Journey in Time
Disclaimer: I own...the plot...a few characters....all HP stuff is not mine, unfortunately. But it's a nice thought, imagine all the time I could spend writing if I didn't have to work and go to school because I had all that money...*sigh* Okay, rambling.
A/N: This chapter I wrote kinda quickly because it's basically a plot mover alonger. Hopefully it's not too choppy and confusing...but Draco finally makes another appearance! Yey, Draco! We luvs you! *hugs and smewchies* Sorry, tangent. Anyway, hope you enjoy it! Thanks to all who reviewed, you make me feel so special!
Chapter 6
Ginny didn't dare to open her eyes, afraid of what she might find, or where she might be. She stayed still, trying to determine her surroundings without looking. She was sitting in a chair with her head rested on her arms on some sort of table. She could hear a fire crackling and her clothes no longer felt damp. There was no sound of rain; it seemed eerily silent around her except for the noise of the fire. None of these clues helped her.
She opened one eye slowly, allowing it to focus before opening the other. She recognized her surroundings immediately...Gryffindor common room. She lifted her head slowly, her eyes darting from side to side to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She was at the study table by the fire, the same table she was standing in front of before her...journey.
She looked down at the table's surface and saw the journal still sitting there, exactly where it had been. The Tarot card, however, was gone. Upon quick inspection of the surrounding area, it was determined that the card was, indeed, no longer there. Ginny sighed loudly and slouched in the chair, wondering if it had all just been a bad dream.
She shook her head. No way it was a dream, she had really been there, really experienced everything. She could still feel the coldness from being soaking wet, the aching in her heart from leaving Damien...
Ginny closed her eyes, cutting off her train of thought. She refused to think about Damien, it tore at her heart too much. She told herself mentally that it had in fact happened and it wasn't a dream. Lifting her head, she looked around the empty room, wondering if anyone missed her. Something nagged at the back of her mind, but she couldn't bring the thought to the surface. She turned to look back at the journal.
The journal. Curiously, she flipped it open, wondering whom it belonged to. There was a list of names on the second page that Ginny skimmed through. Her eyes jumped back to the first name on the list. Kiandra. She felt her stomach clench and her heart leap into her throat at the same time.
Timidly, she reached out a hand and flipped the page, her body suddenly going numb. Her brain couldn't think, she could only lean closer to read the first few entries on the first page.
The writing was scrawled and misspelled but Ginny could understand enough to get the gist of what was being told. Kiandra wrote about how she wanted to see the future and was developing a spell that would hopefully send her there. The last doubts Ginny may have had about her experience being a dream faded quickly as she read on. The entries described how Kiandra got the idea to make the spell and how she went about gathering ingredients.
Curious, Ginny flipped through some pages farther ahead. There seemed to be more than just Kiandra's entries. Skimming through some she found that Kiandra's descendents kept the journal going, long after Kiandra passed on. They followed in her footsteps, dabbling in magic here and there, but never accomplishing what their ancestor did. Flipping to the back of the journal she saw there were pictures drawn, sprawling across the pages.
Upon further inspection, however, she realized they were not pictures, but family trees. Turning to the beginning of the first tree she saw the first name boxed in Kiandra's own scrawled handwriting; Damien Despencer. Even seeing his name caused her heart to skip a beat; she blinked back tears that threatened to blur her vision. Ginny flipped to the beginning of the other family tree; Isabel Despencer. Why would Kiandra want to trace their family history through time?
The trees were very extensive and seemed thorough. She traced Damien's name with her finger, thinking about the kiss in the rain. Sucking in her breath she began tracing his line, noting the name of his wife and children. When she got to the end, two pages later, she inspected all the names, recognizing none. She let her breath out slowly. What was she expecting? Draco Malfoy's name to be there? What difference would it make anyway?
Mad at herself for thinking such thoughts, she slammed the book shut. Picking it up she shoved it under her arm and headed back up to her dorm room.
Ginny crawled into bed after placing the journal into her trunk under some school books. She checked the Muggle watch she had received from Hermione for Christmas the year before. 1:15am, October 20th...ten minutes after she left the dorm room to raid the kitchen. Time hadn't moved here, no one even knew she had been gone.
Not knowing if that was a relief or not, Ginny sank back into her bed, closing her eyes. But as exhausted as she was, she was no closer to falling asleep then she had been after her dream
Her dream...that had been ages ago. Well, not in this century, but Ginny had done and felt so many things since that fateful dream, it seemed like a fast fading memory. As she struggled to hold onto it, remember exactly what happened, she fell into a restless sleep, images of Isabel, de Ferrers, and Damien haunting her.
