~Ch. 6- Alone Again ~
Draco didn't hear when Ginny started to cry. He was already far away, determined that the distance he'd put between them should stay intact.
No matter how much he wanted to run back to her.
What's wrong with me? He berated himself. I don't need anyone. I've always relied on myself and noone else. And that... that's worked out...
But even in his own thoughts, he couldn't finish. Couldn't say the lie. Everything was most definitely NOT fine. Everything was, in fact, most definitely screwed up.
Problem was, he didn't have the slightest idea how to fix it. * Rubbing a hand over her eyes, Ginny stared after Draco, hunching up further. No tears, Ginny Weasley. Don't let him get under your skin. Don't let this get to you. This is the last thing you need right now. Perk up, be happy...
But Ginny just felt like crying. Biting hard on her lip, she wiped her eyes, summoning all the courage she could. She had to go back in. She had to go back into the dance, and forget Draco Malfoy had ever talked to her.
It was for the best, wasn't it?
Slipping back into the wooded ballroom, she continued to try and dry her eyes, just hoping no one would come up to her while she was trying to hide the fact that she had been crying.
Too bad that was Harry Potter heading right for her.
Harry had left the dance for a moment, slipping away from Parvati. He just had to check on Ginny. Make sure she was alright. He tried to tell himself that his concern was just platonic, brotherly even, but himself wasn't believing a word of it.
But, as came close to the doors, he noticed the object of his worry standing there, wiping her eyes.
Looking for all the world as if she'd just lost her best friend.
Harry rushed over to her, his green eyes darkening as he looked to her. "Ginny? What's the matter? I thought you were going to Madam Pomfrey's..." he hesitated, staring at her even more closely. "Have you been crying?" he questioned her softly.
Ginny looked up in surprise as Harry approached, wiping her eyes once more in a rapid motion as he moved closer. "Yeah, I... I was going to go to Madam Pomfrey's, but I..." She trailed off, her gaze falling to the floor.
"Just didn't feel like being alone. That... that attack scared me." She partially lied. That wasn't her reason, but it was the truth. The attack did scare her. And she didn't want to be alone right now.
"I..." She wiped her eyes again before looking at him. "I... I'm just not having a good day."
Harry smiled back sympathetically. "I know how that feels."
As he was speaking, the band had finished up a song, smoothly moving a slower, more relaxed melody. Couple quickly paired off, swaying hypnotically to the music. Harry blushed a little, looking back to Ginny.
"You still owe me one dance, you know." He grinned lopsidedly. "And this is a tempo I think I can handle." He held is arm out to her. "How about it?"
Ginny stared at his arm for a minute, almost looking like she would reject. Biting on her lip, she nodded quickly, taking his arm and moving with him to the dance floor.
She avoided his gaze uncomfortably, and as they moved into position to dance, Ginny just let the tears fall once more. It was all too much to bear. She wanted to tell someone, to tell anyone what had happened... But she couldn't. It was dangerous. Too dangerous. Yet, it was still hurting her.
She just had to weigh which was less dangerous... keeping it in or letting it out.
Harry couldn't help but notice that something was wrong. Here Ginny was in his arms, closer than the two of them had been before, but it still felt like she was a hundred miles away.
He looked down at her, frowning slightly. "Is the attacking really bothering you that much, Ginny? Because we could go talk to McGonagall, ask her if she's found anything yet, or needs help tracing the conjuring..."
But his voice trailed off as he looked more closely at her. "It's not the attack, is it." He said, not questioning. He lifted her chin towards him, unconsciously mirroring Draco's gesture from earlier, then release her once she was looking at him. "It's okay, Ginny, you can tell me." He smiled. "It's Harry, remember? Harry Potter. Not some stranger."
Ginny smiled weakly, looking up at Harry through tear-filled eyes. "I know it's you, Harry. I know. It's just I..." Her voice faded into a sadder tone.
"I can't tell you, Harry. I can't tell anyone... I have to carry this burden alone. Alone..." She shivered at the word, but looks down. "It's not even going to matter anymore... Not after he..." Her words trailed again, and she looked to him.
"I'm sorry Harry. I can't tell you. I promised not to tell anyone."
Harry abruptly stopped, gripping Ginny by her shoulders. "He?" he seized upon her slip.
He frowned. "Please, don't tell me this is about..." He stopped, clearly baffled. "You're crying over Malfoy?"
The frown on his face turned into a scowl, a very un-Harry like expression. "Why are you protecting him, Gin? Did he threaten you?"
