We 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. K. Rowling!

Without further ado, I give …
Chapter Seven: Shadowed Traitor

'Are you sure?' Ginny asked, tentatively looking to Draco on her right hand side. They stood in a small village, perched on the shoreline of a black expanse of water. It looked deserted, the bamboo huts all clustered together in a ragged mass with small lanterns hanging on the door posts. The wind, swept mist through the town and the lamps flickered casting odd shadows and causing the wind chimes to tinkle a low, mournful sound. It was like an echo or a shadow of grief that had long since swallowed itself up. Ginny shivered and cast a glance towards the lake that was as still and silent as a statue, it did not lap against the pebbled shores or ripple as the last of the autumn leaves met its surface. Nothing stirred.

'This is where he said to come,' Draco replied in a neutral tone, his face revealing none of his anxiety but Ginny knew the place unnerved him as much as it did her; his hand never left his wand.

'Looks like a graveyard,' Arrow remarked, his eyes sweeping swiftly over the wheat stalks that had grown in neglect and now swayed in the breeze. Ginny saw him slip a small dagger like knife into his boot and started slightly as she recognised the action as identical to her own.

'It is,' Draco replied his voice still steady but his eyes narrowed in apprehension. When neither Ginny nor Arrow made any motion to indicate that they understood his comment, he continued. 'During the Great Purge, when the ministry ordered the destruction of all dark alliances they came here to bury the dead.'

'Where?' Ginny asked, casting a slightly nauseated glance around at her surroundings wandering suddenly if she was treading on the remains of some dark witch or wizard.

'In there,' Draco answered with a dark glance towards the lake.

'Figures,' Arrow remarked, his voice low. Ginny raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. 'If you bury them in the ground people can keep a record,' he explained, 'in there I'll bet no-one knows how many there are.'

'Come on,' Draco said quietly, looking away from Ginny's stricken expression, 'we're wasting time.'

They move slowly away from the rotting dock and into what seemed to be the village square. 'Which one is it?' Ginny asked, gesturing to the surprisingly large number of huts. But before either of her companions could answer, Ginny noticed a shadow move slightly- crossing the ground where the moonlight spilt over. A small, dainty woman stepped forward out of the shadows and Draco, Ginny and Arrow all turned unanimously towards her. She had a tumble of dark curls, pinned above her head and her dress was an intricate design of black material that was so thin it crisscrossed over her, clinging to her arms and waist like a spider's web. Her black eyes were lined with malachite and a strange pattern wound its way up her neck and dancing along her hard jaw line. Around her waist she wore a loose tie that had been decorated with an assortment of talismans and charms, in her hand she carried a lamp and with a single glance from her it lit up with a bright flame.

'So you have come.' Was all she said and then she turned around and walked slowly back to the hut, furthest from the rest, glowing with an amber-y light from inside. Without speaking the three companions followed her, one by one pushing through the gentle veil of chimes that covered her doorway and into the small room inside. It was brightly lit; the walls covered with rambling shelves each stuffed full of ornaments and objects that Ginny couldn't identify. A small window on the opposite side of the room was shut, and in the centre lay a round oak table scattered with amulets, ancient stones and vials of liquid. 'Come, sit,' she gestured to them and they looked to find three chairs seated around the table a candle burning brightly from the centre.

'How did you-?' Arrow began but she cut him off with barely a glance his way.

'There are many forms of magic, not all require a wand,' she murmured and then turned to face them. Ginny sat down in the middle chair, and Draco and Arrow took the seats on either side, neither looking particularly comfortable. 'I assume you have come for a Seeing,' she inquired with a gentle inclination of her head towards Ginny.

'A friend of ours recommended you as a Seer-' Draco began but again she interrupted.

'But it is not to the future that you look, is it?' she demanded, her black gaze flickering towards his face. 'You want me to unravel that which has already been woven into time.' It was not a question but a statement.

'Can Seers do that?' Ginny asked, intrigued, ignoring the warning glare Draco was giving her.