* * * *
"Ginny! You look horrible!" Leave it to Hermione to give her the truth, no matter how harsh. Ginny managed a wry grin at her friend as she sank down beside her.
"Thanks, 'Mione, I needed that," Ginny sighed, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. Hermione frowned, probably realizing it wasn't the nicest thin she had ever said. Ginny waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it," Ginny reassured her. "I know I look awful. I didn't sleep much last night," Ginny forced another grin.
"What's that, Gin?" Ron asked, reaching for the journal Ginny had set on the table before sitting.
Ginny slid it away from his reaching hands. "None of your business, brother," She raised an eyebrow at him, popping a mini-blueberry muffing in her mouth.
Ron stared at her a moment before lunging for it. But Ginny, having six older brothers, was ready for him and snatched it away, clutching it to her chest.
"Nosey much, Ron?" She asked, trying to remain calm. She didn't want to answer a bunch of questions about why she was reading some old journal. She set it on her lap and began helping herself to the scrambled eggs and sausage.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hermione give her a strange look then shrug across the table at the boys. Ginny pretended not to notice, intent on her food. She was relieved when the conversation turned to Quidditch.
Ginny forced herself to not look at the Slytherin table. She desperately wanted to look at Malfoy to see if he reminded her of Damien but she also didn't want Draco's sneering face to ruin her mental picture.
She glanced up sharply at Hermione's groan. Ron and Harry were staring at each other intently, a new staring contest begun. "Won't you two give it up?" Hermione pleaded half-heartedly, rolling her eyes.
Ginny had to giggle. At least things hadn't changed with her friends.
* * * *
In every free moment Ginny had, she poured over the journal. Especially anything Kiandra wrote. The journal had become a legacy to her family, being passed down to the first-born daughter of her decedents.
Ginny was getting less and less sleep, staying up late, reading. She would be under her covers with only her wand for light, getting only three to four hours of sleep a night. But she couldn't put it down, it was almost as if it drew her toward it. If she weren't going insane, which she just might be, she could have sworn it called her name when she wasn't reading it.
The Tarot card had passed from generation to generation also. Most who ended up with it didn't realize what it was, only knew it was part of their family history. Some did wonder why it didn't fade much with time; most didn't give it a second thought.
Ginny could find no recent entries that gave a clue to who left the journal and card at Hogwarts. She read it back to front, many times, but never recognized a name.
One night, about midnight, Ginny was leafing through the well-read pages when she realized she never traced Isabel's family tree. Flipping to the back, she began studying it.
Isabel married a guy with a very French sounding name. Briefly wondering if she had been happy with the marriage, Ginny began tracing her lines. Turning the page quickly she was suddenly filled with anticipation, tracing the lines faster.
There. In the 1800s, a name she recognized and was not surprised to see. Malfoy. Sucking in her breath, Ginny followed that line to the end of the page. Draco Malfoy was Isabel's descendant. Ginny let her breath out slowly, staring at his name.
That arrogant prat came from the nice family that she ate dinner with and took her into their home. How dare the Malfoys taint her friend's bloodline? Ginny knew the thought was crazy, but she was upset anyway. As much as she knew it was true that he was from that family, she didn't want it to be.
She let her head sink until it rested on the open pages. She couldn't think about this now. She should get some sleep. She lifted her head, the pages sticking to her forehead and raising up a bit before falling back. Ginny frowned. One of the pages seemed double thick.
Flipping to the page that held Draco's name she inspected it closer. She always figured it was just the last page but looking harder she realized that it was two pages stuck together, meaning there was something she hadn't read.
Excitedly, she slipped her fingernail in between the pages and tried to pry them apart. No luck. Thinking swiftly she remembered an unsticking charm from her lessons. "Absque alius," She muttered quietly, hoping she was pronouncing it correctly.
The pages fell open magically, as if they had never been together. Getting excited, she saw it was Kiandra's handwriting. She began reading, wondering how she ever missed the pages before.
She covered her mouth to muffle the gasp that escaped her lips. She reread the words, hardly believing them.
I tryed the spell agin, after Jiny left. I did not get all I wanted frome her, so I changed some words of the incantation to send myself into the future to look for her. I chose a new carde, The Moon, another carde that concerns mystical journyes. Alas, it still has not sent me into the future. So, I will hide it. Maybe in the future Jiny will finde it and come back to me. I have so many unanswered questions I wish to ask her.
