I'm sorry but I really couldn't get this out sooner. I want to thank everyone who reads this story and takes their time to leave a comment it really helps me write. I want to shout out special thanks to the reviewer Gin since I can't answer them via the review reply option: Thank you. Your reviews keep me motivated!

Chapter 2: Mystery at Malfoy Manor

Several loud cracks of apparition cut through the silence of nightly Wiltshire. The first thing that drew everybody's eyes, was the picture of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth, hovering high in the sky and casting a sickly green light onto the stately manor below. For one or two heartbeats everything seemed to be frozen, then the stillness was broken by Draco's loud gasp of "Mother! Father!". Quick as a Firebolt the Malfoy heir dashed to the front gates.

"Malfoy, wait!", Ginny intervened. "We don't know what happened. The Lestranges could still be here."

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say since Malfoy only broke into a run. Cursing lowly under her breath Ginny and the rest of the team followed only to come to an undignified stop right in front of the gates. Draco's body sagged into itself as if a staggering weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

"Thank, Merlin", he breathed out, "the family wards are still intact."

"Only the Head of the family can lift the wards.", Tom pointed out, "And since they haven't been broken, Lucius is still keeping them up."

Thinking of her mother, her delicious cooking that always tasted like home, her warm hugs and her knitted sweaters; thinking of her father, his childish enthusiasm when tinkering with muggle items in the shed, his calm gaze and soothing voice and thinking about what she would be feeling if the gruesome sight in the sky would be hovering over the Burrow, Ginny softly placed one hand on Draco's shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"They are probably inside. Why don't you send your Patronus, Draco, so that your father lets us in?"

Nodding, Draco pulled out his wand and cast his Patronus. She watched as the silver ferret -and hadn't they all had a good laugh when Draco's Patronus turned out to be a ferret- sprinted up the lawn and disappeared through the oak doors. Several minutes passed in an uncomfortable silence until the doors opened and the unmistakable form of Lucius Malfoy, complete with his distinctive cane, walked towards them.

"Father!", Draco exclaimed, "Are you and mother alright?"

"Draco.", Lucius nodded to each of them in greeting, "Your mother and I are well."

"Malfoy.", Moody grunted, "We would be much obliged if you'd let us in."

"Of course.", Lucius drew his wand from his cane and tapped thrice on the gates. They followed him up into the entrance hall while the gates closed behind them with a loud clank.

In the entrance hall, which screamed "we have money and you don't", a beautiful blonde witch crossed the distance between them as if she had apparated and threw herself into Draco's arms. Ginny could not remember ever seeing the austere and seemingly cold woman act with so much warmth and affection.

"Draco, my little Dragon, are you alright? Your father and I were so worried."

Masking her amusement by hiding a laugh as a cough, Ginny watched Draco turn Gryffindor red.

"I'm fine mother. I was more concerned about you. What happened? Were the Lestranges here?"

"Let's take this conversation to the drawing room.", proposed Lucius, "Can I offer you any refreshments?"

"Bloody hell, no!", it seemed Moody has lost his patience, "Just answer the damn question: What happened? Did you have any contact with the Lestranges?"

"Of course not! Are you implying we would shelter known criminals, Moody?", Lucius asked indignantly.

Ginny could understand Moody's questions but she also understood the anger on Draco's and Lucius' faces.

"Gentlemen,", Narcissa interjected, "let us all keep calm. Lucius and I will be happy to answer any questions you have for us."

"Very well, darling.", the elder Malfoy agreed and Moody gave his consent with a silent nod.

Tonks cleared her throat: "Aunt Cissa, please tell us what you did this evening, how and when you saw the mark in the sky and if you noticed anything suspicious at all."

The Lady of the house smoothed some non-existent wrinkles out of her gown and petted her husband's arm, who in the meantime had taken a seat next to her.

"Lucius and I were eating dinner and retired around eleven o'clock. Around three o'clock Lucius woke me and told me about the mark in the sky.", with a sideways glance to her husband Narcissa prompted her husband to add his part of the story.

"I woke up around two o'clock because I couldn't sleep and decided to get a book from our library. From the window I noticed the skull and the snake. Since Draco had told us about the Lestrange's escape, I naturally had kept the wards up and immediately notified the Ministry."

