A Piece of His Soul

A Piece of His Soul

Chapter Seven

An Old Lion and An Evil Boyfriend

Draco glanced over at Tonks' empty seat. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had gone to the Ministry of Magic late that morning to discuss Ministry Teaching Regulations that conflicted with her teaching methods. She was required to have Rufus Scrimgeour's personal permission to use the Unforgivable Curses while teaching her fourth year class.

Draco let his eyes drift over the students eating their lunches in front of him. His gaze usually wandered over to the Slytherin table. As the Head of the Slytherin House, it was his duty to keep an eye on his students. He had no objections to this, because he found watching his students to be an amusing sport. When his eyes came to rest on the face of Julius Flint, he saw that the boy was smirking at him.

Draco was taken aback. He shook his head, thinking. Have I really been blackmailed by a thirteen-year-old boy?

However, Draco could not help but feel a hideous foreboding. Why was Julius Flint so concerned about how to fight Veritaserum? Aurors learned that one is able to equivocate to his or her heart's content when under Veritaserum. The only questions one has to answer absolutely truthfully are yes and no questions.

Obviously the little pipsqueak didn't know that. That gave Draco a bit of satisfaction. There was going to be a great upheaval in power soon. Veritaserum was always used after the mysterious death of a person in a position of power. Did the boy want to antidote for himself or for his father? Who was going to die?

But the boy was still smirking at him. Draco narrowed his eyes and then looked away, still watching Flint out of the corner of his eye. Julius Flint's eyes flitted down to his watch. Draco then followed to boy's gaze to the double doors of the Great Hall.

Suddenly, the doors were thrown back. Draco jumped to his feet. The crash of his chair on the floor was the only sound in the room. Everyone was staring at the breathless and disheveled Professor Tonks as she rushed into the room and dashed to the head table.

"Where's Remus?" she gasped out when she reached Draco. "Is he back yet?"

"He should be here at any moment. He's flooing into his rooms." Draco then lowered his voice. "What's the matter?"

"I'll tell you," she panted, "on the way up." Tonks grabbed Draco's arm and dragged him up the shortest passage to the headmaster's rooms. Draco could only see Julius Flint's satisfied smirk.

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Instead of a bright green light, the wand jumped out of Dracula's hand and started to beat the vampire. Ginny sputtered and muttered 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' to herself. Harry grabbed his wand, which had fallen out of Dracula's other hand in the chaos.

Lupin pulled his real wand from a pocket. "I had expected something like this to happen, so I used a fake wand, just in case," Lupin said.

Ginny was shaking her head in amazement. She picked up her wand and smirked at the vampire, who was wailing in pain. The trick wand had given him a black eye and knocked one of his fang-shaped canines out of his mouth. Ginny couldn't help but snicker to herself.

"Insolare!" she said lazily, blinking against the painfully bright rays that streamed from her wand.

Lupin grabbed the stake from his bag and plunged it into the unconscious vampire's heart. Then he pointed his wand at the creature and said, "Incendio!"

The three watched as Dracula's body was consumed by the flames.

"Now we have to find that bloody goblet! It could be anywhere in his labyrinth," Ginny grumbled, turning her back on the pile of ashes where the legendary vampire once stood.

"We won't have to look very far," Lupin said, smiling. He pointed to the ashes. "It looks as if Hufflepuff's cup was hidden inside Dracula himself. That was the test, to kill the vampire."

Ginny turned around again and Harry took a step forward. In the light of Harry's wand, they could now see the glint of gold and the glitter of jewels at the rim of the cup. She crouched down and brushed some of the ash off the cup. Her fingers lightly touched the large black stone on the cup. There, embossed in gold, was a badger.

"It's a shame that Voldemort has to use such beautiful objects with such historical significance to hide his severed, twisted soul," she said softly, running a finger over the golden badger. She stood up and took a step away.

"Obliterare!" Lupin said, pointing his wand at the Horcrux.

