6 pt 6 pt 0 0 Disclaimer: JK Rowling A/N: I'm sorry this took over a month to post. I've been quite busy . . . Chapter Nineteen Die Softly

Draco stared at Ginny's limp form for exactly a second before turning and pointing his wand at the girl who had hurt her. The witch raised Ginny's wand up to protect herself but Draco was too quick.

    "Alumis Minarus!" he shouted, the first spell that came to his mind.

    The young girl shrieked and dropped the wand. She clawed at her face, which was sprouting large, painful looking red sores that would leave her scarred for the rest of her life. Everyone in the room watched in awe as the unfortunate girl screamed in agony and sunk to her knees, her hands against her face. Draco didn't even feel upset that he had used Dark Magic for the first time on another person – he was too furious. These women deserved whatever they got, considering what they'd done to him and Ginny.

    He used the distraction to turn and hurry to Ginny's side. When she had landed she had rolled on to her back, her hair covering her face, one hand on her stomach and the other resting on the tile out away from her body. Crouching beside her, he gently pushed her fiery locks away from her face. There was no blood, which relieved Draco immensely. However, when he touched her head she only moaned and her eyelids fluttered, and she did not wake up.

    Suddenly, he was grabbed roughly by both arms. The two nymphs yanked him to his feet with unreal strength, and as much as he tried to twist his right hand out (which still gripped his wand), he couldn't. Their fingers dug into his skin, and he could feel the coldness even through his leather jacket. (Editors note: yes, yes! Draco in leather! I love it!)

    They shoved his back against the wall and managed to keep him there, despite the fact he struggled with all his strength. Somehow his wand slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor with a clatter. It rolled away, but not completely out of his reach. He stretched his foot forward to pull it back, when out of nowhere a slender white hand reached down and clutched it. He looked up as Dara straightened, absently brushing her long blackish-bluish hair out of her eyes.

    Another woman hurried to her side, and Dara handed her Draco's wand without even moving her eyes from his. The girl took the wand and left quickly, and Draco could do nothing about it. He felt helpless – vulnerable – without his wand. There was no way he could escape without it.

    Dara placed her cold hand on his cheek, forcing his face to turn to hers. His mouth set in a hard line, and his eyes narrowed he gave the meanest he look could manage, but Dara just smiled.

    "You are a fool," she said, highly amused. "We outnumber you ten to one. Did you think you could honestly escape?"

    Draco didn't reply.

    Dara trailed her fingers lightly down his jaw line and across his lips, where they stayed. He did not move, resisting the urge to open his mouth and bite down hard on her fingertips.

    "Pity," she whispered. "You would make such beautiful children."

    Beautiful children with who?

    Dara continued. "If you die softly I will let your girlfriend live."

    Die softly? How can I die softly? he wondered. Depends on how they kill me.

    Dara then brought her other hand to his face and placed both on each cheek. She pressed her ice cold lips against his warmer ones, moving closer until their bodies were touching. Draco stared at her close eyelids, absolutely furious. She didn't pull away when he didn't respond – she only moved her arms around his neck.

    Finally, he couldn't take any more of it. He did the first thing that came to his mind – he brought his knee up. A gesture that would surely have any male's voice rising a few octaves, but only made Dara jump back with a shriek. Her blue eyes swirled with fire as she stared at him. He allowed himself to smirk at her, and that only caused her to become even angrier.

    "Tie up the girl!" Dara commanded shrilly, pointing at Ginny's limp form. "He'll watch as she slowly dies! HANNAH!"

    Another nymph hurried in, holding something long, thin, and gold. As she approached Draco he saw it was – a candlestick. His thoughts were jumbled as Hannah stood in front of him, grinning knowingly. God, I've only made things worse . . . what's the candlestick for? . . . they're going to kill Ginny right in front of me . . . but she's died once, maybe she'll live again . . . why is she holding the candlestick . . .?

    Hannah swung the candlestick and it struck the side of Draco's face. He fell instantly, out cold before he even hit the floor.

* * *

Ginny awoke slowly. She felt too drowsy to even lift her eyelids – not to mention they felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds each. But when she felt the weird position she was in, she forced them open.

