Hey guys…I'm so sorry for the long wait. I had final exams to study for and take, and then other stuff to do. Plus, I had major writer's block on this chapter. And finally this morning, when all I had written in this chapter was a few paragraphs, I locked myself in my closet and I didn't come out until I had a solid plan. And I wrote pretty much all of this chapter today. I was planning on waiting till tomorrow to update, since it's getting pretty late tonight, but I figure you guys have waited long enough. This chapter isn't quite as long as I would like, but it'll do. Happy reading!
And congratulations to all of you who tried answering my little "quiz" thing last chapter. Ya'll are good. Though I have to admit to myself, I wish I hadn't put all those clues in. I think I made it too easy. Next time, if there's a next time, I'll do it differently. But hey, I'll call this a learning experience. I just like getting you guys involved in the story a bit.
Disclaimer: How about you guys pretend I come up with something clever here instead of my just saying that I don't own any of this? There you go…
To vampnykole, Adalee Bishop, Lote22, GodessOfTheNight29, and xoxokatrinaxoxo,
for being brave and clever enough to decipher one crazy author's attempt at novelistic composition.
Chapter 29: Down Once More
Ginny stumbled along down the passage, her wand lighting the way, the stone clutched in her left hand. Unwanted tears came to her eyes. She didn't know what to think. She didn't know whether to be mad at herself for provoking Draco or mad at Draco for hurting her. Funnily enough, she wasn't that mad at Draco. Rather, she was disappointed, scared even. She had just begun to feel more comfortable around him and then something like this happens.
She wondered what had happened to him over Christmas. Most likely it had been something to do with his father. Ginny had also heard Draco say that his mother was under the Imperius Curse. Ginny shivered. She didn't know what she would do if she found out that her mother was under the Imperius Curse for all of her life. And what had Draco also been saying? Something about his father, but Ginny hadn't been able to hear much after a while because her lungs felt like they were about to pop apart.
Soon Ginny reached the curve in the tunnel where the hidden passage was hidden. Upset by the lone tear that trickled out of her eye and wondering why she was even crying, Ginny knelt down and started feeling around for the dent in the ground that she knew the stone fit into. She found it after one scraped finger and several dirty fingernails and paused.
Some part of her was telling her to turn back, to not go any farther. She was tired and her emotional state was hampering her logical and rational senses, but Ginny didn't want to go back into the castle. Going back up would only confirm that tonight hadn't been a dream and was real.
Besides, by going down into the tunnel, Ginny was actually doing something. She was convinced now that Draco wasn't the culprit, but she still wanted to know who it was. Whoever said "Curiosity killed the cat…"
…Obviously never met Ginny Weasley.
Before she could change her mind, Ginny stuck the stone into the hole. At once a loud humming filled the tunnel and a ferocious wind whipped up. Ginny bent over and covered her face, waiting for the tunnel's transformation to finish. After a minute or so, the wind and humming subsided and Ginny looked up. Where there used to be stone was now a new tunnel, leading downward steeply.
Ginny allowed herself a grim smile and started down. Her mind was still clouded with shock, therefore, she was paying little attention; several times she stumbled on loose rocks and only saved herself from falling completely by grabbing onto the stone wall of the tunnel. The light from her wand was barely enough to cut a path through the darkness.
Ginny wasn't sure of how long it took her to get down, but she soon was in the large cavern, standing near the edge of the lake. Her eyes traveled to the opposite side of lake towards the overhang over which she new stood a monster, something set to guard the tunnel that traveled even further beyond. She swallowed and started around the side of the lake.
Putting all thoughts of Draco out of her mind was tough, but Ginny knew she had to concentrate. An unwanted image of Draco flying backwards unconscious and falling into the lake filled her mind and she cringed and shook her head forcefully. A shiver traveled from her shoulders into her arms and Ginny stopped walking. Perhaps I should turn back, she thought uncertainly. She looked back over her shoulder at the tunnel leading up into darkness and then faced forwards again with a resolute sigh. This wasn't the time for turning back. A vision of Albert Harding, Trent Johnson, and Neville Longbottom filled Ginny's mind and her face hardened. She started towards the overhang now with strong steps, her wand out and clenched tightly, and a grim look on her face.
