Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I donÕt own Harry Potter.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Tuesday, 16 July

Agnes waited at the top of the stairs, getting more and more anxious when she realised she couldn't hear anything from inside the cellar. The doors had been closed in order to block out the daylight, and despite it being dusk now, Agnes couldn't bring herself to open them. Her son was inside the cellar, and despite not knowing whether he was dead or alive, she still couldn't open the doors. Agnes doubted that she would be able to cope, or stop herself from slaughtering Lettie, if Miles was dead. The retribution from Ginevra would probably lead to her death, but Agnes wasn't sure that would stop her either. She forced herself to stay where she was, just as she had done so for the past fifteen minutes.

Suddenly, the doors opened in a large crash, clouds of dust forming in its wake. Agnes stood where she was, uncertain as to whether Lettie had suddenly acquired the ability to open doors, or if Miles had been overcome and forced to let the beast out.

"Are you going to stand out there all night, Mother?" Miles asked, grinning at her.

Sighing in relief, Agnes was in front of him in a moment, crushing Miles to her body into a hug.

His grin faded when he realised how worried she'd been, and he returned the hug gently. "I'm all right, Mum. I'm fine," Miles whispered.

"I know, I know. I am allowed to worry over you, you know, no matter how old you get," she added, pulling away and smiling, refusing to let her tears fall.

"Maybe after a few more centuries you'll change your mind."

Agnes just shook her head in return, the motion stilling when she heard a growl from the cellar. "How is Lettie? Did it work?"

"Lettie's all right; she's just sleeping now. As to whether it worked..." he trailed off, his expression a mixture of curious and worried.

It was the exact same look he'd given her at five years old when he'd been told that she and Xavier were vampires. Miles had made them both promise not to hurt his Crup, and then had gone out to play as if nothing had changed with their revelation.

"Let me see her," Agnes murmured, waiting until he stepped aside to walk down into the cellar.

"Please, don't hurt her," Miles said, sinking down onto the stairs to watch.

Agnes could immediately see why he was worried. Lettie was lying on the floor, her body human, but her spine, nails and teeth were still sharp spikes, and her hair was as black as the night.

Despite Ginevra defeating her evil side in the earlier hours of that morning, the connection between her and Lettie had been strong enough for the evil to cling to Lettie, just as the shadows had attempted to do to Draco and the twins.

"Has she regained consciousness since Turning?"

"Only once, earlier this morning. She screamed, but didn't say anything," Miles replied, his gaze firmly on Lettie.

"Perhaps it would be best to wake her now, to see if she has responded positively to the change," Agnes murmured, stepping back. "It will be best for her to see you before me. You are, after all, the one who Turned her. She will respond to you better."

Miles nodded, standing and making his way down the stairs slowly. He crouched low beside Lettie, stroking her hair gently. "It's time to wake up, Lettie," he said softly.

Opening her black eyes, Lettie growled.

... b ...

"To be evil encompasses immoral feelings, and wanting to hurt others. And when the Queen of All turns evil, who better to hurt than herself?" Luna asked softly, her audience enraptured. "In order to hurt others, Ginevra decided that it was best to torture and maim them rather than killing them. She wanted them to live so they could feel the pain... However, at the same time, the good in her also wanted to keep them alive. Ginevra didn't really want to hurt or kill anyone, so the compromise that she came to with her evil side was really her fighting the unnaturalness that had overtaken her. She was fighting every second, every minute, that she was evil..." Luna trailed off, frowning slightly as she felt Padma and Parvati return to the mortal world.

Fred and George Weasley! If you don't give us a reason for locking us in the pixie world in the next ten minutes, there will be dire consequences, Parvati said sternly.

By that, we mean lots of pain and purposely blue balling you, Padma added helpfully.

Any chance you want to take this conversation to a more private setting? Colin asked.

Aren't pixies blue anyway? Millicent asked. Sorry, not helping.

Parvati and Padma's connection faded quickly, and moments later, Fred and George followed meekly.

"What happened next, Luna?" one of the Muggle children asked, tugging on her robe gently.

"After three whole days of being evil, Ginevra finally won against her evil side with the help of..."

"Her fiancŽ? He was only pretending to be evil so he could rescue her, wasn't he?" one of the older children asked, grinning.

"No, actually. He was just as evil as she was; the hold they have over each other is very strong, and cannot be denied by either one... It was Pansy who helped, in the end."

"The mermaid?"

"Yes, the mermaid. She can be very stubborn at times, but is extremely good at organising things and dealing with emotional situations."

"How did she help Ginevra then?"

"I hit her with my shoe," Pansy said from the doorway, grinning slightly.

There were a lot of squeals of delight as the Muggle children saw one of the heroines of their story, and they left Luna, rushing over to Pansy, some of them begging her to turn into a mermaid. She entered the room, making sure to close the door behind her.

"I can only do that when I'm in water, sorry," she said apologetically.

One young girl shyly held up a jug of water that had been by her bed. Pansy frowned slightly - she couldn't possibly turn into a mermaid with that small amount of water! - but smiled quickly when the girl's lower lip began to tremble.

"Let's see what I can do with this," Pansy murmured, lowering her hand into the water.

A thought later, her fingers were webbed, her skin becoming translucent.

"Wicked," one of the boys said, grinning broadly.

"Did you really hit Ginevra with your shoe?"

"Yes," Pansy said with a nod. "She didn't believe I was alive, and it seemed the quickest way to prove her wrong," she said, grinning.

"Is Gregory here too?"

"Only until the end of the day," Luna answered.

"Can we meet him?"

"I want to see his club!"

"Please?" a chorus rang out of pleading children.

"Give him a moment, he's outside with Leo," Pansy said.

"Who's Leo?" some of the children asked Luna, moving to sit before her again.

Luna was halfway through her explanation of manticores, and Leo being Ginevra's servant, when the door opened once more, Gregory striding inside, his club resting on his shoulder. The children ran over to him in excitement, forgetting all about Luna and manticores.

"He's wearing the War General clothes!"

"Can we see your club?"

"Can you smash my bed in half?"

"They're very excitable, aren't they?" Pansy asked Luna breathlessly as she watched the children gather around Gregory, talking all at once.

"Of course they are. It's the first time they've had company other than vampires or the other Muggles they were brought in with for almost a month, and after being stuck in a bed for seven days straight, they want to do anything other than ... oh, dear," Luna murmured.

"Oh, dear? What oh, dear?" Pansy asked immediately.

She quickly looked back to Gregory in case he'd accidentally sat on one of the children. They all seemed fine, but behind his body, Pansy could see that the door was open. The vampires had let them visit the Muggles so long as they followed one rule: shut the door behind you. It was too tempting to let fresh blood wander the halls of a vampire mansion, and despite most of the vampires going out to hunt now that Ginevra was better and not affecting their blood supplies, there were still a few vampires that had stayed behind.

"Oh, dear... Do you know who the child is, or where they've gone?"

Luna was already Seeing, trying to figure out that exact thing. She knew who the child was, due to the fact that the rest were all seated around Gregory, but as to where he had gone, there were four ways from this particular place, each hall branching out into three to six more halls, a staircase leading upstairs that just made the possible places overwhelming. There was a scream from outside of the room, and without waiting for Luna to close in on that particular thread, Pansy left the room quickly, making sure to close the door behind her.

The child will be at Virginia's rooms in two minutes. I suggest you hurry before she discovers him. First left, third right, fourth left, sharp left. Run.

Pansy ran as fast as she could, following Luna's directions. Taking the sharp left, almost knocking her shoulder into the wall as she passed, Pansy saw the small boy wandering down the hall. She ran faster, skidding to her knees as she grabbed him tightly, masking his Muggle smell with her own mermaid one.

"Shh," she whispered, picking him up slowly, her knees aching as she stood.

Thankfully, he stayed silent until Pansy's grip loosened on his body a few minutes later.

"I wanted to see Ginevra," he said, rubbing at his eyes.

"She's still asleep, sorry. There wouldn't be much to see at the moment," Pansy murmured.

The boy looked upset, but nodded, resting his head on Pansy's shoulder.

Be careful with him, Pansy. He's going to be very important when he's older.

In what way?

You'll find out some day.

It's really annoying when you do that, Luna, Pansy muttered, but still held onto the boy a little tighter as she made her way back to the Muggle room.

... b ...

"Centaur!" Relo cried, running into the clearing.

Blaise froze on the spot, not knowing if this was a trick of some sort, if Relo had somehow managed to come into the clearing despite what had held him back earlier.

Relo hugged Blaise's leg tightly, the wound in his shoulder bleeding freely onto his pants. Refusing to move just yet, Blaise listened to the stars, in case they were whispering a warning to him. They were silent, and no sense of urgency overcame him as he dropped to his knees. Relo hugged him properly, his arms around his neck. Blaise winced slightly, waiting for the orange eyes to look at him and freeze him. Nothing happened, and he relaxed slightly. Relo cried into his shoulder, large tears dampening his shirt.

"We is so sorry, centaur. It was the evil shadow that made us. We stamped on it and it died!"

"That's really good, Relo," he murmured, patting his back in congratulations.

It seemed that the worst of it was over, Blaise thought in relief, allowing himself to relax completely.

The adrenaline that had kept him awake and alert up until now began to fade. He hadn't eaten or had a drink since entering the clearing, and he realised too late that he didn't have any energy left without the adrenaline. Blaise swayed on his knees, letting go of Relo and collapsing on to the floor.

"Centaur! Centaur?" Relo whimpered, shaking Blaise gently, crying out when he didn't move.

... b ...

Neville blinked his way awake, smiling gently when he felt Seamus' arm around him, his body curled up beside him.

"Immawake," Seamus mumbled, trying to sit up.

"Shh, it's all right. Just rest, Irish," Neville murmured, stroking his hair.

Seamus murmured something incoherently, his arm tightening around Neville's body as he snuggled closer into him.

Neville closed his eyes, continuing to stroke Seamus' hair until he was asleep again. When Seamus was in a deep enough sleep, Neville managed to untangle himself from his boyfriend's grasp and moved off the bed carefully.

Opening the low hanging curtain of branches, Neville slipped outside before the light woke Seamus. Standing on the wooden balcony, he looked out to the nymph world. Trees of every kind and size were scattered before him, streams and rivers twisting their way through the eclectic forest. A lilt of musical laughter made its way along the breeze, a few nymphs singing and dancing around a tree. Looking down at the rail before him, Neville touched his hands to it, his thumbs permanently green in this world. The moment he came into contact with it, swirls of flowers began to bloom, making their way down the balcony rail and onto the bridges that connected the treetops together.

