The Mists of Memory

They worked with the books all morning. Draco read three of them with attention, and read the summaries of five others trying to find something interesting. He began to understand the depression of the group.

‘Damn, none of these even mention a Green Torch!’ burst Draco closing the ninth volume of ‘Magical Objects: Where to find them’ and throwing it onto the table. He leaned heavily against the back of the chair, his arms straight and holding the bottom, hiding one big yawn.

‘In truth, the Green Torch is pointed out in a couple of books, but only as the weapon that Harry used to destroy You-Know-Who,’ said Ginny entering the wide room and sitting next to Harry. He handed her a couple of books which she diligently started to leaf through.

‘Yes, we all know how well that worked out last time,’ Draco drawled sarcastically, getting up from the chair and approaching the wide bookcase. Harry sighed, a little uneasily.

‘At least it did for a while,’ said Ginny, putting her hand on Harry’s shoulder. The boy rested his right hand on hers and squeezed it.

‘But was it worth it for a few years of illusion?’

Nobody answered. Draco guessed that he had asked a question to which nobody could answer without hurting Harry’s feelings.

Hermione closed the book she was reading and stretched, tired. Ginny seemed to frown for a moment, all eyes turned to look at her.

‘Look here ... it talks about a kind of Torch,’ she said, a little excited. But her excitement was immediately extinguished. ‘Ah no ... it’s only a game for magicians!’ Five people snorted. Hermione got up.

‘I’d better go check on the roast,’ she announced.

‘I turned it five minutes ago and turned down the oven,’ Ginny answered. ‘We’ll have to wait for Ron to return; according to the Clock, he’s still rather far away. You know it’s impossible to Apparate during the day with Muggles everywhere’.

‘I told Ron that it was a really bad idea to go to the Burrow. It’s true, however, that New Year’s Day was just a few days ago and that someone had to go bring them our wishes,’ said Hermione, unwillingly staring at the chair. Then, she walked towards the door. ‘I’m going to go see where Ron is. Maybe he’s got closer while we were talking.’

Draco looked at the longest row of books that was spread across the wall. While his eyes were on a volume that seemed to have some interest, he saw the contours of the bookcase unexpectedly start to vanish. He blinked a few times but his vision didn’t clear. Then he noticed that a shelf had been added.

‘It seems that the Ministry has found more materials for us; as if the rubbish they’ve sent us isn’t bad enough. Useless books we’re losing our eyesight over ...’ said Harry noticing that two other shelves had appeared.

Draco eyed at him sceptically, and started to look again. There were books of black magic and some volumes that he had caught a glimpse of in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts’ library.

‘Isn’t the location of this place meant to be secret?’

‘It’s top secret, in fact,’ Sirius answered. ‘Only Remus knows where to find us. Now, he’s working at the Ministry in order to make it easy for us to get these books. And they are not rubbish, Harry.’

‘Perhaps they’re not rubbish, but they are useless. For two years we’ve continued to leaf through them day after day, never finding anything more than some bit about the Battle of the seventh year ... or some game of prestige.’ He glanced at Ginny and she sighed.

‘Maybe you’ve been looking for it in the wrong way,’ reflected Draco while examining the contents of the library.

‘How do you propose we do it then?’ cried Harry with pestilence. Sirius gave him a strict glance. ‘I mean ... what do you think we could’ve done differently?’ He reddened and lowered his sight.

‘Nervous, huh?’ Draco sneered. This was beginning to amuse him ... avoiding to insult them had its advantages. ‘It happens that I haven’t spent the last two years working in this place, as some of you have emphasized before. I don’t know the type of searches you have carried out. Here I can see that there’s everything, even a few forbidden volumes. You probably just haven’t tried the right sort of book yet,’ he drawled. Harry rose from the chair, annoyed, and approached Draco. He grabbed Draco’s shoulder and forced him to turn.

‘Look there,’ Harry snapped, pointing to the other side of the library and showing Draco an enormous book-case, filled with hundreds of volumes. ‘D’you know what those are? They’re all the books that we’ve read over the last two years. There’s quite a few, isn’t there?’ He let go of Draco and went back to his seat. Draco massaged his shoulder and sneered at Harry, but was truly impressed. The bookcase covered the length of the wall and extended all the way up to the ceiling which was three times higher than normal.