"Fluoneros," Ginny said at the foot of the rock hanging over her head, recalling the clever charm Draco had used last time they were here. With the cavern now lit up, Ginny no longer had to use the Lumos charm and could concentrate much better on the creature. When Ginny muttered "Wingardium Leviosa," and performed the necessary wand movements at herself, she rose slowly into the air. Her eyes instantly settled on the monster that was still standing in the same entrance as last time. She took the spell off herself then and stood anxiously looking at the creature. Its eyes were once again a shocking shade of lime green that sent fresh shivers rippling throughout Ginny.
For several seconds Ginny stood there looking at it, wondering if it would charge her like it did last time. When the creature just continued to stare at her in that eerily curious look it had, Ginny became even more nervous. Her first thought would be to Stupefy the thing, but she remembered how that had turned out for Draco last time. Her brows creased. Why would the creature be able to stand the curse without any affect on itself?
Ginny warily raised her wand and took a deep breath. "Immobulus!" shouted Ginny. She watched breathlessly for any signs of the creature being affected by the curse which should immobilize it, but it merely smiled at her. Ginny's eyes widened as she saw the creature raise his closed fist which was glowing with something that Ginny realized in horror was the curse she had just shot at it.
Knowing what was about to come, Ginny had time to shout "Protego!" The spell reflected off the magical shield that her second charm had constructed and zoomed away harmlessly through the air.
Ginny stared in wonder. Only powerful magic could withstand spells like that. Either the creature had powerful magic, or else there was something else about it that Ginny didn't know of. Truth be told, she hardly knew anything about it.
Hopelessly Ginny looked at the monster standing before her. Anxiety was playing with her nerves and Ginny was now thinking she shouldn't have come. If anything went wrong, Draco was the only one who knew where she was, and something told her that he wasn't coming back.
Ginny wracked her mind for some spell or jinx that might work better than the others. So far nothing was working. Nervously Ginny started backing up, putting more distance between herself and the monster. She raised her wand and, trying to steady her voice, shouted "Petrificus Totalus!"
She was ready with the Protego charm as the spell predictably flew back at her. As Ginny watched the charm go flying away as her first one had, she dishearteningly stood still, her wand hand lowering. She looked around herself nervously. Behind her, just a few steps back, was the overhang she had just climbed over, and in front of her, behind the creature, was the tunnel that continued on into darkness. The overhang traveled both to Ginny's left and right around the wall of the cavern, sloping ever so slightly to the ground as the stone curved all the way around the other side of the cavern, melting into the ground roughly ten feet from the opening of the tunnel Ginny had traveled down. Ginny's eyes shifted back towards the monster and she couldn't suppress a shiver.
Ginny was just about to make a run for the ramp-like structures when with a sudden spurt of speed, the monster started charging towards her. Quick as lightning, Ginny dashed to her left and ran as fast as she could down the rock wall, her eyes wide with fear and her heart hammering in her chest. She could hear the creature pounding after her, could feel the vibrations of its heavy steps underfoot.
Ginny risked a glance over her shoulder just as she was passing the halfway point of the cavern and saw with dismay that the creature was gaining on her. Ginny had never been a slow runner, but after her first burst of adrenaline whenever she first started running, she usually tired quickly. Already Ginny's breath was coming raggedly and she could feel a stitch form in her side.
When Ginny could smell the foul breath of the creature, she leapt off of the descending overhang and dropped about four feet to the ground; the shock of the impact jarred her ankles, sending a sharp twinge through her, but Ginny turned and ran the way she had just come, this time on the ground. The ground shook heavily as the beast too jumped over the side and came crashing after Ginny. The girl's fear rose several notches as she saw the cavern's lake edges getting ever closer; she was running out of room.
In her desperation, she stuck her wand over her shoulder and without looking cried, "Stupefy!" Her eyes then grew wide in horror at what she had just done and, almost slipping in the lose gravel, Ginny wildly spun around, ready to shout the shield charm.
