The rain had already begun its way down from the clouds as Draco made his way after Ginny. He was now very wet, in addition to his coldness, and it was distinctly unpleasant, but he fought to ignore it.
He knew very well who Ginny Weasley was, he knew who she was engaged to – the Daily Prophet had been absolutely hysterical about it, making sure everyone knew. He knew about her former quidditch career in the Holyhead Harpies, about how she'd quit half a year ago to try a journalist career. He knew everything media had told him. And she had been a name he would be instinctively drawn to when found in a newspaper, there was no denying. She was a perfect example of all those he'd bullied who'd ended up living so much better lives than him. Karma's a bitch.
Yes, Draco doubtlessly remembered Ginny, but why he hadn't recognized the redhead was a question he couldn't answer. Maybe his brain was too chaotic, too destroyed, or maybe he just didn't want to remember. No one knew for sure. The thoughts were spinning around in his head on highest speed, but he still marched on, legs almost numb.
~flashback~
The first thing Draco realised when waking up was an excruciating pain in his legs. He couldn't remember what they'd been through, but as he ran his hand over them, it became sticky. Not a good sign. He felt dizzy, almost like someone had drugged him. Maybe that was the case, since the only thing he saw when trying to remember last night was a total blur. It was dark around him, too dark to see anything clearly, but there had to be some sort of light coming in – Dracos eyes were slowly adjusting, making his eyesight the best possible for the situation. He still couldn't see much, but he could make out some sort of cloth hanging in front of him, and when he felt the material, he knew instantly where he was. Imprisoned in his own wardrobe.
Humiliating, but not the first time. If everything was following the usual schedule, he knew both who had put him in there and the fact that searching for his wand was meaningless.
The beacon of light, which he now realised came from the wardrobe doors not being entirely shut, widened, and a clicking well known to Draco's ears sounded. He took a deep breath, knowing very well what would happen next. He barely had time to brace himself before the doors flew wide open and the first blow hit his chest. He didn't protest and he didn't try to fight back. He already knew how little it was worth it.
And he knew that he couldn't flee. He had no one to flee to. And who would believe that Draco Malfoy, former death eater with a family of rich snobs, was being abused in his own relationship? Who?
~end of flashback~
The world made a quick flash in front of Draco's eyes when he was dragged back to here and now. He was leaning against a brick wall, thankfully with a small roof over him, because the rain was now coming down in buckets and the sound from it made it hard for you to hear your own thoughts. Draco gave Ginny a hasty glance, trying to analyse if they were going somewhere in this hysterical weather, but she wore too much of a poker face for him to understand anything.
"My friend has a flat nearby, which I have an extra key to. She's not home, so I suggest we go there", she said suddenly, as if reading his mind.
"I still don't understand why you're doing this."
"No, neither do I, really, but something about you makes me feel that you don't deserve a life on the streets. Not for real."
"I don't know. Where else can you go if you don't want to go home?"
"To a friend's place, maybe? Most people do go home, though."
"Not you, apparently."
"I know. I considered it, but I decided to try helping you first." She scrutinized the weather with a concentrated look. "It's not raining just as much now. We can go." And so she strode off in the rain, and Draco half-ran after her, thinking that he really didn't feel any difference in the rain's intensity.
Even though Draco was doubting it for a while, Ginny was right about the apartment not being that far away. It only took five minutes for them to get into a shabby-looking apartment house, but those minutes were enough for Draco to get dripping wet. He had ironically enough been too wet and cold to cast an Impervius spell over himself, and he regretted it now, when he saw that Ginny was completely unharmed by the weather.
"Forgot an Impervius?" She gave him a half smile and he tried to ignore the warm jolt his stomach did.
"You're not bad at guessing" He shuddered. "Too cold to reach for my wand." She rolled her eyes, but flicked her own wand nonetheless. Draco couldn't help but smile when he felt the warmth flow through his body.
"Thought that would make you feel better. Now, three stairs up." She led the way, gracefully avoiding old gum and different dirt marks in the cement stairs, and he tried to shake away the thought about how bizarre all this was. Nothing could make this feel real right now. A part of him was still suspecting he'd fallen asleep on the streets, that Ginny was just part of an incredibly illogical dream.
The door to the apartment on the fourth floor opened, and Draco was very, very close to pinching himself in the arm.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
He had never seen anything like this apartment. It was small, consisting only of one room plus a kitchen and a bathroom, but it must have been the most decorated apartment he had ever seen. The wooden floor was painted blue like the sky, but had paint stains from more colours than he knew the name of. The floor had only one carpet, placed in the middle, and it was blue with a moving bronze raven, meaning this apartment belonged to a Ravenclaw. The roof was covered in portraits, some of people, some of animals, and he could only recognize about a fourth of the people. And the walls… they were covered in so many different things he didn't know where to start. There were mind maps, more paintings, big sheets of silk with all the colours of Hogwarts houses, an extra big sheet with the Ravenclaw logo, long threads with pearls on them… Draco could see a king-size bed in a corner, a sofa with so many pillows he wasn't sure if there really was a sofa underneath, big bookshelves with space not big enough for all the books, lining them up in piles on the floor instead, and there was an enormous table with mismatched chairs, covered in papers and maps and sketches and magazines.
