A/N: Lalala. Next chappie. Enjoy. Still the massive fight. I hope you like it. It has some funny sass in it from our favourite redhead. (I already told you last time that she survived the Hebridean Black. Geez.) It also has some language… some emotional sappy stuff… and it reveals Ginny's secret… OOO.

Disclaimer: I am not lucky enough to be as smart enough as to invent these characters myself. They are not mine. Too bad. –pout-

The Stone Speaks

Chapter Forty-Six: Try To Keep Up

DRACO

Roger grumbled something that sounded oddly like 'loser' as Draco stalked away. Fire blazed and blood soaked into the ground, turning the mud into a sick, russet-coloured sludge. And all around him, death reigned.

Lord Voldemort hadn't changed. Tall, lean. Smooth white head. Long, cold fingers. Ragged, dirty fingernails. Snake-like nostrils. Thin, narrow, glowing crimson slits of eyes. A thin, hard mouth. Flowing black robes, so flimsy that it seemed as if he was standing in a cloud. "Well, well, well!" he crooned. "Look what I've been missing out on… I guess I'd better join in the fun!"

The fight was officially on.

…

The crackle of light met Draco's eyes despite the distance. And the laugh was undeniable. The Dark Lord had arrived. Now – thousands would die.

Just like her.

"NO!" cried a female voice.

Draco stopped.

He knew that voice. He knew it very well. He heard it in his nightmares; he heard it echoing through his brain whenever he tried to relax. A despairing shout.

Could it be?

"Ginny!" someone yelled.

No. That's impossible. She can't be. Draco, don't you dare go over there. She's gone. You'll just be hurt again when you can't find her –

Too late.

Before the last syllable had even been spoken, Draco was tearing through the crowd, sliding left and right in the filth, stumbling, landing on his knees, skidding-

Er, Draco? Remind me again why you're running TOWARDS the Dark Lord who wants to kill you?

Because she's there.

"Get out of my way," he barked at an Inferi, before remembering the battle, and blasting a hole through its head.

He could see the thick black smoke. He could see the faint, throbbing green light. Lord Voldemort was near.

Long, red, sparkling hair. Round, deer-in-headlight, hazel eyes. Freckled, pale, heart-shaped face. Smile – laugh – blush –

"Ginny!" he burst out, wrestling through a thick crowd of people retreating away from Lord Voldemort. "Let – me – through!" he shouted.

"Weasley," said the Dark Lord's voice. He sounded surprised.

"Riddle," replied a confident female voice.

GINNY!

"How surprising to see you here." He didn't seem to be phased by the fact that she had spoken his true name; his Death Eaters were gasping and muttering.

"Not really. Considering that Draco and I kicked your arse."

SHE MENTIONED ME!

The gasping and muttering grew louder; it was now coming from her own side now, as well. "Oh, dear," she continued. "Didn't your master tell you about that, then?" she have been speaking to the Death Eaters. "How two teenagers kicked his-"

"That's enough!"

Lord Voldemort had lost his smug, carefree tone. He was now thoroughly pissed off. His eyes were so narrowed that they were glowing red lines, his mouth thinned similarly.

"Oh, what, you can dish it out but you can't take it?"

"Ginny?" It was Ron, and Draco could also hear Harry.

"What's going on – Ginny!" it was Hermione; Luna joined in on the word 'Ginny'.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Ron yelled.

"Touch a hair on her head and you die," Harry added threateningly.

"Please – please don't hurt her," Hermione begged.

"You don't have to," Luna chimed in pleadingly.

"You guys…" snapped Ginny. "I don't need your help. Tom Riddle is just a sad-ass loner who-"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"NO!" Draco screamed.

"Draco?" someone squeaked, and then suddenly there was an explosion of fire.

A hush fell as everyone quietened in shock. Every face spoke the same: what the hell was that?

"I told you I could kick your arse," the female replied, but her voice was shaking. She hadn't been prepared for that either.

Draco gasped. The Stone!

"Oh," sneered Lord Voldemort, dropping his protective shield. "That's a nice spell, Weasley. Who taught you that?"

