All Harry Potter Characters don't belong to me.
The Source - Chapter Thirty Nine
"Speaking"
<Thinking>
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When Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius and all other students who were at Hogsmeade arrived back at school, Professor McGonagall was instructed to take the students to a room and help calm them down.
Sirius however took Ginny somewhere else and Professor Dumbledore took Ron up to his office.
"Where are we going?" Ginny asked.
Sirius smiled at Ginny sneakily. "To see someone special," he said.
Ginny's eyebrows knitted together while she was trying to figure out who she was going to meet.
They reached Sirius's quarters and stepped inside. As soon as Ginny entered, she saw that there was a man standing in the room with his back facing them. Ginny studied the figure of the man trying to identify him but couldn't.
"Sit down, Ginny," Sirius instructed.
Ginny sat down in a near by chair but never removed her gave from the figures back. The man turned around to face them and Ginny saw a pair of dark brown eyes. She stared into his eyes for a few seconds before scanning him all over. He didn't look very old; maybe 25 max. He was wearing black pants, black shoes and a black jacket. He was tall and had a slim build but looked fit and had neatly trimmed brown hair. He was quite ordinary looking but Ginny sensed something different about him.
The man smiled at Ginny and moved to sit down in a chair next to her.
"Analysing me already?" he said with an amused tone.
Ginny blushed and moved her gaze away.
The man just smiled. "You're prettier in person you know," he said.
Ginny looked back to the man and gave him a suspicious look. "Who are you?" she asked.
"Take a guess V," the man said.
Only one person in the world called her, V.
"X," Ginny exclaimed incredulously.
"I'd really prefer Andrew," The man said while still smiling.
Ginny was very shocked to meet her outside Source for the first time and said the first thing that popped into her mind. "You're younger than I thought."
Sirius laughed at this. "I told you, you sounded like a grouch," Sirius said teasingly to Andrew.
Andrew ignored Sirius and extended his hand out to Ginny.
"I think I should formally introduce myself," he said politely and then shook Ginny's hand. "My real name is Andrew Fletcher and it's a pleasure to finally meet you Virginia."
Ginny was finally able to compose herself and smiled at Andrew. "You can just call me Ginny," she said.
The two immediately created a strong bond and felt very comfortable with each other.
"Alright," Sirius said, "now that introductions have been done lets get down to business."
"What business?" Ginny asked.
"It has to do with Felicity Caruso and the Deatheaters." Andrew told her. "She was actually ordered to come to Hogwarts and collect something for her Guardian."
"What was it?" Ginny asked
"I don't know yet, but I do know that she didn't get it, but still returned to her Guardian and I find that very suspicious."
The three people sat in the room for a long time discussing the matter concerning Felicity Caruso, the Deatheaters and the possibility of a Dark Lord arising.
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Meanwhile up in Dumbledore's office sat Harry, Hermione, Ron and Draco. They too were being told about the possibility of there being a new Dark Lord.
"Do you have any suspects?" Harry asked.
"Not exactly," Dumbledore answered, "but it is suspected that it would be one of the more powerful Deatheaters."
Gazes shifted to Draco but Draco's face didn't change. He knew what they were thinking. Lucius Malfoy had been the most powerful Deatheater and it would most likely have been him who would be the next Dark Lord, if he was alive that is.
"So what are we going to do?" Ron asked.
"Everything will remain the same for now," Dumbledore said. "I just wanted to inform you of the possibility of another war. We have found out that this new possible Dark Lord sent a spy into the school trying to obtain some kind of object. What the object is we do not know but we do know that the spy was not successful."
"If there is anything we can do to help Professor," Hermione said.
Dumbledore smiled but held his hand up. "Thank you for the offer Hermione," he said. "But right now there is nothing we can do; we will need more information before any plans can be made. Just be prepared for the request of your help from the ministry."
Everyone nodded and the stood up to leave Dumbledore's office.
"Draco," Dumbledore said.
Draco paused and when the trio were far enough down the stairs, Dumbledore spoke.
"The spy I was talking about was Felicity Lateris. Maybe you could think of something she has said or done that might help us."
"Of course professor," Draco said and then left.
