The Prophecy of Valeo

Thumpity thump. Thumpity Thump. Her heart seemed to pound in her ears. Thumpity thump. The beat seemed to come from a drum somewhere far off instead of somewhere inside her. Thumpity thump. They weren't in the library anymore. They had been carried off to a place where no one else existed, and no one could tell them they couldn't be together. Thumpity thump. Thumpity thump.

"We..." she whispered, and wanted to say "We need to stop." But she couldn't get the words out, because her throat seemed to have been filled with sleek mercury and she couldn't say another word.

"I can't," Draco said in a low voice. "I can't stop. Ever. Please don't make me." He swallowed a hard lump, but it refused to go down.

"We have to," Ginny finally croaked, grasping his cheeks in her hands and gently pushing him upright and away from her. "It's not right. We can't go on like this forever, and you know it."

"Who care's if it's wrong?" he asked. "We've cheated death, Ginny. This hardly seems like something to worry about."

"We have to worry about it," she said, shaking her head. "We don't have a choice, don't you understand? We can't keep sneaking around like this, behind everyone's backs. We can't live in this goddam soap opera. I can't take it anymore!" The buttery feeling that consumed her quickly evaporated as she took a random novel off the shelf next to her and threw it. It hit the floor with a loud bang, and she immediately knew she shouldn't have done it from the expression on Draco's face.

"Why did you do that?" he hissed, grabbing her arm. Her skin grew hot with fever and icy at the same time; like she had a feeling it always would when he touched her from now on.

Her led her quickly to the door and pushed it open with his foot, his hand sliding down her elbow and meeting up with hers so that he could whip her around the corner they were facing.

"Don't you remember what I told you before? This whole place is connected by sound barriers! Why do you think we were whispering through that whole thing?"

"Oh I don't know," said Ginny furiously. "Maybe because we were sharing such a passionate, meaningful moment and we didn't want to break the feeling? Or was that just me?!"

"I love you!" he yelled at her, turning his head around to face her. "I love you, I love you more than the bloody air I breath. Every second I'm around you I want to die because I know we'll never be together. I love you, it that what you wanted to hear?"

She was too stunned to speak, and in a split second she forgot to move her feet, Draco still clasping her hand in his, and she collided with the floor.

"Ow," was all she could manage. "Oh, I think I twisted my..." She looked down at her foot and saw with a surge of guilt that it was twisted, and her body was too shocked to feel the pain. She felt guilty because she knew he would have to carry her now.

"Oh for Christ's sake," he said, slipping his arms underneath her body and hoisting her up to grab his neck, holding her hips with his forearms and running awkwardly. "That's the last time I declare my love to you."

The pain finally began to kick in, and she realized that her ankle and maybe even her upper leg were broken, not just sprained. The pain was intensifying so quickly she fought to keep from fainting, but an ear shattering scream immediately woke her up.

"Hermione!" she yelled. "That was Hermione!"

He had no other option.

Malfoy took his wand from his pocket, closed his eyes and ran blindly through the hallway, and called out the spell as loud as he could.

"Accio Granger!" he bellowed, and waited, standing still with Ginny to pause for breath. Another scream, but this time in was a boy's, and it was getting closer. Then a loud bang meant the basement door had been opened, and a body crashed into his back, knocking him over on top of Ginny, who howled in pain.

He look behind his shoulder and saw something that would stick in his mind forever, haunting him until his dying day.

Hermione's body lay sprawled at his feet, her eyes half open in a misty stare, her chestnut hair matted with blood. She was, as far as he could tell, dead.

He faintly heard Ron's yells and he sprinted down the hallways and dropped to his knees next to Draco.

"What happened?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"She opened one of the doors down there and was blasted with a spell. That was when you summoned her."

Ginny instinctively laid both her hands on her friend's chest, and somewhere in a surge of yellow light she started to breathe. But like always, the consequences immediately took hold as her face and arms became bruised and slightly purple.

"We'll have to carry them," Ron said, picking up Hermione.

"Well...No...duh," Draco panted as they jogged down the hallway toward the door directly in front of them.

"Wa'hs in there?" Ron choked out.

"D'you really want to know?"

"YEAH!"

"It's the passage of the royals."

"The passage of the wha'?" he huffed.

"The...royals! You're taken back in time to the Egyptian ages. And then, of course, you walk to the other side and you're back here again. The good thing is that no one else can enter once we have. It automatically locks itself once someone's in it."

They halted at the door, and Draco turned the handle, swinging it open. A long passageway stood before them, wrapped in red cloth and golden chains, odd-looking statues of jackals, cats, and vases lined up along the walls, which were covered in shining hieroglyphs.