She was silent – she didn't know.

"Ginny Ginny Ginny," Draco muttered desperately, tugging at people's robes and scrabbling to get through. "Oh, for God's sake!" he ducked down and started to crawl through people's legs. They were staring in horror, but that didn't matter.

"Did your necklace teach you that?" Lord Voldemort continued. "I just think its funny how you defensively grabbed the little rock around your neck and your wand then acted of its own accord, producing spells that a little girl could surely not be capable of."

Oh God, what is he doing?

"You have no idea what I'm capable of," said Ginny darkly.

Wait – what?

"Go on, dearest, this should be interesting," replied Lord Voldemort.

"Okay then," said Ginny. "I'm the top of my Defence Against the Dark Arts class and I'm also privately taking seventh year Defence as extra credit. As well as that, I've been teaching myself Black Magic since you so happily possessed me. Not just theory, I may add."

Silence.

YOU WHAT?

"What, you don't believe me? Haven't you noticed that everyone is a lot less susceptible to average hexes that normal? Black wards. Stronger than White wards. Cast by," Ginny paused dramatically, and struck a pose, "moi."

Silence.

COME AGAIN, NOW?

"How did I know where Draco was, when he was being tortured? I Scryed him. I've also Scryed my older brother, a few years back. I also took over another of brothers' mind."

Oh. Good. God.

"I knew all of this," said Lord Voldemort frostily. "Tell me something new."

"Oh, silly me. Everything that I told Snape will have gone straight to you, right?" she laughed. "Well, I lied to him. That's not the only Black magic I've done. I haven't told anyone about the other one, though." She lowered her voice into a conspiratorial stage-whisper, so that everyone could hear. "Wanna be let in on a little secret?"

"Do go on."

Unconsiously, Draco, as he crawled frantically, was perking up his ears, to hear the secret. She didn't tell me any of this! What secret? Oh, Ginny!

"I killed someone."

... SORRY, WHAT?

"WHAT?" Ron, Hermione, Harry and Luna all bellowed.

"You… you killed someone with Black magic?" Lord Voldemort echoed incredulously.

"Yeah. It wasn't pretty," she said coolly.

"Well. Such a master of the Black arts, you should surely be familiar with your necklace. Oh – you're not? Let me tell you a story. Would you care to sit on my lap for the ickle fairy-tale?"

"I'll pass."

"YEAH!" Ron shouted. "You better pass on that!"

"Your loss." Lord Voldemort took a deep breath. "Once upon a time, many, many years ago, in the year 1422, there was a war. The Goblin Wars."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not stupid. Where is this going?"

"Calm down, brat!"

"Okay, story-times over!"

I HAVE TO GET TO HER! Draco couldn't see Ginny, but he knew the danger she was in, and he had to save her!

"Shut it!" snarled the Dark Lord. "Now. There was a an incredible Goblin sorceror, named Hladmir Montol the Great. He had many powers. Controlling Time, magical abilities, invisibility – and also, the power to control Death. Deal Death, stop Death… cause Death."

"Let me guess – you want his powers?" Ginny said boredly.

Ignoring this, Lord Voldemort continued. "However, having so many powers was a terrible burden. He created… a Stone. He cast it from the rawest, strongest material – black onyx. Montol set all of his powers into the Stone, and he was relieved of a fantastic, but awful responsibility. But! If someone were to find the Stone of Montol… the whole world could be destroyed in a millisecond."

"Wow, I see where it catches your fancy," Ginny retorted.

"I'm – not – done!" said Lord Voldemort angrily. "So that Montol would never lose the Stone… he cast the powerful, black-onyx rock… into an amulet."

Draco finally pushed through the last pair of legs and looked out. Ginny was staring, biting her lip. Her fingers strayed to the necklace around her neck, gleaming against her collarbone.

Harry noticed him there and met his eyes for a second, before nodding curtly and returning his piercing green gaze to his ex-girlfriend. His arms were curled tight around Luna, kissing her hair almost frantically, tears sparkling in her and his eyes.

