Stolen Memories

Disclaimer; I do not own, nor will I ever own, Harry Potter or anything HP related, that all belongs to J.K Rowling. The plot is mine though.

Epilogue

Fierce winds whipped her hair in spirals around her pale, freckled, face. Her honey eyes slipped closed, her red lips parted slightly before upturning into a soft smile, her head tilted upwards as the sun shone down on her pale flesh, a soft, contented, sigh escaped her slightly parted lips. The winds swiftly moved through the leaves of the trees, causing the thinner branches to dance in the sunlight and the leaves to whistle a secret song. Ginny Weasley slowly opened her eyes as she felt a change beneath her exposed toes.

The leaves and earth that crunched under her weight seemed to disappear. She tilted her head down to watch but by the time her eyes had focused on ground below her it had already changed. She was no longer in the dimly lit forest she had been standing in a moment before. The sun shone brighter, the wind blew more freely, the whistle of the tree leaves shifted to a hard, relaxing, crash of water on rock, the earth under her feet softened and slipped between her toes. She was now standing on a beach.

She didn't wonder how she got here, it didn't bother her that it was impossible to start in one place, close your eyes, and end up somewhere completely different. Looking out into the sea Ginny felt a pull to the water. Slowly she raised her foot, relishing in the feeling of the hot sand slipping between her toes, and took the first step towards the green water's edge. The nearer she got the colder, and wetter, the sand became.

"Ginny."

She stopped, only inches from the tempting glassy surface.

Slowly she pivoted on her foot and turned slightly and felt herself smile.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked with a chuckle in his voice.

"The water looks so nice."

"It's freezing. Come back to the blanket." Draco nodded to a large green blanket resting peacefully atop the clean sand.

She didn't speak, only smiled. Draco's thin lips twitched upwards before he turned and began walking away from her. Ginny took one last longing look at the tantalizing water before turning to join her boyfriend.

By the time she had taken her second step Draco was already seated and watching her, waiting. Even though he was so far away, even though she couldn't see his face clearly, Ginny knew the look he was giving her. She blushed, smiling, and quickly cast her eyes downwards. Tucking a stray strand of red hair behind her ear she looked up and smiled sweetly, knowing he would see it no matter how far away she was from him.

As she took her fifth step the wind picked up and whistled more harshly, on her sixth the brightness of the sun seemed to have turned down, casting dark shadows. The water crashed ferociously against the rock the moment she raised her leg to take her eighth. She looked back at the raging sea, wave after wave crashed angrily; as if it was enraged she had walked away from its tempting shores. A shudder ran up her spine and the tiny hairs on her arm prickled and rose causing uncomfortable goose bumps. Ginny rubbed her arms but it was no use, the feeling wouldn't go. She let out a shaky breath and peeled her eyes away from the angry water.

What she saw didn't make sense.

Draco was still seated on the blanket, still giving her that look, but it didn't fill her with the same warmth it usually did. No, now it caused her blood to run cold and the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. His eyes seemed darker, angrier, crueller. Ginny felt her breath catch in her throat, pressure began to build behind her eyes and she knew they were wide and bulging. Shaking her head she decided it must have been a trick of the light, she was being paranoid. Draco's head twitched, signalling her to come closer; she obliged.

She was only five or so paces away when she stopped to stare in disbelief. Draco and the blanket moved back as she moved forward. Shakily she turned towards the water once more, she hadn't moved at all. How was that possible?

The more she walked the further away he got, the faster she pumped her legs the darker the once calming beach became. She hadn't moved forward yet she had run a mile. Out of breath she placed her hands on her knees and closed her eyes; willing her body to go somewhere else. Slowly, she looked up to see that she was in fact somewhere else, but not somewhere she wanted to be.

She was back in the clearing, the light clearing with the eyes staring down at her, only this time there was just one set of eyes, dark, ominous eyes, staring down at her. Ginny spun wildly, looking for the lighter, softer, eyes that would calm her racing heart. They were nowhere to be seen.

A bodiless cackle sounded in the distance, within mere seconds though it was no longer in the distance, it was behind her, in front of her, at either side of her, under and above her, it was everywhere; taunting her, mocking her, and breaking her. That's what it felt like, every piece of her body felt like it was breaking into tiny segments, it wasn't physically painful though, it was emotionally draining, and mentally exhausting, but not painful.

Ginny's frightened eyes swept over her surroundings, they were just as they had been the first time she visited this clearing. Everything was bright, warm, welcoming, yet, at the same time, dark, ominous, chilling, angry, and cold. The only difference was the missing set of eyes. Her body shook, she knew what was coming, any moment now she'd take a step and see herself, years younger, curled into a filthy ball lying in the dirt. She didn't want to see it. She knew what there was to expect so she could change it... couldn't she?

Not wanting to move, but not wanting to stay standing, Ginny took a tentative step towards the glass wall that separated her from the dark forest outside. Every step she took seemed to make the clearing angry, the non-existent wind howled in protest but she didn't stop until she was inches from the barrier.

