Haunting Visions
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Standard disclaimer - I don't own anything from the Harry Potter universe. I own (created) Angelina Michaels, Landon Michaels, James Michaels, Christina Michaels, Crystal Michaels, Jason Michaels, Isabella Zabini, Kit Lanchester, Chad Harper (Chapter 2), and anyone else you do not recognize.
Note - Rating has gone back up to R.
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Isabella was currently trying to get comfortable in the chair next to Angelina's bedside. It was proving to be fruitless though, as her legs were too long to stay curled underneath herself, and she was restless. Worried for, not only Angelina, but also Blaise. She knew that this had to be difficult for her older brother; the only woman he'd ever loved was dying. All because of their father. She harbored guilt aside the worry.
Isabella bent forward slightly, her elbows resting on her knees, and sighed. She closed her eyes to try and calm herself, but snapped them open when her father's smirking face appeared on her lids. She let out a shuttering breath and reached forward to grab Angelina's hand. She gave it a light squeeze before whispering, "I'm so sorry Angelina for what my father has done to you."
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Angelina fell to the ground, blood spilling from her side. She let out a small sob as pain wracked through her body. Her right hand clamped around her left side, as she tried to crawl away from her attacker.
"Poor, poor Angie. Betrayed, yet again, by someone she loved. You never learn do you?"
"This isn't real." Angelina whispered, trying to convince herself, though the pain in her side sure felt real. She whimpered as the blood-slicked sword pressed along the side of her neck.
"You thought you were so strong. That you could fight me, that you could fight Tomas, that you could fight anything. But you screwed up baby doll. You let yourself become weak." The word weak was spat out like it were a vile thing, "You became pathetic, well, more so than before."
"You're not real. This is the spell." Angelina said again, closing her eyes. She clenched them tight as more pressure was applied to the sword and it bit into her neck, opening a gash, barely missing her jugular.
"I guess I'll just have to kill you to make you believe. This. Is. Real." The last three words were annunciated, and more pressure added to the sword.
Angelina pulled away, swung her leg out, and knocked the woman off her feet. From her crouched position, Angelina scowled down at her latest fear. She stood, hands slick with blood as she covered her wounds, "In reality," Angelina bent to grab the discarded sword, "Ginny would never hurt me." She told the Ginny below her, before stabbing Ginny in the heart.
"You have passed your fourth fear. The fifth begins now." The entwined voices informed Angelina as 'Ginny' faded away.
A growl startled Angelina, as a werewolf appeared before her; snarling, saliva dripping off his fangs.
"Great." She said sarcastically, hands raising the sword before the werewolf lunged at her.
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Blaise stalked through the halls, sword in hand, Harry and Severus jogging after him.
"This is pure stupidity Zabini!" Harry shouted as he followed Blaise, trying to talk sense into him.
"We need Centaur blood. There's a colony of Centaur's in the forest. That's not stupidity. Stupidity is you trying to stop me." Blaise growled as he threw the entrance doors open.
"You know how much I hate to say this, but Potter's right. The Centaur's will kill you." Severus said, taking a second to catch his breath when Blaise stopped.
"They'll kill me after I've shed their blood. You can use that to wake up Angelina."
"And you'll be dead." Harry told Blaise, trying to reason with him.
"But she'll be awake, alive."
"So you'll die, so she can live?" Harry asked.
"I love her. Wouldn't you do the same for Granger?" Blaise asked, turning his head to look at Harry over his shoulder.
Harry's face softened. He sighed after a few moments, "You'll need help."
Severus's eyes grew wide, "Are both of you mad? Mister Zabini, you do realize that they'll…"
"I know. They'll make me fight one of their warriors." Blaise responded in an even voice.
"And you're still going to do this?" Severus asked, bewilderment in his, already impossibly wide, eyes, "Both of you are completely daft!"
"Send out a search party if we aren't back…" Blaise looked down at his watch, "it's 4 am now… give us until sunrise."
Severus sighed, "3 hours. That's all you get. No, me sitting in my office, twiddling my thumbs, and saying I'll give you another ten minutes. If you aren't back at exactly 7 am, I'm telling the Headmaster what you've gone and done."
Blaise nodded and headed down the steps, Harry following behind him.
"So, what's your plan Zabini?"
