I'll Be...

Chapter One: Walking Alone

~*~

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone

Read between the lines
What's fucked up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone

Boulevard of Broken Dreams ~ Green Day

~*~

"Good Morning Mr. Malfoy. How are you?" Ginny Weasley greeted as she opened the curtains to his bed area at St. Mungo's. She had been working there just over a year. The year after she had left school and the war had ended. She specialized in the maternity ward but she was only needed for births so she took up a few long-term patients. Mr. Sunder had been cured just last week and so she usually spent her shifts tending after Lucius and talking to him unless she got paged to her ward.

Lucius had been there for just over a year. He had been committed when, after a nervous breakdown, his brain had blocked out all memory of him ever being a Death Eater. He didn't remember Voldemort or how he got the tattoo on his arm. They had come to the conclusion that the breakdown had been caused by Narcissa's death. She had taken Draco away from the war and hidden him knowing he wouldn't stand up for himself. Voldemort had killed her as punishment.

Along with forgetting his servitude to Voldemort he seemed to forget he hated all Weasleys. He was actually quite pleasant and treated her like a niece. She enjoyed talking about just about anything with him.

"Very well Missy, how are you?" Lucius looked up from his book.

"Fine," she answered while setting up a bed table for his breakfast. "Let's see that leg shall we?" Ginny pulled back the blankets covering his left leg. He had suffered damage on the leg, which was the reason he was still in the hospital. After the physical damage was taken care of they thought he could be sent home as long as a nurse was at home with him. She knew he was almost finished healing. Shards of glass had cut his leg and gotten lost in the muscle tissue and cuts mixed in with a potion that hadn't been finished and couldn't be identified. Ginny knew she would miss him when he left.

"Just fine?" he asked starting on his bacon.

"Just dreading the lectures from my mother and Ron," she explained her voice playful.

"You'll thank them one day. Family is important," Lucius nodded his head as if to further prove his point.

She smiled and hid her guilt. Here she was complaining about her family's habits of lecturing her to a man who had none. His wife had died two years ago when she had helped their son escape. He hadn't heard from his son in those two years and for all anyone knew he was dead.

"So what do you want to talk about today?" she asked settling down into a chair.

"Mythology!" he exclaimed excitedly. She could hardly keep up as he went through the different myths he enjoyed. She smiled seeing his face light up like a child's in a toy store.

Sometimes it was hard to believe that the old Lucius had ever existed. She knew in her heart that this was the same man that had slipped a diary in her cauldron that had almost killed her. Yet at the same time he was someone so different. She had long since gotten over the shock that this man used to be so cold and cruel. She had forgiven him and put her best effort into healing him. She worried about the day he would remember and have to merge the different parts of his personality into one. She just hoped he would make it through.

~*~

Ginny opened the front door the Burrow and called out. When no one answered she put her bag down and made her way to the back door. She looked out and there sat her family around three tables in the backyard. She paused at the door watching them for a few moments. Everyone looked so happy as if nothing were wrong in the world. Yet sometimes those Sundays when her mom demanded everyone be at the Burrow were a sanctuary where you did truly believe nothing would ever go wrong. That was for everyone else. Ginny often found herself suffering lectures from her family members especially her mother.

She let her gaze skim over the table. Harry was there with Laura his current girlfriend. They had been dating only a year. Ron was sitting beside a girl she didn't know and she assumed was his new girlfriend. Hermione was sitting with Fred and a small baby in her lap. They had married only a year and a bit ago. Éva, their daughter, was ten months old and already crawling around. George sat next to the happy couple talking to Fred and Charlie about Quidditch. George and Charlie were the single bachelors of the Weasley clan. Bill was married to India Johnson, Angelina Johnson's older sister. She wasn't someone they would have expected Bill to start dating never mind marry but she had been welcomed into the family and everyone liked her. Arthur and Molly were at the head of the table smiling at everyone. Her mother leaned over to speak to Arthur and frowned faintly. Ginny had a suspicion that it was about her.

"Hello everyone," Ginny addressed everybody, finally joining them in the yard.

"You're late Ginny dear," her mother scolded.

"I was caught up at work," Ginny replied calmly knowing where the conversation was headed. Her family disapproved of her working with Lucius and didn't let a moment pass where they could mention their opinion of her occupation. She had been hearing about it for six months. Every Sunday they got together it was brought up and quite frankly it was getting a tab bit annoying.

"A birth?" her mother questioned trying to sound casual. She sounded too inquisitive and Ginny knew she was nosing about.

"I had to deliver a baby at two because the girl who comes in on Sundays was busy in another room and then when everything was finished I went to visit Lucius and we finished our discussion in mythology that we started yesterday. I lost track of time," Ginny replied defiantly.

"I still don't know why you trust that man," Molly sniffed haughtily. She didn't like the Malfoys all that much as you can tell.

"He's done nothing but bad to us since our families first met," Arthur pointed out giving Ginny a look as well.

"His son is just like him too," Ron added to the conversation. "Both arrogant and evil. I wouldn't doubt that his son has a mark. Sucking up to daddy all those years the bloody son of a-" he stopped when Harry elbowed him in the stomach.

Ginny breathed deeply as each person at the table began to talk about their opinion. It was starting to turn into an argument when Ginny slammed her hand down on the table to get everyone's attention. It was quite a surprise that the littlest Weasley was loosing her temper. She was the calmest of the children.

"If I might refresh your memories the man did try to kill me with a diary. I can see that he has changed because I gave him a second chance. It may be that he has only changed because of the circumstances of his condition but I will not judge a man who feels regret for something he doesn't remember." Ginny's voice was calm yet again but strong. "As for his son, he never took sides in the war so you can not assume he has a mark. People change and considering the fact that you haven't seen his son in two years I think you can show a little maturity and not waste time on childhood rivalries."

"How can you defend them?" Ron asked incredulously.

"By having a little compassion," she answered her brother. "His wife died Ron, his son hasn't been heard from in two years and people are sure he is dead as well. How would you feel? Changes your view on life doesn't it?"

They all watched as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"Gin-"

"No," Ginny cut her brother off. "I don't nag any of you about your lives. I would appreciate it if you returned the favour."

They could hear her stomp through the house when she left to grab her bag. The front door slammed before a large crack echoed from her Disapparating to her apartment. She walked into her bathroom where she looked in the mirror. Her mascara was smudged from the tears that were flowing from her eyes. All the stress from everything was building up and her head was throbbing from it all. She tried to smile but her eyes remained a dull brown and she gave up biting her lip instead. Her dark blood red hair was still up in the bun she had secured it in for work but it was messy and a few strands fell onto her face. She took it out and let it fall past her shoulders and pulled it away from her flushed face. Giving up on everything she stripped and turned the shower on before letting herself relax under the steamy water.

She started sorting through her thoughts. Her family didn't accept her decision. They wanted her to quit working with Lucius. They wanted her be the next Weasley matriarch and live the perfect life with a perfect husband and ten kids. At least that subject hadn't come up during dinner. She'd had quite enough of her mother suggesting that she should start dating more. Often she would bring men to the house and try to push them together in what she thought was subtly.

After getting out of the shower Ginny had not enough energy to do anything besides throw a large shirt on and fall into bed. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her head, closed her eyes and fell into a restless sleep.