Durmstrang Three

Black Horizon

Ginny Weasley stood alone while the wind rattled the windows. The eerie call of a lone wolf drifted through the air. Ginny bent her head and hit the window. The glass shattered. “Why?” she asked herself. She looked at he hand. Where she hit the glass with her hand was throbbing, red and bloody.

“Ginny? Are you there?” a voice called from the doorway.

“Okay! Scratch that! I know you’re in there. I heard you break the window!” the voice called again.

Hermione Granger flounced through the door, her bushy hair bushier than usual bounced behind her.

“Listen, it wasn’t your fault! Harry just! Ahh! He’s so-” she waved her hands madly in the air.

“Determined and stubborn about Cho, refusing him! He doesn’t realize you’re only looking out for him and that you love him.”

Ginny looked at the floor and wrung the sleeve of her dress.

“So, yeah, I know…” she said, tears welling up in her brown eyes. “It just hurts me so much. A lone tear slid down her cheek. “When he says so much about her.”

She remembered yesterday, what happened at the Weasleys’ kitchen table. Right in front of Ginny, he rambled on and on about how perfect Cho was.

Ron, seeing the look of hurt on Ginny’s face, quickly prodded Harry on the shoulder. Harry’s green eyes flickered towards her. Then he said something they would never expected Harry to say.

“Jealous, Weasley?”

Even his own words seemed to shock him.

“Harry!!” Ron and Hermione’s voices chorused loudly.

“What did you say?” Ginny said, ignoring Ron and Hermione’s stutters and gasps. “I-I said, are you jealous?” Harry said, looking at the tablecloth.

Harry looked up at Ginny. The sunlight pouring from the Weasleys’ kitchen window caught in Ginny’s red hair, and illuminated it, making it look as though cascades of fire were tumbling down her shoulders and back.

“Ginny? Did you hear me?” Hermione said rocketing Ginny out of her memory. “Yeah, sorry… err…” she said.

“Ginny, you better go to bed. We’re going to Hogwarts, remember? It will be your fifth year, so it will be Cho’s last year? Cheer up, Ginny.” Hermione said, patting Ginny’s shoulder comfortingly.

“Okay.”

~

Ginny woke up, dreading going to Hogwarts, dreading having to see Cho. Perfect Cho, wonderful Cho. Slowly she got dressed in blue jeans and a red jumper. She made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. It was dawn, the sky tinted blue, purple, pink and orange. “Perfect.”

The rest of the morning went by with the usual pre-Hogwarts preparations. People rushing up and down the stairs, bits of toast and whatnot in their hands. Finally it was time to go.

“Where’s Ginny?” Hermione asked. In the hustle and bustle of the morning, no one noticed Ginny sneaking off to the garden. She had taken the liberty of packing last night, when she couldn’t sleep.

“Ginny! Let’s go!” said a grumpy Mrs. Weasley. Earlier Ron had trodden on her toe, causing her to trip and lose her balance. This resulted in Mrs. Weasley’s knocking into a cabinet and breaking all of the dinner plates.

“Coming, Mother!” Ginny said, seeing the look of annoyance on her face.

Mr. Weasley had borrowed a Ministry car for them, though he had to go to work early. When they arrived at King’s Cross Station, they took their trunks out of the car. Ginny, grunting with the effort of her trunk, was relieved when a pair of hands grasped the other side of the trunk and put it on the trolley.

“Thank you,” she said.

Then she looked to the owner of the hands. She screamed.

~

A boy with black hair that brushed into his pale green eyes looked at her, puzzled. “Tom!” Ginny screamed again, backing away.

Curious Muggles looked over to Ginny.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry rushed over.

“What? Cut it out,” Ron hissed. “You’re causing a scene.”

Ginny looked at the boy, and so did the others. Now he wasn’t alone; A light blonde boy with dark brown eyes with hair that just reached his chin, and a girl with long golden brown hair and dark blue eyes accented by gothic looking makeup, looked at them. The girl’s blue eyes searched them, the black lines adding a devilish illusion to her.

