Slytherin Forever! Book Three: The Rising

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Chapter Two: There Is Only Power.

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I don't want you and I don't need you

Don't bother to resist, I'll beat you

It's not your fault that you're always wrong

The weak ones are there to justify the strong

- The Beautiful People, Marilyn Manson.

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Finally the day came on which Harry Potter would arrive at the Burrow. Ginny had woken up very early and had dragged Hermione out of bed, too, amidst protests of her mother who thought that it was way too early to actually get up. But the rest of the family had woken up shortly afterwards and, in the middle of shrieks coming from Ron's owl Pig who hadn't been fed yet, tried to start a conversation with Ginny, who was eating and writing a letter at the same time.

"And who is the lucky recipient of the letter?" Charlie asked with a grin. "Anyone I know?"

"I don't think so," Ginny said with a frown, trying to shield the very long letter from view as much as was remotely possible. "This is just some information I acquired for Rakkaus in the holidays?"

"Rakkaus? Surely not the child of Shanna?" her mother cried out. "The boy who was there at the end of Ginny's first school year, Arthur, don't you remember him?"

"The blond boy?" Ginny's father asked wearily. "Of course I remember him. He was every bit like his father."

"Yes, now that you mention it, Rakkaus does seem to take after Sirius Black a lot."

If anyone had been paying closer attention to Ron and Hermione at the end of the table they would have noticed the fact that a panicky look had crossed over their faces for a moment. Of course they hadn't known that Sirius had been married with Shanna or that he had a son, or else they would not have reacted to this news the way they did right now.

"I never knew that you were friends with Rakkaus," Molly continued, "nor did I know that Shanna now allows her only son to get in touch with other teenagers."

"Shanna doesn't know this," Ginny replied, "because Rakkaus has been staying with Loki all summer. I'm going to send him this letter once he has safely returned to Vuori College For Witchcraft."

"He's staying at Vuori?" Bill asked in surprise. "I thought that it was an all-girls school!"

"It still is," Ginny replied vaguely, "but Rakkaus is there because his guardian, Gudrun, teaches at that school."

"Why can't his mother take care of him?" Ron asked with his eyebrows raised. "She's got a job, hasn't she?"

"She works at Durmstrang but believes that Rakkaus is more sensitive to Dark Arts than she is and that he should not be exposed to them anymore than is strictly necessary," Ginny explained patiently. "Of course, she had no choice but to send him to Loki for the summer because Gudrun lives there as well. She would never have allowed Rakkaus to stay at the Romanov Estate otherwise because it is filled with Dark Arts, as I have come to realize when reading Lya's letters. Shanna's been extremely busy with keeping Ministry Officials out of the door lately."

***

The Malfoy Residence. Just outside Sliven, Bulgaria.

"I am well aware of the fact that you want to question me about my husband's whereabouts but many people from different Ministries have also asked me that. Why won't you just co-operate with each other and leave me alone?"

Shanna Malfoy was angry. The Ministry Officials facing her flinched horribly as Shanna turned her gaze to them, knowing fully well that she was on the verge of hexing somebody, but they stood their ground. Rose McKenna, one of the many reporters present, stared at Shanna for a moment before scribbling something on a paper with her Quick-Quotes Quill, supposedly something bad again, before asking:

"But where is your husband, Mrs Black? My readers are interested in this case, even more than the time when Warren Isaacs from the band Serania broke up with his girlfriend, and I need to give them some answers."

"Sirius is somewhere well out of your reach, as I have told Cornelius Fudge a while ago," Shanna said, "and there is no need to ask anything else. Have a little respect for my privacy, please, Miss McKenna. And," here her voice turned cold and got a dangerous undertone, "don't call me Mrs Black."

She walked up the stairs leading to her home, never looking back at the great amount of people who had congregated on the grounds, and shut the door behind her firmly, locking it after a moment of thought. She slid down to the floor and put her head in her hands.

"Five weeks!" she muttered to herself, sounding desperate. "I have spent my well-earned holidays answering all kinds of calls from Ministry Officials and of course from reporters who are all waiting to receive something they can put on the front page of their silly newspapers and magazines." She looked around the hall desperately, not for the first time trying to find a way to escape from her own home. "I can't bring Rakkaus back home," she said as she realized that her son would not be able to deal with this. "Sirius, Sirius... what have you done?!"

The cry for her husband was a desperate plea for help, nothing more than that, and she realized with pain in her heart that he would not come as he once had. But somebody else heard her cry out and without realizing what he was doing he rushed down to the hall.

