Chapter 10: Plan B

The next morning, Ginny was up early at breakfast. As the first streaks of dawn flashed through night's hair, she blearily came to the Great Hall and found it, miraculously, with food in plenty, if only with one table filled at the moment. This table was occupied by a very sad and tired looking teacher, reading the paper. She was blond and frail, though most morning and her classes she looked upright and strong. Ginny quietly snuck into a place near to her. It wasn't like there were any other tables, and she didn't want to be anywhere near any fellow students.

Just as Ginny picked up piping hot toast, a small hawk flew in. A hawk? No one owned hawks, except for-

It landed in front of her and gave her its tiny, crumpled note. Oddly, it was held in her beak, instead of around her leg. Ginny dropped the note at her side, on the ground, and continued to eat. The hawk flapped down, picked up the note again, and brought it back. Ginny took the note, and threw it this time. Again, the bird fetched it back. They played this game, of sorts, for several minutes. Finally, the hawk (Ginny thought her name was Gaza) squawked her irritation. Fearful of disturbing her professor, Ginny quickly opened the note.

It read:

Dear Ginny,

Please, I'm so sorry you had to see that. See, it wasn't really my fault- I didn't mean to kiss- You NEED To Know, it wasn't…Mal-

The note ended there, in a long, scratchy line, a kin to a heart monitoring system. Gaza, satisfied her message was delivered, flew off, back to her pained mistress. Ginny carefully folded the note and put it in her pocket. Last night, she'd been so upset, she'd just run, and hadn't talked to anyone since. Without any sleep to recharge her, she was feeling almost half crazy, and didn't want to think about this. Not her fault! Who the hell was she kidding. Sure, this wasn't like Kera, but this was Harry they were talking about.

"Oh, is your fetch game over?" Ginny looked up into the smiling, if tragic, eyes of Cherrie Sharper. One eye was a beautiful blue. The other, a misty and clouded orb. It was with this blind eye that she so often appeared to be looking into someone's soul. Most people found it unnerving, but, on this morning, it was Ginny's comfort. She nodded. "What are you reading, professor?"

She smiled mournfully. "Nothing, just the Prophet." She folded up the paper. On the face side, half a headline read THE EXECUTIONER STR- Ginny had heard about that Death Eater quite a bit this summer, mostly from her mom and dad. Apparently, he was worse than Sirius was rumored to have been, and mad as a hatter to boot. She couldn't recall the name, though.

"Um, Professor Sharper? Who is the Executioner? I can't remember his name."

The professor's other eye became as cloudy as the dark one. "She, Ginny." Professor Sharper had a habit of calling her students by their first names, as she wasn't much older than some of their siblings. "The Executioner is a woman, by the name of Melody."

"Is she really as crazy as everyone says?"

A dark cloud passed over the woman's face. "No. Or, at least, she didn't used to be."

"Oh. Wait a minute; did you go to school here, with her or something?"

"No." Professor Sharper put her head down. "You see, Ginny, Melody, Melody Sharper, is my sister, five years my senior. She was only fourteen when the Death Eaters made her their own, and I was nine. After leaving me at ten in the orphanage, she kept contact for another year. You can easily imagine how hurt I was." Ginny couldn't, but she didn't say a word. Her teacher continued, "Then, I had no word of her, except from frightening newspaper stories that used her new nickname. No one, not even I, knew who was killing so many under the strange alias. Then, five years after her last visit, and four since the last note, she appeared in court, on trial. I was there and I learned that day; never go to a family member's trial. It's been fourteen years to the day since then."

Ginny blushed for making her professor sound so sad. Today, like last night, was going on terribly. "Oh, I'm so sorry! If I had know-"

"If you had know, I would have told you anyway. Ginny, my sister is bitter. She thinks we're all compliant, that we don't give a care about anyone except ourselves. And, she may very well have a point." Cherrie Sharper looked very seriously at Ginny, sizing her up. "But, do you know what Auror it was that finally caught her?"

Ginny shook her head and looked down at her plate. She shouldn't be prying like this. "Maybe you're not quite ready for this," Cherrie told her, sadly. Ginny shook her head. It was almost as if Professor Sharper wanted to tell her. "No, I can handle it. Actually, I really don't know. Who?"