“What’s wrong, Matt?” she said.

“I was helping this girl, but she seems to think I’m someone else.” he said shrugging his shoulders.

“All right,” the girl said. “Well, let’s get to Platform 9 ¾ before the good seats are taken. Come!” she turned around and marched off. Matt and the other boy followed suit.

“Ginny, what has gotten into you?” Ron hissed again.

~

Neither Ginny or the others saw the mysterious girl, Matt and the other boy the entire time on the train. After the train and carriage-ride up, they entered the Great Hall. They noticed that instead of sitting down as usual, the heads of houses were standing up. Dumbledore looked at the wave of students expectantly.

“The sorting ceremony will begin briefly.” Professor McGonagall said. She swept away to fetch the first years.

Dumbledore looked severely upon them all; Snape’s sneering face contorted into a disturbing grin. Professor Sprout rolled on the balls of her feet. Shortly, Professor McGonagall returned with the first years. They lined up in front of the teachers’ table, many of them with fright or nervousness on their faces. And then the hat began to sing. When the sorting hat finished singing its song, the polite applaud took place. McGonagall started the names of with Amberson, Craydon. A short brown haired boy came up to the stool. After about 30 seconds, the hat shouted, “Hufflepuff!!” The ceremony ended with “Zorkloff, Sanders!” A rather tall blonde boy with piercing amber eyes became a Slytherin. But the hat still stayed out.

“How odd.” whispered Hermione.

Whispers soon broke out through the sea of confused students. But still it stayed out. The professors seemed to be waiting for something.

Then the doors to the great hall burst open. A man with light brown hair speckled with grey, whom Harry and Ginny knew as Professor Lupin, swept into the Great Hall.

The girl, Matt, and the other boy followed him.

“Ah!” said Dumbledore, stretching his hands out in front of him. “Professor Lupin! You’ve brought the Durmstrang Three!”

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

“Durmstrang three?” mouthed Harry.

“Watch.” Hermione mouthed back.

Instead of Professor McGonagall stepping forward, Dumbledore came forth.

Ginny looked across the sea of faces to the Slytherin table. Malfoy was watching the girl with keen interest.

Dumbledore spoke. “Now, you might be wondering why three perfectly good Durmstrang students are here at Hogwarts. All three are in their fifth year, and if they do well, they will be put ahead into the sixth year. I don’t want any of you to bother them if Durmstrang teachings. Now, let’s sort them!” he said enthusiastically.

He picked up the sorting hat and called “ Raven Mournblade!”

The girl walked forward and sat on the stool. Dumbledore bent to put the hat on her head but was met with a shock when it was at least three feet away from her head when it literally screamed “SLYTHERIN!”

She stood up and walked to the Slytherin table and stood at the foot of it waiting for her friends.

“Matt Craz!” Dumbledore called next. And to his even greater shock, the same thing happened. Matt stood up and walked towards Raven.

Then at last, the blonde boy was called forward.

“Dilandou Far!” and yet again it happened. All three of them seemed to be radiating dark energy. They walked to the far side. And in the middle of the table, Raven stopped and said.

“Draco Malfoy. May we sit by you?” Now this nearly killed Malfoy, when she spoke to him directly.

“Yeah, sure! Move over Crabbe! Over Goyle! Move Pansy!” he shoved the three of them down the left side and motioned Raven to sit by him.

“Thank you.” she said carelessly and sat down. Now this was when Ginny noticed that she wasn’t wearing the traditional black robes of the Hogwarts students. But she was wearing what looked like a Muggle band shirt, which was cut up, and a striped shirt underneath, black flared pants and dark leather combat boots. Her hair was gelled in front, making it appear darker.

Matt Craz’s clothes looked similar; he wore leather pants, combat boots, and a long, dark, blood red turtleneck shirt.

Dilandou’s was a black button shirt and black dress pants his combat boots where dark navy blue.

