Chapter Three: Why?
What a disaster Ginny thought as she was walking down the hall heading towards her common room. She had gone to see Dumbledore, only to be told that there has never been a time when a student has been allowed to switch houses. Also that if she were to be the first there would be a whole list of requirements she had to go through before anything could be made permenant. Why couldn't he just see that I'm not happy in Gryffindor and change me? She thought over and over again.
It was this thought that held her in a reverie until she was grabbed roughly around the waist from behind. She was about to scream when she felt a hand cover her mouth. Panic started to well up inside of her, her natural human instinct to run and fght was disabled in the shock of the moment. She was helpless as she heard her captor mutter a silencing spell, making sure she would not attract any attention with her screams.
Numerous thoughts went through her head, was she going to be raped? Was she going to be killed? In one final desperate act, she elbowed him in the ribs and turned to see who her captor was.
Her jaw dropped as she turned to find her brother in front of her. She tried to ask him what he was doing, but she had not retained her voice yet. Upon seeing the murderous glint in his eyes, she stopped all attempts to speak.
"Looks like I caught you out past curfew. What should I do as your punishment?" he asked. She started to back away from him terrified.
"Ron," she mouthed. "Stop." Panic that had been subsided came back in full force as her back hit the stone wall behind her. She looked from left to right. She had two options. If she went left, he was more likely to catch her with his keeper reflexes combined with him being left handed. If she went right, she would run strait into a wall not more than thirty feet down. Her options were limited, and her chances were getting slimmer every moment that he approached her. In a split second decision before Ron would have pinned her to the wall, she jolted to the left in hopes of finding help.
However, she didn't make it more than six feet before she was caught and trapped in her brothers arms once again.
"Bitch!" Her brother spat, slapping her across the face, smiling slightly when she fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. She lifted a timid hand to her cheek, not surprised to find it tender and glowing red. She tried to speak once more, to call for help, but she couldn't. Ron reached down and dragged her to her feet roughly before hitting her once more, this time in the stomach. She gasped and doubled over as the pain from her abdomen surrounded her senses, making sure she felt nothing but the pain. Once again she was lifted, to be backhanded. Again and again, her brother beat her in a hate-fueled rage.
He started to hit her with all the disgust he'd had for her over the years and for everything she had supposedly done to him his whole life. The fact that this was his little sister, and that she was crying had no effect on him, he truly wanted to see her in pain. In his mind she was the reason for everything that had happened, for what she had done to their father.
She didn't know how long it went on, it could have been minutes or hours, but it was pure and brutal torture for her. She couldn't believe that her brother was doing this to her. She cried continuously and pleaded for him to stop, for it to be all over, but he wouldn't relent. In one last attempt, she looked up at him and grasped the front of his shirt before she received a blow to the side of her face that sent her slamming into the stone wall. Blood trickled down where her head had collided with the stone, and the last thing that she remembered was his foot colliding with her stomach before everything went black.
Seeing this, Ron smirked and dragged her by her wrists out of the classroom and into the hallway. He felt so far from guilty, he felt content and pleased with himself. She deserved her pain. She deserved it for ruining his life.
Yes, Ginerva Weasley had ruined his life from the day she was born. He hated her like he had never hated anything else in his life. He heard someone call out and lifted his head. He was surprised to find someone had even seen him. Turning around he saw that it was Malfoy. Snarling in anger, he quickly ran before he was caught for sure.
She tried to blink. That was all. Just blink. Her entire body ached with pain that was so unbearable. She thought she may pass out again. She tried a second time with no such luck.
After her third attempt, she began to see a small shimmer of light. Using what very little energy she had, she opened her eyes slightly. She groaned and tried to lift her arm to put it on her head when she realized it was attached to something else. Furrowing her brows in confusion, she opened her eyes slowly, and blinked them a couple of times to foccus on her surrounding's.
It took her a few minutes to realize that she was in the Infirmary. She titled her head to look for Madame Pomfrey, currently ignoring the throbbing pain in her head moving caused her. Wondering why she was even in the hospital wing, she tried to call the Nurse, but found herself again unable to speak. She whimpered slightly; for several minutes. Then tried to call for the Nurse until she finally found the strength to softly cry out. Hearing footsteps, she sighed in relief.
The Nurse looked reproachfully at her wounds as she approached. "Miss Weasley, I see that you're awake. Do you need anything?" she asked, gently.
"I'll be fine," She answered weakly. "Why am I here?"
The Nurse looked at her "Miss Weasley, do you remember anything that happened last night?" She questioned.
Ginny furrowed her brows in concentration, and then sighing in defeat shook her head. "I...i remember walking back to my common room…" Memories flashed before her eyes, clear enough to make her start shaking in fear, but too scattered to recall what they meant.
"I was just walking…" she tried desperately to remember. "I was talking to Ron, I think, when I was grabbed from behind and pulled into somewhere dark. A classroom, maybe?" She started coughing violently. With every cough, pain shot through her body.
