NOW, THEN AND FOREVER
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter characters, names, places and all things associated with Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. The poem at the beginning is written by me and belongs to me. The spell used towards the end (Vita Li'ri) and the spell Snape uses (Fixus) are mine, I made them up.
CHAPTER 8 – DARK CURSES~Bonded by hatred, bonded by love
Bonded by purpose, together to serveForever there be light, with it there be darkness
Truth be covered, uncovered with a curse.
Here for a greater good,
Here to change what is
What was
What was not.
Change the course of the future
Alter the timeline, no more clear
Saving us from our own kind
What we want, we try to find.~
"You're pathetic, you know," Snape commented, looking scornfully at Ginny. "You're nothing but a weak, useless, pathetic little girl."
"You've already called me pathetic, you idiot," Ginny snapped irritably, not allowing herself to show her fear. "If you're going to insult me, at least try a little harder. And anyway, I'd much rather be weak and pathetic than, well, you." She gave him a sarcastic smile.
Snape said nothing, but tightened his hold on her hair. "I'm the one in charge here, you fool. So you'd better wise up and start begging for your life. You never know, I just might decide to keep you around a little longer. Then again," he added, grinning evilly, "I might not..." He left that threat hanging, and his face took on a menacing look.
"You can't kill me, stupid. If you went through all this trouble to get me here, then you must want me for something or other. Thinking about it, I'm the real one in power here. So you better wise up yourself and start begging for your life," she retorted mockingly.
Ginny was slowly recovering from the shock of the sudden portkey trip and decided it was time to do take things into her own hands. Draco was obviously not much help, not at the moment anyway. Since Snape was holding on to her hair with his right hand, leaving that hand useless, she brought her right elbow up and jabbed into his side. He let go of her in pain and she took the advantage and stepped-hard-onto his foot.
She prepared to bolt, when she finally realized Draco was still under the body-bind spell. You can't just leave him there, her mind hissed fiercely. She began to move towards him, when Snape's shrill cry sounded, cutting through the air like a razorblade.
"Get her!"
At once, the clumsy and uncoordinated bustle of figures around her began to take shape. They began to form a circle, pressing into her, the purpose at last becoming clear.
Get her...
They continued moving, closer and closer to her. The air began to heat from the clutch of bodies, it became hard to breathe; her breathing became labored. This is it, she thought, this is it. She could swear that she spotted a glint or two of menacing smiles, the shine of teeth grinning at her. Hoarse laughs floated randomly to her, she couldn't pinpoint the exact spot from whence they came.
They stopped moving. A small break formed in the tight circle and Snape's furious face surfaced. "Fixus," he cried.
A thin coil of rope bound itself around Ginny's hands, binding them together. He waved the circle away, but not before he issued them a warning. "Not yet, you fools. We still need the girl. Later perhaps, but not NOW!" They mumbled apologies and withdrew to the shadows once more. Snape took a few lengthy strides and looked Ginny in the face.
Then, so fast it was hard to believe that it had happened at all, Snape's hand whirled up and hit Ginny in the face. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed through the suddenly silent area, and lingered a moment longer than it had to. No one spoke, until Ginny lifted her head and looked straight at Snape.
"What kind of man hits a lady when she's powerless to stop him?" she asked. "But then again, you're not a man, are you? You're not a human, you're a... thing."
"Watch that filthy mouth of yours," he growled. "Shut the hell up."
"Uh, sir?" A man appeared next to them, chewing his lip, hesitant to speak for fear of reprisal. "Don't you think we should begin the spell already? I mean, we took every possible protection to stop anyone interrupting us, but, well, you never know, right?" Finished saying what he had set out to say, he stepped back into the darkness quickly and it welcomed him, swallowing him up.
"I know that. I'm not stupid." Snape drew out his wand from within the folds of his long dark clock. He pointed his wand and Ginny and reversed the spell that bound Ginny's hands together. And then...
"Imperio," he hissed.
***
Draco opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out. He watched in horror as the wand jerked and Ginny walked up to face Snape. "Fight it, Ginny!" he thought fiercely. "You can do it. Just fight it, fight it, fight it! You're just as strong as he is, and you know it. You can just give in... You can't!"
