Just a short chapter. After reading HBP this is (very) AU now…it had to be, otherwise I'd invent some reason to bring Snape in just so he could suffer a horrible, long and uber painful death! I know people still think he's a good guy (deep, deep down) but after what he did (I didn't know whether to scream or cry!) there can be no redemption…I still think there is hope for Draco though!

DRACO

A Promise from Blaise

Professor Snape once told me that the most dangerous thing in the world was a woman capable of looking past the flaws and into the person beneath. I can remember at the time, thinking that Severus had been inhaling far too many potion fumes but looking back on that queer, rainy day in my fifth year, his words, strange and unexpected as they were, now seem all too true. Ginny Weasley or should I say Malfoy, has been the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me. She has also been the worst. Without her I would not have become the man I am today. Without her, Harry Potter would not be frozen before me and Blaise Zanbani, would not have his wand aimed at my heart.

"Pansy Parkinson?" I ask out loud, scorn dripping heavily in my tone. "I didn't know she was your type. I thought XY chromosomes were more up your alley…"

Blaise stares at me for a moment. "I'm sorry," he says after a moment's silence, "Was that supposed to be hurtful only we're not eleven years old anymore, Malfoy. Next you'll be telling me to kiss Professor Flitwick's wrinkly arse!" He laughs at his own pathetic joke, throwing back his head and exposing a length of golden skin. What I wouldn't give for a travelling vampire to be passing…

"Yes, I love her," Blaise answers my question, without a hint of shame. "Always have. I was there, every time you used her and threw her away like a piece of rubbish. I was the one who would listen as she went on and on about the wonderful Draco Malfoy!" He casts a dirty, dismissive look in my direction. "What the hell did she ever see in you?" he half-whispers to himself before continuing, "I was by her side as she watched you and that Weasley together, hiding in corners and muttering to each other. She wasn't angry at you, damn knows that she should have been but no, you were Malfoy, the boy who had and was everything she ever wanted to be. She would have followed you to the end of the earth and didn't you just know it? Didn't you just love it?"

His face is twisted with open bitterness, the vivid eyes telling me everything I need to know and just what buttons to push…

"Why the past tense Blaise?" I mock, with a smirk on my lips. "We both know that dear little Pansy is just as much under my thumb, so to speak, as she ever was. I say jump and she'll happily leap in the air, tongue out and awaiting a pat on the head. Admittedly, your, what was it you said? Oh yes, love for her is somewhat of a surprise but still, that bitch knows exactly where her true loyalties lie." My body is calm and controlled, not allowing a twinge of uncertainty or fear to seep slyly through. This situation can be kept in order. I can handle it. Easily.

"I bet it annoys the hell out of you, doesn't it?" I say, moving closer. I do my best to ignore the violent crashing noise of the trees, as the wind whips through them, sending weak branches falling headlong on the ground.

"The fact that I can be a utter, utter, bastard to her and she still, even now, hangs off me like a lovesick teenager. I can do anything I want to her, destroy anything she has and in a heartbeat, she'll forgive me. But you…loving her like you do, so truly, so sickeningly, and yet, having nothing to show for it… How pathetic does that make you? Sniffing like some mongrel around my leftovers!"

A sudden feeling of perverse pleasure fills me. It's been a long time since I've been truly vicious. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be.

The wind is growing fiercer by the second, it howls and screams with anguish. But Blaise seems not to notice. He doesn't explode with emotion, like I expected him to do, like I wanted, waited, wished for him to do. Instead his face remains strangely blank and he begins to take soft footsteps towards Harry.

"Stop!" I shout, my heart struggling to beat in my chest. He continues walking. "Crucio!" a beam of light breaks from my wand and races towards him. He turns towards it, face cocky and calm. With the precision of an arrow, it hits his chest. I wait for the scream.

"Ow," utters a bored voice. With theatrical flourish he wipes off his jacket. "Nice shot," he says with mock-appreciation before walking on, until he stands in front of Harry, peering into his eyes.

"His mother's eyes, that's what they all said…"

My wand shakes slightly in my hand. "Immobulus! Crucio! Stupefy!" one after one they flood from my mouth. I rush forward, confusion overriding fear. Wand still in my hand, I grab him by the shoulders and push him away from Harry.

"What the hell are you?" I demand, my fingers going white with the pressure of holding on.

He doesn't panic or move. He just looks at me. In his eyes I see the promise of what he will do to me. No clever quip will help now.

