Chapter updated for spelling… My thanks to Lost Enchanter who pointed out that Google searches aren't all that and I should have checked in the books for the correct spelling of legilimens/legilimency etc… If any of you spot mistakes, do let me know and I'll do my best to change them when I can. The next chapter should hopefully be up in a few days (finger's crossed!)Well, here is the (hopefully) more involved second chapter…
There's a lot of Hermione in this chapter. I know this is meant to be a D/G story- and it will be. But I wanted it to be the story up until the end of… well – 'The End'… so if I didn't involve the other characters I think it would be a bit wrong of me. I hope none of you minds too much.
Also, since the chapters have been split, I've increasingly found that putting the last few lines from the previous chapter is becoming confusing or pointless – so I'm going to stop and probably when I get a moment take the previous ones out.
Much to her surprise, Hermione landed lightly on her feet. She wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting to happen to her, but she was certain that she would never have imagined this…
Surrounding her was what could only be described as a paradise. She had been transported here immediately, there was no flying through space or any breathless, panicky falling that she would have thought applied to portal travel. Hermione had simply left one place and appeared here… wherever 'here' was.
The star flowers that had been growing in the passage were flourishing here also, amongst hundreds of other plants. Hermione guessed that she was in some part of the building that had long been forgotten about; there were no windows anywhere to be seen but there were some signs of brickwork peeping through the flowers, plants and grasses which were growing from every surface. There were several small openings in the moss covered ceiling, through which clear white moonlight was streaming down; its reflection was sparkling gently in the ripples of a small expanse of water over the far side of the room. That and the star flowers were making the room seem quite bright indeed.
"Beautiful." Hermione whispered to herself.
"I'm glad you like it." A voice said from behind her.
Hermione stiffened but stood her ground and said, "If you were going to hurt me, you would have done it already…Is this my test? Is that why you have brought me here?"
"Test?" The voice asked, sounding rather confused. "I brought you here because you called me to you, girl… you are a girl aren't you? You have long blossom on your top half and petal like things round your stems, for your kind that means a female…" The voice paused and then sighed. "You humans are all so confusing these days though."
At that Hermione did turn around and found herself face to face with a fully formed… Well, 'man plant' was all that popped into her brain. Thousands of tiny leaves and petals were all joined together to make his basic shape, and many-coloured flowers wound through his hair and beard, just like the picture in the cell.
His words 'blossom' and 'petal' had confused her for a moment but by the green hand that was carefully examining her clothing and the fascinated look on the man's face she assumed he was talking about her hair and skirt.
She extracted the corner of her cardigan gently from his grip and very politely asked him. "Sorry to be rude, sir. But who are you? And why do you think I called you?"
Straightening up the man suddenly seemed to grow very tall and broad; he puffed his chest out somewhat and said. "You mean you didn't know who you were calling? Hmm, most interesting. Well young sapling – your people sometimes refer to me as 'The Green Man' which I suppose is a rather accurate description of how I appear to you. Of course to the different species of animal I always seem to be shaped like one of their own, but to my children I am ever changing depending on the seasons…"
He smiled broadly and continued. "As to your calling me, well you found one of my markers and I had assumed that you were concentrating hard on me. People have to strongly will me to appear... I don't just sprout up out of the ground for everyone you know…"
Hermione looked shocked; she had vaguely heard of The Green Man, people used to worship him as a sort of earthy God like figure. She had never really held with the idea of Gods herself as none of them had ever presented her with a logical argument as to their existence. Now however, if this person standing in front of her was telling the truth, she might have to change her point of view on a few things.
"Hagrid!" She said out loud, rather randomly it seemed.
"I'm sorry but I don't know that word." The Green Man replied.
Hermione smiled rather shyly. "Sorry! Hagrid is the name of a friend of mine from Hogwarts - which is a school for witches and wizards. It was him I was thinking of when I saw your face on the wall, he looks very much like you... He loves nature too." She added, feeling for some reason that she should point out his good points to this creature so he didn't think she was comparing him to just anyone. "He lives near the dark forest and tends the grounds and animals for the school."
