Forbidden Fruit

Ginny lay in her bed, smiling up at Ron. "See? So it's really no big deal. I've just got the Muggle Flu virus. Madame Pomfrey said I probably caught it from one of the Muggle first years and my body isn't used to it so it hit me a little harder."

"I don't know, Ginny. I still think we should call mum. She'd want to know."

"Ron, Madame Pomfrey will have me well in no time. She said two, three days tops. I'm fine. And I don't have to take my Arithmancy test today."

"I could get it and bring it to you," Hermione offered. "You don't want to get behind, Ginny."

Ginny groaned and Ron cracked a smile, "Hermione, that was the bright side of being in here. Don't try to take that away from her."

"Thank you, Ron." Ginny laughed.

"Any time, my dear." Ron bowed comically, swinging his arms to his side as he up righted himself. Hermione jumped backwards so as not to get hit and bumped into the bedside table, losing her balance. She was about to fall when Ron swiftly wrapped one strong arm around her waist and pulled her to him, holding her up.

Hermione gasped at the feel of his body against hers and jumped away. "What are you doing?"

"Um, keeping you from falling down?" Ron asked, confused.

"Why?"

"Because falling down hurts." Ron's face flushed red with embarrassment as he began to stutter. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I just didn't think you'd want to fall."

Ginny watched with amusement as Hermione slowly backed away, a mixed look of shock and embarrassment across her own face. "Well, thank you. I.. I'll see you later, Ginny. I need to go to the library. Now."

As soon as Hermione was out the door, Ginny heard Ron let out a deep breath. She scooted over in the bed and patted it for her brother. "You know, you can't act completely clueless all the time and not expect to surprise her when you actually act on it," she told him softly as he sat beside her.

"Act on what?" Ron asked, still staring at the door.

"Your feelings for Hermione."

Ginny was smiling angelically when Ron turned to her, astonishment written all over his face. "My... what? Ginny, you've gone crazy. I don't.."

He couldn't finish the argument as Ginny fell into fits of giggles. "Come on, Ron. Which one of us has gone crazy?" If he knew anything about what she'd been doing the last few months, Ginny was sure his answer would be different. But he didn't, so that was a non-issue. "You're all out falling for the girl and we both know it. Hell, even Hermione knows it. You're just too stubborn to show it."

"We're friends, Ginny. Harry, Hermione, and me. Friends." He enunciated "friends" as if to convince her, or himself.

"So? What's that have to do with it? You can be friends with your lover. Friends make the best lovers."

Ron jumped back to his feet and looked out the window, the door, anywhere but at Ginny. "How would you know that? No. I don't want to know. You don't know that. It's something you've picked up in a silly book. You really need to spend less time with Hermione. Those books will rot your brain. This is pointless anyway. I don't have a lover." His stomach was beginning to churn from the wayward thoughts swirling through his head as he once again looked at his sister, "Scoot over, I think I'm going to be sick."

"Maybe this flu virus is contagious," Ginny offered, knowing he wasn't really sick.

"I really don't think that's it." Ron groaned, laying down next to her.

~*~

Neeley nodded at the older boy beside her and ran down the hall after a bushy haired girl. "Mudblood!" she called.

Hermione stopped and turned her glare on the small child dressed in green robes, "you shouldn't say that. It's not nice."

"Oh, sorry," Neeley smiled sweetly. "I'm new here, I didn't know. Is it true that one of the Gryffindor students is very sick with some kind of mystery disease?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "and where did you hear that? It's not some mystery disease. She's simply got the Muggle Flu. It's really no big deal."

"Oh, I've heard of that. Harmless in Muggles, but the wizarding world isn't used to it so it hits us harder. Right? I read that in a book once. I love to read books."

Hermione couldn't help but like this girl, despite her earlier discretion. "Yes. That is correct. Who are you? I haven't seen you around here before."

"Neeley Mason," Neeley smiled. "I just got here last night. What is the girls name that's sick? Do you think she'd let me talk to her about it? I'm very interested in Muggle diseases. I'd like to write a paper on them and a real interview would be so much more interesting than just a bunch of books. I like to have a variety of sources."

"Her name is Ginny, she's a friend of mine. I'll talk to her and let you know. I'm sure she wouldn't mind though."

"Thank you so much!" Neeley sickened herself with her enthusiasm, Draco better appreciate the lengths she'd gone to. She ran back down the corridor in which she'd come.

"Meet me after breakfast and we'll go!" Hermione yelled after her. Neeley waved a hand in the air in agreement just before she disappeared.

~*~

"Well?" Draco asked, causing the small girl to jump. He'd moved closer and she hadn't expected him to appear where he had.

