Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Secret
It was in October that Harry discovered the first secret about Ginevra Lestrange, when Quidditch try-out frenzy was at a fever pitch, and Melinda had brought a Teen Witch issue to a Slug Club gathering. Cormac and Slug were arguing with Blaise and Draco.
"What does your pet say about you?" Melinda read slowly, offering one of the many quizzes Teen Witch was famous for.
"I've a boarhound." Ginevra offered plainly, looking up from the little paper Snitches she was making to fly around Draco's head. Harry watched as he batted at them and stifled a laugh.
Melinda laughed at Ginevra's choice. "Well, that means you've got too many brothers."
Ginevra snorted. "No, it means my mother thought giving me a boarhound would make me tougher."
She reached into her schoolbag for her little book of photographs. Harry peaked over the girls' shoulders to see several portraits of her family, some photos from the Quidditch world cup, and finally a large boarhound came into view, like the one that rested outside the groundskeeper's cottage. "His name is Tariq."
The boarhound's shiny coat glistened as he yawned and stretched and scratched. Ginevra's face lit up as her brothers flew on broomsticks through the shot.
"Horoscopes?" Melinda asked, and Ginevra shrugged. "Oooh, love matches."
Ginevra rolled her eyes and Harry pulled up closer to the girls, since he had a feeling they knew he was eavesdropping anyway.
"I'm a Leo." They chorused. Harry grinned at Ginevra, and she turned her attention to the thick horoscope guide in Melinda's lap.
Melinda shrugged her shoulders merrily. "Well, two owls with one stone." She flipped to the correct page. "Leos are indulgent in desserts, generous, bold, and very into the aesthetics. They need to be a top priority in the lives of their lovers, but they make that easy with their great stamina and sense of fun. For lust, they're best matched with Geminis, Cancers, and Sagittarians, but for love they're best matched with Geminis, Libras, and Sagittarians."
Ginevra smirked. "Did you hear that, Draco? Apparently you'll be a fulfilling shag and dad!"
Draco frowned in confusion. "What in the realm are you talking about?"
"Apparently Leos and Geminis are supposed to be together!" She shouted, rolling her eyes playfully.
Draco sneered back at her in a way that made Harry uncomfortable. Melinda was quickly engaged into a conversation with Cormac about the evidential proof of horoscopes in both the Muggle and magical realms, and with a prim dip of her wrist, Ginevra extracted the magazine from Melinda's lap to read on her own.
Harry noticed a stray sprinkling of freckles on the inside of her wrist, and stared at them curiously. All of the members of the Black family had creamy porcelain skin, with the exception of Draco, who was whiter than most of his family. Harry had never seen freckles on a Black before.
"Do you mind?" She questioned coolly, with pursed lips, a quirked brow, and a look of disgust on her face. Her robe fell back into place, covering the row of freckles.
"I didn't know you had freckles." Harry said as a reply, and Ginevra's short, dark nails on her elegant fingers brushed at the hem of her sleeve, gently pulling it back.
"Huh." She shrugged, and after a pause, her voice rose. "Sounds like another trip to the Tugwood ward."
Blaise barely raised his head from a game of chess he and Draco had started. "When will your mother ever give up on that, Gin?"
The Lestrange girl shrugged. "When another girl is born to play with. Estella Aurora."
"The Black family picks out names long before the child in question is actually born." Draco explained. "The next boy's to be Pollux Regelus."
"Professor Slughorn! Professor Slughorn!" Exclaimed Hermione Granger, the shy girl in Harry's year and house as she burst in, looking flustered and unkempt as usual.
"Granger's finally got an invite." Muttered Cormac under his breath. Blaise and Draco laughed.
"Professor, there's been an attack on Hogsmeade! All the prefects have been called to the Deputy Headmistress's office and all the professors are to lock down the castle immediately! Only Hogwarts students and faculty are being allowed on the property!" Hermione said in one breath.
The office went into a flurry immediately. Harry, Draco, Cormac, and Ginevra went in one direction, with Slughorn barking orders at Blaise to keep Melinda safe and escort her to her portrait hole.
"Do you think it was the Dark Lord?" Draco whispered to Ginevra, who remained stone-faced until they emerged into the Deputy Headmistress's office. Draco had tugged on her arm all the way there.
