A/N - ended up having to just make thoughts bolded and italicized. Hope it looks different enough to be recognizable. Sorry. I usually use asterisks, but it won't let me on here.

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Chapter 12

Draco didn't wander back into Slytherin Dungeon until nearly lunch time. Getting out of Gryffindor tower hadn't been nearly as tricky as he'd feared it would be. He had brought his invisibility cloak in case Ginny had wanted to go flying again, so he just tossed it on and flew out. Once he was at the Quidditch pitch, he simply went into the Slytherin changing rooms and took it off, then walk back to the castle. No one had even questioned him or thought it odd in the slightest. He had a Quidditch game later, so it wasn't unusual for him to be getting in some extra flying to warm up.

He worried about the match... Ginny was a Chaser for the Gryffindor team, and that's who they were playing that day. He sighed. Well, it wasn't as if they would be directly opposing eachother... they had different, completely independent positions on their respective teams... they had discussed it of course... well... after a couple of very spirited rounds in the sack... and had decided to just put it out of their minds and play their best, as if nothing was different.

Draco went to his room, showering and getting into some of his 'casual' clothes without paying much attention. He strode down to the Great Hall, his appearance looking as sharp as ever, but his eyes unfocused. What Ginny had said that morning about a spirit inside him still had his head spinning. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. He went to his usual spot at the table, absently nodding to his Housemates as they greeted him. Then he just sat there, letting his thoughts drift for a while.

"Glad to see you're eating something."

He looked over in surprise as Blaise sat down beside him, grinning like a cheshire cat. He blinked and looked down. Realizing he actually had been eating without even thinking about it. He swallowed the bite of food in his mouth and set his fork back down, looking at his half eaten plate of food in confusion. Why on earth had he been eating? It's not like it was really habit anymore... it'd been a very long time since he had eaten as much as he appeared to have just now. He suddenly got the ridiculous notion that perhaps the spirit had been doing it while he was distracted...

Well someone had to...

Draco's eyes went wide and darted around. The voice hadn't been more than a soft whisper, nearly lost in the clatter of his housemates around him, but he could have sworn he really heard it. He pushed his plate away, feeling slightly jittery.

"Damn... I'll keep my mouth shut next time." Blaise said ruefully, shaking his head.

"I should go get ready for the match..." Draco said, trying to cover his uneasiness.

Blaise grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, rolling his eyes. "You have nearly an hour. Sit. Eat. Or at least keep me company."

Draco sighed and settled back down. "Just as long as I don't have to hear about your little adventures last night." he said tiredly.

Blaise leaned closer, "What? You mean Pansy and I having ourselves a Gryffindor virgin sandwich?" He asked playfully.

"Ugh..." Draco said, shifting away from him a bit. "Do you HAVE to use such descriptive terms?"

Blaise let out a laugh, "If you want descriptive terms, I will USE descriptive terms!"

"NO! That's quite alright." Draco said quickly.

"So..." Blaise said, his tone just a bit too casual, "What do you think about the rumors?"

"What rumors?" Draco asked in a bored tone, poking holes in his mash with his fork.

"You haven't heard? It's been all over the castle since yesterday... it seems some ghost saved that new Ravenclaw seeker's life the night before last... snatched him right out of the air and set him down safe and sound..." Blaise said casually, his eyes searching Draco's face intently.

"Good for him." Draco said, his voice carefully neutral, but his pale cheeks taking on the slightest pink tinge.

"Fell well over a hundred feet and had nothing more than the bump from the bludger and some bruising across his side where he says the ghost's arm grabbed him..."

"Miraculous." Draco said absently, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"I heard part of the bruise looked like a handprint..."

"Mmhmm... that's nice..." Draco said, sculpting the mash into a snake with his fork.

"Dumbledore even went to see before Madam Pomfrey healed him up... he said it was most unusual... said none of the ghosts here had the ability to effect solid objects... especially snatching errant seekers out of the air..."

"Fascinating." Draco said, rolling his eyes.

Blaise smirked knowingly. "Good thing for that silly git that there was such a sweet and caring ghost around..."

"Yes. Wonderful." Draco said in a clipped tone, starting to mutilate the newly created snake, tiring of Blaise's little game.

Blaise smirked, "Now why would that ghost have done that do you think?" He mused leadingly.

"I think he has a bit of that Gryffindor-like hero fixation..." Draco muttered distractedly, "Bloody disgraceful... how he ever got into Slytherin I'll never know... The requirements must have been quite a bit slacker back then, that's for sure... Sometimes I think that sorting hat is off it's bloody..." He trailed off, coloring as he saw the odd, wide-eyed look on Blaise's face, belatedly realizing he had been speaking aloud.

