A/N: same old, only own characters not recognised

The lyrics at the beginning are from a song called 'Constantly in Danger' by C Murder

Well people I have just uploaded the first chapter of my new fanfic, Sacred Heart, it features a slightly darker Ginny and a Draco and Harry actually on to civilised speaking to each other, plz plz go check it out and review plz?! Will puppy dog eyes help? Now as you can see I won't be leaving this halfway finished I'm continuing it as we speak but there isn't much left anyway, another two or three chapters I'd say. Anyway gotta go enjoy =)

Chapter Eighteen – A Violent Warning

The world is mine cause I'm in it,

And danger means no limit
The world is mine, fool, cause I'm in it,

My veins pump no limit
The world is mine cause I'm in it,

And danger means no limit

"I can't believe we're having another dance, we had one for Halloween, why do we need one for Christmas? And what is the point in making it a masked fancy dress ball?" Noah grumbled, glaring at Xander's handsome reflection with grudging respect.

"Who knows, gives the girls something new to talk about anyway."

Noah laughed as pulled on his pale green velvet blazer over his black cords and frilly white shirt and tried in vain to make his hair stay out of his eyes.

"What time does this thing start again?"

Mason looked up from his copy of 'Undercover Witch' and glanced at the clock on the wall before burying himself in the magazine again;

"Seven."

Noah snorted and flopped onto the bed next to him so he could see the magazine over Mason's shoulder.

"Six fifty, so another half hour until the girl are ready then."

The three boys laughed as Ron and Harry marched into the room, Ron looking thunderous. Xander opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but Noah stamped on his foot and shook his head.

"Guys, what the hell are doing? You take longer than us?!"

The boys looked at each other before shrugging and trudging wearily down the stairs towards the Common Room where their selective dates were waiting for them. Frankie was stood before the fire tapping her high-heeled foot on the floor with one hand on her hip; her hair darkened by a spell fell in curled waves down around her shoulders and glowed black and red in the firelight. Her eyes glittered behind the pale blue mask that covered her eyes giving the impression of a cat.

"Erm... Noah, what exactly did you come as?"

Noah glanced over at Frankie who was trying desperately not to laugh as she took in his appearance, from his frilly shirt to his pointed black cowboy boots that made a loud clunking noise with every step. His mask was jet black and pointed at the edges, making his eyes seem bigger and darker.

"A vampire."

Deciding not to press the matter any further Cass turned to Xander who was somehow looking remarkably handsome in nothing but a loincloth, although looking closer Cass could see his red boxer shorts underneath.

"Where's Rindy?"

Cass was about to answer when Rindy herself appeared in the doorway of the stairway that led to the girls dormitories in a very short wrap over skirt and boob tube made of the same material as Xander's loincloth, her hair falling around her face in a dark cloud. Her mask was identical to Xander's, leopard print shaped as two paws.

"Tarzan and Jane, nice."

Rindy beamed at Harry who was dressed tonight as a knight in shining armour in a chain-mail shirt and a pair of shiny silver pants contrasting against his very dark grey mask, ignoring her brother her was eyeing her outfit icily.

"Don't even bother, Mason." She warned when he opened his mouth and he glared at her, for once actually heeding her and shutting his mouth.

"What are you meant to be anyway?"

Mason made an indignant noise at the back of his throat and looked down at his outfit as though checking it was still there. He was clad in a pair of dark blue cords tucked into a pair of knee-high dull scuffed black boots, a dark grey shirt hanging loosely around him somehow in an attractive way and a long black cloak studded with pictures of clocks and hourglasses and sundials. His mask was pure white with lines where numbers would be on a clock in the little section the mask covered.

"Father Time, obviously."

Rindy rolled her eyes before eyeing him beadily as something occurred to her. Crossing the room she kissed a blushing Xander on the lips and linked arms with him.

"Who's your date, Mason?"

Mason actually blushed and looked down at the floor as the answer became evident. Strolling through the goggling group of friends, Alyssa wound her way towards Mason and kissed him on the cheek. Her dress swept the floor in dark moss-green silk, cut in at her waist and moulded to her breasts, the long lace sleeves of the same colour reaching far past her hands and her long hair twisted up in hundreds of little braids all over her head behind a tiara made of rosebuds. Her face, shoulders and hair were streaked with smears of black, browns and greens and a chain of miniature silver leaves circled her waist identical to the two dull red leaves that formed her mask.

