It Only Took a Tragedy

"Well, how was the big date?" asked Mrs. Weasley as soon as her daughter walked through the door.

"Alright..." Ginny tried to keep the disappointed look off of her face.

Mrs. Weasley frowned and gave Ginny a puzzle look, but Ginny really didn't want to elaborate. "I'm tired," she said, trying to avoid further questioning.

"Okay. Well goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mum."

Ginny walked up to her room, threw her purse on the ground, and fell on top of her bed. She sighed loudly as she reminisced the events of her date. She decided to rest her eyes for a moment before changing out of her dress, but instead drifted off into a deep sleep. She was probably there for twenty minutes or so, though she could of sworn she had only been sleeping for a minute, when she heard a faint tapping on her window. She yawned loudly, opened her eyelids that felt heavy from sleep, and spied a small silver owl with a tiny piece of golden parchment in its mouth.

"I wonder who that's from," she pondered to herself as she went towards the window. The moment she opened it and let the cool breeze blow in, the bird dropped the paper and took off into the midnight sky. She assumed it was a letter from Harry arranging another date as she untied the black ribbon and unfolded the note, but instead, the letter was completely blank.

"How strange." She paused for a moment before getting out her school spell book. She vaguely remembered a spell for revealing invisible ink, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Ah, here it is! She took her wand out and performed the spell, but much to her dismay, nothing happened. She couldn't understand why someone would send her a blank letter.

Ginny.... She threw the letter onto the floor. She was shocked by the words that had appeared on the parchment. It couldn't be... Tom Riddle? Much to her relief, it wasn't him.

It's me, Draco. I can see you through this letter. Write something.

She retrieved the letter and sat down at her desk. She took a quill out of the drawer, dabbed it in a bottle of ink, and wrote: Hi, Draco. What's up?

I need to know something. When are you going to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies?

Tomorrow. She paused then wrote a question. Why do want to know?

His handwriting became more sloppy and faster. I need to meet you there. When tomorrow?

Probably around 2.

Okay, I'll be in the Potions shop. Loose your family and come to me ASAP. Got it?

She didn't understand why Draco was acting so weird. But then again, when is Draco normal? I guess. But why all this secrecy?

I don't have time to explain. The spell should be wearing off soon. See you then.

Okay. Bye.

Ginny waited for a reply, but nothing more appeared. She had no idea why on earth he was so desperate to meet her. She had a feeling it had something to do with his plan against Voldemort, but even then, she had no idea what could be up his sleeve.

***

"Ginny, it is your turn to use the Floo powder," said Mr. Weasley, as he handed her a sac of the magical mixture.

"Okay," she replied as she grabbed some of the powder and got into the dusty chimney. Floo Powder always made her nervous. One mistake and she could end up in the Amazon Jungle or the North Pole. "Diagon Alley!" she yelled.

In an instant, she was thrown onto the stone floor. She looked up, relieved she had ended up in the right place. Diagon Alley was extremely crowded with students who had waited until the last minute before waiting to buy their school necessities. She noticed as she stood up, the looks on two very frightened parents of a Muggle-born first year. She wondered why anyone would be afraid of wizards, but Muggles are just not used to magical ways, she assumed.

"Ginny, we are going to grab a bite to eat. Want to come along?" asked Mrs. Weasley as she put her hands gently on her daughter's shoulder.

She thought that now would be the perfect time to get away from her family's prowling eyes. "Oh, no thanks, Mummy. I'm not at all hungry. Can I just browse around the shops?" she asked, putting on her most innocent looking face.

"Well, I don't know," Mrs. Weasley started.

"Oh, of course, Ginny," said Mr. Weasley. He turned to his worried wife. "Dear, she is perfectly safe in Diagon Alley," he reassured her.

"I suppose." She pointed her finger at Ginny. "Just don't you dare go wandering around in Knockturn Alley."

"Oh, Mother! Of course not!" Something that annoyed Ginny to no end was the fact that her mother always thought the worst in her. That's the problem with having so many sons. Mrs. Weasley gave her daughter a spit bath to wash off all the dirt on her face from the Floo Powder.

"Ugh! Ok, I'm fine now!" scowled Ginny, getting very annoyed and embarrassed.

Finally, she headed over to the Potions shop. She glanced around outside to see if Draco was there, but she did not see him. She stepped inside the crowded shop, weaving her way in and out of the various rows. There was all sorts of cauldrons for sale, but of course she found Draco gazing at a solid pure gold one with fancy engravings and encrusted diamonds. There was a charm protecting people from touching it.

Draco was gazing at it longingly. "Merlin, I would love to have that," he said when he finally noticed Ginny beside him.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you did not make me meet you here to see some glitzy cauldron."

Draco took his eyes off the cauldron and frowned at her. He turned around and whispered to her, "Of course not. It's much more serious." He started walking away. "Follow me, but stay far enough away that it doesn't look like you're with me."