The woman gave a small laugh, 'I can.'

'How?' Ginny demanded, intrigued.

'Before Seers, there were Prophetesses infinitely more powerful and infinitely more knowledgeable, but the people feared their powers and Prophetesses were persecuted during the Great Purge,' the woman paused, a shadow crossing over her face, 'many of my sisters lie sleeping in the waters.' A silence hung over the room, no one dared breathe. 'The old ways were lost, remembered by only a handful, forced to live in hiding and never reveal to the world their true power- but now you come to me.' Then without warning her head snapped upwards and she surveyed the three through her dark lashes, 'who will go first?'

'I will,' Draco said immediately and Ginny flinched at the hard note that had entered his voice.

'Wait,' she exclaimed and all three turned to look at her, Arrow and Draco sharing a similarly exasperated expression, the woman just looked on keenly. 'What if Snape was wrong, maybe we should just wait till he returns?'

'You heard what Arrow had to say,' Draco explained his tone a mixture of annoyance and mild amusement, 'these people can find you now, we need to be prepared.'

'I am prepared,' Ginny shot back annoyed by his condescension, Arrow sighed loudly and she shot him a dark look. He merely turned the corners of his mouth upwards and ran his hand through his mane of dark curls, his navy blue eyes glittering.

Draco leaned over and took her hand, a shot of electricity spiked up her arm and Ginny jolted from the inside out. Immediately Draco retracted his hand, his jaw line clenching slightly and his eyebrows knitting together. 'I know what you're capable of,' he murmured after a while, 'I don't doubt you, it's just what if no one's there to protect you- and you do something stupid.' Arrow snorted and winked at her.

'Have a little faith partner…,' Ginny began, her voice trailing off as a swift, unrecognisable feeling of familiarity swept through her, 'I won't get killed.' Ginny's voice hit a flat note and she looked up, confused to meet Draco's eyes as an unidentifiable emotion played across his features for a brief moment.

'We need to do this,' Draco said softly but firmly and finally Ginny nodded.

'But I'm going first,' Ginny stated resolutely and her eyes locked with Draco's for a moment before he too returned the nod. Ginny pulled the coarse material of her dragon hide gloves off her hands and offered them up to the woman who had been studying her with an air of shrewd inspection. 'I want to know where I've been.'

'It may be painful,' the woman murmured without compassion, as she swept the surface of the table clean of parchment and runes. Ginny nodded and the woman lent forward, her tangled assortment of necklaces and charms glittering darkly, as she opened up Ginny's palm and traced the contours of her skin.

'You have a destiny about you,' she spoke at once, looking up through heavily lidded eyes to survey Ginny's reaction; she gave none. 'But your past threatens to overcome this.' She paused and then tipped her head back so her mane of dark curls cascaded down her back, her eyes closed she began to speak quickly in a detached, cold tone.

'He stole from you, memories most precious. Cast into the darkness they came to take you. To consume you with the darkness you sought to destroy. They need you, lover of thy blood. A trial most terrible took all from you, till one dared a sacrifice of magic long since gone. A bond was created, an eternal bond. Life shared between two beings, should one break they shall both surely perish. You found the light but forgot the path back, soon you shall remember.'

Ginny let out a gasp of pain as the woman released her hand and she felt Draco grasp her shoulder as she heard Arrow leap from his chair, the legs scraping on the cold floor.

'What have you done?!' Arrows voice broke out, rage burning across every syllable.

'I gave her back her soul,' the woman replied her voice coated in indifference.

'Bring her back,' Arrow demanded his voice cold and furious.

'I just did. It is up to her to interpret what I have said.'

Her blinkered vision returning Ginny tried to straighten out and sit up but even with Draco's arm supporting her she could not manage it. A white hand reached forward, black nails clasped around a blue stone cup that was filled with a steaming liquid.

