Things Change

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything, but I definitely own this piece of writing! J.K Rowling owns all the characters and stuff. I do, however, own her 'friends', and the plot is ALL MINE!

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"A good question" said a voice in the dark.

It was as if someone had lit a candle; gradually, the darkness began to recede, being replaced by a faded red light as their faces began to lighten. But it wasn't that which made their eyes go wide and their breath catch in their throats.

Lying there beside them was Harry, Hermione and…

"Draco" Ginny breathed, looking at him with an alarmed expression on her face. All of them seemed to be unconscious (much the way Ron and Ginny must have been themselves just moments before) as their chests was rising and falling with light, shallow breathing. Their skin was pale, their appearance ghostly.

"Hermione!" Ron cried, his voice strangled as he crawled to her side, grabbing her hand. "Hermione? Wake up!"

Ginny looked over at him as he desperately tried to wake his girlfriend, shaking her and trying to rattle her conscious, even going so far as to try and get her to sit up. Looking back at Draco, Ginny scooted over to him, sliding along the wet grass until she was level with him. Looking down at his face, she felt as if her heart was being tugged out of her chest; his already pale skin was now ghostly white, his lips having lost all of their colour. His eyes were closed, his breathing thin and soft. It was almost as if he were…

"Dead?"

Both Ron and Ginny froze in an instant, their bodies ridged with fear as the voice spoke again. The red light around them seemed to pulsate as the person spoke – once, twice – before finally paling into a normal, dim glow as the darkness lifted and they could see properly again.

They were outside a vast and imposing building, made from dark, almost black stone, with large, high windows and a heavy wooden front door. There was a mist in the air, and the light that now surrounded the place gave a feel of early morning, a round seven o' clock or so, meaning if it really was that early, they'd been asleep for a long time. But then, how did they really know that was where – or when – they were?

They looked at each other, eyes large, fear etched into their features as they slowly swung round to see who had spoken. It was in that moment that Ginny realised it was the thing that would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life.

It was deathly white – pale, pasty white, like a skull – with a flat nose like a snakes' and slits for nostrils, wide, red eyes staring at them all with a smile twisted over it's grotesque mouth.

Ginny had never seen him before, but she knew who he was without even having to think about it.

Lord Voldemort stood before them.

"I gather you did not expect to see me?" he said, his voice filled with malicious amusement as he twirled a wand in his long, slender fingers. Two Death Eaters stood behind him, cloaked in black with their hoods drawn up over their faces so they couldn't see. Both Ginny and Ron just stared, fear rising quickly in their chests as Voldemort held their gazes. Seeing they weren't going to answer, he shrugged his shoulders, his cruel smile still fixed on his face as he turned his eyes on the others.

"I assume you would like your friends to awaken, yes?" he added, pointing the tip of his wand at their sleeping companions. Swishing it around, he opened his mouth to say an incantation, but suddenly he frowned and lowered it to his side.

"Well," he began, nudging Draco's sleeping form with his foot, "It appears my plans have not gone quite the way I would have liked. He is not meant to be here. But no matter; it may work to my advantage in the end"

He raised the wand once again, swishing it through the air before uttering the words, "Reviviscere"

Immediately all three of them began to stir, their breathing at once becoming deeper and easier as they slowly opened their eyes and sat up, groaning slightly with fatigue and aching muscles. Ginny felt relief flood through her as Draco's eyes flickered open and colour began to return to his lips, but it was immediately replaced by a sense of dread as Voldemort reached out a hand and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him up. Terrified, Ginny shied away from the long, spidery fingers, instinctively scooting backwards and bumping into Ron, who was holding on to Hermione as if for dear life as she gradually became conscious of where she was. Harry was sitting beside them, now also awake, his body ridged and taut as he stared at Voldemort with an unreadable expression on his face. Voldemort himself ignored it, gesturing with a hand for them to stand also as he kept a hold of Draco's shoulder.

