Legend
Chapter XXIV: First Sacrifices
by Marie McKinnon
Her mind whirled. In all probability, there was either a Death Eater or a corpse inside, and she didn't have her wand. It was in her trunk, handy in case she wanted to summon it, but it would be noticed and caught, perhaps even broken, before she could open the doors. She couldn't move, so consuming was the fear that held her in its clutches. Her breath hung, suspended, halfway between her lungs and her mouth.
Hushed voices she had heard coming through the doors replayed in her mind. "No, don't, we haven't done anything to you! Please, have mercy!"
"Please! Mercy, mercy, have mercy on us! Let us--"
Through the tear-choked pleading came again that much stronger, more powerful voice. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" It shouted. Hearing those words repeated in her mind unfroze the ice that seemed to have kept her still.
She shoved the doors wide open, yelling something to the effect of "D*** you thrice to hell! Take your organisation with you, too!" Without thinking, she had used Morgana's voice, so strong and commanding that it reverberated in the empty hallway. She was in the middle of the dormitory before she realized what she was doing.
"Well, well, well," said the only other living creature in the tower. Had she cared to look at him, she would have seen quite a handsome young man with hazel eyes and ash-blonde hair, a strong build, and a very hungry expression. "What have we here?" He inspected her thoroughly, drinking in her shape from her toes to the top of her head. Her shorts suddenly seemed to have shrunk several inches under his covetous stare, and her shirt may as well have been transparent.
His intentions were obvious as he walked over to her, then placed his strong hands on her shoulders and shoved her onto the bed. She let her hands lie above her head while he busied himself about kissing and biting her neck. Without any noise, commotion, or notice, she summoned her wand. A great sigh of relief swept through her when she felt its smooth surface in her hand. He, however, thinking the sigh due to his work on her well- made short sleeved shirt, massaged her neck absently before continuing his attempt. Ginny changed their position, switching it so she was on top of him, smiling seductively.
He looked right down the neck of her shirt, which was considerably looser, and grinned. "Feisty," he commented huskily.
"You bet," she purred, pointing her wand at his throat. "STUPEFY!"
A quick adjustment later and she strode into the Great Hall, heading right for the High Table. Her steps were long and determined; she covered about two feet with every stride. The room went quiet instantly, and Draco stood up, worried.
Dumbledore stopped in mid sentence, adding "I'll meet with you privately, Miss Weasley."
"No," she said, so loudly that everyone heard her. "You won't. Ingrid Lepoidevin and Frances Kalron have been murdered." With that, she left the room.
It had been a great feat for her to manage such an announcement while her throat clamped shut. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and someplace in the back of her head itched a warning itch, telling her that she was going to cry. Her stomach was taut, but not with pleasure any more. It contracted with the effort of disguising her mood until she was safely out of earshot. She had gotten to the tree where just half an hour before the mood had been light and full of laughter, half-smiling with irony, before the tears came out in earnest. In her depression she kept her sense of appearance, rising gently into the tree and seating herself on a high, strong branch, then allowing herself to be soaked once more.
Draco wasn't far behind. He'd put together a roast beef sandwhich for her hastily, thinking that she would be worn out and hungry when he found her. Clutching the napkin-wrapped package, he raced out onto the grounds. It wasn't hard to find her, as her silvery magic was spilling out and frosting the large fir tree. He hovered next to her for a moment, trying to get her to notice him, but to no avail. His arm went around her almost instantly, a lifeline, and she let herself lean on him.
She didn't sob or bawl, just allowed quiet tears to make their tracks on her face. Pearly lines criscrossed her cheeks, bathing her in their soft glimmers. The moon came out of the clouds, shooting iridescent rays along the surface of the lake. She cried and cried until there was no more water in her for tears, then hiccoughed, trying to breathe properly.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" He asked softly, handing her the sandwhich.
