Love or Lose – Chapter Four - When you Believe
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter. I don’t own this song. But I’m going to use it anyway.
Summary: It has been revealed that Lucius Malfoy killed Arthur Weasley and that, strangely enough, is what sparked Draco and Ginny’s friendship.
Author's notes: In this chapter, Ginny's eyes are mentioned as being green. This was a deliberate move on my part, I am aware that it's not Canon. Forgive me! More and more things seem to be becoming AU... but I'll warn you if it goes too off-balance! :P
~~~^~~~
School had already been in session for almost a month, but Ginny had hardly noticed the time fly by. Her teachers found that her usual attention was lost, her mind somewhere else that had nothing to do with studies. Some of the students seemed to think that she was daydreaming about a certain Head Boy, but anybody caught saying that aloud near Ron, Harry or Hermione, were immediately squished. In fact, Ginny’s mind was on much more serious matters. She watched her teachers and students carefully. She read the Daily Prophet like a Muggle Bible. She hoarded supplies and was often found reading books on deadly curses and their respective counter-curses. When she wasn’t doing that, she was patrolling the corridors and grounds, often with Draco at her side.
But unbeknownst to Ginny, Draco wasn’t watching for danger as much as he was watching her. He watched her brow narrow when they found anything out of place. He listened to her ramblings of safety restrictions they could put in place. He agreed with her in almost everything. But he also watched her back. He more than anyone else knew the danger that could altogether possibly lie waiting for her around the corner at any time.
~~~^~~~
Draco ran from the dungeons towards the screams. He had no idea what could be happening, but he had to see if Ginny was safe. As he ran, he passed several students running in the opposite direction. He grabbed one, a fifth year Gryffindor Colin Creevey, and tried to find out what was happening.
"He… He’s killing them! They’re dead, all of them! You’ve got to run, he’s coming… wait… You’re his… he might not..." and with that the boy started babbling and Draco let him go.
He almost crashed into Professor Sprout a moment later.
"Malfoy, head to your dormitory immediately. It’s not safe out there. Somebody is killing every student he sees," and then she was gone, running towards the Great Hall. But Draco knew, from the direction the Creevey boy had come from, that the killer was not there. He headed towards the Gryffindor Tower, fear for Ginny building inside of him.
When he got there, he saw that the painting that was the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room had been ripped apart. The screams were louder now, so much louder. Draco pulled out his wand and quickly jumped through the portrait hole.
He heard a voice upstairs.
"Where is Potter?" it roared. "Where is the Boy who Lived?"
Draco knew that voice all too well. His heart jumped into his throat a moment later when he heard who Lucius Malfoy was demanding answers from.
"I don’t know! Harry isn’t here. Now stay back, I’m warning you!" Ginny Weasley’s voice, while sounding confident to a stranger, had an all too worrying tremble to it in Draco’s mind. He knew that he only had a moment before his crazed father… He leaped upstairs three at a time in a desperate attempt to get to his friend. He almost fell into the chamber as Lucius Malfoy raised his wand.
Draco, knowing he didn’t have enough time to disarm his father with a spell, barreled into him and knocked him to the ground. He nimbly picked himself up and ran to Ginny.
"Are you all right?" His eyes quickly passed over her, making sure that she was uninjured, before turning back to his father, who was at that moment pushing himself from the ground, his eyes aflame and slightly more than insane.
"THAT was a stupid thing to do, boy," he snarled. "Something you will pay dearly for…"
Draco realized he had dropped his wand when he hit his father. There was nothing he could do to save himself. He covered Ginny’s body with his own, hoping to protect her from his father’s madness. He looked into her eyes for the last time, thinking to tell her finally of his feelings. But the words did not come. They simply stared into each other’s eyes, both knowing that they would die.
"Expelliarmus!"
Lucius Malfoy’s wand flew out of his hand, and he turned to the doorway to see who had disarmed him.
"You!" His lips curled in rage. "Get away from me, traitor."
Severus Snape calmly and slowly limped towards the man. "I don’t think you really want to kill your son, Malfoy. Not today at least."
Draco slowly stood up, staring as the teacher coolly cast the spell that would pull Lucius Malfoy into unconsciousness.
Snape shook his head. "Lucius, what have you done…"
Hardly a moment later, Professor Dumbledore entered the room, Harry Potter at his heels.
