Getting Personal

CHAPTER 16 Back to Hogwarts

Ginny came down to the kitchen nearly an hour later, her face swollen and blotchy, and Draco wanted to grab her right there and make all her pain go away. Her mother went to the cupboard and quickly began to fix a dinner for Ginny.

"Here," she announced triumphantly, setting a bowl of stew in front of Ginny. "Eat this, and I'll get you tucked into bed."

Two things occurred to Draco at once. The first was that this was the only meal he had seen Mrs. Weasley prepare all summer, and the second was that if Mrs. Weasley tried to tuck Ginny into bed in her own room, she would notice in two seconds flat that Ginny did not sleep in there. The second thought seemed to occur to Lupin at the exact same time. Draco received a sharp kick under the table as Lupin announced, "Well, I guess I'll go get ready for the night."

"Me too," Draco mumbled, following him out of the room.

"Quick," Lupin hissed. "I'll go make sure the room looks lived in and you bring some of her stuff down. Just get enough to make it look like she uses it, and hurry!"

Draco took the stairs three at a time, grabbed several of Ginny's pants, a skirt he found on the floor, three blouses, and shoes. "Here," he gasped, dropping the items in the middle of the floor.

"Good," Lupin said, draping the clothes throughout the room. "There. Does that look alright?"

"Yeah," Draco looked around. "It does."

"Okay, let's go."

They dashed down the stairs to the living room, and waited.

"Now there is one thing I've been wanting to ask you," Lupin said solemnly, not looking Draco in the eye.

Draco's insides squirmed. He knew what was coming.

"Are you and Ginny being safe?"

"Yes," Draco said defiantly, staring him in the eyes. "We are."

"Okay."

Lupin left it at that, and they sat in silence, Lupin pouring over maps and blueprints, and Draco thumbing through ancient books, until a worn Mrs. Weasley came in the room.

"Well," she said, wringing her hands. "I got her to bed. I tried to give her a sleeping potion, but she refused." She sighed heavily, and Draco wondered if she always had looked older than she was or if it was just lately. "Do you think I should have insisted?"

"No," Lupin stated placidly, glancing at Draco. "She'll be fine. When does Arthur get home?"

She sighed again and sat down next to Draco. "I don't know. He stays at the Ministry a lot, you know. Easier I suppose . . ."

Lupin nodded. "There is much work to be done there. The Department of Mysteries is very busy I hear."

"Yes, yes." She stared blankly at the wall. Suddenly she turned to Draco. "Thank you for taking care of Ginny. I know our families have never gotten along, but Dumbledore is right, of course. We must unite. We can only over come . . . this, if we are strong together."

Draco nodded, unsure what he was supposed to say. Please don't cry. Please don't cry.

"I know my family may not all seem very friendly right now, but they'll come around. You'll see."

She was right. Fred and George ignored him completely, and Draco got the feeling this may have been a good thing, and Ginny's oldest brothers were just cordial enough to get by. He wasn't even sure if her father remembered that he was there.

"You should get some sleep Molly," Lupin suggested, "if you are still going with Tonks to Diagon Alley tomorrow."

Draco mumbled goodnight and watched as she left the room, looking slightly confused as to what was going on. If anyone had told him last summer, that in a year he'd be hiding out in Harry Potter's house with the Weasley's, Professor Lupin, and a handful of disowned relatives, he would have declared them mental. And yet here he was, taking cover from his father. It was truly pathetic. But even if he wanted out he knew his father wasn't going to take him back, not without some painful oath to the Dark Lord, he was sure.

"I guess I'll go to bed also," he said finally. He trudged up the stairs and stopped outside Ginny's room, listening. No light shone under the door and the room was silent. Maybe she did need some sleep, he decided. Sleeping with him couldn't have been restful; some nights he woke himself up with nightmares.

He pushed the door open to his room, and there she was, sound asleep in his bed. He suppressed a smile and quickly stripped down to his night clothes. Good. He didn't like the idea of sleeping alone.

When Ginny woke in the night, she felt Draco's warm, comfortable body pressed into hers. She struggled to breathe. The pain in her chest was so great it was physical. Go back to sleep, she willed herself, but it was no use. The loss was so thick, her grief so agonizing that her mind could not comprehend it. Instead, she rolled over to Draco and buried her face in his neck, her fingers sliding down his chest until they reached the waist band of his night clothes and tugged them down. Her nightshirt still on, she wiggled off her knickers and threw one leg over Draco, kissing him.

"Ginny?" he asked sleepily.

"Make me forget," she begged. "Please, make this go away."

"What, what's, are you okay?"

"Please, make me forget."

"Okay," he whispered, his fingers reaching for her face. "Come here. I'll help you."

"Just love me," she whispered. "Just love me."

***

The train ride back to Hogwarts was the longest Ginny had ever experienced. Hermione had greeted them with a smile, but Ginny could see the sadness underneath. They received stares from their fellow students, but she wasn't sure if they were stares of sympathy for Ron or stares of disbelief for Draco. After all, they were all thinner, paler, and looked older than they had two months ago, but Draco's mother wasn't there to see him off this year with her usual fuss and large packages of sweets. True, there was a large crowd when they left: both her parents, Fred and George, Bill, Moody, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus Fletcher, and several others whose names she still wasn't quite sure of had all seen them off. And there had been more than a little fretting about them, including Draco getting two hugs from her mum, one from Tonks, and even handshakes from the twins. Maybe that's why the Slytherin's are staring, she thought bitterly.

