Angel Eyes

Angel Eyes

~Part Three~

They wanted to send her to St Mungo's.

Our daughter was almost killed, the Zabinis said. We want her locked up.

We've been through this before, the governors had told Dumbledore. Either the girl gets help, or expulsion. This is the second time she's endangered other students.

'Please don't make me go back there,' pleaded Ginny in barely a whisper. She was shaking, and Draco had never seen anyone so terrified before in his life.

Of course, Mother had always forbidden him to watch while father and his Death Eater friends tortured Muggles in the Manor dungeons.

'I'm so sorry, Ginny,' said Dumbledore gently.

'Then I'd rather be expelled,' she said, voice trembling.

'No,' argued Molly Weasley, 'I won't have that.'

'This is bloody unfair!' exploded Draco. He couldn't understand why he was so angry. 'Those fuckers! She's just a girl, and you want to lock her away? They ganged up on her!'

Calm down, Draco, ordered Sirius.

'Don't fucking tell me to calm down!' Draco spat at him. 'How can you just sit there and not do anything? Aren't we supposed to help? Isn't that the point?'

There's nothing you can do right now.

'She's scared out of her mind, Sirius! Look at her!'

I know.

'So I just wait and watch, is that it?'

Yes.

'Well I don't want to, then.'

You don't have a choice.

'My ass. I don't want to do this anymore! I want you to take me back up there, heaven, or whatever you want to call it.'

You forget, you've made your choices already.

'I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO DIE!'

That's not the point.

'You're not making any fucking sense. I'm leaving. Just try and stop me.'

I don't need to, said Sirius, because just as the door shut behind him Draco sunk to his knees with that gut-wrenching pain. It was so bad he had tears in his eyes, but that was nothing to having to watch the tears running down Ginny's face so he could stay here forever if he needed to. There were few things that Draco couldn't bear, watching people breaking down and cry was right up there with the best of them along with bad hair and Hufflepuffs.

But it was impossible. Soon, Draco was crawling back inside. The moment he caught sight of Ginny he found himself able to stand up again. Sirius looked at him sadly.

'Don't even say anything,' Draco croaked.

They had to watch the Healers taking Ginny away. She was like an frightened animal, kicking, scratching, biting whoever tried to control her and Draco heard nothing but the shrieking. He wasn't sure whether Ginny really was crying out, or if it was just the screaming in her mind but it blocked every other thought like a suffocating blanket and underneath everything was dark.

In the end they were forced to put the full body bind on her. She was portkeyed to St Mungos with one of the head Healers, Draco and Sirius holding on with them.

A single bed in an empty white room. They bound Ginny's arms, her legs, hips and chest to the bed with invisible restraints, unseen bands that held her firmly down.

He could sense, far away at Hogwarts, Harry Potter had heard and was growing irritated and could feel the power burning off him. A dim part of Draco's mind registered that this was because of Sirius beside him, and he thought that maybe the dog was somehow Harry's guardian angel.

But that didn't seem important. Ginny's eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling and she was unnaturally still. Her breathing was uneven and every few seconds she would gasp as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the air.

'I'm sorry, Draco,' said Sirius, 'I can't stay.'

Draco turned around and saw a man standing beside him, jet black hair and grey eyes just like his own. He looked familiar.

'Sirius Black,' said Draco, unfazed. 'You're an animagus.'

'It's a long story,' Sirius sighed, 'and I have to leave.'

'Potter?'

'He needs me.'

'Go, then.'

Sirius didn't move. 'Draco...'

'What?'

'This isn't your fault.'

'Yes it is. At least, it's my father's fault and that's close enough, isn't it?'

'No, it's not.'

'I don't care.'

'Yes you do.'

'Well, I don't want to!' Draco snapped. 'I didn't want to have anything to do with this war!'

'So you weren't going to join the Death Eaters?'

'Just like Lucius wanted me to? No. But I wasn't about to fight on Potter's side, either.'

'Then what were you going to do?'

'I don't know. Stay out of it. Run away to a tropical island? Come back when it had all blown over. I thought for sure Dumbledore was going to win, and that was alright because the Death Eaters wouldn't have forgiven me anyway. Everyone just assumes because you're a Slytherin you're automatically on his side. We didn't want to fight. We didn't want the war at all.'

