Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.
Chapter 21: The Juggernaut
Ginny sat nervously on her bed, staring at the clock on the nightstand. The red curtains were pulled around her bed, shutting out the moonlight that Ginny knew was there. The rest of the girls in her dorm were already asleep; Ginny could tell by their snores. In fact, as far as Ron, Harry, and Hermione were concerned, Ginny was asleep too. At least that was what she had told them an hour ago when she had left the common room. She honestly did try to sleep because she didn't know how long she or Draco would be down in the tunnel, but her nerves kept her from doing so. One thing that was bothering her was what Draco could have possibly found in the tunnel. She had been down there a few times by now and she knew that there was nothing new. Besides, even if he did "find" something, what could it be? Draco, as far as Ginny was concerned, was the guilty one; anything he found was probably evidence against himself. Unless it's a trap…Ginny tried to push that thought out of her mind. Draco had just saved her a few nights ago; why would he want to hurt her now? This made Ginny think about the rest of her day.
It had been going by fine enough to start with; Seamus even came to see her in between classes. However, her heart rate had skyrocketed when she had been pulled behind the tapestry that afternoon. When a hand had fastened over Ginny's mouth and she had been pulled from sight, the only thing she could think of were those two Slytherin boys. All day her mind had drifted to them, torturing her with thoughts; her nightmares of them weren't helping matters any. When she had seen that it was only Draco, however, relief swooped through her. She had never thought she'd ever be glad to see him, but she was that day.
In truth, Ginny was still bothered by why he had saved her in the Slytherin common room a few nights ago. She had almost asked in the storage closet, but she had changed her mind. He would probably just tease her about the whole situation if she brought it up, something she wasn't prepared to do.
Perhaps tonight I'll ask, thought Ginny. If an opportunity comes.
As the clock hands on Ginny's clock ticked to a quarter till midnight, Ginny silently pulled back her curtains and stood from the bed. She had been ready for quite some time, so she already had shoes on as well as her wand already in her robe pocket.
Tip-toeing out of the room, Ginny crept down the girls' staircase to the common room below. To her dismay, she heard voices, ones she recognized as Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
They should be in bed! Ginny thought fiercely. It's too late for them to be out. Then the irony of what Ginny thought hit her and she stopped mentally chastising them. Instead she halted near the bottom of the staircase, still out of sight, and listened.
"Sodding potions essay," Ron was mumbling in his favorite armchair near the fire. "We'll never finish it in time, Harry."
"We have to," yawned Harry. "It's due tomorrow."
"Honestly, boys, you should have started this days ago," said a clearly exasperated Hermione. "I'm not going to stay up forever to help you. I do need sleep, you know."
"No, we didn't know that, Hermione," snapped Ron, his exhaustion making him cranky. "We thought you were superhuman and could survive with little to no sleep. Because, you know, you are superhuman in the sense that you don't even have to study to get full marks on an exam!"
Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother. He always did get irritable when he missed sleep. Although she could only see the back of Hermione's head since the Head Girl was sitting on the couch and facing the far wall, Ginny could just imagine the look of outrage on her face.
"Really, Ronald, I'm only trying to help you," she said defensively.
Ron mumbled something under his breath that faintly sounded like an apology, but Ginny couldn't tell. She crouched down on the stairs and continued to watch the three friends, who were the only other people in the room. They were all facing the fireplace on the opposite wall, their backs turned to Ginny. Impatiently she glanced at the clock on the wall. It was five minutes till midnight. If she didn't hurry, she was going to be late. Though the thought of causing Draco Malfoy to be angry was slightly pleasing, she didn't think it wise.
"Hurry up," Ginny whispered under her breath. However, she didn't think that her brother or his friends would be leaving anytime soon. Many times they'd stayed up hours past midnight finishing assignments. Mostly it was Harry and Ron staying up, but often Hermione would stay with them, helping with questions they had.
As a few more minutes passed by and still they didn't start to leave, Ginny decided that she'd just have to sneak by them. Their backs were facing Ginny; perhaps if she was quiet enough she'd make it. It's worth a try, she thought.