"I think it is time for us to make our way inside the house, don't you agree?" he continued, beckoning them with a finger and turning, heading across the damp lawn towards the large front doors, his black cloak billowing out behind him. They tagged along behind, the two Death Eaters walking a little way behind them. No one spoke as they followed; just shot glances at one another as they ascended the large stone steps towards the doors. Ginny's eyes were riveted on Draco's back as he walked along in front of her, but Voldemort's hand still lay on his shoulder and so she didn't reach out to him, fearing the chalk-white fingers splayed across his black shirt.

"I think you will find the welcome warm" Voldemort called from ahead, reaching out unnaturally long fingers towards the door and touching a fingertip to the solid oak. It opened the moment his skin touched the wood, swinging back on large iron bolts to reveal a dark, shadowy entrance hall, with a high ceiling and two large stone staircases, one on either side of the room. In the centre, aligned directly with the one they were standing in front of, was another door, identical in everyway to the first. Two sconces sat on either side of it, thick yellow candles burning brightly on top as their light shone on the varnished wood.

"Follow me"

A chill swept over Ginny as she stepped across the threshold of the darkened house, and she wondered for the second time that day what had become of her coat as she once again wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep the cold away. She could see Ron shivering in front of her, wrapping his arm tightly around Hermione, who was seemingly still a bit drowsy.

They walked across the entrance hall in a line, following Voldemort towards the closed doors with the sconces either side, until he stopped before them. Taking his hand from Draco's shoulder, he signalled for them to step to the side, before moving back a step and drawing himself up to his full height, his Death Eaters standing obediently behind him. Pointing his wand straight at the door, he murmured, "Devoveos Malum"

It happened slowly, the great doors swinging open as a victorious smile crossed Voldemort's face, his white lips twisting horribly as he looked at whatever was in the room. He turned his snakelike face towards them, crooking his finger and summoning them forwards as they, powerless to disagree, obeyed, turning eagerly to see what was behind the doors.

Ginny turned to look into the room – and almost screamed. It was a huge hall, made of stone like the rest of the house, with a huge arched ceiling and a dais at one end, on which sat a large and forbidding throne that Ginny thought oddly familiar, the top carved into jagged ends that looked as sharp as a knife point. The windows were blacked out with large pieces of material bearing scarlet snakes upon them, strung up to cover the glass. Two Death Eaters stood on either side of the throne like bodyguards, and in front of the dais were a whole line of them, only broken where steps descend from the stone platform. All of them stood forbiddingly with the hoods of their black cloaks covering their faces. But it wasn't this that made Ginny feel like her whole body had frozen up, or that she was going to faint – it was the gigantic Dark Mark imprinted on the stone floor of the hall, the skull's empty eye sockets staring and lifeless. Ginny had never seen something so terrifying in her life before, save Lord Voldemort himself. To her it indicated all that was terrible in the world.

~Step inside…~ said the voice in her head, ~Step inside and see what it's like to be in the presence of real evil…~

And so Ginny found herself walking towards the room, staring wonderingly at the walls with their sconces and their tapestries with dark stains on the coarse cloth. Vaguely she was aware that the others were doing the same, stepping into the room whilst their common sense seemed to scream at them to stay outside.

'But it's so…strange in here', Ginny thought to herself, coming to stand at the edge of the scarlet Mark on the floor. 'So weird…'

And then suddenly the feeling of wonder was gone and her fear returned in full, making her shudder and let out a small whimper as she stumbled backwards from the mark on the floor. She would have fallen had Harry not put an arm out to stop her, catching her just before she hit the hard stone floor. A ripple of laughter ran around the Death Eaters in front of them as they watched her clutching onto Harry's arm, her expression terrified.

