Disclaimer: I own none of the characters you might recognize in this
story. They all belong to J.K Rowling. As for the legend of the slayer, I
am not sure who owns that. It has been around for quite a long time
according to the very little knowledge I have on the subject. Most are
familiar with it because of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You
will not find any Buffy characters in here. It is strictly a HP fic, with
my own little twists. :o)
A/N: I haven't come across a fic quite like this one, and I hope that it is a different, original, and refreshing D/G fic from all of the others. I know I said that I wouldn't be posting another story until after I finished Piercing the Darkness, but I had this craving to get this story out of my head and onto the computer screen! So, hopefully you will all enjoy..and leave a nice little review for me at the end.
Facing Fear
Chapter 1 A Series of Surprises
Ginny Weasley sat down her silverware with a content sigh, breathing in the delicious aroma of spices and sweet potato pie. Beginning of the Year feast was always so delicious. She took a quick glance down the table at Harry, who was busy in conversation with Ron and Hermione. They were in their seventh year this term, and would probably never have any time to notice poor lonely Ginny.
She shook her head full of red curls and turned back to Colin who was telling her all about his summer.
"We traveled around Scotland for a while before heading back to England." He was saying. "I took lots of pictures. I'll show them to you later if you want...the castles there are massive."
"Sure Colin." She answered as enthusiastically as she could. "I would love to see them."
Ginny yawned. She was tired from the long train ride earlier that day and was ready to retire. As if aware of her exhaustion, Dumbledore stood up to give some announcements and then dismiss them. She followed the line of Gryffindor's down the long corridors and up the many stone staircases, greeting some of the pictures as she went along.
As they reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, which marked the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room and dormitories, she noticed something funny. Three Gryffindor first years were heading off in a different direction, and they seemed to be up to no good. Maybe it was Ginny's curious nature that compelled her to follow them, or maybe it was the strange sense of foreboding that she was feeling.
She followed them as closely as possible as they roamed around. She caught snippets of their conversation as well.
"I don't like this." The smallest of the three boys said. "We could get in trouble, wandering about like this."
"Oh don't be a chicken." The tallest of the three boys taunted. "They say there's secret passages and chambers in this old school. Don't you think it be neat to find them?"
"Well..." the small one began. He had sandy hair and a light complexion.
"If we find them, then we can go anywhere we like at any time." The other one spoke up. This boy had dark brown hair, was a bit chubbier, and wore a silly grin on his face at the prospect of finding a secret passage.
They were now heading upward, climbing stair after stair. Ginny trailed along, she hadn't known that she was capable of being so quiet. Even though the lights had already been extinguished, her eyes seemed very accustomed to the dark.
Ginny saw the larger boy lean over the staircase and peer down. It then happened as if everything were in slow motion.
"Wow, we're up a long ways." He told his friends, laughing as he leaned even further over the railing.
Ginny saw the whole thing before it occurred. The staircase jolting forward, deciding that it was time to move around to a different location. The boy losing his balance and flipping headlong over the banister, one hand flying out and catching hold of a slim edge.
She bounded forward, and jumped onto the moving stairs at an alarmingly fast pace. She threw herself forward onto the railing, reaching as far down as her arm would allow. The reality of the situation hit her. This boy was dangling hundreds of feet up in the air, his one chubby hand supporting all of his weight. As the milliseconds shot by, his hand began to slip, and Ginny strained herself to reach further.
"Grab my hand!" she shouted.
"I can't!" he said desperately back. He looked downward and whimpered.
"Listen to me!" Ginny shouted. "You're going to have to try and swing yourself upward!"
He shut his eyes tight and winced as he used his other, dangling arm to swing himself up, at the same time using all his energy to heave his body towards her. Ginny caught his hand on the first swing.
What happened next surprised them all.
She lifted him up as though he was only as heavy as her Potions textbook. The boy opened his eyes in bewilderment as Ginny brought him easily over the banister and set him down. She stared at her hands and arms in amazement. How in the world had she managed that?
"Weasley!"
Draco Malfoy was marching down the stairs in a menacing fashion.
"What are you doing out of your houses?" He asked in a tone that reminded Ginny of Percy.
