Unofficial Portkey Archive

Written by: Kagome-sama

Translated by: Kagome-sama (yes, me -.-;)

Beta-read by: Jess Thanks so much! *HUGS!*

Disclaimer:

This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's note:

I'd like to thank everybody for the nice reviews they wrote about my story. I'm not picky about feedback, feel free to write whatever you want. I don't bite and I'm always happy to read your opinions! :)

Note: This fic is written OotP-wise. Don't read it if you didn't read OotP!

They worked with the books all morning. Draco read three of them with attention, and read the summaries of five others trying to find something interesting. He began to understand the depression of the group.

'Damn, none of these even mention a Green Torch!' burst Draco closing the ninth volume of 'Magical Objects: Where to find them' and throwing it onto the table. He leaned heavily against the back of the chair, his arms straight and holding the bottom, hiding one big yawn.

'In truth, the Green Torch is pointed out in a couple of books, but only as the weapon that Harry used to destroy You-Know-Who,' Ginny said entering the wide room and sitting next to Harry. He handed her a couple of books which she diligently started to leaf through.

'Yes, we all know how well that worked out last time,' Draco drawled sarcastically, getting up from the chair and approaching the wide bookcase. Harry sighed, a little uneasily.

'At least it did for a while,' burst out Ginny again, putting her hand on Harry's shoulder. The boy rested his right hand on hers and squeezed it.

'But was it worth it for a few years of illusion?'

Nobody answered. He guessed that he had asked a question which nobody could answer without hurting Harry's feelings.

Hermione closed the book she was reading and stretched, tired. Ginny seemed to frown for a moment, all eyes turned to look at her.

'Look here... it talks about a kind of Torch,' she said, a little excited. But her excitement was immediately extinguished. 'Ah no... it's only a game for magicians!' Five people snorted. Hermione got up.

'I'd better go check on the roast,' she announced.

'I turned it five minutes ago and turned down the oven,' Ginny answered. 'We'll have to wait for Ron to return; according to the Clock he is still rather far away. You know it's impossible to Apparate during the day with Muggles everywhere'.

'I told Ron that it was a really bad idea to go find the others, but not much has changed since the beginning of the year and someone had to go present our wishes to them. There's no point dwelling on it,' said Hermione staring at the chair, reluctantly. However, she walked towards the entrance. 'I'm going to go see where Ron is. Maybe he has gotten closer while we were talking.'

Draco looked attentively at the longest row of books that was spread across the wall. While his eyes were on a volume that seemed to have some interest, he saw the contours of the bookcase unexpectedly start to vanish. He blinked a few times but his vision didn't clear. Then he noticed that a shelf had been added.

'It seems that the Ministry has found more materials for us; as if the rubbish they've sent us already wasn't enough. Useless books on which we are losing our eyesight every day...' commented Harry noticing that two other shelves had appeared.

Draco observed it, sceptically, and started to look again. There were books of black magic and some volumes that he had caught a glimpse of in the Restricted Section in the library at Hogwarts.

'Isn't the location of this place meant to be secret?'

'It's super secret, in fact.' Sirius answered. 'Only Remus knows where to find us. Now, he's working at the Ministry in order to make it easy for us to get these books. And, Harry, they are not rubbish.'

'They may not be rubbish, perhaps, but it's true that they are useless. For two years we have continued to leaf through them day after day, never finding anything more than some bit about the Battle of seventh year... or some game of prestige.' He glanced at Ginny, she sighed.

'Maybe you have been looking for it in the wrong way.' reflected Draco while examining the contents of the library.

'How exactly should we have been looking for it then, Your Lordship?' roared Harry. Sirius gave Harry a strict glance. 'I mean... what do you think we could have done differently?' He reddened and lowered his sight.

'Nervous, huh?' Draco sneered. This was beginning to amuse him-avoiding insulting them had its advantages. 'It happens that I haven't spent the last two years working in this place, as some of you have emphasized before. I don't know the type of searches you have carried out. Here I see that there's everything, even a few forbidden volumes. You probably just haven't tried the right sort of book yet,' he drawled. Harry rose from the chair, annoyed, and approached Draco. He grabbed Draco's shoulder and forced him to turn.

