Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: Everything in the Harry Potter world is J.K. Rowling's. I own the plot though :).

Draco Malfoy stomped down the corridors of Hogwarts, his black robes billowing behind him and a very angry look on his face. He snarled at some passing Gryffindor first years who jumped away in fright, one of the small boys squeaking and dropping his books to the floor. Draco kicked the one book with his foot, making it skid across the floor and slam into the wall. The boy shrank in terror and fled without retrieving the book. Draco didn't care at all though, he continued on down the corridor, his bad mood only increasing.

For once in his life, he was trying to steer clear of the Slytherin Common Room and any of his Housemates. If one more of them came up to him and said, "Hey, Draco! Looks like you'll be the Heir of Slytherin!" he was going to hex that person into the next year.

Somehow it seemed, a rumor had started spreading about Hogwarts. This rumor wasn't your normal, "Oh my God, did you see Roger Davies kissing Cho Chang?" rumor. Nope, this one was much much bigger and a lot more serious. Dumbledore had tried desperately to keep the information quiet, for he knew putting this knowledge in the hands of his students was definitely not a good thing. But with two Gryffindor students suddenly collapsing out of nowhere last week and both of them still in the Hospital Wing recovering, rumors would naturally start flying and this most recent one seemed to be pretty on target.

Draco had first heard about this new "rumor" yesterday morning. He had just come down from his sleeping quarters, ready to go down and eat some breakfast in the Great Hall, when an over-excited third year Slytherin had come running up to him. The younger boy had started babbling about the Four Founders and how their Heirs were suddenly popping up all over the school. Draco had merely raised his eyebrow in boredom and was about to sweep past him when the third year suddenly burst out, "Everyone knows you're the Heir of Slytherin, Draco!"

Draco had frozen in mid-stride and turned to give the third year a very ugly look. "It seems you need to catch up on your History of Magic lessons, Walters. Or did you forget that the last remaining Heir of Slytherin is Voldemort!"

Walters was clearly unfazed by the death glare he was receiving and just chattered on, "Oh yes, yes, I know that. But this is the Prophecy of Merlin! The Heirs and the Founders aren't related to each other, they were chosen." He gave Draco a triumphant look. "So, its you. Everyone knows that. Slytherin would have chosen you. Who else?"

And so Draco had been in a huff since then. Almost every Slytherin he ran into was congratulating him on being chosen, though there were a few that sneered at him hateful, for if he truly was the Heir of Slytherin, it also meant the downfall of Voldemort, which some students did not want.

"I'll be damned if I'm an Heir and have to bring Voldemort down," Draco muttered bitterly under his breath.

Granted, Draco did not support Voldemort, he hated him and everything he stood for. But he didn't particularly support Dumbledore either. The old wizard was a bit of a fool in his eyes and he wasn't keen on helping him. Draco preferred to just sit back and let other people fight the War for him. He wanted to watch from the sidelines. He didn't want to become involve with that entire mess. Let other people do the hard work, he'd wait for his glory after the War.

Draco had made his way down to the Entrance Hall and he threw the large oak doors open and marched across the lawn toward the Quidditch Pitch. He needed to do some flying to clear his mind. He remembered that he had heard who the two supposed "Heirs" were. Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. He gave a snort of disbelief and disgust.

"A Mudblood and a Muggle-lover, two saviors of our world. How absolutely wonderful," he spat.

That's when he noticed two figures walk toward him from the Quidditch Pitch. A malicious grin spread across his face and his silver eyes twinkled in hatred. Time to let out some of his frustrations on his two favorite verbal punching bags.

"Well well well," he shouted loud enough for them to hear, "if it isn't Pothead and his amazing sidekick the Weasel. Out for an afternoon stroll?"

Harry and Ron were now within a few feet of Draco and they halted, Draco stopping as well. "Stuff it, Ferret Boy," Ron said hotly, "or I might just hex you."

