Standard fan fiction disclaimer applies (still).
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Chapter 19: Corridor Discussions
Draco watched as Ginny disappeared down the hall, and raked his hands through his hair in frustration. She had him all mixed up inside; he wanted to throttle her at the very same moment he wanted to pull her into his arms. She was infuriating, mysterious, frustrating, beautiful – and was supposed to be off limits. It wouldn’t do to mix his personal life in with the political gamble that he was currently embroiled in. That you also brought her into, a guilty voice inside his head chimed. He shrugged it off, and gazed wistfully down the hall, wishing he could follow her.
“Seems to me, Draco Malfoy, that that was not part of the plan,” a cool feminine voice said from behind him.
“Gabrielle, leave it alone,” Draco muttered, as she stepped out of the shadows in the hallway to meet him.
“What’s going on between you two, Draco?”
“As soon as I figure that out, I’ll be sure that you are the first one to know, Gabrielle,” he snapped. Unaffected by his burst of temper, she persisted.
“If anything happens to her, everything will be ruined. You do understand that, don’t you?” she questioned.
“Right now, there are more important things to worry about than your love life. The immaculate Potter and his reaction to discovering our family secrets is the very least of our worries,” Draco said flippantly, brushing off her concerns.
“Draco, you know that it’s only a matter of days until we won’t be able to stop them from breaking through our spells protecting the labyrinth. By the full moon, I’d say. That’s only a few nights away. Whatever it is that is out there…Ginny may be the answer to stopping it from getting in,” Gabrielle said, her eyes suddenly taking on a strange gleam. Draco was suddenly wary of his cousin’s intentions. There was something underneath them that alarmed him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked cautiously.
“Danika followed Darien when he chased after Ginny. She saw everything,” Gabrielle said, her voice grave. Draco swore under his breath – both because he hadn’t noticed his younger cousin in the same hallway as he was, and that she had already told someone.
“And how does that change her role in things?”
“Her power changes everything! No one has ever been able to tell that Darien has the Dark Mark by just touching his arm! And whatever she did to get him away from her…she could be very useful–”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no? We have a duty, the only noble legacy that this family has and you, of all people, should be the one doing whatever he can to uphold that!” Gabrielle stormed.
“The reason she was brought into this was to change the Act before Bulgaria signs it so that we won’t be forced, by law, to stop our magic that protects the sanctuary and so that you will be able to marry your Potter in peace. Nothing more than that, Gabrielle,” he said, his eyes dark and dangerous.
“But Draco!”
“NO, Gabrielle. This is a Malfoy duty and she is not bound by it. That is the end of this,” he said, about to storm away.
“Your father betrayed our family. As his son, it falls to you to make things right. I thought you would want to make it right!” she cried. Her words stopped him, and turned back to her, his facial expression stony and his eyes clouded.
“And how do you suggest I make things right, Gabrielle? The traditional Malfoy way, where we use whoever we can to serve our purposes and damn the consequences to them? You have forgotten two very important things: that is the reasoning that created this situation in the first place. Lucius used the unicorns to serve his own purposes and ignored the consequences of those actions. But more importantly, while he was my father, it does not mean that I am like him. I will be stronger. I will find another way. And I will make things right,” he said, his voice stony. He stood to his full height, towering over her, his eyes glaring down at her. She looked away and stepped back. He had won that round.
* * * * *
Ginny’s mind was in turmoil. After she had finally been able to find her way back to her bedroom after wandering around the mansion for almost twenty minutes, she collapsed on the bed, struggling to keep herself calm.
He had called her Ginny, she thought in despair. Unwilling to allow herself to wander down that vein of thinking while she was in a state of emotional turmoil, Ginny forced herself to stand, and prepare for bed. She was exhausted, unable to grab more than a few hours sleep at a time, and it was making her weaker, more susceptible to the dark magic at play in this house. What she needed was a full night’s sleep, uninterrupted by worrying thoughts, and more importantly, nightmares that she’d been able to suppress for over a year that had suddenly returned. At least you know why now, she thought grumpily as she changed into her nightclothes, Darien’s connection to all things Voldemort through his Dark Mark is enough to bring them back with a vengeance.
