I have made a small change to how I had planned this chapter. I was previously going to have Draco travel with Ron to Ollivander's but after reading the last book I changed that around so Harry took him.

The bag was an idea I had previously because I always wondered in all these sort of stories how people managed to carry around so much stuff without hurting their backs lol (Ok some of the characters are trained soldiers like Sparhawk so that's ok but if I had to lug all my possessions around with me I'd end up sulking – I'd make a really bad fantasy character!)

Anyway my bag's not as pretty as Hermione's!

"Ok. But there will be conditions... We can discuss them if we get out of Ollivander's..."
Harry and Ron stood anxiously by the front door, waiting for Draco to return. Harry looked especially annoyed and was tapping his foot impatiently. When Draco finally came down the stairs Harry snapped, "What were you doing up there. We haven't got all the time in the world you know. Voldemort could be doing anything to those girls right now."

Ron's face fell even further. "If he hurts them I'll-"

Draco cut him off mid-sentence. "- He won't hurt them. Not yet anyway." Ron looked at him questioningly but Harry wasn't convinced.

"You don't know that." He snapped angrily.

Draco looked ready to snap back but instead said quietly, "Actually I think I do. I'll explain on the way to Ollivander's. Can you both Apparate?"

Ron nodded once and Harry said quickly "Of course."

"Wonderful." Draco said in a tone that suggested it was anything but. "One of you will have to Side-Along Apparate with me. Oh and by the way Potter, have you lost that invisibility cloak you had?"

Harry looked worried for a second and scrabbled frantically through the bulky bag Ron had been holding earlier. He breathed a sigh of relief. "No, why would you ask such a weird question?"

"Why would you carry around such a huge bag?" Draco retorted. "It must weigh a tonne, what happens if you have to run anywhere? That's just stupid."

Ron decided to answer the question before Harry bit Draco's head off. "We've got a lot of important stuff that we need and can't leave anywhere. We're taking it in turns to carry it."

"Simpletons." Draco murmured. "Here, Madame Malkin taught me the spell to shrink trunks and bags, lend me your wand and I should be able to shrink yours. Once it's done you should just be able to accio items out of it and they will grow to full size."

Ron held his wand out tentatively but Harry pushed it back down to Ron's side. "Can't we just use Reducio?" When Draco shook his head Harry then asked, "Can't you just teach us then?"

Draco sighed and dragged his hand through his pale hair. "Fine, although it will cost us more time." After several failed attempts they finally managed to shrink the bag down so it was small enough to fit into Harry's pocket.

"Ok let's go. Who's better at Apparition?"

" Me." - "Harry." Replied Harry and Ron simultaneously. Ron had lost half an eyebrow in his first attempt at the Apparition examination and was still slightly nervous about splinching himself.

"It figures." Muttered Draco sardonically. "Fine, are you going to take me then Potter or are you going to kick up a stink?"

Harry sighed. "I'll take you I suppose, we agreed to go so I can't go back on my word. But as soon as we get there you're explaining about your theory. I want to know why you seem so sure the girls are safe."

"I never said they were safe. Just that if I'm right they won't have been hurt and we have at least a little time to get organised. Weasley we'll meet you in the street behind Ollivander's that I told you about. Don't let anyone see you. Come on then Potter, let's get this over with."

Harry grabbed Draco's arm roughly and Apparated them without a word. Draco had gotten so used to Apparating that he was fully prepared for the tight squeezing feeling that enveloped his body. He was surprised that Harry was so adept, instead of the large bang he was expecting there was merely a small popping noise; almost as quietly as he would have managed it.

Ron however was another matter - his appearance, only moments after Harry and Draco had arrived, was met with a very large bang. Quickly grabbing the other two Draco dragged them back so they were crouching behind some large bins in a dark corner and held one long thin finger up to his lips.

When he was sure that no one was going to come looking for them, Draco straightened up. "We need to use the back way in. If what Ginny said is right then no one should be watching this shop. Although they won't be able to see us anyway." He added cryptically.

Before he could make it clear what he planned, Harry grabbed his arm quite forcefully, pushed him back against one of the dirty brick walls framing the street and said, "You need to explain about the girls before I'm letting you go anywhere."

Draco shook Harry's hand off, gave him a warning shove backwards and threw him a look most of their fellow pupils would have quailed at. "I don't require your permission to do anything. You'd better drop that sort of attitude straight away."

