Chapter 6:
Later, she would say it felt like floating. Floating in an endless stream of clouds lined with silver. It was a nice feeling. Nothing hurt, nothing troubled, calm and serene.
George watched his baby sister in the hospital bed, feeling such incredible helplessness. Why did this kind of thing need to happen to her? She had never harmed anyone… well, nobody who hadn't deserved it he amended quickly thinking back to her Bat-Bogey curse.
George pushed his hair behind his ear, determined that first thing the next day, he was going to get it all chopped off.
The hospital wing was dark and silent, and reminded him far too much of all of his Quidditch injuries.
Ginny's bright hair was pulled back from her small, pale face, and she looked so tiny and delicate against the white linens of the bed. George leaned forward and grasped her hand, seeing the blue veins that peeked through the incredibly translucent skin.
After a week, even Madame Pomfrey was starting to look concerned, the expression taking over the normally serene mask that she wore. Ginny would just not wake up.
Feeling the coolness of Ginny's slight hand, George chafed it with his own to instill some warmth, some comfort, "Gin, come on, this is getting ridiculous. No one is this tired! Gods girl, you should have your own bed in here by now given how often you choose to frequent this wing."
He took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice light and happy, as he had been instructed, "Gin, Mum and Dad have been here. You're lucky you missed that visit." Glancing at the slight swell of her belly which was evident through the thin sheet, he sighed.
"Mum has started knitting clothing for the baby, and Dad looked like he was going to kill Draco and Blaise. The only thing that held him back was the fact that he didn't know which one was the father." George leaned his head forward, bracing his forehead against the side of the bed next to her still arm, "Which was a pretty smart move, considering."
"Fred has been by too… He was so worried Gin. And he's cut all his hair off. He looks like a startled porcupine."
"Charlie's sent you tons of gifts and letters, and Bill and Fleur are planning on coming to see you next week if you're not… better…."
George sat up again, rubbing a hand through his shoulder-length hair, distractedly pulling the leather thong out. It floated to the floor without his noticing.
"Do you remember…" He swallowed awkwardly, feeling his eyes tingle as he kept his gaze on her still, pale face, "Do you remember that time that I told you there were fairies up that huge tree in the back of the house? And you climbed it, fell, and almost bonked your head in? Mum nearly skinned my arse off… Well, I still think you deserved it for telling on me and Fred, but I'm sorry."
"Or, what about that time when you were in first year, and Fred sent Harry that Valentine, and we pretended it was from you? We laughed really hard about that, but I'm sorry for doing it now."
George laughed lightly, the sound seeming unnatural, "Gin, you'd better wake up, you'll never get me to say sorry for these things again!"
"Blaise is in bad shape, Gin. He blames himself. He asked me for forgiveness for not catching you." George thought back on that conversation, and felt the suppressed tear slide down his cheek, leaving a wet and salty trail in its wake. "Draco… well, I can never tell what that man is thinking, but I think he's hurting. He's trying to take care of Blaise, and be with you… and it's hard on him, I can tell."
"Mum won't really allow him to be near you, and that's been difficult. I sneak him in when I can, but McGonagall is on her side. She tends to overlook Blaise though, so I know Blaise is here most nights."
"Gin, wake up. They need you. I need you. Padma needs you. Ever Colin fucking Creevey has been visiting. The baby needs you too. Pomfrey told me it's a girl, and she's hanging on, but she needs you too. Plus, you can name her Georgia."
George talked until he was hoarse, and eventually went silent until he was simply staring at Ginny.
He noticed little things, like the small scar near her hairline from that infamous fall from the tree when she had been five, the gathering of pale gold freckles that were littered across her cheeks and nose and were so much paler than his own. Her hair, dark and red against the white pillow, much darker than the infamous Weasley red.
Padma found him there a few hours later, fast asleep in the uncomfortable chair, still gripping Ginny's slight hand tightly. She hesitated to wake him, wondering if this was the most sleep he'd gotten in weeks.
