The Right Thing To Do

Chapter 10

Ginny spent the whole night on the bathroom floor with her, comforting her the best she could, but every time Hermione looked at her, she felt Draco's breath against her face as he told her how much her best friend was worth to the Death Eaters. She wouldn't let her brain focus for too long on that number, or else the number 35,000 would flicker across her eyelids.

On the night in question, she had been "untouched," as Draco called it. She was still untouched. She and Ron had never gotten far enough in their relationship before he took off for Ireland and she left for Hogwarts. So, there would have been some sort of a test to see if she was still a virgin? She clamped down on the gates of her mind before she could imagine a world where the Auction took place.

She always assumed that if Harry lost the war, she would have already died on the battlefield, or else she would have gone down fighting after his death. She never imagined what would have happened to her if she survived the battle.

Ginny had surmised that she was distraught over something to do with Draco pretty early on, but she didn't play her game, digging for information. She just sat with her on the bathroom floor all night, conjuring a blanket and pillow whenever Hermione started nodding off, crying, dreaming. It wasn't until around three in the morning that Hermione could speak to her. She told her about the Wizengamot dungeons. About how cold he was until suddenly he snapped. She told her pieces that she had forgotten by now, pieces that still did not make sense to her – he accused her of wanting to "save" him, he accused her of creating a Life Debt, he...

Ginny watched her stutter. "What?"

"I think he came on to me." Hermione's brows stitched together as she tried to remember.

I never volunteered to be your 'champion.'

Then what is it you are volunteering for?

"Really?" Ginny waited.

"Don't get too excited," Hermione scoffed. She adjusted her position on the floor. "I probably misread it."

Ginny watched her carefully, but asked her to continue. Hermione told her how quickly it all shifted downhill. When she got to the Auction, she left Ginny out of it. She didn't want that to sit on her friend's shoulders. When Ginny heard the amount 30,000 galleons, her eyebrows shot up and her jaw dropped.

"I—I can't.... Hermione, that can't be real. He has to be messing with you."

"The Auction?"

"Oh, no, I'm sure the Auction was actually discussed, those sick fucks," Ginny said, waving her hand. Hermione thought it odd that Ginny took it so well when she had been up all night vomiting over it. "It's the amount. Who has 30,000 galleons lying around for that kind of thing!"

"Pure-blood aristocrats?" Hermione shrugged, sipping from the water glass Ginny had conjured for her.

"That can't have been the amount. He's exaggerating or made it up on the spot to torture you." Ginny huffed.

"It's an oddly specific amount to 'make up,'" Hermione said. "He also said 5,000 galleons would be added on if I was a virgin."

Ginny pulled her eyes from the bathroom cabinets she was frowning at to look at Hermione with wide eyes. "He said that to you?"

"If it could be proven that I was 'untouched' they would pay more for me." Hermione felt like saying this out loud to her should make her cry or vomit again, but she supposed she was a bit numb to it now.

"What brought this up?" Ginny said. Hermione looked up from her glass of water to see Ginny's eyes sparkling.

"It was... a part of his stream of consciousness, I suppose."