Chapter Five:

"They won't be able to hurt you..." He was positive the reason that none of them told Ginny was because...they didn't want her to get better. Though it seemed absurd, he was thoroughly convinced that they were tired of protecting her and did it under false pretenses every year.

He had taken her where nobody would find them. To the Shrieking Shack. Though he was breaking a dozen school rules, as of being out in hogsmeade on a non-visiting day. He didn't care, he needed to save her, himself. She shuddered as he lay her on the dusty bed on the final floor.

Scanning the room, he knew that nothing was very stable. He breathed out a sigh and sat down next to her, slowly dabbing her face with a warm washcloth. Again she stirred but didn't wake up.

"I wish you could tell me how to save you..." He whispered as the water dripped down her nose, which she wriggled in response. So, she was half conscious? Good sign.

Suddenly she coughed and spit up some blood. She sat up, choking and sputtering. It hurt to breathe. Hurt so badly that she felt as though her throat closed up slowly. And then she screamed, sending him to cover his ears and the walls to echo the noise.

"Ginny! Stop! It's okay! GINNY!" He shouted as she had begun to sway and cry, and dig her nails into her head.

"STOP IT!" She shouted, and Draco blinked at her after everything settled down, so to speak.

It wasn't until the atmosphere got cold again that Draco's senses prickled and he turned to the door. Grotesque creatures stood; tongues lolling, jaws bared, deep gray rubbery skin and eyes like fire. They were hunched over, their back muscles cracked each time they moved.

Next came the monsters that Ginny told him about. Greenish gray with scars on their contorted faces. Fangs as sharp as daggers bared out at Draco, as Ginny sat looking oddly calm. Her hands were at her side, her eyes again unfocused.

"Master...Master, it is?" One of the creatures spoke, barely moving it's strange looking mouth, it's voice raspy and horrible. Just like the one Draco had heard a few hours before. He stared at Ginny, who smiled cruelly.

"It's been a long time..." Ginny replied, her smile grew more twisted as she stared at Draco. Her eyes burning red to match her hair. Her skin seemed to be changing right before his eyes; no longer pale, but slightly dark around her eyes.

He had the impulse to run, but his feet wouldn't move. He didn't know what the hell was going on...but he had a clue. And it terrified him. He went to reach for his wand but something cut his arm and he winced.

"Now we can't have that...after all...you're the sacrifice." Ginny smiled smugly and gripped Draco's chin, which cut him. Her nails seemed to grow like a werewolves in minutes. He felt the blood drip from both sides and her tongue darted to catch it. His eyes widened in fear as she did this.

"I always knew you had bad blood..."

"Master?...Now? Let him die...need, want...feed."

The creatures danced in the shadows around them; a demon child and a helpless boy.

"I'm the sacrifice? But..."

"You is not to speak to Master like that! She will rip you limb from limb, Slytherin. Lucius Malfoy will be along shortly. He is she's Master." The monster sounded much more like a human. But...what did his father have to do with this?

"Daddy is a part of this too. Oh, a great part. He is the one who planned this. Your precious little Ginny is no more." The thing that used to be his girlfriend hissed violently at him. It's eyes getting darker, until it's face was black. Draco watched in indescribable horror as her hair vanished, and her back shot out. She hunched. She was becoming...one of those creatures.

"Daddy did loves you snake...but I is now his favorite." The thing spoke like a house elf, but looked like some type of new formed werewolf.

There was a murmur of agreement, in which Draco stepped back a bit. Something lunged out and grabbed him, he howled and was restrained.

"Master will not be pleased, he will not at all. He will eats your soul...you will never sees little Ginny again."

"Never."

"Again." Each of the abnormalities spoke to him. He shut his eyes. This was all just a horrible nightmare.

"This is no nightmare boy." came the drawling cold voice of his father. Opening his eyes he saw his father; blond hair tied back, donned in black and holding his black cane with the serpent head top.

"Master...looks at her!" One of the monsters growled excitedly as Ginny, or what used to be her slopped over to him.

"See what happens when you go against us? We turn your little witch into something truly terrible. If you want her...you will join us."

Draco struggled against his captor and flung himself beside the bed and pointed his wand at all of them in turn.

"Crucio!" He shouted, and the spell spouted from his wand and hit the two monsters and creatures until his father and the Ginny thing stood.

"Will you kill her?"

"Tell me what's happened!"

His father laughed smugly and sneered at his son. His eyes glistening horribly. Suddenly Lucius raised his wand and muttered, "Avada Kedavra!" The spell shot from his wand and Draco dodged it, stumbling into an old drawer.

Gritting his teeth he pointed his own wand at his father. Just then the new monster came out of nowhere, baring it's fangs. Draco screamed.

"KILL HIM!" Lucius Malfoy shouted, before rounding on the door before him. There stood a terrified looking Snape, and a furious Dumbledore.

"You will not!" The Headmaster shouted, as Snape strode across the room and shot the creature in the back.

"No! That's Ginny!"

"Weasley?" Snape looked blankly as Draco nodded.

There was no time to explain, lives were at stake. More then one now. Snape helped Draco drag the unconscious creature out of sight and reappeared moments later to find the wall to the right blown out, exposing a village of terrified citizens.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know! I brought Ginny here and those creatures appeared, called her master and she started to transform. She said I was a sacrifice..."

He pointed to the dark clumps on the floor, and Snape understood, partly.

Suddenly he seized Draco's arm and yanked him down as a spell shot toward them.

And then there was silence. It was the most deafening silence that one could hear. Both men looked up and saw Professor Dumbledore standing over Mr. Malfoy.

"It's all right...he's dead." Lucius Malfoy lay crumpled on the floor, his mouth open, eyes white and blood around his head. And next to him lay Ginny...still as stone.

"Gin?" Draco started but Dumbledore stopped him with a grave look.

"She got caught between the spells, just as she was changing back. Lucius had cast a spell on her to change into some type of creature and kill you. We knew about it since after Miss Weasley's first year. But this year, everything spiraled out of control..."

"Because of you..." Snape said, and Draco stared at him, clearly not understanding.

"She was never supposed to get tangled in your life. But in the end the two of you would have died. She, after she killed you. Lucius needed a sacrifice to impress the Dark Lord. We're all sorry this happened the way that it did. No one intended for it too. Those creatures were just poor souls that disobeyed him."

Again he ran, but this time back to the castle and toward the lake. She was dead. His life was slowly fading as the water froze his ankles, the his waist, his neck, and then he went under. He breathed in the cold water that froze his lungs.

Time goes on a string, so slow at times that you feel as though you've lost your balance on reality. That's how things go when you're uncertain of what the future has in store for you...and when fate tries to push it's way in....Everything that was and will be gets tangled up and thrown at you in a simplistic order. And this is what binds you to certain events, and perhaps, certain unexpected outcomes.