There was a very bright white light and the sound of a small explosion. When the smoke finally cleared, the spot the cup once stood was occupied by a large scorch mark.

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Ginny was the last to tumble out of Professor Lupin's fireplace. She took Harry's proffered hand and dusted off her robes.

"Ginny, I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday. I heard from..." Harry was cut off when two people came sprinting out of the circular staircase that led to the headmaster's rooms.

"Remus!" Tonks panted. "Minister Scrimgeour..." She collapsed into a chair and tried to catch her breath.

"What happened?" Remus asked.

"Rufus Scrimgeour," Draco said, picking up from where Tonks left off, "was just murdered. Voldemort just waltzed into the Ministry and killed the Minster. Tonks was there when it happened. She Apparated in outside of Hogsmeade and ran all the way here."

Tonks nodded her head, still trying to catch her breath. Harry groped for a chair and sat down heavily. "The old lion," he whispered.

"Voldemort is ready to make his last Horcrux, if he hasn't made it already," Draco said despondently, falling into a chair beside Harry.

"Damn," Ginny said, kicking Harry's chair irritably. "You two can fight Voldemort and save the world and I have to go on a date with my evil boyfriend."

Harry looked pleased at her remark.

"Oh, I got you the Veritaserum you wanted. I put it in that crystal phial on Lupin's desk," Draco said, pointing to a container on the desk.

Ginny picked up and put in her pocket. "I put it in wine or tea, right?"

Draco nodded. "But be careful about it. Make sure he doesn't see you do it. And don't forget to drink your drink also, or else he'll suspect something. I also bottled a bit of the antidote," he said, as he looked over at Harry, "with Harry's permission - that way it's legal. You can drink the Veritaserum also and not feel the effects."

Ginny picked up the other vial. She took the first out of her pocket and looked at the two phials. "How do I know which is which?"

"You're supposed to guess." Draco smirked. Ginny turned one of the phials upside down and glanced at the small white label that read 'antidote'.

"Good luck, Weasley," Draco said. She smiled at him before she disappeared into the flames.

"I think I'll investigate the scene of Scrimgeour's death," Harry said abruptly, standing up. He turned to Draco. "Would you like to come too?"

"I would very much like to go. But I can't think of a legitimate excuse for me to be there. Besides, I have a class right now," he said, looking down at his watch, "and I'm already late. But tell me if you find anything of concern." He swept from the room.

"Harry, I don't have a class until later today. I can come if you'd like," Tonks said, standing up from her chair.

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Ginny waved her wand and the knife began to chop the tomatoes on the cutting board. She turned around to smile at Blaise. "What would you like to drink?"

He started to stand. "I can help myself. You're making the lunch. What would you like?"

"It's no problem. I'm already up," she said, smiling. "Would tea be alright?"

"Please." He smiled back.

He watched her carefully as she tapped the kettle with her wand. She took two mugs from the cupboard and placed tea bags inside each one before pouring the hot water over the tea. Seeing everything was in order, he graciously took the cup she gave him and drank it. He didn't notice that one of the cups Ginny took from the cupboard already had a bit of clear liquid inside it.

She sat down next to Blaise and sipped her tea. "How was your day?" she asked.

"It was okay."

"What did you do? Was anything stressful? Any meetings?"

"All I had was my meeting with the Dark Lord. And that was very stressful. He was berating me for failing to capture you yesterday."

"That's too bad. Is it scary being a Death Eater?"

"Not really. I know that the Dark Lord is going to win."

"Did you hear about the Minster being murdered? What a shame!"

"Yes, I did hear about that," Blaise said.

"Do you know who did it?"

"Yes."

"And who was it?"

"Voldemort of course," Blaise said looking at her like she was stupid.

"How did he get into the Ministry? Did he have any accomplices?"

"Marcus Flint smuggled him inside. Security is closely managed, but Flint was able to circumvent it simply by being a Department Head. He smuggled in Voldemort, who was polyjuiced to be another person."

