A Chance To Mend

Chapter 6: My Hands Around Your Throat

Ginny finds herself sinking onto the deep green couch, her hands falling awkwardly into her lap.

"You . . . You must be joking," she says shakily.

"Unfortunately, we’re not," Blaise replies. Draco is staring at Ginny, his expression unreadable, but he seems to have lost his voice.

She opens and closes her mouth, obviously trying to absorb what she is being told. A few minutes pass in silence.

Finally, in a small voice, Ginny asks, "How long?"

She doesn’t have to clarify. They both know what she means.

It is Draco who answers, sounding grim. "Sixty four days." His arms are crossed over his chest as he sits down next to Ginny. She looks up at Blaise.

"What -" She breaks off, dropping her gaze to her hands. She swallows once, then continues. "What happened?"

Blaise glances at Draco, to see if he wants to be the one to tell her. But judging by his stony expression, it seems to be up to her. She opens her mouth to begin, but Draco cuts her off.

"Potter killed you," he says, his voice low and hard.

Ginny’s head jerks up. She looks confused, and smiles at him, as if she must have misunderstood. "What?"

Draco raises his eyes to hers, and she sees the fury gleaming in them.

"Potter. Killed. You."

The smile drops from Ginny’s face, and Blaise looks at the pair of them, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"Maybe we shouldn’t do this right now," Blaise begins, but a cold glance from Draco shuts her up. Feeling sure she won’t be missed, she slinks away and back up the stairs.

"What," Ginny says, her voice incredulous and accusatory, "exactly do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said."

Ginny gets to her feet, her small hands balled in fists at her sides and her brown eyes narrowed. "You’re lying."

"Why would I lie to you?" He is getting angry. His jaw is clenched.

"Um, I don’t know, maybe because you’re Draco fucking Malfoy?" she replies sarcastically.

He jumps to his feet and grips her by her shoulders.

"I have never lied to you. Never. I’m telling you the truth, damn it. Harry Potter, the bloody hero of the whole fucking wizarding world, killed you. Not just killed you. Murdered you! He put his hands around your pretty little throat and kept them there, squeezing, until you stopped breathing," he said in a rush, his voice with an edge like glass. "Ask anyone in this whole school how Ginny Weasley died, and they will hang their heads and say his name."

He throws something across the room and it shatters as he catches his breath. She has sunk back onto the couch, her eyes trained on the floor.

"What . . . What happened to him?"

Draco sighs heavily and runs his hand over his face. "Well," he begins, his voice weary now rather than angry, "technically, he wasn’t acting of his own accord, so he couldn’t be charged. He was looking at a life sentence in Azkaban." Ginny gasped softly. "But when it was explained that he was under the influence of magic, they dropped the charges."

"So, nothing happened to him?"

"Nothing legal."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning . . . Meaning, he was never the same after what he did to you. He couldn’t live with himself. I heard rumors that he was having nightmares about it. Hell, he even spoke to me about how guilty he felt. And, aside from all that, he missed you like hell, Red." Ginny looked surprised. "He was in love with you, Red." And he wasn’t the only one.

"So what happened?"

"He tried to off himself. Now he’s in the psych ward at St. Mungo’s."

She was silent.

"Look, Red, don’t blame yourself-"

"What magic was he acting under, Draco?"

"What?" he asked, caught off guard.

"When he killed me - When Harry killed me, what magic was influencing him?"

After a moment, Draco said," I’m not so sure -"

"Tell me, Malfoy."

The use of his last name let him know she wasn’t playing around.

"A potion." 

"What sort?"

"A love potion. A love potion you gave him."