Blaise sighed, "Survive long enough to get the blood."
"That's it? That's your plan? Great, we're screwed!"
"You're the fantastic Harry Potter! You come up with something then." Blaise said, stopping to turn to Harry. When Harry didn't say anything, he nodded, "That's what I thought." Blaise turned around and continued on his way towards the Forbidden Forest, a single thought running through his mind, "Potter's right, we're screwed."
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Draco entered his mother's mansion, demanding to know where she was by the house elf.
"Mistress is in her study." It stammered out, pointing up the stairs.
Draco swept past the lowly creature and up the elegant staircase. His mother went into her study when she was escaping his father's abuse. He paused outside the door, taking a moment to control his bubbling anger, and then entered slowly. Narcissa Malfoy sat behind the desk with books piled on it, mostly Muggle novels, that she hid from Lucius before he was thrown into Azkaban. His mother looked up at him when he entered, her sky blue eyes drowning in black circles from lack of sleep.
"Draco, what are you doing here?" She asked, hands clutching the arms of the chair that she used as advantage to stand.
"I came to check on you. Father hasn't been here, has he?" Draco asked, eyes darting around for any speck of evidence that his father had stepped foot in the mansion.
"If he had been, do you think I'd be here?" Narcissa asked, rounding the desk to stand in front of her only child, "I'd either be dead, or at the Ministry reporting him." Her hands came up to smooth out Draco's hair, "I don't want you going after him, Draco. Voldemort was bad enough, but do not go after your father."
"I don't have a choice Mother. He's going after Ginny. He's already hospitalized Angelina Michaels. He's going to make Gin suffer for killing Voldemort." Draco said, followed by a sigh.
"Blaise's girlfriend? She's in the hospital?" Fear became evident on Narcissa's face.
"Lucius and Tomas attacked Ginny and Angelina. He did the same thing to Angelina that he did to Blaise in my seventh year." Draco said, shock coming over him that his mother didn't know yet. It had been all over the news.
"Oh don't look at me like that. You know I don't use anything created by Muggles." Narcissa said, reading her son's expression.
"Save those novels." Draco reminded.
"Yes," Narcissa smiled fondly as she rounded her desk to sit, her fingers trailing over the covers of the paperbacks, "Save these novels." Leaning back into relaxation, she pressed her long elegant fingers together and asked, "So, Draco, what are you really doing here?" A hint of a smile graced her lips as her only child looked baffled; "I know you didn't come here to check up on me, or to tell me about poor Angelina. Not just at least." She added as an afterthought as Draco opened his mouth to clearly protest.
Draco sighed; his mother always had seen right through him, "Alright. I proposed to Ginny, and she accepted. We're engaged."
"Oh Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed, getting up to round the desk again and envelope her son in an embrace, "That's excellent!"
Draco tensed momentarily when his mother hugged him, before melting into the embrace. These moments had been rare growing up, as his father found affection as a weakness, and had reminded them of that by beating Narcissa into unconsciousness when she tucked Draco into bed instead of the house elves. "Mother, sorry to cut this short, but I better get back to Saint Mungo's and make sure Gin's alright. We had a small row earlier, I want to check on her."
"Let me change and I'll come with you darling." Narcissa said, kissing her son's cheeks before sweeping out of the study without waiting for an answer from Draco.
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Blaise and Harry trekked through the forest still, having not found any Centaurs in at least half an hour. It'd been unsettling quiet; something neither Blaise nor Harry was comfortable with, especially Blaise. Growing up in his house and around the Malfoy's, you become accustomed to screams of agony and hysterical cries from the women of the family, along with sounds of flesh hitting flesh.
"So, what's with you and Granger?" Blaise asked unexpectedly when the sounds of crickets and wind became deafening, and he couldn't stand it any longer.
"What?" Harry froze, stopping in his tracks, "That's none of your business."
"Alright man, just making conversation. There's only so much silence a man can take. Besides, Angie mentioned that Ginny told her you two weren't speaking, and that you'd started going to couples therapy." Blaise responded, chuckling at the fact that Perfect Potter and Smart Granger with both having troubles with their relationship.
"It's… that's…" Harry sighed, "It's a long, complicated story."
