CHAPTER FOURTEEN MIDNIGHT MOONSHINE MASSACRE

AN: I know that was a mean place to leave it, so I'm updating quickly to avoid the pitchforks.

Ginny's body was nearly in convulsions when she flung up off the bed. She put her hand down next to her shaking form to sit herself up and was horrified to find that the bed was wet. It was only a dream. It was only a dream. Ginny knew that there would be nothing but perspiration on her fingers when she lifted them to her face, but she soon found she didn't know anything. As she lifted her hand to her eyes she saw exactly what she knew couldn't possibly be there. The bed was indeed covered in thick, clotting blood. She began to scream but was stopped when she realized that there was someone else in the room moving, and she could feel Harry's body lying next to her, completely still. Her breath became bated and she suddenly realized that she couldn't even blink. As the only light came from the moon seeping through the window behind the bed, a black form was only recognizable when a voice issued from the darkness.

"Damn it, I'm sorry." Draco's drawl came from the shadows before he lit the nearby candles. "I didn't mean to wake you. I was giving him his Blood Replenishing potion and the dumb ass choked on it. He must have hit his head on the headboard while he was coughing. That damn scar opened again. I thought he was awake. He spoke and everything. Are you okay?" Ginny was now shaking as she tried to wipe the blood off onto the sheets.

"I had a bad dream, that's all." She turned to look at Harry. Blood covered his chin and ran down into the crease of his ears, but his eyes were the most beautiful shade of green she had ever seen them and he smiled at her when he saw her look at him.

"A bad dream huh? What could you possibly have to be afraid of?" Draco cocked his head slightly in a know-it-all pose. "You dream about kissing this pussy?" He nodded at Harry as a curled lip showed his disdain for Harry.

"No, Draco." She rolled her eyes as she wiped the blood from Harry's chin before noticing it was more on her than him. "What did he say to you? Did it make sense?"

"Coming from Potter? It was words if that's what you mean."

"No, I mean did it sound like he knew he was talking to you? Like YOU, right now?"

"Well, I said 'Potter you gotta drink this.' and he said 'Give it here, Malfoy.' So I go to dump it in his mouth, and he starts choking like he had no idea it was coming. I thought he was awake. "

"Probably awake, but not alert yet. I don't know what I'm gonna...wait a minute. How did you get in here?"

"Your door wasn't locked in any serious way." Draco offered her the vial with the remaining drought in it, but she put her hand up.

"If you wouldn't mind, I can't do this right now. I have to get out of here. I have to get cleaned up." She began to pull on her robe as he crossed the room to look questioningly into her eyes, which she dropped to the floor.

"What's goin' on, Gin? That dreams got ya this worked up? Wanna talk about it?"

"The war isn't over, is it? We'll never be rid of Voldemort. He's not gonna let me just live my life. Look what he's done to us, and he's not even here." Her eyes began to water and with one swift glance at Harry, and she ran from the room hoping it wasn't noticed.

Draco stood puzzled at the sudden departure. He looked over at Harry, who had rolled over and fallen back to sleep. "What she has done for you? She should feel safe, like an untouchable entity. You can't even make her feel wanted. Why does she love you so much? If I hadn't let them...God Potter, I hate you." He spat on the floor as he turned to leave the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

^__^

Down the hallway, Hermione was stopped mid-sentence by a sudden slam of a door. Both her and Ron looked towards their door as if expecting the storming footsteps they heard to come through it. As the footsteps receded down the stairs, Hermione flipped her head back to bury her eyes into Rons once again.

"Sounds like more than one man is in trouble in this house tonight."

"That wasn't Ginny, she was the one before. When she's mad, Ginny stomps more like..."

"Excuse me, are you actually gonna talk about your sister at a time like this? I can't believe you'd say something like that right now, but then again, it's better then what you just said."

"I was just trying to get something started, you know. I was seeing if you'd want to make love."

"By saying 'blow me'?. Are you serious? Ron, we haven't had sex in like two months and that's how you think you're going to get me? You're really some piece of work, you know that?" She stood up from the bed and pulled her robe closed tight around her.

"Don't act like it's my fault we don't have sex. You're the one that's never interested. What am I supposed to do anymore, huh? I've tried the flowers, the dinners, the romantic evenings, and I get nothing...out...of...." Ron stopped at the look of absolute astonishment that was creeping over Hermione's face. He wished he could just choke on his tongue and die as she began to laugh.

"You did not just say that. You got nothing out of spending time with your wife? I'm not some cheap hooker that you can just buy sex off. This isn't school where some niave slut is gonna put out because you buy her dinner. God, you insensitive prick. You know what? Blow yourself."

