Unofficial Portkey Archive

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Chapter Thirty-One

Saturday, 13 July

Ginevra laughed as the witches and wizards screamed their terror. She rose them high into the air, dropping them for a terrifying moment before quickly sending them back up into the sky. She repeated this over and over, delighting in their erratically flowing blood as their fear and adrenaline combined.

They'd soon realised that their little sticks were useless against her; every piece of magic they sent at her was absorbed by black shadows and subsequently increased her power.

"Ginevra?" a voice murmured nearby.

"There you are, love. I was beginning to wonder at your absence," she murmured, turning to face him.

"My apologies, beloved. It took longer than I thought to convince the others that this was a good idea," Draco replied, a smirk on his face. His eyes were as black as her own.

A wild grin graced her features and Ginevra pulled him to her, her lips fierce on his.

Behind them, the people who had been hanging in the air dropped, crashing to the ground with snaps and broken bones. Their wands gone, they had no way to escape, nor to heal themselves.

"Don't they smell absolutely delicious?" Ginevra breathed, her fingers rough in his hair.

"You taste better," Draco murmured against her neck, his tongue flicking out to lick her skin.

She moaned wantonly as his fangs pierced her neck and he Drank from her, his hand slipping beneath her shirt as he cupped and groped her breast. Grinding down against him, Ginevra yanked on his shirt to reveal the curve of his shoulder. Biting down hard, she sucked and lapped at his blood, her eyes glowing black.

She pulled away with a growl when one of the witches behind her whimpered and begged to be released.

"Shut up!" she snarled, hexing the lot of them again.

They rose into the sky once more, and Ginevra giggled as Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, his erection hard between her legs.

"They're going to try and stop us, you know," Draco murmured in her ear.

"I don't doubt it. How long do you think they'll be?" she replied, a grin flitting on her face as one of the wizards screamed in terror as he fell, stopping mere centimetres above the ground.

"Soon, probably. They'll think they have the element of surprise," he drawled.

"Well, then let's leave before they get here," she said. "I'm getting bored anyway," she added, the group of witches and wizards dropping to the ground yet again.

More bones were broken, and she shivered in ecstasy when she smelled their blood.

"How about one for the road, beloved?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"Just what I was thinking," she hissed, moving faster than the mortal eye could see.

One of the men screamed. One moment the evil creature was metres away, and the next, she had him by his throat, fangs sunk into his neck. His screams turned to guttural choking as she drained him of his life.

Beside them, Draco was also Drinking from one of the witches. He pulled back with blood-stained lips, watching as the light in her eyes faded.

There was no moment of guilt, not one bit of remorse, but there were memories...

... b ...

Draco had disappeared to the Veela house the moment he touched Lettie's wristband. He'd felt the shadow following him before he saw or even heard it. Julianne had come out of the house, all Veela magic and feathers framing her face, but the shadow was faster. It wrapped itself around Draco, and he'd managed to call out for her to stay back before it entered him and took him over completely.

Julianne and Garion had used an old magic to keep him where he was, the shadow forced to be bound to the spot while it was within him.

It had taken what felt like hours to convince them to free him. Draco had begged and pleaded with them; he needed to get to Ginevra, he needed to see that she was safe, he would do everything in his power to bring her back. They didn't seem to believe him, and the stars whispered of his lies, but their words fell on deaf ears. Eventually, Julianne and Garion conceded that he would be able to bring her back and they could save her, so they had instructed him to do exactly that.

Foolish and trusting idiots that they were. They hadn't realised that he followed no order other than his beloved's. Her will was his own, and he would do nothing against her. Oh, perhaps there was a moment when their will might have been stronger, but the moment he'd seen his lovely Ginevra, eyes blacker than the night itself, giggling as she made the family rise and drop in the air, all thought of saving her fled his mind. There was no need to save her when she had nothing to be saved from.

She'd welcomed him with open arms, and it hadn't taken long for both of them to realise that her "Mistress" was not worthy of being followed. Together, they could rule the darkness and rise higher than even Virginia herself could dream of. His beloved's will was his own, and she wished it to be so. She wanted none other than him beside her, and dear fallen gods, would the noise in their minds ever stop?

He'd gone to reassure and placate the people who were begging in their minds, and he'd done his job well. A few words spoken with fake tears and the overwhelming need to save her. They'd all crumbled to his will, to his desire to save Ginevra from herself, and they all believed his words. Fred and George had been the first two to agree, and to the last, Pansy was the one who didn't want him to go. He'd sobbed over his need to save Ginevra, and finally, she'd relented. It would not do to have their friends' thoughts constantly in their minds, and this would placate them long enough to block them out.

Such gullibility from them all. He was disappointed in his fellow Slytherins, really. For a group who had once prided themselves on their ability to spot lies at a distance, and for all of their past suspicions, they'd almost been too easy to convince.

... b ...

"Come, love. We need to leave quickly."

Ginevra's words pulled him from his memories, and he moved to stand beside her. His Veelan side was revealed with little more than a thought, and he rolled his shoulders, black feathers dropping at the movement. The patterns on his face were all black, rather than white or even red, and they glowed with all the power of the night. Distracted for a moment, Ginevra's fingers traced the patterns lovingly.

"Where do you wish to go, my beloved?" he murmured.

"As long as it's with you, anywhere, love. Surprise me," she replied huskily.

Draco smirked and embraced her tightly. He rose into the air with one easy motion, and flew across the sky quickly. He knew exactly where he could take his bloodthirsty beloved.

... b ...

She was gone, completely out from under her control. It had never happened before, and Virginia was almost worried at what she'd unleashed in the form of Ginevra Weasley.

"If you cannot control her, then she is not your problem, is she?" Bart murmured, confused at her worry.

"If I cannot control her, then she can tell the Council who did this to her," Virginia said, her tone raising with her anger. She lashed out at him, her nails leaving gouges in his face. She gasped slightly, as if surprised at her own actions. "Oh, my love. I am sorry; I shouldn't take my anger out on you," she murmured, dropping to her knees and holding his head in her hands.

Bart shivered in ecstasy as her tongue flicked along the wounds gently, healing each line of blood. "I do not mind, Mistress," he managed as she started to kiss him.

"Of course you don't."

He wondered if it was a good time to bring up his Turning. He had asked for this - only this - ever since he had been in her service, but she always managed to distract or completely ignore him.

"Virginia?" Maverick's voice sounded and he knocked on her door loudly.

Pulling away from Bart, Virginia opened the door a moment later, no trace of guilt on her features. "What do you want?"

"The Council has called a meeting; a vampire's gone rogue."

"Oh, but my love, I am not feeling well. Please, give my apologies for my absence," Virginia crooned, her fingers trailing along his face.

"Very well, beautiful. I will tell you all that happens when I return."

"If I am asleep, do not bother to disturb me," she instructed, closing the door on him.

Virginia turned to Bart, and could see the hopeful look in his eyes; hoping that she had turned away the Council themselves so she could be with him.

What an absolutely idiotic man, she thought to herself with a roll of her eyes. She brushed past him, ignoring his wounded look, and entered the bathroom, locking the door after her.

... b ...

"You know he's lying, right?" Colin muttered as Draco's words faded from their minds.

"Of course; wasn't that hard to figure out when he suddenly disappeared for half an hour," Neville replied.

"Was good to finally 'ear from Pansy again," Seamus said, grinning.

Neville chuckled, remembering the verbal lashing Pansy had given Draco only minutes before.

"As bloody nice as this internal reunion is sure to be, don't you have some other pressing fucking matters?" Niryal muttered.

The sun was starting to rise, and they could see the outline of the cliffs ahead.

The cliffs had veins of marble running through them, and as they got closer still, they could see the outlines of Quintapeds standing guard. In the middle of the island would be the Marble Estate, created from the very land it stood upon.

"So, how are we gettin' ter the centre of this place, 'gain?" Seamus asked quietly.

Neville didn't reply, and Colin was still staring at the Quintapeds lining the shore, a frown on his face.

"They're not moving," Colin pointed out, his frown deepening still.

"Wha'?" Seamus asked, turning to see what he was talking about.

"The Quintapeds. They're not moving. I thought they'd at least be following the boat or something, but it doesn't even look like they're breathing," he replied.

Lifting his camera to his face, he changed the scope setting to zoom in towards the creatures.

"Can I see?" Neville asked.

Colin handed his camera over carefully.

"That's weird. I didn't think there'd be a spell to keep so many creatures still at once. Not even a Full Body Bind would affect so many at once," Neville mused, looking to the closest Quintapeds.

"Are they breathin'?" Seamus asked, frowning.

"I can't tell. I've never seen one before this, so I don't know how to tell if they're alive."

"Oh, for fuck's sakes. I'm right here, and I can't be killed by those bloody things. I'll go look if you're that damned curious," Niryal muttered.

"All right. Thank you, Niryal," Neville said.

The Night Fairy kept to the shadows as she skimmed the ocean's waves, flying vertically along a cliff face. She flew high above the Quintapeds, a shadow cast in front of her to protect her from the sun.

Despite her words, Niryal was as curious about the creatures as her Master and his friends. She'd heard of Quintapeds, and had been fascinated by humans that could become so like the monsters within themselves. These creatures didn't seem particularly monstrous, and Niryal flew closer to them, curious to see if they were still alive and as scary as she'd been told.

Niryal was surprised to find that she was more than disappointed when she saw the creatures weren't breathing. She was angry as all hell to find that all of the Quintapeds had been killed. She let out a loud screech, and for a long second, the sun itself was blotted out by darkness.

"'Spose that means they're dead?" Seamus muttered quietly.

Neville didn't reply, still using the camera to look at the Quintapeds. At Niryal's screech, he turned the lens to face her, and frowned when he saw a sphere of darkness surround her.

Suddenly, Neville disappeared from the boat. Seamus scrambled back in shock, staring at the empty spot his lover had just been sitting in.

"Neville?!" Seamus called loudly, his voice breaking.

... b ...

