Chapter six: Game

Ginny finally managed to explain everything. "Why didn't you tell us about your first encounter with the wolves?" Percy asked. "I thought you'd just worry." She mumbled. "And we would have been right to! Werewolves and vampires all know what we are! We'll have to move away!" He exclaimed.

That just about woke everyone up.

Soon, Percy's room was crowded with arguments. Ginny hung her head. This was her fault. She leaned out the window to get some fresh air. She saw the blur of white just in time. She slammed the window shut and pointed her wand at it. Jasper's face appeared on the other side.

Jasper saw the wolves taking Ginny to their land. He was about to interfere when she simply jumped off of the wolf's back. He was shocked to see her keep her head and run. She got to her house just in time. Jasper heard fighting and saw that all of Ginny's family was discussing their departure. Ginny was leaning out the window. He ran in that direction.

But Ginny saw him coming. She closed the window and pointed her wand at it. Jasper peeked in and saw that every other person in the room was doing the same. His chances weren't good. He sighed, and ran back into the forest.

For the first time in days, Jasper confronted his family. Edward and Alice looked apologetic, but he ignored this. "The wizards. This has become more than just a curious search. The wolves are after them." This got everyone's attention.

"Do they know?" Carlisle wondered. "Yes. When Ginny tried to run away, they caught her and she answered. I'm surprised at how brave she was. She simply jumped off one of the wolf's back. But I know they'll be looking for her specifically. They don't know about the others." Jasper explained quickly. Everyone nodded seriously. The wolves might consider them a threat and… end them.

Ginny's hands shook as she lowered her wand. Harry walked over to her. He embraced her, but she pulled away. "No. I want to be alone." She ran to her room.

She looked out of the window, keeping it closed this time. She saw Jacob as a wolf. They met eyes. His big black eyes told her that this wasn't over.

That night, Jasper decided to check if Ginny was safe. He opened her window and climbed in. She was on her bed. Her face was wet with sweat. She suddenly turned. "No." She whispered. Jasper realized she was having a nightmare. "No, no, NO!" She screamed.

Wolves and vampires surrounded Ginny. All their faces were covered with blood. "Come here, little witch. We only want to kill you." The mind reader hissed. She shook her head. "Just leave me alone." She begged. "Come on, Ginny. It'll only hurt a lot." Jasper chuckled. "No." She said, looking around for somewhere to go. They pressed in closer. Jasper grabbed her by the shoulders, smiling and showing his sharp teeth. "No, no, NO!" She shrieked.

Jasper couldn't resist himself. He ran to Ginny and put his hands on her shoulders. He shook her, trying to wake her up. She continued to shriek. Hermione jumped awake in the next bed.

Shrieking woke Hermione. She looked over to Ginny's bed. One of the vampires was bent over her, while she screamed. Hermione grabbed her wand.

Ginny opened her eyes. Jasper actually was there. She screamed and pulled away from him. "Stupefy!" She heard Hermione yell. With a flash of red light, Jasper was thrown back. He immediately jumped to his feet, a low growl forming in his throat.

Ginny did something crazy. She grabbed her own wand. "Stupefy!" But she pointed at Hermione. The witch flew back and passed out. Ginny turned to point her wand at Jasper, but he was already there, taking it from her. She violently tried to get it back, but Jasper didn't let her. He was looking at her in concern. She realized she was crying.

"I'm fine. It was just a dream." She croaked, clearing her throat. They both stayed silent for a few minutes. A sudden growl made Ginny jump and Jasper twirl to look out the window.

"Give me my wand." Ginny hissed. Jasper ignored her. He jumped out the window. The young witch squinted through the darkness, trying to see. She saw Jasper's silhouette along with two wolves'. The wolves pounced.

Ginny watched as they fought. She heard a horrible crack and a hiss. The next second a body harder than stone slammed into her. She heard the window being closed. She groaned and weakly pushed the heavy body off of her. Jasper echoed her groan. That's when she saw it. She screamed.

There was a hand dragging itself around. It wasn't connected to an arm. Ginny saw her wand and swiftly took it. Hermione moaned and got to her feet.

The two witches pointed their wands at each other. "Why are you protecting him? He tried to kill you." Hermione asked. "No he didn't. I was having a nightmare. He woke me up." Ginny shuddered as the limp hand wrapped around her ankle.

"Hermione, come on. He's trying to help. He just got beat up by two giant wolves." She explained. "He's our enemy, Ginny. I'm not going to kill him, but why don't we just leave the job to the wolves? Throw him out." She suggested.

"Are you insane? They'll kill him!" Ginny exclaimed. But Hermione frowned. "I'm sorry. I swear I am. Imperio!" She shouted. Ginny froze. "Throw him out." Hermione's voice sounded like everything wonderful in the world combined.

