Slytherin Forever! Book Two: Shadow

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Chapter Eight: Visae Ancanté.

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Don't speak

I know what you're thinking

I don't need your reasons

Don't tell me 'cause it hurts

- Don't Speak, No Doubt.

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Christmas came and passed, much like events had done since the start of the new school year. The only direct change was that Ginny, apart from her normal lessons, was expected to raise her defenses against her own nightmares together with Loki.

On Wednesday night Ginny knocked on Loki's office door, expecting him to be alone. When the door opened, however, Ginny stared at the man in front of her in disbelief.

"Ah, Miss Weasley," her Potions professor said after a moment. "Here for your... ahem... private lessons?"

"She is here as my guest, Snape," a voice growled from behind the door, "and you shall treat her as such."

"Naturally. Think about the things I told you, Romanov."

Snape nodded curtly before sweeping past Ginny. She looked at him as he walked away from her, robes billowing out behind him, wondering silently what he had been doing in Loki's office.

"Come inside, Ginny," Loki said softly. "Do not let your mind be troubled by that... idiot."

She whirled around and gasped as she saw the exact state Loki was in. She stared at him for a moment before she dared to speak up, and when she finally did her voice was quite unstable.

"You should go up to the Hospital Wing, Loki."

Loki grimaced.

"I'll be okay. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone about this."

"You got it," Ginny grinned and stepped into his office. "Did Snape do this to you?"

"More or less," Loki replied with a sigh. "I guess that I scared you, didn't I?"

Ginny regarded Loki with a slightly sorrowful look in her eyes. He looked really bad, with one of his eyes swollen and bloodshot, and she felt an upsurge of anger in her heart at Snape. Loki's lower lip was cut and he was supporting his left arm with his other one, too.

"You scared me quite a bit, yes," she said to him. "Let me have a look at that arm of yours now."

"It is not necessary," Loki said quickly. "It will heal soon enough."

She didn't believe him. After all, nobody would walk around like Loki did now when his or her arm was already healing. She walked towards him and clasped his left arm tightly in her hands.

He didn't even wince when she pulled his sleeve up slowly, revealing cuts and bruises. She turned his arm around carefully and gasped as she saw a slowly darkening tattoo grow clearer under all the blood. He pulled his arm out of her grasp quickly before she could get a good look at it.

"That is not meant for you to see," Loki whispered. "Remember that not all wizards and witches are as good as you are, Ginny. Sometimes they go bad..."

"Like Snape?" Ginny asked with a disgusted look on her face. "You should tell Dumbledore about this."

"No," Loki said. "Dumbledore trusts Snape and I cannot tell anyone else because they would go to The Zeppo. The last thing I need right now is Gudrun coming up to the school to kick Snape out..."

"It would serve him right," Ginny scowled. "I hate him."

"Hatred blinds somebody's view on fairness," Loki replied. "Snape had his reasons for doing this, believe me!"

"Such as Gudrun choosing you over him?"

"How did you...?"

"I guessed," Ginny shrugged. "It wasn't that hard, come to think of it..."

"Slytherin nature, huh?" Loki grinned. "I recognize that."

"Do you still feel up to practicing tonight?" Ginny asked. "I can do without, just in case, because I didn't have any nightmares since that night."

"We are going to continue," Loki said through clenched teeth. "Take a seat and we will begin."

Ginny took the same seat as last time and looked at Loki expectantly. He winced with pain as he seated himself next to her, but soon started to talk again. His voice was calm and Ginny found herself dozing off after a minute or two.

"Close your eyes now and go back to what happened in the Chamber of Secrets. Recall the things Taigan Slytherin told you that night, Ginny, recall everything she said and did. Be at peace now, daughter of the loved one, and guide me."

He touched her hand and clasped it tightly in his own. In the shadows of his office things stirred themselves, but they were not of importance right now, watching the two. It was harder to tell who was the apprentice and who was the master this time; for Ginny seemed wiser and prettier than before as she glowed with an unearthly light, brightening the dark shadow growing around Loki.

"Lyas ríthín, fitza re seideira, loren sha ruín."*

He uttered the words softly, not willing to wake anything else. And then the world opened up before them...

An eerie silence greeted Loki as he opened his eyes again. A gasp was heard on his left side, apparently Ginny had woken, too, but he did not respond as he took the scene in front of him in. A mirror stood in the dark room, and in front of it was nobody else than Ginny as she had been once, still innocent and unknowing, with nothing more than black slits for pupils visible in her blood-red eyes. This was the way she would turn out to be when growing up.