Wincing as she realized just how much pain his back and neck were going to be in from the position he was currently sprawled in, she shook his shoulder gently, "George?"
He grunted softly, and reached for her blindly, only coming awake when his hands met with air, "Ah, love, did I fall asleep here?"
"Afraid so." She responded softly, wrapping both arms around his shoulders from behind to give him a hug. He let go of Ginny to grip her wrists, before pushing her away to stand up, "Good Gods, I am in pain. Would you still love me if I hobbled like an old man?"
Padma blinked at the word love, but recovered smoothly, "I'd probably push you over for a giggle, quite honestly."
George grinned at her as he stretched his back out slowly, the muscles pulling and straining in protest. "You're too damn soft-hearted love, toughen up a bit, why don't you."
Leaning over to brush a kiss on Ginny's smooth forehead he spoke quietly to Padma of Ginny's unchanged condition.
After a few minutes more of hurried kisses and caresses behind one of the screens in the hospital wing, George left a pink-cheeked Padma to take his place next to Ginny as he left to open the shop in Hogsmeade.
Padma opened her book, and read quietly, her eyes glancing at Ginny from time to time.
--
Charlie was in hell. That was the long and short of it, really. Emily and Keiran were trying to be subtle, he had to give them that, but it was difficult to see someone he loved so much with someone else. Especially when that person was his partner.
Keiran had made the mistake of trying to talk to Charlie about it once, and had come away from the conversation with a black eye for his troubles. The two had since adopted an icily politeness with each other, while Emily stayed away altogether.
Coming home to an empty house was not really all that different. Truthfully, Emily had not spent that much time there, and Charlie reflected bitterly on why that was. He felt like a moron.
He had received George's letter about Ginny just a few days after telling Emily to get out, and that had been incredibly hard. He couldn't leave Romania right now, his dragons needed him. Thinking about his little sister lying there… well, it really tended to put his own life in perspective.
George's letter had been followed closely by a letter from their Mum, almost a howler really, commanding him to come home, and that he better not have known about anything that had been going on, including Ginny's pregnancy. And to think, he had thought that short note about the baby a joke when Ginny had sent it.
He was currently at the one and only pub located in the small town, about a ten minutes walk outside of the reserve. A Muggle place, he hunched over his drink, and tried to blend in with the dark woodwork that decorated the space.
"Hey there." A husky female voice sounded from his elbow, and he looked to the side to see an older, Muggle woman leaning against the bar beside him.
"Hi." He responded shortly, wishing for nothing so much as to be completely alone. It was not to be, however, as she moved closer, smiling at him with shining red lips.
"Are you one of the guys who works in the nature preserve?" Her voice was heavily accented, showing her Romanian roots. He nodded curtly.
"It always looks so beautiful from a distance, all that lush forestry. A shame they don't let campers in." She tried to entreat him into a conversation, and he turned cinnamon eyes to her, "Well, it's environmentally protected, and that would maybe defeat the point."
"I hadn't thought of it that way!" She laughed lightly, and laid a slim, tanned hand on his forearm, her fingers stroking the hard muscles. "Do you come here often? Are you British? I can tell from the way you speak."
"Sometimes." He shrugged non-committaly, and again stared into his rapidly depleting glass.
"You know, I read palms." She leaned closed to his ear, her other hand finding his broad shoulder.
"Really." Generally, that would have caught his interest. His dad had told him about Muggles who fancied that they could read the future and so on. He had always believed it to be codswallop, but it was still fascinating to see where that compulsion came from.
"Oh yes." She breathed, "I'm quite famous. I would love to read your palm…"
"Not tonight." He strove for politeness, but instead it came out as a growl as he hunched his shoulders over the bar. Instead of the woman flouncing away as he had expected at that absolute lack of manners, she instead seemed to gain persistence.