Before she even opened her mouth, her own curse came flying back at herself, ricocheted by the monster at which the curse had been intended for. The inertia of Ginny's quick turn, added by the strength of the curse as it hit her chest, caused Ginny to fly backwards several feet, landing unconscious in the shallows of the translucent lake.
Draco paced back and forth down a dark corridor, his fists clenching and unclenching in anger at his sides. His hands twitched with the urge to break something. At the moment, he felt like sending his very head through the wall; maybe it would lessen the anger and dread that he was feeling. It was taking him a lot of will not to take out his wand and snap it in half, just to feel something breaking.
What did I just do? he thought angrily, running his hand through his hair. He had threatened Ginny Weasley and almost hurt her seriously; she probably hadn't known how angry she had been making him. As they had been talking in the hallway, her words had awoken the fury deep within himself that had laid dormant for almost a month. Draco had almost lost himself to that anger and forgotten that Ginny didn't know that was causing him so much pain. When he had realized what he was doing, Draco's anger had only increased, but it was anger then at his father and Lord Voldemort; they were the ones to blame for Draco's acting the way he had.
They…and Draco himself.
Draco stopped walking then and leaned against the wall. Ginny Weasley, one of the few people who treated him as if he were someone other than a Death Eater, probably hated him now. True, Draco had been ignoring her since they had come back to Hogwarts from Christmas break, but that was only because Draco was afraid that something bad might happen. But in eluding Ginny, he had only brought about that which he sought to avoid. Draco shook his head wearily.
She had wanted the stone so she could go back down into the tunnel. Draco had purposefully not been giving it to her for the reason that he wanted to forget everything down in the tunnel. Neville Longbottom would be returned eventually; all of the other boys had. In the mean time, the creature under the castle could just stay there. It was too dangerous to pursue it further. Draco recalled with vivid detail almost drowning and finding Ginny laying half-conscious on the rocks.
Yet Draco had given it to her anyway and who knew what kind of danger she was in at the moment. Draco sighed. He knew he had to go after her. His conscience wouldn't allow anything else, and maybe if Draco did go after her, he could right some of the wrong that he had caused. One thing he was learning from all that had happened recently was that life was brief and time passed quickly. Hurts left to heal themselves often never did.
Draco started back down the hallways towards the tunnel door. Halfway there he broke into a run, urged on by some sense of urgency. His heartbeat thumped against his chest in time to his footsteps and a steely cold brushed over Draco.
When Draco got into the tunnel, he tore down the passageway, his wand lit and held high over his head for as much light as possible. He saw that the stone he had given Ginny was indeed stuck in the ground and the secret tunnel was revealed. Draco leapt over rocks as he rushed down the steep slope, but after he fell once and landed hard on his side, bruising his elbow and cutting his forehead just above his eye, he was forced to go more slowly and pick a clearer path.
In what seemed like a very short amount of time, he came to the end of the secret tunnel and he slowed down, surveying the cavern before him with caution. His eyes immediately traveled to the person he was seeking.
On the opposite side of the cavern, the still form of Ginny Weasley was being dragged out of the water by the cave monster. Draco watched as Ginny was hauled into the air and roughly thrown onto the cliff overhang above them. The creature then pulled itself up to stand next to Ginny's body. It hauled Ginny over its shoulder and started off towards the tunnel that it guarded. Ginny's hand was limply bouncing against the creature's back.
Hurriedly, Draco rushed across the cavern as quietly as he could. He saw that the cavern was lit up with the same spell that he had used last time. Draco scrambled over the rock and stood on top of the overhang; the monster was carrying Ginny down into the tunnel and into darkness; already their forms were starting to disappear. With a look over his shoulder, Draco followed them, his wand at his side.
The new tunnel was thinner than the last one; if Draco spread both his arms out, he could touch both walls, which we damp. The boy was being as quiet as possible and he tried to avoid stepping on clumps of rocks, but as the light from the cavern behind them was permeating less and less into the tunnel, it became harder for him to see them. A few times he thought that the creature ahead surely must hear him, but it must've been too preoccupied with its mission, whatever that mission might be. Draco couldn't think of why it would want Ginny, but he was going to find out wherever they were going.
