As the first kick hit her neck, Ginny covered her face for protection, blocking the blond haired girl from view. The kicks kept coming.
"You," She kicked again.
"Better," Kick.
"Stay," kick.
"Away," kick.
"From," kick.
"Draco," kick. Eventually they slowed, and Ginny took the opportunity to get her wand out from her robe pocket.
"Colloshoo!" She yelled, the tall girl she had seen talking to Draco screamed in fury as her feet stuck to the ground. "Mucus and nauseam," She said, more calm now the girl could no longer kick her. She left her there, stuck to the ground with a running nose, and went to the bathroom to examine herself.
Ginny looked in the mirror, surprisingly she wasn't crying. She was in a lot of pain, though. Bruises went all up her neck, and she had many on her hip. She entered the great hall, shaking. Hermione and Luna were sitting together at the empty Gryffindor table. She sat down next to them. Luna stared at her. Ginny made sure her hair covered her neck. She tried to calm down, but couldn't stop shaking. Both Hermione and Luna were silent.
Slowly, Hermione pulled the hair on the left of Ginny's neck, to her right shoulder. She gasped as she saw the bruises. "Oh, Ginny! They don't even look like bruises, they look like they could have been burns, they look almost black! What happened?" Hermione hissed.
Ginny looked up, Draco was standing in the doorway staring at her neck in horror. He walked towards her quickly. Ginny hurried to cover her neck again.
"What happened to you?" He spoke fast, in a low voice.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ginny mumbled.
"I'm talking about the bruises that cover up the whole left side of your neck!" His eyes were wide.
Ginny looked towards the door, the girl who had caused her these injuries walked in, she narrowed her eyes at Ginny.
"I'll tell you later, just go and sit down please." She hissed.
"Promise?" He said, taking her hands in his, "Whatever it is, you have to tell me the truth."
"I will, just trust me and sit down on your table." Ginny dropped her eyes, pulling her hands away. Draco walked back to his table and sat, the blond girl sat down next to him.
"It was her wasn't it, that girl he's sitting next to?" Luna asked her. Ginny nodded.
"But why?" Hermione whispered.
"She told me to stay away from Draco," Ginny said, her voice and face was blank.
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," Ginny replied, her voice breaking. Hermione put her hand on her shoulder.
"You know, I honestly thought things might end up alright with me and Draco. Maybe we'd finally get some peace. But no, that will never happen whilst i'm with him, it's too complicated." She yelled, but only loud enough for them to here. She blinked back the tears that were finally appearing and walked out the Great Hall.
As she walked she checked her watch, she still had half an hour before lessons. She decided to finish her History of magic essay in the library. She took her seat and stared at the essay.
Why muggles did not recognise correct witches and wizards.
Muggles burnt and drowned many innocent men and woman. They suspected these people to be witches and wizards, but they were mistaken. They were muggles, just like them. The reason the muggles could not find real witches and wizards was because they missed the basic signs. One example is children not being seen for months, because they were attenting....
Ginny's mind was blank, she wasn't focusing on the essay. She put her head in her hands.
Ginny avoided Draco for the rest of the day. She didn't want to, but whenever she saw him he was with the girl. She knew if he saw her he would come up to her.
Ginny and Luna were two of the last people in the Great Hall after dinner. Ginny moved and sat on the nearly empty Ravenclaw table.
"How's the neck?" She smiled.
"I don't know, don't really wanna look at it." Ginny said, laughing nervously.
"Want me too?" She asked her, Ginny looked up. Draco wasn't watching.
"Yeah thanks, but quickly." Ginny said. She pulled her hair to her right shoulder whilst Luna looked at it. She kept her eyes on Draco, ready to cover it up if he looked up. She could see he was trying to look without being obvious, she covered up the left side of her neck again.
"Huh." Luna said.
"Well?" Ginny pressed.
"to be honest it's pretty awful, Ginny." She said. Ginny groaned. "I think Madam Pomfrey will have something for it. Come on." She got up, pulling Ginny with her. They walked towards the corridor, and soon heard footsteps behind them. Luna stopped, Ginny looked behind her. It was Draco, but he wasn't with the girl for once. Draco stopped when he reached them.
