Labelled Caustic

Chp 16 Breaking The Pieces

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Ginny woke up with a yelp and staggered breathing. She gathered her orientation and breathed in deeply, trying to calm herself down from one of her nasty nightmares.

"It was all a dream, that´s it," she whispered to herself. She needed air. Ginny reached around her and pulled back the curtains of her canopy bed. Her dorm mates were still fast asleep and didn´t notice her skulking figure. Ginny looked at the huge clock at the top of the door and realised that it was four thirty in the bloody morning! She shook her head and thought of going back to bed and just laying there but she was already up. Why fight with fate? She grabbed her clothes and decided that a nice hot shower would clear her thoughts.

She padded down the hallway to the girls´ bathroom and walked into the first shower stall and shrugged off every stitch of clothing on her before standing in front of the shower head which immediately sprayed water onto her at the exact temperature she wanted. What would they do without Magic? Ginny just stayed there like that, letting the water knead away at all the tension that was in her body and she felt so much more relaxed.

After the long shower, she wiped herself with a fluffy towel and put on her robes and immediately dried her hair with a drying spell. Ginny looked in the mirror at her reflection. She looked tired and utterly miserable. She shook her head and tried a smile. If she was going to have people on her back the whole day she would have to be strong. Starting now, no more crying, she vowed to herself.

She walked out of the bathroom and crept into her dorm to place her old clothes in a tiny basket at the end of her bed and swiftly went out again.

Ginny went to the common room and stared out through one of the huge glass windows. Dawn was breaking and it cast wonderful gold and crimson streaks to fly across the sky in a majestic bloom. The scene made Ginny smile at its pure beauty. She closed her eyes and decided that she might go down to the Great Hall for an early breakfast but decided to have a walk first instead.

The walk took her through a chilly morning around the castle and by the lake, finally judging the time by the sky she thought she had better get back to the castle to feed her rumbling tummy.

When she walked into the Great Hall, some students looked up at her and began whispering among themselves. Ginny was rather amused actually and couldn´t really care and plonked herself beside her brother and Hermione who were having a squabble over homework. They gave her a warm good morning as well as Harry who was eyeing them with great boredom and Ginny gave a giggle when he threw up his hands in surrender.

She helped herself to some bacon and eggs and a piece of toast and ate slowly, as she tried to stay in the conversation. Ginny didn´t really know what they were talking about but she seemed to be smiling and laughing at all the right bits. She cleared off her last piece of bacon when she looked across the empty hall towards the Slytherin table. The usual chair, which Draco occupied, was empty and her heart gave a sink but she didn´t let it show on her face. She stared at it for so long that she didn´t even notice the owl that was hooting away in front of her plate.

"Ginny!" Hermione´s voice intruded into her thoughts and snapped her out if it. She looked at Hermione with a questioning face and Hermione just pointed the owl that was hooting away to get her attention.

Ginny gave a startled, "Oh," and looked at it. There was a small package and a note. She took them and patted the owl before it flew away. Everyone was staring at her now and she just frowned at all of them.

"What? Never seen anyone get a package before? How rude," she admonished to all of them. Some scowled and others looked ashamed as they looked away; immersing themselves in further gossip whilst looking her way now and then.

Ginny couldn´t bear it and wanted to be alone to open the package. She told the dream team that she forgot her books and that she would see them around and stalked off to Gryffindor Tower. Ignoring their piqued curiosity.

When she went into her empty dorm room she sat in the middle of her bed and gripped the package and note in her hand, praying that the gift wasn´t a port key of sorts. She steadied herself and opened the note.

Virginia-

Ginny stopped at her name, nobody ever call her that except - she shook her head full of red curls and continued reading.

Thought you would like this, it´s yours anyway.

Draco.

With trembling hands, she read the note once more and settled it on the bed and looked at the package that was staring back at her wrapped in silver paper. She gripped it tightly and then started to tear away at the wrapping to reveal a small velvet jewellery box. She felt tears well up in her eyes and she slowly opened the box. In it was settled the necklace and the pendant that he had given to her. The ring that she had placed on his finger to help heal him was looped through it.

The first thing that came to her mind though was the thought that it was a port key of some sort. She wasn't really very fond of these kind of surprises anymore and she frowned.

She brought a violently shaking hand towards the necklace and thought that she might feel the pull of a portkey and closed her eyes bracing herself. After a few seconds though, she opened one of her eyes and noticed that she was still in the dorm room and she gave a very relieved sigh.

