Chapter 4

A/N

Since I'm writing this purely for my own self-indulgence, there is no beta. Therefore, it is likely that spelling and grammar mistakes may pop up!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter 4

"Hello Ginevra."

Ginny Weasley once again stood frozen on the spot. She couldn't ever seem to face Draco Malfoy without being frozen with fear. He stared down at her, smiling wickedly. Across his handsome face lay a black cloth tied around the side of his head, covering what was undoubtedly the result of her father's curse on his eye.

It wasn't a rumor after all, he hadn't healed it...

His hair had grown longer since she'd last seen him. The blond locks were held in place by the cloth on his face. Draco smirked at her as he noticed the flicker of her gaze to the cloth.

"A little souvenir of mine. Something to remind me about… our meeting."

Ginny's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Draco's smile dropped slightly, and he reached a hand up to the side of her head, stroking a lock of crimson hair.

"I've missed you."

The touch sent a shiver down her spine, but it also jarred her back to her senses.

She screamed.

"RON! Harry!"

Malfoy snatched his hand away from her hair, but otherwise did not move, and his stare did not leave hers. His silver eye bored into her, and her knees trembled. He smiled, staring at her as if she were a treasured possession that he had been reunited with. She found she could not look away.

She heard the bustle of her brothers coming up behind her.

Why doesn't he run?

She felt a strong pair of hands clamp down on the back of her robes pulling her back, before four bodies, each brandishing a wand stepped in front of her, partially obscuring her vision. Harry, Percy, Fred and George stood threateningly towards Draco, who still hadn't appeared to move. She curled into Ron as he put a protective arm around her, pointing his own wand ahead towards Malfoy.

"You really are a devious little bastard aren't you-" George started.

"Sick and perverted bastard more like." Fred finished.

Draco plastered a sickly smirk on his face, which only seemed to infuriate the group further. Ginny noticed Ron's wand arm had the very slightest tremble.

X

Harry lowered his wand slightly and stepped towards Malfoy until he was just a foot away from his face. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Draco Malfoy, whom he always thought to be a sniveling coward, actually had the gall to show up at Kings Cross.

Harry studied his face a moment. Aside from the cloth covering his bad eye, his face was completely unmarred. Disgustingly so. Draco didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he had several wands pointed at him and that he had not bothered to pull out his own. Draco gave a menacing look, daring him to speak first. Harry clenched his wand tighter.

"Malfoy."

"Potter." Malfoy spat.

"You aren't supposed to be here." Harry growled. "You can't come anywhere near her."

"Oh, was that the agreement, was it?" Draco challenged.

From what Harry knew, the actual agreement was that Draco couldn't come to Hogwarts and neither family could press charges, but it seemed that Ginny's family had counted on the fact that since Arthur had attacked him, Draco wouldn't want to come anywhere near the family... and yet here he was.

"It doesn't take both eyes to see you're outnumbered Malfoy. Get out of here before we relieve you of the other one."

"Oh, I'll leave when I'm ready, Potter. But you see, I've missed her." He chuckled darkly. "I just wanted to see her for a minute. But not to worry, I didn't lay a hand on her. I didn't look at anything I shouldn't. I don't have to. I have a pensive you see, so there is a certain memory that I can go back to and relive over and over again..."

Harry felt his jaw crack as he clenched it, and he hoped desperately that Fred and George wouldn't rise to the bait. He could faintly here knuckles cracking next to him.

And then it hit him.

That would be just what Malfoy needed, an unarmed attack at Kings Cross, wherein the magical contract both families signed would now become void, and the Weasley's would surely be charged. That's why Malfoy was unafraid, he knew he hadn't technically done anything wrong, and aggravating the Weasleys could only serve his benefit at this point.

Draco pushed further, but he spoke in so low a voice that Harry was sure the others could not hear.

"But Potter, it's not the same you know. Reliving the memory? It only does so much. She has such soft skin... I miss how it feels." His eye left Harry and looked towards Ginny, giving her a wink.

With a growl Harry's wand jabbed into Malfoy's neck, he was sure the tip of it was burning his skin. He fought to keep himself under control.

Fred and George stepped closer as well. Harry was sure that they had not heard his words based solely on the fact that they were not currently flaying Malfoy alive. The twins sneered at Malfoy.

"Why don't you crawl on out of here you bloody wanker-"

"Go slither back under a rock-"

"Don't you have a puppy you need to go drown?"

"No, Fred, he's late for his weekly satanic ritual."

Draco ignored the jabs, but suddenly glanced over their heads. He took a calm step backwards.

"Well, I'll be off. Pleasure as always..."

X

When Harry stood in front of Draco, Ginny fought the urge to scream at him to get away. They began speaking in low voices, and Ginny couldn't make out their words. After a few moments, Draco stopped talking and turned to look straight at Ginny, giving her the same sickly smirk from earlier.