So there was another port key. Would it still work if she found it? Her heart longed to go back, she never got to say her goodbyes to Isabel and...Damien. The temptation was overwhelming; especially after knowing that going back didn't effect present time.
Feeling giddy, Ginny looked at the other page and continued reading.
There was a loose bricke I found in the walls of the much unused dungeons of the castle. When going down the stairs, the third door on the left, there was a grate, high ceiling room. On the wall to the right of the door, about hafway up is my loose bricke. I marked it with a five-point star, invisible until the incantation 'Monstrare' is said. There lays my card. There lays the key to the past. Jiny, I wish for you to finde it.
The third door on the left...the Potions classroom was the first on the left, the Slytherin common room was farther down. She wondered if that was the room the journal was describing. She wondered if the card was still there.
Closing the book, Ginny whispered, "Nox," turning her wand light off, and rolled onto her back. Tomorrow she was going to find out just which room was the third door on the left.
* * * *
Stepping down the stairs lightly, she prayed silently that everyone was in the Great Hall so she wouldn't be discovered. She snuck past the Potions Classroom's door, silently counting off one in her head. Tiptoeing down the dank hallway she wrinkled her nose as the musty smell got worse rather than better.
The second door looked like it belonged to a closet. She still hadn't come across the common room. What was she going to do if the third door was the Slytherin common room? She hadn't thought that far ahead. She continued down the hall.
Voices behind her caused her to jog faster. She saw a large portrait, similar to the one that covered the entrance to Gryffindor. The voices were getting closer, however, so she ran past it and slid around the corner, leaning her back against the wall. She held her breath as she listened to the two giggling girls approach the portrait.
"Did you see the look on that first year's face? Detention was totally worth it," one girl's voice said. The other girl giggled in response. "Veritaserum,"
Ginny heard the portrait swing open and the girls' voices faded. Ginny waited a moment, to be sure they were gone, before peeking around the corner. The hall was deserted. She walked slowly back toward the portrait, ready to bolt if any more Slytherins showed themselves.
It was definitely not a pleasant portrait. A very stiff looking man that reminded Ginny a lot of Snape, stood with one hand on a table and one on his hip. He was scowling at the opposite wall, his expression angry. Veritaserum, she thought, remembering the password the girl had said.
"What are you looking at, Red?" The painting had turned its scowl on her.
"N-nothing," Ginny stammered, hurrying back down the hallway in the direction she came. Her mind was already racing, however. Somehow, she had to find a way to sneak down to the dungeons and find that card. She was going back tonight.
* * * *
The Gryffindor common room was finally dying down. Ginny sat, watching Harry and Ron play Wizard's Chess. But she wasn't really watching, she was waiting for them to finish up and go to bed so she could sneak out. She tried to appear interested but she was getting impatient. Her foot began tapping quickly on the floor.
"Ginny, stop that, I'm concentrating," Ron grumbled, still staring at his pieces.
"Oh, please, Ron. You're going to win, Harry only has two left!" Ginny rolled her eyes, but she shot a sympathetic look at Harry. Wizard's Chess was just not his game.
Ron frowned at her but she was right. "Fine, Harry, you ready to quit?"
Harry nodded, stifling a yawn. "Yea, it's pretty late, Ron and we have Transfiguration first thing,"
It was Ron's turn to roll his eyes but he began picking up his game. "That counts you know. I did win. So we're even score." Ron insisted. Harry nodded, already heading upstairs. "What about you, sis? Bedtime?" Ron inquired.
Ginny pretended to yawn and nodded. "Yep, I just have to go grab my bag," She pointed to it over by the common room exit. Ron nodded and headed upstairs, leaving Ginny alone in the room.
Quickly stripping off her robes, she stuffed them into her bag and hid it behind a chair. Trying to make as little noise as possible, Ginny slipped from the common room portrait hole and ran as fast as she could toward the dungeons. If she got caught she would have detention for a month, not to mention the questions that would follow. She shuddered at the thought and continued on to the Slytherin common room.
By some miracle, she made it to the entrance without running into a single person. Everyone must be asleep by now, she thought confidently, approaching the portrait. "Veritaserum," She whispered, barely audible.
The man snarled angrily at her. "What's that, Red?" He boomed. "Speak up,"
Ginny winced but said louder, "Veritaserum,"
Grumbling loudly, the portrait swung forward, revealing the common room. Ginny crawled in, narrowly escaping the fast closing picture. Frowning over her shoulder at the back of the painting, she stood up, brushing herself off. Glancing around the room she was pleased to see no one was up and about; at least things were going her way.
