Chapter 15

When Ginny heard what Professor Dumbledore was thinking she had just about turned beet red in fury, but she managed to control her raging emotions. She threw up a mental wall around her mind just like Severus had thought her back in her second year at Hogwarts.

Ginevra Weasley as you might know by now is no ordinary girl. To some, she may seem like a shy, sweet, innocent little girl. To others, like to the people who actually know her, she is anything but. Instead, she's one of the most outgoing and calm people you will ever meet, but don't let that fool you, because she is also known to be extremely dangerous when her temper is tested. Even though this does not even begin to cover the complexity which is Ginevra Weasley, it is a beginning. Although, what most people don't know about her is that she is proficient in Occlumency and Legilimency. She has also taken on many of the traits of her adoptive father Severus Snape. Actually, the only people who know that about her are Draco, Blaise, and Severus himself of course.

Looking at Draco, she was hoping her would look at her and understand the message she was trying to silently pass on, but then realized just how stupid she probably looked at the moment and gave up. Mumbling something under her breath to herself, Ginny nudged Draco in the side trying to get his attention.

When he finally looked at her, she whispered in his ear on what she heard in his mind. What she told him, made him hot with fury. He looked at Dumbledore with pure, rage in his eyes. Dumbledore flinched, feeling a small inkling of fear making its way into his eyes, before he got a hold of himself and realized that this was just a child that he was dealing with and nothing more.

Clearing his throat, Dumbledore looked towards Blaise and said, "Mr. Zabini, I would like you to take Professor Snape to the Infirmary to get checked over."

He started to stutter when he turned to look back at Miss Weasley, "M-Miss Weasley -" he cleared his throat, "I eh- want you to stay up in your dorms for the rest of the night; just to be sure that you're ok and to keep you safe." he finished Sighing in relief when she didn't immediately protest. He looked towards the young Malfoy Lord next, and almost had to stop himself from taking a step back, as he came eye to eye with the ice cold stare of the Slytherin Prince.

"Mr. Malfoy I want you to steer clear of Miss Weasley until she feels better, or until I say otherwise."

At this, Draco raised an eyebrow at him and scoffed, "Dumbledore, you can't keep me away from Ginny or Blaise. Whether you like it or not, I will stand by their side through anything, and if you think your little 'plan' would work on Ginny, you better think again; because it won't work. Not while Blaise and I are alive, not while Severus has a breath within his body with which to protect Ginny, you will never lay a single finger on her while any of us are still alive and breathing.

He heard Dumbledore's gulp and smirked at him before turning on his heel and stalking off, his robes billowing behind him, in a manner that only Slytherin's seemed to be able to achieve. He could feel Ginny hot on his heels, with Blaise right behind her.

Heading first to the Infirmary to drop off Severus, he turned right at some statue that he didn't catch. Picking up his pace, when he heard Severus' breathing start to slow, he finally reached the doors; he slammed them open not even thinking about the other patients, or Madame Pomfrey that he might be scaring with his abrupt entrance.

"Mr. Malfoy! Who do you think -" she started, but then he cut her off with an impatient wave of his hand.

"Madame Pomfrey, I'm sorry for barging in like that, but Professor Snape is in need of critical care right now. So I think you should pay more attention to him then caring more about scaring your patients and yourself. They will be alright, but if you don't care for Professor Snape, then he will not be alright. Understand? Good. Now where would you like us to keep him?" he asked as calmly as he could while on the inside he seemed hyper sensitive to everything going on around him. He seemed to be running on nothing but adrenaline at the moment, and could already feel the steady creep of exhaustion beginning to take over, now that things had calmed down somewhat. His heart still beat, too fast for him to relax completely, it was as if his body knew something else was going to happen and that he needed to conserve what little energy he still had left.

Looking towards where he was pointing, Madame Pomfrey saw that Severus Snape was indeed, severely injured and his breathing was labored in broken gasps. Putting on a professional mask, she got straight into work and asked all the necessary questions she needed to know to help him. She then directed them to one of the empty beds near the back of the ward and began healing whatever she laid her eyes on. She knew once the professor was awake he would appreciate the privacy, rather than being stuck amongst the students.

Feeling someone's eyes on her back, Madame Pomfrey turned to see Mr. Malfoy staring at her through pained eyes.

