Chapter Nine: Where You End, Where I Begin
“That’s not possible,” Ginny said. This wasn’t possible. “You weren’t on Polyjuice! And I would have detected an illusion…”
Ghazi (or was it Aleks?) spat on the ground and laughed. “Don’t worry about how I did this. Let’s just call it…magic. Well, now that everything is out in the open, why don’t we talk about why we’re all here?”
“Could that be because you’re an insecure, insane pathological liar?” Draco asked.
“No, it’s because of you.”
“Ghazi, Aleks, whoever you are! Me not wanting to see you isn’t a good reason to kidnap two people. Let’s be rational about this,” Ginny began softly. “Why don’t we discuss what’s really goin—“
“Not you, you idiot. This has never been about you. This is about him. One Draco Malfoy.”
“Me? I’ve never even met you. Speaking of, just who the hell are you?”
“Oh, you haven’t met me. Not personally at least. I am Qayin. I am the thing you have been trying to drive from Earth for eight months. You have not done it yet. You are not even close to it. But you have stepped too far into the light. You have convinced many to see so-called goodness. And because of that, I see no future for you.”
“So that’s it then? You’re the one I’ve read about? Qayin…Cain. How are you still even alive?”
“What I am is not quite alive. More like…a memory. And I found out that little Ginevra here loves memories. I needed someone to feed off of. For energy. She has already been exposed to evil; it has already touched her soul. Realizing the relationship you two had was merely making my goal that much easier to accomplish.”
“But why? I’m nothing special,” Draco told him.
With that, Ginny glanced sharply at him. She leaned in to whisper, “Of course you are. You’re everything to me.”
“See?” Qayin roared. “Every person makes a difference in the balance between dark and light. This is true for every kind of darkness and lightness. Grindelwald, Voldemort, Beelzebub, it does not matter! Darkness must always win! Always! When you try to show someone otherwise, you must be stopped. For centuries, that is how it has been done. Ever since my mother, there has been sin. And that sin needs to continue.”
Both Draco and Ginny were confused. Was this man wizard, memory, demon, or something else? They exchanged weary glances.
“Silly mortals. I am greater than anything you have ever imagined. As a servant of God, you must be stopped.”
“I don’t have to be stopped! I’m not a servant of God anymore! I left that life! I left it for her. She is the only person I will worship.”
Well, Ginny thought, this is the worst way to find out where this relationship is going.
“Loyalty to a regular person is just as bad as being traitorous towards darkness. And you will be punished for it!” Qayin stretched his arm out and pointed his hand toward Draco. A swirling, twisting mess of gold and silver shot towards the pair.
It grew thinner until it was apparent that it was only going to hit Draco. He braced himself for it, being sure to place himself in front of Ginny. It was almost there…
And he felt nothing. Ginny had spun them around at the last second so her back took the spell full force. He looked down to see her mouth in a silent scream with her eyes clenched tight. To her credit, she didn’t immediately crumble to the ground. Her fingers grasped at his arms as if his energy could be transferred to her. Draco moved her into the crook of his left arm; with his right hand free, he mimicked Qayin’s previous moves.
“ In nomen of Senior , EGO expello vos ex Terra. Vos es forever reus ut caligo underworld. Nunquam iterum mos vos roam is terra vel ullus alius. EGO redimio vos in nomen of Abbas , Filius , quod Sanctus Phasmatis. Pro regnum , vox , quod palma es Vestri. Amen .”
A green light, not unlike the hue from the Killing Curse, rushed from Draco’s wand. It wrapped around Qayin’s form. It twisted tighter, and it was obvious the memory could no longer move. His eyes were full of murderous rage.
He rasped, “It doesn’t matter what happens to me. You have lost your faith because she is gone. She is gone forever!” The green light completely enveloped him, and he disappeared with a loud bang.
“Ginny!” Draco yelled. Her face was pale; her breath was labored. It was obvious what was happening.
Ginny was dying.
