Author's Note: So I thought that I'd just go ahead and give you two chapters right away; get people interested, you know.

Disclaimer: I've not written either Harry Potter nor the song—Characters by JK, song by Regina Spektor.

Ch 2: Bon Idée

Don't tell your secrets to anyone

Because ideas are vulnerable

As soon as you say your idea out loud

Then it can go and live on its own

And you will miss it oh so much

And you will wait for it's return

And you will wish it were your own

But ideas that left never come back home

It was lucky for the two of them that Ginny crashed into Malfoy in a well-used corridor; otherwise, they might have lain there, prone, for hours, if not days. Instead, as soon as the bell rang indicating it was time for lunch, students began pouring down the stairs towards the Great Hall.

It was a group of three Hufflepuff girls who actually discovered them. Their class had gotten out early and they sat near the door, so they were the first ones out. As they came around the corner one of them tripped and when she swung her head around to see what caught her foot, the color drained from her face.

"Sara, go get a professor!" she told one of her friends, who ran off in the direction they came from. The two remaining girls then knelt by the prostrate bodies to try to figure out what happened. They soon discovered that one of the bodies was that of their Head Boy and jumped back, terrified of his wrath even when it was obvious he wouldn't be reacting to anyone anytime soon. The girls were beginning to panic-neither of them had ever seen anyone just laying in a hallway, unresponsive-were they alive? Dead? They didn't want to risk touching the victims, in case whatever had gotten to them was transmissible, but they needed to check the vitals as well. The girls just looked at each other, emotion warring in their eyes; the want to be helpful battling the need to be cautious. They eventually decided to wait it out and make sure no one else bothered them, which would prove difficult soon, as they heard the thundering of footsteps as all the classes above them were dismissed.

"Kate, Whitney, what is going on here?" The girls whipped around and saw their Head Girl standing behind them, trying to see what was on the floor just on the other side of where they stood.

"Hermione! You have to help!" The girls quickly related what they had found, and by the time they finished, Sara had returned, leading Professor McGonagall. She sent Whitney ahead to the Infirmary to get Madame Pomfrey, and quickly went to work, trying to wake the pair on the ground. Hermione stepped closer and gasped when she saw that it was Ginny and Malfoy lying there as if dead.

"Ennervate! Rescucio! Novo compleo!" McGonagall's face fell with each attempt. "I don't know what's the matter with them. Regardless, it seems as though they're just unconscious. Let's get them up to the Hospital Wing."

With that, she cast a feather-light charm on Draco and lifted him up, but as soon as he was separated from Ginny by an arm's length, the two of them let out piercing screams, the first sign of life either had offered. McGonagall quickly set him back down, and the screaming stopped. She tried the charm on Ginny next, but the results were the same.

She sighed then, and looked over at Hermione. "They just have to be difficult, don't they?"

Hermione let out a nervous laugh at that, but straightened up when McGonagall's face became serious again. "Ms. Granger, I'll need your assistance. I'll charm Mr. Malfoy, you can take Ms. Weasley, and we'll have to choreograph our movements to the hospital wing." She noticed that Kate was still loitering, curious but being useful by sending off other people who were passing by and craning their necks to see the incident.

"Ms. Stavely, will you please walk ahead of us to the Infirmary to clear traffic, and once there, alert Madame Pomfrey that we'll need a full-size bed to fit both of them?" Kate nodded swiftly, and waited for the two women to gather the unconscious students to them before marching off towards the hospital wing, every now and then yelling "Keep moving, nothing to see here!"

Draco groaned and opened his eyes, then blinked and rubbed them, yes RUBBED them, to make sure his eyes weren't going bad on him.

"It won't help," he heard Weasley say. "I've been trying that for awhile now. It doesn't change."

The two of them were propped up against a rocky crag in what looked to be a pretty drab, gray landscape. He noticed that Weasley wasn't wearing her school robes. Instead, she was wearing what looked to be a pair of black track pants, a light blue tank top, and trainers. He looked down at himself and saw his clothes had been changed as well. Instead of his uniform, he was wearing black slacks, a white tank top with a pale green dress shirt over it, buttoned only halfway. The sleeves were rolled up, but he swiftly fixed that when he noticed that his Mark was visible. It didn't appear that Weasley had noticed though, so he instead focused on the landscape. Although the land seemed barren, what was truly spectacular was the sky. It looked like one of those muggle tie-dyed shirts, with the colors and the patterns swirling together. The sky above them was an iridescent green, though in the distance, he could see that it changed to a sort of dark purple.