"Severus, you got here in time!" Dumbledore exclaimed, but then suddenly fell to his knees as he looked around the room. Draco was dumbfounded by his headmaster’s show of weakness before he too looked around him. He had not noticed before that the entire of the fifth year girls’ bedroom was destroyed. The beds were burnt to a cinder, and every girl was dead. Every girl except the one by his side.
The severity of his father’s crime hit his mind, and Draco instinctively knew that this was not the only room in the school filled with corpses.
"If I had been only a moment later…" Draco hugged Ginny tightly, realizing how close he had come to losing her forever.
~~~^~~~
That event had been the most terrible in all of Wizarding history. To attack children was so unforgivable that many wizards and witches called for Lucius Malfoy’s death. However, he was sent to Azkaban, and now resided in the smallest, darkest cell in the prison, destined to live out his days in total solitude until the day he attempted to escape. That would be the day the Ministry would gladly agree to give the man the Dementor’s Kiss. Draco never found out what had brought on his father’s madness. But every fifth year girl in Gryffindor but Ginny had been slaughtered, along with many other students who had just been in his way. Draco's friend Goyle, who had let Lucius into the school, had been the first to die.
Ginny never forgave herself for not being able to save her friends, but Draco was only happy that she had survived. From that day on, he hardly let her out of her sight.
Eventually Ginny realized that Draco was being over-protective of her. When he wasn’t with her, he was watching her, and in between classes she would often find him waiting already outside her room to walk with her from class to class. She wondered how he got out of classes so quickly, but never actually got around to asking him. She didn’t really mind though. It was nice having a friend there.
~~~^~~~
That Halloween, Dumbledore threw a ball for all students in their fifth, sixth or seventh years. The rest of the school all had excessively large parties in their Common Rooms. Balls and parties were happening much more often as of late. It was, of course, the best way to increase morale now that Quidditch and trips to Hogsmeade had been cancelled until further notice.
Ginny, as always, went with Draco, wearing the same dress as always. She had her suspicions about the dress Draco had given her two years ago. She had grown quite a bit since then, in more ways than one, but still the dress always seemed to fit perfectly. But she loved it anyway. She especially loved the way every male student’s eyes popped out of their heads when they saw her. Well, everyone except Draco. He sometimes looked a bit smug at her side, but never surprised.
It had surprised Ginny at first how well green suited her. But it set off her eyes, as Draco often told her. The satin reached all the way down to the floor, and although its sleeves covered a small portion of her hands, it left her shoulders bare and showed off her slender neck. For the Halloween Ball, Ginny wore her hair loose which made her look, as Ron said, a little like a Dryad. Although she no longer vied for Harry’s attention, it was always enjoyable to see him start a little when he saw in her green dress. Hermione, however, frowned a tiny bit whenever she saw Harry’s reaction. Ginny had her own private thoughts on the reason for that, but she didn’t say them out loud.
"May I have this dance?"
Ginny was startled out of her thoughts. "Sorry Draco. I was just thinking."
Draco smiled. "You’re always ‘just thinking’. Relax for a while and come dance with me." He held out a hand for her to take. Ginny didn’t actually think that dancing with Draco and relaxing came hand-in-hand. Lately she had felt something in her stomach twist when she was too close to him, and the dizzy feeling she got near him irritated her beyond belief. But she took his hand all the same.
Every student had their eyes on them, watching for a sign of something more than friendship. Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy were the ‘talk of the town’, so to speak. Everybody had their own private theories about the two of them, many of them including the fact that each of them had their own private room; Draco because of his position as Head Boy, and Ginny because… well, nobody really liked to talk about the ‘incident’ much. The other reason they all watched breathlessly was because the two of them were the tallest and best looking students there, and really, what else was there to look at?
As the music changed to a slower, much more romantic-style pace, Ginny suggested that they go get some punch and poke fun of the couples as they normally did, but Draco, with a dark look in his eyes, pulled her back to him. He didn’t say anything, he just held her close, a little too close for Ginny’s liking, and swayed slightly in time to the beat. His fingers on one hand linked with hers, and his other hand settled light but firm on her lower back. Ginny’s heart started beating faster, and she found she had begun to hold her breath. She rested her head gently on his shoulder and just let it happen.