The professor looked surprised. "Really? But… well, the Auror's name was Katriona Carutasu. Now, do you no who I'm talking about?" Again all she got was a shake. "Oh, okay. I guess she just didn't want to talk about it. Though, I talked with her, and she seemed fairly open, so I thought, since you were a friend."

"Who? I don't know-" Then it hit home. Carutasu. "Kera?"

Her teacher nodded sadly. "From what my sources say, both my sister and He-who-must-not-be-named came to Islington, where Katriona was hunting down one of his followers. She had just had Kera, and this was her first night back on the job. Her husband, Adrian who worked with the Ministry, was helping. You-know-who killed him first, torturing him about the whereabouts of his sorceress mother, You-know-who's aunt, apparently, and shouting of betrayal. No one knew, before then, that they were related. Meanwhile, he sent my sister after Katriona and the baby.

It was a mistake. Apparently, Katriona, weak from her pregnancy not two weeks ago, was open to an easy kill. But, she made a stupid mistake. As it's customary for a Death Eater to taunt their victims before death, she went to describe in sickening detail how she would kill Katriona. Then came the final breath of her husband from the next room in the tiny, two room apartment they'd been occupying. With a sneer, Melody said something like, 'Then, once you're good and gone, I'm going take your little runt and give her to my father. You see, he can't wait to see her.'

It was then that, from what I've been told, Katriona lost it a little. She gave a horrible scream, that caused residents to come running. Voldemort came into the bedroom they were in and got Katriona's wand away before she did any real damage. Melody was delighted. 'Don't worry,' she sneered. 'Just tell me her name, and I'll take care of her like I would my own sister. And just think how happy we can be, like sisters with our father." (A/N: Yes, she really enjoys thinking of Voldemort as a father. Just like, I'm sure, Bellatrix thinks of him as her husband. Just a big happy family, really. Okay, we can all go and have a grossed-out shudder fest now. Ewww….)

Apparently, from this point, Katriona became very scary. She used powers no one, not even she herself, had really acknowledged she had all those years. You see, like her daughter, husband, and mother-in-law, Katriona was a sorceress, if a thus far dormant one. She somehow shot ropes at Melody a managed to bind her, then turned on her master. 'Tell you what, Voldemort. Go fuck one of your own servants, and then you can have their baby. But, stay the hell away from my daughter.' And, right then, he was ready to perform a killing curse and eliminate her in a blind anger. Until, that is, Kera began to wail. She saved both their lives, since You-Know-Who would never have risked killing the child he wanted, for one reason or another, just to get its mother. So he left, but since Melody was tied now by rope and magic to the angry Auror, she was left to be rescued later. And that's why Katriona survived, at least until Kera was ten. Then, Kera claims it was a strange illness that finally brought her down, but who really knows? Perhaps it was Death Eater, one who truly cared about my sister. She always was very pretty."

Ginny was dumbfounded. "Was all that true? How do you know how reliable your source was?"

Professor Sharper laughed. "You sound like a teacher questioning an unreliable student's paper. My source was a visit a made to my dear sister a month after they took her to Azkaban. She was bitter about it, let me tell you."

"Because her master abandoned her?"

"No, far from it. She was mad because she couldn't add Katriona's name to her 'killed' list." Professor Sharper had finished her food. She got up. "Well, Ginny, I suppose I'll see you some other time during break. Oh, and, would it be possible to avoid mentioning this to the other kids? I'd rather they heard about my family from me, instead of the Hogwarts Grapevine."

"Of course, Professor!"

She nodded. "Have a merry day, then."

Ginny, who realized she, unlike her professor, had taken a bite once since she'd started the conversation, eagerly ate, digesting information along with her food, as more and more people trickled in. She noted Harry was no where to be found. Why had Kera said something to Professor Sharper, but not to her? She was her friend, after all. Then again, Ginny thought, maybe Kera had been hiding about that, just like she had been about her feelings for Harry.

Ginny slapped down a hand angrily. Why hadn't Kera just said something! So what if Ginny got mad every time someone made eyes at Harry? It wasn't like they were dating, was it? Besides, Kera was a friend. She would have made herself deal with it! But, to do this right in from of Ginny, with such blatant disregard, was sick, and wrong, and Ginny was itching to go over to the Slytherin table right now and slap the bitch. She looked up. Kera wasn't anywhere to be found, but Ginny was intent on following through. She left, and didn't notice Draco following her until he said something.

