AN - Glad you all liked that chapter - must admit was fun writing it, this isn't that good, but I needed to calm it down! thanks for all the replies about ginny/blaise and draco/ginny - if you haven't yet reviewed on which you prefer - PLEASE DO! Am still undecided at the moment, so am playing with all three- hope you like it!
jjp91 - you're a regular now! thanks for the review I'll try my best to answer your question! To me, the Slytherins are more powerful as all their parents were either supporters of Voldemort or death-eaters. So they've all experienced or used dark magic, which the rest of the school obviously wouldn't have thus making them more powerful and dangerous! But the power of the house order came from their ancestors - because they're all so pure, they have a lot of magic inside them which is what Salazar wanted! - hope that clears it up!
urhallucinating - thanks for your opinion, i know what you mean i still like draco/ginny too, but glad you wouldn't mind, would hate to be abandoned! If i do, thanks for your view, never thought of giving Draco someone else, I must think about this!
fannficsrock - love your enthusiasm, and i'm glad you enjoy the story - hope this chapter doesn't ruin it for you! I'll go with my instincts in the end but I am so unsure I just think Blaise and Draco are so similar and different!
Chapter 8 – Recognition of Power
The Slytherins were all disorientated as they found themselves spinning through the air invisible to the eye. They noticed the uproar from amongst the students when they had all just disappeared, all were wondering how they managed to apparate inside Hogwarts. Obviously they hadn't apparated as even Ginevra couldn't manage to apparate forty students to wherever they were going, but what had she done? Then in a second, they all found themselves thrown onto the stone floor of the Slytherin Common Room.
Hardly aware of what he was doing due to his headache, Draco scrambled to his feet clutching his wand trying to find Ginevra in the midst of the slumped heap of Slytherins. Blaise was doing the same thing on the other side of the Common Room, as they both bumped into each other, the same fear ran through them, where had she gone?
Running down the stairs and skidding to a halt at the wall, he saw a hole had been blasted through it. Weary of what they might meet in Draco's suite, both boys had their wand in front of them. It was common knowledge that Draco had his chambers protected by the strongest spells and had curses set into the stones of the walls to prevent intruders from entering. Somehow this new Ginevra had avoided all of them and was in his chambers. Frowning Draco looked at Blaise, he hadn't activated Ginevra's core magic as another key to the wall, and Blaise's certainly wasn't as he had his own private entrance in his own chambers.
Stepping through the blasted wall, Draco was surprised to see that nothing else had been touched or destroyed. Hoping that she was indeed here and had sought his chambers as her refuge, he tried to search his mind to see if he could talk to her. Focusing on the memory of her thanking him, he felt closer to her reaching out to her mind when he came across a barrier, she had blocked him!
"Blaise, she's blocked me, you try, and she's definitely close by I just think she's shielded herself from us physically." Blaise immediately tried he'd never heard Draco sound so helpless, it was clear that they'd both fallen for Ginevra Weasley, hopefully in different ways.
"It's no good Draco, its not personal she has put a barrier up preventing everyone from talking to her. We'll have to find her; she might not be in this chamber. Merlin, even through the barrier I could feel her pain, someone has done this to her and I bet it was Potter, I'll kill him with my bare hands." Blaise was getting more frustrated as Draco's eyes lost focus as he slouched onto the sofa covering his head with his hands.
Get up Draco, if she sees you moaning it won't get her out of her state, you're making things worse, if we act like nothing is wrong then we'll slowly be able to coax it out of her. Draco smiled faintly, and stood up, walking over to the cabinet he found himself emotionally drained, he'd never been so worried about anyone else in his life. He and Blaise had grown up together all their life and had the same punishments and curses thrown at them, but they both came through them stronger and it was their childhood in the end that gave them the courage to refuse a position in Voldemort's ranks. They had never allowed anything or anyone affect them, they just became harder, colder and withdrawn which is why the Slytherins preferred them as leaders. There was no doubt that they cared for them, but they didn't have time for weakening emotions. But now in only a few days a small red-head had walked into their lives and changed both boys.
Draco opened the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of FireWhiskey taking a swig he passed it to Blaise who almost drowned himself in it. Grinning nefariously Draco tore off his dress robes and started to call for Ginevra. He went into each chamber, altogether there were six excluding his own, there had always been a Malfoy residing in these chambers for as long as anyone could remember. Blaise started to do the same, not hearing anything it left only Malfoy's chamber. Knowing that they could be completely wrong and Ginevra had fled, they both entered the room simultaneously.
