Silence is Deafening

Chapter 39

We will speak more in person, over break.

Remus

"It's from Remus." I said softly, and Ginny's eyebrows shot up on her forehead. She had her letter clutched in her hand softly, but hadn't opened it yet.

"Whab does it say?" She asked, leaning closer to me. I dropped my voice to an almost unintelligible level.

"I think he knows where Luna is. He said they were able to 'locate my friend that I haven't seen in months' but that he would tell me when he saw me in person. I guess so that in case the letter is intercepted..." I trailed off, noticing Ginny's eyes grow wide as they settled on the letter she had received.

"Gin--" I prompted, waiting for her to respond.

Finally, she looked up from the letter with the faintest glimmer of tears in her eyes. She tried to sniffle, but ended up coughing and wincing. She cleared her throat and began to speak.

"I don't think--I'm cumbing back to 'Ogwarts after Easter." Ginny whimpered, her voice filled to the brim with sadness. I blinked quickly and furiously, surprised by her statement. Before I had time to ask, Ginny was folding up the letter quickly and shoving it into her pocket.

"It's in code, but I understan' it. We're being targeted--because of our relationship wiff Harry. We're going to my Aunt Muriel's for--for a while." Ginny whispered, her voice wavering slightly.

"Ginny--y-you're not coming back to school? For how long?" I asked.

"Dunno. Until--until it's all over." Ginny said, shrugging. A silence fell over us like a heavy, thick blanket.

'Until it's all over' rung in my ears like a clanging gong. How would this end? Would it be at all possible to defeat Voldemort at all, or are we all holding out hope just to die? What is the end of all of this?

"Right." I said simply, both of us unable to speak the anxiety between us. We sat in silence, staring at the walls of the library, unable to move for hours. Neither of us were ready to face the possibilities.

------------------------

No one was at the station to pick me up. I looked around quickly, noticing that Ginny was doing the same thing. There was a suspicious lack of Order members at King's Cross, and I had a feeling I knew why.

Death Eaters were crawling the station. Men in black hooded cloaks glided up and down, eyeing students as they hauled their trunks toward their parents. Some of them stared in disgust, while others looked upon the children with an almost gleeful insanity.

"I guess...we just apparate back to our houses?" Ginny asked lowly, trying not to be heard by passing Death Eaters. I just nodded in response, lugging my trunk toward the apparation point. A handful of 7th years were already there, including Draco and Blaise. Draco's eyes caught mine, and I looked away quickly. I was still reeling from the last conversation we had--the one where he had called me easy. A lump quickly formed in my throat, and I swallowed around it hard. Draco merely blinked at me.

"Just ignore him." Ginny breathed, and I nodded again. We stood as far away from Draco as possible, and Ginny squeezed my arm.

"I'll--see you when I see you." Ginny said, softly.

"Yeah. I'll see you soon." I echoed, hoarsely. Ginny smiled tightly at me, and I wished so fiercely that my words were true. In a flash, she vanished, the audible crack of Disapparation echoing through King's Cross.

I felt as if my eyes were being pulled to glance at Draco, one more time. I tried to ignore the desire, but against my will, I looked at him.

His eyes were still boring into mine, but there was a flash of some emotion behind them. It looked vaguely like regret, but I scarce could let myself believe it. I was easy, I was convenient. I was just a distraction from all of the pressures of Draco's life. He looked me in the eyes and told me that, and has never looked back sense.