Draco breathed in her wildflower scent. All of his worries left him and he felt absolutely calm. He was so close to Ginny he could feel her heart beating. He smiled as he noted its speed.
Ginny’s head started spinning. She mentally told herself off for it. She shouldn’t be feeling quite so attracted to him, she shouldn’t… Draco was her friend… only her friend… but it all felt so right… She sighed with contentment.
Draco pulled his head back when he heard her sigh, not sure what it meant. But then he saw the look in her eyes and his heart leapt from his chest. She cared. He could see it. Testing her, he lowered his face slightly towards her. Ginny raised hers. And the next thing either of them knew, their lips were pressed against each other’s. Their kiss went on for some minutes, becoming more desperate and passionate at each passing moment. Ginny had her arms tight around Draco’s neck, not allowing him to ever get away. Draco entangled his fingers in her long hair, not wanting to ever stop. All the tension that had been building was suddenly released all at the one moment, and neither really had control over their own actions anymore.
Eventually, they heard the giggles and whispers surrounding them. They pulled slightly away from each other, and opened their eyes. The other students, as well as several teachers, had all stopped dancing, and were now all watching them, grins plastered on their faces. Ginny coughed, embarrassed, and they both turned very interesting shades of red, before slowly and very steadily leaving the Great Hall.
As they turned the corner, Draco grabbed her around the waist and pulled him to her, their bodies touching in all sorts of places.
"Did you mean it?" He wasn’t quite sure how to interpret their kiss.
Ginny beamed up at him. "What do you think?" And she kissed him again.
~~~^~~~
There can be miracles when you believe,
Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe
- When you believe, from "The Prince of Egypt"
AN – sigh. Every time I edit this chapter I get all goosebumpy. It's not particularly exciting or anything, I... maybe I'm just happy for them. :P ah well.
Coming (reasonably shortly hopefully) Chapter V - If Everything Falls Apart Now
possibly the stupidest chapter in the story...
"Virginia Weasley, what do you think you are doing?"
Ginny gulped in panic as she stared down at her breakfast. The Howler, floating in midair at her table, continued spilling abuse.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter. I don’t own this song. But I’m going to use it anyway.
Summary: It has been revealed that Lucius Malfoy killed Arthur Weasley and that, strangely enough, is what sparked Draco and Ginny’s friendship.
Author's notes: In this chapter, Ginny's eyes are mentioned as being green. This was a deliberate move on my part, I am aware that it's not Canon. Forgive me! More and more things seem to be becoming AU... but I'll warn you if it goes too off-balance! :P
~~~^~~~
School had already been in session for almost a month, but Ginny had hardly noticed the time fly by. Her teachers found that her usual attention was lost, her mind somewhere else that had nothing to do with studies. Some of the students seemed to think that she was daydreaming about a certain Head Boy, but anybody caught saying that aloud near Ron, Harry or Hermione, were immediately squished. In fact, Ginny’s mind was on much more serious matters. She watched her teachers and students carefully. She read the Daily Prophet like a Muggle Bible. She hoarded supplies and was often found reading books on deadly curses and their respective counter-curses. When she wasn’t doing that, she was patrolling the corridors and grounds, often with Draco at her side.
But unbeknownst to Ginny, Draco wasn’t watching for danger as much as he was watching her. He watched her brow narrow when they found anything out of place. He listened to her ramblings of safety restrictions they could put in place. He agreed with her in almost everything. But he also watched her back. He more than anyone else knew the danger that could altogether possibly lie waiting for her around the corner at any time.
~~~^~~~
Draco ran from the dungeons towards the screams. He had no idea what could be happening, but he had to see if Ginny was safe. As he ran, he passed several students running in the opposite direction. He grabbed one, a fifth year Gryffindor Colin Creevey, and tried to find out what was happening.
"He… He’s killing them! They’re dead, all of them! You’ve got to run, he’s coming… wait… You’re his… he might not..." and with that the boy started babbling and Draco let him go.
He almost crashed into Professor Sprout a moment later.
"Malfoy, head to your dormitory immediately. It’s not safe out there. Somebody is killing every student he sees," and then she was gone, running towards the Great Hall. But Draco knew, from the direction the Creevey boy had come from, that the killer was not there. He headed towards the Gryffindor Tower, fear for Ginny building inside of him.
