A/N: don't own don't sue
The lyrics at the beginning are from 'Taking Over Me' by Evanescence
Hope it's good enough for you all and I'm sorry it took so long but the internet is messed up on my computer so I'm using our other one which is so slow! Anyway enjoy and as always all reviews are answered at the end
Chapter Twelve – Taking Over Me
You don't remember me
But I remember you
I lie awake and try so hard
Not to think of you
But who can decide what they dream
And dream I do…
I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You're taking over me
Have you forgotten all I know
And all we had
You saw me mourning my love for you
And touched my hand
I knew you loved me then
I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You're taking over me
I look in the mirror and see your face
If I look deep enough
So many things inside that are
Just like you are taking over
Draco halted his pacing on instinct and crossed the room to the window, his forehead pressed against the glass and his breath fogging the glass as he watched Ginny clambering out of the carriage by the pavement. Moments later there was the scrape of her wand in the lock and the door swung open, throwing Ginny into the room.
She was in a wonderful mood as she dumped seemingly hundreds of packages shrunken into her pocket, onto the bed and gabbled about anything and everything. She had been so much happier since she had discharged herself, with his professional approval, from the Hospital and temporarily moved in with him.
At the moment her cheeks were flushed from the bitter wind outside and her eyes glittered with a feverish life of their own that had been dormant for too long. Tearing the black beret that had been holding it back from her head, her hair tumbled down her shoulders in glossy ringlets as she unbuttoned her black felt trench-coat and headed into the kitchen still gossiping at him and giggling.
She emerged with two steaming mugs of Butterbeer and he took one from her without a word, slumping down onto the couch and staring moodily into its depths. Ginny didn't seem to notice his silence as she went on about the group of girls she had met from her old Hogwarts days who had invited her for coffee.
He hardly listened to what she said, his gaze still focused on the hectic flush in her cheeks and sparkling eyes that brought a new life to the face he had become accustomed to seeing saddened and distant. She seemed to realise he wasn't paying attention as she snapped her mouth shut and used her free hand to twist her hair up at the crown of her head before dropping it down again.
Draco, with a painful pang, realised how long and lustrous it had grown since he had first seen her once more at the Hospital. The silence that had descended on them grew more and more tense until the air was so thick with it Ginny could have touched it.
"Alright what's going on? You haven't said a word since I walked in what's the problem?"
Draco snapped out of his thoughts and raised his stormy eyes to meet hers through the curling steam drifting from the mug obscuring her eyes from his view.
"Nothing."
She narrowed her eyes at him and took another deep sip of her drink.
"Bollocks."
Her language seemed to startle him as his eyes widened and his grip tightened only so slightly on the chair before he returned to his normal state and watched her tuck her legs up underneath her.
"I…nothing."
He trailed off when the ghost from his Manor floated in looking thunderous.
"Your goddamn stupid son of a bitch father! If I wasn't dead I'd have smothered him in his sleep by now! I hope he chokes on his bloody cigars!"
Ginny raised an eyebrow at her, watching out of the corner of her eye as Draco got to his feet and stalked into his study, slamming the door behind him. Ginny winced slightly; their surprise guest could float through solid doors so he must have closed the door to keep her out instead.
"He's growing on you isn't he?"
The ghost's voice was a mixture of amusement and curiosity as she slumped into Draco's discarded seat without making the slightest indentation in the leather.
"He was the only one willing to work with me to find out what happened rather than just trying to harass me into remembering."
Ginny shrugged and glanced back at the still closed door, colour tingeing her cheeks as she remembered the heated kisses the two had exchanged.
"What exactly is your name?"
The ghost looked startled by the sudden change of topic and shrugged, raising a semi-transparent hand to flick her hair out of her face.
"Jillian."
Ginny studied her for a moment as she eyed what was left of Draco's Butterbeer on the table before her and licked her lips unconsciously.
"How did you die?"
Now Jillian did raise her head and locked her eyes onto Ginny's; Ginny gave an involuntary shudder as she stared through her eyes like a pane of smoky glass.
"Would you like to see?"
Ginny stared at her.
"What? How?"
Jillian grinned at her although it was slightly strained.
