Someone to Watch Over Me

Someone to Watch Over Me

Chapter 22: To Love

Joyce's eyes followed Ginny as she paced the room anxiously.

Their husbands had left ten minutes ago for the meeting with Dumbledore. They promised to come back home before going to the final battle.

"Ginny, please sit down. You're making me sick," Joyce said, putting a hand over her eyes.

"I'm making myself sick," Ginny muttered and plopped into a chair.

Hermione glanced up at them, and then turned back to her notes.

Joyce shook her head. If she'd known that giving Hermione her experimental potions notes would have made her stay put and kept her quiet, she'd have gotten them for her a long time ago. It had been Blaise, who had gotten so sick of having to entertain Hermione that morning, that he'd dug out her notes on the 'infatuation potion' to keep her occupied. Blaise always seemed to have a sixth sense about how to keep people content.

Hermione finally tore her eyes away from the notes long enough to use the restroom. As Ginny helped her back into bed she asked, "What's so interesting about that potion that you can't stop reading your notes?"

Hermione settled into the bed before answering.

"I don't know. I mean, it's something that Severus and I spent months working on, and then we just stopped and I haven't looked at it in ages. I'm just remembering all my ideas and speculations about it. I feel like there's something really important here that I'm missing."

Ginny blinked at her.

"Sorry Hermione, I lost you at 'I don't know'."

Joyce chuckled, and Hermione frowned at them then went back to her notes.

"Well, I'm going to find something to read," Joyce announced leaving the room.

Ginny glared after her.

"You people are so boring. There's more to life than reading you know!" she called.

Joyce returned a few minutes later with a bag filled with paperback books.

"Oh, I think you might find something interesting in here Ginny," Joyce commented slyly as she retrieved a book, and settled back in her chair.

Ginny frowned but started looking through the bag.

She gasped at the half-naked couples on the covers.

"Joyce! What kind of books are these?" she demanded.

Joyce laughed.

"They're muggle romance novels. I've been addicted to them since I was sixteen."

Ginny made a face, but picked up a book and began reading.

Hermione and Joyce exchanged a smile.

Soon all three women had successfully gotten their minds off of Harry Potter, Dumbledore, and their stupid plan.

Their husbands, on the other hand, weren't as fortunate.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"And then what? What happens if he kills you instead?" Draco demanded.

"He won't. Draco, I know you want to help, but it's up to me. It always falls on me," Harry said.

"You're being an idiot, Potter," Snape growled.

"I'm just doing what has to be done."

"No. You're being selfish. You don't care if he kills you, it's not like you'll have anything to worry about if he does. It sounds romantic to you doesn't it? Dying to save the world? It's time you stopped thinking about yourself and started thinking about those of us who'll be left behind!" Blaise shouted.

He'd shocked everyone in the room with his outburst. No one had ever seen him angry and yelling.

Harry was quiet for a long moment before turning to Dumbledore.

"Killing him didn't work before; we can't count on it to work now," he said, finally.

"That's the first thing you've said in months that actually made sense," Ron said, looking relieved.

"So what do we do? How can he be defeated?" Draco asked.

Dumbledore sighed.

"The only thing that has ever worked against Tom...is love. He doesn't understand, and can't abide it," he answered.

"So, I'm supposed to love Voldemort to death? I don't think that's possible," Harry said.

"No Harry, to destroy Voldemort, he'd have to love someone else," Dumbledore corrected.

"Even more impossible," Snape snorted.

"He has a soft spot for Ginny," Draco volunteered.

"Would you bet her life on it?" Blaise asked.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"So, the plan is now to use Ginny to distract Voldemort while Harry casts the killing curse on him?" Hermione demanded.

"Stay calm, or we won't be telling you anything," Joyce warned her.

Draco turned to Ginny.

"You don't have to do this," he said.

"Yes, I do. I just don't think it's going to work," she admitted.

"It will!" Hermione suddenly yelled.

Everyone looked at her like she'd lost her mind.

"The potion!" she said.

"Hermione, love potions don't work on the Dark Lord. I've already tried," Snape explained.

"But our potion is different!"

"That's right! Hermione explained it to me. Love potions always create fake feelings of love, but this potion creates fake thoughts. The feelings are real! If we give him that potion, he will have real feelings of love for me," Ginny explained.

Snape snatched up Hermione's notes, and perused them quickly while muttering under his breath.

"This could work," he said, finally.

"But would it be enough to destroy him?" Blaise asked.

"Probably not, but it could very well incapacitate him enough for the killing curse to work," Snape said excitedly.