'Drink,' the woman instructed sternly. Ginny hastened to obey with little thought for the way Draco's arms tensed around her. Though it failed to quell the mounting sensation of uneasiness it seemed to sharpen Ginny's senses and restore her to her previous level of awareness. Then just as quickly as the sensation left her it was replaced with a new one and Ginny was vaguely aware of a low mournful cry echoing from shadow to shadow. It was not till the first tear fell, tracing a ragged pathway down her white cheeks, that she connected the cry with her own voice.

'I remember,' she choked, her body shaking as she slammed down her palm against the table's surface and everyone flinched, 'I remember.'

'Not quite everything,' the woman's voice came, slicing through the thickness of silence. Ginny's eyes flashed upwards to meet hers but there was no pity there, only unconcealed curiosity. The lines of Ginny's mouth hardened and she lifted her head higher with trembling defiance.

'What have you kept from me?' she demanded her voice unsteady with fury.

'It is not a question of what I have kept from you,' the woman replied unperturbed by Ginny's cold, hard tone, 'but rather what you have kept from yourself.'

'Explain.' Was all Ginny gave in response.

'When I map someone's future, or past in this instance, I have to knock down the barriers they have in place to guard their minds,' she began, slowly circling the room, her eyes never leaving Ginny's face. 'Sometimes people inadvertently throw up barriers to protect secrets or memories they've supressed. But this time it was a barrier you had not placed there yourself, but rather it had been placed by someone else.'

'The circle,' Ginny guessed immediately, 'but we already knew this; they placed a memory charm on me so that no one would know where I've been.'

The woman shook her head and Ginny fell quiet. 'No. Those barriers, while disturbingly powerful, had cracks and so proved possible to overcome. This barrier had not cracks, not one. And somewhere in the recess of your mind you've always known it was there.'

'But I saw everything I needed to see!' Ginny cried out in frustration, 'What more is there?'

'Did you?' The woman's voice became challenging and again Ginny fell silent. 'Are all your questions answered? Pah! Sure, you know more but do you know everything?'

'There's a gap,' Ginny's voice surprised herself, 'one so small, and yet so big at the same time, I dare not question it.'

'Somewhere between the time you disappeared and the time you were captured,' the woman continued for her, 'something happened to make you leave, something you perhaps had no control over.' Ginny was staring at her hands and missed the sudden blazing look the woman sent Draco, her eyes roaming his face in a knowing manner. 'Beware,' she continued, her eyes returning to Ginny, 'whoever did this is not only powerful but perhaps someone you love, or loved.'

'Why would you say that?' Ginny asked, a cold trickling feeling seizing her stomach.

'Because only someone who loved you could perform such magic and only someone you loved would be able to remain inside your mind.'

There was a sudden scraping noise as Draco pushed out his chair and rose up to a standing position, his face while seemingly passive held eyes that were a torrent of emotion. 'We're done here.' He reached inside his cloak and pulled out a handful of gold coins, tossing them onto the table before giving the room one last sweeping gaze and striding out. Arrow nodded and the faintest look of comprehension dawned in his eyes and his gaze flickered to Ginny momentarily before he too turned to leave.

'A moment, please!' the woman cried as Arrow made to push past the veil of beads and charms that lead outside. She motioned for Ginny to leave, her other hand beckoning Arrow back inside. Ginny hesitated only for a moment , before sweeping past Arrow and following Draco out into the airy night. Closing eyes she attempted to open her mind up, picturing Arrows face and concentrating on the faint mental signal she could feel pulsing from the other side of the wall.

Probing in other people's minds is rude, you know. Arrow's voice spoke into her mind and Ginny suppressed a grin and a roll of the eyes.

Shut up, I want to hear what she's got to say to you. Ginny snapped in a cross between amusement and frustration.

Alright, alright, alright.

The next thing she knew Ginny was back inside the hut. In reality she was standing five metres away from the hut but Arrow had allowed her entrance to his mind and as a result she could see the world from his perspective. The witch turned back to face Arrow, having had her back to him all the while, murmuring softly under her breath.

'I know what you have done,' she said her voice resolute but soft and Arrow flinched at her words. 'Where did you find such magic?'