Harry looked pensive, while her brother looked like he did not believe a single word of what they had been told. Before he could voice his scepticism, however, Tom declared quietly: "They tell the truth."

She knew of course about Tom's ability at Legilimency and even though she could in all honesty say that she neither liked nor trusted Lucius Malfoy, -his anti-muggle politics had been a constant topic at home, especially for her father, and his snobbish behaviour did not help to endear himself to her- she trusted Tom's abilities at digging out the truth. Furthermore, she could find no fault with Narcissa Malfoy and after all the Malfoys were true Slytherins: they would not get caught red handed helping fugitives and announce it for all to see by casting it in the sky, if they did not want to risk their standing in society, and more importantly: their family. For no matter how cold and distant they behaved in public, Ginny knew Draco long enough -even could admit that she had grown slightly fond of him, like one was fond of an annoying cousin. But Merlin forbid, she would never tell him that.- to know that the Malfoy family was as loving and caring as her own family, only in different ways.

"How do you know, Riddle? You are friends with them. Who can tell if you aren't covering for them?"

This statement was not only stupid but also below the belt. Sometimes she doubted that her brother ever grew up and let go of childish school grudges. They were a team after all and had proven before that they had each other's backs. Somehow, beyond Ginny's comprehension, since they caught the Lestranges two days ago, Ron's antipathy against Draco and in particular Tom seemed to have reached new heights.

Before wands could be drawn Harry, surprisingly, intervened: "Mate, stop it and think about it. Why should the Malfoys aid the Lestranges and then call the Aurors? It's highly illogical."

By the look of approval on Tom's face he completely agreed with Harry. Which surprised Ginny, since Tom normally wouldn't be found dead agreeing with Harry. While Tom didn't think very highly about Harry's intelligence, Ginny always knew that while her brother Ron was a good strategist -she had never managed to bet him at chess- Harry had instinctual deduction abilities. After taking deep breaths and calming the famous Weasley temper Ron turned to the Malfoys, bowed formally at the waist and said: "Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, please excuse me, I didn't intend to suggest that you are in league with the Lestranges." Nobody mentioned that he didn't apologise to Tom, though.

With a stiff nod Lucius accepted Ron's apology: "Please think nothing of it Mr. Weasley. I am sure the Lestrange's escape has all the Aurors in an uproar."

"Lucius, Narcissa,", Tom silkily interrupted, "would you be so kind as to consent to a search of the Manor and the grounds? It is highly unlikely but maybe somehow the Lestranges managed to breach your wards. All suspicion will be cast aside if we search and wind up with no evidence."

Narcissa smiled brilliantly: "Of course Tom. Naturally we are happy to oblige and aid the Ministry in any way we can."

"That's that then.", Tonks declared and happily clapped her hands while simultaneously changing her hair from pink to violet and back to pink again.

After fussing some more over Draco, Tom and, surprisingly, Ginny herself and offering refreshments several times, Narcissa allowed them to start their search. After a quick deliberation it was decided that Ginny and Tom would search the grounds, while Harry, Ron, Moody and Tonks would search the Manor.

Outside the stars twinkled and the beautiful rose bushes complimented the landscape. Only the grotesque sight of the Dark Mark in the sky disturbed the picturesque picture.

"Did you use Legilimency on Lucius?", Ginny asked Tom.

In answer he nodded tiredly: "Yes, but I only checked his surface thoughts without penetrating his Occlumency shields. I glimpsed that he wasn't lying though."

Bathed in the moonlight, Ginny noticed, how pale and tired -though still devilishly handsome her mind supplied- Tom looked. Dark circles started forming under his eyes. Of course the idiot hadn't slept in over 48 hours but rather opted to work on his potion theory. She vowed to herself that she would personally kick his ass into bed after they were done for the night.

"It would be illogical for the Malfoys to aid the Lestranges, like Harry said.", Ginny said, "Even if Bellatrix is Narcissa's sister."

Tom did not grace her with an answer but the small crease between his eyebrows showed how irritated he was that Harry was right about anything. That caused Ginny to grin: no matter how old they grew Tom's rivalry with Ron, Harry and by extension Hermione never changed.

