Harry was summoned to Dumbledore's office. Ginny and Draco were still sitting in his office when Harry arrived. The Snape brothers had headed back down to the dungeon. Severus had a class to teach and Austerus wanted to check in with Charlie and share the new news.
Harry nodded to them while also throwing them a questioning glance. Ginny and Draco gave him an encouraging smile.
He sat down next to Draco and Ginny and waited for Dumbledore to begin.
"Mr. Potter- Harry, as I know you are aware, we are currently trying to fight Merlin in his newly returned form. All of our information, up to now, has pretty much come from a Prophecy written down by one of Merlin's apprentices, Reilly. In that Prophecy, there are many players, some we have identified and some that we have not. In the recent turn of events, we now have reason to believe that you are mentioned in the Prophecy. You are the one known as the 'one of grey.' We have derived this from a dream that you told Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy about. They have told me about the dream and I am thrilled that they told me about it. Mrs. Malfoy and I believe that the dream was sent to you by Merlin. He wants you aware that you are an important and pivotal player in the fight ahead. I want you to know it too, Harry. You are the fulcrum - just as your dream said. It means, Harry, that you are going to be the one that turns the war in someone's favor."
Harry gasped and asked, "Does this mean I will choose who wins or loses, Professor Dumbledore?"
"Not necessarily, my boy, not necessarily, you can tip the scales in someone's favor and they can still lose the war. It simply means that you are going to be a pawn. You need to keep your eyes and ears open. You must take everything in and share it with the appropriate people…and that may not always be me. Understood?"
Harry nodded in understanding, but his face still held a hint of terror.
Ginny grabbed his hand and oddly rubbed her hand over his knuckles in a soothing but innocent gesture. Harry gave her a quick glance with a small smile.
Draco, on the other side of Ginny, saw the exchange. Despite his internal attempt to quell the jealousy rising in his chest, he found his hackles rising and, to his horror, hastily grabbing Ginny's other hand. She looked to him in surprise, but did not remove her hand from his.
Harry, in the meantime, had extricated Ginny's hand from his, gave Draco a sad smile, turned and gave Dumbledore the same sad, small smile, and quietly left the office to return to Gryffindor Tower.
After the door had completely closed behind Harry, Dumbledore focused on Ginny and Draco and said, "Harry is in a precarious situation. Watch him, be there for him, but take caution. He, through no course of his own, may not be on our side. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," Draco said, holding Ginny's hand even tighter.
"Good," Dumbledore remarked.
Ginny and Draco left the office and walked slowly down the corridors holding hands.
"Draco, why are you so jealous of Harry?"
"I don't know. I just am. I've tried to not get jealous, but I do."
"It is kind of cute."
"A Malfoy is NEVER cute; I suggest you take that back."
Ginny gave Draco a vehement glare, pulled her hand out of Draco's hand and began walking away from him.
"Ginny?" Draco asked in a suddenly concerned voice.
Ginny stopped, but did not turn around. With her shoulders shaking mockingly, she said, "It is SO sweet and cute!"
Laughing loudly, she took off running down the corridor away from Draco.
Draco, who had initially thought she was crying, was dumbfounded by his wife's antics. Pulling out of his stunned shock, he chased his wife down the corridor.
Draco caught up with Ginny just outside the portrait that hid the entrance to their private chambers. From behind he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tightly to his body. He put his head down close to her ear and quietly growled into her ear, "I am neither cute, nor am I sweet. Vengeance is mine, my sweet."
Draco felt Ginny slightly tense in his arms and he chuckled. He brought his fingers to her ribcage and began to tickle her mercilessly.
Ginny squealed and, for once, began to try to get out of his embrace.
"Stop," she gasped, laughingly, out, "Please stop!"
After a few moments, he did stop. Draco turned Ginny around so that she was facing him. He gave her a warning smirk, threw her over his shoulders and said the password to get into their rooms.
The portrait opened and Draco carried Ginny into their living area. He took her straight into their bedroom and dumped her onto their bed.
Before she could move, he covered her body with his and began to make love his wife.
**************************************
Draco and Ginny barely made it down to the Great Hall for dinner. They, as usual, sat at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Harry.
"Hi Ginny, Draco," Harry said.
"Hullo," Ginny responded. Draco nodded his head in greeting and immediately filled his plate with food. Ron nodded at them both because his mouth was already full.
Dinner passed peacefully with small talk; none of the four seemed to want to discuss anything too stressing.
Near the end of dinner, Draco noticed Mr. Snape leaving hastily from the Great Hall with a very concerned look on his face. Draco stealthily poked Ginny in her side and, when she gave him a questioning glance, nodded towards the door that Mr. Snape was walking through.
"Let's follow him." Ginny whispered.
'Exactly what I was thinking, Mrs. Malfoy," Draco said, while pulling Ginny to her feet.
"Where are you guys going?" Ron asked, as he finished his dessert.