"She's got the Muggle Flu. Now will you tell me why this was so interesting to you?"

"Did you set up a meeting with her?" he asked, ignoring the question.

"After breakfast. The Mudblood's going to take me."

"Good. And when you're done I want you to get her out of there. Tell her you'd like a tour of the library or something. That should get her away for quite a while."

"Why is it so important for you to talk to this Gryffindor?" Neeley asked, this time with more force. "If I'm going to do anything for you, I want to know why."

"You're cute," Draco sneered. "If you're not going to do anything for me then I have no use for you. If I have no use for you, then I treat you like the other first years. You don't want that. Why don't we just consider that the answer and be done with it."

"You wouldn't. I'd tell your father." A small bit of fear hitched in Neeley's voice as she narrowed her eyes. Yes, she'd still been awake after they got into Hogwarts the night before. This boy wasn't nearly as gullible as he seemed at first. And he was a whole lot meaner.

Draco backed her against the wall and bent to lower his eyes to hers. "No. You wouldn't. What you don't understand is that no matter what my father does to me at home, we're still here the majority of the year. I rule Slytherin. I rule Hogwarts. And a couple of short weeks of trouble at home for me will be nothing compared to a year of trouble for you here."

Neeley swallowed forcefully. Her plan would definitely need tweaked after this conversation. "I understand."

~*~

"Harry brought you breakfast," Ginny smiled a little as she saw Ron wake up beside her. "But I asked Madame Pomfrey to take it out of here. The smell was making me sick."

"That's okay," Ron rubbed his eyes sleepily. "I can't believe I fell asleep. Of all the girls I've dreamed of waking up to, I swear, Ginny, you were never one of them."

"Yeah, well the feeling is mutual," Ginny laughed. "Now get up. You're making me hot."

Ron raised a disgusted eyebrow at her and she slapped his arm and laughed, "not like that."

"Good. I was beginning to wonder if you belonged here or at St. Mungo's," Ron grinned. He stood up and straightened the sheets where he'd slept. "How are you feeling?"

"I had a small bout a little while ago, but I feel perfectly fine now. Madame Pomfrey says I can go as soon as I eat and keep the food down."

"That's good. Hermione will be glad to hear it."

"What about you?"

"Well, I was enjoying my time without my sister tagging along, personally," Ron joked.

"Oh yes, and that would be why you've spent every second since you woke up this morning in here with me," Ginny shot back, a similar smile across her lips. "Really, Ron. I'm fine. Go do the Harry, Hermione, Ron thing."

"Well, I would, but.."

"But you don't know how to act around Hermione?" Ginny guessed.

"Right," he sighed. His eyes roamed around the room, looking at everything except his sister; his cheeks flushed pink.

"She's been sending you hints for months now. Just send her some back and let her know you have seen them."

"She has?" Ron was amazed. How had he missed that?

"Okay," Ginny smiled, "Maybe letting her know you've seen them is a bit too much. I swear mum must have forgotten which order she had us in because I'm way more mature."

"You are not. Girls are just confusing. If she likes me, why doesn't she just say so?"

"Why haven't you?" Ginny retorted, and smiled as her brother's face showed obvious contemplation. "Go eat, Ron," she laughed. "Your stomach growling is about to drive me nuts."

Ron kissed his sister on the forehead, "I'll be back after I eat."

"Don't. Go talk to Hermione or something. I'm fine. I promise."

"Are you saying you don't want me here?"

Ginny smiled and shooed him off, "Yes."

~*~

Draco had watched Neeley and the Mudblood enter and exit the infirmary quickly and thought something must have been wrong. Taking his chances, he started down the hall, passing them just as Neeley had said, "I can't believe she was asleep. Just my luck. We can go back after we tour the library, right?" The Mudblood had agreed. Perfect.

He slid into the infirmary quietly and took a seat next to Ginny's bed. The curtains were closed and he whispered a silencing charm on them before feeling completely comfortable with being there. This was the most public display in months of dating he'd ever dared to make.

Gently he stroked her hair, willing her to wake. Willing things to be different. Willing both of them into a different time when things weren't so hard. Willing yesterday to have never happened. Mostly, willing himself to quit and forget about her. None of which could happen.

"Gods, Ginny, are you okay?" he whispered, brushing his lips softly over her forehead. "I should have known if you were sick. You should have told me. Why didn't you tell me before... I wish it didn't have to happen. I already miss you, you know."

