Hey Guys!

Thank you all so much for the reviews, follows and favorites. I love seeing them so much.

ATTENTION! I wanted to ask whether or not you guys feel like it's dragging on. I usually am all for the physical aspect of Dramione that starts off so this is a little out of my realm. It seems like it's slow to me but what are your guys thoughts?

Review and let me know. Thanks!

-Madi

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I own the lyrics I quote in each chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Here in the Black

"Here in the black there's a feeling of loss,
But it's hungry and restless (and it's),
Looking desperate for something,

Absent of mercy,
It's alive and it feels but
not a shred of compassion or love,
It comes like a pouring of evil,
It's a stain on the ground,
It's a desolate shadow of fear…"

Here in the Black by Gary Numan

Still Thursday October 31st, 1996

Just outside the Haunted corridor, quarter past ten at night

Ginny exhaled softly as she watched Harry making his way towards the Gryffindor common rooms away from everyone else after the Malfoy confrontation. Crossing her arms, she walked over towards a small table that had been set up, reached for a cup with what looked to be fire whisky inside it. Throwing back her head, she gulped the drink down to find that it was in fact fire whisky and then pursed her lips afterwards. Ginny then winced from the harsh burning while looking towards Harry's figure slowly shrinking in the distance.

'That boy needs someone to put him straight or at least have someone to talk to…' Ginny thought to herself as she took another cup and grabbed a bottle of fire whisky. Pushing past some random fourth years, she made her way towards the Gryffindor commons deciding that it was now or never, and that she really needed have a talk with Harry.

Climbing the stairs with a huff, two empty cups and a bottle in hand, she mumbled the password once she got to the entrance. With a gasp she made her way inside, where she saw Harry tearing at his dress robes, probably in order to loosen his tie. Before she had the chance to turn around, she swallowed the sudden nerves that decide now it was a good time to surface and cleared her throat.

"Hello Harry," she spoke. He abruptly turned towards her as he ran a hand through his already tousled chocolate hair and looked right at her. "So, normally after a run in with Malfoy I'd leave you to your brooding. But I couldn't bring myself to just let you be up here alone, especially tonight… So I've brought a bottle of fire whisky and incase that doesn't help, I am able to lend an ear, or two if need be."

Ginny smiled softly as she made her way over towards where he stood, setting the cups down upon the side table next to the couch. When she turned back towards Harry she noticed that he couldn't stop himself from smiling for a second before sitting down. Sitting down next to him she looked towards him as he messed with his glasses before looking at her yet again. Shaking off a sudden aching feeling she got in her head, she continued to watch him as he spoke.

"I appreciate the gesture Ginny, really," he sighed. "It's just, well it's been a pretty rough night and I could use a bit of sleep…"

"Harry," Ginny shook her head, interrupting him. "I know for a fact, that there are more than a few people that are this close to hexing you… Hermione included. Why are you shutting her out, anyway? It isn't like she asked to be partnered with Malfoy."

"It's complicated…" Harry sighed, "I'm trying to understand what Hermione's thinking- I just know that Malfoy is responsible for cursing Katie Bell and who knows what else. He's dangerous and if he's playing nice with Hermione of all people, it means he's up to something… Because someone like him doesn't just wake up one morning and decide they're no longer prejudice towards muggleborn's…"

"Harry, that still doesn't explain why you're acting like a bit of an arse towards Hermione," Ginny said. "Talk to her, she's one of your best friends. If anyone has a way to figure out what he's up to, it's her and you know it. So I say, trust her…"

Ginny looked down towards his hand that rested beside him upon the sofa, before she reached over and placed her hand upon his. Her stomach filled with butterflies, while she watched Harry looked over towards her with a smile playing at his lips.

'He's smiling, at me. Oh merlin his smile is beautiful…' she thought as she scooted closer towards him. The sudden smell that that Ginny defined as Harry drifted before her; it was the scent of wood mixed with a twinge of sweet chocolate. She froze as he then slowly started to move his hand. At first she was worried he was about to pull away but he only turned it so his palm faced upwards, meeting hers. Harry then gently squeezed her hand as she felt her cheeks start to burn.

Ginny let her eyes wander, landing upon his lips as she unknowingly started to lean towards him, feeling his warm breath upon her face. She could have sworn his head started to move closer to hers when all of a sudden, that feeling came back; it was a dull throbbing in her head spilling throughout her. Gasping lightly she pulled her hand away from his, as flashes of things came to her mind.