Terra walked down the bridge, smiling as she saw the flowers blooming before her. "Thank you for that lovely welcome," she said, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Sorry, Terra, I just wanted to see if I had my power back," Neville said.

"Do not apologise for a thing of beauty, Neville," she said sternly, making sure he wouldn't remove them. "You will always have power while you are in the nymph world," she added, her voice gentler now.

He nodded briefly, and they watched the world in silence for a moment, birds flitting across the clear sky.

"How is your granddaughter?" Neville asked quietly, glancing to the Healing Tree.

"Her physical form is almost completely healed. There is some worry over the state of her mind, and her magic."

"She has lot her power?" he asked, shocked and sick at the thought.

"No, she still has it... However, the one who calls himself a Dark Lord has poisoned and twisted her magic so much that she is fighting against any pure magic we try to give to her. The healers are allowing her to recover her magic naturally, but I am worried that it will continue to produce the twisted version of her magic," she said with a sigh.

"It won't be permanent though, will it?" Neville asked, frowning slightly.

"No, but the poison will take quite some time to leave her body, and then even more time will be needed for her magic to right itself naturally. It will be a very painful process, I'm afraid, and it's impossible to predict when it will happen. Unless, of course, Lady Cassandra has returned to us?" Terra added, grinning.

Neville shook his head. Behind him, the branches parted and Seamus stepped out, scratching his head with a wide yawn.

"Good morning, Seamus. I trust you slept well?" Terra asked.

He coloured slightly, but nodded in response.

A snicker of mirthful laughter came from above them, and the Night Fairy dropped from the tree branches to a crouched position on the rail in front of them. "Would've been a better sleep if he'd actually bloody slept, eh, Seamus?" she taunted, grinning. "Oi, stop that!" Niryal said, shaking off the flowers that had started to twist up around her arms.

"There is no need to be rude, Niryal," Terra said sternly, the purple streaks in her hair brightening for a moment as the flowers returned to the rail once more.

"I was just fooling around," she muttered, jumping off the rail and back into the shadows of the tree.

"When you are ready, I invite you all to visit my granddaughter. I am sure she will appreciate knowing you took the time to see her," Terra said with a soft smile.

"Thank you for your invitation, Lady Terra. We will see you at the Healing Tree soon," Neville replied formally.

Nodding briefly, Terra left their balcony, walking along the rail and heading to the bridge that would take her to the Healing Tree.

Niryal popped her head out from the branches. "That means I'm bloody well invited too, yeah?" she asked, grinning.

"Yes, but only if you behave. You'll be bound to a tree otherwise," Neville threatened.

"Wouldn't be the first time she's been stuck to a tree," Seamus said with a grin.

"It's not that sort of binding," he replied, shaking his head. "She'll be bound to that tree for the rest of her life, and will never be able to sleep unless she is on one of the branches of that particular tree. And the nymph world has a lot of trees that are no longer in the mortal world."

"That's a bit harsh," Seamus muttered.

"I'll behave! Bloody hell, you lot are worse than me mum!" Niryal grumbled, disappearing into the tree once more.

Neville just chuckled in response, taking Seamus' hand and leading him down to the Healing Tree. Niryal hurried after them when she realised they were going, quietening when they arrived at the large white-leaved tree.

A small nymph appeared before them, smiling brightly when she saw Neville. "Hello, Neville. You're here to see Terra's granddaughter?" she asked, opening the branches for them to enter.

"Yes, thank you, Naiad," he replied, inclining his head in a bow.

Stepping inside, Seamus and Niryal following him, Neville barely spared the Healing Tree reception a glance. Seamus, on the other hand, stared at the pulley system that flowed throughout the tree, the thick branches that encompassed what looked to be hundreds of beds on each one, and the white-clad nymphs that moved between the branches and boards connected to the pulley system with barely a glance.

"She is in the Recuperation ward, third branch up. She is still unconscious, but as always, we encourage any visitors to talk to the patients, no matter their physical state," Naiad said with a smile.

"Thank you," Neville said, guiding Seamus and Niryal over to an orange-coloured board.

As they approached the large trunk of the tree, Seamus saw various bands of colours wrapped around the trunk, a word written on each band that corresponded to it's particular ward. A green band was the Birthing ward, and a thinner yellow band simply called the Nursery. Stepping onto the orange board, he held onto the rail tightly as it started to rise up into the air.

"Can we go to the Birthing and Nursery wards next?" Seamus asked, his question seeming to surprise Neville.

"Why do you want to go there for?" Niryal asked, taking a moment to ensure she didn't swear and could stay with them.

"It's where Nev works," Seamus replied proudly.

"Let's not. Not today," Neville said, his cheeks tinged red.

"Why the hell not?" Niryal asked, frowning at him.

"Yeah, why not?" Seamus added with a frown of his own, not bothering to tell the Night Fairy off for her swearing when he completely agreed with her.

Seeing their confused and determined expressions, Neville sighed heavily. "They've named a part of the ward after me, and it's embarrassing, that's why."

"When'd they do tha'?"

"A few weeks after I delivered one of the nymph babies. She was really sick when she was born, but since I know so much about plants and herbs, I was able to make a potion to help her get well again. Everyone's treating it as if I'm a miracle worker or something," he added in embarrassment.

"Well, considering that most nymphs are demi-gods or an equivalent, they would consider it to be a miracle. They weren't known for their leniency towards those who were sickly or weak in any way," Niryal said, shrugging.

"How do ye know that?"

"I'm older than I look. Some of these nymphs were only just starting to run about the forest when I was four-hundred years old."

"Just how long were ye sleeping?" Seamus asked incredulously.

"Here we are," Neville said, the board slowing to a stop at a orange-coloured branch.

He stepped off quickly, Seamus and Niryal following suit.

"So we can see those wards later, yeah?" Seamus asked with a grin. "I don't mind that they've named somethin' after ye."

"I'll take you tomorrow. Let's just see Terra's granddaughter today," he muttered.

Although he wasn't entirely satisfied with the outcome, Seamus still nodded and followed Neville down the branch to where Terra was standing beside a bed. A curtain of leaves surrounded them when they were beside her, Terra's purple streaks glowing slightly.

"She looks remarkably better," Neville commented, looking at the nymph lying on the bed.

That was an understatement, Seamus decided. The bruises, cuts, blood, and other manner of abuse that had been inflicted upon her skin were completely gone. She was very pale, but as he watched, he could see her skin becoming a more healthy colour with every passing second. Her green coloured hair was lengthening and strengthening, the locks shining in the filtered light through the curtain of leaves. Beneath her skin, he'd swear he could see her magic rippling, black swirls fighting against the white that was attempting to rectify itself.

"Why isn't she fightin' it?" Seamus asked.

"Why isn't she fighting what?" Niryal asked, frowning.

"Her power. The white is there with the black, but it's not winning; it barely looks like it's fightin' the black," he replied, indicating to one of the larger power swirls on her arm.

"You can see them?" Terra asked in surprise, then she saw Seamus' green thumb. "You shared your power with him?" she asked Neville.

"It was necessary," he replied with a firm nod.

"Oh, my dear boy, I was not going to chastise you for the gift. I was just surprised that you are still as powerful as you are even after sharing your power like that... You must really bring Ginevra to meet us; I would like to see her for myself."

"I will try," Neville replied.

"What's Ginevra got to do with yer power?" Seamus asked, frowning.

"Apparently, Ginevra is so powerful that she unknowingly releases a lot of excess power so her body can handle the large amount she does have. The power that she releases often attaches to those around her, increasing their power and sometimes bringing out dormant genes. The power I gave you, for instance, was only meant to be temporary. However, since moving in with Ginevra, your own power increased and changed so that it's now permanent and an intricate part of you and who you are," Neville explained.

His frown deepening, Seamus thought over his words for a moment, and then nodded briefly.

"So she's increased everyone's power then? Even Draco's?"

"Actually, he's just as powerful as Ginevra, and he's been doing the same. All of that power, is it really any surprise at all of the beings in Slytherin? Ginevra's took longer to develop, which is why there weren't as many in Gryffindor."

"What about Luna then?"

"She was Chosen by Cassandra; her power was always there," Neville replied, shrugging slightly.

There was movement from the bed, and they all went quiet as they turned their attention to the nymph who was starting to wake up. Terra turned to her granddaughter, talking to her in a soft voice and language that Seamus couldn't begin to translate.

"Char'maa this is Neville, Niryal, and Seamus," Terra introduced.

"How do ye pronounce that?" Seamus asked Neville quietly.

"Char'maa, it's the nymph word for karma," he replied.

"Karma? As in karman, the nymph of fate?" Niryal asked in surprise, looking back to the bedridden nymph.

"Yes, that's her," Neville said with a brief smile.

"Who?" Seamus asked, frowning as he looked between Neville and Niryal.

"Karma, the nymph of fate; some say that she is a daughter of the Fates, brought into being when Hercules' life thread refused to cut and they wanted revenge. I think it's ridiculous, of course, but my daughter was a virgin demigod and never explained how she became pregnant, so I suppose I cannot discredit it without asking the Fates directly," Terra added. "The Fates business came about when my daughter died in childbirth, which is quite rare for a nymph," she said, her words trailing off.

"Basically, Karma is the embodiment of fate itself," Neville said, grinning slightly.

Seamus nodded briefly, the motion stopping when he realised something very important. "I cannae hear Blaise."

"What?" Neville said, opening his mind link.

He usually kept it closed in the nymph world due to the increase of emotions he felt and would unknowingly project towards his friends. He frowned deeply, his mind flicking through the thoughts of everyone other than Blaise.

"I'm so sorry, Terra, we have to go," Neville apologised, bowing quickly and all but running out of the room, Seamus beside him.

"Bye Terra, bye Karma!" Seamus called over his shoulder.

Niryal sighed, changing into a black ball of swirls, shooting down the branch and into Neville's back.

Behind them, Karma stirred on the bed.

... b ...

Waking up took more effort than it should, but Ginevra managed it eventually, opening her brown eyes and sitting up slowly. Her mind was immediately bombarded with memories, and she quickly closed her eyes again, willing them to stop.

"Are you all right, love?" Draco asked softly, moving to sit beside her.