"Ly redue, seide," Toni Federov said softly and put his hand on Shanna's shoulder after a moment of hesitation. "Lisz qur pín veran. Lisz qur omis qar una pär cissa."

"Toni-seide, y stûr-lisz wad irer asin'eke maqwe onmi. Pär pín dorian!"

"Y'anth."

"No, you don't know!" Shanna replied, practically screaming. "You don't know what it is like to love somebody more than life itself! You don't know what pain you can feel when somebody betrays you!"

"Shan, calm down," Toni said quietly. "It's okay."

"It's not okay!" Shanna screamed, finally growing hysterical. "It will never be okay again, do you hear me?" She broke down into sobs, meanwhile raging and storming at Toni. "They don't know what it's like, they don't know how much I hate him... even you have no idea! And you are standing here right beside me, telling me that it is okay while it's not and you don't know what he is like!"

"I knew what he was like," Toni whispered. "We met a couple of times before he went to Azkaban. I always liked him back then, him and the way he treated you and Rakkaus. He loved you and his son, his own flesh and blood, more than he ever loved himself. You know this... and yet you hate him?"

"For what he's done," Shanna murmured, "and for what he's going to do. He wants to kill Pettigrew, don't you understand? He'll do anything to achieve that!"

"But he has not betrayed Lily," Toni said after a moment, "and it is not his fault that Harry hasn't got parents to turn to in bad times. He would have been there for everyone, and so he will be again... even if that means killing Pettigrew."

***

The Burrow, just outside Ottery St Catchpole. Britain.

"You be good!" Molly screamed after the twins. "Don't get into any kind of trouble!"

Ginny shared an amused look with Hermione before turning away from Molly Weasley hastily, not willing for her to react the way she had when she'd found out that the twins were still planning on starting a joke shop. Harry and Ron, meanwhile, were already walking after the twins after having said goodbye to Molly, who would be staying at home.

"I'll see you soon," Ginny said and hugged Molly briefly. "And you don't have to buy me dress robes. Natalya already said I could borrow some of hers because she has bought too many of those while staying with Loki."

"Are you sure that she really doesn't mind?"

"She's bought twelve dress robes," Ginny shrugged, "so she'll have one that is to my liking as well."

"I wonder why we need dress robes this year," Hermione whispered to Ginny as they trudged after the rest of the family. "Do you think there will be a ball?"

"There might be," Ginny smiled. "With that 'super-secret occasion' Percy is always going on about... I think that it has something to do with that."

She left Hermione to fend for herself as they went through the village and then uphill and rushed up to Arthur Weasley and the others. They had been talking about Portkeys before but now they were silent, sparing their breath for the exhausting climb. Ginny, however, chattered away and did not seem to be bothered with the cold or with the climb, leaving Ron to stare at her in disbelief.

"And then I said to Alisha that Dev had parked her engine in the library, but she did not understand and actually asked me if Dev had a car," Ginny continued as they started to look for the Portkey. "I, of course, meant that Dev had left all her energy in the library because we always find her there. Anyway, Lya understood and actually went to the library. She came back moments later with two books (Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and The History of Denominations) and..."

"Arthur! Over here boy, we've got him!"

Ginny glared at the two people who had interrupted her so rudely and did not smile or nod as Arthur introduced them to Amos Diggory and his son Cedric. Amos did not seem to have noticed anything, however, and continued with his talk about Quidditch.

Moments later she touched the Portkey reluctantly, knowing fully well what would come next. And sure enough, in a blast of vivid colors and strong wind, she got to her feet in a field only seconds after feeling the irresistible but familiar tug just around her navel. She brushed her clothes off and raked her fingers through her hair, looking extremely annoyed as she found that most of the strands clitted together now at the ends, meanwhile staring around with a curious look on her face.

"Where are we?" she asked Arthur. "I thought that the stadium was situated in a forest."

"We will have to walk for four hundred metres first," Arthur explained patiently. "We are staying on the first field, near the edge of the forest."

Nearly twenty minutes later they sighted the field. Ginny was already complaining about the pain in her feet and did not notice that the only Muggle around was eyeing Arthur curiously as he tried to pay with Muggle money. She did notice the Ministry Official arriving moments later and was surprised to see that the man modified the Muggle's memory almost instantly. There was no time to dwell on that, however, as she heard that Ludo Bagman - another Ministry Official and ex-Quidditch player - was constantly talking about Bludgers and Quaffles while being in close proximity to Muggles.

