A/N: don't own don't sue
The lyrics at the beginning are from 'Crawling In The Dark' by Hoobastank
Thanks to all who reviewed and sorry about the long wait for updates but my stupid exams are starting tomorrow so I've been busy panicking, enjoy x
Chapter Six – Crawling In The Dark
I will dedicate
And sacrifice my everything for just a second's worth
Of how my story's ending
And I wish I could know if the directions that I take
And all the choices that I make won't end up all for nothing
Show me what it's for
Make me understand it
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
Is there something more than what I've been handed?
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
Help me carry on
Assure me it's OK to use my heart and not my eyes
To navigate the darkness
Will the ending be ever coming suddenly?
Will I ever get to see the ending to my story?
Show me what it's for
Make me understand it
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
Is there something more than what I've been handed?
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
So when and how will I know?
How much further do I have to go?
How much longer until I finally know?
Because I'm looking and I just can't see what's in front of me
In front of me
Show me what it's for
Make me understand it
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
Is there something more than what I've been handed?
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
The trip was dull. Being Performing Arts students they were expected to drool at the sight of a stage but this was very boring. None of them had ever heard of the theatre they had been dragged to and the tour of the attached museum was even worse. To combat this the class had decided to run wild, a lot of them mentally going back in time to their early teenage years where anything and everything was funny. To the crowds watching it was either sad or amusing. Draco, however, was just plain old bored and on the search for Crystianna who he knew would be able to provide some form of entertainment if only another argument.
He finally spotted her, standing out amidst the bustling crowds by being the only one actually standing still. She was standing off to one side of the crowd one arm at her side and her other gripping the elbow across her back; she was surveying an elaborate ball gown from an original Victorian performance locked in a magic-proof glass case. The case was on a raised platform which meant her face was tilted up towards it and a shaft of sunlight from the tall arched stained glass windows high up in the wall flooded her face with patches of colour.
Shaking off a sudden urge to just slip into the shadow of the long dusty velvet curtains besides him and watch her for a little long he strode out into the crowd which instantly parted to let him through. Stopping just behind her and to one side he turned to look up at the dress and afforded it a quick expert once-over. Growing up with the wealth he had been born with he had a good eye for beauty in clothing and he could tell the one before him would be worth a fortune even out of his many vaults.
"I love the costumes."
Her sudden words would have caught him by surprise had he been anyone else but in his case all he did was shoot her a quick sideways glance; she was still staring transfixed at the dress.
"It is very well made." He conceded.
She shrugged.
"Not just that, it's what they represent." He wrinkled his brow and turned to look at her fully, she didn't even glance at him.
"Without this dress you're just another actress trying to make it, maybe you already have and you're trying to hold on or maybe you're fighting to be known but that's who you are. But once you're inside that dress you can be anyone; a Lady, a Princess, a Duchess, even a Queen. Or… a woman in love…" She sighed but he didn't move to speak; he knew there was more she had to say.
"The point is; being in one of these costumes takes you away from the life you're in. and let's face it; everyone wants a different life at some point. Maybe not someone so apparently perfect as you, but we normal people do what to escape sometimes."
Running a frustrated hand back through his hair he searched around for something to say, but for once he came up blank. So he turned back to look at the dress instead. On their way past someone had shoved the curtain out of the way resulting in the light from the window filtering through the charmed glass and onto the dress, lighting it up from behind and showering the gems covering its bodice with tiny sparks of light. It did look alive in that moment and Draco had a brief mental image of the audience on their feet applauding for someone, who looked very like the beautiful girl besides him, cheering her to the rooftops as her eyes filled with tears of happiness.
He hurriedly shook the image away and pulled himself together just as an ear-splitting screeching alarm shattered a few of the smaller less protected glass cases and froze the museum's habitants for a brief moment before all hell broke loose. Ginny raised an eyebrow as several of her classmates emerged from behind a large shadowed pillar reeking of smoke and hurriedly hiding their smoking wands back in their pockets.
