I Walked this Road

Disclaimer: I completely acknowledge that I own none of these characters, except those of my own creation (but even they tend to get away from me) and I give full credit to the true master-mind: J. !

Without further ado, I give …
Chapter 6: Valiant Arrow

'You have done well, my child,' his soft, dangerous voice crooned across the darkness. The girl watched transfixed as the long, scaled body of the snake twisted itself around his arm, like a wrought iron clasp.

Ismene bowed her head, 'It is an honour to serve my lord,' she replied slowly.

The man seated at the top of the table let out a small laugh, his head inclining slightly as he observed her with dark, slitted pupils. 'I wonder how many of my friends would agree with you,' he asked, his voice dropping slightly as he turned his penetrating gaze on the others seated around the long table. 'Your father perhaps is discontented, indeed.'

Ismene looked suddenly to the man on the left of her master, his head was bowed but she could see the lines marring his face and his hands trembled slightly on the glossy wooden surface.

'No, indeed, my lord, I assure you. My father knows better than anyone the glory of the burden we carry.' Ismene's voice rang out across the swelling silence, and she held her dark head a little higher.

'Ah, but you are not so like your father are you?' The chilling note had left his voice as he gazed down the length of the table, 'Nor your mother.'

'Or my brother,' Ismene asserted. 'That much I hope to have proven.'

'Fear not child, your brother has deserted us,' he replied, 'you have remained faithful and for that you shall be rewarded above all others.'

'And Arrow?' she demanded.

'Patience, child, he will return and then we shall complete the magic.'

Ismene bowed her head one more, allowing a small smile to work its way across her harsh features. She looked up again to see her master but he had already gone, all eyes turned to her. Turning on her heel she swept down the darkened hallway, her cloak billowing ominously behind her.

...

They both awoke at the same time. Ginny blinking wearily into the harsh day light that seeped through the only window in the apartment. Ginny remembered when she'd first seen the apartment, all those years ago when she was still a student at Hogwarts and her brothers were building up the joke shop, she'd asked Fred why only one window. He'd grinned and told her mysteriously that it made it harder for people to see what they were up to. At the time his words had been a bit of a joke, intriguing to Ginny, now she saw it as a safety mechanism that kept outsiders out.

...

He awoke with a sudden alertness his eyes scanning his curious surroundings, taking everything in with precision and calculation. The man with the long blonde hair was sitting on a worn chair, closer to the girl with wild red hair. Who were they? He made to reach for his wand, his automatic reflex whenever he was in an unfamiliar situation but he found his pocket empty. Now that he thought about it, half his possessions were gone; his jacket had been stripped off him his boots too and he knew the armoury he kept secure inside his secret lining would be gone too. Dammit! How had this happened? The red head stirred on the opposite couch, her head rolling to the other side and a small smile lit up her features as she gazed on the blond haired man sitting a few metres away from her. Now he remembered; it was Ginny Weasley.

...

'We've really got to stop meeting this way,' Ginny murmured, still a little hazy as she gazed up at Draco- his steel gray eyes crinkling at the sides as he smiled in return.

'If you ever find me knocked out on a couch, please just kill me,' Draco replied with a casual grimace. It was only then, when she looked away from his face, that she noticed the stranger lying on the opposite couch. His curly, dark brown hair was mussed up, falling over his face but it did not hide his sea-blue eyes that bore into hers. Draco followed her line of gaze and was up in a matter of seconds. But the stranger was just as quick, leaping of the couch and coming to face Draco before he managed to reach the other side of the room. Ginny made to get up as well, sick of being left out of the action and both men's eyes flashed in her direction.

Ginny wasn't scared, she knew who'd win in a fight between the two, even if the dark stranger had his wand- she'd seen with her own eyes just how lethal Draco could be. So it wasn't fear that seared through her belly as she gazed back on the stranger, it was something else. Something... painful. In fact, it was the same sought of feeling she got when she looked at Draco; that awful plummeting sensation when she knew she'd lost something but she couldn't remember what.

'Glad to see you didn't hurt yourself, little V,' the stranger spoke with a slight smirk to the corners of his mouth as he looked her up and down. Secretly Ginny ached all over but she wasn't going to admit this. She noted with slight hesitation the hungry gaze he watched her with, like a predator to prey. Ginny wasn't used to being the prey and couldn't say she enjoyed the experience.