He watched the Ginny of before touch the mirror's surface with a sad feeling in his heart. She was so young and vulnerable, unprepared and kept in the dark about things that concerned her, and Loki felt rage rise inside of him. He tried to suppress the urge to tell Ginny everything about her destiny then and there, desperately willing that he had not agreed to take this job on, as a voice spoke.

"This is your destiny. You still have to grow a bit before you can take your real job on but I thought that it would be wise to show you this already."

The other Ginny turned around to meet a girl's grey eyes. Loki looked at the new arrival, too, curious and wondering if it could possibly be the one he had hoped for.

"Who are you? What did you mean?"

The other Ginny was not prepared for this. It was too soon; she should have been kept in the dark... Loki argued with himself about the possibilities of the girl having told Ginny too much, but he also knew that spirits were bound to rules. He looked on with interest as the girl replied:

"I am Taigan Slytherin. I wanted you to know a tiny piece of your destiny so I showed you through a mirror."

"Is this my destiny?" the other Ginny asked in surprise, gesturing at her reflection. "Why are my eyes so red then?"

"Eyes can tell a person everything," Taigan said. "An ultimate sign of power is to be able to hide emotions completely. Every Heir of Slytherin would get blood-red eyes when they did not want to show their weaknesses."

Loki was only vaguely aware of somebody moving on the other side, but Ginny was. She felt a cold feeling overtake her - what if Loki was sacked for doing this? - but soon felt reassured as Taigan continued:

"Do you think it was coincidence that the Hat put you there? It put you there because it saw that you were related to my father and me. It put you there because you, unlike the family who raised you, showed signs of potential. The strength and power to overcome the one who went astray lives inside of you, Ginny, now all that lacks is the will to do so."

And back they were, apprentice and master, returned to the office by two angry teachers.

"What do you think you're doing?"

McGonagall's hiss was vehement as she glared at Loki and Ginny. The latter was shivering, supposedly because the fire had gone out, but she still looked at the two intruders with pure loathing visible in her green eyes.

"I was trying to teach my student something," Loki drawled. "I would like to continue with that, Minerva, so please step back."

Ginny realized that she had never seen McGonagall this angry before. She was trembling with rage and her lips were stark white and thin. Snape looked just as livid, standing right behind McGonagall with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"I shall not step back, Loki," McGonagall said softly. "Pull yourself down into the Dark Arts if you really want to but don't do that to our students."

"This kind of thing is called Visae Ancanté** and is not considered a Dark Art," Loki said. "Wizards and witches from all over the world have discussed Visae Ancanté and found that it is actually a form of Divination."

"Be that as it may, it is still dangerous and should only be attempted by professionals. You are not trained to do this."

"I have to do something," Loki replied. "Nobody else is doing anything to let Ginny know the things she needs to grow up with."

A ringing silence fell after his words. Ginny looked from one to another, finally realizing what this was all about. She got up, still shivering with cold, and hissed furiously:

"So this is your goal, isn't it? To prepare me for something that will make everybody who is close to me run away in fear? To create a new Ginny who will do anything you expect her to? Well, let me tell you something: you'll have to do all those things without me!"

"It is not like that," Loki hissed back. "Listen to me..."

"I've listened to people long enough," Ginny said to him. "I don't need your help anymore, Loki. I can handle these things myself."

She stalked over towards the door and, amidst protests from Loki, left the room with a slam of the door. She sneaked back to her common room, careful not to meet Mrs Norris or Filch because it was way after curfew, and sank down in one of the high-backed chairs, sighing softly.

***

Vuori College For Witchcraft, Savonlinna, Finland.

"You did what?"

Gudrun stared at Loki with fear visible in her eyes, hardly daring to believe what he had just said to her. Loki's head in the fireplace looked apprehensive and Gudrun realized that he knew that it had been the wrong thing to do.

"I performed Visae Ancanté," he sighed. "It wasn't as if I was given any choice, love. Ginny has been getting nightmares ever since the start of her education at Hogwarts and she practically begged me to do something about them."

"But to go back in her memories, to be confronted with the things she doesn't understand... Loki, this is Dark Magic..."

"No, it is not Dark Magic," Loki replied after a moment. "I tried to explain that to both Minerva and Severus that night and they have not questioned me about it ever since."

"Severus was there?"

"Of course he was," Loki whispered. "I suspect him to be the one who hauled Minerva into my office in the first place. After all, he was just leaving when Ginny arrived for her lesson."

"Why was he there with you? Loki... surely he didn't...!"

"Didn't what?"

His question was innocent and he managed to keep the guilt out of his eyes this time. He knew that Gudrun would not appreciate lies, however, so he didn't say anything else.