Ginny looked at it and gave a small smile and took off the necklace and placed it around her neck, where it belonged. Before she did that though, she took out the ring and placed it on her own finger. She suddenly felt so much better. Lighter somewhat. Images of Draco flit around in her head and she smiled at the thought of him.

She looked up and saw the time and her jaw dropped she was going to be late if she didn´t hurry! She took the box and note and placed it in her trunk before getting her books and flying out the door with a huge grin plastered on her face. She could do this.

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Draco looked at the owl that departed with the package and hoped that it would reach her. He didn´t know why he had wanted her to have it actually. He didn´t even know if she still felt the same way after what he had put her through. She might not even accept the gifts back. He frowned a bit and then turned away, to retire to his bed. He was up at a really unearthly hour but couldn´t sleep at all. He revelled in the warmth of his bed and stared at the ceiling whilst thinking of Ginny the whole time. Before he knew it, his mother was calling him to come down for breakfast.

With a small groan, he got up and dressed quickly before heading down the stairs and into the dining room, which was full of food that his mother had prepared. They were both staying at Professor Snape´s home, which was well, very green. Just like the Slytherin common room actually. There were no photographs around but muggle paintings that adorned the wall. It was most fascinating and he had a grand collection of muggle music as well. He decided to check that out while he had been there and had taken a liking to a couple of songs so far.

Lucius must be turning in his grave, to know his son actually listening to anything muggle.

The thought of him just like that was making him sick, what he did to Ginny was something that he couldn´t forgive him for doing. Not one bit. He stared off into space while his mother piled his plate with eggs and sausages. He poked it around a bit and swirled it around his plate before he heard a screech of an owl. Frowning, he went to the window and looked out and saw not one but two owls carrying a package between them. It was his school assignments and he gave a sigh. Every morning without fail his assignments and notices around school would be sent to him so he wouldn't miss out on anything and he would send them back at the right time. Practical work, like Potions and DADA would be supervised on weekends when Professor Snape would come back and coach him for several hours.

He stood up and gathered the package, feeding the owls a little bacon and giving them a fresh bowl of water before they soared away. Sitting down, he pushed away his plate and opened the package and sifted through the sheets of parchment. "Transfiguration, DADA and Potions and what´s this?" he muttered under his breath.

The note was the day´s announcements actually. He didn´t really need to know since he wasn´t attending school but it kept him well informed. He scanned through the letter quickly and then his eyes glanced at the last portion of the letter that caused disappointment to waver through him. Quidditch.

`Ergh, Draco, someone is replacing you,´ the ugly voice in his head reared. He willed his face to look nonchalant and looked at his breakfast. The thought of food at the moment just made him a bit sick and so he shrugged off his mothers insistence to finish his breakfast, saying that he wasn´t really hungry and that he had better start on his work.

He also had another thing to worry about; he was going to have his O.W.Ls this year. He went into his room and slouched over the mahogany study table next to the window. He definitely missed his room at the mansion. He got himself several pieces of parchment quill and ink and headed towards the study. It was a relatively large open room and every wall was lined with books. It wasn´t much of a library like the one he had but it will make do for the mean time.

Draco tried to wipe any thoughts from his mind to concentrate on his work but he couldn´t! Thoughts of Ginny just floated through his mind and after a few rather redundant tries to get rid of her incessant need to fill his brain with her presence; he gave up trying and just stared straight in front of him, with a hand propping himself on the table. When he closed his eyes and opened them he saw Virginia sitting in the chair opposite him, biting her lip that made him go crazy. Draco widened his eyes and swallowed loudly. She stared back at him with her brown eyes and she smiled at him, brushing aside her hair. She leaned forward and grinned as her eyes flickered over him. She was nose to nose with him when she whispered, "Draco."

He shook his head and closed his eyes once more. When he opened them, she had disappeared. He let out a deep breath and just couldn´t believe what just happened. He was on the bloody brink of obsession and if it kept up he´d probably see her walking around him.

He shook his head and twisted his face, "Nutters, I´m going nutters," Draco threw his hands up in the air, "Bugger that," He leaned onto the table and with a free hand rifled through his hair and looked around him. Then he looked at his table and his eyes glanced at a particular piece of parchment once again. His hand slid across the table and tugged the parchment from under his potions book. He skimmed the letter and re read the information he needed. He glanced up with a mischievous glint in his eyes and his signature smirk sprawled across his sculpted features.

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[A/N: hehe... its hard to say anything without giving things away so I think I´ll just shut up!]