In The Absence of Light
by Inkblot-Crisis
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-Chapter Five-
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A groan escaped from the shivering form under the threadbare blanket. He wouldn't be shivering if they just gave him a thicker blanket...unfortunately the children needed those more than the sick man writhing in his sleep.
It had been an entire night...his fever had returned, and unfortunately it was much worse than they had hoped. Manticore poison coursed through the veins of the once proud and mighty Commander Malfoy...and it would seem that he was losing the battle within.
How could he heal himself...
...if he felt like he didn't deserve to be alive at all?
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Ginny picked up a piece of torn cloth, wet it with a bit of water from a chipped ceramic bowl and gently placed it back again on the forehead of the troubled sleeper she had been caring for the past two days...thankfully they had managed, though with difficulty, to transport the sick warrior from her little space above her shop to somewhere else. It used to be the housing area for the Broom Factory's workers before it had been condemned for reasons unknown...it wasn't spacious...and there was an unrelenting draft everywhere you went...
...but to the eight children that lived there along with the two adults that facilitated the everyday things like cooking to basic lessons...it was home.
She let out a sigh as the sleeping form of Malfoy gave another shiver to the cold...and for the twelfth time that night, took his hands and cupped them with her own. She gently blew her hot breath inside the small cove her hands made and tried to warm him up.
"If the poison doesn't get to him, the cold definitely will..." she thought sadly as he remembered the Pastor's words. She shook her head "Why am I sad?" she silently asked herself "It's not like he was a kind man to begin with..." her face contorted in disgust "...he's an Officer, for Merlin's sake, and a Commander to boot!" she looked away in shame that she was trying to help such a person.
She turned her head to the direction of the slight murmur, her eye strained in the dim light of dawn "Malfoy?" she asked, hoping that he was finally getting better "Malfoy, are you awake?"
Ginny saw his eyelids slowly open...then drooped close again, this happened twice before it settled into a hazy and sleepy stare towards the ceiling. Thankfully there was sign that he was healing...his eyes weren't horribly blood-shot, unlike the first time he had woken up. She moved her chair closer to the side of the rickety bed and moved her head closer to get a better look at him. It had been snowing outside again, and the morning sun hid behind the never-ending expanse of gray above them. She squinted and saw his eyes were trying to focus.
She was startled when he began to murmur, confirming her suspicion that he was awake.
"Why are we fighting, Father?" his tone was distant and whispered, it gave his words an unknown force of fear and sadness she didn't know capable by human speech.
"Malfoy?" she called again, hoping that her voice would make him snap out of the lucid state he was in.
"Because someone...has to?" his eyes were still unfocused.
Ginny frowned "Is he talking to his father?" she thought, bewildered as she knew that Lucius Malfoy had perished during a pinnacle battle during the War.
"He's in another place and time, Ginny..." a voice from the doorway made her turn head and felt a relative ease through her heart, it was the Pastor "...and from the sound of it, he's reliving something before the war." his form hobbled into the room, he had been injured gravely during the war, his leg never healed correctly even with the help of potions (the few he used so that the children could use more) and spells (that Lavender managed to smuggle in with the help of Sigils and Seals)...but that didn't stop the Merlin sect priest from doing his duties as guardian to lost children and those in need of help.
"Before...the war?" she repeated as she remembered those times. They were free then, never having to look out for Officers, never having to put up with their inane searches and raids…a better time.
"I believe his father is...was...Lucius Malfoy, am I correct?" Though the pastor was a wizard himself, he hadn't spent much time in England much before the war...he had been working in the impoverished wizarding communities in Africa. He had only heard of the names whispered as he arrived just as the war truly began...and one of the most repeated names was the name of a certain noble-wizard feared for his frightening allegiance to the Dark Lord.
Ginny nodded in response "His father died during the war...he was a terrible man..." her eyes began to water a bit "...he had a great hate for all things muggle, even those who had gifts such as ours."
Their conversation stopped as the words coming out of the chapped lips of the shivering man on the bed wasn't what they were expecting.
"But I do not wish to fight." he whispered with child-like innocence that wasn't thought possible from him.
Ginny looked to the Pastor, as if to confirm what she had just heard. She saw the Pastor's face turn pensive for a moment before he shook his head lightly, instead of an explanation he merely stated in a calm tone "Come child, it is time for dinner, Ms. Brown cooked quite a scrumptious meal with the help of that rather large donation we received yesterday." he stated the last bit with a smile on his slightly wrinkled face.
She answered that she would, if only she knew her patient wouldn't freeze to death without her.
"Oh, that reminds me..." the Pastor hobbled quickly out of the room before appearing with a thick blanket "Ms. Brown found this at the Market after she had finished with the groceries." Ginny quickly took it and felt the fabric was indeed well-worn, but it was better than the thin sheet he had on now "You need a break keeping him warm." Pastor Cross saw the young woman before her blush and raised his hands "Her words, I assure you."
"I...I will be with you and the children shortly." she managed to say.
The Pastor nodded and left.
Ginny shyly looked at the blanket before looking at the man in the bed. He was shivering again. In a gentle motion she laid the thick blanket over his form, silently thanking Lavender for picking one that covered his rather tall frame. His shivering ceased a bit and his breathing calmed. She let out a relieved breath and tucked him in to keep his body heat from escaping.
She heard his voice again, fainter than ever since he was finally getting a peaceful rest from the warmth the blanket was providing. She leaned in closer as curiosity got the best of her.
"I don't want to kill..." he whispered before he fell into a fever induced slumber.
His voice was still a far cry from his cold and cynical tone she usually heard him use all through her life. His fever gave his breath an unearthly warmth that made her cheeks flush...