"Well, it seems you're not too taken with our little…motif, Weasley"

Ginny looked up in fear at the sound of her name, and saw that Voldemort was now sitting languidly on the cruel, sharp throne, watching her through narrowed red eyes. Draco stood beside him, looking drowsy. She trembled as Voldemort smiled at her viciously, digging her fingernails into Harry's flesh.

"Well, now that we are all here," he continued, looking round at them, "I think it were perhaps time I explained what exactly has brought you to me in such a…confusing manner"

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"You see, after my last encounter with Potter," he said, rising from the throne and coming to stand at the top of the stairs leading from the dais. "I realised that if I were to defeat my greatest foe – you of course" he said, pointing at Harry, "– Then I would have to employ an entirely new method of capture and conquest from the ones I had previously used.

"You have perhaps heard from that beloved headmaster of yours" (he spat out the word headmaster as if it burnt his tongue) "That I am particularly skilled at Legilimency? For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about," he said, lazily waving a hand in Ginny and Ron's general direction, "Legilimency is the power to almost…read mind, in a sense – I have always had a certain talent to extract feelings and memories from others.

"But of course I had already used this method before, last year, and it had been unsuccessful. So why did I decide to try it again? Well, it's simple really"

While he said all this, Voldemort had slowly descended the stairs from the dais and was now standing at the bottom of them, with the Dark Mark laid before him at his feet and his Death Eaters standing slightly behind him. Now he smiled cruelly, looking at them with his eyes narrowed and his expression gleeful.

"I decided to go through someone else. You see, my last endeavour to get through Potter, whilst mildly triumphant, did not go quite according to plan. Someone obviously attempted to teach him Occlumency, and though they were…unsuccessful, to put it lightly, it still hampered my strategy. And so I thought that perhaps this year, I would use a weaker enemy"

He turned to Ginny, pointing one long, white finger at her in an accusing manner.

"I used you"

It took a second for this new information to sink into Ginny's brain, fear and shock turning her thoughts foggy, but when at last she realised exactly what Voldemort had just said, she left out a gasp and put her hands to her mouth, leaning against Harry as her legs began to tremble. Her eyes were wide and fearful as she stared at his hideous pale face, shuddering with uneven breaths as everything slowly came together in her head. The voices, the fainting, the headaches…

"Yes…" Voldemort hissed, nodding. "Yes. The fainting was of course an…unfortunate…side effect of my hold on your mind, but I do not care to think about it. In fact, I do not care at all. But nonetheless, after I had chosen you, I had to find a way to get into your mind. Regrettably for me, Legilimency usually only works during eye-to-eye contact – but in this case, I had a somewhat strong connection to you that worked a similar way. It is not hard to guess what from, of course"

He put a hand in the pocket of his robes and withdrew what looked like an old book – he held it up in the candle light, the flames glittering on the old black cover.

"I would dare say that you recognise this?"

And she did too. In the light from the candles she could see the illumination glinting on the golden name embossed onto the leather, one she knew and feared.

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"But how…?" she whispered, staring at the tiny volume with absolute terror.

"How indeed?" Voldemort replied, looking at the book with a mild expression on his twisted face. "Unfortunately this is not the real diary, just an imitation. As you know the real one was destroyed…"

Ginny felt herself relax slightly at the realisation that the diary wasn't real; but she was still almost completely overcome by fear as she leant against Harry, her knees weak, looking to the floor in disquiet. To know that they were in this situation because of her…

~No, not entirely because of you…~

Hearing the voice in her head again, she looked up at Voldemort sharply, preparing to see his grinning face as he invaded her head once again – but no, he was busy throwing the book onto one of the large, thick candles to the side of the room, where it began to burn brightly, the pages curling and shrivelling up.

'But…he was just in my head…wasn't he?' she thought, confused. 'Wouldn't he be 'relishing' it or something…?'