His former trepidation of going back down under the school had long since been replaced by excitement of what was happening. He suddenly grinned. Ginny was getting down the tunnel that she wanted down, just not in the way she probably had imagined. His humor abated when he thought of Ginny. Was she dead or just unconscious? Draco hoped with all his heart that it was the latter. If she was dead, it was his fault. She had more than likely been unsettled by his actions when she came down here and hadn't been thinking clearly, which may be part of the reason for her being capture.
Nearly causing Draco to lose his balance, the tunnel started to slope upwards. The dark was complete now; the light from the cavern was gone and Draco couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. The only way he knew that the creature was still ahead of him was because he could hear its feet crunching over the small rocks.
Then the tunnel was leveling out and they were once again traveling over smooth stone; there was no more gravel, but several large rocks were resting against the tunnel walls. Draco blinked as he saw a pinpoint of light far ahead of them and he could see the outline of the monster, Ginny still over its shoulder, only twenty feet before him. Draco was a bit surprised that the creature was still oblivious to him, but he wasn't about to complain. The light continued getting closer until the tunnel was fairly bright. Draco dropped farther back to limit the chances of the monster seeing him or his shadow, but still Draco felt exposed.
Abruptly the monster halted and Draco threw himself behind a large rock to his right. The Slytherin tried to mask his heavy breathing and he strained his ears, listening for anything that might tell him what was going on. The cavern was light enough for Draco to see if he looked, but he didn't want to risk it. He could hear metal clinking on metal and Draco's curiosity perked. He fingered the wand in his hand impatiently.
Then everything went quiet. Draco was just about to peer around the rock he was hiding behind but sudden footsteps made him push himself even further out of sight. He realized that the footsteps were continuing on in the direction that they had been going but Draco's heart kept thumping.
After several minutes, the footsteps grew so soft that Draco couldn't hear them anymore. He waited another minute before he cautiously looked around the corner, his wand ready. His heart both leapt and fell at what he saw.
Ginny Weasley was sitting on the opposite side of the tunnel, her back resting against the wall and her hands raised on either side, chained to the wall. Her head was lolled in front of her and her red hair hung in front of her, creating mask that hid her face from sight. Draco's eyes scanned the cave but the monster was nowhere in sight. He scrambled out from behind the rock and rushed over to kneel in front of Ginny.
The first thing Draco did was check to see if she was still breathing, and to his immense relief, he found that she was. As his wild heart rate slowly started returning to normal, he brushed her hair, which he noticed was wet, out of her face and her head moved slightly at his touch. His gaze wandered to her wrists, which were hanging limply from manacles that sank deep into the stone wall behind the girl. His brows furrowed.
"Ennervate," Draco said, his voice barely above a whisper. He watched as Ginny's eyes fluttered open and she looked around her. Finally her eyes found Draco's and the boy could see the fear plain on her face. Her bottom lip was trembling and her face was pale; her hair, still wet from the lake, was hanging around her face.
For several long moments the two just stared at each other, both at a loss for words. Then Ginny broke the silence by asking shakily, "Where are we?"
"Down the tunnel that thing guards," Draco answered. Ginny's eyes traveled about the tunnel and Draco answered her unspoken question. "It left."
Ginny looked down at her lap. Her right leg was folded under the rest of her body and the other leg was bent towards her left, a position that Draco couldn't imagine was comfortable, but Ginny wasn't complaining. For a while, Ginny wouldn't look at Draco and the latter merely looked at the top of the girl's head.
When she looked up, Draco saw a single tear slowly making its way down her cheek. He reached up and without really thinking, he brushed it away with his thumb. He felt Ginny flinch slightly at his touch, but he didn't take his hand away. Draco merely looked at her, continuing to rub his thumb slowly over her wet cheek even though the tear was gone. Her brown eyes were open wide and stared up at him, stunned. He tucked a strand of wet hair hanging in between her eye and nose behind ear and looked down before he cracked a grin.
