“What are you doing here?” Harry repeated coldly. The large Death Eater standing before them smirked.
“I came for her,” Cormac McLaggen sneered, his voice icy. His complexion had changed drastically since Harry had last seen him at Malfoy Manor. He was considerably thinner and paler. His teeth were yellowed and his eyes gaunt. He pointed a bony white finger at Ginny.
Harry stepped in front of his wife protectively, wand raised. “You won’t touch her,” he snarled.
“Perhaps,” the dark wizard shrugged coolly, “perhaps not.” He laughed mirthlessly. “In time, she will come to me.”
“I never took you for crazy before, McLaggen. Now it’s obvious I was wrong.” Harry paused. “She’ll never come near you.”
McLaggen ignored him and instead turned to Ginny. “I’ve come to take up your offer.”
“What?” Ginny stammered, afraid to speak. Why did Cormac McLaggen scare her so much?
“Oh, of course you don’t remember. I’ve always had a strength for Memory Charms.”
Harry glowered, but his mind was reeling. What was going on?
“Reminiscori,” McLaggen shouted, pointing his wand at Ginny.
“PROTEGO,” Harry cried. A shield materialized before him and his wife, but the curse, whatever it was, shattered it. When Harry tried to block it with his body, the force of the spell knocked him off his feet. He could have sworn that he heard voices emanating from the spell itself.
Ginny gasped as the spell hit her body. She closed her eyes and staggered into Harry’s arms.
“Are you okay?” he whispered into her ear. She nodded weakly. “I’ll kill you, McLaggen,” he said louder.
“You could try,” he replied uncaringly.
Harry yelled something angrily at McLaggen, but Ginny didn’t register his words. Voices and memories were swirling in her head, causing her to feel nauseous. She heard Harry cry out in shock as the earth swirled around her and her strength suddenly gave out.
**************************Flashback****************************
“Ginny?” Cormac asked quietly, poking his head into her room.
“Er- yeah,” she replied, hastily wiping tears from her face.
“What’s the matter? Is it Harry?” he asked kindly.
“That’s none of your business,” she retorted coldly.
“Alright, fine. I’ve loved you for a long time. I’m okay with seeing you with him, but if I see he’s hurting you- to hell with Potter, I’ll take you from him.”
“They left. They left without saying goodbye,” she sobbed, as he sat down beside her on her bed. What he had just said barely registered in her mind.
He wiped away her tears and said, “A tough girl like you shouldn’t cry.”
She stopped crying, but her feelings didn’t change. She wrapped her arms around him. “Please,” she begged, “help me forget him. Help me move on. I’m not invincible. I can’t do this on my own.”
She fell into his arms as he kissed her passionately. After countless moments of silence, Cormac pulled away.
“I can’t do this,” he said.
“Why not?” Ginny asked. She didn’t know what would happen if they followed through, but she thought that he would be the best way to find comfort.
“I’m not on your side, anymore,” he replied, looking away.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. I joined the Death Eaters. I’m on the winning side.”
“No,” she gasped, “you wouldn’t. You’re not evil.”
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM!” he shouted, turning to face her again. There was a fire in his eyes that frightened her. He pulled up his left sleeve and revealed the Dark Mark, burning black on his forearm. “I’m not weak! I’m not like you- you and the pathetic Order of the Phoenix.”
“No, they’re- we’re not weak! Harry, Hermione, and Ron are out there, putting their lives on the line for us. They’re brave- strong…”
“You don’t know what strength is. Dumbledore- the great protector of the good side- died. What do you have left now?”
Ginny spluttered angrily. She was confused and hurt.
Cormac was hesitating, steeling himself to do something. “I can’t have you telling everyone my position. The Dark Lord assigned me to spy on you people.”
He drew out his wand and advanced upon her. She desperately wished that her mother had not gone to Diagon Alley and that her wand was not lying on her bedside table, just out of reach.
“Stupefy!” he shouted. She crumpled onto her bed with a soft thump as the red jet of light struck her in the chest. “I’m sorry, but I will take you up on your offer one day. Obliterate.”
