Sorry for the extra delay!

Summary: A new prophecy has both Harry and Draco training for the ultimate fight. Ginny has many secrets of her own, one involving the newly tattooed Draco. He has hatred and ruthlessness branded into him; will his love for Ginny give him new, more painful scars?

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the plot holes and I guess I should claim Emlyn and Lukas and everyone else you don't recognize...

Happy Reading! on with it...

A look, a laugh, a smile, a second
Passes by and I regret it
Words just aren't right
Sometimes I just can't explain
All the ways you devastate me
Straylight Run

13

The early winter wind hurtled outside the windows, buffeting them with their cold blast. But inside the temperature was very different…

As soon as Ginny was out the door, Harry felt Emlyn's power flare, mimicking her rising temper.

"What's she doing here, Potter," Emlyn demanded.

"I can't tell you," he answered.

They started circling each other. Harry had control on the power within the room, and Emlyn's temper was making her burn through hers faster than she would have liked. She couldn't decide what she hated most about Harry at that moment, except that finding him here with his girlfriend hurt her more than she expected. She knew they were dating, but this was the first evidence she'd seen of it.

"I can get Lukas in here, and he will tell me what she is," Emlyn threatened.

"If he actually knew what was going on, he would have told you. And besides, you know this is between me and you…"

"Did I miss something? What's between us, Potter? Is it your imagination?" she whispered sarcastically. He knew she was trying to get him angry.

"It's very real, I just haven't figured out what it is yet," Harry smiled boldly at her, "But, I will."

"Over-confidence isn't a trait I thought you possessed, Potter," Emlyn sneered.

"I just know I'm right," Harry retorted. They had stopped circling, battling mentally with their powerful strengths and were now standing almost toe to toe in the middle of the Dueling Arena.

"And what are you right about?"

"You're scared of me," Harry said simply.

"Now, that's a trait I know you possess," Emlyn said, her voice shaking slightly as she realized she was losing ground to him.

Scared. Was she scared of him? She knew she needed someone to tell her that she was going to be alright, and that it was alright to cry for Tynan, and that it was alright to be mad. She needed… someone who understood.

"You're scared that you will get to know me, you're scared that whatever you're holding against me isn't worth the energy you put into it each and every day, and most of all, you're scared that I'm going to let you down," Harry finished. Emlyn was silent.

"Now, the real question is… what is it about me that you hate?" Harry asked her. A wave of triumph raced through him when he saw Emlyn release his gaze to look away. But with one tear that slid down her perfect cheek, the feeling turned into gut wrenching self-loathing.

"You think you know everything, Potter! What made you think you could analyze my life like this?" Emlyn said fiercely, turning her bright eyes back to him.

"I'm not analyzing anything, I just want the truth. I want to know what is going on because I know when I'm being left in the dark," Harry said lowly. "You can't call me a 'failure' without an explanation."

Emlyn saw the sudden pain in his eyes as he leveled them on her, but it was gone and his face became unreadable again.

She smirked at him regardless, her tears disappearing. Her words had impacted him, and it was obvious he thought about what she said a lot.

"Tell me. I know there is a reason."

"There is a second prophecy," she started.

"I know that, you already told me."

"Don't interrupt me," she whipped at him.

Harry was silent, glaring at her.

"It basically says that a complete team of Aspects was born a week after you. Our purpose was to help you in any way we could in the fight against Voldemort. We became targets, just like you, though we became only legends because of the work Dumbledore did for us."

"What does a complete team mean?" Harry asked.

"It means that Lukas and I have a sister. Her name is Tynan and she was our Lifter."

"Was?"

"Obviously. She's not here, if you hadn't noticed,"

"So what happened to her?"

"Now, that's a good story. It starts off with her dying, and ends with… you." She turned her eyes on him, and Harry could see her ache.

"What do I have to do with her death?" he asked, hoping that the answer wasn't him.

"You caused it. Voldemort is your responsibility, he was your prophecy. And because of your inaction, Voldemort and his Death Eaters killed my sister." She was now openly crying, tears were steaming down her face in anger.

"I don't know what to say…"

"How about I'm sorry I'm a failure? Or I'm sorry that I caused you such pain," she screamed at him. Harry's anger erupted.

"I've lost family too. My parents died because of me, Sirius died because of me. I know loss too, so don't pretend that you're the only victim," he yelled right back.