"I thought that Bagman worked for the Ministry!" Ginny exclaimed as they crossed the field. "He should know better than to talk about Quidditch near Muggles!"

She did not hear her father's reply, however, for at that very moment somebody squealed and ran towards Ginny in a hurry. It was Blaise - naturally - and Ginny hugged her friend back enthusiastically.

"I've been waiting for ages!" Blaise exclaimed as she released Ginny from the bone-crushing hug. "Zeynep said that you would be late but I didn't believe him. Natalya's been here all week, she's racing around on the campsite trying to find water right now, and Draco's arrived this morning too and stayed with us for a moment, even though the Malfoys are camping on the third site."

"I thought that Draco would be staying with you today," Ginny frowned but grinned as Blaise walked along with them. "And Natalya said that they would be 'staying there briefly' instead of a whole week! How have you been, by the way? Was it fun in Spain?"

"It was great in Spain," Blaise grinned, showing Ginny her tanned arms and legs. "Draco's coming with us after the match because our parents have a meeting of sorts. Lya said that Loki and Gudrun needed to help some friends of our parents, to prepare something."

"I wonder what that would be," Ginny whispered, knowing fully well that Loki did not only teach the Dark Arts but also practiced them himself. "Anyway, it is great to see you!"

"And what about me?" a male voice interrupted, making Ginny whirl around. "Don't tell me that you have forgotten all about me..."

"Of course I haven't!" Ginny exclaimed, walking over to Zeynep in order to give him a hug. "How was Spain? You're not very tanned, for somebody who has been there."

"He barely came out of the house," Blaise replied, putting giant emphasises on some words. "Locked himself up all summer for his studies, that one. Raving mad, I tell you, and also appointed Head Boy."

"Are you kidding me?" Ginny squealed. "Head Boy? Really?"

"I told you I would have grown up this year," Zeynep smiled. "I felt that it was time for a Slytherin to have a say in society, especially at Hogwarts because the last time we had a Slytherin Head Boy was in the time of Tom Marvolo Riddle, so I studied hard."

"You're better than Tom," Ginny replied, getting a faraway look in her eyes. "Still, it's great to have a Head Boy in the House! What did your parents say? Were they surprised?"

"Dad was very pleased with me, saying that I didn't turn out to be a disappointment after all," Zeynep growled. "Mum bought me new dress robes. Man, how I hate parties for the whole school..."

"You at least have somebody to go with," Blaise retaliated. "The only people of our House that are left to go with are Crabbe and Goyle, at least that's what I think."

"You can go with Thomas," Ginny shrugged, remembering the shy boy from her year. "I don't think he's got a girlfriend or anything. And what about Draco?"

"What do you think?" Blaise replied, sharing a knowing look with her brother. "He's not really my type, by the way, because he is blond. Thomas is an option though..."

"Blaise," Zeynep groaned, "let's get back before they miss us."

"Okay, relax!" Blaise exclaimed. "See you around, Gin. Have fun!"

"You too," Ginny replied with a smile. "You're rooting for Ireland, right?"

"Of course we are," Blaise smirked. "We live there."

Zeynep and Blaise nodded at the rest of the company before hurrying off again, leaving a smiling Ginny in their wake. They trudged along to the far end of the campsite seconds later, complete with a grumbling Ron.

"What Dumbledore was thinking when he made that one Head Boy... and you, Gin, completely pleased with the news," he sighed, looking at his sister. But then he brightened up a bit and was actually grinning. "I wonder what Percy will have to say about it."

"He will be devastated," Ginny sneered, "for he has never managed to make me see his authority. Zeynep's a different story. Every Slytherin listens to him and he scares the first and second years ever so much," she continued, grinning as well. "Blaise was actually worried about him before because he was taking after Percy. Not that," she finished, sneering again, "Percy ever had a brain or something... but still."

They had now come onto an empty spot at the far end of the campsite. There was a small sign put in the ground that clearly stated 'Weasley', even though it was spelt wrong. It took a while for them to put the tents up - with a bit of help from Harry and Hermione they finally managed it - but they were very small. Hermione had clearly noticed that problem too (as had Harry) and shared a worried glance with Ginny. Ginny just smirked and motioned for them all to get inside.

The tents were magically modified, so that they actually had a bathroom and a kitchen, but one of them smelled horribly. Ginny thought at first that it smelled like a rotting corpse, though Harry told her moments later that it smelled more like cats. Ginny never got to find out whether Harry had ever been in a house that smelled so horrible, though, because at that very moment Arthur decided that he wanted to cook things in the Muggle way rather than using the kitchen.

