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Chapter 18: Potential

November first dawned a confusing and emotional morning for the youngest Malfoy couple. They had both spent the entire night upset and confused lost in memories of what had been before.

Unfortunately, they were both also in great trouble for abandoning the party that they were co-hosting with the elder two generations. The pair had disappeared somewhere around 1am and had not reappeared by the time the ball wound to a close an hour later. And to make their situation worse neither resurfaced until quite late in the morning that day and would not offer any explanation as to their whereabouts.

No matter how much Narcissa chided and goaded Ginny was a sad steal trap. She barely said anything all day as the women went about the Manor ensuring that everything was back in order.

She also informed the family that she would be gone two weeks out of that month as she had decided that she would indeed speak at two international healer conferences that had been begging for months for her to attend. Under normal circumstances Ginny would never have even considered these invitations as she did not feel that she could add anything to the conferences or them to her but now any valid excuse to get as far away from Draco as possible she was ready to absolutely jump on. It was inherently her own cowardice but she did not just accept that but embraced it.

No one questioned her motives though and so Ginny had her escape.

Draco too began to search for valid excuses to not be at the Manor. He felt so claustrophobic there, trapped inside the walls with only his family and her when she was there. He began to spend more and more hours at his mysterious daytime occupation and some nights he never came home at all.

When she noticed such things it made Ginny very nervous. She was never sure where he was or what he was doing and with whom. And after the Halloween Ball things were taken to yet another very different and even more confusing level, if that was at all possible.

With all the emotion that had become evident in those few short carnal minutes, Ginny knew that she would never again be able to deny that she and Draco had a chemistry unlike anything she had ever experienced. The thought of him trying to drown those feelings in another woman's arms hurt Ginny so much that at some points she couldn't even breathe.

So she didn't think about it Ginny threw herself into her job and gave it absolutely everything she had. Throughout November she stayed late, took extra cases, was on top of all of her paper work and had her conference presentation done long before she would actually have to leave. It was a new concept for Ginny and while she did not enjoy it at least she didn't have to be anywhere near Draco.

As December began it appeared as if it would be very similar to the month before it but then on Tuesday, December 1st everything changed.

It seemed as if it was to be a perfectly normal day. Ginny had just flow back to London from a third conference in Los Angeles, California in the United States just three days before, choosing to take an infinitely slower muggle airplane rather than just a long distance floo which would have gotten her there in a third of the time.

Under normal circumstances Ginny would have taken a day off after one of these long grueling conferences but instead she caught a little sleep and dragged herself, jet lag and all, into the office the next morning. She refused to spend an entire day at the manor with just Draco.

In fact she had barley seen her husband at all the entire month. She was blatantly avoiding him and he her. Their paths only ever intersected at the occasional family dinner that they couldn't avoid.

They both appreciated not having to really force civility while having to ignore the cluster of emotions that were swirling throughout both of them. Draco and Ginny were both admittedly confused and were not exactly sure how to behave around the other ever since the Halloween Ball.

So off she went to St. Mungo's, ready to slog through an incredibly long day.

Ginny sighed and looked at the clock on her wall. She was so close, only one more hour till she would be free and she could go home.

Most of her patients were gone for the day and the few who were still milling about the waiting room were simply waiting for potions or to get all checked out. It had been a fairly successful day as far as healing had been concerned. Ginny herself though was beyond exhausted. By this point in the day the jet lag had completely taken hold and she was acutely aware of how little sleep she had gotten in the last 48 hours.

She allowed herself to take a moment to just put her head down on her arms on her desk. She was completely aware of how unprofessional that was but she couldn't hold her eyes open a minute longer.

Just as she felt her mind beginning to lose consciousness the door to her office flew open. Ginny sat straight up to see Mrs. Coe standing there beckoning her furiously.

"Healer Weasley! You have to come quickly! Oh my, it's so tragic! Please, quickly!"

Ginny immediately jumped up from her chair, not even stopping to put her coat back on. Just seeing how distressed her prim and proper assistant was acting was enough to alarm Ginny.

She quickly followed Mrs. Coe out of the office and down the hall towards the examination rooms. All the while her assistant was babbling something about the patient. Finally Ginny stopped the distressed woman and forced her to give Ginny the exact details so she could accurately treat the little girl.

