Trust Me

Chapter Five: The Damage Done

It was late. The pale moonlight travelled gently through the high window, casting eerie shadows across the grey stone floor. Draco was alone. Everyone else had gone to bed hours ago. He had been silent all evening, so consumed by his thoughts that he didn't even comprehend the steady ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. Now it was almost midnight and Draco was no closer to sorting out his jumbled thoughts than he had been that afternoon.

He sighed heavily. Everything had worked out perfectly -- the plan was right on schedule -- so why did he feel so miserable? He had done deeds worse than this before. His special talent was making peoples lives a living hell. Sometimes he did it for spite, sometimes for some greater purpose. What was it about this latest scheme that brought an uncomfortable emptiness to his stomach and a burning sensation to his heart?

An image flashed across the back of his eyelids -- a face framed by an inferno of red hair and a striking pair of intense green eyes.

Ginny Weasley.

For the past few weeks his thoughts had been consumed by her. At first watching her had been a chore, a duty that needed to be done to ensure that everything would run smoothly. But as the weeks wore on he had come to enjoy it. It hadn't taken him log to discover the basic facts about her life. It only took a week for him to remember her class time-table, her Quiddich practice schedule and the corridors she used to walk to class. But the more he watched her the more he began to notice smaller, subtler things about her. The way her eyes lit up brightly when she laughed, the way she sung to herself softly when she thought no one was listening, the way she was strangely partial to the colour green.

A thought came to Draco's mind. A thought so foreign that it took him a moment to recognise it for what it was. Maybe it wasn't the actions themselves that were making Draco feel so guilty ... maybe it was the identity of the person whose life he had just destroyed.

What did he feel for Ginny? Was it caring, compassion, friendship? ... Or something more?

Draco shook his head angrily, that last thought jerking him out of his meditative reverie. He didn't feel anything for Ginny Weasley, except maybe a cool disdain and work-related interest. She was a tool he was using to get to a larger prize.

But if that was the truth, then why did her face keep flashing before his eyes, crestfallen heartbroken, distraught. And why did it hurt so much?

Draco got up out of the velvety green arm chair he had been resting in and moved towards a window at the side of the room. He perched on the window seat letting the refreshingly cool night air wash across his face.

The damage is done. No matter how much he hadn't wanted to at the end, he was the one who had inflicted Ginny's heartache, and there was no way he could take it back. With this revelation he lifted his head and stared out onto the castle grounds which had been bathed in brilliant blue moonlight.

The damage is done, he thought again, and I have the plan to worry about now.

*~*~*~*

It was dangerous being outside of the Common Room after dark. Unless of course you were equipped with Harry's Invisibility Cloak or Marauder's Map. But Ginny had neither -- she couldn't bring herself to ask him for them after what she had discovered today.

But still she walked the corridors if the third floor, easily brushing the knowledge that she was more likely to get caught than not to the back of her mind. She was silent though -- she didn't want to make it too easy for the teachers to discover her.

For the last hour and a half Ginny had been meticulously committing the curves and contours of her new slippers to memory. Anything to keep her mind off the excruciating events that had occurred earlier that day. But try as she might the memories kept seeping like poison back into her mind and heart.

She hadn't wanted to believe it at first. But her eyes didn't lie, and the images were too real for her to dismiss. Her heart screamed as the images flashed through her mind once more.

Cho, with her body pressed hard against Harry's and his hands gripping her shoulders tightly. Even Draco had had the decency to look uncomfortable.

It had taken minutes for her mind to register what she was seeing when she first looked down at those photos. And even once it did register she had been determined that it was simply some sick joke Malfoy had made up for his own amusement. She wouldn't put it past him to try and destroy Ginny's relationship for his own personal gratification. But when she looked up at him, mouth wide and ready to accuse him for his immature prank she had stopped. He had been looking down at his feet, an expression of helplessness and guilt across his face that was so real and un-Malfoy-like that Ginny doubted that even with a hundred years of practice he could ever learn to fake it.

