Reminder, Harry Potter & all the characters referenced belong to JK Rowling, and the song is Regina Spektor. Basically, not mine.

I wanted to give a big, resounding "Thanks!" to Elena (eterna-romantica03) for her help with Draco's viewpoint; it's why it's been so long since I've updated. Here's a nice long chapter to make up for that.

Chapter 5: On The Radio

No, this is how it works

You peer inside yourself

You take the things you like

And try to love the things you took

And then you take that love you made

And stick it into some

Someone else's heart

Pumping someone else's blood

And walking arm in arm

You hope it don't get harmed

But even if it does

You'll just do it all again

"Why haven't they woken up yet?"

A few heads rose at the sound of Molly Weasley's broken voice. It was a Saturday morning, a few weeks after the incident had occurred. All of Ginny's family was in the room with her and Malfoy, with Molly sitting directly beside her daughter.

The room stayed silent after the matriarch's question; it seemed no one had an answer for her. The hope they had all had at the beginning was slowly dissipating. Arthur and Lucius had even met to discuss long-term care for the pair. After all, should this last much longer, the infirmary of their school really wasn't the best place for the pair of students.

The discussion hadn't gone well. Lucius insisted on having Draco at his home, and if "the blood-traitor" had to be with him, so be it, but no conscious Weasley would ever step foot inside his manor. Arthur suggested the seemingly-appropriate St. Mungo's, but apparently, their "sub-standard care" and "bias towards muggle-lovers" was intolerable for a Malfoy.

It all went downhill when Lucius suggested trying the antidote. He seemed genuinely surprised at Arthur's rage. Apparently not everyone thought having an insane or dead child was preferable to having one forever bound to a mortal enemy.

~ooOoo~

Draco was exhausted. He and Ginny had finally decided to just get it over with, discuss all of the remaining topics, but of course it couldn't be easy. There had been a good dozen pictures when they first arrived in the world, and at the time of the decision, there were four left: Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore, and a picture of two people in flagrante delicto. There was no wonder they'd saved those four for last. The problem was they couldn't agree which to talk about first.

Ginny thought the best way to pick a topic was to do so at random.

"Okay, Malfoy, here's how we'll do it. We walk out into the middle of your section until we can't see any of the pictures, I'll spin you around a few times, and we'll start walking in whatever direction you pick." If his raised eyebrow caught her attention, she didn't say anything. He sighed and started walking.

Of course, once they got to approximately the middle of his section (he supposed she chose it because his was easier to cross, no yarn-wheat and all), he put his foot down at being spun around in a circle like some drunken muggle at a stag party. Instead, he threw a small stone up in the air, and once it landed, they headed the direction it bounced.

Ginny looked a bit dejected at not getting to see Draco wobbly from being spun, but started off in the direction that the stone had indicated.

The first picture they got to was Voldemort's.

"No. I'm not starting off this…thing…by talking about him," Ginny said. Draco rolled his eyes.

"All right, then, what one DO you want to start with?" He was looking at her with disbelief. After all, it was she who had been so determined to get them talking, to get them out of this place, and now here she was, actively avoiding it.

"Let's go…" she trailed off, then pivoted and pointed. "That way."

He just sighed and followed.

~ooOoo~

Four hours later, Ginny had bypassed two more icons. First they had come across the Dumbledore icon, but Draco shot that down.

"If we can't talk about my Lord first, we certainly can't talk about yours," he stated with a grimace, and set off at a diagonal across the yarn-fields.

Next, they had come across the icon of the couple. Whereas Voldemort's visage was snarling and Dumbledore's was waving and had twinkling eyes, this couple was a bit more…active. Ginny looked at it and blushed fiercely.

"I guess we're going to talk about Harry, then," she said, looking anywhere except at Draco.

"Fine. It's that way," he said, pointing, relieved she had finally picked one. They must've walked nearly 10 miles by then.

They decided to walk across Draco's side. Although it did have the risk of more of those Death Eater nightmares, now that they knew how to defeat them, they weren't such a problem. They'd also discovered that running like crazy to Ginny's side seemed to make them vanish.

As they walked, they started talking.

