I know no amount of apologies is going to make up for the fact that I haven't updated in over three months. I'm so, so sorry, and it won't happen again. I really need a beta as well, so if anybody wants to beta my fic or knows somewhere where I can get one, it would be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters that you recognise here except for Alistryna, Sabine, and the rest of Ginny's dorm-mates.

Chapter Seven-

Devil in Disguise

You look like an angel
Walk like an angel
Talk like an angel
But I got wise
You're the devil in disguise
Oh yes you are
The devil in disguise!

-Devil in Disguise, Elvis Presley

Draco Malfoy was, in one word, gorgeous. His silver hair hung in soft waves around his face, partially hiding steel grey eyes set in a face that might have belonged to an angel, with strong cheekbones, and a regal nose that was used to long down on others. His tall, lithe frame was graceful, moving with all the predatory grace of a cat. Yes, Draco Malfoy was gorgeous, and what's more, he made everyone else know it too.

After all, if you've got it, flaunt it, right?

Draco belonged to a family that had breeding, brains, and wealth, and was brought up to know how superior his station in life was compared to others. He'd had everything he'd wanted, and more. No matter how much it cost, or how rare it was, Draco Malfoy always received what it was that he'd demanded.

His life was almost perfect. It only needed Potter and company to die sudden, unexplainable deaths to make it complete.

But Draco Malfoy's life was unexpectedly taking a long-overdue turn for the worst.

It had all started on the summer holidays. These had started off in a perfectly normal way with the chauffeur arriving at King's Cross Station to take Draco home to the Manor in Berkshire. On the way, Draco had taken a small nap.

But that's when Draco's peaceful, rather ordinary existence ended.

Because while he was asleep, Draco Malfoy dreamt.

