Draco Malfoy, Seeker Of Souls

Chapter Fourteen

Jemima, Shy, Sweet, And HE

**~~~~~**

After Ginny had been put to bed, Harry and I were thoroughly chewed out by Snape, who was livid that we had done it alone. "And you've been trusting the aid of Tom Riddle! What did you think he was going to do? Just hand Ginny's Soul over to you on a silver platter?"

He was so angry I was afraid he was going to slap me. I shrunk back. "We didn't have anyone else we could trust! Tom has been a friend to me! We never would have found the Hall of Lost Souls if it hadn't been for him. We didn't have a choice!"

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "A friend? He wants to kill me again, you know. You heard him and said so yourself."

I waved this idea away. "Oh, I was just saying that. He doesn't want to kill you. He was probably just saying that to scare you. He's strange, that Tom. I shouldn't worry much. Besides…" I crossed my arms. "I've seen the way he looks at you. Believe me, he doesn't want to kill you. I think he has a fancy for you."

Harry recoiled slightly. "He's Voldemort, you know."

I grinned. "Voldemort needs a good snog too."

Harry blanched. "Ugh!"

Snape rolled his eyes. "All right, children…can we get back to the matter at hand?" He pressed a hand to his forehead as if he were in mental pain.

Hermione had been pouring through books all day trying to find something about the so-called "Soul of the Murderer" but she had come up with nothing. "It's obvious that something went wrong down in the Hall of Lost Souls. Draco and Harry say that Tom was distraught with the wrong Souls entering Ginny. He's odd, you know? Sometimes he seems completely helpful, and sometimes I wonder if he's trying to lead us all astray."

Snape, already in a bad mood in general, was feeling no more patience after my Voldie-Snogging comment. He pounded a hand down on the table, which made us all jump. "Miss Granger, there are a good many things about Tom Marvolo Riddle that none of us know or could hope to understand! Whether he's a misunderstood schoolboy as he plays so well, or Voldemort trying to make a comeback, we just can't know! The point is he's now out there, lord knows where, and he's potentially dangerous. I don't care if he has no powers. This channeling with Salazar Slytherin can't be a healthy thing and if he had reformed before, he certainly can't be thinking good thoughts now. He is weak, children, and easily corrupted by extreme power." Once Snape was finished with this monologue, he started to take robes out of his closet. "All of you go to your dorms and have your trunks ready to go. We will leave for my London flat on the local train tomorrow. We need to get Miss Weasley away from this school, from her parents, her siblings, from anyone with prying eyes. I believe she has information to give us. We will find a way to fix this, and we will do it without any more help from Tom Riddle and Salazar Slytherin."

*~~~~~*

Once we had made it into London in one piece and were settled into the flat, Ginny had been showing signs of a very different personality. The girl she became next claimed her name was Jemima and she found Harry very attractive. She insisted on sitting on his lap for most of the train trip back to England, which practically killed me. And Jemima did not like Nathaniel at all, which practically killed him. How was I supposed to explain to such a tiny tot that, "no, you mustn't sit on Mummy's lap. She isn't really Mummy at all, you know." I wondered what information this girl Jemima could possibly have to offer us so that it was so important that she had to be along in Ginny for the ride.

Snape had decided that some of these Souls had attached themselves to her to try to save her from the mysterious Soul of the Murderer that was somewhere in there, although others, such as Jemima, may have simply wanted a body back and would be of very little use.

I could see absolutely no use in Jemima, and I almost thought that Lavender Brown, a notorious flake, would have been more helpful under the circumstances. Ron tried to make the best of it. "I say, old chap - you can have Hermione sit on your lap if you like while Harry's looking after 'Jemima'."

Hermione promptly smacked him and I just shook my head. "Maybe she'll change back to the old woman when we get to London. I liked her a good deal better."

*~~~~~*

The week that followed was interesting, to say the least. More and more personalities started to emerge from Ginny, so that we were often confused about who we were talking to at times. There was the old woman, the Jemima character, a sweet girl, a shy withdrawn girl, and a good-time girl who was extremely hard to handle. Snape decided that we should all take Ginny out for a day in hopes of finding a personality who might know something important. Besides, I think having all of us in the flat was stifling Snape, and he wanted us all out of there for a day. The television had been going non-stop.

"Why don't we go to a lake?" suggested Ron. "It's warm out. We can have a picnic and go swimming. It'll be good for her."

"Oh, you just want to have fun," I teased.

"Well, it is your holidays," said Snape. "You deserve to have a little bit of fun, after all you've been through. As soon as we can learn something from these Souls, we'll be able to get her back to normal. I just wish I knew where that blasted Riddle is. It makes me uneasy to think of him running around out there somewhere."

I shrugged. "He has no real magic. He honestly doesn't."

"How do you know?" asked Harry.

I looked away. "I just do. We're a lot alike. I can't always tell when he's lying, since most of the time he's wearing a mask of cool, but there are times when he forgets and his eyes are completely honest and good. He doesn't have any magic."

