Nowhere to Turn

"Well, Weasley, if you let me in the shower I'll tell you exactly what I'm doing here," he said, the confident smirk lurking on his face. But his confidence showed only up until his eyes; his eyes gave away the pain he was feeling--as did the big bruise on his left cheek. Despite Ginny's anger at him, her concern prevailed, and she found herself reaching out to touch his cheek, immediately pulling back when he flinched.

"What happened?" she asked with as calm a voice as she could muster. She knew she ought not trust him in her house, especially with her wand in a different room, but once again her concern for him out-weighed the concern she had for herself. He winced at the question, and she could see his pride was hurt, but he answered anyway.

"It was my father," was his brief answer.

"Your father did this? Why?" She looked scandalized and bewildered at the same time.

"Because I defied The Dark Lord." She looked at him with disbelief written all over her face. "If this is another one of your stories made up purely for your amusement, it's not funny and you can just get out of--"

"It's not. I wish it was, and I understand if you won't believe me, but you were the only person I could come to, because you're the only person that ever believed I was capable of being good, even when I lied to you."

Ginny was taken aback by Draco's emotional speech. She was so moved, in fact, that she found herself once again believing the pathetic-looking boy in front of her. Also, she knew that no matter how much amusement he took from tricking her, the proud Draco Malfoy would not allow himself to appear this discomposed simply for a joke. So she told him to wait in the kitchen while she finished showering, and then he could tell her everything that had happened.

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Despite the enormity of the situation, Ginny took her time washing and drying her hair, after all she did dream of marrying Draco, and she always aimed to please. So with her hair in a bun, wisps of red along the sides of her face, and her favorite spaghetti-strapped shirt and jeans on, she was finally satisfied with her appearance, and so she went to find Draco in the kitchen. Only...he wasn't there!

"Great," she thought. "I fell for it again." She sank into a chair, putting her head down on the table in exasperation.

"You know you really ought to invest in some healthier food around here. I don't know how you keep your figure so well with all this..." She raised her head in surprise at seeing him walk out of the pantry, candy bar in hand. "What's wrong?" he asked, taken aback by the look on her face.

"I-I didn't know you were here. I mean I thought..."

"Well, that's silly. You told me to wait in the kitchen, so where'd you think I went?" he asked, a look of amusement playing at his eyes.

"I thought you had tricked me again. Now sit down and tell me your story! Ohm and put that Almond Joy away, it's my last one and they're my favorite!"

"Alright, alright. You're so demanding."

And so he told her...well not exactly. She did get the story from him, but she had to dig to get it. Draco was not accustomed to spilling his guts to anyone, least of all a Weasley, and he even became a bit vicious towards a few of Ginny's questions.

"So let me see if I understand this," Ginny said. "Your father promised you to the Dark Lord, and you agreed with this. The Dark Lord asked you to prove your loyalty by killing my brother Bill, and you couldn't do it, so your father performed the Cruciatus curse on you and you ran away? Why would he want Bill dead? Who is Bill to the Dark Lord?"

"The Dark Lord discovered your brother doing a lot of undercover work for the Ministry, including some secret missions that included the Goblins from Gringotts. I really wasn't told much."

"So why didn't you do it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, Bill is no one to you, and you don't exactly strike me as the type of person to take pity on others when your own life is at stake. So why spare my brother and risk your own neck?"

"Ginny...I know I don't seem like a compassionate person, but there's a huge difference between teasing Potter in the halls at school and killing someone. So if you think this is some kind of hoax or attempt to spy on the "good side" that's fine, but Voldemort, yes I said his name, has enough spies in the Ministry without needing me, and I came to you for help, but if you're not going to believe me then just say so right now so I can leave and stop wasting your time and mine." He looked flustered, and just a little pleased that he had managed to make the girl flinch with his use of the Dark Lord's name.

"I believe you," she whispered, thoroughly impressed by yet another emotional speech from the boy that everyone else had given up on. She realized how hard it was for Draco to allow himself to appear so vulnerable to her, and so instead of pressing him further, she decided to call it a night. "Do you have anywhere to stay?" she asked him.

"No," was the sullen reply she received.

"Then it's settled. You will sleep here tonight, and tomorrow, when we're both rested and thinking more clearly we can figure out exactly what to do.

He looked up in surprise. "You want me to sleep here?"

"Of course. Did you think I was going to send you to sleep in the streets?"

"So you really do believe me then?"

"Yes."