Ginny started to haul Jasper up against the window. He blinked. Ginny started to push. She realized that she was pushing him to his death. She stopped and balled her fists up. "N-no." She hissed through clenched teeth.

"Push him Ginny. Go on." Hermione persisted. Ginny started to, but she managed to stop again. "D-don't make me." She pleaded, her hands shaking. Jasper realized what was happening. He pushed himself away from the window and closed it again. He used Ginny as a shield so Hermione couldn't hurt him with that strange magic.

"Ginny! He wants to hurt Harry! Stop him!" Hermione lied. Ginny smiled a silly smile. "Oh, that's fine. Don't worry. I like Jasper more than Harry." She giggled, not herself. Jasper was shocked. How could this be happening again? What was the chance of two human-vampire relationships in one same town?

Ginny suddenly snapped out of it. She realized what she had just said. Her face was soon even redder than her hair. She noticed Jasper hiding behind her. "Petrificus Totalus!" She whispered, pointing her wand at the vampire. His arms and legs snapped together and he clattered to the ground, unable to move.

"Happy?" She questioned, glaring at Hermione. "I can't believe this." Hermione muttered. She suddenly turned toward the door. "Langlock!" Ginny exclaimed. Hermione mmh-ed in protest as her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth. Ginny slammed the door in her face and locked it.

She suddenly felt sharp pain on her ankle. "Lumos." She mumbled. Light came from her wand and she could see better. Jasper's stray hand was squeezing her ankle tightly. She desperately tried to pry it off, but it only squeezed tighter. She cried out in pain.

She crawled over to Jasper's immobile body, and spoke the counter-curse. The vampire sprang to life. "Let go." Ginny begged. His hand looked like it was ready to pull her foot off. It relaxed. Jasper reattached it to his arm. Ginny rubbed her ankle. It was a purplish color.

Before anything else could happen, the door burst off its hinges. Hermione came in along with all the others. "Incendio!" Harry yelled. Ginny realized what was going to happen. She leaped up in front of Jasper and gripped his wrist. She disapparated.

They landed somewhere in the forest. Ginny cried out in pain. She had splinched. Her left foot had been left behind. She noticed that her shirt was on fire. Jasper was backing away from her. She shakily raised her wand. "Aguamenti." She said. Water soaked her clothes and she was no longer on fire. Jasper got a bit closer.

He saw her pained face. "Are you burnt?" He wondered. She shook her head. "Splinched. It happens when you don't concentrate when you apparate. I kind of left my foot behind." She explained, taking deep breaths. Jasper looked horrified by the fact. He caught sight of blood and jumped ten feet away from her. The smell was hypnotizing; mouthwatering.

Jasper unconsciously took a step forward. Ginny tried to drag herself away. "Jasper, no. J-Jasper, please." She pleaded, but the smell was too much. He crouched down into an offensive position. He growled. Ginny knew it was too dangerous to apparate again. She didn't have time to cast a spell either. She closed her eyes braced herself.

Freezing hands clutched her. She did her best to stay calm. She suddenly felt different hands grab her from behind. They were also freezing. She heard a lot of snapping, but nothing bit her. Finally, one pair of hands let go. She felt rushing wind. She was placed on a hard floor and she heard a door slam.

She opened her eyes. Ginny had no idea where she was. Everything was dark. She lifted her wand. "Lumos." She whispered. Light erupted from the tip. She saw one of the vampires standing there. She was still bleeding. "Levicorpus!" She screamed. He was lifted into the air by his ankles.

She took a closer look. He was one of the older ones. He had golden-like hair, very similar to his eyes. He didn't look like he had blood lust. Though he did look surprised at suddenly being turned upside-down.

"I won't hurt you. I'm a doctor. I can help you." He said. Ginny snorted. "You're a bloody vampire. You can't be a doctor." She said. "I'm not the one that is bloody." He corrected. "I'm fine." She mumbled. "May you please let me down? I have centuries of experience. I have never even tasted human blood." He smiled. Ginny dragged herself away a bit before sighing the counter-curse.

The vampire flipped in the air and landed on his feet. He switched on a light. Ginny turned her wand off. "I'm Carlisle. Edward found Jasper crazed by the scent of your blood. A few more seconds, and you'd be dead." He informed her. She nodded. "I am ever so curious to finding out what happened." He added.

"I splinched." She mumbled shamefully. He raised an eyebrow. "When I… teleported, I left a piece of myself behind; my foot." She scooted further away from the calm vampire. He winced. "That must be painful. May I take a look?" He asked. Ginny quickly shook her head. She knew better than to let a vampire examine her bloody wound.

