Slytherin Forever! Book Three: The Rising

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Chapter Three: Stay

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I know there is still a day for me.

One short moment is still enough for me.

Bring me life with your ray of light.

If only I found a small piece of the fallen sun...

- The Rest Of The Sun Belongs To Me - Sonata Arctica

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As the afternoon progressed Ginny found that the campsite was positively buzzing with excitement. When Gudrun finally came running past with Katarina Dubislav on her trail Ginny stopped them with a shout, receiving a strange look from the rest of her family.

"We can't stay long," Gudrun panted as she seated herself on a patch of grass. "Blaise and Draco are busy with the preparations for tonight and Zeynep needs our help too."

"With what?" Ron asked, curiosity rising. "What's going on?"

"Something for the older Slytherins," Katarina explained patiently, receiving a confirming nod from Gudrun. "It does not matter which team will win for we are going to have a party anyway. United again."

"And we can't come," Ginny pouted.

"We'll come to you," Gudrun said with a smile, "because the people we are meeting with are people like..."

"Me," another voice remarked.

Ginny looked up and let out a squeal that could have rivaled Natalya's any day. Standing there, looking very sinister but also out of place in his Muggle clothes, was Loki. Ginny got up, nearly fell over Percy in the process and then stumbled right into Loki's outstretched arms.

"Good to see you," Loki smiled as Ginny began - for some reason or other - to giggle. "How are you? Is everything still okay?"

"Reasonably so," Ginny laughed. "I saw Lya today and heard that she was not doing so well. I know it sounds weird but..."

"But what?" Loki pressed gently. "You thought that I would be able to help her, didn't you?" he asked after a moment and Ginny nodded. "We are trying something new with her. She didn't respond so well to the treatment and got a hysterical fit, as she probably told you."

"She did," Ginny said, confirming that which Loki already knew. "I thought that you, because you know more about this than any of us, knew how to deal with it."

"I never said I didn't," Loki murmured. "It is just difficult, that's all."

"We'll find a way," Katarina said. "Seeing as the Order is out of business it is only natural for us to take over where they left off. And let me tell you this: tonight will be a night to remember..."

With those words, she got up and walked off together with Loki and Gudrun. Ginny was left to be a tiny bit annoyed about the lack of information and, naturally, to speculate with herself about the happenings of that evening. A small comfort was that no one from the current Slytherins seemed to be invited, nor that they knew anything about what would happen there, which made her feel slightly better.

"What is going on with Natalya?" Hermione asked her later that evening. "What did Professor Romanov mean with 'the treatment'?"

"I say you have to keep your nose out of business that clearly belongs to Slytherins," Ginny replied with a sneer. "If it were something life-endangering we would tell you," she continued, but then looked confused at her own words and corrected herself: "I mean, if it were something that would endanger Gryffindors we would tell you all about it. We Slytherins are used to harm coming our way. It has always been one of the best cures for the insanity that comes with being evil."

"That doesn't exactly comfort me," Hermione frowned.

"It was not meant that way."

Moments later they were walking down to the stadium, Ginny still debating with herself and Hermione chattering away beside her about the differences between Gryffindors and Slytherins until Ginny wanted to scream.

"We have the best seats in the entire stadium," Ron said, turning around and glowing with pride. "We'll be able to see everything!"

"If you decide to remove that big sign in front of you that says 'idiot, please kick in the shins', then yes," Ginny muttered, "you'll be able to see everything."

She was extremely lucky, for Ron did not seem to have heard her reply. Instead of that, Ginny found herself looking around with more awe than she had hoped for. It was a huge stadium that was already filled with thousands of wizards and witches who were now chatting away, mainly about Quidditch even though Ginny recalled that she had heard someone complain about the flying carpets that were still for sale in the Middle East.

Suddenly they came at the top of the stairs and moved into a small box that was positioned directly between the golden goalhoops at both sides of the pitch. There were two rows of chairs within, covered with purple plush. From this height you could not only look upon the pitch - which looked as smooth as green silk - but also see all the other spectators move on to their places. Ginny vaguely saw Gudrun's white-blonde hair somewhere on the other side, right next to a cloaked figure that could have been Loki.

Within the next half hour the box filled up slowly with many important wizards - including Fudge, the Minister of Magic - and Ginny smiled politely at every single one of them. But when she heard the exclamation of a name that sounded definitely familiar she whirled around and squealed enthusiastically, launching herself directly into Draco Malfoy's arms.

