As soon as he'd scrawled his reply to Tom Riddle in the diary, everything around him became pitch black. Draco blinked over and over again, but his eyes would not grow accustomed to the darkness. He was in Riddle's realm now, and even though keeping his eyes open or closed wasn't going to make much of a difference, his instincts and nerve kept his eyelids pried open.
A voice suddenly resounded in the realm. "Your soul instead?"
Draco whirled around, trying to place where the voice was coming from. He knew it was Riddle, but where was he?
"Interesting proposition," Riddle continued.
"Show yourself," Draco demanded. His voice was deep and strong.
"As you wish," Riddle said.
Instantly, a young man appeared before Draco's eyes. It was Riddle in his teenage form—the form that had been bound to the diary. Light surrounded Riddle's figure, causing Draco to wince slightly; but he would not cower before such a monster. His eyes watered as he avoided blinking as much as possible, but in time his eyes became accustomed to the emission of light around Tom Riddle.
Draco could see Riddle's eyes move up and down, presumably sizing him up. He unexpectedly realized they were both almost identical in physical attributes. Same height, lanky, pale, cold eyes—only their hair differed, and only in color, at that. But Draco took comfort in reminding himself that he was no longer the same as Tom Riddle. Draco personally found it stupid and antiquated to mold his life to match that of his father's and other people of the same sort.
"Where's Ginny?" Draco asked firmly.
"I'm surprised you feel so bold right now." Riddle's form suddenly faded into the darkness, but as Draco tried to turn to see where it had gone, he found he could not move. Draco gasped when he felt fingers touch his shoulders from behind. "Thought you'd really killed me, didn't you?"
Draco was breathing hard, and despite his best efforts, was unable to hide his uneasiness, though no one should be expected to remain perfectly calm while in the grasp of the one even Death fears. He suddenly felt Goosebumps prickle through his skin as Tom Riddle's icy cold fingertips touched his neck.
"Perhaps I should return the favor from the summer, and have a little nibble?" Riddle hissed into Draco's ear.
Draco was sweating now, and trying with all his might to move or to say something, but he found all he could move were his eyeballs, so he simply watched in horror and disgust as Tom Riddle's vampire fangs came into view. Riddle's face held a cruel and desirous sneer as he leaned in for the kill. Draco felt Riddle's tongue lick his neck—twice, but then the vampire froze. Draco could feel Riddle's raspy breathing on his neck. Suddenly, Riddle backed away, a look of utter disappointment, and newfound knowledge, about his countenance.
"Consider yourself lucky for now, little Malfoy," Riddle said with a hint of regret in his voice.
Before Draco could even think of what Riddle meant, he was thankful to suddenly have control over his limbs again, but did not have an opportunity to do anything more, for he was now spiraling away from the darkness of Riddle's realm, and toward a new destination.
Unfortunately, he would very soon wish to return to Riddle's realm, for nowhere was more awful than where he was headed to now.
"But if Malfoy's in the diary, or with Riddle or whatever, where's Ginny?" Ron asked.
"I'm not sure—" Hermione had begun to say, but then she found a completely pitch-black page in the diary. "Ron, take a look at this."
Ron kneeled next to Hermione and ran a finger across the page. When he brought his finger off the page, it was stained with the wet ink from the diary. "Why is the whole page covered in ink?" Hermione was about to suggest something, but then Ron said, "Wait! Where's your wand?"
Hermione took it out from her back pocket and handed it to Ron. "Where's yours— Ron?" she started.
"Reveal your secrets," Ron said with great confidence, pointing the wand at the inked page. Instantly, as if his words were magic, the black ink began to dissipate until it was finally gone, leaving only three words on the page.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Hermione said, bewildered.
"Harry told me Snape did it once third year or something," Ron replied, though he was in a daze. "Hermione, this is Ginny's handwriting. She wrote, No, you don't, Hermione." He looked up. "What does that mean?"
Seeing Ron was getting worried, Hermione put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but then she had a realization. "Ron! Ginny invited Draco to her room for a date tonight!"
