Slytherin Forever! Book One: Blood Ties

~*~

Chapter Seven: Judgement

~*~

Shot in his eyes, a silver sky,

His blood is in my hand (in my hand)

I felt his worn, I know he's died

But now I'm feeling so strange

- The Secret, Lacuna Coil.

~*~

A week later Ginny found herself in the middle of a meeting at breakfast. The note for the Dueling Club had been put up on the notice board, leaving them to discuss their tactics for that evening.

"I think that Lockhart will pick Potter because they are so much alike," Marita was saying. "They are, after all, equally stupid."

"Potter is a bit smarter than Lockhart," Dev drawled. "He would not wear robes with a purple color."

"He would!" Alisha replied. "Potter is the embodiment of stupidness, Dev, no matter what you say."

"Can we get to the point?"

Kelly was obviously irritated by the constant bickering by the first-years, making her voice sound more aggravated than usual. Zeynep smiled at her and said:

"We have got a brilliant plan. Nothing will go wrong, trust me. Snape will pick Draco to duel and Lockhart will pick Potter. After a couple of friendly spells Draco will use the Serpent Conjuring spell to reveal Potter's true nature. As you know every spell except for the Unforgivables is allowed with Dueling so nobody shall be surprised."

"We need to set the snake on a student," Ginny added. "Potter's good heart will save the student, but with that action he betrays himself."

"Lockhart will try to get rid of it," Natalya said while chewing on a strand of her hair. "We don't set the snake on a student, but he will."

"There is no spell for that!" Verice exclaimed softly. "Our plan is not going to work at all, is it?"

"But there is a spell for altering the direction of spells," Zeynep replied. "I know which, so I will do the honors. Is everything clear?"

The rest of the group nodded and continued eating. After breakfast they went to their classes, but they could not get their mind off their brilliant plan. This resulted in very bad Transfiguration results and a certain lack of focus in Charms, which led to a couple of accidents.

At eight o'clock that evening the Slytherins made their way down to the Great Hall again, together with the majority of the other Houses. They elbowed their way to the front of the crowd and placed themselves in a good position, Zeynep standing slightly aside because of the spell he had to use later on.

Gilderoy Lockhart walked onto the stage looking very stupid in deep plum robes a couple of minutes later, with Snape (who was wearing his usual black robes) in tow. After a moment of introduction by Lockhart Ginny started to lose attention, until Natalya nudged her with her elbow because Lockhart had announced that he would duel with Snape.

Snape used a simple Disarming spell, sending Lockhart off the stage to slam into the wall. Ginny cheered along with the other Slytherins and noticed that Alisha had dissolved into fits of giggles. Lockhart got onto his feet and made a comment that implied that he had known what spell Snape would be using all along. Dev snorted in disbelief, as did Marita, and Ginny wasn't surprised to see that most of the students present were hiding a grin.

Snape and Lockhart then moved through the crowd, putting people into pairs. Snape reached the group of Slytherins and smiled shortly before he paired them all up. Ginny was paired with Natalya, but Draco was whisked off to face Potter.

"One, two, three!"

As Lockhart gave the start signal Ginny raised her wand and so did Natalya. Ginny was a bit faster, sending Natalya off her feet with a flash of scarlet light. Natalya grabbed her wand that was lying on the floor and pointed her wand at Ginny; who found herself lying flat on her back a moment later. They looked around and saw Dev helping a shaken Marita to her feet while Verice came flying past thanks to a very powerful Disarming spell by Zeynep.

A haze of greenish smoke hovered over the students as Lockhart called for a stop. Ginny got to her feet quite unsteadily and picked her wand up from the floor. Then the moment came, the moment the Slytherin group had been waiting for...

Lockhart gestured for Draco and Potter to step forward to the middle of the Hall and the crowd backed away to give them room. Zeynep made his way to the front of the crowd to stand next to Natalya, who was still rubbing her sore back. Lockhart counted down to one and the Duel began...

"Tarantellegra!"

Potter shouted, making Draco do a kind of quick-step. Draco, however, sneered at Potter and whispered:

"Rictusempra!"

Potter started to laugh, but soon used the Disarming spell. But Draco held on to his wand tightly and curled his upper lip before exclaiming:

"Serpensortia!"

A black snake fell onto the floor, causing the other students to scream and back away. Ginny did not do anything of the sort and stood her ground, as did the other Slytherins who knew about the plan.

"Allow me!"

Lockhart shouted and brandished his wand at the snake but Zeynep whispered a spell under his breath and pointed his wand at Lockhart's wand before the snake was hit by the spell. The snake flew up into the air and landed in front of a Hufflepuff second year. Potter started to hiss at the snake and it slumped down onto the floor.

