The Gifted Amissio

Chapter 8

Wood Wanderings

"Alright, Harry, let's -" he yawned; "see this sky-god thing."

They had gotten up early, Ron eager to see what Harry was talking about; Harry, very tired himself, now wished he hadn't mentioned anything to him.

"Erm...right then. Just watch the er...sky."

"Righto."

Harry extended his arm and held his hand up high.

Nothing happened.

"Well this is lame - HOLY CRAP!" exclaimed Ron, as one by one the clouds started bursting apart like fireworks.

Harry smiled satisfactorily.

"See?"

"Oh wow, Harry...you've got to talk to Dumbledore about this."

"I know. Still cool though," he said, as a dark grey cloud tore itself open and released a shower of rain.

* * *

"Mmph."

Ginny stretched her arm out beside her. Wait a minute. That doesn't feel like a pillow.

She opened one bleary eye.

What is that? She wondered, when a voice above her drawled, "Have a good time last night?"

Ginny looked down. "That" was a nipple, as she was sleeping on Draco Malfoy's bare chest.

She put a hand up to wipe away sleep from her eye. "Haw, haw," she said, voice grainy from lack of proper sleep. "Did it work?"

"Yes," he responded, sitting upright. "And would you mind telling me exactly what happened there?"

She smiled and turned to look at him. He looked worried, but in terms of physical appearance he looked fantastic. There was no sign of any scars on his now smooth chest. She noted that he was very lean and toned, muscular but not a body builder - a seeker's build, she guessed.

"I don't know, really. I can just...heal...things." This was a very weak answer, she knew, but it was the truth. She honestly had no idea how she could heal things with her hands.

"Ginny, you look terrible," he said, just noticing how visible her bruises and cuts were in the sunlight.

"Thanks, I find you dead sexy too," she said sarcastically, "let's go shag."

Draco laughed. "Okay, well you don't look terrible. It's just..."

"What?"

"It looks like you sucked out all my scars and put them on yourself."

"Well, you know, they were just so rugged and tough-looking, I just needed to have some of my own..."

"Gin," he said, smiling at her ability to make it seem like having cuts caused by an invisible force was nothing. His smile faded. "Oh god, Gin..."

He cupped her face in his hand, letting his thumb gently rub the short cut across her cheek. He looked guilty about the fact that he was feeling perfectly fine while she was beat up.

She only just noticed then how close their faces were. Draco seemed to be thinking the same thing, as his eyebrows drew slightly closer together and his silver eyes dropped from her hazel ones and to her lips.

"Virginia," he whispered, as he brushed his lips against hers.

Then the door banged open, and Draco jumped back from her quicker than she thought was humanly possible.

It was Narcissa.

"Draco, dear, would you mind -"

She paused. Her son was in bed topless with a young girl in a little rose pink satin nightdress. Although, Ginny thought reasonably, it was a little longer than the white one. This really did not improve the overall situation by much.

"Have I come at a bad time?" said Narcissa, praying to the gods that she hadn't. Who likes to think about their son having sex?

"No, mother."

She let out a breath.

"Gin just came in here this morning."

"Oh," she said, looking a great deal less panicked. "Hello."

"Hi," replied Ginny, with the best smile she could put on at the moment.

"Uh...I'm gonna go...eat...now. Bye." She hurried out of the bedroom.

Narcissa turned back to her son.

"Well," she said, "that was...not fun." She sat down on the bed next to him. "Draco, darling, have you figured out what's going on yet?" Her voice was quiet.

Draco paused. "No," he said, slowly, "but it's getting easier to do."

Narcissa nodded. "You have to go see Dumbledore about this when you're back at school, alright?"

"I will."

* * *

Ginny padded back to her room, exhausted. She had done this before; her cuts and bruises she had acquired would fade by the following day. She secretly thought Draco was correct; when she healed, she got worse as the other person got better. It was like transferring the scars from one person to the other.

She lay down in her bed, grateful for the warmth.

* * *

Blaise was poking at a soggy pancake that lay on her plate, vaguely aware of a pair of bespectacled green eyes were watching her intently from across the kitchen.

She picked up her plate and carried it to the sink.

And she passed him, she said cutely, "Way to be settle," to Harry, who then blushed and tried to look occupied by cleaning an already spotless plate. She walked out to the garden where Charlie Weasley was hurling gnomes over a bush.

"Hi, Charlie," she said politely. He turned to her, panting slightly.

"Hey."

Blaise admitted that she had a crush on Charlie. Although Harry was actually quite cute as well.

"Isn't it a bit late in the year to be de-gnoming?"

Their conversation drifted in through the kitchen window.

Damn that Charlie! Harry thought angrily. He had to admit that Charlie was handsome, and had the rugged-and-manly-but-still-a-gentleman thing down, but he knew for a fact that no girl in their right mind could possibly date someone who has to deal with dragon shit on a daily basis.

Harry looked up at the sky.

Hmm...

"Well see, the whole thing about dragons is - Aaarg!"

Hail stones the size of peach pits hurled themselves down from the sky. Harry could hear Blaise shriek; a gust of wind then proceeded to blow her skirt up for several seconds.

It was a nice bonus.

* * *

Ginny opened her eyes. She was standing in the woods.

What the fuck...

Hadn't she just been in her bed? The woods were about half a mile from the Burrow; she could see it from the opening in trees that emptied out onto the grass field they'd often play quidditch on. She looked down at her hands.

Blood.