Heaven Forbid

Harry really didn't know what to expect, but he surely hadn't expected what came next. Telling the children to go put their things away, Ginny marched up to her husband and slapped him swiftly across the face.

"That's for making me worry," she growled.

She leaned in and kissed him gently on his stinging cheek, and then planted a firm kiss on his lips.

"And that's for slapping you," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Harry put his hand up to his red cheek and shook his head.

Women.

"Great to see you, too," he replied, and pulled her into his arms.

They stayed that way for a long moment, as Harry reveled in the way her body fit snugly against his. He inhaled deeply, wishing to keep the scent of her long, ginger hair with him forever. His worries melted away as she held onto him, and for a moment he had forgotten what was waiting upstairs. Or rather, who was waiting.

Sighing, he finally released her. Ginny was beaming at him, her green eyes sparkling.

"We need to talk," he said, escorting her into the study.

Her smile immediately faded.

"What's wrong?" she asked, a worried look spread across her face. "Did something happen?"

Harry bit his lip. "Er, sort of. Not exactly. It's best if you sit down."

Ginny's frown deepened, but took a seat with saying another word.

"You know I love you, right?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes. "Yes, why?"

"And you know that I'd never do something without talking it over with you, unless it were a life or death situation, right?"

Ginny shifted uneasily in her chair. "Dammit, Harry, just spit it out already!"

"Fine! Just please, don't hit me," he pleaded, moving a bit further out of her reach.

"Harry, if you don't tell me what's going on already, I swear I will come over there and likely murder you," she replied, sourly.

"Right. Well, you see, I was, errr.... contacted by Lucius Malfoy...." he began.

Ginny closed her eyes, a sign Harry was very familiar with. She was literally holding her breath.

"And, of course, I ignored it at first, but you see, the owl was very persistent and, and I couldn't just ignore a persistent owl, for chrissakes, it bit me! So, naturally, I responded and when I get to the m-manor, well they lay this whole story on me about how Draco's sick and some bastard's cast a spell over him because he wanted to man for his slave, jesus, Ginny, Draco hasn't been able to age because this damned man wanted to use him as his toy and I couldn't let that happen...."

Ginny's eyes fluttered open, and her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "I don't understand," she said, flatly.

"Yeah, I didn't either, but then Narcissa begged me -- she literally got down onto her knees and begged me -- to help her son! And I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, not when I have kids of my own and I thought of.... I just couldn't. So, I said I'd help and she took me to see Draco and he was dying! Laying in bed just slipping away; he barely had a heartbeat! And he looked so damned pathetic, you know?"

Harry paused for a moment, and took a deep breath.

"And she said some spells and some ancient magic, and then these runes, these symbols, swam around us, and then they burned into my skin, look here, see!"

He walked over to her, and pulled up the sleeves of his robe to show her the burns. Her eyes widened, and she reached out to lightly trace the skin around them.

"Oh," she whispered, unsure of really what to say.

Harry pulled back his arm and lowered his sleeve. He crouched so he was eye-level with Ginny and took her hands in his.

"I couldn't just let him die, you have to understand. As much as we hate him.... He was just a kid. He didn't know better.... I had to help him, Ginny, please believe me." Harry squeezed her hands, his heart breaking as he watched her eyes fill with tears.

"What does this mean then?" she asked, her shaky voice barely audible.

Harry looked down, ashamed. "According to the Malfoys, Draco's now our..... slave."

Ginny gasped, wrenching her hands out from beneath Harry's.

"What do you mean?" she demanded, glaring at Harry.

"I don't know. Exactly what it sounds like, I guess."

"You guess," she asked, her voice squeaking.

"Well, we don't really know much about the spell, dear. We--"

Harry was cut off before he could finish the sentence.

"You guess," she repeated, the tone of her voice traveling up a few octaves.

"Er, well...." stammered Harry.

"Harry James Potter, you are telling that you have just made a man your slave and you guess that it means what it sounds like," she half-shouted, her shrill voice causing Harry's heart to beat harder in his chest.

"Can you please just let me finish, and then have it out with me?" he asked.

At this point, Ginny had risen out of her seat. She began to pace the room, her fury quite apparent. "Fine," she said, bitterly. "But be sure that we will have it out. Because we will."

Harry gulped.

"Great," he mumbled under his breath.

"Alright, well, so yes, technically Draco is our slave--"

Ginny looked up and shot him a death-glare terrifying enough to make him weak in the knees.

"However, if I had not agreed to this.... arrangement, Draco would be as good as dead. Or worse, really. So, I could have either been a murderer, or I could have saved his life, and then dealt with this er, setback."

"So, please, try to see where I'm coming from. I'm not doing this just to spite you, Ginny. Why would I? I love you. And as your husband, you really should respect my decisions even if they aren't quite.... what we would like them to be. Honestly, Ginny, do you think I wanted this? I don't. I'd much rather have been left in peace. To have the man I hated as my slave is simply disgusting, in my opinion. Frankly, I hate myself at the moment. Not that there's much I could have done about it..."

Ginny stopped pacing and looked up at Harry, a sad expression replacing the glare. She walked over to him and buried her face in his chest, and began to sob.

"I'm sorry, Harry -- but you couldn't expect me to just take news like this calmly, could you? I didn't mean to be so hard, honest. I can't even imagine what this might be doing to you," she cried, clinging to Harry.

Harry felt sorry he'd ever brought this on his family. He squeezed Ginny tightly to him, kissing her head.

"No, no, I'm the sorry one. I shouldn't have.... I should've known you might have had reacted this way," he said sadly, rubbing her back comfortingly.

Ginny pulled away from him, and dried her face on the back of her sleeve. "Alright. Well, we'll be okay, won't we?"

Harry only nodded, afraid that his voice might deceive the confidence he was trying to display.

Ginny nodded back, as if reassuring herself that she was right.

"So, when should we expect him then?" she asked, doing her best to hide the strain in her voice.

Damn. And just when they'd stopped arguing.

"Er, well, he's in the guest room at the moment, actually," he said, giving his wife a small smile.

Ginny closed her eyes for a moment, her lips twitching in the corners as she forced herself to watch her temper.

"Oh, good. So, he'll be joining us for supper then. Very well. I'll go and get started."

She made her way out of the room, stopping at the doorway. Without looking back, she added, "I'll expect you to inform the children of our new... guest."

And with that, she left the room, leaving Harry to figure out what to do next on his own.