"Come on, honey, I don't bite." She smiled lazily, showing white shining teeth, "That generally comes later."
Charlie shook his head resolutely in response.
Many, many drinks later, some of which tasted something like firewhisky, he was kissing her frantically as she led him up to her apartment which was perched on top of the pub, conveniently.
Urgently, he tugged at her clothing, the buttons alluding him in his inebriated state. Her husky laughter sounded again as she helped, her hands steady against his own, "Careful there."
Finally baring small breasts topped with dark pink-brown nipples, he fell upon them, his mouth moving frantically. The woman sighed, and threw her head back in pleasure as his teeth scraped against the sensitive skin there.
Moving so that he was behind her, Charlie bit the side of her neck almost savagely while holding her long hair out of his way. His other hand reached down her slacks to find smoothness where he had expected curls. Fingers moving rapidly now, he felt the moisture even lower, and tweaked the small button of flesh there.
The woman moaned, arching her neck to allow him even greater access to the skin there, moving her hips against his hand to achieve the friction that she so desperately desired.
Pulling her pants off decisively, Charlie spun her around, a hand on her shoulder pushing her down to her knees. She looked up at him as she unzipped his denim pants, reaching with two greedy hand for the flesh hidden within.
Charlie groaned loudly, spearing his fingers into her hair as she took him into her mouth. He rocked against her violently, but she seemed not to notice as she worked her tongue against his length.
--
Blaise watched Ginny, her chest barely moving with her breathing. She was so pale….
"Hey Gin." He spoke quietly, trying to think about how Pomfrey had said that she could hear them, if not able to respond. It seemed a little unlikely. "I miss you. It's pretty boring without you yelling at me, or teasing me… Draco's a bloody nuisance, let me tell you."
"Your Mum's pretty spare too… I honestly think now that you turned out a lot more normal than you should have. She has some sort of dislike for Draco, and she won't let him in here if she's around." His lips twitched a little as he remembered the last confrontation between the autocratic blond and the Weasley matriarch.
"Your Dad is a nice fellow, well, after he stopped threatening Draco and I, that is. Then he started telling me about electrically, and I just got a little confused. He seemed to appreciate the audience though."
"I met Mara, Fred's fiancé. She's nice, but… I'm not sure, I don't think I really like her. She seems to make your brother happy though, so what do I know?"
"George is… well, you know he's upset. He's in here more than anyone, save Draco and I."
Blaise breathed slowly, rubbing his scars distractedly, feeling the raised edges with his finger-tips.
"Draco yelled at me a couple of days ago. Said I needed to stop drowning in self-pity, and to, and I quote, "get some fucking balls". I must say, it sounded like one of your expressions, Gin. I think you've rubbed off on him."
He looked around the hospital wing, taking in the screens, and the sound of the first year in the corner who was re-growing the bones in his leg after a spell gone wrong in some class.
"I don't think we've ever talked about what I want to do after leaving Hogwarts. Well, I know that you know about Zabini Industries, but I don't really have an interest in that. I just don't want my mother to be in charge of my father's company anymore." He shuddered, thinking of the woman who had given him birth, "She's done some things to the company that I don't agree with, and as soon as I leave school, I'm pushing her out. I don't want to stay with the company though… I don't think I'm quite cut out for the office world."
"The baby is growing…." He trailed off looking at her stomache before placing a protective hand on the slight bulge, "You can actually see it. I would call you fat, if I didn't think you'd wake up just to punch me.
I don't know what to think about the baby, actually. I know how undecided you were about this, and so I don't know whether I should be happy or not." Blaise rubbed his hand in gentle circles, his eyes watching as he rucked the fabric across her abdomen slightly, "It feels like being in limbo, waiting for you to wake up."
"Gin, I'm so sorry." He gulped, trying to control himself, "I'm supposed to be the one to catch you, and I missed. I'm sorry."