Ron's face immediately went pale. "Hermione, that's not the most comforting piece of information to be telling me!" He cried aloud.
"Sorry, but she was talking about it all afternoon. But what if what Ginny wrote was in response to what Riddle wrote, then Draco replied back to save Ginny?"
Hermione could see by the look on Ron's face that he was having a hard time comprehending Draco doing anything good for anyone beside himself, but Ron finally said, "We've got to find Dumbledore and tell him about this."
"It'll be okay—" Hermione started to place her hand back on Ron's shoulder.
"Why the bloody hell is the Dark Lord so preoccupied with the Weasleys!" Ron yelled in frustration.
Just then, Harry walked past the open door. He had had fainting spells before, so Madam Pomfrey released him from the infirmary as soon as he was conscious again. "Excuse me?" He said nastily. "I know you're desperate for a little spotlight, Ron, but making up stories—"
"SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!" Ron yelled in the middle of Harry's sentence. He could tell Harry was taken aback at his sudden interjection. "You can take your sodding hero complex out of here! Get the bloody hell out of here and don't you dare talk to me if you don't know what you're talking about!"
"So since I discovered you two in the Room of Requirement, you've decided to suck face in your little sister's room? That's clever of you. How does Ginny feel about all this? Or have you even asked?" He shouted back.
"Ron!" Hermione screamed, but it was too late. He had lunged at Harry and now both boys rolled around the floor trying to get a good jab at the other.
"You sodding piece of—" Hermione heard Ron yell through his efforts to slug Harry.
Hermione picked up her wand from the ground, but did not know how to stop the boys from fighting. Suddenly, an object flew through the air and crashed into her leg. She looked down to see Harry's glasses, mangled and twisted. "Harry—Ron!" She yelled, but her effort to catch either boy's attention was fruitless in their angered states.
"Some—best—friend—!" She heard Harry yell.
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted. Harry's wand flew toward her, but it did not help the situation since neither boy had been using magic to clobber the other. "Honestly, stupefy!" The fighting immediately ceased, and the air in the room held an eerie sort of quiet. When she looked at her boys, she saw Harry had been pulling Ron's hair and Ron had Harry in a headlock. With a levitating charm, Hermione placed both boys on separate sides of the room and finally said, "Enervate," to awaken the two.
Harry and Ron were breathing hard, but at least they didn't run toward each other to continue the fight. Seeing they were both holding steady, Hermione walked to Harry and gave him his wand and glasses. Once his glasses were back on his face, she said, "Oculus reparo," and watched the glasses repair themselves to be good as new.
Hermione saw Ron was about to say something, so she said, "Ron, calm down." Then she saw Harry was preparing to add a snide remark to Ron's being shushed, so Hermione turned to him and said, "Shut it, or I'll make you," she threatened with her wand. When she was sure both boys were listening, Hermione turned to Harry. "Ginny's gone."
After a period of silent shock, Harry finally said, "What?"
"She's gone because Draco—" Ron began to say.
"Draco's gone, too," Hermione said quietly.
"What? How?" Harry asked.
Tom Riddle's diary was next to Ron's foot, so he picked it up and opened it, but upon opening it, he heard Harry moan, back into the wall, and crumple to the floor. "Harry!" he yelled, true concern apparent in his voice.
"My scar," Harry cried weakly, his hand massaging his forehead.
"Ron, close the diary!" Hermione shouted, running to Harry's side. As soon as Ron shut the diary, Harry felt the pains slowly recede, but slight hints of it were still haunting his forehead.
"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked.
"Riddle has them?" Harry inquired, seeing the beaten diary in Ron's hands. "How do you know?"
"Why else would the diary be in her room again?" Ron spat hotly.
"Yes, that's what we think," Hermione said, helping Harry back to his feet and glaring at Ron. "And Ron, yelling at Harry, or anyone else, is not going to bring Ginny back."