Ginny didn't quite know what to think when Harry matched things up. She struggled to pull away from his grip, frowning heavily. "Let go of me, Harry." She ordered.
"And he didn't threaten me. If I wanted to protect Draco Malfoy, then I'd do it because I wanted to, not because he told me to." She shook her head. "Just forget everything, Harry. This is my problem, not yours."
Harry released her, but his expression clearly indicated that he wasn't as willing to release the subject. "Were you here a just a little while ago, or did you miss it, Ginny? A creature came into this hall, a demon-wraith. It could have hurt everyone here, very badly. That makes it more than just your problem.
"If you know something... if this has anything to do with Malfoy...." His green eyes snapped fire. His suspicions had obviously taken the same direction as Ron's, laying blame for everything directly at Draco Malfoy's feet.
Ginny frowned, turning her back to Harry. "Fine. If you want to believe it's Malfoy's fault, go ahead. Go ahead and believe whatever you want. Yes, other people could have been hurt. But it's not Draco's fault or even yours, Harry Potter. It's mine. The creature attacked me, didn't it?"
She shook her head. "Forget it, Harry. You don't understand anything." And with that, she turned and marched for the exit for the second time that evening.
"Ginny!" Harry started to go after her, but was stopped as Parvati showed up, grabbing his elbow.
"Harry! There you are!"
Unwilling to be rude, Harry resigned himself to another round of dancing, tripping over his own heels. For someone who could do some amazing things on a broomstick, he wasn't all that graceful in a ballroom. When he managed to get away again, he looked around for Ron and Hermione. Suspiciously enough, they were both missing, at the same time.
His mind turned over Ginny's words. What didn't he understand? Mysterious attacks were already starting up again, and Malfoy was a complete git. Why was she so unwilling to put two and two together? * Storming off, Ginny made her way down the deserted hallways towards the Gryffindor's chambers. Passing by a mirror, she paused to look into it. Her hair was partially undone from the dancing earlier, and her dress was wrinkled from the attack with the wraith-demon.
She frowned.
It wasn't fair. She had been having such a wonderful evening and yet things just got worse. Now Harry thought badly of her, Draco didn't want to associate with her, and now that Ron and Hermione seemed to be hitting it off, she doubted she'd be seeing much of them.
"So much for not wanting to be alone." She sighed, turning away from the mirror and heading towards Gryffindor's common room.
Pausing before the portrait of a dozing Fat Lady, Ginny stopped, catching a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye. Is someone following me? Her heart thudded in her throat as she thought about it. She took a deep breath, suddenly whirling to look behind her.
Nothing.
The corridor was empty. There was nothing. No one around. Ginny let out a small sigh of relief. There's no one there. You should be calmer, Ginny Weasley! What, you actually thought someone was coming after you? She smiled wryly. That wraith-demon attack has got you paranoid.
But Ginny's smile faded as she glanced back at the mirror she had passed, seeing something pass into the shadows. "Hello?" She swallowed hard. "Hello? Is anyone there? Show yourself!"
At her tremulous demand, a figure separated from the shadows. A figure wearing a black silk dress and a smile. "Hello, Ginny." The older girl told her softly. But not in a way that brought comfort and warmth. In a way that made goose bumps prickle on the skin, and sent shivers down the back.
"I saw you at the dance," Obsidian went on. "With Harry. You looked very upset."
Ginny didn't know if she should be scared or relieved. Someone came out of the darkness. She nodded a bit in response to the girl. "Yeah. I was with Harry. I'm just... not having a very good day today. Draco Malfoy ruined it."
Not completely a lie. Draco sort of had ruined things. "So who are you? And why were you hiding?" She asked suspiciously, watching her closely.
Obsidian walked nearer to Ginny, enjoying this little game. It had been just a whim to follow Ginny after watching her fight with the Potter boy. She had been quite disappointed when the demon-wraith conjuring had failed to hurt the girl seriously. But Obsidian was at least confident that Draco had gotten the hidden message behind it, seeing the sting of rejection in Ginny's expression.
"I'm Susan Bones," Obsidian lied smoothly, with the ease of familiarity. "I know it's none of my business. I just thought I could help." So saying, she reached out with a false look of concern and laid a cool hand upon Ginny's arm.
Ginny shivered under the touch on her arm, but she smiled, her fingers tracing the design of her bracelet... an almost nervous gesture. "Help me? No, that's alright. I don't need any help. I'm just going to go lie down for a while. I'm sure it'll all be fine tomorrow after a good sleep."