"Draco," Ginny began, "what do you think it will be like when we get out?"

He glanced her way. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how long have we been gone? Do you think our parents are freaking out?"

He snorted. "My parents do not 'freak out.'" She smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"You know what I mean!" She grinned. "It feels like we've been here forever. What if we have? What if we get back and we're eighty? Or what if we get back and it's only been seconds? It'll be so weird."

"Ginny, stop worrying. It'll be fine."

He was finally getting used to the fact that this world made him say what was actually on his mind. For awhile, easily through the first four or five topics, he hated it. It made him weak. Draco had always hidden behind a mask of words and bravado, and here, that was stripped away from him. He felt vulnerable, and that was a position no Malfoy could stand being in. It was only when he realized that the situation was the same for Ginny that he had relaxed a bit. He realized that she hid behind her wit and her grins just as much as he did behind his scowls and sarcasm. They had even begun talking about things irrelevant to their release. Once, he woke up after being attacked by a nightmare to find her asleep and cuddling him. She woke up shortly after he did, blushing to her roots. Neither mentioned the incident since.

"Draco," she began again. "What will…"

Draco waited for her to finish, but after a few moments, spoke up. "'What will' what?"

She braced herself. "What will we be like after we get out?" He looked at her confused.

"I mean," she continued. "I really like talking to you. God, I never thought I'd say that, thank you mind-world, but it's true. I know it's just this place, but I can talk to you about anything, and I like that. I know that here, even if you're going to judge me, I hear it, it's not kept silent. That's all I ask for."

He thought about her words for a few long minutes as they kept making their way to the Potter icon.

"I don't know, Ginny," he said at last. "In here, we have no choice. Out there, we have friends, allies, family to talk to, who are expecting us to be something. Something we are, something we aren't, I don't know yet. But I do know what my father would say if he found out I was…friends with a Weasley. Even if we can stand to look at each other once we're out, I don't know if we should."

"I suppose you're right," she said, somewhat dejected. She looked forward again and spotted Harry's icon in the distance. "Looks like we're almost there."

They walked the last few hundred meters in silence, and once they reached the icon, set about making themselves comfortable. After all, when one's having a discussion they know is going to be awkward and unpleasant, why should their bums hurt too?

"So, Draco," Ginny started, seeing he wasn't going to, "why exactly don't you like Harry?"

Draco sighed. He knew this discussion was going to be down to him talking; after all, he knew damn well why everyone in the whole bleeding world fawned at Potter's feet. He understood their reasoning, just didn't agree with it. However, to be the odd one out usually took some explaining.

"Did Potter ever tell you how we met?"

Ginny shook her head. "He said you were a git, but that was the extent of it."

"We were in Diagon Alley, getting fitted for our robes. I was trying to make polite conversation, but he seemed somewhat backwater and rude, like I'd angered him somehow. Hell, I probably did, but I just was trying to make a new friend.

"Next time I saw him was on the train. He was sitting with your brother and some other kids, and I'd come to see if the rumors were true, if Harry Potter was really on the train. I offered him my friendship formally then, but he shot me down flat in front of my mates. I was humiliated! Here was Harry Potter, rejecting the alliance with the Malfoy clan for the Weasleys. I vowed then that he would regret that."

"So," Ginny interjected. "Your little rivalry was all because he met my brother? Is that what you're saying?"

Draco snorted. "When you put it that way, it sounds petty and stupid, but I guess so, yeah."

"Haven't you ever thought of being, you know, the bigger person? Set it all aside and just move on?"

"Malfoys don't give up, Ginny," Draco stated, staring off into the distance. "Besides, once my father knew about Potter scorning me, I had to send him regular updates on what I could do to undermine him. Anything I could do; insults, sabotage, spreading rumors, you name it. It was more about the fact that he disrespected me than anything actually personal."

"That's awful." Draco's eyes shot to Ginny's face. She continued, "You were eleven! A kid! And there's your dad, making you work his stupid plot. But really, Harry's a good guy; he's good at looking past what people have done in the past and seeing what they're doing now. I bet if you laid off him for awhile, he'd do the same, especially once he saw it was mostly your father's doing, not yours."