She shook her head briefly, tears squeezing their way to freedom and making tracks down her cheeks. "I can't stop seeing and remembering it. They won't stop," she whispered, bringing her knees up to her chest. "How could I do that to them, Draco? They did nothing against me, did nothing to deserve it... They were just there, and I almost killed all of them."

"You weren't the only one who hurt them, Ginevra."

The memory of Draco beside her, the thrill of both of them cornering a witch or wizard, tearing at their skin and clothes until they screamed for mercy. Fred and George laughing darkly as they and their copies fading in and out, confusing their victim until they suddenly made their move, two pairs of hands holding the person down as they attacked.

"If it weren't for me, then you and the twins wouldn't have done that."

"If it weren't for Virginia, none of us would have," he retorted, his arms crossed as if warding himself against any more of her wallowing. "Now, get up out of bed and have something to eat and drink. You're not going to do anyone any good while you're moping in here and wasting away."

"I'm not moping, you git! And what good have I done anyone lately? I haven't done a single good thing in what feels like forever! I attacked those Muggles, even before Virginia turned me evil! What's my excuse for that, Draco? Tell me! Tell me how good I am, how everything I've done has done anyone any good! Tell me!" she screamed, a jolt of power throwing him across the room.

Draco landed in a heap, surprised at the action. He was on his feet in a moment, glowering. "I'm not here to tell you all the good things, Ginevra, but I'm not going to tell you all the bad either! You want to wallow in misery for the bad things you've done, fine, do that! Go down in history as the person who fucked up and then just sat around feeling sorry for themselves for days on end instead of actually doing something to fix the wrongs! You've fucked up, you know that, and you know that you've got the power to fix it! Not as Queen of the god damned world, not as a bloody vampiress, but as a fucking human being. You're one of those too, you know!"

Ginevra turned away from him and didn't reply. He growled in frustration, his arms trembling as he clenched his fists in anger. Draco turned on his heel, wrenched open the door of their apartment and left, the door slamming behind him so hard that the furniture actually shook.

... b ...

"Oh, hello, Agnes. I wasn't expecting you for another two minutes," Luna said, smiling at her as she entered the room with Miles. "And Miles is here too; you've left her outside then?" she asked, standing and leaving once they replied affirmatively.

"What was all that about?" Pansy asked, frowning after her friend.

"You will find out sooner or later. Although, perhaps later is best. You should bathe first," Miles said.

"I beg your pardon?" she retorted, shocked.

"I do apologise for my son, Pansy. He is still affected by the events of the last few days and I fear he seems to have forgotten how to communicate appropriately," Agnes admitted, shooting Miles a disapproving look. "What Miles means to say is that due to your activity with the Muggle children today, you smell more Muggle than mermaid. Before you meet with Lettie, you really should bathe or use an overpowering scent to remove that ... temptation," she said.

"Temptation? Just what has happened to Lettie?" Pansy asked in confusion.

"It will be better for you to see it for yourself rather than have us attempt to explain," Miles replied.

His words did nothing to reassure her, and Pansy looked to Agnes, worried and confused at the same time.

"Please, dear, just trust us about this. If you would like to see her now, can you meet us in the foyer in fifteen minutes? Your partner may come as well, but he does not need to bathe. The troll smell is far more potent than Muggle," Agnes added delicately.

Gregory didn't know whether to be offended by her statement or not, but before he had time to decide, the two vampires had left the room.

"I have no idea what's going on, but I intend to find out. Come on, Greg," Pansy muttered, taking his hand in her own and heading to their guest room.

... b ...

Lettie stood at the edge of the vampire property nervously. She'd refused to let Agnes and Miles take her inside. She felt ... not weak, she'd never felt stronger, in fact; but she felt emotionally weak, as if one sniff of the Muggle blood would send her into a feeding frenzy that she couldn't hope to fend off.

Her shoulders relaxed a minuscule amount when she saw Luna leave the mansion and head towards her. Luna smiled, as if she could sense Lettie's relief even from that distance.

"Hello, Lettie. I See you've changed; how do you feel?" she asked, smiling again.

Lettie hesitated for a moment; she didn't particularly want to admit that she felt strong, that she was secretly relieved that she had powers and could protect her Lady better, nor that she could smell the faint Muggle smell on Luna, that she could already feel the evil welling up inside her to attack Luna. She took an involuntary step forward, just as Luna took a step back.

"I suggest you learn better control on that part of you, Lettie, and do it quickly. There are many who will not be forgiving, no matter if you are able to control it or not," Luna said. "Now, tell me how you feel."

Biting her tongue to distract herself from the smell, and the swirling mass of evil in her chest, the watering in her mouth at the very idea of draining Luna of all her blood, Lettie breathed in deeply through her nose to compose herself. When she felt the evil lessen, shrinking down to no more than a small ball inside her, Lettie opened her eyes to answer Luna's question.

"I feel better and stronger than I ever have before. I'm relieved, in a sense, that I will be able to protect my Lady and Lord to a fuller extent."

"But?"

"But I'm terrified that I won't be able to control the evil that is inside me. I'm terrified of what I'll become, and what I'll do, if I can't control it," Lettie admitted quietly.

"Hmmm," Luna murmured with a slight frown. "I suppose it's lucky I have one of these then, isn't it?" she asked, her face breaking out in to a pleased smile.

Looking at the item Luna held out, Lettie frowned slightly, not entirely sure what the length of leather could do to help her control the evil.

"Oh, don't look so downtrodden. At least ask what it does before dismissing my gift," Luna muttered.

"Sorry; what is it, and what does it do?" she asked quickly.

"It is a necklace that has been blessed by a shamanic troll. It's designed to repress or remove evil entirely. Of course, since that evil is attached to you through your soul bond with Ginevra, and has melded with your Full Blooded bond with Miles, it's not going to get rid of it completely. But it should help until you get it under control yourself," Luna added.

"It was blessed by a shamanic troll?" Lettie echoed, frowning slightly. "Did she make it especially for you?"

"Oh, no, I stole it from her hut when she wasn't looking," she replied cheerfully. "Oh, here's your band to get between the vampire mansion and veelan house," Luna added, pulling it out of her pocket. "It's possible there's still some blood on it; it's difficult to See."

"Thank you, Luna," Lettie said, although she did wonder if Luna was lying about her stealing the necklace.

She took both offered items, seeing that the band was repaired from where she'd torn it off her wrist. There were a few small spots of blood, but she didn't bother to clean them, letting them serve as a reminder of the evil that was inside her..

"You're welcome. Put the necklace on, I want to See how you look in it."

"Don't you already know?" she asked with a frown, but moved to tie the choker-like necklace around her neck.

"Oh, there's a few possible necklaces that I chose, so I'm not entirely sure... ah, there you go. That's lovely, Lettie," Luna said brightly.

Almost immediately, the ball of evil began to shrink. For a moment, Lettie was positive that it would disappear entirely, but just when it was at the size of a seed, it stopped shrinking and stayed steady. She breathed a small sigh of relief, and let it out when she realised that the need to attack Luna had dissipated entirely.

"Now the wrist band, and we can go inside. Pansy and Gregory are waiting to see you."

Doing as instructed, Lettie slipped the wrist band on, and was comforted by it's presence. She flexed her wrist gently as it tightened securely, just as it had done when she first put it on.

"Wonderful. Come on, then," Luna said, looping her arm through Lettie's and leading her up to the mansion.

... b ...

For the first time in days, and what felt to be more like years, Theodore slept. Millicent was beside him, her arm wrapped around him protectively, and glared at anyone who so much as came close to them, those people choosing to leave rather than suffer her wrath for waking her boyfriend.

Healer Derwent looked in on them from the doorway, seeing the tired lines and bags under the poor boy's eyes even at the distance. She too, was treated to one of Millicent's glares, but simply nodded in return, closing the door and locking it from the inside so that they could leave when Theodore woke up once more. Relieved that Theodore didn't have to get up again (she was sure he'd lied about sleeping around the same time she did), Millicent kissed his forehead softly and snuggled down to sleep as well.

She was still magically exhausted from making the bunk beds in Theodore's ward. The practice had been adopted in the other wards, with Healers using circular discs to float their way up to the higher patients. Most of the patients had been bound to the bed in an effort to stop them moving, but in case they bypassed that, a spell had been placed at the bottom of each bed to stop them from falling all the way to the ground. If someone did fall, the door would flash red in order to get a Healer's attention so that they could be returned to the mattress, or moved to a bed closer to the ground. The last thing the hospital needed was their own patients to injure themselves by falling out of bed.

Theodore hadn't said much when he came into the small room they'd been given (apparently Luna had organised accommodation for them, but it had been delayed by Ginevra turning evil), but Millicent gathered that his patients were still alive, and no more had died. He'd been too exhausted to even cry over the two deaths that he had experienced, but she knew that he would at a later date.

Healer Derwent had taken it upon herself to tell each of the families who'd had a death so that her sleep-deprived and emotional Healers wouldn't do it themselves and say the wrong thing. Of the hundreds of patients they'd received, six had died and she considered it a small miracle that the number had been that small, especially considering the trauma and injuries they'd all received at the rogue vampire's hands.

Closing her eyes, Millicent soon fell asleep, her arm still wrapped around Theodore's thin body, trying to give him her love, sympathy, and support, even when he wasn't conscious to receive it.

... b ...

Julianne ran into the library, ignoring the Veelas who cried out in indignation when she stepped on a foot or two.

"Garion! Quick! He's back," she said, spotting her husband by the fireplace.

"Yes, I know. I felt his arrival, just as you did," Garion replied irritably.

"Don't give me that tone! Now hurry up," she said glaring at him briefly before turning and leaving.

Garion sighed heavily, rubbing his hands over his face. He'd been losing his patience more and more often since Draco had disappeared, and had secured himself in the library for fear of what he might do. Now that Draco had returned, and whatever had happened to the world was starting to right itself once more, Garion could feel his patience returning. It was a relief, to say the least. Making his way out of the library, he found Draco and Jules in the foyer of the house.

"My Lord," Draco said with a quick bow.

"Draconius," he returned, drawling his name coldly. "How nice of you to grace us with your presence."

Okay, maybe his patience had not yet completely returned.

"Garion!" Jules hissed at him. "Get down here and apologise. You have no idea what he went through!"

Garion stayed where he was at the top of the stairs and didn't move.

"It's all right, Lady Julianne. His response is understandable," Draco said.

