Someday, I will own something of great importance. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Draco

Later that evening, Mrs. Weasley came bustling around their various rooms with hot chocolate and scones before bed. Ginny managed to be completely far away from Fred and George's room, Ryua was innocently trying to teach Harry how to make a Draught of Living Death, and Hermione was still trying to make Ron concentrate on schoolwork. "Honestly, Ron, the classes we'll be taking this year are the most important yet!"

"Hermione, you say that every year…" Ron groaned. "Make up your mind already!"

She glared at him, trying to voice arguments that he would never listen to anyways. Luckily, they were all saved from too much lecturing by the arrival of Mrs. Weasley's snacks, after which she sent them all to bed. Somehow, none of them argued. She was just not a person one argued with, it didn't seem healthy. Although, Harry did give Ryua a goodnight kiss that left her head spinning and caused Ron to applaud from across the room.

Ryua hoped very much that she'd dream of that all night long. She'd been having restless nights off and on all week, although she couldn't remember what she was dreaming of.

She wasn't entirely aware of when she fell asleep, just that the remembered warmth of Harry's hands suddenly became more believable, and they were together somewhere in Hogwarts… And then Harry suggested that they go get ice cream. So, apparently, they were in Diagon Alley, heading for Florence Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Ryua walked out of the Leaky Cauldron, where she'd been spending a night. She checked the streets nonchalantly, making sure there weren't any Death Eaters in the crowds. There was no one behind her either, although suddenly the fact that she'd just been with Harry didn't matter. Her dreaming mind seemed to think she'd been alone to begin with, so it wasn't strange that she was alone now. Mentally shrugging, she accepted it, though since her body seemed to be walking on it's own, she had no real choice.

It was late, late enough that the sun was going down, and most people were leaving the streets. Fortescue was just getting ready to shut down, handing out his final few sundaes before closing his door. By the time Ryua got to the counter, it was just her, Fortescue, and a little girl that bore quite a resemblance to the vendor. Maybe a niece or… Granddaughter, her mind supplied. Yes, sweet little thing, no more than three or four… she grinned and waved up at Ryua, her mouth covered in chocolate. Ryua smiled down, ruffling the girl's hair, and accepted a bowl of maple nut ice cream from Fortescue. "Always had a soft spot for Hogwarts students, yes I have…" he said.

The ice cream was wonderfully sweet and cold, and Ryua just closed her eyes, savouring it a moment. Then, her mind clicked into panic mode. She never tasted in her dreams, and certainly not temperature. She tried to open her eyes, and it happened a few moments later than she intended. With a shock, she realized that she couldn't actually move on her own, not even the blink of an eye…

"And how are you tonight, my lad?" asked Fortescue, pulling out a chair and sitting down. Lad? Lad? What the hell is going on here…

"Just fine, Florence," Ryua said… but in a voice subtly different from her own. She had a low rich voice for a girl, but this was a man's voice, so similar to her own that she could copy it with little effort.

So she knew what Fortescue's response would be. "Good to hear, Draco, good to hear." The older man sighed. "To tell you the truth, I'm considering closing up shop."

"What? Why?" Ryua, or rather, Draco asked while eating more ice cream.

"Things are getting too turbulent, for my tastes. I want to grow old, watch my grandchildren go to Hogwarts, grow up, maybe see my great grandchildren. There have been too many disturbances here, and many of the shops have closed…" Through Draco, Ryua realized he was right; this and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes were the only pure pleasure shops still open. For a moment, they all three sat, contemplating ice cream, pretending the world was still good.

Then, Draco heard something, his hypertense senses attuned as highly as Ryua's. He hoarsely whispered, "Get out of here, now!" as he drew his wand, flicking the lights out with a gesture. With the interior darker than the street, he had a momentary sight advantage, and with a sinking feeling, saw the only people moving were hooded and cloaked in black. Florence was taking his granddaughter quietly back to the alley entrance, locking doors and windows as he went. Draco started to trail them, speeding up as he heard Death Eaters start in on the front door. "Go!" he hissed, using a tub of vanilla ice cream to break open a back window after casting a silencing charm on it. Gingerly poking shards of glass out, he heaved the tiny little girl through easily. He heard her hit the ground outside, muffle a cry, and then scuffle to her feet.