She didn't know what it was, but something about Susan Bones gave her the creeps. "So don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
Obsidian's eye was immediately drawn to Ginny's fingers, where she touched the bracelet. The strange artistry of it was somehow compelling, fixing Obsidian's attention, so she hardly heard Ginny's protests. She didn't know why, but she wanted it, with a hunger that was quickly growing in intensity.
The antique silver glinted even in the dim lights of the hallway, flashing almost hypnotically. "That's a lovely piece of jewelry," Obsidian told Ginny, not looking away from it. "Where... where did you get it?"
Ginny backed away, uncomfortable under Susan's gaze. "It... it was a gift. From... a friend. When I was visiting Beauxbatons during the summer." She turned quickly.
"I'm... I'm just going to go to bed now." With that, Ginny moved quickly for the Gryffindor Common Room. That Bones girl had a very unnerving stare.
Obsidian's hand latched onto Ginny's wrist just behind the bracelet, stopping her. Her tone was deceptively innocent, while her grasp was just a bit too tight. "Don't rush off." She said.
She lifted Ginny's arm, examining the bracelet at a closer distance, strands of her black hair falling in front of her face as she peered downwards. Yes... she could sense it now. Obsidian lightly brushed her fingers across the intricately twisted metal, suppressing a shiver of wicked delight.
The bracelet may have looked ordinary on the surface, but only someone like Obsidian, whose very spirit and flesh were tied to Dark Magicks, could see beneath the surface... to the core of shadows and evil.
But a question remained, how had a girl like Ginny Weasley obtained such an artifact? "You said a friend gave it to you," Obsidian repeated slowly, then lowering her voice. "Could it have been... Draco Malfoy, perhaps?"
Ginny blinked, frowning at the hand on her arm. "No. Draco Malfoy didn't give me the bracelet. I said I got it in Beauxbatons, during the summer. I didn't even see Draco again until on the way to Hogwarts."
Her gaze turned icy. "So let go of my arm. I want to go in and go to bed."
Unhurriedly, Obsidian relinquished her grip. Interesting. She didn't think Ginny was lying about Draco not giving her the bracelet, though she had lied about other aspects of their relationship to people she actually cared about, like her friends.
Which meant the giver's identity was still a mystery. Obsidian would add this incident to her report to her master, along with the events of the dance, and her suspicions about Draco Malfoy.
She was very curious to hear what her creator, her master, would have to say about it all.
"Sleep well then, Ginny." Obsidian told her with a smile, before flipping her dark hair over her shoulder and strolling off.
Ginny shivered once more, hurrying towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Once safely inside, she let out a breath. That was weird. Why was she so interested in the bracelet?
Staring down at her bracelet, she swallowed hard. Maybe there was a reason she had found the bracelet. Shivering, she decided to go do some research in the library. Maybe there was some sort of enchantment on the bracelet. The way Susan Bones had stared at it, she knew that there was something unnatural about the way she was interested.
There certainly was something strange going on. *
After leaving Ginny, Draco couldn't go back to his rooms. That space was too small, too suffocating. No windows. Only walls. He already felt trapped by his life- no reason to subject himself to that.
He wandered outside, across the wide green lawns that went up to the edge of the lake. The clear, cold water was very still, not even a breath of air disturbed its glassy surface. The moonlight turned it to liquid silver. Reaching the shore, he looked down, unknowingly repeating Ginny's actions, staring at his reflection. His tux looked worse for wear, the white shirt stained from demon-wraith residues, or whatever they were.
But his face, however, was where the damage really showed. Not in bruises or scrapes- but in the eyes, in the dark shadows underneath them, in the small frown lines at the corners. And that disturbed him. People said the eyes were windows to the soul... so what would Lucius Malfoy say if he discovered that his son possessed one? Draco looked away, unable to bear his own face anymore.
Finally, unable to put it off any longer, Draco went back to his quarters. Closing the door behind himself, he drew out his wand and activated the Soundproofing spell on the room, a precaution he'd taken ever since the unfortunate incident of the first night.
But it had turned out to be unnecessary. Since his reconciliation with Ginny, his sleep had been dreamless. Almost peaceful.
What would it be like now? Now that he no longer had Ginny?
Now that he no longer had a friend.
Anxiety and hurt gripped his chest, making his breathing difficult for a moment. He sat down on the edge of his mattress, his fingers digging through his hair. The nightmares would return, that's what. He knew it with certainty, and feared it. Will I wake up in a cold sweat, screaming, tasting blood in my mouth? Draco shuddered.
But he knew there was no escaping the inevitable. If it was going to happen, he wanted it over as soon as possible. Quickly, he took off his shoes, then stripped himself of the rumpled jacket and ruined shirt, throwing them carelessly to the floor. He gathered the scattered bits of his courage to himself as he lay down, wrapping them around himself like a meager blanket.