"Fascinating," Ginny said. "I think you said you were at the Museum of Magical Artifacts in London last Wednesday. What did you do when you were in the restoration rooms? Did you do anything with that Egyptian artifact you found?"

"I actually never found that Egyptian artifact. I talked to them about another artifact I found last year," he said uneasily.

"Did you get see the original Hogwarts crest? Did you do anything with the crest?"

"I saw the crest and stole it for the Dark Lord."

"Did you know he is planning to use it for a Horcrux?" Ginny asked as casually as if she was asking about the weather.

"Of course. Why else would I steal it?" Blaise looked confused that he was saying such things to Ginny.

"Where is the Dark Lord going to put the Horcrux?" she asked quickly, her hand hovering over her wand.

"He's leaving the Horcrux at Malfoy manner for now. He said he's going to keep this one close - entrust it with someone whom he'll be able to control."

"Who?"

"I don't know," he snarled and stood up looming over her. "I think I have a few questions for you also."

"Obliviate!" Ginny screamed pointing her wand at Blaise. He fell back into his chair heavily with unfocused eyes.

He stared up at her curiously and picked up his teacup. "It's empty." He frowned.

"You can pour yourself some more. I...I just need to go to the loo. I'll be right back."

She fled from the room and ran into the bathroom, closing the door firmly. She picked up a Pensieve - Harry had given it to her for this purpose - and placed it on the sink. She closed her eyes and placed her wand on her temple and drew it slowly from her face. A long silvery strand stretched from the end of her wand. Looking at it with interest, she placed it into the bowl.

She placed the Pensieve back under the cabinet. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, sliding down until she hit on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest.

"What happens now?" she whispered to herself.

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Harry and Tonks dodged the Ministry employees and St. Mungo's healers who were anxiously flitting about the former Minster's office. Tonks even had to jump out of way of a bureaucrat who was sprinting from the room. He was an interesting greenish tint.

Harry took a step into one of the inner rooms where he could just about see Rufus Scrimgeour's body, but was stopped by a cantankerous security guard. Harry showed the man his Auror badge and introduced Tonks as his assistant. The guard looked at them suspiciously. Then, grudgingly, he let them pass.

Harry and Tonks walked into the small inner room and looked at the mutilated body of the Minster sitting in his chair. His mouth was open in a silent scream and his eyes stared lifelessly at the ceiling. Harry took a step forward and respectfully closed the man's unseeing eyes.

As Tonks examined the body inflicted with terrible wounds, she muttered almost to herself, "I sometimes forget that the human body can contain so much blood."

Harry nodded and stepped over a puddle of the crimson liquid and looked at the far wall of the office. He stared at in shock.

One of the other Aurors turned to Tonks, who was still staring at the body, and asked, "Do you think He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was trying to elicit some kind of response from the public? Maybe 'surrender for even your Minister is at risk.' "

"The only response this could elicit is 'eew!'" Tonks wrinkled her nose. Tonks looked over at Harry and asked, "Whatcha looking at?" (Her response seems a bit callous.)

"The message written in blood!" Harry pointed.

Tonks looked where he was pointing and gasped. "It's a message for you!"

You may think you have won, Potter. You have destroyed a piece of my soul and I shall return the favor.

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Ginny stood up and walked back to the room. Blaise was sitting, studying something in his hands. He looked up when she walked in and beamed at her. He knelt in front of her. Ginny stumbled backwards, eyes widened in fright. He took a small box from his pocket.

"I know this isn't the most romantic of occasions, Ginny. But will you marry me?" He held up the ring, smiling at her. She only stared at him dumbfounded.

"I can't. I don't love you." The words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them. She saw the anger and suspicion in Blaise's dark eyes and realized her mistake a second too late. Blaise thought she was still under the love potion. She reached for her wand.

But Blaise was quicker. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled at her and caught her wand.

Ginny stared at the end of her own wand, blinking back the tears of rage - at herself for her own stupidity.

"Stupefy!"