"Hear that, mate?" Ron said to Harry. "Yelling doesn't help any situation. Not even situations you walk into in the Room of Requirement!" Harry clenched his fists and Hermione felt him tense, but before he could say anything or throw any punches, Ron announced, "We've got to show this to Dumbledore. Let's go." He marched out the door.
As his footsteps began to recede down the stairs, Hermione bit her lip and tried not to look Harry in the eye. "We should go," she said softly. Then she walked out the door.
Speechless, Harry could only follow.
"I need to see the Headmaster. Now." Ron spoke authoritatively to Professor McGonagall, whom he found standing in Headmaster Dumbledore's office.
"I regret to inform you he is out for the day," McGonagall replied calmly.
"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? I NEED TO SPEAK WITH HIM!"
"Mr. Weasley, lower your tone and get a hold on yourself. While the Headmaster is out, he left me in charge, so if you would, please, proceed with what it is you need to tell him."
"I need to tell him, not you!" Ron spat.
Hermione pursed her lips in frustration and pushed Ron out of the way a little. "Professor," she said. "Ginny's missing, and so is Malfoy, er, Draco Malfoy, that is, and we are led to believe they've gone missing due to foul play from Tom Riddle. Well, rather, the spirit of—"
"Tom Riddle's diary? Again? Oh, dear me, you were right, Mr. Weasley. We do need assistance from the Headmaster on this one. Please excuse me." With that, McGonagall hurriedly used a door at the back of Dumbledore's office to enter another room that neither Ron nor Hermione had ever noticed in all their times in the old Headmaster's office.
"Honestly, Ron, you really should use your head a little more in a situation so dire. Why couldn't you just tell Professor McGonagall about Ginny?" Hermione broke the silence a little roughly.
"What good would it have done? She's still calling for Dumbledore!" Ron yelled. As he said this, Professor McGonagall reentered the room.
"I've sent a Port Key with a Messenger Owl to the Headmaster's current location. He should be here any—"
Suddenly, a great brown barn owl popped into the office, clutching a coffee mug in one of his talons and waving around his other foot, which had a note tied to it. Hermione was closest to the bird, so she untied the note from its leg, careful not to touch the mug (rather, Port Key), and read the note aloud: "Sorry, but the contact you have sent this Messenger Owl to either does not exist or is not available to apparate. Please try again at another time more convenient for us."
"What is this blasphemy?" McGonagall thought aloud. "Wherever could he be?"
Just the time he would need a best friend to turn to, even though Ron was quite angry with him, he turned to find comfort in Harry, but—
"Where's Harry?" Ron asked.
Hermione whipped around to see behind her. "He was right behind me when we came up here!"
But Harry hadn't followed them up to Dumbledore's office. He had gone in search of more useful help, and he found it, too.
The last time he had been looking for Ron and Hermione, he had found them in the Room of Requirement, so who was to say it wouldn't work again? Harry quietly turned a corner without his friends noticing and walked to where the door to the Room of Requirement was supposed to be. He concentrated on his need to find Headmaster Dumbledore, and his need to see the door, and finally, the door materialized before him and he hastily twisted the doorknob.
In the pit of his stomach, he hadn't really expected to find the Headmaster there, but to his surprise, Dumbledore stared back at him when Harry opened the door. The Room of Requirement looked like a miniature version of Dumbledore's office, and the Headmaster looked utterly bewildered to be standing before Harry.
"Greetings, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, a little dazed. "I haven't the slightest idea how I came to be here, but, is there something I can do for you?" He peered down at Harry over his half-moon spectacles, smiling.
Harry swallowed. "Headmaster," he began, but then stopped. He knew he needed to tell Dumbledore about Ginny and Malfoy missing, but he knew this wasn't all he needed to speak with Dumbledore about. "I—"
"You look troubled, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore offered. "And this would be due to…" he trailed off.
"I'm not sure, sir," Harry replied. "I'm a little confused."
Dumbledore found a chair in his pseudo desk and sat down. "Confused with what, may I ask?"
