Authors note: This is my first fan-fic ever. I hope you enjoy it. Please review if you like.
Secret Key
Prologue
"Just a bit further," the old woman murmured. She turned to look behind her. All she could hear was the sound of her light slippered footsteps and hard hitting cane as she traveled along the corridor. The smell became mustier as she approached her destination.
The old woman touched the wall beside her, wiping her sweaty palms along it.
"He'll never find me," she thought…… "I'll be safe in here."
Suddenly, she felt the dead end. Feeling along the wall, the old woman found what she was looking for. Pressing a small button to the right, a door opened in front of her.
The old woman reached into her large handbag that was wrapped around her cane she used to move around. She grasped her small weak hands around a long wand, and she quietly uttered what sounded like a command, "Lumos!"
Suddenly a light shone from the end of it. Using the light, the old woman shined it around the small room in front of her; in the corner stood her bookshelf. The old woman turned and pressed a button nearest to her right. The door she had entered closed itself.
"Now I need to make sure that he will never get in," she whispered. Turning around, she pointed the wand at the door. "Colloportus." An odd squelching noise sounded as the door sealed itself tight.
The old woman made her way slowly to the bookshelf. She ran her fingers along one particular shelf and found what she was looking for. Pulling a book out, she laid it on a table. Then the old woman looked back at the vacant space left from the book. A single gold key hung from the wall behind the bookshelf. She took the key and placed the book back into its spot.
The old woman took out a gold chain which hung around her neck. She placed the gold key on the chain and replaced the necklace beneath her clothing. She then sat down in a small armchair nearby and sighed with relief.
"It is safe, he will never find it……"
Suddenly a footstep sounded in the hallway. The old woman quickly put the light out at the end of her wand and listened closely. Her breath began to erupt in short pants as the footsteps grew heavier and closer.
For a few minutes, the only thing she concentrated on was how long before he would get to her. The footsteps abruptly stopped. The only noise that came was from her breathing.
"I dare not move," she thought, "the little lest noise could give me away…."
The footsteps resumed and came to a halt in front of the door. The old woman held her breath and closed her eyes tightly. She reached beneath her shirt and grasped her fingers around the key. Meanwhile, the intruder's hands searched for the button that would give him entry. Finally, the intruder found what he was looking for. Pressing the button down, he waited for the door before him to open. Nothing happened. He pressed again and again nothing happened.
The old woman listened for the sound she dreaded…..for the door to open.
The intruder stayed poised outside the door……He then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wand, much like the one the old woman used. The intruder pushed the door in slightly, feeling the weight of it. He began to pound on the door, lightly, and then harder and harder.
"Livy…….I know your there…….I told you that I would find you. But you never did listen to me. Now I am coming for what means most to you in the world," the intruder spoke for the first time.
Livy sat very still in the small armchair. She grasped the key even harder and began to concentrate.
'Where could she go, who would help her?'
Suddenly, her eyes took on a blank look and her mind fast forwarded quickly. She saw before her something that would aid her escape. Her mind came back to the present and again she heard the continued pounding on the door.
Finally she heard the intruder utter two spells, "Finite Incantatem, Alohomora!" Livy glanced at the door which began to open slowly. She quickly lifted her wand and put a charm on the key. Grasping it tightly in her hand, she began to feel the familiar pull and her body took on a sort of weightlessness. As the intruder entered the room, he quickly lit his wand. In front of him was………
Absolutely nothing.
"Livy, where are you!" He scanned around the room using his wand as the only light source. Seeing that Livy was nowhere to be seen, he wandered to the bookshelf and began pulling books off. The intruder became more frantic as more books left the shelves and cluttered the floor. As he pulled the last book off, his hands wound tightly around it. The intruder glanced at the old empty shelves.
"She took it," he grunted angrily while still grasping the book. He began ripping pages out of it, littering the floor with paper.
The key was gone.
"Someday, someday old woman I will find you. And when I do, I will take what you hold dearest to your heart," the intruder spoke. He began to laugh madly, filling the small room and corridor with his echo reverberating off the walls.
Chapter One- Sweet Dreams
Ginny woke up suddenly. "Gin, come on, he is about to get to the best part!" Daveigh (pronounced Da-vay) Porter whispered excitedly to her sleepy eyed friend.
