Draco ran through the corridors of Hogwarts, bolting up flights of stairs, slipping through secret passageways, crawling through tunnels, running round and round until he paused abruptly before a not-so-special-looking door.
The wooden door was in a common looking hallway, and had a brass knob. Draco placed his hand on the knob, feeling it throb beneath his fingers. As he was about to open the door, Draco noticed something etched into the wood in spidery writing. He leaned down to get a closer look, squinting.
It said 'secretarius.'
Draco turned the knob, opened the heavy door with some effort, and entered the room.
But it was not a room at all.
It was a field. A green field with little red animals scampering all over it, their beady eyes glowing.
Draco stepped forward, closing the door behind him. He watched the weasels – for that is what they were – eat, and play, and run, and sleep until one stopped in front of him. He picked it up, and it sat still in his arms.
'Secreta -' Draco began, but before he could finish his spell, the weasel gave a great jerk and began to grow and transform until Ginny Weasley stood in front of him.
'Oh Draco,' she said eerily, her eyes still and fixed on his stunned face. 'It's been too long, what are we going to do?'
And then the weasels behind her began to scratch the ground, digging up earth, all the while making a horrible racket that screeched inside Draco's head.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Draco shot up in bed, his eyes wide and his heart pounding. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves, but his dream still stuck to him like some wretched shadow. And then he heard it again.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
He whipped his head in the direction of the noise, realizing what it was.
The weasel was scratching on her cage, trying, it appeared, to get out.
Draco groaned, lying his head back down onto his pillow.
It had been such a strange dream.
Draco could not get through a single class without hearing at least ten mentions of the missing Ginny Weasley. Apparently, no one had seen her since Monday, and it was already Thursday.
It had been Monday night when he had found the weasel with Pansy.
And Ginny had been in his dream, although he assumed that had to have been because of Ron's confrontation and the obvious connection to his new pet and her last name.
But all the same, it was strange.
And all this talk of her missing, it made Draco shuffle uncomfortably in his seat.
Could there be a connection?
He resolved that he would try the revealing spell that night – there was something about that weasel, and he had to know what it was. Soon.
Draco entered his room after dinner, dropping his school bag next to the door. He saw the weasel stir, and moved over to his bed to flip on the light.
Flopping down onto his bed, Draco looked over at the weasel, then down to the small piece of parchment next to her cage. He lifted his wand out of his robe's pocket and unlatched the tiny door.
Draco reached into the back of her cage, where the weasel had retreated to a few moments before, and with some struggle picked her up and out of the cage.
Carefully, he recited the spell a few times over in his head, checked the paper just to be sure he had it right, and then pointed his wand at the weasel.
Draco took a deep breath, and then began the spell.
"Secreta – "
But he did not finish.
The weasel had started to change in his hands.
Draco dropped his wand, moving farther away from the edge of the bed and watching in awe as the weasel's fur meshed into freckled skin.
As she grew bigger, he dropped her into his lap, unable to hold her twisting form.
And there she was.
Ginny Weasley lay sprawled on top of Draco Malfoy.
In his bed.