Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter Eighteen

Sunday, Oct. 13

"I told you that I don't want a bloody party!" Pansy yelled, and not for the first time that day.

"Well, you're still getting one!" Luna called down the hallway, laughing lightly.

"If she doesn't want a party, we shouldn't give her one," Colin murmured quietly.

Luna just laughed again, kissing Colin.

"I have a surprise for everyone though!" she laughed, twirling as she headed to the meeting room to finish decorating.

The past twenty-one days, fifteen hours, seventeen minutes and thirty-five seconds had been horrible. Everyone was dealing with Seamus' absence in their own ways, none of them good.

Ginevra and Draco hadn't spent one night together, but they continued to look at each other longingly during every meal, and nearly every lesson. Pansy, Gregory and Vincent had stopped being as obvious about their feelings, not even looking at each other when Blaise and Neville were around. Parvati and Padma spent more and more time with Fred and George, not wanting to see the sadness on everyone's faces, despite their own sadness. Blaise and Neville hadn't let each other out of their sights, both of them skipping their separate lesson so they could spend the time with each other. Neither of them spoke unless it was completely necessary, and even then the words were limited. Colin had stopped taking photographs within a few days of Seamus' absence, as the photographs were far too depressing. Even Dodger had stopped swearing.

The hammock in her room was wilting as Neville became more withdrawn with every passing day.

Luna was the only one pleased with what was happening. She still didn't understand how everyone was so upset about it. Seamus was becoming what he'd always wanted to become, even if he didn't know it. This would benefit him far more than Hogwarts ever could. Luna had stopped trying to convince everyone after a few days, seeing that it was hopeless.

She'd spent the last two days in the Forest, talking with the unicorns. No one had asked about her absence, again showing how withdrawn everyone was becoming. But then, their lack of questions may have also been due to her arriving at Ginevra's rooms with bags full of presents. Pre-wrapped, so Pansy wouldn't try to peek, of course.

Last week Albus had agreed to her suggestion, and had announced that there was going to be a Halloween party scheduled for the thirty-first of October. It was to be a costume party, and Luna planned on going as Cassandra. Not very inventive, but she knew that it would be original at least.

Her friends still hadn't thought up any costumes, which was disappointing, but after today, she had an inkling that they may change their minds.

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Dodger returned to Ginevra's rooms. He gave a report to her, then curled up under the bed, not even bothering to scare Relo. He was tired after chasing after the unicorns for the past two days. The things he did for friendship...

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At fifteen minutes past twelve, Seamus left the Forbidden Forest. He winced at the bright sunlight, raising an arm to shield his eyes.

Keep going straight, Orion. You will need to use your hand to knock on the door. Do not forget the note, Evita's voice said in his mind, soothing him.

He did as she said, using his hand to knock on the wooden door. He was unsure of what to do next. Evita's voice didn't sound again, and he waited impatiently, not used to having to wait for something.

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Pansy stopped yelling at Luna through the meeting room door when a knock came from the front door.

Luna looked out from the meeting room, and smiled broadly at Blaise and Neville, who had gathered with the others to watch Pansy yell at Luna.

"Blaise, Neville, would you go get that, please?" Luna asked them.

Neither of them answered, they just stood up and went over to the door.

Pansy barged her way into the meeting room, and continued to yell at Luna for organising and going ahead with her unecessary birthday party.

Neville opened the door, and they both froze when they saw Seamus standing at the door.

Blaise's mouth dropped open in shock and surprise. He stared at Seamus, who had changed signifiantly since he had last seen him.

Seamus was in his fighting mode, and his shorts were ripped and torn. His hair was shaved close to his head, his eyes were bright green and his skin was bronzed from the sun, and looked to be tinted silver when he moved in the light. The vine tattoos on his arms were still there, brighter than either Neville or Blaise had seen before. He was muscular, and his arms flexed subconsciously, as if he were missing something. On his left forearm was a leather strap, holding his wand on the inside of his arm.

Not only that, but his entire body was covered in scars. Some of them were white and healed, while some others that looked remarkably like arrow wounds, were red and scabbing over. A few of the scars even looked to be teeth marks, and not just from animals.

The look in his eyes was confused, but not confusion of a mortal. Seamus' eyes held a wildness that only animals could achieve. He didn't seem to recognise Blaise or Neville either.

"LUNA!" Neville yelled, his voice hoarse.

Everyone came rushing out of the meeting room to see what was wrong.

"Seamus?" Ginevra said in disbelief, staring at him.

Luna grinned and looked at Blaise and Neville, who were still in shock. She held back a laugh, then offered her hand to Seamus.

He looked at Luna as if he didn't know what to do. Remembering the note, he held it out, looking at Ginevra.

"Why's he looking at me like that?" Ginevra muttered under her breath.

"Just take the note," Luna suggested.

With a tentative smile, Ginevra took the note from Seamus' outstretched hand, and read it, frowning slightly.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, reading over her shoulder. "Oh."

"What do you mean by oh?" Pansy muttered, taking the note from Ginevra. "He will not be the same," she read. "Like we didn't notice," she drawled.

"Does he even recognise us?" Parvati asked, staring at Seamus.

"Pehaps we should let him come inside," Luna suggested.

Realising that they were still standing around the doorway, everyone went back inside to the meeting room. Ginevra looked over her shoulder. Blaise and Neville were still standing at the door, Seamus still outside and looking confused.

Frowning slightly, Ginevra went back to the door, and took Blaise and Neville's hands in her own. They jumped slightly, as if they'd forgotten there was anyone else in the room.

Ginevra smiled at Seamus, and nodded with her head over to the meeting room.

"Coming?" she asked.

Seamus just looked at her. Looping her arm through Blaise and Neville instead, Ginevra offered her hand, as Luna had done. Seamus looked wary, touching her hand with the tips of his fingertips. She slowly closed her hand around his fingers, and pulled him slightly, encouraging him to walk inside the room. Seamus seemed to understand, and stepped in through the doorway.

Blaise pulled away from Ginevra, grabbing Seamus in a tight hug.

Seamus froze in his embrace, his eyes wide. He didn't understand the words that Blaise whispered in his ear, nor the feelings that struggled in his stomach.

"Blaise, I don't think he understands what's happening," Neville said softly, putting a hand on Blaise's shoulder.

Blaise pulled away from Seamus, looking into his face for something. When he didn't find it, Blaise nodded briefly, a cold mask in place of his face. He turned away, and Ginevra caught a brief glimpse mask the mask to see that Blaise was absolutely distraught. Neville's face fell and he took Blaise's hand, leading him to their room.

"Come on, Seamus," Ginevra murmured heavily, going into the meeting room.

Seamus cautiously followed her into the room. Before he went inside, he looked to where Blaise and Neville had gone, a frown on his face.

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For the rest of the day, Seamus was silent. He didn't say a word, or seem to understand what the others were saying. When given a piece of Pansy's birthday cake, he stabbed it with the fork, as if he didn't realise that it was food.

Seamus peered at the pieces of cake, looking for blood and possibly entrails. Not seeing any, he pushed it away with something akin to disgust on his face. He kept the fork in his hand. He liked the fork.

Ginevra slowly moved the knife away from Seamus' reach. She didn't want to see him with a knife in his hand, considering how dangerous he looked with just a fork!

Blaise and Neville came into the room, neither looking at Seamus. He looked at them as they sat at the far end of the table.

"Where's the presents then?" Pansy muttered.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, and even with everyone acting like they were, she was enjoying the party. She just didn't know why Luna had to look so smug! In seconds, a heap of presents were in front of her.

Seamus peered at the wrapped gifts curiously. The paper was shiny, enticing and startling him at the same time. One of the wrapping papers had beeen designed to sparkle when light hit it, and the setting sun was pouring in through the window, making the entire room sparkle.

Pansy began to open the gifts. An Animagus book from Ginevra, a bracelet from Draco, a book on healing properties of water plants from Blaise and Neville (and Seamus, but he didn't know that), a very long list of pixie swear words courtesy of the four twins (Padma was going to test her on some of them later, apparently), a book on potions from Colin and Luna, and a framed mermaid cross-stitch from a bright-red Millicent and grinning Theodore. Gregory and Vincent refused to let her open her gift from them in front of everyone, and had whispered enough in her ear to ensure that she didn't want to with everyone watching.

"Why were you the only two that got separate presents?" Pansy asked, glaring at the others half-heartedly.

"Well, we figured we may not always be together, so it wouldn't be fair for us to buy you just one present. Bsides, we're not cheap!" Ginevra said, laughing at Fred and George's expressions.

"What do you mean you may not always be together?" Pansy muttered. "You two are the gods' damned perfect couple!"

"So were Romeo and Juliet, and they're dead," Ginevra pointed out.

"They were Muggles!" Millicent protested.

"Helen and Paris, then," Draco said.

"He was a Muggle," Gregory retorted.

"Tristan and Isolde," Ginevra said.

"She was Muggle-born!" Padma replied.

"Dumbledore and Grindelwa

"Luna! Honestly, the thought of Dumbledore with anoyone is enough to make me ill!" Colin groaned, his head in his hands.

"It's not that bad, Colin! They would have been much younger," Luna murmured. "I think it would have been extremely difficult for Dumbledore to have killed Grindelwald when he loved him so much," she said, a sad frown on her face.

"Be as that may, I still don't want to think about Dumbledore having ... doing ... " Colin shuddered, unable to finish his sentence.

"Agreed!" Pansy said immediately, her face pale.

