Hope and Fear

Part 2 A Family Talk

***

Dark shadows broken by thin lines of sunlight fell across three silent figures in a small hotel room. Two large forms paced like caged animals while the third sat calmly in a large armchair near the window. He had his fingers folded gracefully before him as he stared patiently through the blinds to the street in front of the Three Broomsticks.

Suddenly three soft knocks came at the door. With a look from the seated figure, the two large shapes pulled out their wands, and went to the door. One hesitated, then gave two soft knocks in return. First one, then two more knocks answered. The large shadow thought for a moment, then knocked one more time.

"Crabbe, Goyle, open the damn door," a female voice hissed from the hall, "Or you'll be crawling around on your bellies and eating live rats for a month!"

A wicked smile crossed the face of the seated form as the door flew open. A shapely young girl slithered into the room and up to the seated figure. She was wearing an expertly cut dress that revealed all her best attributes, a fact that was made stunningly clear as she leaned over the armchair. Crabbe and Goyle shifted uncomfortably as they pretended to look out the window, but the seated form continued to stare impassively down into the street below.

"Draco," the young girl said softly, her voice caressing his ear. "Potter has gone to work in the greenhouses with Longbottom. It looks like they might be a while."

"There is no hurry, Pansy," Draco responded in a calm voice. "Sooner or later he will come to us. Time isn't our problem."

"I know," she purred and ran her hand along the inside of his thigh. "We have plenty of time."

For the first time Draco's eyes left the window and stared at Pansy. They hinted at no expression that she could read. They glowed cold and gray in the half light of the room, like two chunks of ice that had fallen from the glacier of his mind. For an age it seemed he stared into her face, seeing far more of her than that revealing dress showed.

"Crabbe, Goyle, get a table downstairs and keep watch," Draco said in a cold manner. "Let us know if you see anything."

Exchanging looks, Crabbe and Goyle wordlessly left the room.

Draco rose up and stood before her, his eyes still boring into hers. He reached up and brushed her cheek and let his fingers run down her neck to her breast. Shivers ran down her back as he slowly slid his hands down her body.

With a sudden move, he pulled Pansy to him and twisted her arm behind her back almost to the breaking point. She nearly swooned with pleasure as the delightful pain ran up her arm. Teeth tore into her neck and she grabbed his blond hair with her other hand to guide his mouth to hers.

"It was very careless of me to leave this assignment to those two," Draco growled in a voice more vicious than passionate. "Father doesn't allow failure." Pansy's skin tingled where his breath hit her skin, causing her body to tremble with anticipation. "You're going to be the death of me yet." With two swift motions of his free hand, Pansy's dress fell in tatters to the floor.

***

After hours brushing and tending his furry ferns, Harry headed to the Owlery. Not without trepidation, he sent Hedwig on her way with a hastily written letter. Later, he entered the Common Room and found Ginny sitting in one of the high backed armchairs. She sat staring into the fire, biting her lip and twisting her wand in a nervous manner. His smile faded as he walked over to her.

"Hi Ginny, are you busy tonight?" he asked, kissing her softly.

"Sort of, I need to talk to Ron. Dean and Seamus thought you might know where he is," she said, trying to smile.

Harry's green eyes narrowed with concern. "Is something wrong?"

"It's just family stuff, but I wanted to talk to him now," Ginny replied. Her attempt at a calm exterior might have fooled others, but to Harry it was obviously false.

With considerable effort Harry kept his face impassive. This wasn't like Ginny, unlike her brothers she didn't keep that many secrets from other students, especially him. "Is she concerned about me becoming an Auror," and then with a sinking feeling he thought "or is she having second thoughts about us?"

"Is it something I can help you with?" he asked, taking her hand.

She looked up at him with such longing that any thought of them breaking up left his mind and his heart rate began to return to normal. "I really do want to discuss it with you, but I have to check with Ron first," she sighed.

"Um... well OK," he said, still a little worried.

"But Ron and Hermione seemed to have disappeared, not even Dean and Seamus know where they are." She looked up at him and found a sly smile crossing his face. "Do you know where they are?"

Harry's heart lightened a little. He might be able to cheer her up after all. "I was planning to show you later anyway." He smiled in spite of himself. He had been looking forward to sharing this with Ginny. "It's a really big secret."

Ginny looked a little better as curiosity overcame her. "What is?"

"I'll have to show you," he said, a twinkle in his eyes.

***

Harry led her not to some isolated corner of the grounds, but to the fourth floor corridor in the middle of the castle. A group of fifth year girls passed them, giving Harry a few sideways looks that made Ginny a little jealous. To her surprise, Harry did something she had never seen him do in all the time she had known him. He stopped in front of the mirror to check his tie and his hair. When the girls had rounded the corner Ginny was just about to make a comment about him preening for his fans when he suddenly touched three stones in the frame of the mirror. To her surprise, the glass quickly slid to one side. He hurried inside, pulling her with him. The glass slid shut and looking back, she saw that it was a one way mirror. They could see out, but no one could see in. Harry hesitated a moment, looking into the hallway to make sure no one had seen them come in.

