Woo two chapters in two days. I think that's just spectacular. I'd also like to thank my reviewers. It's not a lot, but it still keeps me going :D
Chapter 7—Questions and Answers
Malfoy continued the trek up to the castle with the light girl in his arms. He was trying to figure out what had happened to her; she had just passed out. Blaise had gone off to get something and Logan went to alert Dumbledore what had happened, and Malfoy was stuck with the surprisingly easy task of carrying her up to the Hospital Wing.
He didn't want to sound rude, but he thought that she should way just a little bit more. Malfoy stared down at Ginny Weasley's unconscious face. He noticed that her cheekbones seemed a bit more prominent than they used to and there were slight shadows underneath her eyes. Her freckles were still there, but they seemed to stick out more against her slightly paler skin. He even noticed that her crimson red hair lacked some of its luster. Personally, the hair looked stupid on Ron Weasley. But on Ginny, Malfoy felt that it looked stunning. He would never admit it, of course, especially with Blaise around him almost all the time.
At the Entrance Hall, Malfoy was greeted by none other than the Golden Trio. They all looked at him, and then the girl in his arms. Their already disgusted faces turned livid.
"Malfoy! What do you think you're doing with my sister?!" Ron bellowed.
"Chill out, Weasel. She passed out on the way to Hogsmeade and Blaise told me to bring her to the Hospital." Malfoy's face held no emotion, so it was very difficult to read him if he was lying.
"Wait, you and Blaise?! She was hanging out with Zabini?! It's enough that she's hanging out with that Ravenclaw fellow. Now you two! When she wakes up, I'm going to—"
"Ron! You will do no such thing! You don't even know her side of whatever is going on!" Hermione cut him off and yelled at him. Harry still had not said a word; he was just staring at Ginny lying helplessly in Malfoy's arms.
"Well, apparently your sister and Blaise have become friends, so when he saw her pass out, he freaked and made me carry her up here. I don't know where he went, and Logan went to get Dumbledore."
"Hand her over, Malfoy. I don't want your filth all over her." Ron stepped forward to try and pry his sister from the Slytherin's arms.
"No, I won't. Blaise will be furious if I let her out of my sight." With that, Malfoy walked around the three Gryffindors and in the direction of the Hospital Wing.
Hermione kept Ron from running after him. "Ron, don't. You might do something irrational."
"Like what, Hermione. Please, enlighten me." Ron was furious.
"Like if you grab her too hard and she falls. She could get more hurt than she already is. Just…Malfoy won't hurt her. He's not that stupid."
"He better not. I'll kill him if he ever touches my sister again."
With that, the three of them left the Entrance Hall and on their way to Hogsmeade.
Malfoy walked into the Hospital Wing and deposited Ginny on the farthest bed from the door. Madame Pomfrey came bustling out of her office. "What happened here? Master Malfoy, please explain."
Malfoy sighed. "Well, Blaise and I were on our way to Hogsmeade. Weasley here was walking with some fellow from Ravenclaw…Larry or something. Anyways, they were racing or something idiotic like that and she passed out, just like that."
"Just like that, hm? Well, I'll look her over, see what's wrong." Madame Pomfrey went back to her office and retrieved some potions and her wand. Just then, Blaise stormed through the door carrying a small bag.
"Here, Madame Pomfrey. Give her this." Blaise held out what appeared to be a bar of chocolate. As Malfoy read the label, he saw it said NutroChoc. He gave Blaise a strange and confused look.
"What in the world is this?"
"Well, it was invented a few decades ago. It's a bar of chocolate, obviously, but it's full of nutrition. You know, protein, vitamins and all that. They were invented for the malnourished folk in villages that had been destroyed with no resources left."
"Why on earth does she need that?" But he already knew the answer. That's why she looked so different, and why she had weighed so light.
"For the past week or so, she's been starving herself." Blaise looked over at Ginny somberly.
Madame Pomfrey gasped. "Starving herself?! Why on earth?! How many of those bars did you buy?"
"Just two, Madame. That should be enough to get her weight up to normal."
Madame Pomfrey woke Ginny up. Ginny blinked around and scrunched up her face from the pain in her head. "Where…where am I?"
"You're in the Hospital Wing, dear. It seems you passed out on your way to Hogsmeade."
"Oh." Ginny looked up and saw Blaise and Malfoy looking down at her. "Hey, where's Logan?"
"He went to get Dumbledore," Blaise answered. "Gin, I know what you've been doing. I thought you were smarter than that."
Ginny looked around worriedly. "Blaise, what are you talking about?" Ginny feigned innocence, but Blaise knew better.
"You've been starving yourself, Ginny. That's why you passed out. Your body had no energy to run on and when you were running, it just couldn't handle it. Madame Pomfrey, give her the chocolate."
"Chocolate? What…Blaise…no—" Madame Pomfrey had stuffed the chocolate bar into her mouth and made Ginny chew it.
After swallowing, Ginny opened her mouth to say something, but Madame Pomfrey seized the opportunity to stuff the other bar into her mouth. Ginny gave her a venomous look and chewed and swallowed obediently.
"As I was trying to say," Ginny pointed a glare at the Mediwitch, "this is utterly ridiculous! I have not been starving myself, and I'll thank you, " glaring at Blaise this time, "for probably giving me eight pounds I definitely did not need."
"Ginny, that first night we talked, and you skipped both lunch and dinner. How do I know? I didn't see you at lunch and you told me you had a huge lunch, so you didn't go to dinner. And the following morning, you hardly ate your breakfast, saying, 'I think I ate too much last night so I'm still full.'"
