Chapter 7
Demons and Dilemmas- Part II

Still week four.

Ginny, Draco, David and Sage were all seated around one of the white plastic tables in the waiting room. Nobody was talking much. Watching battle after battle after battle will do that to a person. A dull, sleepy stupor had fallen over the inhabitants of the waiting room, especially the four teenagers.

Sage sat with her head propped up on her hand, blowing a piece of her wavy dark brown hair out of her face for amusement, David had his head down on his folded arms, asleep and snoring. Draco was leaning back in his chair, staring into space and holding a towel to his shoulder wound. Ginny was leaning against the table twirling a lime green straw between her fingers, lost in thought.

The Wildcat had come and gone. Three more people had been called out and Ginny was next. An odd calm had settled over her, but Ginny suspected that it was just the short calm between two panics. With a sigh, she twirled the straw into the air. Draco caught it deftly in his left hand.

“Quit,” he demanded.

“Okay,” Ginny said.

“You’re awfully agreeable,” Sage commented drowsily.

Ginny shrugged.

“Scared?” Draco asked.

“Not really,” Ginny commented.

Sage snorted. “That’s a hell of a lot better than I was feeling,”

“Well, I was scared, but…” Ginny trailed off, uncertain how to voice what she was feeling.

“But what?” Draco asked.

“Well, what’s coming will come, right? No use worrying and stressing over something that might not happen,” Ginny explained. “Did that make any sense?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Draco shook his head at Sage. “I think it makes sense. Truth be told, I didn’t think you were that clever, Weaslette,” he smirked.

Ginny shot him a sardonic smile. Lately she had noticed that Draco had taken to calling her ‘Weaslette.’ It was rather weird. Ginny shook her head, as if trying to shake the thought out of her head.

“I don’t get what you said,” Sage said. “But, my brain like sort of died on me just now, so I really don’t count.”

“Thanks,” Ginny said, then paused. “I think.”

Draco shook his head again, smirking a little. “You have a weapon, don’t you?”

Ginny froze. Oh no! In the sleepy, teasing air of the moment, she’d completely forgotten that she needed some sort of a weapon.

“Oh, shit,” she swore.

Sage’s eyes went wide. “You didn’t bring a weapon?”

“I didn’t think to!” Ginny answered shrilly. Now she was beginning to panic. Where in the world could she get a weapon now?

“Borrow Draco’s or Sage’s,” David grumbled.

Ginny could have kicked herself. Of course! She’d had the same thought earlier. What was wrong with her today? She was acting like the little girl she was always trying not to be. Weapon first, berating later, she decided.

“Can I?” she asked, turning pleading eyes on Draco.

“Sure,” he answered, drawing a dagger like knife from his belt. “I can’t believe you didn’t think to bring a knife or something. How were you planning to kill the demon? By talking it’s ears off?”

“I’m beating myself up enough about it without you, alright?” she said harshly, taking the knife.

“Sorry,” Draco said, not sounding sorry at all, but sounding quite annoyed.

Ginny glared at him, and was about to utter a very witty comment, when the door swung open.

“Ginny,” the boy in the doorway, Roby Virkos panted. “You’re up.”

Her throat suddenly went dry. This was it. Her chance to prove herself. Nodding, she stood up.

“Good luck,” Jack said.

“Thanks,” Ginny managed to croak out. She was at the door when Draco called after her.

“Hey!”

She turned around and glared at him. “What?”

“Good luck,” Draco wished her, smiling slightly. “And don’t lose my knife.”

Ginny’s anger melted away a bit. This was as close to an apology as she’d get from him. A small smile made its way onto her face. “I’ll try not to,”

With that she made her way out of the waiting room and into the magically expanded gym.

Kiara greeted her with a warm smile. “Are you ready?”

Ginny shook her head. “No. But give me the spell anyway,”

“Here,” the Wildcat said chuckling. “Just step into the middle of the pentagram and say the spell. Don’t worry about the parchment getting torn up or catching on fire, just focus on the demon.”

Ginny nodded wordlessly. Catching on fire? She hoped her demon didn’t possess fire powers.

“Alright, good luck,” the older woman handed Ginny the parchment.

With a deep breath, the red head walked into the pentagram. A thousand thoughts were running through her head. What sort of demon would she get? How strong would it be? How would she fight it? What if the spell didn’t work?

Don’t panic, Ginny thought to herself. Just read the spell and don’t panic. She shook out the piece of parchment and began to read.