'Look there,' Harry snapped, pointing to the other side of the library and showing Draco an enormous book-case, filled with hundreds of volumes. 'D'you know what those are? They're all the books that we've read over the last two years. There's quite a few, aren't there?' He released Draco and went back to his seat. Draco massaged his shoulder and sneered at Harry, but was truly impressed. The bookcase covered the length of the wall and extended all the way up to the ceiling which was three times higher than normal.

Draco went to the other side of the big room, trying to find something more interesting to read. In the end, he sat on the floor with his legs crossed, and looked through some books which he remembered seeing in the Restricted Section of the library at Hogwarts.

Damn. There's something I should remember… why do I have this horrible feeling? He thought as he skimmed through the pages of the volume that he had in his hands. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't lose the bad feeling. The books he was scanning talked about a completely different subject to the one that he was looking for. So he put them back in their places and got up, cleaning the dust from his robe and going a bit further.

'I'll go check on the roast,' said Ginny, standing up from her chair and walking out of the library. Harry watched her leave as he closed one of the books that he was checking and picked up a new one.

'There are also school books about how to use Tarot Cards,' Draco said, amazed by the detail, 'why did the Ministry think they would be important?'

'I have no idea,' replied Sirius, giving him a quick glance while skimming another volume, a Muggle one, 'there's only one way you can be sure-checking its content,' he said. Draco sighed and started to read it, but it didn't have more information than what he already knew. No, it didn't talk about a Torch.

He leafed through another two or three books, until he saw Hermione coming back to the library, tying her hair in a pony tail and approaching him in order to take some other books to read. She picked up another pile which was taller than she was and went back to her seat, starting to read.

Every hour seemed to last an eternity that day. Draco had become accustomed to spending every moment of his time looking over his shoulder and being in constant movement. He found that he just couldn't concentrate on reading and was quickly growing bored. Finally, they heard the sound of footsteps in the Hall and someone came into the library.

'Ron! You're back at last!' exclaimed Hermione, throwing the book that she had been reading onto the table. She stood up and ran towards him, 'How was your trip?' she asked, hugging him and kissing him softly on the lips.

'I would've been back earlier if I could've Apparated, but there were too many Muggles on the streets, and I didn't want to take the risk,' he replied, hugging her back and answering her kiss with evident joy.

Hermione cleaned the soot off his nose and began brushing the ashes off his cloak. It was obvious which method he had used to make his trip.

'Fred and George said that they'd prefer to stay at the Burrow for a while. Mum isn't feeling well and she needs help. So… oh, he's awake,' Ron said. He had just noticed that Draco was approaching, from the other side of the library.

'Yes, he promised to clean up his act and Sirius gave him permission to stay,' Hermione replied. She leaned closer and whispered something else into Ron's ear.

'Malfoy,' said Ron, as Draco finally reached them and sat down. Ron was staring at him as if he had something funny painted on his face, and this really annoyed him.

'What d'you want?' asked Draco, dryly, while skimming through another book.

'I daresay that colour of maroon suits you better than me.' Both Harry and Hermione smirked at this.

'Of course it does,' Draco replied without batting an eyelash and staring at the red-haired boy with sarcasm. Ron stared back horrified, and his ears turned pink, 'I think that you'll find that most things suit me better than you.'

'Malfoy!' Ron looked ready to hit Draco.

SMASH!

Sirius slammed a book onto the table and said, eyeing the red-haired boy sharply, 'Ron, shut up and calm down, please. You were the one to annoy him first, after all.'

'I did not-' started Ron. Then he looked at Sirius for a long moment, and had to lower his glance, not daring to keep eye-contact with him, 'Well, maybe… maybe yes, I was provoking him… but… you know, it was strange to see Malfoy wearing my clothes.'