The Green Man nodded wisely. "I see, one of 'them'… In the place where the forest is dark you say? I think I know the person you mean; he is more than just human and he has a great affinity with my kind. Yes, there are several mixed sapped - sorry 'blooded' beings which I have an unusual connection with. Interesting that you thinking of him called out to me…" He looked thoughtfully at her.
Hermione just stood and stared all throughout his chatter. She had met Centaurs; three headed dogs, werewolves, shape-shifters and elves. She had been petrified by a basilisk and knew that Ron and Harry had met an arachnid that could talk. In Herbology they had been given the task of re-potting extremely humanlike mandrakes whose screams could knock you out or even kill you; but standing here and holding a full conversation with a mass of plants which had taken the exact shape of a man (albeit an extremely large one), was proving a little too much for her to take in. She sat down heavily on the mossy floor and held a hand to her cheek.
It was almost as much of a shock as when she had received her letter for Hogwarts; she had of course known that strange things seemed to happen when she was emotional or angry but her parents had always been very sensible about it and everything seemed to be 'most coincidental' or have 'some rational explanation'. So when the letter arrived for her she had of course thought it was someone playing a practical joke on her. Some of the girls at her school had taken to whispering 'witch' behind her back, after an incident where one of the school bullies had mysteriously fallen down a very large, and previously undiscovered hole in the playground. Looking back, it turned out that the girls were indeed correct and Hermione had obviously caused it to happen; the bully in question was trying to steal her school books. At the time however, the teachers blamed poor construction and there were many discussions with a rather bewildered builder.
It had taken a visit from the Muggle Studies teacher (who had been deemed the best choice to talk to the Grangers) to convince the family that magic did indeed exist, it had certainly helped that Hermione had been chosen to become a student in 'the most sought after wizarding school in Britain'. After finding out that such a thing as witches and wizards that could truly perform magic existed, most normal people would have found it reasonably likely that anything could be real… but not Hermione; unless she was given hard proof she still stuck staunchly to her doubting ways.
"Are you wilting?" The Green Man asked her with a look of concern. "There is plenty of water if you need some?" he strode to the pool and scooped a handful of water up in his leafy palm.
Hermione shook her head. "No I'm fine, but thank you for the offer. This was just all a bit of a shock for me; you see I've never really thought that portals or Gods existed... So to see both in one day…"
He laughed. "I'm not a God... Well, not really. I am an entity of the earth – one of the leaders of the elder races; you humans always need to put names to things so Gods we became but I do not think we are truly what you think we are. However it is too complicated to explain. Portals however – well they are my speciality! The secrets of them were discovered many, many seasons ago and it seems there are very few of us left who can conjure them now and none so well as me."
The thoughts in Hermione's head were spinning and crashing together. "Are the portals fixed from one place to another or can you move them?" She asked.
The Green Man said. "I create them from the earth and the air. Generally it does not matter where they have been or where they will go as long as I can live there- although there are exceptions… For example, many places have no air, light or water; I would die there so I cannot open a doorway leading to such places."
Hermione perked up at this news. "So you could help me escape this place?" she questioned him hopefully.
He frowned at her. "You cannot get out? I thought buildings did not constrict humans as they do flora?"
"I am a prisoner here. People are keeping me and have used ways to trap me." Hermione told him.
The Green Man looked angry at this. "That is not good. I know that being kept in a room for humans is not like being kept in a pot for some of my children. For you imprisonment is bad. I will help you if I can."
Hermione looked up at him with a smile of thanks playing on her face. "Can you make a portal that will get me far away from here?" She asked.
Frowning even more than before the Green Man shook his leafy head. "Not from in here - unfortunately this is another one of the exceptions I mentioned… The materials you humans use to make your places of living, learning and worship, restrict my magic greatly. Once inside a building I can only open limited doorways within that space and none which go outside the confines of the building."
"Are you trapped in here too then?" Hermione asked.
"No child, I do not need portals to travel around; I merely use them to transport certain of my children, or guests like yourself."
He looked upset and continued. "My power is so very muted in here – the human spells cling easily to all this stone. If you were outside however, well… then I could take you almost wherever you wanted and leave the portals open all day long. I could show you the most beautiful of my children." He sighed sadly.
Hermione looked thoughtfully at him…"So, if I could get someone to take me outside then you could transport me away from this place to somewhere safe? Even if there were anti-apparition wards up?"