Sunday, 14 July

Fred and George looked at each other for a moment, each of them trying to decide what to do. They had captured two shadows, and had subsequently discovered exactly what they were. They had received a letter from Luna informing them of the potion that Virginia had used to control their sister, and so far, had spent their every waking moment searching for something about it.

They had called in every favour owed to them, threatened people, bribed others, and eventually, news of their small quest had made it's way to the ears of Narcissa Malfoy. Within an hour of her hearing of their dilemma, an unmarked owl had arrived at their shop, carrying a small package in its talons. The small package had been enlarged to reveal a book and note. The note informed them that the information they needed was inside, but was unsigned. However, it was obvious from the thickness of the paper and the elegant scrawl exactly who had sent it. The book was covered in a thick layer of dust, presumably buried within the Malfoy Manor for the last few centuries. It was called Dark Potions and Remedies, and there was no known author, only the letter F written beneath the title.

Neither Fred nor George knew how it was that the Malfoy matriarch had found out that they'd needed this information, but they had little time to care. The entry about the potion was written in an ancient language that neither twin could read, and while George had researched the necessary spells, Fred had all but attacked the book with his wand to make the words legible. Almost three hours later - one hour had been spent trying to free Fred's hand from the book's jaws, since it didn't seem to enjoy being attacked - George found the right spell to read the words on the wafer-thin pages.

What they read was less than reassuring, and for the longest time, neither one had the desire to speak, simply lost in their own thoughts.

... b ...

The potion is not hard to make, nor does it take long. However, the ingredients themselves are rare, even in their homelands, and as such, make the potion's creation difficult. Once created to the specifications below, the scent of the potion must enter the required person. From this, the potion will work within their mind and repress all of their humanity. The person will become little more than an animal, and if the person is weak willed, they will be controlled by the potion's creator. Due to this and the repercussions that may come from a person's allies and friends, the potion sends out forms (often mistaken for shadows) to control and cajole those people to have the same thinking as their friend. By allowing the shadow to enter them knowingly, all control over themselves will immediately be given to their poisoned friend.

There is no medical cure for this potion, however, there have been some instances where people have overcome the potion on their own. If they do not, then it is necessary to kill the one who originally poisoned the person.

... b ...

More was written, but it followed in a similar vein and did little to reassure Fred and George that their sister would survive this.

They looked to the captured shadows, both thinking of the words: "all control over themselves will immediately be given to their poisoned friend." By letting the shadows enter them, the twins would be under Ginevra's complete control. They would destroy the very world if she wanted them to...

There was no hesitation in their thoughts; they both knew that they would follow Ginevra to the Otherworld if need be.

George sighed softly. "The others won't be happy with us for this."

"Since when has that stopped us?" Fred answered, grinning broadly.

He grinned in return, and as one, they both moved to lift the jars off of the captured shadows.

... b ...

Gregory looked to where Pansy was sitting. She hadn't looked at him once since he'd landed in the encampment, much to the confusion of the trolls. They had organised accommodation for them to stay in together when they had heard from the "little blanca" (Gregory assumed they meant Luna) that he was coming to train them.

When Pansy hadn't even glanced in his direction, the trolls had wondered if they had heard the little white one wrong, and the mermaid they had protected wasn't the War General's bride-to-be.

Sighing heavily, Gregory returned to his meal. He would try talk to Pansy once they were in private.

Around them, the trolls talked to themselves quickly and quietly, their eyes watching the two silent lovers.

... b ...

Agnes looked down into the cellar of the ruins. A snarl filtered out of the dark room, and with a sigh, she turned away from the monster inside.

"Is Lettie all right?"

Turning to her son, Agnes shook her head briefly. "Ginevra's magic is too strong, and the soul bond between the two cannot be broken. Until Ginevra has defeated her evil self, Lettie will remain this creature."

Miles let out a pained sound, and took a few steps forward, almost involuntarily. "Is there nothing that can be done?"

"If there is, then I am not aware of it."

"What ... What if she is Turned? Will the bond between the one who Turned her be greater than the one with Ginevra?"

"It is impossible to predict. There have not been any slaves for centuries, nor any documentation of anything like this happening before."

Miles fell to his knees and stared down at the grass without seeming to see it.

"Why is this girl so important to you, my son? She is not the first lover you have taken."

"She will be my last," Miles replied, his admission quiet.

"You mean... She is your mate?" Agnes was surprised that he hadn't said anything sooner. "How long have you known?"

"Since she was restored to her human self and remade into Lettie. I could not bear to see her so saddened. I took the mirror to her in an attempt to cheer her, but I only made it worse. I could not bear to see her sad then, and I cannot bear to see her in this much pain now. Please, Mother, you have to let me try."

"What if she harms you?" Agnes asked, the dull ache in her shoulder a reminder of the creature's power.

"I am already in enough pain just seeing her like this. I need to try."

"There are regulations, channels, that need to be adhered to in order to create a vampire, even a halfling. You know this, Miles."

"You did not care for those when you Turned Father! Mother, please. I am begging you."

Agnes turned away, facing the cellar once more. Chains rattled, another snarl and a howl of madness filtered from the open doors.

"As an Elder of the Council, I cannot allow you to do this, Miles," she murmured softly. Ignoring his cry of pain, Agnes continued, "I am leaving to hunt now. I will return tomorrow night."

As Miles realised what his mother's words meant, he made his way to his feet once more. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Mother. I will never forget this kindness."

"Nor will I, my son. I truly hope it works, for both your sakes."

Miles nodded in return, and waited until Agnes had made her way into the surrounding forest before descending the stairs into the ruined cellar.

... b ...

Blaise awoke within the clearing, his arm wrapped around his quiver tightly. Sitting up, he saw that Elin was still standing guard, her eyes trained on the trees and the creatures beyond.

"Is everything all right? Is Relo still alive?" he asked, standing and moving beside her.

He gasped in surprise and stepped back a few paces when he saw that Elin was frozen as solid as a statue.

"What did you do to Elin?" Blaise demanded, turning around to try and find where Relo was hiding.

"We told you she would pay. The evil centaur should not have shot at us," the gleeful hiss came from the trees surrounding him.

Blaise looked at Elin once more, trying to see if she was still alive in her frozen state.

As he went to touch her, Relo let out a menacing laugh. "You don't know much about Erklings, do you, centaur? Touch her, and you freeze too."

Letting his hand hover uncertainly for a moment, Blaise eventually let it drop to his side, feeling helpless.

... b ...

Seamus paced the cave, angry and anxious all at the same time. Neville hadn't been seen or heard from since he and Niryal disappeared, and Colin had held both Seamus and Orion back to ensure that he didn't go after him. Apparently, Colin was protecting whatever creatures were still alive on the island, sure that Seamus would kill each and every one of them in order to find Neville again.

"We have t' go out there and find him. What if he's gone up 'gainst Vold'mort and he's up there dyin' 'n bleedin'?" Seamus asked, his accent thick.

"Well, aren't you just full of fucking faith and bleeding optimism?" a voice muttered at the entrance of the cave, the Night Fairy's voice echoing across the walls.

Seamus and Colin turned to see Niryal standing there, Neville limp and motionless in her arms.

... b ...

"Wake up, my beloved. We're here," Draco murmured, his wings flapping slightly to create a breeze.

Her eyes fluttered open to look at him, and she sighed as she smelled blood.

"Where are we, exactly?" she murmured, standing and turning to look around.

"Guess," he replied, his lips moving down to press against her neck.

Her breath caught in her throat as she recognised their surroundings.

Knockturn Alley. An endless supply of blood and dark magic. It was absolutely perfect.

She turned and kissed Draco hard, her nails digging into his shoulders.

"I thought you'd like it, beloved," he murmured against her lips, his hands gripping her waist.

"Aw, isn't this a lovely sight?"

There were familiar and identical snickers behind them, and Ginevra turned to see her brothers standing there, mirth in their laughter and faces. The usually-hidden scars on Fred and George's faces were visible and black, and their nails were as black as their eyes and scars. Even their hair was streaked with black, making the red colour seem darker than usual.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Ginevra said, smirking at them.

"As are you, beloved sister," Fred and George said with mocking bows, holding out their hands for her.

Draco's arm slipped away as she stepped forward, taking their hands.

"I would have thought you would stay with the others," Ginevra murmured, looking to them.

"And miss out on the fun?"

"I don't think so, beloved sister."

"Do you want to see what we can do now?" they whispered gleefully.

Ginevra barely finished nodding, and a high pitched chatter burst from their lips. Words flowed out of their mouths and into the surrounding darkness. Not even seconds later, low laughter came from all around them. As one, a large group of people stepped out into the light, their eyes a mix of blue and black.

"You can control them?" Ginevra asked, looking to the people around them.

Across from them, Draco didn't look impressed. He could do that with less than a whisper.

"Oh, we can do more than that, our beloved sister."

In seconds, the people began to change. Their faces became more familiar, their hair changed from their normal colours to the trademark Weasley-red, now streaked with black. Around them, the tens of people all turned into exact copies of her brothers.

"We can become them," the copies all said in unison.

... b ...

Luna hummed to herself softly, trying to distract herself from the images she was Seeing.

The twins and their copies terrorising the wizarding world. Dark smoke filled buildings, clearing to reveal lifeless bodies, drained by Ginevra's now-insatiable Thirst...

Hearing her number being called, Luna stood up and headed across the wizarding transport centre.

Since she'd arrived in the country with Agnes' help, Luna didn't have the proper documentation in order to travel around legally. Luckily, she'd managed to hex one of the security wizards patrolling, and she hoped that the man would be able to break the spell repressers in time for her to leave.

As she talked pleasantly with the woman behind the desk, Luna weaved a spell into her words to put confuse her. For a long terrifying moment, nothing happened. Then the woman shook her head, her eyes unfocused and dazed. She seemed to look straight past Luna, and called the next number. Luna stood there for a moment, unsure if it had worked without seeing the woman's response.

