A/n: alrighty then. chapter 12!

On the night of the Christmas ball, Hermione had spent most of her time in the bathroom. She honestly didn't want to go but it seemed to mean a lot to Draco to make it to his best friend's ball. "Are you ready yet?" Draco asked from Hermione's bedroom.

"Almost" Hermione responded.

"You were almost ready for an hour!"

Hermione put her hair up and put on the crystal necklace. She put on the earrings and sighed. She looked beautiful but for what? For a little dance and be bored the whole night? She stepped out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. Draco's eyes widened. "Wow," he said. Hermione smiled. She went over to her bed and had the locked box on it. She opened it and took out Virginia's ring. "What do you need that for? You already have a necklace on."

She nodded, "I know. But I feel like I need this tonight."

"Ok then." Draco took her hand and lead her out of her room. They walked down the stairs to the living room and left to the main hall. Out in the main hall was Narcissa. She wore a blue velvet wrapper made of thirty yards of blue French silk velvet with a fox fur trim. "Don't you look beautiful mother," Draco said. Narcissa said nothing but gave her son a knowing look.

Hermione had walked with Draco outside the Manor and to a carriage. The nights sky shined bright with stars. Hermione looked up and gazed. "How beautiful," she said.

Draco took her hand and said, "I know you are." She looked at him and smiled. Narcissa saw this and rolled her eyes. She tightened the fur around her.

They all entered the carriage and waited for it to move. "Your going to have fun tonight," Draco said, "I promise."

Those words floated around in Hermione's head. Promise. Hermione had become sick of that word. Narcissa had stayed silent the whole ride. She stared outside the window and minded her own business. Whatever it may be.

Hermione was nervous. Even with her fingers entwined with Draco, her hand shook and she continuously fidgeted with the ring in her other hand. The closer Blaise's mansion became, the more Hermione rubbed the ring. She didn't even see the light slowly increasing.

Hermione felt a gust of cold hair go through the window and wrap around her. She looked at Draco and he seemed as if he didn't notice. She glanced at Narcissa and she too ignored the wind. Maybe it was only her who felt it.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Hermione whispers to Draco. She squeezes his hand lightly.

He squeezes it back. "Don't worry Hermione." Draco always seemed to be telling her not to worry. he never wanted to hear what Hermione had to say. So she thought.

After a long ride, the carriage had stopped and the driver opened the door. Hermione exited the carriage and rubbed her arms with her hands. "She had still felt cold air wrap around her.

Narcissa walked passed her as if she was of no importance. Draco got to Hermione and took her arm into his. "I'm serious. I do not have a good feeling about this," she said.

"Maybe your just cold," responded Draco.

"No. Well yea I'm cold but that's not what I'm talking about!"

"We'll talk about it later."

Draco had escorted Hermione through the open wooden doors into the main entry into the home of Blaise Zabini. Everything seemed blurry just then to Hermione. She hardly felt Draco's arm in hers. She felt numb. The only thing she felt was heat. Heat from her hand that held the chain and ring.

...The light grew brighter...

Hermione's eyes were blurred and unable to see anything. She heard lots of chatter and music. She and Draco must have entered the ballroom.

Soon, the noise of chatter and music died down.

Then everything faded to black. Hermione spun around and looked for anything that could help her determine where she was. She found nothing. She was nowhere but a black room. Hell, it wasn't even a room.

"Draco," she called.

"Blaise?"

"Narcissa," she said desperately.

She heard giggles. She spun again. "Hello?" The giggling consisted and tiny footsteps started. Hermione backed up and said, "Who's there?!" She spun in every direction she heard the giggles and footsteps came from.

"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack all dressed in black, black, black," two little girls sang cheerfully.

Hermione shivered at the song. The giggling girls paused. The footsteps became louder and Hermione moved back further.

More giggles.

"She has a knife, knife, knife stuck in her back, back, back," they continued to sing.

"Please stop it," Hermione pleaded.

Giggles.

Hermione falls to her knees. Her red wine dress surrounding her. She clutched the ring in her hand and brought it to her chest. She looked at it and the light shined brighter. "I believe that's mine," said a silky, female voice. Hermione looked up and saw her. Virginia Malfoy in her finest. She had worn the same red wine dress as Hermione. her blond hair put up with a ribbon and her eyes glittered.