Ginny looked around and found herself in a narrow passage lined with candle scones. "I must have passed this mirror a thousand times. I had no idea there was a secret door behind it."

"Not even Filch knows about it," he said triumphantly.

"Where does it lead?" she asked

"Well, once it led to Hogsmeade," he said as they made their way down the twisted and steeply sloping tunnel. "But there was a cave in quite a while back. Over the past year or so we've been modifying it for other uses." They reached the end of the passage "During the last couple of months we've really been working hard on it."

Ginny was looking at a large wooden door that completely blocked the tunnel. On the door was a small brass knocker and on the ground in front of it was an old doormat that read, "Welcome." Harry gave the knocker two quick raps and said, "It's Harry, are you busy?"

A moment later she heard Ron's voice as he opened the door "No, we were just going over our charms notes. We could... oh hello, Ginny."

Ginny couldn't believe what she saw as she looked behind her brother. Past the doorway the tunnel had been widened into a chamber. It looked only fifteen feet or so wide, but at least forty feet long. Running down the center of this long room were a number of wooden columns that stretched from floor to ceiling. A comfortable fire was blazing in a fireplace carved into the wall of the chamber. In front of the fireplace two old armchairs, one with a sleeping ginger cat in it, sat on a slightly tattered rug. Between the armchairs stood a small table with a chess board set up on it. In the back of the room lay a large four poster bed and a couple of night tables that looked like they might have come out of one of the dormitory rooms. In the front of the apartment Hermione sat behind a large wooden dining table piled high with books and notes, with four mismatched chairs around it.

"Ginny! Hi, come in," Hermione said, getting up and ushering her to the table. She had on a baggy pair of pants and Ron's maroon sweater and socks. "Let me make us some room." She picked up a large pile of books from the table and handed them to Ron who had just closed the door.

While Ron and Hermione cleared the table of their work, Ginny had a better look around. Displayed above the fireplace was a Gryffindor flag with crossed beater bats over it. A muggle picture of the Grangers and a wizard photo of the Weasley clan sat on the mantle place. On the opposite wall a elaborate wizard phonograph sat among a large pile of records. Ron and Hermione were putting their school books up on a bookshelf which was almost full already. Stretching lazily, Crookshanks hopped down from the armchair and strode over to rub against Ginny's leg.

"How about some tea?" Hermione asked, as she placed a vase with a bunch of flowers on the table.

"Great," Ginny stammered, not sure how to act in this strange situation.

Ron busied himself with a kettle while Hermione set the table with a set of chipped cups and saucers. Whenever they passed close to each other they would exchange a peck on the cheek or kiss on the head. Ginny didn't know whether to feel jealous or nauseous.

"You caught us a little unawares. All we have to go with it is some fruitcake, is that OK?" Ron asked.

"I love fruitcake, don't you?" Ginny turned to see Harry shaking with silent laughter, his hand over his mouth. She gave him a swat on the arm and finally asked, "All right what's going on, how did you get this place?"

"We call it the Uncommon Room, " Harry said, still chuckling, "and I told you it was a tunnel that led to Hogsmeade."

"Fred and George found out about it when they stole the Marauders Map from Filch," Ron put in, cutting the fruitcake.

"But not long after they found it, most of the tunnel caved in," Harry continued, helping himself to tea. "After I got the map, I checked it out and found that part of the tunnel was still there, it just didn't go anywhere."

"Yes, but this isn't a tunnel anymore, and the beams and the fireplace, you couldn't have done all that even with magic," Ginny said as a cup and saucer was handed to her.

Ron handed her a piece of cake and smiled. "Well, we didn't do it all at once, and we didn't do it alone."

"In my fifth year I asked Dobby to come down and see if he thought the tunnel could be cleared," Harry said, offering her the milk. "He said that the rest of the tunnel all the way to Hogsmeade was blocked with rubble, but that he could add beams, widen, and magically strengthen the rest of the passage. He and some of his free elf friends worked on it for over a year. Even I was surprised when I found out that they had carved a fireplace and connected the chimney to the ones for the castle. You know Dobby, he never does anything halfway."

"Wouldn't take a bronze knut for it, but Harry has gotten them out of a few jams with the Ministry since then, I think," Ron said over his tea cup. "And then we kind of forgot about it for a while. Until we told Hermione about it a couple of months ago."

"I thought that since we have our own secret chamber, why not get some good use out of it," Hermione said, saving the milk from Crookshanks, who had jumped into her lap. "I picked up some very nice secondhand things in town and transfigured them to smuggle them in here."

"I had to do a detention with Filch in the school storeroom once, so I knew where they keep the spare beds and tables," Ron crowed triumphantly.

"Ron, you stole one of the school's beds!" Ginny said, more shocked than surprised. Hermione cleared her throat and gave Ron a dark look.