Quickly, my daughter. There is not much time, Cassandra prompted her urgently.

Grateful that her spell had worked, Luna moved past the desk to the fireplace. Feeling the heat from the flames on her face, Luna threw the Floo powder into them, waiting until she heard the familiar whoosh indicating that they had turned green. Stepping into the fireplace, Luna said her destination and disappeared with a bright flash.

The future of the world depended on whether she would get to Pansy in time.

... b ...

"Throwing furniture around isn't going to help anything, sister," Parvati murmured as she watched her twin demolish the room until the furniture became nothing more than a pile of splinters and toothpicks.

"Well, it makes me feel better," Padma replied sarcastically, not stopping with her destruction.

"It might now, but I doubt you'll feel better when you have to replace all of the furniture."

Padma paused for a moment, glowering over at Parvati. "Sorry if I'm not as content as you to be stuck here."

She laughed briefly, sourly. "Who said anything about me being content? We're stuck in the pixie world, and yes, I'm upset that George and Fred would do this to us. However, I'm sure they'll have a very reasonable explanation... If they don't, then it's a different story completely," Parvati added darkly.

Padma was silent for so long that her twin looked to her, wondering what was wrong. "You might be my twin after all," Padma said, smirking.

Parvati rolled her eyes at her comment and set about repairing and fixing the furniture. Padma muttered some more and set about helping her. Parvati was right. If Fred and George had a valid reason to keep them locked in the pixie world, then they would be forgiven after a few weeks of punishing them. If they didn't have a good enough reason, then they would be in so much trouble that they would be too terrified to sleep.

... b ...

Blaise clutched his bow tightly, his eyes trained on Elin. As he watched, she took a small step forward and stopped. She'd done the same thing for the last few hours, taking one minuscule step to the edge of the clearing before stopping. A few minutes later, she would move another hoof forward and stop again. It wasn't the nicest way to find out that Erklings had the ability to freeze and control their victims after only locking eyes with them.

Even worse, it had taken Blaise half an hour to realise that Relo had frozen Elin and was making her walk to her own death just to torture him. He could have moved and devoured her within minutes, but he was dragging out every second just to toy with Blaise, to let him know that he would be next.

"You are boring us, centaur. Why don't you look at us and you can join your friend?" Relo called, cackling when Blaise turned away and focused his gaze on Elin once more.

It had to be a personal choice, Blaise thought to himself. He'd looked at Relo before, looked him right in the eyes, and nothing even close to this had happened. He must want to freeze and eat the creature or person in order to do this.

Ultimately, Blaise had no idea how that could help him now, especially since Relo seemed happy enough about his decision to freeze Elin and torture Blaise with her slow walk to death. He stored the information in a different part of his brain and looked at Elin, keeping his gaze away from the tree line, where Relo was waiting.

... b ...

"How very impressive. Are they exactly like you in every way?" Ginevra asked, stepping forward to the closest copy of Fred.

"Why don't you test them and find out for yourself?" George suggested, stepping back until he mingled in the crowd of redheads.

"Can you find us among them all?" Fred asked, moving among the crowd as well.

"I don't think you can," a George copy said.

"It's difficult even for us," a copy of Fred added, grinning.

Ginevra smirked slightly. Oh, they thought they were so clever. They were difficult to spot, but she knew exactly which ones were her brothers. She could smell their blood, and there was an invisible tether between herself them, guiding her to each of them easily enough. Even without that tether, she could have found them in an instant.

Beside her, Draco was looking at the crowd as well. He found it just as easy to spot the real Fred and George as Ginevra did. He barely glanced at her, a smirk on his face.

She smirked briefly in return, and then they both moved. The crowd of twins were a blur of black and in the next moment, Ginevra had Fred by the neck, Draco's arm wrapped around George's neck.

"If you're quite finished with your little game, I suggest we go hunting. I'm dying of Thirst," Ginevra said, her grip lessening on Fred's neck.

"Well, of course, beloved sister," Fred replied smoothly, stepping back out of her grasp.

"Our army is ready at your command," George added, grinning at Draco.

"Where do you wish to go first?"

Ginevra smirked, her gaze travelling down Knockturn Alley and into the light of Diagon Alley. Despite the late hour, people still milled about, hurrying past Knockturn Alley and pretending it didn't exist. Their fear accelerated their heartbeats, and Ginevra grinned slightly.

"Isn't there a Lorcan d'Eath concert on tonight?" George asked suddenly.

Ginevra's grin broadened, her enhanced hearing picking up the screams from the fans of the number-one singer.

"Shall we crash the concert, my beloved?" Draco asked, holding his arm out to Ginevra with a smirk.

"I want to see how many of them I can make scream," she breathed, a shiver of anticipation running down her spine.

She looped her arm with Draco's, allowing him to lift her off the ground and into the air. There was a bout of chattering from the twins below, and soon the original Fred and George were on top of the building's roof, their copies making their way down the alleyway and onto the brightly lit street.

Licking her lips slightly, Ginevra scanned the area around them. She could hear the music, their blood pumping, the screams, the pulsating blood, the adrenaline, all of that delicious swirling blood in veins and fragile bodies... Ah, there they were.

With a nod from Ginevra, Draco began to move in the indicated direction. Fred and George were in the air on conjured broomsticks, the black brooms unlike any other they'd seen before. As they followed their sister, their Mistress, and her consort, Fred and George focused on the ground. They heard the screaming fans long before they saw anything, and there was a crackle as Ginevra and Draco went through a barrier. Without hesitation, Fred and George followed. The barrier was nothing against the Dark power within them, and the barrier against their skin wasn't even painful. To be honest, it kind of ... tickled.

Standing on top of the thin fence, the barrier melted around them. At the door's entrance the two security guards had already been knocked out and the copies were waiting impatiently to get inside.

"If this is the best their security has to offer, then they'll all be dead in minutes," Fred chuckled darkly.

"Oh, my dearest brother, I do not intend on killing them," Ginevra said with a slow smirk. "I am well aware that the Aurors and our friends are planning on stopping me, but they won't allow an entire building of witches and wizards die. I'm going to drain every single one of these people to the brink of death. St. Mungo's will be overflowing, and the Aurors will have their hands full for weeks."

"A very cunning plan, beloved sister," the twins said, grinning.

"How can we help?" George asked.

"Taking their wands would be a start. It saves my energy for more thirst-quenching matters."

"Consider it done," they replied.

The last of the barrier melted away and seconds later, the building was swarming with copies. A few shouts of protest filtered out when people realised that their wands were being stolen.

With a grin, Ginevra stepped off the fence, floating to the ground in an elegant swirl of black robes. Draco flew over her silently, dropping down in front of the door. He opened it for her, his fangs already out and his eyes even darker with Thirst. She kissed him briefly, stepping into the dimly lit building, Draco following not even a second later.

By the time Fred and George jumped off the fence and made their way to the entrance, terrified screams were already filtering out of the open door. They became louder moments later, and with sadistic grins, Fred and George entered the building to add to the chaos.

... b ...

"Another lot were just brought in. Can you take them?"

Theodore looked around the small room he had been shuttled off to on arriving to St. Mungo's. He'd originally had ten beds, had managed to conjure and squeeze in another six, and there were people standing when they really shouldn't be.

"How many?" he asked with a small sigh.

"Six in this lot. All with shattered bones, and three with extreme blood loss."

Ginevra... This was the fourth time now, and the victims were increasing. It had only started with one, but now it seemed like her Thirst was getting worse rather than decreasing with each victim. Despite the lengthy hours between her victims, Theodore had a very bad feeling about the fact that they hadn't heard anything from the rampaging vampire in almost eight hours. These people that were being transferred now were backlog from an overfilled waiting room. All night, even before Ginevra had starting attacking people, there had been an increase of witches and wizards injuring themselves or others in some way or another. Luna's last words to him echoed constantly - did you think it would be any different when the Queen of All turns evil? - and he couldn't help but think that all of these patients were to do with Ginevra's current state...

Millicent came up beside him, looking as tired as he felt, her darkened eyes scanning the room critically. "I can move the beds again. We might be able to fit in another three beds in that way," she offered. "You're just going to have to be creative about how you get to the patients," she added with a slight grin.

Turning back to the nurse waiting, Theodore nodded his acceptance for the new patients. In moments, six people were floating through the door. Three of them were bandaged up so much that they wouldn't have been out of place in an Egyptian tomb. The other three, the ones with the extreme blood loss, couldn't be bandaged until their vitals returned to normal. Sometimes this didn't happen at all, and Theodore would have a five minute break to try and cope with the patient's death before needing to return to the other patients.

He'd heard of Healers who had gone through their entire career without someone dying on them, and here on his first day, he'd already had two people die under his care. He hurried to shake himself from his thoughts. Theodore had no intention of breaking down at this. Sure, he'd been awake for almost 30 hours straight, it didn't look like he'd be stopping any time soon, two people had died, his friend was on some blood-driven rampage through Diagon Alley, but so long as he could keep one person alive through all of this, it would be worth it.

"Mill? What do you think about stacking the beds? Like those Muggle bunk beds Colin talked about."

She regarded the closest bed, a frown on her face. "It could work; I'll just need to make sure that the beds don't slip off the ends."

"Can you try while I sort these ones out? If you can't, then don't worry about it. We'll think of something else," he added with a tired smile.

She nodded, already concentrating on her task. Theodore turned back to the newest patients, hoping that he would be able to help them as he couldn't help his friend.

... b ...

Miles looked at the monster from his place on the stairs. The beast was snarling, all sharp spikes and even sharper fangs. He had been standing on the same step for the better part of an hour, simply watching and waiting.

The beast - Lettie - was chained and shackled to the ground, and by the amount of times she'd tried to free herself, snapping her jaws at him, it was obvious that she would have killed him if she wasn't restrained.

She hadn't slept since turning into this creature, and Miles was intrigued at the fact that she hadn't exhausted herself yet.

