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Chapter Sixteen: The First Task, Part 3

At the top they found themselves in what looked to be servant's quarters, judging from the sparse furnishings and plainness of the rooms compared to the rest of the house. This particular wing of the mansion seemed to be isolated from the rest of the house, for all intents and purposes hidden, which to Ginny's minds could be both good and bad. They could easily hide here for as long as they needed, yet if they didn't find another way out they could also be trapped. She said as much to Draco, but he shook his head.

"Servants always have lots of ways of getting to the other parts of the house," he said with authority. "The entrances and exits are just cleverly concealed."

She gave him a withering look, rolling her eyes. "I thought Malfoy Manor was run by a staff of House Elves. I wouldn't think they'd have need of hidden doorways, or that you would even be aware of the comings and goings of your lesser, for that matter."

Draco didn't seem to notice her sarcasm. "Of course we had House Elves. But someone had to tell them what to do all day," he said, as if it should be perfectly obvious. "They can't be expected to have the intelligence to run the house by themselves. Besides, father refused to let a House Elf act as nanny, so there was always a separate staff employed to take care of me when I was younger. I liked to spy on the human servants to amuse myself. It could usually produce quite useful blackmail to get me whatever I wanted."

"Okay then," she said, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from telling him exactly what she thought of that, "what do you think? Search for the last key, or hole up here until sunrise and just wait it out. Personally, I vote for the first option."

To her surprise he agreed. "All right, then. Have it your way."

She did a double take. "You're actually agreeing with me?" She paused in mid stride and regarded him suspiciously. "Why?"

He shrugged. "The faster we find that third key, the sooner we get out of this dump. If I stick with you I'll be back in my quarters sipping tea and soaking in a hot bath by sunrise. Besides, as I see it, you owe me Weasley."

"What!" she cried indignantly, only remembering at the last minute to mute her irate voice. "Whatever for?"

"You goaded me into submitting my name. I had no intentions of putting my name in that bloody goblet." His expression was tight but smug. It was clear he absolutely believed what he said, but that wasn't what Ginny focused on.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed feeling vindicated. "I knew you had no intentions of actually going through with it." She paused curiously. "So if you're not here to compete, then why are you here?"

"If you must know," he said carelessly, "I hated the cold. Durmstrang makes Hogwarts look like a summer resort."

"Hmmm..."

His brows knitted together. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," she said innocently.

"Look," he said in an exasperated voice. "I have my reasons for being here, and most of them have to do with moving on. I couldn't stay where I was and I couldn't go back. So I seized the opportunity when the opportunity presented itself, like the true Slytherin that I am. That's all."

She stared at him in amazement. "That's got to be the most truthful thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth."

"I am capable of it once in a while." Abruptly he changed the subject. "I'll start in this room and you search over there," he said, pointing to a smaller room up ahead. "I suggest that you stay away from that end over there," he warned, pointing down the corridor. "That's probably the main entranceway to the upper levels and the most likely place the vamps will come from."

She nodded.

The room she entered was very bare, so it didn't take her long to search it, although she took great care not to be surprised by another Boggart. She didn't need to see that image again, especially with Malfoy around. They met back in the corridor.

"Nothing," she said, dusting the dirt from her hands.

"Me either."

He looked around then up. "Let's try up there."

She looked up but saw nothing unusual. "The ceiling?" she asked, perplexed.

He waved his wand and an opening appeared, along with a rope ladder that unravelled by magic. "No, Weasley… not the ceiling – the attic."

"Right."

Ginny grabbed the rope ladder and started climbing before he could make any more snide comments. She should have thought of it on her own – it was a pretty common thing to hide the entrance to the attic by magical concealment after all – but she hadn't even thought about that once since walking into this house. In future she vowed to be more cognisant of her surroundings and start thinking like a Triwizard Champion.

The attic was dank and dusty, smelling of mould, mildew, and mothballs. It was full of all kinds of junk, some threatening and some non-threatening. She knew better than to touch anything, but she looked around with interest. There was a dressmaker's dummy with an old ball gown on it similar to the one Monique had been wearing in the portrait downstairs, lots of old trunks and suitcases, some old furniture covered in cloth, and a rack of old clothes that looked to be disintegrating before her very eyes. Against the wall were shelves with old tattered books, even older tattered hats, and various odds and ends including a serpent statue with glittering red eyes and some sinister looking tribal masks. It was filthy, and cluttered with useless junk.

"Nasty," Malfoy commented dryly upon seeing it. He shone his wand about and the more he looked the more pronounced his frown.

"Well," Ginny said practically. "If I was going to hide a room, this is where I'd do it. We'll never get through all this junk!"

"Just watch where you step and make your way to the end," he said anxiously. "And for goodness sake, don't touch anything!"

"I know that," she said hotly. Cautiously she made her way around the piles of discarded rubbish. It was like an obstacle course, made all the more difficult by the lack of light. Underneath her feet Ginny could hear the floorboards creak ominously and give ever so slightly. She was beginning to suspect that the floor might be rotten when…

Crash!

