To Say Goodbye

To Say Goodbye

Chapter 3

Draco didn't know exactly what emotions were running through his head at that moment, he couldn't tell if he was really happy or totally depressed. All in all, he could feel his eyes start to sting as he leapt across Hogwarts grounds near the lake.

The sun was beating on his back, and he felt like he was going to pass out, but he didn't stop running. He made his way nearly halfway around the still lake before collapsing next to a tree. He clutched his stomach in pain as flashes of heat soared though his exhausted body. He hurt all over, he felt like he was on the verge of death.

Draco couldn't think straight, he had been so absolutely positive that Hermione liked him that he had actually started to like her back. He had just fell for the same sick prank that Hermione had fell for with Ron. He felt so stupid and he hated her.

Just then, Draco heard soft footsteps making their way towards him. He didn't want anyone to see him like this so he pushed himself farther behind the tree, completely hiding himself from any passers view.

Ginny Weasley came bounding around the corner, whistling merrily to herself. Her hair was tied into a loose bun in the back of her head, a single red ribbon holding it in place. Draco watched her like a hawk as she made her way over to the lakes edge and climbed onto the same rock Draco had just been on the night before.

'Bloody hell,' Draco thought to himself as he felt a massive migraine let loose in his head, 'I've managed to find my way back to the very place where all this crap started!'

Ginny threw her bag of books down beside the rock and laid back with her hands propped up behind her for support. She was obviously in a very good mood and Draco didn't like this. He didn't like being upset while the rest of the world smiled happily.

So, out of nowhere Draco belted, leaving him feeling very stupid afterwards, "Get off of my rock!"

Ginny nearly fell off the rock she was so surprised. She threw her head around and glared into a pair of large owl like silver eyes that were hidden behind locks of blonde hair and a giant bush covered in pink dandelions.

Ginny had to try her hardest not to laugh, Draco looked like a three year old, mad because he got his favorite blanket taken away. "My dear lord Malfoy, now you're claiming rocks as your property too!" Ginny yelled while waiting for her heart beat to return to normal. "My god, what's next?! Pixie dung?!"

Draco stood grumpily from the ground and made his way towards Ginny, who remained motionless on the rock; for she was not going to let Draco bully her off of something as stupid as a rock.

Draco leaned forward with his hands on the rock and his feet crossed behind him. "Weasley," he began on the verge of a mental breakdown, "I'm not having a good day, now get off of my rock."

"No," Ginny bluntly refused.

Draco was an inch from dragging her off of the rock. "Weasley I'm going to ask you nicely-,"

"I'm not moving from this rock Malfoy, it's completely stupid and childish and I'm simply not going to put up with it," she interrupted with her arms and legs crossed, proving that she wasn't planning on going anywhere.

Draco shook his head and started weakly off towards the castle. Ginny hadn't seen him in this condition before; he was actually depressed, the selfish arrogant prat was depressed! She sighed inwardly and hopped off the rock, but with her arms still crossed, she sat down right in front of it instead.

Draco heard her jump down and turned to look at her, "Well well Weasley, I'm glad to see you've decided to grow up."

Ginny glared at Draco and hopped back on top of the rock, yet again crossing her legs. Draco laughed and started to limp back towards the castle, "I guess not."

"Why are you limping?" she asked, as curiosity always got the best of her.

Draco paused, 'Why does the girl have to be so difficult?' "Well if you really want to know, your brother jumped me in the library."

Ginny didn't seem shocked, just slightly phased, "Why?"

"What are you, three?" Draco snapped. He really didn't want to get into this conversation. "Why do you have to ask so many bloody questions?"

"Well it's not everyday my brother randomly jumps someone!" she snapped back. "And he is my brother, so I should have the right to know!"

Draco was amazed with this girl's boldness. "Number one, I don't care if he's your brother or not, and number two, it wasn't random," he told her, desperately wanting to end the conversation.

"What do you mean it wasn't random?" Ginny asked; amused as to how these simple questions annoyed him so easily.

"He was talking to Hermione and she blew up on him. So he blew up on her, then ran into me, and decided he felt like beating me up," Draco told her with annoyance ringing in his voice.

"He just felt like beating you up!?" she cried, "That's horrible! Who stopped him?"