Ginny glanced at the front of the classroom. Professor Binns droned on as his clear body moved along the board in front of them. "Come on Dava, just a few more minutes," Ginny whined, "I was having the best dream….." Silvery-blue eyes came quickly to her mind, and soon as the thought occurred it was gone again.
Dava stared at her friend as the look passed over Ginny's face. "Gin how can you sleep at an exciting time like this!" Dava squealed. Next to her a Hufflepuff boy at the next table glanced over at her and then resumed his activity of drawing on his hand. She continued, "Hrmph, at least SOMEONE pays attention in this class!" she exclaimed, "unlike you Gin who spends all her time daydreaming about someone we all--"
Ginny interrupted, "Dava, you're the only person I know who pays attention between us and the Hufflepuff's , I swear your just as bad as Hermione!" Dava glanced at her friend and gave her a dirty look.
"Just because I happen to love history of magic doesn't mean you should ruin my fun!" Dava turned her attention back to the front of the room and resumed her quiet admiration of Professor Binns.
Ginny leaned her head back on the table and slowly closed her eyes. Ginny waited for the dream to begin to take over. Suddenly she was somewhere else; not with the silver eyed dragon who constantly haunted her in the halls and at night, but in a small room. Ginny wandered around the room. She had the distinct feeling she has been there before. Slowly she made her way over to a bookshelf and reached her hand slowly towards it. Her mind began to fill with images of another person, an older one who seemed familiar. Ginny pulled her hand back and stared at the bookshelf.
"Why am I so drawn to it," she thought. Her eyes searched the shelves perusing the volumes, hoping that she would find the one which held the secret. Anticipation and anxiety grew as footsteps quietly sounded somewhere behind her.
"I must hurry," Ginny thought.
Ginny looked quickly behind her as the footsteps grew louder and faster. Ginny reached to pick a book. For some reason, her hand couldn't move any further the closer she got to it. Actually, it seemed suspended in midair.
"I must get it before he does," she screamed out trying to reach with all her might to grab the book that would reveal the thing she wanted most in the world.
Ginny concentrated hard on the book. "Please, please, please," she thought.
Suddenly like magic her hand forcefully moved forward and grabbed the book. She reached for the key just as the door opened. The intruder started to move towards Ginny …….his hands began to feel around the room….
"I know you're here!" he exclaimed, "Livy….I have you now." Ginny stood paralyzed as the hands reached out towards her closer….closer.
"Noooooo!" she screamed as she held on to the key for dear life…….She began to feel the pull, her body floating away from him. The room spun around her and faded away quickly. She was falling through a dark passage, down…..down……
"Ginny, Ginny!" Dava shook her friend.
Ginny woke up for the second time and found herself still in the history of magic classroom. "Come on Ginny, class is over." Dava said impatiently, "I am starving, let's get to the Great Hall and see what's good."
Ginny looked around her. Most of the class had filed out, and the people remaining, including the Hufflepuff boy from earlier turned to look at Ginny strangely.
Dava gave her friend an odd look as she grabbed her books and walked out of the room her long black plait swishing from side to side. Ginny sat at the table and glanced at her hands.
Imprinted in her palm was the shape of a key.
"But…. How?." Ginny thought as she left the classroom, quickly following her friend.
Draco Malfoy stood posed with his arms crossed outside the Great Hall.
"Pansy better get here soon or I'm going in without her," he thought.
Draco gazed at one hand and began to examine his perfectly shaped nails. Looking up
he continued to watch students filing into the great hall for lunch. He nodded haughtily at a couple of 7th year Slytherin girls who passed by him.
"Hi Draco," cooed one girl. She swayed her hips more seductively as she and her friend giggled and made their way through the door. Draco slicked his hair back and glanced at the sight before him. He was used to the looks he received from most of the female student body at Hogwarts. Actually, he owed his good looks from his parents. Narcissa Malfoy had always been a great beauty. He inherited her porcelain white skin and his platinum hair from both of his parents. Draco gave a thought to his father Lucius quickly. His father was now in Azkaban thanks to Potter and the "dream team."
While in his thoughts, he suddenly spotted red hair coming towards him…… "Ah, this ought to be good," he thought.
"Daveigh Porter, wait for me!" Ginny yelled, trying to catch up to her friend. Daveigh stopped in the middle of the hallway causing a couple of 1st years to stumble into her.
"S-sorry," one said and moved around her.
"Ginny, how nice to finally see your awake and with the rest of us," Daveigh teased, "I mean really Gin, how good could that dream have been?"