Raising a hand she touched the cool glass, immediately she could feel the warmth from the other side trying to reach her, to protect her. Her eyes quickly scanned the area she couldn't reach... there, a few feet away, on the same green blanket from the beach sat Draco. Ginny blinked a few times, it couldn't be, how did he get here? He was there though, giving her the same look but it had changed once more. He was sitting in the dark, but he shone brighter than the sun, his ice eyes seemed to light up the area surrounding him. As soon as her eyes met his gaze Ginny felt that warmth return. And then she remembered where she was, and that she couldn't get to Draco.

"Draco!" She called desperately, knowing it was no good.

He didn't speak, but his gaze changed to show he was listening.

"Draco!" She shouted again pounding her fists on the glass.

"I'm right here." His tone was eerily calm.

"Please, Draco." She whimpered.

"Ginny, I'm right here, calm down." There was an urgency in his tone but he didn't make a move.

"Help me! Please, help me." Tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

"I'm here, I'm trying. Ginny relax."

"Help me!" She screamed in frustration.

Why was he just sitting there? How could he say he was trying to help when he wasn't even moving? He wasn't trying to help, he wasn't doing shit! Angrily, Ginny smashed both her fists against the glass, as the barrier shook in protest the cackling erupted once more, louder and deadlier than before.

"Shut up!" She screamed at the eyes she knew the voice belonged to. "Leave me alone!" Without thinking she picked up a random stone and threw it into the sky, towards the eyes. Nothing happened; the rock flew straight through the eyes leaving them unscathed. The cackling increased.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ginny!"

Slowly, carefully, fearfully, Ginny Weasley opened her eyes, only to stare back into Draco's ice grey ones. She blinked a few times before looking around the dark room. It was dream. She wasn't in a forest, or on a beach, the clearing did not exist, and those eyes were not taunting her. She let out a shaky breath and sat up in bed, placing her head in her hands.

Draco slowly moved closer, hesitantly he began to caress her back soothingly, or at least what he hoped was soothingly. Her body shook with silent sobs for only a moment before she began to calm herself down.

"Another nightmare?" Draco asked, despite already knowing the answer.

Ginny nodded mutely.

"They're not going away." She said to her knees.

"The Healer said they wouldn't go away." He pointed out.

Ginny turned her head and glared at her boyfriend. "I know that." She sighed. "But they're supposed to get better, easier at least."

"You have to remember that you control them."

She snorted. "I doubt that. If I did I wouldn't be dreaming of that."

Draco sighed. "You know what I mean."

"I know."

"A little more time with the Healers and it'll get easier."

At these words Ginny threw the covers off her legs and jumped out of bed. She was tired, angry, mentally drained, and confused.

"A little more time?!" She nearly shouted. "It's been three years!"

She started pacing near the bed, muttering things about the never-ending appointments and something about Healers not knowing what they're doing. Draco remained seated on the bed through her entire rant, seemingly undisturbed by his girlfriend's troubles.

It wasn't that he didn't care, he cared very much, but he heard the same things at least twice a month. Ginny would have a few good weeks with little to no nightmares, and then, once in a while, one or two mild to severe dreams would break out from her subconscious and throw her into a rant similar to this.

The first few times were the worst. She had thought she was doing so well, getting past all this and finally getting ready to move on from the event, and then, then she had a nightmare, one of the worst since she'd left Hogwarts, and she lost it.

She didn't sleep for days after that night, and when she did she would wake up screaming. Draco always tried to calm her, remind her that they were only dreams; that it didn't happen. That didn't work, it couldn't work because they weren't only dreams, and they were real. Maybe some aspects of the dreams had been changed and embellished, but it still had happened, she was a victim of abuse and it seemed there was no way her mind was going to allow her to forget it.

So now he sat, waiting patiently for her to crawl back into bed and lay awake with him. She wouldn't sleep; there was no way she would risk falling back asleep after experiencing a nightmare. Instead she would come back to bed, lay in silence for a few hours before deciding it was time to get up and start the day. By noon she'd be a walking zombie.

"Going to talk about it?" Draco asked when he noticed her pacing begin to cease.

Ginny turned to look at him; she pursed her lips and shook her head. Draco couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. Her hair was mussed, her eyes flaming, and the skin on her chest, neck, and cheeks stained with blush. As soon as he realized he was smiling he quickly relaxed his face and put up his mask once more. Draco loved her when she looked like this, but he knew if he was caught smiling while she was in a panic he'd get his head bitten off.

"Are you going to come back to bed?"

"I can't sleep." She whispered.

"You never do on nights like this." Draco pointed out. "Doesn't mean I want you to stand there all night."

With an eye roll and a sigh Ginny walked back to the edge of the bed and sat down reluctantly. Silence weighed down heavily the moment the mattress sank with Ginny's added weight. Draco didn't know what to say and didn't want to say the wrong thing and Ginny's mind was running a mile a minute; trying to come up with reason as to why she was failing at controlling her dreams.