"Well," Harry said, but then thought better. He just didn't know how to speak with Dumbledore over how he was feeling right now. "Actually, I came to you because Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy are missing."
Taken aback by the sudden change of topic, Dumbledore replied correspondingly. "What makes you say that?"
"Because they are," Harry said a little bluntly. He felt more like speaking now for some reason and added, "Tom Riddle's diary was found in Ginny's bedroom."
"Merlin," Dumbledore said. "That can't be good news. Come," he motioned Harry out of the Room of Requirement. Dumbledore then began walking away, and once again, Harry had no choice but to follow.
Draco landed with a thud when the world stopped spinning. He quickly got up and looked around. He was in a relatively small room with three wood-paned walls and one wall covered by a large red curtain. There was a bed in the corner of the room and a cabinet next to it. He knew what was in the cabinet, and though he had never been inside this room before, he knew where he was. He was in his father's brothel.
Sure, it was a tad degrading to tell your friends that your father owned a cathouse (which is why he didn't tell them), but Draco had always supposed something had to put food on the table. No matter how much his father sniffed around the Ministry of Magic, he had never really worked there.
Draco almost sat down on the bed, but then thought twice of it as he imagined everyone else who had sat on the bed as well. When he turned around, his father stood before him; he hadn't even heard him apparate into the room.
"Father," Draco addressed his parent with a curt nod.
"Son," Lucius returned the nod.
There was an odd silence before Draco finally said, "Father, what am I doing here?" He had technically been kicked out of the Malfoy family, and now finding himself before his father, having this conversation (if you could call it that) with him was, indeed, odd.
"I think it is time I teach you a lesson," Lucius said in his monotonous voice.
"I thought that's what Riddle was for," Draco said, hints of annoyance flashing throughout his voice.
"Riddle," Lucius mused, steepling his fingers in front of his face and looking at his son with a purely wicked smirk. "That is a young man any father would appreciate as a son."
Draco felt the blood boil in his cheeks and he huffed a breath of frustration, or maybe defiance, through his nostrils.
"Pure genius," Lucius continued on. "But he sure does like to play, and has the most interesting taste in toys."
Draco had no idea where this was going, but at that, he watched as his father walked to the red curtain on the wall opposite him, expensive Russian boots clicking on the cold stone floor as he made his way there. With one swift movement of his arm, the curtains parted, and Draco felt his stomach and all his intestines melt away when he saw what was behind curtain number one.
Draco laid his eyes on an unconscious Ginny Weasley, shackled to the wall opposite him. She was shackled in an upright position, though her head lolled every so often. Her long arms were restrained above her head, crossed at the wrists, and her ankles were left to simply hang there.
He instantly ran toward Ginny, but with an elementary restraining charm from his father's wand, Draco found that he could not move. "Father, let her go!" Draco insisted. His father had not released the restraining charm, so Draco was forced to stand motionlessly, staring at Ginny's sleeping form.
"I cannot," Lucius replied, flipping open his pocket watch to check the time.
Suddenly, Draco heard a faint pop from behind him. Lucius cocked an eyebrow in the direction the newest addition to the room had come from and said in his cold Malfoy drawl, "Promptness has never been a forte of yours, did you know?"
Tom Riddle came into Draco's view. The boy cringed internally as he felt prickles of sensation run along his skin. Restrained as he was, for just a moment, by instinct, he tried to clasp his hands around his neck so as to protect himself from the dark vampire's anxious fangs.
"One can make up for what he lacks in other areas, Lucius. You, of all people, should know." Riddle eyed Draco, and Draco felt his father huff angrily. Nothing to defend against the indirect insult was offered from his father.
Riddle continued to eye Draco, and only looked away when he heard a noise from across the room. It was Ginny, and she was beginning to wake up.
"Ginny!" Draco said, not as loudly as before.
Draco's father glowered at his son. "This will be the last time I will take it upon myself to remind you to shut your incessant mouth." He bit out the words. "Besides, she can neither see nor hear you, which will make things easier, so please spare us all from your vain attempts to gain her attention."