Cautiously, making sure not to step on the creaky bottom step, Ginny stepped out of her cover behind the stares. Feeling that standing up was too conspicuous, Ginny crouched low to the floor and waddled towards the portrait hole. As she went, the brief memory of Draco saying that she walked like duck floated through her mind. Frowning, Ginny paused and shook her head. A glance at Harry, Ron, and Hermione told her that they were still silently busy, working on whatever assignment they had yet to finish.
Thankfully Ginny made it to the portrait hole without them turning around. She quietly pushed it open and walked through.
"Who goes there?" asked the sleepy Fat Lady. However, Ginny wasn't stopping to answer. She sprinted down the hallway before the Fat Lady ever had a chance to call after her.
When she got around the corner, Ginny briefly stopped to catch her breath. Whatever ferret-boy found better be good.
Before she had fully caught her breath, Ginny took off running again, determined not to be too late.
When she had run down the last flight of steps and turned the last corner before the entrance to the tunnel, she slowed to a walk, trying to catch her breath. Standing outside an old wooden door was a very impatient looking Slytherin. Draco, his arms folded, was tapping his foot against the ground and looking very angry.
"You're late," he said scathingly. "I said midnight," he added as he watched Ginny approach. "You know what time it is, Weasley? It's fifteen minutes past midnight."
"I'm…here…aren't I?" Ginny panted as she reached the door. "Let's just get this over with."
Scoffing, Draco walked through the door first, not bothering to hold it open for Ginny.
"Like I was saying earlier," Draco said, "I found another tunnel down here last night."
"But that's impossible," Ginny countered, following Draco through the almost-pitch black passageway. "There's only one tunnel down here. Remember, we've been down here before."
"I know," snapped Draco as he shined his wand ahead of them. "But I'm telling you I found another one. And pull out your wand, Weasley. It's dark down here."
Ginny rolled her eyes and lit her wand; the extra glow did help with visibility.
"So what is it that you found down here?" Ginny asked, impatience dimly shining through in her voice. "It better be something important because you have no idea what I went through to get down-"
"Save your sad story for somebody who actually cares, Weasley," Draco drawled, and Ginny glared at his back but remained silent, waiting for Draco to answer his question. "I found a lake."
"A what?" Ginny asked, her eyes widening. "There aren't any lakes down here."
"Well you just keep telling yourself that," said Draco, "and then tell me what the large hole in the ground filled with water is when we get to it."
"Aren't you in a pleasant mood tonight?" Ginny retorted.
"Always am," Draco replied casually as the tunnel started to slope downward.
"Obviously you don't know the meaning of sarcasm," Ginny muttered, breathing in the chilly, musty air. She couldn't believe how quickly the air would become cold; it was as if they walked through an invisible barrier that separated warm air from cold. She drew her robe tighter around her and stumbled along down the slightly rocky slope.
"Should be just up ahead here," commented Draco.
"How come we never saw a lake before, Malfoy?" Ginny asked, still puzzled about why there was a lake under Hogwarts.
"I don't know," Draco replied, and Ginny could hear the hesitancy in his voice. "It was like I was in a completely different tunnel last night; I thought I was in the same one, but it was a different passageway."
Ginny wrinkled her brow and stared at the ground, determined not to fall over the loose rock. However, she failed to see that Draco had stopped in front of her, resulting in Ginny stepping on his heels.
"Get off, Weasley," Draco said absently, lacking the anger that usually would be directed at anybody who accidentally came in contact with him. Ginny moved to stand by his side and watched him warily. He seemed to be examining their surroundings carefully, his face full of disbelief.
"What the – but…" Draco stammered, looking at the tunnel ahead which showed that a sharp right turn was coming up.
"What is it?" Ginny asked, looking back and forth between the right turn ahead and Draco's face.
"Last time the tunnel turned left, not right," Draco said, now glaring at the tunnel as if it were the tunnel's fault.
"But that's impossible," Ginny stated assuredly. "Passageways don't just change."
Draco turned the corner, walked a few paces, and then came back. Briefly Ginny wondered if the Slytherin was possibly making the whole thing up, but she didn't think him that great of an actor; his face clearly showed that he had no idea what had happened with the tunnel. Ginny sighed and looked around unconcernedly. The ceiling was, she guessed, about seven feet off the ground; the passageway itself was probably only a few feet wider.
