Unofficial Portkey Archive

Off-Limits by Blue Lady

Sorry for taking so long! I was the middle of revising Chapters 1-3, but I never seemed to be able to find the time, so it took waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy longer than I expected. Thanks for being so patient though.

Chapter 5: Tale of a Dark Future

Meanwhile, Ginny listened with rapt attention as the kids began their story.

"It all began about a year ago. Things reminiscent of the Last Wizarding War began to spring up again. It seemed as though a new wave of terror had begun again." began Ben.

"At first, most wizarding folk didn't really take it that seriously, after all, Lord Voldemort had been dead for years. They thought it would just blow over. Only some of the Aurors took it seriously."

"My dad certainly did," said Shawn, taking off from where Ben had left off, "Since he was the one who had infiltrated the Death Eater ranks which resulted in Voldemort's defeat, he knew he was going to be very high up on their hit list."

Ben continued, "Meanwhile, my parents weren't too keen about the idea of a Dark Lord from the Undead either."

"I remember Mom saying to Dad that she and Uncle Ron were getting too old to haul Dad's butt out of trouble every time he had to go off and save the world." Nina commented.

"Then incidents began happening. People were getting attacked randomly, sometimes even in bold daylight. Then a few months later, the Dark Mark appeared for the first time since Voldemort's defeat many years ago. It seemed as though Voldemort had come back to life."

"But that wasn't so," Shawn continued, "It was the work of somebody even more powerful than Voldemort had been. He was known as the Lord Elddir. The rumors were that he was Voldemort's illegitimate son and he was even more unstoppable than his father had ever been. Then one day-" he stopped abruptly.

Nina placed a comforting hand on Shawn's shoulder and explained to Ginny and the Headmaster what had happened.

"One day near the end of summer vacation, there was a Death Eater attack on Malfoy Manor. Shawn, Estella and Cindy had managed to escape to our house by Floo Powder, but his parents must have blasted the fireplace apart after they left, so that the Death Eaters couldn't go after them. My dad and the other Aurors had rushed off immediately to the Manor, but when they arrived, the Dark Mark was hanging in the air and the house was on fire. The Death Eaters had disappeared...but so had his parents."

The office was silent for awhile. It didn't take much to realize that the Death Eaters had probably blasted Draco and Ginny into oblivion or else they were prisoners.

Ginny glanced at Shawn. His head was bowed, but even she could see the unhappy expression on his face. Her heart went out to him - the poor kid probably blamed himself for getting his parents into that mess even though he had nothing to do with any of it.

Shawn was startled as Ginny gave him a warm hug and he hugged her back. Normally he wouldn't be caught dead in a position like this in public. "It's not your fault," said Ginny softly, "I know I would do the same thing if that ever happened again."

"Thanks...Mom." said Shawn and he looked up at her, "Am I suppose to call you Mom or Ginny, anyways?"

"Call me Ginny when there are other people around." Ginny grinned at him, "I can see that this is going to get some used to."

Shawn smirked.

Ginny blinked, "But don't start calling Malfoy, Dad yet, okay?" Inwardly she groaned, "He looks too much like Draco for his own good."

The blond shrugged, "He probably wouldn't believe me if it wasn't accompanied by ten DNA tests. By the way, do you think Dad's a good kisser?" he asked, tongue-in-cheek.

"Well, he's not that bad, considering he's the only one I've- Shawn Xavier Malfoy!" Ginny flushed.

"Ah...." said Shawn, "Just wondering." when Ginny scowled at him.

He glanced to the side to see Ben and Nina giving him their "I told you so" look.

Shawn had to restrain himself from jumping when Professor Dumbledore suddenly spoke. The Headmaster had remained unusually silent throughout their "reunion". "I wonder if Ms. Palmer would like to join us."

Ginny, Shawn, Benjamin and Nina all gaped as Natalie walked in sheepishly.

Ginny was the first one to speak, "Natalie!" she said accusingly.

Natalie looked at her shoes, "Sorry, Ginny, I was worried about you. You haven't exactly been yourself ever since school started and you kept on spacing out this afternoon."

Ginny gave a small smile, "Thanks for being a friend, Natalie," and she gave her a hug.

"Thanks for not being angry." She paused, "It is nice to have my best friend back though" Natalie grinned suddenly as she turned to Shawn, "Don't worry, at the rate Ginny and Draco are going, you'll be lucky if you not born at least two years ahead of schedule"

"Natalie!"

****************************************

"So, is this guy unstoppable?" asked Natalie, once they had all calmed down.

"From what I have gathered from Benjamin, Nina and Shawn's accounts of the events, he seems to be even more powerful than Voldemort was at the height of his power. However," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "Even a Dark Wizard, no matter how powerful, has his weak spot."