"Evanesco," he said, pointing his wand at the chains holding Ginny to the stone. The chains disappeared and Ginny let her hands fall to her lap. Ginny's eyebrows furrowed and she stared up at Draco, whose grin disappeared.
"You're bleeding," she said, frowning and reaching her hand up to brush away the blood that was above Draco's right eye. Draco blinked as her hand wiped at the blood and he wondered for a moment why he was bleeding. Then he remembered how he had fallen in his haste down the tunnel.
"Come on," Draco said, clearing his throat. He grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her to her feet. "We have to get out of here before it comes back."
Ginny didn't offer any argument. Numbly she followed Draco down the tunnel she didn't remember coming down. She was, however, aware that his right hand was still holding her left hand. Her mind was still reeling from everything that had taken place. She had accidentally Stupefied herself which ended up in the cave monster taking her down the tunnel she had been trying to get into, and she had woken up to find Draco Malfoy kneeling down in front of her. Hardly an hour ago Draco had been choking her and just now he had brushed away her tears. The whole thing was so insane and unreal that Ginny felt like laughing, but she didn't have the energy to. She just let herself be led along by the hand like a child.
Draco was walking quickly through the tunnel and though Ginny had been dying to get down here for the past month, she was hardly able to take in any of their surroundings. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the light disappearing. Draco had pulled out his wand and the tunnel was lit up slightly.
"Do you have your wand?" Draco asked.
Ginny started to pull her hand out of Draco's and when he sensed the movement, he dropped her hand as if it had burnt him. Ginny fumbled around in the pockets of her robe for her wand but she couldn't find it. "I don't have it," Ginny said. She shifted her feet uncertainly. Ginny wanted her wand badly but she did not want to go back from where they had just come from to get it.
"Well…" Draco trailed off, "I'll bet that it's back out there." He pointed in the direction they were heading and started walking that way again. "Come on," he said. Ginny followed him, hoping he was right.
One question that was begging to be asked was why Draco had come back for her. If he had been so angry at her only moments before, why had he come back? Ginny wasn't sorry that he had; he had saved her. But she was curious about it.
Soon they got back into the cavern and were looking out over the lake. Ginny's eyes went to where she had fallen unconscious and the two teenagers climbed down the rock until they were on the ground. Ginny looked into the water but couldn't see anything. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, this was. Her wand was light brown and the lake floor was the same color.
"Accio Ginny's wand," Draco said. They both watched the water and then, only a few feet from the lake's edge, a plume of water erupted from the surface and Ginny's wand went soaring into Draco's hand. He handed it to her.
"Thanks," Ginny said quietly. She looked around shyly for a moment before looking back up at Draco. "And thanks for coming after me. And sorry," she finished in a rush.
"For what?" Draco asked, his eyes scanning her face.
Ginny rubbed her neck and looked away uncomfortably. "For making you mad like that," she said. "I shouldn't have said those things."
Draco looked at her, his face expressionless, for several seconds. "Don't be sorry," he finally muttered, turning around. Ginny looked confusedly at the ground. She walked around the other side of Draco so she could see him and he looked up.
"What?" she asked.
Draco looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else at the moment. Finally he let his eyes rest on Ginny. "I said don't be sorry," he said. "You didn't do anything wrong." Draco started walking around the edge of the lake towards the other tunnel that led back to the school. Ginny followed him. Was that an apology? Well, it was probably as close to a sincere apology as she'd ever get out of a Malfoy.
As they began back up the tunnel, Ginny asked, "What did you mean?"
"What?" Draco asked.
"Back when you were – back up at the castle," Ginny said. "Your mother's under the Imperious Curse?"
Draco turned and stared at her and some of the anger Ginny had seen earlier returned to his eyes. "How do you know about that?" he asked breathlessly, obviously upset.
"I –you said so back – back when you were ch-choking me," Ginny answered, surprised that he didn't remember. Draco's suspicious look changed to one of remembrance and he looked as if he were about to be sick. He looked at her almost nervously, as if he was afraid Ginny would suddenly start screaming at him.
