The Curse-breaker's Sister
Chapter 18

"GINNY!" Draco called out. He reached out for her, the fabric of her robe teasing his fingers before disappearing completely. "Ginny! Where are you?!"

He looked around frantically, calling out her name. But there was nothing. No answer. No Ginny.

"Bloody hell, where can she be."

Fear and anger coursed through his veins, but as a Malfoy, he was trained to push fear aside and let the anger take over. He lashed out physically kicked the shrine.

For a moment a flash of silver light blinded him once more, and when he could see again, he was standing beside Ginny. He reached out and hugged her tightly.

"Where are we?" he asked, his face buried in her hair.

"I think we're standing over the sea," she told him.

They were standing on a circular stone balcony that hovered a few feet over the Mediterranean. The shoreline was hundreds of feet away and there was nothing between them and it but waves and water.

"What the bloody hell are we supposed to do now?" he asked angrily.

"We say the incantation."

"What?" Draco was confused.

"Turn around and look behind you. There's a podium there," she told him as he did as she told him too, "and it has the same writing on it as the tablet. I think this is where we say the incantation."

Draco took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. The fear that had inhabited his body when he thought he'd lost Ginny was finally seeping out of his system and the anger at not knowing where they were was fading away as well.

"Are you ready?" he asked, looking deep into her eyes.

Ginny nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Let's do it, then."

Draco examined the podium for a moment and then took the amber tablet out of his backpack. He placed it gently into an indentation on upper surface. A loud hissing noise filled the air and Draco and Ginny watched in amazement as the surface of the golden stone began to bubble and boil. A few minutes past and the hissing stopped. The stone began to rise on it's own and then popped out of the indentation.

"I'm not sure what that was all about," Draco said truthfully. "But I think we're okay to say the incantation now. I think the tablet was some sort of key. The raised cuneiform on the podium slotted right into the carved out cuneiform on the tablet."

"It's so much easier to just knock on somebody's door," Ginny said with a grin. "This is it."

Earlier in the evening they had fought over who would say the incantation. Ginny demanded the right to say it because it was her brother they were rescuing. Draco refused to let her do it in case it was dangerous and Ginny got hurt. Not once during his home life, his years at Hogwarts or even during the Second War had he ever argued with somebody as stubborn as Ginny Weasley.

In the end they decided they'd both say it.

Ginny grabbed Draco's hand, locking their fingers together tightly. She gave his hand a quick squeeze. That was the signal to start chanting.

Hear my cries, Ningal, moon goddess. Hear my prayers, Sîn, god of the moon. Give me that which I desire, Mot and Anat. By your powers combined, I command Atlantis to rise from the sea!

Nothing happened.

"Do you think we should say it again?" Ginny whispered.

"I don't think we need to, Ginny! Look!"

A pointed metal stick was raising out of the water not five feet away from them. After a few moments past, a conical shaped roof appeared, and then a circular stone tower. Ginny spun around in a circle calling out at every new discovery she made. All around them, a stone city was rising out of the depths of the ocean, water dripping off of every wall.

"It's Atlantis!" she cried out. "We did it!"

The last part of the city to rise was a two feet wide strip of stone that attached the city to the chunk of rock Ginny and Draco were standing on. Once the stones connected, the railing that once surrounded them disappeared and Draco and Ginny were free to step onto Atlantis.

Ginny looked around the courtyard they were standing it. They seemed to be at the center of the city. The buildings dried surprisingly fast. They were no longer wet with seawater, though a green, seaweed like substance clung to the ground, growing up between the cobblestones like moss. She walked quickly into the city, but Draco grabbed her arm to slow her down.

"We don't know what this place is like," he told her. "We have to be careful, go slowly."

"But Draco, Bill! He's here! I just know it. We've waited all this time and now we're here and I don't think I can go slowly."

Draco could feel her excitement and anticipation. "I know, Gin, but I don't want you getting hurt. Hey, who's that? Bill??" He was calling out to somebody walking in the shadows.

