Note: This part is pretty dark, just so you know. It's not really all that violent, but just twisted. Highly sensitive people might be affected by it, but I'm not sure. I'm highly sensitive, but I managed to write it. lol I don't think it's any worse than the end of Book 4, but I just thought I should warn those who are really faint of heart, especially when it comes to babies. (And no, she does NOT murder a child. Quite the opposite, actually.) I just wanted to clear this up before I got a lot of flames telling me it was "sick" or something. Thanks!

Draco's Desires

Part Seventeen

The Child

*~~~~~*

The four of us stood gaping, clinging to each other desperately. I could feel Hermione's legs give out and she collapsed into the overgrown grass next to my feet. Harry was in terrible pain and was trying not to moan. Ron looked like he was in shock.

The tiny creature that had once been Ginny stood up on the tombstone. She ignored us completely and swooped down from the stone. She glided through the graveyard, light on her bare feet. She was beautiful and mesmerizing, even though she was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. I feared her and I wanted her. I wanted to take a little bit of that power from her, but I wanted my Ginny back more than anything. I would give up all the power in the world to hold something that was sweet and good.

We didn't speak; we just let our feet carry us. We followed her, pulling Hermione, waiting to see what she was doing. We had our wands out to either stun her, or defend ourselves if the need should arise. We didn't want to act hastily, since we didn't yet know exactly what she was capable of. None of us wanted to hear the sound of rushing death by acting irrationally.

Ginny headed into the little section of the graveyard for children. It was ancient, filled with tiny tombstones, crumbling stone angels, and dead flowers. She knelt down in front of one of the newer looking graves, and the snake slithered off her shoulders and curled up around the gravestone.

Ron choked. "What is she doing? Oh God, what is she doing?"

I was equally shocked. "I don't know." We were all too terrified to move.

Ginny pulled out that precious little wand of hers, although it now radiated with an evil green light. She stuck the end, still coated with Snape's blood, into the dirt above the grave. The earth around the wand started to vibrate. Ron broke free from us and ran towards her. "Ginny! Don't!"

She calmly turned to him and threw her hand out towards him, her palm facing him. "Do not approach," she hissed.

Ron obeyed. He backed up until he was with us again. He sunk down next to Hermione, his teeth chattering.

The dirt shifted and the ground beneath us tilted. Harry and I grabbed Ron and Hermione under their arms and pulled them backwards with us. When we looked back, there was a gaping hole in the ground where the grave had been, and Ginny was bent over it, reaching for something. Soon she was pulling something out of it. It was a small bundle, wrapped in rotting cloth. A baby. I was so sure I was going to be sick. I leaned on Harry. He was making gasping noises. Soon the air was filled with horrified screams, but I couldn't tell if they were Hermione's or Ron's. Or mine.

Ginny cradled the lifeless child as if it were her most treasured possession. She looked at us all with those slanted green eyes and pranced through the graveyard again, the snake right at her heels. She climbed onto the Riddle tombstone, clutching the baby, and disintegrated into nothing.

As soon as she had gone, I took off running and threw myself behind one of the graves, immediately being sick. I rested my head against the cold stone and tried to regain my breath. It's all right, Draco. It's not Ginny. It's not her. We'll get her back and everything will be righted.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked up. Harry was standing there. "Did you see what we saw? She was so much like Voldemort."

I nodded. "We have to find her. And make the thing that did this to her PAY!" I was so full of furry, I could have taken on the Dark Lord and all of his Death Eaters single handedly.

*~~~~~*

We headed to the Riddle House in silence, too shocked to speak. Had Ginny really pulled a baby out of the earth? And it had been dead…at least I think. What could she do with a dead child? I shivered. So this is what it was like to be Harry Potter. Not as keen as you thought, eh Malfoy?

We wanted to sneak in as quietly as possible, so we found a broken downstairs window that Ron could just fit through. "When do you think the Ministry will get here?" whispered Hermione. "We might be able to take on Ginny by ourselves, but surely not Voldemort. He'll just kill us without a second thought!"

I sat on the ground next to Harry, who was in agony. I touched my wand to his scar and started muttering under my breath. I answered Hermione between spells. "We can't worry about them right now. Hopefully Ginny will be alone for us to deal with and they can have Voldemort." I continued with my mutterings and Harry started to look less pained.

"Ohh, thank you. That's so much better, whatever you did."

"Well, we'll need your help and you're useless when you're flopping around moaning and groaning." I stood up and peered in the window. "The coast is clear." I tried to pull myself up, but to no avail. I looked at the three of them sheepishly. "Er, would one of you mind giving me a boost?" Damn this shortness!

Harry gave me a knee up and I fell through the window and landed on the floor with a thud and a cloud of dust. "Oof!" How graceful of me. Anyway, this was not the time for ceremony. I reached out the window and grasped Hermione's hands, yanking her up. Ron and Harry pulled themselves up next and we were in.

The Riddle House was quite nice inside, although dust covered the antique furniture. I had the feeling that doom was in every corner, despite the splendor of the old house. It reeked of death and dark magic. I would be relieved when we found Ginny and got her home. Some of us are made to be evil and others of us just aren't meant for it. I just wish I could figure out which one I was.

We crept through the house, growing more and more uneasy. It seemed to be deserted, except for that feeling of dark magic in the air. "Someone's here. I can feel the magic in the air. It's the same kind of feeling I always got when I went into the Chamber of Secrets."

