Ginny Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter 2 - Remembrances

Ginny Potter looked away from Draco and put Sirius down, who promptly flopped on his belly in the grass and began studying a slug with great interest. She looked back up at Draco and her brother, and spoke softly, "Guys...thanks. That was...priceless."

Draco's face turned serious and his eyes bored into Ron's as he spoke. "Why did just the warning go off? Why didn't the wards prevent him from approaching? That could have been," Draco paused for a moment, searching for the right word, "awkward, if it had been someone a bit more malicious."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Honestly, Draco, not everyone wants to live in a glorified prison like Malfoy Manor that has wards that strike intruders dead or whatever. There are people coming here all the time! The defensive wards only guard against those who have evil or malicious intent towards the occupants or their belongings. We still have the warning wards to let us know if someone gets too close without calling first, but really!" Hermione absently waved her wand and sent a burst of sparks towards Ron, who was levitating a slug over Sirius as if he was baiting a cat with a piece of string. Ron yelped and Sirius laughed as Hermione continued. "Everything worked just fine. Maybe you would know that if you graced us with your presence a bit more often."

Draco's eyes narrowed, but he was unable to reply before Ginny started to speak. Flashing an evil smile at Draco, she addressed Hermione in a syrupy, artificial tone.

"Oh, Hermione, don't be so hard on Draco! I quite understand his reasons for ignoring his friends. Draco has important work to do! After all, who else is so qualified to check out nightclubs for the Ministry to make sure that no Death Eaters are hiding in the robes of sweet young patrons? Western and Wizarding Civilization may very well collapse without Draco on the job! Not to mention the economic impact if Draco was to stop buying beer every night in his search for...what was it you told that blonde last week? Oh, yes,"

Ginny dropped her voice in an eerie emulation of Draco's, and pulled her red tresses tight in a bizarre mockery of Draco's slicked-back blond hair, "a little privacy, a little discretion, I would do anything to shake those paparazzi vultures. I can handle not having a private life...but it distracts me from my work, and that is so much more important than my desires." Ginny reverted back to normal. "You DO play the James Bond of the Wizarding World oh so well, don't you Draco? And I shudder to think what line you use on those rare Muggle women who fall into your sights."

Draco shot a look of contempt at Ginny, before speaking in his best condescending tone, "Really, Potter, you should know by now that it is not befitting a Malfoy to guzzle...beer," Malfoy sneered even more than usual as he pronounced the name of the beverage, "when there is such a variety of fine liquors available at the establishments that are discriminating enough to attract my sort of clientel. Besides, last time I checked, there was no beer to be had in your house, so of course you must forgive me if I don't treat myself to your charming presence more often."

Ron, feeling very left out, spoke up. "Uh, that's because we drank all of Ginny's beer last night."

"Oh yeah." Malfoy looked crestfallen. He wondered if his Auror credentials could be yanked if he summoned something to drink from a tavern without paying for it. Probably. He and Ron were not very popular at the moment, most likely because they were just too damned good at what they did. There was a time, shortly after his decision to join the late Potter's merry little band of commandos, when he was desperate to prove himself, and he followed rules to the letter. But then, that was a long time ago.

Molly Weasley's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Everyone back, dinnertime!" He couldn't see her, but the Sonorus charm carried from the house at the edge of the field to where Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Draco were standing.

Draco said to the others, "Go on. I'll catch up in a few minutes."

Ginny looked at him, and her voice became serious.

"Don't take too long. Mom will think you don't like her cooking if you're late for dinner."

Draco laughed, and made a shooing motion with his hand. He had no intention of disturbing the Weasley matriarch from her grandmotherly fussing over all of them, but he wanted to be alone for a moment. Without regard for his absurdly expensive robes, he sat in the grass, facing away from the house and looking towards the lake, remembering a time years ago.

Six years ago, Draco thought. Six years. Draco saw the calm lake, and remembered when the lake, and his life, had been quite different.

Malfoy gasped and spat blood as he phased into reality and had a brief glimpse of a living room before feeling like his organs were being ripped and pulled deep into himself, as there was a flash of light and he felt a planet had slammed into his back. The air was forced from his lungs and he gagged as he tried to draw breath only to have the driving rain flood into his nose and mouth. His body trembled, helplessly, as he realized that a planet had indeed slammed into his back; he was spread-eagled against the ground with his head ten meters from the lake shore and his feet pinned to the ground, forming a V shape with the Potter house centered between them, off in the distance. He struggled for breath, still shaking helplessly, unable to raise his limbs more than an inch above the ground. The wind was so fierce that he could feel spray being whipped up from the churning lake. His wand, ripped from his hand so forcefully that it had burned the palm of his hand, hovered in the air, hopelessly beyond his reach. A flash of lightning revealed the furious face of Harry Potter above him, wand pointed squarely at his chest.

