Hello! Welcome to my newest D/G story. This is a continuation of The Visible Invisible which can be found on my author's page. It's pretty essential that you read in order to fully understand the plot, relationship and the few OC's that are present in the story.
The narrative is going to fluctuate between the present and a series of flashbacks (this chapter is the present, which you will undoubtedly surmize once you've read it). I hope you enjoy it!
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The Balin Connection
Chapter 1: Time Warp
It was like he'd gone back in time. Over the course of two years, she'd changed so much, and now it was like it had all faded away, leaving behind the same person she'd been - cold, withdrawn and with that haunted look in her eye that always made him feel incredibly guilty.
"Thank you for meeting me today, I know how busy you've been lately," she said with a small smile, sitting down across from him at the obligatory round table that all small coffee shops seem to favor.
"Never too busy for you, Gin," he said, attempting to keep his tone light, when he already knew what this entire meeting was about. "I was surprised to hear from you, it's been quite awhile."
"Yeah, it really has. I took some time, you know, for myself, make sure I was fully recovered and all that," she said with a dismissive wave. "How's your wife doing?"
"She's good. Only a few months along, but she's already in what your mother tells me is the 'nesting' phase. Been driving me a little crazy, actually," Harry said, with a sheepish smile. His wife, the cousin of his school-year rival, had announced her pregnancy a month ago.
"Bill went through the same thing, you'll survive," she said with a fond smile. But then she was suddenly all business, and the transformation was instant and complete. "I think you know why I've asked you here, Harry."
"I've been waiting for you to come talk to me since it happened, I didn't think you'd wait this long," he said, sighing. He suddenly felt very old, as if he'd lived too much for his 26 years.
"I have to know. There's so much that happened that I don't understand, and if I'm ever going to be able to...well, move on, I guess, I need to know and understand it all," she explained vehemently. Harry was slightly relieved to see the flicker of determination in her eyes, a sign that were was still fire behind them.
"I don't know how much I can tell you. When you asked me to meet you, I had my team put this together, so I hope it can help," he said, sliding a folder across the table to her. She opened it, and upon seeing what was written on the papers inside, she looked up at him, stunned.
"Are you sure you can trust me with this information? I don't want this to come back to haunt you, Harry. I"m working outside of the Ministry's authority," she warned. Looking around her warily, she closed the cover of the file, and made as if to hand it back to him, then hesitated, as if unable to decide whether or not the relinquish it.
"You deserve to have it more than anyone, Ginny. I've had a time of it, keeping Ron away from this information, and I think that's for the best," Harry said, with a knowing smile. Ginny had to agree.
"Thank you, Harry. Really."
"What are you going to do with it?" he asked.
"I don't know yet. For the moment, I just want to understand what happened. I know that you and Ron weren't very surprised, but you weren't there. You didn't see his face...I can't get the look of his eyes out of my head. There's more to this than it looks like on the surface..." Ginny trailed off, lost in her thoughts.
"Just be careful. If anything were to happen to you again... well, just be careful," he said.
"I learned that lesson the hard way, Harry," she said, a touch of bitterness in her voice.
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Ginny Weasley had carried her precious file of information home with her, checking multiple times over her shoulder, certain that she was being watched. She'd become rather paranoid, always feeling as if someone was watching her, waiting for her to make some move. A voice inside her head kept telling her that what was hidden in that file folder was incredibly important, and it may just begin to unravel the mystery surrounding the past 10 months of her life.
Slowly stretching out on the sofa, she began to leaf through the pages, her mind spinning at the possibilities that these pages revealed. An image of the moment that had been haunting her for four months flashed in her mind, and she set the file aside, uncertain if she was emotionally ready to handle facing this yet. Her mind filled with the past, she tugged at the hem of her shirt, and skimmed her fingers over the rough edges of scar tissue that ran diagonally across her abdomen, from her ribcage to her hip. A constant reminder.
She gave into fatigue, and her eyes slowly drifted shut. The memories filling her brain became convoluted as she slept, filling her conscious with garbled images from her real life that became increasingly frightening. She woke with a sudden gasp, her eyes snapping open, and lay frozen for a moment. She was being watched again, and paranoia took over, freezing her limbs, causing her to break out into a cold sweat.
"It's okay, it's just me," a voice said to her, and she had to bite back a scream as a hand rested against her shoulder. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could see a pair of familiar eyes glinting as they caught the scant light, and a warm flood of relief washed the panic away.
"Malfoy, what have I told you about knocking?" she groaned, sitting up, stretching her stiff muscles.
"Knocking doesn't apply to me, Weasley, I thought you would have figured it out by now," her intruder said, with an affectionate smile, as he sat down beside on the couch.
