Promises Unbroken

The summer sun shown down over the garden of the Burrow, lighting up a patch of grass where a seventeen year old girl lay staring up at the sun, her face blank. She didn't move, though the sun beat down upon her fiercely, she rested one hand over her eyes and her mouth was pressed in a firm line. She was pale, paler than usual for a girl who was normally outside in the summer months. Absently she began to pluck grass out of the ground with her other arm, twirling a particularly long blade around her fingers.

Silently a tear ran down her face, squeezing its way from under her arm. Instantly she sat up and pressed her hands against her eyes. "Damn," she whispered, "not again." The tears began to come freely and she curled up, resigning herself to further sobs.

Her thin shoulders shook and her face grew red as she wept, after a few minutes she sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes, blinking fiercely to hold back more tears. She fell back on the grass, resuming her earlier position, and did not hear the footsteps treading lightly next to her.

"Your mother wants you for dinner," he said softly, his shadow shading the sun; she removed the arm from her eyes and blinked up at him blankly for a moment.

"Tell her I'm not hungry, she'll be mad, but what's it matter?" she spoke bitingly not caring who she was talking to. They were both silent for a moment, and she sat up, looking away from him. "Sorry, Professor," she muttered.

He smiled gently and sat down on the grass next to her, "How many times must I tell you Ginny? I am no longer your professor, please call me Remus. You make me feel older than I am."

She smiled for just a second, but it quickly faded from her face. He sighed and stared up at the sky, where the sun is beginning to set. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "I often find that it's easier to talk to someone who won't judge. I promise I won't."

For a minute she felt like she was about to snap at him, as she had whenever anyone has asked her about that for the past month and a half, but as she weighed her options she changed her mind.

"Okay, I'd rather do that then go in and have to suffer through another dinner... no one looks at me, and Kingsley's always around rambling on about what they found in the manor." She turned to him, he was watching her quietly, his face understanding, and she felt that it was genuine. "Mum and Dad didn't approve of... anything, and the others felt the same. Hermione doesn't understand this.... heartache. And Harry, well he's Harry."

"He doesn't like to show emotion," Remus agreed, "Nor does he want to talk. I can't say that I blame him."

Ginny nodded, "Neither can I, but that's just it. He thinks I blame him. I don't I never could. It wasn't his fault and I know it. He doesn't know how to talk to me now anyway."

"Well, that's how Harry is. He severs his ties and pretends that he doesn't look back. You tried your best." Ginny nodded and bit her lip so hard that she felt the skin on the inside of her mouth break. While the taste of blood came over her tongue, tasting sweet in contrast to the salty tears that had fallen into her mouth earlier, Remus said, "But it's not Harry you want to talk about."

"No. Not at all." She was lost in thought for a minute, staring up at the sky where the sun was beginning to sink slowly. Then she turned to him and asked, "Did you ever know how we met? I mean, really met? Without hexing each other?"

"I can't say that I did," he said thoughtfully, "Although I always imagined it was sometime after you broke up with Harry?"

She let out a small laugh and shook her head, "That's what's funny. It wasn't, it was before. It was the summer of the attack on Diagon Alley when Harry got locked in Gringotts with Ron? You remember?"

"How could I forget?" he smiled wryly, "That was when Harry managed to cast a port-key spell on that Galleon and get out right before the Goblins sealed all the air out of that place."

Ginny nodded, "Yes, that's it of course. It seems like so long ago. We were all so innocent then, weren't we?"

Remus shook his head, "Ginny, I would never make the mistake of calling you or Harry or anyone else who has been involved in this war innocent. Not even then. You had all seen so much. You in particular," he added pointedly.

Ginny, who had been staring down at the grass, watching two small gnomes chase each other back to the gnome hole, looked up quickly. "You know about... about that?" she said, feeling her face go pale.

Remus didn't seem to notice the change in her, or he pretended not to. "Yes I did, but come, tell me of how you met the real Draco Malfoy." Ginny looked at him dubiously for a moment then began to tell her story.