Draco had never prayed before, but as he closed his eyes, he freed a desperate thought, letting it drift up to the ears of whatever benevolent power might be listening.
Please, please don't let me meet Ginny in my dreams... I can't face that again... * Lucius Malfoy walked towards his son. "Get up, Draco. It's time."
Draco stood up obediently, slipping on the hooded robe. The night beckoned sweetly, calling out to them. They entered into it, father and son, side by side. The trees of the forest embraced them as closely as a lover.
Or a Dementor about to administer it's Kiss.
Lucius Malfoy turned back towards Draco, slipping off the Death Eater's mask. Silver-blue eyes glinted towards him in the shadow-speckled moonlight of the forest.
The father raised a dull and battered knife. Stains upon its blade that would have looked red in daytime were darkened to black by the night. The father pricked his palm, letting the small droplet of blood form in the cup of his hand. The father fixed his stare upon his son.
"This is yours." The father said. "And through it you are mine."
"No!" The son rejected him, stepping back. "It's not true!"
The father stepped forward. "Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood... a truth as old as time itself. You cannot escape it."
The son stood his ground now. "But I will try."
The father laughed, nodding. "You will try."
The son fell heavily to his knees. The rest of the words were unspoken, but they nevertheless sent powerful echoes that ran through him, bone deep. And fail.
You will try and fail.
Draco looked up, seeing past Lucius Malfoy, to what lay beyond him.
Death. Destruction. And screaming.
Screams for the lost. Screams for the living.
You will try and fail.
And in the midst of it all, she stood silently, her hair like a banner of fire. * There was something in the silence of the room that made it impossible for Ginny to sleep. When Hermione finally came back, looking quite disheveled from whatever she had been doing with Ron, Ginny had faked being asleep. The room was silent, save for the breathing of the rest of the girls who had actually managed to get their rest.
But Ginny was afraid. Having searched the library for a good long while before going back to the dorm, she'd come up with nothing. Figuring it was a good sign, she went back to try to sleep. Now that she thought about it, though, it made her feel sick. There was one place she hadn't thought to check.
The restricted section. * When Draco woke up, it was to the deathly quiet of his room, and to a cold sweat that left him shivering even under his thick blanket.
He remembered every aspect of his dream, although he desperately wished to forget it. The message within it was clear, destroying whatever vestiges of hope that might have remained with him.
There was no escaping his father. There was no escaping his past. And there was no escaping his future. I'm a Malfoy, he told himself firmly, rolling over and punching his pillow. It doesn't matter what I want. I'm a Malfoy and there's nothing else to it. He summoned up all his father's lectures, lessons delivered throughout his childhood, even when he was too young to fully understand.
"Remember this boy, because it's a motto that has served our family well. There is no wrong or right. Only those who have the power, and those who don't. Throughout time, wars have been fought, civilizations conquered. And the winners write and rewrite history as they see fit. Those who think there are such things as heroes and villains are naive fools. Heroes are for fairy tales."
Draco was not reassured in the slightest. * Ginny couldn't sleep much that night, and when she awoke, it was eerily silent in the dorms. Sitting up, she blinked in surprise as she realized everyone had left the dorm.
She was late for breakfast.
Hurrying to pull on her clothes and straighten her hair, she ran towards the hall, at least thankful that she had only missed part of breakfast and not any of her classes.
Draco wandered into the Great Hall even later than Ginny, looking as if he'd seen the bottom of the barrel, then broken through the bottom and hit dirt.
He couldn't help but notice that the number of nasty looks he was getting was even more than usual. Which didn't help to improve his already blackened mood. He satisfied himself with giving as good as he got, trading glare for glare.
But he couldn't bring himself to look towards the Gryffindor table. If he saw her, he would be forced to remember her as she'd been in the dream, standing silent in the center of a world of destruction.
As he looked everywhere else, something strange caught his eye. A girl with dark hair and dark eyes, looking towards him not with disdain, but with a knowing smile. She didn't look away as their gazes met. Draco felt his stomach twist uncomfortably, although there was no reason she should affect him like this.
Thankfully, Ginny had time to grab a bite to eat before class. Grabbing something uneaten off of the Gryffindor table, she opted not to bother staying in the hall. Biting into the danish, she shifted her books under her arm and set off down to sit by her first class for the day.
Slumping down by the doorway, she munched on the danish, glancing through her book for the next assignment they would probably be doing. Boring stuff as usual. There were so many better things she could do with her time.
