Helpful Revelation
Ginny sat in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, mesmerized by the leaping red-orange flames. Fire had always fascinated her, in that it seemed to be a living being of its own. It was born from the tiniest spark and grew as it aged, using the oxygen around it to keep it alive. But eventually, it would outlive the coal that was its food supply and slowly dwindle down until it died.
�Ginny!�
�Huh?� Ginny�s head snapped up and she looked up at her brother standing beside her. She hadn�t noticed that he was there.
�I�ve been trying to get your attention for ten minutes,� Ron said sitting on the arm of her chair and looking at her with concern. �Are you all right?�
�Yeah, I�m fine,� Ginny lied, turning her eyes back to the fire. �I was just�thinking.�
�Well, I�m going to bed,� Ron said, patting her on the shoulder. �Don�t stay up too late, all right?�
�Okay,� Ginny whispered, nodding. Ron squeezed her shoulder briefly before getting up and walking away. She could hear his footsteps on the stairs behind her. The common room was empty now, just as she�d been waiting for it to be.
She reached into her pocket and withdrew a slender, coal black box. She opened this and took out the knife she�d sneaked from her potions supplies. For a moment, she admired the way the flickering light from the flames bounced off the blade before shaking her head. If she was going to do this, she needed to act quickly. She knew that the common room was hardly ever empty for long, for it seemed that once the last person went to sleep, it was only a matter of time before someone woke early and decided to come downstairs.
Ginny looked up and the fireplace once again caught her eye. The flames were shrinking, soon reduced to only a few glowing embers. The fire was dying, but it could be revived. If someone were to blow carefully on the still hot coals, it could be brought back to life.
Ginny forced herself to look away and stood up, aware that her left wrist was itching like mad under the bracelet she wore. There were differences between the fire and the living. The fire didn�t feel pain, only inflicted it. It didn�t know what it was like to feel alone and abandoned.
Ginny felt like an empty shell, merely a body taking up space. The fire that once existed in her soul had gone out, leaving behind only a few embers that kept her alive. But after tonight, that would be no more. She stood and turned her back on the fireplace, walking to the portrait hole with her newfound determination.
Back in the common room, the last few glowing coals that remained of the fire burned down completely, leaving barely a trace of their light in the darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~
Draco opened his eyes and sat up. He�d been trying in vain to get to sleep for the past couple hours. Ginny�s cold voice still rang in his ears as he replayed the scene of their last encounter in his mind. She�d just hurried away, as if nothing had happened.
But, then again, Draco had to remind himself that a couple years ago, he would�ve done the same, if not worse. He might even do it now, if he ever was put in such a position. Malfoy blood still ran thick through his veins, and he strongly suspected that it still dictated his actions, whether he liked it or not.
He was pulled from his thoughts be a sharp pain in his wrist that quickly faded. He shook his head, thinking it must�ve been his imagination. But then it happened again, and he had to bite his lip to keep from yelling. He pulled up his sleeve and looked down at the bracelet he wore. For a moment, it seemed to be normal, but in the blink of an eye, it tightened painfully around his wrist and then loosened again.
Draco knew what this meant. Ginny was in danger. He knew she wasn�t hurt, or the bracelet would�ve bound his wrist tight enough to cut off blood supply to his hand. But he knew that unless he did something, this effect wouldn�t be far behind.
As the bracelet tightened again, Draco considered taking it off, but decided against this. He would need to know if she did get hurt. He leapt out of his bed, grabbed his wand from his bedside table, and tore out of the dormitory, paying no attention to the grumbling voices of the other 7th year Slytherins, who had just received a very rude awakening.
He reached the portrait within seconds and pushed his way out, ignoring the hisses of warning that came from the snake in the picture. After a few moments of confusion, he finally thought of a spell that could help him out.
Draco held his wand in his palm and whispered the words of the spell, including the name of the one he wished to find. �Invenio Ginny Weasley!� His wand lifted out of his hand, spun around a couple times, and finally started off down the hallway, floating along at a pace that Draco could keep up with by walking.
The wand led him down several corridors, slowing down and speeding up depending on how fast he was going. Every time he rounded a corner, he expected to run into a teacher, but there were none in sight. He began to wonder if they�d abandoned their usual nightly rounds in favor of a good night�s rest. Now that he thought about it, he hadn�t heard anyone say they�d gotten in trouble for being out at night for a long time.
As Draco rounded one corner, a ghost flew out of a door on his right, making him trip and go skidding across the floor, which seemed unusually damp. The ghost, a young girl with glasses, hovered above his head, giggling.
�Two visitors in one night!� she exclaimed, pushing up her glasses and peering down at him. �My, this is unexpected! Although,� she pouted and sighed, �I suppose you�re here to ruin my fun.�
�Yeah, right,� Draco growled, snatching his wand out of the air where it had stopped to wait for him. �And I don�t suppose you�ve seen a red haired girl come past here have you?�
To his surprise and annoyance, the ghost started laughing again. �She came by all right,� she said, still grinning. �She had a knife and was muttering something dreadful to herself.� She said the word �dreadful� as though it was the greatest thing in the world.
�Which way did she go?� Draco demanded, his temper wearing thin.
The ghost immediately stopped smiling and pointed down the hallway with a grimace on her face. �That way, not far from here. I suppose you�re going to stop her,� she said accusingly. Her next words were more to herself than to him. �The students get everything their way, but miserable, Moaning Myrtle never gets to have any fun.� She went back through the door that she�d come from, and Draco now saw that it was to an out of order girls� bathroom.
Draco scrambled to his feet and started off again. He wondered for a moment if Myrtle had pointed him in the wrong direction, but then he saw her. Crouched down against the wall at the end of the hallway, was Ginny Weasley, bringing a knife toward her wrist.