The Green man laughed heartily. "Such wards do not bother me there. In the open spaces where my family and I are abundant, I can do pretty much anything I choose. You cannot cast spells so easily on my kind, we are always moving, trying to evolve and change – the magic does not hold to us so well. Not like the bricks and stones of this place which hold so much magic it is hard for me to fight against it."
Hermione looked at him sadly. "With all of our buildings, we are ruining things for people like you who belonged here long before us. You must hate us." She hung her head slightly, the cruelty of the human race seemed so obvious to her she wondered why others couldn't see it so clearly – the way they treated House elves and Goblins was bad enough, but this… With such a personified example standing in front of her showing her that those plants and flowers were just as alive as her, Hermione now felt that the way people treated the wildlife of the Earth was despicable.
To her surprise the Green man again laughed loudly. "Nay my child." He chuckled. "You cannot ruin anything for us; we are far more hardy and plentiful than you could ever believe. You leave your houses for what seems a second to someone like me, and my children are already overrunning it; breaking apart the mortar and stone and reclaiming the ground for themselves. We will always prevail, sweet child."
He frowned slightly. "Yes some of your kind wage war against us, felling the mighty trees and smothering too much of the grasses with metal and stone. But there is much you do to help us with our evolution, many of your kind love my domesticated children and help them breed in such abundance. We are happy to wait for a while until you learn to share these worlds. If you cannot learn then that may be another matter, but there is no rush to think of such things."
He smiled at Hermione's shocked face. "No wonder your earthy friend thinks much of you. You care much about everything, I can see"
Hermione smiled shyly. "As does he." She said. "Hagrid cares for… well almost everyone, even if they don't appreciate him at first." She sighed, thinking of Hogwarts made her sad. "I suppose I had best go back then. If they think I am missing they would raise an alarm and I might never be able to find a way to get outside."
The Green Man nodded, reached his hand out to her and helped her to her feet. As he took his hand back, Hermione realised that he had pressed something into her palm; it was a small, flat acorn which was strung upon a long piece of what looked like a dried vine. Hermione looked questioningly at the Green Man.
"You will be needing that." He said. "I will take you back to that room and when you can get outside, hold that token, think hard of me and I will appear to help you."
Without any seeming effort from The Green Man, a portal sprung up just behind Hermione, making her jump slightly. She firmly tied the little pendant around her neck and tucked it under her top so it was well hidden.
"The portal will take you back to the forgotten passage behind your cell. My children will hide the way behind you. I hope to see you soon."
Hermione nodded sadly. "I hope so too." She said, before stepping through the shining doorway. Again the journey took no time or effort; she made her way back up the passageway and soon found herself back in the cell. After the beauty of the Green Man's hidden room, Hermione found the cell even more depressing than before. She moved quickly to the slab that she had awakened on and slumped down in annoyance; looking back, she could see that there were plants swarming all over the opening in the wall. They were winding round each other, planting their roots into the shallow dirt in the floor behind the wall and filling in the gap. When they had covered most of the hole, the bottom leaves started to change colour gradually so that by the time the hole was filled they had become the same hue as the surrounding bricks and blended in seamlessly with the wall.
Time passed and Hermione dozed fitfully, at one point she was awakened by the return of the strange contraptions that had magically bound her hands and legs. Not wanting to be hurt, she lay motionless until eventually she dropped to sleep again. When the morning came she realised that someone had covered her with a small blanket and had left pillows on the floor.
Hermione had no idea how much time had passed when her cell door opened. Craning her neck from the uncomfortable position she was in, she could just make out a black haired figure by the door. Half awake, she wondered if Harry had come to see her, but if so then it must be raining very hard as his hair didn't normally hang so limply round his face like that. As the person came nearer, Hermione gasped in recognition, realised where she was and immediately came wide awake.
"Professor Snape!" she cried in a shocked voice.
"Astute as ever Miss Granger." Snape sneered. He waved his wand hand and the restraints holding Hermione disappeared. "Now, being a sensible witch, you will realise that there is no point in your trying to escape?"