Her voice was shaky, but calm. "I came inside the common room, and thought someone had left one of those read-aloud books open, because I heard the characters ask an attacker to spare them-- they hadn't done anything to anyone-- but he AK-ed them before they could even finish their sentences. The Dark Mark was outside the door, so I knew there were either corpses inside or a Death Eater preparing to kill me. Then-then I remembered the book conversation, and I knew it hadn't been a book. I went in, and almost before I could try to fight him, hurt him in some way, he had me on my back on the bed and was trying to-to-to" She waved her hands around her shirt top, hoping Draco would get the idea. He did, growling. " I summoned my wand and stunned him. He's probably still there now." She trembled violently in his arms, prompting him to hold her tighter against his side.
"Do you know who he was?"
She shook her head. "He's not from Hogwarts, I don't think, but I wasn't looking at him. The only things I saw were their bodies lying on the floor- -" Her voice broke, but no tears came out. "It's all my fault," she said composedly. "They're trying to drive me insane by hurting my friends. Nothing would have happened to them if they hadn't known me."
He rubbed her back gently to soothe her. "You can't know that. Their families could have been on Voldemort's hit list anyway."
"Do you really believe that?"
"No," he admitted, "but it's possible. The death of your friends and an attempted rape in one evening is a bit much for even you to handle." Her eyes were their normal colour, not red or watery, when he looked back at her. "We should go back inside. You may need to give testimony or something like that."
She let herself drop out of the tree as though nothing mattered any more, slowing her fall with a cushion of silver. He did the same, though more reluctantly.
On entering the Great Hall, he was grabbed around the arm by Professor McGonagall. "You have a visitor," she said coldly. "You are to meet him in the Headmaster's office."
Draco raised his eyebrows in disbelief, but walked upstairs slowly. He needed to think, to calm down. Someone had hurt Ginny badly, and that someone was going to be hurt in return. Although he would have dearly loved to have found the bastard, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him against the wall, that wasn't the Slytherin thing to do. Whoever he was, he had better start praying.
Finding himself out of cruel and easily disguisable methods of revenge, he looked up into the contorted stone face of Dumbledore's gargoyle. Snape stood next to it, ready to let him in. The expression on his face would have terrified a lesser being, but a lot had happened that day already, and he was so tired of it that he forgot to look respectful or in awe of the Potions Master.
"Perhaps it would interest you to know, Mister Malfoy, that your cousin is inside, attempting to find his way out of a very difficult situation. He was found, stunned, in the Gryffndor dormitories. When we woke him, he said that he'd been trying to find you and had ended up in the wrong room. It would be appreciated if you would speak to him and discern the truth from his fabrications."
His mind reeled. A relative had murdered Ginny's friends? His *cousin*? No matter who he was, he would not enjoy the experience of being interrogated.
"Dominic!" He said excitedly. "How wonderful to see you!" Smiling falsely, he shook his cousin's hand with such vigour that the other boy, a little older than he, winced.
"Draco, there's been such a horrible misunderstanding, you wouldn't believe it. Could we speak privately for a moment, please?" He asked politely, indicating the Headmaster and Professors McGonagall and Snape. His request was met reluctantly.
"Don't start talking yet," Draco warned, pulling out his wand. "I'll cast a silencing spell." In reality, he set a recorder on his wand so he could replay the conversation for Professor Dumbledore. "All right, you may begin."
The upset and self-righteous look was replaced instantly by one of excitement. "I was doing the initiation for the Death Eaters," he explained. "I was supposed to capture the redhead, but no one said I couldn't have a little fun first. Damn it, the girl's gorgeous!"
"She's also taken," he said flatly.
"Oh, is she? Lucky bastard, whoever's got her. Anyway, the little bitch stunned me before I could get any."
"She's just a muggle-lover," Draco said, hating the word's taste in his mouth. "What did the Dark Lord want with her?" He put special disdain on "her" so Dominic wouldn't suspect anything.
He smiled patronisingly. "You wouldn't know, would you? Well, there's a special prophesy about how King Arthur is going to return and help England when it is in the most danger, and Master thinks she has something to do with it. You know, like she's got some special magic and is part of the trio." His companion struggled to seem pleasantly surprised while fighting off the urge to become pale and shocked.
"What trio? Unless Arthur had multiple personalities, there was only one of him," he managed.
"That part is actually a bit nonsensical," Dominic admitted. "Supposedly the greatest people of the time were Morgan le Fay, King Arthur, and Sir Lancelot du Lake, so their talents all came back sometime in September to three people in this school. Master thinks the little redhead's got Morgan's power. If Morgan was seductive, the girl's definitely got it."