In itself, of course, dreaming is quite a common occurrence. But what Draco dreamed, and what happened afterwards, was certainly not normal.

~~~~~

"Take me home, Smithton," Draco commanded imperiously, stretching back into the comfy leather seats of the Rolls Royce that the Malfoy family used when venturing into the Muggle world.

"As you wish, sir," Smithton said in a monotonous tone as the car began to roll out of the station and into the busy streets beyond it.

Discarding the heavy Muggle trench coat that he'd been wearing, Draco relaxed, and drifted off into sleep.

Draco opened his eyes to find himself standing in a majestic entrance hall, all cold marble and forbidding portraits. Draco looked at them dispassionately, not recognising anyone.

Loud voices interrupted his thoughts, and he glanced around. Standing not seven feet in front of him were two men, both blonde and tall, and both were wearing the oddest clothes. Hundreds of years out of fashion, Draco thought idly.

"This is folly! "One of them said.

"Calm yourself, Roger," The other replied irritably.

Roger scowled, and threw his hands up in the air. "Will you listen to me, Cynric? Wilfred is going to an almost certain death!  Douglas Weasley is certainly no fool, and he is out for blood. He will stop at nothing, nothing, to avenge his daughter. Wilfred does not have a chance!" He stopped, breathing heavily.

Draco's ears perked up. Weasley? This had to be the strangest dream he had ever had. Why he would dream of any of them was completely beyond him. A Malfoy never dreamed of people who belonged to the proletariat class.

Cynric raised an eyebrow at Roger. "Do not become unduly worried, cousin of mine," he said loftily. "I am not upset about Wilfred's imminent death, and neither should you be. As," Cynric lowered his voice and Draco drifted closer so that he could hear, "when Wilfred dies I shall be the heir to the Malfoy fortune, and when I inherit I shall reward you greatly if you stay completely loyal to me." 

Roger's face showed his obvious conflict in emotions, but eventually he nodded, and gave a sharp bow to Cynric. Cynric gave a trademark Malfoy smirk at him, and opened the wide wooden doors outside. "Are you coming to see Wilfred fight, Roger?" he asked, giving his cousin an evil smile.

Draco's head however, was reeling. Heir to the Malfoy fortune? How could he be? He, Draco Luther Malfoy, was the heir to the Malfoy fortune! However. . . what if Draco was experiencing a dream from the past?

Draco nodded sagely to himself. Yes, that was it. That would explain the odd apparel that the men were wearing, and the way in which they talked.

Hurrying to catch the men as they walked through the door into the bright sunlight Draco mulled over what he had learnt. But his thoughts were quickly interrupted when he reached the Malfoy's Quidditch pitch-cum-battling arena. Seats rose up into the air on two sides of the pitch, and in the middle the gear used for wizarding duels was set up. The seats were almost full, and when Cynric and Roger entered a scattering of applause broke out. Cymric bowed smartly and sat in a special chair on the dais on one side of the arena. Roger did the same.  Draco drifted over to the dais too; by now having realised that everyone couldn't see him.

He watched with fascination as the wizard's duel was played out between Douglas Weasley and Wilfred Malfoy, and gasped in all the right places. When a final curse brought Wilfred to his knees, Draco felt a twinge of disappointment. Beaten by a Weasley.

What came next shocked him greatly. Instead of asking Wilfred for the chance to surrender, as was the custom of the duels, Weasley pulled out of his robes a long, ornate dagger. Draco heard Cynric next to him give out a hiss of anticipation and lean forward expectantly into his chair.

Douglas bared his teeth in a feral snarl and brought the dagger down, in to Wilfred's back, deep, past the spine, and then bought the now blood splattered weapon back up, lifting it up into the air like a symbol of victory. Dipping his fingers in Wilfred's deep ruby blood, Douglas made two diagonal stripes on each cheek like markings for a war amidst loud cheering from the crowd. Draco's eyes widened in surprise. Neither the blood nor violence bothered him; after all, he was the child of Lucius Malfoy. But such primitive behaviour, and from a Weasley! That was - unheard of. Of course the Weasleys had fiery tempers, but they never did anything like that. And their tempers cooled off rather quickly too. After fighting with Ron Weasley for six years, he ought to know.  

He moved into the centre of the arena to look at the unfortunate Wilfred more closely. The astonished face of Wilfred lay facing up to the sky, his eyes open in surprise, but they were devoid of life, death's filmy mist covering them. His blood streaked blonde hair lay spread out around him. His still-warm blood was pouring out from his wound, streaming down his body to pool underneath him in a lake of crimson.  Draco drew in a shaky breath.

 He and Wilfred looked so alike they could be twins.

Draco awoke, and looked out the window to find himself in the drive of the Manor, purring in the car up to the front steps. He shook himself, and resolved to find out if Wilfred, Cynric and Roger were real.

The holidays passed in a blur, filled with pointless parties, dinners, and feeble, pathetic attempts of seduction by Pansy. 

Draco spent most of the holidays researching about the dream. It was depressing in a way; everything that Draco saw in the dream was real, from Wilfred, Cynric and Douglas Weasley to the stabbing incident.

After that school went back.  He had spent an enjoyable train ride teasing the youngest Weasley, and then had the pleasure of repeating his taunts and jibes that night. Virginia Weasley, Draco reflected, was such an easy target. There were many things about her that were just waiting for cutting remarks and teasing. Her hair, freckles, gangly frame (though she had filled out a bit in the last few years), social status, her family's lack of money, and her pining for Wonder Boy were some of the most obvious things he could think of. He loved it when her eyes filled with tears, and he felt a malicious kind of pride when one of his verbal barbs stung her.

But he was interested in young Ginny Weasley for another reason. During his research, he had found out that Wilfred's wife was called Virginia too. Perhaps it was just curiosity, but he felt a strange fascination about her, so much so that he spent some time of his day going out of his way to look at her, try to figure out what she was thinking, wondering if she was like the other Virginia Weasley that had walked the Earth centuries ago.  But all this was in secret. He seriously doubted that she had even an inkling he was doing this. If she did, he knew he would be dead by now. Her brothers were so protective of her, Virginia being both the youngest and the only girl. He knew he was bordering on being obsessed with Virginia Weasley, but he couldn't help it.

There was something that pulled him inexorably towards her.

The school year for Draco had only just begun, but getting Dennis Creevey as a buddy was unarguably one of the worst things that was going to happen in the year. Honestly, that boy was more obsessed with Harry Pothead than Draco was with Ginny. Every second sentence was 'Harry this' or 'Harry that'. Hell, the brat even styled his hair like Potter. It was enough to drive Draco barmy. And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, the bloody fool asked Draco to JOIN THE HARRY POTTER FAN CLUB. Who did Creevy think Draco was? Perhaps the constant bullying, tittle-tattling and mockery Draco directed towards Harry just wasn't getting through to the rest of the school. Draco wanted Harry's head above his mantelpiece, not on a shirt underneath the slogan 'I LUV HP'.  For God's sake, even Crabbe and Goyle, who had the combined IQ of a goldfish, had better buddies. Often he spent the entire 'bonding' time inventing ways to murder Creevey. Disembowelment or flaying alive? Crucifixion or water torture? When the Dark finally defeated Dumbledork, the Malfoy family would be rewarded for their loyalty, aid, and everlasting allegiance to Voldemort. When that happened, Draco thought, he would make a special request to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for young Creevey. The Gryffindor's screams would be heard for miles.

The most surprising thing about the year so far was when he had tutored Ginny Weasley that time in Potions. The taunting had been fun. She looked quite nice all riled up like that, Draco remembered thinking. He had quickly banished that thought, but the fact that he had been thinking things like that about a Weasley could not be forgotten. He had messed up badly when she'd said in a fit of anger that she was cursed. He'd had to mention the dreams didn't he? Now he was pretty sure that she knew he either knew about the dreams or had them too.  He was such a bloody fool sometimes. Of course, if she did have the dreams, it would add an interesting twist to the mix. He knew Virginia Weasley had died; the question was, would sweet, innocent Ginny die too? He rather hoped so. If he had to die, and least he would take someone like her with him. Pure, chaste, wholesome Ginny Weasley.

Draco had gone to Dumbledork, trusting that he would know the answer to all his questions. But what did the old codger do?

Absolutely nothing.

Nothing, except inform his parents who were only upset that such a common thing like a curse should be placed on a Malfoy. No, all he had got from the bloody Muggle-lover was the dismal news that there was no cure for the curse and he was going to die a violent, painful death. Draco had even resorted to Dreamless Sleep Potions to get rid of the dreams, but the curse was so powerful it disregarded those, and he had the blasted things anyway.

Now Draco was starting to get rather worried. He knew that the dreams were getting closer to the day of the duel, and Draco knew that that was the day he would die. The only consolation he got from that was the fact he at least knew he was 'going to give up the ghost' soon.

Ensconced in a private room in the Slytherin dungeons, Draco tucked his feet up underneath him, drew a green and blue quilt over his legs, and opened his book, Curse-Breaking by M. Alé-Diction. It wasn't that useful, but you never knew.

I thought that I was in heaven
But I was sure surprised
Heaven help me, I didn't see
The devil in your eyes

