Of Seasons and Shadows
Eva Yasha
A/N: Here is is folks, the fic you've all been waiting for...I hope. Just read what I've got so far, and please tell me what you think. I know it starts off slow, but don't all good fics?
The begining of term banquet Ginny Weasly's sixth year at Hogwarts was a quiet and subdued affair. There were astonishingly few new students to be sorted, and the long tables of the great hall were filled with empty places. War was fully upon the wizarding world, and the students minds were with missing freinds and loved ones out on the front lines. This was especially true for the two remaining Weaselys, who had just come from a summer spent at number 12 Grimmauld Place, and had seen first hand the toll that the war extracted from those who fought in it. Sitting between them, a vacant eyed Harry Potter, shellshocked and locked within his own mind after a recent encounter with Voldemort, was a poignant reminder of the price they all continued to pay.Ginny felt a twinge of worry for him, he hadn't planned on returning this year at all, but with recent events, and his current state, it had been reckoned the best thing for him.
Ginny looked around sadly. At three of the long house tables, the missing faces were all students fifth year and above, pulled away from their schooling to help on the front lines. At one table, however, the opposite held sway. Almost every upper year Slytherin was present and accounted for, it was the younger students they were missing. Ginny found her eyes drawn to the end of the table, where Draco Malfoy, recently returned form his mysterious exile, and Blaise Zabini, the unspoken rulers of their house, sat side by side in scilence. Pansy Parkinson, usualy boisturous and outgoing, sat pale and withdrawn beside them. Her younger sister, Rosaline, was conspicuously missing. The other members of their house sat tensly, staunchly ignoring the baleful glares tossed at them from across the room.
A sudden hush fell over the already unusually silent room as Professor Mcgonagal stood to deliver the start of term announcements. Ginny listened with only half an ear, she already knew what it all boiled down to. Due to the war...due to the war...yada yada yada. There would be fewer Hogsmead weekends, and these would be limited to students fifth year and above...fewer quidditch matches, which didn't really matter, since half the players weren't here anyway...there would be a series of informal balls to make up for the lack...Ginny shook her head ruefully. Balls? Make up for Quidditch? The idea was ludicris. Still...they had to do something...
Ginny looked up in time to see Mcgonagal's gaze turn feirce in a way that was oddly reminicesnt of Dumblodore at his best. Se looked all around the hall, seeming to meet each and every gaze, before promising them that while " I live, breath, and run this school, you shall all be as safe as my powers can make you."
A number af pointed stares were directed at the Slytherine table as she said this, the students doubtless wondering why the older students werent at the sides of their Death eater parents. Escpecially Malfoy, whose role in the death of Proffesor Dumbledore was still unclear.
As if on cue, Malfoy and Zambini rose smoothly to their feet, instantly drawing every eye in the hall.
Ginny found herself watching them with a strange hunger building in the pit of her belly. They moved in perfect unison, their black cloaks billowing out behind them. The flickering candlelight illuminating the hall brought out the sapphire highlights in Zambini's midnight black hair, and haloed Malfoy in sparkling brilliance. Power seemed almost to roll of them in waves, and Ginny began to see flickers and flashes of light at the edges of her vision.
Upon reaching the high table, they knelt in perfect syncronization. The hall was filled with heavy silence untill their voices rang out, echoing errily through the empty space.
"We, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini," they intoned softly, " On behalf of ourselves and all members of Slytherin house present this night, Formaly renounce our parents and families, and do so swear our allegience to Hogwarts, The Order of the Pheonix, and the side of the light. We shall do all in our power to protect this school and its inhabitants."
Ginny didn't hear Mcgonagal give the boys her blessing and acceptance, there was a strange roaring in her ears, like rushing waters, or the flapping of many wings. She didnt hear the shocked whispers that broke out across the hall, or her brothers furious muttering beside her, for at that moment, passing by the gryfindor table, Draco Malfoy turned slightly and looked into her eyes. His silver gaze seared her to the core, and in the perfect scilence of her inermost heart, Ginny felt something stir, and awaken. She gasped as searing pain blossomed in her chest, and fainted dead away.