And you will know us by the trail of Dead

Chapter 5- Research Mode

"Helen Cooper: We may not enjoy living together, but dying together isn't going to solve anything."

-??????? (If you can guess where this if from I will kill you off later with a main character in chapter 7! Or maybe just kill you off? Do ya'll want me to kill off a main character??)

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It was the beginning of December when Ginny was studying in the library late at night, working on potions. The room was a bit chilly and Ginny had wrapped a large Weasley sweater around her, knowing full well she looked like a large green lump. What didn't help the whole sweater situation, Ginny mused, was that her mum insisted on making Harry's and hers the same color. This proved embarrassing for the youngest Weasley as every Christmas she matched with Harry, causing her friends to tease her about being the perfect couple. This was much to Ginny's chagrin.

After not finding the effects of an especially difficult ingredient she threw down her quill in frustration and wiped her hair out of her eyes.

Behind her a hand snaked out and grabbed her.

Ginny jumped. Whirling around she cried, "Malfoy!"

Draco smirked and sat down. He got a bit of weird satisfaction out of seeing Ginny cry out his...name...like...that.... Er, right...

Anyway, Ginny clutched her chest with a sweater-ed hand. "Gods, Malfoy, must you do that? My poor heart."

"Gods, do you have to call me Malfoy?" he asked which Ginny was not expecting in the least.

Ginny stared at him. The hell was he talking about? Shaking her head, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I don't sleep in my dorm anymore. More like I don't sleep anymore." Draco shrugged. "You?" Ginny mulled over this. She did realize Daco had been in the same room as whatever had killed Blaise. Ginny couldn't help but feel sympathy towards the Slytherin.

"Potions essay," Ginny answered evenly.

"Slow brain?" He mocked trying unsuccessfully to get her goat.

"Don't insult me, Mal- Draco." She retorted, exasperated. Ginny knew full well Draco would try to get a rise out of her. I'm probably the only one awake in the whole castle for him to make fun of, she thought.

"I can't help it. It is too easy," he deadpanned before smirking.

Ginny smiled a bit and returned to her essay, knowing full well Draco was just sitting there, staring at her. Ah well there was that stupid essay... Ginny plodded on through her homework, making things up as she went. Her eyes started to droop.

Draco could see her writing slowing down then- was she asleep?

"Weasley?" He asked. "Ginny?"

Yes, she was asleep sitting up, oddly. Hmm...should I let her sleep here? No its not that safe is it? Damn...

Draco impulsively picked her up and carried her to the Griffindor Tower.

The Fat Lady was, amazingly, awake as she was playing cards with Violet and the scullery maid from the portrait near the Entrance Hall.

Setting her on her feet he shook her a bit.

"Ginny, wake up. Say the password."

"Wha-?" She was still asleep.

"Say the password and go to sleep." Draco shook her gently.

"Oh- 'Baby, I Love You'..."

Draco raised his eyebrows, "That's nice and all but-." He, however was cut off by The Fat Lady opening the portrait.

"Er...right...Off you go then." Draco nudged her towards the entrance.

Mumbling something about The Village Green Preservation Society, Ginny stumbled through the portrait door and into the common room where she collapsed on a couch and was unconscious in seconds.

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The next morning being Saturday, Ginny was awoken by Hermione's voice.

"Ginny wake up," She said.

"Huh?" Ginny mumbled eloquently. "Why are you in my dorm?" Her hair was looking quite wild and places were matted down from her drool.

"Ginny, you're in the common room, silly." Ron responded.

"I am? Oh yeah...."Ginny remembered the night before. "I was working on Potions essay in the Library and was too tired to go up to my dorm." Ginny realized a bit suddenly how she had gotten there. Draco-he-he helped me, she told herself. "That's got to be the strangest thing that's ever happened-."

"C'mon Gin, you need something to eat," Harry interrupted her thoughts and they all walked down to breakfast.

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After eating breakfast Ginny walked back up to the tower to change.

When she opened the door the most overpowering stench hit her. It smelled sickening and she threw up next to the door. The smell was like mould and the metallic of blood and rotting things. Ginny had never smelled what rotting flesh smelled like but the moment she stepped into her room she knew.

Wiping her mouth she approached the nearest bed, Mary's. The smell got worse with each step she took. Ginny was dizzy and her vision blurred.

Yanking open the curtains to Mary's bed she saw-
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

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"Really Harry, Ron. How many times do I have to tell you? Snape is not helping Voldemort." Hermione rolled her eyes as they sat in a corner of the common room.

"But Hermione I really don't know who else-."

"AAHHHH!!!!"

They all jumped. "The bloody hell?" Ron yelled.

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"I said to the ministry that we couldn't possibly house the exchange students considering we have no space." McGonnegal told Dumbledore in the hall.

"Yes you are quite-."

"AAAAHHHH!!!!"

"Oh my!" Minerva cried. "It's from the Tower! Hurry, Albus!"

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"Please give us our essays back!" the first year pleaded with Draco as he held it above their heads. A smirk was plastered all over his face.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

Draco dropped the papers and turned towards the Fat Lady's portrait he was standing next to.

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Ginny was huddled in the corner of the room. She sobbed and retched at the sights and overpowering smell.

All the curtains were open to show the same thing:

Lisa, Mary and Eleanor were dead. Surrounded with blood, with looks of pure terror on their faces. The only thing that marred their perfectly white, translucent skin was tears of blood and blood under their nails. Their cuticles were erupted in red; their eyes glazed over like week old fish.

Dumbledore, McGonnegal, Harry & Co. and most of the Tower's occupants burst into the room and surged into the hall leading to the dorm.

Dumbledore was the only one who didn't recoil at the sights before them and the stench in the air.

"Oh! Albus!" McGonnegal said as she surveyed the room and spied Ginny in the corner.

"Miss Weasley!" she said.

The crowd murmured to themselves. So Ginny was the one who screamed. Most of the Griffindors were blocked by their professors but they could smell the stench that was permeating in the air and tell that something was horridly wrong.

"Potter!" McGonnegal took charge. "You and Weasley and Granger take her to the Infirmary! The rest of you go back to your dorms!"

After the crowd dispersed, Dumbledore looked up at McGonnegal.

"You know this means we may have to close the school again..."

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A/N: So how is it so far?!?!?!?

Don't forget to guess what the quote was from so I can write you in! I will use whatever name you prefer just not a pen name unless it could be a real name- nothing like Raven Blackclaw or Madam Periwinkle12.