Hermione crossed her arms and glared at her husband.

"I told you making that potion wouldn't be a waste of time!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"My Lord," Draco said, bowing low.

Ginny gave Voldemort a pleasant smile and bowed as well.

She'd taken a dose of the potion before they'd arrived so that her thoughts would be centered around Draco again.

"Draco, why have you come to me?" he asked.

"Ginny and I wanted to thank you for our lovely honeymoon," Draco explained, pulling out an ancient bottle of wine.

Voldemort eyed the bottle suspiciously.

"It was in Lucius Malfoy's wine cellar," Ginny added.

"Bottled in 29 B.C., it's the oldest of its kind," Draco announced proudly.

Whatever suspicions Voldemort might have had were set to rest after thoroughly examining Draco's mind.

Draco's head was pounding from the effort of hiding certain thoughts from the Dark Lord.

Lord Voldemort handed the bottle to Ginny and materialized three goblets out of thin air. She happily walked over to them and pulled the cork from the bottle. Draco felt a trickle of sweat run down the back of his neck as he watched her. He had to keep his eyes focused on Ginny and not on the empty spot near Voldemort's chair where Harry was hiding under an invisibility cloak.

The Headmaster did not know whether or not Tom Riddle had the power to see through the cloaks like he could; therefore, he cast a disillusionment charm on Harry just to be safe.

Soon all three were holding full goblets of wine and Lord Voldemort raised his.

"A toast, to the continuation of the Malfoy line," he said, and then drank deep from his cup.

Ginny and Draco only pretended to drink.

Shooting a glance at his wife, Draco took a few steps back, and was pleased to see the Dark Lord's gaze fall on her.

Ginny gave Voldemort another smile, and was amazed to see him smile back.

He frowned and turned away from her, his hands going to his head, and dropping the almost empty goblet to the floor.

"What have you done to me?" he hissed at her.

Ginny gave him her most innocent expression: one that had fooled Molly Weasley many times before.

Voldemort pulled out his wand and opened his mouth to cast a curse on her, but nothing happened.

He suddenly lunged at her without warning, knocking them both to the floor.

Ginny panicked when she felt him slither his snake-like tongue into her mouth, and kneed him in the groin.

Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her up and away from Voldemort, who was doubled over in pain.

Harry seized his opportunity and cast of the cloak.

"Avada Kedavra!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The plan went off without a hitch. The Wizarding World celebrated for a full week, and Harry Potter was once again proclaimed savior. The occupants of Malfoy Manor didn't mind the lack of acknowledgement though. They were much too busy preparing for the arrival of Hermione and Severus' quadruplets.

It was a cold Tuesday morning in February when Hermione was awakened by a dull pain in her lower back. She looked over at Severus, who was out cold.

Sighing, she hauled her one hundred and fifty pound body out of bed and started pacing.

She was on her third trip across the room when she suddenly felt the warm liquid leave her and rush down her legs to the floor.

She screamed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Come on Hermione, you can do it!" Ginny encouraged the laboring woman.

"Just one more push!" Joyce called.

Hermione gritted her teeth and pushed with all her might.

Joyce smiled broadly and held up the squalling infant for all to see.

Ginny laughed, and Severus hit the floor in a dead faint.

"Great job, Hermione! Now, just three more to go!"

Hermione's anguished groan carried all over the manor.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Hours later, Ginny and Draco headed up to bed.

"Oh, they're all so cute! I can't wait to find out what Hermione and Severus will name them," she commented and yawned.

"Don't expect to find out anytime soon. They've been arguing names for ages," Draco said.

They undressed and climbed into bed.

"Draco? Do you mind if I leave the light on for a few minutes? I'd like to read for a while," she said, pulling a paperback from the nightstand drawer.

"Another romance novel?" he asked.

She gave him a look.

He studied her while she read for a few minutes.

"Bet I can out-do your book," he said, giving her his sexy smirk.

She actually laughed at him.

Draco frowned.

"Well, now it's a matter of pride," he said, and whipped the book out of her hands.

"Draco!" she yelled and he threw it across the room.

She was about to get out of bed to get it when he seized her around the waist and she suddenly found herself on her back with her very obviously aroused husband on top of her.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he quickly covered it with his own, smothering her words.

He kissed her passionately, and slipped a hand between her legs.

Ginny moaned and arched her back.

He drove her to the point where she could no longer keep her hips still, then tore himself away from her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Gin. Was there something you wanted to say to me?" he asked cockily.

End Chapter 22