'It's coming, whether you like it or not.'

'But it doesn't matter much now, does it? I'm already dead.'

'It still matters,' said Sirius gently. 'The people you care about-'

'They won't fight. I told you, they're planning to leave and come back when the Dark Lord has been defeated. But it looks as if he might win after all and then we're doomed anyway. There's nothing I can do. I don't know why I'm even here.'

'To help Ginny, remember?'

'Help? All I've done is landed her here. Aren't the Founders pissed off? Shouldn't they have fired me by now?'

'I'll be back later,' said Sirius, waving a hand in the air. An armchair appeared next to the bed. 'Here, you might as well sit down.'

'Whatever,' said Draco, but by then Sirius had already gone.

He sank down into the chair. When had his life become this much of a mess? Oh right, the whole dying thing. Nothing made sense anymore, and Draco hated it. Things he didn't understand always frustrated him, and right now he was confused about everything.

Draco didn't get it; death should have ended all his problems...instead his troubles were only multiplying.

He wasn't sure how long he stayed there thinking, hours passed and his thoughts were going nowhere. Ginny's weren't any better, a tangle of fleeting images and abstract feelings he couldn't decipher. She was on the very edge of sleep, close to falling.

*

When he woke up, it was dark. He'd developed a kind of extra sense now, probably part of his angel powers and they told him that this was, once again, a dream. Except before he'd recognised the dream as partly his own; this time it was all Ginny's nightmare.

They were in a shadowed chamber, serpents rose on stone pillars stretching on forever into the dark. The eyes of the snakes seemed to flicker, and Draco was getting a very bad feeling. He started walking, and stopped at the statue of Slytherin.

He'd always wanted to see the inside of the Chamber of Secrets, but presently he was reconsidering the prospect.

Ginny was standing at the base of the statue with a boy, Draco's age possibly. He had one hand on her shoulder and was stroking her fiery hair with the other.

'You're not real,' Ginny was whispering, eyes clenched tight. 'Harry defeated you, you're not real anymore.'

Tom laughed, a sound that sent shivers of uneasiness down Draco's back. 'Of course I'm real.'

'No, you're not,' she pleaded. 'Go away.'

'I can't go away. I'm always with you, Gin, remember?'

'No...'

'You're the reason I'm here, don't forget.'

'Look here, fucktard! Leave her alone!'

Ginny's eyes snapped open and Tom Riddle whirled around on his heel, furious. Draco was rather impressed with himself.

'Malfoy?!' exclaimed Ginny in horror.

'Malfoy? Lucius?' asked Tom, confused.

'No, Draco,' Draco corrected.

'What are you doing here?' asked Ginny.

'Pleased to see me?' said Draco dryly.

Before Ginny could answer, Tom had her locked in his grip from behind, a wand pointed at her throat. Never mind that it was completely unnecessary; he could have just aimed the wand threateningly and told them not to move. However, he seemed to enjoy having Ginny so close, and was trailing a row of light kisses from her collarbone up her trembling throat. Draco felt sickened.

'Don't move, or I'll kill her,' Tom said to him, 'and then you afterwards.'

'I'm already dead,' said Draco. 'Do I have to keep telling people?'

'You're crazy, Malfoy,' gasped Ginny.

'Hey, I'm not the one locked up in St Mungos.'

'Silence!' roared Tom, and Draco thought that he was the one who should have been locked up.

'This is ridiculous,' he muttered.

Ginny was whimpering; Tom smiled. He gave Ginny the wand.

'Be a darling and get rid of him for me.'

'But Tom-'

'Don't you love me, Ginny?'

Draco raised his brows in disbelief.

'I...'

'Don't you, Ginevra?'

'Yes,' whispered Ginny.

'Wait a minute-' began Draco.

'Then do it,' ordered Tom.

'I'm sorry, Malfoy,' said Ginny, raising the wand to point directly at him. Draco was stunned.

'Ginny, listen to me!'

Ginny faltered, uncertain.

'I believe you,' said Draco simply.

She stared at him. 'What?'