"When you die the way I did you get the joy," Bitter sarcasm had seeped into her voice now. "Of being able to relive what happened again and again to try and help bring justice."
Like or not Ginny was morbidly intrigued and it took only a split-second of thinking and another glance at the solidly closed door for her to make her decision.
"Alright then, show me."
Jillian gave her a sly grin and held out her hand, Ginny let hers slip through it and a second later a familiar tug pulled at Ginny's navel.
---------
There was no rough landing for this journey and when Ginny opened her eyes she was stood next to a stage in a darkened auditorium with no sign or movement anywhere. Puzzled she spun around and came face to face with a pair of girls, one paler than she was the last time Ginny had seen her as she backed towards her and one looking furious and calculating.
"Where are you going Jillian?"
Jillian froze as Ginny scrambled backwards slightly so she could see better, Jillian was shaking visibly.
"I'm meeting my father remember, I should go…"
She trailed off and took a further step back towards the edge of the stage.
"I don't think you really need to be going anywhere."
Ginny turned to study the other girl as she spoke; her voice was as cold and emotionless as her ice-blue eyes. Under any other circumstances she would have been very beautiful, but the ugly sneer twisting her full pink lips drew any attractiveness right out.
"Trish? Tricia?"
Jillian's voice failed her as her eyes flickered to the gun the other girl's hand, her arm perfectly steady as she kept it trained on Jillian's heart. She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and raised her chin to the ceiling, the harsh stage lights emphasising the flawless skin across the perfect bone structure.
"I wasn't going to have to do this. When you said you heard Alicia had killed herself I was going to let you go, but you just had to say you didn't think so didn't you?"
Jillian's eyes darted from the gun to her friend's face. Your wand! Use your wand! Ginny was shouting in her head for Jillian to pull her wand on the girl when something suddenly occurred to her and her eyes combed over Jillian. No sign of a wand and she was in Muggle clothing.
"She was a Squib!"
Her whisper didn't reach the two girls on the stage as Tricia indicated with her free hand that Jillian should sit down on an upturned box in the middle of the stage where a set seemed to have been in the process of being ripped apart and packed away.
Jillian slowly lowered herself onto the box, her eyes never leaving the gun as Tricia pulled up another box and dropped down gracefully across from her, casually sticking her legs out in front of her and flipping her hair back again. Jillian no longer looked so afraid but Ginny could see in her eyes she was terrified.
"Why did you kill Alicia?"
There was only the slightest quiver in Jillian's voice but Tricia didn't seem to pick up on it as she sighed and stared off dreamily.
"She never deserved him, he was always too good for her but she wouldn't let him go so he could come to me and I could give him everything he needed."
A deep sigh followed the statement before her voice hardened along with her eyes which turned to chips of ice.
"I'm glad she's dead."
Jillian licked her lips nervously and Ginny could see she was thinking of a way to stall Tricia.
"How did you do it?"
The eagerness in Tricia's face when she heard this question sickened Ginny and she felt slightly nauseous.
"You really want to know?" It was obvious it took everything Jillian had to nod her head. "It was easy really; as she was walking off the stage after the death scene I broke her neck in the darkness when the curtain was down. I can't describe how good it felt to see her surprise and panic when I jumped at her, to feel her windpipe give as her neck snapped in two."
Tricia shuddered in pleasure and Ginny could see that Jillian felt as sick as she did, her face tinged with green now as she stared past Tricia to a spot somewhere at the back of the stage where Alicia must have been found afterwards.
"So why try and frame me?"
Ginny snapped her gaze back to Jillian as anger crept into her voice, momentarily replacing her fear.
"You were newest to the group." Tricia shrugged. "It didn't matter to me either way, any of the other girls who auditioned for the play would have done. Besides I knew you'd audition if Lysander was."
Ginny winced; how could this beautiful girl manipulate people's emotions so badly without a single trace of remorse?
"I had no idea I was so transparent."
Jillian's words were mostly bitter but Ginny could sense the underlying pain her voice was laced with.
"Like I said, everyone likes Lysander."
Jillian seemed to have come to a conclusion while Tricia had been speaking and she clenched her fists at her sides before bursting into noisy yet genuine tears.