As she climbed into bed, she stopped for a second and considered. With a sigh, she walked back into the washroom and pulled a tiny vial out of her cosmetics bag. Staring down at the vial of sleeping potion, she considered the importance of sleep versus the effects of the strong potion. She needed to be on her guard here; that much she was fully aware of now more than ever. The potion would make her sleep for a full eight hours – once she took it, it would be almost impossible for anything to wake her for eight hours.
With a shudder, she remembered the images from her recurring nightmare. Sighing, she drank the contents of the vial and returned to sleep.
* * * * *
He was trudging wearily back to his bedroom that night, trying to be as quiet as possible. After spending the necessary amount of time in the labyrinth, the rest of the Malfoys had returned to the manor and to their beds. Aware that he was not going to be able to sleep with all the thoughts running through his head, Draco had stayed with the unicorns a while longer, watching them as though they could give him the answers he was looking for.
It was a symbiotic relationship. He worked his magic to protect them, and in turn, just by being in their company, they protected him. The intrinsic magic about the creatures acted as a shield about him, causing all his worries, doubts and the demons from his past to slip away, allowing only the beautiful sight of the sanctuary and the silver creatures that dwelt within to reach him.
There was such a dark contrast to that beautiful, moonlight meadow that was eternally fresh with summer, found in the middle of a snow-covered labyrinth in the middle of rural Bulgaria to the rest of his world. Malfoy Manor, the home where he had spent his youth, was a cold and forbidding place, full of dark passages and drafty windows. For him, Hogwarts wasn’t the revered castle that so many students found it to be; it was just another building where he felt out of place and as though he didn’t belong. His seven years in that school had been dark and cold.
As a child, when visiting his uncle’s family, he would often sneak out into the woods, and find his way into the middle of the maze, only to be found the next morning, asleep among the herd. It was his escape from the real world of a Malfoy heir – the world of deceit, constant plotting and scorn for anything that was different. His aunt and uncle’s home was refuge away from that world, and the center of the maze offered protection; a sanctuary for the innocence of a child who could watch a group of unicorns with eyes wide in wonderment.
And it had ended as his father, in his eternal eagerness to further the cause of his Lord, breathed the secret that no one outside of the Malfoy family had ever heard before, threatening the oath sworn by the first Malfoy. One lesson Draco had been taught was that the pride of the family was the most important thing in the world – duty as a Malfoy came before anything else in the world. His role model in life, the man in whose footsteps everyone expected Draco to follow, had been the one to laugh in the face of that ancient lesson. He had been weak.
His thoughts were pushed aside abruptly as Draco saw a dark outline of a person looming near the door to his bedroom. Sighing wearily, he crossed his arms and glared at the offending person.
“Darien, I haven’t the patience to deal with you at the moment. Perhaps this can wait until the morning?”
“Of course it cannot wait until the morning. We have a lot to talk about, Draco. Starting with your little witch! How the hell did she know about the Mark?” Darien hissed angrily.
“It seems that she has a lot more talent than just that of a diplomat. I think we underestimated her,” Draco answered, deep in thought.
“This changes everything! What was in your head that allowed her to wander into the center of the labyrinth? To tell her the truth about what we do here? She’s the enemy in this, Draco, and she knows everything!” Darien railed.
“How mixed up you are, cousin! Virginia, while a stubborn and difficult woman, is hardly the enemy. The enemies are those that are trying to gain access to the power of the unicorns we protect. She was brought into this to make sure that their legitimate attempt to prevent us from stopping them – the Cooperation Act – does not succeed. And she has already promised to do that, Darien. Everything is working according to plan,” Draco said.