When he got there, he saw that the painting that was the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room had been ripped apart. The screams were louder now, so much louder. Draco pulled out his wand and quickly jumped through the portrait hole.
He heard a voice upstairs.
"Where is Potter?" it roared. "Where is the Boy who Lived?"
Draco knew that voice all too well. His heart jumped into his throat a moment later when he heard who Lucius Malfoy was demanding answers from.
"I don’t know! Harry isn’t here. Now stay back, I’m warning you!" Ginny Weasley’s voice, while sounding confident to a stranger, had an all too worrying tremble to it in Draco’s mind. He knew that he only had a moment before his crazed father… He leaped upstairs three at a time in a desperate attempt to get to his friend. He almost fell into the chamber as Lucius Malfoy raised his wand.
Draco, knowing he didn’t have enough time to disarm his father with a spell, barreled into him and knocked him to the ground. He nimbly picked himself up and ran to Ginny.
"Are you all right?" His eyes quickly passed over her, making sure that she was uninjured, before turning back to his father, who was at that moment pushing himself from the ground, his eyes aflame and slightly more than insane.
"THAT was a stupid thing to do, boy," he snarled. "Something you will pay dearly for…"
Draco realized he had dropped his wand when he hit his father. There was nothing he could do to save himself. He covered Ginny’s body with his own, hoping to protect her from his father’s madness. He looked into her eyes for the last time, thinking to tell her finally of his feelings. But the words did not come. They simply stared into each other’s eyes, both knowing that they would die.
"Expelliarmus!"
Lucius Malfoy’s wand flew out of his hand, and he turned to the doorway to see who had disarmed him.
"You!" His lips curled in rage. "Get away from me, traitor."
Severus Snape calmly and slowly limped towards the man. "I don’t think you really want to kill your son, Malfoy. Not today at least."
Draco slowly stood up, staring as the teacher coolly cast the spell that would pull Lucius Malfoy into unconsciousness.
Snape shook his head. "Lucius, what have you done…"
Hardly a moment later, Professor Dumbledore entered the room, Harry Potter at his heels.
"Severus, you got here in time!" Dumbledore exclaimed, but then suddenly fell to his knees as he looked around the room. Draco was dumbfounded by his headmaster’s show of weakness before he too looked around him. He had not noticed before that the entire of the fifth year girls’ bedroom was destroyed. The beds were burnt to a cinder, and every girl was dead. Every girl except the one by his side.
The severity of his father’s crime hit his mind, and Draco instinctively knew that this was not the only room in the school filled with corpses.
"If I had been only a moment later…" Draco hugged Ginny tightly, realizing how close he had come to losing her forever.
~~~^~~~
That event had been the most terrible in all of Wizarding history. To attack children was so unforgivable that many wizards and witches called for Lucius Malfoy’s death. However, he was sent to Azkaban, and now resided in the smallest, darkest cell in the prison, destined to live out his days in total solitude until the day he attempted to escape. That would be the day the Ministry would gladly agree to give the man the Dementor’s Kiss. Draco never found out what had brought on his father’s madness. But every fifth year girl in Gryffindor but Ginny had been slaughtered, along with many other students who had just been in his way. Draco's friend Goyle, who had let Lucius into the school, had been the first to die.
Ginny never forgave herself for not being able to save her friends, but Draco was only happy that she had survived. From that day on, he hardly let her out of her sight.
Eventually Ginny realized that Draco was being over-protective of her. When he wasn’t with her, he was watching her, and in between classes she would often find him waiting already outside her room to walk with her from class to class. She wondered how he got out of classes so quickly, but never actually got around to asking him. She didn’t really mind though. It was nice having a friend there.
~~~^~~~
That Halloween, Dumbledore threw a ball for all students in their fifth, sixth or seventh years. The rest of the school all had excessively large parties in their Common Rooms. Balls and parties were happening much more often as of late. It was, of course, the best way to increase morale now that Quidditch and trips to Hogsmeade had been cancelled until further notice.
