Shrouded in Shadows

Shrouded in Shadows, Chapter One
By ArrA.

She stood in the middle of a dark forest, clothed in a simple black robe. Around her she could hear the calls of the nocturnal animals as they slowly awoke from their sleeps after the bright orb of the sun had set and darkness had fallen over Britain.

Around her, black clothed wizards with their faces masked, silently glided out of the cover of the trees. She watched them in awe, excitement bubbling in her veins.

One wizard stopped beside her, followed by three more, each dragging a victim whose head was shrouded by a sack and their hands tightly bound.

For the first time she looked around at her surroundings. She stood in a clearing of trees and in the centre was the alter to the Goddess Morrìgan. Around the edge of the clearing, the robed men guarded those inside, ready to fight off any who came to stand in their way.

Beside her, the man signaled one of the men behind him and the first victim was pushed towards the alter.

The figure was secured to the alter, bonded tightly at the hands and ankles, before the sack was pulled off to reveal the bushy hair of Hermione Granger.

The man stepped forward, pulling off his hood and although she did not recognize him, although a feeling in her gut told her she should, Granger screamed again and again in recognition. In reply the stranger laughed, his sadistic voice echoing through the clearing.

Granger whimpered, no longer having the energy to scream and the man laughed again, drawing his hand into his robes and retrieving something from within. Hermione's eyes reflected with horror and then she saw the glint of the knife. Granger somehow gathered the energy to scream and the ear pitching sound echoed through the night.

The man took a step forward, not laughing this time, and she now could tell from his step that he was determined to finish the task at hand. Hermione screamed at his approach and suddenly she heard the noise of a struggle behind her.

She had assumed the other victims had been sedated but now it seemed one had regained full awareness and seeked to help the desperate Granger. She heard the sound of feet and three robed figures hurriedly rushed to subdue the victim.

Knowing her help would not be needed, she turned back to the sacrifice at hand. The stranger stood over Granger, the knife in hand hovering over Hermione's throat. The man applied a little pressure to the knife and Granger made a small gurgling sound, filled with pain.

The man laughed his sadistic laugh once again and she found herself stepping forward and standing opposite of the man, the alter; Granger separating them.

She looked across at the man but his face was shrouded in shadows and she was still unable to distinguish his features or who he was. Looking down at Granger she realized that the girl was looking up at her, desperately trying to see her face. More likely see through the mask, she thought, suddenly raising her hand to her face to feel the think mask that covered her face.

She looked up from Hermione and across at the stranger and nodded.

The man then gripped the knife and ran it from one side of Granger's neck to the other, creating an angry redline across Hermione's throat and Granger start to gag, attempting to scream as the blood started to spurt out of the wound across her neck. Granger's hands started to beat down where she had been restrained, struggling to release herself from her bonds so she could clutch her neck and stop the escape of blood from her body. Hermione's face was contorted in rage and fear as she looked up at the two people who stood above her and with that last look she died.

The stranger looked across to her and she smiled. Realizing he couldn't see her facial expression she reached her hands up to her face, about to remove the mask, and...

And she awoke to Leanne Moss standing above her, attempting to wake her up.

"Virginia!" Leah screamed, obviously angry since she only used Ginny's full name when she was mad, "wake up! You're going to be late!"

Ginny sat up, shaking slightly and looked at her friend before looking at her clock on her bedside table which read, 'Hurry! You're about to be late!' "Shit!" she swore, jumping out of bed and starting to pull on her school robes.

"Ahem," Leah cleared her throat, catching Ginny's attention and asked, "do you realize what day it is?" Ginny shook her head and Leanne looked exasperated but replied, "Graduation!"

Ginny swore again while Leah just laughed. She tore her school robes and replaced them with Graduation ones before quickly running a brush through her unruly mass of red curls. Then Ginny turned to Leanne who was starting to run out of the door and Ginny quickly followed, pulling on her shoes as she went out the door.

When the two girls reached the Great Hall it was crowded like they had never seen before. Since that day was Graduation, not only the students of Hogwarts lined the house tables but the parents of the Graduating class were crammed in as well.

Ginny and Leanne's eyes roamed over Gryffindor Table, looking for their families or two empty seats together.

Ginny finally found her family, sitting on the far end from the Moss' so she reluctantly said goodbye to her friend and hurried over to her family.

All the Weasleys had shown up to see the youngest child and only daughter graduate. Looking down the row of family members, Ginny felt her heart go cold. Right between Ron and Harry, who was considered a family member, sat Hermione Granger. Ron's hand was entwined with Hermione's and Ginny felt the guilt start to flood in. She couldn't believe she had dreamed of killing Hermione! Hermione had never been her friend but she had never wished to kill the other girl.

As Ginny approached the table, George noticed her and elbowed Fred in the stomach. Both twins and their wives, George married Angelina Johnson while Fred had somehow ended up with Cho Chang, turned to great her and Ginny quickly plastered a false smile of joy over her face.