"Temper, Weasel," Draco responded mildly, "you don't want to duel me, there'd be nothing left of you. And you know Potter here can't be the hero without you."

Harry glared icily at him, the look in his eyes so fierce that anyone else would have quailed. "Get lost, Malfoy, we don't need your sorry-ass insults right now."

"Ah yes, that's right. Too much on your mind right now with your beloved Mudblood girlfriend and this thing's little sister all laid up."

Ron snarled and made to jump at Draco but Harry quickly grabbed the back of his robes and held him back. Harry continued to shoot daggers at Draco. "You better watch that mouth, Malfoy. I believe I could dig up enough insults about your family and friends as well. Though, those insults would be more true."

Draco blanched for a second but recovered quickly. "Nice one, Potter, but not a real good threat. You can't scare me. Everyone else in this school might cower away from that temper of yours but I cower to no one. You're just another nasty Muggle-loving half-breed to me who is only below me." He glanced at Ron who was still struggling to rip Draco's face off.

"Let me at him, Harry! Come on, he deserves it. I'll rip him apart with my bare hands!"

"Tut tut," Draco said, wagging a finger at Ron, "Best put a leash on your pet, Potter, he's getting a little uncontrollable."

Draco was finally finished with his talking and strode past them, leaving Harry and Ron to gape in anger at him. "One of these days," Ron muttered, "one of these days......"

"Come on," Harry said tightly, "let's go check up on Ginny and Hermione. Madame Pomfrey said they might be able to leave the Hospital Wing tonight."

"Yeah, and then Dumbledore will have his talk with Ginny," Ron said quietly, his shoulders sagging and thoughts of Draco leaving his mind.

Harry put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I know it hurts, Ron, but everything will be okay. Hermione's getting slightly better and Ginny will too."

"I'm just sorry it had to be Bill," Ron whispered, a tear rolling down his face as him and Harry continued trudging up the stairs.

.........................................

That night, Dumbledore had his talk with Ginny. He told her as much as he could about the Prophecy, giving her no more information than he had to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The same shock registered over her face when she had been informed, like Hermione, that she was the Heir of Helga Hufflepuff. She had trouble believing she had such potential to be a great witch.

Telling her about the death of her eldest brother, Bill, was as difficult as telling Hermione about her parents, Dumbledore found out. Dumbledore had wanted to have Hermione there, to comfort Ginny because she now knew from experience about the after effects. Hermione had refused though, still angry with Dumbledore and still in grief. She had marched from the Hospital Wing after Madame Pomfrey had checked her out and not given Dumbledore a second look.

The sadness Dumbledore felt at this was very great. Hermione had used to trust him and now that trust had been broken. Harry had rushed out after to her, obviously to try and talk to her. Ron had left as well, knowing that Ginny would have to learn eventually to handle things on her own.

Dumbledore finally told Ginny the horrible news though and unlike Hermione's fit of rage, she had simply got up from her chair and walked out the doors of the Hospital Wing without a word.

And so Ginny found herself walking down the dark corridors of Hogwarts, her face ashen and unknowingly spilling tears on the floor. She was in a daze, not knowing where she was going, only following where her feet took her. The torches lining the walls cast interesting shadows about her and played off her features. The rustling of a ghost gliding by her filled her ears but still she took no notice. It wasn't until she ran head-long into the body of another person that her senses snapped back to her and she felt like she had just woken from a dream.

"Oh, disgusting! Get off me, Weasley!" the voice of Draco Malfoy hit Ginny like a bucket of ice cold water. She jumped back from him and stared up at him dully. Draco sneered down at her and proceeded to brush his robes off as if she was filthy and had left dirt all over him.

"Watch where you walk, Weasel! I just had these robes cleaned!" he yelled indignantly.

"Sorry," she muttered and went to step around him, still trying to register the death of Bill, the only one who truly ever noticed her and cared for her.

Draco's hand shot out and gripped Ginny's upper arm like a vice. "Who said you could walk away from me? As your superior I give you orders on what to do and when."