    Dazed, she looked around. She could see the back of the white house a bit away, and realized that she was in the "backyard" of it. She had been tied to something that looked like a giant upright circle. The circle was big enough for her to fit in, and a thick rope was tied around each wrists, then attached to the metal railing that made the circumference. Glancing down, she saw that her feet were only slightly apart and bound together, and yet some invisible force seemed to glue the soles of her shoes to the bottom of the ring. She imagined that she looked like a giant Y tied in the middle of a big circle. It might be funny, she thought vaguely, if it wasn't so hopeless.

    She surveyed her surroundings once again. Before her stood about five rows of nymphs and witches, stretching all the way across the dirt yard – in similar form to when they were blocking the door out. Dark clouds hovered above them, threatening rain once again. The wind tore at Ginny's hair, whipping it around her face. She could see the girls' fluttering robes and searched for Dara, who was the leader and could maybe give her some answers.

    What are they going to do to me? Where's Draco?

    A lump formed in her throat and she began to panic. They haven't killed him yet, have they? It was a very strong possibility considering she could've been unconscious for hours.

    But then there was a parting in the rows of nymphs, and she could see the house clearly. She saw Draco, slumped in a chair, against the back of it, clearly knocked out. If he was dead they wouldn't have left him there. At least she hoped that was the case.

    She struggled against the ropes but all she succeeded in doing was causing herself pain. They were tied around her wrists tightly and she could feel her hands going numb – not only because the rope was cutting off circulation but because her arms were raised above her head.

    Looking down, she tried to free her feet. She didn't have any luck with them, either.

    "You can't escape," a familiar voice purred.

    Ginny looked up sharply to see Dara standing in front of her, legs slightly apart and fists on hips, looking as if she thought she were some sort of goddess. Ginny glared menacingly at her.

    "What did you do to Draco?" she demanded in a low tone.

    "I did nothing," she said airily. "But my sister did. Oh, don't worry," she added when Ginny began tugging on her wrist ropes again. "One of my sister witches will make sure he is awake and comprehending in a few moments. He has to watch what we do to you."

    The way she said those words made Ginny feel as if ice water was trickling down her spine. She froze and stared at Dara.

    Dara flashed her a cold smile then turned, floating away to go and speak with a clump of her "sisters."

* * *

When Draco woke up, it was to an incredibly painful pounding on one side of his head and to the whispers of female voices.

    He opened his eyes and saw two girls leaning down by him, one holding Ginny's wand. When they saw he was awake, they smirked and then walked away before Draco could get his lips to form any words. But he figured they had used magic to wake him up.

    His face hurt badly. He could picture his right cheek, puffy and purple. The right eye was nearly swollen shut, but he could see that he was tied to a chair. Tightly. And he could scarcely breath, much less move.

    Looking around, he saw the backs of the nymphs, standing in neat rows and staring ahead. He followed their gaze and would've cried out, had moving his face not been so painful.

    Ginny was tied to a huge metal ring. She looked like she was half-heartedly trying to get free, but even across the lawn Draco could see the bindings were too tight.

    Memory of what Dara threatened to do before he was knocked out flooded his brain. He had to get Ginny out of there and fast.

    One look at the cords wrapped around him made him realize there was no way he could get himself out. His wrists were tied together, and more rope bound him to the back of the chair.

    Still, he began to try and wiggle his wrists free. He'd only been doing this for about a second when a hush went over the crowd, causing him to look up sharply. Tossing his head to get his hair out of his eyes, he saw Dara standing in front of Ginny, blocking her from view.

    Dara turned to the girl, Hannah, who had hit Draco with the candlestick and whispered something. Hannah nodded, then hurried towards him, passed him, and went back inside the house.

    The quiet whispers of everyone in the yard comforted Draco enough to look back down at his hands. Damn, these bindings are tight, he thought, wincing as the rope dug into his skin.

    He'd had no success when Hannah came back outside, carrying a long, flat black case in her arms. He paused and watched her return to Dara.

    Dara took the case and set it on the ground. Draco couldn't see her opening it, so he looked at Ginny. She was staring down at the opened case, and whatever was inside made her pale visibly and caused her body to shudder very slightly. But Draco noticed.

    When Dara straightened, she held a carving knife in one hand. Draco felt as if the bottom of his stomach had dropped, and for a minute couldn't think straight. He watched numbly as she turned to Ginny and blocked her from his view once again.

* * *

Ginny couldn't take her eyes off the knife as Dara stood before her, holding it menacingly.