For several hours they searched the grounds, used every detection spell known to them and left no stone unturned. However, the only thing they found were the ostentatious albino peacocks the Malfoys were so fond of keeping. When they reconvened in the drawing room the sun had already crept over the horizon. Predictably they hadn't found anything. No bodies, no Lestranges or any sign that anything suspicious happened at Malfoy Manor, apart from the skull and snake over the estate.

Disgruntled Moody told them all to go home and to employ "Constant vigilance!". Tom and Draco elected to stay for breakfast with the Malfoys. Ginny found herself perplexed when Narcissa extended an invitation for breakfast to her also.

"Miss Weasley, wouldn't you like to stay for breakfast?"

Silence. For several moments Ginny scrambled her brain for an answer. The Malfoy-Weasley feud was well known. Although she had never been as competitive with Draco at school like her brothers, she wouldn't exactly describe herself on friendly terms with the aristocratic family. She was saved from finding a polite rejection of the invitation by Ron: "Ginny can't. We are already invited for breakfast at home. Hermione and Harry's parents are coming."

"Of course,", Narcissa answered primly, "some other time then Miss Weasley." again she gave a blindingly bright smile. Ginny had absolutely no idea why the matriarch was about but she sincerely hoped that Narcissa hadn't set her sights on setting her up with Draco. The thought alone was... disturbing.

Before the SHD left, Tom and Moody managed to eradicate the Dark Mark from the sky. Already her friend was murmuring about possible incantations for the sign. Worry churned in her stomach once more.

"Tom!", she addressed him sternly, taking a page out of her mother's book, "after you had breakfast with the Malfoys, please go to sleep. You have been up for over 48 hours now."

Before he could give her a scathing reply about treating him as a child, Mrs. Malfoy added: "Yes, Tom. Miss Weasley is absolutely right. After you and Draco have eaten you two are off to bed."

Ron and Harry snickered behind their hands, finding great amusement in seeing their school rival treated like a child. Although a muscle in Tom's jaw clenched spastically, he replied charmingly: "Of course Narcissa. I wouldn't dream of disobeying you."

"You'd better not, Tom, you'd better not.", Narcissa's smile had turned positively savage. 'He'd really better not.', Ginny thought to herself. She knew the glint in Narcissa's eyes, it was the same glint her mother had when her twin brothers were up to some mischief again. It spelled real trouble.

After bidding the Malfoys and Tom adieu the other four set out for the gates.

"It's mysterious, is it not?", Harry asked the others.

"What is?", Tonks inquired.

"Well: everything. Why was the Dark Mark cast over Malfoy Manor? There are no bodies. As far as we can tell no crime was committed and the Malfoys are save and definitely not hiding the Lestranges. What's the purpose of casting the Mark?"

To this, none of them had an answer.

Before the feeling of being squeezed through a small rubber tube took over, Ginny mused to herself: 'A mystery indeed.'

Hogwarts, New Years Eve 1995

Ginny was angry. Scratch that. Ginny was pissed. Like a whirlwind she marched through the corridors of Hogwarts, her long red hair trailing behind her like a trail of fire.

'Where is he?'

She couldn't find Tom, hadn't seen him at breakfast or lunch, couldn't find him in the library or his usual hideouts. She even asked Draco if he was in the Slytherin common room, which he wasn't. It was his birthday today and Ginny had been looking forward to it. Had spent much time deliberating what she would gift him and had saved her sparse pocket money since the summer holidays. She had wanted to surprise him with her present, give him something of personal value. All the other Slytherin had properly given him something worth more than her house: crystal vials, jewellery, robes... but she was confident that her present would give him true pleasure. And she wanted to see it on his face when he unwrapped her gift, damn it. The idiot had to agreed to spend the day with her and now he was nowhere to be found.

The portrait of the Fat Lady came into view. After snapping the password to her and listening with half an ear about her grumbling about impolite students she spotted the person who might help her. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the fluffy, red armchairs in front of the fire. Hermione seemed to be knitting more clothes for the House Elves, -a fruitless attempt to free the elves but Ron had tried to talk some sense into her and that got him a tongue lashing worthy of Mrs. Weasley- while Ron was trashing Harry at chess.