Sighing at the continued lack of response, Blaise stood, and crawled into the bed beside her prone form, gathering her close. As his eyes shut, Blaise allowed himself to feel a surge of optimism that it would all be okay.
Draco, after ascertaining that Mrs. Weasley had gone home hours earlier, made his way into the Hospital Wing to take his turn with Ginny.
His shoulders drooped slightly, uncharacteristically, as he thought back on the last couple of weeks. It was rather stressful for him, and he wasn't really able to show what he was thinking, even to Blaise, as Blaise needed him to be strong.
Standing for a moment staring at the scene in front of him, Draco's features softened minutely. Blaise was sleeping completely wrapped around Ginny's much smaller frame. It looked like… like any other morning, like nothing had happened, like Ginny was simply sleeping.
"What are you doing here?" A voice asked from behind him, the familiar tone making Draco wince. He turned to see Mrs. Weasley storming in with her knitting, glaring at him.
Holding his hands out in an innocent gesture, he tried to keep his voice low so as not to disturb Blaise, "Mrs. Weasley, I assure you, I mean no harm."
"No harm?" She snorted as her arms crossed across her ample bosom, cheeks flashing red with indignation. "My baby is pregnant at sixteen, and in a coma while still in school, all thanks to you. Why don't you leave her alone?"
"Mrs. Weasley," Draco ground out, his irritation pressing him to show this woman the same level of disrespect that she was showing him. Only the thought of Ginny's reaction was enough to keep him in check, "I know that you are upset, as we all are, but getting angry at me is not going to do anything."
Molly Weasley stared at the young man who was looking down at her with such a haughty, aristocratic look on his pale face, that she longed to smack him. "Get out. You are not welcome here."
"You can not keep me away." He spoke quietly, softly even, but with such a natural air of confidence and superiority that Molly almost nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I can." She smiled triumphantly, "Ginny is still underage, and she is still under our care. You are not come back here, and I shall be taking this up with Headmistress McGonagall."
"What do you think is going to happen when Ginny wakes up?" He challenged her, his voice low and even, staring into her face, "What do you think my role is in that baby's life?"
"None if I have anything to do with it. My Ginny can do so much better than a Malfoy."
Not wishing to create a scene that he may regret later, Draco swept out of the room, his eyes a steely grey in the morning light.
Making his way to the Slytherin common room, Draco threw himself into a large leather chair in the corner, staring moodily out the window that was magicked to look out onto the Forbidden Forest, despite being several hundred meters underground.
"Kicked out of Ginny's room again?" Pansy asked, sympathy lacing her voice as she settled into the couch beside him, Greg spread out on the matching couch across the room.
"Yes." Draco answered shortly, still seething over Ginny's mother's treatment of him.
"Well, I'll go look in on her in a little bit. Mrs. Weasley doesn't know who I am." Pansy sought to reassure him, "And Padma will definitely be there soon. I haven't really seen Blaise since last night though."
"He's with her right now."
"And Mrs. Weasley didn't have a problem with that?" Greg asked in amazement, Draco and Pansy glancing over at him with surprise as he had seemed to be deeply asleep just a minute prior.
"No." Draco responded, "She likes Blaise. She just hates the fact that I'm a Malfoy, and I would assume that Ron Weasley, Potter, and Granger would not have helped my case in the past."
"Rough." Pansy commiserated, turning around as Vince entered the room, taking the seat beside her. She smiled at him as he wrapped one beefy around her tightly.
Draco dropped his bright head back to rest against the top of the chair, and closed his eyes. He was so tired…
Because of Ginny's mother, he had taken to visiting Ginny mostly at night, plus he was still attending classes faithfully, plus he had to be there for Blaise. His eyes burned with the lack of sleep.
--
Luna watched Theo covertly across the Great Hall. He was up to something, she would bet her left shoe on it. She narrowed her eyes, spooning her French onion soup up without really watching what she was doing.