Draco went to the other side of the big room, trying to find something more interesting to read. In the end, he sat on the floor with his legs crossed, and looked through some books that he remembered seeing in the Restricted Section of the library at Hogwarts.

Damn. There’s something I should remember. Why do I have this horrible feeling? he thought as he skimmed through the pages of a volume. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t lose the bad feeling. The books he was scanning talked about a completely different subject to the one that he was looking for: he put them back in their places and got up, cleaning the dust from his robe and going a bit farther.

‘I’ll go check on dinner,’ said Ginny. She stood up from her chair and walked out of the library. Harry watched her leave as he closed one of the books that he was checking and picked up a new one.

‘There are also school books about how to use Tarot Cards,’ Draco said, amazed by the detail, ‘why did the Ministry think they would be important?’

‘I have no idea,’ replied Sirius and gave him a quick glance while skimming another volume, a Muggle one. ‘There’s only one way you can be sure ... checking its content.’ Draco sighed and started to read it, but it didn’t have more information than what he already knew. No, it didn’t talk about a Torch.

He leafed through another two or three books, until he saw Hermione coming back to the library, tying her hair in a pony tail and approaching him to take some other books to read. She picked up another pile and went to her seat.

Every hour seemed to last an eternity that day. Being now used to always looking over his shoulder, Draco found that he couldn’t concentrate on reading and was quickly growing bored. At last, he heard the sound of footsteps in the Hall and someone came into the library.

‘Ron! You’re back!’ exclaimed Hermione, throwing the book that she was reading onto the table. She stood up and ran towards him. ‘How was your trip?’ she asked, hugging him and kissing him softly on the lips.

‘I would’ve been back earlier if I could’ve Apparated, but there were too many Muggles on the streets, and I didn’t want to take the risk,’ he replied, hugging her back and answering her kiss with evident joy.

Hermione cleaned the soot off his nose and began brushing the ashes off his cloak. It was obvious which method he had used to make his trip.

‘Fred and George are at the Burrow now. Mum isn’t feeling well and she needs help. So ... oh, he’s awake,’ Ron said. He had just noticed that Draco was approaching, from the other side of the library.

‘Yes, he promised to clean up his act and Sirius gave him permission to stay,’ Hermione replied. She leaned closer and whispered something else into Ron’s ear.

‘Malfoy,’ said Ron, as Draco finally reached them and sat down. Ron was staring at him as if he had paint slashed across his face. This annoyed him greatly.

‘What d’you want?’ asked Draco, dryly, while skimming through another book.

‘I daresay that the colour of maroon suits you better than me.’ Both Harry and Hermione smirked at this.

‘Of course it does,’ Draco snapped up, staring at the red-haired boy with sarcasm. Ron stared back horrified, and his ears turned pink, ‘I think that you’ll find that most things suit me better than you.’

‘Malfoy!’ Ron looked ready to hit Draco.

SMASH!

Sirius slammed a book onto the table and said, eyeing the red-haired boy sharply, ‘Ron, shut up and calm down, please. You were the one to annoy him first, after all.’

‘I did not ...’ started Ron. Then he looked at Sirius for a long moment and had to lower his glance, not daring to keep eye-contact with him. ‘Well, maybe ... maybe yes, I was provoking him ... but ... you know, it was strange to see Malfoy wearing my clothes.’

‘It was me who gave your clothes to Malfoy, Ron,’ said a voice from outside the library. Ginny came into the wide room, carrying a tray with some tea. ‘His Muggle clothes were far too dirty and worn out for me to fix them. Welcome back, by the way. How’s Mum doing?’ She hugged him tenderly with a single arm and then went back to her seat to rest the tray on the table.

‘She’s not well. She’s never recovered from the shock of Dad’s death, and I don’t think that she ever will.’ Ron sighed, and Ginny glanced at him, worried. ‘Fred and George are staying there with her. They didn’t even want to joke today ... it gives me the creeps.’

‘Maybe I should go home, I could take care of her,’ mused Ginny.

‘You’d just put the Burrow and everybody there in danger,’ replied Harry, staring at her sadly. ‘Molly is more than a mother to me. You know that I feel wretched because she’s not well, but I know that I can’t go there either.’

‘Damn those bloody Death Eaters!’ Ginny swore, sniffing.