"You see, your experience five years ago with my former self created a certain…bond between us" he continued, turning back to her, seemingly unaware of what was going through Ginny's mind, "not as strong as my bond with Potter, but still a bond that defied distance and material protection, like say, walls of a castle, for instance," ( a malicious grin pierced his face at the mention of Hogwarts) "And so I used my skill at Legilimency to get inside your head – bend your will to mine and so forth. At first all I could do was establish thoughts in your head and hope that you would feel them, think them as if they were thoughts of your own, but slowly I managed to weave my way deep inside your brain, into your very core, and after a while things got much more exciting. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Ginny nodded slowly, feeling like cold iced water was bubbling up inside her chest.

"The voices…" she whispered.

"Very good" he replied. "At last it got to a stage where I was so deep within your mind that I could give you thoughts and you would hear them, like an audible part of your conscience was talking to you. It made it all so easy, because you believed that those words were your own, and I could say anything that I wanted. But the best part of it all was the power to control your feelings"

'Feelings…?' Ginny thought, bewildered, 'He could control my feelings?'

"Yes…" he hissed, red eyes narrowed with malevolent glee, "Your feelings. Because you see, that was the most brilliant part of my plan – to destroy you with your own emotions"

He paused, looking round at all the Death Eaters in the hall, sneering grotesquely as he stepped forwards towards the edge of the Dark Mark on the floor and withdrew his wand from his pocket.

"And now we have finally reached my favourite part" he said, the nostrils on his flat snaky nose flaring with what seemed to be anticipation. "The part where I tell you what we are all really doing here. You see," he said, turning his scarlet gaze on Harry, "I have finally figured out the way that I will defeat you, Harry Potter. And it does not just involve you – it involves your little friends too"

Ginny felt Harry tighten up against her as Voldemort said this, his arms almost crushing Ginny's chest with the force he was putting on them. Ginny knew what would be going through his head at this moment – feeling of guilt for 'leading them into all of this', she supposed.

'But it's not you Harry, it's me' she thought desperately, wrapping her fingers tight around his wrist in an effort to comfort herself. 'It's me, it's me! It's my fault'

They all watched as Voldemort turned to the Death Eaters next to the throne, beckoning them forward as he did so. They did as they were told, one picking up a silvery goblet from the arm of the chair and the other grasping tightly onto Draco's shoulder. They walked down the stairs from the dais carefully, the first one leaving the goblet at Voldemort's side and the other leaving Draco on his other, before they both stepped backwards and into the line of Death Eaters on either side of the platform. There was smoke coming from the goblet now, wafting over the floor in grey wisps.

But Ginny wasn't concentrating on the goblet – she was more concerned with Draco. He was no longer drowsy now, but staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face, his gaze always on her. She looked back, eyes riveted to his, the glacial blue irises swirling with unexpressed emotion.

"Now Potter," Voldemort said, raising his wand to chest height and pointing it at them. "I think it were time I gave you a little…persuasion, for staying exactly where you are. Incarcerous!"

Instantly ropes flew out of the end of Voldemort's wand, but just in time Harry let go of her (somehow she managed to stay upright) and grabbed his own from his jean pockets, yelling "Protego!" and deflecting the spell back. Voldemort ducked quickly, the spell instead hitting one of his Death Eaters behind him, wrapping the somewhat surprised man in thick, coarse ropes. There was a pause for a moment as everyone stood still, watching as Voldemort slowly rose from his position. He turned unhurriedly, an ugly smile on his face as he looked at them.

"Really Potter, did you think I would let you get away with it all as easily as that? Surely you realised that I knew you had your wands? I would have thought you cleverer than that"

A snigger rippled through the Death Eaters behind him as they watched, the sound even eerier coming from underneath all the black hoods than it would normally be. Pointing his wand at them again, Voldemort yelled "Accio wands!", and before they could react, they watched as all four went soaring across the room to Voldemort, falling at his feet. Ginny watched, dazed and angry as hers (a hand-me-down from George) snapped in two on the hard stone slabs, the dragon heartstring inside fizzing slightly with little red sparks before going silent.