The room was rather tall for a dungeon, which was the first thing she noticed. High vaulted ceilings with crisscrossed rafters above, green and silver banners hanging from them, a large expanse of a fireplace on the opposite wall, and black leather furniture adorned the room around her. A fleeting feeling of jealousy flit through her; it looked much more expensive than the Gryffindor common room. But Gryffindor was more cozy and comfortable, she reminded herself, and the jealous feeling diminished.
Turning to her right Ginny saw a great deal of wall. It was the only wall without a painting or banner or fireplace. Now, she only had to find that brick.
"Easier said than done," She mumbled to herself, walking over to midway along the wall. She looked closely, trying to see if any looked loose, but they all looked the same to her. Sighing loudly she pulled out her wand and began tapping bricks, saying the incantation. This is going to last all night, she thought, a feeling of hopelessness rising in her stomach.
After an hour or so, she began to get nervous. What if someone woke up and came downstairs for a midnight snack? How was she going to explain her self in the midst of the Slytherin common room? Frowning at the thought, she decided she'd try one more row then she'd have to risk coming back tomorrow. She was going back to the 15th century, no matter what.
Ginny was going so fast she almost missed it. On the third brick she tapped, a small pentagram appeared. She was two more bricks down before she realized she found it. Turning her head back sharply she stared, transfixed. That was it...this was it. Slowly she reached forward and tried the brick to see if it was still loose. To her amazement, it still was.
Sliding the brick out slowly, she set it on the ground and peered into the hole it made. It was dark but she could faintly make out the card sitting there, waiting for her. She stared at it, unable to move. Ginny was itching to go back, yet she hesitated.
"Defacing school property in another common room, Weasley?" An obnoxious, drawling voice behind her distracted her attention from the card. Draco Malfoy was standing at the bottom of the stairway that lead to the dorms. He was dressed in his pajamas, navy blue with flying golden snitches, and his hair was mussed up from sleeping. Even his expression didn't seem as sharp as normal, but his wit was obviously right on cue. Ginny would have found his appearance funny, had he not caught her in her act. "I would have thought you had more sense than that," He began walking toward her at a slow, even pace.
Unconsciously, Ginny took a step back away from him, but she ran into the wall. By Merlin, he looked exactly like Damien had, right down to the eye color. Ginny felt her knees get weak as she blinked as his fast approaching face. Draco hid his emotions however; she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Damien had been the opposite.
"Go back to bed, Malfoy, I'll be gone in a minute," She said quietly, wishing he would follow her directions. She knew he wouldn't.
He laughed, stopping right next to her. "You're in my common room, Weasley. I don't think you're the one that should be giving orders at the moment." He tilted his head to the side, regarding her. "Let's see, sneaking out after bed time, stealing the password, breaking into another house's common room," He began listing her broken rules off on his fingers, "And ordering me around. I'd say you're looking at detention for a good three months solid. Not to mention the house points that will be lost." He began tsking, shaking his head, smirk firmly in place.
"Malfoy, I don't need your snarky comments right now," Ginny hissed, trying to keep her temper. If she wanted Malfoy to leave, she was going to have to control her urge to slap him upside his head. He was ruining her mental image of Damien. "Just please go away,"
"Aw, now you're begging," Malfoy's smirk only grew. He planted his feet firmly in place, crossing his arms. "What mischief are you up to, Weasley? Turning out be just like those dolt brothers of yours," Draco looked to the side at the hole the brick left when she pulled it out. "What's this?" He asked, starting to reach inside.
"That's mine!" Ginny hissed, slapping his arm before she thought the motion through. She was surprised when he grabbed her wrist, twisting it to the side. Merlin, he had quick reflexes.
Draco got in her face, pointing at her with his free hand. "Don't ever, ever, hit me again," he said, tone icy, eyes narrowed.
Ginny suppressed the urge to be a smart ass and slap him with her free hand. Normally, when Ron or her brothers got in her face, that's what she would have done. But Draco looked serious enough to make her reconsider. "Fine," She spat, backing her head away from his. It was disturbing to be so close to him.
He let go of her wrist, flinging it down by her side. Looking at her pointedly, he reached for the card again. This time, Ginny lunged in attempt to grab it first. Draco anticipated this and also moved forward quickly to intercept her.
There was no pause this time, only the sensation of being sucked through a skinny tube. Ginny felt a moment of triumph at beating Malfoy before falling into the depth of blackness.