'I believe you; he isn't real.'

Tom smirked. Draco, who practised for years to perfect his own frighteningly evil smirk was terrified for a moment.

'I'm real because she wants me to be,' said Tom silkily. 'Everyone else hates you, Ginny, they think you're a monster. But I understand you, don't I?'

'That's not true!' cried Draco.

Tears were falling from Ginny's eyes again. 'Isn't it?' she asked, voice quavering. 'They sent me away and locked me up. Everyone thinks I'm crazy. I think I'm crazy...'

Draco swallowed. He wasn't sure how to deal with this side of Ginny, fragile and broken, so unlike her usual fierce self. Draco didn't usually act on instinct, everything he did was normally carefully planned out and assessed in his mind before carried out to his advantage. But suddenly he found himself moving forwards and wrapping arms around Ginny's shoulders, the wand clattered to the floor and she clung to him, sobbing. It was the single weirdest thing Draco had ever done, including that time when he got drunk and ended up in Pansy's knickers and wearing her lipstick.

So why didn't it feel weird? Not the lipstick that is, he meant the hugging Ginny bit.

'No one thinks you're crazy except Blaise's parents, and who gives a fuck what they think? You're right, remember?'

'No.'

'Absolutely right. Just not everybody sees it that way, but they will.'

Ginny sniffled. 'I didn't mean to hurt Blaise. The spell wasn't supposed to be that strong, I was just so angry-'

'I know.'

'I would have thought you'd been on her side.'

'Me too, actually.'

'Where's Tom?' she asked shakily, looking about.

'Gone, I guess. I told you he wasn't real.'

'You know,' Ginny said. 'This is the second time you've appeared in my dreams, and it's the second time you've been nice to me. It's getting really weird.'

Draco gave a half smirk. 'You don't fancy me, do you, Weasley?'

Ginny looked aghast. Then she recovered and replied, 'No, I still hate you.'

'I still hate you too, so we're even.'

'Okay.'

'Okay,' said Draco. 'Are you going to let go now?'

A small 'No' was muffled into Draco's shirt. He couldn't help but smile.

*

Draco could hear the sea before he opened his eyes, mingled with the sound of quiet murmuring. It was warm, he felt the soft salty breeze brushing over him.

'He's waking,' said someone, and Draco blinked.

'Congratulations, mate,' said Sirius, 'you figured it out.'

'Muh?' said Draco.

'Do you think he's he alright?'

'He's fine, Helga, don't fuss,' said Gryffindor.

Draco sat up. He found himself lying back in the hammock on the beach, surrounded by all the Founders and Sirius.

'How are you feeling?' asked Helga, looking rather anxious.

'Terrible,' said Draco. 'What in the name of Merlin was in those coconuts?'

'Now let's not crowd him,' said Salazar, surprisingly considerate. Everyone took a step back except Sirius.

'I knew you could do it,' he said.

'We're very proud of you Draco,' said Rowena kindly.

'Er, thanks,' said Draco, still trying to adjust to the bright sunlight. 'But it's not like I did anything, really...'

'You helped Ginny a lot,' Sirius told him.

'Hm,' Draco conceded vaguely.

'A job very well done,' Godric beamed. 'You were quite brave, you know, perhaps you ought to have been a Gryffindor...'

Draco was appalled, and Salazar scowled unpleasantly.

'Excuse me?' he uttered in a dangerously low voice.

'Kidding, Sal,' said Godric quickly. 'It was just a joke...'

'So is that it?' asked Draco. 'Do I get a holiday now, or something?'

'Er, not exactly...' said Sirius.

'What do you mean?'

'We'll talk about that in a moment,' said Helga smoothly. 'Do you have any questions you want to ask us first, Draco?'

'What's going to happen to Weasley?'

'Blaise woke up in the hospital wing, and Harry went to talk to her,' Sirius reported. 'She's admitted that the accident wasn't Ginny's fault. She's safely back at Hogwarts now.'

'You're Harry Potter's guardian angel, aren't you?'

'Yes.'

'How come you're allowed to leave him?'

'Well, all guardian angels can leave their charges, because they can sense them anywhere they go.'

'But then why...?'