Ginny leapt to her feet when she saw him, taking the knife away from her wrist and pointing the blade toward Draco. Her face caught the light from the torches that lined the walls and he saw that she�d been crying.
�What are you doing here?� she asked, her voice shaking almost as much as her outstretched hand that still clutched the knife. �How did you find me?�
Draco held up his wrist so that his sleeve fell down to reveal the bracelet he wore. �Sensing bracelet and a tracking spell,� he said, taking a step forward.
A look of realization dawned on Ginny�s face, quickly turning to anger. She whipped out the wrist she�d been about to slit and used the knife to cut her bracelet from her wrist. The stones fell to the floor with a sound a bit like running water.
�There,� Ginny said, picking up the piece of unicorn hair that still clung to her wrist and casting it away, �you can have it back. Now go away.�
Draco shook his head. �Not until I know you won�t hurt yourself.�
�What�s it to you?� Ginny asked, pointing the knife in his direction again.
Draco took another step, trying desperately to think of things to say. �Ginny, just put the knife down,� he said carefully.
�Stay away from me!� Ginny shouted, making Draco flinch slightly. She crouched down on the ground and held the knife above her wrist once again. �Take another step and I swear I�ll do it!�
Draco stood rooted to the spot, knowing that she was serious. �Please, Ginny��
�Don�t call me that!� she screamed, dropping the knife with a clatter and covering her face with her hands, sitting down with her back against the wall. �Go away!�
Draco took this opportunity to walk forward, crouching down in front of her. �I�m not going away,� he said quietly, reaching toward her shoulder.
�Don�t touch me!� she yelled, though it was with a lot less force than earlier. �Just please�leave me alone.� She reached for the knife, but Draco got to it first, holding it out of her reach.
Now certain that she couldn�t hurt herself, Draco tucked the knife into his pocket and grabbed her shoulders. �I�m not going anywhere,� he said again.
Ginny sighed and Draco felt her shoulders go slightly limp under his hands as she looked up at him. �What�s it to you what I do with my life? You don�t care about me, no one does.�
�But I do,� Draco said before he could stop himself, and in that moment, he realized that it was true. He reached out a hand to touch her chin, holding her head in place so she couldn�t look away. �I do care about you.�
Ginny drew in a sharp breath, her eyes widening. �What?� she asked in a whisper.
Draco knew it was too late to tell her anything other than the truth, yet somehow, he was glad. �I�ve thought about you a lot,� he said, looking down to avoid her gaze. �I tried to convince myself that I only saved you because I was required to by the Malfoy family code, but the truth is�I would�ve done it anyway. I don�t want anything to happen to you.�
Ginny seemed shocked for a moment, but she quickly overcame it and pulled out of his grasp. �I can�t deal with this right now,� she muttered, burying her face in her hands and sobbing softly.
Without even thinking about it, Draco wrapped an arm around Ginny�s shoulders. He half expected her to push him away or start yelling again. What he didn�t expect was that she would lean her head against his shoulder and continue crying. Draco never knew how long he sat there. After a while, Ginny�s crying stopped and when he looked down, she was fast asleep. Not wanting to wake her, Draco simply smiled and closed his eyes too, leaning his head against the cold, stone wall behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~
�Wake up, Miss Weasley. Miss Weasley, it�s very important that you wake up.�
Ginny slowly opened her eyes, feeling very stiff, and looked up at Professor McGonagall in confusion. She felt something move under her head and was suddenly reminded of what had happened the night before. She lifted her head quickly and glanced up to see that Draco was already awake.
�Professor,� Ginny said quickly, pulling away from Draco, �nothing happened, I swear!�
�Calm down, Miss Weasley,� Professor McGonagall said, reaching out a hand to each of them to help them up, �I believe you. I just thought you two would want to get up before the other students start coming through here. It might be a bit harder to convince them.�
�Thanks Professor,� Ginny said gratefully. �I don�t think I�d be able to deal with something like that right now.�
�It�s no problem,� Professor McGonagall said, winking. �I see my job here is done. I�ll see you in class today Mr. Malfoy.� She turned and walked away, leaning heavily on her walking stick that she�d had to use for two years now, ever since the incident with the Stunning spells.
Ginny reluctantly turned back to Draco, not really knowing what to say. Apparently he was similarly lost for words, as they stood in silence for several minutes.
�So�� Ginny said, trying to stall for time until she could think of something.
�I�d better go,� Draco said, turning his back on her. �It would be best if we weren�t seen together.� He seemed to hesitate for a moment before starting off down the hallway. Ginny silently pleaded for him to turn and look back, but he didn�t.
She sighed heavily and leaned against the wall again, sliding down to sit on the floor. She covered her face with her hands and, for what seemed like the millionth time, said, �I can�t deal with this right now.�
~~~~~~~~~~
A sixth year Ravenclaw girl by the name of Luna Lovegood peeked around the corner of the hallway, hardly believing her eyes. She had arrived just in time to see Draco Malfoy walking away from Ginny, who she considered to be one of her best friends. She wondered for a moment if maybe it was just a coincidence, but when Ginny sat down and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking, she knew it couldn�t be.
�That little piece of shit,� Luna growled quietly. She knew exactly what she had to do now. She started off toward Gryffindor Tower. Malfoy did something to Ginny, Luna was sure of it. And now, he was going to pay.
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Author's note: Ack! It's short, I know! Don't worry, the next chapter is in the works. Anywho, anyone who's read book 5 will take to notice that I included an aspect from it. It adds a nice litte twist, unexpected even to me. I'll try not to leave ya hanging on the cliffhanger for too long.
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