"Don't push yourself, Miss Weasley." She heard the Nurse tell her.
"I'm fine," She whispered before continuing. "I remember recognizing the person, I knew him really well, but I don't remember who it was. I said something… Uh..." she stuttered with the words. "He-h-he hit me. He just kept hitting me…" she started crying; shaking her head and crying.
Madame Pomfrey nodded her head in understanding, looking solemn. "I'm sorry, Miss Weasley."
"What happened to me?" she whispered, scared of the answer.
She heard the older woman sigh "One of the teachers was walking back to his office when he heard an alarm come from someone's wand. He ran to see what was going on when he found Draco Malfoy next to you. You were unconscious by that point. He explained that he had seen someone take you out into the hallway from one of the unused classrooms. He saw another young man run when he called out. The Professor told him to retrieve Professor Dumbledore immediately, and the Headmaster had you placed here. Severus came at once when Dumbledore called for him.
"I think it surprised all of us when he stated that this was his entire fault. He had a line of tears rolling down his face. It was devastating. I have never seen him cry since his daughter was murdered sixteen years ago by Death Eaters."
"Either way, Mister Malfoy was questioned and deemed innocent in the matter. You, however, have been out for almost twelve hours." She explained.
"When can I leave?" Ginevra asked timidly.
"I'm surprised that you want to leave, Miss Weasley, after what happened to you." Madame Pomfrey stood to retrieve a potion for her to drink.
"I want to continue my life, Madame."
"You can leave tonight, just to make sure that most of your wounds are fully capable to heal."
Ginevra nodded and took the potion she was given, which lulled her back into a dreamless sleep.
She woke up just as she heard the dinner bell. The red-head glanced at Madame Pomfrey and asked once more if she could leave. Seeing the older Medi-Witch nod, she got up off the bed, and went to the bathroom. She was still in some pain, but not more than she lived with normally. Gingerly she stepped into her uniform, it had gotten slightly bigger with her two days of not eating. She was careful to hide her stomach, along with all of the wounds she had on her body. She was glad Madame Pomfrey didn't mention those wounds, and she was also glad she didn't heal them either.
Walking down to Severus' office, she went back to thinking. What happened so that I wouldn't be able to remember anything? And why did Draco Malfoy suddenly decide to be human to me? The most startling thought that crossed her mind shocked her: could Ron have been the one who did this to me? Sighing, she shook her head, and entered her mentor's classroom to find him holding his head in his hands. She felt terrible, knowing that she was the cause of his misery.
"Severus," She said softly. Ginny saw him lift his head up, with hope in his eyes. Recognition and relief of her being alive and walking flooded his features. She stepped toward him, looking up as he stood. She needed him. She needed him to be strong; otherwise, she would fall down into a pit full of darkness and never be able to return. She didn't know what would happen if she saw him break down right in front of her. She hoped he could be strong; he was the strongest person she knew.
"Ginny, are you alright?" He asked, concern showing in his eyes, but a normal tone sounding in his voice. But with one look at him, Ginny knew that he was terrified that she could have died when he found out about her condition.
Ginny nodded, and smiled weakly, "I will be, but I don't remember what happened." She explained softly.
He looked down at her "Ginny, do you have any idea who could have done this to you, any at all?"
She felt tears at the edge of her eyes. She looked away as Severus reached up to touch one of the fading bruises on her face. He almost didn't hear the name slip from her lips.
"What?" he asked her.
"Ron." She whispered. She felt him tense up, but she was unable to look at him and instead looked back down at her hands.
"Ginevra, I don't know if what you are saying is correct or not, it will take time to get to the bottom of this. But rest assured that we will." He said a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Ginny nodded, and smiled at Severus, "Why didn't you tell me about your daughter?" she asked quietly.
He sighed heavily. "It's not that I don't trust you Ginny, it is just that it still tortures me that I killed my own daughter. I never forgave myself. And I never let anyone else know me, know the real me, until you came in after class and started to brew that god-forsaken potion.
"You, Ginevra Weasley, became my new daughter; although, my real daughter, will never leave my heart. She will always be with me until I die. I couldn't tell you about Evelyn because I thought you would hate me, knowing what I had done. I hated myself for a long time, and Voldemort had killed my wife, because he thought that I was going too soft. He didn't believe in love, Ginny."
Pausing for breath, he continued "You better get back to your dorm room Ginny, before another teacher, or even the Head Boy or Girl catches you." He said hastily; realizing he had said too much. He didn't plan on telling her his whole story, it just all came out; after being held in his chest for so long. Sighing, he wrapped her in his arms quickly and pushed her out of his room gently so she had the motive to actually move after hearing his explanation.
Ginny didn't know what to say. She was actually surprised Severus had said that much to her. She's never heard him talk so much about something that mattered so deeply.
Shaking her head, Ginny smiled at him, and left the room slowly; heading back to the Gryffindor commom room.
A/N: Ok, so here's the next chapter. I'd like to thank Mrs. T. Felton for the beta-ing of my story! Review please!