Different Paths

Chapter 3: Draco and Ginny

For the longest time, Cho simply starred at Draco in disbelief. About two years ago, Hogwarts and Beauxbatons Magical Academy in France had organized a Defense against the Dark Arts Exchange Programs, and a number of Hogwarts students had left for France. Harry and Hermione had been amongst those chosen as Hogwarts representatives, but it was around that time when Hermione's parents were killed and she was in no condition to embark on an exchange program. Harry had refused to leave Hermione behind in her time of need.

However, one of the students whom had left was Draco Malfoy. As a result, he had not actively taken part in the Slytherin Revolts. All of his friends, as well as his father Lucius, had been killed in the revolts, and something like that was bound to have affected Draco deeply. Indeed, Cho could clearly see the signs of pain in his cold grey eyes. Draco opened his mouth to speak.

"Where is Potter?" he said.

"What?" Cho flinched from the tone of Draco's voice. It was cold, yet emotionless, and seemed to be carrying an almost sinister determination. It was clear that the young man had gone through a lot of pain, and Cho couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him. 'But why is he looking for Harry?' Cho thought, the tone of his voice frightening her.

Silently, Draco walked over to Cho. Frightened, Cho backed away a little, but something in Draco's eyes kept her from backing away too far. It was as if, his eyes had some kind of hold on her. 'Maybe this is what the Imperious feels like,' she thought.

Draco was now standing right in front of Cho, gazing down at her with his cold grey eyes. He reached out toward her as if he were going to caress her cheek. Cho couldn't help but relax a little. However, she soon tensed up in fear once again when Draco's hand went not to her cheek but her throat, squeezing not enough to choke her, but enough to show Cho that he meant business.

Once again, he repeated, "Where is Potter?" His voice now carried the hint of a threat. Cho visibly gulped, fearing for dear life. She could see quite clearly in Draco's eyes, that he was completely capable of, and willing to kill her.

"Potter's no longer here," called out a voice from nearby. Surprised, Cho looked up to see none other than Severus Snape walking toward them, wearing an auror uniform. Draco also seemed surprised to see his former head of house but he masked his surprise quite well. He released his hold and Cho gasped for air.

"Professor Snape?" she asked, as soon as she had caught her breath.

"It's Auror Snape now," replied Snape. He smirked at Draco and said, "It's good to see you again Mr. Malfoy. Returning to Hogwarts I assume?"

"What did you mean by Potter's no longer here?" said Draco, not beating around the bush.

"It is quite simple really," said Snape. "The foolish boy has left to challenge the Dark Lord. What else would you have expected from 'high and noble' Boy who lived?"

Without a word, Draco started walking away from the main gates. Snape raised an eyebrow and said, "Where are you going young Malfoy? You're not going to go after Potter as well are you?"

Abruptly, Draco turned toward Snape and Cho, a fierce blaze in his eye. "Know this," he said. "I am the only one who can and will defeat Harry Potter. No one else will or can defeat him: not you, not my father, not even the Dark Lord. For the sake of the promise I made between myself and my now gone Slytherin friends, I will be the one who sees Harry Potter finished." With that, with a dramatic swish of his grey robes, Draco walked away.

Cho turned to Snape and asked, "Promise?"

"I have a vague idea of what he's talking about, Miss Chang," said Snape. "However, it is not up to me to explain it. Ultimately, it is between young Malfoy and Potter and no one else can come between it, not even the Dark Lord." He turned to Cho and said, "A bid you a good day, Miss Chang. And I ask that you do not tell anybody what has just transpired here."

Cho nodded and Snape also left. As she watched him disappear over the horizon, Cho silently prayed, 'Please be careful Harry. You're in a lot more danger than even you realize.'

* * *

In the Highlands of Scotland, not too far from Hogsmeade was a place of personal importance for Draco Malfoy. It was where the graves of the radical Slytherin students that had been killed in the Slytherin Revolts were. The friendships between these radicals were sketchy at the best, but they were the closest people to Draco before he had headed to Beauxbatons.