"What did you do to me?" he demanded, turning to Ginny. "Where have you taken me?"

Ginny snorted. "If I knew that, do you think I'd still be here? All I know is that I was running late for Potions thanks to Binns, and I ran into you. I fell on my bag, and it started smoking. I opened it up, accidentally breathed in the fumes, I guess you did too, and here we are. Poof, like magic."

Draco fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Did it ever occur to you to store your potions ingredients in the classroom? Or perhaps in Unbreakable Glass?"

The embarrassed flush that graced her cheeks told him everything he needed to know.

"Merlin, Weaselette, you mixed a bloody POTION in your bag when you fell, and we're stuck in who knows where until who knows when, and all thanks to your clumsiness!" With that, he stood and stormed off towards the horizon, where they could see the purple sky rippling.

Ginny let out a quick curse and stood, racing after him.

"Bloody hell, Malfoy, you can't just go running off! We don't know where we are, but we got here together-odds are, we'll need to leave here together."

He snorted but slowed down so that she could match his pace.

"So, where do you think we are?" she asked, conversationally. He ignored her.

"It seems like a pretty desolate place, but what sort of place has a green sky? It can't be a real place, can it?"

Draco stiffened, and his eyes locked on the sky, straight ahead. They had neared the point where the two colors of the sky mixed, and in the swirling, there were areas scattered around which looked like miniature whirlpools. In the center of these, there was an image-a galleon symbol, Hogwarts castle, even Harry Potter.

"Bloody hell, what is going on?" Ginny heard Draco swear under his breath.

Madame Pomfrey considered herself an easy-going woman-sweet, but able to be firm with students. This latest situation, however, pushed at even her generous boundaries. Her hospital wing was currently cramped with the two unconscious students, plus eight frantic Weasleys, two intimidating Malfoys, two concerned Heads of House, not to mention Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini. What made it worse was that all of them, minus Narcissa Malfoy and the two Professors, were all clamoring to be heard above one another, despite the fact that they were all basically asking the same questions. What had happened? Will they be okay? And then the million-galleon question, when will they wake up?

Finally, she'd had enough. She straightened from where she was bent over Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Weasley. The two students were currently laying so close to one another that if they were lucid they'd be cuddling.

"QUIET!" she said, and it was only when she straightened up to admonish them that she noticed Professor Dumbledore observing quietly from a corner. "Now, I'm sure that Ms. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy would appreciate your concern if they actually knew you were here, but as it stands, they have fairly blocked out the outside world. Anyone who isn't a parent or a professor needs to leave, NOW. If anything happens, we'll find you, but for now, you're in the way."

No one seemed to be moving, so Snape took it upon himself to glare at them and barked, "Move!"

With the slightly veiled threat, the room cleared of the ten unneccessary people and Madame Pomfrey breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Severus." She received a terse nod in response, and turned to the anxious gathering.

"Now, I'm sure you'd all like to know what happened here."

The four parents all watched the nurse, waiting for her proclamation, eyes anxious for a tidbit. Only Lucius Malfoy seemed as though he could wait. Indeed, it seemed as though he really couldn't care less.

"It seems that somehow, Miss Weasley's bag dropped, shattering the bottles which held some of her potions ingredients. From the trace residue that Severus tested, it seems those ingredients are-"

Here, Snape interrupted. "Pre-shredded boomslang skin, salamander tears, powdered duckweed flowers, Elven rakeweed seeds, and a steeped solution of newt eyes and phoenix dander which the sixth-year students prepared in advance last week. Although I believe that the rakeweed seeds were inert, the other ingredients combined quickly and potently, creating a mist which trapped the two students within their minds."

Lucius spoke. "The Fevralis mist."

