A/N: My God, I haven't written for months! I am so sorry for the long wait! The last chapter was short, yes, sorry about that as well. But yeah… this is the 18th chapter, isn't that weird? This story has certainly come a long way, and I'm pretty sure this is the not the last chapter… anyway… here we gooooooooooooo! (Coincidently, I sound just like Mario.)
"I'm very disappointed in you, Lucius," said the cold voice, pacing in circles. The man, if you can say that, was the most grotesque you could ever see. His face was white as chalk, his eyes red slits, and his tongue like a snake's. From one glance at the man, there would be no guessing that he was dark, cruel, and of a vicious sort. Tom Riddle was his name.
"I thought I made it clear to you that your son was indispensable to me; not only to me, but also to us. Every single one of your fellow Death Eaters is resenting you right at this second."
The man laughed; a pitiless, merciless laugh that could have chilled anyone standing within a mile of his presence. The mere sight of him had tortured every living soul that he had ever come across, leaving him beneath the shadows and loathing the world.
"That Ginny girl was another thing. Potter is close to her, and he would've suffered as well if you had killed her!"
The man's voice was rising. He was angry. Tom Riddle looked at the other man he was talking to, Lucius Malfoy, who was on the floor, dead. Blood was still all around punctured skin, where his son, Draco, had stabbed him not more than an hour and a half before. Tom Riddle sighed heavily. He looked at a grandfather clock in the corner of the room and looked back over at Lucius.
"You put me to shame, Lucius," he said quietly. He stopped pacing suddenly, and bent down to study the dead man's face.
"What's that?" Tom Riddle said. "You're sorry?" The man laughed even louder this time, and stood back up to resume pacing. "Oh, Lucius, bravo. Not only did you let your own son kill you, you managed to let him get away to tell the whole bloody world what you did, which will then blame me."
Tom Riddle sighed once again. He slumped into a large red chair in the center of the room by the fire and thought about what he should do. In an instant, a decision was made.
All he had to do was get Draco Malfoy.
It all made sense. Ginny Weasley cared about him, and Ron Weasley cared about Ginny. And Hermione Granger cared about Ron, and Harry Potter cared about all of them put together. It would be the ultimate victory, counting off not just Harry Potter, but all of his pathetic little friends as well.
The whole nation would mourn in grief! Lord Voldemort would make his glorious return and rule the world like he had done so many years ago.
The only difficult question that burned Tom Riddle's brain was… how could he do it? How could he get them all at once when he knew they were intelligent enough to know his ways?
And then… it hit him.
Traps. Bribes. Lies. Tricks. And, of course… death.
&&&&&&&&&&
"Look!" shouted Ginny, the wind stinging her face like a whip. "There's the school! We're almost there!"
"Would you loosen up? You're cutting off the little circulation I have left!" Draco yelled to Blanc, who was holding on to Draco's stomach like a terrified cat.
They had been riding for nearly an hour. Ginny's Comet Two-Sixty kept going haywire at random, while the weight of two people made Draco's Nimbus 2001 lower every three minutes or so. All three pairs of eyes were filled with water as the wind whipped their faces, and Ginny was cold and extremely hungry, praying that once they get back there would be a huge feast. She hadn't had anything to eat for two days.
After about a minute or so, with the Hogwarts castle in view, all three safely landed on the school grounds, and Blanc wiped her leaking eyes.
"Remind me never to ride zat far on a broomstick again," she said in a flat tone. Draco looked at her, rolling his own eyes, and turned to Ginny.
"What are we supposed to do now? It's almost lunchtime…" Draco looked at his silver watch. "Should we go straight to Dumbledore?"
Ginny nodded. "Yes, I think that's the only choice we have."
Draco, Blanc, and Ginny opened the Great Doors and were surprised that the school was so quiet.
"Everyone's still in lessons," Draco said as he closed the doors behind him. Blanc looked around, studying everything that she possibly could.
"You know, it feels like ages since I have stepped foot into zis school," she murmured, staring at a statue to her right. "I sink maybe I took one to ze head not long ago."
Ginny sighed and started walking to Dumbledore's office. It wasn't long until they reached the Charms corridor that they ran straight into none other than Harry Potter.
He was walking rather quickly and just as he turned the corner he spotted Ginny and gasped.
"GINNY!" he yelled piercingly and gave her a tremendous hug that cut off more of her circulation than Draco's on the ride home.
Harry let go and looked at Ginny with sparkling eyes of excitement. "Everyone thinks you're dead! Wait until I tell them… you've come back!"
Before Ginny could even say a word, Harry hugged her again even harder. Suddenly, Draco stepped up.
"Look, Potter, now isn't the time for reunions, we're going to Dumbledore's office," he muttered cruelly, and took Ginny by the hand to continue walking.
"Wait a minute… what happened to you, Ginny?" Harry said. He had finally taken notice of Ginny's scrapes and bruises where Lucius had tortured her. "We need to get you to Dumbledore right away!"
Draco rolled his eyes once again. "That's what we're doing, Potter!" he shouted. Harry looked angrily at Draco.