Draco glanced at the names written on the headstones: Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zambini, Millicent Bulstrode...Slytherins whom Draco had known since childhood, had spent five years of his life with. It was perhaps inevitable that their final resting place be special for Draco.

Suddenly, Draco came to a stop. Lying in front of him was an empty bottle of Ogden's Fire-whiskey. A quick look around revealed that the graveyard was littered with empty bottles and tankards. There was also a mild odor of alcohol in the air. Silent anger coursed through Draco's veins at whomever it was who dared to trash the resting place of Draco's friends. Finally, Draco found the culprits.

They were four men, all skinheads, rippling with muscles. These were the type of men who had more brawn than brain. They were lounging about, drinking from their bottles, and using the headstones as recliners. The chatter and laughter indicated that they were quite drunk. As Draco approached them, the men looked up and saw him.

"Eh, now. You Lucius's boy?" asked the one that was clearly the leader.

"'Course he's Lucius's boy yeh bloody fool," said another man. "He looks jus' like 'im. Great man, 'e was, Lucius."

Draco ignored the question. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he demanded, rather silently.

"We work for the Dark Lord," the leader said quite proudly: all four men seemed to have a lot of pride in this fact.

'Now that can't be right,' thought Draco. 'These blokes are just short of squibs. They would be considered lowlifes by the Dark Lord's standards. Curious.'

In the mean time, the leader was still speaking. "Our master sent us out on a mission. We're to ask yeh ta take yer place in our ranks. The place yer old man, Luicu had before his death. So, young Malfoy, join us! Take yer place on ourside where yeh father was before you were. Receive the Dark Mark." He tossed his empty whiskey bottle behind him. The bottle shattered on a headstone. This made Draco even angrier.

"Get out," hissed Draco.

"Eh?" The men were clearly confused.

"Get out of this graveyard now!" hissed Draco, clearly angry. "You have defiled this place with your filth. If you dare defile this place any further, my wrath will be felt by not only you but by Voldemort himself as well."

The faces of the four men instantly turned red with anger. "You dare," the leader yelled, "You dare mock our master!" With a cry of rage, the four men leapt toward Draco brandishing wands, daggers, and firearms. However, just as they closed in on Draco, Draco spun around and shouted, "Cyclonus Diffindo-hex!" A series of bright colored streams of light flowed forth from Draco's wand as he spun around, circling him like a tornado before slashing into the four. Before the four could realize what had happened, they were killed.

As Draco wiped the four's blood off of his robes, he was a little surprised to here some mild applause coming from behind him. He turned around to see a young man of about seventeen, a little shorter than him, with brownish black hair and brown eyes. "Who are you," said Draco.

"Seth Soran, I work for Mr. Voldemort," said the young man. He examined the mutilated corpse of the leader of the four. "Most impressive, Mr. Malfoy. 'Cyclonus Diffindo' was it? If I remember correctly, that is a curse first developed by your father Lucius. But I see you've made a few modifications yourself. 'Hex' was it? Through what I saw, six times more powerful than the curse Lucius used to use before his death. Developed yourself when you were in France I suppose."

Seth looked up at the silent Draco and grinned. "If you're wonderimg why I'm not upset over your killing of these four, it's because I fully expected it. I sent these four out to meet you to test just how powerful you've become these past few years. After all, they were practically squibs, easily disposable and replaceable within Mr. Voldemort's ranks."

"What do you want from me?" said Draco.

"Basically the same thing these four were asking, whether you will take Lucius's place and join Mr. Voldemort's ranks. Aside from the exchange program at Beauxbatons, you've also attended summer school at Durmstrang haven't you? You've got the best of all three European Wizarding Schools within your magical education. You would be a far more valuable asset to Mr. Voldemort than even Lucius was."

"Not interested," said Draco rather icily. He started to walk away without sparring a backward glance toward Seth.

"But it would be the perfect opportunity to fulfill your promise to everyone here," said Seth as he gestured toward the graves of the Slytherin students.

Draco froze.

"I know all about the promise you've made these people here before you left for Beauxbatons," said Seth. "You promised them that you would become a far greater wizard than Harry Potter could ever hope to become, by any means necessary. Now that your friends are gone, lost during the Slytherin Revolts, that promise has become everything for you, hasn't it? That promise you made to them is all that matters now, isn't it."