Snape nodded. "Yes, the Fevralis mist." At the blank looks he got from the three other parents and Professor McGonagall, he continued. "When inhaled, the Fevralis mist traps its victims inside their own minds. They can usually be woken after administering the antidote potion. However, if more than one person inhales the mist from a specific batch, their minds meld. They combine, and it is up to the individuals to figure out how to escape their minds. To use the antidote at this point in time would forcibly separate the two, and inevitably causes insanity due to the fractured mind, and in some cases, causes death."

Mrs. Weasley began sobbing at this news and buried her face in her husband's chest. "My baby's gone!" she wailed. "I never got to say goodbye..."

"Now, now, Molly, this is no reason for hysterics," Dumbledore said gently. "Simply because we cannot help them does not mean that your daughter and young Mr. Malfoy are at a loss. They are both intelligent beings, and from reports of other victims of this mist, there are enough clues along the way for them to figure out how to escape."

"Dumbledore, is that all?" Lucius Malfoy's voice cut through the emotion. Dumbledore looked from Molly to Lucius with a pained look in his eye, trademark twinkle conspicuously absent.

"You may leave, Lucius. I will floo you with any updates." Lucius gave Dumbledore a curt nod and strode from the room, Narcissa sniffling slightly but still following in his wake.

"This is crap."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Thank you so much for your riveting commentary, Malfoy. I'm so glad to hear that you've been taught how to articulate your thoughts from your Slytherin cronies."

Draco glared at her. "Seriously, Weasley, this is crap. We've been wandering this god-forsaken place for hours, and it doesn't change!"

This was true, to an extent. Once they spotted the swirling amalgamation where the two colors of sky met up, they decided to follow the path it left. They took note of the various images that cropped up in the whirling eddies, and noticed that after about a half hour of walking, they were exactly where they had left started, at the galleon symbol. Then, Ginny had stayed put while Draco went forward, and sure enough, half an hour later, he came strolling up behind her. After that, they decided to try taking a perpendicular path and turned right, cutting through the purple-sky area.

This hemisphere, for lack of better term, was much more pleasant than the green-sky area. Not only was the sky a shimmering purple, but the whole thing seemed like a golden wheat field. Instead of wheat though, it was a soft material, yarn-like, standing up and dancing in the slight breeze which went through the place. The most surprising attribute though, was a constant stream of quiet piano music drifting around them. Ginny had thought it sounded familiar, but couldn't place it. She shrugged off the thought as they crossed through the fields, and noticed that straight ahead they could see green sky. As they closed in on the boundary, they spotted the image of a house-elf, which was located about halfway around the circle from the galleon symbol. This is where the present conversation is finally taking place.

Ginny decided to change the topic. "Where do you think we are? This doesn't match anything I've ever read about. And those weird images!"

Draco nodded. "It seems vaguely familiar though, well, at least the green side. I agree though, what the hell is up with those images?"

Ginny's eyes shot to Draco with this last bit. "What? You actually agree with me on something? I never thought I'd see the day."

"Neither did I, that's for sure," Draco agreed again, scowling.

"You sure seem to be talking more than usual, you seem more civil. Are you sick?" Ginny tried to joke, but she wasn't sure if this was exactly a smart idea.

"Honestly? I have no idea what is bloody wrong with me. This place is affecting me, I think. It's making me say what is reality rather than what I wish to say. I can't even choose to not answer. I'm not sure if I'd be able to lie if I wanted to, even a minor one." Draco seemed as though he really did not want to be admitting this.

Ginny pondered this for awhile. "My name is Ginny Weasley, I'm the youngest of seven, and from one of the poorest pure-blood families in Britain." She gasped, to which Draco merely raised a curious eyebrow.

"I tried to lie," she explained. "What I wanted to say was 'My name is Hermione Granger, I'm an only child and I'm muggleborn.'" She thought a bit. "Clearly, we're allowed to explain admitted lies, we're just not able to actually tell them. Try it-try to say something completely ludicrous. Something like 'I'm Draco Malfoy and my shit doesn't stink.' Just try it!"

Draco smirked at her. "My name is Draco Malfoy and my shit doesn't stink." His smirk just grew wider as he saw Ginny's mouth drop, incredulous. "Seriously, Weasley, haven't you ever heard of the Defaegus charm? My mother had it cast on me when I was in nappies, it doesn't really wear off. Merlin, you'd have thought your mother would know it, with seven children."

She just glowered at him. "Prat."