~~~~~

If you wish to be notified when I next update, leave your email address in your review!

Thankyou all so much for reviewing. Angel-Hiragizawa32: Well, there's more intrigue to come! Honeybear, DiagonAlley, CactusKitty: Hasn't she? And there's more bad stuff waiting for her, Draco-is-a-spunk: Of course there's going to be 'stuff' between Ginny and Draco. I'm an avid G/D fan, groovy: thankyou for reviewing. Do it more often! Lady Jay Grey: Thanks Z! Can't wait for more of YOUR fic to be posted :) marks: sorry for not updating, I'm going to do it more regularly now, Rivenloe: Thanks for reviewing THREE chapters! Michelia: You read it in one sitting? Wow, you're so much more patient than I am. I can barely read one chapter without getting fidgety or going off to do something else;) Shards of Normality; Your head hasn't fallen off yet has it? Of course, if it has you wouldn't be reading this message, I suppose. You'll just have to see what's wrong with Alistryna! GoldenRed Phoenixia: Thankoyu for the help (describing and so on) I always need it, gilt trip: nice name! How did you think of it? Heavenly Moonstone, sun-and-wind, purple aurora lights, flav0ftheweek: thanks for reviewing! I didn't think it was such an angtsy chapter:) Luna Writer: that's really interesting about the name, I didn't know that. Wow! Elen: I love Draco too! Pseudonym Sylphmuse: Time-turner? Interesting idea. Nayanya: thanks for reviewing! You are one of my favourite authors, so I'm really happy now ;) Jez two: Thankyou! And one very lonely anonymous reviewer, thankyou too!