The image that presented them as they entered was not one they expected. Ginevra lay in the centre of Draco's bed with her hands behind her head, slightly propped up as if she expected them.
"Took your time, didn't you?" She asked languidly. Neither of the boys knew what to do, Ginevra had changed out of her dress robes and was barely covered by the satin dark green negligee that just skimmed her upper thighs and was dangerously low around her breasts. Draco could feel his body respond, trying to ignore the scene in front of him, he heard Blaise taking quick shallow breaths. The situation was too comic, bursting out into laughter Draco nearly doubled over while he tried to control himself.
Ginevra lying on the bed felt her anger rise as Draco started laughing. How dare he laugh at her, who the hell did he think was. Her core magic pumped through her body, Blaise's had disappeared but hers was strong enough on its own. Covering her skin, her magical aura shimmered violently as she stood on the bed towering over Draco and the room began to shake. Blaise tried to grab Draco out the way as his possessions started to crash to the floor, but he couldn't Draco was surrounded by a force field and was entirely unreachable.
Channelling her magic into a single stream of power aimed at Draco, the chamber door slammed open, distracting her from her target. Snape stood in the doorway, immediately understanding the situation; he rushed over to the bed and tugged on Ginevra's arm. She turned to him in bewilderment as he pulled her into his arms to the amazement of both Draco and Blaise. Silence followed broken by shattered sobs coming from Ginevra, she tried to pull away from Severus but he held her tight to him, calming her down as he allowed his own core magic slowly flow into her. Ginevra struggled once more against Severus and he looked into her eyes to see whether it was her distrust of him that was causing this aversion. Seeing nothing of the sort he quietly queried her actions and she brokenly answered "Slytherins are not supposed to show their emotions..." taking in deep breaths more tears followed as she couldn't hold them back anymore.
Glaring at Draco, when he heard her reply, Severus focused his attention on her once more reminding himself when he was done to kill Draco. "Hush, Ginevra, Slytherins do nothing of the sort. Think back over the last day, Ginevra, the Slytherins have probably smiled more than in the entire lives and do you see them hating themselves for doing it? No they do not, they have also shown their pride, in the common room half of the Slytherins are talking about your display of wandless magic wondering if you could teach them, the other half are worried about your whereabouts and are about to kill Potter or your brother which ever they find had you so worked up. None of them are hiding their emotions, so why should you?" Sliding his arms beneath her knees he lifted her easily into his arms and Severus left Draco's chambers with Ginevra taking her to his so that she could escape for a while. Blaise lifted Draco to his feet glowering at him.
"Oh save it, Blaise, it was funny you should have seen your face you wanted to screw her but was too scared to, its not my fault I laughed, I'll show you in my pensieve if you want!" Draco had cheered up immensely Severus had her now and would be able to help her; he knew he and Blaise were useless right now.
"Shut up Draco, don't you understand why she turned on you with her magic? She was mad because you weren't affected by her body or the image she represented. Bloody hell, all she wants is for you to acknowledge her, how can you not want her? I'd give her anything for her to feel the same about me." Blaise tiredly ran his fingers through his hair, as he contemplated his relationship with Ginevra. She seemed to give into him and didn't mind being with him but it was different with Draco.
"Look Blaise, she likes you ok otherwise she wouldn't kiss you would she, come on I have that little sofa scene burned into my memory believe me Ginevra would not have responded like that if she didn't want or need you. Sure I like her, but as something else, more platonic, you know I don't need to be close to her like that and I don't want her to be, I have plenty of other willing girls." At this both of the boys laughed and changed the subject. Remembering Severus' words about the rest of Slytherin they went back into the Common Room.
Taking their favourite seats in front of the fireplace, the Slytherins crowded around them asking persistent questions. Silencing them with her deathly glares, Millicent and Pansy curled up on the sofa to ask their questions first.