As they argued playfully, the sparkling wrapping from Colin and Luna's present to Pansy fell to the floor, the room dulling slightly. Seamus frowned, then leant back to look for the sparkling paper. He wanted the room to shine again.

Seeing the paper on the ground, Seamus grinned to himself. In a fluid motion, he was out of his seat, and crouching on the floor. He growled low, almost playfully, then leapt clear across the room and straight onto the shiny paper. He was very pleased. Holding up the paper, the room started to shine again. He moved it out of the sun, and the room dulled. Sun, shiny. No sun, dull.

Everyone watched in some form of shock as Seamus played with the sparkly paper in an almost child-like way. He continued the up and down motions for a good ten minutes before getting distracted.

Relo walked into the room. It was shining, then it did not. He wanted the room to shine. Relo saw Seamus and went over to him happily, stopping a few metres short when he smelt Seamus' scent properly.

"Ginevra! What did they do? He smells different!" Relo said, looking confused.

"What do you mean?" Ginevra asked.

She swatted Draco's hand away as he started to tickle her.

"He smells different!" Relo repeated, searching for the right words. "He smells like he should," he said with a happy nod.

Seamus looked at Relo, a frown on his face. He crouched low, his body as close to the ground as possible. Relo laughed, recognising the game, and crouched too. He leapt before Seamus had time to blink, and scrambled onto his back. Seamus rolled, moving so that Relo was pinned to the ground. But only for a moment, as Relo appeared behind Seamus so quickly it seemed that he had slid out of his grasp.

Everyone watched the fight in surprise. Relo was laughing, but looking more serious than anyone had ever seen him before; while Seamus was doing moves that no one had thought were possible. He used his body like it was made to twist around completely, and his arms were able to hold someone in a grip that looked impossible to get out of.

"We're going to be screwed when he comes back and we do training," Pansy muttered.

Padma agreed with wide eyes.

"Definitely have to start training again," Ginevra said.

"Well, that's something to look forward to!" Luna said cheerfully. "Do you like your presents, Pansy?" she asked, grinning.

"I already told you that I liked them!" Pansy growled, glaring at her.

Relo and Seamus gradually stopped fighting, and turned their attention to Pansy and Luna, who were arguing. Luna was smiling broadly, but Pansy was getting quite heated. In the midst of it all was Ginevra's laughter. Draco had started tickling her, making her laugh wildly when he reached sensitive spots on her body.

Seamus growled, leapt clear over the table and pulled Draco off Ginevra.

Stunned at what had happened, Draco was thrown across the room. He was up in an instant, growling at Seamus deep in his throat.

Seamus turned to face him, crouching low again.

"Both of you stop it!" Ginevra said, glaring at both of them.

Seamus didn't look away from Draco, his eyes narrowed.

"He's acting like Alexander," Pansy said, surprised at her own revelation.

At Alexander's name, Seamus growled angrily.

"So you don't like Alexander, either?" Draco asked, brightening as he straightened up again.

Seamus looked confused, his eyebrows knitting as he tried to understand why Draco wasn't challenging him to a fight.

"It's all right, Seamus," Ginevra said quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Seamus relaxed visibly, and returned to his place at the table. Relo sat by him, chattering away happily, even though he knew that Seamus didn't understand a word he was saying.

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Blaise's hand brushed Neville's, conveying his feelings with a simple touch. They had gotten better at communicating without words over the last twenty-two days. They'd had to.

Neville gave a nod, so small that Blaise himself almost missed it.

Blaise left the meeting room quietly, barely noticed by his friends as they continued to talk with Pansy on her birthday. He couldn't hate them for being happy, he couldn't hate them for anything they were feeling while Seamus had briefly returned. He could be jealous about it though.

Neville left a minute after Blaise did, glancing at Seamus longingly. Seamus looked back at him, almost as if he recognised him for a moment. Then his eyes returned to their blank state. The almost-recognised look filled Neville with hope, and he hurried to their room, where Blaise was sitting on the bed, looking at the forest.

The forest on the wall had changed noticeably. The trees were no longer their vibrant forest green colour, but had dulled to a brown colour. Some of the 'trees' had also been scratched out of the wall, as if centaurs hooves had been beating into the wall for seven long hours.

Neville sat at Blaise's feet, looking into his eyes and telling him what had happened.

"Sure?" Blaise asked, his voice soft and uncertain.

Neville hesitated for a split second, then nodded.

Blaise sighed heavily, looking at the centaur marks on the wall. He didn't want to be crushed again. His heart wouldn't survive it.

"We'll try," Blaise said, kissing Neville's hands.

Neville hugged Blaise, then headed back to the meeting room. Seamus was sitting at the end of the table, the paper beside him, not providing as much entertainment as it had only minutes before.

He took a deep breath, and shot a vine at Seamus. In an instant, Seamus had hit the vine off, and was crouching on the floor, ready to fight. Neville snarled back in his throat, but quiet enough to not draw attention. He glared at Seamus, then hurried back to their room.

Not one to back away from a fight, Seamus followed him, keeping low to the ground.

Neville gave a nod when Seamus was in the room, and Blaise shut the door quickly.

Seamus whirled around when he heard the door close, and the rush of air accompanying the motion. He snarled at both of them, low to the ground once more. He didn't like to be trapped.

"You can stop pretending now, Seamus," Neville said, his voice wavering. "We're alone in here, and we won't tell the others if you just talk to us," he added.

"Irish," Blaise murmured, moving closer to him.

Seamus turned so he was facing Blaise, a snarl on his lips.

"You have to recognise us, Seamus!" Blaise said, his voice on the verge of breaking.

Without another word, Blaise pulled Seamus to him, kissing him passionately.

Neville rushed over and pulled Blaise away. Seamus didn't recognise them at all. It had all just been wishful thinking.

"I'm sorry," Neville said over and over in Blaise's ear, holding him tightly.

He hated how Blaise seemed to shrink in his arms, how the control he'd worked on slipped out of his grasp, and how he was racking with sobs as Seamus just stood there, not understanding what was wrong.

"Just get out!" Neville yelled at him angrily.

He would regret the words later, even if Seamus didn't understand what they meant.

Seamus managed to open the door, surprising himself at how easily he learned how to use the round knob.

He left, briefly looking back at the two of them; Blaise crying into Neville's shoulder quietly.

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Seamus was quiet for the next two hours. The silence was different to earlier in the day, and had most of them worried that something had happened. Since they couldn't ask Seamus and be sure of an answer, Ginevra and the others turned to Luna.

"Neville and Blaise tried to talk to him earlier," Luna answered their question softly, sadness filling her voice.

"What happened?" Parvati asked, glancing at Padma for some sort of reaction.

"Blaise kissed Seamus," Luna said simply. "They won't willingly come out of their room until late tonight. Seamus will be very upset when he remembers all of this," she said, sighing heavily.

"He's going to remember all of this?" Pansy asked in surprise.

"Of course. Just because he doesn't understand everything at the moment, it does not mean that he will not understand it later on," Luna replied.

Pansy clenched her teeth.

"Right then," she said, standing and going over to Seamus. "You are a complete bastard for having left without saying goodbye! No matter the reason, you still could have said goodbye. You broke Blaise's heart, you idiot! Not to mention Neville's completely withdrawn himself! He won't even go to Herbology! When you're back to normal, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do!"

Everyone was silent for a moment, Pansy's chest heaving as she stopped yelling at Seamus. He looked completely stunned, not understanding a single thing she'd said.

"Well, I feel better now," Pansy said, then headed to Neville and Blaise's room.

Everyone hurried after her quickly.

"Luna said they weren't going to come out of their room," Colin said, frowning as she started banging on the door.

"Willingly," Pansy corrected with a broad smirk. "Get out of your room this bloody instant, or I will come in there and drag you out my bloody self!" Pansy yelled loudly, banging on the door with each word.

A string of insults and swear words came back at her, from Neville surprisingly enough.

"Fine," Pansy growled. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door, murmuring something under her breath.

The door exploded from the frame, and Pansy walked into the room, literally dragging Blaise and Neville out by their ears. As she did, everyone got to see in the room for the first time in twenty-two days.

"Blaise, you would have seriously injured your hooves by doing that," Theodore muttered, seeing the large dents covering the walls.

"I don't fucking care!" Blaise yelled; his tears were still there, but the sobs were under control. "He fucking left without a fucking word, and then he fucking shows up today not remembering one fucking little thing!"

I do apologise for that, a voice said. It floated through the rooms, calming everyone.

Evita managed to walk into the corridor, and into Blaise and Neville's room, without injuring herself or anyone else.

I did warn you that he would not be the same. Orion does not understand human society, he still has a lot to learn about the mortal way of life. I am quite surprised that he learnt how to open the door so quickly, Evita said in an amused tone. He will remember everything that has happened today, as well as his relationships with you all, when he returns. I normally do not let trainees out of the Forest before they have had proper instruction in mortal ways, but Cassandra was quite insistent.

Everyone looked at Luna for an explanation, but she pretended not to feel their gazes on her, and just kept her white eyes facing straight ahead.

Come, Orion. It is time for you to return now, Evita said quietly.

Seamus followed her out of the rooms, and towards the Forest.

"Wait, Lady Evita!" Neville called.

The unicorn stopped, turning to look at him. Neville stood with Blaise by his side, the others crowded behind them.

"When will Seamus come back properly? Can you tell us that?" he asked, pleading with her.

