Author's note: Well hello again! I know I haven't updated I a pretty long time, but I was going to wait until I got at least one review for my last chapter, but no one has reviewed... So I figure I might as well post another one since school is starting up again in a day, and since I'm starting high school, I probably wont have time on the computer very much... But well, enough of my chatter, and on with the story!
Please Read: Like my previous chapter, this one needed to be re-written. I hope you like this newer version better, and my new chapter should be coming along in less than two weeks!
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ginny looked down at the feather and felt a surge of fear shoot through her entire body. "What is it?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"A... woman of sorts came out of the forest... They were badly injured, and when I went to see them, they handed me this from its wing and told me to get you as fast as I could." he explained quickly.
"Where is she now?" Draco asked.
"She is outside, at the edge of the forest, east of Hagrid's hut. Wait-" He cried out to their retreating backs as they sped down the hallways to get outside.
The halls which were now full of people all parted out of the way for them, and they didn't give so much as a back look. When they reached the front doors, they pushed through them easily, and ran outside to the frigid air of the cold night. Ginny was the first to spot the white of the goddesses wings by the edge of the forest, and once she did, she sped off into that direction, Draco at her heals.
The 'creature' her dad had spoken of was the form of a woman, white wings protruding from her back, red hair flowing down her back. She was completely naked, but blood, matching her hair, seemed to cover most of her bare skin. When Ginny saw this, she sucked in a breath of icy, ignoring the pain in her lungs, and as she was running she seemed to lose her footing, and she stumbled. She fell forward, but she put her hands out in front of her face, and as she landed, she used he momentum and did a summersault, sending her back onto her feet and running again in one swift, graceful movement.
They finally reached the goddess, and they knelt down beside her, as she was lying on the ground. "What happened?" Ginny asked in a rush of alarm.
"Listen to me children." Clywynn whispered feebly. "Luthedore is free."
"Free?" Draco asked, having been filled in about Ginny's dream.
"He severed his bond with the Spirit Realm. He is no longer a god." she whispered with a shiver.
"Well that's good isn't it? Wouldn't that make him mortal?" Ginny asked.
"No!" she said with too much force, and started coughing. "He is a demon now... I never knew until it was too late, and I was lying in a pool of my own blood." They stared at her in complete devastate. "He is dead however..."
"Dead? How?" Draco wondered aloud.
"Blood of a holy entity is fatal for any creature of darkness, which he had become. Like myself, he was ignorant till the end." she explained, her voice growing fainter by the minutes.
"Well we can heal you; just give us a minute as the healers will be coming..."
"Mortals cant heal me. Only my partner, another holy being, can." she informed. "Do not worry, in a minute the balance will be righted, and you two will be the only Otherworldly beings left..."
"How can you die?! You're a Goddess for crying out loud! Goddesses don't die!" Ginny cried, desperately.
"You're right." she replied with a slight smile, then she opened her hand, and an ancient scroll of sorts appeared and Ginny took hold of it gently, afraid it would fall apart in her hand, but when she touched it, she felt the powerful protective spells on it tingle beneath her fingers. "Use this once the battle is over." she commanded. "Use the skills I have given to you with my sacrifice, you are more powerful than I ever dreamed. You will right this realm." she finished.
"What skills? What do you mean?" Ginny asked, frantically. The goddess didn't respond. Instead she continued looking at them with her Malfoy like gray eyes she held her hand out to Draco, and he opened his hand and she dropped something in it that Ginny couldn't see but Draco looked at it with slight confusion and Ginny saw him stick it in his pocket, and the two of them forgot about it for a moment.
Ginny began once again. "Right this Realm? How do we do that?" the Goddess didn't answer, but continued to stare with her glassy eyes, never blinking.
"Ginny..." Draco started. "She's not breathing..." he said gravely. Ginny looked down at the goddess, and tears began swelling in her eyes. Draco couldn't help but do the same, as he felt the goddess's essence leave the earth. He pulled Ginny over to him, and got her up on his lap. She buried her head in his chest, and he kissed the top of her head, while rocking lightly back and forth. "Shhh Gin, it's alright." Whispering words of comfort as much for himself as her. It was then that Ginny realized that the scroll in her hand had disappeared, even though she could still feel its energy. She would have pondered it more deeply but she didn't have time.