She was in a bathroom, writhing in pain upon the floor…

She was in a pub. There was a man and a woman. The women flipped a coin. Tears streaming down her cheeks she pointed a wand at herself. Avada Kedavra. The man's throat was suddenly cut. Blood sputtered and streamed down his front. Then she looked down at her hands. Covered in hot sticky blood…

For some reason she felt as if there was someone else there, watching her. Forcing her to burn the scene before her into her mind…

At first the images- the scenes that played in her mind, frightened her because they were gruesome and foul. It seemed like she had seen them somewhere once, but wasn't exactly sure where. Ginny wondered if she was remembering a nightmare she once had as she inhaled slowly. Exhaling to calm herself down, she saw them again they were painful and it felt as if she was actually there in the bathroom upon the cold hard tile floor. That she was actually in the pub… she felt like she could feel the lingering warm wet blood smeared across the palms of her hands. Then it hit her…

Ginny jumped from the sofa, gasping, eyes widened in panic as she looked around at her surroundings to see a worried Harry. He was saying something; his words were jumbled and muffled by something. She reached for something to steady herself, as she knocked over what looked like a bottle and in slow motion it fell to the floor shattering at her feet.

'No… it can't be…' she thought to herself as more mixed emotions filled her mind.

Crucio… Red flash… agony… She could almost feel it pulsating throughout her.

Imperio… a flash of light… She felt as if she wasn't able to talk. She wasn't able to scream…

"I ha-have to go," she whispered, "I have to go now…"

"Ginny? Wait…" Harry spoke; his voice sounded almost like she was underwater. She felt his hand grab hold of hers but the second she felt his skin touched hers, she yanked it away while the flashes unceasingly played in her head. Hot tears bubbled down her flushed cheeks as she turned to see Harry looking at her, his features taut with concern.

"No," she screamed. "Don't touch me… I have to go now- and DO NOT follow me!"

She pushed past Harry, in the direction of the painting. A name then came to mind as she threw it open running down the stairs.

They were memories… her memories…

Then as she darted through other students in the direction of the Slytherin commons while a name rolled off her tongue with distain laced with disgust…

"Theodore Nott…"

"Come with me now,
I'm gonna take you down,
Whoa, come with me now,
I'm gonna show you how,

Afraid to lose control,
And caught up in this world,
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath,
I think I've thought myself to death…"

Come With Me Now by Kongos

Still Thursday October 31st, 1996

The Hallway, ten-forty at night

'Get her around the corner, cast a spell of stupefy, and that's that,' Draco thought to himself. With his hand in his pocket, he rolled the cool smooth wood of his wand between his fingers then he continued down the obscure and vacant corridor. The sound of Granger's rather delicate footsteps trailed behind him, which signaled him that she fell for his subtle hints without so much as a comment. 'Granger is too curious for her own good… She honestly doesn't know what happens to nosy people…'

Sighing lightly he turned around yet another corner, realizing that they were just down the hall from the library as he took his hand out of his robe pocket. Wand in hand he turned so that his back was towards the wall while he waited for her to catch up. The second he recognized that he had spoken aloud about Crabbe and Goyle, he knew that he needed to get to keep her at a distance. She was too intelligent and far too close to things she should know nothing about.

He closed his eyes, focusing upon the sole sound of her footsteps. For some reason something he had heard his mother say came to mind, a memory from years ago.

'You must learn how to properly keeping a respectable distance from others, Draco. Whatever you do follows you, follows us… You cannot trust anyone with vital information about us especially your little friends. It could jeopardize your father as well as our family. I trust that you will not allow them to see your true emotions Draco… Just pretend you're around your father at all times…'

The memory twisted, coming to a halt when he snapped open his eyes pointing his wand towards the ground at his side. A flash of light briefly filled the hallway yanked Draco's attention from his thoughts and towards the library. He heard something that sounded like books falling followed by a muffled voice.

"Honestly Malfoy, do you think it's possible for you to slow down-"Grangers voice interrupted the silence as she walked around the corner from where he stood. He turned to look at her while she flinched from what he guessed was the close proximity as she almost ran right into him. "Where are we even going?"

He shushed her, listening for more sounds before starting in the direction of the library and towards the sounds but more importantly towards whatever was going on inside it. Then there was another burst if blue light that pierced the darkness from within the library that then filled the hallway for a count of three.