"Hey, Ginny!" She turned sharply.

"What the hell do you want?" she almost screamed at him.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to contain a smile that would give his plan away. "I just want to see if you were okay, geez. You seemed pretty upset back in the Great Hall. "

"Oh," she apologized, confused as heck. Draco Malfoy was a priss. He didn't care about 'weasels' like her, and he definitely did not make sure the feelings of one Gryffindor girl were okay.

"Yeah," he sneered. "'Oh.'" Then, his expression softened. "Kera told me what she did last night."

"What!"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "She seemed pretty happy about it," he lied. The truth was, when she came back, and the few Slytherins had departed for bed, she glared at him, ran upstairs and washed out her mouth several times, then cried over the loss of her friend. He was glad she didn't come back down, because he was beginning to feel a strange, new emotion. It was called guilt.

"Right," Ginny practically sobbed. "I'll see you later then." She started to walk away, but he put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Ginny, if you ever need someone to talk to… feel free to send me an owl. I'd be happy to talk." He left her there, struck dumb for the second time today, only this time there was a paper on her shoulder.

You're incredible. Don't let something like this get you down.

What the hell was that? Was Malfoy actually hitting on her? Maybe, last night and this morning were some insane dream. She had to find Harry before she woke up.

Unlike the boys, girls could quite easily go up into the boy's dormitories. Draco, having looked quickly around to make sure Kera wasn't around, ran up to his dorm. There, he flopped onto his bed with a grateful sigh. Ginny had actually listened to him, and he hadn't insulted her. Not once! This day was starting out so perfectly.

He went over to his cabinet, and pulled off the muggle shirt he'd been wearing. Like everyone else, he didn't observe the normal way of dressing during a break spent here. It was like you not only took a break from looking like a worn out student, you took a break from looking like a wizard in general. He chuckled, thinking off his parents' reactions if they ever found his school like this. His mother would've likely had a heart attack if she'd seen Professor Sharper's green and red striped dress she'd been wearing this morning.

"So, how'd it go?"

Malfoy jumped. He thought he was alone. Wriggling across his large bed, he groaned at her, and then laughed, "Servant girl, you're lucky I didn't come up here to change something besides my shirt. What would you have done then?" They both knew what he meant.

She gave him a cat's smile. "Why, sir, I'm ashamed! I would have covered my eyes, like a good servant does, and then peeked through my fingers to see how small it was."

That caught him by surprise. He gave a rather un-malfoy-ish snort, and then began to laugh. She got up, plopped on his bed, and cocked an eyebrow at him. "How do you know I'm not being truthful?"

He stopped and looked at her. "Because, you know that there's nothing but hate between us." And because my family is keeping you away from yours, he thought quietly.

"Aww, you're so sweet," she drawled. "But you know I could never like you like that."

They both looked at each other, one frowning in mock anger, the other grinning like a fool. Then they laughed at the stupidity of the other, and laughed at how incriminating it would look if they were caught like this. Her shoes were stacked neatly in a corner, and his shirt lay in a heap on the floor. All Draco needed to do was be sitting next to her on the bed, and… well, he actually did do that. It was his bed, after all.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting up here? How badly does she want to kill me now?" Kera looked at him, anxious for answers. There was, of course, no need to ask who 'she' was.

He nodded sadly. "She looks like she's ready to rend you limb from limb."

"Great," murmured Kera, "Now everyone here hates me." She hugged her knees to her chest.

Draco wasn't sure what to do, so he hummed a little tune to himself. What could you say to someone in Kera's position to make them feel better? It really was true, now. Everyone did hate her. Ginny would hiss at the sight of her, and Draco couldn't be publicly nice to her without earning the spiteful natures of people he needed to, unfortunately, be in good favor with. But, for right now, did she really need to feel that bad? The least that could be done was for him to be frank. "Yeah, you're probably right. But, at least you've got an imaginary friend."

"Who?"

"Me," he smiled.

She shook her head in despair. The Draco who she could call a friend might as well have been imaginary, for all he showed everyone else in this stupid place the real him. Yet, at the same time, she was touched that he considered her a friend, and, in a gesture that was strange and alien to Draco, threw her arms around him in one of the many things his family had never participated in (for as long as he could remember); a hug.

