Forbidden Fruit

Ginny awoke feeling nauseous. Draco was gone. Maybe it had just been a dream. Maybe everything he'd said had been a lie. Wouldn't that be just like him. Maybe... maybe she needed to find a bucket before the biscuits Madam Pomfrey had served her made another appearance.

She groaned as she splashed cool water over her face. She'd thought the biscuits would stay down; oh, how she'd been wrong! Ginny honestly didn't think biscuits went as far as they did. When she turned around, her stomach sank even further as she caught the worried look of Hermione.

"You're still sick?" Hermione asked. "Where is Madam Pomfrey?"

"There's nothing she can do about it. I'm fine, Hermione." Ginny caught sight of a small child dressed in green standing behind her friend. Her eyebrows immediately lowered as she scowled. "Who's that?"

"Oh!" Hermione jumped, embarrassed of her forgetfulness. "This is Neeley. She's very interested in Muggle diseases and wanted to know if she could talk to you about it. I told her I was almost sure you wouldn't mind..."

"Why didn't you just answer her questions? You grew up around this."

Taken aback by Ginny's tone, Hermione didn't know how to answer. She started to speak more than a few times but stopped herself, sure that it would come out entirely wrong.

For some reason, she now knew how Ron felt. "Ginny, I... She wanted to talk to someone that had been through it and remembered. If I've ever had the flu, I don't remember it. I remember what I've read, but she can read about it if that's what she's interested in." She had the distinct feeling of a Grindylow floundering up on shore. "I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think you would mind."

Ginny waved a submissive hand and looked once again at the child. "I'm sorry. I'm just not much in the mood for people, much less Slytherins."

"Slytherins are people too." The small, fragile voice of the child took Ginny by surprise.

"Miss, I don't want to bother you, but..."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, don't call me miss!" Ginny laughed. "I'm only a sixth year, seventeen years old! I'm hardly a professor or anything like that."

"I'm sorry, Ginny. I really didn't mean to upset you. I'm going to go find Ron now."

Ginny nodded, seemingly uninterested, although in reality she couldn't bring herself to look at Hermione after the way she'd acted. She waited until Hermione was at the door before calling her name. "Hermione! I... um... I don't know why I acted that way. I'm just..."

Hermione smiled. "No need to explain, Ginny. You're stir crazy, as anyone would be in your situation."

Ginny waited until Hermione left before turning narrow eyes on the child. "Did he send you?"

"Who?"

Neeley's voice was innocent. A little too innocent for a Slytherin. Ginny nodded. "So he did. What does he want?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about. I just wanted you to explain to me what you're feeling and what you know about why you're feeling that way." Neeley was

beginning to squirm under Ginny's watchful eye, making Ginny almost laugh. The young Slytherins were the best, she'd decided. They had seen the games played and were ready to try out their wings, but not nearly good enough to play them. Especially against her.

"It's no good, Neeley. I know Slytherin as well as I know Gryffindor. I've got some Slytherin in me. You can't walk around here caring like a Gryffindor, pretending to write a paper like a Ravenclaw, and wearing Slytherin green. No one will believe you."

"Your friend believed me," Neeley pointed out.

"Well, I don't," Ginny answered, just as defiantly. "What did he want?"

"How do you know a boy sent me?" Neeley's eyebrows rose. She'd been right; something was going on. "Maybe one of the girls wanted me to check on you."

"No. I know who sent you. The Prince of Slytherin himself. Now tell me why before I wring your scrawny, little neck."

~*~

The room was dark; she must have slept until nightfall. A dark shadow was peering over her; she'd have been frightened if his scent hadn't given him away. "Why do you keep doing this to me, Draco?" Her voice cracked with uncertainty as she tried to sit up, slumber not yet leaving her body.

"You made things rough for me, Ginny. Why'd you tell Neeley you knew it was me that sent her?" His eyes were cold, nothing like they had been days before when he'd held her, opened his soul to her, loved her.

Ginny flinched. "She couldn't do anything to you. You're the almighty Draco Malfoy. She's a little kid."