Snape looked at Draco's stricken face. "It's no use, boy. She's too weak. She'll never beat me." To prove his point, he lowered his wand.
Ginny shuddered for a moment, her eyes glittered, and Draco's heart leapt. He was sure that she could beat Snape. But just as quick as his hopes had risen, they were dashed. The gleam disappeared and her eyes became dull. She lowered her head, and bowed.
Snape laughed. "You see, boy?" He smiled. "You see? This is power. Pure power. I could make her take a knife and stab you this very moment. Or stab herself, for that matter. I'm sure you'd really love that, wouldn't you?" He sighed, shaking his head. "You could have had that power, Draco. You were born into it, it was meant for you. It was your fate." He waved his hand, and two men walked up. As if reading his mind, they each took a hand of Draco's, pulling him up. Snape waved his wand lazily in Draco's direction, and he felt the spell being lifted from him.
Snape looked carefully at him as the two men disappeared once more. "It's not too late, Draco. It's never too late. Join us. Have the power, the wealth, the reputation you were born for, made for. Join us and receive the fate that it yours, that was always meant to be yours."
Draco clenched his jaw. "I don't believe in fate," he sneered. "Fate is a load of rubbish made up by people who couldn't live in the present. I make my own path."
"Ah, but then you are wrong, boy. Your path was cut out for you long before you were born. It is in your name itself. You are a Malfoy. Like your father and your grandfather, and all those of whose bloodline you came from.
"I'm not like my father."
"Then why is it that you believe you are?" he asked. "I know what you feel. I remember what I felt when my uncle was revealed as a traitor of our master. You're angry with your father for dragging you down. Angry that you were never enough."
Draco found a wave of anger rise up him. Anger at his father. Memories from his childhood drifted through his mind. The wall he had build around memories he never wanted to remember again broke and they flooded him, just as water breaks through a dam.
He opened his mouth to speak, not quite sure what it was he was about to say.
"I am correct." Snape broke into a grin. A malicious, evil sort of grin, but a grin nevertheless. He quite evidently loved being correct as much as the next person.
And that grin was all Draco needed to get control over his mind, his anger, himself, again. That grin was all that was needed to bring back the old Draco. The Draco that had power, and knew it. The Draco that everyone feared, simply because he was who he was. The Draco that everyone moved out of the way for. Everyone except Potter. But now, Draco had a new enemy.
"How dare you talk that way to me?" he hissed. "You should grovel, you should cringe. I am Draco Malfoy!"
Snape didn't see the difference. He couldn't tell that Draco had snapped. Snapped on him. He merely smiled again. "Ah, boy, you have joined us again."
Draco's legs felt wobbly, and weak, but when he took a stride forward, he was graceful, never once wavering. He walked next to Snape. He stood by him, slipping in naturally, like he has stood there all his life. And Snape made his mistake.
"Bow!" he cried to the darkness. "Acknowledge his return to the Cause!"
The shadows around them wavered and the wind caught a mumble and grumble or two. Snape appeared not to hear them. At last, bent heads could be seen all around him.
Now...
Draco never hesitated. He swung his arm powerfully, and it connected with Snape's jaw. A reddish-purplish bruise appeared almost at once. Draco moved to strike again, but Snape moved quickly, dodging, all the while calling out.
Draco managed to get another punch in before he was pulled back and held with many powerful grips. He bit his lip to keep from yelling.
Snape glared at him, eyes boring deeply. "If that is your choice, then, I was wrong. It is too late for you now. No one can save you." He glared down at Draco.
Draco glared back. "You mean, no one can pull me down with them."
"Whichever way you word it, the meaning is still clear. You are of no more use to us. You have gone too far." He swung away, turning instead to Ginny. "Wand," he snapped, holding out his hand. A robed figure placed his wand in his hand-it had fallen out in the struggle.
"Game time is over. Time for business." And for the second time, he cried out "Imperio!"
Ginny started moving. She walked up to the wand-her wand-that one of the ex-soon-to-be-again Death Eaters was holding out. She took it. She pointed it ahead. And she stopped.