Draco didn't hear when Ginny started to cry. He was already far away, determined that the distance he'd put between them should stay intact.
No matter how much he wanted to run back to her.
What's wrong with me? He berated himself. I don't need anyone. I've always relied on myself and noone else. And that... that's worked out...
But even in his own thoughts, he couldn't finish. Couldn't say the lie. Everything was most definitely NOT fine. Everything was, in fact, most definitely screwed up.
Problem was, he didn't have the slightest idea how to fix it. * Rubbing a hand over her eyes, Ginny stared after Draco, hunching up further. No tears, Ginny Weasley. Don't let him get under your skin. Don't let this get to you. This is the last thing you need right now. Perk up, be happy...
But Ginny just felt like crying. Biting hard on her lip, she wiped her eyes, summoning all the courage she could. She had to go back in. She had to go back into the dance, and forget Draco Malfoy had ever talked to her.
It was for the best, wasn't it?
Slipping back into the wooded ballroom, she continued to try and dry her eyes, just hoping no one would come up to her while she was trying to hide the fact that she had been crying.
Too bad that was Harry Potter heading right for her.
Harry had left the dance for a moment, slipping away from Parvati. He just had to check on Ginny. Make sure she was alright. He tried to tell himself that his concern was just platonic, brotherly even, but himself wasn't believing a word of it.
But, as came close to the doors, he noticed the object of his worry standing there, wiping her eyes.
Looking for all the world as if she'd just lost her best friend.
Harry rushed over to her, his green eyes darkening as he looked to her. "Ginny? What's the matter? I thought you were going to Madam Pomfrey's..." he hesitated, staring at her even more closely. "Have you been crying?" he questioned her softly.
Ginny looked up in surprise as Harry approached, wiping her eyes once more in a rapid motion as he moved closer. "Yeah, I... I was going to go to Madam Pomfrey's, but I..." She trailed off, her gaze falling to the floor.
"Just didn't feel like being alone. That... that attack scared me." She partially lied. That wasn't her reason, but it was the truth. The attack did scare her. And she didn't want to be alone right now.
"I..." She wiped her eyes again before looking at him. "I... I'm just not having a good day."
Harry smiled back sympathetically. "I know how that feels."
As he was speaking, the band had finished up a song, smoothly moving a slower, more relaxed melody. Couple quickly paired off, swaying hypnotically to the music. Harry blushed a little, looking back to Ginny.
"You still owe me one dance, you know." He grinned lopsidedly. "And this is a tempo I think I can handle." He held is arm out to her. "How about it?"
Ginny stared at his arm for a minute, almost looking like she would reject. Biting on her lip, she nodded quickly, taking his arm and moving with him to the dance floor.
She avoided his gaze uncomfortably, and as they moved into position to dance, Ginny just let the tears fall once more. It was all too much to bear. She wanted to tell someone, to tell anyone what had happened... But she couldn't. It was dangerous. Too dangerous. Yet, it was still hurting her.
She just had to weigh which was less dangerous... keeping it in or letting it out.
Harry couldn't help but notice that something was wrong. Here Ginny was in his arms, closer than the two of them had been before, but it still felt like she was a hundred miles away.
He looked down at her, frowning slightly. "Is the attacking really bothering you that much, Ginny? Because we could go talk to McGonagall, ask her if she's found anything yet, or needs help tracing the conjuring..."
But his voice trailed off as he looked more closely at her. "It's not the attack, is it." He said, not questioning. He lifted her chin towards him, unconsciously mirroring Draco's gesture from earlier, then release her once she was looking at him. "It's okay, Ginny, you can tell me." He smiled. "It's Harry, remember? Harry Potter. Not some stranger."
Ginny smiled weakly, looking up at Harry through tear-filled eyes. "I know it's you, Harry. I know. It's just I..." Her voice faded into a sadder tone.
"I can't tell you, Harry. I can't tell anyone... I have to carry this burden alone. Alone..." She shivered at the word, but looks down. "It's not even going to matter anymore... Not after he..." Her words trailed again, and she looked to him.
"I'm sorry Harry. I can't tell you. I promised not to tell anyone."
Harry abruptly stopped, gripping Ginny by her shoulders. "He?" he seized upon her slip.
He frowned. "Please, don't tell me this is about..." He stopped, clearly baffled. "You're crying over Malfoy?"
The frown on his face turned into a scowl, a very un-Harry like expression. "Why are you protecting him, Gin? Did he threaten you?"
Ginny didn't quite know what to think when Harry matched things up. She struggled to pull away from his grip, frowning heavily. "Let go of me, Harry." She ordered.