I can tell you, if only to make up for him not being able to say goodbye the first time. It took us quite a few days to calm him over that, Evita murmured. He will return on the day of All Hallow's Eve. I believe that Cassandra is making a costume for Orion, she added, almost laughing in their heads as their surprise filtered through their thoughts.

Blaise and Neville said goodbye to Seamus, trying to show him their feelings for him without scaring him again.

"Seamus!" Pansy called as he and the unicorn reached the Forest line. "Sorry for yelling at you when you don't understand me!" she called.

"Sorry about my behaviour too, Pans," Blaise murmured as they went inside.

"That's fine. You swear at me like that again, and I'll castrate you!" she said in a tone so cheerful it made everyone wince, no matter their gender.

Neville sighed and led Blaise to their room, the emotion of the day tiring both of them. They had to wait another whole eighteen days before Seamus would return to them.

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Thursday, Oct. 31

Ginevra watched Neville pace up and down the meeting room. Blaise was sitting down, but he wasn't looking any calmer than Neville. Blaise kept fidgeting, looking out the window at the Forest, then returned to fidgeting, before starting it all over again. At least they were being consistent.

She was happy that Dumbledore had given everyone today off in order to prepare for the Halloween party that night, or else she would have just gone back to sleep when Blaise and Neville had knocked on her door almost two hours earlier.

Since Pansy's birthday party, it seemed like Blaise and Neville had changed overnight. They had both started talking and participating in class again, and they'd even encouraged the nightly training sessions to restart. It was like they wanted to be at their absolute best for Seamus when he returned.

"It's really too early to be here!" Pansy groaned, resting her head on the table. "I mean, Evita didn't even say that Seamus would be coming back this morning! And even if she did, I don't think she would have made it before a decent hour!" She managed to lift her head to glare at Neville and Blaise, who weren't paying her any attention.

"It's almost eight o'clock, Pansy. You're up at seven every day anyway," Millicent said, raising her eyebrow.

"But today is a day off! I stayed up late because I had a day off! And since I stayed up late, and had to get up early, I am tired and grumpy! I want to go back to bed!" Pansy groaned, putting her head on the table again. "If I don't get to sleep soon, someone is going to pay dearly!"

"You will be able to sleep later, do not worry," Luna said with a brief smile.

Her smile broadened and she turned her attention to the door. The action caused both Neville and Blaise to go completely still. They waited impatiently for any sounds that would reveal Seamus' arrival: footsteps, breathing, knocking on the door.

Nothing happened for a few minutes, and Luna burst out laughing.

"I am so very sorry about that, but it was too good of an opportunity to miss! The expressions on your faces must be hilarious!" Luna said between her peals of laughter.

She suddenly went quiet, and hurried to the door. Blaise and Neville frowned at each other, not wanting to fall for her trick again. But they didn't want to risk not seeing Seamus either, and hurried after her, the others right behind them.

Luna indicated to the door, and a heartbeat later there was a firm knock on it. Neville grinned brightly, hope filling his eyes. Blaise hesitated a moment before opening the door.

Seamus was standing there, a slight grin on his face. He looked as he had only eighteen days earlier. There was one large difference, and that was the look in his eyes. There was still an animalistic gleam to his eyes, but they also held an understanding that hadn't been there before. Seamus was human again.

Scars still laced his body, but they were tinted silver and bronze, like the rest of his skin.

"Hi ev'ryone," Seamus said, sounding nervous.

He looked at Blaise and Neville, his whole body tensed.

Blaise and Neville just stared at him, unable to say anything. Suddenly, Blaise stepped towards Seamus, who stilled further, and pulled him into a hug. Blaise murmured words in Gaelic to Seamus, trying to pronounce the language correctly.

Seamus looked surprised, both at the hug and Blaise's newly-learnt language skills. He hugged him back, returning words of his own. He looked at Neville and said something in Gaelic that brought tears to Neville's eyes.

Neville hugged both Seamus and Blaise tightly, clutching them like he never wanted to let go.

"All right, enough of the mushy stuff. We want some answers!" Pansy interrupted.

Pansy really wasn't comfortable when these sorts of moments happened.

Millicent, on the other hand, was comfortable, and started bickering with Pansy to leave the three alone.

Seamus just grinned as they argued with each other.

"Would you stop arguing and let Seamus come inside so he can have the chance to explain?" Ginevra muttered.

"Keep bickering like that," George started.

"And you'll be sent to different corners of the room!" Fred finished cheerfully.

Pansy and Millicent glared at the Weasley twins, but still went quiet and headed back to the meeting room. Seamus took Blaise and Neville's hands, going into the room with them by his side.

"I should probably start by telling you that a few days after I got into the Forest, the unicorns erased my memory," Seamus began.

"They erased your memory?! Without your consent?" Blaise burst out angrily.

Seamus shook his head.

"I let them do it, Blaise. They told me what my training would involve, and I knew I wouldn't be able to do most of the things needed if I was worrying about you all," Seamus said quietly. "My mind reverted to animal instincts for food, shelter, and water to survive. They ensured that I knew my wand was important so that I wouldn't lose it. It took me a few days to make this," Seamus said, showing them the leather band on his forearm that still held his wand.

"What about clothes? You were wearing shorts when you came back," Padma said, smirking at him.

Seamus chuckled.

"After the memory modification, my clothing was gone in less than a day, actually. It took three hours and two memory adjustments for me to understand that shorts were necessary, and that I had to wear them. That's why I was late to the party," Seamus said with an apologetic look at Pansy. "Sorry about what I was like," he added. "But I guess that's part of it ... When I say they erased everything, except those few things, I mean everything. I couldn't talk, I didn't understand what sounds meant, or even what things in front of me were. It took me a few hours to realise that trees were solid after I ran into one three times and tried to dig it out of the earth."

Fred and George tried not to laugh so that they were noticed.

"I also didn't remember any of you. The first memory adjustment they did was to get me to briefly understand that it wasn't appropriate for me to walk around naked when other people are around," Seamus said.

"I wouldn't have minded," Blaise said, smirking.

Seamus grinned at him.

"The second adjustment gave me a memory of you all; but just your faces. I didn't know your names, who you were, or what you meant to me," he said, sounding sad as he looked at Blaise and Neville. "By the time I got here from the Forest, the faces that I had been shown had practically faded from my mind. So when I got here and saw you, it really felt like I was seeing you all for the first time."

"What about Ginevra? You seemed to know her well enough to attack me," Draco muttered.

"Oh, yes. Well, Protectors all know who the Queen of All is by instinct. She has ridden a unicorn, and that smell never fades," Seamus said. "I really didn't know what you were doing. I couldn't understand the difference between pleasure and pain," he said, flushing slightly.

"So that's why you didn't ... " Neville began, then trailed off as he went bright red.

"Didn't what?" Millicent asked with a smirk.

Neville went brighter still, and just shook his head.

"What about all of those scars and marks on you?" Ginevra asked, redirecting the conversation.

Neville gave her a grateful look, while Millicent just looked disappointed.

"And why is your skin tinted silver?" Parvati asked curiously.

"The first question can be better answered if I Show you," Seamus said. "And to answer your question, Parvati, unicorn's blood is why my skin is silver," he said.

"What?!" Neville and Blaise shouted, staring at him in disbelief.

Seamus touched their hands, quietening them so he could finish explaining.

"Protectors do not kill the unicorns for their blood. The unicorns give their blood freely, so we are not cursed. It is like Ginevra drinking blood," he added.

"Except you drink from a mythical being, and I drink from Draco," Ginevra drawled, smirking.

"He could be counted as a mythical being," Gregory said with a laugh.

Draco rolled his eyes, ignoring Gregory's comment.

"So how did you get those scars?" Parvati asked, frowning.

Seamus moved a hand subtly, and the table turned transparent.

Having heard Seamus arrive, Relo and Dodger had come to see him. Dodger scoffed at Seamus.

"Still using bloody theatrics after all ye learnt?" Dodger asked, taunting him.

"What's he mean by that?" Vincent asked.

Seamus grinned at Dodger, then at the others.

"He meant why did I use my hand to direct my magic when I don't need to?"

The table started to change from wooden to transparent with no movements on Seamus' part at all.

"Now ye're jus' showin' off, ye bastard," Dodger muttered as the table flicked from one material to another even faster.

Seamus smirked, and the table stopped on its transparent form.

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He woke, his body completely still on the tree's wide branch. The forest and wind whispered to him, warning him. He stayed completely still, listening to the movements of the two-legged creatures below the forest canopy. They were close to his tree, but they hadn't seen him.

He waited until they continued along the path before descending the tree carefully. Stopping halfway down, he reached into a hole, past the sleeping owl, and grabbed his rock. It was sharpened to a point, and he could use it well enough if he was attacked.

He rubbed one of the cuts on his arm, the pain still present. It wasn't as sharp as it had been when the knife had gone into his skin, but it was still sore when it hit things.

He dropped fromt he lowest branch, landing in a low crouch. He had been caught landing on his feet only a few days ago, and he would not repeat his earlier mistakes.

He followed the trail they left. They were messy; their footsteps not covered, and a lot of broken branches, which meant that they weren't taking enough care when they walked in the forest. He growled in a low tone.

He hurried along the path, taking a different route. He knew where they would end up, and he could get there quicker. He arrived in a clearing, then went behind a tree opposite to where they would enter. He crouched low enough so that he wasn't visible, but also in a way that allowed him to escape if need be.

