Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story but the plot line and Ash, all else belongs to J.K. Rowling and assorted publication and movie companies.
AT
I snap awake, fighting the bonds that I know are holding me a chair. For a second not remembering that Father was dead and that I had personally escorted his spirit to hell, too far in to come back out willingly. I vaguely remember Potty and Weasel King ambushing me in the hallway, then everything going dark.
"Looks like she's finally awake," I hear a familiar voice say, and I relax.
"Don't know my own strength sometimes," Potter answers.
"Very funny. Now let me go before you regret doing this," I snarl at them.
"No, you're going to regret putting that spell on Ginny," Ron snarls slapping me.
"Oh, I see how it is. You can't take me on in a fair fight, so you knock me out, drag me off, tie me to a chair, and then beat me. How this must hurt your tender masculine pride," I drawl, settling my face in a well known mask.
Potty's fist comes out of nowhere and my head snaps to the side. I could taste blood in my mouth. I swirl my tongue through it drawing it further in my mouth and mixing it with my saliva. Potty leans his head closer to me, thinking that I'm going to say something. I spat the blood and saliva mixture into his face, smirking.
He raises his fist to hit me again, and Ron grabs his arm with a look of reluctance, "we need her conscious."
"We can just revive her," Potty answers.
Weasel thinks about this for a second and then lets go of Potty's fist. He punches me again, and I let my head turn with the momentum, barely doing any damage.
"How do you reverse the spell that you put on Ginny?" Potty asks.
"I did not use a spell," I snarl back.
He walks over to a wall that I hadn't noticed and comes back with a knife.
"The same question," Ron snarls.
I just glare at him, if they're being unreasonable, I can be unreasonable right back. Potty brings the knife close to my face, running the flat of the blade against my skin.
"Wonder what would happen if you put this in her eye?" he asks weasel.
"It'll probably pop," weasel answers.
Without making a motion, he does it. The pain was blinding, but in the back of my mind I hear a whisper, like the one that I had heard when I died the first time. Morana, Queen of the Dead, was with me, and I would come through this with no harm. The pain fades as the deity takes most of the pain for me. Stay strong my angel, stay strong. It might not heal right away, but in time, it will heal. Potty takes the knife out, a perverse look of enjoyment on his face at the blood running down from the ruins of my eye.
"Can I blind her?" he questions, running the bloody knife over my other cheek.
"That would be going too far, even for this Slytherin scum. Do you have the dark mark yet?" Ron responds.
The knife moved away from my cheek, and I could feel the fabric of my sleeve being sliced.
"Guess not," Potty remarks coldly, "maybe it's in a more intimate place. Only best for a whore. What was he like?"
I surreptitiously move my foot, and realize that the idiots didn't bind my feet like they bound my arms. Bloody gits, they can't even do things all the way. A quick plan forms in my mind, I start to spread my legs, a coy look flashing through my remaining eye.
"Why don't you check then?" I say, my voice breathy.
Potty comes around the front of me, just one more step. You know you want to think with your prick, one more step. He takes the step. I stomp my heel down on the ground and hear the snick of the blade popping out of my shoe. Before he could react, I kick him soundly in the groin, twisting my foot before bringing my foot down. Weasel gapes at me for a second before grabbing a knife himself, turning mildly green he tries to avenge his unmanned friend. My bonds unlock and I move, but weasel was faster than I expected, the knife burying in my side.
I snarl, taking the knife out before throwing it at him. I heard a wet thump as it hits its mark. Not staying to survey the damage that I had done, I leave quickly, pulling the hood of my robe over my face Thank you, I whisper to the presence in my mind. I could feel a nod, and then it fades imperceptibly.
I whisper the password to get into the common room, peeking in before going in. No one was lounging on the couches.
Draco, where are you? I call out.
In my room, you know the password, he answers.
I stumble up the stairs, muttering the password before collapsing on the threshold unable to go any further.
DM
I was on my feet in a second, crossing the room to Ash. Ginny stood as well, wondering what was going on. I push her hood back, and fight to keep my breakfast down. I pick her up gently.
"Ginny, get her robe off," I say quickly.