"Is -- is this what you wanted to show me?" she had managed to choke out.

She expected him to burst out with a conceited tale of how he had come across them together and she braced herself for the onslaught of taunts that he would throw at her -- how could she had ever thought that Harry loved her? Her! A Weasley! And she had trusted him! - But it never came. His only reply came soft and simply, almost a whole minute after she had asked the question, "It was,"

Ginny had always wondered what it was like to have your heart broken. The way the heroines did in romance novels when they realized their one true love didn't love them back. How did it feel to have your heart ripped out of your chest, to be broken, irreparably in half, to be smashed into a thousand little pieces, or whatever other eloquent phrases romance novelists used to describe the pure agony of loosing the person you loved?

Well now Ginny knew. It was everything and nothing at the same time. Pain so fierce and acute that she didn't think she could bare it for much longer. But then she found a way. She just wouldn't feel it. Her tears dried instantly before they even had a chance to fall and the pain in her chest vanished to be replaced with a cold, numbing emptiness so different to anything she had ever felt before that for a moment she wondered if she was even human anymore. Looking up she saw Draco staring at her with an expression of shock and alarm on his face. She wondered what she must look like to him. A cold ice-maiden completely devoid of emotion? Well that's what she felt like.

She let the photos fall from her grasp, not even hearing them hit the floor. She felt her cold mask begin to crack, and then to crumble. She pushed passed him and ran for the door before he could see her façade evaporate completely.

Even when she got back to her dorm she didn't cry. It was empty. Her fellow dorm mates had gone outside to enjoy the fresh air leaving her the privacy she so desperately craved at the moment. She collapsed onto her bed and jumped up almost instantly as something hard and sharp cut into her backside.

A single emerald teardrop hanging from a golden chain. Sitting down again Ginny picked it up. She considered throwing it away but decided against it. She simply held it gently in her fingers and looked at it, remembering its significance and the words that had been said when she received it.

"I know I let you down today, but I promise I'll make it up to you ..."

...

"The crystals charmed with spells of protection and love. I saw the emerald and it reminded me of you. Your eyes mainly ..."

...

"I love you,"

She remembered that time by the lake when she had first told Harry she loved him and he had said it back. She remembered the first time she met him, at the train station just before his first year at Hogwarts. She remembered how lost and alone he looked, as if he needed to be looked after and protected. It hadn't been long before he had been the one protecting her. She remembered that time when he rescued her in the Chamber of Secrets. She had felt so confused and scared, but as soon as she saw him she knew everything had been alright.

And she remembered when he first told her that he liked her as more than as a friend, as more than just Ron's little sister. He had been staying with them at The Burrow for the holidays. It was the early hours of the morning and neither of them could sleep -- Ginny because she had been thinking about him. Together they had made hot chocolate and gone to sit up on the rickety roof of the house to watch the stars. It had been one of Ginny's favourite pastimes and she was glad to share it with him. He didn't care for it much, but he liked being there with her and said so. It was then that he told her. Ginny remembered her heart swelling with happiness as she said she liked him to. And then he kissed her. It was one of the happiest moments in her life.

And finally the tears began to fall as she remembered all the times he had made her laugh and smile, all the good times they had had together. Why did he have to go and ruin that?

An emotion finally managed to work its way past the barrier of nothingness and into her heart. And it wasn't hurt or betrayal like she expected -- it was anger.

"The crystal's charmed with spells of protection and love."

Why didn't he protect her from himself? He must've known that nothing in this world could hurt her more than not having his love. So why did he do this? Harry!? Her Harry!? The one person she trusted more than any other not to hurt her. If she couldn't trust Harry with her heart then who could she trust?

The door to the dorm opened suddenly and Ginny quickly ducked under her bed as if she was looking for something, to hide her tear-stained face. It was tow of her dorm mates, Emily and Janine and they were laughing loudly at something one of the sixth year boys had said. They hardly even noticed Ginny except to say a hurried, "Hi Gin," - for which she was very grateful. Quickly Ginny wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and rushed out of the dorm.