"Damn it, Ginny! You don't understand anything do you? She's the child of my father's associate. My father takes reports from her as to my activities here! I took a big enough risk sending her here to check on you; now she suspects something. Why would you do that to me?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Ginny sat up and threw her legs over the side of the bed, looking into his eyes. "You're acting like I was out to hurt you, and I wasn't! I've just as much to lose here as you do. Do you not understand that?"

"No." His voice was icy and made her flinch again. "I don't. You can't tell me your family would take your life. You can't tell me your family would take everything from you if they found out. I've tried to explain my father to you. You don't listen."

"It's you who doesn't listen. I'm beginning to think this entire relationship is one-sided, Draco. No. My family won't kill me. But they'd be disappointed. I could very possibly lose their love, and I know I'd lose their trust. And yes, I would lose everything if they found out. I'd lose you. Do you honestly think with six older brothers at least one of them wouldn't come after you?"

The thought a herd of redheaded oxen chasing him through the castle hit Draco, the consequences of the chase making him sit on the side of the bed as he gasped for air.

"That wouldn't be nice. That's why we had to end this."

"We didn't end this, Draco. You did. And for someone so willing to end it, you've been showing up at my bedside a lot lately."

"I was worried about you! Is that so awful?"

"No, I suppose not. But it makes it really hard to get over what we can't have anymore." Her voice had gone from strong and angry to soft, sad. It made Draco's heart contract with a severity he couldn't fathom. A lump formed in his throat; he was sure it was his stomach, as he caught sight of her motions. She was removing her necklace. His necklace. "I want you to take this back. I...I can't stand to look at it anymore. It just brings sadness."

"I'm sorry you feel that way." He took the pendant and balled it in his fist, wishing he could squeeze it until there was nothing left of it. No memory.

"How else am I supposed to feel?" Her eyes widened as she attempted to understand him; she never would.

"Feel however you want." He shrugged and stood. "I promise not to bother you again."

"Draco, no..." It was too late; he'd already disappeared through the hospital doors. This time she could tell it was for good. As much as she'd wished for time to cope, now that she had it...she wasn't sure it was going to help. Once again she buried her face into her pillow, letting the tears come silently. Life wasn't fair.

~*~

"Tell me." Draco sneered down at the group of first year Hufflepuffs. They stuttered and backed themselves against a wall, looking around wildly for a place to run.

Draco continued, not getting any satisfaction from the game, but at least it was something to take his mind from other things. Things he could no longer allow himself to think about. He aimed his wand to the middle of the largest of the group's chest and repeated his question. "Tell me why you were walking in my hall."

"We needed to get to class," the smaller boy squeaked.

With a slight wave of his wand and a muttered spell, he smirked as all five boys became joined at the ears. "Well, get to class then. We wouldn't want to be late and get detention."

~*~

A smile lit up Ginny's face as she saw five Hufflepuff first years awkwardly walk into the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was immediately at their side. "What happened to you?"

"Draco Malfoy," one of the boys scoffed. "It seems we're not allowed to walk in his hall."

Ginny stood and began to dress. She couldn't let the rest of the school suffer just because she was causing him pain.

"And where are you going, Ms. Weasley?" Madam Pomfrey turned around, her eyes drilling holes through Ginny.

"Well, someone should stand up to him. He can't get away with that."

"I'll inform Professor Dumbledore; you needn't worry." With a quick switch of her wrist, the boys were unlocked and sent on their way. She turned back to Ginny. "You seem stronger this afternoon."

"I feel better, Madam Pomfrey. May I be released?"

Madam Pomfrey nodded and pointed towards a tray. "As soon as you eat something."

"I've been here two weeks now. I feel good. I ate breakfast this morning, and it's still down."

"But you had problems before breakfast. Humor me and eat something; then you can go."

Ginny ate a small portion of her lunch and was happy when it stayed down and she was released. She stalked the halls with new determination. She would be fine. Everything would be fine. It would be as if nothing had ever happened between her and Draco. She'd make sure of it.