"In the Goblin Wars, when Montol the Great was killed, the amulet still retained his power. If he had left his magic in his body, his powers would have died with him," said Lord Voldemort, gesturing to the mud around them. "But he didn't. And so, the Stone of Montol's powers live on."

A heavy, deafening silence hung in the air. Draco was staring at Ginny. She looked so helpless and fragile, clinging to the necklace. She was wavering in and out of view as her unstable feelings transported her in and out of invisibility. Her hair was matted and thick with mud and blood (both dragon and human), and cuts sliced through her robes and skin.

Yet she was beautiful.

"Ginny-" Draco blurted out. He wanted to bite the words back, and he instantly regretted sounding so desperate, but it was too late to stop those two syllables from spilling out of his lips.

She turned quickly to look at him, red hair spilling across her back and swooshing over one shoulder. Her side-fringe scattered messily in front of her eyes; which widened. And in approximately three and a half seconds, Draco saw a thousand things in her beautiful, beautiful eyes.

Relief.

Shyness.

Pain.

That was all he could understand, and the rest was a terrifying, achingly stunning blur.

"Draco?" she whispered.

Lord Voldemort let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, how sweet," he jeered. "Young love. What a pity it ends here." He smirked at Draco, and then barked to the Death Eaters nearest Ginny. "Pettigrew! Rabastan! Nott!"

They all stood to attention.

"Get her."

Panic rose in Draco's stomach and flooded his body. He couldn't move. He merely watched in terror as the three Death Eaters formed a tight semi-circle around the back of the redhead.

"No – what are you – what's happening -" Ginny said, frightened. She turned to face them, and backed away… into a tall, lean, shroud-like Dark wizard. She turned around, and gasped.

"Boo," Lord Voldemort sneered.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!!" screeched Luna. "DON'T HURT HER – NO!"

"Ginny!" Hermione shrieked.

"GINNNNYYYYY!" Ron and Harry bellowed as one.

"So loud and raucous… Travers, Goyle. Restrain the heroes. Crabbe. Restrain he who was fool enough to turn from the Dark side at precisely the wrong time," commanded Lord Voldemort.

Crabbe sidled in front of Draco, spreading his arms wide, holding his wand towards the seventeen-year-old. "Havin' fun?" grunted the Death Eater.

"DON'T HURT HER!" shouted Ron, struggling against Travers.

"Ignore them, darling," said the Dark Lord, his voice malicious and dangerously soft. He raised his wand. "Are you going to come quietly, or am I going to have to blast your brains out!"

"NO!" yelled Draco. He was vaguely aware that he was clawing at Crabbe's face, firing random spells into the sky. "GINNY!"

Ginny cried out in fear. She tried to back away, but Nott, Pettigrew and Rabastan were crowded there – she couldn't escape. "Draco!" she screamed, as a last resort.

Draco distantly heard Ron say angrily, "Why did she scream for him?", distantly saw Hermione elbow him in the stomach, but none of that was sinking in…

"Draco!" Ginny screamed again, but then the Dark Lord stooped, folded his arms around the back of her legs, and hauled him over his shoulder. She started kicking, and pummelling Lord Voldemort's chest with her fists, shouting and yelling.

"LET GO OF HER!" Draco howled, leaning past Crabbe as far as he could.

Smirking at his own sarcasm, the Dark Lord held one hand to his chin, as if considering the concept. "Hmm," he said thoughtfully, "how about… no." He cackled evilly. "Come on, then," he sneered at Draco. "This is where you try and try to no avail to rescue the fair damsel."

"Yeah, well, I WILL!" Draco hollered, his eyebrows set into a determined glare filled with hatred, struggling to get away from Crabbe's restraint..

Lord Voldemort snorted. "Well, well. Try to keep up."

And then they ran.

A/N: Sorry that I didn't change this author's note last time. I forgot. Anywhoo. DUN DUN DUN! Agh! Ginny's being kidnapped! Will she survive? Will she and Draco ever declare their true love for each other? Will Ron and Hermione make up and be happy together? You'll have to wait to find out… -wink-