The Curse-breaker's Sister

The Curse-breaker's Sister

Chapter 13

Her hands, once entwined in Draco's hair, pushed Draco away from her. She sat up and scrambled away from him. For the second time that morning, Draco fell out of bed.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Malfoy!" she demanded.

Draco was speechless. He stood up slowly, rubbing his elbow, which had taken the brunt of his fall.

"Draco?" she said, after a painful minute of silence. "You look like you've been hit with a stunner. What is going on here! Why are we in bed together?"

"You were screaming and you woke me up. I came to see what was wrong, but you were asleep, I couldn't wake you. I stayed with you while you fell asleep, and don't you look all angry at me, Ginevra Weasley, because it was you that wouldn't let me go."

Ginny stared at him angrily from her spot on the bed.

"And I won't apologize for kissing you, either. I didn't mean to do it, but I'm not sorry for it. I was half asleep and didn't know what I was doing."

The silence was oppressing. Ginny was mulling his words over in her mind and Draco was trying to decide whether he should say something more.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you," Ginny said somberly. It was the closest she would get to apologizing. "Is your elbow okay?"

"Yes, it's fine. Are you okay?"

"Yes," answered Ginny, climbing out of bed. "I'm okay."

The stood toe to toe in the tiny room, Ginny staring up at Draco. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them; neither knew what to say next.

"Breakfast?" Draco asked.

"Sounds wonderful."

Pajama clad, they made their way to the kitchen. Draco made breakfast while Ginny set the tiny table.

"Do you often have nightmares?"

The question caught Ginny off guard. She'd managed to shove the terrors of the night before to the back of her mind and forget about them. She shook her head softly before answering.

"Not often. Since Bill's gone, though..."

"What was it about? Sometimes it helps if you talk about it."

Ginny put down her fork. "I dreamt I was back in Mesopotamia, in the hotel room. Those men were there. I was paralyzed, couldn't move, couldn't use magic. I was so afraid I could taste it! I felt like I was dying, like I was sick." Ginny's voice shook with fear. "It was so hard to move. And the room was full of this green mist, not a nice green, a sickly green and it was all around me, pressing in on me. It was terrible!"

"You were screaming really loudly..." Draco reminded her quietly.

"I remember screaming because I was dying. I couldn't move, but I could open my mouth. I didn't even mean to scream, I just opened my mouth and those sounds came out...I'm. I'm sorry I woke you up." What Ginny didn't tell him, was that she'd been screaming in her dream because Draco was dead. Screaming because she was paralyzed and couldn't get to him.

"That's all right. Do you often lash out when you wake up in bed with a man?" Draco knew he was pushing his luck, but part of him wanted to know why Ginny was so mad about kissing him this morning.

Ginny wasn't going to answer him, but something in his voice told her meant it as a friend, and not to be rude or cruel.

"Hugh," she said.

Draco looked at her questioningly.

"My ex fiancé? He. We. We didn't have much of a relationship. Things weren't very good between us. I don't know. Would you pass the syrup please?"

Draco pushed the syrup across the table and Ginny used it to drown her pancakes. She picked up her fork again and began shredding her pancakes into tiny pieces.

"He wasn't very nice you know. He wasn't good at being affectionate. I didn't like it, didn't like him."

Draco said nothing for fear of Ginny stopping this outpouring of words and emotion.

He made me do things," she continued. "Not like Tom, though. Never like Tom. He did it because it was what we should be doing, not because we wanted to. He was so caught up in appearances. Other peoples perceptions meant everything to him. I hated him!"

"Then why did you stay with him?"

"I told you already, it was the middle of the war, I thought one or both of us would die and it would never matter. Besides, my parents liked him."

"What about the rest of your family?"

"Oh, Hugh didn't like my family at all. He got along with Percy, of course. Percy was the one that introduced us. The rest of them? Hell no. The twins bullied him, Charlie and Bill constantly took the mickey out of him because he never picked up on it, and Ron treated him as almost non-existent because they worked in 'rival' departments at the Ministry." Ginny stabbed with her fork at her now uneatable pancakes. "Why are we talking about this, anyway?"

Draco shrugged and piled a fresh stack onto Ginny's plate.

After breakfast, Draco suggested a walk. He took Ginny on a tour of his property and eventually they wound up wandering along the seashore. The early afternoon sunlight glinted off the ocean. Ginny had long abandoned shoes for running through the waves bare foot. Her pockets were full of seashells and pretty stones she'd found laying on the sand.

"Draco, come here. I need your pockets."

He looked at her -and her over stuffed pockets- and grinned. "What is it with women who only want me for my pockets?" But he obliged her and let her put a few shells and a dried up starfish in his pocket. "Just make sure you save some for next time!"

Ginny looked up at him and smiled. Sunlight filtered through his silver-blond hair and his eyes shone with happiness. This was not the Draco Malfoy from Hogwarts; it wasn't even the newly repented Draco Malfoy of the Second War. This was some different creature, somebody whose company she enjoyed.

By the time they turned back to the house, the sun was hugging the horizon. Ginny picked up the odd shell here and there, but was content to leave the rest for another day at the beach.

They walked back to the house in a companionable silence, strolling side by side. Every other step, or so, the backs of their hands brushed up against each other. Draco reached out and took Ginny's hand, holding it lightly in his in case she wanted to pull away. She didn't. She didn't look at him, either, but that was all right with Draco. She was holding his hand, and that was enough for him.