Author's note: Chapter TWENTY! YAY! I'm happy. Well here it is, and I think this one will be fairly long... Well longer than my last one... Not saying much, but here you go and I hope you like it!
Chapter Twenty
"... What did she mean by 'soul link'?" Ginny asked skeptically.
"Well from what I understand... We can feel each others pain... to some extent. I don't think just pain, more like, strong feelings. Because when you were being practically assaulted, I felt a shot of fear, and pain in my mind." he finished, while throwing a rock into the lack, since they were now sitting on the edge of it.
"Well that makes sense...sort of. Well I was in the hospital wing and I woke up with a feeling of deep rage in my mind, then it flashed away like it happened with you. Must have been when you beat Ronald to a pulp." she said, then her brows knit together in concentration. "You said she seemed a little shocked by this... Did she say what caused it?"
There was silence.
Draco actually knew what caused it. He had read about it in one of his father's books. Only one thing could cause an accidental soul-binding... but he didn't know if it went both ways. He preferred not telling her though, because she might take it the wrong way, so he pretended to be ignorant. "No, she didn't say anything. But she surely didn't expect It." he answered, rather proud of himself for not truly lying.
"Oh well. I'm going to put this in my newly formed positive list." she said lightly, and threw a rock in the water as well, she smirked when it skipped four times. "I win." she announced.
"Pfft, if I knew we were having a contest, then I would have beaten you easily." he said in an over dramatic superior tone.
Ginny quirked her eyebrows and replied. "Alright tough guy, you're on!" he returned her smirk, and threw a flat stone in the water.
It skipped once more than hers had, so he claimed victory over THAT contest. So Ginny grudgingly admit she lost, and they lay back onto the grass and looked at the sky. They were enveloped in a thick peaceful silence, and it seemed as if time had stopped. Then Ginny wondered out loud in a happy/tired voice. "How long do we have?"
"Hmm?" Draco responded lazily.
"...Till the war. How long have we got until the war?" she asked a little more seriously.
Draco turned onto his side and propped his head up with his hand, while his elbow supported it. "I don't know Gin. Voldemort is not one for being patient, but he will want to wait until he has enough allies to achieve a sure victory..." he trailed off.
"How long do you think that will take?" she asked, not taking her eyes of the passing clouds.
"I don't know..." he answered sadly, and lay back down on his back.
"How many people do you think will survive... Do you think we will even survive?" she asked once again.
"I don't know Gin, I don't think anyone does..."
"And what do you think would happen to us if we did win? Would we just go about and live normal lives? What if all Voldemort's followers were captured or killed? What would happen to all the aurors and everyone else in the Ministry dealing with dark witches and wizards?" she wondered, but sat up and looked over at Draco, who had his hands behind his head, and was looking wistfully at the sky, clearly in a thought of his own. Ginny almost sat back and did the same, but she noticed the tears streaming down his face. She felt terrible, thinking it was her won doing.
"Draco? I'm sorry, what's wrong?" she asked guiltily.
"My life has pretty much been completely surrounded by death and war and darkness. I have felt pain worse than most people. I have seen so much death, it sometimes doesn't faze. I was almost completely sucked into that world. And now, if the war ends, and Dumbledore's side wins, I just don't know if I could live in that world. I wouldn't belong." he explained with a sad smile on his face, then he closed his eyes tightly to blink out the tears.
She lay down perpendicularly to him, and rested her head on his stomach. "If I'm still alive, I'll make sure you fit it whether I have to break the Minister of Magic's nose!" she said in an overly dramatic overly-protective imitation, even though she truly meant it. He laughed lightly, causing her head to bauble up and down. Nothing else was said and they stayed like that for another half an hour. Draco realized that by now that dinner must have started, and people must be looking for the missing patient in the infirmary. Not to mention, he remembered that Ginny was under nourished and needed to eat.
"Ginny, I should probably get you back to the infirmary..." he explained, but stopped when he heard her murmur something incomprehensible and he looked and realized she was sleeping.