~*~

Hermione stared blankly at the parchment. "No," could be heard softly being repeated from her lips. "Surely not," she would say, before flipping the pages of her book and going back to the parchment to scribble a few numbers. The answer came out the same each time. "But that's impossible!" she told herself. "There's no way. Is there?"

Ginny plopped down in a chair beside her unceremoniously. She smiled at her friend. "Guess who's back!"

Hermione looked up, her wide eyes glancing over Ginny then back up to her face. "How are you feeling?" she asked carefully.

"Great. I've been feeling great. Just couldn't shake the last of that flu thing. But I'm back and ready to spend the next month catching up on my studies. Are you willing to help?"

Hermione smiled, pleased she'd been asked. "Of course I am...but... I need to talk to you first. And not here." She looked around quickly to make sure neither Harry nor Ron was within ear shot and added, "Can we go to my room for a minute?"

"Sure." Ginny gave a chipper smile and led the way. Hermione grabbed her things and followed nervously; she had to be wrong. Surely she was wrong. She was rarely wrong.

Ginny sank onto Hermione's bed and looked up as the girl shut the door behind her rather slowly. "What's wrong, Hermione? You look green. Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey. Maybe you've caught what I had. You did spend a lot of time in there looking after me."

"Ginny," Hermione began, fidgeting with her books, "I need to ask you something. A while back, we were talking about a boy you were seeing..."

Ginny frowned, obvious hurt spreading over her face before she could stop it. "That's no longer a problem. It... It's over. I'm not seeing him anymore."

"Oh. That may not be good. Ginny, I have to ask you something rather personal, okay?" She waited for Ginny to nod before continuing. "When we talked, you said some things had happened. Did you and he ever..." Hermione's face turned the most brilliant shade of red as she fumbled for the words. "You know..."

"I know? Um... Oh! Did we ever, you mean, why?" Ginny stuttered, all happiness gone.

Had she known this was the conversation Hermione wanted to have, she would have found anything else to do!

"Well, I've been researching everything I could find on the Muggle flu, and I think you were misdiagnosed. But maybe you weren't. But it would be easier to look at if I knew... that."

"Hermione," Ginny chided, "Madam Pomfrey has been doing this for a number of years.

Why would you even doubt her?"

"It's just that you couldn't seem to shake this thing you had, so I started reading up on various things, and, well... you have the symptoms of something else. Of course you'd need to go back to Madam Pomfrey and have her check it out."

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Ginny asked, irritation evident in her voice.

"Well, are you...I mean, is there any way you could be," Hermione swallowed hard and turned away before finishing, "pregnant?"

Ginny stared at her friend, the look of utter horror enough of an answer. "Do. Not. Tell. Ron," were the only words she could choke out.

"He needs to know. Your family needs to know, Ginny. They could help you. The father needs to know, too."

"The father? We haven't even found out for sure if I am!"

"Then you admit it is a possibility?" Hermione asked, sitting beside her friend. "Oh, Ginny, why didn't you tell me?"

Ginny didn't answer. Her face was buried in her hands, her head shaking from side to side as she repeated Hermione's words of earlier. "There's no way! No! Not now!" After several moments, she looked up. "You won't tell Ron, right?"

Hermione thought it over and finally nodded. "On two conditions. First, I want your word that you will. Not immediately, but soon. Second, I want to know who the father is."

"No. You don't," Ginny whispered. Oh, Merlin, what had she done? Her brothers were going to kill her, not to mention Draco. Her father would be disappointed, and her mother even more so. And Draco... He'd said his father could never know. How could she raise a child without help? How could she let a child grow up without a father? And how could this child, assuming there was one, ever have a father?

"Ginny?" Hermione started softly.

She was cut off as Ginny stood up and began pacing the small room. "Do you want to know?" she finally asked, stopping mid-pace. "Do you really want to know?" Hermione nodded, a loyal, caring look in her eye. Ginny sighed and didn't have the heart to look at her friend as the truth spilled from her lips. She heard Hermione gasp and clutch at her chest and was finally able to look up to the pale, ghostlike appearance of her stricken friend, shame evident on her face. "I'm sorry, Hermione. Gods, I'm sorry. Please? Forgive me?" Once again, she found herself tearful.