Awakening to See...

Awakening to See...

Separated from the ones we love, sent together to heaven above,

Not to stay, not to be, here, yet, for eternity.

Mix of blood, heart to heart, we will never be apart.

*

Ginny Weasley pressed the elevator button once and then stood, tapping her foot, while she waited for the elevator to come. She had been stuck in Britain's government offices for nearly forty hours and was dying to get out of London. When she had graduated from Hogwarts, she had decided to work as a correspondent between the Muggle government and the Ministry of Magic. Now, she desperately wanted to get home.

The elevator door finally opened, and as she was about to step in, someone called out her name. "Miss Weasley!" Andrew Morton called from an office by the elevator. He was standing in the doorway wearing a black suit. Ginny sighed and walked back off the elevator.

"What now?!" Ginny asked, wringing her hands. "I could honestly wring your neck for all of the work you've given me and now you're about to give me more?"

Good thing her boss was a good sport or else she would be in a lot of trouble for saying that. Andrew laughed and walked back into his office. Ginny followed a bit reluctantly. "I'm sorry, Virginia," Andrew said. "I know how busy you have been over the past few months and how much you really need a vacation."

"Well, I'll think about the vacation later," Ginny told him impatiently. "All I really want to do right now is go home and have a cup of coffee and read a good book."

"What if I told you that the Ministry wants you to take some time off?" Andrew asked, sitting on the edge of his desk. "You have done more than your fair share of corresponding, and done an excellent job at it too, I might add. The Ministry and the British government would like to repay you for all your work with a week off. Well, what do you say?"

"What do I say?" Ginny asked, exasperatedly. "You can just catch me from going home and drop a bombshell like that and expect a quick answer."

"But I am, and that's what is important," Andrew said, getting up and sitting in his chair at the desk. "I don't want you coming in tomorrow or for the rest of the week until next Sunday. Like I've said before, you've earned it. You can leave now."

Surprised, Ginny dashed out of the office just as the elevator door was about to close. She pressed the button and the door opened again, revealing a large crowd inside. Hell, I'll take the stairs, she thought and ran to the stairway. She quickly ran down each step until she came to the ground floor which was six floors down from where she had been. She pushed open the door to the lobby and ran through it to the double glass doors that slid open for her as she approached them. It had started to rain and Ginny groaned as she ran to the parking lot where her car was parked. The Ministry had paid her enough on her first year as correspondent and as a reward, Ginny had bought a silver BMW so that she could drive to work instead of flying a broomstick.

As she approached her car, the lights flashed twice. She had programmed her car (magically, of course) to unlock the doors whenever she came near. She got into her car and started the engine. As soon as she buckled in her seat belt, she drove the car out of the parking lot and guided it to a main highway. She soon got off the highway and navigated her car onto a small forest lane that led to her house in the woods.

The trees in the forest were thickly gathered and their leaves were quickly turning yellow. They fell on the ground, getting crushed underneath the BMW's tires. Ginny looked around at all the beautiful trees. Fall was such a beautiful season, especially in the woods.

Suddenly, a figure robed in black darted out of the bushes and onto the lane in front of the BMW. The car hit the figure with a sickening crunch. Ginny immediately stopped the car and worked furiously at the buckle to get out of her seat belt. She opened the car door when she couldn't undo the buckle and stuck her foot out. The door slowly began to close again and Ginny finally undid the belt buckle. Then, she opened the door wider and it came in contact with something. Her heart beat even faster as she heard a low moan coming from the figure.

She let go of the door and rushed down to her knees beside the figure. Cradling the person's head on her lap, she drew back the hood and gasped. A blonde-haired, pale-faced man looked back at her with grey eyes and she immediately recognized who it was at once.

"Draco Malfoy," she said bitterly.

Draco smirked and started to get up. His head and his arm had started to bleed where he had been hit. "'Lo, Weasley," he said. He failed in sitting up and lay back down.

"You know what, Malfoy?" Ginny said, starting to get up. "I think I'll leave you here-" She broke off when she saw that his eyes were closed and he was not responding. Her conscience broke through her hatred for him and she bent down. "Grumble, grumble. Just when I get a vacation, I'm the one who has to hit Draco Malfoy and deal with the consequences." She picked up his limp body, which she found surprisingly light, and put him in the backseat of her car. Then, she drove the rest of the way home.

The house she had bought was a very small house. The outside was a reddish-brown colour and vines of every kind grew all over it. The inside had two rooms, which didn't include the bathroom. The walls were painted with a soft creamy colour all the way through and different rugs lay on the floor. Ginny dragged the still unconscious Draco in and lay him on the sofa. Then, she made coffee for herself and went out onto the patio. It was still gently raining so Ginny went underneath a trellis overgrown with honeysuckle vines. The world around her seemed peaceful to her. Small birds chirped from underneath leaves in the trees, waiting for the rain to stop. Rabbits hopped around in the rain, eating grass. Now, she felt guilty for not paying attention to the road. She wouldn't of hit Draco if she had been looking at the road.