‘Combat boots? Why are they all wearing combat boots?’ thought Ginny.

“I ‘ever ‘oo guwls ‘ent ‘oo ‘Duwmstwang!” said Ron with a mouth full of potatoes.

“Honestly Ron! How could you not know? There were three at the Tri-Wizard Tournament in our fourth year. Oh wait, never mind. You were to busy paying attention to FLEUR!!!”

Hermione and Ron were going into their full-fledged arguments again.

Ginny tuned them out and looked at Harry. Her eyes narrowed. She knew where he was looking. Cho. She just wanted to wipe that stupid grin off his face. What was so great about Cho? She had nice, long, black hair and almond eyes, and she could play Quidditch. That was it! She decided he only likes her because of the fact that she could play Quidditch.

~

Ginny walked out into the great hall, still perplexed by the combat boots, bumped hard into another student. Both of them fell.

“Watch it!” they chorused.

Ginny looked up into a pair of angry, blazing eyes. Raven’s eyes. Blood smeared the blond girl’s face.

“You made me hit my head!” Raven said, obviously angered.

Ginny stared at her. It looked so strange - bloodred colour on alabaster white. It looked…out of proportion.

“Sorry, I - I didn’t mean to…” Ginny began as Raven stood up.

Raven’s fist clenched, and she raised her arm. Ginny was readying herself for a visit to the hospital wing when another hand appeared on Raven’s clenched hand. Ginny unsquinched her face. It was Dilandou.

“No, Raven. This isn’t the time,” He hissed.

“You’re right. We’ll get her back later…through her dreams,” She hissed back, with a mean glance that terribly frightened Ginny.

Ginny looked at them both, confused.

The silence was broken as Matt ambled out of the Hall with Draco Malfoy right beside him.

“What happened this time?” Matt asked Raven, stooping to pick up Ginny.

He lifted her up with incredible ease.

Raven glanced at Ginny, a malicious look in her eyes.

“Oh, nothing. I was just talking to…uh. What’s your name?” Raven asked Ginny.

Ginny looked at her. A minute ago she was going to knock out her front teeth. Now she was asking her name.

“Ginny… Weasley…?”

Raven stuck out her hand for Ginny to shake. Ginny shook it, nearly crying under Raven’s steely grip.

Raven dropped her hand and turned to go to the Slytherin common room.

Ginny woke with a start. The first day back! Damn, she thought, potions… she shuddered. Having Snape first thing in the morning was not a good way to start the day. At least she’d have care of magical creatures right after. Seeing Hagrid made her happy. He knew just how to cheer her up. She was hoping they’d do something exciting this year. How right she would be.

She trudged out of bed and got her uniform on. Ginny’s stomach growled, and she snatched her book bag up. She’d have about half an hour before potions, perhaps she should eat something.

When she made it to the great hall, Ginny’s heart stopped. Cho was there, and so was Harry. He had that stupid grin on his face. Oh, how badly she wished she could go up to him, turn his head, and just kiss him. But she didn’t have the courage to do it.

“Move, Weasley! Some people are trying to get through.”

She turned around and groaned.

Malfoy.

She quickly ran off to the Gryffindor table and sat with her back towards Cho. She grabbed a plate full of toast and nibbled on the corner of a slice before deciding she wasn’t that hungry anymore.

“Hi, Ginny! Can I sit here?” a deep voice asked. She turned around and gasped.

“Co-Colin Creevy?” she asked in dismay.

“Yup, the one and only!” he said laughing at the face she was making.

He had changed over the summer, he had grown five inches from his shorter-than-most height of last year, and his voice had deepened. His eyelashes now brushed his sandy coloured hair, and his shoulders had broadened.

“Yeah.” she said blushing furiously.

“Life sucks,” said Colin, pulling a plate of bacon towards him.

“We’ve got potions with the Slytherins.” he said, consulting his timetable. “Followed by Care of Magical Creatures…” he gasped. “With the Slytherins.”

Ginny looked at him and shrugged her shoulders.

