Sideways

The final battle had ended.

The dust was settling, and the survivors sat scattered in the great hall recovering. There was a clear mix of joy and pain…wounds to heal and dead to bury. Ginny sat close to her mother, head on her shoulder and eyes closed. She was so tired, and her entire body hurt all over, but she didn’t want to sleep. She just wanted to hold onto her mum. Her dirty face was smeared with tear stains and her mind was reeling.

It felt like so much longer than a day, it felt like years of fighting and death all around them. It felt like it had never stopped. But now it was over. Finally over. Voldemort was gone – this time for good. Harry was the hero again and while the school was damaged it was not beyond repair.

When Ginny finally opened her eyes she looked around the room. While she saw dead bodies and wounded friends, she also saw smiles and relief on people’s faces. She looked at her own family and noticed the lack of Hermione, Ron, and Harry…but that was nothing new anymore, they’d been apart for so long now that she forgot what it was like to constantly be together. She saw Neville sitting proudly with the sword he’d earned and she smiled a little. He was a hero too, and despite no one treating him as they treated Harry he didn’t seem phased at all…if anything he was proud of himself.

The moment Draco and his family entered the Great Hall, he looked for Ginny and once he found her he hadn’t stopped watching her. He’d seen her fighting his aunt and was sure the ginger would be killed – until Mrs. Weasley appeared. Draco watched ‘Auntie Bella’ fall at the hands of a Weasley. All he found himself able to care about was if Ginny was safe. While he never expected her to look back, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He could still hear her voice in his head, screaming at him the year before ‘what did you do?’ and he knew everything that had happened was his fault and there was a good chance he’d have to pay for it in the end.

Ginny’s eyes found him then and as angry as she had been when he left, when he started the battle in the school that killed their beloved headmaster, she wasn’t angry any longer. Everything seemed to fade away somehow. His family looked just as beaten up and worn down as her own, but his eyes were still the same. She couldn’t help being reminded of the way they sat in that exact same room the year before looking at one another across a crowded room. He still seemed to smile without actually smiling.

Draco’s eyes never left her as he stood and took long-legged strides towards her. Ginny took in a deep breath as she let go of her mother and stood as well. She didn’t care about the eyes on him as she stepped closer to him.

Lucius eyed his son and caught what he was looking at: the smile of Ginny Weasley. His eyes went wide as he locked into the ginger girl moving towards his son. Now, away from the fear for his life, away from the never ending strive to be on top again, he could see what he’d allowed himself to ignore for so long. His wife’s eyes on the face of a Weasley. He looked over to Narcissa as the rage quickly built inside him but Narcissa wasn’t looking back at him her eyes were on her son. She, too, had only just seen it…the girl moving in closer to her son had her own eyes and smile. “It can’t be…” Narcissa breathed out, her voice trembling.

Lucius grabbed her arm and roughly turned her to face him. “Tell me. Now.” He growled low so only she could hear him. But she didn’t need to say a word, her expression of fear and confusion and the way she shook told him everything he needed to know. As he watched Draco move in closer to Ginny and smile at her with what could only be love in his eyes, he growled to his wife. “Do you see what you’ve done?” His thin fingers dug into her arm, he’d allowed himself to feel free from it all over time, but there in the dust of a war the reminder of his wife’s affair came back like a strike to the face.

The Weasley’s watched in socked silence as the space between Ginny and Draco close and their arms wrapped around one another. Draco felt like all the pain from his life had been lifted off his shoulders as soon as she embraced him. He breathed in deep and leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. He looked into her eyes – so close it was all he could see. “I’m so sorry, Ginny…I’m so sorry.”

“I know, I know you are.” She replied softly and reached up to push some of his white-blonde hair across his forehead. She felt so relieved just to see him, she hadn’t known if he was still alive until she caught sight of him. “Are you okay?” She asked with a soft smile…they both knew people were watching, but after all they’d all been through that night, they no longer cared about the whispers and onlookers. Draco had thought about Ginny every day, hearing her screaming in his head, terrified she was going to be hurt – that her blood status might not be enough to save her in the end. His hands moved, fingers pushing through her hair and tilting her head some so he could kiss her. Just before his lips met Ginny’s he heard the scream.