"If you only knew," Gin smiled and tugged on her friend's ponytail, "let's go!" The pair walked closer to the great hall. Daveigh began to slow down.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, looking at her friend. Her eyes followed where Daveigh's were currently looking. Draco Malfoy stood at the entrance of the hall staring intently at Ginny with an amused expression spread over his handsome face.
"Come on, "Ginny murmured and continued on.
Her heart began to beat faster as she approached the doors, 'Why is he staring at me like that?' she thought.
Draco's eyes became more intense looking the closer she got; their silver-blue depth's becoming deeper and more metallic. She felt a familiar tug and began to drink in his handsome face….
"Hey Ginny," a loud male voice called from somewhere behind them. Ginny snapped out of her reverie and turned around.
"Oi, I'm starved, what's to eat!" Ron Weasley said while patting his stomach. Ginny stood embarrassed while Daveigh looked at her friend with wonderment.
"Gin, are you ok?" Daveigh asked her quietly.
Ron walked up to Ginny and began to pull her into the great hall talking the whole time while Malfoy, who was still conducting a complete examination on Ginny, continued to stare her into oblivion. When Ron didn't get an answer from Daveigh or his sister he followed with his eyes in the general direction of their distraction. 'Malfoy' Ron thought.
"What are you staring at ferret?" Ron threw suddenly at Malfoy.
Malfoy sneered and looked down and then up at Ginny. "Just checking out the latest fashions of the littlest Weasley." Draco took in her second hand robes and smirked. Ginny's face turned beet red as he continued to beguile her.
"Shut up Malfoy." Ron spoke quietly. His hands began to form fists on either side of his body.
"Is that the best you can do Weasley?" Draco commented. He continued to stare at Ginny as if bored and ignored the continued rising anger of Ron.
"One of these days Malfoy….." Ron spoke and began to retrieve his wand.
Ginny stepped in front of Ron. "Come on Ron, let's go." She and Daveigh pulled Ron into the great hall. Draco remained in the hallway, his eyes never leaving Ginny's retreating form.
"I just don't know why you two provoke each other," Daveigh commented sitting down at the Gryffindor table.
"Provoke who?" asked Hermione who walked in not long after and sat down next to Ron. Ron's face was still red from the confrontation. As food began to appear on the plates in front of them, his anger began to recede slightly.
"Draco." Ginny answered and began to fill her plate with food. "He made another snide comment about my clothes and as usual Ron wanted to resort to physical violence." At the sound of his name, Hermione dropped her fork. Daveigh looked over at Ginny and gave her a look. "I mean, Malfoy…" Ginny covered up, "anyway, where's Harry?" Ginny glanced down the Gryffindor table, "he'd be here by now."
"Oh, he got detention from Snape again," Hermione mentioned, "Goyle slipped wart-cap powder into Harry's potion when he wasn't looking and caused it to bubble over and spit out. Parvati got hit with some of the potion and now she's in the hospital wing. I swear, I've never seen Snape so mad. He gets worse each year. He took 50 points from Gryffindor!"
Ginny reached over to take a sip of her juice as they continued to talk about Snape. She felt like someone was watching her back. She strategically sat with her back towards the Slytherin table in case Malfoy decided to continue his antics of staring at her through lunch. Ginny slowly turned pretending she wanted to look out of the window. Brown eyes met grey ones. Ginny felt herself being drawn in again by the cool depths.
"It's only the second week of classes and I already have two detentions!" Harry complained, sitting down at the table.
Ginny quickly came to her senses and turned back around. Malfoy resumed his typical smirk and brought his attention to Pansy Parkinson, who was avidly having a one-sided conversation with him.
"I thought perhaps with Snape being in the order and all, he'd at least let up a bit," Harry said, his mouth full of pudding. Hermione glared at Harry disgusted at how much food he was stuffing into his mouth.
"The day Snape is nice to you Harry is the day he finally washes his greasy hair, which means… never." Ron said. They all laughed.
Ginny giggled as the familiar feeling resumed…… 'Why is he staring…' she thought and suddenly rose from the table. Everyone stopped talking. Ginny looked over at her friend. "Dava, I left something in the tower, I need to find my charms book. Can you come with me?" She said a quick goodbye to the trio and made her way to the doors of the Great hall with her friend Dava following closely behind.
The whole way there, a pair of silver-grey eyes never left her.