"Are you going to visit Ginny later?" Padma asked politely as she sat down across from her housemate, leaning forward to help herself to the pumpkin juice in a large jug that sat in the middle of the table.
"Probably tomorrow. I know that Blaise is going to be spending the night in there with Draco." Luna answered absently, barely glancing at the older girl. Padma gave her an odd look, before turning her attention to Cho Chang who had tapped her shoulder.
Noticing how her hair was trailing through her dinner, Luna pulled it back into a loose knot at the nape of her neck, and took a bite of her dinner roll.
It had not escaped her notice that since the dementor's attack on the Ministry, he had been even more withdrawn, more weary. He knew something about it, and she wondered just how much his father had been involved, and what else he knew about due to his father's friendliness with Lord Voldemort.
She watched as he spoke briefly to Goyle, before standing, and moving toward the large door that led to the hallway. Luna shoved her plate away and quickly moved to follow him out.
Wandering through the hallways, Luna walked lightly, making sure to keep quite a ways back from him, hoping that he was thick enough to assume that her amateurish attempts to track him were really stupid mice scurrying around.
Rounding another corner, the candlelight dark against the stone walls, Luna stopped in her tracks as she realized that Theo was no where to be seen.
"Merlin's knickers." She muttered, sweeping the fallen tendrils of hair out of her eyes. Turning, she tried to think of where exactly in the bowels of the castle she was. Trudging back the way she had come, Luna fingered her butterbeer cork necklace.
Hearing a rustling behind her, she whipped around to see… nothing. Luna narrowed her eyes, and darted forward with her arms outstretched. Nope, nothing.
Spinning back around, she picked up her pace as she made her way back to her dormitory. Sincerely feeling like she was being watched, she checked over her shoulder so often, it felt like she was developing a tick.
Getting ready for bed that evening, Luna changed into her white nightgown, and brushed her long silvery-blonde hair almost compulsively as she surveyed her schedule for the next day.
Her homework had been done for almost a week, she had her quill plus two extras just in case of breaks, extra parchment, and all of the textbooks that she would need were shrunken down so that she would be able to carry her bag with the minimum of strain.
Washing her face, and braiding her hair completed her routine. Luna arranged herself beneath her covers, and shut the drapes. Holding her slender wand, she quickly cast silencio and isolosium to guard against the inquisitive, and sometimes cruel nature of her roommates. It was the only way that they would leave her alone for the amount of time she needed to sleep.
Her dreamy blue eyes were just closing to drift off to sleep, when she heard a low voice, tinged with amusement, drawl, "You know, I've never been in the Ravenclaw dorms."
Luna sat up with a shriek as Theo pulled the invisibility cloak off to smirk at her darkly.
She moved so that she was kneeling at the foot of the bed, far away from his lounging form, and yelled at him, "What the fuck are you doing in my bed?"
"Well," He started, folding his arms behind his head, indolently amused at her expense, "You followed me, so I thought we were playing some sort of game."
Luna laid a slim hand across her heart, trying to prevent the heart attack that she knew she had narrowly avoided, "It wasn't some sort of invitation!"
"What, so only my privacy may be invaded? There's a double standard here, isn't there?" He crossed his legs, and she glared at him for looking so hatefully at ease in her bed.
Wondering briefly at her feelings, Luna decided that she was more angry than frightened or upset, despite the suspected Death Eater relations.
"Get out!" She pointed to the side of the bed, her eyes narrowed to blue slits.
"No." He grinned at her, his mahogany hair falling across his forehead. "I find it rather comfortable in here. Plus, watching your roommates get changed, well, good times."
"You're a perv."
"Seventeen year old male."
"Same thing."
Luna was momentarily stumped. He wasn't doing anything, but he wasn't leaving. In fact, he looked ready to sleep.
"You look like a ghost in that nightgown." Theo remarked, taking in how the long white material completely hid her body from his curious gaze.
