A Story of the Unrefined

~ Chapter 8 ~

     Ginny shook her head as she looked at him and smiled, "And to think, all I was going to do was try and keep you company because of what tomorrow is." Draco looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "Is there some reason that isn't exactly what you should do?" "No, it seems like an excellent plan to me. I best get going, see you tomorrow."

     It seemed so odd for him to see her so jovial, and he had at least expected her to talk to him a bit longer then that, or at least say something about what he had said, but nothing. She had said nothing, except that she would see him tomorrow. Would it be enough?

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     The girl smiled as she looked down at the assembly that had gathered. The closet seemed to have been enlarged, but no one looking at it from the outside would notice. Her assembly sat one beside the other and their full attention was focused on her and what she was about to say to them all. If she was the same person she used to be she would have been terrified at being the focus of everyone's attention, but the power it gave her now. It made her feel in control. She could make them do or say anything on her very whim, but she knew better. She needed their absolute and confidence. She could not have any spies among them. It would ruin everything.

     "My dear friends, it has come to my attention that there has been another attack of a much crueler degree. Our lord has attacked Malfoy Manor. Five lay dead, I have not been informed of their names, but anyone that can tell me all the occupants accounted and unaccounted for that should have been there that night will be greatly rewarded." The crowd in front of her had a mixture of shocked and knowing faces. She could tell that some had known before the event had even taken place, and that proved only to anger her, but the shocked ones. Those were the ones that made her feel like she was still needed as the most knowing of them all.

     A lone figure stood at the back of the room and he motioned for the girl's attention. "I wish to speak." His word's at first filled her with extreme hatred, how dare he attempt to take her fame, her glory, he was unknown even to her. "My dear I wish not to take from you, for I myself know more then anyone in this room about that event and it will only help you if you seem to know as much." The girl grinned wickedly. It could work.

     She slowly made her way back to the front of the mob. She silenced that all with a wave of her hand. "As it seems your intelligence is far lacking compared with my own, I will give you a way to know everything that happened there." She smirked as she watched the people, who had considered themselves an equal with her, let their faces drop as she made them feel inadequate once more. She motioned for the figure to join her. "Please inform my lesser minions of the true events of that night."

     The figure stepped forward. He wouldn't tell them much, but he would tell enough to make them feel that their black-haired leader was worthy. His lord needed her allegiance, and she could be useful in recruiting and disrupting life inside the one place his master had dared not touch. "I cannot tell you everything, for there are some things none of you have any business knowing about your lord's work unless you are called to serve in it. Master and Mistress Malfoy are both alive and well, though they have been relocated at the present time. As your lady," he motioned toward the girl, "has mentioned, there were five who were lost because of their traitorous acts. They are no one of extreme importance to any of you, they are just lesser people who did small dutiful acts because they were not trusted much in the first place."

     He stopped when he noticed that a young man had stood and was trying to make it aware that he had a comment to make. He nodded toward him and the young man began to speak. "Sir, my father informed me that there was to be six present that night to feel the dark lord's wrath." The figure cringed. How dare a young man know so much about something that had absolutely nothing to do with him, and for him to speak it out loud? It was nothing less then treasonous.

     The boy's father would be punished for telling his son of this. Finally the man spoke once more. "Yes, there were six. One has not been accounted for." The girl stepped forward once more and silenced the crowd that had begun yelling things when they realized a person had gotten away.

     Her voice carried over them all. "Silence, anyone who wishes to disagree will face the consequences." She then turned to the figure. "Who has received a few more precious breaths of air before he is caught?" The man gave the only clue to any of them of whom the person is. "It does not matter who she is, but we will get her." He seemed to have disappeared from the room with his last words. The girl dismissed the crowd and all left but one.

     It was the same young man who had spoken out earlier. "Cho, it's better for you to go now, no one will notice you leaving if you hurry." The black-haired girl looked up at him and smiled as she gathered her things. "You are quite the useful one Morag, but that mouth of yours could get us all in trouble." She smiled gently at him while he smirked. "You just shouldn't have spoken such a thing out loud." Cho started to walk out the door when he touched her lightly on the shoulder. She could feel his warm breath near her ear as he whispered, "I know who got away."

     Cho spun around and faced him. She held her tongue, but her eyes seemed to be asking the question for her. "Look for a student that does not return when school starts again and you will have the answer, but keep it to yourself. This is one thing no one should know, or it could end in your death as well as mine."

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     Draco's eyes slowly opened, something didn't feel right, but it was put out of his mind when he noticed a small little card propped up on his desk. It was a normal Christmas card except for the little bit written at the bottom that made him smile, "I love you, too. Love, Ginny" Once more he got the feeling that something was extremely wrong, and when he turned he caught sight of the one man he had never believed would find a way inside Hogwarts.

