Between the Two

Ginny walked through the long corridors of Hogwarts, looking for a way to escape her life. Ginny was so sick of having to deal with the consequences of her actions. Why was everything she did wrong? First she went out with Harry because she thought she loved him, then she broke up with him out of guilt when she realized it was just a childish crush, and now she was being punished by Ron and Hermione; not to mention the fact that Harry wouldn't even make eye contact with her. Classes weren't helping either; Ginny had fallen even farther behind in Potions and Transfiguration than usual. Her teachers had started keeping her after class and asking her whether she was having issues at home. Ginny felt like she was suffocating, alone, with no one to save her or even acknowledge her pain.

Ginny started to run; the portraits on the wall started talking to her.

"Are you all right?"

"Stop running this instant!"

"Why in my day, if a student ran in the halls he would be given detention for a week."

Ginny responded to the comments by running faster. Ginny was running as hard as she could and beginning to get out of breath. Her muscles felt exceedingly fatigued, but the pain distracted her from her problems. Ginny's consciousness began to fade; she was only half-awake. Remembering her break-up with Harry, she tried to run faster to expel the memory, but her body couldn't take it. She collapsed on the floor and completely lost consciousness.

Draco whispered, "Lumos," quietly and his wand lit up. He walk carefully down the corridor straining his eyes to make sure Mrs. Norris wasn't stalking him. As he looked straight out into the darkness he spotted something on the floor. Draco immediately turned around to tiptoe back to his dormitory when a thought came to mind. Mrs. Norris wasn't that big so it must be something else. Cursing his own curiosity, he turned back and approached the dark object.

It wasn't until he stood directly over it that he could tell what it was.

"A person?" he said out loud to himself. Draco poked Ginny with his wand, not knowing who he was jabbing at. He grabbed her arm and flipped her over so that he could see her face.

"Ginny?" Draco immediately dropped her arm and stepped back. Ginny, still unconscious, didn't move. Draco wanted to just turn around and go finish his business, but something was stopping him from abandoning her. He knelt down to see if she had a pulse. She definitely wasn't dead; so how did she end up on the floor. He thought of taking her to the Hospital Wing, but then Madame Pomfrey would know he had been out of his dormitory after hours.

Draco desperately raked his brain for an idea of what to do with his discovery. He put his wand up close to her face to get another good look at her and realized that she was quite pretty, especially when she wasn't trying to hex him. There was a peaceful look about her that made Draco want to stroke her hair. With his hand hovering over her locks of red hair, he realized what he was doing.

"You are not allowed to help a Weasley. It's practically illegal," he thought out loud. Draco tried once more to wake her up this time shaking her shoulder slightly, but it was without effect. The second he let go of her, she slumped back onto the floor. Unable to yell at her, for fear of alerting Filch to his presence, he simply sat for a while. Finally he decided to leave her in the Room of Requirement.

Draco had bulked up slightly over the summer and he easily lifted Ginny off the floor and carried her to the spot where the door would appear. While walking past the room three times, he thought to himself, "I need a place where she will be safe." On his third pass, a dark mahogany door appeared and swung open almost on command, as if it knew he didn't have an arm to spare.

The room had transformed into something that looked as if it belonged in a Muggle fairy-tale. Dark purple and red lengths of sheer fabric hung from the ceiling, creating a small room in the center. The small enclosure was full of fluffy pillows. Draco carefully put Ginny down onto the largest of the pillows, pausing to take one last look at her quiet beauty, before leaving the room.