A loud slurping sound drew their attention upwards as the icon of Harry disappeared.

"Huh," Ginny said, not-so-eloquently. "I didn't think we were done, but I guess we understand each other pretty well now."

Draco smirked. "Guess so. So, to save some time, do you want to just go in a circle? We can do Dumbledore next if you want."

Ginny heaved herself to her feet and smiled. "Dumbledore it is, then!"

~ooOoo~

Madame Pomfrey's head jerked to the side as she reacted to an unexpected noise. She could've sworn she heard a groan coming from the bed which housed Ms. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy.

~ooOoo~

Ginny blushed. "I can't believe we're really doing this…"

Their discussion on Dumbledore had gone quickly; Ginny had the expected hero-worship, whereas Draco figured that Dumbledore was just as manipulative and self-serving as Voldemort, only at least Voldemort was honest about it. In the end, Ginny had agreed with him so long as Draco could see that Dumbledore was at least putting a front of helping people and avoiding violence.

However, because that one went quickly, all the sooner they were at the next icon: sex.

Draco smirked. He really did enjoy watching Ginny squirm.

"What's so bad about sex, Weasley?" he asked, falling back into his old habit of using her last name. She merely blushed in response.

"There's nothing…BAD about it, I guess…" she struggled to say the words. "But I don't see why people are so free, so casual with it."

Draco snorted. "If both people want it, why not? It's fun and a great way to relieve stress. Even better than Quidditch."

"But aren't you worried about catching something? Screaming scrotal pox doesn't seem like a laughing matter to me! And if you haven't noticed, my family has zero problems with fertility."

"All right, I'll give you that one," Draco conceded. "But you do know there are charms you can do, both before sex to make sure your partner is clean, and after to prevent anything from taking hold? And potions and things will prevent pregnancy. Hell, Pansy has a blood-charm on her that won't allow her to conceive until she's married."

"But even with those, sex should be special," Ginny protested. "That's why I'm going to wait until I get married."

"Sex can be meaningful without emotion behind it. Half of my allies in Slytherin are because they know that if I can take care of them in bed, I'll probably be willing to on the battlefield. Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, kind of thing. Besides, haven't you heard that saying 'Don't buy the broom before you've had a test flight'?"

Ginny groaned.

~ooOoo~

Madame Pomfrey was keeping an owl-eye on her two charges. The groan she heard earlier was definitely not imagined, and she'd since seen the pair move and make other noises, sure signs they'd be waking up soon.

The florid blush that swept across Ms. Weasley's face was a mystery though.

~ooOoo~

They had finally reached the last icon, that of Lord Voldemort. They hadn't noticed it with earlier icons, but this one seemed to have grown since they last saw it; it was twice, perhaps even three times as big as it had been. Ginny suppressed a shudder as she looked up at his snarling face.

"Eurgh, how can you think that THAT is anything to follow? His entire body language screams evil."

Draco sighed. "I'm just glad I only have to defend myself to you once more. Maybe after this one we'll get the hell out of here."

Ginny just looked at him expectantly.

"Fine, yes, I agree, he does look evil, and is in no small way batshit crazy."

"So why the hell would you join him?" Ginny looked triumphant; it looked to her like this would be over quickly.

"Ginny, you don't get it. Yes, he's batshit crazy, but he's the only one out there willing to fight for what is probably the most important cause. Think about this; the wizarding world—we're small, smaller than the muggle population, and that is a problem. If they find out about us, we're dead, full stop. At the very least, what will happen to the old families, the old traditions? Half of the students at Hogwarts will never experience a traditional wizarding wedding or coming of age or naming, because their parents and grandparents let go of the old ways."

"Yeah," Ginny interrupted. "But what does that have to do with Muggles? My parents like Muggles, but I had my coming of age when I turned fifteen."

"Mudbloods," he began, but rescinded at Ginny's glare. "Fine, muggleborns are part of the problem. They don't know the traditions, and rather than try to learn, they just want to bring in Muggle things to make our lives 'easier.' You haven't sat through Muggle Studies with Granger; every week she's blathering on about fellytision or mobiles, whatever the hell those are, saying they'd make things better."