"I'll go with them," Ginny said softly to Arthur. "I might see some other friends."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny set out again, this time looking for water just like Natalya was doing - according to Blaise, anyway - and seeing tonnes of wizards and witches on the way. Ginny waved at a couple of Slytherins she vaguely knew from school, shouting that they should support Ireland on the way, and smiled as she caught a glimpse of Thomas Rivers (who would probably be the new object of Blaise's affection) just before everything turned green in front of her.

"What the...?" Ginny asked, staring around at the green tents. "Let me guess," she sighed after a moment, "Ireland supporters."

"It seems so indeed, doesn't it?" Ron said after a moment. "Come on, let's have a closer look."

All of a sudden they heard someone call their names and Seamus Finnigan, together with Dean Thomas, waved at them energetically from one of the tents. They went to say 'hello', even though Ginny barely knew the two boys who were Ron's classmates and - according to Draco - the greatest idiots alive with the possible exception of Harry Potter himself. Ginny didn't agree with Draco on this, though she had never told him so, because she thought that Harry, even though he was a bit obnoxious at times, was much better than Ron or the twins Trevor and Nelson Baddock.

"Are you for Ireland?" Mrs Finnigan asked suddenly, interrupting Ginny's thoughts.

"Of course I am," Ginny smirked. "I was originally for Scotland, but after they were practically slaughtered by Luxembourg I wanted Ireland to win."

"Ah yes, Scotland," Dean sneered. "The team for every Slytherin as I recall, with the Beaters being ex-members of your House."

"Ah yes, Ireland," Ginny smirked. "So like the Gryffindors they are, believing that gold comes from the leprechauns instead of a day of hard work."

"You Slytherins never work hard," Ron hissed as he dragged Ginny out of the tent. "Would you please stop insulting everyone you meet?"

"There cannot be insults if there are not any stupid people to throw them at," Ginny replied with a sneer. "And we do work hard, Ron, we are absolutely filled with ambition and House pride. We always have top marks in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts (with the possible exception of the time Lockhart was teaching, but that guy hated us after a while) and we are far from stupid."

"Let's go and see what the Bulgarians have put on their tents," Hermione said nervously, seeing the glare Ron directed at Ginny. "It doesn't look like they have plants growing on them like the Ireland supporters."

And so they hadn't. On every tent was the same picture of a Bulgarian Quidditch player Ginny instantly recognized as Krum. They did not get time to cross over to the line of people waiting to get some water, though, because at that very moment a squeal came from behind them (for the second time that day) and Ginny found herself being hugged by Natalya moments later.

"It's good to see you," Natalya said and smiled broadly. "I've just been to see Draco on the third field, that's why I'm out of breath, and couldn't resist to say 'hello' to you right now."

"It's good to see you too," Ginny replied. "How are you? You don't look very well."

Natalya was even thinner than usual (that might have been an illusion, though, seeing as she was wearing larger robes than usual) and she had dark circles under her sparkling eyes. Her hair looked like it had not seen a comb in weeks, so matted and tangled as it was it looked rather like a bird's nest, and the usually so-friendly looking smile was forced and didn't give off any warmth.

"I'm doing worse than ever before," Natalya whispered and pulled Ginny aside to get out of the hearing range of the other three. "I had visions all summer, Gin, and they were terrifying. My best robes tore after I had a hysterical fit and I could not buy new ones. I've been wearing Rakkaus' old ones ever since." She nodded at the robes and Ginny saw that they were quite long and already worn, especially at the sleeves. "I'm scared to death."

"What did you see?" Ginny murmured, suddenly alert. "Did it have anything to do with... you-know-what?"

"Of course it had," Natalya muttered. "I've been seeing You-Know-Who for weeks now. I'm afraid of going to sleep at night, Gin, even though I know that I am safe, because he is gaining power and will rise soon, I'm sure of it."

"Was it really wise to stay with Loki then?" Ginny asked. "Didn't he train you?"

"Yes, yes," Natalya sighed and waved impatiently with her left hand. "It helped, you know, in the beginning... but then the visions started to get more frequent and the only thing he can do now is make me recount them in order to sort them all out. I don't know if I'll be able to start school if it goes on like this!"

"You have to," Ginny whispered, green eyes suddenly becoming large with fear. "Lya, please, I beg you, start school with me this year. Terrible things are going to happen and I want you right there beside me when they do."