She spun around, her wand at the ready, but there was no one there, not even Draco. Her heart sped up as she shone her light down, spotting a large, gaping hole in the floor. A muffled moan could be heard from below. Slinking up to the edge, she illuminated the room below. Luckily, Draco had picked a good spot to fall through because he had landed in the middle of a large bed, having torn right through the canopy.

"Are you all right?" she called down, amused.

"Bloody brilliant," he grumbled, pushing himself up. "Glad to be out of there, though."

"Stand back while I jump," she said. Securing her wand, she swung out and dropped neatly onto the bed in a cloud of dust.

They both sneezed. "This place could use a good House Elf," Draco deadpanned.

"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "If they have one, it's obviously like Kreacher."

"Kreacher?" he asked absently, sounding bored already. They moved about the rather large room checking it out.

"A nasty old House Elf that now belongs to Harry," she explained as she looked under the bed. "He used to belong to his godfather, Sirius Black."

"Oh, him," he said from the other side of the room where he was examining the walls. "Yes, I heard mother and father talking about that elf once. I got the impression he was a rather good servant."

"Only if you qualify nastiness and deceitfulness as good qualities, which I'm sure you do," she snorted, choosing to leave out the fact that Harry had recently seen a better side of Kreacher.

"Touché," he said with a smirk. He sauntered back towards her. "You know, you're almost funny Weasley, for a blood traitor."

"And you'd be charming, Malfoy," she shot back, "if you weren't such a foul git."

They looked at each other intently for a minute and then broke out laughing. A moment of companionable silence developed between them, and then out of the blue Draco said something that shocked her down to her toes.

"Potter's a lucky man."

She furrowed her brows seriously, suddenly uncomfortable with this conversation. "I'm the lucky one," she said emphatically, leaving no room for doubt.

He chuckled. "If you ever decide to wise up and dump him, you can always call me. Even if you are a Weasley." He wrinkled his nose in mock contempt.

"Fat chance, Malfoy," she said jovially, relieved to be back to the banter. "Why take up with a frog when I already have a prince?"

"Prince Potter the Pompous…" he sneered contemptuously. "Now that I can believe."

"So, you're back to Sir Malfoy the Malicious, then?"

"Not even close…" he said, displaying a sly grin, "…Weasley the Wench."

"Ooo, good one!" she laughed approvingly, warming up to the game.

"Hmm… better be Weasley the Weird, then."

"Okay," she smirked. "...Malfoy the Maggot."

He smoothed his blond hair. "That's not funny."

She let out a hearty chuckle at his expression. "Oh yes, it is," she assured him.

They were having such a good time exchanging insults as they searched that they almost missed the noise outside. Immediately they shut up and listened, their game forgotten.

"I heard it coming from the direction of this wing," Vladimir's voice could be heard saying. "I'm certain of it."

"Did Nadia take care of the other one?" Pavel asked snappishly.

"She has not reported," Vladimir answered in a simpering voice. Clearly he was the subservient of the two. "I can only assume that she's still on the hunt."

At that very moment Nadia's head popped out of the hole in the ceiling, hissing a murderous sound of rage that made Ginny freeze in terror. Draco, on the other hand, reacted instantly. With a steady hand he sprayed the entire room with garlic just as the other two burst in the door, gagging at the stench.

Mastering her fear, Ginny mustered up as much concentration as she could and bellowed the incantation for sunlight, shooting a wide beam of light in an arc that hit all three of them in the face, repelling them.

But Nadia wasn't going to be deterred this time. Like a panther stalking prey, she jumped into the room and leapt towards Ginny to tear her wand from her hands. Ginny managed to duck at the last minute and got her full in the face with the light incantation, causing boils to sprout up on Nadia's pale skin immediately. The vampiress shrieked in rage but backed away, clutching her face in pain.

"Door!" Draco yelled as he kicked away the screaming, writhing male vampires he had just hexed and lunged for the corridor, Ginny not far behind him. The three dark creatures were struggling to their feet when Ginny slammed it closed.

"Colloportus!" she commanded breathlessly, sealing the vampires inside.

"Run!" Draco shouted, taking off. "That won't hold them long."

Sure enough, just as Ginny took off after him they heard banging and scraping noises from inside, as if the vampires were trying to tear down the door and wall. She used Draco's spell to shoot more garlic over her shoulder to confuse them in case they got out. They were just rounding the corner when a scaly white hand came through the old plaster grasping air.

"Where to?" Ginny asked, not daring to look back.

Draco pointed to an open door at the end of the corridor. "There! I think it's a library. Maybe it has a fireplace in it."

They raced inside and magically sealed the door, relieved that it did indeed have a fireplace. Draco was just reaching for the Floo powder when Ginny stopped and stared at the rows and rows of books.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, noticing her odd behaviour.

