feeling the shame of beating up someone who had just finished training and was weakened.

"Don't Ginny me, you bastard! Are you going to help me get Draco to the hospital wing or not? You just about killed him," accused Ginny. She said these words with so much anger and hurt, it cut Ron deep.

Ron thought about it. He lavished the idea of leaving the ferret out there, soaking wet, all alone on the quidditch pitch. Leaving him there with the possibility of dying.

Then he thought about… murder. Ginny's absolute hate of him and all the messy complications that had to follow.

There was also Ginny's desperate eyes. For some reason, his sister must have acted on the utmost folly to simply have romantic feelings for Malfoy.

But those… sad, and desperate hazel eyes which belonged to Ginny finally convinced Ron to help Malfoy. Besides, if Ginny tried levitating Malfoy out of there, she would probably drop him out of pure emotional-imbalance.

And then Malfoy would still die, and there would still be complications!

So, Ron decided to help Malfoy get to the hospital wing.

Little did he know, he had created a deep gaping chasm of unrest within Ginny, who never let go of Draco's hand on the way to the ward.

Madam Pomfrey was gnawing on an already well-gnawed quill and working on a Witch Weekly quiz when she suddenly heard a commotion outside of her hospital wing doors.

"Honestly," muttered Poppy as she heaved herself off her chair, "they'll wake the patients!"

Suddenly, the doors burst open, revealing three people together, who usually were not together.

Two soaking wet Weasley's and a badly injured Draco Malfoy.

Steady droplets of blood fell from Draco's mouth, continuously making a resounding splash on the spotless hospital wing's floor.

"Goodness!" cried Poppy, immediately transferring Draco to an empty bed gently and swiftly. "What happened?" she glared at Ron suspiciously.

Ron was struck, and couldn't seem to answer. However Ginny came to the rescue and said quite calmly "my brother and I were taking a stroll around the pitch to discuss our older brother Bill's wedding. Draco must have slipped off his broom and crashed to the ground. I daresay the rest of the damage was done by landing on his broom awkwardly." Ginny gestured to Draco's various cuts and bruises.

"Thankyou," muttered Poppy distractedly, ripping open Draco's shirt with a slight flick of her wand.

What Ginny saw next made her gasp from both pleasure and pain.

The pleasure was she was seeing Draco's incredibly toned torso.

The pain was seeing Draco's incredibly toned torso very badly bruised, with a rib sticking out at an odd angle.

Poppy tsked and gazed for a moment. "This was some fall. And that must have been some broom. Okay well, you two wait outside in the waiting room. If you want, you can see his condition afterwards.

Ginny and Ron both nodded in an automatic way and shuffled out the door, trying to block out Draco's cries of pain.

As they settled in the waiting room, a silence fell. Ron kept sending shifty gazes to Ginny, trying to catch her eye. Ginny was staring straight ahead, blinking continuously to try to stop the tears from falling.

Eventually, she couldn't help but ask "why did you do that Ron? Why? Why? Why? Why? I mean, what was the point? Did you want to kill him? Is that it? Because I'm in love with him? Oh just shut up, I don't care if it's wrong. You're just as blind as every one else."

"Ginny, please, think about it. This is Malfoy. It would never work," managed Ron in a forced calm voice.

"Don't you think I've been thinking? Don't you? Huh?" spat Ginny, resisting the urge to shove Ron into a wall and chuck a tantrum at him. "Just, give me time. I love him. I love him so much. I don't care if I'm too young, or if it was too soon. I love him. And I know for a fact he's not rotten right to the core. If he were to kill me, he would have done so already," pressed on Ginny, pacing furiously.

Ron only stared at Ginny solemnly, taking in what she was saying. Using a great deal of effort, Ron shut his trap.

"Look, it's late. I know you probably want to see Malfoy after, but I don't. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning," muttered Ron at his watch. Taking one last look at Ginny, all the brotherly love he felt for her returned. He quickly swept her into a hug and kissed the top of her temple.

"Thanks Ron," murmured Ginny into Ron's neck, and then he departed with only a nod.

By the time Madam Pomfrey was done with fixing up Draco, it was eleven thirty. She pushed open the doors leading to the waiting room, expecting the two Weasley siblings to have left, but instead she was surprised with the sight of Ginny sitting on one of the chairs stock still.

"Miss Weasley?" interrupted Poppy's gentle voice. Ginny jumped with a start and stared at Madam Pomfrey.

"May I see him now?" blurted out Ginny. Poppy was quite taken aback, but let Ginny in anyway.

"Not too long, mind you. It's quite late, and Mr Malfoy is in a poor condition," sighed Poppy and she left Ginny too it.

Ginny stepped inside the screen to face a bandaged up Draco in a hospital wing dressing gown. (Which was ugly beyond proportions.)

Draco gingerly turned his head to face Ginny, and stared at her for a long while without saying anything. Ginny took this time to silently make her way to Draco's bedside. Still without uttering a word, Draco tapped the space next to him on the bed motioned Ginny down.

"Are you okay?" managed Draco in a strained tone, his breathing shallow.

"I'm fine. I'm so worried about you," replied Ginny softly, laying down next to Draco and stroking his hair out of his eyes. "I'm so sorry about Ron. I just couldn't stop him, it was disgusting for him to do that… I never thought he-," but Ginny was cut off by Draco's still soft but bloodstained lips.

For a few moments, all Ginny could taste was her lover's blood. When she at last focused her eyes back on Draco, she found her own hair now being stroked lovingly by him.

"Shh," shushed Draco in the softest, most loving voice he could muster. "I will be fine. Your brother has to do much, much more than that to keep me away from you."

Ginny paused to gaze appreciatively at Draco. She then closed her eyes and snuggled into him as close as possible without hurting him and said, "I love you Draco Xavier Malfoy, and I'm positive that won't ever change. No matter what."

Draco fell asleep feeling no pain. Now he felt only the softness of Ginny's milky skin, her gentle hair which was sprawled along his neck and the steady beating of her sixteen year old heart against his own seventeen year old one.

Poppy got back to her Witch Weekly quiz, but just before she settled down completely, she looked up to Draco's bed. It was there she could see the silhouette of Ginny moving towards Draco's bed and laying down on it.

She observed the few moments of conversation between the pair and the protective arm from Draco that went across her waist. She saw the inclination of a kiss and the wave of a wand that expelled the light.

To say Madam Pomfrey was shocked, amazed, worried and slightly deliriously excited was an understatement.

The Witch Weekly was forgotten, and getting to the Head Mistress was all that was on Poppy's mind.