"Hush, ssh it won't hurt honestly. You won't feel it."
Ginny gaped at Tricia as she pressed the gun against Jillian's temple and murmured soothing words into her ear. In the spilt second she was close enough to her; Jillian slammed her fist up into Tricia's jaw and dropped to the floor, scrambling after the gun a startled Tricia had dropped. Grabbing it she made a hurried decision and aimed at the cable connected to the lights.
BANG
The stage was plunged into darkness but Ginny could somehow still see everything that happened as Tricia swiped at Jillian and knocked the gun from her hand. Tricia cursed loudly and stumbled over the box Jillian had been sitting on as she got to her feet. Ginny was momentarily confused as Jillian didn't get to her feet but rolled to the side instead, seconds before Tricia stamped down with her high heel exactly where Jillian's head would have been had she gone for the gun.
There was an eerie silence as Ginny watched Jillian climb quietly to her feet and hiss with pain as a trickle of blood seemed from a deep cut made by the edge of the box down her leg. She limped over and picked up a heavy object that looked like some kind of stand made of metal and her eyes darted around the darkness. Ginny very nearly screamed herself as Tricia dived at Jillian from behind, her eyes glowing in the darkness as Jillian swung the object at Tricia, letting go so it cracked her head with a sickening crunch.
A moments hesitation was all Jillian allowed herself before she limped as fast as she could towards the emergency door whose green glow when she brushed past it lit up the scene. Jillian didn't bother trying to get the door open as she gingerly knelt to lower herself off the edge of the stage
"No."
She froze and turned to see a set of overhead lights that had been taken down glowing brightly from the floor of the stage behind Tricia who once more had the gun trained on Jillian; this time at her head.
"I told you it wouldn't hurt, why do you have to fight?"
The voice was whining slightly now and Ginny was sickened by the childish tones seeping into the words.
"You expected me just to die without a fight?"
Even as the question was uttered both Ginny and Jillian knew there was no point in asking it as Tricia cocked her head to the side thoughtfully.
"Sacrifices are needed, Jilly."
Jillian jumped at the sound of her nickname and her eyes widened slightly. Panic rushed in and she stooped to pick up a spanner that had been left on the stage.
BANG
Ginny did scream this time as a streak of fire struck Jillian leaving a stream of blood trickling in rivulets down her bared stomach under her white tank-top and over her sawed off blue shorts.
Jillian stumbled backwards a step and held her hand to her side where a jagged hole had been cut into her body.
"I want you to fight, that's what I always liked about you, Jilly; you're strong."
Jillian was blinking furiously trying to clear the black spots of pain that danced before her eyes smudging her vision.
"I just want to know something; was Lysander in on this?"
Tricia looked thoughtful as she shook her head, seeming to say without words that Lysander would never have helped her kill his best friend's girlfriend. Jillian looked somewhat relieve and she raised her chin and squared her shoulders although it pained her to do so. She raised her right arm and tossed the spanner down at Tricia's feet with an almighty clatter.
"Go on, I'm tired of fighting now."
Tricia scowled at her; there was no fun in it if she wasn't fighting. Ginny held her breath as she glanced from one girl to the other with wide eyes.
"Why though? It's so much more fun when it's dramatic."
Jillian ignored the jibe and clutched her hand tighter to her side; her face now devoid of all colour besides a slight green and the heavy sparkling of her eyes. She lifted her other hand to swipe back her hair and streaked blood across her cheekbone.
"Don't you know how much you've hurt Rupert? He's devastated over it all."
Jillian's voice was hard and accusing.
"I didn't mean to hurt him; he's my friend, like you are."
Ginny very nearly fell over at Tricia's words, as it was the seat knocked into the back of her knees and slammed her down into a seat.
"Oh great, lucky Rupert."
Tricia narrowed her eyes at Jillian who swayed from the blood loss;
"You look like hell."
Jillian smiled mirthlessly and glanced at the result of her throwing the metal object at her; a purple and yellow bruise that was covering half of Tricia's face and a nasty cut at the centre that was steadily dripping blood into a puddle around her high-heels and soaking into the wood of the stage.
"You don't look too hot yourself."