"Hi, um, do you mind if I speak to Ginny alone?" Draco asked Luna, trying to be polite because Luna was one of Ginny's friend he didn't completely hate.
"Sure," Luna said, ignoring Draco's awkwardness, "I was just taking her to the hospital wing to get something for her bruises. Can you go with her?"
"Will do." He said, Luna skipped off humming to herself. Ginny looked at Draco.
"Sorry I haven't spoken to you all day," She said.
"Why do you have bruises all over you?" Draco asked, getting right to the point.
"Promise you won't flip out." Ginny said, seriously.
"Okay." He replied.
"That Blond girl who's been hanging on to your every word today kind of... tackled me this morning, she pushed me over and kicked me, telling me to stay away from you. Eventually I was able to get my wand out and used the stickfast hex on her. Then the curse of bogies. Then I left."
"I'll kill her." Draco spat. "Ignore her."
"She'll make my life hell." Ginny said.
"Look, Ginny just keep your wand on you all the time. She's awful at magic, the only thing she's got going about her is that she's strong and fast. You could beat her any day at a duel."
"I guess." Ginny looked at him, "why don't you like her?"
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well, she's kind of beautiful." Ginny blushed, feeling awkward. "She's tall and slim, she has Blond hair and bright green eyes. All the boys look at her."
"Ginny, in case you haven't noticed, all the boys look at you to."
"Not really. You, Harry a little." Ginny mumbled.
"That's not true, pretty much all the boys from Gryffindor would just love a chance to go out with you, the Hufflepuffs practically worship you, the Ravenclaws like you because your smart as well as good looking, even the Slytherin boys think you're attractive," Draco frowned.
"You're exaggerating." Ginny argued.
"I'm not."
They had reached the Hospital wing, Draco knocked for Madam Pomfrey.
"Do you have anything for severe bruising?" He asked. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office.
"Let me see. Goodness knows how you injure yourself so often, Mr Malfoy."
"It's Ginny that has the bruises, not me." He said, awkwardly.
"Well miss Weasley seems to be getting herself into a lot of trouble as well recently, where is it?"
Ginny once again pulled her hair to her right shoulder. She saw Draco's hands ball up into fists.
"Oh! Well that's a lot worse than I expected, let me see." Madam Pomfrey walked over to her shelves. Ginny looked at Draco. He unclenched his hands and put two fingers on Ginny's neck. She flinched.
"Does it hurt?" He asked her, gently. Ginny shrugged.
"Ah, here we are!" Draco took his hand away as Madam Pomfrey came bustling over. She handed Ginny a thin tube of some sort of cream.
"Will this be enough?" Ginny asked her, "I have some on my hip as well." Draco's hands were in fists again.
"Yes, it will be fine, they'll disappear once you've rubbed it all over the bruise." Madam Pomfrey said, "Now off to your common rooms, both of you."
Draco walked out the doors, into the corridor, Ginny followed. He stopped outside the door to the girl's bathroom, "will you do it in there? I want to make sure it works." She nodded and went inside. She took off her robes and rubbed some of the cream on her bruising on her hip carefully. Almost instantly, the bruises disappeared. She smiled. As she covered all of the bruises on her hip, the new fresh skin looked like nothing had been there. She pulled back on her robes, and rubbed it all over her neck. After ten minutes, she came out of the bathroom bruise-free.
Draco was sitting on the floor, his knees tucked up and his head leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed. He looked almost child like.
"Draco." Ginny said, quietly. He stood up. His eyes were red. "You...cried?"
Draco blushed, this was only the second time Ginny had ever seen him do this. He shook his head furiously. He tucked Ginny's hair behind her ear, checking her neck. He dropped his hand again.
"It worked on your hip as well?"
"Yes." She took a step closer. "Why?"
"Why what?" He asked her.
"Why did you cry?" She whispered. She looked into his blue-grey eyes.
"Everything is so complicated." He said, "I love you so much, Ginny, but there will always be another problem waiting to find us. Always."
"That doesn't matter to me," she replied, "you're more important."
Draco smiled, kissed her on the lips and said, "sleep."
"Sleep." Ginny squeezed his hand, and made her way to her common room.