He got up and swept out of the Hall before Blaise could object. Blaise watched him go, shocked and more than a little concerned.

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Draco wandered out by the Quidditch pitch, but he didn't want to go into the changing room yet. He still had at least forty minutes before the game, and it wouldn't take him more than ten to get dressed and give his team their usual pep talk.

He found himself wandering over towards the Forbidden Forest. In moments, he was walking between the first trees. It was daylight, but that only made the Forest a bit safer... he wasn't sure why he was in it, especially alone... but he felt disinclined to turn back.

A few minutes later he felt an odd tingling in his stomach. He came to a stop. There before him, amongst the tangle of roots and weeds at the base of one of the larger trees... was a gravestone.

He went over, sitting down before it. He reached out, pulling up the weeds and brushing away the dirt and leaves and such that had accumulated over the years. He was completely unsurprised by the name and the dates his cleaning revealed.

"Why did you bring me here?" He asked softly.

I had to...

He started slightly. There was no mistaking the soft voice in his head this time. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his wildly beating heart.

"Why did you have to?" Draco asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

So you would listen to me...

"What do you want to tell me then?"

You need sleep and food... you're killing yourself.

Draco snorted, "You sound like Blaise."

You're only alive because I'm keeping you that way... but I can only do so much, and I've reached my limits...

Draco blinked. He had often wondered why he hadn't started wasting away... he'd lost weight, certainly, but with as little as he ate he should really have starved to death long ago... and as for sleep... except for that morning, he couldn't remember sleeping at all for the past month or two at least... "You're the one who made me fall asleep." He said accusingly.

Yes.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" He asked angrily, "You left me in there where I could have been caught... Merlin knows what they would have done to me! And what if Ginny had reacted badly?"

The voice in his head laughed. Actually LAUGHED. She is far too smart to have been surprised by us.

Draco fell silent. Us. It was strange to hear this voice saying that. It made it seem all the more real somehow... it was disconcerting...

Come along! You've known about me... whether you admit it to yourself or not. You summoned me... you went looking for the lost part of your soul and you found it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco said, narrowing his eyes.

Just what I said. In a way I have been part of you since before you were born... when I died, not all of me remained here... part of me was lost... apparently drawn back to my bloodline and later born into you... we are the same... two halves of the same soul...

"That doesn't happen." Draco said quickly.

More laughter. Apparently it does... I knew you the moment you set foot on the grounds... but I couldn't come to you until you wanted me to.

"I never asked for you!" Draco said quickly.

Perhaps not in so many words... but you have known all along that you were incomplete... when you finally acknowledged that, you longed for the missing part... then your soul called to me... and I came...

Draco buried his face in his hands. "This has to be that bloody spell..." He muttered to himself.

It DID help. The voice said thoughtfully, It opened you up... let me in much deeper than I have ever been... made me stronger... I would have never had the strength for even this much before... but we have already been sharing your body for well over a year now... slowly becoming one... you're just accelerating the process... in your heart you know that.

Draco dropped his hands, then hugged himself, looking at the gravestone fearfully. "I... don't want to be possessed... I don't want to be controlled!" He said, finishing angrily.

It's not like that... I have no desire to control you... I just want to be whole again...

"If you don't want to control me, why did I fall asleep? Why was I eating at lunch? How did I get out here?!?" He demanded.

We're dying Draco... I don't want to die again... I might lose you forever... being half a soul isn't the most pleasant experience... you should know that... so if I have to force issues to keep us alive, I will. It's not that I WANT to, but that I HAVE to.

"So in essence you're saving your own borrowed skin." Draco said ruefully.

There was a mental sigh, I want to live, yes... but it's even more than just you and I... what about HER Draco?

"Her?" He asked, puzzled.

Ginevra. We've found her again... we can't lose her a second time...

Draco was stunned. "You mean Ginny?"

One and the same... can you not feel it? It's her... our lost love... how she has returned I don't know, but it is her none the less...

Draco wanted to refute it... but he couldn't deny the unexplainable attraction he felt for her... had always felt for her... and the way her every touch seemed to ignite his soul.

This is probably very hard for you to accept. I understand. You've had a hard life... I know... I imagine it was much the same as my own... we were both born into the same family after all... from what I have seen and heard since I have come to be with you, the Malfoys don't seem to have changed their ways.

