After she'd managed to stop sobbing and dry her face, she'd let Susan know she needed the rest of the day off. She only had two appointments in the afternoon, and neither of them were emergencies. Once outside, the cold air hit her face at full force. Putting her hood over her head, Ginny turned to the right before turning to the left and heading in the opposite direction. She wasn't actually sure where she was going, but her feet were taking her somewhere.

She apparated, fully intending to go home and cry some more. When she opened her eyes, however, she spotted the large gates that marked the entrance to the cemetery at St. Ottery Catchpole. Ginny blinked, not understanding why she'd come here. She stared at the gate for a long time before pushing it open, the hinges squeaking, the sound loud in the quiet of the air. She walked the path she'd memorized over the last 5 years until she found the cream colored stone that memorialized her brother's final resting spot.

Just seeing his name on the marker was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Jack's smiling face kept flashing in front of her eyes. Percy's smiling face. She was supposed to feel happy that a part of her brother was still here. Still tangible. She'd hoped and prayed for it so many times. Any little piece of him. Something. Anything.

She collapsed into a sitting position as she stared at his name etched on the marble surface. She wasn't sobbing and her shoulders were still. Silent tears were streaming down her face as she thought of all the things that must have run through his mind when they'd finally got him. He knew about Jack when they took him. He knew he had a son. Imagining his final thoughts had always bothered Ginny. It was morbid and inappropriate, but Ginny had hoped his thoughts had been about his family and how much they loved him.

Now she knew they were most likely about his family... just not the one she'd always imagined.

Jack's first steps. His first words. Her heart ached for her brother and everything he'd never be able to do with his son. A small part of her understood that Penelope must share that ache, but in a much different way. Penelope had loved her brother, that much was clear, and had done everything she could to keep their son safe. Ginny knew this in some deep part of her conscious. She knew it, and would be able to see in time that it was the best course of action... but at the moment, the only thing she could think about was her anger.

She was filled with anger. Following the grief of both her brother's deaths, rage had filled Ginny until she felt like she was going to implode with the force of it. Some of that anger was returning. She didn't care why Penelope had kept Jack from them for so long. She didn't care that they'd all been targets and that being around them would have put them both in serious danger. She didn't care. She was angry that her brothers had been killed and that yet again, she was confronted with the reality that they'd never get to finish their lives. Becomes fathers. Become husbands. Become uncles.

It was as if the years of them being gone had been compressed into a single day, the scar opened again and pouring what felt like white heat into her chest, consuming her heart.

When she realized that both her hands and her feet were numb from the cold and from sitting still for so long, Ginny stood. She stared at the two stones in front of her, the tears having dried on her face hours ago. Pulling her coat tighter around her, knowing she'd probably be sick with a cold for her stupidity of not casting a heating charm, Ginny apparated to where she knew Draco would be. She didn't want to go home, and she didn't want to be alone. Draco would make everything alright. He'd tell her it'd be fine, and she'd believe him.

He was in his rooms at Zabini Manor. Draco was tired. If he didn't start getting some real sleep and soon, he was not going to be much use to anyone. It was just there was so much to do. It was sort of exciting figuring it out as he went along. For the first time in his life he felt useful. Well for the right reasons. He'd been useful before for the wrong ones. That was the most fun you could have without actually having any.

He was surprised when Tindy showed Ginny into the rooms. He didn't think he was supposed to see her tonight. He also thought she was still supposed to be at the clinic.

"Gin?"

Something was wrong.

"You all right?"

"No," Ginny said, hating the emotion in her voice. "I am decidedly not alright." She walked further into the room, throwing her cloak over one of the couches in his rooms. She toed off her shoes, moving mechanically. They usually stayed at her place whenever possible, which had been a little lacking with everything going on with the school, but she felt just as comfortable here as at Orchard's Gate. She felt comfortable with Draco.

"I had a visitor at the clinic today. Was a bit of a shock. I don't think I took it very well." A vision of Jack's innocent and smiling face flashed in front of her eyes and she had to bite her cheek to keep from tearing up again.

