Disclaimer: Not mine.
A.N.: This chapter contains slightly objectionable but not explicit sexual situations, so if that bothers you, then skip over that part. It's not all there is to this chapter, but it's in there, and I felt the need to warn you. Other than that, there is lots of wonderfullness inside, yay!
The common room was dark save for the last dying embers of the fire. Ginny's robe was wrapped tightly around her frame, and she stepped silently off the last step of the stairs and into the common room. Her hood was up on her robes to mask her crimson hair from standing out in the darkness, but it did nothing to hide the luminescence from radiating from her pale face. She was so focused on where she was going and what she was doing that she did not notice that Luna was sitting in a armchair by the fire, watching her movements.
"Why are you sneaking out, Gin?" Luna asked quietly, her colorless eyes imploring. Ginny started at the sound of Luna's voice, and her hand came up to clutch at the clasp of her robe. She paled, if that was possible, before replying.
"Luna!" Ginny gasped, her hand never leaving the clasp of her robe. "What are… what are you doing down here this late?"
"It's okay." Luna said serenely, standing and walking toward the dormitory stairs. Halfway there, though, she seemed to change her mind, and she turned and strode back over to Ginny. She wrapped her fingers around the chain of Ginny's aura necklace, which was growing even brighter orange than normal and tinged with yellow. When Luna took hold of the necklace, the yellow increased, but it dissipated slightly when she let it go. "Watch it, you might just get a surprise…"
With that, Luna turned and walked up the dormitory stairs. Ginny shook her head as the yellow receded to just a faint glow around the edges of her necklace. The yellow didn't fully leave Ginny's necklace before she turned and headed out the portrait hole. The fact that Luna wasvery strange was reinforced inGinny's mind.Luna watched her for a moment before pulling what appeared to be a small hand mirror out of her pocket and heading up the stairs.
The dungeons were chill and damp, and Ginny shivered violently. Her aura necklace glowed just enough to light her path, so she did not notice the cool black eyes that were surveying her from the shadows. He watched her run her fingers along the cold stone wall as if looking for something before muttering an unheard word. The wall slid aside and she stepped over the threshold, so she did not see that person step up to the wall and say the word a half-minute after she did, nor did she hear the wall silently spring aside.
"Profes…" That word was spoken by someone other than the person who opened the wall, but his hand shot out and clamped over the mouth of the one who had said it. The light from the tip of the girl's wand revealed a furious Severus Snape glaring down at one very wide-eyed Hermione Granger.
"Put it out!" He hissed, his lank hair falling like a curtain around his face. In his hand he held what appeared to be a compact mirror, but Hermione took no notice of that. He was positively livid, so she did not see the point in crossing him, and quickly put out her wand. A look of confusion crossed her face; no one should be in the dungeons, seeing as how everyone had been moved up to Gryffindor Tower, so if there was someone down here, why wasn't Snape rushing off to punish them instead of standing there telling her to be quiet?
"Professor McGonagall said I would find you down…" Hermione began as soon as Snape took his hand off her mouth, but he cut her off.
"Do be quiet, you nitwit girl." He said viciously, his voice deathly quiet. "If you muck this up, so help me Miss Granger I will string you up by your toes in the dungeons, and then I will personally cut out your liver and feed it to the thestrals. There are still some torture chambers down here, so do not underestimate what I will do to you. When I remove my hand, I expect if you have to speak at all you will do it no louder than I am speaking right now, is that understood?" This entire sentence was in the same deathly quiet whisper, and Hermione could tell he meant it. Though Snape was no longer Hermione's professor, he still had that commanding aura around him. Hermione nodded, and Snape removed his hand.
"Professor, I needed to talk to you about how to test a items and, er, people, for residual magic, potions, enchantments, and the like." She said, twisting her hands together. "It's for what Ron, Harry, and I have been…"
"I know perfectly well who you plan to use this spell on, and let me warn you now, there are absolutely no enchantments on Miss Weasley. She is acting of her own accord, and it would be ignorant of you to question her judgment or attempt to separate her forcibly from Mister Malfoy. In fact, I'm quite sure that after tonight, there will be dire consequences if you try to force them apart." Snape was quiet while Hermione was speaking, but he interrupted her halfway through her lie. He was so subtle that she did not even realize he'd read her thoughts right off the forefront of her mind until after he was already repeating their stupidity back at them. An annoyed look crossed her face.