Mrs. Coe took a deep breath and then launched into an explanation of a seven year old little girl who was brought in by her mother. She suffered from lycanthropy and normally took a small daily dose of Wolfsbane Potion that was keeping her affliction well under control but somehow this morning she got her hands on or was given concentrated Wolfsbane Essence and had consumed it.

When she heard this Ginny's heart sank. Wolfsbane Essence was extremely toxic on its own, it was the reason that the potion was so incredibly difficult to brew and could not be done by just anyone. Most people who consumed the essence died within a matter of hours due to massive organ failure caused by the ingredient and based on this little girl's age Ginny knew that she most likely only had a matter of minutes left to live.

Despite knowing this deep down Ginny would not give up. In her line of work she had not encountered all that many children and the few that she had had encountered were nowhere near as serious as this. In fact, in the three years that she had been a healer at St. Mungo's, she had yet to lose a child and she did not want today to be the day that all changed.

Ginny breezed past her Mrs. Coe and into the examination room. She was completely unprepared for what she saw there.

Ginny stared at a beautiful little girl on the table. She had bright blue eyes and pretty brown curls. When she caught sight of Ginny she focused the captivating stare of those sweet little eyes right on Ginny and the pain and fear in them was almost enough to break her right there and then. But Ginny could not let her see that, she had to be strong.

She went straight to work.

"Hi sweetheart! My name is Ginny, what is your name?" She asked even as she immediately began to cast healing and all the poison blocking spells she knew.

"Katie." The little girl whispered in a strained voice.

"Ok Katie, well I am a healer and I am here to make you all better. So I need you to do exactly as I ask you to do ok?"

Katie nodded her agreement and dutifully swallowed the beazor that Ginny popped into her mouth.

Ginny worked for a solid half an hour doing everything within her power to fix the situation before her. She cast every spell, gave her potions and plants to take, everything she could think of all the while ignoring the statistics in the back of her mind that were screaming at her that only 2% of adults that took concentrated Wolfsbane Essence lived through the experience.

No, Katie was so sweet and innocent, just a little girl. This was not fair that someone would do this to her and no matter how much her heart was breaking, Ginny already knew that Katie most likely only had minutes left in her life.

Ginny was numb. She stood there looking at the tiny lifeless body. She had been in the examination room with Katie for over an hour trying in vain to save her. It was all Ginny could do to hold her composure to walk out the door and give the little girl's family the news.

After she finished giving her condolences she was able to slip away from the distraught mother who had immediately collapsed onto a chair in hysterical tears.

Ginny headed straight back to her office. She sat down in her chair and put her head in her hands for a moment to take a few deep steadying breaths. Her efforts were interrupted though by the entrance of Mrs. Coe.

Ginny immediately switched gears and tried to make it look as if she were reading a file when her assistant came over to her.

"Ginny," she said in an uncharacteristically soft voice as she laid a hand on Ginny's shoulder, touching her for the first time ever. "Go home dear. This will keep."

Ginny could do nothing but look up and nod in obedience.

But Ginny could not go immediately home. She felt as if she was lost and could not handle the emotional stress that came along with being at the Manor.

Who would give a child concentrated Wolfsbane Essence? Whoever it was should be first Crucioed and then locked in Azkaban with their own personal dementor for the rest of their life.

Ginny apparated instead to her flat that she had shared with Hallie before moving into the Manor. Seeing Hallie usually made her feel better and she always understood Ginny. "Hallie?" she called out. Her voice sounded flat and pathetic.

"Ginny?" came her best friend's voice from the back. Within moments Hallie emerged from the hallway. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

Ginny collapsed onto the couch and dropped her face into her hands. "I just needed to see you. I'm sorry, I lost a little girl today and I couldn't face going back to the Manor just yet."

"Oh wow babe, what happened?" Hallie quickly crossed the room and sat down next to the little red head with concern blatantly obvious in her big blue eyes. Hallie was aware that Ginny had never lost a child and though her friend knew that the day would have eventually come now that it was here Hallie could tell Gin was an absolute mess.

Ginny curled up into a ball and laid her head in Hallie's lap. All she could focus on was ensuring that breathed deeply and held back the tears that were beginning to escape from the corners of her tightly shut eyes.

