Chapter 4 Discoveries

Power! Lucius bared his mouth into a vicious grin, his face alight with the exhilaration of his most recent kill. At his feet lay the sprawled form of a dead muggle, eyes still open wide in terror. Lucius bent down and place a hand on the corpse; he could still feel the magical power blast that killed the muggle. But even better, even more exhilarating was the sense of flowing life slowly ebbing from the body. Lucius smiled cruelly; never did he feel so great, so powerful, so superior. The knowledge that he had power over lives was incredible. His power was back, far greater that Voldemort had been, even greater than Salazar Slytherin himself.

Lucius flicked his wand and out emerged as skull with a snake slithering out the skull mouth. The dark Mark floated to the muggle corpse and hung there, proclaiming the work of a Death Eater, servant of Voldemort.

Lucius stared at the Mark and frowned; why should he use the Dark Mark, the sign of Voldemort? Voldemort was dead. And he was above Voldemort! He was the greatest Dark Lord that ever existed! Angrily Lucius swished his wand, and this time a coiled snake emerged, its mouth bared wide open to reveal two vicious fangs, poised to kill. Lucius nodded, satisfied, and disapparated, leaving behind the unknown mark hanging ominously over the muggle corpse to haunt the magical community

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

NEW DARK MARK FOUND OVER DEAD MUGGLE!!! WHOSE THE NEW DARK LORD? Ginny stared at the blaring headlines blazed across the Daily Prophet, her body limp with shock.

Monday morning, Ministry officials stumbled across the dead body of muggle Angela Johnson. Showing no signs of cuts, scrapes, bruises, poisoning, or any other external or internal injuries, officials conclude that she was killed by the Avada Kadvra curse. However, what really shocked officials was a Dark Mark over the body, not the typical Dark Mark used during You-Know-Who's time, but a new one showing only a snake with it's mouth open, as if preparing to bite, to kill. Ministry officials are completely baffled by this new Dark Mark and fear that a new Dark Lord has risen.

"New Dark Mark, new Dark Lord?" a voice behind Ginny sneered condescendingly. "The crap wizards come up with to attract leaders."

Ginny jumped up in surprise and turned around to glare at Draco. "Do you mind," Ginny demanded irritably. "Next time make some noise when you sneak up behind me!"

"Why?" Draco inquired, amused. "That paranoid about me trying to kill you?"

"Try that," Ginny threatened. "and you'll regret whatever little life you'll have left to suffer."

Draco shrugged. "I'll keep that in mind," was all he said. He turned back his attention to the newspaper. "Honestly though," he snorted. "The magical community is pathetically easy to scare. Anybody can perform the Avada Kadavra curse and conjure a Dark Mark. Doesn't take a Dark Lord to do that."

Ginny frowned. "The Daily Prophet isn't trying to scare people," she argued. "It's cautioning people, to watch out. And true, doesn't take big magic to kill and conjure a Dark Mark, but the two together indicates that there's some psycho wizard running around who wants to be recognized for his insane killings. The magical community is being warned."

"Too bad you don't have that tracing spell invented yet," Draco said. "Otherwise you could trace the killed right back to the killer."

Ginny's eyes lit up. "That's right," she exclaimed. "I was meaning to ask you about something. After you left yesterday, I was reading some more of the books, and I learned that when a wizard kills somebody using his/her wand, the spirit of the dead person is absorbed and becomes a part of the wand."

"Not the spirit of the dead person," Draco corrected. "A replica of the spirit is made and absorbed into the wand, which isn't quite the same thing. The actual spirit goes to whatever place exists after death."

"I see," Ginny said, brows furrowed in thought. "What I don't understand is how it works or why?"

Draco shrugged. "Think of it like fire. After fire burns, what remains is simply a pile of ashes. It's the same with magic, after the magic is done burning, if you want to think of it that way, a pile of ashes remain, which would be a replica of the spirit of the person killed, which is absorbed into the wand."

"Is it the same thing as ghosts?" Ginny wondered, a little wide-eyed.

"They look very much the same, I suppose," Draco reflected thoughtfully. "But the substance, the essence isn't the same. It's hard to explain, especially if I don't understand the situation all to clearly myself."