"We're not married yet; stop being such a nag." Ginevra snapped at Draco before they opened the door to find the other eight prefects, the Head Girl and Boy, and Professor McGonagall looking very grave.
"Seventh year prefects, you're to guard your portrait holes, do a head count." The professor distributed a glowing parchment to each pair. "The Head Girl and Boy will have a master list which will, upon your updates, keep a list of those still missing. Naturally, Veritaserum must be administered."
Harry noticed Ginevra's hand twitched, the one with freckles, and she pulled the hem of her sleeve down a little.
"Four pairs of prefects will be guarding the entrance into Hogwarts from Hogsmeade." McGonagall rattled off names, and Draco shot her a look when Ginevra wasn't named among them. "And the other four pairs will be guarding these locations… Potter and Lestrange, you're to guard the statue of the hump-backed witch on the third floor… Potter, that your father could have been here."
Draco's glare only deepened as each prefect and the Head Boy and Girl each placed a droplet of Veritaserum on their tongues and sent on their assignments. Ginevra's mouth grew tight after her eyes briefly rolled back into her head, and as soon as she and Harry were out of sight of the other prefects, she spat.
"If you don't mind, I'll let you fly this broom on your own." Ginevra said to him as soon as they'd turned the corner. "If I'm to understand this correctly, you know your way around this one."
"It's not like you to skive off such a thrilling assignment." Harry commented, with an eyebrow quirked. "I happen to know you usually love the late shifts, especially when the castle's under attack."
Ginevra simpered at him, walking backwards into the darkness. He could hear her heels clicking along the floor. "I'm sure you know quite a bit about me, don't you?"
Harry's tongue grew heavy, knowing he had to answer her question honestly. "Yes, I do. You know, you shouldn't be walking alone in a dark castle with the Lord Voldemort about."
The clicking suddenly stopped. "You're brave enough to say His name?"
Harry frowned. "Yes." He followed her into the dark, and they alternated states of illumination as they passed portraits. "Come on, we have duty."
"Oh, come on… haven't you ever wanted to be alone with me in the dark?" Ginevra teased, and suddenly, Harry felt the hem of the sleeve of his robe being gently tugged towards her.
"Of course, but we have duty." Harry whispered, and the distance between them closed. Harry felt the lithe curves of her body against his.
They were only a short distance from the hump-backed witch. Harry heard other footsteps, and he instantly jumped away and whipped out his wand.
Ginevra was suddenly more urgent in her quest to get Harry's complete attention. Gone were the smirks and languid movements, and with them went the haze Harry had been under. "Who's there?" He asked as his wand lit.
Ginevra's eyes grew wide, noticing there had not been an incantation. A shift of a statue was heard. The footsteps grew rapid and distant and Ginevra headed for them, but Harry, with eyes narrowed, grabbed at her twitching wrist. "Let's check the witch for an entry."
As they approached, Ginevra pulled a face. "It was obviously an exit, or we would have seen them."
"Well, any Hogwarts students will be accounted for." Harry frowned. "But we're probably not dealing with Hogwarts students, are we?"
Ginevra began to look nauseas. "Why is my tongue starting to feel heavy?"
"That's what happens when you're asked a question under Veritaserum." Harry answered simply.
With a slight speech impediment, she continued. "I know that… I've just… never… I thought I'd…" Clutching her stomach with her twitching hand, Ginevra blanched. "The intruder was thwarted."
"Is that who that was, an intruder?" Harry demanded suddenly.
"Yes." She clamped her quivering hand over her mouth, the other at her stomach, and she was doubled over. "I can't! I can't!"
"You can't what?" Harry's brow furrowed. He looked at the only occupied portrait, where a man who resembled Sirius only vaguely stood, watching the Slytherin sixth year writhe in pain. "Can you do something?"
"And what exactly would that be?" The wizard sniffed.
"I don't know; fetch the nurse, or anybody who can help!" Harry snapped, and the wizard looked miffed at the idea.
"I don't approve of Walburga bringing that trash into the family." He said in response, turning his back to Harry.
"Walburga?" Harry repeated, and the next moment, Ginevra fell to the floor.
"My mother… my great-aunt… I can't…" Ginevra choked out, and Harry scooped her off the floor.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do now?" He asked himself, and Ginevra turned to him, her tongue swelling.
