'How long have you been awake for?' she asked.
'Hours,' he said briefly. 'I heard you come in…'
'You heard us talking? You should have said something.'
'No, you were right. He should go for a walk. Get some air. It's got to be boring, watching over me all the time.'
Ginny was fairly sure that Draco did not consider it boring, per se, but held her tongue.
'Anyway,' Harry added, 'I wanted to ask you something, and I wanted to ask you when we were alone.'
'Me?' Ginny was surprised. 'What did you want to ask me?'
Harry looked just past her at the fire. 'I was wondering if you'd do me a favor and touch something for me.'
Ginny looked at him incredulously. 'Pardon?'
Harry blinked, then blushed. 'That sounded bad, didn't it?'
'Yes,' Ginny said. 'It did.'
Harry smiled. 'Let me start over. I know that you can sometimes sense Dark magic if it's present in objects, or people. I was wondering if you would take a look at something for me, let me know if you feel anything unusual about it.'
Ginny tugged nervously at the gold chain around her throat. 'Of course.'
'Thanks.' Harry bent his head, then looked up at her again, quickly. 'It's on my belt,' he said, 'hang on one second,' and went back to sliding his leather belt through the loops on his trousers. As he bent his head, his hair fell away, showing the nape of his neck, cleanly exposed between the dark hair and the round collar of his black sweater. The knobs of his spine were faintly visible beneath the skin…he had gotten so thin. 'Here,' he said, and held out his hand.
She took what he offered: it was a heavy circle of what looked like red glass. But it was much heavier than glass. Its weight in her hand was as substantial as if it had been carved out of stone. She turned it over slowly between her fingers, marveling at its smooth texture, despite the engravings all around the edges.
'Do you feel anything?' he asked her, eyes anxious.
She shook her head. 'No. Nothing.' She handed it back to him, and he took it unsmilingly. 'You weren't hoping it'd be something evil, then?' she asked, half-jokingly, but he seemed to take the question seriously.
'No, not really, but I was hoping for some kind of clue as to what it is,' he said. 'I hate not knowing things.'
'Tell me about it,' Ginny said. 'I've about given up on feeling like we ever know anything, though. I mean, that cup you guys took from the museum
— what did Hermione do with it?'
She immediately regretted the question. At the sound of Hermione's name, Harry stiffened and visibly retreated back into himself like a rabbit fleeing down a rabbit-hole. 'I don't know,' he said stiffly. 'I have no idea what she did with it,' and he stood up suddenly, tossing the covers back onto the couch. 'I think I might go upstairs for a while,' he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. 'I'd probably benefit from some time alone.
And I need to pack.'
Ginny felt obscurely hurt. By now, however, she was a past master at hiding hurt feelings. All she said was, 'When are you leaving, then?'
'Tomorrow morning, same as you,' said Harry. He reached out and ruffled her hair lightly, as if she were a little girl. 'Thanks,' he said. 'I appreciate you looking at the bracelet.'
'Of course. If there's anything else I can do…'
'You could go keep Draco company. It'd be good for him, I think, to spend some time with someone who actually talks.'
'I don't know where he went, though,' Ginny protested.
Harry's eyes unfocused for a moment. 'The lake,' he said, took the blanket off the couch, and with a nod, headed towards the boys' staircase.
It was a brilliant winter's day outside. It had snowed the night before, which made it easier to follow Draco's distinctive boot prints in the snow.
Ginny pulled the hood of her cloak up — it was very cold out, despite the sunshine glinting off the snow — and headed out to the lake.
She was halfway around the perimeter of the frozen water when she realized with an odd pang that Draco seemed to be following the exact path that Harry and Hermione usually took around the lake's edge. She could not count the times she had looked out a classroom window and seen the two familiar figures walking together, shoulder to shoulder, around the same track. She wondered if Draco realized it.
It was not hard to find him. She rounded a bend and there he was, sitting on a black tree stump. Later, she could not remember exactly what he'd been doing at that moment. Tossing stones at the iced-over lake, or denuding an evergreen sprig of its last leaves. She stood for a moment and looked at him, at leisure to examine him without him noticing. Under his black cloak he had on slightly worn corduroys and a dark red pullover
— she had rarely seen him look so un-put-together. He wore a strangely pensive expression, alert yet dreaming. It made her wonder what he was thinking about.
She took a step forward towards him and a patch of ice cracked under her boot heel. He looked up, and when he saw her, looked startled. He began to rise to his feet. 'Is there a…'
'Harry's fine, you aren't needed,' Ginny said. 'Relax.'
He didn't relax exactly, just shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at her with an expression almost of resentment.
'Well, if you want me to leave you alone…' she snapped.
His expression relaxed slightly. 'That cloak,' he said. 'Is it new?'
She blinked at him, then down at her cloak. It was in fact new, her mother had sent to her as she had complained she was growing out of her last winter cloak. It was long, made of a pale yellow wool, not particularly distinctive. Draco noticed clothes more than other boys did, but she was surprised that even he would be struck by it. 'Yes, early Christmas present.'
'Huh. It looks familiar.' He sat back down on the tree stump, hands still in his pockets, and looked away from her. Ginny turned to go, when his voice prevented her, 'Wait,' he said. She turned and saw him looking at her, an odd sort of pleading in his eyes. 'Stay.'
With a sigh, she went and joined him on the tree stump. For a moment they sat and looked out at the gray lake together in silence. The sunlight touched it here and there through the pattern of bare branches, casting lucent patches of gold against the silver.
It was Draco who broke the silence. 'Something in your robe pocket,' he said evenly, 'is banging against my leg.'
'Oh.' Ginny reached into her pocket and pulled out Passionate Trousers.
She was about to tuck it into the pocket on the other side of her robe when Draco stopped her with a hand on her wrist.
'Aren't you done reading that yet? How long can it take?'
Ginny threw him a miffed glance. 'Well, if I didn't keep getting interrupted by mad love triangles and grand- scale larceny I might be making better time.'
Draco released her wrist and shrugged. 'I just have to ask myself whether you're trying to punish yourself, or what. If you want a book, I have plenty of good books I could lend you. A Tale of Two Wizards, Great Incantations…'
'I do read good books. These are just…comforting.'
'Comforting how?'
'Because they're predictable. You can tell what's going to happen just by looking at the front cover illustrations.'
'Oh, really?' Draco leaned forward and looked over her shoulder at the book cover. 'How do you figure that?'