******************END FLASHBACK*********************************
Her eyes fluttered open slowly. It was nearly dark, and Ron and Hermione were leaning over her with concerned looks on their faces.
She gasped as she remembered where she was and what was happening. “Where’s Harry? Where’s McLaggen?”
“McLaggen Disapparated when he saw us coming,” Hermione answered, still very concerned. “Harry- Harry’s- well, he’s over there.”
She pointed hesitantly toward a silhouette standing ten feet from them.
“Ginny, what happened? Harry didn’t tell us anything, just that you passed out,” Ron stammered.
“Just give us some time alone,” Ginny interrupted. She didn’t want to be alone when she told them about McLaggen, due to Ron’s and his history. The other two nodded and left wordlessly. Ginny sighed and turned to her husband.
“Harry?”
He turned to her, frowning. “Is what he said true? Did you really- you know-”
“WHAT! NO!” she exclaimed, shocked by his accusatory tone.
“Do you have feelings for him?”
“We used to be friends. I know he fancied me, but we never-“
”That doesn’t answer my question.”
“NO!” she screeched, stung by the fact that he even had to ask. “I hate him now. He’s a traitor and a ba-“
He turned his back to her again and began to walk back to the tent.
“WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” she screamed, fully aware of the fact that he didn’t believe her. Tears were streaming down her face again.
“But would you have- at that time- if you had had the chance?”
Ginny wanted to reply with the obvious answer, but she hesitated as her thoughts and emotions from the memory rushed through her.
“That’s what I thought,” he murmured and walked away.
Ginny sunk to the ground and screamed in frustration.
“What’s the matter, Ginny?” Hermione’s voice asked from above her.
Both women sat in silence for several minutes while the distraught sobs subsided into sad hiccups. Finally, the pregnant woman told the other what happened, beginning with McLaggen, telling about the lost memory, and finishing with Harry’s accusations. By the time she had finished, she felt hopelessly lost and was fighting a losing battle against her emotions.
“I’ll go talk to Harry and sort this out,” Hermione said quietly, resting a gentle hand on Ginny’s shoulder.
She stood up and Ginny watched as she walked back to the camp.
She stormed into the Potters’ tent. “How could you?” she screeched in fury.
“I don’t need to hear this, Hermione,” he muttered wearily into his hands.
“Don’t do this to her!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Hermione stared and him hard for a moment, then, without warning, she slapped him.
“SHE DOESN’T LOVE HIM! SHE’S CARRYING YOUR CHILD! IT’S YOU SHE LOVES!”
Harry rubbed his cheek dumbly. He then stood so suddenly that Hermione started. He stomped brusquely out of the tent.
“Where are you going?” she called after him.
“To talk to my wife,” he replied without looking back.
Hermione smiled ruefully as she watched him approach Ginny. Ron walked up behind her and draped an arm over her shoulder. “Hermione Weasley works her magic again.”
She looked up at him, worry obvious in her eyes. “I’m scared for them,” she said quietly.
“I am, too,” he replied sadly. “We’re just going to have to be there for them to lean on- or in Harry’s case, slap him into shape.”
Hermione laughed. “When did you learn to sound so wise?”
“When I married you.”
They kissed and he smiled. Off in the distance, they could see Harry and Ginny embracing one another. “So I guess things turned out all right.”
Hermione nodded and headed back toward their tent in Ron’s arms. “Yeah, for the most part.”
A/N: Sorry that this chapter is so short, but apparently you don’t like my cliffhanger (no idea why…) lol It took me longer to get this out than I had hoped because finding the right wording was kind of hard for me. :[ BTW, the I’m not invincible stuff is from Ayashi No Ceres. Aya says that type of stuff to Yuuhi when Touya leaves… you have no idea what I’m talking about >_>; Thanks for all of the review! I love you!!! *mwah* ooo and I'm gonna submit the second part of the Halifax Triplet as soon as this is up!