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Draco was breathing heavy, he was confused. He slowly walked around to face Ginny, he saw her hunched over on her knees and her flaming hair covering her face. She held her left hand up to her right shoulder. Harry and Hermione ran to her side.

“Ginny? Are you alright?” Hermione was trying to look her over.

Ginny slowly lifted her head to reveal her tear stained face and moved her hand to uncover her shoulder where a black arrow sat plunged into her shoulder. Hermione let out a loud gasp and Draco was kneeling down in front of her now.

“SON OF A BITCH WEASLEY, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? YOU NEVER SHOULD'VE TRIED TO PROTECT ME,” he yelled, trying to hide the worry in his voice.

Ginny was trembling and wincing in pain. Hermione tried helping her stand. She tried to apparate to Hogsmeade, but she found she couldn't. There was something blocking her.

“I can't apparate out of here,” she said sounding panicked.

“Shit, it's the wards that are up around the Manor, it's much like Hogwarts. You can't apparate in or out of it.” Draco said, pacing back and forth trying to come up with an idea.

He ran to the front door and ripped it open. He ran outside and looked at the protective dome that closed them in. He was just now noticing the pain in his ankle from the fallen debris earlier. He didn't care though, he fought through it. He made an attempt to remove the ward. He shot every spell he could think of at it, but he was unsuccessful. He ran over to where the wards ended and tried to walk past it. He was immediately blasted backwards by the ward.

“FUCK” he yelled out in frustration and quickly made his way back inside the Manor. He ran back over to Ginny and the others and saw Hermione applying pressure to Ginny's wound. “Let's get her up to my room, I have some first aid stuff in my bathroom.” he said quickly deciding not to share the fact that they were all trapped in here.

Hermione nodded and tried to have Ginny walk with her, but she was too weak. Harry attempted to have her lean on him, but he couldn't with his shoulder. Draco picked Ginny up in his arms and started carrying her upstairs. Harry did a levitating spell to bring Ron's unconscious body upstairs as well. Ginny's head laid against Draco's chest, she looked up at him and then she felt herself fading. Draco looked down at her and saw her eyes glaze over and her head fall to the side. She was coming in and out of consciousness. He kicked his door open and brought her over to a leather couch in his room and sat her down. Harry levitated Ron onto another nearby couch and ran over to Ginny.

“We need to pull the arrow out” Harry said frantically.

“No” Hermione said coming back over with a bunch of towels and bandages. “Listen to me Harry, go fill up a bowl of water for me, and Draco, I'm going to need your help” She said, her voice hard and focused.

“What do you mean “no” Granger?” Draco said

“This is dark magic, it's a black arrow and look at the tail on it,” she said pointing to the end of the arrow. “It's a red and black tail, which means the head of the arrow is deadly. The head spikes out causing extreme damage to the enemy. If I pull it back out, it's going to be like pulling out an open umbrella. It will be less painful and less damaging if I push it the rest of the way through,” she said with a frightened look on her face.

“Push it through? Have you lost your fuckin mind Granger that will kill her?”

“No, it missed her lung and it's practically all the way through already. I just need to push it a bit more.” she said her voice shaking.

Harry came back with the water and set it down next to Hermione. The whole scene seemed to be going by so fast. Hermione's heart was racing, Harry looked completely lost, and Draco had a look of shock on his face.

“I need more room to do this lay her on the floor over here” Hermione said, walking over to a clearing in the room. Draco picked Ginny up and carried her over and laid her down on the floor. Hermione leaned down and pulled Ginny's limp body up into a sitting position. “Draco sit behind her and hold her up” Hermione ordered.

The world at that moment seemed to stop. Everything became muffled and blurry. The only thing Draco could see at this moment was the girl before him close to death. He thought about how he regretted holding back from being his true self. He thought about if Ginny and he could have ever been true friends or maybe even more. He had only just started warming up to the idea of it and she was already slipping away. This is why he was meant to be alone. He could never have any kind of friendship or relationship with anyone as long as his father was alive. He heard someone calling his name but he couldn't respond. He finally was pulled back to reality when he felt Harry grab him by the shirt.

"MALFOY, SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT AND HELP US, I CAN'T HOLD HER UP WITH MY SHOULDER LIKE THIS!" Harry yelled.

Draco stared at him and Hermione for a second before clearing his mind and leaning the redhead's body against him between his legs. Hermione snapped the tail of the arrow off and used some wet rags to clean some of the blood near the entrance wound. She grabbed the end of the arrow and was about to start pushing, her hands were shaking like crazy; she thought she was going to pass out. She was scared to death she might be wrong about something, or not be able to save her friend. She suddenly felt Harry grab her hand and she looked up at him. He gave her a small nod to show that it was going to be ok and she gave a small nod back. She turned and looked right into Draco's eyes.

