Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 3 - To Run Scared

Draco lay awake in bed that night, smirking in triumph. He'd have Weasley now! At first he'd thought to tweak Ron's nose by just getting him into trouble in Potions, but to get to him through his sister... He relished the look on Ron's face when he "accidentally" came across his dearest little sister entwined in an embrace with his mortal enemy. Ah, revenge is sweet... Draco thought as he drifted off to sleep, his only lullaby the gentle snoring of his two burly bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle.

On the opposite side of the castle, Ginny also lay awake, thinking. Her fear mounted with every thought that entered her head, at the consequences of her actions with Draco. You can't run from him forever, her brain reminded her. This castle is far too small for that. It's far too late to turn back now, Virginia...

"Stop it! Stop it!" she mumbled over and over, until it became a swirling litany within the confines of her head. She had nowhere to run, no room to breathe, no place to escape to.

"I can! I can run! I will never have to see him again, Ron won't know, Harry won't know... Harry won't know... Oh shit!" Ginny sat bolt upright as the realisation came to her. How would Harry react? He'd been her boyfriend for nearly three years now, and she was cheating on him by seeing Draco.

"Oh God," she whispered and flopped back onto her bed, clutching her head in her hands, feeling cheap and dirty for what she had just done. She had just kissed her boyfriend's worst enemy! But did Draco really love her? Or was he just trying to get to Harry? To hell with Draco, she thought desperately. I love Harry, I can't love Draco... I don't love Draco! I have to get out of here...

"Harry! Harry! Wake up! Oh, Merlin! Harry!" Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived... Child Celebrity... Defeater of Lord Voldemort... yada yada yada... woke drowsily to the frantic shrieking of Hermione, who was now moaning, bare inches away from his ear.

"Merlin, Hermione, it's four..." he sought confirmation from his specialised Wizarding Timekeeper, "four thirty in the morning!"

"Oh, I know, I know, but Ginny's gone!" Hermione mumbled through the gaps between her fingers.

"What?!" Harry yelled, instantly awake and fully alert. He peeled Hermione's fingers away from her face one by one, taking in her red-rimmed eyes and dishevelled hair.

"What?" he asked again, softer this time. Hermione drew a deep breath.

"I heard a noise in our dorm -" She began before Harry interrupted.

"What were you doing awake at this time of night... morning?" he corrected himself with a slight frown. Hermione held his gaze frostily, though he noticed she turned a bit pink when asked that particular question. He motioned her to go on and her eyes hardened further.

"And being Head Girl, I chose to investigate. I found Ginny missing, with this on her nightstand," she finished, stiffly tossing him a letter and turning to leave.

"Hermione, wait!" She turned, an inquisitive look in her eyes as she walked back over to Harry's bed, aiming a quick unbreakable charm on the lock of Seamus' trunk. Ever since they had broken up last year, Hermione regarded Seamus as the lowest form of life on earth and told him so every chance she got. This didn't affect the Gryffindor boy in the least little bit, as 'serious' was not a word he could comprehend on the best of days.

"Will you wait here while I read the letter?" he asked, bringing her back into the present, and seeing how fragile Harry was at the moment, she chose to stay.

Harry, Hermione, Ron,

I'm sorry, so very sorry. But I just cannot stay here and persevere with the mess I have made of my life thus far. I do hope you can forgive me. Ron, I know dad always told us never to run from our problems, so I realise you might find it hard to read this, knowing that's exactly what I'm doing, and if all goes well, none of you will ever have to lay eyes on me ever after. I could not deal with your hatred if you know what I have done, what I've gotten myself into. Farewell,

Virginia M. Weasley.

Harry was staring down at the tear spotted piece of parchment in horror, before realising that not all of the tears on the page were his girlfriend's. He furiously wiped his eyes and pulled his unresponsive body out of bed. Movement sluggishly returned to his limbs and he looked up at Hermione with renewed purpose.

"Let's go," he said hoarsely, pulling his invisibility cloak out of his trunk with an unconscious flourish. Hermione shook her head and pointed to Ron's still-sleeping form, a large lump under his covers.