"How did you get here? Is Lettie with you?" she asked, leading him to the sitting room, glaring up at her husband as they passed beneath the staircase.

"No, I actually haven't seen Lettie in days," he admitted, frowning slightly. "I flew here," he added. "I kept to the clouds, and made sure no one would see me, don't worry," Draco added quickly at Julianne's look of concern.

"All right then. Where did you fly from? I'll have one of the Veela's check the newspapers to ensure you weren't spotted."

There was a moment of silence as Draco sat on the lounge, shifting uncomfortably.

"Draconius? Where did you fly from?" Jules repeated, her tone stern.

"Muggle London," he replied.

"Muggle... Oh, dear gods, boy, why? It's bad enough to go out flying around on this side of the barrier, why on earth would you do it on that side?!" she asked, already thinking of all of the ways that this could be so very utterly bad.

"I couldn't stay with Ginevra, and I refused to stay on that side of the barrier if I didn't have to," Draco said, a look of disgust distorting his features.

"What do you mean you couldn't stay with Ginevra? What happened?" Garion asked, coming into the room.

He studiously ignored the look he was sure Jules was giving him, and sat on the seat across from Draco. "Well? Go on," Garion prompted.

With a sigh, Draco told them everything that had happened since the shadow overtook him. When he came to explain Ginevra's behaviour, her moping and resolve to do nothing, his jaw clenched a bit tighter. He looked up, and was surprised to see the disappointment in Garion's eyes. Draco quickly looked away from him. A brief flash of light caught his attention, and he saw Artemis sitting where Julianne had been only moments ago.

"Come, let us go for a walk," Artemis offered, standing and holding a hand out for him.

Confused, Draco still took her hand, standing and leaving with her while Garion stayed seated.

... b ...

Virginia opened the door to be faced with a sneer. Rolling her eyes at her son's immature behaviour, she stepped past him and closed the door with a heavy thud, snow falling from her shoulders as she removed her thick coat.

"Ric, be a dear and hang that up for me?" she called over her shoulder, heading into his lounge room.

Ignoring the pelt on the floor, Ric stepped over the coat and followed his mother into the lounge room, just in time to see her rifling through his liquor cabinet. He growled deeply, moving over quickly and slamming the doors closed.

"Leave my liquor alone," he hissed.

"I'm positive that I taught you how to share. Now move away from the damned cabinet and share!"

"No. You've got me holed up here without so much as a house elf. If I can't Drink, then I sure as hell can drink, and you're not touching my booze!"

"Touchy, touchy," she murmured. "Ah, well. It's not like I'm thirsty anyway. I had a delicious snack before leaving."

Ric snorted in amusement. "Finally got tired of that oaf, Bart?"

"I tired of him long ago, dear son. Please, Virginia, Turn me. Why won't you Turn me? Where are you going? Why did you turn Ginevra evil? Blah, blah, blah," she scoffed, waving her hand in dismissal.

"You turned Ginevra evil? Did you bring her with you?" Ric asked, perking up.

"Yes, although it only lasted three measly days. Her friends helped her see sense. Although, her lover turned evil right along with her. It was all very romantic," Virginia said sarcastically. Then she smirked over at Ric. "Why the long face, dearest? Upset that your little girlfriend overcame my potion? Or are you just upset that you don't have someone to fuck on this mountain?" she sneered.

Ric rolled his eyes, feigning indifference, even as his nails dug into his palms at his mother's words. Then he grinned suddenly. "So... She overcame your potion, did she? And here I thought you'd come for a social visit. You're hiding!" he said mirthfully. "Oh, it must be killing you to have someone finally overcome that little potion of yours, and for it to be Ginevra... I can barely imagine the emotions you're feeling, dearest Mother," Ric said mockingly.

She glared at him, moving fast and using her strength to move him out of the way. By the time Ric recovered, his mother already had a bottle of rum to her lips. He growled, moving past her quickly, grabbing his bottle of Firewhisky as he left the room. Ric stepped on her precious coat on the way to his room, pouring a bit of the alcohol on it just to ruin it further. Virginia snickered at the thought of her son sulking, grabbing a few more bottles and settling down in front of the fire.

... b ...

Volatil Equus neighed happily when she saw Seamus, galloping over and rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. She was careful not to stab him with her horn, and he petted her fondly.

"How are ye, Volatil?"

Better now. The last three days were awful, she added in a hushed tone.

He grinned slightly. "Ye're tellin' me."

Hello, Neville, Volatil said happily.

Neville smiled briefly and returned the greeting, but his smile didn't reach his eyes. "Have you seen Blaise? Or any of the centaurs? We haven't seen any, and we walked all the way here from the nymph's entrance," he added with a frown.

That is a far way to walk without seeing a single centaur. Especially since you walked straight past one of their favoured clearings, Evita said as she stepped into the clearing. I will send Aryle to check the clearings. Is it urgent?

"Yes, very. Do you mind if we look as well?" he asked.

You will need to ask the forest, not me, Evita said, smiling briefly.

Neville nodded in agreement, turning to the forest to ask permission. The wind whipped at them, pushing Neville and Seamus a step forward towards the edge of the clearing. They had permission, they realised in relief. With a quick farewell to Evita and Volatil, they left the clearing to find Blaise.

The trees parted, the wind whispering to Seamus as he and Neville ran along their newly created path. Every so often, Seamus would call out a direction, and the trees would respond to Neville's power. Within twenty minutes of running, they stopped before a clearing. They could hear Relo's sobs coming from within, and gripped each other's hand tightly, fearing the worst as they stepped through the tree line and into the clearing.

... b ...

Freshly showered and clean from top to bottom, Pansy stepped into a room Miles had led her and Gregory to, her boyfriend a step behind her. It took a moment for either of them to recognise the woman sitting with Luna. The last they had seen of Lettie, she was a brunette and had tanned skin; this woman had hair blacker than ink and was much paler. The change in hair colour made Lettie's face look different, but her eyes were the same, and Pansy stepped forward in surprise as she finally recognised her.

"Lettie? What on earth happened to you?"

"Hello Pansy, hello Gregory," she replied, sounding as nervous as she felt. "I ... I was affected by my Lady turning evil, and in order to help me, Miles Turned me into a halfling," Lettie explained, trailing off for a moment as she wondered if she should tell them about the desire for blood, the seed of evil that was within her and could sprout and encompass her in a moment.

"Well, that explains your sudden change in look. Since you're a halfling, won't you need to be changed to a Full Blood eventually?"

Lettie shook her head briefly. "No, there are many halflings who don't become Full Blooded. It's a choice for most; my Lady was required to become Full Blooded in order to better control her power."

"Agnes said you might be tempted by us. What did she mean by that? You're a halfling, so you want to drink our blood?" Gregory asked curiously.

"Something along those lines," Lettie said, not wanting to get into a long explanation.

Seeing that Pansy didn't exactly look impressed by her vague answer, Lettie sighed and went to explain further. She took in a deep breath to calm her nerves, frowning at the taste she could sense in the air.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Pansy asked, frowning on seeing Lettie's ramrod posture.

"Blood," she replied, her voice a hiss of desire and want.

Pansy and Gregory simply stared as their friend - their only friend who had no being-related powers to speak of - made their skin crawl with one single syllable. Her eyes turned black, rather than the red Ginevra's did when she needed to Drink, and the choker around her neck seemed to move, as if it was trying to escape the doom that faced them all.

Luna, who had been silent up until this moment, put her hand on Lettie's arm, murmuring something under her breath. She growled briefly, but nodded in response.

"If you would like to follow me, I believe this will need to be seen to be believed," Luna murmured, standing and brushing off her robes before heading to the door.

"What about Lettie?" Pansy asked, seeing that Lettie wasn't moving from her seat.

"If you are not opposed to the idea, I would like to spend time with Lettie," Miles said, standing at the door.

Pansy nodded quickly, her heart racing at his sudden appearance. Gregory put an arm around her shoulders gently, guiding her along to follow Luna. Pansy frowned slightly, certain that she heard the door lock behind them. She wondered if it was being locked to keep people out, or to keep Lettie in. When she heard a loud growl filter from the room behind them, Pansy concluded that it was to keep Lettie in, and they definitely hadn't been told everything about what had happened to Ginevra's companion.

It didn't take long to find where the blood was. In a mansion full of vampires, it was only to be expected that a fresh serve of blood would be met with every vampire in residence. There was a fair amount of shoving, elbows and toes stepped on, but eventually, Pansy, Luna, and Gregory made it to the front of the small semicircle that had formed in front of the room.

"Who is that?" Pansy murmured, frowning down at the man who was bleeding heavily across the black tiled floor beneath him.

"That is Bart, Virginia's servant," Luna replied. "At least, it should be. Short blonde hair, bleeding from the neck extensively, and wearing a blue shirt?"

"Yeah, that's him. That's the guy who scarred the twins," Gregory said, his voice rumbling in his anger.

"Didn't they want to repay the favour?" Pansy asked, stepping forward into the clear area.

A few vampires growled at her ability to pass the barrier, but Gregory stared them down angrily before following her across. Luna followed a moment later, humming happily, even as she held her nose delicately at the overwhelming scent of copper and metallic blood.

"If we take him to St. Mungo's, we can get him healed," Luna said.

"And then let him loose in the Forbidden Forest for the twins to hunt down? Sounds like a good idea to me," Pansy said with a smirk, grabbing one of Bart's arms.

Bart was feeling ridiculously woozy and was barely able to keep himself upright. If it wasn't for the spell on the door that refused entry to other vampies (thanks to Virginia's paranoia that someone would enter her rooms and drain her servants dry), he would have been someone's dinner by now. He blinked hazily, but he couldn't focus on the people surrounding him, nor their words very clearly. He vaguely felt a Side Apparation taking place, but moving in that way didn't seem the best for his health or body, because he passed out a moment later. As the darkness enveloped his mind and body, Bart wondered what his Mistress was doing, and if he'd been a pleasant and filling meal for her before her trip.

... b ...

"I can't believe they scolded us like that," Fred muttered sourly.

"I can't believe they aren't still scolding us," George countered, shaking his head. "You have to admit, if we were in Padma and Parvati's position, we'd be just as pissed as they are."

"Yeah, that's true," Fred conceded with a brief nod. "But we'd never punish them by not having sex!"

George laughed, the sound becoming a snort of disbelief. "Of course we wouldn't. Parvati and Padma are fucking brilliant in the sack. In fact, we'd probably punish them with shagging."