"Wait!" Ron said just as Draco took a step forward. "If we go in there Harry and Bella can't get through!"

"Good point," he answered. "Okay, here's the plan. Ginny," he said, looking down at her in his arms. "You use your power on me to heal yourself. You, Ron and Hermione run through the passage, and stay there until I tell you to." He said this as if he were making a plan to sneak out of the house instead of playing games with his own life.

"You're...completely bloody mental," Ginny breathed, pain overwhelming her.

"Just do it!" he snarled.

"NO!" she shouted.

"Do it or I'll force you!"

"No!" she said again.

"Fine," he said, grabbing her hand. She pulled away, but not before he had placed her palm on his cheek, and fell to the floor in agony. "Run!" he yelled at them.

With no other choice, they walked into the long room, and the air seemed to ripple like water. They disappeared.

"POTTER! SULLIVAN! COME HELP ME, GOD DAMMIT! COME HELP ME NOW OR I'LL MAKE YOU!" he bellowed. "This is taking to long," he muttered, and used his wand to summon them like he had with Hermione.

"We're coming, We're com- WHOA!" he heard someone scream, and the next thing he knew he was being tackled by the two. "What the hell was that for?!"

"To get you two down here! Come on, they're coming!" He grabbed one's arms and seemed to drag both of them along toward the time warp. "Ginny!" he yelled. "Get to the other side!" He waited to hear a response, but didn't; and thinking that they had already passed through, he jumped through the barrier with Bella behind him, and Harry behind her.

Expecting to see an empty passage, what he saw instead was Ron bound and gagged with what seemed to be invisible rope. Hermione lay unconscious on the ground, and a long wand was pointed straight at her heart. Lucius was holding it. With his other hand, he held Ginny by her neck.

"Hello, Son," he said. "Come to get another supply of hair gel?" Draco didn't reply, from pure shock.

"Oh, I'm afraid he won't be needing it where he's going," a deadly, feminine voice from behind them said.

He turned and saw with Horror that it was Harry's- and his own- mother, Lily. She smiled an actual smile at him.

"My son," she said lovingly. "We have got to do something about the hair-do." He glared at her, lost for words.

Ginny gazed at him, dizzy from lack of air. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. It was painful to watch. He stood there for a long moment, trying hard, so hard to figure out what to do.

He was always supposed to know what to do. It was his job.

You and Ginny must go to the mansion and pretend to be on the Dark side.

Narcissa's words burned in his mind.

He suddenly realized how quiet he was being.

"L...Dad, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he said in a casual tone. Lucius almost looked confused, but he did a good job of hiding it. "Uh...Hello? Why do you think I'm here? A family reunion? Why would I have brought Potter, Granger and Weasley with me? I thought you were supposed to be smart."

His father glared at him. Lily looked indifferent. Draco waited for a response, and when he didn't get one, he went on.

"It was a trap. I brought them so that you could kill them."

Ron went nuts. He jumped around in his chair, creaming incoherently. Draco was almost certain that if he hadn't been gagged, foam would be leaking through his mouth. He heard a deep, angry croak from beside him.

"I trusted you." It was Harry.

Bella didn't say anything at all. Hermione, being unconcious, just lay there.

He ignored it all, and continued again.

"The girl's just as evil as we are." He forced a grin. "Your plan worked. I'm sorry I ever disobeyed you."

A too-long pause went by before Lucius returned his smile.

"I'm sure you're telling the truth, son," he hissed, and strode over to him, Ginny still in his clutches, "But let's test you a bit." He pointed his wand at Draco's head. "Ego Veritas."

He felt someing being sucked out of him. His free spirit.

The truth spell.

Lucius nearly whispered now, Lily peering at him intently.

"Now, boy, Why are you here?"

Draco bit his lip. He knew what was going to come out. To destroy you. But, technically, there was another answer that he could say...

"To destroy them." It wasn't a lie, was it? He wan't to destroy them, meaning Lily and Lucius.

"Good," Lucius barked. "Now...Will you follow me when I am the next Dark Lord?"

Another trick answer. Yes, he would follow him. He would follow his father unnoticed until the day he could finally kill him.

"Yes," he said evenly.

Lucius lit up.

"Very good! Now, one last question." Draco's father looked at Ginny, who was crying silently. "Do you love her?"

The answer was obvious.

"No."

"Wonderful!" Lucius dropped Ginny. "Lily, do away with Potter and the girl." He began his pursuit towards Ron, but Draco stopped him.