Eventually she was able to control her emotions enough to quietly explain to Hallie what had happened. She spoke of the poor little girl with brown curls and big blue eyes who entirely trusted Ginny to make her all better and how she failed to do that for her.

"Oh love," Hallie said softly as she stroked Ginny's ginger curls. "I'm sure you did absolutely everything you could to help her."

Ginny nodded through her tears. "I did."

"And you have to know that this is in no way your fault. You can mourn her but you eventually have to let it go because it will eat you up inside. You have lost people before and I know that this little girl,"

"Katie." Ginny whispered.

"Ok, Katie," Hallie tried again in an even softer voice. "She was the first child you couldn't save but I know that you are strong enough to move on and make sure you don't lose any other children. This isn't your fault and you can't let it bring you down. You are the best healer that St. Mungo's has ever seen and they need you to save people just like you have been doing for the last three years and will continue to do for the rest of your life."

Ginny could do nothing but nod. She knew her friend was right and even though that didn't dull the pain from the loss it did help her to know that she would be able to move past it.

After a few more minutes Ginny was finally able to stand, give her best friend a long hug and then apperate back to the Manor.

Hallie watched Ginny go with increasing trepidation. She had been constantly worried about Ginny as of late. Being around Draco somehow messed with Gin's head and for some as yet unexplained reason something had happened over a month ago now that seemed to send them both over the edge.

Hallie was not actually sure that Ginny was mentally able to handle the situation with the little girl at that point in time no matter what she had told her. But unfortunately, Hallie had problems of her own to deal with; tall, gorgeous Slytherin problems, and she really just didn't have the energy to completely focus on Ginny at that moment. All she could do was hope that her best friend and her husband would be able to work everything out.

Not feeling like talking to the family, Ginny decided to apperate directly into her room. Once there she instantly felt better about her horrible day. The beautiful calming colors helped her relax and accept the advice that Hallie had given her, she really couldn't save everyone no matter how hard she tried. She stepped into her room and shut the door behind her.

She still couldn't completely let go though and knowing she couldn't do anything didn't make it any easier. Ginny was supposed to be the best at what she did, but despite all her long years of training and all her experience on the battlefields during the war, her numerous skills couldn't save one poor little girl who did nothing except do what she was told.

Refusing to let her mind dwell on the afternoon's events, she slowly made her way to the bathroom, peeling off various items of clothing as she went. By the time she stepped into the shower she had shed everything and with a flick of her wand she started a scalding hot steam of water before tossing that outside the door as well. As she stood under the painful stream though her mind began to float back in time despite her best efforts to keep it clear and soon the water from the shower head was joined by a steady flow of salty tears that came pouring from Ginny's eyes before she even realized it was happening.

After a few minutes she left the shower, still crying and barely conscious of what she was doing. She dried herself with a towel, scarcely noting that it wasn't her fluffy purple one but a deep navy color that must be Draco's.

Ginny dropped the towel, picked up her wand and walked back to her room completely naked. In her chest of drawers she found her favorite outfit in the whole world: a well worn lime green tank-top, a garnet Weasley jumper with a silver G on the front and a pair of black silk men's boxers.

The tears still freely flowing, Ginny couldn't make herself walk all the way to her bed. She chose instead to simply slide down the piece of furniture from which she had retrieved her clothes and let the devastation take hold of her.

Something was wrong. The Weaselette was thirty minutes late. The Weaselette was never late, ever. She always flitted through the door to the sitting room at six thirty most nights on the dot unless otherwise stated previously to his mother. It was beginning to make him nervous.

'Wait, what? No, Malfoys don't get nervous, especially not over something as insignificant as a Weasley.' Draco silently chided himself. No, she must just be late. Besides no one else seems to be concerned so why should he of all people be?

It was true, as the rest of his family lazed around their favorite sitting room, all busy with some different activity, not one of them glanced at the clock or the door like Draco had been for the past thirty minutes. Nor did anyone ask where she was as they got up and casually drifted to the dining room upon hearing that dinner had been served. She was obviously fine. Besides he hardly ever saw her lately, maybe she was late getting home all the time and his frequent absences just made it so he didn't realize. Still, it couldn't hurt to check.