Molly Weasley looked at her daughter and pulled her over, sitting her right between both of her parents. Ginny sat there, smiling falsely, listening to everyone's plans for the future. Ginny had never felt so sick in her life. She didn't deserve for these people to be dotting on her lovingly after the things she thought up during the long, cold nights at Hogwarts because to tell the truth, she had been having that dream for ages now, but this was the first time she remembered the victim's face.

Her thoughts were interrupted though, as the owl post arrived. A beautiful sooty owl landed in front of Ginny with a small package attached to its leg. Ginny looked at it strangely before unattaching the package from its leg and the owl flew off. She quickly placed the package into her robes, ignoring her family's curious stares and questions about the small gift and reached across the table, starting to fill her plate with breakfast foods.

* * *

Two hours later, found Ginny standing patiently, waiting to receive her diploma from Hogwarts. She could almost go home and become a real wizard, start a job and finally become independent from her parents and make her name for herself; she was feed up being a Weasley and living with their low standard of living.

Watson, Joshua was called to come and receive his diploma and then it was Ginny's turn.

"Weasley, Virginia," McGonagall's strict voice called her name and Ginny took a deep breath before approaching Professor Dumbledore who smiled at Ginny, "Good luck, Miss Weasley," he told her happily and handed Ginny her diploma and she went back to the rest of the students to wait for the ceremony to end.

After the ceremony had ended people swarmed over Ginny with words of congratulations. She tried to get away but everywhere she went a member of her vast family was there to greet her.

Finally Ginny escaped the mass of people and went in search for Harry. She and Harry had been together since the last summer when he had graduated but she hadn't seen him for at least half an hour... come to think about it, she hadn't seen Hermione either. Suspicion started rising in her heart and she quickly tried to remember how the two of them were acting at breakfast. Vaguely she thought she had seen them looking at each oddly but she wasn't sure.

Quickly she started wandering through crowd of people, looking for Harry. There were tents set up on the grounds with food and seats and all sorts of things. Ginny checked each one desperately, but no sign of Hermione and Harry.

Finally, exhausted from her fruitless search, Ginny stood at the edge of the lake, watching as the tide went in and out aimlessly. Silently she wished that the dream had been real and Hermione hadn't fooled around with her boyfriend. She almost started shacking with anger.

Suddenly she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder and she turned, hoping that it would be Harry, coming to explain his absence and reassure her that he wasn't with Hermione. Turning around she was surprised to see Draco Malfoy standing behind her.

Ginny quickly took a step back and Draco smirked. "Looking for Potter, Weasley?" he snired and a thousand questions flashed through her head from why he was here to what does he know?

Ginny shook her head no, scared that if she said the words herself, that the tone of her voice would betray the truth.

Draco leaned forward, leering at her and whispered, "I tell you a little secret but it will cost you."

Ginny looked at him and shook her head furiously. She did not want any of Malfoy's secrets.

"Well I'll tell you anyways," was his reply. "Potter and Granger are behind the last shelf in the library making-out. If you hurry you can get there before he gets her on the ground screaming," Draco said, laughing a soft laughed that Ginny couldn't help but thinking she had heard before.

Then he started to pull his face away but suddenly his head darted back in and his mouth quickly brushed hers. Ginny was just about to kiss him back when he pulled away and started walking back to where the crowd of graduates and students still stood talking. Behind her she could hear a worried brother scream, "Malfoy!" but she ignored it and ran to the library.

When she entered the library she found that it was dark and very quiet. At first she thought Malfoy had lied to her to get her worked up over nothing but as she started to walk towards the back library stacks she heard a noise. A groaning.

Quickly she walked suspiciously towards the back of the room, following the sound. Finally she hide behind of shelf of books and peaked through the rows of literature. There, just as Malfoy had said, Hermione and Harry were mouth to mouth, kissing the hell out of each other.

Taking a step back Ginny felt a tear run down her face and anger started to grow in her. Grabbing a large book off a nearby shelf she stepped around the corner and threw it at the entwined couple. "You slut!" she screamed. "Not only have you wreaked my life! You've wreaked Ron's!" she screamed, remembering Hermione was his girlfriend.

Harry and Hermione took a step back and stared at Ginny. "I'm so sorry Ginny!" Harry yelled, "It isn't what you think! It isn't what you think!"

Ginny laughed, almost crazily and launched another book at them. "Isn't what I think?" she hissed. "Well I think your tongue was down her throat and I'm pretty damn sure I'm right!" And with that Ginny ran down out of the library to find her family.

Damn Draco Malfoy, she thought. Damn Harry Potter.

And through all the drama, the gift that she had received earlier that had gone forgotten.

Author's Notes

So, how was that? I'd really love to know. This is going to be a post- Hogwarts fic, btw.

Please review!! I love reviews!