"Don't wait for us, go to Weasley's!" Florence called softly, naming a place that would be undoubtably safe against a Death Eater attack. A splintering sound told them that the front doorframe had given way, and the Death Eaters were swarming into the shop. They didn't bother to be silent, wanting to create as much fear as possible, and confident that their prey couldn't escape. Probably right…Ryua wasn't quite sure whether the thought came from her or Draco.

Draco shoved the magical freezer in front of the door, and heard Fortescue pushing a table under the window so he could escape through it. Behind the blocked kitchen door, he heard muffled voices yelling angrily, and the door shuddered ominously. "Hurry up!" Draco hissed, strengthening the door with a pathetically weak charm. His charms were almost as bad as his sister's…

An authoritative shout came from the front room, and Draco ducked back, as he knew the Death Eaters on the other side must be doing. The door started to bow inward, the wood straining, creaking, splintering, and finally exploding. Visions of Narcissa impaled by pieces of wood made Draco duck behind a cupboard. People in black robes swarmed through the door, and Bellatrix's clear voice shouted "Sectumsempra!", catching Fortescue halfway out the window. From the amount of blood pouring from two deep rents on his back, he had less than a minute to live.

Draco prayed to whoever might be listening that the little Fortescue girl was all the way to Weasleys' shop by now, and wondered how he was going to get out of the shop alive… His fear was contagious, the effort to keep his labored breathing silent hurt her lungs as well, and when Crabbe came stumping around the cabinet, probably looking for food…

"Relashio!" Ryua shrieked, vaulting forward on the tail of her spell. She had to get past Crabbe, avoid Bella, definitely avoid Lucius… and suddenly she was trapped, hung up in something, and it was too dark to see… She writhed, desperately trying to free her entangled limbs, and when a hand clamped down on her arm, she sent them flying with an impedimentia…

"Ryua!" A shout, accompanied by a stinging slap shocked her into wakefulness. Gasping, she illuminated her wand, and saw an irate Hermione leaning over her, hand raised for a second smack. Across the room, Ron was nursing a nasty looking burned arm and chest, trying to revive Harry.

"Oh, Ron, I'm so sorry…" Ryua groaned, disentangling herself from her blankets and going over to help with Harry. "You should go see your mother… enervate!" She flicked her wand down at Harry. It wasn't quite the right spell, but it worked on anyone stunned or lightly unconscious. He winced, feeling the back of his skull gingerly. Ryua breathed a sigh of relief when his hand came away clean, sitting down very solidly on the floor. "I'm really, really sorry…"

"Must've been some dream," Ron said ruefully, trying to smack Hermione's wand away from his raw skin. She glared at him, and he settled down, letting her heal the burns over.

"It… it was. I don't think it was a dream though…" Ryua said, still sitting exhausted on the floor. She explained her dream, emphasizing how certain she was that it actually happened. When she was done, however, she saw the hidden looks of skepticism on her friends' faces.

"I don't know, Ryua…" Hermione said, biting her lip. "I mean… reading people's minds isn't exactly commonplace…"

"I've done it, though," Harry put in, frowning. "Last year, I kept getting flashes of Voldemort's experiences when I was asleep."

"But the two of you are, like… connected or whatever," Ron said, prodding his newly grown skin.

"Draco's my twin, Ron. We can always feel when the other's hurt, and usually pick up strong emotions too. You've got Fred and George, you must know what I'm talking about," Ryua said, trying to work up the energy to climb back into her bed.

"I suppose we could ask them…" Ron said doubtfully. "Although I don't think they've every read each other's minds… but now that I have an excuse to wake them up, I think I ought to use it."