Ignoring Draco's mutterings of stupid caves, Ginny walked around, idly kicking rocks about and now wishing that she'd stayed in bed.
"So, I guess I was right when I said that there was no lake, right?" Ginny asked smugly. Draco turned around and glared at her.
"There is a lake, or something like it, down here," he said scathingly. Then he turned back to face the tunnel ahead, and said under his breath, "I've just got to find it."
"You do know that you sound crazy, right?" Ginny asked. She walked towards where the far cave wall that curved parallel to the right turn and sat down, resting her back against the wall. "Because you do sound crazy."
"Shut up, Weasley," snapped Draco. "Why don't you do something useful and look."
"For what?" Ginny whined. She knew she was being annoying, but she couldn't help it. It was late, she was tired, and down in a cold tunnel with a seemingly-crazy Slytherin boy. She traced her fingers in an indent in the ground next to her, watching as Draco approached her.
"I don't know for what," he said icily. "But I'm telling you that there's a lake down here. All we've got to…do…is…" Draco trailed off, staring at Ginny's hand.
The girl ceased tracing the small hole in the ground and looked back at Draco. "What?" she asked.
"Move your hand," ordered Draco, bending down next to her. Puzzled, Ginny scooted over and looked at Draco carefully. He was on his knees, staring at the spot where Ginny's left hand had just been. He gently traced the cut out with his fingers, a wondrous look on his face. "Perhaps…"
"What is it?" Ginny asked, trying to hide her curiosity. Ignoring her, Draco reached into his robe and pulled out a curious looking object that seemed to be about one foot long, round, and as smooth as anything Ginny had ever seen. She watched breathlessly as Draco inserted the object into the small hole in the ground; it fit perfectly.
Almost as if on cue, a humming sound filled the cave. It started from around the corner and seemed to be coming towards them. Scrambling backward, Ginny waited anxiously as the sound became louder and louder. A cool breeze also started, rippling Ginny's robes about her. She raised one hand to shield her eyes and looked down the tunnel, but she couldn't see anything. When it seemed as if the humming sound was upon them, the wind rose to a ferocity that threatened to rip Ginny's wand from her hand; the light at the tip flickered briefly before going out. Now all that remained was the light from Draco's wand.
"Look," Draco said, pointing a few feet to Ginny's left at the wall that she had previously been resting against. The wall seemed to shimmer iridescently and small ripples went through it, almost as if it was water. Then, abruptly, the stone wall was gone, revealing a tunnel that traveled left. The humming seemed to raise in volume so that it was almost a shriek and Ginny clapped her hands over her ears. She looked back towards the tunnel that turned right and saw the same shimmering across the whole entrance that led that way. Before she could even blink, the right tunnel was gone, replaced by a stone wall that looked just as real as any other. The humming sound stopped, seeming to fall straight out of the air, and the wind settled down to a gentle breeze before dieing out completely, sending the tunnel into silence other than Ginny's heavy breathing.
"Whoa," Ginny said, staring at the new tunnel.
"Crazy, am I?" Draco said, lifting an eyebrow at her. She hadn't noticed before, but Draco was now kneeling next to her, so close that the tips of their knees were brushing together. She scooted away and stood, peering down the tunnel that was pitch black.
"Lumos," she whispered, and her wand once again lit up. Even with the new light, she couldn't see anything of the new tunnel other than it sloped down steeply and was filled with many rocks.
"I hate to say I told you so," Draco said smugly, "but…I told you so."
"Fine, Malfoy," Ginny sighed. "You were right."
"Of course I was," Draco said, taking the lead. He stepped slowly into the new tunnel and started downward. Ginny, instead of following him, watched him for a minute. When he realized that she wasn't behind him, Draco turned around. "Aren't you coming?" he asked.
"Yes," Ginny said, starting down the steep, rocky hill, "but what was that back there? With the noise, and the wind? I mean, tunnels don't just go changing like that."
"We're in a school filled with magic, Wealsey," drawled Draco as he carefully stepped over a rock. "Anything's possible."
"Yes but do you think Dumbledore knows about it?" Ginny asked, struggling to keep her footing on the steep incline. As far as she could tell, the bottom of this hill was a long ways away; the darkness didn't help matters.