"What brings you here?" she asked, biting back a yawn, and looking for a clock. It read that it was well past midnight, and she counted backwards, calculating the amount of sleep she'd been able to garner. She was fast becoming an insomniac, and the precious hours she could grab were counted carefully, as if they represented a tally that safeguarded her sanity.
"I heard a rather disturbing rumor from Gabrielle," he said, meeting her eyes.
"And what rumor would that be?" Ginny asked casually, knowing full well what kind of answer she was going to get.
"That you met with Potter. That you're digging around for information about him," he said, his voice cold. Ginny couldn't figure out why, but he had the air of someone who felt as if he'd been betrayed.
"You know very well why I doing it, and as I've said before, nothing you say can convince me otherwise, and it's not really any of your concern, anyway," she snapped.
"You're my concern, Ginny. After what happened, can you honestly believe that it's a good idea to get back into this?"
"Do you think I should just give up, then? Hide in a corner, lick my wounds and then roll over and let him win?" she cried, jumping off the couch and begining to pace to help vent some of her feelings.
"It's too dangerous," he said slowly.
"I have to do this, I have to know! Or else I'll go crazy! I already am starting to freak out! I can't spend the rest of my life jumping at shadows and constantly asking 'why' and if you can't understand that, then that's your problem, stop making it mine," she cried.
"Ginny, he's a dangerous man."
"You don't know that for certain. I keep telling you, there was something more going on there, Darien," Ginny insisted.
"I know him better than you think. The only reason you're safe is because he thinks he killed you. Draco Malfoy doesn't take too kindly to failure, and if he finds out you're still alive, he'll be back to finish what he started," Darien said, grabbing Ginny by the shoulders, and forcing her to look at him. She stared at his eyes, the exact same color of the person she'd thought she'd known so well, and her anger melted away, and was replaced by sadness.
"I can't live the rest of my life not knowing, Darien. It's killing me, and it will keep killing me until I find what I need. The way I see it, either way, there's danger, and I like the situation where I get to be in control and start to do something about it," she said softly.
"Then you're not going to do this alone. I'm going to be with you, every step of the way. And if we happen to come across my dear cousin, I'll make sure he doesn't finish what he started," Darien declared.
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A/N: So, I did say that there wasn't going to bea sequel to VI, but hey, I'm apparently a great big liar. Got a flash of inspiration and this is the result.
Also, I've been re-reading some chapters of the Visible Invisible, and realize, dude, I need a beta! So, I'm on the hunt for someone, whose preferably pretty familiar with that story, to help out with this one. Any takers? You can drop me an email or comment on my live journal (all this info can be found on my author's page).
Later!
The narrative is going to fluctuate between the present and a series of flashbacks (this chapter is the present, which you will undoubtedly surmize once you've read it). I hope you enjoy it!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Balin Connection
Chapter 1: Time Warp
It was like he'd gone back in time. Over the course of two years, she'd changed so much, and now it was like it had all faded away, leaving behind the same person she'd been - cold, withdrawn and with that haunted look in her eye that always made him feel incredibly guilty.
"Thank you for meeting me today, I know how busy you've been lately," she said with a small smile, sitting down across from him at the obligatory round table that all small coffee shops seem to favor.
"Never too busy for you, Gin," he said, attempting to keep his tone light, when he already knew what this entire meeting was about. "I was surprised to hear from you, it's been quite awhile."
"Yeah, it really has. I took some time, you know, for myself, make sure I was fully recovered and all that," she said with a dismissive wave. "How's your wife doing?"
"She's good. Only a few months along, but she's already in what your mother tells me is the 'nesting' phase. Been driving me a little crazy, actually," Harry said, with a sheepish smile. His wife, the cousin of his school-year rival, had announced her pregnancy a month ago.
"Bill went through the same thing, you'll survive," she said with a fond smile. But then she was suddenly all business, and the transformation was instant and complete. "I think you know why I've asked you here, Harry."
"I've been waiting for you to come talk to me since it happened, I didn't think you'd wait this long," he said, sighing. He suddenly felt very old, as if he'd lived too much for his 26 years.
"I have to know. There's so much that happened that I don't understand, and if I'm ever going to be able to...well, move on, I guess, I need to know and understand it all," she explained vehemently. Harry was slightly relieved to see the flicker of determination in her eyes, a sign that were was still fire behind them.
"I don't know how much I can tell you. When you asked me to meet you, I had my team put this together, so I hope it can help," he said, sliding a folder across the table to her. She opened it, and upon seeing what was written on the papers inside, she looked up at him, stunned.
"Are you sure you can trust me with this information? I don't want this to come back to haunt you, Harry. I"m working outside of the Ministry's authority," she warned. Looking around her warily, she closed the cover of the file, and made as if to hand it back to him, then hesitated, as if unable to decide whether or not the relinquish it.
"You deserve to have it more than anyone, Ginny. I've had a time of it, keeping Ron away from this information, and I think that's for the best," Harry said, with a knowing smile. Ginny had to agree.
