Fragments

Epilogue

Reality Blues

And in the waking world, Ginny Weasley's eyes flew open...

Ginny stared up at the ceiling. The light was dim yet it seemed more real than anything had for the past day. 'So it was all a dream,' she thought with a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. 'All of it. No teachers signing. No mullets. No kiss from Malfoy.' She shook her head. 'Why would a Malfoy want to kiss me anyway?'

She continued to stare up at the ceiling and noted that the tiles seemed a little dirty. Yet they were none the less real. Ginny blinked. She peered up at the ceiling as though seeing it for the first time. Something was wrong with it. Her four-poster had a canopy, she couldn't see the ceiling.

Snapping her head away she quickly looked around the room. Indeed, she was not in her dorm room at all, she was in the infirmary. And to the right of her, not two feet from her, lay Draco Malfoy wearing an expression that mirrored her own.

There was a bandage around his head, causing tufts of blonde hair to stick out. Ginny had one herself but didn't pay attention to it. Malfoy's lip was cut and his left eye was black. It seemed that all the wounds he had received in his battle with Riddle actually happened. Her eyes widened.

"It was real?" she tried to ask him, but no sound came forth. He stared at her for a moment then shrugged. He began to pull himself into a sitting position when Madame Pomfrey entered the room.

"You're awake!" she said cheerfully, surprise and relief evident in her voice. She quickly walked over to them and stuck a thermometer in each of their mouths. Where the thermometer had come from, Ginny had no idea. She suspected they were from one of the woman's many pockets. "You two have had us all very worried." Ginny tried to respond. "Dear, you will have lost your voice. The medication I gave you took care of that. It should wear off in a few days." She took the thermometers from their mouths. "But it seems that your fevers have gone down, so I will go make the potion to bring your voices back." With that the matron bustled out of the room and down the hall.

Ginny sat up and turned to Malfoy. He was sitting up as well now, staring at her. She smiled at him. A gesture he did not return. She felt a pang in her chest and the smile faded.

"Ginny!" someone cried as the door to the infirmary flew open. She snapped her head in that direction and saw her brother, Ron, hurrying towards her, a look of sheer relief on his face. Hermione was right behind him, a similar look on her face. Harry was behind her. To Ginny's slight disappointment, he did not have a greasy mullet.

Ron snatched her up into a tight hug and did not let go. She hugged him back just as hard, feeling tears welling up in her eyes.

"We were so worried, Gin," he said, finally letting go of her. "Madame Pomfrey said you might not wake up." He turned and looked darkly at Malfoy, who was watching the scene with mild interest. "And it was all that git's fault."

"What?!" Ginny tried to gasp, forgetting she didn't have a voice.

"What's wrong?" Ron demanded, snapping his head back to her when he realized that no sound was coming from her mouth. "Why can't you talk?" He turned to Hermione then Harry with panic on his face.

"Ron you blockhead," Hermione hissed. "They gave her a Magnitudotus potion. She doesn't have a voice. Don't you remember Madame Pomfrey saying that? Even I told you that! Don't you ever listen?!"

Ginny let out a silent giggle. Which was more like a shoulder shake since she technically couldn't giggle. It seemed that nothing had changed. Ron and Hermione still bitched like there was no tomorrow.

"Shut up," he snapped at Ginny, making her giggle harder. Ron looked at her angrily then seemed to remember that there was another person in the room. He turned away from Ginny and looked directly at Malfoy who was smirking. "I bet you think this whole thing's funny, don't you?" he demanded, taking a menacing step towards the blonde. "She could have died for all you care!"

"Ron," Harry and Hermione both warned. Harry latched onto the back of Ron's shirt. It seemed as though Ron had expressed his feeling about the incident ahead of time. What ever he planned to do, his friends obviously didn't approve. Well at least, not at the moment.

'Bloody hell,' Ginny thought impatiently, her brother's temper getting on her nerves once again as it had a nasty little habit of doing. She shot out a hand and tightly gripped her brother's arm. He turned and looked at her and she angrily shook her head. The last thing she needed was for the Dream Team to kill her savior, even if he was acting like an ass at the moment.

"What are you going on about Ginny?" Ron demanded. "The coward shoved you down the stairs and then fell down himself! Snape found you two at the bottom of the stairs after Peeves was going mad."