    I'm going to have a very bad fear of knives in the future if I make it out of here alive, she thought. She was so terrified it was a miracle her legs were still supporting her.

    With her free hand, Dara reached up and pulled the collar of Ginny's shirt down. Ginny tried to swallow, praying that she wouldn't slice her throat, when the nymph spotted the Locator Ring around her neck.

    Dara swiftly tugged on the chain and it slid into her hand. She examined it for a moment, looking thoughtful, then held it out for another nymph to take.

    It was gone. Her piece of Draco wasn't near her anymore. Even though he was just across the yard, she'd never felt so far from him before.

    "This might hurt," Dara said huskily, smiling a bit, "but it won't hurt nearly as much as what's to come."

    One hand holding her shirt down, Dara's other descended with the knife. She dragged the sharp edge across the base of Ginny's collarbone, nearly from shoulder to shoulder.

    It stung like fire, but Ginny bit her lip hard to keep from screaming. Instead, tears sprung in her eyes and began to fall down her cheeks, dripping off her chin and mingling with the blood on her chest.

    "This was just a regular knife," Dara explained. She replaced it back in the case (which was full of knives and other sharp objects) and picked up another one, the same in size, but the very top of it was a dark blue. "See this?" she asked, holding the colored tip near Ginny's face, talking as simply as one showing another their card collection. "That blue stuff is poison. And not just any normal sort of poison. It's the kind that instantly gets into your bloodstream, and it feels as if you're burning to death from the inside of your body. It takes days for you to really die. You writhe in agony for nearly a week."

    "Rostin poison," Ginny whispered, recalling the unit they'd done on it in Potions class a year ago.

    Dara smiled wickedly. "That's right, Rostin poison," she said, almost approvingly. "Now how do you think it would feel if I stuck this blue part in your eye?"

    She brought the knife closer to Ginny's left eye, and she quickly shut her lids and turned her head to the side. Dara laughed dryly, as if enjoying it. Then she commanded sharply, "Open your eyes and look at me."

    Does she think I'm crazy? Ginny ignored the command.

    "Now," Dara said dangerously. When Ginny still didn't obey, she added, "Or I'll go stick it in your boyfriend's skin. How would you like that?"

    Draco. Ginny had forgotten about him. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and turned her head back to Dara. She had lowered the knife but was glowering at her.

    Ginny looked around her to glimpse Draco, still against the back of the house, tied to a chair, but he was staring at her. She met his gaze, and she could almost feel his pain. He looked bleak and helpless, which wasn't how she was used to seeing Draco Malfoy look. And it scared her and made her angry at the same time.

    She returned her attention to Dara, and suddenly she forgot about her bleeding collarbone, and the poisoned knife that the nymph was beginning to raise once again. Instead of feeling fear, she felt angry. Furious.

    Why did they have to bother us? she wondered, glaring at Dara. We didn't do anything to them.

    Dara noticed her anger and smiled smugly. "You brought this upon yourself, darling," she said, pinching Ginny's cheek. Ginny jerked her head roughly from her grasp, but Dara ignored it and went on. "If you had just let us finish off your boyfriend you could've lived."

    Ginny could feel her blood boiling, and clenched her hands into fists above her head, even though it was hard considering her wrists were bound tightly. Dara began to bring the poisoned tip towards Ginny's cheek, and yet she grinded her teeth. She couldn't get the images of what she'd be doing to Dara at that moment if only she had her wand –

    And then one of the girl's gave a shriek, causing Dara to lower the knife again and turn around. Through the air soared a wand, and to Ginny's shock it was her own. She unclenched her hands and the wand slapped into it. Instantly, she fastened her fingers around it tightly. As well as she could being in the position she was in, she tipped the wand downwards and pointed it at Dara.

    The nymph noticed it a minute too late, and started to dodge out of the way. But Ginny was already forming the word, acting out of fury and rage than anything else.

    "Scorchio!" she snapped, and a jet of orange light shot out from the end of her wand.

    Dara's robes burst into flame, and she dropped the knife, screeching and yelling at the top of her lungs. She dropped to the dirt, the other girls moving out of her way, as she tried to roll and put the fire out.

    That's when everything went crazy.

    The other nymphs and witches began to scream in panic, and everyone began to run all over the place. The yard was alive with the colors of their robes, the sounds of their shouts, and the pounding of their feet. Ginny felt strangely calm as she used her wand to magic the bindings off her wrists and ankles.