"I don't know, but can you please stop asking questions?" Ginevra replied curtly.
Feeling his own tongue engorging, Harry nodded. "Now look, I can't have us abandon our post."
"Those freckles." She whispered, eyes closed and beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. "No, don't. No questions, either."
"So we're just going to have to sit it out until everything's accounted for, and I know that sounds awful right now, but we have to, because we can't risk having that intruder come back in." Harry said slowly, as though to a child.
"And what exactly are we supposed to do if one does come?" Ginevra retorted, and Harry noticed new bite marks beneath her lower lip. She seemed to have regained some control over her hand.
"Well, I don't know." Harry answered after a moment. McGonagall hadn't explained that far. Were they to duel with full-fledged Death Eaters? Voldemort even?
"That's the problem with you Gryffindors. You don't think things through." Ginevra's cool and infamous demeanor was returning at a rapid rate. "Though I'll give that slag Head of House of yours some credit; she wasn't dumb enough to appoint a single Mudblood to an important position in this day and age."
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed. "And here I was under the impression you were just an indifferent brat in this whole thing!"
"Haven't done your research half as well as you thought, eh? Don't answer that; it was rhetorical. We all know that Hermione Granger is the smartest girl in your house in your year and she isn't prefect because McGonagall isn't dumb enough to appoint one." Ginevra snarled, and Harry dropped her unceremoniously on the floor. "Half-bloods are alright, especially ones like you who at least have blood-traitor purebloods for fathers."
"You sure know how to deflate a crush, don't you?" Harry asked, the question in his voice taunting her.
"Maybe." She responded, not even attempting to fight the Veritaserum. "Maybe I'm just being challenging. Morgana knows St. Potter loves a challenge."
"You know what I just remembered? Some advice my blood-traitor pureblood father gave me once, when I'm in contact with someone under Veritaserum. Ask them as many questions as possible. Try not to let them ask you any questions. If they have something to hide, it'll be obvious." Harry whispered, and the violent twitch in Ginevra's wrist began again. "Why does your hand keep twitching?"
Ginevra glared at him. "The freckles on my wrist were left there by my mother."
"A lovely but Veritaserum-approved response." Harry chuckled. "And why was that?"
"She said any imperfection on my body would make its purpose known." Ginevra smirked. "I'm glad you're at last onto my game, Harry. You seem fun. Draco never puts up a fight, he only asks me dirty questions."
Harry grinned back at her. "What purpose is that?
Once again, rapid footsteps headed towards them, and Harry and Ginevra's heads snapped up. It was Anthony Goldstein, the Head Boy. "All students and faculty have been recovered."
"To alert me." Ginevra said, and Goldstein looked at her quizzically. Harry frowned. He knew he couldn't question Ginevra any longer in front of Goldstein.
"We're to return to our houses." Goldstein continued, and Ginevra smiled warmly at him.
"What happened?" She asked with a far too innocent look for her features. "Was it You-Know-Who?"
"Dumbledore didn't say much." Goldstein began slowly. "But it seemed to be Death Eaters trying to breach the castle." His eyes fell on Ginevra's hands, which gave one last twitch. He shrugged it off, returning his eyes instead to Ginevra's inviting smile. "Do you need an escort back to your house, Lestrange?"
"I'd love one." Ginevra took Goldstein's arm. "See you later, Potter."
Harry watched the pair walk off into the distance, his lit wand lighting the subtle but steady gravitation of Ginevra's side towards Goldstein's, and he shook his head. If Draco were still waiting up for her, as Harry suspected he was, Goldstein would get his punishment for being a gentleman. In the meantime, Harry knew that the freckles on Ginevra Lestrange's wrist had the power to alert her, and whatever alert she was receiving tonight, it was obviously very urgent.
Now he had to get to the bottom of her comment on her impending marriage to her own cousin.
Coming up in The Legendary Ginevra Lestrange:
"How can you say that? It's unnatural to marry your cousin! The idea is unfathomable!" Harry exclaimed, and Ginevra frowned in confusion.
"And how can you stand there, all high and mighty, asking me to explain something that I've always accepted as a part of reality!" She retorted. "I shouldn't even be speaking to you." Ginevra brushed past him, stepping on his feet as seemed to be her trademark, her blood-red curls sweeping under his chin.