"Well, when I went to Flourish and Blott's I ran into him. Dad had just finished telling us what this could mean for us and the Ministry." She looked out at the sky and became encompassed in her memories, "He looked so tired, his forehead was wrinkled and there wasn't any laughter in his eyes. I grew up in that moment, the realization that my daddy couldn't solve anything. Funny, you'd think I'd have realized that after Tom, but I was twelve, I wanted my illusions." She glanced at him, wondering how he'd handle her mentioning Voldemort's real name so casually, he only nodded.

"He told us that Fudge wouldn't believe that only certain goblins were involved in the plot; that he was in too much of a hurry to jail anyone involved with Voldemort no questions asked. I remember how distraught Harry looked at that," she paused, "I thought I'd gotten over my crush then, I was more comfortable with him and I joked that it would make them easier to eat."

Remus chuckled softly, "What did Harry say to that?" he asked curiously, though Ginny wondered if he wasn't trying to focus her story on the happier parts..

Ginny frowned slightly, "He asked when I'd read that issue of the Quibbler. I suppose he thought I was too innocent for that, though perhaps he was realizing that I wasn't. I hadn't read it actually, Luna was muttering about it during History of Magic.

"Anyway, Dad wanted Harry and Ron to stick around and wait for the Ministry people, so he had Harry and Ron give me their booklists. Hermione was off with Mum, she was upset so Hermione went with her to the Leaky Cauldron. I don't think Hermione liked that much, but she felt like she had to do her part."

"I think Hermione very much looks up to your mother, but feels that she cannot live up to her standards when she marries Ron. Your mother is intimidating," Remus added.

Ginny snorted, "You're telling me; but you're right about Hermione, she's hinted at that before, always saying that she'll never be as my mother is with a family. I don't know why she wants to be really, Mum's great and all but I think she'd be happier if she could move us all to some other world without magic or adventure and let us be totally naïve. I could never want that for a child."

"You want children to experience all life has to offer. It's a good philosophy that I can't say many others share."

"Yes, that's right. But anyway, I went to Flourish and Blott's. It was crowded that day, the whole Alley was, it was two weeks before Hogwarts started, and I saw loads of people that I knew. I loved that place, it may surprise you that I adore reading since I'm no Hermione, but when I was a child there were days that I would lock myself in my room and read to avoid my brothers.

"I loaded myself down with books; I had money from babysitting in the village. Dad thought it would be good for my Muggle Studies grade, but I think he still wants to know what a rubber duck is for." Remus laughed.

"That's Arthur," Remus chuckled gently. He looked at Ginny and there was a twinkle in his eye that made Ginny's small smile grow.

"Yes, it is. Where was I? Oh right, it was crowded, and I couldn't really see over the books, and I knocked into someone. I was buried for a second, and when I freed myself, it was him. He scowled at first and said, 'Well, if it isn't the female weasel, you should watch where you're going.

"I answered with something smart, 'That Sleakeasy hair potion must be dripping in your eyes Malfoy,' or something like that." she shook her head and looked at Remus, "And you know, I may be imaging it now, but I think he was surprised. At any rate he knelt to help me pick up the books, muttering something about not wanting people to step on perfectly good novels." She stared out at the pink and purple sky thoughtfully, "that's something most didn't know about him. He loved to read the same as I did. He just found school dreadfully dull.

"I didn't realize I was bleeding, but he must have seen the cut on my cheek, he put his fingers on my cheek and turned me towards him," she blushed, but was not about to stop now that she was going, "his fingers were so cold, and I had a fleeting thought that I should warm them up. Then I became sure I was insane.

"'You're bleeding Weasley', he said, 'C'mon, we should go to the Healing Haven, they'll have something for it.'

"You have no idea how shocked I was. I had all my books then, and I stood. 'What do you care Malfoy?' I asked, loading them on the counter and handing the clerk several Galleons. Come to think of it I think I overpaid him. I was caught for a minute in Draco's eyes. They were a sea of something I didn't know, plenty of anger and hate, but for a moment, when he looked at me, compassion.

"'I care Weasel, because I'm not having you tell someone I hurt you on purpose.' He never wanted people to think well of him for long, that was sure.