“No!” Narcissa’s voice was loud as it echoed through the hall. Everyone turned to see her and Draco was sure for a moment that it was his affection for Ginny she was against. But Narcissa was screaming at her husband as she tried to pull his wand arm down. He’d obtained a wand at some point in the battle – likely stolen from a fallen wizard and was now aiming it at the young people with hate in his eyes. He shoved his wife roughly to the stone floor and Draco glared as he turned to face his father. “Lucius, please stop! Don’t hurt her!” Narcissa begged, pulling at his robes from the ground.

“Don’t hurt her?!” He shouted back at his wife. For the first time in his life he didn’t care that people were seeing weaknesses in his perfect family unit. He’d been suppressing feelings of betrayal and anger for sixteen years and couldn’t do it any longer. “I’m not going to hurt her; I’m going to kill her!” Draco’s eyes went wide and he quickly pushed Ginny behind him protectively. “And you’re next, you lying whore!” His hand raised, ready to strike his wife who cowered as she braced herself for what seemed all too common in her life.

“Stop!” Draco bellowed with more force and power than he’d ever used with his father, his wand held high and aimed directly to his father’s chest. People seemed to circle around them, giving them room, but not wanting to be too close to another battle. Lucius turned to face his son, staring him down with narrowed eyes as he kicked his wife away from him. Sparks flew from the end of Draco’s wand as he watched his mother was knocked down, his own rage bubbling up and out of control.

“Draco…?” Ginny whispered behind him, her hand on his shoulder. Everyone in the room was looking now as they seemed to put on a heated display. Lucius’ anger only grew at the sight on the ginger’s hand on his son.

“You dare raise a wand to me, boy?!” Draco stared silently, his wand not wavering as the older man shouted. “You think you can challenge me?!” His eyes darted around as a few in the crowd reached for wands. “This is a family matter!” He shouted at the onlookers, and while wands lowered people still held them tightly. There wouldn’t be more death, not today.

“Lucius, please don’t do this.” Narcissa pleaded, getting to her feet. She had lied to Voldemort for her son, she would face her husband for him as well. And now…her daughter. There was no mistaking it, the youngest Weasley was no Weasley at all. The only feature of hers that mimicked theirs was her hair. This girl was the baby she hadn’t seen in sixteen years, the baby she’d sent away and never thought she’d see again. She’d been here all along.

Crazy with anger, Lucius turned on his heel and faced his wife. “Shut your lying mouth!” He screamed at her. “I knew she wasn’t dead, I knew your filth was out there somewhere and I told you…if I found her I’d kill you both.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer – quickly taking hold of her hair and forcing her to look towards Draco and Ginny. “Look at them! I said look!” He tugged her hair harder and Draco’s wand sparked.

“Get off my mother!” He bellowed, but Lucius ignored him. Lucius held his one in one hand and Narcissa’s hair in the other, looking at her as he leaned in closer. He didn’t bother looking at Draco, he didn’t fear the boy. He believed Draco too cowardly to do anything to him.

“Look at them.” He growled against her hair. “You look at what you’ve turned your son into. You’ve brought even more shame to this family, you stupid whore. You should have let me kill her the night you had her, you should have paid your penance sixteen years ago. Your son would still be pure if not for you.” His voice was cold and low, but everything was so silent in the room, everyone could hear him. “Now he’s fucking his sister and you just stand by and watch. You’re not a mother, you are nothing but cheating filth and you deserve what’s coming to you.”

His wand was pressed to her side and Narcissa took in a shallow breath and braced herself for pain. Her eyed locked on her son with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry.” She nearly whimpered. The blow she expected never came, instead Lucius was thrown backwards away from her and she just stumbled a bit. Draco’s eyes were cold and unblinking as his wand aimed directly at his father. Ginny held to him tightly as she watched with wide eyes as he stunned his own father.

It was so quiet that she could hear his heavy breathing and her own heart racing. Everyone stood, staring in silence. It was Charlie Weasley who spoke first, asking the one thing on everyone’s mind. “Sister?”