He sat up carefully, not wanting to startle her, and that caused her head to slide onto his lap. He stroked the side of her face with the back of his finger affectionately and tried to wake her. "Ginny, it's time to get up." he whispered.
Her eyes flickered underneath her eyelids, and without opening them, she responded quietly. "No it's not."
Draco uncharacteristically snorted, and humored her. "And why not?"
She was silent for a moment, and Draco wasn't sure if she were still awake or not, but she finally spoke. "Because I'm sleeping."
Draco laughed again, and in response, pulled a handful of grass form the ground, and sprinkled it on her face.
She sat up instantly and brushed the blades of grass out of her face and hair, then proceeded to spit them out of her mouth. She turned to face him and gave a glare. "I loath you!" she said, trying to keep a straight face, but couldn't help crack a smile.
"Good, now that you're awake, I can take you back to the infirmary." he said.
"Why are you taking me back, I'm fine?" she retorted.
"Madam Pomfrey firstly is probably throwing a fit about you disappearing, and I bet Potter and Granger aren't helping, secondly, you should probably take an energy potion." He explained, but Ginny looked at him suspiciously as if he had an ulterior motive, but finally agreed to go.
They walked to the castle and as they got to the front steps, Ginny stopped with a mischievous smirk on her face. Draco stopped, and turned to look at her. "What?" he asked suspiciously.
Ginny was quick to reply. "Well if I'm going to the infirmary, then I must be sick... And sick people shouldn't be allowed to walk..."
"Meaning?" His question was answered when she walked up to him and jumped on his back while latching onto his neck, yelling 'piggy-back', and nearly knocking him off his feet. "Bloody hell! What are you doing?"
"I'm sick, so you're going to carry me up to the infirmary!" She laughed.
"You're mad, truly mad." he informed, but grabbed her legs and began walking up the stairs. He actually felt relieved she was so light.
They only passed a few people in the halls, and Ginny smiled sweetly at all of them, she even blew a kiss to one of her house-mates giving her a look of disgust. But by the time they were at the door, Draco's cheeks were flushed, and his breathing had deepened. Ginny dropped down from his back and walked into the room, patting his cheek comically while walking by. He followed in, and noticed that the curtain was now drawn around Ronald's bed and they could hear the voices of Harry and Hermione behind it, talking about school work or something... Ginny and Draco couldn't care less what they talk about. But at hearing the noise of the door open, Madam Pomfrey, who was straightening out Ginny's previous bed, looked over at them and frowned. She rushed over, and ushered Ginny into a seat. "Miss Weasley! I left for no more that twenty minutes, and I come here and find you gone, leaving everything behind! If Miss Granger hadn't reassured me that you hadn't been abducted, that's what I would have thought had happened! Now, here are the potions I need you to take. one for your energy, and another for your nutrition value." she explained, shoving two phials down her throat before she could even say anything. Once she had swallowed them though, she spoke.
"What's wrong with my nutrition value?" she asked, confused.
"You haven't been eating enough. You are under weight and have a low nutritional value. Now I will request you to come here tomorrow morning to take another potion. Now, I need to tend to your brother, so you can leave." She said dismissively, then added, "Mister Malfoy, make sure she eats a full dinner." Then she disappeared behind the curtain. Ginny stared after her in silent shock.
Draco grabbed her lightly by the arm after he had gathered her things that she had left over, and led her out the door, while she started stammering. "I d-didn't know!"
Draco continued to walk with her, but answered softly. "It's okay Gin, you're not bulimic or anything, you just have to eat a bit more."
"But I'm not hungry. If I wasn't eating enough, I should be hungry..." she protested weakly.
"Well, maybe you were so concentrated on everything else, you sort of pushed it to the back of your mind and forgot about it..." he suggested.
"...I guess..." she responded hesitantly.
"Don't worry, I'm going to make sure you eat so you can be nice a plump." he said humorously. Ginny laughed out right at that, and the frown left her face for a good while.