“This is going to be really painful. She's going to scream, she's going to push away, she is going to try and fight us to stop from the amount of pain she's about to endure, but I need you to focus and make sure you hold her down, ok?” she said, firmly her eyes filling with tears.

He couldn't hide the fear and worry in his face. He nodded. He looked over to Harry who looked at him. Harry looked like he was going to pass out. His face was pale, his eyes were watery. Draco could tell how much the trio cared for Ginny. He turned back to Ginny when he heard Hermione rip Ginny's shirt. She ripped off the sleeve to her right arm and cut her bra strap to clear the area around the wound. Draco felt a huge lump in his throat form at how uncomfortable he felt in this moment. Not only did he have an unconscious Ginny lying between his legs bleeding all over him, but her bare shoulder quite visible as well.

“Ready?” Hermione asked, placing her hand on the arrow.

He nodded.

Hermione took a few deep breaths. She shook her hands to free them of the nerves. She was trying so hard not to fall apart right now.

Hermione grabbed the end of the arrow again and started to push as hard as she could to force it through Ginny flesh. Ginny's eyes flew open and let out a blood curdling scream. Draco grabbed her arms to her side as she kicked and screamed in pain. Hermione's face was twisted with anger and disgust at the gesture she had to perform on her friend. Draco felt Ginny's hand clasp onto his wrist and dug her nails into him. He didn't care he knew she needed to latch onto something to help ease the pain she was going through. She turned her head into his chest and screamed and cried from the pain. Suddenly, all screaming came to a stop and Draco felt the grip on his wrist loosen. He looked at Ginny's face and saw she fell unconscious again from the pain.

"I CAN'T DO THIS" Hermione suddenly cried out, trying hard not to completely lose herself.

"YES YOU CAN HERMIONE, YOU HAVE TO FOR GINNY'S SAKE" Harry said.

"NO I CAN'T, I CAN'T DO IT" she sobbed

"GRANGER, YOU NEED TO PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER RIGHT THIS GOD DAMN MINUTE, OR YOUR FRIEND WILL BLEED TO DEATH" Draco screamed at her.

She stared at him for a moment. Tears streamed down her face and she gave a sniffled nod. She took a few more deep breaths and grabbed the end of the arrow again. She pushed and pushed until she felt the head of the arrow break through. She let out a long breath when she saw the arrow head emerge.

“Got it” Hermione said, pulling the arrow free from Ginny's shoulder. Hermione glanced of the arrow head, she held in her hand. Her heart seemed to skip a beat at the sight of it.

“What is it Hermione?” Harry said, noticing the look on her face.

“Its poison” she whispered.

Silence filled the room. Harry stood up and started pacing the room. Draco just stared at the unconscious girl in his hands. His face was covered in anger as he thought of his father who caused all of this. Hermione came out of her daze suddenly and went back to address Ginny's wound. She healed as much as she could and bandaged it up after she gave it a thorough cleaning. She conjured an arm sling up from one of the towels and put Ginny's right arm in it. Draco transformed one of his tank tops to Ginny's size and a pair of pajama pants for her which Hermione changed her into. They all stood there for a moment after finally getting Ginny stable. Now that all the adrenaline stopped flowing everything began to sink in. There was nothing but silence, nobody spoke a word. The situation was completely unreal.

Hermione looked herself over and her eyes went to the area where they pulled out the arrow. All she saw was blood. It was all over her hands and her clothes. She looked over to Draco, who was noticing the same thing she was; he was covered in more blood than her. He was drenched in Ginny's blood. Some of it was on his face and even in his hair. Hermione's body started to shake and she fell to her knees and started sobbing. Harry embraced his friend and let her cry in his arms as he also shed tears for the redhead lying near death in the bed before him.

Draco ran into his bathroom that was connected to his bedroom and he threw up. He closed the bathroom door and started peeling the bloodstained clothes from his body. He splashed water on his face and looked up into the mirror. He was trembling from head to toe both from anger and shock. As hard as he tried to hold them back, but he couldn't help it and he broke down into tears.

About a half an hour later Draco emerged from the bathroom showered and changed. He saw Hermione sitting with Ron and Harry sitting in front of a fire that he took the liberty of starting. He sat on a nearby couch with his hands on his knees. “My father trapped us in here. He made the wards unbreakable; even he can't take them down. The only other person I think could override a ward like this is McGonagall and like Hogwarts, we could have mail come and go so we should write a letter to her as soon as possible.” He explained not looking at them. He was ashamed that his father was behind all of this.