Although it was not really a question, Hermione nodded anyway while trying to massage some of the feeling back into her limbs. Snape, obviously noticing her discomfort, waved his wand again and the numbness was suddenly gone. Hermione bit her lip to stop her from showing any interest in the spell – if she ever made it out then she would look up a spell to avoid pins and needles herself.
"Right then." Snape said. "You will follow me for testing; you can have breakfast while I work on you." He turned and held the cell door open expectedly.
Any chance to get out of her cell was worth taking, Hermione decided. She stood up and followed Snape's lead. When they reached his study, Hermione, like Pansy, was in awe of not only the concealed entrance but the extraordinarily well equipped laboratory behind it. Unlike Pansy however, Hermione recognised the spell that Snape cast over the inside of his door, it was one for complete privacy and secrecy for those inside, however it meant that anyone lurking outside could quite clearly be heard.
Snape looked at her in a hard manner. "I will need to take some blood and perform several other physical tests on you; however I feel it wise that you have sustenance first." He waved his wand over a large tray and muttered a few words; platefuls of different breakfast foods appeared upon it.
"While you eat, I want you to peruse these…" he handed over a pile of parchment sheets. They were all covered in swirls and symbols. "Do you recognise them?" he asked her.
Hermione shook her head slightly. "No, although they look similar to some of the ancient runes I've been studying for next year."
Snape nodded. "They are similar – just much, much older." The authority in his tone prevented Hermione from scoffing that there were no older known runes than the ones she had studied. Too much had happened to her, for her brain to dismiss any theories now. Instead she took a closer look.
"You are to study them and see what you can make of them. Eat your food while you do so – I am eager to finish your other tests." Snape turned away from her and started to walk round the room cataloguing his potion stores.
The part of Hermione's brain that was telling her to grab the nearest heavy object, bash it over Snape's greasy head and make her escape through the window was overruled by the parts which wanted food and, more importantly, to read the runes. She casually glanced over at Snape only to find him staring straight at her. Looking down again, she took the knife and fork from the tray.
Snape smirked at her. "A much better choice Granger. By the way – we are underground, the window is merely an enchantment."
Hermione looked up at him quickly. "You must be incredibly skilled at legilimency to have plucked that thought in the short time I considered it." She said, impressed despite herself.
Snape nodded and said unabashedly. "I believe that I am now the greatest legilimens in all of Britain. The Dark Lord and Professor Dumbledore used to be the best, but now the Dark Lord has me conduct most of his interrogations of that ilk so I have improved beyond even his capabilities… not that I would point that out if he should ask you." He smirked nastily. "And Dumbledore… well Dumbledore is dead." Snape noticed Hermione looking curiously at him and turned away quickly.
Hermione thought that for a second she caught a look of remorse flit across Snape's features but she shook the thought away quickly. To cover the fact that she had been staring at him, Hermione spoke up again. "Harry often said that he felt like you were reading his mind at school. Although it's not exactly mind reading, is it?"
"NO!" Snape said forcefully, turning back to face her. "A Legilimens cannot read a mind like a book – I cannot hear the words people are thinking… Legilimency is more flicking through a photograph album. You get a brief image of what is happening, what the mind is feeling. But you must then interpret the picture you have seen and your skill at doing so can greatly change the conclusion you come to. If someone is thinking of a memory it is somewhat easier; random thoughts change so quickly that it is hard to grasp their meaning unless the person is concentrating hard enough to produce a vivid picture."
Hermione was a little shocked that Snape had said so much on the matter. He cleared his throat and nodded meaningfully at the parchments in front of her. She quickly resumed studying them. After a while she asked for a quill and some blank sheets and started scribbling notes as she ate big mouthfuls of scrambled egg.
"That's it!" She exclaimed suddenly after quite some time. Snape turned from where he was counting out billiwig stings and saw that Hermione had made a list of runes and next to each one was a letter or word.
"You have translated the runes already?" He asked quietly.
Hermione nodded and passed him her parchment. "It was quite easy really, once I had the vowels sorted the rest kind of fell into place. Although the runes that translated into full words were a bit trickier but it was just a case of filling in the gaps so the rest made sense."
Snape looked from the parchment to the bushy haired witch. It was his turn to be unwillingly impressed. "Do you realise, Miss Granger, that experts have been puzzling over these words for decades? And yet you, a muggleborn witch who has yet to finish her schooling, have mastered it in a mere few hours."