“Danika saw what happened in the corridor, what she did to me. I persuaded her to keep quiet about it, but it’s only a matter of time before she mentions it to the wrong person. Ministry witch that she is, even I don’t want the knowledge of her power to wind up in the wrong hands,” Darien sighed, leaning against the wall.
“Ahh, the redhead has gotten to you too, I see,” Draco said with a smirk.
“She makes me insane, cousin. How does one person range through so many emotions in one short period of time? She went from the charming little diplomat, to a terrified little girl, to a furious hellion in a matter of seconds. Doesn’t that make just make you crazy?”
“She’s quite the compelling mystery, isn’t she? But crazy or not, my warning still stands. You lay a mere finger on her again, and it will be the last thing you do. She’s not for you, Darien,” Draco said, his voice low and dangerous.
“Don’t worry, Draco. I’m well aware of the fact that she is yours, though you don’t say it. She just…snapped my control tonight, that is all. It is not very often that a Ministry wizard senses what I have on my arm, and it rather…startled me,” Darien sighed, looking downcast.
“It frightened you. You thought that the past had been laid to rest. But whatever it is that’s out there, trying to break down our protective charms, is unwilling to let that be. Things are going to start to happen now, I’m afraid.”
“And what will your Weasley say when she learns of the whole plot?” Darien asked, a slight smile on his face.
“Bloody hell, I get a headache just thinking of the lecture I’ll get,” Draco muttered, to Darien’s amusement. A terrified scream, echoing in the corridor, interrupted their laughter as they were startled, jumping up at the sound.
“I think your little hellion is having a nightmare again, cousin. See that you tend her before the entire house wakes up and you have even more pesky little questions to answer,” Darien called softly, as Draco practically ran down the hall, in the direction of both Ginny’s room and the origin of the scream.
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This chapter seems very...Dramatic/Lord-of-the-Rings-style 'nobel struggle against evil'/Shakespearean-prose-ish...It's a little out of character.
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Chapter 19: Corridor Discussions
Draco watched as Ginny disappeared down the hall, and raked his hands through his hair in frustration. She had him all mixed up inside; he wanted to throttle her at the very same moment he wanted to pull her into his arms. She was infuriating, mysterious, frustrating, beautiful – and was supposed to be off limits. It wouldn’t do to mix his personal life in with the political gamble that he was currently embroiled in. That you also brought her into, a guilty voice inside his head chimed. He shrugged it off, and gazed wistfully down the hall, wishing he could follow her.
“Seems to me, Draco Malfoy, that that was not part of the plan,” a cool feminine voice said from behind him.
“Gabrielle, leave it alone,” Draco muttered, as she stepped out of the shadows in the hallway to meet him.
“What’s going on between you two, Draco?”
“As soon as I figure that out, I’ll be sure that you are the first one to know, Gabrielle,” he snapped. Unaffected by his burst of temper, she persisted.
“If anything happens to her, everything will be ruined. You do understand that, don’t you?” she questioned.
“Right now, there are more important things to worry about than your love life. The immaculate Potter and his reaction to discovering our family secrets is the very least of our worries,” Draco said flippantly, brushing off her concerns.
“Draco, you know that it’s only a matter of days until we won’t be able to stop them from breaking through our spells protecting the labyrinth. By the full moon, I’d say. That’s only a few nights away. Whatever it is that is out there…Ginny may be the answer to stopping it from getting in,” Gabrielle said, her eyes suddenly taking on a strange gleam. Draco was suddenly wary of his cousin’s intentions. There was something underneath them that alarmed him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked cautiously.
“Danika followed Darien when he chased after Ginny. She saw everything,” Gabrielle said, her voice grave. Draco swore under his breath – both because he hadn’t noticed his younger cousin in the same hallway as he was, and that she had already told someone.
“And how does that change her role in things?”