"Blinky." Draco called out after his parents and grandparents had all entered the dining room. The elf, he had noticed had turned into a Ginny homing signal; if anyone knew where she was it would be him.

The little elf popped out of nowhere right beside him, startling him. "Yes Little Master, how can Blinky be helping you?"

Draco quickly regained his composure and asked, "Do you know if Ginny ever came home today?"

"Oh yes Master Draco, Miss Gin is getting home at her normal time but she went straight to her room. I think she was being very upset!"

"Umm…thank you." Draco said awkwardly as he headed up the grand stair case to the upper levels of the North Wing.

After several minutes of climbing and too many large mahogany doors and stern looking portraits to count he passed his own room. The next door was Ginny's.

He knocked on the door but there was no answer. Had the house elf been wrong? No, not possible. She had to be in there but just wasn't answering.

Suddenly Draco had an idea that, honestly, he could not believe he had not just tried first. He dashed back down the hall to the entrance to his room, said the password and made a beeline straight for the bathroom. Once inside he noticed that the other door, the one leading into Ginny's room, was standing open.

Bloody hell, what happened in here? He wondered seeing the clothes, towels and various other items strewn all about. Fearing the worst, he crossed the room expecting to see her body on the other side of the door; instead he saw Ginny curled up on the floor crying.

"Red."

At the sound of her old nickname Ginny looked up to see Draco standing in the bathroom door. He was still dressed in the expensive suit that he always wore to do…well whatever it was he did during the day.

What did he want? Probably to mock her. She tucked her head back into her body as a fresh wave of tears stemming from both her grief and her self-pity over took her.

"Red," he called again. "Come on love what's wrong?"

No, it was just her imagination. He didn't care. Draco Malfoy hated her, that much he had made abundantly clear in the last month.

"Please invite me in. Gin, what happened? Are you alright?" his voice sounded genuinely concerned.

"No." she said.

Ginny took the chance of peeking up at the man in her door way. He was crouched down trying in vain to get as close to her as possible.

At her words his face fell and he said hesitantly, "Ok, I'll just leave you alone then." He straightened and began to leave. He irrationally wanted to help but at the same time he wasn't going to push it.

Just then Ginny was overtaken by a wave of fear at being left alone. If he left now he would never come back. "Draco!" she choked.

He spun around at the sound of his name in her strained tones. She sounded terrified. "What? What's wrong?"

She began to shake as giant round tears began to flow down her pale already glistening cheeks. "Please don't leave me! Please come in!"

That was all the signal he needed. Draco stepped through the boundary and walked over to Ginny. He crouched down to look her straight in the face and asked again, "Are you alright Gin?"

Slowly her head raided and her big hazel eyes looked up at him. They seemed to hold a deep devastation and insecurity behind the sheen of tears that was so strange to see in those warm, lively eyes that Draco was taken aback.

"I couldn't save her." She said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Couldn't save who?" he asked softly. He slowly reached out to cup her small face in his hand in a gesture that felt bizarrely intimate but strangely he didn't care at that particular moment.

"Katie." She whispered as tears began to once again flow freely. Ginny flung her arms out and wrapped them securely around Draco's neck, burying her face into his neck.

At first Draco was not able to respond from the shock of her movement but after a moment he regained his composure and hugged her body to his, a small comfort in the midst of her distress.

After a few minutes it occurred to Draco that they were both crouched on the floor and if he was cramping up after just a short amount of time, how uncomfortable must Ginny be?

In one rapid movement he unwrapped his arms from around her back and swiftly picked up the tiny woman. She squeaked in surprise but never unwound her limbs from where they were tightly wrapped around Draco.

Still carrying her he crossed the room to her bed.

Ginny squeaked in surprise despite the tears that still had not stopped falling from her eyes as her body was effortlessly lifted from the ground. Draco carried her to her bed and then was somehow able to turn it down and still cradle her at the same time. The whole time he was quietly offering her words of encouragement with her head tucked under her chin.

She was then deposited on the bed and he disentangled himself from her grip and pulled the covers up around her. She was sure that he was now going to leave her again now that he had placed her somewhere where sleep was a viable option but she knew as soon as he left she would be too overcome by grief and loneliness to even consider it.