Hermione gawked at him."I, but…well. Really decades?" she finally managed with a squeak.
"Yes. Your gift of knowledge is most certainly strong, I will give you that. Why the powers that be chose you when the others are all…" He blinked briefly and cut off whatever he was about to say. "Now, we will perform the other set of tests."
He started to roll back her sleeve, perhaps pre-empting a similar response to that of Pansy, he stated what he was doing before each test. Hermione followed Snape's instructions perfectly, all the while trying to train her brain away from thoughts of escape. She concentrated instead on the runes that she had deciphered. Each page had contained small snippets of what seemed to be a riddle; she knew that they were all connected somehow but without the complete set of writings she didn't know how.
Finally when Snape was finished, he signalled that Hermione could stand. He walked her back to her cell and said. "I am glad that you were co-operative. I do not see why your bindings should be necessary any more. I can only hope that my next test subject will be as compliant – although I doubt it. Too much temper and not enough brains, but then the whole family could be accused of the same; it must have something to do with the red hair." With that he turned, cloak swirling and left Hermione gaping open mouthed as the cell door swung closed.
Hermione was shocked but her brain was still racing away. Why had he given her that parting piece of information – was he trying to help? She shook her head dismissively; after Dumbledore's death Harry had explained to them what had happened causing him to be convinced of Snape's loyalty to Voldemort. Maybe Snape was showing off? She thought. He certainly doesn't expect me to try and escape so maybe he was just trying to prove how powerful they are and how many of us they have captured. If they have Ron and me then I can only hope Harry hasn't been caught too… Of course, it never crossed Hermione's mind that Snape would be talking about another red-haired member of the Weasley clan.
She stewed over it for a while, hoping that her boyfriend had been treated as well as she had. Finally Hermione decided that she needed to try and talk with him and had an idea how to do so. Walking to the back of the cell, she held her hand towards where the picture of the Green Man had been but she noticed that it was missing, as the wall was now a fake. Unconsciously she grasped the little amulet around her neck as she thought of a way to get through; almost as soon as her fingers closed around the acorn it started to tremble slightly and the flowers that had camouflaged themselves to blend in with the wall suddenly split apart, allowing her entry into the tunnel.
"Thank you." Hermione uttered the words even though she felt a little silly doing so. It never hurt to be polite after all.
Ginny moaned quietly as she lay tangled up in the covers; she was dreaming about her parents lying injured on the floor. Only now they weren't alone, Ginny's brothers were also sprawled by the accident, limbs at painful angles. She could see Hermione's frizzy hair, now matted and dirty. Even Harry was there with his glasses at an odd angle on his face, the lenses shattered. Ginny was trying to run towards them, desperate to help, but no matter how hard and fast she ran - the distance never seemed to get any less.
Suddenly she came to an abrupt standstill, unnoticed until now, a shock of platinum-blond hair was poking out from amongst the carnage; the rest of the head was coated scarlet with blood.
"Noooo…" Ginny screamed in despair.
"No what, Weasley?" A voice broke into her consciousness and Ginny's eyes fluttered open slowly. It was all a dream, she thought blinking away the sleep. When Snape's sneering face came into view she realised that she was unfortunately still trapped in a cell.
"Are you going to behave yourself today, or will you need me to take measures?" Snape said with a twinkle in his eye that Ginny didn't like the look of.
"What do you want from me?" She said, as politely as was possible through her gritted teeth.
"I need to conduct some tests which require you to come with me. Anything further than that is none of your concern."
"None of my concern?" Ginny said shrilly. "So if you're planning on killing me that's not my concern?"
Snape looked at the fiery redhead calmly through his hooded eyelids. "You seem to have got the grasp of the matter." He said with a nasty smile. With a wave of his wand, the neck constraint again disappeared.
"Now if you would care to stand and follow me." From Snape's tone, Ginny could tell that his words were definitely an order and not a request. She stood, glared at him and walked with her head held high to where he was waiting by the cell door.
Snape cast a binding charm on Ginny, similar to the one that she had used on Draco when they had been shopping. "Just in case you feel like wandering off." Snape smirked.
