Last Hope - Part 8 of A Woman Scorned (H/D, PG-13)

[sesheta66]

Title:   Last Hope, Part 8 of A Woman Scorned
Author:   sesheta_66 
Rating:   PG-13
Word Count:   1105
Pairing/Characters:   Harry/Draco, Ginny
Challenge:   AWDT - "Night after night" 
Warnings:   No beta. Please point out any errors you find.
Summary:   Harry is running out of patience, and thinks of one last opportunity to escape without hurting anyone. But things are never easy for Harry ...
Disclaimer:   The characters contained herein are not mine. They belong to JK Rowling and her publishers. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.

Part 1 - A Valentine Surprise
Part 2 - The Plan
Part 3 - Without a Trace
Part 4 - A Beautiful Lie
Part 5 - Whatever It Takes
Part 6 - The Best Laid Plans 
Part 7 - At His Wit's End

 

Night after night, Harry played the game. His "nightmares" got worse, and his sleep-deprived self got more quiet and withdrawn during the day. He watched Ginny for any sign of weakness.

If he had thought this would improve his situation, he had soon discovered that it wouldn't. The sleep-deprivation was all too real, as he still feared falling asleep in Ginny's presence.

A week ago, Ginny had finally relented, and had gone out, leaving him alone in the cottage. He was pleasantly surprised to find that she hadn't put up wards around his room, forcing him to remain there while she was gone. She had kept the wards on the cottage up so he couldn't go outside, but at least he wasn't confined to such a small space. Hope blossomed at the thought of spending some quality time snooping. It was, after all, something he was quite good at.

He had come up with nothing. There was no wand - not that he had expected to find one - and no sign of magic. There were no potions ingredients, no portkey, no floo, no hidden trap doors or tunnels leading outside the wards. There were no maps, no flyers, no papers - absolutely nothing that hinted at where they were. For all Harry knew, they could have been in another country, on another continent - hell, another planet for all he was able to ascertain.

The only magical anything was the ripple that surged through him and reverberated around him as he finally gave up the search. The cupboards shook, windows rattled, and a few things fell off the kitchen table before he was able to get it under control.

The last thing he needed was for Ginny to return to find the place in shambles, as a result of his temper. She would never leave him alone again if that happened, and much as he was frustrated at the lack of progress he had made, he did recognize that it had been a nice break. He truly was beginning to loathe Ginny.

The other possibility, of course, was that she would drug him again, as she had when they had first arrived. He had to eat to keep up his strength, so he was at her mercy. He recalled with bitterness how the drugs had made him drowsy and out of it. He needed his wits about him if he was ever going to get out of this mess. He needed to keep his temper in check, although he didn't know just how much longer he could do that. Never a good one at hiding his emotions, he was on the edge of screaming at her all the time now.

Since the day she left him on his own, he had played the game. He explained that he hated taking anything for sleep, so he was only going to take a small dose each night, and maybe not every night. Just enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

He had encouraged Ginny to allow him more freedom, and she had responded by expanding the barriers of the wards. He was hoping to snoop around for hidden pathways, tunnels, people, some way to get a message out - anything really - but she hadn't left his side. It was rather unnerving. In fact, he had to bite his tongue regularly to prevent himself from simply telling her to fuck off and leave him alone.

Now the mere sight of her face irritated him. The sound of her voice grated on his nerves. Her touch - even just a hand on his arm - sent cold shivers down his spine. He knew she wasn't well, but he was gradually coming to the conclusion that he just didn't give a shit. If this kept up much longer, he was convinced he would do something to harm her. He wasn't quite there yet in his mind, but he was dangerously close to that edge, and he suspected that it wouldn't take much more to step over it.

Day after day she followed him around like a bloody lost puppy. Merlin, if she had a camera, she'd have pulled off a great imitation of Colin Creevey in his first year. Colin - there's someone Harry hadn't thought about for a while. He had had a bit of a crush on Ginny back in school. Harry laughed to himself. "You don't know how lucky you are to have escaped this, mate," he said aloud.

Evening after evening, she had insisted on having supper together and planning their future. The daytime Ginny was annoying, but the evening Ginny was downright creepy. It was at that time of day that she seemed the most detached from reality. In fact, she seemed to forget where they were and that she was holding Harry prisoner. It was as though her mind was stuck back in some past time when they had been together. Any mention of current events at this time of day was met with a look of sheer confusion.

Night after night, she watched Harry sleep. He wasn't sure if it was out of concern for his well being, out of love - her warped version of it anyway - out of frustration that they weren't becoming closer as she had hoped, or out of fear that he might escape or try to hurt her. No matter the reason, it was annoying as hell. He felt like a fish in a fishbowl ... or like that snake at the zoo all those years ago, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley and his friend Pierce.

Harry thought back to that day, and smiled at the memory of setting the reptile free. Wait a minute! He didn't have a wand back then, yet he was able to make the glass disappear! Maybe he could do the same thing here, only on the wards.

He sighed as he realized that he would have no hope of succeeding unless he had a chance to practice on something easy. He hadn't even attempted wandless magic since first going to Hogwarts, but he knew that his magic was alive and well in him, if the rattling cupboards were any indication.

With what he felt was likely the last bit of hope he had remaining in him, he set out to come up with a way to get Ginny to leave him alone again. If she didn't, Harry wasn't so sure he could guarantee her safety for much longer.

"Oh, Ginny, you really do need some help," he mumbled aloud to himself.

"What do I need help with, Harry?"

Part 9 - A Troubled Mind