"NO!" He hesistated. "...Don't you think it would be more fun to torture them, Dad?"

Lucius turned slowly, sneered, and nodded.

"Good, Son. You're learning fast. Lily, Take them to the dungeons."

Lily scoffed.

"Say the magic words, dear."

"Do I have to?"

"YES!!!!!"

"Fine, Fine! Lily, honey, will you please take them to the dungeons?"

"Of course."

And with that, Draco's mother grabbed Hermione, Ron, Harry and Bella, and dissapeared with a loud pop.

"And you two," Lucius said, his gaze going from Ginny to Draco, "We're going to have a bit of a family gathering. Draco, show Virginia to your room. See that she wears the dress, and meet me in the dining room."

***

"HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO US?" Ron bellowed, stalking along the far wall. "HOW...COULD...HE...DO...THIS?!" He picked up a loose rock in the wall and swung it haphazardly, almost hitting Bella.

Harry was silent. After all that they'd done, to save Ginny, why would he betray them like that? Why would he revive the two of them, if all he was going to do was have them killed again anyway?

It didn't make sense.

It just doesn't fit...

Bella's chest moved up and down slowly, but in all other aspects she seemed dead. Her eyes were far-off anf staring, her face cold and pale. He moved over to her.

"We'll make it out of here. I promise," he said, and without thinking put his arm around her as a comforting gesture.

She didn't pull away.

Ron didn't notice.

Everything was terribly, terribly wrong.

***

They were silent as they walked into the bedroom. Draco sat on one side of the matress, and Ginny on the other, so that they were back to back. An exruciating moment passed before either spoke.

"...Why?" Ginny said quietly.

"Hu?" Draco was taken aback by the emotion in her voice.

"Why would you betray me like this? How could you really say those things?"

Draco almost laughed.

"There is a way to beat the truth spell, you know. It's simple. Just tell the truth, but word it a different way."

"I wasn't talking about you being evil," Ginny said. "I trust you enough to know you'd never betray me. But...How could to flat out say No like that to him? Just a plain 'No'. You lied to me! you said you loved me!"

"I do love you!" he answered a little loudly, and retrieved himself from the bed. She turned around to stare at him. "I mean, I did. I used to love you. But now, it's so much more than that. Love can't even begin to describe it." He rooted around in the closet, found what he was looking for, and threw in onto the comforter, hopping next to Ginny and cupping her face in his hands. "Ginny, somehow along the road I ended up liking you. Then I fell in love with you. And I never thought it was possible, but every single day, what I feel for you grows, expands. I'm way past love now. It's something deeper. There's a bond between us, and it's so strong that I can almost feel you every second of the day. I see your face, and I hear your voice, and I think that you're so far away from me, sometimes. But the truth is, you're not far away. In fact, I can feel you next to me even when you're not there."

Ginny's mouth fell open, but nothing came out of it.

Draco leaned in and, once again, kissed her.

But this time, it wasn't hard. It wasn't demanding. It was so Un-Draco-ish that Ginny had to make sure it was really him.

It was soft, and beautiful.

And so fast that it was over before it started.

He pulled back.

"I'm sorry," he grumbled. "I shouldn't have done that."

"...No," Ginny whispered. "I should've." She leaned in, and put her lips on his, pushing his head back into the pillow.

They seemed to melt into each other, their bodies becomeing one. Ginny became engulfed in the taste, the smell of metal.

She'd always believed that she was a relatively happy person. Happiness always came from something like a good party, or getting what you want. Or Harry.

But real happiness, true happiness was knowing about what you had and being grateful for it. She knew at that moment that Draco was hers, all hers, and it didn't matter that they had to hide it. They were in love, and she had that "feeling" inside of her every time she was near him. She had his kiss. She had him. Draco was true happiness.

***

Ginny stared at herself in the mirror awhile later. The dress was huge; almost fifty pounts of the blackest material she'd ever seen. It hugged every inch of her. It was sleek until you reached the hips, where huge puffs of lace and cloth went wild. It was nice, in an odd, vampire-kind of way. And then again, in another way it was totally horrifying.

She wondered what would have happened if Draco wouldn't have backed down. He'd just, all of a sudden, pushed her away, and stopped. without any explanation at all. If he'd went along with it, just how far would she have gone?

But right now that wasn't important. Draco had told her the plan, and getting her friends out safely was her main goal. She could worry about the Slytherin later.