Movement caught their attention in the dark forest before them. Draco stood up and pulled Ginny with him, he stood protectively before her as he figured that what was coming at them was far too large and loud to be only one thing, and he let his power grow, causing his unearthly appearance to grow brighter and more Godlike. The edge of the forest was so dark they couldn't see anything beyond the first trees, but soon the air was full of galloping and what Draco understood immediately, were cries of sorrow. He caught a glimpse of something alarmingly white, and an instant later, Centaurs and Unicorns burst out of the forest in full canter, stopping immediately before the two children. They all took to one front leg and bowed. Then the largest Centaur walked up to them. "We welcome you our Lord and Lady." he bowed again. "The forest mourns the loss of it's queen." he explained, and suddenly the animals present went deathly silent, and in the distant, they heard the groaning of trees. "Yes, even the trees mourn." he added.
Ginny didn't know why, but she let her gaze fall to where the body of the Queen lay, and she was in awe at the patch of purely white roses that grew in her place. Ginny never thought she would know such beauty.
The group of magical creatures watched the two of them and finally Draco spoke, loudly for all to hear. "My Creatures, the war has come!" he said, and light neighs of fear could be heard. "We aren't as ready as we should be, and we ask for your aid in the battle that will decide all our fates!" Ginny grabbed his hand to comfort him.
After a moment of Centaurs discussing the matter in their own ancient language, the one who spoke first spoke again. "We will help you my Lord." he held his head high. "We will be back at the first light tomorrow." he said, and Ginny and Draco couldn't explain the feeling, but they both bowed deeply, revealing their vulnerable back to them in a sign of trust, and the heard of Centaurs and Unicorns galloped back to their home in the forest to prepare for what should be the final battle.
The two of them walked to where her body had been, which was now a patch of white roses, and the knelt down in front of them. Then they heard it. "Goodbye my Children." the voice of Clywynn whispered to them over the wind and it left a feeling of peace in their hearts. Draco suddenly pulled a blade out from his pant leg, and he raised it to his palm and cut a gash right across it. He let the blood pool in his hand, and he let it fall to the dirt beside on of the roses. A small vine grew before their eyes and entwined around the white rose, then at the top it blossomed into a light blue rose. Ginny repeated what he had done with his knife. The ground absorbed her blood and a rose of red entwined with the two others.
Then Ginny and Draco both felt a small essence of magic floating around them. Ginny tried to reach it with her own magic, and when she felt them touch, a flare of power exploded, and the only thing she remembered knowing, was that it enveloped her in a cocoon of energy, and with hers and the faint unfamiliar magic floating around her, she could feel Draco's as well. Once the light faded, they were both left in complete darkness, lost in the flow of their energy.
They opened their eyes after what seemed like an eternity, and figured it couldn't have been long since people were only beginning to run towards them now. Draco looked over at the rose patch, and the three intertwined roses had turned to stone.
After being alone with their magic, the two of them felt like they had finally known themselves, and they could manage their magic with perfect control. Ginny gave Draco a passionate kiss as the feeling of bliss seeped through her entire body, and as he returned the kiss, she knew he felt it too. They would have stayed together like that for an eternity, but nothing was ever perfect.
Suddenly, many screams were heard off in the distance and Ginny and Draco were on their feet and they let a wave of power radiate off them, and their new senses honed in on the source of the terror they smelt on the wind. It was coming from Hogsmede and the screams were beginning to fade. Draco was on the verge of growling, when Ginny grabbed his arm, and as she did so, she wrapped her magic protectively around the toe of them, and apparated through the protective wards around the school, leaving them, perfectly intact.
The two had appeared in the main street of the village, and all around was chaos. All the buildings were set aflame, and the dark mark burned menacingly in the sky above. The villagers were running to the castle for protection, although with the low number of four Aurors, they had no chance of making it, especially those with children. Ginny looked up the road to the opposite entrance to the village, and her fighting mode took over as she saw the large group, numbering more than twenty, of Deatheaters advancing. The four Aurors and many of the townsmen were delaying the line, but they were no match for the dark magic approaching.