Draco glanced at Snape. He was mumbling something, and Draco managed to catch snatched of his words, but nothing that made sense. Then, Ginny began to speak.
Her voice was hard, held an edge to it.
"Witness to the ruin
Now bear witness to the rise
Give back life you saw taken
Master, master, hear our cries!
Sonos Arisiie! Sonos Arisiie!
Arise!"
The black cauldron atop a platform-Draco didn't understand why he hadn't noticed it before-started sending out dark-red smoke. Snape stepped forward and tipped a slender bottle filled with a thick red substance inside it. Blood, Draco strongly suspected.
As if his thoughts had been read, Snape spoke up. "Blood," he said, perhaps to all there, perhaps to no one. "Blood means life, blood means death. Rather ironic. Without it, we don't live. By this blood, Voldemort will return!"
He had a glint in his eye, a glint only seen in the eyes of those insane. He smiled maniacally. His hands shook. He looked drunk. "By the blood," he murmured, then again, but shouted this time: "By the blood!"
A miniature explosion sounded and shook the very ground on which they were standing on. Tremors ran through even after the initial blast.
"By the blood!" Snape laughed hysterically. "The Blood!"
Draco didn't even want to know where the blood had come from in the first place. Then, his hands were released. No one cared about him, not now that the Dark Lord was coming back. They were huddled around the cauldron, all watching intently.
His mind started spinning, grabbing on to anything, anything at all, that could possibly get them both out. It was the best time; everyone's attention was on the still smoking cauldron. And once You-Know-Who was there, well, they could kiss their lives goodbye. Ginny was no longer any use to them and Draco-he had never been any use at all.
Suddenly, words from his father, spoken what seemed a lifetime ago, sprang to his mind.
"Draco. You must always remember this spell. If ever you see anyone with My Lord in trouble, and you both must get away, remember this."
This... this... this... Draco tried and tried to remember his next words, all the while staring anxiously at the cauldron. Then they flowed smoothly to him.
"The spell will bond two people together, if only for a moment. You do not need a wand to perform it. Then, you can Apparate, and the spell will drag the person along with you. Understand?"
Oh, he had understood, all right. Not understanding his father's Dark Arts Lessons was hazardous. And for once he was glad for them. The fact that the spell was from the Dark Arts seemed unimportant, miniscule. If he could only remember... The spell, the spell...
"That's wrong boy! You must focus your mind, see the line joining you both in your mind. Again! Vite Li'ri! Focus your mind! Put some force behind it! Vita Li'ri! Vita Li'ri!"
"Vita Li'ri!" Draco hissed, strongly but softly, imaging the thin line joining him and Ginny together. "Vita Li'ri!"
A small sliver of gold shot silently from him, slid gracefully to Ginny and hit her. She shone gold for a split second, then looked just as she had a minute ago.
Draco looked worriedly at the cauldron, at the Death Eaters. Surely He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back by now. Surely they would have noticed what Draco was doing. Surely-
They were still focused on the cauldron, as it was still ever bubbling. Draco looked up and thanked whatever lord or deity was available.
But now what? He had no wand, Ginny was still under the Imperius curse. He looked around in a circle, from where he was now to the place where they had first arrived. Where they had first arrived by the portkey, which was still lying on the ground, forgotten. It had brought them there, but could it bring them back? But he was desperate, and a desperate man takes whatever he can.
He took a step closer, never making a sound. Another, and another, until at last it was in his reach. He bent down, touched it, and held on.
He felt a tug, and looked back at the swirl of color. The Bonding spell would pull her along with him, but he couldn't stop worrying. He tried to concentrate on the time after they got back. His wand was still in Ginny's house. They could Apparate and-
The portkey brought him, with a thump, to Ginny's house. He saw a flicker of gold before Ginny, too, appeared on the floor behind him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the spare bedroom, where his robes and, more importantly, his wand, were.
His fingers fumbled in the pockets of his robes, before grasping onto the thin handle. He pulled it out and pointed it at Ginny.
"Finite Incantatum," he said.
