Match Me~ Drinny

The Sacrifice

Someone knocked on the door, and Ginny felt an overwhelming need to throw something at whoever it was. It wouldn't be hard, as she was smashing a photo album against the coffee table.

"Ginny, if you don't open this door, I will bust it open!"

What did it matter? Harry had done it a week ago. She could fix it. What she couldn't fix was her life. The door burst open as it had when Harry had charged in.

"Ginny? Ginny. Tell me, what's wrong?" Hermione said as she rushed in.

"You already know," Ginny said miserably, "or you wouldn't ask."

Hermione smiled sadly. "True enough." She sat on the couch, patting the seat beside her.

"I saw him today." Ginny took a deep breath and hesitantly plopped herself down beside Hermione, dropping the album tiredly. "Oh God, he looked so good."

Hermione groaned. "Ginny, I know you and Draco broke up," Ginny shut her eyes at this point, but Hermione pressed on. "But I don't know what it was about."

Ginny shook her head. "You wouldn't believe it," she grumbled, anger rising again. "He bloody lied to me all this time."

Hermione pursed her lips. "About what?"

"About his mother. You remember I told you that she was dying, so he had to find a wife? It was really early on, in October or something. Well, she really isn't dying."

"No way." Hermione sucked in a breath of air. "How did you find out? Did he tell you?" Hermione wasn't getting a good feeling about this.

"No. I was taking those papers you wanted in St. Mungos, and I heard someone talking about it –"

Hermione disbelievingly said, "You eavesdropped on someone in St. Mungos?"

Ginny drew back. "Well, no, not exactly."

"And then you went and accused him of it, am I right?" Her voice was flat.

"I asked him –"

"Ginny, you know better to listen to hospital gossip," Hermione said, flatter than before. "Actually, you shouldn't listen to gossip at all. It has a nasty way of traveling and all of a sudden you get the wrong –"

"I went and asked him if it was true!"

"And what did he say?" challenged Hermione.

"He said that yes, his mother wasn't dying, but he only knew since Christmas. Christmas, Hermione! I would think that six months would be enough time to –"

"Ginny, are you listening to yourself?"

Ginny stood up, her hair swinging around so fast she could feel it hit her cheek as she turned. "I beg your pardon?"

God help me, this day that I'm actually defending Draco Lucius Malfoy. Hermione stood up to face her. Though she was at least half a head shorter than Ginny, she seemed to tower over the younger girl, hands on her hips. "It's not my pardon you have to beg. I do believe it's Draco's."

_._._._._._._._._

Draco clenched his teeth as he looked at his mother pruning her garden. It seemed that over half a year of pretending to be dying had made for a lot of pent up energy Narcissa had to release. She had been cleaning the house, dusting the silver, and other such menial tasks often reserved for the house elves.

Without looking up from the camellias she was placing a spell on, she said, "Draco, if you keep your face like that, it'll freeze."

Draco tried to smooth out the lines that were certainly there. "Mother, don't you think you should take some responsibility of what I am currently going through?"