They two of them made their way to the front of the line, where many of the villagers gave them a look of pure awe, and Draco was already heading straight into the fight, barely hearing Ginny telling the villagers to leave for the safe haven of the castle. None of them argued as they turned and followed their wives and families.
Ginny's body was soon encases in an aura of bright flames and she ran right after Draco, who was already taking them down three at a time, sending blades of ice out of his hand that hit his enemies in the throat and freeze their airway shut, along with their blood, causing them to die a slow and painful death. Ginny on the other hand was shooting arrows of fire from her palms and they struck the enemy in the chest, sizzling their flesh causing them to fall, screaming in sheer agony.
Soon the street was silent. Once they realized that all their enemies had fallen, their auras cooled, and they were back to 'normal'. They looked to see two aurors still standing, who were lifting up their fallen comrades. Ginny and Draco walked over to help them, since they could tell the two of them were exhausted.
Ginny didn't recognize the two standing, but she looked at one who she knew quite personally. "Tonks!" she cried, and then ran over to her. Draco followed, and the man trying to support himself, let alone another person looked hesitantly at them. "She was hit with the Cruciatus..." he explained.
"Alright, we'll take you back to the castle." Ginny said kindly. She looked over to Draco, who nodded with understanding. He grabbed onto the other man who was holding what appeared to be his partner, and seconds later, all three of them had disapparated.
Ginny looked back at the village and held one hand out towards the burning buildings. The flames lessened until they were no more, and Ginny felt to heat of the fire in the tips of her fingers waiting to be pushed back out on her command, but she let it flow into her endless source of magic flowing through her blood.
Ginny did the same as Draco had done moments ago, and in an instant, they were standing in the hospital wing, and Madame Pomfrey looked as if she had just been shocked out of half her life.
"H-How did you... the wards..." she trailed off, not being able to find the words.
"These four need help Poppy." Draco said, using her first name to snap her out it. She remained shocked for a moment, then went into nursing mode, and had already gotten the four of them to lie down on a bed each, and was pouring potions down one of their throats.
"We need to find Dumbledore and tell him about the attack. The villagers should be arriving any second." Ginny whispered to Draco, who nodded, then they apparated to the Great Hall. No one seemed to notice their arrival, so the two of them began looking through the crowd for the Headmaster. They searched and searched, to no avail.
"Professor McGonagall!" Draco yelled over the high voices in the Hall. She turned to look at whomever called her, and her eyes widened when she saw the two of them. They ran over to her, and before she could say anything, they had already asked their question. "Have you seen Dumbledore?"
"Well yes, he's in his office..." she said, and would have continued had the two of them not apparated away, leaving her completely bewildered.
The two of them appeared in front of his office door, not wanting to be rude and barge in, so they knocked. Albus told them to come in, and when they walked in, they were met with a happy sight.
Occupying the two chairs in front of Albus' desk were Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. "Remus! Sirius!" Ginny cried happily. She ran over and hugged Remus who had just gotten up to welcome them. "How are you? Oh, I'm so happy you two are safe!" she said rather quickly.
"Draco?" she heard Sirius ask in shocked disbelief. "Narcissa said you were dead!"
"We had to. I was better off everyone believing I was dead." he said simply, and Sirius walked over and enveloped him in a bear hug. Ginny gave them a quizzical look, and even Remus seemed surprised by this new relationship development between the two.
Sirius turned to them and shrugged. "Well, his mother, Narcissa and I were cousins. Up until a year ago, we both thought the other in league with Voldemort. It wasn't until Severus stepped in that we finally made contact with each other and sorted everything out." he said nonchalantly.
The story seemed well enough, because they let it drop. "You two wanted to talk to me about something?" Albus asked at last.
"Ah, yes." Draco replied. "Hogsmede was attacked."
Before he could go into details, Remus sprung back onto his feet before he even finished sitting back down. "What?! When!?"
"About five minutes ago." Ginny answered. "Don't worry... no casualties. The worst injuries are probably some burns and an Auror fell from the Cruciatus..."