"Do you think—" Ginny hesitated. "Well, it seems to me, that the replicated spirit is a connection between the killed person and the wizard committing the crime." Draco stared blankly. "What I mean," Ginny said, slightly exasperated with Draco's slowness, "is that if we can create a spell to locate that replicated spirit, it would serve as a tracing spell from the killed person right to the wizard committing the crime."

Draco's eyes widened at the revelation. "It could work," he said slowly. "Granted if we can create the spell first."

* * * * * *

Late in the afternoon, Draco and Ginny were still pouring over the mountains of books in Ginny's bedroom, eagerly absorbing as much information as possible.

"Look here," Ginny pointed. "According the witch, Agatha Sherwold, the body of the killed person can be used to call back the replicated spirit."

Draco looked up with interest. "How?" He got up from where he was sitting at Ginny's desk and walked over to where Ginny sat on the bed. "Fascinating," he murmured, reading the book from over Ginny's shoulders. "It's like spirit and body are still inexplicably connected even when separated. See, it says it right here." Draco leaned past Ginny to point at a passage in the book, his hand inevitably brushed against Ginny's soft, silky curls.

"This is so confusing," Ginny complained. She looked up at Draco and was startled the find his face only inches from hers. Suddenly both were aware of just how close their bodies were together. Ginny turned bright red. "Umm… D-draco, could you—you're awfully close," Ginny stammered nervously, looking distinctly uncomfortable and trying to edge away.

Draco grinned and looked Ginny up and down, a faint leer on his face, not exactly an unpleasant feeling, but Ginny wasn't sure she liked it either. "Why," he asked huskily, drawing even closer to Ginny. " Do I make you nervous?"

Ginny turned even redder, if that was possible. "This isn't funny Draco," she snapped, but there was an uncertain tremor in her voice. "Kindly move aside, you're intruding on my breathing space!"

Draco didn't move, except to bring his hand closer. For one awful moment, Ginny thought he was going to touch her, but at the last second, he dropped his hand to the book, still in Ginny's lap, his fingers faintly brushing against her leg when he picked the book up. Ginny gave a sigh of relief as Draco drew back. Draco heard and couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. Such innocence he thought, flipping through the book.

"A-as, I-I was saying," Ginny stuttered, her cheeks still red and desperately trying to regain her composure. It didn't help that Draco was smirking at her. "I'm don't fully understand how the body and spirit can be connected. After all, it's only a replicated spirit, not the actual spirit of the person, and the spirit is really only made up of magic. So why isn't the magic absorbed into the magic in the wand."

"But the replicated spirit is warped magic," Draco pointed out. "Which makes all the difference in the world. It won't just become a part of the wand; it's like trying to mix oil and water. Read what Sherwold says." Draco handed the book back to Ginny.

"And now we need to find a way to call back that spirit," Ginny stated, her eyes brightening with understanding.

"What does Agatha Sherwold say?" Draco prodded.

Ginny took a moment to scan the pages, and Draco waited, trying to ignore how good Ginny looked in the pale blue sweater which clung snugly to her body and accented her creamy skin wonderfully.

Ginny looked up confused from the book. "Agatha Sherwold doesn't say a thing about the spell," she said in a plainly puzzled voice. "I don't get it.

"That can't be right," Draco frowned. He leaned over Ginny again to peer at the book, but Ginny, her cheeks pink, hastily drew back and gave the book for Draco to read. Draco smirked at her but accepted the book.

Scanning the pages, Draco saw that Ginny was indeed right. Agatha Sherwold only had a paragraph about the connection between replicated spirit and dead body before digressing to talk about something else. "Well this is great," he sneered. "We know there's a spell, we just don't know how to perform it."

Ginny rubbed her forehead tiredly. "I can ask Harry for some more books," she suggested. "And specifically ask for Agatha Sherwold."

Draco shrugged. "I don't really care. Why am I even bothering to read all this crap; it's not like I'm an auror and I have to."