They finally got to the Great Hall, and stopped in front of the door. "Well I'll see you after dinner I s'pose." Ginny said.
"Oh, but I have to make sure you eat. So I guess that would mean I have to sit with you." Draco said happily.
Ginny raise one eyebrow at him with a smile of disbelieve on her face. "So much for being discreet, huh?"
"I think whatever chance we had at being discreet has long passed. And you health is more important then discretion." he informed smugly. "Now to decide whose table we sit at."
"Oh don't worry; I have it figured out..." Ginny said, and then walked into the Great Hall with Draco right beside her. They looked over at the Gryffindor table and were met with frowns and scowls and looks of disbelief. They looked over to the Slytherin table and saw a few raise their heads and look surprised for a moment, then they all went back to eating. Ginny raised her hand to "discreetly" cover what she was saying, "I pick...your table."
"Me too." he said with his hand mockingly over his own mouth. She swatted it down and they walked over to the Slytherin table, meriting collective gasps heard around the Hall.
A few people along the table shoved over to make room for them to sit, with Draco sitting next to Ginny, and an empty spot on her other side. It almost filled in with the person nearest, but out of nowhere a person practically jumped into the seat. Ginny recognized him as Blaise Zabini.
She heard Draco sigh exaggeratedly and introduce them. "Ginny meet Blaise Zabini. Zabini, meet Virginia Weasley."
Blaise grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it. "Virginia, a sophisticated name for a beautiful woman." he said slyly.
Ginny snorted out loud at him causing a few of the table's occupants to stare at her. "And what a lady-like specimen you have here Draco." Blaise added. Draco gave a small smile in response, but it left his face when he gave Ginny a pointed look. Ginny rolled her eyes at him, but filled her plate with a large piece of pork and apple sauce. Blaise didn't stay any longer, just long enough to steal a bun from Draco's plate, and went off to his own seat.
After Draco had supervised Ginny's food intake, most people had left since he and she had entered later. Ginny finished her last bite, and chewed then swallowed, opening her mouth wide, sticking her tongue out and saying "ah". Draco pretended to take time and decide, so she closed her mouth but kept her tongue out momentarily. He smiled at her, and she smirked.
"Well Virginia, I have to go. Quidditch practice." he explained, then added, "You could come if you want..."
"No thanks. I want to, but I should probably go have a yelling fest with my house before I get disowned... but remember, you should practice hard, the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match is next week, and you don't want to lose too badly." she goaded, walking away, not even saying goodbye.
-------------------
Ginny walked into the common room, and was slightly surprised when no one even batted an eyelash, and even Colin seemed to be nowhere in sight. She looked at them suspiciously, but walked up to her dorm. When she opened the door, at first she didn't realized anything different or out of place, but she looked to where her bed should have been, and it was a little surprised to not see it. Her bed and all her belongings were gone. She rolled her eyes at the immaturity, but really wanted to know where all her stuff went. She had things in there that she didn't want anyone touching, and just the fact that it was her things peeved her. She walked over to make sure they weren't just using a disillusionment or an invisibility charm. She checked, and it was still as gone as it had been when she walked in.
She was feeling especially vindictive though, so she transfigured all the other girls' beds' of scarlet and sandy brown posters to silver posters with dark green hangings. She smiled cruelly and walked back downstairs and pretended to do homework. She kept the cruel little smile on her face, and some of the people who she suspected took part in the disappearance of her things, looked at her oddly.
She rummaged around in her bag, looking for her Transfiguration text, then she realized it was in her trunk. Her smile lessened, but grew when she saw one of the girls form her year reading out of theirs.
"Kaitlyn!" She said loudly to catch the girl's attention, when she looked over, Ginny continued. "Have you seen my Transfiguration text?"
"The girl snickered, and in response suggested. "No, sorry I haven't. Why don't you check you trunk." Other people present in the room snickered as well.