"You've been spying on me?!" Ginny asked incredulously.
"Spying, no. Ginny, I've been looking out for you, okay? I thought we were friends and I don't like to see my friends getting hurt, or worse, hurting themselves."
Ginny sighed in defeat. She gave Madame Pomfrey a look meaning that she wanted to talk to Blaise alone. Ginny was going to give the same look to Malfoy, when the doors burst open and Dumbledore, followed by Logan, entered the Hospital Wing.
"Miss Weasley, are you okay?"
"Splendid, Professor." Ginny answered tautly.
"Madame Pomfrey, what seemed to be the problem?"
"Malnourishment, Albus. Or you could call it a slight case of anorexia. Take your pick."
"Anorexia? Isn't that when they starve themselves?"
"Indeed."
"Miss Weasley, may I inquire as to why you would harm yourself this way?"
"Well, Professor, is it okay if I talk to Blaise about it first?"
"Of course, just send for me when you are okay to discuss."
"I will do that, Professor." Professor Dumbledore left the wing.
"Ginny are you okay? I was so worried." Logan walked over and wrapped his arms around Ginny. She saw over Logan's shoulder that Malfoy was still standing there and he rolled his eyes and the embrace Ginny and Logan were sharing.
"I'm fine, Logan. I'll explain everything to you later. I just want to talk to Blaise right now."
"Okay Ginny." Logan bent down and kissed her on the forehead, the little gesture earning a scoff from Malfoy.
"Nobody asked you to stay, Malfoy," Ginny replied to his scoff as Logan closed the door behind him.
"Is that how you thank me, Weasley?"
"Thank you? For what? Being a complete jerk?"
"Ginny," she turned to look at Blaise, "After you passed out, I told Draco to carry you up to the Hospital Wing while I bought the NutroChoc. So I guess you should, you know, thank him." Blaise looked at her uneasily.
Ginny huffed. "Fine. Thanks Malfoy."
"It's not a big deal."
"How could you say that? You carried my sorry ass all the way from Hogsmeade to here, how is that anything but a big deal?" Ginny flushed slightly with embarrassment.
"Easy. Carrying you was like carrying my broomstick. You weighed hardly anything." Ginny's eyes widened. Had she really lost that much weight in the course of one week? "Don't look so surprised, it's the truth."
"Well now you've shocked be into complete oblivion. First off, I know for a fact that I'm not as light as you say. Second, what reason do you have for telling the truth?"
"Ginny, just listen to him. You don't know how horrible you looked before we gave you the NutroChoc. You looked like a zombie. Please, just, explain to me why you did this to yourself."
"I will, after he leaves."
Malfoy raised his eyebrows and left the Hospital without another word. Once out in the hallway, he let his thoughts consume his mind. Why would she ever do something so stupid?! Although, this probably ties into what Blaise said about her having a rough life. I just can't believe it. Draco was without a doubt curious about what was going on, but he would, once again, never admit it.
Back in the hospital, Ginny had just finished explaining things to Blaise.
"Ginny, why would you ever think yourself fat? You're gorgeous just the way you are. I wish you had known that."
"No, Blaise, no I'm not! You don't understand!" Tears were falling from Ginny's eyes in thick streams. "I'm no perfect! I never will be! Why else would he do that to me?! I'm ugly and fat and stupid and…and…UGH!" Ginny screamed and started sobbing more.
"Ginny! That's not true! I can't believe you would do this to yourself over a stupid guy! It's his loss." Blaise was astounded at her words.
"You've only known me for like, six days, Blaise. You better believe it. I'm such a wreck. You were wrong. I'll never get through this!" Ginny put her head in her hands and cried some more.
"Ginny, I'm sorry." He sat down on the bed and put his arm around her shoulders. "I know you must hate hearing it, but you have to move on. You've got that Harvey fellow and he seems to make you happy. I'm not telling you to forgive and forget, but don't let it make you make stupid decisions. Plus, if you did forgive him, I'd send you to St. Mungo's for being absolutely insane." He offered her a slight smile.
Ginny looked up at him with her tear-stained face. "Blaise, I'm the one who should be sorry. You're probably my only friend I can really talk to, and you're right. I can get through this, especially with you at my side." She turned and hugged him, and then heard someone clear a throat.
Ginny and Blaise broke their embrace and she looked up in surprise at Draco. He was looking at the two of them with one eyebrow raised.
"Malfoy. How much did you hear?" Ginny asked tentatively.
"Since 'I'll never get through this!'" He quoted perfectly. "I heard yelling, so I came to see what was going on."
"Oh." Ginny fiercely wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thanks again, Blaise. I'm sure you want to go down to lunch or back to Hogsmeade, so I won't keep you from it. I'm just going to go back to my tower." She got up from the bed and went to leave. Stopping, she hesitantly turned around, walked up to Blaise, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, really. You're a great friend." They smiled at each other and Ginny left.
"For Merlin's sake, how many PDA's do I need to see involving her today?" Draco had a look of complete disgust on his face.
Blaise rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Draco. Let's just go back to our Common Room."
"Whatever. What were you guys talking about?" Draco asked in what he hoped was a casual manner. He was curious to no end about the littlest Weasley's troubles.
"Draco, I've told you. I can't tell you. You could find out for yourself if you stop being so damn arrogant."
Draco sighed exasperatedly and continued on his way with Blaise to Slytherin House.
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A/N: Another long one. woooooo. and a bit from draco's perspective. i'll try to put more in ginny's POV next chapter. but maybe i won't put up next chapter until i get a decent amount of reviews. that's right, foos.