     Lucius sneered as he looked down upon his son. "Did you really think that not coming home would save you from me?" His voice was filled with hatred, Draco glared straight into his eyes and never once flinched. This fact seemed only to provoke Lucius more. "You picked up far too much from that cousin of yours, didn't you?" Draco's body tensed at the mention of Emily. "Although it seems, she's also allowed you to soften." It was then that Draco realized his father held the card from Ginny in his hands.

     "Ginny, why does that name seem familiar?" Lucius seemed to be talking to himself, but Draco knew the question was forwarded to him. "Ginny, Ginny, Ginny," Lucius jerked Draco's face toward his own. "She's that little Weasley trash, isn't she?" Lucius's face was quite close to Draco's own as he made those last comments, and with that question from his father, Draco answered him by spitting upon his face.

     "If she is trash, I would rather spend the rest of my life in a trashy heaven then an egotistical hell that it nothing but lies to make everyone believe it's clean and untarnished." A crack echoed off the walls as Lucius's fist made contact with Draco's jaw for a second time. A soft intake of breath could be heard from the doorway. Lucius reached in first and took hold of someone. He shoved the smaller form to the ground, and Draco's rage boiled over.

     When it was just himself, he had taken it all in. He had learned to tune it all out. When it had first started on Emily, she repeatedly told him she could take it, and she did, she started hitting back, but Ginny. She was another matter all together. Emily had control over Draco, he didn't cross her, but he would not sit around and let his father hurt another person he cared about.

     Draco moved forward as a blur as he pulled his father off of her. Ginny could only stand there as she watched the two continue to fight back and forth. Lucius was the stronger of the two and taller, but Draco's rage and quick reflexes seemed to make up for it. He was letting out everything. Everything he had been holding in for so long it was all boiling to the surface and he couldn't stop himself.

     He felt Ginny grasp his hand as he pulled it backwards. "Draco, stop you are better then that, please, never lose who you are to what he wants." Draco felt himself fall apart at her words. His father lay below him unconscious and all Draco could do, was rest his head upon Ginny's shoulder and cry.

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     Hermione sat in the stands as she watched Harry at another of his quidditch games. She had never understood the game, and in truth, she found it ridiculous, but watching him fly was wonderful. She had never mastered it, but in the air he held such grace and poise and of course that confidence. The confidence that showed so clearly in everything he did on the outside. The few who could see the inside knew he was scared, knew he cried, and knew he was only a regular person who had been forced to grow up too quickly.

     Ron sat beside her, he had been on the team last year, but he wanted this year to himself, to regroup. He seemed to be off on his own more often then not, but when he needed someone to talk to Hermione and Harry were his avid listeners. He knew he could trust them, but parted of him wanted to escape from being, what was classified, the dream team. They used to do everything together, but Ron was beginning to feel like a third wheel.

     He knew something was going on between Hermione and Harry, and truthfully it made him a bit jealous. He used to think he was in love with Hermione, they had tried it for a bit during the end of fifth year but it just wasn't right. Now he seemed to spend more of every day with Seamus, Dean, and the Patil twins, Padma and Parvati. It was something that had at first seemed so odd, but now it seemed like there had never been another way. It was something that could cause some problems for them all in the end, but none of these thoughts were evident now. Time would reveal them to all.

     Right now, Ron was spending a bit of time watching Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team beat Ravenclaw in the final match for the Quidditch Cup. The season hadn't been normal. The Slytherin team had a very inexperienced Seeker now that Draco had vacated the spot, and as much as everyone hated to admit it. He had been competition. Hermione and Ron both jumped up and hugged each other as Harry got the snitch and secured the Cup for another year. The students in the stands all seemed to run to the bottom, Ron included, but Hermione stayed where she was.

     Harry saw her sitting on one of the top rows of the bleachers. Her hair moved softly as the wind blew around her. He slowly moved away from the masses and he climbed on his broom. He kicked off into the air and made his way toward her. He flew low to ground which wasn't something he did often, and then he suddenly shot straight up beside her. She just smiled at him.

     "You were watching me, weren't you?" The only answer was her smile, which he readily returned. "Let's take a ride." Hermione looked up at him as if he were crazy. "I don't fly, not even in airplanes where I can't fall off." "Hermione, live a little. Do you love me?" His eyes flashed with mischief, but she also knew he meant it. "Harry, you let me fall I'll kill you." "My dear Hermione, if I let you fall, I would never forgive myself."

     Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms tightly around Harry as they began to soar through the air above the castle grounds. Dusk was falling and the stars were beginning to appear as the sun disappeared from the horizon. He never said a word while they were in the air, but she hardly noticed she felt so content just being beside him.

     He slowly brought them back down by the broom shed. Hermione's cheeks were flushed and her eyes seemed to twinkle with the stars. Harry leaned forward and tipped his head down to meet her lips. It felt so right and yet warning bells were going off in his head. It was dangerous enough with her being his best friend, but now that he was falling for her, would she ever be safe.