Manacled (dramione)

Chapter 74

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"Hermione!" Ginny gasped the name, and stumbled down several steps, dragging Hermione into her arms and hugging her ferociously. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Hermione."

Ginny's hands were running over Hermione, touching her face and shoulders as though she couldn't believe Hermione was real.

Hermione felt almost disbelieving as she stared at Ginny.

Ginny looked the same. As though the last two years had forgotten her. Her startlingly red hair, her eyes, and familiar smile veiled in tears as she knelt, sobbing and hugging Hermione. The jagged scar still ran down the side of her face.

Hermione started to cry as her hands rose up and gripped Ginny's shoulders. "Ginny-Oh Ginny."

They knelt on the ground, clinging to each other and sobbing for several minutes.

Ginny sat back, smearing away her tears as she studied Hermione. "I thought I was never going to see anyone again. Look at you. Oh god, you're so thin."

Ginny's eyes ran down Hermione's body, stopping at her stomach, and she stared frozen for a moment.

The joyful relief vanished from Ginny's face. She looked as though she'd been gutted. She held Hermione's shoulders and stared down. "Oh, oh god, I'm so sorry. I'm so so-sorry."

Ginny's head whipped up, and she stared at Draco with undisguised loathing. "Get away from her. You have no right to ever touch her-"

She lunged at Draco as though she intended to strangle him.

Hermione caught hold of Ginny's shoulders to stop her. "Ginny."

"Let go of me!" Ginny tried to pull Hermione's hands off. "He said he cared about you! He kept coming here, saying it was all for you, and then"-Ginny's voice was shaking with devastated rage-"he raped you until you were pregnant!"

Hermione's throat tightened, and she inserted herself protectively in front of Draco. "Ginny-he didn't have any choice. Don't hurt him."

Ginny glared past Hermione at Draco but stopped lunging. Her hand rose up, and she gripped Hermione's wrist.

Hermione heard Draco sigh. "It's fine, Granger. Go inside and rest. I need to check the wards."

She felt him stand. Before Hermione could get up, Ginny shot to her feet and slapped Draco sharply across the face. Draco didn't flinch, and Ginny slapped him violently again.

"You should be dead," Ginny said coldly. "You don't deserve to breathe near her. Nothing you ever do will make up for what you've done."

"Ginny, stop it!" Hermione forced herself to her feet. "Shut up. Shut up. I'm the one who saved him. I brought him here. He never asked or expected to survive. If you want to be angry with someone about that, it should be me."

She gripped Draco's wrist and stepped protectively closer to him. "Leave him alone. I mean it. If you ever lay a hand on him again-"

Ginny's expression rippled as she raised her hands in surrender. "Fine," she said in a forced voice, her expression slowly becoming drawn as she looked at Hermione and Draco.

Hermione stared at Ginny for a moment longer before turning to Draco.

His expression was closed. There was a scarlet handprint across each of his cheeks. Hermione drew her wand and muttered a spell to heal it and stroked along his cheekbone as the markings slowly faded.

"It's fine, Granger," he said. "You should go inside."

Hermione edged closer to him. "I'll come with you. You can-show me where we are."