"It's a lot to take in, this apartment", said Ginny.
"You. Don't. Say." Draco felt like someone had cast a Stupefy over him. He really needed to sleep, but sleeping inside without constantly being afraid felt almost surreal. "I still don't understand why you let me sleep here."
"I get that." She nodded. "I don't completely get it either. But you know what?" Her dark brown eyes, the colour of hazelnuts, met his blue ones. "I hated you for a long time. You were an asshole when we met at that muggle train. But something with you tells me you have your reasons. I don't think you sleep on the streets because you like it. You're not drunk right now, at least not visibly –"
"I'm not, I promise."
"– and I have a really strong feeling that you need help. So I helped you."
"It's way too generous."
"There is no such thing as too generous. I'm many things. I'm impulsive, I stand up for people, I can be bossy, but I'm not a mean person and I will never be. I've seen too much. And I don't believe that there can be too much kindness in this world." She took a few steps into the room. "Make yourself at home. Try not to destroy anything, but if you do, it's fine, because Luna will only think a crumplehorned snorkack have been here and she would be head over heels about that." Draco followed her, accidentally stepping on the Ravenclaw carpet. The eagle gave him an angry squeak and he quickly jumped off.
"Don't stand on that thing. It hates everyone who's not in Ravenclaw. Especially Slytherins, I think. Hufflepuffs are okay, though, I don't think it knows what a Hufflepuff is. "
"Will you come back?"
"Tomorrow. Sleep tight." She gave him another smile, causing another jolt in his stomach. Then she left.
Draco really, really wanted to sleep. He was tired to the point where dizziness surrounded him, and he would find himself dozing off every two minutes or so, just to immediately wake up again. He was hopelessly awake, and the dire lack of sleep in his body tore at the insides, and he felt helpless and alone and so, so tired. But he was afraid of sleeping, because if he fell asleep, he knew how unpleasant waking up would be. Sometimes it was cold, sometimes burning hot and sometimes just really painful. Sometimes the physical pain was none, sometimes the abuse came in verbal form. Voices in his head screaming, or a voice from the outside who screamed just as loud and almost exactly the same things. She was asleep next to him, and Draco wanted to flee, apparate somewhere, but the apartment had a spell forbidding just that. She was sleeping right next to him, and he was so afraid.
He turned around. The only thing next to him was some pillows in odd patterns.
He suddenly remembered, and finally fell asleep.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Silence was what surrounded Ginny when she quietly turned the brass door knob and stepped into their apartment. It was dark, illuminated only by moonlight from the enormous living room windows. Harry probably slept too deep to care if she slipped into their bed now, but then again, he slept until early afternoon whenever he got the chance. And she had thought of the Holyhead Harpies training as tough… She was actually considering trying out again. After all, they only seemed to constantly whine about how much they missed her. But there were plenty of other things to think about right now.
She had left Draco in Lunas apartment. Very, very impulsive of her, probably the most impulsive thing she'd done in a very long time, but it still felt right. He needed it. She had to check up on him tomorrow, had to bring him breakfast. But first, she needed to sleep. So she washed her face with a flick of her wand, quickly changed into a Harpies pyjamas, and before she'd fully closed her eyes, sleep had come to greet her.
But the pleasure of sleep didn't last very long, and for the record, it wasn't even pleasant. Ginny found herself thrown from one dream to another, each one more odd and complex than the other. She dreamed about Draco, about a teenager who behaved like shit but later hid in the bathroom crying his eyes out. She dreamed about Lucius, angrier than she'd ever seen him, screaming words she couldn't hear – they didn't feel like very kind ones – and a little boy hiding in a corner, ears covered with small, scratch marked hands. She dreamed about the fireplace in Gryffindor's common room, about roasting marshmallows with her friends, laughing and joking. She dreamed about Harry, about their very first kiss after that Quidditch game, but also about waiting and waiting in their couch for a man who finally messaged her that he slept at the ministry. Memories she had and memories that didn't belong to her, leaving her with a deep feeling of unease in her stomach.
The alarm clock showed 8.12 AM. Harry slept like a baby, making noises every now and then. The bitter feeling the dreams had left her still felt strong, and normally, she would've leaned over to kiss her fiancé, but this time, she just couldn't bring herself to. So she chose the other option – she carefully crawled out of bed, changed to a striped tank top, jeans and a cardigan, spended about five minutes in the bathroom, quickly scribbled down a few words on a paper and left the apartment.