"Except that you're not a victim, you're the murderer. My parents were in the fire along with Tynan, they all died because of you," she said with quiet accusation.

But then she sobbed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she placed her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook with suppressed sadness, and Harry could feel her grief to the depth of his being. His pain for Sirius came rolling back to him, and joined his confusion about being so wrongly accused.

But he looked at her, and knew he couldn't be mad. She was going through what he had been through himself. He remembered what had helped him out of the darkness surrounding Sirius' death: his friends. So he did the only thing he could think of, and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

He expected her to push him away, but she pressed her face tightly to his chest and whispered to him.

"Because of you, my sister and my parents are dead."

"No, they aren't. Voldemort is responsible, I would never do anything to hurt you," he whispered into her hair. She smelled like sun and fury.

They were silent for what seemed an eternity.

"I can't breathe because it hurts so much some days," she admitted quietly in the silence surrounding them. He could feel her stir against his arms, and he tightened his hold. She sighed and pressed closer to him, he couldn't help but think how right she felt.

"It gets better after awhile, but you'll always have those days," Harry whispered back.

"A part of me is missing, I don't want you to replace her… that's the real reason why I'm scared of you," she told him softly, her voice wobbling in evidence of her sadness.

"I don't want to replace her, I want to help you, protect you. I would never dream of taking her place," he answered her.

"But you are taking her place. You're the new Lifter, I can't survive without you, just like I couldn't survive without her," she moved her hand to wipe away a tear. Harry could feel the wetness seep through his school shirt.

"You survived this far without her," Harry told her, but at soon as he said it, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. He felt her shoulders jerk again, and she buried her face against him.

"This is barely surviving, I can't go on like this," she whispered through her tears.

"Emlyn," he murmured, his hand coming up to her face. She looked up at him, her eyes shining with grief and pleading. "I know this seems like it will never happen, but you're going to be alright. One day you will be happy again, I promise," he told her.

He watched her eyes well up with tears again, slowly sliding down her cheeks.

"How do you know?" she said achingly.

"Because I keep my promises," he told her.

Suddenly, his lips were on hers. But even more surprising, was that she was kissing him back.

His hands were tangled in her long blonde hair, and her arms were wrapped around his neck as if she never wanted to let go, as if her life depended on this moment.

It wasn't real, he thought. He wished it was real with his whole soul, there was no way…

But he opened his eyes as her lips left his and looked into her blue eyes that were bright with tears. It was real, she was real, he assured himself. It was a dream, all the same.

Moments passed that seemed not long enough, and reality slipped in almost unnoticed.

What have I done? Harry asked himself with growing apprehension.

Emlyn touched her lips and moved away from him, her eyes deliberately avoiding his.

"Why did you do that?" she asked softly.

Because I wanted to. "I'm not sure," he answered.

She visibly took a deep breath, "Don't ever do that again." She did not look at him.

Everything he was feeling crashed to the ground. She didn't even like him. After everything he told her…

"Why? Because of Ginny? We aren't dating, we've never even…" he stopped at the look on her face. He knew what she was thinking.

"Because you still think I killed your sister?" Harry asked, his tone was flat and unfeeling because he already knew the answer. Emlyn was silent and unmoving.

"I thought you were… joking," Harry said incredulously. "You're serious? You think that because I haven't killed Voldemort, that your sister and family are dead. You think I killed her though my inaction?" Harry pulled at her arm, swiveling her around to face him. Tears were still rolling down her cheeks, but her eyes were mutinous.

"Did anyone ever tell you that I HAVE faced Voldemort?" Harry asked her, gripping her arm tighter as she fought to get away from him. "In all respects, I should be dead right now. Besides for the attack that gave me my scar, I have faced him four times, Emlyn. I'm only seventeen and I carry this Prophecy, I've faced him four times, and that's not enough for you, is it?" Harry glared at her, his anger rising. He knew she could feel his wrath, and he wanted her too.

"If that's what you believe, why don't you go kiss Voldemort too? It would probably be more fun anyways; he's killed loads more people than I have," Harry shouted, his jealously rising unreasonably. "Then maybe, while you're at it, because he's so awesome to be around, you can kill him so that I don't have to see his fucking red eyes EVER AGAIN."

"You are the One, the Prophecy says you will kill him," Emlyn growled.