The first of the creatures arrived. Arrows were strung to its back, and the creature didn't notice him at all. The second one arrived, more cautious than the first. The creature looked around, listening intently.

He slowed his breathing so that he could barely hear his own heartbeat, then waited. Finally, the second creature seemed satisfied, and stopped listening, turning to the first.

He crouched lower, ready to spring. Suddenly, a Jobberknoll started to die nearby where he was hidden. The two creatures covered their ears, trying to block the noise, and looked directly at him, trying to find where the Jobberknoll was dying.

He snarled, and leapt from his position into the clearing. The Jobberknoll's death wasn't planned, but this confrontation would have happened sooner or later. He had three arrow wounds from the first creature, and the cut on his arm had been caused by the second.

He clutched his rock tightly, snarling at the two creatures. The first one had an arrow pointing at him, while the second had his knife in his hand. The second one said something, and the first backed away, the arrow still pointed at him. The second one crouched low and growled at him, accepting the challenge.

The creature leapt at him, and he rolled, barely dodging the creature's knife. He managed to get a scrape in though.

He held back his pleasure, and concentrated on the creature. Emotions were nothing but distraction when it came to fighting; it had taken him days to figure that out, and he would not forget it now.

The creature didn't move, watching him intently. He would not move first, and he would wait for the creature. He had a lot of patience. He could stay in the same position for hours if need be, and only a slight pain would result. The trees and wind had taught him to channel his pain, to make it become energy. They had taught him how to stay as solid as a tree, as flexible and strong as the wind. Their secrets flowed through him, and he would not let them down.

The creature leapt, faster than any normal human could have. The creature's knife dug into his stomach, but he ignored the pain. As the knife stuck into him, he hit the creature with his rock. As the creature staggered back, he pulled the knife out, throwing the rock to the side. He had a knife now, he would win.

The creature didn't have time to dodge, the hit to the face still making the creature stumble. He ran at the creature, who fell to the ground, three cuts bleeding from his chest. The creature cried out, and he waited for an arrow to come through the air. When nothing happened, he looked to where the other creature had been standing. The creature had disappeared, leaving his kin to die.

He growled, disgusted at the creature's actions. The creature beneath him cried out again, eyes wide. He shook his head, and watched as the realisation came into the creature's eyes. He felt something like pity for the creature, and stood up. The creature looked suspicious, its chest still bleeding. Looking around cautiously, the creature growled as he realised that the other creature had disappeared.

He didn't offer to give the knife back. He had taken it from the creature, the knife was his now.

The creature shut his eyes for a moment, and the wounds healed, leaving three long scars. The creature nodded at him, then left the clearing, not looking back.

He looked at the knife in his hand, feeling something like happiness. He searched the clearing and found his sharpened rock. The knife was definitely better, but the rock could still be used in an emergency.

He left the clearing, and went back to his tree. His stomach was still bleeding, the blood clotting black as it tried to heal the wounded skin. Finding some herbs at the base of the tree, he did as the wind and tree said, chewing the herbs in his mouth. He pressed them to his wound, and rested at the base of the tree, branches covering him from the sight of animals and other creatures.

He slept, weary from the blood loss and the sudden loss of adrenalin.

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"A Protector's training includes real-life battle against different opponents," Seamus explained. "The unknown Protector is sent into the Forest alone to fight and survive on his own, while other Protectors are grouped together so defend parts of the Forest. Alexander, the one with the arrows, was supposed to defend and help his partner, but he left him to die. He is under review," Seamus said, sounding pleased. "By the end of my training, I had won five out of eight parts of the Forest."

"Does that mean you get to keep those parts of the Forest then?" Parvati asked, slightly confused.

Seamus chuckled, shaking his head.

"The Forest is not to keep or be controlled by anyone other than Mother Nature," Seamus said. "The Forest permits the unicorns and Protectors to divide it during training, but other than that, most Protectors simply just look after the Forest as a unit," he answered.

"What about your response to Alexander?" Blaise asked.

Everyone looked curious about this question, and waited for Seamus' answer impatiently.

"This is sort of hard to explain," Seamus murmured. "Every Protector has their own unique talents. I am able to read other's emotions and body language, and translate it into what they're thinking. So I was able to see who Draco meant when he said Alexander's name, due to the intense anger he felt." He frowned, not sure if he was making any sense.

"You were able to interpret his emotions into a picture of Alexander?" Parvati asked, looking a little confused.

"Something like that," Seamus said with a nod, relieved that he was making some sort of sense.

"I'm not even going to ask how that's possible," Padma muttered, shaking her head. "I'd get too confused, so I'm just going to accept what you've said, and continue with my own question," she said, smirking broadly. "Would you please get Luna to tell us who you're going as to the Halloween party? It's been driving me nuts for weeks!" Padma growled, glaring at Luna.

"I second that!" Ginevra said, grinning.

"Agreed," Pansy muttered.

"You are not to find out until tonight," Luna said, a smile on her face. "Perhaps a round of training will get your minds off of tonight, and it will give Orion a chance to show us his new skills."

"Who's Orion?" Vincent asked, frowning.

"I am," Seamus said, a grin on his face. "Orion is my Protector name. It means 'hunter', and it comes from the Greek tale of the hunter Orion. It's kind of a long story," he added, looking sheepish.

"You will have enough time to tell us along the way," Luna said cheerfully.

"Does that mean you have Orion inside of you like Colin has Apollo?" Millicent asked curiously.

Seamus growled at the god's name, his eyes glowing a bright green colour.

"Apollo is here?" Seamus / Orion hissed angrily.

"I'd take that as a yes, Mill," Theodore drawled.

"Apollo is on Mount Olympus, Orion. And you are not to hurt him. That was part of the deal," Cassandra said in a reprimanding tone.

"That bastard killed me, and you expect me not to at least throw one punch?" Orion growled.

"Apollo did not kill you, Artemis did. Apollo just tricked her into doing it. He was young, jealous, stupid and foolish. I'm sure he will admit that himself when he stops hiding behind Colin," Cassandra said, looking to Colin.

"I was not hiding!" Apollo said, his skin glowing gold, even as Orion's started to glow silver and green.

"You're back?" Theodore said, staring at Apollo, then to Orion.

"All right! Time out!" Ginevra called, getting everyone to stare at her. "I am getting quite sick of all of this drama! Leave your personal problems on Mount Olympus, or sell it to some Muggle soap opera, I don't care. Just don't bring it here! While you're here, you are going to at least be civil to each other!" she said, glaring at Orion and Apollo.

"He killed me!" Orion said indignantly.

"Then take your anger out on him during training!" Ginevra said. "After training, then you are to be civil to each other. If you cannot handle these terms, then you can both leave. You know where the doors are and how to use them," she said, completely serious.

Apollo and Orion nodded to each other, then faded away.

"Sorry, I probably should have warned you that he was back when you mentioned Orion," Colin said sheepishly.

"I don't mind!" Millicent said immediately.

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"What? Two hot gods come out wanting to wrestle, and you think I'm going to be upset?" she said, laughing.

"Their way of wrestling doesn't involve mud, Millicent," Gregory teased, smirking.

"No, but I'm sure it involves removing of clothing!" Millicent said, not at all fazed by his teasing.

"Oh, I'd pay to see that," Pansy said, fanning herself.

"We could actually start charging people money to watch them fight," Padma said to Parvati, grinning.

Parvati just blushed and shook her head slightly, but was still grinning nonetheless.

"You realise that if any of us had said that about women, we'd be in deep shit?" Draco drawled.

"You'd be dead, not in deep shit," Ginevra corrected, a cheerful smile on her face as she left the room.

In that moment, everyone knew how angry Vampires got at the thought of adultery alone. They shuddered, not wanting to see what they were like when the adultery was actually commited!

"I suggest we go start training now," Seamus said.

"Agreed!" Fred and George said quickly.

Everyone followed after Ginevra, talking to Seamus again. It was almost as if he'd never left.

"Orion was the son of Poseidon and Euryale. He was giagantic, as all of their children were, and was a hunter. He fell in love with a woman named Merope, the daughter of Dionysus and Ariadne, and wanted to marry her. He stayed with the king for a long time, in order to gain favour with them. However, the king hesitated in arranging the marriage. Merope said that she loved him, and Orion gave himself to her. She claimed it as rape the next day, so the king got Orion drunk, and then threw him into the sea after blinding him," Orion/Seamus said.

"Claimed it as rape?" Cassandra echoed, turning to face him.

"Ten years of service to that bastard, a promise of her hand, and he procrastinated just because his wife was about to find out about his mistress! Merope was rightfully mine!" Orion growled.

No one even had time to think as Cassandra slapped Orion on the face. Hard.

"I meant what I said about only fighting each other in training. That goes for everyone!" Ginevra called, sounding annoyed.

"My apologies," Cassandra said, but she still glared at Orion.

"What happened after the king blinded him, Seamus?" Parvati asked, purposely addressing Seamus so that Orion would fade away.

"He wandered the earth for two years, until Hephaestus took pity and gave him a boy to guide him. With the boy as his guide, Orion made his way east where the rising sun restored his sight. Orion set out to kill the king, but Hephaestus warned the king and put him in an underground chamber where Orion wouldn't find him. Orion gave up after a while, and left with Eos to Delos, where he served her sexually for almost seven years," Seamus said, sounding nauseous at the thought. "Artemis offered him a place within her hunting circle, and gave him the opportunity to be something other than a slave to Eos' sexual appetite. He agreed and left with her. Apollo," Seamus said.

