Disclaimer: The closest to owning anything remotely close to the HP Empire that I may get is standing outside Barnes and Noble in the wee hours of the night, waiting for it to open so I can use my very hard won cash to buy the 5th book. Oh, and the fact that I have created my own fantasy Draco Malfoy (who is as hot as two Hottentots in Hottenworld (i.e. very, very hot)) to be my slavey boy! Yum…

~*Beauty is Found Within*~

Chapter 9

        The next morning I sat in bed with the parchment spread out in front of me, trying my hardest to figure out the relevance of my dream last night.

        It had been at Ron and Hermione's house. They were watching WNN. The newscasters face was grave as she said, "Numerous accounts of dark activity have been occurring all over the country. Whether it be dark creatures out on the loose, or actual attacks on Muggles and Muggle-borns."

        "That's no question!" Ron nearly shouted, "It's Malfoy of course! Who else could it be?"

        Hermione was trying to argue with her husband and balance Hope and a spellbook at the same time. "But Ron," she said matter-of-factly, "Draco Malfoy has been missing for 5 years. Everyone knows that he's dead."

        She was interrupted by Hope's sudden crying. She was shaking her head frantically and waving her little fists around, as if trying to tell them something. "Ssshhh…" Hermione cooed, "You must be tired, baby. Why don't we get you to sleep?"

        Hope's fists tightened again and a loud crash sounded from the dining room. Hermione told Ron to see what the problem was and he complied gamely. He soon returned with a picture frame, it's glass front shattered.

        "It was a picture of Ginny," he said, with a strange expression on his face. "The spells must have been loose."

        Hermione shook her head, "No," she said, "I checked and double-checked those spells. They're supposed to last a lifetime."

        "You made a mistake," Ron soothed her, "Everyone makes mistakes 'Mione."

        Hermione looked crestfallen, "But that's never happened before," she murmured, "All my spells work."

        She was distracted again by Hope, who was now wailing loudly and pointing at the picture in Ron's hand. As Ron stepped closer, she tried to grab it, nearly cutting her small hands on the glass.

        "You better take her upstairs, 'Mione", Ron said uneasily, "I don't want her down here with all this glass."

        Hermione nodded and turned to go upstairs, cuddling Hope to her chest and singing a soft lullaby. Ron stayed in the living room, running his fingers along the side of the picture frame.

        "I'm so sorry Gin," he said, voice oddly choked, "I'll never stop looking till I find you. I promise."

        I snapped out of my daydream, deliberating what to do next. Should I look in the parchment again to see them? No… if I use the parchment, I thought, it should be for something more urgent.

        I decided to go back to the library. I had been neglecting the greenhouse as of late but I was itching to continue my research.

        On my way to the library, I managed to get lost again without returning to "Ginny's Room", a very strange occurrence in itself. Then, I found myself outside of the very gallery I had seen in my dream and on my first day in the castle. Inside, I discovered that many of the paintings had been changed or switched around. In place of the picture of the young boy was now a picture of a young man. In fact… no… it couldn't be… It was Malfoy.

        How could it be him? He'd been missing for years, and now his painting just appeared? I stepped closer and examined the painting. An idea struck me, I could use the parchment to find Malfoy!

        I unfolded the parchment and waited patiently for the crimson words to form. I said softly, "Show me where Draco Malfoy is."

        The parchment fizzled and sparked but no image appeared. I frowned. That was strange… the parchment was supposed to show whomever you wanted it to show. But nothing was happening on the parchment. No… there was now. A faint image began developing on the page. Eagerly I leaned in to watch.

        I was disappointed to discover that it was Hogwarts, and during Malfoy's final year. He was walking slowly through a deserted corridor. Wait a tick… deserted? Malfoy never went anywhere without his cronies. But then again, they could have been pigging out in the Great Hall.

        I wondered if I should go inside the parchment again. If I did, I could find out why he was alone. On the other hand, I had no idea how to get out. After several minutes with the voices in my head arguing, I decided to throw caution to the winds and plunged into the paper.

        I landed with a small thud. It seemed I wasn't able to land as gracefully as I did the last time. I stood, rubbing my sore backside painfully as I looked around for Malfoy. He had disappeared!

        I hurried around the corner and recognized it as the Charms corridor. Malfoy was leaning against a stone wall, eyes closed. He seemed to be thinking hard about something. I inched forward slowly, looking around warily for what he was waiting for. Suddenly, footsteps echoed in the distance. Malfoy opened his eyes and straightened up, a fearful look suddenly in his eyes. He muttered a quick incantation, Sparire and vanished into thin air. "Great," I said out loud, "He used a disappearance spell. Now how am I supposed to find him?"

        The footsteps were coming closer and closer now. I backed away. If Malfoy was afraid of this, Mr. I'm-not-afraid-of-shit Malfoy was scared to death, what could it be?

        The answer was a short, sixth-year, freckly-faced girl with large brown eyes and long red hair. Yep, you guessed it. It was me.

        My jaw dropped. I remembered when it was. It was near the beginning of the year and I had developed a tiny crush on Malfoy. I mean, how could I help it? He was no longer an over gelled, pinch-faced midget. Instead, he had stopped gelling his hair and had let it fall in his eyes. And instead of a scrawny body, Quidditch had transformed it into a girl's living wet dream! Sadly, in personality, he was in every way the same, still stuck-up, obnoxious, and self-absorbed.

        Great, I thought, he must have found out about my crush. No doubt he's trying to hide from me.