"Are you ready?" he mumbled from behind her, stepping out of the dressing room. He wore an outfit matching hers; an odd, yet strangely sexy leather full-length jacket that had midnight-colored spikes all along the neck, reaching up just under his chin. They looked like a couple of the living dead.

She nodded.

"Let's go," he said, motioning her to follow him down the stairs. She did as she was told, and they walked through an entirely marble hallway that led into a giant, monster of a room with a dinner table fit to match. Lucius sat at the far end. Two seats next to him were larger than the rest, and two plates of angry-looking food were sitting by them.

Draco led her over, and she sat down next to him, in the far seat from Lucius. She wanted nothing to do with him.

"I'm glad you decided to arrive," he drawled, playing with his fork. The tongs on it seemed dramatically sharp to Ginny."Before we...begin, there are a few things you should know, Draco. First is the story of your real mother. You may know her as Lily Potter. Yes, it is true that she was married to James. But she was having an affair with me." Ginny was very glad Harry wasn't here to hear this. "After she had Harry, she killed James, faked her own death, and came to me. Shortly after, we had you." He paused, letting the news sink in. "So, now to important buisness. As you probably already know, you two are both very special kids." He turned to Draco. "Your power to control minds is very useful, boy," he said venomously, turning to Ginny. "And you. I haven't managed to get your magic yet, girl, but I know it's very strong indeed. In fact, with it I think I would be able to defeat Voldemort with the mere swipe of my hand..."

Let him touch you...everything is alright...Don't worry...

"Stop it!" Draco yelled. Lucius pulled back.

"You're right, son. We need...entertainment first." Lucius snapped his fingers, and across from them, Lily appeared with a bound and gagged Ron, Bella, Harry, and Hermione. They were all dressed in dark, formal clothing, and attempting to undo their bonds furiously as they sat at the dinner table.

"Ghnny!" Ron said, his voice muffled by the gag. "Hglp Mgh!"

Lucius laughed.

"Yes, now that I know you're both truly evil, I'll let you do the honors." He handed Draco the too-sharp butterknife from the table. "You first, boy. I want to see the Mudblood go."

Draco looked at the knife, then at Hermione, who was crying.

"Plghse, Dghn't!" she groveled.

He tried to conceal his shaking hand as he walked over to her. She screamed.

He began to breathe hard, raising the knife to her throat.

"...I'm sorry, Granger," he choked.

Ron was even more worked up than Hermione. He began rocking back and forth in his chair until it fell over, bellowing incoherent words at Malfoy. Draco suspected they were foul.

He looked into her deep brown eyes. They pleaded with him to stop.

The metal touched the skin of her throat, inches from her jugular vein.

He stopped, and looked straight at his father.

"No," he said simple, drawing away.

"WHAT?!" Lucius yelled, standing from his throne and banging his hands onto the table. Ginny flinched.

"I won't kill her," Draco said.

Lucius regained himself quickly, grabbing Ginny and holding his wand to her heart.

"Well how about I kill Weasley? How about if I wipe her off the face of the Earth? Then Would you kill the mudblood?!"

Before anyone could realize what was going on, a loud clasp of thunder rattled the room, followed by a large bolt of lighting that hit the middle of the dining room table, burning it in two. This distracted Lucius.

"Ginny, Get her!" Draco yelled. Immediately, the redhead jumped from her chair and ran over to Lily, putting her hands directly on her face. She howled in pain, hands covering her head, and Draco worked on untying Harry.

"CRUCIO!" Lucius bellowed. Draco ducked, and it hit Harry, who writched in pain despite his bondings. He shreiked in agony.

"Sorry about that, Potter," Draco mumbled, and let the ropes fall to the floor.

Harry dodge the next attack, which was another bolt of lightning that crashed through the ceiling, this time from Lucius. He had Harry's power of electricity.

"Harry, hit him with something!" Ginny squealed as she worked on setting the others free.

Harry picked up the nearest chair and flung it as hard as he could at the enemy. It didn't go very far.

"Use you powers!" Ginny explained, annoyed.

"Oh," Harry said, feeling embarrased.

A piece of the giant table went flying across the room and hit Lucius in the stomach, knocking him into the wall.

Lily had stopped screaming. Lucius had stopped bellowing curses.

Everything was silent.

And then, quite suddenly, Harry and Draco were both hit with an enormous force. For a moment, they both thought it was a spell, but then realized that it was their powers, returning to their bodies.

They had won.

"Sorry, Dad," Draco groaned. Hermione and Bella joined the other three, after having ben untied.

"I'm...um...sorry about the whole 'my dad wanting to watch your blood flow over the floor' thing, Hermione," Draco said. She only laughed.