"I think I panicked." She whispered suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Everything was going fine, and, you know how Healer Mundell told me that if I could focus enough I'd be able to take myself somewhere else? While still in my dream?" Draco nodded. "Well, everything was fine and then it got darker and it didn't feel as safe, so I took myself somewhere else, somewhere worse."

"So you think if you hadn't forced yourself somewhere else everything would have remained fine?"

Ginny nodded.

"Maybe it would have, maybe it wouldn't have." Draco shrugged, earning him a glare. "Healer Mundell told you that dreams were unpredictable, that they don't follow the same rules of the world, just because it gets cold or dark doesn't mean something bad will happen."

Ginny sighed. She knew that already, she knew that before she was told the exact same thing by the Healer. She's known ever since she had the previous dream about the clearing, when she was running from what she thought was evil and towards what she believed was good, only to find she had got it backwards. She never told Draco this before though.

"Was I talking in my sleep again?" She asked suddenly.

Draco nodded, smirking slightly.

Ginny felt herself blush. "What'd I say?"

"Something about water." Ginny nodded, remember her short time on the beach. "And you were saying my name. I thought it was a good dream." Draco smirked and winked at her, she slapped him. "But then you started to thrash around and you started panting." Draco paused. "You know, if I didn't know you so well I would have thought you were having a really good dream." Ginny slapped him again.

"Did you try to talk to me?"

Draco nodded. "Until you told me to get away from you and leave you alone."

Ginny felt the blood drain from her face.

She remembered screaming in her dream, just before she woke up, she was screaming at the cackling and the eyes. She didn't think she had actually screamed though, she looked at Draco through the corner of her eyes; he seemed confused, probably waiting for her to explain why she yelled at him.

She always worried about something such as this happening, she didn't like Draco witnessing her freaking out at night, and now, now she screamed at him. All he tried to do was help and she most likely made him feel like the bad guy.

"Sorry about that." She whispered. "I wasn't screaming at you."

"I figured that out for myself." Draco smirked.

The silence returned, now Ginny felt drained, worried, frightened, and guilty. Just great. For the first year Ginny had expected nights such as these, she was told, repeatedly, that dream control and the therapy sessions wouldn't have an immediate effect. It would take time, a lot of time, and she had accepted that, no one told her it would take three or more years though.

She just felt so finished, every time she thought things couldn't possibly get any worse somehow they always managed to. She didn't want to do it anymore. No more nightmares, no more fear, no more fighting, no more sleepless nights.

Had she not already known the side-effects of memory erasing Ginny would have willingly and gladly signed up for it. She wondered what life would be like now if her memories didn't attempt to grow back, or if they were never removed in the first place, but she could never picture it. She turned her head and looked at Draco. His hair was slightly mussed and dark circles were present under his eyes. He must have sensed her looking because a second later he turned and hooked his eyes into hers.

They stayed that way for a moment. Draco was trying to look past her eyes and into her head to know what she was thinking, and Ginny was staring at Draco, knowing that she wouldn't want things to be different, no matter what it put her through. She wouldn't want to be sitting here alone or with someone else right now.

"They are getting better." He said suddenly.

"How so?" Ginny asked in disbelief.

"You don't wake up screaming anymore."

That was true; it had been over a year since she'd had a nightmare that severe.

"Yes, but you still don't sleep."

Draco barely slept within the two years they had been living together. Ginny knew it was her tossing and turning in bed, the thrashing around, and of course; the screaming that kept him up in the beginning. Now he didn't sleep so he could watch over her.

Draco shrugged. "I've never needed much sleep though."

Ginny rolled her eyes, causing Draco to let out a chuckle.

"Come on, I know you won't sleep but you can at least lay down with me." He put his arm around her and lightly pulled.

Ginny allowed Draco to pull her down into the bed. She cuddled up to his bare just and sighed heavily. Life was far from perfect, but she was happy, despite everything else going on around her Ginny wouldn't have her life any other way at this moment.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N; I know you all want me to continue this, and you all won't like me when I say that I won't be. This is really the end, as close to a fluffy ending as this story could get. Please don't ask for a sequel because I won't do it. To anyone who is still confused – Ginny Weasley was not kidnapped; she was abused in her own home, only away from her parents for a few hours if that. The nightmares she is experiencing are remnants of actual memories left behind, her mind has been trying to re-create the event of what happened, causing the embellished memories in the form of nightmares.

Thank you to all who are reading, and a bigger thank you to all who reviewed.

I never expected this fic to reach over 700 reviews, I am very grateful to all of you!

Special thanks to IHeartDracoM and May La Nee – if it wasn't for you two I never would have finished this! Thanks guys!

I hope you all liked the epilogue, please leave me one last review to either tell me you liked the ending or to yell at me for ending it like this, because I know some of you want to.