Okay, here it is - the pivotal chapter three! I'd say it's pivotal because it's when Ginny starts to question more of Draco's motives, we find out a shocking revelation about Charlotte and Ron is onto Draco's tricks.

Yes, I've gotten some reviews saying how many people want to learn about Charlotte. No one necessary likes her, but they all want to know about her! Which I find thoroughly amusing. I really don't like her either; she's a great character to hate. Here, her friendship with Draco intensifies, and you'll see something from Ginny's past that haunts Charlotte as well.

Title: Power of the Purebloods I: Thin Ice

Author: Riea Carlos

Rating: PG-13 for now though generally rated R

Genre: Drama/Angst

Summary: Draco and Charlotte start to build from a common ground and Ron catches Draco in the middle of an 'act.'

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own it. JK Rowling owns everything except Charlotte. I own Charlotte, though I don't really want her. Take her.

Power of the Purebloods I: Thin Ice

By Riea Carlos

Chapter Three: Pureblood vs. Pureblood

Ginny forced herself to penetrate Draco's highly arrogant eyes. He was at least a head taller then her and it was proving quite difficult to look him square in the face. "Let go," she whispered, although to her amazement, she didn't want him to let go. It felt nice being in the zone of his grip and she really wondered what he was playing at.

He smirked and his hair glimmered under the hot lamps of the ceiling. He loosened his grip but didn't let go completely. "I would keep quiet, Weasley. I'm getting you out of Transfiguration."

"I like Transfiguration," Ginny lied. In fact, it was her worst subject. She was better at Muggle Studies then she was Transfiguration, but she wasn't about to let him know that. She tried to reach for her wand into her pockets but Draco grabbed her hands. They were like ice.

He was so uncomfortable, his torso pressing against her thigh, but he had her in such a wonderful position she wasn't bound to get out. "Liar," he whispered in her ear, his warm and sticky breath clinging to her neck. "You hate it. Your best subject is by far Care of Magical Creatures. You take after Charlie."

Ginny sank back in apparent shock and almost wriggled herself out of his grasp. "How do you know?" Her eyes searched his entire body for some clues. Did he have some sort of magical contraption on her? He couldn't be a Seer. What the hell was he doing?

Draco fought back the urge to sink his hands into her robes and feel his conquest, but decided that some things were worth waiting for. "Charlotte told me. Your best friend divulged a lot about you, Virginia," he pinned her hands against the wall so that they were over her head. He was about to lean in and kiss her. Ginny closed her eyes tight and held her breath and she saw his face coming at hers when--

"Crucio! Avada Kedavra! Impedimenta!" Ron shouted as he came behind Draco. The Unforgivable Curses did nothing to his arch-enemy as he wasn't a fully grown wizard, but the Impediment curse flung Draco back and he hit the wall with a thud.

Ginny let out a small scream as she slid down the wall and then too hit the floor. Ron ran to the aid of his sister, and hoisted her over his shoulder. "Ginny! Are you alright? I had an inkling--Big brother's instinct--that you were hurt or…or…Did he do anything to you?"

"No, he just…Wanted to talk to me," she mumbled. She wiped her forehead with a trembling hand and knew that Ron would never go for that. Ron stared at her like she had been infected with undiluted Bubotuber pus.

Draco groaned and stirred as he got himself up on his knees. Ron set his sister down and walked over to the young Master Malfoy. "Listen you insolent little dick," he spat, "you ever lay a finger on my sister again and I swear to God--"

"Lay off it, Weasel. If I touched your sister you might want to keep her because then she'll turn into gold. And Lord knows your family needs some desperately." Draco yawned. Ron's hand balled up into a fist and was aiming right for Draco's jaw.

The only female Weasley ran in between the middle of them and held back her brother's shaking hand. "I'm alright, Ron. Just go. I'm going back up to my dormitory. Please, Ron? We'll talk about it later. Really, I'm okay. Draco didn't do anything, come on, Ron, and just go…"

Ron took one last hate-filled glare at Draco and stalked off down the corridor. Draco stared at Ginny in admiration. "You did a fantastic job." He went in for a hug, but Ginny held him off.

"I know Pansy gave you quite a--job, shall we say?--in her dormitory a few nights ago. I also know that you were pleading with her not to stop." She said coolly before walking down the hall, too. "You're not the only one Charlotte tells things to," she breathed as she disappeared out of sight.

Harry Potter sat on the grounds with Hermione, staring at the lake. Seventh year Gryffindors had no class that particular time, and it was usually spent in the same spot they were now or in Hagrid's hut.