"Um, one problem, Professor, the Aurors have tried every single curse, hex and spell they can think of. I think he may very well be invincible." said Shawn.

Ben cleared his throat, "Actually, there's something I forgot to mention. A few days before we left, I think my Mom had discovered what this weak spot is."

Seeing he had everyone's attention, he continued, "Remember Tom Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets? Sorry, Aunt Ginny," he added as Ginny shivered unconsciously.

"Well, I remember Dad saying that Riddle was like that too, but he disappeared after Dad had driven a Basilisk tooth into his diary. Well, apparently Elddir was like that too, only there's one little problem."

He nodded to Nina who continued on with their story.

"When the term started, Mom and Dad immediately sent us to Hogwarts, after all, as Dad was fond of telling us, the safest place is where Professor Dumbledore is."
"Your father overestimates me sometimes, Ms. Potter." remarked Dumbledore.

Nina smiled sadly, "Afraid so, Professor, because disaster soon stuck. There was a Death Eater attack at Hogwarts one afternoon and even though the students weren't seriously hurt, the East Wing of the castle was blasted into oblivion. Mom and Dad arrived soon afterwards and it was only then we found out why."

Ben took over, "As you probably know, the East Wing was where the Chamber of Secrets was located. Well, apparently Elddir had hidden an object in there when he was a student at Hogwarts. It's similar to Riddle's diary because if you destroy that object, he is no longer invincible. The only problem is that whatever that object is, it's now buried under a couple hundred feet of rubble, plus we don't even know where it was in the first place."

"Which is why we're here." said Shawn. "It was hidden sometime in Dad's second year. Yes that's the year when the Chamber was last opened. How do you think he got in if it wasn't?" he said, answering Natalie's unspoken question.

Ginny frowned, "So we're suppose to find this object and destroy it first?"

"That's the basic idea." Shawn told her.

Natalie looked around, "I think we need to let a couple more people into this secret. After all, the more help we can get, the better. But since we don't know who exactly this Dark Wizard is, we'll have to be careful." she said thoughtfully.

Ginny nodded, "How about Harry and Hermione?"

Ben and Nina glanced at each other. "How about we include Dad later? He had this tendency to find trouble, besides, I think he needs a vacation from all this life-saving stuff." said Ben.

"Besides," added Nina, "I don't think he has terribly fond memories of the Chamber of Secrets."

"But what if there's another Basilisk in there?" demanded Natalie, "We need somebody who can speak Parseltongue."

Ben and Nina both grinned, "You're looking at them." said Ben.

Shawn looked at them in surprise, "You two can speak Parseltongue?"

Ben smiled and hissed at him, "Did I forget to mention it? Ssssorry."

The blond glared at him.

"Well, that solves that problem," said Ginny briskly, "And we need to get Hermione in on this when she finally believes that you three are from the future, most probably after alot of convincing and one or two DNA tests. Of course, we'll have to wake her up first after she faints dead away from shock when I tell her."

Four pairs of eyes stared at her.

"What?"

******************************************

The five of them walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Benjamin and Nina in the front with Natalie. Ginny and Shawn walked behind them silently.

Ginny found herself glancing at Shawn occasionally. "Do I have something on my face, Mom?" asked Shawn after awhile. Ginny flushed at having been caught staring. "No, I just need some time to get use to this."

"So do I," thought Shawn, stopping as they arrived at the Portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Chocolate frogs" said Benjamin before the Portrait swung open. As they made their way up into the Common Room.

Nina smiled as she found herself back in her home-away-from-home. The Common Room was pretty much empty, except for Hermione, who was curled up in front of the fire, reading.

She looked at Ginny who took a deep breath. "Well, here goes."

Ginny walked slowly towards the older girl. Hermione looked up and smiled as she spotted Ginny, "Hey Ginny, Natalie said she was looking for you."

"She found me." She paused, "Anyways, I know you may not believe what I'm about to tell you, but it's all true."

"We need your help."

Hermione looked confused, "We?"

Ginny waved the others over. Hermione raised an eyebrow as Benjamin, Nina and Shawn came into view.

"I'm afraid our three exchange students haven't properly introduced themselves yet." said Ginny, her lips pressed into a thin line as she watched Hermione closely.

Shawn was the first one to speak, "Shawn Malfoy."

"Nina Potter."

"Benjamin Potter." said Ben quietly.

There was silence as Hermione glanced slowly around, from Shawn to Benjamin to Nina.

Finally her sharp mind processed what they seemed to be implying...

"You're kidding."

******************************

As usual, please review and tell me what you think so far.