Eris came to see that she was, inside the eye of a hurricane. Just outside the woods, in raging winds, amid thunderous destruction, the world she had known was being torn asunder by furies recognizable - yet subtly transformed. People she had known in her life and he who she has loved, were embedded within the raging storm, their faces full of twisting black malevolence - and they were the very essence of this storm

Waking up with a jolt, Eris shook her head hoping to clear the images from her dreams, after several deep breaths she sung her legs off her bed and padded across the hall. Quietly she pushed oak door open and slipped inside the room, shuffling across the room she lifted the bed covers and slipped into bed beside him. Opening one beady eye, Draco noted that it was indeed Eris who had climbed into his bed; he flung his arm around her and pulled her into his embrace.

"You look awful Rowle." Pansy said a gleeful smirk.

"Shut it Parkinson." Draco growled placing a protective arm around Eris, Ginny noticed that Eris did indeed look a little rough that morning, deep purple circles where etched into her pale skin.

"Miss Rowle, Mr Malfoy." Ginny felt herself stiffen slightly as Professor Snape stood behind her glazing at the couple. "Are you quite well Miss Rowle?"

"Yes Sir." Eris' voice sounded rough and coarse "just had a bad night's sleep." Ginny caught the meaningful look passed between the men at the table. With a brisk nod of his head Snape whisked away from the group.

"Cheer up Goldie; you'd think spending the night in Draco's bed would make you happy." Ginny tried to push Blaise' comment out of her mind as she ate her remaining breakfast.

Ginny found herself sitting with Dean in the common room working on her late Defence work, she hadn't wanted to bother Eris with it, not after the display at breakfast, so was stubbornly working on it alone. Dean was being unhelpful and trying to distract her and she was ashamed to say it wasn't working. Dean was becoming more of an irritant then a distraction.

"Harry?"

"Yeah Gin?"

"Defence, Counter curses?"

"Errrr..Lemme look."

Ginny handed Harry the essay she had been working on as he sat down in the chair next to her. She was now sandwiched between Dean's less then subtle shifting towards her and Harry's embarrassment at the arising situation she had been noticing over the last few weeks.

"This isn't awkward at all." Ginny thought to herself. "I bet Eris knows how to deal with this situation."

Pawn to E4" Eris' pawn swept forward. The evening had fallen on the common room quickly causing the sconces along the wall to light much early than usual. She leaned back against Draco's legs as he sat in a chair near to the fireplace. She watched as Blaise made his move from his spot on the floor across from her.

"I don't see why you bother Zabini, she beats you every time." Theo commented as he scratched out a line from his charms essay.

"Bishop to C4" Eris watched as confusion played across the dark boys face. Behind her she felt Draco move as he lowered his book to watch the match.

"I know she does Nott, but one day, I will win and then I get my prize" all the boys smirked at the memory of an eleven year old Eris promising Blaise that if he beat her at chess she'd kiss him, unfortunately she had never set a time limit, so six years on he was still trying to claim his prize.

"Queen to F3" the dark queen seemed to give her an approving look before moving. She saw Blaise's tongue poke out the corner of his mouth as he tried to work out her game plan. "Queen to F7" she watched as the pawn in front of his king side bishop was destroyed. "Checkmate Zabini."

"What! That was like five moves"

"Actually it was four moves, more commonly known as scholar' checkmate. Now if you excuse me boys, I'm going to talk to Daphne." She stood up to leave as the boys pondered her latest victory.

At Hermione's insistence, Ginny was sitting at Gryffindor. She had a feeling that it was less to do with the older girl missing her, but rather a distraction from Ron and Lavenders inability to leave each other alone and subtle matchmaking between her and Harry. Eris kept catching her eye over the tables, smirking at Ginny's obvious discomfort at the situation. Ginny Liked watching the Slytherins. They all had a delicate subtlety about them she found fascinating.

From this distance she could just make out Theo's less then obvious attraction to Daphne Greengraas. She wondered why he didn't just ask to formally court her if he wanted to be so proper about it. Theo seemed to have even a higher respect for tradition then Eris. It's not like his feelings weren't reciprocated, from what she could tell anyway.

She moved onto Blaise, he entertained her the most. From the outside he just looked like the usual surly Slytherin but just under the surface was the almost childlike, quick witted and surprisingly laid back, flirt. He was fiercely protective of those close to him but rarely talked to anyone else.

She refused to look at the boy on Eris' right and just settled for looking closely at the girl herself. Unlike the other Slytherins she wasn't sending covert glances towards her significant other. Instead her eyes seemed to roam the hall, taking in every detail. The girl was peculiar, but she already knew that. Along with the girls incessant need to be in control and her inability to take no for an answer. But wait, she might not have been looking at Draco but there was a spot Eris kept glancing at. Ginny tried to follow the eye line of the girl and followed it until it rested on the head table.

She could understand that, what with all the rumours circulating about Snape's loyalty and with Eris' devotion to the cause it would seem logical that she would be suspicious of her head of house. Bust at the same time Ginny knew Eris had a deep respect for the man. After all, it was only this morning when he personally inquired about her health. It wasn't long before she noticed that Snape was actually looking back at the girl. Meeting her eyes like Ginny had done earlier, only this time the gaze was held a moment too long to seem innocent…

"Don't be ridiculous Gin." She muttered quietly to herself, shaking her head and judging herself for actually almost thinking such a thing. She was clearly just more obsessed with the blond git over there and his relationship then she thought if she was now imagining scenarios that would cause them to break up.

AN OK, so we know people are wondering at why this seems to be lacking in Draco/Ginny this far into it, but lets be realistic! Draco's got too much family pressure behind him to just let his emotions run free, maybe in previous years he would have but he's got a little too much on his plate to just go sauntering off with Ginny just yet. Besides, he's got Eris to think about.

And Ginny isn't much different. She has a lifetime of hate for the Malfoys. Think of what his father did to her in the bookshop! It won't be an easy ride for them, but be patient. It IS coming. It's a slow but more plausible build up, we can't just change their entire characters, otherwise it might as well just be Ginny/Harry Draco/Pansy and no-one wants that!

Comments and Constructive Criticism are very welcome.

Peace and Cake x