On the way to Snape's room, Ginny tried to keep a track of their route - but like the two witches before her, she found it was almost impossible to remember every turn. It was especially confusing because much of the way involved doors disguised to look like the tapestries hanging near them, and tunnels which were hidden behind large portraits of scowling wizards.
Many of the pictures muttered remarks about despicable red-haired brats roaming their castle, one even shouted at her. "A Prewitt in my house? Abominable…"
The portrait next to it said. "Nay, she is a Weasley – a blood traitor."
Ginny lost her temper and shouted in annoyance. "Both of those pure blooded families are my ancestors and I'm very proud of their choices. So if you don't shut it I'll claw your canvasses."
Both of the wizards looked shocked and a little worried that she might actually follow through with her threat, but Snape merely tutted. "Don't antagonise the portraits Weasley or I shall be forced to silence you."
Eventually they made their way to Snape's large laboratory, Ginny frowned when she entered. "So how many poisons are you brewing then?"
"Seventeen." Snape said without batting an eyelid. "Why do you ask? Tempted to use some?"
Ginny gave him a filthy look. "I would never take my own life. I'm no coward."
"Ah, the foolish Gryffindor bravery. Not that it is needed here; you will not be permitted to harm yourself." Ginny scowled at him, much to his amusement.
"Now, are you going to comply with the orders or am I going to have to imperious you?"
Ginny gasped. "You wouldn't."
Snape's gaze bore into her eyes. "Are you willing to try me?" he asked, a malicious smile playing about his lips. Ginny shook her head slowly; as far as she was concerned the imperious curse was almost as bad as being possessed, something she didn't want to suffer again.
"I didn't think so." Snape said. "Now, bare your arm so I can take your blood."
Ginny let Snape complete all the tests he wanted to without a single word, but when he pulled out the leather bound book from his desk, a look of horror passed over her face. When the ink disappeared from the page, Ginny's fears were confirmed.
"Where did you get that?" She demanded breathily.
Snape looked up at her, he regarded her carefully for a moment, taking in her wild eyed look and flushed face. "It is merely used as a method of communication; currently it is just storing the information for later perusal."
Still her eyes flicked between the pages and Snape's face. He sighed heavily, slammed the tome shut and turned to her.
"There is no spirit; no memory of Tom Riddle in this book, Weasley. It is merely a poor replica of the one you owned for a while." He noticed that Ginny was still eying the book warily so he put it back in the drawer; but she stared mindlessly at the space where it had sat.
"Now." He said loudly, shocking Ginny from her thoughts. "I need to explore how strong your particular power has become and the potential you have."
Shaking her head and wrinkling her brow, Ginny asked, "What power?"
Snape looked at her as if she was an imbecile. "I know that Dumbledore spoke to you about your 'gift' last year"
Ginny threw him a look of pure hatred. "Yes, well… someone killed him before he was able to inform me of anything more about it."
For a moment Snape mirrored her look of loathing, if Ginny had been less angry she would have worried about him hurting her. As it was, Snape turned away from her and checked on several of his potions that were bubbling away around the room. When he turned back, the cool demeanour had returned.
"What have you discovered about the power then?" he asked casually.
"Nothing! How in Merlin's name was I supposed to?" Ginny retorted angrily, unwilling to give any information away.
"You know nothing? Still with your family it doesn't surprise me" Snape gave her a particularly haughty sneer. Instead of making Ginny furious, the sneer, along with the family quip, reminded her so forcefully of Draco that she suddenly felt very sad.
For a split second Snape's eyes widened and his sneer was replaced by a look of disbelief. "No," He murmured quietly. "It can't be. It must be from before."
Ginny didn't dare move or speak, convinced that the professor had finally snapped. He gazed piercingly into her eyes for a moment.
"Weasley, the diary from your first year. I know that Lucius gave it to you; did you have much contact with the Malfoy's after that?"
His odd question caused Ginny to frown deeply. "Why would I? I mean Draco Malfoy was at school with me… I hexed him once." She tried to sound as if she had nothing but dislike for Draco; but she couldn't help but worry for his safety. I hope he's ok, she thought, vividly reminded of her dream.
