Unhinged

Chapter 9

The next few days that went by were filled with silence. Ginny slept a lot more and was growing weaker by the day; she was barely eating anything. They received a letter from McGonagall saying the antidote was in its final stages of being ready which brought hope to all of them. Draco and Ginny hadn't spoken since their argument a few days ago. He still slept on the couch in his room, but during the day he wandered about the Manor to avoid Ginny. Harry, Ron, and Hermione just went back to doing their daily routine of book reading and playing wizard's chess. It was one afternoon that Draco came running into his room where they all were, holding a piece of paper.

"Granger, take a look at this. I found it in my father's office," he said, handing the paper to her.

She took the paper and looked it over. Her eyes grew wide and a smile formed on her face. "It's all about the wards around the Manor," she shrieked standing up from the couch she was lounging on. "It's a time-release spell that's on the ward." she stated.

"What does that mean?" Ron asked

"It means the ward will lift after two weeks," she said with excitement.

"We only have a few days left then," Harry said suddenly.

"But why two weeks of all time frames?" Ron asked.

"I think that's pretty obvious," she said in a sad voice turning her head to look at Ginny.

The excitement seemed to have died down and they all turned their focus on the redhead sleeping in the bed before them. She was getting worse and worse each day.

"I hope she can hold on until then," Ron whispered.

Hermione went over and hugged him. "She will Ron, she's strong," she gave him a small smile.

"Why don't you guys hit the Quidditch pitch for a bit and clear your minds. I'll stay with Granger and watch over Ginny." came Draco's voice suddenly not looking at any of them.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked Hermione more than Draco.

"Yeah, it's fine, go ahead," she said, giving Ron a quick kiss.

Harry and Ron left the room and Hermione wrote a quick note to McGonagall about the timer on the ward and then joined Draco on the couch, each of them had a book in their hand. They read in silence for a while with just the sound of the occasional turn of a page and the crackling fire. Ginny gave a few coughs in her sleep as they read and Hermione would peek her head over to make sure she was ok. Ginny started coughing again, this time harder. Hermione got up and walked over to her and Draco put his book down to glance over at Ginny.

Hermione reached the bed and saw Ginny was sweating out a fever. She quickly pulled the blankets off of her. Her body was sweaty and clammy.

"SHIT!" Hermione cursed loudly.

Draco instinctively jumped up and walked over to her.

"What's wrong?" He soon saw the condition Ginny was in and didn't require an answer.

"Draco, help me get her to the bathroom," Hermione said, trying to keep Ginny alert enough to try and walk a bit.

"Watch out I got her," Draco said and gently lifted her in his arms. Ginny could barely keep her eyes opened. She just let her head fall against his chest as he carried her to the bathroom. She started coughing roughly again and squirmed out of Draco's arms when they got to the bathroom and she threw herself over the toilet and threw up. She could barely hold herself up over the bowl. She had vomit in her hair and tears down her face. She didn't even know why she was crying.