Ginny spun around and looked at whom Draco was pointing at.

"Bill?" she called out, hope, and excitement adding an edge of urgency to her voice.

The figure did not answer. He did not seem to see them at all as he walked through the shadows. Draco and Ginny watched as he magically lit the torches and then moved on.

Draco looked down at Ginny and could see the disappointment on her face. "Come on, Gin, you didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" he said lightly, trying to make her smile.

"You're right, Draco. It wouldn't be that easy. I didn't really expect Bill to just...walk about and be waiting for us. But where do we begin!" Her tone of voice contained a hint of panic.

"Well, I don't know about you but we Malfoy's always keep our prisoners in the dungeon. I'm kidding, Ginny!" he added hastily at the shocked look on her face. "We don't really keep prisoners. I'm just saying, we should probably look for stairs or something that goes down."

"Good idea. I'll take this half of the city and you can take-"

"No way. We are not splitting up. Wherever you go, I go."

"Draco, if we split up, we will find Bill faster. If one of us finds something, they can send up sparks with their wand."

"Ginny, no."

"Ugh! You are worse then Ron, Draco!"

"I might not like your brother but I think if he were here, he'd agree with me, Ginny. We go together or we don't' go at all. Now, do you really want to stand here arguing with me all night or do you want to go find Bill."

Ginny said nothing, just stared at him angrily.

"That's what I thought," he said, as if she'd replied something. "Let's go."

He walked away and did not turn around to see if she was following.

The searched the entire city finding nothing but a staircase leading down. Even though the buildings rose above them in the sky, they found no steps leading upward.

"Down it is, then," Draco said to Ginny. "Ready?" Ginny didn't answer; instead, she pushed past Draco and walked down the stairs. At the bottom of the steps Ginny made a sharp left and turn and found herself in an empty hallway. It was lit with torches that burned with a green flame. From where she was standing she counted ten doorways on either side of the corridor.

"Don't do that too me, Ginny!" It was Draco, who had finally caught up with her. "I don't want to lose you again."

It was the concerned tone of Draco's voice that made her soften and forgive him for walking away earlier. "I'm sorry, Draco," she whispered. "I just really want to find Bill and I'm so caught up in that, I'm forgetting to be careful. Thank goodness I brought you along to keep me out of trouble!" she added, looking up into his grey eyes.

"Exactly! Though I'm sure Ron wouldn't see it that way. Come on; let's check these rooms out. Wand ready?"

There was no way to tell the passing of time in the underground corridor. They checked room after empty room and found nothing. No sign of Bill and no sign of life.

"Draco, look at this!" Ginny called out. "I found something!"

"Bill?" Draco called back to her.

"No, not Bill, just some treasure."

"Just some treasure" turned out to be a room full of golden coins, piles of gems, velvet covered chairs, and a tiara placed carefully on a marble bust. Ginny reached out for it...

"Ginny, don't!" Draco yelled.

Startled, Ginny spun around and just missed touching the golden tiara. "What? I wasn't going to take it, I only wanted to try it on."

"Remember what happened the last time you touched something? You disappeared right in front of my eyes. Unless it's your brother, I suggest we don't touch anything."

"Good thinking. Come on then, I have to get out of this room. The more I look at that tiara, the more I want to put it on."

They continued their exploration of the lower level stopping in front of the last unopened door.

"This is it," said Ginny with a sense of finality.

"It's got to be this door," said Draco. If it isn't, he thought to himself, they were done for. Bill had to be here. "Do you want to open the door or shall I?"

"I'll do it," said Ginny. "He is after all my brother." She reached out for the doorknob but stopped and clutched her hip.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked in a panicked voice.

Ginny looked puzzled. "My hip, it feels like it's burning!"

Author Notes:
I am a slacker and I know it.
I found me a beta, though, so not all is lost!

PS. Anyone have much success using FireFox (web browser) with FF.net?! I'm having all sorts of wonky issues and it's driving me crazy!!!