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"I actually believe she was targeting Draco Malfoy," Andrew was saying.
Ginny tensed up at the mention of Draco's name and Andrew noticed this.
"Do you know something about Young Malfoy and this girl Ginny?" he asked.
Ginny looked at Andrew and frowned. "Not exactly. It's just that it all makes sense now. She had wanted to be his girlfriend very badly; maybe the item she wanted to get belongs to him."
Both Sirius and Andrew nodded.
"Could you possibly find out if he has anything special she might want?" Sirius asked.
Ginny pondered the idea for a while and then nodded. "I should be able to."
"Good," Andrew said, "and now that my job has been completed, I think I should get going."
Sirius stood up and shook Andrew's hand. "Thanks for the help Andrew."
"Anytime Sirius," Andrew said.
"Why don't I escort you?" Ginny said.
"Sure," Andrew said.
The school was quite empty for a Saturday afternoon, but considering the shock some students had gotten at Hogmeade, they were all probably crowding around common rooms retelling their stories.
"So you and Sirius are pretty good friends then," Ginny asked as they were walking down the corridor.
Andrew smiled. "Sirius and my father were good mates; he was like an uncle to me. He asked me to help him out with some suspicions he's had about a new Dark Lord and it just so happens that Felicity Caruso was apart of it."
Ginny nodded her head understandingly. There were so many questions she wanted ask him but she didn't know how to start. Why didn't he tell her he knew Sirius? Did he deliberately help her because Sirius told him to? Who was he exactly? Was he a Deatheater?
"You're dying to know aren't you?" Andrew said.
Ginny snapped her head up, surprised that he knew what she was thinking.
"How about we sit down and I'll tell you anything you want to know?" Andrew offered.
Ginny smiled. "That would be great."
They headed towards the lake and spent a long day just talking.
It turns out that when Andrew was hired to find out who the Source was, he also found out about Ginny and Sirius's friendship, and since Andrew knew Sirius so well, he had helped her. Andrew did however really admire how talented Ginny was, not only at Healing but as a true observer/detective/spy. He was not a Deatheater, but his family was a 'dark' family so he knew a lot of the Deatheater families. He had told Ginny that if she ever got tired of healing or anything there would always be place for her in his workplace. Ginny thanked him for the generous offer and then he was off.
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The whole school was now aware of the Deatheater attack at the Bank, not only at Hogsmeade but apparently the one in Diagon Alley had been attacked too. Rumours were flying around about another war, everyone dying and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rising from the dead.
Everyone was so nervous and worried, but Dumbledore had announced that everyone would be perfectly safe in Hogwarts and everyone seemed to be comforted by his words. Everyone except Ginny.
Ginny had been thinking a lot lately and was beginning to come to a conclusion as to what Felicity Caruso had been planning to do. Ginny couldn't be sure, but if what she suspected was true then the Wizarding world was going to face another Dark Lord, but this time he would have a body and would be stronger.
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May seventeenth arrived and it was Draco's eighteenth Birthday. A party was organised for him in the common room by his few friends and also everyone else because they wanted to suck up to the richest guy in the school. The Party was wild and was more like a night club than a party for him. Draco really didn't mind because it allowed him to go back to his room without anyone really noticing.
Draco entered his room and was immediately aware of someone else being in there. He walked further in and his heart leapt at who he saw.
Ginny sat in a chair holding a rectangular object in her hands. Draco was soon standing in front of her and she stood up so she could see his face.
"Happy birthday," Ginny said cheerfully and then handed the wrapped gift to him.
"Thank you," Draco said and accepted the gift. He tore the wrapping off and looked at the book in his hands.
Economy in our Society
"I thought that it would be useful to you after you finish school," Ginny said.
Draco smiled at her thoughtfulness. "It's wonderful. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ginny said while smiling. After a few seconds of silence she began to walk towards the door.
When Ginny brushed past Draco, he took her arm and held her back.
"Could you stay for a while," he asked, "Just to celebrate with me."
Ginny turned to face him again and nodded. "Sure. How do you want to celebrate?"
Draco smiled. "With wine of course." He put the book down and headed over to a cabinet in the corner of his room. He opened the doors and scanned the many bottles of alcohol he had in there.