"I took my books and began to leave, but he followed me. 'What?' I asked, 'Scared now that Daddy's not here to protect you?' he looked as if I had slapped him. 'What?' I asked, 'Is daddy's little boy missing his idol? Merlin, makes me wonder if you're his clone.'

"'What are you implying?' he asked, as we went towards the Haven, 'that I don't have a mother?'

"'You said it Malfoy, not me.' he didn't say anything and I longed to comment on the silence of the great Draco Malfoy, but I couldn't. His confusion shocked me, how many times had he been insulted and let it roll off of his back? Countless times I'm sure."

"I imagine, I saw it while I was at Hogwarts, he always had a comeback," Remus commented, "I often wondered if he would ever find anyone who saw past that. When of course I didn't wonder if his father had cloned himself."

"Well then, I wasn't the only one. A long time later he told me that his silence was because he was amazed that I stood up to him, the few times he saw me he thought I was timid, someone he could walk all over. He said he was trying to recalculate me," she sighed, and brushed a lock of hair out of her face.

"The witches at the Haven sold me a salve and it healed the cut up quickly, to my surprise he followed me into the Apothecary while I replenished my potions supply. I was about to tell him to go away again when they came."

"The death-eaters," Remus stated.

"Yes. The death-eaters, they sent curses left and right, I dropped my bags and whipped out my wand, Harry's training teaching me not to give a damn about the Degree for the Restriction of Under-age Wizardry. Malfoy seemed to be hesitant. 'What's wrong? Afraid of cursing your friends?' he muttered something but took out his wand.

"I got stuck in a duel with this one death-eater, and I didn't see the other one coming. I felt the curse hit me it was like this huge burst of air hitting me and knocking me up against a brick wall. I heard the crack of my head hitting the wall, and then I blacked out."

Remus sucked in a breath through his teeth, "I never knew that you were anywhere near that." he said, shocked. At that moment he realized how brave this girl was.

"No one did, not even Mum, though she wondered where I had been later. I told her I got stuck in Quality Quidditch Supplies." She turned to him and their eyes met, "Mum would never approve of any of what I'm about to tell you. It's nothing graphic, but you know my mum."

"It's okay, I won't tell her," he said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ginny nodded, tense under his hand at first, but relaxing as she accepted that he was indeed a friend she could trust, not just an adult.

"Okay. Well, I woke up and the first thing I knew was pain. My head was throbbing like it had just hit a brick wall, which of course it had. I managed to open my eyes and blink away the tears that came immediately to them. I turned my head as gently as I could, and imagine my shock when I realized I was lying in Draco Malfoy's lap. I shot up and the pain became unbearable.

"My stomach churned because of it and I retched, feeling horribly embarrassed and also somewhat frightened. From what I could comprehend of where I was it was once a shop, an apothecary, with eyeballs all over the floor, shelves were collapsed and there was slimy liquid in various places that it didn't belong.

"There was dust everywhere and broken glass where the windows should have been. That was all I could see before the pain became too much and I moaned raising my hand to it. It was sticky with blood and I felt bile rising in my throat." She looked sheepish, "I don't like blood much." Remus nodded.

"He quickly took my shoulders and lowered me back to his lap, I was hurting so badly that I let him, I didn't care what he was going to do to me, and the pain couldn't be any worse. He was so gentle, though I didn't register it at the time. He touched my cheek, which was healed perfectly and he stroked it tenderly. 'You'll be okay Ginny,' he told me. I think that was the first time he ever said my name. He slid my head off of his lap and stood. 'I'll be back in a moment.' I think I muttered something, I don't really know. I was in a state of utter shock. When he came back I'd decided that I was having a dream due to being knocked out, forget that you can't hurt in dreams.

"He came back with a bottle in his hand and sat down with me again. 'This may sting,' he said, parting my hair with his fingers. It hurt quite a lot actually.