"You sneak into my house, into my bed, and then proceed to make fun of my nightclothes?" Luna looked at him in amazement, folding her legs under herself, carefully making sure the nightgown was covering every inch of exposed flesh.
"Well, it's pretty obvious that you have decided that you never want to get shagged." He closed his eyes.
Luna gritted her teeth, "Do you even know my name? We have never talked."
"Then why were you following me?" Theo opened his eyes to watch her curiously, "Why are you always watching? I think you see more than you let others think, buttercup."
"Fine, I'm leaving." Luna decided, started to swing her legs over the side of the bed.
"S'ok with me." He replied drowsily, "Your roommates might find it a little interesting that you have a man in your bed."
She whipped around to face him again, "Boy."
"Excuse me?" He glanced at her curiously, taken aback by the strange answer.
"Not a man. A boy." She clarified.
Theo grinned, truly amused now. He had followed her simply on a whim, but now he was intrigued. "Oh buttercup, come over here, take off the circus tent, and I will show you just how much of a man I really am."
Luna rolled her eyes, and parted the drapes slightly to peek out at the dorm, which was still alight, and filled with laughter, and talking. No one glanced in her direction, but Luna was sure that Theo would not go unnoticed.
Despite the image that she had carefully cultivated for herself, this was a little beyond what she wanted. The gossip, dear Gods, the gossip.
There was only one thing to do.
She slowly turned back around, closing the drape carefully, to see Theo seemingly asleep, stretched out with his head on her pillow. Her special, down-filled pillow that her father had bought her in her first year.
Reaching out, she grabbed the edge of the pillow, and tugged hard. Theo yelped as his head suddenly hit the headboard, and he opened his eyes to see Luna curling up on the opposite side of the bed, her slender back to him.
"If you touch me at any point, you will find your Hampton no longer quite so friendly with your body." She remarked mildly.
Feeling lighter than he had in… well, years, Theo grinned, a true grin, with none of the sadistic pleasure that his facial expressions usually held. He was right to be intrigued about this bird.
Thinking that she would never fall asleep with the strange male in her bed, Luna fell asleep almost right away.
Theo stared at the back of her head, noticing when her breathing evened out to sleep. He was amazed. No girl had ever fallen asleep on him. And without even playing with his happy parts. It was slightly disheartening.
Smiling slightly, he rolled over to press against her back. Running one hand down over her slim curves, he grabbed a handful of her nightgown, and pulled it up slowly. Leaving it bunched at the top of her thighs, he took in the pale length of her legs, the flawless skin shining in the dark.
Almost mesmerized by the sight, he trailed his finger tips along her legs, seeing for himself if they were as silky as they looked. She had beautiful legs.
Theo traced the skin of her upper thigh, and had to wonder if she was that smooth everywhere else. Something within him rebelled against the thought of finding out while she was asleep, however. He tended to like his women conscious. Just one of many differences between him and his father.
He loved her legs though. Trying hard not to think about what they would feel like wrapped around him, he closed his eyes. She smelled like roses.
Leaning over, he pressed a kiss to the side of her neck, and dropped onto his back to see if he could possibly get some sleep.
This was not quite how he had anticipated spending his evening, but it beat the shit out of lying in an all-male dorm listening to Vince and Greg's bodily functions, and occasionally Pansy's moaning when Vince forget silencio. That was often very traumatizing, having grown up with Pansy as a mildly annoying sister-type. At least Blaise and Draco spent their nights in Blaise's room. That was generally just disturbing to think about.
Luna woke up halfway through the night, disoriented and a little bit too warm, to find herself wrapped around another body. Well, specifically, that body was wrapped around her like a favourite stuffed animal. Sleepily, she lifted her head to see two male arms wrapped around her shoulders and stomache respectfully, and a leg thrown over her thighs.
Falling back to sleep, she reflected that that seemed slightly strange.
--
Ginny felt as though she were drowning. She could distantly hear voices… Blaise, Draco, her mum, her dad… George, Padma… it was confusing.