He pulled the blanket up underneath her chin and smiled. As intimate as he'd been with her, this was a scene he'd never had. She looked so innocent and peaceful. The girl that had bitten back with sharper comebacks than he'd ever imagined coming from a Gryffindor mouth looked angelic in her sleep. He could imagine waking up to this every morning for the rest of his life; it tugged at his already broken heart.

"I love you. I do. I don't know how you made me love you. I've never felt this way about anyone, not even my own mother. I never told you. I thought it would make things harder in the end. This is tearing me apart. I know I don't show it, but surely you of all people know me well enough to know. Maybe you don't. I don't know."

In the privacy of the infirmary curtains, with only a sleeping Ginny as audience, Draco allowed a single tear to slide down his cheek before abruptly wiping it away. He felt free to mourn the lost relationship and knew this would probably be his only chance. "I had a dream once, a few weeks ago. I was from a normal family, not the son of Lucius Malfoy. It was our wedding, Ginny. You looked beautiful." He grinned, "you looked even more beautiful later in the dream when the reception was over and your family had all finally left. You wore Slytherin green lace, and not too much of it. God, you were beautiful. I almost tried to break into Gryffindor that night. I wanted to see you, so much."

His hand brushed her cheek and she turned towards him, a small smile gracing her lips. "Are you awake, Ginny? Do you hear babbling? Do you have any idea how much blackmail you have on me or how easy it would be for you to ruin me?" He laughed sardonically. "I know you wouldn't though. I'd never hurt you either. Ron? Probably. Harry? Definitely. But never you."

"Don't you learn from the past, Malfoy?" Ginny finally opened her eyes. "You can't take Ron and you sure can't take Harry. He's beat you every time you've had a round with him."

He closed his eyes to hide the embarrassment. "When'd you wake up?"

"I was never asleep. I just didn't want Hermione in here hovering."

"So now I look like a marshmallow," Draco nodded.

"No. Now you look like an insensitive wart, in Hermione's words." Ginny wouldn't look at him and finally found the energy to shrink back from his touch. She'd kept her eyes closed, wishing for everything not to have happened. Imagining it hadn't. But she knew it had and nothing would change that. It was now or never.

"What? How am I being insensitive? I.. What?" Draco had spilled his heart! What else did she want?

"You tell me it's over then tell me you love me afterwards? How do you expect me to feel, Malfoy?"

"Why are you doing that? Why are you calling me Malfoy?"

"What we had, nothing is left of it. I have to go back to the way things were. If I call you Draco, I'll think of you as Draco. The Draco I knew, not the Malfoy that everyone sees. I can't put myself through that."

"So you're asking me not to care? If that's what you want then say it. I've got plenty of practice not caring." His eyes were darkening and something in them scared Ginny. He'd recoiled every thought and intention of the touches he'd been giving her and stood up.

"I'm asking you to stay away from me." Ginny sat up, her eyes just as cold. "You can't hurt people and expect them to react normally to you. You can't! I loved you too, Draco. I was willing to go against everything my family is just to be with you. What did I get out of it?"

"I thought you understood! My father wouldn't just be disappointed. He wouldn't just yell, or disown me. He'd probably kill me! And if that wasn't bad enough, he'd probably kill you too! My father isn't like yours!"

"Even if I was willing to join his side?" Ginny asked, knowing she could never do it.

"Would you?"

"No," she whispered. "I couldn't. I thought about it though."

"You thought about that? For me?" Astonishment was rampant on his face but quickly gave way to sadness. "Don't be stupid. I couldn't let you, Ginny. You don't understand what I live with. You try. I know you do. But you never could. You weren't raised with it. Darkness, Ginny, it's lonely in the dark. You know me better than anyone in this place. You probably know me better than anyone at all. Do you think I like knowing that I can't trust anyone around me? Do you think I like watching everything I say, everything I do just in case it gets back to my father? Do you think I like not having a choice about what I want out of life? When you were little, did you dream of being a Medi-Wizard or an Aura (Spelling please, Lib?)? Did you act like a magician or a dancer? Or maybe you dreamed of writing books? I didn't have that luxury, not even as an infant. From the time I was born I've heard nothing but what an asset I will be to the Dark side. While you were dancing or swimming or whatever you did down there with all those brothers, the closest I ever came to playing games was dressing a house-elf up as an Auror and torturing him with Crabbe and Goyle! I hate it! I didn't always hate it, it was all I knew, but..." he shrugged, "sometimes people grow. I'm not allowed to. I've got one path set out for me and I didn't choose it. I don't want that for you. You could be, you will be, so much more."

"It's lonely without you," she whimpered. Hard as he'd tried, he couldn't stop himself as he climbed in the bed beside her and held her against him. One more time.