My Heart Still Beats For You

It was a cool, windy day. The normally calm water of the lake was undulating with waves, and the wind blew through the trees and forced many students inside.

Ginny was sitting on the grassy bank of the lake when Draco came to her.

He walked up behind her, almost silently, but she could feel his presence. She turned, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

"Ginny," Draco said, in a relieved-sounding voice. He dropped his broomstick to the ground and came towards her, sitting beside her and smoothing her windblown hair back from her face. "Oh, Ginny..."

She was unnerved by the way he was saying her name, by the stricken look on his face. "Draco... what's wrong?"

"He's calling us," Draco whispered in her ear. "I have to go to him."

Ginny didn't need to ask to figure out who he meant. Voldemort. "Why?" she asked, slightly desperately. "What's happening?"

"I'm not sure," he said, and she could hear a small tremor of fear in his voice. "But I have to go; I don't want to, Gin. But he'll kill my family if I don't follow him, you know that."

She bit her lip as tears came to her eyes. "Are you coming back?" she whispered.

"I..." Draco began, as his voice cracked. "I'm not sure, Gin. This seems big; I don't know what'll happen. But it's worse. You need to protect yourself, Ginny. He's coming after anyone tied to me."

His words hit her like blocks of ice. "W-what? Why?"

"He knows I'm not faithful to him," Draco said, his voice cracking again. "He can sense it. We need to break our tie, Ginny. I couldn't bear losing you because of this."

Tears spilled from her eyes now, running down her cheeks. "Draco..." she whispered to him. "I... I..."

He gently wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb. "I know, Ginny," he said, and his voice caught in his throat. She looked up and saw that his face was also wet with tears. "I know. But I can't lose you... I can't. We'll be together again, you'll see. Don't worry."

He pulled her close as she sobbed into his shoulder. "But... what if... what if you don't come back?" she managed to say in a strangled sort of voice. She didn't want to think of it; she wanted to erase the horrible thought from her mind.

He just shook his head. "I'll come back, Gin." He picked up his broomstick and swung his leg over it. He clasped her hand one last time, squeezing it gently. Reluctantly, they let go.

"I've got to go to him, Ginny," he said, backing away from her, but his eyes never left her tearstained face. Right before he took off, he called, "I'll come back to you."

Then he kicked off from the ground and she watched through her tears as he soared towards the clouds, his figure growing smaller and smaller against the vast gray sky. At last, he disappeared completely.