Finishing Touches

CHAPTER 11

Ginny stood up and began walking for the door and then stopped. "Here," she said, turning back to Draco. "Here's your ring." She refused to look up, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes.

"It won't come off," he told her.

He was right, the ring wouldn't budge. "Why not?"

"I told you it was full of old magic."

Ginny glanced up, expecting to see a smirk, but finding his expression blank and emotionless instead. She just nodded and left the room.

Ginny stood outside St. Mungo's, watching the Muggles rush past her in the late afternoon sun and wondered where to go. She hadn't spoken to her parents since Draco had been admitted, and now they were like strangers to her. She had no desire to return to Hogwarts. She knew Fred and George would take her in, but she wasn't in the mood for their antics, so she decided instead to go to Harry's.

Hermione answered the door, temporarily surprising Ginny out of her stupor. Hermione let her in and had the grace not to ask any questions until she had shown Ginny to an empty room. "Harry's not here now, but he'll be home tonight. He'll be thrilled to see you."

Ginny nodded and looked around. "Are you living here?"

"No. Ron is. Well, I guess I do stay here a lot, but officially, I don't live here."

Ginny nodded again, recalling the way her brother had held onto Hermione at Dumbledore's memorial. "Where are they?"

"At the Ministry. With your father."

"Oh." Ginny sat down on the empty bed, the bed she had slept in before, the summer before Sirius died.

"How is Draco?"

Ginny didn't answer right away, but felt something warm start to run down her face. "He's better. They said he could go home."

"That's good," Hermione said. "Isn't it?"

"They said that he could live to be much older, but he'll need constant care."

"And?"

"And he said he didn't want me going with him."

"What?" Hermione gasped and sat down beside her. "Oh Ginny, why?"

"He said that he couldn't give me a family or home or be a good husband." Her voice was flat but the tears continued to fall.

Hermione put her arms around the red headed girl and began to rock her back and forth.

"I can't make this ring come off," Ginny whispered. "I tried, and he said it was full of old magic."

Hermione studied the ring for several moments, and then told her, "I'll see what I can find out. I'm going to get you something to drink."

She returned with a large silver goblet. "It's probably more than you need, but I thought it would put you to sleep."

Wordlessly, Ginny tipped up the goblet and downed every drop of fire whiskey.

It took Hermione three days to figure the ring out. Three days of pretending to be cheerful in Ron and Harry's presence, three days of crying herself to sleep, three long lonely days.

"I've got it," Hermione announced, one evening, sitting in the chair next to Ginny.

"What?" Harry asked, his mouth full.

"You figured it out?" Ron asked with a smile.

"The only thing I could find was a charm called the Benadini Charm."

"Bina what?" Harry asked.

"Benadini," she continued. "It's very, very old. It dates back to about 600 BC, and it's not used anymore because it's extremely complicated."

"But how do you break it?" Ginny asked, still staring at her plate, her voice quivering.

"What are we talking about again?" Harry asked.

"Her ring," Ron informed him. "Malfoy put some kind of curse on it."

"Not exactly," Hermione said. "He wouldn't know this one."

"Tell us, then," Ginny requested softly.

Hermione's voice dropped and suddenly sounded rather strained. "Well, it's a bit unusual. You see, just because the ring has the spell on it doesn't mean it always works. The ancient wizards and witches used to use it at marriage ceremonies to prove their love for one another."

"Just tell me," Ginny interrupted.

She shifted uncomfortably. "You and Malfoy have to stop loving each other."

"What?" Ginny stared at Hermione, forgetting that she had been trying to hide her tears.

Hermione shrugged and helped her self to some pudding. "That's what it says."

"But I hate him."

"Apparently not," Ron growled.

"Did you even think you loved him?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yes, I mean . . ." Ginny trailed off, the pain in her chest growing unbearable.

Everyone at the table was staring at her.

"I feel like throwing up every time I think about him," Ginny said honestly. "So that means it's him and not me. This stupid thing won't come off till he stops loving me?"

"Can you twist the ring at all?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shook her head as she tried. "Nothing. It won't budge."

"If you didn't love him, you should be able to twist it clockwise, and if he didn't love you it would go counter clockwise. And if neither of you loved the other, it would come off."

CHAPTER 12

For three long months, the ring hadn't budged. Ginny had spent hours twisting and pulling it but it absolutely refused to move. For three long months, Ginny stayed at Harry's house, with him and Ron and Hermione. Harry and Ron went off to work each day with her father at the Ministry and Hermione stayed behind, trying to find some new activity to include Ginny in.

"You have to go see him," Hermione said finally as she ate her lunch.

"Huh?" Ginny looked up and was almost surprised to see Hermione sitting across from her and a plate of untouched food in front of her.

"Every single day you play with that ring and it hasn't budged. So go see him."

Ginny shook her head. "I can't. He doesn't want me to."

"Then get over him," Hermione suggested wearily. "You can't live like this. We can't live like this."

"Maybe I should get a job."

"That's a start. Or you could go see your parents."

But Ginny didn't do any of those things. Instead she would get out of bed early in the morning and wander around the Muggle parts of London until late in the evening. When Hermione would question her, she would just say that she had been shopping, or looking for a job, or even out with old friends.

"Wake up!" she heard Hermione hissing early, early one morning.

Ginny sat up groggily in her bed and looked around. Sunlight wasn't even streaming in the windows yet. "What?"

"We've got places to go." She led Ginny into the bathroom and watched as she wearily washed her face and scrubbed her teeth. "Now put these on," she commanded, tossing a pink skirt and white top at Ginny.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked, pulling her hair into a pony tail. "Are you kicking me out?"

Hermione smiled thinly. "No. Just giving you a kick start."

"Why don't we apparate?" Ginny asked with a yawn as they stood on the curb in front of Harry's house. "Or use Floo?"

She just shook her head determinedly and stuck out her wand.

The beds were still out on the Knight Bus, and Ginny could see several witches and wizards still sleeping. Once they had settled comfortably on the second floor, Hermione began to speak. "I ran into someone in Diagon Alley yesterday morning. We spent the better part of the morning talking."

Ginny looked at her silently.

"Draco is so sorry. It was horrible to see him that way, when I'm so used to him being horrible or at least arrogant."

"Seeing him what way?" Ginny demanded.

"So sad."

"Is that where we're going? To see him?"

"He thought he would hold you back from having a fulfilling life if you went with him. He thought that eventually, you would regret it. He's not doing better. He's getting worse."

Ginny shook her head violently, red hair spilling from her messy pony tail. "No! Why couldn't he tell me that?"

"You would know the answer to that better than I would," Hermione said sadly. "He's Draco. Draco Malfoy."

"I don't want to see him."

Hermione leaned forward and grabbed Ginny's hand. She yanked on the ring as hard as she could, then began violently trying to twist it.

"Ow!" Ginny shrieked as she fell forward. "What are you doing?"

"Are you aware that the Draco that exists now is not going to be the same Draco you fell in love with?" Hermione hissed. "Are you aware that he may die soon, and you could be left all alone? Are you aware that he is going to carry the emotional scars of this for his whole life?"

Ginny had never seen Hermione so angry in her whole life. "It would be like marrying Harry," she said softly.

Hermione continued to glare at her for a moment, and then finally began to giggle. "Exactly."

"Do you think he'll ever get married?"

Hermione shrugged. "There might be a few saints out there."