"What do you know?" Hermione didn't bother to keep her voice as quiet as she should have, and Snape glared at her. "How do you know that Malfoy hasn't bewitched Ginny, and how do you know what's best for her? We're her friends, we know that she would never be friends with Malfoy without a good reason, and we're going to find out why."
"Those are Mister Potter's words, I believe, not your own." Snape sneered. "And I fear that if you do not keep your voice down I will be forced to put you under a full body bind and a muting charm, and we shall have to continue this conversation in your mind. You wouldn't like that, now would you?" Snape smiled nastily at Hermione, who shrank back.
"What's going on in there, anyway?" Hermione asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "I thought everyone was moved up to Gryffindor tower, isn't this the Slytherin common room?"
"Brilliant observation, Miss Granger." Snape said sarcastically. "Not that it is any business of yours, there is something of an experiment occurring within the dormitories as we speak. We won't know the results of this particular experiment until at least the morning, but it was my duty to see to it whether or not it happens…" Snape made the face of someone who had swallowed something very nasty.
"The dormitories?" Hermione said blankly. "Why would you be brewing potions in a dormitory? Unless… are there, erm, are there students in that dormitory?"
"Once again, Miss Granger, your powers of deduction astonish me." Snape replied sardonically. "I fear that you are creating too much noise and might alert the two lovebirds of our presence, so we shall continue this conversation in my office." Snape grabbed Hermione by the shoulder and steered her back out the wall, and he murmured several enchantments that would not allow anyone who was not already in those dorms in or out. Hermione's face was set in concentration when a realization dawned on her.
"Oh my God." she said quietly, her eyes going round as saucers. "Ginny's in there with Malfoy, isn't she?"
"And they say you didn't deserve to have the top marks of your year." Snape replied. He started his walk to his office, turning when he noticed that Hermione did not follow immediately. She was running her fingers along the wall expectantly, desperately, trying to find some way to get inside and prevent what she knew was going to happen.
"Why don't you come to my office, Miss Granger, and I shall explain everything to you." Snape said. His voice had taken on a sense of kindness, somewhat like what one would expect when speaking to a three-year-old. Hermione shook her head and, after a moment, followed Snape.
"Draco?" Ginny's voice was soft, barely above a whisper. She called into the room where Draco had agreed to meet her when she mentioned that the two of them needed some time alone, and she stepped in the door. There was a fire burning in the grate of the fireplace, which was a definite improvement over the damp corridor from which she'd come. She looked around the room, and she finally spotted Draco. He was in a chair near the far wall, and he hadn't seemed to notice that she'd come in. He was running his fingers through his hair, what she knew to be a nervous habit. Was it possible, she wondered, that he was just as nervous as she was about this? He looked up when he felt her eyes on him, and the look of intensity nearly made Ginny's knees buckle.
"You're late." His voice was quiet and sharp, but not accusatory. It was as if he were trying to ward off his inner demons before he came anywhere near her. Though Draco's eyes were normally devoid of any emotion, they were lush and full of an emotion that Ginny could easily recognize. She shivered as he stood and walked over to her.
"Luna was in the common room, I got held up." She said softly as he finally stood in front of her. His hand came to rest on her cheek, and she leaned into it, her eyes fluttering closed.
"Are you sure about this, Ginevra?" His voice was imploring and held none of its usual sarcasm or humor. "This is… the point of no return." He tilted her face up to his with a finger under her chin until she was looking up at him. She shivered slightly, giving no notice that she'd heard his words. After a moment, though, she nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly, before bringing her hand up to the clasp that held her cloak fast around her. She held onto the clasp for a moment, bracing herself, and her ring finger brushed against the chain that held her aura necklace. Her eyes were wide for a moment, but she quickly recovered and opened the clasp. It took her robes a second to pool at her feet, but they did, revealing a simple white nightdress. The significance of the colour was not lost on Draco, and it he examined her. The way she stood, the way she didn't look down… she had her own grace and pride about her, Draco noticed; it was something he hadn't noticed about her before. Her pale skin and the blinding white of her nightdress stood out in stark contrast to the fiery curls that spilled down to the middle of her back and her pale pink lips.
Ginny stepped forward, putting her hand against Draco's cheek to draw him toward her to draw him in for a kiss. This kiss was unlike any of the previous kisses that they'd experienced together; as Draco took the initiative to take the lead, it was almost as if the kiss was a question. He held his hands chastely around her waist, keeping his body from being in contact with hers, and he just kissed her softly like that for a few minutes. After a few minutes of no contact save for Draco's hands on Ginny's hips, her hands on his face, and his mouth on hers, Ginny started to get a bit frustrated with the lack of contact and pulled his body flush with hers. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped her mouth at his seemingly shocked reaction, and he pulled away from her for a split-second.
