A/N: I hate to do this because I feel it ruins the entire feel of the chapter, but I'm going to write an author's note. When reviewing, let's use our judgment, shall we? For instance, I recently got an anonymous review that this story contained a lot of "Harry-bashing". Personally, I don't think it contains enough. They're sworn enemies, people. This story is written from Draco's perspective. Please stop putting two and two together and getting five. Sworn enemies are going to trash talk one another. Harry does it plenty of times in the actual books. Let's remember that two plus two equals four from now on, shall we?

-Katy

Chapter 19

"You did what?" Ginny hissed harshly.

I'd been rubbing circles gently on her back as she lay beside me in the Room of Requirement, the draperies of the bed we were on hanging loosely above our heads. "I had to." I murmured.

"No, you didn't! You did not have to! I mean, god, Draco, how do you even know you can trust him? He was stabbing you in the back last month!" She stopped for a moment as a thought occurred to her and her face turned white. Her voice dropped to a whisper, "What if he tells Voldemort what you're planning?"

I gave her a serious look and considered her question, dropping my hand to my side. After a moment, I responded simply. "He won't."

She was getting angry and frightened at the same time, what I knew to be a deadly combination when Ginny was concerned. She sat up in the bed and looked at me angrily, "And how the fuck do you know that? I suppose you read minds now too?"

I smirked in response. "Don't call it mind-reading. It's Legilimency. And yes, I know how to use it. But I don't unless it's necessary and I know the other person won't feel me probing their mind. Blaise certainly would. I just know Blaise. He and I will fight like it's the end of the world, but when something happens, like when you disappeared, we're always there for the one another. That's why Blaise found me that morning in the corridor. He knew innately that something was wrong. Besides, Blaise wants to prolong my life as much as you do."

"And why does he want that? He was willing to destroy your life a few weeks ago." Ginny snapped, still not convinced.

I told her what I really knew about Blaise, about the darkness hiding behind his beautiful smile, and that I was the only thing that really kept him tethered to sanity. Whenever he was about to step over the edge, I was always there to pull him back and I was the only one he had ever trusted with that knowledge. Blaise was secretly terrified of the insanity he constantly felt creeping forward, of the darkness he felt leaking into his mind. He would do anything to not lose his mind.

Ginny was, for once, speechless. I could tell by the shocked expression on her pretty face that she'd had no suspicions about him. "Blaise is a good actor." I commented as I watched her struggle with the realization.

After a few moments, she just simply curled back against my body and whispered, "Fuck."

I once again stood in the Room of Requirement, this time having asked it for a place to hold a secret meeting. A meeting with all of the people I could trust in the world. I looked at the two other people and smirked in amusement, I'd always known I had trust issues, but damn, who knew that at the end of my life that the number of people I could really depend on would be so small?

"It's so weird, actually, seeing you two together." Blaise commented from where he was perched on a sofa.

"Almost as weird as it is seeing you without a girl attached to your face, Blaise." Ginny commented back, glancing at him teasingly.

Blaise laughed and smiled good-naturedly and, for once, I think he meant his smile. A plan began to form in my head, but we had bigger things to worry about now. "Voldemort recently contacted me. He was upset with what he called a 'clear lack of effort in achieving our mutual goal'. So, I've decided that I should probably appear to be trying to kill Dumbledore while actually setting up the Death Eaters. That means I need to stage a few failed attempts. Any ideas?"

They sat for a moment, Ginny twisting her red hair around her fingers as she thought. Blaise's handsome face was scrunched in concentration. I paced the room, my footsteps echoing on the wooden flooring.

"Poison's always a good option." Ginny suggested.

Of course she would suggest that, after all, potions was a hobby we shared.

I thought about it for a moment, "That could work. But how do we make it seem like we're trying to kill him without actually killing him?"

We were stumped for a while, each of us staring into space as different scenarios played out in our heads. And then, Blaise spoke up, "Draco, none of us know how to do this. Look at us, what are our specialties?"

I immediately named them off as I looked them, "I'm good at analysis and predicting people's next moves, you could talk the Minister of Magic into giving you his ministry, and I suspect that Ginny would be excellent with planning and executing distractions."

He nodded solemnly as if he'd already known the answers, "None of us is any good with planning things of this magnitude. You know who's really great at things like this? Betrayal and backstabbing?"

Damn. I immediately saw it. He was right– there was no other option. I nodded my head slowly and swallowed past a lump in my throat. "Fine. Go wake her up and tell her about everything."

Blaise left almost the instant I said it. Ginny looked at me with a reserved, concerned look, "Draco… Who's he getting?"

I nodded again, confirming what she'd already suspected.

"Pansy? Are you fucking kidding me? What possible reasoning could you have behind her helping you? She would most definitely be happier with you dead."