"Hermione," Draco replied quietly.

Ginny nodded slowly, Draco wasn't sure whether or not Ginny understood for her face held no emotion what so ever. "I see," she said in a near whisper, barely loud enough for him to hear.

Draco nodded and started yet again towards the school, and this time Ginny didn't stop him. Instead, she sat sensibly quiet, she had figured it out.

~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*

Hermione ambled down the rickety corridors that led to Gryffindor Tower. She had several books in her hands and they were starting to slip out of her grip, unfortunately she didn't care. She had something else, or someone else, on her mind.

She was walking as slow as she possibly could. She didn't want to get to the tower any quicker because she knew that was where Ron was, and most likely Harry, so she slowed her pace even more.

Hermione clasped her necklace tightly as she made her way around the monstrous castle. She took her time to notice all the paintings, silently trying to figure out the meaning behind all of them.

Hermione seemed to have lost track of time and space for she ended up on the opposite side of the castle from her prior destination, in one of the darkest corridors ever known to mankind, in front of the painting of the goddess of evil.

She searched the painting carefully. She had never really bothered to look at it before, let alone notice it. The woman was cloaked in black and her green eyes glittered maliciously. Her long black hair fell to her waist with vivid blue streaks that waved in the full moons light. She had blood red lips and her vampire like teeth were nearly blinding. Her skin looked as if it could have been made out of porcelain, though unbreakable to the touch. She looked powerful and demanding, a woman of pure hatred for everyone and everything. She looked strong, except for one thing, she was crying.

Hermione felt tears well up in her eyes. How could some one, who had everything they could ever want, be so sad? The woman, Hermione concluded, was beautiful no doubt, but seemed to be in so much pain as if she was missing something very dear in her life.

She walked closer to the painting and looked for the name of the woman, but she couldn't find a thing. "Who are you?" Hermione asked in a dry voice as she searched the painting for a name, but found nothing.

Once she had decided to give up, she turned around and started towards the library yet again. She found herself nearly running down the poorly lit corridor until she reached the Slytherin Hallway.

Hermione had only been down this hallway once before, to stop Ron on his way to beat up Draco. She quickly glanced up and down the hallway before going down it; the last thing she wanted was to run into a Slytherin on his or her own turf.

Once she made it to the end of the hallway she felt instantly relieved. She thought she was home free, that was until someone grabbed hold of her wrist from behind and swung her around, scattering her books in every direction, so she couldn't move or struggle free.

"So, Granger," Draco spat only inches from her face, "have you suddenly forgot the way to Gryffindor Tower?"

Hermione glared hard yet was absolutely terrified for she and Draco were the only ones in the dark and damp hallway. For once her life, Hermione didn't know what to say. She didn't want to tell him the truth because he probably wouldn't buy it. Then, yet again, he probably wouldn't believe anything she would say.

"What's the matter Granger?" Draco asked with fake sympathy as he leaned in closer to her, "cat got your tongue?

Hermione wanted to get away from him and his piercing silver eyes, but Draco had such a tight grip on her that it hurt to move. "Let me go," she quivered through gritted teeth, "you're hurting me."

She saw Draco's expression soften and he let her go. Hermione held her burning wrists and glared into Draco's back; he was less then five feet away from her and was unnaturally silent.

"You know Granger," Draco muttered while resting his hands on his hips, still not facing her, "you should be in Slytherin."

Hermione glared in confusion, still holding her wrists, "What at you talking about, Malfoy?" she spat, on the verge of just leaving Draco there to talk to himself.

"You know what I mean," Draco told her as he turned around and in two swift steps, pinned her hard to the frosty stone wall. "You can take over peoples' minds. You can make them think things they don't want to believe, and then crush them into nonexistence."

Hermione just stared into Draco's stormy gray eyes; yet again she could see pain in his them, just as she did when she saw him at the lake. However, this time the pain was different, he wasn't upset over a problem that could kill him physically, he was upset because he had a problem that was killing him emotionally.

"Draco, what's wrong with you?" she whispered softly only loud enough for him to hear, though her voice still shook with obvious fear.

"If only you knew, Hermione..." he told her gently, "if only you knew..."

