Chapter Twelve

I heard the voices as I drifted up to consciousness.

"Well, I can't blame you for not taking her to Lestrang."

"Thanks again for coming, Daphne. You're just the only one I know who could help."

"Any idea how it happened?"

"Not a clue."

I knew. And believe me, Blaise and Theo were going to pay.

I must have made some small move, for Daphne said, "You should leave. I'll take care of her from here."

I heard someone leaving. Then, "You can open your eyes now."

I opened them and looked up at Daphne. We were in the Prefect's study room on the third floor. I was stretched out on one of the couches. Daphne sat down beside me, smiling just slightly.

"I wouldn't do that," she said as I tried to sit up and she was right. My head ached horribly so I lay back down.

"I imagine those two morons are responsible for this," Daphne said.

"What two morons?" I asked, rubbing my forehead. My voice sounded like gravel.

"Blaise and Theo of course," she replied, handing me a glass of water.

I paused with the water at my lips.

She just smiled. "Oh, I know all about their plan to get you and Draco together. They overdid themselves a little this time and I'm going to have to fuss at them, of course. But they didn't really mean any harm. And besides, Draco did save you."

I looked away from her.

He had saved me. So what if it was a fake evil brought on by my friends in an attempt to further our relationship. He had saved me.

"Wait a second," I said. "why are you here? Didn't you go home?"

She smiled down at me. "Well, Draco sort of panicked when you fainted. Fortunately he was too preoccupied to notice Blaise and Theo slip out of the dungeons or they would not still be alive. In any case, he didn't know what had hit you and he was pretty sure it wasn't a good thing what did. He was right, sort of. Any way, he called me because he didn't think you'd fancy being taken to Lestrang. I was the only one he knew that had any medi training. Aside from you, that is."

I relaxed back and smiled at her. "Sorry to pull you away from home."

She shrugged. "I was trying to avoid going home this break any way. Astoria, my sister, knows that I've been getting lessons from you. She keeps threatening to tell our parents. I personally don't think they would care, but it's hard to tell."

I nodded. I knew how that felt. Boy, did I ever.

"So what exactly did Blaise do to me?" I asked.

"Oh, just a fainting cloud. You took in quite a lot of it but you'll be fine."

I nodded but I was going to have words with the boys.

I drank the rest of my water, my head feeling better already. I looked over at Daphne and made a decision.

"Daphne, can I ask for your help on something?"

"Sure, Ginny. Go right ahead."

"You have to promise to keep this between the two of us, okay?"

She looked mildly concerned but she agreed. "Any thing, Ginny."

I took a deep breath.

"I want to know why Bellatrix Lestrang had my brother's wand."

888

It took a few seconds for that to sink in.

Then her eyes widened. "What?"

"I went up to the Infirmary the other day to get some ingredients. When I got there, my brother Fred's wand was there. I've tried asking my family about it but I don't want to raise suspicion."

She bit her thumb and looked at me seriously. "There are several reasons I can think of and none of them are good. Are you sure you want to start this, Ginny?"

"He's my brother, Daph. I don't have a choice. I never had one. If there's anything, even just the smallest little thing that I can do to help him, I have to. Do you understand?"

She sighed. "I do. I may dislike Ast strongly but she's my sister. I would do that for her."

She leaned close.

"Look, this isn't going to be easy though. You have to know that. There's only so much I can do on my own. But here's what I'll do…"

She gave me a quick rundown of what she would do until we came back from break. I nodded in approval.

Finally she looked at the clock and sighed.

"I should get back. Mum and Dad will be worried about me. I'll owl you sometime soon. Take care, Ginny."

I said I would and watched her Floo out of the castle. It didn't occur to me until later to wonder how that was possible. You can't Floo in or out of the building unless a channel is opened. As far as I knew the only person who had that sort of power was Snape. So why would he let students Floo in and out?

The doubts circled in my mind and I found sleep reaching up for me. I let it come.

(A/N: Behold! The plot thickens!

To Roni2010- I had so much fun with that scene it should be illegal!