"Hmm…perhaps I need something a little stronger for you Potter" he said scornfully, once again pointing his wand at them. "Incarcerous Malificus!"

At once long thin manacles flew from Voldemort's wand towards them, clamping themselves over their wrists within seconds as they, unable to defend themselves, watched. Chains flew from the manacles and attached themselves to floor, holding them fast. Ginny almost cried out as the cold metal fastened over her wrists, the too-small shackles cutting painfully into her flesh. She tried moving them but the pain was excruciating, causing her to gasp in agony when the manacles flared red and bit deeper into her wrists.

"Perchance they shall hold you better. Now,"

Putting his wand back in his pocket, he held out his hand and the chalice on the floor slowly rose upwards until it hovered next to his palm, as if waiting for Voldemort. He took it, watching as the smoke drifted over his hands and began to descend towards the floor.

"Lestrange, Zakophski, Dolohov, and Martin; here"

At once, four Death Eaters detached themselves from the line and stepped forwards, each with separate goblets cradled in their own hands. They assembled, two on either side of Voldemort, as he poured the liquid from the cup into the other four, murmuring something under his breath that Ginny couldn't hear. Each of the Death Eaters bowed as their chalice was filled, waiting until the last one was finished to bow once more and murmur something back. Then they turned and began to walk towards Ginny and the others, skirting around the edges of the Dark Mark.

They stopped when they reached them, pausing for a second before advancing on them with the goblets held high. Ginny was powerless to prevent the one nearest from her pressing forwards, reaching out a pale hand to her neck and grabbing onto it. She tried to shy away from the fingers pressing painfully into her veins, but to no avail – the fingers only tightened, the curved feminine mouth visible from underneath the black hood smiling viciously. Letting go of the goblet, it drifted in mid-air as her hand went back under the dark cloak and she withdrew a dagger, the blade shining and tapering off to a sharp point. Slowly she brought it down towards Ginny's arm, the blade getting dangerously close to the flesh. Ginny watched with fearful eyes as she tried to struggle away, but to no avail – the Death Eater's fingers jut tightened around her neck, as did the manacles around her wrists. Shoving Ginny's sleeve up past her elbow, the Death Eater finally brought the point of the blade down on the crook of her arm drawing it across the soft skin as Ginny screamed out in pain. Blood began to seep out of the deep cut, ad the goblet, as if knowing what to do, drifted across the air till it hovered by her arm. She heard the sound droplets of blood dripping into the dark liquid – one, two, three, four…then the Death Eater dropped the knife to the floor, took out her wand from inside her robes and healed the cut.

"Can't have you bleeding to death now," she whispered, but her tone was spiteful, not kind, as if she deeply resented this fact.

Taking hold of the goblet once more, she swilled the liquid around as if to blend the blood into it, and then she brought the goblet to Ginny's mouth, the heat from the thick shiny liquid inside already warming her face as it got closer. Desperately twisting her neck to get away from the stuff, Ginny felt the fingers constricting further once again, and at last the cool hard edge of the chalice touched her lips. She shut them tight in an effort to avoid drinking it, but the Death Eater just tipped the cup further and when the scalding hot substance hit her lips she gasped in pain, causing herself to almost choke on it as it poured into her mouth and down her throat.

It tasted horribly metallic, and it scalded her throat all the way down, little rivulets spilling down her chin as the Death Eater tilted the cup again, forcing more of the liquid into her mouth and down her throat. She tried to move her arms for pain, but the manacles cut even deeper than before, finally slashing through her wrists and letting more blood trickle slowly down her arms, hot and sticky against her skin.

She coughed and spluttered as the Death Eater removed the goblet from her lips, inhaling raspy, wheezing breaths and feeling beads of the horrible liquid drip from the end of her chin onto the floor as she bent over, coughing like an old woman. She looked up at the others, who were all now doing the same as her, the Death Eaters stepping away from them with empty, dripping chalices cupped in their hands. Her vision was blurred by salty tears as she looked back up at Voldemort grinning wickedly from the bottom of the dais, Draco looking blank as he stood by his side.