"Right, and we don't have an equally long and complicated task ahead of us." Blaise said sarcastically, "It's probably going to be another half an hour before we meet up with any Centaurs. That's a long time to walk in silence."
"Even if I explained it in full detail, you wouldn't understand. What I did to Hermione was incredibly stupid and unforgivable. I don't know if we'll ever get by it." Harry sighed and looked down in shame, "All because of a stupid mistake of getting drunk at the Leaky Cauldron."
Blaise stopped, mouth dropped open in shock, "You cheated on Granger!" Blaise started laughing, "Oh my Gods! Harry Potter, supposed perfect man, cheated on Hermione Granger, supposed smartest Muggle-born witch of all time."
"I don't really see the humor in this Zabini." Harry said dryly, anger quickly taking the place of his shame.
"Oh, it's bloody hilarious if you ask me! Gods, damn Potter. I better all your loyal fans don't know how many chinks you have in that shiny armor of yours, do they?"
"What chinks?"
"Lying, cheating, stealing, breaking and entering, illegal use of an invisibility cloak… must I go on?"
"What are you on about?" Harry asked, looking at his company as if he were insane with an extra head.
"Oh, don't think we didn't know that you broke into Slytherin in sixth year. We knew… that's why the lion's tail and snake ended up in your bed." Blaise said, grinning at the memory of the transfigured tail and snake biting it in Potter's bed, "That was the year Dumbledore gave fifth year and up access to the Floo network. It was quiet easy; Millicent Bulstrode's cousin helped us get the right gate. Ah, good times."
"That was you?!" Harry exclaimed, the memory coming back to him as well. It had taken the house elves four tries to get the lion's blood and snake venom out of his sheets.
"What? You thought it was a coincidence?" Blaise asked, and then noticed Harry's embarrassed look, "You did? Well, you just added a stupidity chink to your armor." After Blaise laughing a good deal more, they lapsed into another uncomfortable silence. It took five minutes before Blaise realized he hadn't learned of whom Harry had cheated on Hermione with, "So, do I know the unlucky lady?"
Harry winced. He had hoped they'd gotten off that subject. He looked at Blaise and nodded, "Yeah… very well."
"Oh. My. Gods." Blaise paused with each word as shock swept over him, "Merlin man, how could you let that whore trick you into her bed?"
"How could you almost let her?" Harry defended, reminding Blaise that they'd both been duped.
"Because she's a manipulative bitch." Blaise growled, "Kit Lanchester is the lowest form of scum on the totem pole."
"Believe me, I know." Harry mumbled ashamedly, and rubbed the back of his head in nervousness, "How'd you get Angelina to forgive you?"
"She hasn't… not completely. It took awhile to know that I'd gained most of her trust back… but there are some moments where I know she's worried that I'll go back to Kit, or Kit will come after me and lure me into he trap." Blaise said, looking down in shame as well.
"Well, we really screwed up with our girlfriends, 'ey?" Harry asked with a nervous chuckle.
"Yeah, big time." Blaise agreed.
"Well, at least she can't mess anything up any worse than it already is."
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"You are growing weak. You will not survive long."
"Go to hell." Angelina groaned as she clenched her side in pain, "You don't know anything. I'll be fine. Blaise will help me, he'll find the cure."
"He cannot. You will not be saved. We have foreseen it. You will die. No one will be able to help you, and you will die."
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"Why did you sleep with Kit?" Blaise asked, "I mean, Granger is far more attractive than Kit."
Harry sighed, "Kit found me at a bad time. Hermione and I had been arguing about having kids. I wanted them; she didn't want any at that moment. She kicked me out, I went to the Leaky Cauldron, got extremely drunk. We went up to her room, did it, and then I went home the next morning… with a splitting headache."
"I wouldn't put it past her to have drugged your drink." Blaise mumbled.
"I fell asleep on the couch, and woke up a few hours after that to Hermione kissing me. That was the day we found about Lily Jade, though we call her our Jade Lily." The mentioning of his daughter brought a proud smile to his lips, "We're going through counseling for her, and because we love each other."
Blaise smiled, "She's a beautiful baby. Angelina and I want to have kids, but her clubs are going great right now… she just opened one in Los Angeles a few weeks ago… before this whole thing happened."
"You're not having kids because of her career?" Harry asked.