"Father Time and Mother Earth."

When the group had regained their voices they went back to checking each other's outfits as they surveyed who they were waiting for.

"Ron."

Alyssa's sudden voice broke the silence that had fallen on the group and Ron jumped before looking at his friend with a defiant expression on his face already. She shrugged and didn't take it any further.

"Finally!"

Ron snapped out of his reverie when Hermione descended the stairs and the group watched as her his face softened slightly at the sight of his girlfriend, his jaw was still set though as she kissed his cheek and took his hand.

"Tights, Weasley?!"

Ron spun around as Draco and Blue descended from Noah's new room where they had been changing, the girls' breath catching at the sight of Draco.

He was clad in straight black leather trousers, a black silk shirt, heavy black dragon hide boots with silver metal heels and a long black cloak embroidered with silver skulls and scattered with silver words in Latin. His hair was slicked back from his face, two braids on either side of his face fading into the rest of his hair that was weaved with black strips and scattered with silver beads. He was also wearing a pair of black gloves that matched his shining black mask shaped as fire, and a great deal of black eyeliner and a heavy silver cross around his neck.

"So let's see, we have..."

Mason was ticking off the couples on his fingers as he watched everyone climb to their feet.

"Ginny and Malfoy as Aphrodite and Hades. Alyssa and myself as Father Time and Mother Earth. Harry and Cass as a knight and a damsel in distress..."

Cass grinned at him as she got to her feet, her long gold dress ripped and artificially singed as though she had just fought a dragon and her hair falling out of its long braids, smudges of ash on her cheeks and bare shoulders and an ash coloured mask with flecks of burns across it.

"Noah and Juno as vampires."

Juno rolled her eyes as Noah hastily checked his reflection once again, she smoothed her scarlet corset top and black leather mini skirt down, her long hair dyed ebony for the night and falling sleek and straight over her shoulders, her mask matching Noah's but the eye holes shaped slightly more like a cat's.

"Ron and Hermione as Romeo and Juliet..."

Mason snickered as everyone hastily fought to keep their faces straight, Ron glaring mutinously down at the floor as Hermione tightened her grip on him trying to calm him down. She had practically forced him into the red tights that went with his old fashioned outfit and was aware his outfit complimented her pale blue dress as perfectly as hers complimented his, their masks were simply extensions of their outfits.

"And Frankie and Blue as day and night..."

Cass at her friends, enveloped in each others arms and she turned away as she saw Blue's long fingers creep up Frankie's pale blue toga, one of her shoulders left bare and painted dull gold to represent the sun. Her hair was twisted up into a bun with a few wispy curls escaping and fluttering around her face, her eyes the only part of her besides her lips that were made up with lots of black eyeliner and gold eye shadow that brought out the glittering colour of her eyes against her mask.

Blue was clad in a pair of black jeans, a grey shirt and a long black trench coat covered in silver dots representing stars. His hair was weaved with silver strands and feathers and his mask was two smears over his eyes that looked as stunning as it did odd against his dark eyes.

The group looked at each other one last time before turning and sweeping out of the room, Ginny going unnoticed as she watched them from the shadows of the girl's dormitories. She didn't want them to see her just yet as Ron would kick off about her outfit and she also wanted to make an entrance.

Retreating up the stairs she hastily pulled on her outfit and checked her hair, which had been lengthened with a simple spell Hermione had taught her the week before, and make up one last time.

"You look stunning!"

Ginny's heart nearly exploded when a voice filled the room, startling her and making her blow up a chair by the bathroom door in a ball of fire and smoke.

"Noah! Don't ever do that again you moron!"

Noah raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes, holding her arms wide for her friend's approval as he eyed her thoroughly finally nodding and hugging her.

"Come on, I've been sent to fetch you."

Ginny took the arm he was offering her and let him lead her down the stairs towards the portrait hole.

"Who sent you, Ron?"

Noah scowled and shook his head as they clambered out of the hole and headed down the deserted corridors.

"Draco. He threatened to; I believe the words were; rip my spinal cord out, strangle me with it and then start to hurt me."

Ginny snorted with laughter as they reached the top of the marble stairs that led to the Entrance Hall which was now deserted, everyone else already seated inside. She could see Draco at the back with Blue, Juno and Frankie as they waited for the pair of them, Draco's foot was tapping on the floor and he was grinding his jaw, he was so impatient.