"Very good, very good…," Voldemort murmured to himself, nodding as the Death Eaters melded back into the line behind him, the goblets disappearing under their heavy cloaks. "Things are going to plan. Now,"

He took his wand from the pocket of his robes, twirling it in his spidery fingers.

"The mixture that you just took was a potion specially made for this particular ritual. It is a fusion of mercury, the dust of a dragon's skeleton, unicorn blood, your blood – and my blood"

Ginny went pale at this comment, retching as she felt bile rising in her chest, and she leant forwards, vomit spraying over the floor as she threw up. Another ripple of cruel laughter ran around the room, and Voldemort shook his head slightly, waving his wand and making the vomit disappear.

"You're all so weak minded really," he said, once again twirling his wand around. "But now, let me finish my explanation. As I was saying, that mixture is especially for this ritual; it is in fact the first step. And now that is complete, I can tell you the next. You see," he continued, "Now I will proceed with my favourite part. The key to everything working this time was that I did not use something that already existed in the world – I had to devise my own means of doing so. And in the end, I did. Hours and hours of contemplating and making and destroying finally paid off when I produced the spell that will be your downfall. The mixture itself is not the spell of course, merely a means of preparing your bodies for the ordeal that lies ahead. As we speak your blood is boiling with the mercury coursing through your veins, making certain…changes to it. Your molecules are loosening, your mind weakening, making you more susceptible to the next step"

He paused, looking at them all for a second with narrowed eyes.

"I can even see it your faces, how the brew is changing you. You're becoming weaker by the second. This will help your souls leave quicker, maybe even more so than I hoped"

The bewilderment must have been evident in their faces, for Voldemort began to chuckle cruelly to himself, his crimson eyes dancing with malevolent glee.

"Your confusion is no surprise – indeed, I would have expected it. My explanation is this; I decided that for any strategy of mine to work, I would to dispose of you all once and for all, and yet, perhaps...develop the energies within you. And so I came up with the perfect plan – to take your life-essence and use it restore me to my full power and beyond"

He looked round at them all, grinning his grotesque smile at them as he waited for the information to sink in. Ginny looked up at him, thunderstruck as she realised exactly what he meant – she was going to die.

"Yes…" he hissed, nodding, his eyes narrowed in malicious content. "Do you see…?"

He grasped his wand in his left hand as he said this, reaching out slender ashen fingers towards Draco with the other and grabbing his shoulder.

"And now for the final step. Here boy," he said, thrusting his wand at Draco and waiting for a second as he stared at it, as if unsure of what he was meant to do.

"Well don't just stand there – take it!" Voldemort snapped, and Draco obediently held out his hand for the smooth length of wood. A few red sparks shot out of the end as he closed his fingers around it, as if the wand resented being given to somebody else.

"Now…this will be my favourite part. Point the wand at her" Voldemort instructed, indicating Ginny. He waited for a second as Draco stared at her, his face emotionless. But for a second Ginny thought she could see something…his eyes beginning to give away the panic he was feeling.

Voldemort waited for a second, his face beginning to darken, but quickly Draco did as he was told and, albeit with a shaking hand, he raised the wand and pointed it at Ginny.

"Very good, very good…now, you see that thing that you are pointing your wand at Malfoy? She is filth – absolute filth. Dredge up every bit of hate you have for mudbloods, every bit of hate for those disgusting muggle-lovers who dare to call themselves wizards, every bit of hate for her disgusting family and their dirty, disgusting morals. Dredge it all up, and aim it at her"

Draco had visibly paled as this speech went on, his eyes staring at Ginny as if they were trying to bore into her mind. His icy blue eyes, pretty much glacial until now, were slowly beginning to fill with alarm as everything went on. His hand was shaking more and more now, the wand trembling slightly in his grasp.