"No, she just has a lot to look over at the clubs. She's even got a bedroom in Phoenix Tears. Besides, I'm always traveling to deal with Mothers loose ends with the business."
"Can't you hire people to do that for you?" Harry asked, "The Ministry could dispatch someone for you two… especially with your ties to the Minister and Weasley family."
"Angelina has this thing about people touching things that are hers. She sees the clubs as children anyways. She wants to protect them."
"Foolish if you ask me. Family first, friends second, career third." Harry said, shaking his head, "So," he began, about to change the subject, "when do we find these Centaurs?"
Blaise came to an abrupt stop, his eyes looking around through the forest. They'd made it into a clearing, something not uncommon in the forest, but the crickets had stopped chirping, something uncommon, "We don't. They find us." Blaise said as Centaurs came out from behind trees defensively, circling them in.
"Humans do not belong here."
"We're here with a challenge." Blaise said, voice strong as he spoke to the leader.
"A challenge? Do you think that wise? You have nothing but a man made weapon, and fists." The leader spoke again. His horse body was beautifully white, clean and shining, his human body was rippled with muscles, and hair, his hair the only thing on him that was dark, besides his expression.
"I offered you a challenge. You have no choice but to except it." Blaise growled.
"What are you doing Zabini?" Harry whispered from the corner of his mouth.
"What I have to do to save Angelina." Blaise growled at Harry before turning his attention back to the leader, "I challenge your fighter. If I win, I get a syringe of his blood."
"And when he wins?" The leader asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You get this back." Blaise pulled a necklace from his pocket. It was silver, with a large circular charm. Inside the charm was a ball, with two rings around it that spun around when the necklace moved. He'd known what the necklace was for years; it had been in his fathers' Dark Arts collection. It wasn't Dark Arts, just extremely valuable to Centaurs. He suspected his father had possession of the necklace for future advantage against the Centaur community.
Gasps rose from the Centaurs as they stared upon the necklace that had been passed down from leader to leader ever since the existence of Centaurs, but the necklace had gone missing twenty years prior when the leader at that time had been slain, and the necklace stolen.
"Singe." The leader called, and immediately the biggest Centaur made his way through the crowd.
"Yes Aquanis?" His voice was deep and full of respect, the muscles of his arms the size of Blaise's own head.
"He has a challenge for our fighter." Aquanis said, his voice full of laughter, "Go get Genesis."
Singe turned to Blaise and Harry and smirked, before heading back into the crowd.
"You could just hand over the necklace and leave." Aquanis offered, expecting the humans before him to take it.
"I need Centaur blood to complete a potion to save my girlfriend. I'm not going anywhere." Blaise said, taking his jacket off as he did so.
"Hmm, yes. I'm aware of the curse she's under then. Only one potion requires a syringe full of Centaur blood. I feel for the female human you call a girlfriend."
"I don't suppose you'd let us just have the blood then, would you?" Harry asked, and then caught Aquanis's face, "Didn't think so."
Blaise and Harry watched as Singe came back out of the forest with a considerably smaller Centaur. He looked like he could be a teenager if he were fully human. Sweat shown over his torso, down to his black fur.
"I can't fight him." Blaise muttered, "He looks like a kid."
"What else are you going to do? Stab, draw, and run, while praying that they don't kill you first?" Harry asked as he lent closer so that Blaise could hear him.
"Step forward human." Aquanis demanded.
Blaise did so, and stopped in front of the fighter named Genesis, "I don't want to do this, but I need to save my girlfriend."
"Shut up human. You insult me by existing, don't insult me anymore." Genesis growled, getting up on his hind legs and bring his front hooves down onto Blaise's chest.
Harry looked away for several minutes while they fought. He could hear bones breaking; flesh tearing, and blood stained the air and Earth. When he turned back to check on Blaise, he noticed most of the blood had come from Blaise, unsurprisingly, but he had managed to get in a few swipes at Genesis, who had a slash across his human ribs, bicep, and cheek. Blaise went low and cut the left front and back legs of his horse body. The Centaur fell, and Blaise stood over him, sword's tip by his ear, ready to be cut into the Centaur. A thought occurred to him, "This is how Father must have killed Kenyon twelve years ago." That made him freeze. He wasn't going to become his father. He threw the sword to the ground and stood still for several seconds before digging into his pocket for a syringe he'd taken from Madam Pomfrey. He stabbed it into the arm of Genesis, and filled it with as much blood as possible. Then Blaise reached into his left pocket and pulled out the necklace, and a potion vial, "This will heal your wounds." Blaise said, and pressed the vial into Genesis's hand, then turned to Singe. He limped toward him, and pressed the necklace into his hands.