Draco said nothing, still rooted in his spot facing away from Seth.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy. If you ever change your mind, you can contact me with owl post. Good day to you." With that, Seth faded away into the shadows, leaving Draco alone.

A few minutes later, Seth reappeared in a small wood nearby. "Well, what do you think, Mr. Voldemort?"

Right in front of Seth sat a tall man of about 6' 2". He had raven black hair, gleaming scarlet eyes with slit pupils like a cat's, a face as white as a skull. He was wearing elegant black robes with silver trimmings, and his spider like hands held a wine glass. It was none other than the Dark Lord Voldemort.

"Impressive," said the Dark Lord. "I really liked how he just finished off those squibs like garbage without a second thought. Even Lucius would've hesitated a little." He turned to a voluptuous, beautiful woman sitting right next to him. She was wearing elegant, red dress robes, had waist length wavy brown hair, and bright amber eyes. "Pour me another glass, Yasmin."

"As you wish, my Lord," replied the woman. She took out a bottle of wine and poured it into Voldemort's wine glass. Voldemort started sipping from it.

"You are intending to enjoy this war, or you not?" said Seth with a smile.

Voldemort grinned. "I fully intend to enjoy it. I am looking forward to seeing how exciting this will turn out, especially if it means taking this country for my own." He drained the rest of his glass and stood up. "Come Yasmin, Seth, let us prepare for the motions of takeover." With that, the three disapparrated.

* * *

To avoid possible detection by the Death Eaters and by the Ministry, whom many had decided as couldn't be trusted, Harry Potter was traveling to London on foot. He had most of his possessions shrunk in his pocket, among them his father's invisibility cloak and his racing broom, the Firebolt. He was dressed in full wizard gear, with his Hogwarts robes and cloak earning him a few stares from the local muggle population. High above him in the air flew his faithful companion, his snowy white owl, Hedwig.

Harry had been traveling for four days. Now, using a combination of speed charms and stamina charms he was now within a few miles from Hadrien's Wall. By his estimates, he was now about five days away from London, his final destination.

Harry looked up at the sky that was turning orange due to the setting sun. 'I should get a place to stay for the night,' he thought. Harry had some of his Gringotts fortune changed into muggle currency a few months back so he had no problem with paying for a room. Unfortunately, there were no inns around so Harry decided to make his way into the woods and transfigure something there into a tent and sleeping bag. As he made his way over to the woods, his thoughts wandered back to his friends. 'I wonder how everyone reacted to my leaving,' he thought. 'I bet Sirius might have blown his top, probably coming after me to beat some sense into me right about now. Ron might've blown up as well, but maybe not. He's been a little more mature recently though he still argues with Hermione all the time. Hermione...' Harry sighed sadly. 'I wish she were here with me now. I wish I didn't have to part with her like that. I wish she understands.'

Harry suddenly heard voices in the thicket nearby and dove into the bushes for cover. Looking out of the bushes he gasped. There were four men, all clearly members of a local gang, surrounding a young girl. Her features were hidden by her black, cloak and hood and she was facing away from Harry.

"All right, wench!" said one of the men. "You give us everything you got, now! No words just hand it over." He pulled a gun out and pointed it at the girl.

"If you don't cooperate, we'll just have a little fun with you. In fact we'll have some fun with you whichever way," said another man with a sick chuckle.

Anger coursed through Harry's veins. However, he decided to stay where he was when the girl laughed out loud. Though he couldn't remember where, Harry swore to himself that he had heard her voice before.

"Have fun with me?" said the girl. "Well, you're welcome to try, but I don't think you'll even get close enough." She threw her cloak off. She had vibrant fiery red hair that fell just below her shoulders, was rather tall at 5' 9", had brown eyes, and was wearing the white wizarding robes of Beauxbatons. Harry gasped, for he had instantly recognized the girl.

"Hey, she's just a kid. We can't have fun with her," said one of the men, sounding disappointed.