Ron came stalking back into their view. "That foul son of a bitch. Violating my sister! Could have done anything to her, put a silencing charm and no one would have heard her…I swear, when I get my hands on him--"

"Ginny alright then, I suppose?" Hermione said as she rearranged her bag. Ron collapsed next to them and took a large breath of fresh, autumn air.

He nodded. The red foliage looked shockingly similar next to his air. Harry stayed silent, not mentioning anything. Ginny reminded him of Charlotte, and Charlotte reminded him of Cho. He liked Cho, he really did. But she had left the school the year before, and last he heard, she was trying to become a Quidditch player for Ireland.

Harry thought about her daily, but then he mind kept wandering over to Charlotte…There was something about her, something much more then what met the eye. She was like a huge Fidelus Charm; carrying around secrets and burdens.

Charlotte wasn't as pretty as Cho, but she was just as smart as she was, if not smarter. The only thing that was the same about the two girls was the black hair. Although Cho used to wear hers long and straight and Charlotte's was wavy…

"Ron," he said tentatively, "what do you think of Charlotte Hembound?" Ron immediately made a face and sat up, looking his best friend in the eye.

He felt revolted. He despised Charlotte. She was rude and arrogant and an overall bitch. She rarely smiled, spent most of her time either snapping at someone or being condescending and the only person she was remotely nice to was Ginny. She wasn't even that attractive. She looked like a Chocolate Frog in Ron's honest opinion.

"She's dreadful. Extremely vile little excuse of a bitch. I think she's the epitome of bitch. Charlotte's always so mean and dry to everyone. She's a big bigot, too. I heard her telling Lavender once that she despised Mudbloods and Muggles. She said it! And Hermione was in the same room! That's why she lives with her father, see. He's a bit weird too. But he married a Muggle…That's the odd thing…"

Harry felt his stomach churn. How could he like someone who hated Muggle-borns? Someone who hated what his best friend and mother was? It didn't fit. Sure, Charlotte was a bit shady, but she didn't seem like Death-Eater material, as Ron was making her out to be.

"But she's in Gryffindor. Her dad was too. Surely, you'd think they'd end up in Slytherin." Hermione piped up. She really didn't mind Charlotte, she respected her. Charlotte was the smartest witch in Gryffindor, excluding herself. She was very manipulative and persuasive and Hermione thought she had some hidden powers.

Ron was muttering something about Slytherins and then stopped. "Wait a minute, Harry. Do you fancy Charlotte Irene-Dia Hembound?" That perked up Harry's ears.

"What's her name?" he asked. He only heard her first and last name, he had never heard her use a middle name, not even the teachers said it. How could Ron possibly know?

Hermione was carelessly turning the pages of A History of Magic. "Charlotte Irene-Dia Hembound. Although she only goes by Charlotte and Hembound. Her full name is supposed to have some hidden meaning, but no one knows. The only people that know are her parents, I presume, herself, Ginny and me. Ginny told me." Ron spat.

Harry frowned at that. He didn't want her to have a dark past or shadowy secrets within her soul. Especially when he reckoned that she might like him also. "I don't think so. It's Charlotte. Tough around the edges but she isn't really horrible." He defended her. Then he paused. "Is she?"

Charlotte sat on the edge of her four-post bed after the Transfiguration lesson. She knew where Ginny had gone. She had seen Draco coming before the lesson started, and you didn't have to be one of the smartest witches at Hogwarts to put two and two together.

Now, Ginny sat on the next bed, although Charlotte desperately needed privacy. "Ginny, go outside. Maybe help Hagrid set up for the next lesson?" Ginny mumbled something about being tired and rolled over.

"Please, Gin. Ron's outside and he's a real mess. He needs to talk to you." Charlotte begged, fingering a small book in her palm. Ginny sat up and looked outside her window which overlooked the grounds. She saw Ron laying against the pond with Harry and Hermione.

Charlotte nodded. "Go on." Ginny sighed, and without another word, left the dormitory. Finally, Charlotte was alone. She made sure the dormitory was completely deserted and then she double locked the door and sealed it with a charm that alohomora couldn't open.

She took out the book into view, a book with a stab mark right through it, but it didn't seem to matter. She had gotten the book from Draco, and he had smiled when he'd given it to her. He seemed to have figure out the riddle in her name. She grinned.

Dipping her quill into the ink box, she scrawled on the first page:

Charlotte Irene-Dia Hembound

Then she underlined each letter that had to do with the brainteaser of her full, real, legitimate name.

Charlotte Irene-Dia Hembound

Tom Riddle

Looking satisfied, she spoke softly, "speak to me, Salazar Slytherin. The greatest of the Hogwarts Four." And with that, a little snake slithered along the page of Tom Riddle's diary.