He knew that he was running out of time, and slowly stepped off the bottom stair and onto the cellar ground. Lettie immediately ran at him, her red eyes burning with anger and hunger, and was pulled back sharply by the chain around her ankles.

Miles was patient as he stepped forward slowly, trying to get Lettie to realise that he wasn't going to attack her. As much as it pained him to see her like this, he also knew that if she was released, then she would wreak havoc. She would probably try to find Ginevra, and with Lettie at her side, the entire world would fall to their knees.

Lettie stayed in the corner of the cellar, growling, snapping and lashing out at Miles any time he came too close. He dodged her paws, and eventually made his way directly in front of her. Sensing the challenge, Lettie crouched low, ready to pounce. Miles grinned slightly, his knees bent as he readied himself as well. Moments later, the beast and the vampire were running at each other, both of them with sharp teeth and red eyes. Miles dodged Lettie's paws and sank his teeth into her shoulder. She stilled immediately, her eyes closing as he began to Drink.

Miles relaxed slightly, grateful that she didn't seem likely to attack him while he was Drinking from her, and wrapped an arm around her body carefully. It was going to be a long night, and he just hoped that this would work.

... b ...

Luna dragged herself onto the shore of the island, exhausted after her long day of journeying. After leaving the transport centre, she'd moved from wizarding village to village via the local's fireplaces, begging and borrowing tiny amounts of Floo powder where she could, and stealing a few grains when she couldn't.

With the longer Ginevra was evil, the more people were becoming hostile, suspicious and short tempered. At Cassandra's insistence, Luna had taken five minutes to create a shield around herself before entering a particular village. On arriving, she'd been greeted with spears and scythes. Unable to see the weapons before her, and with the hundreds of possibilities in her mind, Luna had been grateful to get out of the village with nothing more than a broken arm and a few large gashes on her legs. That had been the second-to-last village of the day, and the final village had taken the last of her money, paying a ridiculous amount of Knuts and Sickles in order to pay an inebriated sailor to get her down to the troll-inhabited islands.

He'd left her almost ten metres away from the shore, refusing to go any further, and Cassandra had taken over, physically launching Luna into the ocean to escape the future that his presence provided. As he'd tried to drag her back into the boat with an oar, beating her on the head more often than not, Luna had struggled to swim away and escape with her exhaustion.

It seemed that the gods were on her side this night. Just as she'd been ready to give up, the ocean had swelled, almost capsizing the boat, yet safely sending her towards the shore. Luna was positive that she'd heard neighing as her feet touched the sand. She crumbled forward onto her knees, coughing and spluttering as she accidentally drank the salty water. Whatever she'd heard or presence she'd felt disappeared, and Luna was alone on the shore of the Islas Diego Ramirez.

Too exhausted to move further, she stayed where she was on the sand and fell asleep. The ocean lapped gently at her body, but the tide didn't rise any higher to take her out to sea.

... b ...

Monday, 15 July

Waking up with a groan, Neville let out a hiss as his body ached when he tried to sit up.

"Stay down, love. Yer goin' ter be sore fer a while," Seamus said, his face above his. He looked a mixture of relieved and worried, stroking Neville's hair gently.

"What happened?" he asked, unable to remember much after leaving Romania.

Seamus was silent for a moment, glancing across the cave to where the Night Fairy was sitting, tossing a ball of dark fire between her hands.

"You bloody well want me to explain it again? Oh, for fuck's sakes," Niryal groaned.

"I still don't understand what happened, so there's no way I can explain it to him," Colin replied, shrugging.

Neville looked alarmed, especially as his memory began to return. He remembered being in a boat, freezing as they travelled along the dark waters. Had the boat capsized and they were forced to swim to the closest shoreline, and they now didn't know where they were?

"Someone tell me what happened," Neville ground out. "Where are we?"

"We made it to the Unplottable island," Colin replied, knowing that at least. "We saw all of the Quintapeds lined up on the cliffs, and realised that they weren't alive," he said, glancing to Niryal, who had made the dark fire into a much larger ball, now hovering it between her hands as she expanded the unnatural flames.

"Then Niryal took me out of the boat," Neville said with a nod, remembering more the more he talked. "What happened then? Did we find the Marble Estate? Is Voldemort still alive?"

"He's the only bloody thing on that island that's still alive," Niryal growled. "He fucking killed everything; not one bloody creature is living."

Oh, that's right. Neville remembered the horror and anguish he'd felt, multiplied ten times over from the Night Fairy who was carrying him through the air in that sphere of hers. They'd flown over the island, skimming trees, passing streams, burrows and nests, but everything was covered in blood. It was infinitely worse than if they'd simply been empty and void of life. If they had been empty, then it could have been the Quintapeds who had ruined their own ecosystem by eating everything in sight. However, it was obvious from the fresh blood staining everything that the animals had been killed long after the Quintapeds demise. The clean cuts on bodies indicated that their deaths had come from a wand. There had been so much blood, so much death, and his thumb had been going crazy over the unbalance of Life and Death.

A shudder ran through him, his thumb flashing green at the memory. Neville turned on his side, away from Seamus and threw up. He lay there, his chest heaving for a long moment, before wiping his mouth and turning to Niryal.

"Where is Voldemort?"

"Hiding like a bloody coward, all holed up in the Marble Estate. I tried to get in eight fucking times before you went and passed out, so I had to freaking leave to come back here," she muttered sourly.

"Why couldn't ye get in? I still donnae get tha' part," Seamus said, frowning.

"The Marble Estate is bloody well surrounded by the blood of Quintapeds and so many fucking Dark spells that I lost count after the two-fucking-hundredth spell. We can't fucking cross it," Niryal growled.

"Ye didn't say it that way the firs' time; get it now," Seamus muttered.

"Can you fly straight over and into the middle of the Marble Estate?" Colin asked.

"That's what made him bloody pass out," Niryal muttered, nodding at Neville.

He ignored her barb, a frown flitting on his face as he remembered something. "The vines. They were across the circle."

"What?" Colin asked, sounding confused.

"The vines that were in the forest. They've become wild since they haven't been tended to, and now they're everywhere, including the Marble Estate. The circle of blood crosses over them, so if we remove the vines, the circle will be broken, and then we'll be able to get inside."

Niryal's ball of dark fire disappeared as she looked up at Neville, her brilliant Master.

"A few vines is all tha' stands 'tween us and Vold'mort?" Seamus asked, a grin forming on his face. "We can handle tha' easy."

Without a word of warning, Niryal made all of them disappear to the Marble Estate. Colin dry heaved, his stomach still feeling like it was down below the ground in the caves.

"Don't do that so suddenly next time," Neville groaned, holding his head in pain.

"Are ye insane? Nev only jus' woke up after bein' unconscious! He can't be moved like tha' so soon!" Seamus shouted, looking a little green himself.

"Sorry, I fucking thought you'd want to be off this damned island as soon as possible," Niryal said, but she looked a little guilty as Neville sank down to the ground.

Seamus went over to Neville, his arm around his shoulders to keep him steady.

"Um, Seamus?" Colin asked, his voice uncertain.

"Busy here, Colin," he muttered, frowning as he felt Neville's warm forehead.

"Seamus? Really need your help," he replied, his voice an octave higher.

A shadow fell across Seamus and Neville, making Seamus finally look up. A bunch of vines were grouped together, but they were bigger than any vines he'd ever seen before. The log cabin that Harmony and Colin lived in was a doll's house compared to these vines, and even Hagrid would have seemed small beside them.

"Niryal, get us in the air. Now," Seamus said, his face paling as he saw a large flower on one of the vines blooming.

"No bloody manners," Niryal muttered, but not even a second later, they were all inside the sphere and high above the Marble Estate.

Below them, the vines were shooting fire at the exact place they'd been only moments ago.

"Fire?" Colin squeaked, coughing to return his voice to normal. "How can they breathe fire? They're vines!"

"Nev said they'd gone wild," Seamus said, shrugging briefly. "'Sides, no one really knows what the MacBoons and McCliverts did ter the land when they were feudin'. If the McCliverts could turn the MacBoons in ter Quintapeds, why couldn't they make vines breath fire?"

Colin shuddered, turning his gaze away from the vines below them. Seamus returned his attention to Neville, who was starting to get clammy and shiver.

"Do ye remember any of them healing spells Theo was always goin' on 'bout?" Seamus asked Colin, licking his lips nervously.

"One or two. What's wrong with Neville?"

"He's burnin' up but he's shiverin' like he's freezin'. We still have that blanket?" he asked, looking around the tiny sphere. "Where's the blasted blanket? Why didn't ye bring it?" Seamus asked, glaring at Niryal.

She faltered at the sight of the tears in his eyes. "Can't you just conjure up a leaf or something to cover him?"

"No, I bloody can't! I have ter go down there an' use up ev'ry part of my magic to try an' control those blasted vines so we can get the fuck out of here! I can't conjure up a fuckin' leaf because ye brought us out here 'fore Nev was well, an' now he's got a fever an' prob'ly dying an'..." his words cut off sharply as Bexley flew out of Colin's body.

"Don't make me do this, Seamus. I can help Neville, but only if you control yourself," Bexely ground out, wavering between his mist form and Neville's dead body.

Colin slapped Seamus, trying to break him out of his terrified emotions. "It always works in the movies," he muttered when Seamus just glared at him, but Bexley continued to shift.

"How can ye help him?" Seamus relented, looking to Bexley in desperation.

"I can go into him and control his body temperature. But I can only do it for a small amount of time. You'll need to put all of your energy towards those vines so we can get him to a healer quicker."

"We can just go to a healer now, can't we? We know where Voldemort is, can't we just come back?"

"He's killed ev'rythin' on the island, Colin. He's nae stayin' here much longer. He'll need food for the nymph, as well as himself an' his bloody snake," Seamus muttered, sighing heavily.

"Then why go to all this trouble with the Quintaped blood?" Colin asked, looking at the circle of black blood beneath them.