"He attacked you, didn't he?" Gudrun asked softly. "Of course, he knew that I was in love with you from the moment he looked into my eyes that night when he went to Dumbledore. Don't look so shocked, Loki, Severus has never been as stupid as he looks!"

"He knew... and yet he tried to keep you from me?" Loki asked; his face contorted with fury. "He tried to break both you and me in any way possible even though he knew that you loved me all along?"

"I'm afraid so, yes," Gudrun sighed. "That love I have for you is something he has never known. I have given him love but I was always careful, keeping his Master in the back of my mind."

"You never did that with me."

"I could understand you," was the reply. "I never understood Severus because he was always too reluctant to tell me about the things he did while being with the Death Eaters. You, on the other hand, have told me things from the very moment we met."

***

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry, Britain.

As the lessons started again Ginny didn't only notice that Snape disliked her immensely -- he had even threatened with a lifetime of detentions when she said something -- but that Loki tried to avoid her as much as possible was even worse. That, however, was the least of her concerns as, one day in Charms, Natalya fainted.

"What happened?"

Ginny heard Zeynep panicking even through the closed door of the Hospital Wing. She looked back at Natalya on the bed and sighed as Natalya's left hand curled into a fist.

The dark-haired Slytherin was breathing shallowly and seemed to be witnessing something extremely bad, for she had screamed when McGonagall and Flitwick tried to help her to her feet back in the classroom.

The door burst open at the very moment Natalya opened her eyes and sat up straight, gasping for air.

"Mr Zabini, I demand that you leave this room at once!" Madame Pomfrey shouted. "Miss Cruz needs as much rest as possible and you are not helping matters!"

Zeynep and Natalya shared a look and Natalya motioned for him to take a seat. Madame Pomfrey went into her office then, even though her eyebrows were raised and she definitely did not approve of the new visitor.

"There's no need to worry about me," Natalya said suddenly. "My grandmother had the same thing when she was still alive. It runs in the family."

"What are you talking about?" Zeynep asked faintly. Ginny realized that he hadn't recovered from the shock completely as he continued: "It might run in the family but you scared the whole House to death with it. Couldn't you have at least warned me about it before this happened?"

"I didn't know that I had it," Natalya replied. "Things tend to get rather complicated when I start to think about the consequences this will have and I'm sure of one thing: it will happen more often."

"What is this 'it' you are talking about?"

"The Sight," Natalya said and sighed heavily. "In the families of my parents there have been numerous Seers."

"Muggles don't have the Gift of Foresight," Ginny said. "That is common knowledge."

"My mother was a Muggle but her great-grandmother was a witch who gave birth to a Squib. My mother's blood ties, as said before, run right back to the Tsar of Russia. My father was also related to the Tsar in a director way than my mother was, seeing as he was the child of one of the cousins of the family. Both families contain Seers."

"I know one thing," Zeynep grinned. "Your blood ties are older and run deeper than Marita's."

"True," Natalya replied with a smirk. "That's why I find her so ridiculous in the first place. If only she knew about this... she'd hate me for it!"

"What did you See?" Ginny asked softly.

Natalya frowned.

"I'm not quite sure, seeing as the images were screwed up terribly, but I think that I saw you. You were standing in front of a mirror with another girl I didn't know and you were talking. I didn't hear your words though. Loki was there too, watching the scene unfold before him together with another you.

Then I was whisked away from that scene by rough images. There were murdered people lying on the streets of London, Muggles by the look of them, and in the middle of all that there walked tonnes of hooded figures. They tortured people, killed little children... it was terrible! They were walking towards a person but I couldn't see who it was.

That person's laugh, however, was something that I remember from my childhood. It was the first thing that pointed my Seer history out. That laugh came from Lord Voldemort."

***

Years before, somewhere in France.

Gudrun shivered as she paced in her cell, ignoring the many screams around her that came from other prisoners. Many Death Eaters joined the noises outside of her small cell, laughing raucously and swearing as they handled a newcomer.

Gudrun looked at the girl who had just been brought in. Her wide blue eyes held fear and fury as she looked around, eyes finally falling on Gudrun.

"Hello," Gudrun said and inched closer to the bars, "may I know your name?"

It seemed to take an eternity for the girl to realize that Gudrun was actually talking to her, or, more importantly, not calling her names like the Death Eaters had done before. When she finally spoke her voice was soft but her words were coherent, unlike the ones the woman who had been in her cell before her had spoken.

"I am Taryn Bryant."

