The Green Man and the Goddess

After the day that Ron and the others had caught Draco and me, I didn't talk to the Gryffindors for weeks. I would sit at the Slytherin Table with Draco, estranging us from the rest of the school since no one would talk to the outcasts of Gryffindor and Slytherin. As one would guess, Slytherin was not happy with Draco's choice of a girlfriend. There had been various owls to Draco's father about his choice... none from Draco.

Pansy Parkinson had turned a terrible colour of pink when she had seen Draco and I walking down the hall one day, and she hadn't talked to Draco since. Not that she minded. I got the same reaction from the members of Gryffindor. Not that it bothered me much. I never really had many friends in Gryffindor House. I had always tended to be a loner and sit by myself, and read or write. The Chamber incident had made me distance myself from the whole Muggle-loving house. I felt guilty that I had tried to cleanse the school, even if I wasn't aware I was doing it.

But my housemates' silence and the silence of the rest of the school didn't bother me. I had Draco. He was all the companionship I needed. What bothered me was coming back to Gryffindor Tower to find junk in my bed and my clothes all cut up. Common vandalism was my main problem. One day, after classes full of people screaming and swearing at me, pulling my hair and attempting to trip me, I staggered into the Gryffindor common room totally beat. On one of the overstuffed red couches, Hermione lounged, doing her homework. She looked up at me and sighed.

‘Ginny, how long are you going to keep ignoring him?’ she asked me. Of course she was talking about Ron. Her main concern, after her homework, was always Ron.

'Maybe you should be asking yourself when he’s going to stop ignoring you. Has he even said anything about you kissing him?' I asked her. Of course she blushed, then went white. Of course Ron hadn't. He always had a new flavour of the week.

'My relationship with Ron-'

'You mean your non-existent relationship with Ron,' I interrupted.

'Fine. It's non-existent right now. He's with Susan Bones.'

'Susan's a slut,' I told her confidently. 'He'll be back.'

'Thank you, Ginny. Now, back to the subject.'

'What? Draco and me? Draco is my soul mate. No one's more important than him. Not even my family. I know my mother birthed and raised me, but Draco is the other half of my soul. Now that I've found him, there would be a piece missing if I lost him.'

'How do you know that, Ginny?' Hermione asked me, confident that she could change my mind. 'He's Draco- bloody- Malfoy! He doesn't have any feelings. For all you know, he could be using you.'

'You have to trust me when I tell you he's not,' I told Hermione. 'And the thing about Ron. I'll talk to him... after you've talked to him. About your feelings.'

Hermione glared at me and started to gather her things to leave. I turned away from her and started to walk up the stairs to my dorm, but her voice called me back.

'Ginny,' she called after me, 'How did you know Draco was the one?'

I turned around and looked at her, searching her eyes. You could see a lot in a person’s eyes, I had learned. 'I looked him in the eye for the first time, and I finally found what I had been missing all my life.' I laughed. 'All of my life, I had misused that feeling, directed it towards Harry. You have no idea how surprised I was when I felt the same way towards my brother's worst enemy.'

'When I look at him in the eye, he turns away. He used to look me in the eye, but now he won't.' Hermione looked like she was about to break down and cry.

'Want to know a secret, Hermione?' I asked her. I was starting to feel sorry for her. Hermione wasn't turning out to be so perfect after all. I must have always subconsciously known that she had feelings, but I suppose I never consciously realized she had them till now. (However strange that might sound.)

Hermione nodded her head in silent affirmation.

'Draco and I are old beyond our years. We have been together in hundreds of lifetimes before. When I was young I created the world. I created the trees, the rivers, the mountains. And when that was done, before I created the humans and animals, I went out into the middle of the forest and created Draco. I used my power, and I made a being that is the closest thing to perfection that I could create. Then I created more life. But Draco... Draco was there for me before anyone else.'

By now Hermione was looking at me like I was insane. Maybe I had done the wrong thing by telling her about Draco and me. Then again, it might not be too bad telling Hermione, I mused. I took a deep breath and started again.

'You probably think that what I just said was insane.' Here I took another deep breath. 'I am a re-incarnate. I was re-incarnated from the Goddess who made this world. She thought it was vital that she turn herself into a mortal so that she could live her life, one with her subjects. She wanted to be able to understand them so that she could make the world a better place. Before she gave up the majority of her godly powers, she made herself a guardian, the hero of all heroes. He was the first hero, and all heroes were modeled after him. She created him in the forest, and he inherited many of its traits. She called him the ‘Green Man.’ ' I looked over at Hermione. She was listening intently, so I continued. 'After she was finished creating the Green Man, she put all her unnecessary powers into a box. She sealed it away below ground, putting in place wards, just in case someone tried to steal her power. You would have heard of the box. It's called Pandora's Box.'

Hermione looked at me. 'Does that make Draco the Green Man?'

I laughed. 'Damn, I left out the most important part. Yes, Draco is the Green Man. He's my soulmate. I used to think it was Harry, because he saved me from the Chamber of Secrets. Obviously I was wrong. I'm glad I was wrong, actually.'

Hermione smiled at me for the first time in weeks. 'He makes you happy. I can see that.'

'Yes, yes he does.' Hermione looked down at her books, deep in thought. There were a few moments of silence before I walked over and settled myself on the couch beside her.

'You said you were a re-incarnate,' she said suddenly, broaching the silence. 'What happened to the last goddess?'

'I don't know. Grandmother never told me.' Hermione looked at me strangely, and I quickly added, 'My great grandmother was the last Goddess. My Granny was the one who taught me about her and tried to explain her powers. But the one thing she would never tell me was how her parents died. I've always wanted to know, but no one would ever tell me.'