Virginia had extended her hand for her ring. Hermione stayed still with her eyes wide. Her eyes darted to Virginia's side and noticed her hand with a wand. "Oh come on Mimi," Virginia said sarcastically. The longer Hermione stood still, the more annoyed Virginia became. "Hermione give me my ring!"

Hermione slowly stood up and looked down at the ring. "No," she whispered.

Virginia narrowed her eyes. "What did you say?" she said threateningly.

Hermione looked up. "I said no," she stammered.

"Fine," Virginia, "I'll just take it." She lifted her wand and have it a crisp wave. Hermione widened her eyes and ran. She had no idea what direction she was going in but whatever got her away from Virginia would help. Hermione looked back and kept running until she could no longer see Virginia. She slowed down and panted. She turned her head again and saw her. She screamed. "Don't make this hard."

Hermione backed away. Virginia's wand was still pointing at her. "Just give me the ring," she said. Hermione shook her head. She looked around her into the darkness. She looked back into the piercing gray eyes before her. She was terrified. For V. N. M. without this ring, she doesn't have the unique power. Hermione remembered this from the book.

While she had remembered, Virginia took this moment to retrieve her ring. She gave her wand another crisp wave and the ring floated out of Hermione's hands. The ring flew to her and she caught it in her free hand.

"No!" Hermione screamed.

Virginia held the ring in her hand. It trembled and she smiled maliciously. She closed her eyes and breathed in.

Hermione stared at her with horror. She put on the chain and the light shined brightly. Hermione backed away more and was about to run. Before she could, the ground beneath her feet shook violently. She fell onto the floor onto her back and hit her head. The ground continued to shake as Hermione tried to sit up and rubbed her head.

Virginia closed her eyes tighter and furrowed her eyebrows concentration. The ground shook more and more. Hermione looked around and saw pieces of darkness crack. Like paint, blackness chipped off all around. Hermione had saw a piece of glass one side of her, she saw marble flooring while she was on the floor.

Oh dear Lord have mercy, thought Hermione. Bits and bits of blackness continued to chip off. Then bits and bits of a new scenery came into place.

Hermione had attempted to stand up and keep her balance against the rumble and shake of the ground.

"I don't get it," she yelled over to Virginia. "Why are you doing this?"

Virginia did not answer. She kept her eyes closed and concentrated.

Desperate to escape, Hermione looked around for anything, anything to get her away. As Virginia's eyes were still closed Hermione wanted to find a way to run. She saw a big part of the new scenery revealed. As pieces of blackness chipped away, Hermione ran for somewhere that might be her only sanctuary. The longer she ran in those heels she wore, the more distance she was from the hole. She pushed her self and when she got close to her destination, she jumped.

Hermione got through and landed back in the ballroom of Blaise's mansion. Everyone gasped and stepped back. Draco ran forward to her. "Hermione? Are you ok?"

Hermione lied on the floor. "Owww," she moaned.

Draco smiled and let out a sigh of relief, thankful Hermione was alive. "Are you ok?" he asked again.

"What do you think," Hermione snapped. She furrowed her eyebrows and tried to sit up. Spending a lot of time on the ground. "I told you Draco. I told you I had a bad feeling about this!" she said angrily to Draco.

Draco looked puzzled. He slowly helped Hermione stand up. "What's going on?"

"Your sister that's what!" she yelled.

Everyone got quiet and stared at the couple.

"Lies!" yelled Narcissa. She pushed through the large crowd and came to the middle. "This girl speaks nothing but lies!"

Draco let go of Hermione and faced Narcissa. "No mother, its you who speaks lies." Everyone began to whisper.

Narcissa raised an eyebrow and brought her nose to the air. "Draco. Don't act a fool for a mudblood!"

Draco had given Narcissa an ice cold glare and the whispers grew louder. He turned to everyone and said, "Oh shut up will you!" And shut up they did.

He turned to Narcissa again and said, "I'm not acting a fool. You are. You've been lying to everyone saying you've only had one child. I guess they don't read because it says different in the text books at school. Mother I have a sister. A little sister. Even if only by a few minutes but a little sister nonetheless.

Narcissa looked away. She closed her eyes and sighed. "I had to. Your father and I couldn't keep her."

"Why not," he asked in a softer tone.

"There was something wrong with her. Once we gave her her ring, everything went wrong. We had then realized that she had held a power way beyond our control. We had to give her up no matter how much I didn't want to."

Hermione had walked over to Draco's side and looked at Narcissa's expression. She couldn't help but notice a tear roll down the older woman's face.