'Okay let's start with that,' Ginny said calmly, drawing herself up to full height and holding her head a little higher, the defiant jaw line she'd inherited from her mother poised in well...defiance. 'Little V, what does that mean?'

'It's your name,' the stranger replied in a mocking tone. Draco let out a low, warning sound but the stranger said no more.

'Right, and what's yours then?' Ginny demanded, determined to get something other than riddles out of this man. He merely folded his arms and smirked at her.

'Guess,' he taunted. 'Show me how good you aurors are.'

Ginny let out a low laugh, 'Fine, how does Neanderthal suit?'

The stranger allowed another smile slip across his mouth, 'You haven't changed a bit.'

'Enough,' Draco said, turning his gaze toward Ginny. 'There are other ways.'

'Good point, partner,' Ginny grinned and turned back to the stranger, 'I think I'm going to enjoy this.' His eyes flashed suddenly as comprehension dawned across his face. 'Legilimens.'

Images flashed before her eyes.

Ginny was sitting on the cement floor of a prison cell, her knees drawn up to her chin. He was leaning against the bars of the cell door, watching her intently.

'I hate you,' Ginny spat vehemently.

'I expected as much,' he replied drily.

'I will kill you,' she swore, her voice shaking with anger.

'There are worse things than me in this place,' he shot back.

'Really?' Ginny asked, sarcasm ripping off the word.

'Yes.' His voice was chilling and Ginny looked away with a sudden spark of fear.

A new image surfaced as the other dispersed into dark ash.

They were running through a corridor, it was dark and Ginny knew it was night time. They reached the end of the corridor, where it forked in two different directions, as a stream of hexes flashed above their heads, narrowly missing them.

He swore under his breath before grabbing her arm roughly and pulling her down the left corridor. 'Next time remind me never to come on one of your insane escapades.' He whispered, through ragged breathing as he pulled her into the crevice of the wall. They watched fiver or so guards run past them, before Ginny replied.

'Well, no-one asked you to tag along,' she replied bitingly, 'I could have done just fine on my own.' Her companion merely raised an eyebrow. Together they shimmied along the walls, back up the corridor they had just come down.

'Drop your wands or I'll kill you both,' a harsh voice rang out into the air. He groaned and shot Ginny an annoyed look before, swivelling around so fast the guard stumbled backwards slightly, giving time for him to shoot a stunning spell.

'Hurry, they'll be more soon.'

'I know,' Ginny had paused, frozen in her place.

'Then what are you waiting for?'He asked, his eyes blazing with a mixture of annoyance and incredulity. Ginny did not move nor did she make any sound by way of reply. 'Fight for tomorrow,' he said, clasping her limp hand.

'Live for today,' she replied with resolution, clasping his hand back.

The image dissipate and another surfaced this one more tangible than the others.

Stay with me little V,' he urged, barely able to keep the note of desperation out of his voice. She could feel his heart beating wildly as he bent over her, cradling her head between his hands. She smelt his sweet scent, a mixture of apples, mint and earth as droplets of rain fell from his wild brown hair onto her ashen cheeks. His forehead brushed against her own and his ragged breathing caressed her face, running over the cuts and bruises. 'Please,' he cried out, tipping his head back into the onslaught of rain. His hands fell from her hair down to her sides where they came to clasp her fingers. 'Don't let them beat you, little V. Don't stop fighting, not this time.'

She could feel her own heartbeat slowing, even under his pleas and her fingers lost their strength as she fought to breathe. Then, just as her eyes began to close, she saw him bend over her again and his eyes flashed with gold and he opened his mouth to speak. 'Animam Salvam.' Then a fire was rushing through her veins and he collapsed at her side.

A sharp pain to her side, brought her swimming out of the memory.

'Merlin's pants!' Ginny exclaimed, clutching her side. 'What was that for?'

Draco was glaring at her, the stranger standing slightly behind him, now bound with rope ties. 'That was not what I meant. You should have left that for me.' He turned away for a moment, his posture tense before relaxing and turning back to her. 'What did you learn?'