Indicating to Noah that she would make her own way down he shrugged and kissed her cheek, quickly entering the room and taking his place besides Juno where he was promptly verbally attacked by Draco's queries.

Ginny took a deep breath and descended the stairs, her high heels making dull clicking sounds as they struck the marble, she pushed the Great Hall's doors open fully and the entire room froze. All eyes turned to her as she stood framed in the doorway, looking around at her friends and fellow students, even Snape had stopped making snide comments about Harry to Lupin who was sat on his right.

Throwing her head back she stared back haughtily, daring anyone to now question why she was Draco Malfoy's girlfriend, if that was what she was. And indeed the gossips that had doubted her were silenced as they looked her up and down, noting the greedy looks on their date's faces.

Her hair fell in a wavy mass down her back almost to her waist, littered with white rosebuds and golden gems and ribbons. The firelight of the torches that were the only source of light for the moment in the Great Hall and the Entrance Hall illuminated the curls and seemed to dim by the second as her beauty flourished, her hair flowed down her back rather than hung and shone as though the light and fire themselves had been braided into her hair.

Her skirt was pure white, shot through with silver and gold that shimmered in the light and fell sweeping to the floor, trailing slightly behind her from just below her hips. There were two long slits from the floor up to mid thigh on her legs that revealed her high-heeled Grecian sandals glowing gold in the firelight and strapped up to her knees. Her top was a thick backless strap made of the same material that stretched across her breasts with sleeves that fell off her shoulder down to her elbows, twisting from her underarm in a semicircle under her breasts to her other arm where it fell in another semicircle behind her at the small of her back.

The gem in her navel and silver stick-on body designs in the shape of hearts and cherubs glittered in the fire light and her body was covered in silver glitter hearts and wings. The top of her hair was beaded with jewels and fresh flowers in the three thick braids that looped from the front of her head back to the crown of her head under the small golden tiara and faded into the rest of her hair flowing down her back like liquid fire. Her eyes were circled in silver glitter, her mask only a golden extension of her eyes with flicks almost to her hair lined with silver gems at the corners that lengthened her eyes and turned them an almost yellow-gold colour.

A butterfly made of silver gems was stuck onto her cheekbone on her left cheek and her lips were coated in shimmering lip gloss, her bare navel, face and shoulders dusted with gold dust that caught the light making her whole form seem to glow. One of her hands was outstretched as she held the door open for herself and the room could see a gold bangle at her wrist that wound around her arm to her elbow, another was on her opposite arm but that was just a bangle on her upper arm. Around her long slender neck was a gold choker with serpent etched into the oval front just under her chin, it seemed to flicker in the firelight and the room shivered.

She didn't look to either side as she made her way towards the Five at the back and eventually the sound returned to the room as she took her seat besides Draco who was for once lost for words.

"Jesus Christ!"

Ron glanced up from his plate to see Seamus goggling open mouthed at something behind his head, looking to the side he saw Harry gaping as well with a curious look in his eyes Ron couldn't quite identify. Seeing Cass and Hermione looking rather smug about something he spun around, only Harry's lightening reflexes stopping the crystal goblet shattering on the floor as it slipped out of Ron's grasp.

"Is that Ginny?"

The question was darting around the room as the figure in the doorway crossed the room towards a table at the back and all eyes seemed to turn to look Ron as he watched her. Ignoring their looks he waited until dinner had finished before dragging Hermione over to their table and dropping down into Juno and Noah's discarded seats. He was just about to open his mouth when Draco leapt gracefully to his feet and pulled Ginny onto the dance floor.

"You look amazing."

His voice was soft against her face and she looked up at him crossly from his embrace as they danced.

"You don't need to sound so surprised, its not very bloody flattering."

The amused look on his face made her unwillingly smile and she scowled at him with her eyes instead.

"Your brother looking like he swallowed a lemon at the fact that you're dancing with me isn't very flattering either."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him and chanced a glance over his shoulder at an incensed Ron who was dancing with an increasingly wintry looking Hermione not too far away.

"Do you really care?"

She returned her gaze back to Draco as she asked, already knowing the answer as he pulled her closer against him for the slow beat now filling the room.

"Not in the slightest."