"They're not here tonight, Ron," Hermione said. "Remember? They said they wanted to work a little more on those shield necklaces at the shop…"

"Well, it'll just have to wait until morning then," Ryua said, forcing herself off of the comfortable floor so she could lay down in her bed again. "I'm utterly exhausted… You sure you three are okay?" She looked at them apologeticly.

"Yeah, we're fine. Next time you have a bad dream, though, I'm waking you up with a cold water charm…" Ron said, eying her wand with some apprehension. "And I'm not sleeping across from you anymore, I'll switch with Harry…"

"Sorry…" Ryua mumbled from her pillow. She was extremely tired, like… like she'd just been in a battle with Death Eaters. Weird… was the last thought going through her mind before she fell completely asleep.

She woke up the next morning to a bright and cheerful looking summer's morning. Still two weeks left… and for once, she was glad of all the vacation. For the first time she could remember, she was really and truly enjoying her vacation.

Borrowing one of Harry's school robes to cover Ginny's old pyjamas, Ryua padded downstairs, smelling muffins or some such thing baking. I suppose I really ought to get to Diagon Alley myself soon… It was frustrating, not having any of her own clothes to wear. Or books to do homework, or a broom to practice on, or a pet of her own to pamper…

Ryua walked into the kitchen, her eyes closed, savoring the rich, cinnamony aroma of Mrs. Weasley's latest concoction. She stretched, yawning a bit, and opened her eyes, seeing a batch of apple cinnamon muffins already baked on a counter, and several more lined up ready to go in the oven. And then she saw Mrs. Weasley herself, bending over someone in a chair, saying, "Here you go, dear, eat up. That'll make it all seem brighter, it will…"

In the chair, tiny white hands clasped around a muffin, huge eyes still swimming with terrified tears, was the youngest Fortescue girl. Ryua froze, wondering how on earth that little girl she'd dreamed about could be here, and then Fred and George came out from the pantry, each juggling jars of jam.

"Ah, that'll set you right indeed," Fred said, grinning as cheerfully as he could at the little girl.

"Mum makes the best muffins in all of England!" George said, an identically forced grin on his face.

Ryua sidled over to them, peeling the paper cup off a muffin as she went. "Where'd you get the girl?" she murmured, not able to take her eyes off her.

"Came stumbling up to our shop an hour after nightfall, tears rolling down her cheeks, looking like the hounds of hell were after her," Fred said quietly.

"Knocked on our door all polite too… she'd been there earlier that day, with her grandpa."

"Had a thing for the pygmypuffs…"

"Fred slipped one into her pocket, she looked fit to explode with giggles…"

"Anyway, she showed up, so we let her in, a'course…"

"Let her play with the pygmypuffs some, asked her what was wrong…"

"She said bad men had come to her granddaddy's shop, and a nice boy with vanilla hair threw her out a window,"

"She showed us scratches, where she fell on the glass, but had the pluck to get all the way through Diagon Alley after curfew."

Fred sighed, shaking his head. "Felt awful, but the most we could do was booby trap our doors and sit tight till dawn. We could hear the fight from all the way up the street… someone was giving the Death Eaters a pretty decent fight."

"We threw some of our experimental itching powder out the second-floor windows when they passed under us later on. They'll have boils the size of teacups for two weeks, all purple and green… And they were carrying injured or dead before that too." George said, a hint of his old mischief in his eyes. "Soon as the sky started to lighten, we hightailed it back here. Didn't get a chance to check the shop, we'd probably be arrested for it anyway."

"Fortescue's dead," Ryua said glumly. "Draco was the boy who threw her out the window."

"How do you… never mind…" Fred said, shaking his head. "Think Draco's okay?"

Surprising herself, Ryua actually smiled. She loved having someone completely understand how she felt, especially since she'd be hard-pressed to explain a twin bond. "Well, I woke up pretty violently at the beginning of the fight… but I think he's okay. I mean, we've always been able to tell if the other's badly hurt, I'm sure I'd know if he were dead…"

"Yeah, I think you would," George said comfortingly. "He'll be fine. And you need another muffin…"

Ryua laughed, although it was true. She'd eaten every crumb of it, and had been in the process of picking all the tasty little crunchy bits off of the paper while they were talking. When she sat down at the table, a plate heaped with muffins in front of her, the little girl finally spoke. "You look like Draco," she said. "Are you his sister?"