"I could ask you the same thing." She spoke up.
He came to a halt and surveyed the scene in front of him. The boys were looking very guilty, but also very relieved about something at the same time.
"What's going on here?" Malfoy asked suspiciously.
"Why is it any of your business?" Ginny answered, speaking for the four of them. "You're out of bed also." She pointed out.
"I'm," he began, drawing himself up to his full height. "The new Head Boy."
Ginny almost choked on the laughter that was begging to escape. She heard the boys gasp, and then one of them pointed to a badge on Malfoy's robes.
It was a Head Boy badge.
"Who in their right mind made you Head Boy!?" Ginny asked in both amusement and astonishment.
"That would be the Headmaster Weasley." Malfoy grinned as though he were some kind of saint. "He thought that I would do a good job, and I took the offer because I can use it to my advantage."
Ginny rolled her eyes. He would use it to his advantage all right. By taking lots of points from her house, giving her detention, tormenting her the rest of the year, and of course he could go anywhere, or do anything he wished.
Her predictions were exact.
"Forty points from Gryffindor. For being out of bed after hours, speaking disrespectfully to the Head Boy, and..." He paused as though trying to think of something else to blame her for.
"Listen Malfoy." She began. "These boys, um, got lost and.."
"I really don't care about them Weasley." He replied, lowering his voice and narrowing his eyes at her. "It's you I'd rather annoy."
Ginny took deep calming breaths as she ran over the predicament she was in. Draco Malfoy, her brother's worst enemy, a teacher suck-up, rude, insensitive, selfish rich brat, not to mention very good-looking Slytherin, had for some unexplained reason been named Head Boy, and just happened to catch her after pulling a first year up over the railing without straining herself at all. The boys were still looking at her in awe, obviously still wondering (as she herself was) how she had managed to save the dark-haired boy. Malfoy was looking from them to her, and she was still standing there, fists clenched at her sides..breathe in, breathe out...
Experiencing weird body strength and running into Malfoy in the same night, was not her idea of a good first day back at school.
"Malfoy," she began, forcing herself to be calm as her voice wavered just a bit. "Please just let us go back peacefully to our dorms, and we will promise not to break any rules again."
Draco looked at the boys.
"You all can go." The boys all let out a relieved sigh, and Ginny turned around to follow them. "But you Weasley," Malfoy grabbed her arm. "You can come with me."
Ginny let out an impatient protest and yanked her arm away from Malfoy.
"This is so ridiculous! What was Professor Dumbledore thinking!? Making you of all people Head Boy!?"
"I took on the job with great honor." Malfoy said in fake proud tone.
"I bet you did." Ginny said sarcastically. "So tell me, what type of spell did you put on the Headmaster? I would like to know because it seemed to work very well."
"Ten more points gone.." Malfoy seemed to be greatly enjoying this.
Ginny made up her mind. If she allowed Malfoy to lead her off to detention, or wherever he was planning on taking her, she would have lost a hundred points by the end of the night. So, with a final sigh, and a glare at Malfoy, she twirled around and headed away.
That had to have been the first time anyone turned their back to Draco.
"Where do you think you're going!?" he called after her.
"It's late." She said, flipping her curls, and not even bothering to look back at him as she descended another flight of stairs. "I'm going to bed!"
"Why you.." Ginny heard Malfoy ranting as she kept going.
She had just made a very unhappy, yet somewhat confused enemy.
~*~*~*~
Draco watched the girl march down the steps with...he searched mentally for the right term to describe it. Intrigued. That was it..she was very intriguing. She had seen right through his whole "Head Boy" act. But of course, she didn't know the real reason behind him being named Head Boy. It had been the Council that had suggested it actually. They had sent Dumbledore a letter and everything. It would make it much easier for Draco to move around at his will...all the time searching.
Draco sighed inwardly and wondered if he would ever find her. The One. The Chosen One. He desperately hoped that she would be a Slytherin. It would make the relationship much easier on both of them. He shuddered to think of actually having to train a Gryffindor, or a Hufflepuff for that matter.