Orion shot Colin a dirty look.

"Apollo didn't agree with his sister's choice of hunter, as Orion wasn't a god. One day when Orion was swimming in the sea, and merely a dot in the water, Apollo challenged Artemis to hit the floating speck. Artemis never could back away from a challenge, and so she used her bow and arrows to shoot the speck, as he said. Orion was killed instantly, and his body washed up onto the shore a few moments later..." Seamus said, trailing off.

"I think that Artemis will be happy to see you again," Cassandra murmured, almost to herself.

"Artemis is here?" Orion asked.

All of their anger towards each other dissipated as they started to talk.

"She is with the Veela's. Julianne Torleni, Xavier Torleni's sister. Xavier is a Vampyre and Ginevra's mentor," Cassandra was saying as they left the corridor, and started up to the Room of Requirement.

"Do you know who else is here?" Orion asked.

"Of course I do. But I am not able to tell you. The consequences will be too much to bare," Cassandra murmured quietly.

Orion seemed to understand, and just nodded sympathetically.

"Gods', it really is like one of those soap things," Colin muttered, shaking his head.

His words made Luna burst out laughing, and although Colin was surprised, he was still pleased that he had made her laugh.

"Hurry it up, would you? We want to get to training! I want to kick Draco's arse again!" Pansy called, smirking.

"What do you mean, again? You haven't kicked my arse before!" Draco said indignantly.

"Last time, I got you on the ground for three whole seconds. That counts as kicking your arse!"

"It doesn't count. Ginevra distracted me," Draco muttered.

"There'll be distractions if it was real," Pansy pointed out, looking smug.

Ginevra shook her head and opened the door.

"We're willingly doing this?" Seamus asked, realising that it was one of the challenge rooms from Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Yes. We're getting quite good at it. We almost came out of the last challenge," Ginevra said, sounding pleased for everyone.

"Haven't others already come out of challenges though?" Seamus asked.

"Yes, but they came out of a one-part challenge when you saw them. Only one team has finished a two-part challenge," Pansy said.

"The Room looks at the skill of the people in the one minute, and decides the best alternative for them. We've been getting three and four-part challenges lately," Blaise added, grinning.

Seamus looked impressed, and followed everyone into the room.

"How are we going to split this time?" Padma asked as soon as the door was closed.

"I say Ginevra against Draco. That was interesting," Parvati said, grinning.

"Agreed," Millicent said.

"Fine. But someone else is choosing next time," Ginevra muttered. "You choose," she said to Draco, who gave a nod.

"Seamus, Fred, Blaise, Parvati, Luna, Theodore, Pansy," Draco said, grinning.

"You really went for a split there," Millicent muttered.

"Padma, George, Neville, Gregory, Vincent, Colin, Millicent are with me," Ginevra said.

They all split up and went into their groups.

"What's going on? Aren't we just going to battle against animals or Death Eaters?" Seamus asked, confused by this turn of events.

"No. Those ones weren't as realistic as they could have been. We realised half-way through one of the challenges that the Death Eaters didn't have any personality or features. They fought like Death Eater's did, but they didn't respond to things like some could have," Parvati explained quickly. "So we decided to split into two groups and go against each other. The Room seemed to like the idea, and turned my group into Death Eaters after a few minutes. It was a shock, and I couldn't stop shaking for a good ten minutes," Parvati admitted, blushing. "Now we choose who's going to be evil, and we can get ready for it. The pain in your arm is only an illusion," she added, trying to comfort him.

"Pain?" Seamus asked.

"From the Dark Mark. It's only an illusion to help you understand the way that Death Eaters feel when they're being summoned. It only hurts if you let it hurt," Parvati said.

"I hope we don't get plants on our side again," Blaise muttered. "Neville was wreaking havoc with them last time. I think we're getting a few extra minutes to explain, but I still had better be quick. We still have the same alternatives: Death Eaters, plants, animals, the lot. We're just using them in a different way. Last time, I was good, and we had plants as a friend, but we were against the team that Neville was in, so the plants weren't friendly for very long. Took a huge strain on him, but it worked. We lost within ten minutes," Blaise said, sounding disappointed.

"How do you win or lose?" Seamus asked.

"If you're hurt or hit in a way that would kill you in real life, then you're down for the rest of the challenge. Once all of your group is down, or you're the last one standing without a chance, then you lose. You win by not being that team," Blaise said with a smirk.

The lights dimmed, warning them to start strategising.

"We're evil this time!" Pansy called, grinning.

"You were evil last time!" Padma called back.

"You were on my team last time!"

"Attention," Ginevra said. "We're good, they're evil. Minimum light to begin with. Luna's observant so no sudden movements. Take it slow and easy. Make sure your barriers are up, as well as a cloaking device," she said.

"What about Seamus?" Vincent asked.

"Unknown powers, but don't lose track of him. He may surprise you and get past the Dark Mark pain long enough to hit you with a curse," Ginevra said. "Keep an eye on Draco; make sure he doesn't go Veelan and lure you away. You all know the spell to counter that, so you had better use it," she growled.

"I did say I was sorry about that," Padma said with a sheepish grin.

Ginevra just smirked at her before continuing. "We're at a stale mate with the twins," Ginevra said, getting nods from George and Padma. "But we can use it to our advantage. You can confuse the others. Mirror images should work, just make sure they don't include us," she said with a grin. "Neville, you can get to work on any plants that there may be. Seamus may still have your nymph powers, so be careful. Millicent, work with the animals if you can. Be careful with Draco's resistance. Gregory, Vincent, you are allowed to cause as much damage to the opposition as you want," Ginevra said, getting rewarded with grins. "Colin, either dragon or Apollo, since he's back. We need to know so we can give direction," she added.

"Apollo. He's busting to go against Orion," Colin muttered.

"Remind him it isn't hand-to-hand unless it's completely necessary! We don't want to be down one member in the first five minutes just because of something that happened long before our great-grandparents were born," Ginevra said.

Draco looked at his group, a smirk on his face.

"Luna, you know what you and Cassandra have to do. Theodore, mist over them would be good, and tend to the wounded. Pansy, spells and hexes. They'll probably have barriers, so be careful. Fred, Paravti, you can go pixie and annoy them. If that doesn't work, get back here and help with hexes. Seamus... What can you actually do?"

"Forest plants, wind, some animals, hand-to-hand fighting, healing with both herbs and spells, and normal hexes and spells," Seamus replied.

"And what about Orion?"

"Hunting with bow and arrows, as well as spears and nets," Orion replied. "I am also able to change into a unicorn if it is absolutely necessary," he said.

"Okay. It's only training, so I doubt it will come to that. I think we'll go for Seamus now. If you need to, change to Orion. You can do that quickly, right?" Draco asked.

The lights flickered, both teams cursing loudly as their time started to run out even quicker.

"Cloak up," Draco hissed.

As they all put up their cloaking devices, the lights switched off, leaving them in complete darkness. In less than a second, however, light appeared again, brighter than before. The sun was shining down on them, making them all feel lethargic within seconds.

"Is this normal?" Seamus asked Parvati quietly.

"We've had sunshine one other time, but that was just in Defence Against the Dark Arts," she said in reply.

"Attention," Draco hissed, contemplating whether he should turn Veelan straight away, or if he should wait for them to show themselves first.

As he decided to wait, Draco and the rest of his group started to feel a burning sensation in their left forearms.

Seamus bit his tongue as pain pushed at every nerve and cell in his entire body. His body felt like it was on fire, and he desperately wanted to scratch the skin off his left forearm just to alleviate some of the pain he was feeling.

"It's in your mind," Parvati murmured to him, seeing the sweat pouring down Seamus' face from the strain.

He nodded briefly, then stood completely still and emptied his mind. He tried to get past the pain he was feeling, as well as the short emotions brought on by the intense heat. As he relaxed each body part, and his mind started to become clearer, the pain faded.

"It worked!" he said, sounding surprised.

Luna giggled quietly, but from the other team, Millicent and Padma started laughing loudly.

"You just gave away our position. Nice one, Seamus," Fred said, clapping him on the back.

"Whoops. Sorry," he called out sheepishly.

A spell came from the other team, and Seamus fell to the ground with a Jellylegs spell.

"That wasn't very nice, Padma!" Parvati yelled.

"That's my girl!" Fred called happily. "Shit," he muttered, realising that Padma was probably aiming her wand at him, since he'd given away his position as well. He dropped to the ground, only to hear sniggering coming from George.

Fred yelled at his brother between gasps of laughter, as George had put a tickling spell on him.

As they all started laughing and giving away their positions, hexes and curses flew left, right, and centre, trying to hit people who were still covered by cloaking devices.

"You didn't See this?" Draco asked Luna, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, and this version looked like more fun that some of the other ones," she replied with a nonchalant shrug.

Draco would have said something in return, but Ginevra hexed him with a spell, and green jelly shot over his body.

The fighting paused as everyone realised what Ginevra had done.

"What spell did you try to do?" Fred asked, finally able to talk after removing the tickling spell.

"Jellylegs spell. I didn't add the last word to it though," she said.

Trying the spell again, Ginevra grinned when more jelly spat out of her wand.

"That looks really disgusting when it comes out of your wand like that. But it's enticing as well," Pansy muttered, her head cocked to the side as she surveyed the pieces of jelly wobbling on the ground.

"I'm going to assume that the training is over," Draco muttered, taking off his cloaking device.

