And he ran. He made no attempt to stop whatsoever for a long time. He just ran, with a limp body in his pale and strong arms. The body belonged to an innocent girl, who had done something unthinkable to him. She had not meant to of course, but with her bubbly personality, she had created an emotion within him, an emotion so strong that he could not stand it. Was that why he had murdered her? He did not know, for he discovered the feeling after he had killed her. But then again, his heart may have discovered it a long time ago. His head had probably blocked the heart, and his evil had taken over, murdering the girl so he would not suffer.

But that was just a guess. Draco did not know what had happened. Not with his heart. The heart that was made of a block of ice, which Virginia Weasley had melted and a heart was discovered. A heart that was not meant to exist. And he had killed her.

For the first time in his whole life he felt real guilt, a burden on his shoulders that only one person could relieve. And that person was the person that caused his guilt. He was stuck. It was a vicious cycle.

Draco did not tire, but he felt that he should stop. He did not know why he wanted to stop, but it felt right. So he stopped and sat by a tree, laying Virginia's head on his lap. He studied her pale, dead, face. Her freckles stood out. Her mouth was closed and her hair was flowing everywhere. Her brown eyes still showed fright and stared right up at him, so he laid a hand on her eyes and closed them. He was still crying, he realised. His face was stained with tears of sorrow. Sometimes he wondered if it was blood from his bleeding heart.

He sat there for a while, just looking down at her. A muggle saying echoed in his head. 'You never know how much you care about it until you lose it.' That was true. He never knew how much he had cared about Virginia until he lost her.

That was when he heard the rustling of leaves in the direction he was running. Men's voices were heard, and they sounded awfully familiar. Draco studied the two faint outlines that were getting bigger and bigger. Two men. One burly, the other not as muscular as the other. When they came closer, Draco could see that they both had dark hair, and they were clothed in the same clothes as the villagers in Plymouth. As they drew even closer, Draco could see them clearly and recognised them instantly.

"Orlando! Alexander!" he called. They had slowed down when they had spotted Draco and Ginny, and were walking towards them.

They looked very worried. "You found her, Draco," Alexander smiled. "Well you must come qui-" Alexander did not finish his sentence, for he had discovered the awful state of Virginia. "W-What happened?" he asked.

Draco waved his hand. "I'll explain later. Why do you need us?" he asked.

"I-is she. . ." he swallowed. "Dead?"

Draco nodded sadly. Alexander's face was pure sorrow, as he fell to his knees and tried to hold back his tears. Orlando laid a hand on his shoulder. "She was a sweet girl. But since one life could not be saved, we must save the other."

Draco looked up at Orlando, confusion clear in his eyes. "Other? What do you mean?"

"Jennifer has been accused of witchcraft. The villagers are gathering to go and get her. She cannot escape, for there are guards securing that she stays in the house. One at every door and every window. We must go and save her. We cannot do it alone, Draco, we need your help," Orlando explained with sadness written across his features.

'Oops,' Draco thought and bit his lip. 'I should have been more discreet with my magic.'

"OK," he said and stood up. He took a last glance at Virginia before hiding her in a bush nearby, to come and collect her later on, when they had rescued Jennifer.

The three men ran as fast they could to the village, and when they arrived, they found that it was too late.

The people had surrounded the house, holding big stakes of fire and trying to break into the house. Only the burly guards were stopping them. A tall and slender priest stood in front of the door, dressed in long black robes, a bible in his left hand and a cross in his right. There were two men at either side of him, one holding a rope and the other a dagger. They, too, were wearing long black robes, but they were younger than the priest and Draco guessed that they were students.

Alexander, Orlando and Draco tip-toed around the house, looking for weak spots where they could get in. There was a guard trying to keep an angry old man from setting the house on fire. Maybe they could get in while the guard was distracted somehow. Draco whispered his idea to Orlando and Alexander, who nodded in approval. Alexander and Orlando pushed their hoods above their heads, but Draco did not have one, so he would have to count on luck.

The trio sneaked through the angry mob and past the guard. . .luckily. The old man had just stopped struggling when they sneaked through the window. Draco, Alexander and Orlando searched the house for Jennifer. Not in the kitchen, not in the bathroom, not in the living room. . .

"I found her!" Alexander called from the bedroom. Orlando and Draco hurried to the master bedroom, where Jennifer was sitting on the bed, crying out of fright. Alexander was hugging her closely, shortly joined by Orlando.

"Th-they are here. They are going to take me away. Y-you must hurry. Get out before they take you too," Jennifer whispered.

"No!" Orlando exclaimed. "We will not leave you here to die! We will run away. We are here to save you Jennifer."

Jennifer's frightened face paled. "No you cannot. They will come after you. They will hunt you down and murder you. You know they will. You know what happened with young Deborah. The story of her escape. I know you believe it to be just a folk's tale of the young Indian girl, but I believe it true. I do not want you to end up like her, to die in the cold storms."

Deborah. The nymph. Draco was almost amused when he knew what they thought happened to her. Of course, she did not die. She was turned into a nymph. And another thing new to Draco was that she had been accused of witchcraft. Hmm. . .

"Jennifer listen to me," Orlando said while he cupped her face in his hands. "I will not leave you to die, not even if it means I have to die to save you. I love you Jennifer, so do not complain." With that, Jennifer nodded slowly and stood up with Alexander's help.

"So how will we get out?" Draco asked.

"I do not know," Orlando shook his head. "We could try the roof, and then jump down," he suggested.

"I doubt that it's stable enough," Draco objected. "We're going to have to try the windows. Or. . ." Draco smiled as a plan formed in his head.

"What? Or what?" Alexander asked, eager.

Draco stepped closer to them and whispered his master plan. ******

"Fire!" a man called from outside. Alexander, Draco, Orlando and Jennifer were in the bedroom, and had closed the door to stop the fire from getting into the room. Hopefully, it wouldn't.

"When are we jumping?" Alexander asked over the crackling of the deadly fire in the other rooms.

"When I say," Draco replied. He was by the window, waiting for the people to become confused and to start mayhem of screaming and running. After a few minutes, Draco got his wish. "Alright, Orlando, you go first," Draco ordered. Orlando ran towards the window and jumped the two storeys of the house. Once Draco made sure he was safe below, he told Jennifer to jump. She was hesitant but obeyed. Orlando caught her and they started running towards the forest. Next, Alexander jumped and ran. That only left Draco.

But, unfortunately, the door caught on fire at that moment and burnt the wall where the window was. There was no other window in the room. Draco was trapped. Looking around, he tried finding something to put the fire out, but the bed and caught on fire, and the tattered sheets with it.

He started coughing. His lungs were filling with smoke and ash. He was getting weaker. His vision got very blurred. It was either jumping through the thick fire, or staying inside and burning to death. But Draco did not get to make that choice, for he drifted away into unconsciousness before anything could be decided.
A/N: tee hee! That was an evil cliffie! Muhahahahahahahaha!! So, was this a good chapter? Worth the wait? I'm getting slower aren't i? I'm sorry. . .*sigh*

Anyhoo, please review! And send muffins! Me loves muffins! (especially chocolate and blueberry ones. . .mmmmh)!

Toodles! :D