"I wonder what they did…" She mumbled curiously before screams joined the panicked pounding of feet when the automatic sprinklers joined in the fun, soaking everyone in seconds.
Worried his hair would begin to kink in the moisture Draco grabbed Ginny's upper arm and physically hauled her out of the room and along several corridors until they skidded to a halt in what appeared to be behind the stage. The sprinklers had stopped and the irritated crowds were jostling each other to get out where they could perform magic to dry themselves without bringing another alarm out.
Ginny peered at them as they passed but no one seemed to notice her so she pulled her head back and headed off into the darkness of backstage.
"Marlow, what the hell are you doing?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and paused, turning back to see Draco hovering by the exit as though undecided.
"Exploring. Come on Malfoy, you're a big bad Secret Agent…" She smirked at him as he glowered at her. "Surely you can handle a few minutes poking around backstage."
Muttering to himself and shooting her a mutinous look as he marched past her into the gloom she smirked at his departing back and darted forwards to join him.
"Do you think the wards are all over here?"
Draco shrugged and waved a spider web out of his face as the darkness around them deepened the further back into the building they got. Ginny wasn't exactly a wimp but there was something about the silence of an old building that gave her the creeps and she was already practically super-glued to Draco's back in case she got lost.
"Light your wand and find out."
Purposely stepping on the back of his foot causing him to stumble she scowled at him and he shot her a filthy look.
"I do not want to set another damn alarm off thank you; I still have a headache from the first one."
Slapping dust off his hands where he had thrown them out to keep from falling he gave her yet another dirty look before continuing on down the passage.
"And your incessant whining has given me a migraine, Marlow. You were the one who wanted to 'explore' so just do us both a favour and hush up. And stop clinging to my back thank you; this is a new shirt and its being totally stretched out of shape."
Quite immaturely Ginny stuck her tongue out at his back before grudgingly taking a small step back to give him some space and carrying on after him. Finally the pair approached a heavy studded black door and Draco turned to look at Ginny who shrugged and leaped forward to examine it.
"This is really old, the damp looks like it's warped it shut, might still open though."
Draco was now bored, cold, irritable, tired and dirty; he had had enough. He slammed his shoulder into the door which creaked open a little; just enough to allow them to slip through with some extensive curses, bruises and scratches.
"Oh wow!"
Draco was stuck half in the doorway and half out when Ginny wriggled free and darted off into the gloom.
"Marlow!"
Freeing himself with a violent shove against the door he took off after her only to be half blinded by sudden lights.
"Marlow? What in hell do you think you're doing?"
She ignored him and continued lighting the old spotlights lining the front of the stage with her wand until the entire black polished floorboards lined in a thick coating of dust were lit up brightly.
"It's amazing."
Draco followed her gaze out over the hundreds of deep plush velvet seats covered in dust and reaching as far back into the gloom as they can see. The gold of the cherubs, nymphs and dozens of other mystical creatures that bedecked the walls glistened through their clothing of dust.
"Why would you hide a place like this?"
Draco had a distinctly uneasy feeling as he edged closer to Ginny to try and persuade her to leave.
"No idea, but obviously they had a reason so let's just leave… now Marlow."
Ignoring him again Ginny leant against the edge of the stage behind the curtain and ran a hand through it leaving trails of dark purple in the dust. Moving away from it she danced across the edge of the stage with her arms outstretched, spinning like a little girl with her head lowered leaving her crimson curls to whip around her head.
Draco watched her with a raised eyebrow, unable to shake his feeling of uneasiness off he felt goose bumps trial across his bare skin and he felt the fine hairs along the back of his neck and his arms stand on end.
"Come on Marlow we're leaving."
Ginny was about to tease him about being scared when she saw the serious look on his face and she allowed her own apprehension to surface. Shuddering she darted towards him, tripping over a slight bump in the stage in her haste and sprawling forwards so she barrelled into his chest and knocked them both backwards into the huge square hole now cut into the centre of the stage.
Luckily for Ginny Draco broke her fall, unluckily for Draco the concrete ground broke his fall.
"Fuck fuck fuck."