"I don't know," Draco shrugged his shoulders.
"But what was that thing you put in the ground?" persisted Ginny. "And where did you get it from?" Ginny could hear a hiss of impatience escape Draco's mouth.
"Will you shut up about it, Weasley?" Draco growled. Ginny rolled her eyes, huffed with annoyance, and followed the older boy down the tunnel.
Another large boulder about the size of Ginny's bed appeared before them, and Draco started climbing over it. Obviously on the other side of the boulder the ground dropped off considerably, because when he jumped over the side, Ginny could hardly see the top of his head. Ginny started pulling herself over the rough stone and looked over the side. She sat down and prepared to scoot herself off; one thing she knew was that she wasn't going to jump as Draco had. When she landed on the dirt ground below, the force of her impact plus gravity caused her to stumble forwards out of control.
"Watch out," Draco said, shooting his arm out to stop her from falling. The tone of voice in which he said it didn't indicate that he was worried that she would get hurt, rather, he said it more as a threat.
"Well sorry for getting in your way," spat Ginny, rubbing her arm where Draco had grabbed her.
"Why does it seem that I'm always saving you?" Draco asked irritably, starting down the tunnel again.
"No you're not," Ginny countered, though she knew her words to be false. In fact, Draco had been saving her quite lately. The thought that a Malfoy kept saving a Weasley was both disturbing and embarrassing at the same time.
"Really," Draco commented, carefully stepping forward. "Well let's just start at the beginning of the year then, shall we?" he said, pretending to think hard. "There was that time during detention and that creature started attacking you…I cursed it off. Then when we were out in that snowstorm and you kept falling down all over the place, I was the one to push your onward." Draco ticked off the instances on his fingers. "And then in the common room the other night…" he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. "Seems as if I've been doing that a bit lately."
"Well if you'll recall," Ginny said heatedly, "I was only in all of those instances because of you. If it hadn't been for you-"
"I didn't get you a detention," retorted Draco as he whirled about to face her. Since Ginny was standing farther up the hill than Draco, their height difference cancelled out and they were staring each other straight in the face.
"Close enough," Ginny said through gritted teeth. "And speaking of those instances," she said, her voice quieting a bit, "why did you save me the other night…back in the Slytherin dorms?" She watched Draco, trying to hide her anxiousness. He watched her as well with an expression on his face that Ginny couldn't quite describe. He seemed wary yet embarrassed at the same time. Then he turned around again and resumed his decent.
"It was a reflex," he muttered. "Besides, it's not human nature to just watch some guy curse a girl who was so obviously helpless."
"I am not helpless," retorted Ginny indignantly.
"Oh yeah?" Draco called over his shoulder. "Well if you're not, then I'd hate to see what you call helpless, because when I walked in the common room, you seemed mighty helpless to me."
Ginny blinked and kept walking. In truth, she knew that she had been fairly helpless; that fact alone bugged her. She didn't want to admit it to anyone, especially Draco Malfoy. The thing that bothered her now was why Draco wasn't soaking up the glory, rubbing in the fact that she had been helpless, demanding a thank you. His current behavior was very un-Malfoyish; she wasn't prepared to handle this attitude. Draco, however, kept carefully walking down the tunnel, his feet crunching in the loose gravel.
"Well aren't you going to demand that I say thank you?" Ginny asked exasperatedly. She may not like it, but she was expecting it.
"You actually want to say that to a Malfoy?" Draco asked.
"Well…no – but…" Ginny trailed off uncertainly. What should she say? Common decency demanded that she say thank you, but her age-old rivalry with the Malfoy family prevented her from consciously saying those two words. A quick, inner battle between Ginny's conscious and her pride took place, a battle where Ginny struggled to ignore the pricking feeling in the back of her mind that she needed to say thank you. In the end, she shelved her pride and opened her mouth.
"Well…thank you, I guess," she mumbled uncomfortably.
"Excuse me?" Draco asked, turning around; Ginny saw that his eyebrows were raised in disbelief.
"You heard me," Ginny said, now wishing that she had said nothing. Draco's gaze turned to the rock wall and he remained quiet for a moment. Then, without a word, he turned around and continued walking.
