There's Something About Ginny

'He touched me, so I lived to know

That such a day, permitted so,

I groped upon his breast.

It was a boundless place to me,

And silenced, as the awful sea

Puts minor streams to rest.

And now, I'm different from before,

As if I breathed superior air,

Or brushed a royal gown;

My feet, too, that had wandered so,

My gypsy face transfigured now,

To tenderer renown.'

He Touched Me, So I Lived to Know by Emily Dickinson

Diagon Alley was unnaturally silent. Only the hurried sound of the footsteps of apprehensive wizards permeated the dusty stillness, stealing the façade of abandonment from the alley. An atmosphere of despair lay over to the place like weeds above an unkempt grave, reflecting the wizarding community at the time. Terror invaded the souls of every witch and wizard, only enhanced by the ambiguity of their enemy. Anybody could be working alongside He Who Must Not Be Named - willingly, consciously, or neither of the two.

It was to such a sight that Harry and his girlfriend entered as they walked through the arch of bricks. Though far less crowded than the year before, it was still teeming with dozens of wizards buying school supplies for their children's next Hogwarts year. Despite the attack only weeks before and Dumbledore's death, Hogwarts was still a safe haven relative to the warring world outside it.

Harry and Ginny were at Diagon Alley solely because she was out of quills. Ginny had insisted on going alone, yet Harry was immensely overprotective of his girlfriend. His insistence upon following her around, though understood by the youngest sister of six older brothers, also greatly irritated her. "Stop acting like I'm some damsel in distress!" she had yelled at him once out of frustration, yet immediately softened when he had explained that he simply didn't want to lose her too. Ginny was torn, knowing that while Harry needed a supporting, comforting relationship, he could also barely bear the burden of having yet another thing upon his mind, his past being filled with the deaths of those he loved, upon which guilt hung upon him like a criminal hung upon a gallows rope. More and more, Ginny felt as though they had made a mistake when they came back together, yet could not bear to break the heart of the boy who lived.

They walked together in an uncomfortable silence, upon Harry's insistence maintaining a certain distance when they were together in public, so as not to raise suspicions. They were just passing by Madam Malkin's shop when Shacklebolt suddenly apparated in front of them, and pushing Harry and her into a less crowded corner he hurriedly whispered: "We've just received word, a death eater attack is about to take place in Diagon Alley, other aurors will be here as fast as -" he was interrupted by the sudden sound of 12 death eaters apparating into the alley, and the cries of a panicking crowd reached Ginny's ears.

The dark cloaks immediately filled the alley, raising their wand and cursing all those in sight. Few wizards attempted to fight back - instead, most stampeded towards the exit, people being crushed under other's feet as they ran for their lives.

It took a moment before it dawned upon Ginevra that a death eater attack was taking place. Instinctively she pulled out her wand, ready to join the others in the fighting, yet Harry would have none of it, overprotective of his girlfriend. "Ginny, get out of here!" Harry shouted, as he quickly ducked to evade a passing spell. Apparently, the two hadn't been identified by the death eaters yet, who were mostly concentrated upon the stampeding mass, though a few turned their attention to those at the sidelines as well. "But, Harry-" she began, wishing to fight along side him. She dodged a spell of bright green light that was aimed right at her, and then by the pleading, frightened look in his eyes, the young witch understood why it was more for his own sake than hers that it was best to comply. She looked back at the chaos of flying spells, screams and dark cloaks, and then swiftly broke into a run.

Looking back again, Ginny saw that several death eaters she could not recognize were following her, and fear coursed through her veins as she realized that she would not be able to fight all of them off alone. She fled frantically through the maze of small alleyways and paths, not bothering to watch where she was going as she struggled to escape through the dark, crooked streets. The shouts and screams were only faint sounds in the distance, yet the sound of running death eaters still behind her, when luck failed the young witch and she lost her balance upon the ancient stone floor. She would have crashed to the ground were it not for a strong hand that deftly caught her before she fell, enveloping her waist and pulling her towards him.

Upon seeing who it was, her blood froze. Standing in front of her, a smirk upon his face, was Draco Malfoy. For a moment they both just stayed together, their eyes locked like two tangueros in a passionate dance, yet their gaze quickly turned to one of fright as Ginny heard footsteps behind them and Draco saw men in black cloaks approach. Without thought, he quickly pushed her into the shadows, concealing them both with his black cloak only when he pushed her against a cold, stony wall, and bent down to kiss her, ceasing her struggles beneath him.

They both melted into each other in the most unlikely of places, passion replacing fear. And then, as suddenly as it had come, it ended with the dying of the footsteps into the distance. It took her a moment to realize what had just occurred. For a few minutes they said nothing, simply holding one another till they could hear nothing but their gasping, frightened breaths.

Ginny was in shock... Draco had saved her life - Draco Malfoy, in a death eater's cloak, had kissed her... and it felt good, she thought, before she could stop herself. She looked into his confused eyes, wishing to know his reasons, and suddenly, a light that had been dampened since her first year rekindled; she felt something, something she knew had never made its presence known before... A sort of a tingling sensation, an overwhelming sense of understanding... And then, she knew.

"You don't want to be a death eater, do you, Malfoy?"

His face, if possible, appeared even more shocked.

"You're between the devil and the blue sea and are too frightened to deal with any of them - too scared to leave your father and do what you think is right, or to actually go along with your father's plans. You feel guilt, not pride, in managing to bring Death Eaters into Hogwarts, hence you will never be one, Malfoy, and you know that. You're too scared to kill and you're too scared to leave - just look at you here, hiding on the side of the battlefield, trying to do as much good as you can and no more evil than you must. Others are already suspicious - you will be killed by our side or your father's; you need to make a choice. You feel weak, frightened and confused - but it can't go on forever."

Both suddenly horrified, Draco simply dropped her from his arms and to the ground, running away from her in fright, scared of the knowledge he had just attained. It took a while till the trembling witch could stand up, and pale, confused, and oddly void of other emotion, she returned to the now vacant Diagon Alley that was once a battlefield, and apparated back to the Burrow.