Ginny had been knocked out cold for a few seconds from the fall, now she leaned up off Draco and shook her fuzzy head trying to clear her vision. Her arms were trembling as they held her up from either side of Draco's head and when her vision finally cleared she sat up shakily and ran a hand through her hair. She winced and pulled her hand away quickly when she felt wetness on her scalp, blood covered her hand where she had hit her head on the floor and she felt dizzy touching it.
"Smart move, Marlow."
Ginny turned to look down at Draco who was whiter than his hair and sweating profusely underneath the dirt, dust and blood smeared over his face. The blood she knew was hers and also from a small cut across his left cheekbone just below his eye and the state his white shirt was in it was evident the floor was a lot dirtier than his face.
"Oh shut up I didn't know it was there."
He glared at her and slowly raised himself to a sitting position, gritting his teeth against the pain that shot through his arm which he seemed to have wrenched a little out of place.
"How do we get out of here?"
He shook his head as he took a quick survey of the room, assessing their options which were very few.
"I dunno; help me up while I think."
Ginny lowered herself gingerly onto her knees and helped Draco manoeuvre himself onto his knees and then up onto his feet, scowling down at the dirt covering his designer trousers. Once he was on his feet and leaning heavily against a wall to try and assess the damage done to his body Ginny brushed dust off herself and glared moodily at the damage to her outfit. She wondered if Crystianna would make her pay for the ruined clothes before deciding she probably wouldn't notice and setting about getting more comfortable in them.
Ripping off the bottom of her t-shirt and baring her flat freckled midriff she tied it around her hand which she had just noticed was bleeding a lot. Tying the bottom of her t-shirt in a knot at her left side she winced when some of the dirt from her trousers caught in the cuts lacerating her other hand when she bent to dust herself off again. Her faded jeans, which were artfully ripped all over the place, were now almost in shreds around her legs leaving them on clear show and making her glad she'd shaved them the day before as she ripped the jeans off into shorts.
"I'd say the best way out is back the way we came."
Ginny looked over at Draco who looked much more like his normal impassive self now he'd calmed down and realised he wasn't that badly injured.
"And just how exactly are we going to do that genius?"
He ignored her taunting tone and moved to stand under what was now very obviously a trapdoor. Estimating the distance he made a few lightening calculations in his head and dug his wand out of his pocket, which mercifully hadn't broken.
"I'm going to levitate you up and then you can help me up."
Ginny stared at him for a moment then nodded and he was slightly taken aback by how trusting she was. Crystianna had put her life in danger with him before but never given him her life to toy with, and he knew that if he dropped her now at the speed the levitating spell worked at she'd be dead the second she hit the floor.
Ginny went to stand besides him under the trapdoor and braced herself as he directed his wand at her and said the words for the incantation slowly and clearly. Feeling herself rise up into the air she tried her best to stay still to help him along, she felt a wonderful sense of calm at being in his control yet all the same she was glad when she could reach the edge of the floor and begin to pull herself up.
Sprawling forwards, face first in the dust of the stage she lay there for a moment catching her breath, the dust billowing around her as she panted. Swallowing against the dryness of her throat she turned to lean over the edge of the trapdoor where Draco was impatiently tapping his foot against the damp floor and glaring up at her for taking so long. Mumbling under her breath at him she repeated his incantation and watched as he began to rise into the air.
Unfortunately he was holding his arm at a crooked angle because of the pain which threw the spell off balance and had him trembling wildly in the air. Biting her lip when he almost plummeted back down Ginny made a split second decision and tossed her wand away across the stage, throwing herself forward to catch Draco's outstretched arm before he could fall. Gripping him tightly, her long nails digging into his skin she hauled him up towards her, sweat running over her face and blurring her mascara into her eyes as she crawled backwards pulling him up with her until they both collapsed exhausted onto the dusty stage.
"Ha! Saved your life!"
Wriggling out from under him Ginny stuck her tongue out at him and darted across the stage to retrieve her fallen wand before heading back to the door.
"Well since the alarms didn't go off I assume we're fine lighting our wands to get back."