With a twinge of confusion, Draco turned back towards Granger who wore a familiar muddled expression. Instantly he knew he had two options about how to proceed with the situation, both had the possibility of ending rather badly. There was his first plan; which was to hex her unconscious making her forget about the whole situation among other things. The other option was recklessly to allow her to stay with him, assist him in figuring things out and then make her forget things afterwards. Not that he needed her, help…

'In the end, either way, she wouldn't remember what happened,' Draco thought to himself, wand still in hand. Pulling him from his thoughts, was a loud booming sound that came from the library, making dust and stone crumble from the ceiling. Sneering aloud, he tore his attention away from Granger knowing he needed to find out what was going on and fast.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" She whispered sharply. Draco ignored her commentary, quickly starting down the hallway and towards the entrance knowing that she was close behind. The abrupt scuffle of her shoes punctured the silence as he pointed his wand before him while she spoke. "What are you doing?

"Do you ever not ask questions Granger," he hissed under his breath, "Lumos…"

"For your information, Malfoy, I only ask pertinent questions when I don't fully understand another person or when their actions don't add up with the facts." She growled while he watched her pulling out her own wand. "Lumos… for example, right now I have a slight gape in knowledge when it comes to our current predicament. Seeing as you refuse to explain anything to me… Therefore it is perfectly expectable for me to ask questions that might be somewhat consequential for me to know. Whether you choose to answer them or not, is on you."

Draco looked over his shoulder to watch her tuck some of her curls behind her left ear as they slowly made their way into the library. He almost found himself wanting to grin at the logical way she explained why she was had so many queries, but didn't as they reached the first aisle of books. There were books torn from shelves strewn across the ground before them. By the way the books were spread across the ground; Draco deduced there had been some sort of a struggle.

"Malfoy, we need to inform a professor, something isn't right," she whispered softly while he continued walking forward. Stepping over and around the books, Draco sighed, looking from right to left down the next aisle. He took another step forward as glass crunched beneath his shoe while he looked down and saw small dribbling pools of crimson.

"Stop talking, Granger," he snapped. Before she had the chance to respond, he looked up to see a ball of light heading right for them. Suddenly without thinking about his actions further, he found himself tugging Granger by her wrist out of the way and down the left aisle way with him. She managed to stumble over some books at their feet which made her fall right into him thus shoving him into the bookshelf. He groaned faintly at the indirect shot of pain he felt from his back hitting the shelf, as she whispered a sorry while grabbing onto him tightly.

The warmth radiating from her enclosed him, making him shiver lightly while a familiar scent of cinnamon twisted before his nose. He felt as if he was once again drowning in all things Granger, as suppressed memories and dreams began to surface from her actions as a result he forced himself to let her go.

Draco shook his head and exhaled once he was able to take a step away from her in the direction the spell had been cast from only to see no one in the aisle way anymore. He gripped his wand tightly whispering Lumos as he back into the aisle yet again before turning to look at Granger once more. She looked up at him for a second and then started making her way to the other side of the shelves. Before he could object, she walked out into the aisle in the direction of the attacker with her wand at the ready.

"Granger," Draco hissed under his breath. She kept walking, only looking forwards and then to her right as she made her way past another aisle.

'What happened to telling a professor something was wrong,' he almost sneered aloud as he followed just behind her. As they walked past almost three aisles without seeing anything, he then saw movement to her right at the other end of the aisle just before he yanked her out of view and up against him. He whispered Nox as he did and thankfully she knew not to reluctantly refuse his actions while they waited in silence.

Draco could feel her shaking slightly against him for some reason as he rested his hands upon her shoulders while she stood pressed against him. For some reason, he couldn't suppress the sudden feeling of instant regret he felt for having her come with him, in fear of what he'd gotten the both of them into. Exhaling roughly against the top of Granger's bushy hair, he peaked around the corner to see if they were gone.

"You need to get a professor while I distract them. Whoever it is," he whispered to her without looking her way.

"Absolutely not," she hissed. "In no way is it more logical to leave you alone, especially with some crazed student who is currently throwing spells our way. Despite that it is improbable they're truly attempting to hurt us, its best if we stick together. I'm sure it is just someone who is looking to cause some sort of a problem. Who knows, maybe they are just pranking us into believing they are actually going to attack us for a bit of fun. It is Halloween after all..."