Ginny sighed, tiredly, as she unbuttoned the top part of her robe. As always, they had spent almost all day reading books, trying to find a solution for what still looked like a complete enigma. She was used to that, after all they had been looking for information for over two years now. However ...

‘Are you all right, love?’ asked Harry as he put on his pyjamas. She glared at him before nodding in reply.

Damn, if you can’t give that word its true meaning, don’t use it at all! she thought, annoyed. She was tired, tired of waiting. Once, she would’ve been happy with a situation of this sort. In truth, she really had been happy about it, at first ... until that day, a few months before.

‘Are you worried about Molly? I know you want to go back to the Burrow, I’d want to go there too.’ Harry approached her from behind, her robe fell to the floor. He hugged her, gently, and gave her a soft kiss on her collarbone. She stood on her tip toes, pushing herself against his chest with all her strength and he accepted the invitation. Harry’s hands ran up her body, reaching her breast as his lips started to draw a line of light kisses up to her jaw.

Ginny allowed herself a little sigh when he nibbled at her right earlobe. Yes, it was just what she needed not to think of anything. She turned back to him, sinking her fingers into his hair and smiling. She saw the desire in his green eyes. She decided that, for the moment, it was enough.

With a gentle push, Harry made her lay down on the bed, and was immediately over her, kissing her everywhere. She loved the weight of the his body over hers; it made her feel vulnerable but also safe. It lulled her, for a moment, into the illusion that she was the only subject of his thoughts. She felt a shiver as he tickled the sole of her foot, and she barely hid a giggle. Then, she pushed him onto the other side of the bed, placing herself on top of him.

‘Tonight leave everything to me,’ she murmured into his ear, caressing him with her lips.

‘Okay ...’ was the last coherent thing that he was able to say all night.

She woke up with the horrid feeling that something was strange. She lazily stretched her legs and arms and then started looking around, trying to understand what was happening. The room was hidden in the darkness; only the light of the moon outside showed the contours of the objects, and her surroundings. It took her a moment to understand what was giving her that bad feeling: Harry was groaning in his dreams.

‘Harry? Harry, what is it?’ she said, shaking him to wake him up. It didn’t help. ‘Harry? What’s happening to you? Can you hear me? Please wake up!’ She shook him so hard that in the end he opened his eyes, in shock. He stared at her without really seeing her, as his eyes were glazed. Fighting to keep control of herself, she slapped him once ... and then twice. And at her second attempt, he suddenly regained his senses.

‘Huh!’ He stood up and put a hand over his face.

‘Is that the only thing you’re able to say?’ she asked, still shocked.

‘God, you hit hard ... ’ he retorted, looking for his glasses on the bedside table, and fumbling them into place on his nose. Then he gazed at her with relief and smiled. ‘Thank you, Gin. A Dementor was around and when I was asleep, I can’t protect myself.’

‘You scared me to death,’ she said; her heart was still thudding in her chest. She was still out of breath, her hands were trembling and she felt as if her fingers were made of ice.

‘Sorry ... I didn’t mean to.’ He hugged her and Ginny forgot about the cold. They plunged into the bed and stayed linked together for a while. Then, she felt him shivering and reluctantly broke their hug, getting up on her side of the bed. She looked for her dressing-gown and put it on, setting out to leave.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To the kitchen, to get some chocolate for you and a glass of water for myself.’ She stroked his arm softly, trying to reassure him. ‘I’ll be back,’ she murmured and stood up.

She groped her way out the room and found herself in the corridor—she knew the house by memory and she didn’t need any light to orientate herself. She turned left, starting to walk down on the steps. She was walking through the hall, when she heard a noise that came from the small room before the kitchen. Someone was groaning painfully, exactly as Harry had a few minutes ago.

It took a moment for her to remember that Draco was still sleeping on the sofa. Damn, the Dementors are giving him trouble as well, she thought. She ran into the room, approached the sofa and took her wand out of her dressing-gown pocket.

‘Lumos!’ she said. The point of her wand lighted up and she put it on the coffee table, using it to light the room. Draco was moaning and tossing in the sleep; his body was completely wet on sweat and shaken by shivers.

‘Malfoy? Malfoy?’ she shook him, but it didn’t help. ‘Malfoy, wake up!’ She tried shaking him again, even harder than she had shaken Harry, but he still didn’t wake. She slapped him, with all her strength ... but only succeeded in hurting her hand.