Rolling his eyes at her Draco pulled himself up to his feet and waved his wand at his clothes, restoring them to their previous pristine condition before following Ginny out through the door.
"ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS BEHAVIOUR, I'M DISGUSTED WITH THE LOT OF YOU! ACTING LIKE A BUNCH OF DELINQUENTS I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO EMBARRASSED IT'S A DISGRACE! YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T EXPELL THE LOT OF YOU, JUST BE GLAD I'M ONLY TAKING AWAY ALL YOUR PRIVILEGES UNTIL THE END OF TERM AND ALL FUTURE FIELD TRIPS ARE CANCELLED!"
The Principle had been rambling on in this general direction for the past hour and everyone assembled in the Main Hall were now discretely blocking him out as he continued to roar as loud as he could at them. The theatre the college had gone to visit had been furious about the damage caused by the sprinkles and the small fire and had insisted the college pay for everything to stop them going to the press about how unruly the students were which would result in a lot of very angry very influential parents bawling him out. Needless to say he had been gibbering with rage when he had mounted the stage to deliver his speech and was now close to a coronary, his huge round face distorted and bright red like a squashed tomato as spit flew in all directions along with his words.
Used to his tirades ninety nine per cent of the students and at least half of the staff, were ignoring him, some reading magazines folded into tiny squares, some chattering away quietly and some daydreaming peacefully. Finally he seemed to run out of things to call them and he halted, his large barrel chest heaving beneath his robes as he mobbed his sweating face with a handkerchief and dismissed them all.
"Do you know who set the alarms off?"
Ginny shrugged as Vanessa and Elijah joined her and Draco on their way to the canteen for dinner. Ginny shot a glance at Vanessa who was busy smirking at Elijah and fluttering her long lashes at him suggestively.
"I can imagine you two were too busy to even notice the alarms until the sprinklers set off."
Winking Elijah slapped Vanessa's backside, kissed Ginny full on the mouth and clapped Draco on the shoulder before disappearing into the crowds to be first in the canteen. Rolling her eyes Ginny paused when she saw a pair of rather geeky boys surrounded by girls who she was sure didn't even know their names. One of the girl had their hand on the closets boys chest and was gazing up at him raptly as he spoke; she had a feeling who was behind the alarms and sure enough, turning around she saw the Principle marching up the corridor flanked by a dozen angry teachers who had a mountain of paperwork to fill in about the trip. The girls scattered instantly and the two boys suddenly looked a lot less confident when they turned to see who was approaching.
Ginny laughed along with the rest of the crowd and continued on through the doors to where Draco, Vanessa and Elijah were loudly holding court at the centre of the loudest, most crowded table. Dropping into the seat saved for her she pulled a slice of chicken breast towards her and tipped half a dozen baby new potatoes onto her plate as the conversation, pranks and teasing flowed effortlessly around her. She never spoke much at meal times; she was happier to observe.
She glanced up when a large tawny owl landed next to her plate and dropped a carefully rolled up letter tied with a pink ribbon into her lap. Unrolling it she glanced through, noticing Crystianna was getting rather restless being away from her life and catching sight of the demanding 'contact me soon' at the bottom.
"What's that Crys?"
Ginny surveyed it for a moment before screwing up the lesson and tossing it into one of the nearby fires where it sizzled loudly for a moment before curling up.
"Nothing."
Ginny turned back to her food and took another mouthful before being drawn into a loud argument about whether the Muggle movie or the stage play of Phantom of the Opera was better.
im no muggle – they will get together eventually I promise
Anonymous…for now – thanks, summary was changed so maybe its better
CatStar14 – thanks a lot, it's so annoying when they hate each other in the first chapter and two chapters later they're so in love
Bon-Bon Wright – I'm not good enough to write my own songs, thanks for the review though glad you like it other than that
MiAmor434 – he'll find out sooner or later I promise
Nickel – thanks and thanks again
MoonlightPrincess – you always manage to say the wrong thing at the wrong time don't you, and then spend hours cursing yourself for doing it, thanks for the review