'It was me who gave your clothes to Malfoy, Ron,' said a voice from outside the library. Ginny came into the wide room, carrying a tray with some tea. 'His Muggle clothes were far too dirty and worn out for me to fix them. Welcome back, by the way. How's Mum doing?' said the girl, hugging him tenderly with a single arm and then going back to her seat and resting the tray on the table.

'She's not well. She's never recovered from the shock of Dad's death, and I don't think that she ever will.' Ron sighed, and Ginny eyed him, worried. 'Fred and George are staying there with her. They didn't even want to joke today… it gives me the creeps.'

'Maybe I should go to the Burrow, I could take care of her,' mused Ginny.

'You'd just put the Burrow and everybody there in danger,' replied Harry, staring at her sadly. 'Molly is more than a mother to me. You know that I feel horrible because she's not well, but I know that I can't go there either.'

'Damn those bloody Death Eaters!' Ginny swore, sniffing. She felt so powerless…

Ginny sighed, tiredly, as she unbuttoned the top part of her robe. As always, they had spent almost all day reading those books, trying to find a solution for what still looked like a complete enigma. She was used to that-after all they had been looking for information for over two years now. However…

'Are you all right, love?' asked Harry as he put on his pyjamas. She glared at him before nodding in reply.

Damn, if you can't give that word its true meaning, don't use it! She thought, annoyed. She was tired, tired of waiting. Once, she would've been happy with a situation of this sort. In truth, she really had been happy about it, at first… until that day, the year before.

'Are you worried about Molly? I know you want to go to the Burrow, I'd want to go there too.' Harry approached her from behind, her robe fell to the floor. He hugged her, gently, and gave her a soft kiss on her collarbone. She stood on her tip toes, pushing herself against his chest with all her strength and he accepted the invitation. Harry's hands ran up her body, reaching her breast as his lips started to draw a line of light kisses up to her jaw.

Ginny allowed herself a little sigh when he nibbled at her right earlobe. Yes, it was just what she needed, to not think of anything. She turned back to him, sinking her fingers into his hair and smiling. She saw the desire in his green eyes… it was clearly evident. She decided that, for the moment at least, it was enough.

With a gentle push, Harry made her lay down on the bed, and was immediately over her. She loved the weight of the boy's body over hers; it made her feel complete and happy as he kissed her everywhere. It lulled her, for a moment, into the illusion that she was the only subject of his thoughts. She felt a shiver as he tickled the sole of her foot, and she barely hid a giggle. Then, she pushed him onto the other side of the bed, placing herself on top of him.

'Tonight leave everything to me,' she murmured into his ear, kissing him.

'Ok…' was the last coherent thing that he was able to say.

She woke up with the horrid feeling that something was strange. She lazily stretched her legs and arms, and then started gazing around herself, trying to understand what was happening. The room was hidden in the darkness of the night, the only things that lighted up the contours of the objects and her surroundings were the soft light of the street-lamps and the moon outside. It only took her a moment to understand what was giving her that bad feeling-Harry was groaning in his dreams, hugging her.

'Harry? Harry, what is it?' she said, shaking him to wake him up. It didn't help, though. 'Harry? What's happening to you? Can you hear me? Please wake up!' She shook him so hard that in the end he opened his eyes, in shock. He stared at her without really seeing her, his widened eyes were dull, not really gazing at hers. Fighting to keep control of herself, she slapped him twice. Suddenly, he regained his senses.

'Huh,' he said, standing up and putting a hand over his face.

'Is that the only thing you're able to say?' she asked, still shocked.

'Merlin, you hit hard-' he retorted, looking for his glasses on the bedside table, and fumbling them into place on his nose. Then, he gazed at her with relief, and smiled. 'Thank you, Gin. A Dementor was around and I couldn't protect myself while I was sleeping.'

'You scared me to death,' she said; her heart still thudding in her chest. She still was out of breath, her hands were trembling and she felt as if her fingers were made of ice.

'Sorry… I didn't mean to.' He hugged her and Ginny forgot about the cold. They plunged into the bed and stayed linked together for a while. Then, she felt him shivering and reluctantly broke their hug, getting up on her side of the bed. She looked for her dressing-gown and put it on, setting out to leave.

