A Lighter Shade of Black
Meetings
The next morning, Ginevra stared tiredly into her corn flakes. She might have over done it on the spellwork last night. Laura and T.J. were nursing sore throats from singing so much and Nicole was oddly quiet at breakfast. Gin paid her no mind, though, and continued to eat her cereal.
"Good morning dears." Molly said drowsily.
"Morning." they chorused.
"Here's your mail, came a few minutes ago."
The older woman tossed two letters onto the table and walked out with her coffee in hand.
"Cole and Gin." T.J. announced.
The girls reached out and ripped open their letters, reading quickly.
"You'd think he'd write me so-"
"Blaise and Tracey say hello and they love you. They're working over-time in Diagon Alley, barely found time to write this note." Gin interrupted Laura, still reading.
There was another moment of silence as the two finished.
"Blaise wants me to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron two days from now. It's really important." Gin stated, folding the letter up again.
"Sarah says she's in room seven at the Leaky Cauldron."
"We'll go the day after tomorrow and meet both of them." Laura declared.
"Hey, here's something I've been wondering about; what is it that makes Sarah so… special?"
"She's half Veela." Nicole replied, biting her toast, "Always had Mom's boyfriends (who were, like, thirty or forty) throwing themselves at her. Not to mention all my sisters' boyfriends and crushes. That's why she ran off to live in the Caribbean. Didn't want to be labelled a slut anymore."
Ginevra looked at Cole with wide eyes. "You mean, I'm gonna be half Veela and have all the guys at my feet?"
"No," she replied, buttering another piece of toast, "She's half already and she said she was going to give you half of her… whatever. So you'll be one fourth Veela and just have a little bit more appeal."
"Good."
The four girls looked up from the conversation as George entered the kitchen in only a pair of smiley-face boxers. He grabbed the toast in Cole's hand and the mug of coffee on the counter.
"Thanks." he said, taking a gulp and sitting across from his sister and next to Nicole.
"Yeah," she said quietly, "no problem."
Ginevra thought it was rather strange that her friend, who would usually never let anyone get away with touching her food, had let George snatched her toast right before she could bite it. Could she… No! That's not even possible.
The redhead shrugged it off and silently began to wonder what Blaise wanted to tell her that was so important. Laura stood up and walked out of the room quietly… Only to walk right back in a minute later.
"Oh sweet Merlin," she cried, clutching her hand over her eyes, "I'm blind!"
"What?" T.J. asked, "What is it?"
She stood and went out to investigate what her friend had seen that horrified her so. Of course, the answer was that Ronald Weasley was out in the hall making out with Hermione Granger, as they had been doing for the past week or two.
Two days passed and the girls found themselves in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Blaise won't be here for about two hours, we can go on up and get this thing with Sarah over with." Nicole said, looking around for any sign of her sister, "I think she's already there."
The four girls made their way up the stairs by the bar and to room seven. Nicole, who was standing at the front of the group, reached out her fist and knocked on the door. They waited a moment until the oak door swung open to reveal an empty room with a potions set on the table.
The door closed behind them and they turned to see a tall, shapely woman with flowing golden-brown curls and wide brown eyes. She had to be Sarah. Although, she didn't look like any Veela (half-blood or not) that any of the teens had seen before… She was even lovelier.
The other three watched as Nicole rushed forward and embraced her sister.
"Been a while, eh?" Cole smiled as the pulled back.
"Yeah." Sarah whispered, "But, I suppose we should get on with this. It'll take a while for everything to be done."
And so they began… and thirty minutes later, Ginevra drank one half of the potion as Sarah drank the other and the two lay on the beds. They were linked together by a few strings of magic from the three girls that stood watching, fascinated.
"Cole, you could catch me up on your life while I'm laying here."
She smiled and began to tell her sister about everything that had been going on ever since she left Romania. By the time her story was finished, so was the spell. Ginevra was now safe from any harm that her visions could give her and Sarah was packing away her things once more.
Blaise sat at a table in the corner of the Leaky Cauldron, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. He had been waiting for only a few minutes, but everything always seems much longer when you need to say something important to some one and they're not around.
"Hey Blaise."
The eighteen-year-old looked up and grinned as the four ladies slid into seats at the table, his Laura right next to him and Ginevra across from him.
"So, what's so very urgent?" she asked, pushing hair back from her face. She looked tired.
"Are you okay?" he inquired, now finding that he couldn't tell her as quickly as he'd like to, "You look exhausted."
"What? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Just need a few more hours' sleep." she reassured him, "So what's up?"
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Blaise began, "It's Draco."
Her eyes widened and she looked positively ghostly.
"He's been taken by Voldemort."
There was nothing but silence as Gin stared across the table in shock.
"No." she whimpered and, closing her eyes, she disappeared with a pop.
Ginevra raced down the street to number twelve Grimmauld Place and threw herself inside. She rushed past the many residents on the stairs before entering her room and flinging herself on her bed. She shook with tears as she thought of what that evil bastard was doing to her lover.
She was so tired… She needed to sleep. Closing her eyes, the redhead fell into a fitfull sleep.
Screams pierced through the air as the cruel woman sliced the blade across his skin.She stepped through the door and into a cold, gray room. There was a chair in front of her, in which a man was tied and bound. He wasn't facing her, so she could not see who it was, but she had feeling she already knew. Stepping around to stand in front of him, she saw his blonde head drooped against his chest and she felt a rip in her heart.
"Oh, Draco…" she murmured, kneeling before him in a moment and touching her hand to his cheek, "What have they done to you?"
His head lifted up a bit and his gray-blue eyes burned into hers through his hair.
"Red…" he whispered, and she felt a small, watery smile on her face, "My sweet, beautiful Red… I'm dying… There's no hope."
"NO!" she screamed, sitting bolt upright in her bed.
She couldn't, she wouldn't just sit around while the man she loved was tortured and killed.
End Chapter