'You mean other than when you punch it hurts?' Ginny demanded and both men rolled their eyes but she turned her attention to the stranger. 'Nice to see you again Arrow, it's been a long time.'

Arrow's face split into a devilish grin, 'Ay, it has.' Ginny pulled out her wand and murmured the charm to untie his bonds, watching with only mild apprehension as they coiled away from his hands.

'What are you doing?' Draco demanded, his face blazing.

'Woah,' Ginny held out her hands, 'easy, partner, he's on our side.'

'I don't think so,' Draco said in a hard voice, turning his icy gaze on Arrow.

'Arrow, show him your neck,' Ginny said slowly. Arrow shot her a look and a strange moment passed between the two before he nodded and silently turned and pulled back the hair at the nape of his neck. A golden phoenix was inked, with the same ancient inscription that Ginny had puzzled over on her neck for many an hour.

'You're an auror?' Draco asked disbelievingly.

'I was,' Arrow replied and his eyes turned distant. 'A long time ago.'

'What happened?' Ginny asked, she'd seen the tattoo in the memory but couldn't remember the story behind it- if he'd ever even told her.

'My parents were death eaters, part of the Circle,' Arrow said in a bitter tone, 'I ran away from them when I was fifteen, lived on the streets for the better part of two years before I enlisted as an auror. If there was one thing my father taught me, it was how to protect myself.' Ginny nodded and he slumped back down on the couch before continuing. 'When I left I broke my mother's heart,' he said with another bitter smile, 'my father swore he would hunt me down and make me pay for my transgressions. Eventually he found me, working on an operation in Bulgaria- I'd gotten sloppy; hadn't covered all the angles and he managed to get to me.' He blew out a long sight at this point and then carried on. 'Let's say he had some leverage over me, enough to make me come back to Voldemort's ranks. All I knew was that they were after you,' he said, jerking his head towards Ginny, 'and that I knew you.'

'What?' Ginny asked. 'That's not possible.'

'I didn't know you personally, it's impossible for members of the Circe to know one another but I'd heard of you,' he explained, 'so they used me to get to you.'

'You kidnapped me?' Ginny demanded.

'No, not exactly,' Arrow replied in a slow careful voice, 'more like persuaded you to come with me.'

'Why?' Ginny demanded intently, 'Why did you want me?'

'That I can't tell you,' Arrow replied, his blue eyes darting a look in Draco's direction.

'Why not?' she demanded again, her ferocity growing.

'Because Lord Voldemort isn't stupid, that's why,' Arrow answered bitterly.

'He had you swear an Unbreakable Vow,' Draco guessed and Arrow nodded in reply.

'The only reason I can tell you as much as I have is because you broke the line,' he said and this time it was Draco who nodded in response.

'The line?' Ginny asked, getting the annoying sensation that she was the only one who didn't understand what was going on.

'You took the gold disk off him,' Draco explained, 'which should have joined the link to you.'

'But it didn't,' Arrow continued, 'because you're not marked.'

'Marked?'

Arrow rolled back the cuffs on his right arm so that she could see a small, round tattoo inked in black. 'Only someone who has had contact with the orbis- or gold disk- can break the connection and rejoin it elsewhere, problem is when you broke it you didn't rejoin it.'

'And what does that mean?' Ginny asked, her brain spinning at the speed of light.

'Nothing, for now.' Ginny didn't like the way he said for now, it couldn't foreshadow anything good.

'So why use the orbis, or disk, why not use the dark mark like all the other death eaters?' Ginny asked and Draco leant forwards slightly so that she knew he'd been wondering the same thing.

'It's old magic, part of the project we're working on now- it links us back to another era that Voldemort wants to replicate-' He broke off suddenly. 'That was close,' he murmured after a moment, 'too close.'

'You nearly gave away too much,' Ginny guessed and Arrow nodded, a gentle inclination of his head.

'I think we should leave it at that,' Draco said softly and the other two both nodded in agreement.

'One more thing,' Ginny asked, turning back as she got up to leave, 'why do you call me 'little V'?' She expected his face to break into another pirate smile and laugh at her, but instead he looked up at her with deep, solemn eyes.

'That's the most important part.'

A/N: Hello! I know it's been a while and I'm so very, very sorry! Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and pretty please leave me a review! Till the next chapter...