Ron sighed, he hated conflict at the best of times, if Hermione and Harry ever argued he loathed trying to get them to talk again and this was a million times worse because he couldn't give Harry any real reasons to 'make friends' with Draco. If he didn't do something though he was certain it would all end in violence. At the moment he wasn't sure who would come off worse, the blonde or the raven haired wizard, both were pretty angry.

Ron wrinkled his freckled nose in annoyance – he was angry too. "Look Malfoy, we're all worried, right? You seem to know something that might put our minds at ease. Can't you two just save up the pointless arguments for when the girls are safe? That's my Hermione and my sister we're talking about – I've got double the worries you have so both of you give it a break."

Draco shrugged one shoulder lazily in agreement; he managed to give off an air of nonchalance despite the uneasy feelings he had brewing in his chest. Harry however looked at Ron in shock; he wasn't used to Ron not backing him up where Malfoy was concerned.

Before he had a chance to say anything though Draco cleared his throat, "Fine I'll tell you what I know, but we need to go somewhere that we can cast an Imperturbable Charm, it won't work on this whole street. There's a small alley at the back of Ollivander's with a gate on it which will do – if we have your permission of course oh wondrous one." He added sarcastically to Harry.

Harry, already annoyed at the whole situation snapped back. "I'll go check it out and make sure it's empty and safe first. What a great idea that would be if we ran into a load of people."

He pulled the shrunken bag from his pocket while muttering Accio cloak. Because he was mumbling so much the bag spat out several things at once. In frustration Harry enlarged the bag using the spell Draco had shown him, pulled the thick silver material out and thrust the bag at Ron a little harder than was necessary. "Here, you sort it out. I'll be back in a minute."

Draco smirked at the hurt look on Ron's face as Harry turned and stomped off, pulling the cloak over his head and literally disappearing. Both the remaining boys stood and listened for a while, Draco wondered briefly if Harry was still there spying on him but he quickly dropped the thought. Harry was too anxious to find out what his Slytherin adversary knew to wait around.

Ron stood for a while after Harry had gone with a look on his face. Finally he couldn't take it any longer and turned to face Draco asking, "You're not really an item with my sister are you?"

He continued in what he hoped was a light-hearted way even as he clenched and unclenched his hands in a mixture of nervousness and anger. "You just said that to wind Harry up right?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "The answers are Yes and No… in that order."

In the few seconds it took Ron to filter what he had heard, Draco examined his nails in a very relaxed manner.

Ron's face went through a full range of colours, starting at red and passing through a very sickly green, which clashed with his cinnamon hair terribly; finally settling on white which brought out his freckles. "Have you-"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask." Ron said, feeling a tiny bit less sick but still not too happy about the idea of his sister with the human ferret, even if Malfoy had changed like Hermione kept trying to convince him.

"Weasley, I'm the same age as you – I know perfectly well what you were thinking. Even if I don't have a sister to get all protective over I'm not stupid - as I keep on having to remind the both of you. Anyway, it hasn't really been weeks – I did say that bit just to wind Potter up. We only really got together…"

Draco paused to think about the moment that things had finally happened between him and Ginny – he shook his head when he realised that the wedding was only yesterday. It seemed like at least a week had passed already. So much had happened in just over 24 hours that it made his head spin. No wonder she was worried about me moving too fast, he thought. He had said to her that he wanted time for them to be together before telling anyone and here he was having 'the discussion' with her brother already. That was more that he'd been willing to do for any girl in the past.

Draco shook his head as if to clear it. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about his past relationships, or what his new one with Ginny may come to. He shut off his clamouring thoughts in a corner of his mind and regained his cool composure. "We got together yesterday so I haven't had time to fully work my charms on her yet."

Ron's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Draco smirked, at least some things in life were the same; Weasley was as easy to wind up as ever. However now wasn't the time to have both of his cohorts angry with him. "Look before you give me the clichéd line about if you hurt my sister, I'll just say that if I mess her head up you have my full permission to challenge me to a wizard's duel. Fair?"

Ron had been thinking along the lines of Draco taking whatever punishment he and his other brothers deemed reasonable; he didn't really like the idea of duelling Draco but then again he didn't want Draco to think that he didn't like the idea…

"Fine, fair I guess. But I'm still not happy about it all and… well – I'll be keeping an eye on you." He finally muttered with as much force as he could muster.

Draco sneered at Ron, not worried in the slightest. He imagined Ginny was more than capable of handling herself without her oaf of a brother interfering the whole time. The thought of Ginny sent another shiver of panic down his spine. Again he forced the thought away and instead concentrated on the best way to explain about his theory on her abduction.