Arrow bowed his head, 'I don't know. It just came in the moment.'

'Then you have been blessed, but such powers can only be used once in a lifetime.' Arrows eyes snapped up to meet hers.

'Is this what you spoke of, the eternal bond that I have created?' His question was met with a cool nod. 'But what you said should one break, both will surely perish, what did you mean by that?'

A startling note of terrible sadness entered the witch's eyes as she studied his face. 'You will find out soon enough.'

'But surely that can only mean one thing.'

'Such magic has only been recorded in legend, scattered mentions of the words and I'd dare say there is none alive who would be able to understand the full extent of what you have done.'

'Do you not know the spell yourself?' There was no note of challenge in Arrow's voice only a desperate curiosity.

'None do. The words; the magic, chooses the witch or wizard in the moment and it does not linger.' She eyed him one last time. 'Remember that, the magic would not have chosen you without reason. You have a destiny one to be revered and feared, equal part triumphant and defeated.'

She turned away and Ginny knew from her manner that the meeting had come to a close. The world swayed before her eyes and she could feel herself being ripped back from Arrow's mind and within seconds she had returned to herself, breathing in ragged, deep breaths of the cool night air. Then it was gone. Ginny's mind was spinning so fast that she failed to realise what was wrong for a good few seconds but once her senses returned she was able to feel the spike of fear searing its way through her, gripping her insides in a cruel, relentless fashion. Someone's hand was around her mouth and she could feel their wand resting dangerously at the nape of her neck.

'I wouldn't try it.' The voice was low and dangerous with the slightest hint of amusement as Ginny twisted her body ready to attack.

Ginny ignored them; reaching out to grab the restraining hand and twist it backwards, up under her attackers shoulder. She managed to wrench free of his grasp before his wand hand came down in a lightning fast strike across her face and she stumbled backwards her right cheekbone throbbing. Rethinking her stance she lashed out with her left foot to the back of his leg hoping to unbalance him. He fell to the ground, rolling over onto his side neatly dodging her secondary blow with a flick of a wrist top meet her right fist. Lunging out his foot he was unable to land the blow to her left hip as she flipped over to the side, having anticipated his move seconds before. Jumping to his feet with surprising agility he reached forward to grab her left arm, swinging her back around so that she hit the ground with resounding force. Not missing a beat Ginny rolled over onto her side to miss the hex he sent at her, but a searing pain in her left arm pulled her up short when she made to get to her feet; he'd dislocated her shoulder.

With an injury Ginny gradually began to lose ground over the ferocity of her opponent who sent blow after blow at her, relentless in his physical and magical attack. She'd never encountered this kind of combat and she could tell from the way his mouth twisted upwards as he advanced towards her, he knew it too.

'Give it up Ginevra,' he said as she tumbled to the ground for the third time after he landed a blow to her right knee. Slipping her wand under her sleeve she sent a wordless jinx at him but he deflected it with such ease Ginny was beginning to feel desperate. He was a step away from her when she struck out with her foot, dislodging his balance just enough for her to regain her standing position and strike a punch to his left side, sending him to the ground. Not prepared to give up her momentary advantage she flipped over so that she sat atop him, straddling his torso.

'It's Ginny,' she spat, her wand at his throat and her eyes flashing dangerously.

He merely sighed and a strange look of disappointment crossed his hard, dark features. 'You've gotten sloppy without your old training.' Ginny realised a second too late that she'd fallen victim to the very move she'd executed so many times against opponents; his wand was placed strategically so that it hovered right above her neck, poised to attack.

'So it's a standoff then,' she hissed her heart beating at a hundred miles an hour.

'I don't think so, Ginevra,' he replied with a self-satisfied smirk. 'It's down to the first person to cast a spell and I think we both know who that's going to be.'

'Who are you?' she burst out and a look of surprise played across his eyes briefly. But before he could even open his mouth to reply she'd found her answer; a small metal chain, woven in such an intricate design it was confusing to the eye, wound its way around his neck. 'The Rebel Alliance,' Ginny spat her voice conveying her disgust.