She let out a yelp of fear, attempting to shrug off Ron and make a dead run for it, but Ron clamped down his arm around her and held her in place.

"Don't," he warned. "Don't run."

Placated, she grasped Ron tightly around the middle, grounding herself.

Where were her parents?

She chanced another look at Malfoy, who was now staring coldly at Harry. The stupid smirk was still on his face, and he seemed to show no fear at the situation. Malfoy glanced back at her again, and gave a wink with his good eye. Harry snarled and charged forward, his wand jabbing into Malfoy's neck. A few tense moments went by, and Malfoy's gaze moved towards her, but looking past her. She saw a brief flicker of nervousness in his face before he stepped back away from Harry's wand, but it soon disappeared. She felt another familiar hand on her shoulder, but couldn't tear her eyes away from what Malfoy was doing. He spoke loudly but continued backing away slowly from Harry, eyes traveling the group.

"Well, I'll be off. Pleasure as always..." Draco turned around swiftly and disappeared into a passing crowd. A few people in the crowd stopped and gaped at the group brandishing wands, but the blond was long gone.

Ginny turned to her side, and saw a comforting site. Bill was standing next to her and Ron, tall and strong. Apparently, the added presence of an adult Weasley was enough to scare off Malfoy. Bill had a strong hand resting on her shoulder, but his face was drawn with concern, and she could see the muscles in his jaw clenching and unclenching. He turned solemnly to her and Ron.

"Let's go home."

X

Ginny found herself in an increasingly familiar situation.

She was straining her ears as much as she could, trying to hear the murmured words of her family in the other room, talking to each other.

About her. About stupid Draco Malfoy.

What else in new?

Hidden up on the stairwell, knees to her chest, Ginny sighed and rested her head on her knees.

If only she had never gone into Flourish and Blott's that day, how different would her life be right at this moment? So many things could have been avoided. She wouldn't have run into Draco Malfoy. She wouldn't have run into Lucius Malfoy. Draco wouldn't have attacked her in the alleyway. Lucius wouldn't have slipped the diary into her cauldron. She would have never met Tom...

Well, at least Tom was long gone. No worries about him popping up in Kings Cross...

The voices of her family suddenly became louder, and she snapped her head up to listen.

"I think the contract was a mistake." Bills voice.

"What do you mean a mistake? Your father said we were protecting her! We should have forgone that and pressed charges! Oh, I knew this whole thing would be a disaster!" Her mother wailed.

"That's not what I mean mum!"

"Well spit it out Bill," Her father interjected sharply, "Because after today it seems the only solution is to void the contract-"

"But dad you could go to Azkaban!" Ron shouted.

"Maybe, but maybe I ought to let them press charges against me in order to placate them."

"Then we're going after Malfoy too!"

"No, we can't do that."

"What? Dad that's mad!"

"Don't you all see? Even if they find Malfoy guilty of hurting Ginny, are you all prepared for what she would have to go through? She'll be questioned, scrutinized, and even though records are sealed for underage wizards and witches, the press would have a hey-day if they ever caught wind. The Malfoys have an excellent solicitor. He will make Ginny out to be at fault. It would be traumatizing for her."

"Dad I don't think we should void the contract; I just think we need some extra security measures. Cleary you haven't scared him off as much as we thought you did. I'm worried he'll try and make more surprise visits. And we can't keep her here on house arrest forever, can we? Just think about it, Gringotts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade..."

"What do you propose?"

"I don't think Ginny should go back to Hogwarts."

Ginny jumped slightly as the Burrow exploded with exclamations from her family.

Not go to Hogwarts?

Ginny bit her lip. She didn't exactly have fond feelings for the place at the moment. But where else would she go?

"Bill, that's madness, she needs to complete school! That foul boy may have ruined her life for the moment but I'll be damned if he robs her of her education!"

"This is absurd! Malfoy is the one who did something wrong, why should Ginny have to quit school and upend her life for this?"

"This is the way the world works, whether we like it or not."

"Bill. You've a plan I can tell. What do you think we should do?"

Bill sighed loudly, but spoke calmly.

"I think Ginny should come with me."

X

Ginny slowly folded a knit top and shoved it into her suitcase. Sunlight lit her room brilliantly, and her walls, once covered with posters of Gwenog Jones and the Weird Sisters were now bare. Her room was mostly packed even though she moved at a snail's pace. So much had changed in the last day. The last week. The last year...

She heard a creak and looked to see her father standing in the doorway.

"Hey Gin-bug. Almost done?"

She closed the lid of her bag, and sat on the bed.

"Almost. I've been taking ages. I don't think its sunk in yet."

Arthur walked over, and joined her sitting on the bed. It sank with a metallic squeak.