"Oh, that would take too long." Ginny said in an off-handed sort of voice, then quietly used a summoning charm, and the book flew into her hand from across the room. Kaitlyn looked up, appalled. It took a moment, but her face reddened. She stood up and marched over to Ginny.
"That is MINE! Give it back!" she yelled, with her hand out, expecting her to co-operate immediately.
"I'm so sorry!" She replied with false sweetness. "I would, but you see, I don't have a trunk."
"IT'S MINE!" she yelled, unattractively. Kaitlyn is probably the second most ditzy girl Ginny had the 'pleasure' of ever knowing. And Ginny was having a lot of fun pushing her buttons, especially when they were so easy.
"Yes, I knew that when I took it from you." Ginny said, starting to get bored of this argument, but there was no way in Hell that she would be the first to crack, and plus, she had an audience to please.
"Well, I want it back, so you better give it back!" she spat.
"Yeah...hmm.. The thing about that is... No." Ginny retorted. Kaitlyn crossed her arms across her chest, and the frown of her face slipped into a sneer.
"You little wench. You think just because you're sleeping around with a Malfoy that you can do whatever you want. Well, let's see what happens when he dumps you flat on your ass." It wasn't so much the accusation of sleeping with Draco, it was more of the implication that he was using her and going to ditch her that made her do it.
Ginny gazed darkly at her, but she just watched Kaitlyn turn around and walk back to her seat with her friends, ready to give her high-five. Then out of nowhere, Kaitlyn was hit in the back of the head with something extremely hard, and was knocked to the floor with a yelp of pain. She looked back and saw Ginny still sitting by the table without the Transfiguration book. Ginny used her acidly sweet voice and commented. "Oh, there's your book," she paused for effect, "I'm finished." Another pause. "But not with you. Where are my things?" she asked in a commanding tone.
"I don't know, BITCH!" Kaitlyn yelled.
Ginny looked at her for a moment and shook her head. "Have it your way." and she walked up to the dorm and locked the door, before any of the girls could run after her. She heard them banging on the door, but ignored it.
She laughed to herself, because she wasn't going to really do anything...well other than change the colour of the bed hangings... But she was going to keep the door locked, and they were going to think she was up to something and they would worry. But in reality, she was going to grab her broom and fly around for a bit. Probably check to see if Draco was still open with his offer.
She jumped out her window, and let herself free-fall for a little bit, loving the feel of adrenalin. After a while she placed her broom between her legs, and pulled the nose up, lightly so she eventually evened out and was now flying parallel to the ground, not perpendicular. She flew to the pitch, and landed in the stands. When she noticed Draco look over to where she was, she saw/heard him whistle to the team, signaling a time out. He flew down rapidly to her.
"Glad to see you could join. Have you been disowned from your house?" he asked humorously, but he was visibly out of breath. His cheeks were flushed and his hair disheveled, and Ginny found herself blushing a little when she thought how attractive he was.
"Partially."
"Heh, I'll have to hear about that later." he puffed. "Come on!" he said smiling, then flew back off to tell the rest of his team that Ginny was going to be practicing with them. Ginny once again seemed surprised at their indifference, but she got on her broom and flew up beside Draco.
"So Ginny, you play Chaser, so you will be with Melissa, Jacob and Ethan... Actually, since the team is even now, why don't we have a scrimmage. One of each on the team." he said, splitting the team into two. Him being on one team, and Ginny on the other.
Each newly formed team went and made a tight group circle, and started talking strategy. "Okay," One of them started, Ginny guessed it was Ethan, but later found out of was it was Jacob. "Weasley, were going to see what you're made of. Do you have a position preference other than chaser?" he asked.
"Uh, I actually like Seeker..." she sad hesitantly, incase anyone else wanted the position, but the over all mood of the circle seemed relieved. "What?" she asked curiously.
