Another long A/N: Well, our new summary seems to have done the trick. Yesterday the number of hits for our story rose from about sixty to more than a thousand! A few new people have reviewed as well. Here are our responses.
Akalei, Maddie, sara sinks and Rrogjenks, thank you for the compliments. It'll all go straight to our heads you know.
However, the ego-bruising BuckNC is here to rescue us. Thanks for the criticism. It makes us think. We have looked over the last chapter and we see that you have a point. There seemed to have been a bit of a logical gap there, so we have tweaked it a bit. Anyway, remember why Ron was afraid of going through with their superfluous plan in the first place? The point of it was to get Kya to attack Ron, but Kya never drew her wand. If Ron had stunned Kya, the crowd would have lynched him, or at least that is what he thought, judging from how she could get them to obey her every command.
You are very protective of Ron, aren't you? - :) We think that Ron had his priorities firmly set in this case. He has more important things to worry about. He thinks Kya has changed Hermione's entire personality, and that she is making her act like she does. He is her friend, so he sees the little changes in her more plainly, and as Ginny said, he exaggerates them. Hence why he is being more forgiving of her right now. Besides, it hasn't struck him that Hermione might have danced with others. He wasn't there, remember? However, none of us actually know how Ron would really react in this scenario. Something like this hasn't happened in the books so far, so this is only our theory.
Rrogjenks, by now you'll know what we think of exchange students who drop in randomly and seize the spotlight. Our next story won't contain any of those.
Thank you randomreviewer! We really appreciate your detailed review. Remember that though you may not have a pressing need to say something, the writers have a pressing need to hear it. We love to get reviews for our story, even if they only consist of one sentence, because they show us that people have read it.
FFF
20 – An Unexpected Way
Ginny blinked groggily.
What had happened? She remembered getting a congratulatory hug from Kya, and then nothing…
She drew in a deep lungful of fresh air, and as her head cleared, her memories began to come back. She looked around the pitch, but Kya, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy were nowhere in sight.
The students in the stands had started to talk to each other, but when Ginny tried to get through to her team-mates, they just stared straight ahead, not blinking.
Still clutching her broom, she ran over to the stands and asked some of the students if anyone had seen where Kya and the others had gone. Most of them had only just awoken from the spell, and no-one could tell her anything.
Getting a bit desperate, Ginny finally decided to fly as high up as she could, to see if she could spot them. They couldn't have gotten that far, she thought.
She soared upwards. As it happened, she didn't have to soar very high before she could see them. They were heading towards the forest.
She hesitated for a moment. She wanted to help them, but she didn't have her wand with her. She had left it in her dormitory, so as not to drop it during the game.
Well, it would only take a moment to fly back and get it, she thought.
She swung her broom around, and was racing towards the castle when she caught sight of Neville, who was running across the lawn. Farther ahead, she could see Snape going in the same direction, his cloak billowing in the wind. She wondered what they could be up to.
Neville got the fright of his life, when the red blur without warning swooped down right in front of him.
"Neville," she said. "Where are you going?"
"Ginny," said Neville. "I… um… don't know?"
"Can you help me then? I saw Harry and Ron and Hermione getting herded into the forest by Kya and everyone's acting like they've lost it. Do you know what's going on?"
To her surprise, Neville did in fact know.
He hastily explained to her about Snape and the potion and what their secret plan had been. Ginny was astounded, but she believed him. She had seen enough.
Snape had already disappeared through the double doors of the castle.
"I have to go," said Neville, and he started walking at a quick pace.
"Wait," said Ginny, and she flew up in front of him again. "What are you up to?"
"Will you stop doing that?"
"What?" said Ginny, puzzled.
"Flying up in front of me like that. You're going to give me a heart attack."
"I'm sorry. But please, tell me."
"Snape's going to get the potion," Neville explained, impatiently. "He doesn't want me along, but I have to do something. I thought I could bring some of it, and help the people who haven't come around yet."
"But Harry and Ron and Hermione are in trouble now!"
"Well, I don't know what I can do! I forgot to bring my wand, and I'm useless without it – it'd only make things worse."
"Well, we have to find someone who can help. I was going to get my wand, but I don't know what I could do, if Kya's holding them hostage or something. Dumbledore! We have to get Dumbledore!"
"I think that's what Snape's planning to do," said Neville. "But we'll never find them in the forest anyway, unless we could get the Quidditch teams to search it."
"So wake the Quidditch teams," said Ginny.
"We need the potion for that," said Neville. "Which was what I was going to get, but now I'll never catch up with Snape."
"Hop aboard," said Ginny.
If Neville had been surprised by the red blur swooping down upon him, It was nothing to what Snape was when he saw them streaking through the passages of his dungeon. Flying was not allowed inside the school, he thought indignantly, when he had recovered. Fifty points from Gryffindor! he muttered to himself, and that made him feel better.