As the Weasley girl finally disappeared out of his sight, (he realized with a shock that he had been staring at her the whole time) he turned around to continue his nightly prowl. His thoughts eventually turned to his mother..he hated when that happened. The screams would pierce his mind and his soul. The remembrance of blood everywhere, the night he had found her. The night he had found the creature. The night his world had turned upside down.
His father had been away that night. Maybe it was part of the reason Draco hated him so much now..he felt that if his father had been there, some things might have been prevented. But his father was deep into the Dark Arts, and was sometimes gone weeks or even months at a time because of it.
Draco had been out practicing Quidditch late into the night the summer after his fourth year. It was dark when he entered the manor, and heard the screams. Screams of pain. He had run up the stairs, down the hall, and into his mother's room. The screams had died down and become screams of death as he burst through her door.
A vampire dropped Narcissa Malfoy onto the floor as Draco entered. He had great long fangs protruding from his mouth, fresh blood dripping off them. He watched in horror as the creature stared him in the eye, before Draco turned and fled.
Somehow, weeks later he found himself at the Watcher's Council. His father no longer cared about him, and had not seemed to upset about his wife's death. But Draco, who had never really been close to either one of his parents, found a different type of anger welling up inside him. He hated that vampire. Not just because he had killed his mother, but also because for the first time in his life, Draco had felt true fear. An over-whelming heart pounding type of fear he had never experienced before. He knew that if he were to ever get anywhere in life, that he would first have to conquer that fear.
After rigorous training and sleepless nights, Draco's first opportunity to start his quest became clear.
The new slayer was supposed to be a girl from Hogwarts. Since Draco himself was a student, he was in a perfect position for the job of Watcher. The only problem now, was identifying who that Chosen One was.
~*~*~*~
Ginny collapsed in an over-stuffed chair in the Common Room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were sitting playing a game of chess, looked at her in astonishment.
"Malfoy's the new Head Boy." Ginny said simply.
The looks of shock on each of their faces were priceless.
"Very funny Ginny." Ron said at last. "Do we really look stupid enough to believe that?"
The three of them started laughing, as Ginny watched unbelievingly.
"But it's true!" she said. "I just got caught by him! He took away fifty points from Gryffindor, and we haven't even begun classes yet!"
The laughter died instantly.
A/N: So, should I continue?? Review with honest opinions, but please nothing to harsh!!
A/N: I haven't come across a fic quite like this one, and I hope that it is a different, original, and refreshing D/G fic from all of the others. I know I said that I wouldn't be posting another story until after I finished Piercing the Darkness, but I had this craving to get this story out of my head and onto the computer screen! So, hopefully you will all enjoy..and leave a nice little review for me at the end.
Facing Fear
Chapter 1 A Series of Surprises
Ginny Weasley sat down her silverware with a content sigh, breathing in the delicious aroma of spices and sweet potato pie. Beginning of the Year feast was always so delicious. She took a quick glance down the table at Harry, who was busy in conversation with Ron and Hermione. They were in their seventh year this term, and would probably never have any time to notice poor lonely Ginny.
She shook her head full of red curls and turned back to Colin who was telling her all about his summer.
"We traveled around Scotland for a while before heading back to England." He was saying. "I took lots of pictures. I'll show them to you later if you want...the castles there are massive."
"Sure Colin." She answered as enthusiastically as she could. "I would love to see them."
Ginny yawned. She was tired from the long train ride earlier that day and was ready to retire. As if aware of her exhaustion, Dumbledore stood up to give some announcements and then dismiss them. She followed the line of Gryffindor's down the long corridors and up the many stone staircases, greeting some of the pictures as she went along.
As they reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, which marked the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room and dormitories, she noticed something funny. Three Gryffindor first years were heading off in a different direction, and they seemed to be up to no good. Maybe it was Ginny's curious nature that compelled her to follow them, or maybe it was the strange sense of foreboding that she was feeling.
She followed them as closely as possible as they roamed around. She caught snippets of their conversation as well.
"I don't like this." The smallest of the three boys said. "We could get in trouble, wandering about like this."
"Oh don't be a chicken." The tallest of the three boys taunted. "They say there's secret passages and chambers in this old school. Don't you think it be neat to find them?"
"Well..." the small one began. He had sandy hair and a light complexion.