Snape if anything looked even more confused. "Hurt? But that's impossible. I know that your family hasn't – nor the mudblood…"
Ginny took a step away from the pallid wizard – wondering if he was completely mad. Noticing her edging slowly away, Snape pulled out his wand.
"Stand still." He cried and then with a flick of his wand, "Legilimens."
Ginny gasped as the spell took effect; memories that she would rather not relive started flashing before her eyes. Falling from one of her brother's brooms when she shouldn't have been flying, her desperate crying at being left behind when Ron went to Hogwarts; waking up with her hands covered in blood; Tom standing over her, slowly draining her life energy.
Suddenly she was recalling the fearful night when she had stunned the Death Eater in the forest and discovered Draco; how scared she was when one of them tried to attack her and how relieved when Draco had knocked them unconscious with a branch.
Draco… More images flooded to the surface of her brain; Draco saving Ron when he was covered in ice; Draco kissing her to save them from Crabbe and Goyle senior. The memory of the dementor attack and of faking Pansy's death was playing through Ginny's mind when she finally realised that Snape was witness to it all. Desperately she tried to stop him, to force him out.
"No…" She tried to shout but all the came out was a mere whimper. Surprisingly though, Snape finished the spell and stood perfectly still, staring at Ginny with undisguised detestation.
"He should be dead." Snape croaked in a hoarse voice.
Tears began to trickle down Ginny's face but she stood tall and hissed at Snape. "I won't help you find him – I'd die first."
"You foolish child." Snape spat the words at her. "If the Dark Lord comes back and wants that information from you, he will have it." He seemed to think for a moment and then pulled back the sleeve of his cloak - he unbuttoned his shirt cuff and did the same with that sleeve, revealing the skull and snake tattoo which formed the Dark Mark. Ginny gasped loudly and backed further away from him.
She looked wildly around for something to throw at him; anything to prevent him contacting Voldemort and letting the secret of Draco's survival be known. Unfortunately Snape hadn't missed her wide eyed gaze.
"Petrificus Totalis. Mobilicorpus." He levitated her body to a chair and promptly ignored her, instead pressing his wand firmly to the mark on his arm.
In a clear voice, Snape intoned, "Unus via contages" and then reeled off a list of names. Suddenly, shadowy faces began to appear in front of Snape, their smoky eyes roving wildly and their mouths moving silently. When roughly a dozen of these faces had appeared Snape cleared his throat.
"There is a problem with the third girl. Her magic is instable to the point of being dangerous. I am going to return her to the cell and start on a concoction to stabilise it. In the mean time you should avoid the area she is being held in. Anyone disobeying orders will be reported to the Dark Lord… if there is anything left of you to report. Do you understand?"
All of the translucent faces nodded quickly at Snape's words, and he dismissed them instantly by removing his wand from the Dark Mark. He pressed his lips together so tightly that all that was let was a thin white line, and turned to Ginny.
"I will have to return you to your cell while I sort this mess out. No one should approach you, but if they do - say nothing to them. I trust none of them to deal with this as it needs to be dealt."
Snape proceeded to transport Ginny's paralysed body all the way back along the long twisting corridors until they reached her room; where he swiftly took the spell off and whisked out of the door before Ginny had a chance to blink.
Angry and scared, Ginny ran to where she knew the door was and started banging her hands against it. "Let me out." She screamed, not expecting anyone to answer, but at a loss for something else to do.
After a few moments Ginny realised that the exercise was futile and instead focused her attention on the walls looking for any sign of disrepair; a loose stone or crumbling mortar, however minute they might be - they still would signal hope. But there was none, the walls looked as though they had been recently reinforced – whoever had been in charge of the cells had certainly done their homework and prevented any chance of escape.
In despair, Ginny sank to the floor; thoughts of Draco ran through her head – had she damned him to discovery and possibly death? Although she was wracking her brains, Ginny couldn't seem to find any way to send a warning to Draco. Finally she sighed, stood up again and started pacing her cell.
Ginny was unaware of how long she had been walking backwards and forward for, but she suddenly became aware of a rumbling noise from the back wall of her cell. What now? She thought, spinning round to see what was happening to cause the noise.