"'Do you want to kill me?' I asked him furiously, as he put some of the potion on the cut. It hurt like hell," she added and Remus smiled a little, "so anyway, the cut healed, but I still had a horrid headache. He laid my head back on his lap, and I tried to protest. He put an icy finger to my lips and whispered, 'Hush, someone will find us. And incidentally if you ever breathe a word of this I'll make you regret it." I rolled my eyes at him, but the pain was enough that I didn't say anything.

"I suppose I fell into a sort of doze, because the next thing I remember he was helping me stand. 'We're alright now,' he said, 'can you walk?' with out waiting for an answer he made his way out of the building. I followed, numbly. I remember being shocked at the sunlight, it made my head pound, but I shook that off.

"The buildings were almost all rubbish, and I remember being so amazed that all of the places in my childhood were nothing but piles of broken stone. Streetlamps were broken, and cobblestones were turned every which way. I nearly fell over one or two, and he grabbed my arm roughly.

"'I don't think I have to worry about you telling anyone, you're going to kill yourself before that' he said, with his typically haughtiness.

"Any other time I'd have asked why he cared, but he had just done so much for me I only said, 'Why'd you do this for me?'

"He shrugged and said something along the lines of 'Wouldn't want you dead now would we?' in the distance we could see my family and he stopped. 'You'll be safe from here. Go on, your brood of siblings and Potter are probably worried.' He shoved the bags he carried into my hands and I realized that they were my bags. He had managed to carry me and my bags to that place. We shared a look that to this day I don't think I totally understand, a look of understanding between two people, who had never been anything to each other until then... and now we were something that neither of us could deny, or know what it was." She stared up at the single star that had made its way to the sky.

"So you see?" she told Remus, "He saved my life that summer. He didn't want thanks or even recognition. And I was totally flabbergasted."

Remus nodded, and his hand slide around her back and to her other shoulder as he pulled her to her gently, "You're a brave girl Ginny, don't ever let anyone tell you differently."

She smiled up at him, comforted by his hold on her. "Thanks Remus. Mum'll be worrying now we should go in." she bit her lip again and then stammered, "um... could we talk like this again sometime? I'd really like it."

"Of course," Remus said gently, "I'm going to stay here for the week, I had Ashwinders in my apartment."

She laughed at him and he grinned embarrassedly, glad to hear her laugh, "I thought you were supposed to be Mr. Defense Against Dark Creatures," she teased, half amazed at her own bluntness and half amused.

He didn't seem to be offended in the slightest, "Dark creatures yes, annoying pests no. Now let's go before your mother thinks I've kidnapped you." He stood, then pulled her up and they made their way to the house. Her mother was cleaning the supper dishes furiously, and Ginny wondered mildly if she was imagining faces of dark wizards resided on the china.

"Where did you two go?" she demanded, "I wanted to get you, but Arthur said-" Remus held up a hand.

"Molly, calm down, Ginny and I were just talking, it did us both good."

Ginny nodded, wondering what good it did him. Her mother peered at her and then smiled warmly, "All right then, feeling better Ginny dear?"

Ginny nodded, and went up to kiss her mother, "Sure Mum," she said, "A bit tired. I'll see you two in the morning."

As she ascended the stairs she heard her mother say, "Thank you Remus."

Ginny stiffened, wondering if his compassion had been on her mother's orders, "Molly, you've got a resilient girl there, she taught me something tonight. The young heart is the best thing in the world." Ginny smiled to herself, reassured by this in a way she was unsure of.

Hermione was not in their room, and from the window she could see Hermione and her brother on the bench outside, snogging. They had taken ages to realize they cared about each other, but once they did.... Well, one knocked before going into one of their rooms nowadays.

Ginny stripped off her cloths and slid on her nightgown. Crawling between her sheets she wondered about Remus Lupin, who had listened so patiently to her story about Draco. Some of the pain seemed to have been lifted, and though Draco's face still swam in her mind it did not have quite as much sorrow to accompany it. Her last thought before drifting into sleep was that of Remus' face smiling at her. Little did she know, as she drifted off to sleep on that warm summer night that her life was about to change forever, that a summer could hold innumerable amounts of discovery and that love was more fragile than she imagined.