Ginny rushes over, turning green when she sees Ash's face, unclasping her robe so that it fell away. Her eye I could do nothing about, the knife wound on her side, I could. Laying her down on the bed, I take out my wand, muttering a spell, sighing in relief that there were no internal injuries before closing the flesh.
"In my wardrobe, there's a case like what Severus has, bring it to me please," I command.
I could hear the wardrobe doors being flung open. The case lands on the bed next to me and I open it, taking out a blood-replenishing potion and an awakening draught.
"Should we go and get Professor Snape, or Madame Pomfrey?" Ginny asks.
I felt a little swelling of Slytherin pride at Ginny, asking for Severus before Pomfrey, "neither for right now. I just want to wake her up."
As if on cue, Ash begins to stir and tries to sit up, but sinks back into the bed groaning and clutching her head.
"Got anything for a headache in that case of miracles of yours," she mutters softly.
Plucking out the appropriate bottle, I press it into her hand. She drinks it quickly, sighing.
"Who did this to you?" Ginny asks, her voice cold.
"Three guesses," Ash answers.
"The bloody gits," Ginny says.
"Right in one," Ash snarls.
"What happened to your eye?" I ask.
"Potty wanted to have a little fun with a knife," Ash answers.
She brings her hand up and touches it gently, looking at the blood on her hand, she pulls out her wand and mutters a cleaning spell. With the gore gone, I could see that all he had done was pop her eye; he didn't even have the balls to remove it. I felt Ginny walk up next to me, my heart racing at her nearness. We watch as Ash brings her hand up to her eye and slowly walk the eyelid down over the ruins, a look of concentration passes over her face, and when she lets the eyelid go, her eye was whole again.
I pass my hand in front of her eye, but the milky sheen over it didn't allow her to see it.
"The blindness will go away in a couple days," Ash says.
"How did you learn to do such a powerful healing spell, wandless?" Ginny asks.
"Necessity," Ash answers.
I knew the truth of it, something that she didn't want to mention to Ginny. Then again, when you're as powerful as she is, and you say that you can hear voices in your head, it's a one way trip to St. Mungo's. There was a tapping on the window and I use it as an excuse to get away from the bed and school my face into impassivity before Ginny could see the truth written there.
When had I gotten close enough to her to drop my guard so much I have to think about putting my mask back up? I shake it off, letting the owl in the window, it circles once before landing in front of Ash, offering the letter in its beak.
She takes it, then looks to me. I toss her a treat, and the second it leaves my hand I realize that I threw it on her blind side. Cursing under my breath at my stupidity, I see the cross look on her face when the owl treat hits her.
"I forgot," I say quickly trying to save my hide.
Ash hands the owl the treat and it flies out of the window, probably feeling the tension. The mask was up, but I could see the play of emotions beneath the surface. She gets up slowly and makes her way towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Ginny asks.
"Back to the room, I need to get a few things, I'll be back," She answers, slipping down the stairs.
She had just left when someone comes knocking on my door. Curious, I open the door to see Vaisley standing there.
"What do you want?" I drawl at him.
"I'm being called out of school," He says coldly.
"That means I'm going to be down a chaser, with the Quidditch season about to start," I snarl.
He backs down the stairs a little bit, afraid of my temper. My first year as captain, and things are already going down the loo.
"Go," I snarl.
He bolts. I go back into the room, pacing furiously.
"Did I hear that you were going to be down a chaser?" Ginny asks calmly.
"Yeah, and there's no one in this house good enough to replace him," I answer.
"Now that's just being mean."
I stop pacing and stare at her. There have never been girls on the Slytherin team, but I did tell the team that I was going to be doing things differently, here's a perfect way.
"I can see those wheels turning. And to top it all off, I know all of Potty's plays, seeing as how, their mine," she says calmly.
I have to take a moment to scrape my jaw off of the floor.
"Be at tryouts, we'll see what you got," I manage finally.
She just smirks, and I could feel the Quidditch house cup in my hands already.
A.N.: well, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you hadn't figured this out by now, it all AU, and I've decided to change up some characters. . Thank you to all who have reviewed.