Ginny was a little ticked off by his instructions. Was there a real reason he shouldn't be seen with her, or was he just ashamed of being seen with a poor Muggle lover? The curious and adventurous side of Ginny won over the stubborn and prideful side, so she followed him exactly like he told her. Besides, there was a part of her who was too ashamed to be seen with a snobby Muggle hater anyways.

They walked further down the cobblestone path than Ginny had ever gone before, and she noticed that the crowd was getting smaller the further they went. She started to get worried the moment she saw the sign "Knockturn Alley". Suddenly she remembered Harry's account of the place when he had accidentally gone there, all the rumors she had heard about the awful place, and her mother's warning. But she didn't care. She was doing this for Percy, and she repeated that phrase to herself over and over again.

It wasn't cheery and light like Diagon Alley. It was depressing and dark, and just being there sent chills down Ginny's spine. She didn't dare look anyone in the eye, instead, she was focused on Draco's shiny slick hair.

Draco made a sudden right turn in between two buildings. He did it so smoothly and quickly that Ginny almost lost him. It was so dark that Ginny had to squint to see five feet in front of her. Draco turned around once they were out of sight from anyone and talked to her.

"Okay, we're here," he said, relieved.

"Where?"

He muttered a spell and a hidden door on the ground revealed itself. Ginny looked down to see crooked steps leading to the basement of one of the buildings.

A gleam appeared in Draco's eyes. "The place where my father kept his most prized possessions." He headed down the steps, reciting the "Lumos" spell with his wand. He grabbed onto Ginny's hand, which surprised her, and lead her down to a cellar. The door automatically shut behind them.

"Whoa," was all she could utter. There were numerous spell books, swords, amulets, potion ingredients - anything you could think of was cluttered into the small room.

Draco laughed. "Whoa is right. This room contains some of the most powerful dark magic the wizarding world has to offer. My father stored it here, for fear of getting caught by the Ministry. If it was found in our house, he would have most definitely been sent to Azkaban. Everything in here is our weapon against Voldemort." He ran his hand across a black spell book which was caked in dust. "This book contains some of the most powerful dark magic in the world. It was a gift to my father from Voldemort."

Ginny's mouth went dry. Dabbling in illegal dark magic was something she had never planned on doing. "Voldemort?"

"Yes. The Dark Lord himself," he said with a sort of awe in his voice.

"It doesn't look like it's ever been opened."

Draco quickly turned around. "It can't be opened. Well, it can, but only an heir can open it. My father's job was to find the heir."

Ginny was not catching on. "So he was killed because he didn't find one?"

"Oh no, he found one. But the heir didn't cooperate with the Dark Lord's wishes. Voldemort blamed the heir's disobedience on my father, and they both were killed."

Ginny paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, then asked, "Well, who was the heir?"

"Percy Weasley," he sighed.

Ginny gasped. "No! It's not true!"

"Yes, Ginny. I'm afraid it is true. Percy joined the Death Eaters, but then tried to break away from them once Voldemort ordered him to kill his family."

Ginny's legs felt weak, and she dropped to the floor. "No! Percy would never do such a thing! He would never join You-Know-Who!"

Draco yelled, "Yes he did! You don't know how cunning Voldemort can be or what the thought of power can do to a man! You know how Percy was - so ambitious, so ready to do anything to get to the top!"

"You're making this up!" she screamed.

"I wish I was." He turned back around and sat down next to her. She was huddled up in a ball, crying and shaking her head in disbelief. He grabbed her chin and tilted her head up. "Ginny, look at me," he said gently as he brushed the hair out of her eyes. "That book was created by Godric Gryffindor, and with its magic Voldemort can grow stronger with the help of the heir. But there's a catch. The same magic that can help him can also destroy him."

"It's up to me, isn't it?" she whispered. "If Percy is an heir, that means I'm an heir too."

"Yes. But I am here to help you all the way through." Ginny gazed into Draco's eyes for a moment. He looked completely sincere, just like the night he had asked her to help him. As a sign of her trust in him, she lightly kissed his lips. They were so soft and so gentle, she almost couldn't believe she was kissing Malfoy.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

"I don't know," she shyly said, looking away from him. She had just cheated on Harry with his worse enemy, and Draco had cheated on his possibly pregnant girlfriend. She felt so dirty at that moment.

Draco immediately got back down to business. "I want you to come over to my house and pick up the book. The owner of this store was a very close friend of my father's, and I'm sure he figure out some way to get it to me. It's too suspicious trying to walk out with it now. I'll owl you when I receive it."

"Alright," she replied simply, still trying to take in everything she was just told.

"Now you better go before your parents wonder were you are."

"Shoot, you're right!" she left as fast as she could. She didn't even bother saying bye to Draco. All she wanted to do was get away from Knockturn Alley. Once she was safely back in Diagon Alley, she leaned up again a store wall and closed her eyes, sighing deeply. What am I getting myself in to?