"Shagging should definitely become an acceptable form of punishment. Do something like lock your girlfriends in a different world for four days, and then get punished with four days of sex. I could live with that sort of torture, you know," Fred said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"I'm sure you could," he replied, chuckling.

Walking up to the nondescript house, they rapped on the door in unison, waiting for their security wards to take place. The door opened after they spoke the required phrase, and a hologram of Oscar Ollivander appeared in the doorway. Stepping through, it didn't take long to get through the other spells and booby traps they'd set to keep the dryad safe.

"Ah, boys, there you are. I was wondering when I'd see you again," Ollivander said amiably, pouring three cups of tea as they entered the kitchen.

Fred shook his head, George grinning beside him. They had a running bet as to whether Ollivander Saw when they were coming, or simply just set out three teacups every day in case they did show up.

"I finished the last of the bags, and I have a gift for you. Of sorts," he amended, turning to the bag that was set down beside his chair.

"A gift?" Fred and George echoed, frowning now.

He produced a small jar, a black wisp of a shadow fighting against the glass restraint surrounding it. Ollivander placed a small bag beside the jar, the smell permeating from it making it more than obvious that the ingredients for the vampire thrall repellent hadn't started to smell any sweeter over time.

"I Saw that Ginevra was going to use these, and as I've become comfortable in my abode, I thought it best to capture it rather than let it turn me evil. I'm far too old to be evil, you know. It takes quite a few lifetimes to achieve this sort of inner peace with life, and I had no desire to start that process all over again," Ollivander said, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Well, thank you for that, Oscar. Our sister will probably be very interested to see that this one's still alive. The rest were all destroyed, apparently," George added, looking at the jar with a slight shiver.

The things they'd done while under the influence of that shadow was nothing to be proud of, and they'd both tried to forget everything without success. The images of the screaming people, their begging and pleading as they controlled and terrified them into submission, they were permanently scarred into their memories.

"I am glad that you are both all right; I worried for both of you, as well as Ginevra and Draco. The future became so very bleak for a time there, and it was not pleasant by far."

"What was it like?" Fred asked, morbidly curious of the possible future they'd escaped.

"It was filled with death," Oscar said with a brief shrug, his tone indicating that he had no desire to expound on his short reply.

He smiled briefly, lifting his teacup to drink. His hands shook with the memories and visions of the still-present future, and the cup slipped through his trembling fingers. Large shards of the mug embedded themselves into his legs as the cup smashed on the tiled floor, and he cried out in pain. Fred and George responded immediately, panicking over the oozing blood and sharp pieces of ceramic sticking out of Ollivander's legs.

"Please, calm down, and get these out," he said, his voice hitching as he tried to calm the twins enough to help him. One spot of magic from him would bring Voldemort and the Ministry to his house in moments, Secret Keeper or not.

"We can't get these out with magic, Ollivander. There's too many pieces," George said, frowning as he calmed down enough to look at him properly.

"Theo's at St. Mungo's. He'll be able to help discreetly," Fred said, glancing to his twin.

Ginevra had told them to not let Ollivander out of the house, to not tell anyone else that he was alive and under their care. But these were extenuating circumstances, and surely the rules could be broken?

Making a split decision when Ollivander made a muffled sound of pain as he tried to move, George pulled a Shielding Cloak from his pocket and slipped it around the dryad's neck. Fred took his hand and Side Apparated to St. Mungo's, George grabbing the bag and jar and Disapparating after them a moment later.

... b ...

"Found 'im!" Seamus called over his shoulder, his tone hopeful and distraught at the same time.

Neville, who had been searching in a different clearing to cover more distance, ran to where Seamus was, skidding to a stop beside him not even ten seconds later.

Blaise was lying on the floor, human once more, and beside him, Relo was sobbing loudly. The Erkling didn't seem aware of their presence, or even realise that he was bleeding so much that a small pool of blood had formed beneath him. Behind the two creatures, a female centaur was curled up on the forest floor. She seemed to be thawing out, as if she had been frozen in Antarctica, rather than the tropical climate the Forbidden Forest usually provided.

They saw the scene before them for a second, and were beside Blaise in the next breath. It took Seamus a few minutes to finally dislodge Relo's grip from Blaise's shirt, but the Erkling finally seemed to realise that they were with him, and transferred his strong grip to Seamus' shirt instead.

"Is he..." Seamus began to ask Neville, but stopped short, unable to finish the sentence for fear of the answer.

Neville was silent, his eyes tearing up as he moved his wand over Blaise's body, trying to assess the damage, and see if his heart was still beating. His hands were shaking so bad that he could barely touch Blaise's cold skin, let alone feel for a pulse. Blinking back his tears quickly, Neville looked at the small bars floating above Blaise's form. The magical one was almost empty, a small sliver of gold was all that remained of his magic. The red bar was just as thin, and Neville realised that the bar indicated Blaise's energy level. He'd exhausted himself to the point of death, it seemed. He briefly wondered what had happened to make Blaise use up so much energy and magic so intensely. But then Neville's eyes caught notice of the small blue dot above the bars, and a shudder of emotion ran through his body when it moved. It was almost imperceptible, but it still moved, and that meant that Blaise was alive. His heart was beating, so slowly that he seemed dead, but he was alive, and that was all that mattered.

"Thank the gods," Neville breathed, moving his wand to Blaise's chest to help keep his heart beating. "Rennervate," he said, watching as Blaise's body arched, his chest jolting with the sudden presence of magic after being depleted for so long.

"Blaise... He's alive?" Seamus asked, staring between Neville and Blaise hopefully.

He clutched Relo as tight as the Erkling was holding him, and they both watched as Neville continued to repeat the spell, his eyes never leaving the small blue dot above the bars. Large leaves and vines grew up from the ground, wrapping around Blaise's body to keep him warm and steady so he wouldn't be hurt by the large arching motions his now-fragile body was doing with every jolt of the spell.

"Come on, come on," Neville muttered, doing a tenth Rennervate and stopping to see if anything had changed.

The small blue dot was moving in broader sweeps, and it was enough for Neville to feel safe about moving Blaise without injuring him further.

"We've got to get Blaise to St. Mungo's," he said, standing quickly, but levitating Blaise up into the air gently.

"What about the centaur lady? We didn't mean to hurt her," Relo said, large tears rolling down his cheeks.

"We will look after her," a female voice said behind Neville.

He turned quickly to see a centaur standing there, more than ten centaurs standing just outside of the clearing behind her.

"Due to the spell the Erkling used on her, she has not been depleted as Blaise has, simply frozen. We can take care of her, but we have no way of restoring Blaise's magical supply," the centaur said, sounding apologetic.

Neville and Seamus both nodded, but before they could Disapparate, Relo let go of Seamus and stepped forward, his bottom lip trembling.

"Can we help look after the centaur lady? We are sorry, so very sorry," he said, wringing his hands nervously.

"I do believe you, Erkling, but I doubt that Elin would appreciate waking up to see you there. Perhaps come back at a later time when you won't be so worried over Blaise to be distracted?" she suggested gently.

Whimpering softly, Relo nodded and stepped back. He scrambled up Seamus' body to wrap his arms around his neck, crying into his shirt quietly.

"Come on, let's get goin'," Seamus murmured, glancing to Blaise.

Neville nodded in response, then turned and nodded in farewell to the centaurs. There was a moment of respectful silence, and then Neville and Seamus Disapparated to St. Mungo's, Blaise between them, and Relo still hugging Seamus tightly.

... b ...

"Come, let's walk in the forest. It will be quieter between the trees," Artemis murmured, leading Draco to the tree line.

He nodded in response, despite the fact that the courtyard was completely devoid of life other than themselves. They were both silent as they approached the small forest, and Artemis seemed to know which path to take, even though most were only animal paths and had never had a human step on them before. Within minutes, they had reached a small clearing that had a fallen log stretched across the middle. Despite following Artemis and keeping an eye out for significant landmarks, Draco wasn't entirely confident that he'd be able to make it back to this clearing on his own.

"Please, sit down, and I will tell you a story," Artemis murmured, indicating to the log.

Sitting down, Draco waited for Artemis to begin.

"In 1614, when Julianne was much younger, and still innocent to those who would otherwise cause her harm, she rejected my form temporarily at the insistence of some so-called friends. They wanted to use me for their own purposes, and once I had been forced from Julianne's body, they placed me within a spelled jar to keep me out of the way. They wanted Julianne's body free for possession by another being all together," she said, her words chosen carefully and delicate, glossing over the actual events and continuing. "By rejecting me, Julianne was vulnerable to the world, and to the evil that her friends had planned for her. After residing in a mortal for so long, I was not at my best when I was rejected from Julianne's body. I did not have time to react, nor help her, when her friends bound her down and brought the creature forth to possess her. We were both too weak to do a thing to stop her from being possessed by a creature so dark that even the gods do not dare name it.

"Her friends wanted to use the creature for their own misguided purposes, and planned on allowing it to permanently possess Julianne's body in return for it's services. The moment the creature had possession of Julianne's body, it killed every one of her friends, and then brutally murdered everyone and anyone who came close enough. Kendra had gone to the local markets to pass time, as Julianne's friends were not fond of the woman who was so close to her. However, due to the bond between Kendra and Julianne, she had to be bound in order to keep from slaughtering everyone in the village.

"Now, unlike Ginevra, Julianne did not have friends or a lover to help her get past the creature's will and desire. As I mentioned before, she was emotionally exhausted from rejecting me, and had no energy left to stop the creature from its massacre. Without people to help her reject the creature, Julianne began to descend into herself to escape the mental trauma of what she was doing - what the creature was making her do," Artemis said, stopping for a moment as she tried to compose herself again.

Images of death, flames, blood, broken bodies, and skeletons all played behind her eyes, and despite her years as a goddess, and the years of war and death that she had seen, that she had participated in, these images never failed to make her feel ill. Artemis closed her eyes for a brief moment, breathing deeply before opening her eyes once more and continuing.

"It took some time, but I eventually managed to free myself from the spelled jar, and I helped Julianne stop and reject the creature. Her bout of evil lasted for an entire week, and due to the extremity of that time, it has been erased from history all together. Those that had died were simply never born, and there are only a handful of people who remember the time, most of whom are vampires or Veelas.

