A Piece of His Soul

A Piece of His Soul

Chapter Four

Draco looked over at Harry as they stood in front of Ginny's door. They had knocked and were waiting for her to open the door. It was progressively later than they intended to come by, but they had both slept in after their late nights. Draco voiced a thought, "Though I'm confident that she will agree to assist you, do you think it's a good idea to enlist her? She's already made herself a target and you don't want it to get worse."

"We'll have to let her choose for... Ginny! How are you doing?" Harry stopped in mid-sentence as a smiling redhead opened the door.

"I'm fine," she said, smiling at Harry and looking suspiciously at Draco.

"Who's at the door, pumpkin?" called a voice from within.

Harry cringed upon realizing that someone else was in Ginny's flat. Draco didn't seem fazed; he only raised one eyebrow at the use of the pet name.

"Just Harry and Draco Malfoy paying a social call," Ginny called back.

They all walked into the kitchen where Blaise was sitting at the table slowly stirring his tea with his wand. Only Draco seemed to notice that Blaise had put something into his pocket - a crystal phial. Draco thought he smelled something peculiar in the air. However, when he noticed Blaise eyeing him warily, he immediately dropped the look of concentration he was sure he had a moment before.

"Make yourselves at home," Ginny said, conjuring some more chairs and picking up her teacup from the table. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"To what do we owe this pleasure?" Blaise interrupted. Draco thought Blaise seemed a bit tense but Ginny didn't seem to notice.

Luckily, Harry was able to make up something on the spot. "We were talking to Remus Lupin about sponsoring the Triwizard Tournament this year to get student's minds off the war and encourage unity between wizarding schools and between the ministries of the different countries. I was hoping to get a few Aurors for protection and supervision of the students. Remus wasn't able to accompany me so he asked his deputy to come on his behalf."

Draco nodded to Harry as if saying "very nice save." Blaise seemed convinced. After all it was a legitimate excuse that took Draco's presence into account. After all, under what other circumstances would Draco Malfoy agree to help Harry Potter speak to Ginny Weasley? Anything else would have been implausible.

Draco sat down at the table and said, "I didn't know that you were back in the country, Zabini. I last heard that you were in Egypt or Crete digging up something."

"Yes, I found a very interesting relic relating to the Egyptian god Set. I won't bore you with the particulars." Blaise glanced at his watch inconspicuously.

"Of course," Draco said.

"I was actually at the Museum of Magical Artifacts in London this past Wednesday to see about the display case the artifact was being put in. The temperature charms and the wards were abysmal."

"I can only imagine," Draco said sarcastically.

"Well I think it's fascinating. I'll have to go see it when it comes out on display." Ginny smiled at her boyfriend, taking a drink of her tea. She coughed slightly and apologized. Draco glanced at her, trying to seem inconspicuous. Luckily, Blaise didn't seem to notice.

So she did have a reaction to the tea, Draco thought. I wonder what Blaise could have put in it.

"I'd love to take you, sweetie pie. I think it should be on display in a few days."

"That would be wonderful," she said, standing up to go check the top cabinets for sugar, "This tea's a bit strong. Do any of you want sugar?"

All of them expressed a disinterest in the sugar. She shrugged and said, "I think I'll get some for myself then. I just wish I could remember where I put it."

"I've never been to the Museum of Magical Artifacts," Draco said, addressing Blaise. Blaise glanced up from his watch and smiled at the other Slytherin. "How is their exhibit on Egyptian artifacts?"

"It's really spectacular," Blaise said, looking over at Ginny as she ducked down to look in the lower cabinets for that elusive sugar. "They have one of the best collections of Egyptian antiquities in the - "

He was cut off as Harry threw him to the ground and under the table before rolling under the table himself. A small chandelier crashed onto the spot Blaise had been sitting almost moments before. Draco jumped up in alarm.

Ginny jumped up somewhat slower than usual. She ran over next to Draco, who was closest to the kitchen door. Harry climbed out from under the table and stood next to them. Crouching under the table, Blaise Zabini was holding his wand in a death grip and mumbling to himself. Harry dragged him out from under the table and told the other man to stand on the far side of the small kitchen.

"Colloportus!" Ginny said, pointing her wand at the door.

The door closed immediately, making an odd squelching noise. Draco nodded approvingly. Now the Death Eaters couldn't get in.

"Shit! The Death Eaters put up anti-apparition wards!" Harry said. "We're trapped!"

"Do you know how many Death Eaters there are?" Ginny asked, counting the spells hitting against the sealed door. She put up a shield around the door so when it broke, the pieces would not splinter and fly into the room.

"No idea," Draco said honestly. He turned to Harry, "Should someone remove the anti-apparition wards in case we need a fast escape?"

"Good thinking, Draco. Get to work."

"Just because I'm brilliant doesn't mean I'm incapable of fighting or doing anything practical."

"Just shut it, Malfoy, and get to work," snapped Ginny. "They're not attached to the foundations because the Death Eaters would have needed me to cast a permission spell. It should only take a few minutes."

