Disclaimer: I did not create any of the Harry Potter characters or storyline….

Warning: None as of yet.

A/N: I’m sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been trying to get a Stroll in Your Shoes finished, and then with everything else happening I haven’t been able to get much time to write fanfiction at all. I hope you like this chapter though.

Draco had left the hospital feeling just as heavy and disappointed as he always did when he visited Ginny. He breathed in the smog-filled air and glanced about the street Mungos was located, seeing the muggles completely oblivious to everything as they wandered in a trance to their destinations.

He envied them sometimes; they were so delicately sheltered from the bitter pain of the war, kept like fragile flowers in glass cases to stop them wilting to a dry, ugly end.  They didn’t know of the destruction that happened behind invisible barriers. They didn’t know about the long struggle that had lasted for nearly seven years that had taken its toll on every wizard and witch- good or bad. And they didn’t know about the girl that had lay silent for all of them- that even now remained trapped in a haunting chasm between two worlds. They didn’t know about her, and he envied them for it, because she was the one thing that made him wilt- that made the fragile spirit in him lose its delicate petals and crumple in a brown, dying mess, no more to bloom again….

Love. That was what did this. Love had always been his downfall and yet it was also his redemption. The love he had for her… so indescribable, so elusive. Love was beyond his grasp, and yet he held it tightly in his hands, holding it so close that his fingernails dug into his skin to leave crescent shapes of bloodied desperation. He clung to his love for her as if it were the very thing keeping him alive. In a way it was…. but it was also killing him, slowly but surely…

There is a reason why lovebird has the word ‘love’ in it. If one of the mates die the other will soon follow unable to handle the grief of continuing alone. The heart simply gives up, for there is no possible way the bird can live without its mate. Draco felt this way too…. His heart was giving up, and as much as he longed to live, as much as he longed to let go, he couldn’t. She was everything to him, but she was slipping away and he was slipping with her. Like the lovebird that had lost its mate, Draco was losing the will to continue. He was clinging to love too desperately, and love was breaking him for it. She was breaking him, shattering his glass and wilting his petals, but he couldn’t let go; he still had hope. She wasn’t gone yet after all….

Draco sighed as he noticed he had been standing on the pavement for nearly five minutes now. He glanced down at his watch and realised he was supposed to be at work. Unlike most of his friends Draco worked in a nondescript job at the Ministry. It was a small department that simply looked after the maintenance of all the other departments. As much as people trusted him now- well as much as people could knowing that he was a werewolf- his background was still enough to make zealots not want him in any type of high-ranking job. Draco accepted it without resentment. What did it matter if people were too petty to accept he was not his father? What did it matter he would never truly have the respect he deserved? It didn’t, not when the woman he loved was on the brink of life and death, only remaining with breath because of the magical support being used on her body.

His friends didn’t like how little he cared about the world now. They had all expressed their anger about the Ministry forcing him into such a demeaning job, and were surprised how little it bothered Draco. Of course they all quickly pinpointed why he felt this way and were only more worried about him. They called his love for Ginny unhealthy, and maybe it was but he didn’t care. He would come visit her anyway, always hoping, and always being disappointed- another blow to the already battered heart that yearned to hear her voice, begged to see her smile….

“Enough,” Draco told himself firmly. “Just don’t dwell on it.”

And so he didn’t, simply walking down the street to the disapparation point and leaving the smog-filled street, the muggles he had been watching so intently continuing in their trance-like movements completely oblivious to it all.

Opening his eyes once he reappeared at the Ministry, he glanced about his tiny office, noticing the pile of papers that would keep him up well into the night. In a way he was relieved they would. He didn’t want to go home to his manor where his only company was the painful memories that even now haunted him. Ten years had changed a lot, but ten years had not healed his heart…

Sighing again as he sat down on the rickety chair, the legs squeaking in protest from his weight, he picked up some of the papers and started checking over the illegible scribbles that were supposed to be telling him how much paper had been used in the Auror department, or how much wands had been broken and were in need of replacing from missions. The next file was even more tedious, explaining all about how there were twelve chairs that needed replacing in the Magical Law Enforcement department, as well as new quills needed.