"Ginny, come sit with us." Harry had spotted her quickly in the empty common room, most students spend the holidays at home.

With a huff Ginny sank down onto a free armchair. "Harry, may I ask you a favour?"

"Of course." Harry answered with an easy smile "How can I help you?"

"I'd like to take a look at the map."

"Uh... what map?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. The denial might have been convincing if Ron hadn't stopped what he had been doing and stared at Ginny, Hermione had stopped knitting and looked at the scene with eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"The Marauder's Map of course."

Before Harry could from a stringent sentence, her brother interrupted: "How do you know about the Map?"

"Seriously, you look at me like I dug out your deepest, darkest secret. Fred and George told me how they stole it from Filch and gave it back to Harry when they found out your father is Prongs."

All three deflated and smiled sheepishly. Ginny's already bad mood soured further. She got that the three were a tight knit group and she didn't expect that they share every little thing with her, she also had her own friends of course but to be treated by them like a little, naive girl who could not be trusted was grating. Fred and George trusted her, let her help even with pranks and ideas for their planned shop. She was a Chaser in the Gryffindor team and had grown up with six brothers. Hell, maybe she was overly dramatic but with Tom's negligence of their friendship and the three's secretive behaviour she did feel a bit desolate. Harry seemed to pick up on her thoughts and nervously carded a hand through his already messy hair: "Ginny I'm sorry. We did not want you to feel left out but the map is really handy and we can not risk word getting out..."

"So you think I would go around and blab about it?"

"Er...no you see but..."

She sighed tiredly. It was not really their fault that she was in a bad mood, consequently she shouldn't take her anger out on them. Even if there was a grain of truth in the matter. "It's alright. I am not really angry... so will you let me take a look or not?"

While Harry jogged up the stairs to the boy's dorms to get the map, Hermione pinned her with a calculating look. "I think you have a point, Ginny. I understand if you are hurt. Sometimes we just get so caught up in ourselves that we neglect to include you. Please do not keep this to yourself but talk with us."

"'mione is right, Gin. You are my little sister after all."

Bless them. A warm feeling spread through Ginny's chest.

"Here we are." Harry spread the parchment over his armchair. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

After checking the map for nearly ten minutes Ginny came to the conclusion that Tom was nowhere to be found. If the idiot had left the castle...

"Who are you looking for anyway?" Ron asked distractedly, he and Harry had taken up their game of chess again.

"Tom." Ginny said, while handing the map back to Harry.

Predictably, Ron and Harry grimaced.

"I still don't understand why you hang out with the git." her brother complained.

"Because we are friends, Ron, duh. And we already had this discussion. Several times in fact. He is my friend, I am old enough to decide that for myself. And I really don't care for your approval or that he is a Slytherin."

"Why are you even looking for him?", Harry asked, "Any specific reason?"

"It's his birthday and I want to give him his gift. But it seems he snug out of the castle."

"What!", Hermione exclaimed, "He is a Prefect."

"Yes, better tell McGonagall.", Ron threw in vindictively.

"Seriously, Ronald. How often do you and Harry sneak out and I don't tell McGonagall?"

"But that's different 'mione. We are your friends and he..."

Before Ron and Hermione could start another one of their infamous arguments they were stopped by Harry quietly asking: "Do you reckon he is up to something?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes: "And what exactly, Harry Potter, should he be up to?"

Harry help up both hands in a sign of surrender but bravely soldiered on: "Well, he is not the type to sneak out for treats from Honeydukes, is he?"

"What type is he then?", Ginny snapped.

"Maybe...", Ron started slowly, "he is going to Knockturn Alley, buying books on the Dark Arts...", his eyes widened as if he had a sudden epiphany, "maybe that's why he is better than you Hermione in every class? He cheats!"

Frankly, this was getting ridiculous. "No Ron, he is better because he simply is. How would you cheat anyway? No offence Hermione."