"Yeah. I'm Ryua. What's your name?" Ryua asked, smothering a muffin in strawberry jam for her.

She took it, wide-eyed. "Sasha… Your brother threw me out a window."

The statement sounded so odd that Ryua snorted with laughter. Luckily, it was the contagious kind, and Sasha giggled instead of bursting into the tears that had been lurking behind her eyes. "Yeah, that's the sort of thing brothers do. Cause boys are weird!" Unable to help herself, Ryua ruffled Sasha's hair.

She scowled cutely, batting at Ryua's hand. "Is that a thing you Malfoys do? Draco did it all the time, he even got chocolate syrup in it once…"

"Yes, he's a brat. But, being a brat means he's a good fighter. No big mean Death Eaters are gonna beat him up!" Ryua said, hoping very much that it was true.

Remus came in just then, grabbing a double fistful of muffins. He dumped a rumpled copy of the Daily Prophet on the table and tore into his breakfast with the abandon of a true werewolf. "Tough night, Remus?" Molly asked, slicing him some sausage and cheese to go with the muffins. He grunted; apparently he'd been doing a night shift again, and it was just after a full moon. Poor guy…

"Hey, maybe there's something in the paper!" Sasha sqeaked, reaching for it.

"Good idea," Deftly, Ryua scooped it up, thinking a little girl didn't need to read about her grandfather's murder on the front page… and sure enough, the headline read 'Incedent at the Icecream Shop'. Ryua scanned it wordlessly, handing the front page to Mrs. Weasley; a mother should break that kind of news to a girl… and kept reading the continued story on page two. Halfway down the page, she saw what she was looking for; a single survivor, badly cursed and now interred in St. Mungoes. It appeared that he fought for his life, the kitchen door had been blasted open… blah, blah, blah… the author seemed intent on making the readers suspenseful, withholding the name… ah. Lucius Malfoy was expected to make a full recovery…

Lucius? Ryua thought, shaking her head and reading the paragraph again. No doubt about it, Lucius Malfoy was the name printed. She scanned the rest of the article; blood from at least three different people was found splattered throughout the kitchen, so it was assumed that he'd injured several Death Eaters in the fight, possibly allowing time for the missing youngest Fortestcue to escape… "Fred? George? This wouldn't be a joke newspaper… would it?"

"Hmm?" Fred said, leaning over. "Nah, haven't figured out how to get the right ink yet, why?"

"Lucius is in St. Mungoes. He's being made out as a tragic victim right now, and it looks like he's set up to be a hero, once people find out she's alive," Ryua said, gesturing at a now hysterically sobbing Sasha in Mrs. Weasley's arms. "And no mention of Draco, although I bet at least one blood sample is his…"

Remus looked up from licking his muffin papers off. "Draco? What was he doing with a gang of Death Eaters?"

"He wasn't with a gang of Death Eaters, he was on the run from them. He was the one at Fortescue's shop, not Lucius… Lucius chased us out of the house last week after escaping from Azkaban." Ryua said, starting to get in a quite bad mood.

"Strange… it's pretty risky leaving a Death Eater out in the open like that… I think we'd better inform Dumbledore of this," Remus said, pushing himself wearily up from his chair. "I'll take you to him."

Ryua followed him through the halls, coming to a door she'd somehow just not noticed before. "Sweet Tarts," Remus said, walking through the obediently opening door. "Dumbledore, have you seen the newspaper yet?"

Albus Dumbledore sat behind a rather cluttered desk, looking harried and depressed. Ryua didn't blame him; she'd be depressed with reading that many old, mouldering books too. "The Prophet? No, not yet… A good morning to you, Ryua," he said, nodding to her and happily dropping a heavy, ancient looking textbook onto a pile.