Ginny, as always, went with Draco, wearing the same dress as always. She had her suspicions about the dress Draco had given her two years ago. She had grown quite a bit since then, in more ways than one, but still the dress always seemed to fit perfectly. But she loved it anyway. She especially loved the way every male student’s eyes popped out of their heads when they saw her. Well, everyone except Draco. He sometimes looked a bit smug at her side, but never surprised.
It had surprised Ginny at first how well green suited her. But it set off her eyes, as Draco often told her. The satin reached all the way down to the floor, and although its sleeves covered a small portion of her hands, it left her shoulders bare and showed off her slender neck. For the Halloween Ball, Ginny wore her hair loose which made her look, as Ron said, a little like a Dryad. Although she no longer vied for Harry’s attention, it was always enjoyable to see him start a little when he saw in her green dress. Hermione, however, frowned a tiny bit whenever she saw Harry’s reaction. Ginny had her own private thoughts on the reason for that, but she didn’t say them out loud.
"May I have this dance?"
Ginny was startled out of her thoughts. "Sorry Draco. I was just thinking."
Draco smiled. "You’re always ‘just thinking’. Relax for a while and come dance with me." He held out a hand for her to take. Ginny didn’t actually think that dancing with Draco and relaxing came hand-in-hand. Lately she had felt something in her stomach twist when she was too close to him, and the dizzy feeling she got near him irritated her beyond belief. But she took his hand all the same.
Every student had their eyes on them, watching for a sign of something more than friendship. Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy were the ‘talk of the town’, so to speak. Everybody had their own private theories about the two of them, many of them including the fact that each of them had their own private room; Draco because of his position as Head Boy, and Ginny because… well, nobody really liked to talk about the ‘incident’ much. The other reason they all watched breathlessly was because the two of them were the tallest and best looking students there, and really, what else was there to look at?
As the music changed to a slower, much more romantic-style pace, Ginny suggested that they go get some punch and poke fun of the couples as they normally did, but Draco, with a dark look in his eyes, pulled her back to him. He didn’t say anything, he just held her close, a little too close for Ginny’s liking, and swayed slightly in time to the beat. His fingers on one hand linked with hers, and his other hand settled light but firm on her lower back. Ginny’s heart started beating faster, and she found she had begun to hold her breath. She rested her head gently on his shoulder and just let it happen.
Draco breathed in her wildflower scent. All of his worries left him and he felt absolutely calm. He was so close to Ginny he could feel her heart beating. He smiled as he noted its speed.
Ginny’s head started spinning. She mentally told herself off for it. She shouldn’t be feeling quite so attracted to him, she shouldn’t… Draco was her friend… only her friend… but it all felt so right… She sighed with contentment.
Draco pulled his head back when he heard her sigh, not sure what it meant. But then he saw the look in her eyes and his heart leapt from his chest. She cared. He could see it. Testing her, he lowered his face slightly towards her. Ginny raised hers. And the next thing either of them knew, their lips were pressed against each other’s. Their kiss went on for some minutes, becoming more desperate and passionate at each passing moment. Ginny had her arms tight around Draco’s neck, not allowing him to ever get away. Draco entangled his fingers in her long hair, not wanting to ever stop. All the tension that had been building was suddenly released all at the one moment, and neither really had control over their own actions anymore.
Eventually, they heard the giggles and whispers surrounding them. They pulled slightly away from each other, and opened their eyes. The other students, as well as several teachers, had all stopped dancing, and were now all watching them, grins plastered on their faces. Ginny coughed, embarrassed, and they both turned very interesting shades of red, before slowly and very steadily leaving the Great Hall.
As they turned the corner, Draco grabbed her around the waist and pulled him to her, their bodies touching in all sorts of places.
"Did you mean it?" He wasn’t quite sure how to interpret their kiss.
Ginny beamed up at him. "What do you think?" And she kissed him again.
~~~^~~~
There can be miracles when you believe,
Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe
- When you believe, from "The Prince of Egypt"
AN – sigh. Every time I edit this chapter I get all goosebumpy. It's not particularly exciting or anything, I... maybe I'm just happy for them. :P ah well.
Coming (reasonably shortly hopefully) Chapter V - If Everything Falls Apart Now
possibly the stupidest chapter in the story...
"Virginia Weasley, what do you think you are doing?"
Ginny gulped in panic as she stared down at her breakfast. The Howler, floating in midair at her table, continued spilling abuse.
To Be Continued.
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