"Wait, you take Muggle Studies?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "My father thought it would soften the image; after all, if we know about Muggles that means no one can accuse us of mindless hatred. Now we have reasons to want them gone."

Ginny had to concede to that one, even if she didn't agree with his reasoning.

"Anyway, with all these muggleborns and their families moving into the wizarding world, not only are more outsiders learning about us, but more 'insiders' are forgetting the old ways. What the Dark Lord stands for is protecting those old ways. If he has to use violence to achieve that, so be it."

Ginny was silent for a minute. "But…"

"But why is that so important to you?" she continued. "How on earth can you place tradition over human lives?" She was near tears.

"I don't; I really don't," Draco said adamantly. "I wish we could make the point without violence. Sure, I'll beat up a kid, what self-respecting Slytherin wouldn't, but torture? Murder? I vomited once as a kid when I saw my father come home with blood on his robes. It disgusted me. But Ginny, the Malfoys are an old, proud family; probably the oldest family. We're powerful, both magically and politically, and part of that is because of those old ways. And I'm the only heir; I have to protect my family. And if that means giving the Dark Lord my allegiance, so be it."

Ginny nodded sadly. "I think I see now. It's awful, it's tragic, but you're doing what you have to to protect what's really important to you, and you see Voldemort as your only option. I guess that makes sense. But can't you see that there must be another option? You grew up sheltered by tradition. I grew up in a family that was fascinated by muggles and their technology—I remember being so excited the first time Hermione let me use her phone. Imagine a way to talk to someone a long way away without getting soot in your hair! And just because you don't see it doesn't mean all muggleborns dismiss tradition. Maybe Hogwarts needs a Wizarding Studies class to go hand-in-hand with Muggle Studies, to teach muggleborns all the things that we purebloods grow up knowing."

Draco eyed her up. "So you're thinking compromise is our solution?"

Ginny nodded. "It's got to be better than genocide, don't you think? And did you know that Voldemort isn't even a pureblood himself? His dad was a muggle. A bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

Draco smiled a bit at that. "You did hear me refer to him as batshit crazy earlier, didn't you? Anyway, I see what you're saying about compromise. I doubt it would work now, but maybe if this war is ever over…"

"And I see why you joined him," Ginny stated. "I always could see how family was important to you, the name if nothing else, and you backing him up was just to protect that, to protect everything you've ever known. Can't agree, but I can't fault it, either."

Movement above them caught their eyes and both looked upward in time to see the Voldemort icon shrinking to nothingness.

~ooOoo~

"Would everyone please calm down?" Madame Pomfrey's voice carried over the din in the hospital wing. As the two students' movements and noises grew more frequent, she had made the decision to call in their families. Although she had intended for only parents to be present, the crowd was the same as it was that first day. Fourteen friends and family members were crowded into the room along with the two heads of house and Professor Dumbledore.

The room silenced and followed Pomfrey's gaze to the students, whose eyelids had begun to flicker, like someone who was merely dreaming. Narcissa Malfoy reached out for her son's hand and grasped it.

"Come on, Draco, come back to Mother," she said, a note of hope audible in her tone for the first time in weeks. He groaned in response, and shortly after him, so did Ginny.

"That's right, doll," Arthur Weasley coached his daughter. "Come back to us."

She let out a soft sigh and barely audible after that, "Dad?"

~ooOoo~

Thank you so much for reading! I think this is twice as long as the previously longest chapter, hopefully that makes up for the wait.

Screaming scrotal pox came from some Harry/Draco fanfiction which unfortunately slips my mind right now. Basically HD are together against their will and are being taunted by some Slytherins. Harry casts a spell on the ringleader to give him Screaming Scrotal Pox, which I thought was brilliant, and seemed like a wonderful name for a wizarding STI. If you can tell me the name of this story, I'd be eternally grateful and actually give proper credit here.

Review thanks go to: Orangepigeon19, writeyourlove, roni2010, Smiles012, Jene, missmyrtlemay, eterna-romantica03

Thanks also go to the five of you who have this listed as a favorite, and the nineteen who have it on Story Alerts.