"I'm sorry for not believing in you," Harry said quietly. "You'd saved my life. I should have owed you more of my trust."

Bella sighed.

"And I'm sorry, too. For, I don't know, Whatever," she said.

They all laughed a bit before Ginny spoke up.

"...Does anyone feel like we're missing something?"

"YGHS! YGH FGRGHT TGH NTGH MGH!!!" Ron said.

"Oh," Ginny giggled. "Sorry about that."

Author's note- Awww...It's finished! I think I'm going to cry. Keep a lookout for the sequel, Regina of Valeo, due to be up in a month or so from now.

***Epilogue***

Draco walked through the hallway leading towards the crowded kitchen that smelled warmly of toast as he fitted his green and silver tie into place underneath his collar, expecting to see a few red-haired Weasleys glaring at him menacingly. But to his utter surprise, he was greeted with a warm smile from Mrs. Weasley instead, who was busy baking a cake the old-fashioned way in her sparingly-used oven.

"Hullo, dear, just cooking for Ginny's birthday," she said. She paused for a moment, and this gave him time to quickly peer at the scene surrounding him; Ron at the dining room table eating a heaping bowl of cornflakes, Ginny with her head on her elbow next to him, Harry leaning on the island in front of him with his arms crossed, not looking at Draco, Hermione laying on the couch brushing the last few flakes of blood out of her hair from the fiasco at the mansion a week ago, and Bella nowhere to be seen. "We always bake the homemade style for special occasions, dear," she added, reading his mind.

He had just begun to wonder where she was when he felt a pair of firm hands grasp his shoulders quickly.

"BOO!" she screamed in his ear. He didn't even pretend to flinch as he slowly looked behind him.

"Hello, Sullivan." She seemed to wilt from disappointment that she hadn't scared him.

"I guess I owe you a couple sickles, then, Gin," she said. Ginny beamed proudly.

"I told you that it was impossible to scare him," she said.

"So's school starting early for you, Malfoy?" Ron said, a sneer hidden behind his voice.

"No," Draco answered, rolling his eyes in the back of his head. "I'm just trying on my new robes and things, for your information, Weasley." He desperately wanted to add a hurtful comment, but held back, because he knew that if Mrs. Weasley heard it would be a strike against him, and well, he already had them for freezing her and flying off with everyone, so he didn't want to add another thing for her to be sore about.

"And don't forget your gel," Harry said. "You left your secret stash in the bathroom."

"Oh, thanks," Draco drawled.

"You're wrong!" Ginny yelled. Everyone looked at her, shocked. "He doesn't use hair gel, Harry dear. He uses super glue."

"Or maybe it's just stuck that way because of the chemicals in the bleach. I've heard that if you use it more than once in a month it can have consequences like that! Oh, Draco, Oh no! This is awful! This means that you'll have to cut thirty-eight hair-dying dates from your schedule!" Hermione joked. He didn't know if he wanted to punch everyone in the head with a stunning spell or hide an uncharacteristic laugh.

Instead, he half glared, half sneered at the whole group, striding over behind Ron, his eyes set on the chair opposite the redheaded boy.

"Hey, Weasley," he said, noticing Ron's bowl of brown, crusty cornflakes. "You want to see my scab collection?"

Ron let his spoon fall with a clank on the side of his bowl, running his tongue over his upper teeth, his face clenched in annoyance. Ginny giggled into her pumpkin juice and Draco smirked evilly. Ron slit his eyes in anger, but said nothing as Mrs. Weasley carried a deformed, sagging cake with large, messy dollops of white frosting that gave it a look as if a bird had decided to go all over their meal. Sixteen long dinner candles leaned at odd angles, pushed all the way down into the birthday cake.

"Er..." Ginny said. "...Thanks, Mum. It looks...uh...interesting."

"Thank you dear," said Mrs. Weasley briskly. "I'll pretend like that was a compliment."

"You go right ahead and do that," Ron said, nodding.

"What've I missed?" someone called from the hall. When he walked out to join them Draco saw that it was Arthur Weasley. "Took the day off from the Ministry to be here for my only daughter's sixteenth birthday, and I've nearly missed everything!"

"Oh don't worry, dear," Molly said, smiling as she cut the cake. "You're just in time to eat!"

"Oh...Wonderful!" he answered falsely, casting a devastated look at Harry, the corners of his mouth sagging into a look of nervous worry. "That's fantastic."

And surrounded by the people he once hated, cared for by the people he tortured relentlessly, He felt what was left of the anger in him subside, for at least one day.

* * *

The End.