A Kiss Goodnight

Chapter two~ Seigneur d'obscurité

Morning came slowly, and in time Ginny felt the warmth of the sun's first rays as they shone through the window and onto her back. She had not slept that night, as her head was full of unanswerable questions and uncertainties. She had lain staring at the mysterious ribbon, which now rested on the bedside table. Ginny found that in the daylight the ribbon was no longer one plain green, but contained hundreds of different shades that shimmered enchantingly when she moved her head. The ribbon was, however, unarguably the colour of Slytherin house. Never trust a Slytherin.

Sighing miserably, she turned away from her burden and stared up at the ceiling. She had lain there all night, wide-eyed, waiting for the ribbon to do something...anything! But it hadn't. She had also lain there, listing the possibilities of where it had come from and how it had got into her bed, but she knew that however she might kid herself there was only one person who could have sent it. Sitting up on her elbows, she gazed out of the window onto the beautiful meadow before her. The Burrow was surrounded by mile upon mile of lush green grass and stunning wild flowers. The sun danced lazily across her eyes and she closed them against the glare; soft, dark eyelashes brushing against the tops of her delicate cheeks. She sat there for a while, just listening to the tranquil silence and enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face until a muffled clang came from downstairs and Ginny reluctantly climbed out of bed.

After pulling on a worn pair of jeans she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. It was empty: but for Ron who was already sitting there happily munching his way through a piece of toast, marmalade dripping down his chin.

"Morn-in Gin," he said, spitting toast crumbs across the breakfast table.

"Morning," she replied, holding back the urge to fling her arms around her brother and plead him for help. She instead poured herself a glass of orange juice and flopped down into the chair opposite him. Ron had turned a golden brown over the summer, despite his red hair. Ginny, however, had been wary of the sun; she was not as lucky as Ron and tended to burn. Looking down at her hands she blushed, embarrassed by the sight of her creamy white skin, pale and virgin.

"Harry and Hermione are coming down later; they're staying here for the rest of the holidays."

Ginny's heart sank as she looked up at her beaming brother. No... not now. The marmalade slid off of his chin and splattered onto the table. Ron's gormless look quickly changed when he saw that Ginny's brow was furrowed and her gaze had fallen to her glass, where she now stared furiously.

"Gin...? What's up?"

But Ginny merely shook her head and forced her prickling eyes shut. Harry. Harry Potter always brought her nothing but a sickening hate and immense pain. She tried to picture his face in her mind, but it hurt and Ginny had to stifle a sob. When she looked into those beautiful emerald eyes she wanted nothing more than to die. The last thing she needed right now was for him to be around, but it was too late. Just the mention of his name and the hurt that it brought was enough to awaken an ugly bitterness inside of her, and she clenched her fists into tight balls.

No, she told herself, screwing up her face; he is nothing to me, nothing. Her fists began to relax, and the storm in her head cleared along with the reminiscence of Harry, and in its place was Draco and the dreams that she had had. Not the previous nights dream, but the contented ones, like the one where Ginny had sat and watched Draco carve a unicorn out of wood. He hadn't said a word the whole time, hadn't even acknowledged that she was there watching, he simply sat in the thick long grass that surrounded them in the moonlight and carved away, never stopping, never taking his eyes off of his creation. Ginny had watched in wonder from start to finish, mesmerized by his tantalizing face as he frowned in concentration. She had smiled at the way his silvery hair fell into his eyes and how every few minutes he ran his wet tongue over his bottom lip. All that time Ginny had sat and memorized Draco, from his delicate and elegant hands to his striking face, and once he was finished he stood up and carefully placed the beautiful unicorn on a rock--among many other intricately carved objects--and lay down to sleep.

But still Ginny watched. She watched the way his chest rose and fell as he breathed, noticed that the moonlight illuminated his face in such a way that Draco looked like an angel, a beautiful broken angel, and when Ginny awoke her heart was filled with a longing, deeper than the one that she had ever felt for Harry.

"What the- Ginny look at this!"

She quickly snapped out of her trance and stared at the Daily Prophet Ron was now waving frantically in his hands. There on the front page was none other than Draco Malfoy himself, looking less like an angel than ever. The older boy was dressed in his freshly pressed Hogwarts robes; his eyes were icy and unreadable as they sneered out of the picture at Ginny, whose heart had already skipped several beats.

"Listen to this! Listen!" Ron bounced up and down in his chair, ignoring his sister's look of dismay; it had been so long since she had seen that face anywhere else but her dreams.

"Are the Malfoys too good for Hogwarts? Today Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco Malfoy claimed that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is no longer capable of teaching its students and that his son (Draco, 17) would be spending his last year of schooling at Durmstrang..."

Ron continued but Ginny could no longer hear him, blood was rushing in her ears and spots of light danced tauntingly in front of her weary brown eyes. Slowly the Burrow's cosy kitchen started to fade away, and Ginny found herself slipping into a smothering darkness. She tried to grip the table but it was no use, her chair legs seemed to be giving way and now she was falling, faster and faster into the nothingness.