'Where are you going?'

'To the kitchen, to get some chocolate for you and a glass of water for myself.' She stroked his arm softly, trying to calm and reassure him, 'I'll be back,' she murmured, and stood up.

She groped her way out the room that she knew by memory by now, and found herself in the corridor. She turned left, starting to walk down on the steps. She was walking through the wide hall of the palace, when she heard a noise. She made her way into the small room before the kitchen. Someone was groaning painfully, exactly as Harry had, few minutes ago.

It took a moment for her to remember that Draco was still sleeping on the couch. Damn, the Dementors are giving him trouble as well, she thought. She ran into the room, approached the couch and took her wand out of her dressing-gown pocket.

'Lumos! ' she said. The point of her wand lighted up and she put it on the coffee table, using it to light the room. Draco was moaning and tossing in the sleep, sweating hard and shuddering a lot.

'Malfoy? Malfoy?' she shook him, but it didn't help. 'Malfoy, wake up!' She tried shaking him again, even harder than she had shaken Harry, but he still didn't wake. She slapped him, with all her strength… but only succeeded in hurting her hand.

'MALFOY! DO YOU HEAR ME? PLEASE WAKE UP!' she shouted. Draco opened his eyes.

'Marion,' he murmured, sitting up to hold her strongly. Ginny felt as if she was going to choke-she had to do something, or he'd probably squash her.

'MALFOY! You're hurting me, please let go of me-' she tried to wriggle out from his grasp, but escape was a very hard thing to obtain. She tried not to panic and think of a way to make him let go. Once, a long time ago, Harry had done a similar thing. She had carried the signs of his hold for a full week afterwards.

'Marion, NO!'

'MALFOY, I AM NOT MARION, PLEASE WAKE UP!' she shouted into his ear, wriggling against him yet again.

Suddenly, Draco calmed down and jerked, as if somebody caught him doing a forbidden thing. He released her from the hug and put his hands on her shoulders. He stared around himself, his eyes-which normally were pale-now seemed to be liquid, almost dark in the shadows.

'What-' he muttered. When his eyes finally reached Ginny's face, he stared at her, frowning, 'what are you doing here, Weasley?' he asked, removing his hands straight away from her shoulders, as if they were made on fire.

'I came here to take a glass of water and a piece of chocolate,' she said, massaging her arms where Draco had gripped her, and standing up. 'A Dementor was nearby. Harry was sick as well; I saw that you were having trouble so I tried to wake you up.' Something very close to a blush appeared on Draco's face. Ginny smiled,

'What did I say?' he asked, glancing at her a bit uneasily. It was… as if he was frightened by what he might have said. Ginny wanted to know why.

'You called me Marion,' she said, as Draco's face turned as white as a sheet and his eyes widened dramatically. He put one of his hands on his forehead and shook his head.

'Bloody hell,' he muttered, yawning. His other hand was trembling over his leg.

'Who's Marion?' Ginny asked. He turned to stare at her, frowning, and took breath to talk; but he stayed silent, for a long moment, before replying,

'It's none of your business, Weasley.'

He lay down on the couch once again and turned his back to her, trying to ignore her. Ginny waited for a moment, to see if he'd change his mind, but she then understood that it was useless and stood up.

'Nox!' she said, picking up her wand from the coffee table and putting it back in her pocket. The light turned off and Ginny walked straight to the kitchen.

Damn, I have to learn to control myself when a Dementor passes by. I can't allow them to find out… thought Draco, equally sad and angry at the same time. He didn't want to show himself as weak, he couldn't show his weakness in front of the people who he had made fun of for seven years.

When he heard that the girl had left the room, he turned to the other side of the couch and put an arm under his pillow, trying to find a more comfortable position. It wasn't easy, as his teeth were still chattering; but he didn't feel like getting up and going to look for a piece of chocolate in a kitchen that he didn't know. He tried to forced himself not to tremble-it wasn't easy, but he had to try. Suddenly, he saw a shadow getting closer to him and sitting down on the edge of the couch. He was startled; he hadn't noticed its approach.