"Or be killed by him," Harry corrected her. "But I stopped living by my prophecy a long time ago. I began to dwell on it so much that my life became it. The funny thing though, is that my life's purpose is summed up in five sentances of some dumb prediction. So I began to ask myself, Is that who I am? What if that's all I'm going to be- less than one hundred words?" Emlyn had turned away from him. "You live your life by that second prophecy, don't you?" he accused her.

"It is my life!" Emlyn glared at him. "It is who I am, what I was created for."

"That's where you are wrong, Emlyn. Look around, this is your life and it's not a glamorous Prophecy today is it?"

She didn't answer him.

"Do you see a Seer around here anywhere? A crystal ball? Or even a bloody tea cup?" His anger was growing with every flutter of her eyelashes.

Emlyn shook her head no, but her eyes were glaring at him in hatred.

"That's right, no. It's because the future is ours. Some stupid Prophecy decided to run my life, and that doesn't seem all that fair to me. You need to realize that your life isn't run by your Prophecy either. And if I am the One, and if I need your help one day fighting Voldemort, I will call you and you will come and help me fight. But not because some Prophecy says that you will, but because you will care about me and the outcome of that fight."

Fury was coursing through him. Something about her, maybe it was the way her hair spilled down her back, or the way she challenged him with her eyes, it drove him crazy. Maybe it was because he could still feel himself kissing her; maybe it was because he cared about her…

"And what makes you think I will care about you?" Emlyn sneered. "I don't care about failures. I already told you that I don't care if Voldemort kills you, but I will be there if you call me because that's what my PROPHECY says will happen."

"You are so bloody prejudiced against me!" Harry yelled. "Can't you see that?"

"Can't you see that I don't care?" Emlyn yelled back. Every syllable crushed his heart, and Harry glared back at her, suddenly unfeeling towards her. His emotions were gone, she was blocked out. He felt… dead. And he laughed at her.

"I thought you were just looking for someone to blame, and I was willing to let you because I knew it would help you get through some of your grief over your sister's death. I blamed myself for Sirius' death and I almost killed myself because of it, so I hoped maybe I could help you a bit. But death hurts, Emlyn. It gut-wrenchingly painful, and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think of him and all the people that have died trying to save me, or died because of me.

"Do you think I asked for this? Do you think I want all this responsibility? My life is now devoted to saving the world from Voldemort because my mother loved me; do you actually want to burden me with the guilt that I feel now because I know you think I killed your sister?" Harry seethed.

She glared at him, the hatred in her eyes unwavering.

"I care about you; I would do anything for you. But you don't believe me. And I can't believe you actually think I killed your family, and then kiss me like that."

He laughed again, disbelievingly.

"Thank you, Emlyn. You have now made my guilt practically unbearable. I hope you are still around when I fight Voldemort, because before he dies, I will make him confess to everything he's done, and you will hear him tell me in his own voice that he was the one who killed your sister and your family. Then the guilt can be yours."

He calmly turned and gathered his wand and bag and walked towards the door. But before he pushed it open she heard him whisper.

"Care about that," he said under his breath, then the door shut and Emlyn collapsed to the floor in tears.

0000

"Thermion Equation of the Northern Grazes Equinox," Emlyn repeated boringly and pushed her way into the blue and white Ravenclaw common room. She quickly searched the quizzical faces for her brother, but did not find him.

"You aren't supposed to be in here," one of the braver Ravenclaw girls approached her.

"So change your password," Emlyn replied dully, ignoring the angry glances.

Emlyn was definitely in no mood to argue a trivial matter when she was in such a panic.

Harry had kissed her.

Harry Potter kissed her… and she kissed him back.

"Who are you looking for?" the Ravenclaw girl interrupted severely.

"NOT YOU." Emlyn said stonily, and with one raise of her graceful eyebrows, the Ravenclaw girl scurried back to her seat and watched as Emlyn made her way up to Lukas' room.

She found him sitting at his desk.

"Why didn't you come find me? You knew I was looking for you," Emlyn started. Lukas turned and looked at her.

"Because I knew you were upset, I'd rather talk here."

Emlyn was silent, she knew he was right.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Harry and I fought," Emlyn said quietly.

"So? You guys don't get along, you fight all the time," Lukas replied.

"I told him about Tynan," Emlyn said. Lukas looked unsurprised.

"And did he convince you that you were wrong about blaming him for her death?" he asked her.

Yes, "NO. He is a failure, and will always be in my eyes." Emlyn answered him, hoping that Lukas couldn't feel her lying.