It wasn't long before Harry returned; he pushed the cloak's hood back causing his already messy hair to stick up at strange angles. He looked a little calmer then he had when he left. "It's clear, there's absolutely no-one around and the alley leads right up to the back entrance of Ollivander's. Let's go."

Draco pushed himself away from the wall that he had been leaning gracefully on and threw Harry a mock wizard's salute. "Whatever you say sir." Was his sarcastic remark before he pushed past Harry and strolled towards the alley.

"Don't let him get to you – it's just Malfoy." Ron muttered to Harry.

The half of Harry that was visible looked tense and about to snap but then he sighed. "You're right Ron; I'm just very worried right now. Sorry mate."

Ron threw his arm around Harry's invisible shoulders. "I know. So am I - but much as I hate to say this; we all need to work together. He's an annoying git but the sooner we get our girls back the sooner we can get him out of our lives."

Harry gave Ron a look as they started following Draco. "Pansy is not my girl. Nothing happened last night ok. Quit looking for something that isn't there."

Draco had stopped and was waiting for the pair in the alley by the old wooden gate which looked ready to collapse. "Too true nothing happened – I saw how drunk you were. I doubt you'd even have been able to find your wand let alone anything else. Besides you two make such a lovely couple – why ruin that." He smirked and Ron quickly pulled his arm back from Harry's shoulder.

"Guess you wouldn't understand the concept of friends Malfoy." Harry said a little wearily while pulling his cloak off fully. "Come on, let's get this over with." He pushed the gate closed behind them and cast the Imperturbable spell which would prevent anyone from eavesdropping on them.

"Spill." Harry said.

Draco pressed his lips together tightly and ran a hand through his perfect silvery- blonde hair. "Ok, here goes. I've always been good at compartmentalising my brain, shutting off certain emotions and feelings-"

Harry interrupted him. "This had better not be a life story Malfoy. Does this charming tale have a point?"

"Yes, shut up and listen and I'll get there a lot sooner. During my delightful extended torture sessions with Voldemort following my failure to kill Dumbledore, I started trying to shut out the part of my brain that registered pain. I never really succeeded apart from this one time; I just felt like I'd closed a door and the pain didn't really affect me like it had…

I guess Voldemort thought he'd pushed me too hard and I'd passed out because he just left me lying there on the floor and called in Bellatrix; my simply adorable Aunt – who of course was so overwhelmed by emotion at the sight of her poor Nephew's body lying on the floor that she asked if he needed her to dispose of my body. Naturally I stayed pretty quiet."

Draco paused and a look that neither of the other boys could quite recognise flitted over his features. He shrugged and continued.

"Anyway Old Voldy had something else in mind. He asked Bella if there had been any progress in finding suitable witches for the coven. Her reply was pretty strange; she said something like: It is impossible my Lord. The qualities you have asked me to look for are not ones found amongst many witches; let alone finding one who is unsullied. By the time they are mature enough to have even close to full power, most witches have lost that particular innocence." Draco paused for a moment to make sure he had remembered everything his Aunt had said before continuing.

"Voldemort got a bit annoyed at that point, hissing on about needing the witches before 'The door of Brelnan' opens and that if they didn't have the attributes of 'The Coven of Four' then the weapon could not be summoned. He said something about it has been written about three times too. So there you have it – they will be safe for fourteen days"

Ron and Harry both looked completely befuddled.

"How'd you figure that out?" Ron asked. "You just spouted a load of gobbledegook at us and then expect us to understand why we have fourteen days to find Hermione, Ginny and Pansy?"

Draco sighed in a frustrated manner. "You really are thicker that even I imagined. Fine I'll spell it out for you. Voldemort needs four virgins with specific powers to form some sort of coven so they can make a powerful weapon for him. He will need them intact and able to use their full power so they won't be tortured or anything. Brelnan's night always used to be celebrated on the last Sunday of August which is exactly two weeks away. It's too much of a coincidence to not be the same occasion."

Harry spoke up finally. "Why Virgins? And how have you linked this all with the girls, Ginny and Hermione haven't got any magic powers - erm... other than the normal ones! You know what I mean! Anyway although Pansy has the ability to sense how much power a wizard has she's not exactly, erm chaste now is she?"

"And that's only three people." Ron added, wanting to make a contribution to the conversation.