"Listen, do you hear something?" Ron hissed. "It's Ginny. She's singing."

Harry and I took one look at each other and broke into a run down the hallway. This was dumb, I know, plunging ahead like that, but we thought she was back to her old self again. "Ginny! Where are you?" I yelled.

The sweet singing continued and swelled in dynamic and pitch. Harry and I pelted into a dim, hot room, lit only by a raging fire in the fireplace. The room was small and stifling and we gasped for breath. Ginny was crouched on a pillow right in front of the fire, holding the little bundle. It was indeed a baby, very sweet looking and perfectly formed with a head of raven black hair. I'm sure it hadn't looked like that when she pulled it out of the grave, since it had been dead for years. She must have done something to reform it. But it was indeed dead.

Harry clutched my arm. "Draco…the baby looks like…"

"You," I finished.

We watched as Ginny set the baby into the fireplace, right in the midst of the flames. The child did not burn, even though the flames lapped at it. The fire sputtered with magic and red sparks flew out, covering the baby. "That must be what is reforming it."

Harry was shaking, watching her. "How can we convince her to leave with us?"

"And how can we fix her so that she looks like Ginny again? She looks like a snake right now."

By this time, Ron and Hermione had caught up to us. "Oh my God…" Hermione sputtered, gazing at the lifeless baby in the flames.

We formed a line in front of the door, a terrified and sweaty group - the heat was so intense. I decided to address Ginny. "Ginny, can you hear me? It's me, Draco. And I've brought Harry and Hermione and your brother. We're going to help you."

She turned to me and narrowed her slanted eyes. They had no expression in them. In fact, they had no pupils either. "It's sleeping." She told me. Her voice was raspy and had a hiss to it, like a snake's.

I looked at the baby. "Leave it, Ginny. It's not alive anymore."

She swayed back and forth a bit. "There is no Ginny. I am Salazar Slytherin. And it is not yet time for the child to wake." She reached a hand into the fire and stroked the baby's face. It was so precious, and so sad that I gave a dry sob. I turned to Harry and the others and gave them a helpless look. "She…she thinks it's alive."

Harry made a frustrated noise and looked away. The baby just looked too much like him.

Ron was growing desperate and faint in the intense heat. "Can't we just grab her and go?"

I took a step towards Ginny, but she let a low hiss escape her mouth. Harry and the others looked at each other. "She's calling for something in Parseltongue," he said. "I didn't catch what."

I suddenly felt the blood drain out of my face and I felt very dizzy. "Don't…move…" I said to the three of them. "The snake is behind you."

They looked down at their feet and saw the large snake curling around their ankles. Hermione gave a great shudder. Harry muttered a name. Nagini.

"Nagini," Ginny repeated and hissed at the snake. It lifted its head and hissed back. She ran her fingers over the baby's closed eyes. I thought I was going to pass out. I had never felt so much terror in my life. Snakes. Dead babies. Salazar Slytherin. I was shaking like Harry had in the graveyard.

Ginny rose and walked to us. She ran her hand over each of our faces. "The Dark Lord will soon be here. Prepare yourselves for the Birth."

I reached out my hand to touch her face, but she hissed at me. "Do not touch. You will die." She pressed her lips to mine and she felt cold. So very, very cold.

Suddenly, she drew back and crouched by the fire again. There was another presence in the room. The figure that swept in was dressed in a majestic ink-black cloak, with a hood. At first I thought it was a Death Eater. My heart hammered. "F..Father?" I gasped.

"Not quite, young Draco…" the figure rasped. He lifted his hood enough to reveal red eyes, slanted like Ginny's and the snake-like nose with the flat nostrils. I dropped to my knees in front of him and wrapped my arms around myself. "Voldemort?"

He struck me. " 'My Lord', to you, young Malfoy!" I gazed up at him, trembling with fear. I could hear Hermione fighting against her screams behind me. Somehow, Harry reached out his arm and pulled me backwards along the floor, never taking his eyes off the Dark Lord. Voldemort regarded us all with amusement. "Welcome to my father's house, young fools. I do hope you are here to stay for some time. Not that you will have much choice in what we do here." I craned my head up to look at him, my mouth slightly open. I marveled at the fact that he sounded very much like me. I wondered if I kept on the way I had been going, would I look and sound exactly like him someday? I shivered. He continued, "Nagini, young Miss Slytherin, the Unborn and I thank you for your presence, and your patience, of course." A low laughter erupted from the terrifying figure. "But now I believe it is time for a little nap while we prepare for the Birth." He walked over to Hermione and Ron, placing a hand on their heads. They immediately screamed and collapsed on the floor, unconscious. A small trickle of blood ran from their noses. I retched.

Harry tried to defend them. He pulled out his wand. "C..Cruci…" Voldemort cut him off by shoving him against the wall. "I have no time to deal with you right now, Harry Potter." He slapped Harry across the back of his head and he dropped down onto the floor, out cold.

I found my voice somehow. "Stop! Leave them alone and you won't get hurt!" I was pointing my wand at him, my hand shaking. I was sweating in my tight shirt and jeans and I was wishing I were anywhere but there.

"You, hurt me? Oh, young Malfoy, such spirit. Very much like your father. Now, perhaps if you're a good boy, I'll spare your life. Would you like that? Now, sleep." His hand flew out and it landed on my forehead, cold as ice. My head suddenly felt like it had been split in two and I screamed. Before I knew it, my head hit the floor and I was gone.

*~~~~~*