He got up and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from the desk near his bed. He glanced over to Ginny's pale body unconscious in his bed. Her flaming hair wasn't as vibrant; her lips more purple than pink. His heart sank at the sight of her. He quickly turned away back to Harry and Hermione before his emotions got the better of him. He scribbled down a letter to McGonagall explaining what happened at Hogsmeade. He explained about the battle that took place and the wards that were keeping them here. He explained about Ginny's condition and told her she was stable for now, but needed an antidote to the poison. He left the room to go to the small Owlery the Manor had to send the letter.

Hermione stroked Ron's hair and looked at him as he slept. She healed his head and he had a concussion, but he was going to be ok. Her heart ached thinking about the news she had to share with him when he woke up. She also healed Harry's dislocated arm. She just wished there was more she could do for Ginny. Harry looked over at her. “How long does Ginny have?” he asked, a lump forming in his throat.

Hermione looked at him, “I don't know. It could take a week, two weeks or it could take a few days. I guess it would depend on how fast it's spreading and where it entered. Luckily it didn't hit any main organs, so I'm hoping that gives us time to get her to Madame Pomfrey.”

Draco came walking back into the room. “Ok, it's sent.”

Hermione and Harry nodded.

Draco walked over to his closet and pulled out some clothes. He handed them to Harry and Hermione.

“Here, you can alter these to your liking. There is a guest room across the hall and one next to it. You can crash in there. There's a bathroom in each room so help yourselves. I'll see if there's anything to eat down in the kitchen.”

They both silently nodded. They were all still in a state of shock.

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Draco walked into the kitchen of Malfoy Manor and went into the liquor cabinet. He poured himself a drink. It wasn't often he ever did this, but tonight was as good a night as any. He threw back a shot and then another. He wasn't sure how to feel right now, angry......sad? He threw his glass against the wall in frustration. He didn't notice how heavy his breathing had become and he leaned on the counter with his head back to try and calm himself.

"I see you've found something more than food" Hermione said in a small voice walking into the kitchen.

She sat down on a bar stool at the little island in the kitchen. She was showered and changed into the clothes Draco gave her. She eyed the liquor on the counter. Draco saw this and grabbed two cups and poured them both a drink. He slid it over to her. She looked down at it for a moment and then quickly grabbed it and threw it back.

"Oh, gosh, that burns."

"That's the best part" Draco chuckled and then drank his. He poured another two for them. "Here, the second goes down easier."

She took the glass from him and reluctantly drank it. She closed her eyes in anticipation for the burn and was relieved to feel it wasn't near as bad as the first.

"Hmm, you weren't lying, so much better."

He sat down across from her. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Harry is talking to Ron about Ginny. He came around after I got out of the shower. I couldn't bring myself to tell him" Hermione's voice broke out in barely a whisper.

Draco was quiet. What was there to say? He poured them both another drink. They both downed them. Harry came walking into the kitchen and took a seat with them. Draco took this as a sign to grab another glass and poured three more drinks.

"I talked to Ron; I had to force him to stay in bed. He can barely keep his eyes open. He's pretty out of it still but I explained about Ginny and that she was stable for now. He finally lay back down; crazy git that one." Harry said throwing back his drink.

Hermione gave him a small smile and the three of them sat there in silence again. Draco filled Harry's glass again.

"Never thought I'd be throwing back drinks with Draco Malfoy at his house and in his clothes" Harry said suddenly.

They all burst out laughing at this statement. The sound of a laugh was hard to come by these past few weeks.

"Alright, well that's enough drinking for me for one night" Draco said.

"Yeah, I'm not even hungry anyway, I couldn't eat after........." Hermione trailed off.

"Come on, let's head back up to Ginny." Harry said, putting his arm around Hermione.

They walked back upstairs and Hermione checked on Ginny. She changed her bandage real quick and then joined Ron in the guest room across the hall. Harry took the guest room next to them and Draco slept on the couch in his room where Ginny was in his bed. His bedroom was a lot like the Head boy dorm room at Hogwarts. The only difference was that there were actually windows that let the outside light in rather than being surrounded by the dungeon walls. He sat in one of the armchairs where he could keep an eye on Ginny and opened up a book to read. He didn't get very far before his mind wandered and he fell asleep.

