A/N: I love swing music....too bad I can't dance worth a darn.
Again, sorry for the wait! I don't quite know how I feel about this chapter. I'm not sure if I got everyone IC this time, but read it and tell me what you think.
Chapter 13 “ Won't You Come and Get Me?
“Was I a fool to think?
The way you looked at me
I swear you did
But you looked away too quick.”
- “Fool to Think” by Dave Matthews Band
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“May I cut in?”
Ginny’s eyes widened at the site, but Luke simply smiled, stepping back and bowing shortly to Ginny before making his way off the dance floor, and before she knew it, Harry Potter had stepped into his place and was now slowly swaying with her to the music.
“You are a bold one, Mr. Potter,” she said wirily, smirking up at him and quite enjoying the feeling of being in his arms again.
“Well, I can’t help it if I’m the only one who was picking up your distress call.”
She glanced over his shoulder to see that Luke had found another poor soul to drone to and breathed easier at the sight.
“He was nice enough,” she argued.
Harry just chuckled. “For a turnip, maybe, but not for a girl like you.”
Her eyes narrowed a bit, looking up at him suspiciously. “A girl like me?”
Harry nodded, confidently. “You don’t like slow songs.”
She frowned. How did he know that?
He must have known her inner turmoil, but he just fixed her with a winning smile.
“And just how do you expect to save me from this fate?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
But her question was answered as soon as she spoke it. The slow, melodic tune transferred quite cleverly into a high paced swing number, one of her favorites.
She started laughing from the absurdity of it all, stepping back from him to glance around at the other couples.
He must have planned it well, though, cause everyone seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves almost instantly, trying different moves and laughing at their mistakes.
“Come on, Ginny, let’s show them how it’s done.”
Harry was holding out a hand to her, as if daring her to accept, which, of course, she did.
It was one of the first times she and Harry were able to show off their skills that they had so meticulously been working on for the past few months. Though they didn’t have all the coordination down just right, they seemed to be working better than any other couple on the floor and several were stopping just to watch them.
Grateful that Hermione had chosen short skirts for her bridesmaids, Ginny only had to worry about her shoes giving her a problem, but after a few steps even they got in the grove of things.
Several times she would miss a beat or he wouldn’t quite flip her right, but they recovered quickly and easily, both of them laughing off their mistakes. His green eyes danced with happiness every time he twirled her and she found herself laughing out loud and smiling so wide that it hurt.
As the song wound down they both noticed the crowd that had gathered around to watch them. Among the people, Ron and Hermione were easy to spot, still in their wedding clothes and grinning like fools at the pair of them.
The song ended and Harry dipped her dramatically, both of them posing for a few seconds as the last note rang out. A round of applause began instantly and as Harry pulled her back to her feet she felt her cheeks flame up at the site. Harry keot hold of her hand and she saw him chuckling at their reaction as well.
Feeling impulsive, Ginny tightened her grip on Harry’s hand, making him turn towards her. Without warning, she jumped into his arms, trusting his instincts and sure enough landing safely, one of his arms under her knees and shoulders and both her hoped around his neck.
Their laughter started again at the cliché mood and both of them heard several cameras flash throughout the crowd.
But Ginny didn’t dare look away to pose for anything else.
Her stare bore into Harry’s eyes, daring him to let her go…pleading for him not to.
----
“You look like you’re enjoying this all too much, Potter.”
Draco glared at him from inside his invisible cell. The underground holding cells at the ministry were mobile in size and position by merely being erected magical shields placed around a prisoner. This had started off as a way to save the funds for something more practical (since the cells didn’t get used much anyway) but had turned into a rather keen was the speed up the discovery of several defensive techniques that were now regularly taught in Auror training.
Harry knew that Draco could rattle off the spells without even thinking, but he had, unfortunately, been stripped of his wand upon his arrest.
“Don’t waste your breath,” Kingsley’s deep voice spoke from behind Harry, obviously noticing Harry’s distressed look at Draco’s tone with him. “Once they pass the fifth hour of the induced stress, they start snapping at everything that moves. It also affects their memory slightly, causing them to forget people and events.”
“Well that does explain something,” Harry mused, watching as Draco held the Malfoy sneer on his face, glaring distastefully around the room but now having the sense not to try touching the shimmering, invisible wards that surrounded him. His robes was starting to look beat up and his body, as hard as he tried to fight it, was starting to crumble under the intense physical stress the ministry had been putting him through.