Ginny glanced at Malfoy to see his reaction to the accusation. He didn't even seem phased. She turned back to her brother in frustration. She tried to speak again, but as before, nothing came out. She closed her eyes in frustration. She had to tell them what had happened.

Madame Pomfrey walked back into the room, two goblets in her hands. She stopped when she saw Ron, Harry and Hermione.

"What are you three doing here?" she demanded, her once cheerful face turning angry.

Harry looked guilty and it was then that Ginny noticed the invisibility cloak behind his back. They must have been prowling about the halls for some reason when they heard Madame Pomfrey and came running. She looked over past Malfoy to the window behind him to see it was night outside.

The matron stared at the three of them angrily then turned her attention back to her two charges. "You three had better leave before Professor Dumbledore arrives. You know how strict he has been about these two." Ginny felt her stomach drop. What did she mean by that? She looked over to Malfoy but he was glaring at Harry, who, in turn, was glaring back.

The door to the hospital wing opened once more to give way to Albus Dumbledore. He didn't seem surprised in the slightest to see the other three students there. In fact, he seemed quite pleased.

"Mr. Weasley," the old man said cheerfully. "I'm glad you're here." Ron looked in surprise at the headmaster. "You're parents will be arriving shortly. Can you and your friends please meet them in the Great Hall and wait for me to return."

"Alright," Ron said, confusion clouding his face. Ginny waved goodbye since she couldn't say as much.

"Here you go dears," Madame Pomfrey said shortly, after the trio had left. She handed both Ginny and Malfoy a goblet each. "Drink up."

Glancing at Malfoy then warily at the contents, Ginny downed the fluid. It was as foul tasting as she expected it to be, yet as soon as the liquid touched her throat it began to tingle.

"Thank you Poppy," Dumbledore said to the nurse.

"I'll leave you three now," she said and made to leave. "If you need me I'll be in my office."

Dumbledore pulled a chair up and placed it between both Malfoy's and Ginny's beds. He sat down and smiled at them.

"I am guessing that you both have gone through an awful lot," he said kindly, looking them both in the eye in turn. Ginny nodded her head. Malfoy looked on impassively. "But the best thing you can do right now is to tell me exactly what happened. I know you probably don't want to, but I need to know. You will feel much better afterwards, I can assure you."

Ginny glanced once again at Malfoy, who looked at her impassively, then began. She started with the rain and Hagrid's hut and then Peeves, trying to leave nothing out. Malfoy would add things every now and then with a large amount of arrogance. Dumbledore smiled at her description of his race with Voldemort and she mentally sighed at this. In the end she left out her and Malfoy's kiss, for it was rather embarrassing.

"And then I woke up," she concluded, avoiding Malfoy's gaze and looked earnestly at the headmaster.

"So it was as I feared," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Riddle was hiding in your mind. I had a feeling something like this would happen but did not want to tip him off by doing anything. I'm just surprised that he waited so long."

"He said it took him a while to figure out how to get me," Ginny offered.

"Yes, you said that," Dumbledore replied, seemingly lost in thought.

"Sir," Ginny began after a few minutes of silence. "There's one thing that I still don't understand." Dumbledore looked at her expectantly. "If Riddle didn't pull Malfoy into my head, who did?"

"You," he responded simply.

"What?" Ginny and Malfoy gasped at the same time.

"Why and how?" Ginny managed, mind reeling. 'I never knew I had the power to do that.'

"Sometimes, Miss. Weasley," Dumbledore began evenly. "When the mind is in great distress it reaches out for an anchor. In your case it was Mr. Malfoy here. Since you are magical, and so is he, when you were pulled into your mind you drug him in with you. And since you were both unconscious at the time of the transfer, it took you a while to realize it."

"Oh," was all Ginny could say. So it had been here fault. Malfoy had been drug into it.

"You are actually quite fortunate that he was there," he added, seeing the look on her face. "I think it benefited you both in your own ways." His eyes twinkled mysteriously and Ginny frowned slightly at what he meant by it. "Now I think your parents want to see you both," the headmaster said kindly, rising to his feet.

Ginny glanced once again at Malfoy but he didn't seem to have reacted to the prospect of seeing his father. He simply asked a question.