"Have patience, Ginevra." He said very softly, bringing his hands up to trace the delicate line of her jaw. She tilted her head back at the feeling of his hands on her. "Have patience."
Ginny brought her hand up to the clasp of Draco's robes and let them fall, but she was disappointed to find that he was fully dressed underneath. "That's not fair." Ginny muttered, grabbing his tie and working it out of its neat knot. Draco chuckled at the determined look on her face as she worked his tie loose and finally tossed it over her shoulder. She then succeeded in pulling out the shirt that was tucked into his pants before his hand came down over hers to stop her.
"Have patience, Red, this isn't a race." Ginny smiled at his words, not because of what he'd said, but because he'd used his nickname for her. If any other boy would have called Ginny Red she would have punched him, but with Draco it was different. It seemed that a lot of things were different when it came to Ginny's relationships and feelings for Draco. She stopped, looking up at him with wide eyes. This was the first time Ginny had ever considered giving up her control of a situation over to anyone, and the thought made her shiver very slightly.
"Are you okay?" Draco's voice was full of concern at her shiver, and he pulled away to look at her. He did not want her to do anything against her will, because he didn't think she'd never done anything like this before. Draco had never had to force a woman, nor did he ever intend to.
"I'm fine." Ginny said, her voice soft. "It's just… I don't… I've never…" Ginny blushed delicately, and at once, Draco knew what he suspected. "You're… will you teach me?" She looked up at him expectantly, her eyes wide and trusting. Draco couldn't recall anyone ever looking at him like that before, so innocent and… pure. Draco kissed Ginny very softly; he was determined that whatever it took on his part, he would keep himself in check and make sure that she had the most perfect time she'd ever had. He took her hand and pulled back from her, leading her over toward the transfigured bed in the middle of the room.
"So Ginny and Malfoy are soul mates?" Hermione's voice was incredulous, and she took a sip of the tea that Snape had placed in front of her. Snape did not know why he had told her everything he knew, but he had, and it annoyed him to no end. Normally, he could keep himself quiet on many a sensitive subject, but Hermione had pressed him until he was so harried that he
"Yes, Miss Granger, that is what we believe." Though he had a cup of tea in front of him, Snape didn't drink it. He kept his hands folded together on his desk in front of him.
"But how do you know, though?" Hermione pressed. "Surely there would have been something that would have told us, some little clue that would have told us that Ginny would fall in love with… Malfoy." Hermione's face screwed up in disgust. Though she knew Ginny would give her heart to whomever she chose, Hermione couldn't believe Ginny would even consider Malfoy a proper suitor.
"How do you imagine Mister Malfoy must feel, falling for a Weasley?" Snape shot back nastily at Hermione. "He is a Malfoy, for Merlin's sake! He could have his choice of any number of pureblood witches, and he has chosen Miss Weasley." Snape composed himself; he did not often get angry at a student, but it made him very mad when someone questioned his godson's integrity. "We have our sources. Miss Lovegood is very gifted with reading auras, Miss Brown has her orb…"
"Lavender is a fraud, and Luna is eccentric at best!" At this, Hermione glared over the desk at Snape.
"And I suppose you realize then, that you're off chasing a madman because of a prophesy made by a person who you call a fraud." Snape's voice was icy at best.
"Why her, why him?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Fate chose them, we did not." Snape said quietly. "Time has apparently decided that it should no longer go in it set circle, it has decided to break, and with that there will be certain changes to the perceptions people have of each other and the way interactions occur. Either way it goes, even if this experiment comes to nothing, we stand the chance to gain. If this works, if they gain each other's powers when they consummate their relationship, they will be a vital asset to the Light."
"You can't just… manipulate people like that!" Hermione cried, standing up and glowering at Snape. "I know Ginny, and I know that she won't let anyone control her that way. It's already happened once, and I know she won't let it happen again. This isn't just immoral, it's wrong to try and control people. I'm going to the Ministry first thing in the morning, and I'm going to make sure that they know what you're doing, manipulating people and letting students go around sharing beds and…"
"I'm afraid I'm not going to let you do that, Miss Granger." At that moment, Snape stood up too, and he studied her. "I figured you might have realized how important it is for us to have powerful witches and wizards on our side, but apparently you do not. You're not going to go to the Ministry in the morning, either, because you're not going to remember speaking to me tonight." Hermione's eyes widened; she'd finally started to see what he was going to do. She turned to flee the dungeons, but he was faster. He took out his wand just as she reached the door.
