Chapter 27 - Ice and Fire

Ice.

That's what it felt like.

That little part of Harry Potter that always resisted the Imperius curse felt like it was trapped in ice. It screamed and fought back but was unable to overcome the ice. It had all happened too quickly. The rest of Harry's mind was now enraptured in the pleasure of submission to the cold will of the veela powers of Draco Malfoy. Harry's whole body was tense with the cold ecstasy of it.

But then suddenly there was fire.

The fire of pain.

Hot stinging pain, flooding the mind, pushing the cold pleasure before it.

That little part of Harry that was still free sang in joy as the ice retreated before the fire.

Red.

That's all Harry could see now.

Brilliant flaming red.

A face appeared amongst the red. A face Harry knew well.

Pain again surged through him driving the ice back.

Ginny Weasley slapped Harry Potter again, hard. She could see understanding creeping back into his eyes slowly. There was no time. It would have to be enough. She grabbed his head and pulled it down to her so she could whisper directly into his ear a single word, "Run!"

Harry heard her word as if echoing down a long tunnel, but he trusted her. If Ginny told him to run, he should run. Harry turned and started to head for the doors of the Great Hall. It felt like he was moving through thick molasses. Time was strangely distorted in his perception. It was as if the rest of the world had slowed to a mere crawl. As he ran Harry glanced over his shoulder and was able to take in the entire scene of the Great Hall. Ginny Weasley was turning back the other way now. Draco Malfoy looking enraged was struggling to get to his feet from where he lay on the floor some distance from Ginny Weasley. Harry didn't know how the Veela had ended up on the floor but he bet Ginny Weasley had something to do with it. Ron was pushing through the crowd to get to his sister with a grim look on his face that Harry knew meant Ron's protective big brother instincts were in full force. "Good!'" Harry thought. "Gin will be alright with Ron there." Harry knew he couldn't go back to protect Ginny this time. His presence would only make things worse.

Harry also saw the other students were still crowded around the area he had just left. They still had with stunned looks on their faces. Dumbledore, McGonagall and a number of other staff were trying to push through the crowd of students. The Headmaster seemed to be shouting something but Harry couldn't hear. His blood was pounding in his ears. Harry still only trusted the single word Ginny had given him. Run! And run he did. Although it felt like he was hardly moving, Harry was in fact running at a faster pace than he had ever done before. If he had run this fast when his fat cousin and friends had gone Harry hunting they would never of caught him at all. In mere seconds Harry had made the doors and disappeared from view. But that unfortunately meant he was not there to see the events that now threatened to destroy Hogwarts itself.

Draco Malfoy seethed with rage. He had achieved his mate only to be denied again. It was the Weasley girl's fault. She had barrelled into him knocking him aside just when he was about to seal his mate's fate with a kiss. The kiss of the veela would permanently bond his mate to him. But the girl had stopped him. She must die! Talons, long sharp and black as ebony grew from Draco Malfoy's fingers. Being only part veela, Draco could not totally transform into the bird-like creature like a full-blooded veela but he could do this and it would prove invaluable now.

Ginny Weasley had acted instinctively when she saw her Harry stop yelling mid sentence at Draco Malfoy. Ginny Weasley was all too familiar with mind control after her disastrous first year. The blank look in Harry eyes scared her into action. She had thrown herself bodily at Malfoy and sent him flying just as it appeared he was about to kiss her Harry. No one was kissing her Harry except her. Not now, not ever! The Weasley curse of jealousy had one up side; a Weasley was extremely protective of their loved ones. And Ginevra Weasley was no exception. In fact she might well have set a new family record with the power of her possessiveness. Her possessiveness of Harry sang through her veins like a wild fire burning all before it.

Draco Malfoy with the inhuman shriek of the enraged veela drove his talons into the chest of the Weasley girl. She would die with her still beating heart in his hand. But the talons, hard as steel, shattered like glass as they struck the girls chest. Draco Malfoy roared in pain as he pulled his bloodied fingers away from the girl.

Ginny stumbled backwards slightly and felt a bit winded but was otherwise unhurt. She would have been killed by those razor sharp talons if they had not hit something harder, the hardest natural substance known to man, diamond. The heart of true love's magnificent large heart shaped diamond was not even scratched after being struck by the talons. It lay hidden beneath Ginny's robes, a fire glowing in its depths with the utter devotion its wearer felt for the Potter heir.

"Never underestimate a Weasley", Ginevra Weasley hissed at the veela. Ginevra Weasley, the baby sister of six older brothers, knew exactly how to stop a male in his tracks. Her knee came up with crushing force into her rival's testicles. Every male student present in the Great Hall grabbed his own groin in a protective gesture at the scream Draco Malfoy emitted as he fell to the floor and curled up into the foetal position. He lay there whimpering as his Slytherin House mates drew their wands. The Gryffindors responded and as many of them had been trained by Harry Potter, they were quicker in the draw. Others joined in; principally the DA members of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff but soon their own housemates joined them in support of Gryffindor. In seconds every house's senior students had their wands out and pointed at another. It would take but a single curse to begin the war of the houses.

"ENOUGH" Dumbledore shouted. "Put you wands down."

No one moved. Not a single student obeyed the headmaster. The tension was still thick as the students glared at each other, fingers turning white as they gripped their wands hard.

Ginny Weasley stood wand out facing Pansy Parkinson who looked murderous over Ginny's disabling of Draco Malfoy. Ginny stared straight back with the fiery look in her eyes.

Ron Weasley stood by his sister, wand in hand itching to hex the Slytherins. He would have hurled a curse but for the restraining hand of Hermione on his arm. He knew she wouldn't want them to be the ones who started this. But by Merlin, Ron was going to be the one to end this, if the Slytherins started anything.

Neville had his wand covering Goyle and Crabbe who were surprised at the look of expectation on his face. Old scores were fresh in Neville's mind. Years of taunting him when his confidence wasn't what it was today would not be forgotten. Today these death eater wannabe's may well find out what it was to face a Longbottom in battle.

The staff stood shocked at the hardened expressions of their young students. This was no innocent childish spate. These students had seen too much, been too effected by the war that raged in their world to be that innocent now. Many had lost family and friends in the fighting already. They all knew that sooner or later they would themselves have to fight in this war. Fight to survive. And when that time came they would face many of their own classmates as enemies.

Dumbledore faltered, unsure what to do for once. The students had ignored him. He could yell again but if they continued to ignore him, what would he do then. He could summon wands but not everyone's at once. Summoning some may well leave one side defenceless against the other and in the present climate either side could well take the advantage such an opportunity presented.

The entire hall stood silently waiting. Waiting for that single curse to first escape someone's lips that would plunge them all into outright war.

(Author's Note: A very short chapter but one of my favourites.)