"Now, I presume you saw the look of disappointment Garion showed earlier?" Artemis asked, continuing at his nod of confirmation, "Well, he was disappointed because the time reminds him of his own actions. His incarnation in that time was one of the friends who encouraged Julianne to reject my form. If she had not rejected me, then he would not have been killed, and they would have been together for an extra two hundred years. Garion blamed himself for everything that happened, and on learning of his previous incarnation's actions, spent two years in the Tibetan Mountains. He refused to talk in that time, he did not permit himself to see anyone, nor leave the monastery, and he did not change to his veelan form once. Garion took so much of the blame for what happened that he could not function properly without being reminded of every single thing that he believed he had done. He felt that he had to punish himself in order to rectify that which he had caused. By neglecting himself in this manner, Garion came close to dying, and it was not until Julianne found him and pulled him outside by the ear that he began to forgive himself. Of course, being threatened by a Veela is not something many people can resist. Anger can be as potent as lust," Artemis said with a brief smile.

Quietly reflecting on her tale, Draco nodded slightly. He was feeling guilty enough about everything that had happened when he was evil, but Ginevra had been the one to instigate everything. She would probably think that she'd made him evil, not that he'd chosen to join her. She was stubborn enough to punish herself over something like that as well, he just knew it. With a sigh, Draco resolved to find her before she did something that they would both regret.

"Thank you for telling me that, Lady Artemis. If you do not mind, I will take my leave of you now?" Draco asked with a bow.

"Of course. Be careful, and good luck, Draconius," she murmured with a soft smile.

He nodded in thanks, his Veelan side appearing with barely a thought. Draco kept his wings close to his body as he shot upwards, flying through the overhanging branches and leaves of the trees, and into the air.

The flight back to the Muggle world took longer than he remembered the journey to the veelan house had taken. As he reached the barrier, Draco dropped to the floor, his wings and patterns on his face disappearing instantly. A quick Glamour had him looking similar to any other Muggle teenager, and he stepped through into the Muggle world. In a matter of minutes, he was at the apartment, opening the door and stepping inside quickly.

"Ginevra?" Draco called, frowning when he realised he couldn't hear or see her in any of the rooms.

Searching through every room twice without success, Draco eventually noticed a scrap piece of paper stuck to the fridge with some oddly shaped Muggle device. Pulling the paper off, ignoring the circle device as it clattered to the floor, he read the note Ginevra had left him.

I'm so sorry, Draco. You were right.

I'm going to do everything I can do to help the best I can.

Love, Ginevra.

The word love was scratched out, as if she realised as an afterthought that he might not love her after that morning's argument. Draco sighed heavily, trying to think of where Ginevra would go. Hogwarts, to train students? No, he didn't see how that would help after they'd just hospitalised all of those people. Thinking of hospitalisation made him stand up a bit straighter, and Draco decided to check St. Mungo's first. At least he had somewhere to start.

... b ...

Virginia was drunk. She was absolutely smashed, and with the five bottles of rum surrounding her, one of which was still full, she still had another hour of drinking left. Virginia planned on drinking until she couldn't see straight. Which was becoming difficult now anyway, with everything from the fireplace to the armchairs doubling around her. Her body was full of Bart's blood and copious amounts of rum, the two mixing together and enhancing every mood-altering drop of substance in her bloodstream. The fourth bottle emptied, she grabbed the neck of the fifth and stood precariously, the room swimming around her at a speed that she doubted she could even reach. Virginia stumbled out of the room, hiccuping and attempting to keep her balance, her body tilted awkwardly to achieve this goal. Seeing her fur coat on the floor, she blinked at it for a moment, unsure what the dark heap was, before realising that it was her very expensive and rare coat, and glared angrily.

"Ric! Ric, you little bastard! I told you to put my coat away! That's pure Moke fur! The damned species is almost extinct because of that coat!" she yelled.

"I'm not your slave, Mother. You're healthy enough to put it away by yourself," Ric said, stepping on to the landing at the top of the stairs. "Oh, gods. How much have you had to drink? I can smell it all the way up here!" he said, his expression full of disgust.

"Shut up! I don't comment on your drinking habits," Virginia sneered. "Since you don't have any slaves, then you are my slave. Now, pick up my coat!"

"You were the one who told me I couldn't have slaves, Mother. Pick it up yourself," he muttered, not moving from his spot.

Growling under her breath, Virginia began to mutter loudly about the ridiculous shack she was forced to reside in. No blood servants, no actual servants, there was only a single bed in that hole of a guest room, and the alcohol tasted like piss.

"If you're that bloody miserable, why don't you just leave?" Ric sneered, hearing every word she said.

Putting her damp coat on, Virginia turned her nose up at him. "Fine, I will. I'm taking this with me," she said, keeping the bottle of rum close to her chest as she stepped outside.

The door slammed behind her with a satisfying thud, and Virginia stepped out into the cold, determined to show her son that she didn't need him or his stupid hospitality. She had plenty of places she could go to!

The moment the door closed behind his mother, Ric jumped over the railing, landing in the foyer easily and without a sound. Taking hold of the top of the coat rack beside the door, he unscrewed the length of wood from the top, and in moments was holding a wand. It had taken him months to get a wand, and this was the first time his mother had visited since he'd received the length of wood. The spell could only be done once a person had entered and left the house of their own free will. Ric did a complicated flick and swish, murmuring words under his breath, and a blue bolt of light shot from the tip of the wand. Satisfied that his spell had worked, Ric quietly opened the door to find the view obscured by what looked like a large sheet of grey gauze. He held his hand up to it, the magic thrumming against his palm. The grey colour seemed to melt away until it was entirely clear, and Ric slammed the door shut. His mother didn't turn around or even seem to be aware of the sound. The spell he'd done had reset the wards on his home, and she wouldn't be able to see his house, let alone enter it again. Not until he reversed the spell. Ric whistled to himself happily, not planning on reversing the spell for another few centuries or so.

Virginia finished the last of the rum, the alcohol barely keeping her body warm in the cold atmosphere. Her coat was brittle from the freezing air, and she finally deemed that this length of time was more than enough to punish her son for being a pain in the arse. Turning around, her eyes widened and the bottled dropped through her fingers, smashing on the rocky ground beneath her. Ric's house was no longer there.

"Ric? Ric, I know you're there! Open the door!" she called, taking a few hesitant steps forward.

She didn't want to have him remove the spell and then suddenly find a house on top of her. Seeing that he wasn't going to remove the spell any time soon, she let out a growl and disappeared.

... b ...

Ginevra stepped into St. Mungo's cautiously, certain that the moment she entered the hospital, she'd be attacked by an onslaught of Aurors and vengeful relatives of the people she'd hurt. The waiting room of St. Mungo's was full. Everywhere she looked, people were milling around and waiting to be seen to. One lady's nose was looking more like the spout of a teapot than a nose, and her ears began to steam up as her forehead turned red. Ginevra quickly turned away, not wanting to see what would happen when the teapot boiled.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked, sounding as if she didn't want to help in the slightest.

Ginevra faltered for a moment, unsure of what to say. Oh, hi, I drained a few hundred people dry, and I felt bad about it, so I wanted to see how they are. Providing they don't try to kill me. She doubted that would go down very well, and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Theodore Nott. I'm here to see him," Ginevra said quickly.

"Go that way, second elevator, fourteenth floor, and down the end of the hall," she drawled listlessly.

Nodding quickly, Ginevra left before the woman suddenly recognised her.

... b ...

Holding an unconscious Bart in between them, Pansy and Gregory made their way to the reception desk, Luna walking behind them. She held onto the back of Gregory's robes, and as she almost choked him for the third time, he had to wonder what she was Seeing.

"Is that guy dead?" the receptionist asked, her eyes widened slightly. Then her shoulders seemed to relax, and her bored expression returned when she realised that Bart was still breathing, albeit barely. "That way, second elevator, fourteenth floor, and emergency ward is down the end of the hall."

With her words, Luna let go of Gregory's robes, moved around the desk certainly and headed to the elevators. Looking at each other over Bart's lolled head, Pansy and Gregory frowned slightly. Gregory hefted Bart up slightly higher, taking more of the larger man's weight so Pansy wouldn't struggle. With that done, they both followed Luna to the elevators, Bart's feet dragging along behind them.

... b ...

Seamus and Neville kept their wands on Blaise carefully, his body straight and floating in the air between them. Relo had his arms around Seamus' neck, but he ignored the screams of fright coming from the people in the waiting room when they recognised what he was. Children were pulled out of the way quickly, and soon, a path was cleared for them straight to the receptionist's desk.

"You can't bring an Erkling in here, Longbottom," the receptionist hissed when she saw Neville.

"'e's comin' with us. Unless ye'd like ter keep 'im 'ere with ye?" Seamus added, smirking when the witch paled.

"We just need to get up to the emergency ward. He almost died," Neville said, his voice breaking as he looked at Blaise.

"Fine. But keep that Erkling with you at all times. If it goes anywhere near the children's ward, both of you will be in Azkaban for so long you won't even remember which end of a wand to hold, got it?"

Neville and Seamus nodded quickly.

"Good... That way, second elevator, fourteenth floor, end of the hall."

Thanking her, Neville levitated Blaise along, Seamus adjusting Relo so he could breathe properly. They hurried to the elevator and headed up to the fourteenth floor.

Neville frowned slightly when he heard how much noise was coming from the ward at the end of the hall. The waiting room on the ground level was manned by five or so Healers, who were often able to heal people's ailments without sending them up to the emergency ward. With the system working in that way, the emergency ward rarely had more than five people in it at a time, with the exception of Ginevra's bloody rampage through Diagon Alley.

His worry for Blaise had kept his mind link focused on Seamus and the emptiness of Blaise, and so he wouldn't worry the others, he'd kept his mind link private. Now, he was fairly sure he could hear Fred and George up ahead, their voices mixing with Pansy and Gregory's. Neville knew that Seamus had done the same. They glanced at each other before letting their mind links open. Neville stumbled slightly at the intensity of their emotions and thoughts, and Blaise dropped briefly. Seamus hurried to keep him steady, and they continued along the corridor, ignoring their friends shouts - both internally and out loud.

"You can't let him live! He's Virginia's slave!" Fred yelled.

"She Drank him dry, and obviously wanted him dead!" Pansy yelled back.

George and Gregory were the first to notice that Neville and Seamus had arrived with Blaise between them. Their silence made Fred and Pansy go quiet as well, wondering why they weren't arguing as well.