"And when you have done this," Voldemort continued, his voice silky with suppressed malice, "Then you must utter these words – 'Excessus Spiritum Devotum'. They will draw all life away from her as infection is drawn from a wound – Her soul will fly, far away, but her life's essence, her being, will transfer to me"

Ginny stared at Draco with wide eyes, hardly aware that she herself was now also shaking. Brown eyes stared into blue as the wand tip, aimed at Ginny's chest, began to emit loud, hissing sparks, as if eager to get going and corner its prey.

'Draco…oh please, please Draco…do something…just do something…don't let me die…' she thought desperately, trying to tell him this with her gaze.

Voldemort stood waiting next to Draco, watching him with narrowed eyes as he continued to stand still as a stone, not moving.

"Well boy?" he said at last as the Death Eaters in the crowd began to shuffle slightly and a hushed murmur began to ripple through them. "Are you up to the job, young Malfoy? Do you not see how glorious it will be for you to achieve this? Never have I offered such a chance to any others who have stood before me – but you, as a Malfoy, are worthy of it, and should take it. Do you not wish to kill her, boy?"

And then Draco did the most unexpected thing in the world. He shook his head and lowered the wand.

Instantly one of the Death Eaters broke from the others and rushed forward towards Voldemort, prostrating himself before his lord and sending deathly glances at Draco.

"I am sorry my Lord," he mumbled from underneath his hood, his voice edgy and panicked. "Forgive me for the boy's behaviour; he is not well, his –"

"Stop blabbering Lucius," Voldemort interrupted, his voice deadly calm as he signalled for him to get up. "I know well of the boy's condition and he is perfectly fine. I will deal with you later. For now…"

He turned on Draco slowly, his crimson irises darkening to a deep blood red.

"So it was true…" he murmured. "She was right…"

Calmly, he held out his hand, and his wand shot from Draco's grasp into his own pasty fingers like a bullet from a gun. He held it tightly, raising it and pointing it at Draco with a heated expression.

Ginny knew what was going to happen a second before it did, a scream building in her throat and bursting from her mouth as a jet of green light shot across the room.

"Avada Kedavra!"

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

A/N Ah hahahahaha! Evil cliff hanger!

And now I would just like to apologise ENORMOUSLY for the reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly long time it took me to update – probably longer than it took me to update chapter eleven! But yes, anyway, I really am sorry – especially to cashew who has been waiting for practically years for me to update.

Oh, and one more thing – my friend Sab's baby brother was born on Tuesday! He's called Patrick and he's adorable! (I've seen a picture)

Anyways, thanks for reviewing:

Crystal Star-23 (Wow, thanks for all your short – but lovely – reviews. I really appreciate that someone can sit down and take the time to read my stuff, and the fact that you were going to recommend me was really nice. Oh, and I'm glad you like Avril Lavigne too – she rocks! Thanks!) cashew (I am SOOO sorry for the long update! Please forgive me I didn't mean for it to take this long! (But seeing as it's 5778 words by now, please?). And now I guess you see that it's not just Ron in with Ginny, huh? And so they're ALL having fun adventures together. Oh, and btw, I have to ask you – do you like Bon Jovi or U2?) Aibi (heya, thanks for reading my story and reviewing, it means loads. Thank you!!) Okeanos (Okay, NOW I know what that smile was for when you told me you'd left a review, lol. And it's nice to know ONE of my friends still finds time to read my fics!) Lady Coia (Well, in Britain we say touch wood if we don't want to jinx something. Excuse my Britainishness, lol. Anyways thanks so much for your lovely review, it was really nice! You're so complimentary! And it's the Easter holidays for them – it was in the A/N at the top of the last chapter. And I'm glad you like the Thom/Ginny/Draco thingie, cuz I do to. Thanks for your review)

Wowsers, thanks you guys!