"As I've already told Hermione, these are Hogwarts beds and they are still in Hogwarts castle. We haven't taken them anywhere," Ron said defensively.

"But they don't know where they are!" Hermione shot back.

"Which makes them misplaced, not stolen," Ron replied.

He set his tea cup down and put on the sly smile he saved just for her. "I could take it back if you really, really want me to," he purred, and ran his finger over her arm and traced a small circle on the inside of her elbow.

Hermione gazed up with a hungry look in her eyes and whispered "Stop it, we have company."

Ron took his hand back but still had that smile on his face.

"I hate to be the one to tell you, but it might not be as lost as you think," Ginny said, wanting to distract Ron.

"What do you mean?" Ron looked away from Hermione, serious again.

"I had a run in with Snape, and while telling me off for sneaking out with Harry, he let it slip that Professor Dumbledore knows about almost every little romantic get together in the school." Ron and Hermione looked at each other. "I don't think you have anything to worry about from Dumbledore, and I don't think he has told any of the other teachers or they would have closed this place up."

They all sat in silence for a moment until Ron spat, "Snape, how I would like to curse the living daylights out ..." Hermione placed her hand on his arm.

"We need him Ron," Harry said with a grim look on his face. "So how much trouble are you and I in?"

"Oh, he, uh, took a few points and yelled a lot. That's all," she said, adding milk to her tea to avoid looking at him.

"He didn't give you detention or anything? Snape is going soft," Ron chuckled.

"No, not really," she said in a small voice. "Harry, I need to talk to Ron in private about some family issues." She bit her lower lip and looked at her tea cup. The room went silent.

Harry took her hand. "I knew something was wrong. Can I help?"

"I just need to talk it out with Ron," she replied, kissing his hand.

Harry wasn't satisfied with that answer, but knew better than to press the issue. "How about we get something to eat when you're done? I haven't had lunch yet," he replied, with a smile that probably didn't fool anyone. "Come on Hermione, let's go help Dean and Seamus before they borrow Fang to hunt you down."

Hermione, who had gotten out of the habit of hiding what she felt, still looked very concerned as she got up. "I'll see you later," she said, touching Ginny's arm.

As soon as the door closed Ron looked at Ginny. "What happened, what did Snape do?"

"Snape told me something and I've been so scared. It's about Harry so I couldn't talk to him," she hugged her brother, but was still unable to let her feelings out. "Oh Ron, I shouldn't be worrying you with this."

"What did he say?" Ron looked at her tenderly, trying to reassure her.

"Well, when I talked to him, it wasn't just to punish me, he also wanted to warn me," she gasped softly.

"Warn you about what?" he asked suddenly confused.

"He said he believes," her voice dropped to a whisper, "that no matter what we do, Harry is going to be killed very soon."

Ron grew immediately angry. "Well, that was really kind of him, wasn't it," he growled.

"No, Ron, don't," she said quickly. "He really thought he was doing the right thing."

Ron's face softened a little. "Ginny, you can't listen to Snape, you know how he is."

"You weren't there, it was really scary. He's worried about Harry, he's worried about what could happen after Harry is gone."

She closed her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. "I want you to forget that I am your sister, forget that I love Harry and tell me the truth. With everything that has been happening, is he ..."

"Ginny I can't just..." he tried to say, but she cut him off.

"Please, Ron, you are his best friend, you're closer to him than anyone. You've been in on most of his dealings with Riddle since your first year. Who would know how close he has come to it if not you." Terror sized her as she tried to finish her sentence. "Honestly, is Harry likely to die?"

Ron got up and turned to look at the fire, running his fingers through his red hair. "Honestly, I don't know," he said taking a deep breath. Ginny looked away afraid of what she might hear next. "But I don't think so."

She realized that she hadn't been breathing, and finally exhaled all of her anxiety. "Really!"

"Yeah," he smiled at her. "If you had asked me in our fifth or sixth years, I might have said something different, I was really scared for him then, but now, I just don't see it happening." He sat back down and pulled his chair close to hers. "Think about all the times that he's nearly snuffed it, Quirrell, the Basilisk , Riddle, the dementors, the Ministry, the Deatheaters. Every time something goes wrong he has managed to pull something out of the hat."

"Like a thousand year old sword," she smiled.

"Exactly, how could anyone kill someone who can do that?" he smiled back at her. "At some point I just had to let all that worry go and just let what was going to happen, happen.

Relief flowed over and she gave a little laugh even as tears streamed down her cheeks. Ron laughed with her and reached up to wipe her tears away. "Silly Snape," she chuckled in an embarrassed way. "And silly me for listening to him."

"Let's just forget about it." Ron pulled her up and guided her to the door. "Now, how about we treat Harry and Hermione to a late lunch in town?"

"Treat them to lunch with what?" Ginny asked.

"Good point, we'll get them to treat us."

***

Next: Part 3 Assassin

***

1