Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

A/N- The last chapter was meant to be confusing and mysterious. I was hoping it would spark interest and longing for this chapter. Which I'm shooting for "longest chapter yet". We'll see. Thanks to all reviewers. Much love.

Chapter Fourteen - The Ginny Conspiracy

Ginny awoke to a terrible feeling deep in her gut. It was dark all around her, but she was warm. She waited a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the dark. The sexpartite rib vaulting of the hospital ceiling became vaguely visible above her. She turned her head to the left and saw Colin's chin, she was laying her head on his chest. To her right she saw Padma's face. The girl was laying her head on Colin's stomach next to her. A boy Ginny didn't recognize was using Padma as a pillow. She looked down and noticed she was being used as a pillow in a similar fashion. Harry was laying on his side, one arm draped over her hips as he rested his head in her bosom. She grinned, nothing seemed out of place. They were all sleeping soundly, peacefully. Craning her neck, she scanned the rest of the room.

Her eyes stopped on silver. The feeling clutched at her inside harder. The moonlight that was streaming in the windows struck Draco's grey eyes and made them reflect, shining brightly. He was sitting up very rigidly in his bed and staring at her. He seemed so far away and isolated. Why didn't he come over here? As if reading her mind, he threw off his covers and swung his legs over the side of his bed. He stood cautiously, waited for a minute, and then advanced towards the group. When he reached the first blanket, he stopped and looked up at the ceiling curiously. A hand rose and seemed to feel the air in front of him like there was some sort of invisible wall there. His eyes narrowed and they fell again on Ginny. Then they flitted over to study Harry.

Ginny watched him for a few minutes as he stood there silently, as if gauging the situation. Finally, he put a foot warily onto the blanket. He paused for a tense moment before continuing on his way towards her. When he got close enough, she raised her arms up in welcome. "Draco," she whispered in a dazed tone much like the one Harry used when he had addressed Ginny earlier. His eyes seemed softer than she had ever seen them before, wavering, almost yielding. He stopped and would not come any closer. Seeing this, she gently pushed Harry off of her and got up with the manner of someone who'd been in bed for days. She stepped over Padma, one hand reaching out for Draco. He suddenly rushed forward and grabbed her wrist in a vicious grip. She cried out softly, wondering why anyone would act in such an aggressive fashion. He was such a handsome boy and didn't need to be harsh with her.

He drew her towards him and then lifted her up in his arms gently. She sighed, a huge bleary smile plastered across her face. This was more like it. Slowly, as if his legs were made of lead, Draco carried her away from the group. Ginny felt a strange tingling as they cleared the last of the sleeping students. She looked into his eyes dreamily, but her smile began to fade and her eyes shone with sudden confusion. Then it was as if a bus had run her over and her expression emulated her dawned realization. She blinked her eyes, nervously looking over his shoulder at the cluster of kids. When she turned back to him, she appeared fairly panicked.

"What is going on?" her voice cracked slightly. "I mean, let me down now," she added quickly.

"What is it Ginevra?" he hissed. "Not done snogging Potter senseless? Or do you want to move onto something a bit more intense?"

Her eyes drooped. "It would have never turned into that," she said meakly.

"How do you know it didn't?"

She tensed in reaction to his hinting. "I'd know," she stated without conviction.

"And I wouldn't? I told you Potter wouldn't touch you again."

"You lied."

He set her down on his bed. She looked wary and uncomfortable. "I can't be there to protect you all the time. You did it to yourself. You went to Hogsmeade with him," he replied icily, even accusatory.

"I did it to myself? You sound like being with Harry is some sort of cruel fate. However, Harry is one person who I will never need to be protection from."

"How close do you think he is with the Dark Lord?"

"It is not a matter of closeness. Harry will do whatever it takes to bring him down."

"Yes, he will do whatever it takes." Draco sat down next to her. "Like he did in Hogsmeade?"

"It was unfair. They were all after him."

"What did you expect?"

"You kept me from him."

"You belong to me."

"I don't. You're wrong. I could have freed him sooner but you got in my way."

"I wouldn't be a good son if I hadn't."

Ginny gaped at him, "That was your father?"

Draco smirked at her and leaned closer, "Certainly."

Ginny's lip twitched in revulsion and she skooted away from him. "They were gonna kill Harry," she muttered.

Draco's eyes were shining eerily, but not revealing any emotion. "Yes they were," he drawled.