By the time he arrived at his office, they had been waiting for him for five minutes. Without saying a word, he unlocked the door and let them inside.
Kya and Draco Malfoy had taken Harry, Ron and Hermione to a clearing in the Forbidden Forest. Ron was all nerves by the time they arrived. He didn't like the forest, for a very good reason.
"Why are you doing this, Kya?" Hermione asked.
"Do you really expect me to tell you?" said Kya.
"Well, why not?" said Harry. "If you're going to kill us anyway, you might as well tell us why."
"What's it to you? You're going to die!"
"You don't know the answer, do you?" said Ron.
"Of course I know, you nitwit!" Kya snapped. "It's because I'm following orders!"
"Who's orders?"
"My mentor's, of course."
"Who, Clavisto?" said Harry.
"Who?" said Kya. "Oh, him. Haha! That's just a name I got off the top of my head. Idiots. Who do you think it is? You know who!"
"We know…?"
"No, You-Know-Who! Voldemort. My master."
"Oh."
"You're not a proper Veela, are you?" said Ron. "They don't do that thing with their eyes, do they?"
"Figure that one out, did you?" said Kya, in a bored tone of voice. "No, I'm not a normal Veela, but if you want any more details about that, you'll have to ask the Dark Lord. As far as I know, I'm just a freak of nature."
"Okay," said Ron. "Um… not to offend you, but are you insane?"
"Well, yes, but now you're just stalling. I want to get it over with, so, if any of you twits have any more questions, ask them now, before I have Drakie here kill you off."
"That's another thing," Hermione said, quickly. "Why do you want Malfoy to kill us? Why don't you just do it yourself?"
"Discretion. My master is big on discretion," Kya replied. "I'll have Darling Draco here do you in, and then there's no blood on my hands, see? Then he wanders around, with no memory of what he has been doing in the last hour or so, and when they find him with your bodies, and they check his wand, they'll know he did it. Everyone knows he's a Death Eater- in-training anyway, so…"
"But can't you just make it look like we've never been here, like you did with professor Jacobson?" Ron asked.
"Ah, no, there are complications with that," said Kya, casting a regretful glance at Malfoy. "Jacobson had no family left, and had no close friends in the school. There are a few people at the Hog's Head who'll miss her, but otherwise it was easy to erase her existence. But you have families and friends outside of Hogwarts, and Harry… well, I can't erase history, you know. But enough talking! Draco!"
"Wait! Please!" shouted Ron. "Malfoy's in love with you! Would you really do that to him?"
"Yes! Kill them!" Kya cried, dancing around in little circles in her ecstasy. "Kill them!"
Malfoy turned towards them. His eyes were wide and blank, and his lips formed into a half smile.
He raised his wand, he pointed it at Harry, and-
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Draco," said Kya. "Again…"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he shouted. There wasn't even the faintest sign of a green spark coming out of his wand.
The trio let out the breath they had been holding. Malfoy wasn't able to perform the curse.
Kya stared at him. Something flashed in her eyes. When she spoke, her voice quivered with anger.
"Pathetic!" she screeched. "That's what you are! You pathetic, worthless little creep! Hermione was right about you. You said you didn't want to be a Death Eater? You couldn't be a Death Eater to save your life! The only reason you don't want to become one is because you're scared your dad will find out what an incompetent, weak, snivelling, cowardly cretin you are! You'd be too scared to lift a finger to save your own mother! You couldn't even save Pansy!"
Malfoy's expression was one of mounting horror, as he listened to her tirade. When she mentioned Pansy, he seemed to freeze for a moment.
"You didn't even notice she was gone, did you?" Kya continued. "She was the first one to go, two weeks before the ball, so that I could have you all to myself. I didn't want anything to distract you from me. And all along, you were just a pretentious bully. And I thought you were important. The tragic anti-hero! Strong willed enough to defy your own father, and even Voldemort! Of course, I'd have made you go along with him anyway, but still, I thought you had character-"
"Avada Kedavra!"
There was a flash of green light. And silence.
Kya looked at them with her big, unusually exquisite eyes, for one second. Then she collapsed.
To the last, she was a very beautiful corpse.
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at the body for a moment, and then they all turned to Malfoy. He kept his wand pointed at the still form, a look of complete hatred on his face.
"Malfoy?" said Harry.
Slowly Malfoy seemed to come back to himself.
He took a few steps away from Kya.
"Look, Malfoy," Ron began, carefully. Then he realized he didn't know what to say.
The body lay between them.
"Don't talk to me," Malfoy said, shakily. "And don't-"
What else they were not to do, Harry, Ron and Hermione never found out. At that moment, they heard a noise, that Ron and Harry knew all too well. Scuttling and clicking.