"What was the spell she used, it wasn't apparition but how did we get back here I have never heard anyone use it before?" Draco smiled, Millicent knew as much as any of them about spells and curses. Her father had treated her almost the same as they were, at least Pansy had been spared as she was only a girl and the Parkinsons had an older son. Millicent was seen as the boy of the family thus treated accordingly. Draco and Blaise had done all they could do to protect her. Since an early age, Millicent had an unwavering curiosity for spells, and she knew more than any of the other houses combined, Ravenclaw was not the most intelligent house, it was just that they took every opportunity to flaunt it whereas Slytherin was subtle.
"Did you hear the spell she used, Millicent? She used the words, Receptaculum, do you not remember from the Latin we taught you, it means refuge. It wasn't a transportation spell; she just sent all of us with her to a safe place from the school. It's an old spell, which is why most of you will not have heard it; it was used in times of danger and panic. This gives us a clue into her feelings; something had scared or panicked her. We should also feel proud that she considers Slytherin her safe haven, if she did not feel that in her soul we would not have been returned here." Each Slytherin hearing Draco's explanation vowed to themselves to threaten Potter until he told them what had happened between them. It wouldn't do for their new Princess to be upset, they had all seen her in Severus' arms as he had walked through the common room.
Sensing their emotions, Draco hastily added "we do not know the cause of her distress, and you shall all promise not to do anything uncalled for or anything without precedent before Ginevra tells us to, as she said in the Great Hall, this is her own battle, each of you have undergone what she is feeling right now, do not prevent her for it will be worse for you, you all know what she is capable of." At this the Slytherins uncomfortably started shifting, they had all seen their fair share of dark magic and experienced it but feeling such power from a 16 year old ex-Gryffindor was too unnerving for most of them.
Gregory saw the reactions of the younger Slytherins and asked the question he knew they were all bursting to ask.
"How did Ginevra have so much power, Draco and how could she use it like she did without a wand, we all knows that takes a lifetime of practice, when she unleashed it the streams of power were so controlled." All eyes were on Draco as they waited for a believable answer.
Draco looked at Gregory thoughtfully, "I have my suspicions, Gregory which I will tell you since it affected all of you, but what made you think that her power was controlled?"
Honestly, Draco just answer the question, just because Gregory realised it wasn't a mistake and you were so up yourself to think she wouldn't release all that raw magic!
Gregory just frowned at him as if it were obvious and Draco was just testing him, "Draco, the reason why I said it was controlled was because it came out in threads not pouring out everywhere, and those threads of power circled those she didn't want to interfere with her battle. She left Potter and Weasley free, which was planned and she didn't even glance at anyone else at the point when she would have expected us to interfere, she had purposefully bound us and the teachers."
"Correct Gregory, it seems that I didn't think of it like that as I thought it all was a mistake," the younger Slytherins gawped as one of their Princes admitted his error. "However, the answer to your question is that she didn't obtain that magic from anywhere. As you could tell it was her core magic which was just pushed a little further by Blaise's core magic, which was tangled together from a previous experience and hadn't faded out at that point." Smirking at Blaise who glared at him, Draco continued, "At first my thought was that it was the essence of the house order which helped her use her core magic and Blaise's also strengthened it, but, in my chamber now we just experienced another of Ginevra's outbursts. This time there was no essence and Blaise's magic had faded. It is entirely her own magic, and from observations, it is controlled by her emotions which should make all of you respect and admire her unless you want to face her wrath. She has powerful magic flowing through her blood, more powerful than I have ever seen, it is still raw so be careful. It is most probably because of her illustrious bloodlines." Exhausted from his rambling, Draco sunk back into his armchair and closed his eyes.
He did not hear the Slytherins move towards Ginevra who had entered half-way through his explanation. Nor did he see, each Slytherin sink to one knee as they saluted their Slytherin Princess radiant with awe glistening in their eyes. Vincent and Gregory were the first to raise their heads, each one of them remembering when they had done it for Draco and Blaise. As they each kissed her hand, Ginevra smiled upon them. She finally belonged somewhere. Seeing Blaise staring at her, she looked to find Draco. She saw him in the armchair with his eyes closed as if he had lost something precious.
Thank you Draco.
Startled he opened his eyes and saw the Slytherins kneeling to his little one. He saw that she was back to normal fully dressed. Confused, he saw her smile at him and he smiled back, both their eyes sparkling with unshed tears at what could have been the end of their new relationship. Blaise caught their sweet exchange of smiles and experienced his first pang of jealousy which had previously tormented Draco.
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