A shiver went down Draco's spine. If one of those wankers who thought to off him were hassling her, he'd hex there bits off. "Who?"

Ginny swallowed harshly. "Jackson Percy Clearwater Weasley." She looked over at him with wide eyes. If she widened her eyes, the tears wouldn't fall. "My nephew. I have a nephew. Percy had a son." A son he never knew and never will, she thought for the hundredth time that day, the pain and anger spiking in her again.

"She told you."

Draco nearly sagged in relief.

"I was afraid she wouldn't, that she'd try to go on like people wouldn't know. I told her she had to tell. Had to. That's brilliant. Such a weight. I didn't know how I was going to say it if she didn't. Do your parents know? Has she told them yet? I told her she had to."

She looked up at him from where she'd sat on the sofa, her face blank of any emotion at first. Something in her mind wasn't clicking the way it was supposed to. Something about what he'd just said had made her stomach fall. "What," she finally managed, blinking. A tear spilled over with the movement and fell onto her knee where her skirt had been pushed up. "What do you mean you told her she had to tell?" She was missing something large, but with the information she'd been hit with, she figured it was understandable.

"Um..." The only things running through Draco's mind just now were the words oh and fuck. "I'd met Jack before. Once. I didn't know who he was, but there was something... familiar to him. When I met with that McDonald bloke about the funding. He recommended Clearwater as a teacher. I had Penshaw do some digging, and I confronted Clearwater about it. I know it wasn't my business, but... he was all redheaded and bespeckled and has a toad named Georgie. Honestly."

Ginny held up a hand as she stood to stop his words, feeling like the air had been knocked out of her lungs for the second time that day. She'd come here for him to tell him everything would be fine, and instead she was finding out he'd known about Jack and Penelope and not told her. "You knew?" She couldn't help the hurt in her voice. "You knew and you didn't tell me?" She tried to control her breathing, but she was finding it difficult. "When? When did you know?"

"I suspected on Thursday last. I knew on Monday. I confronted her on Tuesday." Was she mad at him for this? "Ginny, it wasn't my right to tell. It needed to be her. It was her life, her story. I just happened upon it."

She wasn't really hearing his words. They were filtering through her brain, only picking up on certain words or ideas. "You suspected that my brother might have a child that had been hidden from my family a week ago and didn't think I'd want to know?" She was going mad. This was a bad dream. She reached up and pulled on her hair a bit. Her eyes widened and she turned to look at him. There were very large tears leaking out of her eyes but she wasn't crying. She just couldn't seem to get them to stop. "Last night at dinner, something was wrong and you wouldn't tell me what. This was it, wasn't it?"

It took everything she had to keep from screaming. "Gods! This is my family, Draco! My family!" She was breathing harshly, trying to stop her heart from breaking in her chest.

He was trying not to become angry about this because she was so obviously upset, but it was not his fault Penelope Clearwater was a coward, a procrastinator, and a liar due to fear for her child.

"I'm aware, Gin, but it's Penelope's family too. I think she had the right to decide how and when to tell you. Yes, I would have much sooner, but I am not her. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to. Desperately. But like I said, it was not my place to tell you. It was hers."

Ginny was shaking her head, over and over. This was so wrong. This was all wrong. Finding out about Jack had hurt enough. This just made it worse. "I can't- I can't do- I need to go," she said, walking over and grabbing her shoes from the floor. She let out a sob when she fumbled with them, bending over to pick up the one that had dropped from her trembling hands. "I have to go." She couldn't deal with the appearance of Jack and knowing that Draco had hid it from her. She just couln't deal with them both.

Draco was horrified. "You can't go. I... I don't think I did anything wrong here. You're treating me like this is my fault. I didn't make her do it. I didn't make Penelope sodding Clearwater hide things. In fact, I urged her to tell. You can't possibly be angry at me for this."

"I can't do this right now! I just found out that my brother found out he had a son and was killed the same night! And you knew! You didn't think I'd be mad? You can't mess around with things like this! How do you want me to react, Draco? What do you want me to do? I've never been in this situation before! What are you supposed to do when you find out someone you trust knowingly kept something from you, knowing it hurt? Tell me how to act!"