“It might not be that bad. We might get to meet those ‘Durmstrang Three’ kids.” “Yeah, but you know how nasty they are.”

“So?”

Ginny and Colin spent the next fifteen minutes arguing about the Durmstrang Three before Ginny finally took a good look at her wristwatch.

“Uh-oh, let’s go to Potions before Snape takes away points on our first day.” “Okay,” laughed Colin.

They ran down to the dungeons, skidding around corners, and burst into the Potions classroom only moments before Snape swept into the room with his billowing robes.

“That,” Ginny said. “Was close.”

Snape started the class with his usual speech about how he could teach them this and that. Then he said something that made Ginny’s heart skip a beat.

“We,” he said in his low silky voice. “Will be making a Polyjuice potion tomorrow. Today, we will be taking notes.”

Ginny shivered. She didn’t want someone else to be her. She knew what could happen from what happened in her third year. Poor Professor Moody only taught one day before resigning. Then Professor Lupin took that challenge on again, and Ginny was grateful for that. She had felt safe near him from the time when he saved her from the giant spiders she had stumbled upon when she was lost in the Forbidden Forest. She shivered at the thought.

“Miss Weasley, are you present?” Snape asked deliberately.

“Yes,” she replied. She just knew it was going to be a very boring class.

~

Midway through Potions, an explosion unexpectedly rocked the room. Ginny shook her head. The cauldrons weren’t out. What could have exploded? Her question was answered when she looked at the shocked Snape. Behind him, vials upon vials of dragon blood shattered. The acidic blood was eating through the wood and pouring to the floor.

“My god,” mouthed Ginny.

Laughter shattered the shocked silence. Raven was laughing evilly and coldly at the expressions on the faces of every one while Matt and Dilandou stayed stony and sure. Snape scrambled around trying to clean it up; and the bell signaled for them to go to their next class. But no one left.

“Go!” Snape said warningly, while shooting frightened glances at the still laughing Raven.

“Yes, we should go, shouldn’t we?” She had stopped laughing.

Ginny looked at her, and was met with a cold, icy stare.

“You’re next, Virginia.” she heard.

“What?? Ginny cried out to Raven. “What did you say??”

Raven looked at her blankly.

“What do you mean, Weasley?” she replied.

“N-nothing” Ginny stammered.

Raven passed her, tossing her golden hair. Dilandou followed her. Matt stood by Ginny and whispered.

“Forgotten, yes. Missed, no.”

All Ginny could do was look at them incredulously.

“Now that was weird,” she said to herself.

~

After an incredibly exciting Care of Magical Creatures class, Ginny entered through the portrait hole.

“Hi, Ginny! How was class?” Hermione asked.

“Fine! Oh, I love that class, heheehe. What a fantastic lesson!!” she jumped up and down, smiling.

“Well, better get down to lunch,” said Hermione.

“Yes, better, shan't we?” Ginny said looking out the window.

“What was that?” Hermione queried at Ginny’s strange sentence.

“Nothing, I’ve just been reading books,” Ginny laughed.

The two girls marched out of the portrait hole towards the Hall. When they arrived together, Ginny felt a piercing stare upon her. And she had a feeling she knew who it was. They went past the Slytherin table and heard a low, deep hiss.

Hermione jumped back nearly two feet.

“Let’s go!” she whispered, and the two girls fled to the Gryffindor table.

Ginny sat down by Colin, relieved, and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

“Nothing!” she said coldly.

They sat eating in silence. Ginny didn’t touch much of her food; instead she spent most of the time pushing her peas around.

Out of nowhere, an now open-mouthed Ginny dropped her fork with a clatter. A great black raven had flown through the window and was now heading towards Dumbledore. A letter was folded in its beak, and its magnificent wings slightly brushed the table as it landed. Ginny swore it was the size of an eagle. It was not a regular bird.

A horrible choking feeling filled Ginny’s throat. Her eyes blurred; Colin swerved in and out of focus.

“Ginny? Ginny? GINNY?” she heard Ron holler.