She hugged her friend briefly before turning back to Ron, Harry and Hermione. Natalya smiled weakly, put a reassuring hand on Ginny's shoulder, and rushed off into the direction of one of the Bulgarian tents. Ginny looked after her friend, concern flooding her eyes, but then went to join the 'famous' trio in the long line that had formed in order to get water.

The journey back was relatively uneventful, apart from Cho Chang waving at Harry who spilled a giant amount of water on his clothes in reply. Ginny was absolutely disgusted with this, though she never told him so, and looked away quickly before her grin had reached her eyes.

The fire Arthur had tried to make was still not burning when they finally returned to the tent. Hermione finally got the fire going but it would take at least an hour before they would be able to cook on it. It was a lucky thing that they had such a good spot, though, because everyone who seemed to be of importance in the Ministry passed by their tents and Arthur commented on the different members for the benefit of Harry and Hermione. Finally something could be cooked and Bill, Charlie and Percy joined them after a couple of minutes, having just Apparated in the forest, but their dinner was roughly disturbed.

"Hello everyone!" Ludo Bagman shouted in reply to Arthur's shout-out moments before. "What a day, huh? What a day!"

Arthur briefly introduced his children, Harry and Hermione (Percy actually shook Bagman's hand, presumably to leave a good impression behind) before the talk moved to bets on who would win and then to Bertha Jorkins, who was still missing. Bagman seated himself on the grass as well, continuously talking with Arthur about Bertha Jorkins' mysterious disappearance weeks before, but then another wizard Apparated into the open. Ginny immediately realized who that must be, seeing as the man looked immaculately perfect it was obvious that this was Percy's idol: Barty Crouch.

Talk moved to flying carpets after a while and Ginny got a good impression of the perfect behavior Crouch seemed to be so keen on (and Percy with him, so that Ginny made a mental note about it to have a good laugh about with Zeynep who seemed to dislike Percy immensely) but she also felt that there was something wrong about him.

"Mr Crouch, may I ask you a question?" she began after a while, startling everyone who had been listening to the talk about flying carpets. "I heard from several persons that you have got an impressive career, especially when it comes to sentencing Death Eaters and other men and women who have supported Lord Voldemort. Could you please tell me what causes your immense hatred for everything that has to do with the Dark Arts?"

"The Dark Arts are pure evil, as are the people who practice them," Crouch responded, having flinched a little at the mention of Voldemort by his true name before. "I have tried to bring order and structure in our lives and have succeeded in some cases. In others I have not, and I greatly resent that."

"Sir, isn't evil merely an illusion?" Ginny asked after a moment of consideration. "In my opinion there are no evil persons, there is only power. Those who are to weak to use it, or to put it to good use, are now known as Dark Wizards and Witches. Others who only want to learn about the power but never use it themselves are the good people on this planet. I also believe that no person is truly a Dark Wizard or Witch, unless they are the power themselves or see themselves as such."

"Mr Crouch hasn't got the time for your petty philosophies," Percy hissed.

"And would You-Know-Who, in your opinion, be a Dark Wizard?" Crouch asked, leaving Percy to stare at his boss in surprise.

"He would not be a Dark Wizard if I were to judge him," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Nothing can justify his actions, that's true, but he is not the power himself and deep inside he knows that. Damien, of the Vayaen, was the true power and also the only power this world has ever known. Read the mythology about him and then realize what his tale is truly about : the birth of everything that has made Slytherin and his Heirs fall down into the Dark Arts," she said angrily, remembering the dream of last year. "Voldemort does not see himself as the true power. He goes by the philosophy of Damien, betraying all Taigan and Josselin Slytherin together with their children stood for and still stand for today, but he is not the pure Dark Wizard this world has once known."

"So, when going by your words, you believe that this Damien was the true evil?"

"There is no true evil," Ginny whispered. "The purity of Damien's actions: the inhumane hunt for a pure race of wizard without any Muggles to soil the blood of our ancestors, the deaths of so many Slytherins... why, I truly believe that even he can be forgiven for those in the end. He did the things he believed in, bringing justice for some and death along with despair for others, and overall that's all what it's about : believing in the things you do doesn't make you evil, even if some other people consider them to be so."

"Those are very interesting words, Miss Weasley," Crouch nodded, "but I am afraid that I cannot believe them as readily as you seem to do. Yet I marvel at your wit and the belief you put in your own words. It is truly a gift to be able to speak like that and I wish for you to keep that gift until the end of your days."

"Which will be very soon," Ginny muttered so that nobody would be able to hear her, "regarding the fact that my true father will rise again and I will have to fight him."

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