Are You The One That I Want? (Dramione Love Story)

Chapter 57: The house

Chapter 57: The house

They had been flying for a few hours and were barely halfway there. The air is still cold and it is the middle of the night. Harry looks over his shoulder at his friends and gestures for them to follow him down to the ground. The Thestrals start to fly downwards and land one after the other. Harry jumps off his Thestral first and soon Ginny, Draco, Ron and Blaise follow. 'We take a quick break and then continue on.' Harry tells them. Draco turns to Blaise who offers him a small smile, but his eyes clearly show his exhaustion. 'You okay mate?' Blaise asks.
'Fine, you?'
'Good.' Blaise nods.
'I just hope we're not too late.' Draco sighs.
Blaise slowly nods, studying his best friend's face. 'We're not.' he reassures him. 'I'm sure she'll make some kind of "took you long enough" remark.'
Draco offers him a small smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes. Blaise pats his arm and shakes his head. 'She'll be there.' he tells him. 'I know she will.'
'She has to.' Draco says, looking up at him. 'I can't help but feel responsible.'
'Don't torment yourself Draco.' Ginny says, stepping to the two. 'It's not your fault.'
'I should've known it wasn't her when the fake Hermione arrived at Hogwarts.'
Ginny shakes her head and just wants to say something when Ron speaks up. 'Malfoy, can you stop that self-pity?' Ron exclaims.
'Ronald.' Ginny warns.
'No seriously. Yes maybe you should've known it wasn't her, but what about us three? We've known her the longest, been friends with her the longest and frankly I think we know her better than you do. If someone should've known it wasn't her, it's us. Stop torturing yourself and everyone around you and put your energy into something useful, like saving her.'
Ginny shakes her head, glaring at her brother. 'You've gone too far.'
Ron rolls his eyes and shakes his head as he walks away from them.
'I'm sorry for that.' Ginny tells him.
'Don't be.' Draco says, waving it away. 'He has a point.'
Ginny looks at him for a moment in silence, fumbling with her fingers. 'Don't think too much about it, okay? We'll have her with us again in a few hours.' she tells him before stepping away and walking up to Harry, who's just giving his Thestral a piece of raw meat.
'You okay?' he asks when she arrives at his side.
She pats the Thestral and shrugs. 'As okay as one can be in this situation.'
He turns to her and takes her wrist in his hand before pulling her to him. He presses a kiss to her forehead before giving her a tight hug. 'Everything will be okay.' he tells her. Ginny wraps her arms around his waist and nods. 'I know.' she says quietly.
'Do you think she'll blame us?' she asks after a moment of silence.
Harry pulls away to look at her. 'Why would you think that?'
She shrugs. 'She could.'
'Are you afraid she'll blame us for what happened to her?'
'The thought has crossed my mind a few times the past few days.' Ginny tells him. 'Of course the most important thing right now is to get her away from that place, but I couldn't help but wonder whether she'll be mad.'
'I don't think she'll be mad. First relieved and I don't know how she'll feel later, but there's no use in worrying about that right now.' Harry says. 'Try to not think about it as much, okay? You'll only upset yourself with possible outcomes that might not even become a real thing.'
Ginny slowly nods and presses a kiss to his lips. 'You're the best.'
'I do my best.' he smiles.
'I have to talk to Ron.' Ginny says, pulling away from him.
'Is he okay?'
Ginny shrugs. 'I don't think he is.'
'Do you want me to talk to him?'
She shakes her head, stepping away from him. 'No, I can handle my big brother.' she smiles faintly before walking up to Ron, who has seated down in the grass just a little away from where the Thestrals and the three boys are standing. 'This seat taken?'
Ron looks up and shrugs. Ginny sits down next to her brother and looks out in front of her. 'You okay?' she asks.
'Fine.'
'What was that about just now?' she asks.
Ron sighs and shakes his head. 'I just couldn't hear him talk like that any longer. He thinks he's the only one who misses her, who blames themselves for her disappearance.'
'You blame yourself? You were one of the first people to catch up with the fact the real Hermione hadn't returned to us.'
Ron shakes his head. 'I just feel like, well if it hadn't been for me cheating on her we might still be together and she wouldn't have grown close to Malfoy and we might not be sitting here.'
Ginny turns to look at him. 'You're indirectly blaming Draco?'
'No, but it's a given fact that his father took her, without him she'd still be with us. I don't think Lucius would've taken her if it weren't for their relationship.'
Ginny hums, which makes Ron look up at her. 'You can't tell me there isn't some kind of truth to what I said.'
She shakes her head. 'It might be true, but we can't know for sure.'
'Why are you always defending him?' Ron asks.
'Because Hermione loves him and he's actually a nice guy.' Ginny tells him. 'You can't deny the fact that he loves her. Hell, I think he'd switch places with her in a heartbeat if he could.'
Ron looks over his shoulder at Draco and stays silent for a moment before slowly nodding. 'You're right.'
'That happens often.'
Ron nudges her shoulder with his own and can't help but let out a chuckle. 'It's just the stress and frustration that has been building up the past few weeks.'
'I know.' Ginny nods. 'But you forget you're not alone in this and that we're going through the same thing. Stop pushing everything away and try to talk with either me or Harry. We've got to get through this together, not alone.'
Ron wraps his arm around his sister and pulls her in for a quick hug. Something he normally wouldn't do and because of this she was surprised at first, but she quickly recovered herself and hugged him back. 'What do you reckon mum will have to say about this?' Ron asks, after they let go of each other.
Ginny chuckles and shakes her head. 'I don't even want to think about it. She'll scold us for this, but she'll secretly be proud of her kids.'
'Naturally.' Ron winks.
Ginny smiles and looks over her shoulder when Harry calls for them. 'Good to go?' Harry calls.
'Yes, be right there!' Ginny calls back before pushing herself up. She offers her brother a hand, which he takes and pulls him up. 'It'll all be fine.' she reassures him.
Ron looks at her for a moment before nodding. 'It will.'
'Come on.' she says, starting to walk back to the Thestrals, her brother next to her.
'And?' Harry asks as Ginny passes him.
'All good.' she tells him before mounting her Thestral again.