"After all the Death Eaters we killed at the Riddle House, ye really think he'd just stay here withou' some sorta protection? 'Sides all that, if he thinks this is secure, then he'll think he has a place ter come back ter an' hide."

Neville shivered, his body curling up. Seamus frowned slightly, not liking the idea of leaving him alone. He turned to Colin, his entire manner stern.

"Ye keep 'im warm, ye 'ear me? If I come back an' he's still cold an' shiverin' like that, I'll hurt ye, god or not!"

Colin nodded briefly, and there was a slight pop as Seamus dropped out of the sphere. Watching for a moment as thin vines flew up out of the ground to catch Seamus' falling body before he hit the hard surface, Colin then turned to Neville and moved beside him, wrapping an arm around his body carefully.

Seamus brushed himself off quickly, looking up at the large fire-breathing vines. He held his hands up, his thumbs glowing green. Above him, the flowers on the vines started to close slowly. Then, as he used more power, his whole hands started to turn green. The vines swayed slightly, starting to shrink back down to the ground. The green colour spread further until his arms were completely covered and glowing. The vines continued to shrink at a faster pace, the circle of blood beginning to break. Finally, just as Seamus dropped to his knees in exhaustion, there was a loud hiss, a wisp of smoke leaving the broken circle.

The moment the circle was broken, Niryal's sphere dropped all the way to the ground, collecting Seamus' fallen body and continuing straight inside to the marble house.

... b ...

Blaise's stomach felt like it was attempting to eat itself, and his lack of water and subsequent dehydration was starting to make him delusional. Sleeping only helped for a short while, but all too soon, he'd be wide awake. Then he'd have to keep his concentration on Elin's frozen form so that he didn't look into the trees where Relo was waiting for one lapse, one moment to look him in the eyes and freeze him too.

"There is fruit and streams out here, centaur. Why don't you come out? Relo will pick the ripest fruits and the freshest water for you."

Biting down on his tongue hard, Blaise willed himself to sleep once more, but it was in vain. He almost cried out as Elin took another step forward.

"Ginevra will not be pleased if you eat us, Relo," Blaise called eventually.

Oh dear gods', this was almost worse than feeling helpless. What did he think he would do: talk the Erkling into not eating him? Maybe he'd be able to convince Relo that he was stringy and tasteless next!

"Why does the centaur think that?" Relo asked with a sneer.

Blaise couldn't be entirely sure if it was an effect of being close to delirium, but he was almost positive that he'd heard some uncertainty in Relo's voice.

"Well, when has she ever let you take a bite out of us?"

All of his supposed Slytherin cunning, and that's the best he can come up with?

There was silence, but Relo didn't immediately discourage him, so Blaise hurried to continue, despite his internal monologue.

"Ginevra would be sad if you killed Elin and me. We're her friends, her loyal subjects, and she would hate it, hate you, if you killed us."

There was a tiny whimper, as if the mere thought of Ginevra hating him made Relo feel sick.

"Oh, yes. She would hate you, and she would never forgive you if you ate us and went against her wishes."

"B-b-but... It's not against her wishes, centaur," Relo said with a mocking laugh. "I can feel all her thoughts and wishes in my head, and she wants destruction. My Mistress wants blood, and she craves death. She will forgive me for your deaths."

Okay, being taunted and strung along by an Erkling was a blow to the ego, Blaise decided.

He rolled onto his side, closing his eyes tightly and willing to sleep once more.

... b ...

Millicent was curled up in the corner, her exhaustion overcoming her and her magical supply extremely depleted. Despite the fact that his girlfriend was a few hours away from becoming a Muggle, Theodore was proud to see that the beds were stacked in a Muggle bunk bed style. Six beds were stacked atop one another, and similar spells were being used in other rooms in order to take more patients.

After the patients had dwindled down to one or two, Theodore had foolishly thought that there would be no more, and Ginevra had stopped her bloody rampage. Not even an hour later, the hospital staff had been informed of the events at the Lorcan d'Eath concert. They were to receive over one hundred more patients and even the permanent wards in the hospital were being utilised to hold these newcomers.

Theodore hated what Ginevra was doing with every fibre of his being. That being said, he was so extremely grateful that she wasn't killing her victims and the hospital's morgue wasn't receiving more than one hundred dead bodies. With the amount of Aurors that were moving around the hospital, it wasn't surprising to discover that there were only two small teams of Aurors out hunting for Ginevra, and the rest were inside the hospital, attempting to find someone conscious enough to give a statement.

Theodore needed to figure out a way to get blood replenishing potions into people who were unconscious and on the brink of death, and the distractions from Aurors definitely wasn't helping. After telling three Aurors that he would contact them when the patients were awake, stable, and could talk without screaming, Theodore locked the doors and refused to open it to anyone who wasn't wearing an official robe of St. Mungo's.

His gaze went to Millicent, who had her cross stitching on her lap, a futile attempt to relax when surrounded by people who she was helpless to help. Looking at the needles sticking in the hedgehog-shaped pin cushion, Theodore's eyes widened slightly, knowing exactly how to get the potions into his patients.

Scribbling a quick note to Healer Derwent, Theodore flicked his wand and the piece of parchment turned into a plane, flying out of the door he opened for it. He received a reply moments later, and while Healer Derwent wasn't entirely pleased at using a Muggle concept in order to help wizarding patients, she did agree that it was the only useful thing that had been suggested since receiving the patients almost thirty minutes ago.

Theodore went to the first patient, transfiguring the goblet that held the potion into a needle and drip bag, a thin tube connecting the two. When Theodore noticed that the potion wasn't moving, he held the bag up, adjusting the spell in order to hang it off the patient's bed so they could receive their medication. When it was done to his satisfaction ten minutes later, he returned Healer Derwent's message with instructions for the other healers, and then continued onto the rest of the patients.

... b ...

The sun had just begun to rise when a troll lumbered into the village, carrying Luna in his arms gently. She was taken into their shaman's tent, and neither Gregory nor Pansy were permitted to enter the wise woman's hut to see how their friend was faring.

They'd been escorted quite firmly back to their own hut, and they'd been sitting in silence for seven minutes before Gregory finally cracked.

"I hope Luna's all right."

Pansy looked up at him, somewhat amazed that those were the first words her boyfriend had directed at her since arriving with that female troll. The same female troll who just so happened to be the Princess of his entire clan!

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Gregory said, frowning when he saw her expression.

Pansy looked away from him, not replying.

Gregory briefly wondered if there was anything he could say or do that would satisfy Pansy. He had no idea what he'd done, or what he hadn't done! It couldn't have been something he'd said because she hadn't even let him get a word in when he'd arrived with Griselda!

"Have I done something, Pansy? You have to talk to me," he said, reaching across to take her hand.

She pulled away abruptly, glaring at him now. "Don't touch me."

"Would you just tell me what I've done wrong?"

"You need it spelled out? Fine then. You didn't visit me in Antarctica, you haven't talked to me in months, and you arrived with that Princess on your arm!"

Gregory looked stunned at her words, his expression melting to an angry frown. "I couldn't visit you in Antarctica since I didn't know you were there; Luna took me to..."

"I'm not talking about what Luna did, Gregory! I'm talking about you!"

"Well, fine. I still couldn't visit since I didn't know you were there! I thought you were healing at Hogwarts or something, and I had no way of getting back there... As for talking to you, I've been trying all bloody night! You won't look at me, and you haven't even let me get more than two words out while we were eating."

"I meant in here," Pansy said, tapping her temple. "I haven't been Voldemort's prisoner for three weeks now, and I haven't heard a single thing from you."

"The moment you were out of Riddle House, I tried to call you. I tried for two straight weeks, and I never heard a thing from you. I thought you were ignoring me, Pansy. I thought you didn't want to talk to me, with Vince... With his death," he said, his hands clenching tightly.

He slowly opened his mind connection, allowing the light tether between himself and Pansy to strengthen. She was so overwhelmingly sad, but there was still anger beneath the sadness.

"Why did you leave Hogwarts without even seeing whether I was all right? Why didn't you stay, or even come to see me before Luna took off with you?"

"I wanted to be there, Pansy, I really did. They sedated me the moment you were kidnapped..."

"So you couldn't even fight off a potion or two?" she sneered.

For a long moment, Gregory simply stared at her. "It wasn't one potion, Pansy, or even two. I was force-fed ten sedation potions and hit with six calming spells the day you were captured. I kept trying to get up and get to you. I didn't have any idea where you were, yet I kept trying to walk to find you, I kept trying to leave behind everything I'd ever known just to be with you again..." his voice cracked slightly, and he looked down at his clenched hands once more. "I was sedated on a daily basis, and when I had moments of clarity, I even contemplated contacting Voldemort himself, just to get you back."

Pansy glared at him, her eyes filled with tears. "Don't... Don't you ever do that! Don't say that, don't think it, and don't you dare ever do that!" her voice raised close to a scream, and she continued to hit him with each syllable that tore from her throat.

Gregory took each hit, watching as she wore herself down with screams and punches. When she was doing little more than sobbing against his chest, he gathered her in his arms gently, tears falling down his cheeks.

"Promise me. Promise you won't ever go to him," Pansy said, her voice scratchy and her eyes screwed tight.

"I promise. I'm sorry, Pansy. I really am. I should have never thought of doing that. I was desperate, and I was only thinking of you, I swear I was."

"So was Vincent. Voldemort told me that it was my fault he got to Vincent. That stupid dream he had about me being bruised and bloody. He was thinking about me when he went to Voldemort," Pansy sobbed. "It's my fault. It's all my fault."

"No, it's not. It was Vincent's decision, Vincent's choice. He was thinking of a dream, not the real you, and that was what he based his decision on. It is not your fault, do you understand me, Pansy?" Gregory said, holding her shoulders gently as he looked at her.

She continued to cry, nodding briefly without answering. Pansy would keep feeling like her boyfriend's death had been her fault for a very long time, but Gregory's words would eventually reassure her that she wasn't the one to blame.

"It's not your fault, love. I promise you that," Gregory whispered, kissing her hair softly.