Ginny looked up in alarm. She had been so dependent on Draco's explanation for what she was reading, it hadn't occurred to her that Draco might not want to help anymore. "If I agree to cook your meals," Ginny began hesitatingly, desperate for some sort of bribe. "Will you continue to aid me in my research?"

Draco paused, considering the offer before agreeing readily. The taste of raw eggs he had eaten previously was still a vivid memory and not something he cared to experience again.

Supper was a simple meal, consisting of a small portion of mashed potatoes without gravy, some refried beans, and a roll of bread. But to a hungry Draco, the food was delicious, better than delicious; it was a feast for a king. He ravenously ate half his plate before stopping to consider that maybe he should savor his first real meal in more than half a year.

"If I didn't know better," Ginny teased. "I'd have thought my cooking was actually good."

"Better than good," Draco corrected. "This is delicious, much better than what the Ministry gave me and a hundred times better than Azkaban food."

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "If you hadn't been a Death Eater, you'd never have to go to Azkaban," Ginny retorted, her tone suddenly icy.

"I didn't exactly have a choice," he replied in a steely voice. "I was simply following in my father's footsteps."

"So," Ginny demanded. "Are you saying it's not your fault you were a Death Eater?"

"I'm saying no such thing," Draco snapped, his tone matching Ginny's coolness. "I chose to be a Death Eater, however, it was because I knew no other way. I never thought not to be a Death Eater. My father raised me up so that Dark Arts seemed natural; more than natural, it seemed wonderful. It was exhilarating. I never knew that Dark Arts was a bad thing. When the Dark Lord's power was renewed, it was only natural I followed the footsteps of my father. I believed it to be an honor."

"And you thought it an honor to innocent people," Ginny accused harshly. There was something in Ginny's voice that indicated she had something personal against killing, though what Draco couldn't imagine.

"I—" Draco began angrily, then hesitated, unsure. Honestly, he didn't know what to think. "At the time, I thought I was doing no wrong in eliminating muggles and wizards. I was serving my master; I could not disobey him. I thought it was an honor to carry out his wishes because I knew I would be rewarded. It was all about gaining more power. Now, I'm not so sure. I don't know what to think. I am completely powerless, and the very people I tried to eliminate are trying to eliminate me. They are the powerful ones, but now, that I am the weak one, it doesn't seem right to kill those who are weak. And yet," Draco shook his head in confusion. "I don't know."

"Then let me tell you," Ginny said flatly. "It was wrong for you to kill those people. It's not about power and weakness, just because you're powerful doesn't mean you can kill. You hurt innocent people. Just because you have more magic doesn't been you have risen beyond humanity. You're just as equal to You-know-who as you are to me or to those muggles you killed. Your power only means that you have more abilities, none of which gives you the right to kill. Never do you have the right to kill." Ginny's eyes flashed momentarily, as if remembering something.

Draco looked at Ginny curiously. "What happened? Do you know someone that was killed?" Draco wondered.

Ginny was quiet and her face so closed that for a moment Draco didn't think she was going to respond. Then her eyes hardened and Ginny looked up, her face angry and pained at the same time. "My first year at Hogwarts," she said. "I nearly killed someone, more than one person actually, and almost died myself. You remember when the Chamber of Secrets was opened?" Draco nodded dumbly. "That was me."

Draco gaped in shock. "You?" he demanded. "How?"

"I was possessed," Ginny shuddered. "By You-Know-Who. By his memory actually, preserved in a diary that was slipped into my Hogwarts supplies. By your father."

Draco's mind was still reeling. "My father?" he repeated. "What—how? I never knew."

"I nearly killed Mrs. Norris," Ginny continued, her tone horrific. "I nearly killed Colin Creevy, Justin, Percy's wife, Penelope, and Hermione!" Ginny shivered uncontrollably. "I almost killed my best friends and the person possessing me very nearly killed me. I don't want to see anyone else fall victim the way I did. And I'm going to find this tracing curse so that the new Dark Lord running around will be stopped!"

AN: *winces* I apologize to my readers if you thought boring this beyond belief. I know I'm getting really philosophical. I'm trying to make it interesting. And to the more compassionate reader, at least give me credit that a plot is forming. =P And even if the chapter stank, review anyways. ^_^