Ginny flung his hand off of her and stared up at him coldly, the fire burning in her ready to explode. "Get off me, Malfoy, you stupid low-life bastard! I don't take orders from you. I don't give a damn about your high and mighty Slytherin, pureblooded rules. Now just leave me alone, I don't need you to meddle in my life."

She started walking away from him again when he yelled after her. "God damn you, you bloody Weasel! Don't go yelling at me, I didn't ask you to run into me! Sorry about messing with your precious life and your stupid thoughts on that God forsaken Prophecy! What happened? Learned you had to pay a price for your destiny?"

Draco smirked in triumph as Ginny froze, her body beginning to tremble with hatred. He had touched a nerve and he was proud of it. "You went too far this time, Malfoy," he heard her whisper.

"What are you going to do?" he taunted, "Foul me up even more with your filthy little hands?"

Draco's hatred at Ginny was even more vivid at the moment, not just because of the normal reasons of her being a Weasley, but because of what had occurred almost a month before between him and Ginny. Draco had spilled out secrets of him that no one knew or should know, and now one of his most hated enemies knew more about his life because of it. She knew about his hatred of his father and his plans to never be a Death-Eater. And she knew about his beloved sister and his love for her. Those thoughts made his blood boil and his hatred for her intensify ten times.

Ginny turned to face Draco, her brown eyes blazing with a fury never seen before. Her eyes began to take on an odd red glow and Draco suddenly felt a little apprehensive. Before he could open his mouth again though, Ginny let out a scream of rage and the torches lining the walls burst, the flames exploding and sparks flying everywhere. The height of the flames flew to the ceiling and the whole corridor became lit with a blood red light.

Draco gasped in fear and stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. His jaw fell open as Ginny fell to her knees, tears falling rapidly down her face and her angry scream never ceasing. The flames burst once more and a few tapestries caught fire and blazed in fury. Another shower of hot sparks rained down on Draco and Ginny but neither felt them.

Slowly, as Ginny's screams began to subside, the flames lowered and began to calm down. The fires went out with a quick wisp of smoke and all that was left burning were the torches on the walls, crackling and flickering merrily, as if nothing had just occurred.

Draco was staring at Ginny in horror, completely speechless, never having so much fear put into him by one person, much less a Weasley. Ginny took a deep breath and lifted her head up, looking Draco straight in the eye, who stared back in fright. He pushed himself away from her a little more, his knees too weak to stand up. Ginny pushed herself off the floor though, and shakily stood up. She leaned against the stone wall, her face as white as a ghost and dripping with sweat.

"Never mess with a badger, Draco," she said quietly, "because their bite can be as bad as a snake's."

Draco made an odd squeak noise and scrambled up from the floor. Without a backward glance, he ran away from Ginny as fast as he could. Ginny slumped against the wall and fell to the floor again, tears and sobs overtaken her body as she succumbed to her grief once more.

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Author's Note: Wow! Your reviews are so amazing and appreciated!! I'm so glad this story has taken off so incredibly well and I'm sorry I never tried to continue on with it sooner. I love the support though and you guys are wonderful! Thank you!

I finally got the Ginny and Draco chapter up. I know that a romance between them seems very unlikely right now but, well, that might change. Draco's still going to be a bit of a bastard though, I don't want him becoming all fluffy cause that ruins his character, lol. The next two Heirs will be revealed shortly though a lot of you have figured it out so, cheers to you! The next chapter is going to be a Voldemort chapter so *shudder* prepare for some more anger. Scary guy.

A lot of people still seem really confused about how there can be an Heir of Slytherin if Voldemort was the last. I am very aware of that fact but Voldemort is related by blood to Slytherin, this Heir was chosen. I'll repeat that as often as I must but I make it clear in a lot of chapters as well. That fact is very important so please remember that!

Again that you for the reviews and hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review this one as well!!
Much Love,
PhoenixFirebolt