He sat on his bed once more, pulling Pansy onto his lap. Together, they cried for their loss, for their boyfriend who had made one wrong choice, and Gregory held Pansy in his arms even after they both fell asleep a few hours later, both the troll and the mermaid emotionally exhausted.

... b ...

Miles stepped into the Muggle tavern, suspicious of the fact that it was the only building in the entire village that was lit. Even the houses were dark and empty. He soon discovered the reason, a half-smile on his face as his gaze went to the lone woman that the entire town was enraptured with. Francesca was sitting atop a table in the middle of the room, spinning stories for children and adults alike.

She saw him enter, returned the half-smile, and then focused her attention on her audience once more. Miles went to the bar, taking a few moments to get the barkeep's attention, and a while longer to get his drink. He didn't mind Francesca's storytelling as he usually did with Virginia's; while the daughter would simply tell a story for a room or a meal, the mother would create a web of lies and falsehoods to see the townspeople turn on one another, or to send an entire village penniless in one night.

Sipping his drink, Miles watched the villagers as they listened to Francesca's tale of a hero, a princess, and a bloody-thirsty curse. It was a story he'd heard often before; one of the tales his mother had told him when he was growing up. Miles stopped drinking, surprised to see looks of disgust and hate on the faces of two men. Glancing down, he spied two woven bags around their necks, and began to get a sinking feeling in his stomach.

The tale finished, and Miles tried to get to where Francesca was seated. It was an impossibility, the sea of bodies so tight together that not even a tiny mouse would be able to fit between them. At the insistence of the children, Francesca began to weave a spell, a simple trick designed to enchant and amuse. A firework display of her hero and princess appeared, the two figures disappearing in a shower of bright harmless sparks.

Francesca refused the request for an encore, telling the children that they had to go to bed and sleep, and the adults that they had children to tuck in and keep safe. At her slight instruction, the people in the tavern hurried to disperse and do as she'd said. Miles watched as the two men lingered at the doorway, their gazes on Francesca still. Frowning, he waited until they had left before making his way over to her.

"I hope you enjoyed the tale, Miles."

"I always do," he replied with a slight smile. "I noticed two that did not enjoy it as much, I'm afraid."

"Oh, yes?" she replied, curious.

"Woven bags were about their necks. I'm surprised that the smell of the tavern was able to cover the ingredients in those bags."

"I'm not; Mother has been testing new ingredients that disguise the smells. I hope that she hasn't succeeded this time," Francesca said with a tired smile.

"Are you leaving tonight, or on the morrow?" Miles asked briefly, his eyes flicking to the owner of the tavern.

"Perhaps it would be best to leave tonight, and save these poor people from my mother's jealousy."

Miles nodded, moving back as Francesca stood and stepped off the table elegantly. She landed beside him, and a moment later, was apologising to the owner, slipping him a few extra gold coins to make up for the wasted time spent on preparing her room.

Within a minute, Francesca was ready to leave, and she left the front door. Waiting until he saw two dark figures beginning to follow her, Miles left the tavern as well, a gold coin spinning on the table as his payment.

In his arms, Lettie was changing from a beast to her human self. Her face was almost it's normal shape, but her spine, teeth and nails were all sharp and long, the beast fighting his attempt to Turn her.

Pulling away from Lettie's neck, Miles placed his wrist at her mouth, needing to smear the blood on her lips before she would drink.

As with the past twelve hours, he simply hoped that this would work. Miles hadn't known that her beast side - Lettie's connection with Ginevra's current form - would be stronger than his blood, which was centuries old and one of the purest bloodlines in the Vampire world. Even if he had known that fact, he still would have done this, if only to see Lettie pain-free.

... b ...

Niryal was almost disappointed at how quickly they found Voldemort. He was deep within the dungeons of the Marble Estate, his snake beside him, and the nymph tied before him as he attempted to coax her to drink and eat. On seeing them, Voldemort had disappeared with Nagini, Colin lunging towards him a moment too late and knocking himself out on the bricks instead.

So now, rather than having three people who could stand and defeat the Dark Lord, Niryal had three unconscious kids in her sphere. They were against an ugly man with no freaking nose who had been so terrified that they'd actually made it past his circle of Quintaped blood that he didn't even realise that they were unconscious!

That bloody Potter kid was having trouble trying to defeat that guy, why exactly? Niryal wondered to herself, shaking her head in disbelief.

The creature they'd come to rescue could have been mistaken for a twig with her bones sticking out like that, and clumps of her hair on the ground around her, her nails torn and broken from dragging them along the floor in attempts to get as far away from Voldemort as possible. As the nymph looked up at Niryal, there was a defeat in her eyes that the Night Fairy just did not like at all, and she took her bony hand, pulling her into the sphere. Moments later, the nymph passed out as well. Not knowing what else to do or where to go, Niryal took Neville's hand and disappeared to the nymph world.

The moment they arrived, Neville and the bony nymph were taken to their own healers. Terra was so grateful for her granddaughter's return that she immediately restored Seamus and Colin to their full health, removing a rather large bump on Colin's head and replenishing Seamus' inner magic. The moment they seemed fine, but were still unconscious, Terra sent them back into the mortal world with Niryal in order to deal with the mess that Ginevra had become. Apparently, the vampiress was two short days away from getting through the nymph's defences, which would totally screw up both of the worlds until mortals and nymphs alike were in a living hell.

Colin woke up first on their arrival to Knockturn Alley. He managed to calm Seamus when he woke up moments later and found Neville missing. While Niryal was impressed at his ability to curse and swear (she may have learnt a new phrase or two, but that wasn't something she'd be telling him), she had no desire to see the world screwed up any more than it already was.

Niryal wanted to return the Queen of All back to her normal self as soon as possible; she could feel that the world wasn't right, and the Queen was trying to fight herself to gain control once more. She could feel that everything that was happening in the world was a fight between the Queen's good and evil sides, and by the looks of things so far, the evil side was winning.

It took a longer time in order to calm Seamus down about how fast they'd been able to find Terra's granddaughter. He was glad she'd been found, of course, was horrified at the image of the nymph that Niryal had shown him, but it didn't dampen his annoyance at spending over two weeks attempting to get to the nymph, only to find and rescue her within ten minutes of entering the Marble Estate. He'd taken longer fighting off the vines than it had to rescue her from Voldemort!

The Night Fairy had opened her mouth to tell him to get his priorities sorted out but was stopped by two familiar figures up ahead.

... b ...

Xavier paced the bedroom so fast that he was sure smoke started to come out from beneath his feet. He forced himself to slow down, or even sit down for a moment or two, but then seconds later, he was back on his feet, returning to the regular carpet-wearing pace.

A knock at the door had Xavier stopping and hurrying over to open it. The vampire behind the door didn't seem surprised at his state, but gave a slightly longer bow than usual in order to let Xavier gain some composure.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I have been told to inform you that the manticore has been completely sedated, as per the Council's request. The manticore will not be moving for the remainder of the week," the messenger added.

"Thank you for informing me. Please let the rest of the Council members know, and you are to alert me to my wife's presence the moment she enters the mansion, is that understood?"

"Of course, Lord Xavier. Your orders remain the same, and will be adhered to," the vampire replied, bowing once more before leaving.

Xavier shut the door and sighed heavily. He had no idea where Agnes was, nor where Miles had disappeared to, he had a room full of Muggles that were getting cabin fever within a mansion of hungry vampires, and one of his most promising protege's had turned evil.

After providing them with some entertainment in the form of movies and games, Xavier had locked the door of the Muggle's rooms. He had two owls out searching for his wife and son, and while he wanted nothing more than to help stop Ginevra, Xavier had worn himself out simply by leading her around the Muggle's room. If he went to her while she was evil, there was no doubt in his mind that she would turn him evil as well. Xavier had been evil already, and it was enough to last him for the rest of his life.

... b ...

"Here they come," Ginevra whispered gleefully, her fingernails scraping down Fred's robes and George's sleeves.

Behind them, Draco was trailing hard lines on them, enough to draw blood. Ginevra took a step forward, a moan on her lips. Before she could attack her brothers, Draco moved to her, his lips on hers. She bit at his lower lip, blood forming and letting her lick and suck at him hungrily.

Fred and George grinned at each other and stepped out onto the street to begin their performance.

Seamus was suspicious when he saw the twins ahead, despite the presence of blood on their clothes and trailing down their skin. The marks seemed fairly fresh, and he was almost positive that they both had Glamours hiding their features. While it wasn't uncommon for them to have a Glamour on their face to hide their scars, this particular Glamour seemed to shine all over their heads and their hands as well.

"Tha's not righ'," Seamus muttered.

Colin made a small noise of agreement, his eyes flicking to the drops of blood that were falling to the ground. The twins had been with Ginevra and Draco for almost two whole days, and they were only injured now, when he, Seamus and Niryal were arriving? Definitely not right. Not to mention that the entire alley was deserted. People usually milled about no matter whether it was day or night, and yet they were the only ones visible.

Niryal could see right through the Glamours without needing to see the shininess of the spell. She grinned slightly at the sight of the black streaks, their black eyes, scars, and nails. They looked like fun. As the twins stepped forward, Niryal's grin faded. She could see the copies of the twins surrounding them, their figures hidden by cloaking devices and shielding spells. She growled briefly, not enjoying the idea of being surrounded, and definitely not in this underhanded way. Not fun, not fun at all. A brief motion had all of the twin's copies frozen on the spot, darkness filling their vision until they believed themselves asleep. Two by two, the figures stopped following their progress and lay down where they were, going to sleep. As they slept, the shielding devices and spells faded, revealing each copy to Seamus and Colin as well.

Fred and George glared at Niryal, their Glamours fading and their wounds healing. They moved towards them, their wands in their hands and hexes on their lips. Ginevra and Draco stepped out from their place further up the street, joining the twins as they advanced on Niryal and the two wizards.

... b ...

A mix between a gasp and scream tore from Luna's throat as she woke up, her visions becoming little more than a blur of black, red, and death.