"Thank you, Harry. Really."
"What are you going to do with it?" he asked.
"I don't know yet. For the moment, I just want to understand what happened. I know that you and Ron weren't very surprised, but you weren't there. You didn't see his face...I can't get the look of his eyes out of my head. There's more to this than it looks like on the surface..." Ginny trailed off, lost in her thoughts.
"Just be careful. If anything were to happen to you again... well, just be careful," he said.
"I learned that lesson the hard way, Harry," she said, a touch of bitterness in her voice.
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Ginny Weasley had carried her precious file of information home with her, checking multiple times over her shoulder, certain that she was being watched. She'd become rather paranoid, always feeling as if someone was watching her, waiting for her to make some move. A voice inside her head kept telling her that what was hidden in that file folder was incredibly important, and it may just begin to unravel the mystery surrounding the past 10 months of her life.
Slowly stretching out on the sofa, she began to leaf through the pages, her mind spinning at the possibilities that these pages revealed. An image of the moment that had been haunting her for four months flashed in her mind, and she set the file aside, uncertain if she was emotionally ready to handle facing this yet. Her mind filled with the past, she tugged at the hem of her shirt, and skimmed her fingers over the rough edges of scar tissue that ran diagonally across her abdomen, from her ribcage to her hip. A constant reminder.
She gave into fatigue, and her eyes slowly drifted shut. The memories filling her brain became convoluted as she slept, filling her conscious with garbled images from her real life that became increasingly frightening. She woke with a sudden gasp, her eyes snapping open, and lay frozen for a moment. She was being watched again, and paranoia took over, freezing her limbs, causing her to break out into a cold sweat.
"It's okay, it's just me," a voice said to her, and she had to bite back a scream as a hand rested against her shoulder. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could see a pair of familiar eyes glinting as they caught the scant light, and a warm flood of relief washed the panic away.
"Malfoy, what have I told you about knocking?" she groaned, sitting up, stretching her stiff muscles.
"Knocking doesn't apply to me, Weasley, I thought you would have figured it out by now," her intruder said, with an affectionate smile, as he sat down beside on the couch.
"What brings you here?" she asked, biting back a yawn, and looking for a clock. It read that it was well past midnight, and she counted backwards, calculating the amount of sleep she'd been able to garner. She was fast becoming an insomniac, and the precious hours she could grab were counted carefully, as if they represented a tally that safeguarded her sanity.
"I heard a rather disturbing rumor from Gabrielle," he said, meeting her eyes.
"And what rumor would that be?" Ginny asked casually, knowing full well what kind of answer she was going to get.
"That you met with Potter. That you're digging around for information about him," he said, his voice cold. Ginny couldn't figure out why, but he had the air of someone who felt as if he'd been betrayed.
"You know very well why I doing it, and as I've said before, nothing you say can convince me otherwise, and it's not really any of your concern, anyway," she snapped.
"You're my concern, Ginny. After what happened, can you honestly believe that it's a good idea to get back into this?"
"Do you think I should just give up, then? Hide in a corner, lick my wounds and then roll over and let him win?" she cried, jumping off the couch and begining to pace to help vent some of her feelings.
"It's too dangerous," he said slowly.
"I have to do this, I have to know! Or else I'll go crazy! I already am starting to freak out! I can't spend the rest of my life jumping at shadows and constantly asking 'why' and if you can't understand that, then that's your problem, stop making it mine," she cried.
"Ginny, he's a dangerous man."
"You don't know that for certain. I keep telling you, there was something more going on there, Darien," Ginny insisted.
"I know him better than you think. The only reason you're safe is because he thinks he killed you. Draco Malfoy doesn't take too kindly to failure, and if he finds out you're still alive, he'll be back to finish what he started," Darien said, grabbing Ginny by the shoulders, and forcing her to look at him. She stared at his eyes, the exact same color of the person she'd thought she'd known so well, and her anger melted away, and was replaced by sadness.
"I can't live the rest of my life not knowing, Darien. It's killing me, and it will keep killing me until I find what I need. The way I see it, either way, there's danger, and I like the situation where I get to be in control and start to do something about it," she said softly.
"Then you're not going to do this alone. I'm going to be with you, every step of the way. And if we happen to come across my dear cousin, I'll make sure he doesn't finish what he started," Darien declared.
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A/N: So, I did say that there wasn't going to bea sequel to VI, but hey, I'm apparently a great big liar. Got a flash of inspiration and this is the result.
Also, I've been re-reading some chapters of the Visible Invisible, and realize, dude, I need a beta! So, I'm on the hunt for someone, whose preferably pretty familiar with that story, to help out with this one. Any takers? You can drop me an email or comment on my live journal (all this info can be found on my author's page).
Later!
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