"You're welcome," he mumbled, so softly that Ginny almost didn't hear him. Her eyes widened and she was about to ask him if he had just said you're welcome, but she held herself back.
This is one strange night, thought Ginny.
Draco angrily trudged forward down the hill, inwardly cursing himself. Why had he just said that to the little weasel? It undermined everything a Malfoy was. But do I really want to be a Malfoy? Draco thought. Not the kind his father was, anyway; but he didn't have to be like his father. He could still be a Malfoy without being a Death Eater. He could change his fate, one which seemed to be carved in stone.
He could hear Ginny behind him, carefully picking her path through the rocks. He almost wished she'd fall, just so he wouldn't look as much a fool. Draco shuddered at what Ginny might be thinking of at that very moment. Draco Malfoy: ferret turned friend. He cringed and kept walking.
Soon, the two students reached the bottom of the tunnel. The same cavern that Draco had been in last night opened up before them, and he could hear Ginny's sharp intake of breath from behind him.
"What is this place?" she asked wondrously.
"That's what we're here to find out," Draco replied. He walked to the water's edge where he had landed from his desperate fall down the tunnel the night before and looked across the lake. He could hear the same trickling sound from the night before; he stared at where he knew the overhang was. The light from his wand didn't reach all the way across the lake, but he knew where the sound was coming from. He walked around the lake, distinctly aware of Ginny stumbling along, gazing in awe at the cavern. The brittle rocks beneath his feet crumbled with each step.
When he reached edge of the water which stretched under the overhang, he stopped walking and looked up. Though he was tall, he couldn't see over the top of the rock very well. Ginny, on the other hand, as she caught up to him, hardly came level with the top even when she stood on her tip-toes; she could almost see over though. Instead, she fell back on her heels, folded her arms across her chest, and huffed in annoyance. Draco turned away and grinned; obviously she wasn't happy about not being able to see.
"What's the matter there, kid?" Draco asked teasingly, letting Ginny see his amusement. "Little short?" This remark earned Draco a deathly look from Ginny; despite the show of anger, he saw her cheeks redden slightly, which made his grin broaden even more.
"I am not short," Ginny replied indignantly. "I'm just not a gangly tall like you are."
Draco snorted. "Gangly tall? Brilliant one, Weasley." Ginny huffed again and turned away.
Ginny frowned as she looked away from Draco. Perhaps "gangly tall" had not been her best insult…Actually, that insult was far from the truth. Sure, Draco was tall, but certainly not gangly. Years of playing Quidditch had paid off in the form of broad shoulders and a chest with defined muscles, something she had noticed when he had snatched her from the hallway that day and pulled her against him into the hidden passageway. No, gangly wasn't the right word to describe him. She'd never tell him she had noticed his muscles though. Nope, not when she had a boyfriend; besides, it was Malfoy. Saying something like that was practically forbidden.
Stop thinking about this, Ginny ordered herself. She glanced backwards at Draco who was now examining the rock. Occasionally he leaned up on the balls of his feet to peer over the top; even with his height he could barely see over. He shined his wand over the top and stretched to his full extent, but leaned back down, obviously unable to see much.
"What are we doing over here?" Ginny asked, not bothering to hide the impatience in her voice.
"Come here, Weasley," Draco replied, ignoring her. With some hesitance Ginny came forward until she was standing beside Draco. She refused to look at the rock wall of the overhang, remembering what insult it had caused her, and instead stared straight at Draco. The lake continued to flow under the part of the overhang that reached farther down the cave; indeed, it was a large overhang.
"You need to help me up," Draco stated, pointing behind Ginny at the cave wall.
"Are you crazy?" Ginny asked. "I can't help you up that thing," she turned and motioned to wall. "And besides, you're a wizard…you can just levitate yourself up it."
"Because then I would lose the light from my wand," Draco replied matter-of-factly.
"There's my wand you can see from," Ginny said.
"But I'll be the one getting over the top of this overhang," Draco countered. "If I levitate myself, I won't be able to see where I'm going as I get up there."
"Again," Ginny said exasperatedly, "you'll be able to see with the light from my wand. I can shine it over the top for you."
"You're too short," Draco replied, his smirk turning into a grin. "Remember?" Ginny's face flushed again.