***
“Please don’t do this. Not now,” Draco cried. He had lowered both himself and Gin to the floor of the room where they were being held. There was no door, no way of escaping. “Gin, I love you. I’m sorry I left you.”
“Draco,” she coughed. The words coming out of her mouth were garbled by blood. “I love you too. Oh, God…”
“No! Don’t leave me. Lord, please. Please save her.” Draco then felt a sharp pain in his arm. Looking down, he saw he too had been hit by the curse. With his energy suddenly fading, the whole room closed in on the pair. Soon after, darkness came back to play.
“What the hell is going on here?” A deep voice rumbled.
***
All Ginny could see was white. White walls, white chairs, even her housecoat was white. She wasn’t in anymore pain. Was she in heaven?
“Oh no, dear,” a nurse chirped. “You’re in St. Mungo’s! I thought for sure you’d recognize your own stomping grounds. You just woke up? Excellent, I’ll fetch the healer.”
Just as the nurse was leaving, another body came through the door.
“Sir, I told you before. Both of you are in critical care. You cannot leave your room!”
“Bloody hell, woman! I’ve been waiting ages to see her. Back off!” Draco.
“Let him in, please. I’d like to speak with him alone for a little. I promise it won’t upset me.” Nurses were always worried about patients becoming overemotional. It tended to mess with their already fragile magic. “It won’t be for long.”
“Fine, but if I even so much suspect that something is wrong, he’s out of here!” The nurse left the room, shutting the door behind her.
“Merlin, Ginny. I was so scared. I thought you were dead.” Even with her in front of him, Draco was still scared that she’d be ripped away from him.
“…I think I was. But only for a second. I felt like I knew everything and nothing all at once. Everything was crazy and yet calm. But I didn’t like it.”
“How could you not like heaven? I think that’s impossible.”
“Of course it’s possible! I didn’t like it because I still felt lonely. You weren’t there with me,” she said quietly.
“I promise that I will always follow you. No, that’s not true. I will always be right beside you. Wherever we decide to go.”
“Draco, I don’t know…”
“What is it?” Was she rejecting him? After everything that had gone on? She just said she would miss him!
“I’m not the same person I was before all this. I’m not perfect. I would make a lousy girlfriend.”
“I highly doubt that. What do you think could make me love you any less?” He didn’t understand this turnabout in her behavior. She was perfect.
Ginny bit her lip and turned so her back was facing Draco. Slowly, she lifted her hospital gown. Her back was a horrible mess of partially healed cuts. He moved her hair out of the way and pushed the shirt up to her neck. His fingers softly traced the uneven skin. With shake of her shoulders, the pads of his fingers fully pressed onto what would become deep scars. His left hand moved to the single pale pink scar that ran from his shoulder to elbow. He knew it would disappear soon.
But she had taken the curse. Not him. He felt guilty, but he refused to let that guilt chase him from the room.
“Gin, I’m sorry. This is my fault. I should have taken the curse for both of us,” he said. He turned her around, so her face rested against his chest. Her body began to violently shake as she pushed him away.
“Please, don’t say that! I would have died if the curse had hit you. Just don’t touch me. I’m not good enough for you now,” she screamed. Her voice was raw and emotional. “I’ll never be good enough! Just leave me alone! Please, just go! Find someone who will look good for you. Someone who isn’t going to be hiding this deformity forever!”
“They can heal it…”
“No, they can’t! It was too dark a curse. I was exposed to too much of it! Please, just find someone worthy of you. I don’t think I am anymore.”
“No. Don’t push me away. I won’t let you. You’re perfect. If anything, I’m not good enough for you. I don’t care where the scars are. I don’t care whether or not they are there forever. Because I know I will be here. Always.”
Neither had any words left to say. The “I love you’s” were now unspoken. Draco and Ginny sat on the hospital bed in each others’ arms, rocking back and forth.