"Well, the only seeker on our team is Draco, and every time we scrimmage he nails us into the ground. He's never played against you, so maybe you'll beat him." Melissa replied, smiling, then she continued. "But I'm sorry to admit that you wont go very far on that broom, so we can switch, I'm being chaser, so I wont need such a high speed broom." she offered, and Ginny happily accepted. They managed to maneuver in the air so they switched broom, and Draco finally whistled, signaling that everyone should take their places. He opened the box on the ground and used magic to put the balls in play, except the snitch, which flew off in an instant, with a mind of its own. Ginny circled above the game in search of the snitch, and Draco did the same on his end of the field. Ginny couldn't spot it anywhere, so she edged closer to centre-field. Draco did the same.
A goal was scored by Ginny's team, and she yelled out to Draco. "Draco! I'm winning again!"
He yelled back, "Not for long!" and as he said that, his team scored. Ginny stuck her tongue out at him, but kept concentrating on where the snitch was.
After five goals by her team, and seven goals from his team, Ginny spotted it. It was about twenty feet under her, but five feet out from her. She didn't even wait for her mind to hesitate, and she lunges down for it. Unfortunately, Draco had spotted it, and was angled better to reach it, so she let reflexes and nerve to kick in, and she jumped off 'her' broom, while still holding it in her right hand. The people all around watched her in pure amazement and awe.
Draco on the other watched in pure horror as she freefell, and he went after her thinking maybe she had fallen off. He caught up with her, and she practically fell into his arms. He didn't waste time interrogating her on what possessed her to do that, and if she was okay.
She smiled brightly at him and raised her hand. Inside her palm, was a little golden ball flapping around with its wings. "I win."
Draco rolled his eyes after his heart-rate slowed a little. "I loath you." then to wind him up even more, Ginny jumped off him, still holding her broom and she sat on it and pulled up, causing her to level once again, but this time, come to a complete stop.
Everyone one on her team burst into cheers and applause, gathering around her, giving her congratulations. Draco just watched from afar, trying to take in his emotions all at once.
he felt incredibly happy that she was laughing and happy, he felt absolutely horrified that she had been so reckless and she could have died... Well that's what he wanted to believe, but he knew she would have taken care of herself... He also felt happy that she had come because he had asked her to come. He felt something deep for her, but he didn't want to. Not because he didn't want to feel for her, that was just it. He didn't want to feel for her when future was so undecided. What if she did return these feelings? What if he died? What if SHE died? 'She's so innocent, I can't plague her by a love she wouldn't be able to return.' he thought sadly, but then was surprised have finally admit that he did love her, he wasn't surprised that he did, he was just surprised to admit it. He was brought out of his thoughts by the voice of his angel.
"HEY BUTT-HEAD! Get your arse over here and congratulate me!" Ginny yelled over the voices of the Slytherins.
'Ever the lady.' he thought, and accompanied it with a laugh in his mind. he flew over to the group where he patted Ginny on the head and replied. "Well done, young grasshopper. I have taught you well." That merited a collective group laughter. "Okay team, practice is over, take a shower! You're all filthy!" he exclaimed, as every took note of the darkening sky.
Ginny hung back, because one, she was not part of the team, and not nearly half as filthy, second, she really didn't want to go back to her common room. She smiled extra brightly when she saw Draco had stayed behind as well.
She flew over to him and asked. "What's on the agenda for...right now?"
He thought about it for a moment, then suggested, "Why don't we just float around for a little bit?"
"Okay..." she said with a sleepy smile.
TBC
Author's note: Yay! This was a really long chapter, well not really long...but for me it is...My internet isn't working and wont let me do ANYTHING let alone post a chapter, but this one was finished fairly quickly... Well, what can you do?...I actually think I have over 50 000 words! YAY! I hope this chapter wasn't boring or anything... I made it fluffy :) But I can tell you for SURE, next chapter will have major plot points...like...MAJOR...so be warned :) I'm also sorry if it's not very British like...but well...I'm not British :( But, here you go, I REALLY hope you liked this one and my next one should be up really soon!
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