No one answered, too busy making jelly appear. Smirking to himself, Draco jumped at Ginevra, catching her around the waist and landing on the ground. She smirked at him, then tried to use the palm of her hand to hit his nose. Draco moved his head to the side, and pinned her to the ground again. Ginevra smiled up at him and in less than two seconds, Draco was flying off of Ginevra with an Expelliarmus spell.

"Forgot to take my wand off me," Ginevra taunted, binding him.

"I thought we were supposed to be evil. You're hexing people when they're down," Draco said, gasping for air.

"I'm hexing an evil person while they're down so they don't get up to hurt good people again. I think that still makes me a good person," Ginevra said with a smirk.

Draco grinned, and spun his body so that he caught his legs caught on the back of Ginevra's ankles, making her crash to the ground.

She gasped at the sudden shock, glaring at Draco. Then she grinned and started laughing.

"You've got jelly in your hair," Ginevra said, laughing even harder.

"Fine. I relent! I'm not going to train today. I'm going to go have a shower and get ready for tonight. Happy?" Draco muttered to no one in particular.

"If I get more sleep, then yes, I am estatic!" Pansy said with a grin.

They left the Room of Requirement, still covered in bits of jelly.

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Draco finished his shower in a record time of fifteen minutes and three seconds. The others had already finished their showers beforehand, and when he went to look for them, Draco found that they'd transfigured the meeting room floor into a mattress, and were all sleeping quietly.

He was slightly tired himself, and lay down next to Ginevra. He was only going to rest, he told himself. Draco was asleep in a few minutes.

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Bexley came into the meeting room cautiously.

He had spent as much time as possible away from the humans and their irresistible emotions, but he found that he had missed the humans sorely. Even though Ginevra had forgiven him for what he'd done, Bexley still felt awful about it, and had hid in the back of Ginevra's closet for a few days. It was only her worry and fear for him that made Bexley leave...

He saw everyone sleeping in the meeting room, and looked at the time. They were supposed to be getting ready for the Halloween party. He floated over to Pansy, trying to call her name to wake her up. When that didn't work, he floated a little closer to her, briefly wishing that he was solid so that he could nudge Pansy to wake her.

As he floated closer, Bexley was pulled into Pansy's mind.

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"Come closer, my dear. I have a surprise for you."

Voldemort's voice was raspy and sickening, but Pansy still moved forward, the Imperius on her mind too strong. She bowed and looked up at Voldemort, seeing that he looked amused, his face twisted into something that could have resembled a smile.

"Goyle, Crabbe, come forward," Voldemort said, pleasure in his voice. "Look at them, my dear."

Pansy looked up to see Gregory and Vincent before her, not their fathers as she had expected. The shock was enough to get past the Imperius briefly, yet she was only able to stare at them in disbelief.

"You seem surprised, my dear. Did you not wonder how you arrived here? They have been faithful to me for these past three years," Voldemort sneered.

The Dark Mark glowed and burned on Gregory and Vincent's forearms. As she stared at them, Pansy felt her forearm burning. She looked to see the Dark Mark on her arm, and screamed as she fell into darkness.

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Bexley gasped as he forced himself out of her nightmare, and stared at Pansy as she woke up. There was nothing on her face that revealed the overwhelming emotions of her nightmare, and he was shocked that she was able to hide it away so effectively.

"Did you want something?" Pansy asked.

"The Halloween party starts in a few hours," Bexley said quietly. He bowed to her in respect, then left the room quickly.

Pansy frowned after him, but as she saw the time, she dismissed his odd behaviour and began to wake everyone up.

"We've only got two and a half hours before the party! Hurry up, would you?" Pansy said loudly, nudging Fred and George with her feet.

On hearing Pansy's words, Parvati and Padma left the room quickly, muttering to each other about over-sleeping.

"Only two and a half hours? We missed lunch," Vincent muttered, disappointed.

"We get to eat more at dinner then!" Gregory said cheerfully. "But not a lot," he added at Pansy's stern look.

"Go and get ready," Pansy said to her boyfriends, shaking her head. "I'm going to come back in ten minutes. If you're not out of the room by then, I will pull you out by your ears!" she said to the rest of her friends.

Luna laughed, taking Colin's hand and leaving the room with him quickly.

Ginevra sat up, yawning. She nudged Draco beside her, grinning when he opened one eye to glare at her.

"Time to get ready. Come on," she said, standing and helping him up.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about. Two and a half hours is more than enough time to get ready," Draco muttered.

Ginevra laughed, and went into her own room to get changed.

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Pansy frowned, knocking on Ginevra's door. They only had a few minutes before the party was due to start, and Gregory and Vincent were already impatient for food.

"Ginevra, are you all right?" she asked.

"Oh, yes. Fine!" Ginevra called.

She sounded nervous, and anything but fine, but Pansy didn't press her.

"We have to get going. Draco's waiting for you, and Blaise, Seamus and Neville haven't come out of their room either," she said.

"All right! See you there!" Ginevra said.

Pansy shook her head, and left with the others.

Ginevra sighed in relief, and turned back to her reflection. Maybe it hadn't been such a wise idea to let Luna design her costume afterall.

The dress was no design she'd ever seen before. It started off looking like a harmless haltered dress with the front loosely hung around her breasts, but then it went in to a criss-crossed pattern, almost like a corset, around her body, to flow down into a skirt made of the same silky material that the top was made out of.

Even though the dress had looked absolutely brilliant hanging up, Ginevra wasn't sure if it suited her. Perhaps she could just wear pants and a shirt, and go as a Muggle? Come to think of it, she had no idea what costume the dress was supposed to be!

"Ginevra, are you ready?" Draco asked, knocking at her door.

"Yes," Ginevra called, quickly slipping her shoes on.

Again, they were from Luna, which was why they were heeled sandals. Ginevra prepared to wince as she walked to the door, but found that she could walk steadily in the shoes. She had to give Luna credit for knowing what she would be comfortable in.

"Can I come in?" Draco asked.

"No need," Ginevra said, opening the door quickly.

Ginevra blushed as Draco stared at her, his jaw dropping.

She looked at his outfit, and noticed that he was wearing something similar to his Veelan initiation attire. It was the same design, but made from a different material so that he wouldn't be attracting the entire student population unintentionally. He had released his wings too, as well as showing the patterns on his face.

"What, or who, are you actually going as?" Draco asked, taking her hand in his.

"I have no idea," Ginevra said with a grin, shaking her head.

Red curls bounced every which way as she did so, and she frowned, not used to having her hair curly. Parvati and Luna had had a field day with her hair, intent on using as many curling spells as possible. Ginevra had stopped counting at the sixth spell, too worried about what they were actually doing to her head.

Luna was going as Cassandra, who was happy to have a night out. Apollo, of course, insisted that Colin go to the party as him, and after a lot of nagging and cajoling, Colin had grudgingly agreed.

Parvati and Padma were going as Amazon warriors. Fred and George had been allowed to attend, as long as they didn't break any school rules, and were dressed as prisoners of the Amazon warriors.

Pansy wanted to go in her mermaid form, but it wasn't possible without water, so she had decided to go as the three Graces instead. The Graces were Aglaia, who represented splendour, Euphrosyne, mirth, and Thalia, good cheer. The three Graces were part of Greek Mythology, which she saw as fitting, considering Apollo and Cassandra would be going.

Vincent and Gregory were dressed in toga's, portraying a poet and an artist. Vincent carried a lyre, and Gregory had transfigured his wand into a paintbrush.

Theodore was going as the famous Healer, Lancelot, and Millicent used a few spells to make herself look like a wolf.

Blaise, Neville, and Seamus were going as a centuar, nymph, and creature of the forest respectively.

Ginevra didn't know why they were taking so long.

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Blaise looked at Neville for a moment. He kissed him softly and whispered in his ear, causing Neville to blush brightly. Seamus smirked at them, then kissed Blaise. "Come on, lovebirds! We want to get there before the party ends!" Ginevra called, knocking on their door. "All right, Goddess Ginevra!" Blaise called, smirking. "We're coming, keep your hair on!" Seamus called with a grin. Blaise and Seamus took Neville's hands and they left the room. They walked out to see Draco and Ginevra waiting impatiently, hand in hand. "Well, finally! I was about to send a search party for you," Ginevra drawled, smirking at the three of them. "What did you both say to Neville? He hasn't stopped blushing since you came downstairs," Ginevra said looking at Neville. "Calm down, love," Blaise whispered in Neville's ear. "Don't want ye to walk in there red like a beet, do ye?" Seamus whispered in his ear. "All right, enough whispering. Do we need to split you three up or can you behave?" Ginevra asked, looking mainly at Blaise. "Me, not behave? You wound me," he said mockingly. "I'm sure I do. Come on, everyone else has already left; we're going to be the last ones there," Ginevra said and took Draco's hand to get him off the lounge. "I wish you'd stop staring, Draco. It's making me uncomfortable," Ginevra said, frowning at him. "Can't help it. You sure you're not part Veela yourself?" Draco asked with a smirk. "If I'm part Veela, then you're part troll. Come on!" Ginevra said and pulled Draco to the corridor. The three boys followed them, Blaise and Seamus still whispering in Neville's ear.

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They hurried to the Great Hall, where Snape was waiting outside with a glare on his face. He didn't look pleased that he had to usher all of the students inside. Since the younger students were all scared of him, it was impossible for Snape to punish anyone. But then, he didn't want them in his dungeons anyway...

"Get inside. You're late!" Snape snarled, glaring at them.

