A/N: Many, many thanks to the best beta there is, Rowan-Greenleaf. She makes it almost painful. Of course, pain can be a good thing, right?

Disclaimer: JKR would never claim this; I can barely claim it as mine.

CHAPTER THREE

When Luna and Blaise entered the Room of Requirement, they immediately felt the warmth, and the relaxing atmosphere the room had provided. There was a cheerful fire burning, and the air held a warm earthy smell of sandalwood, amber and vanilla. There were two comfortable love seats in front of the fireplace, and a table with snacks and drinks between them.

Ginny and Draco were sitting snugly together, and were talking softly as the other couple approached. The tension that Blaise had seen in Draco before they found Ginny was gone, and Ginny seemed to have recovered from her panicked state of a few minutes ago.

When Ginny saw them come in, she jumped out of her seat and flung her arms around Luna.

No matter how safe she felt with Draco, she still needed the comfort that could only be provided by her best friend. Luna hugged her back, and murmured softly in Ginny's ear.

Ginny gave a quick sniff and surreptitiously wiped a tear out of her eye before letting go of the blond girl, a smile of thanks on her face.

"I was coming to find you when I met Blaise in the hall," Luna explained resolutely. "I had been warned that the Quirkles were invading the castle and that they were heading for Gryffindor first. Are you okay Ginny? They can be terribly malicious if they are allowed to be touched by sunlight or water." Luna was perfectly serious in her inquiry, and though she used the terms of unknown creatures to describe the event, she was correct in her fears.

"I'm okay Lu, but I was quite scared. It was waiting for me outside the tower and though I couldn't see it, I could feel it." Ginny was able to speak calmly about it now, as she had already described what had happened to Draco while they had waited.

"It felt like evil was chasing me through the castle, and I don't know why. Blaise knew the spell to reveal it's presence but I'm afraid that didn't do anything to calm my fear." She gave her drawing to the others to look at, explaining when she had drawn it.

She also explained what she had tried to tell Draco earlier about her sense of time loss, and what types of things she drew during those times.

"… So basically, for the last five or six years I've felt like I'm still carrying a part of Tom inside me, and I didn't want to tell anyone for fear of what they would think." Ginny finished, now certain that her closest friends needed to know what was happening.

If Tom was coming back, she would need their help.

When she was eleven Tom had been able to posses her because she had no one to go to in her time of need. Now she had three close friends and would need all their help if Tom really was after her.

X

"I'm hungry." Blaise looked to the others with pleading eyes as he stretched the stiff muscles in his back.

They had spent the last few hours looking for clues as to what was going on, going through the books that the room had provided.

A pop was suddenly heard, and a table with four chairs, food, and drinks of all varieties appeared behind them.

"This room is fantastic! Why hasn't anyone shown this place to me before?" Blaise looked pointedly at Luna as if to say, 'We could have been having so many adventures here.'

Luna blushed slightly, and Draco pointedly cleared his throat. "The things that you would require, the room may be unable to provide. I doubt if the witches and wizards that set up the spells were deviant enough to provide for your wishes."

Blaise's feigned look of dismay had everyone laughing knowing that the fact was most likely true.

The handsome dark Slytherin would never purposely do harm to anyone, but Ginny knew he had what most would consider an abnormal liking for things of a slightly darker nature.

Ginny had often wondered how he was when he was intimate with Luna, as she had a hard time picturing the dreamy girl spanking Blaise until he cried for mercy; Draco had told her of the time he had come across them on a walk around the grounds.

They had been just inside the trees on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Blaise was on all fours, and Luna stood above him striking his backside with a rather large tree branch.

They had both been fully clothed but the rather disturbing event had given Draco the strong desire to make sure he always announced himself before going into Blaise's room from now on.

Ginny found that after having been around the Slytherins these last few months that things of this nature did not really disturb her. What two people do in the privacy of their room (or at least in forbidden areas) was their business.

A few months ago, Ginny realised, she would have been greatly offended and disturbed by the thought of this act, and would have called the Slytherin evil for it. Now she saw it as what her father liked to declare as, 'Different strokes for different folks'. Evil was subjective and this fact became more apparent as time went on.

This subjectivity was why she was worried about what had happened to her today. The fear of the overpowering sense of evil was all too real to Ginny but was it really there; did the others sense it as well?

Everyone had been quiet the last few hours so Ginny knew no one had really found anything. She wanted to be strong, but she was afraid. The events of her first year were still too vivid in her memory, no matter how much she had tried to forget them.

"Yea! The carrots are crinkle cut!" Luna's nonsensical happiness over the shapes of steamed vegetables broke the tension, and everyone enjoyed the dinner provided while momentarily forgetting about their worries.