"If only I knew what?" Hermione cried, she was utterly confused; she had no idea what Draco was talking about, and he was acting like a completely different person. She remained silent as Draco reached up to push a stray lock of her glistening auburn hair out of her face, when a flash of gold hanging around her neck caught his attention.

Draco immediately unpinned Hermione and took several steps back until he met the opposing wall. Hermione glared at Draco with pure annoyance. "I'm leaving," she announced and started to make her way past Draco, "I have better things to do then stand here and deal with your multiple personalities."

Draco could have sworn the thing he saw hanging on Hermione's neck was the same necklace the Death Eaters had sent out the night before, but why did she have it? "Hermione wait!" Draco yelled after her, but she didn't stop. She ignored his calling and continued swiftly down the potions corridor. "That necklace," he whispered to himself, "it's a trap."

~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry blushed fiercely as he crossed the room and went to play with Ron's Exploding Krum action figure. Ron was close behind, walking slowly with his hands behind his back like a cop in questioning.

"Right, right..." he said sarcastically, "you might not believe this Harry, but I'm not stupid."

"You're right," Harry retorted, "I can't believe that," thus receiving a punch from Ron.

"Anyway," Ron continued, "you know how I can tell you were with her?"

Harry glanced at Ron skeptically. "How?" he asked, not expecting Ron to answer.

"You smell like the perfume that I bought her for her birthday," Ron replied coolly with a sense of royal air added in.

Harry chuckled, yet his blush deepened, "Clever."

Ron smiled and fell onto Harry's bed, "I know," he sighed and laughed.

"You know," Harry started as he fell onto his bed next to Ron, "you have a good taste in women's perfume."

"You think so?" Ron asked curiously.

"Yea," he responded, "Glearx is a wonderful brand."

Ron stared at Harry with disgust, "Exactly how close were you to my sister to be able to detect the exact brand of perfume she was wearing?"

Harry snickered, "Actually, I asked her what kind she used."

Ron rolled his eyes, "Well, anyway."

"Are you still mad at Hermione?" Harry asked.

Ron turned his head away and sighed, "I don't know."

The two boys sat quietly for a few minutes before Harry decide to stand up. "I think I'm going to go see your sister."

Ron looked somewhat distraught, "And what am I suppose to do?" he asked as he too stood from the bed.

"You are going to go apologize to Malfoy-,"

"Apologize to Malfoy! Have you gone bloody daft?!" Ron shouted completely terrified.

Harry gave Ron a side glace before continuing, "And then you are going to go and apologize to Hermione and settle things with her."

Ron couldn't do anything but stare at Harry as he made his way around the room, collecting things to take to Ginny. "Well if you are going to plan and ruin my night, I think I want to do the same for you!"

Harry ignored Ron's comment opened the door, "Just do it," were his last words before he disappeared down the dormitory staircase.

~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*

Ginny still sat as she did minutes before on the solitary rock, waiting for Harry to show up. She still had thoughts from the encounter she had with Malfoy running through her head. Something was wrong with him, she wasn't sure what, but she had a feeling it had to do with Hermione.

She would have thought that the two would make an unlikely pair, but lately, both of them seemed distant to the world, as if they were trying to get away without any luck. Ginny continued to ponder these elements as she patiently waited for Harry's arrival.

Ginny was very content when she felt something tugging at her hair; she turned around, yet found nothing. She brushed this off as the wind and brought her attention to the swirling clouds in the sky. She then felt something poke her arm, her leg, and then her back. She glanced cautiously around and searched for anything that could have been poking her, but yet again, found nothing.

A couple uneventful minutes flew by and Ginny looked down the path towards the school. "Harry, where are you?" she whispered to herself as she started to push herself off the rock, until she felt something grab her sides and tickle her. She fell off the rock in laughter and almost fell into the lake before a hand grabbed her and pulled her away.

When she stood she found Harry standing above her, holding back laughter, with his invisibility cloak hung over his arm. "I should have known it was you and that cloak," Ginny told him as she straightened her robes.

Harry put his arm around her shoulder and started to lead her further on down the path, "I thought you would have too, but it took you awhile didn't it?" he joked, receiving a sour glance from his girlfriend.

"So Harry," she sighed, "what have you got planned for us today?"