"Be reasonable. If he doesn't look, you'll probably die." Another voice said from the door. It was the mind reader. Edward, was it? She suddenly realized that her occlumency shields had been down ever since she apparated. She tried to put them back up, but they only held a second. She was too weak.

"You have an interesting mind." He commented, as if reading her mind (pun intended). She scooted away from him too. She thought about how Jasper had almost been killed. The mind reader's eyes widened. Oops. "That actually happened? Why would you save him?" He questioned. Ginny managed to get her shields up now. He gritted his teeth.

"Carlisle, you don't have to ask permission for everything. Go on and help her out. She's in pain, though she doesn't want to admit it." The mind reader sighed. Carlisle sighed too. In less than a second, the mind reader was holding her down as Carlisle looked at her leg. She struggled uselessly.

"There's not much I can do without the foot… but I can wipe the blood away and clean the wound." He shrugged. "Even I can do that." She wriggled her wand hand out of the mind reader's grip. "Scourgify." She said. All the blood disappeared. Carlisle stared for a second. Then he wrapped the leg with bandages so to stop the bleeding. Finally, they let go of her. She dragged herself against the wall and gripped her wand tightly as if her life depended on it.

Both vampires left the room. The closed the door behind them. When Ginny was sure they were gone, she wept. Maybe she should have let the others kill Jasper. Then, she'd still have her foot. Maybe she could go back and re-attach it. But her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened.

Alice danced in. She sat next to Ginny, who was desperately trying to wipe her tears. "Thank you for saving Jasper's life. He hates me now, but that doesn't mean I don't still care for him." She said. Ginny gulped and nodded, wishing she was brave enough to apparate away. Anywhere was better than a place full of vampires, right? She decided it was the best course of action.

Alice shook her head. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. We're not going to hurt you. We're trying to protect you. Please don't teleport away." Alice requested. Ginny checked her occlumency shields. They were up and strong. "How do you know I want to do that?" She asked. Alice winked. "Edward isn't the only one with handy powers. In case you're wondering, I do not read minds. I can kind of see the future. Once you decide to do something, I can see you doing it." She explained. Ginny nodded as if she cared.

Here she was, having a conversation with a vampire. Now that wasn't something you saw every day, even if you were a witch. Alice noticed Ginny's wand. "Handy, huh? It looks like a fun toy." She laughed. "It's not a toy. It's a weapon." Ginny corrected quietly. "I don't see how you can win a battle with one of those." Alice puzzled.

"A lot of these won a war!" Ginny shouted. She realized what she had just said and mentally kicked herself. "A war?" Alice asked curiously. Ginny ignored her, letting her tears steam again, thinking of Fred.

After about an hour of being alone, Jasper stiffly walked in. "I'm sorry. You saved my life, and to repay you, I nearly kill you." He muttered. Ginny didn't answer; she didn't know what to say. The vampire sighed and walked out of the room.

Finally, Ginny couldn't take it anymore. She dragged herself to the door. She got on her knees and opened the door. Soon, she got the hang of moving around. She even managed to stand. She hopped through the vast house until she finally found the exit. But she lost her balance.

Someone caught her before she could touch the floor. It was Emmett. He gave out a booming laugh. "Trying to get away? Don't you think that in a houseful of vampires at least one would sense you?" He questioned. She didn't answer.

Instead of taking her back to the room, he carried her over to a living room. All the other vampires were there. Ginny wished she wasn't so scared to apparate. Emmett set her on a chair.

"Alice said you mentioned a war." Carlisle reminded her. She simply nodded. "Tell us about that." He suggested, as if she had a choice. But Ginny knew she didn't. "It was a wizard war. V-Voldemort, an evil wizard, and all his followers against everyone opposed to him. A lot of people died… including one of my brothers." She felt a few tears slip from her eyes. A kind-looking vampire gasped. She looked like the mother of the family. Everyone else looked shocked as well.

"You know George? He had a twin brother, Fred. They were hilarious. But George just hasn't been the same without him. We were all miserable, so we decided to move away from it all." She confessed. She felt guilty telling them everything, but she felt like she had no choice. "In the war, real werewolves were on the dark side. That's how I know that the ones that are here aren't really werewolves. They actually completely turn into wolves and they can do it whenever they want. Real werewolves aren't like that." She explained.

"Can I go home now?" She begged. But suddenly, everyone in the room growled. The mother-like vampire scooped Ginny into her arms. Ginny saw that there were three wolves and one man standing on the other side of the glass wall. "I don't think so." Sam rumbled.

The wolves burst through the glass. Ginny was tossed around like a football. Finally, one of the wolves bit the vampire holding Ginny. Then Sam ran over and took her. They ran as fast as they could, away from the Cullen's house.

Ginny realized something. This was no more than a game, a rivalry. And now she was in the smack-dab middle of it.