"And he didn't threaten me. If I wanted to protect Draco Malfoy, then I'd do it because I wanted to, not because he told me to." She shook her head. "Just forget everything, Harry. This is my problem, not yours."
Harry released her, but his expression clearly indicated that he wasn't as willing to release the subject. "Were you here a just a little while ago, or did you miss it, Ginny? A creature came into this hall, a demon-wraith. It could have hurt everyone here, very badly. That makes it more than just your problem.
"If you know something... if this has anything to do with Malfoy...." His green eyes snapped fire. His suspicions had obviously taken the same direction as Ron's, laying blame for everything directly at Draco Malfoy's feet.
Ginny frowned, turning her back to Harry. "Fine. If you want to believe it's Malfoy's fault, go ahead. Go ahead and believe whatever you want. Yes, other people could have been hurt. But it's not Draco's fault or even yours, Harry Potter. It's mine. The creature attacked me, didn't it?"
She shook her head. "Forget it, Harry. You don't understand anything." And with that, she turned and marched for the exit for the second time that evening.
"Ginny!" Harry started to go after her, but was stopped as Parvati showed up, grabbing his elbow.
"Harry! There you are!"
Unwilling to be rude, Harry resigned himself to another round of dancing, tripping over his own heels. For someone who could do some amazing things on a broomstick, he wasn't all that graceful in a ballroom. When he managed to get away again, he looked around for Ron and Hermione. Suspiciously enough, they were both missing, at the same time.
His mind turned over Ginny's words. What didn't he understand? Mysterious attacks were already starting up again, and Malfoy was a complete git. Why was she so unwilling to put two and two together? * Storming off, Ginny made her way down the deserted hallways towards the Gryffindor's chambers. Passing by a mirror, she paused to look into it. Her hair was partially undone from the dancing earlier, and her dress was wrinkled from the attack with the wraith-demon.
She frowned.
It wasn't fair. She had been having such a wonderful evening and yet things just got worse. Now Harry thought badly of her, Draco didn't want to associate with her, and now that Ron and Hermione seemed to be hitting it off, she doubted she'd be seeing much of them.
"So much for not wanting to be alone." She sighed, turning away from the mirror and heading towards Gryffindor's common room.
Pausing before the portrait of a dozing Fat Lady, Ginny stopped, catching a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye. Is someone following me? Her heart thudded in her throat as she thought about it. She took a deep breath, suddenly whirling to look behind her.
Nothing.
The corridor was empty. There was nothing. No one around. Ginny let out a small sigh of relief. There's no one there. You should be calmer, Ginny Weasley! What, you actually thought someone was coming after you? She smiled wryly. That wraith-demon attack has got you paranoid.
But Ginny's smile faded as she glanced back at the mirror she had passed, seeing something pass into the shadows. "Hello?" She swallowed hard. "Hello? Is anyone there? Show yourself!"
At her tremulous demand, a figure separated from the shadows. A figure wearing a black silk dress and a smile. "Hello, Ginny." The older girl told her softly. But not in a way that brought comfort and warmth. In a way that made goose bumps prickle on the skin, and sent shivers down the back.
"I saw you at the dance," Obsidian went on. "With Harry. You looked very upset."
Ginny didn't know if she should be scared or relieved. Someone came out of the darkness. She nodded a bit in response to the girl. "Yeah. I was with Harry. I'm just... not having a very good day today. Draco Malfoy ruined it."
Not completely a lie. Draco sort of had ruined things. "So who are you? And why were you hiding?" She asked suspiciously, watching her closely.
Obsidian walked nearer to Ginny, enjoying this little game. It had been just a whim to follow Ginny after watching her fight with the Potter boy. She had been quite disappointed when the demon-wraith conjuring had failed to hurt the girl seriously. But Obsidian was at least confident that Draco had gotten the hidden message behind it, seeing the sting of rejection in Ginny's expression.
"I'm Susan Bones," Obsidian lied smoothly, with the ease of familiarity. "I know it's none of my business. I just thought I could help." So saying, she reached out with a false look of concern and laid a cool hand upon Ginny's arm.
Ginny shivered under the touch on her arm, but she smiled, her fingers tracing the design of her bracelet... an almost nervous gesture. "Help me? No, that's alright. I don't need any help. I'm just going to go lie down for a while. I'm sure it'll all be fine tomorrow after a good sleep."
