Consequences

AN - My muse is reminding me again why I call her sadistic. The end is very near and the next chapter will finally explain everything...including why I\'m calling this a crossover. ;-)



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"So, let me get this straight..." Remus growled...a deep animalistic rumble that reminded Ginny rather uncomfortably that the man pacing in front of them was not just a man, and the first night of the full moon was the next day. "...Kingsley allowed you to go back in time and save not one, not two, but five people over a twelve hour period? And in the process, a woman just mysteriously disappeared, but you said nothing?!"



Ginny swallowed nervously. She wished Ron was there to help explain, but that morning he\'d been the one to wake with a horrific headache, so he was in the infirmary and thus unable to attend the meeting Draco had arranged with Remus the night before. "Basically, yeah," she murmured guiltily.



"We reported Mum missing though!" Draco pointed out.



"You didn\'t mention to anyone that time travel was involved!" Remus shouted. "Do you have any idea what could have happened when you interfered with time like that?" This was directed at Ginny.



"Kingsley knows time travel was involved, and he thought Narcissa probably just ran off with Snape," she muttered defensively.



Remus rubbed his face with both hands, and when he looked up, his eyes flashed gold for a second. "Well, she clearly did not. Something happened, and the fact that everyone you saved can remember their deaths means that the original timeline is bleeding into the new one that you created,"



"What does that mean?" Hermione asked, her voice shaking. "For us, I mean."



Remus sighed. "I think perhaps the original timeline is trying to reestablish itself. It is overwriting the changes Ginny and Ron made."



Ginny froze, but her heart began to beat so hard she was afraid it would tear through her chest. "No," she said, shaking her head frantically. "That can\'t happen!"



Draco reached over and gently squeezed her hand, and she clung to his tightly enough to make him wince. "Is there anything we can do to prevent it?" He asked, his voice anxious and tense.



"I\'ll research it," Remus said. "The fact that the time turner keeps appearing around you and Ginny must mean something."



"How long do we have?" Harry finally spoke up. He had his arms wrapped tightly around Hermione, who looked like she was about to cry.



"I really don\'t know, Harry," Remus admitted reluctantly. "It\'s impossible to say at this point. Like I said, I\'m going to look into it."



"This weekend is the full moon," Draco pointed out. "How much are you really going to be able to do?"



"I can work during the day," Remus replied a bit defensively. "And I doubt anything critical will happen before Monday."



There didn\'t seem to be much else to say after that, so they went about their day. Ginny noticed that even the normally irrepressible Luna seemed down in the dumps, especially after they visited Ron in the infirmary at lunchtime and discovered that the pain potion that had helped ease Ginny\'s headache just the day before wasn\'t putting even a tiny dent in his pain.



Seeing her brother curled up in a ball with his head in his hands, his eyes wet and red-rimmed as he fought to bite back the little pained whimpers that were bubbling up in his chest in spite of his best efforts nearly killed her. It was far worse than having actually experienced the same pain he now felt herself. Knowing she would most likely feel it again soon was terrifying.



Draco, Harry and Hermione stood silently around the bed, their expressions almost identical. They were scared, but trying to hide it.



That evening at supper, she started to feel a familiar dull ache behind her right eye that normally indicated that another headache was coming on. She tried to ignore the pain, but by the time they all arrived back in the common room of the still unnamed new house, she could no longer hide it from Draco. He and Harry were walking her to the infirmary when her nose started to bleed.



Madam Pomfrey took one look at the blood soaked handkerchief Draco had pressed to her nose (obviously, it had been pristine until he had done so) and gestured for Draco, who was carrying her again, to set her down on the bed beside Ron\'s.



"Another one? You didn\'t tell me she\'d been having nose bleeds as well," the healer said reproachfully.



"This is the first one, right Dray?" Harry murmured uncertainly.



"Yeah," Draco mumbled. It hurt too much to even consider opening her eyes to check, but it sounded like he was crying. "What\'s wrong with her? What\'s causing this?"



He\'d raised his voice slightly, and Ginny cried out in agony, covering her head with her arms.



"If you can\'t lower your voice, I\'m going to have to ask you to leave," Madam Pomfrey scolded, her voice coming out in a soft hiss.



"Can\'t you give her whatever you gave Ron?" Harry whispered.



There was a long pause. "I...nothing I gave him helped." Madam Pomfrey murmured hesitantly.



"So it just went away?" Harry asked hopefully.



"I\'m afraid not," Madam Pomfrey mumbled. "I already owled their parents...I was just about to send for Miss Weasley to tell her...Ronald has slipped into a coma."



Ginny moaned weakly and began to sob. She was vaguely aware of Madam Pomfrey fussing over her and Harry and Draco whispering loudly to each other. The pain in her skull grew more and more intense until she could barely breath through her agony.



"Do something!" she heard Draco\'s voice, sounding like he was far off in the distance.



"Quiesco!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. The pain didn\'t fade, but everything else suddenly did, and she felt like she was sinking into the mattress beneath her. She kept expecting to come to rest, but instead, she began falling faster and faster, still wracked by unbearable pain.



She wasn\'t sure how long she had been falling when she became aware of a high pitched squeak in the distance. She tried to look around for the source of the noise, but everything was dark.



She continued to fall. The annoying squeak got closer and louder, and it seemed like she was falling more slowly now.



"Ginny!" Her name came as a faint whisper. She recognized the squeak as someone screaming. They were definitely getting closer. The world around her seemed to be getting slightly brighter as well...everything was now tinged with red.



The screaming was very close now.



"Ginny! Wake up!" The whisper was closer now, too. A bit louder. More urgent. And the screaming was coming from...her? "Ginny!" Someone shook her hard and she stopped falling, her eyes popping open.



"It\'s about time!" Ron was leaning over her, Luna beside him.



She was back in her room in the dormitory. Wait...she\'d never slept in there before...all week she\'d slept with... "Where\'s Draco?" She mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head, which was throbbing slightly.



"Who?" Luna asked confusedly.



"Draco," Ginny repeated, receiving blank looks from both her brother and his girlfriend. "Draco Malfoy. My boyfriend?"



Ron\'s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "No wonder you were screaming. That must\'ve been some nightmare you were having, Sis," he chuckled, patting her on the knee through her covers before he stood up and left the room.



"What?" Ginny mumbled confusedly.



"Ginny, you know Draco Malfoy died back in May," Luna murmured, almost reprovingly.



"He...what? No..." Ginny gasped. "No!"



"Gin, are you feeling okay?" Luna asked worriedly. "You mentioned you had a headache last night before you went to bed."



"Right," Ginny nodded. "And Draco and Harry took me to the infirmary. How did I get back here?"



"Ginny, that\'s not funny!" Luna exclaimed, coming as close to frowning as Ginny had ever seen her. The throbbing in her head began to develop into another full blown headache.



"I agree, this isn\'t funny," Ginny scowled, quickly growing tired of Luna\'s inappropriate humor. "Where is Draco?!"



Luna frowned. "You really don\'t remember? Ginny, he\'s dead. He and his father were killed by Death Eaters during the last battle, remember?"



Ginny felt like someone had dunked her in a tub full of ice. "And...Harry?" She asked reluctantly.



Luna nodded, her eyes welling with tears. "Hermione, too."



Ginny choked back a sob, but managed to whisper, "Fred?"



"I\'m so sorry, Ginny." Luna murmured sadly.



The screaming had started again, and everything slowly went back to black.