Tricia laughed and then held a hand to her bruised head, glaring ruefully at Jillian as she pulled back a hand covered in blood. Her hair was matted with it and her eyes seemed to be having trouble focusing.
"You really are pathetic, you know that don't you?"
Ginny jumped and turned to stare at Jillian as she snapped her words at Tricia, not seeming to notice Tricia had raised the gun again.
"He loved Alicia, they were together for years you were just his friend. He never wanted you that way. Do you think he'll thank you for this?"
A flicker of fear crossed Tricia's face and clouded her eyes with doubt as the arm holding up the gun began to tremble slightly.
"He loves me…"
Jillian shook her head and Ginny couldn't help but feel sorry for Tricia as a tear eased its way out of her left eye; now almost entirely closed up with swelling.
"No, he doesn't."
Tricia took a shatteringly deep breath and shifted the gun against her temple.
"No!"
Ginny's terrified whisper was lost in Jillian's much loader protests;
"NO! Don't!"
BANG
I third shot cut through the deafening silence and Ginny screamed exactly in time with Jillian as she ducked her head in reflex. When she raised it again Jillian was stooped over Tricia's body with mascara streaking down her face as she sobbed. After a while her sobs became ragged and Ginny watched Jillian taking in the amount of blood she had managed to splatter across the stage throughout the ordeal and panic flitted across her face.
"Come on."
Startled Ginny fell out of her seat and squinted up to see the Jillian she knew from the future holding out a ghostly hand to her. She took it.
-------
"Jilly?"
Jillian had her head against the door of Draco's study as a thoroughly shaken Ginny sipped on her mug of hot Butterbeer.
"How is it you're dressed like that when you died in entirely different clothes?"
Jillian withdrew her head from the door and turned to look at Ginny thoughtfully.
"The Council decided I had to look like I had been dead for longer, and since there are many stupid rules which state since I drove Trish to death I have to stay with her family until the eldest of the bloodline releases me."
Ginny jumped and managed to slop her Butterbeer down her front; she removed it with a flick of her wand and cupped her hands around the mug for warmth.
"Tricia was a Malfoy?"
Jillian nodded and glanced at the door that was still firmly shut and housed the youngest slumbering Malfoy behind it.
"Why did he lock himself in there?"
Worry tinged Ginny's voice and Jillian smirked.
"He's afraid."
Ginny blinked; Draco Malfoy afraid? It was as if Jillian had read her thoughts with her next words;
"He's not used to emotions and you evoke some pretty strong ones darling."
There was a loud banging noise and an incredulous noise from behind them and they both turned to see Draco standing in the study doorway glaring at Jillian who was looking thoroughly unruffled as opposed to his dishevelled appearance.
"What did you say?"
He could barely get the words out he was so angry at Jillian for shouting around his feelings which he himself had only just figured out that morning.
"I was merely hinting at how you feel."
Jillian shrugged and smirked at him as he bit his tongue in his rush to answer.
"Well don't, I can do it myself thank you."
Ginny now turned her amazed stare to Draco just in time to see him stalking furiously across the room and pressing his lips harshly against hers for the briefest of seconds that left her glad she was sitting down as her weak knees surely wouldn't have held her up had she been on her feet.
Leaving a stunned Ginny and a smug Jillian following him with their eyes he turned on his heel and stomped across the room, throwing himself into his study and once more slamming the door behind him.
-------
Chantal J : here's your update, now would I go and kill him off on you? I guess you'll just have to find out
lina : I may use some other greenday songs in future since they just rock, thanks for the suggestions though. Hope you like the new chapter
JessicaMalfoy87 : thank you very much, they might get the cure in time, maybe
Dangerous Soul : lol glad you liked it and Draco was trying to talk to his father about what happened on That Night when they were interrupted.
bigreader : I'm not particularly into character deaths but sometimes writer's just want to be cruel don't they ::cough Sirius! cough::
Nickel : thank you and thank you again, hope this chapter is good enough for you
excentryke : I wouldn't think of my chapters as rewards, more punishments but alright lol thanks I'm not American so Merry Christmas too lol
im no muggle : you'll have to wait and see on both accounts