Author's note: Well, hello everyone, here's another chapter, should be a plot-filled one, and I promise this will be a long one! Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Two
Draco decided to give Ginny a few extra minutes of sleep, so he changed into a fresh pair of clothes. He walked back over to Ginny's sleeping form and kneeled down.
"Ginny?" he spoke softly. "Time to get up." She didn't respond. Draco tried shaking her softly, but she was a really deep sleeper, and she wasn't moving.
He didn't know what had possessed him to do it, but he became enthralled with her beautiful sleeping face, and all he wanted to do then was touch her soft lips. He leaned in and brushed them ever so softly on them, but was surprised when he felt her react a little, and move her own lips, completing the kiss.
Draco would have completely embarrassed if he didn't notice she was still sleeping, he sighed and pulled away, and he noticed a small smile playing on her lips.
Draco didn't feel like waking her yet, she looked unbearably happy when she slept, so Draco carefully picked her up, and placed her back under the covers in the bed. She moved around more a moment getting subconsciously comfortable, and then she went back to her deep sleep.
Draco ran a hand through his still messy hair, and began cleaning the blankets off the ground, and putting everything back into the closet, contrary to beliefs of his cruelty to house-elves. As he walked by his desk, he noticed the old dusty book, which he had long forgotten about.
He opened it and leafed through the pages lazily, but as he was in the process of turning the page, it slammed shut, and Draco had to pull his hands back quickly to not get them caught. He looked at it cautiously for a moment, then it sprang open and the pages flickered by, then stopped.
Draco went closer to inspect it, but when he looked at the page, he knew he had found what he was looking for. There in the center of the two pages, was a black and white sketching of his face, and Ginny's face. The script on the page was so small that he knew he would spend hours reading it, but he knew he didn't have such time. He pulled his previous bookmark out, and placed it into that page. Then he grabbed it, and went to woke Ginny.
"Ginny!" he said shouted, not unkindly, but she sat up and looked around with a panicked look on her face. She saw Draco standing there with a serious look on his face, and she slipped off the bed and stood up.
"What's wrong?" she asked concerned.
"We have to see Dumbledore, he wants us to meet him." he explained quickly. "Come on this is important, I found something in this book. Let's go."
Ginny was about to protest about her wardrobe, but she smiled to herself because she loved wearing his clothes. They smelt just like him. She rushed to her shoes, and shoved her feet in without putting socks on, or even untying them.
Draco walked out of the room, and hurried down the stairs, Ginny following behind him. He rushed passed all the snickering Slytherins, assuming they had been 'sleeping' together, but Ginny glared at them, and she jogged by, trying to keep up with Draco, because of his long legs, his strides were far longer than hers.
She followed him out the door, and he noticed he was going to fast, so he slowed a bit, soon she was able to walk along side him, but she obviously was taking more steps.
The very few people who had decided to wake up at such an ungodly hour, watched them curiously as they passed, but Draco and Ginny didn't care, or even notice. They finally made it up to the Gargoyle guarding his door, and as Draco opened his mouth to make an attempt at a password, the gargoyle sprung aside. He didn't stop to think about it, as he and Ginny climbed the stairs and found themselves at the door.
Draco knocked, and they heard their Headmaster call to come in. They complied and opened the door.
They walked in and saw that he was currently feeding the large fire like bird, Fawkes. He motioned with his hand for them to sit, and as they took a seat on the couch beside each other, they hear a large squawk from the bird, and it flew over and landed with one of it's feet on Ginny's shoulder, and the other on Draco's.
They shared a look of wonderment with each other, then Dumbledore went and sat at his desk and looked at them in silence, taking in what he saw.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well what?" Draco snapped. He figured they shouldn't be the ones to start and open up first, because they were asked to come, and it was early in the morning. Draco and Albus locked eyes, and were stuck in a battle of wits of who would crack first, and Ginny didn't bother paying attention because she had a feeling this would take a very long time. So instead, she paid attention to the magnificent creature on her shoulder. She was in the middle of scratching it's head, hen a knock at the door caused it to tighten its talons into hers and Draco's shoulder.
Albus told them to enter, and Lavender Brown walked in. "I'm sorry Professor, I couldn't find her...Oh, hello!" she said, staring at Ginny.