She felt so strange… as if her body was not her own, as if her limbs would not answer to her. Occasionally, she felt the greatest need to cry, and was astonished when she couldn't. The best times were when she could feel Blaise or Draco near, especially when they were touching her. The worst were when she could hear people yelling at one another.
Sighing to herself, she wondered what was going on.
Draco was talking now… he was talking in a low, calm voice, and Ginny felt soothed by it. Her mum was often on the point of hysterics when she visited, and seemed to hover, while Draco was just so calming.
"I'm writing my first N.E.W.T. next week, Gin. Studying is going… well. I have to say, I don't know how ready I am for Charms, but here's hoping. I doubt Malfoy Industries is going to care a whit about if I get 7 or 8 N.E.W.T.s, really."
Ginny wished that she could remark on what a poor little rich boy he was, but her mouth did not feel like cooperating. Instead, she listened on.
"Your mum is slightly frightening, but I'm sure you know that. She seems not to hold great love for me, which I can't really understand. She wasn't even swayed by my legendary good looks!"
Ginny snorted to herself, wanting to smack his arm.
"I don't know if I ever told you about my dad… I don't know if this is the time, but I've been thinking about him lately." Draco sighed, resting his forehead on the side of the bed to Ginny's right. "I know what he did to you in your first year, and you never talk about it, but I know it pains you. I never forgave him for that, even at the time.
My father… was unforgivable in a lot of ways. He never beat me, he never touched me at all, in fact. I can't remember a hug, a pat on the shoulder, nothing. He just never seemed to want human contact, even with my mother.
It was as if he was unable to get over his pride, his breeding, enough to realize that a hug does not make one weak. Looking back, I think of that aspect of his personality with pity."
Draco sat back up, brushing his hair out of his eyes, watching Ginny's face intently for any evidence of a reaction.
"I doubt that he ever felt pity, ever felt regret. That just was not part of his makeup. My mum had her own issues. I was more of an afterthought. Oh, she loved me… She just had a lot of other things… still does, in fact.
My father was a rather intimate associate of Lord Voldemort, which I believe is common knowledge, and he displeased the man by giving that diary to you, as well as other actions that were thwarted by Potter.
So, he ended up in Azkaban. I can't tell you whether I felt too disheartened about that. In a lot of ways, it was a kind of relief for me. He wasn't there anymore to… well, like I said, he doesn't know forgiveness. He also has no room for anything other than perfection. His master, though, eventually broke him out. And he came home."
Draco took a shuddering breath, concentrating on sticking with telling his story.
"This was after Dumbledore… well, I'll tell you about that later. My father was not pleased, which would be a nice way of putting that. He came home to a wife who had blossomed without his overbearing presence, and a son who had failed, and had to be saved.
When I said that he had never touched me in anger, that did not apply to my mother. He seemed to take great relish in 'punishing' her for the slightest offence. He would never touch her face though. He seemed to revere her beauty, or more to the point, what her beauty represented, and would never seek to mar that. Everything else though, was fair game. I remember her back and arms being riddled with long reddened bruises from that cane.
This time was different though. After finishing with her, he came after me. He had a chance to hit me twice before my mother took one of her heavy heirloom Black family vases, and cracked him over the back of his head.
Even in death, he looked disbelieving. He had never believed that my mother would ever fight back."
Draco leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. He relished that look on his father's face, to be completely honest with himself.
"My mother is now a pretty frequent guest at St. Mungo's for her mental health, but after all the years she spent with him, it's pretty understandable."
Ginny ached to reach out to him, to hold him, but she couldn't. She was so incredibly frustrated with herself, and could feel herself helplessly slipping away again until she could no longer hear what Draco was saying at all.
When she next regained a sense of herself, George was talking. She always loved listening to George talk… he could express himself in so many ways, so well.
