July 16, 2005 Inserted A/N - I just finished reading HPHBP and in order for the story to still fit with the circumstances created by JKR in the Harry Potter series, there will need to be some understanding on part of the readers (which means you!). As you all probably know, the students that fought at the Department of Mysteries do not become adults or receive any money. Please bear with this alteration from the story line…it was published way before the sixth book. The reason I have this alteration in the first place is to allow some post Hogwarts time essentially before the end of Voldemort…the seventh year of Harry's schooling in the books, the second year of his adulthood in my head. My theory is that Draco and Ginny would have no chance to meet at Hogwarts because of the vast divide between the two Houses and the Heads, as well (Snape and McGonagall). So, in order to allow them some "post-Hogwarts" time while still remaining within the timeline provided by JKR (seven years)…they get their adulthood early.
Draco, meanwhile was removed from the school and granted his adulthood by his family, namely his father. Thanks for bearing with this OOPness (out of plot line-ness). Enjoy!
The Day Of Reckoning: Prologue
As I stand here looking out at the fate that could have been mine, I remember the pain that coursed through my soul only months ago, the anguish that I felt because of the betrayal that was then expected from the people who had the misgiven right to call themselves my family.
You changed all of that. You made me see something in myself that no one else could; you made me different. You took away the dark so that all that was left was the light, the light which was you. But then the light was taken away from me, snatched away when I needed it most. So now I stand here in the same spot in which you found me all those months ago, pondering the same thing now as I was back then. Do I give it all up and throw my body to the angry waves below me, or do I keep on fighting, living, the way you showed me how? I look back to the day you saved me from myself.
"What are you doing? "
"Thinking."
"About what?"
"What it would be like to feel those waves pounding my body into the floor of the ocean."
"And what answer have you come up with?"
"Peaceful."
" Pardon?"
"It would be peaceful."
That what the first exchange of words that we ever had. It's funny how I still remember them as if it was yesterday. It was the first time that I ever caught a glimpse of your face, a face that I would come to depend on, as those months went by. You were everything to me, you still are.
So I give this to you, this is our story…the story of how you changed my life. The way you brought me from the dark into the light, your light.
No One To Stop Her
It had started directly after the fight in the Department of Mysteries. All the other Hogwarts students (including Ginny) who had fought were awarded 50,000 galleons each and granted their adulthood so that they could pursue the livelihood of their choice. It was a known fact that the Ministry hoped that they would help recruit young wizards and witches for the Order…that was made up of mainly magical people over thirty years of age. That was when the fighting had begun…
Ginny's family was, like most other pureblood families, slightly chauvinistic, although it had never occurred to her before, because such a crucial situation had never arisen. While Ron and Harry had been free to fight in the War, the Weasley family thought their baby, their little girl should not be involved in the crossfire. "Become a Healer like Hermione, or recruit wizards for our side," Molly Weasley had urged her.
However, they did not want Ginny to become an Auror or an active fighter in the Order of the Phoenix. Only Dumbledore and Minister Fudge had been on my side. Even now, she still talks to them occasionally because of that.
Therefore, when she had become an undercover spy for the Order by getting her Dark Mark under the pretenses of "getting revenge on the Dream Team for being neglectful," they had turned their backs on her. Even after Dumbledore had risked the status of the mission to explain it to them. (Percy had been accepted back into the family 2 weeks after she had been legally disowned…ironic.)
She moved out of the Burrow into my own apartment, cut off all communication with anyone associated with the Weasley family (Potter and Granger included) and got a job as the Hogwarts Healer…Madam Pomfrey had retired a few years before. She immersed herself even deeper into the farce of being a Death Eater, finding out as much information as she could about the workings of Tom Riddle and his dunces.
She quickly rose through the ranks of young Death Eaters and became second only to Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy…The Dark Trio, as they were called by their followers. They were the leaders of the group of Slytherins that fought for Voldemort in Hogwarts and Malfoy was Voldemort's surrogate son. She was called Nevra by my fellow Death Eaters, and was second only to their command. Now, she had found out the most crucial information of all.
The Death Eaters were planning to attack Hogwarts…and even more important, Dumbledore was going to let them. Because the deaths of students was the only way to insure that Potter had an open shot on Voldemort's mind. That was the day that Ginny had gone to the cliff. Watched the waves. She felt like it was her fault that Hogwarts students would die. She could have stopped the attack without telling Dumbledore with the few words needed to kill the Dark Trio.
But Ginny was too scared. And a little voice in the back of her mind said to me that she was beginning to become attached to these ambitious, kick-ass, independent, bold people…she genuinely liked them. They had just made the wrong choice about whom to side with in the War…they actually thought Voldemort could win. So she had run off to Dumbledore like a good little spy. Now children were going to die because of her. There was no one to turn to now. No family, no friends, no Order member…no one. She was all alone. There was no one to stop her from drowning herself in those waves. Until he came along.