"Hey, take it easy!" Draco laughed. "You little sneak... I thought that you were down on the Bulgarian side with Lya or with Blaise and Zeynep in the middle of all Ireland supporters..."

"Surprise," Ginny giggled and looked up at him. "It's a good one, isn't it?"

"A very good one," Draco smirked, letting Ginny go. "Hey there, Weasleys," he said to Ginny's family moments later, for his doing remotely polite, "glad to see that you decided to have a sniff of the upper class for a change."

He glanced at his father, who was watching the exchange with a bit of a sneer curling his lips. But Draco shrugged and hugged Ginny once again - "just for the hell of it", he whispered - before sliding backwards to stand next to his parents.

"You must be Ginny," Draco's mother said and smiled warmly. "I have heard a lot about you, dear. And no, do not worry," she laughed, seeing the panicky look Ginny threw at Draco, "he only told me the good things. I am Narcissa."

"It is nice to meet you after I have heard so many good things about you," Ginny said politely, "and they are just as good as the things you must have heard about me."

"Compliments, compliments," Narcissa smirked. "Thank you for your kind words. And," she whispered, making Ginny lean forward to catch her words, "keep an eye on Draco at school. I don't want him to do anything stupid."

"You got it," Ginny smiled brightly and nodded at Narcissa. "Consider it done."

Then Ludo Bagman came rushing in, willing to start with the commentary, and Ginny slid back down in her seat. She received a disgusted look from Ron and Harry - probably because she had hugged Draco out of free will - and poked her tongue out at them when Arthur wasn't looking.

"And now I present..." Bagman began to loud applause, "the team mascots from the Bulgarian team!!"

"Aah, Veela's!" Arthur said to the others. "Good, good..."

Ginny knew what Veela's were even before she saw them. They were women, gifted with extraordinary beauty and charm, but they were far from human. They enchanted men and made them do things that they normally wouldn't. And if they got angry... well, it was safe to say that you would have to run away into the opposite direction as fast as your legs could carry you...

The Veela's started to dance and, as expected, men were generally enchanted by it. Even Ron and Harry - the idiots, Ginny thought - were standing upon the edge of the box as if they wanted to jump down into the audience below. Angry shouts came from the audience when the Veela's finally stopped dancing. Ginny borrowed Hermione's Omniculars for a moment and let them sway over the audience until she found Gudrun and the others. Loki did not seem bothered with the Veela's, he was in fact laughing along with a man next to him and pointing at the others in the audience while Gudrun and Katarina were applauding the Veela's and cheering them on. Natalya was leaning with her head upon Loki's shoulder, smiling vaguely.

But then the mascots of the Irish team made themselves known, and Ginny laughed heartily as she saw the infamous leprechauns fly over the audience. She returned the Omniculars to Hermione and then cheered the leprechauns on along with every other Ireland supporter. Gold coins flew out of a glittering cloud of leprechauns, but Ginny knew that it was all fake gold. Leprechauns would never give you real gold.

The two Quidditch teams flew onto the pitch and Ginny cheered everyone on, Irish or not, because she thought that she would definitely have a problem with Natalya later on if she said that she had only supported Ireland. The referee of the match also walked out onto the field and before Ginny could blink the match had begun.

Ginny knew enough of Quidditch to see that the Irish Chasers were fantastic. They worked together as more than just a team, something that Flint had never managed to achieve because the Chasers tended to be different each year, and she found herself looking at them in awe. Within ten minutes Ireland had scored three times and the players - especially on the Bulgarian side - were becoming pretty aggressive.

But then everyone in the audience held their breath as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, dove straight down to the ground. It looked as if they were going to crash and Ginny felt a jolt of anxiety in her stomach. She had not seen the Snitch anywhere and was just wondering about it when Lynch hit the ground - hard.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Ginny squeaked, leaning over the edge of the box with a horrified expression upon her face. "That has got to hurt..."

Lynch rose to his feet again soon and got onto his broom. Ginny thought that he looked a bit dazed, which was not surprising at all, but then forgot all about Lynch as Ireland scored ten times within a quarter of an hour. The game started to become very aggressive now, and not just on the Bulgarian side.

"Look at the referee!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly, giggling. "What's he doing?"