"Thank you Miss Brown, it seems she has been located. Thank you for your assistance." he said dismissively. She walked out, and they were left in the tension filled silence. Then Ginny made a noise of annoyance and broke it.
"So, why did you want to see us anyways?" she asked slightly harshly.
"Well you see Miss Weasley, I had heard you got out of the infirmary, so I called you both here to talk." he explained, as if he were talking to a pair of ten year olds.
"Yeah, that didn't really answer my question." Ginny voiced, impatiently, slightly surprising herself, but the only thing she thought was 'Draco must be rubbing off on me.'
Albus looked momentarily taken back, but recovered. "Draco told me he had some things to tell me, and wouldn't utter a word unless you were with him." he finished.
"I didn't say that." he looked at Draco. "You said you wanted me to speak to you. I under, no circumstance made it certain that I would."
Once again there was silence.
"You both have changed greatly in this past year. I know there is a hidden reason, as I have seen personally from you Draco. I want to know what is going on, and if you will endanger my students and yourselves. Draco, you have been in the infirmary unconscious this year from almost bleeding to death, and you sent Ronal Weasley there as well, and he hasn't woken up yet."
"If I might interrupt, Draco's and my brother's personal disputes aren't really for you to judge without being biased." Ginny said smartly. "Nor your business."
"Ann would you say that it is your business?" he asked, changing his gaze to her.
"Yes."
"Why is that?" he asked, and Draco watched her in an amused fashion.
"Because Draco permitted it to be my business." she answered smugly. She quite enjoyed out smarting Dumbledore, and she couldn't quite place it. A few weeks ago she had a deep respect for him, and now she was sitting talking rudely back to him, with Draco Malfoy at her side.
"Well then, let's evaluate you. During this year, you were in the hospital once for fainting after your visit with me and Professor Trelawney. Secondly you nearly drowned in the lake, thirdly you were found bloodied and broken at the bottom of a staircase and then lastly you fainted after a duel with your brother and his friends.
Draco then said something that surprised her greatly. "What is it that you want to know."
"I want to know what happened yesterday afternoon. You used a powerful amount of unidentified magic without your wand. This has been thought impossible for as long as the idea arose. And Virginia, I want to know what I see spark in your eyes every time you feel anger. These things are not human traits. And I know for certain you obtained them this year." he explained.
Draco stood up, opened the book he had been carrying, and placed it on Dumbledore's desk in front of him.
He sat back down, and Dumbledore's eyes widened as his eyes scanned the page.
Ginny looked back and forth between the two men, wondering what was going on. "What's that?" no one answered. "What is it!" silence answered. "What the bloody hell is it!"
Dumbledore looked up, but seemed as if he hadn't heard her. He looked at a loss for words, and spent a few moments trying to find them. "You want me to believe that you are the Children of the Realm?"
Draco gave Ginny a glance, and she knew full well what he planned to do, and she was going to be apart of it. Fawkes must have caught on with his animal instincts, because he flew off to his perch.
"Of course we don't want you to, why would we want that?" Draco asked with fake skeptically. Ginny felt the air around him cool, and she used all her will to store up the power. Draco let it burst, and Ginny followed milliseconds after. Now surrounding Draco was an aura of white flames, but unlike the smooth red ones of Ginny, his were jagged and choppy, much like cracked ice.
Holding the power was fairly tiring, so they dropped the aura about them after they were sure he was convinced. He stared at them in complete wonderment. He smiled wistfully, and spoke. "Do you know how old this legend is?" they didn't answer. "It originated around the time of Merlin and Morgan La Faye. It had always been said that two children on either side of the Blood would be the children of the God and Goddess of Life. These to entities have been searched for centuries. Parents would actually sacrifice themselves to the Heavens asking for Gods' blood to flow through their children. Centuries past, and the legend faded into dust covered parchment, fairy tales told at night. Centuries passed again, and the legend faded into nothing..." he finished.
"Either side of the Blood', what does that mean?" Ginny demanded, and if Dumbledore had been in his normal state of mind, he would have scolded her.
"Different ends of life. Opposites, in everything! Red hair, blond hair. Male, female. Gryffindor, Slytherin. Malfoy, Weasley. One born into light, the other, darkness." he answered swiftly.