Ginny listened hard as she heard Draco walking across the room but much to her surprise he crossed to the other side of the bed and she heard his designer shoes clunk to the floor. The covers on the other side of the bed were then thrown back and Draco slipped underneath them. He then proceeded to pull the distraught red head into his body and hold onto her.

This action was much more than Ginny could handle just then. After the awful day she had had now Draco was pulling a complete 180 of behavior from the entire month previous. She became hyperaware of his arms wrapped around her, one lazily strolling up and down her back in a soothing manner, his chin on the top of her head from where he had tucked her into him, the feel of his chest against his face and the sound of his steady heartbeat the only other sound in the room to accompany her fading grief. Her whole being was on over drive, senses, thoughts, emotions and the weirdest part was there was nowhere in the world she would rather be and even more strange, no one in the would rather be with at that exact moment. Ginny thought she might as well just die right there.

His very presence was somehow ebbing away the anguish so that soon her tears had dried and her breathing had begun to even out. Before long she had even drifted into a light sleep still in his arms.

Draco for his part could not help but wonder exactly what had happened earlier that day to distress his redhead so. He had never before seen Ginny so utterly devastated not even when she had found out that the wonder trio had disappeared in the middle of the night to add their numbers to the war effort.

He himself was distressed by the effect that whatever had happened had had on Ginny. His arms instinctively pulled her tiny form closer to his. He knew he should probably leave long before she woke up but he could not bring himself to abandon her in her moment of need. Instead, after some time, he just allowed himself to relax and sleep to overtake him.

When Ginny awoke the room was slightly lit by a lamp but the windows to the outside were completely dark. She did not know exactly how long she and Draco had been asleep but she was more than relieved to discover that he had stayed with her. She did not know what she would have done had he slipped out of the room as soon as she was asleep.

As she lay there she tried to focus only on the feel of his hard chest beneath her hand and the smell of his musky collogue. She did not allow herself to think at all, not about Katie, her day, the last few hours, and especially not about what she would do once Draco had woken up. No she simply allowed herself to exist in that particular moment in time and would deal with all the rest when the time came.

Eventually though Draco did awake.

When Ginny felt his telltale change in breathing she slowly lifted her eyes as his blond eyelashes flirted with the idea of releasing the sliver grey orbs back to the world. When sleep had finally lifted enough for him to focus on her face, he gave her a little smile.

No words were exchanged in the first few moments, just loaded looks teeming with unspoken emotion. Pain, both old and new, and apology were bartered for much desired forgiveness and before long the awkwardness from the last month melted away from their minds.

Finally the extensive silence was broken by a single word that fell from Draco's lips, "Food?"

It wasn't until then that Ginny noticed how hungry she truly was. Thinking back, she was not sure that she had eaten all day, preferring instead to skip lunch in order to see one more patient. She nodded vigorously at his suggestion.

He disentangled himself and held up a finger. He quickly crossed back to the bathroom and into his room to change out of the suit he had been imprisoned in all day. He reemerged a few minutes later at the door to her room and motioned for her to come to him.

She slid out of the bed and crossed the room to grab his outstretched hand. He led her through the bathroom and into his room.

Ginny was immediately struck as she entered his room by how calming the dark colors were. The dark mahogany furniture, deep green satin bedspread with black satin sheets, a large sitting room with black leather furniture all made her feel as if she was in a dark, cool cave. She briefly wondered why they had been living together for over two months and she had not been in here since her accidental sleep over.

She decided right then that she would not be going back to her own room that night but would try and convince Draco to let her back into his calming sanctuary.

As they exited his room and made their way down the stairs he did not release her hand but instead laced their fingers snuggly together. This made Ginny's aching heart warm ever so slightly. She could already tell that despite how miserable her entire day had been she would treasure the next few hours. The old Draco would be making an appearance in order to take care of her, and even if he were gone in the morning, she would appreciate this night for the rest of her life.

YAY! New chapter! More emotion! Soooo much drama! Will these two ever just get to be happy? I don't know! Let me know what you think!

(I personally really liked the very end. I got all poetic and shit! Yay for Lit teachers who feel the need to torture me for my most poetic writing!)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Love you all!

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