Ending One
She did not see Draco until the day of the trial. The Head Auror investigating the case had requested that she testify, otherwise she would not have witnessed the closed trial. Waiting with the Wizengamot for the prisoner's arrival quite possibly posed the most nerve-wrecking fifteen minutes of her life.
When Draco entered, carefully guarded by Aurors and Untouchables, her breath caught. This was it. Her husband's life hung in a precarious balance inclined toward death.
Five hours later, Ginny realized that the Minister of Magic was deliberating and preparing to issue a verdict. After her testimony early in the trial, she had blocked herself off from the sounds around her, unable to listen to the seemingly throes of men and women who appeared to condemn the man who saved her.
Shaking her head, she caught the tail end of the Minister's sentence, "…of kidnapping Miss Weasley," she bristled at the name. Why wouldn't anyone acknowledge her marital status? "we find Mr. Malfoy not guilty. The charge of murder has become moot as Miss Weasley is clearly still alive. However, this pardon does not change the incontrovertible fact that Mr. Malfoy was in fact a Death Eater and participated in the Dark Lord's scheme to overthrow the Ministry and rules established by the Wizarding world. We find the accused guilty of treason, accomplice in the Dark Lord's crimes against humanity. Mr. Malfoy, as an established Death Eater, you are hereby sentenced to death to occur two days henceforth."
Ginny's head spun, and she had to fight to remain conscious. Before the room stopped swimming, Draco had already been led away and the Wizengamot had begun to depart. Throwing aside all propriety, Ginny pushed through the small crowd to the Minister.
"Excuse me, excuse me, Minister…Minister please, may I speak with you?"
Bowing a stern face toward the woman who had arisen at his side, he spoke, "Yes, Miss Weasley?"
"I'm not here to ask for an appeal or a retrial. I know that your decision is final. But please, will you allow me to visit my husband. The guards of Azkaban have told me for the last two months that no one is allowed to visit accused Death Eaters. Well, he's not accused anymore. Regardless of what you think of him, I love him with everything I am, and to be parted so without even having the chance to say goodbye," she stopped before the tears could overwhelm her voice.
After a long silence, the Minister replied, "You shall be granted one visit, Miss Weasley. You must relinquish your wand before entering Azkaban and submit to detection charms. Your brother, Ronald, will attend you during the entire visit. While your plea was heartfelt, even you cannot deny that a woman about to lose the man she loves will resort to desperate means to save him."
"No sir," she replied quietly, glancing at Ron who had stepped in at the mention of his name.
The next morning, Ginny and Ron set out for Azkaban. Since it had been so long since her last Apparition, they travelled by broomstick. She relished the cold air whipping around her face and pulling strands of hair loose from the band behind her head. The numbing effect of the wind propelled her through the security precautions, and with an anxious heart she and Ron descended into the bowels of Azkaban.
At the end of the last hallway, a door stood securely charmed, even featuring a Muggle lock for extra protection. Ginny stepped into the dank chamber, elated to finally be able to hold the man she could now remember as her saving grace.
Draco looked up from the floor in surprise. The clock-setting breakfast had already taken place, and it could not yet be time for tea. When his eyes lit on Ginny, the impervious mask slipped away. Innumerable emotions passed across his brow as he relived the horror of her memories' return, the pain of separation, the emptiness of impending death, the joy of her presence. A lifetime would not have been long enough to express all they had to say.
They had been sitting on the floor for near an hour, heads bent together and hands entwined. Ron shuffled in the doorway, anxious to leave. It baffled his mind to see his sister with Draco Malfoy, and when he sat back to think (which, as Hermione noted, happened rarely), he realized that the idea of his baby sister loving someone more than her family burned deeply. "Come on, Ginny. We should go."
As she leaned into the last embrace she would ever receive from his arms, the tears finally escaped her eyes, mingling with the hair that had grown long at his neck.
"Don't cry, my love," he whispered, "as you have dwelt in my heart, so also shall I be in yours."
Seeking his mouth, she poured her love and strength into the kiss, hoping it would sustain him through the next morning. With his free hand he wiped the tears away and led her slowly to the door.
"Take care of her today, Weasley," a severe mask slid back into place as Draco swallowed the emotion that threatened to grow in the back of his throat.
"She's my sister, Malfoy." Even Ginny's presence could not keep the venom from Ron's voice.
"You've much to learn, Weasley. Pity I can't be around to show you." A smile escaped, directed at Ginny. "I have loved you, Jen. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum. I would not wish you to follow me, much as you should desire it."
"I would have followed you. But I will earn this gift of life you gave me, and cherish it."
Led by a very bewildered Ron, Ginny stepped back and allowed the door to close. She spent the remainder of the day in a daze. Although Molly urged her repeatedly to go to bed, she could not sleep that night and simply sat at the hearth staring at the flames that danced before her eyes. As the first beams of sunlight entered the room, Ginny realized the day had begun. It was time to return to the Ministry.
The silence echoed as Draco Malfoy approached the last hallway he would walk. Standing next to Ron, Ginny stood shrouded in black but with her head high. She caught Draco's eye and their gaze held fast. As he whispered "I love you", the first and last tear she saw escape the penetrating stronghold of his grey eyes made its way unhindered down his cheek. Visibly restraining her own tears, Ginny brought her wedding ring to her lips and then clasped her hands over her heart. All too soon the procession turned around the bend that carried her husband from sight. She thought her heart had stopped, and she slumped to the floor with a gasp.
"I can't breathe, Ron. I can't breathe." She choked. "Take me outside."
If she never moved again, she would not start crying until out of Draco's hearing.
Stepping into the mocking sunlight brought all her defenses crashing down, and Ginny fell against her brother.
A week later Ginevra Weasley left the Burrow and took a Muggle bus to London. After three hours, Jennifer Black boarded a flight to San Jose, California, through Los Angeles. She checked no bags and carried only her purse and a long, rectangular box. While she flippantly stowed her purse in the overhead compartment, the box lay on her lap through the duration of the flight.
One of her neighbors on the plane asked what was so special, and she replied that it was something of her husband's.
On the lid in a mother's affectionate scrawl, Jen read "Water twice a week. Plant in ground when 1 meter tall."
Even before entering her house, Jen took her box along with a recently purchased pot, potting soil, and watering can into the garage. Flipping the light switch, she prepared the pot, and after digging a hole with her fingers, opened the box. She merely gazed at Draco's wand for a few moments before placing the shards and broken pieces in the hole. Before her daughter left, Molly had charmed the wood to grow into a healthy tree. Jen hoped it wouldn't take too long. Once she had planted the tree safely in the ground, she moved a small table and chair next to it, frequently taking her morning coffee outside.
"Now that I think about it, you weren't too careful about weilding this powerful bit of wood, were you, Ray," she murmured one afternoon, sitting in the shade of her robust tree. Rubbing her favorite vanilla lotion into her palms, she glanced up at the branches above her head. "Thank you for your strength. I'll be strong, for you, Ray."
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Draco and Ginny's last conversation featured an assortment of references… Saving Private Ryan, Lord of the Rings, Hamlet (the 40 thousand brothers part…which I threw in there because that's what the title is. I don't remember why I originally picked that, and I don't have any better ideas now, so it's staying :-P)