Harry threw the cloak over both of them and led her closer to the forest. "Today," he began triumphantly, "we are going to go on an expedition of great adventure and danger."

"Ooh," Ginny marveled sarcastically, "we're going go to the big bad forbidden forest in broad daylight! I can already feel the excitement!"

Harry cast Ginny a shocked glance. "Have you been exploring the forest when you know you shouldn't be Ginny?" he mocked her sarcastic tone.

"What would you do if I told you I was?" she replied as she threw the cloak off and dashed into the dark forest.

Without much thought, Harry dashed in after her. Together they ran through the thick branches that crowded the dense forest, laughing as the nearly tripped every three steps. Harry found it difficult to keep up with Ginny on the account she was running a rather unusual path and was a lot smaller and faster than him, but he was catching up to the red ball of flame as the path grew clearer.

All at once, Ginny stopped dead in her tracks. Harry stopped beside her, completely winded, "Gin, what's wrong?"

Ginny held her hand up to silence him. She was staring straight ahead, her eyes glazed in terror at the sight before them. A large metallic owl sat only a few feet away from them, their reflection was casted in its glowing orange glass eyes. Its beak and claws looked dangerously sharp, like freshly sharpened daggers.

Ginny stepped back cautiously into Harry, who grabbed a hold of her waist and was about ready to run for dear life. "Harry, wait," Ginny whispered to him, as he looked down worriedly into Ginny's calm face.

"It's beautiful, Harry," Ginny marveled as she stepped closer to the creature.

Harry reached out to grab her but missed. "Ginny, no!" he shouted, causing the enormous owl to jump with shock, then it pulled out its massive wings, revealing a symbol Ginny instantly recognized. When she turned to point this out to Harry, the owl swooped down and knocked Ginny and Harry far back into the forest, leaving Ginny unconscious.

"Ginny!" Harry cried as he tried to stand on his torn leg. "Ginny where are you? Are you ok?"

He got his answer soon enough, Ginny was stretched out in a pool of blood not far from the entrance of the forest, her whole body was covered in minor cuts and bruises, probably from being thrown into the forest. However, she had one massive gash across her stomach, one most likely made by the owl's retched claws.

Harry leapt to her side and pulled her close to him. She felt cold to the touch, and her fingers had started to turn blue. Harry felt a tear trickle down his cheek as he ran his hand through her hair in agony. He didn't know what to do, no one would hear him if he called for help. And even if they did, he and Ginny would surely get in trouble and would most likely be expelled.

He felt dizzy and he let his tears fall freely and he clung to Ginny, trying to keep her body warm as her breathing started slowing. Harry gazed into the sky above; almost as if he were praying that some miracle would fall from the sky. Then he noticed something that instantly brought his hopes up.

Harry lifted Ginny into his arms and started running in the direction of the band of smoke that came from Hagrid's chimney. He could barely see for his eyes were glazed in tears, but he continued to run until he reached the opening of the forest in front of Hagrid's hut.

Harry nearly threw himself into Hagrid's back door. "Hagrid," Harry screamed into the door, "help!"

He heard Fang's deafening barks and Hagrid's heavy footsteps before the door swung open to reveal a very shocked Hagrid. " 'Arry! What's this? What 'appened?" Hagrid cried, dragging him and the chilled body of Ginny Weasley into the house.

"Hagrid there was this owl and it had big claws and it flew down and it cut Ginny and it threw us back and I think Ginny is really hurt!" Harry cried rapidly in one short breath.

Hagrid laid Ginny onto his massive wooden table and examined her cut. "An owl you say?" Hagrid asked Harry calmly.

"Yes, a large metallic glittery owl with these...these big orange eyes and humongous beak and claws and,"

"Did it 'ave any special designs or patterns on its wings?" Hagrid interrupted the hysteric babbling Harry.

Harry thought carefully for a moment "Yes," he replied quizzically.

"Do you remember what the design looked like?" Hagrid asked, looking more and more solemn by the moment.

"It was squiggly like with a bunch of loops! What's this have to do with Ginny? Is she going to be ok?" Harry asked as a fresh tear fell down his cheek.

"No Harry," Hagrid told him softly, "Ginny's dying."