And the world went black.

~

Ron, Harry, and Hermione all rushed forward as Colin caught Ginny.

“What’s wrong with her? Bloody hell!”

Ron looked at his sister. Her face was so…pale.

“Ginny?” he murmured.

The hurried footsteps of Professor McGonagall made them turn their heads.

“Hospital wing! Now!” she said, quite alarmed.

They took off with Colin carrying Ginny like a doll in his arms.

~

Ginny walked through the hallway. Glaring faces of Tom Riddle stared at her.

His black hair was messy, his eyes were still piercing.

She came up to a door made glassy crystal. A sweet and soft singing sound drifted through the door.

Ginny, mesmerized, reached for the door handle. She recoiled. The door handle was glowing red hot.

She backed away quickly as the door swung heavily on its hinges to reveal an oddly familiar-looking girl.

A girl with hair golden-brown, her eyes dark blue, her skin alabaster.

“Virginia. How nice of you to join me,” she said in a singsong voice.

Ginny walked through the door, her brown eyes blank.

Ginny’s eyes widened as she saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, Matt, Dilandou, Draco, Pansy, Susan, Blaise, and the Hogwarts staff.

Like a curtain they all drew away, slowly and ghostly away from the girl.

Ginny noticed the blood from her mouth, seeping like she had drunk a flask of bloody wine.

The girl moved, and Colin was revealed from behind her, his eyes blank and lifeless. Bloody marks where he’d been bitten.

The girl looked at Ginny.

“Ginny, my dear, why so afraid? Colin will be joining me soon, and the afterlife is so much more pleasant.”

Ginny now knew who the girl was. Raven.

“Y-you bit him? Stay away.”

Ginny stumbled out of the room into the cold corridor.

She backed into something. Something fleshy.

She turned. Her eyes widened as Raven stood there, waiting. Waiting for her, Ginny knew.

“Where might you be going, lovely Virginia?” she said.

Her teeth bared as Ginny fled in fear. Ginny fell as she felt the weight of Raven hurtle itself around her neck.

“Don’t worry yourself, my precious.” Raven’s singsong voice was back.

“It will only hurt a little bit,” her voice whispered in Ginny’s ear.

Raven lunged at Ginny’s neck.

Ron, Harry, Hermione, Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey watched in horror as Ginny’s body lurched convulsively

Ginny’s body was freed as the scene shifted.

She was outside of Hogwarts, two great forces on either side.

Voldemort stood great and spectral, outlined against his group of minions, Death Eaters, giants, and Dementors.

Dumbledore stood firmly before Hogwarts. Teachers, other adults, and even some giants stood there to back him. Centaurs and unicorns and even Aragog with his children were willing to fight for the good.

Dumbledore spoke. His voice sounded so full of wisdom.

“Now, Voldemort. Why do you want to fight us? Are you sure you think of this as wise?”

Voldemort scoffed at this remark, his red eyes so full of the excitement only a warrior could come across in battle.

“Do I think it wise to battle you? Old man, I will win! I’ve Giants and my own powerful magic on my side!”

Dumbledore nodded and pointed his wand forward.

“We will defeat you!” he said, and the odd group of wizards, witches, centaurs and giant spiders flew past him. And remarkable yet, Hagrid had a dragon. A great black Norwegian ridgeback accompanied him.

Voldemort did the same; the giants pounded by him, and Death Eaters and Dementors followed.

“Go ‘n get ‘im Norbert!” Hagrid shouted as the dragon tore away to the battlefield.

And then Ginny sank into darkness, her dreams light and untroubled.

Ron looked thoroughly mystified and quite concerned as Dumbledore walked somberly into the room.

“How is she?” he asked gravely. Something was troubling him.

“She…she’s fine now.” Harry spoke while looking at Ginny, seemingly in fear that she might fall off the bed.

Dumbledore turned his pale blue eyes to Ginny’s still and silent form on the bed.

“She may not be that way for long,” he said.