"It's alright love. It's a lot to take in, isn't it?"

"Mhmm."

It was a lot to take in, actually. Her life was turning out to be nothing like she had imagined even just a few weeks ago.

Arthur clasped her hand.

"I know you thought you'd be doing all your schooling at Hogwarts. I hope you aren't too disappointed. Bill is a great teacher; you will learn so much from him. And he'll make certain you'll know all you need to in order to take your NEWTs."

Ginny smiled warmly. "I know. He's promised to show me all about curse-breaking as well."

Arthur smiled back, tucking a strand behind her ear. "Perhaps. But basic curriculum first, love. I don't want to hear that you've been raiding tombs instead of writing Transfiguration essays."

"I won't. You lot think I've got Bill wrapped around my finger but you know he'll be as vicious as mum when it comes to chores and homework."

"Actually, I'm counting on that Gin-bug."

He studied her face for a moment.

"You do know why we're doing this don't you? Bill will protect you. And you'll be far away from -"

"Him."

"Yes, him. The Malfoys don't know much about Bill at this point, no one outside this house aside from Dumbledore knows you're going with him, and we will try to keep it that way. I think this is a good plan. You'll be safer this way." He hesitated a moment. "Now, I think in all the chaos, your mum and I have failed to ask you what you think of this plan?"

"I know, it's alright." She chewed her bottom lip in brief thought. "Dad, I actually- I want to go. I want to go with Bill. This whole last year has just been awful, and a fresh start sounds nice."

She thought of the firelit halls of Hogwarts, the cold, wet stones of the Chamber, Myrtle's bathroom...

"I've a lot of unpleasant memories of Hogwarts anyways. I know I sound like baby but I'd rather get away at this point. Not that I won't miss Ron and the twins, because I will."

"What about Percy?"

"Erm, not so much." She teased with a smile, "Besides, he'll be otherwise occupied with Penelope."

Arthur laughed.

"I'm sure Hermione and Harry will miss you too."

Ginny blushed, looking down. Sure, she would miss Hermione. But as for Harry? Well, ever since he had rescued her yet again, she could hardly handle being in his presence without wishing to sink into the floor and disappear. The few times their eyes met, his face always held pity and concern behind the awkwardness. It didn't help that he seemed to be perpetually involved in all the worst memories of the last year, and the sight of him was only another reminder of things she would rather forget. No, it would be good to get away from his awkward glances.

"They'll get along without me, dad."

Arthur sighed and wrapped his arm around Ginny's shoulders.

"Have I mentioned you are the bravest little nugget I've ever seen?"

She sat up mortified.

"NUGGET?"

X

Ginny shouldered her bag as she used her free arm to hug her mother tightly. Molly was sniffling and holding a hanky in her hand, and she fruitlessly tried to convince Bill and Ginny to delay their departure to Egypt.

"Ginny dear," she said, squeezing the air out of Ginny's lungs. "I really thought we could have spent a bit more of the summer with you home? I've only had a you a few days it seems!"

"Mum!" Ginny gasped, "I can't breathe properly!"

"Oh, sorry dear." Molly released her grip as Bill came over to stand beside Ginny, and she placed one of her motherly arms on each of their shoulders.

"Billius Weasley, make sure she eats good breakfasts. She always tends to pick at it-"

"I will mum!"

"Ginny, please behave yourself. I mean it, this isn't a holiday. You aren't to be loitering about in tombs or deciphering ancient runes. You do your schoolwork, and you let Bill do his job, don't be ache in his side-"

"I won't mum!"

But Molly's response was drowned out with her wailing. The rest of the family exchanged hugs, and ended with Arthur clapping his son on the back.

"Keep her safe, Bill."

Bill nodded seriously. "I will."

Ginny threw her hands up in the air with impatience.

"Enough with you lot! Can we go now? I'm ready to tuck into some Umm Ali!"

Bill chuckled. "Always you with the sweets! It's not hard to tell what your motivation to finish your homework will be."

Ginny gave him a sly smile before marching out the door, head held high.

She was ready for her next big adventure.

x

The next night was quiet in the Burrow.

Alone in the dark, Arthur Weasley and his wife sat in a still silence, watching the flames of the fireplace dance. Each thinking to themselves. Thoughts about Bill, about Ginny, about everything passed wordlessly between them. Arthur couldn't seem to quell the despair that rose within him.

After a few moments, Molly broke the silence with a quiet whisper, careful not to let any ears around the house hear.

"Its been almost a year Arthur." She breathed.

"I know."

"So much has happened to her already."

"I know."

Tears leaked down Molly's already red face.

"And its all our fault."

Arthur sighed sadly, scooting closer to Molly and wrapping a comforting arm around her.

"I know."

To Be continued.

Notes:

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