"Am not short," muttered Ginny, looking away, desperately wishing her face color would return to normal. She hated that Malfoy was able to embarrass her like this, that she let herself be embarrassed.
"Bend over," Draco said, spinning his finger toward the ground. When he received a raised eyebrow and look from Ginny that seemed to ask "Excuse me?" he sighed and said, "So I can stand on your back to get up there."
If possible, Ginny's face turned even redder. What is this, Embarrass the Bubotuber Pus out of Ginny Day? Ginny sighed and shook her head. She still didn't understand why they were even down there. What could Draco have possibly found? If he was guilty, which Ginny was now starting to question, then why would he be pointing out evidence against himself? It made no sense. But maybe he's not guilty, thought Ginny. She shook that thought aside. Impossible. Who else hated muggleborns with such a fury?
Grudgingly, Ginny bent down on her knees and placed her hands on ground before her, hating the fact that she was listening to Malfoy. She could practically hear his smirk of triumph as he stepped onto her back and pulled himself over the top of the overhang. Her back sank slightly under his weight, but he was off her before she even could register his presence. The light in the cavern dimmed considerably at the loss of his wand light as he disappeared over the top, and she immediately stood up.
Looking up, she could see Draco's form standing on top of the rock and looking around. He started to walk out of sight and Ginny called out.
"Malfoy! You get back here and help me up!" she shouted, jumping slightly. Except for the slight trickling sound of water, only silence answered her. "Malfoy!" Immediately he popped back into sight, and Ginny jumped back, startled.
"What?" he returned innocently.
"You know what…help me up," Ginny said irritably.
"And why would I want to do that?" Draco asked.
"Malfoy…"
"Alright, alright," Draco said, holding up his hand as if to ward off the temper he knew was brewing; he did, however, look slightly annoyed. "Hold out your arms," Draco said, placing his right foot forward and his left behind him for balance. "Grab my arms just above the elbows," he commanded. Standing mere inches away from the wall, Ginny did as he said, leaning up as far as she could to reach him. Draco grasped her arms in a similar fashion, wrapping his hands around each of her arms just above her elbows. "Now when I count to three," Draco said, "start walking up the wall."
"What?" Ginny asked, her eyes widening.
"One," Draco started.
"I don't think -" Ginny began nervously
"Two,"
"That this is going to -"
"Three," Draco said, and he pulled.
Work, thought Ginny as she placed her feet on the wall. Vertigo settled in as she tilted backwards and started moving up. Before she could even silently curse Malfoy for this, she found herself standing beside him on the top of the overhang, roughly five feet off the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief that she had made it over the top safely, noticing a small stream of water that was traveling over the top and falling into the lake below. Looking over her shoulder, Ginny saw that the cavern looked a bit different from this high up and she saw that the lake disappeared somewhere under them, traveling a ways beneath the overhang she was now standing on.
Abruptly she realized that she was still holding Draco's arms and she dropped them. She stepped past him, intending to go on, but she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening in fear. Draco turned around to follow her and she felt him stiffen as he saw what lay before them; obviously he had missed it earlier.
"What is that?" Ginny asked, pointing her shaking finger at the man, no, thing, before them. The thing appeared in the shape of a man, yet an inhuman feel emanated from him. His face was a normal, human-looking, but his unusually green eyes seemed hollow with a strange look that Ginny couldn't identify. Hunger? Power? Eagerness? Ginny shivered with the look on his face. His head, upon which rested soft brown hair that almost seemed watery, was cocked to the side and a deathly look of curiosity was placed on it.
Standing at roughly seven feet tall, this man-like creature almost blocked the passageway that led into darkness behind him. Black pants and a black shirt covered the creature and his almost-oversized arms were hanging at his sides; there was no trace of a wand on him and thus Ginny didn't know if he was a wizard or not. She doubted it though; she'd never before seen a wizard that looked quite like this.
Ginny raised her wand before her warily, glancing at Draco at her left. "What do you think that is?" Ginny hissed at him, not wanting the creature before them to hear.
"I don't know," Draco replied cautiously, his own wand raised, ready. Ginny was suddenly glad that she wasn't alone with whatever kind of monster this was. In fact, having Draco, who might have learned more powerful magic from his father, with her at the moment might be a good thing.