She was screaming. Part of her knew she was being unfair and taking her anger, and betrayal, and pain out on Draco when it wasn't called for, but another was breaking because he'd known this and kept it from her. "I would have told you," she whispered as she backed towards the door to the hallway, shoes clutched against her chest.

Draco shook his head. Angry now. Hurt. "I'll accept responsibility for a lot of things, but I do not like being blamed for something that is not my fault. So I didn't act exactly as you would have me do. Well, surprise surprise, Draco Malfoy isn't perfect. I never said I was. Not once. I know you're hurt, devastated, but I think you're being unfair to me because you didn't want to take your anger out on her. Let me guess, didn't want Jack seeing his auntie screeching at his mum? Well, that's all fine and good, but like I said, I think you're being unfair just now. Again, I know you're hurting, but your need to lash out and make someone pay for your pain here is beginning to hurt me."

"Gods, yes. How could I have been so selfish? I came here seeking comfort after having my world ripped apart. I should have known better. Wouldn't want to hurt you. I won't make the mistake again." She wrapped herself in anger and betrayal. It was easier that way. If she was angry at him, she couldn't be broken about it. Her back hit the door, the doorknob digging into her ribs. She welcomed the pain. Anything to dull the ache in her chest. "I'll take my unfairness and go elsewhere." Ginny turned, desperate to get away from him, from the whole day, and everything it'd brought with it.

Draco grabbed her arm roughly and spun her back around, his face a mask of pain. "Don't you lie to me. You didn't come here for comfort. You came here to take your anger out on someone. Well, mission accomplished. Well done. High marks. Yes, you should have known better. Draco Malfoy... mistake. Yes. Thank you for that. I'm rubbish at comfort. Rubbish at everything. Since I am so substandard, perhaps you should go. Find someone who isn't such a selfish bastard. Maybe you can blame them for the sky being blue, since, you know, they'd have control over that and all."

Ginny had flinched when he'd grabbed her arm. She wanted to run away from his words, partly because deep inside she knew they were true, but also because he was starting to talk about her finding someone else. She shook her head, shrinking back against the door.

"I thought you were leaving," Draco said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Wouldn't want to make the mistake of staying and trying to seek comfort from someone not worthy of providing it, would we? Go on then. Leave the bad man."

He would never admit how stung he was right now. Never. Not ever. It was weakness. She had the ability to cripple him. He was at the very least limping just now. He might have known he'd never be good enough. He'd hoped. Look what that had gotten him. Hope was a waste, a fool's holding. There was no hope to be had for people like him.

Her shoulders were shaking with sobs now. She felt completely ashamed for crying like this in front of him when he was using that voice. The one that screamed of self-hatred and loathing. She should have never come here. She'd ruined something by coming here, but she couldn't do anything about it. Nothing of this day could be fixed. Nothing.

More than anything she'd wanted to have him just tell her everything would be alright. That they'd figure it out. Let her scream and rage until she couldn't anymore. She would have believed him if he'd said it'd be alright. This whole day was so wrong that she could feel her stomach turning. She'd have done anything to have a time-turner so she could go back and pretend the entire day had never happened. Her hand fumbled to find the doorknob behind her back and turned it. She didn't care about her cloak, the one Draco had given her for Christmas, where it was still thrown over the sofa. She'd get it later.

Gods, what if there is no later?

Ginny darted out the doorway and into the hallway, tears blurring her vision as she ran for the front door.

Draco blinked. She'd left. He could not believe she had actually left him. He didn't think she would. Well, hoped, but like he said about hope earlier... foolish. He didn't know what to do now. Draco was stunned, shell-shocked even. One of the people he loved most in the world had just ripped his heart out of his chest. He finally backed up slowly and sat on the floor by his bed. He put his forehead to his knees and tried to keep his breathing calm.

That didn't work. Nothing worked.


{SUMMARY} Ginny and Draco have a fight about him not telling her things.