Dangerous Conversation
Ginny was standing on the rocky edge of the cliff, just thinking. Listening to the roar of the waves and the call of the seagulls and trying to figure out how she felt, what she was going to do. She was so hurt, and guilty, and angry, and just plain tired of acting…of doing things she did not want to do to maintain this farce.
If she backed out now, Voldemort would kill me. Wouldn't it be easier just to gently fall into the swirling currents below? No troubles, no worries anymore, just the murky light that gently fades from view and the warm water surrounding her.
She was so lost in my thoughts that she did not hear the crunch of broken shells as he approached. His touch on her arm quickly became a hold as she stumbled in shock and nearly fell over the edge.
"Nevra?" She tensed at the sound of his silky deep voice. It was the Dark Prince himself - the one that I hated most of all - yet admired all the same. "I did not know anyone else came here but me. What are you doing?"
"Thinking." She could feel his frown upon me as she gazed out into the distant horizon.
"About what?" He asked, his scrutiny apparent.
"What it would be like to feel those waves pounding my body into the floor of the ocean." The widening of his eyes was the only sign to his surprise.
"And what answer have you come up with?" he asked calmly.
Ginny thought for a moment and knew her answer. "Peaceful."
" Pardon?" His voice was amused, unbelieving. It made Ginny angry that he could be like that about a thing that would have made all her friends gasp in horror. Then again, she supposed different wasn't such a bad thing…after all, those friends had all deserted her. Yes, maybe different wasn't such a bad thing.
"It would be peaceful."
"Ah…I have thought the same on several occasions." At this, she turned to him. His silver eyes were nearly as stormy as the waters below. He was serious.
"What pulled you back from the edge?" Her voice broke at this, to her shame. He shrugged nonchalantly.
"I don't know…I just could not fall. I tried…guess my Slytherin mind just wouldn't let me." He smirked. Ginny sighed.
"That's not much help, you know. I don't have a Slytherin mind." He grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her closer to him, farther away from the edge.
"Yes, you do. The Sorting Hat would have put you in Slytherin after the Dark Lord possessed you in my second year…that would be your first. And I won't let you fall, anyways. Nevra." He added her name as an afterthought. Proof of how low below him she was, even as second-in-command. Ginny stiffened in his grasp and yanked her arm away.
"It was your father that gave the Dark Lord access to me. Your father effectively ruined my life that year." The Prince turned away, his eyes suddenly silver.
"I know…I hate him nearly as much as you do." His eyes smoldered, and his hands turned into fists. Suddenly his mask came on. It had been off for all of this conversation, but it appeared and it was like a wall between us. "I don't want to talk about him."
She shrugged. "All right. You know what I was really thinking? I was wondering how it was going to feel, killing children I grew up with. Children I was friends with."
He laughed bitterly. "You have killed children before, Nevra. Knowing them shouldn't make a difference."
Suddenly Ginny was angry at him. Angry for revealing to her what her heart was denying. Angry that he was telling the truth. Angry at herself for becoming such a bad person. "You don't know shit, Malfoy." She turned to walk away.
He grabbed her wrist, bent her hand back to the breaking point, and twisted her arm behind her back. "Don't test me, Nevra. Respect for your Prince is always necessary. I don't appreciate rudeness. And I am above you. I could kill you in an instant and it would be like crushing an insect beneath my foot." His voice was smooth, his body tense like a coiled spring ready to break. And as ashamed as Ginny was of it, she was scared. He would kill her if he thought it necessary. And she would not be able to defend herself…she would be killed on the spot by the Dark Side if she touched a hair on the Prince's head.
"Let go of me, Prince. I forgot myself for a moment." The fire in her voice could not be dampened. But at least she was polite. He smirked at her as he released her arm.
"You would do well to remember better next time, Nevra." Ginny backed away and spat at his feet. Suddenly, she was ready to risk it all, throw everything away, to prove that this infuriating man had no power over her.
"My loyalty is not to the Dark Lord. Kill me for it if you will …but it never has been. I would kill myself now if I could make my mind follow my heart…Do you know what it is like to hate who you have become?" Malfoy's face darkened, and his body grew tense.
"I should kill you for it…butmost Death Eaters are not loyal to the Dark Lord…to Ambition, to Greed, to Lust…yes, but not to the Dark Lord. You are no threat to me regardless of where your loyalties lie." He paused, as if pondering whether to reveal a secret or not.
"I know what it is to hate who you have become…I do it every second of my life." He turned away from me, the tears building in his voice. Suddenly he looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes cold as steel. "But Nevra, if you ever betray me, I will kill you. I don't give a damn about Voldemort's agenda...but if your actions in any way bring harm to me, you are a walking corpse, do you understand?"
She nodded curtly and walked away, leaving him to his thoughts at the shoreline.
That was the end of my first conversation with the mystery that was Draco Malfoy, the Prince of Darkness. He fascinated me, scared me, and disgusted me all at once. He made me pity him, admire him and hate him. In fact, there was virtually no emotion that he did not make me feel at one time or the other. That was what drew me in to this man. That is what drew us together, I think. That is what saved both of us from ourselves.