Malfoy twisted his head, and saw what could only be Ginny Potter, her back towards her husband, wand raised in the air. Her hair was already drenched with rain, clinging to her neck. She was standing a few feet behind her husband, obviously in a defensive stance, attempting to cover him from some unknown threat as he interrogated the trapped intruder. Harry spoke.

"It's Malfoy."

Ginny did not turn, but she just said "Lucius or Draco?"

Harry replied, "Draco, immobilized. So much for testing the anti- Apparation shield. Seems to work fine."

Draco flushed with fear. He couldn't help himself; even as some part of him hated himself for being so nakedly afraid before the man he had always considered his greatest enemy. "Potter, please, let me up, let me go, you have to listen, please, please, Potter, you have to hear, get me out of here, I don't care, hold my wand, just get me inside."

Harry snorted, and looked contemptuously at Draco. "You already tried to get inside, that's why you're here. Didn't your dad warn you that my house would be protected? Did you really think that I'm that stupid, Draco?"

Draco felt impotence and helplessness nearly overwhelm him. He closed his eyes, and screamed so loud his throat burned. "DAMNIT POTTER! He's INSANE! It's not about power, it's not about anything, he's evil, he's insane, there's nothing there, you have to know, you have to, please, damn you, damn you, just listen to me, I hate you I hate you and IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE because you can't understand, you have to know, Voldemort is absolutely insane, I never knew, there was no way to know, it's not about anything else than that simple, simple fact."

Harry was unmoved. "Ginny, I don't like this. Send the Call." Harry wasn't even bothering to speak to Draco; he was irrelevant, and Harry was not going to be drawn into whatever this sad attempt at a diversion was trying to accomplish.

"DAMN YOU, POTTER, HE'S INSANE AND YOU'RE A BLOODY FOOL, YOU KNOW NOTHING!" Malfoy lay back, exhausted, defeated, broken. Another bright flash of lightning forced him to close his eyes, and he found he couldn't summon the strength to open them anymore. He had gambled, and lost. Any moment, the Death Eaters would trace him here. The Potters could retreat behind their wards, which would undoubtedly hold until they could summon their little friends, but Draco would be sacrificed, and no one would ever know, and Jennifer would have died for nothing, just like countless others who were victims of Voldemort.

Ginny turned. "Harry...there's something different..." Draco's eyelids fluttered, and his pupils were wide and his eyes struggled to focus. She looked Draco in the eyes, and said, quite calmly, "Who's insane?"

Draco muttered, softly, "Voldemort."

Ginny frowned. "Voldemort? Not "The Dark Lord"? You say the name, Voldemort?"

Draco didn't have the strength to move. "Yes. He is Lord of nothing, except madness. He's going to kill me, and he will get you eventually, too. It . . .doesn't matter anymore. I tried. I'm sorry. Jennifer. . . I'm sorry."

Another burst of blood erupted from Draco's mouth, splattering Ginny's robes. She looked up at Harry, and simply said, "I'm taking him inside."

Harry's face twisted, and then went calm. Draco knew that every instinct in Harry's body was telling him not to let Draco into his house, yet he saw that he had absolute, total trust in the judgment of his wife. Draco realized, suddenly, why Potter had married the Weasley girl - Draco suddenly envied that trust, previously so foreign to Draco's experience. Draco saw Harry as he reached out and grabbed Draco's wand, his hand causing a shimmer as it grasped the hovering wand - obviously, there had been some sort of shield around it preventing anyone else from grabbing it - and nodded once at Ginny.

Ginny reached down and slid her arm under Draco's neck, while thrusting the tip of her wand against Draco's voicebox. Her lips hovered an inch from Draco's ear, and the last thing he heard was Ginny's strangely gentle voice, "if this is a trick I will kill you, and I won't use magic to do it. Now, Apparate with me to where you tried to Apparate before. It will work this time." Then, there was blackness, as the stress of the final Apparation caused him to lose consciousness. His last thought was that he was going to Harry Potter's house, and he would be safe there, for awhile.