"Then why don't you do it?" asked Draco.

Ginny ignored him.

Ginny had only just run into position when the door exploded and Death Eaters streamed into the kitchen. There were eight, all in eerie skeletal masks and long robes that seemed to absorb all the light in the room.

"Reducto!" Harry yelled. The foremost Death Eater exploded, splattering his comrades with blood.

"Stupefy!" Ginny shouted, ducking a red light. Her reflexes were a bit off today, so the top of her hair got slightly singed. She cursed colorfully.

Draco ducked a wild Killing Curse thrown by Blaise Zabini and finally finished dismantling the anti-apparition wards.

Was Zabini hit by a Confundus Charm or a Conjunctivitis Curse? He wondered. What was going on? This couldn't be Ginny's remarkable rescuer.

He called above the din, "The anti-apparition wards are gone."

"I think we can take them!" Blaise yelled exuberantly..

"Not with the way you're shooting off those Killing Curses," Draco snarled to himself. "I'll probably get hit accidentally."

Harry had ended up beside Draco and laughed at Draco's remark. "Watch your head, Malfoy!" Draco and Harry ducked a Killing Curse.

Draco stepped away from the Auror, so he could get better aim at the Death Eater who was trying to stun Ginny Weasley. Draco ducked another Killing Curse, stepping farther away from Harry. Draco was beginning to wonder which side Blaise was really fighting for. Draco was pulled out of his reverie when one of the Death Eaters tore a gash into his right arm.

He switched wand arms and cast Diffindo at the dark wizard's neck. The severed head rolled grotesquely on the floor. It bumped into Harry's foot and its mask fell off. Draco was glad he could only see the back of the Death Eater's head because he knew the front would not be a pretty sight.

Harry gasped when he saw the face that tumbled from behind the Death Eater mask. It was that of a former Auror who was believed to have been kidnapped by the Dark Lord. This man had been working for Voldemort the whole time!

One of Blaise's wild Killing curses had finally hit one of the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord's minion fell lifeless on the now bloody kitchen floor.

"Impedimenta!" Draco yelled at the Death Eater about to curse Harry.

The Death Eater flicked his wand lethargically - it would have been funny in any other setting - and with an almost painful slowness voiced the words of the next curse. However, it didn't take Harry this long to stun him.

Now that the odds were a bit more even, one of the Death Eaters decided to cast a Reducto Curse at the kitchen table and send it sailing in Draco's direction.

"Protego!" Draco bellowed and the pieces bounced harmlessly against his shield.

"That's it!" Ginny screeched. "Look what you did to my table! That cost fifty galleons!"

"Diffindo!" (Would she be using Dark Magic)she bellowed, cleaving the Death Eater in half.

The two Death Eaters remaining saw that they were outnumbered and Side-along Disapparated their stunned comrades away. Blaise gathered all the bodies and burned them.

"What are you doing?" Harry demanded, pushing Blaise aside and trying to douse the flames with a fire-fighting spell.

"Burning the bodies. Isn't that what you Aurors do after a raid?"

"No! We find out their identities so we can use them to find other Death Eaters. Damn, there's nothing left of them." Harry said glaring at the ashes on the floor as if it was their fault that they were burned beyond recognition.

Blaise apologized and then banished them.

"What did you do that for?" Harry yelled, incredulous. He was obviously losing his patience. "We could have used charms to figure out who they were."

"I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?" Blaise asked taking a step forward.

"No! You'll just make things worse!" Harry roared.

"Don't yell at him, Harry. He didn't know what he was supposed to do," Ginny said.

"Then he should have left it to the trained Aurors! There are two in the room!"

Suddenly Draco clutched his arm. Everyone turned to look at him. "Um. Just a sudden pain. I think I must have been that Diffindo Curse that Death Eater sent my way. I'm having trouble feeling the lower part of my arm. I think I'll go now so I can have someone look at it."

"Wasn't it your right arm that..."

"I'll talk to you guys later. Bye, Zabini, it was nice to see you again," Draco said, smiling at his old classmate.

"Would you like me to take you to Mungo's?" Blaise inquired.

"I think I might just ask Poppy to look at it at Hogwarts." He disappeared with a small pop.

"That was suspicious. I thought it was his right arm that was slashed. I saw the blood seeping through his shirt," Blaise said, mystified, "and I didn't think you could Apparate into Hogwarts."

"You can't. But you can Apparate into Hogsmeade and walk from there. It's not too far," Ginny said.

"Well I think I'll be going. I want to speak to someone about the wards around here. This is the second time in the past two weeks that this has happened. Would you like to meet tomorrow for lunch, schnookums? Maybe around one o'clock."

"Tomorrow sounds fine." Ginny smiled.

He waved his wand and was gone.

Harry turned to Ginny, "I guess it's just the two of us."

"Yes. I wanted to ask why you really came over to talk to me."