"Blaise!" Pansy called, paling and running over to them. "What happened?"

"Is he all right?" Fred asked, hurrying over.

"We'll talk later. Where's a healer?" Neville asked.

"We're still waiting to hear back from anyone. Theodore's taking care of ... our friend," George finished lamely, remembering that they didn't know about Ollivander.

"The Head Healer, Healer Derwent, is looking after Bart," Gregory added.

"Is there another Healer around? Blaise needs to be seen to straight away," Neville said, his urgency barely quelled.

"Geez, you lot are loud when you want to be. I've had complaints from the Mother's Ward all the way on the other side of the hospital," Theodore muttered as he stepped into the room. "Neville, bring Blaise with you. Seamus, you'll have to leave Relo in here," he said, holding the door open for Neville to levitate Blaise through.

Wordlessly, Seamus handed Relo to Gregory, and followed his boyfriends and Theodore through the door. When the door was shut behind them, Theodore took control of the levitation spell on Blaise's body, navigating him carefully through the halls.

"If you can put your mind shields up, I need to talk to you in private," he murmured, his voice quiet.

Trying not to think of the worst, Neville and Seamus hurried to do as he said.

"Ginevra's in the hospital. She's seeing all of the patients that she hurt while she was evil. She's healing all of them with her magic, and I can't get close enough to her to stop her. Her magic supply was already depleted, considering the amount she used, and the lack of rest she's had hasn't helped things. Millicent's in a room two doors down with Luna, trying to keep her calm. Apparently, the moment Ginevra stepped inside, she started rambling in Greek, and no one can understand a thing she's saying."

"I can understand 'er," Seamus offered, his eyes never leaving Blaise's still form.

Theodore sighed in relief. "Thank you so much, Seamus. I'll look after Blaise, I promise you I will," he said. "Neville, I need you to try and talk to Ginevra. I know you don't want to leave Blaise alone, and I understand that, I really do, but she needs help. She's healing everyone when she doesn't have the strength to be doing it, and at the rate she's going, she's going to kill herself. Not even being a Full Blooded Vampiress will stop death," he said, his voice hollow.

The decision tore at Neville immediately. He wanted to stay with Blaise, he wanted to be beside him, and he wanted nothing more than to keep watch over him to make sure that he would be all right. Blaise had worried over them before they'd even left him alone to find Karma, and he didn't want to leave him alone now. But Ginevra was his best friend. She'd gone with him to the Yule Ball, she'd been the one person who had supported him through everything long before Blaise and Seamus had come along. She was going to kill herself trying to fix everything she'd done. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he knew that he had a chance to save her and he hadn't taken it.

"You make sure he lives, you hear me, Theodore Nott?" Neville said, closing his eyes tightly as he turned around, trying to keep his tears from shedding.

"I'll do my best, I promise that," Theodore said, unable to promise anything about living or dying. "She's in the area down the hall. We moved all of those particular patients in there, to keep them separate from the others. A lot of other patients were getting nauseated by the smell of blood," he said.

Neville nodded and headed down the hall quickly. Seamus squeezed Blaise's hand gently before heading to the room that Luna and Millicent were in. With a heavy sigh, Theodore returned his attention to Blaise. He wouldn't let them down, he couldn't.

... b ...

Draco followed the receptionist's directions, wishing he could Obliviate himself. The pheromones from his trip as a Veelan must have lingered after he'd landed and returned to his normal form. He'd moved to the reception so quickly that the witches and wizards in the waiting area didn't have time to process the fact that he had passed them, and so, weren't affected. The witch at the reception desk was another matter all together, and it had taken some heavy emotional manipulation to get her to calm down long enough for him to get an answer to his question. When he realised that Ginevra had actually come to St. Mungo's, he asked where all of the blood-drained patients were, and left before the receptionist could try to come onto him again.

As he walked, he dampened down his Veelan side as much as he could. Draco had no desire for a repeat performance if he needed to ask someone else for directions. He cautiously opened his mind link, frowning briefly when he heard Pansy and Fred arguing loudly. Draco caught bits of their argument, and determined that they were at St. Mungo's as well; the former with Virginia's slave Bart, and the latter with ... someone, someone who Fred and George were both taking extreme care not to actually think about. He wondered if that's why Fred had started arguing with Pansy, to stop anyone questioning them about why they were at the hospital.

Then Draco felt Seamus and Neville arrive, Blaise's mind link weak and so very empty. He stopped where he was, frozen at the thought of his best friend... No, Blaise wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead. He was just sick, that's all. He was unconscious and sick.

"Draco? What are you doing here?" Neville asked in surprise, seeing him standing in the middle of the hallway, his face pale.

"Where's Blaise? Is he all right?"

Neville sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair. "I'm not sure. He's with Theodore at the moment. Theodore's promised to look after him," he added.

"Why aren't you with him then?" Draco asked, his voice close to a growl.

"Because Ginevra's killing herself, and I have to stop her."

Draco's fierce expression faltered as he realised what Neville had said.

"She's what?"

"Ginevra's healing everyone that she hurt, and she's using so much magic that it's killing her. She hasn't finished healing yet, so this is draining her more than it should... What's wrong?"

"Ginevra's doing this because of what I said to her. Bloody hell."

"How about you be remorseful later?" Neville suggested, continuing down the corridor quickly. "I can't hear her anymore, can you?"

Draco shook his head, paling slightly and hurrying after his friend.

"You're sure Blaise will be all right?" he asked.

"I really hope so," Neville replied, worry making his voice thick.

... b ...

Ginevra had initially followed the receptionist's directions to where Theodore was supposed to be, but along the way, she realised that she could smell blood. She could smell the blood pumping from bags, through tubes, and into the patients. She could smell the sleeping potions that were included in the replacement blood, and the pain potions to help with the transition so the patients' bodies wouldn't reject the blood.

She'd done this to them. She'd drained them to the point of death, and she'd put them in hospital. Who knew how many of them had died before they could get to St. Mungo's!

Feeling sick to her stomach, Ginevra changed direction to head towards the people she'd hurt. She could help them, surely. Draco had been right. She had to do something, or she'd return to a wallowing mess of self pity.

The healers were busy, and there were no Aurors waiting outside the room as she'd expected. Apart from the patients, the room was empty of other witches and wizards. They were all stacked up on top of each other, the smell of blood and potions repugnant, even for her vampire senses. Closing the door behind her gently, Ginevra made her way to the closest stack of beds. A young boy was lying there, his arms and legs bandaged. The bed above held someone in a similar state, and on seeing the parchments, she realised that it was the boy's mother. Stepping onto a circular disc, she started to move higher in the air from the third to the eighth beds. The third and fourth held a young girl and father; the family members of the two below. Beds five to eight were occupied by four young teenagers - two girls and two boys - who had attended Lorcan d'Eath's concert. The girl on the seventh bed was sweating profusely, her body trembling as it began to reject the blood being pumped into her.

This girl was going to die because of her. It was all her fault. She'd done this. She had to fix it.

Reaching her hand out to the girl, Ginevra closed her eyes and gave the blood and potions in the bag a quick push, to help her body accept the new blood. A small jolt of red magic flashed between her hand and the girl's forehead, and the girl gasped slightly in her sleep. Then she rolled over and slept more soundly than before, her body no longer sweating and trembling.

Using the disc at her feet, Ginevra moved to the next set of beds, doing the same to any of the other patients who were sweating and trembling. One man was groaning in pain when she started, and she saw that he'd scratched the marks on his neck. Hurrying to heal them before the blood could tempt her, Ginevra continued along once she was sure he would be all right.

She'd stopped counting after the thirtieth person, but some time after that patient, Ginevra realised that she was starting to feel weak. The disc beneath her feet responded to magical power, and she dropped a few metres in the air before she could right herself again.

Maybe it would be good to sit down for a moment, she thought, carefully letting the disc drop down to the floor.

As she descended slowly, Ginevra noticed a small boy shivering in pain, and knew in that instant that she couldn't just pass by and let him die. She couldn't let any of them die. This was her fault, and she was going to fix it, consequences to herself be damned.

Reaching out, she let a jolt of magic leave her. Then did the same for the next four patients in the stack of beds. Shaking her head to clear the haze, she continued along, healing more sick patients.

Ginevra was swaying precariously on the disc when the door to the room opened. She didn't have the energy to say anything, let alone hide, and the haze that had tried to blanket her mind finally succeeded. She fell off the disc without so much as two drops of magic to save herself.

Draco cursed loudly when he saw Ginevra falling, and without hesitation, flew up into the air to catch her. She was much lighter than he remembered her being, he realised in some part of his mind. He landed easily, setting Ginevra down carefully. A long fingernail slid along his palm, slitting the skin easily and the resulting blood pooling in his cupped hand. Ginevra didn't stir, nor respond in anyway, even when he smeared the blood against her lips.

"Um, Draco? You might want to see this," Neville said, his voice stunned.

Looking over to where Neville was standing at the window, Draco frowned. Healing his palm since Ginevra wasn't responding to the blood, he lifted her carefully and went over to the tall window.

"Was that like that before?" Draco asked in shock, staring at the rapidly dying tree by the window.

Beneath the tree, the ground itself was browning, wilting, and dying. The vines that were creeping along the hospital walls began to shrivel up and fall off the building, dead brown ropes hitting the dirt-covered ground. Neville's thumb flashed a bright green colour, but it did nothing to delay the dying plants before them.

"It's got to be Ginevra. She's dying, and the world's following. We've got to heal her, quick," Neville said, turning to face her.

"I've tried, she's not responding to my blood. She needs to Drink," Draco said.

"Are you sure that's all she needs? If the world's dying along with her, then wouldn't she need something more than blood as a vampiress?"

"I don't know!"

Draco tried to wake her up with magic, but it didn't do anything. Ginevra was limp in his arms, and the thought of that terrified him more than the dying world outside the hospital walls.

"Luna... She'd know. She's here in the hospital. Come on, quick," Neville said, hurrying out of the door.

Draco ran after him, holding Ginevra tight against his chest. He could feel her heartbeat, and that meant she was alive. He refused to dwell on how it was slowing.

... b ...

"What's she saying?" Millicent called to Orion over the loud pitch of Luna's screaming words.

He'd only just calmed her down after entering the room, but now she was screaming so loud that he felt like he couldn't even see properly.

"Something about a sacrifice!" he called back loudly.