"Welcome to your new home, Taryn," Gudrun sighed. "I am Gudrun Halonen, pleased to meet you."

"How did you end up here?" Taryn asked curiously. "I was just walking home from work and all of a sudden these people grab hold of me to take me here."

"My best friend's one of them," Gudrun said grimly. "When Malfoy and the others came to our house a couple of weeks ago there was nothing he would do to stop them from taking me here. By the way, where do you work?"

"In the French Ministry of Magic," Taryn replied. "I was in charge of the hunt for these people."

She jerked her head towards some Death Eaters who were wearing masks so that they could not be recognized by anyone. At that moment, however, one of them came up to the two girls.

"There is a rule here that says 'no talking'," he murmured. "You should know that by now, Miss Halonen. Do not give them a reason to harm you."

"Why not?" Gudrun asked innocently. "If I recall it correctly, Severus told me that I'd never be able to get out of here. I don't want to spend the rest of my life without saying something so that rule does not apply to me."

"You're the girl Severus talked about?"

For some reason he sounded surprised. Gudrun nodded carefully; aware of Taryn hanging on every word they spoke, and replied:

"If you see him then I'd like you to tell him that it's over. Finite, the end."

"I won't do that," the Death Eater whispered. "Your link to him is the only reason why the others have not harmed you. Do not say this again, you hear me?"

Gudrun slid down with her back against the wall as the Death Eater left and looked at Taryn. The girl looked back, not at all reassured about Gudrun's trustworthiness. Gudrun sighed and closed her eyes.

So Severus was still protecting her. The mere thought made Gudrun shiver. He had betrayed her, laughed at her, imprisoned her here... and yet he protected her. Hatred was not a good thing to feel right now, she realized with a smirk, but this was an exception...

And now this Death Eater, instead of treating her like everybody else, treated her as an equal. It was very strange to see someone here who was friendly and treated the prisoners with respect, Gudrun mused, even stranger than the message he had given her.

The Death Eater did not come again for at least a week, so that Gudrun feared that he had received some form of punishment. She did not share her thoughts with the other prisoners, not even with Taryn, because she knew that they would tell their guards about it. The consequences for the Death Eater in question would have been huge.

When he finally came, however, it was well past midnight. Most of the prisoners were fast asleep and nobody woke to the tinkles of keys and a creaking cell door. At least... nobody except for Gudrun. She sat up straight and was about to alert Taryn when a hand was clasped over her mouth and a voice whispered:

"Be quiet, you silly girl. I have a message for you from Severus."

"Then speak," Gudrun said as he removed his hand from her mouth. "Be quick about it, though. Taryn is a very light sleeper."

"She won't hear us and neither will the other prisoners," the Death Eater whispered impatiently. "I had put a sleeping draught in their dinners tonight so that I'd be able to talk to you without waking anyone up."

"You are risking a great deal with this," Gudrun muttered. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"Severus says that you should keep quiet around the others," her visitor murmured as if he had not heard her question. "He says that he is trying to get you out of here, too, but I don't believe him. There is nothing he can do to free you."

"I expected him to say that, yes," Gudrun said and laughed hollowly. "Severus has always been a good liar, I noticed that even when we were in school together."

"You were at Hogwarts with him? That explains your link to Lily Evans and James Potter then..."

"What about Lily?" Gudrun asked, suddenly fearful. "Has anything happened to her?"

"Not yet," the Death Eater admitted. "The Dark Lord is planning something though, but even I don't know what it is."

"Are you a high-ranked Death Eater?" Gudrun asked as he finished speaking. "You must be really foolish to serve Voldemort's will... or very brave if you are a spy."

"I don't know if I can be considered foolish," he replied, "but fact is that I am not, nor will I ever be, a spy. I don't want to face the consequences of spying on the Dark Lord."

"Something like that is called cowardice."

"Something like that is called trying to survive," was the reply. "I don't like this prison either, Miss Halonen, but I cannot say that to the lower-ranked Death Eaters. They will tell their Lord anything and do not care about the damage they do to others. Your friend, unfortunately, is one of those idiotic people."

"How do you know my name?" Gudrun asked. "Severus cannot have told you this for you already spoke it the last time we met."

"I asked Lucius Malfoy about it," he said to her. "He seemed quite keen to tell me, for some reason or other."

"You may drop the formalities if you give me your name," Gudrun said as if she had not heard him. He looked at her and she was sure that, if he had not been wearing a mask, she would have seen him blanch. "It is not like I am going to get out of here any time soon and I will be able to keep a secret, okay?"

"My name is Loki Romanov," he said after a moment. "It is good to meet you, Gudrun."