"I honestly doubt that Granger," Draco turned to look at her as he pulled away from her and wandered into the aisle ways that lead deeper into the library. Watching her closely as she crossed her arms in disagreement, he examined her under the moonlight that trickled across her features just enough for him to outline them. No matter how many times he studied her, he always found himself in the same position as the time before.

"Look out!" she snapped. He watched her features change instantly as she reached for his arm and pulling him out of the way of a burst of vibrant red light. Draco followed diligently as they ran from aisle to the next, spell after spell being tossed their way. Instantaneously, Draco knew by the way the spell flew and the vibrancy of the bloody crimson light, which spell was being cast. It was after all, his aunt Bella's favorite spell. "Draco!"

The second he heard Granger's voice ringing in his ear, he felt an insurmountable thrashing amount of pain striking him down in his spot. It resonated throughout his body, muscles convulsing from the torture while he screamed out in agony. It wasn't the first time he had experienced the Cruciatus curse, in fact far from it. But every single time it hurt all the same.

"Stop it!" Draco heard Granger's scream even through the drumming in his ears. "Stupefy!"

Every muscle in his body relaxed as he opened his eyes just before he realized he was panting, his lungs then demanding for him to catch his breath. Reaching around, Draco grabbed the shelf next to him in order to pull himself up to his feet. Looking around, he saw books scattered as well as lights flashing lights coming from spells.

"Bombarda!" Hermione's voice echoed just before the sound of wood exploding stabbed the air. Then he saw her rounding the corner sliding towards him. Draco stumbled slightly, cursing under his breath as Granger helped him around the other end of the aisle. "Draco… Draco listen to me… we have to move. Now."

He felt his pockets in realization that he dropped his wand somewhere and pushed past her, ignoring her words. Forcing himself to walk while disregarding the shaky feeling in his legs he spotted it on the ground near the other end of the aisle. Slowly he made his way towards his wand, peering in between the books to see if there was anyone on the other side.

Once he made his way towards his wand, he bent down to snatch it when he saw someone tripping over their own feet. Draco snatched his wand while with his free hand he grabbed onto the shelf to his right in order to help him stand correctly. Before he could react, a spell of Stupefy hit Granger throwing her backwards and unconscious.

"Flipendo Duo!" Draco yelled, pointed his wand towards the attacker, striking them square in their chest as the spell threw them backwards into a shelf of books. Tossing a look over his shoulder at Granger who was unmoving he turned towards whoever had cursed him.

'What is this? Is this the other death eater? Maybe this is a punishment for not mending the cabinet… Or better yet, who is it?' Draco pushed aside the questions and then took a few steps backwards towards Granger as he bent down to check if she was alright. With his wand still pointed down the aisle, he pushed aside her curls in order to check her pulse.

Once he felt sure of her pulse, he slowly stood watching the figure cloaked in darkness pulling themselves to their feet. Now that he could focus upon the attacker, he mentally noted that the figure was defiantly a female of average height. As the girl threw up her arm, wand in hand Draco spoke before she could get any words out.

"Expelliarmus!" he said and watched the wand flying upwards and towards him with ease. With his wand still aimed towards the girl, he slowly walked towards her. With the shadows from the book case still masking her identity, Draco listened closely. She was mumbling under her breath, from what he could tell she was saying the same thing over and over again.

"I have a true de-desire to maim … I have a true desire to maim o-others… No matter the consequences…" the feeble words carved the silence before them.

"Come on out, to where I can see you…" Draco said. He inhaled sharply as the she did without hesitation and in that moment he quite literally froze. Tears stained her flushed pale cheeks while her rather unresponsive brown eyes shined with tears under the moonlight. "You? You're the one who cast the Cruciatus curse upon me? A Weasley?"

"I- I…" Weaslett started to speak. Draco then watched closely, rightfully confused as he looked at her vibrant fiery and disheveled hair. "I have a tr-true desire to maim o-others. No matter what…"

As she spoke it was difficult not to notice the twitch in her right eye as well as her fingers, as if they were itching to use her wand. Instantly he knew that someone had cursed her to attack them. He then shifted his focus towards her right hand that had a fresh cut upon the palm of her hand. From that, he was able to deduce that she was one of the people in the struggle and at the sound of books being kicked across the flooring his eyes widened.

'She's was merely a pawn… A distraction…' Draco thought as he turned around.

A single name left his mouth as he watched another person walk around the end of the aisle. His stomach dropped as the second person stepped forward for Draco to see.

"…Theo?" Draco sneered.