"What did this legend entail?" Draco asked.
"Well over the ages, it became slightly muddled and now all there is, is a vague concept of It." they look at him expectantly. "On the brink of life's existence, they could let it prosper, or they could let it fall into a dark abyss from where the damage would be irreversible and the entire world population would be swallowed into the depth of time."
"That makes no sense." Ginny blurted out.
"How so?" Draco asked curiously.
"Well, the Gods or Goddesses of Life surely wouldn't create two 'entities' that could destroy everything they had created. If we have their blood in us, we would have their strength and we would have their will to let life prosper. There would be no denial in our minds, because they wouldn't have denial. We are as much their saviors as we are the worlds. We were created at a fork in the path of existence, you would think they would block the other path from our sights." She voiced.
"Well you see, there are two parts to life as you know. Existence and Death. Either the God or Goddess would be that of Existence and Life, the other would be of destruction and death. Not much is known about how they could create you two, but much like human birth, they would both have to give up something of themselves and put it into you. So you have the choice, because you couldn't have been created without it. Now no one is certain which of the two is that of destruction and that of life, it must have been lost in the translations of old."
"Clywynn is the Goddess of Life, we are her Earth Children." Draco quoted from their first visit with her.
"You have met the Goddess?" he asked in astonishment.
"Of course, several times actually." Ginny responded. Nothing else was said for a good two minutes.
"What are you going to do?" Dumbledore asked.
Ginny and Draco looked at each other in confusion. "Well, I'm going to go back to bed."
"Yeah, me too. I'm tired."
"ABOUT THE LEGEND! What are you going to do about THAT?" Dumbledore shouted at them standing up from his chair.
"I guess having some breakfast would be equally useful..." Ginny suggested, playing a little game with Draco.
"Yeah, I think we'll have some breakfast." he said, playing the let's-get-Dumbledore-riled-up game. Dumbledore opened his mouth to yell some more, but saw their mischievous smirks, and he sat back down in his chair muttering something that sounded a lot like 'teenagers."
Ginny was about to open her mouth, when a loud thump was heard from the room to their left, followed by a "Bloody hell!" The three of them stared at it in complete bewilderment as Severus Snape walked out, looking rather disgruntled.
He looked around the office a bit confused, but Draco stood up and rushed over to him, giving him a hug. Ginny watched, and she could feel the tears prickling in the back of her eyes.
"Welcome back old man." Draco said while pulling back.
"Ooh, a welcoming committee! Watch who you're calling 'old man'!" Severus said, with a literal dry voice, but was smiling non-the-less. Draco led him to the couch, and Ginny moved over so Severus could sit down beside her.
"Hello Miss Weasley." he said looking at her, and giving another small smile.
"How are you feeling Professor?" she asked inquiringly.
"Peachy." he responded, and attempt a chuckle, but coughed instead. In no time Draco pulled out his wand and created a class with water out of thin air. Severus grabbed it, and drank slowly, his stomach not used to having anything in it. But when he finished and put it down on the table, he cleared his throat. "That's much better, thank you." he thanked, with a now much healthier sounding voice. "It's a good thing you tow are responsible, or the planet would be doomed." he said, shocking everyone.
No one said anything, until Ginny burst out laughing. "You shameless eavesdropper!" And he even gave a chuckle.
"It's true, I was listening in on the conversation since I woke up, and incidentally since you came in. I was actually trying to get myself out of the bed, but I could only move my left arm most of my left torso, which is a really odd feeling. My throat was too dry to speak, so after listening to you talking, I practically used whatever strength I had, and I swung myself off the bed. That surprisingly unlocked my limbs, and here I am."
"That explains the thump." Draco noted.
"Well children, you two are free to leave, there isn't much left to discus here. I have to talk to Severus alone anyways." he said, and they got up gratefully and left.
As Draco closed the door, he snickered. "Well that was productive."
"No crap, but I am hungry.. So let's eat." And they walked down to the Great Hall.
The Slytherin table was the fullest, and most of the other tables had a few people scattered around here and there. Ginny and Draco walked to his table without and hesitation. Ginny looked towards the door as she sat down, and she was surprised to see Harry and Hermione walk in, accompanied with Ronald. He looked fully healed, and was looking for someone.