They went into the Great Hall, and saw the Weird Sisters on a stage, their music pounding and shaking the room. The doors shut behind them, but the music drowned out the noise.

"Let's try to find the others," Ginevra suggested, having to raise her voice to get over the band.

"Pansy's over at the food table with Gregory and Vincent," Draco said in her ear.

"Luna's in front of the stage with Colin and the four twins," Blaise added.

"Millicent and Theodore are at the drinks table," Neville said.

"Would you like to dance?" Draco asked Ginevra, smirking at her.

She raised an eyebrow, looking to the band.

"They're not really playing music you can dance to," she said.

"That doesn't mean we can't dance," Draco said, grinning now.

He took her hand and led Ginevra onto the floor, pulling her body to his.

Lavender sneered at them, saying something to Dean and Ron. Ginevra was grateful that the music was too loud for her to hear what she said. She didn't want to get into a fight tonight.

"The others are coming over," Draco said in her ear.

Ginevra turned to see Fred, George, Parvati, Padma, Luna, and Colin walking over. Padma was grinning broadly at them.

"I don't think the Weird Sisters are happy that you're doing a slow dance to their music!" she said, laughing.

Fred bowed and offered his hand to her.

"Can't let them upstage us, can we?" he asked with a wink.

"Definitely not," Padma said, grinning at him as she took his offered hand.

Draco chuckled as George and Parvati started dancing. Luna took Colin's hand, and they started to dance too.

"I don't think Pansy's happy with Gregory and Vincent. They're not offering her to dance," Ginevra said, looking over at the food table as she and Draco resumed their dance.

"I can fix that," Draco said with a grin.

Gregory saw that Draco was calling them over, and he nudged Vincent, nodding over at Draco.

"What's he want?" Vincent asked, frowning.

"We had better go over," Gregory said with a heavy sigh, looking at the cake longingly.

"Maybe we'll get to hurt the Trio," Vincent said with a grin, putting his plate down and heading to the dancefloor.

"Or Brown and Thomas," Gregory said, smirking.

Pansy hadn't heard what they'd said, too busy watching the others dancing. But she did see her boyfriends walking onto the dancefloor, and hurried to catch up to them.

"Does this mean you want to dance?" she asked, grinning.

Gregory and Vincent looked at each other.

"I'll dance with you, Pans," Blaise said, winking at her.

"No, you won't," Gregory growled, pulling Pansy to him.

"Don't fight over me when I can't hear what you're saying properly!" Pansy said, grinning.

"Well, you can only dance with one of them. Someone's going to have to dance with me, since Seamus and Neville left me!" Blaise called in their direction, grinning when Neville looked abashed.

"Oh, fine. I'll dance with you," Gregory muttered.

Vincent grinned, and offered a hand to Pansy.

"No groping," Gregory muttered.

"Spoil sport!" Blaise said, laughing. "Fine, but I get to lead."

Gregory shook his head and took Blaise's hand, letting him lead him around the dancefloor.

They got a lot of odd looks from the other students, but some of them shrugged and started dancing too, laughing to each other. The Weird Sisters looked simply confused, this never happening to them before. They stopped their song halfway through, then started a slower one to suit their audience.

"I think they'll benefit from this," Luna said to Colin, grinning.

"Who? The Weird Sisters, or Pansy, Gregory, and Vincent?" he asked with a grin of his own.

Luna thought for a moment.

"Both," she said, with a decisive nod.

"Honestly, how can you stand to dance with this one? He is barely moving," Apollo growled, sounding annoyed.

"I am quite happy with how Colin dances, thank you, Apollo," Luna replied.

Apollo frowned for a moment, then he smiled.

"May I cut in?" he asked with a bow.

"You may," Cassandra replied, smiling. "Do you remember how to dance in a mortal body?" she asked, a taunting gleam in her eyes.

"Of course!" Apollo replied indignantly, twirling her around the floor as if to prove it.

Seamus growled under his breath, his eyes glowing green briefly as he glared at Apollo and Cassandra dancing.

"Are you jealous?" Neville asked curiously.

Both Orion and Seamus looked surprised at his question, faltering for a moment.

"I am not jealous of them being together, if that's what you mean," Orion said, giving him a cheeky grin.

Neville raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to answer his proper question.

"I may be slightly jealous over the amount of power he has as a god," Orion muttered, looking away briefly.

"You're a demi-god, though," Neville pointed out.

"I did not mean that kind of power. I mean he has the power to kill or hurt someone and not be punished for it. I had to wait centuries before I was released from the Underworld for my crimes. I still have issues, according to Hades, but I think he was just pissed that Persephone was with her mother for those months," Orion muttered.

"No, he was right. You still have issues," Blaise said with a cheerful grin. "May I cut in?" he added before Orion got offended. "Gregory threatened to hex me if I didn't stop trodding on his toes. It wasn't my fault," Blaise said, a smirk betraying his innocent words.

"He's dancing with Pansy, so I'll go dance with Vincent then," Neville said with a grin.

He kissed Orion and Seamus, then kissed Blaise, before heading over to Vincent.

"Want to dance?" he asked Vincent.

He turned his attention away from Pansy and Gregory, looking at Neville.

"Not really," Vincent said, sighing. "How can you stand to not be there with them?" he asked, nodding to Seamus and Blaise, who were laughing and spinning each other as they danced.

"I trust that they're not going to run off without me. I know where they sleep," Neville said, laughing.

Vincent grinned wryly, looking at Pansy and Gregory again.

"Well, I'll be over at the drinks table if you change your mind about that dance," Neville said cheerfully, leaving him alone.

After a few more minutes of watching Pansy and Gregory dancing, Vincent sighed and went over to Neville, looking sheepish.

"Would you like to dance now?" Vincent asked.

"Sure," Neville said with a grin, going onto the dancefloor with him.

Halfway through the dance, the ghosts of Hogwarts came through the Great Hall doors. The Bloody Baron laughed as a girl screamed in surprise.

"Happy All Hallow's Eve!" the Fat Friar called cheerfully.

Lightning and thunder appeared in the ceiling, flashing brightly and rumbling loudly. Everyone went quiet as they realised that there wasn't any lightning or thunder outside to be reflected in the ceiling. Even Albus looked surprised.

Ginevra looked to the windows with a slight frown. She stared, seeing a person at the window. The man was pale, and was pressing a hand to the window, staring directly into her eyes. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place who he was.

The lightning and thunder disappeared, and the band started again. Ginevra looked at the window again, but there was no one there. Shaking her head at herself, she turned back to Draco with a smile.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly, a concerned look on his face.

"Fine. Just thought I saw someone at the window," Ginevra said, giving him a reassuring smile.

Luna heard her words, and bit her lip in worry. She tried to get to Ginevra, but people suddenly blocked her way as the Weird Sisters started playing one of their new songs.

"What's wrong?" Colin asked.

"I need to get to Ginevra," Luna said.

"She's over this way," Colin said.

Apollo took her hand, and a path became visible between the teenagers. Luna had to run to keep up with Apollo, but she arrived next to Ginevra in less than five seconds.

Draco was looking confused, as Ginevra moved away from him, looking at something that didn't seem to exist.

"Luna, what's going on?" Draco called.

"Ginevra!" Luna called, ignoring Draco's question for the moment.

Ginevra didn't seem to hear her, so Luna walked forward. An invisible barrier stopped her from getting any closer to Ginevra, and she growled in impatience.

"Cassandra, Goddess of the Future, hear my plead. Let my words be heard by my friend. Her need is great," Luna whispered, then touched the barrier again.

The barrier wavered, as if it was made out of material, instead of it being solid as it had been only moments before.

"Ginevra! Do not pay attention to his words! Don't dance with him!" Luna called.

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Ginevra stepped away from Draco, not aware of her own movements. She turned to face the man who had been at the window moments earlier, and frowned at him in confusion.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"You may call me Ric," he answered, smiling charmingly.

Orchestral music floated around them, and he bowed to her.

"Would you care to dance?" Ric asked charmingly, offering his hand.

Ginevra frowned. She was supposed to be dancing with someone else, wasn't she?

"Dance with me," Ric said, his voice low and demanding this time.

"Ginevra! Do not pay attention to his words! Don't dance with him!" a voice came to Ginevra's mind, and she frowned.

The voice was familiar, and she should knew that she should recognise who it belonged to, but she couldn't seem to place the voice with the face.

"Love, do not listen to her," Ric said smoothly, a look of anger fading from his face as he smiled at her.

"Who is she?" Ginevra asked, frowning.

Ric looked triumphant, and smiled again.

"No one important, my love. Come, dance with me, and forget her," Ric said, a hint of impatience to his voice.

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"What's going on?" Pansy asked as she came over with Gregory and Vincent.

The others crowded around Ginevra, who was still confined within the barriers.

"Some bastard has put a barrier around Ginevra, and is trying to get into her mind," Draco growled.

He hit the barrier with his fist again, hating how helpless he was.

"Ginevra!" he called, putting more power into his voice.

Albus went down to where the students were gathering, and asked Luna for an explanation.

"Ric has her," Luna murmured quietly.

Albus looked to Ginevra, in her invisible cage, and paled slightly.

This was not good at all.

Luna stepped back for a moment, closing her eyes. She frowned as she Saw hundreds of possibilities in a matter of seconds.

"Draco!" she said quickly, and he was by her side almost instantly. "Give me your hand," Luna said, her eyes still closed.