"Dad used to read these Muggle mystery novels that always had a secret room behind a bookcase," she said staring around her in awe. "Do you think it's possible?"

He shrugged, "Worth a try, but let's do it fast."

Together they began pulling books off the shelves as high up as they could reach. Ginny's hand pulled the release just as banging began at the sealed door. The opening clicked, but the door wouldn't budge.

"What's wrong?" she asked frantically, pulling hard. "It's not moving!"

The banging was intense now. They only had seconds before the three collarless vampires would be on top of them with their deadly bite.

"Move those books!" Draco yelled, kicking them away. "They're blocking it!"

They began kicking away the books just as the door splintered open. Draco jerked the hidden door open as the vampires tumbled into the room behind them.

The box was too far away… they'd never make it.

"Summon them!" Ginny screamed as she pointed her own wand to the box.

"Accio key!" they shouted at the same time, holding out their hands as the two remaining keys in the box came soaring into their outstretched fingers. Both former Seekers, they caught the flying objects as easily as a Snitch. Ginny saw the hideously disfigured face of Nadia just in front of her as she Portkeyed out of the house, clutching the last of the three keys tightly in her fist.

They both landed in a heap in the middle of a stadium full of cheering people, bruised and exhausted. Draco struggled to his feet first and then reached for Ginny's hand, pulling her up with him. They hugged each other tightly and laughed, forgetting their animosity in the midst of what they had just been through.

"Good show, Ginevra," he said smiling as he pulled away and touched her face tenderly.

"You too, Draco," she laughed, looking up at his dirt-smudged face with a grin. They both reeked of filth and garlic, and their robes were dishevelled and torn.

She suddenly became aware of the shouting crowd and looked up.

Harry.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him, his face a mixture of shock, anger, and betrayal. He looked ready to hex something… or someone.

Draco saw it too and paled even more, but the sneer was back as he glared at his old enemy in cold defiance and gripped his wand tightly.

Hastily, she stepped away from him and took a step towards Harry whose face darkened even more. She paused in confusion, wondering why he was looking at her that way. Hadn't she almost died in there?

Then it hit her. He was a judge. Of course he knew what had happened inside the house. He had probably witnessed it all, including her conversations with Draco. He wasn't angry at all, he was jealous.

Her face turned from confusion to hard determination in an instant. Their eyes locked and he seemed rooted to the spot, afraid to move. In an instant she stormed the distance between them, not caring that she almost knocked the wind out of him as their bodies collided. Taking his face in her hands she kissed him deliberately with everything she had, grateful when she heard him exhale and relax under her attack.

Reluctantly, they pulled apart, staring at each other. Harry's face had softened, but it was still wary and uncertain.

"Don't you dare doubt me for an instance, Harry Potter," she said fiercely, her eyes attesting to how serious she meant every word. "No matter what you think you saw, you'd better remember… I love you and you alone. Understand?"

He nodded wordlessly.

"Just so we've got that straight," she said firmly.

"So, you ran into trouble, then?" he said mildly, arching one eyebrow as he took in her appearance.

She laughed and shook her head tiredly. "You could say that. Thank goodness for Draco or I might have been Nadia's next meal."

"Right," he said uncertainly, shooting another dark look in Draco's direction.

The ex-Slytherin-turned-Durmstrang student was shaking Csintalan's hand heartily. The other judges were making their way over to them one by one as the crowd of students who had waited outside the majority of the night continued to cheer excitedly and band music played from somewhere in the stands.

"I owe you an apology," she said, forcing Harry to look back at her so she had his full attention. "Let me start by saying you were right, Triwizard Tournaments are very dangerous."

She grinned impishly and was rewarded by a laugh.

"You were brilliant in there," he said sincerely. "When we learned that the vampires were loose and you were trapped, I almost lost my mind with worry. I wanted to rush in there and save you, but nothing we tried worked. Whoever was behind this used spells even the teachers couldn't break. It was Dark Magic, Ginny – an inside job. And whoever did it also went to great lengths to keep me away from here tonight."

Remembering his disappearance earlier, her heart skipped a beat. "Are you really okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "You?"

The enthusiastic cheers of her fellow Hogwarts friends met her ears and she grinned. "Never better."

She hugged him again and he picked her up and spun her around wildly as she shrieked with exhilaration and joy, loving him so much she thought she might burst. As they spun, she was satisfied to hear the clinking of three keys from the depth of her pocket.

Only two more tasks to go, she thought as she saw Professor McGonagall and the other judges head their way.

But I'll worry about that tomorrow...

Harry leaned in for another searing kiss before McGonagall and the others got to them.

…or perhaps, after the Yule Ball.

A/N: The last key acted as a Portkey so long as all three keys were somewhere on the body. Both Ginny and Malfoy had the other two keys in their pockets and when they caught the third key it automatically triggered the Portkey. In case you forgot, Madame Maxime explained this to the champions in chapter thirteen. Thanks as always to Arnel for her beta services.