It had taken a lot of control not to correct him about Morgana, but he stayed blandly interested. "What about Merlin?" He asked. "Wasn't he one of the greatest of the time?"
"Oh, him. He really wasn't as powerful as le Fay, he just made more noise about it. Master thinks Weasley-- that's her name, isn't it? -- has unbelievable power to use, and she'll definitely be fighting on Dumbledore's side."
"I'll keep my eye on her," Draco promised.
Still acting superior, his cousing shrugged the vow off. "Don't bother. We already have someone watching her and Potter. Sorry, I can't tell you," he added, seeing the questioning look he was receiving. "I know you'd like to help him, but there's this silence policy... I'm sure you'll be told when you've been initiated."
"That's all right, I wouldn't want to jeopardize the cause," Draco assured him. If I supported the cause, he added mentally.
"Tell me more about Weasley," Dominic ordered. "The girl, not her family. Has she always been that hot?"
"It was sort of an overnight thing. Nobody really noticed her until this year, and then the guys were all over her. Even Potter," he spat, remembering the incidents with displeasure.
"Potter? Is she going out with him?"
"No. She's fought him a bunch of times because he tried to kiss her. He finally gave up when she started dating someone else."
"D'you know the guy?" He asked hungrily, hoping for an affirmative. Connections were always good to use, especially if one of them had a gorgeous girlfriend.
Draco shrugged, giving a half-truthful answer. "Pretty well. He's almost infatuated with her. Thinks about her all the time."
"Well? Has he said she's good in bed?" Dominic finally inquired. "I want to know what I'm missing."
He started. "I actually don't know," he said delicately. "She won't let anyone find out."
"How well d'you know him, anyway?" He asked as Draco headed for the door, about to switch off the recording spell.
Leaving his parting shot unrecorded would be a crime to humanity. "Really well. See, that was *my* girl you tried to fool around with, so I don't think you'll be able to do that for a long, long time. Enjoy your stay at Azkaban, *cousin*."
Her mind whirled. In all probability, there was either a Death Eater or a corpse inside, and she didn't have her wand. It was in her trunk, handy in case she wanted to summon it, but it would be noticed and caught, perhaps even broken, before she could open the doors. She couldn't move, so consuming was the fear that held her in its clutches. Her breath hung, suspended, halfway between her lungs and her mouth.
Hushed voices she had heard coming through the doors replayed in her mind. "No, don't, we haven't done anything to you! Please, have mercy!"
"Please! Mercy, mercy, have mercy on us! Let us--"
Through the tear-choked pleading came again that much stronger, more powerful voice. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" It shouted. Hearing those words repeated in her mind unfroze the ice that seemed to have kept her still.
She shoved the doors wide open, yelling something to the effect of "D*** you thrice to hell! Take your organisation with you, too!" Without thinking, she had used Morgana's voice, so strong and commanding that it reverberated in the empty hallway. She was in the middle of the dormitory before she realized what she was doing.
"Well, well, well," said the only other living creature in the tower. Had she cared to look at him, she would have seen quite a handsome young man with hazel eyes and ash-blonde hair, a strong build, and a very hungry expression. "What have we here?" He inspected her thoroughly, drinking in her shape from her toes to the top of her head. Her shorts suddenly seemed to have shrunk several inches under his covetous stare, and her shirt may as well have been transparent.
His intentions were obvious as he walked over to her, then placed his strong hands on her shoulders and shoved her onto the bed. She let her hands lie above her head while he busied himself about kissing and biting her neck. Without any noise, commotion, or notice, she summoned her wand. A great sigh of relief swept through her when she felt its smooth surface in her hand. He, however, thinking the sigh due to his work on her well- made short sleeved shirt, massaged her neck absently before continuing his attempt. Ginny changed their position, switching it so she was on top of him, smiling seductively.
He looked right down the neck of her shirt, which was considerably looser, and grinned. "Feisty," he commented huskily.
"You bet," she purred, pointing her wand at his throat. "STUPEFY!"