He put his hand in hers, and watched Ginevra intently as Luna whispered under her breath.

"Call her. Now!" Luna said.

"Ginevra!" Draco called loudly.

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"Dance with me, dear. I love you," Ric said whole-heartedly.

Ginevra felt desire and lust swirling inside of her body.

"Please dance," Ric said quietly, looking at her with wide eyes.

Ginevra looked to him, and stepped forward to take his hand.

"Ginevra!" she heard her voice being called.

Draco!

Her eyes widened as she realised that something was wrong, and she stepped away from Ric quickly.

"I won't dance with you!" she said, her tone angry.

"I may not have gotten your mind, but I still have your desire and lust," Ric sneered, turning his handsome face into something wild and feral.

There was a bang, a flash of light, and smoke filled her vision. As Ric disappeared, Ginevra felt dizzy, falling to the ground. Her eyes closed as two of her emotions were pulled out of her body.

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"What the fuck just happened, Luna?" Fred and George asked immediately, going over to their sister quickly.

"We need to get Ginevra to her rooms, then I will explain," Luna said softly.

Gregory and Vincent lifted Ginevra up, leaving the Great Hall without another word. The others hurried after them. Once the sixteen of them had exited, Albus shut the doors of the Great Hall, and looked to the Weird Sisters.

"Perhaps this would be a good time for another song," he said with a smile.

The Weird Sisters looked unsure, but Albus was paying them, so they started to play again.

Albus made sure that everyone was enjoying the party again, before leaving to contact Xavier and Agnes.

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Vincent and Gregory lay Ginevra down on the table, and everyone sat around her, watching as she slept heavily.

Luna sighed and rubbed her temples, weary of the past month's emotional ups and downs.

Colin walked behind her seat, and rubbed her shoulders to ease the tension.

"Ric has taken Ginevra's desire and lust from her body and mind," Luna said.

Immediately, there were questions flying at her.

"Who the fuck is Ric?"

"How do you take someone's desire and lust?"

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

Only Draco and Colin were silent as everyone bombarded Luna with questions.

"Why aren't you saying something?" Pansy asked Draco, glaring at him.

"I've found that Luna tends to answer questions without them needing to be asked. I'm waiting for you to all quieten down so we can actually get somewhere that may be able to help Ginevra," Draco said.

His words were quiet, but they held a tone that no one had ever heard in his voice before, and everyone went silent, realising that he was right. They waited, albeit impatiently, for Luna to start talking.

"Ric is the prisoner who escaped from Azkaban last month. He is a very powerful wizard, as he is a Vampire as well as a wizard. Ric is short for Maverick. His mother is Virginia Weasley, and his father is Maverick," Luna said.

"I thought only females in the Weasley line were able to become vampires?" Pansy asked, remembering reading the fact in Ginevra's vampire book only two weeks ago when they were both bored during Astronomy.

"Females of the Weasley lineage can only be born as vampires, that is true," Luna conceded with a nod. "However, that is not to say that the males are not able to be turned," she said. "Virginia turned her son into a vampire when he was forty. He already had an heir, so their line would continue, and the child left the house by the time Ric was thirty-three. His wife died of smallpox when Ric was thirty-five. He accepted his mother's offer to become a vampire, and used the alias Ric so that no one would find out that they were related, unless it was necessary for someone to know," Luna said.

Ginevra moaned on the table, her body arching.

"Maybe we should put her in bed," Gregory said, looking embarrassed.

"Leave her for now. It is Ric. He is using her emotions against her," Luna said, looking sad. "Ric took her emotions while she was inside the barriers. He did a spell on her when the lightning and thunder happened," she said.

"She said that there was someone at the window," Draco murmured softly.

"It was Ric, but you couldn't have known that," Luna said, patting his hand.

"If you knew, then why didn't you say something?" Pansy asked.

"It was only one of hundreds of possiblities," she replied, sighing. "There were a lot of possiblities that showed him just watching from the Forest, others showed him storming the castle and taking Ginevra to be tortured and killed by Virginia. That one was a very low possibility, as it showed Ginevra in a different outfit; pants and a shirt, I believe," Luna said. "The main possibilities that showed with Ginevra in this dress were that he tested her strength, he left us alone, or he took all of her emotions. Then all of those possibilities narrowed down with each choice that every single person in the Great Hall could have made. If he had tested her strength then a number of things could have happened, from Ric being permanently scarred for life and wanting revenge on Ginevra, to her death."

Ginevra moaned again, her hands clenching tightly.

"This was actually one of the better options," Luna said quietly. "We were lucky that we got to them before he stole her love, or her kindness," she said. "If her love and kindness had disappeared, then this would have been a harder time for all of us. As it is, she will not recognise or understand desire or lust unless it comes from Ric. She will dream of Ric and may even say his name in her sleep," she said, sounding apologetic.

"I am going to kill this bastard," Draco growled.

"How do we help her?" Neville asked, privately agreeing with Draco.

"The spell Ric used is an old one, but it is not permanent. She will return to normal after a month. In the meantime, we have to support her as much as we can. She will become very frustrated at herself, especially since she likes to give and receive affection," Luna replied.

"That's it?" Fred and George asked angrily. "We just have to sit by and watch?"

"Unfortunately there is no way to bring back her emotions. A potion may give Ginevra a few hours to feel again, but if she consumed too much it would either make resist her own emotions, or may kill her. The other downfall to the potion is that it would be like waving what she does not have in her face," Luna said.

"What do you mean by that?" Parvati asked.

"It would be the same as telling someone you have bought a Firebolt for their birthday, and making them wait for five months, all the while showing them pictures of the Firebolt."

Ginevra moaned, and Draco could see tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What is he doing to her?" he asked.

His anger was building up, coiling around him tighter than a spring.

"He is using her own desire and lust to hurt her," Luna said, her voice catching. "Ric knows that adultery is the worst crime to vampires, and is using his own image to convey her desire. She is trying to fight him, but it's difficult for her to deny her own feelings."

It was the last straw for Draco, and he got up without a word, leaving the room angrily. He slammed the front door behind him and headed to the Forbidden Forest.

With a nod from Luna, Gregory and Vincent carried Ginevra to her room, Pansy following so she could change her into pyjamas.

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"You don't want me?" Ric's voice was silky in her ear, and she shivered as desire pulsed through her.

She bit her lip and shook her head.

"Say it then," he said, smirking at her.

"I don't want you," Ginevra managed after a few minutes.

This was her head, and her emotions. She should be in control of them, not this creep! As handsome as he looked, there was something about Ric that made her nauseous.

Ric smiled broadly, an evil gleam in his eye. He kissed her, licking her lips as he ran his hands down her body. Desire filled her at his touch, and lust pushed at her when his tongue touched her lips.

No, this wasn't right. She didn't love Ric. She didn't want Ric. He was just controlling her emotions. She loved Draco.

"Love won't win against lust and desire," Ric sneered, biting her neck.

She loved Draco, not Ric. She didn't want to do this. She wasn't in love with him. She loved Draco!

Ric was thrown away from her, and Ginevra stared at the blood on his mouth.

"You're a Vampire?" she asked.

Ric smirked, even as he stood up and brushed himself off. This, he could use against her.

"Yes, as are you," he murmured softly. "You smell delicious; your blood and life force are enticing," Ric murmured, weaving her desire and lust into his words. "You smell sweet, and you taste even better," he said with a smile, her blood staining his lips. "Come, see what your blood tastes like," he said, pulling her to him.

Draco was the only one who was allowed to Drink from her! Even if the blood did smell wonderful, and the wound on her neck was sending shivers down her spine, as well as the wonderful colour of Ric's lips. She didn't remember them being that full and enticing earlier.

Just as she was about to kiss Ric, Ginevra pulled away, coming to her senses.

Ric had stolen her lust and desire. That was all there was to it. He was using them against her, and she wasn't going to succumb to the likes of him!

"No. Stay away from me!" Ginevra said, pushing him away. "I don't love you, and I won't do anything with you!"

"Who said anything about love?" Ric sneered, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to him.

He kissed her forcefully, pressing her body hard up against his.

Even as she tried to stand completely still and not respond in any way, Ginevra could feel her desire and lust in the pit of her stomach. She felt tears running down her cheeks as Ric continued to kiss her; the salt burned the bite marks on her as they slipped down her face and neck.

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Draco made his way into Ginevra's room, sitting at the end of her bed quietly. He rubbed at his red eyes, despising the tears as much as the person who had caused them. He hated Ric more than he did Alexander. At least Alexander was just intent on hurting him, and not Ginevra.

Ginevra was still crying, even as her body responded to whatever the sick bastard was doing to her emotions. He really hated Ric. He was so intent on thinking of various ways to kill and torture Ric, that he didn't hear Ginevra's door open.

"Are you all right?" Blaise asked quietly, walking over to Draco.

Draco gritted his teeth and shook his head, not trusting himself to talk without crying again.

Blaise rested his hand on Draco's shoulder, trying to comfort him in a way that wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable.

They stayed that way for a few minutes, Draco trying to hold back another onslaught of tears, and Blaise quietly supporting him.

"I'll be okay. You go back to Neville and Seamus," Draco said. "Thank you."

Blaise nodded, leaving as quietly as he had entered.

Draco lay down next to Ginevra, holding her to him, even as she started to moan Ric's name.

It's not her. She's not controlling it. It's not Ginevra's fault, Draco told himself, and he hated Ric even more.

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(a/n: thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and have a great New Year!)