Ginny smiled at Zeynep, who smiled back and gestured at the stunned faces of everyone else as Ginny's brother and Hermione Granger pulled Potter out of the Hall. Verice muttered something about a succeeded mission before she led the way out of the Hall. Ginny was soon talking animatedly with Draco and Natalya about their success; whereas Zeynep was positively beaming and gave ten points to Gryffindor because of a witty comment Oliver Wood made.

The next morning, however, was a very gloomy day. To Draco's utter joy the Herbology lesson had been cancelled thanks to a blizzard raging on the school grounds. But the weather also had other consequences, and Ginny headed down to the Hospital Wing once more for a strong medicine. She decided to stay in bed for the rest of the day and decided to write in her diary. When she was describing the events of last night to Tom she suddenly heard a voice say:

"Filthy blood... let me rip, let me tear, let me kill..."

She blinked as she sat up straight and looked around the empty dorm. As she heard the voice again she got up and ran towards the common room. She pulled her wand out and got out of the common room, following the voice as she went. A very haggard looking Kelly stopped her at a corner but she brushed the sixth year away with an excuse and made her way up to the third floor.

"Where are you?"

Ginny was pleased to hear that her voice did not tremble at all as she asked it out loud. Suddenly she found that her legs would not move anymore... as if someone was controlling her movements...

"Be quiet," another voice hissed. It sounded familiar, for some reason, as it continued: "Hide somewhere and don't look if you hear something move."

She hid behind a statue of Wendolin the Weird as the voice whispered something in her mind. When it had finished speaking Ginny hissed:

"Come... come and kill this time... my servant..."

She heard footsteps and two voices come closer as she slid down behind the statue with her eyes firmly shut. She heard a giant thing slither inside of the walls and then all was quiet.

"Now get out of here!" the voice shouted in her mind. "Out, now!"

Ginny was more than happy to oblige and did not look back at all as she ran towards the dorm. If she had a very strange sight would have greeted her, namely a boy lying on the floor and a no longer transparent ghost floating in mid-air beside him...

"What is happening to me?" she asked out loud as she got into bed. "What is going on here?"

Everything remained silent and Ginny picked her diary up. Before she could start to write in it, however, her eyes turned red. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, but Ginny was freaked out all the same.

"Has this happened before?"

Deep inside she knew the answer, and it did not please her at all for she feared that she had something to do with the attacks. She put the diary down and closed her eyes as she whispered:

"With Halloween I was right here in the dorm writing to Tom and I must have fallen asleep because I cannot remember anything else. When Colin Creevey was attacked I was in the common room writing to Tom but I don't remember everything that happened that night."

She sat up straight and looked at the diary in disbelief. Slowly, shaking her head as she did so, she picked it up again and said:

"It can't be. Tom cannot be forcing me to do all this. Or can he? Let's face it, I was writing to him every time when an attack took place and I was writing to him just now as well. If there has been another person attacked today I will get rid of the diary."

Satisfied with her own logic, she opened the diary and started to write in it even though she did not trust it completely. It was time for a confronting chat...

Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!

Calm down, little one. What makes you think that you could be attacking the students?

Like I said before, I don't know where I was on Halloween. I don't really know where I was with the attack on Creevey either...

You were in the dorm on Halloween and in the common room on the day of the attack on Creevey. You were writing to me.

How do you know that? Didn't I keep quiet for a while?

No, you didn't.

That's where you are wrong, Tom. I fell asleep on Halloween while writing to you and I didn't write to you that much during the party in the common room. I am attacking everyone here; I know it! I want you to stop lying to me and I want you to tell me that I have been attacking everyone all along!

Tom kept quiet, as Ginny had expected but hadn't hoped he would. It proved guilt. And as she was lying there with tears threatening to roll down her cheeks the door slammed open and her friends came in.

"There has been another attack!"

Ginny turned her head in Alisha's direction as the blonde Slytherin slumped down on her bed. The other girls seated themselves as well and Natalya whispered:

"I thought that Potter would not try it anymore. And yet there he was, caught in the act and looking as guilty as charged. After the Dueling Club I thought..."

She did not finish her sentence but everyone knew what she meant. They had thought that after the Duel Potter would keep quiet and would not attack anyone.

"Who was attacked this time?" Ginny asked. "A Gryffindor again?"

"No, it was a Hufflepuff going by the name Justin Finch-Fletchly," Dev replied. "He was the boy from the Dueling Club, the one that almost got attacked by the snake."

"And the weirdest thing was that Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost, was floating beside him in mid-air. He was not transparent, but as black as the night..."

As Marita added this information Ginny groaned and closed her diary. Natalya watched her with concern as Ginny got up and started to walk around the room like a caged animal.

"Was it really Potter?" she asked suddenly. After nods of confirmation she continued: "Isn't it possible that Potter was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? What if we have got it all wrong and somebody else is Petrifying all the students?"

