You Can't Deal Alone

Ginny walked companionably next to Maritole on the way back to Hogwarts, discussing the student's upcoming potions exam.

"...he's such a hard grader," Maritole complained, pushing her thick black hair out of her eyes. "And on top of that, he's a tosser."

"Maritole!"

"What?" Maritole stuck out her chin defensively. "Well, he is. He doesn't let me talk to Jenny."

Ginny laughed. "I don't let you talk to Jenny during class, either. You can't expect Professor Malfoy to be any different."

"Different?" Maritole gaped. "You're ten times nicer than him." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Well, at least this is your last year," she said. "You'll never have to look at him again in... what, five months?"

"It's not the looking that bothers me," Maritole said, grinning. She lowered her voice. "You went to school with him, didn't you? You must've noticed that he's completely gorgeous." Ginny laughed aloud.

"It's not just me," Maritole protested. "I've yet to meet a girl who doesn't fantasize about him."

"He's your professor," Ginny said. "You're not supposed to have those kinds of thoughts about Mal -"

Just then Draco walked past Ginny, his arm barely grazing hers. She got a feeling he knew they were discussing him. He turned briefly to look back at her and their eyes locked. She was taken back to the memory she wanted to forget.

It was Ginny's sixth year, and she and her three roommates were in the dungeons late at night. It was a game they invented. They would play silent hide and seek with each other while avoiding teachers. Ginny was the best at it - she had only gotten detention twice. Her friend Alice had been caught no fewer than seven times.

Ginny was running lightly down a hallway she had never been into before. She guessed she had time before any of her friends would come this way, so she slowed and examined her surroundings.

The hall was dimly lit, casting an eerie glow upon the cold grey stones. She continued walking, turning a corner. Down this hallway were portraits and tapestries. Ginny ran her fingers down the largest tapestry when it moved. Ginny jumped back, her hand clamped over her mouth. Students - Slytherins, she discovered - were pouring out from a hole in a wall. She waited for someone to notice her, but everyone looked terror-stricken as they ran past her.

Last to come out was the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy. The look on his face was one of deep concentration and determination. When he saw Ginny backed against a wall his eyes clouded over.

"What are you doing here, Weasley?" he shouted angrily. He grabbed her wrist tightly and dragged her along with him as he ran. "Why aren't you with you house?"

Ginny couldn't think of a way to answer without getting house points deducted, so she responded with a question. "Where are you taking me? Why are you taking me?"

Draco didn't answer immediately, only looked down empty hallways as if searching. Ginny's small wrist began to throb. "Let me go, Malfoy! You're hurting me."

"I would gladly let you stay here and get taken by Deatheaters, but unfortunately my Head Boy duties force me to do otherwise," he shot back nastily. Ginny opened her mouth to quip back, but his words hit her in the stomach.

"Deatheaters?" she asked heavily. They were running and Ginny's chest was heaving. "You mean - Hogwarts is being attacked?"

Ginny wasn't answered. Ginny's mind spun as she realised that Malfoy was helping her escape Deatheaters. She finished the puzzle and came to the conclusion that Draco Malfoy wasn't on the dark side. The thought shocked but also relieved Ginny.

"You're not a Deatheater?" she asked.

Draco studied her face. "No," he answered curtly.

Draco stopped abruptly but continued to hold Ginny's wrist. He whispered something in a foreign tongue and an opening appeared in the stone wall. He pulled Ginny inside after him. The wall sealed behind them.

They briskly continued through a maze of stone floors and walls. They were silent until they reached a dead-end. Draco faced her.

"I'll tell you the truth," he said. "They have information that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is going to try to get into Hogwarts."

Ginny's mind was racing, but all she felt was blankness. "He - he can't. Not Hogwarts. Not with Dumbledore."

"Hogwarts is safe, but You-Know-Who's powerful. More powerful than he was before."

Ginny's blood froze. Ginny felt hot tears on her face, but the dark coldness numbed her body. She looked at Draco, searching his face for comfort - for anything. His eyes were sharper than ever, staring back at her, but without decipherable emotion.

"Do you know where the Gryffindor shelter is?" Draco asked. He was still holding onto her wrist, but the pain wasn't felt by Ginny. Suddenly the most terrible thought shook Ginny's body and her heart was on fire. She let out a small cry and her knees gave out. Draco grabbed her arms, holding her up.

"What? What is it?" he questioned urgently.