"You have surprised me human. You are not like your father. You are not a murderer." Singe said, surprise etched on his face and in his voice.
"No, but I carry the burden of his actions." Blaise responded sadly, "I'm sorry for the trouble he has caused the Centaurs."
"You have ended the feud between the Centaurs and Wizards. Thank you, Young Zabini."
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Draco and Narcissa made their way into Saint Mungo's, immediately heading to find a mass of brunettes and red heads, and the occasional blonde. Draco had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something… something important that he was supposed to tell his mother.
"Oh Ginny!" Narcissa cried happily, running to hug her future daughter in law.
Then Draco remembered: Ginny's family didn't know! "Mother! Wait!"
"Oh honey! I'm so happy for you and my son. I'll help you in any way you need. A place for the reception, or the rehearsal… or hell, if you want, you can have the wedding in the gardens! I'm just so happy you're marrying my Draco." Narcissa exclaimed, her eyes twinkling happily, a large smile on her lips.
Ginny's eyes grew wide as she stared at Narcissa, whom was completely unaware that she'd just revealed the truth in front of her family, and then slowly turned to face everyone.
Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Fred, George, Katie, Alicia, Ron, Luna, Jessica, Jason, Christina, Landon, Hermione, and James staring at her in shock, while Jake, Jenny, Harper, Joey, Nathan, and Lillian sat in ignorant bliss playing with toys a few feet away.
"I don't suppose you'll be saying congratulations any time soon?" Ginny asked, looking at her families, then sighed, "Yeah, didn't think so." She turned to stare at Draco, who was rubbing the back of his head in nervousness, and her eyes narrowed at him in a glare, and a small growl rumbled in the back of her throat.
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Severus sighed and shrugged as the Headmaster asked him about where Blaise and Potter was, "They went to get Centaur blood… three hours ago."
"They did what?" Albus asked as he stood, a bewildered and stunned look on his face, "How could you let them do this Severus? How?"
"I didn't have a choice. He had his mind set on going out there." Severus responded defensively.
"If he harmed a Centaur…"
"I didn't." Blaise interrupted as Harry helped him into the office, "But I repaid a debt, and got the blood." Blaise said, putting the syringe on the desk, then passed out.
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"Virginia Anne Weasley! How could you keep something like this a secret?" Molly shrieked at her youngest child.
"It was quite easy, I just didn't tell you." Ginny responded.
"Don't you get smart with me young lady."
"Mum, this," She held up her engagement ring, "happened the night before this," she gestured to the surrounding hospital, "happened." She sighed, "I was under stress, and everything, and I know I shouldn't've kept it a secret, but this wasn't the right place or time to tell anyone."
"Virginia…" Molly started again.
"Ginny!"
Ginny wheeled around and saw Harry running down the corridor, his hand waving frantically over his head. When he stopped in front of her, he bent over trying to catch his breath, "Harry? What is it?"
"I got it! I got the cure. Madam Pomfrey and Snape used a new spell to accelerate the process! Here, we need to get it to the doctor." He thrusted a potion bottle towards Ginny.
"I'll take it." Jason said, reaching out to grab the bottle, then kissed Ginny's cheek, and gave Harry a short hug, "Thank you."
Ginny smiled, a giddy feeling overwhelming her, "She's going to wake up! She's going to be awake soon! Oh, Blaise is going to…" Ginny's smile faded, "Harry… where's Blaise?" She asked, the giddy feeling gone as she saw the sorrow in Harry's eyes and on his face.
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Thanks to everyone who has been incredibly patient with me, and has stayed with the story and reviewed (and even those who haven't.) The next chapter should be up within the next month, if my computer cooperates with me… I think it's in the middle of a meltdown.
Merry Belated Christmas and Happy Belated New Year, and Happy Birthday to anyone that's recently had a birthday or will soon.
-Ashley-