Draco felt his temples redden. So Ginny didn't even know he was in the room? What was his father up to?
"Finally awake, Ginny?"
Riddle had spoken, and at hearing his voice, Draco could see a groggy Ginny immediately tense her muscles. She was perfectly awake now and tugging on her restraints. Draco saw her eyes gaze her way for just a moment, and he guessed she could see his father. With one more fruitless attempt at moving, Draco groaned inwardly and finally stood still, waiting to see what Riddle was up to.
"Let me go," Ginny said rather calmly, determined not to sound like she was scared. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes next, Riddle's face was an inch in front of hers. Lips pursed shut, she almost gasped aloud, but managed to stifle herself; however, her wide eyes gave her away. She was terrified, and Riddle knew it. Then again, in her situation, who wouldn't be terrified?
"Just like little Malfoy. So brave." Riddle saw something flicker in Ginny's eyes. "Was so brave," he added offhandedly.
"What've you done with him?" Ginny screamed, futilely.
I'm fine! Don't worry about me! Draco wished he could say.
Riddle curled his neck around Ginny's, just as a snake might, and whispered in her ear. "Would you like to join him? Join pretty little Malfoy with that long, ivory neck of his?" Riddle slowly licked Ginny's neck, savoring the feeling of her quickened pulse on his tongue, the sweet taste of the perspiration leaking from her pores, and the feeling of her hot, panicked breathing on his face.
Though Draco did not know what Riddle was telling Ginny, he knew what the vampire wizard had in mind. "Riddle, stop! Please!" He begged, though still restrained.
Riddle's mouth was slightly open as he listened to Draco's plea, and Ginny was shaking as she waited for Riddle's fangs to sink into her skin. He moved a little closer to Ginny's neck, his fangs just brushing her flesh.
"I said for you to take me instead! Stop—!" Draco gasped, and suddenly, he could feel himself moving again, though it wasn't because the restraining charm on him had worn out—his father had slapped him across the face and he felt himself flying through the air.
"I told you to hold your tongue!" Lucius growled at his son through gritted teeth.
"Draco!" Ginny wheezed, for Riddle's hand was against her throat now. She winced slightly as Riddle's grasp on her neck tightened at the sight of Draco. The boy was visible again and was able to move as well. Then, a slight glimmer of hope filled Ginny as she saw Draco charging in her direction; he seemed completely set on pummeling the vampire wizard senseless. A second later, however, Ginny no longer felt Riddle's fingers on her throat, nor could she feel his putrid breath on her neck. Instead, Riddle had used his vampire speed to now pin Draco to the opposite wall. The dark wizard's grip on Draco's neck was tight, and it was all he used to keep Draco in place on the wall. The pale boy seemed to have had the air knocked out of him, and though he was breathing hard now and winced slightly every so often, he kept eye contact with the vampire.
Riddle turned to look at Ginny. "You two are simply adorable. Did you know little Malfoy has offered to trade places with you?"
"Draco, no! You can't! Let him go, Tom!" Ginny yelled.
"Don't listen to her," Draco muttered. Though he wished he could bolt right there and run for his life, morally, this seemed the right thing to do. Funny, though. Since when did morals ever play a large role in his life? Draco had been brought up to cheat and steal through life—to ensure a win and positive results benefiting only himself, no matter what the consequences to other people may have been. However, he reminded himself that he wasn't a classified Malfoy anymore. Sure, he had been kicked out of his family, his father wished for nothing more than to see him dead, and the Dark Lord wished now to scrutinize every aspect of his life, but Draco did not care. For once, something—someone was more important to him. "Have your way with me, Riddle," Draco said meekly. "Just don't hurt her."
Without another word, Riddle's mouth swooped out of view and Draco felt it make contact, then puncture through the skin on his neck. The boy closed his eyes and let out a half-stifled groan through gritted teeth. Though Draco was unrestrained, he fought the urge to slap the dark wizard away. He cursed inwardly at his decision to suddenly be just and noble to the promise he had made to Riddle, but as much as he cursed, he remained still, and as promised, allowed Riddle to suck his blood out of his neck.