All in all, he looked very much like his old self…the Draco Malfoy that had been Harry’s rival all those years ago.
“Is Remus done yet?” Harry finally turned away, not wanting to see his friend in such a state anymore.
Kingsley walked with him as they left the cells, heading back towards the interrogation rooms. “A few more minutes,” Kingsley spoke, checking his watch. “Bloody waste of time if you ask me. You’re testimony had enough in it to let that kid out of here now without even asking him under veritaserum.”
Harry smirked. “That’s a nice way of saying that Draco Malfoy and I have a very interesting history together.”
“You said it, not me,” Kingsley said defensively. “Besides, if I had been the one to question you I would have asked you more about the battle.” He must have seen Harry stiffen slightly. “I knew it, you left something out, didn’t you?”
“Harry!”
He had never been so relieved to hear his name shouted out. Both he and Kingsley turned to see Remus walking fast down the hall towards them, a note in his hands.
“You finished?” Harry asked.
“Barely.” Remus shoved the note into Harry’s hands. “A bloody owl has been terrorizing the Auror’s upstairs trying to find you.”
But Remus’ words went unheeded as Harry read the hastily scribbled note.
Harry-
At St. Mungo’s with Hermione. Please come quick.
-Ginny
It was rather ambiguous, but urgent enough to grab his attention quickly.
He crushed the note in his hand, looking back up at Remus and Kingsley. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
----
Ron had never much cared for hospitals. The excessive whiteness and smell of cleaning charms couldn’t possibly do anything to help a sick person feel better. Then again, he had never been sick in a hospital before, so he wasn’t one to judge.
He was, however, fiercely judging the woman at the desk in front of him who seemed to be getting too much pleasure out of watching Ron wait.
“Look, do you need me to spell it for you?” he asked harshly, snapping at her and pounding a fist on the table.
The receptionist’s manicured fingernails stopped their scrolling through the list of names and she raised an eyebrow at him.
“Do try yelling again, Mr. Weasley. I’m quite sure I didn’t hear you the first nine times.”
Her voice was high and snooty, giving off an aura of haughtiness that reminded Ron too much of the Malfoy’s.
He pinched his nose with his fingers, trying to stop his headache from coming back. “Look, you don’t seem to understand that my wife could possibly be IN LABOR right now!” His voice rose from a calm and steady tone to a flat out yell, startling a few people in the waiting area.
“She’s not.”
Ron whirled around to see Ginny walking towards him in a hurried pace.
“What? How did you get here before me?”
Ginny shot him a withered look. “Trixie knew to call Riley first. How did you expect that poor house elf to get Hermione to the hospital all by herself?” Ginny had grabbed his arm and was now dragging him towards the elevators. Ignoring her rant, Ron glanced back at the receptionist and made a rude hand gesture, causing the woman to scowl and flip her head away.
As he was pulled onto the elevator, Ron finally tuned back into Ginny’s voice.
“-and I just sent an owl to Harry as well.”
“Harry?” Ron hissed, trying to ignore the stares of the other people in the elevator as he was highly recognizable still dressed in his quidditch gear.
“Grow up, Ron,” Ginny snapped, turning to glare at him. “You’re lucky I’m letting you come and see her, with the kind of prat you’ve been this past week.”
The elevator finally stopped and Ginny pulled him out. As he followed her lead, he noticed that they were in the maternity ward.
“Ginny, I thought you said she wasn’t going into labor.”
“She’s not,” Ginny said shortly.
Ron wanted to argue the point, but he suddenly found himself in front of a numbered door that Ginny stopped at and then turned to face him, her expression hard and serious.
“You listen, Ronald Weasley and you listen good. I am giving you three minutes to go in there and talk with her. You so much as make her think about crying and you’ll find a wand up your arse and your head stuck in the nearest loo, you get my drift?”
Ron looked pained. “Only three minutes?”
Ginny shrugged. “If you can last that long. She doesn’t stay awake very long before passing out again.”
“Passing out? What? Ginny what in the blazes are you talking about? What’s wrong with her?”
Ginny sighed, biting her bottom lip and contemplating him for a moment. Her expression remained serious, but her face softened a bit. “Trixie brought her here because she passed out on your bedroom floor. Riley got her here in time for them to figure out that Hermione is going through the first few signs of loosing her baby.”
Ron’s breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t breath.