"I wanted to ask if you would like to help me destroy the last Horcrux? It's in Dracula's castle in Romania. We don't know if Dracula's still there, so there's a lot of risk involved."

"When would we be going?" Ginny asked.

"In the morning. You should be back in plenty of time to go on your lunch date with Zabini."

"That should be fine," Ginny smiled at him. "Who else is going?"

"Professor Lupin will be coming too. He's fought and killed vampires before. I wanted an experienced vampire slayer along to help," Harry replied stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaning against the wall, his green eyes staring intently at her.

"That was very strange to have another assassination attempt. I thought that it was rather suspicious that Draco Malfoy was over here when it happened. And then he clutched his left arm - I know that the Dark Mark is always on the left arm - and left soon after." Ginny used Reparo on the hole in the wall caused by one of Blaise's Killing Curses.

"It's also suspicious that Zabini was here for both attacks," Harry countered, "and keep in mind he also left."

"Scourgify!" she said turning away from him to point her wand at the now soot stained dishes in the sink and on the floor. She then levitated them towards the cupboards. She turned to Harry, "Don't forget that Blaise actually killed Death Eaters in both assassination attempts. Malfoy didn't make much of an effort to help. He only hexed a few people and removed the anti-apparition wards which he probably put up himself."

She turned away from him sharply, inadvertently causing the teacups she was levitating to break on the floor. She cursed silently to herself and repaired them, before flying them into the cupboard.

"Zabini could have just as easily put them up. I was with Malfoy when we were outside and he didn't do anything. Zabini might have put up something while you were opening the door or while he was hiding under the table. And did you notice the crazy way he was shooting off those Killing Curses? I almost got hit dozens of times."

"Blaise was probably just nervous. He could be a bit claustrophobic," Ginny said, while levitating the pieces of her ruined table into a corner, "besides, you're exaggerating. I didn't have to dodge them at all."

"That's weird. Did anyone throw any potentially deadly spells at you?"

Ginny was thoughtful for a moment, "No, come to think of it. Body Binds and Stunners were the only spells the Death Eaters were throwing at me."

"But Draco and myself almost get hit by dozens of murderous spells. Interestingly enough, most of them were thrown by Zabini."

"Harry! It was probably just an accident. Blaise saw how I used the killing curse once during the first assassination attempt and must have thought that would be a very effective way to dispatch Death Eaters."

"Then Zabini burned the bodies so we couldn't identify them."

"They were Death Eaters! Is it that important that we identify them?" she asked in her boyfriend's defense.

"Yes," Harry said very seriously, "The one Malfoy hit with Diffindo was actually a former Auror. I got a good look at his face, so you can trust me."

A piece of her former table fell to the ground as she gaped at Harry in shock, "A former Auror? What could that mean?"

"He could have been in Voldemort's service all along, or he could have been tortured and warped so that he could attack us."

Ginny was silent for a moment.

Harry tactfully changed the subject, "What are you going to do about the table?"

"I think that it's damaged beyond repair. Stupid Death Eaters! I'll probably have to get a new one. And a new door," she said, looking over at the now open doorway.

Harry nodded, "Would you like me to chip in to help pay for the damages?"

"I don't need you charity, Harry," she replied, her tone glacial.

Harry coughed uncomfortably and changed the subject. "Did Zabini burn the bodies after the first assassination attempt?"

"Yes, he did. I guess I should have stopped him. I didn't realize until they were gone. I was just so flustered by the whole attack. I guess I wasn't thinking very clearly."

"Okay. Just be careful. Malfoy thinks Zabini might have been the one to use the Veritaserum on you."

"Malfoy, the paragon of virtue, thinks so? Then I guess we have to trust him!" she said, scathingly.

"Just be careful around Zabini. Hopefully it may just be a great misunderstanding," Harry said reasonably.

"I think you're just jealous that I'm dating Blaise and not you, Harry!" Ginny yelled at him, putting her hands on her hips in manner frighteningly reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley.

"I'm just trying to protect you," he said softly, taking a step towards her.

"I don't need your protection, Harry!" she retorted with an edge in her voice that could have been fear. She took a step backwards, into the wall.

Harry stopped mere inches away from her, and bent his head slightly so that his mouth hovered above hers. "Why did we break it off, Ginny?" he asked, his lips almost brushing hers.

"I...I can't remember," she said awkwardly, trying to press herself as close to the wall and as far away from Harry as possible.

"I've always loved you. Don't you feel anything for me?"

"Harry," she whispered, "please stop."

"I never called you stupid pet names."

"I hate pet names."

"I know," he said softly before kissing her.

Ginny kissed him back hesitantly. She tried to immerse herself in the familiarity of his touch. She tried to awaken any old feelings she might have for him. She tried to discover if she still loved him.

She felt nothing.

She pushed him away, dragging a hand through her now disheveled hair. She smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said, looking up at him. "I just don't feel anything anymore."

Harry punched his fist into the wall. "I'm sorry, too."