Guilt wracked her body; she couldn't believe that she had gotten her wish. She was hurting Harry Potter, and she felt terrible about it. Because of her, he had more guilt. He said he cared about her, and she had given him more burdens in return. She felt horrible, and she knew she was wrong.

But, damn if she would ever admit it.

"Fine, you can believe it, then. But after the winter break ends, we start practicing with him. So you better get over whatever is stopping you from trusting him, because soon enough we are going to have to be placing our lives in his hands."

"What do you mean we are practicing with him?"

"Come on, Em. Don't play dense," Lukas smiled at her. Emlyn didn't smile back. "Potter is going to be joining our morning and evening practices. Damaris says that he is more than ready, and could even start now. But she wanted to give him a break these last weeks of the semester before the more serious stuff started."

Emlyn heard him, but she was thinking about more pressing matters. She was going to have to spend time with Harry… and they had kissed. What was going to happen?

"Em? What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing. Ginny and Harry aren't dating, did you know that?"

"No, I didn't," Lukas lied. He had figured it out the first day he saw them together, but gathered they didn't want anyone to know. "Think we should keep that to ourselves?"

"Whatever, I'm a Slytherin. Gossiping about a Gryff is pointless, no one cares about him. Except for Malfoy, he likes Ginny, and has some HUGE grudge against Potter."

"Be careful of him, I get an uneasy feeling around him."

"Yea, thanks for the warning. I kinda figured that out for myself when I punched him. We're alright now," she smirked sarcastically.

"Then if it works on Malfoy, why don't you punch Harry?" Lukas asked. Emlyn gaped at him, then dissolved into laughter with him.

But she wasn't laughing two weeks later when the Gryffindor's slaughtered the Hufflepuffs, Harry easily catching the snitch, however fancy the move he did to get it. He was once again the hero, and his name was wherever she went. But mostly, she was jealous of the way Ginny got to stand next to him and look at him and touch him…

And she wasn't laughing when Harry showed up with the gorgeous Ginny on his arm at the Yule Ball. Jealousy and anger made her pull Draco out onto the dance floor near them.

About the only thing that made her a little happy, (besides Lukas smiling because Hermione was his date), was that Draco seemed to be having about as good at time as she was. He continually stared at Ginny whenever he thought she and Ginny weren't looking, and subconsciously tracked her around the room. But, Emlyn knew the truth; Draco was caught under the youngest Weasley's spell, even if he didn't know it himself.

She also knew the other truth. Harry and Ginny weren't dating, and she had the power to relieve Draco of his stress and desire over her. But his stupid comment to her in the Great Hall when Harry had cursed her convinced her to hold off.

Let him fret a little more, she smiled to herself as he whirled her across the dance floor. Tonight, they were partners in envy.

So a little short, and D/G is absent, but I hope you guys still liked it! Harry and Emlyn can be really hard for me to write so PLEASE! give me a review or email, I'm dying to know what you think!

And stick around for the next chapter! It's one of my favorites and I know all you D/G shippers are going to love it! THE UPDATE IS GOING TO BE QUICK TOO! so check back! hint hint ;)

On with the love: Neveralone89 (Sorry about the review thing! I dont know what was wrong! I hope its fixed! Anyways I agree with you about Snape, but I needed him to reveal the info because Voldemort is dumb and can't do anything himself ;) So, Snape has to prove himself again, which was why he was so nervous about giving Voldy info I think. I hope you enjoyed the Emlyn and Harry stuff in this chapter too! lol i love your well rounded critique on aspects, thats awesome! haha! ps. you are going to LOVE the next chapters if you love d/g! Oh, get ready i cant wait for you to read it!) Blackrougefillie (sorry about the lack of d/g! I cant wait for you to read the next chapters too!) DraconSpitfire22 (thank you! you def made my day!) Alexandria J. Malfoy (lol you are so funny! Im so excited for you guys to read the next chapter!) Kirrashi (nice sound effects! I think your hopes have some merit, but not quite yet... :D) katie (thanks so much! draco and ginny are by far my favorite, so I hope they are fun to read about too!) Shalita (I read those too! I just hope I keep Draco in character. But you never know how this will turn out! ;))

And thank you to all my readers!

So, if I haven't mentioned it before... Im totally pumped about the next chapter. So review and I will post quicker! Hurray! So, as always read, review and have a lovely week! -xxx