"Since when does Ron sleep without drawing the curtains around his bed?" Harry asked dryly, poking Ron in the ribs with the tip of his wand, not missing Hermione's cheeks going a deep scarlet. Ron woke quickly and Harry silently handed him the letter. Tears were in Ron's eyes as he tucked the parchment under his pillow without a word to either of his best friends. Harry held out the invisibility cloak with sympathy in his eyes. Ron took the cloak and motioned for Hermione to go back to bed with a smile as he also motioned that she shouldn't curse Seamus in any way as she left. Hermione pouted at this but turned and left the room quietly. Harry pulled the cloak to cover both himself and Ron as the quietly left Gryffindor Tower and made for the Forbidden Forest.

Draco woke with a start as he remembered the vision he had just experienced. First, before the vision, he had been remembering the first day of Hogwarts, when Ginny had run into the Great Hall and announced loudly to her Gryffindor friends, and Potter in particular, that Dumbledore had moved her to Seventh Year as she had already achieved the set work for the sixth year in the last battle against Voldemort, in which her brother Charlie, and their Potions Master, Severus Snape had both died horrible deaths. Their mutilated corpses had been found on the edge of the Forbidden Forest last November. Then the vision had broken in, revealing Ginny running through the corridors of Hogwarts, then a flash of green light and she lay there on the decomposing leaf litter, auburn hair fanned messily around her pale, lifeless face. Draco flung his clothes on messily and searched hurriedly for his invisibility cloak that his mother had given him last Christmas, when his father had beaten him to near death. He threw the cloak over his shoulders and raced for the place where Charlie's corpse had been found. The Forbidden Forest.

Ginny ran as quickly as she could, not caring where her feet took her, how long it took her to get there, or who or what was waiting there for her. It was only as she sat down to catch her breath on a half-rotten tree stump that she realised where she was, and felt an instant finger of intense fear run slowly down her spine. She stepped back as a movement in the undergrowth opposite her tree stump caught her attention. A person behind her grabbed her around the waist and her breath caught in her throat as she tried to scream, only to find the person had covered her mouth with their hand to prevent such a drastic measure being taken. She bit down hard and the hand was taken away as she tasted the copper taint of fresh blood in her mouth.

"Shit!" a more than familiar voice cursed nearby.

"Draco." She said, her voice quavering with both fear and suppressed desire. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question!" he spat, looking down at the tiny rivulet of blood running down his finger.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry! Let me fix that!" She stumbled over to where he stood and dug around in the pockets of her robes. She pulled out a vial of translucent blue liquid and dabbed a little of it on Draco's wound. The potion ceased glowing as it was absorbed into Draco's perfect white skin and the small cut healed up without a mark almost instantaneously.

"Thank you," he said softly, an odd look, almost of surprise, perhaps mingled with a little... what? Fear? Decisiveness? She just couldn't tell anymore! She was so confused... She flinched a little as Draco fingered the moonstone pendant at her neck; her skin tingled at his touch as he slowly ran a finger from the ornate silver necklace down her skin to the neckline of the low cut gauzy blouse she had thrown on in the dark. He smiled as she took a shuddering breath, as she gulped loudly, turning away from him slightly. How could her body betray her like this? She loved Harry, not Draco... Draco kissed her lightly on the lips, gently seeking permission for more, holding her tightly as she gave it to him... She loved Harry, not Draco... She loved Draco, not Harry...

Ginny awoke in the forest next morning, Draco beside her, nothing but Draco's invisibility cloak covering her. Ginny rolled over, gently disentangling herself from Draco's clinging arms and throwing her clothes on hurriedly. She walked into the bushes a little way and emptied her stomach of its contents. I feel like such a slut, she thought, disgusted at her own lack of self control. How could I do this to Harry? She looked up as she re-entered the clearing she had slept with Draco in, the clearing in which she had betrayed her love for Harry. Nothing would ever be the same again. The sight that met her eyes as she looked up when she entered the clearing, however, would haunt her for days, if not weeks to come. Harry and Ron stood in the clearing looking between Ginny, whose blouse was still unbuttoned and her skirt which was as dishevelled as her hair, and Draco, lying naked on the forest floor, an oddly confused look in his grey eyes.

"Ron, wait!" Ginny called as Ron's eyes hardened and he turned to leave the clearing, Harry with him. As Ron turned he said only one word before walking back up to the castle.

"Bitch."