He spotted Ginny, or Draco, she couldn't tell who he was looking for, but Harry put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear, then Ron's face crumpled with indignation, and he pushed Harry away from him, and walked toward the Slytherin table, leaving his two friends bewildered.
His face softened, and he walked up the table, ignoring the cold glances he was receiving. He stopped in front of Ginny and looked down at her solemnly. "Ginny... Uh, can I talk to you?" he asked.
Ginny probably wouldn't have agreed, had she not seen how lost and guilty he looked. It struck a chord in he heart.
"Okay." she agreed, and he looked absolutely relieved. She stood up, and Draco looked at her strangely. "I'll be back in a second." then she walked out of the hall with her brother.
"Look Gin, I... Well I don't know how to... Well you see... Alright Ginny... I'm sorry! I'm sorry for being so terrible to you. I'm sorry for bugging you and pissing you off. Teasing you, snapping at you. Not being there like I should have been. Ginny, I'm sorry for being a bad brother. I- I love you Gin."
Ginny's eyes were filling with tears, and her bottom lip was quivering. "You're not a bad brother. You're just sometimes too much of a brother. I forgive you Ron and I love you too!" She wailed and they gave each other a big bear hug. When they pulled apart, Ginny saw that he was crying as she was and it made her smile.
"If you ever want to tell me anything Gin, I'm here, you know that?" he explained.
"Oh there's so much that I would like to tell you Ron, but I just don't think I can. It's not because I don't trust you, but I have only just finished telling Dumbledore, and I have a lot of things to think about. I will tell you though, but not now." she said sadly.
He smiled at her to show he understood, but his smile fell. "I don't want to pry, especially after we made up... But, what's going on with you and Malfoy... And... You aren't actually sleeping with him?" he asked hesitantly.
Ginny laughed out loud. Oh no! Of course not... Sorry about the clothes, it's just that the girls vanished my bed, so I had nowhere to sleep, and he offered his bed... He slept on the floor. We're... Friends... I'm sorry, because I know you want to know how this came about and why... and you certainly deserve to... But everything ties in with the large thing that I cant tell. I want you to know that when he...well beat you... That wasn't him... Well it was... But it's not his fault... Oh... I wish I could tell you, it would make everything easier. And that day with you and me in the hall... That wasn't me either... You'll understand..." he looked at her doubtfully.
"Can I just ask you to... Well, be decent to him? Please? You can insult him like usual... But, just please don't talk about his father... for me?" he looked at her sadly.
"I'll try..." he said finally, and Ginny hugged him again.
"Thank you so much!" she said letting him go. "You know, he's not bad Ron... I know you have practically no reason to, but I am determined to get you to see it!" she informed.
"Are you happy Gin?" he asked.
"I am now!" she exclaimed.
"Then, I will try." he finished.
"Good, then next Hogsmede trip, you me and him are going to chat in the Leaky Tavern."
"Fine... As long as he doesn't pounce on me and break my nose." Ron said, wincing from the memory.
"Don't worry, he wont... He knows I would break his jaw." she said brightly.
"I would never thought a Weasley had such control over a Malfoy before." he said, attempting to lighten his mood, and he felt surprised when it did.
"You better believe it! Now come on, I'm hungry!"
"Do you want to sit at our table?" he asked.
"I will at lunch, don't worry. I'm not in a good personality zone with your two friends. I'll tell you about that next time I get the chance... Okay?"
"Okay Gin." he agreed, then ruffled her hair in a brotherly way. Ginny giggled, then walked back in the hall with him. They split up and sat at their respective tables.
Ginny sat back down beside Draco, and was beaming. "Went well?" he said in more of a statement then a question.
"Yup, he even agreed to be decent to you because I told him I'm happy." It made him happy that she had said she was happy.
"Well that's good. One down, two to go." he replied.
"Nah, screw those two. I have no blood ties with them, so they can eat donkey barf." she stated, causing Draco to burst into laughter.
"You truly make my day." he admitted.
"Yes I do. Now, next week I'm taking my brother to Hogsmede." she informed.
"Well who am I going to go with?" he asked, a little disappointed.
"Me."