"So, our new line of feminine fun has been incredibly popular. I would offer to give you a few selections for free, but well, you're my sister, and that's creepy. Instead, I gave Padma a couple, and I thought she was going to ask me to marry her."
Ginny slipped away again at that point, getting more and more upset with herself that she couldn't control it.
George was still sitting beside Ginny sometime later when she started to convulse. She was shaking violently, and he jumped up in alarm, "Ginny!"
Laying his hands on her shoulders to try to keep her from hurting herself, he turned his head to yell, "Madame Pomfrey!"
From there, it was a flurry of activity, and George got out of the way. Ginny had started to bleed, and it was everywhere.
He had no idea what to do… Knowing he should go and find Blaise and Draco, but unwilling to leave Ginny, he was torn.
Luna happened to be wandering past the hospital wing in a slight daze, when she saw what was going on, and ran for Slytherin.
Colliding with Theo on her way to the dungeons, she whirled around and kept going, ignoring him shouting after her.
By the time the two Slytherins had made their way back, Ginny had stopped convulsing, and was laying still and pale again.
"The bleeding has stopped, but she's losing the baby." Madame Pomfrey spoke quietly, glancing back at her patient as she walked to face Blaise and Draco who were looking at her with almost identical expressions of disbelief and pain. "I've given her a blood replenishing potion, but there's not much I can do for the baby. The mother's womb protects it too much for my magic to penetrate it, and she's not far enough along that if she miscarries anything can be done after it leaves the womb."
"She." Blaise interrupted blankly, "The baby is a girl." Pomfrey looked at him with sympathy.
George stayed by Ginny's side, holding her hand almost desperately. She still had not woken up, and it was incredible that her body had gone through so much without gaining consciousness.
"Ginny should be fine, eventually, but the next few hours are going to be really rough." Pomfrey concluded before heading off to confer with the Headmistress.
--
Luna was skipping through the hall on her way to supper, when a hand reached out and pulled her into a classroom. Yelping, and whipped around with her fist raised was her response.
Theo thanked his fast reaction time in allowing him to reach out and catch her wrist before her hand made contact with his chin.
Staring into the dark chocolate eyes over him holding onto her, Luna was aware dimly that she was breathing heavily from the shock.
"Why did you rush by me earlier?" He asked mildly, tugging her arm forward so that she landed against his chest. They were almost exactly the same height he realized as he watched her large blue eyes and pale face.
"I, uh…" She trailed off. He reminded her somewhat of a hungry shark the way that he was looking at her. No one had ever looked at her like that.
Theo let go of her wrist to move his hands down to her waist, pulling her up tight. His eyes shifted to her pale pink lips. She nervously ran the tip of her tongue across her lower lip, and he almost groaned as he saw that.
"You need to let go of me." Her voice was slightly shaky, but she felt that it would do. It backfired.
Theo let go, his arms at his sides, "Fine."
They stood like that for a long moment, staring at each other, before Luna reached out and grabbed the front of his school uniform to pull him close, settling her mouth onto his determinedly.
Theo stood stalk-still without responding for a time, before realizing that a very cute girl had her tongue down his throat. Spearing his fingers into her silky hair, he angled her head to gain even better access.
Luna pulled back after what felt like forever, her lips red and swollen, breathing heavily and staring at him. "What the hell are we doing?"
"If you need to ask, I am definitely doing something wrong." He smirked, and leaned in again, his hands moving to the small of her back, arching her towards him. Tilting her lips away so that she could talk, Luna gasped as his lips found her jaw, "Nott, this can't happen."
"Hmm…" As he trailed his lips down the side of her neck, finding all of the sensitive places, and he gently nibbled on the soft skin where her neck connected to her shoulder.
Author's Note: Ahhhhhh…. This chapter was hard to write. This is how I planned this story, except Theo and Luna, so I think I bowed to reviewers who seemed to like the idea of the two together (I'm looking at you Kelly!).
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, it's been awesome to read what you think. Please enjoy this latest entry!! - Fin