"Yes sir… Fortescue's shop was attacked, he's dead, his granddaughter was brought here by Fred and George… and Lucius is being framed as the tragic, sole surviving victim." Ryua said, too worked up to wait on pleasantries.

Sighing, Dumbledore sat down. He'd obviously been hoping for a nice, quiet visit… "Just what we need…"

"Draco was at the shop when they attacked… he's not mentioned at all in the article…" Ryua put in, worried. "I should have been trying to find him before this…"

"Ryua, calm down," Dumbledore said kindly, but firmly. "We'd been looking for him ever since you showed up, and only saw him a handful of times. He never stayed in one place for more than a day or two. You would have probably had no better luck." He waved Remus out, who looked immensely relieved and left for his bed. "And I do not believe that he is harmed."

"How can you say that, sir?" Ryua said, getting more worked up by his calmness.

"Was your mother not murdered by Lord Voldemort last Christmas?"

Taken aback, Ryua said, "Uh… yeah. What's the big deal?"

"How? What were the circumstances? What did she say?"

Wincing slightly at having to remember the evening, Ryua started to describe it. "Well, I was being a bloody idiot; I'd mouthed off at Voldemort. He was torturing me… our mother kicked Lucius between the legs, stole his wand, and burned Voldemort…"

"Oh dear…"

"Yeah. She said something about how they'd never touch us, even though she'd never stood up to anything in her life, and she was shaking like a leaf, she was standing there, Lucius wand pointed at the Dark Lord…" Ryua swallowed, remembering how strange it had been to see Narcissa so, so… powerful… strange, and a little exhilarating, really. "And then he exploded a table… she forced Draco and me to the floor, covered us… she bled to death, broken and torn… I held her…"

He'd come over from his side of the desk sometime, and patted her gently on the shoulder. "Something no one should have to do, although I'm sure it made her passing easier. But you said she said they'd never touch you?"

"Yeah… she said 'you will never touch my children.' Why is that important?" Ryua asked, confused.

"It's a brand of magic that Lord Voldemort thankfully continues to ignore; the magic bound in the love one being can hold for another. Unfortunately, since it was tied to a specific statement, and to both of you… I do not know how deep the protection runs. You may be protected by life, as Harry is, although I doubt it."

"Yeah, she was never the most powerful witch…"

"But she did care for you, and died for you. Therefore, you have some level of protection. I believe that the reason you were not pursued or tracked that night was because of your mother… and I also believe that it hasn't worn off yet."

"Well that's good," Ryua said, relieved that Draco was probably still protected, and glad to have figured out something nagging at her for months. "But… you said yet…"

"Yes, yet," he said, sighing sadly. "Since her magic was bound to the statement, there are ways to outwit any rule such as that."

"Like… we won't be children forever?"

"Yes. Or perhaps he could force the magic to accept that you are Lucius's children instead or… any number of sly, cruel loopholes." Dumbledore said sadly. "But for now, you are both still underage, and Draco is more your mother's child than your father's… so he should be fine."

"Good." Ryua said, sitting down in a chair. She then remembered the other reason for her being here."So, what's Lucius playing at now?"

"That, I cannot say," Dumbledore said, pursing his lips. "And the Ministry will not listen to me, especially in such a time as this. Until a new Minister is elected, nobody is likely to listen to me. We shall just have to watch carefully."

Author's Note: Yeesh. Sorry it took so long, guys… I was busy every night last week, and we had a stupid family reunion all weekend… and then I was busy Monday, and Wednesday… and Thursday, I honestly tried to update, I walked all the way to the library… only to find that the Librarian was taking the day off. And then I had to leave Friday right after work for a second, yes, another family reunion. So… My sincerest apologies… but please believe me, I have about 120 author alerts to go through now, I'm not the least bit happy either.

So, here's a nice long chapter, hopefully filled with all sorts of fun little bits that you'll all enjoy… and can any of you tell what Lucius is playing at?

And... I just got anforward saying that we're no longer allowed to answer reviewers in our stories. If that's true, please tell me, don't report me, and I'll e-mail those of you who need a question answered. Thanks!