"Well," Draco said, jerkily turning around and starting back up the tunnel, "what do you mean, 'what did I mean'? There aren't many meanings of what I – what I said."
Ginny hurried to keep up with him. "But how is that possible? I mean, why would your mother be under the Imperious Curse?"
Draco didn't answer her.
"I guess I just don't understand," Ginny mumbled. Don't push your luck, Ginny, she thought. She remembered the way Draco's hands had felt clenched around her neck and shivered. Immediately she felt guilty. She thought of the tender way in which those same hands had later brushed aside her tears and tucked her hair out of her eyes.
"What's there to understand," Draco said bitterly, more to himself than Ginny. "She's under the Imperious Curse and has been my whole life."
"But who's casting it on her?" Ginny asked, wondering just how much longer Draco would remain talkative.
Draco slowed down and then stopped walking. He turned and looked at Ginny but when he saw her eyes on his, he looked down. Slowly turning his gaze back ahead of him, he said, "My father."
Ginny stared after Draco as he walked on, too stunned to move. Really, that information shouldn't surprise her too much. Many of the wizarding community suspected Lucius Malfoy to be a Death Eater, but as of yet there hadn't been any evidence to send him to Azkaban.
A few small stones falling off of a large rock Draco was climbing over snapped Ginny back to reality and she hurried to catch up to him. She tried to look at his face but he wouldn't meet her eyes.
"Hey," she said as he sped up, not wanting to look at her. "Hey," she repeated, planting herself firmly in front of Draco. He looked at her exasperatedly. "It's not your fault, you know," she said, but Draco brushed past her. She frowned and walked next to him. "Well, it's not," she muttered. She thought she heard a derisive snort come from Draco but when she turned her eyes to him he was concentrating on the ground they were walking over.
They were silent for the rest of the journey out of the secret tunnel and when they reached the top, Draco pulled the stone out of its hole. Ginny closed her eyes as the wind rushed by them, the humming filled the cave, and the tunnels changed back to normal. When she opened her eyes, she saw Draco looking at her.
"I was trying to save her, you know," he said hesitantly. "I wanted to get her away from my father because when she's apart from him, she can throw the curse off." Ginny stared quietly at Draco, who continued talking even though he looked as if someone else was forcing himself to speak. He half-turned from Ginny, but before he got the nerve to walk away completely he turned back. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and turned away completely.
Cautiously Ginny stepped around him and looked at him. Draco looked up embarrassedly. Once more he opened his mouth to say something but shut it in confusion. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked back at Ginny. After hesitating again, he said, "I – I couldn't do it." His hand twitched uncomfortably at his side. Draco seemed to be waiting for some sort of passing judgment from Ginny, but she remained silent. When he saw her so, Draco continued.
"I mean, I tried," he said. "Of course – of course I tried to save her, it's just that…" he trailed off helplessly. "And besides," he continued, frowning, "even if I could've saved her, there's nowhere I could bring her where she wouldn't be found by the wrong people. There's no hope for it," he finished sadly, turning from Ginny and resuming their walk back towards the school now with a ferocious pace.
Ginny walked along with him, pondering what Draco had just revealed. Perhaps that was what Draco had been so upset about earlier. Ginny had no way of knowing, and she wasn't going to pester him any further at the moment. The fact that he had confided in her like this was enough astonishment for one night.
Her mind continued reeling with thoughts until she suddenly stopped in her tracks, a wondrous look on her face.
"Draco," she called out, and the boy stopped and turned.
"What?" he asked tiredly.
"I know where you could take her."
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A/N: So, what do you guys think? By the by, if I left anybody out in the dedication that should be in there, please let me know and I'll fix it. I double checked and then checked again, so I think I got everybody, but you never know.
This'll be the last chapter for a while. Yeah, I know you are all going, "Hmph, what is she talking about? It's always a long time in between chapters…stupid author…sheesh…" but I'm sorry. Lol like I said, moving and stuff. I'll try to update soon though.
One more thing…I used the line "needle in a haystack" in this chapter, and that's a very cliché line, so if any of you have a line like that that means the same thing, let me know in a review! I love seeing things like that.
Lauren
