A/N: Whoops! I had a pretty crappy day at work yesterday and totally forgot to update. Sorry! I'll be uploading two chapters today to make up for it :)
Draco had just gotten out of the hospital wing, it had been about a week since he'd nearly died at Potter's hand, when he first saw his witch wrapped around his would-be murderer.
To be truthful, the sight was more painful than the Sectumsempra curse.
A flash of a memory passed over his eyes of blood mixing in the thin layer of water that sat atop the bathroom floor.
Potter's voice filled his head, the hiss of the spell mingling with his joyful laughter at a joke his witch had told.
Rage boiled from the scars wrapped up beneath his robes. Draco's hand twitched, demanding to grab the wand in his pocket. But he was with her, and he couldn't hurt her.
Potter ignored him as they passed, but Ginny… she had the audacity to meet his eyes. There was a brokenness in her gaze, and Draco saw it.
It was the first time Draco had seen her with Potter, just days after the "epic" kiss, according to rumors, and she didn't even look happy about it.
Ginny had just left Dumbledore's funeral, had just been broken up with, when she first told Draco Malfoy they could never be together again.
She'd returned to her dorm room and collapsed on the bed. Ginny spent so much of her life trying to show the world she was unbreakable that when she was finally alone she still couldn't cry.
A pecking at her window forced her out of bed. An owl she'd never seen before landed on the sill and stuck its leg out for her.
Meet me in the Room of Lost Things. Now.
The note was short and unsigned, but she didn't need a signature to know who had sent the note.
She crumpled the parchment in her hand and tucked it in her robes as she took a moment to glance in the mirror. She had deep, dark bags under her eyes, but other than that, it was hard to tell anything was wrong. Her lips were set in a thin, straight line as she took a deep breath through her nose and left the room.
"Ginny," her name left his mouth like a prayer as he rushed toward her when she entered the room.
She backed away. "Don't touch me," she said softly.
Draco stopped, his hand hanging awkwardly between them.
"You could've told me, Draco."
His hand returned to his side. "What good would that have done?"
Ginny threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "I don't know, Draco! There's no good you can do other than choosing the right side."
His jaw twitched.
"Right. That's why Potter's just perfect for you, isn't it? He's so good. But you're not all good, Ginny! You have darkness in you, does he know that? Does he know anything real about you? Does he know you still think about Tom? That you still miss him?" His eyes bored into hers as he waited for a response or a sign that she was listening. He didn't get one. "He probably doesn't, right? Because he would run away from you if he did."
Ginny flinched.
"It doesn't matter anymore," she said, her voice still quiet.
"What happened?" Draco asked, his tone softening instantly.
"Well, to start, you hatched a plan to kill the headmaster. Now Harry has to admit things are really starting, and he isn't coming back next year, and he doesn't want me to wait for him."
"What an idiot," Draco said under his breath.
"Excuse me?" Ginny hissed.
"I would never let you go of my own accord; I never wanted to let you go."
Ginny laughed, but there was no humor or joy in the sound. "Right, right, right. Choosing Voldemort was letting me go, Draco."
"I want you back, Ginny, I've always wanted you."
"You'll never get me back," she responded, her tone ice cold, her eyes ablaze. "And you made that choice, Draco, don't forget that."
It was the first time she'd said it aloud, that they would never get back together. And in that moment, she truly couldn't envision Draco as part of her future. In reality, it was hard to envision a future at all.