Die to Live

Chapter Eight

By Mell8

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"Auror Potter, I am so glad that you have come. I don't know what to do with the three prisoners you brought in last night." The Azkaban prison guard was wringing his hands nervously as he stumbled ahead of Harry on their way to the prisoner cells.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "Have they done anything wrong?" Harry would have sworn that neither Ginny nor the two boys would do anything rash while in prison. It was plainly obvious that they were more interested in getting their names cleared and going on with their lives than causing trouble. Even Malfoy, a Death Eater with the mark tattooed onto his arm, was on his best behavior in order to stay out of Azkaban.

"Not anything wrong, Sir; just extremely odd. They're all, well, you'll see when we get to their cells." The guard took a deep breath and opened the heavily spelled, muggle steel door that led to the prisoners.

Harry followed behind the guard with some trepidation. The guard had seen everything there was to see from the prisoners. What could have happened that would shake up the guard so much?

Draco, Blaise and Ginny followed the armed prison guard down into the depths of Azkaban prison. Ginny clutched at her boy's hands like the lifeline they were. She was deeply afraid of being locked in prison and being separated from her boy's for the first time in six years.

Ginny had not let go of the boys ever since they had been captured a few hours ago, much to the annoyance of Harry and the other Aurors who were watching over them. When the Aurors had attempted to separate them so they could put manacles on their wrists and lead the Death Eaters, Draco and Blaise, to the maximum-security area and Ginny to the general prisoners area, the three had held onto each other so tightly that even Hermione's spells could not separate them.

Ginny was very relieved that Draco and Blaise seemed to be as anxious about their upcoming separation as she was. She knew that their feelings mirrored hers. If one of them had let go when Hermione was trying to force them apart, something inside of them would have broken; something more deep-rooted than their all consuming love for each other.

Ginny smiled slightly to Draco and Blaise as they followed the guard down the dank stone hallway. She gently squeezed the boy's hands and sighed silently when her hands were squeezed back. Her message was- it would be all right. The boys sent constant love back to her.

Once the Aurors had seen just how difficult it would be for them to separate the three new prisoners because of how attached, emotionally and physically, Ginny, Draco and Blaise were, the Aurors had finally decided to put them in adjacent cells and keep them under constant watch. The idea was a compromise set to placate both the prisoners and the guards who were watching over them. This way Ginny, Draco and Blaise would not be separated but the guards could easily keep an eye on them. Plus, the guards and Aurors wouldn't have to spend extra time forcing the prisoners apart.

The first cell they stopped at was small square space. It had a tiny, barred window in the back and bars along the front.

"This is for the blond," the gruff guard pointed roughly at Draco. Ginny choked back a sob and put her strong foot forward. Lee had told her to be stalwart for the boys so that Draco and Blaise would not have to spend precious planning time worrying about her. Ginny heeded that advice. She just wished that Draco didn't have to be in his cell by himself.

She turned towards Draco and pulled Blaise along with her. The Aurors tensed. They expected a fight. Harry, Ron and Hermione had their wands out, prepared to stop Malfoy from trying anything. Instead of trying to run, Draco turned to face Ginny, wrapped her in his arms and held on for dear life. Draco enveloped Blaise into his hug as well.

Ron started forward, a stunning spell on his lips but Harry held out an arm. "Ron, leave them be."

"But, Malfoy's touching my sister!" Ron hissed. Ginny ignored what might have been an offensive comment. She knew Ron was under lot of stress and addressing the issue of her feelings for the two Slytherins would not be in her best interests at the moment.

"Trust me Ron, she wants Malfoy and Zabini to touch her," Harry said quietly. Hermione looked up at Harry shrewdly. She recognized his dejected tone. It seemed to her that Harry had been waiting for Ginny to come back to him. Hermione could tell that fortunately, Harry saw that Ginny had definitely moved on.

Ron scowled and grumbled. "Lets go Malfoy!"

Draco slowly let go of Ginny and Blaise before tamely walking into his cell. He stood just inside the door as the iron bars were locked and spelled. Ginny trapped her eyes with Draco's and, even though his face was completely impassive, she saw his fear lurking beneath the surface. It wasn't the same type of fear that had Draco cowering under wand point but it was still potent. Ginny knew that she needed to be strong for him. Draco never lost eye contact with Ginny until she was ushered down the hall and out of his sight.

The next cell was Ginny's. She smiled ironically. She was always placed in the middle of the two boys. It was nice to know that Draco and Blaise would always surround her.

The Aurors watched as she hugged Blaise before walking into her cell. She looked strong and determined.

Harry thought that Ginny was just trying to be reassuring to the Zabini boy they were taking to the cell around the corner but he couldn't be sure. She had changed so much since she had disappeared.

The guard led Harry down to where Ginny, Malfoy and Zabini were being kept until their trial. Just before reaching Malfoy's cell the guard stopped and turned to look at Harry. "Please understand, Auror Potter, I didn't know about this until I looked up the building plans. It seems that there is one common wall between the three cells." Harry nodded although he didn't understand what that had to do with the three prisoners. "Well, Auror, Sir, it seems that the three prisoners you brought here last night found that one place."

Harry still didn't understand what the guard meant but he walked forward anyway. He looked in Malfoy's cell and blinked slowly. The sparse pallet on the floor was empty even though it was very early in the morning. Instead, Draco Malfoy was sleeping on the floor, curled up into a small ball in the back left corner. He was using the left cell wall for a pillow and the blanket that had been given to him was wrapped tightly around his body.