Ginny shook her head laughing and nestled it against his shoulder, swaying to the beat as she watched Snape and McGonagall dancing stiffly to their right, standing about a foot apart with McGonagall's hand clamped stiffly on Snape's shoulder and Snape's hand balancing awkwardly on her waist. They were looking anywhere but at each other and Ginny grinned at a passing Dumbledore, who was spinning Madam Pomfrey out of his embrace then back into it, as his eyes met hers and followed her gaze to the two teachers, flicking back with amusement sparkling in their depths before he moved on.

'What are you looking at?'

Draco's voice was irritated in her head and she looked up at him soothingly, aware she was bruising his ego by not melting at the fact she was in his arms slow dancing which was exactly where nearly every girl, Slytherin or not, wanted to be as they shot furious glares in Ginny's direction.

'The future, I think Snape and McGonagall have some unresolved sexual tension left over from their school days.'

Draco snorted with laughter and turned discretely to look at the two professors who were definitely edging closer no matter how much they tried to hide it.

'Think we should expose them?'

Draco's voice was wicked with laughter and Ginny gazed up at him, once again reeling at how attractive he was. He had the look of a fallen angel; all fair hair and fair colouring with the naughty, sly personality and sharp tongue he most likely got kicked out of heaven for. She marvelled once more at how anyone as beautiful and vibrant and exuded such sex appeal could want her. She tried over and over again to convince herself he only wanted her because of the vampire lust burning inside him and she shouldn't fall in love because she'd only get her heart broken but she couldn't help it; the reasons she supplied herself with for his caring about her never seemed to work and she always came back to the conclusion that maybe he did like her.

'It would take the heat off us I suppose.'

Draco looked affronted and promptly spun her out the length of his arm before pulling her back in as the pace of the music picked up, her hair and dress flying and only just keeping her decent.

'Best not then, I thrive on being centre of attention you know that.'

Ginny laughed and copied his movements, he was a wonderful dancer! He had the lean body that could slip into any beat and move perfectly in time, his body writhing like a snake's as he moved and his muscles rippling under his skin. Seeing her watching him his eyes met hers and their paces matched as they danced together without touching, the mysterious bond that had developed between them over the last few weeks bringing them together in a way they only experienced during those passionate moments when they each abandoned the façade the public saw and they joined completely, in heart, mind, body and soul.

"Forgive me, Draco, but I just have to cut in... come here angel."

The look on Draco's face would have had anyone else running as fast as they could in the opposite direction, but Blue took no notice as he swiftly butted Draco out of the way and swept Ginny off across the dance floor.

"That outfit should definitely not been allowed in public."

Ginny rolled her eyes and punched him on the shoulder, noticing vaguely that Chance and Allegra were dancing nearby as Han Solo and Princess Leia.

As the song ended she drifted back towards Draco who was stood by the long table lined with all kinds of drinks, Draco handed her a glass of punch which smelt strongly of Firewhiskey and she was just taking a sip when a scream rose over the music from the centre of the dance floor and the music cut out with a loud screech.

The crowds parted so there was a circle around whatever had caused the commotion that widened into what looked like a huge rip through the crowds. Ginny edged forward, unconsciously dragging Draco along with her until they could see what had caused the scream.

In the centre of the crowd was a tall woman with skin even whiter than Draco's and a sheet of hair like black water flowing from her thin face down to her knees, her lips were outlined in red and her eyes flashed black like coals in her white face making Ginny shudder as she took in the simple piece of black silk that fell from her shoulders to mid-thigh, covering her extremities, just.

"Tomorrow, your lives will be forfeit for the greater good; of course it may not be your good."

Like her voice the smile she gave was cold and cruel, the giggle she gave was sharp and seemed to cut into Ginny's brain and she winced.

"I am simply a warning, sent by the shred of mortality left in the Great One. Consider yourselves lucky it is more than others will get."

She let out a harsh shriek at the end of this statement, her voice shattering every window in the Great Hall as every person in there clasped their hands to their ears and ducked as though they could physically avoid her soaring scream.

Ginny's brain was exploding, arrows of pain darting into her eyes and ears from inside her head as the shriek went on and on, seeming to fracture her very skull as agonised tears rolled out of her eyes. She was vaguely aware of Draco clutching her to him when suddenly the pain stopped, her head ached as though a building had been dropped onto it but the sharp exploding pain was gone, when she looked up so was the girl.