“Her power changes everything! No one has ever been able to tell that Darien has the Dark Mark by just touching his arm! And whatever she did to get him away from her…she could be very useful–”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no? We have a duty, the only noble legacy that this family has and you, of all people, should be the one doing whatever he can to uphold that!” Gabrielle stormed.
“The reason she was brought into this was to change the Act before Bulgaria signs it so that we won’t be forced, by law, to stop our magic that protects the sanctuary and so that you will be able to marry your Potter in peace. Nothing more than that, Gabrielle,” he said, his eyes dark and dangerous.
“But Draco!”
“NO, Gabrielle. This is a Malfoy duty and she is not bound by it. That is the end of this,” he said, about to storm away.
“Your father betrayed our family. As his son, it falls to you to make things right. I thought you would want to make it right!” she cried. Her words stopped him, and turned back to her, his facial expression stony and his eyes clouded.
“And how do you suggest I make things right, Gabrielle? The traditional Malfoy way, where we use whoever we can to serve our purposes and damn the consequences to them? You have forgotten two very important things: that is the reasoning that created this situation in the first place. Lucius used the unicorns to serve his own purposes and ignored the consequences of those actions. But more importantly, while he was my father, it does not mean that I am like him. I will be stronger. I will find another way. And I will make things right,” he said, his voice stony. He stood to his full height, towering over her, his eyes glaring down at her. She looked away and stepped back. He had won that round.
* * * * *
Ginny’s mind was in turmoil. After she had finally been able to find her way back to her bedroom after wandering around the mansion for almost twenty minutes, she collapsed on the bed, struggling to keep herself calm.
He had called her Ginny, she thought in despair. Unwilling to allow herself to wander down that vein of thinking while she was in a state of emotional turmoil, Ginny forced herself to stand, and prepare for bed. She was exhausted, unable to grab more than a few hours sleep at a time, and it was making her weaker, more susceptible to the dark magic at play in this house. What she needed was a full night’s sleep, uninterrupted by worrying thoughts, and more importantly, nightmares that she’d been able to suppress for over a year that had suddenly returned. At least you know why now, she thought grumpily as she changed into her nightclothes, Darien’s connection to all things Voldemort through his Dark Mark is enough to bring them back with a vengeance.
As she climbed into bed, she stopped for a second and considered. With a sigh, she walked back into the washroom and pulled a tiny vial out of her cosmetics bag. Staring down at the vial of sleeping potion, she considered the importance of sleep versus the effects of the strong potion. She needed to be on her guard here; that much she was fully aware of now more than ever. The potion would make her sleep for a full eight hours – once she took it, it would be almost impossible for anything to wake her for eight hours.
With a shudder, she remembered the images from her recurring nightmare. Sighing, she drank the contents of the vial and returned to sleep.
* * * * *
He was trudging wearily back to his bedroom that night, trying to be as quiet as possible. After spending the necessary amount of time in the labyrinth, the rest of the Malfoys had returned to the manor and to their beds. Aware that he was not going to be able to sleep with all the thoughts running through his head, Draco had stayed with the unicorns a while longer, watching them as though they could give him the answers he was looking for.
It was a symbiotic relationship. He worked his magic to protect them, and in turn, just by being in their company, they protected him. The intrinsic magic about the creatures acted as a shield about him, causing all his worries, doubts and the demons from his past to slip away, allowing only the beautiful sight of the sanctuary and the silver creatures that dwelt within to reach him.
There was such a dark contrast to that beautiful, moonlight meadow that was eternally fresh with summer, found in the middle of a snow-covered labyrinth in the middle of rural Bulgaria to the rest of his world. Malfoy Manor, the home where he had spent his youth, was a cold and forbidding place, full of dark passages and drafty windows. For him, Hogwarts wasn’t the revered castle that so many students found it to be; it was just another building where he felt out of place and as though he didn’t belong. His seven years in that school had been dark and cold.