"Let's just say Professor Slughorn wasn't only interested in me because I have a hot mum…" It takes me a minute to understand what he is saying. In my sixth year certain pupils were selected to join Slughorn's little orgy of fawning. I wasn't one of them.

Leaning in closer, he says with soft satisfaction, "At times like this, being immortal comes in very handy…you can't hurt me Draco…" Taking advantage of my bewilderment, he pushes me off and swaggers easily back to Potter. He bends down slightly and brushes a fingers along Harry's neck.

"Something's missing," he ponders lightly, in a tone full of meaning. "Never mind I'm sure Ginny will be all too happy to return it."

I look at him sharply, my hair falling messily past my eyes and my body feeling as if it has been hollowed out and filled with gnawing nightmares, each one more terrifying than the last.

"What do you want? Money? Is that it?" My voice can't help dropping into a hateful plea.

"I have money," he responds smugly. "From you, I want something much more valuable." He seems taller, stronger, older. An expression part-serious, part-mocking is vividly lit on his exotic face. "I want you to be sorry," he says quietly, looking not at me but at Harry.

"You've destroyed so many lives, impressive amounts in fact. You've told so many lies, twisted so many hearts, far too many, but now you'll finally know what it feels like to lose the one thing that matters the most."

The name slips out before I can even think. "Ginny…"

Blaise smiles. "Who else? To think you've doing all this for that one little girl. Imagine, the great Malfoy, king of Slytherin house, obsessed with a Weasley?" His voice remains scornful but the expressive face cannot hide his genuine need and anger as he asks, "Tell me Draco, why ever did Pansy choose you to be the father of her child? I know the Death Eaters wanted someone of pure blood but surely they could find somebody, anybody, better than the likes of you. A child needs someone who can love without expecting something in return, he needs compassion and faith yet all you can offer is cruelty and ignorance. Why choose someone hateful when love, my love, would have been willingly given?"

A sharp talon of laughter slits through the air. Ironically it is my own. So my shameful mistake is what drives Blaise to seek his 'revenge', the disgusting child which I sired is the reason for this…melodrama?

"The paternity of that thing is nothing to fight over, believe me."

I have never seen him. Not once in nearly five years. He was a means to an end. A thing created for darkness. I feel nothing but shame for bringing such a creature into this world.

"He is an innocent!" Blaise shouts. I thought he was angry before, but I was wrong. Every muscle in his body is tensed and his expression is one of pure loathing.

"Never have I seen a child so full of power and potential. You're afraid of him, that's why you kept Harry Potter alive. It wasn't for Ginny, how the hell could it be? You know that he," Blaise places a hand on Harry's frozen shoulder. "Is the only one who can kill your son. Quite a situation you've created for yourself Draco, securing Pansy's help in faking Potter's death has led you, in what can only be a killer case of irony, in keeping him alive. Ginny must be one hell of a good…wife." He finishes, each true word remaining hanging in the night air, for all too revel in their misery.

I stay quiet. I now understand how a rabbit must feel, trapped in the headlights of a car, unable to move, paralysed with the fear that life will soon be stolen away.

"I don't want him dead," Blaise says quietly, looking at Harry with something like fear.

He sighs and then moves slowly away. My wand comes automatically up.

I curse, hex and spell as fast as I can. They hit Blaise in a sparking crescendo of colour.

But nothing happens.

"Where are you going? What do you want?" I yell, voice hoarse and head spinning.

Blaise doesn't turn round, he merely inclines his head slightly, so that a slither of his golden face can be seen.

"Right now," he starts, taking obvious pleasure in his upper hand, "I'm going to see your wife, tell her a few home truths. I'm sure you'll agree that such a woman deserves the truth. And then I'm going to tell her where her beloved Harry is…"

Not if I can bloody well help it…

"Oh and before you get any ideas about the icicle over there…don't. If you so much as lay a finger on his head then I'll make sure Ginny and everybody else knows about your offspring and the murders you've committed, can't forget about those, can we? Your own father…very naughty Draco, very naughty indeed."

"I don't respond well to threats!" I attempt to say firmly. My voice shakes.

"Who does? You're just going to have to wait and see if your wife actually loves you or whether you'll forever be the rebound boy. Not that it makes much difference. If I was her, I'd kill you for what you've done."

He continues on until he is almost out of my sight. A muffled noise comes from Harry's direction. The spell is wearing off.

"You'll be sorry!" he promises before apparating away.

I already am.

Next chapter: Ginny at the Burrow/Blaise tells all/Confrontation/Cold hard truth…