"I hope you're right," said Snape, eyeing me carefully. I swear, the lot of them probably thought I was going to go evil at any second. I wasn't so sure myself that I wouldn't. I found it best not to mention that I thought it was Tom in my head who was prompting me to do terrible things that day I was sick, but I knew it was. I felt so much for Tom, but whatever he was playing at wasn't always good. And I was willing to bet that it was Salazar Slytherin's fault. If Tom stopped communicating with him, he would surely go back to being the kind boy who was willing to give up his Soul for us in the Black School in the spring.

*~~~~~*

We took Ginny out that very afternoon, after packing a picnic basket, throwing on swimsuits and gathering up towels and numerous floaty toys that Snape had hidden in the depths of his closet for no apparent reason. We then took flu powder to the town nearest an inland lake and set up our afternoon camp on its shores. It was completely deserted except for us. Funny how Snape always knew exactly where to go. I decided that living with him was completely fun.

When we were settled, we all ran into the lake to splash around, except for Snape who sat stiffly under a beach umbrella, still fully dressed. He wasn't going to give into all that nonsense about lounging around in a tight fitting bathing suit. I kept a t-shirt on as well, being one to burn easily. The others just splashed into the water without a moment's hesitation. Lucky.

Ginny stayed up on the blanket with Snape. The Shy Girl's personality had emerged, and she wasn't one for romping. As I splashed at Ron, I called back to shore, "Severus! See if you can bring out the Sweet Girl. She'll come play!"

Harry winced. "But please not Jemima!"

"Or Wild Thing," added Ron. The Good Time Girl, or Wild Thing as we affectionately called her, would flirt with anyone, regardless of whether or not you were her brother…or a girl.

Hermione laughed as she stuffed Nathaniel's arms into bright orange floaties. "I'm with Ron. I'm spoken for, after all."

Snape leaned towards Ginny, who was biting one of her fingers nervously. "Don't you want to go play in the water?"

She shook her head. "I might drown," she said softly. "Or HE might try to kill me. Or the others."

Snape raised an eyebrow. This was the most Shy had ever said at one time. "Who might try to kill you?"

But Shy had clamed up and wouldn't say another word. She just went back to biting her nails in a distracted way.

Luckily, when Nathaniel was all packed into his floaties, he came waddling back up onto the shore singing, "Mumma! Mumma Gin!"

Ginny had been looking a bit comatose for several minutes, which always happened when she changed personalities, but she suddenly snapped out of it and smiled brightly at Nathaniel. "Oh, look at you! You're so cute in those things!" Sweet Girl had emerged. Out of all her personalities, we liked Sweet the best. She was the most like Ginny, and we figured she would be the most helpful in the end. She kept talking about someone called SHE. Someone who would arrive soon. With all the HE's and SHE's, I had no idea who was who.

Nathaniel threw himself into her arms and kissed her cheek. "Play?" he asked.

"Alright then." She took his hand and joined us in the water. I cheerfully dunked her a couple of times before we taught Nathaniel how to swim together. For a minute it almost felt as if I had Ginny back again, although I wouldn't dare kiss her. I missed that most of all.

Suddenly, Harry yelled out. "Hey, Sweet! I'm coming for you!"

Sweet laughed and headed towards him. "Not unless I get you first!" She splashed towards him in the water for several feet before she stopped and stood still. Harry came plummeting for her and made a grab at her to playfully dunk her, when she hopped on him and took him under first. I sat down in the water laughing hard. "She's got you, Harry!" I yelled.

Sweet and Harry resurfaced, but she had wrapped her hands around his neck. Harry was putting up a frantic struggle. It was about that time when I realized that she wasn't Sweet anymore, and she certainly wasn't playing. "Hey! NO!" I plummeted through the water and threw myself at her. I pulled her away from Harry and splashed down into the water with her as Harry struggled to breathe. He had red finger marks all around his neck.

I looked at Ginny, my hands firmly pinning her arms to her sides. The eyes that looked up at me were definitely Sweet's. "Draco…I didn't mean to…! HE made me! HE made me!" She had started to cry very hard. I found myself hugging her.

"Don't worry, Sweet. It'll be all right."

Snape was standing on the beach, surveying the scene. "Sweet – will you talk to us?" he asked her.

She looked at me desperately. "Please, I'm afraid! We're trying so hard to protect this girl…but I'm so scared!"

"We won't let it hurt you. Whatever it is, we'll protect you." I helped her out of the water and she settled herself on the blanket. We decided to eat lunch and then we would try to get some answers about this…thing…that was living in Ginny's body.

*~~~~~*

Notes: Wow, I got SO many nice reviews for the last chapter! And you've all been so patient too. Thank you all so much! I'm glad you liked Harry in the invisibility cloak. I thought it would irritate Tom and we all love it when Tom is irritated, cute little muffin that he is. He's so cute like that! (Sorry, anyone who's been to see my latest drawings on my web page knows I'm on a Tom Riddle kick right now. Tee hee!) And yes, for the record, the boys are really dense. They eventually figure it all out, don't they, but it takes them awhile. And as for the Tom / Slytherin thing, who is the twisted one?

Next Chapter: What will the Souls tell the group? Who is the person who has yet to arrive and what does she know? Who will Tom end up snogging with? Dum dum DUM! Okay, I'm pretty much joking about the snogging part. Mostly…whahahahahahahaha! Until next time, loves!