Loki kept visiting her at night after this, not only to deliver messages from Severus but also to check up on her. At the end of the year, around Christmas, Severus and Loki released Gudrun from her prison. She never saw Taryn again.

***

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry, Britain.

"Now people, let's be very serious about the upcoming match."

The Slytherin team had gathered in a quiet corner of the Slytherin common room. The person talking was none other than Marcus Flint, Captain and Chaser, who was slightly panicking.

"Relax mate," Adrian Pucey said to Flint. "I, for one, am taking Ravenclaw seriously. They have got a good team."

"We have the better brooms," Draco shrugged. "They won't stand a chance against us."

"Have we got the better team as well?" Ginny asked. "If not, we might be beaten."

"That is not a good philosophy," Draco replied. "But we are still the better team with the best brooms."

"Alright, people!" Flint shouted as Ginny started to reply. "Listen up... this is what we are going to do..."

On the day of the match the team went down to the pitch amidst cheers (Slytherin) and boos (the other Houses), making Ginny feel a knot of tension place itself tightly in her chest. The practices with the team had gone well and there was really nothing to be worried about, she told herself as she changed into her Quidditch robes, so everything would go just fine.

They walked onto the pitch together, the seven figures in green robes, standing tall and proud, smirking at the Ravenclaws. They mounted their brooms, Flint shook hands with Roger Davies, the whistle blew, and off they were.

"Ravenclaw is playing just like last year," Lee Jordan commented, "with no change in team. Slytherin, however, seems to go for power rather than size for a change and has replaced Montague with none other than the second year Ginny Weasley..."

Ginny did not pay attention to the rest of the commentary because at that very moment Flint tossed the Quaffle to her. She streaked past two Chasers of Ravenclaw and was heading straight for the goalposts until one of the Beaters whacked a Bludger at her, making her drop the Quaffle.

Irritated, she pushed her Nimbus harder than ever in order to intercept the Quaffle. Zeynep, who had noticed what she was trying to do, flew close to her to smash any Bludgers away with his bat. The other Beater, Derrick, took her other side after a moment, leaving the rest of the players unprotected. This had been Flint's goal.

Boot looked mildly surprised as Ginny intercepted the Quaffle and sped past him, Zeynep and Derrick trailing after her. She dodged a Chaser coming her way and flew towards the goalposts with determination.

"...Weasley scores! And what a brilliant goal that was! Fantastic use of both Slytherin Beaters there, well done!"

"Jordan seems to be forgetting what House he belongs to," Derrick muttered as Flint scored. "Mind you, it was a great goal."

Soon Ravenclaw were twenty points behind but they played with such fierce determination that the Slytherins felt a bit outnumbered. Draco had to catch the Snitch, and fast, too, for Ravenclaw was gaining position. The Slytherins found themselves being defeated as the Ravenclaws scored more goals in the past few minutes than they had ever done in practice... but there was still hope...

Ginny caught the Quaffle again and found herself facing the Ravenclaw Chasers moments afterwards. Zeynep, though being on the other side of the field, saw it and sped towards Ginny to offer assistance, but it was too late. Madame Hooch's whistle sounded as Ginny doubled up, still holding the Quaffle, because one of the Ravenclaw Beaters had hit her with his bat.

"Foul play from the Ravenclaws this time," she heard Jordan comment. "But, I don't believe this... Weasley's still got the Quaffle! And yes, it is a penalty! Weasley scores easily so she brings their score back to 90 for her team. Ravenclaw, however, is still in the lead with 110 points!"

Moments later, however, Draco flew down from his position above the other players and merged himself into the play. Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker, sped after him soon, sighting the Snitch near the ground.

Boot scored, bringing the total on one hundred and twenty for his team. But then there came a massive roar from the Slytherins in the crowd as Draco sped upwards again, clutching the Snitch in his fist.

"Draco Malfoy has caught the Snitch! Endscore is 240, Slytherin, and 120, Ravenclaw."

The team landed, grinning broadly, as their Housemates streamed onto the pitch to congratulate them. Ginny found herself face-to-face with Draco, who smirked and said:

"Told you that we were the better team, didn't I? Good job, Red."

"You did well too," Ginny said and smiled. "If the Gryffs beat Ravenclaw, however, we might not stand a chance."

"They won't beat Ravenclaw," Flint murmured. "Not while we are so close to winning!"

It had to be said, Ginny mused as she walked back to the castle, the Ravenclaws had played well and defended their position with all they had. Yet, as she spotted some stray Slytherins who were partying, she felt that today she would have been able to face anything the future offered...