'Like I said, you were a very special case,' said Helga. 'We needed you to be with your charge all the time.'

'I see...'

'Anything else?'

'How did I die? Because I KNOW it wasn't Evilbastarditis...' Draco scowled.

The four Founders and Sirius glanced at each other.

'When we were at Hogwarts that's what we used to say you'd catch if you got too close to Snape,' began Sirius.

'Get to the point,' said Draco. 'I think I deserve to know. I mean, I don't remember dying at all-'

'Um,' coughed Godric. 'That would be because you, er, didn't. Die, that is.'

Draco was too dumbfounded to speak. He sat, and gaped, while everyone looked on worriedly.

'Please don't be angry-' said Helga, when she was interrupted by Draco bursting into peals of laughter.

'He's gone mad,' stated Salazar angrily. 'That was my best shot at Head boy in decades! Look what you've done to him, you idiots!'

'Don't get worked up, now,' Rowena warned him. 'He's just in shock, Salazar, wait a moment.'

They waited for Draco's fit to subside. Eventually he stopped hiccuping enough to ask Slytherin, 'You really mean I have a shot at Head boy?'

'Of course you do,' said Helga, glaring at Gryffindor presumably to prevent from saying something awful like: not a chance in hell-remember Harry Potter?

'So this whole time, I've been alive...but...but...how? Am I in my own body? I don't get it...'

'At the moment you're unconscious in the hospital wing,' Sirius informed him. 'You were hit in the head by a Bludger during the last Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match.'

'Bloody idiot beaters...' sneered Salazar, looking murderous. Well, more murderous than usual anyway, Draco considered. How anyone could manage to look so vicious wearing a silly straw hat with plastic fruit was beyond him.

'And we lost?' asked Draco hollowly.

'Does it really matter?' sighed Rowena impatiently.

'Yes!' Godric and Slytherin had spoken both at once.

'Sort it out in your own time, then,' Rowena told them.

Salazar raised an eyebrow at Godric, who smirked in a very un-Gryffindor-like way.

'Don't worry; we will,' drawled Salazar, rather suggestively.

Draco decided he really didn't want to know.

'I think I need to lie down,' he said, falling back onto the hammock.

'That's a good idea,' said Helga, stroking his forehead with a cool, calming hand. 'You deserve a long rest.'

'Er, am I still going to be here when I wake up?'

'No, you'll be at Hogwarts,' said Sirius. 'Unless you want to stay a little longer; Grindelwald's having a pyjama party sleepover.'

Draco rubbed his face with his hands; Malfoys were never supposed to show distress but things were getting just a little bit insane here.

'I'll pass,' he muttered.

'Right...well...' Sirius cleared his throat. 'Er, then...um...'

'Spit it out,' snapped Salazar.

'I'm not good with goodbyes,' Sirius apologised to Draco. 'Have a nice life, kid. Catch you later.'

'How much later?' asked Draco, only a tad fearfully. If death was an endless party at Grindelwald's, he wasn't sure if he was ready for it now, or ever. The Dark Lord might have the right idea with the whole immortality thing after all.

'Not for a while,' smiled Helga.

'Good luck, Mister Malfoy,' said Salazar.

'Thank you, Sir,' answered Draco, suddenly feeling...House pride, or something...After all, how many other of his House mates, former and current, could say that they had met the real Slytherin?

'If you're ready, then I guess we should leave,' suggested Rowena.

'Wait, I have one more question.'

'Go ahead,' Godric beamed.

'Why me?' asked Draco. 'I mean...you could have just sent a real angel to help with Ginny. Seems you went to an awful lot of extra trouble.'

'The thing is,' said Sirius. 'This wasn't just to help Ginny. It was to help you, too.'

'And the rest of the Wizarding world,' said Godric.

'That makes no sense,' said Draco severely.

'It will. But you can think about that later,' said Helga. 'Goodbye, Draco.'

'Curse your cryptic speech,' grumbled Draco, as he watched the four founders heading down the beach, arms around each others' waists and Sirius turning around to wave. The sun was only beginning to set, and the waves reflecting the sky glittered dusky rose and golden.

Draco waved reluctantly back.