"But you're taking your brother..." he replied, confused.
"Exactly!"
Draco caught on, and narrowed his eyes. "Ginny, if you hadn't noticed, me and your brother don't get on very well..." he explained slowly.
"It's all been taken care of, now all I need is you to tell me you will behave... Because if you don't I have a promise to upkeep." she said impishly.
"What promise?" he asked apprehensively.
"Oh, that I would break your jaw if you didn't co-operate." she smiled sweetly.
"Well that doesn't leave much room for argument." he said, agreeing with a sigh.
Ginny ate her food quickly, and looked up at Draco. "I left my wand in your room, so I have to go back and get it." Draco nodded, and they walked back to the Slytherin common room, and into Draco's room, where Ginny found herself tired again. "Ugh, today has been too serious. Maybe if I got back to sleep and wake up, today will be fun." she said looking at him.
"Maybe... The only way to know is to try it." he replied lightly.
"Good, because I was going to steal your bed anyways." she said, then jumped onto his bed and giggled as she snuggled under the blankets.
"Well I'm not sleeping on the floor! So you better move over." he said, then far more gracefully than she had done, slid under the blankets as well.
She squirmed her way beside him, and smile. "Thank you for letting me sleep with you last night (platonically). I was having nightmares..."
He turned t her and asked sincerely, "Do you mind me asking what about?"
"I cant remember..." she said unconvincingly.
"Okay..." he said, knowing she didn't want to talk about them.
"I'm sorry... I lied. It's just, they weren't all that pleasant..." She explained apologetically.
"It's alright, I understand." he said comfortingly, then the two of them stopped talking, and they closed their eyes.
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Ginny's dream that morning started out peaceful and fine, but it became worse and worse as the seconds flew by.
She was sitting in black room, a cell from what she could tell, and the door opened and Draco walked in.
"Draco! Help me!" she asked. He raised his wand and spoke the cruciatus curse, and Ginny was sent into convulsions of pain and she screamed to her agony, and he laughed.
"Don't give up now!" he said as he took the curse off and she stopped moving. "I haven't even started yet." he sneered.
"Please stop..." she begged, looking up at him with pleading eyes, and he kicked her in the stomach.
He bent down, and whispered seductively in her ear. "Say it. I know you want to."
Ginny looked completely defeated, and she sobbed out. "But I love you!"
Draco burst out into cruel laughter. "That's what you get for loving and heart of iron. Now, your love will be your death. Ironic, I must say, but it had a poetic ring to it."
"No, no! I love you! Please don't do this!" she cried out, and was silenced by another kick. Draco used the cruciatus curse again, and she screamed herself hoarse. He removed the curse, and whispered sadistically, "I hear this can hurt." and he started cutting her with a knife he had summoned, she screamed and screamed and the blood flowed free of her body.
-------------------
Draco fell into a light sleep, but he soon came out of it, when Ginny started moving around and crying. Draco whispered her name, but that seemed only to worsen it.
She started to thrash about violently, and was screaming as if in dire agony. Draco couldn't even get near her, because of it.
She stopped screaming and moving suddenly, and Draco walked over to her, and tried waking up again. "Draco, please! Stop it, it hurts!" she whimpered. Then convulsed again for a seconds, while screaming. Draco didn't know what to do, he was starting to panic, and she wasn't letting him get close enough to wake her up, but she stopped once again, and Draco didn't wait a moment to rush to her side, and shake her out of it.
Her eyes snapped open, and she looked into his. All of a sudden her entire body lit like a match, and Draco jumped back. As soon as it was she was lit, it was out, and she started shaking violently. "Draco, please! Don't kill me!" she was yelling, and scampered off the bed into the corner of the room, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest and rocking back and forth.
"Ginny?" he exclaimed walking quickly over to her. she screamed and covered her head with her arms. "Draco don't kill me! I will do anything! I just want to live!"
Draco flinched when he realized what she had been dreaming about. She had dreamed that he was torturing her, and he wanted to vomit, because even though she was awake, she was still fearing him.
She started to hyperventilate, and her breath was not coming, so she passed out in a few minutes.
Draco rushed to her, picked her up and placed her on the bed. "Enervate!" he said, pointing his wand at her.