'Here.' It was Ginny, once again. Draco stretched a hand towards the one the girl was holding out to him and took something. A piece of chocolate, of course. He sat next to her and bit into it.

'Thank you,' he drawled. Ginny felt her eyes widen from the shock of hearing that word. Draco seemed to think a lot about what was he going to say. He finished eating his chocolate and then looked directly into her eyes. Now used to the darkness, they could see each other by the gleam of light that came into the room from the shutters. 'And… I'm sorry… for what I did before,' he muttered and, immediately after it, tore his glance from hers and lay down quickly, turning his back to her.

Ginny was shocked. Did Draco Malfoy just… apologize? It was worth living just to have such an experience!

'Who's Marion?' she was able to ask, after few seconds. Perhaps now he would decide to talk a bit, and she was sincerely curious.

'I apologized, but this doesn't mean that I want to talk about it,' he retorted, dryly. Ginny sighed and stood up, setting out to leave.

'Weasley?' Draco muttered from his couch. She froze and turned back, waiting for him to continue. 'You… didn't see me, tonight,' he said, not daring to turn. She pondered a bit about it before replying,

'Maybe,' she said, then she turned around and left, going back to the room that she shared with Harry.

Author's note:

Here we are, chapter 4 is finished!

I apologize for how long it took me to translate it, but unfortunately Sneeky had a lot of things to do, and she wasn't able to finish her translation. In the end she gave up… so I've had to finish the translation by myself, and I will need to continue the translation for the next chapters. So… I'm sorry if the English doesn't seem as good as before, but unfortunately I can't help it, I did my best to translate it well :(

I hope that you will like this chapter! I suppose you are curious, now, to know what happened to Ginny one year ago… of course you'll find out… later! >:)

Now let's reply to my reviews :)

Ezmeralda: Hmmmmm yes, it's the past... but I cannot say more. Actually Hermione doesn't trust Draco at all, right now. She was feeling uneasy even because she didn't want him to die because he was under her responsibility, and still a human being. Of course all this speech is valid right now :). As for Ginny... I think she blushed because she said things that she didn't want Draco to know. After all if she likes Harry or not is none of Draco's business, right? Ginny doesn't want Draco to know that she and Harry have problems. Even because she doesn't like the reason why they have problems. Of course even all this speech is thought right now :). Thanks for the review!

Rea Yume: Thank you for the review. Uhm... yes, the dream was in the past. But... I didn't tell that they were their ancestrors. It's not really history repeating then... you'll find out ^^ err... someday ^^; I hope you will still be here when we'll get the point!

dreamcatcher_3107: My... *Kagome feels her face like a tomato* You made me blush to cause Ginny shame ;) thank you! I'm happy that you're liking the story and I'm happy that you think the characters are IC. It's a thing that makes me proud :) above all if it's Malfoy who's IC. As for the ships... heeee you'll see =). And don't worry about your post being long. I love long reviews ^^ I always write HUUUUGE reviews, because I express all my feelings and thoughts about the fic I read. It's very rare if I don't have anything to say other than a "wow" or an "Ew!"... or very, very rare the cases where I really can't say anything at all :) I always try to give concrit and also express to the author what I liked in the fic. So, your comments are highly appreciated. I prefer long reviews (even if I appreciate even just a "good" than the silence ^^)

sexybabehp17: Yes, I know what do you mean :) If I'd met a Draco-like person in RL I'd have hated him to death, more like Harry than other. But... I love Draco for his complexity, even if he's an one-dimensional character in canon... and this is really funny! I'd love JKR gave him more depht... but she actually was able to give hints of what Draco really could be even without devellopping him. This is astouning from a writer ;) but she's JKR, after all ;). I hope that you'll like this new installment!

Thank you all for the review! I hope that you will write a review for this chapter as well. Don't worry if you didn't review the other chapters: it's still lovely to read a new reviewer^^ it means that people read the story and it meas that the new chapter caught more attention to the people who didn't review the last one. This makes me happy :).

Waiting for her reviews ^^