"Harry and Ron," she whispered, horrified. The world around her was black. She couldn't see anything but the terrifying darkness.

"Do you know where the shelter is?" Draco shook her, not commenting on her fear for his enemy. Ginny snapped back to reality.

"No," she said, barely audible.

"You'll have to come with the Slytherins," he said. Ginny's mouth dropped. "Don't be an idiot - would you rather die?"

Ginny set her face stonily. She followed him through another opening in the wall.

When she stepped through she saw a blur of wide eyes and thin lips. The other students stared blankly at her for a moment, until a boy from her year, Andrew Clemmings, spoke up.

"What's a Gryffindor doing here?" he spat, walking up to them menacingly. "The whole reason they split up the houses is so we wouldn't have to deal with these fuckers -"

Draco's eyes flashed and he pushed Andrew away forcefully. The boy fell to the ground and slid into a group of third-year girls.

"What's this, Draco?" he shot out with contempt. "Next you'll be playing tonsil hockey with Mudblood Granger."

Ginny's face matched her hair as she walked up to the boy. The room was silent. Andrew stood up and glared at Ginny. She slapped him.

"Is that the best you've got?" he taunted. Draco pushed Ginny away from Andrew.

"Stop," Draco said. "The reason the houses are separated is so if someone gets in the castle they won't be able to kill all of us at one go." This comment brought the reality of the situation to the students. Ginny heard someone crying. Draco continued, "I'm in charge until Professor Snape shows up. You'll find it beneficial to stay quiet and listen to me." A loud murmur spread throughout the room.

"I said to stay quiet," Draco said threateningly, stopping all noise. "Prefects, pass out blankets and pillows. We may be here for awhile." Ginny saw the look of shock on students' faces, but no one made a noise.

As supplies were being distributed, a first-year's voice was heard. "Can't you tell us why we're down here?"

If the question made Draco uncomfortable, he didn't show it. "When you need to know, you'll know." Various students started protesting, but Draco's eyes shot daggers at them and they stopped. "Try to sleep. There's nothing else to do."

Draco helped pass out the rest of the blankets, and then joined Ginny in an empty corner. Groups of Slytherins were talking in low, frightened whispers, but Ginny was silently playing with the tattered hem of her robes.

"Here," Draco said. He handed Ginny a green blanket and matching pillow and sat next to her.

"Can't you get me to my house?" she asked, although she knew the answer.

"No," Draco answered plainly. Ginny opened her blanket and wrapped it around her legs. She noticed Draco was empty handed.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked. He looked at her blankly. "I mean, you don't have a blanket or anything."

"We only had one for every Slytherin," he stated, looking away from her and back at the wall. Ginny realised that she was using the blanket meant for him.

They sat in silence. The sleeve of Draco's robe had fallen to his elbow and Ginny saw goose pimples on his forearm. "Here," Ginny said, spreading the blanket across both of their legs.

"No," Draco replied. "It's your blanket." He started to push it off, but Ginny stopped him.

"I want to share," she said. They returned to silence. The oddness of Draco Malfoy sitting next to Ginny Weasley, sharing a blanket, didn't occur to her. Her mind kept drifting off to the horrible events of the war.

When she was in her fifth year she had imagined it to be the worst school year of her life. Ginny had felt rather lost without her brother, boyfriend, or best friend. The Daily Prophet was forced to print information about Voldemort's return - it was widely acknowledged as the truth. There wasn't much to be printed, however. Voldemort seemed to be lying low. Ginny could only assume that he was lost without the prophecy. Every time she thought of the horrors Harry's future held she shuddered. Harry, her Harry, was in such danger.

In October of her fifth year missing person ads started sneaking into the Daily Prophet. There were respected people disappearing during the night. Although there was no evidence of the reason for their disappearance, everyone knew what was happening and the fear intensified. It was a burning rope. It was just a matter of when the flame would reach the explosives.

And then, on the first of April, it hit. Ginny remembered the day well. It was the first sunny day of spring they had had, and she had walked out to the lake before breakfast, alone, to enjoy the weather. She had had so little to enjoy. She had only seen Ron, Harry, and Hermione once, at Christmas, and they had barely spoken three words to anyone. Ginny didn't take offense; they all looked strained and tense, and Ginny worried about them every moment.

Quarter of an hour later the Daily Prophet was in her hands, bearing the news she had feared for months - the Deatheaters had attacked. The first houses to have the mark blazing above it was the Abbott's, the Shacklebolt's and two more families she didn't know. Hannah, who had become one of Ginny's friends, left and didn't return to school.