"Mr. Malfoy, I would like you to go wait outside, and I will let you know if anything changes, or if I find out any information about how this has happened." The stern Healer told him.

Looking into her eyes, he nodded, and then quietly stepped out of the room, not saying a word to anybody.

He was able to feel Ginny and Blaise's eyes on his back, but he just couldn't look at them and let them see just how affected he was with Severus' current state. Blaise knew, but Ginny didn't, she didn't know how close he and Severus were. Severus was like his father or well, a replacement to Lucius Malfoy. Ginny knew a little bit about his past with his father, but she didn't know a lot; and he wasn't willing to tell her. Though he could tell that she wanted to know, badly, but he just couldn't bring himself to telling her about the horrors that happened to him, mainly because he didn't want her pity. Blaise knew, because they were best friends since he was able to talk, and his father did the same thing to him. But Ginny, her family, well, he would've said that she had a perfect family, but from what he experienced, they were far from it. In fact, her family was pretty much similar to his; except her family didn't use whips and Unforgivable's.

Sighing, he sat down on the benches just outside the hospital wing door's and rested his head in his hands.

'Why is this always happening to me? Every time I get close to someone, they always die or get injured. Look at mother for example, father just keeps on raping and abusing her and there's nothing that I can do about it,' he thought sadly.

Hearing the doors squeak open, he looked up and noticed that it was just Blaise. Sighing again, he looked down at the ground to hide his watery eyes. He would not show Blaise his weakness; or anyone for that matter he was supposed to be the strong one.

He felt Blaise seat himself beside him, and then he felt Blaise's head on his shoulder. Sighing again, he laid his head on Blaise's shoulder, before muttering 'thanks' to him softly.

Feeling him nod, he closed his eyes and drifted off into a light lull.

D-G-B

Ginny didn't know what to do. She could either go, sit outside with Draco and Blaise; or she could sit in the hospital watching Madame Pomfrey work her magic on Severus; her best friend. Mumbling something under her breath, she slid down her chair and wriggled around a bit, finally finding a comfortable position, she stuck her feet on Severus' bed and closed her eyes, falling into a rough sleep full of nightmares.

Feeling a hand on her foot, Ginny jumped about 2 feet off her seat about to scream before she felt a hand on her mouth and a familiar voice whispering her name.

Slowly blinking her eyes open, she saw a blurry figure sitting on the bed. Blinking her eyes again, and shaking her head slowly, she looked to who was calling her name, and found it was Severus Snape.

"Severus?" she whispered in shock.

She watched him slowly turn his head to look at her and blinking wearily.

"Ginny?" she heard him rasp out in a whisper. Walking quickly towards his bed, she sat down and took his hands in her own gently.

'God, he's so thin!' She thought sadly.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, feeling a tear drop slowly down her cheek.

"I'm sorry I never listened to you, I'm sorry I never called you for help. I'm sorry I - " she was about to continue, but he put his hand on her lips to get her to stop talking, then as if that used up too much energy, he dropped his arm back on the bed, feeling tired already.

"It's -" he took a deep breath "not your fault." He said, panting slightly.

"But -" she started but he whispered for her to stop.

Closing her mouth, she waited till he caught his breath for him to continue what he was about to say.

He opened his mouth to say something, but instead gasped in pain, clutching the side of his ribs.

"Madame Pomfrey!!!" she yelled, starting to panic at what he was feeling. She was able to feel it in her own body, but not as much.

When he screamed, she screamed as well, clutching the side of her ribs, the same side that Severus was clutching.

What is happening to us? She thought in agony.

"Miss Weasley, what is so urgent – oh dear." She exclaimed, rushing towards their bed and checking over, first Severus, then Ginny.

"I don't know what is happening; this is beyond me healing abilities. I must take you both to St. Mungo's immediately." She cried, in panic for the first time in all her years of being a healer.

"I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore about this."

Before she could turn around, Ginny grabbed her sleeve and yelled no, the shout was so loud that she was sure that Draco and Blaise heard her from outside the Infirmary.

Hearing the door slam open, she looked towards it and saw that they did indeed hear her cries.

"Draco-Blaise!" she gasped out in pain, letting go of the sleeve of the Healer, in favor of grabbing her ribs.

Crying out in pain she collapsed to the ground.