Remus' face fell. "Tonks was on duty to evacuate the village... Please don't tell me it was her." he said, looking for reassurance in Ginny's eyes.
She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine." Ginny saw the spark of hope in his eyes and she gave him a quick hug.
"I'm going to go see her." he said, and received a dismissive nod from Dumbledore. He walked over to the fireplace, and flooed to the Infirmary.
"Most of the village is burnt, and all the villagers are here looking for protection." she finished.
The room was silent for a moment, before Sirius finally voiced the question that he and Albus shared. "Where are the Deatheaters?"
Ginny opened her mouth to respond, but Draco beat her to it. "We killed them." Sirius' jaw dropped.
"Ginny?" he said nervously appalled. "You killed someone?"
This time, Ginny beat Draco to it. "A few 'someones' actually." she replied with a small smile of pride, but otherwise indifferently. Sirius didn't seem to know what to say, but he shut his mouth, and his eyes filled with a new light for Ginny.
"Well, not matter what you did, it's been done. Sirius, I don't really know what we're going to do with you, but we need to keep you out of sigh. The Minister is here, and if he sees you he'll want blood."
"And if he tries to get blood I will send him to the deepest hole of Tatarus." Ginny said defensively. "Sirius, you have been in exile far too long. You will walk freely with the others." her eyes sparked menacingly at Albus, and he sighed.
"Alright, now we need to figure out what we are going to do once they come. We are yet to be ready." he explained, looking at back and forth between Draco and Ginny. Draco opened his mouth to say something, but he took in a breath of air and his unearthly glow disappeared, his hair melted back to platinum blond and his eyes dulled back to gray. Ginny followed suit, and her hair softened to a dull, limp red and her eyes cooled to dark brown. They both wobbled for a bit, barely managing to stay standing.
Albus and Sirius looked at them in surprise, because without the vibrant colours in their complexions, they looked monotone. Their skin seemed to pale drastically, leaving it a dramatic white. They noticed the subtle changes as well. Ginny no longer had freckles powdering her face, and her eyes were a dark brown instead of the warm chestnut. Draco's pale blond hair now was silver, and his eyes a more cloudy gray, not the light silver.
Their eyes seemed half open, and Draco's finally closed and he fell backwards, but not before Ginny caught him, and she fell back with him. They would have rushed over immediately had Ginny not burst out in a fit of tired giggles.
"Are you alright?" Albus asked severely concerned.
Ginny giggles stopped and she replied, still on the ground with Draco on her. "Draco hasn't slept more than three hours in the past two weeks. His magic was keeping him awake and healthy, but it can only do so much, so he needs to sleep."
"Why did this affect you then?" Sirius asked.
"Because if I didn't take part of it in me, he would be unconscious and probably in a coma..." she explained. She nudged her way out from underneath Draco, and pulled him up as well, balancing with one arm over his shoulder, leaning his weight into her. "I'm going to take him to his room." she informed.
"Um, would you like help with that?" Sirius asked.
"No thanks." then with a faint pop, she apparated away, leaving Dumbledore bowled over in wonderment, and Sirius just plain stupefied.
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She appeared in his room, and it looked much the way it had been when she left those many months ago, although the bed was made and the clothes were organized back in the wardrobe. She smiled wistfully and wobbled over to the bed, and non-too-gracefully deposited him onto it. She used all her will force to push his body onto the center of the bed, and after a moment of struggle, she pulled the blankets over him. She gave one last look at the angelic figure before her, and she apparated back out of the room and into Albus' office.
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Albus left Sirius alone in his office, after he had politely declined to make his appearance. He made his way to the front hall without so much as one disturbance, but when he reached the hall, all hell broke loose. He was suddenly assaulted by the booming voices of five different people.
The first was Molly Weasley, demanding to see her daughter and know where she was. The second was Arthur trying to calm her down, and talk to him in a 'polite' manner. The third was an Auror trying to figure out what to do with all the villagers who had arrived minutes ago. The fourth was the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, demanding why all Aurors were pulled from the Ministry buildings to the school without his authorization and demanding that they leave immediately. The fifth was Severus Snape trying to get the other four to shut the goddamn hell up. Albus raised his hands for them to be quiet, and it took over five minutes to get Molly and Cornelius to quiet, only after Severus had pulled his wand out and growled menacingly.