...this man was going to pay once he got better, Ginny thought as she tugged the blanket higher up to cover a part of his chin, her own face still burning red. She took one last look at the now restful face of a troubled man and left, closing the door with a soft click.
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As the door clicked, something in the shadows outside stirred awake. It had been waiting until the room was empty, save for his objective. With a leap he cleared the two story side of the abandoned broom factory and was somehow clinging to the wall by an unseen force. With a wave of his hand he unlocked the window and stealthily entered the room through it, and as swiftly as he had opened it he silently closed it again.
The figure moved like the shadows, a tattered cloak of nothing that leapt just as the night slinked away from light. It stood tall as he looked at the sleeping form of the once proud Commander "Oh how the mighty have fallen, eh, Malfoy?" the voice was cold, yet there was a rather friendly tone in it...somewhere...perhaps it was just the wind then.
Malfoy gave a shiver at the sound of the figure's voice "Not...real..." he whispered hoarsely as it seemed the sudden blast of cold air from opening the window dried his throat.
"Hmmm...quite right." the figure stated as he knelt down and looked at the frowning face of the ex-soldier "But that is where you come in, my boy..." he whispered before taking out a syringe and plunging it into the sleeping man's neck "...can't have you dying on me now..." the figure sneered as the last drop of the antidote entered Malfoy's bloodstream "...can we..."
"...Mr. Malfoy?" the figure's tone changed a bit before it let out a snicker in his first tone.
"Not...real..." Malfoy whispered again after the pain of the shot went away. His breathing was normal and he wasn't shivering as much if not at all.
"..." The figure's sneer turned to a grin as he took a step towards the window before his nose noticed a scent. He took another sniff before bending down and smelt the sleeping man's head "Oh, it's you..." he smirked before letting the cold wind in and again clung to the wall outside "...I will deal with you much later, Malfoy, so for now..." he closed the window and locked it with a wave of his hand. He leapt down and landed without so much as a crunch from the snow.
He turned to the window and showed the world a brief flash of empty red eyes "...for now, try to stay alive." he leapt toward another shadow and vanished. The street fell eerily silent and the wind suddenly gone.
It was as if time stopped so that all may hear the three words the figure whispered before he disappeared.
"This I command."
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-Chapter Five End-
-Scattered Dreams-
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-/-.-/-.-/-
AN
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And so I posted a chapter. Big whoop...
This is merely a set-up chapter for the next one, which will feature a lot of things including a rubber duck, and no...I'm not kidding here.
Life has a funny way of sneaking up on ya. And I don't mean 'Scooby-doo' type sneaking; I mean Sam Fisher, Predator and That-creepy-guy-with-the-rash kind of sneaking. Anyway, I'm changing a bit of the storyline (thankfully there isn't much posted about it, hooray for obscure/suspenseful writing styles!) lots of odds and ends didn't make sense in the long run. I will try (keyword being: TRY) to post regularly (maybe once every week again? Haven't tried that since my first post of ASHES) here's hoping.
So, chapter posted, AN writ and typed...that leaves me no choice but to unleash my once forgotten part of my Fics.
LADIES AND GENTELMEN...IT'S THE RETURN OF THE -POST-SCRIPT- Section!
(You know you missed it)
This is where I post my replies to the reviews...I left this feature out in my new fics since I didn't feel like replying (I was going through a dark time...don't ask...trust me...) Thought I'd surprise my old (not meaning 'old' old, k?) readers by letting this feature back on my new fic. I'm a little rusty...but here goes nothing!
Replying to those who reviewed in the last two chapters:
AnitaBlakeBuffyFan -Sweet does not begin to describe what I've got planned for those two XP and you'll never know where I'd go with this fic...well, that makes two of us.
wcoastgirl -Aye, the interaction between them is indeed minor, but (in Sean Connery's voice) this is merely the beginning.
Laina3 -Hope you didn't wait long...heh...bad joke, I know. Thank you for your praise, here is more for your reading desires.
xtaintedreflection -I have fans! Wow...just...wow. Thank you for liking the Dark General, he is cruelly lovable, no?
sweetproserpina -Thank you, I try.
Kapricia -Well, it's the start of the school year now. Hope you don't do bad in school because you've been reading my fics into the wee hours of morning, even I'm getting in trouble writing this at these hours! I hope you aren't too disappointed.
Charmed-Goddess-07 -Updated...sorry for delay...my soul/psyche is in the blender with a dash of tabbasco...and yes, I WILL finish this...eventually.
mell8 -Well, now you know...just vaguely though...and soon is...(sigh) I'll try.
ShortySC22 -Thank you, I do try. And as with my reply to AnitaBlakeBuffyFan, well, that makes three of us then.
FicReader009 -I...actually remember you, even though you don't sign in. You always say that! Oh well, thanks for following this little drabble, DAMMIT!
Dranius -I dunno...just kidding. Even if I know, I'll never tell...hehehe...muhahaha! Ok, evil moment past. Thanks for the review.
ice princess grl -It is, thank you, I will. Again, thanks.
Violet Spark -You just happened to stumble unto my fic while I was breaking through my Writer's block (nasty little buggers, Writer's block) so, no begging is necessary. So many questions...since you didn't give me an answer thought I'd do the same, so nyah! But a very good guess, the only one at that...and Blaise...I've got special plans for him.
Even though you reviewed in the past three I thought I'd include you in as well.
VAB -I'm back. Thanks for your patience...and Blaise/Luna? Risky...but...
And no, I didn't skip you, just thought I'd give you a space of your own.
Darcy17 -Soon to be known as Darcy18. I...I don't know where to begin. I'm sorry...for everything...(to the people who don't understand...don't ask) I hope this promise that I will finish this fic will make you feel a little better. Email?
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Whew...
Read, Review, forgive the damned Fic-author (takes in multitudes of glares) Well, just read and review then.