“In this hour
I call upon the First Ones
The powerful first Warriors,
Lend me your strength
And your power.
Bring me a demon
Which I may fight.
Strong enough to be a challenge,
Weak enough for me to manage.
Come to me,
I summon thee,”

A sudden wind began to blow in the room, wiping Ginny’s hair around her face. She stubbornly tucked the lose strands behind her ears. With a rush, all the wind began to swirl in a spot about six feet away from her, and formed into a dark gray funnel. Ginny’s heart began to hammer in her chest, but she stood braced against the wind.

The funnel dropped away revealing a crow.
Ginny blinked. A crow? A crow? Surely it must be an illusion, a mirage or a glamour of some sort. She blinked again.

No. It was a crow. Black, shiny feathers and all. To add insult to injury, it was cawing.

Ginny could have cried.

An eight foot tall fire breathing demon she could have handled, but not this. This was just too much. She couldn’t even summon a demon, how then was she supposed to-

Ginny’s thoughts were cut off as the crow began to twist and turn. The crow began to grow, and as it grew it’s feathers dropped away. Wings turned into arms, the beak turned into a nose and the crow began to take on human shape. Female human shape.

Ginny watched with wide eyes as black hair grew out of the crow’s head, stopping when it reached its (her?) waist. Extremely long black nails grew from the forming fingers. The eyes remained that pure black color, like pools of ink, without a single speck of white. As the body grew, clothes formed. A long black and very ripped dress.

The demon shook out her hair. “Look what we have here. A little witch,” she smiled revealing very pointy teeth. “How sweet.”

Ginny’s hands trembled with fear. “I’m not little.”

The demon woman looked Ginny in the eyes. “Oh, but you are little witch. You summoned me here. Do you actually think you can vanquish me?”

“I-I-I-” Ginny stuttered seeming glued to where she was standing.

“You what?” the demon walked closer to Ginny. “Are you going to say a little rhyme and make me disappear? Are you going to throw a little potion at me?”

She walked closer, Ginny tried to back away, but realized she really was stuck to the floor. The demon put a long finger under Ginny’s chin and raised it. “Or are you just going to gut me like a fish?”

Her hand encircled Ginny’s neck, cutting off her air supply. Ginny sputtered and choked. No! How could this be? She couldn’t let this demon win.

“You won’t little witch, you won’t. Your nature is too Dark.”

Ginny’s eyes widened. No! She thought. I’m not evil, I’m not evil, I’m not! She lifted up her left leg and kicked out hard. The demon was kicked into the air and landed six feet away with a loud thump.

“I struck a nerve, did I?” the demon snarled and launched herself at Ginny. Ginny was knocked backwards into the wall with a loud crack. A sharp pain shot through her chest as she came in contact with the wall. The demon’s hand encircled her neck, a black fire crackling around it. Ginny’s vision began to blur. No, she thought resolutely.

She drew Draco’s knife and took a blind stab at the demon.

“Ah!” the demon cried, stepping back and clutching at her wrist. Ginny took the opportunity to get away from the wall and face the demon woman.

“You can’t vanquish me, little witch,” the demon said.

“Shut up,” Ginny hissed, getting angry. She wasn’t evil, she wasn’t.

“You are one of the Dark, just like me,” the demon walked up to Ginny, who backed away. How dare she? How dare that vile creature says that I am anything like her? Ginny thought panicked and angry.

“Shut up. I am nothing like you.”

The demon smiled. “Oh, but you are. You act innocent and Light, but in the depths of your heart the Darkness grows,”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! Just shut up!” Ginny yelled, losing her control. “I’m not evil! I’m not! I can’t be!”

The demon’s smile grew. “You think the diary was an accident? Do you think that it just happened to fall into your hands?”

Ginny staggered backwards. How could she know about the diary? How?

“Oh, you were picked. Out of all the students at Hogwarts, you were picked,” the demon chuckled. “Why, you ask? Because you are Dark. You are evil, as mortals call it.”

That was the last straw. Ginny leaped at the demon with all the hate and anger boiling in her veins. She pinned the demon up against the wall and held the quivering knife centimeters from her neck.

“When you kill someone, it leaves a dark stain on your soul,” the demon said, still smiling.

“That’s not true,” Ginny breathed raggedly.

“Human or demon,” the woman demon continued. “It doesn’t matter. You are still forever damned.”

“Shut up!”

“Maybe you are not completely Dark yet, but you will be. You will drown in Darkness.”

“Shut the hell up!” Ginny yelled.

“You are evil, Ginevra Weasley.”

