Traitors

Draco followed Ginny down the main staircase and through many rooms and hallways until they were once again standing in the doorway of the Malfoy's fancy dining room. Neither of them wanted to be the one to open the door and therefore be the first to face Voldemort. Ginny turned to look at Draco, her eyes catching his. Hers fluttered closed as she leaned forward and captured Draco's lips with her own. It was brief but tender. She whispered into his ear, feeling brave because she knew that he wouldn't be able to hear her. "I love you, Draco."

Draco raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "You know I can't hear you."

Ginny shrugged and turned back to face the door. She was just reaching for the doorknob when the double doors flew open with the force of a tornado. Timidly, she stepped inside, Draco following right behind her.

"I hear that you've completed your quest, Draco." Lord Voldemort sat at the head of the table today, alone. Draco's father and mother were nowhere to be seen and the usual Death Eaters must have been going about their daily Death Eater duties, for there was no sign of them.

Draco stared at him.

"My lord," interrupted Ginny, "Draco and I have had an accident. He can't hear you."

"Of course he can, silly girl." Voldemort's long fingers gripped the arms of his chair tightly. "He just cannot hear you."

Ginny gaped at him. "My lord, I don't think I've explained properly. We splinched when we were apparating here. Draco's ears have been affected."

"Don't recognize dark magic when you see it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Well you wouldn't. You've only been with us for about a couple of months now. I thought that Snape was trying to teach you something, but I must have been mistaken." Voldemort made a noise that sounded like 'tsk, tsk.'

"I'm sorry, my lord. I don't understand."

"Tell her, Draco. Surely you must have recognized all the symptoms by now."

Ginny turned, open mouthed, to where Draco was standing. "Tell me what?"

"Now, now, Ginny. He can't hear you." Voldemort turned his gaze to Draco. "Tell her. Tell her how I know that you are both traitors."

"Traitors?" Ginny asked shrilly.

"Do you not have ears, girl?" hissed Voldemort.

"I'm sorry, my lord. I was simply taken by surprise at this accusation."

Draco stepped forward and sat down in a chair at the table without permission. "It is old magic," he began.

Ginny moved to sit across from him but Voldemort flung out his hand to stop her, hitting her in the stomach. "You will stand in my presence." He looked back to Draco. "Continue."

Draco cleared his throat. "Like I said, it's old magic. I don't know quite when it started. Back before my grandfather's time…and before his grandfather too. In fact, I'm sure that it began somewhere around the time when Salazar Slytherin was in his prime. It's a simple spell, but not many people know how to perform it properly. I don't. My father doesn't. The only person I know of who knows how to use this spell is the Dark Lord. Maybe Salazar Slytherin passed it down through his descendents. I don't really know any of the details." Draco looked sick.

Ginny felt sick.

Voldemort looked like a five year old whose birthday had just come early. "Tell her what the spell does."

"It's sort of like a tracking spell. It doesn't watch movements or actions, but more like emotions and the feelings behind thoughts. It basically detects deception, through the feelings of the person who it is cast upon. I'm not sure how it works, but after it's been cast, and if it detects you doing something wrong, or feeling wrong about something, it causes some symptoms. The main one is distraction. It causes minds to go sort of fuzzy when someone is trying to do something important."

"Say, for instance, trying to apparate," interjected Voldemort.

Ginny shook her head. "We splinched, my lord. There was no distraction involved. It was just an accident."

"It's more than that, Ginny," sneered Voldemort. "Go on, Draco. Tell her the rest. Or would you like me to do the honors?"

"We didn't splinch in the normal way, Ginny. I had been distracted. I didn't see it before; I was too worried about you."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, forgetting again that Draco couldn't hear her.

"I had thought that we just splinched. It made sense for you. There was blood everywhere. For me though, there was no blood, just a sudden loss of all hearing. With splinching, there's always blood. That should have been my first clue. And the fact that I suddenly couldn't hear anything at all. With the exception of one person's voice. I can hear everything that the Dark Lord is saying, but I can't hear you Ginny."

Ginny shook her head. "So what? He's just really powerful."

Voldemort laughed. "I am the most powerful wizard that you will ever meet, Ginny. But once someone is truly deaf, they wouldn't be able to hear even me." He waved his wand at Draco. "Can you still hear me, Draco?"

Draco nodded.

"And can you hear Ginny?" He turned his wand on Ginny and whispered the one word that Ginny had been worrying about for the duration of this entire encounter, "crucio."

Ginny screamed. She hadn't been expecting the pain and she couldn't restrain her voice. She could feel the fresh skin of her shoulder break and the blood beginning to flow over her arm.

"Stop it!" shouted Draco.

Voldemort didn't let up. He almost smiled as he twisted his wand in a way that directed more energy to Ginny's already painful shoulder. Her screams got louder and her tears were tracing smooth paths down her cheeks.

"Stop it! You win, alright? You win! Leave her alone."

Voldemort lowered his wand and Draco ran to Ginny's side, grabbing the tablecloth to use to stop all the bleeding. Draco cradled Ginny's body, holding the cloth to her shoulder with all the strength he could muster, knowing that he was causing her more pain, but wanting to stop her from bleeding anymore. He cut a fresh piece of cloth with his wand and magically taped it into place over her shoulder. "I'm going to protect you, Ginny Weasley," he whispered into her hair.

"Isn't this sweet," drawled Voldemort. "The proud son of the Death Eaters has gone and fallen in love with a blood traitor."

Draco helped Ginny to her feet. She was having trouble standing on her own and kept looking at the puddle of her own blood that was beginning to congeal on the floor. It made her feel more than a little nauseated.

"So you admit to me that both of you are traitors, yet you expect me to let you go waltzing out of the house and into safety?" Voldemort glared at them. "Not likely to happen, I don't think."

"It's your fault, you know," cried Ginny. "You're just a little too quick to trust an outsider."

Voldemort snorted. He looked angry enough to start breathing fire. "You're a worthless Death Eater," he snapped. "Never giving me any information that's the least bit worthwhile, but always fawning over me in my presence. And causing disturbances among the faithful Death Eaters I have in place at Hogwarts."

"You still trusted me," said Ginny.

"No," breathed Voldemort. "I don't think that's quite true. I now have you right where I want you, Ginny Weasley." His eyes flashed to her wrist, where, hidden under her cloak, was a very painful Dark Mark. "I can make you do anything I want you to do."

"I won't do anything," said Ginny defiantly.

"And you," Voldemort continued, looking towards Draco and ignoring Ginny completely, "your father is going to be very displeased with you."

"As it happens, I am very displeased with my father," said Draco.

"Lucius!" called Voldemort.

Draco's father emerged from a side door to the dining room. He was obviously quite angry. He'd heard everything.

"Bring them to the dungeons. I have uses for them yet."

"Yes, my lord."

"Oh, and Lucius?"

Lucius looked up at Voldemort.

"Take their wands. And snap them."

He smiled evilly. "With pleasure, my lord."

Thanks for reviewing! Please review some more!