Harry walked over to where Ginny was being held and had to stop and stare at her. Like Malfoy, she was sleeping on the floor, curled up into a ball, but, she was in the back right corner and, if Harry's guess was correct, she was directly across from Malfoy. The only difference between what Malfoy looked like and Ginny was that although her body was leaning against the right cell wall, her head was leaning against the back wall.

Harry quickly jogged around the corner to Zabini's cell and couldn't help shaking his head in annoyance. Zabini was curled up in the back right corner as well but, because his cell was around the corner and not in line with the other two cells, his head was leaning against Ginny's cell. Harry was now positive that Zabini was across from Ginny.

He quickly turned to the guard. "Run and floo Auror Granger-Weasley. Have her come here immediately." The guard rushed off and Harry turned back to look at the phenomenon that was occurring right in front of his eyes.

III

"There are a number of things that make what we saw impossible." Ron snarled quietly. "There are silencing spells, imperturbable charms, and various other wards around the cells that prevent prisoners from talking to each other. They shouldn't have known where they were."

"But," Harry added quietly, "their bodies were exactly across from the other. There wasn't even a centimeter of difference in their body placements. How could they have known where the other person was?"

Hermione listened to Harry and Ron argue but focused on the layout of the prison on the parchment in front of her. It was true that the only place all three cells touched was right in that corner but there was absolutely no way that Ginny, Malfoy, and Zabini could have found it without outside help. Unless… Hermione looked up suddenly at Ron. "Ron, go to Hogwarts and ask McGonagall to borrow Magical Bonds- the guide to binding yourself to your lover. It's in the restricted section." Ron opened his mouth to protest but his wife gave him a hard look and he left.

"Do you think they bound themselves together with magic?" Harry asked quietly.

"No," Hermione answered with a small shake of her head. "They didn't use magic while they were in hiding. It's something deeper than magical bonds that I think connects them and that book mentions it."

"Deeper?" Harry looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"It's like the Priori Incantatem you experienced when you fought Voldemort after the tri-wizard tournament. Your wands were brothers because of the phoenix feather in their core. I believe that something similar occurred to Ginny, Malfoy, and Zabini."

"You mean they saw dead people?" Ron asked quietly. He returned to the table with the book in his hand and handed it to Hermione.

"No, Ron. It means that they have something deeper than an Unbreakable Vow binding them so tightly together like brotherhood, that even physical separation is painful."

"But when I found them, Ginny was by herself. The two boys were on opposite ends of the street. That was further away than the cells are."

Hermione sighed. "There is one way to find out. Separate them."

"I'll go talk to the Minister." Harry said quietly. "I think that if we bring Ginny to the Burrow under constant Auror watch and put Malfoy, and Zabini in cells on the opposite sides of Azkaban, we can see how deep this binding really is."

III

Ginny woke to the sound of the bars in her cell being opened. She was cramped from being curled up so tightly in the corner for the entire night but she had been desperate.

Ginny had lain down on the pallet long after she had been locked up but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't sleep. There was something severely wrong about sleeping on the pallet by herself. She missed Draco's hard presence wrapped around the front of her body and Blaise's warm body melded to her back. She needed their big bed and their bodies against hers. Without that she felt empty.

Ginny needed to be closer to her boy's. She remembered that Draco was in the cell to her right so she crawled to the wall on the right. Ginny didn't know where the Aurors had put Blaise but she could tell that he was nearby. She thought he was in the cell along the back wall. Ginny desperately crawled to the back right corner of her cell and collapsed in relief. She could feel Draco leaning against the wall to her right and she felt Blaise was on her back. It wasn't nearly as good as being together in bed but it was better than being by herself.

Ginny looked up from where she was sitting in the corner and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione walk into her cell.

"Come on Ginny," Ron said with a smile. Ginny stood up stiffly and felt Draco and Blaise wake on their sides of the prison wall.

Ginny slowly walked over to where Ron was beckoning her out of the cell. "Where are we going?"

"We're taking you to the Burrow," Ron said happily. "Don't you want to go home?"

Ginny smiled at the thought of seeing her family again but the smile slowly faded. "What about Draco and Blaise?"

"They are going to stay here until their trial but you have been cleared of all murder charges because the people you were supposed to have murdered are clearly alive." Harry smiled at her, clearly expecting Ginny to be happy. He completely missed Ginny's look of complete terror. "You are expected to give your statement to the Wizengamot-"

"No!" Ginny gasped loudly. "Leave me here! I don't want to leave them behind!"

"Ginny," Ron said as he roughly grabbed on of Ginny's arms, "you are coming home whether you like it or not!"

"No!" Ginny screamed and started trying to fight Ron off. Ron pulled her out of the cell but was forced to stop when Ginny grabbed the bars to her cell and held on as tightly as she could. "Leave me alone!"

"Ginny!" Twin screams of horror rang from opposite sides of the hallway. Draco and Blaise were pressed as close to their bars as they could get and were screaming at Harry and his friends to leave Ginny alone.

Ron finally gave up trying to drag his sister away and pulled out his wand. "Stupefy! Mobilicorpus!" Ginny's stunned body floated out of the cell ahead of Ron and his wand.

As they passed Malfoy's cell Harry almost told them to stop the experiment. The look on Malfoy's face could have stopped Voldemort in his tracks. The look of absolute desolation on the blonds' face was the most helpless expression Harry had ever seen.