"Ummm- Draco forgot about a paper for Arithmancy. I was going to help him so that we can keep some plans we have."
"What plans?" Ron inquired.
"I could tell you, but you just ate." Draco quipped, laughing when Ron's face flushed the expected red-purple color.
Ginny rolled her eyes, grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him out of the Great Hall. They quickly headed down into the dungeons and tried to guess which way Austerus had gone. They found him, with a simple location charm, in the third year potions classroom.
They quietly opened the door to the classroom and slipped inside. Luckily, Austerus' back was to them and he had not noticed their entrance. He was talking into the copper pyramid.
Draco looked and raised a questioning eyebrow at Ginny. She simply shook her head and shrugged their shoulders. From the sounds of things, Austerus Snape was simply making an update to a Dicto-diary. When Austerus stopped talking the copper pyramid began glowing blue and a voice began speaking back.
"Austerus, thanks for the update! I wanted to warn you that it seems Harry is going to be more involved than you thought. It seems, after a careful review of last night's surveillance of Amberlin's castle that she is now able to use her vampirism mind control on Harry during the night hours. You need to let Dumbledore know this immediately and make sure that Harry is being watched at all times during the evening hours!"
The copper pyramid stopped glowing blue and returned to its normal state.
Draco nodded towards the door and gave Ginny a gentle push. Quietly, but with haste, they left the room and hid in the closest darkened corridor until they saw Austerus head back to the Great Hall.
"Ginny, I want you to stay away from Harry. I am beginning to think my jealousy may be something more."
"Draco, I cannot and will not stay away from Harry. He just lost Hermione. He will not lose us too," she said.
"Ginny," Draco began, but was quickly stopped with a quelling glare from Ginny. At his silence, she abruptly turned and walked away.
"Ginny!" Draco called after her, as he ran to catch up with her.
"Draco, I have nothing more to say on the matter. I am returning to our rooms. I am going to finish my homework. Then I am going to Gryffindor Tower to spend some time with Ron and Harry and I do not want to hear another word about it."
Draco finally caught up with Ginny in their rooms. She was sitting at her desk, making scratching noises from the quill she was using to write an essay.
"Ginny," he began again.
"Draco, I am working. I need to get this finished. You better get working too if you want to join me in Gryffindor Tower tonight."
Draco, despite his attempts to not get upset, found himself rather angry all of a sudden and nastily sneered, "No thanks. I find myself rather tired tonight. I think I'll turn in after I finish my homework. If you find yourself in need when you run into Harry, don't expect me to help you!" He grabbed his books off his desk, took them to the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.
Ginny looked at the slammed door in shock. She did not cry, but her stomach was in knots. It was their first fight since getting married and it had been, ironically, over Harry Potter. Ginny sighed and began finishing her homework.
Two hours later, Ginny shut her Ancient Runes book and rubbed her tired eyes. She grabbed her wand and jumper. After a brief glance to the closed bedroom door, she walked out of the chambers she shares with her husband.
A few minutes later, Ginny was giving the password to the lady in the pink dress and entering the Gryffindor Common Room.
The room was fairly empty. There were a few second years doing their homework near the drafty windows. Harry was sitting in a chair by the fireplace. He was staring into space.
"Hi Harry, where is Ron?" Ginny asked Harry as she sat down in the chair next to his.
Harry seemed to startle out of his thoughts and looked at Ginny.
"Hi Ginny, Ron is upstairs. He decided to go to bed early. He said to tell you that he would see you at breakfast in the morning."
Ginny nodded. They sat companionably in silence for quite a while. Eventually, they were the only ones in the common room.
"Ginny, it is after eleven. Want me to walk you back to your rooms?"
"Thanks. That would be great."
They left the common room and began walking back to Ginny and Draco's rooms. Half way there, Harry began speaking, "Where was Draco? Too much homework to do?"
"Something like that." Ginny evasively said.
"It was because of me, wasn't it?" Harry quietly asked.
"Ummm, not really…you know how Draco can sometimes be. He gets a little jealous of the feelings I used to have for you. I've told him a million times that I think of you as a brother, but he's very protective of our relationship. I don't think it is really you, just the situation, you know?"
"Maybe he is right." Harry said. He stopped walking and turned to face Ginny.
"What?" Ginny asked.
"You heard me. He was right," Harry said in an unexpectedly gruff voice.
"Harry," she began, but was abruptly stopped as Harry slapped her across the face and violently pushed her back into the stone wall. Harry James Potter hungrily brought her lips to his.
Ginny pushed, with all her might, at his shoulders and chest, but could not move him off of her. Harry was too strong and just pushed into Ginny even harder. When he removed his lips from her mouth to kiss his way down her neck, she begged for him to let her go, but to no avail. With a whimpered cry, Ginny closed her eyes and felt her first tears burning their way into her flesh. Her last thought, as Harry began unbuttoning her shirt, was that she should have known better than to not trust Draco's judgment.