Although Hermione looked slightly miffed that Tom Riddle was better than her in every class, she also had to admit that he simply was a genius and there was no conceivable way he could have cheated his marks out of every teacher. Ginny wisely did not comment on the truth Ron had uttered: Tom had a tendency for procuring questionable books from Knockturn Alley... and showing said books to her afterwards. Not that she would ever tell her brother that.

"Ginny?", Harry's quiet voice woke her from her thought induced stupor, "You are spending quiet some time with him...you haven't noticed anything suspicious...I mean if you would like to tell us..."

"Really, Harry? Really?", in anger she had sprung up from her armchair, fisting her hands so tight her nails left small crescent marks on her palm, "What is it you think I noticed? Him killing Filch's cat? Virgin sacrifices on full moons? What?"

"Er...uh..."

But she was on a roll: "He. Is. My. Friend. I don't know what your problem is? Yes I know you can't stand each other but seriously: Grow up! You..."

"We worry!", bellowed Ron. Then, quieter: "We worry, ok? We care about you and we worry. The guy's too perfect...there is something about him... even Dumbledore said so."

Ginny couldn't help it, her jaw unhinged and she could catch flies with her mouth: "Dumbledore said what...when...?"

"Harry and Ron have eavesdropped on a conversation Dumbledore had with Professor Slughorn a week or so ago.", Hermione huffed, "And they blew what they heard completely out of proportion."

With a silent look Ginny demanded an explanation from her bushy haired friend, who in turn glared at the two cowed boys.

"Well,", Harry cleared his throat, "Slughorn was bragging about Riddle again, how he is the second coming of Merlin when Dumbledore said something like "too much praise is not good for anyone" and "we all have darkness in us"."

"And...?", this couldn't be it, could it?

"Well that was all we heard,", Ron answered, "but we have a really bad feeling about this and if Dumbledore said... Hey Ginny where are you going?"

Shaking her head, Ginny quickly marched to the portrait hole. Seriously, they heard Dumbledore say something mundane in an effort to curb Slughorn's enthusiasm and came to the conclusion that Tom was what? A second Grindelwald? She better take a long walk to calm down.

Lost in her angry thoughts she didn't notice where she was going, until she ran into something. Something tall and hard. Something breathing and wearing Slytherin robes.

"Ginevra."

Blinking she looked around. She was on the first floor and had literally just run into Tom, who according to the map wasn't even in the castle. Thus, she found it only natural when she blurted out: "Where have you been?"

"And hello to you too."

"Well, are you going to answer me or not?"

A raised eyebrow was her answer.

"I have been looking for you all day, I have your birthday gift... well: Happy Birthday."

"Thank you, Ginevra.", Tom mockingly bowed his head. He had an odd glint in his eyes and seemed...elated? He was never elated on New Year's Eve. He hated his birthday. Something was going on.

"So, what have you been up to? You promised that we would meet up." she didn't even care that she sounded clingy. She was angry and wanted answers.

"Just taking a stroll around the castle. We must have missed each other."

He was lying to her. He had vanished from the map. Why was he lying?

"You are lying."

Anger flittered over his features. He did not like to be questioned but she wasn't one of his sycophant Slytherins.

"I know you left the castle. Where have you been?"

"I wasn't aware that I have to report my whereabouts to you.", his voice had gone cold.

"You don't have to but we are friends, or so I thought. So you could at least tell me. We were supposed to meet up, you could at least apologise and explain."

"I apologise. I lost track of time when, as I said before, I took a stroll around the castle."

Ginny's temper exploded: "Bullshit! We both know you did not take a stroll. Very well, since you apparently don't trust me or even care when we are supposed to meet...", she took a deep breath, "I want to be your friend but this is not a one way street Tom. You can at least trust me. Here is your present."

Without further ado she threw a rectangular package, wrapped in green paper at him, turned on her heels and marched back to Gryffindor Tower.

His gift had been a biography of Salazar Slytherin, since he had once off handedly commented that Slytherin was his favourite historical figure.

Again my apologies for this belated and rather short chapter. Unfortunately student life has caught up with me and this week promises to be somewhat stressful. So the next chapter will be up in TWO weeks time.

Chapter 3: The Difference Between Blood and Family, will be up on the 12th of February (Sunday).