She ran down the stairs, keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the ground, so it was no wonder she ran into someone.

"Ow," cried the someone as they collided head first. "Ginny!" It was Hermione ...

... and Ron ... and Harry.

"What's wrong Ginny," asked Hermione as she took in the faint tear stains streaked across Ginny's cheeks which she had managed to erase completely.

"Um, nothing," Ginny mumbled feebly. She tried to push past them but Harry held out his arm to stop her.

"Ginny, tell me what's wrong," he said quietly. Ginny shook her head, finding she couldn't even bring herself to look him in the eye.

He sighed heavily and began leading her away. 'Where are you taking me?" she asked in surprise and annoyance.

"Somewhere private where we can talk,"

Ginny didn't reply, she just followed silently. Harry led the way into the boys' dormitories and shut the door behind them. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked as he turned too face her.

"Don't you know?" she retorted angrily.

He looked taken back. "Know what?"

She sighed heavily. She was being unfair. Ginny took a deep breath and looked up in to his eyes. She heard him gasp as he saw the betrayal and pain illustrated in them and she knew that she had to hear it from his own lips.

"You know the other day, when you said you had to go to the toilet," she began.

"Yes," he replied slowly and Ginny noted that he was beginning to look nervous.

"Why did you take so long?"

"I -- I met someone on the way," he stammered, now looking exceedingly tense.

Ginny closed her eyes for a moment and braced herself for the answer to her next question. "Was that someone Cho Chang?" she asked quietly.

He was silent but the look he gave her was one of pained desperation. That one look told her more than he could of in a hundred words.

"Why?" she cried as her voice began to crack and tears began to pool in her eyes once more.

"Ginny, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! It was nothing! It, it --"he broke off. "Who told you?"

"It doesn't matter who told me!" She almost shouted. "What matters is that you cheated on me! With Cho Chang of all people! I thought you had better taste than that!"

"Hey, she's not so bad!" he retorted before clasping his hands over his mouth as he realised what he had just said.

Ginny nodded knowingly, the furious tears spilling relentlessly down her face. She made no move to stop them.

Harry tried again. "It's not my fault! She threw herself on me! I tried to push her away -"

"Yeah? Well you obviously didn't try hard enough," came Ginny's ice cold reply. She pulled the necklace he had given her from her pocket and threw it viciously at him. "Here, you can have this, this -- thing back,"

"I bought it for you," he said throwing it back.

"Well I don't want it!" She screamed.

"Keep it!"

"Fine!" She yelled finally, stuffing it angrily back into her pocket and walking out of the room and slamming the door angrily behind her.

She had run through the Common Room and out of the Portrait Hole, completely ignoring Hermione's call to wait. She had walked aimlessly through the castle for hours, dodging teachers, ghosts, Peeves and especially Filch.

So now she was here, somewhere on the third floor, completely alone except for the ache in her heart.

She wondered how long it would take her to recover from this. She had never believed that she could love someone as much as she loved Harry Potter and she had never realised that breaking up with him could hurt this much. She felt as if she her whole world had ended when she slammed that door in Harry's face and she knew she would do anything to open it again. But she couldn't. She had hurt too much. She and Harry were over.

"Who's there?" demanded a cold, calculating voice and Ginny winced as Professor McGonagall came into view.

"Miss Weasley," said McGonagall with a surprised expression on her face. 'What are you doing out of the Common Room so late at night?"

"I'm, ah, walking," Ginny replied feebly wondering why McGonagall hadn't started shouting yet.

"Ah yes, everyone needs a good walk from time to time, to clear the mind,"

Ginny looked up at the professor in complete bewilderment. That didn't last long, however, as she saw McGonagall looking down on her with and expression of pity in her generally emotionless eyes. Was there anyone who didn't know about her and Harry breaking up yet? She doubted it.

"Well you best head back to your dormitory then. Oh, and Miss Weasley," McGonagall added as she turned to leave, "if I catch you out of bed after dark again I will punish you, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Professor," Ginny answered quietly before making her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.