To Say Goodbye

Chapter 8

Draco's eyes were absolutely livid as Harry casually wandered into the infirmary with the two Professors.

"Oh, Miss Weasley!" Lupin chattered gleefully.

"It's about time you decided to wake," Snape said in a slate tone as he eyed Harry and Draco's expressions suspiciously.

As they reached the side of the infirmary bed, Draco and Abigail moved so the Professors could get a good look at Ginny. Harry, however, remained hidden behind Professor Lupin, purposely avoiding Draco's fierce glare.

"I almost thought Professor Snape's potion didn't work," Lupin continued while he shined a light into Ginny's bleary eyes. "But, I knew I could count on you, Serverus!"

Professor Snape skillfully avoided Lupin's playful punch and glowered profusely as he began to mix another potion.

Lupin laughed heartily and clapped Harry on the back. "Harry, aren't you excited to see your little girlfriend awake again?"

Harry felt his cheeks redden at Lupin's comment, but nodded weakly in reply. Draco shot Harry (and Lupin for acting like he was three) a disgusted glare and moved his dark furious eyes towards Abigail who was casting him a look of utter annoyance.

"Well?" Lupin asked, almost nervously at Harry's response.

"Oh," Harry began, then blushed, "yeah, I'm really excited."

Ginny grinned from ear to ear and blushed the classic Weasley red as Harry gave her a genuine warm smile of his own. Draco, of course, felt like he was on the verge of throwing up what little he had eaten.

Abigail nudged Draco and glared. Even though she didn't look nearly as disgusted as Draco did, she felt it. Yet she wasn't the one physically objecting with a series of hideous facial expressions.

"What?" Draco asked awkwardly once he noticed the Professor's shocked faces. Abigail had to turn her head away to keep from giggling and Ginny simply shook her head.

"Anyway," Snape's cold voice broke through the abrupt silence, "Potter, it would probably be best if you didn't over work Miss Weasley with your...cheeky emotions."

Harry nodded absentmindedly, still gazing at Ginny. Draco figured the only reason Snape was being somewhat polite was because he was around another teacher. Even if was only Professor Lupin.

"That's exactly what I was going to say," Lupin told him cheerfully. "Ginny should probably stay in bed until we can find the proper way to cure her."

Ginny shook her head in agreement, though she wondered what Lupin meant by "the proper way to cure her".

"We wouldn't want Miss Weasley up and about, Mr. Potter," Snape added in a cynical tone, "we wouldn't want the poison working its way through Miss Weasley's blood any faster then it already is."

Abigail was watching the infirmary door intently as Professor McGonagall walked hastily in followed closely by Madam Pomfrey. As McGonagall reached the bed she put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Excuse me, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, may I speak to you both for a moment in private?" she asked politely, trying to hide her concern as she glanced over Ginny in her fragile state.

Both Harry and Draco nodded and followed the Professor out of the room and into the hallway. The Professor was wringing her hands as if she was very nervous about something and continued to glance in the direction of the infirmary.

"Something horrible has happened," she began, "something the two of you might want to know."

"What's happened?" Draco asked for he wasn't sure what the professor would know that could affect the both of them.

"Professor Dumbledore has called a meeting with all of the teachers to discuss the current events at this school. Those involving Miss Weasley and-,"

"What does this have to do with me? I don't care what happens to Weasley," Draco interrupted a little rudely and then stopped when he noted the Professor's stern glare.

"Miss Weasley is not the only person to have come in contact with the deadly creatures in the forest," McGonagall replied to Draco's comment in a harsh tone.

"The deadly creatures?" Harry asked.

"Yes Mr. Potter, the owl isn't the only evil creature in the forest at this time," the Professor told Harry gravely.

Draco was watching Harry's expressions change, which didn't happen often. Whatever was going on, Harry knew about it.

"What kind of evil creatures?" Draco asked curiously, though he figured he already knew the answer.

"Death Eaters, Mr. Malfoy, a large number of them in fact have invaded our forest."

"I still don't understand how this involves me," Draco began in an annoyed tone, "I'm not a Death Eater, I haven't done anything-,"

"I know Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said, "the reason this involves you is because this also involves Miss Granger."

At the mention of Hermione's name, Draco immediately felt all the blood drain from his face. "What's wrong, what's happened?" Draco tried to speak, but found it hard to breath.

"I'm afraid you must talk with the Headmaster," she replied, pointing in the direction of his office. "He knows much more about this then I do."

Draco set off with out another word towards the Headmaster's office. He faintly heard Harry mutter a goodbye to Professor McGonagall, and then heard his footsteps coming up behind him as if in a run.

Even though Harry was nearly 30 feet behind Draco, Draco noted that when ever he sped up, so did Harry, and whenever he stopped, he did too. Draco walked quickly around the last corner that led to Professor Dumbledore's office and waited for Harry to come ambling around the corner behind him.