Too pained to remember any more of the past, Ginny looked over at Malfoy. He was still staring blankly at the wall. Fear wrapped itself around her heart more tightly. She set her pillow on the floor and put her head down onto it, dipping in and out of restless sleep.

She opened her eyes several hours later and sat up. "This is useless," she said quietly to herself.

"What is?" Someone asked. Ginny jumped, but then realised it was only Malfoy. She looked around the dungeon. It seemed that she and Draco were the only ones awake.

"Oh, erm, I can't sleep," she mumbled, embarrassed. She always seemed to get caught talking to herself. "Have you been awake this whole time?" Draco nodded. "Would you like to use the pillow?"

"No," he said. "I'm not tired."

"Listen, Malfoy," said Ginny, twisting the edge of the blanket. "Ehm... thanks."

"For what?" he asked, still staring straight ahead. Ginny noticed that he was less malicious.

"For not leaving me in the corridor," she said. "It was very, er, nice of you."

Draco let out a short, mirthless laugh. "Do you think I'm that much of an arse?"

Yes, Ginny thought, but didn't answer the question aloud. Instead, she asked, "Do you think we'll get out of here alive?"

Draco looked at her steadily. She looked back, wondering what had brought around this change in someone she loathed. Fear, she supposed. Fear and uncertainty. There was no choice except to be civil to those around you.

"I don't know," he replied. They didn't speak again for many hours.

Two days passed slower than Ginny thought possible. They were told nothing of what was happening outside of the confined room. It seemed to Ginny that there was always someone crying. On a few occasions it had been herself.

Refusing to dwell on the past, Ginny focused her thought on someone she usually never gave a second glance to: Draco Malfoy. If it weren't for him, she would've sat in the corner with no one to talk to while in the Slytherin shelter. Granted, they didn't talk much, but having someone next to you, even if it were a generally cold-hearted person, brought some comfort. She had begun to feel a bond between them, and as much as it surprised her, it was a consolation.

Ginny found herself and Draco awake while the rest were sleeping once again on their fourth day of confinement. Professor Snape was sleeping in the opposite corner, having showed up during the second day.

Ginny and Draco yawned simultaneously. Ginny let out a small smile. Draco returned her gaze, but kept his face strong and motionless.

They both snapped their heads to the place in the wall where the door was. They could hear footsteps. Everything went into slow motion. The clicking sounds of the approaching shoes reverberated deafeningly in Ginny's ears.

Draco and Ginny looked at each other and their eyes locked. "It's them," Ginny mouthed. Draco's eyes finally broke; Ginny could see the fear in them.

"Here's where the door is," a voice could be heard faintly through the stone. "Do you have the paper with the password on it?"

"Ginny," Draco said, so softly Ginny had to lean in to hear him. The fact that he had used her first name never registered in her mind. "If this is the end..."

"Yeah, let me find it," a second voice replied outside the door. They could hear rustling.

"I'd like to die with a kiss," Draco continued quickly, his voice dry. "A kiss from a pretty girl."

The end, the end, the end. The words echoed in Ginny's head, making her slightly nauseous. This might be her last minute of life. The end, the end.

Ginny placed her hand on his knee. They were so close all she had to do was turn her head and their lips met. Ginny felt the power and emotion behind it, and the feeling was oddly familiar. The shock when she realised it was how she felt when kissing Harry caused her to break away. He opened his eyes and they continued looking at each other. Bewilderment glazed over the acute fear of the end.

"Here it is," the second voice said, sounding triumphant.

"Wands out," Draco whispered, pulling his. Ginny briefly thanked herself for remembering to carry hers that fateful night of hide and seek. They stood, ready to duel, when Ginny felt herself crying.

Suddenly a loud voice was heard. "PROFESSOR WEASLEY!"

Wait, Ginny thought. That's not what happened next...

"PROFESSOR WEASLEY!" Someone grabbed Ginny's shoulder and shook it. Ginny was brought out of her memory by Maritole. "Are you alright?"

"What?" Ginny shook her head and focused on the present.

"You haven't been paying attention," Maritole said gently. "Is something wrong?"

"Just - just tired," Ginny said. They were inside the castle now, at the corner where they took different directions to their rooms.

"Can you make it back to your room alright?" Maritole asked teasingly, but with concern, too.

"Yes," Ginny smiled and headed off to her room, but not without one last glance at the man she had kissed so many years ago.