"Kid?" said redheaded girl incredulously. "I'll let you know that I happen to be sixteen years old! I'd say that makes me a woman."

"Who cares, if she's just a kid," said one of the men. "She's still a wench! Get her!" He charged at the girl but the girl simply placed a high kick on the man's chin, knocking him unconscious.

"Hmm, I'm not supposed to use magic against muggles," she said. "But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I suppose this is desperate enough." She pulled out a wand from her robes and started twirling it around.

"What's she talking about?' said one of the men.

"Dunno," said another man. "And I don't care! Get her!" The remaining men charged at the girl. However, the girl simply spun around and shouted, Stupefy!" three times, stunning the three men instantly.

Satisfied that the girl was all right, Harry decided to make a quiet exit, not wanting to meet up with any of his friend on his mission. However, he accidently stepped on a twig as he made his way out. The girl spun around and said, "All right! Who's there?"

Harry sighed and emerged from his hiding place. "Hmm, rather impressive," he said. "I just stopped by to stop a potential crime. Guess I really didn't have much to worry about. But then again, one can't be entirely sure."

The girl starred at Harry, her jaw dropped in surprise. "Harry? Harry Potter?"

"Hello Ginny, nice to see you again."

* * *

What followed was a quick catch up time. Ginny Weasley had been one of the Hogwarts students whom had gone to Beauxbatons as part of the exchange program. As such, Harry hadn't seen her in nearly two years. Ginny had long outgrown her old crush on Harry and was now one of his friends. Eventually, their talk turned to their current status.

"So what are you doing down here near Hadrien's Wall?" said Harry.

"I could ask you the same question, Harry," said Ginny. "But if you must know, I'm searching for someone. The last I heard, Draco was somewhere in Scotland. I managed to trace him to Hogwarts but he wasn't there by the time I arrived, and my sources told me he was heading south. So here I am searching for him." She started to bluxsh.

Harry's jaw dropped. "Draco? As in Draco Malfoy?" he exclaimed.

"Oh, that's right, you hated him didn't you," said Ginny. "Well he changed when we went to Beauxbatons. At first he was the same obnoxious wisecracker that you knew at Hogwarts but then something happened about a year that changed him. He became quieter, more pensive, more determined. I'm not entirely sure what had happened but after that, we became more and more closer. That is until he left for Britain about a month ago."

Harry slapped his forehead and cursed under his breath. 'Bloody hell, she doesn't know about the Slytherin Revolts. Typical Fudge, trying to conceal the scandal from the outside world,' he thought. Harry took a deep breath and said, "You should just forget about him."

Ginny turned toward Harry and anger and said, "Typical of you to tell me to forget your old rival! But I'm telling you, he's changed! He's..." She abruptly stopped when she saw the look on Harry's face. "There's something else, isn't there? Something happened here while I was gone, that changed Draco. What happened Harry? What happened here?"

"Look, my advice would be to just forget about Draco Malfoy," said Harry. "After what happened, I can imagine him to be completely...let's say obsessed. He's dangerous now. Just forget about him. You'll be a lot happier that way."

"You have no right to tell me that!" Ginny shouted in anger. "How do you expect one to become happier by forgetting about the person they care the most about! You're not making sense Potter!"

Hearing Ginny's words, Harry's thoughts went back to Hermione. "You're right," he said sadly. "I'm sorry, I had no right to say that. But I'm afraid I have to go now. Good bye, Ginny."

"Oh no you don't, Harry Potter," said Ginny. "You seem to be carrying information I want about what happened while I was away. I'm coming with you until you tell me!"

Harry slapped his palm on his forehead. "Perfect," he groaned.

To be continued...

A/N Chapter 3 is here. Did you enjoy it. I sure hope so. I had quite a bit of fun writing this. But personally, I can't wait to get on to the next chapter because we're getting some action back. More Harry, more Ginny, more Snape, more Seth, and more Voldemort. Also, for those people browsing FF.net, please read the original story by Colonel-DCR a.k.a. my Dad, "Sla of the West". Next: Harry and Ginny come upon a village that is an example of Voldemort's world.