Her exit door slam echoed off the walls and made Draco spill his butter beer down in the kitchen. Moments later, as he was moping up the table, Hermione stormed into the kitchen and gave a slight jerk of the head that signaled she had been startled by seeing company in her mid-night fuming.

"Oh sorry, I hope we didn't wake you." She noticed his half empty bottle was joined by several others and knew he had been up much longer than she had. "Trying to drown you sorrows, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Care to join me, Mrs. Weasley?" Draco asked as he pulled out four more bottles and distributed them across the table.

"Please, it's Hermione, okay."

"Whatever you say, Hermione." Draco's face broke into a knowing smile. "Sounds like we need something a little stronger, huh?" He opened the bottles of butterbeer and dumped half of each into the sink before pulling a flask from inside his pocket and emptying the contents into each bottle.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, having never had anything stronger than wine before.

"Never you mind. Let's just call it 'heartbreak killer'. By the time you finish off those two, you won't even remember the name of that asshole." He raised a bottle in cheers before swigging half of it in one gulp. Hermione picked hers up gingerly before taking a long drink herself. She felt a warming sensation begin to choke at her throat before turning into a fireball inside her empty stomach. She coughed at the sudden sensation and Draco laughed at her novice.

"Lightweight, huh? I like it. So, got something on your mind? You didn't go to bed with a guilty conscience did you?" His eyes bore deep into hers as now it was her turn to look away guiltily.

"We don't have to feel guilty about anything, Draco. We helped out two of our friends. There is no greater honor then to help out a friend in need." She felt her words empower her and she looked up defiantly.

Draco began to snicker as he shook his head. "You amaze me, you know that? You can turn anything into a 'noble deed'. Even in school when you thought that if we could just get along then all Slytherins and Gryffindors would join. 'Inter school unity' or some shit like that. You know you just wanted to hit this." He was surprised at the smile that slowly crept across her face, but then he noticed the red patches beginning to form on her cheeks.

"You just heard that Gryffindors do it better. We have a thirst to prove ourselves." She winked across the table as she took another drink.

"You heard that you'd never experienced anything like a Slytherin tongue orgasm." He raised his eyebrow as if in offering.

"That's a good one. I'd never heard that before. We'd always been told that Slytherin 'snakes' only answered to the call of other 'snakes'."

"Now you know that's not true. All snakes live in holes, and this snake likes to migrate to a new home for every season." They both began laughing for several minutes before the immaturity of the conversation set in.

"We did only what we thought best for Ginny. She couldn't live with herself if she remembered what he did for her." Hermione became suddenly somber again as the mood swings brought on by the alcohol began.

"And look what we've done for her. She's not sure he even loves her. So much that she'd risk bodily harm to try and trick him into feeling something for her. He was never good for her, leading her on, playing with her emotions. It makes me sick." He slammed his bottle down on the table after finishing the liquor and shattered the bottom sending shards flying across the table.

"From the way you're talking, it sounds like you've still got a thing for her, don't you?"

"She's like the little sister I never had, Hermione. I love her, but I've never been in love with her. I just want to protect her."

^___^

Upstairs in the master bath, Ginny stood naked in front of the fogging mirror, watching as her bloodstained body faded into the mist. She hadn't realized just how covered she was until she had gotten her clothing off, but now as she looked down at her pale white form, the red patches glared back at her as if it was her fault they were there. Unable to look anymore, she turned away to test the water in her running shower. It was hot, a little more then she liked it, but she thought if she could at least get her skin to pinken a bit then the stains wouldn't look as bad.

She stood, letting the water run over her throbbing head and as she tipped her head into the stream she opened her mouth a bit, hoping to drown her sorrows. She opened her eyes and watched as the clotted blood turned to trickles of red that ran down her legs before being dropped onto the white tile in small puddles, staining the beautiful marble with little pink spots as the red was forced away by the raging force of the water. As the last drop made it's final swirl around the drain she breathed a sigh of great relief. It was gone. For now, she had washed herself clean of Harry. No not Harry, she thought, just his pain. If only her suffering was as easy to wash away. Harry was safe, for now, wherever he was. He wouldn't miss her if she was gone. At that, she turned off the water and began to ring out her hair.

"I need to be alone," she said to the empty bathroom. She began to shove her jeans on even though she wasn't completely dry yet and her shirt was even tighter as it stuck to her wet stomach. She pulled her hair up tightly in a dripping pony tail before shoving her feet into her trainers. Harry had given her plenty to think over without knowing it and she decided she couldn't think it out in such a crowded house. Being Sunday morning, she knew that her desk at the Ministry would be empty and secluded and it called to her. She heard inaudible voices in the kitchen as she flung down the stairs and out the front door.