It seemed that Riddle intentionally sucked the blood slowly, hoping to prolong Draco's pain that much longer, but the boy, paling second by second, remained strong even though he felt as though Riddle was sucking all the blood out of his body. His neck began to pulsate as Riddle greedily sucked his blood through the wounds on his neck, and at one point, the pulsating was pounding in his ears, and he felt himself begin to go numb. However, through it all, he heard Ginny call out to him. Unable to get to him, she unavailingly tugged at the bonds on her wrists and cried for his sacrifice.
The room around him began to dim, and suddenly he could not feel his arms anymore as they dangled limply at his sides. His legs soon abandoned him, and though he could not feel it, Riddle placed a hand on Draco's back and held him as though they were dancing and Draco had gone down in a dramatic dip.
He caught sight of his father through his peripheral vision, so he averted his gaze. With one last look at Ginny, the world around him failed to exist and he fell into a quiet, peaceful pool of darkness.
With Draco unconscious, it was no longer pleasing or arousing to suck his blood, so with his subject spent, he ruthlessly removed his hands from him and the translucent boy fell silently to the floor next to his father's foot.
Lucius winced and quickly moved his foot away as if the trash he believed his son to be would soil his expensive boots. He looked at Riddle, and Riddle looked at him. Lucius almost shivered as a sinister smirk spread across the vampire wizard's face as he used the back of his hand to wipe Draco's blood off his chin. Riddle was not permitted to bite any of the Dark Lord's servants, and Lucius Malfoy knew that, but still, the fact that Riddle could bite him if he ever wished to do so sent shivers up Lucius' spine.
Ginny sobbed silently, the tears rolling freely down her face, as she could not use her hands to wipe them away. She had been so mean to Draco. She had surely hurt him when she told him she could no longer see him. She had basically thrown him out of her room, and had hoped to have him believe out of her life. However, she still loved Draco. She had loved Draco all along, and had only hoped to prevent Riddle from hurting him. But Ginny understood now that even if she had hexed Draco all the way to the doldrums in a boat with no oars and no wand, he would've still found a way to get to her.
The girl looked up and saw Riddle eyeing her.
"Please, just let me go," she said softly.
"Go?" Riddle guffawed. "Why would I ever do a thing like that?"
"You promised!" Ginny cried. "You made a deal with Draco!"
"Right," Riddle said bluntly. "I made a deal with Draco, and I kept my end of the bargain, too. I bit him instead of you. But you must learn to read the fine print, dear."
Ginny's eyes widened.
"You may not be receiving my bite tonight, but I have many more things I can give you."
As Ginny watched a sneer slither its way onto Riddle's face, she knew whatever was coming couldn't be good.
Author's Note: This chapter took long enough, didn't it? But the delay in publishing this one is partially due to the fact that I broke my finger in the middle of this all (it's okay now!). That, and the fact that this chapter's about a third longer than most of my other chapters… and also because I'm the queen of laziness! However, I've finally received an acceptance letter from my university of choice, so I won't be hitting the books as hard for a couple more months, so hopefully you can expect the next chapter a tad sooner. Oh, yeah. Sorry to reintroduce the whole vampire thing again (Get it? "Reflecting Shadows"!)… but if you've already read through DINB and are now reading through JS, you should know I've got a vampire fetish… and a long neck fetish. ;) Anyway, thanks for reading and sticking with me!
Chapter Five: Like I said, return of the vampire-ness! We'll definitely find out what Riddle has in mind for Ginny, and I can't say that's good. And while we see what Dumbledore's course of action will be, we must stop to wonder what's up with Harry! I think you know by now I completely love the angsty Harry in OotP! So, until next time! Keep reading and reviewing! It's fuel, I tell ya!
My lovely reviewers: Chantelle, bigreader, Jixnce, Jonah, Twerksie Gogara Relffin, Andromeda77, Sasha, otterhead, and Ashe.