A quick adjustment later and she strode into the Great Hall, heading right for the High Table. Her steps were long and determined; she covered about two feet with every stride. The room went quiet instantly, and Draco stood up, worried.
Dumbledore stopped in mid sentence, adding "I'll meet with you privately, Miss Weasley."
"No," she said, so loudly that everyone heard her. "You won't. Ingrid Lepoidevin and Frances Kalron have been murdered." With that, she left the room.
It had been a great feat for her to manage such an announcement while her throat clamped shut. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and someplace in the back of her head itched a warning itch, telling her that she was going to cry. Her stomach was taut, but not with pleasure any more. It contracted with the effort of disguising her mood until she was safely out of earshot. She had gotten to the tree where just half an hour before the mood had been light and full of laughter, half-smiling with irony, before the tears came out in earnest. In her depression she kept her sense of appearance, rising gently into the tree and seating herself on a high, strong branch, then allowing herself to be soaked once more.
Draco wasn't far behind. He'd put together a roast beef sandwhich for her hastily, thinking that she would be worn out and hungry when he found her. Clutching the napkin-wrapped package, he raced out onto the grounds. It wasn't hard to find her, as her silvery magic was spilling out and frosting the large fir tree. He hovered next to her for a moment, trying to get her to notice him, but to no avail. His arm went around her almost instantly, a lifeline, and she let herself lean on him.
She didn't sob or bawl, just allowed quiet tears to make their tracks on her face. Pearly lines criscrossed her cheeks, bathing her in their soft glimmers. The moon came out of the clouds, shooting iridescent rays along the surface of the lake. She cried and cried until there was no more water in her for tears, then hiccoughed, trying to breathe properly.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" He asked softly, handing her the sandwhich.
Her voice was shaky, but calm. "I came inside the common room, and thought someone had left one of those read-aloud books open, because I heard the characters ask an attacker to spare them-- they hadn't done anything to anyone-- but he AK-ed them before they could even finish their sentences. The Dark Mark was outside the door, so I knew there were either corpses inside or a Death Eater preparing to kill me. Then-then I remembered the book conversation, and I knew it hadn't been a book. I went in, and almost before I could try to fight him, hurt him in some way, he had me on my back on the bed and was trying to-to-to" She waved her hands around her shirt top, hoping Draco would get the idea. He did, growling. " I summoned my wand and stunned him. He's probably still there now." She trembled violently in his arms, prompting him to hold her tighter against his side.
"Do you know who he was?"
She shook her head. "He's not from Hogwarts, I don't think, but I wasn't looking at him. The only things I saw were their bodies lying on the floor- -" Her voice broke, but no tears came out. "It's all my fault," she said composedly. "They're trying to drive me insane by hurting my friends. Nothing would have happened to them if they hadn't known me."
He rubbed her back gently to soothe her. "You can't know that. Their families could have been on Voldemort's hit list anyway."
"Do you really believe that?"
"No," he admitted, "but it's possible. The death of your friends and an attempted rape in one evening is a bit much for even you to handle." Her eyes were their normal colour, not red or watery, when he looked back at her. "We should go back inside. You may need to give testimony or something like that."
She let herself drop out of the tree as though nothing mattered any more, slowing her fall with a cushion of silver. He did the same, though more reluctantly.
On entering the Great Hall, he was grabbed around the arm by Professor McGonagall. "You have a visitor," she said coldly. "You are to meet him in the Headmaster's office."
Draco raised his eyebrows in disbelief, but walked upstairs slowly. He needed to think, to calm down. Someone had hurt Ginny badly, and that someone was going to be hurt in return. Although he would have dearly loved to have found the bastard, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him against the wall, that wasn't the Slytherin thing to do. Whoever he was, he had better start praying.
Finding himself out of cruel and easily disguisable methods of revenge, he looked up into the contorted stone face of Dumbledore's gargoyle. Snape stood next to it, ready to let him in. The expression on his face would have terrified a lesser being, but a lot had happened that day already, and he was so tired of it that he forgot to look respectful or in awe of the Potions Master.