"Well can't I come too? I care about Ginny just as much as you do, Malfoy," he said with malice. Draco laughed.
"Right," he mumbled. "The only reason you want to come along is so everyone thinks you're the one who saved Ginny, that you're the one with superior bravery and courage and this and that."
Harry scowled.
"Just bugger off and return to class, why don't you?" Draco then took Ginny by the hand once more and the three scurried away, leaving Harry behind looking abashed and confused.
"What was zat all about?" Blanc asked, chuckling.
"Erm… you wouldn't want to know," Ginny said shyly. Draco looked at her with pure venom and kept walking as fast as he could. Five minutes later they were standing at Dumbledore's office entrance.
"Draco," Ginny said. "I don't remember the password."
Neither did Draco. When Ginny had asked him if he knew the password when he was about to leave the Manor, he had said yes casually, not really listening to the question. At the time he was more concerned with Potter coming than anything else.
Draco searched his brain for every possible password but simply could not remember. He let out a cry of fury as he kicked the statue.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" the statue suddenly screeched, making Blanc give a slight yelp of shock.
"It talks!" she said. "Mon Dieu, il parle!"
"Will you tell us the password?" Draco said hurriedly, red in the face. "We've forgotten it."
"Let's see," the statue said rather sarcastically. "Why would I want to give you any satisfaction of knowing the password if you just kicked me?"
Draco's face turned even redder and he started muttering under his breath about how statues could be broken easily.
"Calm down," Ginny told him. "We can wait."
"WAIT?" Draco shrieked. "Dumbledore's got to know you're safe! And about my father! He needs to know! Where is he?!"
"I'm behind you," Dumbledore said quietly.
He gave Draco such a fright that he let out the same yelp Blanc had done just seconds before.
"Dumbledore!" he said. "Thank God, we've got to tell you – look, I – rescued – Ginny!"
The headmaster's twinkling eyes turned on Ginny, who half-grinned awkwardly. Blanc stood there, doing and saying nothing.
"Please," said Dumbledore softly. "Come into my office." He then looked at the statue. "Acid Pop."
Draco suddenly growled and murmured, "I was going to say that," as they followed Dumbledore up the stairs to his office.
Ginny and Draco sat in the chairs, and Blanc walked around, examining the odd objects in Dumbledore's office. At the moment she was having a conversation in French with a painting of a petite woman who was knitting in a rocking chair.
"Now," Dumbledore said, sitting behind his large desk. "I would like you both to tell me exactly what happened at the Malfoy Manor."
It was as if he already knew everything but would rather them tell it to him for some sort of relief. Ginny looked at Draco. Draco looked at Ginny.
"It's a long story, really," Ginny said suddenly. Dumbledore turned his head toward her intently, and she went on. "I'm surprised that I've gone through it so quickly…"
&&&&&&&&&&
"Did you hear?… the Weasley girl is back!"
"Iheard she was captured by a dragon…"
"Well I heard she was captured by a Chinese Fireball!"
"Rubbish! It was a Norwegian Ridgeback, of course."
"Wrong again… I heard that it was You-Know-Who himself!"
"It wasn't," Harry said forcefully to Lavender and Parvati, after hearing them talk about nothing else than Ginny's surprising return. "It was Malfoy."
Lavender and Parvati gasped simultaneously.
"Draco Malfoy?"
"No, his father," explained Harry rather reluctantly. Why should he want to give Draco praise for rescuing Ginny, when it was he, Harry, who felt obligated to be her one and only protector? Maybe Draco had known about it the entire time and pretended to be a hero just to get him, Harry, out of the limelight. It wasn't a fact of heroics at all; Harry knew that; but what if Draco did know about it the entire time?
"Ron," Harry said, as he turned to Ron, who was stuffing his face with corn and potatoes.
"Enh?"
"I'm going to Dumbledore. I know Ginny and Malfoy are in there… I have to know what happened," he said. Hermione suddenly butted in with a calm, yet firm voice.
"Don't, Harry," she coaxed. "It may cause more than trouble."
"Like what?" Harry suddenly snapped. Hermione went on.
"Like rumors!" she shouted. Everyone stared at her, and Ron sat in silence. "You'll know the truth, Harry, just wait until Ginny is ready to tell you, and she will."
Harry couldn't believe how Hermione was acting. He felt as if she were angry with him, when only an hour before they had been happily conversing with Ron about how they were in lead of the Quidditch Cup.
"You don't understand, Hermione," Harry muttered. Ron continued to stare, as did the rest of the Gryffindor table. Seamus Finnigan wasn't blinking. Neville swallowed the last of his roast chicken. "You never do."
Then he got up hastily from the table and walked out of the Great Hall, his bag at his side. If he had to resort to eavesdropping, he was going to, whether anyone liked it or not.
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A/N: Did you like, did you like? I know it was short, but oh well. At least it's a suspenseful chapter! PLEASE review, I haven't gotten many since when I wrote in November; sheesh, it's been awhile. Love you all, and
REVIEW!!
-goob-