This time, and every time, light would win. Light, and love, would always win
“That’s not possible,” Ginny said. This wasn’t possible. “You weren’t on Polyjuice! And I would have detected an illusion…”
Ghazi (or was it Aleks?) spat on the ground and laughed. “Don’t worry about how I did this. Let’s just call it…magic. Well, now that everything is out in the open, why don’t we talk about why we’re all here?”
“Could that be because you’re an insecure, insane pathological liar?” Draco asked.
“No, it’s because of you.”
“Ghazi, Aleks, whoever you are! Me not wanting to see you isn’t a good reason to kidnap two people. Let’s be rational about this,” Ginny began softly. “Why don’t we discuss what’s really goin—“
“Not you, you idiot. This has never been about you. This is about him. One Draco Malfoy.”
“Me? I’ve never even met you. Speaking of, just who the hell are you?”
“Oh, you haven’t met me. Not personally at least. I am Qayin. I am the thing you have been trying to drive from Earth for eight months. You have not done it yet. You are not even close to it. But you have stepped too far into the light. You have convinced many to see so-called goodness. And because of that, I see no future for you.”
“So that’s it then? You’re the one I’ve read about? Qayin…Cain. How are you still even alive?”
“What I am is not quite alive. More like…a memory. And I found out that little Ginevra here loves memories. I needed someone to feed off of. For energy. She has already been exposed to evil; it has already touched her soul. Realizing the relationship you two had was merely making my goal that much easier to accomplish.”
“But why? I’m nothing special,” Draco told him.
With that, Ginny glanced sharply at him. She leaned in to whisper, “Of course you are. You’re everything to me.”
“See?” Qayin roared. “Every person makes a difference in the balance between dark and light. This is true for every kind of darkness and lightness. Grindelwald, Voldemort, Beelzebub, it does not matter! Darkness must always win! Always! When you try to show someone otherwise, you must be stopped. For centuries, that is how it has been done. Ever since my mother, there has been sin. And that sin needs to continue.”
Both Draco and Ginny were confused. Was this man wizard, memory, demon, or something else? They exchanged weary glances.
“Silly mortals. I am greater than anything you have ever imagined. As a servant of God, you must be stopped.”
“I don’t have to be stopped! I’m not a servant of God anymore! I left that life! I left it for her. She is the only person I will worship.”
Well, Ginny thought, this is the worst way to find out where this relationship is going.
“Loyalty to a regular person is just as bad as being traitorous towards darkness. And you will be punished for it!” Qayin stretched his arm out and pointed his hand toward Draco. A swirling, twisting mess of gold and silver shot towards the pair.
It grew thinner until it was apparent that it was only going to hit Draco. He braced himself for it, being sure to place himself in front of Ginny. It was almost there…
And he felt nothing. Ginny had spun them around at the last second so her back took the spell full force. He looked down to see her mouth in a silent scream with her eyes clenched tight. To her credit, she didn’t immediately crumble to the ground. Her fingers grasped at his arms as if his energy could be transferred to her. Draco moved her into the crook of his left arm; with his right hand free, he mimicked Qayin’s previous moves.
“ In nomen of Senior , EGO expello vos ex Terra. Vos es forever reus ut caligo underworld. Nunquam iterum mos vos roam is terra vel ullus alius. EGO redimio vos in nomen of Abbas , Filius , quod Sanctus Phasmatis. Pro regnum , vox , quod palma es Vestri. Amen .”
A green light, not unlike the hue from the Killing Curse, rushed from Draco’s wand. It wrapped around Qayin’s form. It twisted tighter, and it was obvious the memory could no longer move. His eyes were full of murderous rage.
He rasped, “It doesn’t matter what happens to me. You have lost your faith because she is gone. She is gone forever!” The green light completely enveloped him, and he disappeared with a loud bang.
“Ginny!” Draco yelled. Her face was pale; her breath was labored. It was obvious what was happening.
Ginny was dying.
***
“Please don’t do this. Not now,” Draco cried. He had lowered both himself and Gin to the floor of the room where they were being held. There was no door, no way of escaping. “Gin, I love you. I’m sorry I left you.”