Stifling a yawn, Draco blinked and continued to read, making notes where necessary to hand into his boss, his eyes glancing out of habit at the clock that ticked loudly and repetitively in the corner. In three more hours he would be going to Pansy’s for afternoon tea. At least that was something to cheer him up from the monotonous work he would be doing until then.

Closing his eyes slightly as he rubbed his head, he vaguely wondered if this would ever stop. The answer was always the same:

It would only stop when she was with him again….

Three hours later Draco was walking the beaten path towards Pansy’s house. Knocking twice on the door, he waited patiently, his eyes glancing around the lawn, taking in the clichéd flowerbeds that were perfectly arranged by the windowpanes and the few toys, both muggle and wizard, scattered around the lawn waiting to trip up an unsuspecting adult. The door opened and before Draco even had a chance to turn around he was being pulled into a tight embrace, Pansy’s familiar perfume surrounding him in an almost soothing manner. Smiling as he pulled back, he gazed into his friend’s face, his smile fading slightly as he noticed the strain in her eyes and the fragility of her smile. Something was wrong…

“What’s the matter?”

Pansy’s dark blue eyes glimmered slightly, and for the first time he noticed the red rims. She had been crying.

“Is it Ron again?” Draco demanded. “That bastard. I’ll kill him-”

“No,” Pansy said softly, her voice low and quivering with emotion, but it was enough to make Draco pause in his angry tirade. “Ron’s done nothing… It’s…. Oh Draco, it’s Ginny.” She confessed helplessly, her eyes glimmering again with tears.

Draco’s heart stopped, his whole body freezing with a sudden wave of fear and anxiety. He could feel his face paling, a sort of clammy sweat already forming on his skin, and his breathing had become virtually nonexistent. Not Ginny…. anyone but Ginny….

“Mummy, why is Daddy and Uncle Harry arguing?” a small voice said from below them. Draco looked down, seeing the young boy with dark blue eyes and flaming red hair tugging on Pansy’s skirt, an innocent but upset expression on his face.

Pansy quickly wiped her eyes and knelt down by her son, smoothing his hair back with a false smile on her face. “It’s nothing to worry your little head over, Audrey. Go back upstairs and check on your sister. I’ll be up there soon and we can continue your drawings.”

“Okay,” Audrey said with reluctant obedience and ran off down the hallway.

Pansy stood back up to her full height and stared at Draco with a much more calmer expression. “You should come inside.”

A sickly feeling shot through his stomach, his hands becoming cold and clammy as he followed Pansy into the house, stepping over more toys three-year-old Audrey had thoughtlessly left behind. The house itself was homely enough, nothing too over-bearing and nothing too extravagant, but Draco wasn’t really paying attention to that now as he followed his best friend down the hallway. Raised voices drifted to his ears, and he instantly recognised them as belonging to Harry and Ron.

“Calm down, Ron.”

“Calm down? CALM DOWN? I can’t calm down Harry! My sister is practically being murdered and I can’t do anything about it!”

Draco’s stomach did that nasty sickly feeling again, his breath coming short as he listened to the two men yell. A new voice came in this time, a female one that he recognised as Hermione’s. She sounded slightly hysterical, and by her tone he could tell she would be close to tears, if not crying already.

“You heard them, Ron; Ten years is all they can do! They need those beds for other people, and we all know that Ginny is never going to wake up. She hasn’t even moved once. Her mind is trapped between the veil; she’s as good as dead anyway!”

There was silence. Awful, gut-wrenching silence, and then the door burst open and Ron stormed past, not even looking at Draco as he stomped off up the stairs probably to go throw things around in a frenzied rage. Pansy gave Draco a worried look and muttered something about how she should probably go check on him. Draco simply nodded, feeling rather in a daze as to what was going on since the only words that mattered to him were still echoing around his brain:

“…We all know that Ginny is never going to wake up. She hasn’t even moved once. Her mind is trapped between the veil; she’s as good as dead anyway!”

Hermione saw him through the open door and looked the other way, but not before he saw the helpless resignation on her tear-streaked face. Harry walked over and placed his arms around her, holding her close, his green eyes glancing up to meet Draco’s grey ones.

“I don’t know if you know already but Mungos is cutting off Ginny’s life support. Mr and Mrs Weasley agreed that it was for the best, and since it was their decision there is nothing we can do…. I’m sorry,” he added, as if that would somehow make the news easier to take.