Ginny was now standing behind Draco and looking over his shoulder at the labels.
"That one." She pointed.
Draco picked up the bottle and gave Ginny a smirk. "Expensive drinker, aren't we?" he said.
Ginny smiled back innocently. "All your wine is expensive," she retorted.
Draco only smiled and grabbed two wine glasses before heading over to his desk to get the opener.
Not very long later, Ginny and Draco were sitting at the little table in the room, with half the bottle of wine gone, but they were both still sober.
"So who taught you to drink?" Draco asked.
Ginny was swirling the wine in her glass but stopped to take a sip. "No one in particular," she said. "Bill always said it was dangerous for a girl to get drunk, and Percy has the good taste, so they both taught me a thing or two."
Draco smiled. "Then you should know a lot about wine then?" he asked.
"I know enough," Ginny answered and then downed the rest of her glass.
Another bottle was soon opened and another one after that. Their defence was crumbling and they were slowly forgetting their worries. The two had somehow ended up on the bed lying beside each other with their heads at the foot of the bed while their feet (without the shoes) were at the head, propped up by the pillows.
"And so half naked Fred and George ended up being chased around the house by a fluorescent pink dog," Ginny was saying and then cracked up laughing along with Draco.
"Your brothers really know how to get in trouble don't they," Draco said.
Ginny took a sip from the bottle of wine that was between them and then nodded. "They're the experts," she said and then giggled.
She passed the bottle to Draco and he took a sip but then dumped the bottle onto the floor because it was now empty.
Ginny rolled onto her side and draped her arm over Draco's chest, moving it around like she was searching for something.
Draco laughed because it was ticklish. "What are you doing?" He said.
"Where's the bottle?" She mumbled.
"There's no more," Draco managed to say and then held Ginny's moving hand so that she would stop searching. He then turned onto his side so that he was facing her.
Their eyes met and locked in place. Ginny's face was flushed red from the Alcohol and her hair was fanned out around her.
"You're beautiful," Draco whispered.
Ginny's eyes widened for a second before she smiled weakly. "You're drunk," she said.
Draco squeezed Ginny's hand and moved closer towards her.
"It's still true though," he said. "You're the most magnificent girl I've ever met."
Draco's words were simple, and to any other girl it would just be nice compliments. But no one had ever said things like that to Ginny before and it counted even more that Draco was saying it.
Ginny's eyes were watering so she looked up at the ceiling to stop them from flowing. Draco took this chance to wrap his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. Ginny turned her head back to look at Draco and her hands resting on his chest.
"Why do you have to be so wonderful?" She whispered before the tears started to run down her face.
Draco gently wiped Ginny's tears away and she wrapped her hands around his neck so that she could bury her face into his shoulder.
"I missed you," He whispered into her ear. "So very much."
Ginny pulled back a bit and looked Draco in the eyes. "Malfoy, we shouldn't…"
"Draco," he cut her off. "I'm just Draco, Ginny. Can you ever see past my family name?" The hurt was evident in his voice.
"It's not that simple," Ginny said softly while looking at him. "We can't escape the obligations we have to our family. Our name defines a part of who we are and how people see us. Even if I can look past it, it doesn't mean everyone else can."
Ginny was beginning to ease herself off of the bed, but Draco pulled her back and looked at her eyes seriously.
"There's no one else here Ginny," he said. "No one to please or act for. It's just you and me."
Ginny looked him in the eyes and saw Draco. He wasn't a Malfoy or anyone else; he was the Draco only she knew.
"Please stay," he said.
There were a thousand reasons for Ginny to leave and only one for her to stay, but that one reason was enough. She loved him.
Ginny lay back down next to him with her back facing his chest and Draco wrapped his arms around her. They stayed that way in silence, just being content with each other's presence. Draco could hear Ginny's steady breathing and assumed she was asleep. He propped his head up on his elbow so that he could look down at her face.
He then leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I think I love you," he whispered, before lying back down to sleep.
A tear escaped Ginny's eye and trailed down her face, but disappear into the fabric of the bed.
End of Chapter Thirty Nine. Thanks for reading and I Hope you Review.
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