*

The first thing Draco saw was the ceiling when he opened his eyes. It was a creamy brown colour and completely unrecognizable to him. He sat up instantly and regretted moving so fast. Pain seared through his head and he put his hand to where his head had been hit. The memories came back to him.

"Oh, right," Draco mumbled sarcastically. "I was hit by a car."

He slowly got up and looked around. There was nobody in the room. It was awfully small and certainly not what he was used to. There was a door by the dining room table that was partially open. Draco crept over to it and soundlessly opened it further. Beyond was a small bedroom with a large four-poster bed in the center of the room. What was more surprising was that the curtains were pink.

"Pink?" Draco whispered. "Who would want pink in their bedroom? Someone who obviously has bad taste."

He pulled the door closed and looked around once more. There was another door in the far corner of the room. Draco crept over to that and opened it. Bathroom. He looked back at the living room, then went in and closed the door. Looking in the mirror, Draco examined his cut. It had stopped bleeding but dry blood stuck on his skin and hair. He decided to have a shower, thinking that whoever owned this place wouldn't mind. He looked back outside to see if the owner hadn't come back yet. The living room was still empty. Draco grabbed some towels and banged the door closed. He didn't notice the door bounce open partially.

*

Once Ginny heard a door slam, she turned on her heel and walked back inside the cottage. She looked at the couch and found it deserted.

"Malfoy?" Ginny called. No answer. She looked inside her bedroom and found that to be empty too. She went outside and couldn't see any footprints leading away from the house except hers.

"Unless he used a Footprint Covering charm," she whispered, "I doubt that he left the house." Then she remembered the bathroom and, thinking that he must be looking at himself in the mirror, she crept over to the bathroom window and peered in. She frowned as she realized no one was there. There was a piece of cloth sitting on the floor, though. She squinted to see what it was. By now, the steam from the shower (which she still didn't know about since she always kept the shower door shut, and whenever the shower was used, a silencing charm was put on it, for safety reasons) was starting to stick to the window, making it hard for Ginny to see in.

Her mouth set in a straight line, Ginny went into the house to see what was making the steam in the bathroom. As she pulled the door open, the shower door suddenly opened as well and let out a tall, blonde-haired person. Naked. And wet. She stood, frozen in horror, as the man, who didn't notice her, picked up one of the towels and started to dry himself off. He tensed suddenly and turned around in one movement.

"Ack!" Ginny exclaimed, shading her eyes. "Malfoy!"

"What the-" Draco exclaimed at the same time, trying to put on a towel and almost failing. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I live here!" Ginny answered, turning around so that Draco could change. "And, by the way Malfoy, it is a custom to lock the door to the bathroom when you are going to take a shower!"

"Well, I'm sorry," Draco retorted. "But I would have locked the door had I known that someone was home."

"You can tell by the car in the driveway!" Ginny exclaimed, incredulously.

"What car?" Draco shouted.

"The one that I hit you with!" Ginny answered. There was a pause as she realized what she had just said. "I'm sorry, that was insensitive."

"Tell me about it," Draco muttered.

Ginny whipped around, even though Draco only had a pair of jeans on at the moment. "You know what, Malfoy? I'm not sorry anymore. I take it back."

"Fine," Draco said, slipping on his sweater, robes and cloak. "I won't trouble you any more and leave you. It seems that I'm just a bother, so I'll go."

He stalked past Ginny into the living room and headed for the door. Ginny's mind suddenly filled with thoughts and an ominent foreboding struck her. Her intuition was telling her that he should stay.

"Malfoy, wait...a minute," she said as he opened the door. "You don't have to leave."

"Well, recent events have proven that I should," Draco said. "Besides, I don't want to embarrass myself more than I already have."

"But, you're injured," Ginny protested.

"No," Draco said firmly, one foot out the door.

Ginny looked down and shifted from one foot to another. "I am on holiday, so you would not be a bother if I have the...pleasure of your company. Besides, I doubt that you would know the way back to your home, other than the lane, and you weren't using the lane." She looked up then. Draco was looking out the door. Rain was dripping down from the roof and all was silent except for birds chirping. Then, he shut the door and came back inside.

"Fine then," he said and sat down on the couch. Ginny sighed and went into the kitchen to get some herbs for the injury on Draco's head and the one on his arm.

"Now, I'm gonna wash the cut out," Ginny told him. "It might sting a little, but don't blame me." She took a basin and filled it with hot water. Then, she crushed the herbs and sprinkled them into the basin. The pieces slowly disintegrated into the water, turning it a light pruple and releasing herbal fumes into the air. Then, she brought the basin and a wash cloth to where Draco was sitting and set it on the coffee table in front of him. She sat on the table and dipped the cloth into the basin, brought it out, squeezed it, and brought it to Draco's forehead, saying, "Hold still." When the cloth touched the cut, Draco jerked away but Ginny grabbed his chin and held his head steady. He hissed and cursed under his breath several times before Ginny finally took the cloth away. The cut had lessened in size.