"Why didn't you just destroy the ring," Hermione asked.

Narcissa shook her head. "It's not that simple. Her ring was made before she was even born. The black magic inside it can't be broken so easily. I'm not even sure it can be broken at all." She crossed her arms close to her and opened her eyes. She looked at Hermione and Draco. "What Virginia can do is...dangerous. I didn't think that she would come back to haunt me."

Hermione went to Narcissa and looked up to her. "She's not here to haunt. She's alive and I don't know what her motive is. This has been happening to me all year. All I accomplished was figure out who she was."

Narcissa looked at Hermione and asked, "She's here?"

Hermione looked around the room. She looked up to the ceiling. "Yes."

"Well? Where is she?"

"That's the thing. I don't know."

Hermione looked back to Draco and he looked at her. She touched her neck. Like she feared, the necklace was gone. "Draco, I really have to go. Before something else goes wrong." Hermione lifted the skirt of her dress and started to walk away.

When she got to the doorframe of the room, someone said, "Oh look Mimi! We're twins." Hermione froze.

Expecting to hear footsteps come toward her, she heard them get away from her instead. She turned around and saw Virginia walk toward the group of people who were deeper in the room. The large ring shined around her neck. This frightened most of the guests.

She walked to Narcissa and Draco. She looked at Draco with a quizzing look on her face and touched his. "You look like me. Are we related?"

Draco grimaced and backed away from Virginia. "Unfortunately," he said to her. "And you didn't know this?"

Virginia gripped her wand behind her back. "I knew of no family members. Except my mother." She looked at Narcissa with full eyes.

Narcissa didn't dare meet her daughter's eyes. "Why are you here?" she asked. Her voice started to break.

"I had to find you," Virginia said in a softer tone.

Draco crossed his arms and said, "Then what does that have to do with Hermione?"

Virginia looked from Draco to Hermione. "Now she-" She pointed her wand at Hermione, "Is another story."

"Then share," said Draco, "We definitely have nowhere to go." He looked at Hermione and gave her a slight not to tell her it was safe for her to move.

Hermione slowly walked over to Draco and fiddled with the crystal on her necklace.

Virginia contemplated on what she should say. "Hermione had broken a promise she made to me 10 years ago," she started.

Already, Hermione had broken in. "I still don't have any idea of what your talking about."

"Yes you do! You were there!"

"You're the one who wiped my memory!"

"You're the one who slowed me down to seeing my own mother!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"You saw it Granger! All year I've been watching your every move. Making sure my clues were falling in the right place. And you saw it. You were in that muggle office and you told her. You told her I ran so all the muggle police forces went after me. Looking for me. You don't realize how long it took me to get out of the damn muggle world. I hadn't even known I was a witch until I set a cop car on fire when I was angry they were looking for me."

"How did you even know they were looking for you?" Hermione questioned.

"I was getting to that if you'll let me" Virginia snapped. She went on. "At first, all was going well. I was a curious 7 year old girl destined to find her real family. I had never been without my foster mother so it was an experience--"

As Virginia spoke, Draco slowly reached into his blazer pocket and took out his wand. Hermione tugged on his sleeve. "No. Don't." she mouthed to him. He had not listened.

"I saw news reports on the t.vs being sold in shops down the center I mentioned and-" When Virginia was about to finish, she stopped abruptly. She held her wand and pointed it at Draco. "Don't you dare point your wand at me when my back is turned."

Draco stood his ground and kept his wand steadily at his sister. "Your mind is twisted and your soul is cold. And besides, I'm not letting my little sister tell me what to do."

Virginia's eyes filled with hatred. She forgot her mother was still there. "Crucio" she yelled. Draco screamed. He fell into such immense pain that he fell to his knees.

"Virginia! Stop!" Hermione yelled. Narcissa screeched and covered her face with her hands.

"You think you're tough?" Virginia asked as she watched Draco writhe in pain. She twisted her wand which made Draco scream even more.

Hermione couldn't take this. She moved her tear filled eyes away from her boyfriend. She caught a glimpse of Narcissa crying her eyes out. She looked down at the floor and saw Draco's wand lying near her feet. She stretched out her arm and tried to grip the wand, regardless of her shaking hand.

At first a blast came out of the wand as soon as she touched it. The wand chooses the wizard. "No" she whispered. She closed her eyes and a tear came down her cheek. Draco's pain filled screams rang into her ears again.