As a child, when visiting his uncle’s family, he would often sneak out into the woods, and find his way into the middle of the maze, only to be found the next morning, asleep among the herd. It was his escape from the real world of a Malfoy heir – the world of deceit, constant plotting and scorn for anything that was different. His aunt and uncle’s home was refuge away from that world, and the center of the maze offered protection; a sanctuary for the innocence of a child who could watch a group of unicorns with eyes wide in wonderment.
And it had ended as his father, in his eternal eagerness to further the cause of his Lord, breathed the secret that no one outside of the Malfoy family had ever heard before, threatening the oath sworn by the first Malfoy. One lesson Draco had been taught was that the pride of the family was the most important thing in the world – duty as a Malfoy came before anything else in the world. His role model in life, the man in whose footsteps everyone expected Draco to follow, had been the one to laugh in the face of that ancient lesson. He had been weak.
His thoughts were pushed aside abruptly as Draco saw a dark outline of a person looming near the door to his bedroom. Sighing wearily, he crossed his arms and glared at the offending person.
“Darien, I haven’t the patience to deal with you at the moment. Perhaps this can wait until the morning?”
“Of course it cannot wait until the morning. We have a lot to talk about, Draco. Starting with your little witch! How the hell did she know about the Mark?” Darien hissed angrily.
“It seems that she has a lot more talent than just that of a diplomat. I think we underestimated her,” Draco answered, deep in thought.
“This changes everything! What was in your head that allowed her to wander into the center of the labyrinth? To tell her the truth about what we do here? She’s the enemy in this, Draco, and she knows everything!” Darien railed.
“How mixed up you are, cousin! Virginia, while a stubborn and difficult woman, is hardly the enemy. The enemies are those that are trying to gain access to the power of the unicorns we protect. She was brought into this to make sure that their legitimate attempt to prevent us from stopping them – the Cooperation Act – does not succeed. And she has already promised to do that, Darien. Everything is working according to plan,” Draco said.
“Danika saw what happened in the corridor, what she did to me. I persuaded her to keep quiet about it, but it’s only a matter of time before she mentions it to the wrong person. Ministry witch that she is, even I don’t want the knowledge of her power to wind up in the wrong hands,” Darien sighed, leaning against the wall.
“Ahh, the redhead has gotten to you too, I see,” Draco said with a smirk.
“She makes me insane, cousin. How does one person range through so many emotions in one short period of time? She went from the charming little diplomat, to a terrified little girl, to a furious hellion in a matter of seconds. Doesn’t that make just make you crazy?”
“She’s quite the compelling mystery, isn’t she? But crazy or not, my warning still stands. You lay a mere finger on her again, and it will be the last thing you do. She’s not for you, Darien,” Draco said, his voice low and dangerous.
“Don’t worry, Draco. I’m well aware of the fact that she is yours, though you don’t say it. She just…snapped my control tonight, that is all. It is not very often that a Ministry wizard senses what I have on my arm, and it rather…startled me,” Darien sighed, looking downcast.
“It frightened you. You thought that the past had been laid to rest. But whatever it is that’s out there, trying to break down our protective charms, is unwilling to let that be. Things are going to start to happen now, I’m afraid.”
“And what will your Weasley say when she learns of the whole plot?” Darien asked, a slight smile on his face.
“Bloody hell, I get a headache just thinking of the lecture I’ll get,” Draco muttered, to Darien’s amusement. A terrified scream, echoing in the corridor, interrupted their laughter as they were startled, jumping up at the sound.
“I think your little hellion is having a nightmare again, cousin. See that you tend her before the entire house wakes up and you have even more pesky little questions to answer,” Darien called softly, as Draco practically ran down the hall, in the direction of both Ginny’s room and the origin of the scream.
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This chapter seems very...Dramatic/Lord-of-the-Rings-style 'nobel struggle against evil'/Shakespearean-prose-ish...It's a little out of character.
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