Blaise ran to her and caught her before she hit her head on the corner of the table.

"What the fuck is happening to her?!" he yelled in concern.

"I don't know! I need to take her to St. Mungo's, but I have to speak to Dumbledore to get his permission and she won't let me!" The Healer exclaimed in frustration.

"You don't need to speak to Dumbledore, he's no longer in charge of Ginny, or Severus for that matter, any more." Draco said shortly, with no emotion in his voice.

Nodding once, she took her wand out of her uniform pocket and muttered a spell that would levitate them up so she could floo them over to St. Mungo's.

Looking towards each other, Draco and Blaise both nodded once, and walked over to the fireplace. They planned on Flooing out of the infirmary and straight to St. Mungos waiting room where they could be with the ones they cared for.

Swiftly and gracefully stepping out of the fireplace, Draco walked over to the reception and spoke to the receptionist in clipped tones as he tried in vain to get any useful information about his girlfriend and father figure from the useless bint. Finally loosing his temper he began shouting at her angrily.

Blaise seeing that he was starting to lose his temper at the frightened nurse, walked over, and pulled the distraught Malfoy away from the poor girl.

Getting him to sit down and calm himself, he went over to the reception, and pulled out a pouch full of galleons from his pocket. He dangled the pouch from his finger tips in front of her eyes (he knew that she would be greedy for money) and bribed her to tell her about Ginny, with a bag of galleons as compensation for her trouble.

Seeing her contemplating the idea, she finally gave up and told him what he wanted to know.

Smirking, he dropped the pouch into her waiting hands and walked back towards Draco.

"Like taking candy from a baby," he muttered the muggle saying, shaking his head.

Dragging Draco after him, and telling him what he learned from the dumb blonde of a nurse told him, they both jogged quickly down to Ginny and Severus' rooms without a second thought to anybody else.

When they got there, they slowed to a walk, and stepped in slowly. Seeing them both in beds, they each took positions at one of the beds sitting comfortably on the edge.

Hearing the door creak open, they stood up and turned to face the Healer to hear what has happened to their father and girlfriend.

"Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini I presume?" she asked, looking down at some papers that were in her hands.

Nodding, they both mumbled a 'yes' to her.

Looking up, she smiled grimly, and held out her hand for them to shake; to which they took.

"My name is Healer Wicker. I'm in charge of Mr. Severus Snape and Miss Ginevra Weasley." She said, looking back down to her notes to see if she got the names right.

Nodding once again, they both murmured a greeting.

"I was wondering if you have any information as to what's happening with them Healer Wicker?" Draco asked, calmly grabbing Blaise's hand and squeezing it so hard, he was sure his bones broke from the pressure.

Snapping her head to him, she noticed that he looked to be the one most affected by what was happening, he looked stressed, upset and most of all exhausted. That is not to say Blaise was any less upset, but at the moment he was better at hiding it than Draco.

"No, unfortunately not Mr. Malfoy; though we're doing the best we can. We won't rest until we figure out what is wrong with them." She stated, smiling at him gently. Nodding, he loosened his grip on Blaise's hand but didn't let it go.

"I suggest the both of you to go home, take a nap, have a shower, eat something and come back in the morning, and I'm sure we'll have some information by then. It would do you no good if Miss Weasley wakes up from the induced sleep, that I've put her in, to see the both of you in ruins. Understand?" she asked gently.

Sighing, Blaise nodded, and left the room, pulling Draco after him.

"Draco, she's right. We need to keep ourselves healthy in order for Ginny and Severus to see that we haven't turned into vegetables when they wake up." Blaise pleaded with him, when Draco tried to pull away yet again.

Draco looked at Blaise, then sighed, seeing that he was right and followed him down the hall sadly.

They both hoped that Ginny and Severus would be ok, they really didn't need anything else to add to their troubles.

Unfortunately neither of them was aware of the figure hiding in the shadows, listening to every word that they said. Who knew what would happen next.

D-G-B

A/N: Alright, sorry for the long wait, but we were both busy, we meaning me and my beta. But I hope you enjoy the long awaited chapter. This goes out to all the reviewers who've stood by my side through everything! Also thanks to my betam Mrs. T Felton for checking this over for me, and pushing me to write the chapter! Review please! It makes me happy.