"Why did they refuse to take your body?" Draco asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

I'm sure you can guess... I was a disgrace... they have no room in the family plot for disgraces... not that I ever wanted to be laid to rest there in the first place... I couldn't have picked a better place to be buried to be honest... my true home has always been at Hogwarts. I never quite belonged in my family, even though I tried for a while... I just wasn't made the same as the others... eventually I realized the futility of it and stopped trying... I was just myself, no matter how angry it made my family. They threatened to disown me when they found out about Ginevra... if she hadn't called it off I would have married her... I had the ring and everything... even after she told me it was over, I couldn't believe it... I kept going back to our secret place... kept waiting for her... from dusk until dawn I would wait... the night before my birthday I could take it no more... my father was to officially name me as his successor on my birthday... I had no desire to go into the family business... I wanted nothing to do with them... I had planned on telling him where he could put his business and tell him I was marrying the woman I loved, even if he felt she was below my station... I was going to accept being disowned happily and without a second thought... but... without her by my side... I knew I hadn't the resolve to refuse the position... I couldn't do anything without her... she was my life... so I took what was, admittedly, the easy way out...

Draco felt an ache in his chest that he knew wasn't entirely his own.

I was in so much pain my soul seemed to fall to pieces... and then she came... she lay right where you are sitting now... she cried over my grave... I... couldn't understand it... she had said she didn't love me... but she lay here on my grave and cried for two days straight before they finally carried her away... I tried to gather myself back up... to talk to her... to let her know I was here... but there wasn't enough of me left to reach her... I don't know what I did that drove her away in the first place... but it became obvious she still loved me... if only I had known that before... if only I hadn't let her go without explaining what I'd done wrong... maybe then I could have made it right again... they sent her home after that and I never saw her again... until now...

"But... she's a Weasley... the Malfoys and Weasleys have always hated eachother..."

No... not always... I think I am the reason for that actually... I'm sure my family blamed the Weasleys for my death...

Draco blinked. It DID sound like something his family would do... and his father had never really explained the animosity between the two families... it could indeed be the reason... He found himself wanting to know more about this spirit... despite his earlier worry of being lost, his body taken over... he found the fear that this would happen disappearing. When he concentrated, he could almost feel the other boy's spirit within him... it felt... right somehow... When he stopped fighting against the idea, he realized that he didn't mind the presence of Darien in his mind... it felt infinitely familiar... and it did make him feel... whole...

He turned as he heard a twig snap. His cheeks colored as he saw Blaise standing there. He could tell by the frightened look on his face that he had been there for a while. Seeing he had been spotted, Blaise went over to him, kneeling at his side. "We can get you help, Draco..." He said softly, gently placing a reassuring hand on Draco's shoulder.

Draco felt a smirk slip over his lips, then a laugh escaped him. "I'm not mental, Blaise..." He said mirthfully. "I'm just..." He blinked, his laugh falling off... "Well, I guess I'm possessed... but it's ok!" He said quickly, "I'm rather getting to like him..."

Blaise stared at him worriedly, not sure what to make of this.

There was laughter in Draco's head. May I? Darien asked mirthfully.

Draco smirked and shrugged, "Go ahead. Maybe you can convince him..."

Blaise glanced around, getting a bit creeped out listening Draco talk to someone who wasn't there.

"It's ok, Blaise, we were just getting to know eachother a bit better..."

Blaise's eyes darted back to Draco. There was something off about his voice... His eyes widened and he pulled back, falling on his backside in his surprise. Draco's eyes were now a deep chestnut brown. The strange eyes danced with laughter as he smiled. It was a real smile... something that rarely graced Draco's lips. "Who are you?" Blaise asked, feeling the fear growing inside him.

"I'm Darien..." Darien replied, jerking his thumb over towards the gravestone.

Blaise's eyes followed, taking in the writing on the stone. His eyes darted back to the strange brown eyes peering at him. "Leave him alone!" He said, alarmed.

Darien laughed, "I'm not hurting him... I have no intention of hurting him... I've been keeping him alive in fact... but I have reached the very end of my abilities... that's why I felt it necessary to make him aware of my presence... to warn him... if the daft boy doesn't start taking care of himself immediately we're both going to be wandering souls!"

Blaise eyed him with trepidation. He'd been wondering how Draco could possibly still be alive and relatively healthy the way he'd been going.

Darien looked down at Draco's watch. "Oh dear... it appears we must be going... Maybe we can talk again after dark... I'm still too weak to speak like this away from my grave during daylight, even with Draco's explicit permission. Do me a favor and keep badgering him about eating and sleeping and such..."

"Um... sure..." Blaise said uneasily, "But why do you need to go?"

He smiled... and then the smile slid into a smirk as the brown flowed away from his eyes like smoke clearing. "It's time for Quidditch of course." Draco said, rolling his pale eyes.

Blaise followed mutely as Draco made his way back through the Forest as if nothing had happened.

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