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Ginny slowly opened her eyes. All she saw was darkness. She blinked a few times until her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. Above her, she saw a canopy to a bed and finally realized she was in bed. Not her bed though. She went to go sit up and was immediately met with excruciating pain. She looked over to her shoulder and saw it was bandaged and in a sling. She started to panic and tried to sit up again. She let out a slight gasp from the pain she was in. Draco immediately heard her and ran over to her side.

"Ginny, you're awake. No, stop moving, don't try to sit up," he said trying to calm her.

"Where am I? What happened to me?" She was practically crying from the pain and confusion she was experiencing.

"You were hit with an arrow and you're at Malfoy Manor" Draco told her.

Ginny's mind finally played catch up and the entire event from earlier played over in her head. Draco watched as her face expressions changed from anger to worry to understanding. She finally looked at him, her eyes wide.

"Where is everyone?"

"They are ok, they're across the hall in a guest room," he said, grabbing some water off of his nightstand for her. "Here, drink this."

Ginny took the cup and almost dropped it when Draco quickly grabbed it. She felt so weak; she could barely sit herself up.

"Here, let me help you" Draco said, holding the glass for Ginny to drink from.

"Thanks," she said in a shaky voice and then laid back down.

"It was a poisonous arrow" Draco blurted out suddenly.

"What?" Ginny asked, confused.

He took a deep breath and repeated himself, "The arrow that hit you; its poisonous" he said running a hand through his hair.

Ginny looked at him with a thoughtful look on her face. She then had a small smirk on her face.

"You're always such a breath of fresh air to have around," she gave a small smile

He half laughed at her comment. "Sorry, just wanted to get that out of the way."

They were quiet for a few moments. "How long do I have?" she asked with a hoarse voice.

"We are waiting to hear back from McGonagall. I'm hoping Madame Pomfrey has some answers for us and that we can get out of here and get you some help."

"Draco?"

"Yeah"

"I'm in so much pain," she said with tears in her eyes.

"I'll be right back. I have something that might help."

He disappeared from the room and returned shortly after with a glass and a bottle of Firewhisky. He poured her a glass and helped her drink it. She winced at the burn and then he helped her down another two glasses.

"Thanks," she whispered.

He sat next to her until her eyes grew heavy and she soon fell asleep. He walked over to the couch in front of the fire and threw himself down on it. He thought of how worried he was for Ginny. His heart ached to see her in such pain. He kept telling himself to stop thinking like that. He didn't know what it was about Ginny but she made him forget about his plan of not getting to close every time she was around him; which was exactly why he couldn't get too close to begin with. He shook his head of all thoughts and let sleep take him once again for the night.

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The next morning Draco woke up with a headache and the pain in his ankle seemed to finally get his attention. He knew it was probably just a bad sprain and some bruising, but the few drinks he had last night made it seem like nothing. He heard an annoying tapping at the window and cracked his eyes open to find the blaring sun in his face. He gave a light groan from the uncomfortable position he slept in on the couch all night. He sat up and saw his owl tapping to get in. He realized it was a response from McGonagall and immediately got up and limped over to the window and threw it open. He grabbed the letter from the owl and the owl flew off back to the Owlery. He opened the letter.

Dear Draco, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny,

I'm so sorry to hear about your unfortunate encounter with Lucius Malfoy and the Death Eaters. I am even sorrier to hear about Miss Weasley's condition. It pains me to tell you lot thi,s but The Ministry feels it would be safer for you to stay at Malfoy Manor. Having that ward up right now seems to be the safest place you can be. Why Lucius would put up a ward that he himself can't get back into is a mystery to me. Hogwarts is completely empty. After the Hogsmeade attack the little bit of students left were pulled out by their families out of fear. Lucius' attacks are at an all time high and they even tried to penetrate the Hogwarts wards. I have been fighting with the Ministry on this since I received your letter but am afraid I don't have the same reputation as Dumbledore did. I will work on removing the ward when the Ministry has approved it. I have informed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley of the situation and as well as Miss Granger's parents. As for Ginny's condition, Madame Pomfrey is working on an antidote. Sadly, neither we nor St. Mungo's hospital is equipped to handle such cases of Dark Magic so an antidote isn't readily available. It also pains me to say that the antidote will not be ready for at least two weeks. When it is I will send it unless I am able to get you all out of there before hand. I had Madame Pomfrey send a couple of sleeping draughts for Miss Weasley and have included a healing charm incantation that perhaps Miss Granger can attempt to perform. I'm so sorry I can't do more at the moment, but I am trying all that I can. Someone at the Ministry is working for Lucius and it's making it hard for me to do more. Please send me daily updates on Miss Weasley's condition and I will send any news I have to you all.