The tear that fell landed on Draco's wand. Just like that, the wand came into Hermione's hand. Her eyes widened. She tightened her grip on it and looked up. She aimed the wand at Virginia.

"S-S-Stupefy" she whispered. A jet of red light fired at Virginia.

Straight away, Virginia let out a yelp and got blasted into a wall. Draco was on the floor, lying on his back. Hermione let go of his wand and ran to his side. Narcissa came along with a tear streamed face.

Narcissa bent over him and held his head with her hand. "Draco...Draco say something," she begged.

Draco moaned and blinked a few times. He sat up and looked at Hermione. "Thanks Hermione," he says lowly. Hermione spoke no words but when she flung her arms around him, Draco knew what she wanted to say.

"I am so happy you're ok," Narcissa said, snatching her son out of Hermione's arms and into her own, smothering him.

"Muum, I'm okay," Draco said having his words muffled by his mother's velvet dress.

"Dray?"

Narcissa, Hermione and Draco all looked up, realizing that they weren't alone in such a grand room.

Blaise came close to them and looked down at his friend. "I think that something needs to be done. I mean come on, its Christmas Even."

Draco nodded. Narcissa and Hermione helped him stand up. Hermione passed him back his wand. "Sorry we made a mess of things man."

Blaise shook his head. "You didn't make that big of a deal. Scared the hell out of a bunch of people though."

Draco put his arm around Hermione. "We're le-"

The ground gave a familiarly violent shake. Hermione gripped onto Draco's arm. Damn it. Virginia flung a refreshment table across the room. Her face was red and her hair was out of the ribbon and was sticking out in every direction.

She took out her wand and aimed it at Draco and Hermione. "You two are pathetic, cruel, dimwitted and all you do it cause problems." She was about to yell out a curse.

"Virginia Narcissa Malfoy!"

Virginia looked from Draco and Hermione to Narcissa. "I...I.." she stuttered.

"This is the exact reason I left you to an orphanage. I knew you would be this way. Causing mayhem. Your powers are something no one can control. You can kill someone and you might not even notice!"

Virginia lowered her wand and took a small step back.

"You don't belong in the wizarding world no muggle. Unless you can give me a reason to not give you into the ministry and have you put into Azkaban, you will not touch my son. Unless you give me a valid reason why you belong, you will leave now."

Draco and Hermione stared at Narcissa in astonishment.

Virginia's mouth was open and her eyes told everyone she was broken. "I...don't belong." She dropped her eyes to the floor and mumbled something.

She disappeared.

Everyone began to whisper and walk around the perimeter of the room.

"I'm glad that's over with," Draco said, leaning onto Hermione. She smiled and kissed him. She hugged him tight and looked into his eyes.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

Hermione looked away from Draco. "Narcissa you were..." Hermione's face fell. She saw Narciss's blue velvet dress dragging behind her, out of the ballroom. Hermione looked at Draco with a frown and said, "I'll go talk to her."

Draco nodded and let her go. Hermione picked up the front of the skirt of her gown and ran out of the ballroom. She walked out the main entry of the mansion, into the courtyard. "Narcissa?" Hermione spotted Narcissa sitting on a stone bench in front of a fountain spouting out snow. "Narcissa?" she said again. Narcissa heaved a sigh and looked at Hermione with sad eyes. "What's wrong?"

Narcissa looked at the fountain. "I had just seen someone. Someone I barely even know but someone I gave birth to. My own daughter. I saw her last as a baby. Now seeing her as a young woman scared me. No...it scares me." She felt ashamed of being so weak and vulnerable in front of a muggleborn but sometimes you just have to cry.

Hermione spoke soothing words to the older woman until her tears ceased. "We'll head back to your home and we can all celebrate a peaceful and calm holiday."

Narcissa looked at Hermione and finally, for once, gave her a small smile. "That sounds splendid." she said.

Hermione stood and extended her hand to Narcissa. She had taken it and stood. They had walked back to the ballroom and met up with Draco. "How about we head back?" Hermione said, re linking her arm with his.

He smiled and nodded. "You got it." He looked behind him to Narcissa. "Mother?"

Narcissa sniffed and nodded. "Yes. Let's go home."

a/n: THERES STILL MORE TO GO. n yes i kno its long! D i hope you like it. if your still alive, plz review! i want to kno wat u think about how this chapter came out.