"Professor," he said and the old man turned to look at him. "Exactly how long were we unconscious for?"

"Bear in mind," Dumbledore began. "That time passes much differently in your mind than it does in the waking world." Ginny now held her breath. There was no way they could have been in her mind for more than a day. Perhaps two. "You were both unconscious for nearly three weeks."

Ginny blinked.

"Three weeks," Malfoy said quietly to himself, his eyes going slightly wider than usual. "Thank you," he muttered.

Ginny watched Malfoy for a moment, who seemed to be off somewhere in La La land. When she looked over to Dumbledore she discovered he had left. A few minutes later he returned with the Malfoy and Weasley clans in tow.

Her parents were so relieved that she was alright that they had much the same reaction that Ron had had. And she welcomed it with open arms. She never got to see how Malfoy's parents reacted for they had drawn the screen, blocking the families' views from each other.

She had hoped it was going well for him until she heard something that made her heart break. Well more like shatter into hundreds, perhaps thousands, of little pieces. She was surprised she even heard it over the chatter her parents, Ron and co made. But hear it she did. Malfoy's voice, cold and hard saying: "Father, I hate the Weasley girl. I did what I had to do to get out of there."

And that had been that. She had fought back her tears and listened to Ron go on and on about how terrible it must have been to have a Malfoy inside her head. As of late she didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise.

A while later she pleaded a headache and her family left her to rest, assuring her that they would be back in the morning. She promptly smothered her head with a pillow to save herself from the embarrassment of the Malfoy family hearing her cry.

~*~

Much later that night Ginny was having problems sleeping. She had cried herself to sleep, woke up and tossed about for a few hours trying to get back to sleep. But it seemed she was wide awake.

'Great,' she thought sarcastically. 'I am now an insomniac. What's next? An evil little voice telling me that I am destined for greatness and that I should take over the world?'

She stopped and listened, but the voice never came. Sighing in disgust with herself, Ginny kicked away her sheets and got up. Compelled by an unknown reason, she walked around the hangings, past Malfoy's bed without looking at him, to the window.

It was dark outside, yet she could see the wind pulling at the trees. Teasing them like a cat plays with a mouse. Which was how she felt. She felt played. Used. Battered around then tossed aside.

'Stupid Riddle,' she thought angrily, then seeing the reflection of the bed in the window behind her, felt her anger grow. 'Stupid Malfoy.'

"Ginny," someone said to her left. She snapped her head around to see Malfoy standing there, dark rings under his eyes. She momentarily wondered if she looked the same way. She pushed such thoughts away.

"Oh," she said darkly. "So we're on a first name basis again?"

"Excuse me?" he asked, looking slightly abashed.

"Don't play stupid Malfoy," she hissed. "I heard what you said to your father. How you did what you had to do to get out."

Understanding flashed across his handsome face. Then anger. The anger stayed.

"Well what would you have preferred me to have said?" he demanded, he pitched his voice. "Daddy, it was all your fault that Riddle was in that Weasley's mind and your fault for making me as I am so I teased her. I got trapped in her mind and had a dandy time, grew to like the girl, saved her life and snogged her senseless." He narrowed his eyes and returned his voice to normal. "Damn it Weasley, if I had said that one of us would most likely be dead right now. And I highly doubt that it would be me."

Ginny remained silent.

"My father is not someone you want to mess around with," Malfoy continued. "If he found out about us, whatever we are, things wouldn't have gone over too well. It's best if we keep whatever we do a secret. At least for now. Do you understand? I only said what I said to protect you."

Ginny stared at him for a while longer. She could see his honesty and earnestly about what he had said in his eyes. It was all there.

She nodded and smiled slightly. He began a small grin of his own.

"So what are we exactly?" she finally asked.

"I don't know," he replied truthfully. "All I know is that I want whatever it is to be beyond enemies and above a simple acquaintance."

"Alright, Malfoy," she said with a smile. "I agree with you. But I want to get to know you better first. Any chance that I can get inside that blonde head of yours?" She took a step closer.

"We'll see about that," he said smoothly, sending her one of his fabulous smiles. "How about for starters you call me Draco. Malfoy sounds so cold."

"Alright, Draco," she said softly, bridging the distance between them and capturing his lips with hers.

The End

~*~