Draco’s hands clenched into fists, fingernails digging in sharply as he trembled slightly. This was not happening. This couldn’t be happening… Ginny…. She was going to be allowed to die. She was about to be lost to him forever. He just couldn’t accept it…

“When?” he croaked out, eyes stinging slightly with unbidden tears.

“3:45pm,” Harry replied softly. “That was when they were cutting her life support.”

“3:45pm?” Draco repeated with horror, instinctively staring at his watch to see it was now coming up to 4pm. “No…. Not yet, not now!”

He started running for the front door, not really thinking about what he was doing. All he knew was that he couldn’t give up on her right now. He couldn’t let Ginny go so easily. He’d pay Mungos all the money they needed. He just couldn’t let her go…

“Where are you going?” Harry asked in surprise, taking a hasty step forward as he saw Draco leaving.

“I’m going to save Ginny.” Draco answered simply, before running out of the door and bursting into the bright sunshine. He pulled out his wand and disapparated on the spot, appearing once more in the apparation point by St Mungos.

Taking a deep breath he ran into the hospital and right past the lady at the desk, heading straight for room thirty-seven.

“Excuse me, Sir, you have to check in first.” The irritable woman called out, but Draco ignored her, simply continuing to run as fast as he could before it was too late. He was like a man caught in a frenzy of madness, his eyes locked ahead of him, his breathing hard and heavy as he ran fast through the pristine corridors, his feet echoing loudly around him.

He turned a corner and crashed into a woman holding a tray of utensils, sending her and the tray flying to the ground. Not even stopping to say sorry, Draco kept running down the corridor, skidding slightly as he came to the stairs he needed to go up.

Rushing up the stairs two steps at a time, he could hear shouting coming from behind him and the woman he had knocked over telling someone where he had gone. Knowing that people were chasing him didn’t faze him though. They could come all they like. He wasn’t going to be stopped yet, not when he was so close.

Turning once more down the corridor, glad that this one at least was deserted, Draco ran breathlessly along the white floors, stopping only when he got to the familiar, ugly door with the peeling number thirty-seven at the top. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he would see and quickly turned the handle, pushing open the door and walking inside.

The room was much similar to what it had been when he had left it earlier that day: the walls that same, horrible white, the windows giving only dim light, but there was a difference this time. The sickly green curtain that had always covered her from view was now pulled right back and he could see the empty bed perfectly made- not a dent or crease to show that anyone had ever slept in it.

“No…” was all he could whisper, his face crumpling into a mask of grief. “No…” he repeated again, collapsing to his knees as he stared at that empty bed- the bed that had been her resting place for ten years. “This can’t be…” 

Burning tears stung his eyes and scolded his face as they slipped one-by-one down his pale cheeks. She was gone…. Dead…

The man who he guessed was security finally caught up to him, his voice becoming an angry buzz as he told Draco he had to leave. Draco didn’t hear a word of it. He just sat there on his knees crying, knowing that the woman he loved was lost to him but not wanting to accept it; he just couldn’t accept it.

His grey eyes glowed dangerously and slowly he turned his face to look at the man, bitterness, resentment and hate lashing out from those steely, grey eyes. “You killed her!” he cried furiously, grabbing the man by his shoulders and shoving him roughly into the wall. “You killed her!” he yelled again, but this time his voice broke, an angry lump constricting his throat as tears forced their way out.

“Release me, Sir, or I shall have to take disciplinary action!”

“Let him go,” a woman’s voice spoke from the doorway. Draco turned, his hands still gripping the man’s shoulders tightly and stared at the woman, noticing her cool blue gaze and hard expression. He recognised her as one of the head healers and slowly released the security guard, taking a step back as he stared at them both, arms folded.

“Come with me Mr Malfoy. I have something to show you.” The woman said with a rather odd smile, her cool blue eyes not warming at all, but something about that smile made him curious.

“But Claire, this man needs to be dealt with. He ran up here without authorisation.”

“I am well aware of what Mr Malfoy did, Robert, but as your superior I am telling you now to drop it. I will deal with Mr Malfoy myself, now leave us.”

Robert the security guard nodded and left the room, giving a wary look at Draco who simply stared coldly back.