"Don't you have training as a MediWizard?" Draco asked, rubbing his head around the cut. She grabbed his arm and dipped the cloth onto the cut on his arm. He hissed again.

"Yes, but Medispells used outside the hospital can only heal small and less deep wounds. Yours is a bit too large for that stuff, so I need an ancient remedy that was used before Medispells were created. It heals faster."

"Ah," Draco breathed, wincing again. "Do you have anything that doesn't sting so much?"

"Oh, well, I thought Malfoys were supposed to be immune to pain," Ginny said quietly. She put the cloth back into the basin and brought the basin into the kitchen.

"Not all Malfoys are immune to pain," Draco muttered under his breath. Ginny heard this though and looked at him curiously. His face had clouded over. In a louder voice, he said, "Well, you hit me with a car and wash cuts that's right on top of my head. What other emotions am I supposed to feel?"

Ginny sighed. This was going to be one vacation she'l never forget. Then suddenly-

\"When will we pull the 'head'?" someone said. Ginny couldn't see who was talking. The vision hit her like a heavy stone and she fell to the floor. She had begun to be used to this sort of thing, but it still shocked her when she got a vision.

"When your son comes back with the potion," said a shadow by a large window. The shadow turned around to face the person who spoke before him. He was very tall with a smooth, pale face and a flat nose that resembled the slits snakes' had for noses. "Then, we can start. But only then."

The vision fogged and swirled in front of Ginny's eyes. Her head was pounding and she was partially blind to her surroundings. Then, the vision unfogged and Ginny realized that she was in a different room.

A boy lay against the wall, not much older than twelve. He had the most familiar untidy black hair, green eyes, and glasses. His arm was bleeding profusely above his elbow and a poisonous fang lay nearby. Ginny immediately knew who he was. He was Harry Potter at the age of twelve, in the Chamber of Secrets, dying. The vision widened and she could see Tom Riddle standing above him, watching the boy die. The dead basilisk was somewhere off to the side.

Suddenly, a hole opened up behind Tom. The man who had been by the window stepped through the hole and took the form of Tom. The two Toms meshed together and a voice came over the scene, whispering, "To destroy the future, use the past."//

Ginny gasped for air as the vision left her. Her breathing had stopped within the last few seconds of the vision and she felt like she was choking. Suddenly, Draco was beside her, holding a glass to her mouth. She shakily held onto the glass with Draco and drank some water. She titled her head to slow her breathing. She could see Draco slipping away and her surroundings began to come back to her. She was sitting on the floor of the kitchen against a cabinent. Draco was standing by the counter, nervous.

"You're a Seer," Draco stated. At that point, Ginny knew he was going to make a break for it. Using the counter as support, she got up. Her breathing was returning back to normal.

"Don't go," Ginny said.

For a moment, Draco was motionless. Ginny's adrenaline pounded as she waited for Draco to move. Seconds passed as the pair stared at each other, then-

Draco made a mad dash for the door. Ginny grabbed her wand, which was on the counter, and ran after him. They ran out the door and down the lane. Draco was fast, but Ginny could be faster. She put on a burst of speed which carried her closer to him. Now, she was within arm's reach. She grabbed his hood and held on, even as he himself put on a burst of speed. She pulled his hood and he abruptly stopped. She smashed into him and they both fell over.

"Get off!" Draco said, his yell muffled since his head was buried in the grass.

"Not before you promise me you won't go to your father," Ginny told him. She was sprawled on top of him and her leg seemed to be stuck somewhere. Well, at least she could use this to her advantage, not in that way though.

"What are you going to do?" Draco asked, trying to move his head so that his face wasn't buried in the ground. "Hit me with your car again?"

"Maybe I will," Ginny said, stubbornly. She was beginning to lose her patience. "And this time, I'll make those injuries stick."

Draco cursed and then muttered, "Is that your leg that is underneath mine?"

Ginny leaned on her elbows and looked down. So, that's where her leg went. "I guess so. What are you going to do about it?"

"Move, of course," Draco answered. Then, he pushed up off the ground with all the strength he could muster. Ginny had the odd sensation of flying, for some reason. "Now, move your leg-" Ginny did as she was told. As soon as she had moved her leg, he fell to the ground, "-and get off me."

"Not until-" Ginny began.

"-I promise," Draco interrupted, crossly. "Now, get off me!"

Ginny sighed and got off of Draco. Her leg, that was underneath Draco's, had fallen asleep and her other leg was aching from the new use of its muscles. She staggered backwards and fell down on the ground. Her wand tumbled out of her hand and out of reach. Draco saw this and drew out his own wand, pointing it at her.

"What are you doing?" Ginny asked, suspiciously.

A malicious gleam entered Draco's eyes before it was replaced by something Ginny couldn't recognize in his eyes: it was almost kindness with tiredness on the edge. He muttered something under his breath and a jet of yellowish light escaped from his wand and hit Ginny's sleeping leg. Instantly, Ginny felt as if strings were being pulled inside her body and she felt her leg awaken. He stretched a hand to her and she took it. He pulled her up and they walked back to the cottage in silence.

To Be Continued...