When they arrived at the school's Great Hall, they were shocked to find that there were no tables.

"This," Dumbledore announced when they had settled down, "is the first step to promote unity among our houses. I cannot stress enough the importance of our uniting. You are all aware of the loss we suffered at the end of the school year, and I must warn you it will not be the last. Lord Voldemort was responsible for the death of Ronald Weasley, and many, many others. We must unite to defeat this foe." With that, he waved his hands and tables appeared. Not the four long tables they were used to, but 12 shorter tables. "Please, fill free to mingle."

Ginny and Draco sat with Harry, Hermione, Dean, Seamus, Luna, Neville, Zoë, Colin, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot.

"If looks could kill," Neville said crossly as they ate, "we'd all be dead."

Ginny glanced in the direction of his eyes. At one of the tables, several Slytherin's, all the children of known or suspected Death Eaters had gathered.

"That's just something we'll have to get used to," Harry shrugged, his mouth full.

"How are we supposed to unite with them?" Colin asked, sneering back at the table.

"We just have to," Luna answered him serenely.

Draco squeezed Ginny's hand under the table while she shuffled the food on her plate, pretending to eat. She noticed Hermione doing the exact same thing; she was just rearranging the miniscule amount of food on her plate, hoping no one noticed.

After dinner, Ginny and Draco slipped out to the empty entrance hall. "I think I'll go to my room," he told her. "I'm not really in the mood to be in there when the rest of my house comes in."

Ginny nodded, wishing he didn't have to go. "Okay."

Draco leaned forward to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow morning I'm going to make you eat."

Ginny opened her mouth, but stopped when Dumbledore came into view.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, I was hoping to find you here," he said, smiling.

"Yes sir?" Draco looked up quickly.

"I was wondering if you might be more comfortable with a different room to stay in this year. Many are indifferent of your most recent decisions, but I know there are some you may not wish to deal with at this moment."

Draco's eyebrows arched high. "What do you mean?"

"I want to offer you some options this year. As you already know, we are trying to promote unity among our houses, and I can offer you a bed in another house, or your own room for the time being."

Ginny's stomach twisted painfully. She knew Dumbledore was offering him Ron's empty bed. Hot tears filled her eyes as she waited for Draco to answer.

CHAPTER 17 Readjusting

"I can't take . . . Weasley's bed, sir," Draco told Professor Dumbledore.

A strange mixture of relief and disappointment washed over Ginny.

"Very well," Dumbledore nodded. "That is to be expected. I have spoken with Professor Snape and he will arrange a private room for you, until other arrangements can be made." He paused and looked over the top of his spectacles at Ginny, then back at Draco. "That is not to say, however, that the rules of this school are not to be obeyed."

Ginny felt heat spreading across her cheeks and mumbled her reply under her breath, but Draco looked him in the eye and said, "Yes, sir."

The first week passed quickly for Ginny. She had to adjust to her new schedule of classes, all intended to make her ready of her N.E.W.T.s, had found herself on more than one occasion wondering where her brother was, and had been unable to escape the sympathetic gaze of any teacher long enough to sneak down to Draco's new room.

They had been in school for three whole weeks before Ginny managed to sneak away from everyone and creep down to the dungeons, where Draco's room was located. When she entered the room they didn't speak. Draco's mouth bore down on her own and she gave in. He had her all but naked before they even reached his bed, and she was franticly trying to undo his trousers. He drove her shoulders into his mattress and pulled his trousers towards his knees, where they stayed, bunched at his ankles.

The days began to blend with the weeks, then the months, and soon Ginny was engulfed in her studies, Quidditch, and Draco. They usually managed to see each other once a week, and with the load of homework, practice, and study groups, Ginny didn't think she could handle anymore. When she was alone with Draco, they didn't talk anymore. Talking was for greetings in the hall, meals at the Great Hall tables, and study groups; alone time was for sex, usually hard and needy, desperate sex. Plus, Harry's scar burned him more painfully than ever. Madam Pomfrey had Professor Snape brew him several different potions just so he could walk up right. On top of all that, her brother's memory haunted her at nights. She would be studying in the common room well after curfew and think she heard Ron say something to Harry or Hermione and when she laughed or tried to join in, she realized he wasn't there. Part of her wished he had chosen the route of becoming a ghost; at least she'd still have him. But, strangely, it was Harry who reminded her time and time again that death was not the end.

"Death for mortals is just a changing from one life to another," he assured her as they stared into the Gryffindor fire, unable to sleep.

"How do you know?"

"Dumbledore told me."

"He did?"

Harry nodded. "And Luna. She's reminded me too."

"Luna?" Ginny repeated.

"Her mum died, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

Harry leaned across the couch and gave her a one armed hug. "How is Malfoy treating you?"

"Fine," she said automatically.

"You don't seem happy."

"I am. Well, I'm not, but it's not because of him."

"Then why?"

"I just miss Ron," she said, feeling her voice crack.

"Me too." Harry's voice changed also.

"I guess mum told you we're going to have his memorial ceremony over the Holidays."

Harry nodded. "She owled me and Hermione."

"Percy's supposed to come."

"Good. That would be good. Where is it going to be?"

"Here, I think. Dumbledore doesn't think that anywhere else is safe," Ginny replied, staring into the fire.