Ginny plunged the knife into the demon’s throat. The demon looked at her and laughed before vanishing in flames.

A ringing silence fell around her. Ginny looked over at Kiara and saw the rest of the Warriors standing there, watching her with wide eyes. She looked down at the knife in her hands, smeared with demon blood.

She suddenly felt sick.

Ginny dropped the knife and ran out of the gym.

She ran as fast as her aching legs and chest would let her.

What have I done? She thought despairingly. That demon was right! I am evil. I killed.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she kept running. She was Dark, she was. She was evil and she’d killed. She was no better than Bellatrix Lestrange.

Ginny burst through the door to room #17. It was a good thing she hadn’t locked it. She collapsed on the loveseat, covered her face with her hands and let the tears flow.

She knew that crying was weak and didn’t do a thing of good, but neither did she. Do any good, that is. She was evil. The demon was right, she was Dark. She didn’t deserve to live.

“Harry should have just left me in the Chamber,” she sobbed out loud.

“No, he shouldn’t have,” came a voice from the doorway.

Ginny looked up and was astonished to see Draco standing there. She tried her best to look mad. “Go away,”

Draco shook his head. “I don’t think so,”

“Go.”

“Tell me why you ran out, and then I’ll go,” Draco bargained.

The last of Ginny’s strength drained away and the tears began to flow freely once more. She was ashamed to cry in front of Draco, but was far too tired to care very much.

“Please, just leave me alone,” she begged.

Draco closed the door and crossed over to the loveseat.
“What? Was the demon too strong?” he asked sitting down.

“No,” Ginny answered, wiping her tears away.

“Then what? Why’d you run out?” Draco demanded.

“Because I’m evil!” Ginny yelled. Why wouldn’t he just leave?

Draco’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?”

“I’m evil! I’m part of the Dark!” she half sobbed, half yelled.

“Who in Merlin’s name gave you that idea?” he asked.

“The demon,” Ginny explained, sobbing. “The demon said I was Dark, she said I was damned.”

“Why would you believe a demon?” Draco asked, obviously trying to be gentle.

“Because- because-” Ginny broke down in tears once more. Like just about every guy on the planet, Draco looked horrified at having to deal with a crying girl.

“Don’t cry, Weaslette. Please don’t cry,” Draco practically begged.

“The demon,” she sobbed. “The demon knew everything! She knew my name, she knew about the diary, she knew everything!”

Draco looked fairly shocked when she’d mentioned the diary. “I’m really sorry about the diary. I had nothing to do with it, just so you know,”

“I guessed, but that still doesn’t change the fact that I’m evil,” Ginny continued, trying to stop another bout of tears. She failed miserably. Not only did she start crying again, but launched herself at Draco, crying into his shoulder.

He stiffened at her touch, but relaxed in a moment.

“You’re not evil,” he said, tentatively wrapping his arms around her. “If anyone of us is, it’s me.”

“Then how’d the demon know about the diary? Why did she keep saying that I was Dark?” Ginny sobbed, throwing all reason out the window.

“Because she was trying to psyche you out,” Draco explained quietly. “The diary, I’m guessing she could have read your mind or something,”

“So, I’m not evil?” Ginny asked pulling away a little. She felt like a little child, but she didn’t care anymore.

Draco chuckled a little. “No, you’re not evil, Ginny,”

Ginny’s eyes went wide. “You-you just called me by my name,”

“And?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“But-” Ginny began, then shook her head. “This day has been too crazy,”

Draco tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Tell me about it. Must be something in the stars,”

Draco seemed to realize what he was doing, and snatched his hand away. Ginny, also seeming to just notice their position, awkwardly disentangled herself from him.

“Erm, do you want to watch TV or something?” Draco asked.

“Sure,” Ginny answered. “Wait, what about the others?”

“I think they can wait till tomorrow,” Draco said.

Ginny nodded. “Yeah, they can,”

Draco picked up the remote. “So, erm, what do you want to watch?”

“Beverly Hills 90210?” Ginny asked hopefully. Draco hated that show, but Ginny loved it.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Alright, but just today though,”

Ginny grinned at him, and settled back on the loveseat as Draco flipped through the channels trying to find her favorite show.

I just fought and killed a demon, hugged Draco Malfoy, cried in his shoulder and now he’s agreed to watch a television show that he hates, Ginny thought. She looked at him for a bit, studying his face.

He seemed to realize she was looking at him. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Ginny shook her head, smiling. “Nothing,”

Draco gave a her a look, then turned back to the TV.

Yes, there must be something in the stars today.
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