Draco felt extremely awkward. He'd never done this before, and here was Kera, showing more emotion to him in one simple thing than he doubted she'd shown to the whole school, all totaled. Hesitantly, so sure he wasn't doing this right, Draco put first one arm, then the other, around Kera shoulders. But, then she broke it. "Sorry," she told him sheepishly. "Whenever my mom used to cheer me up, I always gave her a hug. It was habit, I guess. I hope I didn't make you get all grossed out, or something."

He just looked at her. "I've never gotten one of those- hugs, are they?" She nodded. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Well…" Kera looked thoughtful. "It's… I guess it's… It's what someone does when they care about someone, like a friend or as family, I guess. It's sort of like saying. I care about you and I want to protect you from whatever is troubling you. But, it's a motion, a gesture, instead of something you actually say. You could hug Ginny, if she felt scared, because you care about her enough to want to protect her, right?"

"Not really." This was confusing him.

"Not really? Then, why are you trying to get her to like you?" Kera glared him down.

"I guess because she's really beautiful, and she's probably a great kisser," he replied.

Kera, in retort, punched him on the arm and then gave him another hug to throw him off guard. "What was that for?" he coughed.

She smiled. "Since you are my only friend, I care about you and want to protect you from your own stupidity and masculinity, duh. And I don't care if you hate me for it. But, your goons will be back soon." She slid on her shoes. "It'd probably be for the best if they didn't find me up here." She left him, still shirtless, and feeling rather exposed.

Ginny, like Draco, got to the common room, and went up to the dorms. But, it wasn't her room she went to. It was Harry's. Praying her brother or one of the others wasn't inside, she turned the handle.

"Ron, is that you?" Harry called out.

"Do I look like Ron?" she asked indignantly.

He stumbled off his bed as she came in. He looked amazing in his PJs. "I thought you weren't going to talk to me ever again," he muttered. "So what was the point in going to eat?"

"Did you mean to kiss her last night?" Ginny demanded. She refused to beat around the bush. If he did, then fine. If he didn't, then, what the hell was going on around here?

He didn't. "Kera? No, Gin, I didn't. In fact, I don't know why I kissed her at all. It was like some sort of spell, something that made me kiss her. Besides, I haven't kissed many girls, but it didn't seem like she liked it to much."

Ginny came in further. "Yeah, it seemed odd to me, too. Kera has two friends here, me and, well, Malfoy." Harry made an audible sound of disgust. "Don't groan, meat head, she genuinely likes him. But, speaking of the ferret, he found out. And, he came to comfort me after breakfast."

"HE WHAT?" Harry roared. Ginny put a soothing hand on his chest.

"Calm down."

"You're joking. Tell me you're joking."

"No, look." She handed him the paper. He glanced at it quickly, and then pulled a piece of paper off his bed. Staring at them, he gasped, and then showed her.

The handwriting was the same. Both were written by Draco Malfoy. Harry's was much more threatening.

Stay the Hell away from Ginny. She's going to be with me now.

"Like hell I am!" Ginny exclaimed. "He must have set the whole thing up. I bet he pressured Kera into it as well. We should do something!"

"But, what?" asked Harry. "We could get him kicked off his Quidditch team."

"No," Ginny shook her head. "Too risky for us. But, maybe… yes, that's it!"

"What?"

"Draco Malfoy really cares about his image right? And, he's a ladies man as well. So, what could be more cripple, and be as un-incriminating as tell the right people that Malfoy is a gay pervert. We could tell everyone he's in love with you!"

Harry's face lit up. "Of course! No one would talk to him then. Ginny, you're brilliant! I could kiss you!" Of course he could. And, he did.

Several minutes later their mouths parted, and Ginny's face was flushed. "Ginny," Harry whispered, "I know how we can make sure no one will go after you again."

"How?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"Let's just make sure we don't tell anyone for awhile, especially Ron. No use spreading it around or he'll know we've been talking. We should catch him off guard, it's better that way." He nodded and she beamed at him. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go give Kera a hug."

(A/N: I'll leave it up to you guys to decide how good it would feel to be kissed by Harry Potter. This could be thumbs up or thumbs down, but in my opinion, I sure wish I was Ginny.)