Being from an ancient wizarding family and having a very open mind, Ginny was ever so slightly less shocked than Hermione had been to see part of her wall being demolished. However, she was still standing with an open mouth when a large plant walked through the gap. For the umpteenth time that day her eyes widened, but this time she gave a large curtsey, bowed her head low and said in a voice filled with wonder, "My Lord, it is an honour to feel your presence."
"Ginny?" Sure that the Green Man wouldn't have such a feminine voice, Ginny looked up sharply and blinked her eyes several times to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"Hermione? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing Ginny – Where's Ron?"
"How should I know?"
Hermione shook her head exasperatedly; she turned to the Green Man and said, "I thought you said that you had managed to find the person I was looking for?"
The Green Man looked a little confused. "This is the only flame haired person we could sense in the whole building. There are no others that I can find… Is this not the one you were after?"
Hermione shook her head. "I thought we were meant to be looking for a male."
The Green Man rumbled back at her. "Well I told you that it is confusing for my kind. This one has no blossom or petals, I thought that was correct?"
Hermione smiled behind her hand, once she managed a straight face she walked the Green Man over to Ginny. "Her 'blossom' is hidden here," Hermione reached out and pulled Ginny's hair down from the bun it had been in.
Her companion nodded in sudden understanding. "Much better." He nodded his approval of the hair now cascading over her shoulders.
"And we don't always have skirts – 'petals', as sometimes it's easier to move about without them. We should probably work on how you tell the two sexes apart as I agree your way can lead to a lot of confusion!"
Ginny looked thoroughly confused at the conversation going on between the two new occupants in her cell. Hermione noticed the expression and explained.
"Snape mentioned that there was a Weasley here –I thought that Voldemort would have captured me because of my connection to Harry. I assumed, obviously incorrectly, that it was Ron that Snape was talking about and that he would have been taken for the same reason. I'm not certain but maybe they took you because you were dating Harry?"
Ginny shook her head at Hermione, "You said yourself that it's very unlikely anyone would choose me anymore than they would Cho – no one except our close friends knew that Harry and I were serious."
Hermione looked thoughtful. "You're right, plus I can't see Voldemort capturing you instead of Ron. No offence, but I can see Voldemort choosing Ron for his importance to Harry – but he doesn't really understand love ,so he wouldn't have got why you were important…"
"Harry never loved me." Ginny said.
"Well that's irrelevant now really isn't it? Why would he capture us two; what connection is there?" Hermione tapped a finger to her lips as her brain whirred into action. However the Green Man cleared his throat loudly.
"Should we not be getting back to safety?" He asked. Hermione jumped slightly and nodded.
"Yes of course. I can think on it more when we get there."
"Get where?" Ginny asked.
The Green Man smiled at Ginny and held out his hand. "Let me show you my dear."
With a nervous excitement Ginny took his hand, it wasn't everyday she got to meet a semi-deity. He led her through the gap in the wall, and once Hermione had followed them through he waved his free arm, causing numerous plants to start filling in the hole as they had in Hermione's cell.
"How clever." Ginny said when the plants had covered about half of the wall and started changing to match the surrounding bricks.
"Ah, colour change is a speciality of that breed – it is impressive I know... Look." The Green Man concentrated for a moment and suddenly all of his body started taking on dark pinkish hues. "I am more human now yes?"
It was true that his leaves were now closer to a tanned skin colour; the shape of each leaf could still be seen though, giving him a strange tattooed effect. Ginny glanced down and looked up again extremely quickly with a gulp.
"Much more human – yes." She choked out.
"Very accurate." Hermione smirked from behind her. "But I think it would confuse people, green suits you much better." She added tactfully. The Green Man laughed, changed back and led the two girls towards the portal waiting for them.
As they were all distracted with their banter, none of them noticed the cell door open - and when they walked through the portal, not a single one of them was aware that someone had flung themselves through the rapidly closing gap in the flowers and was running quickly after them, wand outstretched.
Phew! Next chapter is back to the boys.
I have so much more to write, it's quite exciting (for me anyway! Hopefully you're excited too.) I do have it all jotted down in notes so I hope you'll stick with me – it's taking a long time but I will finish this even if it takes me another year!!
Oh - "Unus via contages" should roughly translate from Latin as 'one way contact.' (Although I'm not sure how much I trust the online translation programmes!)