They fly for another few hours. The wind is still icy and feels like knives cutting their cheeks. The hours pass agonisingly slowly by, especially since there's not really something that can keep you busy during a flight on a Thestral, apart from the small chitchat that's barely possible over the sound of the wind. The sun has still not appeared at the horizon when Draco starts to recognize things down at the ground. He makes his Thestral fly a little lower to have a better sight of what is below them. 'This looks familiar.' Draco calls. Harry looks over his shoulder and slows his Thestral down. 'It should be somewhere here.' Draco tells him when he has caught up with Harry.
'Good.' Harry nods. 'We'll find a place to land and hide the Thestrals.'
Two minutes later and they were all jumping off their Thestrals again, but this time because they were close and not to take a break. Draco looks out in front of him and nods. 'It should be here.'
'Do you think he knows?' Ginny asks. Draco turns to look at her. 'That we're coming.' she adds.
Draco shrugs. 'I don't know. I'm hoping we have the advantage of surprise.' Draco shrugs. 'Come on, it's just a few minutes' walk.'

A/N

They are close, but are they still in time? And will they have the advantage of surprise? Or does Lucius and the hooded person know of their visit? And yet again; who is hiding underneath the hood? Stay tuned and you'll find out soon!

I know it's been, again, way too long since my last update. I've already started on the new chapter, so I'm hoping to be able to upload within two weeks time instead of 4 to 6 weeks time. This story will have 60 chapters, which means, this being the 57th, that there are still 3 more chapters to come in total! 

When this book is finished I'm hoping to have the first chapter of my new Dramione love story ready. I haven't really settled on a title yet, I'm thinking of Say Something, but at least I've got the storyline roughly noted down in a document and I've already started on the prologue and first chapter :) 

If I'm able to finish the chapter in the mentioned time of two weeks, I should be able to upload it just before Christmas, but in case it turns into after Christmas I'd like to wish you all a very merry Christmas! 

To finish this A/N on a fun note there are two questions you could answer :)
1.) What Christmas movie do you watch every year and enjoy just as much as the previous year?
2.) What is your favourite part of Christmas?

Thank you for being patient! You're literally the best readers a writer could ask for!

Merry Christmas!

Lots of love

xx