Orion tried to approach her, but Luna moved away, her hands over her ears as she continued to scream about sacrifices and the end of the world.

"Luna, you need to calm down! Just tell me what needs to be done!"

"Death, sacrifice, the world ends, the oceans boil, the sky burns, the blood falls, always the blood, need more blood, need more magic, more of everything. Barriers are tearing apart, worlds collapse, the gods fall, and the demons rise," she babbled, none of it making any sense to Orion whatsoever.

Millicent swore, her surprise making her words louder than Luna's words for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Orion asked, not wanting to look away from Luna for long.

"The sky is on fire."

At her words, ones that unknowingly mimicked Luna's, Orion ran over to the window to see the red clouds in the sky, looking as if the heavens themselves had caught ablaze.

"Dear Zeus, this is bad," Orion whispered, his face pale. "Okay, Luna, listen to me. The sky is on fire. How do we make it stop? What needs to be done?"

"Sacrifice, sacrifice, one of everything needs to be sacrificed," she said, staring up at him intently, white eyes glowing fiercely.

"Everyone of everything needs to be sacrificed? Okay, why? Who to? How in Hades' name do we do that?" Orion asked, pacing back and forth.

Before Luna could answer, or Millicent could question him, the door burst open. Neville ran inside, Draco a second behind him with Ginevra limp in his arms.

"Luna, we need to heal Ginevra, quickly. How do we do that?" Neville asked.

Orion looked at Ginevra and Draco, dumbfounded. The Queen of All was dying - well, that explained the burning sky - and the King of All's knuckles were whiter than Luna's eyes, clutching Ginevra so tightly that she'd bruise.

"One of everything needs to be sacrificed," Luna repeated. "One of everything, one of everyone, one blood, blood, blood."

"She said one of everything needs to be sacrificed, and something about blood," Orion translated when Neville looked to him.

A moment of silence descended upon them as they all thought to themselves.

"If we could do that before the sky falls on us and burns the world to a crisp, that'd be great," Millicent drawled, moving away from the window despite her indifferent tone.

"She's the Queen of All, so she needs blood from every living thing to not die?" Neville suggested, frowning.

Luna's screams seemed to go quieter at his answer, so they took that to be the correct solution.

"Right. How on earth are we meant to get that?" Millicent asked, looking between them all with a frown.

"I can do it," Draco said immediately, handing Ginevra to Neville and Orion carefully. "I will do it. Just ... Just look after her, all right?"

"We will," Neville promised.

"What are you going to do?" Orion asked, frowning briefly.

Draco didn't reply, but instead sat on the floor and closed his eyes. In moments, his entire being began to shift before their eyes. His clothes wavered, and a large white ball began to form in front of his chest. When it was so large that it obscured his sitting form entirely, the ball began to glow brightly. Not even a second later, the ball broke up into millions upon millions of minuscule balls, all of them disappearing from the room so fast that not even Orion could see them leave. Draco didn't move from his spot, and now that the ball of light had disappeared, they could all see the crown on his head, and the goblet sitting before him. It was a plain goblet compared to most, but it seemed to be made from every type of wood both known and unknown to man, and was extremely large.

Everyone was silent, even Luna, and they listened to the sky roar in pain, and the plants die outside. Watching the goblet intently, Millicent was the first to see it filling up with tiny drops of blood.

"How ... How is he doing that?" she asked quietly, in awe and fear.

She'd never seen anything like it, and as she sniffed with her werewolf senses, Millicent was sure that she could smell the different animals the drops of blood came from. One of every animal from the every corner of the world, both magical and Muggle, was sacrificing drops of their own blood.

Ants and acromantula, bees and Billywigs, chickens and centaurs, dogs and dragons, eels and Erklings, fish and fairies, gnus and gnomes, horses and Hippogriffs, iguanans and imps, jackals and Jarveys, kangaroos and Kelpies, lions and Lobalugs, mice and mermaids, newts and Nifflers, octopi and Occamies, platypuses and pixies, quails and Quintapeds, rabbits and Re'ems, snakes and Snidgets, tigers and Tebos, urchins and unicorns, vultures and vampires, whales and werewolves, xeruses and xolotls, yaks and yetis, zebras and zilants.

The scents began to overwhelm Millicent as more and more were added, some from creatures that she knew, some that she'd never heard of nor smelt before. Blood of all colours, from pale yellow, to blue, green, purple and black, appeared in the cup.

Outside, the word continued to die and burn. As they heard the passing comments of healers who were completely flabbergasted by what was happening, they discovered that the oceans were burning and rising, and worst of all, the barrier between the Muggle and wizarding worlds was starting to break down.

Staring at the goblet, Millicent jumped when she saw drops of blood falling into it from above, rather than just forming inside. She stared at Neville in surprise.

"What? It's not like it could do any harm," he said with a shrug, healing his palm.

Nodding, Millicent sliced her palm open, squeezing so a few drops could drop into the goblet. Orion faded back to Seamus, and he copied the motion. Wordlessly, Luna held out her hand, staying still long enough for Neville to prick her finger and let the formed blood drop into the goblet.

"I'll be righ' back," Seamus said, running out of the room before anyone could answer.

"Oh, hey, that's Lettie's blood," Millicent said in surprise, looking at the goblet.

Neville thanked her silently, knowing that she was affected by this as much as Ginevra. She was probably dying too, wherever she was.

... b ...

Miles was worried, and couldn't stop pacing beside Lettie on the bed. She'd started screaming some time ago, and while she'd stopped, Lettie hadn't moved since. She was just lying on the bed, looking as if her life itself was being sucked out of her. He could feel it happening, a faint echo in his own body as she died slowly.

His parents were worried over his worry, but he hadn't let them enter the room. He didn't want them to see him - or Lettie - like this. Spikes were jutting out of her spine, and she was little more than the beast she'd been days ago. She was dying, and the evil that was inside her body was struggling to be released. The choker necklace around her throat was starting to untie itself, millimetre by tiny millimetre.

Looking at Lettie again, he held himself back from slicing his arm open for her to Drink. She'd already refused his blood, and Miles knew that wasn't a good thing. He dropped to his knees beside her, holding her hand in his own carefully, her nails sharp against his skin.

"You have to get past this, Lettie. You've got my blood in you too, you can fight it. You can live. Stay with me. Please, stay with me," he begged, a sob wrenching at him.

... b ...

Calling out to his friends in his mind, Seamus ran through the hallways and corridors of the hospital. Colin had landed mere seconds before the sky ripped apart, and at Seamus' call, the Patil twins left their home in India to appear in St. Mungo's. They'd been exhausted from their extended stay in the pixie world, and had intended to sleep for the rest of the week.

When he arrived in the emergency room's waiting area, Seamus sighed in relief when he saw that they were all there, bar Theodore and Blaise.

"I need yer blood. Quick, or else the world's goin' ter get worse from 'ere on out," he said quickly, conjuring a goblet from a strand of hair.

"If you're planning on turning this into some alcoholic beverage, you'd better bloody well share, Finnegan," Pansy muttered, stepping forth and pricking her finger with a quick spell nonetheless.

"I'm not, it's for Ginevra. Maybe later though," he said with a quick grin, holding the goblet out to the others.

Parvati and Padma were next, their blood mixing with Pansy's. Gregory, Fred and George, and Colin followed without hesitation. When they were finished, Seamus thanked them quickly and ran out of the room to where Blaise and Theodore were.

"Spare some blood, Theo?" Seamus asked as he stepped into the room.

"I'm slightly busy here, Seamus," he replied, not looking away from Blaise.

"The world's endin', and I need a drop of ye blood for Ginevra."

"What?!" Theodore stared up at him, and seeing he was serious, sighed heavily. "Hurry up then, I don't particularly want to die over a drop of blood," he muttered, pricking his finger with a spell.

Seamus nodded, taking the drop of blood. Seeing the blood dripping from Blaise's fingertips, he caught a few drops, refusing to think why he'd been bleeding in the first place. Theodore saw his look, and was going to explain that Blaise had been covered in cuts and scratches from falling onto the forest floor, but Seamus left before he could say anything. Sighing to himself, he cleaned his hands and returned to his job, end of the world or not.

Hurrying to the room that Draco, Luna, Millicent and Neville were in, Seamus stepped inside. The goblet sitting in front of Draco was almost full, and he carefully tipped his friends' blood in with it as well.

"Luna didn't say only animals had ter sacrifice blood, so it's bett'r safe than sorry," he explained with a quick grin.

"Good thinking," Millicent said, impressed by his initiative.

"It's full now," Neville said, seeing the blood touching the rim of the goblet.

No one wanted to think about how far between Ginevra's heartbeats were. Draco blinked his eyes open, his head spinning slightly at everything he'd done and seen. Animals across the globe had heard his voice in their minds, begging for a drop of blood. A few had refused when he'd first ask, claiming that the King of All would never beg for something so simple. Then the world had started burning, the plants and their livelihoods dying, and the blood had been given immediately. A gryffon had been awoken, giants had been roused, and many animals that he'd never seen yet immediately known the name of, had offered blood for the King and Queen of All. Mosquitoes had eagerly provided blood from humans, wizard and Muggle alike, and his mind had filled with blood of every colour and texture.

The goblet was full to the rim, but Draco could immediately see that there was room for one more drop. For the second time that day, he cut his palm. A single drop of blood fell into the goblet. Nodding to Seamus and Neville to bring Ginevra forward, Draco lifted the goblet to her lips once she was made to sit up against him, her body still limp.

When Ginevra still didn't respond, Millicent frowned. Moving over, she pinched Ginevra's nose, making her mouth open slightly a moment later so she could keep breathing. She stepped back, watching as Draco poured the blood in Ginevra's mouth carefully, not letting a single drop go to waste.

They could all see Ginevra swallowing the blood, but her eyes were still closed, Draco had to support her in a seated position, and she didn't move to take the goblet herself. She drank every single drop, but even when it was empty, she didn't move.

Outside, the world stopped burning. The flames in the sky began to die down, the plants, trees, and grass returned to their healthy green colour, and the oceans returned to their usual size. The barrier between the wizarding and Muggle worlds returned, with most Muggles assuming that it had been nothing more than a result of an overproductive imagination, fatigue, and a trick of the evening light. Within minutes, the world was normal once more, and for most, life continued on. In St. Mungo's, however, Ginevra was still limp in Draco's arms.

... b ...

End of the thirty-second chapter.

Thank you for reading.