"Obliviate." Hermione heard the word, but it was the last she heard before she fell to the floor.
Ginny and Draco lay still, reveling in the feel of being in each other' arms. Ginny's head was pillowed on Draco's chest, and she could feel his heart beating lightly against his ribs. Her hair was spread out, nearly covering the fact that both of them were naked, and a blanket was bunched up around their waists. Ginny didn't think she'd ever felt a sense of belonging like the one she was feeling, and it was great. She was so preoccupied with lying there that she didn't notice the strange thing her aura necklace was doing. Draco did, though, and he sat up. Ginny did the same, before turning her attention to her aura necklace.
It seemed that the colours inside the necklace had started to swirl and mix, when they had previously just been predominately orange. Brilliant shades of green, blue, purple, and red swirled in with the orange, leading one to believe that there was a rainbow trapped inside the necklace. In the next moment, before either of them could do anything about it, Ginny's necklace exploded, sending shards of glass flying in all different directions. It seemed that all of the glass had hit either Draco or Ginny, and the colours expanded until the entire room was alight with a kaleidoscopic beauty. The two of them barely had time to look around at the sight before the colour surrounded the two of them, a violent shade of orange. The orange and shards of glass flew back toward each other and reformed back into Ginny's necklace, and Ginny and Draco looked at each other, astonished.
"What the hell just happened?" Ginny asked quietly. "That was the strangest thing I've ever seen in my entire life." She looked down quizzically at her necklace before reaching out and taking hold of it. It felt heavier, as if the necklace wasn't hollow inside it anymore. The colour no longer seemed to swirl around; in fact, it seemed as if everything about the necklace had become more tangible. Ginny let go of the necklace and let it fall back down to its normal position betwixt her breasts.
"So are we going to stay here like this tonight or are we going to go back up to our dormitories?" Ginny asked, yawning widely.
"No, I think we're going to stay down here for tonight. It should stay warm enough, and if it doesn't, I can fix that." He smirked slightly, but Ginny didn't notice because she'd just gotten caught up in another yawn. She cuddled up even closer to him, but he could tell she was falling asleep before she'd even asked her question.
"Mmm-kay." She murmured, and with that, she fell asleep. Draco laid there a moment watching her, drinking in all the small, minute things that no one noticed about her: the golden freckles that covered just the bridge of her nose on her face, her shoulders, and her collarbone; the splash of colour changing ink that was sparkling on her ear, changing colours every few seconds to match her mood; the pale, white scar that extended her left eye by just a few centimeters. She wasn't perfect by any stretch of his imagination, but there was something about her that just made him want to think that she was. Her hair had fallen over her face in her constant twisting and turning to get comfortable in her sleep, and Draco brought his hand up to brush her hair away. She opened her eyes and looked at him, smiling sleepily before resting her head back on his chest.
Draco decided in that moment that no matter what it took, he wouldn't lose another woman he loved to this war. No matter what it took him to convince her, he would not let Ginny fight. Exhaustion had been creeping up on Draco the entire time he'd watched Ginny fall asleep, and it finally overtook him. Their hair blended together on the pillow in stark contrast: the perfectly straight silvery strands mixed with the thick red corkscrews. The door to the dormitory cracked open just enough for someone to see inside, but then shut again. There are some things that one just doesn't disturb, moments that are meant to be shared with no one. The person outside the door knew this, and also knew how hard it could be when one was made to forget the moments that they'd held most dear in their life. A single crystalline tear slid down his greasy nose before he turned; after all, he had to go up to Professor McGonagall's office and report that their experiment was complete and their results were nearly at hand.
Next chapter, Ginny's meeting with Hermione, Snape has a talk with Draco, Ron and Harry go ballistic when they find out what Ginny and Draco were doing in the dungeons, and we find out what really happens when soul mates are forcibly separated. Oh yeah, we'll also probably find out what happened to Ginny's necklace and why it did that and all that glory.
So what did you guys think? I wrote a lot on this chapter, it's the longest chapter so far, and the next chapter is going to be even longer. I wouldn't let myself stop writing on this until it was at least 4,000 words long! Sorry it took so long to write it, but I've been busy with lots of craziness in my astronomy class and I've only been writing on this for the past two days! I had two labs due in astronomy this week, and I have two and a report due next week, but I'll still make time to write the next chapter. Yay for cranking out a chapter that is this long in two days! As always, enjoy, and don't forget to review!