    As she began to walk towards Draco, everyone kept running, but they were sure to dodge her and stay out of her way. They were afraid of her, of course, because she had a wand.

    And because I set their leader on fire, Ginny thought, almost smiling. She glanced over her shoulder at Dara. The nymph leader was still rolling frantically on the ground, though she wasn't really burning anymore.

    Draco was still staring at her as she came up to his chair, but this time his expression was unreadable. Blank. Ginny smiled softly at him, as if nothing was wrong, even though half of his face was purple and swollen. She quickly got rid of his ropes and he stood up instantly. For another moment he stared at her with unfathomable eyes, then gently touched the skin below her collarbone.

    "Are you okay?" he asked.

    She took a deep breath and nodded. "Your face looks worse," she told him.

    And he smirked, a faint reflection of his usual arrogant self. "You can really boost a guy's ego," he said wryly, and instantly turned serious. "Come on, let's get out of here."

    He grabbed her wrist, but Ginny didn't walk with him. "What about your wand?" she asked. Without waiting for him to answer, she raised her own and announced, "Accio Draco's wand."

    It took about a moment, but it flew into Ginny's hand much like her own had. She was puzzled about it for an instant, wondering how she'd been able to get her own wand, but Draco was pulling her back through the house.

    Inside was just as bad as the outside. Nymphs were rushing around, all talking in high, loud voices. They ignored Ginny and Draco as they hurried to figure out what to do.

    They're helpless, Ginny thought, nearly amused, as she and Draco slipped out the front door unnoticed.

    Once out, they began to sprint, Draco still firmly holding on to her wrist. Once the house was out of sight they didn't slow, but he glanced at her.

    "Do you have the map?" he asked, barely out of breath.

    She patted her pocket. "Yes. Why?"

    "That's all we need," he said, looking ahead again. "We don't have to go back to our camp."

    They ran until Ginny had to stop. By then they were a good distance away. They walked along slowly, holding hands loosely, each lost in their own thoughts.

    "Draco?" Ginny's voice was quiet and small.

    "Hmm."

    "I set her on fire."

    "I know. I saw it."

    "I could've killed her."

    He stopped walking, and she faced him. Her eyes were wide and sad, and she looked up, searching his face. "You didn't," he stated firmly.

    "I've never hurt anyone like that in my life. The way I used that spell on her was Dark Magic."

     "You didn't seem too affected by it when you were doing it." Ginny knew him well enough not to take offense to that statement – he hadn't meant it to be mean.

    "That was what was so odd," she said, grabbing his other hand and taking a step closer to him. "I felt so . . . angry. And powerful. All that mattered was getting to you, and I didn't care if I had to murder twenty people to do it."

    Draco stared at her for a long moment before replying. "Do you know why Slytherin wants to kill you?" he asked quietly.

    "Yes, you told me – something about the Prophecy of Power and he's afraid I might kill him . . . ?" Ginny said vaguely, tilting her head slightly to one side.

    "Because you're the only one powerful enough to destroy him," Draco told her.

    "I'm not powerful, Draco."

    "I've been debating that," he said honestly. "I always thought you were an average witch. But you aren't. No average witch could conjure their wand without the use of another wand."

    Ginny's eyes widened ever so slightly. She continued to stare up at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

    "I think Slytherin is actually right," Draco admitted. "You could have more power than we both realize."

    Ginny shook her head. "No. No, Draco, I don't think so. But let's not worry about this right now. I . . . I can't think and my head feels like it's about to explode."

    "Your head?" he repeated doubtfully. "Look at half of my face. I reckon something is growing underneath the purple skin."

    Ginny had to smile. "All right, you baby, I'll fix it for you." A moment later the color was back to normal, but it was still slightly swollen. "It'll take a few hours for the swelling to go down," she told him.

    "What about that?" Draco pointed at the long cut across her chest.

    "It's not that deep," Ginny said, "It just bled a lot." She quickly fixed it so it was only a pale pink scratch and no longer stung painfully.

    "Let's go," he said, starting to walk again. He didn't have to say it, but Ginny knew why. Without any food or water, they wouldn't last long. They needed to get the skull and leave as quickly as possible.

    With a deep sigh, Ginny turned and followed behind him.

A/N: I hope to have the next chapter out quicker than this one came. Review, please! :)