"Caught in the act two times and unconfirmed stay in the Hospital Wing another time?" Alisha asked. "That sounds weird, doesn't it?"

"I guess."

The double attack did not make everyone nervous like before, but this time real panic broke out among the students. It seemed like almost nobody wanted to stay over for Christmas this year, unlike other years when everyone looked forward to the feast meal.

The Prefects were having a hard time with controlling everything. Fights had broken out among students from various Houses, one time so badly that Zeynep started to complain about the bad name given to the Slytherins to anyone who wanted to hear it. His complaints did not help and the fights continued at the same rate until Professor Snape gave two months of detention to a Gryffindor who had insulted one of the Slytherins in Potions.

"We should all just leave school," Blaise Zabini said one morning. "That would be much more relaxing for all of us."

"But not very handy," Tracey Davis (another second year) said thoughtfully. "I don't want to be chased out of school by Gryffindors and some loyal followers of Saint Potter. It would ruin the Slytherin name."

"We don't have a name to hold up anymore," Draco replied. "Thank you, Heir of Slytherin, for you have just made your whole House angry."

"We are not leaving!" Ginny exploded suddenly, making other students look at her in disbelief. "We are going to face this, damn it! And if anyone sitting at this table dares to go home and don't come back I will personally make sure that this person's life is not going to be worth anything!"

"We are Slytherins," Zeynep continued in the same fashion. "We are not going to be brought down by anything the other Houses have to say about us! We stay, we fight, and we are going to win!"

"Heir of Slytherin, beware!" Natalya added. "We are not going to take this any longer! One more attack, one more... and we will make sure that your life will be hell from that moment on!"

"We are Slytherins, united we stand," the other members of their House started to say. "Forgive us for we have done things wrong in the past. Lead us not into temptation, but help us defeat this evil even if it is a member of our own House. We will not stand aside this time. We just want to say, even if we never talk to you all again, that we tried. If our best will not be good enough we will take comfort in knowing that we did something. Slytherin Forever!"

After this little speech by all of the Slytherins complete silence filled the Great Hall. Slowly, Snape and Sinistra started to applaud for their old House. Professor Dumbledore smiled at the Slytherins and applauded as well but the other Houses remained silent. However, Ginny was pleased to see that most of the students looked at the Slytherins with newfound respect.

"That was... interesting," Blaise said. "Maybe we solved a large problem with this right now."

"I don't think so," Ginny said as she watched her brother Ron. "Some persons don't accept changes. There will always be persons who don't want us to come near them, and we have to be strong even if the person pushing us away is someone you have known for all of your life."

Draco put an arm around Ginny as he looked at the Gryffindors as well. She buried her head in his shoulder for a minute, leaving Natalya and Alisha to exclaim a simultaneous sigh that suggested jealousy and happiness at the same time. Other Slytherins just looked at the odd couple, some smiling but others frowning.

Over at the Gryffindor table Ron was not very happy. The Slytherin speech hadn't left a good impression on him - as he tried to explain to Hermione the Slytherins would want them to think they did not know who was the Heir - and right now he was trying to calm himself down.

What was happening to his sister? First she held a speech together with some of her Housemates and now she was burying her face in Malfoy's shoulder. Malfoy, of all people! And what was Malfoy doing now? Brushing something away from Ginny's cheek and putting his head on her head!

Harry and Hermione looked at Ron with concern as his ears turned red with anger. Hermione put a hand on Ron's arm, making him look at her with a frown while Harry asked:

"What are you doing?"

"Look at my sister."

Hermione and Harry turned around, to see Ginny laugh about something Malfoy whispered in her ear. Ron pointed at Ginny's friends as well who were all smiling and making no effort to break the two up. Harry turned back to face Ron and said:

"Maybe it is time for you to apologize to her. You were pretty rude against her and I want to bet that she is being comforted by Malfoy because you are not there for her."

"She is a Slytherin, Harry!" Ron hissed. "They are all evil!"

"You know Ginny for a longer period of time, Ron," Hermione said to him. "You know that she isn't evil. And I think that Harry has got a point with saying that you should apologize."

"She has to apologize to me," Ron replied. "She is the one who ended up in the wrong House. She is the one who is whispering sweet nothings in Malfoy's ear right now. She is the one who should be apologizing for everything. Mum cried when she heard that Ginny had ended up in Slytherin, did you know?"

"She is your sister," Harry said. "Slytherin or not, Malfoy or no Malfoy, she is still a part of your family."

"She isn't," Ron whispered. "I told her not to come back to the Burrow. I said that she wasn't my sister any longer. Not until she admits that the Sorting Hat has made a mistake."

"Oh Ron," Hermione sighed. "What have you done?"

~*~