Hermione perked up. 'Sounds like a great research opportunity to me. Hell, it might even be educational!'

I looked at Hermione, amazed. 'Fine. But first, you have to talk to Ron,' I told her stubbornly. 'You two belong together, you know. Hell, just go up to him and kiss him again!'

'You won't give up, will you?' Hermione asked me.

'Never.' I told her, smiling. It was nice to talk to someone in Gryffindor again.

After that we sat in the common room, doing our homework silently side by side. That was how Ron and Harry found us when they returned from Quidditch practice. They had been talking excitedly as they had entered through the portrait hole, but they quickly quieted upon seeing me.

Harry looked dubious; Ron just glared at me.

'Have you dumbed the bastard?' Ron asked me. I glared back at him. There was no way I would be telling him the truth like I had told Hermione. That had been girl talk. Girls could always handle things better than guys, anyway.

'No. Have you dumbed the slut?' I asked him.

Ron turned red, and Harry put a restraining hand on his arm. 'Padma is not a slut.'

'What? I thought it was Susan!' I said cruelly. 'What are you proving by this? Running from one girl to another, dumping them one by one. What are you avoiding? Could it be that you're afraid of commitment?'

'No one asked you, Virginia,' Oh, he was mad again! 'Of course you don't know which one it is. You're always off being Draco Malfoy's little slut.'

'Ronald Weasley! Ginny is your sister,' Hermione hissed. 'You will not be calling her a slut.'

'Stay out of it, Hermione,' Ron told Hermione, avoiding her icy glare.

'Why should I? You're my friend, but you're being a complete idiot. You're acting horrible, and you need some control. You accuse your sister of being a slut, but you know what? If boys could be sluts too, you'd definitely be one.'

Harry was now physically separating Ron from Hermione and me. It looked like he was about to launch himself onto me or Hermione and start attacking one of us. I was starting to get scared. I wished Draco were here to protect me from my raging brother.

'Stay out of it, Hermione!' Ron yelled.

Harry finally jumped into the argument. 'I can't believe you. Any of you. Ron, you're treating your sister and your best friend terribly. You haven't talked to Ginny in weeks, and now you're yelling at Hermione. She's your best friend. And Ginny,' (Great, I wasn't going to get out of this lecture) 'you did this on purpose! You went and got together with Malfoy! No one gets along with Malfoy, but you went for him anyway. He makes our lives hell, but you did.' Harry sounded bitter at that last comment.

I took a deep breath. 'Did you ever stop to think that maybe I went to Draco for me? It has nothing to do with you, Hermione, or Ron. The only people it affects are Draco and me. I'm sorry if you don't like my decision, but you had no right to push to make me the official outcast of Gryffindor,' I told him bitterly.

'Malfoy's using you, Ginny!' Ron yelled suddenly from behind me.

Hermione turned to him and yelled back at him, 'I love you, Ronald Weasley, but if you don't let Ginny make her own decisions about Draco, I swear that I will never speak to you again. He's not using her. He's not out to get her. And most importantly, he's not going to kill her.'

Ron was white now, a very unusual colour for him. 'You l-l-love me?' he stuttered.

'Actually, I'm beginning to reconsider that,' she muttered.

Ron started to walk towards her, and I quickly moved off and away from the couch we had previously shared. Ron sat down next to her and looked into her eyes. It probably seemed like the first time in forever to Hermione. Softly, Ron stroked Hermione’s hand before he turned back to me.

'I guess I have to forgive you. You're just lucky I never told mum. You'd have a howler a day for months,' Ron told me, smiling.

'Thanks,' I told him. 'And tell the other Gryffindors that I don't appreciate their charming graffiti. Now, I have to go and do my homework. I'm meeting Draco for supper. And Hermione, you now have permission to research to your heart's content.' I skipped up the stairs to do my homework.

Later that night, when I went down to supper in the Great Hall, I got a few surprising hellos from the other Gryffindors. I, however, couldn't be bothered to sit with them. They had been against me when Ron was mad at me. I needed the consistency of Draco. As I approached the Slytherin table, Draco looked up at me from our usual corner of the table and smiled.

'I know you'll be disappointed, but Ron's talking to me again,' I told him.

'Does this mean you'll be sitting with them again?' Draco asked. He wasn't smiling now.

I sat down next to Draco and kissed his cheek before taking his hand and caressing his knuckles. 'Of course not. I always sit with you. Who would I talk to otherwise? Face it, Draco, you're stuck with me,' I flirted. He was my boyfriend, I was allowed to. The smile flooded back onto Draco's face and he hugged me. Ever since we had gotten together, he had gotten more and more emotional. He now showed his feelings to me, although he smiled for no one else. It made me feel special, to tell you the truth. His smile was only for me.

We flirted back and forth for a few minutes, leisurely eating our supper until Professor Snape interrupted us.

'Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley, the headmaster would like to see you in his office after supper. The password is gummy bears.'

We both looked up at him, about to ask why, when he turned around and left. Scanning across the Great Hall, I saw Professor McGonagall delivering Harry, Ron, and Hermione a message of some kind. More than likely it was to see Dumbledore in his office after supper as well.

Well, the mystery had begun, and as soon as we finished our supper, Draco took my hand, and we walked that way to the Headmaster's office, telling the giant stone gargoyle the password, 'Gummy bears.' Inside, the other three were already there waiting for whatever Dumbledore had to say. Draco and I sat down on a loveseat together and waited for Dumbledore to show and tell us what was happening. Tension filled the air as Harry and Ron exchanged glares with Draco from across the room.

Dumbledore finally glided into the room, looking us all over before starting to speak. 'What I have to ask you today will change your lives forever. Please listen carefully, and choose wisely after you have heard what I have to tell you.'