Ginny continued.
“They gave her a potion that could possibly restore whatever damage has come to the fetus, but they won’t know it’s effects for another half hour, and until then, the potion is making her very drugged and quite confused.” Ginny’s face softened a bit. “The only thing she’s said so far is your name. Which,” she shot a glare at him, “is the only reason I’m letting you in to see her now. Understood?”
Ron couldn’t seem to get his head around the jumble of thoughts Ginny’s speech had brought into his head. He felt his bottom lip tremble slightly with fear. The only words he could get out were, “The baby?”
Ginny’s face softened again. “They’re doing everything they can for her, Ron.”
She stepped aside and opened the door slightly for Ron to go in. He stared at it for a moment before hesitantly reaching forward to push it open. But Ginny reached out suddenly, stopping him.
“Ron.” He turned to look at her, his expression full of confusion, doubt and sorrow. Ginny’s face was desperate and pleading now. “You can’t let her know, Ron. The healers say this was a magical injury, triggered by high stress in her life.” He knew it wasn’t meant to sound accusatory, but it did all the same. “If she gets more scared it could do even more damage to the baby.” Ginny’s tone was low and serious, but her eyes watered with a few unshed tears.
Ron felt his own tears building at the back of his eyes, but he made himself blink them away and nodded towards his little sister. “I understand. Thanks Gin.”
Ginny reached up, through tear filled eyes and hugged him quickly, giving him a kiss on the cheek before turning around and walking away.
Ron turned back to the door, his hands now shaking as he slowly pushed it open.
----
Ginny didn’t let the tears run out of her eyes until Ron was safely in the room and had shut the door behind him. But after that, she couldn’t hold them back any more and her quiet sobs led her to the small bench across the hallway. Her hands came up to her face and she leaned forward, wanting to block off the world for just a few moments.
It wasn’t often that Ginevra was forced to lie to her brother, and though she knew that this lie was only meant to be good, it still hurt her.
Riley’s sorrowful voice came into her head.
“Her raw magic is a lot more powerful, especially for a muggle-born. With all the stress she’s accumulated and the number of days she’s been fighting off its effects, it’s going to be as hard to save Hermione as it is to save the baby…”
Growing up with only six older brothers, Ginny had clung to Hermione instantly the moment that she and Ron had begun to be serious in their relationship. She was literally the closest thing Ginny had to a sister and one of the few females in the world that Ginny Weasley could open up to.
And she was currently lying on a hospital bed, her raw magic tearing her body apart.
And there was nothing Ginny could do about it.
“Ginny!”
She jerked her head up, startled by the vocal intrusion of her solitude, but automatically relaxed as she saw Harry jogging towards her from the elevators, concern written all over his face.
Meeting him halfway, and not caring in the least bit about appearances, she launched herself into his arms, grateful to feel him reflexively holding her back.
Her tears continued to fall as she quickly took in his scent, his touch, his heartbeat and his staggered breath, breezing across a few hairs on the top of her head.
“Are you alright?” he asked softly, not pulling out of their embrace. Neither seemed to care that they were in the middle of a hallway.
Neither seemed to care that they were supposed to be mad at each other right now.
She shook her head in his chest, taking a deep breath and finally pulling away. When she looked up at his face, she fought hard not to just kiss him right then and there.
“Hermione…” she whimpered out, the strength and walls she had built when she had confronted Ron, crumbling around her, “They said she might not make it…”
His arms stiffened, still resting on her waist and she saw the agony creep into his expression.
“The baby?” he asked, unknowingly echoing Ron’s earlier words.
She shook her head, reaching up to wipe some tears away so she could see properly. “They’re pretty sure the baby will be just fine.”
His face was still horrified. “But…Hermione…what are they…they told you they can’t do anything to save her?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know!” Ginny cried, burying her face into her hands and leaning into his chest again, his arms tightening around her.
“Where’s Ron?” he said, after a few moments of silence, his voice cracking slightly.
“He’s in the room with her,” Ginny said between sobs, not wanting to pull out of his arms any time soon. She felt safe in them. More safe than she had felt for many, many years.
She knew her shoulders were bobbing. She knew she was making a gigantic wet spot on the front of his shirt. She knew his arms were holding her a little tighter than they needed to be.
But she didn’t know that if she had looked up at his face just then, she would have seen Harry Potter with silent tears running down his face, his calm and controlled facade no longer holding up.
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