"Alright, Darryll," he said to the Auror, "take them underneath the school with the younger children, any of the men and woman who can and are willing to fight must be prepped and ready." Darryll nodded in understanding, and quickly complied.
"Molly, your daughter is sleeping of an exhausting night, she will wake when needed, and I will not let you find her because she is the most important person in this war other than Draco and Voldemort himself. She needs her peace while she can have it." Molly looked like she was about to burst into tears, but Arthur led her away before more damage could be done. "Now, Cornelius-"
"Don't you "Cornelius" me!" He yelled. "You had no authorization to take these men away from their duties! I want them back in their offices and at their desks by the end of this hour or so help me Albus, you will of made a powerful enemy." he continued his rant to an unconcerned Albus Dumbledore. "You have stretched my liberality too far this time Albus!" then a shaggy black dog came and sat at Albus' feet. Fudge was in mid shout, finger in the air, when he looked down at the dog in revulsion. "And now you're keeping filthy flea ridden beasts running around a school for children! Mark my words, by the end of the year, this school will be under new management." he continued, and Severus looked at the familiar dog with something akin to amusement. The dog looked at Severus and tilted its head to the side, but he still caught the mischievous glint in its eye. Severus looked over to Albus who gave him a wink. All he had to do was stand back and watch this play out.
The dog suddenly stood on his hind legs, and began the transformation to a human. Fudge's eyes began popping out of his head, and when the transformation was over, he was standing face to face with the 'outlaw' he had been after relentlessly for almost five years.
After a long minute of staring with his jaw hanging wide open, his reactions finally kicked in. "BLACK!" he yelled, and jumped back, clumsily pulling his wand out and pointing it at him with a trembling hand. He began to yell out the binding curse, when a flash of fire erupted directly in the three foot space between him and Albus. In seconds the flames were replaces by Virginia in her flaming glory. She held Fudge's wands arm by the wrist, and she glared unpromisingly into his eyes with the sparks of hers. "I would rethink what you are about to do, because I wouldn't want you to be making 'powerful' enemies." She growled, quoting his earlier threat to Albus. "Sirius here has been pardoned and it would do you good to accept."
Fudge stared at her, fearing for his life, but too soon he regained his voice and superior attitude. "And who would pardon that...thing?!" he asked preposterously.
Virginia tightened her grasp on his arm, and she sent as much of a jolt of heat through her hand as she could manage. He got the picture and whimpered expectantly under the blistering pain in his arm. Ginny let go, and he scampered away like a whipped dog (Sorry if that sounds offensive!). Once he was out of sight, Ginny let her exhaustion go and anything vibrant on her body seemed to be sucked back in. Her knees collapsed out form underneath her, and Sirius caught her.
She smiled at him. "Thank you Sirius." she said quietly, and he grinned.
"Thank you little Gin, I think you made him wet himself." Ginny would have smiled brilliantly at that, but all she could manage was a quirking at the corners of her lips.
"Your welcome." she whispered again, and then she looked over to Albus. "I was looking for you in your office, but I found Sirius and he told me you were down here." she paused for a moment, to gain more energy. "The centaurs will be here by dawn, and I need you to wake Draco and I." she explained briefly.
"Very well, you need to sleep now, you have eight hours before then, and you need your rest." he said in a fatherly tone. She smiled appreciatively and apparated right our of Sirius' arms, causing him to loose his own balance and fall over backwards. Severus Snape gave one final laugh, and went off to his own affairs.
Ginny apparated directly onto the bed holding Draco and she arrived already asleep, falling down, draped across Draco's torso. The two slept deeply in dreamless slumber, all cares about the near day gone form their minds.
TBC
Author's note: Hey! I finally finished the chapter! I'm sorry for those of you who liked the other chapter better...But don't worry either about the weapons...They will get them in the next chapter! I hope you liked it, and I personally thought it was much better then my first attempt :) Please review to tell me which one you liked better, or just you input on the story in general...And, this one was actually about 1000 words longer!