She didn't know what it was, but something about Susan Bones gave her the creeps. "So don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
Obsidian's eye was immediately drawn to Ginny's fingers, where she touched the bracelet. The strange artistry of it was somehow compelling, fixing Obsidian's attention, so she hardly heard Ginny's protests. She didn't know why, but she wanted it, with a hunger that was quickly growing in intensity.
The antique silver glinted even in the dim lights of the hallway, flashing almost hypnotically. "That's a lovely piece of jewelry," Obsidian told Ginny, not looking away from it. "Where... where did you get it?"
Ginny backed away, uncomfortable under Susan's gaze. "It... it was a gift. From... a friend. When I was visiting Beauxbatons during the summer." She turned quickly.
"I'm... I'm just going to go to bed now." With that, Ginny moved quickly for the Gryffindor Common Room. That Bones girl had a very unnerving stare.
Obsidian's hand latched onto Ginny's wrist just behind the bracelet, stopping her. Her tone was deceptively innocent, while her grasp was just a bit too tight. "Don't rush off." She said.
She lifted Ginny's arm, examining the bracelet at a closer distance, strands of her black hair falling in front of her face as she peered downwards. Yes... she could sense it now. Obsidian lightly brushed her fingers across the intricately twisted metal, suppressing a shiver of wicked delight.
The bracelet may have looked ordinary on the surface, but only someone like Obsidian, whose very spirit and flesh were tied to Dark Magicks, could see beneath the surface... to the core of shadows and evil.
But a question remained, how had a girl like Ginny Weasley obtained such an artifact? "You said a friend gave it to you," Obsidian repeated slowly, then lowering her voice. "Could it have been... Draco Malfoy, perhaps?"
Ginny blinked, frowning at the hand on her arm. "No. Draco Malfoy didn't give me the bracelet. I said I got it in Beauxbatons, during the summer. I didn't even see Draco again until on the way to Hogwarts."
Her gaze turned icy. "So let go of my arm. I want to go in and go to bed."
Unhurriedly, Obsidian relinquished her grip. Interesting. She didn't think Ginny was lying about Draco not giving her the bracelet, though she had lied about other aspects of their relationship to people she actually cared about, like her friends.
Which meant the giver's identity was still a mystery. Obsidian would add this incident to her report to her master, along with the events of the dance, and her suspicions about Draco Malfoy.
She was very curious to hear what her creator, her master, would have to say about it all.
"Sleep well then, Ginny." Obsidian told her with a smile, before flipping her dark hair over her shoulder and strolling off.
Ginny shivered once more, hurrying towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Once safely inside, she let out a breath. That was weird. Why was she so interested in the bracelet?
Staring down at her bracelet, she swallowed hard. Maybe there was a reason she had found the bracelet. Shivering, she decided to go do some research in the library. Maybe there was some sort of enchantment on the bracelet. The way Susan Bones had stared at it, she knew that there was something unnatural about the way she was interested.
There certainly was something strange going on. *
After leaving Ginny, Draco couldn't go back to his rooms. That space was too small, too suffocating. No windows. Only walls. He already felt trapped by his life- no reason to subject himself to that.
He wandered outside, across the wide green lawns that went up to the edge of the lake. The clear, cold water was very still, not even a breath of air disturbed its glassy surface. The moonlight turned it to liquid silver. Reaching the shore, he looked down, unknowingly repeating Ginny's actions, staring at his reflection. His tux looked worse for wear, the white shirt stained from demon-wraith residues, or whatever they were.
But his face, however, was where the damage really showed. Not in bruises or scrapes- but in the eyes, in the dark shadows underneath them, in the small frown lines at the corners. And that disturbed him. People said the eyes were windows to the soul... so what would Lucius Malfoy say if he discovered that his son possessed one? Draco looked away, unable to bear his own face anymore.
Finally, unable to put it off any longer, Draco went back to his quarters. Closing the door behind himself, he drew out his wand and activated the Soundproofing spell on the room, a precaution he'd taken ever since the unfortunate incident of the first night.
But it had turned out to be unnecessary. Since his reconciliation with Ginny, his sleep had been dreamless. Almost peaceful.
What would it be like now? Now that he no longer had Ginny?
Now that he no longer had a friend.
Anxiety and hurt gripped his chest, making his breathing difficult for a moment. He sat down on the edge of his mattress, his fingers digging through his hair. The nightmares would return, that's what. He knew it with certainty, and feared it. Will I wake up in a cold sweat, screaming, tasting blood in my mouth? Draco shuddered.
But he knew there was no escaping the inevitable. If it was going to happen, he wanted it over as soon as possible. Quickly, he took off his shoes, then stripped himself of the rumpled jacket and ruined shirt, throwing them carelessly to the floor. He gathered the scattered bits of his courage to himself as he lay down, wrapping them around himself like a meager blanket.