Sure enough, a very confused Harry started to wander down the corridor, where Draco was hiding, alone with a dazed look on his face. Without warning, Draco shot out from his hiding place and pinned Harry to the wall.

Harry's terrified emerald eyes met Draco's fierce steel gray eyes. Draco's grip on Harry's cloak was so tight; they had turned a crisp white. "What have you done to Hermione?" he demanded with a venomous scowl.

Harry stared blankly ahead, as if trying to pretend Draco wasn't even there. However, this only aggravated Draco even more.

"Potter," Draco growled, his grip on Harry's cloak getting tighter and tighter. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to ripping Harry to pieces.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Harry now spat.

Draco dropped Harry and pushed him back into the wall, "I think you know bloody well what I'm talking about," Draco shouted back. "Now, tell me what you did to Hermione!"

"I didn't do a thing," Harry answered honestly, "I only told them where they could find her."

"WHAT?!" Draco screamed. "You told who!? What did they want with her!?"

"Who do you think I told!?" Harry screamed back as Draco started his frantic pacing.

Draco stopped and stared at Harry with a pure hatred, "You didn't tell the Death Eaters...Potter...If you told the Death-,"

"Blood hell, Malfoy," Harry shouted, "you can't do anything to me! Your father would ring your neck! Besides, at least I'm doing my part of the deal!"

"Your part of the deal?!" Draco cried. "Harry, do you really think my father is going to bring your parents back?"

"He promised-,"

"Promises don't mean a thing to my father, Potter!" Draco yelled while nearly ripping his perfect hair out. "There is absolutely no way to bring the dead back to life!"

"Then how did they bring Voldemort back, Malfoy! Explain that!" Harry cried as his eyes started filling with tears.

"Voldemort was never really dead, Potter," Draco replied calmly, "you never really killed him.

Harry chocked back his tears, "What do you mean?"

"You never really killed him, you only shot his powers," Draco continued as the stairs to Dumbledore's office slowly started to spin down. "You can't kill evil."

~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*

"What was that?" Sirius asked quietly as he and Ron stared in the direction of the entrance of the cave.

"I don't know," Ron replied, "sounded like a scream."

Sirius nodded his head in agreement and put his bonfire out with his wand. "Should we go look?" Ron asked with a shaky voice as fear was beginning to settle in on him.

"We should probably wait a bit and listen," Sirius told him as he began to skim down the side of the cave.

Sirius and Ron walked as quietly as they possibly could, listening to every sound that ran past their ears. As they started to close in on the entrance, both men felt an unwelcome breeze of terror.

Lying in the middle of the forest floor, right outside of Sirius's cave, was a wand. Ron, having seen it a million times, immediately dashed out of the cave to get it. Sirius, however, grabbed his shirt and shot him a look of sheer irritation.

"Wait," he growled. Ron fell back cowardly behind Sirius in response.

Moments later, an enormous owl dove down from the trees above and snatched the wand from the forest floor as if it were it's prey. The owl's blaring orange eyes suddenly turned and stared directly at Ron.

Sirius heard Ron take in a sharp breath and nearly crumble to the dusty cave floor. When he looked back at the metallic looking owl he found that it was no longer there.

Ron looked up at Sirius and pulled himself up.

"What was that all about?" Sirius asked as he helped Ron dust off.

"That owl was creepy," Ron replied casually.

"Creepy enough to knock you to the floor?" Sirius mocked disbelievingly.

"Did you see it's eyes?!" Ron cried. "They were huge and orange!"

Sirius stared curiously at Ron, "Er...Yeah."

"That thing looked at me, Sirius! It looked right into my eyes!" Ron continued in a panicky tone.

"Well," Sirius began as he started walking out of his cave, "did you feel anything?"

"Feel anything?" Ron repeated. "Actually, I did feel a little light headed for a little while."

"I see," Sirius replied while he started shifting through the fallen leaves.

"Does that mean anything?" Ron asked.

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On whatever connection you have with that owl," Sirius responded.

Ron thought hard for a moment, yet was unable to come up with anything. Sirius meanwhile, had stopped shifting through the leaves and was observing something he had found.

"That wand the owl took," Sirius began, "whose wand was that?"

"Hermione's," Ron replied.

"That's what I thought," Sirius shook his head.

"What did you find?"

Sirius held up what confirmed Ron's fears. "There are Death Eaters in the woods, Ron. And I think they've got Hermione."

~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*

Hermione sat; completely engrossed in the book Mr. Malfoy had given her to read. She was finding this book to be truly fascinating, yet whenever she started to really fall into the book she would be interrupted. Twiky had come to visit Hermione a few times during the day, and would always tell her to be careful because she was being watched.

Hermione figured this was probably true. Mr. Malfoy probably had hundreds of little charms put on her room so he could watch her every movement. In a way, this knowledge frightened her, but at the same time it made her feel like something good just might come from it. What though, she didn't know.