“Draco,” she coughed. The words coming out of her mouth were garbled by blood. “I love you too. Oh, God…”
“No! Don’t leave me. Lord, please. Please save her.” Draco then felt a sharp pain in his arm. Looking down, he saw he too had been hit by the curse. With his energy suddenly fading, the whole room closed in on the pair. Soon after, darkness came back to play.
“What the hell is going on here?” A deep voice rumbled.
***
All Ginny could see was white. White walls, white chairs, even her housecoat was white. She wasn’t in anymore pain. Was she in heaven?
“Oh no, dear,” a nurse chirped. “You’re in St. Mungo’s! I thought for sure you’d recognize your own stomping grounds. You just woke up? Excellent, I’ll fetch the healer.”
Just as the nurse was leaving, another body came through the door.
“Sir, I told you before. Both of you are in critical care. You cannot leave your room!”
“Bloody hell, woman! I’ve been waiting ages to see her. Back off!” Draco.
“Let him in, please. I’d like to speak with him alone for a little. I promise it won’t upset me.” Nurses were always worried about patients becoming overemotional. It tended to mess with their already fragile magic. “It won’t be for long.”
“Fine, but if I even so much suspect that something is wrong, he’s out of here!” The nurse left the room, shutting the door behind her.
“Merlin, Ginny. I was so scared. I thought you were dead.” Even with her in front of him, Draco was still scared that she’d be ripped away from him.
“…I think I was. But only for a second. I felt like I knew everything and nothing all at once. Everything was crazy and yet calm. But I didn’t like it.”
“How could you not like heaven? I think that’s impossible.”
“Of course it’s possible! I didn’t like it because I still felt lonely. You weren’t there with me,” she said quietly.
“I promise that I will always follow you. No, that’s not true. I will always be right beside you. Wherever we decide to go.”
“Draco, I don’t know…”
“What is it?” Was she rejecting him? After everything that had gone on? She just said she would miss him!
“I’m not the same person I was before all this. I’m not perfect. I would make a lousy girlfriend.”
“I highly doubt that. What do you think could make me love you any less?” He didn’t understand this turnabout in her behavior. She was perfect.
Ginny bit her lip and turned so her back was facing Draco. Slowly, she lifted her hospital gown. Her back was a horrible mess of partially healed cuts. He moved her hair out of the way and pushed the shirt up to her neck. His fingers softly traced the uneven skin. With shake of her shoulders, the pads of his fingers fully pressed onto what would become deep scars. His left hand moved to the single pale pink scar that ran from his shoulder to elbow. He knew it would disappear soon.
But she had taken the curse. Not him. He felt guilty, but he refused to let that guilt chase him from the room.
“Gin, I’m sorry. This is my fault. I should have taken the curse for both of us,” he said. He turned her around, so her face rested against his chest. Her body began to violently shake as she pushed him away.
“Please, don’t say that! I would have died if the curse had hit you. Just don’t touch me. I’m not good enough for you now,” she screamed. Her voice was raw and emotional. “I’ll never be good enough! Just leave me alone! Please, just go! Find someone who will look good for you. Someone who isn’t going to be hiding this deformity forever!”
“They can heal it…”
“No, they can’t! It was too dark a curse. I was exposed to too much of it! Please, just find someone worthy of you. I don’t think I am anymore.”
“No. Don’t push me away. I won’t let you. You’re perfect. If anything, I’m not good enough for you. I don’t care where the scars are. I don’t care whether or not they are there forever. Because I know I will be here. Always.”
Neither had any words left to say. The “I love you’s” were now unspoken. Draco and Ginny sat on the hospital bed in each others’ arms, rocking back and forth.
This time, and every time, light would win. Light, and love, would always win
Author notes: I sort of ended the story? By total accident! I'm not sure if it's complete yet. I want some reader feedback on whether or not you'd be satisfied by this ending. There's nothing I hate more than devoting time to a series or story only to be disappointed by the ending. So please review!
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