Draco had never prayed before, but as he closed his eyes, he freed a desperate thought, letting it drift up to the ears of whatever benevolent power might be listening.
Please, please don't let me meet Ginny in my dreams... I can't face that again... * Lucius Malfoy walked towards his son. "Get up, Draco. It's time."
Draco stood up obediently, slipping on the hooded robe. The night beckoned sweetly, calling out to them. They entered into it, father and son, side by side. The trees of the forest embraced them as closely as a lover.
Or a Dementor about to administer it's Kiss.
Lucius Malfoy turned back towards Draco, slipping off the Death Eater's mask. Silver-blue eyes glinted towards him in the shadow-speckled moonlight of the forest.
The father raised a dull and battered knife. Stains upon its blade that would have looked red in daytime were darkened to black by the night. The father pricked his palm, letting the small droplet of blood form in the cup of his hand. The father fixed his stare upon his son.
"This is yours." The father said. "And through it you are mine."
"No!" The son rejected him, stepping back. "It's not true!"
The father stepped forward. "Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood... a truth as old as time itself. You cannot escape it."
The son stood his ground now. "But I will try."
The father laughed, nodding. "You will try."
The son fell heavily to his knees. The rest of the words were unspoken, but they nevertheless sent powerful echoes that ran through him, bone deep. And fail.
You will try and fail.
Draco looked up, seeing past Lucius Malfoy, to what lay beyond him.
Death. Destruction. And screaming.
Screams for the lost. Screams for the living.
You will try and fail.
And in the midst of it all, she stood silently, her hair like a banner of fire. * There was something in the silence of the room that made it impossible for Ginny to sleep. When Hermione finally came back, looking quite disheveled from whatever she had been doing with Ron, Ginny had faked being asleep. The room was silent, save for the breathing of the rest of the girls who had actually managed to get their rest.
But Ginny was afraid. Having searched the library for a good long while before going back to the dorm, she'd come up with nothing. Figuring it was a good sign, she went back to try to sleep. Now that she thought about it, though, it made her feel sick. There was one place she hadn't thought to check.
The restricted section. * When Draco woke up, it was to the deathly quiet of his room, and to a cold sweat that left him shivering even under his thick blanket.
He remembered every aspect of his dream, although he desperately wished to forget it. The message within it was clear, destroying whatever vestiges of hope that might have remained with him.
There was no escaping his father. There was no escaping his past. And there was no escaping his future. I'm a Malfoy, he told himself firmly, rolling over and punching his pillow. It doesn't matter what I want. I'm a Malfoy and there's nothing else to it. He summoned up all his father's lectures, lessons delivered throughout his childhood, even when he was too young to fully understand.
"Remember this boy, because it's a motto that has served our family well. There is no wrong or right. Only those who have the power, and those who don't. Throughout time, wars have been fought, civilizations conquered. And the winners write and rewrite history as they see fit. Those who think there are such things as heroes and villains are naive fools. Heroes are for fairy tales."
Draco was not reassured in the slightest. * Ginny couldn't sleep much that night, and when she awoke, it was eerily silent in the dorms. Sitting up, she blinked in surprise as she realized everyone had left the dorm.
She was late for breakfast.
Hurrying to pull on her clothes and straighten her hair, she ran towards the hall, at least thankful that she had only missed part of breakfast and not any of her classes.
Draco wandered into the Great Hall even later than Ginny, looking as if he'd seen the bottom of the barrel, then broken through the bottom and hit dirt.
He couldn't help but notice that the number of nasty looks he was getting was even more than usual. Which didn't help to improve his already blackened mood. He satisfied himself with giving as good as he got, trading glare for glare.
But he couldn't bring himself to look towards the Gryffindor table. If he saw her, he would be forced to remember her as she'd been in the dream, standing silent in the center of a world of destruction.
As he looked everywhere else, something strange caught his eye. A girl with dark hair and dark eyes, looking towards him not with disdain, but with a knowing smile. She didn't look away as their gazes met. Draco felt his stomach twist uncomfortably, although there was no reason she should affect him like this.
Thankfully, Ginny had time to grab a bite to eat before class. Grabbing something uneaten off of the Gryffindor table, she opted not to bother staying in the hall. Biting into the danish, she shifted her books under her arm and set off down to sit by her first class for the day.
Slumping down by the doorway, she munched on the danish, glancing through her book for the next assignment they would probably be doing. Boring stuff as usual. There were so many better things she could do with her time.