She crawled off the other side of the bed. "You... You aided them!"

His eyes narrowed, "I did what I had to."

"If he had died, his blood would be on your hands," her voice was shrill.

"Yes, though probably not literally."

Ginny looked horrified and then an unexpected look of resolve crossed her face. "Why were you crying Draco?" she asked, putting her knee up on the bed as if she were climbing onto it.

He was visibly startled, eyes anxious and smirk erased. "I don't cry. I have... nothing to cry about."

"Don't lie to me ever again," she said harshly. She spun around abruptly and stalked away. A moment later she returned and hurled something at Draco. It bounced off his chest and landed halfway in his lap. He didn't look down at it, only stared at her. Her eyes were narrowed and angry. She pointed a shaking finger at the object. "Look at it!" she hissed.

Reluctantly, he lowered his eyes to behold the red leather notebook. He casually looked back up at her. "I don't see what you're getting at Ginevra," he said coldly.

"I said don't lie to me!" she nearly shrieked. He eyed her lazily and then opened the journal to glance at the first page. Then he closed it again and tossed it further down the bed towards her.

"So?"

She snatched up the journal and strode over to him. She leaned over to place her face inches in front of his. "I will figure you out Draco. If I find out you would work with the Dark Lord against Harry, you will wish you never messed with me in the girl's bathroom," she said, stabbing him in the chest with a corner of the notebook for emphasis. "I've faced much greater evil than you could ever hope to emulate. Don't forget that. I wasn't afraid of Tom and I'm not afraid of you." She looked deeply into his eyes for a moment before turning on her heel and stalking off.

"Do you really love Potter now?" he growled at her before she was out of earshot.

"Suppose I do," she shot back at him, not breaking her stride, and exiting the infirmary without another word.

Draco grinned. No one would ever know her like he would.

Classes had been cancelled for a full week as the students recuperated from the terrible attack on Hogsmeade. Dumbledore had explained to a contrite Ginny that he had placed the happiness charm in the infirmary to ease the broken minds of the students who had been in Hogsmeade. He said there was a limit to their ease of mind, though, and had assured her that they would only give each other 'simple comforts'. She was adamant about the wrongness of it all and he had told her that it was really the best thing to do with how traumatized some of the kids were. Ginny remained unconvinced, having only a vague memory of kissing Harry and... others. Maybe Draco was right about what might have come about. It was not right to mess with a person's free will. A part of Ginny's mind said, "You can keep telling yourself you didn't want to snog Harry, but that won't make it true."

After everyone was dispatched from the infirmary, Harry became resolutely introverted and always had a deeply haunted look about him. Ginny heard rumours that he had barely made it, that almost all the teachers had to work together to save him. Lavender Brown insisted that he had been hit by the cruciatus curse more that fifty times as he was suspended in the air. Ginny's mind often echoed with Harry's screams of agony.

Hermione looked likewise. She kept eyeing Harry as if she couldn't believe he was alive. Ginny remembered her vainly trying to get to him, but being swarmed by death eaters. Ron had thought she died and it was certainly true that she had stopped breathing. How she had recovered remained a mystery to all except for maybe Harry and Ron, though they certainly weren't talking.

Ginny had gotten a severe concussion, which was a fairly light injury compared to others. The only lasting effects were terrible headaches and often feelings of dizziness or faintness. During the week, she had collapsed three times. The first time was outside by the lake where she and some others were going to picnic. Harry had caught her as she fell without a word and set her down gently on the blanket. The second time she had fainted on her way down to dinner after reading in the library for much of the day. Apparently she fell down a whole flight of stairs and a first-year boy had found her on a landing. He had shouted that she was dead until someone else came and took her to the infirmary to get revived and patched up. The third time was the most dangerous. She was playing a friendly game of Quidditch when she abruptly felt intensely dizzy. She flew in an erratic path right into Dennis Creevy and they had both fallen off their brooms. Hermione, who had been watching as she read in the stands, had levitated them both and deposited them neatly on the ground all in one piece. Ron had revived Ginny and immediately banned her from flying anymore. She promptly got up and stormed off the field. No one told her what to do like that. They all thought of her as some invalid now and she was certainly not one.

I can't do anything anymore. I can't stand it.

I know you can, you're just saying that...

I'm going mad. You don't believe me?

No.

What about you? You're all fine?