"Perhaps it would interest you to know, Mister Malfoy, that your cousin is inside, attempting to find his way out of a very difficult situation. He was found, stunned, in the Gryffndor dormitories. When we woke him, he said that he'd been trying to find you and had ended up in the wrong room. It would be appreciated if you would speak to him and discern the truth from his fabrications."
His mind reeled. A relative had murdered Ginny's friends? His *cousin*? No matter who he was, he would not enjoy the experience of being interrogated.
"Dominic!" He said excitedly. "How wonderful to see you!" Smiling falsely, he shook his cousin's hand with such vigour that the other boy, a little older than he, winced.
"Draco, there's been such a horrible misunderstanding, you wouldn't believe it. Could we speak privately for a moment, please?" He asked politely, indicating the Headmaster and Professors McGonagall and Snape. His request was met reluctantly.
"Don't start talking yet," Draco warned, pulling out his wand. "I'll cast a silencing spell." In reality, he set a recorder on his wand so he could replay the conversation for Professor Dumbledore. "All right, you may begin."
The upset and self-righteous look was replaced instantly by one of excitement. "I was doing the initiation for the Death Eaters," he explained. "I was supposed to capture the redhead, but no one said I couldn't have a little fun first. Damn it, the girl's gorgeous!"
"She's also taken," he said flatly.
"Oh, is she? Lucky bastard, whoever's got her. Anyway, the little bitch stunned me before I could get any."
"She's just a muggle-lover," Draco said, hating the word's taste in his mouth. "What did the Dark Lord want with her?" He put special disdain on "her" so Dominic wouldn't suspect anything.
He smiled patronisingly. "You wouldn't know, would you? Well, there's a special prophesy about how King Arthur is going to return and help England when it is in the most danger, and Master thinks she has something to do with it. You know, like she's got some special magic and is part of the trio." His companion struggled to seem pleasantly surprised while fighting off the urge to become pale and shocked.
"What trio? Unless Arthur had multiple personalities, there was only one of him," he managed.
"That part is actually a bit nonsensical," Dominic admitted. "Supposedly the greatest people of the time were Morgan le Fay, King Arthur, and Sir Lancelot du Lake, so their talents all came back sometime in September to three people in this school. Master thinks the little redhead's got Morgan's power. If Morgan was seductive, the girl's definitely got it."
It had taken a lot of control not to correct him about Morgana, but he stayed blandly interested. "What about Merlin?" He asked. "Wasn't he one of the greatest of the time?"
"Oh, him. He really wasn't as powerful as le Fay, he just made more noise about it. Master thinks Weasley-- that's her name, isn't it? -- has unbelievable power to use, and she'll definitely be fighting on Dumbledore's side."
"I'll keep my eye on her," Draco promised.
Still acting superior, his cousing shrugged the vow off. "Don't bother. We already have someone watching her and Potter. Sorry, I can't tell you," he added, seeing the questioning look he was receiving. "I know you'd like to help him, but there's this silence policy... I'm sure you'll be told when you've been initiated."
"That's all right, I wouldn't want to jeopardize the cause," Draco assured him. If I supported the cause, he added mentally.
"Tell me more about Weasley," Dominic ordered. "The girl, not her family. Has she always been that hot?"
"It was sort of an overnight thing. Nobody really noticed her until this year, and then the guys were all over her. Even Potter," he spat, remembering the incidents with displeasure.
"Potter? Is she going out with him?"
"No. She's fought him a bunch of times because he tried to kiss her. He finally gave up when she started dating someone else."
"D'you know the guy?" He asked hungrily, hoping for an affirmative. Connections were always good to use, especially if one of them had a gorgeous girlfriend.
Draco shrugged, giving a half-truthful answer. "Pretty well. He's almost infatuated with her. Thinks about her all the time."
"Well? Has he said she's good in bed?" Dominic finally inquired. "I want to know what I'm missing."
He started. "I actually don't know," he said delicately. "She won't let anyone find out."
"How well d'you know him, anyway?" He asked as Draco headed for the door, about to switch off the recording spell.
Leaving his parting shot unrecorded would be a crime to humanity. "Really well. See, that was *my* girl you tried to fool around with, so I don't think you'll be able to do that for a long, long time. Enjoy your stay at Azkaban, *cousin*."