"If we find them, then we can go anywhere we like at any time." The other one spoke up. This boy had dark brown hair, was a bit chubbier, and wore a silly grin on his face at the prospect of finding a secret passage.
They were now heading upward, climbing stair after stair. Ginny trailed along, she hadn't known that she was capable of being so quiet. Even though the lights had already been extinguished, her eyes seemed very accustomed to the dark.
Ginny saw the larger boy lean over the staircase and peer down. It then happened as if everything were in slow motion.
"Wow, we're up a long ways." He told his friends, laughing as he leaned even further over the railing.
Ginny saw the whole thing before it occurred. The staircase jolting forward, deciding that it was time to move around to a different location. The boy losing his balance and flipping headlong over the banister, one hand flying out and catching hold of a slim edge.
She bounded forward, and jumped onto the moving stairs at an alarmingly fast pace. She threw herself forward onto the railing, reaching as far down as her arm would allow. The reality of the situation hit her. This boy was dangling hundreds of feet up in the air, his one chubby hand supporting all of his weight. As the milliseconds shot by, his hand began to slip, and Ginny strained herself to reach further.
"Grab my hand!" she shouted.
"I can't!" he said desperately back. He looked downward and whimpered.
"Listen to me!" Ginny shouted. "You're going to have to try and swing yourself upward!"
He shut his eyes tight and winced as he used his other, dangling arm to swing himself up, at the same time using all his energy to heave his body towards her. Ginny caught his hand on the first swing.
What happened next surprised them all.
She lifted him up as though he was only as heavy as her Potions textbook. The boy opened his eyes in bewilderment as Ginny brought him easily over the banister and set him down. She stared at her hands and arms in amazement. How in the world had she managed that?
"Weasley!"
Draco Malfoy was marching down the stairs in a menacing fashion.
"What are you doing out of your houses?" He asked in a tone that reminded Ginny of Percy.
"I could ask you the same thing." She spoke up.
He came to a halt and surveyed the scene in front of him. The boys were looking very guilty, but also very relieved about something at the same time.
"What's going on here?" Malfoy asked suspiciously.
"Why is it any of your business?" Ginny answered, speaking for the four of them. "You're out of bed also." She pointed out.
"I'm," he began, drawing himself up to his full height. "The new Head Boy."
Ginny almost choked on the laughter that was begging to escape. She heard the boys gasp, and then one of them pointed to a badge on Malfoy's robes.
It was a Head Boy badge.
"Who in their right mind made you Head Boy!?" Ginny asked in both amusement and astonishment.
"That would be the Headmaster Weasley." Malfoy grinned as though he were some kind of saint. "He thought that I would do a good job, and I took the offer because I can use it to my advantage."
Ginny rolled her eyes. He would use it to his advantage all right. By taking lots of points from her house, giving her detention, tormenting her the rest of the year, and of course he could go anywhere, or do anything he wished.
Her predictions were exact.
"Forty points from Gryffindor. For being out of bed after hours, speaking disrespectfully to the Head Boy, and..." He paused as though trying to think of something else to blame her for.
"Listen Malfoy." She began. "These boys, um, got lost and.."
"I really don't care about them Weasley." He replied, lowering his voice and narrowing his eyes at her. "It's you I'd rather annoy."
Ginny took deep calming breaths as she ran over the predicament she was in. Draco Malfoy, her brother's worst enemy, a teacher suck-up, rude, insensitive, selfish rich brat, not to mention very good-looking Slytherin, had for some unexplained reason been named Head Boy, and just happened to catch her after pulling a first year up over the railing without straining herself at all. The boys were still looking at her in awe, obviously still wondering (as she herself was) how she had managed to save the dark-haired boy. Malfoy was looking from them to her, and she was still standing there, fists clenched at her sides..breathe in, breathe out...
Experiencing weird body strength and running into Malfoy in the same night, was not her idea of a good first day back at school.
"Malfoy," she began, forcing herself to be calm as her voice wavered just a bit. "Please just let us go back peacefully to our dorms, and we will promise not to break any rules again."
Draco looked at the boys.