A long pause.

I'm as well as can be expected. I'm strong.

I'm strong too, but weakness has nothing to do with it.

Weakness has a lot to do with it and you know it.

What, so you just think I'm weak now?

I didn't say that!

Write that you mean...

Whatever. It will all pass you know.

The headaches are too much sometimes. Once I burst into tears in the middle of potions. They all think I'm a fragile little girl.

You are a fragile little girl.

Oh shut up. Now is not the time.

When is? We can't go on moping about this forever.

And I fully intended to.

See now you're the one doing it. It's not so bad, eh?

Oh quit being so optomistic, it doesn't suit you at all.

That hurts.

Oh you know full well that you're a cold-hearted bastard.

No... I was hurt that you thought I was being optomistic.

Ha!

I wasn't though.

Yeah sure.

You're not very chatty today. Normally you're very... bavarde.

I know you're hoping I'll ask what that means. I'm feeling a headache coming on, I'm irritable is all.

Yes, I was hoping. Darn. Go get a potion from Pomfrey.

Nah.

Why don't you come meet me on our tower?

Another long pause.

I told you I wouldn't do that anymore.

And I keep asking why.

You can't be two people to me. Once we actually see each other... it will go back to how it was.

But we already know.

That doesn't change anything, does it? What about earlier this morning after breakfast?

He slammed the red journal closed.

"Tell me what you saw, Hermione," Harry asked her in a hoarse voice like he'd just been screaming for an extended period of time.

"Harry..." she murmured with disaproval in her voice. "Can we not do this now? Please?"

"Yes now. Tell me now," he insisted in a stern voice.

"No Harry. I can't," Hermione got up from the couch she was sitting on in the Common Room and walked over to a window. The night was clouded over and she couldn't see the moon or the stars. Harry followed her and stood behind her, looking out into the darkness over her head. This was the first time since Hogsmeade that he wanted to talk to her about anything concerning what happened there.

He reached up and put his hands on her shoulders. "Yes you can, just tell me- just one thing," he rasped into her ear.

"What are you doing Harry?" She turned around to face him. "You're not like this."

"We're friends, aren't we? We're best friends! You know me! You trust me! Now tell me!" Harry's voice started to rise dangerously. He moved closer to her and she felt her back press against the stone wall below the window.

"It's none of your business!" she snapped, getting uncomfortable. She was afraid of someone she would have never even dreamed of fearing ever in her life. He put his hands back on her shoulders, but she shrugged them off and stepped further down along the wall. "Don't touch me."

Harry looked hurt, but underneath the frown and the startled eyes, Hermione saw the fury and hate he was concealing. "Why are you doing this? We've never kept secrets before! I have to fight Voldemort someday and I NEED THIS INFORMATION!"

"I said no Harry. It's because of you, how you've been acting. You've buried your mind so deeply into itself that Ron and I can't follow. Why? We're not the one's keeping secrets from you. You shut us out! And what about Ginny? Are you doing this to her as well?" Hermione was beginning to ramble a bit. Being angry often gave her a loose tongue.

"She wouldn't notice. She wouldn't care," Harry replied darkly.

"She told me she kissed you at Hogsmeade," Hermione said unsurely. Ginny had opened up to her a bit on some things, but never giving her the full picture.

"And then ran off after she all but told me I was the one for her. She just left me there in the rain, saying nothing but "I did let you touch me" or something like that. She left and then..." he trailed off, obviously thinking about what had happened later that day. "Hermione please, you have to tell me. What if-"

"Wait, what did you say she said to you in Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.

Harry let out a sigh that almost turned into a growl, "I don't see how my love life has any relevance. I'm asking you to tell me about what you saw. Stop trying to sidetrack me by talking about Ginny."

Hermione moved closer, looking at him earnestly, eyes wide. "Harry, I can't tell you everything. But the thing about Ginny... it is relevant. I need to know. It all seems suspicious... how she's acting. Like that time she came in from the rain in the middle of the night. Remember when Malfoy came up to us in the Great Hall? They seemed to have some weird understanding. One minute she was hugging you and forgiving you and one minute she's walking off with Mafoy hand in hand! Then she passed out in the hallway in Malfoy's arms and when she was trapped in the bathroom with him. All of the sudden she's coming onto you at Hogsmeade and then leaving you just as fast. It's all... wrong, is the only way I can put it. And then at Hogsmeade, she randomly reappears and uses an Unfogiveable on a death eater to save you. Then when we were in the hospital wing, I vaguely remember McGonagal coming in with Malfoy and Ginny levitated in front of her. I heard McGonagal saying he had an iron grip on her, but I stopped listening because I didn't care. Later, I woke up to Ginny screeching something to Draco by his bed and throwing something at him. But, again, I just went back to sleep. If only I had more control, I would have..." she looked nervous now, but her eyes were still imploring.