Her eyes fluttered open, and the fear filled her eyes once again. "No, Ginny it's me! It's me Ginny, Draco... I wont hurt you Ginny, you're safe. Look, you're back in my room. It was a dream Ginny, it wasn't real" he explained quickly, hoping it would calm her.
She nodded, and the tears built up in her eyes. Draco couldn't bear to see her cry, so he pulled her in a hug, and whispered in her ear. "It's okay."
"She was still shaking, and she finally spoke. "I- I was in a cell, and you were there... You were l-laughing... You used an unforgivable, and started laughing even more when I a-asked you to s-stop. T-then you pulled out..." she was having trouble forming the words, and she seemed especially frightened at this point, "A-and you s-started c-c-cutting my sk-skin." she finished, and was practically in hysterics.
Draco pulled he tighter, and rubbed her back while whispering again in her ear. "It's okay Ginny. I would never do that. You know I wouldn't. I wont let that ever happen, even if I have to risk my life for you, I will."
Ginny calmed after five minutes of him whispering sweet nothings in her ear, and she pulled away and wiped away the tears. "come on, let's get you up to the infirmary so you can get your potion, and I'll ask for a calming draught. How's that?"
"Thank you." she said softly.
Then they both slipped their shoes on, and walked all the way to the hospital wing. They walked in, and Madam Pomfrey greeted them from the other side of the room. "Good morning Miss Weasley, I'll get your potion for you." she said, then walked over to the potion cupboard and pulled out a yellow vial. She walked over and stopped when she saw the state Ginny was in. Red puffy eyes, pale and shaky. "What's the matter darling?" she asked concerned.
"She was having a bad dream, and was a bit shaken from it. Could you get her a calming draught?" Draco asked. Madam Pomfrey nodded, and went back to get it.
She handed Ginny the two vials, and she chugged them both back and she relaxed after taking the calming potion.
"Feeling better Gin?" he asked anxiously.
"Much." she replied with a smile. They bid the nurse farewell and left the wing.
"What do you want to do now?" Draco asked.
"Well I have a freaking ton of homework, and you're going to help me!" she said, with her usual exuberance. Draco was relieved to see her back to herself, because it made him nervous when she wasn't... Not to mention it made him feel helpless and miserable.
"Okay. Do you have your books?"
"Bugger. They're in my trunk..." she explained.
"Well then you can go get them, I'll wait for you..."
"No, it's not that, the girls in my dorm vanished all my things..." she informed.
"Okay, then I'll go have a chat with them." he said smiling.
"Oh, this will be too funny. I'll take you to the common room." she said perkily. She led him to the portrait of the fat lady, and she looked at him suspiciously.
"You're letting a Slytherin in?"
"He's my guest! So let us in." then the said the password, and the door swung open. "Let me handle the start." she whispered.
They walked into the common room full of people, and they all silenced at turned towards them.
"Okay everyone," Ginny announced. but never finished, because her brother came down the dorm stairs.
He greeted Ginny as he spotted her, then saw Draco behind her. Everyone held their breaths as they waited for the explosion. "Malfoy." he said, with a little nod of his head.
"Weasley." Draco responded, returning the nod. Everyone's jaws dropped. Ron sat down on the couch, and waited for the scene to play out.
"Well, as I was saying, This is Draco, and if I don't see my stuff here in ten seconds, I will unleash him." she concluded.
Draco stood behind, using all him might not to burst out laughing at the looks of terror on peoples' faces. He did however note the amused look on Ronald's face.
It was then that Kaitlyn stood up.
TBC
Author's note: Wow, this was a really long chapter for me, the longest I have even written on FFic, and now I have 60 000 words! YAY! I'm happy :) If I continued with it, I would have gone on for like a crap load longer, but I figure I should stop it there because I don't want the chapters to be too uneven in length... Well this chapter had some cute little Ron and Ginny talking... I like it! And you start learning a lot more about Ginny and Draco's powers and the Goddess, but now you have the God thrown into the mix, that has not made an appearance in this, and I'm not even sure he will... And Snape is back to join the party!... Well, I hope you liked this one, and my Document Manager is being a hobo so it hasn't let me upload anything for a few days... but I am already starting on the next chapter, so that will be soon coming.
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