‘MALFOY! DO YOU HEAR ME? PLEASE WAKE UP!’ Draco opened his eyes.

‘Marion,’ he murmured, sitting up to hold her strongly. Ginny felt as if she was going to choke ... she had to do something, or he’d probably squash her.

‘MALFOY! You’re hurting me, please let go of me ... ’ she tried to wriggle out from his grasp, but escape was a very hard thing to obtain. She tried not to panic and think of a way to make him let go. Once, a long time ago, Harry had done a similar thing. She had carried the signs of his hold for a full week afterwards.

‘Marion ...’

‘MALFOY, I’M NOT MARION, PLEASE WAKE UP!’ she shouted into his ear, wriggling against him yet again.

Suddenly, Draco calmed down and jerked, as if somebody caught him doing a forbidden thing. He released her from the hug and put his hands on her shoulders. He stared around himself, his eyes, which normally were pale, now seemed to be liquid, almost dark in the shadows.

‘What ... ’ he muttered. When his eyes finally reached Ginny’s face, he stared at her and frowned. ‘What are you doing here, Weasley?’ He removed his hands straight away from her shoulders, as if they were on fire.

‘I came here to take a glass of water and a piece of chocolate,’ she said, massaging her arms where Draco had gripped her, and standing up. ‘A Dementor was nearby. Harry was sick as well; I saw you were having trouble so I tried to wake you up.’ Something very close to a blush appeared on Draco’s face. Ginny smiled.

‘What did I say?’ he asked. His glance seemed a little uneasy, as if he were frightened by what he might have said. Ginny thought that she knew why.

‘You called me Marion,’ she said. Draco’s face turned white as a sheet and his eyes widened. He put one of his hands on his forehead and shook his head.

‘Bloody hell,’ he muttered, and then yawned. He put a hand on his mouth, trying to only look tired, but his other hand was trembling over his leg.

‘Who’s Marion?’ Ginny asked. He turned to stare at her, as a frown wrinkled his forehead. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it, choosing to stay silent.

‘It’s none of your business, Weasley,’ he snapped. He lay back down on the sofa and turned away from her, trying to ignore her. Ginny waited for a moment, to see if he’d change his mind, but she then understood that it was useless and stood up.

‘Nox!’ she said, picking up her wand from the coffee table and putting it back in her pocket. The light distinguished and Ginny walked straight to the kitchen.

Damn, I have to learn to control myself when a Dementor passes by. I can’t allow them to find out ... thought Draco, sad and angry at the same time. He didn’t want to show himself as weak, he couldn’t show his weakness in front of the people who he had made fun of for seven years.

When he heard that the girl had left the room, he turned to the other side of the sofa and put an arm under his pillow, trying to find a more comfortable position. It wasn’t easy, as his teeth were still chattering; but he didn’t want to get up and go look for a piece of chocolate in a kitchen that he didn’t know. He tried to stop the shivers that were running all over his body, but he miserably failed. Suddenly, he saw a shadow getting closer to him and sitting down on the edge of the sofa. He gasped, as he hadn’t noticed its approach.

‘Here.’ It was Ginny, once again, and she was holding something out to him—a piece of chocolate, of course. Draco sat next to her and bit into it.

‘Thank you,’ he spoke through a mouthful of chocolate. Ginny started with shock hearing that word. Draco seemed to think a lot about what he was going to say. He finished eating his chocolate and then looked directly into her eyes. Now used to the darkness, they could see each other by the gleam of light that came into the room from the shutters. ‘And ... I’m sorry ... for what I did before,’ he muttered and tore his glance from hers. He lay down quickly, turning his back to her.

Ginny stared, appalled. Did Draco Malfoy just ... apologize? It was worth living just to have such an experience!

‘Who’s Marion?’ she asked a few seconds later. Perhaps now he would decide to talk a bit, and she was sincerely curious.

‘I apologized, but this doesn’t mean that I want to talk about it,’ he retorted, dryly. Ginny sighed and stood up, setting out to leave.

‘Weasley?’ muttered Draco. She froze and turned back, waiting for him to continue. ‘You ... didn’t see me, tonight,’ he said, still showing his back to her. Maybe he didn't dare turn to see her expression. Or maybe he just didn't want to look at her.

She pondered a bit about it before replying, ‘Maybe.’ Then, she turned around and went back to the room that she shared with Harry.