The referee had landed right in front of the Veela's and was acting very strangely. Bagman was commenting upon the entire thing with a grand smile lighting up his face and the entire ridiculousness of it all suddenly made Ginny burst out in tiny, helpless giggles. She didn't even notice that Ireland should now take two penalties because the referee had been trying to send the Veela's off the field and the two Bulgarian Beaters had opposed him.

But then the Veela's ran across the pitch towards the leprechauns and Ginny found herself watching them, horrified, as she realized that the Veela's were far from human. Wizards and witches of the Ministry streamed out onto the pitch, trying to separate Veela and leprechaun from each other, but the battle on the ground was nothing in comparison to the battle in the air.

Lynch had suddenly dived down towards the ground and Ginny was convinced of the fact that this time, at least, he had seen the Snitch. Only half of the audience seemed to realize what was going on and they jumped up, cheering the Irish Seeker on loudly... but Krum was not far behind Lynch and they seemed to crash down for the second time.

And Lynch did. But Krum had the Snitch.

"We won!" Ginny screamed as she saw the sign across the field say 'Bulgaria - 160, Ireland - 170'. "Guys, we won!!"

"Unbelievable!" Draco shouted from behind her. "Wait till I see Lya, oh, she is going to regret betting on a victory for Bulgaria..."

"And imagine how happy Zeynep and Blaise will be," Ginny said to him as the two Quidditch teams filed into the box. "And just visualise the mood Loki will be in. Too bad that Rakkaus could not be here..."

***

The Malfoy Residence. Just outside Sliven, Bulgaria.

"Hello? Rakkaus?"

Shanna shut the door behind her quietly, calling out for her son softly on the way. Toni wouldn't be here, he had left a while ago to prepare things for this year, and Rakkaus would probably be asleep by now. But still she called for him because - knowing Rakkaus very well - she knew that he would sometimes go out into town when she was away, finally allowed to party.

"Shan?"

She started as she heard a voice that she hadn't heard within a very long time. She rushed down the hallway and directly into the living room, coming face to face with somebody she loved and hated equally.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, facing Sirius Black. "Where is my son?"

"Our son is out in town," he responded. "Gods, Shan, he is like me in every way but looks."

Shanna looked at him with a soft smile curling at the corners of her mouth. Sirius looked pretty bad, with a hollow and haunted look in his eyes, and his hair was just a tangled mess, but she was glad to see him.

"I was wondering about your absence," she said to him. "But I guess that you had some things to take care of, as usual, and did not care about me."

"That was never the case," Sirius said, walking down the three stairs that separated them. "Does this mean that you forgive me?"

"I'll stand by you through good and bad times," Shanna shrugged, repeating the vow she had spoken at their wedding. "I cannot fully forgive you, not yet, because my anger still runs too deep. Anger towards Peter, towards Crouch, towards you..."

"Don't," Sirius said as he saw tears well up in her eyes. "I am not worth any tears."

"Yes you are," Shanna mumbled before stumbling right into his arms. "I have cried for ages because of you. To just hold you again like I once did... it cannot be described with words."

"Amen," Sirius murmured.

And just holding each other like they once had done they forgave each other. For the words they had feared to speak, for the prejudice between their Houses, for their son, for the love that still existed between them after all this time.

Sirius looked down at the woman he loved more than anything in the world and sighed. She looked up at him, understanding what he wanted to say, but silenced his words with a kiss. First reluctant, then hungrier and more passionate their kisses became. Skin touched skin once more, hands explored areas vaguely recalled through memories in the back of their minds... and they knew what they wanted to say.

I love you.

And now let there be fire. Let the flames of our love for each other be roused again within. Let us enjoy these precious moments while we still can... for we will both die in this war. We know our fates.

A wish is now concealed with passion. Let this moment last forever.

They stopped abruptly, looking into each other's eyes. It had been so long. And yet the fire was there within and it needed an escape. So it happened that they understood each other finally, knowing that this was a 'hello' without words, knowing that one was lost without the other, and he pressed her onto the floor.

A fire burned bright within them both, making them forget all but each other, and the release of it would leave the scars. Still they did not let go of each other but held on more fiercely, normal passion turning into more than just need. They could not live without each other and both of them knew it.

And so the fire was released and the night became brighter with light and more beautiful than ever before. They were emptied but not tired of each other, still holding each other they snuggled closer until there was no distance between them anymore. A moment of silence, a hesitation, a sigh... and then words. Words they should have spoken before now, without the security of each other's arms, but it did not matter. They were there.

"Sirius?"

"Hmm?"

"Stay."

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