"How does this concern anything?" Harry asked, his eyes burning with anger.

"It does, I promise. If we figure out what is happening with Ginny, I think it will make things clear. I saw-" she stopped herself quickly, not wanting to be carried away again.

"Saw what?" Harry inquired quickly.

"Stop Harry. Please stop. I can't tell you," Hermione looked down at her feet.

"But you want me to tell you something I don't exactly want to talk about," Harry said sourly.

"I thought you loved Ginny. She came all the way back to Hogsmeade for you while kids were running the other way, injured. She must have been scared, but she came for you anyways."

"No, she came for everyone. She's a Gryffindor, brave and heroic, of course she would come," Harry replied.

"So you don't love her anymore? I know you did Harry. Before all this nonsense started happening, I was sure she loved you too. I have serious reason to believe that she's in trouble. Remember that time in second year? It might be something like that again! Someone could be using her to-"

"I can't listen to this without knowing what the heck you're talking about," Harry interrupted her.

"I want to tell you Harry, but I can't. I really can't. Just- why did Ginny say she let you touch her?" Hermione asked again, hoping he would just give in and tell her.

Harry's look was calculating and definately anxious. He bowed his head slightly and started to speak, "She took me out into the rain and hugged me. I was going to tell her something but she covered my mouth and kissed my eye. She said she knew it was me all along and asked me why I didn't just tell her. I told her I thought she didn't want me and she asked me why not and I told her it was because she didn't let me touch her ever. Then she got all weirded out and let go of me and said she did let me touch her. Then she ran off. There, are you happy?" He looked up at her, definately more angry than before.

"Who was she talking about then? Who did she think you were? She let somebody 'touch' her and she didn't know who they were. That's very un-Ginny like to begin with. But when she came in from the rain that night, she told me she thought you did something, but she didn't elaborate. She looked terrified really. And then that day she passed out in Malfoy's arms, remember what she said? Something about a boy who kissed her in the rain. If she was telling Malfoy about this boy, then we know it wasn't him. Unless... I just don't see how she couldn't know who it was! It doesn't make sense. If it was Malfoy, eww that would be gross, how come she thought it was you? You're not like Mafoy at all and-"

"Are you ever going to stop?" Harry interrupted again. "It makes perfect sense that it was Malfoy. Remember how he told me she was his? Not that hard to interpret really..."

"Oh come on Harry. Ginny wouldn't- I mean, she doesn't-" Hermione was searching for a good way to say how she felt.

"I have a feeling there's a lot we don't know about Ginny. If we were really her friends we would know what was going on in her life," Harry stated bluntly.

'That's not true. I've always tried to be her friend-"

"But you always put me and Ron first," Harry interjected.

Hermione looked around the room silently. "Yes, but we can change this. We need to get to her now. I just know we have to."

"We?"

"Yes Harry, I said 'we'. Ron, you, and I must all deal with this," she said, studying Harry's face intently. "You will, won't you?"

"She chose him over me. She chose Malfoy over me. Maybe there's no excuse, maybe she just loves him."

"Ginny," Hermione said sternly, "is not in love with Malfoy. She didn't choose him, she doesn't even like him! If he was that mystery boy, then he fooled her into it!"

"Ginny's not dumb..."

"But everyone can be deceived," Hermione softened her voice a bit. Harry was shaking his head. "Harry, what if it is all just a conspiracy on Malfoy's part and Ginny does love you. Can you really just leave it like this if that's a possibility? Ginny needs you now, whether she knows it or not."

That sparked a recent memory in Harry's mind. Laying down on soft pillows and fluffy down comforters, Ginny kissing him and whispering into his ear "I need you Harry, I need you". He remembered looking up at her and she was smiling, but her eyes were full of tears.

"Fine, I'll help," Harry finally said. Hermione hugged him and then beamed up at him. This was the Harry she knew and loved... he was coming back to her.