"Stay calm, blanca chica," a voice murmured, stroking her forehead gently. (White girl.)

Turning sightless eyes towards the woman who had spoken, Luna focused her Sight on her own current situation and time, and she smiled briefly at the wise woman, inclining her head.

"It is I who should bow to you, Se-orita," the woman murmured, still stroking Luna's forehead. (Miss.)

Relaxing under her soothing ministrations, Luna slowly remembered her vision.

"Your friend is not always very blood-thirsty, no?"

"No, she usually has better control than this," she murmured in reply.

"You have seen the world without her?"

Luna shuddered at the memory of fire and destruction; the world itself burning as the skies poured with torrential rains that did nothing to stop the flames on the earth. A world damaged beyond repair, Muggles and wizards alike suffering through their lives with no hope and no end in sight.

"But the sirena and troll will help stop her, yes?" (Mermaid.)

"Yes. I need to get them, we need to go right away," Luna said, trying to sit up.

The wise woman held her down with a surprisingly strong grip, and even though she couldn't see it, Luna had the feeling that the woman was staring straight into her eyes. There was a long moment of silence, and Luna had no idea what the woman was looking for, or even if she found it, but suddenly, she was released.

The wise woman called out for one of the trolls. Luna was lifted onto her feet gently and lead out of the hut. She thanked the wise woman over her shoulder, but the troll had started chanting and didn't reply.

"Your friends are this way, blanca. They were confusing at first, so quiet and so much space between them when they arrived, and they were meant to be in love," the troll said, shaking his head. "But they were yelling and screaming to each other earlier, so we know that they will be happy."

"Yelling and screaming means they will be happy?" Luna asked in amusement.

"It means they talk, blanca, and when they stop yelling and screaming, they will talk until they are happy again."

Luna wasn't entirely sure that she agreed with the troll's reasoning, but nodded anyway. She could See that they were almost at the hut provided to Gregory and Pansy, and as they neared, she could hear Gregory snoring gently.

"See, blanca, they are happy," the troll whispered, indicating to the two entwined sleeping figures on the bed.

"Thank you. Could you please prepare the carriage and Tebo steeds so we can leave? We need to go as fast as possible, and it will take too long to return to the mainland by sea," Luna said.

"Of course, blanca. It will be ready soon," the troll promised, leaving as fast as his short legs could carry him.

Looking ahead, Luna saw that in a few hours, Colin, Seamus and Niryal would fight against Ginevra, Draco and the twins in Knockturn Alley. The former three would fight valiantly, but they would be overcome soon enough and the latter four would declare victory, shadows taking over the fallen trio. Soon after, Neville would fall, Blaise would follow, and the Patil twins would be overcome the moment they left the pixie world. In St. Mungo's, an exhausted Theodore would fight with the last of his power, and Millicent would snap on witnessing her boyfriend's death. The wolf would wreak ruin on the hospital, killing everyone who came near, even those Theodore had spent days healing. Lettie wouldn't be able to overcome her friends as well as her Lady, and would drag Miles down with her into a beast's existence of blood and death, with Agnes becoming the first victim...

"Luna! Luna, snap out of it!" Pansy was yelling at her, shaking her by the shoulders.

Coming back to herself, Luna realised that she was screaming, a loud piercing sound that even made her shiver in fear. Her scream died in her throat, and she clung to Pansy's arms tightly.

"It's all right, it's all right," Pansy murmured, hugging Luna and stroking her hair gently.

"What are you doing here, Luna?" Gregory asked when she seemed a bit calmer and stopped shivering.

"We have to go. Now," she said, letting go of Pansy gingerly.

"Where?"

"Knockturn Alley. We have to stop Ginevra and Draco from taking over the world," Luna said.

"Oh, is that all?" Gregory muttered in reply, moving to pick up their bags.

"What are you doing? Tie them up this instant!"

Luna sighed, turning and heading towards Princess Griselda and the troll who was readying the carriage for them.

"I do apologise, Princess, for not presenting myself to you sooner. I have urgent business in London, and your carriage is the fastest transportation currently at my disposal. I promise I will return it before you are required to leave," Luna added, giving her a smile. "If you will beg my pardon saying so, but you will receive a firecall from Tharr in moments, and I am positive that you will want to be ready for it."

Griselda paled slightly, her hand reaching up to her hair, which had become unmanageable in the foreign weather. She gave a nod to the waiting troll, who continued to put the harnesses on the Tebo steeds, and hurried back to her hut.

Pansy and Gregory walked over, Pansy putting her hand on Luna's shoulder gently as Gregory moved past them to put the bags in the back of the carriage.

"What do you mean by Ginevra and Draco taking over the world? What's happened, Luna? Does it have something to do with that shadow thing the trolls were talking about?" Pansy asked quietly.

Luna Saw hundreds of different visions, all of Pansy's reactions to what she would say. Pansy could do anything from refusing to leave with them to getting so angry at Ginevra and Draco's actions that she would haul Gregory into the carriage and leave without Luna.

If you take her hand, I can show her what has happened. It is one of the better options, Cassandra added.

Luna held out her hand for Pansy to take, and she did so with only a moment of hesitation. Pansy dropped to her knees as visions assaulted her mind.

Ginevra's attempt to wake her up with her power as Queen of All, Pansy waking and her journey to South America, Luna's voyage with Lady Agnes from England to South America to find Pansy on the beach, them taking care of her, Ginevra's time training at both Hogwarts and the vampire mansion, Ginevra talking with the Muggles of their futures, Virginia's trek around the world to gather ingredients for the potion, Virginia tricking Ginevra with the offer of tea, and Ginevra turning evil, Draco and the twins being inhabited by the shadows, all four wreaking havoc and causing mayhem wherever they travelled.

Opening her eyes, Pansy gasped for breath. She took Gregory's offered hand, standing on trembling legs. She fought the urge to run into the ocean and become a mermaid, just to escape the world and everything she'd missed. Pansy had the feeling that Luna hadn't told her everything, but what she'd seen had been enough.

"Let's get going," she said, squeezing Gregory's hand gently.

With a nod, he tied the ropes around their waists carefully before tying his own and stepping into the carriage. The Tebos ran down the short road, and the carriage lifted into the air with ease.

In her hut, Griselda finished her call with Tharr on a worrying note. He'd been sporting a black eye and swollen lip, the result of a bloody brawl in the tavern. It wasn't unusual for fights to occur, of course, but the brawls were becoming far more blood-thirsty and happening more often than usual. Even the King had joined in one fight, and he usually didn't have the attention span to hold a grudge long enough to fight.

Leaving the confines of her hut, Griselda called the trolls together to begin their training once more. She wanted to exhaust them to the point where having a brawl was nothing but a bad dream in the back of their minds, and by her club, she ensured on doing exactly that.

... b ....

Seamus snarled at Ginevra, his arms glowing green as he tried to ward off her hexes and curses. He could barely retaliate with any spells because she seemed to be moving even faster than she normally did, and the few spells that he did send missed their target completely. If only he could get to her wand, he might be able to take it and stop her spells. Seamus advanced on Ginevra slowly, his shield of leaves hardening against her attacks.

Draco was fighting against Colin, who had become surprisingly adept at hand to hand combat during his time with the dragons. He'd been in dragon form while fighting other dragons, of course, but the premise was the same: arms and legs moving in order to bring the opponent down. It was both a hindrance and a help that he didn't have to stay in the air at the same time. While he didn't have to think about staying airborne, Colin found that he was moving his shoulder blades slightly, as if he did have wings on his back. Draco was slightly faster than Ginevra, his hexes mixed with sharp bites of his teeth that only seemed to graze Colin's skin rather than penetrate.

Niryal fought against the twins, delighted that she was able to use her skills against so worthy opponents. The twins were fast and mischievous with their spells, but she had a skill set that they'd never seen before. For every spell they sent at her, she returned by filling their vision with nightmares of rotting skin and pus-filled boils. The twins shook the visions away, sending more ferocious hexes than before, these ones intent on harming her. Niryal just grinned and continued to play.

Seamus finally reached Ginevra, his shields protecting him from her spells while a vine made it's way towards her. The vine shot out at Ginevra, and she lunged towards Seamus. Their wands flew through the air as if time itself had slowed down, the two wands clattering to the ground. There was a long silence as they simply stared at the pieces of wood. Seamus scrambled to get the wands first, snapping Ginevra's wand in half before she could do anything. Ginevra gasped slightly, and then her gasp turned into low laughter, before changing to completely wild and unrestrained laughter.

"Tell me, what did you really think that would do?" she asked, wiping black tears from her eyes as she looked at Seamus with a smirk. "Did you think that I'd suddenly be powerless without that piece of wood? It's a stick, for fuck's sakes. Nothing more than a conduit, and I don't need that useless thing to completely fuck you up," Ginevra sneered, moving towards Seamus, sending a hex at him.

Niryal liked Ginevra, she really did, and her being dark and evil didn't really dampen the feeling. But Seamus was her Master's lover, and her Master came before anyone Niryal liked, even before herself, and there was no hesitation involved as she jumped high over the twins' heads, knocking Seamus to the ground so the spell would hit her instead. The moment the spell hit, black blood began to flow from several wounds on her body, and the Night Fairy fell forward, blood gurgling out of her mouth.

... b ....

"Is there any way to make these beasts move faster?" Luna asked Gregory urgently.

He nodded quickly, reaching out of the carriage window to wave his wand. A loud bang scared the Tebos and they moved faster through the air.

"What's happening?"

"It hasn't happened yet. It's going to, and if we don't stop it, then Niryal's going to die," Luna said, her hands wringing the hem of her robe.

Pansy frowned slightly, putting her arm out the window as well. Three loud bangs followed in succession, the Tebos screeching their fear and moving faster still. Silence filled the carriage, Gregory and Pansy sitting side by side, while across from them, Luna continued to See this particular thread of time and the fight that had just taken Niryal's life.