“You’re lucky I found you here. They would not have let you back I hope you know.” Claire said with another of her odd smiles.

“What does it matter anyway,” Draco said bitterly. “The reason why I came here is gone now anyway. Ginny’s dead.”

Claire’s smile deepened and she gestured for him to follow her as she headed out the door. “I take it then you are aware that Ginevra Weasley’s life support was to be stopped today.”

Draco silently nodded, following her down those pristine corridors to a section of the hospital he had not been in before. “Where are we-”

“Just be patient,” Claire snapped, making Draco feel like a small, scolded child. He let out a breath and kept walking, wondering what it was that Claire wanted to show him.

“Well we were going to,” Claire continued bluntly, not much feeling in her voice. “That woman has been in here for ten years and not showed a single sign of improvement. There are others who needed that bed more than her, but then this happened.”

Draco stared as she pointed towards a glass window, following the direction and peering through the glass into another white room where a few people were bustling around. Only one caught his full attention, however. She was sitting on what looked like a wheelchair, her long, limp red hair falling around her waist as she ate what looked like soup. Her pale, sunken face stood out clearly amongst the healthy healers attending her, but that wasn’t why he had stopped to stare. It was those eyes…. Those beautiful, chestnut eyes that right now seemed to have lost the lustre that had once attracted him so completely.

“Ginny,” Draco whispered, pressing his hand against the glass to get a better look.

“She woke up about half an hour after you left earlier today,” Claire said quietly, watching him intently. “Would you like to talk to her?”

Draco turned his face, his hand still pressed up against the glass as he looked at Claire. She was watching him with her same odd smile, her eyes finally warming to become softer and caring. He turned back and stared through the window, seeing Ginny smile in thanks to one of the healers as the woman took her soup away. She looked exhausted, but she was alive…. She was awake…

“Yes,” Draco said simply. “Yes I would.”

Claire smiled and nodded, opening the door to the room where Ginny was and letting him inside. Draco walked forward almost as if he were in a trance, his eyes only focusing on Ginny sitting in her chair. She was wearing that same white robe, the type all sick people wear in hospitals, and only now that he saw her sitting up did he realise just how thin she had become over these past ten years.

Slowly Ginny looked up as Draco walked more into the room, their eyes meeting for a moment giving Draco a sharp jolt to his heart. In that moment when their eyes met he felt like he was no longer looking at an emaciated, sick woman; in that moment he had seen a glimpse of the old Ginny- full of life, love and spirit. Her chestnut eyes, so deep and filled with emotion had taken on that familiar warm glow, her cheeks lifting as a slow smile crept onto her lips before it was shining gloriously on her face. It floored him how beautiful she was- how truly alive she was. She was here again- Ginny was here…

Stopping in front of her he just stared down at her smiling face, all the words he had thought of saying for this moment dying on his lips at the mere sight of her. The feeling he had right now was too powerful, and all he could do was collapse to his knees in front of her, tears streaming down his face as he reached out and took her hands in his, giving a kiss on each hand before hiding his face in her lap and weeping.

“Draco,” Ginny said lowly, her voice raspy from not talking for ten years. It was deeper now, more mature, but still the same voice he remembered all those years ago. “I’m here,” she continued, making his tears fall even harder as he felt her run a hand through his hair. “I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

He finally raised his head and met her gaze, seeing his own face reflecting back at him from her own-tear-filled eyes. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered, his voice choked with tears.

“I know,” Ginny said softly, caressing his cheek gently. “I heard it all.”

“You heard? But…. But the healer said you didn’t know what was happening around you.” Draco said in some confusion. Was she wrong? Had Ginny heard their words for all those years?

Ginny smiled slightly, a sad, empty sort of smile. “I’ve been trapped between two worlds for a very long time. Half my soul was beyond the veil while the other was just barely clinging to this world. Most of the time I barely knew what was going on, but I slowly started to come back to this world and that’s when I began to hear your voices. I couldn’t accept that was the end for me, and finally I woke up. I thought I was going to die so many times- sometimes I thought I was dead, but now…. now I’m finally awake. I’m finally alive.”

“Yes,” Draco said softly, a small, relieved smile on his face. “You’re finally back.”

And somewhere deep inside his heart that small fragile spirit had bloomed again.