^___^

"Was that the door?" Hermione asked as she lifted her head up from the table.

"Yeah, maybe." Draco said as he examined the back of his hand. It appeared that Harry had spit a little farther then first noticed and Draco hadn't seen the blood on the back of his hand until just then. As Hermione's head hit the table with unnoticed force, Draco slid away from the table to cross to the sink where the water began to flow with a sudden splash off the stainless steel tub. He dipped his hands into the freezing water and let the red spill down his fingers as he played with the droplets across his fingers, rolling them from one to the other before they slipped away. He pulled his hands out of the water before the final drop fell and licked it off of his knuckles.

"What is that, Draco?" Hermione's eyes slightly crossed as she tried to bring him into focus.

"Potter." Draco's voiced dripped with as much disdain as his fingers dripped water. He watched as the blood washed down the drain. If only Potter was that easy to get rid off. He should have never left that battle field. "We should have never let him leave that field, Hermione. He should have just died there."

"What are you on about, Draco? We did what we had to do." She was instantly sober as she looked at him questioningly. "Don't you think we did the right thing? For Ginny's sake, don't you think it was best?" She stood at his hesitance to cross the room. "Don't you?"

"I told you then that I thought it was a bad idea. All I know is that Potter's been given one too many chances at life, and he's pissing them all away. I'm tired of watching him disrespect the gifts he's been given. "The-boy-who-lived" gets everything handed to him on a fucking goddamn platter. He could have had any one of those girls at that school, and he throws every one of them away. Then he goes and gets himself another chance at life, with an amazing woman, and he's...."

Hermione put a comforting hand on each of Draco's arms as she looked up into his eyes. "Do you want to go through with this? I mean, can you?"

"I promised Ginny..."

"You can't do this for Ginny, Draco. If you did that, you might expect something in return." She looked knowingly into his eyes and he tried to hide the truth he knew she could see. You have to do this for Harry. Not the Harry that's upstairs, but the Harry we all know."

"Well fuck that then. Fuck him. I'm out." He picked up his flask from the table and placed it back in his hip pocket.

Hermione grabbed him from behind and turned him around, holding him tightly by both arms again. Her robe hung limply off her revealing her slender white shoulder. "Draco, you can't leave us. Don't leave me. I need you."

They were both startled as the door slammed into the wall. Ron stood with a look of pure betrayal hardening his features. "I'm only taking a bit of your own advice, Hermione, and not jumping to conclusions, but you have exactly thirty seconds to tell me why I just found you, half naked, in another mans arms."

Hermione looked up at Draco, who didn't look as if he was at all interested in helping her out of this situation, and pulled her robe onto her shoulders and closed it tight around her. Ron noticed the bottles of empty liquor on the table and began to grind his teeth.

"Why the insecurity, Weasley? Afraid that she'd find out that real men are supposed to have dicks?"

Hermione was shoved roughly into the table as Ron rushed Draco, catching him off guard and knocking him into the cabinets.

"Hit me, Weasley." Draco provoked. Ron's fist made a valiant effort, ripping the tense air between the two men, but was caught mid-swing by Draco's firm grip. "You really thought you could do it, didn't you? Well, unlike Potter, I'm not gonna just cower. You're mine nancy boy." He swung once into Ron's stomach, knocking all of the air out of him and let him drop to the floor. "Better learn to control that temper or you might just find out one day you've finally tempted a viper." Draco looked over at Hermione as he crossed to leave the room. "Sorry the party's been cancelled. I'll think about what you said. If you see me in the morning, then you'll know what I've decided."

Hermione stood swaying a little before looking down at Ron who was trying to push himself up off of the floor with one hand, the other clutching his stomach as he choked on the air. "What....were...you doing....with Malfoy?" Ron gasped.

"Not everything has to be sexual, you know." She said as she tried to regain balance against the table. She started to stumble out of the room but was stopped at the door. Slowly she turned back around. "Are you okay?" She asked, genuinely worried. She took his continued coughs to mean 'no' and returned to her spousal position, kneeling next to him on the cold kitchen floor until he was able to return upstairs.

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Chapter 15 Teaser

Draco had been raised in a military family and he knew that the only logical plan was to form a plan of attack. He had been called here to try and bring Harry out of his ass. Ginny was willing to do anything to get Harry back. From a military standpoint, that one looked like a losing battle. He wasn't going to be able to do anything for Ginny, but Hermione was just waiting to be rescued. He wondered if that wasn't the real reason that he had been brought here.