It was the thickest thread of the lot, but she was somewhat pleased to note that the closer they were to Knockturn Alley, the thinner the thread began to shrink. Yet it was still thicker than the threads involving her arriving with Pansy and Gregory in time to save them all. Luna silently hoped that they would arrive in time, and this would not be a fixed point that she could not change no matter what she said or did.

At this pace, they would arrive at Knockturn Alley in an hour and ten minutes. The fight was due to start in fifty minutes. Niryal would die ten minutes later, and then Seamus and Colin would be overcome just as she arrived with Gregory and Pansy.

... b ...

Two by two, the copies of Fred and George lay down to sleep, their progress faltering as Niryal's magic made them believe that they were asleep. At the end of the alley, Fred and George glared at her angrily, their Glamours disappearing and their wounds healing.

"What are these people? Are they all Fred and George?" Colin asked quietly, looking to the redheads surrounding them.

Cloaking devices were on the ground, fallen from limp hands, and the copies were snoring softly, oblivious to the fight that was about to occur.

"They're just bloody copies. When the fucking spell is released from them, they'll return to their normal freaking selves. They won't remember a damned thing about this either," Niryal added, her eyes flicking to a small boy curled up on the ground, sucking his thumb gently.

"Ready, my beloved?" Draco murmured, his lips hot against her skin.

"Always, beloved," she replied, nipping at his lower lip and licking the small amount of blood that formed.

He smirked against her mouth, returning the favour, his fingers digging into her hips.

"Thank the gods for their hormones," Luna muttered, making her way into Knockturn Alley with Gregory and Pansy behind her.

"So how exactly am I meant to get them to stop?" Pansy asked, frowning.

They'd been in the carriage for almost three hours, but the tension had been so thick that she hadn't felt comfortable asking what to do. Luna had been Seeing for the entire time, so it wouldn't have done much if she had asked.

"Ginevra believes that you're dead, and has no power as Queen of All. She's been fighting the evil side ever since turning, but she doesn't have the motivation, inclination or belief to help her throw off the evil completely. She needs to accept herself as the Queen as All, which she has been denying ever since receiving the title, and in order to do that, she needs to believe in herself. You can help her do that."

Pansy frowned slightly, not feeling as though her question had really been answered. She still had no idea what to physically do. She doubted that it would do much if she threw her shoe at Ginevra's head and yelled 'I'm alive! Look, I'm right here!' at the top of her lungs.

Luna started running, Gregory and Pansy hurrying to catch up with her. She stopped suddenly, almost being barrelled into as a consequence. Gregory and Pansy managed to stop themselves before that happened, and they surveyed the scene before them. The twins were only just being joined by Ginevra and Draco, while they were faced by Seamus, Colin, and Niryal. They were surrounded by exact copies of the twins, each one sleeping on the cobblestone road or tiled roofs and snoring gently.

Ginevra smirked briefly, and in a blur of black, she was at Seamus' throat, her hand wrapped around his neck tightly.

Pansy glowered at the sight. After everything they'd been through together, Ginevra was going to strangle Seamus to death? Raising her wand in the air, she let out a stream of bangs and fireworks in order to gain their attention.

"Put Seamus down right now!" Pansy said, advancing on them angrily.

Gregory hurried to follow her, not wanting to lose Pansy to an evil vampiress after only just getting her back from a deluded snake-man.

Ginevra's eyes widened slightly as she saw Pansy, but then she shook her head, her eyes narrowing. "Nice trick, Seamus, but it won't work. Take the illusion away," she growled, her nails starting to pierce his skin.

"She's not an illusion!" Colin said, moving aside as Pansy stormed past him.

"Put. Him. Down!" Pansy repeated, her wand pointed at Ginevra.

"You couldn't hurt me if you tried. You're just an illusion, some fucked up vision they're doing to make me stop," Ginevra sneered.

Pansy said a hex, and Ginevra dodged it despite her thoughts about the Pansy-illusion. She looked at the scorch mark on the cobblestones, and shook her head slightly.

"No, that was there earlier. I'm sure it was," she muttered, adding another hand around Seamus' throat.

He gurgled something, breathless and choking on his own saliva.

Pansy muttered something under her breath about stubborn vampires, and reached down to take her shoe off. She smacked Ginevra on the head, moving to whack her about the shoulders.

"I'm alive! Look, I'm right here!" she said, still hitting her with the flat shoe. "Alive, alive, alive. I am so alive that it hurts... Now put Seamus down, you idiotic vampiress."

Seamus dropped to the ground, his neck bleeding and five finger-shaped bruises starting to form on his skin. Colin hurried to pull him out of Ginevra's reach, but both women were oblivious to him doing so.

"Open your mind link; I'll prove it's me," Pansy said to Ginevra.

She shook her head immediately. Her eyes began to alternate between black and their normal brown colour. Ginevra growled, a low deep sound that would have scared lesser beings. Pansy just stood there with her hands on her hips and glared at her.

"Don't growl at me. Stop doing this. I'm alive, and you're the reason why. I woke up in Antarctica because of you," Pansy said.

Ginevra's hands clenched so tightly that she pierced her palms, blood seeping out of the wounds slowly. "No. You escaped and died in the freezing ocean. No one's heard from you in weeks."

"How did I escape when I was in a coma? There's no such thing as coma-swimming, Ginevra. You were the last one to see me; you used your power to wake me up, and it worked. I woke up, and I survived the oceans of Antarctica. You woke me up as the Queen of All."

Ginevra flinched at the name, clenching her fists tighter. Small pools of blood were forming below her hands.

"The Queen of All saved me," Pansy said, grinning slightly as she flinched again. "The Queen of All is the reason I'm awake; the Queen of All is the reason that I'm alive... You wouldn't have been able to wake me if you were just Ginevra the vampiress, and you know that, that's why you're doing this stupid evil rebellion thing. You want to prove you've got some sort of power even if you're not the Queen of All, but you know what? You've got more power in your pinkie as the Queen of All than you do in your entire vampiress body. You are the Queen of All, and you need to accept that."

Crouching on the ground, every name making her fall further, Ginevra's eyes were now permanently brown.

"Open your mind link now, Ginevra. You're the Queen of All, and you're so much better than this. You're not all of this death and destruction; you're life and power. I'm proof of that, and you know I'm right. Now, open your mind, and accept the fact that you're the Queen of All. You know you're that person, and as that person, you will be able to overcome whatever hold is over you now. Accept that you're the Queen of All."

Pansy wondered if this was working. She'd just made a freaking vampiress cower on the ground like a scolded child by talking to, or at, her... She was running out of breath, running out of convincing things to say, running out of ideas for what to do.

Slowly, inch by inch, Ginevra's mind began to open. On the ground, her nails were retracting and starting to turn back to their normal flesh colour.

"I swear that I'm alive, Ginevra. I'm right here in front of you, and you woke me up as Queen of All," Pansy promised, overwhelmingly happy that Ginevra was starting to open her mind.

The moment she was opened enough, Pansy sent every detail of her journey to Ginevra, knocking her flat on her back. She registered Draco's growl somewhere, but ignored the veelan, and continued to send images, feelings, and thoughts until Ginevra was screaming at their magnitude inside of her mind.

She could hear Ginevra's words as Queen of All to wake her up, and soon after, she could feel the swell of unearthly power that pushed her up out of her long sleep. Waking up, surrounded by white and with no idea where she was. She could hear the ocean, knocking Theodore out when he tried to sedate her or hex her, and continuing through the white corridors until she found a door that led her outside. The ocean was roaring, tumultuous in it's welcome, and she dove straight into the freezing water, clad in nothing more than a thin hospital gown. Moments later, she was naked, a tail replacing her legs, and she started swimming. She was exhausted, but couldn't turn around. She continued towards warmer water, her skin turning blue in the sub-zero temperature she was swimming in. She couldn't hear anyone in her mind. The last memory was of Vincent, of his death, of wishing for her own to escape the pristine body beside her. Voldemort's cruel idea of a joke to keep Vincent's body fresh as hers wasted away. She wasn't fed, had small amounts of water, and she lost all track of time. She swam faster, trying to escape the memory and feelings. She screamed out in her mind, for someone, anyone, to answer her, but there was nothing but silence. She was alone in the black water, alone in her dark mind, and she felt like she was drowning. Swimming faster, her tail powerful and determined in the water, and her arms by her side, she shut her eyes for the longest time, thinking of nothing and only allowing herself to feel the cold water around her. She was so cold, so freezing cold, and she was certain that her teeth started chattering an hour ago. The water began to get warmer, but her body was still freezing, and it took every ounce of strength to pull herself ashore. She was freezing, she was alone, but she was awake, and she was alive. She was so tired, and she was going to fall asleep from exhaustion, but she was alive. She was so alive that it hurt. Everything hurt, her body, her head, her heart, but it was worth the pain because she had survived.

Ginevra screamed, tears running down her cheeks. The black in her hair was almost completely gone, and she was almost back to her Weasley-red colouring. Her eyes were brown, her nails were normal, and she began to black out.

Further down the alley, Fred, George, and Draco were all curled up and screaming as well. Shadows were leaving their bodies, clinging to the warmth inside them. It was in vain, because moments later, they were no longer attached, and simply floating above the three bodies in exhaustion. Niryal snapped her fingers, the three shadows disappearing into a dark jar she conjured.

Ginevra's eyes started to close and a wisp of dark smoke left her body. It was captured in the jar as well, and then her world went dark as she blacked out completely.

Before anyone even had breathed a sigh of relief, Ginevra's eyes shot open and a bright white light shone from them, her entire body arching until she was sitting upright.

There was a sound of music, a comforting sound that seemed to wrap around them individually, filling them until there was nothing but pure happiness within.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, the music faded and left them completely, only the feeling of happiness remaining. Ginevra's eyes began to close, the white glow leaving too. As her friend collapsed back onto the ground, Pansy was positive she heard Ginevra whisper 'Thank you'.

... b ...

End of the thirty-first chapter.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.