        Meanwhile, my past self was walking briskly through the corridor, muttering to herself about Potions. Now I could remember exactly what day this was. Snape had just given me an incredibly low score on my healing potion, and it was completely correct too!

        But what was supposed to happen next? My eyes widened as I remembered the incident that was about to occur.

        My past self was so absorbed in obsessing over the potion that she wasn't watching where she was going. Within seconds, she had run into an invisible barrier and fell down with a small "oof". In the next moment, Malfoy had materialized again, his face beet-red. My past self was still sitting on the floor and hadn't even noticed Malfoy. She looked up, saw him, and gasped, her face also turning scarlet.

        "What was that Weasley?" Malfoy drawled, face going back to his normal scowl, although, it seemed almost painful for him to do so. "Couldn't see where you were going?" he continued.

        "Well what were you doing invisible Malfoy?" she retorted fiercely.

        For once, Malfoy was at a loss of words. Then, regaining his composure, he replied, "It's none of your business Weasley. I'm sure you have enough to do with following Potter around and all. Surprising that he hasn't even noticed you stalking him. I always knew he was thick, but can a person really be that dim?"

        My past self's face reddened even more. "Well at least he's not the one being mooned over by Parkinson!" she yelled, then turned on her heel and stormed away.

        I looked back at Malfoy and was surprised to see that he had dropped his mask again. Except this time, his face was the very personification of sadness. He stared in the direction of where she went for minutes before finally turning and leaving.

        I stood there, unsure of what to do next. I could see no way of getting out of the parchment. "Um… excuse me," I called out, "but I'd like to get out now, if it's not too much trouble."

        Nothing happened.

        Frustrated, I began walking down a side hallway to cool down. Soon, I stumbled upon 17 year old Ron, Hermione, and Harry. I expected to feel my heart racing and pulse quickening at the sight of him, like it always had, but nothing happened. I was so caught up in contemplating my lack of feeling towards Harry's part that I didn't even notice their heated discussion. I only began paying attention when I heard Ron say, "Bloody Malfoy, what does he think he's doing?"

        Hermione furrowed her brow, "What do you mean Ron?"

        "I mean," Ron sighed in frustration, "he's been following the Gryffindors around for weeks. The only good explanation is that he's spying on us for You-Know-Who."

        Harry cut in, "For Merlin's sake Ron! Say VOLDEMORT! It's not that hard. And besides, Malfoy's working for the Order, don't you remember? Dumbledore told us at the last meeting."

        I gasped. Malfoy was in the Order?

        "But that doesn't mean he's not double-crossing us!" Ron insisted.

        Hermione rolled her eyes, "That would mean that he's a spy pretending to be a spy pretending to be a spy. Sure Ron… that makes loads of sense."

        Ron's ears turned red. "Well… can you think of any other explanations?"

        Hermione shook her head, a small smile on her face. Then, a thoughtful expression came over her face, followed by one of glee. "You don't think he has a crush on anyone do you? That would be just perfect!" She began squealing and jumping up and down, naming all of the girls in Gryffindor that might be crush material and even some boys. Ron gaped when she mentioned Seamus Finnegan. "Seamus? 'Mione, you can't be serious!"

        Hermione giggled again, "Why not? Everyone knows Seamus is bisexual—"

       "Yeah, cause he hits on everything with two legs." Harry sniggered, "I don't know how Dean puts up with him."

        Ron's ears reddened yet again. "Erm… I guess that's true— but why would Malfoy of all people have a crush on a Gryffindor?"

        "I don't know," Harry shrugged, "maybe because we're all sexy sons of bitches?"

        Hermione laughed and hit him upside his head, "I hope you're not counting yourself in that group."

        Harry wiped his eyes dramatically and said, "What? You don't think I'm sexy? I'm hurt!" He held his hands over his heart and staggered backwards, gasping for breath.

        Suddenly, the hallway began to fade and I recognized the feeling of being pulled out of the parchment. I stood still and readied myself for the jolt that would surely come. But this time it was different. It took much longer for me to actually be lifted out of the parchment. And then I was able to make out a dark, hulking shape in the distance. The last thing I saw before shooting into the gallery was a slight glint of silver light…

A/N: *giggle* A little bit of a cliffie at the end… but I think you can all guess who the "dark, hulking shape" was… But anyway… it's been almost another month since I updated. I feel so bad! Especially since I promised more frequent updates, but I've been really busy getting ready for allstate and other things. But still… I hope all reviewers (and non-reviewers… grr) like this chapter. I put a tiny twist in it that I don't think anyone anticipated… 'specially me…

My LOVELY reviewers!!!

*Canimal* Thank you so much for liking my story!!! I really like your story "Kairos" too! Definitely keep writing that. And everyone else… READ THAT STORY!!!!!!! By the way… review… or update????

*princess17* Here's two of your suggestions in one chapter! Thanks for the idea!

*gohansfan* All I can say is… THANK YOU!!!!!!!! oh yeah and… EVERYONE READ HER STORY TOO! It's called Judge Not by What You See. Lol… I meant to say that in the last chapter but I forgot… oops

*Laylana-Fairyweather* Thank you so much! But I have to give a lot of credit to Robin McKinley, it was her books that inspired me to write this fic. Thank you again sooooo much for taking the time to read this… more coming soon!!!!!!!

If you don't review… I'll go to your house with a machete and a rabid warthog… or if you do review… a piece of chocolate cake and a fuzzy hamster… whichever one you prefer.