Cautiously, tired of just standing by, Ginny stepped forward. She could feel Draco's eyes on her back as she went, and she hoped his wand was steadier than hers. In truth, she didn't know why she was going towards this thing, but she had to know if it was truly dangerous, if it would let them pass.
Bad mistake.
As she neared, the creature held one of its arms before it, silently commanding Ginny to stop, which she did. Draco slowly appeared at her side; Ginny was unaware that he had been following her.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Ginny asked, her eyes still on the creature, whose arm was still outstretched.
Without answering her, Draco raised his wand higher and the light went out of it. "Fluoneros," he said softly, and the light from the tip of his wand flew outward in a pearly string. The light traveled forward until it reached the wall of the cavern and then it traveled up the wall until it reached the ceiling. The string spit into two and one strand traveled left while the other went right. Unwilling to turn her back from the creature before her yet curious to see what the light was doing, Ginny looked over her shoulder to see the each strand flying very quickly along the ceiling where the ceiling and the wall met until they hit each other on the other side of the cavern. The light left Draco's wand yet remained against the ceiling, lighting the cavern up with a glow like that of early morning.
Briefly, Ginny wondered in annoyance why he hadn't thought to use that spell earlier, but the sound the creature was now making jerked her face back to look at it. Something that sounded like a mix between a growl and a sigh escaped his mouth and he straightened his back, now staring at Draco.
"Keep your wand ready," Draco said firmly, his face a cold mask of concentration.
"What are you going to -" Ginny began, but Draco held up his hand in front of her before taking a step forward.
"Stupefy!" he cried, and a jet of red light shot towards the creature that was guarding the tunnel entrance. The being took one quick step forward and his arm again short forward; it caught the red light in its palm, completely unaffected. Ginny's eyes widened. Then it squeezed its hand into a fist, trapping the swirling red light. Draco shifted his feet, watching uncertainly. Without warning, the creature's hand flexed open and the red light shot towards Draco. The Slytherin was unable to shout a proper defense in time and the light caught him straight in the chest. Instead of collapsing unconscious as would normally happen when one was stupefied, Draco flew backwards off of the overhang and fell with a sickening crash into the lake.
"Draco!" Ginny cried. Turning her back on the creature, Ginny ran to the edge of the overhang and looked down into the lake. She saw a blonde head sticking out of the water slightly before it dipped below the surface; all she could see now was a bit of blonde under the clear blue water.
Panic settled in then. Panic that Draco might be drowning and panic that she was now left alone to face this supernatural being. Ginny whirled around to face the attacker and jumped back in shock.
It was now standing one foot in front of her, grinning oddly down at her; she hadn't even heard it approach. Her eyes wide with fear, Ginny raised her wand to curse it but with a lightning-quick move, its hand lashed out and curled around Ginny's neck, lifting her up off the ground. Her feet dangled in the air and she was vaguely aware that now there was no ground under her, that the creature was holding her over the side of the overhang. She tried to pry the hand off of her neck but was unable to get a firm grasp on her assailant. Dark spots appeared in her vision and Ginny opened her mouth, trying to capture any bit of oxygen, anything that would let her jinx the creature. All she managed to do was to noiselessly open and shut mouth like a fish on land, her efforts in vain.
Up close, the face of the accursed creature looked twice as evil, twice as cold, and twice as dangerous. Its eyes, once green, were now a dark blue, blue as deep and endless as the sea, sunk far within its face. Grinning, the creature revealed two rows of teeth that looked as if they'd never been cleaned, and reeked of something foul, something that would have made Ginny gag if she had had the oxygen to do so.
Just when Ginny was sure she was about to pass out, the creature shoved her farther into the empty air and released its grasp.
Sucking in a much-needed breath of air, Ginny didn't even have time to scream as she plummeted to the ground below.
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A/N: Alright, I'm really sorry for the long wait. My free time is almost completely gone. I'll just let you know now that this chapter didn't turn out at all how I wanted it. I didn't get all I wanted to in it but I figured yall have waited long enough, and plus a nice ending came up, so I went with it. I think the only thing that really turned out was the title of the chapter. I finally came up with a cool one! And it fits too, given what just happened...
Just review please!
Lauren