"You all can go." The boys all let out a relieved sigh, and Ginny turned around to follow them. "But you Weasley," Malfoy grabbed her arm. "You can come with me."
Ginny let out an impatient protest and yanked her arm away from Malfoy.
"This is so ridiculous! What was Professor Dumbledore thinking!? Making you of all people Head Boy!?"
"I took on the job with great honor." Malfoy said in fake proud tone.
"I bet you did." Ginny said sarcastically. "So tell me, what type of spell did you put on the Headmaster? I would like to know because it seemed to work very well."
"Ten more points gone.." Malfoy seemed to be greatly enjoying this.
Ginny made up her mind. If she allowed Malfoy to lead her off to detention, or wherever he was planning on taking her, she would have lost a hundred points by the end of the night. So, with a final sigh, and a glare at Malfoy, she twirled around and headed away.
That had to have been the first time anyone turned their back to Draco.
"Where do you think you're going!?" he called after her.
"It's late." She said, flipping her curls, and not even bothering to look back at him as she descended another flight of stairs. "I'm going to bed!"
"Why you.." Ginny heard Malfoy ranting as she kept going.
She had just made a very unhappy, yet somewhat confused enemy.
~*~*~*~
Draco watched the girl march down the steps with...he searched mentally for the right term to describe it. Intrigued. That was it..she was very intriguing. She had seen right through his whole "Head Boy" act. But of course, she didn't know the real reason behind him being named Head Boy. It had been the Council that had suggested it actually. They had sent Dumbledore a letter and everything. It would make it much easier for Draco to move around at his will...all the time searching.
Draco sighed inwardly and wondered if he would ever find her. The One. The Chosen One. He desperately hoped that she would be a Slytherin. It would make the relationship much easier on both of them. He shuddered to think of actually having to train a Gryffindor, or a Hufflepuff for that matter.
As the Weasley girl finally disappeared out of his sight, (he realized with a shock that he had been staring at her the whole time) he turned around to continue his nightly prowl. His thoughts eventually turned to his mother..he hated when that happened. The screams would pierce his mind and his soul. The remembrance of blood everywhere, the night he had found her. The night he had found the creature. The night his world had turned upside down.
His father had been away that night. Maybe it was part of the reason Draco hated him so much now..he felt that if his father had been there, some things might have been prevented. But his father was deep into the Dark Arts, and was sometimes gone weeks or even months at a time because of it.
Draco had been out practicing Quidditch late into the night the summer after his fourth year. It was dark when he entered the manor, and heard the screams. Screams of pain. He had run up the stairs, down the hall, and into his mother's room. The screams had died down and become screams of death as he burst through her door.
A vampire dropped Narcissa Malfoy onto the floor as Draco entered. He had great long fangs protruding from his mouth, fresh blood dripping off them. He watched in horror as the creature stared him in the eye, before Draco turned and fled.
Somehow, weeks later he found himself at the Watcher's Council. His father no longer cared about him, and had not seemed to upset about his wife's death. But Draco, who had never really been close to either one of his parents, found a different type of anger welling up inside him. He hated that vampire. Not just because he had killed his mother, but also because for the first time in his life, Draco had felt true fear. An over-whelming heart pounding type of fear he had never experienced before. He knew that if he were to ever get anywhere in life, that he would first have to conquer that fear.
After rigorous training and sleepless nights, Draco's first opportunity to start his quest became clear.
The new slayer was supposed to be a girl from Hogwarts. Since Draco himself was a student, he was in a perfect position for the job of Watcher. The only problem now, was identifying who that Chosen One was.
~*~*~*~
Ginny collapsed in an over-stuffed chair in the Common Room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were sitting playing a game of chess, looked at her in astonishment.
"Malfoy's the new Head Boy." Ginny said simply.
The looks of shock on each of their faces were priceless.
"Very funny Ginny." Ron said at last. "Do we really look stupid enough to believe that?"
The three of them started laughing, as Ginny watched unbelievingly.
"But it's true!" she said. "I just got caught by him! He took away fifty points from Gryffindor, and we haven't even begun classes yet!"
The laughter died instantly.
A/N: So, should I continue?? Review with honest opinions, but please nothing to harsh!!