Hermione tentatively turned the page of the book, "Magical Beasts and Mystical Beings", all the while wondering why Mr. Malfoy had suggest she read it. She had just started to read about Demiguise when, yet again, she heard a light tap on the door to her dungeon room. Absentmindedly she muttered, "Come in..." and Twiky scurried in quickly.

"Misses! Misses, the master wants to speak with you rights away!" Twiky cried cowardly.

Hermione placed the book on the bed and glanced at Twiky with concern. "Is there something wrong, Twiky?"

"Oh yes!" she cried, "Master is very upset!"

"Why? What's wrong?" Hermione asked as she put on her school robe.

"I don'ts know, Misses," Twiky cringed, looking over her shoulder with a terrified glance. "I thinks it has to do withs young Master Malfoy, Misses!"

"Draco?"

"Yes, Misses, we must go now!" Twiky told her as she made frantic movements towards the door. "Just follows me!"

Without another word, Hermione followed Twiky up several flights of stairs and down several twisty corridors. As they marched rapidly down every hallway, Hermione took her time to stare at random family portraits and the obscure statues that stood in the corners of each hallway.

For some reason, whenever one of the paintings would look at her with disgust she would just grin and try not to laugh. She was surprised to find that even as a painting, the Malfoy's could still detect her blood.

Twiky was constantly glimpsing at Hermione as she literally ran down the hallway towards wherever Lucius was hiding. Finally, after what seemed like a decade of endless wandering they reached a large maple wood door. Twiky stepped off to the side and ran her finger along the edge of the door and then waited patiently.

"This is where's I leaves you Miss," Twiky told her calmly as she wrung her hands fretfully.

Hermione nodded and took a deep breath. She had a feeling that whatever this meeting was about, it probably wasn't going to be good.

~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*~'*

Ginny lay alone in the Infirmary once Professor Snape and Lupin both left. Abigail had left only moments ago to eat dinner, and then promised she would be back. Ginny had found Abigail's company to be highly amusing. Apparently she had a tiny crush on Ginny's brother and couldn't resist getting to know everything about him through her.

Ginny had felt safe sitting with the Professors and Abigail, and even somewhat with Draco, yet now she felt uneasy lying next to an open window that overlooked the Forbidden Forest.

She wished someone, anyone, would come in and sit with her just until she fell asleep. She had a particular person on her mind, Harry, yet knew he was probably eating dinner in the Great Hall. So Ginny sighed and gazed out the window, delicately scanning the edge of the Forbidden Forest for any movement.

"Ginny, are you awake?" Ron's voice rang from the infirmary door.

Ginny immediately snapped her head in his direction and felt her face lighten as he nearly ran in her direction.

"Yes, Ron, I'm awake," she answered him.

Once he got closer, Ginny saw the dread that was etched across his face. "Ron, is everything alright?"

"No," he replied while he gasped for air. He had ran from Sirius's cave in the middle of the forest to the infirmary to check on his sister. "There are Death Eaters in the forest," he continued in a whisper.

"Death Eaters?" Ginny repeated.

"Yes, and they've got Hermione," he told her with a slight quiver in his voice.

"They've got...how?!" she asked him in frustration. "I thought she was supposed to stay with you!"

"I know, she only left my sight for a moment and then she was gone."

"So you didn't see it happen?" she asked slowly.

"No," Ron replied, "but Sirius and I reckon they ambushed her from outside his cave."

"Oh dear," Ginny breathed as she stared at the end of her bed.

"I know, but don't worry, we'll-,"

"Ron, shut up," Ginny hissed, her eyes still locked on the end of her bed.

Ron followed her gaze to see what she was staring at and nearly fell over when he realized there was the abnormally large owl with enormous orange eyes casually sitting at the end of her bed.

Both Ron and Ginny stared at the owl for a moment, waiting for it to attack or just move period. However, the owl remained motionless, it's eyes locked with Ginny's.

"What do you think it wants?" Ron whispered to Ginny.

"It has something for me," she replied in a voice that didn't seem like it belonged to her. Ginny then started to reach out towards the owl's outstretched leg where there was a silver necklace laced around a rolled up piece of parchment.

"Ginny, no!" Ron cried as he tried to stop his sister. Yet Ginny was too fast for him. Her hand clasped the silver necklace and she took in a sharp breath. There was a flash of silver light and Ginny was gone.

Ron stepped back in shock. His sister was no longer sitting in the bed and the owl had disappeared with her. He thought carefully for a moment. Surely there was something in "Hogwarts, a History" that prohibited the use of portkeys on school grounds? Though even if there wasn't, where did his sister go?

He noticed that where once his sister and the owl were, was now empty except for a small roll of parchment. Ron grasped it quickly and ripped it open.

Two down...One to go...

In the next chapter- We find out where Ginny is. Hermione fights with Lucius. An end

for one. Draco and Harry leave for Malfoy Manor.

In the future chapters- Hermione/Draco "action", and a death.