"I know, but there's no way to help it. I have some blackmail on her, though, and I'm going to share it with you and eventually Blaise." I told her about Pansy's father and where I'd hidden the proof. "You knowing this ensures that she will keep her mouth shut. If Pansy's father goes to prison, she loses everything. And the only thing stronger than Pansy's hatred for me is her sense of self-preservation."

"You woke me up for this? Are you fucking kidding me?" Pansy grumbled as we asked her the question.

I rolled my eyes; apparently Pansy valued her beauty sleep more than the lives of innocent people. I should have seen this coming.

"Yeah, we did. Now answer the fucking question." Ginny snapped.

Pansy's eyes narrowed and locked on Ginny. I cursed under my breath as I felt the total bitch fight that was about to take place. Blaise must have felt it too, because we both stepped between the girls at the same time.

Blaise took Pansy by the shoulders and held her there, forcing her to look at him, talking to her in that suave voice that I knew could convince nearly anyone of anything. "Pansy, answer the question. How do we make it look like we're trying to kill Dumbledore without actually doing it? You're going to have to tell us, Pansy. Draco's told us all about your father's crimes. I know where the evidence is."

I hadn't actually had the chance to tell him where I'd hidden it, but that was Blaise, lying through his teeth and taking a leap of faith at the same time.

Pansy's blue eyes darted to mine and narrowed, "You really think I'd stoop that low, Draco? You think I'd associate myself with a bunch of fucking Death Eaters just to kill you?"

I'd seen crazed looks– the insanity that so terrified Blaise– in Pansy's blue eyes before. So, I answered without hesitation, "Yes."

"Then you know nothing about me." She hissed, "I hate them more than you ever will. They killed my mother. Or did you forget?"

I actually had forgotten. It had happened before we'd even joined Hogwarts, but Pansy had told me she'd been there to witness it. No one knew why her mother had been targeted, but it had happened anyway. She was right; in my analysis of her, I'd forgotten the one person Pansy hated more than me–Voldemort.

Pansy turned her face back to Blaise's and spat, "It's fucking obvious, you Neanderthals. If you want to make it seem like you meant to kill someone, you try to kill someone else."

She made sense. A lot of sense. But we couldn't just walk around killing innocent people.

Ginny voiced my thoughts, "That's not an option. We can't kill anyone."

Pansy grinned, "Aw, you sweet little Gryffindor. Still so naïve and innocent."

"She's right, Pansy, we can't kill anyone." I said.

Her grin falling, Pansy grumbled. "Fine. Blaise said you wanted to try poisoning, so the only way I see to make that safe is to poison your victim in front of someone who could easily save them."

"Slughorn." I immediately said. Slughorn was the potions teacher. "Slughorn is the only one who would have the ingredients to save whomever we poison."

"What about Snape?" Blaise asked.

"No, Snape wouldn't have brought any of his potions supplies to school, not since he's the new Dark Arts teacher. Besides, I wouldn't trust Snape not to figure it out. We'll be using a poison that takes a while to kill. If we wanted to really kill someone, wouldn't we give them something that works immediately? It would take Snape five minutes to figure that out and report to Voldemort. The man's a genius." I said, thinking out loud more than actually answering Blaise's question.

"We should plan at least two attempts, shouldn't we? I mean, you plan to bring in the Death Eaters around June, but it's only November. You'll need at least one other faked murder attempt." Ginny murmured, her face thoughtful.

I grinned at Blaise, "I told you she'd be great with distractions. Okay, what's another way we could kill someone?"

The room was silent for a moment and then we all simultaneously burst into laughter; how nonchalant we were being about the entire ordeal.

"We could curse someone." Blaise suggested.

I thought about it and then found a few flaws with that plan. In the corner of my eye, I saw Pansy already shaking her head, agreeing with me as I said, "Cursing someone is too direct. It doesn't look like an accident."

Smirking in delight, Pansy added, "But we could give them a cursed object…" Her sentence trailed off, letting me know she was thinking of something particular.

Ah, yes, Borgin and Burkes. I'd seen the cursed necklace in one of their display cases while threatening to order Fenrir Greyback to kill Borgin. "We could steal that necklace from Borgin using the cupboard. He doesn't know it's fixed yet. We can't buy it, just in case anyone happens to ask who purchased it from him."

"There's one problem with that. You'll have to erase the memory of whomever you give it to." Ginny spoke up.

Blaise lifted a curious eyebrow, "So?"

My lovely Red gave my friends a mischievous, superior grin from the seat she was perched on as she crossed her legs and tossed her hair behind a shoulder. "So, Harry's going to be onto you the minute they announce someone in the castle was cursed. You know he's always been looking for a reason to get you expelled, Draco. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to steal your wand and see the spells you've been casting."

Of course, Potter would be a problem. "So, I can't be the one to cast the Confundus Charm. And neither can Pansy or Blaise. He'll suspect them next. Which leaves…"

"Which leaves me." Ginny said, smiling uncomfortably at the thought of being so mixed up in this fuckwad of a situation.

Pansy gave me another malicious grin. "It seems we have a winner."