When she awoke Ginny found that she was no longer in the Burrow. It was gloomy and dim, but she could make out the thick walls and bars surrounding her. She looked down at the floor that she was lying on; cold stone stared up back at her. She suddenly realized how little she was wearing and how cold it now seemed to be on this beautiful summer morning. Curling her toes in an attempt to keep her bare feet warm, she hastily did up all the buttons on Charlie's old shirt, right to the top.

Just in case, she told herself. But before Ginny could ponder on where she was a warm light began to illuminate her unexpected surroundings. She was indeed in some sort of cell or dungeon, but that much could be told from the stone floor and barred walls. No, what shocked Ginny was the familiar pale boy crumpled in a black mass before her. Dirty robes swamped his slender naked body and hung loosely off of a pair of strong trembling shoulders, the thin black material slid to a stop halfway down his arms. From where Ginny was sitting she could see a crop of messy silver hair, it was fairly long and a few spidery locks curled down his muscular neck. Draco Malfoy's body was shaking with silent sobs of suffering; one of his hands moved up to his head and curled its fingers into his dirty hair whilst the other beat the floor in a clenched fist. He lay still for a moment, noticing the light in the room for the first time. Ginny's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a gasp as his head turned in her direction. The boy's normally piercing grey eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed, and although they were usually unreadable, she could now see that they screamed out loss and desperation. They were shadowed with large blue circles from sleepless nights and his beautiful chiseled face was now gaunt and hollow. Yet he was still stunning in a sad and tender way, and as she watched the silent tears run down Draco's cheeks she couldn't help but reach out as if to stroke his bowed silvery head. But before Ginny could touch the weeping boy a door was flung open and more light filled the lingering darkness beyond the bars. Hurriedly she scrambled away and into the safety of a poorly lit corner. Draco's head snapped up, the tears had stopped and his look of anguish was instantly replaced with fury. The older boy's eyes darkened to black and he leapt from the floor to the bars, gripping them tightly with his shaking pale hands. The lights flickered slightly and shadows flew across the walls.

"I know you're here," spat Draco, banging one of his fists against the metal bars.

His voice was filled with acrimony that Ginny didn't remember him having, and gradually she realized that it frightened her. It was acrimony full of hatred, full of rage and frenzy. Clutching her knees, she lent back in her corner, pressing herself as far against the wall as possible. She held her breath and watched as a hooded figure stalked confidently into the room and stopped in front of the bars, facing the seething young man that was Draco. Ginny shivered as a new kind of coldness filled the room, one of the torches extinguished itself, even though it had been ablaze only a minute or so.

"Draco," hissed the voice.

A wave of ice washed over Ginny as the name and voice both ran through her body. She watched on in horror as Draco threw back his head and let out a long chilling howl. He banged his fists and thrust his hands through the bars, clawing at the hooded man on the other side. The stranger didn't flinch at the boy's outburst, or when he struggled to get to him, he merely stood where he was and drew a long, rattling breath. Ginny shook and clasped her hands tighter round her knees as she watched Draco scream again and tear out frantically at the other man. The scream wasn't one of pain; it was fuelled by pure anger and loathing, a hatred that Ginny had never witnessed before.

"You killed her!" he shouted. "You killed her and now she's never coming back. I needed her! YOU MONSTER...how could you? How could you..."

Draco's body slid to the floor and shook with loud heart wrenching sobs; he buried his face in his hands and wept freely in front of the other man. Ginny allowed a tear to slip down a freckled cheek before wiping it quickly away. Someone's dead? She stared at the boy on the floor as he weakly lifted his fists and dropped them back down again. Then suddenly the man spoke, and again, an icy chill washed over Ginny's body.

"Did you love her, Draco?" he whispered, a cloud of vapour formed in the air around his mouth as the visitor struggled to suck in the stale atmosphere.

The boy looked up at the man and unleashed a hysterical laugh.

"What would you know about love?" He laughed again and shook his head in disgust. The visitor didn't reply. "I won't do it," whispered Draco, who stood once again and walked slowly to the barred walls. He looked up at the hooded man. "I won't do it." This time he was louder, this time there was a frightening determination in his voice.

"You fool," rasped the man. "You think you have a choice?"

Draco looked away uncertainly, but only for a moment before he snapped his head back and snarled through the bars,

"I have to be willing! You said it yourself; I have to allow you to enter my body and I won't do it," he spat at the man with revulsion and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "I will never do it! You hear me? NEVER."

But at this point Ginny's eyes were no longer on the shouting Draco, they had moved nervously to the hooded man in front of him, and she watched on in horror as he lifted one skeletal hand up to the rim of his hood. Draco too had stopped shouting and stared daringly at the man as he slowly pulled back the dark covering, revealing his identity. Ginny couldn't breathe, she couldn't shout or yell or cry out. She simply looked in terror, scrambling up the wall in her haste to get up, to get away from this man and the things he had now begun to say in that horrible chilling voice. What does he mean? No, stop saying those things. STOP IT. Her chest heaved and fell as her heartbeat quickened and she stared wildly around as her surroundings began to blur and Draco Malfoy quickly became a mass of black and silver. No...no, it can't be, it isn't true. Draco...