Draco sighed again. "Ok, I guess I've got more of the facts than you guys and had a little longer to think about this. Firstly, why Virgins? Probably because in all the clichéd old stories a Virgin is pure so can be used as vessel to invoke demons, gods so on and so forth. Unfortunately I imagine most of the tales are based somewhat on truth. I'm guessing that whatever weapon Voldemort wants to summon needs four such people whose magic is pure and not tainted. I have no idea why it's always a female virgin, just throughout history that always seems to be the way." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Noticing that he had a captive audience Draco continued. "Secondly, Pansy is most certainly still a Virgin, despite her attire and attitude. She's extremely choosy over men and found all of the boys at school either too immature or not exciting enough for her and dumped them after a couple of dates. Of course after being ceremoniously dumped most of them made up stories about her being a slut but then she was never bothered by stuff like that. In fact she didn't want people to think she was so innocent. I'm guessing no-one could really compare to me but Pansy and I both knew that we would never work as a couple."

Harry scoffed and Draco raised an eyebrow daring him to disbelieve him. Harry quietened after recalling a time when he overhead a big group of girls at the Quiddich pitch discussing how they would all love to be seduced by Draco as he was one of the best looking boys at Hogwarts and was especially gorgeous in his Quiddich uniform.

Feeling slightly envious and hating himself for it Harry muttered. "Carry on."

Draco smirked and continued. "As to Ginny and Hermione having no special talent, well much as I hate to admit it but Hermione is extremely intelligent and picks spells up faster than anyone I know. Even faster than I could and I had the best home tutors available as I was growing up and they all commented on how skilled I was. Before you give me that look I'm not bragging, if I'd have done anything wrong they would have been the first ones to inform my father and I would certainly have known about it." He subconsciously rubbed his throat, thinking about the times his father had punished him with the whipping curse there.

"Anyway, she's better than even me and I know for a fact that she did better in most of her studies than the majority of teachers did when they were at school. You can't tell me that's normal. Even with the amount of studying she does, she's obviously got some sort of special talent."

Ron and Harry nodded, it made them both feel a little better that maybe they weren't quite so inadequate at studies and Hermione was just gifted.

"What about Ginny though?" Harry asked. Ron mumbled something Harry couldn't quite catch and Draco nodded. "What do you guys know that I don't?" he asked.

This time it was Ron that spoke up. "It's been a bit of a family secret for a while, although now Remus and Tonks know. There's some sort of family curse, or gift depending on how you look at it. All the Weasley girls are born with a form of powerful magic. There's only ever a girl born once in a blue moon but it's always been the same, right back as far as Dad's been able to trace."

"Plus she's a seventh child." Draco noted. Ron gawped. "I never even thought about that. I can't believe I'd overlook something like that."

Harry again looked between the two of them confused. Ron filled him in, "The number seven is like, a really significant number in the wizarding world. It's kind of so well known that no one really bothers to mention it I guess. Like erm, I know - the seventh son of a seventh son is meant to be more powerful than any of his brothers… Although that hardly ever happens anymore because people have less kids. I guess that's why there are loads of really powerful wizards in history and not so many now…" he trailed off as he realised he was rambling slightly.

"Very eloquent Weasley." Draco drawled. "Anyway, now that we've established Voldemort's evil plan, can we please get me a wand?"

"Wait." Harry said, still looking slightly perturbed. "I'm assuming that Voldemort has already, or is trying to, capture a fourth witch – I can figure that out for myself. But what I want to know is why you didn't mention this to anyone before? Did you not think it was important?"

Draco shrugged. "Voldemort is always coming up with one scheme or another. If you knew how many weird and wonderful ideas he has you would have spent your whole life constantly on edge. Out of all those plots only a handful have ever even come close to working and you've foiled all of those. Plus, you don't know my Aunt. If Bella says to her beloved Dark Lord that something isn't possible then it's not. She'd have tried everything in her power before letting him down. I guess she was wrong though."

Draco straightened up a little impatiently. "Now I've kept my part of the deal. Are you going to help me get in to Ollivander's or what?"

Harry felt that now he had a lot more information but also a lot more worries. So they knew that the girls would be kept alive for two weeks, but they weren't any closer to knowing where they were or how they were going to save them, just that Voldemort had a plan for them. He sighed heavily.

"Ok Malfoy, how exactly do you propose we get in then?"

I really wanted to put "Voldemort is always hatching one harebrained scheme or another" when Draco was talking but felt it was a little too 'scooby-doo'!!!