At last, Ginny looked at him and spoke, normally, with only a slight tremor in her voice. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't want to, I knew something was wrong, I couldn't help it. He was telling me to and I..." She stopped, as if something had struck her. "What did you do? With the gold stuff? You didn't have a wand, I'm sure of it." She gave him a look. "Did you use a Dark Spell?"
He scowled. "It doesn't matter. We're out of there aren't we?"
She grinned. "I know we are. And thanks."
He brushed off her thank-you. Frankly, thank-yous had always unnerved him a bit. What exactly does one say, after that, he'd always wondered. Most people would have settle with a "you're welcome", but he wasn't most people, he was Draco Malfoy. "Whatever. Look, you do realize that we have to go to Dumbledore now, don't you?"
"He's still around?" she asked, surprise evident in her voice.
"You surprised?" he asked. "That old man's been around forever."
"Yes, but, well, I thought by now..." She changed topics and asked, "Is he still at Hogwarts? Or has he finally taken up retirement?"
"He's at Hogwarts."
"So we don't have to go to the Ministry?"
Draco gave her a look. "Of course we have to go," he snapped, growing impatient. "I have to report to my superior-he'll be wondering what's happened to me. And Dumbledore will have to talk to Fudge, that old coot.
"I... I can't," she whispered. "Go there, I mean. What if one of my brothers is there? Or my father? Or more than one of my brothers? I have a lot of them, you know."
Draco couldn't resist a chuckle. "I know." The moment passed, and the weight on his shoulders pressed heavily on him again. He never again would envy Potter for all the fame and glory again. It simply took too much from him. "We have to, though."
"I know." Ginny bit her lip, eliciting a droplet of blood. "Bloody hell, do I know."
"I can go alone, if you want," he told her. "I don't mind. But you have to decide now, because at any moment, they could be coming after us. Time isn't exactly something we have on our side at the moment."
"I'm coming," she announced. She had a stubborn gleam in her eye. "It was my wand, I did the spell. I'm coming."
"It's not your fault," he told her. "It really isn't."
"I don't care." Ginny looked him straight in the eye. "I'm coming, and you can't stop me."
Draco smiled. "Wouldn't think of it."
***
A/N: There, it's done. I know it took forever, but I've been busy... and lazy. Either one works. Anyway, I'm sorry 'bout the delay. I finally got round to finishing it. I slapped on the Michelle Branch CD (It's a great CD, everyone get it now!) and got writing. Shorter too, but I got tired of it being unfinished. Okies, haven't done thanks in a long time, so I present the grand list of reviewers, complete and unchanged:
The Great Ones: Tiny Q, (Thanks! And thanks for asking to archive my fic too, I feel very honored! ::g::) lovesnapefanfic, elisasbeth, Sayuko the Bishie lover, wmlaw, (Have I mentioned how thrilling it is to have you review? Seriously! I'm a huge fan!) Jewel Giovanni, Kitty ( :) You give the weirdest reviews, have I told you that? But, awww, whatever. See ya at school!) Satans Little Princess, (Great name!) Phoebe1912, (Thanks, and sorry for the lack of D/G action. ::g::) TristaSetsuna, Amen, Davesmom, (Wow, you reviewed! Exciting! I really love your fics too!) Ayaka Quirrell, ginny5, Katie, Carol, Ophelia, MicheleLupin, Eiez, Cho Chang, anastacy, GinnyMalfoy, FeatherQuill, serendipidy, pyrobunnie, Elizabeth, Niki, cammie, Angel Starr, (Sorry, I never got around to emailing you. If you're still reading, review or something and let me know and I'll tell you when the next chapters come out! Sorry!) Draco Crazed Teenage Girl, Nemain The Raven, Grace, FoxyChic4u, princess of mordor, ~Danielle~, Apocalypse, Butterflygurl, natzhpfanatic, Alex, jane Bob, anchud and my very first reviewer of all: A persona
Thank you, thank you! Reviews are very good, very good! So please do. Review, that is. Any questions, complains, constructive criticism are welcome, you can always drop me a line @ my email: pocoloco14@hotmail.com.