Minerva McGonagall

Pure rage filled Draco by the time he was done reading the letter. He couldn't believe they were stuck here. He stormed across the hall and threw open the door to the guest room. Hermione and Ron shot up.

"THEY ARE KEEPING US HERE. EVEN AFTER THE ATTACK WE JUST WENT THROUGH. SOMEONE AT THE MINISTRY HAS AN UPPERHAND ON DECISION MAKING AND IS WORKING WITH MY FATHER. MCGONAGALL SAID SHE CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT NOW!" Draco yelled to them pacing back and forth with the letter in his hand.

"What, are you serious?" Hermione said, getting out of bed and grabbing the letter for Draco.

Harry walked in rubbing his eyes. "What's going on?"

"Let's just say that someone at the Ministry is making sure we stay put" Hermione answered.

"This is insane; they can't expect us to stay here. Especially with Ginny being ill now," Ron said with a look of worry washing over his face at the mention of his sister.

Draco looked at him for a moment and then to Hermione. "McGonagall said two weeks at least for an antidote. Can she wait that long?"

"I don't know, if I can keep her wound clean and try and heal it more than maybe I can buy her enough time until then. Most of her pain is from the wound so we should focus on keeping her comfortable for now." Hermione looked over the incantation of the healing charm.

"I thought you knew how to heal Granger?" Draco said sounding a bit annoyed.

"Only minor charms, Ron's head and Harry's shoulder was a lot easier than healing an open wound like Ginny's. By the way, let me take a look at your ankle" she said, kneeling down next to him.

"I'm fine, just work on trying to heal Ginny" he said stepping back from her.

She stared at him for a moment and then turned to Harry and Ron. "Ron why don't you go check on Ginny and Harry go see what there is to eat downstairs. I'm going to heal Draco's ankle real quick"

Ron and Harry nodded and walked out of the room and she turned her focus back to Draco.

"I told you I'm fine Granger" he drawled.

"Draco, shut up and sit down," she said, pushing him into a nearby chair.

She pulled up his pant leg and made a pained face at the site of his ankle. "Gosh Draco, and you walked around on this?"

"Well, can't say I really felt much between the adrenaline and the drinking last night," he said watching her examine his ankle.

"Yeah, the drinking, let's just say I can hold my liquor well. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow last night." she chuckled.

Draco gave her a smirk and then felt an instant relief as she healed his ankle.

"There, good as new," she said with a smile.

"Thanks," he said and then got up quickly and exited the room.

_________________________________________________________________

Hermione checked on Ginny's wound and changed her bandages. She tried the incantation a few times but was unsuccessful. She was going to try and tackle it again after they had some breakfast. Ginny woke up while Hermione was changing her bandages and had a few sips of water. Hermione told her about the letter and then gave her a sleeping potion that Madame Pomfrey sent so that she can sleep through the pain. Draco came walking out of the bathroom to his room dressed and glanced over to Ginny. He saw her fast asleep, she looked so peaceful. Hermione gave him a small smile at seeing this.

"Let's see if Potter came up with some concoction for us to call food" he said as they both headed downstairs.

They arrived at the kitchen and sat at the middle island where Harry and Ron were. There was a full breakfast made and served for each of them.

"Shit Potter, you do a better job than the house elves" Draco teased sliding a plate over to himself.

"Ha ha, well when you have years of practice slaving over your aunt, uncle and cousin you tend to pick up a few things. It also helped that your kitchen is stocked with every food imaginable" he said taking a bite of eggs.

"Bloody hell, look at us, eating breakfast with a Malfoy, never thought I'd see the day" Ron said.

Draco looked over at him a seen a smirk on Ron's face. He was ready to respond with a nasty comeback, but decided against it given their current living arrangements.

"I still don't understand, Lucius trapped us in here for what reason exactly? I mean I understand he wants to see us suffer through Ginny's pain, but why have Malfoy here? I guess to see us suffer through trying to live under the same roof together? To see who will kill Malfoy first?" Ron asked with a confused look.

Draco looked down at his plate, "Yeah, I guess that's why" he said.

Hermione looked over to him and so did Harry. They both knew Lucius wanted them to watch Ginny die in here. He knew Draco had a soft spot for her and he knew Draco would suffer through seeing her waste away in here. Draco got up and walked out of the kitchen as Harry and Hermione looked at Ron, who seemed to be oblivious to the way Draco responded to his theory. Hermione looked at Harry and rolled her eyes.