'May freedom reign,' her attacker swore his eyes glinting.

'So this is what has become of your freedom fighters, attacking the only people who stand with you in this war,' she demanded her voice still drenched in aversion and equal part incredulity. 'How did you find me?'

'We've been following you for a while now but when we realised you were consorting with practisers of dark magic,' he broke off to give a disgusted flick of his head towards the hut where the prophetess had been moments before, 'we knew we had to act quickly.'

'Why? What do you want with me?' She asked, her wand inching deeper and deeper into the base of his throat.

'You disappeared into the hands of the Circle,' he managed to choke out as her eyes continued to pierce into his. 'They need you. You're a weapon for their side.'

Ginny made to reply, her heart thudding at his words when she felt a sharp pain to the back of her head and the world went black.

…

'What do you mean she's gone?' Draco looked around from where he'd been securing the portkey; a broken and battered pocket watch. His face had contorted into a series of hard contours and his hand instinctively reached for his wand, ready to take up an offensive stance.

'I don't know alright!' Arrow snapped back, running a desperate hand through his hair. 'I just came out and she was gone, there were no tracks, nothing.'

'You let her go!' Draco squared his shoulders, facing Arrow with an air of disgust and dangerous ferocity.

'Hey!' Arrow shouted back, his eyes glinting dangerously. 'I wasn't the one outside with her.'

Draco turned around with inhuman speed, his eyes blazing he crossed the strip of grass in a couple of strides. 'I would never. Do you understand? I would never let her go where I couldn't protect her.' His voice was low and ragged with emotion.

Arrow met his gaze, their standing equal. 'Nor would I.' The two stared at each other for a few passing moments before Draco nodded and Arrow inclined his head.

'Someone must have taken her.'

'How?' Arrow demanded. 'I thought we had every angle covered. No-one could have gotten within a twenty mile radius without setting off the dark detectors.'

Draco kicked up a rut of grass on the banks of the hill where they stood, his frustration aimed directly at himself; he shouldn't have walked away from her but he'd been conscious of her expression the last time he'd hovered near her. Now he'd let her slip away. Again. The wind had hit a flat note and the lake's dark chasm seemed to open up to the night sky; a wide cavern of grief.

'What if,' Draco began slowly as he turned over a hundred different theories in his head, 'it wasn't a dark force this time? Think about it, why would they want her now? It makes no sense; release her and then recapture her so soon and, like you said, we'd know if there had been dark forces at work.'

'But who else would want her?' Arrow demanded.

'Well,' Draco said, pausing as comprehension dawned in his eyes and he swore under his breath.

'What?' Arrow said sharply as he turned back to face Draco again. 'What is it?'

'Think about it,' Draco said, 'what if they didn't want her for themselves what if they wanted her because they were scared of why others would want her.'

'But-' Arrow began but he broke off as he too hit the same conclusion Draco had made seconds before. 'The Rebel Alliance.'

'Exactly,' Draco said. 'They're the only ones with the resources to follow her and take her from within our grasp, the only ones who could understand the significance of her original capture and release and the only ones with the damn nerve to steal her away from us.'

'They must realise the danger she poses to our faction in this war,' Arrow added as he followed Draco's train of thought. 'So what do we do?'

'Well,' Draco said with the echo of a grin, 'we break her free, of course.'

'And make enemies of possibly the only allies you have against the Circle?' Arrow asked his face beginning to mirror Draco's smile of anticipation. 'You're not worried that they might have taken her down?' He asked, his smile fading a little as the new thought struck.

'Are you?' Draco asked, his grin becoming more pronounced.

'Not even a little.' Arrow replied his smile returning at the thought of Ginny; she'd keep them fighting till they got there.

Well, there you have it! Sorry it took so long but I've been so busy what with Christmas and the New Year- hope you all had fabulous holidays! Anyway, please leave me a review with your thoughts and what not! Till the next chapter, it promises to be an occasion…